We work as a team...

The second meeting in March of the Maple Run School Board was held at the BFA library.  The second meeting is always held at one of the schools in the District, and the hosting school gets a chance to make a presentation or two.

BFA Presentations
Dr. Preston Randall (Guidance Director) spoke about the increased anxiety that our teenagers are feeling, based on the results from the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a survey given every other year to students grades 6-12. According to Preston, this survey “is one of the most reliable data points for local data about teenage behavior, particularly as it relates to risky behaviors...”. While things like violence and bullying are trending downward, the data shows that other areas of concern, such as the use of alcohol among students or signs of depression and anxiety are remaining level or slightly increasing. This is not something unique to Vermont - this same survey is given across the nation with similar results.

End result?  One of the things that helps teenagers deal with stress and anxiety is to have some feeling that they have some control.  BFA counselors and staff are now thinking about different ways that they can offer support and still help students feel in control.  As Preston said, there are:

• Things that we do to students because they just need to be done
• Things that we do for students, because they do not yet have the skills needed to do them
• Things that we do with students, in order to help them get the skills
• And finally, things that we support students in doing, because they have the skills needed

If we follow this hierarchy of support and have faith in the skills our students are developing, it is hoped that they will gain a better sense of the control and mastery that they need and want.

A big thanks to Haley Seymour and Alex Haag, our BFA student representatives.  Haley is a Senior and this was her last Board meeting.  She has done a great job representing BFA students to the Board, and I know that Alex will continue doing great as well. Alex reported that he has been involved with work on our Wellness policy development and it is nearing completion. He also reported that this year’s prom theme is “A Night Among the Stars”.

Fairfield Construction
We then considered the Fairfield construction project.  Principal Sean O’Dell summarized it for us - they need to pave the driveways and parking lots (they are dirt now), and make room at the school so that their art and music classes do not have to be held in a separate, nearby building (the Common school).  I went there for a tour last Friday, and parked in the far corner of the big South parking lot.  There was a lot of water that day, and the lot and driveways were definitely hard to walk on.

All in all, it is a reasonable project.  Using the Common school was never the most desirable choice, but the Fairfield Center School and it’s taxpayers could not afford the $1.2 million that it will take to add new classrooms to the school.  But now they are part of a larger District, and all our taxpayers need to take care of all of our schools and students.  This is one of the advantages of being a part of a larger District.

Also, this is a great use of our Capital Improvement Funds.  This is the kind of thing that we have saved them for.  We have made huge investments in our local buildings, and we have to keep them sound.  When we ask you on the ballot every March if we can transfer any fund balance for the year to our Capital Improvement Fund, this is why you should say Yes!  So that we have money available when we need to make repairs and improvements like these, without having to go to a bond.

After some discussion, and seeing the need, the Board voted unanimously to approve the project.  On to the detail planning!  I’m sure there will be some disruption during construction, but hopefully everyone will take it in stride as we work to making FFCS even better.

Statewide Health Care Negotiations
For the first time, health care benefits for school employees are being negotiated at the state level.  Prior to this, every school district or supervisory union negotiated health care benefits separately.  Employees in one district might contribute 20% of health insurance costs, for example, while in another district they contribute 17%.  Some districts offer an employer funded HSA, while others do not.  Now, every school employee in the state will get the same health benefits.
The negotiations must be started by April 1, 2019, and will affect all contracts starting after June 30, 2020.  There are 5 people representing the employees and appointed by the VT-NEA and AFSCME (the two largest school employee unions in the state), and 5 people appointed by the VSBA (Vermont School Boards Association) to represent the school districts.

What does this mean for Maple Run employees?  Our contracts expire on June 30, 2020, so we will start negotiating new contracts later this year.  Health care is a big part of an employee’s benefits, and we might not know what they are going to be until the middle of December.  So employees aren’t sure what kind of health care benefits they are going to get, and employers don’t know what it’s going to do to their budgets.  Not a good spot for anyone.  Stay tuned….

School Happenings…
One of the best parts of our meetings onsite at a school is that our principals get to speak out about what has happened or what is going to happen.  A couple of interesting points were made by Angela Stebbins and Jason Therrien from SATEC.  Odyssey of the Mind is a great program that gets students to use their creativity and problem solving skills as a team.  SATEC has had a strong program for quite a few years, while the other K-8 schools have not.  Ever since Maple Run was created, the organizers at SATEC have reached out to SACS and FFCS to include their students as well.  Angela reported that in the most recent state competition, Maple Run fielded four teams composed of 25 students from SATEC and FFCS, and they did great!  Two First place awards and two Second place awards.  A great success, and it shows how working as a combined District can benefit students.

Jason then noted that Spring sports are starting and for the first time, baseball turnouts are low.  So again, schools are looking to work together to make it so that students do not lose out on an opportunity.  In this case, SATEC and SACS might combine squads into a single team, splitting games between each school’s fields.  We work as a team of schools, so that teams of players can compete on the field.  That’s the way it’s supposed to be!

Until next time,

Jeff Morrill

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes: FFCS = Fairfield Center School, SACS = Saint Albans City School, SATEC = Saint Albans Town School, BFA = Bellows Free Academy Saint Albans, and NWTC = Northwest Technical Center.

The first meeting of a new Board

The day after Town Meeting, the new Maple Run School Board met for the first time, and held its' annual Reorganization meeting.  The Board consists of 10 members living in Fairfield, Saint Albans City, and Saint Albans Town.  All voters in the three towns that make up Maple Run are eligible to vote for every Board seat.  This year, two new people have joined the Board, Alisha Sawyer from Saint Albans City, and Joanna Jerose from Fairfield.  Two Board members were also re-elected, Nina Hunsicker and Sally Lindberg, both residents of Saint Albans Town.

The first actions of the meeting were to elect new Board officers.  Jeff Morrill was elected as Chair, Nilda Gonnella-French as Vice-Chair, and Susan Casavant Magnan as Board Clerk.

Once the formalities were out of the way, the Board got down to business!  The Educational Support Professionals (ESP) contract which had been negotiated earlier in the year and had been ratified by the union membership, was ready to be signed.  This is a one year contract from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.  Why just a one year contract?  The State passed legislation requiring that Health Insurance for all school employees be negotiated at the State level.  Those negotiations are going on now, between representatives of Vermont School Boards and the VT-NEA. And because they will override existing contract language regarding Health Insurance benefits, the State declared that no one could negotiate a new contract extending past 2020.

The Board voted to accept the new contract, which included approximately 3.66% in new money.

We then discussed Town Meeting Day results.  Thank you so much for your support of the Maple Run School District.  All of the Maple Run ballot items were passed by pretty favorable margins.  Thank you for supporting our budget, which the Maple Run Administration has worked very hard on to keep affordable while still supporting our students.  Unlike most other districts in the state, we are not seeing our equalized pupil count decrease.  This budget includes money to support a double digit increase in health insurance costs, yet we still kept the increase in per pupil spending down to 2.17% over last year.  I don't have a crystal ball, and many things which affect our tax rates are out of our control, but I hope that we can continue to keep tax rate increases down, while providing our students a solid education.

Thank you for supporting the BFA Bond, which will allow us to make major repairs on the North Building (which anyone who has driven by can see that it needs).  It will also allow us to add sprinklers to the South building, increasing the safety of everyone in case of fire.  By the way, adding the sprinklers will take the longest to do, with the work spread over the next three summers (hopefully).  And last, we will finally be able to connect the two buildings with an enclosed hallway and provide a central entrance to BFA for visitors.  This will make the transition of students and staff between buildings much safer and also protect the school by enforcing a single, securable entrance for all visitors.

Just as important, by supporting the bond for BFA, we will have the money in our Capital Improvement Fund to make some major changes at the Fairfield Center School.  We plan to pave all of the parking lots, making them safer to use.  We also want to add an addition to the school, so that students will no longer have to use the Common School for Art and Music.  These two projects combined are anticipated to cost about $1.2 million.

As the new Board Chair, I'm hoping that this blog will help keep more people informed about what the Board and the District are up to.  My intent is to post new entries every month or so to let you know about some of the major things we are working on.  The Board normally meets twice a month, on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday.  The first meeting of the month is usually held at the Maple Run Central Office, located on Catherine Street in Saint Albans City.  The second meeting is usually held at one of our five schools.  Visitors are welcome.

If you find this information useful, please leave a comment, or email me at jmorrill@maplerun.org.

Again, thank you for all your support of the students in the Maple Run School District.  It is appreciated.

Jeff Morrill