 Jen to take notes tonight as Linda B. Bould our usual note taker is at the June Bias concert So we've got folks meeting the district and monitoring on K-12 Except the board resignations and a plan for replacements approve the annual agenda and board goals Do I have someone to volunteer to do meeting evaluation All right The first few minutes of our meeting is for community engagement Coming I'd like to hold comments to three or four minutes a piece if possible I Really like getting these agendas in the material attached to them. I think somebody said maybe it's out on the website I did find the agenda just the one or two page route on the website, but all of the attachments are really useful too You know they haven't they haven't been on there for okay. I will mention that to Linda again Thanks anyone else I came tonight to speak as a member of the public because unfortunately The work of tape technical difficulties From last meeting so there's no public record Of what went on here and the reasons for my resignation So I wanted a few minutes to address the board as a member of the public Because unfortunately since members of the public don't have the opportunity now to observe what happened In the circumstances that gave cause for me to have to resign from this board I thought that I should at least give this board a Another opportunity To make a choice but to do so at least here in public Where there's a recording going on and you can just countable to your So I want to start out by reading the oath of allegiance and the oath of the office And you have your position as an elected government official When you take an oath of office as government official and you act as part of the board You do so with requirements such as Constitutional due process which frankly is the most sacred duty that you have so that According to your oath of allegiance in your office You will there you will do equal right and justice to all persons To the best of your judgment and ability There was no change in policy Nobody has rewritten any of your pieces of paper What you have changed is You have turned your heads and refused your most essential and fundamental function of Verifying reporting that is done to you You might as well fire the auditors and just ask Robin. Is there money in the bank? Because the job that this board does when it delegates power It must then hold the delegate To their feet to the fire to prove to you that they have discharged that delegation of authority Properly and in accordance with law So you've received the report It's been redacted and been redacted That's now been put into the public realm and it is a report that you accepted with not one shred of Component evidence to support the unsupported allegations Wild accusations that are included in this report because I'm told you folks want peace I want to put this behind you. You don't want conflict and you want to move on I Understand that But the job of a board member is not to seek peace It's not to go along with whatever anyone that you delegate power Says It is your job to make sure that they prove it Now I can't force you guys to look at pieces of paper and to say to the superintendent Prove this to us. And if that's what you said in an email, what was the response from the district's lawyer? What did Patreland say back to you in response to your concerns that you expressed You have not only failed to ask for that information And you have failed to look at that information knowing some of you knowing that it exists But guess what nobody there knows what they don't know And because you have not required and requested Evidence you have allowed the evidence book to go by the wayside Pretending that the whole board is reviewing something when they are not and not only have you prevented yourselves from knowing the truth Testing the accusations that have been made which are extremely troubling and need to be resolved if this board is going to go forward In any way that serves the public and your oaths of office To protect and do no harm to the state of Vermont or the Constitution or the citizenry thereof You have not only put your head in the sand, but you have prevented me a board member From obtaining that evidence when I asked for it you have changed the procedure not the policy Under the auspices of pretending that the whole board is reviewing something when they're not reviewing anything So I'm here to challenge the board This is your evidence. This is my free-range binder the 380 pages of emails during the time period of December through March of This past year Where you will see the context you will see the conversations You will see the directives when they happen when the board meetings happen when you're advised to an executive session That get your lens office was handling all investigations a certain matter. I have Quiddled it down basically to the smoking guns Need to read the smoking guns. I was only CC'd on most of these emails There is not an email in your evidence section that was referenced That came from me. I know xxxx is listed a lot as As far as I can tell maybe three different people are xxxx as not evidence You don't know who is even saying it. What's about? Especially the new board members You didn't you weren't even in office for more than half of these emails Some of the emails that buys the whole board of what was going on and others do not There are accusations that the board that the board leadership prevented the superintendent from keeping the board informed We've been around this issue before I've given you 10 minutes Common and I really think it's appropriate that we move on we've got lots to do Okay, and so I really do feel that we've done due diligence and Accept your comment as given and you know and we can think about it. Thank you Who is empowered by this board and you were all there you all know what was going on in an executive session You all granted the authority necessary For the board leadership to handle the day-to-day issues and to protect the board From getting dribbled a bunch of evidence to preserve their position as cross-eyed judicial decision makers government officials who have to decide due process rights That is the basic problem here because due process is not understood by your administration Nor by your board Well, thanks for your comment. That's by asking the board To reconsider your decision to accept that report Until unless you were given all of the evidence, I'm happy to sit down with anybody who wants to look through my book I'm sure the superintendent has a similar book probably a lot better Because only then can this board in good conscience Discharge their sworn duty Obligation and oath to the citizenry of our community to the Constitution of Vermont to our staff members Our board members and our other administrators who deserve due process Excuse me, this isn't a board meeting and that's one of your biggest problems that you don't understand We're done. It's the board runs the meeting But when you understand that and understand you don't have a right to be an executive lawyer, and you know Assembly So I implore the people who understand why I had to reason Because you Prevented me from looking at evidence and doing my duty Please don't let that happen to yourselves Reconsider and certainly don't let it happen again And now I'm gonna go and I've now missed the last soccer game Of my child's career that I will ever miss for a board meeting because that's how important I thought it was To come here and to give you folks one more chance to write the ship. I Believe it was the quote father forgive them for they know what not they do I'm trying to forgive you Thank you. Does anyone else have anything they wanted to bring forward Okay Is there any public discussion on how the budget is set tremendous now which part do you mean How does the board of the superintendent solicit? input from teachers in the community with regards to How we spend our money? Typically what happens in the budget process? I'm usually the one that runs the budget process, so I would have the most yeah, usually we simply approve the budget So the administration will set the budget. I I don't know that process. I'll have to ask lane, you know, I don't know how much input teachers typically staff Typically have to the administration, you know when they decide how to set the budget So it's It's not important to the board to see that that happens we see I mean basically our job is to Monitor the superintendent the superintendent is the one who oversees staff, you know, you know, and then the Principles etc. Oversee the teachers so basically what we do we presented a budget we asked lots of questions, you know, how did you know, why are we Cutting teachers or what you know the allocation for different Departments that sort of thing, but typically no we don't set a budget You'll be able to answer how lane solicits input from Teachers administration in the community Are you aware of that process? I am not Has that process changed Since since say when Brent was was doing it. Is it different than it was before? Well, I'm asking could you you've been a teacher for both Brent and for Lane is the process different Did Brent do something different that are you trying to are you trying to ask us something? I'm trying to read between the lines, but I'm not Is it important to them To see that teacher and community input is regularly solicited That's probably a question we should ask We've depended upon the administration to Solicit that information and come up with a budget that seems reasonable, you know for the educational purposes of the schools But there's no sort of checks and balances Like you had to check on the superintendent right and so we asked plenty of questions you know Determined why and how that budget was was agreed upon but not typically, you know Who has been influential in helping to determine or direct that the funds We don't see our job as to tell them how to do stuff We we we just check on what he's doing. So our job is to progress So if we're looking at the budget and the budget doesn't seem to meet the goals that we've set Then then that's when we re-engage and set more parameters and stuff like that But how he wants to go about setting his budget how he wants to go about getting input from teachers from principles or from Community members that's up to Lane. That's that's his job. He can do it. However. He feels like we've never We didn't do that with Brent. That's Michael Manchin really we don't we haven't been in that business We have a budget meeting every year and the budget meeting anybody can give any input they want whether it's a teacher or Or a community member, but typically that budget meeting is after the budget is already been But we start to begin to come up with and discuss the budget generally in the November meeting Those are sort of the basic parameters and by December. It's more definite and Obviously it continues through February You know, we have the budget meeting that's open, you know and advertising usually the day before town meeting or thereabouts And that's because by law we have to do it within I forget seven days or something like that. That's just the law Right, but but input could come earlier. I mean, that's typically when the budget begins to be Lane may have a formal process we do not have So is there a question about whether there is a formal process that I use It doesn't make sense that you're asking the board about something that Typically My process is to compile with the principles pull in as their needs And the expectation is the principles are communicating with their their students and with their With their faculty about what those needs are to try to identify Like the last thing that we were talking about was the need for textbooks I think you and I even had that conversation. That's one of the conversations that I also had to the cabinet I've also run a variety of open forums Usually at least once a month some cases twice a month and concerns will come up there About things that should be added to the budget from the traffic patterns in front of the high school to getting payment on Little road that leaves from RTCC We do a presentation in front of the board of PowerPoint presentation for all the community as well Once we've kind of compiled things from what the principles have said their needs are You know in terms of trying to meet the ends that the board's is set And then you know the board does ask quite a quite a few good questions About things what's not a rubber stamp my needs, but it's really just making sure there's a line But it's kind of the up and down through the hierarchy, you know October so the the principles are expected to start to have the conversations during the month of October Any other questions or concerns? We just had We have two things one quick thing is it'd be really helpful if you guys had name plates up there So we for ourselves you mean yes We would know who everybody is But also We just wanted to make sure that the board was aware of what went on the first day of school as far as Mr. Hawks and his whole Ku Klux Klan thing that went on We have several concerns about that. We're not necessarily here to discuss them all right now, but Because the board isn't necessarily Seeming like they're aware of everything. We just want to make sure that that is something that's out there and aware Many parents that we've had contact with are very unhappy with him putting a KKK symbol over our Galloping ghost symbol and if this is some sort of Plan of his or the administration to get rid of our galloping ghosts Then they're going to have quite a fight on their hands from the community So it is a lot of parents thought it was very unacceptable for him to do that Number one on top of our mascot number two the first day of school You have seventh graders eighth graders new kids from other communities coming in and this is what he does on the first day of school very unacceptable no reasoning for it and We wanted the board to be aware of it So Thank you All right anyone else right thanks we always appreciate people coming Next on the agenda is the ends monitoring Lane that's up to you So the report that you received I know it was a bit kind of dense in terms of data but The intent was to kind of reinterpret how the ends are measured and Really to try to provide feedback through the assessments that we choose To measure those ends make sure that they're valid but more importantly make sure that they're tools that the teachers can use to actually improve instruction As opposed to just something that we're looking at ourselves kind of in the back The work that the teachers will be engaged in With the principles of the different schools over the next year or two is going to require them to create for local assessments And social studies life skills the arts and information technology And it's also going to require the creation of two programs that the district has been lacking a little bit One of the life skills program the other is a digital literacy program to train students in that Creating the assessments Is going to be vitally important Because it's part of the backwards planning process If they reach out to the national standards that relate to these subjects in some cases like with life skills And the digital literacy piece if they reach out to the community that some ideas about what their expectations are They can build the assessment that they are going to use and then use that assessment right the backwards planning To actually create the curriculum that goes along with those Assessments are typically that I focused on you know taking a look at the research or typically end of the year kind of cumulative Assessments with the logic being one that they will test student mastery Did they learn what they were supposed to learn and to the other component that I think gets lost sometimes It's making sure there were students are retaining what they've learned as well I mean I'm learning at being having it mastered for a week or two is great Having it mastered for a lifetime is a whole other ballgame and that's kind of what we're striving for so if there are questions at all and any parts of the Monitoring report I'm happy to answer and then folks had expressed an interest in SATs and advanced placement, which I can throw the reports in the scores up on the board My initial question was how did you come up with these goals, you know 51 percent? Seniors will have an exceed on their senior project and things like that and you had some pretty lofty goals and as far as science and Yeah, a lot of it is Talking with the cabinet. We've had a couple of discussions couple of good discussions on this But as well was taking a look at my familiarity of what other states are doing and where their students are scoring I mean, we're all supposed to be in a standards-based system where there is a Definite body of knowledge that the students are supposed to learn and then the testing is related to that body of knowledge That they're supposed to learn most states after four or five years In English language arts there at 98% Math tends to trail that a little bit. It's typically 89 and 92 when science trails out a little bit further It's typically low 80s So I took the ideas based upon what I'm familiar with in other states And then also took a look at what the state averages were and trying to find kind of a balance point of what was what was a good? Healthy target to shoot for But that was also reasonable and doable and so for instance this life skills assessment. What are you? So that is far as that goes that is part of a program that is going to need to be developed They're going to need to decide Had a time kind of what it is What are these students supposed to learn is it life skills? And this is part of the discussion of the community is it how to change attire Is it how to balance a checkbook is it knowledge about what retirement funds are the difference between the stock and a bond We've got to decide what things are of value In in terms of the community that the community wants put a program together that either teaches it as a separate class Or hopefully can integrate the the separate pieces into the classes that already exist And at that point in time the assessment could be a criterion reference, you know a standard space test Or it could also be what's called a performance assessment. Yeah, we're teaching you how to change a tire on a car So you know how to do this if you're stuck on the lonely highway in the middle of the night You take them out to the driver's ed car and you make them change the tire if they can do it Then they score high high on the assessment. So that's what performance assessment would be You know, here's a checkbook and you balance it. That's a performance assessment. So the life skills piece But again, it's a thing things that they have to develop Not things that are typically done kind of full-scale currently within the district For the math and science you've got us as being lower than Based on the kneecap there significantly lower as you say significantly So it looks like you're 21 they were 34% the average look at the math. Yeah math and science Yeah math is my so what's the plan to address that? so Remember that these declines have been going on for quite a while And in kind of looking at the district I think one of the reasons that they've gone on quite a while is because people weren't transparent about it The first step in getting things fixed is understanding where you stand and The purpose of kind of putting this report together and taking a look at the data and the data with the AP and the SAT as well It's where we stand and hopefully that's going to help develop a sense of urgency We did do some curriculum work last year, but the Amount that needs to be accomplished is gigantic And trying to get in a short amount of time trying to get people on board who over the course of ten years have been told that test scores Are not important is a cultural shift. It's got to happen. What I'm hoping Is by turning the tables a little bit? Especially on some of these other ends having them develop their own assessments that are tied to the national standards They're going to be holding themselves accountable. They develop the assessment that they are testing the students on They now have knowledge because of that discussion and because of that creation of what it is They are supposed to be teaching every day in the classrooms, and then they can be held accountable for doing that So that's kind of the goal. It's the backwards plan You reach out figure out what it is that they're supposed to know what the research says Get it into place in your assessment and then for a good part of the class Not all of it over the course of a year it guides what you're teaching on a daily basis Not much is how it's supposed to be done And where are you in that process? Would you say all it's all outlined in here in terms of dates and times and we're just at the beginning Like I said, we attempted to do some curriculum work Last year there was a significant amount that was done at the elementary schools I think that's why you see the little little peak in the ELA math is a problem It's been a problem for a long time because we've got students in the pipeline Who didn't get what they needed in the early years? And so now they're in the later years at the high school and they have no strong foundation to build on For what's a typical class? So it is we've got got a deal with students in the pipeline as well as making sure that all students are getting what they need to So that's the work that we're going to be engaged in and that we're engaged in right now Talked with the cabinet today Shared the report with them Started to ask them we're going to have a meeting next week. They're going to come back They're going to break down out of this report, you know the things that they need to work on with their Faculty within their schools and that is going to be the goals for their evaluations for this coming year When you look at the testing, are you able to is it Are you a lot of concepts that we're missing is it is so one of the problems historically will test back is the fact that It kind of gives you a general score What I call resolution it doesn't allow you to get into the details of okay? Yeah, you know that the kids scored lowly in mathematics this year, but you know which concepts was that they couldn't score low on all And so the SBAC itself never provided that resolution What does provide the resolution however is they've developed what are called the intern interim assessments? So it's by the same group that does the SBAC It allows the teachers to give them these assessments along the way during the year There's a real-time feedback and that does go into the standards The other thing that I did at the end of the year to try to get geared up for the work to try to accomplish this year Was talked with Bristol and the cabinet about going out and finding a good software package To be able to meet some of these needs So they've we're not asking me. I remember the name of it, but they purchased it for K to 8 And it's also going to help them collect the data they need in Mathematics to really drill down to the skills that the students are missing So that's already been purchased And up and running In terms of the work that's happening currently Outside of this was the idea that the district went out and spent a tremendous amount of money on the bridges math program At the elementary school that was some years ago. Yeah One of the reasons they did that was a good reason was that it was tied to the common core You know, those are the new research standards that folks are saying the kids need to have to be successful I mean it follows along with the core values In their lives to come But the problem is is it just it wasn't being used Early grades They did do some adoption of it Crystal did a lot of work. I believe it was in K to 3 Kind of weaning down this massive curriculum that is bridges to the parts that You know, the students really really need to know And so they have been using it but the work this year that she's engaged in is grades 4 to 6 I'm doing that same process of using it, but it was it was not used Which is one of the reasons that you know, there wasn't a lot of benefits The other piece too was that that program did not exists at the school schools So we bought the materials to make sure that that goes in place this year as well So that's all work. It's been in progress But this is this is a high-level and you're talking at best if everybody's on board and plug in a way with it We could probably do it in three years If there is a culture and it seems that there is a being resistant to the testing Peace You know in terms of thinking about the assessment assessment tools Proceed they're being more time spent on testing or Yeah part of it is the Couple of ideas here is you know One of the reasons they chose the s back outside of the fact that it met before kind of characteristics of good tests Is the fact that the kids have to take it anyway The the big problem with it like most tests in the state of Vermont is there's no There's no risk involved. They're not high stakes. They're no stakes And so that's the other piece is we need to spend some time changing the culture With the students and with the parents that when the students are coming in and taking these exams. It's important, you know, yeah, you know, there's no Detriment for performing poorly on it So the kids, you know, may not be putting in the best effort. I know they're not But again, what that does is if they're not taking it seriously It removes that tool from our hands to be able to determine how well things are going and that Subject and being able to put in the changes we need to in other words It takes the data out that we need to make our decisions But the aspect only gets in a few of these you're adding on life skills and science So those because there is no in a lot of them. There is no nationally like recognized test I mean like social studies could pull the MCAS from Massachusetts, but they they dropped it a long time ago So they haven't done much with it in probably close to a decade, but there are national standards out there Every discipline has its own, you know, the National Mathematics Teacher Association they develop their own standards based upon what the research says right now And they can draw on those to develop these assessments, and they may be able to even pull some assessments from them that are value but again part of creating those assessments is this idea of Being able to discriminate levels of mastery. They have to be written in a pretty specific format So as the students are taking them You can actually go in and hone down to these are the specific concepts or the specific areas that the kids are struggling So it'll it'll take a little bit of time, but again, there's a there's a value in The faculty itself actually working on this because those discussions that they have are incredibly rich In terms of how do we do this? Should we do this? This is a really complex concept. You know, how are we going to get this across to the kids? Those are the kind of conversations the faculty should be engaged in. That's what a learning organization is and we're not we're not there Okay, just following up on that. Can I ask in terms of going with an additional or outside assessment versus using report card grades? Say that again. I'm just wondering in terms of going with that and sort of an assessment versus just using report card data There we get the report card grades are not valid Very simply They are too subjective Did the kid get the a because he met all the standards that he was supposed to meet and exceeded them Or did he get the a because he tried really really hard? It didn't quite meet the standards, but we want to give credit for them for so grades are notoriously You know, we talk a little bit in the report about measurement error. That's why you don't use them Why are they why aren't they accurate? Why don't we? do Do better to make those be You can Try but is it easier to use a Single assessment that everybody is aware of what the requirements are or is it easier to depend on a hundred different faculty members to All be on the same page one hundred percent of the time Easier or is it better? Obviously obviously Looking at the grades from past years They certainly are not reflective of how the kids are performing on the state testing which indicates in itself that they are invalid Yep, one of the the big things that you know, Massachusetts was was focusing in on Was the idea that you know, they'd have kids across the board You know is every kid in the districts would get a's and b's because the parents wouldn't stand for it But then you'd have all these kids failing the MCAS and even the state finally stepped in and said this makes no sense It's got to stop you got to stop the grade inflation And again by the same token, you know, what do grades really encompass have they had that discussion for a lot of teachers It's a combination of meeting the standards and effort and habits a heart and mind So there's other things typically that are included when a teacher makes that makes that call It's not always just a straight in America I have a little bit of quibble with the your thing on the senior project and just because The people that grade the senior project besides the paper which is created by teachers but the other four aspects are graded by this community panel that sits and Really the exceeds is given to exceptional work It's not, you know, so 50% of you know, I wouldn't hope even I mean I can't I Don't want 50% to get it because then it's not exceptional exceptional work will be done by some kids in some aspects because it's a five aspect Grading and I think it's good to have those Parts of school which where you really hold the bar high and Most you know many kids can't you know either the project it doesn't lend itself to this or that but exceptional work Is something to be pre exceptionally proud of and I think if 50% of kids get it And it's not exceptional. You're just going to lose that aspect. It's average holding that. Yeah percent get it And so many aspects We don't hold the bar high enough. We don't expect enough of our kids and I think it's really important to sometimes you know challenge them to achieve at a higher level so Standards based environment means I think is that is the question Those those ends that you have developed those are standards for students to meet. I think Meeting proficiency in the senior project for instance, that's that's meeting the standard And I'm just I'm just thinking logically. So I think out loud in my process So let's take a math class for example if these are the standards That's not for some kids to meet. That's for all kids. I'm not talking about Senior project has the added component that one of the pieces that they're working on the students with is revision Going back and redoing work that is not up to snuff if you have a Significant amount of time to revise your work shouldn't it be exceptional? It might be and so the might not and so the students that do not gain proficiency Or are just proficient as opposed to exceeds are probably the ones that didn't put in the time to revise and that goes to Adaptability right adaptability means you didn't get it, right? You come back and you try it again until you do or you don't quit they may be proficient But I think it's good to have in some aspects of life, you know the bar is high enough so that It's really a store in your town when you get an exceeds So we can I mean I'm happy to look there's a lot more other measures that we could use One of the reasons that I focused on that one Was because it's the end game It gives us an indication of what a student has acquired if it's done Well over the course of their entire tenure here Requires them to draw from that foundational knowledge that hopefully we've been still in as part of the ends But to think critically about it, which means to use it for something new and unique And then be able to communicate that effectively to others So that's why I jumped out as it was one of the pieces that the cabinet, you know jumped on to I think that was the first idea They came up with it. I think using it as a value is great. It's not a class So it's extra, you know, it's in addition to the work they're doing and some kids Thrive and some are proficient right and they fail if they're not proficient So it is a measure in that in that way of whether they are their proficient if they fail They don't graduate so any aspect of that of those five parts is the concern that the percentage is too high Or is the concern of using senior project? If we make it 50% then it is average Rather than exceptional Again, I'm happy to comment Panel for many years and I really appreciate that Sort of challenge to kids to say, you know, see how far you can go with this not just Meet meet the proficiency standard, but you know, so no what I what I what I think is good is I can bring it back to the And give them a good discussion on it and see what they're thinking because there's probably others that are equally valid To take a look at Adaptability that you're just speaking about because I know that that one's really harder to measure It seems like the goal is to make sure the students aren't missing a lot of school And how is that something that you feel like? you can control Like how the the school can control in terms of students showing up They feel successful How do you feel successfully you do good on the do or do well on the work? It's in the class or you do well that's on the assessment success breeds its own further success The one super positive thing that is within that school and the kids really in the survey that we did last year Really express that as they feel cared about You know our our rates of attendance and our graduation rates are through the roof I have a feeling That maybe one of the reasons that the academics slipped a little bit was because they work so hard and making sure the The kids were getting through their four years and their diplomas which is which is incredible But now that we've got that those rates, you know, it's kind of a focus on the academic piece And feel cared about feel that it's a value feel that what you're learning is going to give you some control over the world Once you get out of school as opposed to the world controlling you You know, and I think that's when I walked through the schools. I spent a lot of time in the high school last year You know as I talked a little bit with the faculty about this at the opening your meetings I put them into two categories. We've got the the 10 to 20 percent of the kids that are doing really well And they're going to go off to fairly talk to your colleges because that's what they want And they've been given the skills within the school But I see 80 percent of the students I Kind of have a fate mentality I came from here. This is where I'm going to be. I'll never get out And that is not true. And so a lot of it is spending time Working with the kids to convince them that it's not true that they can have some control and that they can can be better than what they've grown up with Aspired of things that they don't know yet what they are And I think that's part of it too is the students don't have a lot of experience of what could be Some of them haven't left Vermont some of them have been 30 miles from home It's very hard to envision a better future when you don't know what could be Maybe coming from places where there's no accountability in the home because maybe they're working parents or whatever it is So they can't or the parents didn't didn't have that given to them either as well meaning as the parents are a lot of them Are very well-meaning, but they will come in and they will say well, I don't have it myself And don't understand it. So But again, yeah, it's a it's a challenge Just following up on that it I'm curious to hear more on your thoughts about tying it to IEP's That to me I Just have some questions and I'd love to so the for me the the second measure would be more Valuable now again a lot of these Measures were chosen because their value is beyond the measurement Their value is also to try to drive improvements in these areas Special education is another area where we are struggling In terms of doing what it's supposed to do for kids the purpose of special education is to teach them The skills that they can use so that they no longer need special education It is not keep them perpetually in a program in a more restrictive environment than you know They would have if they were regular rent students Part of the measurement the second one Was taking a look at the accommodations that are on a student's IEP and rating them Okay, this is a this is a pretty restrictive accommodation. This one is as a level three. It's not quite as restrictive This is a level two. This is a level one And then what you can do with that information is the hope is well, we may not be able to get all students some Self-sufficient and not the IEP and using their accommodations on their own like they should But what we should be able to do is work with them So they're incorporating some skills so that the accommodations they need aren't as restrictive artists of year Over the course of time. Yeah, you still need some some some some accommodations that we're providing and helping you with But hopefully if we've done our job well, you've achieved enough skills on your own that you don't need as much intervention Would be the goal and that is the goal these guys need to be self-sufficient They're not always going to have that paraprofessional sitting next to them to keep them on task and directed and Using the organizers. They're supposed to use to do their work. They need to learn to do that Most of Are you concerned about the percentages of IEP students? It's hard to tell because Vermont's a different state I can give you an idea of what the national average is We're what did I quote in there? We're over 20% I Used to get a nasty letter from the State Department of Education if my IEP's were over 10 to 12% And in Vermont, how do we is that? You're probably Around the state average I'd have to go back and check to be for sure, but that is my guess but again one of the reasons that they're changing the Funding formula in Vermont in terms of special education is to try to force people to do special education well Because it has not been done well So there is a lot of improvements That can be made to And not doing it well, you know, you got to translate that into what it means Any other questions for Lane about this report and so I will I'll talk with the cabinet on the Senior project You made a comment through just following up on that that you know The senior project is the cap so and I wonder, you know If the cabinet had ideas that might catch kids at different phases or stages You had mentioned you were looking into that so just speaking out in support of Exploring that a little bit further. Yeah, they had a they had a had a pretty good list I mean, I'll start off the conversation with them. I'll pull back the list that we did over the summer retreat I Leave that that up to you given the time frame I can do it at another meeting How long do you think you're spent so many questions? Yeah There's kind of a data night, so SATs we'll talk a little bit about SATs first. We'll talk about the advanced placements that we do In terms of SATs a few things to know about them. They revised their exam their assessment 2016 prior to 2016 it was a reasoning test With the belief that students who could have better skills in terms of reasoning would do better in college Due to competition with the ACT What they did is they kind of changed it around in 2016 and kind of aligned it with what most students are expected to learn in high school It focuses on reading writing in mathematics primarily It is used for college admissions Traditionally, it's always been on the coasts the east and west coast ACT is usually kind of the colleges in the Midwestern States That's the one they kind of expect There are three sections on it now the scores range from 200 to 800 on each section What they did do which was kind of interesting because some people had been talking about you know Can we do a test prep for the SATs? Yes, we can The SATs actually joined up with Khan Academy to put an online program together Of course students to do this and it tests cumulative knowledge now now that it's kind of geared up for Looking at what students have learned In terms of reading writing in mathematics over there their career is cumulative. It's looking at the end game So like mathematics is expecting most students to have taken at least that was your critique. All right So the first part of the SAT is reading so what it does is it has the students read passages The passages are always in history social studies for science Meaning that if you've had a good education in those three areas Even though you may not be familiar with the actual article of the passage that you're reading It's going to be easier for you to rationalize In terms of I usually do three-year trends in terms of our trends here the three-year average for us is a 525 our score in 2018 was 511 and the Vermont score has been pretty steady at about 520 if you take a look at the graph up there most of the scores over the last three years So they have been decreasing At about 15 points a year About how many kids take this test I actually had that number a little later on about half the students in Okay, so this means 40 or so 30 34 35 One of the reasons that I did not use this for Ends that we didn't use it for ends Is the fact that these students are self-selecting right with the kids that are going to college so it would not be representative of what the entire population Students that have a very specific goal Mathematics deals with concepts and problem solving through algebra to there's two parts to it I'm part of it They have to do it all out of their their heads the other part they're allowed to use a calculator on three-year average for us is 514 the 2018 score was 500 the Vermont score has been steady at about 520 To be an indication there and again has been dropping This one significantly so the mathematics piece has been dropping about 19 points per year over the last So you gave me a lot to work with when I came in the bar Writing this is reading a passage and basically analyzing it down for the writing that was done It was the best word choice I was organized the best way could be what are suggestions that you can offer as you read these passages Which would try to make it a little bit better three-year average for us is 500 493 in 2018 and the Vermont score Has been fairly steady around Our average score so if you add up our average score in each of those three areas overall average is a 1504 I Did some comparisons with the percentiles that are out there that means that on average our students that take the SAT Are performing the 48th percentile they do better than 48% of the students There's usually about two to three million students We're already talked about this why we don't use it for the ends 49% of the class last year which was high Advanced placement program advanced placement courses are the equivalent of a first year or first semester college course It's actually the equivalent of a first year course for all the APs except for physics with physics It's a semester On advanced placement the grades can range from one to five five is the highest score you can get one is the lowest Typically what happens is it scores of three or above? Colleges will consider those in terms of giving you credit for having taken the course some colleges will take three The more selective colleges will only take the four or five What's nice about these courses is that they are good Preparation for students that are going to college they get a feel for what it's like to take the college class We offered eight courses last year four of them were new in 2017 and 18 Just for rule of thumb because of this it's really even though it goes one to five It's really a four point scale a point one change in an AP score It's really an increase or a decrease of about two point five percent Total number of exams taken is an important measure Because it gives you an idea of how the kids are challenging yourself And it also gives you an idea of kind of indirectly how prepare the students If the students are going through the program and they feel really prepared They're going to be more likely to take advanced placement courses on the total exams taken or typically Let's see 2016 is about 45 2017 about 34 and About 32 2018 it looks like a decrease, but it's not the reason it's not a decrease is because our population has been going down as well Your kids are taking exams, but we've had fewer kids here So overall on average the number of students in the high school that are taking AP exams I usually do the The percentages on this for 9th to 12th grade students Just as a comparison of the student body at that in the high school range But typically students take these courses junior and senior year on world history is the one that they can take as a I think they developed another one too But I don't remember off the top of my head what that is On average if you take a look at every AP course that these students take What their scores are and you average them together On average that they're scoring around 2.25 their average though has been going up over the course of the last three years So you got a lot of a lot of programs summer new takes a little while to get them up to speed But on average overall I'll throw these up up there just to show you what's happening each of the specific courses here AP bio Their three-year average overall is a 3.04 It's fluctuating up and down but overall it's going down a little bit not too much the scales are exaggerated on the graph AP count the three-year average is 1.38. This is the AB calculus We don't do the DC anymore. AB is for semester This one is going up, but it's starting out 12th grade English literature and composition average scores of 2.42 AP physics average scores New courses that came into place in 2018 are up there on the English language Composition as opposed to the English language They've got the wording of the other one of them is the 11th grade class one of us in 12th grade class The 11th grade version of the English AP was new this year. So average scores of 2.3 Environmental science was new this year. There were only two students I believe that took it was a one United States history was new last year was a one and then world history Which is the one that's over the soft move. So I was very high was a 4.6 and had quite a few students that took it My assessment and kind of looking at this stuff And I told this to the faculty of the opening day and I meant it There is a tremendous and this this goes to the the SBAC and the other measures that we talked about There is a tremendous amount of really good teaching that's going on here What they're teaching is just not aligned with what the tests are looking for They're teaching good and important things if you think about mathematics the body of knowledge is this big If this is what the test requires, but they're teaching this over here, right? So that's I think there's Going on One of the things that we've got to do is make sure that all students regardless Whether they're at the tech center or if the high school should be getting to the algebra to that's got to be a Commandant that we don't violate that is the skill set that's requisite for surviving outside of high school Ensuring that all teachers have attended the week long AP training Discipline I think that's happened in a lot of cases, but in some cases it has not And then making sure that after that training for the teachers is they're connected with AP mentors around the state people would have taught it Questions AP or SAT thank you very much. All right next Moving on to Unfortunately our time is really Board management and governance so We are advised to accept we have two Board members who resigned and discuss a plan for board member replacement All of you will find that there was a draft letter I wrote In our packets the second page hopefully you guys have had a chance to read it Is I would like if we're in agreement for everyone to sign at the end of this and we will submit it to the heralds We'll also talk about it right now So basically I Thank our Departed board members for their long periods and in terms of work I also reaffirmed that we are feeling totally able to do the work that we're asked to do and We did reach out to the Vermont school boards Association to find out how the What's the best way for these resignations to be these places to be filled and there is a new process new to having a consolidated district and Basically what we need to do they're both Randolph seats so we need to Randolph residents and We need to partner with the select board to sift through quickly a number of letters of interest Letters of interest should be submitted to the OSSD Caroline DeLubold by the end of before the end of September and then between the end of September and October 8th, which is our next board meeting a Couple of us and a couple of select board members have said that they would Sit down with us and a point to Randolph residents Those people will fill the positions only until town meeting so we all need to advertise those openings as So Changes to this I'd like to make the motion to accept the two resignations Resonation of Jen Messier and Brooke Dinkle Dean and to follow the Outline as proposed by the Vermont school board Association to replace them Do we have a second? Okay, any other discussion? Thank you for dropping all right all those in favor of approving the letter as written Please signify by saying yeah, I Anyone opposed? all right let's Sign that and you can get it to the Herald also our two of you Willing to sit down with select board between September 30th and October 7th to point to members Yeah, that's probably appropriate. Are you gonna be able to do that melody? I'm traveling to California Okay, I can I can would you mind doing it? Yeah, I don't mind okay Paul's already talked to them, so If you'd be the point person and you know set up that meeting that'd be great All right, thanks, so hopefully we'll have two extra people at the meeting on All right next Approve annual agenda and board goals while the annual agenda we discussed last time a little bit. We never officially approved it It is There were a few changes that we made you'll find it in your packet. It's the back of my letter We moved we moved the financial audit a little bit earlier In the year because we were finding that April and May were too busy with other things and that was okay with the firm And Robin okay that with them We have assigned some you know extra PG policy governance scenarios to be assigned in various places and I think that was about it the print is very small, but it is all there The other thing are the in this are the board ends or board goals, I guess Paul's gonna talk a little bit about those There the next page in your packet All right, so We'll come back to the first part which is ends a community engagement. So board development That we I think are achieving that's where we are Yeah, this is where Jen set up where we're doing the classes after at the end of each Meeting and so we're continuing to do that annual training. We've also set up Or are getting together packets for new members we've had some people ask for packets that were we're preparing for them and Otherwise that one seems to be on track and it doesn't seem to be we need a new goal It just needs to kind of be a continuation of that goal the advocacy and governance those two Don't think that they need to continue Of our advocacy is is We meet with the board or we meet with members of the Legislature and the Senate every every year So it's we were meeting that every year So we get I mean we could continue it But all we're going to do is say the same thing we do every year, which is let's meet with the legislature Which of course we're going to continue to meet with and then the last one being the governance We've formed our unifying district. So there is nothing we don't have to continue that anymore It's formed and so therefore We've met that goal and pass that through that goal. So that one we're kind of done with Back to the first one the ends in community engagement the ends which were it's a continuing process throughout the school year We throughout the year not school year. We continue to look at that as Lane sees things he changed he would like to Today the monitoring reports he modifies it as he needs to with his interpretation So that's a constant we have all been thing, but that ends itself. They've made the remain the same for Period of time and we haven't heard that we need to change them, but The community engagement part Throughout here you see a bunch of stuff in here for action steps and whatnot about bringing in community speakers and stuff, but Laura and I talked about it that that's probably not necessarily our community engagement Bringing in a speaker is something that we do, but it's not our community engagement. This is our community engagement We're having board meetings that are open to the public and when they have input We try to listen, but the community engagement part isn't bringing in a speaker necessary the keynote speaker We can continue to bring in a keynote speaker, but that probably doesn't need to be a part of our Goals for the community engagement if anything we need to be discussing. How do we get more people? This is about what we get for people and so I'm not sure what What we can do. We've discussed perhaps when we're going to be talking about the budget and Other big things like today when we're talking about SATs and ACT scores and such things that the public will probably like to hear perhaps making more of an effort to broadcast that instead of doing a normal Meeting warning instead to specify exactly we're going to be talking about budget We're going to be talking about hands monitoring in this in the sense that we're going to be talking about SAT scores or we're going to be talking about As fab scores or anything that Lane's going to be presenting as evidence that the school District is doing well or not Going on from page form and instead of just saying there's gonna be a meeting tonight and there say tonight We're talking about the board. We're gonna be talking about These several things and try to get people more engaged, but otherwise it's gonna be the same thing It's gonna be the same for people showing up every time and And Yeah I think there has to be a better there has to be a better way for us to engage our community and to let them know what our Work is because certainly before I was on the board. I didn't understand with the limitation of the you know Like policy governance and the limitation of the board That that's What help is to be able to have a discussion with the board right and not just say our comment and You know, no, and I know you can't discuss it as a board, but maybe maybe have a meeting with Limited board members where you can have a discussion with the public And and actually a back-and-forth to really get the opinions instead of because I know when it's sitting on this side It feels like we say it and you nod your heads and We're not supposed to Set up some type of forum where right public in the board members can actually have a discussion That would be helpful from this side So Lane is so Lane was talking about the forums that he has and the community forums that he has should we participate We should or should we have our own separate? I think we should to hear what I mean There's also a monthly Forum that is held at the high school for community It's run by the principals and some teachers are there typically occasionally some students and and community people and they tend to be not just parents but community members sometimes 20 people are there sometimes 12 people are there, but it's often it's an ongoing discussion and I find it quite valuable I go I Think last year I was about the only board member who did go, but I think it's informative just as a Community person also serving on the board to hear, you know those voices that the next one is Thursday September 27 537 and you know, I do think that those are important for us to be You know occasionally or often available for just so we have a better Feeling for what's going on what people are worried about concerning about and what issues are being grappled with well One of the things that I wanted to say is that it's difficult. I think it's important to have community Discussion time where the community can have a discussion about a specific issue but in well acknowledging that outside of this Legally worn board meeting my opinions are my personal opinions and they have no bearing on anything And I try not to share them You know not because not because I don't think they're important, but because I feel that My saying something might be misconstrued as an opinion of the board and that would be The wrong thing. I think that might be the caveat for you know having a Foreman whether it would be on a certain topic. I don't know exactly how they envision that working We ever had a board meeting just I mean I feel like our agenda is Is always set but has there ever been sort of like a month where we set aside more time for community engagement or I don't I mean, I don't think we're really working I think it's an awesome awesome idea. I think the only Possible problem might be a legal one. So it would be worth checking is that you know Part of the reason for getting the agenda up to these ahead of time so people know what's being discussed So let's say that somebody and I think that's one of the reasons why usually the open comment section is They don't respond is because if they take up a topic that wasn't pre-worn then If we could set something up where you can have a discussion and it's not limited to just making the comment Then you move on with your agenda Most painful thing is to sit here and not be able to respond Since that at times and Laura, I believe at one point as a board we had talked about Revising the agenda and so Yeah, we're talking about kind of the way the agenda is currently broken up Yeah, is there a way that we can create an opportunity for there to be a board discussion, but also community conversation or community discussion, excuse me within the agenda as we currently go Pieces without extending our board meeting six hours But that way because I think one of the challenges right now is that if You have a comment about something that we're not going to be talking about until the right later on in the meeting You know or so they comes up during the meeting and the community has Comments that they want to share so I don't know how that process unfolds in terms of revising the format of our agendas, but I'm wondering if that could be added in maybe as a Benchmark or as an action step. Well, don't you suggest as far as time Timing of that second like having a second public comment session or section or I mean, it's up to the pleasure of the board. I just I don't know exactly So are you meeting so for example? Lane just did his presentation on the ends monitoring K through 12 and throughout that monitoring work We're asking questions, but the but they can't and so instead of Having just the one in the beginning at the end of our ends monitoring for instance what we did today have a Period where they also asked the question because it's because it's warned Yeah, we can discuss. We should be able to discuss all you want You know with it with the community to have it back And maybe instead of having a time limit have a question limit like three questions from the community at this point or you know Because I don't want to necessarily restrict I wouldn't you know my I think five minutes isn't is enough time perhaps But I don't want that time to be dominated by one person or one question But we'd have like five minutes to get through three questions or something like that, you know Just kind of a way to structure it so that we aren't focusing on One thing from one person. I don't know Or maybe the thing to do would be yeah, that's sort of a halfway halfway part mark. Yeah And then I also think at the end I think you know for those community members who want to stick around You know having an opportunity for engagement at the end of the meeting as you know So that things like the consent agenda and any incident incidental information or reports that are shared also be allowed the same level of engagement In my I don't know as a board. Maybe we could try it once And see Yeah, just looking at today's agenda perhaps You get the community engagement in the front as always but then after the ends monitoring Have another community engagement and then after EL monitoring and then after and then consent agenda So that those are the big three those are the ones that have to meet that people are going to care about if they care About something they want to talk about those that's where they're generally going to be They're not going to be in the board management and governance But the EL marks and maybe perhaps within those ends monitoring EL monitoring to say agendas we set Yeah, so we could do a test run or two and see if you know, we're not getting home at 10 30 Might be something we could try, you know on-going Okay Because I'm not worth much after 10. No me either All right discuss budget parameters. So parameters looking back at this previous work It's just kind of outlining, you know the issues the things that may limit what we can do Defining the things that we have to do given kind of the current conditions in around the state So a couple of things For this year is we've got the teacher's contract that's going to need to be negotiated My understanding is that because the state is negotiating directly for health care with the teachers union statewide The contracts are one-year only Because if they go beyond that negotiation period You're potentially putting your district in financial jeopardy because you don't know what the financial impact of what they decide Is it going to be greater than what we have now is it less? So they put it into the law in H16 that it's it's one year So, you know right off the bat, you know We've got to assume what a reasonable increase is going to be ahead of time because we have to actually And the budget lots of times in foreign negotiations are done Which makes it a little bit difficult It changes the special education funding Because of the change that's happening in the way that they're they're finding special education in the state of Vermont Giving a block grant at the beginning of the year based on overall enrollment In the entire district That puts districts in a odd place Currently if we get three or four high-level students that move in over the course of the year You know it was a financial burden But we knew the state was going to be back between 60 and 95 percent of that depending upon the level of the student That will no longer exist What will happen for the most part is you get that block grant at the beginning of the year a set amount of money And if you've got four kids that move in unless they're very high and very extreme There is no reimbursement. You have your set amount of money. So we have to put some structure in place to have Something available in case we have that happened again We have a lot of positions that are fantastic positions and that are needed and I'll talk a little bit about this in terms of last structure in a minute But we've got a lot of folks that are on entitled funded positions, you know, we write the grants every year We get the money to fund their positions. Some of them are critical So last year I started moving one or two over to the regular budget. I'd like to move the rest over That process for grants and what the requirements are In there are going to exclude a lot of these people Another year or two There are ones that are vital in the district because they're like the curriculum coaches and the curriculum intervention It's the ones that work directly with the teachers to improve their practice and work directly with the kids We talked about the students in the pipeline even if we fix all the curriculum issues and academic issues along the way You still got kids that miss some things along the way intervention this sort of want to go and bolster their skills And get them up to speed One of the things that we started a discussion about amongst the cabinet and hopefully they're getting that down to their their staff Is we don't have textbooks? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I don't know But I'll tell you it puts a red flag in my head when I see, you know Where the scores are academically and the fact that we don't have that across the district um two reasons Being is you know a textbook is not a curriculum That a textbook is a wonderful resource is a wonderful way of learning And you know the common core really stresses, you know reading and writing, you know One of the the requirements of common core is that students are able to read technical Documents in the field that they're studying and if you're not even reading a textbook, how are you going to achieve that that step? So that's a discussion that I think needs to happen against part of the budget because it has a budgetary impact Personnel to support the expansion of public preschool We've got a program that's up and running now a brain tree But the problem is is the full day portion of it is is uh for pay, right? We do our 10 hours in the morning. We do another 10 hours of public at night Which means it's free to the people that need it, but it's only so many slots Because it's only a body or two and because it serves such a great need within the district. It might be worth Hiring those people under our regular budget And getting those programs in place The impact In terms of starting those students with good skills Right off the bat. There are our own. We know what they need. We know what they're going to be facing coming up through I I can't understate And we've got a waiting list that's two years long right now For what we do to have some not every student gets what they need Building structure to support academic improvements When we talk to on the ends piece there is a lot of work that needs to be done That you know, I'm walking into and I'm happy to engage in that This district is missing a few key people One of them is either a curriculum director or they also assistant superintendent. They serve the same role Somebody to do the grants the title grants which for us amount to about 600,000 a year Which is a full-time job in and of itself And then that same person can help out with the curriculum work I am capable of doing all the curriculum work, but I do have quite a bit of other work that goes along with the position So I'm not saying that it's possible But where I always focus in trying Improvement as you build the structure first if you don't have the structure to support it then odds are you know What you're engaged in is either going to take a really long time or it's going to fail So, you know, that's that's open to discussion Unknowns that are out there that we're going to have to consider for the budget season Impact of the legislature's attempts to change the education funding formula Right now there's a lot of discussion with the teacher's association about attaching it to an income tax Getting away from how it is done now. So people that are less don't pay as much people that are more Pay a little bit more. I would argue that it's actually a very good plan in most states problem is is that Given that the 25 to 45 year olds are leaving Vermont which are at the beginning or in the middle of the crime earning years That may become problematic for them being able to raise their funds There is a lot of work happening right now. This legislature has asked for a report on what are appropriate student to teacher ratios That may impact the budget because we may have to change our staffing sizes if they put that into law in the next budget The impact of the health care negotiations We don't know if it's going to be a more expensive plan less expensive or cost neutral And then you guys have to develop your budget to support your needs for the year in terms of your training And what you want to accomplish on behalf of the district So it was about the budget parameters that i've got at this point in time So we don't need to vote on on anything of that For governance budget, that's something that will Set in conjunction with District and consolidation of osst properties So I've got the paperwork here. You want to discuss what we have so when The three towns came together to form the osst school Part of the requirement in the articles of consolidation that everyone agreed to Was that the properties would also be Allocated to the district So basically what we've done is we followed through on that ph's office is put together. What do they call those deeds? Quick claim deeds. So in other words, um Signing off on that basically Transfers All interest in the properties of field and brain tree to osst in Randolph as well Which is important as part of the final step of the consolidation process So the recommendation would be that needs one signature This for the the board to decide if it's going to do it after the discussion Make the motion for the the board chair to be able to sign off on that The question on that I make the motion to accept the consolidation paperwork A quick clean deed as prepared by patreon lens office Is there a second Second Any discussion questions. Yeah, I just was curious and I it's more of a memory thing I couldn't remember what happens when or if at some point the district the osst in the future decides to close One of those schools Can you remind me? How does that work in terms of? Isn't there I think it's back to the town or something. I think so and I think um P. H. Rowe probably spelled it out in there. Yeah, I just was but it's also It's whatever you guys agree to in your articles of consolidation would supersede right and and they they refer back to the town Okay, I just want closure of the school. Yeah And no, we're not going to be closing. No, no, no, I just I'm not even going down the road. I just Yeah I knew it was in there. I just can't remember how we address that It was like a while ago so Paul wants to look this over about while he's doing that we need to approve the annual agenda We don't need to approve the board goals because they're not set really But I would like to have a vote to approve the annual agenda It's someone who's making a motion to approve the annual agenda as written All those in favor Any of us Are you ready to approve the quick clean deeds? Okay, is there we've had a motion and it's been seconded Let's have a vote to determine whether we're willing to accept the quick clean deeds as written All those in favor All right Post All right, motion carries Just a quick question of properties since we're talking about property. Have you heard anything back from Pedro? Yeah, no, it's it was given to the town in three separate grants So that is there's we have talked a little bit about that with the doffo You know the conversation was Basically, you know trying to find money to help prepare the roof which I'd be all for but the problem is we're spending money From three towns not right just one This is for the The town garage so the tax excuse me So the town garage and because we were continuing a conversation from last last month the town garage Supports our buses. We rent out about a third of it And we rent part of the or we pay for the salary of part of the mechanic up there And they allow us to keep the buses on the property the town garage is in need of Repairs 100,000 for the roof and 65,000 for another portion And the town had reached out to ask the district to help them with those repairs Which I would be all for but like I said, it's not just Randolph's money It wouldn't be appropriate to take down money from the school budget that includes brookfield and brain tree to Repair town infrastructure in Randolph But what I did suggest to Adolfo was you know the appropriate way to do this is raise the rent because we're paying peanuts We're paying about 12,000 a year Give or take which is probably cheaper than most people would have to pay for an apartment For that work, but I also told them they said, you know, we do have other options I asked The bus director to reach out to the town garages of brookfield and brain tree And to check that out and we've also been examining I'm doing a cost analysis of what it would cost to bring the buses Down add a little bit on the tech center and make it part of the tech program you do the maintenance So I told Adolfo, you know, as long as you keep the bump and rent reasonable not excessive Then that's probably the best the most cost effective for us, but it goes to the roof and he's very Very good and very approachable about discussing that. So A lot of a lot of pieces moving on that Thank you Next is the monitoring of a scholarship investment report Yeah, I bet if there's questions on it. Um, this basically there's there's two scholarships. Um, the funds are being held by Edward Jones They are in Fairly conservative accounts to balance funds for the most part And so they're earning a little bit of interest Each year and then money is drawn from those funds to pay those two scholarships which serve all of those students You see if I can find the paperwork in here Did anyone have any questions about the report that was submitted in our packet? It tells about, you know, which how many students have been getting each each reporting each Scholarship each year how much money is being paid out Um talks about the money that's left in the accounts and what the average return on investment has been this year for the last couple of years Is there a motion to approve the Investment fund report as written I'll make the motion to Approve the investment report as written seconded All those in favor All right Raven facility updates I'll be be quick. Um, there is a little write-up of it in the superintendent's report The work is progressing. The architect has a draft plan a footwork plan is what they call it out there After spending a lot of time Talking with jim what the needs of the students are and talking with the other administrators around there Um, he's moving forward and developing kind of a finalized plan. Um, They are also have the engineer soil engineer coming out. Um, that is going to do some core samples Once he gets the plan from the the kind of finalized draft plan from the architect They need to do some sampling to make sure that the the ground there is able to support The structure that they're going to build and then decide uh on what kind of foundation it needs to be If there's anything specialized that needs to happen Around it. Um, so that process is is happening right now At some point in time in the near future When we get all the dollars and cents and that final architects plan is ready But we'll require the board to kind of sign off on it and then approve the money from surplus So that's probably So will we be using the same footprint? Um, They're going to make it they're going to make it a little bit bigger than it is They can't use the same foundation that's there foundation and problems as well Right now the plan is about 5,000 square feet So it's a pretty pretty good size building for the program and it will allow them to expand the program a little bit You know, we've been talking about getting getting it up to 18 to 20 kids Which taking a look at who's on the wait list over the last couple of years that would accommodate most of the kids How much bigger a building is that than what we currently have? Um, not much 500 square feet ish But Bob the two co-co facilities directors are looking at it and trying to try to push it even a little bit bigger But right now the the draft footprint I believe is 5,000 square feet. All right moving on. We've got the consent agenda We need to approve the minutes from the last meeting or this meeting which are imposed here We've already approved the consolidation of the OSSD property. So this is the only part of the consent agenda If you haven't yet Do anyone have any changes or Things to amend Suggestions to amend to the last minutes There's no motion to approve the minutes as written then motion All those in favor Okay Reports and incidental information so we have a superintendent's report You've discussed much of that with raven and um, is there anything else you need to add a comment on? Nope, that was just questions Except maybe the district website which sounds like there's going to need to be Yeah, the um They spent a bit of money getting the new district website up and running The company that that it is cambium. They maintain what are called the source codes That's how you go in and actually change formatting. You can actually reprogram it to get to do what you want to So it costs us a bit of money anytime you want to change Certain parts of the website They're discussing getting out of the website business At which point in time they would hand the source codes over to us, but The problem is is that they used it looks like a proprietary language to build that website I'm not one that folks are very familiar with So whether we have a technician who can actually manage it and program it or not is questionable So we may be looking at a new software package There's some really good ones out there That are very easy to use that either use hypertext markup language or just kind of graphical Programming that you can teach everybody in the district how to use so the teachers can maintain their own websites I'll I'll as a part of the district website and everybody can update it and change it So that's a possibility. The other possibility is that We have a person an outside person who actually maintains the day-to-day portion of the website Somebody that Brent put on contract a few years ago That contract is about a 0.5 FTE So in other words a full-time equivalent It might be worthwhile If we think we can do it with the source codes to bring that person in on full time Half their time is maintaining the website Doing the communications doing the marketing and then adding some additional manpower to the tech department, which is hideous the understaff We moved to a one-to-one System in terms of making sure that every kid has a computer or Chromebook But we've got three people in the district To maintain the totality of technology in the district including all those problems So they are understaffed. They're fantastic workers. They're keeping up on stuff, but I don't know how long they can And if we lose one of them and have to replace one of them, that's going to be quite damaging for a while I have a question about the the Alice brochure. You're developing one. Do you think it will be ready to go out to families? So right now they finished the training with the faculty They're going to be doing some drills. As a matter of fact this week And again part of the the idea when we talked in the cabinet today was okay We're going to have the drills the teachers will direct the kids and talk them through it But then to come back and have some discussions about okay, what should we do because Alice is really about think on your feet Right as if something happens you figure out the best way to defend the room you're in You know, whether it's blocking the door so that people can't come in and then discussing it on what's what's the out If they actually do get in here, what are we going to do? And then deciding if it's if it's a fight or flight if it's fight then you get what you're going to use to fight it off If it's flight you decide where you're running So they'll they'll have those discussions. Um, I would guess by Decemberish Give us time. So like is this going to be for elementary school as well Yeah, they actually Alice actually produces a booklet for the elementary students Is So we've ordered those when those come in we're going to take a look see if it accomplishes the purpose If not, then we'll develop our own I think it's my concern to be for parents who maybe aren't aware of it and That children come home and say we just did this thing and it can feel alarming. Um Goal is just that it's um, they're not going to get all the details because we keep some of those secret But the kids should have a primer that they can take home with the parents and kind of say these are your Responsibilities these are what you should do, you know, if you go into a lockdown you're trapped in the hallway What do you do? So that's those will be the talking points I'm working with the The principals and pushing on them to actually try to develop them that are specific for their schools They're funny. They're a little bit nervous about it. It's like it's not not that difficult I've got models for marvel head and swamps got that I can give them to use but I'm trying to get them as involved in the process as possible So we have We've got a financial report Financial reports easy. Everything's good The only change on it is uh, robin is putting in Last year 2017 august so you can compare it to where we're at this year on each of the lines and she'll continue to do that It looks like we've spent a lot more This I think it's this uh, this month that we did august last year But it's because of when the pay period was um, we did did all the payments at august 31st this year last year was september 1st So there's three So that's the that's the only reason it looks higher Not everything it's early. Everything's on on trap work should be Are no other comments or questions when you want to hear the valuation? I'll give you one more This is your incidental. This was from the union today. This is their request of the negotiations Okay So do I need to read it out loud or? Just got to get your negotiating team Set up this it's yeah, we'd like to open negotiations for new collective bargaining agreement Can you please let us know some dates that will work for our first meeting with the board? This meeting we would like both sides to propose meeting norms and set a schedule for future meetings So I do Believe we set up negotiating teams at at our first meeting in march Do you remember I was on it. Yeah, what do you want the teacher negotiations? Yeah Yeah And and you believe you are too. Yep. Okay. So Melody and so I'll let the three of you Decide, you know come up with a few dates that you're willing to get going and let the Union know Any other Everything is acceptable the commendable Um There was a question out of the meeting last Month about whether or not val had sent us a new template. Oh, yeah, she had not I didn't get a chance to look through the email. So I will follow up with her and ask for a revised template I mean, otherwise. Yes, the agenda was well planned the board follows agenda the meeting was Well, okay, so meeting was not well attended. It was well attended by Us Perfect attendance over here The meeting proceeded without interruptions or distractions to the best of our ability the board's decision-making processes were understood and were implemented Diversity of viewpoints were sought out and considered Thank you Any other business The meeting is adjourned