Okay, welcome everybody. Where are you? You want to get your food? No, no. You're good. We're going to call the meeting. Oops. Call the Washington Central. My thing is acting up. We're going to call the Washington Central Unified Union School District meeting to order. It is February 7th. And that is September 6th, 2017. I wanted to start today by it's the school verse appreciation month. My my it's acting out. It's going like this instead of like stopping on my agenda. Sorry. So it's school verse appreciation month. So I wanted to thank everybody on the board. You know, we've had, you know, sometimes not every not everybody in our communities understand exactly what our work is, but you know, we've been sitting around the table for a while and I am really appreciative of all of you and our superintendent is who understands our work the most, you know, and I know our administrator does do too, but it is it, you know, it's not always understandable to everybody. So and our superintendent understands our work is as effective as we are willing to put the work as the board and we are really proud of all the work that we've done in the board development and that we are all willing to be thoughtful and to model civil engagement, not just for our students and administrators, but for our communities and it's not, you know, that's not the norm everywhere. So I'm really proud of that work. So when I congratulate you all and we're committed as a board on professional development and I'm looking forward to continuing to work with you in raising the bar for all and not just in academic excellence but also I had this phrase in mind that greatness is what we do for others and I'm grateful for you and I'm committed to the impact that we can have not just the impact that we can have in the life for others, especially the ones far just away from opportunity and I once was also to remind us to prioritize our wellness so with that I would say today put your oxygen masks on today first before we we're gonna need that as you know for this budget season has come it's a little more complex that we have ever encounter as a board but I'm grateful for all of you so congratulations and being awesome board members and I hope you guys will receive your gift from did you guys get in the mail your Vermont school versus association with a cheat sheet with that any changes to the agenda being you want to add a 5.2 thank you thank you I would like to add a 5.2 and that in under finance the finance committee had the ability to meet this week at point 27 update reception of guests see you Jonathan there I want to thank Jeannie and Mike for being here with us tonight and they're they'll be on our agenda in a little bit public comments see anybody so with that we are today at U32 and even the floor is yours right thank you everybody sorry I'm not on a school board to get that fantastic gift so I really appreciate the opportunity for U32 to showcase the social emotional learning that we do here at the school I would be remiss and actually not starting off with the reasons that we need social emotional learning and one of the most prominent ones some of you may not have been privileged to messages I sent out to families this morning last night we had a lamoille parent was here for a girl basketball game recorded through social media with a photo that the N word was written on the dirt on the back of her car so and that was while she was attending the basketball game so we reached out to the parent we're working to investigate the incident we've also reached out to the state police as well to let them know of the incident I will say that we weren't able to do a whole lot of investigation today because we also had an early dismissal because of a water main break down at the bottom of the Gallison hill and so we are beginning our investigation we will let you know as we know more about this incident that's really all we know at this moment in time I just wanted you to know that but it also kind of lends some of the reasons why we do the things that we do I am not going to be speaking very much in fact I'm almost done Lisa is going to emcee our presentation on social emotional learning and what you're going to see is a wide variety of presentation mostly video of what goes on here at U32 and I will also remind you that it doesn't encompass everything that happens here but we hope that you enjoy saying some of the wonderful things that go on in the school and we really appreciate you finally coming to U32 so we appreciate that so I'm going to turn this over to Lisa I know that you do I'll keep Lisa as our director of student services Jess Wills our assistant principal and Amy Malina our assistant principal we're all out here for this presentation so I'm going to turn this over to Lisa so as Steven said we decided that it would not be fun if you listen to me talk on for 15 minutes so we asked many people that you'll hear from tonight and I want to thank them publicly for creating videos there's students there's some staff members there's an administrator while Mark puts the slide share together I also know that you all have had presentations I think from all five elementary schools so I'm making the assumption I try to do it often that you know what SEL is and our presentation aligns to the five CASL standards there's a link in there which we can then share later that explains but you've heard this five times already and I think you all know that SEL is really important because students need to feel safe in order to learn and what you'll see in the presentation tonight SEL is not just for the students it's for all of us I think we were in your beginning I'm talking about I forget what word you used but it aligned perfectly with social emotional what I've always called how to human in this world so I hope the environment can inspire you we had it there moments ago so we have the presentation built for you in three different layers so layer one would be supports that all students receive layer two would be supports that some students receive and then layer three being more sort of one on one and that's how the presentation is actually doesn't seem like it's found it was it the approaches to supporting the no we left actually just share and present and present and present I'm looking for that one that we wanted to preload more of the presentation you know remember when we were here we said yeah it was that one yeah I don't know where it was straight to me I also want to plug so it's appreciation month it is school counselor appreciation week it's a very good week to be able to even tell me this week yes and you'll see from this this is way broader than just school counselors you have to share screen right she's so cool she's so cool that's the screen and I'm going to get there present first sorry Moses there you go there we go and present okay alright back arrow alright so if you don't mind I'm going to so you hold on to me perhaps right to talk about what is SEL people can acquire the knowledge and skills and attitude to develop healthy identities and can manage some emotions so that lines up into the five strategies that you've heard about from the last five elementary schools so because we have lots of videos we are going to some market there so so so so so so so while he's doing that what I will say is in TA right we ask our adult TAs to start TA at least three times a week of proactive circles this year we've been asking our TAs to try to increase people's gratitude muscles and their distress tolerance muscles right so we have a sitting discount a little bit longer so we have circles and even in our faculty meetings and when we start meetings we ask people to share one thing that made them smile the last 24 hours and one thing that was hard so who are my guinea pigs give somebody give you one thing that made you smile in the last 24 hours anybody Ursula it's been sunny for like five days January how many all right and anybody something that was hard we just lost our game four two to our first that's why I understand oh all right the other thing on here it's in the middle school or Amy does a great job there is a morning middle school welcome screen every day it changes so when the kids come downstairs they see something like that picture there there's also a place for shout outs so faculty and staff can send things to faculty students for whatever in regards to things that they they've done so I'm going to start with a quick video for middle school flex time flex time happens in grade seven eight every Wednesday before an album and we are working on FDL so it is all of the school counselors the high school counselors and myself in the eighth grade and then the middle school two counselors and the social worker and there and Amy and other people come in and also provide FDL stuff so this first video all right so that was Jamie Spector who is our social worker okay then like I said it's not just about the students it's also about the adults in this building so we have special development for the faculty and we also have a monthly TA training around social and national skills we've also been lucky enough this past year and last year to have Joelle Van Lent who is a school psychologist who used to work for Northeast Family Institute and now she is a consultant with a bunch of different schools she comes in she came in twice this year for us so far and provided some right for our students which we're seeing that more and more students need some health executive functioning and then in addition to the adults Jamie who is on the video also does consultations with the middle school cores and the ninth and tenth grade teams so some more layer ones so this spaces so we have the spark room which you'll see a video about which is a place where they can seek positive answers reset and keep going we have the rise space in school we have our transition program we have our Zen Den which is this picture with the nice tree in the back that's in the upstairs for the high schoolers and Dina so I'm going to play the spark video for you my name is Rory and this is Maxwell and we are in U32 spark center Maxwell why do you use spark so that I came get some rates and do some work or whatever because I have a guess why would you work in spark instead of your math classroom for example well because I don't like math no I'm just kidding I'm just kidding well I'm not kidding about that I don't like math part but I mean like I mean like I have a ton of like people in my classroom who would just go over the top and like they're about to explode from energy like especially in science hmm so why would you want to come down here and work during science well I usually don't but during the other but during the other subjects it's the same thing what makes spark a good a good break space because it's an on the classroom alright so that was Rory his students in the spark center sorry about that let's go back to present okay and then this is our transition program so we're hearing the online people can't hear the audio hello I would like to introduce you to the transition academy at U32 the transition academy at U32 is a results oriented program focusing on improving the academic and functional achievement of local Vermont students with disabilities to facilitate their movement from school to post school activities and provide connections to post secondary education integrated employment including supported employment and continuing adult education initiated by the Washington central unified union school district we have recently partnered with central Vermont medical center to foster community based job training and education for the U32 community one of the tenets of the transition program and central Vermont medical center's philosophy is supporting individuals with social learning or SEL SEL can be used to help students in developing social awareness problem solving and critical thinking skills it can help students learn to understand themselves and others at the hospital I get to get to learn job skills and meet new people through the transition program we focus on students working on the process through which they can effectively apply the knowledge attitude and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions set and achieve positive goals feel and show empathy for others establish and maintain positive relationships and make responsible decisions I like getting used to being in a workplace and having a team to work with to with his students and then we move into affinity groups so I get rid of that so we have two affinity groups we have Blam which is the Black, Latino Asian and many more and then we have Glam which is gay lesbian and many more so we have a video from our group why do you like Blam? it's a great place to be where you're in a group of people who all know your experiences I like Blam because I have a lot of friends in Blam the reason I like coming to Blam is because I enjoy the shared experiences that we have I like Blam because I get to talk about stuff that they would understand I like that I get to connect with other BIPOC youth with other kids on why racism is bad and what you can do to make a change in the community I like that in Blam I can discuss racial issues with other people of color in this school I like hearing from students of color around the building and their shared experiences brainstorming how we can make their experience better and just building community I like it okay bye Zach Gonzalez is one of the three advisors for Blam I don't know why he keeps jumping out of present mode okay and then we have the pet squad so there's pictures here on the right of some of the activities from the pet squad and we want to thank Chris D for those photos then we jump into layer two supports so we have TA circles to address student needs and then we also have restorative classroom circles so this next video is two of our teachers one of them is Ida DeVries and one is Sarah Lund talking about circles that people have run for them through their full classrooms I used a restorative practice circle earlier in semester one of this year I had a group of Ida class that was very rowdy and despite having had initial conversation at the beginning of the year about expectations and what does it look like for learning to happen and what do students and teachers need to do in order for learning to happen I still had a pretty sizable group of students who were regularly disruptive and making learning difficult so just after trying things on my own I reached out to Ellen and she facilitated an RP circle within class where individuals within the class were able to voice what they needed for learning to happen successfully and interestingly everyone even the disruptive students all mentioned wanting a calmer quieter environment so the RP circle helped everyone have a voice in what they needed and then we worked as a class to figure out how do we including ourselves have that happen so as a group we decided on here are set things that when I notice students being disruptive will be able to sort of work through and I would say definitely from that point forward there was a de-escalation in disruptiveness and it felt like everyone sort of had better understanding at that point my experience with an RP circle came last year and was for a different reason I had a group of students who had started saying some harmful comments in class and so it completely disrupted the class and made a lot of students feel unsafe and unwelcomed so I called for an RP circle and I actually had Lisa and Ellen come and help administer mine and it was very useful in the sense that everyone got to have a voice and even those that didn't feel comfortable speaking up in the moment when that situation had happened they felt more comfortable doing so during the circle time after the circle it gave me better insight into maybe why the students felt like they had the right to say the things they were saying and maybe where that was coming from but then also it let the students and help the students to be more understanding and respectful to one another so ultimately it helped the environment and the atmosphere within my classroom to be a little bit more accepting for overall for everyone thanks alright and then we talked about the rise space right so students use that space at a layer two piece and then we have a brave class that's happening in our middle school in the eighth grade and so Tony Snow hi my name is Tony Snow and I'm the rise coordinator here at U32 I also teach the brave course brave stands for building resilience academic values and empathy this class supports six eighth grade boys who have 126 write ups among them every day we take a moment to reflect on a question have a group discussion and then begin working on a project the projects that students choose work towards a short or long term goal to improve their school community we do too much in this course to cover in one minute but the greatest value this course provides is the opportunity through intentional moments to let students learn to support each other in authentic ways in regards to the RP questions I was remiss in showing you so the question in the right hand corner are the questions that we use when we have restorative circles so what happened what we think by the time what have you thought about since who's been affected and then what do you need to make things right or to move forward so in addition to support with Jamie who's our social worker she's working really hard to work with community partners so we do have two groups going right now there's a substance abuse use prevention group with elevate youth services and after school program with community mentors she's also going to be starting some parent workshops in the next month or so and then we move to layer three supports right these are more one on one at a higher level right so did you skip one did I skip oh I did I am so sorry I skipped a huge one approaching to supporting student behaviors and I have to figure out how to get this all right and this is a video that JB and Jess put together and I also would be remiss if I didn't share and Amy is going to shoot me daggers from the back she's out already yeah yeah it is so hang on for one second before I play that she's working with there's a eighth grade student who definitely has some struggles in school academically and athletically so not sure how many of you know she's really going to shoot me daggers but Amy when we were all younger tried out for the Olympic basketball team made it all the way to the last cut for the women's basketball team so it has some mad skills so she's been working Sunday mornings with this student and the dad that comes in teaching him how to learn some skills that he can find some success in the gym she also spends lots of her callbacks with him to help him stay on track in regards to his academics and there's teachers who have noticed significant difference based on since Amy's actually been working with him and then this is Jess and JB talking about supportive discipline in the building so let's see and make this we work collaboratively to address the needs of all students within all layers of behavioral interventions we have spent a lot of time reflecting on what we do and what message we may want to share with you all about how we approach our work and our values a critical aspect of that work is building relationships with students so we can effectively support student growth in academic success and social emotional development we empower them to make responsible choices understand consequences and develop the resilience to overcome setbacks in doing so we prepare them for a future where adaptability and perseverance are invaluable assets social emotional learning refers to the process through which individuals develop and apply the skills necessary to understand and manage emotions set and achieve positive goals feel and show empathy for others establish and maintain positive relationships and make responsible decisions it's not just about academic achievement it's about equipping our students with the tools they need to navigate the complex and interconnected world beyond the classroom discipline on the other hand is often misunderstood as a punitive measure however true discipline goes hand in hand with SEL creating a foundation for harmonious and productive learning environment it is about instilling self control responsibility and a sense of accountability for our students when discipline is approached positively and combined with social emotional learning it becomes a powerful force for personal and collective growth the positive approach is highlighted in a recent interview we did with a student she said the tone is different you guys tell me to get to class and are kind about it we are all teenagers and we will mirror the energy that we are given we strive to always approach students with empathy kindness and an open mind to understanding their perspective and experience incorporating SEL into our educational framework is more critical than ever the challenges our students face extend far beyond textbooks and exams they grapple with the complexities of diverse social interaction emotional highs and lows and technology SEL provides them with the emotional intelligence needed to navigate these challenges successfully we foster a school where students not only excel academically but also exhibit empathy, teamwork and resilience through SEL we foster an inclusive environment that values diversity and encourages collaboration we use the humanity and justice coalition statement to improve our discipline approach and practices this approach prepares our students for the realities of the workforce where interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence are increasingly becoming prerequisites for success we have committed to integrating social emotional learning and positive discipline into the fabric of our day-to-day work at U32 by doing so we not only enhance academic achievement but also cultivate the essential skills that will empower our students to navigate the challenges of the 21st century with intelligence, compassion and resilience you can see a couple of these pictures the fun times of them getting pied in the face JB has been lucky enough to be pied as has Jess luckily Elisa has not always win that competition no it's the 20 bucks I put into the bucket or me helping out too all right so layered resupports are one-on-one meetings with administrators with TAs with their teachers with social worker with Tony and then Janie also working with interventions with students and families so huge thanks right to all of these people who made videos who made videos when Lisa said it needs to be under a minute we have so much time no it's too long can you redo it so I can't say enough to thank them for everything they do on a day-to-day basis and for being willing to put themselves out there on a day-to-day basis and with that are there any questions thank you for your time no questions thank you so sure have you noticed any change in student behaviors over the years now that more social learning techniques are being used I have definitely more willing to come in and have hard conversations they're more willing to sit with each other and we've been doing RP now for nine years so nine years right so when Steven got here thankfully we introduced him to RP and he immediately jumped on board saw the need in the past nine years I've definitely seen students be able to have what they used to have they can come in they can sit they can get to the heart of what's really the issue often times with students it's people who were friends who then something happened and when you can get them in a room and have conversations with them ahead of time to do the prep work they can come in and they can be vulnerable and they can really talk about six years ago we were best friends and now we're here and we really miss each other so I have a comment one other thing I'm not sure if this would be like exactly the same category but we also do peer mentoring and I'm a mentor I have a mentee and she is moving away but I've been working with her since 7th grade and it's been really fun to get to know her and just help her with her homework and like draw with her during callbacks so that's just another example we probably have 40 or 45 high school mentors who appeared with 7th and 8th graders and we do try to pair the 11th graders with 7th graders so that they are the 10th graders so that they can stay with them for 2 years and we were going to have a video from somebody who was a mentee who is now a mentor unfortunately he's been out sick and said he's not able to put that together so thank you and I for bringing that up alright thank you all for your time thank you thank you U32 please thank everybody that contributed thank you for dinner okay we're gonna move into our superintendent search update and I'm gonna welcome both Mike and Jeanie to our meeting and let them walk us through where we are thank you Mark can you enable screen sharing once again yes perfect thank you okay hello thank you all very much for letting us join you tonight I am Jean Collins Dewey's one half of Dewey's two consulting and for those of you who don't yet know me I am a recently retired Vermont superintendent 17 years as superintendent in two districts in Vermont currently working as consultant with school boards superintendents and mentoring administrators in the state of Vermont good evening it's good to see some familiar faces for those who haven't met I'm Mike Dewey's former superintendent for about a decade I did run the superintendent association leadership academy which worked with aspiring superintendents over year long groups and my work has been specifically with school boards and superintendents in my consulting role in Vermont as we go through this we recognize how busy your agenda is tonight and it might be more efficient if we just left questions for the for the end the shared expectations might be a good place for us to start we're seeing small pools for the existing vacancies not unfamiliar to you you saw the same situation a couple of years ago your timing for the search is good it's not great but it's good there are probably half a dozen searches that we're aware of existing across the state now probably many if not most of those will be done before yours is done that's not a problem necessarily we're just looking obviously not for a bunch of superintendents we're going next superintendent we don't exactly know if it's going to be a high year of vacancies it may be we're running roughly 10% vacancy rate right now across the state but there could be some superimpositions jockeying district to district and certainly that could be something to your advantage if that were to be the case with your pool the market hasn't changed since your last experience doing this it certainly still is a seller's market which drives compensation conversations and I know that you're aware of that Vermont still enjoys about 250 folks who are holding the license endorsement for superintendent it'd be wonderful if all applied I'm not sure all will but that's the current number clearly in your favor is your district's reputation for all reasons that you're aware of and for all good reasons and that's certainly a good thing we don't pretend there's a perfect candidate out there we're still looking for the best match that's always situational and certainly you've heard this from me before perhaps and that is the success of the new superintendent is in the interest of the district and that starts now in this process as we move into it the role that we're going to play is that we're crystal clear that our work is in service to you the board what we'll do is help manage the process steps we'll help ensure that things are tidy and legal we will work transparently our communication with the board will be through your liaison some of our work will be in person some will be remote and we're going to strive to provide you with multiple finalists for the board's consideration at the end of the process one thing we're not is we're not headhunters we're not going to be out there selecting your next superintendent that's not our job that's your job so let's talk for a minute about your role in the process ultimately you the board employs the new superintendent we don't the committee doesn't that's your authority and your role along the way you also will be working to make sure that your actions as a board are fair and square and legal and a key part of success of this process is a screening and interview committee which will do which will work on behalf of the board to bring you finalist candidates so we have recommended for action by you tonight charged to support the work and guide the work of that screening and interview committee and we'll talk a little bit more about that as we go along it's also important that you as well as the screening and interview committee consider stakeholders input and we'll talk a little bit more about where we are in that process in a minute and we ask that you be available and committed to interviewing the finalists on March 27th that's the date that we have picked and put in the posting and finally we ask that you trust the process so what has happened so far so far with floors quick action we have gotten the consent of the secretary of education which is a requirement under Vermont state law that the secretary of education has to approve superintendent searches with the able help of Heidi and her department posting and advertising has happened across a number of sites primarily we are using school spring as that is the most commonly known education administration or education opening site but in addition we have identified about seven or eight other sites that we have been that Heidi has posted and advertised on and we're already seeing results of one or two of those we have put out a survey recruiting volunteers for screening and interview committee and we will we already have 16 responses to that and that survey is not yet closed if anybody is interested in that and we have put out a thought exchange to the community staff students and parents to collect community input on what they'd like to see in their next superintendent and all of this the posting the survey for recruitment the community input I believe is on a web page that has been designed by the district to help keep the community informed along the way of the process as well I did touch for just a second on the screening and interviewing committee and you again you do have a handout in your packet about this committee and the committee charge the board will have a place on this committee as well we're trying to create a very broad based but relatively manageable size committee as I had done two years ago when he did the last search for you so you can look at that handout get some more information on that it is our anticipation that the steering committee of the board appoint the screening and interview committee members next Wednesday on February 14 moving along in the process timeline on Monday the 19th will be a busy night as the screening and interview committee assembles for the first or that agenda that group will be organizing getting to know one another we're going to have a conversation about lawful hiring practices we're going to discuss the necessity for confidentiality folks will have a chance to manage and be sure that they're facile with the school spring technology and how to maneuver that we're going to spend time on the board charge to be sure that that guidance is clear to all the members of the committee we'll strike out our calendar and be sure that we're all clear on that for the committee and perhaps most importantly we'll leave that night starting to have the committee screen your paper people your paper applicants the deadline actually previous line there the deadline is going to be on Sunday March 3 we're asking that folks submit their applications by then those who do will get preferential consideration in this process the date was chosen intentionally through our experience that superintendent applicants really need a good weekend or sometimes even vacation time to put together their best application and set their best foot forward so March 3 Sunday is the last date of the last vacation week for Vermont school superintendents and that's the reason we set that application deadline so as you can tell the screening committee will be working through that period to ensure that they have a chance to screen all those applicants that have come through that deadline date the screen and interview committee will then reassemble on Wednesday March 6 day after town meeting and that work will really be about debriefing their findings how it is they assessed the paper people what the reviews were good give and take of their observations and assessments and that will be the evening or the day that the committee will determine who the first subgroup of folks to be interviewed will be and we're going to refer to those folks as semifinalists those semifinalists will be in later in the month but that will be the night that the paper applications are done moving from the point of paper people to real people that will be interviewed by the screen interview committee so we have identified the date of Monday March 18 for semifinalist interview and those interviews will be done by the screen interview committee again they are doing their work on behalf of the board according to your charge so that saves you from having to do all of that work it is our intention that you they will identify multiple semifinalists unranked that will be interviewed on that day and it depends on the number of finalists to know exactly how long those interviews will take one of us will be on site for that day we feel that's one of the important days that we need to be face to face and present as opposed to the committee meetings so one of us will be on site for that entire day and through that entire process at the end of that day we will be debriefing with the screen interview committee with the intention of identifying one or more finalists unranked that would then be forwarded to the board for a finalist interview day between that semifinalist interview day and the finalist interview day there's a very small window of time and it is our hope that we will be able to identify or the committee will be able to identify some external site visits to finalist districts both locally and regionally we will we do not anticipate being able to do that for out of state districts and so that's why we say it's possible external site visits very next week next week Wednesday, March 27th will be the gauntlet day we call it that because that's Megan can maybe speak to this but that's what it feels like going through the process it's a very very full day and the finalists who do come forward on that day will spend the day touring the district meeting students and staff participating in public forums with staff public forums with parents and community and then an interview with the board and following the finalist interviews with the board the board then will continue on to determine who you would like to offer the position to the interview we can't guarantee what time the interviews with the board will start it really depends on what time I'm sorry it really depends on how many finalists we are bringing forward so that you have appropriate time for both the interviews and the debriefing so one of us will be on site for that day face-to-face helping to manage all of it and with you all the way through to the end I think Mike mentioned it 2 a.m. ending last time but we're hoping not to do that this time if you'd really like to we'll be there but this one gift we'd like to give you is not to be deliberated until the end of the evening so that will help determine as Jean said so floor I think is we understand it there are a couple of things the board can do to help us keep the process moving one is to approve the board charge to the screening interview committee and secondly to be sure that the board can commit to the March 27th finalist interview date so far I'll let you just let us know how you want to manage that those decision points for the board tonight yeah that's great thank you Mike I do want to stop your share so that people can see you both in the screen right now there you go yeah and you could even make it speaker great perfect now we can see you great so any clarifying questions and I think there's a couple of things that I might need to clarify but this theory yeah go ahead Diane is there and I realize it might be the screening interview team that will make this decision but do you anticipate that you'll be able to interview virtually as well or will it help be expected to be in process it's a very good question yes especially at the semi finalist level I think a virtual interview should be a possibility however at the finalist level we anticipate having candidates come in if they at all can but we can discuss if there are issues with somebody at that time again the posting that went out does include these dates so candidates applying already know them they're not going to have short notice of when the dates are any other questions can you talk about how are where the interview and selection committee survey went out like how people are able to access that I didn't see it yeah we posted it and we're going to post it again it went to all families and but it should have been to all parents all families if anybody in our district should have received it so I love that yeah and then I shared it with you guys on my email update when I did the update and I showed the letter from the interim secretary and all of the letter that went out it had the link to that exchange and also the link for all of this information and the website and I said in the website too there's a link to all of that so you can go in our website and to the left corner there's a button for that and I also wanted to get an opportunity to let her introduce herself and we're grateful to have her as part of our team hi everyone I'm Heidi Dimick I'm the director of HR I'm happy to be working with Mike and Jeannie and I'll be on the search just a little clarification on dates we had to move quickly and we wanted to make sure that we posted all of this dates so we brainstormed and we sat together with Jeannie and Mike and Heidi and collaborated with Melissa and made it to make sure that we were not going to be creating conflict within the district on dates so that it worked for everybody and then we're taking advantage of March where we have very little because our meeting was not until the 13 for reorganization so we had a little bit more flexibility on March to be able to get this work get this work done and the idea of having the steering committee appoint the committee is because the steering committee meets in the morning but it's already represents the board and in order to not have to bring the entire board together again to appoint a committee of course you're welcome to send us your input but that was the idea so with that there's no other questions Jeannie just curious about though are there recommendations around the composition of the screening and interview committee or is it just we listed it there do you have any it's in page 4 so what we try to do is very similar to what we had last year so as one student do parents or citizens they don't have to be parents because they don't have kids in school we were suggesting one person from central office faculty and staff three because they would decide if it's a union member a teacher you guys decide how that's going to be and then leadership team that's what we had from the leadership team and board so would that be someone from central office who's not on the leadership team as well correct so it would be somebody that works directly with the superintendent that it's not related to could we get a sense from the board members who are interested so that's going to be those who may not be interested in serving from the board board members and we if you're okay with this oh because then you might want to adjust that is that what you were thinking just so that the committee knows who may or may not want to work on the committee before they're selecting only members who are interested in serving can say yeah I'd like to do that so the committee knows who is interested in doing it from the board that's okay I was wondering if you wanted it to be we wanted more board members okay sounds sounds good sounds good are there volunteers for this committee besides first line and attached it to but if other people wanted to do it I wouldn't take a spot away from somebody else you know what I'm saying yeah I know I think that's fine and then the only consideration is like I don't see how a lot not to do it so that's the the only consideration but we can talk about it out of the the screen okay wait sorry we are not at pointing today but we have a sense of who wants to to or until we can figure it out yeah exactly does that make sense everybody what I would like to do today is exactly with Jeannie and Mike we're suggesting that we approve the charge of the committee so that so could I have a motion to approve the charge of the committee as stated on page board okay so Lisa do you get that Diane and Chris any more discussion just one other question I apologize because I clearly am getting up to speed still but is the expectation that there be two and exactly two finalists coming out of the screening in the community until we have we will bring viable candidates similar to what we did the last time we would not bring forward two candidates if they're not both viable right that we think and I don't want to speak for you Mike and Jeannie you should speak to this you're absolutely correct I mean it's we will bring forward any playable candidates there might be two there might be three there might be and there might be one one of our unfortunate experiences recently was that the board said bring three viable candidates because search committee sent two and one dropped out so we were left with one and not a choice at all really so I would hope that we would get at least three just because and you talked a little bit about the competition amongst districts for superintendents if we have two and one drops out because they have another position then we're left with a choice of one really and that's not a choice really so if we could get at least settle on three viable candidates so that we have an overflow so I think just to explain the process from before it would be a chore for us to have that requirement because we don't know how so we can we can strive for that so I think what we're saying is that we're striving to bring as many as there are viable candidates that would fit all of the criteria that we put out so if there's a candidate that doesn't fit that criteria we wouldn't be bringing it forward because we rather go back and post again then bring you a third candidate that doesn't fit that requirement right and are we all in agreement on that yeah I think what I hear you saying Chris is just as a historical perspective it has been challenging in the past when there were only two candidates and then it can go down to one and so just as a historical perspective but absolutely trusting the charge of the committee and what they do so that's in the session okay having served on the committee so last time we did this um I think that it helped not feeling like we had to pick a specific number of candidates like we went in we reviewed the applications we discussed them and we had a set of criteria and it was either yes they couldn't move on and not like let's find the three fast to move on right like even if they didn't quite meet we didn't have to feel like we were doing that like we were doing that the person then is if Michael and Jean as well if you think there are no viable candidates would you say that yes absolutely okay good I mean that's kind of an appropriate situation to have a superintendent I mean I'm happy with an interim if we don't have a good viable candidate so anyway thank you yeah just as you know it's not a viable option but just like just to protect our our curriculum director and don't give her a heart attack today sorry Natasha you can I hear you say I think it was under faculty and staff um having a union representative you said that we decided is that they will decide you know like not you but the staff and those three spots include somebody from the union it's our thinking okay that's what I just was gonna say they don't decide who from the union but there's three spots there's three spots for the staff I just wanted to clarify that one of the spots will be filled by somebody who represents the union okay is staff self-selecting that's how we've done it yeah so it's true we can be up to staff who they take but one of them will be a union breath I don't think that's criteria it we can say it is we can ask we have usually had a new association suggest somebody who should be on there okay yeah yeah I mean yeah we were assuming we were assuming that that was a criteria that's sort of how we we work but I'm so that's why I mentioned it yeah well I will put on record I think it should be criteria and we are I think we're all in agreement I keep pointing this way just because so the staff not you not you but yeah thank you Amy I would just say Genia Mike would have the ability to look at the list of teachers they received in the survey check with Heidi to make sure there's an association member so we have a loop to be able to make sure they can do that yeah okay so all those oh you have a question I would also suggest that if there was a great deal of student interest that we consider having one student yeah and that would be that would be great we move that to one this year and I will let Genia Mike talked about this because the last time around we put a lot of pressure on our students and we could just we could barely get one that it's just a lot of time coming away so I think I can definitely person be able to I don't think okay so we can change that to students okay a comment I just wanted to add that I think doing that the site visits was really good because my son was in elementary school and this happened and he came home and had all sorts of things to tell me about the candidates so I think I think that was really good it was really good for the students at all levels to be able to be a part of that for us it's also a really important experience for the candidate frankly really let you mention that and as we think of it there are two kinds of site visits one would be the site visit that you're going to be hosting and the other one is you're coming to Washington Central and have their experience with you as part of the gauntlet day the other one Jean spoke to is the outbound experience where if we've got some screen interview committee members who can volunteer and be interested to go out to those finalist districts where they're working now and just get a little different perspective a little different peak into their work and how they're perceived and so forth in their districts any more questions or waves those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed okay thank you Jonathan so the charge has passed and the last one I don't think we need a formal motion unless you want to make a formal motion but maybe let's make a formal motion that the the day that we would the final is March 27 our final gauntlet day is March 27 soon and Ursula and Chris yeah all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed any abstain hearing none the motion carries thank you everybody we will post that letter again on the front porch forum today and then we'll keep you informed with the next steps with that I'm gonna let you take over tonight so as we know Willow is not here and I would like to speak for both of us we are sorry that we've not been here I'll start off by saying this is this is February it's black history month so we started off the week just like acknowledging and celebrating that we've also started a new semester recently and we I think we haven't we did it last week which I don't think we've talked about it's where our students get to like a few things that interest them so we can do like for example I did volunteering in early elementary schools and baking I know some people had to do skiing there was like ice skiing there was a bunch of cool things that we were offered to do also sports seasons are slowly coming to an end so we're coming up on playoffs which was exciting our model UN group went to Boston which is super cool great and then last Tuesday we had a parent night which is for like incoming 7th graders and so the parents get to come and see the school they didn't get to meet their kids this night or that night but they're going to come again hopefully today we left school early because there was a water main break as well I don't know if you want to think so we also had a Winniespie Valley Jazz company come and perform which is cool and then pink the rink which is the hockey teams like cancer awareness scheme raised $7,000 which is really cool and then also we're starting for juniors at least like early college applications so students that are studying at Norwich University are starting to apply which is pretty cool any questions any questions from there any comments since you're here I just want to say thank you for setting up the day when we come to visit class is that really valuable and if you guys are interested in doing that again let us know when we do that thank you for the car too okay so we're going to move into thank you for being here tonight of course you're welcome to say we're sorry that the gang was lost today too we feel your pain okay it's a little too fresh right okay so I'm going to move into our finance part and I'm looking for a motion from one of my finance committee members which I do I move that the board approve awarding the fire alarm system replacement project to local electric LLC $72,800 thank you for second any questions seeing none those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any abstentions hearing none the motion carries thank you everybody now 5.2 we added an act 127 update we sent you a lot of information last night we included the links from the hearing but Megan and I had had a chance to briefly talk about the plan for tonight and we thought that we would go through the three scenarios just briefly just what they were thinking but then concentrate on what they were doing tonight and now well she starts looking on past those papers around and then we'll make a decision I'll try to give the executive summary and then you can ask questions because people have probably heard various bits or you've read about it or you did tune in on the hearing the legislature is wrestling with the potential implications of act 127 because of the number of districts which actually is nearly all the districts in Vermont now hit the cap which presents three possible things that they see as happening and so they have crafted legislation with the option that they feel is the best one and then we'll talk about that in a second the draft is what you're looking at essentially the concern is that if budgets pass in their current form with the cap as it is it actually will cause tax rates to be even higher than projected because more districts even than three weeks ago when we adopted our budget which was the case even more are hitting the cap and that will just be a budget that we presented to communities that they've supported and then they will get a really unexpected tax increase and it will sort of foster mistrust in the process another scenario that the legislature is concerned about is that budgets fail on a large scale and if budgets fail and the cap is still in place the amount of reduction that would be needed to actually change tax rates is really significant because and we are a good example we are very high above the tax rate which means to get below the tax cap if it doesn't change would be large scale cuts the concern is that budgets would actually continue to fail and then many districts would be into that place where they start July 1 and you are at just about 90% of your this year's budget which is a catastrophic amount of reduction neither of those two scenarios feels viable to the legislature so they are proposing and have since crafted draft legislation that essentially eliminates the 5% cap it creates a mechanism to calculate districts who have lost in long term waited ADM and creates a different protection mechanism for those districts so the 5% cap would go away it would be replaced with a basically a calculation related to how many students they lost and then that reduction would translate into cents off your tax rate and then it would decrease over the next 5 years I could get into the mechanics of the calculation but it's really not important for our districts because we will not qualify for that because we've gained in long term waited ADM so if this legislation goes through the cap we are not eligible for either protection and that's pretty clear in the legislation also in this legislation and this is new we didn't have this even when the finance committee met yesterday they now also have boards a mechanism in this legislation that would allow you to choose to re-warn your budget you would essentially cancel your warning and choose a different vote date your warning could go through with everything but the budget number if you chose and then they put a small allocation into pay for the costs associated with that for us we would have to reprint ballots is probably our biggest cost we tried very hard to wait as long as we could to print the ballot we couldn't it had to go to the print analysis because it's a little unclear as to whether or not we can make a decision the only thing I'd reiterate before happy to answer questions and floor can fill in the blanks this is draft legislation yeah they are very compelled to pass this it still requires everything it takes for a bill to become a law right so this is what you have today is not law yet yeah and I would that was the point I was going to make even though it's moving quickly it would take when we were yesterday the hearing it's going to take at least one and a half weeks to go just through the house and then to be a senate and then to have the governor sign it so we might not have enough information when we meet as the finance committee next Tuesday but this at least provides us with the mechanism which we were looking for maybe taking out just article six right our ballot have gone to print because the deadline was today we kept holding them yesterday and it was just like they needed to go to print we can then file for some funds we are still holding our trifle so at least in that trifle we would be able to say hey this is what happened even if you vote we're going to have to re-warn our budget but we I know that you guys probably have a lot of questions our thinking today after we met with the finance committee was not to spend as much time thinking about like why did act 127 you know like I think we all support the equity part so back for 27 we don't want to throw away the baby with the water but we also and we wouldn't gain anything about you know sort of discussing how long the process taking or the timing or whatever so it's what we do as a forward with the information that we have today right so one of the suggestions that we had as the finance committee after we discussed is to empower the finance committee to as we start to get information to work and have a commitment from the board that we would have to make some reductions right there is no no other option but right now it's kind of early to say that that's what we're going to do either because we don't have the yield yet we don't have all our counts yeah I'll just say a little more about that last piece so one of the things that makes this really challenging is we show we did show you numbers about where we look if we didn't have the cap that's the just over 9% tax rate impact the problem is all of those calculations are based on a budget that's built statewide with the cap those projections are no longer accurate if this passes and we really can't tell you what they will look like and that's difficult the just by taking away the number of districts because remember when there is a cap and the fund is receiving less money everybody's sharing the costs of expenses and now without a cap it's your communities who would pay your share that will that will impact the yield a little bit it would also impact the yield of other districts chose to reduce but none of that do we know so it's really difficult to give you a ballpark and the way that the chair of the weights and means committee described it is this has always been true right you all control expenses you it other things impact tax rate but the thread that ties those two things is now very thin and very far apart so it's to floor's point it it's the board's discussion to say would we be contemplating a changed budget as opposed to here's what we think we should do to the budget because we don't have enough information to give you to inform that and to say the same thing in another way is that every district a capacity depends on the whole right so until we have the whole you don't know what what our taxes are and we don't know what our capacity is since we are all part of this one eco ecosystem so you know at least that if you look at the bill and that last part at least that gave it a little more direction than than before I think at the board you know we all have provided input to them we made decisions with the best information in good faith with all we had if Suzanne had run some numbers for us and what it would mean to cut a hundred thousand dollars I don't even know that that is accurate right now so don't feel like we're certainly going to cut 2.7 million dollars right that's not what we're talking about because we don't know what what we need what we need to cut but we do need to have and I don't want to speak for all of the finance committee because you guys were there to do but one thought that we had is that we do have to have clarity for our administrators right so when they're dead and we need to make their decisions we're going to have to do decisions quickly and we have to also not send our administrators just spinning like you have to have a commitment to I'm going to let Zach and Cary speak to this because you want to say Cary go ahead this is something we talked about you brought this up but it's also when we talked about a couple of months ago this is you know we certainly can ask our leadership to look at what cuts could be made what would it look like what would education look like in those net context with the cuts I think it's real that's what you talk about that creates fear that damages morale that's those are the sorts of things that we may need to do but I think we need to be aware there's a cost to even asking a question and we don't want to ask a question if we're not committed we're not willing to say yes we're seriously going to consider making these cuts when the answer comes out so to that I would add that it sounds like we're not going to look at the numbers that the committee was presented last night and because they're not accurate I think that's fine trust us that they're really bad it's significantly worse than what we were talking about before and I think it's probably important even if we don't have full faith in these numbers we won't really know what the yield is for what this decision is made but to paint some scenarios we can assume it's going to be somewhere between what we saw yesterday and what we already approved so I think the key decision for the board is is there appetite for going back to the budget and if so how much are we going to be asking and you can't answer that without thinking about that and looking at these scenarios these numbers of what we're talking about because at the last point I think the worst case scenario is the budget fails and we can't get it together to get a new budget in place in time for the exfoliator which means that we have to operate to figure that out and that would be bad and then one model that we do I guess one commitment that we could make as a board is that the one thing that we had plenty of time to discuss and I know that there was no agreement if there was no majority agreement was the $182,000 that we added at the last time that we added back but that is one that I'm not saying it's easy because it's not easy we made a commitment to put it back but that is one that we have studied that we know that they have given us information on but we also have a commitment as a finance committee and you're superintendent and Suzanne that any changes that we'll make we want to make them data informed system thinking we don't want to just we wouldn't be making changes just cut dollars right that it's so housing passive system as a whole and we need one concrete no concrete direction but concrete information for reductions so for example the $182,000 would be something that again I'm not saying that it's easy but we could commit it's just we're not where we are so I do you have your hand up? yes go ahead is it time? is it time for questions? yes time for questions and then you can go after McKenna because I see you guys talking about something yes I'll defer to Hyde oh oh I get it that's great we should um so I guess the notification of the potential time right if we were to decide to cancel the vote for town meeting what are we looking at when we're getting together April 15 April 15 but also just think about it it doesn't sound like we will have enough time right now to maybe miraculously it's going to happen before March 5th it is hard to answer that question but what I would say is if the legislation passed as written let's just play it out that way the vote is scheduled on town meeting day so kind of up until 48 business hours before town meeting day you would be warning a cancellation is basically my read of that language so you have that amount of time to decide and it can be kind of right up until then except that ballot printing gets really complicated I actually don't have information from our ballot printer about how quickly they could turn it around so we would have to explore that the law would allow you to do it fairly close to town meeting but it's got to be before the vote right because the other possibility is that the vote happens and then you the point that Kari is making is it will take time I suspect for you to give us direction and we need that direction before we can do our work to come back to you and that's true regardless and I think the point that Kari is making is we can either create our own timeline by changing our vote and going back and then picking our date or we will have the time after the vote to turn just like you would in any other scenario when a budget has gone down and we have questions for them because as we were talking today if this vote goes through we would still use the other parts of the ballot all we're doing is canceling one of the articles and then are we printing just one article to vote you would decide so there's a lot of questions that are not completely answered by this you go ahead Kili you have I have a question for the decision when we if we postpone and warn another budget how long before the vote do we have to have a warrant to send ballots out that sort of thing so they're changing that that's a good question that I don't think is clarified in there because statute is 30 days it feels like they didn't change the timeline so that's 30 days but we could push the vote out to April 15 so March 15 would become your deadline yep I guess I'm just jumping in because I haven't sat down and looked at the calendar and you've done all the math but by the time they pass this through the house and the senate will that be done in the March 15 we don't we don't if they rush it it can be the other thing is if it's not if not they would also need to relax their timeline so this legislation to adjust that 30 days and that's what we're hoping to do they're still accepting testimony and they have to change that deadline in order for it to make it possible we're not the only district so it's the majority of the districts Joshua so just to rewind a little bit are you asking forward to finance committee to do something is that the action you're asking for tonight and if you could clarify what that is so I wish I could be a little more clear but I feel like we should empower the finance committee to work on reductions and bring those with the administration and bring those reduction we won't make the final decision but bring those reductions to the full board because of timing Natasha and Natasha so if that's what we agreed to allow the finance committee to do is that in conjunction with not sending our current budget to vote for town is that we're going to pause the vote for our budget allow the finance committee to work on it and vote on it in a later date correct the legislation this is all contingent on this legislation all these points the legislature saying when we push off we're not going to vote on town meeting we're going to push it off until April 15th or whatever that day is because we've already voted and it's already been sent it's in process you don't have a mechanism to do it until they pass it you could signal intent to do that and set some work in motion and then we come back to kind of a really important point that administration would just reiterate which is it should not be a simulation or an exercise it should be a so so you're looking for the finance committee to get a head start to plan this legislation to come up with a contingency plan but I just want to read that notwithstanding any provision of the law in the country the legislative body of the school they make the answer that districts vote on an article so we have there's still questions even with that but at least what I'm not clear is that we have to re-warn do we have to re-warn the entire ballot we would negate our ballot reprint a new one with whatever article you chose to remove and that would have to be done town meeting day if you still wanted to have it that's what I'm trying to get at so I think we need some clarification the sole purpose of amending the proposed budget that's the only grounds on which we can cancel the district vote on one cancel an article or articles so it seems like it's very clear that it can only relate to the budget yeah we're going to have mail-in ballots going out awfully soon are they I think last year they misheard someone's name it was an invalid entry is it possible to have that on there as an invalid entry that doesn't get counted if we cancel it that would be a good question some of the questions that are coming up we also have good in hearings so just to check on time that the families have arrived so we're still up go ahead thanks I want to express play maybe concern with putting this all on the finance committee especially if they're meeting at the Tuesday morning time I'm a finance committee what's our representative so to speak but for the Wednesday I feel that it's important that all five families be represented in the people who are tasked with reduction yeah and I think that is a good consideration so we could add if you want to we can change that if we do move it to the evening we would have another day of information from the legislature if we move it to the Tuesday evening yeah well we can there's no reason we're operating on a different there's no reason to not try to find we would have to make sure that if there's a conflict with another I can't remember Tuesday so the Tuesday after do we want to pause this conversation yeah let's pause this conversation and then back to it so we don't have the rush yet yeah we'll make a motion and come back and we're going to go to the other or we're just doing a little bit of motion before we I don't think there's anyone on the table yet so you know yeah so just mechanically for folks in the room board's going to take a motion and the second for executive session Mark if you could just create a single breakout room with Jonathan and Floor and she can bring her computer in yeah does that work yeah I'll bring the computer on and I'm looking at my clerk and you have your computer with you yes so let's give him a minute to get his computer up and running and we will come back to resume the rest of the board meeting for those desires to stay which is not usually what we do so I just wanted to be really clear about that we are coming back okay so I'm looking for a motion so I've moved to enter executive session which would consider student hearings for disciplinary letters and residency requests including Megan Roy students and student parents and students and students for the person okay thank you and just there's no yes okay let's move to the other so well yeah all those in favor please signify by saying aye and we're going to go next door I moved to come out to leave executive session second all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye so I moved to accept the administration's decision or I moved to accept the administration's recommendation regarding students so so so yeah okay all those in favor please signify by saying aye thank you so I moved to enter executive session for a student disciplinary hearing to include Megan Roy students and student support second all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye I moved to accept the administration's recommendation regarding faculty yeah that's not a problem I moved to accept the administration's recommendation regarding student disciplinary hearing thank you all those in favor please signify by saying aye are we going to the residency there's no residency oh there's there's no one waiting for that one so we could go on to the rest of our meeting yeah do what yeah let's have a five minute break okay we left this we were talking about act 127 and so there's two things we could do the finance committee is meeting and the meeting is one for Tuesday in the morning we have some regular finance that we need to that we need to do at that meeting consider finding different times to meet or send a a we could empower the finance committee to come up with recommendations you know right now really we're spinning right because we don't have enough information what I want us to be to be nimble in order to be doing some work so I'm committed to finding I think we are in support are committed to finding alternative dates I have a suggestion and I really want to be scheduling but maybe we could do this time next Wednesday finance committee and anybody else who can I can I will I can I can I can yeah so yeah yeah the second Wednesday of the month so my first So, but we, we can, you know, we can do it to the fault and find out what the other person had been married 37 years, my evening is open. Celebrate every day. I got it. I got it. I got it. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Well, I would have said any information that is shared with me be shared. Well, right away, because we heard about numbers tonight that we don't have been shared. And I think having that discussion, it needs to be a board discussion because and I think, you know, we don't have a lot of time at like five weeks. And if we talk about another budget and I think we are because I think there's no way in hell that the legislature is not going to pass this legislation because they're looking at a $200 million hole that they cannot fill. They don't want to fill. So this legislation, I think we'll go through no doubt and quickly. And we should just have. Yeah. Because I know you've mentioned about cutting off the $182,000 as an easy fix. But, you know, I think the budget number was not as much a problem as we see allocation. And I think we can have a more discussion on allocation again. And because that's where I think that's where our discussion fell down last time. So. So I have a question on, I guess, the specifications on that we is the board set the overall district budget. Yes. And then the administrators get to decide how it's allocated. So ultimately speaking, the board has no say in how they use the money. But by policy, we can describe how we want the money to be used. And that's the answer is yes to that. That is out of the fire. You know, it's not out of our realm to say that we favor and support having full time nurses in every school and counselors. That is policy decision we can make. And we can direct the administration to do that. So I don't want to waste a lot of time on this conversation right now because we're not going to get anywhere. I think we have to make a commitment that we're going to get clarity. And this is not really helping our administrators right now feel confidence. I know, but we're going to get them, we're going to get them clarity. It's, it's clear that we need to bring this to the entire board. The finance committee gets going ahead and have their meeting on Tuesday because the Tuesday meeting is usually our regular business. We need to continue to do our job. So we're going to do that. We need to have an emergency meeting as a board. We at the finance committee will just. We'll discuss what is the best process. To be able to carry a new budget forward is that. Okay. We don't need any motions and then we can move on into our. Approved new teachers and resignations. Is that okay? I don't, I don't mean to cut the conversation, but we're not going to get anywhere right now on that. We haven't allocated the time. We don't have enough information to make cuts or talk about the cuts. Okay. We don't want to be cut short again. And have to make decisions under, you know, the time pressure. It says time pressure. We have 30 days, you know. Five weeks from now. We don't know when this literature is going to go through, but it will. In all. Probability. And so we should be planning. I hear floor saying we're going to come together and that she's recognizing that. It's more than the finance committee that wants to explore. And so she's acknowledging that send out a doodle poll so that as many can be there that can be there and hopefully we'll have more information. Correct. So thank you. All right. So. Approved teachers and resignations and the absence. It's on page 23. With appreciation. I would like to second for the appreciation for his hard work. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Yeah. Thank you, Mark. And congratulations in this new beginning for you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for all you've done for us. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed. Sorry. I got you really loud. All right. Okay. Back. Approved. Yeah. So. We're going to approve the minutes. I already gave it. Let's add some. There were, I was not able to send her the page with all the participants. The last time we just went through the participants added the dirty nurse. And some administrators that were missing from the last time. I didn't want to go through the whole list. There's no edit. Except who was there because. She was remote. And I didn't send her the picture of. Right. So with that, I am looking for a motion. I moved to approve the minutes from this before meeting from. 17 24. All those in favor. Please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Was the title. Was it always unified. Unified union. No, I know that. Was it always shorter to uni. Unified. Like it is on here. No. Is it? Is it always shorter to uni. Unified. No. Like it is on here. No. Is it? It's watching the central unified. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's the title. Okay. Yeah. They just knew that we were going to be here too long. So they were trying to get us to uni union. Notice. Maybe I was ever looking. Okay. So. So we. Future agenda items are in our work plan, but I think the most important. Item in our agenda right now is. It's the budget. So we'll have, we will be continued. So please be looking at your email. And Megan and I are both trying to keep you updated every minute that we have received information. You have had it in your mail. Box where it is from us. Yeah. Or from. Never months with this occupation, but, and so. Keep looking at your email. And then we're going to move into the. I need another executive. I need to enter. Thank you. For a student residency request. It includes. I need another executive. I need to enter a second session. For a student residency request. It includes. Second. Well, don't think they were pleasing me by saying. Hi. Hi. Let's move to a seconder session. All right. So. Everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Make a motion. No. No, there is no. Yeah. No action. No action. No action. No action. Okay. With that. I'm going to move my adjournment. One quick message. Anything about the budget. Even like a. We're on it. Yeah, but there. Make a motion. We need to move now. Oh no, there is no. Yeah, because nobody's, there's no action. Yeah. So no action. No action. I think we could use some of the link that we've got right. Like just say this is, we could use some of the language that we have. Yeah. This is information that we have. I have a newsletter that's going out on Friday anyway. It doesn't always line up, but it does today. Why don't I do a. Summary. In the newsletter. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm a little concerned about just saying that. Because. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm the only reason that I'm a little concerned about that is that there is a career center ballot. Also going out and not being mailed, but that people are going to vote on. So I think. Yeah. Yeah. We haven't decided whether that ballot. You're getting. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm a little concerned about just saying that. Because. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a little concerned about not being mailed, but that people are going to vote on. So I think we have to be very clear. No, but. No, but there are other articles on our ballot. Like. It would not be. Canceling. So we don't want to be like, okay, right. Yeah. So it's already close six. The one that we want to cancel. So I'm a little, I think what, what I would want to put out is that we, you know, and man is really good at summarizing that is that. Yeah. Yeah. That's for the last two weeks. So I think we're going to be just a couple of weeks down the state and then put out the. Request for people to join the Sprint. Such a committee. Sort of right below and do it last. And then for. Yep. So it's just like a quick update. Yeah. I'm thinking of my two cents. Yeah, literally two sentences. And then the super, to research stuff. It's going to be a communication challenge. You're paying. Okay.  Goodbye. Bye, goodbye. Oh, my god. Bye.


We went up earlier to talk about a guest up, a very talented young guy, and Michael Jehia, aka Kyle. Jehia, he's a Kylo KL. Some say Kyle. Guess he'll be on Twitter. Depends on where you're from. You can learn a group of schools in there. You can say Makairo. So you depend. Welcome to the E-Cycan. Now you're singing in background. Let's just jump into it. You were with the Red Fourth chorus and now you're doing your own solo thing. Let's talk about the Red Fort experience. What did you learn from them? Basically everything. I was not a singer 3 years ago. I was more of a rapper. Even if I have been raking songs since I was 6 years old, it was more of me if I had been to Akina Tupak, Biggie. So it's when 3 years ago they were like you really can't sing and it's not the chart thing but you really can't sing. So that's when a friend of mine suggested this group called Red Fort. Go join them and then they'll actually help you in grain. So I came and joined and then they have taught me a lot. What it takes to be a good singer, your vocals know your range because sometimes we over stretch ourselves and yet kunaile you get. Practically I would say they have taught me everything. Fila is the one who is in charge of Red Fort and so much bigger to him. Nice, nice. In terms of you saying you never sang before. No. Before Red Fort. No. Ever, ever, ever. So when you realize you could sing, did you immediately think you could make a career out of this? What was the thought process before you started your solo career? I would say my decision to start a solo career started in 2015. This was way back before I even knew I could sing. I was more of a rapper back then. And so in my mind I didn't even actually consider the singing part. Just the rap part. Yeah exactly. So 2 years down the line when I'm now trying to now find my roots in the industry my friends are like you know you guy. Try also this because it wouldn't hurt being a singer and a rapper. You get. Sia ti sasa juta kwemba okirapita kwa softati. And Drake is doing it. Right? Chris Brown also started. Right? And so even to Reliance there's a song to Reliance. And so that's when I started trying to explore the singing. With that regard I want to give you a challenge. First of all. Yeah. Reliance. It's not a hard one. Challenge. Is it accepted? Yeah sure sure. Give us a line or two. One of your original songs. Then as you do that in the back of your mind I want to think of your favorite biggie line. Let's start with your original one. Camera number four is yours. So literally I sing and then I rap. No no no just rap. Because we want to get the rapping part before we go to the music. So that's a really nice song. We're going to premiere that in just a few. But we want to see all sides of you. Ok. So I rap. Ok. I know you're tired of falling for people like when we came out. I know you're tired of crying to the people wishing they were shoulders. Come on hold you do with chocolates when you cuddle. The things you do for them are so beneath. You tangulini figa eka chorasa by the queen boss to no one. I know they don't tell you that's the crown slip and falls. But the queen boss to wait except the king so but come with me we are working there. Hey hey. That was some 2 Pack influenced right there. But now you said there was 2 Pack and Biggie who were your biggest influences. So that's the challenge right there. Your favorite biggie line from all of his tracks. My favorite biggie line... Do you know this is a sport that I am an artist, but then all the songs are like Pfff Ya, but it's been a long time You'll be like, aa Marimix, Nedly, big game, Nedly Okay, let's shelf that for now Let's move on Now you're solo career The dread for the player hand in it in terms of the recording In terms of the recording of the music of now you're solo tracks What did you have to go to another producer? I would say I had to Because I, how to put this Redford to me hold a special place when it comes to performance And now when it comes to making the music I already had, before I even joined Redford I already had a producer in mind That I wanted to work with Because nilkwanshawana like he's working inini And so I wanted to test him if he's able to hack the song So when he actually did That's when I considered him to produce the rest of the album How did it feel listening to yourself? Because as you said you were someone who identified as a rapper Then you were like, oh, I can sing But now this is something on record Your voice, just singing How did it feel to listen to yourself in that vulnerable state? I'd say this, I didn't listen to myself at first I wasn't fast on to hit my own voice When the song came out, I took it to a friend of mine Who I trust in musical inini I wanted kwanza ni pate He's perceptive, even though me inki, I'm like Yeah, he's true, he's true Because I'm pretty sure ningim And he goes Apu anya singe, ningim Yeah, you're criticizing Exactly Because I guess that's why we tend to do mostly To najari buku like fix things Even if it's already good Yeah So nilimpe like ya, akha nini anya You're good It's good Me, it's good Nice, you said there's an album When can we have this album And what's the theme of the album? So the album is called Nairobi an album And basically it's an album that explains It's like a story So it's an album about a guy Who falls in love together But then it messes up And then the rest of the song It explains now the process after And you thought it was the love of your life Now this guy is a hardcore So he goes partying And then he finds another one They mess, nini nini So the whole album is literally a story Of a guy trying to find himself In the place of After the breakup Exactly This is nice, it's like now This is one for the boys Out of wipi Because all I'm ever seeing is Sji The lady So finally we have something For the boys So are you trying to In terms of like your demographic Is that it? You're trying to cut across Yes Not just that you know Have just a certain group Of people listening to my songs Because now if Let's say I start producing songs For just a specific Kind of age 18 to 30 Meaning when I'm 31 I want to listen to my own song And I want to grow all listening To the things I did And you know reminisce Kind of like It has been a good life With that regard What do you think of the current industry In terms of music In terms of rappers And singers Do you feel like They're taking that time To think about their music Before they lay it down The way you did Because you're like When I'm 31 Will I listen to this So do you think Or do you feel like The number one hits right now In the airwaves People are thinking about the music I would say Evan has their own strategy And In my end I would think This is how this guy Is thinking But maybe He has a dream Of his music And we wouldn't say Someone would actually Want to jeopardize Their own career So They might be doing Something that we think It's not it But to them They have a plan ahead I'm just saying This is my story Like this is how I want to do my music Women of little Methena Siwa Is your answer You didn't feel the answer But you answered So it's okay It's okay Let's just move on to The album is coming through The solo career May happen Now there's the new track On YouTube Your YouTube channel is Kalanjiha Tell us about Ndugadie Umisama Nmtu alikwa In a relationship Then They broke up Then The whole story In the album starts Is this a personal experience? No You remember I said I'm an actor Part of an actor is How to sell a story Don't finesse this answer I don't feel anything When I sat down to write the album I literally Had to make it look As if it's personal I literally had to Make it look As if it's me telling you Not me So It has nothing to do With that personal story Nothing to do with Nothing Okay, the song is about The song is about A guy Who works Like Abroad You spend less time with this woman And then Once in a while You could go on a visit But the woman Enough Kamali another feel Like It's not enough And so then Don't break enough Because love has ended They're just breaking up Because it's been stretched too much Right And so that's why You've seen this song I'm trying to tell Stay I'll try to make it work Stay And then No, she She's like I thought there's a deeper story here But Ataki kusayama Ataki kusayama Imagine there's no deeper story Okay, maybe the deeper story Come with the album The whole album So we'll have to wait For the album You have to wait until We get the album How long To artist So the album Is going to drop next June But I'm going to be releasing I'm going to try Release a song Every two months Although I won't release A song in April Because there's some projects That I need fast To make sure they're done Before I start releasing them Back to back Back to back So that By the time April Almost have the Almost all 90% Of the album Will all of them be solo projects Or Is there like a collaboration in mind For this album This is going to be Solo projects For the album But I'm not limiting myself To collab with For this album The alumna The Red Forth guys Of course Would you call the men And say In Sadia Kwaharmoni Zapa You know those guys Are just magical Have you ever gone to their shows Like So I would want to have If it's possible Not in the album But There's this album Nairobian album And then there's me Doing some songs You get So there are songs That I'm going to be releasing For the album And then there are songs I'm going to be releasing And basically The ones you want to put out Then the others Not really Wefanyaka eni kama Onozo Ni hazi If you're talented You're talented With that regard We'll give you the first challenge Which is their rap This is the second one The ladies are waiting Onozo tuma Uti niroro Imingia poko studio Okay Before we play Doga de Number four Give us Just some melody Some melody I'm trying to think Which is the best part In that song Number four