My name is Debra Taylor and I'm the interim superintendent. We're going to start our meeting today by electing a care because we do have to reorganize every year in March after town meeting. So I will be starting the meeting and calling for nominations for chair. And just to be sure, does everyone have in front of them a copy of our packets? Be sure you all have one. Okay, perfect. Then I think you can just start to follow along as we go through this. We'll be right inside the front cover of your packet. So I'd be seeking a nomination for chair for this board. Who would like to do so? I move Scott Thompson for chair. Okay. Dorothy has nominated Scott for chair, Scott Thompson. Is there a second? Yes. She even has seconded that. We're going to see if there are other nominations. Yes, Jones? I'd like to nominate Flora. Okay. Flora has been nominated. Is there a second? A second. She has seconded. Are there any other nominations? Okay. So I will be seeking, we will go with each candidate and I will count those who would like to vote for each one. Please remember, you cannot vote twice. So if you would, just by raise of hand. Yes. So as a new member of the board, is it possible to have both of them just speak to what they bring? Oh, a good point. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It is something that only one of our, we only can have one chair of our board, we may not have two. But, and I think perhaps, I could certainly speak to the responsibilities once they've done a little bit of an introduction about themselves before we vote. Thank you, Diane. Appreciate that. We're still new to this. So, I'm not just that, but you can't go wrong. There's no bad to see. I'm basically the devil of arm capable exercise. It does so presented here tonight, but I'm still very valuable. Our people not as some, you know, not like everyone in general, and basically everyone in particular, in the same way that there is, not just as some vague, feel good abstraction, but for the sake of the school experience, the well-being of the school experience of each and every flesh and blood student in our care. So, one thing I should mention is that sometimes you can get a little rough around the edges. I don't think anyone would accuse me about running an excessively smooth and risk business life. But, briefly discuss the role of the chair and then we can talk about other positions. As was already mentioned, Scott had said that the chair is responsible for organizing meetings that includes working with the superintendent to set the agenda for the meetings. And then of course, during the meeting to oversee the movement toward various items and ensure that decisions have to be made. So, that is what you see in public, but there are quite a few more roles for the chair beyond that. Organizing or working with teams of members. This year we had a scaring team which included our chair and vice chair and clerk. And they would deliberate about the draft agenda and that allowed us to have multiple perspectives and that was really very helpful. And then beyond that, in the event that there might be an issue or a concern, personnel, discipline, or perhaps a safety issue that may have occurred as superintendent, I try to keep the board chair informed in between meetings so there might be occasions where I would reach out to the board chair and let them know about it. And if we decide that it's something that we need to communicate to the rest of the board, that might be something that we would do by fall in between meetings. Or if it's necessary, you can call a special meeting in the case of the emergency. So I think that outside of the meeting, I think those are the important areas. And does anyone have any questions about the role of the chair or questions for Floor or Scott? I realize we haven't introduced you all, but we'll do that just as soon as we finish this process that's okay. All right, so let's call for, our first nomination was Scott Thompson. So if you are in favor of Scott as the chair of police, raise your hand and I will count votes please. That's seven, I'm not sure if that's the majority because I didn't count how many we have all together. We certainly proceed with the following vote, but I think mathematically that would be the majority. Seven of our 13, congratulations to you. Please. Four. So if I could draw everyone's attention to the inside of the packet, we have more reorganization work to do. And at this point, Scott, come back soon. And I think we're dancing. Would you mind just introducing yourself and perhaps saying one or two things about what you both will accomplish or bring this? My name is Phil Olskamp. I live in Worcester, two of the things that I hope to focus on to look at getting solar on some of our buildings.  Is that a noisy air thing? Yeah, I think. Can you hear me out? Could you do that again? The large system. So we'll have to use our mics up right over there. Hi, my name is Trachten. I live in Middlesex. I teach at Brownie. And what we really talked about. When it was plumbing, I'm a Berlin resident. And I was interested. We've lived in Berlin for a number of years and our children go in the system. So I feel very strongly about the importance of public education. And so I work up in the Northeast Kingdom currently at the table at board meetings. So I thought I would take a dive into this site. I'm Jonah Cino van Vleetam from Worcester. And this year I'd like to continue the work that we've done in organizing how the whole district operates, how we do our governance with an eye toward getting more public from the communities. I also think it's going to be important for us to continue to have our eye on the proficiency-based graduation requirements so we can make progress on the cleanup process. I'm Jill Wilson and I'm from Middlesex. I have two children, one that graduated from U32 in 2015 this year. And really for a couple of reasons. One, I was on the Brownie board a number of years interested that we've merged. And I was really motivated with last of graduating seniors with this proficiency GP. So I'm really interested in making sure of that. So on Steve's look, returning to performance gap has been free and reduced to much states. Alison's previously on the U32 board for a little over six years. And I have two sons that graduated from the system and a daughter that's in 10th grade. I myself went to Calis Elementary and alumni at U32's. I care deeply about our district here. And I guess my focus is really about education and the impact that we have on our students. And making sure that our students leave paired to be successful and to give back. To Calis Elementary board before being on this board. I also was a supporter of one board. I was a see it work successfully. The governance part of it. And as far as the role as a board, what it's telling us about the pre-instruction curriculum. I'm Scott Thompson. You've already heard enough of me publicly, but I think what I'm going to try to do is make sure that we can actually see some of the things that you've been talking about. My name is Chris McVane, I'm a middle science as well. I don't have a teaching system and I've got good education here. Good social, self esteem. So I would, I'm interested in continuing on the state championship. Yes. U32, sorry, excuse me. For those of you who don't know me, I'm in my 12th year as superintendent in delegation. But I'm pretty much involved in what goes on in each of our schools. I visit each school legally and I visit each classroom at least once a month. So you'll know a little bit about me from that and the approach is to trust and support our excellent staff, but verify and hold the board. Next up on the agenda is board reorganization. And I would welcome some advice. I do want to do that as one big second vote. Robert's rules would say, but I think you probably have to do it one by one and then get into Robert's rules later. But if you do it. Always run. Okay, so in that case, the next item is election of a vice chairperson, which we have had in the past. It's noted here as an absolute best practice. I think it's a great idea, personally. So unless anyone objects, I would open the floor for nominations for vice chair. May I just stick to what the role the vice chair would be? Please. So the vice chair sits again in place, the chair in the case of their absence. So we take responsibility for planning agendas, running meetings, et cetera, in that case. And also as we've operated this year, we'll be part of a team that supports the development of the agenda and the... Great. So nominations for Chris Moves doing Maryland Seconds. Thank you. Let's get asked it somewhere else. Let's get it. If I have to, I'll separate. Okay. Are there other lawyers who nominate or are there other nominations for vice chair? So the formalities, I think that's the unanimous vote. Yeah, unanimous vote for Clark. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Next up is Clark. Nominations for Clark, please. I'll nominate Jonas. Then they nominate Jonas and Chris Seconds. Are there any... Yes, Deborah Wells. I just forgot to mention what the role of Jonas' role is or has been, which was our clerk earlier in the year. Essentially, according to statutes, to oversee the minutes of the board, which we've actually delegated to our wonderful secretary who would like to mention Lisa. And as few are allowed to thank you, Lisa. But on occasion when we have a private session or a smaller group, then Jonas does serve that function. And he also, I believe, reviews our minutes correct from Lisa prior to their being published. I'm sure I'm missing, but those are the primary. So Jonas is nominated. We have no other nominations. So let us then consider Jonas' re-elected board clerk on a unanimous vote. Great. So committees. We have a number of standing committees currently or at least in existence in the board's last incarnation. We can start with finance. I think certainly Harry would have very in-depth with that circle there. Once again, should I get the charge first so people might know if they're going to volunteer what they might be? Sure. Sorry, I keep it directed. No, no, no, that's, welcome. It's a good thing I'm not sitting next to you because that would be elbow. No, no, no, it wouldn't be delivering funds. Well, our finance committee has been represented by overseeing and supporting the development and initiation of the budget and then taking feedback from the board and moving that process forward. There's been other work that's gone on this year, including casual conversations about how to proceed with the cabinet in the short and long term. And I believe that it is sensible to have the cabinet to one because of course all of the decisions we make around obstruction and remodeling are very much associated with the office, the oversight of the finance, so our members were, so if you look at your packet, the next page is this colorful calendar and this tells you where or when our committees were meeting this year. So up until this point, the finance committee is met the second Thursday of every month at 8.15 for approximately eight hours, sometimes during the busy season, two hours, and that was based upon the decisions of the members. So discuss and or make changes to the charges. I think for the finance, it's pretty straightforward. If there's no objection, what we can do is move on to vote on the chairperson for that committee. And I think it's one we can ask the members for. You have to check on the members first. And then the members, okay, okay, very good. In that case, we should probably just solicit volunteers. People with a finance committee. Can we under discussion of how many members should be on finance committee? Well, if you would like to discuss it, floor suggestion four. Or any. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes somebody can't compromise. We were doing a lot of capital, sometimes separate. So the proposal is for four. Is there a consensus for sounds good to everyone? Is there any objection to having four? Is there any number of things we should have more than four? I think people are interested about the support of the bottom. Because it's fairly simple. You know, not that all committees aren't important. I think the plan is to see capital is probably the most significant aside from the student or the quality of education is ongoing service. And the other thing that we had talked before, we haven't decided that those are also about having meetings. One of our meetings and months will be for committee work. That could be an option too. So there's more about the interest and expertise release. So don't worry about that Thursday, you know, there needs to be a vote into two, perhaps a brief business meeting and then breaking out of our committees into separate groups that would be on the same night that our work in case of negotiations, that would be the one that would not be able to meet with other people. They're interested in one and one. It's the timing. I might suggest, so there's only three groups, there's only three committees. But there's just one. Four. Two, three, four. This is just what's occurring. Listen, but for the moment there are four, they're going to be one. I don't know. We have negotiations, policy, and funding. I just know about it. We don't have it now. No, we have one, so we'll probably be best. We have just three right now. Right. One's the quality of that. So there's going to be four. There's going to be four. But I suggest we just establish a maximum of five members for the committee and let's see how many people want to serve on it. Sounds great. Everybody good with that? Sure. There we go. Okay, good. So who is interested in serving on the finance committee? John. I can't do Thursday mornings. You can too, but you are interested in being on the committee? Yeah, though I would prefer the policies, so if there's a conflict. I'm interested too, but I would first like others. Yeah, could you raise your hands again? And then four at the time, if the time allows. Can I make a process if you're interested? Sure. I sort of feel like we should talk about all of the committees and get a straw hole for who wants to be on all of them before we start voting. Sure, great. Because that could really make a difference. Sure, okay. I don't know what they all did it for. Also, we don't know who's interested in what, so I can really suggest a straw process before we vote for the time. So then we have just done the straw for finance. So next we can move on to negotiations. Jonas is the chair, would you like to address it? I'd like to continue this work through the negotiation process. Would you be willing to talk about the charge, or would you like to address the space bargaining process with the union? I think we're to establish the collective bargaining agreement. We've established salary levels and salary matrix five or six times at this point. They think we have two sessions left on the books. I think one should get through. I believe we're negotiating in two years. So this committee will probably be dormant next year. Currently it's me and Andy. The year is left. George is no longer on the committee. We have two community members, Johnny Waterhouse and Susanne Culver who helped us with this. They helped us with the final stretcher. Actually, to keep the numbers where they are and to avoid any comment process, I think we should just add one. So is that okay? So three, then three. And Jonas, you might mention something about interest-based bargaining. Sure, it's a non-adversarial process in which we collectively, between the entire negotiator, identify the issues that we're going to address and then go through the process essentially of figuring out what are the important parts of this that we can all agree on, what are the parts that certain parts of the negotiating group agree on. And then it is a consensus-based process of negotiation which has its benefits. Great, thank you. So you would want essentially one person to avoid, okay? Is there anyone who's interested? Steven, fantastic. Yeah, sir, for negotiation. That was our struggle for negotiations. Policy, we might have Chris at least who has been chair of the Policy Committee. If I could talk about that. Last year we adopted all the policies that had been in existence, but only for one year we had a sunset agreement. So we've been coming through the policies and updating them, modifying them and then bringing them back to the board to we adopt. So we still have a long way to go, but it has been very enjoyable on any day. I'm surprised that we're saying that, but it really has been enjoyable because policies can make a significant difference in how we operate and how our students are. So we have three members now. We also have two, three administration members who have joined us. And it's, you know, Maryland and jail. No, we're Jody and Aaron. Jody and Aaron. I'm showing myself. Right, and going before would be really wonderful. Chris, do you have a legal counsel? What's that legal counsel? We should, but I'm, I add it now. But what we do, what we need to, we do have legal counsel. We actually, if I could just answer. So we use the, primarily is a starting point, the model policies, which have already been vetted by legal counsel. But we have created our own and when that occurs, I do send them off to our board's attorney as a review, just in advance so that we can be sure where everything's correct in all of the proper eyes are dotted and T's are crossed. For example, our FMLA policy would very likely bring that across the desk or attorney. So having heard that long report of the policy committee, first of all, do the currently serving members, are you interested in continuing? I'm also interested in that. Of course, yeah, I kind of figure. Yeah, okay. Anyone else? Yeah, I'm also interested in that. Yes.  Oh yeah, so I was thinking, I think we talked earlier when we were talking about student boys for a student. Yeah. Absolutely, there's no, I think it's a great idea. And Dorothy, you're interested in joining that band of Starbucks. Excellent. Anybody else interested in policy? So I'm waiting to hear about education quality. Because I think that's the one I'm gonna be the most interested in, I was on policy committee back when I was on the Brumley School Board and I actually really enjoyed it. That time is really bad, so in some ways whether I sort of, right, the same would be also for myself that there is an interest, but I don't know what the capacity is and then the quality and so on. Sure, well, having now done the policy struggle, we can get into the education quality committee because it's one that we have not yet had, that we have, I think all of us felt a yearning to revive. And is there a charge that has been prepared? Well, I would like to just talk a little bit about what I understood the work was and then I'm going to ask Floor and any other members that were on it, lending caps as well? That's a card. That's a card. Okay, so essentially my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong is that this committee would work directly with the superintendent perhaps the curriculum director to address accountability towards the school's plans and goals and also give feedback and input. So for example, if this committee were in place, this past fall they might have turned the question of bringing over to them for further analysis and report back to the board. Would you agree? Yeah, and we did the monitoring that we did last year came from guidance from, so when we called ourselves accountable to those math goals, for example, it was work that we had. So it would help us keep track with the monitoring that we run after. So lastly, so what Floor would bring to is that last year the board asked all the districts to move as many students forward toward a one year growth into the area of math. Well, that rose out of this committee's review of our data and then the charge was adopted by the full board. Yeah, I'll just say that just saying what you said in another way is I think it's helping the board be as clear as we can amongst ourselves and with our staff as what our expectations are for student learning outcomes, how we measure that and any specific goals that we want to set. And then that obviously feeds into budgeting and planning and all of that, so pretty important. Anyone have anything else to say about education for them? The committee, that is. I was dancing in the history of our presentation. Yeah. That would be nice. I would prefer to be on that one. I guess. We can have a challenge for them. Yes. I think he was interested in that one too. I think you would be. Good. Are you following me in this chatter back here? I'm most following it, but I do wish we were using our microphones. Yeah. So, having heard about the potential charge for the education quality committee, how about a show of hands? And don't be deterred because you see a lot of hands. I think it's. But there's a lot of hands. You don't have to be an ultimate parent. Yeah. Someone said the full board is the education quality. No, it's great. I think. Anyone can attend any committee. Yeah. Exactly. That's another thing. The one thing I just want to be sure of, I do feel like we've had a lot of talk this year about high school and we need some strong representation of these elementary schools. So that's important to me and why I'm particularly interested in this. I have a lot of other reasons that I've been very involved in the CIP process right now that we started. So if I had to choose policy for education at this point, I would choose education, although I'm really interested in policy change. As the quality committee had one member from each town to make sure that there was representation. Too close, sir. Please. Are there going to be other committees? Just so that we can think about the year and time. Yes. I expect when the book, as I understand it, will be dealt with in a retreat. And more committees, I think, or more formations will be issuing out of that discussion. I think what, again, like the education quality committee, there's been a sense that what we're missing is some kind of school-by-school eyes-on formation. So anyway, so we've had struck walls. And so for, do you feel ready now to sort of declare yourselves? And one can be on two committees. And if you're not on the committee, you can always attend the meeting and without any, you know, you may not be able to vote. As a member of the committee, is that right? I think that would be right. No, but you could be part of the discussion. I wonder, before you vote, would some people have expressed interest in having the committees meet, some of them at least, on one of the regular board meeting evenings? And that might make a difference as to whether they choose to be part of it because of scheduling. So would that be something that you wanted to discuss a little further before you lead by representation? Especially since the quality would know when you were suggesting that one would meet. I can say that negotiations would have to be excluded at least for the rest of this year. And maybe that would meet regularly without a contract to issue. One of my concerns as we're talking about this as breakout is it's not a secret. Our meetings have run way too late and too long with pretty much the same things on the agenda each time. And if we also have a breakout for the committee when we were doing the book, the breakout might only be 30 minutes. And the last time we did the book, which we finished it up, it was only 30 minutes. Kelly held it to the 30 minutes and we still didn't get out till after midnight. And I just want to keep that in mind as we're talking about breakout. I would prefer that meetings were in our regularly scheduled times, the Wednesdays. But I also, then something has to change with the way we do agendas so that we're not overtaxing us. As many of us have other jobs, we have to get up in the morning and get out of the house and getting home at 12.45 by the time I've driven home and trying to fall asleep is, that's just not acceptable. So keep that in mind. Right, and I know my dream has been that we'll reach a point where the committees do essentially the preparatory work, the heavy lifting there, and then bring to the board, essentially all but finished products for the board then to, you know, to act on. We'll see. Has your board ever done carousel meetings in the past? Yes, ma'am. We could be done in a similar fashion. That's what we were saying. Rather than having individual school district meetings, these could be your individual committee meetings. And I would think of each at an hour initially that might be sufficient as a starting point. Do you want to try it? Yeah? Okay. If one person, that is a problem. That's true. Can you hold your mic? I didn't hear what Dorothy said. What if Dorothy made it here at the party, or she said he just needed to see it again? But then that would be it. What if just, I'm sorry, if I didn't do something, I wish everybody would really talk it off. And I think it would committee meeting. So, would you like then, is there a consensus as to, or let me put it this way, is there an objection to trying this out? Your objection? I suggest that we, at some point, have full representation. Revisit the starting time for our meetings. Sure. To do it potentially earlier? Yes. Understood. Yeah, that would be fine. As someone who's interested in the policy meeting, I'm fine with keeping those meetings on, just to have more room on the ground. I'm not sure. Was there someone else that wanted to join? Stephen. Oh, Dorothy. Dorothy, I'm sorry. The question was, some people were talking about having all the committee meetings dialed one night. And so that would be different than your suggestion. Well, that's our meeting. All the other ways. That would be two. Two, yeah. So try it and see how it worked. You could try it and then see how it worked. Good. So perhaps at what point might we give this a spin? Sure. It would be right now, and this can change, but right now our leadership team attends the second meeting of the month. We could move that to the first meeting of the month and have it occur on the second. They are all planning on coming. So you could either start this rotation in April and the first meeting of the month and make that primarily committee work with a brief business meeting for board orders or policy work or anything that has to be approved. And then we'll see how it works out. We can always adjust it if it's not sufficient. That would be my thought. Does that make sense? Yeah, so starting in April, do the experiment. Okay. Okay, great. All right then. Now, we have, at this point, we have sort of a notional struggle of people who want to be on each committee. Procedurally, how should we do this? Committee by committee. You could call for appointments and then vote on them. Vote on them and the chair at the same time, or do we determine the chair? I'd happily rather them to just do it differently. Perfect, excellent. Okay, so for finance committee, would you raise your hands again, please? Floor, Kari, Chris, is that all? I was a maybe. Well, you were a maybe. Okay, then I will, I'll put myself in as well. So, Floor, Kari, Chris, and Scott for finance capital. All in favor? Policy. We have, at the moment, Chris, Jio, Marilyn, and Steven. And we're at the, oh my God. I keep on trying to fool you in, Steven. My apologies. So, let me do this again. And towns as well. Chris, Jio, Marilyn, Dorothy, and towns. Did I get it right? Yeah. Excellent, okay. So, all in favor? I don't know. Negotiations. That's where I'm at. And that's Steven and Lindy. Jonas, Steven, and Lindy. Excellent. And can they also say Susanna and Johnny? Yeah. And then Johnny as sort of community members and mentors and angels. And full members of the committee. And full members of the committee. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Very good. Okay, so we have Jonas, Steven, Lindy, plus. Johnny, Waterhouse, and Susanna Kovar as members of the negotiations committee. All in favor? Please say aye. Aye. Great. Education quality. Now, I think we had, do you mind raising your hands again? Those who want to be part of it. So, Marilyn, Diane, Jill, Kari, Floor, and Mia, for as long as you can do it. Yeah. Okay. That's great. You will be welcome. And if that one meets during breakouts, those of us on negotiations can't have negotiations during breakouts. We won't be having negotiations during them. Right. So we won't be, you'll be available. We would be available to be on something that's having a breakout as a floater. Great. Or a permanent member. Yeah. Well, yeah. Yeah, very good. Okay. So, they said, did you get all that? Yes. Wonderful. I think, is it five or six? It's a six. Student side of the letter. Right. So it would be five plus B.M. It would be five plus B.M. Just a plus one. Jonas, were you pleasant to all of our members? I'm just counting. It was just counting comedy. Okay, so on the favor of that staffing of that committee, the Education Quality Committee, do you say aye? Aye. Aye. If anyone is opposed, it doesn't matter. Okay. I have a question about people who aren't here tonight. The board members not here tonight. Are any of them currently on any of these committees? It's George isn't here. Who else isn't here? George is no longer on the board. He's not here. We need it five and he's not available at five. No, then he's not on the committee. Right. We replace him with beer. The beer is gone for the place you're here at this meeting. So with Johnny and Susanna, we have five. Could I address the unfilled positions while we're here? Can you use your microphone? Sure. I moved it over to Mia so she can see. So here we go. We're here. So I was, I wanted to let you know that as you were, well, first of all, we have 12 members here. This is now a 15 member board. We have one returning board member who was ill and who got naked. That was George, or it was from Berlin. So right now we are pleased to welcome Diana who received a majority for the position that they were listed for. So Jonathan Goddard, who was at our meeting the other evening, is interested. And I was on a poster, but that gentleman is Alan Gilbert. He's not interested. I saw that. There's no way. Yeah. What salon are we talking about?  Oh, what's open? Yeah. So in any case, the process for appointing members for the remainder of this year, which is not the full term for the remainder of this year, is actually outlined in statute. So I'm going to ask you to go through that extra set of materials below the calendars, document that starts with page 195 on the top right. They can decline if it wasn't. So which, Diana, which seat do you have? I have between three here. So we actually have Joe and then sort of this. Yeah, that's what happens. Stick around for five. So Diana was able to select which term because she was written for both and she had four. She selects three. There's a two year old. So the person who had the most votes. Yeah, because she had the most votes. Yeah, because she had the other right which was written twice. Right, okay. Yeah, we had rain going. Yeah, rain water. None of it is interested and I'm sure that Carmelie has the next point in which it can be how we will fill those positions. First of all, did everyone find this document because of 195 as it's number 11? Yes, number 11 special session. So toward the bottom, it seeks to the election in a unified union district. And if you turn to the back page and we'll just take a moment to read, read for a moment and I'll talk with you about it. So we'll just read that eight times. It says in concentration. No, that would be all right. Just be notified as I forward two walls out there. Yeah, yeah. You want to be more explicit. Thank you for clearing it up. This board would have to take an individual that they might recommend. For example, it would be up to us to decide who's and if you chose not to take the first of the slide boards that we'd like you to, that would be your final position but you have to consult with them. So that means that that consultation could be today or two from these towns. So that has to be a formal meeting. It would have to be the board. Yes, correct. And they're required to have an discussion within 30 days, which is today. And Wooster are not meeting between now and our next board meeting that we won't be able to have a full board sitting until later on. Sorry, Deborah, I have to disagree that 30 days is after receipt of the notice from the clerk. Correct. Not within 30 days of the vacancy. Thank you. Energy and effort to try to accomplish it as soon as possible, it may be with less than 30 days but as we know, the dates of select board meetings are predetermined and have to occur in the future. So in the case that I've expressed an interest that's Jonathan Goddard, I am not aware if we have someone in the community of Wooster who's interested in serving who the board share my lunch with in the chat. I'm interested to know if Laura- No, I tried to, yeah, no, I tried to- We'll have to, I want to note that the appointment is not forward to your term. The appointment is until the next meeting. Yeah, it's for the rest of this year. Now the balance is the term, right? Thank you. That means until the March of 2020. So do you, does anyone know what the Berlin select board meets? So the 16th of March is the next meeting of the Berlin select board. So we'll bring Jonathan's letter forward. Actually, Mary will do that for us as our further information is going to be put out this year for the other people that would like to consider it. Especially given that it's only until next town meeting I've always seen that as an opportunity for people to not make a very long term commitment, but it's- It should be in public size to members of the town either from where to go or something like that. So I think what I've understood in the past is that people to the select board we did ever write in candidate who had received a number of votes. So I think that was the reasoning. But I was thinking about the same thing, Karen, regarding Worcester, that we need to make a formal announcement about that open newspaper. Jonathan, can you talk to Will? Worcester, the Worcester select would also meet on the 1st and 3rd. So that would be a good time for Mary to sit there. And what about the board members from those two towns putting in on the 4th? We have a number of votes. Can I make a request to the chair that we stick to the agenda, please? And in this case, we should stick to the checklist and if we have new things to bring that up, bring that up. Sure. I think this is on the agenda at some points. Yes. It's just at 4.3. So maybe we can pick this up again at 4.3. But thank you, Stephen. Appreciate that. People can disagree. You know how I feel about it. Okay, so now appointing an insurance officer for each school. For each school. For each school. It's the principal's. It's normally good that the principal's do that, but it's a formal environmental. So I move that we appoint each principal for each of the local schools, including U-32. That's the current officer who responds here.  Okay, Chris moves, Dorothy seconds. All in favor? Please say aye. I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. Appointing principals as Truman officer for the schools. I heard that, what was the motion? The motion was to appoint the principal's, yes. So is there any discussion? Friendly principal or they're appointee. They're appointee? Do you accept it? Yeah. Great, okay. So amendment is accepted. Friendly, sorry. I don't want to split the air tube directly, but maybe this is designee. I don't accept designee, I think that's a more common use word. Okay. It reflects policies. So Lisa, as a friendly amendment, as the motion with friendly amendments now runs, appoint principals or their designees as Truman officer for each school. For the discussion, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Next, to establish a regular board meeting schedule. We have first and third Wednesdays of each month. Chairman has suggested that we discuss this when we have a full compliment. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, okay. I agree with that. I, yeah, I put no such qualifier on it. I'd like to discuss it now. What's your, what's our meeting at 5.30? What's the realest time that you could? 6.30. That's why I'm here. Oh, 6.30? Last Wednesdays of the week was a committee night, but ever since we've changed that, we could move to the A-station stage if they would fit in other schedules. I think maybe we'd better stick with what we've got for now. And, and- I'm waiting. We could try six and- I just hope that- We'll start fresh and then fresh. Okay. So, would someone like to move? I'd like a motion to have our meeting to the first and third Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. Floor moves. Second. Awesome. Giles seconds. Any further discussion? Yes, I would like to at least have the understanding that as we've done this year is that I don't think it's part of the motion just so flexibility, but that should be our practice. I would like our practice to continue to do that. Is that understood by new members as well? We do our first meeting here and our second meeting on the third Wednesday out at one of the schools of the elementary school. Okay. Okay, very good. If I may note that next meeting will be at Jody Memorial School as they're on a rotation right? Thank you. Great. Okay. If there is no more discussion, all in favor of first and third Wednesdays, beginning at six, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? None opposed. Great. Just a practical question. So that wonderful assistant sent out appointments. Will she update them? Okay, great. He's great. Love that. Great. David? Okay, Lawrence Middlesex. Just a quick question on your elementary school things. We have new board members, but are we hopefully going to avoid having to do a tour of every elementary school again? We are hopefully going to avoid it. Yes. Or if you're going to, let me know so I'll come an hour later. I think it's been on the agenda. Yeah. So if you see on the agenda, and we do have new members, so I think we have to see the board. The first thing on the agenda, that way it doesn't get to route. We're having it 5.30. I think if there's going to be doors, they should be in advance of the actual meeting. I just, unless there's a... Thank you for adding that. Okay, good. So have we voted on it? Yes, we have. Good, all right. And thank you, David, for that. So scheduling our annual board work session retreats. Right down there. Sorry. Thank you. Adopt ward norms. Do we have? I did not actually adopt them this year. So I believe you had them in the past. Yeah. One could, that might be something you could do this evening more. Or perhaps that you're upcoming retreat. I think that's a very wise idea. If you don't object, I think that would give people more relaxed time. Yes, if there's no objection, we'll postpone adoption of board norms until we have a chance to discuss them as part of our retreat. Okay. I had something I was going to raise during this time, though. Which is, is there a reason we sit like this? Because we are slowing ourselves down by sitting in a way that we can't see or hear each other. We could be moving a lot faster if we were to show. Yeah, Joe, this was entirely my fault. We're, because on Monday we were like this. And it was actually, I liked having the public where I could actually make out their faces. And even though the public is more sparsely represented tonight, if we're, most of the time, we're going to be in a place where we don't have to, you know, rotate 180 degrees in order to see each other. But we're usually like this. And we're doing this. I think we should be in a U or a square, even the left or the right one. I don't think we're going to miss it. Or just something. Yeah. Let's do it right now. Right, yeah, let's do it. I mean, we can do it right now. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, we can do it right now. Right now. Just think of this. All you have to do is we have to strip these up over and we'll be able to just make that up to work. And then David and Corinne, you can sit in there. You can sit in there. Just so you can see. We have five minutes. OK, here we go.  That would be foolish. It's what happens to me, but I moved. Oh. If I may say, this is exactly the kind of spontaneous creativity that I'm going to talk about. As long as you have a table, Jonas doesn't have a table. Well, Jonas, please, please. Great places to sit. Great. Thank you. Thanks, Jill. Thanks, Chris. OK, so now we're on the scheduling of the annual board work session parenthesis retreat. Do we have any floor? I would suggest that we talk about the retreat on board and on board or on retreat where we had it on 4.2. And why not do all of our stuff here? Because we have two pieces that we've been talking about, the book and the annual retreat. So would it be OK the way that we're doing that to schedule that? Any objection to bucking it over to 4.2? It's weird. Great. OK, very good. So then, designate locations for posting meeting agendas. We have the traditional, the usual locations. We have them presently at all schools, at the central office, at each of the town clerk's offices and on the web. And that covers all of our requirements. As a unified word, you actually only have to post it at three individual places. So we've obviously extended beyond that. We've exceeded the standard. We absolutely have. OK. Do we have to make a motion? Make a motion when we keep them where they are. Great. Lending moves that we keep them where they are. Locations. And should have seconds. Any further discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Great. Review requirements for the use of Robert Schroeder's reporter. I think they're here. This is just informationally at reference. So according to Robert's rules, the board exceeds 12 members. Then you have to follow a more formal process from essentially why I just copied this out of the DSBA annual. So it really just calls that if you are discussion items, if there's going to be an action, the idea would be to call for a motion to begin and then to have a discussion and then to conclude. And there are many others on this board who I'm sure are much more familiar with the formal Robert's rules with one example. And we are a larger board so that would put us in the category of following a more formal operation. But these are really just here and I just encourage you to have a handy. It also is helpful if you're thinking like Jill, I can't see or hear anybody. You might want to say, you know, there's some suggestions on how to formally interrupt the meeting and make comments. It's just a useful list. I think another thing that sometimes I've heard from board members is I wish we could have finished that conversation 30 minutes before. There's ways to do that following the motion rule so you can keep that in mind and formally intervene and call for a vote, for example. That's all I had to say about it. I have the entire book for reference if anyone would like a copy, I'd be happy to order more. But it's also, I've been through it myself and it's actually pretty easy to utilize. There's an index in the back so if there were ever a question, we could certainly refer to that. Is there a dummy's version? I have not seen one. There is, we referred to it at the meeting and brought me in. Next slide. Yeah, that should be right. You put it up on your machine. Yes, very good. Okay, so very clearly we'll be working our way up to full proficiency in this sort of developing stage on Robert's rules. Okay, what were you able to report going? The statute actually requires that we follow Margaret's rules. It's not really an option. It's right here. I brought in Margaret. It's just to bring to your attention that it's no longer a small ward way of operating which we've all done. Okay, so adopt code of ethics for school board members. That is on the facing page from the checklist. So I hope you have a chance to check this out. And where did this come from? This is from the Vermont School Board Association manual. This is the standard. The standard practice. Actually, I haven't liked it, but it is the one that you probably have been voting on for years. It's just placed on learning. It's more official to us. But I'll be happy to talk to you. I have the book that is right here. I don't think anybody else has. It will be any books for you guys. Okay. Yes. Does anybody want to move to adopt it? I would move to adopt the code of ethics as presented. Jill moves. I'll second it. For our second discussion. While I'm moving to adopt it, I am not going to sign any individual document. I will follow the code of policy, but I am not personally going to sign it. That was my concern when I read it. As elected officials, it seemed a little odd to think to sign. Because these ethics rules already apply to us by statute and by policy, I believe. We have never signed them before. We are just adopting. Well, that's why it has a signature on it. Yeah, I see. Okay. Steven. I don't know what was done last year. We've never adopted it. In fact, the vote has always been not to end. I favor it. I'm in favor of it. But unless there was a change last year, the board has never voted to follow a code of ethics. That is not that we weren't. We didn't have. Now I'm looking over my glasses and all of that. Yeah, I know. There's statutory guidelines here already on board members and policy guidelines. But these reflect. So we have a policy. So it sounds like Nelson's suspenders. So it doesn't seem like there's any reason not to adopt them. Or it's over. Yeah. Seems like not something we should spend a whole lot of time on either. I agree. Okay, we have the motion. Any further discussion of this? All right. We have, in the course of this discussion, talked about the possibility of adopting it and heard the contention that it's not necessary to adopt it and board members won't sign it. So on that basis. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? No. Okay. Are you satisfied with the nays having it? Yes. We asked about what you agreed for this when we look at our norms. That's how I look at them. That's it. Yes. And I should have asked if there were any abstentions. One abstention. Okay, good. Okay. Identify communication practices. That has to do with being more than more. So there's nothing to adopt here? I think it would be helpful if you were to decide how you would like to operate as a board. Did you, in terms of the board, the superintendent, chair or chair only that I think? I'll see that the chair speaks. Chris moves in just seconds. Did you cash that, Lisa? You're not using your mic. So I would move that we appoint the chair to speak with the board. And then the chair would then have to pass the superintendent to speak with the board on particular issues. The chair is for some reason not available. We're descending authority. Like the vice chair is not available in the clerk. Yes, that would be available. If the clerk is not available, we'll agree with that apology. I think we'll be good. Okay. Is that understood, Lisa? Yes. Okay. So we'll take that as a friendly amendment. I have a question about what kind of, I mean, is this like announcing a change? I'm just wondering what it is that's being communicated from. Like having a superintendent answering a letter from a citizen. But I would hope that we've all been included in whatever is going on before something's... Whatever goes out is cc'd to write. It's not just me sort of whimsically passing something on. You don't think we're just talking about cc'd to consult the board because there's a wall. Is that authority for the chair to just go make independent decisions for the board? Right. That's, believe me, that's understood. So your communicating decisions may decide the board and when you're receiving communications you're accepting the communications so we can consult with us before. Right. No decisions. No decisions. Communication of information. So if there were an incident at school you could defer your comments to the superintendent rather than, you know, having, I would just say that it would require that you make comment and you would have the situation. So things that are operational may not be appropriate but if it's communication from a community member or, well, your excitement about how our budget passed so well last evening would love to speak about... What does not available mean? Because, I mean, if I'd gotten the results earlier I may have called you last night but if you weren't there would you have been not available so I'd call floor? And keep it, how do you guys among yourselves decide whether the person that I called first was not available? I would basically do that. Yeah. Is that... Yeah? Yeah. That's your understanding? That's good. So I think it's crucial that there's a person in charge and then, so I favor going back to the chair and the chair can involve the superintendent as necessary and if, so for instance, the newspaper calls you first to comment on something and you happen to be taking the groceries in from the car and you're not answering the phone so then, okay, who's the next person in line and floor doesn't know anything that's going on on this issue? Unlikely. I hope not. It is likely. It's something that just happened. The superintendent has let the chair know. This is very likely in the instance of news people being involved. But we should all be informed. You'll eventually be informed but you won't be informed in a tightly enough manner to be able to respond to someone asking information. It would be better not to have a response than have an uninformed response of someone who is trying to make a best faith effort but could incredibly complicate a situation. So I would favor that we go and we've got to vote but I understand the interest of flexibility but I think we want to limit flexibility in this situation and it would be better to have nothing shared in some instances than to have something improperly shared so that then the time targets would call Scott back again in 10 minutes, something like that. I think I meant like out of town but I heard about it. Well, so what I'm saying then if, say Scott's going to be out of the country for a month then it would be incumbent upon him as a chair to say I'm out of the country and unavailable for a month. Floor as the vice chair assumes my responsibility. But I don't think we need to put that into the decision. We just say the chair or the chair can designate the superintendent. Thank you, Steve. That's a great point. Lisa, may I ask you please to read back the motion as you have it? I didn't have Stephen's change. That's okay. We can take it from there. Chris moved that the chair speaks for the board and that the chair has the discretion to ask the superintendent to speak for the board on particular issues and if the chair for some reason is not available then the authority goes to the vice chair and then to the clerk. So how would you change that? Looking forward I would recommend we vote on that amendment and if we do not favor that we vote it down and then we make a new motion that the chair speak for the board and can designate the superintendent. Can't Marilyn just withdraw her friendly amendment which is the part that we're excited we don't like? I'm happy to do that. Okay. So Lisa, Marilyn has withdrawn her friendly amendment in the friendliest possible way. So now you just have the chair speak for the board and the chair has the discretion to ask the superintendent. That's right. Yes. Did everybody hear that? Dorothy did you hear that? We've gotten rid of the descending authority. One more time louder please. She doesn't like, we could run on over there. So Chris moved regarding communication practices that the board speaks for the chair and the chair speaks for the board and the chair has the discretion to ask the superintendent to speak for the board on particular issues. Sounds good. You got that? Okay. Any further discussion? Or are we ready for a vote? All in favor of the motion as Lisa has just read it out. Please say aye. Any opposed? Okay. Great. So board development, board development opportunities and attendance at meetings. This is intended to just have an opportunity for you to discuss how you might like to pursue development opportunities. I think that you are aware and if not you will assume that as new board members or returning board members we will encourage you to use or utilize the BSBA website as an entire toolkit there regarding new members on the board. But ours, they're also workshops and they're generally very, very informative and valuable and I'd be happy to talk with anyone around those specific topics. This board has generally chosen to use retreats and or card out parts of their names for the purpose of professional or board growth and development. And then lastly, the question of attendance at meetings I would leave to you Scott in relation to encouraging members to attend. I hope that goes with that saying. That would be enormous I think. But that's those the meetings behind that. Okay. So if anyone has a recommendation for there is a annually there's a conference for school board members in the fall. Last year I don't know if you made a decision about or wish to discuss at this point how you might want to proceed with the membership in this board's association but at some point I think you should bring that up. Oh yes, most definitely. And I think at this point this is more informational we can perhaps factor it into the retreats. Great. Okay. Local and statewide education advocacy responsibilities. That's another one of those topics that this is the legislature's in session right now and some boards choose to be very active in how they advocate for certain legislation. I think that in various experience in the recent past that's been something that this board has chosen to do. So if you have a we don't actually have a committee to go to this but generally speaking if there's a certain area of concern some legislation being brought forward that you think will be particularly positive or concerning I've always asked the board to inform me and that I often testify but I know board members as if appointed would certainly do that on your behalf. So it has to do with how you choose to act as an advocate by the legislature. Great. So we can do that. We don't have to do it now. So designating the Newscaper of Record. Times Argus. What's his name? He's here. So emotion? I'll second it. Okay floor moves. So designate the Times Argus as our Newscaper of Record. Any discussion? All in favor please say aye. Opposed? Good. So appointing a board member a board voting delegate for statewide health insurance ratification for next negotiation cycle beginning in 2021 So this is relating to the state negotiation of health insurance and you've had to identify a person who would serve as a voting delegate. But we don't get a vote. You don't? I was a delegate but we don't get a vote because we are members. I actually don't believe that's the case for this person's purpose. I believe that you don't get a vote. Well we check and find out. They say that that is actually a legislative and separated and separate from and apart from the BSB. The BSB doesn't actually negotiate on behalf of school districts for health insurance. I think we need more information. We need to check on it but there's no actual work to do on this until winter or next year so we can forget back up. I just wanted to know what more information would change. It's just simply to have a person or a vote to be taken in that person. I was appointed last year and the term was not over but I know that I was told that the appointment was there but we didn't have I felt it anymore until we joined. I'm pretty sure but we can find out. That's something I'm not sure but I'll be back. But we could just cross out voting for the moment until 2019. Would anyone like to move it that way? Do we have to do anything with it? Well we do have to have a person at some point. There happens a Daniel meeting for next year. Correct. I would make a proposal to appoint floor as the board delegate to the state employee health insurance ratification for the cycle beginning 2021. Steven moves. I'll second it. Any further discussion? Given what happened this year and the way the negotiations went it would be interesting to hear a report on the negotiators what went wrong because they are representing us and to hear back in some fashion because it did not go well for school board position in terms of the backfinder. Future agenda? Future agenda. So we have the motion and the second. Any other comments, questions? If not all in favor of floors are delegate to these negotiations or for the next negotiation cycle please say hi. Please say hi. Hi. Okay. So board representative to the center of my career center advisory board This is not a the one before we even know Debra Debra, Steven down your plate and myself have been sitting on the career on the career center and there were a lot of positions this year about the budget in the process of doing any facility programs and getting a new superintendent to work with They're also starting a visioning process for the sector this coming year. It's great. So do we have a motion? With 2.4 as representative the Does it need to be just one person? Could that be two? We meet at four They meet on a Monday and I can ask better actually we're three right now Debra, Steven and myself Anyone interested in serving? Okay so I'll move to way point four as the board representative to the center of my career the center of advisory board Wonderful. So Chris moves Second. Steven seconds The appointment of floors board rep to the CVCC advisory board Any further discussion? All in favor please say aye Aye. Opposed? Good. Alright I think that's a typo It's not the central It's just a typo Yes So Welcome guests Agenda revisions Are there any further agenda revisions? There's an opportunity for public comments Corinne When Dorothy mentioned that she's been involved here for about 50 years it made me think I had not lost the thought that I hope the board is going to be considering what to do to celebrate U32's 50th year They opened in 1971 for the last 1972 and I know alumni are doing a lot of chatter about what they might do but everything that I've heard seems that the more that goes on to celebrate in a variety of ways in a variety of times would be most appreciated by alumni Great, great suggestion Thank you Future agenda item please Yeah, that's great They might actually have some things in place or in planning that we don't know about so I'll check Yeah, wonderful There's our Dave? Great, okay So Board orientation This summer is colored and it's just behind those additional documents that we're looking at yet We talked about just because we had new members just sharing with the new board members that we had three long term We talked about sharing with our new board members the calendar which would start to update again with everybody but mainly sharing that we had come together to around these three goals for any communication with the community as our number one low and low term planning and educational academic outcomes and the leadership team and Debra have aligned their goals too with the four goals and then the next thing which is part of 4.2 is that we wanted to talk about doing two retreats possibly in April is that we talk about days but the leadership team is really busy in the month of March so we were talking about possibly a possible retreat to do the equity from the board room to the classroom and talk about maybe creating that band diagram that we've been talking about and how to create the committees and what do it as a retreat with the leadership team in early April because they can't meet with us before that and then doing a four retreat that we might need to have two so one just as doing our norms and decide when we do that to in April sooner rather than later and then our annual retreat we have to decide if we do it now or just put a date because we would be having a new superintendent in July so that might be something to have later sort of depends on how many you know me I retreats that didn't work done so but I also know that we have a limited amount of time so if we could all look at our calendars the leadership team has given us a few ideas basically early April so before the break I was going to recommend the 8th which is another Wednesday because I know Wednesdays are important for most people if you're talking about an evening yeah unless people could do it during the day so you know we were thinking an evening so that we don't interrupt anybody and in the summer we could do it during the day I'm having trouble hearing so what are we talking about doing an April 8th? a retreat to come together talking with the leadership team around a reading that we have been doing through this first year support organizing ourselves and it doesn't mean that we're going to do the book step by step either it means that we're putting all our brains together and organizing the committees and how we're going to get that true north that we've been talking about so focus on learning on outcomes and moving forward and those books are on order for our committee members so you'll have ample time to read them before we need it could I make another one about retreats? I was hoping that A between first one and second one some of the better to me there are a lot of topics that we have addressed at board meetings mostly can't generally because we didn't have time to go through them to get to a conclusion and I would like to select two or three of those topics to do for a retreat so then because there are things that are important to us that we were never able to finish talking about and to start another conversation about it's not useful to me I would like to finish conversations one that sticks out in my mind because the most recent is when they redesigned their schedules and understanding each other's use of music on their music schedule they were saying they wanted to meet in order to figure out all these things we're sort of part of that too trying to have the board be involved What about if we because this one retreat is about that right doing the learning results and collaboration so it will help us so that we can have so that will be part of those conversations so if we get organized and we know what we're doing we can have those conversations because our job right now is monitoring too so then we can get more in once we understand how we want to collaborate all together we can have those conversations and that's the conversation we have with the leadership team about this one particular issue coming back to us at the end of the summer with a proposal for the music program I think in general we can all participate in setting up the agenda for the retreat and those types of if you feel that there's unfinished business that we need to wrap up or at least close out in order to move on to other things that I think is absolutely fine it seems like the retreat is a good opportunity to do that I was just thinking as everyone was talking in regard to unfinished business or topics to continue that might help us to form the governance model if we know what areas individuals or they need to warm up that structure our work to and including communicating with various stakeholders in the school to accomplish that so I think the two really fit together they fit together good so we'll be revisiting this subject so can we agree on a date on April 8 for everybody 6 o'clock 6 o'clock is various ok ok April 8 do we need to let's just set it up alright and Steven this one's for you 4.3 appointment of new board members pick up where we left off and as I recall where we left off Mary was going to be informing this leg boards of Worcester and Berlin about the vacancies and that from that point a process of some sort will start grinding its way forward yes if you'd be comfortable with it I will work with Mary and we will find a way to canvas and further advertise and add in the newspaper to be sure that the individuals are brought into this leg board if we have some level to do well yes I think that was good but if we don't hear anything from the leg board in 30 days is there a certain process to go through we have a requirement within 30 days to appoint a person that's the board's responsibility consultation with this leg board now if there is no one interested that decision remains open until such time that we have someone who is going to be willing to take it out there will be within 30 days but we hope not yes so it's not open ended I think trying to pick as soon as possible I noticed this leg board we asked them that they need to respond to us with their consultation by the end of their meeting the first meeting whatever meeting it is so that we have a back here and any letters of interest from the individuals who are responding to the ads come to both us and the leg board so that we'll both work with the individuals who have this rest of interest if you don't object I usually come to super attended just not one if the select board I'm willing to attend one of those select board meetings or two of them I guess it would be they're both the same night I believe they were both in the 16 so we'll have to divide and conquer I guess the Wister select board meets just down the hill from where I live and I think that's the one that needs somebody who's maybe going to Wednesday lunch without in my fight I think Jonas and Cheyenne they have been able to and I wouldn't give anybody much hope but anyway so is everyone comfortable with this process so we hope to have folks back ready for you to act on your next meeting on the 18th healthy uncle of March if we can good so nothing necessary further on that point okay thank you very much now the me once again the meat and the sandwich Chris's policies if once again parliamentary consultation can we move these as a block and then discuss them one by one and then vote on them this way so I would entertain a motion to approve all these policies listed under 5.1 Lisa you don't want me to read them do you or do I need to read them do I need to read them for Orca great thank you Orca so moved we didn't mean the entire policy you know second second alright now open for discussion Chris will take the lead okay so we are the second meeting on all the policies that are listed starting on page 4 then we've had these before the board so open the door to any discussion on any particular policy but let's start off with any discussion can I just ask a clarified question some of them have red lines some of them don't so are these the old policies and it means you did not choose to make any changes to them or is the red line okay so the red lines represent change from the existing policy and from the previous changes this is the second meeting last year the board only adopted required policies and now we are looking at some of the policies that are optional as well as required some of them were not taken up at all last year okay thank you and just for explanatory purposes second reading means that once we approve them they're locked in this is the final action thank you unlike in the state house where it's free so thank you sure study students policy alcohol so I had a question about this one it's a wording question so I was very confused about the change in the definition of employee the of we used to say employees of independent contractors so you got rid of of but now it says and or so now the definition of the term employee again includes the word employee and then there's an and or which I think you have to pick because they took any different things so I didn't actually understand why it was changed at all because I thought employees of independent contractors made sense but it doesn't make sense as I did this we are talking about all employees of the district and employees of contractors clarifying the independent contractors employees it's not just like you know it's Joe's plumbing and he has four assistants it's them too right I would suggest striking that change and just a note to the policy committee I will always complain about and slash or because they need different things you have to pick on that same policy here for the earlier discussions would it not be appropriate under definitions to include what impairing means if we're going to say impairing influence shouldn't there be some explanation of what that means under the influence just means under the influence that's clear but if it's an impairing influence how do we know what that is so if I'm charged with this and I'm under the influence but I say I'm not impaired am I now free so what we're trying to get at there is folks who are in prescription medications being under the influence and so I think we're trying to say that wouldn't apply to someone who applies prescription medication because they're under the influence of it but it's not impairing their voting to do their job so that's why we were including impairing some of the specific of the I can understand why you would include why you might add impairing to it but I'm saying there's going to have to it's not defined so how do you know it's an impairing influence well and also this then implies that actually some amount of alcohol is acceptable if you're not impaired by it the school system struggles with determining when someone is under the influence you can help us or we believe a person an adult is under the influence we don't have the training or the authority to be able to identify that so even that portion I think is problematic for employees to make a judgment about well just adding that unless prescribed under the definition of drugs actually remove the need to clarify the impairing no because sometimes if you take too much prescription you can be impaired and that is or I'm going to propose that we cable this and address the concerns of assigning an impairing I think that's a good idea ok so because we're reviewing this in a block do we need to make another motion to table a separate motion to table because we might have more just hit by 3 just hit by 3 I'll just hold on yeah we did we intended it's just the copy that wasn't changed we move your mice closer to it so if you're a part of the table I just some people are unable to hear I'm assuming B6 is ok for everybody we'll look at B7S which is the back door and vaping prohibition in the background text just so number 2 talks about not we're seeking minority applicants in accordance with its policy pertaining to non-discrimination that sounds good but there's a lot of discussion these days about we don't necessarily recognize when our hiring practices aren't recognizing diversity or attracting a diverse pool of candidates so is there a place in this policy to call for you know, pursuing recruitment practices that will not limit candidate pool diversity something like that could there be a direction to the administration comparing the recruitment to show or to explain why it does not do that all of our positions right now have a non-discrimination statement in every posting so it is if that's what you're referring to it is made publicly available that's great but I think there's a growing recognition in a lot of organizations that we have to be more proactive or we have to be more thoughtful about how we are recruiting so that we actually have a diverse pool of candidates to select from someone else have another way to back it up further it's not really about how we respond to the recruitment part of it it's how are we doing the actual recruitment just while we're exploring as long as you're going to table it I notice it doesn't say sexual orientation that's one of the options I don't know if you've already gone around and around on that but to me it stands out that it's missing and also the term minority applicants is that really the word people are still using I don't know but it seems it seems to hold little dated somehow as a term diverse diverse sounds Chris can I add another thought to the I don't know I've been on policy committee too it might be worth exploring statement one under recruitment of trying to be diverse for me I know from my work at Norwich to make that number one statement can be an easy out to seeking diversity it doesn't say the board is committing to securing the services it just says best personnel available if there are plenty of old white males that are qualified and available then you can hire them and you've met the policy I'm not I'm just saying read it and think about it that's all I'm asking it's about and I'm sorry to our administrators here it's it I think what we want to communicate is we don't want to let them come off the hook by saying we advertise in these three places and we've got plenty of qualified applicants to happen there's no diversity in that it's my belief that in Vermont if we if we value diversity we have to actively seek diversity you can't advertise for it you need to actively seek it and that may be happening with how it's done here but I think if that's what we want to communicate through policy we want it very clearly we want a policy that's detailed and saying this is what any recruitment must do because we think this will recruit diverse candidates so that we're actually directing how the recruitment I'm comfortable that the policy committee has heard me talk about it what others have to say but I'm comfortable with what I've heard I think it's right to go back to me I think what I was getting from what you were saying was the idea of what they're doing in the orchestras now where they start putting curtains and now you can't see the gender of the person and all of a sudden they're always qualified women that nobody ever knew about before so it's that proactive kind of approach to really try to scrutinizing recruitment practices to make sure the pool of candidates that work or that our own biases are getting in the way of the hiring process it's a naughty issue really Massachusetts has done a lot of work on them I'm happy to share some of their work we are doing some diverse primary educator workforce at the state level and there's some at Susana Davis that's in charge of the state so we have a resource to start up a little Massachusetts Jess Jess at the AOE and Susana Davis we have a group that is diversifying the educator workforce I just want to be sure I have the reference okay thank you very much next up is B21 professional development complaints about personnel the first paragraph under resolving complaints with the insert individual with a complaint about the district employee shall be encouraged to first bring a complaint to the individual concerned does that mean the employee or the individual as the subject because no it's a little bit confusing in the second paragraph under resolving complaints oh under resolving complaints first bring a complaint to the employee to the district employee but instead it says the individual you want to describe the district employee does that work that's what we're talking about and then I guess the next line down perhaps the same change instead of individual concerned district employee isn't it a little redundant in the second paragraph though I mean unless it's a paraprofessional wouldn't for most the immediate supervisor be the principal not an essential office yes to me when I read this I'm thinking predominantly our examples or who we're thinking of are going to be school personnel as it says school personnel necessarily think of central office school personnel doesn't mean that they're not but when I'm reading this I'm thinking it's really pertaining to the direct staff that's interacting with the families of children and so that it just to me it's a little clunky I'm finally leaving that but I think it would confuse me if I was a parent with a complaint and then I see them to go to the first to the individual then to the supervisor but as a I wouldn't know who the supervisor is who's the complainant so there's not really situations where there's not really immediate supervisor other than the principal right and are there many other than the central office well in the more there's a person below the principal which will supervise staff directly so for example we have one assistant principal who supervises all special education teachers and parent educators so it would be appropriate to go to that person first and then to the principal the direct supervisor is and that's probably the best example and sometimes there's another administrator who oversees the custodial maintenance staff we have a person who supervises them and parents know other than the person that they're they're having the problem with who the next person up is I mean if I'm having a problem with you Chris am I going to say to you well who's your supervisor or would I automatically go to the principal mind or something to put the hierarchy and the way to streamline we just asked the principal the principal tell you more so the principal would say would you please first speak with the assistant if that person oversees this individual should this say that the principal is defining the process having to make the principal to tell the policy and to tell and to refer people to the process so maybe maybe you could add in here I would just say if you have any questions about this policy just as a direction I'm going to add in that line paragraph your supervision and evaluation 35 family medical previous discussion on this policy there was any questions I think you can get rid of almost every single page of this policy because the law the policy is we're going to follow the state and federal law period if the law that you have listed here changes the policy the policy becomes void it becomes incorrect if all you say is you're going to follow the appropriate state and federal law the state or federal law changes you don't need to adjust your policy because the state or federal law changes the other let me finish my thought the other part of it it appears to me that a lot of this policy refer to the current negotiating here but looks like contractual stuff but it's going to be part of a contract between the district and employees I suspect it's more statutory than contractual if it's statutory I'm always going to say why then do we need to include the statute in the policy if we're going to follow state or federal law that's what we're going to do and others from our committee might want to discuss it so it has been a discussion on that if the board has a specific policy then that is how oversight of leave is followed so it's to the advantage of the district to have it clearly stated and can't exceed the state and federal law but we were advised to do that it keeps us from putting a lot of procedure in our country and it does provide the opportunity to make adjustments when laws change do you want to add anything to that Jonas if it's been a lot of thought out my initial concern was contractual if it's felt that it's beneficial to have it in here we've actually reviewed it with the negotiations I'm fine I'm fine that is the policy to run sleep any more discussion on the motion to table B for the consideration and to oh yeah Chris has moved to amend the motion in the way just described tabling B3 and B20 and with the new language under what was it B22 B20 public complaints about personnel alright so Chris has moved do we have a second floor seconds any further discussion of the amendments to the motion so we haven't made any motion to approve second readings of anything we have that preceded the discussion it was so long ago it's hard to remember no pardon of course thank you for asking the question I'm always happy to hear the question so no further discussion all in favor of the amendment as just stated please say aye aye any opposed none opposed so we come to the amended motion which is to approve the second readings of B1 B2 B6 B7 B21 B22 as amended B30 B31 B32 B33 and B35 and B20 table so it's already so so that's where we are any further discussion of that amended motion all in favor please say aye aye any opposed none opposed great thank you very much next hopefully we'll have a policy need B52 I think that should be a goal a policy need yes and now are you 36% then 6.1 authorize the school district to accept all federal and state grants to administer and to act as the representative of the school district do we have a motion floor moves second Chris seconds would you like to present on this really it's a pro-form it's done annually and it just authorizes our I guess office to accept and administer grants exactly as it stated so and I highly recommend that we do that because we rely on those grants any questions discussion all in favor then please say aye opposed none opposed good so Doty Memorial School of Siding and Window Project bid recommendation page 33 please you will see that we had a bid opening on the 27th of February and that we are making a recommendation that the governor instruction would be selected as the bid for this project for a bit of background this was a project that the original Doty school board had voted to move forward with the conclusion of last how it works through the system from various stages and then of course the very end is a copy of the legislative report thank you very much at this point we have on the agenda items if any are there any at this point that we need to deal with no very good in that case I would just like before we close up for the evening which I'm sure to my old board member colleagues feels way too early but but I would like to once again welcome back old friends and colleagues to the board and new friends and colleagues Jill and Diane and look forward to you know the others the unfilled seats being built and becoming a full company so thanks to everyone is there anything else that anyone wants to raise before we how many people are going to be able to make the hearing next Wednesday how many people are going to be able to make the hearing next Wednesday Oh board meeting yeah he doesn't know where the award is he even doesn't have a response Oh No, we don't need seven. I got a board, an invite, so it's on the calendar, but I don't have any. 15, no, but we only have 13 members right now. I believe we need a quorum of the number of seats on the board about the number of presently serving. When you have it, we need to serve, you know. So it's a quorum based on the number of seats or the number of members? When you vote, it's based on the number of people in the room. How about the rooms? The quorum has got to be through three. Two quairs for the two and 10, two thirds, I think, and four. Next Wednesday at six, I can come, whatever it is. All of you can come. We'll be outside. Great. You're here? Yes. It's here. In our youth quorum. It sounds like we have seven. I saw seven hands raised. Is that right? I think we have more than 15. We should be every four, five, six, seven, eight. We have more than that. Yes. But we don't need to go on the calendar. So thank you very much. Any questions about that? I can speak to you after the meeting. OK. The topic is, it'll be a private student hearing, so there won't be any next meeting. There's a public hearing at the State House too, right? Before that. 11? 4 to 6. Remember this room being something crazy? Yeah. I don't know what to expect. The other one was maybe appropriate if it's before this. Yeah, we'll be in the other room. Yeah, I was, I didn't know what to expect. And it worked out actually quite nicely on Monday. Was the other room being used tonight? No, it was me. It was my doing. We have plenty of meetings in this room. I guess we all was out on the microphone. Yeah. Yeah, no, we're, like, there's that one. Yeah, yeah, but in the other room. Like this, but in the other room. Great. So anything else? The score I have is 37-28, Montpelier. What? What? What? 37-28. What? 37-28. What? Is it over? Fourth quarter? No. Fourth quarter? 20 to 29 with five minutes left. 20 to 29 with five minutes left. 40 to 29 with two minutes left. And that was with Montpelier. Yeah. Whoa. I guess for future events, because of the conversation that we had today, and we were studying a new year, I would like us to reconsider it due to the BSBA. Or, yeah, I would do it. Sorry, not last part. Reconsider it due to the BSBA, since we're using the resources. Okay, we can, we'll have that. A future agenda. Yeah, future agenda. Would you like that next key? No. It's on, as no, we'll discuss it first. Okay, so may I just talk about how the board agenda is made? Yes. There's been some discussion about that in advance. If a board member would like something on the agenda, and there's a question about whether it should be, then there's a vote to be taken. Is that not correct? I'm trying to recall. So, if you would like to make a motion to put it on the next agenda, and then the majority of the board says yes, then it will be on the next agenda. Is that right? No. Okay, well we modified the policy to ensure that, because normally I think it's been the chair, and the superintendent will create the agenda. But we developed the policy that if an item was requested, and it wasn't on there, then the majority of the board would direct it and be on the next.  We did. We did. So, but I don't think that that's the... I mean, I'm happy to make that. I think it's on the... I think it's in the policy already. I couldn't... We didn't ask if it wasn't being put on, that we could take that step as a board. You like straw balls. So, why don't you do just like a straw ball, show hands of who will be interested in having it. There's nothing formal, and you've got a guide. And they're due to accept it. I guess you only talked in your microphone. I think you're right. If, for some reason, say we have that discussion, the vote holds that we are not part of the SBA, we still... Then we get three new members. Are we going to bring it up again? So, I guess I'm just wondering if we should wait until everybody's here, so that we have a clear sense of, you know, then we know whatever the views. That's my own view. I just wanted to tell you that we will... I believe that their membership begins on July 1. If I'm not the same, you could join sooner. So, I don't know if that's your intention. Or by asking if we could join now. My only intention of asking right now is I know it's going to take a process to go through. So, I was just thinking that since today is fresh and we've been talking about it all, it's not just me bringing it up, but we all talked about it today, so... And we have discussed bringing it up again. I don't think we talked about it today. Well, we didn't talk about... I think you were talking about the affiliation of board development, policies. It came out several times, I think. So, in any case, I think I'm only mentioning it because I know that this was the topic that we brought forward as an agenda. I did not put on the agenda because I don't need to review it. So, I'm suggesting that as a result of the conversation we had, that if you wish to add that item on the agenda, that you were to say, well, I think Diane's point was well taken, that this becomes a kind of infinite loop. I would rule as chair for this school year it's finished business. And for next school year, that's another matter. Well, but it sounds like we have to... July 1 is when the dues are due. So, it's... No, September 1. September. The membership can start in July 1. Our policy says that this was approved by this board on the 25th of January last night. The superintendent will prepare proposed agendas for meetings of the board after consultation with the board chair. Items of business may be suggested by any board member, staff member, student, or citizen of the district. The inclusion of items on proposed agenda will be at the discretion of the board chair and superintendent unless the majority of board members attending the meeting vote to add an agenda item to the next regularly scheduled meeting. So, that's what I was trying to say in a very poor way, but... So, it actually is in your policy the procedure that you've made. Can I think of the reading of that that's here in the west and the board chair in the discretion has not put it on the agenda, meaning that it hasn't been on the agenda the board can by majority vote haven't put on the next meeting. The way you read it there means that the board member at any time to bring up an agenda item and say by majority vote we want this on the next agenda which would be fine too, a fine way of doing it but I don't think that's the way that policy works. No, but all I'm saying is that we could wait until the next meeting but Scott has indicated that he doesn't believe that this item should be discussed this year. So, he's already said no as the chair. So, we can either wait until the next meeting but it doesn't get added to the agenda. I'm sorry to be so blunt but that's... You know me right? I'm very direct and we appreciate that. You're advocating for a position. I'm just being clear about the procedure. Well, no, I'm not... I don't have a say in that the SBA membership but it's a question of whether or not you choose to... I don't have any request for an agenda item you've made a policy so... I think with policy agreements it's not the way we're receiving now but again, I'm happy to having the board at any time say we want this item to be on the next agenda as opposed to waiting for the meeting to go live but we should change the policy then to reflect that. So, I think just to get back to the beginning Florida asked for that item to be on the agenda and I'd like to stop because this is your decision I just wanted to be sure you were aware of how this went. I'd like a clarification on how we have it on our agenda to have agenda revisions are those revisions that get brought up prior to the meeting and then it gets approved here or is that at a time where depending on the majority of vote of the board we could bring up a revision? That's a clarification. Usually it's by consensus. But it could be something that pops up. It almost always is something that pops up between the time when the agenda is set and the actual needs. Or it could be different ordering of the agenda. People here would think this first so they don't have to stay all night. But if it's an actionable item as we warned so we could bring it up for discussion for that night but it couldn't have action on it if it wasn't warned. So that's the point of bringing it up in future on the agenda items. Think about putting this in the future. And I think it's an important part that once the board is fully there that there not be the assumption that we do all understand what that discussion what the concerns are what the pros and cons are of being members of the SBA and just having that conversation again as a renewal of the board and I just that was my only hesitation was not fully out. And just because this will come up again is that we've already reconsidered the BBA position and the board decided not for the school year to reconsider. So any action we take would be effective for next year if we're going to be joining because we already went through that. We overruled the chair and said no this is done and we said no Robert Schultz let you file a motion to reconsider and we did not. We appealed the chair. We appealed the chair and we reversed because that wasn't going to happen before the vote. We don't need to have this discussion today. I think it's important as we had to do our retreat and to do the stuff that we talked about and I think if there's enough interest from other board members. Yeah I just want to go on record. I would really like to have this conversation. I'm comfortable with not revisiting it for this year but I feel very strongly it needs to be looked at next year. That was the decision last time that we would review it completely anew for the following year. In enough time to have the conversation and vote on it. Absolutely. And if you want we can discuss it as we go along because there will be opportunities to sort of make reference as we go. But that's what this is all about. It's about deliberation and making ultimately the best decisions that we can. So with that are we ready to adjourn? I just have one thing. We added up that time. We scheduled it for a two hour and 44 minute meeting. So I think in making the agenda we'll have it more time scheduled for discussion and then we'll try to shorten that short form. Yeah. Have less on the agenda. Yeah. That's what we're shooting for. We're hoping that with these reinforcements we'll be able to play zone and get things done prior to the board meeting the big board meetings can go more smoothly swiftly. That's the idea. Anyway 5435 5435 Sorry. There's an issue we can rally around.