This is my 24th. Thank you to the students for being here. We're gonna call for, I'm looking for a motion to go into executive session. I move that the board enter into executive session for the purpose of considering matters related to the discipline of students as authorized by 21 VSA section 313A7 to include Megan Roy, Steven Dellinger, Pate, Kerry Wilson, and Jessica Wills. Thank you, Jonas. A second. Second. Thank you.  Yeah, it was verified if Tyron is invited. It is. The family, the family. Yes. Thank you. So all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, please mark take us to the, everybody see me? Hey, welcome. And there's Maya too. Okay. Welcome, everybody. Thank you for being here. We're gonna call the meeting. Well, we already called the meeting to order a few minutes ago. Recording in progress. Okay, got it. We're recording this in process. I wanted to start today's meeting by first acknowledging all of the people that are coming today. And also acknowledging that we just had prom on Saturday and just a shout out to all our students, juniors and seniors that participate in the prom. It was beautiful to see the, I was able to see it because I also had a junior, but it's, you know, it's the best time of the year, I think is just that final and seeing all of the, you know, the creativity and their individuality is just great to see them all at the state house. The second, ooh, and we have our students, it was so exciting. I, Maya and Willa, Willa was at prom too. I didn't get to see Maya, but she probably was there too. Yeah. So the next thing, just to set the tone for today's, for today's meeting, I wanted to start by reading our statement from Humanity and Justice, from Humanity and Justice Coalition that we adopted as a board. So it says the Washington Central Unified Union School, this trick is dedicated to taking concrete actions that provide a safer and more supportive learning environment that is free of barriers and one that's free of variance and that affirms the identity of each of us and acknowledges and celebrates differences to create a sense of belonging for each person connected to our schools. The schools district is committed to creating inclusive educational opportunities that are relevant both historically and culturally addressing the impacts of bias, prejudice and discrimination while building more opportunity for us to thrive rather than to merely survive. This statement represents a commitment within our school district to unknowledge and end oppression and oppressive systems to center the full humanity of all in our community and to keep it broadening our perspectives. These identities included are not limited to race, color and doing the extended version. I thought that's what we needed today.  Our commitment is to development of culturally humility and personal growth that is best supported in a climate that respects differences and provides a sense of belonging and inclusion. So with that, I just wanted to set us in a mind frame that just like our kids, it reminds us to keep a growth mindset just like we teach our kids in school and that we're looking for progress together. And let's be inclusive, honest and intentional tonight at our meeting. We have a lot of really important conversations today and I want everybody in the room to ask themselves as this question while you are either doing a comment or responding of what you're thinking at today's meeting is how am I an agent of change to achieve our mission and vision for Washington Central or how do I imagine an agent of change to get towards that humanity and justice statement that we just read. So with that, sorry for it to be a little long. Let's get started. And the first order of business is any adjustments to the agenda? We have welcome all our guests. So we're gonna get in right into our presentation and our students are here. I'm super excited to see them. I see Avery and Jasper. Shelly, so I'm gonna let you guys speak. All right, so thank you. We are here. Oh, just turn the volume up a little. Ew. Laura and I do this every time we're in the same room. So it's okay that it's happening to you. Thank you. Okay. Are we good? Nice. Okay, so sorry. SSJ is here today to propose to raise the progress pride flag, which as most of you probably remember we did last year as well. But it's a thing that you have to do every year in order to get the flag raised. And we just decided to come back to the school board to show you guys kind of what we've been doing since we raised the flag and how the students feel about it as well. So I think we have Jasper, Avery and possibly Wilder here to talk. Hi, I'm Avery and I'm a junior and I'm a part of SSJ. So you'll see me next year and like the rest of our wonderful crew who are here tonight. And I'd just like to say that SSJ has really lived up to his full potential this year. And it's been really exciting. We have students committed to making our school and community a better and safer place for LGBTQIA plus people within the bounds of U32 and across the state. And so I took on lots of the survey that we took for all of the students in our school. The choice to raise the flag, we had 70% of our students showing support for that. But I'd like to recognize that in the comment section of this, we have a lot of people expecting more from our school using correct pronouns and names and creating a more equitable curriculum. We are ready to be held to this high standard because we recognize that there's still a long way to go and this re-raising of the progress-plied flag is our recommitment to our students and especially our LGBTQ plus students and their wants, needs, hopes and aspirations. And I guess we're gonna send it over to Jasper now. Hello everyone. Thank you for having us. Our wonderful Maya suggested that I keep things short and probably because she knows I'm not very good at brevity but I will give it my best shot. So my name is Jasper. I use the other pronouns. I have been a member of U32 seeking social justice for six years now, I'm a senior and I worked on the flag proposal last year. So when I first heard that we're gonna have to have this renewal process every year, I had the same reaction as a lot of people which is frustration, but it felt a little bit unnecessary and arduous and just like another hoop that we had to jump through before doing a lot of the equity work that we wanted to. But with a bit of reflection, I began to realize that I actually really appreciated for several reasons. First, when we fly a flag without backing, it could actually end up being dangerous, right? Especially five, 10 years down the road when students have changed and the people of power have changed, the flag is up and the support isn't anymore. That can end up being very misleading and harmful to the students. And second, last year with the raising of the flag, we made the commitment that we would, as seeking social justice and other members of the community would do education. So we held a district-wide in-service workshops for high school and middle school students, about half a dozen book talks. We traveled to every elementary school with the exception of one that we're gonna do at the beginning of June and we talked to elementary schoolers and some of the teachers as well. I guess taught for Shelley's class and we also reached a bit beyond the district. We started going to the Education Justice Coalition's conference in White River Junction and we were also commissioned by the Vermont Department of Health to talk about equity for queer students in Vermont. So this renewal really represents the same commitment again. It represents a commitment from us at SSJ to continue to do our social justice work and for the student body as a whole to continue to do that work as well. There will hopefully be many more workshops, talks, presentations and in-services. I'm also really happy to announce that we're gonna be reopening our middle school track of SSJ for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. This vote though also represents a commitment from you at the school board. The commitment that you will continue to value and support your career students. And the rising of this pride flag is really a promise from everyone, from the students, from the school board, from the teachers, and from the wider community in general that they will keep the students that it represents safe. So thank you for your support and for your consideration. Thank you, Jasper and Avery and Maya. Is there any other students presenting or Meg, do you have something to share too before I open it up for the board? I see that Wilder's here. Did you want to share Wilder? Oh, Wilder, hi Wilder. Yeah. Sure, I can, I think Jasper and Avery and Maya summed it up pretty good, but I'm Wilder, I'm a senior and I know that like last year, when we started working on like flying the flag, it was really powerful to see how much community support was behind it. But I've also seen, even since we've raised it, that there's a lot of room for improvements still and a lot of learning that still needs to happen. And so I think that, yeah, just like re-raising the flag is like a really important symbol of our continuation of trying to educate the community and like teach those values that you were talking about at the beginning floor. And so, yeah, I think that's why we should continue to raise it and also why I think it's also a good idea to like keep revisiting it and keep trying to educate each other. So, yeah, thank you. Thank you, Wilder too. So that was a very short presentation and thank you for coming here. It brings a lot of value to us to do it every year and remind us of our commitment to the work. So board members, any questions, any comments? McKellen? I just wanted to say that my sixth grader at Doty so enjoyed your visit and she was thrilled to hear that you're reopening the middle school tract as well. So thank you. Thank you for all you do. Thank you, Diane. Thank you, Jasper, for explaining to a positive side to bringing this vote up every year. I agree it seems a little frustrating to have to expect you all to come back. But I love that explanation of it, that it keeps it real, it keeps it alive and it keeps reminding us that it isn't just a representation that there's action that needs to be behind it. So thank you for that. Thank you. Any others? I see Willa clapping. I agree with that. So with that, I'll be looking for a motion for the board and first, thank you to our students and Meg and for being here. We have nothing but gratitude for the work that you do and we still have a lot of work ahead of us but the board is committed to the work and we'll keep collaborating with you guys and thank you for being the voice and the change that we wish to see in the world. So with that, board member, could I have a motion to approve Ursula? I move that we approve the request to fly the progress pride flag. Second. Second. All right, I was muted. Getting used to that different computer. Jonathan, that was that you the second one? I couldn't, yeah. Ursula and Jonathan. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstain? Hearing none, the motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much for being here. Please be, we welcome you. We're gonna have all important conversations so please stay with us. Maybe you can't stay with us, we understand but I would love it if you could stay with us. All right. Thank you. So moving on, it's another presentation. I forgot to do a little clarification for a public. If the public is here, you're gonna have a chance to speak after this presentation and at the end of the meeting. Okay, and we'll talk about that in a minute. Megan and Steven. Sure. Thank you, Floor. I will get us started and then Steven and I will kind of talk through a little bit and we will not talk long and then can answer questions though. After the last conversation the board had around mascots, you asked us for some information, not about the decision making about whether to change the mascot but what it would look like to go through a process to choose a new mascot and symbol if that is ultimately what the board chooses because the information felt important to your discussion and deliberation. So we've had an opportunity to mock up what that process would look like and Steven will share that in a second. Obviously this is a mock up of a process. We part of the process would be to make sure that we are hitting all of the marks and doing this in a way that makes sense because the biggest, our perspective and we've had a chance to talk to other schools who've gone through this process is particularly the selection of a new mascot and symbol is very much student driven and so it will evolve based on how the students might define the process. So I will pause there. Steven can just kind of highlight some of the process pieces and then I'll come back at the end and make a connection to some of the other work happening and then we'll open it up for questions. All right, good evening everybody. I'm not gonna read through the note that we put in there but I just, I think the important thing to point out in this process is that it will take us the better part of a year if we are making a mascot change and a couple of the big pieces, I think some of the benchmark spots that we have is that once we decide if we want to change the mascot then we will need to go through a process to first determine what would people want and then we will need to vet whatever that might be and so that process will need to take some time so that we can both vet what everybody's looking for to make sure that we don't create the same issue that we might be trying to avoid now and then we would also want people to have some input at a couple of different stages. Quite honestly, I took this very similar to the process we're using for strategic planning in terms of looking at the process itself and then I would just point out in phase three where once we decide that we would have what the new image and logo would be, I put in some estimates for what it would cost for us to start doing things. The biggest single cost is probably going to be uniforms for our sports teams. We have a rotation of how we usually update those, just every four years that would have to be done in one big batch to get everything started. So those are some of the considerations that we would need but I think the important thing is to say that should we go into this process, it is not a quick process and it will take some time for us to determine what we want. I would also add that I haven't spoken with any other schools directly about the process of changing it, but changing the colors would be an insurmountable task. It would only be the mascot and so I think I know that that may sound trivial to say but I think it needs to be said that we would not be changing school colors in any way, shape or form. Thank you, Steven, for that. I had not thought about highlighting that but yes, the amount of infrastructure that would need to be adjusted if we did that would be enormous. So I guess I'll just pick up a thread that Steven mentioned which is just an acknowledgement and the board knows this but just an acknowledgement that simultaneous to this conversation and is the strategic planning process that just in general often prompts some rebranding for the district and that's probably due for us as Washington Central and that has its own process. And it's not to say that selecting a new logo for the district is quite as involved as what Steven described, it's not but it is happening simultaneously to the strategic planning. So just ensuring that the board connects those conversations is helpful. So again, our intention was really just to give you the information and we can answer questions. For members, questions for Megan and go ahead, Chris and then Jonathan. Chris, sorry, you're muted. I'm gonna let Jonathan go while you figure out. Oh, there you are. There you are. Again, so Steven, you talked about a vetting process. It sounds like at the end, who are the vetters? So Chris, I would say that the vetting process isn't even at the end. I would say that it's in the middle and that would have to be a representative group of people. So I don't even know who those people would be specifically but it would need to be students, community members. Like we would have to decide who that would be. Okay. And then... Oh, sorry, Chris, before you ask your second question, I would add to that your, and I agree 100% was Steven and we should do this simultaneously but your policy actually also says that every time you change your mask, you will do a review process. So again, we shouldn't do that at the end. It would be simultaneously but that means that the board has a role in the review also because you have to affirm that whatever we pick is in compliance with your policy. Okay. And I'm assuming that when you use this phrase community, people have been put into the final choosing of the mascot or set student of the final choosing. It's not like the process is gonna be you're gonna put your vet and there's a logo that's picked and then presented to students to vote on. Is it only one choice or is it multiple choices? I would think that we would take our top choices, multiple choices, vet those and then those would come before the students for final vote. And then of course, as Megan just said, the board would still have to approve that as well. Okay. Thank you very much. Yeah, so briefly my quick question is about what's, if you could just say for a little student support right now for changing to an unknown at this point, an unknown mascot, but just to the place to change the mascot and have that conversation. What's the feeling of the students as far as you can tell? So what we presented last time when the students were here is survey data and the high level summary of that survey, I can pull it up or put it in the chat for folks, the copy of last month's board report, but there is not a compelling, there is not a large number of students who feel particularly tied to the mascot and there is also not a large percentage of students who responded to the survey who think it needs to change. So those were the high level findings of that piece. And then there were a number of comments in that report that kind of put a little bit more detail around that concept, but it is true that the survey itself did not have a high percentage of students who said, I have a sense of urgency to change this mascot right now. Thank you. Any other questions before I open it to the public to have a comment, Kailin? Just a clarification, I guess, the process, is this the time to, no, it's not time to comment. We're gonna discuss later. Yeah, we're gonna discuss as part of our, so if you, yeah, that's a clarification too. We wanted the presentation so the public could also listen to the presentation, then we'll have public comments and as part of our board operations, then we will look at what are our next steps and we'll decide together that other memo that was down there on page 19, I think it was. Okay, let's, I'm gonna open it up for community members if they have come and just, I don't know how many hands we're gonna have up if we have a significant amount of community input. We're gonna keep it at two minutes like we usually do and we'll time it and we'll mute after two minutes. Please listen to understand, be present, the usual, I don't know who's here that has heard the same thing over and over again, but be kind to each other, make space for everyone and lean into the difficult, not difficult, but just leaning to the growing together, right, into, so with that, are there any, I see one hand, am I missing, I mean, at different computers, I'm not, I see one hand, Kim, welcome. I can't see you, but I think you're under. Yes, I'm sorry, I can't use my camera with the rain in my internet. It's okay, Kim, go ahead. So I'm just making sure that this is the appropriate place. Could I have a clarification on the bylaws? If I'm understanding this properly, it is a student vote on the change of mascot. Is that written in the bylaws somewhere? No, Kim, the board is gonna make the ultimate decision. We had a student led, but we have policy. The policy is included, you have the packet in front of you, otherwise I can email it to you in the, we have a little link to the policy and we have a little link to the report and a little link also to a report from one of our students, does that make sense? So ultimately the board will make the decision. We will, you know, we will move ahead with that, but it's all from the policy. Okay, I guess my biggest concern, you know, I've dedicated a lot of time to the community. My husband is a U32 graduate. And I look at this as a three-part, a business, a taxpayer and a parent. As a parent, I volunteered a lot of money, whether it be through the time in a volunteer status, to work through the PTO, to attend events, to work at the football stand, all of those things to raise money, to buy stuff for the school and to benefit the kids. As a taxpayer, I'm giving money to education and a school budget. And as a business, I donate a lot of money to various programs that have been funded. So I guess when I was reading the packet that we're going to give the information part way through or closer to the end about the cost for this program, if we decide to go through with a mascot change, I really think we need to start with some harder facts on the costs and put that out to the public because as a taxpayer, if we're going to be funding a school budget, if the money for this mascot change is going to come out of the budget somewhere, I really feel like as a taxpayer, I want to know up front. And I'm a little concerned with the economy and the businesses and so many small businesses are struggling. They don't have a lot of discretionary income right now. And I think a lot of the donations that you might see are going to be cutting back. So you can't rely on those for any of these changes or advertising or rebranding. So I feel like we need to have some of that more information up front before. And maybe we need to look at more pulling from the community, not just from the students. I feel like we're giving the students a lot of leeway. And I know that we want to be fair and equitable, but the students aren't funding this. The community will have to fund this. So I just really feel like, let's not move too fast on this. Let's really take our time and take a good, hard look at the impact on the community, the school budget and what is driving this change. Thank you so much, Kim. Thanks for your input, Dan. Yes, thank you, Floor. My attendance at tonight, this is the first school board meeting I've attended and my attendance is related to the mascot conversation. And as a former coach, a taxpayer, a future parent of multiple district students, this has piqued my interest. And admittedly, I'm not familiar enough with kind of school board proceedings, et cetera. So I have a genuine question. Knowing that these are elected positions, is it the responsibility of the school board to or do they have the authority, I should say, to act on their own accord? And the reason I ask is because in the Times-Argus write-up, which sort of grabbed my attention, there were a lot of I statements. And it felt like a lot of the conversation hovered around the individual's opinions on this matter. And given that they're elected positions, is there a responsibility to the towns in this district to engage the community? And rather than vote from an eye perspective, vote based on the input of the people that elect them to these roles. I agree with Kim in that I feel we are leaning far too much into giving the students control over a matter like this. They certainly should be involved in it, but there are many other stakeholders that need to be considered. And I'm curious about process here. Thank you, Dan. You raised a lot of questions.  We will discuss those as we get into our board operations on 6.1, just wanted to clarify that. And then I have a, Jasper, I see your hand, but I have also Rose who couldn't raise her hand.  Yeah, I guess I'm changing the school mascot. I'm new to the meeting, so I don't know what's going on. Yes, it's just we have a presentation. So if you can do a public comment in anything right now. Oh, we're talking about if we wanna change it or not. Yes, we just presented, so yes. Okay, I wasn't sure if a decision was already made to change it and we were talking about what the mascot's gonna be. We haven't made a decision. We haven't made a decision. So you're on time to give your input. Okay, oh, I'm fine with the mascot the way it is. I don't think we should change it unless there was someone offended by it and wanna get changed. I guess I've missed out on that, I'm sorry. Thank you, Rose. Jasper? Hi, it's me again. I, one thing that I think hasn't been brought up enough in this conversation is the perception of other schools because while the data collection and the surveys have shown that our students don't have a huge adverse reaction to it. And when we're looking into the history a bit more, it doesn't seem to have particularly racist or prejudiced connotation originally. We just, we chose a name and then created a mascot around that a very long time ago and the mascot was never particularly prejudiced. The name itself has that connotation and it's very unlikely that the schools around us will understand our history like we do about how we made that decision around our mascot. So when they see the name, there is a lot of assumption there about what our history is. And if we're not actively communicating what that history is, which is unlikely that we will, they're going to jump to a lot of the conclusions that we had jumped to originally as well without the time of the school board meetings and the research and the reports being delivered to them that our community gets. So that's another perception thing I just wanted to throw in as well. Thank you, Jasper. Any other public comments? I don't see any other hands up. Megan or Mark, could you double check? You're correct. I don't see any other hands on the screen. Hopefully you can, you hear okay, they're vacuuming right now. So yeah, okay, good. Okay, so let's move into the student report. Hi, welcome, nice to see you. Oh, you're so great. Okay, we switched computers. Okay, take it away, Maya. You're actually, I'm actually first. Okay, so we've had our spring sports and they've been doing great. Our senior, it's like kind of in the senior week. So the seniors haven't happening. Baseball had their senior night last night. I think it's all over as well. And then La Crosse was tonight and tennis was supposed to be in the night for the boys, the girls was yesterday. It was Monday. And, but the boys tennis match got rained out. As Flora knows, cause her son plays tennis. So the sports have been doing well. Everyone's happy to be outside. There's a lot more fans cause everyone wants to be in the sun and it's been good. Oh, the rain's been pretty okay. Normally it'd been pretty wet, but we've been doing all right. Maya's gonna talk about the art show. Okay, we also had our theater program put on the show Pippin recently last month. It went really well. We had four shows. Most of them were filled, which was amazing. Yeah, next art show. So our art show is getting set up currently. I don't know what it actually is, but it's gonna be next Friday is our art show and it's gonna be with photography, pottery, drawing, painting and all of our extracurriculars that fall under art. It'll be great. June 2nd, you guys should all stop by. We have very talented students. That is true. Also, as you heard earlier, Seeking Social Justice has been touring around the elementary schools to meet with not only the students and answer questions and give a presentation on not only LGBTQ stuff, but also just U32 in general and our club and what they can expect in the future. And we also talked to the teachers in the elementary schools and answered their questions and had some really good discussions as well. So tomorrow is our pep rally. And so a lot of students have been showing their school spirit by wearing their theme. Steven is currently wearing a Hawaiian type shirt because it was like a server's day. So I got permission and we're gonna go on a field trip. And basically one of our themes for pep squad is each class has a designated hallway. So this is the seniors. I don't know if you can see it, but the seniors chose their theme and their color was black. So they went with a, I don't know if you can tell, but a Batman theme. Okay, we're gonna go this way now. It's like we're on FaceTime. Okay, now we, no, no, I'm just gonna show you this one. And then the sophomores are the color blue. So they did a under the sea hallway. The freshmen are green. I don't know if you can hear this, Steven. It's a Shrek. So it's all green down there. And then my class, the juniors are white and they're on the balcony. I don't know if you can tell, that's all white. But I honestly didn't think it was gonna be successful. And then everyone, no matter if your friends or not, have helped each other and supported each other and created a really fun things. And it's been great. It's not really out of breath, but it's been really fun. And it's good to see that everyone's had some school spirit. And tomorrow's our pep rally. So we're all gonna be outside for half of the day. And last week we pie Jess. And so we have raised a lot of money for a pep squad.  We also on Friday have word of mouth, which is something that we've restarted this year because of one of our students, Jasmine. And it's basically where students can sign up to share performances. So Will is actually gonna be playing piano and we have singers and bands and poets. And it'll be very cool. Kind of going off of that. Pilot has been wrapping up this year and they've been doing their final presentations. Pilot is basically like an individual learning program here at U32. And it's grown significantly in the past year. And they're just sharing their learning. So if any of you wanna stop by, I you might have the schedule, but we could send it out to you. It's definitely a good way to see the different ways that students are learning at U32 now. And Saturday was the prom. And everyone looked amazing. And Steven and Jess were our bouncers. And they ended up jumping in at times dancing. Jess at one point led the conga line, which was really fun. The most important thing about prom is everyone was safe and got home safe and everyone was good. And so that was a very, I think, successful night and no one got hurt, which is the most important thing. So it's a successful prom night, I would say. And everyone looked really great. And I saw four too. And to finish it up, we now have less than a month until graduation. So all of the seniors are finishing, getting their work done, getting their proficiencies. And then just kind of relaxing and waiting to graduate. Most everyone knows where they're going, what they're gonna do, which is very exciting. So yeah, that's June 16th, if anyone wants to stop by. And finally, one last thing we've been working on is connecting students with the school board more. So I know Avery, who was here earlier, has been working really hard on that, talking with a couple people and giving you guys to like come to shadow and Steven just pointed something through me off. And just having students participate more in the board meetings, which hopefully is something that will pop up more next year. And the last thing is, today is Maya's last school board meeting. So these are for you. At least for me, she's been a great role model through all of elementary school and to now. But I think she, I mean, you can't really like applaud on Zoom, but I think everyone agrees, oh, you can. I think everyone agrees that she brought a lot to the meeting and helped a lot throughout our school. So Maya, we're gonna miss you and we wish you the best. Thank you. Come here. And that is, oh, that's it. Thank you very much guys and thank you. And thank you, Will, for reminding us that it was Maya's last day. I'm sorry that it is remote Maya, but thank you for all you've done for us and helping us open our minds and for being so active in the U32 community and for participating in our meetings. I hope that you're staying a little longer today, but thank you. Thank you for all you have brought to us. Board members, do you guys have any questions for our awesome students? Vanish and Aimee, we're sitting on several of the most productive. It was a fantastic student report. Thank you. I think that was, Chris, are you unmuting? No, I'm good, I'm good. Thank you, Maya, for all your help and insight. And good luck with next year. All right, so moving on to our next reports. Megan? Yep, so I'll just highlight a couple of things from the report, but first, I was just gonna echo the thanks to you, Maya. You and Willow are my first two student board members. So I'm really sorry that we're virtual, though. That is a little anticlimactic for us thanking you. And we didn't realize, we didn't think about that when we flipped this one. So thank you. So I'm gonna highlight two things. One is the board did ask for a little bit of information around how our vacancies this year during hiring season compared to past years. You will notice that you are acting later this evening on a slew of hires. And I think that's indicative of a really positive hiring season this year. You even got a few last minute because we've been interviewing right up till today at three o'clock. So in all seriousness, it really is a strong candidate pool this year, certainly stronger than it has been in the immediate past. We're really excited about who we're bringing on board. There are still hard to fill positions. I don't wanna pretend that that's not true. Those still fall in special education and speech pathology, but we've filled a couple of key positions in special ed and the SLP world. And that's really exciting. So in general, we at this point in the year have about half as many vacancies as we had last year. And that number represents more than just the licensed staff. So that is exciting. And also our numbers of folks who have either asked for extensions or haven't returned letters of intent is pretty on par with what it's been in the past. So that's all good news. I'll save the rest of the update around vacancies to later on. And I'll talk a little bit actually about the principal hiring process, but I will do that later. The other thing that I wanted to just draw the board's attention to, and then I can answer questions, but you have heard us update you about recommendations coming out of the district safety team, which came out of our safety assessment that was done in August. And that covers an array of things. There's an update in the report this month around kind of the scope and sequence of implementing what's called an options-based response system. And that is responding to threats in schools. We will be embarking on training all of our faculty and staff about that, starting in June with a very short initial training about what it is and why we're doing it and an opportunity to gather input about what we should be, where are our faculty and staff as we start to train? It's a sensitive topic, I don't have to tell you that. Today's the anniversary of one of the events that causes us to have to do this. So we are trying to be really thoughtful and careful in training. There will be more specific family communication coming out in the summer. Also opportunities for families to have kind of question and answer sessions in the fall, sort of fall back to school time. Those will be local in our buildings. And I guess what I would just highlight is this is a process where we start with training the adults and making the adults feel comfortable and that will happen before any sort of drill. And drills particularly in the beginning are not going to look very different or feel different than the drills we already do like lockdown, fire drill. So I'm happy to answer questions and there will be more opportunities but I wanted to highlight. And the board should also know that legislation did not pass this session but certainly is likely to pass around requiring the same district safety recommendations that we happen to be implementing so we will be in good shape. But we are required to implement this. We will be required to implement this training. And then the one other highlight I would have is you also read in your report I should have done this around vacancies but we have a couple of transitions coming up. We have a principal transition in Berlin and a transition at central office, Michelle. And I won't put her on the spot. There's time for that later but very long time and enormous contributor to the system. So we'll be headed into some transition. So those are the highlights I'm happy to answer if there are any questions. For members, go ahead, Chris. So Megan in terms of the training you said the training will start with the adults. Does it then filter down to students? Students also part of the training process? Yep. And so what it starts with is there's sort of a developmental sequence of what is it students will know and be asked to what skills will they be asked to do and that will be developmentally adjusted. So a really easy example of that is high school students will probably receive a lot of information about what they're training and why. Kindergarten first, second grade students are likely to be taught to listen to what their teacher says to understand when your teacher says this, this is what that means. When your teacher says this, this is what that means. So yes, students will be involved and we will be spelling out much more information about what does that actually look like for students. And is the type of training that we're talking about significantly different from previous training in terms of responses? So that's a great question. The biggest difference between an options-based system and what we currently do is that in an options-based system, the goal is to teach the individual what their options are and allow them to make their own decision instead of relying on, I do what, so if I'm in this space, I'm not just gonna wait for the intercom to say lockdown, the intercom would give a crisis command and I would assess my situation and I would either lock down, which is hide, or I would exit, which is run and there is without going into it. Although this question also makes me think we could run the training that we are doing with the teachers, with the board, if the board would like the June training for teachers is just a really nice synopsis of exactly what this process is and it might answer some of those questions. So as I'm trying to answer them, it makes me think we also could give you an opportunity to view that. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you, Megan. In, Chris, for your question too. Any other questions from board members? I don't see hands up. But thank you, Megan, this is very comprehensive. Oh, Maggie. I also have the same question as Chris about whether it's gonna be a change in the training and would love to have us as a school board community understand what the students and the teachers are being trained in. Thanks. I don't see any other hands up. So before we move to the next report, I just wanna say to Erin and Michelle that this is not the last meeting that you're gonna be with us. So we are gonna do proper justice to it. And again, sorry, Maya, that we didn't see that. I thought we would be seeing you in June. At least at the first student meeting. So, we acknowledge that you have served our district well and that you have cared for our students for many years and we're thankful for that and we'll celebrate properly. So just wanted to put that out there and then move into the principal's report. And there's any highlights and just thankful for you guys being with us, both Erin and Michelle and Maya. Okay, principal report, any highlights? Should I be calling in somebody, Megan, or just questions from the board? No, we take questions from the board if there are any. Board members, I know you read it. Any questions? Laura, I didn't raise my hand, but I'm gonna talk. Lindy has the floor. Did the state testing get better? At our last board meeting, you had just done like one or two days and it had had a lot of glitches. And we found after April vacation, some of those glitches seem to have gotten fixed and I'm hoping that that was true in Washington Central. That's great, I'm looking at Jen's name to see if she wants to give. I can do it as well. Oh, here she, yeah, there she goes. Here I come, sorry. Yes, it got a lot better for us. So I actually just reviewed all of the data with principals recently and Michelle and all but one of our elementary students, maybe two are done and we've submitted our, the principals have submitted their certification statements or in the middle of doing that. At U32, we have more makeups just because U32 is bigger and we organized differently in the, like the first day was really glitchy for seventh grade but they have a solid plan for all the makeups and we anticipate hopefully by the very end of next week being fully made up. They went much more smoothly. Thanks for asking. Any other questions from board members? I have one and I know that we don't have a lot of time. I just, I know that you guys just finished, Berlin mentioned it too that you just finished your district book talks and I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind just how, that's important work, that's how we move forward towards that humanity and justice work that we're doing. I didn't know if you had anything to share. Yeah, I'm happy to share sort of where we are. I was able to attend two of the equity book group celebrations, one at Doty last weekend at U32's today. Given just the size of our district in those schools, they felt very different in just ethos but they were both wonderful and we did a little bit of informal swapping. I have definitely heard, for example, at one of the schools that they might be interested in taking on a book talk together, a whole school faculty read of a book with some vignettes and I expect that what we'll do is do a little bit of debriefing across the school, the planning group that did that work together to figure out what might be next steps. We can bring that to the Humanity and Justice Coalition as well. The other thing that I would add is that one of the activities that we invited folks to participate in if they were interested was doing like a little art piece around reflecting on what they're carrying forward from their book groups and folks have been sending me digital photos of them and I'll put them together and that would be something probably for the kickoff at the beginning of the year and I'd be really thrilled to share it with you. There's some pretty amazing artwork that folks created together. That's wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, Chen. And last comment, I just really appreciate it. I know the entire board appreciate that last page is the supervision and evaluation that seems like you were talking to each other and everybody, this is an exciting time of reflection for us and reminds us as a board also, we would be doing that at our retreat. So thank you for that. And now let's move back. So principles of central Vermont Career Center. So there were just two things that I wanted to highlight from the career center. We recently had our board meeting too, but I just wanted to highlight two things. One, we would be having a graduation it's on Thursday, June 15th. So everybody is invited. If you guys are curious, it's a great way to celebrate our kids and see what's going on. We had, I was able to participate in last Thursday. Last Thursday, we had the open house and was able to see different classrooms and it was just unbelievably attended. As always, they had their silent auction it's just wonderful to see the emphasis and the understanding of the workforce and the great work that is done at the Career Center. And last, this week, as you know, it's the emergency care workers that there's even the governor has made the May 21st to 27th emergency work awareness proclamation just happened at the state house. And I just wanted to highlight the amazing work that is happening at the Career Center. So if you're curious, you should go into our website and look at the great work that our emergency service and medical profession are doing right now. Next on any questions on the Career Center before I move on? Okay. Next, the BSBA update, we just, it was very brief. Megan and I just attended. We have a required seven hour continuing learning and we just did it last Wednesday and you know, more than a hundred. Between superintendents and chairs and vice chairs were there and it was great as it was a great learning opportunity and to see so many, you know, we are all working towards a better culture of governance in this day too. And it was just, it was great to see and you guys all got your email. So I'm not gonna go through the update in what the legislative session look like. You guys should read that quick update. So I'm gonna give us five minutes because we've been sitting for a little while so that we've moved into the board operations discussion and so have your papers ready for our policy F2 on MASCA's discussion, okay? It is 7.25, we'll see you back at let's say 7.30, seven. Just say seven minutes, is that okay? Yep. Okay. Hey guys, I'm questioning myself now what I said. I said 7.32, right? Or you remember what I said? You said 37. I'm sorry. Yeah, because I couldn't add at the moment. I was looking at two different, sorry. Okay, so I'll uphold my word because I don't see Lindy and Diane and those guys. So keep on break. Oh, Lindy's there. I heard seven minutes. Yes. But I was just eating, so I have my camera off. I think because we have a long agenda. I counted seven minutes, but maybe I'm wrong and I just said they're wrong. 7.37, so if you guys are ready, let's get going. So that we can be, we have two executive sessions. So let's add to, okay. So let's move into 6.1 and that's the policy on our conversation on the mascot. You guys had a chance to read the memo that we included, right? Yeah. So with your hat on mind of, you know, how can we be agents of change and use our, you know, and think about our mission or vision, our statement of humanity and justice. The first question that we asked here is what additional information does the board need on this topic have? So we're gonna open it up for discussion and have we had enough sufficient student slash public input on the potential change? So that's the first question and depending on that, we can move on. We had a couple of options of how to move on. Does that make sense to you guys? Okay. So raise your hand if Joshua, Joshua, was that your hand up? No. Okay. And any? What are we doing right here now? Floor, I'm sorry. So we were just gonna go over those three questions. First, the first one, because that would help us frame the next step. Otherwise I have a couple of proposals on how to move forward. But right now versus what additional information does the board need on this topic, in particularly have we had enough sufficient student public input on the change? Chris? So I think we have had sufficient student input through the survey process that we had in the report, the student report from our last board meeting. And so I think that was fairly reflective of what the student population at U32 now thought. I would have thought we would have more public comment tonight and surprised to me that we only had three or four public comments here. And then we had the letter from Alden Bird. And I think there was another one from George Gross that made its way to the board. And so my question is, how well publicized was this in terms of the community? Was the, just because I think it would be something in the community would wanna weigh in and like to hear from them. And if it was publicized enough and the community members chose not to, it would tell me that there was not a great groundswell of opposition or interest one way or another about the change because the change was fairly well publicized or the proposed change was fairly publicized in the Times-Argus article. More or less board meeting was like above the crease headline, I thought. So it certainly got, it could be information out for folks who use the Times-Argus as a source of information. So that's just a comment in, so I'm on the fence about whether we need more public input because I think if it was this meeting in terms of the opportunity to comment was fairly well advertised then folks not showing up is the choice. Thank you, Chris. Lindy. I kind of felt like what we discussed earlier with Megan and Steven's plan of a little bit like the strategic action where they're putting something forth through a school year. That gave me the information I needed as far as there seems to be a plan and it shouldn't be a rush and it shouldn't be a reaction since there was not any proof that our mascot was culturally like different, that wasn't being perceived that way. It was being perceived from what I understood in our meeting as it's violent. A word raider is violent. So I felt like it seems like there's a plan going forward and I was ready for that plan to go forward and for us to get more information that way, I wasn't thinking that we were making any decisions tonight or having strong, there didn't seem to be strong emotional feelings toward it. So that was the information I got and I was comfortable with. Thank you, Lindy. Joshua. Yeah, I'd be interested to know what happens when, what happens if a member of our community feels, makes a report to the state? Should they do that? Like, I just wonder what that process is like because I know there are attorneys and there's a department in Montpelier that handles a complaint like this and if then they would decide themselves that if they would take that decision away from the board and decide for themselves if the mascot or imagery or name is discriminatory. That seems a little opaque to me, that process, like what a community member, if a community member was to make a complaint to the state, then what would the state's response be? I don't know that anybody has the answer to that deceit thing but I just wonder what that looks like. Thank you, Joshua. We don't not have the answer to that but it does go back to the AOE but I think we're jumping if we're trying to make it, decide that right now. Let's, if we concentrate on these three questions, no, it's okay, but if we concentrate on the questions we have right now to see if we as a board can make a decision or we make a decision later or if we decide that maybe it's time to make the change but we're gonna take our time, right? But I'll let everybody have a chance but that example exists right now and it's gone back to the AOE but we haven't, I don't know Megan, if you've heard anything but I haven't heard. Okay, I'm sorry, then I will say that I do feel like I have enough information from the teacher or from the students. That's great. I feel like I have enough information from the community and I appreciate the work Megan and Steven did as far as the strategic plan and the process that they laid out. Thank you, Joshua. And it's not a bad question so don't feel sorry, it isn't as a question. Mackaylin and then Ursula. So I just want to be clear that our role for our policy is to determine if the mascot violates the state law. Yes. Well, can I, your job is to decide if it violates your policy. Which is based on the state law, right?  Okay, so I guess, do we have enough information? I think we got good information from students. I'm not sure we got great information from the community. I personally have elicited a fair amount of community and alumni opinions myself which I'm happy to share but I don't know, again, going back to what Chris said, I think it was Chris, I'm not sure, maybe not. Anyway, whoever said, I'm not sure how widely publicized this was for those of us who don't necessarily read the times I guess. So I guess I personally feel like I kind of know where my vote would stand but I don't, I don't know if we maybe want to elicit more community. Impact, not impact, input, sorry. And I also wanted to clarify the processes, Megan and Steven laid out is only if we vote that it violates the process. It's not for the policy, it's not an ongoing process to look closer at the mascot. Yeah, okay. So before we move on because both, we had had the question twice, Megan, could you just like fill us in and because we put it in from first forum, et cetera, so can you? So I think it's a good question because the advertisement was of the board meeting where mascot discussion and our policy was listed as a discussion item. But it's not like, I mean, so it was our normal channel. So it's been very consistently advertised that mascots is being discussed but not necessarily the board may be taking action on whether or not to change the mascot. It has not been that explicit. So that may be where the, that may be what's prompting your question. The advertisement and the communication is consistent with our typical, which we would want it to be. But the question is because I think even this board is not 100% sure if you are making a decision tonight or if you are deciding how to make a decision. So I don't know if that helps. Thank you, Megan. Orza? It's my opinion that we have the information that we need to make a decision on the policy and whether or not our branding and mascot violate the policy. I really do not like the idea of soliciting a majority vote or a majority opinion on a subject that impacts a minority group. The majority will always assume that it's not a problem and the minority will never have the loudest voice. So I want us all to remember that the impacted group is a minority group. And that's my point. Thank you, Orza. Chris, I'm gonna let Kari go before you because you were ready when once, is that okay? Kari? Thank you. My sense is that we actually have probably the information that we need, but it would be prudent to take a bit more time to inform the community that this is on the table and give folks an opportunity to understand that and weigh in if they'd like to, just as in terms of a respectful process, I think that would be wise. I'm also really wary. We're asking people to pay attention to our strategic planning process and a lot of other things as well. So there's that. Thank you, Kari. Hey, Chris, you can go now. You're muted, Chris. Okay, I'm sorry. Sorry that took so long. Actually, I have a follow-up question for you because I thought you made reference to a complaint being at the AOE. Is that the complaint that was filed with us? Yes, it was. No, can I follow up on that one? Because I, so, but I don't, so the question, this is related to Joshua's question too. I am actually unsure that someone, that there is a mechanism under the law in Vermont to make the complaint to the state. They can, I mean, anyone can make a complaint to the state, but the law requires us to have a policy that puts the decision making of whether or not a mascot is discriminatory in the hands of the board. What has happened is the complaint that we received, that group has decided they are actually disagreeing with the fact that our law works that way. And they have made that complaint to the general assembly, and not just related to our mascot, but related to mascots in general. I actually think the perspective of those groups is that they would prefer the decision not be for boards. But right now at this moment under our law, what can happen is you have to decide if it's in compliance with our policy that you adopted. And if there is a complaint directed at us, you have to hear that complaint. The complaint that came to us, our attorneys have, we have followed up and our attorneys have confirmed it's effectively withdrawn unless they bring it back because they have not taken us up on the offer of a hearing. But so Joshua, in terms of what would happen if it went to the state, I can't predict that the state wouldn't ask the board to do something, but technically under the law, the law gives the board the decision making, it's your decision to decide whether the mascot is compliant. And I don't know if that's helpful. That is, because I was gonna say the same thing that the policy provides that the complaint comes to us, we issue a decision, and if the complainant is unhappy with it, then they can go to the state. So it really does set out a pretty clear mechanism in terms of giving the board the first opportunity to make a decision. But that complaint, it sounds like our lawyers weighed in and said the complaint has been effectively withdrawn so that we don't have to decide on that. Thanks, that's all I had to say. Okay, any other board members that wanna add? Does it feel that you have enough information? I'm looking at everybody, should we ask for more input? Yeah, I really think that, I mean, I think it's really important to get a bit of sense from the community, certainly speaking for myself and being a representative from Berlin. I don't have any idea really right now how the people of Berlin feel about changing the mascot or whether or not it conforms with, it's discriminatory in some way. So I would certainly like a better sense of that. Thank you, Jonathan. Diane? Yeah, so this one is tough. So like to me, it's about the policy. It is definitely, we know that what the ramifications, what the ripples are, all of that is going to impact community. Ursula's point is true that if we don't necessarily, our policies are our policies and it doesn't matter feedback that we get unless it was in the development of the policy. So I guess what has happened between this month though is really the way the one community member did point out. And I know it sounds goofy, but that there are those positive. I mean, so if I knew of people who were being held captive and forced to do slave labor, I would want a raid to free them. There's no other way to describe it, it's a raid. So that has created this thought process for me because where I was looking at our policy was on that one section. And so I just mentioned that because as we move forward either way, it is around my thinking through the policy really applying my understanding of the policy and making the decision myself as to what that is. So I could hear from a hundred other people and again, it's going to come down to my understanding of our policy and applying that. Thank you, Diane. Natasha, I'm not trying to put anybody on the spot, but I just want to make sure that everybody has a chance to comment Ursula. If anybody else who hadn't gone wanted to go, I would defer, but since Diane brought it up, I think all of us have a duty as elected officials who are trying to do right by our students and our community to make sure that we take a really hard look at information that's given to us by people. I spent two days researching that raid that was given to us in a, it was a positive raid. I would suggest all of you do the same. That's all I'm going to say because I'm not going to teach people. But I'm going to report that the word raid is typically developed by, the history is developed by whoever won. And so they're going to put a term on that meets their storytelling device. And so I think that whatever information that we garner from the public and their arguments towards us and why they don't think we should change or why this is not violating our policy, we need to take a hard, very critical look at and make sure that we research. Thank you Ursula. Mackaylan? I think we all agree that raiding is violent. I've done a lot of thinking about this and I've elicited a lot of opinions from people in the community and people I highly respect. I think it's violent, but that's not the question. The question is not is it violent? Maybe that's an important question as part of the strategic planning processes, is it in alignment with our values? But in thinking about it in terms of discrimination and blatant oppression, I have evolved from what I said last meeting and I actually think that it's violent, but it does not blatantly represent oppression or discrimination. So that's all. Diane and then Chris. Yeah, I just wanted to clarify Ursula, I was not using the example that was sent in that email very purposefully because of what you described. That's why for me it was more of thinking of different situations where we know there have been people who have been hidden away and forced to work in certain conditions and so to me that's where I was thinking. I'm not, and I'm not, I'm not choosing to argue because you're exactly right. We need to know what we're referencing but I just wanted to highlight that was not the piece of information I was using. It just opened my thinking up to what is my understanding? So similar to what McKaylin was saying that it is definitely violent. It is definitely destructive, but is it always oppressive? And again, I don't know where I stand with that but that's where I'm coming from. Okay, Chris. I have a question for clarity. Are we voting tonight to determine whether or not the name Raiders, which is, is there, can someone clarify, is there a distinction between a name and a mascot or is the mascot the name? Because the mascot is the knight, I think. And we don't have a picture of a Raider. So is it just the name that we're equating with? Yeah, I think it's General Chris that is the whole, for lack of a word, the branding, right? So it's just like, what are we satisfying us as a community? Great. Okay, thank you. Joshua? So are we gonna vote on this tonight? And if we're not voting on whether to keep or do away with the Raider name, anything carries approach about offering the community another opportunity to weigh in, maybe at our next board meeting, makes sense to me. But I'm happy to vote tonight too. Thank you, Chris. That's why we're trying to decide right now all together, right? There was not a micromanage plan for tonight. It was like, within the input of everybody trying to read how everybody's feeling about it then we'll make that decision. But we can wait until June and we can also have like an intermediate option. Joshua? Thanks. I would say that my experience with this past month has aligned pretty closely with McKaylin's probably her conversations with her community members and also the way she feels about the name. I also think no matter which way we go it's really important to Kerry's point to keep this plan, to keep this conversation and put it in context of what else we're asking from the community. I think that was really wise to point that out and that because the complaint has been withdrawn I feel like we have some time here to consider this a little more. Thank you. Sorry, Ursula, I go ahead and then I'll try to give us some context, hold on. I think that we should either vote tonight or definitely in June, I think we need to stop kicking this down. And every time we delay a vote on whether or not this violates our policy it just means that we're gonna start that process that Mayen and Steven spent so much time creating and like kind of outlining later. So I had Eric. Thank you. I agree with a lot that's been said on both sides here tonight. I think the one thing, one way that I look at it is, board member last meeting had said there are a lot of things that can be taken both positive and negative. And I think both the mascot in image and in name could go both ways. So I'm looking at it more at the community perspective as well as the original intent when the mascot was created. Understand that there are sensitivities with the name, but also that there are also could be positive aspects of the other side of it as well. So I'm open both ways, but that's kind of my thinking behind it. Thank you, Eric. So I have a couple of, if I took off my chair hat because I'm supposed to just manage the meeting, I just, if I took off my chair hat, I gotta say that I was interested in others speaking that haven't spoken from the board. I feel just, I don't remember who I was mentioning this to, but I just drove back from here from Kendall it's an elderly home visit. And I was yesterday going in into a concert at 1.30 in the afternoon with 80 year olds, 90 year olds and 99 year olds, my own mother-in-law. And they were listening to modern music like, I don't know if you guys are familiar with Philip Glass or Prana's quartet, like why do we call classical music? And they were wanting to push the boundaries and feel like, make classical music which they don't like the term classical music relevant. And I almost feel like we're having, at the same time, I have the big privilege of going to the opera and the opera is trying to reinvent themselves and had all of this to put into context today. So if I had to add anything to the conversation right now, not related to if we vote right now or not, it's like, I want us to make this decision in the reality of where we are now, where are we wanting to do? What are we gonna do with strategic planning? What is our, what response to our values? What do we wanna be as a community? It's okay to be by changing or by being open to different things. It doesn't mean that we're negating the past. It doesn't mean that we're canceling the past. It just means that we're moving forward together with what we know now, right? Like what we value in our communities, what we want our kids to be. And I know that that sounds not as, it could sound like not respecting history, but it's kind of the opposite. It's like, how do we are relevant again for our kids in the context of today with all that we have learned together? That's sort of how I feel. And I think that we could make the decision and wait until June.  So done with the examples. We could wait and say, let's make this decision in June. We don't need that motion for that. Let's make the decision in June. We're gonna advertise and say, the board is gonna make the decision in June. Please come to the meetings or send us your input if you're interested in giving us input. I ask our students to give input back. I don't know, maybe I'd be asking too much because we have too much going on with strategic planning right now to open the survey. I feel like not enough students fill out the survey and there might be a way to energize our board student members that are graduating and leading to just see if they could get a little input for us and be willing to just do a verbal something for us at the meeting and we make a decision in June. And that decision in June could just be, we will make, we will change. We are ready for the next, I'm just giving an example. I'm not saying that's what we're doing. We are ready to change as a district. We're involved in a strategic planning right now. We're gonna let the strategic planning be and inform that process too. And then we're gonna start our rebranding in the process that Megan and Steven shared with us today. So it would be, we won't be canceling our, we won't be competing with our strategic planning. That's just, those are two options. It doesn't have to be today. I saw our students had their hand up, so I'm gonna let them go before the other two board members apologize. I think from hearing what the community members said earlier in the meeting and also what I've heard in general is that a lot of people have no idea what's happening, including a lot of the students. They know that a discussion about the mascot is happening, but they don't know why. They don't know that we're reached out to by the NAACP and other organization to change it. Anyone has their own idea of what's actually happening. And so Maya and I think it would be a good thing if we can talk to the students about it and get back. Yeah, and definitely like the next week, we could get more student input. And if you guys have anything like specific that you'd want student input on, we could get you that as well. Surveys, they're very helpful, but they're also difficult because you have certain people that fill up the surveys either because they feel very strongly in one way or another.  So you're missing that kind of that part of the population. But if you guys seem to be very held back on whether to make a decision or not. So if you do move it to June, we could get you more student input and you could possibly do more research, et cetera. And so then you'll have more of a definite vote in June. Thank you both. That's important. Kari and then McKaylin. Yeah, I wanna just echo the last few comments. I think this is taking a nice shape. I would suggest that we take another month, but then we plan to be definitive in June, including maybe include a draft motion in the packet so everybody can know what we're doing when we come together in a month and take this opportunity to let the community know that this is on the table. Really appreciate the offer together, more student input. And then finally, if the vote is yes, we wanna make a change. I think we should consider, I really like something that Floor said is not start the process that was outlined in the packet until after the strategic planning process has completed so that it doesn't interfere with one of the most important things that we will ever do on this board is this strategic planning. I really feel strongly about that. So thank you. Thank you so much, Kari. McKaylin. I think it's a good idea to wait until the next meeting and especially thank you, Maya and Willow for offering to get some more input. And I think it's important that we remain clear on our task with this question, which is does it violate our policy? Or I respect everything you said. I think though that that's going beyond the scope of that question, I think that question we have to answer first is simpler. Does it violate the policy or not? And then the questions you're bringing in, does it reflect our values? Does it reflect where we want to go as a district? That can still be considered. If we say no, it doesn't violate our policy, that can still be considered in an ongoing process. But I think that's not for us to decide right now. For us to decide right now is does it violate our policy? So if a listening student and community feedback in the next month could be, is it discriminatory and oppressive? Our mascot, that's the question, right? With our policy. And kind of keep it simple so we can put closure to this question without limiting our future scope as a district. That makes sense. Thank you, McKinnon. Chris? Yeah, two comments. One is for Maya and Willow is if you gather more student input, please let us know how you're doing it and whether or not there can be any writing associated with the input from the students. And if Karyaf about presenting a specific motion, if you could detail when the change would come because if you're talking about putting it after the strategic planning process is done, sounds like it's gonna be next year. And so incorporating that timeline into the motion itself. So it's pretty clear when this might happen. I think would be helpful in terms of publicity and community information and board information. So that we're putting the two processes apart. Okay, just a helpful comment, I hope. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Sorry I was having trouble on meeting myself. So I think what I'm hearing from the board is that we're gonna have a hard deadline on June 21st. We are gonna advertise it. We would have a motion as part of the memo that would go out to you. We are gonna make sure that the public are aware of what's going on and our students are aware too. Thank you, Damaya and Willow to be willing to take this on. And is that everybody okay with that? Yes. Okay, so then I'm gonna move us on. All right, and we gotta make some. So the student flag request, we already did our action. So that's done. Thank you again to the students. At Quality Committee on page 25, I'm looking for two motions and then one by one. And then we'll discuss just in the. Ursula, I'm wondering not to put you in the spot. Or sorry. Do you want a motion from me? Yeah, is that okay? I'm not working on the chair of the committee. Yeah. So I moved that the board adopt the recommended Education Quality Committee charge. Did everybody read that in their packet? Would you like me to read it to you now? Why don't you just read it so that the public also knows in case somebody in the public didn't have a chance to read it. Okay. So the proposed Education Quality Committee charge is the job of the Education Quality Committee is to support the board in understanding and monitoring student learning outcome achievement, including current performance, trends, student experience, equity and postgraduate success. To support the board's understanding of the district plans and systems for instruction, assessment and overall performance measures. Three, help the district to understand opportunities, challenges and resources needed for the Education Quality Improvement. Four, as directed by the board chair, provide verbal or written report to the board about the activities of the committee. Thank you Ursula. A second? Good. Thank you, Carrie. Any discussion or questions from board members?  Yeah. Is there value in having the Education Quality Committee also make recommendations for potential change and explain why potential change in direction in providing educational services? So like a program isn't working, it seems like it's not working based on the data. Is that within the purview of the Education Quality Committee to explore that and then make recommendations that hopefully with the administration's input is for sure. But just to explain when things aren't working to move in a different direction. I answer that. I think it's the committee's position to hear from the administration when something isn't working, why it isn't working and what they recommend to try to correct that and to bring that information to the board. But it's the administration's decision on how they're going to implement education curriculum. Okay, so is that contained, is that information in here? Is that number one? The board's understanding of the district plans and systems for instruction, assessment and overall performance measures. Number two. Okay, thank you, Ursula. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Ursula. Maggie, question. So the description says it's only slightly modified from the current version. And I'm wondering if you can highlight the slight changes since we don't have a track changes version. You responded to that, that the old version had an additional element that spoke to being directly involved in strategic planning because the committee was formed at a time where strategic or the original charge was at a time where we were anticipating strategic planning was about to happen. The current committee didn't really think that we have a special role there. Thank you. Thank you, Maggie. Thank you, Kari. Okay, if I didn't see any other hands, all those in favor of the motion as read by Ursula, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstain? Hearing none, the motion carries unanimously. The proposed monitoring system on page 26. Thank you for motion. Thank you for motion again. Sure, yes. I moved that the board adopt the recommended system for monitoring student achievement. Thank you. Do you want to read it? And then we'll get a second. The what? No, I think everybody had a chance. That's pretty long. So I think we will look at questions. I'll look for a second. Second. Second. Chris? Linda has it. Okay, Linda has it. All right, now discussion. Do you guys have a chance to look at over? Any questions? Maggie? Not a question, but a comment looks really robust. Lots of fantastic information to help us understand what's happening. So thank you for building this out. Thank you, Maggie. Any other comments or questions? Daniel? Yeah, I am. I like this draft monitoring system. I guess my question is two part. One is what's the committee chair's opinion about the percentage of the committee's work that this monitoring system represents, i.e. is there space for other types of monitoring that don't fall in this? And I'm thinking, I guess explicitly, well, when I was reading it, I was thinking about flexible pathways and just individualized learning in different ways we're implementing that and providing opportunity through that. And I feel like that's a tricky one to fit into a draft monitoring system in any kind of methodical way. But it's something I'm interested in learning more about and understanding our efficacy in achieving. So sort of a broad question, will there be space and time for other things and maybe with that specifically in mind? Yeah, so the system of monitoring includes four reports, which will come to the Ed Quality Committee and that constitutes half of our work. The rest of our work is in other things that we need to discuss. Deep dives into either specific learning outcomes or I think on our calendar that we're proposing and we're gonna talk about it our next meeting is even discussion of the state education quality standards because there's been discussion that had come up within the board on that. So there is space for us to work those in each year through our monitoring cycle. And I'm adding your suggestions to my list. Great, thank you. Megan, do you wanna add to that? Yeah, just a really quick add. One piece of what you were talking about, Daniel, also I think will come out when the board creates its work plan this summer. This is like in addition to monitoring, but one of the things we've also talked about is just a cycle of presentation. So the board is more informed about what it looks like, which is a little different than monitoring the outcome of something, but it would for something like personalized learning it would be let's give a presentation to the board about what something like this looks like so that you have a sense of it. So that's a little different from monitoring, but I just wanted to say that that's also part of it. Yeah, thank you. All those in favor of the motion as read by Ursula, just need a follow-up record. Please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries one second. Put it back to the, sorry guys. Thank you, sorry, sorry. Sorry. Moving on into the finance committee, let's go into the review the capital improvement plan. Could I have a motion and then we'll discuss any of my board members in the finance, Daniel, would you be willing to make a motion? I can't hear you, but. Sorry, are you looking for a motion to approve the amended capital improvement plan? Yeah, to it, yes. I move to approve the amended capital improvement plan. Thank you. Any. Thank you. Thank you Ursula. Any discussion? Any questions? Okay. Just want to say thank you for all the work to both Chris, Brian, you know, and Cian and Bill Ford and everybody for making it happen. And so all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? And aye. Oh, that was almost like a chorus, great. And hearing none opposed, the motion carries. And now we have to do the, I know, accept the fiscal manager in questionary. Could I have a motion Ursula? Thank you. Yep. I move that the board authorize the superintendent to, ooh, I'm on the wrong one. I move that we accept the fiscal management questionnaire. Thank you. Second. Thank you, Dan, Eric. Sorry. Any discussion? Any questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries. And then on 7.14 is the blanket authorization for the board warrants on page 57. I'm gonna ask you, or we're gonna ask you to stop by the office. It would be here if you, we just need a forum to sign it, but it would be better if everybody has a chance to sign it. It would be sitting on Melissa's desk. But I would still look for a motion to approve the blanket authorization and that you're coming to sign it. I move the board authorize, oh, excuse me. I move the board authorize the blanket authorization for board warrants included in packet effective throughout fiscal year 2023, 2024. Thank you, Daniel. Thanks, Eric. Any questions or discussion? Any questions? Go ahead. Do we still then vote for a meeting on except when we don't meet? What's the difference between authorizing to open and sign all board warrants versus what we do now? Megan. This one, yeah, go ahead. I said, Suzanne can correct me. Suzanne, this is the one that they will affirm at their, at a later meeting. Or is this the other one? Suzanne, you're muted, Suzanne, but I have some of the impression this was the summer. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry, my battery died right. Oh. Right then. Sorry, I'm on. I missed the question though. So you may have to ask me the question again. So Chris was asking what is the difference between the blanket authorization for board warrants and check orders signature right now with the board orders that we do every month? You'll still do those. This isn't any different. This is, you approve this every year. It essentially gives us the ability to cut off cycle checks. So say next week, Steven brings me something urgent that we missed paying and it has to get out next week. We have the ability to pay that bill even though you don't have a board meeting next week that I have to bring to you and get it approved first. So it just gives us the ability to pay our bills timely. Yeah, things that we've already committed to, essentially. So in a sense, like a debt ceiling problem we may have, but so- I hope not, Chris. I hope not. No, so I just need the clarification because it would seem like if she said it's all warrants, there's no limiting principle there, but thank you. All warrants will still come to the board to approve. You will still see them. That's not changing. Nothing changes. This is something you all have done every year. Okay, I just needed the clarification again. Thank you. Yeah, this is especially important during the summer for them. No, I just completely agree. Because you told me through July. I completely agree on that. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries. Oh, what happened? Did we skip contracts and grants? Yes, we just noticed that at the same time. We went to 7.1 point. Yeah, I just, I was like, oh my God. Sorry, yeah, so. I moved that the board authorized superintendents to sign all contracts and accept grants on behalf of Washington Central Unified School District effective through fiscal year 23-24. Thank you, Eric. Somebody second and I didn't hear it. Daniel. Daniel, thank you. Any questions or comments? All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries. School District Clerk Vacancy. I don't know if you guys have seen, we posted in Front Porch Forum and we haven't received yet too many inquiries, but we are looking to interview at our June meeting is what we said. And that's the update. Any questions? And the other update is that we gave a gift certificate to Rosie, we took her out to lunch and she was able to reflect and it was great to be able to thank her and she is the great mentor whoever comes on and be there for questions. Okay. And now I'm gonna hand it over to Chris to talk about policy. Great, thanks Flora. So we have two policies up for reading and one for adoption. So the first is the C29 District Equity Policy. This is a, I think the important thing to know about this policy that it's a ongoing work in progress. And as we go through our strategic planning process and hear from our community, there will be additional iterations potentially of the policy. So it's not set to be policy recommendations set in stone, but ongoing and changeable as we move forward. But we would really appreciate the board's input, full board's input on whether this district equity policy does what we want it to do, whether the things that need to be included or specified in any other potential changes that you think need to be made to make it policy that we can all support. So I opened the floor up to no pun intended discussion. Any comments? Chris, you probably can't see my hand. Diane? Oh, yeah, sorry Diane. Yeah. Oh no, that's fine. So I really appreciate the track changes because you can see the impact of the different language and I really appreciate the changes that are being made. It does make it clearer to me anyway. Okay, thanks. That was Ursula's request and I think it's a very good one because it does show where we've been and where we're going or shouldn't be going because it says no, we don't like that change, we can take it out. One of the things that we wanted to ensure is that the board, we're assigning the policy on humanity and justice coalition with an advisory role into the administration but there's also a informational aspect of it for us as well where recommendations that the Humanity and Justice Coalition are making to the superintendent in the administration are shared with the board in a timely manner, just so that we're all part of the same loop. So any other questions or comments that I may not be seeing someone's hand? Ursula has. Not a question, but some of the language changes that were made in this, I really appreciate. So that's just I'm gonna say. Great, thank you. Okay, so I think we'll bring it back next time for adoption. Okay, great, thanks. The second policy is use of restraint and seclusion. We just didn't have a lot to do with this in terms of changes or anything. It seemed like it was pretty comprehensive. And so we just ask that you, I think we're here to adopt it. So is there any motion, any first, any discussion? Can we have a motion to adopt policy C70 on the use of restraint and seclusion? Do we have a motion? I can make a motion. Well, I'm noticing it says to affirm on the memo, is there a difference between adopt or affirm? No, I would say. Is that adopt? Yeah. It's adopt. Yeah. Do you want me to make a motion to adopt? Now I forgot what C70. C70. Yes. I make a motion to adopt policy C70. Thank you, Lindy. A second? Second. Thank you, Diane. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Seeing none, the motion carries. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you so much, Chris. You're welcome. Good work on the equity policy. Everything is very timely for today. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks. And thanks to Natasha, who had great input into the policy. And to Megan, and to the just to see. Yeah, and the coalition. Thank you. Yeah. Let's move on into our consent agenda. I'm looking for a motion to approve the minutes of April 19 and May 3rd. I'll move that we amend at the definite minutes of April 19 and May 3rd. Okay. Thank you, Carrie. Any changes? Any seeing none? All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Yes. Yeah. Any opposed? See none. Any abstained seeing none. Motion carries in the minutes have been accepted as presented. Lisa, do you have a question? I just had a question. The, the agenda calls that policy. be a read number in their policy should be see 70 that's okay that's the new number thank you for catching that. We thought we had gotten all of them and we didn't thank you okay. Thanks. Thank you Lisa. Linda am I going to put you in the spot. Board orders. I can get unmuted. I make a motion to accept the board order in the date range from 4,1323 through 5,1723 in the total amount of 900 7 start over 958,366 dollars 19 cents. Second. Very thank you Rosalette and Lindy sorry it was muted. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed. Any abstained the motion carries thank you and I'll remind I'll send an email and just be on the lookout for it because we'll need an online note a personnel. It's pretty exciting so who's going to everybody's going to jump in to to the motion but Lindy or whoever it's ready. Approve new I had I thought I had the new one up but it looks like I have the old one up. So somebody or so I do you have it up or somebody else that yeah thanks or so. I have it open thank you. So I move that we approve the new teacher nominations for 2324 school year. Richard J. Terry and you 32 music teacher. No I think you 32 special education teacher Sarah Fisher snow you 32 special education teenager in the Zenith program Dakota Garrow. Physical education and health teacher. Ainsley Burroughs callous classroom teacher. Daniel Daniel 10. Let's see East Montpeliers SLP. Alexander Donaldson you 32 math teacher Jason Woodward you 32 science teacher Jennifer Chambers callous Berlin special education in Scott. Then a row you 32 science teacher. Thank you for so that is second second. Thank you Daniel all those in favor of any questions or discussion. It just I think just thank you Megan and all your team good work and we're so lucky that things have been and it looks like they're improving. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. Hi. Hi. And you pose. Hearing none the motion carries. I move that we accept the retirement. Of Julie Keifer you 32 math teacher. Second. Thank you Daniel thank you Ursula all those in favor please signify by saying aye. I also want to thank that with thanks. Yeah. Yeah great. Let's do that. Can you anything. Thank you and that is that with thanks for her service to our district. Right. All those you I we already voted. Sorry. I mean we have so we hire of honey bean Barrett dirty classroom teacher. Second. Thank you Dan. Thank you Ursula and Daniel. Any discussion or questions. Hmm. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. Hi. Right. I move to accept the following resignations. James Warden callous cut callous classroom teacher Stacy Roop callous librarian technology integrationist Aaron. Why so mercy. Why so mercy. Thank you. There's a lawyer by that name so that's the only reason I know that science teacher. And Jessica Abzley dirty school nurse. Second. I mute it. Thank you Ursula. Thank you Daniel. And again we should add with thanks for her service to our kids and yeah. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed. Any abstain. You know the motion carries. Go ahead Ursula extend the leave of absence. I move for the we accept the following extended leave of absence requests. Kimberly Kimberley McKellar U32 Mary carpenter callous for a point three FTE extended leave. Second. Oh any questions. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed. Hearing none the motion carries. Okay that's it for as far as I right. We get I think we got them all. Megan update on vacancy. Yep. I will just add one update to the earlier one. So I just wanted to let the board know what the process will look like for the Berlin principal hire. We have hired Jay Nichols from the remote principles association to be the search facilitator. And it is a condensed process. However it's not the only one he's facilitating so we're optimistic that we will have a good candidate pool. The position was posted earlier this week it will run for about two weeks. The committee will meet the week of June 5th interviews will be the week of June 12th which is the last week of school. It's a little tricky but first round at the beginning of the week and a finalist round towards the end of the week with a both a community forum or opportunity to meet the finalists as well as a faculty staff opportunity. Committee makeup we have teachers and support staff, a fellow principal from the leadership team, a central office administrator and two community members to families. If the board if a board member from Berlin would like to serve on the committee there is room we do have two community members on the committee but just wanted to extend that if there is an interest you can email me and I will let you know what the dates are. It we are constrained to working with the dates that Jay has offered us given the time of year so I can give you those. So just wanted to make sure folks knew what that process looks like. Yeah, Kari. You're not asking about that since this is such an important hire and it's a direct report to you. Megan, what's your involvement on the committee or how do you have input into this process before you get to that almost last step? Yes, thank you. I didn't name myself as a member of the committee. Yes, well, no, it's a good question. I will be part of the committee. I when I participate on those committees, I listen very much to the folks in the room, but it's important for me to hear the entire conversation and and then yes, the committee will recommend to me even though I'm part of the process who the finalists are and then we go from there. Yeah, thank you. Lindy. Because it is late in the year, is it an interim or will that be decided? Yep, that's a great question. At this point, given my conversation with Jay, it's posted as a permanent hire because it because it's not the only one going on in Vermont and the candidate pool is okay. If we reach the end of the process and the committee does not feel like it has found its next permanent principal, then I would look at making it into an interim position for one year and then repost and advertise next year. Megan, in terms of if it converted from permanent into interim, would the candidates who had already gone through the process for the permanent position be considered for interim assignment? Yeah, often when I've experienced that to have happened, often, well, sometimes the search process does not result in someone that even would the committee even wants for an interim and if that happens, then we would re-advertise for an interim. Other times we would read or the search consultant would reach back out and say, you know, given given the lateness of the year, this position is now interim. Are you still interested? So it sort of depends on how the process goes, but yes, they could be in consideration for the one year. Okay, thanks. Thank you, Megan. So with that, we are done with that part. We have to move into executive session, but I don't want to just jump us a future agenda items. We can look at our work plan quickly, Megan. Yep, I will share. Sorry, just need to make sure the right. And you can be thinking about more reflection where we are pulling out the shared screen. So just a reminder that our June 7th meeting is our retreat. So as agenda will come soon for that. And then the 21st is student achievement. So that's part of this year's monitoring cycle, our regular reports. And as we talked about today, we'll be bringing the equity policy for a second reading and adoption for sure. Possibly another policy if the committee brings it forward, but definitely the equity policy. And then mask us. We need to talk about it. And also at the clerk, we will be interviewing clerks because we want to appoint somebody. Yeah. Yep. All right. We'll stop sharing. Thank you. Yeah. And now moving into reflection. Is there anything that the board would like to reflect before we go into executive set before we have public comments and then go into executive session. Diane. I just like to reflect that I actually miss not being in person. So, you know, I wouldn't have thought I would have said that, but you know, because it's nice to be home and remote, but I do miss the dialogue. The dialogue is a little bit different when we're not in person. So I just want to think. Okay. Yeah, I agree with that. And also I really enjoyed the amount of student input today. So thank you to all those students and hopefully, hopefully we'll continue to see a lot of student voices in our meetings. Thank you both. And we'll revisit the online. We were trying to give more opportunity to people because that's the feedback we had got, but Eric. I just want to say how much I appreciate the decorum and respect and the conversations about the mascot. It's not an easy subject and it's great that we all have our varying opinions, but also understand the other opinions and can have a really deep meaningful conversation about it. Thank you, Eric. Any other board members? Carrie, you kind of had your hand up and then you froze, but I'm fine. Thank you. Okay. All right. So let's move into public comments. Can you raise your hand? I know that Patrick you want to do and I see Kim's hand too. So Kim, I'm going to let Patrick go first is you had a chance at the beginning of the meeting and then you can have a chance is we just have two people. We're not limited to two minutes. So Patrick, go ahead. Hi, good evening. Thank you. I'll be I'll be quick. I know it's late. I have two comments. One related to the strategic planning process. The whole strategic planning process is based on the assumption of declining enrollment and I just say it's an assumption because I don't think anybody in the community has any information about your or the board's projections about what's coming with and with related to declining enrollment. I think for the community to make informed decisions and give their feedback and insights. They need that information. So please as part of the strategic planning process make public all of the analysis you have related to declining enrollment and what those projections are who did them before reports so that we can we the community can read them and try to understand them and can ask questions about them. Thing two is related to hiring a clerk for the board and I don't I really know if that's a new position or not but I think it's wonderful and certainly like the board should have support staff because there's so much work that you all do and I appreciate that. In seeing I just thought on from sports forum and seems like a big portion of that clerk's job is related to facilitating elections for the board. So what I wanted to ask is that a portion of that job a relatively small task be to win those elections come up to make public information about everybody who's running. My experience of the last elections at last several were really having nothing but names about people who are running for the election and it's a democratic process so there should be some information about who's running what they believe in their platform is why they want to run with their background is I'm not interested or not asking for any big formal election process although I know that happens other places but having some information for the community about everybody who's running more than is just on your website now with your little bios I think is an important part of our democratic process so and it seems like the court would be a great person to organize that and upload that to a website somewhere. That's all thank you. Thank you Patrick. Hey Kim. Thank you. I just wanted to one thank you all for your time and your efforts and volunteering. I know that it is a long process and I think that there there is a very intimidating process for someone who has never attended a school board meeting like myself for it to one be online not be in person and not understanding the policies and the procedures that go with it. I think that may have contributed to the lack of public input. There is also you know a number sporting events things going on in the community that make it hard for people to attend. But I also do see a bit of a misconception and I do appreciate Megan's comments about that it said that there was a discussion. It did not say that there would be a vote tonight and making that a very clear announcement for the next board meeting that there will be a vote but that the vote is not on the merits of changing the mascot. It is not right or wrong changing the mascot. It is truly your job to decide that if changing the mascot is necessary for following the procedures and the in place commitments. So I think it's very important that the the public knows that this isn't you deciding to change the mascot it's deciding where the liability lies and whether or not we need to make changes to be in compliance. And so I think that should be the further discussion and I really do again I appreciate all your time. Thank you so much Kim. Thank you. Sorry I was not me. I thank you for coming Kim and and for staying this late. And thanks Patrick to it now we're I'm going to ask it to go where we're going to try to switch that to a to allow may switch to start with negotiations and then we're going to do and then we're going to personnel. So if I could have a motion to go into negotiations. Move to enter executive sessions the purposes discussing negotiations. Second. Friendly amendment to include Megan Roy and Suzanne Gamm friendly amendment is accepted. Okay and and then I wanted to get us into practice. I think I can't open all of my stuff right now in the patches of a part of our learning this this past Wednesday was to always include that any information share right now would put the board at a disadvantage. So just to include that and I'll send you the language but it's mostly just to make sure that we are we are going to session for negotiations and it's just because we would be put at we will put our district of disadvantage to discussing it in public right. Yes. All right. Thank you Jonas. And so all those in favor please see if I by saying I and joined the room. I I I any opposed. Hearing none opposed is joined the executive session room. Thank you. Who seconded that one sorry and then I'll and then I'll leave you alone. Who seconded that one floor. I think I did Chris thanks.