08272026 School Board Meeting

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

Recording

school board meeting to order
604.
We'll start out the roll call with
>> I'm the principal
>> assistant principal at the high school
Sean principal
principal. John,
>> Anderson, school.
>> Wes Holden, superintendent.
>> Kelly Wessles, business administrator.
>> The pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
We'll start out with looking for the
approval of school board meeting
minutes, specifically the minutes of the
June 3rd, 2026 school board meeting.
>> Make a motion to approve the minutes of
the June 3rd 26 meeting.
>> Does anybody have any questions,
comments, or concerns?
Seeing none, all those in favor?
Moving on to the minutes of June 9th,
2026 non-public meeting.
Make a motion to the minutes of the June
26.
Questions, comments, concerns.
Seeing none, all those in favor? I. And
finally, the minutes of June 25th, 2026
school board meeting.
minutes.
>> Questions, comments, concerns. See them?
All those in favor?
>> Can we add I'd like to add potentially
add a an action item which would be the
approved proposed snowplowing contract
with KNA Stevens and Sun Construction.
And I say I would like to add that
assuming that you are going to approve
me spending some money to afford to pay
that contract. So we can take those in
order. If you happen to approve one, we
can add that as a last approval.
Perfect.
Public form in accordance with policy
just for the audience. Seeing nobody
here in the public, we will move on.
School updates. We have not got a
student representative yet. We should
have that by October.
That has to be
>> it's contested this year. So we will do
a vote election at the beginning.
>> That's kind of exciting.
>> Yeah. I always feel bad because it's
part of like we got two really nice kids
and one of them.
>> Always use a backup.
>> Sorry.
>> Yeah, we do. So what's good is is we'll
have an alternate Perfect.
SC [snorts]
>> Good evening. Um,
this summer we had some exciting things
take place on August 10th and 11th. We
welcomed our incoming kindergarten
students for a kick start to
kindergarten, giving the students the
the opportunity to experience a half day
of kindergarten, including riding the
bus to come school. And with the
exception of one student who was on
vacation, all of our registered
attended. So, it was phenomenal that
families made the time to make it happen
and our staff pulled together. It was
really well received and just it took a
lot of teamwork from our custodial staff
and the teachers, our behavior support
specialists and our transportation
department to pull together two, you
know, sort of off days of school in the
middle of the summer. It was a great way
to help students build their confidence
and become familiar with routines and
expectations of kindergarten before they
came. And I think it helped the parents
too because they've now put their child
out of us and the child came home and
they are feeling much better about the
rest of August. So that was wonderful.
Um we also hosted two well attended back
to school evenings that were this week.
So on Tuesday night, our prek and
kindergarten families came and joined us
for pizza and Stacy smoothies, time with
their teachers, and a presentation about
school logistics. And then on Wednesday,
students in grades 1 through five and
their families enjoyed a cookout, the
Kona ice truck generously provided by
the SPTO, and classroom presentations
from the teachers. Those evenings were a
great opportunity to connect families
with our community partners as well. So
we have representatives from the Sun
Police Department, the Abi SPTO some
recreation. We're all there and families
can learn more about these resources.
They can sign up for volunteer
opportunities and have time to socialize
with each other as we figure out their
career.
In terms of professional development,
our significant focus was to launch our
language arts curriculum pad that we're
doing. As we talked about at the
meetings, we are examining our
curriculum with an emphasis on
strengthening our vertical alignment
particularly with writing and the way
we're teaching writing from kindergarten
through fifth grade and building
students core knowledge so they're going
more in depth about the topics that
they're learning about. So we have seven
members on our curriculum committee and
we met throughout the summer to review
several programs. We met with vendors
and ultimately narrow down to two
programs that we're going to pilot
during this school year. So we'll have
two six to eight week modules from two
different companies that the teachers
will use with the students so we can
gather feedback and evaluate if we want
to use one of those programs or not. And
those those are very much the three
vital options facing us. So today we
launched uh curriculum called arts and
letters with professional development
provided by the company and our special
education and related services uh
providers also participated in the
training. And having these staff members
involved in the process helped
strengthen our coordination and ensure
that targeted intervention services that
students receive align and are connected
with the learning that's taking place in
the classroom. And all of our folks have
access to the curriculum materials and
can know what's happening each day in
the classroom. So, overall, it's been a
really productive start to the school
year with a strong focus on building
community, supporting students and
family, and continuing to work around
instructional quality and curriculum.
>> So, after completing one whole year, was
it much more enjoyable rolling in this
year now that you knew what you were
getting into? that that first class I
mean felt better this year than a lot of
August I was pretty nervous last year
about that
>> that's exciting
>> but I'm I'm really thankful it's such an
amazing staff really wonderful staff
that helped me a lot in my first year
and open their hearts and minds to me
being there and um some fantastic
collaboration over the last week so
>> nice
HS
I would say a fairly busy office feel
like we're here. One of the nice things
I I think that we've changed a little
bit um which I think Mr. and I um we
decided to pro this summer and uh we're
here a lot and so as opposed to you can
come out on Thursday to see the
librarian um we end up
And so it's nice to kind of see the kids
in the summer and they come in and read
a book. It only takes about 15 minutes,
but they're usually pretty pretty
cheerful. So we spend a lot of time in
August just kind of working, you know,
we were working with them.
So that was good to do. Um really really
uh well attended um opening nights. Um
so Mr. Reed
ear kind of stepped out a little bit.
getting the Chromebook. Certainly Dodge
as a registar just you know just just
works non-stop to make sure things here
go smoothly. Um we looked at with our
sixth graders I think we had all but two
sixth graders were here last night. We
did a freshman orientation. I think all
but two of our freshman were here last
night. Uh we had the new students come
in. So just it's again nice that um
they're valuing what we do here. They
value their education. They want to be
part of that. just to see so many um so
many of them here. We you know we have
270 kids here next year and we have like
20 Chromebooks that are everybody else
is not all registered. They've all got
their Chromebooks. Um the small number
that haven't pretty much even reached
out to us um to do that. A lot of our
professional development days um just
some collaboration time. We never get
enough um you know our faculty shares
that with with us. They teach five
classes, six classes. Um a lot of times
they're kind of lone if you're teaching
um you know place in calculus you don't
have another calculus teacher to run
that off literature you might have
another English teacher and so just kind
of it was good to get different groups
together talking about about things and
what they're teaching and um and what we
what more we can do you know we think we
do a really good job um but we also
think that we can do a better job and so
um
we talked a lot with the students.
Students are like, "Where did the AP US
history go?" So, we're looking at we do
want to get that back into our
curriculum. We have a lot of students
right now taking vocational classes, how
do we make sure that you're taking
vocational classes and still can still
take geometry, which you need to
graduate. So, a lot of those discussions
of how are we going to enrich our
curriculum? How are we going to continue
to do things to do well and maintain
that?
and how are we going to be able to
adjust to some of the changes of student
desires and interests and still make
things accessible to them here. So, a
lot of really good conversations, a lot
of good discussions and um you know, as
well as I think we're doing um I think
we'll be a better school right now.
>> Can you speak more?
I'm a parent of young kids. I don't know
what the summer reading. So come in and
take the test throughout the summer.
>> So each teacher So one thing that is
important to me
is that students are reading in the
summer
and there is some sort of assessment to
do that.
Um we allow the teachers to determine
what that summer reading looks like and
how that summer reading is assessed. So
um for the middle school, not because we
require the middle school teachers to do
it, but the middle school teachers will
have um a series of books of which
there's some choices to do. We will
we've all made our own tests. Now we
used to use um reading counts and we
just weren't very reliable. So now the
teacher makes the exams. Um they're
typically 20 to 30 question multiple
choice that mostly focus on basic
understanding and then those students
can come in in the summer and take that
exam. They'll come in they literally
come in and go Mr. White Mr. I read
Freak the Mighty and we'll go in and
we'll have a a folder of Freak the
Mighty and we'll take the test and we'll
copy it and we'll send an email and then
they'll take that freak the mighty test
and u 90% of the time they're usually
pretty happy with their scores.
Sometimes somebody you know we do have
sometimes whereas come in as well as I
thought. Every now and then there'll be
some tears and we'll go, "No, that's
okay. Why don't you email your teacher
and um you know, we'll figure that out."
And
95% of the time they leave feeling
pretty good about that. A lot of kids
come in day one already having had a
great deal of success as they come to
day one, which we think helps. You know,
day one's nervous. Almost any grade,
whether it's grade two or grade 12,
they're nervous. And so, we always like
the idea they've already had a level of
success coming into day one. But um some
of the high school teachers will give
the test on the on the first day. Some
of the high school teachers have them do
handicated notes. Miss Christensen runs
a um a book discussion group in lie of
an assessment. When Mrs. Reed was here,
she would work with the teachers and do
a book talk and you know teachers and go
can we count that book talk as one of
the assessments. So um again there's a
variety of ways that it's done. What's
important is everybody does it. It's not
for honors English tech, right? It's for
everybody who's going to do a level of
reading over the summer. That's and
that's I guess I would call that
non-negotiable.
Yeah. And then there's some kind of
assessment. I didn't come and say, "Hey,
I read there's going to be some
assessment."
>> Is there some choice on books or is it
>> typically there's typically there is a
fair amount of choice. Um we do again
give teachers the flexibility. Some a
lot a lot of high school have we're all
going to read this book because we have
that common
understanding and discussion piece and
then they might be like I'd like you to
read one out of these four or five. Um I
can tell you at the middle school eighth
grade right now we used to allow 40. It
was a huge number and then we had these
tests and we were finding the tests were
not not reliable. So we make the tests
for all of them now and so I think we're
at like eight or nine they choose two
from and what we're trying to do each
year is add one more. So we're doing
that. So um a combination
>> is it a mixture of classic and
contemporary?
>> I would say so
would run anyway. We're just talking
about frequ
would be some of your classics and then
in the past cos and so it's usually a
pretty pretty wide range of things that
to hopefully hit those interest levels
and appropriate
>> it's not perfect but I think we do
pretty well
>> I like that
fresh
>> that's why we do that like a lot of kids
are like we'll come in we had kids the
week of July 4th yeah they came in we
don't for somebody read the book
finished the book on July We don't want
to go hey in September.
>> Congratulations is in order school or
anything
but number two in the state and then
what was interesting as Russ said it was
really number one for public schools.
>> Yeah. Again um I think Mr. Holton does a
really nice job.
I think we lose well of of keeping in
perspective. I think we do a really good
job and next year we might be number
nine. And um and by the way, nine is
really good.
These these scores were um accumulation
of of uh miss
these were from two years ago. So these
seniors graduate two years ago.
um in a later time um they did a very
good job of defining what how you get
there and so I think they did a better
job this year when somebody's like how
do you get there what what did that I
can answer that better than I've ever
been able to answer so there's a number
of components that that do that and
there's certainly a number of things
that we've done at the elementary school
that we've done at the middle school and
we've done the high school that build
upon those things but certainly um
Certainly every student matters in that.
It's not like having kids like every
student is important on that. Um but it
did come from graduating class from two
years ago
and but I I would be very surprised for
the next two years we didn't have
results that were very good as well.
>> So 2025 or
>> I think it's 20 the senior class of 2324
is what they those
A huge percentage of of that ranking is
based on the results of that. There's
some other things that are there, but
that's a huge percentage.
>> Very good job.
>> Yeah. Thank you,
>> Superintendent.
>> Thank you. Um,
it's been a busy summer and you're going
to probably get tired of hearing me talk
tonight. So, I'm going to try to keep th
this part brief, but it has been what I
would call the summer of interpreting
legislation, and uh I continue to try to
interpret and it continues to to baffle
me at times, but we'll talk more about
that. Um, want to talk about our opening
uh opening days. We had I think a nice
little opening day. One of the things we
do is we always recognize folks uh that
s starting in their first year that have
been here for 5, 10, 15, 25, 30, and
then every year at the 30. We have some
folks that have been here 31 30 32 33
years which led us to a a real good
conversation really a thoughtprovoking
exercise about our culture about our
culture. Um as I looked across the room
there are I'm going to say probably 15
to 20 probably closer to 20 people
within the next five years that are
going to retire. And we talked about
when people walk out, what pieces of the
culture potentially walk out with them?
And if those are truly pieces of our
culture, what are we going to do to
ensure that they stay in place? And or
what are we doing to add new pieces to
our culture if we choose to let a piece
drop off? And so really just challenging
people to ask where do they sort of fit
in? What do they bring to the table, but
what do they bring to our culture of our
school? Because if this is truly who we
are and what we believe in, if reading
counts is what we truly culture is part
of our culture. As Sean said, he loves
it, but I think a lot of people love it.
>> Summer read.
>> Summer reading. I'm sorry. Reading
council is the test. Then how are we
going to ensure if Sean walked out the
door in four years from now that
somebody picks up summer reading and
that continues to go on? And there's
things like duck racing. Megan and I had
a long conversation about the duck race
for closeup and we may need some new
ducks soon because they're getting a
little smelly and oldie. thought um all
these little pieces that people have
done over year and year, what happens
when all of a sudden those people aren't
working for us anymore? Who's picking up
those pieces? And so, yeah, it was more
of a thoughtprovoking exercise. Um but
you definitely saw some people pause and
sort of look around and and come to that
realization. There are some new faces
that are here and as a new face, yes, I
I've now learned my craft. I understand
what I need to do in the classroom. What
else can I do to continue to help carry
some of the culture? Because a big part
of our culture, yes, we're here to to to
help kids and educate kids, but a part
of that education is what goes along
with that, which is our culture, right?
That's what brings us, I think, to to
having our kids make sure that, you
know, 100% participate in our testing
and 100% graduate and, you know, 85% go
off to two or four year collegees and
some of those culture pieces. So, uh,
that was just a nice opening day. Um, I
just want to comment quickly. You know,
I sat in on a PD that Megan was holding
this morning and uh, well, I've been for
way too long time. I'm like, I wish
somebody taught me how to read the way
this woman is describing on this PD
right now because if if I learned that
way, I would have been a much better
reader. I I would have actually enjoyed
reading probably, but it was just fat
and that was 20 minutes. That's all I
paid, you know, was that 20 minutes. I'm
like, "Wow, this not to be redundant,
but the science of reading has come so
far. We know so much more." And and it
and I I put myself as being in first
grade, kindergarten, third grade. I'd be
interested if you taught me how to third
grade. I was like, "Click, time to shut
off." But I'd be interested the way they
were describing how they functionally go
about wrapping things around and and
enjoining things. So, really enjoyed
that. And I really like what Sean and
John doing up here at the middle high
school. And and I I put this in my
words. It's focusing on academics, but
more importantly, focusing on academics
in your free time, making good use of
your free time. And you to folks took a
stand on that last year where you helped
John reinforce when we're going to
athletic games, that's okay. But if
you're missing school, you just don't
get to keep going and then miss five
other days of school. So, it's making
really good use of your academic time.
And they're doing that by relooking at
study halls and looking that when kids
are in in in whether it's study halls or
guide study halls or in other spots
where they could continue to have some
independent learning and not just
sitting and kind of fluffing off and
going, "Well, I'll get that or I'm going
to fall behind and now I'm behind, but
I'll fall further behind because I'm
going to go out to softball game. I'm
going to go a baseball game." So, I I
really like that that refocusing of
taking advantage of academic time within
the school day. Um, real quick, we'll
get into them again. And we'll get into
the legislation in a little bit later on
on the agenda. But I I got to commend
John and his crew. Um John lost two
custodians over the summertime. Um they
went to other places. Um one actually
went back to a place that we came we got
them from. They went back after they
realized there was still jobs available.
Um and our buildings look great and the
work that was done. I can't even begin
to tell you. So we put suspended
ceilings in four classrooms in the in
the middle school. We put thermometers
in those to really we're trying to trap
some of that heat out of those vated
ceilings and it just looks it looks
phenomenal. If you have a time or if we
have time you should go down and take a
look at it. We've done a ton of
painting. Um if when you walk down onto
the fields now you'll notice a nice set
of stairs walking down into the fields
instead of tripping and falling over
what was all eroded out. Um we got into
some trim work. So we replaced all the
sills. We started replacing all the
sills at the elementary school on the
windows. Realized we windows over the
last 3 years. We started looking at the
sills. Um, and some of them literally
might have been the sills that were
there when the building was built and
they were just falling apart. And as we
pulled them out, we realized there was
no insulation. It was just brick window.
And so we set up insulation under some
of those things. Um, and unfortunately
by doing some of the things we did, we
got into some found more problems than
we were expecting. So we'll talk a
little bit about about that as well. Um,
again, I'm going to give you an
opportunity to hear my opinion on
HB1300, which is a new tax cut proposal
for a November 2026 general election on
every municipality's budget. Um, and
also 564,
which is the pull out of the SAU budget,
as a first warrant article uh in March
that will go in front of the voters. So,
we'll talk more about those. Um, and I
think that's it unless you folks have
Oh. Um the contingency bill, the
contingency bill that we talked about,
we had our special meeting on the 25th.
Uh thank thank you Governor AI. She did
not sign that bill. Uh and as I said, we
worked with EI and so we were able to
break our contract very easily with EI.
So we have retained our contingency
fund.
That's it.
>> All right. We're going to go over some
policies. So we'll look for a motion to
approve and we can discuss and then
approve. Looking for a motion to approve
the policy second.
>> Does anybody have any discussion on
policies or stuff
>> and emergency response plans? I assume
they're also shared with the fire
department.
Yes. And so what is able to be shared
our emergency response plan and
obviously our our crisis plan that's due
to the state that's always always
available to those folks and then any
other plans that would be appropriate
for them to have they certainly have
that opportunity.
They have our four plans in those
which I'm sorry it's a quick quick
aside. So the state of New Hampshire uh
is paying for every school in the state
of New Hampshire be to be mapped um from
a GPS standpoint to then be shared with
any law enforcement provider emergency
access. So no matter where you're
showing up, if you say it's Sunbe High
School in classroom 35, everybody
walking up got a fresh map that they can
pull up on their phone and go, "Yep, we
know where that is and get there." So
that's all being paid for and we're part
of that process right now.
>> So there other questions, comments, or
concerns? All those in favor?
Somebody
>> TJ
>> looking for a motion to approve the
first and final reading of policy JIC
prevention people safety.
>> So this so so why is first and final a
legislator again? legislation passed
this in
early July. I think it got signed um in
in addition rewrote some of the
requirements for our administrators as
far as a timeline of which to get back
to folks on certain information um
protocols and letters that may need to
go and also requires the state uh the
department of education to generate
reports by January 1st to give to the
president of the senate, the speaker of
the house, the chair of the educational
finance and the educational policy
committee so that they can look that um
they can look at what statistical
information is available during that
time while legislation is being done um
regarding bullying. Legislators are very
surprised that after the 10 years of
looking at bullying that bullying hasn't
stopped in our state
tightened up a little 48 hours, right?
Perpetrator person that's been
potentially agreed
So it's law. So that's why it's first.
>> All those in favor
>> action items. Motion to approve.
>> Questions.
concerns.
>> We may have done some of those. We just
wanted to put a whole clear
for a motion to approve the proposed
unified basketball cooperative
district.
>> Questions?
>> Yeah, please. Um, so in the spring
and some parents come in asking about
football.
>> Yep.
>> And it was kind of like we don't really
do sport. So I was just I'm just
curious.
>> Great. That's a great question and I
were going to assume that was going to
be asked. So that's why I put in there
the bylaws regarding what a unified
sport is. So unified sport is specific
for students who may not have the
opportunity based upon their physical
mental status to be able to participate
in a regular way sport.
We we don't have the ability to put a
unified team together by ourselves, but
we don't have enough students to be able
to do that. And so, Kerat has a program
and they asked us if we would like to
join their program. And so, we wanted to
make sure that all our kids had
opportunities and this allows that
opportunity for those children.
>> And because we already that was one of
our sports
or
>> No. So, we didn't we chose we chosen to
stay away from a cooperative.
>> Oh. A cooperative unified is a
cooperative sport as a unified sport
which is a mixture of students with
special needs and traditional students
competing together.
>> I'm sorry.
>> Are you worried about transportation?
>> No, that's already written in there.
We're not responsible for the
transportation if we
read that we have to get to the high
school.
Yeah, we're
we're we're respons if we are if we need
to be responsible for transportation, we
have transportation.
>> Sean, I think that's
>> Yeah, just just one more I think is
important to this is that for us and
we've been very clear that we don't
offer cooperative teams because we don't
want we have here that will change any
time
if we could not offer a false score for
instance. We would never want to be in a
position where we could offer any
Americans get that machine right now
in the spring for unified students. We
don't have anything for that. So for
instance, if there was unified
volleyball and unified soccer and we had
a unified volleyball team like I really
want to join unified soccer like no we
have unified volleyball that's what we
have here and we would do that. But in
this situation that student does not
have access to any sports and that's
that's the distinction and decision make
otherwise we had a spring but we
couldn't offer anything they're like why
do you have to unify in the spring and
not in the fall we would say because
otherwise we don't have anything to
offer our students what we do in the
fall so that's it's just a distinction
which I think is important to do that
because we knew and I talk about this
like I thought you guys didn't do them
we don't but this is the rational
>> no I appreciate that I just
>> I feel like it will come up to question
>> so wait so Mr. I We both talked about
that and we were very clear on this is
the reason why and in our only
hesitation and I thought it was too
obvious that you know proposed
looking for a motion to approve spending
of $50,000
capital reserve
motion to approve spending up to
$50,000.
>> Does it need to be a little bit more
than that?
>> Uh, no. We actually got the So, we sent
out we asked Stevens who did it last
year. We asked Stacker Excavation in N
Eastman because again, we we can't just
have a guy who's got a pickup truck and
goes he can do it. you have to have, you
know, the right equipment. So, we raised
up those folks. We get those quotes
back. He came in, I think it was $1,800
over last year. Last year was maybe it's
right in front of you.
>> So, we felt that was really fair. He
knew what was going on. He knew how to
run that and he did real well. We asked
him to cut back a little bit on the sand
because we had so much sand.
>> Um, but he did a great job and we felt
that that small percentage that he went
up was very reasonable. We also wanted
to get done early before fuel potential
food prices and other things.
>> Yeah, so the 161
comes from just general.
>> Yeah. Sorry.
>> Well, it says the total cost is
50,61,000.
>> No, that's salt and thin added to it,
right?
Yeah, it was just the contract itself
which was 50,161.
>> Yeah.
>> Right. Oh, I'm not hearing very well.
Maybe I'm just
>> So then the 161 is coming.
>> We're just taking from
>> Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry.
>> I thought you were asking like 100,6.
>> Yes. 161's coming from someplace else.
>> Okay.
>> All those in favor? I no opposed.
>> Looking for a motion to approve proposed
spending.
>> So I'm going to I'm going to ask to
change the scope of this.
>> So last year in June at our first two
meeting you approved $75,000 out of our
centipe facility capital reserve account
for the HVAC unit. We've been able to
get around that with doing some simple
little elective work for a lot cheaper.
So what we've and unfortunately as I
said by getting into things like the the
molding at the elementary school u we
need to add some duct work for the
family science to use the stoves in
there. We needed to put some family
things into the shop for ventilation.
Again these are all fire code things. We
need $2,800 for fire extinguishers after
we just went through the fire marshalss
that are outdated. That's like 36 or so
uh fire extinguishers. We're taking it
all off. We like to take all our finer
panels and push them over to Starlink
instead of on copper lines. Copper lines
are $125 a month. So the upfront cost uh
for Starink is somewhere about $1,400
for each system and it's going to save
us something like $7,200 a year by going
to a styling system and running copper
lines. Copper lines are just becoming
out of control. We also uh have some
rugs that are coming in in December
because we couldn't get them at this
point in time. They're going to be about
$20,000 for the uh middle school. Um we
have some motors and things that uh have
worn bearings that are worn down in the
HVAC units in the at the elementary
school. Um and as I said, we got into
the trim um at the middle high school
putting in windows. We put the PC the
PBC boards in. No more board PBC board.
Um but that that bill is already $8,000.
So what I'm asking to do is change the
scope. So the the the action item would
be approve approve proposed using the
previously approved $75,000
from the June 3rd 2026
from the Suny facility capital reserve
account for building unanticipated
expenses that allows me to use that
money and capture more than just the
HVAC unit because again we got into some
of this stuff Uh the hoods and our
family consumer science stopped to use
the stoves. They're about $15,000. We
had to put it's the the extinguisher
systems up inside of them and there's
two stoves, two stoves. So we had to
fabricate one unit that would go over
two the system inside of it and then the
duct work out the fans out to the
outside wall. And then we had to
replplum again. A few years ago we had a
a fire in the shop in the dust
collecting system. We've been using
little small individual dust collecting
system systems. We tell both the fire
department, we'll improve upon that.
We're able to bring someone in when they
were this doing this dump work to reduct
the entire shop and that whole those two
pieces together somewhere about $20,000.
So that's why I'm just asking you to
expand my ability to spend that $75,000
that you already allocated.
>> Sorry, that was a long
sense.
>> Okay, so motion
>> motion approve. I think I have
>> the preapproved
amount of 75,000 from the June 3rd
meeting
>> to go towards
unicipated
building
>> right from the Sun facility
>> from the facility.
>> Great.
I'll second that motion.
>> And then we have the one last approve
that following contract
motion to approve the 267
project.
Make a motion to approve the 267.
All those in favor
>> information items.
>> We can cross off number one. Yes. Mother
Nature took care of the can. Yes.
Very nice from the Southern Fire
Department.
Everybody's read that for the assistance
from the SA to provide support services
for
Air Hospital.
>> I think that's a wonderful note, but I I
also want to just point out we've been
asked a lot, how do we work together?
How do we work together? How do we work
together? And it's not always about
financial money. It's about how we
support one another. And there's a great
example of how we support Very
nice
>> summer project update.
>> I think I've talked enough about summer
projects unless there's something
specific you want to hear about
>> school energy efficient development
grant seed New Hampshire Department of
Energy.
>> So we put in a a seed grant and we'll
wait to hear. We want to just put some
new controls on our freezers and if we
can get approved for the grant, it's not
going to cost us anything. We'll have
just a little better control with those
controls to be able to monitor that and
hopefully regulate that a little better,
saving us a little bit of money in in
energy consump energy consumption.
I'll keep you updated
and legislative that I hold
Look at that.
So,
when we uh when we were leaving in June,
um I we we probably had talked a little
bit about HB1300. And HB1300
uh is a
a bill that was put in in the House and
made it through the House, went to the
Senate, and ended up on the governor's
desk and sat on her desk uh up until
July 16th. And on July 16th, she signed
the bill. And so the bill is now a law.
And what it reads is very simple is that
in every municipality in the state of
New Hampshire on the November 26 general
election November ballot will be a
question that says exactly what's right
here. Take out the T town, put in your
own town. And what this is, it's a tax
cap. So it's a tax cap question that
will be on every ballot in the general
election in the 2026 general election in
November. It'll be put on the ballot by
most likely the Secretary of State.
That's still a little unclear how it's
getting there. We're not responsible for
it. We can't put anything next to it.
We're certainly welcome to talk about
it, to share information about it, uh
but we really have no control about
where it is on the ballot, how it gets
on the ballot, and what's set on the
ballot. It then will be tabulated by our
uh obviously by our uh by the town um
moderator and then reported back to the
secretary of state on the outcome of
this ballot outcome of the question. And
so the question's very interesting and
it actually proposes two caps. The first
cap is uh a levy on on the budget and
any warrant articles and anything that
would cost money within any warrant
articles we propose uh in our March or I
deliver the session to our March ballot.
uh that amount that's levied is based
upon the CPI of the Northeast as well as
um one plus CPI of Northeast plus new
net property taxable growth,
new net tax property growth. And I'll
I'll show you the interpretation of what
we assume that is or what people are
assuming that is. I'll show you what
DRRA is saying about what what they're
going to be required to do and what
they're not really interested in doing
but are being forced to do by
legislation. Um and then once that
threshold is set in our in our town
whatever that might be. So CPI I know
CPI in March of last year was 3.6. So I
know 1 plus 3.6 the floor based upon the
formula will be at least 4.6. So
anything above 4.6% 6% that doesn't
include new taxable property growth
because we don't know what that is yet.
Could be a negative. Um we know
basically it's going to be a 4.6%
increase over our current um our current
tax levy on our school budgets andor
warrants.
It also imposes a 6% cap
based upon that budget on SAU expenses.
And it is very descriptive on what SAU
expenses are and there is a list of
those things. And so an example of those
superintendent,
BA, payroll, HR, accounts payable, uh
technology, district technology
positions put in there. And there's uh
some other uh what they're calling
expenses, right? So legal fees would be
thrown in there. Um, there's still
questions about does that what pieces of
technology is is that that would have to
be in there? There's questions about
expenses. Does that mean our New
Hampshire retirement? Does that mean our
health insurance on dental insurance?
Right? What are those other pieces that
have to be in there? And so the this
question actually imposes two caps. One
on your overall budget and warrants and
one specifically on your SAU budget.
And then to put this into action, you
need 60% of the people who will vote
will physically take a ballot on the
November 26 general election.
Whether they say yes, no, or don't
answer the question. If there are 60% of
the people that vote yes out of the
ballots pulled, this now becomes tax cap
in place for the next two years.
tax cap in place for the next two years
based upon what happens in November.
That's the general gist of it and and
please feel free to ask questions along
the way. See if I got this right. So I I
think it's just important to draw some
understanding of what we currently do
and what this asking us to do. So
currently we build our budget. We look
at our needs. We look at what are the
things that we need to do. Are we in a
teacher contract? Do we need to have a
building project coming up? Is there
something major that we need to really
take a look at? And we build that budget
and we build our wants based upon needs
and we have open dialogue with our
citizens, right? We have the ability to
we have ABC meetings, we have the
administration, the teachers. There's a
big process in which we build our budget
and then as I said we go to the ABC we
have budget hearings we have
deliberative sessions we take input we
take feedback and then our our citizens
can change our budget out of
deliberative session they have that
right to do that every year our citizens
then have the right to go vote no in
March on the ballot and vote our budget
down to go to a fall budget so you know
right now we have that decision there's
a voting threshold that changes
So right now traditionally we have to
get 50% of the votes and as long as we
get 15% of the votes 50 whatever it is
we pass up budget and away we go and
then we have flexibility again thinking
about what we what we have coming and
what we may want to put in and take out.
We have that flexibility based upon that
to adjust our budget as we go with this
C tax cap HB1300 again November 26
referendum in the general election.
You're now tied to a state formula.
You're tied to that state formula. If
this gets imposed,
the formula is what it is. And if if you
want to exceed it, we'll talk about that
in a minute. It's state legislation. And
and my opinion is it's poorly written
state legislation. Very poorly written.
And now I think this is now the kicker.
So it took 60% to get it in place. So,
let's say we put a budget and a teacher
warrant article out there and it's above
whatever that cap is determined to be.
Let's call that cap just make up a
number 5%. But our two warrant articles
for our budget and our teacher contract,
they came in at 6%. One was three, the
other one was three. To override the
cap, you need to get 60% of the people
to approve the warrant once you override
the cap
to pass that warrant. So, I'm going go
back to my example cap. If it was
imposed, let's say it's 5%. We have two
warrant articles on the ballot. One for
our budget, one for our teacher
contract. Usually our budgets first.
Budget's 3%. Okay, we got 2% left.
Teacher contracts 3%. To have a pass
that teacher contract warrant, you need
60% of the voters in that March election
to pass that teacher contract.
Otherwise, it goes to default and you
have to whatever that cap is. So, we'd
have to lose a percent somewhere within
our budget and our teacher contract to
get underneath that cap.
This is this is I think where you you
know we have really done well as a
district and as a community. You know,
we talked about our educational
excellence today. We've talked about how
we've made really strategic investments
into our facilities and into our
schools. We continue to offer programs
that maintain and you know we just we
just put a unified basketball team in,
right? We're looking at what our kids
need and making sure they have some of
those things. We have consistently
balanced our budget consistently
balanced that budget. We don't come in
asking for 7% 8%. T in my in my tenure
here we have been somewhere between 0.9
and last year I think we came in at 3.2.
We had a year where we had a bond for
our building that we were up around six,
but if you took out the bond for the
building, we would have been down to
about 2.1 if I remember correctly.
We have one of the lowest administrative
costs in the region, right? We don't
have assistant superintendents. We don't
have curriculum directors. We don't have
layers of these things. We don't have
layers of special ed people. We we keep
that very cost. We all wear lots of hats
and then we generate a lot of revenue
already to offset our tax rate. But that
revenue wouldn't necessarily come into
play on a tax level.
So again, just the formula because I
think it's important to just understand
what it is it's truly doing. CPI, again,
we know last year's CPI in March was
3.6. So it's plus this net taxable
property growth specifically includes
new construction
equals whatever that cap is, right? And
that's it. Once you hit that cap, you
can't go over it. Any other warrant
articles, like I said, that are below,
once you hit that cap will have to be
voted upon and need to get 60% to have
them passed or you have to then go back
and cut to make sure you get under the
cap. And we're going to start this devel
again. Our budget development starts in
October, right? We're already going to
be in this process of starting our
budget development.
So, here's a huge disconnect.
CPI, right? inflation,
our utilities, our special ed costs, our
health insurance, retirement system, um
school safety mandates, those aren't
those aren't warranted by the cap. Those
aren't governed by the cap. They don't
have to fall inside the cap. So, when
our utilities keep going up past
whatever that pretend cap is at 5%. We
still have to pay our utility bill.
These are going to grow
much faster than CPI, right? We we all
know that based upon our our home our
home balancing our home budget. So these
things now start to dictate what we're
able to do in our budget. So what does
that mean? How do we then stay under the
cap when these things are are driving
our budget to continue to go higher and
higher and higher? And I think here's
here's unfortunately the potential
outcome, right? I think we get
potentially larger class sizes. We drop
electives. we'll lose some enrichment
opportunities. You know, right now we're
very fortunate to run two kindergartens,
two first grade, two of each grade in
our elementary school. Maybe we can't do
that anymore. Maybe we now have to go to
30 kids in a first grade class. Maybe we
were combining a K1 instead of having,
you know, smaller class sizes with the
way we have done things here in Sun. I
think we potentially push off, you know,
Megan's piloting two programs right now.
Tax cap gets put into place. Maybe once
she goes, well, I'd like to have this
one. I go, "Well, sorry. I don't have
the finances to be able to afford that."
>> So,
with that said, like saying combining
classrooms and stuff like that, is there
still like a square footage per student
or would that go out the window because
of
>> So, I think we have to remember we're
already out of compliance on square
footage because we're grandfathered in
in the elementary school where the
middle school and high school does does
meet that standard. All right. And that
that maximum is 30,
>> right? That's that that's the the size.
And then um again, I think this is real
important as well. We continue to to to
process our our technology, right? We're
on four to six year cycles on things. Uh
we try to keep up with it the best we
can. We're reasonable about it, but we
also our building maintenance. We just
allocated $75,000 to do some building
maintenance. We dug into trim and a
100-y old elementary school building and
found there was no insulation there for
the last 100 years. Those things are
going to happen. So what falls off the
plate because I got to pay me my
utility. My health insurance went up how
much last year?
>> 16.
>> 16% it went up last year. Next year
maybe it was up 24%. There were people
this year in our state that health
insurance went up close to 30%. So we
have to pay those things. So they're now
driving our budget. So where do we have
to make cuts? And the reality is we only
control about 10% of this budget. And so
our cuts come from from people, from
programs, and from pushing things off.
the SAU expenses. I don't I'm not going
to spend a lot of time on this, but
you're legally obligated to have
superintendent services. You need to
have a business administrator. You need
to process payroll. You need to have HR
coordinators. We need to do federal
grants. We need to do federal and state
reporting. Again, IT support now is
thrown in there. So, we now cap that.
And typically, our SAU budget is about
3%.
But this now really talks about
specifically what goes in there and
there may be some other things that are
in there and I'm going to show you um
hopefully I'll show you a spreadsheet in
a minute um that we can hit that 6% once
you start throwing in benefits and
retirement all those stuff you're going
to you're going to wrap up those things
quickly. So then where do we cut in an
SAU budget? Where do we start pulling
from? Do we Kelly no longer you you're a
payroll person and now or are we
nobody's answering the phone? Right. I
think there are some questions
potentially even though 6% may sound
high it may not actually be as high as
we look at it for again for small
districts. So, my my point last night,
my point later on, one, I want to make
sure people are knowledgeable of what's
going on, right? I can tell you in my uh
30 whatever years here in New Hampshire,
uh there has never ever ever been a
school referendum put on a November
general election ballot, ever. And so,
it's done very intentionally and the
rationale was, well, more people vote
and so that'll give more local control.
Let's go back to what we talked about.
You already have your local control. You
can choose to show up to deliberative
session. You can choose to show up to
any one of these meetings. You can
choose to vote no on the ballot. You
don't need to put it in front of what
you perceive to be more people because
really what you're doing is you're
putting it in front of more people who
are not educated because they haven't
heard anything about it. And the only
thing they're going to read is impose
tax cap. And people are going to go why
wouldn't I impose a tax cap? I don't
want my property tax to go down. That's
what I want to do. Check. Yes. So, I
want to make sure people are aware.
That's my first priority. I'm going to
ask you as a board that if you like to
have some more dialogue, we can have
that. But I'm going to ask you before we
leave here tonight, if you feel it's
appropriate to make a recommendation to
not support this referendum because you
have the right to do that as a board, as
you do on all the warrant articles that
you put out. You can clearly take a take
a a motion in a second that Sunny School
Board does not recommend supporting this
referendum in the November 26 general
election.
And this is sort of my my my last pitch,
right? My elevator pitch. You know,
local control has served some for
generations. The future direction of our
schools will be determined exactly as it
should be by and this is really
important by informed voters in our
community. Right?
SP2 has made it really easy to show up
without any information to vote. No.
Imagine now all you have to do is worry
about the formula kicking in. You you
can figure out what it's going to be.
We're going to tell you it's 3%, it's
4%. And you don't have to you don't have
to learn anything else. You just the CAT
takes care of it. Takes care of all the
debate, all the questions, all the
ability to to fill the needs of our
school. I'm gonna if you have questions,
I'd like to show you a couple other
things if you let me.
So, here's a little
I have to close.
>> So, here's a little one pager that I I
created for you and I put it on your
desk. Um, you know, I I think there's an
opportunity here for us to capture
something very simple and I can't send
that out through I can't physically copy
it to send it out to our parents that be
picked up on electioneering as you would
as well. Um, but perhaps we can think
about do people have Facebook accounts?
Can we put a we can definitely put
something like this on our website?
We're actually recording this tonight to
see if this is something that we could
utilize on our website to give people
information. So, I wanted you to take a
look at that and and just we can get
feedback on that. Um, but as as I said,
if it if you guys make this sort of
official recommendation,
it just solidifies your opinion and that
allows us to then put that out to people
as well.
Couple more small things.
So this is I spent two and a half hours
the other day with attorneys in a on a
Zoom meeting with other superintendent.
Um and this is the formula and so
there's a maximum tax tax levy I tax cap
previous year's property levy minus bond
capital. Take that out because we don't
worry about 1 plus inflation plus net
new taxable property growth. Inflation
means oneear percentage change to the
consumer price index for the northeast
region. And so here's what CPI has been
from year to year over the last what's
that four years. So you would add one to
that and then whatever that
net new tax growth thing is and that I
suppose could be a positive or or a
minus. And let's not forget, you know,
CPI, although it may look okay here, CPI
has been negative numbers before or has
been below, you know, one or below zero.
So this is what is being sorry for my
lack of computer skills. Uh new taxable
property growth
um assess valuation they're calling it
new construction physical expansion
subdivisions conversions uh any changes
to increases the taxes and then
not good at this. I apologize again.
So here's I think is maybe the most
important statement. So this is a a
person from DRA
and so DRRA was contacted and said DR
reached out and said listen we don't
know really what to do with this. we
think that uh the talent should come up
with this this new new growth and the
legislated absolutely not. Legislator
said absolutely not. Wrote in the
legislation that DRA will come up with
whatever this formula is. So on top of
doing taxes and all the rest of the fun
things they are now going to have to
figure this out for all the
municipalities in little small towns
within our within our state.
And one last piece of if I may.
This might be hard to read.
[snorts]
So what what we did was just try to get
you some understanding
um of of sort of some past history if
this was in place. All right. And so if
this was in place and we're going to
start with the year,
sorry,
start with the year.
Yeah. So we'll use 2122 as sort of our
stepping off point. Now we're going to
break this down and say, all right,
what's SAU expenses? Well, that year was
3%. Again, there's some things missing
out of that equation. What was the
overall increase from 2122 to 23? It was
a 2% increase. CPI that year was 5.3.
So that would have been the floor was
5.3.
But watch what happens. We go to the
next year, right? From 22 23 to 23 24.
Again, SAU services 3.09. Okay.
We had a bond issue. We we we we did the
the the elementary school and the um
biomass plant. And remember, we leased
that. We didn't bond it. We leased it.
So our our our
net property levy went up to 6.3% over
the prior year. 6.3 over the prior year.
Oh, what is that? CPI, the floor was 4.4
this year. We're over the cap.
We would have had to get 60% then to get
that passed. than any other warrants
that came after that.
But here's what now makes us start to
think as as people who have to try to
balance a budget and have done so for 15
years here. Now all of a sudden if I'm
looking ahead, I'm going
that CPI might drop
and I'm not sure what that levy is going
to be. So maybe if I saw back here that
I had three more percent to put in my
budget, maybe I add 3% to my budget cuz
we know we also had to hire a teacher
this year and I needed that teacher that
I can't bring this thing to maybe seven
or eight%. So maybe I come over here and
I add more to my budget and hire my
teacher a year early. So now I'm playing
games, right? And and I'm not saying
that that we're here to manip but we're
we're not trying to confuse what's going
on, but we have to now start being
strategic on when things go up and down
and where we place them so that we can
ensure that whether it's our teachers,
teacher contracts, bond facing
facilities, technology, curriculums,
those things don't fall off the plate.
We really start needing to say, do we
just need to start looking at hitting
that cap? because we have a long history
of showing that we've been in that 2 to
3%. Which is going to be typically based
upon that other slide slide lower than
CPI. So why why change that on us,
right? Why take that flexibility away?
So
why not I would I hope I've given some
good information, accurate information,
the best information I have at this
time. um certainly take questions, but I
would hope tonight before we leave here
that you make uh a motion and approve
that motion to school board not
recommend supporting this referendum in
the November 2026 election.
>> So over the last few years we've created
funds.
>> If I'm understanding what you're saying,
this would impact our ability to
continue to add to those reserve funds.
So, so if we were adding money from our
unantic our fund balance, if you will,
not necessarily because it's not
wouldn't hit the tax levy,
>> right? Because it's it's money that we
already raised and appropriate from the
previous year. Now, with that said, with
the levy in place, our fund balance may
not may never be there. And so, yes,
that could impact it
>> like as the years go by,
>> as the years go by. and it limits our
ability to then say, "Well, let's put
100,000 on raised by taxes." Those
things will certainly then exceed our
potential tax cut.
>> And then,
>> please,
>> so if this is voted down,
is it done or does it come back next
year?
>> That that is a wonderful question. So,
if this is voted down in November 26, it
is done for the next two years.
>> Two years. It will come back back in 28
on the channel election and if it's
imposed then it's for another two years
>> unless the
>> unless the legislators
>> the environment changes.
>> Yes.
>> Right. So
>> there there's also a piece of this and
and this there's some common sense like
Sean always reminds me we never want to
be first doing anything. Um if this is
if this is let's say this is the best
legislation ever made, right? Once they
figure it all out, okay, wait two years,
let them figure it out and then put it
in place. There's always that. I mean,
if we're, you know, we're not going to
break the bank over the next two years.
>> The biggest thing that comes to mind for
me is is safety, right? So, we, you
know, a lot of those funds that we're
feeding each year help for the things we
just talked about earlier tonight to fix
building pieces. So, then I think about
like in the middle of winter, the
buildings don't have heat. We have to
close school, parents can't And then
that's impacting residents making
income. Like it just becomes this really
quick snowball domino effect.
>> I think so.
I should have done this at first, but
you please keep asking questions. I'm
just going to show you something that I
think is super super misleading and it's
intentionally misleading.
So I really want to point this out.
These caps apply only to administrative
operation of the SAU central office and
do not affect classroom instruction.
That that's that's that's inaccurate.
That is inaccurate and that's misleading
because they will do exactly what you're
just saying at least they are going to
eventually
those things we can't control will
eventually have an impact on what we're
able to do within our four walls west
school
>> the budget's the budget right only
there's there's have to we have to pay
staff we have to pay benefits
>> so when when we're limited and there's
no extra to then you know put anything
in reserves or or pay some of building
costs costs and it impacts safety for
students and students ability to attend
>> I know that sounds like worst case
scenario, but that that like with how
old our buildings are, that could happen
really quick,
>> especially in a small district. Again,
this is my opinion from my
interpretation of with lawyers and
association, other superintendents.
Again, it's my opinion, right? I can
only make an opinion and give you the
facts as I see them. You as a board have
the the ability to take a
recommendation.
My opinion is because of the basic costs
that you were talking about, the
electricity and maintenance and all the
stuff that just as everybody has a
house. you have stuff that you know you
have to do and
not sure this is going to be the right
way to explain it but you know when
you're limiting if if your employer
limits how much money you can make and
you have a furnace go in your house or
you have something like that goes what
does it ultimately affect it ultimately
affects what's in your refrigerator it
ultimately affects you know areas in the
house and for me what this is going to
affect the bottom line is the students
that We vote yes on this because those
costs are going to have to be paid for
regardless.
>> And then only place to cut is the very
special things that we offer in this
community, in this school to our
children. And those are going to
disappear because we just need to keep
the building on, the heat going and the
lights on. And the way I look at the way
the legislation has put this is the heck
of how the kids are educated. We just
want to send a message out that you have
a tax cap and you figure it out and
ultimately they know the only place that
you can cut is what we really as a board
get the opportunity to provide to the
teachers to provide to the students. So
I personally don't think
>> well it's it's not even like taking like
nice stuff we get to offer. It's you
know from year to year in Amanda test we
don't know what our special education
costs are and those again are half to
>> that required
>> costs and so
then it comes to you know we have to
spend these costs. So we're we're we're
cutting teachers right and combining and
making bigger classrooms because you
know we we have to you know that can be
what is it 400,000 for one student or
something like that or higher could be a
cost and we don't have those reserve
funds anymore because they got down.
There's nothing more.
>> I've just simple things like simple
washing schools that are in this
situation where I'll talk about a nice
thing is just simply being able to send
our kids on a school bus.
>> I've seen schools now where kids cars
and kids can't even get to their games.
So that's what I'm talking about. The
nice things is those those areas
>> are going to have to be cut.
>> Yeah. I mean, those are nice about what
I'm I agree with you, but like then it
it's not even just those nice things
anymore. It's the quality of what
students are getting in the classroom,
safety in the classroom, you know,
students falling through the cracks
because we're we're having to cut staff
to pay for the required federal costs
that come up that we can't anticipate
your year based off of who our residents
are. So
>> that
>> um a question about the process. So, as
you said, we start our budget
probably start started down at the
teacher level and um it comes
[clears throat] to us, I mean, we really
start working on it late September,
early October. And
when we have to do our budget, let's say
this goes through in November,
we have no idea. The the CPI comes out
in June, doesn't it?
>> CPI comes out in March. So you're going
to use last year's CPI. So we're going
to use that 3.6.
>> Cuz that was the late last CPI.
>> And and when when do they cut off new
construction and assessment in the town?
I mean
>> it's a wonderful question.
>> Some has continual construction and
renovation and destruction and
renovation. You know that. So when do
you get a cut off on that? It must must
have something to do with when they said
set the tax. [clears throat]
>> But you know how accurate is that going
to be and and how delayed so much of the
budget is like specialized is delayed
what comes back from the state the
assessment on new construction is
delayed you know a year. So you've got
all these things that you're juggling
for budget to come out under their
process which we don't know what's
really going to happen and then
unanticipated expenses you know special
ed uh but we had a boiler problem you
know we were hacked on the internet cost
big bucks
>> um you know and uh
>> you don't
You know, if you you talk about the Rome
House, what if they set a cap on
everybody's house, what your own budget
could be. I mean, it's ridiculous. It's
just um having been down in the state
house, I'll tell you that it's a way
that they that the people down there
that uh support this law uh wanted to
make sure that the school taxes didn't
go up because they don't want to pay
their share of the school. Uh we you
know taxes pay about 70% of the of the
school and and our town has consistently
supported our budget and we've come in
with a decent budget and we don't need
the state of New Hampshire telling us
what we have to do. number one and
number two part of the SAU budget is
affected by all the laws and regulations
that the state has now put on public
education and um you know in order to
comply with that it takes a village you
know it takes it as a new central office
so I think there's there's a lot of
negative current under this that that
needs to be addressed as well that is
effectively already negotiated contract
for the teacher.
>> So again, that third year of the cont
that third year of the contract's
already been approved. So we need to put
that has to go into our budget because
it's an approved piece that you ought to
go to support it and you know if we have
to make other cuts based upon this
potential gap that's approved and we
have to uphold that contract. Now the
following year negotiations,
>> right? So we negotiate we now come with
a new contract. So we put that in
contract in two years from now
potentially under a cap. So you have
your budget and you're going to have at
least at least at least two warrant
articles that will have to if caps
imposed will have to be under that cap.
So now it also limits your ability
during negotiations or limits your
ability to put potentially a reasonable
budget. Right? Again our negotiations I
think have gone well. We've done them
three different times, passed them three
different times in my tenure. Hopefully
we pass them all fourth. But those have
been reasonable. Those have been in the
twos to threes. They haven't been
outrageous at 6 7 8 9%.
>> But my concern is if some catastrophe
hits our district during a year where we
then need to negotiate, you may be
looking at the future saying we get
nothing because the whole roof needs to
be replaced.
>> And they're going to say, "Well, we're
legally obligated and we're going to end
up in a lawsuit somewhere." Yeah, I mean
those are the things those are some of
the essential consequence
>> to press the the u incentive to do
multiple year contracts uh both from our
point of view and also from the teachers
point of view and the multiple year
contracts are a benefit to both of us
because they they give us a future cost
you know increase that sort of thing. So
that's another issue.
>> That's when you start seeing the job
search in real communities that vote
this out versus communities that are
stuck with this just to dealing with
teachers and benefits. That's the other
thing to have a messy statewide you know
with this and uh Kar you know each town
votes so you've got eight town you know
so
>> total of all the
>> cap
total total all those towns 60%. So
again, my opinion, uh, pull legislation,
I think it has a detrimental effect, as
you all have just said, on eventually
what happens in our classrooms. And I
think the easiest way to, uh, not have
to worry about any of that is is let's
get people to vote no in November in the
2026 general election, and let's put it
off our plate for the next two years,
and let's see what happens. And if we
bring it back, and it come if it comes
back and it's again, we look at it and
we have these same conversations, right?
But uh the easiest thing to do right now
is try to get people to understand what
it is and that it would be potentially
detrimental if it placed to the
educational system itself.
>> And and I I'd like to really propose
this this um collective agreement to to
say no to this based on the experience
we had at the last election because
people would come and say just tell us
yes or no. You know we support you in
the school board. Please tell us yes or
no. We could add the polls, but we can
make this um I don't know if it's
called.
>> Was that a motion?
>> Yes, it's a motion.
>> Second that motion.
>> I I support us recommending.
>> I support.
So Lynn has made a motion and a second
to uh officially have the Sony school
board not support the uh the referendum
that will go that'll appear on the 2026
general election ballot. Um this could
you just say all in favor and we can
make it official.
>> All in favor?
>> I opposed.
>> Sure. And we can work on wording but
that clearly gives you a recommendation
that
>> great thank you vote. I hope that was I
hope I was articulate enough to get that
across without getting too lost in the
weeds, but giving you enough that it
made some sense.
>> Looking for a motion to approve the
manifest as stated.
>> I'll make a motion to approve the
manifest.
>> Questions, comments, concerns. Seeing
none, all those in favor? I oppose.
Agenda items for the next meeting. Uh we
will have what we have September. By the
way, your meeting is next week.
So you know your meeting is next
Wednesday.
>> It will be a very short agenda. Um we'll
go about excuse me. We'll go over the
opening of school. Uh again, kids are
showing up here Monday, so we'll have
some opening of school. We may have some
pre uh nonofficial enrollment numbers
for you as well. Um, and we'll keep you
up to date on anything else
legislatively that's going on and how
this thing continues to progress.
>> That's Wednesday.
>> It is Wednesday the 2nd.
>> We'll get beginning an agenda tomorrow
afternoon.
>> Short agenda.
>> No. Um,
>> no public no
>> public uh not public session. So,
looking for a motion to address.
>> Motion to second.
Thank you all very much.