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Keene Board of Education Meeting for May 16, 2023

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Keene Board of Education Meeting for May 16, 2023 Keene Middle School Auditorium, Keene, NH at 6:30 PM Transcription available upon request.

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good evening welcome to the Keene Board of Education meeting for a hush for Tuesday May 16th 2023 we will call the order at 6:30 p.m. can you all join me please for the Pledge of Allegiance and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all that we are required by law to have half an hour to public input public input will be open until 7:05 this evening currently there's no public in the room folk do show up we do hold that 23 minutes per person and if anyone shows up during the course of the next half hour we will ask them if they want to contribute can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda second anybody want to reach spring fever ladies and gentlemen does anyone want to remove any items from the consent agenda this evening any scribble is errors all right all those favor any opposed carries 70 report of the board chair is fairly short of the board has had some non-public action primarily we did our some of the superintendent evaluation but other than that we've been pretty quiet May and June are primarily the administration's months to finish getting the students finished up I moved to head to their next braids or graduated out in the world so we kind of stepped back a little bit will a lot of that goes on was that a note for me for later okay and I think in in terms of not extending this meeting because we do have some extensive non-public so we want to do a favor to the same Administration people we are going to move ahead cat is not with us this evening you get worried that she is going to be our student representative again next year so that continuity will be nice and we will move ahead with the report of the superintendent that mindset okay keeping with that mindset I'll try not to go too long with the superintendent report it's been in the drive for a while and so if you have questions at any time regarding any of the content the superintendent report I'm more than happy to answer it here tonight or even if it's a later date than where you feel you need some clarity on that there's a ton of information in there so I won't walk you through it we do post it online so that it is open for public viewing well I'll just a couple of quick updates that are not in their last week on Thursday we did have a presentation on the Ed 306 rules to say that that was I'm not in her how do I want to put this delicately let's just say it wasn't a really good presentation and be honest about it it was what it was I don't think any of us got what we were hoping for the fall app that will come from that is that we will put together a communication that will go forward to the chair of that committee as well as the chair of the State Board as well as a commissioner of education so I think we were looking for more Enlightenment on the which is the proposed changes I think we had a lot of folks who were there providing passionate testimony if you will or in providing passionate input and feedback I don't know that that was received we had hoped it would have been received it felt a little defensive a little confrontational so we'll follow that up and make sure that we document that and will provide a copy of what we send in to the greater public as well and make sure people are aware that we had submitted their concerns and their input I'm in a more formal way than what we received last week no sense going over it if you really want to see how that evening when it is on the Facebook page and you can watch the two hours if you're looking for something to do before you do if you're having a hard time falling asleep got a question on that too, and I want to compliment you on the way that you media and that evening you tried very hard to remind the presenter that it was a listening session in that need he needed to be hearing our concerns he did a lot more talking than listening and you you tried to call him out on it several we are the whole audience appreciated that and thank you thank you I appreciate that feedback as well you know we didn't we did meet with him afterwards and we gave him very honest feedback on how we felt the evening we made recommendations on how we can improve that the feedback that I received from last night's meeting that took place over on the Seacoast was very favorable so I think he's hearing the concerns with how it has been approached hopefully it'll be better for other school systems and districts around the state as they continue to move forward because the ultimate goal is this is going to impact the school approval rules of the State Board of Education and so I want people to be able to be heard you know our opportunity was last week Thursday it didn't happen the way we wanted it to but there's always a plan B so we'll put Plan B into motion and make sure our input is collected and provided and everybody here will know that we did do that so so thank you I appreciate that the other thing I wanted to update folks on is that the Strategic plan that we talked about the committee had met put together an RFP the he went out on May 5th we initially got like four I think for Consultants that responded and just this week we went up to like 16 Consultants that are interested in Iraq our RFP select committee will meet again later this week they will create a an evaluation tool for the proposals that get submitted now we've got 16 folks that are interested that doesn't mean we're going to get 16 proposals so whatever we do get for proposals we want to be consistent with our evaluating it so that the best proposal will move forward and provide us with exactly what we're looking for in our outcomes that we're looking for I'm with that process so I just wanted to give you those quick update but if there's anything in the report that you need further clarification on or have questions on even if it's not here tonight just give me a shout and I'll happily answer questions for Rob so we didn't put it up on our website we took a we stole from facilities the process that they use by publishing the intent for the request for proposals and directed them to my office basically if they wanted to receive it that helps us with the publishing of questions that get asked so that we can make sure all of the vendors at are have requested the RFP get the questions in the responses so I will I will include a copy of the RFP in the next superintendent report to let you see it alright I'm standing committees I'm going to shuffle this a little bit Scott has to leave early and I know they actually had an entire two topics of public so I'll jump Personnel to the top and let you do your 2 minute report do that I would get this one if I didn't remember live up to my couple of pieces today one being open positions in the district and in looking at that currently unless I'm counting and off by one or two there are currently 12 teaching positions open at the high school 3 at the middle school and 7 that we're still looking for at the elementary schools throughout all of them that's collectively but there are seven search is going on and then smother iron pieces but compared to previous years I think we're last year especially things seem like we're closing the Gap and it's only mid-may that's good but it's still something that working hard on otherwise I wasn't there did I miss anything up fellow committee focus on that particular topic yeah that vacancy report isn't completely up-to-date I think there's actually only one and a half positions at the high school that is vacant so I think it reflects 12in what you were looking at they've done a tremendous job of moving those processes I think there was a letter that was included in the public input folder that actually reflects the process that this board has authorized for the superintendent so I think that that's good feedback for the board to see how at processing it's not coming for me it's coming from somebody who has just gone through the process I think it's really good feedback that supports the decisions at the board is made so yeah thanks for the reminder there is a letter in them in the drive for public input to the board from a recent hire to the district all right thanks Scott and then we also looked at exit interview information which maybe we could share that with the other folks there's Nancy summarize it to a degree and do a good job taking notes I was late to my own Personnel committee and go ahead Chris did a really good job at summarizing it but one of the things that you really important to understand is bad for her to get the best information is that the people leaving filling out the forms can trust her and not to violate that trust so they can be open so all the information with basically put together so no one would be identifiable but it was still really good information explain giving all the different reasons white people have left yeah I was I'm not on that committee but I was listen that particular report I think we can dive in a little deeper without impact in confidentiality. Maybe for something for the committee to look at over the course next year no I understand absolutely what Chris is getting out of know that it's hard for the administration to get people to fill out these exit interviews if they fear that they're not going to be maintained confidentially I'll fill it out so but I think we might be able to separate it out maybe and into the different bargaining groups I think that might give us some useful information and maybe a brief non-public and separated out into the different buildings would give us information that I think Administration fears crosses a little bit into identifiable information which is why I would have to change venue yeah Chris the biggest point that you hit was it really has to be broken down by bargaining groups because people have different jobs people have different reasons for doing those jobs in people have different reasons for leaving nose position is in that the only way you can really kind of get a clear it may show wait a minute we have the problem with this bargaining group that we're not looking at and maybe it's something that we bring up within the next contract negotiation to try to fix people were saying I got this current concern I got this concern and a lot of times it's like to talk about teachers are the people come here and they talk about the teacher that teaches talk to the parents but we got an awful lot of people that work for 4 hours and the SAU that Unfortunately they really kind of invisible but they're really extremely important to the well running of the facilities now that's the lens I was looking at it in two you know there's some that we can do in terms of job satisfaction but an awful lot of the board's impact come through contract negotiations and that's going to become valuable information in the future all right Raleigh I want it reinforced for Chris sad about the most important breakout I is the bargaining unit groups if we slice it to send to also do the building it's not going to be as used we're getting too small and I think the bargaining unit groups are one that we can have the most impact on particularly the the year to year so I would like to see the comparison year-to-year and we'll do it in the venue that and that you suggested I think that's outstanding idea all right everything else I'm personal back to the top and building an ancillary Services mr. right is not here Chris are you going to cover sotus my thing isn't popping up but I would do is best I can buy before Tim left I asked him how I will project is going he said that it was going really well they had to walk through today they for the proposal get proposals really soon and they're going to start in the project and expected to get finished the only problem that will which could end up being a big problem for the nose is the trees the federal government refuse to budge on the trees so the trees have to be in the ground by the time it so by doing that quickly the trees may die off and you may have this whole facility with no shade but that's a risk worth taking to get the whale in the frog and the other things in place I'm doing it for you just to clarify that's the future playground over at Jonathan Daniels which has some features that some of our board members are really excited about b.j. the other one that Tim and Kim both brought up Believe It or Not Dave say the day project is moving along pretty quick. Quick it's moving along better and they expect some movement to me they only have one or two other places to get the approval and then it'd be able to start to work for some people been on been on the board for a while I think this started about 56 years ago and I think we put the money out there about three years ago and this project goes all the play back to the flood in Keene in 2005 and after that the state went and viewed all these different dams and we had quite a few substandard the city had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars repaired the one in Robin Hood and even thought most of us didn't view that as a  it's a dam and we're responsible for it and tall hopefully you'll get done and get done pretty quick can I just add on a few more things from looking at that mr. rice report also going back to the  I think actually the funding for that four years ago cuz it was just before I came on my first term you just one of those things that I feel would be important to highlight that Ron put in his report is that the week at the high school will be doing the week of July 10th to shut down on the building so that the switchgear in the basement can be replaced this to check everyone's memory in may have to play 21 we had a flood there's a structure back in there came fire department deemed it safe so the building is currently safe Ron wanted and Timber a also said various to know that the switch gear that is currently in use and is to be replaced has been certified safe it's not a danger to the Schooler of community replacing this is the proactive right thing to do the reason why it has not been replaced until this summer is the lead time on the items was extremely long and it's been on order ever since that flood took place so this is just heard of that but you know I'm going carry over that we've heard about with supply chain so it's literally a steak the new switchgear came in probably about a month ago but in order to install it on those of you familiar with electrical work are they actually have to shut off the power to the entire building for about a week if we can't do that while schools in session is not even easy to do it in the summer that buildings really always in use so the best time they could fit in as the week of July 10th over the summer it's pretty much the least busy week in the building for the for the whole year inconvenience but that's why it's been taking so long to get it in place can I have one more thing. The public are there was also a request from Ken dually to spread the word if anybody knows we are in need of a district HP AC Tech and two custodians I'm actually adding two more things those of you have been out by Alumni field I may have noticed that the tennis actually up and running which was unexpected we did not expect to get our teams on to our own courts this year because the final layer on top of the Court can only be put in in warm weather and I didn't it was going to be warm it's really not warm enough now technically but we had that week of really hot weather in April and they kind of jumped on that got the courts and place jumped on part of what I was I'm going to say if people were out at Alumni field Saturday when they had the Connecticut Valley Conference Championship for the track and field and I don't like to take too much credit by. But I was kind of emotional and crowd at the time because put it bluntly Alumni field and everything what's a crap hole in an embarrassment okay we spent that money to fix up the trash in everything and I was like 18 different schools would be a we were able to have a championship event and it was good I talk to me the haze the tennis coach she was emotional he was talking about the most diverse team that he had epically hand got shot desert student tennis player who only doesn't have a leg and he's so proud of the fact that they were making up a tournament against me that they missed out rained out part of proud the bleachers then you didn't have to worry about wearing diapers or depends because you don't get all the splinters in everything and the only we Ford in the community has supported this we have done such a great job of bringing us up to a division one type facility except one thing and the girls will tell you what the problem is out of it and filled I don't have to explain that they didn't dig done can can contractors the people that have done a great job or work coming up for a limb night filled over the next 3 or 4 years all right I think between us we tag team facilities pretty well education sorry what's up that's right we did get a report on the key and Community Education budget Vicky Farmington came in and did the overview of this year's budget and Lil Bit of look at what's coming next year for board members that want to look at that that's in this drive under Ron's report for facilities basically the the really short version is they had a good year they got more in moment into their programs which is good because they shifted focus a couple years back and then covid really going to put them in a hole for a couple years and they're coming out of that so that was a good report to here all right education is Lancaster is in here and Jacqueline is going to cover that one sure our last committee meeting was April 18th we did not meet this month fight with our time I think the most important thing that came out of Ed committee at that last month was we heard from Doctor Maddie about his summer school planning he was feeling very good about are hiring situation and having enough staff on board summer school is going to be the week of July 10th it's a Monday through Thursday we also as we saw last year expecting increase number of students this year so he's feeling good about that then I don't know if there was anything you wanted to add to it with with summer school I think you're speaking about yes why the esy summer school and then I would say that for regular summer school Title One Summer School similar thoughts and feelings were feeling pretty good about the Staffing great and then for this evening we've got to field trip request in our drive the first one is the pre Educators Rising students a trip to Orlando Florida that's just after school gets out so it's June 28th through July 2nd and this is you know what else you want me to sort of touch on I I feel like we discussed this at the last one so I'll just go ahead and do the motion the key Board of Ed moves to approve the Keene High School Acacia Educators Rising field trip request to Orlando Florida and this one was moved forward by the education committee voted 4-0 to approve questions on it there is information on the drive if you need it see none of those in favor impose Carrie 70 and then if you want to read that one I'll explain it sure our second field trip request which is to the Clark Institute in Williamstown mask I'll do the motion Keene Board of Education moves to approve the Keene High School French Club and French Classes field trip to the Clark Institute in Willow Town Mass on May 23rd rock paper scissors I found out today that that trip may be the date may be moved so are you approve it then the date regardless of the date we have to bust some busing complex yeah that's standard for the field trip the dates tend to it because some of them are depending on whether as well so I received this via email yesterday so it went into the drive last night so per policy any board member can ask to table this with the realization that if we table it at effectively canceled the trip for this year cuz we don't meet again until the last two days of school all right so the details that I have in this is in your drive it's the French Club and the upper level French Classes roughly 50 students is the Clark art institute is the full name and the teacher is Riley actually tied it into the curriculum and to the competencies which was something that we want people to do when they proposed these field trips but we haven't seen it in the past it does not include estimated costs but that's because it was actually submitted to the high school watch we haven't approved the new ijora so this is under the old policy so we don't know that but I can't imagine it's a whole heck of a lot if they're just going to an art museum in Massachusetts any other questions for this I all those in favor any opposed and Carries 70 Brian you might want to remind the high school if they want to get these things to us quicker them today that was the cause of the bus issue alright Mister Roberts I'm hands. It's 7 if you need to Erica crisp not much it was new on the finance committee just time of the year it's a lot of the budget transfers where for trying to get their best use again most of the budget transfers was for around Personnel Court approve the numerous gifts that we were given and then you approve the stuff is informational in the consent agenda I will just to get it on the rack run through the gifts that we approved yet look at the other ones have so there was actually quite a few of them I'm bored and knowledge has and thanks the this is a single person right Rob is it appropriate to name the single person Linda G on do you want I'm not going to be able to thank you for the King High School Educators Rising which is the trip we were just talking about that was not a trip that was planned when they created the budget to the career center so they're trying to find funds to get the students down there so they don't have to pay their own way thank the Cheshire Medical Center well power pretty well powered School Grant Wheelock school for $850 the United Way for a $1,750 donation to Jonathan Daniels the Cheshire Medical Center Norwell PowerSchool Grant also to Simon's School in the amount of $1,944 and Moco arts for a donation worth $600 I'm in the set design equipment to the Middle School the School drama club is already sent a note to the board I Thanking us for approving that they're really excited for that Crescent the the Moco yeah between facilities and finance you have a policy is when someone is going to give something it's not monetary that we go and review it to make sure we not going to have any increased cost or just going to order the maintenance of it and the art Department was contacted here and the game that the mocha lot is giving is much better than what the school has right now in the school is highly appreciative of the opportunity to get what they getting from Mom local it was exactly correct and I was included in the note from the from the Middle School drama club to there cuz it's going to take up Less storage space for better equipment so they're pretty excited we also approved at last full board meeting we need to thank Robin Buren and the American Heart Association for a donation to The Career Center's childhood education center of a CPR hands-only training kits for use in CPR training for our education students oh and also Dartmouth else was involved in that one thank you been redone stuff fast enough all right that's it for onto policy which is a little longer we have a couple of interlocks policies that we have to so we have nothing for first read and that's because policy was dominated by getting these policies here for second read and ready to go so we're going to open with policy jjjj access to public programs by non Public Charter School and home educated pupils here's a motion so we're going to go ahead and do it even though I think we might have already the go-ahead Board of Education moves on behalf of the policy committee to approve Keen School District policy jjjj access to public programs by non Public Charter School and home educate pupils the changes to the policy we already had on the books the changes are and I think they're good ones state law has made some clarification on how access is granted to District students who are educated elsewhere but still want to access programs that we have that are not covered by whatever education and they are currently receiving in the clarification actually works for us as well it leaves it takes care of those kind of fuzzy situations where we weren't sure it's very much clarifies that for purposes of my timers going off which means that public in good. Is now ended people are welcome still at any time to send public input via email through the central office here it clarifies something that we have been struggling with witches where a student lives defines what school system they are allowed to access programs in it is not the location of their charter school is not just somebody else in the same region it is actually you have reside within the footprint of a school district to access their programs so these are pretty solid changes they protect both our own schools and they protect folks that are using alternative education methods in their abilities to access our programs any questions on this one and all those in favor I opposed carries 60 and then the related procedure Board of Education moves on behalf of the policy committee that the Keen Board of Ed accept jjjr procedure of access to public school programs is informational the reason this is informational is it's one of those procedures that were true believe in the hands of the administration so they can adjust things I mean for example State Law changes or they run into confusion in the existing procedure they can modify things without going through the four month process Texas to change things at the board level jjjr will be replacing ihb gr which we'll talk about in a few minutes but other than that it's just the procedure that accompanies the policy were just looking at all those in favor any opposed 60 next one yep go to Keene Board of Education moves on behalf of the policy committee to approve Keen School District policy jair to a policy I hbg home education instruction second Rob the agenda and the motion do not have the and lettering do we happen to know what the actual weight GB because it's the other way around in three places so this is related to Jay Jay Jay actually one of the primary changes is that they separated out the access to public programs from the home education instruction so the rest of remaining policy is about the process for somebody leaving the district and how they officially notified the district that they'll be receiving home education instead and some of the steps that the district has to go through to make that viable for the state questions on this one thank you this is one that I read through several times and I had a hard time visualizing a exactly what the steps are what the superintendent's role as what the school board's role is ETC so I'm wondering if you or Rob could paraphrase that a little bit so that I can standard explain what exactly has to happen and why I can paraphrase the school board's role which is none we approve this policy and then drop has to do it all around the office are you sure the very short version is when somebody decides to leave the district to homeschool they need to notify us that they're doing that but also notify us of where they're going to continue their education if they're of compulsory age otherwise there are other legal implications if a student is not receiving their education if they're under the age of 18 so that's short version is it just one follow-up could you like look at curriculum and say no way this doesn't meet standards no we don't we don't have that level of authority okay thank you who is having to handle that right now since that was Jake Audrey no no Kathy where were we oh that was questioned it's no need to take a vote all right all those in favor opposed Terry 60 alright Jake i c i m next up the key Board of Education move some behalf of the policy committee to approve Keen School District policy jic m bring-your-own-device / technology as this is one of those ones we've been kicking around for about three years more because it started before the pandemic and I was a part of the delay this is primarily formulated with the help of the IT department because of the ones that have to administer it and they're the ones that know the safeguards that we need in place and they had something ready to go and then the pandemic and one of the things we did in pandemic issue a device to every middle schooler and high schooler and that kind of changed all of the parameters that they had to deal with so now we are finally ready to look at this again with this covers is if for some reason a student is a separate one for teachers right in front of the student wants to use say they've written their entire PowerPoint presentation on their home laptop instead of the school Chromebook discover's what devices are actually allowed to bring in and connect to the network for those kind of purposes and what their responsibilities are if they do that am I suspicion is that this is going to have to be updated a regular basis we have not looked at this in 10 or 12 years and a number of the devices that it covered don't even exist in our world anymore there was a reference to fax machines in this I think that this probably needs to be looked at a little more frequently but anyway this is up to date as of a month ago questions all those in favor any opposed Gary six moving right along the next one is the key Board of Education move some behalf of the policy committee to approve Keen School District policy ijo a field trips this one was across the people that really wanted to look at this urge are not here at tonight's meeting but tightens up our field trip a policy a little bit it requires the schools now to keep a list of the field so we were approved you may be aware once we approve a field trip it's has been approved in perpetuity and just now says it's only approved for 5 years so if you've been running the same to let's say the Clark art institute every year then after 5 years you have to bring it back in for re-approval I don't know why that one would be a challenge but us to make sure that the field trips continue to remain in line with the academic and cultural goals of the school system are the other thing that's in there is for the particularly expensive field trips that requires I forget the dollar value of a 1990 1500 any trip that's 1500. are there has to include fundraising opportunities to try to expand the pool of people that are able to to for taking the trips and this was a joint effort between the education committee and principles with the help of Ben and Brian and the policy committee questions all those in favor Oak sorry Riley just just a supportive comments on this Rebecca Jacqueline and I had worked over this quite a bit as well too and so we want to thank the administration for challenging us and for coming to resolution to get something that's workable and it looks like the latest request has come in with the educational objectives so we're very pleased that it's working all right all those in favor and he opposed carry 60 and then we actually have the rare policy for deletion tonight although it's okay to delete Keen School District policy is hbg our home education was the procedure that formerly a company to ihb gr is replaced by the procedure company in the access to public programs j j j and the reason for that is this procedure largely covered the access to programs and that now belongs to the other policy but this one was not approved is informational whenever it got approved it was approved as a full policy so we actually have to go through the formal action deleting it from her policy books make sense everybody all right all those in favor and you posed carries 60 alright School liaison know what we oh you had something else so we've got to go back to finance one thing that we did go over skip over is the general assurances for fiscal year 2004 important in and I'll keep it as brief as possible this is been a continued effort from the Department of Education to have school boards cosine with the superintendent that we're going to spend our federal money for the purposes the federal money was intended for we do this every year under the current commissioner this is been the procedure we put the full General assurances into your drive for review if you guys want to review ask questions about it more than welcome to but what we need in order to move forward with our fiscal year 24 Federal monies is an authorization from the board to the chair to co-sign The General parent has I've lost my motion how we didn't make a move that we let them Drive the the board chair to sign the general insurance as Federal requirement alright concern Sprout has the physical thing over here we did let him go who would have been the one who could answer it for sure but it's not anything new same information that's in prisons to us every month soon all those in favor any post carry 60 with that here all sign it later and now School liaison starting with King High School which is jointly held by In This trance Malin Master ormerod Scott has left so when he got for us Raleigh yeah I've got time for you I did speak briefly with talk to G last week and she said you know Riley for the first time in a while it felt like a normal week of high school in spite of how busy they are where are all the athletic Advanced all the things that we're going on so she had she had a lot of confidence that things were moving forward the she is the last she put together a a document and we didn't get that document this time but she did finish up and sent us out the Blackbird Beacon and so there's a couple things I want to bring to the attention this boy ran to the public in the in the beacon that she has been been working on and that the whole staff has been working on and one of them she has really on the first page is did the update and the initiatives on the restoring safety building Community promoting academic success and preparation for the future and someone's going to have to rescue me on what he asked stands for but she's referencing and he asked elements and community dad I think she explain that to me but what does that stand for New England Association of schools and colleges it's the acreditacion organization of telling the safety and Improvement initiatives with the work that they're going to have to do for the next knee ask approval which is two years out she's giving us a status on that and if you will recall when she gave us report about 3 months ago we had made a little bit of progress but we really hadn't reached in it in an inflection point yet what's inside where start to turn around except for some of the things like school safety seems they're taking a lot of action on that not just evacuation drills by the dressing concern security concerns that the students and faculty I've actually actually mentioned never core element is the vision and values of what a graduate is going to do and I think that's within the scope of our strategic document is well to so bad has been assigned and it's in its place and it's being worked through the third element is curriculum and there's a more extensive curriculum mapping under hey which will be completed by August and also on the Improvement in growth plan that's also in the are covered in the RFP for the for the Keene School District it is well and intervention strategies we've talked think she mentioned some of the new strategies including the the what's the restorative justice or how to apply that is as well to that was that was mentioned is welt is as well as really helping all the students that are struggling behaviorally but with the academic subjects math and Ela assignments and then also to align interventions all the way up the line from kindergarten to grade to grade 12 and finally the 6th me ask element is buildings in Wasilla teas and yeah we felt that we were in really good shape with that due to the vision in him having a very strong financing building team over the last few years but there's a couple items on there to that that we that they took input from so that she put that up front and and Center for anyone who is wondering what exactly we're doing to improve the call sharing and climate and education experience here it is well number things happened but I wanted to share with you the the new ask elements as the most important thing that's happening how many touchdown on another important thing which is this building is super busy now number of students in called in extracurriculars and sports is finally rebounding after a lot of participation drop during covid cases are out on all of the fields of games going on all the are we just chased one of our own administrators out of here to go watch one of his kids play the drama club just did Neil Simon's rumors last weekend's they were really hard on that and put on an excellent show what's the order of the concerts at the end first right yeah I think we got a band so May 23rd is the high school's instrumental program next Tuesday night and then 30th the day after that Memorial Day Break is the choral concert senior end-of-year events that I might as well mention as well to the next Thursday unified prom on the 19th there's the problem on the on the 20th of this month the mr. Keen hi which I guess is kind of a spoof kind of a fun tradition I'm glad to see that that's that's coming back there's a scholarship night at the Cheshire career center and then the cap and gown start going out in the back of Laureate Siri service is June 4th there's a special recognition Night By Invitation Only on June 6th and June 7th there's a scholarship night senior event salmagundi is 68 and 69 is the high school in high school graduation last day of classes is happens after our next meeting so I don't have to go any farther but you know we're looking forward and honing in on the graduation event alright thanks Roy Cheshire career center is Mister right he's not here but he did send a brief report let's see friends of the Cheshire Career Center on May 4th the career center held a celebration to all right and support Career and Technical education in our community I wonderful group of supporters including their Hansel came to show their appreciation for what the career center does and aspires to do for Keene and the surrounding towns and during this event the recently renovated prince room and learning center was dedicated to mr. Tom Moses the center itself is beautiful I've been on it for a couple meetings now does an excellent job done in that space really upgraded it for current for what used to be one of the dump your rooms in the building so that's the beautiful working there for those unfamiliar Tom Moses has been associated with our career center since it was built in 1974 he signed on to be the first chair of the regional advisory committee which is the group of businesses and other community supporters that help keep the career center connected to the Employers in the region I need held that position in you're in a half ago at this point and so we felt it was highly appropriate to dedicate this face to Tom so that he's his name is always connected to the career center that he loved so much and did so much for how to run itself is absolutely beautiful and provides a professional space they are hoping to connect remotely within structures they're not in the Keene area to kind of grow the reach of the career center and the other two schools that attended on a regular basis other than that Staffing which we touch down a little bit I'm at the beginning of this year Richard town and his team were faced with six Staffing basement vacancies which grew 28 in January you guys ever heard of talk about that over the course of the year the CTE positions can be very hard to fill at this time they are down to one opening for next year and I have a note from Richard down as soon as if anyone knows somebody interested in the programming position do I get in touch with him so that's what Ron gave us for the career center excellent stuff happening there in Middle School Jacqueline and I know you had a chance to meet with Deanna South New Hampshire SAS Statewide assessment system testing has been going on 7th grade was last week sixth graders or this week also since we met last over April vacation the 8th graders had their trip to DC principal sielski Diana said it was great weather was in their favor so it's a great thing is good experience for for all of those students and many thanks to the faculty staff that act as kind of like not mentors what's the word I'm looking for chaperones during those part of that break that's an intense time so much appreciation to them just as you heard at the high school there is a lot going on with concerts over the next few weeks one in particular I do want to mention is Kate Butterfield I'm her last concert is June fifth other items to note the high five ropes course is going on I think within the next couple of weeks marching band at Caymus will be in the Memorial Day parade also new this year is an opportunity on June 2nd wear for half the day we've got all of the 8th grade all the theaters partnering up with we've got students from Keene High doing a one-to-one match with there are rising 8th graders including those that come in from Winchester Marlboro Chesterfield Westmorland to just heard of hacked games team building lunch together so a really nice word of social experience and just sort of that connection this is this is new for those eighth-grader transitioning up to the high school so I think that that is worthy to mention before you go forward from that I talked to Gianna about that too and she's really excited for this one hopes it ends up being a continuing tradition as a student who transitioned to Keene from one of the surrounding sounds one of the hardest things is to come into the middle school or the high school when you're coming from a school of 10 12 20 kids in your class and you come into two hundred kids in your class it's just super overwhelming a lot of kids do have connections outside of school they know people this this type of event really helps to ease that process before they get thrown into it headfirst in the fall did you want to add something from there actually having a virtual meeting tonight the three principles with the coordinators at the trip to learn details and start to work with Leslie Wasco and Michael paone so it's a go there just looking on the this is now okay but wait there's still or still more I know we mentioned it at last month's full board but again you know just be pretty Haitian and thanks and best of luck to Deanna as she wraps up these you know last few weeks of her tenure here at came middle and we wish her all the best in her new position and then the real great news that I'm very pleased to announce the you know folks should have seen it in the paper and we announced it loud and proud last week but we're very pleased that Michael Smith will become our new key Middle School principal beginning July one I was honored to be the representative from school board on the selection committee it was a big group of us many thanks to the our faculty and staff at King Middle that were on that selection committee Mike I'm just a hundred percent personally confident and he is going to be a great addition at the middle school he brings a lot of energy he brings 14 years experience as a classroom teacher if you don't know we're ready he's currently our curriculum director here at the high school he's got depth and knowledge and hands-on experience with c d e which is going to be critical at the middle school as we get that progressed and working through so again cannot say enough good things about it I'm also very pleased with Administration that is recognizing the importance of getting my cramped up in this world because he's already here as part of the SAU 29 he'll be starting to make regular visits to the middle school yeah either half days or full days between now and then you know through the summer will be mentoring in place for him so that really is going to think help us by Leaps and Bounds with that transition and I also just want to command Brian Campbell who was our leader obviously with the selection committee since Brian oversees the middle school so Brian deeper appreciation to you I know that that was a whole lot of extra work in time on top of you know and already full schedule and then Ben I also want to recognize and thank you for being a part of that committee as well so thank you to the both of you alright Franklin I have been trying to connect with Eric and we have not touched face yet so hopefully next month Fuller mr. pillow and it hit our schedules and lately it's been me the conflicting schedule so I don't get many nights off and I had a night off right as you come out and do something other than politics and that was phenomenal in Raleigh your son can play with . I mean that's why you got really really wow so Kudos cuz he was good and everybody involved and I know we've had a couple of comments about maybe not the settlement somehow we need to get maybe work out better better marketing it because a lot of people that buy post on Facebook I said I went to and how great it was and I can't say how many people said we didn't we would have been there so maybe we need to do a bit a little bit the upcoming year maybe a look at our marketing and advertising to see if he knew better and because as well as it was intended really think a lot of people said they would have gone if they had known so it was early this year so we needed that message need to go out people are actually just now asking me hey ones Nostalgia the same comment came up around the play last week room you know what I posted on my daughter was in that so I posed online after the performance and people to know if we'd known we would have come and seen a lot of that so yeah I think you're right we've got the kids are back involved and now it's time to start promoting the fact that the kids are back involved absolutely ready thank you nice catch on the Sauza cuz there's been so many shows last 3 weeks in my personal family that I completely forgot about that one I would add we are doing a good job with posting all of these events on the SAU 29 Facebook I know that not everybody does social media but I will do the plug while we're here live and encourage folks that if you dude Instagram or Facebook please follow the SAU 29 social media Pages cuz that is all promoted and it's a great way to share in the nut liberates the the word getting out true also Simon's is Lancaster is not with us and I know she's disappointed because she very much wanted to do this state that I will have to do instead the big news at Simon's most people know this principle Richard Kate is retiring at the end of this year he has been the Principal is Simon school this is his 44 the year that he is just finishing up now and that's on top of over fifty years in education in this essay you so his service to the education Community here is phenomenal he has built over his years of leadership at Simon's a very strong and caring Community you see that in the number of families that come back he is Tata number of multi-generational not to the principled multiple generations of the I'm finally at the school and some of his former students are now working for him as well the hiring committee there which I served on was very emotional for those reasons everybody on it had connections to Simon School and the incoming principal is a former Simon's teacher Susan Grover so everyone's very excited that some of those Traditions will continue and she has a lot of energy and has the phone support of the staff who knows her from working with her for almost 20 years and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does when she comes into that role and similar to Jacqueline I need to acknowledge Ben White and his leadership on that can for the reasons stated it was a difficult committee to put together and it was he brought us together well he kept of the committee focused on choosing who would really be the next leader moving forward and I have to say all four candidates that we interviewed were excellent it was not an easy decision and then you should know that all four candidates and they may have said this to you as well we're very impressed with the interviewing and hiring process that we went through so it's not just us the saw that so well done all right Wheelock School mr. Roberts sorry love items related to Simon one is Thursday card somewhere there's a deck of cards out there in the universe and the second thing is not be silent is that Rebecca put in a request to have one of the roads if that's the matter public record next week it has to go to the city council yeah there was a further updates on that from Patty little and it sounds like it's does not need to go to the council right okay so it's even going to be simpler alright reminded me there for 12 to 1 to congratulate Mr Kate and celebrate his career there is an open house tomorrow no next Wednesday sorry Wednesday the 24th so I'm in school from 2:30 to 4:30 which is a mr. Kate's birthday sorry if you could really we're good thank you we locked Mister Roberts first thing to doing it getting ready to move the fifth grade is on to the middle school which is always emotional and it doesn't rain they'll be outside again and with this year can be the family member to be able to be much closer to their own children no covid and then the other part two most important pod is getting everything ready then packed up so the construct people can come in and start right on time and hopefully get everything done and looking for the new kindergarten by the end of the year excellent thank you Chris John Up and Dance scan Community Education the settings okay that is me had a nice chat with the Joanne last week things are going well obviously they're they're like everybody else wrapping up the school year they've got a few graduations coming up I try it and attended a couple of those she's very excited about the new playground growing in so I won't repeat on that and again all in all things are going well there and then in terms of Team Community Ed Vicki and I met over April vacation and she's been keeping me up to date with things also via email just a few key points May 25th we've got the alternative diploma graduation at King Middle School it's 7 p.m. I believe we've got about 14 to 18 graduates guest speaker will be Molly Kelly 50 said they're also in talks with the regional Hub apprenticeship coordinator about applying for funds to expand our current apprenticeships and add a pre-apprenticeship she's checking into this to see if I can Community I would qualify with anyting and see where where we can get funding for that also if you missed it the spring issue with the King Sentinels Business Journal interviewed some of our apprentices and instructors and published a really good article called saving the trades she did include a PDF of that so I'll get that into the into the drive if that's okay for folks to see it again their Fortune ahead and even after graduation they will have summer classes but it just depends upon what the state approves for her region and she also got great news I think about a week ago two weeks ago now that their Grant was approved for ESL immediate of an advanced and their new Alan a program so that's a very I feel so kudos to Vicki and her team and central office and their support really doing impressive things that can community at I can't emphasize that enough thank you Jacqueline all right before we move out of school liaison a final thank you to Deanna zelski and Richard cape for all that they've done for the school service for the school's community in their time at their check the buildings they are very appreciated there will be difficult to replace them I think we've made some excellent hires but of course there's the domino effect and I think Michael Smith leaving the high school is another large hole that will have to fill we've been blessed here have the curriculum director position have two very strong people filling that role in a row here so that's going to be a tough one for the high school to fill coming up next right VA Miss Rod we need to amend the agenda to add Jennifer Friedman because we are Coco and hsba you are correct Liaisons as well wear our tribe is growing we've got a pack going as well here too and we both have some some related business to discuss what I'd like to do to bring up is according to our procedure one thing that sort of agreed to is that the Liaisons would stay on top of maybe three topics of legislative principles is well and what I was asking for is on the 8th that I have listed to choose three that we will we will track one way we can do that as I can go through each of these eight and see which ones have the most votes we're a little bit shy on participation tonight however this kind of a lot going on in the next month or so and then after which is a bit of a Hiatus I'm so I thought I would like to see if it it pleased the chair if I can get a consensus on Witcher three of these eight seems that you want us to track at least a legislative season-long commitment I feel like we need give the other three members the opportunity to weigh in what I will have you do is connect you with Shana tomorrow and she can do a a doodle poll was pretty easy to throw together it's pretty easy for people to respond and that should give you what you're looking for very quickly. That's acceptable thank you the other nhspca issue is that there's a formal call for resolution and I usually the deadline is in early July I got the date right here huh as long as I don't open up their stupid logo instead offer resolutions process I don't make it easy three Clicks in on the web page is blocked it still on we would we would have to approve them as a board next month because we don't meet in July so that that was another reason to have some action on on this on what things we want to check what I can do is we have a number of continuing resolutions that the New Hampshire school boards Association is ever backing in always on and we want to look for holes in that and coordinate our testimony and any resolutions with some of the other themes that it were sitting in the others the other schools so I think that if it's okay with Jennifer we're going to propose some we're going to propose some resolutions as we get get together and maybe we can have a legal look at that and so we can be in a position in June go to approve those who move forward unless I'm missing something Rob no I was just going to say you both been in Bryan to have been kind of talking about some of those things so that you might want to reach out to the two of them to collect some other input potential resolutions I will do that thank you have no but I should be appreciated because we usually it's usually the board perspective but in this instance we're advocating for the whole District so addition that's basically what I had I know that Jennifer had an item at least one item she wanted to bring up it is a further down on the agenda and new business so I can I can hold it off until alright sau29 is me we are in the midst of the superintendent evaluation process the last of the seven district Town should have done there's last night if any of you were watching I don't know why you would be but if you are submit your evaluations cuz only half of you've done it the next step is the SAU Advisory Board which is the chairs of the seven district will get together on Monday the 22nd and create the unified sau29 evaluation of the superintendent which we should be getting to him before school gets out for the summer so that he has it in hand when he's it's working with is central office teams in building administrators to build the plan for next year the other date coming up is the full SAU annual meeting and that is on May 30th the final Tuesday of the month and that is a reminder every one that is on one of the district boards is a de facto member of the SAU board so you are all welcome to attend the SAU annual meeting when I first came on we usually had about 20 of the 32 members of the district towns there as things started going more smoothly it is mostly the chair and one or two other people we'd really like to see more people at these meetings but as previously discussed tonight I understand we're all busy we've actively sought people that are active members of the community to be on this board that means is a lot of conflict but if you can fit it we would love to see you there alright old business I have nothing under new business we have a number of items beginning with the 23:24 King Board of Education eating schedule which is in your drive and I need a motion to approve that I make the motion to approve the 20 23 2024 kpe meeting schedule so there's no real surprises on this how much the same thing we've done the last couple years we don't have official meetings in July occasionally facilities sold to meeting if they want to take a look at the work that's being done but Ron can work that out with Ken and Tim regular Tuesday meetings this does have the budget meetings in here they're not on January 2nd this year ye remember that just as this year the January and May meetings are on the third Tuesday instead of the second questions or concerns people hated this year's calendar all right all those in favor I am supposed to carry 60 scholarships is on here but that's just so we can notify people that the board is reviewing the small number of scholarships that we have to approve but that will happen in non-public so that the names of the scholarship recipients are not actually out there until scholarship night yeah and just for clarity since several of us on the board are parents of seniors the scholarship recipients are determined not by the school board where we leaving the results of a selection committee whoever they are correct alright Academy fun proposals for the third month in a row but we still don't have any further documentation so as we discussed last month I will write up a quick letter to Kendall Lane with the concerns that are the questions that we have on a couple of the proposals I'm in and let him work from there with that information and I will talk with Tim and I school about what information we really need on this next year but we can't hold up the academy fun process any further in this one doesn't require approval anyway it was just comments and concerns that we might have with any of them so that is how we move forward with that we have everybody's input from committee meetings previously on it anyway so we don't have to spend more time tonight so that brings us to Jennifer Friedman and not enough words the New Hampshire school Fair funding project right now so the New Hampshire school funding this project is a non-profit their name pretty much says it all they are very active in the effort to change the way that the state distributes it education funds and to raise that amount there is a local effort of a group of people including the partners for public education as well as just some individuals Trijicon and Joe Shapiro on the political front who are Ann and myself I've been active in this effort as well personally to try and bring a representative from New Hampshire School Federal funding project to Keen in order to do a public information session and they have done those in cities and towns throughout New Hampshire and is it basically just an effort to educate the public on what you know what the problems with New Hampshire school funding and how it relates to our property taxes how it relates to the uneven distribution of funds and the uneven level of Education that students in various cities and towns yet as a result of the funding formula that they used so what we have landed on a date of Wednesday June 14th and we have secured a venue the Hannah Koenig Center and this is going to happen and we're very excited about it cuz we think it will be you know very educational informative what I am asking tonight is if School Board would like to officially kind of co-sponsor this presentation I did I did include some information I'm not is that anybody did it make it onto the drive it is on the drive so I included their slide presentation from a previous one and as well as they have a video a hole you know video of an hour-long presentation that they've given in another town on this particularly relevant now with the conval decision about to come down that are that trial has ended so there are moving pieces now or hopefully there might be moving pieces soon but you know this affects the school budget in very directly and significantly and I think as a school board it would be a great show to say we're going to be involved in educating the public on this topic so for us to be on the co-sponsor that would require a motion and a vote because that would be an official position of the board is anyone interested in making that motion give me the wording or you can I'd like to meet motion on behalf of King school board that we if it fits the King School Board is a education sponsor for the fair funding presentation all right, Terry did you have more for supporting that and you make your case already I'm happy to take any questions and then we'll move to Chris kid before make a boat is what does being the sponsor involved is there a financial cost that will because before you make those its I think the public needs to know what it means to be a sponsor there is no financial obligation on our part of being a sponsor simply means that we are you know we publicly support bringing this educational and informational presentation to keen and they hope that we will get the word out basically do publicity and try and bring member of the public to the farm Raleigh made the motion to let him speak in the news oh thank you this presentation which I doing I talked to does not present any specific solutions to the problem it doesn't endorse any solutions or any other particular groups it just outline the Dynamics of how things work so we have no to lose and there's nothing really controversial about educating and showing people and getting engagement from the community on why the taxes keep going up Jacqueline just a housekeeping question you said the date was June 14th and Hannah Grimes Center on Roxbury street but you have a time yet oh yes it will be from 6 to 8 p.m. not that they should sway your decision one way or another but just so you are aware of the events that are also happening within the district that night both Fuller and Simons are bring their ceremony the end-of-year ceremony for their fifth grade celebration Fuller's at 6:30 Simons is at 7 just so that you're aware of all that's going on tough time of year is scheduled but I get it I get it yeah we didn't want to push it any later because it only gets worse for the end of June and then people throw their hands up and forget about school stuff for July and August so it was it was that date or nothing until September alright so yes vote is specifically to sign on as a sponsor of this presentation on June 14th those in favor carry 60 and rather doesn't mean we should probably get you to put something out on the on the Facebook page for that as well all right any other new business seeing none can I have a motion to go into non-public session in accordance with our essay 91a 3 for both staff and student Personnel so I moved bro, please Jennifer yes yes yes yes yes yes thank you to AMT productions for streaming us tonight I hope we got him I really hope that he's not losing his mind he's almost as busy as the kids are these days thank you two folks watching us on a livestream and to the administrators who came and put up with us for this meeting we will reconvene on public in the room behind us in about 7 minutes

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