I believe that's one of the big stances he took for decades in creating a more equitable funding formula or solution for schools especially to reach kids who were poor in poverty or those that were not always represented through our our process that we educate kids. Um, and so I think in helping bringing those uh uh playing fields a little closer to together and also in my personal experience having stood in spaces with leaders such as Ruby Bridges and Maya Angelo and listened to them deliver their powerful messages and reminders about the enduring power of public education and what education did for them and what it does for everyone else. Um, I think the transformation transformative I'm saying that wrong, power of what we do is important. I still recall learning personally as a young boy uh being first introduced to Langston Hughes and his poem I too and just thinking about the messaging behind that about dignity uh the ability to endure and creating a more inclusive society.
And um those that was one of the first uh works I can remember as a student having a really powerful impact on me. Um, and so I think there's a lot of uh of that work that resonates in today's society that I hope that we continue to reflect on. And today our students as they continue to navigate their life in our district um they will continue to be that generation that I believe um they have such a big responsibility in front of them because as they grow, they're growing up faster than we are. And we're in a place now we have to teach just beyond the content. They already have access to it within seconds. Uh we have to continue to teach about critical thinking, discernment, respectful dialogue, and the ability to to be able to disagree and agree productively together in our society. So in a world that often pushes a very us versus them narrative um and loves to create volume over truth or dialogue, um I believe we got to stay anchored to our mission here at BPS 101.
So we're going to continue to focus not just on the academic growth but our social social emotional development which shapes the whole student under our portrait of a graduate. And in the words of all the supporters during uh Reverend Jackson's time uh as he ran for public office, he ran for presidency twice um before that was even a considered option. Um that for our youth we say keep hope alive and that was one of the big slogans that he used to have with his camps. So keep hope alive. We got a great tomorrow coming with with the kids that we're raising as a village. So that's it. >> Thank you. Board comments. >> Tom just mic dropped it. I don't [laughter] >> Nobody ever >> kind of did, didn't he? >> That's great. >> I can start. >> You have You do all the time anyway.
>> I don't think I did last year. >> You did not. Yeah, somebody else jumped in. Candy jumped in. So, thank you. Uh, one of my favorite Jesse Jackson moments was when he was on Sesame Street and I highly recommend so good. I am somebody. It's one of my favorites. Uh, I didn't I hadn't planned anything to say, but then Madison, is that her name? The buddy bench. medicine shake. >> I was thinking when she was speaking so eloquently that she is doing this and she's a fourth grader and there are going to be kids five years from now sitting on that buddy bench. And so this fourth grader is like having an impact on kids coming up after her. And then our ambassador who's graduating got up and said, "You know, I would have loved to have flag football." And so she was also thinking about the students that are coming after her.
And I I love to hear about the MAP scores. It's amazing. But I think sometimes those characteristics that we're creating in these students don't always get acknowledged. But that's amazing to have students who don't only think about their impact on themselves and their, you know, fellow classmates now, but to think about all the kids coming behind them. It's just it touched me today. That's all I have to say. >> Okay. Yeah. So, you know that I want to thank everyone that um the girls flag football all the comments there and it made me start to think you know as a father of a daughter who was very active in sports here at Betavia um it is a big definition of who she was or who she is um the experiences that she had uh participating in those activities and I think really there's also a Bavia experience I like to say and I think it's different.
It is different here. Um and in order to get that we need to make sure we have like the right people, the right coaches, the right facilities. We have to make that experience the best possible for the students. So um it is ultra important that we get flag football going as soon as possible um for the sake of the kids. Um but uh I do understand we have to do it the right way to make sure that experience is what it should be for these girls. So, um, and then on Black History Month, so please indulge me here for a second, and you brought up Jesse Jackson, um, and he deserves all the accolades, but happened to be listening to NPR in January, and they um, they had a feature on a on an individual that I thought was like pretty it was to me it was very inspiring.
and it's it's individuals that uh are not high-profile uh people but have made a big impact on our lives. So, um I'm going to read something courtesy of uh NPR. Give credit to NPR and Wikipedia, but uh if you'll indulge me here, uh and this is for Black History Month. Um, next time you plug an address into an app for directions or tag a social media post with your location, please take a second to thank Glattis West. She was an African-American mathematician who helped to develop the algorithms that made GPS possible. Dr. West was born in 1930 in Virginia. Her family was a sharecropper uh farmers. Uh, Wes saw education as her way to a different life. At West High School, the top two students from each graduating class received full scholarships to Virginia State College, a historically black public university. Wes graduated as Valley Victorian in 1948 and received the scholarship.
Um, at BSU, she chose to study mathematics, a subject that was mostly studied by men at the time. Wes graduated in 1952 with a bachelor of science degree in math and began as a teacher. And she did that for a few years, but then returned to BSU to complete a master's degree and graduated in 1955 where soon after she was hired at the Naval Proving Grounds in Virginia. Um, she was the second black woman hired and one of only four black employees. She was a computer programmer in um they call it dog vision. I'm not sure what that means but and a project manager for processing systems for satellite data analysis. Um meanwhile in the spirit of continuing education she earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Oklahoma. So Dr. West was inducted inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame in 2018.
one of the highest honors bestowed by Air Force Space Command. Uh the press release hailed her as one of the hidden figures part of the team who did computing for the US military in the area be in the era before electronic systems. So I just wanted to share that about Dr. West. Think about that with your GPS now. >> Uh yes. So just along the lines, happy Black History Month. Happy Lunar New Year, happy Ramadan, happy fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday starts tomorrow. >> Um, and then just along with the flag football. Um, so yeah, growing up, uh, I had my two oldest brothers always watched me, so I always had to tag along and of course I always had to play their sports. Um, so that got me hooked on. I remember when I was in 8th grade and it was our class field trip and it was really boring.
So, uh, we pulled over and we went to a like a park district type place and so we were playing football and so being that I always had to play against my brothers who was one was four years older and the other one was two years older um I was pretty good and I had their own dads. That's why you want to tell the story to tell. >> No, not at all. One of the chaperoon dads was like, "Have you ever thought about playing football?" And I'm like, "I can't play football." Right? Because at the time there was no girls in football. It just couldn't do it. So, it was kind of like, "Well, I can't do it." So, I just play the other sports that I can't play. So, I just think it's important um that Yeah. Like you know Rob says like of course we'll do it the right way but it is important to have opportunities because I think when I was in high school then we started like the WNBA came you know slowly and surely you know girls sports are getting recognized and getting introduced.
So but so yeah I think it is important to have the opportunities that I didn't have. Uh, all right. So, happy Black History Month. I do want to commend uh Madison when she spoke. Uh, incredible poise for a fourth grader to get up there. Uh, her eloquence and, uh, what she was able to accomplish out of the goodness of her heart. So, yes, it's very inspiring. Uh, you know, people are coming about the flag football team. Uh I'm very embedded in that situation having a coach and spent a lot of time with all the girls that spoke tonight being on the field with them coaching them. And uh just kind of what I go back to is in my life like anytime uh things are getting heavy or maybe I'm losing the sight. I always go back to the kids and the kids have that purity of heart and uh ambition and uh clarity.
sometimes they don't get bogged down in uh some of the things that can clutter adults mind. So, I was proud of all the girls that spoke tonight and their families that were here and I know that we're going to do it the right way and when that opportunity comes for them that uh we'll all be out there cheering them on and formed to do the best they can. Um I want to again welcome Mr. Mikl to BPS 101. It was a pleasure to meet his family. Um, you know, I think he has big shoes to fill, but uh, I know he's going to do a great job for us. Um, I want to thank everyone who submitted nominations for the Hall of Honor. We had a flood of nominations before the window closed. We're going to have a vote next week. So, very shortly we will, uh, be able to announce the new inductees.
And then I want to touch again on the map testing. So, I know Mr. It's been talked about a couple times, but the results were when I saw them, I almost like fell out of my chair because I've been kind of trained that this is a big shift that takes a long time to to move. And um Dr. Newkerk, you can jump in here because I'm going to botch this, but MAP testing is this benchmark for testing students K through eight uh as far as a percentage that meet the projected goals of growth. And we went from in 2025 to 2026 in math from 64 to 71% in reading from 57 to 68. And if you go back to 2023, the numbers go for math from 53 to 71 and reading goes from 53 to 68. And that's a significant increase. I know that's not an accident.
There was a lot of hard work and planning and uh collaboration with the parents and and self-reflection on where we were falling short. So, I just want to say that that's uh very exciting, very encouraging, and I just want to thank all the stakeholders who had a part in in seeing our kids grow at that kind of rate. Job well done. That's it. >> All right. Um, on the note of Black History Month, um, I mean there are so many, you guys have done such a great job kind of just outlining a couple things and, um, I think one thing that I just kind of wanted to talk about was black joy, black resistance, um, black community. like when I when I dive into learning, those are all those all are things that have been brought to us um by so many black leaders in the time in this country.
And um I've learned a lot from it. And I think we all um I there's just so much that goes into experiencing what their community experiences and continues to experience, but show up and show up and show up and show up. And so it takes so much effort. Um it's a resistance to find to have moments of joy. It's a resistance to have community. It's resistance to gather and share meals and it's beautiful and I just I really like to take time just to kind of think about that and try to find those moments in my life just to slow down just to resist by resting. Um, and I'm really thankful for just various ways that black history has been able to be ingrained in my life and I've intentionally done that and it's it's absolutely wonderful and it just again we wouldn't have so many things in this life without that.
Um, and um, to go back to Madison and go back to the students who spoke and all of that, I'm really big into like patterns and like that kind of stuff. And um Kristen, actually something you you mentioned it made me feel like kind of what I was speaking to you about the student board members, right? Like it's not always about the academic piece. It's about the character. It's about caring so much for another student. Um these students in this district care so much about each other. They stand up for each other. Even when it doesn't impact them, there's no stake in it for them. they show up at this podium that a a fourth a fourth grader a you know a high schooler doesn't matter you middle schoolers they're showing up and I I know the girls who spoke tonight for flag football they're not just speaking for themselves right they're speaking for their sixth graders their third graders everyone in this community and it's really wonderful students will just never ever I'm just consistent just overwhelmed [clears throat] by the amazing things they can do she was phenomenal And just to think about, you know, like you said, like just there's there's going to be like more kids that come on and that's like her her legacy she's leaving behind.
It's just it's just so wonderful. Um, and for flag football, I just want to bring back to their I 918 petition signatures and you know, I'm really big about petitions because to to I want everyone who is involved in that process and that's 918 individual voices who are like, "Yes, please do this and please find a way to do this like quickly and the right way and all those things." Um, and I know that, you know, ideally it would be a sport and I don't know that we're not part of that conversation. And I hope if it can't be a sport because of really good reasons that it could be a club or something because I just I hear these these young athletes talking about how they have to go outside of what's available here. And um it would be really sad for them to miss an entire year and then start up as a 10th grader or whatever it might be or miss a chance even if they graduate before they can join.
Um and I just I don't want them to be left out. So, I'm just so proud of them for writing in, for their parents, for taking the time, and it's it was awesome to um just kind of read their emails and hear them speak. So, yeah. >> Okay. Um, not to beat a dead buddy bench, um, but [laughter] I I also was extremely I'm I'm I'm noticing the students using their voices a lot recently and I think that's really just appropriate based on the conversation that we had tonight and wanting to welcome more of their voices. um the empathy that Madison expressed with the buddy bench and and getting that all together, the enthusiasm and the attempts to make equal a football situation between girls and boys. You know, boys football is so beloved, it it almost seems absurd to have no female representation in such a beloved institution.
Um, and then even the kids who, and I guess I shouldn't as a board member say this, but said attendance be damned and walked out last Friday and walked over to Randall Road uh to make their voices heard. That was really something special. They took care of each other out there and it it was just really beautiful. They went and bought each other water and food and they they made their voices heard and it was really really really wonderful to witness. So, um, I'm just really proud of all of the students for using their voices. Um, and happy Black History Month as well. And that's all I've got for this month. >> Okay. >> A couple things. I'm going to echo what Kristen said, like the whole point of the point, the portrait of a graduate is to find the other beyond the MAP scores and the academics, right?
And that was a big part of that conversation. we a couple of us were going through it back in the day of letting that kind of develop itself through teacher input, parental input, surveys, the whole thing for community members, business members, and all that stuff. So, I I'm glad to see that's kind of beginning to kind of reach some some awareness at a minimum and rewards at the maximum, right, where people are paying attention to it. And it's one thing I've always seen about our entire community is that, you know, that everybody's trying to help out each other. And it's one of the things I'm proud of to be in the the the Betavia School District community. Um couple one other thing I want to mention is um I sometimes forget about all of the kind of the band stuff, but I just I'm not sure anybody here knows about it, but I think it was this past weekend.