EWSD Updates for Board Members

Date: May 13, 2022

This document may have additional information by Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Equity:● The Equity Advisory Committee continues to meet to develop procedural drafts to share with the Superintendent for

consideration. There will be much to consolidate and phase in given the high goals set in the policy. There is a lot of workto do. Budget investment will need to be a part of discussions as we progress into the depth of work needed to continueour progress.

● The Equity Adivosry Report will be available in its first iteration in June. This report is designed to meet the annualrequirement of the Equity Policy to inform the board, the community and EWSD educators, students and parents. Thisreport will center qualitative and quantitative data aligned with nationally recongized areas of focus for equity monitoringas well as the goals of the Equity Policy.

● Teachers have completed a survey of changes made in classrooms from the training this year. The changes center onadjusting curruciulm around representation and inclusive language, although extend beyond that for many. These are thebeginning of the curriculum change so essential to addressing the needs of students from all identities.

● The EHS social justice union will be holding their annual retreat in June, this is an opportunity for students to cometogether to discuss their progress over the year and where they are going int he future related to their own leadership atEHS specific to equity and social justice. Inviting the students to a presentation related to their experiences may behelpful to the board in the future.

● A comprehensive training plan for 22-23 is in the process of being reviewed by leaders across the district. It incorporatestraining for all staff, training for equity leadership teams at the building level

Social-Emotional Learning:● We are concluding our first year with implementation of using the DESSA (SEL Assessment tool), implementing Second

Step SEL curriculum (K-5), and reporting out on SEL standards K-8. There are always “growing pains” when new practicesare adopted, however the first year has been relatively successful. With that being said, we have learned a lot and arepoised to refine our approach for the 2022-2023 school year.

● Highlights of the work done and changes ahead include:○ Revision of SEL standards to to ensure that the language/wording is more similar to that of the Second Step

curriculum K-5○ Revision of our SEL standards to integrate Social Justice standards, where there is overlap.○ Revision of our 6-8 SEL standards to ensure utility across multiple content areas○ Clarify and agree on a scope and sequence regarding what SEL standards are emphasized and reported out on

throughout the year.○ Continue to build structures to review SEL data and offer targeted support to students who may need it.

Student Support Services (Special Education):● A significant amount of work has occurred to help support the district prepare for the anticipated changes with the

Special Education Rules. We have partnered with WestEd which is supporting professional learning for our leadershipand school-based “Guiding Coalitions” to support the work ahead.

● In alignment with the rule changes for the entire system, special educators will need very specific training to facilitate IEPmeetings and evaluation results meetings aligned with the new rule. That is all being planned.

● Work is underway to identify those students who qualify and need additional Extended School Year supports thissummer. Hiring continues to be challenging, but efforts are being made to identify and hire the staff needed.

● The system will be shifting the IEP management system to an updated version of the platform with the same company.This will involve some training as well as some additional management of IEPs as they come due in the new system.

● EWSD is nearing its end of the state-wide selective monitoring process. We will be able to share the final results once thisprocess is complete. Special education monitoring is required by the Office of Special Education Programs in the USDepartment of Education and is implemented by the Vermont Agency of Education. The areas of focus this year were: 1)transition plans, 2) policy and procedure, and 3) evaluation timelines.

Human Resources:● We are busy processing new hires for the 2022-23 school year. As of 5/9/22 we’ve processed 82 new hires and

EWSD Updates for Board Members

reassignments for the 2022-23 school year so far.● Support staff offer letters are being distributed the week of 5/9/22. Support staff are expected to notify the district by

June 1 if they do not intend to return next school year. Both Administrative and Teacher contracts were distributed midApril with a 4/29/22 deadline.

● As of 5/9/22, we’ve hired 99 employees to work in our ESY program. We continue to add to this summer team every day.● We are in the process of implementing a new recruitment software called Applicant Tracking to replace Schoolspring. We

will continue to use Schoolspring as a job posting board (along with a variety of other sites), but this new program willreplace our current application and screening tools. This project is one part of our goal to continually improve ourrecruitment and retention of staff and diversify our workforce. The new system aims to increase accessibility forcandidates to apply for employment with the district and streamline the internal data entry process by offering directintegration to eFinance. The new tool looks to be very powerful and will allow us to shift some of our practices to takefull advantage of the system improvements.

● We are sad to announce that Michelle Goodell, HR Executive Assistant, will be leaving us on 5/27/22 to accept an HRGeneralist position with VPR/PBS. We wish her the best in her new role!

● HR and Finance are working to implement Position Control through eFinance. Position Control will help streamline thebudgeting process, give us better information related to our vacancies, total and budgeted positions, and provide us withmore robust data on the employee pay rate screen for easier reporting. The goal is to have Position Control up andrunning by the end of the summer.

● We are also exploring a new system for onboarding paperwork and workflow, and HR/PY form processing. We arecurrently using Frontline Central for our onboarding paperwork and are considering a change to Employee Recordsthrough PowerSchool. Employee Records promises to be a more robust system that has direct integration with eFinance.We may hold off on moving forward until we hear from the Path Forward committee relative to the recommendeddirection for the statewide HR/PY system before making any commitment.

● We are currently working on a new evaluation system for support staff to ensure consistency across EWSD. A draft hasbeen created with input from a variety of stakeholders and is being vetted with other stakeholders prior toimplementation. The new system will require an update of all support staff job descriptions on a new template thatincludes performance expectations, which will take some time to complete. We may pilot the new S&E model on selectgroups before rolling it out district-wide.

Communications:● During the month of April, students, staff, and families were asked to take part in a climate survey facilitated by the EWSD

in partnership with YouthTruth. YouthTruth is a national nonprofit organization that supports hundreds of schools anddistricts across the county by conducting anonymous surveys on a school/district’s behalf. The results of the survey werejust shared with Beth and Ben on May 10 and now we will begin the process of unpacking the 43 total reports providedand then sharing those with the leadership team in the District.

● Web Management Specialist Becca Brynga accepted a new job outside of the District in March. This provided anopportunity to reorganize the Communications Department and widen the scope of the web position. The web specialisthas now been renamed and will be the Communications Assistant going forward. I will take on many of theresponsibilities formerly held by the web manager, and the new position will be focused more on the day-to-daycommunication tasks, while also providing backup coverage that has been needed around emergency communications.Interviews have been completed and I hope to have an offer accepted in the next few days.

● Over the last six months, I have been part of a small team that has created the New England School Public RelationsAssociation (NESPRA). NESPRA will be an affiliate of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA). This wascreated as school communications continue to grow more and more important and at a time when nearly every state inthe country has a chapter (except for those states in New England). This is a great professional development opportunityfor those in Vermont and regionally. We will be hosting our first conference on May 16 in Lexington, Mass., and had toturn people away after reaching our max of 60 participants. Currently, I am on the executive board as the membershipcoordinator.

● Along with Dylan McNamara and Diana Smith, I have been collaborating with the Vermont Department of Health on a'student health services' survey. The DOH is looking at the possibility of providing enhanced physical, mental, and/ordental health services for PreK through 12th-grade students in the District. The survey was recently sent out to all parentsand staff (two different versions) and is in the process of being translated for our families who need it.

● The EWSD COVID webpage (www.ewsd.org/covid) is still available for families and staff, but we have not had to use it orcommunicate to the level that we had over the last two years.

EWSD Updates for Board Members

Finance/Payroll:● The payroll staff is working to get ready for year-end. We are getting all of our summer staff set up in the payroll system

to be able to begin paying for our various summer roles including; summer school, and seasonal staff for child nutrition,transportation, technology, and property services. We currently have a total of 100 summer staff that we are working toadd to our payroll systems. In addition, we are setting up all of our new hires and reassignments for the 2023 fiscal year.We currently have 86 new hire/reassignment requests for next year and that number grows each day.

● Payroll is also working to implement the new pension rules that were passed this month by the legislature in S.286. Therules go into effect on July 1st and will increase the contribution rate for nearly all of the EWSD staff who are mandated toparticipate in the VSTRS pension program. The original bill contained a tiered effective rate contribution calculation thatwas too complex for most payroll systems to handle. Thanks to advocacy from business managers through the VermontAssociation of School Business Officials (VASBO), the bill was modified prior to final approval to change the contributionstructure for FY23 and FY24 to be a flat rate based on the member’s total earnable compensation for the fiscal year. Thetiered effective rate calculation will go into effect for FY25 and we will need to work with our software vendor toconfigure the system to be able to accommodate this complexity.

● Our Director of Finance, Heather Bushey, is a member of the State Path Forward Plan Group. This group is tasked withdetermining the best path forward for the Shared School District Data Management System (SSDDMS) Project. The groupbegan their work by going through an RFP process to select BerryDunn as our facilitation partner for this work. Thegroup is scheduled to complete this work in December 2022 with a presentation of the chosen path forward option to theGeneral Assembly in January 2023.

● The finance department is also preparing for year-end and our annual financial statement audit. We expect to have ourinitial on-site visit from our audit firm, RHR Smith & Company, in June.

Child Nutrition Program:● We are in the process of conducting a community-wide satisfaction survey. This will be an annual event that will aid in

decision making, goal setting, and continuous improvement of the program.● Entering the 2021-2022 school year, we had a goal of increasing our local purchasing. We’ve recently wrapped up a

5-month, 2,000-pound purchasing agreement with Laplatte River Beef and are hopeful to enter another agreement forthe 2022-2023 school year. As of 5-16-22, we’ve purchased over 8,000 pounds of Misty Knoll chicken and 150 gallons ofMaple Syrup from Tucker Maple Farm in Westford. Although it’s been challenging to find producers with the capacity tofill the demands of a district as large as EWSD, we’ve been able to purchase over $15,000 worth of local products in thepast 3 months.

● Summer meal service is just around the corner. Unfortunately, due to the expiration of USDA waivers, our program will bemuch smaller than in the past two years. Census data that USDA uses to determine site eligibility is limiting our free mealdistribution to Maple Street Park. The Maple Street Park site will be open for children or their parents to pick up mealsevery day from June 20 through August 19 (excluding July 4). We are partnering with EJRP to provide meals to theirsummer campers as well as EWSD’s ESY students.

● We are busy planning our opening menus for the 2022-2023 school year and working with vendors to ensure productsare stocked and available prior to the start of the school year.

● In April we conducted a staff climate survey and are in the process of compiling the data and building a report that will beshared back to our team. The results will help us identify workplace climate goals and aspirations for the coming year.

● Vermont’s Universal School Meals bill, S.100, has passed both the House and Senate. It is on the way to Governor Scott’soffice for his signature and ratification. Ratification will ensure every Vermont student has access to a healthy breakfastand lunch at school.

Financial UpdateFY22 as of March 31, 2022

Cash Flow Analysis

Cash Flow FY22 Q3

Cash Flow by Month

Ending Cash Balance by Month

EWSD General Fund

EWSD General Fund as of March 2022

Budgeted fund balance carryover = $4,500,000Projected use of fund balance = $2,528,000

Difference = $1,972,000

EWSD General Fund

EWSD General Fund - Prior Year Comparison NotesRevenue: ● Local revenue is up due to an increase in annual tuition of $1,000 per FTE which increased

revenue $224k. Also, revenue from CTE for shared services has increased $370k. ● State revenue is down $1m from the prior year due to the timing of when we received

Westford’s 3rd installment of their payment to EWSD● Other Revenue is down because the State Aid of $293k ended in FY21.

Salaries and Benefits: Our salaries are higher this year compared to last year due to salary increases and our investment in summer learning to help to close the learning gap created by COVID. Our benefit costs are higher this year due to increased health insurance costs and increased payroll taxes on the higher wages.

Other Expenses:● Purchased Technical/Professional Services - increase is related to Special Education services,

SLP services, access control upgrades, equity● Purchased Property Services - increase in repairs and maintenance, repair work was down in

FY21 due to COVID ● Supplies - increase due to FY21 being low as a result of COVID

EWSD General Fund - Budget vs. Projection Revenue: At this time, we are expecting our revenue projections to meet our budget expectations.

Salaries and Benefits: We have struggled this year to fill many staff vacancies (custodians, paras, subs, etc.) and expect that this will mean that we end the year under budget in salaries and benefits. We are currently projecting a shortfall of about $2.6m

Other Expenses: At this time, we are expecting most other expenses to meet our budget expectations with the exception of our contracted transportation services and some of our Special Ed costs. As a result of bus driver staff shortages, we have reduced our bus routes and this is resulting in reduced costs to the District. In our Special Education Program, we are exceeding our spending Professional Services and Outplacements.

Center for Technology

Center for Technology as of March 2022

Local revenue is down due to the FY21 tuition reconciliation which resulted in a return of funds to sending districts amounting to $559k and we delayed the 2nd semester billing to allow for a more accurate calculation of our tuition amount.

We expect expenditures to be about 3% below budget this year due to various factors, but one of the more significant issues is supply chain availability.

CTE HISTORICAL TUITION

YEAR ANNOUNCED BILLED ALLOWABLE REFUND

FY22 $17,500 $17,500 TBD

FY21 $18,000 $17,500 $15,431 $1,606

FY20 $17,000 $17,000 $15,693 $836

FY19 $16,900 $16,900 $16,963 $0

Center for Technology

Special Revenue Funds

Special Revenue Funds

Child Nutrition Services

Child Nutrition Services as of March 2022

Note: School lunch cost is free to students - funded by federal funds rather than local funds.

CNS Leadership has prepared an adjusted budget for FY22 which is reflected in the report above.

The program is budgeted to make a profit this year and we are planning to reinvest this profit into the child nutrition program.

Essex Westford School District Board MeetingMay 3, 2022 at 6:30pm | EHS Library

BOARD MEETING MINUTES

Board Members: Erin Kennedy Knox , Scott Brown, Elizabeth Cady, Robert Carpenter, Scott Cooledge, Brendan Kinney,Andre Roy, Laura Taylor, Marlon Versamy, Iris Hsiang (Student Representative), Maddie Ahmadi (Student Representative).Absent: Diane ClemensStaff: Brian Donahue (COO). Absent: Beth Cobb (Superintendent).Members of the Public in attendance (in-person & via Zoom): Jessica Quinn, Riley Beckett, Jeff Caulo, Erica Bauer, MariaBeckett, Tamara Jaques, “R M”, Rachael Lizotte, Sandra Chittenden, Liz Subin, Erin Ennis, “m h”, Nate O'Connor, MediaFactory, Jack Behlendorf, Al BombardierOther: Media Factory Tech

Item Topic

I Call to OrderBrian Donahue called the meeting to order at 6:29pm.

II Election of Board Officers● Board Chair: Scott Cooledge nominated Erin Kennedy Knox for Chair and Erin accepted. There were

no other nominations. The nomination was approved unanimously 8-0.● Board Vice-Chair: Robert Carpenter nominated Scott Brown for Vice-Chair and Scott accepted.

There were no other nominations. The nomination was approved unanimously 8-0.● Board Clerk: Scott Brown nominated Robert Carpenter for Board Clerk and Robert accepted. There

were no other nominations. The nomination was approved unanimously 8-0.

III Comments from the public● Jack Behlendorf offered his congratulations to the new board members and noted the principles

that guided him during his own time as a board member. He also suggested that EWSD boardmembers should live in-district and be an active member of their community.

● Sandra Chittenden flagged that the live feed on Facebook currently lacked audio.

IV Consent Items● Erin Kennedy Knox made a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. The motion passed

unanimously 8-0.

● Approved Professional Appointments: Kimberly Brown (1.0 FTE), Kellie Carpenter (1.0 FTE), Brian

Flynn (1.0 FTE), Ashley Gagnon (1.0 FTE), Katie Hamm (1.0 FTE), Elizabeth King (1.0 FTE), Jules Lees

(1.0 FTE), Aaron Mason (1.0 FTE), Lauren Miles (0.5 FTE), Thomas Payeur (1.0 FTE), Amanda Pierce

(1.0 FTE), Courtney Power-Freeman (1.0 FTE).

V Discussion Items● Board Committee Appointments

○ Policy Governance/Advocacy Committee: Brendan Kinney and Scott Cooledge expressedinterest in joining.

○ Community Engagement Committee: Laura Taylor and Marlon Versamy expressed interestin joining.

○ Negotiations Committee: Andre Roy, Erin Kennedy Knox , and Brendan Kinney expressedinterest in joining.

All minutes are unapproved drafts until accepted at the following board meeting.Watch EWSD School Board Meetings at https://www.mediafactory.org/ewsd

○ Facilities Committee: Diane Clemens (in absentia), Scott Cooledge, and Marlon Versamyexpressed interest in joining.

● Transportation Bid Awards Presentation○ Brian Donahue presented slides on the EWSD transportation bid awards. The Board

discussion touched on bus route length and the causes behind bus driver shortages. Thefollowing motions were proposed within the presentation:

■ Motion 1: Motion by EWSD School Board to accept the bid of MobilityWorks andauthorize the administration to execute the purchase of one wheelchair accessibleminivan.

■ Motion 2: Motion by EWSD School Board to accept the transportation services bidby Mountain Transit for FY23 - FY26 and authorize the administration to executethe contract with Mountain Transit.

○ Action taken: A Board member (name unverified) proposed Motion #1, which passedunanimously 8-0. Laura Taylor proposed Motion #2, which passed unanimously 8-0.

● EWSD COVID Update○ Brian Donahue spoke on behalf of Beth Cobb in regards to EWSD’s COVID policy. The Board

discussion touched on staff coverage issues and EWSD’s efforts to track COVID data.

● Non-Agenda Items○ The Board will include the board member appointment procedure in next meeting’s

consent agenda.○ The Board discussed ideas for teacher appreciation gifts, including gift cards to local

businesses and planting flowering trees.○ The Board discussed changing the configuration of in-person seating for future meetings.○ Erin Maguire promoted a community event called “Step In and Come Together” that will

take place on 5/15 at the T-Rex Theater in Essex.

VI AdjournThe meeting was adjourned at 8:17pm

RETN films every regular board meeting and broadcasts them live.Watch LIVE EWSD School Board Meetings at https://www.facebook.com/retnvt

EWSD Monitoring Report

2.4. Financial Planning and Budgeting

May 2022

Enclosed is my report on Financial Planning and Budgeting per the request of the EWSD Board. I certify

that the information contained within this report is true.

___________________________________ _____________________

Beth Cobb, Superintendent Date

The Superintendent shall not cause or allow financial planning for any fiscal year or the remaining part

of any fiscal year to deviate materially from the board’s Ends priorities, risk financial jeopardy, or fail

to be derived from a multi year plan.

Further, without limiting the scope of the foregoing by this enumeration, there will be no financial

plans that:

1. Risk incurring those situations or conditions described as unacceptable in the board policy

“Financial Condition and Activities (2.3).”

Interpretation: I interpret this to mean that the adopted budget shall not cause or allow the

development of financial jeopardy or material deviation of actual expenditures from board

priorities established in Ends policies by:

○ Expending more funds than have been received in the fiscal year;

○ Expending more funds than have been budgeted except when overages are

accompanied with additional resources, such as grants or private donations;

■ Spending any surplus revenues other than grants, private donations or restricted

gifts;

■ Use any long term reserve funds without board approval;

○ Allowing for practices that do not comply with Generally Accepted Accounting

Procedures; Operating without internal procedures that detect, deter, and prevent

fraud;

○ Operate without internal controls that prevent and ensure against tardy, inaccurate,

specious or misleading financial reporting;

○ Receiving, processing or disbursing the organization's assets under internal controls that

are insufficient to prevent and detect significant deficiencies or material weaknesses;

○ Allowing debts to be unsettled in an untimely manner;

○ Allowing tax payments or other government-ordered payments of filings to be overdue

or inaccurately filed;

○ Accepting non-resident students unless tuition is being paid by another source or eligible

tuition waiver.

Rationale: Policy 2.3 sets the financial conditions clearly and is used as the basis for this

interpretation, along with good budgeting principles and statute where appropriate (ie, deficit

spending). Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Governmental Accounting

Standards Board (GASB) set the guidance for financial and accounting principles and are used

within this section to support the interpretation. EWSD also follows guidance as published by

the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Financial Accounting for Local and State

School Systems handbook and the Vermont Agency of Education in the Handbook for Financial

Accounting of Vermont School Systems (Handbook II).

Evidence of Compliance:

Observable Conditions Evidence of Compliance

EWSD received an unqualified opinion on ouraudited financial statements. There were noidentified material weaknesses or significantdeficiencies in internal controls.

EWSD audited financial statements for FY21(see Independent Auditors’ Report andIndependent Auditors’ Report on InternalControl over Financial Reporting and onCompliance and Other Matters Based on anAudit of Financial Statements Performed inAccordance with Government AuditingStandards)

EWSD Board has received quarterly financialupdates and has been apprised revenue andexpenses, cash flow, and of positive andnegative varancies from budget.

Quarterly financial reports provided andpresented to the Board are also posted onEWSD public website.

During the budget development process theBoard was informed of additional revenues(ESSER) and the intended investments relatedto Covid recovery.

Budget presentations provided updates oncurrent investment strategies (i.e. EWSDReads, SEL support, Assistant Principal), aswell as future investments (i.e. ELLCoordinator, PreK/EEE teacher, Director ofPreK, After School, and SummerProgramming).

Monitoring report of 2.3 Financial Conditionsand Activities has been presented to theBoard and Administration was found to be inmaterial compliance.

In this first year of Policy Governance 2.3Financial Conditions and Activities is notscheduled for monitoring.

Compliance: Pending until 2.3 Financial Conditions and Activities is monitored

2. Omit credible projection of revenues and expenses, separation of capital and operational

items, cash flow, and disclosure of planning assumptions.

Interpretation: I interpret this to mean that the adopted budget must be based on reliable

planning assumptions. Cash flow must be appropriately managed for timely response to District

needs and the integrity of capital and operational budgets must be maintained.

Rationale: GAAP, GASB, FASAB set the guidance for good budgeting principles and are all used

within this section to support the interpretation.

Evidence of Compliance:

Observable Conditions Evidence of Compliance

EWSD Board has received quarterly financialupdates and has been apprised revenue andexpenses, cash flow, and of positive andnegative varancies from budget.

Quarterly financial reports provided andpresented to the Board are also posted onEWSD public website.

The board and the public are informed of theplanning assumptions and there is alignmentbetween the planning assumptions and theprojected budget.

EWSD BUDGET pageEWSD Board Meeting - Budget Focus onJanuary 25, 2022

● Slide Deck - Building blocks (i.e.enrollment, class size, fund balancecarry over, etc.)

The revenues and expenses are clearlydelineated and within “reasonable”guidelines.

The 2021-2022 Annual Report

The budget differentiates between capitaland operational items.

EWSD Board Meeting - Budget Focus onFebruary 15, 2022

● Slide Deck● Facilities

Compliance: I report compliance

3. Provide less for board prerogatives during the year than is set forth in the Governance

Investment Policy.

Interpretation: I interpret this to mean that the budget will contain the level of resources

requested by and necessary to support the Board for its operations and professional

development.

Rationale: The Board requires resources to fulfill its obligations and these resources should be

identified and budgeted on an annual basis.

Evidence of Compliance:

Observable Conditions Evidence of Compliance

The budget allocates delineated funds tosupport board education, board training andmiscellaneous board expenses.

Board was provided their line item budgetalong with historical data.Board discussed governance investment

● 01-04-2022 Board Meeting MinutesBoard submitted requests for the FY23budget

● FY23 Governance InvestmentsBudget includes line item to support theBoard for board education, training, andmiscellaneous expenses including legal,stipends and supplies

Compliance: I report compliance

4. Omit disclosure of anticipated impact(s) of proposed budget.

Interpretation: I interpret this to mean that all anticipated impacts, including tax implications,

legislative implications, facility implications, short and long term enrollment and class size

rations, employment and leave concerns on proposed and adopted budgets will be fully

disclosed to the Board and that proposed budgets will reflect all anticipated impacts.

Rationale: These areas are the factors that will impact the district based upon the budgeting

process and decisions.

Evidence of Compliance:

Observable Conditions Evidence of Compliance

The public budget recommendation anddiscussion with the board includes relevantinformation on the impact of tax implications,legislative mandates, facility implications,enrollment trends and class size ratios, andpotential employee reductions or increases.

● Annual Reports and budget presentationsprovide impact on tax implications,legislative mandates, enrollment trends,class ratios, employee reductions(leadership model reconfigurations), andplanned additional FTE.

● On January 29, 2022 the Board wassupplied a detailed (by location, byinvestment category) of planned capitalprojects for FY23.

● On February 1, 2022 the Board wasprovided the 2021-22 EnrollmentProjections Report from the New EnglandSchool Development Council (NESDEC).

● On February 3, 2022 the Board wasprovided a copy of the 2021 FacilityCondition Assessment Report that outlinea schedule of potential investments forthe next 5 to 20 years.

Compliance: I report compliance

EWSD Board Member Appointment Procedure

Revised May 14, 2022

When an Essex Westford School District Board Member must resign their position, the Board will follow this procedure to select a qualified resident to take their place until the resigning member’s seat is up for re-election.

1. The impacted Board Member will contact the Board Chair in writing to resign. 2. The Board Chair will notify the executive committee (Superintendent, COO, Board Vice-Chair, and Board

Clerk). 3. The Board Chair will announce the resignation at the next Board Meeting (Note, if the resignation occurs

during the summer, a special Board meeting may be called). 4. The District will publish (district website, social media, print media, etc.) a request for applications from

the public based on the Board Member’s residence: a. Essex Town Board Member Seat to be filled only by an Essex Town Resident b. Essex Junction Board Member Seat to be filled only by an Essex Junction Resident c. Westford Board Member Seat to be filled only by a Westford Resident

5. The number of days between resignation and newly seated Board Member is 30 days. 6. The Board Chair will choose a Selection Committee following a request to Board members to volunteer.

The Selection Committee will be comprised of at least three elected Board members. 7. Interested applicants will email a letter of interest and resume to the Board Chair by a prescribed date. 8. The Board (inclusive of student representatives) will convene a special Executive session to review the

applications. 9. The Board (inclusive of student representatives) will rank the applicants based upon a thorough discussion

and group consensus. 10. The top applicants will proceed to interviews with the Selection Committee. 11. The Selection Committee will agree on at least four questions to ask each of the candidates. 12. The Selection Committee will agree on a date/time to conduct the interviews and contact the candidates

to schedule interviews. 13. Interview Process: (Private between Selection Committee and each candidate)

a. The Selection Committee will interview each candidate. b. Each Selection Committee member shall ask the same question(s), in the same order, for each

candidate. c. Answers from the applicants shall be noted by each member of the Selection Committee.

14. After the interviews have concluded, and in a private conversation, the Selection Committee will review the results of the interviews and will reach agreement on which candidate will be presented to the Board

15. After the interviews have concluded, the Board (inclusive of student representatives) will meet in Executive Session. During Executive Session:

a. The Selection Committee will provide their recommendation to the Board. b. The Board will deliberate the recommendation. c. The Board will enter public session and the voting members vote on the appointment of the

recommended applicant. 16. If the Board votes in favor of the Selection Committee recommendation, the Board Chair will notify the

selected candidate. 17. If the Board does not vote in favor of the Committee recommendation, the Board (inclusive of student

representatives) will reconvene in Executive Session to review the applicants. 18. Repeat the process beginning at step 9.