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Keene Board of Education Meeting for February 3, 2024

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Keene Board of Education Meeting for February 3, 2024 KHS Auditorium, Keene, NH at 9:00am Transcription available upon request.

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good morning everybody we're about to start at 9 I'm Kathleen O'Donnell on the moderator for the Keene school district and I welcome you to the first session of the Lapine School District the voting session today and thank you for Andrew Trombley for broadcasting this event today for us and thank you to all the District employees and school board members for their work and coming up with a articles for today and for all the people who are here in attendance I would ask you please to silence your cell phones at this time and now we will stand for the Pledge of Allegiance before we started when I go over some of the rules that we have for the procedure today excuse me school district for sessions represent direct democracy every registered voter attendance at the district meeting may vote on the articles of the warrants the moderator will use the following general rules of procedure for the meeting voters May overrule the moderator by simple majority on any decision or rule that the moderator establishes because somebody's asked the people to be quiet or out there and shut the door please thank you again voters me overrule the moderator for by simple majority on any decision or with the moderator establishes a voter can raise such a request at any time by a point of order it is always okay to ask for a point of order or clarification of a procedural rule the moderator will take the articles in the order that they appear on the warrant unless the moderator an oz intend to take the Articles out of order which will require the approval from the legislative body the moderator will not accept negative mode motions which are emotions that require a no vote to vote in the affirmative such as I moved do not adopt the budget each time of voter wishes to address a warrant article the voters shall approach the microphone and when recognized State their full name and address before speaking the speaker will address their questions or comments operator alone the moderator will choose who responds to question voters who have trouble can you please shut the thank you vote as who have trouble moving will be provided a portable microphone and may speak for all speakers must be courteous and must speak to the issues all speakers message rest your statements and questions to moderator and not to or towards any other elected official or attendee in the succession the moderator will not allow personal attacks or inappropriate language is Shelby only permitted to speak if they are non-resident Town officials Consultants Express in the like to provide information about an article moderator respectfully request that the initial location of an article be limited to 10 minutes and it all speakers in the debate are limited to three minutes of order is entitled to speak to a second or third time on the same question provided all other voters who wish to speak have spoken if a paper ballot requested five registered voters who are present may make a request in writing prior to a Voice vote that the vote be made by secret ballot on paper the moderator may I ask whether the petitioner still wish for paper ballot vote after discussion prior to a ballot vote motions to call the question limit debate and required two-thirds vote to pass to call the question voters speaking must be done at the microphone if pass debate on ammo ends in a vote is taken however all those voters who are standing in line into microphone or holding a microphone or have made the moderator aware of their desire to speak will be allowed to speak Additionally the moderator she'll have the right to refuse to recognize a motion to call the question if in the water is opinion the voters have not yet had adequate time to discuss an issue all about taking the business session which are not part of the official ballot voted on in the past Maybe consider before the termination of the meeting motions to prevent the reconsideration of an article or acceptable and may be voted upon after a vote on an articles taken motions to reconsider an article may be made immediately after the vote on article and maybe made maybe only made by voter who voted with the prevailing side of the article to be reconsidered the following limit apply to the reconsideration the article does any rule of the moderator or decision of the meeting can be reversed or changed at any time prior to the end of the meeting there is not a rule that can be adopted that can absolutely prevent the reconsideration of an article there is no such rule as an illegal road but understand it. subject to final review I am 5 quart serving our district boats are bonding if they were late to the subject matter of warrants and the article all voters have received folder cards upon checking in think people should all have that app sitting here in the front of the king builders all amendments and substance of motives Motors motions are requested to be in writing if he signed by the maker and seconds minor amendments need not be in writing only one Amendment will be allowed on the floor so that the war will be presented the presenter will the article be moved to be presented to be stuck into it and then people will be able to ask questions or comments after the presentation and motions to can be made any motions will have to be stuck into it and then we'll proceed by Voice vote unless paper goat has requested and if anybody has any questions please let me know other than that we will get started and we'll start with the presentation of the first article main budget article show the district raised in appropriate in operation budget how to include Appropriations by special Warren articles and other Appropriations voted separates the amount set forth on the budget posted with warrants or as amended by vote of the first session 4 purpose except for theory in total and 75686255 dollars show this article be defeated default budget Shelby 74612129 dollars which is the same as last year with certain adjustments required by the previous action of the district or by what what the government body May hold one special meeting in according to the RS a 4813 xnxv one to take up the issue a revised operation budget only know this appropriation does not include Appropriations in local 246 and eight between Board of Education recommends yes upon this question menarik majority vote required I miss dangerous Mister Robert be clear when when everybody anybody on the borders addressing an article just please state your name and your address everybody speaking has to do that okay thank you very much Chris Roberts on 58th Grove Street Keene New Hampshire it was us and there was a second Rebecca Lancaster 10 Wildwood Road in Katy I'm going to thank everybody here for coming I've been on the finance committee for the last three years to is the chair in the last three years of been different than any other time. Because the last three years I've been under rum covid funding and different covid rules and one of the things that we've been doing is not to waste really spend any of the covid money and I think between the finance committee to school board and administration we have done that and if there's as you probably will see all reflect back over the pass couple years we've given back for more to the community then will we we normally do we have not going out and saying we've got this money that we're going to find something to spend on it or we're basically we did we felt that any money that came into being as a result of our covid funding was the local taxpayers key opinion and you expected us you spend it wisely if not we weren't going to spend it we were going to return it to the people can we have the next flight please and me I'm going to the cost per student we're going to turn this over to the superintendent morning Robert Malay 5 Morgan Lane hearing King till this light will show you over history where we were in terms of cost per pupil as a district by school level so you've got the Elementary in the blue you've got the middle School in the in the white which is really hard to see you with a white background I apologized and then you've got high school and then our total District budget so starting in 2013 2014 you'll see that all of our all of our units were above the State average so that zero is the state average of cost per pupil in overtime we've been really mindful of our investments and you will see that the cost per pupil has has shifted a little bit below the state average for all of our for all of our units if we go to the next slide here's what's really tricky about cost per pupil cost per pupil is based on the number of students that you're dividing by and when you're looking at our cost per pupil in the Keene School District you're talkin about 3,000 students and what we've done is we've taken a look at how we can are two districts that have similar sized populations are student enrollments than we would have in comparison to say a smaller District that have fewer students the reason that's important is because if you have let's just say you have 100 students and you have for teachers those teachers be the cost per pupil for those teachers is going to be a number for a hundred students if you lose 15 students that doesn't mean you're going lose a teacher so your cost per pupil will increase o comparatively speaking districts with 2,500 or more in terms of enrollment Gina smack dead in the middle of that so I know we go back to slides to where the state averages we're below the state average that's because there are several districts that have very small student enrollment so their cost per pupil is significantly higher than it is here in Keene are our economy of scales keep that car per pupil lower than it does in other places and we go back to that same slide with a 2500 you'll see that in comparative districts you know where above the Bedford Square above Hudson in Goffstown but we're below some of the other districts that have comparative size districts in terms of student enrollment so I think it's important to keep that in mind it's not a apple to Apple comparison if you're looking at Kean and I'll use one of our SAU Town compared it to Marlo who have roughly 40 students at Marlow school it's a very different economy of scale so we're able to book favorably with the cost per pupil than smaller districts are but when you compare us to similar-sized District we're right we're right in the average we're 7th I think on that chart out of 15 that are listed up there to follow up on the superintendent in 2010 the school board proposed a 10 million dollar bond to upgrade the elementary school the vote is did not give us the 60% so when we at the school board decided to close Jonathan Daniels school there was a bottle of 1.7 million dollar per your savings and Wheaton the the public that we would invest that money in the upgrade of the four other elementary schools and we have done that and no not only redo that we've done that we took the money from covid to make other major improvements to improve the heating and air condition system and safety upgrades in so for Mr Murdoch use here he probably remembers back when our elementary cost per student was up around $24,000 per person so we've been making those wise Investments and we've been taught we told the people how we were going to be able to reduce the cost for student and we did not have had already said you know what we're going to reduce the cost for stew down to say 12000 we were going to recruit reduce the quest the student the best we can while effectively delivering the quality of them education so the number you have a. arbitrarily number you can you can see has enrollment going down part of the reason you're going down there is that we don't have a tackle Billy bailable housing for a lot of our workers until of a lot of workers half tell me about in town out of clean and so this is something that the school district in the city and the county are going to have to work on to keep eyes of viable growing community I'm open to any questions you're done if you anybody who has a question has to go and speaker microphone please it's at your name and address all these Street and King I'm just wondering in The Descent of students in the school does that include just the students in the public school or does that include all the students who chose to go to Charter Schools that's Betsy sau29 enrollment that's not charter schools Green School District okay so weird that so would it be a good one conclude from that that students going to other schools options in the area are not included in that total correct so for example St Joseph opened up a new high school so though some of those children may have been coming to Keene but they're going to Mercy High School so they would not be counted in that total Gathering Waters MC squared so I could run conclude that part of The Descent in the enrollment is not only related to housing costs but also related to the choices available in sub real question thank you thank you and anybody else who has any kind of questions or comments about the about the article come to the microphone and speak and Mister dolly George Downing 24 Hammond Drive there's some subsequent slides that discuss the default budget in the tax rate I think we need to go over those two okay this is the definition of Niger just move it RSA 4013 defines the default budget as used in the subdivision this would be the 2020 23 24 by G+ reminded services and let Staffing reductions other obligations by law and one time a -1 time expenses and for example obligation by law we added we voted for some contract so I'm last year we've had some staff reductions so they would picking up I got this and it should be. Budget calculations having technology problems this morning I can't remember neighborhood in the auditorium this quiet pay the debt Service as we each year we pay down the debt we have not created any new so the interest payments would drop by $745 then I'll get the new contract that was passed last year on that adds 812000 Disney transportation cost and they say you want 29 sau29 has a budget in once they pass that budget of the the budget non-employee special ed course they're down 246 the total adjustment was $700 9 player fish I caught that and then we had total adjustment to $708,000 so that made the default budget 1074120 + 120 knowledge below the recommended budget for 2025 anybody who asks a question you have to come to the microphone and state your name and address you don't have to ask speak just go up to the microphone Michelle Challis 25 Beach Street just go back to the other side beside this is all new to me can you explain to me what non-employee special education costs are is that reasonable going to spell a none of those, Robert Robert Morgan Lane those non-employee special education cost might be on tuition cost for outages Replacements where we need to place students because we are unable to meet their needs in our district in and that also might include Transportation costs that are associated with that as well so every time every time you speak just state your name again Charles Challis 25 B Street so does that mean that currently we are having to Outsource some of our special education at this point because not able to meet that need or is it needs to be on services that will meet very extreme needs we've had out-of-district placements as long as I've been here in perceive an inconceivably several years before that so yeah Roberts ebony decreases and increases tuition we're projecting a $510,000 increase state adequacy aid - 219,000 other local Revenue 7 - 7,000 New Hampshire building 831 New Hampshire catastrophic 28 + 10 to go to the lady's question have to put a child and out of District placement there's a formula or that the state reimburses us on and in the party every year every two years when the state does a they play with that number so that number is hard to project $6,000 less than Medicaid reimbursement we get reimbursed for Medicaid services that we provide in the school inside the school but a few years back the state of New Hampshire determine who who provides that services that they will reimburse transfer Expendable trust 01 Reserve fund balance of - 1055000 Zone on property tax revenue increased - $779,000 this is yes the Elementary in in preschool and we put notes in there but I know that some people get over they look at just a percentage like when you see Wheelock is 10 + 2% they'll be a reduction of especially education commissioner position with that was in addition to a one-off special education teacher position into art paraprofessional transfers that was done because with the upgrades we like school and everything it was best determine that we liked would be able to fight the fire best Services there so those were some of the that was the major driver and when you go down to the preschool program you'll see that that was basically a point for special ed addition yeah I know I'm with the preschool but I know that some people don't know is that if a child is coded as need of special ed once they Services once they get three years of reach the age of 3 years old they were allowed to get preschool received from The District in hoping that they would be prepared when they get ready to come into kindergarten are we go the middle school the high school again in the Middle School it's going up 4.6% but basically there is been no Staffing changes at the middle school getting those for contractual increases B18 High School 5.8 integration specialist so we don't have a vents like we had this morning and also to make sure the when they having using the Chromebooks and everything in the class the teacher will be able to know be able to ensure that everybody is on task and on subject and then not Googling or going someplace else where and then the risk-reward inator beer we have a lot of chew students I know high school kids don't want to be called children that they have special rest they may not be special ed risk they may be family rest but not raising up to point of a port the goal is that we want to Texas Children we want to help them and we want to do everything necessary that we possibly can to make them successful graduate school and be able to move on whether teknor school college or any job yeah I know we've had what do we call the interventionist why we call him in the middle in the elementary school behavior interventionist all the elementary schools in is showing outstanding results so this was part of the moving it up to this level Asha Career Center basically they got some new classes what happened they should down every year and they find out and they talked with the community community businesses they talked to the students and they try to find out which classes are interested in taking and which ones are no one has interest and we don't know one have a class there with 40 people in another class they are with five people so this is what the investment is Robert are you done I also wanted to say if anybody has difficulty getting to the microphone just raise your hand and I'm sure somebody will volunteer as another person would help so Misty Martinez Bohannon 74 Dale Drive can we go back to the previous life I just wanted to not gloss over the fact that sorry I see a lot of you don't reductions special editions and I also see editions and and swaps with Arc special but then we go to the next slide and we see you know that we need help with brisk coordination and we need to start fixing our problems at the elementary level our students and our teachers need help so if we and I know know it's about the budget and the superintendent goes to the principles of every and they have to find such and such amount of money but we need to invest in our teachers and our students because if we get rid of these staff in the elementary level it's just going to Stampede into the middle school in the high school because our are regular teachers are going to have to deal with all of those students that are now being funded by a special ed teacher yes we have less students but we have more problems anything that covid has taught us we need to invest in our kids all we heard was they had to be in school because they didn't learn at home in our kids need the help socially emotionally we need does possession mr. white want to say anything could happen good morning good morning everyone my name is Susan this and I live at 32 C Stonehouse Lane and Chris I just wanted I was at both it's like comments made by any person I had heard presented that as I started to say I wasn't both budget planning meetings January 6th and 13th when this group was reviewed the documents and I was pretty sure that I saw that there was one Elementary School that did not have a behavioral interventionist position and I think I heard it said today that every school every Elementary School had a behavior specialist I don't think that's the case thank you that's not the case I apologize for the error mister mister related you want to speak to that just a cracked tooth is clear for everybody Robert Malay 5 Morgan Lane I don't know that you said that every Elementary School I think you said at the Elementary level which otherwise I would have corrected you on the spot but I do think you said at the elementary level there are three of the Four elementary schools that have behavior interventionist thank you I would appreciate any corrections that on any error I meant make morning Carol Sands 81 Park Avenue could I just ask what the reasoning is for their B behavioral intervention or specialist at only three of the Four elementary schools how is how are those decisions made then absolutely at the time the behavior interventionist we're introduced all of all four of our elementary schools had the opportunity to add that into their Staffing patterns in one of the schools opted not to rely the principal's decision instantly I think she was asking why we came up with the concept I apologize if I misunderstood Prince had indicated that part of their regular duties they needed some assistance with addressing behaviors not of any specific individual children but for the children as a whole and Implement strategies that could be used throughout there are buildings and I'm turning the look and get a firm affirmation from some of our principles and that was the reason they look to put those in one of the schools opted not to do that at the time the others did thank you Arrow Sans 81 Park Ave just a follow-up thank you for the context there but I actually was asking the question about why one Elementary School and not all four of them having that resource available I'm interested to hear that it was a principal's decision and how I'm just asking out how far back in time those decisions were made by principles about what was needed and not needed in terms of resources video on I can't speak to why the one principal did but every school principal has the opportunity to come in front of the finance committee to represent what they feel is best for their school and we in the finance committee we don't force anything on me into the schools we feel that the principal knows how to handle and what the best for his or her around school and we've been highly supportive of the interventionist we try that we like it worked really well and the other schools picked up on it until we don't tell schools hey you have to cut so much money or you have to cut this thing they do it really good job we spending all day on a Saturday listening to that needs is there anyone else she would like to unsee I'm sorry Jennifer freed then 7 Ellen Court was your question when did we still wet when did the behavioral specialist come into the schools what was that what you were asking if you go to respond to have to go to the microphone and they can't maybe just stay at the microphone so people can be clear about your question yeah I asked I'm sorry Carol Sands 81 Park Avenue yes I was wondering when in fact that those behavioral interventionist came into being at each school and at what point it was that the principal of one of the schools decided that it wasn't Cassandra position was roughly around 2019 and it could be a year earlier than that in at the point of time that that principal decided was a during the budget build up they decided they were asked and they said I didn't want that they asked for an additional Learning Center teacher at that time because that's what they felt their need was so that position is actually being cut from that every time you speak you have to say your name. so your dress the first time Darrell Sands 81 Park Ave I guess then it sounds as though that position wasn't cut just this year for that school that position hasn't existed in that school for five years 5 years and so as the superintendent stated that principal at that school felt that the the other's position would be more valuable to the overall School then it'd be behavioral interventionist printable choice and the position that maybe was preferred still exist at that school absolutely in this current year it is still part of that Staffing part pattern Robert on 89 Valley Street question to that has to do with since this was a decision made 5 years ago I'm giving it particular constellation at Staffing oh was the reduction in special education for that particular school was that something that the principal also had opportunity to weigh in on is that principal happy that Google is losing a special ed position the the answer to the first one is that yes the every principal had in the ability to weigh the second is that a principal happy I would not Venture down there because one of the things is because the principles want to do what's best for the kids they always I want more and more and more and if I was the principal I would say the same thing and if it was my child I would say the same thing rubber time to follow-up question was was this principle consulted on the on the issue will be using a special education specialist yes they all were 5 years ago they were asked and this year they were told is that what I'm hearing being kind of what happened about five years ago we decided we liked came to us and asked us hey this is what we would like to try and then we like we as the board footage in and then we like and then the other schools at 8 this is a good idea and this is a good idea it wasn't that all what schools were giving it all at once understood but also questioning the decision since last year the board put the position back in when it dies it will continue the folks showed up at the first hearing this year with a smaller contingent all the board continue to take that money away from that particular School George Downing 24 Hamden Drive I guarantee I'm not forget my address at some point today and this actually address is something that Misty said earlier as well as goes to how we build the budget every year you know we don't set at Target percentage a Target dollar amount our building administrators know what we're trying to achieve in this district is a combination of state laws inboard directives and the overall vision and strategy of the districts and they basically start from zero every year they base it on the projected now students they projected needs of those students particularly they can look at the kids that are staying with in their building and just moving up a grade so it's not an exercise in a vacuum they're actually using real bodies figure out what they need and they build their budget based on those numbers in those student needs and then they meet with the assistant superintendent that's a sign of the building are two assistant superintendents each cover a number of building and Meg go over and justify with that assistant superintendent the proposed budget for their building and there's negotiations at that stage ultimately those numbers are brought to the bored if you've been paying attention you know that we had an eight-hour meeting and then a $6 meeting and then a 3-hour meeting at which we went over all of these numbers and further negotiations happened at that point the administration justifies what they asked for the board has put some things into the budget that we're not ask for and taking some things out that were asked for based on those discussions but ultimately every single year the building administrators and assistant superintendents look at the students in their buildings and what those needs are going to be in that is ultimately what the proposed budget is based on thank you to follow up on what George said used to go we would come into the administration and I remember one year it says okay your increase is 5% or your increase is 1% and then if they cut things and we would go and say this is the budget that the administration gave us and so yes we go from zero up to base see your needs I'm just one comment baby because you've already asked a question so is there anybody else who will has once ask a question first before we get to a second-round go ahead William Gillard 14 Westview Ave in Keene we go back one side please besides sorry so I just wanted to get a nice annual report of the school district and it has all the minutes from last year so we look at the elementary schools Franklin Fuller Simon's a wheel lock those schools are all the board is deciding to reduce a special teacher at each of those schools for the upcoming year or they're proposing that to the public there's a proximately 20 special Educators in the elementary schools so a reduction in force Educators amounts to a reduction 25% reduction in staff in terms of case management for these special Educators this will result in a 50 depending on the person and this is all based upon the budget documentation is that been provided by all the principles So based upon the budget documents have been provided by the principles the case management so for folks at home case management means that the number of special ed students are assigned to a special educator to ensure that their IEPs are being followed is there a 25% reduction in staff and that will result in anywhere from a 52 100% increase in case management by the special Educators that still exist in our schools so some special Educators next year we'll see a doubling of their case management load and some special educators see potential of a 50% increase in in their case management load for next year the net gain for the city of Keene is a .667 less than one percent reduction in the overall budget so while those special Educators amount to approximately $500,000 in salary and benefits the reduction to the overall budget is less than so you're increasing the workload on your employees by 50 to 100% you're not seeing that same gain financially and so seeing the the report will have my comments next year and so we'll see we can see next year when this comes around when we increase the workload of our employees you can can a bunch of documents and see if those employees are still employed in our district you know and the other thing that I would the other thing I would comment is we have we still have if you look in the budget documents from each of the mentary school we still have vacancies in the special education for special education case managers and and workers and so we're not able to hire retain people and the response to that is that the school board not directly not saying the response that is directly but a response of the school board to decrease the budget is to increase the workload in an area where the school district is having immense difficulty in fulfilling these positions and increased workload on workers it's not necessarily causation but you can say that it will increase the stress of those employees and potentially have them seek employment elsewhere thank you Edmodo 23 Edgebrook Road in game I just a point of order Matt a moderator I guess I understand that we are at the point where we're asking for news about the slides there is no motion on the floor so that would be in my opinion the appropriate time to have comments and discussions there was a motion that was motion made before the war was presented all right I'll retract my statement Jennifer friedmann 7 Ellen Court so we be thought a lot of out those four positions my understanding is the positions that are being cut are the unfilled ones for the most part not entirely okay headings and then yes I'd like to request that Kate Adams who's our director of student services speak to some of these questions please good morning my name is Kate Adams I'm the director of student services and I appreciate the offer change to be here with all of you today mr. Roy is going to put up some slides your address please these slides will include some historical data relative to the number of teens with disabilities receiving special education services through the learning center and for the folks at home The Learning Center is not a self-contained program it's not our out-of-district program or what we call in our district our collaborative programs it's support for students with disabilities who participate in the general education curriculum and general education programming for most or all of their school day next slide please when you look at the following the slide and following slides you'll see the number of students with disabilities who are receiving support through the learning center and you'll see that it's approximately the same as it was a decade ago over the past 10 years there have been for a brief spikes and increase needs in numbers of students receiving Services through the learning center and you'll also see correlating periods where we regained staff to respond to these bikes and respond to these needs ultimately when there was a stress on the service delivery model these positions were added to respond to need 4 preemptive note we use October 1st data because it's one point in time that gives us a comparable from year to year so in these additional slide you'll see October 1st at us and we all acknowledge. some of those numbers baby maybe more or fewer at any time during the year as demographics changed we always use October 1st numbers to create consistency for budget development this model Lowe's in Article 1 is a response to current needs and decrease need over the past decade we're not cutting or reducing Services rather were aligning with how we have provided Support over the past 10 years storing to the same levels we have historically provided next song please so the number at the top of each column is the number of students receiving Services through the learning center October 1st numbers and the line closest to that is the trendline the number at the bottom of each column is the number of Learning Center positions from year to year in Franklin you'll see a 2014 and 2015 there were 38 students receiving Services through the learning center and two Learning Center staff members a current year 2324 on the right hand side you'll see work October first week 33 students and 3 Learning Center teachers as we travel over the past decade there was a brief Spike between 2019 and 2021 and you'll see that the board in the district responded and adjusted the Staffing model based on need buy please at Fuller in 1415 there were 52 students receiving service Central Learning Center teachers you'll see that the trend continues downward currently in October this past October 1st we had 40 students and for Learning Center teachers next year we anticipate 41 + again there was a spike almost very similar to the previous slide at Franklin Square the district responded and added a position the numbers continue to Trend downward and next year you'll see a reflection based on the projected need exide please Simon's back in 2014 and 2015 there were 44 students receiving services in the Learning Center into Learning Center teachers there was a smaller Spike at Simons but when students needs change the Staffing model hasn't been reflected even though we're projecting at being almost 25% pure students receiving Services through the learning center next year and Wheelock we haven't seen traditionally the same Spike at we lock it is important to note that the number of positions did increased last year even though the trend continued downward and next year we pray that's similar downward slope and propose to return Staffing models to storical numbers aligned with previous models the takeaway is from those four slides is what has been developed is responsible and meets the needs of our students are district in our taxpayers the school board in the district has a record of supporting change in the Staffing model when there is an increased need for example last year we added in an unbudgeted English language learning position to respond to an increase in students receiving those services if our acute student needs change we will have a mechanism in place to respond and will advocate for an adjustment to her model finally just as we've adjusted or Staffing model in the past must do so again to reflect declining need thank you and numb Travis just bring it whenever anybody from the board speak just I just saying each time you speak for clarity Chris Roberts 58 Grove Street Keene New Hampshire the amount is I've been on the board and as long as miss Emily has been superintendent Tim Roy's been here even before the Mist in Malay every August we have a board meeting and in that board meeting they would say oh we have a number of people came in over the summer we did not expect B students we may need a special ed teacher or we may need another teacher to reduce classroom sizes down in the elementary school and never once as the board turned down we she still dated October 1st is a is a hotfix number but we have so many people coming and going in the King School District during the summer that we don't stick to what we budgeted today we do change that to what is needed when school starts thank you Jennifer Kiernan 58 South Lincoln Street Keene I'm a special educator who's worked in the SAU this in my 15th year and I've interesting spent seven years of town schools seven years of King schools and I will say that caseload matters a lot as a special educator and I do appreciate Ki me I can see how much work goes into this budgeting process and I know that you are all very thoughtful about it but I do think we look a little too much of quantitative data and qualitative data in regards to special ed students a couple of students we have to look at the needs of each student right that's what an individual education plan is so you can't say how much time they're going to take for special educator to provide their services based on their needs I just said one student or two student you know we got to look a little more qualitative data the other piece I wanted to share is and I I'm from a town school to King school I love all the schools I love my job as a special educator and I think it's the most rewarding job in the world but caseload matters and being able with a smaller caseload I can provide best practice Services I can Co teach that is an amazing thing my students can be fully included and have those lower numbers if I have 11 or 12 I can co-teach I can be in the classroom teaching the curriculum sharing that burden with that Joy with the classroom teacher and all students benefit those who are non IPS but could maybe use extra help they benefit from having two teachers with two different strategies one who's really looking at how to support media students and has those don't have that expertise brings in this graphic organizer for long division and guess what every kid likes back graphic organizer you know it's just best practice and I think you can keep these positions you have an opportunity increase the co-teaching I was at Simon's and I can answer a little bit that question about the behavior specialist there were two Learning Center teachers when I went there with the 2016-17 school year my caseload was sometime berries over there but I believe it hit over 30 students I think there were 16 evaluations that you're at that time I didn't do the evaluations I believe that was the year they cut the academic evaluators so that principal mr. hate had to decide and I was like I'm leaving I'm 30 kids like I said my case was very but even 20 kids that was more than a lot of the classroom teachers had in their class I had more students over nine classrooms I had to meet with nine teachers try to meet with him every week to plan what we are going to do or what how to best meet to talk about our students that we shared it's just and I said you know if you need another special educator here if my castle is that high so he kind of had to choose between a behavior specialist and a special educator is my memory of that I could be wrong but that is my memory they added a special educator but guess what they cut all the academic evaluators so added to my caseload went down but I had to do academic evaluation and that has continued that's a big job I'm taking lot of time you know if you when you have to contact them out you have to pay thousands of dollars for someone at Antioch to do that academic evaluation because it takes at least 16 to 20 hours to do each of those so I'm can't add time and basically the more Finley teachers like in any position when your spreads then you just feel like you can't do as good a job so thank you good morning nature man at 206 Baker Street I want to first of all thank all of the members of the board for the incredible work that you do it's it's a huge service the community I know that you do we all appreciate it very much it's it's really hard work I think it what we heard last year when we had the same discussion right and what we're hearing this year right we're hearing when things were hearing from parents regarding from teachers about their concerns about these reductions and the importance for this community to invest in particular in the special education positions in that's a reflection of the values that we share in this community and I just want to say that concerns I have about the cuts number one is that when we go from in some cases as Mr Gillard pointed out for for doubling the caseload of a teacher if you go from 2 to 1 in the school for example right you're doubling the the the workload the caseload and then if we try to be responsive things change I understand we want to have the flexibility to responsive but then we've altered the environment right we already have a hard time recruiting teachers for a lot of reasons right we made a good step in the right direction with increased compensation last year housing continues to be an issue we've heard again and again the environment is Nishi to write and when we change that environment by doubling the caseload I think it makes it a lot harder to recruit somebody to come into that situation if we need to the next year or the year for that right environment has changed in such a way that I think a lot of people are going to be reluctant to see that as an environment that that they would like to enter into so that's one concern right how we build back after you cut down it's a lot harder to build back number one number two is a lot of people a hopefully have seen hope everyone has seen this legislation in Concord right now that would absolutely blow the doors off the voucher program in this state right it would more than quadruple what we looking at spending through vouchers right public money going into private and parochial schools what is it got to do with this a lot of those schools don't provide the IEP services that our students need Public Schools the place where we guarantee every child has access to those services so particularly in this environment where we're seeing this again and again at the state level this attempt to defund public schools and you are all working so hard I understand that but I think that means that we have to be even more committed to supplying the special education services because as I said this is our commitment to all students especially through special education that very often is not being provided by the schools that are siphoning off public money so those are my two concerns about the cuts for a minute just you've already 5 questions of first anybody else who wants to speak for not annoy her but just want to let everybody else know so if it anybody else who wants to speak please go forward get in line or come to the microphone and then we'll let the other thank you my name is Katie canzanello and I live at 15 Sawyer Road and Keen actually wanted to respond to the special education teacher who just spoke I don't know much about special education I work at the career center here at the high school but I was thinking while she was speaking how she was saying how much a better job she did when she had a lower case load and she could co-teaching the classroom and I was remembering those graphs that here and how the numbers were going down and I'm just wondering if maybe reducing the caseload made the numbers go down some students may be in the classroom who weren't getting services but benefited from the co-teaching presence could have helped that happen and I don't know if that's why but maybe if we reduce the staff and make bigger caseloads for special education teachers are numbers might back up because people aren't getting the services that they need or the best practice services so I just wanted to throw that thought out there thank you I miss her sure I just want to know these are always difficult situations anytime you're talkin jobs it makes it difficult I Miss You by yourself please Tim Roar in the finance guy here for King's School District but I do want to point out cuz there's some stuff being said double caseloads for example that just aren't the case if you look at the numbers your perfect example we had been in the 50s with three teachers for years it went up the school board always responds to need this is a case where the school board was asked to respond increasing needs and I think it's only fair that this was not a budget cut but a reaction to a change back to those needs not only we're not at 52 we're talking about being in 40s adult were not improved in Fuller in 21 22 22 23 with increased staff in lower number of kids so the data does not bear that out and what were we talking about is returning to a lower case load number ran for years we raised it when it went up to 71 and I would think the responsible thing to do as a menace traitors were to acknowledge that and ask that we reduce back down to where we were so this was not a case can we save money in fact in this budget we are adding as many positions to the budget as we are taking out of the budget different areas different needs but this was not the administration getting together how cut our budget good point was made it's a small amount of money in the whole grand scheme of things were talking 75 million dollars but as an Administration to be responsible we should ask him if back to community to support when we have needs and we should return that when the needs go away and that's simply what we're doing this is not all of us getting together in a room and sang Hey how can we cut money no one asked us to do that we weren't doing that we're trying to be responsible and if you look at these grass there's no one's caseload is doubling completely not true you can add these numbers you're looking at caseloads 3441 is lower than the industry average is lower what you'll find in any other like District that we have for learning center student what's at risk here if we don't do this if you're a teacher at another level and you have a case load which is typical 18 to 24 and we staff these at 10 or 9 isn't that going to grow aren't we going to need more staff to do that and what if you're a special ed teacher that teaching kids contained and your case was expected to be 10:00 you might say why would I want to do that when I could have a caseload of 10 and see them intermittently in the classroom so we're just trying to be respond well this is not a money-saving venture and the special ed director of course is looking at the details in the kids needs and is behind this as well as all the administrators at the SAU level and many of the administrators at the school level no one can easily say I want to cut staff it's a hard decision it's taking us five years to respond to the enrolling went from 71 down to 42 the very difficult decision but it isn't made to cut money or limit Services it's made because we want to be able to go to the community and say we have increased needs and we want them to trust us when we don't need that anymore that we shift and return that and that's what this is about Miss Hennings just to add on to it for small store thank you and just want to also mention to that director of student services meets with the Keen at committee monthly were presented with you know not only concerns but also data stats what's the latest what are the needs so I just want to reassure the public this is not just a vacuum where we only hear from student services you know during budget season and then we button things up and that's it this is an ongoing month-to-month so when you hear mr. or speak about if there is a need they come to the board that's exactly right for hearing monthly and then also director of student services is at full board every month as well thank you she's my Ellen J hose 34 Shadow Lane and First I'd like to to thank you all for serving the community by being school board members and I appreciate your work in a 2020 study conducted by the economic policy Institute that looked at the causes of the teacher shortage in the United States one of the key causes cited along with low pay was challenging working environments in every study I've looked at these are the top two areas where teachers Express overwhelming dissatisfaction I would like to speak to the working conditions aspect as it relates to the elimination of for special education positions in the proposed budget to quote the Epi study the data suggest a relationship between tough climates and quitting when we compare teachers who ended up quitting with those who stayed we find that larger shares of quitting teachers had reported prior to leaving that they were teaching prepared students experiencing demoralizing stress lacking strong influence over what they teach in class and not being fully satisfied with teaching at their school study girl I want to say I quote the response to the question revealing what we refer to as demoralizing stressed is particularly telling the share of teachers who said that the stress and disappointments involved in teaching weren't really worth it was three and a half times as large among those who ended up quitting then among those who stayed in a 2022 survey commissioned by the National Education Association that pulls Nea members titled stress and burnout pose threat of Education shortages key findings revealed a startling level of stress and burnout it goes on to say that any a member support the following solutions to address burnout increasing pay hiring more teachers hiring for support staff providing more mental health support services for students and reducing paperwork load educator Bernat was cited as the top issue facing educator right now with Nea members calling it I quote a very serious issue in a January 27th PBS NewsHour segment looking at White what might be causing the special education teacher one special ed teacher who was interviewed stated that she was spread thin and distracted by thoughts of the students she knew needed more of her help cute school board has stated that one of them priorities is to attract and retain qualified teachers happily the district has taken steps to raise teacher pay now I feel it's time to address working conditions will having fewer special education teachers on staff impact the quality of services they're able to provide will hire caseloads increase the amount of paperwork and stress levels levels for the special education teachers who remain will the remaining teachers be spread too thin will they preoccupied by thoughts of all the students who need more of their attention I taught in the district for over two decades and I've seen the enormous amount of responsibility given to special education teachers under so-called normal circumstances I have to conclude that increasing their workloads by eliminating positions is an unwise move for students and teachers alike we may end up losing experience skilled Educators due to burnout is there anybody else who wishes to speak okay emotion I hereby make a motion to amend the proposed budget amount stated in Article 1 I moved to increase the proposed 2024 or 2025 school budget by $500,000 bringing the total to 76 MI and $186,255 is adjustment represents a 60/600 of a percent increase over the originally specified amount in Article 1 the purpose of this Sinister request Administration to reinstate the for elementary special educator positions that were removed welcome comments from the public and proposed to use and proposed the use of a paper ballot for voting if this motion receives April bubble bath favorable vote we will seek to impose restrictions on the reconsideration of the motion I second the motion is just a dollar figure not position just one second a couple of things number one is I need to have the motion with a bunch of things number one is for every second that I know the name of the person who sat down and I went to said that with you 34 Shadow Lane I said number one I need the actual Motion in writing and the motion has to be changed the terms of the dollar amount like a can't have designation in terms of where the money gets used for would be to justify the purpose of this mission is to request the administration right but it but the actual motion will be to add the dollar amount right yes the motion is increase the proposed 2024 2025 school budget by $500,000 bringing the total is 76186255 G $5 can I just have that and then the other thing is that she requested of a paper ballot vote so in order to do that that's supposed to be requested in writing by five people prior to the boat to be clear I don't mind taking I do I do I don't mind entertaining taking a pack paper ballot vote but it has to be done by five people requesting it in writing it just has to be it just has to be a request to have a paper ballot a motion to request a paper ballot signed by five people five five voters here right to be clear the it's for the amended Amendment to the to the warrant article Roberts can I speak before the we go to that we can see if we can have this so we can have discussion on the motion while we're waiting for the please clarify video on so we'll have discussion on the motion to amend the budget by $500,000 and before we vote I'll get the notice in writing for the paper ballot so any discussion on the pending Amendment Mister Roberts I am I'm not going to discuss the merits of the demotion because Dad is the vote whose rights and I I have no problem with them exercising their right but as the finance Chief I would be remiss to give the other pot the $500,000 will increase the tax rate by $22 per $100,000 house and also it will increase the gap between the default budget and the regular did you buy another $500,000 so you would have pretty close to a million and a half dollars gap between the default budget and the new but if this budget is amended Misty Martinez Bohannon I too many of you know how much I appreciate all the work that you do I've been at the meeting this many a day multiple years and I appreciate so much the information in the graph that's all great but I do want to reiterate a just as Mister Roberts stated that this money is not your Mart and we have increased budgets before based on these meetings and they it was not utilize I know that the board is hearing what we wish which makes me happy but I it is not Kevin Stone which is hard for me to realize the other issue is is that yes the graphs show the information but it does tell us as as somebody mentioned before the qualitative data we are living anytime after pandemic we are living in a time we are we have much more it's been our classrooms and I just want to reiterate that Jason Watson 181 West Ferry Road I want to reiterate to appreciate everything everyone does and jumping on the bandwagon of the other quantitative and qualitative data if it makes sense to eliminate these positions it should make sense in a model that also makes sense the model were like now based on headcount takes in no gives no account to how much need is with each child and if the models not going to take an account the biggest variable in assessing what the needs are the model doesn't work so if it makes sense to eliminate the positions based on headcount and it makes sense based on needs that it should make sense in a model that aligns with what the student base needs so if we want to really look at that and having it may continent were saying that this is responding to the needs of the district those need should be taking it account in a way that's including what kid actually need to not just how many there are just to clarify the comments now or regarding the amendment to the motion to so be speaking to the $500,000 increase not necessarily to the underlying warrant article in itself thank you Nick Humana I just wanted Play I Will vote in favor of of the of the motion but I also wanted to say that I appreciate the clarification for on the on the numbers I misspoke when I refer to doubling I apologize it's important to get that right it's a significant increase but I appreciate that verification and I also wanted to to say that it's important that we we frame this the right way I don't think anybody here I certainly hope and sees this as an effort by the part of the board YouTube save money by cutting position stride an open dialogue and there is disagreement about kind of what those numbers should be but I just wanted to also clarify that I don't believe that anybody here thinks that the board is simply trying to save money by cutting positions right this is a discussion about where we want invest our resources and and not you know an accusation of any kind but Edmodo Pecan Park Road I'm going to speak against the amendment not because I don't want you to accomplish what you're trying to accomplish but because I think you can accomplish it without this amendment I don't know how many in the room know this but other 234 cities and towns in New Hampshire Keene has the 8th highest tax rate this is not a place where being in the top 5% is a desirable situation there's a lot of reasons for that happening I'm not going to go into them but what it means is it's much more difficult for us to raise money it hurts a lot more here when we increased budget so I'm going to ask you not to increase the budget as well the slides we've had a 12% reduction in the students in the last 10 years during that same amount of time we've had a 20% increase in our budget and again there's a lot of reasons for that but one thing you have to understand that was explained in the slides as our enrollment goes down our non-local tax increase by Sarno and local tax revenue decreases per student that decrease has been about 2.2 million dollars in the last 10 years so when that happens before you even start to add to the budget you going to cover that lost revenue and this year remember the science writer was about $779,000 so in other words if you wanted to have the budget for next year be the same as this year you'd still have to increase taxes just to get up and come out of Revenue we have this year if you look at the number for the default B it as Chris suggested in the article that is going to be a very attractive number to many people in the this amendment will make it more attractive so you need to think about how many positions are we going to lose if the default budget becomes the budget I just ask you don't increase the budget every year we have staff that leave for variety reason so I retire so fine job somewhere else maybe somebody wins the lottery you're not coming back maybe we can find what positions are not replacing people that are coming not coming back maybe we can find for other positions maybe you've done a great job here convincing the board that these aren't the four positions that we need to reduce but the math doesn't work 12% less students in 20% more in the budget is not sustainable you don't have to be a math genius to know that sooner or later the voters reject the constant increases again and again and again while we have decreases so I'm going to ask you don't increase the budget just find another way to accomplish what you're trying to do thanks a chicken Fabolous 229 Main Street I also want to speak in opposition to this motion or to the amendment but not because I think that the question of priorities around special education funding is an appropriate one I think it is fair I have heard a lot of discussion among members of the public today about how hard it is to retain people in the housing market I would offer the increase in the property tax rate is not a good way to encourage people to move to Kenan live here so I would oppose this amendment because of the increased but I do the board should consider the way that the current budget is found and what was this has been on any last comments before we go to vote and we did receive a I didn't receive notice from registered voters we will be proceeding by paper ballot somebody speaking but if you're going to speak you for speaking of microphone 7 Roxbury Street taxpayer fiscally-responsible Sinker and also a former School Board member I'd like to just talk about the emotional content our discussion on this amendment when I think of my finances and I hear the $22 for $100,000 might be my increase as a result of this decision this one decision on Article 1 I also reflect on the million something dollars there being returned to Hakeem taxpayer so my net change or making a decision with $22 going up for the hundred-thousand-dollar house and the Return of the Mack dollars is not a concern of mine from a fiscal perspective I think the emotional content is that anybody who's been in our classrooms where they be a apparent an educator or an administrator who is taking time to observe type of behaviors and the has to learn will say that special education needs all the support it deserves and when I look at the first slide of today's presentation it says for all schools well I'd like it's a safe for all our students because the goal of an amendment such as this really is focused on children if I had my $44 in my hand I would place it on the table today and gladly vote in favor of the cement Carol Sands and I just want to say I was remiss in not appreciating as many other speakers have done all of the very hard and Cynthia work that you all do from the superintendent's office to the volunteer board work I really appreciate grew up in a family with public school teacher father who also spend his off time on the local school board I know the hard work and the good intent so thank you for that I just want to speak to what seems to me to be the lack of the voice of our classroom teachers and meeting and I know that I princess I've learned a lot about Budget Building and at my Advanced age I should have known a lot of this well before now but I'm sure I know that we have wonderful principles in our schools I'm sure that they connect with and get there decision-making content from their teaching staff but I want to speak to the teachers in the classrooms who rely on the stable consistent support of special Educators on their staff Mr Gillard of course speaks officially for them and doesn't feel well as I appreciate your sentiments however we really supposed to be speaking just to the amendment I support that Amendment 100% because I do feel it still one of our classroom teachers who need that stable support of special Educators that is in you know in their schools on a consistent basis thank you Robert Malay once again I think everyone has an opinion on what they're going to do with a swollen you should and that's exactly what this process is about we've heard some great testimony about what this will do to the operating budget versus what it will do in comparison to the default budget just so you're aware our operating budget last year passed at a rate of 70% if that default budget becomes more attractive because we put a bigger gap between them we might not have that support and so I think that's important to remember the other thing that was mentioned earlier was former director of student services and she she testified and toes the legislative body that when there is a need like there was with English language Learners a year ago we added an unbudgeted position because we were able to find the way to do that I think that was also with mr. Murdo was getting at with his testimony is that we will always make sure the needs of students are being met so this is a great process I appreciate all of the input I appreciate all of testimony and I appreciate that we don't always agree 100% on things and so when we come go to vote there are things that you need to keep in mind at will impact the larger conversation so please exercise your right to vote how did you feel appropriate I'm about to close the scussion if it's nobody else who wants to speak to be in Mitsubishi motion mr. Robert wants to speak but if is anybody else last moment otherwise I'd like to proceed and have people go to the bottom voting boxes which the clerk will explain the second so mr. the before people go to vote to go to what Mr Lloyd said Mr Murdoch said the superintendent it's said when we build this budget and we take all the staff that is proved we bundle those positions 100% okay but no company has all the positions filled at 100% of time so if we have ten positions that are not open that money stays there and if we need to hire someone new we used that money that was used to pay for that position so it's not slush money it's not any of that kind of stuff is just that the all the positions are funded at 100% And we utilize that money if we need new teachers a new people support staff in other areas Michelle Salas clarification with regard to the amendment you very clearly stated that this is a dollar amount for $500,000 increase to the budget does that mean it will specifically be tied to these for special education positions if we pass this will that money go to those positions or does the wording need to be changed so that it does go to those positions or is that not possible not possible at your speech that Adam I'm contacting the budget the warrant article you were proposing is for the budget and this will go to the voters at Town made so what that level of of detail is not prescribed in in this Ward article as to the budget it's the total amount and budget to be approved and then it's in the discretion of of administration on how that spent based upon need Staffing in positions that are real or not available we can't go down into that level of detail for each position that needs to be filled on a $75 budget and legally we don't do that so it's the budget amount that is approved to be spent South trying to address the motion I would just say as a one-year teacher in the Cheshire career center I was horrified by the need that I saw that was not being met in terms of additional services and I would ask that we find a way to not push the teachers to the point to have to specifically personally asked for what you're saying of course can be because it's tough on a teacher whose skill set is in One Direction not necessarily in another Christine Kennedy 37 Congress Street I've been a teacher in this year 29 since 1997 so I've seen a lot of Trends come and go but my question I just want some clarification you had mentioned that the behavioral intervention I was offered to Four elementary schools and one chose to use that as a special ed teacher in Brook dad has a point of order calls from the audience is it to speak to the motion rate to the I believe it does so question why a special ed teacher would be brought out of the budget from that elementary school that is using that position as a behavioral respectfully this is addition of a $500,000 at this point okay but it could reduce that okay thank you tell Murphy to 87 Roxbury Street I am saying that I am in support of the motion and I also want to say that while this dollar amount can't be allocated to it it's obvious the community is asking for I have good face in the administration that they will here with the community thinks is important and direct that money as best as they possibly can to those positions at this point there's nobody else it any microphone so I'd like to close the debate and move forward to boating on the amendment to the warrant to increase the budget $500,000 in a district speak briefly on the voting process Katie Robinson school district clerk you have in front of you either yellow or purple ballot so we'll ask at this time that you start at the bottom on question a and in response to the amendment to increase the overall budget by $500,000 a meal Circle yes or no and then there are two ballot drop boxes back on the owners before the stairs we ask that you please drop off your vote into those ballot boxes and then they will be counted and presented thank you we'll be back in session in a few minutes after we started okay everybody if you have a seat again where reconvening talk more later but I yeah I'll find out I'll post I'll figure I'll look into it. 7 destiny okay the motion to amend the budget passed a flight of 58 votes in favor and 23 against so now I would like to hey is this further discussion on the warrant article I would want to move along so yes I do too but I will also like to restrict reconsideration so if we can't move to restrict consideration because has been voted on with a vote on the motion that was a it's important to move to reconsider me call you in a minute okay so now I'd like to have a vote on the Article 1 which now she'll District raisin appropriate is not operating budget not including Appropriations by special warrant articles and other Appropriations would it separately the amount set forth in the budget posted with a war to the mended by vote of the first session so now that the total amount is 76186200 $55 is there I will move the boat now on adopting the first warrant articles amended unless there's further discussion needed sorry note to self discussion all in favor by if they could say yes I or nay so all in favor I all of post it seems to be very clear that the top so mister mister Murphy for Article 1 make a motion to restrict reconsideration second Mister Roberts Island supportive movie to restrict reconsideration I proposed that passed as well so thank you want to article to negotiations looking custodians contract the we worked really hard and well with the King custodians there a group bad they did a great job during the pandemic and a lot of people didn't see what they were doing but they did really well too long keep our schools open and Article 2 to see if the district will vote to approve the cost items including the collective bargaining agreement. between between Board of Education and the King custodians Wichita for the following increases in salary and benefits in the current Staffing at the current Staffing levels 20 24 2025 $256 800-420-2526 127 870-520-2627 130 814-2027 2028 and 97000 CM intruded to raise inapropriate 250 6804 for the current fiscal year such some representing the additional cost attributed to the increase in salary and benefits required the new agreement over those that would be paid at current Staffing level this appropriation is addition to the operation budget article the team Board of Education that commands a yes upon when we bat first number which seems looks really it is high we admitted its high what see this would be a total compensation increase of 13.1% of salary increase of 13.6% the biggest reason for this increase while we does a good increase for a lot of the custodians and other Personnel the biggest changes with a certified trade bully rate we require just to keep our school and if it still needs a master plumber or certified HVAC Tech a carpenter and a master electrician but you had to use any of those and you reach in the recent passive understand those are very expensive to do in so what we made some chili cheese in those areas to try to bring them up to as close as possible and affordable as possible to the competitive outside wages when we don't have a master plumber and we have a problem we have to go outside and pay a contract contract the same thing with electrician in and stuff and so that is reason why we have a 13.1% increase the the first year the second year is 4.72 third year is 4.6 in the last year is 3 point what we've done here is like we done with the teacher's contract last year was not calling last year but the two years before and 8.9 for Social Security and I 5.9 / Social Security year before so when we looking at 13.1 this is total compensation its life been the the two social pretty increases so basically when you look at this this is Chris clothes as inflation catch up that we could afford to give them yeah I know I'm a hoe fatherly I recommend that you and true you approve this one article any discussion or questions there be no discussion of questions vote on moving the article to onto the onto the ballot all in favor I'll post ask Randy Kelly what year was freaky and move to restrict reconsideration of Article 2 okay thank you all in three is the motion to stop reconsideration child support say I post the past article 3 section of Article 2 is defeated authorized the Board of Education to call one special meeting at its option to address Article 2 Quest items only so if I could to fails yes vote under article 3 with enable the King Board of Education Union bring renegotiating Quest item before the voters at another district meeting in time for the 12 24 2025 fiscal year I need to discuss in a question regarding that article discussion support of article 3 I'll post Bowser passes mr. filho reconsideration of article 3 second stop reconsideration Article 4 Birds Downing Article 4 is our Keen medical service providers contract to see if the school district will vote to approve the cost items included in the collective bargaining agreement reached between the Keene Board of Education and the key and clinical service providers which calls for the following in Susan salaries and benefits at the current Staffing level 24 twenty-five $84,264 25-26 $33,689 26:27 57606 $4 2728 $52,706 and further to raise an appropriate $84,264 for the current fiscal year such Summit representing the additional costs attributable to the increase in salaries and benefits required by the new agreement over those that would be paid at current Staffing levels misappropriation is an addition to article one the operating budget the Keene Board of Education recommend a yes vote upon this question officially you can motion anybody like to speak to Article 4 shut down again I'll speak briefly on the negotiation Parts you'll notice and this is true of all three of the contracts on here that there's a bigger bump in the first of the four years all her for a four-year contracts. intentional in our negotiating process benefits the employees the most of it starts the higher amount of they're raised right at the start of the contract we also feel it's more transparent the voters rather than hiding it this is further down the road the bulk of it happens right at the front this is a very small negotiating group is only currently 14 employees but they're the work that they do is vital to what we do with our students on a lot of what they do speaks to what you go through speaking to earlier this morning this their work really in her place especially at the early grade levels with with the needs of our students we went into this and honestly I need this thing the negotiators on the last year's the the Kea the work that the K18 on the board team did last year they really kind of reset the tone of negotiation across the district and we really felt that entering into negotiations with kcsp this year it was very collegial process we spent a good deal of time with the board trying to learn what it is that they do in our rules and they asked a lot of good questions about how their contracts interact with the other contracts across the school district and the budget a budget means to that you'll see that in the number of changes in language Provisions I'm not going to go over this line by line they're pretty boring I have to answer questions if people have them but those all reflected discussion on how did better retain our employees particularly and in a high demand area like this and how to attract new ones that was kind of the goal of what we went into obviously we can't using taxpayer money in a tax rate area we can't be driving the salaries but we did want to get to a point where we're competitive with other school districts particularly in our region and across the state we want to be probably in that top 75% range where are salaries not we hope is what this is going to do over the next four years thank you any questions or discussion regarding this warrant article there being no questions or, I would like to vote on article for all in support please say I consider Asian of article 4 but the jump off or second of the Motions to restrict reconsideration of article for please have it on to Article 5 Birds Downing move to adopt Article 5 so the district if articles for is defeated authorized the Board of Education to call one special meeting at its option to address article for cost items only again I don't know if there's any further discussion questions need about that pretty self-explanatory all in support of Article 5 Isaac Carree is filio all in support of the motion to reconsider restrict reconsideration of article Altos article carries onto article 6 Declan heading to ask for like 14 move to adopt article 6 as presented negotiations with Keen educational office Personnel Group otherwise known as Katie OPG to see if the school district will vote to approve the cost of items included in the collective bargaining agreement reached between the King Board of Education and the Keen Edge National Office Professional Group which calls for the following increases in salaries and benefits at the current Staffing levels fiscal year 24 twenty-five 56487 20 25 26 $50,302 2627 $35,868 2728 $32,616 until further raised $56,487 for the current fiscal year such some representing the additional costs attributable to the increase in salaries and benefits required by the new agreement over those that would be paid at car Staffing levels this appropriation is an addition to article one the operating budget article the King Board of Education recommends a yes vote upon this request upon that question I was part of the negotiating team myself along with Miss Friedman as I will Echo George it was a collaborative discussion we met over several meetings over this past fall this is a small in numbers group but a mighty Force they provide an important element within our buildings in that they are often the first face that are students when they arrived the building each day they work with our students are supporting our building admins and our staff as you heard George say this group and I looked at the previous contract literally signed the final contra that week that we shut down at covid so again to reinforce the theme that you're hearing from us is this group stood by us and needed their you know salary and benefits improve so that we could stay competitive during the negotiations we took a good look at salaries and compensation with competitors not only within other school districts but even in other Industries in this area so that we could ensure that you know couldn't necessarily be the top dog but we wanted to let you know I have a solid footing in in this particular area I'm not going to read all of the the bullet items but I would encourage you with the purple sheet to see some of the things we did one the thing that I think was really helpful and I appreciate central office and and mr. war with crunching the numbers is the step schedule on this was just a huge and really does not align with how current Workforce and how you know in this area negotiate with where we stay at a particular job so reducing those steps making it more attractive so that if somebody joins our district they they see you in increase in their steps more smoothly and more quickly versus waiting a long time so that's said it was an honor to work with this group and a lantern any questions any questions or comments on article 6 there be none will accept the vote out take a vote all in favor of accepting article 6 to go onto the ballot by the post I scary so ready to move to restrict reconsideration of article 6 of the motion to restrict reconsideration please say I all supposed I'd carry on to article 7 article 7 Michelle the district if article 6 is defeated authorized the Board of Education to call one special meeting at its option to a nice article 6 cost items only notif article 6 fails a yes vote under article 7 would enable the key Board of Education and the union to bring renegotiate the cost items before the voters and another disc meeting in time for the 2020 for 2025 fiscal year but emotions are death sorry if I do right and got moved to adopt article 7 and I can but I just said any discussion questions are 27 there being none take a vote on article 7 as stated all in support Thursday I supposed article seven carries mr. Gill 007 unsupported motion to restrict reconsideration of article 7 please say I Antarctica late who's presenting move to adopt article 8 unexpected Appropriations to the maintenance fund sell the district race appropriate the sum of up to $250,000 to be added to the school buildings maintenance fund for the purpose of repairing and maintaining the school buildings within the district as established by the voters at the 2010 annual meeting this summer come from the June 30th 2024 unexpected fund balance of 20 23 2024 Appropriations available for transfer on July 1st 2024 and will not be raised by taxation in 2425 note to the King School Board yes about upon this question do we have several unexpended funds maintenance funds in the district this is the only one that we're proposing adding money to this year just to clarify this would come from assuming we have a surplus at the end of this fiscal year and that that Surplus is over $250,000 $250,000 if you take from that Surplus and applied to this trust fund or just maintenance fund has some details on it on the following slides the current value of this maintenance fund is 1243820 $1 based on in Des standard the actual Target amount of what we would like to have in here is $2500000 obviously we can't get there and in a short. Of time and the purpose of this fund would be unexpected expenses over the course of the year that we didn't plan for or building a renovation cost that the administration notifies us are necessary to be done that we don't think we can pass off on the taxpayers any given year in at any time that the board wishes to use this we would hold a public hearing to explain to voters what it is that were intending to use it for him to put it up to a vote to the public to approve any questions or comments on article 8 are being done regarding the adoption of article 8 all in sports they say I I suppose article 8 carries All Sport of the motion to restrict is reconsideration for the eye I'll post motion carries before we close and before I entertain a motion to adjourn let's remind everybody that the second session is on March 12th at the king recreation center from 7:30 to 7

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