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Public Minutes 8.18.26.pdf

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Wakefield School Board Public Minutes

¢ N August 18, 2026
Held in the SAU Conference Room
Draft
[BOARD MEMBERS _ [ADMINISTRATORS [_
Robert DeColfmacker, Chair [Donna Magoon, Superintendent v
‘Heather Wilcauskas, Vice Chair ichele Lambert, Financial Manager v

Bob Ouellette ‘Carol Keenan, Student Services Director

Aaron Nason, Interim Principal v
Jennie Lovasco. Interim Asst. Principal

'Sandrea Taliaferro
‘Ann Gehring

SISA] SUN

Others present:
Selectmen Liaison Tom Daniels and Morgan Gehring of Clearview TV.

Call to Order
Mr. DeColfimacker opened the meeting at 5:32.

Agenda Review
Mrs. Lambert added the DOE 25 to New Business.

Non Public

Ms. Wilcauskas made a motion, seconded by Mr. Ouellette, to enter non public under RSA
91-A33 Il (c) at 5:34, Roll Call Vote: DeColfmacker aye, Gehring Aye, Ouellette aye,
Taliaferro aye, Wilcauskas aye.

The Board returned to public session at 5:50.

Presentations, Pul Hearings
To withdraw funds from the Maintenance Contingency Fund in the amount of $33,799.59

Mr. DeColfinacker opened the Public Hearing at 6:51.

Mrs. Lambert explained that Mr. Davis would like to expend funds from the Maintence
Contingency Fund to purchase a new Hot Food Service Counter/Table in the kitchen which has
to be replaced. The unit is forty-one years old and original to the kitchen. The wiring is
dangerous and it has rusty parts. The unit is unsafe. Mr. Ouellette notes that in the packet 8/4/26
there were three quotes and Mr. Davis recommends Kittredge-Singer for quality and lead time.
All three prices are comparable. She said this purchase has been approved by the DOE.

Ms. Wilcauskas made a motion, seconded by Mr. Ouellette, to withdraw the amount of
$33,799.59 from the Maintenance Contingency Fund in the amount of $33,799.59 for the
Hot Food Service Counter/Table. (Vote 5-0)

Mr. DeColfmacker closed the Public Hearing at 5:56.


NHSAS Presentation

Mr. Nason presented the results of the New Hampshire State Testing.

He said we are making progress and moving in the right direction. He said we have a lot of
ground to make up. We also had twenty-four fewer students. Students can still opt out but we had
fewer opt out that we did before. He explained what opting out actually means. There is a lot of
misinformation. He said we have a threshold. If 5% of the student body or ten students opt out
it’s not counted for or against. If you go above 5% of the student body choosing to opt out
everyone after that 5% counts as a zero.

All students were tested in ELA and math. Two grades were tested in science. They will be
changing the approach on how they teach science in the school. The middle school students will
have an entire year of science instead of a half a year. They now have a math program and have
already seen growth. All these results are available on the state website.

Mr. Nason presented their plan for growth. They don’t teach to the State test and have no plans to
do so. They plan to set up some ways for the students to take this test seriously.

While celebrating our current momentum is important, our focus i

miy on the future. To close the
achievement gap and continue accelerating student success, we are implementing a comprehensive,

structured plan:

* Shared K~8 Curriculums: We have officially adopted Ready Math and Sadllier ELA as our unified, K-8

shared curriculums. While we anticipcite needling a full year for these programs to take deep root,

our recent progress proved that having a consistent, shared framework is exponenti

more
effective than having none at all.

Early Chilclhood Fe

fy

Ne are fully adhering to the state's requirements for play-based
learning in Kindergarten, ensuring our youngest learners build a strong, developmentally appropriate
foundation from day one.

$$) team to

We are leveraging our Multi-Tiered System of Suppo:

brainstorm and implement creative ways to improve student buy-in and motivation for the NHSAS.

: We are designing a new reward and recognition systern specifically tailored to

celebrate and incent

ize students who demonstrate meaningful academic growth on the NHSAS.


Miath - 24/25 vs. 25/26

Summative Mathe
Graces Tastee 3, 4.5, 6, 7.8

Tests Taxen:286 — Oste Last Taxen: 05/28/2025

Percent 44% 21 16% 8
eum 127 88 a7 28
SAS Summative Mathematics
ef Grades Tested; 2, 4, 5,6, 7.8

Tests Taken: 262 Date Last Taken: 05/28/2026

Peroem 42% 2%
Count mi 58

ELA - 24/25 vs. 25/26
‘SAS Summative ELA

Grades Testet: 3, 4,5.6,7,8
Tests Texan 285 Date Last Texer: 05/29/2025

Percent 36% 30% 26% at
Seen

SAS Summative ELA
Grades Teswe. 3, 4,5, 6,7,8
Tests Taxen, 268 Date Last Taken 05/27/2026

Percent 37% 26% 2%
Count 86 a 7

SAS Summative Science
Grades Testeo: 5,8
Teets Taken: 110 Date Last Texen: 04/16/2025

Percent 872, 25h a, 4
Count $e

4

SAS Summative Science
Gredes Tested: 5,6
Tests Texen: $0 Date Last Ta<en: 05/29/2026

Percent



Public Comment
None

Report

Transportation
Mrs. Taliaferro gave an overview of the Transportation Committee items. She said that the

current contract with First Student gives an option to extend the contract for two years, one year
at a time. First Student was supposed to pay us $2,500 and they haven’t so that amount will be
deducted from the amount we will owe in September. She said there were two other companies
that were interested in running our transportation and had reached out to her. She said the Board
could put it out to bid if they wished and she handed out that REP. Or they could go with an
extension.

Mrs. Lambert said if they Board chose to send it out for proposals she could have the

Proposals back to the Board for the September 15" meeting. This is for next years budget.

Mrs. Taliaferro made a motion seconded by Mr. Ouellette, to send out the RFP for
transportation. (Vote 5-0)

Meeting Minutes
Ms. Wilcauskas made a motion, seconded by Mr. Ouellette, to approve the public minutes

of 8-4-26 with corrections. (Vote 4-0-1)

Consent Agenda
Ms. Wilcauskas made a motion, seconded by Mr. Ouellette, to approve the Consent

Agenda. (Vote 5-0)

Old Business

Library Budget Line

Mrs. Lambert said she could add notes on the line to make it clear how the money for books and
other printed material is to be spent. The Board liked that idea. Mrs. Taliaferro asked about the
binder that includes all the items that create a line. Mrs. Lambert said she has this for the past
three years and said Board members can come in any time to look at it to see what is in each line.

Mrs. Magoon told the Board that they have a lot of unused books. Some will go into the new
book vending machine, purchased from Title 1 money because we are now a Schoolwide School,
and the rest will be put on a table for teachers to choose for their classroom.

Town Payment
Mrs. Lambert said the Town payment was moved to the second meeting of the month because it

is due by the 10", She said they received the August payment on the 7". Mr. Daniels said the
Town is looking into paying this electronically. They use the same bank. The Town is currently
looking into the logistics.

New Business
Crotched Mountain Foundation Donation



Mrs. Magoon told the Board that the Paws Program students spend some of their time in a self-
contained DOE approved classroom. Three years ago there was a program and when she came
on board that program had been dissolved and the new program was run inhouse and the person
running the program left. She didn’t feel the requirements for those students with high needs
were being met in this program. We were able to secure a $15,000 donation from the Crotched
Mountain Foundation. They are helping to revamp the room and the staff will receive specialized
training to work with those students. Being part of the foundation opens up other opportunities
like adaptive equipment. The money pays for staff to be trained and our BCBA to oversee the
staff. There is a certification process for the RBT’s who have to meet monthly criteria.

DOE 25
Mrs. Lambert told the Board that the DOE 25 has been submitted to the DOE. The cover sheet
that is submitted separately, was signed tonight. She said we ended FY25 with $13,511.86.

Follow Up
None

Nominations/Hires/Resignations

Catherine Martin — World Language

Ms. Wilcauskas made a motion, seconded by Ms. Gehring, to accept Catherine Martin as
the World Language Teacher. (Vote 5-0)

Samantha Gagnon — Substitute - FYI
Roland Lascala — IHI/SSC Interventionist - FYI

Non Public

Mr. Ouellette made a motion, seconded by Ms. Wilcauskas, to enter non public under RSA
91-A;3 Il (c) at 6:45. Roll Call Vote: DeColfmacker aye, Gehring Aye, Ouellette aye,
Taliaferro aye, Wilcauskas aye.

Adjournment
Ms. Wilcauskas made a motion, seconded by Mr. Ouellette, to adjourn the meeting at 7:10.

(Vote 5-0)

Respectfully submitted for approval at the next Schoo! Board meeting,

Priscilla Colbath
School Board Secretary