Note: These proposed minutes should be considered preliminary until they are approved
by the board at a future meeting.
WINDHAM SOUTHEAST SCHOOL DISTRICT (WSESD) BOARD
TUESDAY AUGUST 13, 2024
REGULAR BOARD MEETING – 6 PM
CUSICK CONFERENCE ROOM, WRCC, BRATTLEBORO
DRAFT MINUTES
Summary
● The Board reviewed who is on each of the committees and who the chair is. Also reviewed who participates in each of the school’s L.C.s
● The Board voted to resume responsibility for accepting all hires, resignations, and retirements now that the summer session is coming to a close.
● The Board voted to resume responsibility for the financial decisions now that the summer session is coming to a close.
● The Board approved the hire for the Automotive Teacher for the WRCC.
● The consent agenda was approved by the Board.
● The Board re-adopted policies E14, F4, F5, F41 and G13.
Present
Shaun Murphy (SM), Anne Beekman (AB), Deborah Stanford (DS), Eva Nolan (EN), Matt
Schibley (MS), Kim Price (KP), Colleen Savage (CS) {remote}, Ruby McAdoo (RM), Tim
Maciel (TM), Brian Remer (BR)
WSESD staff and administration present
Mark Speno, Brin Tucker, Nancy Wiese, Hannah Parker, Mary Kaufmann, Julianne
Eagan, Keith Lyman
Others present in person
BCTV
Others present Virtually
Susan Grabowski, Caitlyn Marie Person, Nancy Weiss
AGENDA
I. Call to Order
DS called the meeting to order at 6:01 pm
A statement was read regarding the hybrid meeting model being utilized at this meeting.
-If appropriate, agenda items are subject to Potential Action.
-If any Board Member feels that an item on the Consent Agenda warrants discussion, that item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and will be set aside for discussion.
In this way, the Consent Agenda will be approved in one motion. That request should be made now – or before the vote on the Consent Agenda.
-Amendments to the Agenda
DS noted that she would like to have the approval of the July 9th meeting be pulled out from the consent agenda vote.
DS requested the discussion regarding the Board Retreat move to the Admin section of the agenda.
II. Student Matters
Hannah Parker inquired what the process will be related to interviews of interested students who applied to be a student representative to the Board.
TM and DS will reach out to Ms. Parker to assist with setting up interviews after school starts up in early September.
Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items
This is a time for the Board to listen and to take notes. It is not a time for the Board to respond to comments or to engage in dialogue with the public. If appropriate – the Board and Administration will work on next steps.
No comments were presented from community members during this section of the meeting.
III. Board Matters
A. Leadership Council (LC)Updates
TM spoke about Richard Levy, chair, has developed a survey to engage and encourage parents to become involved in the BAMS LC, which is exciting to see happening. The first meeting for the BAMS LC is set for September 5th. As the school year begins to ramp up, there will be more action in the LCs.
B. Board Sub-Committees
DS acknowledged the work being done by Becca Shepard to put the orientation manual and
procedural manual online.
Verifying the voting Board Members involved in each committee:
Personnel Committee – AB (chair), KP, CS and Kerry Amidon
Policy and Amendment – DS (chair), TM , AB
Finance Committee – SM (chair), KP, EN, RM
Social Justice Committee – EN (chair), TM, CS
Programmatic and Performance Equity – RM (chair), BR, KP
Communications Council – RM (chair), SM, MS
WSESU Voting Board Members – AB, TM, SM, DS, Kerry Amicon
Verification of the Board Members involved in the LC:
Academy – CS
Green Street – MS
Dummerston – DS
Guilford – BR
Oak Grove – EN
Putney – KP
BAMS – TM
BUHS – RM
WRCC – AB
EES – EN
DS noted that on September 5th, there are quite a few meetings occurring. RM indicated that the Programmatic and Performance Committee will consider a change in the recurring meeting from the first Thursday of the month to eliminate having multiple meetings on the same day.
C. Update on Farm-to-School Conference
RM shared about a conference she attended with six other representatives from WSESU in Burlington, VT this summer. As a stipulation of a grant requiring Board Member involvement in the Farm-to-School conference, RM gladly stepped into that role.
WSESU was unique in that they sent 7 people to the conference. WSESU sent representatives from multiple schools in our district, which was unique and exciting. Clay Schute, General Manager for the district from Fresh Picks, which led to very rich conversation. The conversations were rich for the group from WSESU. Susan Grabowski, WSESU Food Service Coordinator, shared that the district is working to help make the Farm-to-School program more equitable, making access to it for all the schools in the district, which is not the case currently. The committee is currently working on creating an action plan for the year. Food Connects will be supporting this effort.
AB asked that the WSESU Board be updated about the Farm-to-School work. SM asked about how Fresh Picks and Farm-to-School overlap. Susan Grabowski shared that Fresh Picks has indicated a commitment to be incorporating more food from local sources. Also, the state of Vermont has a “Harvest of the Month” program. Fresh Picks is planning to align their menu to highlight the “Harvest of the Month” food in their monthly menus.
D. Updates from the 6/18/24 Admin/Board Retreat
Moved to Administrative Report
E. Board to reassume approval of all Hires, Resignations, and Retirements
Action Required
AB MOVED THAT THE BOARD RESUME THE APPROVAL OF ALL HIRES, RESIGNATIONS AND
RETIREMENTS. MOTION WAS SECONDED.
VOTE WAS CALLED. VOTE PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
F. Board to reassume approval of all Finance and Budgetary Decisions
Action Required
SM MOVED THAT THE BOARD RESUME THE APPROVAL OF ALL FINANCIAL ISSUES AND
BUDGETARY ISSUES FOR THE DISTRICT. MOTION WAS SECONDED.
VOTE WAS CALLED. VOTE PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
G. Announcements:
– VSBA Annual Conference Oct. 24-25 (Registration is now open). Note that the agenda has been changed to an earlier start on the 24th in order to include a workshop
– Other Announcements
There is a pre-conference workshop: “Navigating Finance, Policy and Partnerships” for School Board Members and Superintendents the day before the VSBA Annual Conference.
An idea was presented wondering if it would be appropriate to bring students to this conference. With this idea, it was suggested to discuss this once the agenda has been finalized and consideration of the logistics for offering such an idea to students.
RM asked if people should be registering independently, or through Maureen Hart. DS asked that anyone interested reach out to her immediately.
H. Other Business
No other business was raised.
IV. Administrative Report
A. Updates from the 6/18/24 Admin/Board Retreat
Mr. Speno expressed appreciation for the Board’s involvement in the Admin/Board retreat on 6/18/24. He also acknowledged the work of the Board Leadership in preparing for the retreat.
An outcome of that retreat, there was a discussion about changing the format of presentations to the Board by having one presentation a month instead of every board meeting. This would allow deeper discussion about the presentation and highlighting data sources that went into that presentation. A goal of the retreat related to the Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) was to learn from the Board what they wanted to have presentations around. From that discussion, a draft schedule was developed for the board meetings 24-25 school year. The first meeting of the month would focus on the formal School Reports prepared by the Administration, and the second meeting of the month would offer presentations and time for a deeper dive into the information.
Another idea in development is hosting a Summit meeting three times a year involving all three boards (WSESU, WSESD and Vernon) to hear presentations from Administration all together.
These meetings would start at 5 pm. The first hour would offer time to have a meal and network with each other. The proposed focus for these Summits would be:
September meeting – focusing on the CIP, and overview of the professional development plan, and an overview of the VTCAP data.
February meeting – focus on academic data systems, a mid-year report, and goal setting for the remainder of the year based on this information..
June meeting – end of the year report: reviewing the CIP successes and areas for improvement, and looking to the next school year.
These Summits are anticipated to lead to rich discussion for the Admin/Board Meeting next summer.
A discussion occurred about logistics for the Summit meetings, and DS indicated this is a work in progress. DS asked that specific questions be emailed to her so they can be discussed further at a meeting next week.
To end his report, Mr. Speno noted that we are hosting the New Hire Orientation next week, and that the first day of school will be on 8/28/24.
Nancy Weiss was invited to present a candidate, Mark Paluilis, for the Automotive Position at the WRCC.. She outlined the challenges that came with filling this position, and is thrilled with the candidate’s qualifications. Mr. Paluilis will require CTE (Career and Technical Education) coursework, which is offered through VT State University. This is a teacher prep program taking 4 years to complete. The district will support him through this program.
SM MOVED THAT MARK PALUILIS BE APPROVED AS A NEW HIRE FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE
TEACHER AT THE WRCC. MOTION WAS SECONDED.
VOTE WAS CALLED. MOTION WAS PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
TM requested information related to the PD focus. Ms. Weiss spoke about the comprehensive local needs assessment. A result of this is identifying what the staff needs most in terms of professional development.
V. Consent Agenda
July 9, 2024 meeting minutes
The July 9, 2024 meeting was shifted from a regular meeting as noted in the June 25, 2024 minutes to a Special Board meeting for the purpose of an Executive Session. The determination was to this did not need to be removed from the consent agenda, so it remains a component of the Consent Agenda.
A. Minutes from June 25, 2024, July 9, 2024, and July 22, 2024
B. Warrants & Payrolls
Warrant of June 3, 2024
ACH Card Pmnt 5/7/24 $ 57,727.55
Warrant No. 1420 in the amount of $ 1,680.00
Warrant No. 1421 in the amount of $ 13,528.00
Warrant No. 1427 in the amount of $ 51,850.00
Warrant No. 1428 in the amount of $ 100.00
Warrant No. 1429 in the amount of $ 850.00
Warrant No. 1432 in the amount of $ 1,608.00
Warrant No. 1433 in the amount of $ 2,142.48
Warrant No. 1434 in the amount of $ 1,003,553.06
Total Accounts Payable $ 1,133,039.09
Payrolls May 31, 2024 $ 1,458.800.30
Warrant of June 10, 2024
6/3/24 Arbiter Sports ACH $ 3,148.00
Warrant No. 1435 in the amount of $ 708.00
Warrant No. 1436 in the amount of $ 400.00
Warrant No. 1437 in the amount of $ 3,500.00
Warrant No. 1438 in the amount of $ 150.00
Warrant No. 1439 in the amount of $ 16,240.47
Warrant No. 1441 in the amount of $ 787.70
Warrant No. 1443 in the amount of $ 25,563.00
Warrant No. 1444 in the amount of $ 127,397.47
Warrant No. 1445 in the amount of $ 2,456.49
Warrant No. 1446 in the amount of $ 1,897.50
Warrant No. 1447 in the amount of $ 87,289.07
Total Accounts Payable $ 269,537.70
Warrant of June 17, 2024 $
6/10/24 Arbiter Sports ACH $ 693.00
Warrant No. 1448 in the amount of $ 126,643.90
Warrant No. 1449 in the amount of $ 1,988.40
Warrant No. 1450 in the amount of $ 33,595.00
Warrant No. 1455 in the amount of $ 27,509.93
Warrant No. 1456 in the amount of $ 45,710.00
Warrant No. 1457 in the amount of $ 1,261.00
Warrant No. 1458 in the amount of $ 4,953.35
Warrant No. 1459 in the amount of $ 116,365.85
Total Accounts Payable $ 358,720.43
Payrolls June 14, 2024 $ 1,728,352.50
Warrant of June 24, 2024
Warrant No. 1462 in the amount of $ 18,000.00
Warrant No. 1463 in the amount of $ 3,354.18
Warrant No. 1464 in the amount of $ 180,860.49
Warrant No. 1465 in the amount of $ 341.50
Warrant No. 1466 in the amount of $ 1,659.01
Warrant No. 1467 in the amount of $ 147,368.45
Warrant No. 1468 in the amount of $ 6,900
Warrant No. 1469 in the amount of $ 19,917.89
Warrant No. 1470 in the amount of $ 141,887.17
Total Accounts Payable $ 513,457.69
Warrant of July 1, 2024
ACH Card Pmnt 6/4/24 $ 42,510.44
ACH Card Pmnt 6/11/24 $ 9,403.05
6/24/24 Arbiter Sports ACH $ 228.00
Warrant No. 1471 in the amount of $ 6,000.00
Warrant No. 1472 in the amount of $ 144.76
Warrant No. 1476 in the amount of $ 43,275.39
Warrant No. 1478 in the amount of $ 159,677.74
Warrant No. 1480 in the amount of $ 93.52
Warrant No. 1481 in the amount of $ 54,638.41
Warrant No. 1484 in the amount of $ 194,871.32
Warrant No. 1487 in the amount of $ 15,220.01
Warrant No. 1488 in the amount of $ 119,216.39
Total Accounts Payable $ 645,279.03
Payrolls June 28, 2024 $ 2,336,705.11
Warrant of July 8, 2024
6/28/24 Arbiter Sports ACH $ 228.00
Warrant No. 1002 in the amount of $ 364.94
Warrant No. 1003 in the amount of $ 2,695.80
Warrant No. 1004 in the amount of $ 58,553.60
Warrant No. 1007 in the amount of $ 19,121.03
Warrant No. 1008 in the amount of $ 17,351.45
Total Accounts Payable $ 98,314.82
Warrant of July 8, 2024
Warrant No. 1009 in the amount of $ 23,965.00
Warrant No. 1011 in the amount of $ 20.31
Warrant No. 1012 in the amount of $ 356.81
Warrant No. 1016 in the amount of $ 7,069.02
Warrant No. 1017 in the amount of $ 11,838.67
Warrant No. 1018 in the amount of $ 2,642.00
Warrant No. 1019 in the amount of $ 4,475.62
Warrant No. 1020 in the amount of $ 385.00
Warrant No. 1021 in the amount of $ 18,544.67
Total Accounts Payable $ 17,351.45
Payrolls July 12, 2024 $ 1,434,414.01
Warrant of July 22, 2024
ACH Card Pmnt 6/28/24 $ 13,421.27
Warrant No. 1023 in the amount of $ 2,732.03
Warrant No. 1024 in the amount of $ 73,327.95
Warrant No. 1025 in the amount of $ 1,500.00
Warrant No. 1026 in the amount of $ 81,215.90
Warrant No. 1027 in the amount of $ 32,877.50
Warrant No. 1028 in the amount of $ 3,503.15
Warrant No. 1029 in the amount of $ 65,393.83
Total Accounts Payable $ 273,971.63
Warrant of July 29, 2024
Warrant No. 1030 in the amount of $ 1,200.00
Warrant No. 1031 in the amount of $ 10,420.93
Warrant No. 1032 in the amount of $ 396.00
Warrant No. 1033 in the amount of $ 51,637.81
Warrant No. 1044 in the amount of $ 24,970.71
Warrant No. 1045 in the amount of $ 12,362.82
Warrant No. 1046 in the amount of $ 217.30
Warrant No. 1048 in the amount of $ 4,640.11
Warrant No. 1049 in the amount of $ 133,558.41
Total Accounts Payable $ 239,404.09
Payrolls July 26, 2024 $ 1,481,998.34
Warrant of August 5, 2024
Warrant No. 1051 in the amount of $ 5,660.00
Warrant No. 1052 in the amount of $ 100,502.60
Warrant No. 1055 in the amount of $ 500.00
Warrant No. 1056 in the amount of $ 45,113.96
Total Accounts Payable $ 151,776.56
Payrolls August 2, 2024 $ 6,033.85
MS MOVED TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA. MOTION SECONDED.
VOTE WAS CALLED. VOTE PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
VI. New Business
-Any topics for New Business
No new business was brought to the Board
VII. Unfinished Business
A. Policy & Amendment presents the following for 2nd Reading:
D4 Educator Supervision and Evaluation
B. Policy & Amendment presents the following for Re-Adoption
Action Required
E14 Environmental Awareness and Responsibility
F4 Searches, Seizures, and Interrogation of Students by School Personnel
F5 Searches, Seizures, and Interrogation of Students by Law Enforcement
Personnel or Other Non-School Personnel
F41 Policy on Section 504 and ADA Grievance Protocol for Students & Staff
G13 Acceptable Use of Electronic Resources and the Internet
AB MOVED TO ACCEPT THE RE-ADOPTION OF POLICIES E14, F4, F5, F41 AND G13. MOTION WAS
SECONDED. VOTE WAS CALLED. VOTE WAS PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
C. Any Other Topic for Unfinished Business
No business was brought before the Board.
AB MOVED TO ADJOURN THE WSESD BOARD MEETING. MOTION WAS SECONDED.
VOTE WAS CALLED. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
The Board was adjourned at 7:23pm
Minutes submitted by board clerk on 8/17/2024 with special recognition to Board Recorder
Tracey Drotts.
A recording of this meeting is available on the WSESU website.
