d in hannah everybody you got it's a decision i am not going to be upset or mad or you know my job is to come in here and plead my case and make my recommendation i've done that um but if you decide on something different you're not going to get any grief out of me my job at that point in time is to to make sure that i carry out faithfully as best best i can do you know the charges i've been given so don't let if if my personal feelings on the matter if you're worried about that don't let them bother you um at all okay so hannah do you still have your motion on the table for um not approving the rift and asking lane to go look in the budget for some monies to cover uh not rifting that position yes i stand by that motion and i hope it's still seconded by katia but if i need to make it again and ask for a second i can katia are you still seconding that motion i will still second that motion okay do we have some discussion any discussion regarding that motion uh am i only i'm sorry me and my clarifying questions no that's great if if lane is tasked um with our vote to go and find alternatives is that something we find out before the next school board meeting is that something that he will notify us in um may lane how long do you think it's going to take you to figure out where you might come up with that money and again it's sort of hypothetical but you you're trying to stay within i've already it'll come from the professional development because i've you know i'll take another look but that's the easiest easiest piece to cut from without you know touching staff which after april 15th i can't do thank you any any other questions or comments jelsie i see you're unmuted did you have a question i was just going to say it would be so helpful like coming into the meeting or coming into any kind of conversation in the future if we knew what the options were so that we could look and think about it sort of in a way that makes sense and um put some thought into it before just you know being blindsided like this tonight for the future whatever happens with this motion i'm hearing that i'm feeling that a little bit myself any other comments regarding this motion any other questions are we ready to call the motion okay i'm going to call the motion so the motion is that we do not accept the rift notification the second rift notification for the one fte um and that we send lane back to his budget to see where else he might be able to find some money for that right now so that he stays in compliance with his budgeting parameters so all those in favor uh do you want me to do a call okay so um this time i'm going to start from the bottom so i don't put chelsea on the spot every time so hannah you're up first yes hi kaca you're next hi megan hi brian hi ashley hi chelsea hi from me so so lane you've got you got some work to do and um and then we'll wait and and we'll be seeing what what happens over the next month or two or it sounds like this mediation process might go into the summer even before first meeting's june 2nd okay um and you'll just you'll continue to update the board as we as we go along okay um i don't know if this is possible it's almost it's 923 uh megan you're monitoring how well we're doing and we are way off track in terms of our timing um we had uh winton on for the strategic planning um i'm not even sure if he's still on the call um but i'm wondering if we want to just table that discussion to the next meeting rather than try and open that whole uh discussion up at this point winton are you on the call still and i noted that little message box in the corner of a while ago that he had left gave up on okay um so i think what we'll do is we'll we'll table that to the next uh meeting and that next meeting is um in may um or we may just have to hold a special meeting so that we can hear from uh how that process is coming along um so i need clarification because i'm not sure if the board has to decide i believe we will have to decide whether or not to hold a special meeting to do well does the board does the board want to move on i mean we don't have winton here to tell us about the strategic planning process and where things are at with that um so do we want to have a motion to yes nor sorry i'm really sorry i i just um i know you you need to move on to other things but point of clarification i think there were some other things they needed to update the board on with negotiation in regards to support staff is that on the agenda uh that's on our consent consent agenda we're just going to be um approving that that okay thank you i'm so sorry unless lane you do you want to exploit we probably should explain that to the to the other board members that are not on that negotiation committee how that outcome came uh yeah so the um support staff uh april first meeting i believe um the district offered the support staff to your contract 3.75 percent the first year 4.5 percent the second year and no language changes um following that meeting the union to ask for a couple of days to think about it um and then tentatively agree so that agreement is in your packet was sent to you earlier um for the board to consider and to vote on tonight as a whole and that's in our consent agenda yeah which is coming up a little bit later so however thank you so much actually about strategic planning and just to be able to put that one um to bed i guess um if i would be happy to suggest that we have an additional phone call or meeting with winton to hear his update as far as that process and how it's going so then we can move on with the rest of the agenda okay you need that for i believe i i i probably need that as a um as a as a um as a uh a motion to put it on the in for a special meeting and and maybe um katia would you be willing to do a doodle poll thing so that we can find a time that works for everyone to do a special meeting with winton and all of us to get an update on that so that we can move along with the agenda yeah so um ashley can i say that you are moving to um put the strategic planning discussion into a special meeting that we will decide via doodle poll and then invite including winton i can get you winton's uh email katia so that we can all um listen to that information when we're a little fresher and that sounds exactly like the motion i made totally nailed it it is 9 28 um so so do we have a second for ashley's uh motion to table the strategic planning until we for a special meeting that okay the second by brian any discussion seeing none we're i'm going to call the motion so i'll do a roll call again let's see uh i'm going to start my screen is changing a little bit katia you're first i hi megan hi ryan hi and she'll see hi ashley hi canna hi and myself hi so we're going to table that we'll get out a doodle poll for everybody to figure out when that might be and we'll invite winton as well in that doodle poll and hopefully be able to deal with that um covid operations um this is uh we need to figure out um with the the changes so lane you're going to update us on the on what has been um put forth by the agency of education and all the other rules and regulations the mou where we are with with um how kids are going to be uh receiving their education after yeah so the yep the um board reserved to itself uh the decision about what the learning modalities were so um my role is kind of give you current state um talk with you a little bit about you know recommendations after talking with the cabinet um and kind of go from there um current state um just so people know where we are right now um all students grades uh pre-k through seven are back full in person four days per week grades in 11 and 12 have been at four days per week most of the year um they have open campus they kind of come and go when they don't have classes kind of at need um so we're actually we're better than most districts in terms of in person instruction we're probably better than about 90 percent of the districts that are out there there is a little bit of worry and concern right now because there's an exuberance that people have about the rate of vaccinations um and it's translating into an increase in covid rates in the state because people are being just less vigilant in terms of protective measurements um and so we'll talk about the seven rolling day averages um at both the state level and in orange county um right now um the highest uh rolling average uh for case rates in orange county was on november 22nd that was 12 cases per day at this point in time we're averaging six cases per day and that number has been rising um since march 31st um we had nine new new cases today um eight on friday in fact we had three cases in the schools today um the time period between march 25th and today has had the highest rates of infection in the state of vermont since at least october i couldn't look back any further in the data that was available um those rates right now are climbing from what i'm going to call a relative low because it's fairly high from a relative low of 151 cases per day on april 7th to 190 today and they are rising like this it's expected that they're going to continue to rise given that next week is april break and we've been getting lots and lots of calls from parents about travel um and so it sounds like there's going to be a lot of traveling that's going on um one of the things that came out of the discussion that the cabinet members had with the staff and with the cabinet members themselves um was this idea that and i think you heard a little bit of it mentioned earlier today this idea of uh we've been in a in a state where we haven't had to transition between modalities for a long time right we went through this long period where you know we tried to get the kids back and then you know two days later we'd have to shut a school down or we'd have to shut half the school down it's been pretty smooth sailing we've had a case here or there but because of how things are set up it affects a very small number of kids we can identify them quickly they're out everybody else stays and so um you know that's been a nice thing about the state that we're in um vaccinations i sent an email out to the board on this a while back um about the state of vaccinations um things opened up on march 20th for the staff um only about 20 30 of the staff were able to actually get appointments when that first opened up and um probably over the course of the next two or three weeks following that you know the sign up um the sign ups um kind of increased there are more spaces available so it wasn't like all the the staff members were able to sign up on march 20th and get their shots then it was spread out over two or three weeks um most of the shots that they were getting were the Moderna vaccine at the time apologize i got allergies um the Moderna vaccine is six weeks um from the time of the first shot you get the first shot it's a four-week wait you get the second shot and then it's a two-week wait and then you're considered protected um as much as the vaccine can give so based upon kind of timelines and stuff and how many people that we still have waiting the staff kind of as a whole unit would be in a really good spot on or about may 17th in terms of actually having their protections in place um so that's current state right now um we had some discussions about the fact that you know we're at the in four days per week and you know why not move to five days per week um and there's a couple of things that are going on i think that people need to be aware of um the federal government didn't approve the state's request the wave testing right so we still have to do the math uh SBAC the ELAS back the Vermont science assessment um and the ELL assessments and so all the students even the ones that are in the remote modality the ones that chose to be remote all year they have to come in because the testing has to happen in school take the testing here in a monitor in an environment and so what's been going on is we've set this up so that every Friday we're rotating those kids through and those rotations on Fridays will continue to happen through Memorial Day through the end of May all right so we've got the Fridays used we don't have all the kids coming in on Fridays but having them come in to do this testing on those days is allowing us not to disrupt the other four days that they are here um we also had a discussion with the nurses nurses and one of the things that we discovered is um having the Friday off has actually saved us having to close the schools a number of times people that get infected they tend to get infected over a weekend by the time their symptoms show up it's usually Thursday or Friday of the following week and so with people not in school on Friday there's a lot of exposure that's been reduced because of that just because of how things naturally fall we added it up there's between four and five times that we didn't have to close the school because of those Fridays being off um the other thing that's going on right now is most of the teachers planning is happening on Fridays and a lot of the year-end reviews with the the educational support teams and the IEP teams is all happening on Fridays so there is quite a bit of work that's happening there again board decision I'm not going to argue or feel bad if you decide something different but the recommendation um from the cabinet and for me is to stay four days through the rest of the year um at this point in time also remember that the last day for students is June 11th right so it's it's not that far off the state changed the the law for this year in terms of the number of student days it's 170 it was reduced so the last student day is June 11th so it's um you know if the teachers came back on the 17th and we got the kids back then we'll talk a little bit about some of the work that that needs to be done if that were to happen it's only a couple of weeks um and we got Memorial Day in there and we got April vacation in there which you know we're worried about people you know feeling a little freer because the vaccines are flowing that they're not gonna you know behave the best um in terms of return on the grades that remain we've got grades eight nine and ten it's possible to bring them back but there's some pretty big hurdles that we have been working on and the question is is do we want to do that amount of changing around again when the students are done on June 11th high school master schedule would need to be reworked they've already kind of planned out what it would look like um but it would require some students to change teachers uh under the six-foot guidance that that existed um we had things set up dramatically different than regular classroom spaces um and so all that would have to be moved back it would probably take um over the April vacation for the the custodial staff to be able to make that happen um we also did a little bit of research in terms of what other districts are doing and the Vermont Principles Association had a survey that they put out that shows that most schools are still in hybrid mode and intend on staying that way because it's less risky given the current increase in cases and the potential impacts of April vacation in Memorial Day so again like I said we're already ahead of the curve um and so my recommendation recommendation of the cabinet again is to stay the course um part of it again it's the longest stretch of consistency we've had you know not switching back and forth between modalities which is really good for the students the year is quickly coming to a close um and I have these worries is that you know we're potentially taking this this last group of individuals that is unvaccinated which which are older students and we are putting them in a higher risk situation by bringing them back and so that concern um sits there um and again we expect the cases are going to be rising you know while we're potentially bringing these kids back we've got those two vacations in there which are during warmer weather which people are going to be traveling um so I would argue that we just stay the course with where we're at but if the board um really wanted to see more kids back I would argue limit it to eighth grade the eighth grade are you know their transition students are getting ready for high school and you know it might not hurt them at all um to get back into a regular kind of routine um you know before they start the ninth grade and so I'll stop there a lot just said a lot in case there's questions so board questions Ashley go ahead and yes thank you I would like to speak thank you Lane for sharing that information um but I am not on board with that plan I believe that there needs to be equity for all of our children and right now there are three grades that are not having the same experience as their classmates and we have done an excellent job this year as a district in updating the air handling systems the weather has improved there are outdoor learning opportunities for our kids that they can participate in and our eighth ninth and tenth graders deserve to be in that class in in those classrooms having not only an academic experience but a social experience I appreciate the comment about the eighth graders gearing up to be in high school next year but I'd like to talk about the ninth graders who did not have the opportunity to have that transition from eighth to ninth grade the way they should have and I feel very strongly that our children should be back in school all of them K through 12 after April vacation on April 26 we talk over the summer about the master schedule being updated so when we could indeed get these kids back in school there would not be an administrative obstacle so these are all things that could have been happening in the background and now if it's a time crunch then it's a time crunch but I am advocating strongly for our children that they need to be back in school for these last few weeks to get the education in a different capacity amongst their peers and the year on a high note so the only comment that I'm going to make is you know that veiled comment that if there's a time crunch there's a time crunch in the implication that the planning wasn't done the planning for the change in the master schedule and where the rooms and everything needed to be was done it's sitting there it's ready the chairs were ordered we are in a situation where the rates in the state are the highest that they have ever been and they are increasing we have a vacation coming up we have the 117 variant that's running around that is more contagious 50 more contagious than what's currently there and it's taking over the state right now in terms of what they're finding in the research and I go back six months ago to kind of what I said to the board at that time was this idea that yeah you know research is only as good as the information that we currently have right now at that point in time six months ago the research was yeah the the younger kids get it it's not that big a deal most of them shrug it off but the question that remains unanswered that an answer is starting to appear to now was this idea is what is the long-term effect what is the impact of damage on vascular systems and cardiovascular systems in neurologic systems and the research is showing that 30 to 40 of the people that are getting this disease are having neurological disorders at this point in time so again we come back to this question where for seven weeks is it worth that risk when we are so close to the end when vaccinations will be happening hopefully they're studying their tails off to try to get it so that the kids are vaccinated by the time we get back in the fall I understand about wanting the students back I think it's it's important too but again I always go back to take the emotions out of it put things in the balance and make the decision off off the balance does the risk outweigh the potential benefit at this point in time and so I'll leave my words with that I'd like to comment if I may go ahead yeah I I just want to point out that whether we agree with this proposal and I happen to or not proposal recommendation one or the other doesn't not care for the kids I I just I'm needled a little when there is an implication that one size one side cares about the kids and and the other doesn't and that's that's just not the case thank you okay are there any other comments or questions from board members about about the whether or not so we would we would be looking at either going along with the recommendation that Lane and the cabinet has made or coming up with a maybe a motion maybe Ashley wants to make a motion about asking for a different timeline and timeframe for getting all students back at the school um so Chelsea do you I saw that you're unmuted would you like to ask a question or have some things I I would just like to add a little conversation to this topic I think um I have two children one goes to Woodstock High School one goes to Randolph and we just got word that the um my daughter who goes to Woodstock is on break now and they are going back to four days a week after break for the remainder of the year so I think it's doable I think it becomes uh you know you weigh the risks of everything I think the kids who have been remote and have been um in the hybrid model could benefit from going back to school and being with their peers and that socialization I think it's important that they have that to finish out the year so that they finish strong way it's like mental health physical health what's the risk what's the benefit and it it seems like at this point in the covid cycle we're at a point where we can reintroduce those learning opportunities for the rest of the kids that's all okay thanks thank you Chelsea um anyone else have um I have a question actually or concerns or yes go ahead gotcha um I was just I know that um and this is mainly for Lane correct me if I'm wrong when we have the seventh grade come back part of the issue with not being allowed to bring the eighth grade back was because the seventh grade this class size required that they take over some of the eighth grade space is that correct yeah so remember the guidance has changed right they're saying three feet now you know as long as people are properly masked so there were spaces that were taken up to accommodate the 11th and the 12th grade right because they've been coming kind of all along so there was extra space that was taken up by that there was um the seventh grade class was the largest class so there was an incredible amount of space that they took up because of that six foot spacing that that was required and a lot of moving around and a lot of equipment that was purchased and put into place to make that happen and so um a lot of it is uh you know the more kids that we bring back the more of that that has to be undone um which is fine I mean you know April break would be the the right time to do it if we were going to do it um but yeah it's uh it's the physical amount of spacing on the positive it's been a pretty warm spring so far we have connected um with Perry to try to get them to come out and set our tents up to try to do more outside um and so you know that that may may help as well but again I with me I just I worry about the the the rise in the cases it's happening especially approaching a vacation that we haven't even started yet but with the new guidelines we are able to maintain a three foot space with the student capacity that we could could potentially have with bringing other classes back the statement and I would wish I had it right in front of me that I could read directly from the RUH administrators is that in in cases yes we can but there are some cases that still make us incredibly nervous um you know we do have larger classes you know our average class size at the high school is is nine to eleven kids but we do have classes that are 23 24 25 26 two um and so that makes a little bit more problematic and the more kids that you have come back the less choices that you have right the less open spaces you have to kind of put the puzzle together and move people around Megan or Brian do you have any um questions or comments well yeah I'll just kind of second what Ashley said I I think it is time we have you know three grades left to to get back in at least four days a week and if there's any way we can get them in as soon as possible after you know April break sounds like a good idea to me but um that's where where I'm at is this needs to happen because those grades are not getting the education that they the other ones are and they're not the experience or the time and I think if we can we should definitely get them in as soon as possible Megan do you have any concerns or questions no okay lane I I have one question and that is um have you have you checked in with the the ninth grade team the eighth grade team and the tenth grade team to see from the teaching perspective our students falling have they fallen behind dramatically are they seeing are they feeling like we really need to get these kids back in in order to get them up to speed no they the actually I could even pull up my notes if I can find them and read them to you the basic idea is that we're in a steady state right now and that's good consistency is good the worry is is that if we bring kids back in while case rates are going up we're going to be back in that choppy you know we're here for three days we're in remote session for a week we're here for three days um remote session for a week and that's the biggest concern that they have is they don't want to go back to that that that lack of consistency but let me pull up the notes let me just two seconds um been a long night so I actually it's better that I read it instead of try to do it out of my head no it's it's okay it's it is it is what it is um we still have just so that people know there's still 15 percent of the elementary students are fully remote and will remain that way in 13 percent um of the high school kids the R R UHS R U kids started um fully remote they're saying that the students that have transitioned back um are having a lot of trouble um so what what they're also worried about is that um it's going to take some time for them to get acclimatized again um to being on a regular schedule and there's going to be a lot of behavioral a lot of uh other disruptions that are going to interfere with the academics for the first week or two when they come back while they reestablish those routines um they again they really like the fridays because of uh a lot of the work any of the students that are that are out um hybrid or or remote that are struggling they physically come in and meet with their teachers on fridays um and do one on one work and and what with them um since they're transferred students that have transferred back are struggling because of the abrupt abrupt transition so we talked a little bit about that um they said whether it's three or six feet there's still concerns and spacing in some of the larger classes uh does that mean they can't be a they can't fix those or does does that mean what does that mean exactly which of the two pieces that I just talked about the the the three is the three feet distancing and sort of accommodating the spaces if if you get everybody back it's there are still going to be some problems potentially with the three feet um the guidance that they changed and again um it's basically you know three feet if you can manage it um so it's it's not very helpful I think the guidance is actually very good I just think it's a month too early um I think what they're what what they've got planned I think they just did it a month earlier than they should have but that's my own opinion and do administrators have any concerns about uh teaching staff or support staff coming back or or deciding the no I think um I think people feel a little more relaxed about the vaccination piece but remember the timeline you know we're talking we're talking mid-may before you know the majority of the faculty would have had time to have gotten in gotten both of their shots and and had the two weeks to be able to um you know know that they're protected so you know that may 17th is is a is a is a reasonable date on the staff side I mean Nora's here this is one where you might invite her in I'm sure she's had a lot of decisions I see Kev has his hand raised so maybe I'll go with Kev I was I just want to make sure the board was aware that we have I see at least one member of the eighth grade team the middle school principal um so I think you have the experts in the room not just say the lane is not an expert but just not wanting you to have to extrapolate too much from your notes I think if you want detailed um sense of what the impact would be there's lots of folks who could speak to that yeah and I think that's an awesome because I am I'm in the middle man in some of the conversation yeah can we hear from them is Lisa here Lisa I'm here are you here are you willing to share a little bit yeah um we we have done um a lot of the planning around what it would look like what the schedule would look like to bring everybody back four days a week um our biggest concern is around some of the rooms that are really tiny if you think about the wing that heads toward the senior high gym and go into some of those classrooms um those rooms are smaller than rooms and other parts of the building and so achieving the um distancing in those spaces I think it's it's likely doable um but at the same time it's going to be tight and some of that though there are a lot of logistics um that will need to go into making that happen um as well as scheduling logistics particularly um with world languages which have been fully remote all school year so students in the hybrid modality have been taking their world languages classes um on their remote days so then we have to figure out how to fold that back into the schedule so they can finish the year um with their world language class I'm trying to think of the other logistics um that we've been talking about and Katie I think is on by phone so she may be here as well um but we've definitely been talking about it we definitely have plans for what the schedule um could look like I do worry about the fact that people um may not be fully vaccinated until mid-may and with the um closer rooms or more people in those spaces that that is a concern um and I'm sorry if I'm a little foggy too I went to the design meeting before I came to this meeting so it's been a few hours in the grid along and and we're almost at 10 yeah are there any any other questions for either Lisa or Elaine um and I this is Katie Sutton I'm I'm here yeah the only one other um challenge I'll mention is that when we brought the grade seven students back we made significant uh classroom moves that would have to be kind of undone and reshifted and rearranged um which again is is just quite an upheaval for both the teachers who move but you know even more importantly for the students and their in their learning environments um so again it's as Lane suggested that you know there and as many of you have said there's this cost-benefit analysis of knowing that that re-acclamation and the kind of storming and norming that we do at the beginning of every year would have to be replicated so you know those first couple of weeks at least would need to be spent on re-establishing the classroom environment so that it is one that is you know healthy for kids to feel welcome within um in order to learn and maybe I'll just piggyback quickly just to the point about you know where is the staff at you know we sent out uh our most recent of many surveys of this year just to try to get a sense of that and I think the pretty strong feeling was that folks are comfortable with what's going on recognizing obviously that they're um that it's not ideal that there that there are inequities um but that the level of disruption and um various other factors made it nearly unanimous among the people who responded to the survey and then I also just wanted to make one point about the equity issue that Ashley raised which you're right Ashley I mean you you are not wrong that there's inequities there I I do want us to take a step back and think about the inequities that are maybe less visible in the quote unquote normal runnings of school and that we can sort of predict pretty systematically which kids will have a much harder row to hoe in school um and again not to like make say that's okay but it is something that happens and I will say that one of the things that I have seen in this year is that I have felt and um I'd be surprised if there weren't other educators in the grid who agree with me more able to address the needs of the kids who I know are systematically underserved um understanding that I'm not meeting kids needs as well as I usually do um and I worry that going back to full-time in person um for kids who suffer from anxiety for kids who have medical needs um which make the whatever the risk level um a much more serious risk than for those of us who are who are relatively healthy um and for kids for whom a disruption to their learning routine is not something that they can just roll with the way that many kids care so I you know it's a very complex question and I don't in any I really appreciate you appreciated what you said Hannah about none of us are not on the side of the kids here right I mean I'm I in no way I'm trying to um say that but it is there's a lot of nuance to it and and I appreciate you um making the time to hear from some of us who see that up close and personal so thank you okay it's 10 o'clock we've heard from a lot of folks uh does the board feel like they have enough information to make a motion in terms of the modality when I'm seeing yes no are you ready to do we have someone ready to make a motion so I'm gonna stand by where I started with and I think for equality for our eighth ninth and tenth graders they deserve the same experience as preschool through seven and eleventh and twelfth graders and I make a motion that our eighth ninth and tenth graders we resume in-person learning um the Monday after April break I don't know that date off the top of my head um and you can have the same schedule as they are um as the other kids better part of the OSSD districts that are currently getting four days a week by second Brian is gonna second that motion do we have some discussion around that motion okay I'm gonna call the motion then so all those in favor of Ashley's motion that the district uh return to full in-person uh for well full four days in person for the eighth ninth and tenth graders resumes after April break which would be April 26 um please say I when I call your name and I'm gonna start with you Ashley I Chelsea Brian I Megan Hannah no gotcha I I'm an A so the eyes have it so we are going to direct Lane to direct his cabinet to try to well no to make a four-day in-person for the eighth ninth and tenth graders and hopefully Lisa and Katie are aware so again start kind of getting themselves ready for that process okay so we are moving along very limping along I should say maybe um legislative update uh Lane you have anything on that that you think is pertinent that we really should be probably just the two the two biggies the state pension fund that they were working on doing some pretty massive changes that would have had a negative impact on state employees kind of imploded on itself um there's still work that they have to do because there's a huge deficit there um but they've kind of backed off uh based on the recommendations that that had been put forth um the other one was the universal school meals bill the idea that you know um district should be providing free lunch and breakfast to all students in the district um at at district cost it was basically an unfunded mandate um the legislature heard from quite a few people and then they heard the cost that it was going to be between 24 and 40 million that ended up um at this point at least the last I heard dying a slow death so I don't think those two are are going anywhere anytime soon so those would be the two big ones because they would have had the the big financial impacts um for potentially for the district and the way that that's also been sort of put on the back burner also yeah they um find my notes on the waiting study they um are pretty confident it's not going to pass um they were really worried that if it's not phased in property that properly that there was going to be huge shifts in tax implications right 30 to 40 cents um either gains or losses in districts over the course of the year um and they haven't remodeled the wait since 2020 so they really don't know what the total financial impacts might be um and so it's going to probably be another couple of fiscal years um while they kind of review stuff and try to come up with a good plan that'll that'll make it work so my guess is it's probably two or three years down the pike all right so then we move on to the consent agenda so um in that um we had the minutes from the regular meeting on March 8th we have the special meeting on the 22nd of March we have the professional contracts we have the administrative contracts we have the superintendents contract um there's a facilities approved a facilities request for use of facility facility reserve funds that normally we have to pull out and do a a um vote on correct um approval to use uh reserve funds yeah i've seen i've seen it done both ways so i guess it depends if uh how much discussion folks want um i believe this is on the well i believe that this one is on um redoing the bookfield well yeah okay so i'm happy to answer any questions that folks may have the board have any questions regarding the the reserve funding being used for the well we looked at that the last time when you went over the the facilities yeah okay and then approving the support staff agreement that he talked about in the in the negotiations update so i am going to ask that we um just pass the consent agenda as a whole um can we have someone move to do that i move to uh approve the consent agenda as presented i second athlete ash the lincoln is going to second is there any discussion any questions concerns okay i'm going to call the questions so um all of those in favor of approving the consent agenda as uh as written in the agenda uh please say i and i'm going to call starting lucacha hi negan hi ryan hi chelsea hi ashley hi hannah and myself hi let's see you nana okay and then uh oh you know what i'm realizing that we never never got back to uh oh did we did i don't know if i need a motion to say that we are going to use the july meeting for uh training uh i'm guessing we probably do so that's back sorry i'm i'm going back we i neglected to see that when we moved into the next thing on the because we moved the uh rift discussion above the board training and deciding whether or not we want to use that july meeting can i can i have a motion that we want to use that july meeting i make the motion that we use the july meeting for uh board training i second and hannah is going to second that do we have any discussion on that okay i'm going to call the question then everyone uh in favor of hannah's uh motion that we or wait was it ryan sorry ryan ryan uh motion that we use the july meeting for uh uh board training on on governing policy and i will start with ashley hi chelsea hi ryan hi megan hi hannah hi gotcha hi myself hi and um we'll talk about the specifics of exactly what the training is on the next uh why don't we talk about that at the next board meeting just so we can move along here um and then where are we we are on incidental information those were the superintendent's reports and the principal's reports and the director of the rtcc financial report and other incidental um we have an update on the staff appreciation plan so lane anything that you want to sort of fill us in in regard to your i think the the big piece is uh you know we're in the middle of doing the work on the s or two monies that have come in 1.3 million um that is tied to a recovery plan that the um cabinet has been working on um each wednesday um we're actually we're approaching completion of that um those funds are specifically designed for um us to use our data to identify what deficiencies the kids have that are a direct cause of covid and to fund the implementation of programs and staff that will help address those needs um and so we're well ahead the due date for that's uh june 1st for the completed um recovery plan ours may very well be complete before we break for april um vacation so excellent um and how are we looking financially actually um uh really good uh i was taking a look at the breakdown earlier um there was nothing at all that doubted me as is a concern at this point in time um you know there are some um some of the lines are a little overspent at this point in time but that's because we're still waiting for the reimbursement for the s or 1 funds that'll cover it um but we're in pretty good shape okay well we'll we'll know we'll know about surplus if we have one um probably mid at the may may uh board meeting yep okay any questions for lane from board members okay uh ashley and cacha you were working on on a um plan for um our staff appreciation norah close your ears i say don't we kind of keep this a secret there's a lot of teachers on here i know but can i say that it's um well i would say i'll be thanks so much and and going to be executed flawlessly is my update okay uh awesome okay awesome okay so megan we're on to board evaluation and uh i apologize it's 10 14 uh we are way over time uh yeah so do you really want to know what i wrote uh mogia what were you gonna say well uh i i would say we we we have uh timing issues okay so i gave us a lot of ones um i did give us a five for the meeting being well attended um um honestly it was uh pretty i don't know it was pretty mixed um a lot there's a lot of screens on the second page i gave us a four um for debating um yeah i don't know if you really want to know all this stuff uh three for participation um three for members listening attentively um there was really no side conversations uh because this is remote the participants treating each other with respect and courtesy i did give us a two um work was accomplished i gave us a two um in an atmosphere of trust and openness uh it was a little heated at moments um all actions considered by the board were clearly the board's work i gave us a two uh the board reviews what it had what it has already said in its policy about each specific topic before discussions on that issue i gave us the board here helps the board get its done rather than supervising are we coming involved in staff work i did give us a two um it was kind of just there was so much going on nothing with you and really it was just the meeting itself um and then the board supports the superintendent and a reasonable interpretation of applicable board policies i gave us a two just because if we had that discussion about what to do if we all say no or voted no i should say um and that's my evaluation thank you again that that was a difficult meeting um and we do have an executive session on here um do we feel like it's necessary at least there's a few things we should talk about there's one you want to talk about and this is linda i need to have you stop by tomorrow to sign contracts sure okay thank you um lane what what um for what reason are we going into executive session like we're supposed to be citing the the legal reason why we're moving to two so there are there are three personnel issues um some of which may result in legal action okay so uh in our so what so it's because of uh possible did you get legal counsel from Pietro that we may be in legal jeopardy around something i may not necessarily be us that's in legal jeopardy okay i don't know the the appropriate way to word it may be the ones going after um yeah so do we have a link to our executive session yeah i just emailed it thank you a little while ago okay so we need to move to executive session but i need a motion to move to executive session i move that we move to i move that we exit this meeting and enter executive session to discuss personnel issues i second that okay all those in favor we just raise your hand uh looks like we've got uh majority majority vote so we'll see an executive session would you like me to adjourn the meeting i'll i'll take a motion to adjourn the meeting i make a motion that we adjourn the meeting at 10 34 don't we have to say that we come back in and um that no action was taken during executive session what brian said so you got so with no action taken from executive session i make a motion that we adjourn the meeting at 10 34 because i had so many emails from everybody i couldn't find the meeting link i was like it was there before but i have so many emails from people i apologize so if we turn catch it did you take over because yeah we're working out we're working on it i think brian was going to second that adjourning and then there you go yep all in favor raise your hand meeting adjourned everyone have a good rest of the day take care


Welcome to the NTN Nightly, I'm Nisha Charles. This edition stops stories. A delegation from US government development finance institution is exploring investment opportunities in St. Lucia. The commercial division of the High Court has recorded another successful year. The educational notes from St. Lucia Jazz linger across the island. All that plus the latest in youth development, sports, and the NTN Nouvelle Aquarium. A high-level delegation from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, OPIC, the United States government's development finance institution, is in St. Lucia on official business. This visit stems from the meeting Prime Minister, Hon. Alan Shastney attended with US President Donald Trump on March 22 to discuss trade, energy investment, and security. The delegation is here with the purpose of exploring investment opportunities in energy and other critical sectors. General Nouvelle reports. Accompanied by Prime Minister, the Hon. Alan Shastney and Cabinet Ministers, the delegation visited specific sites marked for development, including the proposed site for the Southern Port in View Fort, the Castries Port, and the Kulisak Bay. General Manager of Bukhai Terminal Glenda Duvales and the Bukhai Team have commenced the development of Kulisak with a beach beautification project at the Overseas Oral Beach. I've been looking for a project since I got here to be able to give to the community. And when I saw this beach, when I saw the beach, I saw people actually swimming on the beach from the community, and it was terrible. It's just messier. I was scared people were going to hurt on the pipe, so I said, what is it going to take to get it cleaned up and make it beautiful for the community? And with a lot of hard work from the employees from the Bukhai Terminal, we did this all the work ourselves. This is what we came up with, and we're looking to expand on this project and beautify more beaches across St. Lucia. So look for us to be around, putting up picnic tables and volleyball courts. The project encompassed a volleyball court, a small gold soccer pitch, and a concrete cricket pitch for sports enthusiasts. Picnic goers were gifted eight outdoor concrete tables and seats, along with two barbecue pits. The beach has also been equipped with toilet facilities and receptacle bins. Bukhai Terminal's operations manager, Hubert Palmfield, provided insight into the inception of the project. 2017, the director at the time moved on to bigger and better things, and Glenda, who had been to the island for Bukhai on previous trips, gladly accepted the offer to work on the island. And I was driving her back from this hill, you see there, to her office, and she looked to the left and saw this beach, all messy with old tires and steel, and she said, who owns this beach? I said, Bukhai owns the land, and then I explained the rule of law where the queen's chain is concerned. And she said, this is a beautiful beach, we need to clean it up and make it look nice. As a matter of fact, why not make it a community project? And that was the brainchild, that's how it started. The project commenced in 2017 and was completed just in time for St Lucia's 40th Independence Anniversary. For the Government Information Service, I am Janelle Norville. The commercial division of the Registry of the High Court has been in operation from January 19, 2016. The commercial court has reported a steady increase in the number of filings over the last three years, from 44 cases in 2016 to 100 cases in 2018. The division believes this success will boost St Lucia's economic growth and development by increasing investor confidence to embark on new ventures because of the efficiency of the justice system. More from Glenn Simon. The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council has been instrumental in undertaking a number of reforms which has led to increased efficiency and competitiveness in the economy. In 2014, under the ease of doing business agenda, there was a need to reform the settlement of commercial disputes in St Lucia. Thus, the NCPC was given the lead role in the establishment of the commercial court. Director of the NCPC, Fiona Hingson, explained the impact of the court in a short space of time. From a finance perspective, we have observed that significant amount of funds have been freed up due to the quickest settlements of disputes. We also observed that settlement of disputes which is measured by the enforcement of contract indicator that has led to an improvement for the whole bank is of doing business ranking for St Lucia. Former registrar of the High Court, Sharon Gardner-Hippolett, stated that prior to the establishment of the commercial court, matters of a commercial nature fell in a queue in order of priority alongside divorce cases, land disputes, adoption, probate cases, traffic matters and the like. The whole point of this court was to be able to take these matters out and to give them separate priority and this I think has augured well for the business community. I was looking at the statistics for the last couple of years and we have grown tremendously from 44 cases being filed the first year to 83 or 6 I think the second year and then last year we filed over 100 cases. She noted, this figure gets even more impressive when expressed in terms of the dollar value which goes through the court. From the 44 cases filed in 2016, over EC 7 million dollars went through the court. While in 2017, with 84 cases filed, this figure was just under 50 million EC dollars. This year, well not this year 2018, the figure was over a hundred million dollars and when you think that a hundred million dollars is going through a court that has been there for three years, you think wow we really are delivering quality of service that has allowed for the unit to be able to grow that has inspired confidence in persons to be able to file their claims there and to realize that judgment is being given in a speedily fashion. A legal officer is now attached to the commercial division to assist the judge in delivering decisions in a timely fashion. The former registrar pointed out that matters are usually dealt with within a 14 to 21 day period with judgments being delivered between three to six months. This type of positive results builds investor confidence and it's a very positive impact on the ease of doing business climate for St. Lucia. For the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council, Glenn Simon reporting. St Lucia on Wednesday 22nd May joined the global community in observing the 26th anniversary of International Day for Biological Diversity. The observance brings focus to biodiversity as a foundation for transforming food systems and improving human health. The United Nations proclaimed May 22nd as the International Day for Biological Diversity to help increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. This year's observation is being held under the theme our biodiversity, our food, our health. St Lucia's focal point for the Convention on Biological Diversity is the Department of Sustainable Development within the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development. The Minister responsible for that portfolio, the Honourable Dr. Gil Rigorbert, noted the crucial role that plants, animals and microorganisms play in providing sources of food and medicines for millions of people around the world. The Agriculture Minister, Honourable Ezekiel Joseph agrees. Sustaining the balance of biodiversity that is the plants, animals and microorganisms within our environment ensures a sustainable food source, healthy water supply and the preservation of our resources for future generations. My ministry has taken steps to diversify our agricultural production and create niche products which support and complement our tourism product. Activities for International Day for Biological Diversity 2019 kicked off with a community education and sensitization campaign to raise awareness of the preparation of the sixth national report detailing the status of the country's biodiversity and to highlight St Lucia's progress towards meeting national conservation targets. According to the Agriculture Minister, St Lucia is currently focusing on seven key crops which when used correctly can result in self-sufficiency and sustainability within the country's agricultural sector. As we observe our 26th anniversary as a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity, under the theme our biodiversity, our food, our health, I challenge you to explore ways in which you can do your part to conserve and protect our unique biodiversity. The Department of Sustainable Development will continue to collaborate with local and regional partners to raise awareness of International Day for Biological Diversity through a biodiversity lecture series during the week of May 22nd and a food and health fair in collaboration with the OECS Secretariat. And this is the NTN Nightly. Rhino Bryan is up next. The world's climate is changing and that affects all of us. Storms are becoming increasingly intense. Periods of intense drought and heavy rain stress farm animals and destroy our crops. Higher average ocean temperatures kill our coral reefs and change the migratory patterns of fish. St Lucia contributes only 0.0015% of global greenhouse gas emissions but is doing its part along with countries around the world to reduce the emissions that are warming our world and changing our climate. These efforts are called mitigation. But decades of emissions have already changed the climate and the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today will increase average global temperatures even more. We need to adapt, that is, do everything we can to prepare for and respond to the actual and expected negative effects of climate change and everyone has a role to play. We need to protect our crops, build homes that withstand storms and keep our drains and waterways free of garbage to help us recover or bounce back from climatic events. Learn more about the Government of St Lucia's National Adaptation Plan and the steps you can take to protect yourself and your fellow St Lucia's. Welcome back. We join Ryan O'Brien for the latest happenings in youth development and sports. Welcome once again to your update on youth development and sports on the NTN Nightly News. I'm Ryan O'Brien. The secondary schools under 15 40-overs cricket tournament continued on Tuesday May 21st with four completed matches at a gruselier playing field. Castries Comprehensive Secondary defeated Witbutai Secondary by 16 runs. Castries Comprehensive Secondary batting first May 203-9 in the allotted 33-overs with Joshua Seepal leading the scoring with 51 with 7-4s Vishal Singh 37 and Jabhan Emilyen 20. Balling for Witbutai Secondary, Maki Stanislas took 3 for 27 and Nikke Leo 2 for 49. In reply, Witbutai Secondary dismissed 487 in a 30-second-over with Kallej Duplis in making a defiant 72 and Dante Paul 11. Jideh Lui was a chief destroyer for Castries Comprehensive, picking up 6 for 17 with his leg spin. He was supported by Vishal Singh with two wickets. At the wind playing field in Monipo, Antipod Secondary totally outplayed Miku Secondary, winning that encounter convincingly by 237 runs, thanks to an outstanding all-round game by Runet Island's under 15 player Royce Paul and steady bowling by Runet Island's female player Zadia James. Antipod Secondary batting first May 251 with Royce Paul Topps going with 68 and Christian Cadet making 56. The wicket tickets for Miku Secondary were a curve on Edward with 4 wickets, Elijah Charles 3 wickets and Alexis Charles 2 wickets. In reply, Miku Secondary had no answer but an offspin of Royce Paul who finished with standard figures of 7 wickets per 3 run in 4 overs and left arm seamer Zadia James 3 for 11 as Miku Secondary had only managed 14 all-out in 7 overs. At the Larissus playing field in the Marguer Valley, Granivier Secondary defeated Klendon Mason Memorial Secondary by 30 runs. Granivier Secondary batting first made 94 in 15.3 overs with Nikuan Henry making 17. All in for Klendon Mason Memorial were Kuan Estefan took 3 for 28, Katron Rigabet took 8, Kelly Deemar took 12 and Kirlan Severed took 19. In reply, Klendon Mason Memorial dismissed for 64 in 16.2 overs with Kirlan Severed making 16. All in for Granivier Secondary Joshua Plutcher playing 3 for 10, Theo Edward 3 for 15 and Jolani Joseph 2 for 15. Another PI playing field suffered comprehensive Secondary defeated PI Secondary by 172 runs. Two-frey comprehensive batting first made 267 for 7 in their 35 overs with Kevin Gassi top scoring of 61, Fibard Sylvester 35 and 33 each to John Modes and Riga Alfred. All in for PI Secondary, Issa Henry took 2 for 21 runs and Josh Monero 2 for 31. In reply, PI Secondary bowled for 95 in 19.4 overs with Eden Brown 13, the only batsman to reach double figures. All in for Two-Frey Comprehensive Secondary, Caleb James picked up 2 for 8, John Modes 2 for 21 and Kevin Gassi 2 for 28. Their collaboration between the Ministry of Development and Sports, the Ministry of Education and the Saint Lucia Football Association has paid huge dividends for the development of female football in Saint Lucia. That's the view of Cyrus Seapal, Education Officer for District 1. Mr Seapal made the comments after witnessing the finals of the Inter-District Primary Schools Football Tournament held at the sub-plane field recently. Mr Cooper did pledge support that this will be in the first instance a four-year sponsorship program and then Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Education, we do value this partnership and understand that if we cannot do it on our own there are a number of things that we may want to do but we cannot do it on our own. So we do value this partnership with the Football Association and then we will grab the opportunity to ensure that our students are given the opportunity, they are given the time for them to shine and then from there we can develop their skills and as I said prepare them for the future. The Saint Lucia Football Association has assured both ministries that this initial collaboration will extend over four years. An entirely new executive now serves the Barbano-Yufan Sports Council after an election process held at the Community Multipurpose Center on Saturday. Incoming President of the Barbano-Yufan Sports Council, Juna Delice has committed to building effective community partnerships for youth development. This pledge made shortly after he and six others were elected to serve under Council's Executive. His deputies, First and Second Vice President are Amari Arthur and Sherwin Alexander respectively, General Secretary Neil Francis, Treasurer Neil Marius, Assistant Secretary Treasurer Hyanna John and Public Relations Officer Desi and Clement before casting their votes. Representatives raised concerns and desires for youth development in their community. A new president explained how he would address this matter. Well one of the things we want to look at is the holistic development of individuals. As you know in Barbano we possess a lot of talent but for our talent to take it to the next level we need to develop some of those young persons. We also need to empower the households because if a household is empowered you cannot get the maximum potential from it. It's obvious that Barbano stands out. What we want to do to take it to the next level is to take the talent that we have especially young sportsmen and empower them. Immediate past President Berger-Oguiz, who did not seek reelection, expressed her confidence in the Council's newly elected team led by Delice. So the leader that they have been able to vote for him today which is Junior Delice, he has been a youth advocate for years. I remember when he came to live in Barbano he had that whole perception that you know youth work is done I'm done and for me being a teacher and I always said I'm being a teacher you're able to actually gather much more within the school and I felt it was necessary as a past president to bring him on board as a volunteer on my council and I'm proud today to state that I'm reaffirming that his responsibility in youth work is not done today shared great testimony of that so he being the leader of that new force and we have persons that are 18 persons who are suffering and I mean these are fresh minds these are the type of persons that we want to really come in within the community and see the change that they want to see. Saturday's election was preceded by a youth forum where Barbano's youth were engaged in activities that covered topics including team building, community voluntarism, leadership and the frameworks that support youth work in St Lucia. In my duty today was pretty much successful we started off with the youth symposium where we brought in a few presenters namely we had Patrick Marfere who's attached to the mystery of youth and sports he spoke about the history of the NYC and more so he actually had a presentation on leadership basically speaking about it and how they now can be sort of a leader within their own community and we also had Mr. Stever Satash from the Volunteer St Lucia chapter which spoke on volunteerism. National Youth Council General Secretary Ray Jan Montout also briefly attendees prior to the election on the roles and responsibilities of each executive force he says the Barbano Council recently struggled with cohesion within its executive after Saturday's youth forum is optimistic this will be a thing of the past. What we have noticed specifically towards the Barbano Youth and Sports Council it's been a difficult process because you're dealing with not only persons of different personalities but persons who come from very different communities within Barbano. The council also and this is a problem we're seeing across different branches we on the National Youth Council and have sometimes have to come into different councils and try to um how should I say dissolve certain personal issues that may come about in in the councils but so far we're from what I'm seeing and especially the different workshops that have gone before me I think that we should probably see a difference in this new council. Saturday's election was facilitated by the National Youth Council and the Ministry of Youth Development and Sport the new Barbano Youth and Sports Council will serve a two-year term in office that's your update on new development and sports for today I'm Ryan O'Brien. Thanks Ryan. The curtains have come down on Saint Lucia Jazz 2019 but the sustaining of interest in the music art form continues with a donation of instruments to the Saint Lucia School of Music and Marsha's Sacred Heart Youth Orchestra. Here's Anise Antoine. To celebrate the culmination of the 2019 Saint Lucia Jazz music program events company Saint Lucia and an employee of a long-standing sponsor of the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival Steinway & Sons have partnered to gift participants in the program with two musical instruments. The Saint Lucia School of Music received a Roland Phantom x8 action keyboard and the Marsha Sacred Heart Youth Orchestra received an acoustic guitar. Ministering the Ministry of Tourism, Information and Broadcasting, Culture and Creative Industries with responsibility for Culture and Creative Industries, Fortuna Bell Rose. We focus on the development, the base, widening the base, broadening the base and in the last two years we've been focusing on broadening that base of jazz so that you have more youngsters playing, more youngsters excited, more people excited, more families excited, ultimately more citizens really excited about the Jazz Festival and so we have this little legacy piano that has been left with the School of Music so they can continue the good work that they've been doing in terms of instilling the values and the right culture and attitudes you know around music and so that's why we're here and we're happy to make this presentation. This is one in many that will be coming as time rolls on. The two entities were also recognized for their participation in the St. Lucia Jazz in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center each having appeared at major venues for this year's festival. Richard Payne is the director of the St Lucia School of Music. This is very much a sort of testimony to a strengthening relationship between the St Lucia School of Music and the events company of St Lucia. We've had a historical relationship as far as jazz has been concerned and in this particular case this year we are a very strong educational component and so this again this is really an example of that strengthening of that relationship and we look forward to making it even bigger and better in the future and of course our thanks remain to the government of St Lucia which has supported the St Lucia School of Music in the 31 years of our existence and we look forward to again continued support. The ceremony took place on Wednesday May 22nd 2019 at the events company St Lucia headquarters. From the government information service I am Anisia Antoine reporting. And stay with the NTN Nightly up next Primers Hotchinson is here with the NTN Nouvelle Aquéon. I was in my neighborhood it was a very dark night I decided to go for a drink by a bar on my way from the bar I felt the stink to my right leg and when I looked back I knew it was a full snake. You happen to be in an area where there are snakes and you are bitten by a snake this is what you do you call for help and try to reach the Victoria Hospital within one or three hours you will be seen immediately. My uncle at the time was a police officer called the arm Victoria Hospital and told them that we're coming down for a snake bite. It is the only facility on the island which has a protocol and a treatment plan where you can be treated adequate. We call them before you go there so they can prepare for you. And rest assured that they are adequate supplies of antivenom with doctors who have been trained in the treatment protocols of the snake bite. Welcome back we join Primers Hotchinson for the NTN Nouvelle Aquéon. Primers Hotchinson. Welcome back to the NTN Nouvelle Aquéon. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Primers Hotchinson. Winds will be blowing from between the east and east southeast near 20 miles per hour or 31 kilometers per hour with fair to partly cloudy skies with a few brief showers. Weak unstable conditions in the lower atmosphere over the northern lesser Antilles will bring some showers over that area during the forecast period. A tropical wave located over the eastern tropical Atlantic is moving westward near 15 miles per hour or 24 kilometers per hour. The tide for castries was low at 1231 p.m. and is high at present. The tide for V4 Bay was low at 158 p.m. and will be high again at 812 p.m. The sea is a slight moderate of waves 3 to 5 feet or 0.9 to 1.5 meters. The sun will rise Thursday at 5.35 a.m. And that brings us to the end of the NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7 p.m. with a repeat at 7 a.m. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I'm Nisha Tross.