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Grantham School Board Meeting, August 4, 2026

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do whatever comes up yeah no that's right and it's been a long time since I've been in charge of it so okay do you want me to wait a second yes oh you're good okay I'm call the meeting to order at 6:30 keep that on the uh first on the agenda is the approval of the agenda can I just make a friendly Amendment um when it comes to policies I would like us to still talk about JJJ access to public schools but I'm actually going to recommend you table any action on it tonight and I can tell you why because we just got a brand new update related to it today Okie do all right so um I would entertain a to improve the agenda as amended first from Phillip second second from Nancy all in favor say I I agenda is approved next on the agenda is public participation and you do not have anybody in the room and the 1 on so we will move into the meat of the first is handbooks all right um I can turn this some of it over to Kristen uh Brenda's Got 1 um and then Christian's got the others um so I don't know if you just want to go through and Kristen give there's not many updates most of it was named changes format that kind of thing yeah so I think you got a um little cover sheet that went with 3 give them or 2 of them how many did I do this time um the preschool handbook did not get 1 because while I was at Snoop last week I had asked someone I asked Amy to do it for me and she did but I didn't I failed that tell her about the cover yeah but um that's just all the things the changes or the things you all approved in terms of costs and and hours and stuff like that um and then the other 2 the well both actually let me go back to the to the preschool preschool era there were limited changes on anticipating that next year we might have some bigger revamps because Jamie will have been here a year and these are 2 areas that like we share um purview up but this year she's new so I wasn't going to throw it at her um The Substitute Teacher binder is there now it was previously a handbook and I can still format it as a handbook for the website but 1 of the things I realized last year is that it makes much more sense to actually hand the binder to the substitutes when they come in so that they have a quick reference versus having to jump online or go find it um so once approved we'll make binders so that we can fast them with the computers the subs um and then the only other 1 that I was part oh the mentor handbook did not change and then the 1-hour leave historically I've done that as a piece of paper so that I can keep track and they get my um approval before they put it in front line but I changed it to a 1-hour form because then I don't have to keep track of papers it doesn't um that's it and Brenda administrative handbook um yes so very few changes just change the dates from 2526 to 2627 updated Jillian's term um and updated the board officers moderator Treasurer that kind of thing uh removed Emily Owens added Amie Monroe is the new District Clerk and then just administrative team Jamie and Moline I took out Moline out of Jamie so and I did reformat it because I couldn't take the format awesome I know how much work it is questions alright bye bye question yeah that's late um I do we do need to approve them yeah write 1 at a time yeah uh so before the meeting to approve preschool Administration para and substitute yes and mentor and book is actually got missed on the agenda okay yeah oh we're gonna add it yeah Mentor handbook yep so we need to for the approval of the agenda we need to amend that oh okay to add the mentor handbook so I will entertain a motion to amend the agenda to add Mentor handbook to the lift so moved first or Nancy second second okay hi okay um so I would entertain a motion to approve the preschool handbook Jillian second from file all in favor say I I I understand I get with the program next Entertainer motion to approve the administrative hand first from Nancy second from Belle all in favor say I I I would next entertain a motion to approve the educator handbook so moved that was from Nancy second from Jillian all in favor say I I would next a motion to approve the substitute handbook so first from Phil second from Jillian all in favor say I time and last I would approve entertain a motion to approve the mentor handbook the first from Nancy second from Jillian all in favor say I all approved terrific transfer of Appropriations please thank you so I gave you um little rundown in your packet um basically we just need approval per board policies um first 1 is for speech we were not able to hire anybody for that position so instead of having salary and benefits we're going to transfer those into contracted server providers um same with our Occupational Therapy Services as well um and then the same for the vacant part-time custodial position that we have we are going to transfer that into contracted Services because you'll see later on the cleaning services yes so it's all fun that we currently have in our budget it's not changing our overall appropriate is just reallocating them any questions from there I thought it was interesting to add in all the extras along with the wages how it moves up to the same number yes yeah yeah we realize how much is beyond yes yes I am looking for like the bottom line I should notice right off the top I had where it is in our packet time to transfer appropriation um oh yeah I'm sorry fourth 1 down yeah it's fine okay so I would entertain a motion to approve the um Appropriations as the transfer of approach the transfer of Appropriations as recommended by the ba expression fell second second from Jillian vert say I I I said okay okay so the right things next is the current compensation chart discussion want to take that 1 down yes um we're moving fast I love it um all right just got to find whatever as well so this was um a conversation that we started to have a year ago basically of you know where we currently are just having a document that also is board approved of those rates so you know during the audit if the auditor saying okay well where does you know where is the documented table at your sub rates are what your esy rates are um so part of this conversation we're having is to solidify the rates that we currently have in place but also open up discussion for you know do want to relook at those as well and I think we're going to discuss it more yeah it's just this was more to just make you aware of what we're thinking and what we're looking at okay 1 question it says under the long-term so after a day body I think it is then it changed the rate that they get the money retroactively is okay yeah so then becomes 175 for the full yes okay so they'll end up yeah getting the retropay and then on top of that moving forward 175 yeah we wanted you guys to also have this information as you prep to go into the next budget season so if there is a discussion about wanting to change compensation Leathers then you we can predict what the budget impact will for you yes the um just a question the substitute teacher and para educator pay is that's not collective bargaining that correct not none of these are part of the CBA something that just popped into my head and I don't know why it hasn't before um a teacher's day is 8 to 3:30 and is para is 8:30 to 3:15 so it's beneficial to be a parent Oh you mean for substitute oh yeah yeah yeah trying to push back on the fact that the pair and the teacher of the same rate on a PDA I have not heard any um push back from my side of things I'm just curious yeah I mean it is something that sort of hit me it's like yeah people that are certified a little bit less signed relative to the correct which is which is true I mean the do you have to be certified to be a teacher of substitute teacher no no no no which makes sense then yeah but it's something you guys might want to talk about going into budget do you want to differentiate out that substitute um pay between teacher and fair I do know other districts do you know to try to entice actual you know whether they're retired or not you know certified teachers to come in right in substitute um versus yeah and I don't know it's probably more as we get in budget season but if we wanted to up The Substitute Teacher rate because I know it's always challenging to get them right yes other criteria for there being tired as substitutes nope but substitute is a substitute they can have okay it's very about the the job functions on that day right no I understand that yeah yeah how tall is he okay we will talk about it more when we get to budgets so there's nothing we have to do with that no it was more just yeah it's great I appreciate seeing it's all like kind of flooded around in my head is yes it's it's nice to yeah actually documental uh it's August 27th I'm going to start this by saying that the Old Farms bridge is under construction so we're going to cross our fingers that it is going to be finished I've been told it's going to be finished so starts with cookie why we went ahead with the current bus right bus routes so um they're basically the same as we had last year um there really isn't anything too much difference maybe you know a little bit of time here and there um because we have added on G5 more than we can't do anything with the Eastman wrote G6 g7's pretty you know that's down Route 10 down that way so we really can't do a whole lot with that either because the stops are the stops yeah um but Donna has adjusted her G5 route because we have a couple of students who are using stops that we took off before so um here they are AM and PM and I just noticed that there's no pm on the a question Brenda the ones in red were they changes no the ones in red um those December 1st to March 30th on G6 those are closed roads due to weather same thing with with G7 those are closed roads um during a mud season and melon Road but there's no other questions we need a motion to set me the children walk further during much season so because you're not making noise stops usually what happens is the parent drives them down to the bus stop right um some of these you know in the um morning route the middle in high school is 640 in the morning so they may be catching the 648 stop or the 634 stop so parents generally use the root 10 and Draper road because a lot of them um are headed out to work the kids that are driving obviously this doesn't affect them there are a few on another Pond Road thank you yep likewise on G6 um Cove Covered Bridge the 3 um stops that are closed during the winter most of those families go to South Cove yeah not the north entrance now the entrance is the route 10 and Draper Road that's like the last 1 okay yeah that would be a different bus and they can drop their kids in South Cove like the place to be to get out of the weather and that kind of thing yeah thanks for your work on that it's a lot of work I would entertain a motion to approve the 2627 boss Roots so first from Nancy second from Jillian all in favor hi hi hi great okay sale is back in Van Brenda okay so after um talking with getting a bid or over thousand dollars for the fixing of the 216 Ford Transit van it's not worth doing that um there's some framework that needs to be done Etc so they gave me a price um 5 to 6,000 that they thought it would be worth and I did some research and found a municipal website that we list for free list this van on um and I think I put it in the board packet so good it's a win-win for us we put the stipulation of this is what it is this is how much it you know work it needs just open honest come pick it up um and it's either a cashier's check I think that's what we only accept its cashier's check but or cash at the cashier's check um and that's it and if it does not sell on the municipal website um I did a sale of surplus vehicle an invitation to so if we don't get anything on here we can always pull it off of there or keep it on and do the invitation to bid and the board um I've put in here that the board reserves the right to um accept or reject any and all bids so great that's good I also wonder if our Bondo would take it so they probably would um I'd have to check with I don't know Auditors would have a problem with us going I mean it's still an outside sale so yeah if they would just refer back to that we're following our policies right yeah so yeah we could have an option if nothing else happens traditionally they are like really low ball yeah on the bids so much as we can and then if not oh yeah it's drivable like I would pay that up my kids keep stuff in it to bring it to the mountain I made it definitely need some undercarriage stuff you know list of everything and you know if you know there you go we have a fire got a fire right that 1 I've been looking for man pack all our stuff in proceedings and when you retire you know you could use it for whatever and it has a wheelchair amazing thanks Brenda so we'll we'll do a little research on carvana that add to the Mexi we'll let you guys know what we find I'll just tell you because I we just bought the truck from there and it was so smooth and easy it's really nice and my son just sold his car from there to there they just came picked it up they didn't check the best thing yeah that's my mom passed away that's how we sold her car too it was very easy yeah fantastic okay next in the agenda is the Samuel services and we have a good documentation in our packet room yeah so really you guys are just affirming publicly your vote to accept Express cleaning um Kristen myself Rodney and Brenda met with the 2 gentlemen that run the organization excellent you know they were very uh it was very nice to meet them 1 was expecting and then had baby right after a couple weeks later so uh we're excited to be starting this partnership with them and their references came back exceptional awesome exceptional right didn't we approve this online you did so you just publicly want to reconfirm that vote yeah so I entered entertainment do I need to make another motion know I would just make a motion okay I would make a motion to uh publicly affirm approval of the express cleaning bid so person Phil second second from Jillian all I've ever say all right all right thank you okay that's good I will tell you I actually know the owner of this company quite well and they are extremely hard workers like these people are ya the 3 references they gave me were districts and in the interesting thing 1 2 of the facilities directors that I call our grandparents and they were like absolutely Christine I was like so funny yeah that's true so they came back rave reviews was excellent look at that yeah give me a nice support yeah yeah I think so I'm sorry I don't know the evening because Jody and his name oh better but she's got to feel good about this right it's not gonna be quite so daunting yeah yeah that's great June and I are actually talking about that she's you know she likes painting she loves to paint yeah and she and I were talking the other day and I'm like you know we're really hoping this allows you to maybe do some projects too like you know things that we'd like personally I feel better having somebody else in the building yes yes I do yeah yeah that's true too good point that's good yeah that's a good 1 uh next on the agenda board presentations my admin yes that that is me and that is in your um board file it's right in the beginning not in the subfolder um and this is just me saying this is how I'd like to kind of spread your board meetings out for the year um September um bring back uh you know we'll have our our starter School updates from the principal myself um but we'll bring in Rodney to give you kind of a recap of what was done for the summer like we did and then in October we'll look at student services including pre School November Tech and then I really set aside December January February March for your focus on budget and then we'll just kind of repeat it backwards in the spring where you'll get some facilities updates before you have to make any decisions around gen uh fund balances if there's some remaining and then we'll do a technology update again and then we'll do student services awesome don't need an approval or anything just on the 1 to give you guys a heads up that's what I kind of laid out for you for the year it's super helpful that's great you know awesome um do we want to do policies and then strategic planning or sure I'll find that let's just because the strategic planning part is just us talking about when we want to spend some time doing that whether today or another time so unless you policy person and come back to swat okay okay so um we will first talk about policy JC a-r best interests change of school assignment yeah that that 1's not a new 1 you guys got it in June um and this is the result of the area agreement um conversation around establishing the best interest procedures as it relates to the area agreement and you didn't everybody was fine with the first version so this is really your second reading and adoption I would entertain a motion to approve the second reading and Adoption of policy of jca first from Phil second second from Julian all in favor say I I good work 1 question about policies I'm getting all of the sudden emails about policies I got I think 1 or 2 today and 1 yesterday and I was wondering if it was spam so I didn't click on it was it from nhsba did say no it was from because I sent a big 1 to folks okay it was from William Phillips yeah oh that will Phillips yeah so it's because you got so that's the New Hampshire School Board Association and contacts listed with all of them and they've started a new thing now okay because I'm like is this somebody I'm supposed to know and is now working for us he's the policy director of New Hampshire school boards Association okay yeah and the new thing it's usually it comes through the nhsba like it the organization but this is coming directly from him and so I'm like is this related to our like this is a new policy platform yep and what they're doing now through it is because legislation is so crazy right now coming out and what's been true is normally they only do like 3 releases of these big policy packs but because things are coming so fast and they have such quick in effect dates um they every time he's updating a policy based upon their review of the new laws it's pushing out to every member okay so okay it's legit it's awareness and it's from them yeah but we will discuss our actions absolutely that's just their template that's excellent I didn't realize you guys were getting too I just started getting them this week from well we did too and oh okay yeah and the way they're tagged in our inbox makes them look yeah so I was like I'm just in case I'm gonna yeah because the um the at address is different than things we've seen before yes definitely or something it'll keyboard no I agree but I was like these policies are all the ones I recognized to make sure I'm gonna give will that feedback because he and I are meeting tomorrow some questions I have all right thank you and I will give them that feedback to let him know that members more especially board members are looking at this like is this legit or not yeah yeah thank you yeah okay next is a policy I IV class sizes and student educator ratios oh right so the um 4 policies that are on tonight and JJ will talk about but we won't take any action on it we'll just table it for tonight uh really linked um to to all of the opening now of public schools to other educational pathways and if you recall back in June you all approved policy JF which was your um enrollment and enrollment capacity policy and and I are still working on the procedures and practices related to that um it's definitely turned into a chore um and because of that it starts a domino effect in your other policies um and so i i b class size and student educator educator ratios are actually knew um to this board and to this District uh before they lived under something called um max class size um but the updated the 306 uh they it's now kind of taken this life of its own um and it's kind of revamped iib um so brand new policy Kristen and I uh remotely worked on this last week while she was away doing some very important work um the first part the opening parts of that are I blended in a little bit of Lebanon because Lebanon adopted this policy last year and I blended in what nhsba had in there for like the opening purpose and reason of the policy plus what I felt we were about in Grantham I will tell you when you get to the paragraph the fourth paragraph and it lists the 7 um considerations that's straight from the uh School Ed 306 rules the state law and the recommendation from nhsba um the opening paragraphs couple um I pulled from Lab customized to us I also did a insert the second paragraph and and there's some notes on the bottom to you as a board they won't live uh once you adopt this but if you go all the way down to page 3 and on to page 4 you're going to see I put some notes for you in there and 1 of the interesting notes from nhsba is that the 306 rules changed dramatically dramatically when we talk about class sizes because it opened up the definition of educator to include a certified educator and a certified pair professional they changed the definition of educator to basically say anybody that certified through the Department of Education and pear educators are certified through the department of education however nhsba has done legal consultation and said that's what the minimum that the state says you can define an educ educator as as a district you can add to that so I wrote that second paragraph saying in Grantham we're going to Define an educator as a certified teacher there it is so when we're looking at our ratios we're truly looking at what's the rate ratio of students to teachers um also questions on that opening and then we'll talk about Christian and I can talk about what we set right now for Baseline is this some protection given the Open Enrollment discussion that's going on is sorted part of the idea behind this the yes so remember in that JF policy in the procedures that we're looking at 1 of the categories about setting Your Capacity is what are your educator to student ratios what are your class sizes and building that in so I need you to set this before we can add that part to that procedure that goes with JF I have I have a grammar correction oh sure in the paragraph at the bottom of the first page class size reports yeah there is a semicolon when it should perhaps just be a comma oh yeah yeah there you go are these changes these numbers are these kind of consistent with past practice Christina the numbers that you've given here yeah we didn't have built-in numbers like designated numbers but you know so these are numbers that Christine and I kind of talked about and then Christine went back to lebanon's policy yeah and we compared the 2 yeah so we're kind of in parallel to Lebanon which is right partner with us and all of this but we also looked at traditionally what are our class sizes and right now for example um is a grade 2 no grade who's got 37 which grade level I forgot who it was I look but I can tell you we got 3 new students that already so we we actually adjusted the sizes up a little bit because 1 of the struggles we're going to have as a board is even if we go over this right we're going to have to be creative because there's not no way I can add a third classroom it's it's physically going to be impossible in this building I guess that was my question if we go over if we have more students than this what do we do so interesting enough Kristen asked this question and I gave because we had I'm thinking about my kids classes and they were definitely bigger than righties right um so number 1 the board can waive for a year that you can say we're going to wave our policy around this and allow this to stand period you can make that call the other thing you can do because I actually experienced this when I was principal in my other District my small school we only had 1 teacher per grade level and physical space that's all we had is 1 classroom per grade level and I had my fifth grade class 1 year it was coming in at 30 kidds and I there was no way I could split it like physically there was no way I could fit so what we actually talked about with the board is well let's make it a co- teaching situation I have 2 certified teachers issues in the room so we had 2 deaths they shared they split the load they kind of each owned a group of you know part of the class so they would carry on the but they had to work you know it was a co- teaching situation um and that was a way that and we made it clear it was 1 year thing until I moved on um you know so whoever we hired knew it was a 1 year gig um and it works so I I think there's creative ways that we can look at it if we get to those caps and we need to adjust but keep in and he was the board you can always adjust this policy to flex the text that you needed to be what about when we have members yeah and excessive teachers right maybe I don't think we ever in my time small enough numbers that were lower than what that would be in 1 class if that makes sense if you look at the area thing you said is in 1 of the things we got it seems like it's going to be pretty stable at least that's the prediction the correct projection yeah this seems to be Texas being educated rather than Paris like the idea if you put Paris and suddenly you you change the game suddenly you can really dramatically shift things yes yeah I mean if you count a pair an educator as your 2 Educators in your ratio right and you're going with this well you could more than double the kids in the class and say you're still meeting the right ratio right but we know that's not good yeah it's just not a good practice for everybody students staff Etc so to answer your question whoever asked it um fifth grade this year has 19 and 18 right now so 37 376 okay yep 6 grade 18 17 right now yeah so those 2 I mean there's still a lot of room and then first grade as of today is 17 and 17 with 1 pending that we've been told we're getting registration right so that that was the 1 I was thinking okay we are still got room here because it's second grade we're saying we're going to strive for 18 but we can go as high as 20 right but you're sitting at 37 right now so but you still got wiggle room those 2 classrooms so we use this policy to speak to somebody who wants to come to open a normal curse we we're full we can't take you correct we can set our protection correct yeah and so part of those policies and procedures that Chris and I will work on in that capacity guideline will say we will only take X naught and the other thing is we can write in that practice and procedure that based upon your class size and uh educator student ratios we can say we're going to update capacity on a quarterly basis and say you so we we can say we can't take you this quarter we're full right right or we we anticipate out and say we can't take it this year but you're welcome to come back next year and try that's great yeah Yeah by setting this this kind of sets your first level of what you're defining your capacities at I think it's great the rest of the classes are good with their numbers the other sizes kindergarten is really low well that's what that's what I was wondering about was the not small enough right so it's 10 and 9 but you couldn't put 19 yeah in 1 class yeah but Kindergarten we tend to I mean I remember last year we thought they were low and then all of a sudden boom everywhere yeah my last year of teaching third grade I had 29 students oh my 11 Catholic School they were just to get 60 kids no full we were still talking that was my last year that was The copier saluting you I I I've got a comparable story Nancy I taught seventh grade down in Nashua um and 1 year and I had 48 students in 1 class no parent 48 there was no there was no capsized in Oshawa and there was no contract conditions was after a couple of those years that the uh Union down there negotiated into the contract that if you had if you were carrying a load and they stepped it like if you were over 5 you got this amount of more money if you were over 10 great you have to also number 1 the space it was and I mean double adolescence that brings me to a question Christian the teachers I this will be aware of this as well what do you think their reactions are going to be generally favorable yeah definitely favorable I don't see that it what I've seen in our history here those numbers don't change anything right terms of what we know and and do I think where it changes is when we get on to our next policies yeah yeah yeah we we do intend you know we wanted to bring this tonight for a first reading remember first reading really opens this policy up for others to see too right um so we we do intend she and I have talked about wanting to set some time aside with the staff and have them look at this um and share where our thinking was as we developed it and yeah great yeah and does this these numbers affect our budget and income and other things like this we'll keep things standard the way we have anticipated this to me will keep you exactly at the Perfect 2 classrooms program level 3 why unless somebody builds a new yeah somewhere that I might be retiring at that point but I know we don't get a ton of money from the state right whatever we get for a beautiful like this fits yeah okay that's so funny question I would entertain a motion to approve the first reading of policy iib first from Phil okay second from Nancy all in favor say I I thanks okay that's great next uh is policy I hbg for first reading yeah so this 1 I was um I when I went looking through our policies Brenda Louis I was like we don't have IBG on the books wait a minute why why why um so this is no we probably should have had it a while ago um this is boilerplate right here this comes out at nhsba I did know tweaking to it um it was revamped in 2024 um and so this is their 2024 version now I think you get it on the books here's my recommendation you get it on the books because I'm going to come right back at you because there are going to be changes in this based upon some updates I got today um but I figure let's start and get this but like I said this is boilerplate right from nhsba Christian Christian question there are 2 types of homeschooling environment you're describing it just this sort of 1 where they can come in and get services not the the new EFA thing or the whatever they call it no this this 1 is all about 193 ah yep nothing to do with efas okay thank you this is everything that 1938 dict around home education but but for example Kristen pointed out and I I did wishy-washy the words a little bit um 1 of the things we're gonna have to change about this is is no longer an annual notification required from parents parents are no longer required to maintain a portfolio um and there's something else there's 3 things that got passed in this legislation session that loosened up um requirements around home ed so those will have to probably come out or assessment was the other 1 they're no longer require required to do an annual assessment so basically it's free game out there because we don't like a calendar so but there's nothing in our policy keep in mind it's not required right so you can still have a policy though that says parents May write right so you can still say look I practice is I can't force them to do it but you we can say you know our practice good practice is if you want to use our services you know you got to communicate with us right and we can put that into policy we just wouldn't be able to reinforce a strict requirement yeah so as as board members so definitely I think comb this 1 carefully between now and the next reading um and then and Christine will update according to the new legislation I mean that stuff was just signed like well in the last 30 days probably right yeah last 10 days yeah um okay so I would entertain a motion to approve the first reading of policy I hbg so moved backing from foul all in favor say I okay if a child goes out on a temporary home education program and they want to be fully reintroduced to school do to go is there a testing process to make sure that they're at a level of the requested grade level I know there is a new first under school but I wonder like did they just read that yeah um that's where you're we're going to want to be beefed up our policy the law doesn't require it but you all can yeah okay that will be important yeah yeah I would agree okay okay yeah that's why I say take a good look at this will I'm going to take another look now with the updates I've got seeing what they're suggesting and tweaking I'm going to look at that assessment part because again remember we can say if you are coming back into us this is going to happen you know we can set very clear criteria on that yeah aggression can I suggest that we go to JB and then come back to JJ okay let's do JB next so Jed used to be titled enrollments but that is out your JF policy JF is enrollments and enrollment capacity okay so the new title for this is now age of entrance and what it did is it pulled in some of your old stuff that was in JF um that doesn't now aligned with left a new JF version is um what is new is all in red for you now we actually did not have anything about a birth certificate needing to be presented in our pre previous policy the incoming transfer students that's nhsba language and they have recommended people do that um and it's not necessarily the transfers we're talking about kids coming from public school to public school transfer it's this transfer kind of Jillian of what you're talking about coming out of a non-public pathway into a public pathway and how to establish some of how kids get placed um this next card down below so this is what we want to have the conversation and this is the understatement of policy this is the fifth paragraph down and it starts with students May attend school part-time consistent with the provisions of RSA 1931 dual enrollment and it continues to proceed about 50% of the instructional time right this is nhsba language and it's the same language you have in your JF policy so now we're starting to see this language appear it's going to appear in your JF policy on enrollments it appears here in terms of entrance it's going to appear in your JJ when we talk about you know services that um other educ ational Pathways can use the part I added is towards the end and I want to explain this because this takes a little bit of thinking here so all the way up to the part where it says any student enrolled in more than 50% of instructional chime Time blah shall be considered full-time that comes right out of nhsba and it comes right out of RSA 194f which is the RSA around efas Okay so nhsba has now said look if it's there we can use it but here's the problem in the definition of the RSA 50% of instructional time what's the definition of instructional time well that middle and high school it's pretty easy the courses you take everything segmented in middle and high school right you take a math course English course right so middle and high schools their instructional times based by the number of horses you take in a day and so if you have a let's say 7 quart is a day and you end up taking 4 of those 7 you're over the 50% you're now considered full-time which is going to mean you got to enroll in school what's the benefit of that is we get ADM database adequacy for that even if it's on a part-time basis you're getting based adequacy It's tricky at the elementary level because in first of all Reading Writing phonics all of the speaking listen can be integrated in different areas math can be Integrated Science Social Studies can be integrated the only clear thing really we probably have on our schedule that you could sign up for is math I mean is um music art gym right yeah but we have rotating schedules and and we give our classroom teachers as we want because they're self-contained classrooms control of that scheduling when it comes to core responsibilities right and we want an integrated approach for our assets so I not long and hard about this and I thought the best way to do it was to actually use what we report as our calendar times to the state to meet the minimum standards for calling a school year a school year right and so the minimum time that you have to have in a day for instruction based on the reporting of calendar requirements is 5.75 hours per day and then you if you just do times R 177 days or times 5 days a week then you'll get my weekly Daniel and so I defined our instructional time based upon those 3 quantities now the statement that is in here to help us is that it says full-time student status shall be determined using any of these quantities any of these 3 because maybe I'm only going to send my child for 1 day a week okay if at least 1 condition exceeds 50% of the instructional time then the students shall be required to enroll in Granton Village School so here's an example I'm on student I'm a family I'm receiving efas and by the way the new newest says schools cannot charge for any services to efas okay so that is that's all off the table now remember how we were thinking about what were we charged you can't charge now so if I'm a parent and I'm receiving an ephah and I want my child to come 1 day a week to school well they would meet the 50% rule out of the weeks time frame and they wouldn't meet the 50% rule out of the yearly but they would over exceed the 50% on a daily basis what I want us to be able to provide for services is I want the parents who are requesting the services to be specific about what services do you want at Grantham Village school instead of saying Hey I want my child to come 2 days a week now keep in mind if child comes 2 days a week on a weekly basis they don't hit the 50% mark on an annual basis they don't hit the 50% Mark but they would go over the 50% mark on a daily basis if my child's coming 2 days a week there's there's a lack of continuity in the curriculum program wearing but the better question is why do you want your child to come 2 days a week is it for socialization is it for daycare services that's not the intent the intent of this law is to say I want my child to take advantage here's the cleanest example I can give my child's in third grade I I'm taking care of everything else but the 1 area that I'm not proficient in or I can't find resources is is developing um musical appreciation for my so I want my child to go to my local public school to participate in grade 3 music classes that's fine we can do that and they won't go over the 50% rule in either case absolutely that's a perfect example of how if I'm an ephah family and parent receiving those funds how I can solicit the services of my public school I I want language that allows our families out there to to be very intentional about what services at the school do you want and I think using this language will have to force that conversation of what services do you want to participate in in in Outlets outline that and say this is what we have available the other thing to keep in mind is we do not have to change any of our programming or services to match a request it's what exists for us so that that work for a family that wants 2 days a week and they want Musical the music aspect would they still come for 2 days a week and under this policy how I wrote it I would say no they would come for I would say no because because you're coming all day you already met the 50% rule of the daily know you're full so because 50% of uh 5.75 is 3.4 something 475 I think it is so you're already coming over those amount of hours for the day so you're already over 50% so you need to enroll in rampant Village School so it's an extra protection to put in the daily essentially yeah the protection is in that language that says if at least 1 condition exceeds 50% the student shall be required to enroll in Grantland Village School and this is just want to make this clear efas right home in can do this and still in this would apply to our home education students as well this this could apply uh to any grant them resident student whether they're home add efas because now that it um notification of home ed we could have anybody say hey I want to go to Grantham Village school and I want to do this we would have to say yes the protect so I I want to make this clear this is not a policy to discriminate against DFA or home Ed this is a policy to say when you want to use our services please be specific about what services you want and and tell us and then we will say this is when it happens and also I'll say that this policy reads to me as the other side of the coin of protection which is us as we've done over and over again in other policies established like our mission in values and our values are about continuity for K through 6 and offering a unified integrated you know accredited program for our students who come to GBS and so this is also a way of us demonstrating what is important to us as a a district um so it's like the other side of the protectionism in my mind and I like the intention piece a lot you know why I agree with all of this um um basically nobody's like you're always going to be holding to the per day because the other ones are like so that doesn't in math calculation yeah right right um yeah but this students May attend school part-time so how do we hold them accountable for enrolling full-time if it says they can the part time yes and that statement right there is right out of 19318 yeah yeah so that's the state law but you are right Jillian how do we hold people accountable if they are actually so let's take the reverse this a student is enrolled in Grant them and only showing off 3 out of the 5 days correct well our attendance policies and our truancy policies are now going to kick in right but this law says that they can be part-time so I think we're not gonna have any like to stand on legally but yeah 1 of my questions with will tomorrow yeah is to say um you know and supportive and I think that's the right thing to do I just think if push comes to shove well they can attend school 50 % of our loss right right right sure but then you get in the weeds of like what is 50% right and we and at least we can say that the board has designated this is our 50% criteria is at least like a Line in the Sand and we it's something to test yeah yeah I agree I mean this all actually all sectors are running never have to get down to the weeds I tell you about it right it all centers around that RSA 1931 which is compulsory education in the state of New Hampshire which says kids between the ages of 6 because 3 to 5 is try to find but 6 to 18 or 20 up to 22 if you're special ed but let's just general population 6 to 18 either have to be in school but that RSA is grown now except for and now the exception is growing right um which which is why the next paragraph down is actually important um you know well if a student is a resident right of the Grantham School District and attending school within the grandson School District on a part-time basis the Grantham School District will ensure that the student is satisfying compulsory attendance requirements in other words if the state were to contact this family and they're attending less than 50% I would give them validated evidence I wouldn't say they're attending full-time I'm saying I would give them a letter and say yep your child is attending blah blah blah they would need to submit that to the state to prove their meeting compulsory attendance with that not just that but without whatever helps they're doing it so they would probably prove it this way Jillian letter from me saying yep your child's coming this this and this right and I qualified for an ephah boom in the state would accept that right the next paragraph I had a question the alternative learning program established by us who we have such um we may on occasion you never know okay good I'm thinking of some of our students with special needs who have adjusted schedules um so that could be an alternative program right there oh we haven't got a set of those at this point that are sort of we don't have a lot of them okay I can I can imagine like a dyslexic yeah kid who wants or killing him instruction or something like a private instruction thing that we would right yeah I can imagine that it's basically saying something that we've vetted we've approved accounts accounts towards that full-time status whether they're physically here full-time or not would that also include um um curriculum that parents are opposed to so human sexuality for example that could fall under there yes correct yeah yeah anytime we do we under the objection and curriculum policy right anytime we agree to that plan then that's basically we're approving it and saying that's okay too yeah why um for the first grade enrollment is it by September 30th um a student may enter green 1 if they will be 6 before September 30th but for transfer students it's 6 before December 31st was the recommended date there's nothing written anywhere it's the general be the same date why wouldn't it be so my question to you too yeah um I think it's because if they're transferring after that September 30th in and they're not 6 yet but they're coming that might I don't know I still feel like the date should be the same I agree yeah and I'll ask well about that yeah I don't but I don't care unless there's another reason why we should be having 2 different dates yeah I think I would recommend that be the same date just to hold the expectations the same yep yep that some kids start before then they turn like at a different School District maybe they have a different date allow for that that I would think that's probably why they picked December 31st and I'm thinking they also picked December 31st because it's not quite the halfway mark a year so you know you're giving people a little more time but it could be if I'm transferring from a different state and they had a different cut Point yep okay maybe it's a little bit more sense I guess yeah okay but I'll I'll talk a little bit strange as a kid comes in from first grade and 7 weeks I'm sorry I Vanguard right it has happened though I'm sure I mean you know 1 of the things I want to talk to Christian about is um having a uh entrance like procedure like this is what we'll check when kids are coming in whenever we have a question yeah because if we go into well not if we will go into slightly more or a lot more chaos and live here or 2 or 3 or a mile or so it's important to ask those questions ahead of time I think 1 of the things that makes me nervous about that December 31st date is we don't allow early entrance into kindergarten so potentially there's a family that we said no no early entrance to kindergarten and then all of a sudden there's a kid the same you know same thing a year later yeah yeah so we may need to look at it early entrance into kindergarten September 30th and there is a unique case of order to discuss it yeah that's a good 1 yeah yeah I'm also thinking about this is sad um there's lots of parents now are holding back their children in elementary school for athletics um which I was surprised to think this summer with the boys um yep like there were like kids dunking on Joseph and they're like oh sixth grade and I'm like no way or even sixth grade like oh yeah we held them back for 2 years so for athletic development on oh my God you see that in the transition also from elementary to Middle yes yes I do but I didn't realize also happening in elementary school it's interesting when we were in Delaware it was December 31st so could could come here from Delaware and be on your criteria yeah yeah and because Delaware had December 31st yeah yeah that's my guess is they did some nhsba did some research around that and that's the state movement and it could be the states around us too I have to check maybe we need to think about the converted piece yeah I just made a note that we probably want to look at a policy for early entrance kindergarten because that may take care of some of this yeah yeah okay so we should I would entertain a motion to approve the first reading of policy J EB and the Proviso that we're all gonna I got it obviously in our second reading so I would entertain that motion to approve policy Jeb for our first reading so first from Phil second second from Jillian all in favor say I okay now JJ okay um so JJJ originally all I was doing was picking up the language you have in JB now around the 50% Rule and the language that 50% rule in JF and I inserted it as your first paragraph of yours so you now have a a continuity going across your policies right but the reason why I'm going to say table that tonight um I'm going to give you this now this just came out today as you got the emails this only works for open world change and J yeah this is I mean you want to copy to Brenda yes yes okay don't give these to a coffee there you go yeah can you tell like I don't want to log in if I don't want to see something you don't need me log in don't worry that's exactly so this is the this is what came out today in terms of updating JJJ the revs at the top are the new notes um anything highlighted in green I believe it is um our brand new as well this is what they call the red line version of their existing template uh your template parallels a lot of this in JJJ um I've got a wrap my head around it um so that's why I'm suggesting you table JJJ tonight and the changes because you're gonna have more changes yeah this is significant I if you just take some time yeah if you go to the third page of the nhsda they don't have the page numbers on them but um it'll start with a 1 and a 2 on the top and then look at the paragraph below number 2 in making the determination the principal should consider now they've crossed a home education evaluation materials because now that has been removed as a requirement in the home of so this this passage of 1618 which open things wide up in terms of omad and EFA is definitely creating a big ripple effect um and another P big policy that um got substantially changed that I sent to Kristen today she and I are on it next week is the bullying policy and so we're going to bump that right up on the priority list for September 1 so if you play the green is out uh the green is new green is new I think yeah it says the principal may require assistance on page 3 delete FN all right yeah bottom top of the Third think under 1 and 2 where it says principle that may also require assessment testing oh yeah that says delete that's the footnote that means delete the footnote it's a that when I get it I don't keep all these notes on yours you get a clean copy okay that's a note to me to say delete the footnote but the principle may also require assessment testing as new language there considering because the law took out requirement of testing coming back in they're saying but you can still have it as a as policy okay I mean you can see if you just yeah the first paragraph under a just basically like sort of violation we were just talking about so yeah so we have drug yep all right so do you need a motion to pause that or entertain a motion to table the discussion of policy JJJ until next month right person Phil second from Nancy all in favor say I I okay sorry okay um all right uh last on the agenda sorry like this our SWOT analysis and discussion part of strategic planning um we're seeing and I touch base about it real quick and um wanted to just talk about whether we might want to um find a separate time to do that or if we wanted to how do you guys want it to manage that I feel like we could have a group meeting separately we could um coordinate via writing you know we could have a share SW um document that then we can review next meeting there are a number of ways to do it I don't have strong feelings about it and I think my main question is whether people have the appetite to have a separate meeting or whether we coordinate like in writing and then review it for real question to speak to you want to do homework outside of a meeting separate meeting yeah just the board yeah yeah my preference would be a separate meeting versus 800 emails I agree if we I do not mean coordinating email absolutely not I meant 1 document where you all can add your homework but no no no also allergic to wages okay perfect um okay well then I'm open to either I guess as long as I can have wine with it yeah for sure you'll have to so we're talking about like another meeting time where we sort of talk it through and create a thing or a shared document where we all add our our different ideas into it and then we would review it probably following our next meeting in September keep in mind that SWOT analysis is going to be considered a meeting you know your document piece and that's on the public yes adding to that anything literally any your GBS is Public public also interesting I got my seventh and eighth grade soccer schedule today to my GBS email you did weird public um I still think I would prefer in in person meeting as much as my schedule is terrible but um just I'm understanding and talking through the different perspectives okay versus just having my own I agree I actually being in person makes a difference but let's have a time limit yeah really yeah just an hour I think and we do homework yes we can have a document first there's a starter yeah for sure um okay do we want to fit it in before the next meeting or maybe um okay yeah um after after the week of the 7 so I would prefer the last couple weeks of well I guess the week of the 24th or the week of the first since Labor Day is late this winter those would be my 2 preferred weeks in those weeks I think I'm pretty wide open 30 week the 31st is better for me than the week of the 24th okay do you want any admin do you want me there do you want any of those Excel and your board meeting is September 1st yeah right that's true all right that makes it pretty hard maybe the week before would be better depending on when I assume we're talking in the evening for everybody's schedule yeah I think so yeah maybe late in the week of the 24th the 27th would work for me which I work for everybody else for me I'm sorry not great me for Nancy yeah the week before the week before isn't good for me well I can make Sunday's work no not really well we can also just do the document and see where it goes and talk about it at the next meeting okay yeah is there a timeline we maybe maybe we put just put like half an hour aside to talk through it at the next board meeting yeah that's I was gonna kind of leave this as a standing agenda item for you for the next couple of months and you tell me when to take it off yeah that makes sense okay I think so as long as it's an editable document and we'll continue to totally dedicate it yes I will have that to you guys by end of the day Thursday if not sooner okay with a shared Doc and then yeah we'll add as we see fit when you have the time between now and the next meeting and then we can decide is to add to it but is hop in there literally plug yourself in you just you open it up and start typing oh welcome video start with the dog first and then okay I'll give each other feedback and I'll put this on September and you guys can talk about your dot sounds good yep hang on such as like okay um next on the agenda is the principal's report it's quite here so submitted as voila I love it I like that excellent uh superintendent report only have 2 things for you um you are welcome to make the Motions today yeah doesn't say it on the agenda okay I'm gonna pass in a minute sorry um but hiring updates Jessica Cota we hired as the fourth grade teacher uh Brooke Rando uh is a pair of educator coming to us pray in Britain has downsized only doing Pre-K next year because all the kids are going to Care search um and so she is coming to us as parent educator um I've already hired them through my summer hiring Authority so we really don't need a for the nomination it's really FYI for you guys right um and then I just wanted to point out the August back to school events opportunities for the board to engage um Friday August 21st I guess around noonish right well you haven't really figured out the schedule yet um the board is going to sponsor a lunch lunch for the staff and if somebody wants to come and do a quick welcome as people are eating we can do that quick it will just keep it really quick like 10 15 minutes because of 2 days August 20 and 21st are jam-packed with capturing kids Hearts training and then Monday August 24th the admin is sponsoring breakfast so you're welcome to come out uh around the 8 AM time and I'm going to guess right now yeah um and if you want to we're going to be doing some breakfast on the grill too um the fancy meal but that's all I had I'm going to toss it to Meredith for any updates on her end um written and submitted its busy time of year she says with the Melanie what thing was that breakfast the 25th Monday the 24th yeah the lunch is the 21st yeah um I don't know I would love to say uh hello but I can't do the 21st so I mean normally like board person says something nice um usually we do a breakfast but we switched it up this year oh good I like that yeah and all of that is in my I shared the letter to staff in my principal we might be able to come and let you know I'm not sure nothing to be in for Harbor that week I mean I could do something super corny and like record myself and I hate the whole like stupid we could do a whole it's okay it's okay yeah or I could write something I want to be carrying yeah or you can just no I like to no I like them I know we're thinking of that with the check with Jerry maybe he's available right or I'll let you know okay okay okay 21st um okay um consent agenda is next um any questions comments about the consent agenda okay I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda first 1 fell second from Jillian all in favor say I I I was approved we have a non-public on the agenda oh what no 1's here nope great um you don't need public we don't need a nonpublic doing oh no no I would entertain a motion to adjourn Jillian second from Phil all in favor say I 740 impressive that was good um I responded to your email to see in from today that wasn't going to be here

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Grantham School Board Meeting, August 4, 2026

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