proposed minutes should be considered preliminary until they are approved as
reflected in the minutes of the next board meeting.
Windham Southeast Supervisory Union School Board
Minutes December 3, 2025
Directors present: Anne Beekman, Kerry Amidon, Kim Price, Brian Remer, Deborah Stanford.
Also present: Mark Speno, Kevin Drury, Tate Erickson, Brandy Levesque, Kaleigh Richardson,
Frank Rucker
Public present: List of Zoom attendees as of 5:15 pm at the end of these minutes
CALL TO ORDER—5:04 p.m. — Anne Beekman
On a motion by Deborah Stanford the board approved the consent agenda as presented.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
With no new hires, retirements or resignations, Mark focused the night’s work on the presentation of the Special Education budget.
Tate introduced the team’s collaborative process with principals and building coordinators to right size a budget that faces constant adjustments during a time of changing uncertainties.
Kaleigh discussed the additional intensive services needed for the elementary group as well as the success of the case management model which is working well for retention and recruiting. Brandy noted the early education groups use of case management as well and their focus on ACC – augmentative and assistive communication. Kevin noted the progress of the CAVE Kitchen (Culinary, Agricultural, Vocational Education) as it works to prevent out of district placements with targeted interventions. The team is focused on reallocation of staff to meet current needs across the district while staying flexible to meet unexpected increases in student enrollment.
Frank walked the board through the Staffing and Enrollment Trends document as well as the Special Ed Summary Budget draft document. (Documents available on the WSESU website.)
The board and public asked questions concerning the causes of our current rates of additional service requirements and the effectiveness of the BOCES model (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services). While Frank and others noted the hope for success with a BOCES model, we have seen limited forward progress in hiring for hard to fill, highly-skilled positions.
Tate is working to find commonality with other districts and professional development may be an area for progress. While the pilot of the OWLS program at Oak Grove appears to be unsustainable at this time, the team is working with Jill Graham to look at group buying power for areas of economy of scale. The board was reminded that BOCES are not just for Special Education but can work for purchasing and hiring for all areas of a school district.
The main components of the $2 million dollar increase in Special Education funding includes:
● An increase in intensive services at the elementary level including medically fragile students and the need for specialized equipment and technologies.
● An increase of $700,000 in benefits with the majority in health insurance as well as about $500,000 in contractual salary increases. It was noted that it is a new occurrence that an increase in benefits is now larger than salary. The balance of the increase is from the additional need for contracted services for evaluations and specialists such as speech language pathologist and psychologist services.
Overall, while needs have increased and are driving our budget numbers higher, the team is seeing success in the number of students leaving special education. It was noted that early intervention is crucial.
At our next meeting (Wednesday December 10th) the board will hear about the allocation methods, we will hopefully have the needed numbers from the state, and we will have projected reimbursements and ADM figures (average daily membership).
Public Comment on Non-agenda items – there was none
On a motion by Kerry Amidon the board entered into Executive Session at 6:09 pm under 1 V.S.A. § 313 (a)(3) the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee, provided that the public body shall make a final decision to hire or appoint a public officer or employee in an open meeting and shall explain the reasons for its final decision during the open meeting.
The board rose from Executive Session with no action taken. On a motion by Kerry Amidon the board adjourned at 7:53 pm.
Notes respectfully submitted
Kerry Amidon, Clerk
