08/13/2026 - 5:30PM

Speakers are labeled SPEAKER_N. This transcript is machine-generated.

Recording

A roll call, please. Melissa.
>> Please bear with me. I am not Steph.
A. Adair.
>> Here.
>> J. Ackerman.
>> C. Fountain.
>> K. Giles.
B. Gelassen.
>> Say it again.
>> B. Gelassen.
>> R. Loicano.
>> K. Van Bergen Buto.
>> Thank you.
Do you have a quorum?
Please rise and join in the pledge.
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. You.
First item on the agenda is the approval
of minutes from July 16th.
Is there a motion?
>> Motion.
>> Second.
>> Seconded by Adam.
>> Any questions on the minutes?
>> [clears throat]
>> Seeing none, all in favor?
Any opposed?
The motion carries unanimously.
Next is the approval of the manifest.
>> So moved.
>> Moved by Ben.
>> Seconded by Kathleen.
>> Any questions on the manifest?
Seeing none, all in favor?
Any opposed? The motion carries
unanimously.
Next is public comment period.
Seeing no members of the public,
we'll
keep the public comment period open
until
6:02.
Next is the superintendent's report. Mr.
Scott.
>> All righty, we're going to start out uh
you're going to see a series from Mike
over the next month or two relative to
special ed
uh the funding for special ed and a
recent audit. So, he's going to start
with a recent audit tonight. So, we're
going to start with him
uh and then I'll go through my report,
my written report.
And I believe you should have received a
copy of it.
>> You might have two copies there. One on
the board and one on the board and one
that I just gave you. So.
Give me a minute just to see what else
is connected to do before.
Good.
All right.
Back in
spring of '25,
for those of you who were here, um I let
you know that Department of Education uh
had informed us that during the spring
of '26, this past spring, we would have
our um 6-year audit of special education
programming.
And we were the fifth cohort in a group
of 12 uh that is going through the
6-year cycle right now.
And so I wanted to report out to you on
what the Department of Education found.
Um and where are some of the highlights
and a couple of areas that we need to
take some corrective action on. So, I'll
walk through this with you this evening
and then uh if you've got any questions,
throw them out whenever you're ready.
And uh as Ron said, um I'm going to be
presenting to you in a few weeks and uh
information about special education uh
funding. And then if there's something
else in regards to special education or
504, any of the other areas that fall
under the umbrella of student services
that uh you would like more information
about, I'd be happy to come back and
present you with an overview uh kind of
the way we did with your your special ed
back in the spring.
All right. So, program approval and
general supervision monitoring,
otherwise known as the PA GS process.
Every 6 years each school district in
the state of New Hampshire must be um
audited and monitored by the Bureau of
Special Education down in Concord
because every few years they are audited
by the federal Department of Education
on the same metrics. And so uh that uh
process trickles down from the feds to
the state to local.
Um two things that go on with this,
they're looking to do uh oversight in
regards to special education mandates
and making sure that we are being
faithful to IDEA. And second is
identifying training needs that might
exist either within the local district
or across the state.
So, the timeline,
um again, I was notified in spring of
'25, but the official notification comes
in January of '26, this past uh winter.
And at that time, we go into a process
called discovery, which is they tell us
we're going to be coming and auditing
you and these are the things that we're
going to be looking at. Um and these are
the student files that we are going to
be looking at as well. And we have an
opportunity between that January
notification and mid-April to go into
the files, identify those students, and
make sure that the documents that they
need to do the audit are there. And if
there are any uh obvious corrections
that need to be made ahead of time, we
have the opportunity to do that.
Beginning mid-April, they then do uh
desk audits of a number of different
areas of special education programming
and process. And then come the middle of
June, actually it was more towards the
end of June,
uh we get our pre-finding corrections,
which allows me 14 days to look at their
initial findings, see if there's
anything that I factually disagree with,
or if uh there's something that uh we um
didn't come to agreement with in terms
of did it exist or did it not exist. And
then after those 14 days, the findings
are considered valid and reliable, and
they provide me with the final
corrective actions that need to be
taken. And so, we are now in the
corrective action uh phase of that
process.
There's also four different tiers of
audits that they do, uh tier one being
um they're looking at a few things, but
they are not digging uh as deeply as
they could during a tier four audit.
Ours was a tier two audit. And the
reason being is because our annual
special education data indicators
suggested that we are operating at a
tier two level of compliance. There are
some things that need to be, uh, looked
at over the course of a year, but that's
the level that they use to decide what
the deeper audit or the broader audit is
going to take. So, that included looking
at, uh, files of 13 students and about
19 different checkpoints within each one
of the IEPs and their processes.
>> Mike.
>> Yes, sir. Oh, I'm sorry, Daniel.
>> Yeah, real quick. Do they let you know
which files they're going to be looking
at or do you get to select which files
or how how does that work?
>> Yep, they let us know which files are
going to be, um,
audited. Um,
after they've done that audit and we get
into the corrective action phase, if
there are some pieces that they found
within those files that need corrective
action, they're then going to pull
additional files sometime this school
year to take a look and see if the
corrections that we made for those
individuals initially are now trickling
into the other files as well.
>> Like the lessons learned you've carried
over to the other ones. Okay, thank you.
>> Um, there are eight audit areas. The
first is the program presentation, which
we just kind of present who we are at
White Mountains Regional School
District, what our population looks
like, how many teachers we have, how we
do business in, uh, White Mountains
Regional as far as special education is
concerned. The second is the performance
indicators, which I, uh, talked a little
bit about earlier. On an annual basis,
we get kind of a a checkup. They give us
some indications of the data that they
collect and how does it compare to the
state's data.
The educational environment analysis is
taking a look at our our resource rooms
and self-contained classrooms up to par.
The equitable services review, which is
a certain portion of our IDEA grant,
um is allowed to go to um any parent
private placed school that is within our
school district. Right now, that is
Saint John Paul Academy. And so, there
is a small amount of our IDEA grant that
goes to them. And that equitable
services process is reviewed by
Department of Education as well.
The student file review, which I talked
a bit about, our fiscal and our
financial profile, how are we using our
IDEA grant, are the activities
allowable, um how is our reporting.
Classroom observations, they'll come up
and they'll take a look at uh our uh
resource rooms, self-contained
classrooms, and then family and staffing
reviews as all part of the process.
So, the findings.
Um in areas one through four. So, area
one, the program presentation, there
were no findings of non-compliance. All
of our personnel are appropriately
certified. Our we are compliant in terms
of our procedures and our special
education handbook, and all of our forms
conform to Department of Education and
the federal standards.
Uh component number two, which is the
performance indicators, there were three
areas that they want us to take a look
at. It's not required that we look at
this, it's recommended. We're going to
look at them anyways. One is graduation
rate uh for students with IEPs. One is
proficiency rate on SAS testing for
students with IEPs. And two preschool
outcomes. Um we measure um
preschool uh student performance in a
number of different areas, baseline when
they first start the pre preschool
program, and when they [clears throat]
exit to go to kindergarten. And there
were two areas that they want us to take
a look at. One was social-emotional
functioning of those students, and the
second was general just academic and
communication skills as they're coming
out of the program as well.
Um the performance indicator for that
>> we are at 25%, the state is looking at a
38%
uh performance indicator for both of
those. So, we're a bit behind, not
horribly behind. So, I'll be working
with our preschool teachers to take
>> we're talking like one kid basically. I
mean, that would give us
>> well may one or two students
uh in terms of how they are rated, um
and those ratings are somewhat
subjective.
>> Mhm. Okay. Okay. Thanks.
>> Um area three, the educational
environments, we were compliant with all
of our educational environments. A
couple of adjustments that needed to be
made. One was we needed to apply for
resource room and a life skills resource
room at uh the the new middle school, um
and that's already been done. And then
there was a recommendation for us,
rather than having one approved resource
room in each one of the elementary
buildings, to split that one each into a
lower elementary level and an upper
elementary level. And so, we'll be
taking care of that uh very shortly as
well.
Equitable services, section number four,
uh there were a couple of findings
there, and those have either been
corrected already or are in process.
Um there were some wordage
uh that needed to go into our equitable
services
how do we identify the schools, how do
we communicate with them, how do we
provide the services. There were uh a
couple of pieces that they asked to have
added there, that's been done, and those
have been accepted.
Uh there were some missing annual forms
that we uploaded, and those have been
accepted. And then there are some um
they would like us to frequently um and
I will say quarterly meet with uh the
head of the school over at St. John Paul
Academy to just talk about how is the
service delivery going, is there
anything that is uh needing to be
changed, any new students, anything like
that. That has to be documented and then
it has to be uploaded to the state as
well. And so that will be in process
during the course of the year.
Section five, which was the IEP review.
And I would say amongst our staff, this
is the one that they were the most
nervous about because this is the one
that affects what they do day-to-day and
they're looking to see how are we doing.
So, they were looking at 13 students.
They were looking at 19 points in each
one of those IEPs for a total of 247
checkpoints
and we were compliant across 93% of
those checkpoints with the IEPs. Now,
[clears throat] I will tell you that
this was a year-long process in terms of
us looking at what is the state saying
is the standard and where
[clears throat] are we in comparison to
that standard. And so that's a process
that has been worked over the course of
the remainder of the 24-25 school year
and the beginning of the 25-26 school
year. It's ongoing,
but there's been substantial improvement
in the alignment of our IEPs with the
model that the state is looking for in
terms of what they describe as
compliance. And you can see that we've
come pretty darn close to that. So, a
couple of findings and this is the
biggest one, service delivery logs.
Whenever a student with an IEP receives
a service, we have to log that that
service was delivered. The date, the
time, was it group, was it individual,
who delivered it and what did they
deliver?
Was the student absent or was the staff
member absent? We need to keep a running
log of that and that needs to be
uploaded and made available to the
state.
That's a a legal contract between the
school district and the parents that
we're going to deliver these services
and they have the right to ask for
evidence that they're being delivered.
We have to be able to provide that.
Um we have a few issues with our logs.
Um Department of Ed liked the majority
of what they were seeing, but there were
three or four of those uh 13 student
cases where they looked at the log and
they had a hard time making the
connection between what was on the log
and what was on the IEP service page. Or
the log was complete, but it didn't have
the service provider's name on it. Or we
were missing some paraprofessional logs.
So, that's a hole in what we need to uh
take a look at. And so, over the course
of the next 60 and 90 days, the
corrective action needs to be training
of the staff. And part of that is going
to include uh updating our service
delivery log, the template for that, so
that it has all the components that the
state's looking for. Um making sure
everybody is trained on how to use it,
when to use it, where to put it when
it's filled out. Um and then there are a
couple of IEPs that we need to review
with uh a couple of families to
determine if the discrepancy between the
log and what's written in the IEP is a
result of a clerical error or errors, or
is it a result of misservices? If it's a
result of misservices, we have to make
those up. So, we need to get those
meetings done within the next couple of
weeks.
Uh there are a couple of IEPs where
there was a gap between when one expired
and the next one started. We have to do
root cause analysis as to why that
happened. Um we'll do that formal
process, but we already know the answers
for those cases. The same thing with the
missing progress report. Every quarter
or every trimester, we have to report
out on how uh the student is doing in
terms of reaching those goals. We were
missing one out of the 13.
Actually, it would be more than 13 cuz
each of the 13 students has three
progress reports every year. We were
missing one of those. They would like us
to do root cause analysis on that. We
already know the reason why it's
missing. We'll go through the process
anyways.
Um and then the last finding is on uh
two of the
Excuse me, two of the 13 cases.
We sign in to every meeting. Who's there
and what's your role? When we do an
evaluation review meeting to determine
if a student is eligible, to do an
update, we have to have certain people
sitting at the table to review those
evaluations. School psychologist, speech
pathologist, occupational therapist,
special education teachers. On two of
those cases, um we were missing uh the
names of a couple of those qualified
examiners. We were able to reproduce
those and get those to the state and
they have accepted those. So.
So that was component five. As I said,
that was the one that makes our staff
the most nervous cuz this is what they
do day in day out and I will say I'm
pretty darn proud of what they've done
uh and the rate of compliance that they
do have.
>> I like the idea of adjusting the
template logs to make it as easy as
possible for the front line workers to
fill that stuff cuz they have so much
going on that that can be an arduous
task to uh fill out that log. So if you
could make it where there's selectable
stuff for the IEP where they could just
initial that they gave like a one or two
of the three services for the I mean
>> We've got a We've got a couple of
options we're going to take a look at. A
couple of them are paper pencil and a
couple of them are electronic and uh the
auditor for Department of Education sent
me some of the logs that she's seen in
other district and and her direction to
me was Mike, bring these back to your
staff. Everybody take a look at them.
Make a department level decision and
then move it forward. So I I will say
overall uh this process has been
um
as as stressful as it was, it uh was
both enlightening and reaffirming of
what we're doing. I'll leave it at that
for the moment. Uh
The last of the the component areas,
component five,
>> the fiscal, one area we need to take a
look at is how timely we report out or
we get our monthly grant reports out.
27%
we've already had conversations with the
central office. Again, we've identified
the cause of that. We'll go through the
official root cause analysis, but we
know when we need to fix those.
On seven program observations,
unfortunately, because DOE was short
staffed this spring, they were unable to
send staff up to do observations within
the classroom. That being said, when the
lead auditor came up to do the official
onboarding after the announcement came
out, her and I did a tour of this
building and I think it was Whitefield
School and took a peek into those
programs. So, they did get to lay eyes
on the program. They just didn't do it
at the time that they would typically do
it.
Last two areas, staff survey.
There were a number of questions that
staff gave narrative responses to. These
were done in an anonymous manner.
Two of the numerical responses that I
can report out on, they were asked if
the professional development that they
received within the department is
relevant and the score was 3.8 out of
five.
If their ideas, their feedback and their
input considered when it's given, 4.3
out of five.
And there are a number of other
narrative comments in there that were
I I think they're realistic both on the
positive and the hey, could we do
kind of suggestions as well.
Last piece that they we weren't able to
to get
valid information on reliable
information is is a parent survey. And
the way that this is gathered is um, we
notify parents of students with IEPs of
the opportunity to meet with a
Department of Education uh
representative to go through it uh a
survey process.
Um, that went out on a number of
occasions inviting folks to come in. Um,
it was going to be in person in this
building, but as that week approached
and there were only two on the list, we
then switched it to a remote to see if
we would be able to get a few more
folks. At the end of the day, there were
only two who attended the remote
session. So, DOE did not draw any
conclusions uh from the parent survey.
That being said, there is a second
parent survey that's done on an annual
basis that is completely electronic and
um,
anonymous that I have results for that I
can report out on that we're fairly
comfortable with and again has some
constructive
areas for us to take a look at. The one
most in particular is
parents asking for more information
about how their students are growing
within the IEP. And that's something
that will be addressed through one of
our focus areas this year.
Uh,
so they also identified a couple of
promising practices where we're really
flying. The one uh first one is the
percentage of our students with IEPs who
are participating in the state
assessment program. Um, over the last 3
years, uh the district has met the
participation rate uh for students that
the state's set participation rate for
students with IEPs for SAS testing. And
in fact, this past year, um 100% of our
students with IEPs participated in SAS
testing.
It's uh it's a tough test for everyone
um and um I um
I'm proud of our folks, our families,
our kids for um helping our kids make
sure that they have the opportunity to
participate in that.
We're also 100% compliance on the window
of time that we're allowed by the state
and the feds between the time a student
is referred for concerns that they might
have a uh special education need and the
time we make the determination that yes
or no they do. Within that window we
have to complete evaluations, some of
which are rather lengthy
and in the middle of the winter when
kids are absent and staff are absent
sometimes that 60 days can go by very
quickly. That 60 days also includes
weekends.
When nobody's here, we don't have access
to kids, a holiday or holidays, we are
100% compliant getting those evaluations
and that decision made within the 60
days.
We also have a deadline if a student
prior to the age of three is identified
by early services as a student with a
disability in need of services, we have
to have an IEP in place the day they
turn three ready to go. We're 100%
compliant on that as well.
And then lastly
our transition plans, students who are
transitioning out of high school and
into the post secondary world, we're
100% compliant on the
requirements of those plans as well.
So, excuse me. Next steps and action
plans, as I said, there's a couple of
IEP meetings that I need to have by the
8th of September to look into that
discrepancy between the service delivery
logs and what's required in the IEP and
we'll determine whether or not that's a
functional clerical error or whether
that's a function of missed services and
again if it's missed services we'll
schedule those to be made up.
On the 11th I'll be holding my first
monthly department meeting with all of
the special educators, related service
providers to formally review the audit
results and finalize the action plan.
Many of them have already seen the
results and we've talked about them but
it will be the formal where everybody
will be together.
On the 25th of September I'm planning to
take care of the department trainings
that are required for some of the
corrective actions,
to address those. By the 9th of October,
the root cause analysis for the monthly
fiscal plans, and there was one other
that I need to do root cause for, that's
required. Those will be
completed and those will be reported out
to the state. And then lastly, by the
18th of December, just before we leave
for the holiday break, the recommended
root cause analysis on graduation rate
and the two preschool outcomes will be
completed. Those will be reported out to
the state. They're not required, but
those are pretty important measures and
metrics. And if we've got an issue
there, I want us to identify it and
determine what we're going to do to try
and change that trajectory.
So, key takeaways.
I would say the results of the audit
indicate that we've got a high level of
compliance
with what the Department of Education,
both state and federal level, are
looking for in terms of expectations and
following regulations for special
education services. We've got some work
that we need to do on our service
delivery logs, and we've got a couple of
indicators that we need to take a look
at. Again, important indicators for
student success
that are recommended, but we are going
to look at them and report out on them.
That's the audit.
Questions that you may have.
I also have the complete audit report if
anyone is interested, I'd be happy to
make that available to you. This is
going to be made available on the
district's web page under student
for the public to take a look at. But if
you have any questions, I'd be happy to
answer.
>> If you're put on the spot and had to
give us an old school letter grade for
how we did on the assessment, just for
those of us that might
better associate, there's a there's a
lot of words and slides here.
>> Yep.
>> What would you
translate this audit into?
>> I'm stuck between a B+ and an A-.
>> And I would give it a solid A- because
of the 93%
rate in which we are complying.
>> That's what I was going to say
having been through the process in some
of the other places that I've worked.
That [clears throat] I mean, they're
going to find something. You know what I
mean? And in the in the grand scheme of
things, what they found, like you said,
are things that you you've already
figured out what was going on.
You know, and take it as a learning
process for what it's for and I
I thought it looked very good and um for
for what it is, it was a great job.
>> I guess I said midway through the
program, I'm I'm happy we had the
opportunity to go through this when we
did.
Um and it's going to inform our practice
and our our process moving forward for
the next couple of years. I already have
some hints of what they're going to be
looking for 6 years from then.
and those are going to be already worked
into some of our focus areas. And I'll
I'll be presenting those to you sometime
in the near future as well.
so I'll I'll land on an A- saying
>> I'll go with that.
>> Then I would say hopefully the message
trickles down to to the workers in the
special ed department that job well done
and keep up the good work.
>> So I'll say that publicly online, I am
incredibly proud of what our special
educators, related service providers
are doing
to put us in this position.
Our partnership with our families is
incredible
and some of these things cannot be done
without a solid partnership with
families and students as well. The older
they're getting, the more frequently
they're attending IEP meetings and
they're weighing in on, yeah, that works
for me but no, that doesn't work for me.
That accommodation is helpful. That
accommodation is not helpful at all. So
it is very much a team approach. I will
also say that DOE has been great with
this process. I'll be going down on, I
believe it's the 10th of October
for an annual information day that they
hold and I'll be sitting in on a panel
about the PAX process
so that the folks who are coming in
cohorts down the line can ask questions
and get some insight into what the
process has been like. The auditor was
great. And
I've got a good working relationship
with her that again is going to continue
to inform our practice.
>> Mike, I remember
saying
a few years ago I asked you if this was
something you really wanted to do
because you were going from the
principal to
this [clears throat] department and and
you said you were looking forward to the
challenge and you wanted something
different. You exceeded challenge and I
think you're doing a really good job.
>> Well, thank you, sir. I I appreciate
that.
>> I just want to make that public.
>> I appreciate the opportunity to be in
this position. So, thank you.
>> Okay.
>> No, I'm happy with the way all of it is.
>> Excellent.
>> All right.
>> Thank you, folks. I appreciate you,
Mike.
>> Great. Thanks, Mike.
>> Um you have my written report. Little
information about kind of the opening of
school.
Just going to highlight you folks are
more than welcome to attend the opening
day district day.
It is Wednesday, August 26th from 7:30
to 10:15 starting with a breakfast and
then
Bob is going to provide a welcome. I'll
provide a welcome.
We'll go through some district-wide
information, some celebrations of years
service, recognizing new staff.
Um and then the rest of the time is
going to be building time and then the
last day is teacher day.
I'm also providing notification.
Frank, the president of the Way
Mountains Education Association reached
out with the intent to negotiate a new
collective bargaining agreement as
theirs expires June 30th, 2027.
Um, last spring we had talked about
whether to
uh, invite the school district inviting
uh, the New Hampshire
funding fairness project.
Um,
and we are on the schedule for Tuesday,
September 29th. More information will be
made available as far as exact timing
and whatnot.
They do have some interest
um, 4 to 6 weeks prior to this, so
relatively soon. They're going to
provide some information about a
stakeholder group that they might want
to get some information from
um, to get a learn about perceptions
within the community um, about school
funding
uh, to to better prepare themselves for
their presentations and presentations
statewide.
Um, I also put a piece in here from
Diane Goro relative to IEP 504 services
when it comes to services outside of the
district.
Um, there are times that
an IEP is written
um, and we have to get these services up
and going
um, and it is the legal advice that
the school board doesn't necessarily
have to accept the bids
uh, because
with Mike being the LEA, you haven't
empowered him to act on that behalf
and you formally accept it via the
manifest payment, if that makes sense.
Knowing that we are still required to
follow the bidding procedures through
that process.
>> So, we don't have to officially accept
it. It
>> Right. So, you you you're not going to
see us bringing every special ed
contract to you anymore.
>> Um, even if they exceed, obviously we're
going to keep you informed if something
big happens, you know, in non-public.
But, you'll see some of these services
through the the manifest and know that
Mike and Melissa and myself are paying
attention to the bidding procedures when
it does come time for these. We're not
just going to one provider cuz we like
them. You know, we are reaching out to
multiple providers for these services.
>> Hey Rob, are we measuring outcomes of
the services?
>> Yep. So,
they're in Mike's PAX report. Yep, the
related service providers, you know,
they're
we get services for kids, you know,
blind and deaf that we don't have the
staff, so we have to contract out.
Um there are some other services we
provide that we contract out.
Um
that is very specific to a specific
student's case.
Um and that's the other piece to it,
too, is trying to uphold student
confidentiality that we don't identify
through having you guys approve some of
these cuz there's some descriptors that
might put out like what the student
might be costing people. So.
Did that answer your question, Dana?
>> Yep. Yep.
>> Um and then some info uh House Bill
1300.
Uh the governor signed it. She wasn't
anticipating to sign it.
we're going to monitor it and there's a
piece I shared with you from Gordon
Graham from Leslie Sol Kider.
Uh Drummond and Woodsum has a thing on
uh August 25th
relative to this. $189 to attend
virtually.
>> They know how to make their money.
>> Mhm. Yeah.
But, you know, when it comes to
something big like this, you know, I'm
going to see if I can get it into a
title grant, get it approved.
cuz we want to do this right cuz it does
have huge effects on the district if
these caps go through. So, we
you know, are you Did you all read the
piece that I sent you? So, so basically
this is going on the November ballot,
which we never have stuff on the
November ballot. Um
and it is still a 3/5 requirement
relative to it, uh but we want to make
sure we can't obviously tell people how
to vote, but we need to educate them
what's happening that day on the vote
and what HB 1300 the implications are.
So,
uh
more to come.
Uh and then new hires,
Alex Carl as a third grade LES teacher,
Jameson Hayden, phys ed here at White
Mountains Regional Middle/High School,
Avery Hazelton,
uh physical education at Whitefield
Elementary, and I don't know if you know
Avery.
I think he's rolling around 7 ft.
And I going to be there the first day he
has a kindergarten class cuz I think
that's going to be really fun to watch.
Um and he's a he's an alumni, so we're
excited to have him come back to us.
James Cromer, he's one of our teachers
going to teach middle school uh coach
middle school girls soccer.
Nate Chipman, uh who is one of our new
JROTC instructors, has coached at the US
uh level,
um and bringing some of that expertise
to White Mountains Regional as there was
a need.
What is not in the board report as a
school nurse or a school cook at
Whitefield, Nancy Knutson.
And then we will get to it when the
action agenda happens, but Selena
Hayleger was originally going to resign,
uh but is taking a transfer to a
paraeducator role instead.
So.
>> Um the the only other thing is is um
Operation Cost Cares has reached out uh
providing uh really nice LL Bean
backpacks with some supplies to area
students in need. Um so, people that are
listening online, you know, don't be
afraid to reach out to James and Bonnie
Ackerman if you are in need of
backpacks.
Uh and we've shared some info with our
folks that in case they know.
Um but thanks to Operation COAST CARES
for, you know, supporting our kids.
>> Nice job, you guys.
>> Thanks.
>> Any questions?
>> Questions for you, Rob?
>> No.
>> Thank you, Rob.
>> Thanks for having me.
Uh Director of Finance
and
slash Secretary.
>> Um
You
things.
>> [snorts]
>> Number one,
I wish that I was about to say this, but
I'm probably going to ask for an
extension on the DLI 25. Last couple
weeks have been
bananas.
Hopefully we won't go the whole way, but
we'll see.
We will probably be doing one more
manifest with our online approval
before our two meetings picks up again
in September.
That'll come from Vicky.
us.
We
will be
Also, I just wanted to bring it up just
cuz we said it, Rob will be signing
the document with SPC
Coffee, which is the company that Jeremy
works with um to do the bidding for
the printers.
Uh they go out and they search source
lots of people in the area. Jeremy
doesn't have to individually do it
himself, and then they come back to us
with the best prices, and he gets to
decide. Um
So, there's a just a document that Rob
will be signing for to continue to allow
them to do that. Um I think it's written
in there that the board approved him to
do sign that like 5 years ago and it
kind of carries forward unless Jeremy
changes his mind.
>> You sure you don't want to change your
mind, Jeremy?
>> No, not yet. I have too many other
things going on.
and then there's one other item in the
manifest. I don't know if you saw it.
There were two pages. Um
the second page
are
progress payments for the big project at
Lancaster for the boiler.
Because they don't go through accounts
payable because the money is held by
Siemens Financial, which was approved in
the actual warrant article, we hadn't
been bringing them. We'd been releasing
the payments after
Gary agrees that they've done the work
that they're providing.
Kind of thought about it again and was
like, maybe we should just put it in
there um just to kind of make sure that
full disclosure. So, those are the
release documents. If you look at them,
they're like a disbursement
authorization that we give where we
release specific invoice data once
Gary agrees that they've done it.
>> So, Gary So, it is Gary looks and signs
off on it.
>> Yeah.
And then I
said I got a little wild. I don't have
an updated
um budget surplus report. It basically
looks the same. I haven't been able to
do It was pretty good. It just I We have
I haven't had a chance to finalize some
of the pieces, so I'm still doing like
year-end reconciliations. So.
There's that.
Looks good.
>> And that was it.
>> Cool. Any questions for us?
Okay. Seeing none, we'll move on to
committee reports.
Bid programming curriculum.
>> Nothing to report, Bob Atwood.
>> Facilities.
Gary's going to give us an update.
The boilers. Um so, Lancaster boilers
>> The boiler plant is pretty well pretty
well complete.
We're going to be firing the boilers on
the 26th of this month. First fire of
those. Superior
just finished up today getting the
propane firemen. We've got propane all
the way to the building right now, so
once
the 26th rolls around we can
fire.
>> It'll be the first day of first.
>> Huh?
>> The first project.
>> [laughter]
>> They're coming up tomorrow to pressurize
the system throughout the school. Make
sure we don't have any leaks. Right now
it's already pressurized in the boiler
room itself, but they just want to send
water throughout the school we drain the
system.
And [clears throat]
we're waiting on some fence.
And then
making adjustment on our proposal for
the fence, so we're just waiting on that
to come back. So we'll have that in the
next couple days.
And um
Other than that, that's all we
Tuesday we're going to shut the power
off for the school for about an hour in
the morning cuz we have a what they
hooked in the electrical panel for the
boiler room. The
breaker we used to try to use an
existing breaker that was in the main
panel, but that breaker was bad so they
had to order one that'll be in Tuesday.
So we'll put that in.
We're right on
right on the mark with this project, so
>> You're happy with how it's
>> Yeah, yeah it looks good. I mean if you
get a chance come down and check it out.
It really looks good. And they've done a
really well job. Um
and one thing we have
our facilities committee meeting this
week in person, but we have DLT that
same day, so we may have to change our
meeting day.
>> We have DLT Wednesday.
>> Yeah, we do.
>> So I don't know if we can I can send you
guys an email and see if we can change
it to Thursday possibly.
>> I don't know.
You can just do an email.
>> You want to just do an email or do it in
person?
>> extraordinary it doesn't
>> Next time?
>> Then next month we can do it in person.
>> And I I don't anticipate any big needs
as far as, you know, having to dip into
capital reserves or bonding, you know,
to do projects. So, it's just mostly
going to be an update meeting similar to
what Gary's provided.
>> Adam, is that good with you?
>> Sounds good to me.
>> All right. So, I'll just I'll send
everybody an email Tuesday night.
>> No call. That should be good. All right,
very good.
>> roof held up to all that wind?
>> That pavilion roof it did. It did. It
sta- That roof is not going anywhere.
It's It's held down pretty well. We
actually just finished it today. We uh
We got it done and I found out, you
know, I'm not as limber as I used to be.
>> So, it was, you know, it's been a
progress. So, we we were happy when we
got done today. We were able to get down
off there.
>> good.
>> The schools are looking good, too.
>> Yes, the schools look awesome. They they
really do. They've done a well good job
this year.
Very good. Thanks, guys.
>> Thank you. Thank you.
>> Next is personnel, which I mentioned
earlier. As Rob said, we got the letter
notice of intention.
Uh we need to have a
personnel meeting next week at some
point. I'm open pretty much, so
>> Next week?
>> Yeah. I don't know what day works best
for you, Ben.
>> Um it would have to be Thursday cuz I'm
gone Monday through Wednesday.
>> Is a Thursday meeting good for you, Rob?
>> I have nothing on my calendar as
as of now as far as I have to be at.
>> And time?
>> Uh
>> What's best?
>> I have a
work thing from 9:00 to 10:30, but other
than that I can do
I can do whatever during cuz we're not
back to school yet at that point.
>> to roll 11?
>> Yeah, 11 is fine.
>> So we're doing it on the 11th?
>> Melissa, is that okay with you?
What do you think?
>> Thursday
September
August 20th.
>> Next week.
>> Yes.
>> I'm going to schedule it for an hour and
a half and send you all invites.
Okay.
And policy
>> Do you have them all?
>> I have
>> A whole bunch of them in the package
today.
And in all of them, I had one question,
Rob. Just first one maybe you can
answer. In the
vehicle safety
>> It says refrain entirely from using and
prohibit use by others of inhaled
cell phones. So passengers can't use
cell phones?
>> not supposed to.
>> Even if it's another teacher or
>> they could go like this and say, "Hey,
what do you think of this?" Right? So
that's the explanation.
>> know. I just So it didn't seem right
like it would
And if we're transporting kids during
the day, the law is pretty clear that
they're not supposed to have them
So
>> No, I was just thinking other adults.
>> Yeah. Well, and I think, you know, I
think some of it plays into uh the other
adult needs to help provide monitoring
services for the kids within that
vehicle.
You know, hands down for everybody.
Um and I know we we'll get to it
earlier, but we're asking for a wave on
the second read.
it was originally supposed to come to
the next board meeting.
Uh but when I got looking at this and
the amount of people we have in
vehicles, I want this policy approved
um before we
>> Before the school year.
>> Yeah, before the school year.
>> Sounds
>> Any other questions on policy?
>> Mhm, no.
>> Okay, district wellness.
>> Um as an FYI at the BLT level
we feel like the wellness committee and
it's it's to no one's fault, right? But
it's so big it just becomes like a
checkpoint where people just say, "Hey,
we did this. We did this. We did this.
We did this."
When I reviewed the policy, there are
some pieces that were missing um and
some people who are supposed to be at
that table.
So I've asked the three facilitators
that have
facilitated in the past, which are
Janine LaBounty, Cheryl Plumley, and
Carrie Brady. We're going to meet next
week. We're going to go through that
policy, identify the missing pieces, cuz
we're supposed to have kids on that
committee, we're supposed to have
parents on that committee.
Um and it's really
the board member,
some BLT members,
and that's virtually it and some
behavioral health
>> It's such a wide
>> Yes. So we want to pick through that
policy and come to you folks with a a
recommendation on how to move that
committee forward. Um
or at least go through the policy, then
get the committee together.
See how we can move it forward in a more
effective way cuz we haven't done
anything with nutrition. We haven't done
anything with overall
um you know, promoting overall wellness
other than a little bit through Cigna
with people's health care plans. Um
So and there So those pieces are within
that policy That policy is a pretty big
policy.
>> Yeah, yeah.
so we're going to go through it uh
section by section
um as a facilitator group and then make
a plan of action to just
try to make that more meaningful for the
entire school district community.
>> Sounds good.
All right. Moving on to unfinished
business. Any unfinished business?
None. New business.
New business?
Move to the action agenda.
>> New business?
>> Yeah. Have you Have you Have you set one
thing?
>> I had a new business.
>> I had a couple parents talk to me about
the
school agendas for upperclassmen and not
getting them until the first day of
school. I think they were just I don't
know if that's schedules.
>> Schedules. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Schedules.
>> So
>> This is my first year on the board. I
don't know the regular batch of them.
So, is that a normal thing?
>> Yeah, it it is not a normal thing.
>> So, this is what I can tell you is
[clears throat]
the transition, the upload from
PowerSchool to Alma did not go clean.
>> And we are having to go through
senior kids, we have to go through I say
we,
the counseling department,
has to go through every kids, every
course,
and go through a series of screens and
check boxes
one by one by one.
So, one kid, eight courses their
freshman year, eight there's because of
the way it got the uploaded and there's
not enough time to create the patch CSV
file to make the upload.
>> Right.
>> So, things like course credits aren't
correct. Think there's a lot of
incorrect information.
So, instead of providing incorrect
information to people,
they they'd rather they know it's
going to cause some
some stress and that this place is going
to be busy, but that's the decision they
went with.
>> Makes sense. And I think you did the
right thing front loading getting the
seventh and eighth the their schedule
cuz you're going to have those for the
orientation. And then, the ninth graders
have their own tour, so you don't have
So, it's really just sophomores,
juniors, and seniors the first
>> the first day. Okay.
It It makes sense. I just wanted to
bring out so we could all just talk
about it.
>> Yeah. No, that's that's fair. Um
>> Thank you, Robert.
>> You know, we are going to have our pains
this year with Alma.
but I think in the long run,
uh it it will be a very good student
information system program for us. It's
just this hard this year is going to be
hard
for us as users and parents as users and
kids as users.
>> Lot of questions.
>> Any other new business?
Moving on to
the action agenda. Action agenda item
number one, to approve the following job
description amendments.
Paraeducator mentor.
>> Yeah, I'll move that move by Ken.
>> I'll second it.
Any questions?
>> So that was one that's in the CBA. It
was a new kind of role in the CBA.
>> And someone asked for the the
job description this summer for it and
we realized it was never developed, so
put it together.
>> So people are already in this role.
>> Yeah, last year they were in the first
year of the support staff CBA.
Any other questions?
All in favor?
Action agenda item two, to approve the
following policies for amendment.
EBC D, emergency school and district
closings.
G CC
BC, family and medical leave act. I K L,
academic honesty and integrity. J F A B
D, admission of homeless children and
unaccompanied youth.
J J B, athletic policy handbook.
J I C K, bullying prevention, pupil
safety and violence prevention.
J J J, access to public school programs
by non-enrolled resident students
and JLCD administering medication to
students.
>> Seconded.
No, seeing none. All in favor?
Motion carries unanimous.
Actually agenda item three to approve
the following policies, the second
reading and approval. ACD religious
neutrality and religious accommodations,
BDFA policy committee,
EBCF pandemic epidemic emergencies.
>> Moved.
>> Moved by Kathleen.
>> Second. I'll second that.
>> Seconded by Ben.
>> I do have a question though.
on this BDFA
that we have in front of us under A,
>> I'm getting there.
>> Under the membership, shouldn't if we're
accepting this tonight, shouldn't that
Do we need to shouldn't we specify if
any other ex officio or take that out?
>> Yeah, we should we should identify
somebody tonight. So, two school board
members, the superintendent. I think it
should be
>> Either a list or a staff.
>> Definitely, you would imagine. So.
>> Yeah, but I just I think if we're going
to adopt it, we should fill that blank.
>> They've been involved in almost
>> It's a second.
>> all policy changes
or a lot of them.
>> It's that BDFA policy committee. Good
catch, Ben.
>> So, I think we should add two names to
that or two two positions, not names.
Uh the director of finance and uh human
resource. Cuz a lot of the policies are
relative to the those two departments,
so.
>> Okay. So,
>> So, we wouldn't mind making an amendment
to the policy.
>> So, I'm going to make an amendment to or
I'm going to make a motion to amend
policy BDFA.
Ready?
Um, under section A
to instead of the blank or
instead of it saying specify any other,
we're going to add the director of
finance.
And
uh, what are we human resource director
>> Or just human resource HR officer. And
the human resource officer.
>> There we go.
>> I second it.
Got it, Melissa?
>> Okay. We have it on recording, too.
>> A motion was made and second to amend
BDFA in the action agenda item three.
Any other questions on the amendment?
All in favor.
Motion carries unanimously. And now the
action agenda item three as amended. Do
I have a motion?
>> Motion by Kathleen, second by Seth Adam.
And any questions on the
item?
Action agenda item four, to waive second
read and approve the following policy
EEBA, vehicle operational safety policy.
>> Motion by Adam.
>> Second by Kathleen.
All in
>> Just one thing. Yep. Just just to
clarify. With this is So, in Team Reach,
there are some coaches that put out a
text on team reach that say, "The bus is
XYZ." Are they going to be prevented
from doing Is that the
>> No, cuz yeah, and and we will make sure
when people get this. Um
so, most of the times
they will be on a school bus, which is
not school district owned.
>> So,
in the small amount of
times that say the golf team takes the
van or whatnot, if a kid wants to get on
to the team reach and say, "Hey, the bus
is 10 minutes out."
I would you know, tell the coach that's
fine.
>> Any other questions?
Motion carried unanimous.
Uh
action agenda item five, is this the
correct one now?
>> Rob?
>> Uh we're going to remove Selina
Haylegger's and we're going to do
Jennifer Gray's effective
7 or 8 12 2026.
>> So, action agenda item number five, to
accept the following resignation,
Jennifer Gray, White Field Elementary
School.
>> to do the amend thing. You got to amend
it to remove the name.
>> posted. Sorry.
>> Correct.
>> Do I need an amend
motion for an amend to amend?
>> You got to accept it as it's written
first. Not accept it, but we've got to
move it as it's written first. And then
we can amend it.
>> So, action agenda item five, to accept
the following resignations, Selina
Haylegger, White Mountains
Regional Middle High School Middle
School math teacher, effective July
30th, 2026.
School cafeteria cook, effective pending
resignation.
>> All right. And I will make a motion to
amend action agenda item five. Aren't
you glad you volunteered for this gig
tonight, Melissa?
To remove Selina Haylegger
change the date for Jennifer Gray from
pending resignation to 8 12 of 2026.
>> Motion to amend item number five.
>> I'll second, Ben.
>> Amendment.
>> To make Adam
>> Any questions on the amendment?
Action agenda item five to accept the
following resignation. I'm sorry, action
agenda item five as amended to accept
the following resignation. Jennifer
Gray, White Field Elementary School
Cafeteria Cook, effective 8 12 2026.
Do you have a motion?
>> Yeah, I'll move it.
>> I'll second.
>> Ben, second by Kathleen.
Action agenda item six to approve the
DOE issued one-time one-year certificate
of eligibility for the following
employees.
Jameson Hayden, White Mountain Regional
Middle High School Physical Education
Teacher. Avery Hazelton, White Field
Elementary School Physical Education
Teacher. McKenzie Kingsbury, White Field
Elementary School
Kindergarten Teacher. And Romeo
Rodriguez, White White Mountain Regional
Middle High School Math Teacher.
>> Moved by Kathleen, seconded by Ben. Any
questions?
>> How what are we looking for this one?
Just a middle school math teacher?
>> Yeah. Yeah. Um
Yeah.
>> middle school math teacher and like a
point seven para. We're in the final
stages of hiring someone for White
Field. There's going to be some shifting
that takes place there cuz of the Orbeau
but yeah, we just got someone approved
through the DOE yesterday.
>> Great. Cool.
>> For that one.
>> Okay. Okay.
>> Any other question?
unanimous.
Action agenda item number seven, to
approve the extension of a one-year
certificate of eligibility issued by the
New Hampshire
Department of Education for the
following employees: Alyssa Freeman,
Lancaster Elementary School,
kindergarten teacher.
Mecca Crawl, Whitefield Elementary
School, grade one teacher.
>> Lancaster will second them by Ben.
>> Is that
difficult to extend or
>> Yeah, so the the the law is written that
the Department of Ed has the ability to
extend.
so, typically to extend, you have to
meet all the criteria credentialing
except for maybe one minor component.
And in this case, it's a social studies
test that
99.9% of the world is going to look at
this.
but they you know they've done a great
job in their role last year.
>> So they're two years
>> Instead of spending $800 on a site-based
plan to pass one subtest,
>> um
they give us the ability to put them on
an extension for that.
Um that they have this year to to do it.
Otherwise, they would have to go on a
site-based plan.
>> Okay. But they are they're doing what
they need to do to get this done. Okay.
That was what I needed to know. Thank
you.
>> All in favor?
The motion carries unanimous.
Action agenda item eight, to approve
amending the previously approved March
2026 20 20 March 26 2026
expenditure for Lancaster Elementary
School boiler project not to exceed the
amount of $360,000
from the building and grounds capital
reserve fund, which was approved by the
voters during the March 10th, 2026 vote.
>> Moved by Kathleen, seconded by James.
>> I mean the previously approved
>> So, it's already been approved?
>> Yeah, but it was approved for not to
exceed 340,000.
>> So, when we built this project, it was
October of '25, so we tried to forecast
the best possible expenses.
Um so, the portions like removing the
tank, the concrete work
>> Concrete work has doubled in the past
year, so you're looking to build
anything concrete.
>> What do you think, Ken?
but we don't think we're going to come
close to the 20,000 additional that
we're asking to complete that project,
but we don't want to come back a third
time to to
to finish the project. So, it's a not to
exceed basically another 20,000.
>> 20 from buildings and grounds.
>> We're anticipating about five, but again
weird things happen. You don't know
what's going to happen when they power
the school down.
>> Yeah, or what leaks when we find out.
>> All in favor.
>> Any opposed?
Action agenda item number nine, to
approve moving the previously scheduled
school board meetings as follows: the
September 3rd, 2026 to the September
10th, 2026.
September 17th, 2026 to September 24th,
2026.
>> I'll move.
>> Moved by James.
>> This is um
one of the things is homecoming,
Lancaster, they
decided not to do it on the 10th and to
do it
on the 3rd. Right?
>> So, no, the um
>> The 3rd?
>> Homecoming [clears throat] is the 17th.
Is the parade.
>> Oh, that would be the the next second
one.
>> And then the 3rd, it's the first week of
Um Thursday is the last day of school
the first week of school for four-day
weekend. We're going to be crazy with a
7-8 transition the week before and
stuff. So, I just don't think it would
be a meaningful meeting for the third.
Additionally, if we're going to move the
17th to the 24th and leave the third,
that creates a large gap for a manifest.
So, if
>> The fair's going on, too.
>> Yeah, that was a
>> Yeah, I didn't want to say that.
>> The fair's going on.
>> We [clears throat] weren't sure why we
did it that early. I think it was
because we were only meeting in the
middle of August, but
>> We typically don't do it the first week
of school.
>> So.
>> Motion was made and seconded. All in
favor?
Any opposed? Motion carried unanimous.
Action agenda item number 10, to approve
the following substitute coordinators
for school year 2026-2027.
Scott Holmes, Lancaster Elementary
School. Lisa Brooks, White Mountain
Regional Middle-High School. Lori Shera,
Whitefield Elementary School.
>> So, moved to approve by Kathleen.
And action agenda item number 11, to
accept and appropriate unanticipated
funds in the amount of $3,500
awarded to the White Mountain Regional
Middle-High School Society of
Sustainable Spartans group from the
Whole Foods Market Foundation grant to
to be used towards the permaculture
garden project.
>> Cool.
>> I'll move that.
>> I'll second that.
>> Seconded by Kathleen. Any questions?
>> So, one of the things I'm going to do is
you you folks have approved a lot of
grants for these various projects, and
they did present to the grants
committee, which there isn't a board
member on there, but I when school's in
session and Mr. Maras gets his feet
underneath him, we'll see about having
them, you know, him and some of the
students come and present what their
plans are for this month.
>> That'll be good.
>> Okay. Motion was made second. All in
And that concludes that.
We do have a need for non-public session
in accordance with
if I could have a motion to go to
non-public in accordance with RSA 91-A
yep
colon three section two C.
>> Motion second by James. I need a roll
call, please, Steph.
>> For Melissa.
>> So it's in the order you're sitting
there, so I wrote it down.
>> BJ Ellison.
>> Andrew Dare.
>> Arlene Cono.
>> Jay Ackerson. Hankerman.
>> Steve Fountain.
>> And there will be no business conducted
after