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SAU29 School Board Emergency Meeting Agenda for Thursday, May 21, 2020 - 4:30 p.m.

Added May 28, 2020 •

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SAU29 School Board Emergency Meeting Agenda for Thursday, May 21, 2020 - 4:30 p.m. Meeting Location: SAU29 Board members will be attend the meeting remotely. The closed captioning is not necessarily reflective of the true words spoken during this meeting.

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all right we got the whole Squad of everyone that are you enlisted I've Been Everywhere San Francisco Boston Guam site what I should do is pause the recording when I start these meetings until we're ready to go and then that will save me on the tail end of editing that out but if it's okay with you what I'm going to do is I'm going to through the typical checks so that everybody can your name where they are blooming in from and whether or not you have connection to to this meeting being recorded and then through all of those checks will go ahead and get the meeting underway okay so I'm just going to go across my screen as I can see everybody and I'm going to start with mr. Miller everybody just tell her I am at home in Marlboro and I've no objection to recording the meeting thank you Jeff Mister Downing George Downing I'm in the backyard in Keene no objection to recording I am at home in Westmoreland and no objection to recording thank you Mike I have no objections you bring thank you Kristy Miss headings Jaclyn heddings I'm at my Residence Inn Keene no objections were thank you Jacqueline mr. Starkey Peter Starkey at my home in Keene alone and I have no objection to recording thank you Peter Miss Cason Natalie Katherine I'm home in Westmoreland Miss Cordell mr. Anderson spell and it's fine to record thank you Eric I also joining us on the meeting this afternoon are assistant superintendents. E Frazier and and Brian Campbell as well as our business sorry our Chief Financial Officer mr. Tim Roar and our stenographer for the evening and kind of a permanent fixture in all of our meetings as of late Jennifer's and Parisi so with that because play Rob Richard popovic at my at my home in Nelson Cameron still alive where is a good reminder that affect you very much so being that one of the first items of business is to elect a chair and vice-chair I'm going to open the meeting and begin our process as we typically do every year I have to put my agenda we do have best first Rob I've got my agenda out now so with that I'll call the meeting to order at 4:44 p.m. thank everyone for attending this emergency meeting of the sau29 school we have two sets of minutes that were looking to approve the minutes from December 19th and the 2019 as well as the minutes from our April 15th 2020 I would entertain a motion to approve both sets of minutes remove George Downing and II a second thank you mr. Norton I'm Jenn I'm going to ask you to facilitate the roll-call vote Esther Anderson Miss Cason yes Miss Cordell yes Miss Downing Miss settings yes mr. Miller rating Eastern Oregon yes mr. popovic yes Miss Smith mr. Starkey yes thank you excellent next item of business is to elect our officers for the essay award we have robbed October 2nd we have any mail from Kathy Dieter so non-public minutes from April 15th as well it's not on the agenda but we did have it sent to us to be approved I don't know because it's not on the agenda today the bump it out to the next meeting or can we go ahead and do those today as well Jackson ICU. I don't see the non puppy the agenda doesn't state public and non-public adjust States minutes of April 15th so just for clarity I think what we ought to do is because hear that the motion were for the April 15th minutes which included both the public and the non public meetings minutes so if there's a question I will make sure that the minutes reflect that the motion was for both unless there's an objected objection by any of the members on this call right now we're just going to reflect that it was for both sets of public and non-public minutes in the minutes of this meeting anyone wants to read those there in an email dated May 14th from weed eater thank you George correct notification I'm glad you caught that aluminum all right so back to the election of officers the first position that we will need select will be the board chair for sau29 typically the chair in the vice-chair positions are split between a member from the keyboard and a member from one of the Town boards in years past there has been the alternating of the town and singing between chair and vice-chair but in recent years there has been a desire to continue with the leadership in those roles for consistency and stability purposes so with that all in mind I will open the floor for nomination for the essay 29 board chair position this is George Downing I was just going to say the same thing if she's not objecting to this I would also suggest a gift for another year so I'm going to take Christy's nomination and George as the second foreca Cordell I got are you willing to accept that nomination I am thank you all thank you I don't know how much it's a punishment and a gift all wrapped up in one are there any other nominations for the position of sau29 board chair all right beat nut last-gen to facilitate a roll call vote on behalf of Vega Cordell for the position of sau29 board chair mr. Anderson yes yes Miss Cornell yes mr. Downing yes Miss Hennings yes mr. Miller yes mr. Norton yes mr. popovic yes Miss Chris Smith mr. Starkey Susie Astic Lee yet and so with that I'm going to turn the meeting over to you madam chair congratulations we are at the financial report you did want to elect the vice-chair first right no I just thought I'd skip that off your power yes I would please is there anyone who would like to buy nominate or step up for that role it needs to be a king board member I'm willing to step in again I have worked very well with Agra in the past I would suggest that if you're interested Peter Starkey would also work well with mega there has been a history of that I have no idea what his workload is these days I suspect it's a little bigger than some of ours I would be happy to cuz George I know that your workload as the king chair is very big right now as well and that was my big question Georgia this will be a year where we have to hold comp committee again because it we're doing it every 2 years and that ends up being kind of a time  for the vice-chair as well as a couple of other things and it might be a good time to get someone from the keyboard who hasn't experienced it to experience it looking ahead for when I'm no longer participating at this level what do you think was that in mind I think I'd like to nominate he also has strength in negotiations which may come in handy or may not when compliment comes around do I hear a second for Peter sounds like Jeff and Jacqueline hit that I can give it to to Jeff cuz I think he was little bit of an airhead any further discussion I'll leave it to Jennifer for roll call mr. Anderson yes Miss Catherine yes Miss Cordell yes mr. Downing yes Miss headings yes mr. Miller mr. Norton yes yes is was there yes or no she still on mute mr. Starkey as enthusiastically yes and Rob this is the first year that when you had control of the board that you didn't try to have a violent take over I take back my yes I want to be very I have to be very clear that I've never had control of keyboard Peter scratch kitchen clear sense of humor is off-the-charts tonight so now we can comfortably move on no to the financial reward I know Tim's been just wait patiently in the sidelines for the comedy hour to subside dim hi everybody I'll turn your back on you Samuel music you don't need to let the good time stop rolling because our financial reports in good shape this is different than your regular budget says unreserved fund balance at the end of this year will not find the 2021 school year but we'll find the budget we're going to work on this year that 3122 school year so that's all pretty good just a two-year lag in the unreserved fund balance being used as a revenue at the SAU O2 a large Surplus in this would mean contributions from your districts generally so it's can be a positive thing in the short term for sure newslook you know close to what we budgeted we got a little more interest than expected because we were getting about a tenth of a percent going into the fiscal year and we were getting over 2% for part of the year it's gone down in the cellar now but we'll see what happens but that. Helped us when expenditures are you'll see that the majority of the Surplus come from salary and benefits we are currently running at the SAU we are down one two three four positions and that kind of turnover for sustained. time seeds to surpluses and that's exactly what we have in this case so you'll see that in salary and benefits two of those positions are in my office we have interviews scheduled yet again for the staff accountant and a minister assistant physician hopefully we can fill those it area we have about $20,000 that really in the majority of that is cost for paying for financial system and other software licensing which is a lot of money as you can imagine and so we have some funds there we are looking at under this crisis we've been looking at other software packages will see what happens but that's that is the 19000 I think it was a good year for heat very mild winter low fuel cost to go see a surplus and building operations in mileage and workshops all workshops on-site have been really cancelled going remote and usually are free so forth a tree we're down we have about $14,000 left and workshops would you consider and Mileage Plus mileage is really slow down as we're doing meeting remotely supplies and materials there are a lot of money $6,000 still here I expect this will grow I doubt we'll use all this buy all the supplies equipment and Furniture were to the gut about 3,000 and dues these were the good about 1450 that leaves a total of 365 for 90 just to compare our current unreserved fund balance for this year's budget would came from two years ago was 3:24 so outrageous but healthy Surplus for us when we're going to build next year's budget the questions you have an answering we need a motion to accept right I'm awake stop the business report second George any questions for Tim any discussion George a question not necessarily on this expense report I know those of you who have gotten budget reports recently know this has been a significant impact from the pandemic preparations on our district budgets Tim I'm wondering this one that sounded like it was mostly the travel expenses increasing your Surplus do you anticipate any kind of effect on the SAU budget because of the stomach response to moving forward when we plant next year I actually think that overall covid-19 remote Lee cost less than working in house so overall in in most instances where I actually saving money whether that's a good thing or not depends on whether you think we're delivering the same quality product at home as we could in school but it's a fact that supplies mileage when someone leaves employment hiring is a strange thing to do when people are working remotely because it's very hard to train remotely substitute teachers aren't things. Is often t-shirt don't call out sick as much because they're working from home most of the things that we can quantify as actually save the district money there are additional expenses in all your districts for cleaning PPE disinfectant there are other cost but as far as our budget to budget comparison this budget as well as your District budgets will see him not not the other way around anything else for Tim I'll leave it up for roll call I have a question Jacqueline Kim under the staff development with all of that stuff development and training that was done for the tutor is that in there or is that was that just her to treat a completely differently just curious are all your direct cost to your District like for a specific group and King will be in the king budget this would just pay for the employee I need some this building and some overarching Administration software like Financial system foot if it's student-specific are centered or employees in your district and we'll all be in your own District but that staff development has tuition reimbursement for folks that are taking classes here we have one person that's doing that currently and that will be fewer people taking classes you want fewer we have a star great thank you anyone else Roku director Anderson Miss Cason Miss Cordell yes mr. Downing and is heading mr. Miller yes yes okay moving on and I just want a little backup if anybody's got an agenda in front of them I noticed I haven't the draft agenda in front of me and I don't want to I'm not so tech-savvy that I can take not too much time to find so I have next as new business are we good okay and I have the first item listed as the authorization for superintendent okay so I'd like to see emotional anyone to authorize the superintendent of schools or CFO to sign any and all the contracts grants-in-aid Etc very similar to volleyball at the board level to get through not just the summer this year but also this little bit of time between covid-19 and the summer so if anyone's comfortable making Atmos can we really say etcetera in a motion good question I don't have wine with sunglasses in front of me some wording that you would use to clarify that with George when you mix Gaza and other duties normally assumed by the central office for the sperm work all right I moved to authorize the superintendent of school or the Chief Financial Officer to sign any and all contracts grants-in-aid and other documents such as is traditionally required in the summer months second thanks Jackie any discussion questions any additional input Rob from you on that or just at work that works okay all in favor time for roll call mr. Anderson yes yes mr. Downing mr. Miller yes mr. Norton yes mr. popovic Miss Smith I have reaffirmation of existing policies Rob there's some Nelson there yeah there's something before that it is policy e employee communication regarding upcoming travel what we also included in the in the drive where we're draft copies of policies that we put together we stole policy E From Another District that would have been incredibly helpful going into the pandemic but will also be very helpful coming out of the pandemic also research the nhspa just to see if they had any samples that were along these veins and we didn't find them and although we've proposed or weave weave crafted draft policies for this I don't think that we will be asking the board for a policy as this can be accomplished through the through the development and issuance of a procedure administrative procedure as opposed do having a policy specific for the upcoming travel so we put it on there in the event that we were going to move forward with a policy but it is our recommendation that we move forward with a procedure administrative procedure as opposed to the policy but we just wanted you to see where the origin of that came from and to be able to see the benefits of having those procedures in place not a procedure will not be inviolate any existing policy so just to be clear about that man will make sure that there are no conflict between the procedure and what they already existing policy question Rob where would we go to refer to that procedure though under under what section of policy and or handbook guideline just because if if it's an inaccessible except to those administering it it could be difficult 202 navigate we do well what we would do is we would ask sites managers to included in their annual staff workbook core handbook not workbook great that answers my question anyone have any questions on that for superintendent Malay George in place before we break for the Sun seem to apply to if anyone actually intends to travel this summer for vacation right now that's part of the reason we think moving forward with a procedure makes more sense than trying to push forward with policy I'm just not confident with the with the language in the policy as it as it is right now and I think that we can accomplish what we're trying to accomplish through a procedure similar to a directive on how to approach grade changes in a in a in a building right so it serves the same purpose without having to go through all of that that process to create a policy NSO I'm not worrying about the adoption of a policy is what I'm saying is that will issue an administrative procedure for employees so that we are making sure that we know if anyone's going high-risk areas or if they're returning from a high-risk area and what steps did you take before going back into any of our buildings and potentially contaminating other employees and or students given that situation any other questions comments feel free to verbally say yes if you do ultimately cuz by the time I scroll through to see anybody raised in their hand it might be too late okay then no action necessary on that thank you for taking that on central office I believe them the next agenda item will be the reaffirmation of existing policies correct okay so we need a motion a second and then we can discuss to reaffirm all existing policies second Church thank you any comments questions this is something we do with our own boards annually as well that does not preclude any of us including NL central office from reviewing and adjusting and adapting policy as needed throughout the year but it is required that we do this annually any questions or comments I'm going to ask for a roll call in Esther Anderson Miss Cason yes Miss Cordell yes mr. Downing Miss headings mr. Miller yes mr. Norton yes yes great I have the next agenda item as appointment of legal counsel for sau29 Robbie want to fill us in so that if you wanted to make one motion for next to agenda items typically the council for sau29 is Gordon Graham and then in The Firm that he works with and the sau29 treasurer is Dan and a shepherd if anybody would like to make the motion in the second we can have discussion I move that we appoint Gordon Graham's law firm as legal counsel SAU 29 and Dan and 2/7 as treasurer of sau29 second thanks Jeff any discussions or questions for since office on this okay I'll call for roll call mr. Anderson Miss Cordell mr. yes it's heading yes mr. Miller yes mr. Starkey okay we're onto superintendent Belleza I'm so accepting if you've been reading the dailies hopefully there isn't anything that's cropped up in the lab couple of hours but I just want to throw out their superintendent away in the rest of central office especially cold those daily updates I know they are something that cannot continue in perpetuity but very very much did invite not just parents and students by board members by community members they have been a Lifeline for many and I just want that noted before you give us anything new to ponder over so I appreciate that and it does it takes quite a bit of time and effort to get those together although some of the material much of the material repeats day after day there is a lot of new content that does get out of does it require a lot of work and then everybody in the in this building is busy throughout the day from the time we walked through the door till the time we leave in the afternoon in a we typically try to get everyone out I'm here by 4 so that the cleaning crew can come in and sanitized and have it ready the next day we haven't been very good about getting out of here or on a regular basis we haven't even been close to that but you know we we do see all of the efforts are happening and all of the work sites all of the various work sites and in the folks that have been bringing their A-game from the start of this back in on March 16th when we officially closed all of our schools this is the end of week 9 it is going to be the first time on Monday that we have had a work day off completely for everyone since we and I think a lot of people are really looking forward to that myself included because it hasn't really been a typical nine-to-five day for anyone or Monday to Friday week for anyone many of the people in this building are coming in on a Saturday or a Sunday or sometimes both days just to continue to make sure things are not following through the crack they really deserve a lot of credit as do all of our staff and all of our districts in all of our school so it's just been a huge huge effort and and now I've got to stress that I am incredibly proud that we are not shortening the length of our school year I now honestly I am incredibly proud of that fact because there was a lot of push in the community because of what other districts have done some very close by some our way in terms of saying look this is not working we're just going to pull the plug for me that feels almost like you're giving up on your kids on your students and and not trying to find every possible solution to her them better prepare for what comes next whether it's first grade or Life After High School so incredibly proud of that and I think that's something that locally we should be celebrating and and cheering on all of our staff end of school year is rapidly approaching and there are a number of events and celebrations most notably the High School graduation that will be forthcoming obviously I let off today's update with kind of a teaser I guess if you will that we know the plan is is pretty well set in will be announced tomorrow I know after calling 5 years worth of snow days you're going to get upset people one way or another no matter what you do how you do it weather is right wrong or indifferent there will be people who will disagree my concern is that if we disagree very loud and vocally it will diminish the experience for those who probably think that this is going to be a fantastic experience for them and I don't want those students to be cheated on that moment in the Sun as best as we're able to as communities so when it gets announced do you know anything that people can do to say what a great idea whether it's whether it's to constituents whether it's through different media channels I think that'll go a long way to helping the students really feel good about what is going to take place for their High School graduation and I think it is very thoughtful meaningful and when we shared it with a class Council I saw smiles and thumbs up and head nodding and enthusiasm so I don't want what other people think should have happened to take away what I think students are actually going to enjoy me know it is it does take off a lot of the boxes that students had replied and put in put in on what was important to the box but quite a so I'm excited about that all of our schools are working on what their end of Year celebrations are going to look like and they'll communicate that directly to their parents and their students and their stakeholders yeah what does it make how to sense for me to put out 13 different celebration events and what that starts his going to look like cuz it'll take quite an effort to do that so that's one of the primary focuses in and you know everybody pretty geared on making sure that those things happen people do need to feel celebrated feel recognized feel honored for the efforts that they put in it my team here at central office have something up her sleeve that will launch sometime in June that's all I'll say about that you know because we also recognize that we're still lacking guide specific on summer programming we were told mid-may and it was very vague and mid-may so now hearing it won't come out till after after the holiday weekend so I guess made hey and I said this earlier and then another meeting means anything between May 1st and May 31st because then it's in the middle of May somewhere when we get that we will we will be ready to go as quickly as we possibly can with any Thai planning for summer programming including extended school year we've had several discussions about it already and you know everything from fully remote to fully on site and I think we'll be able to move forward quickly when that guidance comes out so that we are meeting the needs of our students to the fullest and best of our ability the other big thing that we are working on now is a framework on what the reopening of school will look like and again keeping in mind the range of fully remote to fully on-site is what we are working through we've got some smaller work. that we are working to populate with individual so that the workload is not too much for one committee but maybe for subgroups to be able to spar set out knowing that we bar at the end of the year there's a lot of things that are happening and we don't want it to be overly bearing but we do know that it is going to be a heavy lift number none the less and so even though there will be guide that will come out from the state I think that if we cover our bases with the fully remote to all the way to full on site I think we'll be in a good position when there was recommendation come out from the state to proceed forward you know I'd like to say that it's going to be easy but it really won't be easy I'm it'll be a lot of work a lot of planning a lot of considering and a lot of give-and-take you know I don't think there's going to be a one-size-fits-all if we go full full on-site there will be people that will have apprehension and and levels of uncomfort of going into that situation if we go fully multiple people who will have levels of discomfort with that as well so we've got to be prepared and flexible for all situations for all of our Learners and all of our staff in the well-being our students and our staff has got to be at on the top of my priority list and help us as we're we're asking the questions and designing that framework there are some samples out from other districts around the state and do you have some other guiding documents that we are working with not to necessarily replicate but so that we're not trying to invent something without resources and references that we can look toward there are there are guidance guidance has that have been created by the CDC that will be part of these discussions so that we are mindful of of really the safety and well-being of all of our Folk inside of a building or remotely from a building so it's going to be a lot of work it's not going to be easy and the last thing that I would like to update you on if you remember back on March 14th when we met and now I let you know that I was planning to close the schools and we all did weigh in on that we started off with two days where only essential staff KB I hate to sit at Central and non-essential because all of our staff are essential but when when there's inclement weather there are certain people who are expected to come to work and people who are not so at the start of this on March 16th all of the people would typically report to work during like a weather emergency reporting to work and are your folks did not we told them to stay home for two days so that we could design a framework on how we're going to approach and Tackle remote learning which we did and then on that Wednesday we brought everybody back to the building so that we plan accordingly and get it lifted get it off the ground so that we were ready the following Monday to implement it with our students when we get through this school year it is absolutely my intention to close all of your sights for 2 days to give those essential workers who have been going nonstop since the onset without it without an April break without any type of brake whatsoever them at same consideration we gave the staff when we started at the tail end I think they deserve they learned they need and they will greatly appreciate the recognition that all of our work site after all the students are done so that we can just sort of give them time to say I just wanted to make you aware that that is my intention on the tail end your school lets out in the students are done and our ceremonies are over that Thursday and Friday I think it's 18th and 19th Tim am I right on that give me a nod yep I got a thumbs-up that is my intention for those two days on the 18th and 19th is to tell all of our essential employees look stay home these two days you will receive your normal pay just like everyone did on the phone or front of this I'm going to give that in that same consideration to say thank you for coming everyday for crushing it everyday for sanitizing for keeping us safe for make the food for preparing the meals all of the things at that many are not aware of that took place behind the scene I feel will go a long way with the culture the climate in she'll help everybody feel good the technology efforts of getting machines ready and prep to you know the folks who were here throughout the duration I just I feel it is something that is Merida Dan Dan something that I'm willing to put put out there and just make sure that you're aware of my intention that's it good night thank you so much anybody funny comments or questions for superintendent Malayan is updates Peter I sort of disconnected for a moment so I don't know if you brought this up Rob and I don't have any of our like personal time for vacation time off policies in front of me but I know it's come up at other places including my work of vacation that's like expiring at the end of the fiscal year that people haven't been able to take because of all can I pause you for a quick second last year the SAU board allowed us to extend the usage time to August 31st so there is no rush fabulous just want to make sure that people weren't losing vacation time because they can't it's not a great time to go on vacation not all of us can go to Guam like you are right is remotely remote great any other questions or comments yes Jacqueline I think that's a great idea to give are essential folks the 18th and 19th of June off great idea Harley support that second thing as a parent of a senior at Kean I really am appreciative that you let the students have significant say in all of this is I think I'm on the other side of that and you've been coprinus in with your dad email for the past few weeks I'm hoping that that will temper any sort of outcry you know among parents and other community members yeah exactly fingers crossed to keep emphasizing that message you know this is what the students wanted and you know everything that you've been saying I'm hoping that that is really that's just distraction right now I think that that to me is a parent of a senior would be upsetting and I'd rather we we have something than nothing and and let the students have a say in all of it vertically when it's in the upheaval for all that's it thank you thanks Steph accentuate the positive eliminate the negative it's a mindset it's it's a thought process than it's something sometimes you have to fight it pretty hard to get there but that that was a school song for one of my children decades ago and every Thursday morning the whole school would sing that song I still remember so I couldn't agree more than other monitor there is pretty clear and absolutely these kids all of them should feel celebrated the staff who got them there should feel celebrated there shouldn't be negative thought amongst anyone because you're still able to do this and and and I think everybody making it work quick question. The next day is the remote learning do you feel you have more to add from the update portion of the discussion at regarding remote learning now I thought you covered him pretty well but I'd like to give you the opportunity if there's anything Beyond I would like just to ask Dottie and Brian if they had it than anything they wanted to add thanks for the two days I'll take them I'll be in Guam okay anything from the board's questions regarding the update sword remote learning for clarity at this point or we can move on to Old business rub it in OK Google I don't think you mentioned this but you should probably make the if they're not already the board should be aware that you're on the governor's task force for I forget with the acronym stands for before opening up seals in the and Tim that's right so Tim Tim is on a commission to study adequate adequacy funding and he had a meeting today which is the only reason he's showing off by wearing we tried to get him a haircut too for that meeting and it didn't really work but he wouldn't let me but Tim did a great job of representing us and end in the concerns with the levels of funding for adequacy it wasn't as long as of a time slot as was needed for the discussion and the probes that they sent to him where we were get involved and they sent them to him only yesterday so and you all know Tim very well Tim is not going to go into something half-hearted he is going to jump in full on he's going to give you a is  a game and show exactly what the inadequacies are with the adequacy funding and and he did that and represented us very well he came back from his virtual meeting and debrief with me and look like you just gone through a marathon prayer for all intensive purposes you look be look tired and it was about an hour long sessions I was very involved very deep the task force the school transitioning reopening and redesigned task force convened officially a week ago day and I was assigned to one of the work groups in the in under that task force umbrella for operation we met on Tuesday afternoon Tuesday evening and they were 20 people in the end of Zoom type meeting with a used go to but know this type of them and we spent the majority of our time brainstorming survey items that were going to go out to the community across the state after our meeting was over they gave us access to the platform where we were putting our our probes in so that we could stay up all night long work through the clock and add more United make comments and whatnot all-in-all for my work group I think there were between 60 and 75 probes which means they're going to have a lot of work to condense that consolidate that worded appropriately you make sure it's going to the intended or the expected audience to respond to those my next meeting is on June 5th which is a Friday afternoon and what we are. thing to do is to look at the results from that survey so that means between the time I met on Tuesday till June 5th they're planning to design and develop disseminate that survey so that they're getting input from around the state on what the reopening of schools may may not look like when we get to the new school year I did I do want to make known that they or two notable things that I put in writing on our documents for the overall task force to be aware of one there was no there was no line of questioning opening for students and I thought that was a huge mistake and they sort of gave me a a tap-dance response about IRB regulation surveying student and I'm very well aware and familiar those regulations however if you do the survey completely anonymously you don't need to worry about going through those approvals as you might under under a research base approval process so I noted that there were there were no questions being geared for the students specifically and I do know that that is a big mistake I feel it's a big mistake maybe others think that will they don't need to have a voicemail I really think that we need to start putting our students with things more than we may have ever considered doing that before the second thing that I wanted to make clear that advocate for was that they did put a probe ask responders what district are you responding on behalf of so that way when people take the survey they can disaggregate it and send it to me in an email saying rob here are the results all of the respondents from Marlow all of the respondents from Westmoreland for Marlboro from Teen from Chesterfield from Harrisville from Nelson sorry rich I didn't see you but I saw your name when I I want to exclude you that would be really helpful if they're not willing to do that then I've already got a team that's working on a similar type of structure internally where we will we will go ahead and probiotic immune to get their feedback in their input anyway so One Way Or Another We're going to get the input so that the work that we're doing is applicable to our stakeholders and not necessarily the input from exit in Portsmouth and Dover and ever so thank you George I wasn't originally on that committee I was bummed out but you know after that discussion and then superintendent form with a commissioner couple hours afterwards I got an email saying hey congratulations are like Ali-A thanks so we'll keep the efforts going and I think it's important that that you know it's like this with Tim's involvement with the adequacy funding commission my involvement with this will continue to raise our hands offer assistance because I think it benefits our districts in our community make sure our voices being heard at the state level I think we've made a lot of progress in that in that regard the last few years and will continue to make that progress thanks as far as I heard it's rumor that there is no Educators on show there are there on my work group there were no classroom-based teachers you said educator I would call myself an educator I just saw that there's no teachers on that committee to start school group I don't know if there are or there or not but I couldn't tell you because I asked their names that I don't even know who they are how many committees are there roughly just cuz that'll give I think the I saw a better idea we know Tim is on something that's very financed driven so you're not going to see teaching staff on there you're more and maybe from an admin perspective but the action team is Yara third are there how many components are there to this commission just to be clear what's the work that Tim's doing is not a part of that school transition reopening and redesign task force it is a separate initiative all together so it's not all of that and I think it was enacted by law to establish a study commissioned look at the adequacy funding so so it's not that one in the same but under the the school transition reopening task force than there are it's either 5 or so Subway groups with what we're looking at internally we've got for working groups that were looking at there will be instructional staff they will be caters so which time I got there and I know that they just you just held the that first meeting was actually open if you were a lie registered and was able to listen I'm just to get a lay of the land but that's it all it was was really kind of that preliminary this is what we're going to be trying to accomplish this is what it's going to take him from there on out it looks like you guys are you know it won't be a accessible as that first meeting cuz I didn't get another invite to register again for another just to listen so I'm just I think Eric has a really valid point and if you're there in your advocate I would Advocate strongly that at some juncture of discussion they need to have representation from teachers at levels so I will say this but I do know that part of the survey design is specifically targeted to instructional staff so I can answer that there are teachers on the other committees that it's like a over a hundred people are on task force it's just since Rob's is operations related there aren't as many teachers on it but there are teachers I know I recognize a few names on the instruction work and on the wellness and then the Nea is in a lot of unions are represented as well thanks. If anyone is interested roughly 60 page document outlining the makeup of the task force in their mission is available on the New Hampshire State educational website of Education. NH. probably but this whole thing is on there with all this was the initial its like before Rob was named to the task force as well so it's already been altered from that but it does have a lot of 320 some-odd participants listed in what all the work groups are and what they're doing it's kind of a slog The Sting formation in that document that you don't need but there's a lot of good stuff in there as well if you're looking to figure out what the state is trying to accomplish play that included the updated document in either Tuesday or Wednesday is update this week is it it's embedded link into the beginning part of either Tuesday or Wednesday what is the neck read I needed sleep so much that night let me tell you it's all out there but there is so much information to be fair some of it does slip right by us and I'm just so that we have a voice at the table and that you're able to articulate some of your concerns Rob with regards I mean I think you had tremendous success with students as stakeholders and and I think you're right neglecting that component in just with a very simple survey for input that could be very valuable I think her choose to ignore it that's fine too but at least they had a voice at the table keep advocating power tired of the kids much appreciated and thank you George again for reminding everyone of that okay if that part of the discussions over move on to Old business and we do have technology still at the table does Tim have anything to update for us on technology as far as Staffing as far as are we considering any changes and the model Etc I think that's was where the discussion kind of left off at our last full SAU sit-down meeting I think we're going to be discussing that at this year's bike session work we didn't make any changes for next year though we still could certainly, Des going to challenge for technology and they've actually done really well and you know I I I I guess I wish the rest of the year when as well as it's done under covid cuz I really think they move mountains to make this possible for all of us so I'm really proud of the work they've done over the last few months technology-wise internally we've been working on a plan 14 and I buy identify funding that will take away from nothing else to go to a one-to-one model for 8th grade through 12th grade which will be discussing with the board at our next board meeting I think Chesterfield internally is now I was looking at something maybe not as broad but but maybe for grades and I think you'll find that it's just hard to put the genie back in the bottle if you will most of the districts around us have gone some form of one-to-one even down to Great to however they haven't had any better test scores and there's no evidence that it's going to lead to better result however lots of technological innovations don't lead to better results but that's the the sign of the times and where we are and I think that's where we are right think there's going to be more use for a home Chromebook to take home and at school because more stuff is going to be on an electronic format I don't know about you with my own kids are typing way better than they take three months ago and it's probably going around so I think it's something that districts are going to have to look at all our neighbors are doing it and there is grant money available in most districts to make that happen and it's notably inexpensive in the grand scheme of things once you get significant number of them so I just keep that in mind and your district will probably be talking about that soon a birthday any questions for Tim on technology any other old business hearing none I'm just going to move to the final agenda item the superintendent evaluation that's something that's done by the chair in the vice-chair annually we usually open it up in March and we closed it late mid to late May to give everybody a chance to put in there in Fort Sumter is exiting board members like the opportunity to have a fight at that serve a apple before exiting this year kind of that was not a priority there's an awful lot going on for central office in for the I'm going to say perhaps this is something best noted to keep an eye on your sau29 emails for the survey that you will get with superintendent eval enclosed as board members it is one of the things that we are responsible for doing annually will try and get that out before June 30th. That's my old thought on that it's just not a priority right now but it is something we will do and I don't want to press we work very closely with HR getting that survey out and I don't want to press HR when they've got really pressing and Urgent issues that they're taking care of wood staffing is cetera but we can start the ball rolling I would leave it up Two Georges and Peter to decide whether the outgoing by sure would like to work on it with me or have the incoming vice-chair worked on it with me but it's just a matter of getting that email directing your bored please if you're the board chair or if you're the one attending the meeting please keep that line of communication open with the board chairs to make sure that their boards take the time to respond to the survey and we will meet with Rob sometime over the summer and review the results and the boards will all have access to those results as well but just to be mindful that it's coming by George go ahead recommend when you do get it out I would suggest a quick turnaround usually we've tried giving people you know a full month or whatever I would suggest basic maybe a week and then I don't know how many I don't know how many folks on here the board Sheriff's but we've had a fairly low response rate the last two years so hammer it home to your boards to make people aware this is one of the very we have three responsibilities three things the lineated by law and this is one Sol hammer it home to your bored please when they get that survey fill it out as soon as possible and get it back in preliminary email sent out saying the server will be coming and you will have this much time and blah blah blah so we'll send out a survey with the preliminary email to notify everyone that is coming and that's it on any other comments or questions regarding the eval okay hearing done do we have any non-public hearing none I think eyes are any other other I would like to ask no we can call this meeting adjourned at 5:50 p.m. Bob because it's virtual we need it adjourned to be a roll call correct I am I I believe that you can declare a meeting adjourned without a vote all right well then we are adjourned at 5:50 p.m. I can't thank everyone enough for being here I hope you're all staying well I hope you're all staying safe wear a mask when you're not virtual it doesn't hurt and I'm

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SAU29 School Board Emergency Meeting Agenda for Thursday, May 21, 2020 - 4:30 p.m.

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