Video Gallery

Keene Board of Education Meeting for October 11, 2022

Go to Video Gallery Added Oct 27, 2022 •

Copy this URL:
Embed code:	<iframe class="edlio-embed-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="360" src="//www.keeneschoolsnh.org/apps/embed/?v=346305" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Change dimensions

Go HD

Keene Board of Education Meeting for October 11, 2022 Keene High School LGIA- 43 Arch Street, Keene, NH at 6:30PM Transcription available upon request.

Show Transcript

good evening and welcome to the Keene Board of Education meeting for Tuesday October 11th if you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance what do we do to fly in the United States of America and to the Republic and thank you I will open as nap required by state law with public in we're going to schedule this should more people show up public input will be allowed up until 7 or 7:05 tonight which is actually a couple minutes longer than our 30-minute required session do we have any public input this I got makes people come in during that half-hour will check in as they arrive can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda anybody have items they wish loot from the consent agenda the scribblers Arizona thing I all those in favor how do you post carries not in the way of 9 1 2 3 4 5 8 8 0 I report to the board and a preview of how tonight's going to go I typed up a nice while written report and saved it on my work Google Drive and not my school board Google Drive so you will get the summary report of the board chair primarily what I needed to talk about tonight is I have been receiving and I know some of you have as well as various requests word it along the lines of a you need to look into you need to go into the buildings and check this out I need to go talk to so-and-so so I just I wanted to remind both board members and the public kind of the the role of the board versus the role of the superintendent versus the role of the building administrators as a board and as individual board members have no authority to conduct our own investigation and I know that's counterintuitive to how most people think of school boards but that is not an authority this granted to us when it comes to going into the things we actually don't have any more rights you know then then you know a student's parent or you know any other taxpayer and the city we can't just walk in and and demand to see things our demand to be shown around school Liaisons have play a different role obviously you do have a little more access to the buildings but bear in mind that that's because it's something we kind of worked out with the superintendent it was the actual only member of the district that we have direct 3 / so certainly you do want to get into your school communities you do want to talk to two parents to teachers to administrators 22 students when possible and when appropriate that's kind of different grade level obviously a first grader isn't going to be too interested in talking to you but maybe volunteer to go in a read a book but we're high school students are frequently asking for Scott and I to to figure out a way to to get more input from students please don't just show up at your building and demand to be let in. Like I said we don't have any more rights than anyone else contact your billing administrator make plans teachers want to talk to you that's fine but make sure that that's not you fearing with with academic progress Scott and I have met with a couple teachers but we do it after school hours we have been asked to go in and observe classes and that's something we'd like to do but we're going to at least I'm going to try go through Administration and setting up a time to do that and that's appropriate across the grade levels but just make sure that you're coordinated with your building administrator or not interfering I'm thinking we've had a few other requests from the board I guess the primary other one you know why is so-and-so still employed by the district and that goes across all buildings across all bargaining groups I assume that people sometimes want to know why we're still here where we are the short version of that one is if you don't the people on the board you get a shot every year to to put other people in here but the board does not hire and fire we approve hirings and resignations and firings that are brought to us from the superintendent it's not upon us to decide on our own to hire and fire people that is all done in coordination with the superintendent and I think I touched on everything I wanted to get to in that the other thing I had kind of a conclusion on this occurred to me while I was walking my dog which is when I get all my good thoughts we do get as board members a lot of negative input in that makes sense now people are going to come up to us to frequently and say hey things are going great thanks they're going to you know they're going to come to us when they have a concern when they have a problem you know you'll probably hear about some of those later tonight and you know every time I hear one of those and I know some of you were the same way it's you know if you start getting kind of pants do you wear about the future of our schools you worry about the direction of our schools but I realized two at the end of the day I'm usually pretty upbeat about this and the reason is the people that we have working for us we have amazing teachers we have amazing Adventist you're too I'll go above and beyond what they need to do this school district could do amazing things beyond what we already do we just have to all figure out a way to get all of these in my can people on the same page and moving in the same direction so that's kind of what I got for you tonight report of the student representative I did get an email from his go that she was not going to be able to be with us tonight she actually said she's going to be sing our livestream so hi Katherine and she will be with us again next month and I report of the superintendent must relay sticking with a format that I walked you through laugh so that that will be consistent moving forward with regard to content that gets built in there while we're still waiting for the New Hampshire SAS results to be lifted from being in bargoed by the Hampshire Department of Education that should come from assuming before November but it might be early in the November when they run in bar do that so we'll be able to share that data there as always if you questions with regard to any of the information that's in the report we do posted online as well so that the viewing audience and other folks have access to that so that it's not a secretive document we want to make sure that we're transparent with that there ever in question about any of the information in the report before during or after a meeting I'm happy to answer been Brian Tim they all contribute as well as Doctor Maddie Nancy Deutsch and Bob Milliken I'll contribute to these reports month-to-month basis you'll see as we continue to move forward we're going to be very inclusive of all of the buildings and all of the schools in the SAU as a hole so that you get data for basically every everybody that ends up feeling up to this building right here Keene high school so you'll be able to see that information as we continue forward I would regard to standard stuff like who's been doing their their emergency drills to testers sitting stuff like that so you'll get a very inclusive report that has all of the buildings and all those students that end up coming in to Keene High School I don't have access to some of the sending districts that are not in our SAU that we do tuition I'm here but the ones that I do have access to we'll just going to do one comprehensive report for the board for all of the boards so that folks can see exactly where things like so if you have any questions more than happy to answer any of the information that's been put in there got a good one piece with the grid one piece with a grid on Keene high school at and you just touched upon it that got sending districts that you don't have finalized information on but to get to the enrollment of 1301 1303 is there a way to put the wind what how many students are coming from Winchester and other areas just to have a whole picture that I might be able to do so let me see what I can do for that moving forward a particularly Keen high school and even the school because we bring students into the middle school from Sherry and Stoddard and Sullivan so yeah let me see what I can do in that regard and then had Winchester into the high school as well I think I might be able to do that takes a little work but I think I might be able to extract that and include that so thanks to point Ruston the Sun I hope hope this isn't taking and wrong but it's important and it's really good to know where I students are coming from and it really helps but I believe it's extremely important that we never go down the road where we segregate School intending District by school grades of the students that was a horror show and that really put a lot of my students on the negative path in you should never go there is adults I agree and it when you walk in like you if you were just average Joe walking into the building and you saw kids walking down the hallway and be like hey let's Keene High student you don't know where they can from or anything of the sort so and that's how it has to be you know where equity for everybody so just because we had a school board in the past that they tried to break it out yes it's just a farce to in student should become yes and any other questions for mr. Malay reports of standing committees buildings and ancillary services in Cheraw we basically have nothing but I would go if anybody has really time go out and look at the tennis courts how they're progressing it's on really they doing a really good job they had the five up there they're going to have to wait until it gets warmer than to do all the Linings and everything so he can keep us a good job. director is working with the college's City or whatever trying to find places for them for the the tennis team to play but I think the delay is going to be well worth it in the car quality of the tennis courts the tennis courts will no longer be an embarrassment just like we fix the track and the other pod is that based on the direction that the School Board gave up on him last week I mean last month he is doing his best to you contract as much as the material as possible but a lot of places as We Know it doesn't matter how much money you had the material just isn't there to write a contract done I think stress did you guys have the tennis courts are they at one point we were not going to be able to use them in the spring is that still the case they wouldn't stay because of the cold weather and stuff yeah definitely do it do it right do not do it again here but the asphalt up the poles are up in everything I wouldn't want to buy it again today I was going to mention this under the high school update because this is when it occurred to make but we've been talking about the tennis courts or at least facilities have been talked about the tennis courts for for a while now as in the last budget you know they started the work but a month ago maybe a little bit longer and we talk here in facilities reports almost nobody knew that that was happening so it just you know that's it just highlights again that we really need to figure out a better way to communicate with the public counting on folks finding it in these meetings we do have you know post-pandemic people are used to streaming services so we do have people watching AMT broadcast the Facebook feed but obviously almost nobody comes to our meetings physically anymore is not the best method of getting information out there so we got to figure out a better way to get specifically board information important information out to the public and the tennis courts just brought that home to me decorous distance from yeah that's that's a big one because if you look around over the last three to four years we've made a lot of improvements in the infrastructure we can go and talk about the parking lot at Alumni field we can talk about how we fixed up areas around the high school I was worth being picked up the track at the school that's basically all done in there in the finance and Facilities meetings and in budget but yes it doesn't get talked about unless we're giving you an update right here in maybe recommendation is that maybe some pictures should be taken of all the upgrades we've been doing and maybe I Got 5 minutes so people can see this is what's been happening in the schooling people people don't know what's happened in Wheelock or Franklin was Simon they just know this but I think we've done a great job and Tim and Ken have done a great job that we need to show the people where their money is going and how it's improving the quality of the education any questions for me Roberts I'm sorry I brought the other thing to add to facilities the gymnasium floor over the middle school is completed I did actually take a picture and I did try sending it to the board members and so hopefully it'll go through I'm not sure whether or not my phone will deliver it now or later but hopefully you'll get that that was Tim correct me if I'm wrong that the last remaining piece was the in the baseboards around the perimeter of the gym was scheduled for the end of last week early this week to be completely to complete that project for very happy it looks it looks it looks fantastic. They did a great job team was over there throughout the summer early in the fall I'm working with staff over there to say all right well what color I mean it sounds kind of silly but what color lines do we need to put my court you know it is important about it sounds silly but it is really important and it pops and it looks great the floorboards are a lighter color so it's brighter in there and it really was a project that focused on the sub floor level was not necessarily installed correctly when it was first put in and when they were going to replank the floor and resurface the floor they realize oh my goodness this wasn't done we're going to be doing this again and another eight or ten years let's do it right now and hopefully prolong the life of that and come back to taxpayers and value by doing it right now instead of again and again and again so kudos to the identifying that and taking action and making sure it was done correctly so it's at the Middle School PE teachers did a good job work around that issue obviously that's where they hold their indoor PE for the most part I wasn't available so I mostly was outside but they had to work around a couple of track tournaments that were sitting out they had to work around obviously rain days and so I started explaining one day my son why you know the gym wasn't available yet and he was able to explain it right back so the PE teachers are there did a good job of letting the kids know obviously not the tax implications but you know why it was running late and then why it was being done and all that stuff so the kids are finding things out anyway which shouldn't surprise me and Castor start us off with a reported a successful esy program for are identified students who were enrolled in the program due to anticipated learning loss over the summer the summer program saw a very high attendance rate for the six weeks and a challenge to consider that we had discussed for next year was just housing to program it Shepherd elementary schools as opposed to one doctor Maddie also discuss the process of providing related services for students enrolled in local charter schools the committee reviewed policy jebb Simon pupils kindergarten placement procedures the principles and Doctor White have worked hard to create a procedure that shop of way can a garden over enrollment at any Elementary School each year and as for policies do not typically include Associated procedures they committee is sending jebb back to policy with a recommendation to separate the the procedure from the policy doctor we began to update the committee on the various professional development training and opportunity is taking place District as the full. Has PD list is rather long and detailed the committee requested to hear an update on just a couple of programs per month going forward so we can kind of do it a deeper dive so we're going to pick up where we left off next month for this month next week committee was presented with an international field trip request for 2020 for the application was missing some important information and hopefully that'll be coming back to us next week all the field trips for a larger Converse turn on the boards t.i. go and now the question of his expense if expensive international field trips are in line with that goal I'm so the committee requested a list of all the proof field trips for October meeting to ensure they're offering options at different price points and what are you doing opportunities along with them to make sure that all of our trip successful or some trips are accessible to all students and everyone has a chance to do something and then so for next week's meeting we're focusing on goal setting it is at the field trip conversation I believe continuing hearing about the PD that's going on in the district and looking at our October 1 in Roman numbers district-wide text Rebecca questions for education all right thank you my plague is finance committee to write a good evening but we do have one action item will jump right to that in a second but in addition to what Chris said it on the facilities piece we did start talking about bowling facilities in finance company about being a little bit more proactive this year as we approach budget funds season I'm sure Tim the group already take that off but looking at the only the wonderful work we've done from a capital playing perspective but how we think about that in future multi-year views so refreshing that planned I'm sure Timmy kind of already done that but reviewing that in the committee meetings prior to budget kickoff so we can understand and appreciate that how it's going to influence what will be rolled up into the budget of all cuz of course outside of a headcount salary that's really the next biggest bucket swing a change of process flow that this year and be a little bit more practice but other than that we do have a fund budget transfer report so I would like to make a motion for the Keene Board of Education move to approve the budget funds report dated September 22 September 2022 as informational any questions on the fund transfer this month it's about 200k and majority of it recent topics around Perrin tutors to Pera how much money Rihanna all those telephone maintenance items is upgrades at some of the buildings or it just says maintenance requested by some just curious of course I'm not that utility costs or you know what that is but and submitted them ones labeled Elementary Ones high school so I don't know if it's Hardware microphone can we go nevermind it will if I can interpret the hand Rice's increase cost not budget interpretation all those in favor they posed carries 90 a nail salon we did have a gift in the drivers at in the consensus Personnel Committee of Cortana but I'm Ron can you pass your mic how to replace the third I can move that quickly. I just said that we did not meet this month but I know that he's working hard at killing our spots that are open thanks bro policy committee we have a ton of policies on first read please do try and take the time to look at those at some point because most of these will be coming as second read for approval probably in either one or two big batches so if you're not prepped for them that could make for a long meeting so I'll go down these quickly just to give you a review of what we're looking at Jay I see most of the kids are required by law jick pupils safe and violence prevention and bullying obviously that's been a big topic for the last couple years there's been some changes in state law and a lot of changes in best practices that were trying to capture in this change on this go around and this one's it's a beefy policy and it's undergone a number of iterations in the policy committee, please do take a look to see if you have questions gbk grievances prompted in l e b a changes in state law ultimately it doesn't make a lot of difference in how we do things here it's mostly fine-tuning the wording to make sure we capture some of the changes in the last two legislative sessions bedah public park the patient board meetings you guys have heard us talk about for the last couple months this is the primary change it so we are now required to have public input for at least half an hour at any of our full board meeting minutes a couple of their smaller changes in there so we can no longer prohibits I actually attended the webinar training this afternoon on this exact topic and the other major changes we used to restrict input to if we knew we were going to have a lot of input we are restricted to items on the agenda now it can only be restricted to school matters what's that mean it's not that big a deal but you know people can come in and give input on anything having to do with our schools weekend say that you can't give us your opinions on you no say I don't have the war in Ukraine it does have to pretend to the school and a couple of the smaller changes not that big a deal but this is much be Fear public input policy than we've had in the past beat it up a little bit because there's a lot of optional sections in the NHS be a recommended one or we're going to pull some of those that we're going to adopt some of them but that's coming up ihba programs for pupils with disabilities the primary change to this is simply the age at which were required to serve students with disabilities has been expended on the top end and our policies related to the same or going to have to reflect that to make sure that we're staying in compliance with state law I am G animals in the school this is solely in here because we have two separate policies the other one deals with service animals has been some confusion about which policy applies to what so we're adding language into this one this policy specifically does not deal with service animals this one has to do with her example of therapy dogs with therapy programs we have in some of our schools have to do a teacher's bringing in live animals for various reasons into their classrooms that sort of thing so that's prompted by our own needs instead of one authorized signatures we actually don't have a policy for this site is not required by law if you can take a look at what's in the driver actually beating up to the proposed nhsp a policy a lot to make sure that it reflects what we actually do in our district as well do it while staying within state law similar DK payment checks manifest there was some language that no longer mass changes and state laws or correcting that when those are some pretty minor changes but it's in there be a change of class or School assignments best interest to manifest hardship that's the policy that Rebecca has referenced from the education committee with the changes that they're sending along with the recommendation to split it the procedure and policy a part on return the procedure to the administration where it belongs and finally bedded Rules of Order that is that was something that Randy suggested we look at when he first came on the board has taken a little while to get there but hopefully what this will do is in code in our policy kind of ate a cheat sheet will still be following Rules of Order but it it gives a a simplified version that covers most of the things that a school board will encounter as opposed to the 80 paid the document and it's really written more for much larger bodies what is everybody that comes on the board a Fighting Chance of understanding how our meetings actually run wait those are both second read I'm running way ahead of myself you're on a roll yeah I am so all right let's do bees yeah do b e d d first and get thrown out of the place out of the way so I'll be half of the policy committee I move that the game board of education adopt policy be EDD Rules of Order as presented any questions I know policy committee did a lot of work on that one but it does what I just explain all those in favor and he posed carries 90 and that must mean I have the wrong policy for jca because we can't possibly be ready for that what is jca change of class school assignment best interest in manifest that's not the one that word yeah that's different than what Rebecca was talking which is basically kindergarten placement largely meeting well yeah that's why it's here I'm just trying to remember what the changes were in this one oh we didn't have it that's what the changes are this is the one that we had a different policy Josh you see it was a jec and we were adopting the language that was proposed from nhspca yep that's right are we having so this one was this replaces a previous policy that we had and the changes in it are not expensive but they're to keep us consist of state law basically the changes Define much more clearly what needs to happen if someone asks to have to be reassigned to our district or out of our district based on the best interest or manifest hardship languages in the law we don't see a lot of these less than 1 a year I think in either direction I get to 24 that is unusual but it's it's a the state law was vague at best and they did redefine it to their credit they actually made it more clear and easily easier easier to understand and that's what this one is about a half a policy committee I move to SEPTA policy approved policy JC a change of class or School assignment and best interest in manifest hardship as presented second and questions related to Eva, will you get a second reinforcing my second all right all those in favor any opposed Gary's 90 sorry has Rob said I got on a roll reading policies with the one you just approved next month will be bringing a different policy to remove but we didn't want to remove that until we got the this one in place Jacqueline Jacqueline says it's j e b b is assignments of pupils and that's the one that the education committee looked at primarily comes into play with kindergarten placement although it does apply to all levels of the greats that's the one that medication committee has been sending to policy for us to take a look at and Pull-A-Part also in your drive but not ready for even a first read as well as cebb school safety this is required by law dance of changes in the law in the last couple years around school safety as you might expect and it's again it's a pretty extensive policy so it's in here in case you wanted to get a head start taking a look at this one it won't be here for 1st Street until at least month although we're kind of hoping to ask to suspend rules and approve without a first read because of the importance of getting the swimming place and that's why we wanted to get it in the drive already even though we're not technically ready for a first Creed I got everything know I had one more note from policy committee which was for Ben then we had a policy in our drive for this last meeting I'm referring to challenge books in the school's I'm in yeah and we didn't know where it came from nobody in the meeting so I had to ask Anna if she said you forward it to us so you have to go over tonight but will be hitting you up for an explanation of where it came what we're looking at I'm in kind of a preview of Coming Attractions I think we're going to need that one soon if that's a yeah yes yes on d k there's just a typo that I probably made fourth paragraph page 1 follow is spelled f o l l o w e mistake but I don't want to memorialize it when you pass the policy and its autocorrect mistake hey one of the things that this is that the superintendent in the business administrator been able to sign contracts forever I don't really care cuz I don't enjoy signing contract but I sign dude number a week it's a lot of time and the suggested policy may not take into account that but you may want to put that right into the policy rather than a side even though for years we voted on that at the end of the meeting maybe you want to just memorialize that in here like it superintendent and the business administrator or CFO with annual approval or something like that but I just want to memorialize that in this policy so noted we actually did start talking and we didn't get through all that we started talking with that at the meeting that is one of the things we're looking at is what our current practices are and how much of it we can put into do you not have to revisit all the time versus you know not wanting to and I know Chris's account just before to not wanting to just basically pass everything to the superintendent's office and never have to worry about it again never looked at it again so we're trying to balance that but yeah I'm looking at exactly that's exactly what we're looking at with that why we didn't take any two BS a straight off the top but you just passed but I just want to put it Food For Thought cuz it's going to have to go around the other District I would assume the things that's unique about this district is that you have a superintendent that reports the multiple districts and when they give the sample policy they don't take that into consideration that you have a person who can't argue with their self on whether to make it Queen districts because this gives you the power to move people in your own district and among other people's District but you would always need that other superintendent to make that happen and this will be the first time that the superintendent will be able to basically be pressured to have school choice within your sau29 and this give them zero protection from that I don't know he may have already actually has a checking balance with the boards of the districts as well Tim I considered that initially when I was looking at that because we are unique and we do have a superintendent that oversees seven individual districts but there are there are balances in there to where the superintendent can turn to the school board's so that it doesn't resent that conflict that you're suggesting but not require good right it's not required but in practice it would be it would be a mistake. That's Unique from what the policy in Michigan if it is something we often have to look at it from those sample policies because we do function differently than all school districts in the state school district school district any questions for policy not really for policy but just threw other members the board and the viewing audience and I are one in person audience if you have any comments related to the policies that are on first read please please please provide that into it to the policy chair which happens to be the chair so that we can take that input as we continue to develop policy before we can finalize it we put it out for first read to the public at large so that folks can weigh in on the policies it's posted on the agenda so that folks can review that and provide input this is the opportunity for people to be involved with the development of Pop of policy so that it's not just delegate to the four members of the policy committee and the attorney and whatnot so we got like 10 provided some input thank you Tim for that as well but it's everybody's opportunity when we post this to tell let me look at that policy and see if there's something that might be missing so that was all in the same vein it's worth noting that we send a lot of these out into the building principals before we adopt them at least if it's a policy that directly affect how they have to operate their buildings as we do recognize that we don't necessarily know I have no idea what your point now I'm just shut up and move along oh yeah you're right I'm not going to reach them before we try and get input from folks of these policies will affect directly the one to the one group that we have trouble still getting input from his students like I mentioned that previously as well and some of these policies directly impact their daily lives to so something we're going to have to work on Chris pointed out public input. Did end about 5 minutes ago we will have a half hour each of our meetings available for that time and input can always be sent directly to the board chair either to my email address what you can find on they ordered through central office care of the superintendent alright School liaison Keene High School Scott did you have anything from directly I think that your Prime keeping me out of trouble there and fall seasons are approaching over the next couple of weeks in the month of at homecoming on the 1st of October and for those that are looking at being Juniors tomorrow they have PSATs on the calendar want to point out for both. and seen your family's financial aid night is scheduled for 17th May Auditorium if you want to attend the principal's advisory meeting its on the 19th and then before our next me well on the day of our next meeting in November will be Workshop day because the election day and there's no school so I just wanted us to be aware of those things thank you principal principal parent advisory meeting I forget the exact title of it these days but dr. Gallas Gallagher has been holding those on Zoom she finds that she gets actually Google me too I think but she gets much better at holding those in the virtual format he did point when folks came into the high school I think because I mean certainly I do when it send it while we're making dinner while we're helping kids with homework whatever it is but the last one had about 20 people attending I think which we used to do it then it was usually more like six or seven and that was the venue where we first started trying to convince Jacqueline to run for the board a couple years ago so be careful attending these meetings you never know where you'll end up we also it's worth we did have homecoming week and a half ago at the high school due to the early date of homecoming it was a little rushed especially on the student side but for the most part they pulled it off now they did they got a good-looking parade downtown. and sounded good most of the classes had floats the freshman class was not who they were invited to join the sophomore class float because they didn't have class officers until about a week before the parade which really didn't give them much time to pull anything Heather but the floats were all pretty good for a short time to pull it together the cheerleaders it's great to see that we have a full cheerleading squad this year and they were able to pull together a performance for on field at halftime same for the band they only got their meat take about a week before the performance and they were able to get out onto the field and play and I heard from some of the football players that the team was severely shorthanded for homecoming due to injuries and illnesses so they get the outcome that they wanted but they played hard for the full game which was good to see from a young team that was was very under band coming into the game so well done to the students I did have one negative from China from homecoming but really from all of the football games I've been to all three home games and it all three games the student section is throwing stuff at the band at the cheerleaders and I know that you guys have talked about but that's continuing cheerleaders were hit this week that homecoming band players were yet and I know that that doctor G and you and mr. Atkins have been working on that on the other hand if those were hitting players or unfilled specials I think we all know that those students would be gone so the rest of our students at the games deserve the same consideration but other than that I'm coming I think was was pretty successful for early in the year all right who's next Cheshire career center Mister Wright connected with with Richard mixed bag lot of good activity happening at the CCC on a sonim positive note I can move we talked about this before but the Perkins was approved so that's $210,000 when you think about where that resourceful will go computers a professional development EMT resources for like it's 3D printer TV studio equipment Etc so they're very excited about that that'll go a long way on the never ending Talent acquisition dilemma with that face all of us with the mixed bag they were successful in having them health science teacher start this month and they have a computer networking teacher starting later this month but we recently lost manufacturing teacher install without two other positions so so Annette gap of three a professional so if anybody's interested or wants to support please reach out to mr. town the last update was over 100 students will be attending CTE day at canes at Keene State later this month and its program to expose these students at two similar programs at Keene State so 100 strong will be attending which is pretty awesome thinking later this month might have been last week for one of them is a different program and I know that some of the math and science students were over there last week is that a different program I think you said later this month for the it networking position coming on board so it was for both so I have the dates wrong okay today is supposed to be the 21st in the second teacher professional they start the 24th so it's good to see the cooperation with the college in the in the Juniors and seniors at the high school 2 start exposing them to some more of what's out there beyond our walls I had related to the career center I had a good conversation with a senior last week he's in there in there man factoring program Machine Tool specifically news talking about what he's doing this year and what his plans are next year you know in conjunction with the career center he's got an internship that's actually his fourth block of the day take over it Samsung manufacturing on the optical Ave and should he so choose he's got a job waiting for him there that would include further professional education access the career center resources and worked with mr. Hansel over there and he's already got a pretty solid plan for what he wants to do so they're doing some good work with those students over their Middle School Miss settings I ran out of time this month to connect with Deanna but I am going to be visiting scheduling something later this month but I do know that last Friday they had a peace rally so I heard that was successful so I'll have more details next month Franklin's Durham rod no air Chris and I are not coordinated I'm more Checkers and he's wearing Stripes but how to say we need to get it together Fuller Master phileo how we are scheduled to meet this Friday morning at 9:30 report back unless anybody watch assistant she's one of those guys doing it's hard to connect with teachers during this first month of school and with with principles they are super busy getting everything rolling in their buildings making sure their buildings get off to a good start and end rightfully so we're not high on their priority list we do want to share their success has their challenges but we also don't want to interfere with them getting their buildings off to a good start Simon Smith Lancaster PTA tomorrow night at 6:45 in the midst of their first fundraiser of the year on it runs like another week or two and something I think this is relevant to all the elementary schools the Strings program has just recently started and I'm just because it I'm just really happy that we have an Elementary Spring program I think it's them I'm glad that there's been bored before there's any ministration and teacher support obviously it's hard to juggle the crazy schedules and elementary schools to begin with and then throwing something like that where you know where you're pulling kids out to do that but I just think that opportunity is really important so the fact that we have that I know we have a good amount of kids participating in the program so they just really need to see that in the schools in the streets program actually has produced the prettiest my name is Essence in the last 45 years is a couple still on Juniors and Senior Years yet there's folks there looking at professional music careers that came through our strength program in the last couple years it is pretty amazing to see in the in the three teeth that bring that together are amazing alright I haven't been able to sell the renovations they're going on over there everything I've heard back has has been teachers are really grateful that the work that we've done over there alright Jonathan Daniels Community Education Arizona Lucky to briefly can you handle Mike's place to run I'm sorry oh wow okay microphone please hear I would like you to meet with Joanne briefly on picture day and that was like the cutest thing ever but hey you guys know how much I love little kids anyway so she was excited to tell me that they did get a grant for they have the younger swings that just don't quite work right until she got they were able to get a grant to get those fixed and I promised her I would bugged him a lot because I really want them to have a new playground case him the same and so go to the next serial did not need help with that The Barking parrot I just know it's it's a it's a nice playground but I think it could be really amazing and it needs some new things that's all I'll say so she was excited about that she said she's very pleased to have a year started and everything is going very well and I said is there anything that that I could mention and she said no she just was really extremely happy with everything our staff and I can tell you from the way my child comes home every day that she's absolutely correct everything is absolutely amazing there and I'm very impressed every time I go to visit I was not able to connect completely with Victoria at Community Ed but she does a fabulous job of sending me a quick recap I'm hopefully I get to actually meet with her next month she said that was what was really exciting was that the state department of Education had sent out posters and on the poster there's a former adult education success story that attended our community had so that was like really exciting and it was a really waiting to see I actually have a picture of it and it was a and she's a great success story of completing that program and moving on with her life and having a great story then she did also mention that the the cast with Luca Paris that for the Chamber of Commerce is now on wkbk highlighting Community Ed program so that's also very exciting she said a lot of the ESL students participated in the Keene Festival dancing ethnic cooking one of the teachers Julie Moulton is on the planning committee and one of their Advanced ESL students Yoko mower. I hope I'm saying that right gave a presentation at the Cheshire Historical Society on Saturday demonstrating Japanese baking on October 3rd and it was sold out so really amazing things to have I'm busy as  students be a part of the community and that's exciting for me because I'm also I have you do a different culture erase and it's nice to see ethnicity throughout our community she said the heist transition is still going on slowly with the new company and training is just started so they hope to be resuming soon so that's her update what a it was a great one for them thank you hsba master ormerod yes there were a number of resolutions the first one I remember was to exclude subcommittees and advisory committees from the Quorum Rule and there was a lot of debate on that here we were kind of almost split that when did passed the intent was for those small schools for their subcommittees only for them to be able to meet when they might only have two people on on the on those committees so that when did past the 52nd one I was withdrawn this is the one 2 mini bike on fell onto Insurance self welcoming Community this is the one that we felt was already dealt with they they concurred and they went through that one be the one about that from work online number three on advised the members of how to pay segregation Deuce that one failed that didn't even go anywhere on that it was an amendment to say well not that they should pay but how to pay but they just was not a lot of energy for debating that one number for was there by Dairy on food insecurity left this was the interesting one. the one that the NHS PA leadership came out against but it's one that we supported we were able to Garner enough support in speak in favor of it and it did pass I'm happy to report that that is the one that they did pass so that's a good report on that one there's the the one was number 5 was that the SBA should oppose it subsequent legislation and that would cut any of the at least eleven types of subjects in areas and that one was that one past as we sit with support number 5 was the resolution to our relative for the payment of political subdivisions in equal proportion to the retirement system that one failed it is well and I'm trying to remember why that why we we voted against it but I think that one failed Rob George do you remember what the big deal was with that I think we can cure the NHS PA that it was already covered in C pull up there recurring resolutions correct number 7 was calling for compliance of federal laws this was submitted by Dresden and Dresden has I think they this is actually a SAU or the district and encompasses both Vermont and New Hampshire and they wanted stronger stronger language in there than what we had on the gun related violence it was a lot of debate on that we did not support it here it narrowly passed by twin 52201 Philip least there is some more support out there for more specific language against gun from school and that's good to know resolution number 8 was participation in the National School Board level organization the national school board organization has been going through some challenges lately and so our h h t my New Hampshire school boards Association has been looking for other organizations out there that we could join us we can have some advocacy some voice at the federal level some debate on this and some really interesting conversations that arguments that came out of Dresden but in the in the end it it failed and the the body of the delegate recorded the change in in National Organization that we were looking to do now that hasn't happened yet but to investigate in it sorry the New Hampshire School Board Association withdrew from the National School Board Association last year because of some public comments that were made from the National School Board Association don't want to rehash all of that leadership we don't want to put our name of that since then there's been a Consortium of State School Board associations that have been working to establish a another national-level type of a structure I know the New Hampshire School Board Association has been one of the driving forces and to establish something that's new so that's been pretty neat to see them build something from the ground up that they want for their purposes of advocacy of training and whatnot so that that's already moving forward they've got of a website's not very robust at the moment but it is moving I just to add to that there was some concern by some members that some of the school district's came from areas of the country that have different beliefs than we do about things I saw it as a positive as a chance to have a broad Coalition and to positively influence some things that are happening everywhere agree thank you Robin thanks for attending and supporting our board at the at the state level sau29 I'm the Border is there an app to sau29 for those of you unfamiliar our supervisory Union the sau29 comprises seven area towns including Keen each town has their own individual bored as do we the individual boards are responsible for their own personal their own buildings and their own budgets the SAU board is specifically responsible for overseeing the SAU employees which effectively means the central office employees there's a little overlap there but that's basically what we oversee so we had an advisory meeting The Advisory Board is made up of the chairs of the 710 and this is one of the years that will be looking at the salary structure of the SAU employees and this was the opening meeting to start looking at that and we'll dive into more in depth later this month but that does make the upcoming SAU full board meeting on November 30th and that's also a public hearing on the SAU budget a little more important this year and as a reminder all members of this board are automatically members of the SAU board itself and that budget is on a prorated basis distributed out amongst the seven towns obviously we get the Lion's Share because were much larger than any of the other towns in the SAU so that budget Illini them on our budget and the only place that we can effect it is at this meeting also upcoming is the biennial area meeting the fall version thereof that's on Monday October 24th and that is the area is both our SAU as well as several neighboring towns that would not otherwise be part of of our schools Winchester is actually not in it they have a separate agreement but sorry tell me about Rob Stoddard yeah the several towns that are part of the ARA epically just send their kids to the middle school and actually all of the SAU towns are part of it to send their kids to the high school so the area a meeting is the opportunity for the middle for the Middle School in the high school to update representatives of those towns what's going on in their buildings it says that it's a non non-voting meeting and mostly it's a great way to get updates from those two buildings I'll be attending that women can report back to other people obviously you're welcome to but it's often the same information that you got in our own committee meetings that's all I have for the SAU board old business the kbe board Retreats I'm sure you guys are tired of Jacqueline and Rob and I spent some time talking about this at our agenda planning session and I realize the reason I've been having trouble moving forward with it myself is we've had some fairly ineffective board treats in the last couple years I think one was was really good in the other three were were only so-so and the one before that and that was before I was chair was kind of disastrous in a lot of times it's because we don't really have a clearly defined goal of what we're doing you know sometimes the chair will have a goal sometimes the superintendent will have the goal but there's not really a unified goal and what we are proposing is that we have a special meeting that is supposed quickly a retreat planning session where as many of you as can be there can come and we can decide what our goals are for the retreat in a what is it what is the purpose of holding our retreat Lowe's do we want a retreat that's a discussion we can have two so but I think that this needs to stop being just me trying to figure this out on my own because the the thing I keep running into as I don't know what the other eight members want from a working so we're proposing we had a date and I can't remember it was November 29th thank you never 29th which is a fifth Tuesday in November this month which was nice of November to provide that man in past years we would have just randomly dumped The Retreat on that date and hope we can do something together but I feel that this gives us a better chance at at ultimate Lee developing a viable working Retreat that actually produce has some results their positive for the board in for the district Chris I agreed with the what you want to do the importance of it because meat are considered most of the treats a wasted time the one we example Hannah Grimes place the one we had at Antioch quit which was really good but we've gone to these Retreats and they say everybody what's important to them and then we spend an hour and a half trying to get up or get Visa with the important thing same time is often we got to come up with three no more five important things prior to going to the retreat and then were in The Retreat then we will working can you menstruation working together and would not being all these different engines whatsoever and then will you have the moderator the moderator is the keep was on task that's the way I look at it wouldn't be wonderful I can drink or the Marine Corps says we only handle three things at one time because anytime you get over three it just doesn't work out so if we is the board get together and Sadie's at 3 things that we would be looking for in the future I think that would be the perfect way for the moderator to direct this to their keep was on track and get that weight but spending an hour having yours come up and then put your post in post it on here and put it posted on there that's really waste of valuable limited time and you touched on one of the points that robbed what's up whenever I mention the retreat as well which is bringing the administration and as well depending on what it is that we decide we need to to work on in a working retreat by planning in advance we can bring in flexible people from across the district that have more intimate knowledge of what's going on that can help both direct us in and frankly correct us will going off in a weird tangent obviously we can't do that if we don't know what we're going to be working on until we get there so that's that's a viable Point as well and speaks to trying to improve the communications lines across the district all right so it's not I'm sorry roll you at a point to please go ahead yeah well I think the nothing that says I don't think that the that the chair has to be the moderator in that particular one in some cases it might be really helpful hi somebody yes the Monadnock school district one in the war won the award for the best school district and they gave some of their presentation on the board planning process I picked up some really useful things from that and their presentation is on the drive and they've got a smaller board not that much smaller but they have people doing more different jobs and so they really need to simplify it one of the things was that the board goals that come out become the superintendent goals and that there's also a nsbh a cycle in terms of legislative sell some of the policy sometimes occur you know it's hard work have heavy policy months and vice versa I think it's worth looking at that cuz I think we can pick up some good ideas and it would streamline our process so I think you can look at the NHS PA said it should be public for that and if you're not I'll just I'll just forward it to to you guys okay you probably have that in your email as well the nhsp a sent out a summary of the return which Raleigh summary was better than their summary but they did also include in their email the presentation from the Monadnock board and I skimmed through it there and Riley's right there is some good stuff to be gleaned from that report all right that was all I had for old business I have no new business on the agenda does anyone have anything that they like to bring up under new business all right I know we have non-public tonight before I asked for the vote for that like to thank folks that are viewing online thank you thank you my friend who came in person thanks Mike and AMT productions for live streaming us this evening and to the administrators to hang around and help provide answers for us can I have a motion to enter non-public session in accordance with our essay 91a 34 staff and personnel yes yes yes yes yes and before I release you all I need to apologize that would be Alex strongly I went to high school with his dad so every now and then I slipped that in the name of the company right this eventually I'll get them both alright thank you all and we will adjourn the non-public session across the corridor there in 7 minutes

Listed in Keene School Board

Video Gallery

Keene Board of Education Meeting for October 11, 2022

Popular Videos