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Prospect Mountain JMA School Board Meeting - August 18th, 2026

Video

Okay,
>> I'll make a motion to accept the agenda.
>> Second.
>> Uh, we'll just move athletic report to
the top of the reports before the school
board for tonight.
>> And any other changes or comments? All
in favor?
>> I opposed. Okay. I'll make a motion to
approve the uh minutes of June 23rd 26
public and non-public meeting minutes.
>> Second,
>> comments or corrections?
All in favor?
>> I
>> no abstensions. Okay.
>> Right. We'll go ahead and open public
input on agenda items only.
But seeing none and hearing none,
I'll go ahead and close uh public input
and we'll move on to reports.
James,
>> we'll have you go first.
>> Sure. Into the mic, please. [laughter]
>> Uh for anyone who doesn't know me, I'm
James Christie. I'm the athletic
director for the three schools. Uh
obviously, thanks for having me here. Uh
really here today just to give kind of a
quick update on the state of athletics,
especially for the fall. Um, and we'll
do that for Prospect, Barnstead, and
Alden. The plan is to come back in
September and give a little bit more of
a detailed report to all of you ahead of
time and, uh, have a have a broader
conversation if we need to. Uh, tryyouts
are happening this week at the high
school. Uh, middle school will be next
week and the week after. Numbers look
good across the board. Um, one thing
I'll tell you, this is my third year as
the athletic director. There was a day
in early July that I came here and there
were over a 100 kids on the campus. And
it's the first time I've seen that where
you have boys soccer, girls soccer,
football, volleyball, all these kids
here at a time where things are
voluntary putting in work uh to to make
themselves better. And the cool part
with that is a lot of those involved the
middle school athletes up working with
the high school athletes, too. So, uh it
was really cool to see that. Saw it a
lot in July. Uh and I think it just
speaks to, you know, what we're seeing
with the kids really being dedicated to
their sports. Um, as far as athletes go
for the fall, uh, so we have 171
athletes that are signed up in final
form. It's actually gone up since then.
It's probably like 173 or five. To give
you some context, last year we had 145
signed up at the high school. So, uh,
really nice growth here in the fall.
Just a quick rundown. 13 for fishing,
nine cheer, 16 cross country, three for
esports. We're going to make sure we
push that up and we have enough. Uh,
there's 32 for football, 15 for golf.
Boys soccer was 31. I think it's down to
about 24 right now with some kids that
have have left and cuts and those sort
of things. Girls soccer 32 and
volleyball 30. So, uh, every program is
in a really great spot. And I will tell
you, we we are fortunate because
literally today I got two emails from AD
saying we do not have a JV and we may
not have a varsity for like primary
sports. Um, so we are seeing it across
the board with numbers going down and I
think it's a really positive thing to
see our our numbers going up here at the
high school. Um, and again obviously
final numbers we'll have those in the
next week or so and I'll I'll share all
those when I come back in September and
give you an update after all the teams
are formed. Uh, it's a really
interesting summer. So the three main
systems we use as an athletic department
all changed. So the NHIA brand new
website, they just released it
yesterday. we haven't had access to
things. If you go out there, you won't
find a schedule on it just yet. Um, also
we use a system called Arbiter, which is
what we use to assign officials. And
then we use a system called schedule
star, which is what we actually create a
schedule with and what parents see as
like an interface. Um, Arbiter bought
schedule star. [snorts] So, you can
imagine the data migration that needs to
go on with that. And so, I do want to
give a shout out to Sam, uh, who's the
new athletic admin. She's really been
the one running point on that. Has been
fantastic making sure all the dots were
connecting behind the scenes. Uh in the
middle of all of that, we got three
separate schedules from the NHIA. So, we
put all the stuff in, think we're good,
and then we had to go in and delete all
the stuff and then put it in again. And
then now we're finally on schedule
number three that seems to be the final.
Uh and we should be releasing all that
this week so parents can actually see
what their schedules are. Uh but I I
think that context is important. It's
why you don't see anything yet. hasn't
been approved for us to release it to
anybody uh just yet. There was a lot of
work done behind the scenes uh to get
all that information together. Um
uniform cycles for this year. So, just a
reminder for everyone, we're on a 4-year
uniform cycle uh purchasing cycle. Uh we
match the middle school with the high
school now. So, it's been long enough
that we have everyone lined up and we're
doing the same sports at all three
schools. Uh the cycle this year is for
volleyball, girls soccer, and boys
soccer. All of those uniforms have been
purchased. 90% of them are on site. The
rest will be here in the next like week
or so, well before uh game time, so
they'll have all new uniforms. Um all
teams across all three schools have uh
coaches. Uh we just finished our or
filled our last um spot at Barnstead
today uh for the boys soccer team. So,
I'm excited about that. They also have
all their supplies on site, balls, you
know, all the all the stuff that we need
to to make the season go. Uh, a couple
of other quick things. Um, our
volleyball nets and poles are about 20
years old. They don't match our school
colors. Uh, we actually, uh, have
purchased new, um, versions of those, so
that'll be here at the high school,
which will be really nice. It'll give
our gym classes one of the old sets, so
they don't have to be using, um, be
using the the game sets. Um, obviously
goalposts are up. You can see those out
out front. Um, huddle, we had the
cameras installed yesterday. So, the one
on the front of the building is
connected into the network. They're
doing some calibration on that now at
Huddle. Uh there's also one in the gym.
Huddle's a system that's a live game
feed, but we can also use it for game
film. Uh and it's going to be really
important for all the sports that are
using it. So that'll be available to
football, soccer, uh out on the front
field, and then in the gym, it'll be
available for uh volleyball and
basketball. Um it's really cool for a
parent. You have your own profile. You
can see all of the highlight videos of
your kids, their stats, all that sort of
uh information, but then it's important
for teams because uh you can get game
film, prep, uh you're not having to chop
it up yourself. It's AI driven and you
literally get a download of the whole
game. If you want to see every corner
kick that Kar did last week, you can hit
a button and see all of those just like
that. So, uh really excited to have that
here available at the high school. Uh,
and it'll be up and running by the time
the first game happens. Um, new tier
mats are here. Seven mats competition
style 2 in. We could run a competition
here on the on the mats uh that are here
now. And our wrestling mats uh actually
arrived today. They look pretty awesome.
I mean, Prospect Mountain Wrestling logo
in the middle, black mats uh seven wide
uh and we will be running uh some
tournaments and events uh out of here
for wrestling with the two mat system
that we have. Now,
>> uh, I did want to give a quick shout out
to Kevin, Rob, and his team for all the
work that they did to make all of this
stuff happen here on campus in the
middle of making sure that it's clean
and ready to go. So, they've uh they've
been fantastic. So, Heidi, make sure uh
you tell them thank you. Um, obviously,
we added football, cheer, esports. Those
are all up and running for our fall
offerings. Uh, tonight is our parent
player uh information night. So, in
about tw 22 minutes, I'll be up on stage
doing that for everybody, uh, where
we're going to give them updates on kind
of where we are, go through the
handbook, but then most importantly, let
them know how they can actually go find
schedules. Um, one nice thing is that
there's an iical feature with this new
system. So, we've tested it all today.
When we make an update, it's going to
feed to our website. It'll feed to our
Google calendars, and it'll feed to
every parent's calendar when we make an
update. So, it's going to be a real nice
upgrade as far as uh keeping track of
what's going on with scheduling. We've
also added uh text messaging to final
forms. So, we'll still use emails for
our big announcements for the week, but
then if we have a a quick change,
coaches will be able to text message one
way to everybody on the team to say,
"Hey, field location changed. Here's
here's where you need to go now." So, uh
that'll be very inexpensive. That'll be
a nice upgrade for us. Um and yeah,
excited for the year ahead. Lots of
great momentum. Again, I'll be back in
September. Um share some more details.
Um but yeah, that was it. Any any
questions?
>> Can you share tonight's uh presentation
for those of us that can't make it?
>> Yes. Yes. [laughter] So, I uh I'll
actually we'll be sending it out either
tonight or tomorrow morning to
everybody.
>> Thank you. [laughter]
>> Thank you.
>> I know that was a great plan.
>> I have a question on the huddle. That's
just for the home games, right? Like
that's software that's here. That's not
something that would travel with your
away.
>> So, we do have a portable um camera that
we can use. So, we'll actually be able
to use that for like baseball, softball,
some other sports, too. And coaches will
have the option to take it to away
games.
>> There's also a huddle sharing network.
So, any other school that has huddle, we
will have instant access to their uh
videos that they're doing as well.
>> Uh so, I would say 70% of the games will
have access to to that information.
>> That's great. Thank you.
>> Yep.
Cool.
>> Any questions for James?
>> No. Thanks for the information.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Have a good night. Thank you.
>> Catch up here.
>> All right. Uh, schoolboard report. Uh,
in your packet, we did receive a very
nice thank you note from Ava Peliter,
the recipient for the Moren Fitzpatrick
School Board Scholarship.
We hope she does amazing things in New
York City.
>> Can't wait to hear about it.
>> Um, all right. Finance report, Heidi.
>> So, in your packet, I shared um a June
30th um expense report and summary. Um,
again, this is just estimated. The
auditors will be on site the week of
August 31st, and we'll have all of their
entries added to that. I did also pass
out a summary by object just to give you
an idea of um where the savings um came
from. The bulk of it was in um salaries
and employing benefits. Um and that was
due to um some positions not being
filled. Um but there's just a brief
summary for you to look over if you have
any questions.
Anyone have any questions for Heidi?
>> Thank you. All
right. Um, special ed report.
Sounds like we are fully staffed. That's
great for the upcoming year. Still
looking for PAR educator positions if
anyone's interested in applying out
there. Um,
I'm working on handbooks. That's great.
Thank you.
All right,
Principal Latchaw.
>> Sure.
pass.
>> Uh, first on
my agenda is the emergency operations
plan. This communication came in a short
time ago. I shared this with the
superintendent already. Um,
>> thank you.
>> I'd like
shared this with the superintendent
already, but I think it's worth taking a
minute to read because it ties in
perfectly with the EOP.
That's great.
>> That was good.
>> Good. So, um, I the reason why I wanted
to share that is because a it's it's
nice when you get really positive
feedback and you establish a
relationship, especially with one of our
state partners, right? Um, but the whole
point of emergency operations plan is to
have the
handbook in place if there's an
emergency.
uh m assistant principal deliber and I
and he's really taken this and run with
it. Um in years past I've done this but
again this year I added some of the
other ancillary emergency stuff
locations and other little things like
that. Um but I think what's kind of
special about Prospect Mountain High
School from an emergency preparedness
standpoint is we have the stuff we need
to have required by law. our EOP. You do
have to approve that, just so you all
know, as you do every year, but this
training we're doing above and beyond to
really
improve our practices. Um, and so for
something like that, we establish some
great relationships and we have some of
our first responders have an intimate
layout of the school and in the case of
um me, staff taking part with the guys
that are the best in the state doing
this stuff. Um, so I think it's
important to just recognize that it's a
special thing that we were able to do
and I hope it's the first of many
opportunities to be able to have
relationships like that. Um, I can keep
going. Does anybody want to ask a
question specifically about the ELP? Do
you want to approve that now or do you
want to go through the rest of the
report?
>> No, we want we'll do that in code.
Sorry.
>> Yeah. No, that's fine. We'll Yeah, we'll
do it later and if we have to discuss
it, we'll do it in nonpublic. Okay. Um I
think the other links related to um we
have a procedure guide, evacuation drill
protocol, drill locations, those are
just the nuts and bolts of what to do
when you know the fire alarm rings. But
I think it's important that people know
that we really think critically about
this stuff and have clear um protocols
and processes in place.
Um, I've shared this also in the past.
Um, but one of the things that the
administrative team at the high school
um did when we started here was really
bring to the surface the idea of
personal learning communities. Uh, two
uh two years ago we started that. Last
year we leaned into it even more. Um, in
this year, we're going to continue to
push the envelope in every staff
meeting, we're going to utilize our
personal learning communities, which
pulls staff in groups of six to eight
from every category, every subject in
the school, and we sit and we focus on a
big ticket item that the school needs to
address. In years past, we leveraged
that group for stuff like, hey, this
school should have the same rules across
the board for every kid, every grade,
every subject if they want to reassess a
summitative.
Uh most recently at the end of last
year, we leveraged those PLC groups to
hey, if you're a ninth grader, a senior,
no matter the grade, the subject, there
should be the same rules in place if you
miss a deadline for turning in work and
what the rules are to turn the work in.
So those are two really big ticket items
that we flush through PLC's. What we're
going to push going into [snorts] this
year is the good news is um two years
ago you saw a handbook update that was
20 pages. This year it's two. We can
make a push now. We've got those
professional processes, protocols,
expectations in place. Now we can move
into
hey best practices. How do you what's
the best way to provide academic
instructional interventions for kids?
what's the best way to really get
through to a kid that's struggling
behaviorally. So, we're not going to
move away from, hey, if there's stuff we
got to get on the same page about, but
we're going to shift into
uh what I like to call kind of the the
the bread and butter of teaching, the
best practices stuff. Um, so for you
all, it's good to know that we have
department groups that do basic business
a department group would do. Making sure
supplies are ordered, supporting each
other with students in like the math,
social studies, science, but we also are
leaning heavily into those professional
learning communities. Um, and that's
something I'm excited about. I know Matt
and Chris and the other administrators
at the high school are excited about and
we've already started talking about
topics for that. Um which leads into um
our two school goals. Um PMHS will focus
on developing positive relationships
that foster trust and engagement.
Trust and engage engagement.
Now we could say between teachers and
students, we could say between the board
and the principal. We could say between
teachers and teachers. We could say
community members. We focus on
positive relationships that foster trust
and engagement. Keep it simple. Simplest
way to put that really focusing on
relationships. That ties into the
culture piece. The second goal is that
what I said is kind of the social
emotional. You don't have that
relationship. Everything else won't
really fall in place. The second goal,
PMHS will improve instructional and
behavioral interventions in order to
increase positive student outcomes. So,
a kid's not turning his or her work in,
a kid's failing or at risk of failing, a
kid's struggling to to meet behavioral
expectations in a learning environment.
What can we do? What can we do better?
What can we focus on more to support
those kids from an intervention
standpoint? simplest way to write those
goals. I won't read it off to you, but a
lot more detail with how exactly we want
to measure if these are effective. I'm
hoping to report out to you as the
school year goes on, how we're going to
measure the effectiveness and efficacy
of these um and specific tasks to meet
them. The thing I think is important is
that these goals are living. And what I
mean by that is as the year goes on,
we're going to go, you know what, this
may not be the best way to measure it,
but this would be great. So we can
update ways we want to measure this and
see if they're effective and in specific
tasks to meet them. Um
the last thing is
lost my place. Uh handbook updates. Uh
I want to thank Christie. she um uh uh
mentioned that one of the things having
the same rules for late work across the
board. Every teacher was able to weigh
in on that in multiple PLC groups. Um
and then we flushed it up to department
chairs and admin and then we flushed it
up to a final version. It truly went
through a well vvetted process. But
thanks to Christie, she goes, "Hey, I
see that it's in the staff handbook
because they're the ones grading. Why
not put in the student handbook?" So the
second she mentioned that to Matt, I
went right in there. It's already in the
handbook. So when we make that link live
again, when the handbook's approved, it
will be there for everyone to see. She
also pointed out um and I thank her for
that. uh a year and a half ago as part
of handbook updates back in 20 20 late
24 25 uh we adopted
uh a protocol for
rules shared across the board for
reassessing a summit. So every kid,
every teacher operating by the same
rules. It's been in place. It's been
working well. But Christy pointed out,
hey, I know I see it's in the student
handbook. Shouldn't we have that in the
staff handbook? So, good news, it's
already there. So, both of those things
are in both handbooks. Um, really pretty
straightforward, simple things to do.
And then you'll notice a couple other
tweaks which I'm happy to talk in detail
about. Um, for example, in one of our
tiered responses for working with kids
that are struggling behaviorally,
um, our brother and sister schools at
ACS and Bees did a lot of work at, um,
>> oh, help me out on the heart, capturing
kids hearts. Um, I was fortunate to be
able to catch some of that because it
was happening at the high school was the
last two days of school, so I didn't get
all of it. Those are busy times. But
what I took away from that was we have
behavioral interventions spelled out in
our tiered response. One of them is talk
to the kid in conference. Well,
capturing kids hearts has an awesome
simple protocol to have a conference
with a kid that's effective if you're 6
years old or 16 years old. So, we're
able to pull some of that um and say,
"Hey, if you're going to have a
conference with a kid, here's a great
framework for how to do that." Um, and
then there's some other small minutia.
Again, couple years ago, there was 20,
30 of these small things, but we talked
about stuff as simple as, hey, let's get
on the same page. We don't need to see
kids lining up at the door 2 or 3
minutes before the bell rings. How about
we wait until the bell rings and then
you walk out the door? So, that seems
trivial, but now we made simple things
like that an expectation. And um the
last big takeaways with regard to the
handbook is
um hey we have an expectation already in
place approved by this board in past
recent past years related to if the
kid's failing or at risk of failing
teachers have a responsibility this is
best practices but we wrote it down to
communicate that to parents. Um, one of
the things that uh um Matt had a great
idea is, hey, we've got this incredible
student database system with Infinite
Campus. We can leverage that to give
teachers a simple way to keep a log of
those high-level communications that
they should already be doing with
teachers. And what I'm talking about is,
hey, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I had to give a
referral today to your kid for
misbehaving. Or your kid's not turning
in a bunch of his or her work. they're
either failing or at risk of failing.
So, the last couple updates were related
to, hey, if you reach that high level
intervention you're doing with a kid,
behaviorally, think referral,
academically, think a kid's failing or
at risk of failing.
The expectation is you're logging that
in the same one-stop shop in Infinite
Campus where as the administrator, I can
go in and go, "Huh, I'm starting to see
some correlation
with this kid across multiple
classrooms. This kid's getting a lot of
stuff in the log about him or her. Now,
we can really hone in on what this kid
might mean." That's a benefit to kids.
It's a benefit to the administrators.
It's a benefit to the teachers, but
ultimately it will lead to improved
outcomes for kids.
>> It's also extra work for teachers.
>> Um, yes,
>> just to be clear, and we want to note
that. Yep.
>> Because that is an extra step and it's
frustrating when you're sending an email
and documenting to have to go in and
documented in another place.
>> So, we do want to acknowledge that for
teachers.
>> Yeah. And I think I think the way to um
I'm I'm glad you brought that up. I
think the way to think about that is um
this is something that's inherent on
best practices with being a teacher. Um
teachers have to teach, you know,
top-notch lessons and they should have
some plan book in some form or function.
So really um I kind of think of this and
equate it to you keep a plan book that
captures exactly what you're teaching,
why you're teaching it, how you're going
to assess mastery. This is the version
of for those kids that rise to
um needing specific interventions, be it
instructional or behavioral, there's a
way to track that that's happening.
>> I understand the objective. I'm just
saying it's a tool
>> when you've already emailed.
>> Mhm.
>> I think so noted.
>> So noted. That's it.
>> Um I think ladies and gentlemen, uh I
think that covers my full report.
Hopefully not too much detail. Hopefully
was able to touch upon stuff that people
are maybe wondering about.
But I'm happy to entertain any
questions. You do need to approve
student handbook and the emergency
operations plan.
>> Um I don't know. Um Matt, maybe you can
answer this. I don't know if technically
the staff handbook needs to be approved,
but I think it's just best practices to
approve it regardless.
>> Yes.
>> Yep. We'll do that uh shortly.
>> Okay.
>> But yeah, with that, I'm happy to
entertain any questions. I I do want to
add um touch upon what James said. It
was pretty special. Uh uh yesterday I
saw a group of kids at music camp and
then shortly thereafter I saw a whole
slew of kids um for football and then I
saw arguably one of the biggest groups
of kids in the gym today for volleyball.
So, in the span of 24 hours, probably
about a hundred kids in the school for
athletics, for special extracurriculars,
the music stuff that Tom Stevens and
Kirk Young are doing. They don't have to
do that. They're going to be doing all
sorts of stuff. It It's cool coming in
here during the summer and you see kids
all over the place.
>> Just add to that, all summer long, um,
myself, Tom, and Yaya. uh for tennis
have done drop in tennis every Thursday
and we've had for boys and girls we
anybody showing up and we've had
actually uh some of the high school kids
but we've actually a lot of
participation out of the uh middle
school kids coming up over this summer.
So um again just another avenue for kids
to get involved and it's been going very
well.
>> That's great.
>> Any questions for David?
>> Here's to a great year.
>> Yeah.
Uh, buildings and grounds report. Uh,
Kevin Evans reports. A lot of work
getting ready for the school year.
Replacing damaged uh
the softball field dugout, fence, field
fence posts,
gym floor sanded and refinished.
>> Uh, what are we doing somewhere?
>> Sidewalk repairs. It's [clears throat]
in process.
Okay, you're [laughter]
>> question that question for years.
>> All right, the house looks really nice
though when you come in.
>> Does look nice. Yeah.
>> All right. Uh moving on to the
technology report.
Uh we've had a upgrade in the main fiber
connection,
early onboarding for incoming staff, um
new 3D printers.
>> I had a question.
>> That's okay.
>> I just wondered about the uh the
internet for the uh visitors. So, we
have a visitor internet and last year
during one of the many craft fairs they
have here, no one could get online and
they were getting very frustrated
because it connects to their credit card
machines.
>> So, I was wondering if that increased
gigabytes or whatever they are
[laughter]
if that's going to help.
>> I I can't answer that with 100%
accuracy, but I can certainly get that
answer for you. I would assume that
we're we're we're increasing it by an
additional one that that will help it.
Um, again, it's a lot of people who get
on in a short period of time. I know.
So, it does, you know, when this
happened last year, I did speak with
Matt and there is a fix to it, but it
comes with a significant cost to to put
something else in there that's more
highowered so that when we have those uh
situations, it can handle.
>> So,
>> sure.
>> But I I can certainly get that answer
for you how that's help. I just would
like to know that because again I was in
the midst of I just came into the craft
fair and I had people coming at me and
I'm like I'm not even on [laughter] the
school board.
>> Hello [clears throat] people.
>> Well it's a good thing for whatever
program utilizes the school out of ours
you know.
>> Sure guess to have a reliable system. So
>> good question. Thank you.
Um all right curriculum and assessment.
Dr. Lee.
>> Thank you. Um, so I included in your
packet the SAT scores
just to give you some um idea of what
else is going on around the SAT. So in
the past after every grading quarter I
presented you the results for embedded
honors, right? That which was at the
time was just grade nine. What we would
like to do is next month
present the embedded honors but then
also give you the drill down of the
SATs. So right now they're a whole score
number. Um it will take a little bit of
time to break those scores down by um
the different categories where kids
scored. So these are just just the
overall numbers. Some things we did this
year um is we had Bill Coleman in the
English department and Luca Frenier in
the math department. If an 11th grade
student had either of those teachers for
English or math, [clears throat] they
ran an SAT prep class or classes for
those kids. kids who didn't have them
were invited to join uh a test prep
group at a different time. Uh they the
numbers for those students are in. So 37
let me see 37 kids took part in those uh
study groups.
Of those 37,
27 of them experienced a significant
change in at least one subject and 25
experienced a significant
increase in their total score. So, we
see that it it worked. Um, I've also
reached out to um and David's going to
take take this piece over. We have a
staff member who was getting her uh
administrator certificate and needed to
do some projects for high school. So,
I've asked her to reach out to tutor.com
which is a free tutoring service
provided by the state and uh they excel
apparently in SAT prep and some of our
kids even use it right now. So, she's
kind of looking into that and seeing how
we can better utilize that, not just for
SAT, but for different tutoring
opportunities.
>> Um,
uh, actually, Bill Coleman also turned
his study hall into an SAT prep for kids
who wanted it. So, the good news is we
have teachers who are willing to just
try different things at all different
kinds of times that might work for kids.
So the hope is that as we move forward
and we continue to incorporate more of
these things that our our scores will uh
show an improvement.
Um and the PSAT kids did better. The
ones who took it did much better. Uh
going forward uh starting next year we
are going to do the PSATs in 9th grade
and 10th grade. So that should also uh
play a part.
That's all I have for SAT scores uh
until next month.
Uh over the past uh two days, today was
our second day, there is a group called
the New Hampshire Secondary Innovation
Project and it is a grassroots
uh uh group of people, a group of
educators from all around the Lakes
region. So we have Moltenboroough's
there, Governor Wentworth, uh, Guilford,
Interlakes, and us. So we sent
representatives there, people who wanted
to go. And the idea was to use our local
community and our local educators to see
how we can really improve learning for
kids. And it was that open because every
school uh really had an opportunity to
work with these mentors to see where do
we see kind of the struggles with kids
with whatever engagement um I mean
actually engagement was was the big one.
even behaviors. We talked about those
and through that project we are creating
a uh a system that we can bring to the
rest of the staff at the school to to
get their feedback on how they would
feel implementing some of these things.
That's as much as I can give you right
now because it's really we're doing like
one thing at a time. So hopefully well
by tomorrow afternoon we should have
nailed down uh our procedure and what
our target is for actually all three
schools. And I'm really proud to say
that I threw it out to people and it was
grades 7 through 12. I threw it out to
our teaching staff. We have by far the
biggest group of people. We have like 16
people there
>> and all the other schools. I think the
next closest school has four people
there. Oh,
>> so we are Yeah,
>> that's great.
>> It is really great how excited they are
um to So, it feels like these changes
are hard, but it feels like they're
starting to catch,
>> you know, people are are uh exploring
different just different and new unique
things. So,
um that is all I have.
>> Great. Thank you.
>> Any questions?
All right, Matt.
>> Yeah. Um, so I'll start off with Linda
Chef is here. So I'd ask Linda to come
up. Uh, Linda is going to talk a little
bit about open enrollment, our numbers.
Um, interestingly enough, they continue
to grow. So Linda can kind of give you
uh an upto-date as of today because it
seems like every day she sends me an
email saying uh two more. So Linda,
>> good evening everybody. Hello.
>> Um, so our open enrollment we have we
have 48 open enrollment students and one
best interest student right now. So we
have a total of 49.
>> Wow.
>> As far as returning students, we have 24
students that are returning and we have
for uh 14 new 9th graders, seven new
10th graders, three new 11th graders,
and one new 12th grader. I don't know.
Are are you interested in hearing
[music] what towns they're from?
>> I think we hold off on that until we
have the final numbers and then we can
bring that forward.
>> Um, we had three more than that, but uh,
three of them have decided not to attend
for various reasons.
Does anybody have any questions about
the open enrollment?
>> I don't think so.
>> That's good to hear. It's really
growing.
>> It is really growing. That's amazing.
>> It's really growing.
>> Yeah. And along the lines of open
enrollment, I I've been feeling some
some emails uh that have come through,
Linda. Um there there's a perception out
there now that if you've made the
decision as a district not to
participate in open enrollment or you've
limited there's this lottery or we're
just not going to approve of it. And as
I've explained to the parents, um
there's there's a law uh and the law has
been fought and we have pretty good um
direction from from the uh litigation
that's been out there. Uh so we will
continue to do what we've done and and
that's accept people. Um and I will be
sitting down with Linda and Sarah Friday
to send out the letters uh to all of the
school districts that uh students who
usually attend there are attending
Prospect Mountain High School. Those
[snorts]
individuals are very excited to come.
>> They're they're panicking a little
because they're getting letters from
their district saying, "No, you can't
go."
>> Um so they're calling me and I'm
assuring them that yes, they can. It's
the law. They can come here. So um
there's a a lot of very excited parents
uh and students. We've had them all tour
the school and they're just so pleased
with what they see and they're so happy
to be here and so happy to have
>> At a school like Prospect,
>> just a comment. So, um, as I like sign
people up for drivers ed, I've heard a
lot of comments from open enrollment
parents saying like, "Oh, the school's
amazing." And so just they're they feel
very welcomed by the guidance office and
the tour. and I've heard great things.
>> I I I just want to add that
throughout this summer, Linda and her
team have been meeting with additional
students, giving them tours. Yesterday
alone, Linda was in the midst of
planning out study halls, and she
stopped everything to give a tour to
three kids. And so, I was able to
witness that firsthand. Um it's a
testament to what they're doing to
really explain what we have to offer
here, but it is it's increasing as you
heard. So they're doing that more and
more um with all the stuff they have
ongoing. And from what I saw Miss Sour
and Miss um Chef recently yesterday and
today, they're doing great. And I just
wanted to make sure I gave her that
plug.
>> Is there like a pen that you give them?
>> A pen?
>> Yeah. like to put oh somebody said
something about a Timberwolf like pen
[laughter] about it sound like very
positive like almost like when you go to
a college you know they felt wanted and
so I think that was very
>> I did give them all of a coupon um to go
to the main office when they start in
the fall to get a t-shirt from Mr. L.
>> Well that's cool
>> I should be expecting that
>> a t-shirt or or andor maybe a pizza a
free pizza so
>> [laughter]
>> or a 15minute one-on-one conversation
with your
>> or you could just sit and talk.
[laughter] You can't get in trouble if
you're sitting with the principal. They
might take advantage.
>> Feel like this is be what's behind door
number three. [laughter]
>> Does anybody have any other questions?
>> No. Thank you.
>> Keep it up. Thank you.
>> So, we'll update you again in September
if that number changes uh and and sort
of any updates that we get uh through
open enrollment. Um, so last week, um,
we had our administrative retreat where
we took, uh, all of our administrators,
our coaches, our IEP team chairs, uh,
Cold Spring Farm, a beautiful facility
to go up there and, uh, they do a great
job in hosting us every year and being
an opportunity to just to be away from
the schools and have uninterrupted time.
Uh, you know, our focus up there really,
uh, were four key areas was building a
strong leadership team. Um we have a few
new people added into the group and when
you add new people in um you got to
spend some time doing some some sort of
team building stuff. Um I challenged the
each of the principles to come up with
an activity. Um we had uh the tower of
strengths uh where Janice Christian we
went around the room and as the days
progressed sort of looked at what people
have for strengths. Um and it was really
interesting. we just kind of gave them
this is what we're doing and everyone at
the end of the day had somebody had made
a comment about everybody in the room.
So there wasn't somebody where at the
end of it was sort of like oh Matt's got
nobody said any good thing about him. So
so it kind of showed a little bit about
what people were doing. Um how he did a
an escape room uh which was really
interesting to kind of see. Yep. He put
a lot of time and effort into it. It was
the the way in which different people
and part of the reason why we did that
was to kind of see the different
strengths that people come to together
with and and people that were new to our
team jumped right in and took on a
leadership role and were sort of working
with people and then they would step out
and somebody else would step in and it
was really neat to kind of see like if
you've done escape rooms you kind of
know what it is and some of them hadn't
done it so they were like running over
here this group was over there and
they're like wait a minute here we got
to come together. Um, so there was a lot
of things there. And then David did a
great activity um with a bigger group
because we added in our team reps and
our department heads. Um, so he did a
great activity on Wednesday where we
started off blindfolded um and uh were
giving uh directions by a not so very
nice person um giving us the directions.
Uh and so we had to follow them
blindfolded and it had to do with like
pick up the red colored pencil and draw
a square. uh pick up the yellow and do
this. And so he kind of talked about
like what happens when you sort of here
you go and you really don't have
direction or you that piece of it. Then
he brought him back and then the second
time around the person giving the
instructions was much nicer. They kind
of explained it a little bit better.
They went a little slower. The other
person on the team was helping that
person. So whether So I had Linda giving
me directions blindfold and I had Chris
and um so it got to the point
>> if you want me to share it with
>> it wasn't very nice but it but again it
was that idea of bringing the team
together and really kind of working and
seeing the different qualities and the
different things that people bring to
the table. While we have coaches and
while we have uh IEP team chairs and
department heads and that they're not in
a leadership role as it is as it
pertains to observations, evaluations,
but they are leaders in our building and
utilizing their strengths and utilizing
their historical perspectives to help
support the things that we're doing and
having them a seat at the table to do
that is very powerful. And so that's
kind of how we went through that
process. Part of it was David explained
his goals tonight. um looking at how our
goals, but making sure that we have
measurable items that go along with
those goals and then some tasks, right?
And those tasks again are leaning on
those people sitting at the table as we
move forward. Um and again, you know, we
always talk about planning, but how do
we do the action? And that really was
what that other piece was. Okay, what
are we going to do when we hit the
ground running? Um you know, we all come
out in the school year for those of you
that are in education or been part of
that, you know, there's an excitement,
right? and then the excitement stays and
then September rolls around October
november and if we don't keep that that
focus going we sort of fall back into
those habits that we're used to and
accustomed to right and not that they're
bad habits but if we're trying to change
or we're trying to do different things
we've got to make sure that that's at
the forefront uh each conversation so um
what we also were looking at challenging
our administrators and coaches and that
uh to look beyond the titles because
again um there's it's a collaboration
and we work collaboratively good things
happen. We focused on five areas when it
comes to leadership. Um we talked about
vision uh developing and communicating a
shared vision for student success. Uh
relationships, building leadership
capacity and others. Obviously
instruction has to be at the forefront
how we're strengthening our teaching and
learning culture, creating a safe,
supportive, and positive school culture.
Dave alluded to um his goals. It wasn't
specific to building relationships or
trust between teacher and student stuff
like that. it's across the board. So, um
we have to have faculty and staff who
who are trust us and are believe in us
and have conversations with us and vice
versa along with the kids. So, it's a
it's across the board and then obviously
management which is a piece of all of
this, right? And so, we feel like by
having these five together that gives us
a balanced leader. Um we also have a
rubric that goes along with that so
people can look at where they're at and
what they can do uh or where there's
some of the areas where they need some
support in. and I've asked them to kind
of give me that area those areas so that
we can work with them on that piece of
it. So we're continuing to grow each
time. Um as a result of all these
conversations, we started to think about
um the why. You know, everything that we
do, we should have a why behind it. And
so I had asked them to just start
talking about some of the things that
we've accomplished over the last four
years. A lot of them are still works in
progress, and that's okay. But when we
started to put them all down, you start
to look at it and go, "Wow, we've done a
lot of work in a short period of time
between embedded honors, between our
literacy committees, our PLC's. I won't
read it all to you." Um, but as we
started to go through that, there were
pillars that kind of started to stand
out. Um, and those pillars are
coherence. And so looking at a K through
12 curriculum alignment uh
standardsbased, we've heard a lot over
the last couple years how we're really
coming together at our elementary
schools and following up to the high
school. Um Chris's work this week is
just continuing to add to that. Uh you
know, people are talking about, okay,
when we go to your school, you come to
our school, this is what we'll be
talking about. So those conversations
are the same at our elementary schools,
which is fascinating for me because I
think that's important to make sure that
our kids are having similar experiences.
So having that K through2 uh alignment,
access and equity, uh again, we want all
of our kids to have opportunities to
reach their expectations, whatever those
might be, but also understand that there
are going to be kids that need those
appropriate supports and things of that
nature. How are we going about doing
that? Right? Those are focus areas that
we continue to work on because it's an
area I I I feel we can get better at.
Engagement, we heard about that earlier.
Uh student voice and choice. As I told
Alton Board last night, this isn't about
a student saying, "Hey, you know, I
don't want to write a five paragraph
paper. I just want to do a three because
that's my choice, right?" It's not about
that. It's about the fact that there are
things that they could write about that
pertains to them while making sure that
they're hitting the the standards that
are in place. Um so again we continue to
work on that. Our our our mission here
is personalized learning. So we want to
continue with that piece of it. And then
that relationship piece we all know uh
with relationships we can really move
kids in a great direction from that. So
taking all that information uh we looked
at sort of that sort of vision piece uh
and we came up with this you know every
student every classroom every year. Uh
and really trying to focus on those four
pillars those how they're
interconnected. And we feel like if we
can continue to move that in this
direction that we're going to be very
successful. And if you look at the last
sort of piece of that that statement
there, um students need for life beyond
our schools. Uh oftentimes we put for
college or we put a specific path,
right? And the idea is is that every kid
has their own path. And so if their
pathway is college, then great. We're
going to continue to work. We're going
to offer the classes that we can so that
they're set up for success when they go
off to college or if they go to a tech
school or whatever that might be. If
they're looking to enlist, what are we
doing to help support that child to make
sure that he or she is is having that
piece of it? Our school counseling
department does a great job with that as
well. And then if they're going to the
workforce, are they taking classes up at
Kingswood um and sort of getting some
trades into them, right? We probably
have one of the largest groups of kids
that go up there. uh and we usually
start at the sophomore level and we'll
continue to do that, you know, thanks to
your your um funding of that piece of
it. So, we're can continue to build off
of that. So, again, giving kids every
opportunity even here at the high school
with the CAD and the 3D printing, we're
offering things where kids can really do
some exploratory stuff. Um Derek
Papacino has I think I don't know how
many thousands of pounds of steel coming
in uh for his for his welding program.
So all of these things we're putting in
here uh as as a way of really kind of
having our vision moving forward. This
doesn't stop our individual schools of
looking at a vision for them in that
particular place. But when they develop
those visions, it's going to align to
what we're trying to do as the big
umbrella as we go forward. So u that's
what we've been working on uh with our
leadership team. Uh it's been great to
see the different people coming in and
the excitement uh across the board.
Uh, a couple other things in your
packet. You have a budget timeline. Um,
one of the things that we're doing this
year is we're we're putting the
timelines all together. Uh, with
Barnstead going to SB2, that speeds up
that timeline. Um, so in talking with
Heidi, Heidi felt like if we could do it
all at the same time, it just makes
sense as we as we build it. Um we're
we're when we get into the SA merger,
we'll talk a little bit about some of
the things in addition to the
traditional budgets that we have to now
do as a result of some of the new house
bills.
Um Pittsfield, one of the things
Pittsfield reached out uh to a variety
of schools, I don't know how many. Um
I'm assuming quite a few. Um they had
asked that they have a group of people
who are exploring uh high school
options. Um, and they gave us some
information about how many students they
have. Uh, they asked us a variety of
questions that went along with that
piece from, you know, what do we have
for AP, what do we have access to,
career technical centers, all those
other things, athletics. Uh, and our
team got together and we put together a
response to them. In addition to the 95
students for high school, they also
reached out as the potential of what
would it look like in grades seven and
eight. Um, and so they were asking about
what the capacity was. uh whether it be
at Alton or Barnstead. Uh and so we
we've we've finished that request. You
can click on that link and read through
it. Um while the timing of it was not
the greatest in terms of the the
turnaround time, I think it was a good
exercise for us because it really gave
us an opportunity to kind of look at,
hey, what makes us special? Um you know,
and and so as we started putting it all
together, I think when you read through
it, uh I think it's pretty impressive.
And um you know, who knows? We we'll
know what the future holds, but we'll
certainly continue to work with them and
I'll keep you up to date uh as we go
through that.
>> You have the SAU merger. Um Tim Tim
submitted. Do you guys have that in your
packets?
>> Yep. Um so we've had a couple meetings.
Uh and so we've started the conversation
about um the SAU meeting, the merger
part of it. the first meeting uh we had
our school district lawyer come in and
kind of just give us an overview uh of
what uh we are tasked with doing uh and
the timeline of events. Um so
technically if we're going to move
forward with an SAU merger uh we have to
have our plan uh approved with a public
hearing and to the state board of
education in November um so that they
can take a look at that and approve
that. And once the state board approves
it, then we start uh the warrant
articles and we start some of those
hearings. So, it's a pretty tight
timeline. The good part is is that a lot
of what we already do will be part of
that plan. So, we'll we'll be working
with that as we go along there. Um some
of the things that popped up uh was um
and we'll talk more about it um is is
around the funding sources um and making
sure how how it how the SAU merger would
be funded. So, we wanted we needed some
clarification and so we'll get that for
our next meeting which is next Monday.
So, we'll continue to keep you up to
date uh on how that works. Um, and
lastly, I just I I want to I want to
throw a shout out to our shopper image.
Uh, they have done a phenomenal job uh
coming in. Uh, some of the stuff they
did on their own uh and didn't charge us
because they just wanted it to look nice
and I think when you pull up and you
look uh they did a fantastic job um and
sprucing up the place, if you will. So,
I just wanted to give them a shout out.
I know they're they're new to us this
year, so I do appreciate their attention
to detail.
>> Right.
>> I think that's it.
>> Okay. Any questions for Matt?
No. Right. Thank you.
>> All right. So, we'll move on to action
items.
Um,
for the
prospect faculty handbook,
I'm going to
>> make a motion to approve the PMHS
faculty handbook
with revisions as noted.
>> Okay. Any comments? Anything else to
bring up? We have a couple more things.
Sorry. Um, so the handbook that was in
our board packet was not the live
document. So that was prior or that's
the prior version to what um, David
discussed in adding the two pieces to
each handbook. Um, there I did have a
question about uh, the summit of retake.
So, I just made a quick copy since we
don't have the actual copies in hand um
on the student handbook page 32
uh at the bottom of the page where it
says students will not be allowed to
retake a summitive more than once if
their initial score is a 90 or higher.
Is that
the initial score being the initial test
that they took or is that the initial
retake that they took? So, uh, it
this is a question when we first went
through this, this was a point that we
really stopped on and talked about quite
a bit.
Uh that language there is designed to
um
uh uh try to work with and have guidance
for um if a kid gets a 90 and they want
to reassess and they get a 98
um to not keep reassessing six more
times to try to go from a 98 to a 99 and
then from a 99 to 100.
>> Correct. Um, and that is an extreme
example, but it wasn't unheard of. So,
that language was specifically designed
and vetted to flush out, hey, the whole
idea of this reassessment of a
summitative is to those kids that didn't
meet the minimum thresholds, they need
to get some retioning, do some more work
on formatives, and get there,
>> right? um we don't want to have this
process for a kid trying to do multiple
retakes to go from a 98 to a 100.
>> Um and so that is specifically what's
that saying. So if you get a 90 already
um yeah absolutely like there's clearly
you know in theory 10% you didn't do um
but then after that all right we're
going to put the brakes on.
>> Does that help? Does that clarify? No,
because my question about that is the
how does that affect the embedded honor
student who's trying to maintain an
honor standing? Let's say they get a 92
on a test and they have to maintain a 95
in the class
>> to get the honors. So that rules out
that student from retaking
a test.
>> So I I think there's a couple there's a
couple factors that play here, right?
the 95 is the average across the
quarter.
>> I understand. Y,
>> but
>> but I
>> if if the student needs a 95, like
they're at a 95 and they need to get a
95, like if they missed it by a little
bit.
>> Yeah, I I I completely understand.
>> I just don't want a student losing out.
>> Yeah, I'm with you. And I think it's
important to remember that um summitives
aren't the only thing factored into the
overall grid. So there's the formative
grades, too. So from an average
standpoint, if the kids's one or two
points off, they still have the
formatives that are weighing into that
overall quarter average.
>> And and also, we have a lot of teachers,
and we talked about this briefly, too,
right? Um
we're hoping to be pushing this school,
and I think it could be conversations in
the coming months. Um
a single summitive in a quarter is the
minimum threshold. We really want
teachers to be doing this more and more.
And so if teachers are doing this more
and more, having a single summitative,
it it can be more high stakes than if
something you're doing every few weeks,
>> right? [clears throat] And I just don't
want an opportunity to be not given to a
student that is wants to ensure that
they're going to hit and maybe they do
great one
semester and then they get a 90 in
another semester but it all averages out
to a 95. You know what I mean? Like I I
just
>> but I also think there needs to be
consequences and I think we need to not
be encouraging gradebubbing which is
>> what we're talking about
>> is oh well I didn't study so I'm just
going to retake it and retake it until I
get what I need. I I think there's a
fine line between making a student
accountable, making them prepare and
understanding the
importance of the test and allowing them
to improve.
>> I think the glitch is the one summitive.
I think that's not enough.
>> You know, if you have only one summitive
and they have a poor grade on it, then
that does affect 70%.
>> Is that
>> that's the minimum
>> that that's u
>> it's tough. Some of the quarters come
really tight and then you got some snow
days and it it it can happen for sure.
>> It can happen. I'm just saying
>> but right it's it's tough. It's tough. I
think the other picked up I've always so
my experience having a senior like I
can't think of any time that she didn't
have at least three summitives like
within a semester like so there would be
an opportunity to
>> more so more often than not it's it's
that experience but there are times when
it is one summitive but I think the
other piece too is that some of the
frustrations from the faculty were okay
I got a 91 I want to reassess I want to
reassess you know in two days
>> that's not fair
>> right and then I reassess well I I
didn't like what I got. I want to
reassess again. And so, so I think the
process isn't just necessarily you get
to reassess when you want to reassess.
It's more them working with the teacher
so that when they do reassess,
>> there's a sense of I understand the
material versus I'm just going to keep
doing it until I get
>> because there is a lot of time that goes
into that. You reassess it.
>> Exactly. What's that?
>> It could turn into a nightmare.
>> How many times do we retest? 10.
Okay. Well, I guess we'll see how that
plays out.
>> I just uh my my takeaway from this
conversation and you asked a question.
Um it was a very short time ago where
there was no minimum expectations for
the number of summitives and formatives.
We now have that. That's a huge win and
that's great progress. I think the next
questions and this is one of those nuts
and bolts thing that we can put through
a PLC that isn't necessarily like how to
provide interventions, you know, if a
kid's struggling behaviorally. This is
one of those things where okay, for 20
some odd years, we didn't have a minimum
threshold for a quarter for the number
of summitives and formatives. Now we do.
We've had that in place for about a full
school year. Now we're perfectly primed
to go, okay,
do we want to raise the bar a little
bit? We're raising the bar with embedded
honors and increasing that academic
rigor. I think that's a great question
and the beauty is is that what I hear
from this is it's a great thing to
discuss with department chair, with
staff, PLC, it's a great topic. The
beauty is a single tweak like I'm making
this up maybe two summitives and seven
or eight formatives is a nice minimum
threshold. um we have the ability to
make that tweak and I have the ability
to come to you October, November,
December, January, February and be like
have a single addition to add for an
update to the handbook and we can bring
it into reality. So what I'll do um as
the principal hearing this is I'll take
that back to the team, the crew, all of
our boots on the ground. Hey, do we want
to talk about this? We've had it in
place. Do we want to start to raise that
bar? Well, and I wonder if I don't know
if there's a way to really gather this,
but like
if teachers are finding that with
embedded honors, if they have children
that they kind of expected to achieve
that honors that are ending up with the
93, but they're seeing that level of
work that they're doing. Like to me,
that's kind of the test, right? So, it's
that ace student that pre-mbbedded
honors would have just taken the honors
course
>> and now has to meet that threshold of a
95
>> and right that's what I'm yes I feel
like I'm hearing and as an like I can
understand that like that would be a
frustrating spot to be if I'm a great
student I'm always trying my best I'm
always doing great quality work but
testing's not really my thing and I'm
landing at a 93 because I get a 90.
>> Well, that's where I think you'd also
hope that there would be different
summitives than just tests.
>> You know, you would have those group
based project learning all that, right?
So, maybe the teachers would see,
>> right?
>> That that's not really existing. Like
they're seeing kids either get the
honors or be more of a B student and not
>> some of the smartest kids are not good
test takers. That's a given. So, right,
a teacher should be able to give them
other ways.
>> I think Dave said it best though. I
think that this really conversation
really belongs in the PLC's with the
teachers
>> and I think that's where it needs to
start and then we need to get their
input instead of sitting here making up
an arbitrary number because it's not our
goal.
>> Okay. Uh, and this may be for future
because I'm curious about numbers for
embedded honors, but Eliza, you hit a
good point, and that's parents felt
frustrations when their kids were
landing at 93.
>> They should have been getting in years
past, they would have been in that
honors class. They didn't get the honors
credit.
>> So, I'm we're going to learn. We're
going to figure out how things look. And
I can appreciate that. But I think we do
need to come back to that eventually
>> to make sure that this
>> and we'll have a
>> and that's another maybe that's another
PLC thing is
>> is that measurement
>> yeah we'll have that realistic we'll
have that comparison even though they're
two different cohorts but we'll have
that comparison for next
>> meeting
and that'll be that'll be a good jumping
off point right so see what the data
shows us
>> yep okay all right so we'll leave that
alone then um so for the faculty
handbook. We'll leave it as you've
corrected it
>> and um there's no f further changes. So
the motion will stand unless anybody
else has anything else to add or change.
>> All right. So all in favor
>> opposed.
Next
>> and walk.
>> Make a motion to [laughter] approve the
PMHS student handbook uh with revisions
as noted.
>> I'll second.
>> Any discussions?
>> When they put in a missing when this the
the language here talks about missing
assignment, they have to add the word
missing. Does that alter their GPA
like their current grade or is it just
marked as missing so parents and
students are aware?
>> Great. Great question. So missing
signifies it has not yet been turned in.
It factors temporarily as a zero.
Okay?
But if the work's turned in, then it's
actually graded and in theory it won't
end up being a zero. The importance of
putting in that mark as missing is a
parent could go weeks thinking their kid
is passing. Mhm.
>> but has not turned in work and it's the
grade that's there is representative of
past scoring. So the missing has always
calculated as a zero. Um but it's really
important. Um and I think I breezed over
this. It's really important that in real
time if the student doesn't turn in his
or her work,
>> the teacher, we're not talking about
grading anything. put that in as missing
because that it will instantly tell a
parent,
>> oh [clears throat] the the grade
suddenly jumped,
>> not going up tonight.
>> Yep. Went down. Why is that? Um uh
related to that in that vein, again,
leveraging the tools at our disposal is
to leverage like Infinite Campus to
communicate to parents. It can pull if
they're entered missing assignments and
go, "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, here's a
weekly email of the missing assignments
your child has for his or her name. Now,
hopefully there's none. The reality is
with teenagers, some parents will be
getting emails about missing
assignments. So, that's really the the
calculus behind that. Does that help?
>> It's a living it's a living grade.
>> It it's not stagnant until the quarter
ends,
>> right? But there it does affect your
athletic eligibility. And I'm just
curious how that works. uh they they put
in a new plan in place like as a mom
that has a child that doesn't always
turn in his work. Um like so if that
happens so they put in the missing then
they I forget the actual time period.
>> Yeah. Don't they have a period?
>> You're given like a period of time to
get it done. And I will say the
teachers, my experience years ago was
that sometimes grades were taking
forever to get put in, but since we've
put that in place, they are on top of
it. So like, you know, talk to my son,
he goes back, he does it, the next day
the grades updated, and then they never
get put on like probation as long as
they do it within that time frame.
>> As long as it can still be turned in.
again. I mean, if a kid doesn't turn in
work and it's a zero and they can't make
it up, it's zero.
Okay, I've got to turn do my work.
>> Four years ago, we we didn't have this
and you know, teachers would leave it
blank and then all of a sudden it's a
week before the end of the quarter and
like, oh, okay, you know, Matt hasn't
turned it in. Zero. Zero. All of a
sudden, a parent goes, "My child had an
87 average and now has a 50. What's
going on?" And they have a week before
the quarter. So, this is a way of just
saying, "Hey, it's out there." it as
soon as you
>> It's a great communicator. Yeah, it's
it's much better.
>> But it's also a way for the kids to plan
because one of the things I heard a lot
was I'll be fine. I'll be fine because
their sense of time and how long it's
going to take them.
>> So, I felt that this would be crazy. It
would just be more realistic for the
kids, right, to be able to start to plan
their own future instead of like the
example Matt just gave and now it's two
weeks and they're panicking
>> and teachers are like the corner closes
in two weeks and I've got, you know, 15
kids that are panicking. So, just it it
is important for parents, but it's also
really important for kids to take that
first step to being able to monitor
>> their own Yeah. their own
responsibility.
Um, I had a stupid one. I didn't even
make copies of it, but it page 22 of the
student handbook says, uh, for cafeteria
and food services that menus are
published in the newspapers and on the
school's [laughter and clears throat]
website. Can we just remove in the
newspapers, unless you want to start
publishing that [laughter]
>> using a typewriter?
>> They used to be in the newspapers.
>> Uh,
great catch. There's
>> there's there's there's language in
handbooks that have been there
[laughter] since the beginning and it's
only until someone goes through and
reads every single word will you find
the little hidden gems like so to answer
your question that was a good one. Um,
if you want to include that as part of
it,
>> I don't want to see it in the newspaper.
That's all right. That
>> can we remove it from the
>> Before the link goes live as part of the
approval.
>> And newspapers. I will remove that as
noted.
>> So [laughter] noted
>> and that's it. Any other [laughter]
comments?
>> But I'm impressed that you read that so
carefully.
>> I had a lot to do last night. [laughter]
All right. Um, so the motion stands and
all in favor.
>> I oppose. Thank you. All right. Athletic
handbook.
>> Make a motion to approve the 2026 27
athletic handbook.
>> I will say that we we will be making one
revision. Um, and because it's for all
three schools, we're going to actually
add in the percentage of uh of the grade
where you become ineligible. So, it's
very clear for kids uh and for parents
for that. So, we'll we'll make that
adjustment.
Thank you. Anything else?
>> Does um we have to make the motion as
amended then?
I'd like to revise my
>> sorry
>> motion to approve the 2026
27 athletic handbook with revisions.
>> Okay. Thank you. All right. Anything
else? All in favor?
>> I opposed. Okay. Thank you.
Function transfer.
>> Make a motion to approve the function
transfer.
Uh
Uh $53,668.
>> Any questions or comments?
No. All right. All in favor?
>> I opposed.
>> Make a motion accept the audit
engagement letter for Claus Sanderson
for an estimated cost of $10,750.
Could go up.
>> Second. Anything
to add to that? Okay. All in favor?
>> I oppose. Okay.
>> And the EOP.
>> Make a motion to approve the 2627 EOP.
>> A second.
>> Anything to discuss? We do it in
non-public, but
>> Yeah. Right.
>> Do we have anything that we need to
discuss?
>> No.
>> No. Okay. So, we can move forward. All
in favor? I
>> I make a motion to accept the
resignations of Aaron Thompson, Corey
McGregor,
>> Cody
>> Cody, excuse me, Isaiah Anderson, and
Eugene Reed.
>> All right. And all in favor? I
>> I opposed. Okay.
>> All right.
>> We have these two down here
>> and then
bring the bottom.
>> Oh, yeah. Do we need to rehire? We have
a rehire.
>> We have It's down at the bottom.
>> Yeah, down at the bottom.
>> Make a motion to approve the uh hiring
of Jennifer Martin and Aaron Thompson.
>> All in favor?
>> Accept.
>> Randy, you had a question.
>> I have a question because I can't
remember when we discussed it.
Why are we paying varsity coaches
different stipens?
Why are they not all the same? there.
>> I think one of the means we came in some
depends on length of season, how much is
involved in a season. So, it's it's
different. You look at other schools,
it's also different and same as well,
too. Yeah.
>> They were different.
>> Yeah. Which is pretty which is pretty
typical.
>> All right. Uh I'll go ahead and
>> open public input. There's nobody here.
Not hearing anything. I will close
public input.
uh future agenda items and follow-up
So,
>> the embedded honors update, uh our SAT
breakdown,
>> budgets,
>> what is that?
>> Uh probably update where we're on with
the budget process.
>> Budget. Yep.
>> Uh James is coming back in to talk about
numbers for athletics,
>> SA merger. [clears throat]
>> SU merger. Yep.
>> Uh opening day of school. Sure. We'll
get an update how that went. Yep.
including
freshman orientation day and all those
kind of good updates.
>> Yep. All right. Uh any other business
thing?
>> You want to talk about the eval system?
>> Oh, yes. So, uh for the superintendent
eval system, um I've been doing a little
research into finding something that's
more standardized and just well-rounded
to be fair to us and Matt. Um so, We do
have a meeting tomorrow with um one
company that offers that kind of a
service and it would be an online uh
evaluation type program. Uh also looking
into some other uh free um like the
state of Massachusetts has a great um
system set up with all the metrics and
rubrics and like what kind of data you
need to pull to evaluate and it's very
um it's free, [laughter] right? But so,
um, we're in the process of looking into
getting a a good setup for Matt and
that's great and for us for, uh,
February when we evaluate, right?
>> My only question is, shouldn't this be a
subcommittee comprised of both towns
looking at this
>> because it's you got three different you
got three three different schools and
two different school boards. So, it
should be on the same page of
>> agreeing.
>> Yep. Just my thought that if there's
>> volunteering is that what I
>> interest for the next meeting maybe we
can discuss anyone that wants to partake
in that it's just more of like factf
finding missions right now not agreeing
to do anything
>> no I get that but you would you want
opinions from the two different schools
fact finding so
>> if there's someone interested
>> we can discuss it at the next meeting
>> okay
>> think about it
all All right. Um, I think we're good.
>> Make a motion to go to nonpublic under
RSA 91- A 3. Uh, I I
see.
Roll call. Carol.
>> Orin.
>> Yes. Yes.
>> Thank you. Okay. All right.
>> We don't have a non-public
>> section. We don't have a nonpublic.
where we do like we