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Keene Board of Education Meeting for April 11, 2023

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Keene Board of Education Meeting for April 11, 2023 Keene High School LGIA- 43 Arch Street, Keene, NH at 6:30 PM Transcription available upon request.

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because this evening and welcome to the key and Board of Education meeting for Tuesday April 11th 2023 can you replace fries for the Pledge of Allegiance flag of the United States of America one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you will open with public input public input is going to be open for half an hour input is limited to three minutes a person I'm not going to read all the rest of us do we have any public input tonight nope no public input so as I said it's going to be open until 7 5 of people show up later we will pause and give them an opportunity to give input at that time can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so I moved knowing the through this question is there any items that anyone wants removed from the consent agenda you and do it I'll remove the Surplus money items. Thank you I will cover that in the regular Finance portion of the meeting John did you want to get public input are you bearing Witness all right there any other corrections to the consent agenda seeing all those in favor any opposed carries 80 report of the board chair which I actually have this month instead of winging it we held District voting a couple weeks ago on March 28th that was delayed by two weeks because of the major snow storm originally scheduled date of March 14th so I do need to recognize especially the city employees who worked with us to get the Boating set up for the alternate date as well as everybody who did manage to come out I know it's always tricky when that gets me at the last minute so we do appreciate that we need to recognize here with a great deal of gratitude the voters in Keene they have overwhelmingly approved the proposed operating budget a new contract for our teachers and a nuke track for our tutors of all three of those articles past with approximately 90% approval of the voters the board in the school district recognize that this represents a really phenomenal support from a community especially if it's when public education is being attacked and politicized at nearly every level we greatly appreciate the support for the schools represented by this voting at the polls in turn we need to recognize that this level of support in also represents an obligation to the board and to the district to continue to earn that support and to do everything in our respective powers to deliver the very best schools opportunities in education for the region students this kind of support in this time as is really it's it's overwhelming to me we were worried coming into this you read the news you read the national news we didn't know what to expect we were really gratified by what we saw from the voters and we appreciate that I do need to recognize this is my last opportunity to do this publicly the work that went into the contract with the Katy a view who are longtime Watchers of the school district know that the the negotiations between the board and the teachers are frequently challenging and the teachers union recognize that as well and they came forward almost a year in advance and suggested that we approach everything from a very different mindset they proposed meeting ahead of time and finding what the common ground is rather than what the areas of contention are to work or negotiations from the perspective of understanding rather than from a perspective of conflict that represented a huge leap of faith on their part particularly coming after some contentious years that paid off the board and administration recognized what that offer represented and we met them in the middle our negotiating team and their negotiating team really put together a strong track that represents the best for our teachers and for our students and I just need once more to to recognize the efforts put forward from our negotiating team in from the Kea and making this happen all right we also welcome the newest member of the King Board of Education Jennifer friedmann who was voted in last month in the voting as well as returning this year we have new three-year terms for Jacqueline headings and Raleigh ormerod this represents the first time in about 4 years that all current members of the board are serving three-year terms rather than interim terms and hopefully that stability will lend itself to some more efficient and productive work on our part as we can spend a little less time we aren't you answering ourselves what's going on concurrent with seating the new board we have made some changes to the membership of the various committees and school liaison so not going to read those out cuz it's kind of boring but they will show pull up on the district website shortly and I'll also do introductions for anyone who's working with a new administrator or new board member that's true Jacqueline points out that I how to recognize the teams working on the tutors contract and again those of you who pay attention know that that's often a challenging contract and they did get that one in this year ahead of time it represented some pretty significant changes in the picture of the contract it was not an easy thing to bring together and so that was some hard work both again from the folks on the board and the tutors negotiating team to be to bring that together with the budget play sin with a new board seated most of the attention coming up will be placed pretty much fully on the students as they wrap up their school year prepared his transition to a new grade level and particularly on our senior class as they wrap up their school career and prepare to graduate move ahead with the next step of their Journey so would that student focus in mind I will end this relatively short for me and passed the microphone to catch you up for our student representative report hello okay so I took three things for the Modeling club they went to Concord Academy for Ramada Inn conference so congrats to them this Friday and Saturday just want to remind everyone that Nostalgia is going to be at 7 so Tomica really appreciate if you guys go and attend and then teen Advisory Group is hosting a poetry slam on April 20th and by anyone any students to come thank you thank you Cat report of the superintendent mr. Malay I wish I could be what time is it get into the Stop in the report I wanted this to take a quick mower to publicly say thank you to Deanna zilske as many of you are now aware Deanna has accepted a position and another location that she has long been passionate about and will be leaving us at the end of the school year DNR Middle School principal I asked her supervisor for some comments Brian Campbell who was unable to be here tonight and he said to me that Deanna has been an integral and vital part of the educational landscape in Keene name the towns of sau29 for many years she brings an energy and positivity that is earned her the admiration of her college she will be greatly missed and she will leave a standard that her successor will be expected to uphold we wish well in her next Endeavor and before we get to the report on the kick it over to Ben who is the supervisor of another administrator that will be leaving us for some remarks great thank you Rob so mr. Kate what do you say to someone who has been a principal at one school for nearly half a century it's B in order to witness then been able to supervise him for the last 2 years and certainly I know this was not a decision that he came to lightly and a lot of us thought he was going to still Outlast all of us but honestly I speak on behalf of his colleagues and those who have worked with him over his many years mr. Kate brought a great deal of focus to the the level of detail we bring to students and their day making sure that all there are Matt and truly bringing the definition of wrapping all kinds services around to all the children that into our schools to go too long but he just started his teaching career in 1964 West Moreland School moved on to Franklin School 1967 and 1969 he was the principal of the Roosevelt School which I had to Google what that was from 1969 to 1979 and then most impressively is his entrusted leadership of the Simon school from 19 79 to 2023 had to do some Guinness checking myself there's actually a contender in the United States for the longest sitting principal ship they have him beat by a little bit I believe but I think there could be some further research on it but he's I couldn't say enough to do the years of service honor but for myself and my team including super and we really respect the level to him and he's had the organization the students so just before we shipped off off mr. Kate just up to kind of put it in perspective and now I'm sorry in 2028 Simons will celebrate its 100th year he's been the Principal at school for 44 of those years that's pretty pretty amazing you will be greatly missed by many many who are still employed in the district and many who have been students at Simon's their children their grandchildren will certainly be missing mr. Kate cell good time to shift before I get too emotional in the report lot of updates continuing with a structure that you saw change from last during last month's report making sure that the outline follows the evaluation of the superintendent know of with all of the different categories that are in the superintendent evaluation that was done intentionally this school year because next month you will be asked or sometime between now and next month you'll be asked to do the evaluation of the superintendent and now you have all these months of evidence of stuff that has happened that were bad but you know I've been charged with throughout the course of the year so we designed the report to help with that evaluation process when you get to it so you'll see that we're getting set to go into the New Hampshire size testing some schools later this month other schools will start in early May and they've been asked to spread out their testing window so that it's not so grueling and enduring a no for consecutive days so I can 6 hours a day and I think our principles have been very focused on not so that'll be interesting to see what impact that has on the outcomes of our test want to highlight just real quickly the SAS testing for the high school is the SAT they did that back on March 22nd the 11th graders all took the SAT the 10th graders actually took the PSAT so that they start to become familiar with what the SAT will be like when they get to that point in time in years past what they've done 9th grade and 12th grade was they said we don't have a test for you so see you but this year I thought they were really creative and clever and they had all of the ninth-graders participating lessons if you will from the career center so that they could explore the different programs that are being offered in the Cheshire career center to see if any of them appealed to him so they instead of having a full a demon lock they had 640 minute session that they got to rotate among the different programs they got to self select what programs they wanted to go and learn more about and that's what our 9th graders did on that day or 12th graders did a coat career exploration activity that required them to fill out some pretty important things that they need to be paying attention to my guess is what I would say they didn't do that from the building they did that remotely from home using Google classroom but instead of making it yeah don't bother coming to school day there was something that was planned for every grade level that day and I thought that was pretty well orchestrated and coordinated beyond that there's a lot of stuff in the report I'm happy to answer questions about it I don't think you want me to go through and read it the superintendent report is always accessible online and available to the public at large it's not secretive it's very transparent two things that are not in the report that I do want to make sure I mention is that on May 11th you all have received an invitation to a public presentation on the proposed changes to Ed 306 rules you might not have got that I actually Jacquelyn I forwarded it's okay sorry so the Ed 306 rules are the school approval rules and there was a check that was issued to an organization that went in and really got it and rewrote and revised all of those rules I said I had two documents Linked In Their 176 Pages the other 130 my advice is to spend your time on the hundred thirty page document because it's much easier to follow and you can see what it used to say and what it says now the 76-page sounds list but it's that strikethrough with the red line and all of that and it's very confusing and it's very annoying so if I were going to advise anyone which document to spend your time in I would say spend your time in the side-by-side I know it says not for distribution mission on it but I needed everyone to realize that this process that has been used as not been very open or transparent including the document that I somehow acquired who I will keep that secret forever but that's what the document said not for distribution and I would think that if you're making a change of this size you would want everyone to know about it so they're aware about it so that they can comment on it and they can provide input so May 11th 630 Keene Middle School that will be a presentation from the chair of the committee that did that oversaw the proposed changes I'm told that the chair of the State Board of Education may be here and the commissioner education himself may be here that night as well so I would like to just make sure you mark your calendars for that day and time so that you can hear first-hand you can throw questions out in the letter that I sent there is a link that you can put your concerns in your questions in there as well my promise is that I will deliver all of those questions to the chair to the chair of the State Board and to the commissioner so that they will absolutely have that written I said there were two other things I can't remember what the other one was so I'm going to call it closed going to jump on the career center mini introduction superintendent on I came out of a meeting at the career center itself into that process obviously we didn't want to walk around the part of the building that was doing the the SATs in the PSATs but we did go visit some of the classrooms in the Career Center on that we're holding those sessions for the Press when there was a lot of a lot of Hands-On and in most of those classrooms and everybody that was in them seemed engaged hopefully will see this as a pause turn in enrollment in the career center I know one of the biggest problems this was true when Scott and I were here years ago it's been true since I've been on the board the publicizing of what the career center offer their traditionally been a real challenge getting over the stigmatism associated with it with a career center and it is an unfair representation the CTE program here is top-notch there's some excellent programs in there in one of our biggest. closest just letting students know what's in there so hopefully this starts bridging that Gap it's an example of some of what the changes that Mr town has been doing over at the career center that was perfect now I remember the other thing I just wanted to draw your attention to I mentioned it before with the effort of pulling together a more robust strategic plan that steering committee will begin that effort this week on Thursday our sole goal and purpose on Thursday will be to identify the components that we feel are crucial in important to include in the request for proposal as we go out to bid for a contracted consultant to lead that effort on our on our behalf of the King School District as well as the other sau29 towns it's a large steering committee most most of you recognize steering committees as 579 people beat this one's over 30 and so we wanted to make sure there was representation from all stakeholders groups from school boards to administrators to Community Partners to teachers and students and parents and school Partners including the college so we've got quite diverse group that will be coming together and beginning that process of getting that RFP constructed so that our goal hopefully in unless Tim tells me I'm out of my mind and that's never going to happen our goal is to get it out and published by the end this month and you can tell me that will be offended but I think we can do it that was the other one that he's just making faces at you I will be sitting on that committee for the board then I know that I could Cordell who is many of you know as the Sauter will be sitting and representing the k through eight sending towns from the SAU and we're still negotiating for somebody to cover the K through five. in town since we've gotten two people that are both telling us they don't have the time to do it so if we can get there thank you thank you for attaching the a survey in your in your report as well to its yeah I could comment on some things and that I'm not sure this is the place but I'm just wondering how you use it and how the board uses the student reserve a how does it end form a policy how does it inform our our programs typically I didn't influences some of the things that we do inside of this building the trouble with this or is that we didn't get it back until after they already took this year's one that's how late it is so it if you look at the 2021 report and we had already administered the 2020 free youth risk behavior survey so the good news is we saw a lot of declines and things that we would want to see declines it we saw some up ticks and some things that would probably could have anticipated as a result of the pandemic and isolate and so it goes from my office that goes over to assistant superintendent Campbell dr. Gallagher into the director of counseling and based on that they will determine what supports they need to be considering because of the outcomes of that report problem with this one is it came out so late we usually get it within a year and this one was drastically Lee thank you that also potentially because of the pandemic and processing it was really due to shortages in their offices to pull together all of the data that needed to be that's what I've been told that when we know it's an ongoing issue with the state is any state-mandated testing there's a significant delay in getting that information back to us in a timely manner so well I could further exacerbate the delay but I guess I will we recently received a termination letters with regard to Performance in special education and that was based on the 2122 school year and I just want you to think about that for a minute it's based on the 2122 school year and here we are at the end of 23 so we don't know of anything that we've done since then has it changed those outcomes that we're just getting a report on no problem I've two questions on the report the Ed 306 rule changes is that a fully Public Presentation is the general public invited to that parents absolutely the memorandum that went out to the school board into the staff we actually sent a letter out to our mass email distribution group so at tell me you saw it sorry what I read their emails is it said which one was it I get a lot of money title was but it would have the office inviting folks in May them aware of the Ed 306 rule changes anyway I believe it went to students as well sorry I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that I'm so embarrassed she gets all messed up mad can relate so yes it is open to the public and we put that announcement out very widespread but beyond that we also I've also invited neighboring districts of Monadnock fall Winchester Hinsdale Jaffrey to let them know that we are having that presentation if they want to come over and participate they're more than welcome to so love to fill the auditorium at the middle school learn from home task force did I know this is probably been rather than Rob but did the survey go out already not yet there's a delay with the committee meeting so once we meet review the survey will be pushing that out we were scheduled to meet this week any other questions for the alright 12 standing committees I know this month is a little fuzzy because we changed up some committee chairs I guess report as you see fit ideally whoever schedule a meeting report so I will give it a shot and see how it goes building and ancillary Services who wants it was going to take it but I'm going to take a number of projects. that just barely missed the cut in last year's budget but due to Savings in this year's budget lot of them is in Personnel course so what we've done is we've Dover and we gave her a recommendation to the finance committee a list of projects that we wanted to do just like we did last year when we were getting ready to go on the the budget and some projects would needed if we delay the only going to get more expensive so we just felt that it was a better use of the resources right now that thanks did you want to talk about the tour of Franklin Wheelock the I'll jump over and and talk to you Patty we had about half the board that was that we locked up last Tuesday they got to see how the changes that we're done in Wheelock special the library on the multimedia drum section and tremendous Improvement it can also now it's a library it's it's also can be a learning center it also doubles as a Senor it's not restricted just due to Wheelock you can tune into other areas as needed and one of the benefits like Patty you know if you're short somebody if one school has it and they both need it they can now one work together and so she was more she explained she was more than happy with that TV from Amazon you came at a much cheaper cost than the Whiteboard which probably wouldn't be here right now but the TV just just expands our ability to teach just a great room it's almost it's really at a college level multimedia Center instead of what you normally expect in elementary school and talking to are extremely happy they're going to be looking away to Tim hasn't dad and finally cut down to it yet when they're going to start in everything but some of the parents are extremely happy that both of the kindergarteners are going to be in the same place get to work together and she has no complaints what Weber and she just can't wait to this. The final phase and she says we like to be ready no matter what Tim says then you taking a beating tonight all right education Rebecca is not here tonight Jacqueline will cover that but it's a short it short because again remember with the storm at committee met as usual on the 21st so we already presented that months at committee when we had full born on the 21st but we do need to Circle back to is last month's meeting you'll recall that we brought up with you all the proposal from mr. town and Tricia Cruise center with reorganizing if you weld the The Woodworking area and at last month's full board we said we wanted to send it to finance just for them to review it with what Tim had presented along with mr. War so we are closing. Will now again just to say summarize what we heard from Mr town was that currently to teach woodworking if it has a strong are component which means that you've got to be credentialed at at high school accreditation guidelines where is most of the applicants that we get to teach these courses are coming from the construction industry which has different certifications and so hats off to mr. town for being proactive and looking at it from a different lens and identifying okay what we're going to do is we're going to have an introduction to carpentry is going do you want us to new course proposals for both 9 10 and 11 and 1 Credit course as well as still having the Woodworking and there was one more thing like there was three classes driving and Construction Troy thank you from a financial perspective because obviously this came to the board after we had buttoned-up the budget 2% to the voters Mr Tan worked with Tim and it's literally just moving one budget line item to another Tim can I put you on the spot and just for the record and for the public at home just site which line number it was her quick microphone Camino Financial impact it's just a simple of move from no increase in time from high school cost center to the career center cost center so it will be no change in total. okay so with that said I'd like to make a motion the key Board of Ed moves on behalf of the education committee to approve the expansion of the construction trades program questions or comments all those in favor any opposed carries 80 did Richard Town identifying an area of need we had a lot of students that wanted to get into those woodworking classes and we could not fill that position because the people most qualified to teach it don't also hold a high school certification so effective he's moving the program fully into the career center umbrella so the position will now have CTE credentials and we'll be able to get folks that actually work in the construction trades to come in and teach that class and in expand as offerings for the students knows it for Education right finance and that will be mr. right for another month I purchased it add to what Christina Force feeds into Finance I think that all they've done this many times in the past couple years can intended a great job during the facility's meeting providing detailed energy consumption so we talked a lot about ensuring that we do our best from the sustainability standpoint but also from a financial point of view and we should feel proud of the efforts that these Investments that the community has made Timmy can have absolutely provided significant consumption reductions which is good for a pocket books and of course for the environment so we we pulled herself a couple years ago bring this up over and over and we should continue to remind yourself that that is on the right path for tonight's agendas items old they're both times she technically gets transfers so one is the 2023 report their boat 22 items on their most of them are fairly minor it's it's in your Boulder don't plan to speak to him we can if we we need to in detail but with that I would look too game board of education moves to approved budget transfer report dated March 2023 is informational radio concerns on any of the items and then transfer report and again this excludes the bigger ticket all those in favor can you post carries 0 all right so the next item that was removed from the consent agenda and brought into this is related to what Chris spoke too quickly we talked about this in typical fashion in the facility and finance committee meetings cuz they go hand-in-hand but the summary is that with current existing open positions we are seeing Surplus continue in our salary and benefits lines play that simple we don't have the headcount and those appropriated funds are are sitting there from what we've done in years past is instead of trying to carry that over and have this large large blister projects we look where we can yes that funds those funds today to avoid cost increases tomorrow in a project list continuing to grow so Timmy you mind giving me a quick overview of that I think four or five items one of them thing majority of it microphone Tim sure run it some more items there were five items presented one that will bring for a transfer time it's not Surplus related but mainly safe safety-related but the for that before you tonight the first one is for King High School placed scissor lift and be the lift you would clean up high find the gym or do maintenance up high in the gym or Auditorium or elsewhere in the building ours is over 20 years old we think it's here before me it's heavily used in building and needs replacement I mean our staff wants safe left so we do have it inspected but that's time to replace there's never a good time to put that in the budget we have almost everything now and maintenance on replacement Cycles but not everything in these items represent Surplus asked that we just never get around to budgeting for these things that's one The Knack is a and I should say I mean you can read the form but that money would come from Savings in high school custodial salaries because we've had so many turn over the next item is a programmable GPS Turf painter so it would paint the field lines and about a third of the time and more than a third saving and labor hours because to setup of these this would have come programmed and to set up a field from scratch beginning of the year which kind of mess for this season but you can take us up to three folks with lots of measuring tapes and and squares and it can take three people all day to set up a complicated field and this could paint a lacrosse field in about an hour and a half with a push of a button requiring one person why is this important to us we really feel like Grounds Maintenance in general need attention at all our buildings not just athletic fields this frees up labor hours to transfer to that and we can spend more time working on everything that needs to be done not just the entire crew painting field which in the spring especially is daunting the football field once we get it set up as long as we keep paint on it we can do that but it takes a long time we spent about $8,000 a year just on paint and we would use less than half to paint a normal North we would normally use so that would come from our health insurance lines in Elementary and high school out of the maintenance because turnover we've had so many new employees to take 90 days before you are eligible for insurance your past year. And we time to switch people faster than 90 days we have a large savings are so that would be about $80,000 from there the next line item is something small but the end of school is coming we're going to have graduation and promotion at the elementary school as we like to Spruce the front of those buildings up which will do but we have to Fuller entrance awnings that are in next year's budget but we'd like to do it now. bus for $5,500 cuz they're kind of blowing in the breeze and they're ripped and tattered and we would just like to get those done so we can have the school presentable for Springtime the next one is the big ask this has been in our budget previously it's been talked about for years you know we have a need and want to do it I think the board feels that way but it's a district-wide professional development / meeting / Conference Center at Jonathan Daniels School we've been saving room for this exact purpose we need bathrooms there to use that space effectively I need to reorganize one of the things that it would do is create a multiple room space up to three rooms one large area the kitchenette for lack of a better room couldn't cook their butt refrigerator stink bath new bathroom switch that that building needs badly it also would let us set up a permanent flexible space so board meetings in any meetings could be out of there without having to pay two people to set up in here hour and a half two hours labor and will it Waste Paper cuz we would have tables with modesty screens on them much like the new conference room in the chest career center we think that would be a huge advantage to you even though you may want to get out in the schools and have meetings having that kind of savings and labor would be very helpful and we think a very appropriate meaningful space sure we can get all the technology we need for that but we did get two of those monitors that Chris referenced earlier that I already purchased and put in there earlier but we think we can get most everything we need we have to go out to bed of course but. terms reconfiguration of space and all the lighting paint flooring and furniture we need to make that a really flexible space that's the left over from the 700 which is 570 for 5 and those monies would come from the savings to the vacancies in the other areas mainly at King High School teacher salaries Cheshire career center salaries teacher salaries transportation special ed area of the remainder so that would be for 400,000 total and that adds up to 5:12 400 from the salaries and 175 5 from transportation that what you were looking for the thing to think of nearest when do we do these projects do we have the time now the big unfortunate things we have the Surplus fortunate thing is we can do something positive with it and we. much rather have the positions filled but if if we don't do something now we will create a Major Surplus cycle into next year so we didn't budget make sure to have a math like growing Surplus position filled but unfortunately similar to last year we have this situation that were into to utilize the funds I think that would cut before cuz we would want all the positions hopefully I make sense everybody you got there can I just add that the Surplus were talking about spending is MBA beyond what we pledged voters would we return which is 4.6 million so this is not an ask to take money away from what voters voted on it's the addition addition of money on top of that I just so we don't do what will happen is there Surplus will be even larger than what we plan for next year or you can put the funds to something else but that's the point of the bring it up I think the just for clarification to the voters and other people who may be listening the instruction between the finance and the facilities committee as giving Tim they had to be items that we needed to get it done none of the items that we've been putting on this list a nice to have these are all of the requirements that the only read the only reason dating get in there was because we wanted to limit the budget growth that we were going to the public and so what we've done is we've had please Tim had the list and we saved money no frivolous spending and then we put it to use it so what happens is the principals and other people know that they don't waste money there's a good chance that the money will be effectively used in the right areas Rob yeah I just want to say thank you Ron and Chris and Tim for articulating this because I think you all hit really important parts when we prepare the budget every year annually in the board looks to adopt it one of the first things that we start reducing from is the maintenance and facility line so that we get to a number that we feel it is is consumable by our taxpayers and it's always the facility and maintenance lines that get drastically cut and you know we get that we have to we understand that we're not asking for something that we wouldn't have already asked for in a budget request cycle and so the fact that there is an opportunity because Ron's 100% correct we would much either have the positions. They weren't and so we've got this excess money so we're we're cutting from the budget when we preparing and propose that is alright well maybe we can take a couple of those off and take a Vonage of that while we have the opportunity to do that Ken and Tim have been very very I don't know what the right word is I guess patient because they've got lots of plans as it's been discussed through the facade ladies committee on work that needs to continue to move forward but when we get to that budget process that's usually the first spot where we pull back from because we don't have the discretionary spending in other parts of our budget and that is the discretionary part of the budget that gets pulled back so I just wanted to say thank you for articulation of that and try to kind of bring it all together and didn't say you know what kudos to Tim and Kaden to the finance committee and the facilities committee for all working together and you know with unanticipated fund balances and I would add to that we did in 23 2023 wait for the budget we've just passed we cut me big-time other positions and totaled the does that spends the whole surface don't know I don't even know so I can walk you through it too but this simple way to think about it is you have to plan a surplus every year is there some regular component that happens to flow in every single year long story short during covid-19 part of that recently it's because of open positions so we do not budge it a big vacancy Factor some companies do we see I'm just time of the year to his point work if we're seen as her plus it's going to be significantly more than what we budgeted for next year so if it gets a little confusing on how it 3 / but yeah I think Tim started to talk about that that we're not lowering the amount that we promised voters would be returned as Surplus this is beyond what we've already replied the voters right right now I got that and I said if it's all going to maintenance and I understand that's the first thing that gets cut but if we have fewer teachers and fewer still in the classrooms. Over something that we could prove then what this here in the Cherry that funding over so it's really one-time expenses that you're looking to utilize that with do you know just the one on the other way to think about your question though is if principles come to us and say hey I really need this and this too because I'm down a position or they do it through transfers they do it through hiring contractors or looking to add something to their rum that's totally fine but we do not have a list of things that the group is looking for a good question thank you buddy actually approved I think three of the start a transfer at last week's meeting covering services that they could not hire for they had to go outside the district cover so that was transferred and that hopefully covers most of the rest of them as we come up to the end of the year we don't have to too many more of them but yeah we do get those every month let me get emotion first and France presented to reinvest the current Surplus Jim thank you for reporting on those things that you were pretty sure of at our last meeting there were also some items that came up when you said what are some other ideas and I'm wondering if you're ready to report on those what I can do is I can think about the wooden bleachers that were some places in need of repair the amount of bleachers may not be adequate to house the pep band and all the other parents and students in the growing area at school spirit so I was wondering if you had a chance to look at those that is going to be on the finance gender on the next month and I'm pretty sure I don't want to usurp next month's meeting but I did meet Kendall I met out at the two issues that really were brought up bleachers and and bathrooms bath so we started to work on the bathroom space it's a lot very tricky as you can imagine but we are working on that and the bleachers we think we have a solution with bleachers that we already have I think we'll be fine with leeches we probably the facilities committee probably has okay at least four sets a new bleachers in the past four years as you might notice when you're looking around and we believe we have bleachers that we can bring over to the help with the Overflow needed for football games you were concerned with the bathrooms there are an issue and I think we'll have to discuss them at the meeting but we work we want to make sure we haven't eat for the bathrooms we would like to note that the baseball game will have 3,000 fans 3500 fans which is 3 times more than we would ever have and they have a very similar bathroom set and we don't get that complaint so we wonder what's different in the winter in the cold months with football games that we're having that issue but we need we don't want to over build and we also don't want to build anything that we have to take down when this board and Community finally decides to replace that field with a modern Stadium an eight-lane track and perhaps turf or grass which we talked about we actually had need to make plans to do which just never Rises to the level we don't want to build anything that we think is going to have to be destroyed with a new plan so but we will have some ideas to present to you but we want to have a more full discussion on the problem so that we're fixing the problem thank you write anything else on the actual motion alright a yes vote is to a approve the budget transfer from Personnel Surplus to cover several construction facilities related items all those in favor opposed Carrie's 80 does it for finance yet all right personnel personnel I'll be in on Bubba I just I know Personnel went really quickly today and we had an update on the openings and because we're almost to the end of the school year they'll be no more further updates on the opening because we don't know until everybody signs a contract and not signs that contract we won't know so would be a wasted time and everything Christian public policy committee should be pretty quick as well under first read we have j i c m bring-your-own-device technology the policy that will never actually be approved I think this is the fourth time we've brought it to the board for first read and it might be on 1st Street again next month because we're actually still waiting for some more input input from it however take a look at it at your leisure if you have cancer answer questions you can send them to any member of the policy committee for our discussion next month for second read the first policy listed is j.j. access to public programs by non-public charter schools in home educated and I am going to table that until next month the policy itself is ready but the accompanying procedure j j j dash are is not and we don't have one on the books so we can't really prove this policy until we have the accompanying procedure to go with it in place policy i h g b home education instruction I'll go ahead make the motion and then I'll speak to it behalf of the policy committee I moved at the Keene Board of Education approve i h g b home education instruction as amended so we have this one on the books and there's been essentially this covers the requirements that a family must go through to register as as a home educated family rather than sending their student to the district that's that aspect is fairly strictly regulated because we're required to provide education for everyone in the district and less of family opt out of it so that procedure has to be in place so we know that the family is not doing that anymore we don't for the most part cover what family does after live registered is home education there is state law that covers that but we don't have a lot to do with it after they leave our system this also touches some on what are responsibilities do remain for the student but really the changes in this particular policy are just strictly dictated By changes in state law questions on this one all those in favor of approving the amended policy and he opposed carries 80 and know that AJ actually touches on a lot of the same things and includes much more information on what homeschooled and charter school students can still access in our schools because they do have a fairly High degree of access to our programs and that has been expanded but more clearly explained and state law so we're trying to make our policies more clear as well so that everybody knows what they can do and that's all we have for policy School liaison similar to the committee reports we have the new Liaisons listed in here I will take reports from anybody is prepared to speak to any particular School Keene High School Scott and Raleigh do either of you have anything ready to go we might as well try or tag team routine that matter and energy today had a chance to speak with principal Gallagher last Friday briefly that was delayed by a meeting but in our discussion wanted to point out efforts to have the Blackbird Beacon come out more regularly they've been one posted at the end of March and the be another one in early April if you take the time to look at that it's direct response to the request towards communication and responsive communication on a regular basis from I think it was the outcome of the February meeting so that's in there has a tour bus with number dates that are out there that all relate to things going on the school number for Scott's by our students is on and then it gets into good volume things going on in March in May and June that if folks are interested please take a look at that I would want to highlight for the benefit of parents of senior if your students trying to get some scholarship money that deadlines next Monday so I know that's been a discussion but his Department otherwise it's his loan money not mine so it's the way I do it rules so that one's out there soon action committee presented to the faculty and April 6th and it sounds like there was a good piece that's been consulted supported but students with support from outside groups so that's great and spring Sportster well underway now that we're trying to have summer weather at the tail end of what was a long extended winter but sixteen teams fielded by 325 athletes are taking advantage of that I'll be over 25% of our student body which is great now I turn it over to Raleigh take thank you Scott sowop dr. Gallagher also really wanted to acknowledge Liz Downing for National writing project in New Hampshire she's got an honorable mention and so I think God that's something to be very very proud of I'm just saying so swelled as well to that Saturday coming up sinking forward don't wait too long to ask for your day talk Maine 1950 unified unified prom in 5 in May 20th is is the prom there's a on May 6th there's Pride ball exactly sure what what that is I'm wondering if her student could tell me more about that it's basically like prom geared towards of the lgbtq community great so that's something that we want to advertise and and support and I want to put another plug for a Nostalgia like you already mentioned you can hear them practicing as we as we come in and I want you to pay particular attention to the very large piano contingent this year at the at the at the show get some Moe's what we got for me so there's things coming up in in June but let's let's get to May yeah I might have spent some time in the auditorium a dress rehearsal for Nostalgia tonight did the saying really good they're working really hard on this one forward to it and also met 11 12 and 13 is the High School drama production which is Rumours to Center Master right I was just thinking about I wore White Sox once it was horrible so you guys mentioned that bunch of was already in Cheshire career center so I won't repeat those just a couple updates coming up we do have the annual Friends of the career center that will take place on May 4th at 6 p.m. they're looking to make sure if you want to participate that you send over an RSVP so if you need help on that let me know I will be there for sure and we're also going to dedicate the new conference from during that during that day and time just a reminder that their printer Dinty Moore going to work through a regional agreement to be drawn up next year for the phone when I'm in town. Schools regarding calendar changes just don't try that we can have as much participation as possible and then last I think it was out and maybe social media but I know that we had a 6 to see alumni Keller Grissom complete the 2023 skillsusa on New Hampshire state law shipping scales conference and won the gold medal there so is some props from a former student of the CCC but that's it the next month or so as well line next week on Wednesday is the Region 13 advisory committee which oversees on just spoke about coming together for updates will also lead us into the effort on Crafting the next agreement from those same entities next Wednesday correct and dining alright King Middle School Jacqueline Lee Middle School yes principal's house key and I connected this afternoon and actually the first time we got a chance to connect since her announcement of her departure so obviously on the one hand I'm I'm thrilled for her but also got to see her go and we got a little emotional and I'm getting that out quickly shift gears and on to the good stuff lots happening spring sports tryouts for last week so that is now underway baseball softball track if you're in the need to really fill your calendar with entertainment than this Thursday night at 6:30 is strings jazz band show choir also they're performing as well for you know all student assembly on Friday at 9 a.m. last week or maybe it was two weeks ago now or eighth grade strings students do a tour of all four elementary schools which is a great way to keep those elementary students engaged and you know it's either pick her kids and to find out and see okay well I can continue the time at at Kay Ms and then Believe It or Not spring break or April vacation is here in two weeks and so our 8th graders leave on the 20th for Washington DC and we've got 140 students from Keene Middle another new twist to it this year is six Westmoreland students along with her principal Mark Hayward are also on the DC trip which is great so they'll be doing the usual Arlington Cemetery the Smithsonian museums is Deanna said more and more stuff is open up this year and even last year which is great and they're also into a game at Camden Yards one other good important sort of pilot program that they're starting is on Friday June 2nd all of the 8th graders not just from Keene Middle School but all four schools King Chesterfield Westmoreland Marlboro are getting together at KMS field I'm just a sort of have fun you know active these two kind of get to know each other because obviously they'll be starting here at the high school next year and we've got some high school ambassador's that are coming to the Middle School to run these activities so it's this great collaboration of current high school students and and helping and Gage are rising 9th graders will have lunch at Keene Middle and then they'll eventually head back to their schools for the rest of the school day you heard Rob mention earlier we've got the NHS is testing that's going to be happening the three weeks in May for Keen metal all of the testing is going to be in the morning and they're also going to limited to just one test today is you heard Rob mention just trying to not make it such an exhaustive mainstreaming exercise getting those students you know ideally when they're sharp and present we do have only two teachers retired from the Middle School this year but two pretty special ones we got Kate Butterfield retiring as well as Paul Sherwood so we wish them well and their upcoming retirement and all of the if that were given renew contracts are returning for the next school year so that is also good news to hear I know that was a lot but there was lots of good stuff so say sorry Franklin Jennifer I know I only just connected you with Eric today did he have a chance to get back to you for the meeting and I walk through the school no worries for the Elementary report start to get very intensive starting in May as they get ready for the end of the year so I'll write a report and if neither one of us gets sick will be waiting freak excellent that's how we we've had about three four cancellations in the last two months between health and whether you guys are really encouraged trying to get connected they're all right. Here are the major information on Simon's anyway Bob and been covered pretty extensively I don't I don't think that most folks in the Simons Community or thinking about too much more than than mr. Kate retiring my students went there as well Ron's we're all part of the Simon's family as well so he will yep that's right Red Robin's family went there so we're all going to miss Richard a lot he's done a lot for this community Mister Roberts the other anything besides but I already walked you through do you give a pretty expensive one and I agree that Media Center is gorgeous reticular compared to what was in there before it is such an upgrade and it's it's really state-of-the-art right now very impressive Jonathan buddy buddy we like you need that have their coat on or off but not had the code online in the media sending now but it was totally where you sat what you want exactly correct Jonathan Daniels building Jaclyn did you get a chance yet to talk to him over there I have not but I will be and Victoria Farrington with Community Ed did email me and I just have not had a chance to connect with her and do a tour and what not so and next month until about a week and a half ago so all right we got a great gift from the state house early this actually late last week when they cut their cut the the grant budget right they cut that budget than expected impact for expected impact of 2.3 million dollars Puryear the king I don't know if that's in packing us next year I guess the finance committee will look at that but we're not really pleased about that type of action that's happening it's being hard report on some of those things that are there happening there I'm welcoming Jennifer to the nhsda team wear a growing family and we got a lot we got a lot we got a lot lot I just got in an orientation as well too but I think I reported on this just the two weeks ago so keep an eye on your emails when hsba League spring training session is starting up now most of those trainings are now offered online as well so you no longer have to drive to Concord for those so sometimes there it was checking in on ya regarding the sleep introduction I don't like the music you're the number but I don't know how to react to that or even think about it better hurry up and wait or no it's not a hard number yet, this is a proposal that hasn't pass all the turtles yet including having to be signed by the governor at some potential impact thing and I don't know if it's a one year or an every year or a spread-out impact I think it's it's 1 those things that we have to keep an eye on because it's concerning because it affect our funding but the actual impact isn't known until they actually start saying stuff into law but there may be a chance for advocacy at some point where we can call him up and say please don't do that yeah Raleigh it it also made the paper that report so you may be getting some questions so thank you thanks for asking for explanation I will I will grab that article and send I thought you guys an email so you can reference it I think I have one from the NHS PA as well covering the same circuit or somebody like that that I can also share with everybody so you know what it is and can take a look at it all right sau29 the next full essay you board meeting is not until the end of May but what is important on this report of Rob touchdown it briefly is coming up soon is superintendent evaluations one of the three things that we're actually tasked with by law is to oversee the superintendent that actually falls to the sau29 board of which we are all de facto members of the way that process works currently is each of the seven SAU towns of which we are one will have a special meeting where we will do our own evaluation of the superintendent based on a standard document from the SAU board and then shares of the SAU boards will meet to come up with a unified evaluation of the superintendent which will be shared with mr. Malay so the first step will be coming up will have to schedule a special meeting for that the documentation will be coming out from central office shortly so keep an eye out for both of those things old business we have nothing we do have a couple of items under new business I need to mention you may have seen this in your email this after it's going to be going out to all families in the SAU as well it is time for the annual exceptional teacher nominations every year the board recognizes ten of our Educators in the district those recognitions come from nominations from within the community from teachers from parents from students really anyone who is associated with the the teaching faculty in any of our buildings that nomination for is in email if you are on any of the sau29 mailing lists otherwise you can go to the Keene School District web page on one of the first links on there is the annual exceptional teacher Naaman please please please our teachers have worked even harder than usual the last two or three years due to everything that's come up from the pandemic and the challenges associated in this schools in the two years subsequent to that they deserve to be recognized and those of you were in contact with them every day are the ones best positions to know who is really going above and beyond and then should be recognized the other item of new business the city is starting to look at addressing the housing issues in the area there is a workshop coming up on April 20th Raleigh I wondered could you give him a more information on that sure there's a band named there's getting hired a consultant and the city hired a consultant to do a 360 720 whatever 1440 look at the at the issue they looked at existing data they did survey data they looked at proprietary data and the goal is to say how bad is the housing in Crysis what is the impact who is most impacted what are some of the trends how could the how is this helping or hurting recruiting employees I was very interested in in some some particular number so I think you might want to look at this particular report not only is there a open house on Thursday April 20th and that's what this this brochure says but you can access it online it's it's hidden in the minutes of a planning licensing and development committee report that's why I sent the link you too George and to enter Rob cuz I didn't send it to everyone because I didn't want to create a meeting you could decide whether if you could send it out us to us or not but there's a couple things that were will be relevant to the school Sara Smile too there are sau29 is almost 1,000 employees in the area they're one of the largest one of the largest employees and they haven't had to say at this yet so if we can get some people from the education Sektor attending is open house at least look at the feedback and that feels right it doesn't feel back by some of the numbers in there they are represented the KSD West 192 employees are brought that to their attention whereas we have we confirm that with the superintendent's office that there's 584 employees and if you look happy families that are 33 over 3,000 students that we have they could be very very much impacted by the the cost of living 11 interesting other fact is that the number of single-parent families is rising in Keene faster than it is in other parts of the state and that has them for implication for engaging the kids it has a housing affordability in the able to bring them into our community so I encourage you to take a look at it and it's not too late to put some input into shape what the housing policy and programs are going to be will be doing for the next few years the superintendent just blind copy that report to the board members so they can access it that way Raleigh did you the time and location of that I didn't not April 25th 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. and it's at the Hannah Grimes Center on Roxbury Street thank you any other new business before the board this evening it's not new it sold back to King Community Education I sent you all the calendar invite May 25th is the adult diploma are alternate diploma program graduation it'll be held over at Keene Middle School you get a calendar invite if you've never been to this ceremony I would highly encourage you to attend and participate in listen to stories of folks who have persevered over a long. Of time to get to that diploma stage make there are a couple of students who will speak and the stories that they share are quite amazing to see that level of perseverance that level of resiliency and that dream being fulfilled so mark your calendar the ceremony isn't typically very long as it's usually about 45 minutes long but it is pretty impactful and wonderful and it is part of what we offer here in the king's School District an end and that'll be your first of about 200 calendar invites for the various schools of next month and a half they come seeing exceptional teacher nominations will close on May 15th which is worth mentioning because our next board meeting is May 9th so by then it's a it's too late so please do take a look at the nomination forms and then considered who might be eligible for those this year oh yeah in about an hour late I need to officially close the public input. but feel really silly the whole process but it's in state law now so there we go all right seeing no other old or new business can I have a motion to go into non-public session in accordance with our essay 91a 34 staff a student personal this evening Mr filio just heading to yes mr. o Murad mr. Robert mr. right yes mr. Downing that concludes the public session this evening thank you two folks who attended thank you two folks who I watched online thanks you thank you to AMT productions for carrying us for us this evening board we will need over in the library in about 5 minutes for the non-public session

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Keene Board of Education Meeting for April 11, 2023

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