SRSD School Board Meeting 9-16-26

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

Recording

Hello, we're going to start.
Hello.
We are calling to order this meeting of the regional school board on this day, Wednesday, September 16th, 2026.
Let's stand for the pledge.
We're being led.
Oh, we're being led in it by our students.
Sorry.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God.
Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
And they're gone.
Okay.
That's it.
Okay, do we have action on the minutes, 9-226?
Make a motion to approve.
Second.
Any discussion?
I just want to point out, I already mentioned it to Phyllis, but the Sanborn community organization was called FECOSC
Community Organization.
and so Phyllisal is already on top of it.
Thank you.
Okay, all in favor?
Oh, I should mention Heather.
It's absent, has an excuse absence tonight, yes?
Yes.
All right.
So all in favor?
That is unanimous.
Okay.
So do we have manifest going around, probably?
I don't know where they are.
They lay back today.
Thanks to you have the manifest.
We'd probably have those.
I don't.
Is somebody stolen the manifest?
We'll find them.
They will be going on.
It was an audit week this week.
Yeah, we should probably.
So manifest will be going around once we locate them.
Okay.
We'll find them.
Let's, while we locate, we have them.
They are now going around.
Let's move on to, we have no nominations or resignations.
Let's move on to 4.4 contracted employees.
Yeah, just keeping with keeping the board updated on the contract employees list in the district.
I don't believe there's any major changes on it, but trying to make sure you are all aware of the contract employees in the district.
And that means.
means we can now move on to the principal's reports.
How are we going to do that?
In which order?
Hello?
Oh, nice.
Whoa.
I like that.
That sends an important.
Yes.
You go.
Wow.
All right.
So, yeah, well, I'll talk a little bit about kind of the purpose of that.
But going forward, our first presentation this year, we wanted to kind of talk amongst as a group because we've kind of spent a lot of time.
summer preparing for the school year and beginning of the year.
There's not so much that happens, but we collectively wanted to share as a whole school.
But going forward, as we were shared in the Super 10 report, is we plan to do a rotation basis,
so it won't be us three every time.
This is the one time this year.
And we will on a schedule basis, which I'm not sure.
I think, are you the first one up?
Yeah.
So Andrew's the first one up.
That'll come in and just present in this consistent format on things.
that are happening within our school specifically.
So as you can see in the report that was provided for you, we kind of wanted a consistent format
that aligns with our district goals.
So we have our district goals that are kind of framework of what we want to report on.
So we're constantly as leaders trying to be cautious of those goals that we set towards the end of the year,
along with long-term goals as well, but being considerer of reporting out as leaders of our buildings
to make sure that.
We're sharing those successes, which is one kind of category.
We're sharing those gross and those opportunities for learning.
And then we're really kind of talking about what's our next immediate steps?
Because sometimes there's things we've got to do tomorrow.
Some things we're going to do look to do in five weeks.
So just reporting on that on a time of the basis as it comes up.
So that's kind of the over of what we're doing.
But we had a great opening of schools.
We were really excited.
It was one of the first challenges we had was probably, I don't know, my first time
I ever had five straight days of school, all right, with kids, which was kind of overwhelming.
But I think as we managed that, and it was also just an opportunity to really set some
solid foundations routines, and that was done.
And we also, as I said, part of that message is we're trying to unite, get us as tight as
possible as a K-12 district and not just solely schools individually.
We spent a lot of work this summer as a leadership team in SAU,
team to try to align as much as possible.
And that kind of ties into the framework of a report going forward tonight, which is us
reporting on these goals that we establish, you help, you help establish.
We create priorities within each other's schools with our teacher input to help drive that
direction of going forward in the district district.
So we have, Andrew, who's going to do the first goal.
Thank you.
So district goal number one is about
improved student achievement, growth, and readiness.
And celebrating our successes, all our school communities have adjusted to the building, the schools,
the classes.
All K-to-5 students have been benchmarked for reading and math.
Our beginning of the year, NEWA schedules K-12, have been set and scheduled,
and our new evaluation system has been shared with our staff.
Under growth, our growth and learning,
where we've collected our benchmark data for Dibbles and M-Class K-to-5, and we're moving
towards collecting our NIWA data, and that data is important because we're going to be planning
strategically for improved outcomes.
That data will guide our intervention groups and our teachers' ability to adjust instruction
in real time.
We've also, we're also learning together as a community and implementing the new system that really
evaluation system for our teachers, that provides clarity and common expectations.
What comes next? Well, we've already begun engaging in consistent PLCs each week.
We're implementing the new evaluation system to establish a culture of meaningful
supervision and feedback. In addition to the two district-wide, K-12, Marzon,
competencies. So the ones that we've chosen as a K-12 community is helping students
practice skills, strategies, and processes, and using engagement strategies. Each teacher moving
forward is choosing two additional competencies and a student performance goal, and each assigned
evaluator and teacher will meet in the next two weeks to review and refine their goals. I'm Nicole
Cardier, the principal of the middle and high school, and I'm going to talk with you about
student opportunities, engagement, and pathways, which is district goal number two.
To celebrate some of our successes, our middle school and high school fall sports are well
underway at this point. We have 145 high school student athletes and 66 middle school student athletes,
which is a great representation of our student body. We've also got our clubs and activities on the way
to be up and running. Today, we had our clubs and activities.
fair at the middle and high school, excuse me, this morning where all of the students
in the high school got to explore the different activities that are offered. And on Friday,
our middle school students will be participating in that. And across the district, we have
approximately 150 students in grades 4 through 12 participating in our band programs, 40 at Memorial
and 110 at the middle and high school. Where we're continuing to grow and learn are to provide
and promote opportunities for students to continue to engage in our school community through
extracurricular activities, sports, student performance groups, extended learning
opportunities, internships, hands-on learning experiences, and career exploration activities.
Some of the things that will allow us to do that are the trade expo that we have coming up
on November 18th. Hopefully you've seen some information about that. We're looking for some
community partners to come in and share the work that they do in the trades to help connect our students
with different career opportunities that are available. And staff at the
elementary schools will have an opportunity to submit proposals for extracurricular activities.
That's already happened at the middle and high school, but they'll be building some different
clubs and activities at the elementary levels. And yes, that's the work we're doing. Now I'm going
to turn it over to Eric for district goal number three. I don't know if I formally introduce myself
to the public principal at Memorial School. So that's the official announcement there.
So district goal three is culture, people, and organizational
health. So again, our success is this year in a short time span is we were able to have five
days of professional development for a professional staff. And along with, we had three days for
a paraprofessional staff. So we're able to set that culture and norms and routines with certain
things in our PLC meetings, did some safety trainings, which we'll speak to in a second.
And as you've already heard, is aligning that starting progress of teacher evaluations.
So we're able to do a lot of collective professional development.
There to help our culture. And then we had a great district welcome back meeting from
our superintendent that was able to, he did a great job getting, setting that tone of moving our district
forward, but also connecting and recognizing who he is as a leader, which I thought was very
powerful. And we heard as principals a lot of positive feedback from that, that welcome back event.
So that was really good. So what we're kind of moving towards for growth and learning next for that
culture and is a sense around safety. So we've, Dan Doyle has gave us part of that
training. I love you guys. A standard response protocol, which is presents common language and
expectations, K-12. So we've been able to clean and tighten that up. So we did that initial training.
We've also revisited throughout our schools and staff meetings. And we'll continue to do that as
we continue to learn and grow around that idea. And then what's coming next
us is, again, is just continue to look at the common language and reinforce it, practice
some of those drills using those common language, and following those clear expectations.
So that's kind of what's coming next with that culture part. So next up, we have the goal
for. So goal four is community engagement, communication, and trust. Some of the successes
that we've seen so far this year are the baking meet and greet that happened just before this
of the school year, where approximately 90% of our incoming students were able to go
and enjoy a popsicle, that word was difficult, sorry, on the playground, and to meet staff
at the Bakey School, and that was a really positive activity. We also had some activities with
sixth graders, our incoming sixth grade students were able to come, and we did popsicles. We didn't
call it popsicles on the playground. It was a meet and treat where we met with our
our incoming sixth graders and families. And then we also opened up the library for students to come in.
Nice opportunity for them to get familiar with the new campus for them. We had our district-wide
open house on the 8th, which welcomed over 400 students and families across the district. We had
really positive feedback from students, staff, and families on that. And it was a nice opportunity to
really connect early on in the school year. Our PTO, PTA, and boosters have been very active. And they're
working on planning a lot of different fundraisers and events and other opportunities to support our schools.
We're excited about the things that are coming up. We have a Harlem Wizards game coming up in
November. A little bit sooner, we have our homecoming parade and the pancake breakfast that will happen on
September 26th. It's about a week and a half away, along with all of the other homecoming activities that
happened during the day. There will be some bingo nights, book fairs, dances, staff appreciation
events, and they help to support spirit weeks that we do. So far,
On our growth and our learning, we're working on our communication practices through the
implementation of aptagy and learning more about rooms and streamlining the communication that
happens between schools and families and communities. So working to really utilize that tool to
strengthen that communication. We are also working to establish norms around the communication
for the use of apt to as it is a new tool for all of us. And we are working on planning meaningful
events and activities to increase opportunities for students to engage with the broader
community. Some of the things are, as I mentioned, homecoming day. Although it is high school
sporting events, it's really open to the entire community. We encourage students across the entire
district as well as community members to come out. The parade is fun. There's always a lot of candy thrown
and just not enough kids there to pick it up. So that's a great time to bring them out. The pancake
breakfast is free of charge that the PTO puts on and a nice opportunity to kind of mingle around.
And then there are games throughout the day. And the students certainly appreciate the support of the local community to come out at those events.
And then the high schoolers will wrap up their day with a dance.
The PTO and booster will continue to plan events. We have some field trips coming up.
We will continue to have student performances and celebrate those through drama productions, concerts, and other opportunities to celebrate
to celebrate performances outside of sports. And school assemblies at Bakie and Memorial,
they have their cares assemblies. At the middle and high school, we are putting a focus on quarterly
assemblies that celebrate student achievement as well as highlight some of our student performance groups
like the chorus, the band, our dramas, actors, and actresses. So that's what we have to look forward
to there. So moving forward, you'll see each one of our school levels highlighted each month,
each month, right?
Our goal is really transparency and ongoing communication about where we are, where we're
going, and how we're moving forward, together as four schools and one team.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay.
So that brings us to our superintendent's report.
All right.
Good evening, everyone.
I will continue on with the goal theme as we're
trying to make a point of keeping the district goals visible to the board and the community,
so they just don't get lost in the shuffle. So looking at goal number one, you've already heard
the principals talk at length about the teacher evaluation system and the implementation going
on at that. Your last meeting, you approved the purchase of eye observation. We have our first
implementation call with them tomorrow.
So that will help us get the bat system implemented so that way it's ready to go for when principals start doing their observations after they finish with their meetings with the teachers and over the next two weeks.
I'm trying to also work on getting our learning and achievement data together so we can make that more transparent for the board, for the schools, for the community.
But, you know, we want to be thinking about how do we not only track achievement of our students, but also their growth.
A student who's well below benchmark can still demonstrate significant progress,
while a student at performing at a high level may not be showing as much progress and need to be challenged further.
So wanting to make sure we have those systems in place and we're developing that in making sure we're aligned with goal number one.
Goal number two, you've already heard about the open houses.
I was fortunate enough to have traveled to all the schools and can second the attendance and the feedback in regards to them.
It was also helped.
It was a really nice night to be out and about.
So that was great.
And it was wonderful to see so many people there.
We had been working through some dismissal issues at Memorial.
Mr. Larkrum had done a good job of working on trying to streamline that process with SCA and SLC, as well as with our facility director and the local police department.
I think we're in a good place with that now.
But, you know, the concerns were raised by members of our community.
We listened.
We tried to understand what was going on.
We responded to it and then made sure we're monitoring it going forward.
which is how I want the district to address its data as a whole.
We've already heard about the Sanborn homecoming.
Apparently, I'm looking forward to being on the fire truck.
That apparently is tradition.
So I can't wait for that.
I do enjoy a good pancake breakfast, so that'll be good too.
Goal number three, staff excellence and capacity.
So I had talked about my report.
The leadership team received professional development last week.
focused on creating greater consistency and fairness when employee concerns arise.
Central ideas is a concern is not conclusion and documentation is not automatically disciplined
and that staff should be able to expect a fair and reasonably consistent process and working
through an incident with an administrator.
So we're trying to work on norming those processes and making sure that we're working together
on that and ensuring this communication.
education, you know, so that we can support professional judgment in both the staff
member as well as administration and making sure that our decisions are based on evidence
and are consistent.
It's also when we look at sort of budgeting and how those pieces come in, I don't think there's one
specific formula for staffing.
Our kindergarten decision is indicative of staffing going one way, as well as our
assistant principal reduction looking at staffing going in the opposite direction.
So it's continuing to sort of work through those things and trying to put the most student-focused
school district forward for our community.
Looking at community engagement for goal number four, I met with the Sanborn Community
Organization on September 3rd.
It was a wonderful opportunity to learn
from our community and I had them do a lot of work that night, but I think the conversation
was incredibly valuable and insightful for me as I begin my work in Sanborn.
As we're beginning FY28 budget development, I had asked the board about possibly allowing me
to conduct a short community budget survey, not as a popularity contest, but trying to
trying to get some insights and understanding into what the community's priorities are,
what their concerns are, and what information they need from us as the budget develops.
So I'd be interested in the board's input on that before I proceed further.
What's the, can you describe a little bit about what it would be like?
Like, what's the main, what kinds of data are we looking for?
What kind of sentiment are we trying to measure?
I think what I'm trying to get is context, is trying to increase the amount of context
that I have.
Obviously, I've spoken to all of you about it.
I have now met with the Budget Committee or at least parts of the Budget Committee twice.
So trying to sort of get more input.
I've seen other districts do that as a way to, you know, sort of try and get the budget
and the community's feedback into that process.
I think one of the key things for me is what information does the community want from us.
You know, I'm very comfortable with Excel and I can, I'd like to say, you know, I like to relax in the afternoon with a Excel spreadsheet, but that's not everyone in purpose.
So trying to get some of those things together, you know, I think it's not necessarily the answer to every question in the budget is going to be.
Well, the survey said so, but it's just another piece of deal.
data to be able to use.
But I have not gone very far with that process.
I wanted to get the boards input before I dug into it.
You had wrote about wondering what the best way could get that out there was.
Did you have thoughts?
No, because I think the challenge is that with anything, and I think this is sort of that ongoing
challenge of communication from the school district.
It's easy for me to connect with family.
who have students in the district.
It's much more complicated for me to communicate with families outside the district.
Now, I'll talk a little bit about that piece later and sort of what we're doing when it relates to the new website.
But I think it's trying to try something versus, you know, saying,
I can't reach those people.
I can't reach those people.
Yeah.
You know, it said.
And it may not work, but, you know, I have seen it work.
And, you know, it's just, it's not obviously the most important data point.
It's a data point.
It's a general rule, I believe, in operating proactively.
So it would be, you know, probably a good thing to have information early rather than be blind
that you're not a deliberative with what the town is thinking.
So if people are willing to engage in the survey, I don't really see a downside.
It's information early.
Are you thinking the web?
site or?
Yeah, probably it would be through there.
I'd probably try and get QR codes that I could post around town that people could access it
and try and do my best to get it as many places around Kingston and Newton as possible.
And so that just that's what that's what I had been thinking.
It's just I think more input is definitely good.
I'm just wondering if people aren't motivated to show up and give public comment
that the budget committee meetings are they going to be more motivated to give independent
input?
I have no idea.
There has not been many people at the budget committee meetings I've attended.
So I don't know what the norm is.
If we try it and we get better input, that would be positive.
Something.
And I guess in theory, if we get absolutely no responses, that doesn't hurt anything.
And it's a data point for next year.
Didn't work.
I don't have anything.
substantive to add other than I think it's a good idea.
I think you should proceed and nothing bad is going to come of it other than we get a lot or
nothing and that tells us the story.
I agree.
I wonder if there are other community organizations or boards or businesses that would be
worth partnering with in terms of them being able to reach people.
The district itself cannot.
I don't know.
I'm sure.
I'm playing on going to the.
The master plan event in Kingston next week.
So that could be your first opportunity for that.
All right.
Thank you.
The only other additional item I had in my report is I had developed a draft of an RFP for a facility study.
And I was looking for some input from the board on that.
You're, I believe the last.
study conducted in the district of 2018.
It runs its population estimates and enrollment estimates through, I'm not sure if it defines
it as the 26, 27, 27, 28 school year, I believe it's the 2728 school year, I believe
it's the 27, 28 school year, but I'm not entirely sure.
So it's definitely getting near the end of that survey.
I'm also looking to not.
replace the work that Siemens has done, but sort of trying to augment that work that's
already been done and then look at it from, in essence, a schooling perspective in terms of how
to best utilize our facilities going forward.
I'll start.
I think we must do this.
So thank you.
I thought that draft was excellent.
For my own knowledge and maybe anybody else curious, that framework, where did that come
from?
curious, is this like a common format for this type of studies in school districts?
What I did is I looked at the 2018 one that the district had done and took the headings
from that.
And then I believe I took one from Rye that had done one.
And I think there was another district and it was another local district for us that had
recently done was, well, I don't think it was Timberland, but it was nearby enough.
So sometimes the most, the best way to move forward is, is imitation and flattery.
Yeah.
It also increases the likelihood of multiple respondents.
It's fairly consistent.
So that's great.
And I'm just curious what type of firms or entities typically respond to RFPs of the scope of the
scope.
Well, Nesdick did the last one.
I was assuming they will still respond to this one because they're the most common people
in this space.
But consultants, there are a dime a dozen sometimes on things like this.
Thank you.
Yep.
And actually, I believe Dan had given me one, the previous one, which was done by an architect,
I think up in Bristol.
I had done the previous one before the 2018 version.
And this is only, there's a, obviously there's no, you don't have the SAU building on there
and Swayze because it's not things that we're on, right?
I think it would be on there for now because we're going to be talking about extending a short-term lease
or, you know, doing something with it.
So they'd have to factor it into the point.
So is that in?
In the last one.
Yeah, I did have in there.
like in terms of optional things in terms of gym utilization.
Okay.
Yeah.
Just to cover all basis.
I'll just agree with what James said.
Yeah.
In my opinion, we can't move forward without it.
Yep.
So the last one that we paid for proved positive.
The information they gave was pretty spot on.
Yep.
As far as...
Yeah, for the most part, the enrollment projections are fairly accurate.
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I support this as well.
we need a we need all the information that we could get to think about what we're
going to do for the next however many years so how much does this what are we into this for
like do they I mean obviously we don't know until somebody responds but what do we pay for the
last one do we know I don't I don't know I don't know but I'm not going to promise you it's
going to be cheap I think it'll be worth it regardless yeah I can look and it's necessary
I would love to know what it's going to cost I'll look into it if you weigh out the cost for
yes what what the district has done as far as yeah so paper itself probably oh yeah
immediately yeah all right we should need to work at that and and and find tune up further
thank you and that's all I have for my report this time thank you okay
let's move on now to committee reports do we have I'll start just real quick
um finance and facilities committee met this evening we discussed a number of topics
that link to the video can be found you can watch it online one thing I do want to
clarify because it was stated that the dugouts the women's dugouts were in disrepair
could blow over and or fall over so we adjourned the meeting and we
walked out to take a look at that and I'm happy to say that I don't believe that is the case
we did discuss removing and replacing but just for safety reasons I just want to make sure
stated that that it's not the case and then James you were going to yeah and Dr. Houghton had alluded to
this we had a member of the public come join us which was great and wanted to highlight the town
of Kingston's upcoming community forum the town of Kingston is updated
its master plan which I think is very fortuitous as we update the school
district's long-term plans I think we must do that together in an effort to get as
much input as possible please join them in person the date is September 23rd the
times are between 530 and 730 p.m and this is an open house drop-in format so it's
show up when you can for as long as you can the planning board is hosting very
interested in your input it's located
at the Kingston Town Hall and there's also an online version of the event available
and you can find it on the project specific web page Kingston Master Plan on the
Kingston New Hampshire website or go right to the town hall's website and find it from
there September 23rd 530 to 730 p.m. Kingston Town Hall open house community forum for
the master plan please go we'll be there too any others yes sure I would I would love to
Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity. So the policy and personnel subcommittee
also met this evening and we discussed three different policies. We will be moving
let's see, two of them forward to the board for first read next board meeting. So we'll be
discussing the bidding requirements for purchase orders for first read as well as some food
services, concessions, and food sales on district property. We did review a third policy,
the background investigations. However, we did table it as there were going to be some changes,
some additional inputs, and we wanted our third member of the subcommittee to be present to give
some input. So I think there was great work done this evening as well as discussing our path forward
with a district that has 400 plus policies in a board member's three-year term.
you would not review every policy. So Dr. Houghton has done Yeoman's work in consolidating policies
into a place that the subcommittee can actually access them and work through them in an expeditious
and thorough fashion. And I think we have a good practice moving forward that we've established
this evening and how we will actually get our arms around policies to review all of them in a board
member's three-year term, which I think is completely responsible to do as board
members rather than leaving the district after three years, not even having worked
through the policy manual once. That is a bit of a bit of a foul. So I think we're going to correct
that. At least we're going to try. So nothing further. Thank you. Any PR or budget updates?
Not okay. Okay. All right. Grace, it's you. All right. Some very exciting things,
but I might be a little biased about homecoming.
So the Kingston Community Library teen programs are being offered to all teenagers and some adults as well.
They have a new teen advisory board about how can the Kingston Community Library serve teens best.
They have a writing for teens club that is starting September 22nd at 3 p.m.
There's a new teen book talk starting today, actually, at 3 p.m.
and there is a new chess club open to the whole community, Kingston, meeting every Tuesday at 3 p.m.
That is the greatest thing ever.
The high school club and activity fair was today, as we heard some things from our lovely principal report.
Our picture days have now wrapped up across the district and retake dates are published.
And then in terms of homecoming, we will be starting next Monday.
It'll run through the high school, but there are some events,
open to the whole community. So on Saturday, they'll be the homecoming parade and games
throughout the day. Each grade has their own food tent lined down the football field. The
options this year. Freshmen have sliders, rice Krispies, and slushies. Sophomores have mac and cheese
and cookies. Juniors have tachos, walking tater tots, flavored lemonade, and make your own
candy salad. And seniors have walking tacos and muddy buddies. So there's a lot of options. So there's a lot of
A few other clubs throughout the high school will be also having tables there, selling what we do not know yet, but soon to come.
The games are as listed.
So cross country has a meet at Coburn, Northwood Academy at 9 a.m.
Girls varsity soccer against Trinity at 10 a.m.
Boys face them at 11.
And then we have our football game against Campbell High School.
Band and cheerleading will be there.
So we're hoping for a big turnout like there normally is.
next Tuesday, there's a free financial aid 101. So for a lot of senior parents, this is a great
opportunity. It's from a counselor from grade advance. So it's actually from outside of our school district.
Niwa kicks off very soon. So excited for that. All students will be, it'll happen, at least for
the high school interns, during their regular scheduled math or English classes. And then,
actually on our last meeting date, there was the Jamie Martin Sanboard Invitational.
You might have seen on the planes while driving here.
And our very own Sophie Thurlow won first place in the 5K out of 92 other athletes.
Yeah, so she is a senior this year, so it's very exciting for her.
And that's all I have for that.
You have her time?
Her time, yes. It was 19 minutes, 38.8.
Nice.
Yeah, very exciting.
That's great.
Thank you.
Of course.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Speaking of bias, I mean, all that sounds really exciting, but the chess club thing at the library.
They would love to see you there.
I will be there.
I'm dragging all the kids there, too.
Awesome.
I will beat you.
Yes.
Yes.
You are, you play chess fanatically like I do and Steve St. Cyr does over there?
I hope so.
I can't wait to do it.
Let's get it on the record.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Can you get all this in a notes?
Yeah, this needs to show up in the minute.
Well, what, but I think I really appreciated how you're highlighting other community resources, like the Kingston Community Library and Collaboration between the students and district.
And I think it ties into many of the school board goals.
It does.
can boost each other's projects, all the better.
District goals.
District goals.
Thank you for that correction.
Let them know.
You'll be there next Tuesday at 3.
It's going to be great.
Well, it's in a record.
So, it's right out there.
Right.
All right.
We have new business now.
House Bill 1,300.
All right.
This has come forward at last week's budget committee meeting.
There is a provision in House Bill 1300,
which is the tax cap.
a measure that's going to voters in November, whether or not the school board should hold a public hearing on it.
That's completely optional.
But it was something that the Budget Committee was wondering about.
And I'm bringing it to you whether or not you want to hold a hearing.
And if so, when?
This, I believe, the first Tuesday,
November is the 3rd, and you have two meetings in October.
Motion to discuss hosting a hearing to discuss HB-1300,
hosting a hearing for the public to discuss tax cap as related to HB-B-1300.
Second.
I absolutely think we should do this.
I think it's essential.
It aligns to our goals in multiple different avenues from transparent.
transparency to smart fiscal responsibility, everything.
It's all tied in.
Community engagement.
Community engagement.
Community engagement.
All the things.
I have no thoughts on the timing, really, yet.
I do think it's going to be an important thing to help explain what this thing is.
Because it's fairly complex.
Is there, are there, uh, did I hear there was an injunction or something?
The injunction was denied today.
They can't appeal it to the Supreme Court, but that, I just read that decision when I came out of the policy committee.
Okay.
I think it, we should operate under the assumption that this is going on the ballots.
Yeah.
Yep. Yep.
So what's the nature of the hearing?
Basically, what's, what's,
who conducts it? Who sets out the agenda? Do we read the policy? Like, what is this hearing?
It would be something the board would run.
I would imagine it's just, technically probably, it's just another meeting with only one agenda item and a public comment and an additional school board meeting just for this.
It could be part of one of the other.
Oh, okay. Yeah, it's just a hearing. Yeah. And it's posted. Yeah, we get out of time.
Oh, yeah. Let's do that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That would be my sense.
suggestion. It would say be the first thing on the agenda, and that's what you do, and then you would transition
your regular meeting, and then we probably try and be mindful of the rest of the agenda so that it's compressed.
Yeah, kind of make the meeting about that.
I think that's, and I ask is who's knowledgeable to speak to it, Jeremiah.
That's not true. That's for the record, Phyllis.
Also, if you read online, it's also an emotional issue, so there's be. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So to the extent we get an unbiased, just objective read, maybe highlighted read, not read the whole text. Yeah, I think anything we present as a board should be just facts. Yeah. Just the facts. Here are the facts. And we're just trying to make sure that everybody snakes and promote an educated decision. And then the guidelines for public comments still stand, whatever, our three minute, five minutes. They always. Well, we've been.
a little lax with the five minute, but I mean, depending upon how many people were there, yeah, I think we'd have to enforce it.
I think we tried to be a little lenient, right?
But if there's 50 people and they don't want to speak, then we would have to just respect everybody's time.
Yeah, the Budget Committee chair had felt, uh, I wouldn't say necessarily strongly because I don't want to put words in their mouth,
but, uh, felt that this was an advisable consideration for the school board.
And I think we've we sort of hit on it, maybe danced around it a little bit, but I think this would not be an advocacy, you know, position.
This would be informational only.
And the challenge will be, to Ken's point, is who is going to be confident enough to give this level of information on this topic.
Oftentimes, legislation is confusing, convoluted.
and even when we read the ballot, uh, as voters, we read it and we're not sure what we're voting on.
This is actually sort of the opposite. It's deceptively simple. And so that becomes a challenge in and of itself.
So what does this mean? What are people voting on? And I think just to have an informed populace for people
that want to get more information or might tune in, but the question is still going to stand is who is going to be
the subject matter expert on this, um,
that's going to feel confident briefing this informationally, and I don't know who that is yet.
Well, I think in that case, what I would propose to the board, consider this for your meeting on October 21st.
You now have three weeks to decide or consider what that is.
Obviously, we will be more than willing to support that member in any way possible to help provide documents and summaries and stuff like that.
trying to get them the information they need while also being very well aligned to the sort
of advocacy directive that has come out in this discussion.
I'm sorry, did you say we're planning on doing it on 21st?
I heard 21st.
I just, I suggested in terms of, to Jeremiah's point, about needing someone to be able to speak on it,
that you probably don't want.
want to consider doing this.
I won't be here on the 21st.
I already know that.
So maybe.
Is it, are we still committed to the idea that it's a board member who's going to present this?
Or is it, it can be anybody we just bring in somebody, him as an expert and unbiased?
I think it should be a board.
Yeah, the problem is, the problem is how are you gauging bias on my boss?
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I guess there's a potential inverse relationship between, like, we can be confident in our own objectivity here.
We can't be confident in somebody else's, but less confident in our accuracy and potentially more confident in somebody else's.
Well, although their objectivity might impact their accuracy, so I don't know.
I think.
All right, it'll be us.
We'll do it.
Yeah.
I think any, anytime we're offering information, that's all it is.
it's the board offering information and, you know, everybody's still got to make their own
decision, do their own homework, and do their own data checks, and, you know, yeah, I mean,
if it's going to be the 21st, I'll certainly help.
I mean, I can, I can dig in and, you know, try to step to date and get you the best facts and data
that I can, whoever's going to do it.
If it's not going to be in 21st, I'll help in another way, right?
Yeah.
There's also going to be, Marie, you're going to undoubtedly have to,
play a part in this because a lot of this is going to be based on percentages of district funding
for X, Y, and Z, and that's where a lot of the unclarity comes for something like this is when
we say, hey, you know, a certain funding is going to be capped at six percent, right?
Well, what does that funding mean and where is that coming from?
So Marie is going to have a very close role in a lot of this explanation.
So one of the next meetings?
It is the seventh.
October 7th.
I'll ask Phil, says the clerk, in terms of posting a budget hearing, how many days in advance
do we have to post a hearing?
I think so, too.
Okay.
Yeah, that would be the only thing I would be concerned about in terms of the board's decision-making
is when we have to make sure that that's posted.
I think it has to be the 21st.
Yeah.
That both gives us us and other entities, New Hampshire School Board Association and other
folks to everybody is going to be talking about this correctly.
So I think that we would benefit from time for today's injunction news to kind of trickle through.
I also think that the 21st has the benefit of being actually fairly close to the election date.
And, as we all know, complicated, challenging things get harder to remember as time passes.
When's the election date?
I believe it's the third.
Second or third.
November?
Yeah.
I'm going to volunteer to do it.
Make sure that's in the record.
I'm going to just, I'll just do it.
I'll do it that day.
And ahead of that, though, I'll start to align, right, to make sure that everybody's comfortable with the level of objectivity and factual.
We'll fact check it and do the whole thing, you know what I'm going to.
But I'll take that.
Yeah.
And again, the goal, we're not making decisions.
Yeah, we're explaining.
some stuff.
A new law in how it impacts the school district's budget today and potential budget decisions
we'll make in the future.
So that's all.
Yeah.
All right.
So let's plan on the 21st and I'll take the lead on that.
So then I guess I'd like to amend the motion that's on the table for the school board to focus on a public hearing on
HB-1300 on our October 21st meeting to provide information to the public.
Second.
Okay.
All in favor?
Okay.
The animus.
All right.
Good.
Now we have arrived at first public comment.
If we have one.
Okay.
Moving on.
old business, AFTG and the website.
All right.
I will stop.
I start by encouraging everyone to ring in the new school year while downloading our app.
That.
Yeah, if you find the bell, so that is now live.
I will say, as I start this and so to speak, not only to the board, but the community on this, that
websites, like when I designed a website,
it works great for me.
Everything is exactly where I want it to be.
The information on it is exactly what I want it to be.
And I'm learning as more people have seen this that people have different opinions.
And not in a negative way.
There's no aspersion's cast.
But I think that we're trying to get people to look at something differently.
Like I think if we don't as well as.
A school district, as a community, decide what we want this to be and how we want it to look.
Nothing's going to change over what it replaced today.
So really looking for feedback on things, and it's definitely a work in progress.
I know when I met with the leadership team yesterday, before their staff is nervous about this.
and sort of feeling, you know, unprepared for it, whereas we're trying to, well, first of all,
we wanted to get launched because there's no deadline like the present, but trying to support them on
really making sure, like our calendars are up to date and accurate, really trying to make sure that we're
doing what we term live feed posts.
and I've really tried to reduce the number of pages on the website because it's just
if you have 5,000 pages, nobody's looking at them and trying to sort of organize that.
Gordon and I are going to be working with the schools to offer them direct training on what their
needs are over the next week or so and trying to get that in place so they feel more confident
with the protocol.
One thing, and sort of to the point earlier about the budget survey, this Sunday, you're going
to get all the newsletters as one message, so that way everybody gets the same message, whether you have
a student only at Bakie or only in the high school so that people have more of an awareness of
what's going on in the district and to that point about reaching community members.
I have learned that the district has been.
been maintaining lists of community members who are interested in receiving district
communications that will be transferred into aptegy and they will also be getting these messages.
So I think that's something that helps and I think that's a good early start on this and what that
is. I think athletic scheduling is something we've got to figure out because that is not an easy
thing to unpack and ties into a whole lot of other areas.
But, you know, I think that feedback is going to be really critical for this over the next few months.
And back to my original point, like, I can design a website that really works well for me,
but if I don't get input and people in the community saying this doesn't work or I really like this,
but I don't want this, I think those are the things that we're going to need.
And, you know, our first PR committee, obviously we've got a lot to talk about with this,
but I felt like we need to get the launch and we are now at launch and a lot of messages went out today.
We did training yesterday with the high school, middle school staff on rooms.
So we had teachers who were already communicating of rooms, even though no one knows what rooms is,
which led to a lot of confused emails today from families.
But I'd rather have that problem than no one using it.
And then next Wednesday, all of our elementary teachers will.
get their training on that. So there's a lot of work that's happened, but I'm pleased that we've
hit this milestone now because this has been a long time coming. So you're definitely going to see
a lot of these posters around in the next few days. So awesome. Thank you. All right. Let's move on to
you have an update on the Swayze Gymnasium lease. Yes. All right. So Dan and I met with Chinber.
this morning. We had a very positive and productive conversation with Eric Chinberg and one of his
representatives. So basically the board now has two choices to consider for the Swayze lease. The first
would be to essentially renew the existing lease under the current language for five years.
There would be no automatic renewal beyond that term, and it does sound like for the
most part they're not looking to do to continue with the district in a relationship
on the gym beyond five years. The second would be a shorter agreement. They weren't really
open to a lot of different options on a shorter agreement. But what we came up with is a second
option where the district would maintain the lease with Chinberg on the gym through June 30th,
2028. So we talked about a year and then I said, well, if it ends in December,
that's going to be kind of problematic for a lot of people. So could we move it to the end of
our fiscal year? And they were fine with that. We also discussed, too, what would happen
if the district were to walk away from Swayze Gym in terms of the community groups that are using
that. I felt reassured that they were.
very comfortable in working with those groups and trying to figure out a solution.
I was actually impressed with the fact that they sort of felt like they could figure that out.
I didn't feel like there were anything there that was insurmountable to them. But obviously,
those are not discussions that we would be pricked to, would have to engage separately.
And then basically, the other thing, too, is Chinberg indicated that longer-term use
would require some conversation about capital improvements on the site, which would be another consideration.
They specifically mentioned paving and lighting in addition to some of the work that the board
has already discussed in terms of the long-term view of the property.
So that's where we're at.
I think for the most part, I think I got the answer you guys were looking for in terms of the term.
I don't know if you have any other questions in terms of.
So the two-year term, was it June of 2028?
Yeah.
Does that include discussions about capital improvements?
Dan, I took it as no.
I believe you're correct.
Yeah.
...into a long term.
a lease agreement, then he was expecting that we would make some capital improvements to that property.
Yeah, I think it was the five, the five-year plan would invite those discussions.
And we felt that, I think, walking away, and I don't want to put words and dance mouth, that the June of
28 was a very amicable solution for them.
What were the, just so I'm clear, what were the follow-on options to that?
second option, the June of 28.
Was it like June of 28 and then that's it or June of 28?
They would be, what's the, there would be no provision in the lease.
The lease automatically has the ability for us to renew it for an additional five years.
There would be no automatic renewal in that lease.
He did say that they would, they would be open to having a discussion because they don't think
that probably by June of 2028, they may have sort of.
fully figured out what they're doing with the building, but there would be nothing automatic.
The only thing about this that is strange to me is this, if you go forward with a five-year renewal,
we're expecting parking lot and lights and yada, yada, which the current language of the lease,
to me, I'm not a lawyer, seems like we're not responsible for that.
Up to 40 grand, we are. The lease actually says, up to 40,000.
Lease actually says that Chinberg is spending.
zero on the property.
Yeah, but it doesn't compel us to spend anything over 40 grand, and we're already spending that.
It doesn't say what it's for.
So I find it odd to say if you're going to execute the thing that this lease already allows
you to execute that they're changing a term.
We've publicly already said that we're not going to spend anything in three years, right?
Correct?
Correct.
But potentially, potentially in five years, we're going to have to deal with asbestos
flooring, redo the flooring in the gym.
I can go down the list, right?
So, you know, I think he's trying to cover his bases as well.
I mean, that generally aligns with what we've expected, right?
And that's one of the reasons why we wanted to provide certainly some time to get through
this season and next season to come up with a good cohesive next step plan, but also not
perhaps unintentionally saddled the district.
with major current open, I'd classify as deferred maintenance issues that become
undeferable in a five-year time frame that we could continue to muddle along with in that three-year
time frame.
That was my interpretation of it.
Yeah, and I think that is the right interpretation of it.
It just seems like the lease as it stands right now doesn't compel us to pay anything into
those, you know, beyond the $40,000 that we're already spending.
Well, as we aren't interested in a fact,
year at least it's not necessarily relevant anyway yeah it's just a
it was a curiosity to me but anyway I I don't love know it's this from a middle school
sports perspective it's this year this upcoming basketball season that our
students would use this baseball does middle school baseball use it at all I don't
remember I don't recall that they do
whatever it is and then you get next year and then we got to find it a solution
feels a little fast for me I was I was more comfortable with the idea of when we said
up to three of it being three right we also said one one what we did is
landed in the middle right we got two full
school years.
Well, yeah, and we're on the precipice of one now.
Right.
The period between June and December is the period of time it gets used the least.
That's not true.
But it gets used the least by the school.
Say again?
Yes, that's correct.
Right.
So that's the only time you're carving off of a two-year term is the time that the middle school
is least likely to be using it.
Wait, say that again?
I don't understand it.
Between June and December.
It is my understanding that that's that.
is not when the middle school teams are using it the most.
Yeah, that's correct.
You carved off of two years.
Yeah.
I know you're more comfortable with service, right?
The way I'm thinking about it as to.
Get the primary benefit.
Yeah.
Dr. Hought, what's in front of us today?
Like, what is the decision we're looking to make?
I think based on our conversations, you have two decision points, five years or a year and a
half.
I don't, and sort of to Micah's point, I didn't walk away from today's conversation saying
if you need to go into that third year, it wouldn't be an option.
It just might look different than how it looks today.
But I do, as I said previously, I do think there's a need for the district to make a decision
and start moving forward here too, not just.
just, well, we'll see what happens a year and a half, and we'll just kick the can.
I think we have to, we have to make a decision.
We have to, you know, if it's reducing capacity, then we've got to figure out how else to do that.
We do have other facilities.
How can we make those work and those kind of things?
I think that's where we have to start looking as a district at those things,
and even if they aren't the most ideal things, investing in our own facilities.
a statement of the obvious you get to start because people express concern about a year
and a half or two year runway we can't start the conversation that year right yeah i'm thinking
you know there's two you still get two seasons but i'm just thinking purely the number of months
that you get to what to do for season three is not a lot not a lot of time concrete time between
now and that to come up with it i'd rather have to
an additional 12 months, you know what I mean, to figure that out.
We can negotiate that if it's not enough.
And I'd also argue that that time frame must be enough for the school district to figure out
a plan for the students and programs involved in the school district.
We've got to be able to figure out a sports schedule in that time frame.
Dr. Hunt, did you get a copy of the sports schedule by any chance?
I apologize. I meant to do that, but I got distracted with me.
many other things. So I did remind myself to do that today.
Thank you. So the third year isn't based on your conversation, not necessarily off the table.
It's just who knows what that looks like. Yep. Okay. And that provides the opportunity that
we heard clearly about, maybe a potential community organization taking over in some degree.
And that's great. And they were, and on that, they were, and on that, they were a
to different ways to do that, not just sort of, well, take it or leave it to, you know, community group
number one, stepping up, well, they don't have the ability to take that on because Chinberg also
wanted to make sure that, you know, like when he was talking to us today, he knew what Dan was doing
in terms of maintenance, trusted the district to be able to do the proper maintenance.
That's reassuring and comforting to him to know that the property is being well maintained.
and he wants to make sure it's that standard.
So, you know, it's also in his interest to make sure that if he's working with a community organization,
that there are, you know, that things are being looked after and it's not creating an unnecessary
burden for that, that organization beyond its capabilities.
And there is some structure with that organization, too, is one thing he indicated.
You know, is there an actual board for this organization if they were to take over?
you just want to make sure it wasn't mom and pop running a program and tossing the hat around to throw $10 bill in to pay the bill.
You want to make sure that there was actually a structured organization that was willing to take it over.
To tee up the ensuing conversation, would it be fair to get some comparisons to surrounding districts,
what facilities they have available?
And the reason I ask is because I think back to me growing up playing hockey, we did not have our own hockey right.
You had to compete or schedule around many other schools in the district to share the behavioral rank or the Dambas rank or whatever rank we were playing at.
How do other schools manage this?
Should we have another gym?
Are we, you know, are we short a gym compared to other schools?
I think that's why we wanted to do a facility study and have that part of that.
And that's what that's been a masculine conversation.
It's part of the ensuing conversation.
It would be good to know that.
Some historical knowledge that we, many of our community members brought forward during this whole.
conversation was that Swayze was sort of the stipulated solution to closing the middle school, right?
Like, oh, we have this, and that's, that will make sure that everything makes sense.
And then that's, you know, where this sort of question is happening now.
Yeah, they're definitely getting ready to go there.
So I feel, I feel like I have inadequate information at this point.
So tonight we have on here Swayzy Gymnasium lease update.
We just got the lace update from a conversation that happened, I don't know, two hours ago.
And I also, just speaking factually, I'm a school board member.
I'm not the athletic director.
I don't know what the schedule is for athletics.
I've heard from many people why there's a need for the community, why there's a need for the
athletic director showed up one evening and gave why he.
He thought we needed it.
That's great.
There's a need.
There's a want and a need.
The next question becomes, we're going to have it for no more than five years.
We have an option to have it for potentially two years.
Who's coming up with the plan, whether it's two years or five years?
Does the athletic director have an idea for after the two years where we would go?
Does he have an idea for after the five years?
So I feel like there's just, there's a, you know, there's got to be a committee or something that somebody's going to take over if after this two years or five years, if there's a group from the town that wants to use it.
Yeah, there's nothing like that in place here.
It's basically like they would be open to that and would help facilitate that, but nothing.
So I guess what I'm lacking is the district itself, us saying,
do we need this facility for the next 18, 24 months?
Do we need it for the next five years?
If we need it one versus the other, what's the plan for then the follow on?
Like this, this is not the first school district to ever have sports need gyms, right?
So I feel like there's got to be an ask here other than like, do we want to keep it?
Like, yes, it's an asset, right?
Uh, meaning we enjoy having it, right?
What's the actual need?
And then what's the need outside of this?
Like, where can that be satisfied?
Can that be satisfied in the next two years?
I've heard that we might be able to build something out here, right?
Can we build something in two years?
I don't know.
It seems like a pretty tight timeline, but maybe it's possible, right?
So there's just a lot of ideas floating around.
And then it's like, okay, we're at a decision point.
Let's vote.
I'm sorry, a decision point.
Do we have any solutions?
on the other side of this decision point is my concern.
So information we already have that the athletic director said that might just be a good response
to what you're saying is that the plan would be, if there is no Swayzee is to cut teams.
I understand that, right, that's not ideal, but as far as like need is concerned, right?
it's a want, so teams don't have to be cut is the information we have.
Well, I mean, I don't.
I wasn't here for the meeting, and that was based upon putting in teens because of space to practice.
Because the question isn't just.
There's no more space in surrounding.
Again, I wasn't at that meeting.
Agreed, I think, and so that lends to it.
It's not just about practice schedules, it's about timing in games when it's practical for students to get home at night, too, right?
If we want them to be well-rested and good, ready to learn the next day, we start stacking all of our middle school teams into the same gym,
over here, the high school gym, you can't use the mini-gym, it's unsafe, according to our athletic
director, which it is, for actual games and play, you'd end up scheduling up into 9.30, 10 o'clock,
which is not tenable right now.
But assuming in the next 18 to 24 months, we are unable to do better than the current state, and I reject
that premise.
Right.
So what we should do, what we should do is, to your point, I don't think we need to vote on anything right now.
Because you don't, you have the two, you got the five.
We don't have the enough information to make a decision.
Jeremiah, I think you're right.
We need a, we need Ryan, our athletic director, to provide a concrete proposal almost to
like weigh in on what would happen if we chose this with our team scheduling.
After two years, what would happen if we found nothing?
What would happen?
What would we need to find and where in order to make this tenable?
And, you know, is this an option for us?
I'm not sure I agree.
I mean, two weeks ago, we set a minimum of one year, a maximum of three years.
Yeah.
I'm with James.
We got exactly what we asked for.
I'm not sure what the question is.
You've achieved that goal.
I think your point, too, was you were trying to set a time limit so that you knew you had to
prepare during that time because you had a dead date, like June 30th of 28.
Now you know we have to have a plan before then.
And that timeframe was giving you an opportunity to make those plans.
That's what I think the whole premise was.
Do you feel like we're making a decision without, is what you're saying, Jeremiah, that you just feel like
you're making a decision without enough information?
So, so, oh, wow, that came off really loud.
Sorry.
James, you said you reject the premise that we couldn't do better at the end of 24 months.
what's your thought?
I think that with deadlines and certainty, creativity is endless.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah, I can, I can agree because it's been, I think, three and a half week since I asked for a schedule.
I asked for the schedule from last year.
I was told that was not available.
I still don't have a current schedule for this year.
So there's no sense of urgency right now.
I'm just saying there's a schedule of how Swayze is going to be.
I think you understood my request.
Did you not?
Yeah.
But I mean a schedule of how Swayzey's going to be.
The current schedule for sports.
Yeah, but those sports aren't operating yet.
But you still have a schedule.
We've done this for, I don't know how many years.
Our AD should be able to schedule how they used it.
I would agree.
We have that, right?
I would assume the AD would, yeah.
Yeah.
It still don't have it.
Our superintendent does it.
I can probably go back.
I don't think.
I'm not going to speak for him, but I don't have it.
So, you know, we can address that with Ryan tomorrow and get a schedule from him, you know.
I like last year's too.
We should have it somewhere.
We can definitely realize that.
Last year's utilization.
Yeah, sure.
That's what I want to say.
I agree.
I do too.
It shouldn't be that difficult.
But it seems like it's not being presented.
And I'm not saying it.
I'm just saying it's a long time.
Looking forward, we can't make any.
decisions without knowing what that looks like.
Having, I'm truly curious.
Like, what, how would having the schedule affect your ability to decide whether you
were interested in Swayzee for 18 months, five years or not at all?
I don't know if it wouldn't necessarily do that, but it's a data point that I don't have to
help me make an informed decision.
I like data.
I, somebody stands up there, this gentleman tells me something's falling over.
Look at it, right?
Like, somebody tells me it's not going to work on cutting teams.
I don't know that.
I wasn't at the meeting.
I didn't seem to proof.
Well, I mean, our athletic director saying that on a public forum for me is enough evidence that that that is the case.
Okay.
I trust him to do as well.
Also, I was in that gym last year coaching the teams that wouldn't exist.
Yeah.
Well, I thank you for that.
Well, I'm just saying like, there's, there is prima facie evidence that we can trust that that gym was utilized quite a bit during basketball season.
And if it didn't exist, those teams would have nowhere to go because at the same times,
people were playing or practicing in this gym.
And I'm respectfully just going to remind you that this board talked about trust and verify and not make mistakes.
Yeah, but there's others multiple ways to verify information.
I saw it with my eyes because I was present and I'm telling you on record.
Okay.
That should be enough that we used it.
Not for me.
So that's fine.
That's you, I'm me.
Like, you know, that's it.
I just want to see that.
You know, that spreadsheet that you see could be wrong too, just because he sends you a spreadsheet.
I mean, how, how, how far do we go down a rabbit hole of verify?
Can I interject?
Right?
Rick.
I trust the AD.
Rick, I agree that that that data point is extremely relevant for creating a plan for what to do next.
I don't know that it's relevant for making a decision on how long of a term we want to keep
so easy for or not.
No, but I think for me, when I do make a decision, I'd like to have all that in front of me.
Yeah, I get that.
I get that.
That was my commitment.
I've made mistakes on this bullet.
I'll just speak for myself.
I've made bad decisions because I trusted without verifying and I'm not doing it anymore.
So I just want to see the data.
For me, my decisions, I'm already, I already made my decision.
I know how much expense we're going to have.
We have to deal with this now.
Not two years, not five years.
This is a now problem that has to be addressed and resolved.
That's where I'm out.
I think so too, which is honestly why I,
I got concerned, Michael, and he said,
I don't know that this is something that there's all gone tonight.
I kind of think it has to be addressed now.
I was planning on it, but Jeremiah, it seemed like I wanted to, you know,
validate your concern if you didn't have enough information you wanted more before you voted.
Yeah, and I'll, I can be flexible and move at the will of the board.
I'm not going to be a stick in the mud for the sake of being a stick in the mud, Katie.
However, we also pay an athletic director to come up with solutions.
And so to say, we have Swayzee today, we have all of our teams.
If we don't have Swayzee, we cut teams.
That's a dichotomy.
It's this or this.
So that's it.
There's no other solutions.
Well, he didn't, he didn't say, he didn't get up there and say that we would cut teams in two years.
He said, if we didn't have it now, we would have to cut teams.
Yeah.
And we're not going to do that.
And that perfectly encapsulates my point.
You know, with certainty, creativity is endless.
That's been my experience in any group I've ever been in.
And uncertainty creates lack of creativity because there is no incentive to move.
So I heard loud and clear that it was untenable for the school district.
which is our primary responsibility and our community members, which is a secondary responsibility
to not have this gym in play for the upcoming calendar year.
Heard agree with.
I do want to make that clear.
When I speak to what he said last meeting, he was speaking specifically to if we did not
renew the least now.
And that is not a premise or a potential outcome that anybody's discussing.
So let's move on, right?
And let's get to clarity, which is our jobs to provide direction and vision.
And remember that this is one tiny piece of a $42 million budget that is going to be filled
with have tos, right?
To keep our schools open, safe, and staffed that we're also going to have to decide in the same time frame.
We got to move on.
Do we have a motion yet or not?
I don't think we've had any motion.
No.
We shouldn't have you even been talking about it.
The only thing I would say in terms of making a vote on the decision is we do not have a final document from Chinberg on the alternative lease, which they said today they would be drying up.
So I would caution the board to, while I appreciate your enthusiasm is I too want to move forward on this in some way.
I think you should have that document in front of you so you know exactly what you're voting on first.
Yeah.
So thank you.
Appreciate that for me.
Well, basically, you already have the first document.
Right.
It's the existing lease.
Well, it's not.
I understand what you're saying.
Yeah.
But that's not what you said is not in line with the document that we have today.
That's what I was saying.
So I was trying to summarize it.
No, no, I understand.
And I'm, yeah.
So the document we have today is we rent it for a dollar.
We don't.
don't spend any more than over $40,000.
And if there's any capital improvements that we don't want to do, we exit the lease within six months.
That's our, that's our lease today.
If he, what I heard you say, and maybe I'm wrong, is that he would do another five years,
but he wants us to put in capital improvements.
Okay.
So the word, so we is, my question then is, is he sending you a two-year option and a five-year option right now?
My feeling walking away and, Danny, correct me of.
if I got this wrong, is we're going to receive a two-year option renewal.
Correct.
We're going to receive a two-year lease with options to extend if we need to at that point by year.
With options in the lease?
That's my.
Oh, I read it differently in terms.
That's different.
That's different.
This is what happens.
It's like we need to wait for the documents.
Yes.
Yeah.
We definitely got voting on.
Right.
That's just, yes.
And do we think we'll have this.
It was just an update.
I think they're going to draw it up next week with their attorney.
I felt like it wasn't going to be a long time.
I don't, I think if his, his implications were, if we're going to go beyond that two years,
then we need to make some capital improvements to that property.
Well, okay.
So that's different than what I heard again now.
So now we're two years.
Now, so is it five or two?
He basically stated if we're going with the five-year plan, we need to make some improvements to that property.
Well, but he's going to give us a draft of a two.
year option with maybe some multiple years after that.
Possibly, yes.
I heard him say there would be no automatic.
And I make a record.
Why I want the document.
In the future, I'd like a board member.
I was just going to say that.
I'd like a board member president in all these meetings space.
All right.
And it's no offense, but I just, like, I, I, if we're the one signing a lease with with Chinberg,
I would like to talk to him face to face.
I think that's not too much to.
ask, especially if we're going to, with the.
And Dr. Houghton may be absolutely correct.
What's that?
Dr. Houghton may be correct as far as what Mr. Chimberg said.
Yeah.
But, okay.
Let's just, let's see what the document looks like.
You get it?
Could you say it?
Of course.
Okay.
And also the utilization from last year.
You know, TikTok.
I wrote down.
I'm on.
Yep.
I'll drop the ball.
Great.
Okay.
So we're going to wait for the thing.
document.
One way to get there.
Let's, yeah.
Let's move to 9.3 policy J.J.J.
Jeremiah or Adam or Dr. Houghton, do you have?
Yeah, this is here for second reading.
Basically, it's an existing policy that is a legal change.
The legislature made to allow students on educational freedom accounts to
access school programming at no charge.
Yeah.
Is it in the?
The full document's not.
It's not in the support.
It could be in the support.
It's not linked.
It is in the support.
It is.
Yeah.
This is second read as it says there,
and this brings us into line with the RSA.
Okay.
Which we saw the first time last week.
So I think we got it.
motion to discuss it, right?
Well, I'll just make a motion to approve policy JJJ as presented.
Second?
No, I can discuss.
My first question is, has anything changed since our first read last time?
No.
And we agreed at that point, the recommendation correctly of the policy committee, supported by the board, that all of our policies would be in line with me here.
And this one is correct.
No further questions on my one.
Yeah.
All in favor?
Go it along.
Unanimous.
Okay.
Second public comment.
Do you have anybody?
Please state your name.
Steve St. Cyr, C.R. Kingston.
I would like a copy of the current lease renewal document.
We have that, right?
The current lease?
Yeah.
It's a public document.
I'm not demanding.
Sorry, that's not really demanding.
I'm not demanding it.
May I please have it?
Yeah, it's a public document, sure.
Okay.
And then I would love to see, you know, when it comes in, the new one as well, just so, you know, I can be informed as well.
And then I also love to see the schedule as well.
And then the only thing running through my mind is there was a lot of talk about, you know, middle school.
the AD and what it's going to do to sports teams.
That's obviously, you know, as school board members, your top priority, but I do also want to remind
you that there is a large community component to this.
And if there's a way for the school board to accept and commit to the survival of those community
organizations, you know,
I think that would be important to state and, you know, I understand things are taking time and, you know, we'll move slowly.
I think before we sign anything, we, before you sign anything, you want to make sure that those community organizations are, the options for those are discussed and made public.
And I guess what I'm trying to say is before we sign anything, let's get some ideas on paper and stated out in the universe here, you know.
It sounded like we were close to making the decision today, and we don't even have leases, you know.
So I just want to remind everybody that, you know, a lot of people out there are going to be impacted by this decision one way or another.
And I think it would go a long way for there to be some positive discussion about how to make sure everybody's happy, not just one side and not just the other side.
So thank you.
Steve, there is, just so you know, there is language in the current place that permits the district to not so much sublet it, but engage a third party.
Yeah, I did know that.
Yeah. And I would wholeheartedly, if I were childless, wifeless and mortgage list, take over that lease and do everything I could to, you know, keep everything going.
I can't help but think, and I know this would never fly, but the next most obvious solution would be for the town of Kingston to take it over just because they have all the infrastructure in place.
already, you know, so that might be the most obvious partner if there were going to be another
entity to take it over. And our offer as a, you know, community stakeholder or a group of
community stakeholders would be in support of whatever organization and would have come,
come forward. So. Thank you. I want to make one comment. I mentioned it. I was remote,
but I mentioned I don't know if it was caught. Federal and state law prohibit school districts from
spending, expending funds that were approved by taxpayers in an approved budget on activities
that are not directly school related.
The language I read, and I'm not a lawyer, it says education purposes, which can probably be
broadly interpreted, but I think we need to be careful about, we can support, but to support
financially is a very different characterization of what we're talking about.
We can't support financially.
Thank you for reiterating that, Ken, and for, you know, we've continued to receive letters
and input from other community members who have expressed some frustration about the fee schedule.
And the fee schedule is our attempt to be in compliance exactly as you described.
So I just, for folks who don't understand the why, it is for exactly the reasons you stated.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Hi, Scott Rollins from Newton.
Um, something else to consider, it was, Ken, you kind of hit the nail on the head and stole my thunder.
But like, um, these community organizations, they're saying they want to continue to use this space,
but they want the school to fund the foot of the bill.
So where, I think all of these community organizations that are doing this need to come to
the table and say, hey, we're able to contribute X.
We're able to contribute Y to continue to have this facility.
if there's so many people and so many community organizations that are able to do this.
Steve, uh, you, how many people, how many kids in your basketball league?
$200,000?
$220 times 100 bucks.
What does that put us in, in the fees of the, the overall school or overall maintenance?
You said it's about $40,000 a year?
46,000 is the average.
So, I mean, I grew up.
playing basketball. I know how important it is to the community. And I also know that I had to pay to go there.
So that might be something that we have to look at sincerely to, in order to keep this facility,
because there's a lot of things inside the school that we own, that we have to maintain. And that
$40,000 a year is going to come real quick with, I mean, we've got HVAC systems, correct, that are going to
we got boilers that are going to go like roof siding envelope like there's a lot of things that we
have to pay for soon and that money is going to go a long way if we're not taking care of
another facility that we don't own so just some food for thought and Steve has been very vocal about
assisting yeah wait i just want to make sure that that that needs to be said yeah and uh he's going to say
it now yeah sorry i do want to just state for the record
Again, the community organizations did come together and come up with hard numbers for each organization,
which amounted to $15,000 annually.
And we brought it to the facilities committee and we haven't heard anything back about any of that.
So I know this isn't supposed to be a discussion.
It won't be.
You can make a comment.
I'll make a comment as a, I'll make a comment if you're done, when you're done.
I'm done.
That, we appreciate, of course, the, you know, the transparency and the attempt to make the contribution, an annual contribution.
I think, you know, such a commitment on the part of the community organization was made with the intent that this was going to provide some longevity, right?
A commitment for the future.
Right. So one of the reasons we're hesitant, at least I, I won't speak for the whole board,
one of the reasons I was hesitant to try and action and say, let's, let's just do this, lock this in right now.
They said they would give us X dollars because we didn't know what we were going to be renewing for how long.
And we still don't exactly know right the second, right? And it would be, you know, I didn't think it would be quite the right time yet to say, okay, this much, this much, when it might be.
the case that I don't know if it's going to be for five years or it's going to be for one year.
So there's a lot of moving parts.
But I do agree that I think, to Jeremiah's point, whatever we end up deciding, there needs to be
some collective team of people together that are deciding how this is going to go forward.
I think there's, there's, we need more collaboration with community organizations and the district
to figure out what the best options are.
So that's that.
Any other public comment?
Mr. Doyle.
One more thing, just so we're clear.
Sure.
Mr. Chimberg was clear that if we go any further than the two-year point,
we're going to have to make improvements to that property, regardless of who it is.
You know, they plan on taking people into that construction site,
and getting occupancy in November of 2027.
So, you know, his goal here is it needs to be improved in order for him to sell some of those
properties and make it look good.
So regardless, if we're going beyond the two-year point, we're going to have to put some
money into that building.
I think we wait for the document.
We're going to wait for the document.
To my point earlier in Rick's point, that...
doesn't seem to conform to what is our current option one is.
That language isn't in the current lease, which we have the right to renew.
Right.
So that's, that's, I want to see what, I want to see what comes.
Absolutely.
It just, just caution, right?
Like, we do the right to renew.
I agree.
And, but it also said that we're going to.
Yeah, but it's just, it also says if there's capital improvements and they're not done six months,
that could, that could cause more problems.
Sure.
It's just certainly, yeah, it just doesn't say that we are compelled to fund them, which.
Yeah, this is, this is a, this isn't a Steve problem or a community problem.
This is a, this is a district problem, right?
Like, we made the decision that that was a solution, a short-term, short-sighted solution a long time ago, and now we're dealing with it.
Right.
So we got to, we got to make quick work and figure out something.
But that building, I heard you say, it's got like,
save it. There's no saving it. Like, it's not our building. There's no saving the building.
Like, people just got to get that out of their heads. There's no save in the building. We have to find
a different solution. Okay.
Well, we were already in second public comment.
We got. Thank you.
Okay. So, the next meeting agenda, just a reminder to everyone. If you want an item on the agenda,
it should be received by the superintendent at least seven days prior to the meeting in accordance with policy BEDB, agenda preparation and dissemination for further details.
The next Sanborn Regional School Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 7, 2026 at 6 p.m. in the library at Sanborn Regional High School.
And the next Sanborn Regional Budget Committee will be held on Thursday, September 24, 2026 at 7 p.m.
It does not say where, but I have.
imagine here in the library. Would someone please now like to call us into non-public session per
RSA 91A. 91a, colon 3, Roman numeral 2, A, 3, and E?
So, it's good. Well, someone do it, please.
Someone else do it. I'll call us in a non-public session per RSA 91A, Roman number 2,
AC and D. No, and E. Oh. That's why I did it. Sorry, AC and E?
A-C. Okay, A-C-N-E. Second. Roll call.
Let's roll call in James. Yes.
Jeremiah? Yes. Kathleen? Yes. Rick? Yes. Myself, yes, Ken? Okay. Take a few minutes.
Call James. Renno.