WSESU

Mark Speno discussed this afternoon’s end of year family picnic at Brattleboro Early Education Center, the new Canal Street School Pre-K facility. It was a great family event celebrating the work of the new Pre-K program. Parental feedback was great and they look forward to expanding next year. Mark thanked the board for their support of this endeavor.

The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Board will meet at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 in the Windham Regional Career Center, Cusick Conference Room, 80 Atwood St, Brattleboro VT, and remotely via Zoom.

Mark presented the board with documents detailing our SU’s current system of Supervision, Observation & Evaluation for certified staff. New teachers are evaluated during their 1st and 2nd years and then afterwards on a 3 year cycle. A committee was created including members of the Curriculum office, BAMS and BUHS personnel as well as representatives from the elementary schools so that there was a full Pre-K – 12 lens on this issue. The committee is proposing a newly formatted template that will be discussed at the April Admin meeting. The intent is to create a common structure that can be used across all schools.

II Executive Session
-1 V.S.A. § 313 (a)(1)(E)

Pending or probable civil litigation or a prosecution, to which the public body is or may be a party

The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Board will meet at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, January 8. 2025 in the Windham Regional Career Center, Cusick Conference Room, 80 Atwood St., Brattleboro, and remotely via Zoom.

Frank walked the board through the most recent draft of the FY26 budget which includes all previously discussed topics as well as the new food service recommendation. Questions from the board were answered.

On a motion by Shaun Murphy moved that the WSESU board accept and approve the budget as presented in the amount $32,028,031.

Frank gave an overview of the special education budget for our 10 sites including pre-K. The current draft shows an increase of 5.9% driven by student needs (up $1.1 million). The single largest cost driver is associated with tuition costs for students that we are not able to educate in our schools. In the area of salary and benefits, the cost driver is the increase in health insurance costs.

Tate Erickson and his team have been working hard to refine the budget to be lean and efficient but have capacity for new students moving in. He walked through the number of students as well as staff to student ratios. These numbers are expected to be finalized tomorrow and will be posted. Tate discussed both the ratios for both students in our area schools and those requiring out of district placements.

The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Board will meet at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 4. 2024 in the Windham Regional Career Center, Cusick Conference Room, 80 Atwood St., Brattleboro, and remotely via Zoom.

Public Comment – Martha Noyse of Brattleboro and Jody Normandeau of Dummerston spoke on the current budget process.

Administrative Report – Mark spoke of the upcoming school break. While there will be no school for students next week, Monday and Tuesday will be in-service days with school based professional development as well as meeting and planning time for staff.

The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Board will meet at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 in the Windham Regional Career Center, Cusick Conference Room, 80 Atwood St., Brattleboro, and remotely via Zoom.

There was no public comment.

Mark gave an overview of the new HR Clerical position at the Central office being proposed.

Given the new programs and responsibilities including Grow Our Own, Title 9 and HHB oversight, workforce recruitment, onboarding and exit interviews, etc, the central office is in need of additional support. In the current budget, we will use unutilized funds. Next budget year, the plan would be to add this to the office budget. This is a part-time position with benefits.

The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Board will meet at 5:00 PM onWednesday, October 9. 2024 in the Windham Regional Career Center, Cusick Conference Room, 80 Atwood St., Brattleboro, and remotely via Zoom.

The board was joined via Zoom by Sandra Cameron, Associate Executive Director of the Vermont School Board Association (VSBA), who gave an overview of the upcoming Superintendent evaluation process. The survey will be sent to the full leadership team, all three boards, and the Superintendent. Participants will be given 2 weeks to answer with additional time given if required by response rates. The goals established at the conclusion of the previous evaluation will be embedded into this survey. When complete, the VSBA will compile a summary of quantitative and qualitative information.

I Call to order Anne Beekman, chair
Any board member may request that any item be removed from the Consent Agenda if it warrants further discussion. Said item will be removed. Please make the request at this time.

II Superintendent evaluation
– Guest – Sandra Cameron, VSBA

Our renegotiations will start around November and the goal is to be done by the annual meeting or earlier in February if possible. The usual time requirement is 4 pm – 8 pm weekly on a non-board meeting night. The board discussed including 2 board members on the negotiation team in a “silent but present” capacity. While the negotiations fall under the SU purview, the board discussed if representatives from the SD and VES boards, who are not on the SU board, could be included. Anne will reach out to legal counsel to see if we can expand the group to include district membership.