Well, then I will call the meeting to order at 6.02 Seeing that we do have a quorum. Hopefully the rest will join though Okay Great, is there any there's Cynthia great. I just called the meeting to order so welcome Okay, is there any adjustments to the agenda 6.5 would be a solar the solar array sure like an update 6.5 Solar array update Okay, great. Is that it? Okay Move on to because it to the consent agenda Looking for a motion to approve the minutes from Monday December 4th regular meeting so move There a second second Is there any discussion? Great. No discussion all in favor say aye. Hi. Hi Opposed I didn't think I heard just Ian. Okay So moved All right and number four public comment Do we have any public on at this time? Okay Board comment. Yes, just a note I did finally get the array of sensors installed at the high school And they were working however the one of the hubs Stopped working. I have to go investigate it It was reporting Normal temperatures in the 60s. However, I didn't know to a couple of classrooms that were in the 70s mid 70s So even though they're thermo thermostat in those rooms was set lower So I'm not sure who I should report to on that if you let Lyle know he'll reach out with Okay, Julie will have to get it'll be the pneumatic folks that we use right so Okay, and I'm thinking that There's a few more rooms that I probably should put more sent by some more sensors So but we have it in most all the identified rooms I can't think of the group we've used for our nomadic building We don't have a lot of pneumatics anymore, but we have had and do you remember who they were I? There's not many people in the state. No, it's a father-son team It is yeah, I don't know why I'll make the call and then we just make sure someone's there okay I'll share and I can text him in the morning, too, but I'll I'll One get the rest of the sensors back up and running and then I'll Make a report on what ones perfect or high and when you do copy me on the email I'll text him Make sure he reads it. Okay. Okay great I was gonna comment that tomorrow night there was going to be a Planning the community education campaign the Repurposing We're gonna do a planning Like an education campaign for the high school acquisition vote, but it has been canceled due to Weather, but it's definitely something that would probably be good to keep on our radar to help on help with with their campaign to educate the community to For this high school acquisition vote when you have a rescheduled date will you share it with me? So we can send it home to family absolutely. That's a great idea All right, is there any more board comment? Okay, moving on to discussion 6.1 22 23 audit update. I think that'd be Tara probably Okay That's wondering about that Tara, yeah, you're talking about the budget. We're talking about the audit Okay, well if that changed our tuition great And they got called into a peer review so it put them behind but they are working on them this week Excellent and Bill joins us he's mute. Oh, there's Bill. All right, welcome We were just we're just on 6.1 the audit update that Tara just Gave to us if there's Is there any questions? On her update my question is With all of the with this delay does the the company still feels that they you know are on track for This is not going to majorly hinder the time frame at all. Okay, good. Good That's great. Okay. Is there any other questions regarding the audit update? Okay, great Let's move on to the 24 25 budget draft Okay, so as I already said this draft of your budget, we've reconciled tuition So you'll see some adjustments made to your tuition expenses We are still utilizing a 10% increase in the fiscal year 24 announced tuition rate because we don't have FY 25 announced tuition rates yet. Those are due into the state and to Notified by business managers to other business managers by the 16th because the 15th is a holiday this year So I will expect to start seeing those trickle in this week and then early next week I'll have the announced tuition rates So that adjustment has been made and then as I said, I'll let Lindy speak to her FTE changes so the That the the tuitions high schools Also have to set their tuition rate Right now as well, but even though even before their budget is done. Is that correct? Just like we have to set our elementary tuition all schools in the state of Vermont public schools and Independent schools that are designated schools have to file by statute So so they may not be finished with their budget cycle yet, but they have to decide what they're going to charge Yeah, we have to announce. Yeah, okay Well, that's great. I noticed that that gave us a good reduction Okay, okay Yeah, we're over here. So in terms of regular and maybe Before we go into the change. Yeah, let's talk about the life. Yeah So in this draft here is going to lead you through the revenue sheet will lead lead lead you through the tax sheet as well tonight So what I want you to know is we came at this current draft of the budget Looking to do some reductions from last month for two reasons one We were trying to get under our per pupil spending to possibly get under the 10 cap Well, we've recognized within working through those parameters as you once you get to the tax sheet You're going to see we're actually under a 5% tax rate increase on your equities tax rate So the cap that temper that 10% cap isn't Allowing us to it. We're not gaining anything from it is what I'm saying to you So we're over 10% with our pupil spending and we'll show you why our our long-term weighted pupils From last year this year, even though we have a what I would say is one of the lower increases in the expenditure budget You'll see that our per pupil spending still because we didn't gain enough pupils from one year to the next is still over 10% Even though our overall expenditure budget is only up that 3.24 and the cap is related to That would that would the cap is related to the equalized tax rate Which will show you your equalized tax rate is actually less than 5% less than 5 so we wouldn't benefit from being under that 10% cap like it's not holding our tax rate steady We're our tax rate for ourselves actually under the 5% and we'll show that all to you on the tax sheet here in a minute I just wanted you to know though about one of the reasons why we were looking to reduce cost Now what has come out since we finalized this draft of the budget is a pretty significant Hit to the CLA's the CLA's in both towns decrease once again But this year remember last year in Stockbridge. We saw an over double-digit decrease Is this time in Rochester you're gonna see when we get to it of a 13% decrease in the CLA So when we get to your overall tax rate the CLA's are once again driving that number quite a bit and So one of the things we're gonna need direction on from the board is is that we already have a Budget is when Wendy goes through the the current changes from last month to this month personnel lies That's already At a place where us trying to do deeper cuts would start to really hurt programming Even further and you're gonna see we've already suggested in this budget Cutting world language, which the board needs to talk about and again I just wanted to give you the why around this the why was originally looking at that 10% Cap which I don't recommend that we even look to try to get under because we're not gonna benefit from it And then to so we'll just pay the full tax, which is under 5% so that's good We don't have to go in front of the board That and remember by board, I mean, it's this panel that the secretary of Ed Has to in panel three superintendents three business managers They make a recommendation based on criteria to the secretary of Ed whether or not our spending Is reasonable and allowable above the 10% threshold? Every budget that's above Yeah, it's gonna need to do that. Yes. Wow And so that was the To try that possibly get under that 10% I don't we're not gaining tax wise buy it Yeah, because we're under the 5% cap on the tax rate when we get to it So I don't think it I don't think it makes sense to then try to To get under the 10% cap because that 10% cap the whole reason to do it is to cap your taxes at 5% And already twice tax rates already under 5% So there's that piece and then what we'll be looking at from the board is based on you know this pretty significant drop in the CLA and Rochester specifically You're gonna see there's quite a tax hit in this current budget even though we've really tried to control expenditures And so I just wanted to give that kind of like that ground how why we want about it this way over break Lindy will talk to you about the changes we've made And then Tara can go over the revenue sheet And then we'll go through the tax sheet and then we'll be looking for some direction from the board about how folks are feeling about this current draft And where they might want us to go next Yeah, so if we start on page one one of the Changes we shifted with some of our intervention So I think it says literacy here, but I think we mean math Sarah for point six we dropped our math intervention to point six which FTE which please me we can still provide high quality intervention Three days a week for all our students that need that What was this point six then on our last literacy here? What was that point six four to six literacy? That's an instructor. Okay. It teaches because we split out four to six Is content special? Okay teacher. So instead of a full-time classroom teacher in Stockbridge It's someone who's point six and is that now in this regular? Yeah, okay. Yeah. Thank you All right, and we did so and then it balances us out At literacy intervention interventionist total or point at 2.0. So it gives us The literacy intervention we have going in both buildings and just a reduction in our math intervention. What was it before? it was It was like 2.8 Because time for all the interventions, right? So now essentially Right, so it is reduced. Yeah, okay Fine it still keeps our classroom instruction numbers the same And we are still carrying teacher that teacher that in that budget that we had every intent to hire this year We haven't been able to hire We're still budgeting for a classroom teacher. We'd like to have a classroom teacher. Okay And then if we go to page two Underworld language like Jamie mentioned that was one of the areas that we did remove Tied me out of the budget And that was that that's an area too. Once the board sees the whole tax sheet and everything though But you could give us direction to add it back. Yeah, so just know we removed it for this draft trying to get up originally To do a CLA and under the 10% cap That is an area where the board could go us to write because it was proposed the previous draft was 40,000 40,000 If we go to Yep School nurse. This is based on data of nurse actual nurse visits We did reduce the school nurse down from five days a week to four days Right, and that's what that's One nurse that does build is correct. Correct. And do we currently have a nurse hired? We have a long term seven long term sub right now. Okay, who doesn't we'll need to hire for next right? Yes And if you remember you did not have a one-point on nurse we did not hire to cope it That's one of the things we lever semester funds for yeah, so Well, I hate it before yeah, okay based on who actually goes to the nurse And I believe those were the big Your the SU budget was approved so you'll see some of your SU adjusts Assessments have adjusted based on the approved supervisor you need budget and based on just your percentage of the assessment So you'll see in some areas the SU assessment has dropped. Yep And then on page seven we did remove the high school fuel oil as a big change from the draft to draft And just so the board knows in regards to the high school fuel oil I've been in conversation with viking Catherine About this and I have a meeting with viking Catherine from the repurposing committee on Wednesday To just review updates and make certain we're all where we need to be in regards to this upcoming vote this spring For the town of Rochester to acquire the high school and one of the things that they've been Focused on and what the town wants to see is for for them and us to be able to really specifically spell out for the town of Rochester like Yes, you may be acquiring a building and there could be some of costs associated with that But you'll also see that our sub-budget adjusts based on Those costs changing over to Rochester So they were happy for us to really spell out what those changes would look like and wanted us to budget Okay, that makes sense Great, so those were the major changes we didn't believe and then like Tara said we reconciled tuition And just so the board knows we also did keep in In this current draft the fund transferred to the capital fund the capital improvement fund remained So just a reminder that's a sixty five thousand dollar value That we were able to keep in this current draft, which was good Okay, I had a big question about the library salary that was a different and Budget Was there a reduction in the library just a Some actual personnel who will be telling that we'll be actually hired Okay, that's why I change. Okay. Yeah, so it dropped from 52 to 32. It seems like that. Yeah Right is all this included. Okay, so that's that is that person was currently hired that's the That role. Yeah, okay. That was right inside essentially Um Let's do it all first I'm sorry, Amy A lot of numbers but we've got big decisions and impacts going forward the one concern I would have is We want to be competitive with all our neighboring elementary schools and to attract Students and retain parents and students and I think that the cut of a $11,000 for rural languages that I just quickly running the numbers and it's like a half a cent Impact It was more than that the last draft bill so that it's only 11,000 budget to budget But what we had proposed last month was actually a point five rural language Which was a total of 45,000 it's about a penny. It's just over a penny And I would advise that we go through all the bill and then that would be one of the big things you guys talk to Us about in regards to programming once we can walk all the board members through the tax sheet So they know what that position would equate to on the tax sheet. Yeah My point is that I think it's worth keeping that 11,000 in there if not adding back in some of that money to the 45,000 I don't think we should go to zero on rural languages that we're going to be a rural class elementary School that's that's my point No, no, I definitely circle back to that once we get through then thank you bill for that comment We'll definitely come back to that Okay Terry you want to go over their revenue? Yeah, so in this draft of the revenue budget the changes that were made is we've added $50,000 of prior year surplus Which we had zero dollars in there in your last draft We've adjusted the tuition based on the reconciliation. We're still using the FY 24 rate When you set your 25 rate that adjustment will be made for your next draft And then I've adjusted if you go down to the tech tuition on behalf That's been adjusted to match the expense which is based on the fiscal year 25s rate and Then the act 60 related Transportation, I've adjusted that based on your fiscal year 23 contract, which is what is the base contract that that? 40% is calculated on so those are the only changes that have been made on the revenue sheet at this point We haven't put in as much as we've seen historically in the prior year surplus You know Jamie and I have spoke about this a lot that You know, we're really trying to recommend boards not to utilize that because then in the event as we're making these budgets Expand your budgets tighter and tighter. We may not have those types of surpluses moving forward So we are potentially setting ourselves up for any type of deficit for whatever we're using for offsetting revenue from prior year surplus So we're just being really cognizant of that Chicely in this fiscal year for our districts throughout the SU What is our current? Funding balance for FY 23. I know it's not audited yet But I don't have the unassigned fund balance projected surplus in 23 was two hundred and ten Amy's okay Thank you So tar what we were saying in the revenue budget is right now. We're budgeting zero. That doesn't mean that we don't have a surplus We were budgeting $50,000 in this in this budget the last draft we had zero as prior year surplus I didn't see the I'm sorry the last draft. So the current drafts 50k in but that May be more and what I hear you're recommending and Jamie Recommending is that we don't use it all because we might need it down the road as budgets get tighter tighter tighter tighter Is that correct? It just yes, if you don't have these types of surpluses year after year as we start really tightening these budgets Then you're setting yourself up for a revenue deficit. Yeah But but with the surplus it either has to go back into the budget or we need to put it into a Fund into into a reserve fund. So that's it's gonna kind of be our two choices Correct. Okay, and and you're projecting right now. It's at 210 You had a $210,000 projected surplus in fiscal year 23 Right, and that's the one we're talking about. That's the one you would take 50. Okay. I just want to make sure I'm understanding Okay, so we do have some room there to discuss that further I think that is a Yeah, okay Tax sheet. Yep. So on your tax sheet. We'll start in the upper left I'll go through it just like we normally do your budget of expenditures are four million eight hundred thirty thousand nine hundred and thirteen dollars We offset your revenue, which is the local revenue revenue not collected by the Ed fund 613,572 dollars Your act 68 education spending comes to four million two hundred seventeen thousand three hundred and forty one dollars We divide that by your long-term weighted average, which current draft version five that was released today matches version four for our side, which is 331.07 that gives us an education spending per pupil cost of 12,738 dollars and fifty two cents We then divide that by the yield of nine thousand four hundred fifty two dollars and that gives us our equalized Condential tax rate of one point three four seven seven if you go over to the yellow box on the right hand side You'll see your FY twenty five versus FY twenty four Equalized tax rate is an increase of point zero three zero two cents, which equates to two point two nine percent The next two line items is that ten percent threshold that we're monitoring that Jamie was talking about your fiscal year 24 per pupil with using the long-term rated average versus the equalized pupil was 11,306 14 this revised equalized pupil of 12,738 52 gives us an increase of twelve point six seven percent Those numbers you just read us as you took on the current new weighted System and and apply it and calculated it for the current budget that we're in Yes, the agency of education provided those factors to us to utilize for this comparison Perfect. That's great We're then going to move to the Rochester box Which is on your left So you'll see the fiscal year CLA was eighty seven point oh one percent and you can see that the fiscal year twenty five CLA Is seventy three point eight zero percent a reduction of thirteen point two one So what we do here is we take your FY twenty five equalized tax rate that one point three four seven seven And we divide that by the CLA and it gives us a projected homestead tax rate of one point eight two six two Which would result in an increase of thirty one point two cents in Rochester that equates to three hundred eleven dollars and ninety six cents per Hundred thousand dollars of property value in the stock bridge box You'll see the CLA went from seventy five point nine eight percent to sixty seven point eight five percent a reduction of eight point one three So again, we take that fiscal year twenty five equalized tax rate of one point three four seven seven And you divide that by the CLA of sixty seven point eight five percent And that gives you a projected homestead tax rate for stock bridge of one point nine eight six three That equates to a twenty five point two three cent increase Which is two hundred fifty two dollars and thirty cents per one hundred thousand dollars of property value Okay Fun stuff So just to jump in before the board starts talking I mean we did Bill you had this question so our equalized pupils I just want to make certain the board can see it in that top left-hand corner on the box You'll see the equalized pupils for FY twenty four was one eighty point eight four Through the new long-term weighted Algorithm in weights. That's where we get up last year would have been at three twenty five point four three Do you see that that shows you the FY twenty four Tara has it right under? Mm-hmm. So when you were asking are we using the new weights? We are and That's how you get we got our long-term our FY twenty four per pupil long-term weighted average Spending that was based off of last year's budget. That's where that 11,000 came from 11,000 306 14 correct, and so we gained Essentially with this new metric about six students this year Okay, and that's what our expenditure budget was run through this year So when you hear us talking about 10% cap We are over the 10% cap from FY twenty four to FY twenty five I am saying I'm comfortable with that because that number right above it that 2.29% We're actually under the 5% cap for tax rates. That's why I'm saying we don't need to bother ourselves as much We're trying to get under that 10% threshold because we're not benefiting from the 5% cap Because our tax rates actually less than 5% it's going up less than 5% The problem is the CLA has dropped so much you're seeing that your tax rates are up respectively 20.6% in Rochester and 14.55 percent in Stockbridge and there's nothing we can do with the equalized tax rate. That's going to drop that unless we continue to cut from your current budget a penny equates a penny is 31,292 and 74 cents Tara has that bracketed okay So for to change our tax rate by a penny We have to cut decrease 31,000 or increase revenue or increase revenue by that amount. Well, that is nice to have that mechanism to see How much we would actually have to change to make a drastic effect on We all know that the governor has been telling has been saying that there's 17% tax increase in the state of Vermont and Unfortunately, this is where it is Well, the CLA is impacting any of our districts greatly Just just to tear it does anyone else have any questions for Tara before I send her to Jihad and then I'll join you Taryn a little bit No, I guess not if we do we can write them down or She'll be back tonight and we'll catch you on the rebound Thank you great explaining So just to remind folks especially for our new board members the common level of appraisal is what the state uses in regards to ensuring that folks are all paying their fair share of taxes based on what properties are assessed at versus what they're actually selling for so the common level of appraisal drops if Properties are selling at a higher rate than what properties within that town have been assessed for So if I have a $200,000 assessed home and I sell it for $350,000 then what the state is saying is like whoa, that's a flag of You know Jamie and Callas should be paying their CLA should drop to ensure that they're paying their fair share of tax Into the statewide Ed fund because properties are actually valued higher than what they're currently assessed at And that's what this mechanism is used for across the state It's also to ensure that towns within the state aren't arbitrarily assessing property values lower Since this is a statewide tax in regards to property fat values funding the Ed fund That's another thing that it makes certain it's taking care of not just have properties been reassessed lately It's also also to ensure that when properties are assessed that they're accurately assessed for market value and not possibly assess too low Robert Might also point out along that subject is is these Low CLA's are triggering a reassessment, which will take place in Well, we won't see the results of it in our tax rates for two years So but is what tests are scheduled for reassessment. Yes, I don't know about stock bridge Stock bridge is in a unique position because they had theirs down at the beginning of COVID 2020 So they're appealing for a statistical Appraisal first to help recover some of that because hasn't been five years So And I think you stated this before that to do any more Reduction made in to make any main major impact would if really affect our programming It would really affect the kids education Yeah, I mean in a way we already have right we eliminate world language, right? Yeah But cuts would result in further programming, right? I guess that's what I'm asking is you feel like like this budget you could still You could still run a the school. Yes at the capacity that it's at Yeah, yeah, and you you've but you have as well Tried to pare it down to to be more efficient as you as we could Correct. Okay. Yeah, I mean I will say like It is a real kudos to Lindy thinking outside the box and how best to Leverage resources for you guys as a district I mean this is the overall expenditure budget in this proposed draft of Rochester stock bridge is that your Expenditure budget is down the lease now Reconciling tuitions like we're having a year where we're in good shape, right? Like I've got one district where tuitions a bunch of families moved in and they are Tuitions up 450,000 alone. Wow, right, so You know the fact that we were able to keep our tuitions in a decent spot I think is really helping us right now. Otherwise, I don't think we'd be seeing and not being spent I would we have talked about some of the surplus funds going into a tuition reserve. Yes A bunch of extra students in this this this this budget is what you have so Either we need to add some students to the tuition pool if we didn't go to a tuition reserve fund Funding it with the reserve money Or we should be looking to put some of those surplus funds into a tuition reserve All right, I guess I'd like to circle back to specific expenditure the budget questions comments specifically maybe around the World Languages and I Hear what you're saying bill if we were to put if we were to put some Money back in you're saying like 11,000 back in That would be To pay for like stipend type to to kind of do artists and residents type maybe language person coming in on Maybe we originally tried to increase it this last yeah because we've been struggling to hire right it's been our challenge, right? So, you know what we've been hearing is essentially about a day a week and We'd look to try to share that possibly with the neighboring district like Right now just so the board gets some awareness. We have a vacancies in world language at Bethel Rochester Stockbridge in and Sharon Well over a 1.0 the key is trying to figure out. How do we pair those FTS together? So a 1.0 could actually be like desirable and manageable So one of the thoughts we have was possibly trying to pair a 1.0 between Bethel Rochester Stockbridge to make it whole so someone could get full benefits and possibly we could recruit that right You know right now Bethel just so the board knows in your mind They're budgeting at a point six currently right now So if we wanted to try to offer a 1.0 share between the three buildings that we would need to budget about a point four here Which would be a little more than that 11 about double Or you know, we could advertise for a point eight and try to just do point two. Yeah, there's other ways We could go about this. I wanted to really get into this conversation tonight to kind of get some direction Absolutely Robert so but I mean last year you weren't able to to hire I mean there's correct and are there people out there, I mean it's Difficult when you're splitting between campuses I mean, yeah, how many total students are you talking about I mean for it's a difficult no And it's not an easy it's not easy. Yeah, I think this statistic from our last world language was Chief it was a slightly different configuration, but she saw 450 students every week and it's difficult to build the relationships on that So I'm not sure how practical Right it is to hire under that circumstance the I mean one of the things we could look at it to Amy is Are we looking to we've talked about these ideas of different times throughout the year around offering? experiential learning right more opportunities for some intensives and I wonder around what languages there are opportunity to budget Possibly to bring some folks in like you would think about an artist in residence Yeah, that's our way that we could try to engage students around world language that way So that could be possibly an avenue we pursue too Bill You know, thanks a question for Jamie and then I've got a comment that question for Jamie is I like the idea of One reason we're having trouble recruiting is that we don't have a full-time position with benefits And which a big difference it seems to me I know something about benefits that it was part-time and no benefits versus full-time with benefits That really strengthens our hand in the job market. So if death those got point six, what would what would our point four cost us In our budget because that's what we were budgeting last year at a Point two so you would double from the last year budget 20,000 so we'd need another partner another maybe Sharon and we could go three three for I Would recommend against that Just because we've tried that and it's what Robert was discussing. We did try partnering Yeah, that whole our son and Sharon and the person was wonderful But I would say what we were asking him to do was not sustainable too much That's a lot and That the teacher saw 400 kids different kids in one week So it's very hard to build that relationship with them. I do really like this idea of An intense Intensive, you know, you're Yeah, yeah, I because I think it exposes the kids to language exposes them to yeah something different and And because they're just You we know in all the dishes we've been trying to hire and it's That teacher just really isn't it also allows us some Flexibility frankly how we pursue our own language And that we're not limiting our candidate pool based on folks worrying about licensing Because the provisions around us being the folks in front of students for that intensive period we could do via The current life the regulations around licensing right like my comment is That it goes back to justine not to misquote you justine if you if I say something wrong, but Justine's been very strong and I totally agree with her that We need to have the best around we need to be able to promote why we are special so that we can attract students And keep students and every students we attract the marginal cost versus the average cost is Is is less than the average and every student we can retain rather than lose We're not paying that tuition which we're budgeting that a 10% increase for so I guess I think world-led is important I'm not suggesting I know how to do it, but I'd like to Request that the board consider that we ask our superintendent and our principal to figure out a way maybe in the tune of $20,000 to To make a meaningful world language experience here in our art or sudden campuses The other thing is that I'm not sure that cutting is going to help us get over the top We've got a very responsible budget of 3.8 percent increase in our expenditures and when we factor in the Additional gains remade with a the now new and fairer Wayne system the budget increases less is less than 2.3 percent. So To me the difference is the CLA and that's CLA we need to be Articulated what it is what the impact will be why it exists? And I'm not sure we want to go to war with it, but we want The our taxpayers to understand what's what's going on one thing I know I could be wrong Jamie, but one reason we have a CLA is so that we can have income sensitivity Credits for those taxpayers or families that are making $90,000 or less They can't do that unless the towns all Keep their assessments up to market value So we've got something there that's very valuable because in our communities over two-thirds of our communities pay by their income rather than by their property assessments Assessments are going up sooner or later. We're seeing that But the CIA but the income sensitivity provides a cushion. We don't want to ever in my opinion lose that cushion And just to share with you an unaudited numbers of and running today is that even though we're gonna gonna have a big increase In our combines Rochester stock bridge tax rates This and that includes those paying by way of their income sensitivity rather than their property value Even with the increase we're going to see this year You go back to before our son was Existed and compared to now and those people paying by their income their increase has been virtually zero when you compare the years 2019 2020 21 22 23 24 and now 25 this this year is going to be a big one increase, but when you average it out The news is it's much more What should I say? Well, I think it puts things into perspective And that's where I think together we need to come up with a strategy and I think I'm looking forward to our retreat because Justine has a whole list of things that we need to be working on to have a special program and then Tell the community and outline Contacts that we've got something special here and their kids should be coming and joining us and Now more than ever do we need a strategy and an implementation of a strategy given the Increase in the cl a so I'd like to see that happen and talk about it more when we get to the retreat Thank you, bill Can I hear some of the other board members opinions so we can give our administration direction on this world language? uh area Yeah, I'm in agreement with with bill obviously because he was coding me With a dynamic program and how world language is really like If it's very appealing to someone who is going to choose what kind of school Where kid is going to go to because you know, there's more and more studies of language being important when kids are younger to learn other languages when they're younger and We're a global society and all of that But at the same time I am a huge fan of artists and residents I mean, I think they're great and I totally agree with that you can have a really creative dynamic program and utilize Absolutely utilize people who may or may not be licensed teachers and Create a really unique dynamic program that is not like anyone else's so I'm I'm fine with was cutting a little bit there is you know and looking into the artist and residents Picture because I think that might just the concept of using artists and residents as I've talked about before Can set us aside if we use it in a certain way and Show the community how dynamic we can Create these programs on these tiny little budgets and with other types of funding from other places. So that's my opinion Thank you. Justine Yes, pat Yeah, no, it's uh I have mixed feelings about it. I I agree with justine. I I do love the artists and residency programming Um, but then part of me with the language especially Like justine said it. I know it's really important. Um for Kids to To learn a second language at an earlier age is better. Um, there's many countries in europe They're you know, they learn english and they're fluent in english before they even leave fifth or sixth grade um and I've met many of them and You know, it's interesting to me because I you know, we live in vermont and are you know, we border Canada and they speak french just over the border. So why are we not striving to speak our neighbor's language? um You know, I think there's a lot to say about that and so that's where I start to think Okay, well, I really like the idea and the concept of partnering up with Bethel and we really you know hit the ground running on trying to teach say french And just put our focus on one language as opposed to just getting them introduced to a bunch I find you know, I think it'd be much more useful for them um to Really focus on one individual language and the importance of that Thank you pat Cynthia do you have two cents to to put in? You're muted um, I agree that World languages are very important. Um, and I think that the idea of Focusing on one language is is is very good um We can't afford to teach several and I think um Kids need to focus in on just one at a time anyway to uh To learn I like the artist and residency idea If we could find somebody I don't know if that's possible, but um I don't think we should dump more languages Okay, thank you Robert, I think the problem the big problem is If you're going to be sustainable um Teaching one one fte per campus is is difficult to be effective And if you're trying to split a person among you know A full-time person Uh across several campuses is just not going to work. We've tried it um It isn't sustainable. I think the only way we could do it is is by Doing a artist in residence. You're doing specials Whether that not that's one language or multiple languages I I wouldn't be able to judge but um Unless we were willing to increase our fte's substantially um Which it doesn't appear we were able to to I would go to an artist in residence sort of model and And figure out the effective dollars that we need to do which I I don't know I can't evaluate Whether 10,000 or 20,000 or what's the I think we need to really think it through. Yeah. Yeah and come back Excellent And I know that As you were saying the licensure part of finding somebody is also very difficult at this time And maybe if you can take a look at what it would what we could put in to do an intensive artist in residence type program That might actually spark some Resident who might be interested in next year You know actually teaching and hopefully we can get this in continue to look to Get this into our budget as a more um permanent full Full-time But I think if you could for this budget See what we could put into to do some type of intensive Programming, um, you know artists in residence type thing Is there any other specific lines in the expenditure budget that anybody wants to discuss? Okay, if not, I'd like to go over to the revenue Revenue side um And The our Our surplus Our fund balance or what do you call it to be? Yeah our fund balance Um, though we don't know exactly what it is right now. Tara did indicate that It's projected to be two hundred and ten thousand dollars right now It was recommended to put 50 000 into our revenue budget um That would mean the rest of it has to go into a reserve fund whether it's the attrition reserve fund or or building reserve fund um I think that we could Help our um Tax rate slightly by putting more of the revenue Into back into the budget I don't think that I don't I think if we're going to keep the line item in the budget for the capital fund The 65 000 which I think we should because again our budget is our policy statement I think that that's important, but We should fund try to fund some of that with the Fund balance that we have rather than kind of double dipping and putting both pockets of money into a reserve I think that would help reduce the tax rate. That would be my opinion patrick I just had a question about um To your I think jamey was saying earlier that one penny Equates to 31 000 31 000. Yeah, it's on our this so you can't see it. Yeah, so my question would be how many pennies Do we need to knock off to make a significant difference? Well, what do you feel is a significant difference in your tax rate? I mean If you're looking at your the starfish tax rate is a dollar 98 What how many pennies? Makes a difference essentially it's up 25 pennies patrick Right, it's up 25 pennies. So that's okay And underneath it we've broken it down how much that means per 100 000 of assessed property values I do also want to Sorry if that probably was really loud I I do also want to point out that in our Articles of agreement when we were projecting what our tax rate would be by us merging and and not All these scenarios now it was an estimate, but it was our best guess at the time and um It as a unified district we were projecting that last year's but the last year's um Last year's budget was going to be a tax rate of $1.99 So by now we would be over $2 This is what we were Thinking was going to happen. We just were we're Understanding that that the tax rate was just going to be going up and up and up It hasn't as much as we had projected, which is good. I just wanted to bring that out as a um You know Right, so by taking um, you know 90 Uh Like 93 000 That would take three cents if we if we took 93 thousand dollars of revenue and put it into our Into this budget we would it take three cents down on the tax rate but you know So just so you know patrick and for everyone else that's 30 bucks per 100 Thousand of assess okay, just when you think three cents just three cents is 30 30 bucks off Yeah, that's helpful. That's what I was trying to yeah. No, right. We're talking three cents. Well, what does that mean? Yeah So say somebody with a 200 thousand dollar home That's 60 60 bucks. Yep If we if we dump in what you said 93 thousand 93 thousand, right I just took the 31 000 and times it by three, you know, just get three what three cents um You know and like you're saying that impact on a hundred thousand dollars If if you look at that tax calculated tax rate Um, it shows in in stock bridge that for a hundred thousand dollars of value you're paying 252 dollars extra in tax So you'd be about 500 at 500 dollars more For 200 000 dollar house Yeah, yeah, so um But you know, I mean the the Change is it's pretty drastic. I mean it's dramatic. I mean, you know, it's it's quite an increase Um, but what's incredible is that our actual budget is only up Three cents Right three cents per that's the tax rate. We're only up in taxes three cents But that actually equates to 31 cents in rochester and 25 cents in stock bridge because of our clas And we have no control over the clas And I don't think it's fair for us to to slaughter our budget Uh and change the way we're educating our kids to get that tax rate down on I think our tax payers Want us to continue to educate the kids as we are On yeah, no, I think you're right then, you know, I think if we want it To make a difference it's Putting more of that money into it Yeah Because we are we are still having that line item of 65 000 That for capital improvements, which is important It is very important for us to continue to Have that capital improvements in the past. We've done it with the surplus instead of putting it back into the budget To lower the tax rate. We've put it into a reserve fund On which is another way to go on but I feel that It would kind of be double dipping on it if we did both Yeah, just because we're in this situation I mean if we weren't in the situation, you know, if the tax rate was was was a lot lower I would say, you know, yeah, let's let's we want that for a reserve, but Just trying you think we should put some of it in a tuition Reserve fund Yes, I I think that's a great idea We're tight because we're tight there, right? I mean if we can if we if we could even pull Eight, you know one students tuition and we'll be ahead of the game if we get a student, you know That would be my recommendation, but please um anybody else What was the what was the total amount? It's estimated still at this time 210 but 210 210 and then what do you think? I mean Then do we take most of it then and put it in and then like you're saying just do the remainder into Into the tuition fund Yeah, I guess I would like to to consult with the you know the administration and the business office and just You know Have them know our intention that we would like to put more revenue back into this budget And we we would like to see a significant amount of it Go back into this budget, but we do also want to put some into a tuition Um reserve account and I would I would look for them for what they feel would be The most appropriate Yes, bill One of our responsibilities is to make tough decisions. This is a tough decision. Yeah But I like to think we all of us collectively have a responsibility that we take extremely Personally and that is that we're not going to kick the can down the road Whether it's for capital putting money aside for capital Are spending down to the last time so next year's board who and I hope all of us will be on the board next year We don't have a even a tighter Isn't an impossible task and that's only 12 months ahead of us. So I guess I Encourage you and the board to ask our superintendent To come back to him us with his guidance I'm right now leaning towards putting money into most of that money into reserve whether it's capital or for future tuition support And then work like hell to get as many kids to come And be in our schools because we're special and we know it and we're going to tell everybody about it And that'll be our strategy. Um, I think quite firstly This is a cla issue and we've got to be able to explain that to people and Cut cut cut is going to hurt us in so many ways more performance Right, it's not going to make a meaningful difference in in the taxes. We might lose on that But I must rather Fight the fight and to keep quality education that we're all proud of and want to build on I don't know about you. I get my kicks knowing that we're doing better That we've got special schools Um, and but we've got to give them the resources so they can be special Absolutely No, I think that's I exactly right bill you've Said it right there. We we have improved our test scores have improved our kids have improved We we do not want to cut that just For a few pennies off of a tax rate Um, and I and I don't think we have when that's what when we're talking about the expenditure budget Um, there was we're not asking the administration to go back and cut more um Well, maybe we can find a happy medium that we can put more money back into more um revenue more money into the revenue budget and put money into a building reserve fund and into a um Um tuition it'll be smaller amounts maybe but Yeah, okay, robert. Just want to note that people are going to look at the the um The line line from You know 2022 23 is 150 23 24 is 175 and then we're suddenly dropping it to 50 I think if we make that not such a drop to show that yeah, we're trying to keep an even keel might be appropriate It doesn't have to be the problem is it's not always going to be even keel in the long term That's true every year you put more and more of your surplus and the harder and harder it does on our expenditure but this is also One of those difficult years because the la drop right really significant. So since it's there I think people will want us to use some of it Maybe not right 175. Maybe not even 150 But I think it probably has to be larger than 50 right because it is tax dollars that they've put that the They've already paid it. And so they're saying okay, you have that you already have that money um and I don't understand how like in the future It really affects Oh just because well, we didn't have any right now. Yeah, it would be that we'd have to try to find that money Right, right, which is what you increase the tax rate, right? Okay I mean the thing that we've got going for us this year is again, and I think that's an important thing We'll need to drum home that you said adame is The actual budget itself Is only driving the tax rate up three cents right the cla is doing the rest right three cents That's it. Yeah, and I do think that that is a big um Big point. Yes, petrick Um Yeah, no just thinking about the capital improvements fund and you know, I think Sometimes there's a little hesitancy is to putting money in there and what people will think of that Um, but wouldn't it I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we do the opposite but would it be helpful if we had a clear understanding of what Like, you know, I keep saying we need to make a list of what the capital improvements are each campus and Yes cost Cross the cost would be associated with that and the importance of of each And if we could share something like that with the public as to hey look We we need to think about this and this at both campuses And there's a cost associated with that We we have no choice but to put money into our capital improvement fund. Yes reserve fund And I think if they could see hard numbers and factual You know project scopes then I think it'd be An easier sell um I'm on the budget and finance from the town of Rochester And one thing that they've done in the past which we're paying for to today in this budget is That they rated their reserve funds and um One of the arguments was that oh, well g interest rates are so low It's easier to finance things like a truck or whatever Well, because what happened? How interest rates went from half a percent to You know eight percent percent and whatever and they're they're caught short um, so I don't think you if if you point out that especially now That because we um Interest rates are so high that that's not the way you want to go you want to do financing on reserve By reserve funds ahead of time. It's going to be a lot cost you a lot less in the long run Meaning put put more money into the more money into the reserve. Yeah, certainly don't take any less Don't put any less in the reserve fund, right? okay I think we've given you direction on that. Is there any other comments on the budget? Um, otherwise, we will We'll see it again Okay. I'm gonna go g how to i'll be back. Okay. Thank you so much for staying Um, do we have any public so Two guests two guests now They're both guests. Yeah, okay Part of the agenda. Okay, excellent. Um Okay, so uh six point three, uh book development. I uh will be honest with you. I did not read I'm I am very sorry, but I'm gonna be honest. It was um Yeah, I was I was getting You don't have to I was getting prepared for this budget. It took a lot of energy out of me I hear you but so go ahead. Uh, somebody else take it away Well, I guess I'll I'll kick it off and Amy We're all feeling what you're feeling and we're up in the air doing things that are important whether it's family community or neighborhood or for ourselves so and This is this budget is tough and everything that's going on and it takes It takes time and I can totally feel for it Chapter two if I can just start to kick it off and then I like to ask fellow board members What were the highlights of chapter two that you thought were meaningful that you would like to share and the highlights that you think we're doing and Feel good about and those things where we get gaps that we need to think about so But this is about building a foundation for student success And then we're going to go next month on Actually student achievement And the big word That came through to me on this chapter was collaboration Real strength of us collaboration between board members Um, I mean we have different points of view we can kind of lean into things and points of view but boy I think we're damn good about listening and working together coming up with The best product that we can do and we do it because it's collaboration The other big thing about this chapter was collaboration with a superintendent It goes from kind of like an accountability that the superintendent is accountable to us To a kind of a co-leadership position where we have need to must work Collaborately together with a superintendent and we need a superintendent that believes in collaboration And again, I think we've got a lot to celebrate there As well and one of the points in this chapter was The importance of Recruiting a good superintendent that's talented and believes in collaboration It has the skills and the teamwork And also to retain them or her And believe it or not, we've I think we all agree that we've got the superintendent and recently We've extended his contract for a sustainable period To allow us to hopefully meet the dreams that we all have for our students So that's the highlights I got out of it. I'm just wondering if anybody else would like to share Anything about chapter two that caught your interest Robert I certainly those were the main points that I got out of chapter two, but it also The whole issue of retaining I think you know, and this is something that will bring I'll bring up in In the preparation for the board retreat is I think we really need to Consider preparation for the future where We might have a change of superintendent and we will probably have changes in in Board members and we need to see what we have to do to strengthen What we have to be able to Uh, whether those changes I mean, I I'm I'm really happy with where we are. I'd like to keep it that way With any potential change whether it be you know in in short term or long or a long ways away In a change in superintendent and I know that we're going to have changes in in board composition so yeah Not to overdo it, but Before Last fall, uh, this was going to be jamie's last year on this with this contract Now his last year. I will be at the end of 2028. So we've built ourselves A platform of stability That can sustain what we're all trying to do and robbing you're right on because what we These things can really Even at any level really really slowly stop over trying to do you right on Any else A stain you You say Cynthia anything that struck you chapter two the part I liked most in the chapter two is inclusion that The board needs to constantly push the system and ask the questions It's governments not management and I think this is true with this board And what we're trying to do Anything else uh, susette You're muted. There you go. Of course I am Sorry So I have not been introduced and I'll do this later because I'm the person that That jamie contacted to help with the retreat So I'm just letting an ear, but um I wanted to ask you what is the book that you're reading. I don't know Uh, the the essential school board book It's this is this is the second book that we've we've done Yeah, your team is telling me that you were doing these book studies. That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you Yeah So the um next chapter next February 5th chapter 3 staying focused on achievement Nice great. Thank you bell Okay, so um 6.4 preparation and finalization of board retreat agenda for january 20th um, so Suzette is here Because jamie has asked her to facilitate our retreat on the 20th And susette, I'll kind of let you introduce yourself and then we can start to work on the agenda and feel free to Our board chair. I'll jump in Yeah, no, I'm good You know your attitudes about the way you work and your commitment to collaboration and how you want to work with jamie our spot on but um, I I'm a retired superintendent uh, I've actually said more about supervisor union just mark the view retired in in 2021 and After 44 plus years in the business and more than 20 years in administration and Jamie was the former colleague of mine, so that's what our connection is the primary primarily what i'm doing now is to help boards in this way, but also to Mentor principles and have mentored a couple of of principles in your su In last year, so i'm looking forward to working with you and trying to help you Put those pieces together that will maintain your sustainability. I think thinking about making your school special and Attracting other students is something that is well worth your time And really speaks to how much you care about your school But also the comments that were made about you know, there will be a change in leadership at some point There will be change in board membership So you need to really look at you know, what it is that that makes you special and what is important to you and to have that Really, um, clearly outlined so that folks coming in fully understand Who you are and where you want to go? so I'm excited to Hand if there's anything that I can do so wonderful. So at our last retreat we started to discuss our board goals and Bill and justine have Took it from there and we're able to To really do some good updating that we did adopt them last Meeting but our next question was kind of okay. Well We've got our goals now. How are we going to do it? So that is definitely, you know one topic for our retreat And also we wanted to revisit our Mission and our vision statement And I'll have survey results for you and survey results. Okay, great from your community survey community survey results Great There's yeah, there's one that's active now. So Uh, it was in response to let me see if I can get this wording right that this is your five of our merger Or we're going into your five. We are I think this is your five This is your five and there was something in the articles of agreement about collecting some feedback right, um So kind of evaluate where we are at. Yes. So that went live Last week right after the new year So it's out in the community and we already have quite a few responses, which is yeah, that's wonderful That's great. Um, and I I don't know if it's appropriate at the retreat or not, but I Wanted to really discuss the dates and the procedure for officer election for the upcoming For our annual meeting that's coming up We talked about it at our last retreat And I don't know if we want to just bring that up in a regular meeting or I can talk to jamie if about that It might be a regular. It might be a regular meeting. Okay. It was just it was more of like a conversation type piece So that's why yeah, you can probably guys is really nice conversation piece. Okay Yes, robert. I would like to add to the agenda for the retreat as I mentioned before of continuity of What do we need to do to Ensure that all our goals and such continue on with changes I'll have to say for susette that I was on the board For rochester schools starting in The 90s early 90s and I served for maybe 13 years and such and I saw a lot of changes in in administration and superintendents and such and the way, you know, I at the time I likened the way That it was akin to Putting your shoulder against the wall a wall concrete wall and trying to push it to make changes And to move ahead and I will tell you that with my I rejoined the board What was two years ago? Mm-hmm And it's entirely different We're Of the approach to making changes. It's it's As an engineer, I've been very much appreciated. It's like an engine. It's like an engineering development of where you Make changes you evaluate them you test and then you you circle back And we're also seeing that there's results so I'd like to For this to continue, you know, but beyond just, you know With a change in superintendent changing in board members and you know beyond when I'm I'm on the board So not just about what your goals and and such are but also how the board actually functions Mm-hmm and we'll continue to function. I mean where we don't want to have have a loss of You know that there's Experience from all the board members, but you know when the changes we're going to lose some but hopefully gain some but we need to to smooth that process facilitate that process and and build it into our our In this part of our goals and such I believe excellent Well, I think we've got a cap it there because Um, we definitely we we've already had one retreat and we needed we needed a second so right Well, we can just open the discussion on this Yeah, we can be like the beginning of of the discussion of what How we could move forward on it, right? Okay, that right. We don't need to solve it We just need to begin to talk about it. Okay, that sounds great wonderful Well, good. Well, we look forward to uh, and will you you'll be in person at our retreat Yes, that was my plan. Wonderful. That would be good. I don't know where it is yet, but I'll find out I'll be there. Yeah Wonderful that that's great. Thank you. Well, Amy may Try to be in on your plant last this planning meeting with Jamie and that'll give me A little bit more information about really what your what your agenda is. Yes, absolutely Um, kind of chew on that. He's um, I asked you to send me some of your Your documents and I think I'm going to ask for the Even your articles of agreement I Let a merger up between Norfield and Williamstown and the Washington Orange. That was my crew. Okay Yeah, so I'm familiar with that All of those commitments and I you know, I give you a lot of credit that some people had walked away from those Articles of agreement, but they they would come back to bite you Right, you ignore them. Someone would come forward. So I think putting your community survey out is really just a reflection of your commitment and making this work and that's What's about my kids making work for them. Absolutely Awesome. All right. Wonderful. I'll let you go. Are you got more business to do? I look forward to seeing you in person on the 20th. Yes Wonderful. Thank you very much That's coming. I hope you'll be celebrating at least that you're comfortable with what you're what you're bringing forward. Absolutely All right. Take care. Great. Thank you All right, um 6.5 solar array update I know so I just sent an email out Deborah who the individual that was so kind to donate her Panels not so used solar array I As the panels right now stored in her barn and she's just curious. She really wants to see it But rest and at the very least she's looking to gain space back in her barn um, so You know, I I know when I sent that email out, I think there's a little confusion as to Who was responsible for what and what was next? Um and that all the side I you know, I'm totally willing to to kind of lead it up and make the next steps as far as communicating with Matt Cooper array of sunshine And kind of getting on his schedule and what is required of us Um to do that, but also I think you know, I think we should consider Where we could move these panels right now from her barn to get them out of out of her way. Um I don't know if there's anywhere that's at the school or you know somewhere The town can hold on to them or whatnot, but um, you know, if I have a location I can figure out moving them Um, how about the space? That's below the music room in the Rochester high school Because that one there's a tractor in there right now Oh, and there's yep. There's something else in there too.  Sorry, I went they like the size of this table three foot by five foot and There's probably two stacks So that's the footprint and then they probably are stacked up like six feet tall I know that uh My memory from the project was that we were waiting for eai to finish their Stuff on the roof because they we're gonna had petrions coming out of the roof And we didn't want to get the solar up there before they were done to make sure we weren't in their way and Yeah, and everything and I think they're done now. They're done now. So no that that sounds right And so now I mean, we're is that something you want me to do is coordinate with matt Yes, if you could um I'll just do a group group email Right, and then I Don't know that there's Can we talk about what a safe space? I have some ideas on safe space on where we could store it, but I I Wouldn't know what the guidelines are on there's a wide range Also, if I talk to matt too first and just see you know, how realistically how far out is it? If we give devra a timeline, she might be like, oh, that's great. You know, okay If you'll start that and then if if we need to move it sooner than that then we can come up with some spaces Okay, okay. Yeah, I'll send out an email. Thank you And you I'll just put the board on it and okay from there. Okay, great.  Thank you Okay, is there any question or questions on the solar array? I presume we have to wait till spring not necessarily no It's not me on the roof. I guess My husband's roof. I hear it today. So Yeah, um, okay. So Number seven celebration of learning. Yes. So I wanted to introduce to our board. Mr. Jeffrey Perry, who's our Music teacher in both Rochester and Stockbridge and he's here tonight to kind of Give you a couple of videos and explain kind of what we're learning in the younger grades the older grades and then a little snapshot of We had some Rochester and Stockbridge students Perform in the night before the night before. Thank you the night before the night before Performance in conjunction with the White River Valley players. So he's gonna turn it over to mr. Duffrey Thank you. Mr. Duffrey for waiting. Sorry. I should have known better with the budget that we would I know, see you a little longer I told my family it was gonna be a late night Try to think positive. No problem. Hello everyone. Yes. Um, thank you so much for inviting um To tonight's board meeting call and I'm really happy to share with you what's been going on in music class Within Rochester and Stockbridge schools and celebrate their learning in music and the performing arts So really I'm just gonna start um And go by grade level start with lower grades and work up Like lindy was saying um to the upper grades. So the next slide we start with Rochester This is class kindergarten and first graders and in this video They are chanting um A little chant and it helps to it helps them with an awareness of beat and getting a sense of like A steady beat in pulse and playing those quarter notes That they're also chanting so if we play the video you'll see them doing a couple of different things ready go One four ice cream two four soda three two walk two Minnesota So it's a short little chant and um Yeah, it's I think it's funny and they they enjoy it and also like we've talked about like at the end of the Chant it mentions Minnesota and we've talked about like how long would it take to walk to Minnesota? So we're doing a couple different things there talking about um also about like geography in a way But really the main point is getting them um exposed to the steady beat in music and having them play it and I I introduced this in a couple different steps first just um by rote taught them the chant and we Tapped at the same time and then I after a couple classes showed them the words so they could read the words and then Gradually put the notes the rhythms above the words. So really a couple stages going on to eventually lead to um reading music um, and so the next slide goes on one four Not only keeping a steady beat with quarter notes, but um now adding Eighth notes into the picture. So this new this next chant shows both going on Ready and go Again a short chant but um Really helps them with awareness of beat and starting to develop rhythm more complex rhythms where they Subdivide the beat into two. So they're doing quarter notes and eighth notes um, and this is these activities are also shared with stock bridge as well. I'm doing the same things with stock bridge. I just um Didn't grab video of what was going on with k1 stock bridge, but we're doing the exact same things Over at stock bridge as we are in rochester Um, and so when we go on to the next slide ready and go We're gonna check out, um Second and third graders at stock bridge doing a quick vocal and a vocal is like looking at um Music, but it's not normal music notation. It's um Just a series of letters or words that move up and down and so it's kind of Alternative notation and they're working as in two groups So one group is reading one set of the vocal and the other group is reading the other set. So it's kind of produces like Two they're they're singing two parts at the same time. So they're getting used to singing. Um, Not only in a group, but also differentiating different parts Here we go So yeah, um explorers kind of um making sound um Controlling pitch going up and down and also this like back and forth with rhythm The next video is a call and response song that i've been working on with second and third graders at stock bridge and um It's um a leader leads the song and they echo everything that i'm doing and eventually we've actually done We've taken this to the next level in class where they've started to Be the leader and everyone's echoing them, but Watching the video you'll get the idea of how it first started One two ready go johnny on the Johnny on the fence Johnny got a haircut 15 cents That's great. Yeah, it's a short little song. Um, and yeah now they're starting to lead it Um, I'm lucky. I'm able to sing at that high range to match their their notes. So it's um, that's good Going on to the next slide. We're going to look at rochester second and third grade Um, this is a short little clip of them moving to the beat. Um, they're walking or moving in their own way to Express quarter notes and eighth notes and in this moment you're seeing them move to eighth notes T So they're moving to that eighth note um rhythm, which is that that that that but before that they were just moving to quarter notes Which was that that that and then they went on to I bet they loved it. Yeah We had something we do that often and yeah, it's a lot of fun. Yeah The they get the music in their whole body and yeah, I really um think yeah to embody the music and to like feel it and um Just to have that sense of beat throughout the whole body. Yeah Um, this is just a little fun activity move and freeze and we were using the promethean board. Um, and so it's it's a Just a little Fun activity that we do Say freeze At the end this camera started to go down that's because I was doing the motion with them But what would what happened is they froze and and then it started to go again Um, yeah, it's it's cool to use technology. That was my first time using the promethean with rochester stock bridge So I want to incorporate more. Um technology and lessons I'm going on to the next Slide just like uh stock bridge second and third graders here are singing johnny on the wood pile. Um as call and response johnny on the wood johnny on the fence johnny on the fence johnny got a haircut johnny got 15 cents And yeah, I just um really trying to build a culture of singers and they are singing They're so eager to sing and I love hearing their voices. Um, so great. Uh, so much fun and Um This last slide shows kind of the culmin of work that Um fourth fifth and sixth graders have been doing between rochester and stock bridge and this is a longer clip and it shows Um one part of the night before the night before christmas event Uh, this was a little portion Um that happened at the beginning of the event and really just wanted to Highlight the fact that dorthy robson and the white river valley players invited um us to do that and really i'm really thankful for that Community connection and support because it really I think I think it was a great. Um Experience for them and it was a great experience for me. Um and this Clip really highlights the work that we were doing towards the End of the first trimester and and as we work up to holiday break Holiday Don't Do Yeah, it was really really great to hear those applause at the end and to see the kids faces light up It brought me so much joy. Um, and um I think that clip really shows the extent of the work that they were doing. Um, really they're putting three different songs together into One and it was also an acapella, which is really hard to do. Um, so really working on some higher tasks and Getting those singing voices engaged and and I love it so much Yeah, I was at that concert and it was really impressive to have them do those round and I mean I was very impressed at what you've gotten them to be able to do so. Thank you Thank you so much Thank you, Jeffrey Thank you Yeah, I'm really happy to be um sharing music with Rochester and Stockbridge kids and uh, I have a great time and um Yeah, thank you so much for inviting me to share a little bit of what's been going on I love it. We love is the best part of our meeting is when we get to see what's happening Absolutely, so thank you so much for coming. This was wonderful. Thank you so much Okay Good night. Good night. Thanks All right, that was great It was great and uh, it was definitely a packed house just And it will So that was great, and I know he has some plans of some February slash march potential like combined performance. Oh, that's wonderful I think that helped the partnership with Dorothy Robinson and the white bear rally player self give them some kind of insight Absolutely. Oh, that's Yeah, I'm sure that they are very supportive of Wonderful. Okay. Well, we are going to move on now to uh, 8.1 principles winter social emotional data report Yeah, so first you have my just Monthly report there. Okay. Um, I think the only thing that I will kind of add on that Really on the facilities update we're back because they're back. It was a monday They had a normal monday felt like we hadn't had one of those in a while. Um, so that was great. Um And then I would say In terms of facilities pretty much all of the ei work is complete now. It's really just fine tuning In to making sure everything works, right? This is the last room that lighting has to get done in either building and they will be here monday Finish that I should say. Um, but other than that everything Is up to date and we're really just fine tuning the control systems and making sure things are working the right way. Um How's it feeling so far for new heat? It's pretty, uh, cool to be able to see it Visually like you can see the floor plan and see what's heating what's not I was saying to ray earlier tonight. I think the The key piece is like how long does it take the building to heat up? Yep, things like that that we haven't really had accurate creation on and also Really that teachers don't have the ability to like crank it all the way up to what I call hot yoga That we're like in a normal monitoring Yeah, great because we used to be one extreme or the other especially in Rochester. That was either yeah cool or really melting crayons or So That is kind of where we're at that. So it'll be It'll be nice. They've also provided some insight going back to patrick's um facility list of some things that we shouldn't Let go and to keep on her radar for sooner rather than later, which has been helpful So yeah, that's great. Yes. I think great and then uh winter on us. Let's start friday. All right. Thankfully. Hopefully we will still have some Love snow out there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank goodness. This is right exactly even on the beginner. Yes Which is most important So we're excited for that to get going. Excellent. That's wonderful. I I saw um A little girl on sunday who was on a snowboard at middlebury and I said, oh You snowboard. She said, well, I learned at the winter wellness. Yes. And so I was like, that's great And she wouldn't have had that experience Which didn't have this opportunity So I give our families and kids a lot of credit because they try different things like just they've already know how to ski They take advantage of the opportunity to try them in snowboarding snowboard or vice versa. So nice. That's um Pretty unique. I think about both communities are very cool to see excellent and would have um If the kids are not participating in the um traveling part of winter wellness We have another opportunity for that. Yep. So I think it's a little weather dependent for the first friday I know that both campuses have been working out their details But some of it will be in the woods and outside and it's no shooing I think is what's on tap for this week, but luckily none of Kids participation or not participation has to do is Correct. This is all title for funded from our um grant so not even in our local budget And that's how we use our grant funds Yeah Very sure Is there any questions just on the stencils report for lending? bill Yeah, another question is that appreciation In your report about having a community conversation about literacy and in particular about direct instruction because I think um that just Is so important about moving our kids ahead and to the extent that Parents and other people understand the importance and how well we're doing And understanding what kind of the the framework of that direct instruction. I think that will help us down the road. Thank you You're welcome. And so once we have the dates finalized, I'll send those out to folks that people can join We'll do one night in Rochester one night in coverage of that Some sort of community meal first and then Janie will give a quick overview and then people have an opportunity to rotate around classrooms Probably three to four different spaces and see the different programs in action. That's great Fantastic. Thank you What's going on? Wonderful Okay, there's no further questions on the Um Principal department will move on to the social emotional. Yes. So you have um the social emotional learning report in front of you Um, so this is one we do in December. Well, january. Sorry. It's up through december Uh, and then again at the end of the school year or towards the end of the school year Uh lots of celebrations I think in this report and you can tell we've really invested a lot of time and Training up all our staff to be able to use responsive classroom Which helps sets routines expectations? building community within your morning meeting As well as taking time to go to Best institute where we really focus in on what those expectations are how we can better articulate them and then just helping students with self-regulation skills As well as social emotional learning skills Um, not just when the school counselor comes into the classroom, but all day long And it's paying off if you kind of scroll to the bottom. You'll see that compared till last year uh to this year the number of Referrals or students that i'm seeing for chosen behaviors The most part is significantly decreasing december. It was a little bumpy, but that's okay tends to be no matter Yes vacations Whether also Um, and then if you go to the next page Level around the back you will you can visually kind of see that pretty certainly so In september that would from year to year. It's an 82 reduction number of students October is four percent and november is 64 percent So we're really making some progress. It doesn't mean that we're stopping. We're still utilizing some plans supporting some students with what's called the check-in or a check-out plan where they have three pretty specific goals around Either their meeting they sometimes mat or they're trying again Around being respectful responsible and ready to learn and those plans are set up based on students to have Several referrals. So we look at every month twice a month How many referrals each student has to determine that the right supports are in place beyond what every student gets And that so now we're in year two of this format. So we're really starting to see this decrease plans Decrease and plans and decrease in students. We're starting to be able to use those skills themselves Themselves, which is great. Uh, we are I'm seeing Kind of mid-week is when we see the most referrals or most students One thing this is what we spent pretty much all of our january 2nd in service time on working on as a staff and One thing that was pointed out is during those days sometime Or well in either building there's either no pe or no outdoor ed And is that why we see this uptick sometimes in the afternoon Behaviors and that's kind of a wonder that the staff has chosen to pay attention to from now Through the month to just kind of see how that works and just keep evaluating We look at referrals by time um That's great. That's the doubt is right here. It's it's been great and It makes sense with what I see So she has a doubt at a back exactly the data supports. I would say what I'm seeing yeah from some friends Um, and then in terms of like some targeted supports for students Our students that are supported by behavior plan or checking and check out or an intervention plan 4% this is combined of our students are supported with that check and check out She or plan Only 3.2 of those students have even one step further of a social emotional Intervention plan and 1.6 students are on both a social emotional targeted plan and an academic intervention plan, which is great because it's showing us that our behavior is under Control so it's not getting in the way of our academics. Um, which is again another huge celebration and in terms of students with academic plans so ips Academic 504 is not necessarily a help me or a targeted plan about 28 percent Of our students are supported by one of those plans With hopes that by the end of the month we're exiting a few more But we'll see once we get our track and progress data That's kind of where we are. I don't take any questions bill I got her before even put his hand up. I can feel it Uh, first of all, thank you for doing it. It is so important and it's one of the superintendent's goals is to um, not only have a wonderful productive effective social emotional program But to be able to measure it and see it in action and we're seeing it right now with this very enlightening report my one question lindy was on the The statistics you just gave us the students with formal check And check in check out four percent and then the students social emotional three point two percent Is there a way at some point you're going to be able to share with us? Um, how that fits in One thing we'll know how it's changing over time But how do we have some sense of how this Is with the rest of the Educational world Are there benchmarks out there that we're going to be using to kind of see how we're doing? Um, I think it's I don't I'm not an expert on this, but I just so my question is how How do we have a better appreciation how these how these percentages stack up? Yeah, great question bill And it's actually something that the the su team is going to bring to the full board regards to some goals and show some normed research around what we should be in general Pbis positive behavior interventions and supports at oregon university of oregon sorts started Would say that 80 to 85 percent of your students Should not need a plan Um, and then that you'll see another About 10 percent needing like a targeted plan and about five percent need three to five Being intensive based on those metrics, you know, you're in a pretty good place around the social emotional data Same would go for us in academics Ideally, we'd like to see that 28 figure get down More to that 20 or 15 percent of the actual intervention plans Um, but we're gonna map that out Um for the full board that we have done with the academic goals And I really want to leverage the idea of the percentage of students needing um Either target or an intensive supports is one of the measures we use for our social emotional system I think it's important to I just think it's a better way than just always leveraging office referrals I think there's some mechanisms and metrics we might use with office referrals too, but Having some additional metrics that we use for measuring our success. I think And that's why we wanted to start to lay out some of these percentages for folks Okay, one other thing. I'm sorry. I know it's late. Uh, jamie We've spent a lot of time on our budgets both the our side and then the su Um, are you confident that these budgets get uh pass and implemented there what we need? Yeah, I'm feeling good about it Great Thank you Yeah, I think I would just share this the huge Shout out to the staff because I'm not sure a year ago that that percentage was I know it was that low So they worked really hard and bought into that and it shows that's great. So it's great to see Thank you staff. Yes Is there any other questions or comments on the social emotional, uh report? Great, let's move on then to The superintendent and act 27 update One 27. Yeah, so I mean, I think you're becoming more accustomed to act 127 What I would say to board members is is that terai are more than willing to schedule a virtual meeting Or an in-person meeting to sit down To just walk through that tax sheet with you again one on one Um, we've done a couple in the last week. I just did one this morning For the board member from another district. So know that that's out there Um as a resource source to you so that when someone asks you what's driving the tax rate that you feel really confident that you can explain Uh, what the portion is in regards to your budget Versus like what the cla is affecting Um, because I know that you guys get asked those questions in the grocery store and things And I want you to feel like you can speak to it Feel free to reach out The other me other update I would have uh for the board is that the session just started the legislative session I expect that the education Uh committees are going to be pretty busy And you know one of the one of the bills I want to just remind the board of Is that the bill out of the house to address karson v makin around public dollars Funding students to attend independent schools the house egg committee if I had put together a really thoughtful bill in regards to Making certain there were some standards set for independent schools around reporting of academic achievement Around servicing all students via IEPs Some metrics for independent schools around the equality standards That bill Was really never taken up after crossover in the senate And now since then there has been a lawsuit from mid brahmat christian Targeting some neighboring districts Uh, it also this uh agency of education in the brahmat principles association In a suit And my sense is that that will that will be destined for the brahmat supreme court and even possibly the us supreme court And so I do think that the it behooves The legislature to maybe try to get ahead of some of that We'll see what happens in the senate So I just that's a bill that I haven't heard anyone really mentioned this year It was talked a lot about last year. I think due to add funding and act 127 and tax rates The dad's kind of been leading the conversation right now in the press I do expect something to to come on that bill possibly to this session And I'll continue to give you updates and send things out As as I receive them Any questions for the uh superintendent The only other thing I would just mention real quick Sorry is that we still don't have a sense of who the finalists are for the secretary of that In or when that's going to be announced by the governor Um, I know finalists were sent well over a month ago now Um, and there still hasn't been any action taken so Stay tuned on that too. I'll let you know once I hear Okay, there's no further questions or comments for the superintendent. Let's move on to the uh business managers report You all have my report it outlines what's happening in the business office during the month of january in addition to budgets So I'd be happy to answer any questions that anyone has on any of those reports Doesn't mean the transportation figures are frozen So that is um for vocational transportation what we can utilize for that and it's also um for special education Does it mean that it's frozen uh the state sets the threshold All right, is there any questions for taro in regards to this? Uh, looks like busy january Yeah, okay Great, then we'll move on to the policy committee update Patrick you want to take that or um Let's see trying to think where we go over this last one already has been blending. Um We went over the uh, sorry, I got a crying baby in the background uh, the uh What was the specific of that policy name? Jamie the the uh With drugs and alcohol pertaining to You thank you So We were going over uh Which one is it the drug and alcohol testing that wasn't the one I was thinking of but No, sorry. I didn't know you had distractions in the background Patrick. Yeah. No, it's a little crazy here at the moment Oh, I'm sorry. It's essentially we've got a policy a personnel policy in regards to ensuring that That we don't have faculty staff um volunteers working with our kids who are under um Who are using alcohol or any other illegal substances at the local place? um or school sponsored activities and so we're currently uh in the midst of revising that the policy committee then was Interested in meeting with our legal counsel to possibly pursue a new policy um that essentially is a fitness for duty policy um because there were some questions about um Employees could be using certain substances that could impact their ability um to perform Or not on duty as well That we had some yeah, we had some questions around that so um, that's when you know, I think you recommended jamie that we we have two different policies Yeah, and so our legal counsel is going to join that group On our january meeting and we are meeting it from five to six now to just give us some additional time the other policy that we're working on revising is um our harassment in the workplace policy And so that one's under revision as well and legal counsel is going to have a draft for us on that um And present that to the policy committee this month too And then the three policies you have in front of you tonight um essentially Our revised policies that you can take action on the full board took action on these um, and it's mostly language cleanup um And really what what the policy committee is after is having our policies All of our policies tended to have this introductory sentence around it is the policy of They'd like to get right to the policy statement Um, and so that introductory sentence you'll see in all these policies has been removed Exactly And these are warned uh to be able to Revised to adopt them Well, they're already adopted. You're just your motion to approve the revisions. Oh Great. These are already a lot of books. They're just revised policies. Okay Well, and I look for a motion to adopt the revisions to I don't know if we can do it as a slate Uh a motion to adopt the revisions for the slate of policies, uh the Substitutes the drug and alcohol testing for transportation employees and the tobacco pro Prohibition prohibition Okay All right, move by good second by Robert, uh, is there any discussion? Being no discussion all in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Great So moved Okay Uh, great. So, uh, the endemic committee met on December 15th um, and They went over, um The draft investment policy, um That uh That bill had presented This document will be used with our financial advisor to inform of our investment strategy There was some additional, um, corrections to make, uh Some sections a little more clearly defined. So that that is not ready to bring to the full board But that is what we one of the things that we discussed We uh The other things that we were going to bring to the board we actually, um cannot now because we had discussed Bring to the board about moving a CD into a higher yielding CD But the language of of it is that we It was specific and unfortunately that cd isn't a longer bill So, um, we would go back and look at that again and bring that to the board um, and um I don't know. Did everybody get a copy of the, um, did this get sent out to the whole board last time it was in No Moving forward if you want the committee Yeah, I think either Right, but I thought it might be beneficial as happy to do that for everyone just to be able to Read and keep up all what the committee is is doing. Um Uh, also, uh, we will be uh, working with uh, jamie and our lawyer to talk about, uh getting, uh, one of our And endowment language is changed. So we're moving forward with that. None of this is You as the full board will prove all of this before any action is taken place. I just kind of wanted to Uh, let you guys know that we are moving forward and uh, we actually have another meeting. Um Front Yeah, I need to get that to you Sorry Right, uh, so we thought we had some something to bring to you tonight to vote on but we do not so well That's okay. It's I like it as a, um A report to the board, uh, just to keep it moving forward Okay Uh Great. Is there any questions or comments? On that, otherwise we'll move on to 10.1 22 25 22 24 25 announced tuition rate I sent out a revised memo today after request that, um, the worksheet was a little bit under too Followed them in the past and I just provided the memo. So we'll look at the memo I sent that to, um, I think I sent that to the S&C conference email mail Yep, we got it. Okay. Okay No, this is not the revised one. No, that's not Oh, sorry, sorry, right Yeah, it's not the same information but the what what she provided just simplified the calculation to a little more of a layman's Turn way to be able to view it So basically what happens is we take your overall projected expenditure budget that we look at tonight That's the most recent budget as of today We back out the expanded things that are not allowed to be included in your now tuition rate Which is your assessment to special education. It's secondary tuition that you pay um And then we back out your office revenue and that gives us that new number of 1,811,510 We divide that by your projected enrollment for fiscal year 25 to 106 students between the two buildings And that gives us a projected announced tuition amount of 17,090 Then we're allowed to add that in that calculation what you pay in long terms of facilities So these are what your your bond and these payments are So we're allowed to put that back in and we divide that number by your 106 Projected enrollment and that gives us an addition of three hundred and seventy five dollars So that gives us a total projected announced tuition rate for fiscal year 25 of 17,465 Which is a three percent increase over your fiscal year 23 Announcement of 16 950 and now remind you fiscal year 423 and 22 Our set chose to keep the same tuition rate. So you meant at 16 950 for the last last Okay, so f5 24 Is the same it just was not on this sheet. It's in the first paragraph Oh Okay And what is is there some type of Penalty that we need to be aware of by by going too low or too high with with the announced tuition So in the allowable tuition calculation that's provided by the agc of education If you are three percent over or under and we are a district that builds back And we can we can build back a national tuition or you have to have fun tuition as an ssu We have not not historically done that since jamey and i have been here We have to build back right um, but yeah, it's was definitely um had been um Um Yeah, uh, not to build back. Um, but that is just that you you could build back or or ask for more Is what is that there's no other like penalty or or or okay? No Well, unless we charge too much That's when we get back Then districts could ask yeah, but then like so if we if we said oh, you have 20 000 or something They could say once I said none. Nope. That was too much. You need to pay us back. Okay Okay, I'm not worried about that hasn't been a worry because you guys have kept your tuition pretty flat. I mean, right Sounds good to me Yeah, this recommendation makes sense. Yeah interest. It's gone up. The cost of living has gone up Yeah Like a motion to uh make a motion to adopt the new projected announced to move tuition of 17,465 Second second Motion was made and seconded any discussion No, Patrick you are new to yourself Okay, great if there's a notice no further discussion then um all in favor signify by saying I Hi Hi there unanimous so moved Thank you Okay Great um So And is there any uh new hires or new resignations? Okay good Is there any public on for a public comment? And is there a second page? Um, okay, so our next meeting uh regular meeting is um Monday February 5th Six o'clock at the Rochester campus But we'll be seeing everybody on saturday January 20th at nine Yeah In Rochester for our board retreat Okay Uh, is there any future agenda items that we need to bring up at this time? Okay, we'll if you come up with any over the course of the next Please email me and or jamey Okay, I look for a motion to adjourn if there's no further business So moved Second Thank you everyone Oh, yes jc No, no mistake Okay, thank you guys


North Korea threatens U.S. with pre-emptive nuclear strike. North Korea warned the United States about the possibility of carrying a pre-emptive nuclear strike over its attempts to unleash a nuclear war by deploying its strategic capabilities on the Korean Peninsula, the Korean Central News Agency reported. The agency's commentary comes as a response to the U.S. decision to deploy a B-52 nuclear strategic bomber and a fifth generation F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet to the south of the Korean Peninsula. This is the intentional nuclear war provocation moves of the U.S. driven into a tight corner at home and abroad, the agency said. According to the document's authors, the U.S. is scheming to pave the way for its resurrection in the Korean Peninsula regarding the nukes of tyranny as an almighty solution, but its attempt can never be realized. It accuses Washington of operating the nuclear war mechanism by deploying all nuclear strategic assets including strategic nuclear submarine, nuclear carrier and nuclear strategic bomber to the region in order to ease the puppet forces of South Korea. Pyongyang views these actions as a grave military movement of pre-emptive nuclear attack aimed at physical removal of North Korea. The U.S. would be well aware that the Korean Peninsula is in a state of war by law and its strategic assets deploying in the puppet region are the first targets of destruction the agency added. The period when the right to pre-emptive attack was the monopoly of the U.S. has already come to an end. Now that the U.S. and gangsters of the Republic of Korea have committed a provocation of nuclear war against the Democratic Republic of Korea, the North Korea will take corresponding option, the commentary said. In late September, North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly has passed a law on constitutional amendments enshrining the status of the country's nuclear forces and their accelerated development to guarantee the country's right to existence.