From the desk of Mary Beaudin, Landaff Selectboard:

School District Advisory Committee Minutes

May 6, 2025
Landaff Town Hall
Members present: Brenda Dodge, Joe Wiggett, Jamie Jarvis, Mary Beaudin, Francie
Kinney, Sam Natti, John Barth, Deb Erb, Dale Locke
Public present: Paul Varcek, Doug Erb, Michelle Beaudin, Matt Culver, Molly Culver,
Matt Copithorne, Toni Butterfield

Meeting began at 7:03 pm
Amended minutes approved
Discussion of the Google Drive share access was discussed. Jamie volunteered to enter a
compilation of both valid reference sources and factors in a quality education via a
spreadsheet on the shared drive.
Valid reference sources included:
Census data (with date)
NH Department of Education for comparative per pupil costs, among other data
US Department of Education
Local SAUs (Business office, etc.)
Local school boards
Department of Labor
NH Legislature
Local business leaders
School visitations
Public Input
Course offerings
Rating services
National Center for Educational Statistics
College readiness stats
Honor roll information
Subject matter experts

Dale added, “any other sources as approved by the committee.”
Factors of a Quality Education included:
Graduation rates
SAT scores
Socio-economic background
Teacher quality
Curriculum relevance
School leadership
School culture and climate
Safety (physical and emotional safety)
Staffing
Community and parental involvement
AP, Running Start, or other college credit opportunities
Internship opportunities
Variety and quality of extracurricular opportunities (athletics and clubs)
Citizenship
Culture
Mary reiterated that the committee must look at all levels preK to 12.

The committee began to define the scope of the committee’s duties. Deb Erb gave
everyone a copy of the warrant article for reference.
Sam- the committee’s duty should include the impact of costs on the taxpayer. Avoid
subjective opinions.
Jamie- further discussion is needed on the meaning of quality education.
John- Education needs to be good enough to keep the community viable.
Joe- look at the number of kids we are talking about.
John- Vermont is mandating regionalization.
Toni Butterfield distributed the latest Landaff school budget. Summarized $559,000 for
51 students.
We need to fully understand the costs of the Blue School. Both tangible and intangible
items should be considered.
Try to quantify the effect of regionalization and its affect on our costs.
Dale stated that the May 20 meeting should be used to figure what information is needed
from Lisbon and the other schools. Discussion ensued about whether school board
members should attend. Jamie’s concern would be that board members might “plead
their cases” with the committee. Sam suggested a questionnaire (without opinion
questions).
Matt Copithorne said RSA 195 is about forming an SAU, which necessitates all towns
agreeing.
Mary suggested creating a pros and cons chart, as some items can be seen as both pros and
cons.
Sam- how do we back up conclusions about quality education?
Jamie- use the tools we have listed.
Molly Culver was willing to track Blue School students as they move on to other schools
via honor roll lists.
Sam- definition of quality education will evolve as we go.

Next three meetings were scheduled. May 20 at 7pm, June 3, and June 17 at 7pm at the Town
Hall.
Homework: Two or three questions that need to be answered through research and
discussion by the committee.
Public input:
Matt Culver- The committee is tasked with looking at analytical data, but also
interpreting the data. Opinions matter.
Michelle Beaudin- Suggested using process boards to discuss and process data without
disagreement.
Toni Butterfield will be added the Google drive shared folder to add budget data.

Meeting adjourned at 8:59pm.