 It is 6 p.m. I'm going to get this raucous party started here We do have a quorum we have a fifth board member online. We have a six high-popular So here we are meeting purpose ownership linkage ends budget policy contracts evaluations We have a lot of purpose here tonight that we will start with public comment as is Our usual first step And we do have some public with us fantastic the board welcomes comments But it's not able to take any action on them other than to direct the public to the appropriate staff member or to the complaint procedure Comments are limited to three minutes per speaker time may not be ceded to another speaker Comments are to be addressed to me the board chair or the board as a whole Not to any individual on the board on the staff or in the public Please raise your hand and wait to speak until you are called on Please identify yourself with your first and last name and your town of residence Please refrain from restating comments that have already been shared. You can certainly express agreement with those comments But then keep yours short Order and a quorum shall be observed by everyone shouting and profanity are prohibited as the board chair I will maintain the order and form of the meeting With that I open up the floor for public comment Online if you want to use your hand icon Okay seeing no hands here in no Excuse me or in a hems. I'm gonna go ahead and move on First order of business is the VSBA The contract for the VSBA for their Superintendent search services Jackie. I see that you're here. Thank you for being here And you brought up one small typo On the first you weren't just the kind of finding these Well at first I read right through it and then I was like wait a minute says his contract what right, so it's on the second page actually in letter C At the very end it says here in are not included in I'm assuming it means this contract not his contract. It's talking about the cost of meals Accommodations and mileage See it's under a fees and payments Actually, sorry page three got it. Sorry Could have said line 107 here in are not included in this contract, so it is missing a T So I'm gonna go ahead and just acknowledge that this won't Change it affect our ability to vote on it. They're also Second document that I did forward to the board having to do with Travel and accommodation expenses if those arise did everyone receive that All right Then we Jackie will not be voting on that particular Edition This is on me, but we can vote on the contract and then I will send that addendum Out to the board Travel and and accommodation Coverage which of course is referred to in the contract that it is separate So we're somewhat covered there. Yeah Board members any questions concerns comments on the contract as written Now that we have that ever so important I Know it looks fine to me and we can get started right once Time is on the essence Absolutely as as Jackie go go into detail about how much time is of the essence So I will entertain a motion to do with the contract I Will move to accept the contract with Jackie Wilson to help the board Do its search process for the next superintendent of the OSSD district And And we will charge Hannah to sign on behalf of the board Second Moved by and seconded by Sam Further discussion Okay, all those in favor, please audibly and visually Say aye and raise your hand One two three great. Thank you opposed Abstentions Passes and I'd like to thank Jackie and the VSBA for getting this together so quickly Okay, so let's get through a few more things before We actually start talking about the process with Jackie The annual report to voters that Chelsea and Anne were working on with Ben. Did you receive any? And it's from board members Not not that I saw on there, but we edited it together And so this is what we came up with great. We were trying to just Scrinch it down a little bit because at one point it was pages So we got it down to two but I did today just do a final read through and I crossed out some more stuff To see what you think also well the whole board would need to Look at it. Yeah, so maybe you can just tell us what they are and maybe we can all Well, are we gonna write anything about The search for a superintendent. Oh Yes, we wanted to ask the board of So, I wanted we have another round of editing and then we'll go on a final copy at the That might not be enough time for Ben. That's the problem So, but let me just say this there is mention of it in my director's report for the OSSD annual report So and it's language that Ben and that was some confusion The confusion is between this and the letter to the community That we had wanted to get out that we put together with the subcommittee the Not outreach Ownership linkage He's clear on the difference between the director's report for the OSSD annual report, right? But that's what this was no Because that one's just from me This is for the town report Right from the board Okay So where is your directors report going and the OSS So we have an OSSD booklet that Supplements and supports the Meeting And then there's the school report and your report Okay, that makes sense. Okay. Yeah, I think so. I hope so It works Okay, so good. We're reporting We're report. So should we vote on this? Yeah, can I just tell you my edits and then yeah, well tell the whole board They all have to agree paragraph It says greetings. It has been another busy year here at OSSD and Then I crossed out and it is our privilege to share this report to the community with you highlighting our activities initiatives and Accomplishments so it would read greetings. It has been another busy year here OSSD We hope you will take a few minutes to read through this year's report to learn more about the good work That's going on in our district and in our five schools So you just got rid of that whole. Oh my god Did you just get rid of that whole? Wait, Hannah has a different copy in your packet. The copy in the packet is not what Chelsea is holding right now. Oh so Let's figure out what is this is the one that we edited together online We edited this edited this together and then Kyle had asked for a Report of the subcommittees, which I think and send you and then she said and I share the link to this too and This is a hand up from Kacha Thank you, I guess Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, so I did look at the one on The drive and that one didn't look like maybe I was looking at the wrong copy too, but also when I reviewed that one there was some Funky stuff on there. So I wasn't wasn't sure if that was the final one either It might be a copy of the annual report because I think I Sent out if you look on share or shared shared with me, that's the one we're looking at So there was the original one and then there was the one Let at the last board meeting the board asked Asked me to share out the annual report or that's what we were going to do was share it out So when you go to your Google Drive And you click on shared with me that should be this one that we're looking at now You have to look under shared with me though. I know I the Google thing is And I keep on making copies of a copy and then but I think I didn't I think that's what this is It's in the shared with so let me ask you this. Are the edits that you two made together but substantive or more you know punctuation grammar Taking out Strenuous words here. Let me see what you want to do Because I think I don't have What's in the packet and what you're looking at right now? I'm looking at the one in the packet because that's the last one Right, so I printed this off of the Google Drive and This shared with me one right now And that's where I have some Questions on so I don't know if that's a different copy then but now that's the that's the one That's the one I think Does the second paragraph start with one of the phrases? Yes? Yes? Does the third start with one of our highest priorities? Yes? Yes, that is the one in the packet. Yeah Yeah, that's This is like for instance at the end of paragraph two it just like that sentence doesn't actually It's not a sentence. It trails away. Yeah And me I contribute in paragraph two it says there's eight pillars in our POG There's actually seven and there are seven listed so if you change the word eight to seven that would be a Oh good change. I don't know what happened Because the first paragraph sounds right. So may I Suggest because I think what we definitely know is that people are looking at different things and there's some more pairing down to do May I suggest that we call a special meeting? It can be fully remote in order to vote to approve a final copy because there's no way that can happen tonight Yeah So As with everything else on the agenda time is of the essence. So I will try to get that special meeting Done if in the meantime and or Chelsea if you could send as an attachment in an email The one that you want us to look at. Yeah, share Google. Yeah. Yeah Yeah Right one in may I suggest word form People if you're gonna take notes on them and suggest edits, please do so in a different color change your font color So so it shows the difference between the two and send them back to these two You know, it gets cumbersome, but I think that's the safest way to do this Okay, all right Okay Sorry about that. I thought I had gotten the one that but now that I look at this. I'm like No, and no apologies look, you know, these things What do you think those last day or when do we have to have this event for the final I Had I had let him know that we would we would be hopefully Figuring it out and getting back to him. So he puts it in Yeah So While I have everyone here could we Do a really quick turnaround and call a special meeting for Friday evening. Oh terrible. No, okay Again, it can be fully remote or I can be somewhere Yep So Friday evening Okay, we're all nodding sure I'm gonna say 6 p.m Maybe earlier. We are gonna say 5 p.m. Bye soul. Okay. Yeah, 5 p.m. This Friday That means we have a very quick turnaround guys to make edits. So tonight if possible I'm banking on us not being here until 11 And and or Chelsea if you could make sure that you send us a copy to work on tomorrow And then we do we need to warn it? Yeah, yes, okay So I'll you'll just do that. It's a special meeting. So 24 hours. We'll do it. So as long as it's before five o'clock Tomorrow All right Thanks everyone for flexibility and understanding and For all of your work you too in yeah, we have a we have one that's That is complete we just got to find it I thought this was it but We're gonna get it done. All right the budget informational meeting Thursday That this is you right there say the 29th at 6 yeah, and that's related to that the school annual meeting There's like a 10-day time window that it needs to fall with them And Kyle did a really good job of just checking to make sure it wasn't conflicting with like any other town meetings Or things that day. Well, it is an extra day we get in a year. Yeah. Yeah, this year. It's a leak here So that's the day we're recommending. Okay Is that something we need to approve Okay, then I will Entertain a motion to set that date For the budget information meeting I make a motion that the budget information meeting is on the 29th February 29 Second Moved by Chelsea seconded by Sam further discussion All those in favor audibly visually Three Abstentions Wonderful passes unanimously. Thank you The complaint procedure Katya, did you You you've Communicated with Pietro Yeah, I did email Pietro His recommendation was that we leave it as it is as it currently stands with the guidance being that the complaint first takes their complaint to the Individual with whom they have the complaint and then if that is not satisfactory, they can bring it to the board But yeah, his guidance was to keep the language as is currently Okay, and not add any Resources nothing like that. Okay Okay, well we have already Voted it in so there are being no changes There's no need to vote again, no edits to approve. Thank you Katya for your work on that Chelsea the evaluation Yeah process committee so we met a couple days ago and I think you have all the notes Yes. Yes, so We met and finalized the Evaluation form and the goals for Lane's evaluation for this year We had a little discussion as a committee and we agreed that using the BSBA evaluation service helped in Setting the goals for the evaluation in addition. We used the evaluation form that Lane had created for the administrators that he evaluates and that was really helpful and just sort of organizing the goals and Getting a focus to the goals There is still the issue that the BSBA process is different from the actual Evaluation that our policies say we use for the for the superintendent But in doing the The Evaluation even using the did so the reason it is in conflict is because our policies say we just we Evaluate based on his meeting our ends and staying within the executive limitations and that that's the sole information that we use But the BSBA process has us use in addition to that A survey out to the superintendents direct reports and a survey out to board members as well as a self Evaluation and by the superintendent however, most of the stuff that Is looked at in that survey is all stuff that's in our EL in our EL policies and in our end so Anyway, that's something that we need that we need to look at but it but in terms of the evaluation that we put together it We're if we're right in line with that so it doesn't seem to be Didn't seem to be a problem Future work for the committee Chelsea's gonna be leaving us So we need a new member The way that we've set up the evaluation. There's a mid-cycle follow-up, so the committee needs to get together With Lane and just sort of see how things are going In March in March Yeah, and then Finish up the follow-up at the very end At the end of the year for the March meeting but in March may be reporting right and the goals just to reiterate what the goals were was looking at the ends and or looking at math science and ELA and the scores and then just Finding the scores at the end of the year and seeing how they compare and then for the social studies the arts and life skills Lane is working with someone crystal Yeah, she's our data data person who is looking to see who met proficiency for our student body in those areas as a starting point and The comparison will be to see if there were more or less Who also met the proficiency, but we don't have that daddy yet. We're still waiting and then In like sort of soft personal skills kind of area. We were looking at surveying the public our teachers or Who was the survey with? It was teachers Teachers and then parents parents big ones and students, right? But a lot of the basic two questions are For the teachers, you know other questions on it, but the basic questions being you know Is this a good place to work? Are you happy here in terms of the parents? You know, do you feel that you know the educational? Services that are being provided your kids are about right so to be broad looking at that and then the other thing that was happening as part of improving that sort of relationship with the community was Working with the public relations, which and that is in full swing. I think So those are just the goals I just want to say that I think it's important that we continue this process of Doing a formal evaluation with the assistance of the VSBA just to have that Sort of outside person facilitating it I think it's an effective management tool and one that hasn't been super consistent At least not in my time being on the board. So I think that continues in the committee Sticks with it. It's a lot of work, but I think it's beneficial So I mean staring and certainly run the show going forward, but you know, it helps a little more The reason I'm asking is because there will be a change. Yeah If we can make it through until those new board members are on yeah, if they can still just remain the two of you so that Everyone has an opportunity Consider if they want to join Including the newest members Great. Yeah. Okay. Thank you Ownership linkage plan committee update. I do not believe We do not have an update. We have an update Right Listed to We plan to resume work. We have a hired a PR firm to ask some really good ideas about promoting the our achievements of the district in connection with the POG And really promoting those pillars As things we're working on working toward but we have yet to hold that meeting We need to meet again to talk about the plan the PR firms put in front of us Like it has put in front of the district and how does ownership linkage want to collaborate with that type of thing, right? Yes, we'd be starting from I'm on that committee. Yes. Yeah, right So no Right, but hopefully a plan to meet That's Megan and Katya and myself correct So hopefully before the February meeting We can we can plan Okay, all right, here we are Jackie We made it here in 27 minutes. That might be a record for us to make it through that many agenda items The search process timeline and committee charge Which board members is included in our packet, but you've had for a bit so Jackie, I'm gonna hand it over to you But we will most likely have questions. Do you want I think we can start in public session Jackie, isn't that what we talked about? Yeah, absolutely. There's no I mean I think the only executive session It would be when you're talking about money because it's contractual issue And we're looking at that when we talk about the job post and then you'll come out of that and build on that Information Yes, okay, um, so I have already had a chance that handy and I met last week So something you approved the Lot to get you Can you get the owl for the time being because there's a lot of feedback from the the board room there Especially just screaming children maybe in the background her playing basketball I can't even thank you came so cocky You guys in here more than me We might not be they may not be able to hear us, but they can speak Can you hear us? And and I am Hannah mentioned this I think it was Hannah that mentioned this I've put together the process and timeline for you and It is pretty condensed and that's because You have to meet that out unfortunately there's Sorry about that Okay, perfect. Thank you very much. Thank you Katya for for advocating for that So you you are probably about I wish it was a month ago, but well, we're gonna do what we can do and When I present a timeline It is always dependent upon how we move through the process and what happens, you know This is this is maybe the ideal situation if we could accomplish the the search process Following this but it may not happen And so it's very fluid and it will change and will change depending upon your needs as a board and What you see bubble up, so I just want you to know that so it's my best thinking at this time And I and it's it's helpful to try to To to wrap up the process in early March. That's ideal This is really the window when super when folks are looking for new work and they pretty much sign in contracts You know at the beginning of March if they're if they're reupping or if they're looking for a new position So you do really have a fairly small window, but we might make it and we might not So it's really going to depend upon The quality of candidates that you get to apply and are you are you feeling that you have some choices on In candidates that you're interested in so I frame it that way so that you know that we have that flexibility so Tonight we are going to take I've and usually on the job posting That's the thing that I think should happen immediately and I'd like to post that by Friday if I could and Ideally to I always I like to See if boards are interested in doing a stakeholder feedback survey where we get information from all of your stakeholders On the qualities and skills. They're looking for So that I use that to inform the job posting when I draft it So I don't feel that we have that luxury right now to do that But that being said I still would recommend that you do have me put together a survey that you can give to your Stakeholders because that information could be really valuable to you as a board and as a screening committee as you work through the process So you have a sense of what folks are looking for out there And that data would be It would it the data would come back to me by saying okay if yours, you know You identify I'm a central office person. This is you know here the qualities and the skills I think are really important. I'm a parent. Here's what I really would like to see in our next superintendent so we'll get some good data and That data I like to tell right out front that is really for the consumption of the board and the screening committee It's not a survey that we're then going to turn out to the whole public So it's important to know that that's and I put that right in the survey But the intent is to inform the process It is not the intent is not to inform the public about the results from that survey just so you understand that so I have drafted. I have drafted a job posting and we'll talk about that in a little bit So let me ask first is there any we're going to we're going to talk a little bit more about screening committee tonight and Screening committee and about communications, but is there anything at all in just general in the process and time when they have questions about or you need some Clarification or you're concerned about Anyone here in the room? Nope, it seems pretty straightforward to me and I'm I'm just anxious to get going Because I know we're we're behind the eight ball a little bit sure So I want to make sure we get it Get some good candidates Okay, so if that's if so, let's let's move through some of the things tonight under January I had a list of things I felt that the board needed to address tonight The the first thing that we really need to get a handle on is the screening committee so I've put together for you a document the screening committee charge and The screening committee's work really that's a made up of as you can see I'm recommending Three board members one from each of the member towns Two building administrators two central loss office a couple of teachers and a support staff person So a committee of 10 That's screening committee They will meet a couple of times and I already have some dates. It's going to be in early february And I think it was february I looked at my looking at my calendar and I can get this information out to all of you But it's going to be maybe February 1st or 2nd Because our first meeting which would be virtual Second meeting looking at candidates would be um I'm recommending february 6 or 9th So it's some consolidated work for that screening committee and in between they will the screening committee will have access To all of the resumes that come in I'll be sharing that and you'll be doing some ranking and looking and seeing who do you want to interview So screening committee folks as we as we drum up interest in that work Board members if you're concerned if you're considering it Know that that work is there's this you'll be busy for a couple of weeks Not I tried to take as much off your plate as I possibly can Um, but know that the first meeting would be we're looking at a first meeting of virtual probably only about an hour or so to organize ourselves Then as a screening committee, you will take a look at resumes. You'll do some ranking I will be giving you interview questions to to look at to make some decisions about and we'll do all of that through You know email communication and you'll have a shared google folder And then We will get together face to face to have a discussion about who we want to interview a semi finalist So that that meeting we will um, that's probably be a probably about a two hour meeting. We'll get together and do that so um What we have to figure out tonight with that screening committee charge is how you populate that And and it would be good to get that populated sooner than later I put on there that I put on your timeline Really need to have those identified by january 19th. I I think that that's pretty critical So, um, these folks are are really serving in a capacity for the board. It's a it's you know, you're it's a really an ad hoc committee So I think you need to do i'm recommending one of two things you would either if there's a board member Here tonight that knows they want to be on that committee Tonight you as a board should give that person authority to work with me to finalize that membership so we can get going Or I hear you have a special meeting So I don't know if you could get that committee populated by friday But if that was possible if you could identify those folks by friday when you have your special meeting you could vote on that membership And on that, you know, who's going to actually serve on that committee so Those things have to happen very very quickly. So I don't you know thoughts on how you would You know How you would generate that interest like how you might identify those teachers or central office any ideas on that Sometimes people put sometimes there's an email that goes out to folks and soliciting interest Thank you so much I do have a question. I've actually been Approached by several people now Who are who are interested in serving on whatever committee might be part of the hiring process? So I have kind of this running list. I'm just jotting names down on but in in other Hiring processes you've been involved in does a call go out and people can express interest or is it Because people happen to take it upon themselves to already reach out how How would we do this how I think I mean what where I what I think it's important to Be really transparent about it and to put it out to I think it's important to put it out to everybody So in in in so that there's an email that goes out to all the teachers I can give you the information here are the dates. There's not a lot of because we're on that tight schedule There's not a flexibility a lot of flexibility about those dates. So that may be You know, some people may look at that. So I can't do that so But I would put out an email to central office. I would put out an email to teachers and support staff and and building administrators and I think that that's the best way to handle that And it's a quick turnaround. But then you do need to make some, you know, you can decide as a board You know, are we going to look at representation? So we've representation from our buildings That's probably important too. If you don't want the building administrator and teacher and support staff all from the Diversity of representation And you may if you have that you may just say, you know what? We're just going to do it randomly. We're going to say right now We want a diversity of representation if we have multiple folks interested from the building We're just going to randomly select someone to be on that committee. So I don't know how you want to approach that and It would be ideal if we had another meeting to talk, you know, those come in you look at it You make that decision, but I don't think that luxury so um So now I think if I guess probably Hannah is you putting out an email to those groups of people may be working with kyle just to make sure she gets those right groups of folks and ask for a turnaround and People probably will respond pretty quickly if if you got that out And you wanted to have that done by friday. They probably would do that, you know And then you could decide at your meeting about that membership. That's that's that might be ideal since your meeting Yeah, absolutely and you're absolutely right if we can include those states in there I think that will help pair it down anyway, but um equal playing field. Let's So and I'll send I'll send that to you tonight exactly Um When they'll be meeting and what those responsibilities would be and I think it's good to include a copy of the charge So they see what there is or what's spelled out there. So I think great so, um So that would be perfect. So if you're gonna we can you can add that and then on friday You can just vote on here's the membership for the screening committee and you'll be all set. Okay I've already spoken with kyle. She's great and she's connected me with a couple of of your it folks And so i'm going to be communicating with all three of them and um What I suggested to hannah when we met is that I think it's really important to keep um all of your stakeholders informed about the process So I think it's really important to keep um all of your stakeholders informed about the process So I am I am happy to develop the some content the content to post on your website Um, I just needed a connection Um with your system as to who would actually do that posting. So I think we've got that worked out and um the things that I would like Once this is approved, you know, we'll I'll just put out a quick little blurb That will let the public know that you've started the process And that here's here's the job. Just you know, here's the job posting Here's our process and timeline. I do an abbreviated version of that for everybody So a lot of the documents you already had the screening committee charge But I just think it's important to have that information out there. So So, um, I will work with um with kyle on getting that out. Is there Anybody have any other thoughts about what they wanted to do around communication that you know Is not that or in addition to that Looks like people are good All right, great um I think I am good until we get to our job posting. So, um And oh the board I do want to talk about the timeline. So I have here I Just for a little bit, um, even though it is valentine's day that you guys, you know, what are you doing having a meeting on valentine's day? I don't know what that says, but um We will um, I will have I will then at that time I want to talk to you we could have a conversation about What do you want the final interview process to look like? Have different stakeholder groups interviewed you know that to slowly be you do you want those Visiting so we'll talk about all of that but that that will come around the block next month Um Repeat the last thing you said jackie. Sorry. Oh good. I don't think I have anything else for you right now Um, oh, I oh, I do want to tell you that I for all the board Um, I will share I will develop a shared google folder for you with all of the documents in it so that you have easy access to them and um when the Process and timeline doc is modified. Um, I just always put that at the top So that does change, you know something that will change and we'll put the names of the committee Once the screening committee is identified. So there'll be some live docs in there But that's where you can find everything and if you have a question never hesitate to reach out I'll I'll turn I turn, you know turn around your question very quickly So thanks But we we're going to go into executive session right. Oh, these are extras. Yeah, do we have email copies? I uh my And my phone doesn't connect to the internet here. So if someone I can scan it and email it Thank you. No problem. Thank you. I just there's um There's a typo on this and on this so if you're going to vote on it. I just want to throw that out there Okay, we can yeah Katya, sarah and megan Heather is going to scan an email the job posting now And we have paper copies of it and then we'll go into executive session just uh patty Hi My recommendation would be the the first part of monitoring organization So yeah, that's where Our apologies to no, that's no worries. There was a Yeah, there was a lot of business with trying to get the budget numbers from the state Um, so that's an oversight of mine on the agenda. So we do need to vote to add it in there At the top of monitoring organization I make a motion that we add patty to Section three monitoring and organization The second second. Thank you, sam. All those in favor Hi Katya Yeah, I'm I'm going to be opposed unfortunately because I think that's not open meeting We did not we did not do that at the top of the at the top of the meeting. I'm so sorry Okay, so You're not voting on anything on it No, but we're adding something to the agenda that's not warranted to the public That's true. You will be in the violation. So I do have an opposition vote um People have voted to to put it in So, right, so Well, and Katya is pointing out that it we would be in violation of the meeting a lot if we were to do that So So as the protocol work if someone wants us to read the presentation next meeting we have to get That would be a cure, but would we have to cure that? There's no action if there's no action Well, the action is adding it to the agenda at this point What oh no because it wouldn't be there I'm getting I'm getting a message from patty that she's willing to come back Right. We do have a motion on the table. So I don't know what that mover Um Her name's Sorry, but we confuse that It was a big typo You could ask her So the the vote has been vacated, uh, it's been moved to be vacated that needs to be seconded The withdrawal of the motion I think you can just withdraw the motion. I think so too even after the vote It I didn't finish the vote didn't ask for extensions So I'm going with that and and and Someone can clearly complained about me personally um, and with our sincere apologies and And and our gratitude for your flexibility and understanding We will see you in February. Thank you What's that can we come back to brain treatment? Even if we're not in brain tree, I will come and pick you up I know Thank you. Thank you. And thank you katia for yet again keeping us on the No, I'm I'm very appreciative katia. Thank you Yeah Okay, so what uh now Uh, I will entertain a motion to enter executive session with guests Um to discuss, uh, contractual issues having to do with the job I I will need everyone to if we enter executive session, although So yes, so the guests I'm thinking would be Okay, are you doing that 4500 minutes to So we need we need a motion Yes, we'll come back into public session then go back into the session for the 45. Thanks. Yes, but so yes, I'm looking for a motion Okay, uh, I move that we enter executive session including jackie kyle and laying in heather Or Not laying on heather I make a motion to enter executive session including jackie and kyle Uh, do I have a second? Oh Thank you. Katia seconded, uh, all those in favor I Thank you opposed abstentions Unanimously if we got one through So i'm going to give me just a second to switch folks over. So i'm going to switch over For there's an executive session link that folks were sent Um, so we're going to switch out of this meeting and move into the executive session room Just over here and then when you guys are ready just let us know we'll hang out in the office across the hall Okay, we're back in public session. Um So I want to just bring up um from heather. Thank you a correction to the job hosting that we're all looking at um in the second paragraph One I think third sentence randolph union middle and high schools. It's just high needs to be middle and high Oh, and also the high has a capital and the high has a capital i Or an l Let's be real here. So just a quick typo there I missed her. What was the other randolph? It's randolph and middle and high schools and high the i needs to be lowercase Randolph union middle and high. Oh, I just said, uh, thank you Is that the only one? Those two. Yeah Anyone else? And I do want to say I took some, you know, and and I will not have heart feelings I took some some liberties when I did the you know talking about the osst communities I don't know if that's what you want, but I you know I really don't know um, so if it's something you're traveling out there you just let me know No, I thought it sounded great I want to live here Oh Okay, um and anything any um I heard back from a couple of you that gave me some ideas of things you thought were important And then I just went through some searches I had done before that have been recent and pulled information from there around qualities and skills. So Have I stopped it for you or are you good with it? Is there anything you want to see changed or added? I'm seeing head shakes here anyone online Head shakes there So we should vote on this Okay Yes So I'll entertain the motion I move that we accept the superintendent job posting presented to us by Jackie Wouldn't discuss edits We have the discussed edits Thank you Moved by Anne seconded by Chelsea all those in favor All right I I Thank you online opposed Abstentions The motion passes unanimously um, I'd also at this time like to uh, ask Whether there are board members interested on serving on the screening committee And is interested Three would be nice One from each town one from each town. So thank you and from Randolph I'll do it. All right. Thank you sam from brookfield. Are there brain tree people glaring at each other electronically? Yes I'm giving Katya a stare down I'm like which one of us is gonna pull first? Still neither has Oh great Um, I'll do it. Thanks Katya. Thank you Thank you, Anne Sam and Katya who will be the board representatives on the screening committee Um, and I'll be sending out a letter to see who uh, who's gonna join you Uh, so should we task somebody would? Um, corresponding with Jackie on this matter On what matter being a point person. Yeah from the committee in it. Yeah, I move this in Oh, gosh Corresponds with Jackie Can we be a little more upbeat? No, okay exciting work. I don't know It is exciting. Do you have time? I I have time, but I would much rather hand the person on this one Oh, so I think you're quite good at Getting things going and sending meetings and Sending a big response. And yes, I think you're great managing the google doc so much, but Jackie will be doing that That was just a fluke Great. So Jackie will be your point person on the um Okay, great I do have I do have an advertising question to ask you so I'll get this posted on the sba Has a school spring Account so I'll post it through them. It makes it easier for me to manage Because and then I'll give accounts to all the screening committee members and I'll do all of that I do have a question. So we'll do school spring the only other place You might want to consider Um, there's the the national association of school superintendents and it's a reasonable fee They charge 205 bucks to place an ad with them and it goes out to a lot of superintendents nationwide and um, there's the you know aa of sa also does that but they're 1200 bucks and the national association superintendents so You know, it's not a heavy lift if you're if you're interested in that I could work with kyle Yeah Yeah 100 bucks. Yeah, let's do it please it being budgetary. Can I have a vote please? Good having to do with money It's for how long is it for how long does it run just just go out one time like what's the One time and but yeah, it'll go out one time and I think that's Like be an email or a newsletter or It will go it goes they have a newsletter goes out it gets posted One time Yeah, but I think that's enough because everybody gets if they get there I think that's fine Yeah, exactly And if we get into a situation, you know, if we get into a situation We just don't have enough candidates are the quality candidates you want I'll be talking to you about what else do we do? Um for you know outreach The reality is that I just did a search last year Windsor and we got a dozen applicants and I will tell you I was happy with that We you know, it wasn't a lot but we had we had around three or four people that were high quality So if you get that I think you you should be happy. So So there's just not a lot of folks out there right now Did you use that national search when you were working with them? I did not so that one. I'm just using I'm also doing the the search for Jeff Francis's position the vsa executive director So we're trying to get a little wider audience on that and so this So when we were researching it this came across my desk and I was like, you know, this is kind of reasonable So and and I asked some of the superintendents there and they said, yeah, we get that newsletter. I'm like, okay So that might you know, it's not outrageous outrageous fee What do we think it's anyone feels strongly enough to make a motion? Oh And that we Send our superintendent ad to Or that we have Jackie Send our superintendent add to the national association of cool superintendents And let me say the financial applications As discussed second Thank you, Rachel seconded by sam for the discussion All those in favor Okay, my last question for you Um, do you want to because I would want to do this probably the end of january? So it would be before I see you again in february um Do you want me to put together a stakeholder survey that then would be distributed to all your stakeholders around qualities and skills? Yes Yeah, I really think we need to do that. Okay. I've already standard one. I mean, it's it's it's relevant It's been updated recently and I work with some of my colleagues who also do searches and we share resources So I'll put that together and I'll work with kyle and her it folks to get that out Thank you Sounds good. I think I don't have anything else for you unless you have something for me Gratitude Thanks so much. Thank you I'm looking forward to work some of you have worked with you before looking forward to Reconnecting and we'll get it done Awesome. Excellent. Thank you so much jack. Thank you All right Okay, I'll now entertain a motion to re-enter executive session Uh, I'll discuss for you that hundred investigation I make a motion that we enter executive session to discuss the 4,500 All second Sarah seconded All those This um meets the criteria for executive session because we were talking about student issues personnel issues It because the personnel this relates to is so limited. They could be easily identified Thank you Yeah, I'm gonna may I recuse myself? From this executive setting Indeed you thank you All those in favor of the motion on the table to enter I I Great it passes unanimously Um with invitations If they're not board members, yeah, because they're not executive Who are we inviting? Kayla So I have to restate my I make a motion that we enter executive session to discuss 4,500 Kayla Lane Kyle Heather and not Sam Sarah do you re-second Yes, she does. I've got to be amped all those further discussion All those in favor Visually audibly Great unanimously We will now be moving to that link and be back in public session following Do that it's just your email your username and then your password Okay, but we're we're going we have one board member in the restroom, but we still have In the room Except EL reports 2.4 and 2.5 financial planning and budgeting and emergency superintendent Succession these are a second reading And hopefully to a vote Lane, do you want to say? Uh, the first one is about financial Hold on I'm gonna go right myself here. So I'm trying to get the budget stuff up too. So Financial planning and budgeting that's just making sure that when we are going through the budgeting process, which we are Is that we're taking a look at what the financial landscape in the future is going to be and Taking that into account as we're planning our budget So like, you know, we spent a lot of time talking about the next five years and the five percent cap You know, those are the things that we're taking into account as we're trying to plan out, you know what what this current budget is and what the As a strategy also to say what the next budget's right, right? We had this overall goal of trying to get at five point one percent of the cap Which completely got blown out of the water and we talked about it And in a little while But that our strategies are based upon, you know, what we can tell was happening in the financial landscape over time The succession piece is just about making sure that we've got A person who can step in in case of the superintendent's incapacitation Immediately and then the reminder that within that report Is the instructions to the board That of how to actually change over the powers Most of the powers of the superintendent are signatory How to change that over to a second person, you know, who to contact at the AOE and that sort of Questions from the board on 2.4 That's financial planning and budgeting The monitoring report questions on the evidence a 2.5 questions comments concerns All right, I'll entertain the motion I move that we accept monitoring report 2.4 financial planning and budgeting and I'm going to just do the second one as well and Monitoring report for policy 2.5 emergency superintendent succession. Thank you. Do I have a second? I have a second for Rachel Further discussion all those in favor Physically out of way Great, opposed Abstentions Okay, budget presentation I actually got it up there so a couple of caveats is I'm kind of wrapping Up the setup of this Just so folks know I'm not going to be giving you as much Background or information as I normally do The final numbers that we needed came in at like five o'clock this afternoon And so I was scrambling around just trying to get the slides prepared that were needed to allow the board to be able to Vote on the budget and so that's important to know If we do a little bit of a start here Basic changes that occurred since we spoke last meeting The state actually Did some major corrections In terms of our student counts They had seriously undercounted Our students that are impoverished are free and reduced lunch counts And those students get a significant amount of waiting Under the new law So it actually bolstered how much money we were receiving with the state that we didn't expect I'm just curious. Are they still relying on on us as a district making sure that our families fill out that Bring in reduced lunch? It's kind of a and heather can probably talk a little bit more about it So we're now able to use snap numbers and people who access medicaid Dr. Dinosaur They automatically qualify. Yeah, so if that's really helped Because people don't have to apply for things twice Right to help our numbers. It's been really great. And willy walker our new Director of Child Nutrition has done a great job Yeah Okay, and actually he was the one that helped pick up on some of it was the undercount was our own under Recording, I think it was at the high school and they picked up on it. We're able to get it correct So it did make a big impact. So what they were doing with this new new waiting system is Right. They recognized that some students Just because of the backgrounds or their histories Would require a little bit more funding to be able to get an equitable education to their peers And so instead of just saying, you know, we're going to give you because you got this many students that are In free introduced lunch, we're going to give you this much extra money. Then in this really weird way, they said, okay We're going to we're going to multiply the number of students that you actually have So we have 850 to 870 students in the district After they did this waiting study, they are giving us credit for about 1523 students So that's an important number to think about because it also kind of comes back to the level of need that we have in the district So we ended up with a lot more funding coming in from the district which will For the district from the state, which you'll see in a minute Which is is really really good because it Medigated the impact of the legislative changes Quite a bit. It's still not perfect So, you know, instead of everybody paying an extra $1500 a year because of the legislative changes closer down to On an average price to uncluster on $400 Is the increase Remember the governor was kind of actually talking about this a little bit Earlier he said, you know, the average increase is going to be 18 percent for folks in terms of their taxes going up And so we can compare that to what you actually see in a couple minutes. We're actually doing really good Well, because of that change So we had talked about this idea the strategy of trying to Create the budget so that we are able to maximize the next person's choices in terms of How they're administering it and we talked about the five percent cap And that if you're not over the five percent cap, you lose it The five percent cap means is that if your tax rates go up more than more than five percent You're only going to get charged for five percent Right And so we talked a little bit about the the long-term impact of that that money would have to get paid back You know five years down the road if it becomes a permanent part of the budget Yeah, yeah, yeah But what ended up happening was this correction Had such an impact on the overall budget that we're nowhere near even coming close to the five percent cap In fact, we're actually nine point nine one percent below it So that strategy up front of trying to always make sure we're hitting the cap and going a little over We'd have to add three or four million dollars to the budget to get there So after that that correction, so it's not a good strategy anymore now that we've gotten So just to kind of fill fill people in that we're following along in the the three conversations that we had prior to So this is the recommended budget For the ossd, right? You have three budgets. You've got the raven budget You've got the tech center budget and you've got the ossd budget So there were a couple of little changes after we had the discussion with the board last year that That i'll talk about in just a moment The budget can be split up in terms of what we're asking for into mandated obligation and discretionary spending Mandated means we just we don't have a choice, right? There's the increases to salary and benefits that that's required because of our contract agreements There's the special education increases That are required we have to provide those services to kids because that's what their needs were identified as There's this early education child care tax That they slipped in kind of under the radar that they're using to try to find a way to fund early education, right? You know they're talking about preschool and making universal, you know four-year-old preschool Across the state and so that's the way they're trying to fund it and then we've got the tuition impact of rtcc When rtcc's tuitions go up Because we pay tuition from ossd for our students to go there. It has an impact on us as a district And so this 1.4 million Almost 1.5 million is all kind of mandated obligations. We don't have a choice about it So the discretionary pieces of the budget these are things that you know, we could live without it might not be great It might not be nice if we did but we could That we're asking for in this are these things the preschool We had spent an enormous amount of time building four-year-old full-day preschool in the district Two of these preschools are already under the regular budget the third right because we got three elementary schools The third is actually Still under grant funding and if we want to preserve it the grant funding is running out We've got to move it over to the regular budget. It has had an impact on the Performance of the students is the elementary level. You can see the impact of the students that have gone through preschool in terms of the scores That we've had and so it's been kind of a vital component in trying to meet the board's ends We talked a little bit about this about the idea of adding a little bit so that we have a full-time nurse at each of our schools, especially the elementary schools with One of the ideas being is yeah, maybe the medical needs aren't Necessarily requiring it, but these are really capable and talented people So that as we're dealing with these students with the mental health issues who are capable of spending a little bit of time with a child do Reregulating them getting them back down to a baseline so they can get back to be successful in the class So they're actually the purpose of doing this is to help a little bit with that mental health component The two new ones that we put in here came out of conversations with Braintree and Brookfield had a great conversation with Braintree at the end of last week As you know, you know, res has been resistant to sharing the rise program supports Until that gets resolved Braintree and Brookfield have been without support And so this is a means to actually provide that to them There is also additional funding, you know, they were each hoping to get two new bodies There is additional funding that they'll be able to tap. Hopefully we'll have their next year through title to get the second pot But we did add in this first one This was a big discussion with the the the board And it seemed like the board was on board with it, which is having a human resources director in central office There are 262 employees within this district. I have been the primary human resources person for all of them For the last six seven years Especially when you are looking for a new person to come in You know, one of the questions that that i'm asking when I go out to interview Is one of the things that is making me decide on a district or not is who they have on staff Because there's a protective element to this If i'm the one that is always going in and doing all those those Investigations and giving people bad news at times if i'm always the one that is doing all the negotiations and being the face of negotiations With the staff that doesn't necessarily Keep a good relationship Going and so I think this is going to be vital to the success of your new superintendent Inflation we've got out a little bit to help out the the custodians actually Be able to get the supplies they need to do their work so What you've got in total between the mandated and then the discretionary is a 2.1 million dollar increase If folks remember over the course of time, I've been taking the surplus money with the voter's help and the board's help We've been putting into into an operational reserve fund that we then tap To help subsidize future budgets So we've still got at least three years or if you vote depending on how you vote tonight You're gonna have at least four more years of these subsidies to be able to use So even though we're going up by 2.7 on the expense side There's an additional one million dollars in revenues to offset it So our total increase in the budget is about one million dollars for all these things With the biggest portion of it and this is not a complaint Is increases to salary and benefits for the staff the staff got between an eight percent increase in terms of the teachers The support staff got close to a nine percent increase This year and so, you know, it's the it's the board doing its job Making sure that the staff are well taken care of So this is the recommended budget We'll talk a little bit about the tax implications because that's what people really care about Before we do that, it's important to talk about again Make sure that people understand what's within our control and what's not In terms of the budget and the taxes that people pay within the community We control a little bit revenue, right? We generate some revenue And we can control our discretionary expenses So those are the two things that are in our control within this overall picture We do generate a fairly significant amount of revenue for students that choose to come here I believe last year it was 630 thousand dollars And so that helps out a little bit the things that are out of our control And one of these is special to this year Is they have this Tier one tax base, right? This is the amount of money that the state has decided that it needs to earn and pay per student At a minimal level to make sure that every student is getting what they need to be considered Equitably educated, right? And so when they did this huge legislative change In terms of of how taxes are calculated that tier one tax rate was reset And you'll see that in the next slide what what that looks like Um, right they started to assume that students schools like Us who only have 850 kids based upon those students needs We really should be getting paid for the equivalent of 1533 Students when they do that they've got to raise more tax money because that was true for most schools In the in the state to be able to pay them for that The other thing that we don't have control over is the common level of appraisal And so that's the increase that has occurred in the the value of people's properties Right and so what happens is every year the state goes out and does a survey And it takes a look at what the the properties are selling in each town And then it takes a look at the grand list and it says okay You know you are assessing them in your town at this level And this is the taxes that you're asking them to pay based upon this amount But in reality your houses are selling for up here So this is the amount that you need to be paying taxes on and that's what the CLA is all about And across the state Everybody's home values have not only gone up, but in some cases have gone up significantly And when that happens the state is going to expect you to pay the taxes for that additional value of your home And again that is out of our control And then the last piece is right we got those mandated and contractual expenses They just they are what they are, you know, we've made agreements. We've got a little up to them All right, this is the piece this is the only piece anybody anybody cares about 2023 24 tax rate That's the current year that we're in and brain tree was one dollar in In 57 cents for every hundred dollars of assessed value of your home So if you know how many If you know the value of your home and you divide it so you know how many hundreds there are in it to get it up to You know what it's worth You multiply it by this number and that tells you what your taxes are So in brain tree last year, this was their tax rate Their CLA is this what this number means Is that based upon that state survey The people in brain tree are really only they're they're only being assessed at 79 of the actual value of their homes So they need to be paying significantly more, right? There's 20 that they're currently not paying taxes on that they should and so their tax rates are going to go up And so they start at 157 between the reset, right? That happened because of the legislation and the change in their property values They're going to be a dollar 70 or almost a dollar 71 per hundred dollars in assessed value next year The overall impact if you have a $350,000 home You can expect your taxes to go up four hundred and eighty dollars If your home is worth more than this then your taxes will go up proportionally to that if it's worth less than this It'll go down proportionally to that Brookfield, right? They had reassessed, but they had some other quirky things that were going on which was kind of interesting Where they're going to be at this point is they're at a dollar 42 Almost a dollar 43 per hundred dollars in assessed value So at a $350,000 property between last year and this year they can expect their taxes to go up five hundred and forty three dollars And Randolph is actually the winner this year in terms of this huge change that's happening legislatively They had a really dramatic increase in the the value of their properties But They're going to only be paying an extra 274 dollars again on the average price And again, I'm going really fast and yeah, why why is that? The the Randolph one, um because their taxes were already pretty high last year And so so what happened with Brookfield is right there they're paying 95 of what they're supposed to you would expect their taxes to be lower than this But what happened was that when they reassessed last year um The assessments were too high So they actually got a cut because they were paying more than they should So they got a cut in their taxes But this year Because they're now below the value that they should be paying They lost that cut that they received and now they've got to pay taxes on that extra five percent on top of it And so they got hit the largest so what What can you suggest implications are for Randolph Going through reassessment right now So if they follow the same pattern and brain trees going through reassessment as well If they follow the same pattern as Brookfield when it did theirs Is the year after the reassessment is complete They're going to see a dramatic decrease in their taxes and then a year later It'll kind of bounce back up that that was the pattern that happened with Brookfield That is the taxing impact on the three towns based upon this budget um The other thing when you get to the point because all this is voted on in your consent agenda Um, and this was the number that literally came in just before I arrived at this meeting So I apologize about the slide may not be all that clear Um, we are looking at the surplus money from the 2022-23 year and trying to determine what we do with it At the end of 2023 between reimbursements and grants and everything We had 1.4 million dollars that was left over that was unspent and so With that money what we've already done is we've taken 350,000 of it because we can just do that And we've rolled it in to help subsidize next year's budget already So when you're looking at those budget numbers and the tax increases this 350,000 is already helping to reduce that We are going to recommend again if you vote on this in your consent agenda that 51 283 of this goes into the operational reserve fund for operational needs that might arise over time And then The remaining amount to do what we've been doing for the past couple of years this this 1,060,000 That it is split into three equal amounts and it will be used to subsidize the 2025 26 budget the 2026 2027 2027 2028 those numbers seem really big Kind of scary in terms of age and stuff but for those three years So that would be subsidizing each of those budgets for 353,333 dollars per year And again, I apologize presentation isn't as clean as it usually is because like I said it was last minute Just help me remember again what I say to people when they say How come you always have this big surplus of the end? Why are you taxing? Why are you asking us for so much tax money and then not using it? Actually, so the first the first the first piece of this is easy We are using it to help you with your taxes. We're having the surplus because where is it going? It's going into subsidized future years taxes, but then they would say but why aren't you getting it right the first time? So why do you have so there's a couple of basic reasons and robin is probably the best person to go into detail Just give me the basic. Yeah, so I'll give you I'll give you the basic I'll give you the basic too So the first one is is staffing if I have people that are retiring that are at the highest point of the pay scale And they go out and we hire somebody who's at the bottom of the pay scale That's a significant savings, right? Because when I'm building the budget now I'm assuming that everybody here now is here next year But during the summer is when that turnover happens And if people high on the pay scale go out and we hire low, there is a benefit there there is also situations where the Amount of money is even greater Because the person that's going out on retirement was taking benefits with us and the person that's coming in low is not taking benefits Benefits are an additional $40,000 per person. They're huge The other place, uh, where this comes from Is uh, is through what we call reimbursements We have things that we have to pay for up front And so those have to be in the budget I have to have the money to be able to pay for them during the year And then at the end of the year the state comes along and says oh, we're going to reimburse you for that And so you get that money back and that adds into the surplus. So those are those would be We have to budget for everything that we want to pay for but we can often get grants to end up paying for it And then that surplus and so prior and so, uh, Heather's point is good Prior to the covet years when the when we started to get the esser grants You know the seven million dollars or the esser grants plus everything else that you've been bringing it on top of it Prior to that the surpluses were in the 300 to 400 thousand dollar range And so this big jump when we started hitting these million dollar surpluses that happened when the grants came along And I think a lot of it was is because of that reimbursement, right? We pay for it up front And the grant says oh no, here you go. You can you can you know replace that money that you spent with this So that helps so questions on the surplus and what we're trying to do with it So the 1.1 million that you're using to offset this year's increase Is coming From operational reserves, which is that what that 51 is going into So do I have something I can scribble on? So what we've done here, I actually I'll do it right So what what we've done with our surpluses Is every year that I have a surplus we divide it up into three equals. Yeah, and so what's happening Uh, you double uh, you're tripling. So really so then yes So what's happening is we're in a position here where we're spending those, right? If this is 350,000 and that's 350,000 and that's 350,000 Because this was one year surplus. This was the next year surplus and we're constantly dividing it by three We've got a significant chunk of money here And it's built this way on purpose so that if we ever lose the surplus You have two years to step it down And find ways to compensate for what we can't certain, you know supply through surplus anymore Okay, so it was set up to step it up And so there's no what you don't want to have happen is have a year like this And then have nothing the year afterwards because then there's going to be some major cuts and things You're going to have to do in the budget to make things work out And a huge height in taxes Can you flip back to that? Yeah, uh proposed budget Um That one that one. Yeah. Yeah, so The 1.07 there Or sorry the uh budget subsidy. Yeah. Yeah One million three three That's coming from here or that's coming that's coming from okay from here So 350,000 of it if I remember how robin did this the last time is coming from It's coming directly from this surplus right now Because legally if we have a surplus once the auditors have confirmed that we have it we can Unilaterally just roll it into the next tax year. Yeah, so 350,000 of it is coming from the surplus that we're talking about right now The other two chunks of it are coming from previous surpluses that were put into the operational reserve fund For the purpose of being used this year. Okay, and the voters vote on this in the warning And I do a really good job of describing to them if you vote on this. This is what it means. Okay So that's not to be confused with the 51,000 going into operational reserve No, so the the bucket is the same It's operational because it's supporting operations of the district The 51,000 is just reserve money So that 51,000 is going to go and sit in that bucket and say something blows up next year We don't have money to pay for it The board can then vote to say oh, this is an operational need like hey as we're working with students On in terms of the socio-emotional piece the mental health pieces We could use some really significant training or a really significant program We don't have the money because we didn't build it into the budget at the time But now we can improve it out of this Operational reserve fund you got the money right then and there and you can use it So we've done a really good job But there's there's a variety of reserve funds that exist for different purposes That the town's folks have voted money into them for those purposes And as long as we use them for that We're okay. I don't get access to the money. Nobody does unless the board approves it So once the money's there like if it's in the transportation reserve fund for buses The control on this is that the money's there But I have to come to you with one of those reserve sheets and say this is the amount of money we want for this Yeah, and then you guys say either you hear your name So good really good question. I have two questions The early childhood preschool program how many years has that been going on? At least three It was before COVID So I think it started the year before COVID Yeah If you the superintendent's report at the end it's got a got a chart that shows so it was kind of funny It's typically in the 55 to 60 range, which is about the size of a middle school class Yeah, it's about the size of a full class We we don't get everybody We get like 90 of the people For it because some folks have a need for the summer in the vacation Childcare component that because this doesn't run on vacations or through the summer. They can't Yeah, it's more convenient and then the human resources director their salary is 160 Wouldn't be the salary. That's everything because it's got to include the potential benefits Right remember 40,000 of that or more will be benefits. You've got salary benefits professional development transportation costs like It's all together. Yeah, so So the the sat the actual salary for this If I remember is about 115 All the rest of it And so that's what it is when you're hiring people with with the Cadillac benefits, which is great that we've got The benefits add a huge chunk of of cost in terms of the expense side We're also talking about one HR director for that many staff members, which Is it recommended there's like Or one per 50. Yeah, I mean And and again, this is this is another other another piece of it that we didn't talk about Is one of the things that they do is they help keep the staff happy Right because that's okay, so you're having issues. Let's sit down. Let's let's take some time They've got the time to actually go into detail and work with them and help them a little bit more than somebody who's rushing around They're a resource. Yes. And so this is a way to improve relationships with staff. Yeah. Yeah, it really is So when would you hire someone like that like after the uh You could as soon so 30 days after the budget passes We can start hiring Because anybody can challenge the budget for 30 days after it's it's fast They can do a petition to do a reveal Always fun Vermont's really complicated Massachusetts you all went into town hall and whoever showed up got the boat off the floor and If the eyes had it the budget passed Well, I think you do a good job with the budget No, I I appreciate that a lot But again, this isn't one of my best presentations because stuff was was low So, um, the other thing uh to remember is that the board gave the recommendation for what to do with RTCZ but didn't actually vote to approve the budget So just a reminder of where are we at the the boards that go go with, you know Combining the dental and the health program together and then moving the dean from the grant funded the Essar grants to the local budget and so that means that the tuition is going to go up from 228 76 to 23 5 10 The overall their overall budget will be 3.8 You know million dollars in the overall impact is this is 634 dollar per student increase in tuition so but that gets um That gets them that dean of students who's also doing the curriculum work with them Um, and who is also the adult ed coordinator to try to get the adult that up and running really And so that was a really good choice So again, if you vote to approve the consent agenda, you will be approving this as well Um, it's almost it You already did raven, so Talk about it again if you want but So questions on any of that My job if if you vote the consent agenda in Um, is that now that we've got Most of the data is to put it together into a better presentation and over the course between now and voting time Is to have the meetings at each of the three towns and sell it This is also the basis for my annual report right up is explaining this to the the town And also describing for the town what's in the warning, you know, if you vote on article one This is what it means if you vote on article two, so it's really explicit And let's all pay special attention to the dates of those budget presentations and at least our own towns so that we can be there to Visually support what's going on because we're going to vote for it Um, and also the Cheat on getting answers to questions Hopefully I'll have a little bit more insight, especially into how they calculated that Reset of that that tier one. Yeah. Yeah, that that one's been kind of quirky. Um online any questions or Good okay. Good. Thank you. Thank you Uh, where are we? monitoring board Board governance policy 4.5 and 4.6. They're in here. They are um Conflict of interest And And committees Right Well, let's start with the holdover the code of conduct ethical business-like and lawful conduct appropriate decorum Always always I think we have them Yeah, um loyalty to ownership Unconflicted by loyalties to staff Personal interests as parents or guardians Personally I say both to the time but I do struggle with that a lot as a parent. It's hard Uh I also just want to you know the conflict of interest. This is an interesting one and I think it's especially interesting interesting in such a small Community, um I mean, let's be real. It's next to impossible to be unbiased people sitting here, right? In during meetings and then also out and about in our in our real life. So I just want to acknowledge that it's hard but every time I say to someone as they're paying for their food. Oh, I really try to keep my life suffered. I'm not really gonna talk about that right now Um, it gets easier, right every time you say it, but it's important to Keep trying. I think it's also important when people come to you as they come to me and say Just meant about whatever whether it's Someone we're related to or someone we just know if we know The complaint procedure and say if you feel you have a valid complaint, this is the procedure and you have to follow it like that's that's that I mean we do live in this hometown Yeah, we have friends they have family and We're gonna hear it so That's it is and it makes it that much more important that we And I'm working progress here, but really understand our policies Right, especially the complaint procedure, but um, yeah in order to have conversations, you know operational decisions and stuff like that. It's Homework is important Take any action which is intended to give the impression that he or she would represent special interests Let me ask this because this was an interesting conversation that just got started, but It's late. Is there anywhere in this uh policy the self self monitoring that that Someone has a real concern about Or someone thinks wow, that's an area we really need to Focus on improve It all needs to be focused on In what space did you declare the major extent of your conflict of interest? That's a good question right it says to be recorded in four minutes. Yeah That has to be on record I I I think we're doing a pretty good job. I think it's just a matter of us as you say staying current Revisiting policies um I think in Couraging each other to To speak up or to question You know, um Which that's always a little bit uncomfortable sometimes like hey wait a minute Aren't you related to so-and-so or you know, are you sure you should be? Listening in on this or weighing in on this Because we all know each other fairly well Although I didn't And we're staying in the or participating in the discussion so I'm just for my own clarification If the discussion is in public session And someone has the conflict of interest They Simply cannot participate in the discussion nor the vote Correct, but they can be present if it's in public session Okay, thank you Just to clarify Okay Obviously these policies living documents alive and well. We always have to appear Let's keep ourselves in check as Ann said it's hard, but Who else is going to do it cotton? Thank you. Thank you for turning on your mic for the giggle. I appreciate that very no Board committee principles This is a board that this is my I guess second iteration of board yet because this is my second term Wait, this iteration really likes committees. We are a subcommittee Party But It's very important that we know What role those committees play what rights they have Or authority they have excuse me Do people want I'm not going to read through these things. I trust that people are doing the homework Is there anywhere that someone feels like I need to skip to the back But Well, but that's what we're sort of looking at is where where do we need where do we need improvement? Committees will be used sparingly and ordinarily in an ad-hoc capacity We do have some standing committees right now, but I do think we're doing better about We're certainly doing better Why is why is number five part of our policy? It's awfully vague seeing as sparingly is such a You know, it could be one that could mean 27 depending on Well, how many people are on the board really difficult to accomplish some of the more detailed work in this Yeah So why should we have a statement that says we want to use this sparingly and and only in an In an ad hoc capacity When we have actually heard from consultants and Advisors that we should have a standing budget committee a stand a standing budget subcommittee like we should have standing subcommittee So why is this in here? Does anybody know the history of that piece of our Well, or does anyone want to defend it being in there? Sure. Yeah Because we're supposed to work as a board as a whole and so I think sparingly just means you don't You use a committee to get something done and then you disband it So it's not that you can't use them, but you use it you get the job done And then it goes on and something else comes up you create a committee you give it a charge You make sure it's clear And then it's over Because otherwise the whole board can sometimes and we don't have a huge board, but the board can become You can end up having Experts or people that you just sort of solely rely on and you the whole board is That I because I was on the board way back when we were just going through these that was the intent behind it because otherwise we were getting One of the one of the For the reason for it was just that Then people are checking out because It's not my area. So kind of Not really we don't empower our subcommittees to take any action without the Without the whole So nobody can really check out if they have to then listen to the report and make a decision on their own about Who was it that you had recently that was like you should you know most boards have a regular budget committee in a regular I reported it from a training that the burlington one That's when I brought it and then we put it on an agenda to discuss and decided No What it's been said of things sparingly used it appropriately as we said, you know We're using it in an appropriate manner based on Whatever Just so they're kind of another thing I would say and this is that I'm trying to figure out that like explicitly somewhere, but just that there's a there's a rotation of individual, you know that that There's an expectation that board members will sit in touch capacity on a committee and be that it will always be the same Board members that there will be a rotation through Uh not on not her committee, but like it's not the same people. I was on the same committee that maybe if you're You know what I'm saying? Does anyone understand that? It's happening. My my words aren't working I don't want to be required to be on the subcommittee that I'm not particularly interested in so I don't want to be required No, I'm not required, but I also don't I also think it's good for us to know that it should always be the same individual on Does that make sense? Yeah Like if there's if there's a subcommittee that pops up there should be an expectation that That's not the same three or four people who are sitting in there because then you get this perspective and different Yeah, it also should be a shared responsibility. I mean especially because the subcommittees that we've had in the Right now are talking to me There are a lot of work So should be a shared responsibility I have a question and since you were there Number six this policy applies to any group that is formed by board action Whether or not it is called a committee and regardless of whether the group includes board members What group would that be that this policy would apply to That's for subcommittees if no board members were on it. So I'm just imagining but you know say you were trying to acquire some real estate And so you charged a lawyer and a real estate agent to You know go and negotiate on behalf of the board. It's just yeah, but thank you for the example. I couldn't And I'm making it up off the fly so I'm ready Well, we charged you to do that. So it wasn't really a board But I think it's saying it would follow these guidelines for improvement and reflection, right? That's how I'm reading it like any any individual who's charged with this type of subcommittee Work would be following the policies the guidelines and the policies We've been placed really Probably gotten better And make the continuous Stay committed to is making sure we're not Violating any opening laws Yeah Put ourselves in check and that's not just about wanting that's also about minutes Minutes That's partly why I want it to be sparingly because But I I see you know Like our annual report, but to me that that's like one of those committees where we're committee for A minute a minute, you know or 15 minutes with ben ben goes off and does that and then right but I think on the other End is something like the ownership linkage committee Which pretty much should always be in existence because that's always It's gotta be So here's a question so in regard to facilities and this new school conversation And um There I was invited to a meeting this morning with Wenberg and bob and less and I I couldn't attend but Is that meeting supposed to be worn because Even though we've charged them with that task Is that no because then they'd have to warn every phone call they make To Yeah, so is me being present that doesn't that like Because are you potentially getting information that you would use to come back and report to the board that they might act on I think the point of me being invited was so I'm up to date on the process Um, I wouldn't necessarily say charge for an action to come back to the board So that's post analysis. Yeah, so I think that that There's probably a lot of ways to look at it, but that's the big one I would would argue, you know, if the board has charged you with providing them at some point in the future You and in sarah With you know making a recommendation In part of that purpose of that meeting was to have a discussion to help formulate that recommendation That would be a a meeting Yeah, that probably should be worn But if you're just showing up for you know setting up the next meeting or you know, we're going to meet with Lindbergh at you know such in such a time or we're going to go take a walk or something If it's not used to gather the information for that recommendation, it's probably not Okay, but what about in the scenario like if I were in that meeting and I said I'd like us to explore this thing in I would say that's probably cross line. I would give get a drill call and get his his take on it Okay, but my understanding which is limited is is that if it's being used to Determine a potential board action or recommend a board action and that's kind of that's a meeting Yeah, and if you're there representing the board which you all right So i'm kind of changing my mind here because if you attended and asked questions As representing the board Then yeah, it has to be public We can see even more sorry about that. Well, so no, I said yes. I'm just trying to make sure we can Find some procedure that we can follow here You know What can I interrupt for a second? What is the chart? What is their charge because that I think will help you understand When it's a committee meeting and When You're just going to see what you know, what are you guys talking about? You know or just observing let's spread out the next three meetings. You know, that's all not meeting Well, we've charged you with gathering information research Right well and information get great all the board and then the board charged Them bob and west of you. Well, wait a minute. We can't be charging bob and west We got to charge him to tell bob and west to do Such and such well, we approved 150,000 for the Analysis. Yeah, we which came Through Lane because remember It's no I know but it was a It wasn't a charge. It was an approval. Right because it came as a request Right and as part of a subcommittee lane brings that to us as the operational manager of the entire district Um But I do know a lot of folks have um, you know built this this type of subcommittee a lot of boards Does that make it that's what they're supposed to be? I'm assuming so but a lot of boards do have this sort of a subcommittee It would be in violation of our policies until we change them Because you know, that's definitely would be a warrant a warrant committee. Yeah, I have to public to attend The discussion and hear what's Being talked about But that's where I go back to the charge the charge isn't for sam and sarah to come up with alternatives The charge was I'm just trying to sell the farm for the school district Oh No, I think we need to but I think we need We've sort of we've charged through that you No, who gave you you brought the reserve I brought it up and yeah Yeah, so what are they doing? What are they doing? What is the? Are you doing But I think that's where this policy is what you know If you're going to have a committee What you have to be clear about what is your charge and is it in line with Your policies that say that you know And we as the board You know we we Well, and actually we as the board we aren't in charge of We're in charge of Having him directing him to protect the assets, but it's actually the different towns that Will ultimately be All right, they will ultimately be the towns that They own the buildings use them but And we shut we're managing to make sure that You take care of them For the towns The second member of this subcommittee that we're questioning Sarah one clarification on Our meeting earlier Sam, sorry, you weren't there um, it was just Kind of like on the meet and greet spec of things nothing Would Nothing like more than informational I guess for clarification on that Yeah, cool. Yeah, I was more asking hypothetical questions Okay, and uh, yes, Sam I would like to At some point to face on some information that was received and um, another on another note chelsea and I Um and and this was discussed In another subcommittee meeting we had this week um If you recall we discussed possibly Re-namping the subcommittees and seeing about maybe Um looking at what it would be like to consolidate some committees and really talk about What the job Of each subcommittee entails and seeing if you could Consolidate it with another subcommittee Because it just seems like there are a lot in on this board. Maybe we could um Re-namp that when we get these new Board members So Does this come out of maybe thinking that the annual report committee actually that should have been charged to the ownership linkage committee And been a part of that committee because that's where actually the confusion with them came up Well, no, but now that you mentioned it like that's a very good example Yeah, and and sarah when we were discussing that I was Not sure how that would look just because I felt like the four committees that we have are super specific and I think at least having an outline of what each committee is doing and responsible for For the year would be helpful for each subcommittee, but since they're so newly formed. I think that's still kind of a work in progress But I mean there is for sure the possibility of combining things that there are similarities like like that Yeah Because we know things that are going to come up like the yeah Like the we want to do these letters to the community, right? So like if something next year when the annual report comes up like it's like, oh Well, maybe this committee should do it because it's kind of falls under that hat or I'd like to propose that this is a great discussion bouncing out of One of our self evaluations, I'd like to propose that this go on the agenda for our first meeting with new members Thinking about how we want to use subcommittees Listing the ones that we have currently that we think are still alive And can we get clarification on what the facilities Subcommittee what their charge is we must have written it down in our minutes somewhere what their charge was because I'm I'm confused now on exactly what we had charged them. Like what are they split? I mean, we've got a facilities person. We have lane or facilities people Do they I mean maybe what maybe what they we want is just is it To have citizen I don't know but anyway, I just wonder at some point since we're talking agenda because I'm a little confused now Like what exactly is their charge and it doesn't sound like you really have a real Clear view of what the charge is the charge initially was to get the ball rolling and have Wayne Ask for the appropriation to do the study of the analysis Now what our role is Sarah go ahead Thank you. So I look at it as our role is to report back to the board With the process The possible Building of a new campus in school And what that entails because there's going to be a lot of steps in that so that is one of the jobs that I Look at it as or charges if you will I wonder if that though can be covered by the quarterly facilities monitoring report that we now on the annual agenda Have requested Bob in or west to attend and Report on I wonder this so again I think what's important here Is that sam and sarah? if you guys are going to meet and talk about Facilities That's a public meeting. It has to be warned Even if it sounds like you said meet and greet, but then you also said information sharing If it's information sharing and I assume that you participated in the in the call because that's good questions That's why your own facilities committee that makes it a public meeting So I guess I would request at this point Do you have any meetings on the books for the facilities committee before the February meeting? Uh No, unless they scheduled one this morning. I don't know So I guess I would request that it sounds like we need to rethink what The purpose is there and and if Yeah, and the charge it sounds like we're all a little Either vague or unclear on it Yeah, so I guess I would ask that We let bob and west continue doing their research And that this committee doesn't meet before february when we can look back at the minutes See what we meant for it to be And vote as a board on whether we think it still needs to exist now that the process has been Kicked off Yeah, that's what I would ask Thoughts Okay, hey we got through both of them you guys we're back on track with self evaluations Okay, I put cotton here for an update on The legislators attending our february meeting, but I'm wrong and that's sam Uh, yeah, uh, sorry Reached out to all them haven't heard that Awesome, that's not unusual Couldn't even get a text back from my brother But what happened at the holidays No, but I have reached out to all of them and It's the very beginning Because I I I think Katja and I just split up who we we both were connecting with a couple of them And it it took a few few rounds few rounds especially the first couple of weeks. They're kind of Busy I do know they're talking about open meeting law up there Well, you have the date of that meeting right they so you can tell them we want them there. Yeah. Yeah, okay Yeah Okay, thank you sam. Sorry about that coffee consent agenda We've got a bunch of minutes Yep, someone has a question Real me in what did I what did I I do have something on this though and in light of our last our conversations now about committees My only request is that if we are having committee meetings that we are just making sure that we approve We mentioned them as committees and not special board meetings because I was very very confused about the two special board meetings That I've worried I guess. Oh And they were committee meetings. Yeah. Yeah on Monday at Tuesday Thank you, your conscience is clear Yeah, we're worried Um I would like to suggest that um, we don't do this all in one shot That minutes are their own Vote for approval We put those three together that The two budgets are their own vote This is just a proposal here. So People can Um Management questionnaire, traditions, copier capacity, collaborative Uh, I don't know if we want to do the reserve fund request with the budgets But whether you agree or disagree, I will entertain a motion For any part of The consent agenda All right, I uh would like to move that we approve minutes from the regular board meeting 12 19 and the committee meetings on 1 8 and 1 9 All second second Further discussion All those in favor Hi, I was really oddly Awesome. Thank you online. Thank you here post extensions Passes unanimously So, yeah, sorry just jump in again. I know I'm terrible here offline. Um, but I'm just again There's a couple things on the consent agenda that I'm not seeing in our packet Unless my So that I'm looking at online is not Complete or I'm not seeing There's a handout for an execution to approval of new copier lease like that the high school capacity Um To the brave and class for the agreement and the officer the operational reserve fund request and those are in our packet Or at least the package that is That we were provided prior to meeting I think that Do you want me to scan it send it? I mean, no, I just won't vote for those then if they're not but I just think that If things are going to be in our consent agenda if they can be You included in the packet You know, I think it was helpful to have that in there so that we can review prior to the meeting too if there's any Yeah Completely agreed Um We do have everything here. We do have a quorum in the room I'll stand for this vote Okay So then are there any Well, the budgets though, we're all We all had the budget presentation um, and So i'm gonna go ahead and move that we approve the ossd budget I am taking out the annual warning because those do need to be updated since we got news that What does he say 510? So just the budget, uh Do you have uh, yeah, I think you have a revised copies I don't I have the ones that robin and I did it Okay, four five four five The ones they did at four or five are already Outdated outdated. Yeah. So the ossd budget and in my motion, I am including all of the discretionary Um recommendations to include all of them The rtcc budget and the operational reserve fund request taxpayer subsidy That is my motion those three Do I have a second? I have a second And seconds Further discussion All those in favor I Thank you opposed abstentions Megan and cocky I I just want to remind you guys you did have the information for this one Oh, you're muted. You're muted wait We have but the operational Operational request come in at this as a paper form or that's just what was late for that in the meeting I I thought it was in the presentation. I didn't even see if there's Which piece are we talking about that the last thing listed in the consent agenda Is that So that one all that one that one's not critical. I would say take that one off Okay, I'd like to amend my motion and I can explain what that is if people want to know So that's in your presentation Uh, well, there's there's two pieces. So you are what was in the presentation is basically the information That's in the warning that you're voting on Right this Yeah, so this is this uh operational reserve fund request and probably because a lot of the information was coming in late This is the subsidy money that's sitting in the operational reserve fund currently That needs to be applied towards next year's budget So that can be voted on it Okay, so that's money That's already sitting there that's been there for a year or two waiting to be spent But you have to approve me to be able to apply it to the budget right in right Yeah, we did. Yes Yep Yep, um, so I I'd like to to amend my motion to include The ossd budget With the discretionary funds the discretionary Sort of thank you No additions Oh, gotcha stuff expenses Uh And the rtcc budget As presented those two Do I have a second? And if yes, thank you All those in favor Oddly visually Yes, Rachel you did okay great then passes unanimously. Thank you everybody Um Okay, the financial management questionnaire The announced tuitions the new copier lease The high school choice capacity limits And the raven collaborative agreement those are all enclosed in the printed packet I move to approve those one two three four five items Do I have a second present In the room I'll second again And thank you Further discussion? I have a question about the school choice. Yes The 15 sending out and the 50 coming in is that different than what it's been in the past same same as last year Yeah Last year we had Students apply for all 15 spots to go out I'm only the one who asked for the waiver to come in And that was the oh right result of the 80s Right most likely yeah All those in favor All right All right, uh opposed Abstentions One two three abstentions that's Katya, Sarah and Megan The motion does pass Yay Okay The operational reserve fund request that will have in the packet for next week next friday friday for friday Yep Yeah, that one's one of the resolutions Uh superintendent's report. Do you want to Do you want to Talk about anything? No, what I've tried to do because that one of the things I think that was coming up In some of the questions especially With the staff uh here was this idea about you know where we stand in terms of student staff ratios And so I spent a lot of time kind of going through the data In pulling together You know kind of where we stand and then putting in kind of the state requirements or the recommendations in terms of where school should be So that people could kind of make their own assessments in terms of whether we're over staffed or under staffed or letters from the principals Mm-hmm Yeah, they usually do their annual reports in this one. So this is what they put in the annual report Yeah, um financial report piece Uh power off in 16 seconds Thank you Is uh we're we are in good stead We should have spent about 11.5 million so far this year if everything was linear We spent about 8.3 So we were well in the black at this point in time There was nothing major when I talked with robin today that was Awesome easy stuff questions on the financial reports My only question is is robin happy? Yeah, she's happy to come in and talk with the board. No, no, no, I just mean like Is she because she's getting along in her career and She's gonna stick with us or we've we've we've talked Making sure we've got I don't know if we should probably if we talk about it might be an exact Oh, yeah, it might be appropriate. I mean, there's nothing negative there, but just I'm happy to at least tell you what I know Yeah, she's senior in the state Yeah Or And if you want want her there to talk to them You know decide if you want Okay Um Action items so okay, I am going to Email I see that Jackie's already sent me dates and things like that so we'll connect tomorrow morning about getting and you know out to staff and central office and about Thank you I can't think of the word about screening Yes, it is screening committee. Okay Okay Chelsea and Anne as soon as you can send us A final copy that would be great and then quick turnaround as soon as people can get it back to Chelsea and Anne We will have a special meeting on Friday 5 p.m. Remote To talk about that and to vote on a on the subsidy thing so we will have patents We'll have a letter and we'll have I mean ideally you'd have your annual report letter hiring Steering committee. I don't have a language right, but whatever that is sabbatical teachers that needs to be approved You didn't make yep gen then it needed to be yep um, February 1st, hopefully this will be corrected the annual morning and reserve fund requests to bolsters the budget That's a 5 p.m. meeting I also Okay Because I I've misunderstood when samson no no that I was just talking about Just So at this time I will Entertain a motion to enter exactly the session to discuss personal transition There's some because it's kind of touching on Kind of employment stuff with me. It might be best if it's just us All right, uh, I will make a motion that we enter executive session with the board and the lane To discuss Personnel to discuss person Uh, that's at 10. Oh five. Do I have a second? Chelsea further discussion All those in favor Opposed extensions the unanimous