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January 19, 2026

Document

Surry School Board Minutes, Monday, January 19, 2025 
Attending: Tim, Frank, John, Kim, Caroll (minutes), Bruce 
Call to Order 7:00 PM 
 
Secretary’s Report – Approval of minutes: Moved Tim, Seconded John, all present voted in favor. 
 
Treasurer’s Report—Approval of $36,422.61 manifest: Moved Caroll, Seconded Tim, all present voted in favor. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Budget Status Report—anticipate $60,000 year end budget surplus, lower than expected due to an unanticipated out of 
district placement, $101,935 Adequacy grant came  
 
 
 
 
 
Public Comment--None 
 
Old Business 
i. 2026-2027 Budget Development—discussed ’25-’26 expenditures and ‘26-‘27 expenditures to date, need to include: 
$15,000 for legal (have 2 potential issues), $5,000 for bond counsel, tuition and transportation for summer school, $5400 
for insurance (may go down next year), $2,000 for stenographer, $7500 for audit (they require about 150 documents), 
STA transportation contract (they are on time, very responsive, 5-6% cost increase vs. First Student 20% increase)  
 
 
ii. Warrant Articles—Board wants to put renovation costs into warrant articles rather than budget (only what we need) 
iii. Surry School Renovation Project 2026-2027: need building repair: ADA compliance (entry way), parking lot safety, 
HVAC room by room, boiler room, custodial closet, Kim met with security company, may not need a new door, SSB thinks 
SVCS should pay for cameras, SVCS has ideas about safety 
 
Surry School Renovation Project 2025-2026 
 
 
 
 
i. 2025-2026 Building Compliance Budget (ADA Bathrooms)—renovate both student bathrooms (sinks, toilets, enclosed 
stalls, flooring), will cost more in the short run, Hutter is pricing it out, hope to do for $60,000 or less, during April break. 
ii. Hutter Construction—Barker prefers Hutter as construction manager, Tim moved, Frank seconded, all present 
approved to empower Superintendent to negotiate with Hutter for bathroom renovation for up to $60,000. 
 
iii. Next Special Meeting --to skip holding Feb special meeting, plan for late April/May, to show new bathrooms 
 
 
 
 
  
SVCS Cleaning Project—SVCS paid Durling $2000 for 8-9 hr deep cleaning, looks and smells better, Kim donated carpets 
at doorway, needs daily cleaning, SVCS knows it needs to make the building look better  
 
 
 
 
 
Renovation Project Funding Research—Kim is keeping a log of inquiries, talked to Suzanne (county grant writer): 
community block grants go to towns not schools, need to have historic event tie-in, Kim to talk again to SWRP, asked 
charter school official at DoE to think of us if they have leftover funds, John to ask fire department for help with grant 
writing, Select Board may be able to get funds from Kingsbury Corp., SVCS Trustees on board with fundraising and setting 
up an endowment, Kim talked to their grant writer, they need to fund a grant writer for this project 
 
 
 
 
 
RSA 189:76: Mandatory Report to Voters—needs to be posted in Sentinel & 2 places 7 days before annual meeting, 
formula: total of regular & special tuitions divided by number of number of students first semester, for ten years 
Similar formula for administrative cost 
Keene can provide some data, bookkeeper can get tuition bills, Caroll offered to do as she has the data 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
New Business  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
a. 2024-2025 Audit Summary—Kim sent the auditor’s summary, auditor documents NH grants applied for and received. 
Audit says 2025-26 $198,710 fund balance was returned to reduce taxes. Audit determines what our liabilities are to be 
sure we have it.  DRA wants 5% of appropriation to be unreserved fund balance.  Caroll Moved, Tim Seconded, all 
present approved the motion to accept the audit summary. 
Shortbread 
Kaak 

b. Financial Safeguards—10-20% of total budget left in fund balance at year end means SSB finances in good shape, our 
safeguards: treasurer oversees bookkeeping, treasurer is independent of board, board reviews expenditures, Kim has 
developed a treasurer job description—to discuss with Becky at next meeting 
 
 
 
 
c. Some Policies and Minutes are missing from the town website—to discuss next time  
 
 
 
 
 
Superintendent’s Report--attached 
 
Setting the Next Meeting Agenda: Meeting date: Monday, February 16, 2025 @ 7:00pm 
 
Public Comment—The Surry equalized value figures have improved a little.  There are 32 towns lower than ours. 
 
9:10 PM Tim moved, Frank seconded, all present approved to go into Non-Public Session RSA 91-A:3  
Discussed administration salaries for 2026-27 budget and out of district student placement. 
 
9:35 PM John moved, Tim seconded and all present approved to end non-Public and adjourn. 
 
 
Surry School Board 
January 19, 2026 meeting 
Superintendent’s Report 
To: Surry School Board 
From: Kim Caron, Superintendent – Surry School District 
The following is a general update of activities as of January 12th since the last Board meeting. Please note that the 
numbering on this report follows the school board agenda. 
3. Treasurer’s Report. 
- 3a. The superintendent’s review of the January 2026 manifest. 
- 3b. The superintendent’s review of the most recent budget status report. 
5. Old Business. 
- 5a. Budget Development 2026-2027. Planning and school board discussion. The team is looking at budget history, 
anticipated needs, as well as student enrollment data. Tuition rates have been received from SAU29. The school board 
should consider a target budget number to continue building renovation and compliance work. Consider adding a 
minute taker/stenographer to the 2026-27 budget for legal and policy compliance. Project special education expenses 
to be discussed in non-public session due to student confidentiality. 
- 5b. Surry School Renovation Project 2025-2026. 
o i. 2025-2026 Building Compliance Budget (ADA Bathroom). The superintendent met with Barker Architects and 
Hutter Construction at the Surry School Building on December 29th 
. The purpose of the meeting was to review 
renovation plans for the current school year - on site - and get Hutter's input. Hutter is a preferred contractor with 
Barker and involved in several local projects. The superintendent previously reviewed the building repair and 
compliance objectives in the current year, including ADA bathroom compliance and building code work in the 
current electrical and custodial closet - of course - pending expenses. Please see Attachment 1 for a summary of 
the meeting and the renovation/compliance budget. A breakdown of costs from Hutter Construction is coming 
soon. The school board previously voted to utilize a portion of the Surry Building Expendable Trust to address 
urgent compliance issues in the current year. 
Building Security. Campus safety and security are important considerations and a priority of the school board and 
the SVCS Head. Installation of a simple security system at the main entry was discussed with Hutter. Hutter 
connected the superintendent with First Choice Communications, a preferred school security contractor, to 
explore options and cost. More to follow. 
o ii. Hutter Construction. Board Motion/Vote. Barker Architects has identified Hutter Construction as a preferred 
contractor. Hutter has considerable experience with numerous school construction and renovation projects in NH, 
including the Nelson Elementary School. Hutter was most recently engaged in construction management in the 
Monadnock school district. Based upon the endorsement of Barker Architects, the superintendent requests the 
approval of the school board to execute a contract with Hutter to complete the ADA bathroom compliance and 
other renovation work within the scope of the of the approved building compliance budget for this year. The 
superintendent will consult with school board chair for final approval prior to executing the Hutter contract. 

o iii. Next Special Meeting. The superintendent communicated with the school board via email on December 18th 
regarding tentatively scheduling additional special school board meetings for the purpose of inviting and informing 
Surry residents about the Surry School Renovation Project. Proposed dates were Saturday February 7th and 
Monday May 11th 
. Due to timing and potential completion of the bathroom renovation project in the next few 
months, the superintendent suggests postponing the February special school board meeting until Spring. 
- 5c. SVCS Cleaning Project. The school board was previously notified that the school board chair and superintendent 
implemented article 19f of the lease agreement regarding the failure to maintain a clean school environment. The 
superintendent met with ServPro and Durling Cleaners in November to acquire estimates for one-time deep cleaning 
services. The SVCS Board Chair was notified of this action as part a November meeting at the Surry campus. Durling 
was chosen due to SVCS cost considerations. A one-time, thorough cleaning of the Surry School Building was 
completed by Durling over the December vacation, including waxing the main hallway. The Durling invoice was 
forwarded to the SVCS Head for payment. 
- 5d. Renovation Project Research. The superintendent provides an update on funding research renovation project 
including grant opportunities and public/private fundraising. The objective is to explore public and private funding 
opportunities for the renovation project to reduce the local expense as much as possible. See Attachment 2 for a 
record of work to date. 
1- 5e. RSA 189:76 Mandatory Report to Voters. This is in follow-up to a recent change in the law that will impact the 
current budget season previously discussed with the school board. The statute prescribes that the district displays ten 
years of data illustrating “average per pupil cost”, “average teacher salary”, and “administrator salaries”. Lastly, a table 
titled top administrator salaries must be included showing the top three administrative salaries over ten years. The 
statute does not carve out any exceptions for sending districts such as Surry that educate resident students in 
other districts by tuition agreement. NHED does not maintain per pupil costs for sending districts such as Surry. 
The superintendent made a good faith effort to develop a method to compute the average per pupil cost for the 
district in agreement with the school board attorney. See Attachment 3 for the calculation process and attorney 
advice to comply with this statute. The superintendent requests the assistance of the school board in the 
collection and recording of the required data. 
6. New Business. 
- 6a. 2024-2025 Audit Summary. Vote to Accept. Per RSA 21-J:19, the school district is required to publish a summary 
of the audit report in the annual district report. See Attachment 4 for the Full Draft Audit Report with governance, 
management, and internal control letters included. See Attachment 5 for the audit summary report for school board 
vote to accept and include in the district annual report. 
- 6b. Financial safeguards. The school board treasurer previously commented on the financial difficulties that have 
occurred in other school districts. The treasurer is appropriately focused on how the school board can do its due 
diligence to prevent similar issues. Safeguarding district finances include appropriate policies, procedures, and internal 
controls, transparent management including school board review of monthly manifests, and solid external audits. 
Surry currently has the basic financial policies and practices in place, including budget status reports, the school board 
consistently reviews monthly revenue and expenses, and the district undergoes an external audit on an annual basis. 
These are effective financial safeguards. The superintendent has additional suggestions for school board consideration 
in an effort to further strengthen financial safeguards. 1. Consider developing a policy statement outlining the specific 
steps of the school board treasurer in safeguarding district finances. See Attachment 6 for a policy example. 2. 
Schedule an audit review and summary as an annual school board agenda item. The superintendent requests school 
board consideration and vote on these suggestions. 
- 6c. Policy and Minutes. The superintendent is concerned about the timeliness of posting approved school board 
minutes, policy, and other documents to the district website. This impacts our legal and policy requirements. The 
superintendent previously reported that SAU29 utilizes a stenographer for school board minutes. The school board 
discussed this as an option for Surry. In addition, please see attachment 7 for the status of school board policy that 
needs to be posted on the district website and for additional policy development. 
7. Superintendent’s Report. 
- Considerable time and effort since the December meeting remain focused on the Surry cleaning project, Surry School 
Renovation and Compliance Projects and work planned for the current year (ADA), further research on project 
grants, and SVCS partnership activities. 
- The business administrator continues to work on the complexities of the Federal Maintenance of Effort for grant 
monitoring and works with the superintendent on the monthly budget status report. 
- The special education and student services director continues to track our special education students with our 
receiving schools. The director continues to submit qualified expenses on a monthly basis for IDEA reimbursement. 

Parking Lot. 
- AREA agreement (k-5). As discussed at the October 2025 school board meeting, replacing the current tuition contract 
for grades K-5 with an AREA agreement could reduce tuition expenses. Holding pending school board discission. 
- Audit. The audit is essential to financial accountability, compliance to best practices, and verifying the accuracy of 
district financials. Best practice points to changing auditors every five years or so to ensure objectivity, an independent 
view, and for cost comparisons. The superintendent suggests placing an audit firm search on a future school board 
agenda for discussion. This item might be a relevant collaboration with the school board treasurer as it involves 
financial safeguards and oversight. 
- Policy development and adoption. The school board has additional policy work to accomplish as well as continue to 
focus on the Surry School Renovation and Compliance Project. 
Non-Public. The superintendent will provide the school board with confidential updates as allowed under RSA 91. 
Thanks. Kim