Public forum policy and Community School District network issues seized school committee members’ attention March 9. Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 98 Superintendent Robert Kahler provided committee members and the public hand-outs outlining rules and guidelines for public comment, a subject of brief contention at a March 4 special meeting.

Member Bruce MacDonald said the committee has been informal about how public comment is handled and proper procedures should be maintained to keep long tangents to a minimum and encourage the public to reach out through the proper channels outside meeting time. MacDonald also said comments about motions, votes or general activity of the board is not appropriate.

The intent of public comment is for community members to comment on concerns or observations and not necessarily to ask questions of board members or school administration, Kahler said.

“It's natural to ask questions, too, and those can be referred to me or the appropriate party for an answer at a different time,” said Kahler. “(The handout) is a reminder all comments go through the chair.”

Chair Stephanie Hawke argued meetings are often community members’ only opportunity to ask questions and air their grievances. Questions should be allowed if a quick answer or explanation can be provided in a reasonable amount of meeting time. “We talk about transparency … I think when people make the time to come to the meeting, unless you have 300 people – we're elected to be their representatives and it's very rare that you have a lot of people here.”

BRHS parents Desiree Scorcia and Lynn Blake and BRHS alumni parent Tom Perkins said communication with the committee is vital and the ability to ask questions during meetings is one of few tools the public has to do it. Scorcia said it enables those who might need face-to-face interaction to communicate.

Blake said she was attending the meeting for the first time to see how the committee operates and felt parents and other taxpayers should be able to attend and speak their piece especially when it is difficult to find methods of communication outside of meetings. However, in their discussion of public comment policy, the committee does not seem inviting, she said. “I think your community taxpayers have a lot to say and no one is stepping forward because they don't dare say anything. That's my opinion.”

Network problems

“We first noticed (network problems) December 3 and at first it was only on windy days and it was intermittent. Three weeks after that ... it was hitting most days at period two … What appears to be happening is as students move around the building, their devices remain connected to an access point. As they keep getting further away, they keep trying to stick with that access point and then the access point tries to continue to funnel internet connection to them and then it drops the experience for everybody … There were a couple weeks when there weren't any issues, but it has, as it's gone, gotten progressively worse,” said AOS 98 Tech Director Brynne Roseberry

The schools' tech team has been working behind the scenes to fix disruptions in the BRHS building said Kahler and Roseberry. The team has been pulling report logs and work that has been done to correct issues from those reports, but because report submissions vary in method – through a ticket system, by phone or by mouth – part of the solution will be consistency in reporting.

Initial troubleshooting pointed to the wireless system connecting BRES to BRHS, but feedback from various vendors said bandwidth is often about 10-times greater than what is being used, said Roseberry. The issue is with the access points within the building which often fight for device connectivity when the device is moving between hubs. Several potential solutions for the issues included different switches, software updates and automatic notifications to network vendors and unit manufacturers for adjustments. While some solutions were mildly successful, the problems still persisted.

The CSD issued a request for proposal a month ago for purchase and replacement of the outdated access points, but even as responses come in, the availability of new units might be limited, said Kahler. Gudroe Technologies, one of the CSD’s vendors, lent BRHS six new devices to tide over critical areas like the library and offices.

Said Kahler, “Regardless of the length of interruption, I think overall, and it's been heard pretty clearly, is it's the confidence in, 'is this going to even work?' When you're trying to teach and you've got a bunch of kids in front of you, that can certainly create its own challenges.”

Member Ruth Macy suggested having a network engineer look at the issues. “IT is a minefield. You think someone does everything and then you find out they have no idea about other parts of it. Networking is a difficult thing to navigate.”

MacDonald said he and other committee members were surprised to hear about the network issues and staff discontentment through the Boothbay Register rather than at a meeting. The message from the article makes the school seem like it’s in shambles through committee inaction, he said. Since the issue has never appeared on the agenda and solutions to the issues seem to be in motion, MacDonald said he wants to know instruction is able to go on and that there is a plan. “So, I walk into the school tomorrow and I'm a teacher, I'm a principal, I'm whatever – is this thing irretrievably broken or is it ‘working, but it's been difficult?’ … It sounds like from the tone of some of the public comment that we're running, I won't use a vulgarity, but we're running a really bad school, here. Is that the case?”

Kahler said he and the tech team have been meeting and devising a three to five-year plan to restructure the tech team and to put a better reporting system in place. The tech director position has fallen to each technology integrator – Abby Manahan, Zachary Gray and Roseberry – at some point, and it has been split between two integrators in the past. Kahler said he has found numerous job descriptions some of which have not been adopted by the committee. “From a systems perspective, having one person overall who leads it makes a lot of sense. However, also looking at the current building and staff and where we are right now, if building that around a couple people who are here right now is a bridge, that's what we'll do. But from a systems perspective, if we design a network and the positions around, say, John and his skillset and John finally breaks down and retires, that's when we run into problems.”

Member Abby Jones said architects from Lavallee Brensinger submitted a detailed conditions report for BRHS and BRES buildings. The Building Exploratory Committee now awaits its “third opinion” from Design Group Collaborative which will serve as a check and balance of LBPA’s report. The first opinion came from AOS 98 Facilities and Maintenance Director Dave Benner.

DGC’s report will confirm costs to repair the schools will not be overestimated to favor a full renovation or new building, said Jones. While conditions may or may not indicate a need for significant structural changes or replacement, the aim is to ensure a safe and healthy environment for students and staff, she said.

Said Macy, “I don't think this time is wasted because we don't have a building plan on file right now. We don't know and (trustees) don't know what we need to be highlighting … Even if we don't build (new), it's going to give our board of trustees more of a plan on what needs to be updated. And we're also getting curriculum support, so it's not just about the building.”