Welcome, everyone. We're calling to order. Thank you very much for being here. Can everybody hear me OK? Great. All right. So I believe we will have still one, I hope, two more board members joining us. We know of at least one unidentified board member who's running late. But before we actually get into the business part, Mary Lynn. Hi. So we have received a very generous offer from Kat Fair, the principal of Calis Elementary, to whom we are very grateful to her and her people to allow us to have our meeting here today. Yeah. So Kat had what I think is a terrific idea to show us around the school a bit. And we can sort of hold the business part, pending a tour, that we can then get our circulation going and stay awake for the rest of the meeting. And it's great. You know, why didn't I receive the guests? And yeah, thank you, Kat. Welcome guests. We're so far away. I know, I know. It's a very big room. But close to our hearts. Need to move us closer so we can really feel like we're participating. Do you want to move the chairs closer? Next time. OK. And welcome to the administrative team as well. Thank you for extending your already very long day to include us. So let's see. Agenda revisions, I guess the tour is one. Any other agenda revisions? No? Board comments of any sort? To preface the meeting, preface the tour. Since we are going to meet in the various schools, does the tour take place as part of the agenda, at least the first time we're in each school? Wonderful. Yes. I think that's a great idea. Any objections to that? No, I said U32-2, although I'm sure it'll take a while. Bit by bit, yeah. Bit by wing, yeah. That's right. Very good. And we might as well also, if we have any public comments before the start of the tour, of course, everyone is welcome to join in the tour. Yeah. If there are any public comments at this point in the meeting, please feel free. And as we discuss issues of interest, we can be open then, too. That's a nice change. OK, thanks. All right, then, over to you, Kat. OK, so I'm glad that you think it's a good idea, because I was thinking a lot of board members have not ever been in this building before. And if this is a shared merge board, what a great way to start the collaboration trade of getting to know all of our buildings, right? I think the purpose of these principal highlights and school highlights is to talk about student work and really honor that voice. But they're not sure yet. So in the last spring, there are several of us, most of us, actually, that participated in designing adult learning with Jean Thompson Rowe. And so this last week of in-service has really been set, focused on us trying to come together and think about what it means to be going a little deeper in the work of our implementation plan, but also really a focus, a positive focus, on collaboration and alignment across all of our schools. And I thought it'd be great for you guys to get a taste of the excitement in a little bit of trepidation that we all feel when we're waiting for kids to come back to school. So why don't you follow me? And we'll come back here at the end. And then, as other administrators, feel free to jump in. You're going to get some of the same stuff. Pick up where we left off, then. We've done 2.1, which spotlight on Kala's principal and Kala's school. And we're at 2.2, superintendents' report. I'll invite Deborah. I think all of you in the public, now, Rick, Helena, have you met Deborah Taylor? Yeah, we've met. Very good. OK, Denise, you have to now. Good. So, Deborah. Great. In your packets, you'll see a report. The board will have this available. So I'll just mention a few highlights, because I don't want to reread what you've already had a chance to look at in advance. But I just wanted to let you know that my transition has been going very smoothly, thanks to all of our wonderful administrators. They've been so welcoming and helpful from the school levels through the central office. So my hands walk to all of you, and thank you very much for that. I really appreciate it. I've also been reaching out and meeting our state legislators, other individuals who are very involved in the school. And it's exciting to get a sense of their perspective as people who serve the community, as I mentioned, to you a moment ago, is to be reaching out and having appointments with all of our town courts and our town select board members, and from that standpoint, to build up those connections in relation to the really crucial for us as we transition to a single district. As you probably know, tomorrow is our district-wide celebration. And you should have received an invitation. You're all welcome to attend. Breakfast is at 7.30. If you could let me know later on if you will be attending, that would be great. We'll have reserve seating for you in the auditorium at U32. And our focus will be on unification and also on celebrating our successes and taking a look at the deeper level of work that we need to do, just as Kat was mentioning earlier as we move forward into the year, not to mention celebrating so many wonderful things and from the standpoint of individual contributions to years of service, I think it'll be a very fun and dynamic time. Even have a fun video with music for you.  So yeah, not that we've made. It's not that we've made. In any case, there has also been a very productive retreat held this summer by our administrative team. And that is an annual event. We met at U32 this year. And during that retreat, again, the focus was supporting our two new principals, Gillian and Casey, who are here, and helping them become accustomed to the various procedures and plans that are in place and adding their very important and very valuable insights to all of that work. And once again, just reconnecting as a leadership team. It's so important that we can reach out to one another at any point throughout the year to be sure that we have each other's backs, if you will, that if there's a problem, if it's something that who's an experienced principal at a neighboring school might be better equipped to respond to than someone at the central office, for example, and I strongly encourage that. And I know we've already got that type of leadership team gone and we're going to build on that this year, for sure. Let's see, I made a note about our facilities and we captured with you the work that was done here. We've also completed a small amount of maintenance projects that were no major construction projects anywhere this summer, but as you can see from our report, we've made progress in all areas. Our track, which is the one most very obvious project, we anticipate will be completed on time. It has recently been paved and there's now a setting phase before they're able to place the topping or the specialized, I think it's rubber type of track on top of it. So there has to be a time in between where it sort of settles and cures. So we're in that settling and cures stage. So if you have an idea that you want to go out and run, please don't run at U32's track until you see the sign that says it's open and you can go and use it. So we're excited about that too. All right, other than that, I'd just be open to any questions the board may have and we can move on from there. So questions, anyone? My comment is I would like to see a more condensed version of your welcome but I'm looking for a forum. So I'll look, I almost said customers. Yeah, the sense they're customers but all those citizens I think they would like to see some, just a short version. Of course. I don't think we're scheduled to record, but I could do a screen, audio, audio and video separately and have that available. I could do that later on. I'm not sure. I was actually using like a blur. Oh, a summary. Oh yeah, no problem. Absolutely, good idea. Anyone else? Oh, sorry. I just want to make a comment. It's really hard to hear from there to way back here. Okay. Just so that Dorothy was asking Deborah if she could condense her superintendent's report, which is in the packet. I just couldn't hear what she was asking. Yeah, we'll try to be mindful and project. I thought her equipment was ready to go and it just is broken. Is this a little glitch? We'll get it fixed just tonight. Sorry. It's okay. I just want to make sure. I just wanted to hear what you had to say. Thank you. Great. Thanks. All right. Otherwise, let's move on then to 3.1. We have a number of sets of minutes to approve, adding up to hours probably. But this is the consent agenda. What we can do if we have board orders here too as well, right? Yes. So more did receive these minutes both in their packet and previously when they were posted. So if you're comfortable, one could make a motion and then discuss unless you feel there's more need for discussion. That sounds fine. We'll do the board orders separately. Yeah. Okay. Anybody want to make a motion to approve the minutes of June 24th, June 26th, July 15th, August 1 and August 13th? Okay. I moved that way for those minutes. Those minutes. Wonderful. So floor moves. George seconds. Do we have any changes to the minutes? Dorothy. For the August 1st one? Yes. I was not reported to be in there when I was. Yes. And Gael was reported twice. My name is no longer. Yes. And Gael's name is actually J-A-I-E-L. No, no, no. It's in some places it's correct. But there are I think maybe half a dozen places where it's the eyes is out of place. You're welcome. Then actually on page eight is the last sentence of the last meeting we had. Visitor center. About Twitter and Facebook. I didn't say it shouldn't be the sole way of communicating. I just wanted to raise the issue that everyone wouldn't get it. If you use Twitter or Facebook, everyone would not be receiving that information. So, did you catch that? Dorothy's point on the minutes is that at our last meeting she wanted to make clear that if we went to Twitter and Facebook, not everybody who needs to see the information or who would want to see the information will be able to. And just wanted to make sure that that was clear. Secretary of State's office at a moment's stature and not municipalities have to be concerned about if you have a Facebook page or something like that. There are certain requirements that you have to meet and things you have to do to maintain it. So, if you're going to do a kind of a Facebook page you might want to check with the Secretary of State's office about the rules and regulations. Yeah. Great. Thank you very much. Okay. Any other changes? I had one question I guess. On the June 24th meeting there were five of us present. So, if I counted correctly. So, should we note that there was no quorum? Did you take any action? We did not. That would probably be wise to state that in the minutes that there was no quorum. Okay. Great. On June 24th, there was no quorum present. It was one of the budget informational meetings that we did. Part where it says Alan Gilbert noted that only six board members are present. That sentences in. One, two, three. The stealth member. But I think there were only five, right? Yeah. Only five members. Yeah. Okay. So, are we ready for a vote on the minutes with those changes? All in favor of approving the minutes with the changes? Please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? None opposed? So, we have board orders. Our first batch of board orders. With U32 are, I don't know if the other boards, you prefer to kind of see them. We should have a number of people see them. They go around, they sign them and then maybe have questions. So, if we were to, if we were to kick that towards the end of the meeting, once people have had a chance, it's a gender revision. My apologies for not raising it. What usually is there, but then it's in the action item, so that we've had time to. But this is, this is fine. There's, if nobody objects to moving it towards the end, so that everybody or as many as possible have a chance to see. All right. And they're circulating. And they're circulating. Thank you very much. All right, in that case, let's move on to agenda category four, board organization. And I must say, I don't know about you, but I rather like this way of doing our agenda, thematically, instead of having discussion items and then, and then action items separate. I like having it, you know, by category of, of, of work. So Scott, could the board orders usually be in the finance discussion action, which is farther down, and then we would have had time to circulate it? Sounds like a good idea. Is there any problem with that happening? Yeah, exactly. Actually, I'd like to have them available to us online before the meeting. So I would have more time sitting at the meeting and trying to take part in the conversation. It's very hard to read through the board orders, which are kind of tiny sometimes. And even think about them. It's difficult. So if we could have them 24 hours before, or pick a time that's reasonable, I would like to have them. Yeah. So Dorothy's recommending are being able to see them ahead of time. You're anticipating, and part of the discussion that we'll be having under 4.3, I guess. So can we hold that thought for the moment? There's a lot of thoughts there. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Wendy, as well. All right. So 4.1 is the WCUUSD annual meeting date. Now, question arose as to, according to the statute, the meeting date, I personally, and maybe someone can help me here, did we ever set town meeting date as our annual meeting date? I see. It can't be town. It can't be town meetings. It has to be before. Just like in 32. So did we, at some point, in the articles or somewhere? It didn't happen in the organizational meeting, apparently. I look at the calendar again, but I don't think we just said we were going to decide depending on when the budget was passed, because it was depending on that, because it's every day. So pretty sure we did not decide. We really talked about doing that before town meetings. It would be the information on that everybody would have stuff for their town meetings. I remember, but I'll check. I think we actually talked about doing the voting on town meetings. That's correct. That's correct. We voted that meeting on town meetings. Definitely. The discussion meeting was, I don't think we set it. Each of the towns had done it differently before this. So this annual meeting is primarily informational, but it would also involve electing the clerk and the treasurer. But you can't do that, so we voted on town meeting day. We always had a meeting after town meeting to reorganize. No, not for the board, but for the district. But they're already on the ballot. Those of you who are on the U32 board might recall that you took those same actions. And if you think about it, this district is following the same pattern as the U32 district. And there are just a few officers that are voted on at that meeting. And one is the clerk and one is the treasurer. But all of the board members who must be elected by the electorate of the communities are on the ballot, along with the budget, which is voted on a town meeting day for everyone. So that is the way the union districts operate. And I think that's the way we've operated before. I wasn't here, but I understand that you followed the same procedures in U32. Jody's saying yes. I can't recall. I thought we voted for the clerk and treasurer at the annual meeting. It was actually on the town ballot, is what I recall. That's correct. It was on the town ballot. For U32? We can research that further and the board can make a decision on that. Because the U32 budget was also on that. Of course, right now the budget will be on the floor. However, in terms of an informational meeting, that seems like a perfect date for... And I did check in our finalized articles of agreement and I don't see anything there that references the date. Those dates are usually set at a board meeting by the electorate. Sounds good. Thank you. It has to be so many days, right? Before town. It has to be so many days before and no earlier than February 1st, before your annual meeting. So if you were to follow, I believe it's 10 days, which would actually put it in the middle of our school vacation. So it's not a problem for me, but it may be for people in the communities. So I can verify that. Do you recall Jodi? I'm sorry, which one is not like this, but did you move the U32 meeting in the fall during the school break or did you do it after? The informational meeting has always been the night before, Monday night. It was the town that was this Saturday where we were a little bit more engaged. It was always where Steven, Adrienne McGeita and I had a very nice hour and a half together all by ourselves. That was kind of during vacation. It was, yeah. So this, I think, this day is before vacation. I think this is a much better day for an annual informational meeting. Does it fit the statute though? It's 10 days before. I'll look it up while we're trying. Except if it's just an informational meeting, it doesn't have to be. It has to be an annual meeting. You can have informational meetings at any time, but this is an actual formal annual meeting which is required by statute. So let me take a quick peek at that just to verify while we're talking. I love the internet. I did have somebody ask me about that when I said we were setting a date to make sure that it could be more than the 10 days before. Right. Is that an expectation? It's always vacation. Oh, sorry, Denise. The informational meeting, the annual meeting you're talking about is town meeting, correct? This is where there's some haziness. I'm, my understanding of Section 422 of Title 16 is that it is unless the voters change it at an annual meeting, like at town meeting. And I had, I had had, in my head, but I have all sorts of things in my head. The idea that, that we had somewhere along the line set town meeting day as the annual meeting day for this, for this new district. But I'm, I'm detecting shaking heads around me. So I'm doubting my, my memory. If you have informational meetings, will there be one in each school one location? Yeah. We, this is not, we have not discussed this and it would be sort of a logistical thing. Rick. I would put up for discussion on consideration anyway. You should actually do both. There should be a town discussion because there are a couple things going on in those informational meetings. That is where, you know, towns are seeing what the impact of the decision of this unified board is and then there would need to be an informational meeting that had all the towns because that debate needs to happen in the five town forum. You know, in that conversation. It does not happen at town meeting when the decisions are already made. It really should be, you know, that's the place where the debate should happen. I mean, you can only talk about stuff because the money questions, and I don't even know now if this applies, the money questions are by Australian ballot. Correct. So is that going to still be the case? That will still be the case. So having a budget discussion or informational meeting at town meeting, it's too late. Yeah, that's why the school meeting was always earlier. We do have the option of tabling this because Yeah, just to I see the section 422 but that's referring to town meetings and because we're a union district we have some different regulations and I would prefer to get that investigated more thoroughly before you set that date. I think that's important. Okay, Dorothy. Another thing to keep in mind, I believe these are Australian ballots that public hearing as early as you can, people are informed before they get their absentee ballots or vote early or whatever they want to do. So I would prefer as early as we can do it for that reason. And we can have just informational budget meetings. Besides this. Exactly. We'll have it along the way as the budget has been developed. Yeah. To give input. Yes. I'm just going to add in that for this to work for you not to alienate individual communities that collective public forum and discussion that has to happen because that discussion is going to turn into a conversation between communities not just between you but in that debate and discussion. I think of the forums that we have. Yeah. They have to be serious and they have to be very inclusive. Okay. Deborah suggests, I think, sagely, that we move this to future agenda and come back to it when there was a greater clarity. Yes. Okay. So then 4.2 board goes and work plan. They're on page 20. Yes. They are in 4. Did you want to address those? Not that loud. You're best operating. My best operating. What I did is I used what our meetings and what we had talked about and where a retreat. So when we had a retreat we wanted to put it together sort of a plan so that we didn't drop something while we were thinking of something else just to help us. So this is a working plan so it always be we will always be adjusting at each meeting we are able to change things but it just keeps us in check so that we don't forget to do something. So it's preliminary basically what we all talked about could fit in those three goals. They brought in communication with communities our most important goal we said is one of them, long term planning and educational and academic outcomes and what else we so I don't know if we need to go through all of them so it's just a way to go through. Yes, go through them? No, it's a nice template for us to keep on track and say yes, this is on the agenda the things that are saying August. Yeah, so I took some of I couldn't finish the poll because there was not enough room yet but I took all of your input to Scott and blended it into this and like I said this will be this will be changing but we can remember that in October we want to be thinking about one of our goals. It's not like our stuff our mind goes up but we can be proactive and be thinking of different and there is especially right now when we're getting started to try to make it more specific to fewer areas and as we started getting a rhythm there's things that could be we don't need to map the community every year for example which is one of my goals but it's a working plan and everybody can give input it became so Jonas and Scott and Deborah I had seen it before and it was after our first retreat that we did this and this is that a working plan that you know we had used in the past and it seemed to work Thank you I appreciate your mentioning that it is flexible because I think that there may be things that arise that are not included here and they can be changed and added so that's really helpful yeah and it's a starting point it's always a starting point yeah what I think is also nice about it is that it highlights what we should always be doing we should always be communicating outside of our board member group to our towns to the people we deal with in our schools we should always be thinking ahead and always thinking about what the whole purpose of our being here is which is for of course for the next generation to be educated properly one last thing would be that it's not meant to have every single agenda item no of course not but it gives a sense of the seasonality of the work what comes up typically at what time of year and alongside this I have my own checklist of to-do items that run from budget superintendent hiring policy review and so forth there are times that go with those so that fits just fine in this so it's a way of just looking at the whole year to come any comments? it's okay thank you for your time yeah, thank you for so I guess approved board goals and work plan do we have a motion to approve thank you so Mary Lynn moves, Dorothy seconds any further discussion? it's good alright, on the favor please say aye aye any opposed? none opposed, okay great so 4.3 and here's where we'll get back to some of the thoughts that were held over from before board committees, we have two items in particular perhaps what I should do is solicit a motion to establish finance committee okay, thank you Dorothy moves, lindy seconds alright, so finance committee thank you Debra the charge that I foresee which I don't think would be too controversial the number one priority is to oversee the development of a fiscal year, school year 2021 budget by mid-January in accordance with lorries timetable the second and also quite important piece of work is to monitor the current spending that we're doing under the fiscal year, school year 2019-2020 so that monitoring of spending fits in with what you were talking about Dorothy in terms of perhaps the finance committee could have the first look at the board orders as part of its portfolio to monitor spending does that make sense to you? unless other people I just have a feeling that other board members would like to see it I mean the finance committee can look at it more closely but if I were not on the finance committee I would like to see those orders before the meeting I take it that's a common perspective I think any communication whether it's finance or any other related negotiations I understand there's an equally complex but I think that information is to go to the board so might I suggest there's a board orders are going around so some of you have seen the format that they are in would it be possible for us to use that print out as the information that you already see electronically the meeting prior to the time in which you were going to be asked to affirm or vote on those expenditures is that what you're speaking of Dorothy print out that you were looking at unless we come to conclusion that we want to ask Rory if there's another way that would be better for us I haven't learned years I've been on the board it's always good to pass it around while you're talking and I've never really had a good chance at looking at stuff in its prior superintendency we had emails of those if anyone had questions they could feel free to call me Rory and we would research it for you in advance of the meeting Rory do you have any thoughts on that? that's how we had done that with the Berlin board and that worked out well yeah right now it's a fairly short list it may get larger whether or not you want it in your packet you certainly are welcome to have it but we can definitely email it to you I was thinking of having an email with an attachment it's a separate thing 24 hours or more before I don't know what a time frame is would be unreasonable for you Rory maybe 48 hours I honestly don't know so maybe you could give us some are you able to follow this in the gallery? makes perfect sense to me I mean having signed up you're missing a meeting when you're reading them yeah that's right they used to be emailed they are I still don't know about them okay perhaps you could would you please jot down your email I'm getting the agenda and that's it you're not getting the packet okay I have a piece of paper I'll check it out Rory sorry thank you for letting me know so whatever date makes the most sense for the board order yes I'm meeting at the beginning of the month or just whatever is best for you because I don't know whatever you need the checks and the times that we're meeting right now I'm going to go back to look at how the schools are getting us the information we might end up having to run an on-cycle check if someone missed a deadline and had a need for a check but you've already given us approval and authority to do that so we'll just find a way to make it work great excellent okay so we're still on the finance committee oh and there's one more aspect to the finance committee that I think is is very important which is to oversee the development of the framework for long-term capital planning and budgeting for the entire merge district and to do this we would like by the end of May 2020 to come up with that framework essentially very much like what was done here in Calis and perhaps elsewhere too so it's a it's a big job this finance committee but what we'd like to be able to do is have it be a doable job so that we're thinking okay I was thinking that it could have at least three members more if you believe that it should have more but in terms of yes please in my experience it's been oftentimes this committee might meet during the day it could be first day in the morning because I know many people have night commitments or would rather be home with their families than joining us at a meeting in the evening but in any case if you are interested that you're thinking I'm not sure another evening is for me that's an option we'd be happy to offer the meeting at 7.30 or 8 in the morning so that you can come on your way to work or that might give more of our members a chance to participate because a lot of people do have various lives quite right thank you very much for that okay so what do you think about members do you think three as a core working group for this finance committee will that in your opinion will that suffice do you want to try it and see if it works how often do you think these meetings would be it would depend I think it may be there may be more meetings it would be very task oriented so that they wouldn't meet unless there was work to be done and it would probably be more intensive in the budget period and less so at other times I guess my only thought would be I think three people would be great and the part about the facilities I think we could investigate maybe having somebody from outside oh most definitely you know that framework the capital spending part right this is overseas not due yeah right we don't do that's our motto or it's overseas right what months November December and possibly first half of January the capital one would be yeah I think we would have an assessment done first which would probably occur after the budget yeah we would try to structure the work so that it was sensible well you'd have to have the capital planning done somewhat before you start setting the budget well yeah for this we do have some documents that have been were prepared in 2016 we had an efficiency study and every school had a capital expenditure plan which looked at short term projects some of them have already been completed but it has been three years so I think it's time for a thorough review I think we know now what the board had thought last year would be our priorities for this year we already have a list of projects that we need to address this would be a more long term yeah I don't think we could get it done properly if you think we have a starting point then we can I think we do okay Rick if you wanted to take capital planning seriously which you should you're a very big body maker I mean you don't want to be doing assessments of things there's a lot of infrastructure sitting out there that you can't access this is actually the time certainly in the fall you don't want to be into smell fall when you do that try to do that so you're thinking about doing that you do need detail I don't know I can see the prior reports but do that get contractors and do that on a building level and get them really broad brush estimates go ahead and get real condition assessments for your major mechanicals and things like that you'll actually have something that's worth using and then you can project for lives we really have a good work to provide and this is a great example of all the resources that we have at our well I'm not sure how much at our disposal but at least all the resources that are out there in our towns for various kinds of work and Rick you're certainly one for on the capital planning side great point taken thank you so shall we move on to who is on this committee I had some thoughts about it but I don't want to impose them on you are there those of you who are interested in the finance committee who would really like to do it I'm interested if they also have an interest in negotiations so and I'm assuming some of that there is an overlap yeah that's right were you about to say something yeah it's comprehensive yeah and really it's a really bad month November harvest yeah there'll be time for input from the full board in the meeting it's more like a committee to inform the whole people like we do with the agendas and we can offer feedback oh yeah I have a great interest in it but I have no interest whatsoever in being the chair of it I want to be a strap hanger do you have any other feedback before what did you hear I think I haven't heard from him but I know him yeah who would you like to be on it I think he has other interests are you talking about Chris? I'd be willing to be on it but I can't be chair I can't have the responsibility okay I think we'll have to be on that especially because it's part two yeah okay are you willing to be chair of it I don't know are you going to be chair of it yeah we'll talk about that so we can have a committee of four as well there's nothing magical about three a committee of four would actually be better it depends what time of day we're going to be it would be early morning it would be another night maybe a day or night afternoon daytime but morning morning is hard what about for you Vera morning would be best for me morning is good okay thank you Dorothy I'll nag you with my face please I'm counting on it so we have a motion right to establish a finance committee shall we just expand that motion to include the three of us and the charge the charge being if I may read it oversee development development development of FY21 budget by mid January 2020 monitor monitor current spending under FY20 budget period oversee development of a framework for long term capital planning and budgeting by end May 2020 period so that's the charge we have a membership with floor is willing to share it thank you very much or Vera co-chair even better excellent thank you yeah yeah yeah thanks ready for a vote all in favor please say aye aye opposed none opposed thank you very much next how about a motion to establish negotiations committee Vera moves to establish negotiations I'll second thank you um the charge for this one is relatively straightforward to negotiate agreements with teachers and non-teaching staff by mid March 2020 this committee what sort of the initial thought that came to me was again sort of three board members plus two former board members now members of the community Chani Waterhouse and Susanna Culver Chani is a former member of the Wister of the Dodie school board Susanna is the former chair of the callous elementary school board they're both veterans of the negotiation process and for those I think maybe all of you are that we use I think we're very distinctive in a good way we use the interest based bargaining technique that was pioneered by the Harvard negotiation project way back in the 80s and sort of made famous by books like getting to yes but it's also the federal mediation and conciliation service is very big on this and they helped us tremendously setting this up years ago like maybe seven years ago or six years ago and we've been we've done it really successfully over several negotiation cycles from I was I had the privilege of being a part of the I guess it was U32 negotiation team during one of those cycles and it was one of the most exhilarating experiences I've had serving on the school board so it's it's really a great way to go about negotiations may I add about the training please if you've not been included in a negotiations meetings before with the interest based bargaining offering a refresher for board members and teachers and support staff leaders so that and that will be scheduled in most likely early October and that will be very helpful to you and it is a very it's an excellent system and a great way of developing positive labor relations and arriving at the best outcome for all parties yeah thank you very much and I think that training is open to everybody even if you're not on the negotiation and I would encourage you just to understand what it's all about it's really good yeah Denise, sorry it's very interesting negotiation thing a process question so if you have three of the current board members out of 3 out of 10 right there's a total of 10 correct 3 out of 10 is not a quorum so if you have and those are voting members so if you have two members from the public who aren't on the school board the current school board how does that work do all the negotiations that people have agreed on come to the full board to approve or does it just go to that five member committee the final agreement is approved by the board in plenary session but the negotiations committee because it's constituted as a formal committee of this board is subject to the open meeting law and the even though there's not a quorum of board members on the committee per se all of these committees finance is the same it too is subject to open meeting am I correct unless the committee is required to move into an executive session for a specific reason which is outlined in open meeting law my negotiations is often one area which conducts an executive session so if this negotiation committee votes to move to the full board whatever the outcome of the negotiations is do those two members who are not elected by the communities have a vote in moving that forward to the full board if they're just members that you're asking to serve what's the right word not ad light ad hoc committee members they don't have the authority to really do the negotiations or to vote correct may I so the board may point people to serve on committees that they specialize who feel who they feel have a special expertise and as to the determination of how they what their roles and responsibilities are that would be up to the board of the committee to determine so it isn't uncommon especially in negotiations for there to be other people invited into those discussions who have expertise or who are presenting on behalf of the board so that is a common practice and keep in mind that the interest based bargaining or any type of bargaining calls for agreement among the parties including the association as well as the school board before anything would come as a ratified agreement so that would have to occur in advance I think you're jumping ahead of the game I think that's a decision that the committee would have to make so these would be members of the public that we didn't necessarily vote into the board that would be decisions they're not really making a decision they're helping create a contract that the board and the teachers union have to ratify I don't understand it it is typical very common to have an additional member or two brought in which in the same could be the case we might have some additional members brought into our finance committee we know for a fact Lori will be there and I will be there and we may at some point invite another expert in such as facilities expert to advise and provide us with information thanks for the clarification the great thing about the interest based bargaining too I have never known there not to be a consensus among all of the participants on the agreement that's brought forward so there basically is no vote it's everybody is on board with it I was going to say something consensus so anyway so yeah members George you're interested great okay because I'm a teacher that has been a problem in the past but I'm not a member of the board so how does that work would you be able to work for this district I don't work for this district so I don't have a conflict in what so I could okay and some of that would depend on what the meetings are if they're I would assume they'd be more in the late afternoon evening because the teachers are right so I could be on that okay George, Lindy Jonas, excellent okay George, Lindy and Jonas um chair I would suggest one of you guys who's you know George you've been part of this before I can't but the other thing is is it that Shannon or Susanna just sort of perform the role the committee can choose we'll let the committee choose that's better okay so we have the charge of course negotiate agreements with teachers and non-teaching staff by mid-March 2020 and membership we have Jonas Unovanfleet George Gross and Lindy Johnson and plus members of the public and waterhouse alright any further discussion please say aye any opposed great so board meeting calendar page 23 in living color would anyone like to move that we accept the board meeting calendar for 2019 2020 so moved second discussion I noticed in January probably because the first was on Wednesday so we only have one meeting scheduled quite often with budgets we have either informational meetings which would be in addition to I would assume so if we kept it the one should we anticipate that there may be a informational type budget community forum I mean we'll talk about that next week next time we meet because we're going to be setting the annual meeting that would be a good time to set the informational meetings as well some of these were input before it published where we had public comments in the past there have been topic school by school where there were teachers being caught or things like that that sometimes extra meetings had to be added to get that public input and now it will be all six schools so just I think keeping in mind that there's a potential in early January of added meetings or meetings quite right I think it should be expected but because there are probably more along the lines of forums it would be it wouldn't be a regular meeting and you know you wouldn't necessarily be compelled morally to attend I had a question also about January so in January we're doing the second Wednesday we're going to do the first for the third and I was just wondering I thought it was the third so it was the third the first was the asterisk it's the first of of January that's the after first Wednesday not the Wednesday it's a holiday no that's good I have a public every second Wednesday but we could consider having football games and things along the way this works I just totally would be great okay any other questions or comments or you understand the basic routine every first Wednesday we meet at U32 every third Wednesday we meet at one of the elementary schools on a circuit riot or basis I'd like this on the school websites under school board so that it's as soon as you approve it very good okay any other questions comments suggestions okay all in favor of establishing the board meeting calendar as on page 23 please say aye aye any opposed? none opposed great alright now we have 2.5 appointing the board representative to the Central Vermont Career Center Board do we have a motion? oh well no let's wait and talk about it and then we have a person and then move a person I can give a little background on that the director has reached out to me and I understand that you have an option of either appointing administrator such as myself or appointing administrator and having a board representative the meetings are on Mondays and I have to check which Monday of the month at 4pm from 4 to 5.30 let me just check my calendar and I'll tell you when the next one is so it's not an obligation but it's an option and I think it's very helpful and informs the board about educational opportunities in this system you're familiar with the technical center at Berry? I would encourage you I saw their promotional video at our opening day and the stuff that's going on there is pretty dynamic the video is excellent and it's way more than what I think people think of with VOTEC it truly is a career center and the opportunities for electrical work done by a graduate of their program who then apprenticed it was the best work we had done in our house we really need to be encouraging students they're doing some great stuff for kids who might not fit necessarily into a college bound but they are doing all kinds of certificate program their video is excellent to see what all they're doing and they meet on the first Monday the next meeting is in October they meet quarterly so it'll be October, December and then we're running through the rest of the calendar year quarterly yes, I think this is a very important I mean we're appointing an administrator anyway to understand correctly and I think it would be great if one of us is interested in this connection that would be great to have that additional line of contact with the board is there any more is there a board member who is interested? Laura? that's one thing that I'm just really passionate about but there's not a lot so if there's somebody else that really wants to do it I have a relationship with Joan I sort of follow them it's something that I feel we have to work statewide also funding and we're not competing for funding because we need to encourage more and have a better way to bring kids have a bigger system if you can work out that or make any progress that would be fantastic so you're interested, do I take it? I'm interested but I know that it's been a conflict and we haven't had a presence for a long time so it's really it's really are you able to do that? I might be able to do all the Mondays but I think it's important oh okay I can go yeah perfect so should we make someone want to make a motion for first of all for appointing you okay for appointing Deborah as our superintendent as our administrative representative to the Central Vermont Career Center appointing Fleur as our board representative and Mary Lynn as Fleur's alternate journalist moves okay and Dorothy seconds any further discussion about this alright all in favor of Deborah Fleur Marilyn as the representatives and alternate to Central Vermont Career Center please say aye any opposed? okay great so we can move on to finance Deborah would you like to leave us off the first item in this is to approve the budget process and timeline in our last meeting which was our board training a few weeks back we did receive the first draft of this and it's been included in your packet this evening as well as you can see it sets out a process which is very heavy on school administration research and work for the first two months in September and October at which point in time the expense budgets are drafted beginning in November the first draft of the budget is brought to the board for feedback and adjustment and then once feedback is received changes are made and a second draft forward in December at that point we await as always some very important pieces of revenue information including the information that will relate to our tax for the towns however that does not come until often after December 15 which is after or close to being after your last meeting in December and for that reason if the board chooses to use the tax information as a way of engaging where we are with our budget then you may need to wait until January to make your final decision so it really will depend on the progress you make and we know the finance committee will be working actively in between our meetings with the administration to develop that draft budget we are not requesting this this evening but at a future meeting in September it would be helpful to us if you could provide us with some guidance as to what your parameters are such as is there a certain portion of increase that you would like to see is the level one budget the first draft that you are looking for are there other programs so we are not looking for that input tonight but we would really appreciate that before we get too far into the first draft preparation so we can include that in a future agenda great excellent this is very good this is especially important because this is the first actual merged budget that is done as merged budget as opposed to just the sum of the individual budgets and I think it is likely that people will be saying no where is the beef and we are going to have to deliver so what do you think it is like a commercial that is right it is on my mind we have some vegetarians absolutely so in terms of the process and timeline is there actually we would like that just as a way of giving us the authority to proceed in this manner but we will still be back to get additional feedback and information to help guide us in the development of the budget of course and of course we will be working with our finance committee as well great so Rick I would just say in the development of this budget and the unified budget I would be taking a particularly close eye to performance measures on the success of the unification if you want to be able to extrapolate out data about how you are doing compared to how we operated before and not grounding out results in unified data I work with a lot of budgets too and I know exactly how this is going to happen and I think there has to be accountability for this kind of action because there is a considerable expense in many communities so you need to have some very clear performance results and they only will come out if you structure your budget data so you can actually kind of compare that Lori is somewhat of an expert at that and I would believe that to her but you know I would not advise you to unify to the point where you cannot you can't justify and you can't extract performance measures and it is a very good suggestion for the finance committee and the board yes when that is begun I agree completely and Lori knows my favorite chart how to how to adapt it to the new circumstances and how to make it a useful tool for the board to monitor spending and the plan for the future we are working on it great, thanks okay so did I miss part, did you have something to move to make a motion make a motion, okay thank you very much motion to okay, very good so it moves that the board approve the budget process and timeline as we have here plus Deborah's comments a moment ago about seeking parameters in September do we have a second a second Maryland seconds any further discussion questions can I ask Lori, is there anything else you want to see on here any changes you'd make I typed up what we've historically done I'm looking forward to working with the administrators as a team instead of individually so I think that's the change that will be this year okay it's okay shall we alright so all in favor of approving the budget process and timeline please say aye aye, any opposed none, good okay now purchasing cars page 26 of the packet so I will provide an overview and fill in details about particularly how you've operated your purchasing procedures in the past so it became clear that we were having some difficulty as a result of our change of entity from the school districts individually to our merged district because previously we had chosen to utilize a full organization's credit cards so for example grocery stores and gas stations things like that what we needed to make purchases on behalf of the schools but because those are run by large corporations that require a background or an experience of prior financial credit and we did not have that we were having difficulty and we were getting denied so we brainstormed some ideas of what other options are available and this particular one that we're proposing has actually been available and in use in Vermont for about the last 13 or 14 years is the the conversation is utilizing a procurement card which has a very detailed amount of information that allows us to monitor spending but very strict limitations as to how many funds are available dollars that are available in the two school systems I worked in in Vermont both of them have utilized the system and it's worked very well Lori has done some additional research speaking with the district that initiated the work here in the state of Vermont has already received copies of their procedures and if the board would be willing to approve this for us then we would be able to finalize that and begin the process of applying it will take us about four to six weeks before we're able to finalize the process because the application process takes about that long so in the meantime we'll continue to use the purchase order and petty cash system that we have set up but we feel that this is going to really assist us and as you can see from the information that was provided in advance there's actually a percentage rebate on the credit card which we in the past would be paying 15% now we'd be getting a rebate back on this type of card they are utilized by municipalities as well as schools so we again have a very long track record and a very solid track record so we can provide you with more information if you're willing to support this which I feel I strongly would be of the very best interest of our schools and our district we would require that you make a resolution to that effect and there's a resolution within your packet this evening further questions of myself or Lori are welcome if you have them why the bank of luxury hall that is the bank that was selected by the 22 states who have had this consortium going on for years interesting do you have any idea why it's from Canada as well so if people don't realize that yeah there's a lot of names that are out of country now good morning first board comments and then Eddie so in the letter to the board members it just indicates for the schools in central office who at the schools are going to every employee you know we're going to roll this out slow but thorough process which would be to start with the principal's office would have one card we may determine down the road that it's in our best interest to have the maintenance director or lead maintenance have one for local purchases but in the interim we're really just probably going to be deploying at the elementary schools one card at the high school we currently have gas cards so we would be issuing more cards to 32 staff but it would all be secured in the office and there's a form people have to sign and if anyone gets caught misusing it they can be fired it's all real clear in the procedures and in the forms that would be required and you have the ability to set a max for each card and you can change it and I could stop it at any time if there was ever any concern but do you have a max in mind for the rollout true it will vary depending on the position and the level so U32 would have a higher amount than let's say calisthenics so I'm taking feedback from my peers who have been using this system for 13 years I'm conferring with our auditor as well and I'm also conferring with our treasurer make sure everyone is on the same page and that we roll this out slowly but surely any other board members before we go to public? Rick? I haven't worked for the state I have a P card for the state that's very tightly matched in fact it saves a considerable amount of cost in accounting and speeds process not having to go through work order systems but I'm curious those are there really should be no interest income at all loss I mean those are paid off in the same period religiously there should be zero interest regardless of rate that goes out it's a plus 1.54% rebate so you've got a rebate if we pay it off within 10 days so we need to talk more about the procedure on the payment this sounds like a good deal I was interested we were having trouble establishing credit we were a new entity so essentially we would have to escrow I mean I don't know what kind of balances we run on our P card accounts they aren't that big usually so you could escrow money but this P card will allow us to have credit they work with schools that have merged and they're very familiar with the merger process so they're willing to give us the credit where the others have denied us like Amazon for instance sounds like a real savings of paperwork and clerical time and if it's a sign out and accounting like that if somebody does misuse it it would be caught rather quickly it appears honestly they are I know at the state that happens they're there they shut them right down so I just wanted to be sure you said municipalities so towns the town of Cal has just got a credit card for late payments or whatever you get interest there's no interest you just get a rebate well you would pay it within 30 days and they might directly withdraw from the account I can share with you the yeah I'd like to hear more about that so the resolution would need to be signed by the chair and we would need to record the people who vote the number of people who vote for and against it as well as I would need to copy up to the 40 minutes as soon as possible to send them an application they said on approve minutes are acceptable very good so we've heard about the purchasing cards we would need a motion to approve the resolution on page 27 of the packet to I guess authorize me well yeah that would be part of it we would be authorizing the issuance of individual procurement cards to approve the district and authorizing me to sign for the board I'll make a motion that we approve the issuing of P cards to the schools with Scott signing the resolution for acceptance thank you and for seconds great Scott can I make one suggestion put the schools tax number on the P card so you don't end up having taxes that's a separate issue just from a mechanical issue it makes it much easier it doesn't be part of the motion but I'm talking about the mechanical thing great yeah, tax transfer excellent so we have the motion and the second very good let's go to a vote then all in favor of approving the resolution authorizing issuance of individual procurement cards and having me sign for you all please say aye any opposed none opposed that's great so that's done now can I give that to you after meeting or before you leave okay great okay so we move on to personnel approving hires how would you like to do this do you want to do it as a block sure that would be fine the information is in your packet we do have as this is a process we've used in the past I hope it is going to work well for you we include the nomination form which has a summary of the individual their position and the if it's a replacement who they're replacing what that person's experience is and then of course what is their salary and there were a number of these that were accomplished over the summer because the board authorized us to carry out our hiring of positions of licensed positions so these are all people who are hired since your last over the first of the summer for you to approve this evening great so if anyone would want to move that we approve the hires in the packet from do we have to this names or do we have to I think you can name them in the minutes if you wish to so would you we have Bonnie Dunham a school nurse we have Charles Maggie a school education teacher to be shared between Romney and Dodie sorry we have another one that's being shared but it's not it's not Chad's it is Michael so I apologize so a full-time teacher for you to 32 Maria Melikos is increasing her FTE she's presently 2.9 and Maria will be shared as a school nurse between Dodie and Callas which Kat mentioned earlier as we were taking our tour and then Michael Southerby who is our B.E. teacher for Callas and sorry for Romney and Dodie is also on the docker for this evening and as of this evening that completes all of our teacher maybe needed something you may rise but we are full at this point excellent so would anyone like to move those hives Gion moves Dorothy seconds any discussion do I have to I need one you can abstain I'd like to know that too do you want to take them one by one then or do you want to see I don't need them this is all state legal it's not a close family it's not a family I think a family member would be more concerned if there were an appearance of conflict of interest then and just again to make sure it's understood these are all licensed employees the superintendent has the statutory authority to hire non-licensed employees without our approval within the confines of the budget that you said thank you thanks good any further discussion I'm curious not really nosy but curious who has some half the salary and one doesn't just curious it's filled out in three of the four I think probably that was in June and I'm sorry it's by a step and it's by the contract so it's not making a difference to me I just was curious it's associate step zero that's fine Lori do you often know what that might be I can do a question I don't have my 35% of a bachelor's with zero so it's probably 85% of 46,000 27 I think because it crossed you can see Bill signed it so there might have been some crossover I don't think it was intentional but thank you for mentioning it we'll be more careful about that making sure it wasn't like 300,000 I believe a full time equivalent would be 39,000 very good any other questions okay all in favor of and okay we had the we did have the motion and the second correct very good so all in favor of approving the hiring of these four people as by Deborah please say aye any opposed none opposed very good all right so future agenda items there are a bunch we have CV fiber and solar power are kind of on still on hold we're paying attention they're on the radar but timing will depend on the factors student representative to school board this is of interest and when do you think we can do this? well it's going to I will defer to Judy to determine when it might be possible we need to be able to recruit we had two people in the past we have one interested but we need to recruit a junior is my understanding I don't know if that will be something that could be done by the 4th of September or if the next meeting following that would be better I just defer to you on that probably going to be the next one but we can try all right so no later than the second meeting in September good all right I'm very excited I have the process in the past to recruit the students Judy you have to a grade-wide email has it gone through TA's is it just a face-to-face competition it's gone out Steven has sent out the invite to the students in the junior and senior classes or whichever class needs it so the junior class most frequently because we usually get a junior and they stay for two years so all students in the junior class and their TA's get that email and invite and they're asked to let Steven know if they would like to serve and if there's more than one then he interviews them on us on student representative okay do you know if any of our middle school kids participate in the pager program at the and I just wonder would this be a good opportunity for them to learn this process or no because they're just one of the problems I've done that's great okay great 7.4 another future agenda item is the VSBA Divisition which we're going to have to confront and deal with in September so my thought was on September 4 we can have a discussion that just set aside half an hour for it and to do it to conduct it I'll present it I will present I'll present the framework for it and then I intend not to be a part of the discussion itself but I wanted to be conducted very seriously very professionally I guess and with goodwill and good grace and you know in a spirit of actually trying to be constructive both towards ourselves and towards VSBA so what I'd like to do is set aside half an hour for the meeting if we don't reach a decision by the end of that half hour then I'll just stop there and we'll make sure that the meeting goes on and does everything that we need to do which would be a lot still and then we'll have the 18th for a continuation and hopefully a conclusion does that sound okay yeah what would you need like what do what do we get the pros of the dues we may not know all the things that go on or that are part of it being part of a professional membership like that I think I can go on their website and get some of that information but I think we need to be well informed I can understand that so at our previous meeting we wrote a letter and there were links to our budget to what each director does so I could resend the light links like the ones I can see anything else wasn't there an app from the presentation yeah if you want that no no no refreshing us if you know that to me I'll get it to everyone but it has links to the questions that were asked yeah we want to make sure that all of the documentation that is Jermaine is available to board members for ahead of the discussion well enough ahead so that you have a chance to you know not only to read it but also to be able to think about it well having chaired the policy committee all of those model policies came from DSBA that was my most closest familiarity I had to a benefit or a part of that membership of what we got from it all of this will be able to factor into the discussion would it be helpful to have a list of the issues that would be happening the DSBA would be involved in the resolution what is on for us would that be helpful just to see what kinds of answers I think maybe what's I think what is we have to look at what actually there is as opposed to what there will be or what what was at this time just even this last session last session and what stayed in hold that is going to come up I think whatever is Jermaine to the discussion is we should have access to the difficulty would be if it just turns into this oceanic flood of documents in which case we might have to do some culling just to make sure that it's to the point that would be the three of us do that but even if we receive an oceanic flood I don't have to read it I have to inform myself I'm not expecting that I'm not expecting a flood but just like I would research if I'm going to go with a new bank or something what are the pros and cons why do I want to give all my money as an informed person I need that very good we will also expect representation from DSBA we will try to bring some of this if it's possible with the smaller members that I think you would identify with so I would try to ask Christina daughter-in-law and it's a smaller district rural district too and Dan I should just remember that we did have DSBA representation in an earlier meeting we had a retreat but there were also some outstanding questions that they wanted time to go back and review and get that from us one of them I understand they won't be able to respond to which I think was Chris's request that they show us internal communications about the labor the complaint to the labor board labor relations board and there was I think something else about Act 46 that they were going to go back and get documentation about and reflect back to us because it was Nicole and I'm not sure if Nicole is still going to be there November I think I'd want to go back to those men's but I think that there were two specific items that they wanted time to be able to come back and we'll just try to collect what is relevant and make sure that we're able to inform the discussion properly and it would be nice if it's a discussion and not a trial so that they're both talking about cross and cons and not based on what the organization does and obviously I know there's some previous feelings about the procedure but so that it is back and forth of information not this is not going to be one of the board's quasi-judicial procedures anything else from the board before I go to sorry, Laurie just to approve the board orders that's on you I think we signed them thank you, Laurie if you're don't worry, we'll come back to this I'm just going to take a brief interlude to thank Laurie and also to ask for a motion to approve the board orders two sets of board orders one in the amount of 926 thousand 263 dollars and 82 cents and the other in the amount of 278 thousand 64 dollars anyone want to move that I can move it, Lindy Lindy and Vera second thank you very much any questions about the board orders they have almost all been signed I still have to questions about the board orders we need to add more lines I drew more lines for anybody so there's just five lines from the other okay okay all in favor please say aye any opposed very good Dorothy not on the board orders we were going to 4.1 was going to be moved down to annual meeting date thank you very much I really break down these meetings and we still we have hands up among the public Denise well actually Rick's hand was up first but you have two things one I don't think you should recuse yourself from that conversation you represent our town I think your opinion is very valid in this conversation number two I think I would emphasize those answers posed particularly what Chris asked about there's a lawyer asking about internal conversations which might well show collusion and misrepresentation to the town these are serious legal issues I think we need to get definite answers about to those questions about supporting an organization like that he may not may in fact be misrepresenting and so I would emphasize not pushing out under the rug but I personally as a town someone from my town, those are my tax dollars I want to know the answers to those questions I understand and note taken on both accounts because this is the future agenda where we're not yet time traveling so all of this sort of previews of coming attractions I guess yes the information will be definitely available before that's crucial absolutely so another future agenda I'm sorry Denise so I have two questions but maybe they're relevant I just wondered if any current board members were also serving on the VSBA board and if they are say what floor is I mean if they're currently serving on that board it seems to me that's a conflict of interest right well here's another that's I just want to make that statement I appreciate that again that's for raising later I don't know the answer to but you probably do is there another group to represent the school boards besides the VSBA there seems to me there's like this Vermont school board alliance or something I don't know how that works may we save this also for next time Denise I just wanted to know if you had there does exist an alliance of Vermont school board members that was noted in the minutes of the June meeting you could review those minutes they're online if you would like so anyway future agenda there's still more there are more committees to deal with we're kind of we're creating them as we go yeah they require some of them will require more discussion than others so we want to make it you know right size I can tell you what committees you had last year you had an executive committee a policy committee a transportation committee a school policy committee and a negotiations committee and then U32 had a finance and facilities committee and a career center regional advisory board member so those were the committees you had in place last year I'm sorry you can email me sure I mean have you do and I can send you the list of people who serve down there from the old boards and I'll just send this document right to everyone and that's not necessarily what we're doing this time okay another potential future agenda item maybe at the next meeting did you ask those committees to have that as an agenda item or propose yes sounds good great another one that I'm just throwing out there I'm not sure if anyone is wildly in love with the name Washington Central Unified Unified School District or the abbreviation for it but there's no reason why we can't name for ourselves I think it had been mentioned that would be required to be voted on it's not required to be voted on by the public the board has the authority to change the name but I'm sure you don't want to do it this evening no no no this is a future you might want a little bit more study and maybe I thought a contest would be great amongst the students just to see what their ideas were did the unit number change yes we're 92 now we're 92 just thinking about that I've been thinking about it because ours changed our number of changes I don't know why they had to change but we don't we don't we have identities yes one future item is a when can we go back to looking at sort of the book's reflection before we get into more committee do you want to do that next time I know you might have a really high energy let's we all have the book right just to keep that in mind very definitely before we completely structure it thank you I I've also mentioned that the community mapping that we have here in August August is done yeah we can and I think that's really important that members of the public would agree that's important as well yeah great I did I was going to do that I'm going to hear back from Wendy Wilson who said that this was something that I thought they would have encountered it already said they hadn't oh really? haven't encountered what? the morning to be wanting to have that's below me because I emailed them and asked them that exact question they said yeah we get that a lot you need to find someone in another town to post it for you well she said that what I just asked is not for posting but for seeing other towns yeah 32 form that would serve us because it plays all the towns oh there it is that's been used in the past because I was never as a U32 board member able to post to other 32 towns through the office yeah see what happens okay so so we're waiting Wendy Wilson is on vacation I followed up with her and she's on vacation this week hopefully we'll find out soon which thank you that's actually not a bad segue into the next agenda item next to last reflection and summary I don't think we need to summarize necessarily but in terms of what we do feel free to in fact not only feel free but please talk to people especially as school is winding up and everybody's wondering what's going on communicate in front porch for them at this point I think we just need to let people know how this is working and we need to talk to who they can look to with regard to their school board representation and I think too that the intent of this agenda item as I understood it is also to reflect on this evening's meeting and what we typically use in our board or our school meetings sometimes we use something called pluses and deltas so if anybody would like to share something that they thought was very worthwhile tonight or a concern or something they might try to do better the next time I think that's part of what this particular item is all about you don't mind my... of course not, no that's great the tour was a plus yeah the tour was a great plus, thank you Kevin Chris I think seeing all of our buildings because there's been too much of people believing they know what's going on in schools and I just doesn't say they know what's going on with our buildings if somebody from another town asks me a question as a board member having a familiarity with the buildings I think it's very important yeah thank you what about anything that could have gone better the public a little closer, they couldn't hear yeah, I agree I could address that, thank you for mentioning it we thought we would do them monthly and because we really haven't don't have students yet the best time to begin would be next meeting so we actually have a template that we've drafted, we'll like your feedback on it next time we're going to bring together all of our central office and building administrators information into what we hope will be a comprehensive report tell us if you feel that's the case so we'll have it for you in your next board packet for September 4th it'll be an opening and then we'll have one after that every month at the beginning of the month and our administrators are always here I think that they are typically provided monthly reports and all of our administrators are going to be participating in the development of those so we'll have information from all the schools some of which we may just want to read and others we may want to have highlighted or ask questions about and they'll be here to respond what do you think about the format we're preparing and let us still give us feedback all the leadership team like this come to both or just one the month it's really up to the board I think only those who are who want to come or who you determine are necessary in order to get the board work done I think twice a month is asking a lot from the evening when they also have to do open houses and all the other things that people expect principals to attend in a school in the evenings so the elementary principals at least only had one a month you 32, you should always have two a month but I personally am kind of thinking that two a month is asking a lot it was suggested that it was twice a month because we are rotating around the schools and those rotations will include our elementary schools and I heard this evening one of our ministries said I've never been to this building before so perhaps I know that I think that they would be pleased if they had one versus two but because I don't have the history as a prior superintendent there may be questions that arise that I can't answer and I would hate to put you in a position of not knowing the answer to your question for another two weeks because simply because I don't have that historical or institutional memory to draw upon but it certainly is up to you we will engage them more in the next meeting when we have reports of course you're always, always welcome but we're very aware of the burdens that you carry and don't want to add any more than we already are to them I guess we should see what the board wants as a whole they probably like to know definitively if you would like them to be here at the meeting or once a month they are going to take attendance aren't we? and once a month somebody would have two as an elementary because if they are always at the U32 then their school is hosting but what you said as far as people seeing all the buildings maybe they come to the one where at the school the elementary schools I just don't I personally feel like most questions could be answered or gotten back to us by email to save people more time away from their families yeah I think they would also leave them the opportunity especially through budgeting that they feel free to come when they need to for when they feel that it would be important yeah I think it's my way of putting some consistency along across the existing so I think the future is okay another futures end item I think there needs to be I think it would be your time to talk to the leadership team about how you made that deal as well we've actually scheduled our meetings in advance of yours every time so we have the opportunity to talk about issues of the school and board questions so we'll make that a routine this year sounds good great so have I missed anything anything left can we go home should we turn by consensus then I did thank you thank you all very much and thank you for taking care thanks very much we'll see you in the morning


So, first off, euphony, you can probably tell by its sound, euphony, like euphemistic, euph, meaning good, phone, meaning sound, good sound, euphonious, euphony, cacophony, caco, meaning bad, phony, or phone, meaning sound, bad sound, cacophonous. But there's more to it than just good sound, bad sound. It's more about how the sound may or may not match the content of the piece of literature. It's thinking about the sounds of words, how they pertain to the context and the content of the piece of literature. I'm going to use Ginsburg's Howl, his title poem, and it's going to read parts of it, part one, Howl for Carl Solomon. I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, naked, dragging themselves through the streets at dawn, looking for an angry fix. Angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo and machinery of night, who poverty and tatters in hollow-eyed and high, set up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold water flats floating across the tops of cities, contemplating jazz. So euphony, as you can tell, there's a rhythm to this poem. Long lines, what Ginsburg would call long breaths, almost like jazz riffs. There's a music. There's something beautiful about how the lines just blow out, and it matches the sort of jazzy content of the angel-headed hipsters and the starry dynamo, the hollow eyes and smoking in the supernatural darkness. You can feel the rhythm, it's this momentum, this euphonious momentum that's picking up speed as I read the long lines. Part two, what Sphinx of Cement and Aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination. Molok, solitude, filth, ugliness, ash cans and unobtainable dollars, children screaming under the stairways, boys sobbing in armies, old men weeping in the parks. Molok, Molok, nightmare of Molok. So this part is more cacophonous, it's got the harsh consonants, especially, it's not just repetition that makes something sound pleasing and beautiful, you can have repetition that comes off as jarring and harsh like Molok, it sounds like what it's indicating, it sounds like the content of the urban industrial harsh setting. And even, you know, the stress of solitude, filth, ugliness, sobbing in armies, these are harsh words, these are harsh words that match the harsh content of the poem. Alright, part three, Carl Solomon, I'm with you in Rockland where you're madder than I am, I'm with you in Rockland where you must feel very strange, I'm with you in Rockland where you imitate the shade of my mother. So I would call this section a hybrid of the cacophonous and the euthanous.  So even though he's referring to a mental institution, Rockland, there's a softer connotation here that works really well, right? So again, first part, euphony, second part, cacophony, third part, kind of bringing it together and you can see how the two merge. First note to how. Last bit, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. The world is holy, the soul is holy, the skin is holy, the nose is holy, everything is holy, everybody's holy, everywhere is holy, every day is an eternity, every man's an angel, the bums as holy as the seraphim, the madman as holy as you, my soul are holy. So this is beautiful and this is sad. And you know, I would say the word choices match that. The euphonious beginning, the repetition of holy, holy, almost like a mantra. So with this euphony, he sets up the rest of this fourth part or this footnote for a beautiful display of heartbreaking images, I would say. And that's Ginsburg's point. In Ginsburg's mind, the euphonious and the cacophonous merge. Nothing is completely good or completely bad, we're all holy together.