The meeting began with the normal Call to Order, Agenda Review, and Flag Salute.
The first Community Comments portion of the meeting included no community comments.
The Consent Agenda included an approval of a warrant, contracts, and approval of various minutes.
The Reports to the Board portion of the meeting included no Strategic Planning Committee Meeting reports because the meeting that was supposed to precede this meeting was cancelled. The Policy Committee Meeting report mentioned policy reads that would occur later in the meeting.
There were no Presentations.
The Discussion portion of the meeting included:
-Tax Anticipation Note (TAN): Currently have $1.3 million in the bank so do not need to get advance loan until state provides fund until October or November. Will not need to draw on TAN for 3-6 months.
-School Messenger Issue: Was due to a technical issue. Jen Saunders came in on a Saturday to correct and send out emails to those who didn’t receive.
-Herrick Facilities: Discussed timeline and overview since August 8thwhen superintendent was notified of issues over typical needing mold remediation. Mold conditions included 27 classrooms with varying levels and 12 classrooms with no mold.
-Milton Innovation Center (MIC): Community concerns discussed as well as the history and timeline of the project. Construction due to start 8/26/2024 with completion expected before Spring 2025 semester. This is renovating the “wood shop” to a modern tech training classroom that will have both “clean” (for computer/3D printing and a “dirty” side. What has changed the time and cost was due to PCBs found in the classroom floor that required remediation. An ESSER grant covered these costs but delayed the project significantly.
-Materials for Activities Fair–September 19th: Discussed what they wanted to bring to disseminate to the public at this event. The topic at this event for the school board is how the community wants to receive information from the school board. Please stop by.
-Board Goals–Goal Plan and Newsletter Topics: Discussed adding a “Board Corner” to the current MTSD Newsletter. Possible topics include what committees do, budget process, superintendent Vs trustee roles, monitoring MTSD board goal progress, characteristics of an effective board, etc. Discussed process for individual school board trustee creating the “Board Corner” with feedback to writer from all trustees with final review by board chair to not go astray of public meeting laws. Also discussed was responding to emails to the board. Decided Board Vice-Chair Karen Stout could respond to emails that are regarding already public information if Board Chair Kumulia Long does not respond within 48 hours.
-Schedule of Presentations to the Board: See board packet regarding numerous presentations to the board that are being tentatively scheduled for future school board meetings.
-Policy First Reads occurred for A40 Board Committees (MTSD Policy), C9 Nutrition and Wellness (Required), and B32 Personnel Files (Consider). See packet for copies of policies. Regarding A40, added minor changes related to mentioning the charter of the committee. Regarding B32, minor changes related to position names and old policy numbers. Regarding C9, there was a big state wide process with the Vermont School Board Association (VSBA) to draft.
The second Community Comments portion of the meeting included a “thank you” regarding providing all the information regarding the timeline of the MIC, suggesting a Facebook page posting all of the schoolboard information timely and transparently, had a question about a unit on the roof that’s supposed to remove the humidity but is turned off during the summer, how this mold was first discovered, and had a question regarding whether the MASK program ending due to the mold. Another commenter asked about the shared locations at the school (e.g. library) and what type of mold was found.
The Action Items portion of the meeting included approval to sign the School Resource Officer (SRO) contract and authorize the superintendent to enter into a net metering contract with Norwich Technologies (info in packet).
The Board Comments portion of the meeting included a brief discussion of the possible issues of a Facebook page providing information and a partial response to the second commenter indicating that the library would be fully open along with a lot of the school. Board Trustee Allison Duquette, who called into the meeting while on a family vacation also made board comments. She thanked Board Trustee Karen Stout for her comments on the MIC, discussed her own reasons for her vote on the MIC, advising that real saving will be made in future budgets and encouraging attendance at budget meetings starting in October, thanked Jennifer Saunders for her work correcting the email situation over the weekend regarding the mold, expressing sympathies for those addressing the mold as she has had her own experience remediating mold issues, and expressing her interest in attending the next Vermont School Board Association conference.
An Executive Session that was scheduled for the night was cancelled.
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