The meeting began with the normal Call to Order, Agenda Review, and Flag Salute. The first Community Comments portion of the meeting included one comment from a community member relating to transgenderism.
The Consent Agenda included the approval of a warrant, contracts, and minutes from committee, regular, and special board meetings.
The Reports to the Board portion of the meeting included:
– Finance Report – A full detailed report/presentation will be provided at the 6/12 meeting. A high-level report was provided in the packet. MTSD is waiting for a $13 million payment from the state.
– Committee Reports – Also attended Facilities Committee meeting earlier in the evening that discussed the four Herrick Project bids and the sole bid received from Milton’s Glass Connection for the windows and door fronts. There’s a 12-16 week lead time on receiving ordered windows once a bid waiver request is granted due to only receiving a bid-waiver due to only receiving one bid. Plan to order and store windows until able to install on school breaks as done for MHS. Finally, board discussed ventilation systems at Herrick and plans for how to reduce moisture. Goal is to get the building to 70 degrees and keep it there with the new HVAC mini-split systems. Significant issues with the public using school property with their dogs and not properly attending to their pet’s waste.
– Student Report – Student Board Members provided a spring update. Spring conferences occurred this week. Several senior celebration events are occurring from now until graduation.
The Presentations portion of the meeting included:
– NEASC Decennial Accreditation Report – This is the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The last accreditation visit was in 2012. Various visits have occurred since. The next planned accreditation visit is planned for 2035. Priority areas noted for MHS include: 1) Curriculum, 2) Equity, 3) Community Engagement, and 4) Intervention and Support.
– Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) Draft – This is a state-required process by the Department of Education that must be approved by them. Discussed the overall process of creating the Draft CIP. A lot of information was presented along with a slide presentation. Watch LCATV video for more information. In general, academically MTSD is focusing on literacy and math.
The Discussion portion of the meeting included:
– Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) Draft – Discussed as part of the presentation above with questions from board members.
– Herrick Facility Project Bids regarding the roof and windows were discussed as mentioned above from the Facilities Meeting attended earlier in the afternoon. Committee recommending lowest bid with Snow Country for $796,269. Discussed motioning to approve the bid as long as bid-waiver is granted by the state.
– Nutritional Services Staffing – Desire to allow the School Nutrition Manager to spend time focusing on increased Federal and State oversight reporting issues, requirements/regulations along with creating a varied menu while having ongoing staffing concerns have necessitated the need for another full-time position in addition to the School Nutrition Manager whereas all other staff are currently staffed at 5.5 hours/day. Moved to an action item tonight.
– Bill 454 Letter – This topic was not discussed but relates to a letter sent to staff and parents about House Bill 454 relating to Education.
– Board final discussion of Action Items. Nothing was discussed.
The second Community Comments portion of the meeting included no community comments.
The Action Items portion of the meeting included approval of the bids for the Herrick Roof for $796,269 from Snow Country Roofing and Herrick Windows for $1,556,939 from Glass Connection, and voted to modify a 5.5 hour food service position to be an 8-hour position.
The Board Comments portion of the meeting included no comments.
An Executive Session concluded the night relating to negotiations, contracts, and premature general knowledge.