Grantham School Board meeting Nov. 1, 2022

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

Recording

this is
yeah
yeah all right we are live everybody and
recording
all right
all right we're gonna go ahead and get
started so I'm going to call the meeting
to order at 6 31.
and the first item on the agenda is to
approve the agenda and we have one
addition to the agenda
um moving forward we're gonna have to
get used to adding our second depending
on how long our first public
participation goes
um per our new book participation uh
policy we're going to add a second
public participation so we'll put that
after the consent agenda so before any
non-publics so that will be
um dependent on if our
first one goes uh less than 30 minutes
so if our first public participation is
less than 30 minutes we will add a
second opportunity for public
participation at the end of the regular
meeting so that's our our first thing to
change on the agenda any other changes
or additions or anything like that that
we need tonight
okay so we had we need a motion to
approve the agenda as amended so
all right so I've got a motion from
Denise in a second from Ed all those in
favor say aye aye and any opposed say
nay
all right perfect so we will open
um for public participation now and just
a reminder
um
for public participation you can
participate here in person or virtually
if you're here in person um we just ask
that you state your name and address in
the beginning of your comments if you
are participating virtually we
absolutely do the same thing just type
that into the beginning of your comment
so your name and your address so that
could be part of your comments and
you're welcome to use the chat to go
ahead and add any public participation
that you might have
um and so I will take a look and see
what time it is that we're starting it
and we'll keep track of how much of our
public participation we use now
and so if anyone would like to make any
comments or anything please feel free
[Laughter]
did that
yeah
we're waiting for public participation
all right I'm just gonna give it one
more minute and then we will see if
anything has come in
that's why we have that extra chair
nothing
I guess this is where I would say that
I'm glad they didn't stick to that
strict 30 minute rule yeah
foreign
we will go ahead and move on to our next
agenda item which is our student School
Board liaison
all right let me move Ellen in
excellent
welcome Ellen
all right
thank you all right Ellen so if you um
want to just give us a quick
um update on how the year is going for
you anything in particular that you
think would be of interest to the board
that's happening
um up in Lebanon we'd love to hear about
it and if there's any other comments or
questions or things that you've heard
that you think the board should know
about that would be great
um it's kind of a busy time of year the
early action early decision deadline is
today for colleges so a lot of seniors
are stressed right now
um it's also the transition to kind of
the
um winter sports so like swimming
basketball
um wrestling
um
I guess also
flu shots were open today and
um kind of going into that I feel like
there has been a spike in covid in the
school in them like it's bike in
sickness which generally just comes
around with this time of year but I I
know several people who have coveted
right now so
have
and also
let's see if there's green screen is
glitching out from my end
can you hear me I was just gonna try and
do the remote volume thing but um it's
not as high as I can go okay she said
our screen was a little glitchy okay is
it
okay we're just looking at things on our
end we can hear you okay if you have
other things that you wanted to yeah go
ahead
I guess I just had one more thing that I
um put in the weekly um
in the LHS weekly like
um kind of an advertisement
um from
one of the underclassmen grades I also
had
Bonnie send out an email to those grades
prior grants of students
yeah thank you
that's it
does the board have any questions
hey have you
um have you heard anything at the school
I don't know if there's been any
conversation at the school or amongst
the students or anything about the
superintendent search that Lebanon is
having has there been anything that's
kind of come to the students yet about
that
I've not heard anything about that no
okay all right that would be interesting
if at some point you hear you know
something about either student
involvement or input or if you know
there's other things that come up
um as Lebanon heads into their
superintendent search we certainly would
love to hear about that
um Lebanon Grantham and Plainfield are
all going to be doing superintendent
searches and so I think it's going to be
a lot of like interest in that area and
I think moving forward we're going to be
talking about what kind of community
involvement we'll have in that process
and part of that will definitely be
looking at um you know parents and also
student involvement so
um if you hear anything about that at
the Lebanon School level for their
search we would be interested in hearing
about it
cool all right
thank you unless there's any other
questions all right thank you very much
thank you stay healthy
right and we do have to almost complete
applications for two new student School
Board days that's awesome yes so
hopefully they'll be all set by December
that's excellent
does it mean something when the hourly
flashes
it means it love oh okay perfect
eyelashes perfect I didn't know if that
was like a connection thing or if I
should so I have the owl control on my
phone I have an app to control it and I
put the volume up as much as I could oh
maybe it was adjusting the adjusting
yeah all right excellent okay so our
next agenda item is the budget
presentation so this is our first budget
presentation
um of this budget cycle so we have a
couple of areas that we'll be going over
tonight and we're just going to run
through them in the order that we have
in our packet so that is the first one
being the school board
okay so I'm gonna basically do it the
way we usually do it which is line by
line but then Merit you know feel free
to ask Meredith any questions
um so wages School Board also we put a
little bit more backup on you know what
makes makes up each of these lines um
that was also a party in your packet so
the wages for school board is staying
the same and Social Security Medicare
retirement School Board conferences and
meetings that's the nhsba 250
all-inclusive Workshop fee and from what
we understand that is not changing
um legal we did decide to increase
because we have had increased legal
costs
um so we're just trying to look at
actual spending and making that a little
bit more accurate
we went from 15 000 to 20 000 this year
so an increase in five thousand dollars
I also wanted to let you know that if
you we always talk about wiggle room in
the budget so you could decide to not
increase this because you do have a
legal trust so if something really goes
out of whack and goes overboard you have
a legal fund trust that you can go into
so that might be one that you want to
keep an eye on
um in terms of the audit it's a little
bit less we signed a multi-year contract
with our auditor so we have some savings
there
um because of signing that signing on
for multiple years
advertising is going to stay about the
same
um unfortunately we're advertising still
all the time for positions because we're
we're still working on getting as many
of our support staff positions filled as
we can
in terms of school board expenses this
is something that we talked a lot about
because we have an SAU supply line and a
school board expenses or School Board
supply line and we've been trying to
make that a little bit more accurate
with spending we haven't completely had
a conversation with the board that I
think we should have with you about when
we do things like gifts and recognition
we should really Define what comes from
the SAU line and what comes from the
school board line so for now this is
an amount that we believe to be accurate
but at some point we would like to make
that distinction
and then the annual meeting expenses
seem to be pretty level and then School
Board dues and fees are also level so
the total difference is an increase of
five thousand eight hundred dollars and
the five thousand five thousand of that
is that increase in legal fees
so any questions on
the school board line
foreign
do you want me to add that legal on you
know we always keep a running list of
yeah those things okay so add that legal
in there
all right so our next area is
I prefer wages SAU
um we just had a slight decrease with
changes in personnel
additional time is for board meetings
and annual meeting
the insurance deductible is level and
I'm going to kind of skip down through
all of the
ETC you know mandatory retirement
Medicare Social Security kind of things
and we'll go to SAU conferences
so for SAU conferences we have last year
agreed to add um two thousand dollars
professional development into
administrator contracts so that would be
for the business administrator and for
the superintendent that's what makes up
that four thousand
skipping down again unemployment
compensation workers comp other employee
benefits the other employee benefits is
my retirement contribution so that may
be a number that changes based on your
hire for next year so just to take note
of whether or not you want to include
that in the budget or not
SAU contracted Services we added and
this is my recommendation is that we
added ten thousand dollars here just
because with the new superintendent
um and I don't know I'm assuming that
you are sticking to a 0.6 FTE but of
course you might be changing that I'm
not sure but if you're sticking to the
0.6 FTE we thought it would be a good
idea to really have a chunk of money for
that new superintendent to be able to
contract things out that might be kind
of over that usual three day a week kind
of things so again that's you know
something that you can decide whether
you want to keep or not but that would
be our suggestion at least until
somebody gets on board and we can figure
out the time and everything
um
copier Services level as is the copy or
lease the admin accounting software is a
slight increase of three hundred dollars
mostly that's because we use pay schools
for the school lunch program and we used
to use it for ASP and split it so now
the whole amount is in is in the SAU
line instead of seeing some of it in
food service so that's the only change
there
postage
um we're estimating 500 we don't mail
things as much as we used to
SAU travel is reimbursement for you know
conferences
um hearings Etc whenever somebody from
the SAU needs to go someplace
pre-employment expenses is our
fingerprinting cost whenever anybody new
comes on board
SAU supplies again this is the
counterpart to the school board supplies
line so we're trying to make that
accurate to what we're spending
um SAU software is six thousand dollars
so the accounting software Am I Wrong
Meredith that the 300 is actually an SAU
software or the 300 is in SAU accounting
software 300 the accounting software is
for infinite Visions okay so that just
had an increase yes okay so that's my
mistake so the the s8u software is where
the increase from not having the
after-school program split with the Food
Services my bad on that one
no new furniture and then SAU dues and
fees is estimated at 2500.
foreign
[Music]
overall the difference given what we've
presented is negative
8601.58 so negative 2.27 percent
do you want to do anything with do you
want to put that 10 000 on the wiggle
room list or the retirement part
um I would leave both please both yeah
personally
we're gonna need some cushion in the SAU
okay
all right
all right so our next one is building
Administration
this is read
ing so I
the part that I do pops down about
halfway down to um building admin
conferences
and there's 2400 in that which is a
decrease that's for um
conferences for myself and the
administrative assistant secretary to do
throughout the year then skipping a
couple down
um building admin contracted services
and it's roughly the same
um copier Services no change
popular leaves no change there's a lot
of no change building admin School
postage went down by
um 28 roughly again like I said they
said we're not using using postage as
much and we did have some left over on
our on the machine
principles travel is remaining the same
admin supplies did I did increase it um
about 19
um again last year I increased it a
little bit this year I found that I'm
still buying a lot of the um the stuff
out of pocket so I figured I'd try to
alleviate doing that so I added a little
bit more
um
copy paper same new equipment we don't
need any new equipment we got the
laminator last year thank you for that
um and then do's and B's would be for me
for the National Association of
elementary school principals and
National Association of School
principles
and that's my part of that
so overall an increase of 1 309 and
change and 0.49 percent
I'm assuming the health insurance
deductible someplace else now yeah so we
we in since we're so small sometimes
it's just one person in a function so
what we do is we pull out
um benefits
into it's one line that's benefits and
um and then Dental
but then I think the deductible might
stay the deductible stays in doesn't it
there's been since those changes okay
and so we have no deductible
for sure that might mean that nobody's
taking a deductible
oh is that the difference between the
attack in two different points yeah
gotcha yep so
um also I'm not sure how much we talked
about this at our last meeting but by
some miracle of Miracles New Hampshire
retirement is down
um which is the first time I've ever
actually seen it you know be a decrease
in contributions but that's down and
then the gmr that we got is 9.1 and like
what was Dental again then
1.5 1.5
all right so our next area is buildings
and grounds
okay
um let's start down where trash disposal
uh that is uh
one thousand dollars basically for um
what we spent this year the casellas
we're not that bad about
contracted Services is up uh I got that
broken down into with your
added info
um
refinishing the gym floor at 1750 this
year
12.50 I'm just guessing with supplies
and such going up
that was
pleasantly surprised this year how much
less we paid so I think that's the ball
back we should be in
water testing uh same thing little
increase
um
actually a little lesson last year
um in my spreadsheet
if you have those in color and the ones
in blue and numbers that I'm still
waiting on so they're they're
estimates
um on my end I've got some information
to have those after cement so they're
pretty good they should be right in the
ballpark but
uh
on the flooring the light we obviously
need to do some of the bathroom floors
on a game bathroom and a staff bathroom
and I want to get away from the linoleum
I'd like to go to something epoxy or
some type of
um composite flooring so
um I think that this amount I put in
there should at least do the game
bathrooms and the the staff bathroom
probably another set of bathrooms
they're starting even the ones that are
in decent condition are starting to
discolor and such
Pest Services
the generator
they went up this year and basic nothing
was
out of the norm that's just basic
maintenance so we adjusted for that
wow
Fire Protection Systems uh same thing
they they went up in price so we
adjusted there
for security systems
um I'm not sure what you got from
information did you give out the map of
um the camera coverage is not true
that's that's one thing I made a map of
the coverages that we finished doing the
cameras this year and the only gaps we
have are the rear walls
um don't want to be specific about
um
so that that would be the estimated to
put a couple more cameras and
um
the door locks and keys I put that in
there that's basically finishing we did
the exterior keying this year
um and if we want to go with that grand
scheme of the keying that would be doing
the interior to make the system all work
with that one one factory key
we we obviously
uh keyboard Again by with what we have
as far as
Hardware internally but like said this
would be to finish that project
and this might be a good time to talk
about how we did look at all the options
you know we looked at re-king mechanical
keys on the inside as part of the master
plan and we also did start to look into
Ed I think you brought up last summer
over do we forget about keys and do we
just start looking into fobbing
everything yeah
so I did uh talk to the
company that did our exteriors to be on
the same system there
he was saying
obviously with when you're doing here
and you got to redo all the hardware
without coming through and looking at
each story so they use a rule of thumb
of 2500 per door
and I figured it was about 40 doors so
yeah
it's about a hundred thousand dollars to
do an interior and that's just the
hallway doors
foreign
glass saying
elevator base intake
HVAC I update
the amount there
uh
the price I actually changed companies
this year trying to get better price
better service and the prices are just
becoming astronomical yeah
um so yeah so I buffered it but I'm even
concerned even when that offered how
much how much the HVAC we don't have a
lot of issues there's but there are some
maintenance issues that should be
addressed I don't think have been
addressed for years as far as
some of the air handlers to find two
known that the movers exact and such
so that that number we could just kind
of feather along
and then I also added in the kitchen
repairs this year just small now because
we didn't have anything there and uh
should we should budget just a little
bit
one of the big items on here is the
exterior cafeteria
overhang on the exit
um I got calls into six companies trying
to get some type of number
um that roof we found we we didn't have
um we had an issue with a camera and it
was underwater and it's under that
overhead
so I got up there and it's a semi-flat
roof and the drainage has been seeping
underneath the the drip edge and it's
rotted that whole
structure basically
so I'm putting a guesman in there that
it's going to roughly cost and that's a
rubber roof also which concerns me if
that's the the substrate to that
that could get pricing to the point that
may have to be just so
the next was the buildings the grounds
Renovations
um
not sure on the spreadsheets that you
got did they get an updated one yeah yes
okay so you do have the 19-2
um yeah that was
the number I just got last week and she
was saying when she was given out before
she sent me the number she said
that the prices just astronomical to
share with the
conceal one so and then labor also was
an issue so
yeah that number
doubled
over doubled
um
and do you want to talk about whether
we've been debating whether or not that
would be done maybe next year or maybe
we wait another year after the
renovation parking lot project that kind
of thing yeah because it's it's one of
those uh this is one of your regular
maintenance it
I just wanted to stay up with the
driveway because there's a lot of cracks
and they did uh Sealcoat them last year
and they aren't in bad shape
um but I'm just trying to predict
another year of plowing you know what
what condition we're going to be in but
if we were to do this next year it would
be a struggle because we have the
construction going on next week
then we're also possibly dealing with
that rear parking lot you know what are
we doing there so
um so this is one
that I I've almost double thinking now
as far as
you know how if we want to think about
that this next year the following year
uh ground maintenance
um
I I moved up the
the loam and such just from this year's
uh buying mulch and topsoil and such
Superior and prices went up a little bit
so I added another 500.
um has control and such is the same
equipment rental uh I helped that
we dropped it last year
um without I guess I was more awakened
to how much the cost and availability is
the stuff where and how much I needed uh
the rent rent items so
um
the same
building liability that's something
Meredith give me a number for
custodial travel stay insane supplies
say the same
propane gas
we're up we're actually staying the same
for budget
and we did sign a contract on that so we
walked in
electricity basically saying
gasoline diesel
I I brought it up a little bit this year
um
basically price of gas plus we haven't
been added in our rentals uh the diesel
that we've been purchasing
for new equipment
We have basically nothing for
woodworking in the shop at all other
skill saw so let's hoping to get a
couple of pieces uh table saw and a
drill press drill press both for metal
and for wood
um
something portable to be used around for
some of the projects I'd like to get
done
next to the school Furniture we didn't
have anything in the budget last year at
times there there was um pass for for
bookshelves isn't that we pretty much
used up all our inventory up in the
garage and storage and this is there's
nothing earmarked for this it's just
kind of if something did come up which
you know has to be approved for
I just want to put a little something in
there
and then replacement equipment that
would be the only other thing I'd like
to purchase another
um canister vacuum that seems to be
back in the choice for the the
custodians and that's pretty
pretty used up but having a second one
definitely
hurt
do you want to do the
big items that I put yeah so um you mean
just going over the ones that we need
for discussion yeah yeah and you there's
one you didn't talk about yeah yeah
um so I'll talk about it sure
so some of the big ones that we feel are
up for discussion about whether you want
to do them now or later or maybe in a
different way or fund them a different
way are the doors locks and keys you
know the interior king that's number one
the rear cameras would be number two you
could you know
um
we could fund those differently or you
could wait or you know those could be up
for discussion the exterior overhang you
know I know Toby is doing the best that
he can to estimate it sounds like that
needs to be done you know so that one
might be a more of a need to or we'll
have more trouble later on
the seal and the stripe sounds like
something that we might be able to like
wait another year and it might be better
to wait another year and you don't see
too much grass growing up in the no like
I said exception that's the thing it's
actually a very good shape out there
it's just I just don't want to get there
but I think we could buy another year so
okay and then the one that um I'll bring
up which I've been teasing um Toby about
for a year just to let you know is that
that he has a lot of difficulty getting
all of the grounds work done and the
plowing and etc etc without something
like a Kubota so we've been talking a
lot about the school having a Kubota
which could be either
um my recommendation would be that if
you want to go forward with that piece
of equipment that we do a lease so we
got information on Leasing the total
cost of the Kubota with everything all
the specs that we would need to do
everything that GVS needs would be 43
468 dollars
and we have options that Meredith did
research on for a four year or a
five-year lease and it looks like annual
payments of depending on the four or
five year nine to eleven thousand
dollars so about you know ten thousand
dollars per year when you're factoring
in interest
the rate that we were quoted from
Municipal leasing consultances 5.99
percent
she turned that in at the end of the
least
there's an option to buy or a dollar
that being released can we buy for a
dollar now yeah
yeah so I mean you're Century financing
the purchase
so we know that that's a you know a big
ticket item
but we're also at the stage where I've
had Toby do a lot of research about how
much he's renting equipment and what
really needs to be done and as you know
with our staffing we have a better piece
of equipment can help time wise when we
don't have the people so hopefully we
will have the people too but like
um
I think moving forward with this idea of
a lease so that it's not a big hit all
at once will
give our you know facilities staff the
ability to do what they need to do
around here
[Music]
um what is the average life of one of
these tractors like could this go on for
a very long time yeah tractors typically
I mean if they're maintained they should
last in in here again now you take care
of them but
um
yeah
there's this stuff 30 40 years old so
the lease it for four or five years
and then it's ours yeah and that's good
and do we have a place to store this
yeah I've fit them into the garage but
made sure
yeah actually last winter I rented one
we had it for a month and we kept it in
the garage I just had one for a month
getting ready for the playground
can you talk a little bit about some of
the things that would do around GPS
because that would help everybody yeah
the big thing is the snow removal and
this rear shoe
um
you have to you can't plow over this
bank and I know you've been doing it for
years but you end up plowing down to
either end and then have to push with
the truck my concern right now is that
truck transmission
that beats on that truck and so that's
what we end up renting you get to the
point you can't do it anymore than you
have to and what happened this summer
trying to get the tractor for the
playground
I think it took me a month to get a
tractor and that concerns me in the
winter if that starts backing up on
either end you're going to get buses in
here so if it's just that's a big thing
and one of the attachments that that's
in this tractor is a rear snow blower
and we put all the snow over the diagram
so if anyone have all that backing up so
that's kind of all that would be a good
50 percent
of that tractor would be the pushing
back and and that stuff
um
drainage I just got done taking out
drainage ditches moving a furniture
moving stages
great in the driveway just sprayed it up
there for the buses
um I'm thinking long term I don't know
something me and Kristen talked about I
think last year I don't know what these
paths how
that's driving again we could get but to
work on those soon
is this a lot a lot of outdoor
maintenance
and it's almost like a second person too
there's a lot of stuff we're doing now
that takes two people to do stuff um the
tractor just has you know saves all that
but the supply chain are they available
to even lease for this year
I didn't hear any supply issues yeah
I've been here neither I think they're
available it's very hard to rent them
yeah um but I didn't hear any issues
with if we you know did a purchase
release
yeah the concern with renting this year
last year we used uh when I came in they
were using Upper Valley rentals last
year when the snow was flying and we
were backing up they had no tractor at
all they had sold it and then replaced
it
so I used
um
a place out of Boston
but anyway that's the track that we used
for a month and I went to use them again
this summer for the out here and they're
they're out they got rid of all their
rentals so it's like all right now I'm
running a place to rent for them
so yeah that's that's another concern
yeah
the rental is just pouring I mean it's
needed but it's not money like we just
pour it away yeah it's like yeah exactly
yeah
and it's you're always going to have it
it's not like this would be bought just
for like digging the fence up for the
playground it's like every winter you
have the snow issue
then like I said the drainage and
as far as the drainage ditches leaving
the property and around the buses and
such that was all filled in so
this property the annual cost is like 10
or 11 in a sense yes yeah so principal
and interest would if we did a
um four-year lease
it would be
um four annual payments of 11 832 if we
did a five-year lease it would be
um
five annual payments of nine thousand
seven hundred thirty three
but of course you know with the five
year we're going to be paying them with
interest but yeah
does it make sense to throw it on the
list of either a straight up purchase or
at least after we did yeah
where it is where the whole budget Falls
I would hate to just give away six
percent yeah yeah if we don't need to
um especially on yeah
so or you know if you could purchase
I'll purchase it out right for sometime
around 40
the numbers make sense come on
quick questions for not so much the
projects that those all make sense just
have the wages been updated based on the
new agreements yes yes
so even with the yearly increases we're
dropping in our custodial staff wages
well they all got the five
we had some census changes so there was
what the increases even with the five
percent so essentially we're down
Personnel is what you're saying no it's
new Personnel right yes they came in a
lower rate yes okay
and tapping changes we really don't
think we're going to see any electricity
increase
I mean I know my household rate's
couples yeah yeah
what did um you had to post from the
Electrical Company
that was for the supply yeah oh so we
locked in on our right for that but
well the supply is where
the the increase was it wasn't on the
transmission yeah
um
but I know eversource went from 11 cents
a lot to 22 and change of what I mean we
signed we signed a two-year you said it
two year yeah
with three or four months renewable in
each year so we're locked into the rate
that we have through next year's budget
cycling thing that's great so we we
lucked out with that right before
everything decided
uh I did want to ask a tactical question
about the truck because I'm hearing from
Tony that the sooner the better
um I mean is that something this year we
can talk like get before the snow flies
or if that seems too soon our budget is
still like really tight this year like
we've had some unanticipated costs and
we can revisit a few things to see if
there might at some point be some
comfort level with that but right now I
don't have any what that Comfort level
is it just a transmission that
I mean it's I mean again
yeah I mean it's running it's just one
of those I'm real fussy with the
equipment and like I said when I'm
pushing those Banks as high as this you
feel it and then so I I'll let off but
it's like you're I mean that truck gets
worked is very what's it 12 000 miles on
it but most of it's back where it's
going back
[Music]
but uh I mean it's one of those
I'm the one that does most of plow now
just to baby it and I have no concerns
or they get getting through this winners
it's it's gonna it's something that's on
my mind probably for next year so it's
saying hey you know we're probably going
to start sinking some money into this
thing what year is it
that is a no
2009 nine eleven yeah
would having the
tractor take some work off of the truck
yeah definitely
take a lot of that work off
oh what happened
snow blower on the back yeah
just the snow removal yeah just riding
that rear shoe is a lot of work
okay
what we can do is you know when when I'm
not as nervous about where our bottom
line is maybe at the end of the year you
might want to bring this up as a I mean
I think something should go in the
budget for this but you might want to
bring it up as I make unencumbered funds
at the end of the year if you want to
see about moving forward would you mean
recognition of
throwing money into just plan on fixes
new transmission you know that kind of
stuff or yeah completely
the vehicle
yeah I'm not ready to say that you know
throw away the truck the truck's fine
it's just uh yeah
something like that okay there's a motor
is fine
yeah
the lottery is at 1.2 billion if I buy a
ticket
I told Toby I'd get him a little Kubota
ornament
then you gotta get a little Toby to put
in
um so other things just basically the
doors locks and keys I don't know if
you're if you want me to leave these on
the list or if you want me to make any
yes or no they're staying in or not at
this point I think we have to look at
that and just say we've got to keep that
on yeah well I think yeah I mean I
honestly I think all this stuff right
now should just stay except maybe throw
down you know maintenance projects for
us to look at when we get a little more
fine-tuned huh even the seal and stripe
do you want to leave that um I would
leave it for now I mean I don't think
there's any reason to make a decision
now on any of stuff until we find out
where this ends in totality okay
all right
excellent
thank you thank you thank you
my dad has a Kubota he has never run out
of holes today
my husband would probably apply as a
custodian
[Laughter]
[Applause]
[Laughter]
all right excellent so our next area is
um transportation okay
um in this one we are I am going to ask
for a vote here
um tonight but actually you don't really
have to do it tonight but I think you
might want to just get it out of the way
uh we're at the end of our three-year
bus contract and I don't see any sense
at all right now in putting another RFP
out for transportation because it's not
going to prove any different results
um so my recommendation we have a clause
in our bus contract of extending for two
years on an annual basis so my
recommendation would be that the board
goes ahead to vote that we just extend
our contract with for a student for next
year are the rates included in the rates
are included in that yeah and how many
buses is that good question
ideally or yeah so we are technically
contracted for four buses and the van
driver we still do not have our fourth
bus in operation because they cannot
find drivers at all
and we're also making we've already had
two driver switches just in the last
month with our current Fleet so just to
let you know we don't pay any month that
we don't have that bus operating but at
this point it's incredibly hard to tell
if we have the fourth bus if more people
would be riding you know if our times
would be different with the buses are
running like right on the edge right now
in terms of timing from middle and high
school down here and as soon as the snow
comes are definitely without that fourth
bus it's going to be even later so we
still do really hope to get the fourth
bus but
they're doing everything that they can
capacity wise we're doing
better than we were last year obviously
because we've got South Cove has got
some activities
cka opened up here and there too so yeah
capacity wise we're running okay
four now for now but everything changes
every season yes and we also don't know
if some people we've heard from a few
parents who have their kids not riding
the bus right now because the fourth bus
isn't operating and either times are off
or they don't want to put their child on
a bus with 65 past 10 kids which is was
one of those buses is sometimes
yeah and Mrs Reed will tell you because
she's ridden it
[Laughter]
but if we extended the lease it would be
for the four
it would be for the four buses yeah four
buses in the van driver
and how much of an increase over the 345
there
that is uh the we're still waiting to
hear back we're waiting still okay I
thought it was contract it is kind of
isn't it contracted in there the the uh
increase for the fourth year no it
doesn't have the actual
increase for the add-ons okay so
um
people were out so we're waiting okay
but that's gonna be back in the office
sorry that's my because I thought that
that was written in if we extended that
it would be a certain percentage no okay
yeah all right my bad shut up I'm
assuming at that point we don't want to
vote anyway yeah sorry I thought it was
in there so yeah we'll hold up I'm sorry
I'm forgetful how long a lease is this
this would be just for extending one
more year okay just through next budget
here you have two options
extend a year at a time for the next two
years right okay
numbers in
yeah
should we revisit Transportation next
month
all right so we will revisit plan to
revisit Transportation next month on our
We'll add that to our list
um so let's move to the bond
I don't know so these are pretty
straightforward this year is just the
interest payment but next year we start
paying off both bonds so this is where
we are with those which is an increase
of 56 857 and 11.87 which is um strictly
the new edition of the grounds
renovation and playground Bond minus
some savings we have in paying the other
found off
any questions on that one and Meredith
put some nice back up there yeah they're
comfortable and interest
okay so our next area is Food Service
yeah
so food service is relatively the same
just um some changes in in contractual
increases so a total increase of
3017.72 for 2.66 percent
seems pretty straightforward
any questions there and salad bar is
back
well I think isn't tomorrow the first
salad bar day yeah boys starting
November 1st it was once a week nice I
bet they'll last for more
I do I do have to say I don't know what
they put in the chicken nuggets here
that's like a national holidays
you should ever pack some out and bring
them home
apparently they only do it once a month
[Laughter]
all right any other questions or
um thoughts from the board on the budget
our first budget area
budget season and just so impressed with
the presentation I I'm just I'm grateful
it's not always like this so thank you
to everybody thank you inputs this and
organizes the data and it's
comprehensible it is a team effort and I
have to say that Meredith is
um just doing such an outstanding job in
this world's just great thank you
one day
it's continued proof that there's a
person for every job
thank goodness
all right so our next agenda item is the
superintendent search and we have a few
things to talk about
sort of under that
um so I'm just gonna run through a
couple of different areas for us to kind
of take our next step forward for the
superintendent search the first one is
that we have been
um formally and informally approached by
other districts who are also undergoing
superintendent searches who are not
full-time District districts who don't
have full-time superintendents
um wanting to ask about our interest in
having shared superintendent services
so I know it's something that the board
had talked about previously and we
weren't feeling as particularly
interested
um but I told one uh board chair in
particular that I would bring it forward
to our meeting this month to talk about
so that sort of more formal request that
came to me um from the board chair was
from lime so lime is going through a
superintendent search they also have a
part-time superintendent
wondering if we would be interested in
having shared superintendent services
with them it also has been part of sort
of a wrapped in discussion about sharing
some of those services with Plainfield
um Cornish we haven't had the same level
for sort of like formal request from
those boards that we got from line but I
know it's been part of conversations
that we've had about like what are some
of those positions and areas that we
could share so I wanted to before we go
into any more of the details of moving
our own search forward it's important
for us to answer that question of are we
doing our own search or are we looking
are we interested in
um
sharing superintendent services with
another District
I'm curious what you think because I've
I've been thinking about a lot and I I
think I feel like my pendulum has swung
towards sharing Services I'd be more
inclined for like playing Killing
Corners since they're like here
um say publicly about lime but I think
it's a little more complicated for a
bunch of reasons so I'm just curious I
don't know if you feel comfortable
sitting like weighing in at all or
I'm leaning more towards the sharing
because I think we would probably get
slightly different candidates coming
through for like a full-time
superintendent role versus like the
two-thirds time we've talked about this
before but I feel like I'm swinging more
towards sharing you know in L.A but just
on a very general level
um I'll give you the big big picture of
pros and cons yeah so um I think sharing
is always a good idea and you know small
districts really benefit a lot from
sharing so that's that's a good thing
um you would need if you shared
superintendent services with any other
District you would need to hire
additional positions you know so you
would need to consider the fact that
you'd need to probably hire somebody to
help with Business Services you know
because you would need to hire somebody
to work on AP and payroll because that
job becomes
too too big when you're working with
multiple districts and possibly
things like
um the other thing is maybe if you're
sharing direct or student services you
might need more building coordinator
kind of positions because the director
wouldn't be able to oversee that bigger
picture
um
so
so it's
so in a way it might not be financially
Awash or it could be but the idea would
be that you get more benefits for
students you know that that you might be
able to hire more full-time people or
other positions to oversee everything
the um the general cons about sharing
are that you know communities generally
like to have their local control and
their local access you know you know in
terms of
um wanting to be able to stop into the
SAU office or you know wanting to be
able to have their own you know and that
that is a it's a New Hampshire thing it
could be a cultural thing so you would
have to think about where Grantham
Community would fall in terms of
you know wanting that
that local access and control versus
sort of relinquishing some of that
and then the other the other thing that
I would think about in terms of sharing
in that regard would be the proximity
you know so where is somebody housed
yeah um and I can tell you from
experience and then three different
different districts right so you the
space becomes an issue in terms of where
are you and are you working in a
different place every day and who has
access to you on which days yeah kind of
things becomes an issue so I think there
are definite pros and you know definite
cons yeah you probably lose some
efficiency in the three places
at a time you know you know in terms of
this though they're
maybe I'm missing something but we're
talking about just shared superintendent
position right yeah we're not talking
about business administrations special
ed
was Cindy's pointing out as if we shared
we would have to hire other people
because what would would we have to for
if we're just doing shared
superintendent yeah I think we would
like Plainfield and Cornish is a 1.0 FTE
um so you know if you were hiring one
person to do technically a 1.6 FTE you
would need to have some supplemental
services to make that okay so in that
specific circumstance but if it's a
district is Lima 0.6 yeah I think
you know if they're 0.4 or 0.6 0.6.6 so
it's just over yeah
[Music]
yeah I think
one of the big things you have to
constantly weigh with that anytime you
start sharing is who
is each is each district getting
what they're paying for
um or wartime because of the district's
struggling being allocated to one
District compared to the other
um
I need to free
thought about something like this I
would actually be more inclined to
hire at a full time
and then contract hours out
to either one or whoever or whoever
whoever's interested where instead of us
sort of you know low higher at a 0.5 and
you hire at a point five it would be you
know we essentially would
hire a full-time person say listen we've
got 20 hours a week that we can contract
out are you interested and go down that
road
um how does that help the like
accountability piece or like the balance
of
who needs what like we're ultimately the
hiring entity so we're sort of like
owner well no you'd have a contract
around it would be
you'd have 20 hours a week and that's
that's what you have
um you know for services out I think you
come into
it gets a little greater when
you're still technically shared and you
know Grantham let's just say granthan's
writing like clockwork right the other
school district is having problems all
of a sudden the superintendent that
we're sharing is spending 80 of their
time there and 20 of their time with
here or vice versa and that's similar to
what Plainfield and Cornish have done
traditionally it's Plainfield holds the
contract and Cornish Cornish has like
administrative Services agreement yep
yep so they buy the time basically
um
and I think just just thinking about
those needs those needs in every
district will Bubble Up and then yeah
yeah
you can't but I just that's my that's my
main concern is all of a sudden
we're going to be doing a lot more
policing or a lot more
monitoring of you know are we getting
hours what we you know what we should be
for what we're paying
um that would be my
my biggest concern and
I don't know which way to I mean yes I
think you would open up the Canada pool
to have a full-time position
um
but I'm still not 100 convinced that we
wouldn't get
a halfway decent pool 60 percent
I also I
had been thinking I feel like one of the
things that you know has come to us
especially from Plainfield and and a
little bit of support for it from Lab
was the idea of sharing in some other
areas and I know Sydney had brought
forward you know some enthusiasm about
the idea like potentially sharing in
some kind of like curriculum position or
I think I am
I'm interested in exploring some of
those other opportunities for us to
share some stuff that I think this would
override any of those areas like we
wouldn't be able to we wouldn't be able
to share you know have split
superintendent services and uh all at
the same time of like you know
superintendent and the shared curriculum
person and start to look at other areas
I think we we have an opportunity that
we've started to explore some areas for
sharing with those other with some other
districts that I would like to kind of
see where that plays out
um
and I think
I
yeah I'm I I also think it's important
to I mean we don't know what we're going
to get for Canada pool that's at point
six and
I don't think we wanna
completely abandon that without knowing
what's there although I've heard
repeatedly that we got really lucky
I've heard that for a bunch of times
um I know that it doesn't mean
other perspectives I can direct you
just to be fair I just I think yeah I'm
I'm really of two minds so maybe I
should let other people speak no I'm I
am a little worried about the candidate
pool I feel like people are fleeing
public education and
and and a lot of people are hiring too
that's the other thing like and then
grant them as a very desirable District
to be a superintendent if you're
listening out there but
yeah there's a lot of trade-offs I'm
just going to throw out another pro and
con like you could see that you could
have a pro by maybe getting a bigger
candid pool because you're advertising
for 1.0 but except for a line everybody
else is advertising for a 1.0 maybe you
would increase your candidate pool by
advertising for a 0.6 and you and and I
don't know that's a crystal ball no one
knows I would just speak to
cut off that Avenue before we even saw
what was down that road yeah and that
sort of went yeah
especially I mean and I would think wine
would also I mean if I'm sitting around
this position I'd like to see
unless you know the goal is to
you know they've got some kind of cost
Savings in Mind by doing this
um I think I like that even for them I
think they would want to see what's
what's out there before on their own
yeah it doesn't it doesn't mean that you
know if we start to search and all of a
sudden we were finding absolutely
nothing
then we couldn't reverse course and
then talk about
okay what do we do to you know what do
we have to do to see what we could
combine
you know thankfully you know Sydney has
given us
be much longer Runway than I think some
boards actually end up getting so you
know it may make sense to use that as to
our advantage
sort of see what's out there and then
reevaluate okay so I feel like I can't
even speak intelligently about this
because my head is just so flustered
with you know how does this work
um so the concerns that I often I think
about you know the relationship that
you've built together and to
um hey it's it's just a very supportive
and and interdependent relationship and
and I'm thinking how do you do that with
another administrator as well you know
this this one school lose and the other
gets more of um you know that
relationship I think about each school's
different educational philosophies and
approaches
um can one person serve you know two
different types of approaches to
education and and not feel like they're
coming apart I think it seems
no I'm actually enjoying it yeah
um I think about I don't even want to
say say this but what if there was
another pandemic and I think about how
much we depended on your availability
to lead us through this I mean I I don't
even I can't believe I even said that
but I think it
um and that's a you know a real
possibility I guess I'm having a problem
thinking I want to share
and I'll say that I have a problem
sharing those services and I think some
of the community would also I really
like what Sydney has done to create in
this district and I know the next person
won't be Sydney but the accessibility
and the attention to DVS I think is what
makes this District so unique and yes I
know there's a shortage of applicants
but you know in my heart that's that's
how I feel and I mean you've got a lot
of our admin and SAU team here I don't
know if you want anybody else to kind of
step and then on what the daily
operation might be like
I think what I'm thinking is in my
current position
I don't know what
things would be like with a part-time
superintendent because Sydney's
part-time which is not part-time so I
don't have that crystal ball to know
what it's going to look like either way
um kind of to speak to relationships I
did have the fortune I had to be first
before the other two districts but
having the
the team approach has really Sydney's
brought those other two principles and I
together so that we've been able to
collaborate and work together which has
been a blessing because before that I
reached out to some people
but it's a pretty isolated position in
Grand Theft
um so I see pros and cons but it's
really hard for me to see what what the
picture would look like because
as much as we have a part-time
superintendent we don't have a problem
yeah
and I'll just underscore what I said
before that to me it really does matter
which district we're talking about like
Plainfield to me feels like a town that
is similar to Grantham and I could see
like an integration with that community
that would feel more comfortable and
I'll just leave it there like that to me
it makes a lot more sense than
yeah
yes that's natural yeah absolutely
relationship to build that yeah
but you're also talking about Cornish as
well yeah
but yeah but still it's uh no it's a
and there are pieces of of
correct me if I'm wrong on this but
they're in in typical in a typical setup
there are pieces of what a
superintendent would do that you are not
doing for Plainfield and korash
absolutely so it's I think we we don't
there isn't a direct like it's not that
we're we would be replacing the Sydney
that we have now with someone that would
be doing the exact same thing because
Plainfield and Cornish outsourced some
of the superintendent responsibilities
to other folks within there teams
correct yeah yeah so we took the
superintendent responsibilities and
divided them between me and the business
administrator who's also superintendent
certified but then also had to hire
another person to help with Business
Services just to basically keep things
going you know
I'm probably jumping ahead
but look at
you know it was Plainfield in front of
me
did you feel like both
could be workable together as one
individual I think they um need to be
both need to be revised and updated
because the position is different than
when this was written in 2012. so like
yeah that was my first thing I circled I
certainly on 2012. yeah
well I mean we can take the approach of
like you know moving forward as is and
see what the candidate pool is like and
that's right like if that's not working
for us we can yeah
return to it yeah I think in more and
most likely it's not working for us
probably could be working for a lot
better yeah anyone else in the same time
so all of a sudden it's not I think the
chance of us missing out an opportunity
to a pretty slim yeah
would that approach
all right so it sounds like moving
forward with the position as it stands
for the superintendent search
as we were anticipating okay perfect all
right so the next piece of that is
um looking at how who and how we want to
run the search and then also the job
description so quickly on the job
description first I wanted to put what
we currently have in front of everybody
um and see if the board would like to
update this I'm assuming yes
um so we have the new sort of job
description template that we've been
using as these job descriptions have
been being updated for the district and
so I brought the technology director one
so this is one that we this is when we
updated the technology director position
so we could take the language that's in
this job description and just sort of
like plug it into the new template or we
could really take apart the job
description that we have here or build a
new job description in kind of this
new template that we have
um and what I would like to suggest is
that two of us two board members kind of
take this on in the next month and bring
a job description forward in December
um for the board to review rather than
us tonight trying to go through these
Pages there's editing is fun yeah nope
I'll get a Google doc and just
move on
um so I I my guess is and I'm please
feel free to tell me if I'm wrong and
correct on this that we'd like to update
the job description from 2012. not just
sort of move it into the new template
okay all right so
um do we have two people I'm willing to
be one of them if we have one other
person that's willing to go through
um the job description that we had start
to fit it into the new template and also
get some input from Sydney about what we
need to rethink update do you have
anybody that is interested and available
and doing that over the course of the
next month or so
I know it's busy I know I can't if
anyone else wants to do it they're
welcome to but I'm happy to okay I would
feel good about that okay all right and
I just we always think about
availability I just don't feel like I'm
I can consistently say it's okay yeah
but thank you
perfect all right I will we will touch
base then Perfect all right so we'll
move forward on getting that updated
um and if anybody does want to I mean we
have you have it in previous board
packets but if anybody wants to kind of
look at how we've been
uh looking at the job descriptions kind
of the formatting of them feel free to
take a look at that that's the this was
the um technology director one so would
you get to a point where you might give
us as board members just updated where
you are yeah definitely yeah what you're
focusing in uh yeah
yeah
um okay then the last piece of it is uh
the actual search itself so we know
there's you know we've talked about kind
of the options for that and I reached
out to School Board Association and got
the
um
like a proposal from them on their
search
um I'm just looking for it uh
what they offer for search services and
so I have the full
um
proposal from them but the important
piece of it that I think everybody's
kind of wondering about is there the X
the cost of it is fifteen thousand
dollars so if School Board Association
runs the search it's fifteen thousand
dollars
um they have expenses that are typically
around fifteen hundred dollars in
addition which includes
um there's options for where the ads are
posted if they come to things in person
mileage for anything that they might
come to for in-person things
um and then photocopies that kind of
stuff
um and I asked them for specific
information about what they how they
involve Community because I knew that
was something that was important and
they
build in
um options to have more a parent or two
on the search committee and then they
also in their timeline have focus groups
um surveys all of that kind of stuff and
opportunities for during the
interviewing process so that's kind of
built out into the
um into the thing so they for the
superintendent search they work with uh
the Brian group
um that's who that's who they contract
with to facilitate and accomplish
searches
um and so and there's information about
the the Brian Group which is uh Dr
William Bryan runs that and so they have
there's a whole bunch of information
about kind of the philosophy that they
take around that process
um but I wanted to
just kind of bring that forward just at
a superficial level of I know that
price tag is probably something that's
first on people's minds of looking at
having the School Board Association run
the search for us
um I will say they are very busy with
searches they have more searches than I
think they've ever had that they're
running
um they are doing Labs correct yes they
are so they are they are handling webs
search
um
and
um so I think if we do want to work with
them and with their timeline we should
you know let them know that sooner
rather than later so they can get
started on their timeline I think for me
the the biggest sort of like hiccup for
me is the price tag
um but when I mentioned it in my house
the person who lives in my house who
knows about more things like this was
like well let me guess What's it gonna
be like 75 000 I was like oh God okay my
reaction was not normal
um but I think
um for me looking at the biggest benefit
I see of having the School Board
Association
um handle the search for us is one I
think as a board we are very involved
and extended people to begin with and so
trying to do something where we would
have more of a Hands-On is going to be
another
um thing that I don't know if we have
the bandwidth for
um two I think it's really important and
for this search in particular for us to
have those levels of community
engagement and to let the community know
that we are really committed to this
being a very open and transparent search
process that they are involved in and
that there isn't a feeling of like you
know hand-picked candidates being
shepherded through a process to the
Finish Line
um that we don't have that that we are
coming at this Blank Slate we want input
we want an impartial process I'm
thinking that the I'm sorry no no before
that using the School Board Association
would probably save this time and be
more efficient as well rather than
trying to find these things on our own
and do this adequately because we do
have that timeline and the sooner we
have
suitable candidates a solution
right Ben if you stop to think about
that hours that are probably involved in
this the hourly cost of 15 000 is
actually probably quite reasonable
because when I think of like yeah I mean
I heard fifteen thousand
I I thought that was low yeah I mean it
was like Wow
most recruiters are 20 of salary yeah
um and they they don't run the search
for you they just bring a candidate
right and you you do everything else so
uh yeah I thought honestly I think 15
000 is pretty reasonable yeah
me too question I have about that so
I've been through three searches and in
that process we did those in-house
um
when we looked at the school board stuff
to superintendents ago we looked at
piecemealing like they do have like a
structured thing of you know they'll do
the advertising for this amount of money
you know there's pieces of that fifteen
thousand that they will is that still
the same they don't yeah they have it's
like a comprehensive this is the kind of
the plan that you get
um and there are things that you can do
in addition to that that are kind of a
more like a la carte things but this is
no it's a full
package now might it be helpful or can
it be shared with Brendan to kind of
look that over for the services not
heard well yeah the issue and this has
come up in several local districts which
is why the only reason why I would chime
in is that um like the School Board
Association has no shortage of services
and searches right now
um so they're not really going to be
interested in negotiating yeah
package oh yeah yeah
I will say that
you know part of my hope is you know if
we went down that road that they can
even provide some additional insight
into some candidates as well since they
are conducting researches so one of the
things that um
happened in the past is
[Music]
um
you know you have a certain group of
superintendents ratio
location wise that will want to come to
New Hampshire so you're looking at more
like New Hampshire Vermont Maine maybe
Massachusetts
and I'm wondering if they're doing more
of an Outreach like National type
situation too
which we probably would not attract
honestly and
so they have a part-time 0.6 position
um I think and I've talked to this about
this with a couple of people but I think
one of the things now because so many of
the job posting
areas are
internet-based platforms like the local
versus National search is almost a
non-existent thing anymore because
they're all going on to the same
um platforms for you know recruiting
um they do offer kind of this like
expanded search so if your initial
search is not proving to be successful
that's one of the like add-on additional
costs is that they'll do an expanded
kind of what they refer to as like a
deep deep research of passive candidates
Beyond normal sourcing channels
um and it's not something that they have
ever had to do for even for Rural
District searches so but they do offer
that
um and
they also have like there's a breakdown
and I and I'll share this with the board
there's a breakdown of which pieces of
it the the Brian group and which pieces
of it the School Board Association take
on so they do things like
um they do an orientation and training
for the search committee members so the
search committee members are all you
know coming at it with the same training
of what they can ask but they can't ask
you know interviewing questions that
kind of stuff
um looking at they'll help sort of like
set this the um stage from the hiring
process for what the evaluation process
is going to look like so the School
Board Association will in this process
help us develop what the evaluation
criteria for the candidates will be you
know once someone is hired and then they
do also have some Provisions written in
for
um if the candidate that you choose
leads a position within a year they will
run another search for you for with
expenses oh you know the only thing that
you pay is the expenses
um and
um
so and if there's a
um you know if there are there's a
couple pieces of it that you know
there's an extension out for a year to
three years of you know involvement with
their their services
so thoughts on that
yeah I think so too okay all right I'm
gonna I will share this with you guys
tonight with this full and there is a
proposed timeline for it
um and so the first piece of it that
they're going to look at implementing
will be
um the search committee what we want a
search committee to look like and you
know getting the search committee
together and then it's into December of
collecting like stakeholder input and
that kind of stuff so I think you know
in terms of their timeline we're we're
still okay
um you know if we move forward with
having them do do this search we might
just have like some quick turnaround in
terms of you know putting search
committee together
um and they are comfortable with us
having like input into
who do we want
um
you know what's the the makeup of who we
want to have in our search committee
so I will reach out to them and move
that forward and I'll share the
information I get from them great cool
any other questions about that do you
need a motion
yeah we will need a motion to
uh let's see
are we hiring are accepting the proposal
accepting the proposal from the New
Hampshire School Board Association okay
so we need a motion to accept the
superintendent search proposal from the
New Hampshire School Board Association
moved second I have a motion from Leslie
and a second from Ed all those in favor
please say aye
aye any opposed to say nay
okay
no it feels real
I mean no maybe she'll apply
ing because the contract will be the
contract
okay
all right
so
parents yeah yeah
it also feels like having done the last
search which was very homegrown it feels
very like like we're big kids now too
yeah
um okay so our next agenda item covet
updates
um as you may have seen in in Sydney's
update there isn't a whole lot of this
area unless there's been stuff more
recently
um but in keeping with having this be a
continued conversation we want to make
sure we still have it on the agenda so
that we can bring up if there's
questions or concerns from the board in
this area or if there's things that have
come up at the school or the district
level
no
we sent a note to some about two staff
cases today but I think that's it so far
if I can just ask
or changes and it's getting cool
and cool outside and it was pretty
chilly
um
thinking about it doesn't have to be now
but just thinking about when and if we
can have assemblies in the gym without
wearing masks yeah
yes
pretty supportive
[Laughter]
I don't know of a lot of schools in my
sphere that are restricting Gatherings
anymore or anything like that
and the kids always have the option to
mask if they feel comfortable what does
it currently say what do we currently
have so following the CDC guidance it's
completely up to the school discretion
and they would just advise that you
follow their local community level right
so maybe if we get to community level
high you know then maybe we would call
back more than two classrooms-ish that's
what it is right now although
I'm not actually sure where we
specifically stand on that because of
the last board meeting tonight
right yeah
so maybe we don't need to do anything
other than to say Kristin it's actually
discretion yeah yeah I think I think
that's
we looked at
following the CDC guidance so yeah I
think so if for example if you have an
assembly this winter and the communities
of high level transmission you may
decide at that point we may decide at
that point if we're doing this assembly
it's masked but it's up to you
thank you me too
okay thank you and maybe
is it is that worth like looking at
um
I was gonna say is it
is it worth something like giving
families a heads up that there's an
assembly so they might want to be like
if you want to send a mask yeah that
kind of a thing I'm thinking there might
be kids that are families that are
comfortable unmasked in a small
classroom but would want their kid to
wear a mask at a school-wide assembly
something like that
yeah that again it's up to Chris and
subscribe
and that is referred to as your happy
dance in our car
when she's freezing cold this is what
he's gonna be doing her happy dance and
I'm wearing my shorts
you never look blue so because I'm
always moving yeah
all right so our next agenda item are
policies so we are tackling the J
section
um and so what we have for tonight are
policies that we need to bring in as
required by law
and thank you
and then also uh rescinding policies
that are
found in other locations now this is
just we're scratching the surface
there's 92 recommended policies
um and we're we're obviously you know I
don't like to do that many
um I'm more of the less is more with
policies but this is just the beginning
of the cleanup for Jay
so we'll take uh we'll do the first
um you know the jicl
JJJ l f jldba and jlcf if people have
questions on any of those so we can
start with the District internet access
for students which is a new policy
required by law
any questions or comments on that one
pretty straightforward yeah all right
the next one is access to public school
programs by non-public charter school
and home educated pupils this is another
new policy
required by law
because my question is
if there's a cost associated associated
with these
programs how are those going to be met
doesn't matter well your question is
probably similar to my question that I
um am talking to the school board
association with on Thursday because I
just said in in my history there was
always a thresh threshold of you know
maybe no more than half a day or you
know right things like that number of
credits or the way the new law reads
there is no threshold so I did contact
Will Phillips at the School Board
Association to see his take on that and
he said yeah we've been talking a lot
about that here too we haven't quite a
few which I know I shouldn't laugh but
you know it's one of those things where
the law came in and people didn't kind
of think about all the other side
effects so I have a meeting I think this
is fine for a first reading but I have a
meeting with the school board
Association I think at 10 on Thursday
and that's right after their group is
meeting to talk about it so I can
hopefully give you more information
later but I sent a I probably sent too
many questions to will because I was
just like well what if this what if
that's something to ask you know what if
it's mid-year what if it's you know
Elementary is different at what point do
we actually get to request adequacy
funding for this student
um
behavior consequences if they choose not
to do state assessments if they choose
not to do
um you know hand anything in it gets
very complicated
yeah it seems like the only limit was
if it's 25 or more and I put that in oh
because we really can't we just want a
capacity limit and I added that just
saying like what we really do have to at
least have a number
you know that someplace
yeah
that makes sense I was like how'd they
know how they know 25 is what we can
handle that shouldn't get sad as me
all right and do we get to say I'm sorry
you can't be here anymore if you're not
following our
Behavior plan or our you know if you're
not doing work or if your question two
is you know
special education services right
anything goes yeah yeah Anything Goes
okay so sounds like we'll do a first
reading on this and you will come back
to us with more information before our
second reading I hope so okey dokey
um so then the j j j dash R is the yeah
yeah kind of alongside that are there
any questions or comments about that one
any questions
come back with more all right so um the
next one is reporting child abuse or
neglect any questions
um yes
in the a statement policy I underlined
and I gotta read it to remind myself why
and delighted
um
okay
a credential holder is defined in New
Hampshire Department of Education rule
who fails to report suspected abuse or
neglect risks having action taken by the
New Hampshire Department of Education
against his or her credential
it's awkwardly worded it is and risks
having action got it they risk it the
risk that they're going to pull your
potentials right and if you fail to
report it
you may lose your license yeah
current neglect and rest next to each
other is confusing yeah
yes yes
can you be accused of not having
reported something when you didn't
really exist you know by another
individual but I had just
start emphasizing your obligation pretty
much well and that's always been there
but yeah usually the general rules
you record it let that make the
determination yeah
yes it does
yes it does yep
other pieces on that one other questions
on that one
okay then looking at uh the behavior
management and intervention
this is again new policy required by law
we did have um I did have
Mrs Reed and our bcba Mrs Brown we'll go
over these and they were both fine with
that yeah perfect it will fit whatever
you know program work it will adapt to
whatever programs we're buying at the
time
okay and then the wellness policy I have
a question on this one and it wasn't
from the change because the change was
only the water bottle
um and so I imagine I missed this the
last time we looked at this one or maybe
we talked about it and I forgot
um in the community
the plan for measuring implementation
and Community involvement section
um
is it two different Wellness committees
so that it's referring to or is this the
same because it talks so in the plan for
measuring implementation it says the
superintendent and principal shall
establish a wellness committee that will
periodically assess the nutrition and
physical activity environment throughout
the Grantham School District review
policy implementation proposed
measurable targets blah blah blah blah
and then in the community involvement
section it says
the Grantham School Board will establish
a wellness committee that will
periodically assess the nutrition of
physical activity environment throughout
the Grantham School District it's the
same committee is that all the same
committee yeah okay so should the
Community one say superintendent and
principle then because I don't remember
the board ever having established the
committee right
yes I think that that would be a good
change
it's towards the end yeah
it's like the last section before that
um yeah the legal references got it yeah
right in there so that first
so
um
so the previous one says the
superintendent and principal shall
establish a wellness committee right and
then in this one it says the Grand Theft
school board will establish a wellness
committee
and I think what we would put in there
and I'm just going to kind of type it in
while we're going the grandson school
board will instruct the
superintendent
and principal
to establish a wellness committee
because technically
you're just saying that we are going to
establish a committee but this is an
important distinction because it's
technically like a superintendent
committee as opposed to a board
committee which will make a big
difference down the road do you want to
just take a look at that like those two
the plan for measuring implementation
and the community involvement section
the wording for what the committee does
is a little bit different between those
two sections yeah I will and before our
second reading of it okay that would be
great
and it might be that we don't
it might just roll into one right
one all-encompassing
thing
any other thoughts on the wellness
committee apology see
you
all right so we'll do a first reading of
policies jicl so we need a motion to um
for the first reading of policies
j-i-c-l-jjj
r j l f j l d b a and jlcf
moved second
so I have a motion Leslie in a second
from Denise all those in favor please
say aye
aye any opposed say nay
all right so the next one that's on our
list to look at or think about is
um a policy which would be jvab so we
don't have a policy currently and this
is something that Cindy wants to bring
forward for us to consider yeah this is
something that's been pretty interesting
in terms of how
um we have an approach to transgender
students transgender students at GDs and
there are several different approaches
that school districts are taking so one
approach is that we would have an actual
policy jbab on transgender students that
would include sort of any protocols that
we might follow the other option
and I have to tell you that this is the
one that I'm in favor of is that our
non-discrimination policy AC already has
transgender
listed but that the board approves the
procedures
instead of so for instead of creating a
separate policy you would just create
you would approve what our
administrative or operational procedures
are for transgender students because I
do think that we need to specify some
language around that
um that will be helpful but I don't know
if we need an actual additional policy
and the and one of the benefits of not
going straight into a policy is that
everybody's watching the court cases
right now and so it hasn't gone to you
know any higher Court where we would be
able to draw a specific policy from so I
think our best bet would be that this is
non-discrimination it's already covered
but we have we have procedures so we
basically add language to the existing
policy or add it to like our we don't
have anything to any policy we just have
and basically and a procedure that GVS
follows for transgender students
and that would be board approved but
something that the whole staff can help
create and look at and look at other
sample procedures and and our approaches
to it that's good I like that
um it's interesting because
everybody's watching the circuit court
right now and 19 out of 20 circuit court
cases have aired on protections for
transgender students for
um for pronouns for bathrooms for locker
rooms for etc etc but it hasn't just
gone to that next level yet yeah
um
Denise had shared with me had sent me a
sample policy sort of write up on this
from glad it was from glad correct glsen
oh from with yeah
um and I think it has some really good
like context setting stuff in it yeah
that um I can share with Sydney and or
Denise if you want to share it with
Sydney and Kristen
um
you mean just just by email yeah and
what what I liked about it was that um
you know it's pretty extensive but it
says it's meant to be adaptable to
specific needs of your own School
District
you know I just feel like we're just
gonna really watch out for these kids
yeah what I really liked in it is it's
more than just a sample policy it's also
like there's really good definitions
there's really good language there's
really good like considerations history
yeah that kind of stuff in there too it
isn't just the like it isn't just a
boilerplate policy yeah no I would love
to see it and I really do think that
this is something that the whole staff
should get together and have a
discussion about so that when this comes
forward so I just send it to you and you
can send it and then maybe to the
insurance
um yeah I think one of the things for me
that I think about on this just and I
and I am in total agree with that I
think this is a good approach to it and
it feels like a more holistic approach
um and I think one of the pieces for me
that I want to keep in mind as we move
forward with that is that it isn't for
me it isn't just about sort of like
being cognizant of the where it stands
like legally and where it stands in
terms of like current affairs but also
the message that it sends to families
and students who may be going through
this process as a family right so having
something like on paper
you know sends sends messages in lots of
directions so it sends messages just to
folks who might not agree with it but it
also sends an equally and frankly more
important message to a family whose
child has just told them that they're
transgender and the family's looking at
how is the school going to respond to
this and so I think it's really
important for us to also keep that
experience in mind because I think
sometimes the the experience of the
folks that are speaking out against
these policies is is swallowing the
voice of the families who are saying
like but we need these resources and we
need to know where our school stands
um and so I know my my only hesitation
with not having a like actual policy
that we can show that we have is that
sort of like
just
very publicly having our commitment to
those students and those families but I
think if we have more of that holistic
and wrap-around approach where we can
say like there's procedures and there's
other things that we can show and we can
um give to families than that meets some
of that need
um that's the that's kind of the push
and pull for me around this is making
sure that we are being very open about
our
you know our commitment to our students
and our families so
um okay so our next section our policies
to rescind these are policies that are
in other areas so the first one is
um the sexual harassment which is in the
a section now correct
the next any questions about that one
the next one is the about bus cameras
which we don't need because we'll just
read rides the bus now I'm just kidding
just kidding the most crowded box which
is up to date in our e-section with our
bus policies
any questions on that one
all right and then truancy is contained
in policy JH that's the yeah all right
I love her singing I have questions
about any of those all right so we need
a motion to rescind j b a a j b a a dash
r j i c c j i c c Dash r and j h b so
right from Leslie and a second from Ed
all those in favor please say I I and
the opposed say all right excellent our
next switch on the item is
that Mrs Reed has done a lot of work on
the dress code policy So the plan is
that I have a first draft that I'm going
over
um that the committee submitted to me
and then I'm going to send it out to
parents and Guardians and that one will
come before you in December so the
community will have like three or four
weeks to look it over for input before
you see it great perfect
all right so principles report
that was a good segue because it's in
there
um anything that you would like to add
or highlight from your report no I'm
going to submit it as written today
I really liked reading about the
professional development Day stuff that
you guys did it sounds like it was a
very full day it was a very full day and
it's it was almost
a gift that our
udl trainer had to postpone because we
ended up just packed full anyway
it was a very good one
any questions or comments for Kristen on
her report
all right excellent thank you you're
welcome and then next up is the super
attendance report anything that you
would like to highlight or add to your
report I do I usually submit mine as
written but I'm going to switch places
so there are some things that I'm going
to talk a little bit about is that we do
have interest in the grounds renovation
and playground fit so I'm very excited
about that I'm hoping that you'll be
able to select a landscape site
contractor and at your December meeting
so that's good timing is everything I
think
um it took me entirely too long to
figure out that the dugouts weren't
there I was like what what
that was next on my list
well it's dark I didn't notice and then
the like footprint I thought they were
huge they're like the size of this
picnic table they're so little
it was funny though there were there
were two girls out at recess who were
kind of like looking for where they
usually hide
but they were standing next to that area
those little cats yeah
no not having hiking places as a gift it
looks so nice and so much bigger okay
except when you're standing there going
we're just destroyed this yeah so they
were out for the construction anyway
yeah and Toby's been doing a great job
of seeing you know what we can do along
the way and Newport needed dugouts for
their new baseball good so we did offer
them to grant them wreck first and our
size did not fit the already poured pads
at the wreck field
um so Newport took them which I think
right cool yes
um they didn't want the backstop we were
hoping they would want the backstop too
so maybe somebody else might want it
does anybody need a backstage
that's awesome okay yep so I was gonna
dugouts were next on my list
I'm glad I noticed before you repeat it
sitting there in my car like
uh the over last weekend we had a
volunteer crew come to pre-stein the
um boards that are going to be the
ceiling of the Pavilion so those are all
stained and I can also let you know that
the Pavilion is going up next week so
Yankee Barn has a forklift coming on
Monday for sure with their crew and this
is it outdoor assembly I know
we just need to do a fundraising thing
to get Kristen my zip up down suit or
something like that
you should put her in here
in the morning so we actually have the
date set so it's happening now I think
I'm very excited about that
um I did want to say in my report as you
notice that the media is alive with
discussion of failing scores and family
schools and pandemic Etc so I didn't do
the Deep dive that Kristen and I usually
do at budget you know presentation time
but I wanted to let you know that
Grantham is looking wonderful in terms
of um staying academically focused and
you know intent on keeping our kids
where they need to be with learning so I
feel pretty well while we all hesitate
to you know say anything about the test
scores state test scores I know I feel
really proud of seeing you know what
came through with our scores this year
I press Grantham too but I have to say
reading these reports just makes me feel
like they're looking for an opportunity
to do some more stuff yeah and I'm I'm
very disappointed um saying look at how
our kids got through this pandemic so
but I'm very proud of what GBS has been
able to come through with I mean not
just staying not just closing a gap but
you know in two of our areas actually
having a huge job yeah so yeah so thank
you to everybody at GBS
I did want to also say Meredith you
probably know the numbers off the top of
your head but Meredith has done a
wonderful job with um the money that we
have from the bond of putting that into
some short-term CD so that we're earning
interest off of it so she negotiated a
good rate for considering what the going
rates are so what's our interest rate
3.25 3.25 okay so even though we weren't
able to start construction we have those
bonds um in the bank earning a little
bit of money in the meantime awesome
yeah good job and thank you to Meredith
for that
um and also we just got our first
tuition list and tuition bill so it
looks like we will probably have about a
hundred thousand dollars available that
we had
um so we're coming in with I think about
eight to nine fewer students than we had
budgeted for and of course Brendan I
always go over we need to know where
everybody is you know where'd they go
but we um It's a combination of private
school and homeschooling and moving you
know someplace else and not as many
move-ins announced as we've had so in
our tight budget year you know it seems
like we will have a little bit of a
cushion in that tuition line and that's
with the increase
from Lab
it's nothing but the tuition that's the
middle in high school yeah yeah yeah
yeah so
um yeah even with things even within yep
even though it's an increase yeah so
that that makes me breathe a little bit
easier as we're looking at some of the
other unanticipated costs that we've had
this year yeah and again we're still
trying to write a lot of those into
grants wherever we can
um sr3 as I said is all allocated but we
are trying for complete transparency so
on our reopening page you can go in
there and you can see exactly every
activity for every covid related grant
that we have all spelled out
um the state just did the same exact
thing
um so you can go to any town or district
and and look at their allocated budgeted
spent funds but if they want if you want
actual detail you can just go to our
webpage and fund it
so that's pretty much it
okay any questions
is there any possibility that any more
relief money is coming through anymore I
haven't heard anything at all no
no definitely and Statewide yeah those
are going to be shut down pretty shut
down in about six days well I guess
January 1st is there anything we should
do before in the next six days honestly
okay all right so our next agenda item
is the consent agenda so do we have any
uh changes questions anything anyone
wants to pull out and look out from the
consent agenda foreign
the trustees of the trust funds report
did not come in so that'll be you'll
need to take that out take that one out
all right so we'll remove the trustees
of the trust fund report anything else
okay sweetie a motion to approve the
consent agenda removing the trustees of
the trust funds okay
the motion from Leslie in a second from
Ed all those in favor please say aye
aye any opposed say nay
all right excellent so we will open our
second public participation session
um and so if anyone has any uh
participation they would like to bring
the board at this point of the meeting
you are welcome to do that
um just a reminder if you are
participating we don't have anybody here
in the room to publicly participate with
us but if you're doing this virtually
um please remember to type your name and
address at the beginning of your comment
if you would like to make a public
comment during participation
um and if it's something that the since
it's worth the conclusion of the meeting
um if it's something that the board can
answer our question or we can comment on
briefly then we will do that
we'll wait a couple of minutes to see
where we get
awesome
participation online so if anybody at
home would like to talk you can raise
your hand or type in the chat and no
pressure If you don't want to we're not
like
I will while we're waiting since we
don't have anybody in the room that's
going to speak if anybody is while
you're typing feel free to type
um but I I did the School Board
Association training on the public
participation
um and it was really good and I think
one of the best the the key takeaway for
me that I took from it is
um being
that the type of
um participation that we have remaining
as neutral as we can in our policy about
it and our response to it which means if
we expect folks to not have negative
comments or negative things that they're
identifying personally identifiable
information so if we're saying you can't
bring a complaint or something where
you're naming the person then we also
can't allow people to do that with
prints which is a tricky
um so you have to be like Viewpoint
neutral in that so if someone
provides public comment where they want
to express you know praise or happiness
or call out a good thing that happened
and they're doing that by name
um we have to not allow that in the same
way that we would not allow
criticism or a negative comment
um and so reminding people that if there
are things that they want to express
they can do that in a way that is
anonymous or there might be
um you know a different channel that you
can incorporate that into your like how
we had previously had the opportunities
to celebrate our team you know maybe
that's something that the board would
decide to do every so often in their
meetings would be to have like a time
where there's you know recognition or
celebration or something like that but
to not
to
remember that
uh
saying someone's you know personally
identifiable information and saying
something positive about them is also
just as
um unallowed as a negative thing which I
was like
participation yep
with the exception if they wanted to
come and say nice things about you
they can actually because they can say
negative things about them exactly
you're the you're the exception right
I was going to put in my oral report too
that Harper is officially certified as
therapy.com
she's she's okay no two nights before
the you know the uh exam for
certification she had a hundred pills in
her face
she's not a new friend
yes and apparently from what the vet
said she will not learn not to make that
friend
they do not figure that out
all right
okay I don't see anything coming in so
we are going to close public
participation for tonight do we have a
non-public session I don't okay I don't
either oh and I was already there right
you're so prepared
for me no I can't get a new paperwork
for today's date
all right so I unless we don't I don't
think we have anything else tonight uh
quickly our next meeting is December 6th
um and we have a few items that we know
we'll be bringing forward from this
meeting to that meeting
um the board can look for some
information about job description and
more information from the School Board
Association about moving our search
forward to the next step between now and
then so
um with that we need a motion to adjourn
okay I have a motion from Leslie in a
second from Denise all those in favor
say aye
aye any opposed say
all right so we are adjourned at 8 31.
thank you thank you