School Board Meeting | 2026-08-25

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

Recording

get things started. Welcome everyone.
Today is Tuesday, August 25th, and the
time is 7:02 p.m. Uh, with that,
Melissa, would you please take the role?
>> Melissa Denton
>> here,
>> Carl Hner
>> Denise Meyer
>> Richard Poor
>> Bob Wymer
>> here.
>> Thank you. And also seated at the board
table is Superintendent of Schools Joe
Crawford and CFO Jeffrey Dow.
>> Very good. If we would all stand 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.
All right, fellow board members, in your
packet, we have the meeting minutes. If
you could take approval. This is from
the June 9th meeting for review and
approval.
I will make a motion to approve the
minutes of June 9th, 2026.
>> I'll second.
>> Any questions,
comments? No.
Very good.
Take vote.
All approve.
>> Thank you.
>> Excellent job as usual.
>> Moving right along. Um Melissa, do we
have anyone here this evening for public
comment?
>> We do not have anyone requesting public
comment.
>> Very good. We will move right into
current business. Then we will open with
Mrs. McDonald to present to us the
summer extended school year program
report.
>> Hi, good evening. Um, as always, student
services was extremely busy over the
summer. It was great to see so many
students um available for summer
learning for extended school year
programming. um that ran from July 6th
through July 31st and we serviced
approximately 115 students prek through
grade 8. Um we did also support some
students that are uh were in the process
of transitioning to Pinkerton Academy.
So it was nice that our staff was able
to extend beyond um just our two
buildings here. Um just a reminder,
eligibility for extended school year is
not necessarily for every single student
on an IEP. Um the IEP teams are looking
each and every um IEP cycle for the
possibility of regression over um
extended breaks from school or even
possibly over weekends. Um how
recruitment, which is how quickly
students can regain skills when school
resumes. Um whether there's any emerging
or critical skills that are are have
been work are working on that are
particularly important to continue with
over the summer.
um the nature and severity of the
disability and um also whether the
services are necessary for our students
to maintain free and appropriate public
education or faith as we also know it
as. Um so each um each students um
summer programming is designed around
their individual needs based on their
IEP. So that's looking at academic um
social therapeutic needs. Um we offer
two different styles. We have what we
call the full program. So full program
is when students are coming for three
hours. Um they are receiving all of
their um programming whether that's
academic, social or related services. Um
services are are scheduled during that
time. So they might be assigned to a
teacher and then our related service
providers are taking them um in and out
during that time. Or they might also be
um scheduled for dropin services. So
drop in services might be because they
only have one or two um needs such as
academic and or just a related service
um such as speech, physical therapy or
OT, occupational therapy. And so those
are scheduled more individually with
parents and those that are providing the
services. Um we do utilize both
buildings. So, the nice thing about
utilizing the middle school is our
students that either are already here in
middle school or who are transitioning
up to fifth grade um have the
opportunity to be in the building when
there's um less people in the hallways
and um be able to see where the
classrooms are. Um we did have a total
of 23 students this past summer or as
we're finishing the summer um in grades
five through eight who attended um
extended school year services here at
the middle school. Um, and we also are
um had I'm sorry, we also had
um 56 students who came for um what's
called drop-in services at Central and
20 um and I did say 23 students here at
the middle school. Um we had less than
10 that came for the full program here
at the middle school. I can't give you
the exact number publicly because it
would be too identifiable. Um, however,
it was nice to see um some students be
able to take advantage of a longer
period of time here to work on some um
life skills and other things beyond just
academics.
Um, parents were emailed an extended
school year end of um session report.
So, if anybody's listening that did not
receive that, please um let me know so
that we can resend that. Um, looking
ahead at next school year, um we are
looking to keep our extended school year
programming during the month of July. It
seems to work well for families who are
scheduling vacations and give students a
little bit of a break between the end of
the school year and the start of the
next. Um, we will be doing a little bit
more of an analysis about what model
we'll be recommending. We did have a
decrease of what was last year's 59
students who came for our full
three-hour programming down to 36 this
summer. That definitely impacted
staffing. Um Katie Galant was our um
extended school year coordinator again
and she and I talked about whether we
might have been a little bit overstaffed
in anticipating higher numbers that were
here for that were recommended for the
full three hours versus who came. Um at
the end parents are able to make a
choice and in some cases they decided
that um their child needed a break for
the summer.
Um, an additional opportunity that we
offered at Hamstead Central School for
our RISE students um was what's called
Rise Academy. So, this is not um exactly
under our extended school year model,
but closer to the start of the school
year. Just happened last week. Um it's a
4-day opportunity and it provides um the
opport it provides um staff the
opportunity to come in for training um
through IEPs
um through behavior support plans and to
work individually with their students
schedules um so that they can have an uh
the chance to meet their students before
the busyiness of the school year begins.
Um the students come for the next set of
days uh for approximately two hours um
each of the three days. And in this
situation, what they do is they become
familiar with the school environment or
reaclimated if they've already been
here. they are able to find their new
classroom space for the upcoming school
year and participate in some structure
activities um with peers and with the
paraprofessional or registered behavior
technician that will be assigned to them
for the school year. So the goal of this
is to support that transition back to
school while promoting the students
confidence, positive social
interactions, and a successful start of
the um school year.
Any questions?
have any questions?
>> I just wanted to say thank you to all
the 44 staff that worked over the
summer, which you know, a lot of times
that's when you decompress and that's
like I don't know like a third of our
educational staff. So that's awesome
that they came out and gave up their
time in order to do that. So thank you.
>> We had a phenomenal number of staff in
the key interest in working this summer.
So, it was exciting to see
and I want to again say thank you to
Katie Galant for helping to organize and
execute our extended school year for
four weeks. She did an amazing job.
>> Yeah, and I'll kind of echo Carl's
comments. Um, the other thing I want to
point out is I think it's great that
you're already pinpointing the time
frame um because there was a slide in
some of the attendance and maybe some of
those families just couldn't make it.
Earlier the better. It's a competition
obviously with vacations and camps and
things like that. So, I know the team
puts a lot of effort into making it a
successful program for the for the
children. So, thank you.
>> Any other questions?
>> All right. Thank you very much.
>> All right. Next up, facilities summer
projects report with Mr. Mackey.
>> Well, welcome back everybody. So, quick
summer update. Uh as you'll see on the
next slide, uh just some bullet points
of uh the major projects that we had
going on. The leech bed access roadway.
That was our uh big ticket item. Uh next
up, fire alarm phase three. You'll hear
me say that. Uh phase four will be next
year. This was for the uh field parts.
So anything beyond the panel was
replaced. Pull downs, sensors,
detectors. That was all successful. That
was a three-week long project. So happy
to get that done. Uh the elevator uh
operator upgrade, that was another
couple week project. Uh we did have very
very few setbacks this year on most of
our projects. The elevator uh we just
got it wrapped up the other day. They
had to order a part and uh it's up and
ready for school now. The prek roof over
at Central School that we uh once my
team got in to uh take it apart, they
found out that there was just fiber
board. So I ended up having to get some
plywood put on there. So, that made me
happy. Uh, we spent a few bucks just to
get some plywood. Got that roof firmed
up, all ready to go. The HCS hallway
floors, that project ended up getting
delayed due to my contractor. He just
couldn't squeeze us in. He's honoring
our rate and he's going to fit us in
over some break in the future, Christmas
break, uh, April break, February break,
one of them. They're generally really
good for us. And last but not least, the
general maintenance and deep cleaning of
both schools. That includes anything
from room moves, mechanical maintenance,
uh, painting, ceiling tiles, you name
it. Anything that we needed to get done
in-house, we do. Uh, and last but not
least, I was able to get air
conditioners in the eighth grade wing
here. So now every traditional classroom
aside from the UA wing has air
conditioning in this building, which is
fantastic. Uh, on the next slide, we
have just some pictures just to give you
guys an idea of what we go through. Uh
got a couple of uh the septic or the
leech bed and the access road. Uh like I
said, the detectors and pull downs are
all new. The new roof. We painted pretty
much every bathroom floor and bathroom
and every hallway got painted this year
with my uh amazing I know I say this
every time I'm up here, but we are very
blessed to have the crew we have for
facilities. They I have custodians
painting non-stop. I have them pulling
ceiling tiles down. They help out with
my maintenance guys. They'll help pull
cords. They'll run wires. They'll do
pretty much anything I asked them to.
So, that's fantastic.
Um, and yeah, back to the setbacks. We
really didn't have too many. We are
waiting on the leech bed is ready to go.
It's sitting there. We are now waiting
on the state inspector to come. It was
in hopes to be here last week and it's
been delayed a few days. Uh, so
everything is up there ready to be just
pushed over, filled in, and on we go. I
did have the tanks here, the big old
tanks before it pumped. So, we have
about a 9,000 gallons worth of space for
flushes. So, there's no concern for the
next um unless we flush about 6,000
flushes in the next few days. We're
going to be in good shape. Yeah. Um
yeah, that's pretty much it. So, any
questions?
>> I I have a few. Um, I think it would be
good and maybe tonight's not the right
time for it, but I'd like to see more
detail on the pricing and any change
orders that may have been required. I
think the, you know, the long-term issue
is that there have been comments made to
me by contractors that they were
concerned that perhaps, you know, the
town wasn't getting the best deal. and I
want to dispel that if at all possible.
Um, so if if I could ask u
Mr. Crawford to uh and and Jeff or
whomever maybe it's maybe it's you as
well um to provide I'll I'll send you a
list of what I think would be
appropriate detail so that we can agree
on how we can say something back to
people who might I don't want to use the
word criticize question um you know what
we're doing and and how much money we're
spending for it. Uh but the key I think
is going to be the you know the bidder
selection and the u change orders if
there were any for you know the u the
leech bed system. So I we don't need to
discuss the details here now, but I I
think it would be appropriate for us to
come back with, you know, some statement
either by yourself or or by Jeff that
speaks to that particular issue so that
it's on record and the public can be
assured we're doing the best we can.
>> That's perfect strategy.
>> That sounds good. I I appreciate
appreciate the opportunity to share that
information. Um the good news is that we
did have carveouts in the contract. So
there were some exclusions in the
contract and none of those contingencies
came up. So we have no change orders to
date which is nice. Um but we'll get the
final numbers together right forward. We
may look the potential for looking at a
change order for um doing a little bit
of a grade adjustment but that really is
not substantive to the septic itself to
the field itself. So, but overall
everything seems to be in good shape and
>> great
>> place is good and
>> y Jeff where do we publicize um stuff
that's going out to bid like does that
go out through the district website or
how do we get try to get bids?
>> Yeah, we we put it on the website and
then we will send out any known vendors
who have expressed interest in this
these types of projects. Uh we just
closed our oil and propane bid. Uh
that's a joint effort with the town and
so we will each post on our websites and
the town will send and I'm sure we end
up with redundancies. The town sends to
vendors who have either participated in
the past requested to participate and we
do the same on our end as well. So we we
put it out there. We don't leave it out
there. We make sure that if if there's a
vendor out there who may be interested
in it that we can get it into their
hands so they can take a look. And it
was similar with this project. I think
Jeeoff you sent it to a
>> generally I'll keep it a lot of it in
town first. Yeah. And if there's not,
depending on what the project is. For
example, when we did the oil tank a
couple years ago, we got to go. There's
not any oil tank installation or removal
companies in town. However, I tried to
stay locally and then I branch out from
there. For the septic, I stayed uh all
local and then we ended up putting it
out again after an adjustment on the RFP
and I ended up just sending it to
multiple in the area. you know, there
was one from Sandown, there was one from
Epsom, there was one from uh couple from
Hamstead. I can't remember where the
other one was from. So there I try to
keep it at least close and then I branch
out.
>> And some of this is like specialized
where there's only like one person in
Rock County or whatever.
>> So like the oil tank, the company, they
have a a satellite location in Derry,
but they were originally from Wake.
They're from Wakefield, Mass. because
not a lot of places do that around here.
Septics, we had plenty of people around
here that do it. So, I just sent it out
to as many as I knew and uh we went from
there.
>> So, thank you.
>> Yeah.
>> Nope. Just want to say thank you to you
and your stellar crew for uh making
everything shine and ready for everyone
to come back to the one heck of a crew.
So, thank you.
>> All right. Up next, technology summer
projects report with Mr. Dion.
Good evening, school board. One second.
Forgot the clicker. All right. For
summer 2026, our big update for our
summer projects
is that we did not have any. Um, it is
an off it's an offcycle project year.
Um, that being said, I'm going to uh the
reason for that is we just completed a
major um upgrade to our infrastructure
in 2425
um that included all of our networking
devices uh switches, firewalls. We also
um upgraded our virtualization system.
But instead, what I'm going to talk
about is some of the routine and
maintenance uh the work that we do do
over the summer. Uh the first one is
updating our inventory.
We have asset creation of new devices
and we print labels on every device that
is new so we can track them efficiently.
Um we update the production network in
the schools. One of the best things
about the summer for us is we get to
shut down all the mission critical
production servers. Uh that gives us
time to update the firmware, update
security updates and make sure that
everything's running smoothly. Um, also
we do student and staff device repairs.
So at the end of the summer, staff are
allowed to turn their device in if
they're not going to use it or if
there's something that they'd like us to
look at on their device. And we collect
all student devices. Um, I thought you
might ask, so I do have some numbers
here. Um, at Hamstead Middle School, we
have replaced uh or repaired, I should
say, not replaced, repaired 10 student
devices, and we repaired four student
devices for HCS over the summer.
And we also purchase new devices for
staff and for students. So the staff are
on a four-year rot rotation. So after
that fourth year, they will get a new
device. Um and then we take the old
devices back and keep them as spares and
also um we take components out of them
that can be used for repair. Uh as we
have our own repair shop inhouse,
we [clears throat] also replace
Chromebooks in the first and fifth
grade. Um the idea on the rotation is
that is uh students will get a new
device in first grade for our one-to-one
program and then we will take those
devices back uh once they graduate and
move over to middle school and then they
will get another new device uh for fifth
through 8th. Um, and then at the end of
8th grade, if they've been really good
with their technology and it's
[clears throat] in good condition, uh,
we've been typically able to give that
back to them as, um, kind of like a a
present for being here.
Another big thing that our department
uh, does is I am also the I forc
coordinator. So, we are responsible for
doing enrollment submissions. Um I have
some information on the slides of what
they consist of. Um student absence
submissions. Uh basically reporting the
the type and the dates of any that
anytime a student is is not in school.
Um I also work closely with student
services to make sure that our data is
accurate in submitting uh the title one
report um and also the program
participation which includes any student
that is on a 504 education plan. The
state uh needs to know that every single
year. And then the free and reduced um
which we get from um our link nutrition
system and summer graduates and
withdrawals. Uh anytime a student leaves
our district, we have to tell the state
where they're going, whether or not
they're uh going to an approved home
school program, if they are going out of
state, um or if they're going to another
public school in the state of New
Hampshire. Um we cannot have a student
leave our school and not have them um
registered going somewhere else. Um they
it's really uh they keep track of all
that information. Um and that is all the
work that we did over the summer.
Do you have any questions?
>> We have one down the end. Go ahead.
>> Bo, Joe, what's the uh status of our
security? I know last year there were
instances of other communities having if
you will inter interruptions with their
um software.
What what do you feel is the status of
our security if you will and the
likelihood we'd suffer similar similar
problems?
>> So I feel like we're in really good
shape. Um we have all staff members um
enrolled in two-factor authentication um
for their Google environment. Um we do
like I mentioned before the upgrades and
updates to all of our um network
security and we also um part of the
beginning opening meetings I was
speaking at both schools talking about
some of the incidents that occurred over
the summer. Um that's great that you
brought that up. Uh there's been a lot
of um other districts that have been had
compromised accounts that then send out
information um to uh other districts
like ours. We have received them. Um,
you know, all of our computers have anti
virus protection with host intrusion
prevention on them. So, it will catch
those things. Uh, but every time that we
get information, uh, the districts share
these fishing attempts with other
districts. Uh, so my team and I will go
in there and quarantine emails. We will
take them out of people's inboxes, um,
so they can't click on them. um we can
see if they have clicked on them and
then we will immediately go and um take
that device, quarantine it, um image it,
um find out if it has been infected. Um
I'm proud to say that there hasn't been
any incidents in Hamstead over the
summer. Knock on wood. Um
so I feel like we're we're in a really
good place. Um my team is really um
keeps it very serious on cyber security.
Uh it's it's very important. So,
>> I I I want to say that uh given some of
the problems other school departments
have had, I know you're doing a great
job.
>> Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
>> You will get fishing emails from them,
which you which you immediately forward
to Joe and they're good.
>> I'm sure I've done it too.
>> Yeah, they're good at it.
>> Very good. Thank you. I think in
addition to that, correct me if I'm
wrong, the team goes through security
awareness training as well, correct?
Yeah, we do. Yes,
>> that's what I thought.
>> Very good. Thank you for keeping the
cyerspace safe for for all.
>> Thank you very much.
>> Good year. Thank you.
>> All right. Next on agenda, fiscal year
and financials review with Mr. Dow.
>> Well, thank you very much. The DOE 25
and MS25, those are our two uh reporting
documents are complete and are in the
board's hands for signature as we speak.
Um, these are due September 1st and
they'll be submitted tomorrow as as long
as we have all of our signatures. Uh, I
do have a presentation I think that Joe
might have some access to. We can throw
up on the screen just to have some
visuals. We'll do really just a very
high level um high level view for at
this meeting what we're looking at for
total unencumbered fund balance which is
what everyone wants to know. Actually,
that's not what everyone wants to
Everyone wants to know we're actually
returning to the taxpayers. Our total
unencumbered fund balance uh our total
yeah without incumbrances is 3,241.
Uh we have incumbrances and inventories
about 52,000. We have capital reserve
contribution of 250,000 and we have a
fund balance retention of 500,000. So
the total on that would be uh that would
be returned to taxpayers is 2.438
million.2438,965.
You can see right there behind you. um a
lot of the so if you look at the top
number that 3.241 million that's not a
true number because that includes the
fund balance from the 2526 year. So
realistically that number is $400,000
less than that. So our number actually
is about 28 um in total. We have our
capital reserve contribution of 250 and
then our our fund balance retention of
500 which would only be hundred in new
dollars if you will giving us 2.4. Uh we
can take a much deeper dive I think into
some of the specifics as we get closer
to budget season. But if I were to
identify some of the sources of this
more than half of this uh is in tuitions
both uh student services special
education tuitions and our Pinkerton
tuition. So about 1.2 of that uh is
attributable to those lines. Um, in
general, we have about 400,000 for
insurance and
the rest of it scattered about, if you
will, uh, throughout the budget. We, but
those are the big ones. 682,000 for
tuition to private and other schools.
Uh,
really one point almost 1.3 million um,
in those tuitions. our transportation
overall, which is kind of a a shock as
well. That's um giving us 194,000.
And interestingly enough,
we had the
central school project
on, if you can remember that, that's a
while ago, but we had started in that
year and had rolled forward um
incumbrances. The project was completed
the year before last. get some money
roll into this year until we finally
finished and finalized those bills. Um
that project wasund was about 108,000
favorable. So we kind of realized that
in this year's budget if that well in
the budget we just closed in the 2526
budget. So it's kind of a weird thing
but it's not all related to this year.
It's just that I have to keep rolling
the budget forward and and in
encumbering that until we're able to pay
our final bill and release it. It's a
weird thing as well because um I didn't
plan on the revenue for this year. We
only we only plan on the revenue that
we're going to be getting from the
capital reserve. So, it's really an
expense um surplus, but not a true true
surplus. It's it's odd the way that you
you look at it. We didn't get the
revenue we didn't get the revenue in to
um offset it. So, really this year and
this year alone, it's just an odd um
anomaly. So, as we are going through the
budget process, this will be important
to, you know, consider where our areas
of opportunity are in light of our
increasing expenses. Um and one of those
I can talk about it now or I can talk
about it uh during the superintendent
update relates to the oil bid that I
alluded to um previously. So we had
received
uh two bids in uh and this was that
joint effort between the town and the
school district which has really been a
great effort and I appreciate the town's
uh assistance because we're able to
benefit from their propane use and they
were able to benefit from our oil usage
to get the volume up to be able to get a
discount. Um, I was prepared for some
bad things and it wasn't quite as bad as
I thought. Uh, we received two bids. One
was from Palmer who's our current
vendor. The other is from Hilton oil out
of Lawrence I believe. Um, Palmer came
in at 3599 for number two oil $1899 for
propane. Hilton was $454. $4549.
Yeah. For oil. So somehow the 359 is a
good thing. Anything under a four. I was
I was pretty pleased with. But that's
about a $50,000 increase based on our
average 2-year use. Our our previous
year costs, so in 2425 per gallon for
oil was 2879.
2526, the year we just closed, it was
2569.
So we actually are having a larger
increase, but it's one that if we had
had the increase last year that, you
know, would have built up to the current
increase wouldn't have been as much. But
uh this year at 3599 it's about a dollar
more
but again it's because the previous year
was higher than last year. So we really
got a deal last year which I was really
pleased with. Our propane 2425 was at
169 2526 it was at 179 and for this
coming winter it'll be 189. So that only
went up a dime each year over the past
three years. Seems to be within within
range. So overall just a factor for
consideration. Um, I considered it to be
rather um, I hate to say relatively good
in this environment. I know that our
home eating oil prices will not be in
that neighborhood,
unless you locked in like two years ago,
I would guess. So, yeah. So, that's
that. Any questions
>> for fund balance retained? Um, and I
guess this is a Joe just as much as a
Jeff question. The new law, how is that
going to affect us for next year? So
1610 was that law and that got vetoed if
I'm not mistaken. Was there an override
on that do you know of?
>> I don't believe so.
>> Right. And so that was where the
where we would have had to have returned
all of that fund balance retention to
taxpayers.
But it was vetoed by the governor. And I
think one of the reasons cited was the
fact that it was it was being signed or
considered for signature like June with
an almost an immediate effective date so
that it didn't give a lot of room to
plan it and if it were if it were
planned out a little longer it sounds
like something she possibly would have
signed. Um but I do believe that that
could that could be so we don't have to
necessarily worry about that this year.
Yeah, I thought it went it went through.
Um, but it was it was up to 3% of the
net assessment you could do. So, what do
you know what that would look like?
>> Well, it was a a weird thing this year
because the way the law was written, we
could do 3% and it's not of net
assessment. I thought it was on the on
the budget number because currently
we're on our currently we're at two and
a half%.
>> Okay.
>> Um, of net assessment. So if our net
assessment is 34 million, you'd run two
two and a half% of that. But if it's 3%
on the total budget, that's a much
different number. That's 1.2 or so, I
would guess.
>> So our current fund balance retained
would have been around the same amount
that would have been allowed had the law
gone through.
>> Probably would have been the same the
same thing. It's just the current two
and a half that we have is based on that
net assessment. The 3% under the law, I
think, was based on the total
appropriation.
>> Okay,
>> if that makes sense. So the only only
the amount that we currently we're only
we're limited to that two and a half
percent of what we actually get from the
town.
>> Okay. And can can you just talk about
why we do fund balance retained?
>> Sure. Yeah. That fund balance retention
is simply an amount that we hold um the
district will hold and have available
for um extreme or exigent circumstances.
It's a little bit complicated because
there's a new law that was passed and
that law gives up to 5% availability of
that net assessment that you're able to
hold for fund balance retention. I don't
see any way that this board would ever
have a need for 5%. So, I've never asked
the board to put a warrant article on to
accept that uh that the provisions of
that new article or that new RSA. And I
say new, it's like I don't know, seven
years old or something. It's quite old.
The problem is that that new um the the
new RSA, not the one that was vetoed,
but the the more most recent RSA, if
it's adopted by the taxpayers, allows
for a more expedient way to access those
funds. Now, we would have to go to the
board of education and there's a lot of
a lot of hoops and hurdles to go through
to get it. And I'm okay with that. If we
need if it gets to a point that we do
need those funds for something, we have
a roof collapse or something we need to
locate a relocate an entire school
somewhere else. um we might be in a
situation that we would be looking to
spend up to our budget and that's that's
when that money would would would would
be available for us as if we were in a
situation not a budget line really. I've
looked at it that you you really have to
be up against your budget uh to do that
which means we'd have to completely
spend our or anticipate that we're going
to spend our entire budget before
applying to access those funds. So for
for a little bit board history, I don't
think anybody was on the board, but Dave
Smith at one point called all of us and
said, "Hey, the Le L Leechfield at the
central school might be going because
it's sinking and it's going to be 200 to
$300,000."
Yeah, Jeff Mackey's giving the nod. So
that was that was a little scary. So
that's the kind of reason that we do
fund balance retained is if there's a
big item like that that we're not
expecting.
Any
other questions?
>> So for anyone who might be listening
that does not maybe understand what it
means we say return to taxpayers with
that number that's up there. Could you
explain what that actually translates
to?
>> Yes. So we will essentially send a bill
or the department of revenue
administration um has all of the tax
rates and and alloc informs the town as
to what our allocation is from the town.
And if that allocation is 38 million,
um, if we're returning, let's say, the
2.4 million, we subtract that from the
38 million. And that's what that's what
the town what the town would be would be
sending us. We don't actually send it
back to be distributed out to the town,
the taxpayers, but it's we reduce it
from the amount that the town would owe
us for the current year.
>> And
I'm sure in past years, what has this
amount been?
>> Um, I have a history. Last year, I think
it was about 1.2 or so. Um but it's been
it's been in that range um over time and
sometimes it's due to revenue. This year
the only upside on revenue I think was
catastrophic aid which was about 62,000
more than anticipated. So we didn't have
a huge revenue surplus. It's mostly from
expense this year.
Any other questions?
Next item on the agenda, the 2526 school
board scholarship winners. Um, so last
time that we met June 9th, we did not
have the list of winners from the school
year. Uh, these folks have now started
their college careers. So just a quick
note, um, the award winners were Leah
Cassita of Hamstead. She's going to be
attending UNH in Durham to study nursing
and Dominic Fazio of East Hamstead.
Dominic will attend Catholic University
of America in DC to major in global
studies. So big congratulations to the
two of them for receiving those
scholarships to help them on their
educational journey. I just want to give
a little bit overview on the scholarship
process um in history. Scholarship was
established in 2003. Typically at the
end of summer, early fall, school board
will vote on offering a scholarship for
the ensuing school year. So we'll be
talking about that this evening. Um, as
shown in the scholarship recipient list
that you all have in your board packets,
there's history of the winners. It
summarizes the awards that have been
granted since its inception. Uh, it did
start out actually as only one winner
per year and now we've grown to two. The
scholarship application forms are
generated by the SAU in September, sent
over to Pinkerton where the forms will
be made available for any interested
students to apply. stipulation is that
the applicants must be a Hamstead
resident currently enrolled as a senior
at Pinkerton and those applications are
due at the Pinkerton School Counseling
Office in the spring of each year. Um,
important to note that the winners are
not chosen by the school board. Um, that
is a Pinkerton senior awards committee
that meets in the spring to deliberate
and select the winners. Uh, following
the awards ceremony in June, Pinkerton
will contact the SAU with the names and
the contact information for the winners.
So, that time happens to be when we're
kind of closing things down, which is
why we're announcing who the winners are
now. Um, with that,
as I mentioned, we'd be reviewing
whether or not we would do this again.
Um, so like to open for discussion. Is
this something that the board would like
to um entertain again for this year?
Scholarships. We did do two and the
amounts were
1,750
for each.
Comments, thoughts?
>> We should definitely keep it going.
I see no reason not to increase it.
[clears throat]
>> Thoughts from rest of the board.
>> I I agree with you,
Rich. I agree with you. It's rare, but I
agree with you. [laughter]
>> Count that as a win.
>> All right. So, modest increase for each.
We did just increase it two years ago
and then two years before that. I'm
totally fine with 2000, but it's we
which I mean there's a lot of inflation
in higher education, but
there is. Yeah. And so looking at the
history, there has been, you know, some
modest increases here and there. Um
this isn't a huge jump. We've had some
previous larger jumps it looks like
historically. Um I think raising it is
on par with kind of where things are
today. um and would help the students on
their educational journey. So, I'm not
opposed to increasing the amount.
>> I will make a motion to increase the
scholarships, the two scholarships to
$2,000 a piece for next year.
>> Any discussion? Further discussion? No,
we're good. Okay.
>> All approved.
All right, moving right along. Summer
hiring approval. Sorry. Go ahead, Bob.
>> I have one.
>> Yeah, sure.
>> Um, I did attend the scholarship
announcement program last uh June, and
my observation is that it really doesn't
give our board an opportunity to show
the public these people and have them
come to one of our meetings. Personally,
I think we should consider in the future
having them come to us even though the
awards are announced
there at some point. I think it would be
good for the public to see the people
that are being given these awards and
for the board to express directly their
appreciation
with such pandemonium.
um you just don't get a chance to have
any discussion really get to know the
individuals at all. So I it's just a
suggestion that we consider having them
come here.
>> Yeah, I mean based on timing I think
that's something that we could look at.
It just depends how the meeting schedule
and availabilities and graduation falls,
but something to keep on the radar.
Thanks for bringing that up.
>> All right.
>> All right. For you.
>> Okay. Next item. uh in your packet there
was a summer hiring
um sort of uh set of materials. It
includes one resignation of a
professional staff member and three um
three professional staff members that
were hired over the summer. So, um, we
for a resignation, we had Amanda
Welvers, who is an elementary classroom
teacher from Hamstead Central School.
And for nomination for new hires, we
have Rebecca Ings, Hamstead Central
School occupational therapist, Erin
Molini,
um, reading specialist for, uh, I think
she's primarily here at the middle
school, and Katherine Phillips, Hamstead
Central School classroom teacher. So, I
think Dr. Hubner is the liaison has
signed off on this through the uh
through the summer and now I'm just
asking the board to ratify those
personnel u decisions that were made
during the summer. If anybody has any
questions I can we can address them in
non-public because we're not going to
talk about personnel in the public
meeting.
>> Just wanted to say as usual with hiring
we got people with experience that it
was really easy to approve them over the
summer. So,
I think it's
uh Bob did a really good job of
sometimes stealing from other districts.
So, it's Yeah,
I'll make a motion to
>> Okay. Well, you make a motion.
>> I think
>> Oh, okay.
>> Do you want to make a motion?
>> You can go ahead. You like a motion? Oh
gosh.
>> All right. I will I will make the motion
approve the already approved
>> nomination and res.
>> I will second that.
>> Can you sec Can you second his own
action?
>> Well, that's why I said should I make
>> I I'll second it. Just
>> here we go. I will accept his second and
withdraw mine.
Not that we don't not that we don't have
confidence
be on the up and up.
>> Any further discussion?
All in favor?
Thank you very much.
>> Okay. New hiring orientation mentoring
program presented by Mrs. Thomaselli.
>> With you, baby.
>> So, while Nicole's coming up, I do want
to just uh reiterate something that that
Dr. Hubner had said. My first real work
that I did here as superintendent was to
work with Bob and Nicole and some other
staff members and doing some hiring in
the spring and then throughout the
summer. And I can echo what what Carl
had said. I'm I'm unbelievably impressed
with the the quality of candidates that
we've had here. Um it is not a great
time to hire educators. It can be really
really challenging. And so when we find
such strong candidates, it's uh it makes
our jobs really easy. So it's it's been
great. And Nicole has been doing a
tremendous job of the mentoring and
onboarding process. So now she's going
to take it away and tell us about it.
>> Well, it's not me, it's the team. And we
have two mentor coordinators, but this
is our model. You might have seen this
document before. We re redesigned the
mentor program um I believe it was two
years ago to kind of put our mentees
into different categories and we built a
whole new category. So buckets A, B and
C. A is our new hire teachers, brand new
first year teachers in Hampstead. Um
this year we have six people who qualify
in this kind of category as their new um
not necessarily new to teaching but new
to Hamstead. Um bucket B is the new kind
of creation a few years ago. We have
found that we have a number of people
coming to the profession from other
industries and they require special
licensing through the state. So we call
that a sitebased license. They're
allowed to teach as long as they have a
bachelor's degree and an approved plan
with the department of ed. So our my
role is to kind of liaz that
relationship with the department of ed.
But then we need to get them a mentor
who has the certification. Um so
we need to compensate that person. It
takes a lot of time and it's a
three-year commitment with the
Department of Ed. There's also an
emergence of teacher conversion programs
around the state. Right now, we have two
paras enrolled in those programs, but
the idea with that is that you have a
pathway to get a bachelor's degree and a
teaching search. Um, so that's a
wonderful way for us to kind of hold the
ladder for someone who shows an affinity
in teaching and learning but maybe did
not get the the background prerequisite
coursework done to achieve a bachelor's.
Um, and so maybe they work for us as a
parah for a few years, do a conversion
program and become a teacher. Um, and
related service providers also fall into
bucket B because their lensure comes to
the department of health and human
services. And so it's a very different
set of competencies and requires
specialized um mentoring.
And then we have bucket C which is for
mentees who are in their second through
fifth year in Hamstead or anyone who's
changed uh positions like if you are an
interventionist becoming classroom
teacher or you're a classroom teacher
becoming a case manager, you would
qualify for bucket C. Or if you're in
years two through five and that's at the
discretion of building administration.
Um so this year we have six new hires in
category A, six in category B and 13 in
category C. And what this document does
not show um and we probably should
formalize it in a mentoring handbook is
we also have a paraprofessional
mentoring program. So at new hireer
orientation last week um we invited our
paraprofessionals who are new to the
district to join. It's a little bit
tricky because that is almost a rolling
um process in the district. We hire
Paris as soon as we can fill those
positions. We get them into the schools.
Um but we were fortunate enough to have
two people be able to join us last week
for new hire orientation.
Um so part of the redesign here also
includes instructional rounds. We have
on this document four instructional
rounds throughout the school year and
we're really going to try to achieve I
will say at least three. When we wrote
this we were on quarters and so I was
thinking four but now we're on
trimesters so it's definitely going to
be three. The goal with instructional
rounds is to put the mentees in
classrooms of our master teachers. So,
even though they're assigned a
one-on-one mentor, I really emphasize
during new hire orientation that we are
a team and anyone in this room needs to
make themselves available to any mentee
who needs their skills. Um, and so the
goal is to get our mentees in front of
our master teachers multiple times a
year because we think the best learning,
you know, it can happen here during the
workday.
Um, Joe, can you go to the agenda? So,
the other thing I wanted to show you is
our new hire orientation agenda. It's a
two-day um 12-h hour orientation that we
run. We do a restorative kind of circle
at the beginning and we explain how we
have a little bit of a background in
restorative circles here and we get to
know each other kind of do some
light-hearted questions about what
brought you to Hamstead um why have you
chosen education and we throw some fun
ones in there like you know your
favorite hobbies and um that was a fun
little get to know you opportunity. Then
the Hamstead SAU team, the leadership
team does a presentation. We talk about
our core values. We talk about our kind
of directions for the district and what
we think the priorities will be this
year. Um then we give them a very brief
overview of the evaluation model so they
understand what our walkthrough process
looks like, how many times a year
they'll be evaluated, what to do with
the feedback they get. Um, and we kind
of juxtapose that to the mentor program
because the mentor program is not
evaluative, but it should support them
in growing so that their evaluations
come back in a way that they a
understand and b are are proud of. We're
all growing here all the time. So, no
one's evaluations are perfect. Everybody
gets feedback and things to work on. Um,
so that's important for the mentors to
be able to kind of support that
understanding.
We have a very nice lunch and I have to
thank Francine uh Flynn who really
helped coordinate lunches this year.
It's very hard for me to be picking up
lunch and setting it up while I'm
presenting. So Francine was absolutely
wonderful this year and helping with
that. Um and then we have Joe and his
tech team and Tara Mclofflin help
distribute laptops and do an
instructional tools overview. Then we
have uh Melissa and our newest special
ed coordinator Katie Ryan do an IEP 101
for our paras.
Um and then we all come back the next
day with all the mentors. So the
Thursday before the teachers come in,
the mentors come in for two hours. They
meet with their mentees. They run run
through a checklist of topics. The
checklist is forever growing and
changing and we're amending it every
year. And then I was very grateful to
have Francine, Melissa, and Katie Ryan
again do a how do we support students
presentation and kind of give a student
services overview to the mentees which
allowed me to pull the mentors together
for the first time ever. We had a mentor
meeting and talked about this program
and how we can make it better, what's
needed. So getting feedback from our
high quality experienced teachers was
very helpful to me. Um, and then we have
a lunch again the next day. And then we
have a school safety presentation where
we bring our SRO in with our school
principles. We review some very basic
emergency operating procedures. Just
kind of make sure people have their feet
under them a little bit for school
safety. We have a lot more school safety
training coming, but this is just a
quick primer.
Um, and then we had a little wonders
training online. and they were doing a
free webinar. So, we wanted to make sure
our new classroom teachers at the
elementary school got some exposure to
the ELA curriculum. It's kind of a
robust um product. So, that was a
helpful little primer. And then we give
them some classroom setup time which
with whatever's rest of the day.
So,
that is our new hire orientation. So, we
have a wonderful um crop of new hires
and I will say that um I think you know
Mr. Thompson did a very nice job hiring
strong and if he tries to poach from
Hamstead we will be having a discussion
in the parking lot. So, he is not going
to be poaching from Hamstead in his new
role.
There any uh questions I can answer for
you about mentoring?
Great. Thank you.
>> Yeah, likewise. It looks like a good
program to welcome people in.
>> Thank you. I hope so. We get a lot of
feedback from people throughout the year
and we've evolved it and it's easy
enough to make changes, so it's good.
>> Very good. Thank you very much.
>> All right, moving into board comments,
correspondents, board members, anything
to share with the group?
Newampshire, the New Hampshire School
Board Association has created we I went
to that summer meeting and there's a few
policy changes which are coming down the
pike
on bullying and
um
hold on I just had it up
the
on access to public school programs by
non-enrolled resident students which is
If you have if you are taking money
because you are homeschooling or
alternative schooling, can you in fact
then come in and double dip and still
get services? And on that one, there's a
whole bunch of questions and they
haven't figured it out yet. And the DOE
is not yet providing guidance on it
because sometimes they keep their head
down and wait and see how it goes. Um,
we don't need to address it that part
yet because I think we're still they're
still trying to figure it out. And Will
Phillips, who's the staff attorney, is
pulling his hair out as we speak because
he's not getting any clarification. Um,
but just there's a bunch of stuff that I
know we'll we'll see it in policies at
some point, but that was a concern
that's coming up um because of the
nature of the legislation. And then we
had the opening meeting and it's the
first opening meeting I've gone to and
it was awesome.
Um I thought it was really cool that all
the people got recognized for how many
years like if they were hitting their
big numbers. Um
I got a couple hugs from staff which was
awesome which was really cool. Um Jen
Howard, you're amazing because you're
like the bright light of the district
which I think is awesome. She had all
the new paras around her and was
explaining things. She's just very cool.
So, uh, there was Denise had a great
opening speech which I thought was
really good. And then Joe had a very
heartfelt welcoming to staff and it was
short and we he got the staff out about
15 minutes early which for the staff I
sure I'm sure they really appreciate
that. So, no, I thought it was really
well done and very cool.
>> Agreed.
All right, on to consent agenda.
Personnel report.
>> Well, we don't have a personnel report
because we just did it in the summer
hiring uh item. So, unusually, we don't
have one right now, but probably at the
next meeting we we may.
>> All right, cruising right along to
superintendent report. Do you have
anything for us, Dr. Crawford?
>> Yeah, I mean I just I guess I want to
say a few things. You know, I I've been
quiet most of this meeting and it's my
first meeting, so this is my opportunity
to talk. I want to just say uh how happy
I am to be here and my first meeting
here with Hamstead School District.
Feels like I've worked here a really
long time, but yet this is my first
schoolboard meeting. Um
this summer has been incredibly busy. Um
I am in many ways learning uh everything
I can about the the district. As a
couple people have mentioned, Carl
mentioned it just now and and um you
know in Nicole's presentation, we had
our teachers return last week. Um I was
very impressed with the the orientation
for new teachers. I think I have um
spoken with a number of other districts
who are still working to um improve
their onboarding and orientation
program. And many of them, you know,
it's a three-hour half day. uh maybe it
might be one full day and the fact that
we invest two u full days with our new
professionals including pair of
professionals I think is it speaks
volumes about how uh how much we invest
and care about our teachers I'm excited
to welcome the whole group back on
Friday that was fun uh some of you may
know today tonight was a busy day in
Hamstead not just in the schools uh but
we had our two open houses uh central
school and here at Hamstead Middle
School so I had a chance to meet a lot
of families. Uh see a lot of teachers,
lots of excited kids. I think some
students hoping that summer would be a
little longer. Um but I think there'll
be uh a lot of nervous energy tomorrow
morning when students come back to
school.
Um, I also want to just mention that,
you know, part of uh my philosophy about
leadership is good leaders um spend a
lot of time listening and paying
attention. And so this summer I I was
really committed to talking to as many
people as I could. Uh so I I met
individually with each of you. Um I met
with uh uh in the range of 30 to 40
employees of the district. I invited
every employee to schedule some
one-on-one time with me and a number of
them did. Some who couldn't make it uh
sent me emails and they responded to
some questions I gave them. Some filled
out a survey. I sent a survey to all of
our families in the district and uh kind
of pulled that stuff together in a kind
of highlevel summary that I shared with
the the admin team at our retreat in
August. Um, I'll I'll have more to say
about that in a future meeting when we
start to sort of work through the
development of some goals because I do
want to organize our goals and
priorities for this year around all that
feedback. Still kind of gathering some
of it from uh some teachers who actually
have meetings with me this week um to
kind of follow through on on catching up
with me. that uh overwhelmingly I I can
say that uh maybe every person said
this, but um that the the community is a
tight-knit community here that cares
very deeply about their students and
about their staff. That that came
through loud and clear. So um that's
very exciting for me. Um now here are
just a few little things that that were
they're not really all little, but a few
things that I'm just going to highlight
very very briefly. Um, one of the things
uh that we're one of our focuses this
year, not to be a spoiler, is to
increase some consistency throughout the
district. And that that involves, you
know, routine, structures, practices,
expectations.
Um, I met with the uh middle school team
uh earlier this summer and we looked at
discipline data and we definitely came
to the conclusion that we needed to get
both of the schools on the same page
when it comes to discipline data
collection, reporting and practices. So
that process has begun. Those two teams
have have already met. Um, and you know
one of the and this might make uh Dr.
Poor feel good. uh we reduced the number
of um um identifiers or or labels that
we attach to student behavior because
sometimes they can be uh redundant and
then you know when you have so many
labels it can it can be difficult to
make sense of the data. Uh so the team
already met and has done that. Um so
more to come on that I think that that
you'll hear more about that in the
future. I also want to highlight um I
wasn't here for it but last spring um
you guys collected some data around
screen time usage and I think that um
also underscores how kind of ahead of
the curve Hamstead is. As many people
probably know the the um state
department of ed and sponsored by the
governor and the commissioner of
education has created a task force to
look at screen time um in education.
That task force has been formed. I think
they might have already met twice. Um,
and the plan is for that coalition of
educators, parents, I know there's at
least one student on the task force. Um,
they are going to be producing a report
with some recommendations about the
developmentally appropriate um, ways in
which students should be using screens
in the classroom. Um, I think that it
would make sense for us to review that
report really carefully when that comes
out. I anticipate it's going to be early
fall, probably October is is what I'm
hoping because I think their meetings go
through September. Um, or at least into
September. Um, once we receive that
report, what I'm going to recommend is
that we form a local Hampstead task
force to review the report, make sure
that we have stakeholders from lots of
different perspectives, and then help
inform what policies might need to
change, what practices, what routines,
maybe even what professional development
we need for our staff members. Um, so
I'm excited about that because I do
think it's something that, you know, was
clear to me when I watched the meetings
from the spring that you all have been
thinking about and the community cares
about. So, it's good news that it's it's
it's received some attention. Um,
another quick highlight, um, you may
remember the I think um, this board has
um, well, you have sponsored a program,
a summer program called Project
Bookworm, which is a reading uh, program
that happens at the central school. So,
this was, I think, year two of Project
Bookworm, and um lots of uh great work
happened this summer. It's a four-week
program. We had uh I think it was 55
students that were referred in grades
one through four. Of those 55, 31
students attended. Um the the core uh
goals of the program were to prevent
reading regression, accelerate growth in
some students, increase engagement in
reading, and making sure we provided a
flexible program that parents could
access. So um it was a four-week
program, four days a week held at the
central school. Um and we had uh great
participation but you know it is
sometimes difficult to have full
participation as families go on
vacations and things like that. U but I
was really happy to see that program. I
went in and visited a little bit. Uh
actually one day I got to hang out the
whole day there because uh Carolyn and
Pete were on vacation and uh there were
no problems for me to solve. So it was
it was pretty great. Um, another very
small just notice to give you a heads up
on, uh, Children's Smile Connection, um,
is a program that was in our elementary
school, has been in our elementary
schools in the past. It's a nonprofit
organization that provides free dental
care and screening to children uh, with
parental consent. Um, we have agreed to
expand that program to the middle school
because it is um, offered free of charge
for our families. Uh, so if you came to
the open house, I saw their table set up
at the central school today. They may
have had a table set up here. I'm not
100% sure. I know that they had some
flyers and materials that we're going to
be going home to notify parents of this
um, free opportunity.
Um, and last but not least, I just want
to say thank you to the Lions Club. They
gave us a $500 donation
um, to the Feed It Forward program for
families in need. Uh so we accepted that
donation. I think it came in at the very
very end of the year back in June and we
sent them a letter of thanks. Uh we just
wanted to again publicly acknowledge
because I think it came after that final
board meeting. We just want to say thank
you to the Hamstead Lions Club. But I
could go on but I'm not going to. Uh
does anybody have any questions about
anything?
>> Excellent job.
All right. Any other business to
discuss?
>> I just want to notice the t-shirts that
were passed out at the first meeting of
the year. I guess
>> maybe someone wants to explain what this
little acknowledgement is on the shirt
so that the public knows what we're
doing this year.
>> That sounds like a Nicole Thomaselli
thing. I see her walk working her way to
the mic. looking around for Pete Schmidt
who did a beautiful uh inspirational
opening during the first day. Um it's
our shirts say this year United by team
driven by passion and they have a little
emblem on them that says HSD for
Hamstead School District but it's a
FIFAish
theme for World Cup soccer and then the
back Bob since you're modeling um the
back says Hamstead 2627. Thank you. So,
um, really if and I don't think we
recorded it, did we? Pete's thing. We
didn't record Pete's thing, but maybe we
should. He does have a script that we
could put online if people want to read
it. But it's basically, you know, we're
a team and as a team, we educate
children and give them what they need.
And so, much like a soccer team, you
can't succeed alone. And his whole riff
on that. So, that's what the the shirt
and the theme was kind of about this
year. But it is nice and they look nice
and everybody manages to change and get
them in the hall and put them on and
next thing you know 250 people including
um substitutes are here. Bus drivers are
here. Everybody that is possibly
employed by the district gets invited
and gets a shirt. So it's nice.
>> And Nicole, you also just reminded me,
thank you so much. I forgot to say that
that I was very pleased to see that our
bus company dispatch
um manager and many of our drivers came
that first day. Uh I know they've got a
lot to do. It was you know they were
here at 7:45 in the morning and that was
awesome. That's really really wonderful.
>> You know, and we invite all of our
substitutes to come in as well which I
think is a nice um nod and just welcome.
And what you might not know is some of
our subs here are retired teachers who
have, you know, relocated to New
Hampshire in their retirement. So they
didn't necessarily teach in New
Hampshire, but um there was one
gentleman I was talking to at the end of
the meeting and he's just like so
excited to get back to work. You know,
he likes to be near students and
classrooms and materials and retirement
just isn't his thing. So subbing here
just really works for him and he
couldn't have been happier to be at the
opening meeting and get a t-shirt and
just be part of it all. So, I thought
that was cool. But,
>> thank you, Nicole.
>> Yes.
>> All right. I don't believe we have a
reason to go into non-public. So, we
have reached an early conclusion for the
evening. So, we can go ahead and at 8:09
p.m.
>> Excellent job, Madam Chair.