December 15th 2020 at 6 30 p.m via google meet called order adjustments to the agenda and i want to speak to this right away because it gets to for me to the heart of it um i think this is a terrible agenda and i i should know i created it um it's a terrible agenda if we actually want to get something done um well that is get it to the voters by town meeting um this is uh this is an agenda of a longer running committee that will be working for several months and can really take its time to work through stuff um uh and can talk a lot and long but we have a very short timeline and uh if we actually want to get something done i would suggest a significantly different um agenda and but the question is do we really want to put some articles of change before the voters if so we need to have them know later to the town officers um by the 15th of january which means basically we need to be proposing possible changes tonight get them to the lawyers looking at them shortly after christmas so that the school board can review them by their meeting in january so that then we can get them properly warned by the 15th that's the way i look at it so i have a very different agenda to propose if that is what our objective is if our objective is to really do a thorough study of this then we can follow this agenda and we can work our way through and maybe get to something tonight but i i i think we've got to work a little more disciplined and a little faster personally so i agree i'd like to hear from you yeah charity what do you think um you know my personal opinion is um you know tim made a comment at a meeting a couple months ago that articles can be amended and it set off a red flag in my head that we need to do this asap we need to put this in front of the voters at this next town meeting because we need to start showing them that there's an increased level of transparency there's an increased effort of really truly honestly diving to the bottom of the barrel and getting things done that are going to fix some of the misconceptions misunderstandings um i say this with a grain of salt deceitful interpretations of what was presented three and a half four years ago and what has come to fruition now if we don't do that you're losing your one and only shot of any effort to really show the voters on the stock bridge side who let's face it that's the side that has voiced much more of a disdain towards the situation we're in right now um and if you if we don't make this move right now and get that in front of them you've lost your shot because they're going to take other routes to rectify this situation um you've been present at the select board meetings um stock bridge has made the the what was necessary to get it on the town meeting docket to vote on whether stock bridge wants to stay in the merge or not so if you want to make an effort to for lack of a better way to say it you know go apple to apple at making something effective happen we've got to do it now does that mean we do a half-hearted effort on this no we need to dive into each one of these figure out what the core is get it fixed was it done in conjunction we're eat these articles built in conjunction with what was presented at all of those 706 meetings um was it not where were the misconceptions how do we start rectifying this situation you know i'm going to be the first to admit i was not in favor of the merger i've not been you know dishonest about that i've been up straightforward about that from the beginning um but i think this exercise along with the situation with the high school building they're crucial parts of trying to get this to a more equal and possibly long-term sustainable situation if we don't do it we've lost a large amount of hope of getting that to a successful successful sustainable situation good i i'm i'm scaredy and i also like the folks who um can you turn down your volume a little bit i think it's it's refeed backing back i can't actually hear you very well um i'm is that better maybe yeah that's a little better okay um i'm hopeful that the folks that are involved in the meeting tonight are going to bring to light the hot spots that we hold us up raise gotta do something even sorry justine is echoing on charity charity could you mute yeah but hold on a second wow how to do it that's great there we go thank you um i'm hopeful that the folks that are involved in the meeting tonight can help us uh figure out where to zero in tonight specifically and the changes that need to be made i agree that um now's the time and and and uh it now's the time to have these voices heard today's the day so i think we should move forward assuming that we are going to propose changes as soon as possible and get going with a new agenda that is more effective tim uh yeah so uh thanks for getting us together i know it's only been a couple months but for what we're going to do but it's been going on now for three four years even before the merge started um i do agree that it needs to be done quickly but very accurately they did it quickly the first time and i'm not so sure it was that accurate i certainly after looking back at the articles that were presented uh to the board the boe uh and watching the video that was proposed i i do find some issues with that and you know they put it together in six weeks and at the boe's uh proposal uh bruce made it pretty clear that um he was going to get some things started and from what i've been able to see those were never started or finished so i would be very interested in hearing what people have to say tonight and before we even make a uh the presentation that we we want you want that because the thing is you have to go back to the rsu d board and they have a tendency to kick a can down the road so if you want to have this on this year's town municipal meeting i don't think that's going to be possible at all and i would suggest that we get it figured out for the rsu d uh town meeting thanks all right well then that that sounds like pretty clear what what my idea is is to change it and to literally put our public comment first so we sort of hear and we write down the list i'd say uh i think we should work from the hot spots to the agenda articles of agreement that way we can we can put a lot of things aside that you know that are not the hot spots um or we can just because here's the thing i don't you know it's very clear from those emails from donna that uh ruso savage that um you know we have to warn every single change and so i think i think what's really concrete and doable is like one two three really key changes and that's that our sort of our job is to figure out what those are um i think your thing about a charity you mentioned to me months before the the um voting representation each town votes for their own represent a you know rest representation and that's why i asked that question of her i think that's a great one i'd like to hear what the other ones are and then our job will be to whittle those down to what we think are the real key ones and here's the thing this is what this is our job is that we present um i think i think they are said board which i'm now you know chairman of i think they'll i think they get actually clearly if we give them yes or no articles if we give them articles that are like yes no yes no to vote on then i think we can get right through get right through that process and we can do it i think i think we can do it um but i think we have to be disciplined and we have to be careful of um going down the rabbit holes of you know perceptions that have happened before and i think we need to really stick with the document you know that legal document that we voted on because that's what i'm getting the advice i'm getting is that that's the article that we change not what was said here or said there it's the articles themselves because that's what we voted on so if if to go with this i would start with public comment and then i would i would make a go for our first work would be the hot spots you know what are the hot spots and and talk about those maybe prioritize them then i would go to the um then i'd go back to the agreement and look at each one of where those um hot spots are mentioned in the agreement and look at the exact language and see what we um what we feel obviously all this is going to have to us get checked by lawyers after we come up with it whatever um uh whatever suggestions we have have to get obviously the constitutional thing about representation on voting that particular one in particular okay um so that would be the first thing then after agenda agreements is there as i don't mean i think we've already sort of set a timeline but we can we can get into hot spots that's your public comment and then a timeline just so we're clear so it's written down then we'll talk about these hot spots we heard about and the ones we know and then let's go to the agreement and then i think the a very important thing is um let's figure out what we're going to report to the board and what we need more information on i don't think we need much more than that i think that covers what we're going you know we're going to get the conversation we want in those four items ethan do you intend on uh when you mentioned going through what what is and isn't a hot spot um article um i think it would be beneficial if we just as we go through the articles that were the warned and ratified ones uh as donna had mentioned in her emails there are some that they literally were they pertained to day one and she made it very clear that there is a huge benefit in leaving those alone um and i think we need to just signify this is one that's done like number one is done and any that are done just label them done any that are ones we need to address circle them then go back through those figure out what are hot spots and um and then as you said go on to the agreement and look at it because um i did an exercise last night and if you look at what was the ratified articles and you compare those to the articles that were part of the document that she had set to you and that was sent to us they are not the same there are 13 articles in the presentation there are only 11 articles in the ratified warned articles so there are there are differences and and unfortunately those do not coincide with what was presented on the video to the boe so i think there are pieces that we may have to create or add in language to get those pieces to line up with what was more originally intended okay no i hear i'm open i'm open to that i think you know if we voted on an 11 article agreement that is our base i think we could get you know into a lot of confusion trying to figure out what's our base and i think we have to set a base right away and that way we know where we're working from i say you know if what we voted on was 11 articles that's the one we work from and we work from the language there um good so then i would put this um up to a public comment right now i mean well let's first do we agree to these changes the agenda can everyone just i do you do justine yes i agree okay good so we're going to go public comment hot timeline hot spots uh agreement you know going back to the agreement and then uh what we're going to report to the board good all right i'm going to go to our list and let's uh work down and i know listeners you may not you may you thought you were going to get to sit around and listen for a while but we're actually going to get to you right now um and i'm going to start with joanne okay can you hear me yes i can thank you okay good um i may join sorry join if i may um this is our question to you is what do you what specific issues are your priority hot spots with the agreement i am going to um tell you that i trust this group of four people that they've read them they've um rehearsed them they've written them out and i don't want to waste your time uh tonight because i want you to get to work and i hope that the rest of the people in the community feel the same way and that they don't ask too many questions or make too many comments because i think you need this time to work but i do appreciate the fact you asked thank you good thank you join karen your karen rubin you're up next hello everyone i first want to say thank each and every one of you guys for taking on this task because it is a huge task and it is critically important to the the merger and its future um you know my hotspot is the equal the appropriate representation and you guys know that's a problem so for now i'm just going to leave it at that um i think stockbridge people should be able to have their votes counted accordingly and Rochester as well um the rest of it i'm going to let you guys take from here and obviously this is going to have to be voted on so we will we'll have that voice later so good luck and thank you thank you uh pat harvey do you have any comments i'm just sitting here all ears get to work okay thank you uh now i'm going to the phone numbers erico i'll give you the area coyote and the last two digits and it's star six is that right ray two on mute uh erico 443 and then last two digits 15 please state your name in your town this is rob gardener from rochester hi rob how are you uh i uh i'm just i think i'd be um very interested in listening to this i really don't understand the entire framework of it because we're talking about this thing that happened three years ago and then the articles of agreement i also would be a little concerned that this is entirely stockbridge centric in the level of concern and um and i don't blame them god bless them but uh we need to remember that the merger includes both communities and that's the end of my presentation thank you thank you uh five one six and in six one do you have hello everyone it's uh it's keith's wellakie from stockbridge um hi i'm going to reserve my comments i'd like to wait to hear what the the board puts forward and i'll make my comments at that point so uh thanks all and that's all i have to say i'm okay thank you keith 77459 please identify yourself star six to unmute it if you have a comment i'll take it not hearing from you uh come in before i finish 802 uh last two digits not one nine please identify yourself and hello can you hear me yes hi hi this is greg piccarello stockbridge uh don't comment at this point i'm just listening to see what's going on thank you thank you all right um 802 71 802 71 do you have a comment on the hot spot issue no okay well not as not as much as i expected but uh that'll be our public comment for right now um let's let's pull the board the our committee here um this obviously representation um is one that's been mentioned to me before um charity do you have other hot spots do you think jump out at charity you're muted so was i that's what i can tell you what sorry um yes that is definitely one of the hot spots um let me flip to i actually went through and looked at these so i apologize because i wasn't ready for this to happen yet um so the first one that i have as a an item to discuss is article 4a that discusses the first year financial activity um or no i'm sorry 4a is in regards to being able to rearrange the grade arrangement and i think we need to discuss that because there's a lot of there's a lot of conversation that's happened about it in the last couple of years a lot of it is rumor but i think we may want to discuss do we want to look at that one and make it so that there would be more conversation from public input about any type of arrangement of kids changing grades to what buildings because of spacing um and not just have it be at the will of the board itself so 4a is one of them um 4d as in david is the one that i was talking about um um this has to do with uh the um proposed budget um my concern with this one is that stock bridge historically has not voted in a budget that was over the threshold or anywhere close to it and i think we need to consider re-looking at this language um because of that i think we need to set a standard that we're not going to do that and i don't know how most effectively to do that and what our limits are because i know that the su has input in that and but i do think we need to look at this one um just because i know that that's a huge selling point for many people in stock bridge because of their historical choice to not allow a budget that's over the threshold um so moving on the next one that i see is um an issue not necessarily a hot spot but a concern was 5b is in boy um i have listed here uh need to make sure uh because as tim mentioned on a couple things there were pieces that were put into articles and the presentation that were put in but i don't know that they have or have not actually been set in motion and this is one that i highlighted as we need to follow up on um 5b can you get sorry can you just give that one a title um surplus or operating surplus and deficits forming this this one has to do with operating surpluses operating surpluses okay thank you just just to give it a title yeah and i'm gonna assume what go ahead i um i just want to make sure we're i thought we were going over what was actually warned and voted on so are we going we're we're is that correct that we're going over the other document not what was actually the warning which is longer we're going over the longer one because the shorter one doesn't have 5b oh yeah you have 4d it doesn't have a lot so i don't know i think it's so that's my concern is there are pieces that were left out so how and i think we do need to look into this i think i think we make you make it clear too that that according to again don't ever say savage the one we voted on i believe she said this in her email and i'll look it up again the one we voted on is the one we should be working with okay 11 articles and that's the one we should be um taking some from taking our points from okay so we'll leave we'll forget about d because it's not there uh i mean 5b that 5b no 4d is not in the warned article got you thank you so 5b is still an option and that's the yes and it's about surplus it's the same yep yep and then again 5d those are ones that i just don't know if like the public has had the ability to know i'm assuming that they have that they have been done because they were related around finance issues and terra has you know done a pretty phenomenal job of getting all of that back in order but i don't know for sure myself this can be very much part of our report back to the board is that we we have you know suggestions for amendments and then we have questions that need to be clarified to the for the public and that can be two different parts of our report back to the board yeah um so moving on do you have a title do you have a title for 5d for 5d is uh it has to do with specific endowments scholarships and endowments and is there a question are they are they have they've been done have they been worked out yeah have they been allocated as expected based on the endowment or scholarship itself i'm assuming yes great uh so the next one i'm just trying to correlate to make sure that what i've got on one page matches the ratified ones um so the next one i have is six a and this has to do with like all buildings and um the stuff in it there's language in the high school the sale of the high school building about what's in it and what is wanted and what's not but i think we need to be careful because of what's the language that's in this particular article um i just came up as a red flag to me because there is language about you know the stuff that's in the building for the sale of the high school and then there's language about stuff in this article i don't know if there's any issue it just like i said it set up a red flag right stuff and article six a okay uh as relates to um contents that's the word i'm looking for contents of building yep okay this is great work thank you so much for for really doing this this is excellent um and so then we move on to seven seven is obviously a humongous hot spot i don't think i need to say anymore about that board composition yes that's um number eight i don't know that i personally have ever seen a docket of who was voted on for board members with a one two or three here term and that might be something that we can get out to the public to clarify and make sure that those terms were set up correctly and who holds what term got you and when it expires exactly yes uh uh uh uh yeah length and expiration this is great i mean a lot of this is it's already done in some ways you know we just have to ask the question right um and then number 11 uh i think so number 11 is the last one on the ratified articles and it goes hand in hand with number seven it has to do with the way that uh board members are voted in and ironically we're the only district that wrote our articles this way uh everyone else covered it in a single article um but 11 needs to be looked at because it does go hand in hand with uh sorry 11 needs to be looked at hand in hand with seven okay um and to that note i do have a document that shows what each of the other districts in the su did and we in fact i believe are the only one that is not having single voting from its town only on its town's representation wow everyone else is you know chelsea votes for chelsea only ton bridge votes for ton bridge only uh same with hand cock and granville all of them this sounds like no brainer kind of yeah i mean it also sounds like such a clean clear article to vote on in some ways you know so anyway that's we'll get to that okay um let me move on is that charity is that all you have for i mean all it's wonderful um is that what you've got for us yes if we're sticking to the the plan of going through the 11 that were ratified yes good um let me move on justine what do you have for us charity pretty much hit all the hot spots number seven obviously and in conjunction with 11 i thought the same that they should be kind of reviewed together and combined because they are it's confusing i think to have both seven and 11 be separate even separate in with space in between i mean maybe they should be seven and eight or seven eight and seventy or something like that but obviously the representation in the vote is is a big issue um some of the wording that i'm still trying to work through um um six c um the unified district of board of directors determines and its discretion that continued possession of the real property um is is is no longer of use i think that um that's kind of an issue for me i wanted to bring up and maybe throw throw around um who really decides whether the property is useful um and how to word that in a way that represents the town you know the town's opinion and what might be useful for the school um let's see and yeah reiterating 6a along with that it does say that um that it includes all land buildings and contents i think 6a really needs to be reworded and worked through um in comparison to what we're actually working toward with the sale but seven is the heavy hitter for me okay yeah good tim do you have anything to add to this tim are you there well not necessarily about the articles about how we got there and what we voted on and what was presented to the boe i understand that we have the the articles that we voted on but we did not hear the presentation to the boe could you possibly be back from your camera a little more just so i can see your face yeah i think okay yeah i'm on my smartphone there you go so uh the the the presentation the ceiling the presentation um can you hear me yes to the boe does follow the articles of agreement so part of the articles that the boe heard are not necessary they didn't go over each one of them and there are there's some confusion about people that were sitting at the meetings hearing what was presented and then the articles that were written and uh right in the presentation and it was obvious that there was going to be discussion early on six months down the road and do you have specific do you have specific issues that that were well yeah so so the boe's presented with they're gonna we're gonna share teachers we're gonna mix grades uh we're gonna combine weekly classes outdoor you know share the two buildings oftentimes it was discussed that there was only two buildings that were going to be used hyzer god in one in each town and then later on somewhere down the road in that presentation all of a sudden the high school gets involved and uh i'm pretty sure that it was switched over in the conversation because the consultant saw that the boe was not really on to merge at the time so they actually one board member voted no so um what also isn't discussed here lately is the boe always comments on how Rochester was going to fare in this and they also said right on the back of their nap and they anticipated 25 to 30 000 bucks what was that they anticipate what was that anticipated that that the per person if they didn't close the high school was going to be 25 to 30 000 dollars and that was three years ago so um now we're taking a school that's been responsible that was at 16 000 per student for elementary in their 7 through 12 were being shipped out for tuition doubt for let's say 17 000 bucks our are being shipped out tuition doubt for 18 000 dollars now but at the time we're educating for between 25 and 30 000 dollars which was taking away from an elementary school to keep that high school open so we we did that part but what we never discussed was what happens to Rochester if Stockbridge gets out of the merge so if it so it is a Rochester issue but it can be fixed pretty easily and not very complicated by uh Rochester taking possession of that high school and even if Rochester has to spend money when you say Rochester are you talking Rochester campus Rochester town yeah just we need to be clear whenever we talk about that that we that we talk about Rochester town or this you know select for town Rochester as opposed to the campus of Rochester now that Ethan that was discussed before we even merged and almost disappeared so um the other thing that was never discussed at the BOE proposal was the daycare building the daycare building was a big issue during the whole merge and why that wasn't presented because we hadn't voted on it yet why that wasn't presented to the BOE is I don't think people wanted them to know that that building was still in play at the time and it hadn't even really been discussed to sell it until Patty got involved so um or we would still have the daycare on the plate so well here's here's the thing so I just want to make sure I'm clear with you what going forward what what's the specific you want to hear about what's the specific we need to address so the thing is that was October 2017 the budget's being put in place in January of 2018 started for this merge no money was ever in the transportation budget to do the cross transportation between the two schools so there was no way that that proposal that they sold to the BOE so this is going this is going back to share teachers mixed grades weekly classes to building that that part yeah yeah okay so in other words so they presented one thing to the BOE and yet there was no money in the budget for across back exactly right okay so are you suggesting that there needs I mean because I believe in the last budget we did have some money but maybe that was just for I mean I'd have to look at the budget yeah so this is what you're suggesting is that we need um some acknowledgement that either we're not doing this or that where's that where's that budgeted that's exactly right thank you good good thank you that's what I'm trying to get at is just what what are we bringing to the board meeting that needs to be clarified by you know maybe SU people maybe our administrators um so that we understand this okay let me figure out how to write that out well we can talk about yeah I think a piece that you need to add about that is that you know as a parent who had a kid involved in the the the couple of shared campus activities that happened um you we it may be highly beneficial to get input from Lindy and Bonnie on that and see what was realistically feasible because as a parent I was absolutely disgusted by the way the shared campus activities happened at the time I had a fifth grader and then the second year a sixth grader who literally could not do any academic activities for any of the rehearsal days and we as parents found out the night before that oh by the way your child isn't going to be getting done school until six o'clock at night and you have to pick them up in Rochester um so for my kid to lose an entire half a day of academics and then come home and tell me that she literally sat around silent reading for all but 30 minutes of the entire afternoon from one o'clock till six o'clock that's ridiculous so here's when what year was this so my daughter is a seventh grader right now so this would have been last school year and the previous school year so I'm not saying that it can't work yep I think we need to look at how do we if we're going to really consider it and have performances in the gymnasium which I'll be I'll be very blunt the the performance in the auditorium was a horrible travesty it was atrocious um it was a nightmare in my opinion the presentation in the gymnasium was much more fluid it seemed much more uh feasible for teachers staff students and family was at the present was that the music presentation in the gym it was it was band chorus and um a bunch of different things but yes musically um elemented um so in other words it yeah that was the thing that um um um figure us Mallory yes yes okay so I'm not saying that those things can't happen I'm saying that I think we need to seriously go back to the drawing board and find a way for it to be presented to everyone on both sides that you know if you can fit 40 kids into the gymnasium to practice and we as a school in Stockbridge have fit more than that in the multi-purpose room to practice there's got to be more give and take you can't always have the Stockbridge students getting on a bus and going and spending five hours at Rochester and so there's got to be more planning and I don't know that the article itself can handle that but we need to get it out there um that it's an it's an issue that needs to be re-looked at um before we just if I may I think the term is and we've come up with this a couple times and it's certainly something I've been working very hard on this idea of um equity um this I and it's equity in the sense of consideration and I think this this is something like and maybe there's an article that gets added it's about all decisions made for one campus need to be considered in the results in the other campus you know it's like or something to that extent that we're always thinking of both places with every decision and I know some of the people with the financial issues it's like oh well Rochester just spent this on this because they went ahead without thinking about the effect on Stockbridge and I think um this idea of equity might be something and you know if we can get to it great and that we can come up with a phrase but maybe it's an article we even add actually there is language in the existing articles about that I think we need to just possibly revamp it um and make it more prominent um don't quote me on where it is but there is a thing about there about um then one last thing to add to Tim's I know we don't want to add a ton in about the BOE at this point but you know one other big really huge discussion item from the study phase of it before it went to the BOE was that there was a humongous push and there were multiple meetings and conversations and I will be the first to admit they were not pleasant meetings to attend and yes I was there um you know Bruce Labs Dale Dame uh I think that's Steve Dale Steve Dale I think was his name um and then a lot of other people kept talking about and promising that Rochester was going to go to a multi-age classroom platform just like Stockbridge and that they were going and um shadowing at Williamstown and that the intention was a $300,000 reduction in staffing expenses because of going to that and to the best of my knowledge when the articles were written that just disappeared the entire the entire conversation disappeared don't describe that again I'm not sure I'm following you what what you mean about multi-age classroom so Stockbridge has shared classrooms where we have more than one age group in a classroom we don't have just first grade just second grade and so on and as one of the conditions that was repeatedly discussed at length was that Rochester was going to go to that same type of platform there were efforts being made that they were going and Stockbridge staff I believe was as well were going to Williamstown don't quote me that that's the school that it was but it was a larger school that was going to a multi-classroom platform because it can adapt to a multitude of needs it can affect it can change the um how you would deal with uh special education needs of say a fifth grader that actually is doing something at a third grade level and or a third grade level that third grader that's reading up at a sixth grade level those multi-age classrooms have they have a multitude of benefits and one of the huge discussion items that was repeatedly mentioned and like I said it was very heated conversations was that one of the selling points of the merger was that there was going to be a change at Rochester and it was going to produce a $300,000 reduction in costs of staffing by going to this platform the article got built there's no mention of it whatsoever it's just a point that I don't know where they went yep oh I got you um let's just I'm sort of you know again still working on this list of our hot spots but I think um uh good okay I understand what you're talking about now shared classroom was promised for Rochester and is never for Rochester and never come through good um all right um so I think we've worked through um let me I'm going to rewrite this just so we have a sense um then we can go through article 4a and then article 5b and d 6a and I'm going to blump 7 and 11 together and 8 and then I'm going to say um see can I add 6c in there just to review the wording of um who determines uh whether the ability is useful thank you yep I didn't look at your list thank you uh 6c good thank you all right and then we have Tim promised um I'm going to call this uh how do we want to title this I have a question about um how much we can review the the previous promises um and add additional things into this um what we voted on because a lot of the stuff that we're talking about wasn't actually voted on it was just kind of essentially just talk yeah but but here's the thing we couldn't have done it without the BOE approving it so what was given to the BOE needs to be what was on the articles agreement and I'm not sure that's what happened no it wasn't actually I disagree with that well please please please okay I need to this is where I need to be my chairman here um we need to we need to speak one at a time and yeah raise hands just like they do at Stockbridge um uh uh Tim finished and let's go to Justine can you finish your a lot of things were not included in the in the articles that were voted on and I am unsure voted on or discussed voted on the the articles that the draft articles is more extensive or more extensive than what were voted on the presentation to the BOE was much more extensive than that and did include a lot of things that Tim listed my question is legally how much of that can we talk about and include in an amendment to what was voted on well we if I may charity and I'll just get to you here's just to keep us focused I think what we're going to do with these articles is we're going to we're going to sit with these hot spots as we're calling them are hot topics whatever I don't know what I call them hot spots um uh we're going to divvy them up as potential amendment or clarification question and then we go forward so that way then we know this is just something that needs to be addressed because it was out there and nobody has spoken to it since that's a question that just needs to be out there on the record and answer from the powers that be and we may also have to decide who's going to answer this question because it's me it's you you know I mean it's um there might not be you know um Bruce is not here anymore Jamie might have no idea but anyway I think on the record that that's a question then there's a different issue of what is going to be an amendment and I think it'll be pretty clear to us pretty quickly what's what are the real priority amendments and what are things that we just need we want on the record an answer to okay charity please um so I agree and I disagree with you on that um I agree that there are pieces of the puzzle that we need to get an amendment in to clarify or you know to more accurately align the article but if you go back through the emails from Don Russo Savage there's clear language in there that we can add remove do whatever we want um there's there's language in her emails to you that we are capable of coming up with an entirely new set of articles if that is what we so choose so to answer Justine's question if we get clarification on you know whatever question and we get definitive information that yes this was a piece of the puzzle that was discussed at length it was meant as a promise and we want to add in an article then there is nothing to prevent us from my understanding of her explanation oh yeah that we could add a new article what she did say and I would strongly suggest we listen to this piece is that anything that we did I would rather see us write an article that states that a previous article is nullified if we're going to completely remove it so that we keep the historical record of that original article versus just removing it and starting over I think there's huge value in keeping original documentation so that you can see what your mistakes are so that if five years from now there's a question of hey we need to reevaluate an article because of a change in a state law we can see all of what was originally done and not have to go back to the town clerk or whoever it is to get all the various copies I'd rather see us keep it all in one article or one document that you know if we have article 21 is now going to become nullified let's write that in but I don't think we should just get rid of or you know admonish any one piece well again what I want to emphasize is that you know we've got now one two three four five six seven eight nine ten either clarifications or possible amendments I I think realistically to get amendments all of these as amendments done tonight to the lawyers back to the school board and worn by the 15th January 15th is unrealistic so I think we're going to have to prioritize now that doesn't mean this committee is done once we've done a report in January that doesn't mean we don't take on these other articles especially once we've gotten some feedback as to whether some of these things are still happening or not you know are still are considered part of the policy then we can I mean you know we we can always warn a special election you know to make things happen it's a lot more cumbersome and it's a big thing but if we have a full slate of changes for the agreement eventually because I don't think we'll make that by town meeting then that's what we do you know that's what we do but I'm saying if you know like for example seems to me that a really good one to have right now for for the town meeting is the representation one especially if there's a precedent for it at all the other districts that's a that's a clean nice one we and then we get answers to all of these and I'm not trying to push us this way because this will obviously be something we vote on but I'm just saying some of these other ones sounds like we're going to have to talk about it at length longer than that does that make sense so I'm not saying taking anything off the thing you know we could redo the entire articles agreement yes I heard that I read that too and we and we should continue that process till we feel good about it but in terms of what trying to what we're trying to get done by January 15th we may have to prioritize does that make sense charity yeah sorry it's trying not to hang up instead of unmute yeah I think if we want to take that approach my only request would be that we make a very clear delineation so that there's clear transparency to the public that are involved in listening to us with this that acts are the ones that we are going to attack for for this year so that we know we get them on the town meeting vote and that here is our game plan with an expectation of when we will approach the next ones because as I said before you've got Stockbridge who's already taken some action towards other efforts and you've got the sale of the high school going I don't want this to just get left to the wayside well here's here's I'd say then let's let's add this to our timeline is we've got the school board meeting in May I mean the school meeting is is I believe is early May so we've got the town meeting March early March and we get one thing on there let's make that our you know our next our next spot that we're working toward so that we have a clear delineation that that's when we want you know and maybe we've been prioritized this one's really important to us this one should be you can't do it this time but let's let's shoot it for May so that's our timeline so that we know there's a time when we're going to get together you know we're working toward does that make sense yes good okay great um justine's got her hand up oh yeah sorry justine I can't see it it's so off the screen I can barely see oh it is yes I'm gonna put it in front of your face even that helps yeah there you go I just wanted to um I just wanted to say that I personally I was following the an interpretation of attorney savages emails and that we were focusing only on this document that was voted on I did read the others but I wasn't thinking about um really ripping them apart or even reviewing the board of education stuff from the past and I foresee that now that we've brought this up as a topic to the public there will be more comment and questions on the things that were proposed I admittedly admittedly was misinformed prior to that vote it's part of the reason why I wanted to be on the school board because I um I do know that there were things that were confusing and I think that um the that all the other stuff is a much bigger task and I propose that we focus on just what was voted on first as our hot spots and then look for a longer timeline for the other issues that that were presented prior to the vote good okay um let's um I just I just want to make sure I have my um names here rearrange grade arrangement should we operating deficit should we go to 7-11 first while we're fresher and this I mean this just seems like such a yeah let's do that one great great um let's let's do it let's take a look at that um ray if you're still on if you could put that up for us in seven oh yeah and actually charity why don't you share if you can share with us what what you said you had some examples do you want me to send out to all of us by email the document I was sent yeah sure I mean if you can itemize it even more you know if you can get to the article or something like that whatever whatever makes it just easier it's actually it's actually one document that is an exact excerpt excerpt of what is in the articles for the other districts so let me give me give me two seconds okay I'm gonna mute again so you know we can just look yeah if we can get articles what you're looking at right there is not the voted on warned oh okay then that's where they're down um ray can you start go down a little farther please yes I thought Ethan was sharing it but no keep scrolling down please um uh all the way down do we have a page number here I don't have it I think it's page 22 23 22 26 23 attachments he may have um it's page 23 is the start of the the the ratified version but can you send send me 11 can you you know what or send ray can you send ray the 11 article thing we voted on because I'm I he showed me one this morning and I wasn't savvy enough and he asked if this was the one we should be looking at and I think okay mine is at the end of of the document it's at the very end we'll ask pages yeah pages 23 26 right there that's it yep the top the beginning of that section which okay yep keep going up to the top or oh don't we want to be down to seven oh you're muted yes I I just couldn't see the seven right there okay prize six members who will initially be elected on an at-large basis by Australian ballot vote of the voters of the unified district so obviously that's a word um thereafter the unified district board of school directors should be elected in the manner specified in article nine below why not tell us right now the membership of the unified district board should be as three directors should be elected at large from candidates somebody big voters of Rochester from among the legal residents of that town three directors should be elected at large good all directors should have an equal vote on the board okay good and Sherry are you yes I just emailed all three of you and ray so that he can display it right and it's the it's the compiled document with each of the other districts verbiage showing that they clearly state it's chelsea is chelsea tonbridge is tonbridge right hand cock is hand cock grandville is grandville yeah we have I mean this is such a clear argument um and also if we have language we can just borrow and exactly just cut and paste I love it I mean I have I have absolutely no issue with this I mean again you know that but if it's I don't think it's gonna be a constitutional issue because I think well I don't know we'll we'll get into that when we get to it let's see what you got I haven't gotten it yet just so you know uh I sent it I know I'm just uh anybody else got it yeah well yeah I have seen it before so all these were done by the exact same consultant and the exact same lawyers so I would suggest that we just get those people well not do not get Steve gale involved again but get the attorney uh to just uh jump on to what those three districts wrote in their agreement and then when we when we when we meet again or when you go you're actually going to have a board meeting before I I think we should what I think is the first proper procedure for us would be that we have some articles tonight that we'd have the language of we send those off to the lawyers and that after Christmas before the board meeting we meet again and just to clarify that we've you know what answers we've got so that we know we're putting forward stuff that the lawyers have approved and then when the board meeting happens obviously we'd be there and we give a report on that so that's uh but I think I mean if this is the language that other ones have used Ray have you have you received it yet email no I haven't okay uh let me let me try and I'm a resident of Royalton and within White River unified both towns vote on both sets of directors oh okay I'm just mentioning that got you for no other reason other than um I know that uh know that well the version of the document that I have been presenting is the one that's on the website the sg website so if that's not accurate then no I think I think we were just in the wrong part of it that's all oh okay yeah I think two different seven sections yeah it's very it's it's very confusing when you have articles something and then you have numbers down below that don't say article um and somebody's reading this I could see there's all kinds of opportunity for confusion um sure does anyone received it yet yeah Ray can she share can um a member or can somebody participating share on their screen like zoom uh she can now okay he just gave it just gave in oh charity so when you hover at the bottom oh there it is yep towards the right it said uh present now if you want to try that while I I see where it says WRVSU conference is presenting oh yes sir but I don't see okay okay can you guys see that yeah I'm looking at it on my computer too so the I'm going up to the very first one that was what was presented to me um and there are each one there's pieces in red um is that how it is on there there there are articles or is that yours you're red this was a document that was presented to me I did not prepare this oh just curious okay board director should be comprised of six individuals elected by Australian balloted by the voters of the municipal paladies in which they reside forming districts representation on the unified board should be closely proportional to the fraction of its population that its population bears to the aggregate population of all forming school district in the unified district I think that's what Donna was talking about initial unified district school board composition is based upon okay so I'm trying to find where I saw it before because I'm finding where it says that they will be nominated by the legal voters of their town that's under the that's under the Bethel one yeah three directors that will be elected from candidates nominated by the legal voters of Royalton among others okay yeah so so I guess I I have to take back something I said earlier that everyone is doing it the same way except us because that's not true based on this um but I you know I guess my their languages are different than our languages yes they are and I hold on a second let Tim Finisher yeah and uh we do need to remember that Rochester and Stockbridge might be different amount of voters yeah but as far as students we're within a handful of each other we each have just about a hundred k through 12 students so so this article shows us what Hancock Grandville does even though they're only split by like four percent and but Royalton and Bethel those two towns are certainly different size and so if we can if we can decide between our two districts we don't need to follow their wording exactly but we get the point Ethan you got the point right off the bat that this is a no brainer you know it's going to have to be run by an attorney anyway so you know I mean what I mean I personally this first one's a bit verbose for me is a bit too much each forming district should have at least one representative on the board I don't know I just feels like it's there's too much there but maybe that's needed I don't know um the second one seems to be more what we're looking for and seems to be quite similar to the third to Chelsea Tunbridge is that other people are you agreeing with that I can't sorry I was looking at the document so I can't hear your nods um um yeah if I agree with that is is is that so are we saying that we would like to propose and put to our lawyers the wording of the Bethel Royalton can we go up to the Bethel Royalton one because I think we need to be very clear shall be elected from candidates nominated so no I don't agree with that because I think I think we need to have clear language that says nominated and elected by you know Bethel will or Stockbridge will both nominate and elect from its town Rochester will nominate and elect from within its town and you know I don't know the legal basis of this like well do we actually have to have this happen during the school board or the school portion of town meeting can this be remanded to the town level so that there is no confusion I don't know the legality of that but maybe that's how we add it in so that it's very clear that Rochester nominates and elects its representation Stockbridge nominates and elects its representation well here's the thing I just suddenly that that hit me on the head that we may be yeah we may be doing nothing normally on the school board or the on the town meeting day because it's town issues but because it's all going to be Australian ballot it's possible that we could put a ballot issue but we need to know whether we can put a ballot item on there um if that's okay if that's legal or whether we do need to wait till May when it's the school you know the R said school meeting um so that's yeah but I think so we're interested in nominates and elects um I mean is this enough to send this off to our lawyers and have them come up with a proposal for us so we don't have to spend the time coming up with the wording ourselves well it'll actually be a proposal to adjust Tim go ahead and adjust it it'll actually be a proposal that will be given to the RSUD then you guys can decide that you know as a committee we can beat it to death but if you if you get the wording that we just talked about to the lawyers you guys can discuss it at your next meeting and that will be the one that we can start with to move this whole business forward without a whole bunch of conflict so it's nominate the key is nominate and elect because I get worried by this word um at large elected on an at large basis that sounds to me I don't know what that term means but it sounds like means everybody votes yeah we don't want the at large we want the separate town voting on we want nominated elected and no at large and then that will be equal representation from the board right now and it's not equal representation from the board because Rochester has half as many more votes I think when you present it to the lawyers I think we also need to find out now that we've decided we want to modify by basically seven and eleven we will also need to ask them for verbiage to accurately stop seven and eleven from acting the way they do in the articles at present Justine might be able to answer that better because she knows legal stuff not me we also need to look at we need to look at eleven we have nine also is intertwined in that relationship I think they all are together so yeah I think they will have to be reviewed and I think that was one of our items anyway it's confusing to have them all in separate links so you got a question for the lawyer so let's should we are we ready to take a look at eleven here following establishment of new district budget squares public questions and election of subsequent school directors shall be conducted at the meeting voters acting from the floor unless the voters are done annual school district meetings held in locations Ethan that's not the right one yeah sorry again you're looking at the again to the bottom yeah again back where those it was just 25 25 please so that's only a three page document um we need to go back to the yes articles of agreement back to the other one here yeah page 25 yes this one here yep provisions of the report and formal plan approved by the state border oh that's not 11 that's something so what are we talking about when we're talking about a level article three actually sorry yep it's article three up to three I don't really understand yeah article roman numeral three roman numeral three yes and if I just hurry up and relax the following officers I think wording has to you know where where where are we I don't think we're in the right place here just article roman numeral okay thanks say good after 11 yep and I think it I think it just needs to be flushed out a little better because it doesn't include it should be with seven and be described appropriately with equal we're looking for them to combine yes and we're going to have to be very clear gosh we have roman numeral's here too no wonder this is this is a ridiculous document we have articles in one number and then the actual articles are the single numbers without article again it's because the presented articles are we're revamped but not accurately okay so who the heck I mean you know I guess we are but I mean how do we seems like these need to be combined or edited or you know I don't know I'm sort of I'm sort of confused right now as to why all of this has to be in there like why is there still have to be as part of the articles of agreement a history of Stockbridge in history of Rochester it seems like we have the voted elements and that be alone is what we're looking at well that wasn't what was warned and voted on all of that history stuff okay really 20 23 through 26 was what the public saw but that's but if all of this is on the web page it's highly confusing yes it's highly confusing and I'm wondering if we maybe this is even just a web page kind of thing where we can just put some headers on this stuff so that it's like actual yeah voted on articles follow as opposed to preliminary introductory information I mean it seems to me that would just that would clear up a lot right there just so people know charity if that's I would suggest that we do do that but I would also suggest that you put the copy so I obtained a copy that actually shows the stamp where it was received by the town clerk like you would a formal document that is the document that should be on the website because it is the official document so these just the warning yes and it should be labeled appropriately so that if a person is going and looking for it you know that's what they're like you always have that in this in the town report in the school report you always have the previous warning and it's just the warning great I think that's very clear um I would suggest to make sure it's uh pdl because these google docs are confusing because it looks like a draft there was times also when I went in and it and it had to sign in to see it and we want this to be absolutely accessible to everybody okay warning so that's an act that's actually an issue that I had emailed you about so there are times when people cannot get access to certain things on the web because if you don't have a google account you can't see it and like I for one have over the years having kids in the Rutland high school school system um because of their classes I actually had google security issues and it's different now that google is a you know household item I mean I haven't had a kid in high school in four and a half years but there was a time when I couldn't open gmail because the school had implemented security on my computer to allow my kid to do school so there are still fragments of that left in google so not everyone is able to go to the the su website and get these documents that should be great if you could point me to an example I'd be happy to address it uh I think I sent one when it comes to the videos not too long ago and Jenny helped me out through you um I could not get it off the school website or get the link and none of the links would work I had to go to orca's actual website okay and that was even with me signing in to my gmail account I could not gain access to it through the su site but I think she may have already brought that to your attention about a month ago well I have to look back um this and I'll I'll follow up by email um so just a question for Ray because I know Ray you clearly cleared up some things for me on the web page like the Rochester one still had the old board on it called Rochester board and I noticed that that's changed I really appreciate that that it's now our sudden it's the link to the current board which is excellent is this something if we get you this doesn't sound like we have to even vote on it we just um well I don't know I maybe everything has to go through the board but I mean in terms of putting correct information can we just put this warning up there yeah the part I know I mean this this part of this predates me in this role Ethan so yeah I don't know why it is the way it is but probably because it just got jumped there and nobody's looked at it since until tonight right you know nobody's really thought about it so I think that's exactly what we're trying to get at tonight I think um who's gonna have are the who's gonna have that warning um to adjust the warning the town clerk town clerks I yeah and it's yeah I think it would be helpful if the warning and even um this uh the one before the articles prior to this warning were in PDF format um too because I think it I I had a trouble trouble figuring out what I was supposed to be reading because I felt like it was well I think I only want to put I mean I think we just as I say with and as I put a big thing here proper labeling right to make sure that properly labeled what they are um and probably excise the history part because we don't need that we don't need the the previous history I mean I you know I don't think I don't think it's very useful for anybody coming and looking charity I don't think you want to get rid of that I think proper labeling of the document on the SU website is better because that history part you're talking about that is what was physically presented to the BOE as our as our merger presentation and that's I think there's yeah it's labeling it's a labeling issue got you okay so proper labeling is really so in that sense we do have the warning there we just need to break it up it's it's almost is it three sections sounds like it's we're talking three sections the the sort of history present a presentation to the BOE and then the actual warning that was voted on and I'm not sure what that middle section that article that's part of the BOE presentation okay it's all right let's um um if somebody wants to come up with a label send it to Ray we could get this done tonight I can try to get a copy of the of the actual warned article from the town clerk that would be a separate set it'd be nice if I had the stamp on it yeah that's that's a nice touch I think okay good so um and then could justine do you think you'd be up for the titling or do you think you need more information that you could once you have that proper warning you know titling the sections the proper labeling sorry we're saying proper labeling of the sections that are on sure I could I could present an email to you and maybe to the group or something because yeah and then yeah and then we'll and then yeah I can even get that tomorrow that I'm sorry we've sort of jumped off the subject a little bit here um uh where we were was that we were going to pass something on to the lawyers I I suggest we pass this well I don't know do we want to pass the entire document that Charity shared with us of the different school presentations or do we want to give them instructions to come up with language for us to be able to nominate and elect from individual towns um our own representatives not at large and then also how do we um stop the initial article but leave it there does that sound what we're what we're going for I think you simply send them that instruction to deal with these these ones that are intertwined because our articles were written differently than other district's articles we simply tell them that this is our intention how do we rewrite this this is the point and this is the core of the the new article and how do we turn off seven nine and eleven great and turn off is a great term thank you um or and I think we should also ask them are there any pieces of those puddles puzzles that our new language doesn't handle for things that are written in it because we just because I'm not a legal person and I don't want to this is well this is why I think as I said in terms of our timeline we want to come up with our instructions send it to the lawyer and then meet again so we look at it again before we go before the they are said board just so we can we can you know get their explanation and we understand it before we go okay good I will I will handle that and I may send you well it'll probably be a conversation because this is a little complicated okay and this is the web I take terrible notes so oh I realized we never did a secretary yikes oops there's going to be the video um that was a oversight because we need minutes because they don't want minutes it's actually legal um how do we do with this I don't feel like we're taking notes but I did stop I did think about the secretary part and then I forgot about it when I got involved so I mean I could do my best or or maybe use could I use your notes too and then put together the minutes uh yeah why don't well I probably would be she is talk talk through talk it through um together at some point um I think we can talk about how it happened um it's not I think I you know it's it's a it's a pretty big oversight on my part I should have totally had that um charity if I can make a suggestion on how we handle it in the board that I'm a member of so within three days we send out a draft uh note a draft minutes to all the members they agree on any submit within 24 hours their changes and those are compiled into it and then your final draft your final minutes are created okay we can see that between the four of us pretty quickly and probably not need three days to do it great and I I think as long as it gets our main talking points we're we're we'll we'll we'll get to it I think we've been fairly clear here but that I apologize for that oversight on my part okay so I think we've taken care of seven and eleven and we've taken care of this issue of clarity on the website of proper labeling um what what else do we want to deal with tonight um we're going to go through and basically see what do we need for clarification and what do we think is a potential amendment so why don't we do that go through our list um justine you're muted I just want to say it's not seven and eleven anymore it's seven nine at article three seven nine and article three all related to the election and they all should be that's part of combining those oh yeah here it is I've got it combining those as part of our instructions yes okay all right good so um this for a rearrange are we okay to move on do we feel like we've got some uh Tim yeah I was waiting in a room for a while with something to say I think we ought to open back up to the public and see what they have to oh okay I'm up for that me too yep good thank you all right let's go back uh Joanne hi there I think you guys are doing a great job um and keep going I the thing is I do would like to remind you that the merger the um town meeting in Stockbridge is in March and that's when the town of Stockbridge is going to vote to remain um in the merge or not so I don't know if that has anything to do with your decision to vote in March or vote in May just just an FYI I think the people in Stockbridge want to see some changes and they want to see them fast or they might vote a certain way that's all no I it reminds me of the question that we wrote I didn't write it down we want to find out if we could piggyback an Australian ballot item on that election if that's legal right right I yeah I would assume so um who knows I'll find I'll find out that will be part of my talk okay on town meeting thank you for reminding me of that Ethan um sorry who's this charity can we just remind everyone that if they're not something to mute because someone's got some serious feedback coming through yeah I'm seeing 443 15 is live 802 19 you're live on the mic if you could mute your mic unverified caller I assume that's Orca uh yeah night oh yeah good that took care of it thank you uh but 19 you are live on your mic star six to mute until we get to you please okay thank you again Joanne for that reminder um okay let's go to Karen Ethan I'm I'm fine you guys are doing a great job so I'm gonna let you keep on working because there's quite a few of the articles that you touched on tonight it'd be nice to see as many done as possible okay good thank you 443 ending in one five star six to unmute please identify I should remember these numbers but I don't this is Rob Garner Rob again yep yep do you think you hear me yes I can can you hear me can you hear me oh yeah I'm afraid you get the feedback you hear me now uh yes I can yes I guess so look I will say quickly because I was there from the study committee and I was there for that meeting that you had a video of you guys are making all the same mistakes from me then you're in a terrible rush you can't believe I'm confusing this is to listen to try to understand what you guys are doing you're rushing through something very complicated you're not um doing it in a form that people can really understand what you're talking about so you know you can keep doing it but I think you're building mistakes into what you're doing I would please you don't make the same mistakes that we made that is what you were for you are now thank you very much okay thank you thank you uh five one six last you did just six one okay thank you Keith um I just really looking for a clarification on something that both charity and I believe Tim raised excuse me and that has to do with the articles as they were presented to the BOE and what the BOE ultimately sanctioned or approved versus what made it down to the public to vote on it sounds as though there was quite a number differences or did I misunderstand something no I think I think you're right I think we're I'm putting you together with what I heard from Rob and um slowing down and I think there is some clarity that needs to be um had in terms of you know what what what exactly are we following I think that's sort of the tenor if there's a theme to this meeting tonight it's there is confusion as to exactly what what exactly we're following as we're going forward as a school district um and okay so I'm sorry go ahead no so I just I think it needs to be clarified and what I've heard so okay but is that I guess the point I'm trying to I'm sorry go ahead finish no no no you go go um I was just trying to you know for myself understand that um the articles of merger that the BOE approved are not the articles of merger that we are following and if that's correct that's a major concern yeah I'm just making a note thank you okay thank you thank you Keith yep and then I'm at uh sorry but I think I'm see a 774 last two digits 59 yeah this is Irene Cinta I'm just trying to follow along and that last conversation made me think what is the legal document what we voted on as voters or what you presented to the state board of education or are they both legal I think this is a I think this is a very good question um I so far what we've heard but I don't think it's this we haven't asked it specifically enough so far we've heard that what we voted on that's the real deal that's the real deal that well I but that's just that was just in terms of when we're looking at the articles of agreement so I I think clearly this is an issue that has some confusion around it and it needs to be clarified right that would be a question for the lawyers yep exactly exactly they need to tell us what is the legal what are we what is the there's no point in us changing a lot of things if we're not changing the document that matters absolutely here you thank you thank you Irene Irene are you from Stockbridge yep okay thank you mm-hmm good and then we're 80219 please identify yourself hello can you hear me yes I can hi this is Greg Piccarello from Stockbridge no comment right now I'm just listening and just following along thank you great thank you uh 80269 80269 do you have a comment star six to unmute all right we'll move on 80271 any comments star six to unmute 80271 all right thank you all let's go back to our meeting so um I I do want to mention Ethan this is Joanne I just want to I'm sorry to interrupt but I do have the ballot I didn't know if you wanted to see it but had the original 11 um 11 articles I'm sorry to interrupt I really apologize for that no no no um okay no I think it's uh I mean we're gonna get it whereas we're saying we'd sort of like to get it from a town officer absolutely with a stamp on it so I think if we if we put that up and and as we say we think we have it on there um you can actually find it on the uh school board meetings uh minutes on this uh the suv or the um supervisory union under november 27 2017 I believe it's on there I just I just found it in a pile of my papers that show that's the date okay great justine you got that good okay um I I want to hear Rob's comment you know I just sort of get get your well get you know you know I I hear you know that the things were rushed I mean we said that we said that about this merger without it was rushed and and how do we feel um obviously you know I hear the point that things need to happen um I just want to get feedback I just want to hear what other everyone in this committee has to say about that um uh justine why don't we start with you um and speaking to Rob's comment and Eileen's comment about which document I think it's really easy as a listener to be confused I came into the meeting thinking we were hashing out the the document everyone voted on so I definitely could use more time to chew on the presentation and um what you know what was presented versus if that's what we're bringing to the table I think we have to make a decision on what what's the first step and what are the subsequent steps and be very clear to the public um so they can give their feedback because the biggest issue in my opinion is that the public is not as informed as they could be as voters I'm not as informed as I should be I'm the chairman of the board um I should be able to tell I should know the answers to this um yeah I I do think I do think that starting with the representation um in the document we voted on is a good starting point and I would support to to move forward with that no matter what but also give more time for the other stuff okay uh charity sorry got to hit that unmute button um you know I I'm I have mixed feelings um you know as far as Rob's question and again Irene's when it comes to what article I think there was language that clearly that clears that up in the email string from Don Russo Savage that the only binding document is the voted on articles yes but that's the legal end of it does that clarify that there are other issues for us to discuss absolutely not like that those are two different pieces of a separate puzzle that we need to as this committee in conjunction with the board need to figure out how do we rectify all these problems and so you would come up with the idea of tackle the ones that are going to need to be effective and modified prior to meet town meeting now we do have the question of is it town meeting or is it the school board meeting or the school meeting so I think we need to for this especially because Rob's point is valid we don't want to rush and screw up again as much as I want change and I really do think that you need some pretty substantial change to appease some of the more confused and disheartened people by all of the situation I don't want to make huge change that's only going to make a bigger pit of mud so let's let's figure out which ones of the hot spots did we mention that we know are going to have an impact on let's call it the first available appropriate meeting you know what ones do we need to tackle to get to that meeting and those we have to get through yes the voting issue is one of them and then figure out which ones do we put to the next meeting and I think we need to figure out which meeting that is because that's going to that's going to set our timeline if we find out that we don't get to do anything until May then that changes a little bit of what we can do I would I would yeah I'm going to leave it at that because I have I like I said I have mixed feelings on a few pieces good Tim I'm not so sure that what we're talking about is not important and I'm not so sure that doing the merge process in 2017 wasn't important for either school so for either town really in the education of our kids so right now we have a new board new administration the people that were at the boe presentation I think there's only two people that are on the board now so there's a whole new cast of characters and you not knowing the answers is not surprising because these were talked about at the beginning before you were on the board so for you I don't think you ought to take responsibility for that but from here forward we all need to take responsibility because it's not stock bridge necessarily the one that the boe is looking at it's Rochester and it has been for years ever since act 60 was falling apart Rochester has been the one that the boe has been interested in pushing forward with act 46 was partly because of Rochester having 35 kids in high school and that was creeping up toward $30,000 for those kids yeah so uh if we're going to make this work and beat the system from the state we need to get it together and it clearly was presented to the boe that that we were going to start within passing them passing our proposal and within six months we would be moving forward my question is are we moving forward in those six months or have we come either to a complete standstill or going backwards so we've got an ed we've got an experience principle with Bonnie who her education was elementary education and we've got Lindy who I don't know personally but everybody in Stockbridge seems to like her so my rewriting an article at a time is fine and I'm not sure that we need to go forward the town and I don't blame Stockbridge for going forward with presenting to their select board to put it on their their municipal town agenda that would give rsud some time to decide things on their own and you know we I've been in the valley for 50 years so I've seen a historical migration whether it was from graduation or consolidation we can do this if we do what was proposed to the boe in the in the proposal and we need to work toward that and make our articles of agreement align with what was presented to the boe and follow through with it and that is not what we've been doing so you know if we want to completely come to a standstill and rewrite the whole new articles of agreement that's fine but I think if we take one at a time and fix the ones that we know we're glaring out at us we ought to do that but it's going to be the rsud board that votes on it you know we're just an advisory I mean we're soaking up the information from our neighbors and bringing it to our rsud so you know we can't make policy no we can certainly listen to our neighbors well here's here's what I'm going to suggest not only that it's almost a 30 I wonder if this isn't a good first meeting where we've gotten to so far I mean I know we've got a lot more to talk about but we've got the list now we've prioritized one particular article we've got some serious some simple clarification fixes in terms of information that's out there that we're going to find out we're going to find out information about whether we can deal with this first town meeting we can piggy back on Australian ballot that sounds like a pretty good moving forward time you know and to come back once we have some language from the lawyers and have our next meeting and then start and also work on because of course we you know I mean if you wanted to make this a three-hour meeting I'm used to three-hour meetings that's pretty much what we do all the time but I'm just I'm just feeling like we've done good work tonight and we've got a lot out to put out there that then we would get back if we scheduled another meeting right now and came back for it how do we feel about that and I you know I'm not dropping the ball at all I'm just saying we've done some really good work so far what do we think I think it would be helpful to to end the meeting like you say and I have a little more time to compare the proposal to the BOE and also have the folks who are listening have the option to chew on it a little bit and then we can move forward with our next hot items and maybe an actual game plan at the net at our next meeting I want to add to our list of what we've done we also have a very clear question of what is the legal basis for this merger is it what we voted on or is it all that what was presented and I think we need a big answer to that yes because that helps our work because then we know okay you know if they say forget about the presentation of the BOE you know forget about that that is not the basis of your merger your basis of merger is what you voted on well that changes how we proceed you know whether and whether we talk about these other issues that it's it makes our work easier if we know the answer to that question charity what do you think um what what's your idea of the next when we would have a next meeting I just don't want to see this drag on and January no no no no no believe me um uh I'm looking at I mean I'm assuming we don't want to do a Christmas week I'm looking at the 29th that would still give us a a week we'd have a week before the our sudden meeting on the 5th but does that give us time if we figure out what our hot spots are are get language to the lawyers and present that at the our sub meeting I don't know that a week is enough time that's my concern and if we've got a January 15th deadline we're pushing that really hard to have this become an ineffective adventure no um I'm just thinking about what what more do we think we can achieve tonight we've got we've got language that we want to put out to the lawyers we need to know this thing about whether we whether this is the January 15th is the deadline we're looking at because we need to know whether we can piggyback on Australian ballot for a town meeting and then we have several issues of clarity in terms of what information is put out there um on the website and then we have this very clear understanding of what what is what we are working on is it the is it what we voted on or is it the BOE presentation I'd say those are a lot of questions to go forth um I mean if you want to meet next Tuesday night if we think we can have an answer by then I'll do it um that's a that's a you know it's two days before Christmas um that's just the timing of where we are but if if if you think we should get to it that quick I'm certainly ready for that how do we feel so it's really about scheduling our next meeting 22nd or 29th I guess I feel like we at least tonight should figure out and add to the list of what other what are the other hot spot articles that we know we want to address in the next you know the next available town meeting votes whatever one it's going to be well if it's one that we have to warn for on January 15th then you know I guess my concern is that we have some of some of the hotspot ones that we mentioned are ones that could potentially impact how budgeting is done how um how expenses and income are recorded like there are there are pieces of the puzzle in the ones that I know I highlighted as ones I want us to look at and address that I don't want it to go unnoticed or unaddressed when I know that we're in a budgeting process right now and they're ones that affect that well particularly um specific endowments um those aren't actually ones I'm most worried about because those whatever was in place is happening but like you know one of the ones and I apologize because I'm looking at the art the document that we said not to use but you know one of my ideas is the original articles mentioned that only for year one do we do the expenses and everything for Rochester Stockbridge and then combined but in any proper business that has more than one entity in it to make up a larger entity you would be foolish to not have a mechanism to properly allocate and recognize income and expense and that I know is an issue for the public especially you know especially Stockbridge because it's been an issue um and it's one that has been mentioned numerous times but it's also going back to my issue that I have harped on I sorry but I have harped on the issue of transparency and accountability every chance I've gotten and this speaks directly to that and in that article that is one that you wouldn't want to wait and address it in May no because they're going to need to figure out how to how is how is Tara at the business office going to properly make that happen um we're supposed to vote on the budget um ASAP engineering of course that we also asked for significant changes to come back back to a two percent growth budget and also the deficit the new deficit numbers have to be taken in um what's the article do you know so this is not from are the articles that were voted on this is or is that is there well I I wrote on the wrong one I didn't write on this one so give me a second and because I I think I mean that to me seems like another pretty easy pretty easy one for me to get my mind around along with um you know that that's that's a pretty clear change um and it also that also may not be the kind of thing that needs a town vote um it may be something that the ARSA board could decide you know and this was Donna Savage did say there may be some issues that we can that the board can actually take care of without voting on it you know yeah I guess I guess my concern is that it was originally written as a year one only thing in the articles and if we want that to become a standard why would we not address that in the articles again any questions and I'm trying to find where the wording is and I apologize because you know like I said I wrote on the other document not the ratified document can can our second engine um and again I I have to reiterate something that Justine said the two different the two documents are written differently the ratified articles are different than the proposed article in the BOE so I wrote on the one that was of course the proposed draft version and now I'm having a hard time myself finding it so I definitely understand why we want more time I just don't want to see that time go too far out no I mean I want us to be prepared for January 15th if that is our is going to be our deadline well then let's I mean as I said I'm I'm game I'm game for a meeting next week if we think we're going to have um um um hold on Joanne I see your hand raised uh let me just so I think this is a this will clarify for us is it is everybody else willing to meet next Tuesday yeah I it might be unlikely that I would be back in time I my schedule uh I'll be up in the northeast kingdom all day so I could come late maybe or I may not be back in time for most of it that's my only concern otherwise I would would be willing to charity would you be willing to yeah I'm game okay Tim oh you're muted Tim oh you're still muted Tim there I'm going to be on the road that Tuesday night okay I might be able to do it from the car I think it's pretty important that we keep going forward and I am curious to find out uh what you find out this week well yeah you know and who knows you know who knows how much I'm going to get I'm going to you know be I'm going to get on it right first thing tomorrow morning um uh what about Monday night that would be better for me but good for charity good for Tim um I can make it work pretty sure I think Monday's better for me okay then let's I say let's do it um you know um we we want to we want to do it thoroughly but we also want to keep up we want both we want to do it thoroughly but we want to keep up the tempo uh keep up the movement all right then I would say if we do move for a meeting on the 21st at 6 30 do we think we have accomplished enough in this first meeting tonight and I'm glad you brought up that separation of budget because I'm going to ask if that's something that's a major question that may be something that the ARSA can take care of which of course would be I you know ideal if we can do some of these things um um if we can do some of these things without necessarily you know that help things help help transparency without necessarily going to the voters about all of it good so yes yes we have finished our job tonight or no we have not yes I I wonder if we can just go through the hot spots that we've outlined just in order quickly and okay other people this is a huge these are I would call these instead of hot spots I would call these action items and I don't know if we should respond to Joanne first or yeah sorry Joanne thank you thanks for reminding me that I'm so sorry I just wanted to tell you I didn't have um Justine's email address but I did send a copy of that um the what we voted on and it actually even had the who the number of votes that each of the board members got and it's it's a pretty thorough um document I sent one to Ethan and Tim and Charity but I didn't have Justine's email I'm sorry so someone wants to forward it I'll forward it I wanted to work with it tonight thank you okay thank you Joanne let me just do that real quick okay I'm going to call these action items and my notes are not totally organized so it's going to change the order of how I do them um number one separation of budgets um it's in the articles can or said change that or doesn't need to be a warned article question two can we piggyback on articles on the town meeting in March the Australian ballot town meeting um question three and these are our instructions to the our lawyers that we want to change our our selecting of school board members to nomination and election within each specific town and not to be voted on at large basically combining seven nine and roman numeral three and how to stop seven nine and roman numeral three that we need clarity on the web page as far as the merger documents and that they need to be properly labeled and then finally we need a definitive answer um which is the legal document that this merger is following is it the document we voted on or is it have any relationship to what was presented to the boe and that's what I have as our action items does that sound complete thumbs up thumbs up charity uh I think we also need to continue going through the hotspot articles do you want to do that tonight uh no not tonight I think we decided yeah yeah we've got I mean that's another thing we accomplished tonight is we have a list of our hotspot items and we know that we're going to go back it'll be on our agenda next time to review hotspot items and prioritize or remember we talked about question or action each one has either it's either a clarification question or an action that we want taken good and it's my understanding that our work will be based on our response from the attorneys as to which document the boe is expecting of us right the be wait I didn't understand that justine well what Tim was describing is the board of education as you know we presented something that that's the question to the attorney what what document yes focusing on yeah which legal document is the basis for this merger and and and literally I want to ask do we need to pay any attention to that video right meet yes or no yes then we have a lot of work to do and there's a lot of communication um oh no okay that's yeah that's in my list good uh Tim are you feel good with that that we can move on till our meeting next week yes I do good charity do you feel good that we can move on yes as long as I learn how to hit the mute button the right way good and justine do you feel like we're good to move on yes I do okay great I would entertain a motion to adjourn I will second all in favor signify by saying aye first yeah thank all our participants for coming much appreciated really pays oh Tim you have something to say nope I just raised your hand okay


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