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Alton School Board Meeting - August 17, 2026

Video

Okay, thank you. All right, we will call
to order the Alton School Board meeting
uh Monday, August 17th. It is 5:30 and
we'll do a roll call.
>> Lauren Fuio,
>> Ian Pierce, Carolock,
>> Christy Wood,
>> Matt Jazokus,
>> Kristen Lee,
>> Janice, Christian, Heidi Dofford.
>> Thank you. And please rise for the
pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
>> Okay. Agenda review.
>> Make a motion to approve the agenda as
presented.
>> I'll second. All in favor? I
>> I
>> opposed changes. No. Okay. And approval
of the minutes for June 23rd.
>> Make a motion to approve the June 23rd,
2026
public minutes and the non-public
minutes which are sealed indefinitely.
>> I'll second.
Any discussion? All in favor?
>> I oppose.
Okay.
Uh we will open public input for agenda
items only
but seeing none hearing none we will
close public input and move on
toformational items.
I don't have anything for the school
board. Does anybody else?
>> I do not.
>> Okay. Um Heidi financial reports.
>> So in your packet I included um the June
30th summary. I did not include July or
August. It's just too soon to give you
there's not everything has been posted
and encumbered. So next month you'll get
one.
>> Okay.
>> Um I also passed out a summary um just
information and this is pre- audit. The
auditors will be here the week of the
31st of August. Um so this is still
preliminary. It's not final. It's just
for your information. But just to give
you a few ideas um we did not fill a few
positions. Um you know why we had
surplus and um There's a summary that I
passed out. Um we had savings in some of
the tuition reimbursement lines. The SRO
um we know qual we no longer qualify for
REAp. So that was an expense unexpected.
Uh legal of course went over. Auditing
went over. Um we did move some of the
positions into shared guidance um
because of you know somebody left. So we
we transferred those. um savings we had
in lawn care and electrical um in
telephone also and then in in special ed
tuition. Those are just a brief overall
highlighted some of the items.
>> I had a question with the enrichment
teacher. Was it because you couldn't get
anyone to apply or you just eliminated
the position?
>> We didn't eliminate it because this year
we did fill it. We positions around.
>> All right. Just want to make sure. Thank
you.
Okay,
thank you.
Any other questions?
All right. Um, buildings and grounds.
Looks like they're
getting ready for the start of the
school year.
Rooms. Lots and lots of rooms moved.
Playground equipment added.
Gym floor sanded. Repainted and
finished. Okay.
Um Janice principal's report.
>> So we are at 402 students for the
upcoming academic year. It's a little
bit less than what we ended with in
June. Um but as you know we have uh only
two kindergarten and two first grade
this year versus what we had in previous
years. So it's a little bit down from
before. Um, we had a wonderful
leadership retreat. Uh, we gathered at
Colt Spring Farm for a three-day retreat
focused on collaboration and team
building to to kick off the new school
year. I think we did extremely well
working together and coming up with some
wonderful goals for our building. Um, EL
reading program, all of our new
materials have arrived. you've had the
opportunity to look at the cafeteria.
[laughter]
>> There are over um
>> 3,700 books have arrived and they are
all in the cafeteria right now. Um we
can't wait for those to be utilized and
have the teachers receive their training
for that new program moving forward. We
did some fifth and sixth grade
reorganization.
The entire fifth and sixth grade teams
are now now located in one wing of the
building. uh in years prior they were
very fragmented in in completely
different sections of the building
making transitions very difficult in the
hallways. I believe this is going to
make things better for transitions but
also to allow the team to work more
closely together for goals. Um we've
relocated our school counselors. Um they
are both now in the admin wing. They
used to be located on like our ends of
the building. So now we'll have them as
easy access for student supports but
also allow them to work closely
together. We have four new highly
qualified educators joining our team
this year. Um very excited to have three
of them working specifically on math for
our building in grades five through
eight. We also have one brand new third
grade teacher joining our team and a
brand new assistant principal. Kayla Roy
has joined us. Her office is located in
the 78 wing, which is a huge change from
prior location in the admin wing. Uh we
are spreading out admin presence
throughout the building to better
support our students um in the the
neediest areas of the building. Um our
voice and PTSA N68 room have been
relocated. They're now on the first
floor instead of down in the basement.
So, this will allow uh students to meet
in there for voice as well as PTSA use
the space and N68. Everything will be
right in that one room. We have our back
to school event coming up Thursday,
August 27th from 4 to 6. Um, look
forward to seeing everyone then.
>> Thank you.
Any questions?
Okay. [clears throat]
Uh, technology report from Mr. Dumond.
You guys were in the paper.
Um,
>> that's great.
>> Yeah. Early onboarding, tech policy
training, main fiber connection was
upgraded. That's great. That'll help.
>> Great. Uh, curriculum, instruction, and
assessment. Dr. Lee,
>> thank you for having me.
>> Thanks for coming. So excited.
Welcome.
>> So, as you can see by the um numbers
that are provided on the back of the
sheet that I've There you go. Um
ACS
actually did really well with their New
Hampshire SAS results.
Um the above proficient category
for every discipline
is either up or the same.
And if you notice the below numbers,
uh that that had a great that had a
decline in the good way.
So
>> now is are these percentages for
specifically eighth grade or what is
English 2026 referring to?
>> Thank you. Those are all the students
who took the SAS in all grades. So it's
a cumulative of grades. So all ACS
students who took the New Hampshire SAS
this year are included. which is why oh
I didn't I didn't include raw numbers
only because they tend to be really
confusing because of when we test for
science and when we don't. So these are
percentages. So there were fewer
students who tested in the category of
science,
>> right?
>> Yeah.
Um, starting this year,
we're going to be at ACS
doing the modules, the SAS modules,
which just really helps kids uh see how
the questions are worded because the
questions on the state testing, they're
just presented in a different way than
what kids might be used to in class.
they ask for different things and so
sometimes doing the modules just helps
them be familiar with what they're
looking at and and how they're laid out
on the page too on the computer screen
is a format that kids aren't generally
used to. So they have modules that kids
can use um and you can use them to teach
because all the questions are uh
standardsbased. So, um I'll be
interested to see how that impacts.
>> Can you do that throughout the year? Are
you doing it prior to the SAS testing or
>> Yeah. Well, a school would decide. There
is no requirement by the state. They
make them available. So, that would be a
great question for Janice. Have you do
you have the schedule yet?
>> So, it'll be monthly that they'll
participate in some way, whether it's
math or ELA. there be some monthly watch
practice.
>> Great.
>> So to follow up with what Janice was
saying about our leadership uh retreat,
we uh chose to include the coaches and
the um special ed leaders, the
department leads came in towards the end
and even though the coaches aren't um
they don't have an administrative
position, they are leaders, right? And
that's what that's what they're here to
do. So, I really appreciated them being
there. Their feedback that actually we
heard today was they found it really
valuable coming into leadership
positions to be able to be with other
leaders in and just learning how do we
create a vision, how where do the goals
come from? Um, so I think that was a
really positive experience. Um, as far
as curriculum goes, uh, this starting
this school year, the math curriculum
is coming in. The open up math, uh, 5678
science, uh, the science open sad that I
think we've talked about before.
My experience was through the high
school. It is uh, rigorous as is the
math, but there's a lot of new
components to it. So, for science,
they're going to start uh grades six and
seven, and we'd like them to implement
six and seven. And once the teachers
have worked out kinks or have gotten if
they needed additional PD or support, um
we can then roll out the next grades.
So, they and they can do that anytime.
It's pretty fluid. Um and what else? the
EL um Janice had mentioned they're going
to start
implementing that after they've gotten
their PD this year. So they will my
guess would be they'll be starting EL
sometime in January or sometime in
December once we've had a couple of PD
sessions
and then the other thing that goes along
with that are the wind groups.
So this year, the way we're going to
roll out the wind groups would be kids
are going to stay with their core
teacher for the first couple of weeks
until testing happens and then there'll
be another couple weeks till we get the
data back and the teachers can uh put
group kids according to what their needs
are and what their learning targets
should be. So wind groups will start
soon uh but they won't actually be split
out into uh targeted instruction groups
until after we get the star data back um
and then the teachers can participate in
um dividing their groups out by target
area
if I may.
>> Sure.
>> So I just want to clarify on the roll
out of the ELA piece. I was just going
to ask.
>> Yeah. So, so obviously one of the big
things that teachers um were really
strong about in their feedback was
making sure that they had the
professional development to support
their ability to uh roll out that roll
out that program. And as we've spoken at
length, the the actual roll out will be
the 27th 28th school year. But we do
have some people who are already asking
like, "Hey, can I start earlier than
that?" And so we're going to allow that
to happen, but we want to get some
trainings in first because we truly want
to make sure that we understand how this
program works and and all the
complexities that go with that. Um,
oftentimes if you jump start too quick,
they're pulling in other stuff that they
used to use because they're comfortable
with that or other techniques that may
not align to this program. So we just
want to make sure that we're consistent
on that piece of it.
>> So that plan's still in place
till next year, next year.
>> Yeah. And kind of hold back again. love
the love the enthusiasm and the energy
to start, but we want to make sure that
we we we get the training that they
need.
>> Thank you for clarifying that, Matt.
That's all I have. Thank you.
>> Okay,
Superintendent Jous.
>> Hi, how are you?
>> Welcome.
>> Um, so both Janice and uh Kristen
mentioned a little bit about our
administrative retreat. Uh so in the
last several years we've done this
retreat uh three days uh we spend two
days at Cold Spring and then the third
day we come back on campus. Uh and it's
it's sort of changed a little bit each
year as we get better at what we're
doing and understand the complexities of
how to work as a team. Um so this year
as they mentioned we we we expanded the
team a little bit because we had uh a
lot of new people and we wanted to
really kind of set a tone. Um and and
our key areas that we worked on was uh
building a strong leadership team. Uh
and you know within that piece of it um
were also engaging uh our coaches, our
IEP team chairs who as Kristen said
aren't administrators but they are
leaders in our building um and learning
some of those techniques and some of the
things that they need to do so that they
can be uh successful in their roles. Um
one of the things that we did we we did
a lot of scenarios uh where we created
it uh in in terms of looking at sort of
five areas that that we feel is going to
shape our our leaders and that's vision,
relationships, uh instruction, culture
and management. And so we did these
these scenarios where uh we threw out
this information high school, middle
school, elementary and really had the
teams work collaboratively on where was
this leader based off of information uh
that you received. Uh were they a
manager? Were they building were they a
visionary? Uh did they have the culture
to be able to move forward and different
things like that. Um so we did a lot of
that part of it. Um the one of the
things you'll hear from me throughout um
is that I look at what I call the four
C's and I and I continue to talk with
our team about that. Um and so the four
C's, we look at clarity. So when they
were developing their goals uh for this
school year along with their teams, we
wanted to make sure that they were
clear. Uh oftentimes we use smart goals
and smart goals are great, but they can
become very cumbersome in sort of like
two or three sentences, four sentences
and people lose sight of the goal
because they're reading through all of
these. So one of the things we talked
about was clarity of those goals. But
then we talked about uh consistency. So
oftentimes you'll talk about the goals
on the first day of school and then
sometime in May, right? And so if you
ask the question of what were our goals
last year to many people, most don't ne
know them because we haven't talked
about throughout this. So we talked
about every faculty meeting we have the
goals up there and why are we doing what
we're doing should be aligned to that
piece of it. And then if we're
consistency, we got to follow through
with those pieces of it. And if we're
not clear, there has to be a
collaboration and a communication. And
that communication needs to be two-way.
It can't be just the administration
talking to faculty and staff or even
parents. It's got to be a two-way
conversation about what's missing within
our goal, what's missing within our
leadership to make sure that we're
moving forward with what we have. So, so
I keep pushing that back on them that
it's about the four C's. Um they're
probably tired of hearing it already,
but we'll continue. Um and again, we
talked about vision, relationships,
instruction, culture, and management.
Um, and we feel that these five areas uh
define a balanced leadership. Uh,
knowing where you're going, building
relationships to get there, keeping the
instruction at the center, creating the
right culture, and managing the systems
to make it possible, right? We need we
need all of those pieces to be that
leadership. And and we created a rubric
as well. Uh, so so our leaders can self
assess to see where they are in the
process. Um and again it's it's one of
the things I asked them to do is give me
uh an area where they would like support
in to build on. So we'll be working
throughout the year on doing that. Um as
a result of this um retreat, one of the
things we talked about is the why and
why are we doing what we're doing. And
so I asked them to come up with a list
of things that we have done over the
last four years. Um, I couldn't ask
prior because I wasn't here. So, we
started to name off a lot of the things
that we had. Um, so I I won't go through
all of the list with you. Um, but when
you look at embedded honors, our 5
through 12 curriculum alignment, our new
literacy program, um, you know, open up
math sad instructional coaches, um, when
you start to look at all the things that
they've accomplished over the last four
years, um, I started to see sort of a
consistency. Uh, and so on the second
page, um, I I was able to kind of look
at these pillars. And one of the things
we wanted to make sure is that these
pillars were not standalone, that they
were actually interconnected because
when we have standalone things, uh, it
usually doesn't work well because people
get confused as to why we're doing that.
So, we came up with coherence. Again,
looking at a curriculum that's pretty
straightforward. uh access and equity.
Again, making sure that all of our kids
have access uh and access to high
expectations, but also having the
appropriate support that goes along with
that engagement. We've done a lot of
work here, uh and at Barnstead
Elementary on voice and choice. Mike
Anderson's done a lot of work around
that piece of it. Um and again, as we
talked about, it wasn't sort of like,
you know, hey teacher, I really don't
want to write a five paragraph paper. I
only want to write a three paragraph.
That's not voice and choice. um you
know, they're still going to have to do
what they're asked, but but given an
opportunity to say, I need you to
support or present what you know in this
particular of these standards, if
there's ways kids can use their voice to
show that versus just the traditional
paper and pencil. But again, even with
that, we should still be asking kids to
do paper and pencil because that's also
part of it, right? We don't want to just
uh do one versus the other. It's it's
sort of using all of those pieces of it.
>> And then again, belonging and
relationships. uh you know, we we had
our our capturing kids hearts uh and
we'll continue to use that um as we as
we align that to restorative practices.
So, one of the things we talked about is
how do we know what our vision is as a
Prospect Mountain Schools? Um and so
this this kind of came about as to
looking at all of the things that we've
done. Uh so looking at our vision of
every student, every classroom every
year. Um and really kind of looking at
it uh taking those four pillars uh a
coherent, challenging and inclusive
learning experience that develops the
knowledge, skills, confident and grit
students need for life beyond our
schools. We were intentional about life
beyond our schools because we didn't
want to say college or career or one of
those things because when we talk about
pathways, it's about the individual
student. So if that pathway is college,
then that's your life after high school,
right after our schools. And so if your
if your pathway is the armed forces,
again, that's something that we want to
help you work with. And if it's if it's
employment, then we've got that as well.
So um again, I think this kind of brings
it all together. This is something that,
uh we'll present to the other boards,
and we'll be working with our teachers
on our Prospect Mountain School's
vision. This doesn't change the fact
that some of the schools do have a
vision, uh and mission. This is looking
at our whole system. Um, but when you
look at their visions and missions, they
kind of align into this as well. So,
one of the other things that we have for
you this evening, uh, Heidi and I have
been meeting and talking about budget
timelines, um, because, as you are
aware, um, Barnstead's timeline has
moved up to the same as yours. Um, so we
have, uh, in your board packets our
budget timeline. Uh obviously when we
start uh meeting with the uh budget
committees and stuff like that, we'll
update with the dates and times that
we'll be meeting then as well. Um and
we're also following we'll talk maybe a
little bit more about this tomorrow
night at the JMA uh a couple bills in
that have been passed h the uh tax cap
uh along with uh the SAU um warrant for
the budget. And so that may have some
impact on some of these things as well.
And lastly, I wanted to bring to your
attention um several weeks ago, uh
Pittsfield had reached out um requesting
information regarding Prospect Mountain
High School, um in terms of possibly
working collaboratively with one of the
local school districts for their high
school students. Um but they also uh put
out there that they would might be
looking for uh their seventh and eighth
graders as well. So, not that Alton
would be uh the school versus Barnstead
or vice versa, but I just thought it was
um something that you needed to hear um
that that they were also looking for the
potential 78 partner as we go along with
this. I have not heard anything back
from them, but uh we did submit that on
August 10th. So, I'll keep you posted if
anything comes about.
>> Questions from Matt?
We'll move on to action items.
Uh the student parent handbook
that was in the digital packet.
>> Yep. I make a motion to approve the
student parent handbook for
2627
Any discussion?
questions. I did have one on the grading
for the K through four. There wasn't a
description of I mean it did say that
the student is assessed for what they
know or like the standards but it didn't
kind of break down what a one two three
or four is.
>> I can add that. Is that something we can
just because it is a little bit
different than what it we see in the
five through eight and I don't know if a
parent has a question
of how their students going to be
assessed.
>> I think that's
>> it might be a nice reference to have
>> for sure.
>> That was it for me. This the numerical
>> description but the rest of it looked
great. Thank you for
>> Thank you
>> to putting that in there. So, anything
else?
>> Okay. All in favor?
>> I opposed. No. Okay. Uh, faculty
handbook.
>> Make a motion to approve the 2026 27
faculty handbook.
>> I'll second. Any discussion
>> with the faculty handbook? Is that
generated somewhat with the teachers
input? When you're doing a faculty
handbook, do you talk to the teachers
about the handbook at all?
>> It's generally done by admin.
curious if the union gets involved at
all.
>> Team reps have an opportunity to share
their thoughts if if they view it and
they feel as though something needs to
be altered.
>> So they haven't previewed it. No,
>> but you're waiting to give it to them
and they had feedback. You'd be
receptive.
>> There haven't hasn't been any changes
that
>> Right. I just was cur I was just curious
about the process because we used to
meet with teachers with our faculty
handbook and it just worked out better
because then they had the input that
they wanted to give without feeling like
I just was curious that's all doesn't
mean you have to change it. I just was
>> okay.
All in favor I
>> opposed. No. Okay.
uh athletic handbook.
>> Make a motion to approve the 2026 2027
athletic handbook.
>> I'll second. Any discussion on that?
>> I just want to see if we can and this
probably is a James conversation to um
distinguish what passing because we're
standardsbased grading and what a
passing grade would be for eligibility
for the students in this school
specifically. I know they share the the
handbook, but I think that the the
graings You want you want a hard number?
Yeah.
>> Well, I think it would be
>> That's easy to add. Yep.
>> Because it is different from different
school and
>> Yeah. And Sam, I know she pulls the
academic eligibility and puts kids on
probation, but they've been doing it
based on the high school's grading.
That's easy to
>> I can I agree with you Lauren on that
that it is confusing and I do feel the
number of phone calls with that
confusion because it's two different
numerical amounts
>> and I don't know if we even have with it
being a standard
you know school you know standardsbased
if we should talk about what we would
consider you know or if that's just a
James um conversation you know but I
don't know if
>> I mean we can certainly have a
conversation about that down line. I
mean, I think typically what we use is
if they're failing and we do the
probation, everything and stuff like
that.
>> Um,
>> but as we continue to get better at this
practice,
>> you might want to look at it rather than
a percentage and maybe it's a two or a
three or whatever that might be.
>> Sounds good.
>> I mean, we could put both in there at
some point where it's like a two, which
equals this
>> so it's not as confusing. But I James
can make those adjustments and even if
they're different numbers, that's okay.
We can spell those out clearly.
>> Okay. And even if it doesn't get in
there, at least that whoever's making
the determination understands that there
is a difference in the grading of a
failing grade between the central
schools and the high school.
>> Absolutely. Yep.
>> that's
>> and the coaches or whoever else needs
that, parents. [laughter]
Thank you, Lauren. All right. Any other
questions? All right. All in favor?
post. No. All right. The EOP. So, so we
have the EOP that was in the digital
version as well. Uh, I figured 68 pages
and we you can't leave here with that.
Um, if you have any specific questions,
then we would have to go into non-public
to have that conversation, but there
haven't been any changes in the last
couple years to the EOP.
>> So,
>> we generalized it for that reason. So,
we didn't have to change you. We used to
put names in there and stuff like that
and we just had to keep changing it.
Motion to approve the EOP for 2627.
>> I'll second. All in favor?
>> I post. No. Okay.
>> Uh audit engagement letter
>> which is
>> Yep. In your packet.
>> So the audit will take well the on-site
part of the audit will happen August
31st the week of but if you want to just
approve Claus and Sanderson as our
auditors. Make a motion to approve
Claude Plik and Sanderson as our uh as
the auditors.
>> I'll second. Discussion.
All in favor?
Uh function transfer.
>> I think it's this. So, I'm going to make
a motion to approve the function
transfer
of $37,32.
do you need more specific do we need
more specific than that or
>> it's all in front of us?
>> Yeah, it's the function. We need
schoolboard approval so I can move money
from the different functions.
>> Okay. So, I made the motion to approve
that. for a function.
>> Okay, I'll second. Any discussion? All
in favor?
wasn't.
>> And personnel,
>> we have one individual, our method
interventionists.
>> Make a motion to approve the new math
interventionist, Deborah Powki.
>> Sounds all right.
Any discussion? All in favor? I
>> I opposed any
muted.
>> Yep.
>> Um All right. Uh
go into public input, but seeing nobody
hearing nobody, we'll close public input
and move on to future agenda items.
So the next at the next board meeting,
uh we'll have our interventionist
coaches here to do a presentation on the
data that you had. We'll break it out a
little bit more. Um, that will be in
September.
>> So, we're meeting in September
and October for budget
>> and then not in November.
>> Usually, we've been meeting every other
month. So,
>> I think while we're doing all these
transitions that doing monthly would be
helpful for everybody because we kind of
lose sight [snorts] of
>> what we're doing.
>> Yeah. I think
>> in October
>> if the board's okay up until December
and I think then we can go at that. Once
we have the budget and stuff like that
taken care of for the first time through
and then we can go back to that every
other month.
>> Y
>> if you guys are okay with that.
>> Yes,
>> absolutely.
>> Okay. Anything else for agenda items?
No. Okay. All right.
>> Make a motion to go into non-public
under RSA 91- A3 I C. I'll second
roll call vote.
>> I Yes.
>> Yes.
>> All right.