School Board Meeting | 2026-09-08

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

Recording

All right. Good evening everyone.
>> September 8th and the time is 7:01.
Uh Melissa will please take the roll
call.
>> Richard Por, Carl Hubner,
>> Denise Meyer
>> here,
>> Melissa Denton,
>> Bob Wymer
>> here. And also seated at the board table
is superintendent of schools Joe
Crawford and CFO Jeffrey Dow.
>> Please all rise for the pledge of
allegiance.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
Board members, in your packets, we have
the previous meeting minutes. If you
could please review those
I'll make a motion to the August 25 25th
minutes.
>> Second.
Any
other question or discussion?
Approved.
>> Thank you,
>> Melissa. Do we have anyone here for
public comment this evening?
>> We do not have any.
>> Thank you. Rolling right along into
school highlights with principal Dr.
Cheney.
>> All right. Good even everybody. Um we
have had successful opening this year um
at the Sun School. We have welcomed back
450 students um with a couple more even
registering this week. I provided a
board report in your packet, but I'm
really excited to talk this afternoon
about our full day kindergarten program.
You'll remember from our spring this
year, we're piloting a universal full
day kindergarten brand for all of our
students. We've eliminated our half
program for this year and I'm excited to
share a little bit more of that with
you.
So the first thing to know is that we
currently have 77 kindergarten students
enrolled which leaves us with classes of
about 15 to 16 students. board policy
III is that kindergarten classes may not
exceed 18 students per class. And this
15 to 16 student range is really a
pretty sweet spot. Five and sixyear-old
kids as they're learning to come to
school for the first time.
And so wanted to just share with you a
little bit more about our day program
versus our full day program. As we
discussed in the spring, there really is
an inequity between the two programs.
Um, in our half-day program, the
students were at school for about two
and a half hours a day, which really
afforded about an hour and a half of
solid academic instruction. Students
attended three unified arts per week.
They had two pees and a music class. And
then the other two days a week, they had
recess with their full day peers. Our
full day students, however, have four
hours of academic instruction daily.
They have a daily UA including PE,
technology, art, and music. They also
have lunch and recess at school as well
as two additional recesses a day, both
morning and afternoon.
Um, so that inequity between the
programs and the time spent on
instruction was really one of those
driving forces behind this movement
forward. So I wanted to share with you a
little bit about a day in the life of a
kindergarten student. Um, they come in
with their peers between 8:45 and 9:00
a.m. And during that time is what we
call our choice time. Students have the
opportunity to choose something to play
with and do in the classroom. It's an
opportunity for them to check in with
their teacher, be social, trade any
notes that mom or dad might have sent in
or anything that we need to send home.
That's followed shortly thereafter by
their morning circle time, which is
their opportunity again to meet in a
group. They're talking about greetings.
They're sharing information um just
about their day or their favorite color,
just getting to know each other. Uh they
move right into core literacy and then
that first recess of the day. After
that, we have our center time and
intervention. At centers, students work
independently at different centers um on
different skills that they've already
practiced with their teacher. Um we also
have the parah educators in the
classroom. And right now you can see in
this photo at the bottom um our reading
specialists are going right into the
classroom and working in uh with the
students. We're calling it a flooding
approach where it's an all hands-on deck
to support those incoming
kindergarteners.
They then have their lunch and recess, a
readaloud. They go to their unified arts
for the day. They have another block of
literacy and math. And then they end
their day with their favorite thing of
all, which is recess. Um, I did have a
lot of parents, a lot maybe is is the
wrong word, but I did have a handful of
parents asking at the beginning of the
year about their stamina and readiness
for a full day. Um, and I talked
individually with each of those families
and we talked a lot about how in New
Hampshire the compulsory education law
is you have to be six on or before
September 30th and if their children
were below that we could work together
to design a schedule that worked for
them. I worked with about a handful of
families to design an individualized
schedule for their student and none of
them have used it yet. every student has
come every day and stayed for the full
day, which is a really exciting uh piece
of information to share.
Uh again, currently we're very
play-based and focused on building
relationships and routines. You know,
parents are if we can go back one,
that'd be super great. Um you know, kids
come home off the bus and they are
tired. It is a long day when you're five
or six years old, but they're doing a
tremendous job handling it. Um, and when
they get home, you know, they're showing
mom and dad all those feelings. They've
held in all day because they've been
using all their best listening muscles
and their sitting still muscles. Um, and
so that's not always happening at home,
but we let parents know that those first
six weeks of school are really that
transition period. And come beginning to
midocctober, they're going to come home
ready to go and ready for those
afternoon activities again. they'll have
adjusted. Um, so we do spend those first
six weeks of school teaching so many
routines such as lining up, lunch,
transitions, even little things like how
do you use a pencil, how do you use
scissors, what are our expectations at
school that might be different than what
you had at home, how do you make a
friend, how do you share toys? Um,
things that, you know, we sometimes
assume kids might know, but they may not
yet. You know, when they're in a room
all of a sudden with 15 other
five-year-olds, it's it's so much fun.
Um and the payoff of this work will
really also show us um pay us dividends
in first grade. So right now as much as
our kindergarten students are learning
the lunch routine, we have a population
of about a quarter of our first graders
who are learning that lunch routine as
well because they did not have a full
day opportunity. So this will help um
next year as well and we'll see those
first graders returning to school with
much more confidence and ready to go.
So, some of our next steps include we
will continue to progress monitor
students um and their acclamation to
school. We will conduct our fall,
winter, and spring assessments to see
what the impact is on student learning.
We talked a lot about that last year
comparing the numbers of students um in
intervention in half day K versus full
day K. We'll continue to look at that
this year and I'll continue to work with
families and staff to gather feedback on
their experience in full day
kindergarten.
Do you have any questions for me this
evening?
>> I really appreciate that you um worked
with the parents, your concerns and made
them feel comfortable when they're
letting their little ones in school and
that kind of thing. And that's extra
effort does mean a lot over the course
of the time that they're in the school.
So, thank you.
>> Teachers have done a tremendous job
building that trust and those
relationships with parents. I I can't
say enough about team. They're lovely.
>> All right.
>> All right. Thank you very much.
>> All right. moving through update from
HMS principal Amy Harding.
So before I get into talking about some
of our green uh alignment that we've
been working on last two years, I did
want to share uh that we rolling out a
new way to connect families. Uh we are
starting a coffee with the admin and
counseling team. Um and we're starting
with just a informal question and answer
session. Um we're inviting Lee to our
library just uh for after student off at
7:45 in the morning. We're going to
offer babysitting for those that need
it. Um and we're just going to answer
questions for them about them school. Uh
you know, at the beginning of the year
recognize that um some of our parents
have more anxiety about school kids do.
And so the more that they can see uh us,
see what we have to offer, um know that
their kids are in good hand, um and the
more we can begin those partnerships
with our families. So, we're going to
start just with um whatever they want to
know, whatever questions they have, and
then we're going to move into some other
topics. We're going to pull families to
see what they want to hear about. Um,
but we're investigating uh topics such
as uh peer conflict, um helping your
students with uh study skills and
grades, um looking at attendance and um
school refusal. Uh those were some that
we had in mind. So stay tuned. But
again, the first one that we're going to
do is uh going to be Friday, September
25th at 7:45. So I'll be putting out a
lot of information and um I'm just
hoping we have some families join us.
So, um, moving in from there, uh, I'd
like to share what we've been working
on, uh, for two years here at HMS, and
that is looking at our grading practices
here at the middle school. Um, so over
the past year, we conducted a, uh,
comprehensive review of our grading
practices, looked at uh, what every
teacher was doing in the classrooms
across all grade levels, UAS, um, to see
kind of where we stood. Um, and our goal
was to uh align with educational best
practices and clearly communicate
academic pro progress um to our families
and our students. So grades shouldn't be
something that they have to figure out.
Um we should all be on the same page
with how to support our students and
ouru students should be able to look at
their grades and understand them as
well. Um also grades should really
reflect what a student knows,
understands and can do. Um, so we
shouldn't be grading kids on compliance.
We should be grading them on
understanding and comprehension. Um,
grades again should be very clear to
families and those that support their
students. Um, so that we can all be on
the same page and they should really
show mastery over time.
Um, so what we did uh this year uh was
we looked at our grade level teams and
our UA teams and we developed a common
grading practice throughout each grade
level. Um so if a student is in fifth
grade, uh how their the student is grade
graded is going to be the same across
all subject areas. Um our UA team has
also aligned their grading. Um so that
this should be pretty clear to families
um so that they kind of understand uh
you know what the policies are for
missing work, for retakes, uh for what
you know what what the assignments are.
Um it's just so that we have a clearer
communication with our families. Um the
information is going to be shared in
various ways. So we're actually going to
embed it into P school. So when a a
family pulls up uh a student's grades,
they're going to see uh a table in
there. Um and every team, all uh grades
are going to have the exact same table,
but the percentages will be a little
different, and I'll talk about that in a
minute. Um and it also be uh in team
communication and on uh syllabus. Uh so
various different ways. Um and then all
grades are going to be divided into two
categories. So two main categories and
those are formative and summitative. So
uh for those people that don't know what
those terms stand for, um formative is
the work that's done during the learning
process. Um so this is the practice that
provides feedback and helps um the
students growth. So examples of that uh
could just be daily classwork, exit
tickets, practice worksheets, short
quizzes. um that's the the work that's
done in the learning process. Um that
should have uh a very small impact on
the students grades. Um and then
summitative that's the work that's done
after the learning pro uh process to
evaluate the understanding and mastery
of the skills. So um examples of that
would be unit tests, labs, presentations
and uh essays. So our teams have gone
through and they have um decided how
much percentage each of these categories
will be and then listed different
examples of work depending on um
whatever their content might be.
Um each team will use that same waiting
procedure for formative and summitive
and they also have developed the same
procedure for retakes and missing work
and all of that will be communicated to
families so they understand um what
students can make up what they you know
with the timeline that's involved uh and
how much percentage that would be. Um
the procedures have been developed and
aligned for both formative and summitive
categories. Um and again they're the
same across the grade levels. So we're
actually have um a progression towards
having our summitive way more as we go
from fifth grade all the way to eighth
grade.
And then um you know knowing that this
is the first time that we've sort of
rolled this out um and tried to have a
more consistent practice across the
grade levels um we're really going to be
looking at this academic progress uh of
our students and analyzing the data to
see if we uh need to tweak these
percentages or if if they're really
showing mastery towards content. Um we
understand that uh mastery doesn't
happen for every student at once, right?
So, a perfect example of this is uh
going to get your driver's test, your uh
driver's license, right? If we uh if if
you failed that test and were never able
to get your license, that would be a
problem, right? But you can take it as
many times as you need um in order to
get it. And so, we really have to look
at our retake uh procedures and process
and we really have to refine our
assessments so that we are making sure
that we our students are understanding
concepts. Um that's really what it's
about. So, our PLC's are going to be
looking at our retakes and our our
procedures around that and we're going
to be kind of um working those as we go
through this process. So, that's kind of
what we have on ahead of us. So, I think
that might be it for me. Uh what
questions do you guys have?
So I guess the question I have is right
you have kid you have the kid that
doesn't do a lot of the homework
kills the test they're fine they can
move on because they understand it you
have a student that doesn't do the
homework they then fail the test is a
part of the process that they actually
have to go back and do the formative
work to get ready for the test or is
that something you guys are working on
to figure out? So you know for a robust
retake process uh there has to be
retaching right. So that is also going
to be communicated in um the
communication from our teachers. So that
would involve getting extra help going
through different assignments um things
like that in order to show mastery to be
able to retake an assessment.
>> Awesome. And then I love the the sitting
down with the parents just like the
kindergarten parents. middle school is
really scary for people and I think
that's really proactive and a great way
to do it. So, thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Go ahead, Paul.
>> I guess because I'm not familiar with
the grading process.
>> Since I'm not familiar with the grading
process, even though my kid went through
the school system,
how do you uh characterize or describe
the actual elements in this process? I
mean what what is it that you're
comparing? What is it that you're using
as a basis for evaluating
these things?
>> Well, we're looking for mastery of
content, right? So, we want to we want
to know that our student has understood
what the objectives of the course are
and we don't want to look for just
compliance, right? So, uh the day-to-day
assignments are not changing, right?
We're not changing what we're doing in
the classroom. We're just making sure
that our students understand the
material before they move on. H
>> how are we going to do that though? You
it's a it's a you know valued concept,
but what specifically will you do to
demonstrate that they have this mastery?
>> Well, when you um look at the
percentages of the various different
assignments, right, and you're weighing
the summitive assignments, whether those
are performance tests, tests, labs,
whatever they might be, right? If you're
weighing them heavily and those are your
competencies in a class then if a
student passes those then you know
they've mastered those competencies
right so if they don't then we have to
look at retaching that and making sure
that they understand that and that that
happens in a variety of ways.
>> I don't know am I answering
>> I'm not sure I fully appreciate the
exact process and perhaps I would need
to understand that but um tell me what
an exit ticket is. Oh, sure. So, um that
would be, you know, you're working on a
skill in a class and um you just want to
check uh to see if the students
understood what the lesson was. So, you
might just give them a short problem and
ask them to hand it um in their answer
on the way out. So, you can just check
for uh understanding.
>> I see. So, it's not really a ticket.
It's a an assignment that they're
turning in based upon the studies that
are going on in that class. Correct.
Because you can't leave if you don't
give the ticket.
H
>> how do you structure final essays? Uh
one of the concerns that has been
expressed in today's world is do when
you write an essay, are you using any
kind of aids? So are these essays that
are being written at home? Are these
essays that are being written at school?
And how do we know if someone is
actually using one of these excellent AI
tools to help write essays?
>> Wow, that's a loaded question. Um, and I
believe that we are looking at various
different softwares that our teachers
can run essays through in order to see
if there is any AI um components
involved in that. Um but also we are
going to be doing a an AI training with
our staff in March and uh for a couple
of different things. So one of the
pieces will be about um how we can use
AI to our advantage as professionals but
then the other piece is how we can look
at developing lessons and assessments
that are AI proof and really testing for
understanding. So, we're actually going
to be having um a workshop on that uh
and bringing some uh experts in in
March.
>> I would love to see it done earlier, but
I know schedules are schedules. Um the
grading weights,
retakes, and missing work. I think that
was one of the things that was mentioned
earlier. Um, am I to understand that the
historic practice has been to allow
retakes rather than basing a grade on an
actual first test? Are we basically
giving people second chances, third
chances in order to uh finalize their
grade?
So, our current process in in the
handbook has not changed at this moment
in time. Um, so we're going to be
looking at that, but that is that uh
students can uh retake an assessment for
up to 80%. Uh, but the assessment has to
be a major assessment. That's what's in
our handbook at this time. Um, it
doesn't have a number of times that they
can retake it. Uh, because the idea is
that um, mastery doesn't happen at the
same time for every student, right? So,
um, it does that we don't have that in
our policy, but certainly we're going to
be looking at if that aligns with best
practice.
Well, that um you've used that
particular term best practice several
times and I have to admit that I don't
understand what best practice means and
um perhaps it's a you know it's a
specified thing that I could read
somewhere but um when you say best
practice is this a practice that is
coming from some national program is it
something that's coming from the state
what's the basis of what you're calling
best practice.
>> Well, so there's many um different uh
people that have uh written in a best
practice, but I guess maybe to answer
your question better would be to uh
explain to you uh when I was looking at
my own lessons, my own grading in my
chemistry class. So, um, as we were
exploring this at Pinkerton when I was a
chemistry teacher, um, at first I was a
little irritated, uh, because I had been
in a classroom and a teacher for 15
years and I said, "Well, why why are
they making me look at my grading and
examine that? I already know all that
there is to know about grading." Um, and
I I graded on total points. Uh, and so
my students had homework every single
night mostly, right? Um, and our labs
and tests were 100 points a piece and
each homework was 10 points, right? So
then when I actually look at what I was
grading my students on and if they had
homework every single night of the week,
right? They could have in one quarter a
thousand points in homework and only 300
points in tests. So when we say best
practice, I'm am I showing that my kids
understood the material or was I showing
that they were compliant in following my
directions?
>> Does that make sense?
>> Well, it it does, but I guess the
question comes back to
um you're saying that you're trying to
use what what you're calling best
practice and having everybody follow the
same. Um, is that exactly what's
happening? And and maybe I'm getting
into the weeds and we shouldn't, but um,
you know, I perhaps it would be better
if I understood more about the process.
Maybe you could send me um, you know,
what your guidelines are. Maybe that
would be helpful so I could understand,
you know, how this all fits together.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. And do you mind if I just say
>> Go ahead.
>> Yeah. I think that uh assessment
practices are are incredibly complicated
and I think um there's a couple pieces
happening here. One, we've talked about
the need for consistency so that parents
and students and teachers all understand
what the rules of the road are and um
ensure that they're developmentally
appropriate. Um so, you know, these two
buckets of formative and sumitative are
really important to understand. So,
formative is practice. That's, you know,
if anybody remembers the old Alan I
Iverson uh tirade about the difference
between practice and performing in a
game and his argument was you want to
talk about practice but really what
matters is how I perform. Um and in many
ways that's how we look at educational
assessment. The tiny little things that
we ask students to do oftent times in
homework assignments or exit tickets or
classwork, they're snippets and they're
during the learning process. So
sometimes they're pre-learning. It's a
it's a good way of the teacher
understanding like what do you what do
you already know? What do you what do
you need help on? Um those measures to
go back to your your best practices um
question. There has been a lot of
literature that's come out over the last
probably 15 to 20 years around um
ensuring that the grade that we put out
there truly reflects what the student
knows and can do after they've had
teaching and instruction. Um when we
when I was a kid uh we would get a grade
if we covered our textbook. We would get
a grade if we brought in a permission
slip. And what ends up happening uh so
we can we can point you to some great
articles. So like Rick Wormley, uh Rick
Stiggins, there's some great assessment
experts that talk about the distortion
that happens when you start adding in
all of these. I heard Amy say it
earlier, compliance measures that are
important. I I I would be the first to
say that I think it's important that we
measure whether or not students are
showing up to school, whether or not
they're turning in their homework,
whether or not they're organized. But
when we mix that in together with
whether or not they understand chemical
compounds or whether they can perform a
lab and we mix it all together, we
distort the grade. So we don't really
get a true measure of what students know
and can do.
>> Well, isn't that the reason why in years
past you would have attendance as a
separate
>> Yeah.
>> recognition rather than having it become
part of a total grade. it would be a
separate item on your on your
>> Sure. And I think historically though,
me many teachers and I was a teacher
that did this too and I think Amy, your
example is a great one because when I
was a middle school teacher, I used to
keep track of homework assignments and
you'd get a get a check if you turned it
in on time. And uh goes back to Carl's
example. I had students that could turn
in their homework every day because they
were very organized, but they didn't
know the material. Um, but if I
overvalued that compliance of homework,
sure, it distorts it. So, this that
homework piece, which is formative, it
doesn't really tell us a ton about what
they know. It tells us, are they good at
playing school? Are they are they
organized? Do they have a lot of those
skills together, which are all
important, that's a smaller piece of the
grade, the formative side. The summitive
side is where we have to write and
design assessments and I think you're
right to call it out that force the
student to demonstrate and prove that
they understand. Uh the best example I
mean I know I use the sports analogy but
um Grant Wiggins and Jay McTai from
understanding design they're another
assessment experts talked about the the
purpose of school is not to get good at
school right the purpose of school is to
develop an understanding. And how do you
know if somebody understands when they
apply that learning to a real authentic
context? So I think projects really
well-written tests a lot of stuff that
we can do in in school. Uh I am worried
about students taking stuff home and
then whether or not it's truly there a
reflection of of their knowledge and
mastery. I also worry about the the
homework piece, right? because we have
some students who go home to an
environment that is highly supportive of
getting their homework done and we have
some students that have lots of other
family responsibilities and it's it's a
somewhat unequal playing field.
>> Always has been though.
>> Yeah, it always has been.
>> I mean, this is this isn't new. Um I I
have one final um observation that I'd
like to make and I I think it's embedded
within your coffee with administration
and the parents but I've become more
interested in the whole question of uh
and primarily because my own
grandchildren are struggling with the
use of tech and I wonder if an element
of these is building independent study
habits should address issues like how do
you manage the use of tech
>> um and I just finished reading a book
called the digital delusion. I I have to
say um it provides a a litany of ideas
on how to improve or
improve is the wrong word. how to help
uh teenagers and adults manage their use
of tech. Um, and I would highly
recommend it to any parent out there to
come up with strategies that would help
them manage the use of tech. That's what
that book is all about.
>> So, I was I literally was trying to
think of a good example and I thought
your driver's ed example is really good
where the kid may show up to every
single driver's ed course. He may pass
every quiz. He does all the required
hours and then you go to do the test and
he's a horrible driver. That's like
that's the end of it which and then the
formative processes you may have him do
certain hours and then like best
practice Bob would be like I'm going to
talk to other drivers ed or research
they struggle with blah so we go to the
parking lot and practice blah. And then
like say like writing an essay like you
may have them write the outlines. You
may have them do the research, but then
when you sit them down at a computer,
they may be terrible at writing the
actual essay, and that might be anxiety.
It might be the fact that they've used
AI too much. It's figuring out that
formative process to give them it again,
and they wouldn't get the full credit
from doing it the first time, but they
still get credit to get where they are.
But it's it's funny like I love the way
that you ask these questions because in
my head it makes sense but it's such a
hard vague thing to put in a word
sometimes. So
daughter so I understand teaching and
some of the frustrations of teaching. I
also have grandchildren and I had
children. So, I understand the
frustrations particularly in today's
world with tech. Um, and I know my one
daughter doesn't struggle as much as the
other because boys seem to have more of
a tendency to want to play the games.
But the observation I'll make is that
there are a lot of challenges out there
that probably were never part of
parenting
10 years ago, 15 years ago. And it does
have an effect on education. So, that's
why I was raising that particular issue.
>> Sure. and and we're just I'm really
excited to be able to communicate with
our families clearly. Um you know, our
our students are going from having one
classroom teacher and a few UAS a year
to now having uh a set of four teachers,
multiple UAS. Uh parents are are getting
onto Power School and looking at grades
for the first time and not really
understanding what they're seeing. And
how can you support your child if you
don't understand the grade book? So,
we're all going to be on the same page
going forward and I'm just really
excited about how we'll be able to
support our kids.
>> Great.
>> And I just want to say thank you because
I think that's a great point. So, as a
parent with kids in the schools, it has
been difficult to understand what are
they actually getting graded on. Now, I
also come from a family where I have
educators surrounding me. So, I have to
ask them things, you know, what does
formative mean, what does summitive
mean, how do things tie together. Um, so
I think the exercise that you went and
did here is highly valuable for everyone
to understand and also help their kids
further their learning, right? So it's
that partnership between the home and
school that I think the the grading
practices will start to um I guess
support a little bit more too.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you. Now maybe don't go anywhere
because you're up next for overnight
field trip requests that you'd like to
share with us.
>> Okay. So, I'm super excited to be able
to take our seventh and eighth graders
on overnight field trips. So, talk to me
in March and April when I'm exhausted
from these ones, folks. Um, but we're
going to start, we'll start with the
seventh grade. So, I'd like to ask uh
the school board uh uh uh I would like
to ask your permission uh for our
seventh graders to attend the overnight
field trip for a college school. Um,
this year we would like to go in March.
um and going in March. So the dates are
um the 17th through the 19th of March
and um going at that time of year will
will allow us to uh observe uh the maple
syrup process. So we haven't been able
to do that yet. So we're really excited
about that. But aology school is a um
fully immersive learning experience. Um
it's the kids are in it uh through the
time they wake up in the morning till
the very moment they go to bed. Um
they'll be exploring um for the forest,
the fields, the the coastal uh river by
the Sako um the Sako River. They'll be
learning about um conservation and
energy. Um and it's just a really
awesome experience. Um and they we'll
bring them home very tired to you. So,
I'd like to ask your permission for the
seventh grade ecology school field trip.
>> Something we've done before.
>> Yes.
>> Yes.
>> Okay. And what's been the result?
>> I only get uh rave reviews from the
kids. It's absolutely fantastic.
>> And the parents as well.
>> Yep.
>> I can attest to that. So, I've had one
child that went through it. Um, and it's
a fantastic learning opportunity for
them. Um, they're very excited about it.
They get to bond with one another from a
social standpoint is really great. Um,
and just learning things and getting
hands-on time out in nature, which some
of them don't get a lot of that time if
they're not an outdoor family. Um,
exploring, hiking, waterways. Um, it was
highly beneficial. Again, speaking from
personal experience with a child that
went to it, um it was something that
they all really enjoy doing.
>> For many, it's their first time away
from home.
>> That too.
>> Um and no, uh electronics,
>> so no cell phones. Um and since uh your
first when uh we go to a new location,
it's much um cleaner uh and um just I
don't just new and the kids love it.
down.
>> I'll make a motion to accept the request
for the seventh grade field trip.
>> I'll second it.
>> Any other questions, comments?
All in favor?
>> All right. Terrific. So, next one. Um, I
would like to ask uh your permission to
take our eighth graders on our overnight
field trip to Washington DC. Uh so this
year our dates are going to be uh
Tuesday, April 20th to Friday, April
23rd. Um I didn't say the cost on the
last one, which is roughly 400 a person,
but this one is roughly just over a
thousand um per student. Um and this is
uh the purpose of this trip is to really
connect um our students to their civics
curriculum um and everything that
they're learning uh throughout the year
in their in our social studies program.
Um, so they really get to witness
democracy in action. We're going to tour
the Capitol building. Um, we tour ma uh
major monuments and memorials. Uh,
Arlington National Cemetery. Uh, so it's
three nights, four days. Uh, we go to
Pennsylvania and um, we tour uh, the
historic Philadelphia. uh awesome
experience for the kids.
>> Having been on that trip many years ago
with my as a chaperon, I can assure you
that it is an unbelievable experience.
So,
I hardily recommend it. Well, and I can
say too, um, taking my family just as a
side, uh, was a different experience
than going with the tour because we have
tour guides, uh, for all of the
different parts and, um, the kids are
really like engaged with what our tour
guides are sharing. So, through every
single tour, we have a personal tour
guide that goes with a small group of
students. So, they they really get to
learn so much in every space that we go.
Even the bus drivers are knowledgeable.
>> I feel like it's just a tradition. It's
like if you live on the east coast, like
that's what you do for middle school.
>> Oh, schools across the nation do it.
>> Yeah. Yep.
>> I'll make a motion to accept the request
for eighth grade field trip.
>> I'll second that.
>> Any other questions, comments? I have
one question.
>> Sure. Um so obviously the cost here is
significantly higher um than the other
trip. Um has there been any
consideration to do other kind of
fundraising to alleviate some of that
burden on families?
>> We we have talked about it and it it
definitely is a cost. Um and we are so
lucky in this community to have um so
many wonderful giving families who who
help support this. Uh but I am
definitely open to fundraisers. Um, and
the thing is is we have to do that
proactively with a year in advance. So,
it's definitely something I've explored
and I'm I'm still open to. Um, and I
have to say having, you know, your your
kids earn it a little bit uh does have
does kind of hold some weight there. So,
um, I would like to explore a little bit
more of that for sure.
>> Yeah, I I would just say that's the only
thing. And then for those who can't
afford, there's programs. Just for those
who might be listening, tuned in,
there's programs to support.
>> Yeah, we don't turn anyone away.
>> Y,
that was all that I had. We're good. All
approved.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you very much.
Moving along, student services update
with Mrs. McDonald.
Good evening. I'm here to um finally be
able to present to you our findings and
outcome from our PAGS process or program
approval and general supervision process
that um we went through this past
spring. Um, we finally received our
report in the middle of July and um,
Francine Flynn, Katie Ryan, and myself
had the opportunity to meet with our
lead from the Bureau of Special
Education to go through everything. Um,
overall, I want to make sure that I
start with mentioning how impressed they
were with everything that we submitted.
the quality of our IEPs,
um our paperwork, and just everything
that went into this process was highly
recognized and um not to be overlooked.
Um just a reminder that all eleas or
local education agencies throughout the
state um go through this process and are
required to participate. Um and this is
just to improve educational results and
uh functional outcomes for students with
disabilities. Um, every LEA goes through
this process at least once every six
years. Um, possibly sooner if needed,
but um, definitely once every six years.
There's two rounds per school year. Um,
we happened to be in the spring, but
some school districts go through it in
the fall as well.
Um, so there were eight components to
this process. I just wanted to kind of
give some highle um, review for each
component. I don't want to go into too
many details um but this will be posted
um if anybody has more questions. So our
first component had um two pieces. The
first was um our organizational chart,
our personnel list. Um the Bureau of
Special Educted a personnel
certification review to make sure that
everybody that we have on staff either
um district hired or district contracted
are properly credentialed for the um
positions that they hold. And then we
also had um our special education
policies, procedures, and forms that we
had to submit for review. Um I do like
to always um highlight our
organizational chart. This just goes to
show how large student services really
is and how many positions are captured
under each area. Um this did start with
our SAU level. Um and then goes down.
So, this incorporates our again our
district hired and district contracted
positions that help to make sure that
all of our students with disabilities
have their needs met.
Um, so good news is that everybody w is
appropriately assigned to the proper
areas within the roles that they are um
hired or contracted in. um our special
education procedural manual. This is um
a rather large manual about 38 to 40
pages. Um it outlines our child find
process, confidentiality requirements,
our referral process, um different
placement environments, um evaluation
procedures and monitoring of our annual
and initial IEPs. Um that was all within
compliance. And then the forms that we
were were required to submit for review
were also aligned with um what was
expected of us.
Um the second part of this first
component um was more like a honestly
like a research paper. So, this
multi-page narrative was put together by
our assistant director, Francine Flynn,
and just really highlights um Hampstead
as a district, as a community, and how
we really support our staff and our
students from preschool all the way
through 21 plus.
Uh the second component is um highlights
our federal performance indicators and
data probe. Um, so the Bureau of Special
Ed, as you can see, the team is rather
large. I'm not going to read off all of
the different areas of um,
representation, but these um, all of
these people at the state were looking
at many data resources that were
reviewed such as our um, LEA
determinations. I've reviewed that
before. It's kind of like our annual
report card. They're looking at all of
our indicators and where we um, perform
on each of those areas. So those are
some of the data sources that were
looked at, our data dashboards and also
all of our indicator monitoring results.
So just some areas to highlight that
were brought to our attention when we
had our review meeting. So um we have
talked over the past couple of school
years about some of our higher um areas
of identification and our high number of
IEPs here um in Hampstead. Um, one that
was made especially of note to us was
our area specific learning disability.
This happens to be above the state rate
by 7.4%.
Um, so that was something and this is
actually a better visual that they
provided us. Um, that's something that
actually requires an additional action
item. Um, which I will review um, in a
little bit. but just because of the
significant higher percentage from the
state average. Um although we do have a
tad bit of a a higher percentage in
other health impairment um as well as in
autism, they were not alarmed by those
areas because those tend to be a little
bit more in line with other school
districts around the state.
And the next graph actually is a nice
year-over-year visual that they put
together for us. So this looks at the
years of 2016 through um 2024.
Um they mentioned as a state that our
area of developmental delay or DD as
it's noted there has increased. Um this
has come out specifically with our
preschool population as it's an area
where students can receive more service
for global developmental delays the
areas of motor ability um or um adaptive
skills or speech and language skills. Um
there has been an overall decrease in
emotional disturbance or ED as is
labeled up there. Um however with that
there's also been a little bit more of
an increase in the area of OI or other
health impairment. So um in many cases
it used to be with a medical diagnosis
of anxiety it was an automatic um ed
educational disability of emotional
disturbance. We've started to pull away
from that a little bit more and truly
look at whether um the anxiety as an
across multiple environments and over
longer periods of time. If not, that can
be just as um well captured under other
health impairment and still provide a
student with the same level of goals,
services, and accommodations that they
require.
Um and then you'll see where the
significant increase in specific
learning disability has um come along.
Just a few other graphs I wanted to note
just to um highlight
um our graduation rates. As you can see
um the data for the very last graph was
not pulled at the time this report was
pulled together. Um but not only have we
increased our uh graduation data, but
we're also above um the target and the
state level, which I think is something
to be noted.
Our dropout data has decreased. We've
had 0% dropout over the past four fiscal
years.
And something that I know uh Mrs.
Thomaselli and I have mentioned in the
past couple of years as well is just
looking at our particip participation
rates with our New Hampshire state
assessment or New Hampshire SAS as we
refer to it. So on the the graph on the
left is in the area of reading. The
graph on the right is the area of math
and you'll see over the years that our
participation rate here in the district
is lower than that of um the state
average and a lot of this um is a result
of the optouts that we receive or
students that are not able to complete
the testing. Um so we have seen more
students on IEPs
um opting out or um not taking the test
and going quite below the state average.
So this is certainly an area that we
want to continue to focus on increased
participation.
Um our third component was our
educational environment analysis. So um
this is an area where we're continually
ensuring and improving our educational
environments adhere to the guidelines of
um properly credentialed staff. Um
whether students are receiving FAPE or
free appropriate public education. um
the considerations for our least
restrictive environments and then staff
to student ratios.
Um between both buildings, these are our
approved programs. Um at Hamstead
Central, we have inclusion learning
center. RISE is our self-contained
program that's more newly approved and
then um the teach preschool program.
Inclusion and learning center are
resource rooms. So that is ensuring
students are in their classroom setting
for um more than 60% of the day.
Then Hamstead Middle School um they have
three approved programs RH or emotional
hand handicapped um inclusion and then
learning center.
Um the next component does not actually
apply to us right now as we currently do
not have any nonprofit private schools
within our town boundaries. However, we
are required to put together um a plan
if we did have one open what we would
do. Um, Mrs. Thomaselli does ensure with
Hampstead Academy each year that they
remain the status that they're currently
in, but should they change their status,
then that's when we would jump in. Um,
some of our grant allocations would have
to be um, support students that may
attend there with disabilities should
that ever change or should a school ever
open.
Our
next component is um this was actually
when the state the Bureau of Special
Education pulled um and reviewed 14
IEPs. We did have the um numbers our
state assigned numbers ahead of time. So
we were able to provide the information
that they were looking for. Um out of
the 14, this spanned from preschool all
the way up through 21 inclusive. Um we
did have six instances of what they're
considering non-compliance. And what
this means is that we need to be
providing professional development
opportunities um to our staff to ensure
that we are not um going to be
continuing to find um have these as
areas of non-compliance. Um this will be
rolled out with this month's um
department meetings within each
building. Um we have we meet once a
month with central school as well as the
middle school. So um the beginnings of
these PD opportunities will um happen
then. So we had three instances where
attendance logs were used rather than
service delivery logs. So service
delivery logs are just evidence that the
services in the IEPs were delivered in
the way in which they were written. Um
so something that we um decided that we
would do as an outcome of this is to
create a universal service delivery log
in which everybody will receive and then
we can ensure that all the information
that is required is um completed for
each student. Um there was an instance
where evidence of documentation for
paraprofessional support um was not
properly documented for academic
carryover in a classroom. Um one
instance where um we just needed to be
more clear about group versus individual
related service settings. And then um
evidence of consultative services.
Consultative services um are can be
trickier to document but not impossible
and we'll make sure that that happens.
um our fiscal and financial profile.
This is just highlighting areas that um
the state's constantly monitoring. This
is a um time of the year right now where
we're getting um emails from the state
um regarding specific indicator numbers
and we're allowed to make any
corrections if possible. Um, so they're
looking to make sure that I'm submitting
our reports for reimbursement of
approved grant activities on a monthly
basis within a timely manner. Um, that
we are expending our funds within our
grant activities um to prevent the
return of unspent funds. um that we are
um ensuring spending of the oldest grant
to the newest grant first so that we are
again are not returning funds and that
um everything is aligned within our
cycles our grant cycles.
Our seventh component actually was not
able to happen. So the Bureau of Special
Ed just like we're facing in our public
schools is not always um fully staffed.
So they were not able to send anybody
out to conduct classroom observations as
anticipated. Um that was actually an
area where people were waiting expecting
me to give them a date and I didn't and
um come to find out they just weren't
they didn't have the capacity. They are
not going to come out and observe unless
there was a reason to. So as of right
now that component was just not
included.
Um, another component was engaging our
staff and parents and caregivers in um
providing us some feedback. So, all of
the staff were emailed a um 10 question
survey. Um, and we did have 11 staff
that completed the survey. Due to the
small number, they were not able to give
us specific um results. Um, however, the
questions ranged from short answer to
open-ended longer answer. just kind of
looking for um some feedback for us as a
school district and a department. And
then um the parent caregiver listening
session to accommodate families with
young um kids at home. We did offer that
virtually. Nine family members um
participated which they were very
pleased to see. Um so overall families
expressed satisfaction with staff and
recognize the strengths of our district.
there's always room for growth, but it
was nice to hear that overall they're
pleased with how things are running.
So, just to conclude, um our next steps
um due to the high level of students
identified with a specific learning
disability in our district, we are being
asked to form a stakeholders group with
staff members from both buildings. Um
the result of this will be to complete a
root cause analysis and review our
evaluation procedures for this specific
area of educational disability and
identify a potential cause for the
increase and submit this to the state.
Um and then also we need to provide
evidence of our professional development
opportunities around the six instances
of non-compliance um that I outlined
founded in our IEP review process.
Overall, everything, as I mentioned, did
go very well. Um, we have colleagues in
neighboring communities that I know have
um a lot more on their plate coming out
of this process. So, I really am pleased
with everything that um our staff was
willing to take on and help with, and it
was a great learning experience.
>> Any questions?
>> Was any questions?
>> Bob, go ahead.
>> That was a lot. I thought it was really
well done.
Um, oh, was pop.
>> Okay. Sorry.
>> It's okay. It's okay. Go ahead.
>> No,
>> I'm soft spoken tonight. Go ahead.
>> That's okay. Do you want to go?
>> Okay. Uh, what what are examples of SLDs
or specific learning disabilities?
>> So, specific learning disabilities can
be in eight different areas. Um, it
could be um math calculation, math
problem solving, um reading basic
reading skill, reading fluency, reading
comprehension, um oral expression, or
written language. So is it like if you
so if you have dyslexia you might be in
that like you would have a diagnosis and
that would be the impact of it.
>> Yes. So that would fall under specific
learning disability in the area of
reading for sure.
>> Um and then the when they talked about
non-compliance.
>> It wasn't that we weren't giving them
services. It was that we weren't
documenting it in the way that they
wanted documented.
>> Right. within those instances of the um
IEPs that they pulled, okay,
>> they noticed areas where we could
improve our documentation
>> and that recording and the oversight on
that recording has changed in this past
year compared to previous years.
>> It was just part of their this process.
So I can't say that it's changed, but it
will improve moving forward now.
>> Okay.
>> As a result of
>> Okay. All right. So we Yes. So we were
doing the services, we just weren't
doing the paperwork quite right.
>> Exactly.
>> Okay. Thank you. I have a quick follow
on and then I'm going to toss it over to
Bob. Uh question, what exactly is
evidence of consultation services?
What's in consultation services?
>> So oftentimes our teams will come
together um for consult to make sure
that what's happening in the classroom
is also happening outside of the
classroom. It could be um a consultation
with the occupational therapist of um
skills that they're working on in their
sessions and how those could be
reinforced when the student is not in an
occupational therapy session or any
related service. Um, so those are
written in specifically into the IEP.
Typically, the teams meet about 15
minutes per month just to make sure that
everybody's on the same page. Um, again,
it's notebased because it's not a
service del delivered directly to the
student. So, it's just evidence that the
team came together, met, and fulfilled
the IEP requirement.
>> So, again, it's down to the
documentation. Okay. I wasn't sure what
comprise consultation. Thank you for
that.
>> Of course.
>> Over to you, Bob.
>> I I have uh two very specific questions.
Mhm.
>> Every year I see a number of total
students who receive some form of
special education assistance.
If I look at this chart on a child
current count trends
um and I look at the most recent year, I
just generally added up and came up with
290.
>> Okay, sorry. out of our total student
population. Now, this includes the high
school population as well, does it not?
>> Yes. This is preschool all the way
through age 21 inclusive,
>> right? So, it's all 11, if you will,
1100. I mean, I don't know what the
exact number is right this minute, but
it's,00 or in that range. So, we're
saying that 290 or more than a quarter
of the students are receiving some form
of, if you will, assistance.
>> Yeah, we we are above the state average
with our IEPs. Again, not unusual for
the state, but certainly we're talking
about just Hamstead,
>> right? Well, my recollection is from
past years that it was in the range of
21 to 23% statewide and we're at 25 to
27. I mean,
>> generic numbers,
>> right? Very
>> four or five% higher.
>> Um, and is that an issue that they're
identifying? Is it is it that or is is
there some other
more credible explanation as to why we
we seem to have more
u what what's your sense of what that
explanation might be?
>> So they were looking specifically just
at our areas of disability. They weren't
looking at our overall number of
students on IEPs being higher than the
state average when um when this report
was put together. Um, however, I know
that we have recognized that as a
district, which why is why we've started
to put some things in place such as our
bridging the gap grant that we have
spoken about recently happening at
Hamstead Central, grades K through four.
Um, really analyzing our reading um the
certifications of our our reading
teachers and um reading specialists and
making sure that our students are
receiving the most highly qualified um
instruction. It doesn't happen
overnight. So, I know slow steady step
um slow and steady steps will see that
impact over time. Um probably not as
quickly as we'd like, but I'm hoping
that what we have implemented and put
into place will start to decrease
specifically this area of disability.
Um, but we when we went through this
process, it was specific to what you're
seeing on these charts, not our overall
IEP number, but this is certainly a
driving factor for that increase.
>> Okay. Um, this uh is probably
controversial, but I'm going to raise it
anyway. Um, I'm disappointed that only
11 staff
submitted. Um, how many staff do we have
that were given the opportunity? Um this
went out to everyone who is either
employed by us or contracted by us. So
that was
Hold on a second. Um
can't do math quickly on top of my head
in front of you, but that was um a good
60ish people give or take a bit.
Probably more if I'm looking at this.
Um, I think just
daytoday, you know, people might have
meant to fill it out. It got buried in
email. I did send out reminders, might
have gone to their spam. It's so hard to
say.
>> Well, well, I I think this goes to an
issue that I think is important. Uh, and
that is that we are compensating
teachers to assist us in managing the
school and one of that is that they give
us feedback. Um I recall that last year
there was a study um or some kind of uh
survey done on tech use and a similar
percentage submitted. Um now I don't
know if that's
you know recognition of the interest of
the teachers. I I don't think so. But on
the other hand, I'm disappointed that
the teachers who we pay to help us run
the school, help you run the school,
aren't providing the feedback. And I'll
just make that as a statement.
So if we are feeling as though we should
have gotten more feedback,
>> um I would just kind of challenge the
team to think about how to um make it
more of a positive experience and like
incentivize people in some way to do
that. It does take time.
>> They have a lot on their plates.
Understand that their feedback is
critical to children's success. They
also know that.
>> So maybe just taking a look at like how
do we improve that rate so that they're
encouraged to do it. maybe bring it to
them, maybe just do it differently um so
that things aren't getting lost in
email. I mean, we're all guilty of
looking at email meaning to go back and
not and then a deadline passes, right?
So, um that's my two cents on how to
just encourage that participation so
that we're able to get that feedback.
>> I've already thought of a few things if
we go through this again and even like
trading off all cover duty if you can
fill out your survey and you know, just
kind of pulling everybody together.
>> Last 10 minutes of a PD. Here's the QR
code. Everybody do it.
>> Yep. Make it easy,
>> right?
>> Does Did the feedback go to the state
and then back to the district?
>> Yes.
>> So, it was here, fill this out for the
New Hampshire Department of Education.
>> Yeah. And unfortunately, they forgot to
give me a heads up so that I could
provide everybody with a hey, this is
coming your way.
>> Okay.
>> Um, but I can't blame them for that.
They just got ahead of themselves.
>> Yeah. There's also um some friction
between local educational people and the
statewide, too. So,
>> well, and having a one-mon opening is a
long time. Usually, you want to get that
off your plate. So, if you're going to
um complete a survey and return it to in
a month's time, yes, it's going to get
buried and forgotten about and you know,
even if you search it, you might not
find it.
>> Yeah.
>> Window.
>> And then I had a question on um
was talking about the eighth graders and
how many were opting out and obviously
like we literally talked about OI and
anxiety and that kind of stuff. Is there
a negative impact on the district if too
many people opt out?
>> Yes.
>> Yes, there is.
>> What's like what's the impact of that?
>> So, um well, one we have we have to hit
a threshold of is it 95% participation?
I I'd have to look up the statute of of
what the threshold is. I did notice um
eighth grade in particular was I think
our lowest participation rate last year
for SAS. Um and I'm unsure of how they
calculate those uh optouts in I'd have
to do a little more research on that.
>> It is 95% and even the state average is
below that.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. Thank you.
I I just want to say one I mean th this
presentation I think just underscores a
little bit more than a little bit of how
complex student services is and in
particular special education. I think
that Melissa has an incredibly difficult
job. She and Francine and Katie are
managing this monster process. Um, so
anybody who's familiar with special ed
law, um, a lot of what she just talked
about is is really federal and state law
that requires a ton of compliance
documentation.
Um, and it is really labor intensive.
Um, and it and it makes up just her
organizational chart when she and I were
talking about it last week. I mean, the
student services department makes up
such a huge percentage of our our core
staff because these are rights that are
guaranteed in federal and state law that
we must provide. Um, even though we
don't receive the funding to provide it.
So, like it's pretty well documented
that IDEIDA when it was passed has never
been funded at the rate that uh Congress
promised. So that that burden falls on
states and inevitably falls on
communities like Hamstead. And it is
it's very expensive. But as you talked
about FAPE, I think that's an important
um acronym everybody hears. FAPE stands
for free and appropriate public
education. every child um in the United
States of America is guaranteed a free
and appropriate public education which
is that appropriate piece is pretty
important which means um we need to meet
their needs regardless of what they are.
So I credit you and your team Melissa
because I know this is a lot of work.
>> Yes and thank you to everybody who
participated.
>> I I would second that.
Um I have one related question and that
is that we know there's been discussion
about
having some cap on administrative
services from the federal uh from the
state level
um in our budgets.
Are all of these costs part of the
administrative cost?
>> That's a great segue into our next
agenda item I think. Right.
>> So I want to answer it. It's it's a bit
complicated and uh between Jeff and I we
probably have 20% of the answer and the
other 80% is TBD but um
>> sounds like legislator.
>> Yes. The so there there are I'm sorry D
you want us to move on to that next item
which is about administrative SAU
budgets. Is that the next one?
>> Uh
yes and no. So the next one is SAU
budget public hearing requirement and
then it goes a little bit deeper. So
we're kind of segueing into things.
>> All right. So I'm going to get to that
question because I think it's it's kind
of baked into some of the things that uh
Jeff and I are going to discuss. Um
so in the agenda uh uh and in one of the
handouts that I provided in the packet
um wanted to make sure that the board is
aware of a new um SAU b uh budget public
hearing requirement. So this is um as a
result of um new legislation that was
passed HB564.
Um, so just to zoom back out and then
I'll kind of zoom in. Historically, um,
districts like Hampstead have had a
public hearing in January. Um, and in
that public hearing, the kind of full
budget is presented. Um, and, uh, any
warrant articles. Um, this law made a
change to all districts, all SAUs,
including single district SAUs like
Hamstead that put an additional
requirement on top of us. So we need to
hold two public hearings. The first
public hearing is a public hearing on
just the SAU budget. Um now SAU stands
for school administrative union unit. Uh
uh we are a single district SAU. So um
you right now serve as the SAU board and
the school district board. You're one
and the same. But there are some um
communities out there that have an SAU
board that is made up of representatives
from the participating district boards.
Um so it's a little less complicated for
us, but nevertheless, there are still
additional requirements. So when we
prepare the budget this year, we are
going to need to kind of segment the
budget into two big pieces. One is going
to be the SAU budget and that is
primarily the administrative
um district level or SAU level services
that are provided. It gets as soon as
you start pulling on threads and asking
what those are, it gets very
complicated. We we've we've done some
work and we're waiting for some
additional guidance from the state. Um
and uh so to answer your question, do
all of the special education services
fall under the SAU budget? Um likely
many of them do. Um but there is also
another bill out there that is uh the
tax cap bill that you kind of talked a
little bit about which uh doesn't use
the term SAU budget. It talks about
central office spending. And in that
legislation, there was a carveout for
some of the categories that would be
included in the SAU budget. So, it is
incredibly complicated. I think it will
be confusing for many voters. We're in
the process of putting together some uh
educational materials to help people.
Um, but I'm going to stick to this first
one first, which is the 564, which is
the reason that we need a a public
hearing in December. the law calls for a
public hearing of the SAE budget before
January 1st. Um so,
uh once we have that public hearing, we
can kind of move that budget forward and
then we'll hold a second public hearing
when we normally do in January for the
general operating budget. Normally, we
would really have one vote on the budget
and the SAU pieces would be included in
that. This new legislation calls for
them to be separated. Um, in March,
voters will vote then on the SAU budget
and the operating budget. Um, and
there's a a variety of possible
outcomes. They could approve both. They
could deny both. They could approve one
and not the other. And there are um all
sorts of contingencies that are put in
place. Um, so the key today is just to
ensure that everyone understands that we
do need to add another public hearing to
the calendar. Melissa and I were looking
at the calendar, working that out, um,
ensuring that it is um, on our agenda.
There are additional reporting
requirements that have to do with um,
the posting of materials and information
for people um, prior to that public
hearing.
Um, as I as I said and I'm trying to
kind of avoid Bob's question because
it's there there's so much ambiguity
among legal counsel, among the
Department of um revenue, the New
Hampshire Department of Education.
There's a lot of ambiguity as to what
exactly is included um in these two
different um budgets. Um but we'll work
on it. Um, I think our goal is to make
it as simple as possible for voters. Um,
I just want to make sure people because
it happens to be the day of the primary
today. So, people are already thinking
about a November election. as um I
shared with the board a few weeks ago,
there was another bill that was passed,
HB1300, that has placed a question, a
tax cap question on the ballot in
November, which is a little unusual.
It's a lot unusual because we typically
don't have school district budget
questions in November. They're usually
in March. This one will be in November,
and we will put out some material and
information to ensure people understand
it because it is not common. So people
might not know what they're voting on.
They at that point they'll be voting on
a tax cap and a um a cap on
administrative expenses at 6% of the
total budget.
That is not the same as the HB564 bill,
which is going to be the SAU budget on
the warrant in March. So I'm sure that's
confusing, but I'm happy to try to
answer questions
people may have.
I I think the one question I have is how
can we help
you develop and dis disperse this
information? It's a
>> great question. Um so, uh I'll be
attending the the statewide uh
conference on Friday of superintendent
where we will be talking through some of
this to ensure that we have consistent
legal interpretation of these bills. Um,
and once we kind of wrap our heads
around that and uh uh we are I know Jeff
is waiting to to meet with his group of
business administrators um around the
state. We are waiting for some guidance
from uh the department of revenue
administration about um how the tax levy
will be calculated. Um, so once we get
all that information, I think we
probably will need to think about ways
in which we can share very simple
information in lots of different ways.
So through social media, through our
meetings here, through um material that
we send home to families and we post on
our website. Um, simple simple
materials. We we looked at some some
examples. Um, Rich probably knows more
about this, I know he does, than I do.
In Massachusetts, there have been
several communities that have gone
through this tax cap process. So,
there's a lot of actual material out
there that kind of breaks it down for
for taxpayers. Um, so yeah, we'll need
many voices and and people willing to go
out and talk to people about it.
>> Well, I for one am willing to do so.
>> Great.
Did I leave anything out of I'm sure I
did, but Okay. Can
>> any other questions about 564 and this
um public hearing requirement?
>> Many, but we're not going to answer them
tonight.
>> Are you okay? Yeah. Don't ask them
tonight if they if they're into the
weeds.
>> So, I'm guessing it would screw up the
our normal timeline, but it could you
put the two public hearings back toback
on the same day?
>> No.
>> Hypothetically, we could typically um so
we've got some timing issues that we
work through here actually in all of the
sending communities. We typically don't
get our Pinkerton Academy tuition number
until after Thanksgiving. Um, and then
we have one meeting in December. Um, so
I I mean I can I can certainly work with
Jeff and the team. When we talked about
it, our feeling was trying to do the
general budget in December might be
really aggressive. It might be
challenging to get that done. Um, but
what we can't do is do the SAU budget
meeting in January when we normally do
our because the statute requires it's
before January 1st
>> to be done in December.
>> So, hypothetically, yes, they could be
on the same day, but
>> yeah, it's probably not
>> pragmatically it might be really
difficult.
>> No, I didn't think so. But
>> yeah, and we have our system in place to
be able to be comfortable with what that
budget number is come January. We'd also
have to be pretty darn sure that we're
going to have that budget finalized, the
entire budget finalized in December
because of the posting requirements for
the public hearings.
>> So, we'd have to know a month, two
months ahead.
>> Yeah.
>> So, it would be nice to have the same,
but they're so they're so generally
pretty quick um in terms of the public,
you know, these ser like a public hear.
Never had one that night. I I assume
it'll be a pretty quick run through. So,
>> yeah. No, thank you.
discussion, we can move on to the 202728
school budget process discussion with
also Superintendent Crawford.
>> All right. So, I know it has my name
here, but I am going to I'm going to
turn it over to Jeff and have him walk
us through the timeline and process and
then we can answer questions.
>> So, I can tell from the excitement in
the room tonight that you're all into
budget season just like we are.
Enthusiasm is overwhelming at times. So,
we kicked off um our which is hard to
believe our 2728 budget planning process
and um information is out like here at
the middle school. I know we have
department requests. So, um that those
budgets will be uh loaded into our
system on September 25th. Joe and I will
take a look the week of the a couple
weeks of the 28th to August 12th to
review with our principles to meet down
meet with them one-on-one. Um go through
and and really put a fine tooth comb to
the department budgets. Um we have a
board meeting on October 13th. Um we'll
give a um
some hopefully we'll have some direction
for from hopefully you'll have some
direction from us as to where the
budget's going at that point. Um and if
we require additional guidance that'll
be helpful at that meeting as well.
October 20th is our work session. I'll
be develop budget development with
liaison. Those are all articulated
on the schedule. The 27th we expect to
have um our larger budget presentation,
budget drivers and challenges, goals,
enrollment data and schedule of our
major changes plus or minus.
October 28th through the 30th will um
meet uh for final review with
principles, directors, budget owners. On
the 10th uh at the board meeting here,
uh we'll have an update on any pending
budget items and capital projects. I'll
have the proposed budget presentation
slideshow at that meeting.
On the 24th, hopefully we'll be able to
finalize those budgets and review
district numbers.
So on the 8th, December 8th, uh that
would be to approve the school budget
and that's the date that we are
proposing to also have the SAU public
hearing.
I would I would venture to guess and
because this SAU budget issue is a newer
one that we would have se budget
approval a little earlier on in the
process, maybe November 10th
um in that time frame. So, I don't know
if there are any questions. Very
exciting topic.
So, we're all jazzed up.
All right. If that concludes that part,
we can move on to the 2026 27 school
board goals discussion.
All right. So board members, in your
packets, you have the Hempstead School
Board goals that went into effect on
September 23rd of 25. I wanted to open a
discussion on the floor here to review
these um see if any stand or if members
would like to propose um that we add
something else, move something around,
um reconsider what we have as our our
lineup, things of importance. So, um,
for those who may have thought about
this in the past, are there things that
immediately come to mind or, um, by all
means, if we want to have a different
type of discussion, lead the development
goals in a different direction, um, feel
free to to chime in.
My personal feeling on this is that I
think last year we had a lot of pretty
productive discussion around these goals
and I I don't think we got them done
until later on in the year, right?
>> Um,
personally, I think letting them stay
for another year, especially if we're
coming up with a new strategic plan,
would make sense rather than reinventing
the wheel.
Just my thoughts.
>> Yeah, for me like the like we ended up
withformational literacy and just to
give Joe an idea for me that's like the
can kids evaluate
um the authenticity and relevance of
information and like we had like we had
a big discussion about a whole bunch of
different words before we shrank it down
toformational literacy. But like I think
that and like especially even again it's
a year later and AI is even crazier. Um
and I think that's like a that is a a
goal that has to exist within the
district where like these kids have to
be able to look at something doubt it
and then be able to figure out the
actual answer. Um but like it is in
there and as long as you guys and the
schools understand like that's the the
impetus for that those two words. I
think it's fine for this year,
especially like you said, if we're doing
our new strategic plan, like we're going
to that'll develop into the new
strategic plan.
>> Yeah. I mean, they're broad enough that
strategic plan kind of come from that,
right? And then you have your
measurables from there.
>> Yes.
>> Versus we we never really got that far
with this.
>> Yeah.
>> So, you're feeling maybe like some of
these are left a little undone. We don't
have
>> I don't think we have data to support
that we've done any of them.
I if I could I'd like to make two
observations. Number one, since I wasn't
part of this process before, I really
probably don't understand the elements
that are are buried in the words. And
you know, that's always the case. But it
seems to me that the emphasis on
uh emotional well-being is in almost
every goal. And while that is an
important element, I don't believe it
should be emphasized in all of our
goals. I think we need to be going back
to some more basic
goals for education,
which may include things like um
performance.
Um, and I while I don't know how that
would fit in here because I wasn't part
of this process, I I do believe though
the underpinning of this may be fine,
but the overlay comes across as we're
worried more about social emotional
um, issues than we are what I would
consider to be reading, writing, and
arithmetic. I mean I and that's old
school. I understand that. But
um I think the emphasis on learning
needs to come more clearly through these
goals. And maybe I just don't read them
well enough. But
that's my take and I'm more than happy
to spend some time trying to see how
that might fit in there. But I will
admit that this is not my for this
particular set of goals are not my
forte. I'd have to do some hard thinking
and I would recommend that there be some
discussion about it before we adopt it.
>> Yeah. So that's something I was going to
raise. I feel like u you know we can
have an initial discussion. Do we have
to have our board goals done now in this
meeting? Okay. So to your point Bob I
tend to concur. So some of these things
I feel like are also a little bit table
stakes at this point. So they're also
existing kind of in the fabric of the
community that we've built here. So
there are certain things that we want to
see. We want to see more measurable
things that we can come back and say,
"Hey, this was success." But then also
if we're talking about um and some of
these other practices, those to me at
least as kind of outsider since I'm not
in education um seems like we've woven
that in so tightly with everything else
that we stand for and we do. I don't
know that they need to be a board goal.
Um so we may want to consider swapping
that out for something else that we feel
is um leaning more into the educational
outcomes that we're trying to achieve.
Um,
>> yeah, I think something kind of to that
vein, like I think one thing I had said
last year is really us looking at more
of a mission and vision and then
allowing that to kind of be the the
foundation for the superintendent and
his team to create goals based on that
overarching mission and vision.
and then perhaps at at some point having
almost like a workshop to create those
two things rather than I feel like every
year we try to shoehorn it into this
10-minute section of a meeting and we're
all like
um and just post a meeting on a Saturday
morning or something where we set two
hours apart to have a little workshop on
it.
>> Just a
>> Yeah, I would tend to agree with that
approach. I think this deserves a little
more attention and time um to really do
a thorough vetting of what we're what
we're wanting to establish here.
>> I think it sends a good message to the
town as well that you know we're being
proactive in thinking through what our
goals need to be.
So like I so strategic plan the last
time and it's interesting like the
strategic plan got linked to the goals
and the goals got linked to the
strategic plan and then you wonder like
the chicken and the egg kind of thing.
>> Um but the last time that committee the
committee had like I don't know 12 or 14
people and it met over multiple weeks
and there was a facilitator to try to
grind down the language to make it
actually accessible which is what the
six goals were. Um,
yeah. And I I do think it's
when you talk about mission and vision,
you want something that is that
everybody remembers because I don't
think if you ask this district, like
most of the staff, what's the mission
and vision of this district? I don't
think most people would be able to like
come up with it at all. But like if you
can come up with something that's like
it's a feel, right? Everybody knows kind
of what Hampton City School should feel
like and I think that is pervasive but
how do you put that in words I think is
hard. So
>> yeah, I'm good.
>> Yeah. I mean we're the we're the elected
representatives of the parents, right?
So like our job is to basically convey
the feeling, right? And and what we want
it to look like broad strokes and then
give the superintendent the ability to
take that and run with it.
>> Makes sense to me.
So I think takeaway from this is we need
to um decide when we want to have some
kind of a workshop come together and do
that. Um Melissa is that something that
we or Joe is that something that we um
we publicize people are able to come if
they want to observe the discussion
>> meeting special meeting.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. And I think like even just coming
up with what the process looks like
because do you a do you ask for
like stuff beforehand by survey versus
like I think that's something like if I
don't know if like Joe can put together
what that might look like or something
>> some sort of a process outline or
>> Yeah. Sure.
>> Sounds like sounds like an AI task.
>> No. No.
>> So just uh sometimes I struggle to hear
in this environment but I want to be
clear. So, we can we can put together
some potential dates and times for a
meeting, get it out to you guys, see
what works, and then put together a bit
of a structure to that meeting um with a
clear understanding of what are we
hoping to to to to walk away from. To
Rich's point, I I agree 100% from my
chair, having a a clear set of
overarching expectations, whether we
call them goals, mission, vision,
priorities, uh those that's extremely
helpful. We did do some work this summer
as a team. Um, and each of the
administrators have been charged with
the development of a kind of
projectbased goal that is focused on one
of three areas that we identified after
me talking to you folks and uh parents
and serve and staff. And um so we're
going to be ready to share those kind of
project goals with the board in a few
weeks. Um, we we had a meeting on it
today and and there's been a lot of
work, but I think it's going to dovetail
and fit nicely inside of this. Uh, but
yeah, I can work through that process
between Melissa and I will we'll figure
out a good way to schedule that with you
all. Um, Rich, I heard a Saturday
morning. Is that like an ideal time for
most people?
>> Uh,
so I have one this Saturday at my actual
job. Yeah.
>> No, I hear you.
>> The same thing.
>> Yeah. Yeah. It can be tough to find time
Monday through Friday with everybody
working and having other commitments. I
think,
>> you know, if we're looking at carving
out a short bit of time, I think it's
it's
>> hopeful. I'm hopeful that we can do it.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay, we'll work on that.
>> Sounds good. Thank you. All right,
moving into board comments,
correspondents, board members, anything
to share or discuss?
Nope. Okay, moving right along. consent
agenda, personnel report.
>> All right, we have nothing for personnel
um this meeting again, which is pretty
good news. Uh for the most part, we're
we're in we're in great shape with our
uh professional staff and um you know,
just just tying some final knots around
uh just a couple uh pair of professional
positions that have been um we're hiring
right now. And we're always looking for
subs. So, if you want to substitute be a
substitute teacher, uh, fill out that
application. Um, so when it comes to
superintendence report, I don't have a
lot to talk about tonight because many
of the things that I was hoping to talk
out talk about sort of found their way
onto the agenda. Um, I do want to I
don't want to um go on too much about
the the budget process and the the new
um sort of many changes to to laws. I
think it was a very active um season,
legislative season this past year and uh
there were many bills signed into law in
June and July that have significant
impacts on policy and operations. So
stay tuned. I've been trying to feed you
it slowly. We do have a policy committee
meeting coming up this month where we're
going to be diving into um our bullying
policy first because there was a there
was a rewrite of the uh bullying law in
the state which which um we have already
implemented here procedurally but we
need to get our policy updated to match
those procedures. Um the primary thing I
wanted to spend a little bit of time
just kind of circling back on is um the
leech bed project. So, I know uh uh Bob
had had shared some questions that he
wanted some um kind of feedback on
regarding that project. Uh I worked with
Jeff and Jeff um to get some answers to
those questions. Um so I I just I'm
going to ask Jeff to give just a quick
update on where we are uh with that
project and then also check in with you
all to see if you had a chance to review
our answers and see if any they raised
any further questions.
any any questions that weren't answered
in the Q&A and I'd like to go through
them briefly for the benefit of the
public. Um Bob, you submitted the
questions. Thank you. They were so good
we wanted to share them with the whole
board and why not here. So thank you.
>> Great.
>> So your uh question one was and again
these are questions related to the uh
Leechfield project replacement project
here at HMS. Was the project bid? I'm
not going to read it, but yes, the
project was bid uh for the removal
installation of of Bedfield B in the
construction of an access road middle
school. Uh the rubid established a June
10, 2026 response date. Were technical
specs prepared? Yes, technical
specifications were prepared by Keech
Nordstrom. Um and I believe they are the
town are they the town engineers as
well? Yep.
>> Mhm.
>> So
um we had included a detailed scope of
the work covering and permitting the
site preparation abandonment of the
existing system excavation installation
of the new bed backfill and grading etc.
Um required the work to follow their
plan. The plans incorporated into the
RFP uh were approved by the dees on
September 18, 2025.
We had some slight amendments to the
plan because the plan they put together
put a whole new septic plan together for
all four of our beds or all four of our
our our fields. We have two main fields
with with uh with two beds each. Uh that
plan was reworked by Keech
uh in time for the project to commence.
So were there bid documents? Yep. Um
what was the basis of those documents?
Third party prep. Yep. So we had had Kee
Nordstrom prepare the plan itself. Um
the RFP was prepared uh by myself and by
Mr. Mackey.
Uh no, our legal team did not review it.
Typically they not necessarily would. Um
how was it advertised? It was advertised
on our website and it was shared through
Facebook on May 12 21st 2026. Facilities
director sent the RFP directly to
approximately 10 local interested
contractors uh who had expressed that
interest previously.
We had five unique bidder submissions
and what was the basis of the selection?
Um we really I I think our first goal
here is we we have to try very hard to
stay within budget. We received five
responses. Um of the five two fit neatly
into our budget. And so the one that we
went with was 174,200.
and
the other two uh sorry the ones that
were above budget we had one at 264 one
at 345 and one at 415 which really quite
a bit above what we were able to um have
the project bid at the project was
priced conservatively
um long before as normally happens
probably about 10 months ago and it was
not estimated to be at the $250,000
range we included that to have some
extra room and three of the bids Three
of the five that came in exceeded that
amount.
Uh were there any exceptions? There
weren't any exceptions per se. We did
have two that were just legend
unsuitable
materials exclusions.
Better qualifications reviewed. Yep. Um
it posed several requirements of
responsibility. Um mandatory site work,
installed license, septic installer
lensure, liability, vehicle workers
comp, etc. performance and other payment
security and compliance with codes. Um,
yep. And a standby letter of credit was
uh could be used as an acceptable form
of alternative for shity or bond. Uh,
was the selected bid based upon price.
Other references, price and budget were
the major factors. Um the winning bidder
had been had been a has been a reliable
contractor for the town of Hstead in
various projects and successfully
completed similar septic field
replacement at the memorial gym um many
years ago with no issues of reported uh
problems. Uh were there any change
orders? Why? What was the basis and the
prices determined? How much of an
increased cost compared to the the base
bid? So one change order was requested
and approved of of as of September 3rd.
the change order did not relate to the
the actual field, the actual
construction itself. Uh it actually was
just for lone coverage road, 5,000
square ft. Uh so we can feather out that
new access road that we have from the
lower field where the Gaga ball court is
um to main road itself or to the new
road itself and then up to the field
behind it. Uh which will allow for
better mowing, much better aesthetics,
less than about a dollar a square foot
for that. So the current status of the
project is that we are in pending final
inspection um
they're looking to confirm existing
pumping station connections at the edge
of the pavement out on the parking lot
at the gym side. we had only done from
we had only
um worked I believe from the area of the
access road over
so those
septic holding tanks in the parking lot
had not been touched at all but they
wanted to go in and see if the baffles
were set in hydraulic cement and so we
had explained to them that one they're
50 years old and once we start digging
around guess what's going to happen
first second it's largely ly
inconvenient in the middle of a parking
lot that we just repaved. So,
Kee Nordstrom is submitting a request
for waiver, specific waiver on those
requirements, which I didn't know that
they'd be looking at. I thought they'd
just be looking at the operation of the
of the field itself now that it's put
in. So, they are submitting I don't have
been submitted today. The idea was I
think that was going to be submitted
today. Once that's approved, then that
should help with the septic final
inspection process.
I I only have one question. It's it's
the above you had 10.
>> Um well, it's a joke.
>> Thank you.
>> I I appreciate the responses. Um
there is a reference here when you when
we ask the question if there are
exceptions to the bid documents.
As I understand what you've written
here, you did give
one or more than one bidder the ability
to carve out any latent subsurface
conditions or unsuitable soils. Did you
offer that same condition to the other
biders?
>> Uh, no. They could have excluded that in
their response, though.
Well, but if you, again, I'm I'm going
to play civil engineer for a second. If
I were bidding a project and you told me
that the project had to be complete, no
matter what was found, which is the way
the spec was written, if somebody came
in and gave me a bid with a carveout
that said, "I'm not going to tell you
what the cost of that is because I don't
know what it is." then that same
condition should be offered to all
biders. We we and I realize the time
constraints. I realize all the other
issues that were going on, but that is
not a fair comparison of bids. I'm sure
that people who bid this normally expect
to see some latent conditions and as as
I read the documents, there was no
allowance for the carveout. So if
somebody was given that opportunity,
then that same opportunity should have
been given to to all the other biders,
even if it was a phone call to say,
would this affect your bid?
>> Yeah. Yeah, that's fair enough. It was
nothing that we had run into or that
they had exercised. And if we can in any
event get some money off a bid in the
future, I'm more than happy to do that.
>> Good.
>> Yeah. Any questions?
Leech fields are exciting.
>> Those budgets big night,
>> they're necessary. Um, I don't have
anything else for for superintendent
report. I know we've got a lot of
reports tonight, but I appreciate your
your taking so much time on this.
And I do believe the only other item on
here, we don't have any other business
anyone wants to discuss. Old business.
Seems like we're sailing on. We did want
to enter non-public this evening under
RSA 91 A3 section 2C.
Looking for a motion to move into
nonpublic.
>> So moved.
>> Second.
Melissa take the role. Questions?
question.
>> Does the subject have to be described?
>> No.
>> Yes. So, it's as Mrs. Meyer said,
matters which if discussed in public
would likely affect adversely the
reputation of any person.
>> Okay. All right.
>> So, Miss Denton is not here. Dr. Hubner,
>> yes.
>> Mrs. Meyer,
>> yes.
>> Dr. Poor,
>> yes.
>> Mr. Wymer,
>> yes.
>> Okay. Thank you. The time is 8:45.