January 22, 2024 School Board Meeting

001I'd like to call to order our January 20 second board meeting do I have a motion to approve the agenda Mr Hogan uh make the motion to approve the agenda do have a second Miss Snipes any discussion seeing none I'll call for the vote all in favor that motion carries 7 to zero do I have a motion to enter executive session Mr Hogan uh make the motion to enter executive session to consider the following a selected employment items exhibit a for Action B selected employment items exhibit B information only and C contractual matter regarding hero High School East Wing Exhibit C do I have a second Miss snip seconded any discussion seeing none I will call for the vote all in favor that motion carries 7 to0 and we will adjourn until o'clock I would

002like to call to order our January 22nd 2024 board meeting like to welcome we have a big crowd here tonight I'd like to welcome everyone that is here thank you for coming out um we will start this evening with the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance with trustee Kimberly Snipes let us pray dear God we thank you for your guidance for us all here tonight as we seek to make good decisions for this school and this community give us rest from any worry and peace to trust in the outcomes from what we vote on in this meeting I ask your blessings upon the students that you may give them a desire to learn I ask your blessings upon the teachers that you may give them a passion for teaching I I ask your blessings upon the

003staff that you may give them hearts for serving others and I ask your blessings upon my fellow board members that you give them a desire to make the best decisions for our students faculty and staff guide us safely home and let us awake Into Your Love in the morning in the name of Jesus Amen Let Us stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States America the standy andice for all all right that brings us to number eight the Schoolboard Spotlight Miss Taylor thank you madam chair members of the board Dr Ross good evening I want to start tonight once again wishing you all a Happy School Board recognition month uh you'll see at your table some um surprises for you and Gifts of art from the students

004at H Corley Elementary and so we hope that you all will enjoy those um Madam chair I think you've got the posters from the Schoolboard Association would you'all like to go ahead and do the photo for that for great thank you thank you for all that you do for the students and staff of School District 5 okay so tonight we are recognizing a very special group of teachers conditional growth percentile is a way to measure student growth in elementary and middle schools it measures students progress compared to their academic peers median student growth percentiles measure growth for groups of students such as a class it's the middle percent of all the students in the group typical growth for students is between 35 and 65 and anything above 65 is considered high growth the teachers we

005have here tonight all have a median growth percentile from either spring 22 to Spring 23 or fall 22 to Spring 23 of above this is amazing growth and we want to take this opportunity to thank these talented teachers for their commitment to loving and growing our students and commit commend their hard work so teachers please come forward as I call your name Jamal bar Nancy balock Heather Bryce Elizabeth Burke Megan Burton Sheri Carroll Jennifer kurn Karen Collins Ashley Davis Rachel Driggers Taylor gber Kiren gourney rahana Hakimi Kelly Hill Valerie Hudson tarnia [Music] Jefferson Jessica Jones Kathleen Jones Lisa [Music] knock Heather kungle Ashley Kaiser Don L Roa hope [Music] lights Jennifer Rebecca Magny Lisa Nicholson Patricia Norris Alison o shanesy Stacy Patton Burke Nicole Pard Tina stab Cara Stevens Ashley strange Ann Summers Sherry Ward

006Carol Watkins Brian Winfrey Cody wri and Ashley Ziggler all right can we recognize these teachers one more time [Applause] now now the test at the end we're going to do the photo come back to the midle don't all right I just want to make sure that I can see everybody's face everybody's got a window all right yeah Miss Hill just there you go there you go Lisa Contin the back all right all right on three we're going to take two one two three one more one two three awesome thank you all thank you that is I'm going to give it a second so it can clear out that was amazing how many teachers um was that in total Dr Ross 41 teachers wow that's amazing and now there's a party in the hallway that's awesome

007very good very good all right so that moves us along um to number nine on our SU number nine on our agenda which is our superintendent report I will turn it over to Dr Ross thank you madam chair members of the board and our community uh it is an honor that we recognize our teachers uh as we said in our strategic plan that to accomplish mid-50s on your median growth percentiles uh would be be good uh that 60 would be very good 70 uh would be excellent 80 is amazing you you just saw uh as the growing season and true effect with 41 teachers moving the average the median child in that class uh to 90 on that uh that just shows the the amazing work of our all of our teachers in our district

008uh but that is just an extraordinary growth that we're seeing uh as always we are system Guided by three critical questions why do we do this work how do we accomplish that why and what are the outcomes our vision is that we love and grow students and as you can see uh from those are the faces behind the work every day uh our teachers are growing our students uh we do that by saying focus on academic social emotional growth and development we have a umbrella of protection for our students uh everything from physical safety physical health mental health their social needs behavioral academic mic needs so that we can see this academic and educational success we measure love and grow with our performance goals of school climate teacher administrative quality student achievement and gifted and

009tal talented strategies this leads us to our growing season if we compare our map results measures of academic progress from last fall to this fall we are seeing that growth in the number of students who are not on great level who are now on grade level that's the movement uh that we're seeing from our teachers and students and so now the winter results are out uh the winter map uh results are back this is last year's winter uh map results again if we were to take the SC ready uh today uh this would be and last year's the results this is where we are a year later while we all recognize that there is work to be done we have to pause and thank the work that we have brought thus far uh that's amazing

010growth in changing those red red bars to Blue bars each percentage uh represents uh a name uh behind that number and a story behind that name in our secondary we're seeing by January 11th 85% of our seniors of that graduating cohort are on track to graduate we made a goal of 90.5% this year and so we're working each and every every day again to uh find what are those those challenges uh that that that work that we can work out for those students we met with our student advisory this week and they said Dr Ross um how many students uh are in that 5% and Dr Harris did the math for it it comes down to 70 students about 70 students um they looked at it they said you know we break this out by

011schools there about 23 students a school um so so even the students said we we makeing help by being examples and mentors for that so it's all Hands-On Deb uh to find the stories behind those 70 uh 77 students uh so that we can meet our goal so that's what we mean by it's more than just numbers uh it's the names and the stories behind those numbers if we look at the measures that we have in our district uh for academic growth we've seen growth in every category uh with the exception of Grant which is maintained from the last year again it's encouraging of the work that we see in our our teachers our students our families and our staff and are very proud of the growing season here at School District 5 and that

012uh bring us to our monthly financials and I'll ask our CFO Miss Madison Wilkerson to come forth with the monthly financials for November thank you for inviting me here tonight to present the November financial report we'll start with our Revenue summary Revenue through November 30th was approximately 74.2 million or 31.962359 from the counties for our real estate uh taxes in December January and February additionally um our state revenue is On Target compared to budget um you will notice that the the district did receive the tier one payment um uh in November in November this year this is normally received in December so this was um certainly a a nice windfall of 9.5 million that was received slightly earlier than um is usually in this time frame uh looking at other financing sources they are also

013in line with the budget year-to date so again overall uh revenue is about 74. uh 2 million year to [Music] date moving on to the expenditure summary through November 30th um expenditures through that time frame were about 78.3 million or 33.7 3% of budget which is as you can see very similar to the same percentage um for the same time period last year um again you will notice that expenditures are about $4 million over Revenue um through this time frame again very very normal for the fall for us um but actually a little better than most tiers due to that um thankful for that early tier one payment on the revenue side I did want to take just a moment to talk to you'all about if you go to kind of your detail pages that

014are in your packet um and just point you to the adjustment column so when we talk later on uh about the budget transfer policy that's actually where any trans transfers will be made um so you can see um we don't necessarily have any from a revenue standpoint but if you go over to the expenditure uh side you will see that there have been some transfers already occurring again under that $10,000 threshold from that policy but in the future that's exactly where they will be if we move forward with that policy so I just wanted to point your eyes to that but I'll be happy to take any questions any question Miss hudle um last time you talked about the um transfers that were necessary for the substitute um and I was wondering if you could

015just maybe explain that in a little bit more detail like where is the substitute originally budgeted and how do you decide how and where how much and where to move it yes so if you look um again in your detail Pages for the expenditures so um function 149 um so the way that this is laid out so the first three numbers are your fund so that's 100 and then it's a period and then the next three numbers are your function so function 149 in the purchase Services you'll notice a budget of 3.1 million um and if you look at how much has actually been spent it really doesn't look like we spent very much um and that's because what we do from our standpoint is we have a purchase order that we put in each

016year um for that encumbrance to make sure that we encumber those funds and then when the invoices actually come in they are for various different schools they're for various different grade levels so the function is different from that 149 so you know if I'm substituting for a kindergarten classroom then the function needs to be function 111 so I would need to move the budget for that um that substitute to function 111 so out of 149 to 111 so it needs to be in line with where the expenditures are actually charged so do you move it just to the fun the other function to kindergarten for example or do you move it to individual schools um I would propose that we move it to individual schools so we have not moved it at thus far because

017of the policy but I would propose that we would move it to the schools and you know to both both the function and the school if you were to move it to the schools how would you know like if if a teacher was already budgeted and they had leave and so there was really no more expense going to be incurred I mean that how would you know when to move it and when sometimes you would incur additional you know what I'm saying sometimes their salary would absorb it so how would you know when to move it and when not to move it if if you move school you know have to do that kind of overtime because at the end of the day your budget should really be in line with what you actually spend

018you know by the end of the year by June 30th your budget should be pretty pretty close to what you actually spend so if we do that monthly transfer you know it may be multiple times that we're doing it it wouldn't be just a one-time move that I'm then allocating one school gets an extra $200,000 it would be based on what is actually spent and then over time you can start budgeting for that so is that the only time that you move money based on what's actually spent is for the substitutes or is there some other times that money's moved for what's actually spent um well no that would probably be the I mean I don't want to say def definitively that that would be but um that's probably one of the the main times

019that I can think of I mean most of the time the budget is moved ahead of time when we know okay we would we need to move this because we have you know uh unable to hire that vacancy we're going to have to do Outsource that through a contractor so we then would move the Budget prior to um but substitutes is one of those things that is very hard to Budget on the front end so that's why we've always budget it in one pot and really have never moved it but the problem with that is when we get to the audit time you know in October and we look at our our budget to actuals at the at the end of the audit that is part of that report it looks like our our but

020our budgets are so off um and so from that standpoint it does need to be adjusted Ed to go to the correct functions yes ma'am any other questions thank you Miss Wilkerson thank you so as we we talk about budgets uh for the we are in budget season we're getting ready to once we get our projections and uh our our Revenue estimates we'll start bringing together budget priorities but I'd like to go over uh three items of uh administrative priorities for the budget for 20242 those three are teacher retention and recruitment Sunset of eser funding and the 5-year facility resoning plan uh these are uh really kind of primers uh of this presentation just to outline some of the priorities that we have for our upcoming budget uh the center for educator recruitment retention and

021advancement here since 2001 has has issued a report on the it's the annual educator supply and demand report uh I encourage uh you to review this um I would like to highlight that on average more than 7,000 Educators in South Carolina districts leave their teaching service leave their teaching position each year so over the last three years that can account for 21,000 teachers in one year I think it was up as high as 8,000 U what's interesting in that report is that we see uh of the current teaching Force where people are coming from 177% of the teachers that we are hiring are actually coming from teacher education programs the majority of the teachers that we are hiring are coming from other districts within uh the the state um so and 133% from from other

022states so the pool of of teachers is is shrinking as a result we are looking at um what is our employee value proposition what draws teachers uh to School District 5 election Richland counties uh we did a article study on uh what companies get wrong about managing talent and uh in that article it aligned that um organizations need to uh do well in four imperatives four areas material offering so that's pay and and and materials that we have equipment but also growth and development opportunities for growth connection and Community meaning and purpose and so we've asked that our teachers of the Year from each of our schools uh they work uh they did uh this article as well that worked in workshops and came up with ideas uh for each one of these uh quadrants

023things that we can include in this year's budget so uh as we continue to work with our faculty advisory uh on these areas you will see that we will bring uh to the board uh in our budget proposals items that we'll have in these four areas uh for approval uh next we want to prepare for the sunset of Esser uh if you can remember uh with the cares act this country uh for the uh Corona virus Aid relief and economic Security Act that was $2.3 trillion uh that this nation received um funny fact which is hard to Fathom if you count it to a trillion by one take you thous thousands of years to do that these are huge numbers of the $2.3 trillion dollar that the nation received the state of South Carolina received

024almost $10 billion in relief of that 3 3.3 billion went to schools of the 33 billion or 3.28 uh 26 uh billion School District 5 receive $23.3 million um all of these funds will no longer we will no longer have access uh after September 30th and and before uh by law they have to be um uh expended uh by September 30th 2024 that's an average of $7.7 million a year for the last three years uh so as we look at our priorities we know that schools are facing uh this Esa shortfall and so one of the priorities of uh as we go into this B budget season is how do we continue the Excellence continue to growth continue the programs uh without the exra funding what were we using the the funds for well uh

025in the Sesser 3 outline there were 15 different categories of the 15 different categories uh we used 12 of those that you can see here I won't read them all uh but this was uh to the benefit of our school district and a lot of school districts around the nation that you you had this flexibility to use those funds there so as that elapse uh then we have to make um very prepared uh decisions and uh very difficult decisions on how we move forward with the Excellence the amazing growth that we have while maintaining the operational effectiveness and then last as we look at uh the funding priorities is the five-year facilities and resoning plan uh we have talked about this uh plan and we're going to continue to work through uh the board has

026given us some directions on some clarifications that we will provide and we look forward to whether it's discussion or Workshop to to um to go through this but just as a highlight um our recommendation is uh financing a fix and field plan uh for School District 5 and if we look at our current outline our current situation this is our current educational structure it's very unique and the reality is we can't stay this way you know why change always start out with the critical question why why can't we stay this way well our current uh structure has has three drawbacks one the instructional uh Effectiveness um probably one of the only places where one school and they do an amazing job but they pull in from 10 different communities for one year and then send

027those students back out to two different uh schools uh this is a a model that um we need to put that school in in the right area uh in the right situation the next reason is our growth uh South Carolina is one of the fastest growing states in the country um out of the counties in South Carolina that are growing Lexington and Richland County are in the top 10 uh fastest growing counties Lexington at number six Richland at number 10 if you refer to our U September the 11th report from MPS uh we saw that the there increases projected for hero and very fast increases of population growth and chapen however we saw a a dip in the dut Fork area so the question how do we relieve the growth in chapen uh if you

028see U Pineywoods Lake Murray Elementary chapen elementary um these schools at or approaching their uh their Max capacities um shaping Intermediate School add or approaching shaping Middle School add or approaching uh shaping high school as these schools feel how do we relieve that that pressure so our plan is to look at where we see the population dips population dips are in the the Dutch Fork area uh as we have room in the Dutch Fork area we would like to take uh bound toown Elementary School which is currently serving the Dutch Fork uh Zone and move it into the chapen Zone again taking Balentine Elementary which currently serves the Dutch Fork Zone and move it into the chapen Zone what's important to us as we do any rezoning as we know the commitment that families made

029make when they move uh to go to a certain school and we know that resoning is never fun and uh is very disruptive as a result our plan in this plan 99% of the students the area that they are in now will feed the same high school that they're currently in they will not be rezoned out of their high school the only students where this is not the case are those students who live around Valentine Elementary so how are we doing this the building of Balentine will serve the chaping community but the students in Balentine will be rezoned to O Point River Springs Dutch Fork Elementary H Corley by empy empy uh by moving those students out you have a building that is now empty to receive chapen uh students when you do do that

030we can create this model and this model we can bring fifth grade down into the elementary schools in chapen all of our elementary schools will have K through five as a result we now can relieve pressure in the middle schools by not having uh three middle schools but now five middle schools the current CIS would return to his original chaping Middle School the current chaping Middle School would move to Spring Hill Middle School Dutch Fork Middle School would receive more space because uh it would only feed from three schools three elementary schools Oak Point River Springs and Dutch Fork Elementary Crossroads would move from an intermediate school of one grade to a middle school 6th 7th and eth and heral mle will feed in from three Schools herl elementary harberson West and 7 Oaks by

031moving to the five Middle School model um we now are able to relieve the pressure of uh the Middle School growth in chaping now what about the high schools again 99% of the students keep their High School um we would suggest that we create space in Spring Heel to relieve the pressure from chaping high uh to do that we would like to take uh the current Dutch Fork Elementary School build a new Dutch Fork Elementary School so that in that current space of Dutch Fork Elementary we can relieve uh pressure or space at Spring Hill fully maximize the use of heral high school and remove the fire program from from Pineywoods those three programs would go into the current location of Dutch Fork Elementary which is actually a school that hasn't been in our community

032since 1968 the richlex education richlex school we propose to call it the richle education center so this is in short our plan I know that tonight is not part of the discussion agenda but we are uh going to um uh seek input um as we discussed in our last meeting uh we have a a community feedback schedule that we'll be putting out uh as we talk about this um but our goal is addressing the growth that we see in shapen and the third issue that we have of the facility needs that we see in dut fork and and hermo uh so with all of this our proposal is to move from this zoning map uh to this zoning map uh in within our Five-Year Plan now as always the question is well how do we

033pay for it well we're very fortunate uh in our position uh that without raising the millage rate without out raising the millage rate using our existing Debt Service uh collections uh we could issue up to $240 million uh of referendum debt this again as a reminder allows us um to go over the state cap of 8% on our Debt Service uh obligations in order to address all of the uh fixing issues uh that we have in the in their schools but also uh to move forward with the construction uh that we would need in order to make that plan work uh so just as a a primer or outline um is that we would like to use uh February and March to really get community feedback um we know they have only one meeting in

034April um so but we will use the Lion Share of February and March to uh speak to the community get feedback so that we can come back uh to this body uh and and really get into the the nuts and bolts of the plan um ideally uh pending a successful uh resolution uh Bond revolution in November uh we need 18 months of building 18 months of building uh in order to create the spaces that we would need in order to make the move uh this move which is important to know that this resoning would not take place until 2627 however moving students to a building they need teachers they need programs they need services and so we would use the 25 26 school year uh for that transition so um with that I know that's

035a lot um and so I'mma pause here uh to take any questions about any part of the superintendent's report okay R I actually have a question um that I'm going to ask uh first if that's all right regarding the Spring Hill um and shapen High School um rezoning conversations and when you um are going out and seeking input um from the community um I don't know if this is something that you can ask but one of the things that I think of when I when I'm thinking about how the model works and one of the thing concerns that we've heard over the last few years is the concerns of Chap and high schools being very close to capacity and it's my understanding that that would be alleviated under this plan because um there would be

036more availability at Spring Hill as a magnet for students to go to Spring Hill and I think that you've said before like that number is 300 students I may be making that up but that number may be wrong but something like that where there's a certain number of students that we're hoping will go to the magnet school at Spring Hill which will relieve relieve the overcrowding situation at chapen high school and that's all assuming that Spring Hill is still a magnet so my question would be as we're looking at this is is that a real is that realistic to think that the number of students we would want to to go into the magnet program at Spring Hill from the chapen school from chapen because Spring Hill there's a lot of different you know all

037of the high schools feed into Spring Hill so out of Chap and high school do we have that interest in 26 27 very good question yes um that would be a question I mean you may not have that answer but and I want to share just for just for framing that because that is a a big part on which on this plan hinges uh let me talk about the considerations and why we came to that plan and I'm looking at Dr Harris to correct me when I'm wrong but uh the first plan is to rezone chapen into Dutch for uh but that would break our promise of people keeping their High School um and so when families moved they said my CH my child would eventually go to chapen um we were able to keep

038that for 99% if we rezone shaping into dut Fork um it would be breaking that promise so the question was before we go to that that Resort are there some other Alternatives the next alternative was to turn Spring Hill into a traditional Zone school [Music] um considering what Spring Hill is today rated the number one Magnet School in the State uh that was also Last Resort for me as well um I wanted to protect that Spring Hill uh what do they call it the Spring Hill Way as as much as possible and so uh what that um left us with was what could we do at Spring Hill Middle none of the seats I'm looking at Dr har to correct me none of the hero and Dutch Fork seats that go into Spring Hill would

039diminish correct that is correct those numbers will not change significantly at all so the only thing that we're doing is for the wing that we would create uh the the wing that currently is occupied by the academy for Success every seat that that Wing produces would go to um the Spring Hill theater program that would be at Spring Hill Middle and so what Dr Lofton and principal uh Dr hucke are working on right is that feeder program from Spring Hill Middle to Spring Hill High it's not Zone but it is it's it's kind of akin to our escales and hero uh um a middle to high school um program so are you saying that any student that goes to chap the new the chapen middle and Spring Hill Middle could go to Spring Hill Hill

040Middle in a magnet program at Spring Hill Middle that would feed into Spring Hill High School it would be able to Spring feed so anyone in the chapen cluster could go to Spring Hill Middle School in that magnet program if you're in that Magnet School you have a a magnet program or we would call it a choice because we didn't get get fund for it I want if you can right I did want to make certain for all who are listening that we are speaking about Spring Hill Middle and not chaper middle so there's a direct fee from Spring Hill Middle and the Spring Hill High School but not the chaper middle as it will be known to be be known as right but to like adjust the numbers at Spring Hill Middle School what

041if you don't have the students that want to be in the feeder program at Spring Hill Middle School and they want to go to chapen high school and not Spring Hill High School very good so my question when I asked about chapen Middle School would be would anybody in the chapen cluster and the Middle School Arena that would all feed into chapen High School anyways would they all be eligible to be in the choice program at Spring Hill Middle School oh I see what you're saying yeah so uh because of the numbers that we have at the middle school there won't be any moving I'm at chape and middle and I'm going to go to Spring Hill uh we have not we have not planned that that program yet because we're trying to balance these

042these high chaping numbers however uh the the seats at shape and middle and Spring Hill midle uh they get more seats into Spring Hill High School now so our plan was uh whether it increases at that shape and middle we can handle it but could we create a almost a guaranteed flow that we can look at two years if we have two sections in the sixth grade two section in the seventh grade two SE I can predict what's going to go into the ninth grade at Spring Hill High School but if those numbers start to draw down down it would give us an opportunity so it's not the guaranteed best the best is to Zone it where you could predict exactly where they go but in zoning that we give up the Spring Hill way

043so I wanted those schools and those administrations to give it a shot right we would have a two-year lead on knowing if this is not going to work um but I I believe that they can uh they built this this program very strong so um I want to give them the opportunity to create that pathway yeah I understand that I just I'm curious to know the I that's why I was asking when you're having the community sessions I'm just curious to know what the thought processes on on that because it's just new and you're right it would be a lot easier to just rezone Spring Hill and that would alleviate a lot of um capacity concerns at chapen but I understand that Spring Hill is is also I mean it's a unique school so I

044mean that that's part of these are the conversations that we have to have in Balance um you know openly with everyone when we're talking about rezoning there's not like a perfect everyone can't be happy and that's frustrating I know I see Mr saterfield I'm sorry Mr yes uh Dr Ross what is the capacity at Spring Hill High School and are we close to capacity very good we we I looked at my team here because we have this conversation about capacity a lot and we get pinned down on on capacities but I want to be clear when you say capacity there are three definitions for capacity without Portables uh right and every uh every Nuance of that changes so let's start with nps's NPS is the firm we're working with now I look to my team

045to correct me where I'm wrong here here uh the three definitions of capacity the first is theoretical capacity and we really not necessarily use that if we're building a new building for instance Dutch F Elementary we may use a theoretical capacity we haven't programmed that building yet so we'll say it holds 600 right um the next one what you're asking is a maximum capacity right uh maximum capacity is what we think is if I every child is the same what are we going to look at we're going to say every room that can generate instruction I'm going to put 25 students in there and then you how about just program capacity right and then you bring down to what we call Target capacity what we actually programming that space for because you know that you

046can put maybe put not all students are the same I would not put 25 ed students in that room or I would not put um if it's a tital one space I'm not going to put 25 at all I may put 18 so you know those numbers would change and that changes the capacity we use and I say all that to look at Dr Harris to answer the question of how many what's our I guess Max Capacity at um Spring Hill oh we'll come back you still well let me just ask another question I don't need to know exact numbers I was just curious to know that if we are close let's just say we're close and we were talking about chaping being at capacity and Miss Hines was asking what if those students opt

047not to attend Spring Hill I after our last Workshop I got on my motorcycle and I was riding around chaping and I will tell you I went down one road and there was plans for 150 new homes and there are several clearing areas being cleared and once they get the infrastructure that can handle all those um there are more and more you go down Old lexon Highway area and my goodness it's it's just like it's ready to explode and I was just curious and I know this is a very difficult thing to plan for because the growth has been ridiculous out in the chapen area but if we are at Max Capacity at chapen would we just and when it got to that point to where well we got to put Portables in or do

048we increase the percentage of kids to Spring Hill or do we reone them I'm just trying to figure out some way of alleviating that I It Feels I feel like spring hill is becoming the safety valve so to speak for this explosion that we see and I was and I watch the business news uh daily and they were saying interest rates are coming down this year there could be two to three uh decreases in interest rates which mean more people would be buying homes and uh anyway I was just curious how what what is your thought process on that with if Chen's at Max and Spring Hill can handle a few more kids but um some of these neighbors do come neighborhoods do come to fruition and they do want to attend chapen what would

049we do then so I would look at our options and and our options now uh again is you can immediately relieve chap by rezoning but you would have to rezone in this this map and it would not sustain all of ours and this plan that we have uh I'm sorry in this plan we relieve issues in the fiveyear plan at the elementary middle and high and this plan uh that we're currently in you're not you're only even you're Le either or you're not doing all so it's still stop gaps so for resoning in this plan you're going to have to come back because we got to find an answer for Chap and middle uh Chap and middle is just as much of a concern for me as chapen high school so in last year's budget

050we approved $1.5 million in Portables meaning that we knew last year we had missed the date um so we we have to expand in portable classrooms uh portable classrooms don't shouldn't you know depending on the age maybe get you 23 in a class depending on on the site some we even pack to 25 uh so that's our plan until we can get uh a more permanent structure uh like this uh but again in the second option we have is to uh limit the number of seats that are coming from into Spring Hill from um iro and Dutch for when you're doing this you can't grandfather students in because you or or if you do you don't you don't create enough so you're trying to limit or Draw down all those seats to provide relief there

051so we're considering those options I'm voicing them loud and I know people are listening and say are they going to do that are going to do that we're just being very open and honest about the conversations that we have um it is our goal uh to move uh in this space because and let me share you why it is hard to move students to spaces to new spaces what's even harder is to make sure that the teachers and the certified staff are there when they get there was even harder is to make sure that the programs and the services are in place when they get to these new spaces so for us part of the the the deal of making this 2627 is that we have enough time to plan are the programs the services

052the certifications the spaces ready to receive the students in these new spaces so uh you know to to answer that um there's so much more into just moving a child into a building um and so we think with this that you're using the entire 25 26 school year one of the principes said to me she said you need to use that year where we're meeting our new teachers where we're going into those new spaces we have a welcome to my new building night uh you're meeting the principles it's going to take all of that to to to break down that that newness but we recognize as uh chair Blackburn hin says that if that plan doesn't work we know what the um the piece is but we would have a a two-year lead on that

053so one of the reasons we would like a commitment on our plan after we get the feedback is it allows those principles now to actually go ahead and put those programs in place Miss hle um well first of all I really um appreciate the I like the new slides I think the whole color coding it just makes it easier to understand the new mle communication is in courtne more it's it it's really as much easier to understand um I guess I have two points one is I feel like we're kind of dancing around the elephant in the room which is what's happening in chapen um Lexington County showed us there are 900 home sites approved in lr5 and I believe all but one of them uh one neighborhood is in the chapen area um I

054I would really like to see us like have a whole separate discussion about that and what are the options um you know there's some high schools that have a freshman campus you know could we build a freshman a building as a freshman campus on the site of chapen high school um do we need a whole another High School God forbid but I mean if if it's what we need let's go in eyes open and not fool ourselves and better yet not fool the taxpayer into thinking that this is going to work and then we're back three years later with you know four years later um because I don't I mean I understand the whole Spring Hill concept but I hate that we're relying on what we think Could Happen what if these kids don't want

055to go Spring Hill is a very special place so by the way I love leaving in a magnet but because it's a special place there are kids who really want to go there and there are kids who probably don't want to go there and I hate to feel like we're banking everything on fixing chaping on X number of kids wanting to go to Spring Hill so that's I just want to say that really feel like we've got to just tackle the whole chapen growth issue and I don't think the growth people knew about the home sites so I don't think their estimates are valid um I think we've got to look at what's going on with the home sites even ask County County Administration what else is coming you know and look at that and

056the other point I'd like to make is I am concerned about Dutch Fork Elementary School because we spent a ton T of money on it new windows new HVAC and I know some of that could be preserved but my understanding is that the HVAC you know because we talked about with the walls before if we um wanted to build walls in the two elementary schools that don't we would have to redo the HVAC so I believe that would probably have to be redone at Dutch Fork if we need space for a do Ed and um the um alternative Academy rather than redo an elementary school would we be better off just building new space from scratch it just seems like a waste to take everything that's configured for an elementary school and redo it um

057and it's a beautiful school I realize it's old but there's a lot of old buildings that are beautiful and it also a little bit concerns me that um we would rename it rich flex but it wouldn't be K through 12 I'm all for renaming it richlex but I think that's more appropriate for K through 12 it goes more to its history um so at any rate I just kind of want to make those two points um I want to start with the chape and growth uh piece and I think you're you're right I think we have a fiveyear plan and as Dave wisman reminds me once you finish A Five-Year Plan you're working on the next fiveyear plan and uh I think if we would be fooling ourselves I think that in the 10-year plan

058we don't have to have something else what I don't want to do is take care of the 10-year plan and avoid the fiveyear plan because in The Five-Year Plan we have facility issues a new high school um we were thinking about the cost today's number we would take care of one problem in shapen and leave 2,640 something problems that we have in Dutch walk and hermo that is a constant pressure on our operations team and so I would like to get out of the fiveyear plan with bringing all of these facilities at least to a three um we are proposing uh looking at different options outside of the 15-year financing we're in a 20-year financing that we would have some 8% capacity where we could look at um because we have we already said what

059you said um and the I'm going to say it some Somerville area of chapen I didn't know that was a space um there has to be some future space for either a Elementary Middle School combo site or a high school combo um but I think if we can get the fiveyear down that'll be the next part of that 10-year plan uh to address the second feature about U uh a Dutch Fork ele and you know we'll have more and more conversations about that um when we look at its utilization and and and rebuilding that um I don't think and from from what we've talked about our remodelings would make any of the uh the Energy Efficiency work um obsolete uh I think it would be more Central to our space more Central to our district

060it it's the exact Pivot Point uh between pineywood woods and Seven Oaks um but in talking with some alumni from Rich Lex not all of them but some of Rich Le their school name doesn't even exist anymore and I'd rather bring it back as an education center uh then it just not come back at all so uh we'll be meeting with a lot more of them behind that functionality I think you're right uh we do need a new build I'm going to U say it's the district office so I think uh that building has uh has met its end uh we have uh we have $10 million put uh estimated to re bring that back to to I'm looking at you Alan not to to just to Cod but it doesn't address the um the

061the current issues that we have in this space so part of the things that we owe you and you brought up a lot of these um is uh in our messaging talking about capacity and the capacity numbers phases of the capital so we're still working through that the poverty index uh we wanted to make sure that if you look in our new map um seeing that how everybody feeds in that we're considering not having one School uh where the poverty index is is super high um and then you're right as we talked about what's that 10year outlet because uh the elephant in a room is um there is not a farm or a tree safe and shape in South Carolina it is being cut down and there's development so already um we're seeing that our

062plans are are are are there so we know uh there is some some risk um with the current structure of a Spring Hill Middle Spring Hill he'll High feeder uh but looking at the Alternatives um that was the the place that we wanted to start I'll say to miss Huddle's Point um just in conversation it concerns me to build another like a you mentioned a nth grade academy which I've seen in different school districts or to build another high school when we have Spring Hill that could be rezoned which I know is is not ideal and I'm not saying that as like I'm in favor of rezoning Spring Hill because I'm not but to me we have elementary schools in iro that just have and and throughout this the district we have so many other

063needs to to say that we're going to add two new additional projects when we haven't even addressed all of the projects that were on the original when we were talking about the bond issue um a couple of years ago we haven't addressed any of those issues to bring in two new buildings I'm just concerned that we're just not getting anything done um that's I mean and we have a school and where would we put it in chapen I mean I just I'm thinking I mean I just don't know I don't know if if those are things I'm sure you've thought about it I'm just those are concerns that I have with that I mean it's just we keep I feel like we keep pushing this down the road and nothing is getting done and uh

064that's frustrating I hear that I mean I'm just I just I don't know and and and then I'll come to Mr Hogan yeah I just I'm not suggesting that we do that I'm not saying let's go build a new high school or let's build a FR I'm just saying I think we ought to look at the numbers and look at all the Alternatives can we add a wing on shape in high school you know can we shift um you know um a little bit of the line I just think we need to go into it and I would rather communicate with the public and say you know and us as a board the these are the options we looked at this is what we'd really love to be able to do but maybe it's too

065expensive and we can't do it now but we want you to know this is where it's going I mean we can't stop them from cutting all the trees and building all the houses we have no power there so I just feel like we have to go in and really look at it and let everybody know maybe this is phase one and phase two's common so that people don't think because in the past these Bond referendums have been kind of like oh we've done it all we're fine well if we don't address Chap and we haven't done it all we're not fine so I just want us to look at the options and have a public discussion so that people know this isn't probably going to be the long-term solution for chapen right uh Mr Hogan

066um Dr Ross I uh appreciate all the work you have done to put into this um a question I've got with a phrase we all use too often the powers in the pivot right and and as we're looking at how this potentially could develop has there been any communication internally with potentially utilizing Spring Hill as a magnet and Zone school to potentially cut some of the overcrowding at chape into where if we've got the capacity where this Wing's going to potentially open up is that a topic of conversation or could that be a potential pivot in the future uh so that was kind of our uh without using the word Zone because that is a I don't want to put you on the spot Dr haris we want to speak to the limitations on zoning

067there well I'm not exactly sure the direction that you're headed but I I think in terms of your question have we discussed Spring Hill being both a combination of a traditional school as well as a magnet school and I think the short answer that is is is not really in real detail uh the strength of Spring Hill is in its current form and it's in current capacity and uh I think some of what I I've heard and not Ro talk about it it has been recognized throughout the country for being just that and we would hate to hate to Hate to to pretend that that doesn't exist no longer exist and yet give them an opportunity to continue to do it or continue to perform and continue to or provide that level of instruction for

068students uh we like to see that continue so again to the point that we heard the lesser of the considerations was to keep it as a magnet uh and give opportunity um um in terms of Eligibility I think I heard you say Miss blackr has the word you used earlier for those students in the Springhill Middle to feed into that to kind of give us some some some relief at the chap and sight that became the lesser of all all the e was quite Frank in our conversations uh to date quick quick follow up on that just so um I guess at what point are we going to make a determination do we do we have a drastic change in the lines or do we utilize Spring Hill as the Zone school yes um to

069miss Huddle's point I think once the 5-year plan is in we have uh and I don't want to be held to this exact allow us to get the numbers like you said but and they're hearing this for the first time bring but there is a point where at the 10-year plan if we can't do this the easier thing is to Zone it uh we wanted to give them that opportunity that would create the fourth cluster so Spring Hill Middle would flow right into Spring Hill it would automatically relieve the pressure that is the most inexpensive effective use of our our our resources is just to move to that that piece we were trying to to keep its current flare to keep its current not saying that it still couldn't have choice or still be a

070magnet school but it would drastically change how that school operates so that is the kind of the parachute plan um it does not help the middle issues and the elementary issues that in that 10year plan we would see so there still would have to be a new building but we think by dropping the the populations of chape and metal and Springhill Middle we have time to go after that by bringing down the um and we we really when we look at what chapen Piney Woods Lake marray and Valentine will be by emptying out Balentine to draw down the chaping schools we buy us a little bit more time time we have to fix the hero and Dutch FK schools and then right after that as you said we're not done but now we can go

071back and if we use the 20-year financing options we may have some capacity on debt service side to go after uh uh some new uh new projects in shaping so um when when uh both wings are hurting we want to repair both of them first uh and then take on that new challenge there Mr Scully yeah thank you um I I agree with most of the comments up here especially regarding and I understand the the issues with chapen um I guess what I heard you say and I just want to clarify is Spring Hill Middle School under the proposal would be a you you described it as a choice school and it would be only a choice for the chapen cluster or would iro and Dutch Fork students have the opportunity to go to Spring

072Hill Middle School great great clar clarification um Spring Hill Middle would only take in Lake Mar and Valentine it would not be a choice school to answer your question it would only take in uh the Lake Murray and Valentine that's so that we can bring those numbers down at the Middle School uh and prepare for any unring bumps and into um into enrollment within Spring Hill Middle uh we're proposing a school within a school that feeds right into uh Spring Hill High we can't use the word Zone uh but it's a feed right into and so when you look at scheduling you have a schedule and um you have programs like ala at shapen or um the stem program at dut fork or uh IB or escales those students move in a in a almost

073a feeding system through through that by having this feeder from 6th 7th and eth you can almost see the numbers that with that even though they're zon at chapen high you already know because they're in this program they're relieving that that pressure at shapen because they're basically choosing to go or choosing to feed into Spring Hill but but there would not be Spring Hill would only Spring Hill Middle would only feed Lake Murray and and and Valentine Elementary students so if you're do those feeder programs do they exist today at other schools they do not okay so I guess I I I do um agree with the skepticism I guess about filling the $300 300 additional spots um in Spring Hill expecting that many chapen students to cross over to go to Spring Hill because

074I it is true in my opinion that those two student bodies are unique but very different and um each of them the the kids that go to Chapman High School love Chapman high school and they want to go to Chapman high school and the ones that go to Spring Hill love Spring Hill but they're very different and very unique so I I'm not sure I can't see the if they're not already on that pathway to cross over and the other thing that just want to and I know the numbers don't dictate it so I'm really just making life more difficult by complaining um but I I know you said that the anticipated enrollments from the Dutch Fork and hero CL clusters at Spring Hill the number of seats will stay static but if those enrollment

075if those clusters are also growing in population and student body then really it's kind of misleading to think that it's static as far as the number of seats but because the percentage of students being able to go to Spring Hill would then decrease and so I I know we currently already have students at least I feel like I remember knowing students who applied from those clusters already to get into Spring Hill and they've been turned down so if we're already having to turn down students from the hermo and Dutch Fork areas it's only going to that much more are going to be affected you know as those uh clusters grow in population but I know I know it's a numbers game so I'm no I'm not I don't really have a suggestion I just know

076that those communities also right want the opportunities that's very fair and it's a it's a great question to ask because it's one that comes up when we talk um I don't know exactly how many seats we get from Dutch FK and hermo how do you know I I don't know the exact number but but I will say the consideration Mr scul is that that that we currently operate with somewhat of a somewhat of a camp at Springhill High School to kind of keep the the grade levels balanc and that consideration would be that we would re take a second look at that in order to accommodate those additional students that we were referring to so that is one way how we would look at those three maybe a little bit more than 300 students that's

077how we would accommodate them into the Springhill High School by by taking a second look at the current cap that we currently use and kind of operate under as it relates to the application process okay it would also be helpful if we had a if there's a waiting list like knowing what those waiting list numbers are based off of cluster I mean as we're looking at this that would help also help identify some of the questions we have about interest yeah and thank you I agree the last thing I'm going to pitch is you know any chance we can revisit option was it three an additional $100 million in the bond referendum for $60 a house household I understand nobody wants to think that way but that's cheaper money but anyway I'll just put that

078back up thank you all right anyone else Mr saterfield yeah I was just going to point out one thing that I know Dr Ross was thinking about about we don't we like it Spring Hill being a magnet because then they do not have to have a football stadium and they do not have to have all those extracurricular activities so the che the students that go from these various schools can still go back and participate but and and that's an important part of high school experience that was the last consideration that that was going to bring up one of the reasons that we don't uh we will still have regardless of what we do we still have the issues of those schools in hero and Dutch for any decision that we make that takes care of

079one part of our community and doesn't take care of the other we're going to have to live with that uh to make Spring Hill a Zone school you want to give it as full compliment of of arts and Athletics and everything else that exists there an athletic package at a high school is is is pretty pricey right now and all of those funds go away from bringing those ele those schools in the Dutch Fork and hermo area up so what we were doing um in our deliberation is regardless of what decision but if we could try this you know we have a 2ar lead time on if it works or not um but every year in capital and I know Miss Wilkinson is going to throw something at me but we would slowly build out

080the packages slowly build out the tennis courts one year then add in attract another year and so in five years you've you've built that out to when we get to um to miss Huddle's point of tackling the elephant in the room it it is it is built out fully I know sometimes we we we talk in in open so um people hear this and say what's the plan is that the plan just know that there is no set plan until the board decides and I'm just asking that we we have open conversations we do community feedback we'll put our community feedback out we are as a community building this plan um and we're talking in the open and so um but I would ask this that um somewhere in that April that April 22nd meeting

081if U we'll we'll bring back in February and March all of our uh thoughts and maybe Workshop um so that we can have enough time to communicate what the actual plan is right thank you Dr Ross thank you all right does that conclude the superintendent that concludes the superintendent's report thank you all right um that brings us to number 10 on our agenda the approval of the minutes of the January 88th 20204 board meeting to have a motion Mr Hogan I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes of the January 8 2024 board meeting do I have a second Mr Scully um any discussion seeing none I will call for the vote all in favor that motion carries 7 to zero that brings us to public participation number 11 while miss Taylor um

082gets that situated I'll read a statement the board welcomes and encourages public participation we respectfully ask that you adhere to the procedures provided in board policy BH public participation at meetings your comment should be limited to 3 minutes and must remain on either the topic noted on your signin form or a listed agenda item questions asked during public participation will be handled in accordance with board policy bedh Miss Taylor thank you madam chair Tess Pratt is here to speak about book Banning my name is Tess prad I'm the department chair at chapen high school and I'll be sharing a parent letter per her request as this parent is at a scholarship interview with her daughter I am Wilson a parent and taxpaying resident of the district I would like to express my support for public

083education in the state of South Carolina and my concerns with the recent decision of this board to override the recommendation of the district book review committee and to ban the series of books written by Sarah J moss my concerns have little to do with the specific language that was featured in the books under review while it might not be language nor literature that I would personally choose to read for myself or my children when placed in the context with other literature which is readily present in our school libraries classrooms and many of our homes this language nor the topic stand out a quick review of literature ranging from the Bible to Shakespeare features topics such as genocide and fanticide incest sexual assault polygamy prostitution torture sexual assault teenage suicide slavery racism and homophobia and yet

084these books are not only present but are encouraged reading to youth as young as six just as I can put these Topics in context when reading these works of literature with or without my children so should the language and topics discussed in the book challenge be treated otherwise the decision of the school board begins to look extremely hypocritical particularly considering that we're talking about a question of educational and intellectual censorship impacting all of the families in our district regardless of their level of offense at the literature under consideration what if someone else finds the topics I previously listed to be equally offensive does the district now have a responsibility to preemptively ban books featur feing these topics in a future meeting recently the board not only censored a book that had undergone the review process

085and was reinstated but additional books in the same series which were never challenged this would seem to indicate that the board can ban books in our district without going through the formal review process I'm additionally concerned because the book and the series which was challenged is clearly part of a nationally coordinated strategy to undermine the intellectual integrity and Independence of our public schools these books are easily found on lists distributed by groups such as BS for Liberty and are used to attack public education so as to facilitate the diversion of funds from public education and into private school vouchers and Charter Schools viewed in this light decisions to capitulate to these demands against the informed recommendation of the district committee tasked with the review process should be seen by the voters in this District as

086political grandstanding by the school board to Plate outside political interests that are not concerned with the quality of Education that is produced in our district I am bipartisan and have no political party alignment I stand for the education of our children I stand with teachers Librarians and administration within our school systems Sheena Wilson Lexington Richland 5 school district Connor Bryant is here to speak about book Banning my name is Jackson Connor Bryant and I'm a senior at chapen high school I am not yet a parent and the last thing I want to do here is tell the room full of actual parents how to do their job rather I want to address you as someone who acknowledges the complexities of raising a kid and the anxiety that comes along with it and most importantly I

087want to address you as the child of two parents who love me deeply like I know you love your own children more than anything else in the whole universe with that being said I implore you to hear what I have to say and to be open to an opinion that may differ from your own for much of my life books have been an escape from reality when the real world is full of stressors and is too much for me to handle I sometimes dive into a book and immerse myself in a new world one chalk full of wonder and new experiences and perceptions and sometimes I recognize myself and characters in these worlds and it makes me feel less alone as a gay person going to school in the heart of a small rural town

088in South Carolina it is very easy to forget that there are others like me and that I'm not all on my own while I love my school and most of the people there it is in no way perfect a large portion of my classmates hold beliefs that are contrary to the way I live my life and a few express those feelings I've been looked at with disgust and called a for supporting a pride flag during pride month in the end of my sophomore year and now in my senior year the violent words kill all with the drawing of a knife dripping with blood beneath it has been scratched into a stall near the foreign language hallway these things do not bother me that much but for other students like me they may have a very

089difficult time hearing and seeing these things for the fellow students the books in the library with characters that reflect these students and who also go through similar struggles can be quite literally life-saving kids who are struggling with suicidal thoughts and oppression can read about characters that are like them overcoming these struggles and find the strength to move forward and heal I understand that some of these books I'm speaking of have scenes that make you uncomfortable and that you see as unfit for a teenager to read I understand and I hear you I have considered your words I respect your concern and I fully understand that you are simply trying to do what is best for your children but these books are so much more than than the occasional gate kiss or intimacy they are a

090world that these teenagers can see themselves in and find comfort and hope in they are books that give them representation and appreciation in a world that is greatly lacking it I know that some of you who have never faced hateful words and cause for your death just because of who you are cannot appreciate the beauty of representation no matter how small even through a character in a book I also know that most of you feel the unconditional love for your children that I spoke of earlier and would give the world for your kids so let me ask you this would you deny someone else's child a book that could save their life just because it has a character or a scene or two or a message that you do that you do not understand or

091appreciate would you take a book that could bring Someone's Child back from the brink and save their family a world of grief I have faith that your answer is no and if it is ask yourself of enforcing your beliefs and opinions about certain topics is truly more important than the life of a child thank you Jessica Odin wood is here to speak about protecting discussion in the classroom I'm Jessica Oden wood and I'm a senior at chapen high school the world has never functioned where everyone believed in the same views eventually someone disagrees this is the way of the world our society is built on discussion and compromise Congress lead discussions daily discussion in the classroom is dire for our society to function text prompt discussion last year my AP language teacher was nearly fired

092for having the class read between the world and Me by tanasi coats at no point did my teacher Express her opinion on this book she merely encourage discussion in English classes it is the teacher's job to prompt discussion when reading a book when my class was no longer allowed to read the book The English Department came into her room and collected the books from each one of us it felt as if we were characters in Lois Low's book The Giver public education should never feel like a dystopian society that there were things happening around us we were not allowed to discuss and expected to turn a blind eye to the Lexington Richland 5 mission statement states to prepare all students to be College and Career ready by providing a challenging curriculum and a safe secure

093diverse and Equitable learning environment focused on academic social and emotional growth and development the statement used is the word safe to describe the learning environment after the books were taken the classroom environment certainly did not feel safe a class where students could once safely discuss their views turn into a class where no one felt safe to start any discussion our society relies on discussion for safety Society is unsafe for those who do not have a voice the texts we read prompt discussions these texts do not force opinions on us each student is given the right to interpret text the way they wish to removing text from education is removing discussion removing discussions leads moving voices I'll leave you with a poem forever ingrained in my brain from my seventh grade history class first they came

094by Martin y Mohler first they came for the Communist and I did not speak out because I was not a communist then they came for the Socialist and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist then they came for the trade unionist and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew then they came for for me and there was no one left to speak out for me thank you lil mood is here to speak about removing books from school libraries good evening my name is Lil mood and I serve as a community representative on the chapen high school sic I try to keep up with what you all are doing

095at the school board meetings because your work impacts our students our schools and our community I watched the recording of the December 11th board meeting when the board passed one motion that contained two separate questions one question was whether to overrule the decision of the book review committee to retain one specific book in the school libraries the second question was whether to remove an unspecified number of books by the same author from all School libraries without a study by the book Review Committee as required in board approved policy and procedure I believe a parliamentarian would say that when two questions are being considered two separate motions are necessary I'm here to ask you to reconsider your decision I'm aware that a motion to reconsider is in order when made by someone who vot voted on

096The Winning Side of the original motion the motion to reconsider could separate the two actions in the original motion into two motions one to revote on the specific Bo book being appealed and the second to vote on the broad question of taking an action without following board approved policy on the first question the board rejected an amendment that would allow the reviewed book to remain in the libraries but would restrict its being loaned to to any student under age 18 the board's vote reflected the complainant's opinion that certain passages within the book would be so damaging to any student reading them that the book must be removed and yet the complainant seemed not to have any misgivings about students of any age hearing her read aloud those passages or having them readily accessible out of

097context in the recording of the board meeting on the second question the board chose to ignore its own POS policy and order the removal of a number of books without referral to the book Review Committee I believe that decision left the board and the District administration wide open to being constantly confronted with attempts to shortcircuit a reasonable process that takes each complaint seriously and makes a caseby casee judgment following a thorough review I can only imagine the discomfort which was evident in the recording of being repeated over and over as individual board members wrestle with their own preferences while trying to carry out a duty to act for the good of all students and to respect individual par parental preferences without doing harm to the preferences of other parents I think the book review policy

098and procedure of the board adopted is a good one I believe that correcting this procedural error will save the board a lot of future heartache and will be consistent with the orderly and proper way I've watched you conduct board meetings for which I'm very grateful thank you for letting me speak Lee Bryant is here to speak about book Banning and parenting right my classroom Library includes three books published by the National Geographic Society their inside covers and fly leaves bear three names written in three different hands Kathy Bryant Keith Bryant Lee Bryant my much older siblings shared these books with me as well as a passion for reading it's no surprise then that when Keith and Kathy developed the love of the horror genre so did die whenever I saw one of them reading a

099novel I wanted to read it too when I was only eight I read Stephen King's carry finishing the entire book but understanding little of it even so I picked up King's Kujo next a killer dog made sense to me early on however one of the main characters receives a brief letter from his wife's lover and I understood just enough of it to know I should read no further so I shut the book setting it aside for another time time I felt no pressure to keep reading for reading is a private act but how did I know to stop I had been parented and the right to parent our children should be sacrosanct should be protected I have zero problem with parents who find a book inappropriate for their children my problem is with parents who

100decide that that book is also inappropriate for my child indeed for all children such presumptuousness is insulting empowering it is danger dous I spoke previously about the people who parented me about my father's alcoholism about our volatile household about my parents' divorce about relocating from Colorado to South Carolina and about my sister's death pressed for time I focused on the brutality and Trauma rather than the beauty my father's infectious sense of humor was beautiful it bespoke a deep love of Life of people and he loved his family his final job in this world was as a Long Haul truck driver and he often selected routes that ran close to us one Thanksgiving when he was nearby my mom and stepfather invited him to dine with us after the meal when only mom and dad and

101I were in the dining room he looked at her and said with voice quavering I am sorry for everything mom replied we forgive you she spoke for herself and for her three children including her dead daughter we forgive you that moment is more powerful to me than all the traumas we endured so yes my family modeled anger and violence but more significantly they modeled how love trumps bitterness how forgiveness heals what are we modeling for our children today by seeking to ban books we find personally offensive that's a weighty question and our children are watching do we want them to learn from us how to Grapple with hard questions or how to remove them do we want them to learn from us how to strive to understand and not necessarily accept challenging ideas and words

102or how to silence them thank you Patrick Funk is here to speak about book Banning hello my name is Patrick Funk former CHS English teacher and father of two children in D5 schools the following is a letter written by American Author Kurt vonet to a school board who banned his classic novel slaughterhouse 5 in 1973 in Drake North Dakota I gather from what I read in the papers and here on television that you imagine me and some other writers too as being sort of rat-like people who enjoy making money from poisoning the minds of young people I in fact a large strong person 51 years old who did a lot of farm work as a boy who's good with tools I've raised six children three of my own and three adopted they have all turned

103out well two of them are farmers I a combat infantry veteran from World War II and I hold a Purple Heart I have earned whatever I own by hard work I have never been arrested or sued for anything I am so much trusted with young people and by young people that I have served on the faculties of the University of Iowa Harvard and the City College of New York every year I receive at least a dozen invitations to be convincement speaker at colleges and high schools my books are probably more widely used in schools than those of any other living American fiction writer if you were to bother to read my books to behave as educated persons would you would learn that they are not sexy and do not argue in favor of wildness of

104any kind they beg that people will be kinder and more responsible than they often are it is true that some of the characters speak coarsely that is because people speak coarsely in real life especially soldiers and hardworking men speak coarsely and even our most most sheltered children know that and we all know too that those words really don't damage children much they didn't damage us when we were young it was evil deeds and lying that hurt us after I have said all this I am sure that you are still ready to respond in effect yes yes but it still remains our right and our resp responsibility to decide what books our children are going to be made to read in our community this is surely so but it is also true that if you exercise

105that right and fulfill that responsibility in an ignorant harsh unamerican manner then people are entitled to call you bad citizens and fools even your own children are entitled to call you that I read in the newspaper that your community is mystified by the outcry from all over the country about what you've done well have you discovered that Drake is part of the American civilization and your fellow Americans can't stand it that you behaved in such an uncivilized world way perhaps you will learn from this that books are sacred to free men for very good reasons the wars have been fought against Nations which hate books and burn them if you are an American you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community not merely your own if you and your board are now

106determined to show that you in fact have wisdom and maturity when you exercise your powers over the education of our young then you should acknowledge that it was a rotten lesson you taught young people in a free society when you denounced and then burned books books you haven't even read you should also resolve to expose your children children to all sorts of opinions and information in order that they will be better equipped to make decisions and to survive again you have insulted me and I'm a good citizen and I'm very real thank you Peter laen is here to speak about Schoolboard appreciation good evening board and uh Dr Ross uh every year we like to show our appreciation and this year is no different you guys are some of the hardest working uh people I've

107known in on the side of public education and we really appreciate that as a token of our appreciation we got you a book it's a by a local author keeping with Dr Ross's uh theme to bilocal um it's from the McFarland couple and they are also very well-known local entrepreneurs uh they took the time to sign the books to you as well and please enjoy the books and pass them along and we appreciate everything that you do and these are from uh the Lexington Richland 5 Education Association and these are our officers so thank you very much Mary wood is here to speak about book Banning good evening my name is Mary wood I'm a teacher at chapen high school it goes without saying that book Banning or removal or censorship has dire consequences from

108my perspective as a teacher there is the interference with expertly designed instruction and the repudiation of educator Integrity that stings the most questioning our ability to do our jobs increases distrust of Academia in general opening teachers to unfounded attacks lowering student engagement and success and fracturing the foundation of Education what FDR called the real Safeguard of democracy ultimately then these attacks on books on teachers on education are in effect unpatriotic attacks on our democracy this is nothing new prominent literature was infamously blacklisted in destroyed as Hitler Rose to power not even a century ago vilifying truth and oppositional perspectives and instilling an indoctrinated governance of fascist rule if our goal is to undermine America as we know it we are on the right path if however we seek to fortify our country we must change

109course much discussion over parental rights has politically permeated education in no small way the preferred narrative labels teachers as indoctrinator and acting Insidious agendas that run counter to parents Collective morality let's be clear brainwashing children who resist disengaging from their phones which by the way offer more access to obscenity than your uncle's hidden Playboy stash or submitting work on time is laughably absurd two if I were so great at cult leading I'd have convinced somebody to pay me a living wage by now but I assume most of you know this so why are we still fueling the fires of t teachers as agents of indecency in addition to teaching in D5 I'm a taxpaying parent and my voice regarding instruction matters too I do not want my kids intellectual Journeys to be limited by someone

110else's opinionated biases exposure to varied P perspectives is necessary to prepare my children to be productive participants in the Democratic process and presenting them with challenging and uncomfortable experiences through literature provides an opportunity for them to learn about difficult ideas under the care of trustworthy teachers and my parental support I recognize my position about this may not align with some folks and my feelings don't deserve favor over theirs as such I'd like reciprocal consideration rather than censoring for all to honor the demands of a few I offer another option create a policy wherein any parent who fears books may contain contain certain and appropriate content can have their children identified as not authorized to check out or read books without first having a parent read the material and give written approval we have a list

111for students without media consent surely we can have one for students without literary consent thank you Kate Stover is here to speak about books hello uh I'm Kate I'm a senior at shapen High School uh I didn't come here originally with the intention of speaking tonight but I think there are a lot of people here who present a lot of support for this topic and so I thought I could say a few words I've been here in the district for about three and a half years now and I can say without a doubt I have had access to one of the best educations that I could receive in South Carolina I've had access to resources materials and educators who have made my high school experience truly remarkable and one thing that really concerns me about

112what's happening in the school board right now is that students in coming Generations will not have access to the materials and to the resources that I have had I think that banning books is a is a way to limit students opportunities to have access to diverse materials that could benefit their educations and villainizing teachers who use materials that certain people dis agree with is a great way to lose great Educators great Educators who have made me a better person and a more intelligent and more capable person as I go off to college and into the workforce later on in my life so thank you K Galloway is here to speak about book Banning good evening I'm a student at chapen High School in my senior year and I've attended schools in the chapen cluster since

113kindergarten this is the first District 5 board meeting I have attended though I did watch the public participation portion of the meeting that took place on January 8th I was inspired to come and speak today by my English teachers in my high school years I have come to know most of the teachers in the department and found that they are a brilliant and kind group of people who truly do act in the interest of every student I hold the utmost respect for them and they have taught me as they have taught me so much in academics extracurriculars and lifelong ethics I'm incapable of fully understanding the stress and responsibility felt by teachers parents and the members of this board I have no years of experience being an educator I have no college degree I'm not

114a parent I'm barely even an adult I'm just a high school student I'm here to make a point about the dangerous consequences of book Banning in public education but I first want to share some of my background so that you may get an idea of why this is so important to me I'm fortunate to have both my parents present and involved in my everyday life they support me care for me and I live a comfortable life I love both of my parents dearly but tonight I would like to focus on my father in the con comant detrimental effect he has had on my life he is a conservative a Republican and a Christian for as long as I can remember he has instilled his political and religious values in me as a child who unquestioningly

115admired her father I took him at his word and his one-sided bigoted beliefs became ingrained in my identity when the topic of the 2016 presidential election arose at the fourth grade lunch table I would recite the arguments my father made in favor of trump I ignorantly endorsed a man who would have me suffer and even die in the name of political agendas at 10 years old I had no one exposing me to diverse political perspectives one might argue that a fourth grade classroom is a fourth grade classroom is not the place for political discussions and if one is to arise the teacher should extricate themselves from the situation and dismiss the the topic entirely if the classroom is not the place for such such discussions then where the home my parents failed me in that

116area of education and I can assure you that mind were not the only ones if fourth grade students are old enough to hold conversations about politics and current events themselves and they are old enough to hear debates that represent both sides and incorporate a variety of viewpoints I have since needed to reconsider where I stand when the Democrats who had previously been demonized held in just in unjustifiable condemnation and immediately dismissed actually aligned with my own morals and reasoning more than Republicans I found myself at a Crossroads I could either continue in my father's doctrine that required me to blindly and to follow blindly and ignore irrefutable irrefutable truths in the principles of democracy or to pursue my own knowledge and form my own opinions this I could not do without the support of my

117teachers they have encouraged me to conduct my own research about the politicians from both parties who have the power to dictate my life they did this without interjecting their own opinions or political affiliations they have emboldened me to form my own opinions and supported me unconditionally The English Department has changed my life for the better they are in my humble opinion the most qualified people in this room to determine which books are useful and appropriate for classrooms they are expert experts in how to best use these books these tools to provide students with a div diverse education with which with which to become well-informed freethinking citizens thank [Applause] you Summit wood is here to speak about censorship uh board members my name is Summit wood my mother Mary wood as you know was censored last

118year for teaching a book containing the beautiful literature of tanasi coats although this book teaches and exceeds the criteria of an AP Language and Composition course it contain material which was questioned by many as racially distracting following her their complaints her extensive planning and excitement for that time frame of teaching was censored and discontinued this was this is just one of many regarding s reception School while some argue B controversial books in in a school setting is beneficial for a student It ultimately infringes on the teacher's ability to instruct a class moreover limiting the exposure of diverse viewpoints negatively affects a student's ability to think in a complex way complex and unique ways the educational classroom should contain a safe area where diverse viewpoints are visited where critical thinking is employed and where open dialogue

119occurs this shielding of students education hinders one's ability to navigate their future in the real world therefore the embracement of complex literature Fosters resilience and lengthens the understanding of society as president Benjamin Franklin remarked if all printers were determined not to not to print anything till they were sure it would not offend nobody there would be very little printed thank you and have a good night all right that concludes public participation and that moves us on to our action agenda um before we get to number 12 I do want to say that um our the board did not uh complete executive session uh within the hour so we are going to um rejourn for executive session at the conclusion of this meeting to continue um addressing item C um so I did want to address

120that before we got to 12 which is action as necessary or appropriate on matters discussed in executive session do I have a motion Mr Hogan I'd like to make the motion of the board approve selected employment items uh shenon exhibit a do I have um a second Miss Snipes Miss snip second any discussion seeing none I will call for the vote all in favor that motion carries 7 to zero and that moves us to item 13 uh approval of the proposed 2024 2025 board meeting schedule as seen in exhibit e do I have a motion anyone I'll move that we approve the proposed 2425 board meeting schedule per exhibit e do have a second Miss Barnhart all right um and for discussion Dr Ross uh yes um Miss mandat want to come for with any

121questions only thing I've noted is that we're not meeting on a national championship night so summ of this um We are continuing to hold um recommending to hold all meetings here at the center for advanced technical studies again for the next school year with the exception of the meetings that occur in the summer months those would be at the district office in order to relieve the pressure on staff here at the center during the summer as well as that's when a lot of the maintenance activities take place here um all regular meetings are scheduled to begin at 7 like Dr Ross mentioned we will not have the inconvenience of a national championship on a board meeting evening um the board will also continue to have two meetings per month except for July November December and

122April so I'm happy to take any questions that you have about this and um once it's approved we'll have it published appropriately okay any questions all right seeing none I'll call for the vote all in favor and that motion carries six to zero and uh Miss Snipes stepped out so it she stand thank you Miss Taylor all right that moves us to item 14 appointment of Richland County First Steps board member for School District 5 of Lexington and Richland counties in exhibit F do I have a motion anyone Mr Hogan Mr Hogan I got it right I'd like to make the motion that the board approve the administration's recommendation that the Board of Trustees approve the recommended appointment of Richland County's first steps board members for School District 5 of Lex Richland County do I

123have a second second Miss I heard Miss huddle um all right d ross I just wanted to get the motion out there first guys I ask our chief of U student services and planning office of student services and planning Dr Harris to come for with the board's Rec uh the administration's recommendation for approval uh thank you so much sen Ross members of the board and general Community uh we are here uh we U ventured here just a little while ago it seems like to talk about um our initial request for uh a board appointed person to serve on the lexon County side of District 5 tonight we're here uh making a very similar request regarding First Steps in terms of the Richland County sign of the house this comes by way of a June 20

124June 19 2023 uh reauthorization act called act uh number 81 which was signed in the law by the governor's office uh which in short simply says among several things uh that the local board where a rich and County First Steps is actually operating uh that the local board would at least appoint one member uh to that particular board and again we've done that uh from the Leon County being a two County uh District uh we wanted to bring this forward for uh richond County on tonight recommending on in terms of Richland County uh Mr Dita price who our coordinator of Youth and Family Services who has served on Richland County continues to serve on Richland County Board of First Steps um in various capacities as recent she is the outgoing chair of that particular board

125um so Mr Dita price is the recommendation the administration recommendation on tonight all right any questions for Dr Harris all right seeing none I will call for the vote all in favor that motion carries six to zero with Mr um Scully stepped out he thank you thank you Dr Harris all right then next item is item 15 first reading approval of proposed revisions to board policy dbj budget transfers exhibit G do I have a motion Mr Hogan uh make the motion that the Board of Trustees approve the first reading of proposed revisions to board policy dbg budget transfers dbj dbj I do I have a second Miss Snipes all right Dr Ross and Miss Wilkerson M Wilkerson thank you um good evening once again um so this is um as y'all mentioned but board policy

126dbj in regarding uh budget transfer so we did bring this before you at the last meeting for discussion based on some of that conversation we do have um some proposed change and some proposed language in the um policy uh the change here that we are recommending at this time um the original excuse me let me start with the original the original uh policy said that the authorized the superintendent or his or her designate to approve general fund line item transfers in the AG get totaling no more than $10,000 general fund budget transfers over 10,000 will be presented to the board for approval so again based on last time's uh last meeting's discussion this has been revised to read uh the board authorizes the superintendent or his or her design to transfer budget amounts between major

127categories in the general operating fund up to $250,000 as long as total spending does not exceed the approved budget general fund budget transfers between major categories greater than 250,000 will be presented to the board for approval additions to the approved general fund budget must be approved by the board um so again this is something that we mirrored based on other districts around us um based on districts that are like sized in South Carolina we also um received a legal opinion on this to make sure that it was um you know certainly legal to make these adjustments um Mr Allen Smith from I'm going to mess it up Mahoney hallan Mahoney and Williams I believe um reviewed this for us and um provided the information I did want to also bring the financial accounting handbook um

128I'm sure y'all don't have that handy but this is something that sits in my desk drawer and I refer to uh quite often um So within this accounting handbook it really dictates everything um accounting wise so as far as account numbers structure um fund account function all of that so when we talk about major categories um when we're looking from an expenditure side it lists them um as functions I know you can't read this but it lists it as functions and the major categories um from here are instruction so that's any function that starts with the number one so that's the first major category you have instruction the second major category would be start with a two is support services so that encompasses everything from principles to guidance to um even uh some of our

129district office team members then it goes over to three which is community services which would Encompass anything um from community relations Civic Services Public Library um custody that's like after scare after school care things like that um there's 400 which is or starts with a four other intergovernmental expenditures Etc transfers and then five is Debt Service so those are the the five major categories as defined in our financial accounting handbook um and so when I refer to major categories um in in that $250,000 transfer that's what I would be referring to I have a question when you're saying that when you're saying between major categories would that mean that you could transfer $250,000 from instruction to Debt Service you could not it would prohibit you from doing that you could transfer $ 250,000 from kindergarten

130to third grade within instructional services so it has to stay within the instruct the major category not so between kind of sounds I don't know is it just me am I I'm I'm it I might be I can I might be uh getting into the Weeds on that one I'm just I just wanted to make sure that that's what that means it's in the it's in the same it has to be within the same major category so like I said so the best example would be like moving from kindergarten to third grade we would not move from a kindergarten instruction to principal or administrative or something like that we would not make that move if it was greater than $250,000 that would come back to the board to for approval okay and just truly in

131general we we don't do that you know just in general instruction stays with instruction support stays with support yeah I just wanted to make sure that I clarified that Miss um hudle um I'm I'd like to make an amendment to the motion I move to amend a motion to change the wording of policy dbj budget transfers to ra all budget transfers other than Net Zero budget transfers for substitute teacher expenses will require board approval in advance and will be notated in the monthly and annual reports by a second M barnhard can I explain my motion um the reason I make that motion is um as we discussed earlier the biggest issue is the transfers for the substitute teachers so I think if we address that in the policy then we don't have to have dollar

132amounts um I checked I know you said we checked with an attorney but I sent an an opinion from the AG that was a county opinion but the stru the laws and the structures are the same where the AG felt like they issued an opinion that counties could not uh transfer um budget even between light items without a budget without a board vote um the other reason I think that we should vote on these is that um we go through three meetings and enormous input from the public and from each other on the budget and and we do discuss items much less than $250,000 so to be able to move less than $250,000 without budget approval even if it's within the line items it could be um from one school to another it could be

133from one instructional program to another um that's a lot of money um also budgets aren't normally uh adjusted we talked about that earlier we meet we discuss the the monthly report every single month so the finance office could send us in advance just as part of the budget package hey these are the items we want to move here's why quick vote Public's aware there's it's complete transparency we just got through a very long discussion about a potential Bond referendum we need more transparency not less so I think that this would be a happy medium this um Amendment as I've written it would allow it to make all those ones for the substitute teachers but anything else would come from the board one last point I I would like to make and I have something I'd

134like to put in the minutes on this I did look at what some we got some information from some school districts but I looked for others um and just a few um Pickins County they have no provision at all for Budget transfers in their policy Charleston County no provision at all for Budget transfers um Greenville County um in their financial report it actually says um to to ensure compliance budgetary controls are established by function and activity within each individual fund budget dollars cannot be transferred um between funds with a budget approval um so anyway I just think this is the right thing to do to to get be able to do this stuff with the temporary help but have the transparency where any other um adjustments are brought to the board and approved at the

135monthly meetings Dr Ross oh other were questions Oh I thought you had I thought you had okay um I have question yeah can you read the the amendment again just write it down um I move to amend the motion to change the ing a policy dpj budget transfers to read all budget transfers other than Net Zero budget transfers for substitute teacher expenses will require board approval in advance and will be notated in the monthly and annual reports all other all other so that eliminates the 10,000 it does and the reason why I did that is I went back and looked and the 10,000 is extremely arbitrary it's never been changed and let's go back to I mean Mr saterfield talks about his principal jobs I almost never do this but I'm going to do this

136okay I ran the budget for Blue Cross Blue Shield to South Carolina for years I ran the budget for Colonial Life and Accident for years budgets that are far greater than ours you don't change your budget that's the whole point is if you start moving it all around then at the end of the year you can't go back and say well how did we do compared to how we thought we would do um most organizations don't change their budget without a board something massive like at Blue Cross Blue Shield it had to be you won a major um contract something like that so really we shouldn't be moving it around and this allows us to move it around for the substitute teachers which I understand is an issue and and why um I saw Mr

137Scully first and then I'll go to do you okay you're done okay uh Mr saterfield no but no I'm trying to go in order it's hard when you're when I'm looking all over the place um I I was looking over uh what some of the other districts one and district one and and Fort Mill as well um can you tell me the reason for requesting the change is it simply because of substitute teacher issue I mean can you give us some an example of of why this would be a good change and would it delay the educational proc process the function of our district can you give us an example of that or share with us um yes so um again certainly would not uh recommend um increasing the budget or changing the total budget

138in in any way um we would this would just be moving between different functions different line items items like that so you know couple examples that come up um one one example is a human error um you know we should have budgeted $12,000 for a principal Supply account again as a former principal I'm sure you would not be happy when we budgeted 1 12200 so when that came to my attention hey what happened here last I've I've historically gotten 12,000 why did I only get 12200 we look back it was a keying era so I need the ability to be able to give that teacher or that I'm sorry that in this case it was a principal that $111,000 so that's that's one example another example that happens quite often is changes to this accounting

139handbook and so one one example that we hear a lot from technology is um with their different account codes so it used to we have the budget in a 345 which again this is very granular we have the budget in a 345 account but according to this financial accounting handbook it tells me it really should be charged to a 445 so when they go in to put that purchase order in it's flagged and says you can't you can't do this because you don't have the budget for it so they have to then either override or get permission from the finance department to to make that adjustment um so those are a lot of times it's stuff like that where they're making changes you know some other items that we have talked about before our um

140you know salaries you know salaries benefits where we do not um are unable to hire a position we then look at Contract Services um a lot of times in you know Allan and Dave's department they they have money in their supplies account and they realize it's an emergency I've got to I've got to get somebody in here to take care of this right away so then it's now a service that you're instead of buying the plumbing supplies to fix the issue you now have to actually hire a service to come in and fix the plumbing issue so it's a different an account so a lot of times it's just account changes it's not necessarily anything wrong it's just to get it accurate as as accurate as possible for the account Financial Accounting handbook we have

141to make those adjustments I I I think one of the things that sort of stuck out to me was our policy went from 10,000 to 250,000 um that's not 10,000 to 15,000 that's 10,000 to $250,000 quar of a million dollar um and that was the reason I asked can you give me some examples is so you're saying that as of yet we haven't seen anything so large as a $250,000 error or miscalculation or anything like that I wouldn't necessarily again I wouldn't I would not call it I don't mean I'm not trying to put you in the spot or anything but no I mean I I do think or coding or something changing coding just changing coding but again some of our softwares can cost to $300,000 so you know it's not necessarily that it's

142a $10,000 piece of software that might need to go to a different account and then get again with salaries we're talking it could be a you know just $80,000 salary position plus the benefits to it we're talking $120,000 position that needs to be now moved to a purchase services so that's where in the 250 really came from looking at what what has been kind of requested so far and then you know again based on our total budget of 232 million that was you know a really small percentage compared to that 232 versus the 10,000 let me ask you one last question and that is uh the coding are they not correlated I mean are do they just does the state make changes along the way without giving advanced notice or how does that work you

143would think that they would be there would be some kind of software that would well I will with schools um just for information a lot of these Financial Accounting handbooks so this one's dated 1920 um but the one that just came out this is an old one but the one that just came out is dated um it came out this year like about a month ago and it's the fy22 uh Financial Accounting handbook so that's how delayed they can be on on getting these out um but again it not to say that there's a ton of changes from year to year but again when we're looking at a $232 million budget with 22 different schools and and everything that we're looking at it absolutely does happen that previously it was charged to a account three

144now we know based on the new funding manual it needs to be a four or again like what happens in in Dave's group we thought we could do this inhouse we thought we could you know just purchase the supplies and fix the issue but now we need to contract it out okay so it's just and I said on one last question but I did have one more I'm apologize for that I noticed that the wording in the new policy or the presented policy was that um that um it will appear in the monthly financial report uh the other districts are talking about it will be reported to the board sounds to me like it's a little more formally by the way you know I don't know with an asri or that is would be part

145of the uh part of your reporting to the board say by the by we did because of board policy we did have to move these funds and I need to report that to you does that make sense um yes I can certainly revise the the word appear um I do know just from like listening into Lexington 1's um there's is like an information item so you know how we do like with our superintendent report and we do our monthly our monthly financial report that's where it would be um so we can certainly have it in the adjusted column that we talked about earlier but if y'all want further detail um you know we could we could always potentially add that in to that just kind of as an um apolog I just think if that

146sends up red flags for anybody if might they might find comfort in knowing that okay this is a this is important enough that we're going to report that to the board not just have it as a line item that that may be noted or duly noted or not just a suggestion um I I do go ahead I just didn't know if now is the time to address some of Miss Huddle's questions or well yes and then but I I also have a um kind of a caveat that might help address some of those questions or I don't know it it might be another question to address that's related to both things that Miss um huddle and Mr saterfield have said I mean I do one of the things that I was going to say is

147the $10,000 number um is significantly less than the quarter million dollar number so um one of the things that I wanted to ask and and I just I may be blanking but you've made comments about like how like things have happened like the $122,000 um Supply issue was a keying error for a principal or like other little things have happened and um where this has risen to the level where it needs to be changed by the board I don't really remember ever um having it brought to us where there have been things that needed like where you needed approval because the 10,000 thousand threshold um was a problem so my question is like how often does this happen and if it happens that often are we just not getting are you just not bringing it

148to us so the principal does you know gets or what the who whatever party gets $1,200 instead of 12,000 and they're they're out of luck and we just don't know about it um so a couple things I have you know again I've been on staff about a year and a half so um had asked my team like what what was done in the past because I'm trying to understand you know based on this policy the way that I read it and I interpret it it says any transfers more than $10,000 need to come to y'all so I'm like how have y'all been functioning um and so in discuss in some of that discussion um my understanding is that maybe in the past they have allowed movement if it was the same function greater than $10,000

149so and by function it could be they allowed movement from kindergarten to kindergarten and they allowed movement from third grade to third grade or from Principal to principal and that may not have been presented to yall but that's not necessarily the way that I understand this because it does say transfers more than $10,000 so that could be why it was not always um presented to y'all um another thing that you know has certainly happened this year is that these transfers just aren't happening and so that we we actually have to override it on our end so we're allowing overrides which to me is interal control concern to allow purchase orders that I know okay well you always should you should have 12,000 you've got 1,200 so we're allowing that override to get to 12,000 just

150to avoid you know always having to come back to the board so I don't I don't that's my concern with keeping it the same way is inundating y'all with constantly coming back to say this you know and again nobody I mean errors happen it's a $232 million budget I'm not not afraid to admit my error this is certainly my error but I don't know that y'all want to to know about that or that's something I need to publicly present to y'all when something like that may happen right I know you were going to address some of mle's questions yes if I could just have a moment I tried to write down some of the items um the first one was regarding that County ag opinion um so I'm glad you brought that up because I

151did talk with Alan the same attorney Alan Smith actually at budget time and we talked about um County versus school districts and even cities because at the time I remember we were discussing um you know the number of readings and I could not find anything in the state statute that govern school districts in the number of readings I could only find information about counties in the state statute so in my discussion with Allen he said you're right the state statutes talk about counties um board policy governs School District budgets the only again this is based on my my discussion with him that the the um the only guidance as far as State Statute with budgeting that's in there for school districts is the piece about public hearings and that you have to post you know

15215 days before a public hearing you have to um post that in a in a local newspaper but as far as number of readings as far as that AG opinion that was that was mentioned about transfers I don't believe based on my conversation with him that that would apply to school districts um again based on my conversation with him board policy governs how school districts you know do their process so he did you know again in that discussion and that that that discussion we were talking about number of readings specifically but um in that discussion he said you know it's certainly customary that most districts do two readings like y'all do and that is part of our board policy which governs it so I do feel like the board transfer or the budget transfer policy

153would fall into that same um that same guidance there um and then um you also mentioned that that Charleston doesn't have a provision about um budget transfers you're right I did did look it up they don't have policy dbj they don't mention board budget transfers at all so if there's not guidance on it I don't know that we can safely say they they don't allow them because they don't mention them um so we don't necessarily know um how that is done but I have certainly done research on other um other districts and their policies and there you know it's kind of a little bit of a mixed bag there's definitely ones that you can find that are more restrictive there's ones that you can find that are more lenient um but I did try to

154do my research focus on the ones that are geographically close to us and and um likewise that's why I also included Fort Mill right um Miss I saw Miss Barnhart she hasn't spoken and then I'll go to miss huddle this might have already been asked and answered but what was the what were the determining factors in going from such a small number to such a large number from 10,000 to 250 I mean it just seems kind of Mr s's point of very big jump so could you kind of explain how we came up with the 250,000 sure I mean if y'all remember in the at the first discussion I didn't have a number in there um you know we we my original discussion was really looking mainly at the Fort Mill um Lexington one policy

155where there is not a threshold um when I went to board officers I I I talked to the board officers and we kind of discussed um some items and the suggestion was made maybe you should put in a number just for a comfort level so we kind of like went back about okay what what does that look like you know how you know and so we did we went back to what has been requested and you know how many could we essentially do administratively at a certain threshold and so that's how we kind of came up with the $250,000 number that that would really get us from an administrative level that most of that we would not have to come back to the board unless it is a very major item um and so again

156with a $232 million budget that's about 1% or I'm sorry 0.1 of 1% uh of the budget so you know again when you think about the volume of of our general fund and the 232 million it's still a very small number so I think the 10,000 is really it was totally arbitrary like that's kind of I don't know where that came from at all I think that was in you know the last time it was what 0709 when it was revised and I don't again don't know what was changed there so I don't know where the 10,000 came from um but that's where my my team and my my logic came from with the 250 and the clarification to that um based off of the board officers meeting um when we were at our meeting

157last last um time and we were in discussion uh Miss huddle raised the issue about well I mean what if we moved $1.5 million for Portables like that doesn't make any sense like there's no guidance there when it's when there's no dollar amount so we were like well I mean bring to the board what you think is reasonable and I guess that's what where that number came from um Miss huddle did you have a another yeah I just had some follow-up questions so um in the example that you gave where um a person was budgeted so we had salary INF fringes and we hired a consultant instead why would we change the budget don't we want a record that this was budgeted salaries what's wrong with having the budget one place and the actual another

158well again when we when we look at our budget to actual reports at the end of the year which is a part of our audit it looks like we UND spent in salaries and we overspent in consultants and we did and and that's I mean I guess that's up to youall to me i' I prefer that they they tie but um that you know when again when I look at our audit report each year the red numbers you know I don't like the red numbers the red numbers and the brackets mean you overspent um and it doesn't necessarily take away the position so the FTE from like an HR standpoint would still be there and with a contract usually it's a finite amount of time so you know we may hire somebody under contract for

159one school year and it would certainly I would think and I don't want to speak for HR but I would think we would certainly then try again because we still have the FTE there physically so we would try again to hire it so it's not like the budget would go away in the New Year the FTE would still be there I'm not you know I guess I'm speaking to the board now I'm not saying that the FTA FTE would go away or anything like that but typically you don't you you you live with reality here's the budget that we set just like a family here's the budget that we set here's how we spent if at the end of the day you stayed within your total great I mean that's really the goal but you

160don't want to muddy The Waters by moving stuff and then you don't really know what happened also again the public doesn't really know what happened um we spent a lot of time on a a a contract for social emotional learning with allowing $250,000 you could take a chunk of money that was spent somewhere else and allocate it to that or allocate it elsewhere squ so I'm just concerned that we know where we're over and under and that we most importantly wherever possible we're never taking money out of instruction and spending it somewhere else that's my biggest concern well I I will say so I I don't support your motion because I feel like it I mean the administration brought us this you know they brought this to us because they needed help with that $10,000

161number I don't necessarily agree with their $250,000 number but I think removing $10,000 Alto together and making it even harder for them I mean I I I just don't understand that and I do think that I mean I could see where you know Kinder you know you a school you're looking at a school and they budgeted $122,000 for kindergarten books and then enrollment this year with was up and they needed to put $10,000 or $112,000 in third grade books or or I mean I'm using hypotheticals off the cuff but I could see where that would H happen and that's so operational not for the board and it's a small amount of money $250,000 seems like a lot even if it's for software I would think that that would come to you know that would come

162to the board but I mean removing the $10,000 I I just feel like that gets into the weed and it's I mean Madison's CL Miss Wilkerson has clarified that I mean we're staying we're if we're staying within the function so the major category is instruction so if if there you're not moving something out in from instruction to some to something else I mean I I just don't interpret you do that under 2,000 maybe I don't understand I mean I think you can but I mean you've eliminated the whole like 10,000 I mean I don't know I mean I don't I I that's why I'm just saying I just disagree with your motion I'm trying to explain that I don't necessarily agree with that policy as written right now but um Dr Ross I know you've

163tried to get my attention like five times sorry no I I just wanted to speak uh it's my role as superintendent to speak on each action of the board when I see so and and this is a time that um that I need to exercise that that right um I think we really muddy and we got too deep into the to the weeds here the goal of the board when we went to superintendent school was the board tells you where to go the administration flies there we're the pilots you tell us the destination when policy tries to drive the plane we we really get off off the the problem I have with this amendment is that it is truly flying the plane at this point to have we need need clear policy and we'll follow

164it um to have a rule with an exception is not clear policy so to say you can do this except when it's Subs there are so many conditions in which we have to make adjustments the board approves the budget in June the schools open in August and September in that time realities have changed now I don't think we've changed the budget and I could be wrong but I don't think we've ever changed the budget without bringing it to the board and saying we would like to do a budget amendment what we're asking for is that if we hit turbulence during the flight that we're giving permission to move through it transparency means we tell you we veered off this way we veered off that way but we did not change the budget I need to

165give the CFO and the finance office within the category the ability to fly through the changes of the turbulence that Administration should be able to have it and report that to the board we thought we needed this many scissors in kindergarten we now need this many in first grade it's still within the same category we have not changed the budget give the administration opportunity to do its job we will report what we have done and if we fail to do it hold the superintendent accountable but we can't fly the plane through policy that is my my issue with this we need flexibility to be able to move within the category if we change the category for a dollar we come back to the board it is not we're not changing any categories but to think

166that we can predict in we're doing we're doing projections we're doing uh we've just talked about how chapen is changing the reality of what's going to hit us in August has never been 100% predicted in June so I think listening to our finance office we are clearly transparent no one's trying to hide anything we will report all transfers you can see them we'll do the budget uh apport we can say we've transferred this but if we come back to change the budget that's an amendment to the budget and that's when we would need a bo uh board approval for that Mr Scully and then we'll call for the vote um first of all 100% agree with everything you just said um it's right down to the transparency there's no lack of transparency in in this

167uh request I do not support the amendment um easy fix anytime you do a transfer keep a footnote on the monthly report that's that simple um it's not I think in a previous meeting Miss hudle referred to it as a shell game it's not the budget's not changing like Dr Ross said you you took the words right out of my mouth so I um you're just moving within the category uh it is not our job on the board to operate this um let them do their jobs um you have the attorney opinion uh Miss Wilkerson is that in writing or was it veral do you have it a letter well the the AG opinion that Miss um Miss huddle shared is is in writing um but then my discussion with Allan again was not directly

168about that AG opinion it was just about school district budgets in general and the statutes around them and that was over um over the phone but I can certainly ask for that in writing if you get it I think it would be if you had it I would add it to the minute to the minutes um but I I think and that's what I was referring to was your discussion with Ellen um regarding the AG opinion I I I think that's apples to oranges to this discussion um an a County ordinance is not a school board policy um totally different um laws um relating it also to miss Huddle's um example about the family budget I don't I don't think that's accurate either the a more accurate representation would be a family budget where you

169give your kid a $10 allowance and say go spend that and they can go and spend the $10 on whatever they want whether it's a candy bar a book or whatever without parental approval um not changing the overall family budget so I think that's a more that that example just didn't um relate to this so just just reiterate my support for everything Dr Ral said I do not favor the amendment and I will not vote for it thank you all right um I was gonna call for okay Mr Hogan Miss Excuse Me Miss Wilkerson with um and just to make sure you said it multiple times I want to hear it one more time within the transfers of this budget we're not taking it from scissors and move into diplom supplies okay no we would

170not we would not be because that again that would go from instruction to a support service so we would not do that and and I think what's what's giving me a little bit of a hang up on this right now is the the the first wording transfer budget amounts between major categories in the general operating fund and I guess in my interpretation major categories is scissors to Plumbing right so is there a way that that could be worded to where it's a little more specific um I mean I could certainly you know the language in here I guess my concern with the language in here is that it's it states function um and my concern there is that we kind of use that that term they're interchangeably between all of these different ones that are

171listed here um the way the state defines it is is the major function would be the 100 and then the sub function would be 110 111 112 113 which correspond to kindergarten Primary Elementary programs um so I just think I guess culturally maybe we would just have to understand and I would leave detailed notes that culturally even though we call all these things functions internally the true function itself is inter construction the true function is Support Services the true function is community services and and the way this policy is written is there any provision in your opinion to where is this 20 250,000 per transfer so there's really nothing that's prohibiting us from taking 250 from this pot and moving it to this pot of scissors and then another transaction of 240 from this pot

172to this pot of like you kind of get where I'm going at I I do um but I guess my my concern with going back to the old language of the aggregate then I mean there is certainly times where over the year we would get to $250,000 so then at what point would we bring it to you if we've already done say 10 that get us to 240 and I bring one to you that would be over the two like I I just don't know where where we would draw that line yeah I I get it but again you know again I think it's similar to like some of our procurement practices like I think there's policy and then there's practice and I don't I don't I mean this is my opinion I'm going to

173be honest but I don't know that we need to be that restrictive because just in practice we don't we don't do those types of things we don't try to circumvent policy just to to get something buy so that would certainly I would hope be something that you know if we find we do truly need $260,000 to be moved from this to this we would AB absolutely I think you know I can certainly speak for my team we would be honest in that and and bring that to the board instead of circumventing and breaking it up into two separate transactions okay I'm going to call for the vote we actually have two motions on the floor um we have Miss uh Huddle's motion um to amend the original motion so I'm going to call for that

174vote now um all in favor of Miss Huddle's motion all two all opposed four um that motion fails uh four to two with one abstention and that um brings to the table the original motion um to for first reading for um budget transfers the amendment but the budget transfers Miss H I have another subsidiary motion all right okay I move that we defer first reading on this um policy change until we get a um opinion from the attorney general do I have a second all right second yeah thank thank you um the reason why is the Attorney General's opinion that I sent is let me find the the um number the Attorney General is basing their opinion on South Carolina 4 9140 which does apply to counties um however that law never specifies budget transfers

175so I think the Attorney General was relying on the fact that that law says that the budget has to be approved much in the same way the law that applies to school districts requires that the budget be approved but doesn't mention budget transfers we've lived with $10,000 for forever so why not be on the safe side and get an attorney general's opinion to see if it applies to school districts well I will say um and then I'll go to Mr saterfield um just so I don't lose my train of thought Mr saterfield um I will say that I um don't support the $250,000 number um but what I do see um and that's just because I have questions about that and so um what I do see is supporting Miss Huddle's motion and getting an

176opinion and making sure that that is um you know to to see what that is whether or not they're going to uh agree that school districts are like counties or not that might actually answer other questions that we've had had um or at least uh I don't know if answer but in there might be some things that can be inferred um I I agree that that that might be the best course of action instead of eliminating the $110,000 or completely just tabling or or getting rid of the the policy alog together um I don't know how long does it typically take to get an AG opinion it just I think that's up to them I mean I think it varies depending on a few months as far as process behind that will will that somebody

177within the district office reach out and request that or will that be one of the responsibilities of us like walk me through that to get I mean to get it think that the administration writes a letter and and say and to and I mean I disagree I I think this is board policy we we don't recommend this um I would we would like to base our policies off the law and right now our attorneys have given us guidance if the board wants to get an opinion from the AG that that should be a board action ours is based off the law but the board can direct the superintendent to ask for an opinion on the policy then that would be an action that y'all will take right right um all right I'm just Mr saterfield

178go ahead okay and by the way this is called Synergy when everybody gives their own opinions and um so I'm going to offer my opinion I after listening and I've been listening carefully to everybody's input and their take on this and uh I know that I initially said uh and I stand by that comment the the Shocker is the 250,000 from 10,000 to 250 I got out my calculator I wasn't on my cell phone I was using my calculator and uh um that is 0.001% of our budget um and I was looking and I and I I had already been reading lexon and district one and I'm sure that the they're not breaking any laws lexon One Fort Mill who we Model A lot of our policies after they're very good um Richland one and

179Richland 2 um all of them give none of them give a budget amount except for Richland to they give the $250,000 and they point out all of them do point out though that um that U the changes must conform with the approved with regards to law with the approved state law with budgetary procedures um I and listening to uh our CFO here um I'm I'm starting to to be of the opinion that we should pass this as first reading and the reason for that is I think that we feel like we're having to be the ones who are making these decisions instead of allowing having a policy that allows the people that we hire to do these jobs we're trying to in essence it's in a sense I feel like we're micromanaging there I mean

180this is they we hire these we have attorneys giving us input we have all these brilliant people on this panel we have a super CFO that I'm really disappointed that she's leaving um but I think we should trust them in what they're asking us to do and they're staying within the framework they've gotten legal advice they've gone through the process and that's just my opinion thank you okay so I'm GNA uh call for the vote um we have um yeah I'm calling for the vote we have another amendment on the table uh Miss Huddle's Amendment um to defer the policy until um the board receives uh a an AG opinion so I will call for that vote all in favor of Miss Huddle's motion all opposed all right so that motion um passes 4 to

181three so that original motion is off the do we need to the original motion would be off of the table right am I okay I'm just making sure sorry everyone watching this um it's starting to get late um Miss huddle do you want to make a motion on how that opinion uh or do you have opinions on or a thought on how you want that motion to reach the AG do you want to send or do you want to draft a letter to the for the board to sign do you want the superintendent how to logistically how to yeah my understanding is that an indiv I don't think an individual board member can do it we have to do it as a as a board um so do you want to draft a letter bring

182it to the yeah I'll just do that and we can put it on the next agenda the next agenda it'll be real simple though okay um so that moves us to 16 um which is discussion of board policy diie fiscal auditing and audits exhibit H well we've kind of moved on right I mean yeah um it it is going to be addressed at the next meeting because Miss huddle is bringing a letter so an interest of time and the fact that we need to go back into executive session I'm going to move forward um which brings us to discussion of board policy di D fiscal accounting and audits exhibit h m or Dr Ross Yes Madam chair members of the board um we are bringing for clarification we are seeking clarification for the board this

183is uh really no action uh on our board policy diie uh for uh fiscal accounting audits uh we were heard from our auditing firm um and we just wanted to see for clarification as we read this policy so I'm going to let our CFO Miss Madison Wilkerson explain the the clarification thank you Dr Ross um as he mentioned we have been you know working with our auditing firm Manley Garvin um for about 6 months now they are still working on our fy22 and FY 23 procurement audits um with that and included in our um our discussions with them and in our engagement letter we included the language from our board policy di regarding fiscal accounting and audits this language was updated January 24th 2022 um and the language reads purchasing audits will require the auditing

184of all payments of more than $50,000 total in any fiscal year to any vendor to ensure the procurement code was followed with respect to Contracting and payments this includes payments of all types regardless of funds used for such payments and regardless whether purchase orders were used these requirements will in be included in all our request for proposals and all proposed contracts for purchasing audit services so again that language was included in our engagement letter and that is something that we you know talked to about on the front end I think now that we're in the practice of it um we're really understanding what that that policy means So based on on that again based on that um that language and in discussion with our Auditors we um have looked at the years under question to

185see how many invoices this truly means so um just for understanding for fiscal year 22 which again this first year this policy was in place and the first year this that Clause has been included in a procurement audit the district paid 144 vendors over $50,000 in total of these 140 vendors 144 vendors 50 six of those are procurement are subject to the procurement code the other other vendors are either exempt from the procurement code under State contract which means they already meet comp competition requirements or were a soul Source procurement of the remaining 56 the administration at this time estimates an excess of 5,000 invoices for these vendors um again this is an estimate at this time because it we really the volume is is pretty significant um you know one of our vendors alone

186has 1,600 invoices another vendor has 4 100 I've looked at several others that have a couple hundred a piece so again my estimate at this time is 5,000 but that that is truly just an estimate um and and you know looking at that one vendor that has over, 1600 invoices over 400 of those invoices are for less than $100 um so again just just a large large volume so um based on the way the policy reads right now we're looking for guidance as to what the board meant by that policy because again with that volume that is excessive um but if we look at it a slightly different way um in the same time frame if we pull only invoices only invoices over $50,000 so not total vendors paid more than 50,000 but the invoice

187alone is 50,000 or more the result is about 172 total invoices 86 of which are subject to the procurement code so 86 is still certainly a robust sampling of our procurement um policy and certainly our our district internal controls but it's much more manageable than the $5,000 if we interpret it the other way so you know again at this time Finance Administration and certainly mainly G Garvin are just looking for guidance on what this Clause of the policy truly means and what the expectation is of of us okay any thoughts Miss hle um is one of their questions whether or not it Just applies to the V ERS uh the payment subject under the procurement code or is that probably a given I mean is that a clarification that is needed I think no we

188,000 number so we took we took it that just applied to the procurement code as a given so that's why I gave the different numbers um I mean I was three of us were on the board at the time and I think the intention was that the vendor would get audited not necessarily all the payments so because we had we had some vendors who had um payments over $50,000 but there were problems with the contracts like the contract was indefinite which is not allowed and the board had never approved it so I think that was really the the intention I'm looking at these two over here I thought it was $50,000 like if there was one invoice that was $50,000 not all like a not all of the invoices it was not all of the

189invoices but it was if the vendor had received more than $50,000 cuz this actually came out of the procurement committee and then went to the full board multiple times but it it was the vendor and and it actually stemmed from a contract one of one of the things that it stemmed from was a contract with a consultant that was an indefinite term contract the consult consultant had been paid over $50,000 and so that should have come to the board and it never did and the and the auditor didn't catch it because because they weren't looking at that level so I mean I would I would think this would need to be adjusted but I would propose that we talk about where it's instead of saying all payments it just says a sample of payments um

190would be you know because 56 is not hard to audit that you know you'd be only auditing 56 vendors and a sampling of payments to those 56 vendors so the reason why I'm saying the $50,000 with one person and and Matt I mean this was this could go back to like our very first board meeting or our second board meeting when we were on the board so we're going back a few years but I believe you made a motion like we had um our accounting firm here brette brette and you asked them about whether or not they looked at all invoices over $50,000 and they and they said yes or and I could be I I could be misre remembering this I'm thinking out loud and you had gone through every single check and you

191were like no here's an invoice for $50,000 and that's where the $50,000 number came from from from what I remember and I could be remembering I will totally I mean I could be remembering it wrong but when I think about the $50,000 number that was significant to me because they were like they're you know they're they came back to us and they said our scope of work was to sample invoices not to look at every single invoice and it was the $50,000 number am I remembering that wrong or do you remember that Matt well I I'll tell you exactly I mean I'm trying to get intent because I think that that's what the intent was Matt do you yeah and I remember it it was at Spring Hill High School where the meeting was um

192I believe we got points at is that meeting um yeah Dr loften had a full beard he did yes um but um but no and I think my interpretation as well was it was transactions over 50,000 would be audited but I mean it's it's subjected to our interpretation is to kind of wear well I'll just go ahead and remind yall of the what it was okay it there was a contract with a consultant that had never been approved by the board which is required by the procurement code or at least was it that time it was a 710 exemption that any Consultants that were paid over $50,000 had to be approved by the board it had not been approved by the board the consultant had been paid over $50,000 and so I'm asking well why

193didn't the auditor catch this and I asked well do you audit all vendors that are paid over 50 so the word paid could have been invoice but I will tell you as being on the procurement um panel at the time the goal was to prevent that from happening again so the goal was to look at vendors that receive $50,000 and not sample not audit all of their invoices but look at their contract to make sure it's in compliance like was it approved by the board or whatever the proper approval was and Sample not all of their invoices so my recommendation would be to just insert the word sample okay so we could kind of edit that for going into the um a first reading to admit Mr saterfield yeah and I'm glad I wasn't around

194when you all went through all this that's a a lengthy board policy I know it was necessary though um yeah I was uh I I talked with a friend of mine who is in the finance and he said typically it's just a sampling and that if we just took out the word all then you could it would in fact be a sampling as a as an audit is typically and that's how it's typically done I think the word all just insinuates that all payments so yeah just just a suggestion yeah can I may ask a clarifying question um so on that when you say insert the word sample can you just tell me where to because I just want to make sure I put it in the right spot I was looking at the language

195that you guys sent us purchasing audits will requiring require the auditing of a sample of payments of more than 50,000 or just as Mr saterfield suggested just remove the word all will require the audit of payments more than $50,000 in total to any fiscal year to any vendor and and I think yeah I that clarify that that would help clarify certainly for us um because in our discussion I said an audit is a sample but then when you when you put the word all in there it takes away the sample so that's where our Auditors were like what you know what do we do here um so I guess the next step for that because it is discussions youall wouldn't be making a vote so it'll go for first reading first reading have a draft

196of that and we can discuss that at the next meeting um Dr Ross wanted to say something and then we need a motion for executive session but Dr Ross uh thank you for the point a privilege um when we refer to our Chiefs in the works that they do when things go good our Chiefs uh give away all the thanks and praise uh when things go wrong they take all the criticism and the challenges uh and they work very well tirelessly behind the scenes to get things done uh that has been true of this Chief and her last meeting in School District 5 uh Miss Madison Wilkerson she has done an amazing job uh coming in uh being uh just a rock for our financial department uh handling the challenges we have right in the

197ship making sure that uh we're in a good sound Place uh with our with our our fiscal responsibility and uh we will certainly miss her watched her in such a short time doing an amazing job and so um Steve Wilson here at the center for advanced technical studies has a machine tool um he's a machine tools instructor and uh he has his students fashion out a award that we give to those who've done a Stella job is called the heart work award and I would like in her last meeting she came in on a board meeting and she leaves on a board meeting uh but uh board please help us recognize and and chief as she moves Dr Ross can we meet out front like we recognize other folks and take a picture with her

198andig shake her hand what I was going no I wasn't but thank you that would be great and recognize our CFO and our transition Miss Madison [Applause] Wilkerson for [Applause] do I have a motion to go into executive session you do I'd like to make a motion that the board enter re-enter executive session executive session to continue discussing matters thank you Mr Hogan uh do I have a second Mr saterfield any discussion seeing none I'll call for the vote all in favor that motion carries [Laughter] 7 to zero we will adjourn for executive session and reconvene Rel e all right I'm calling us back to order from executive session uh just a note for the public um the board is going to have a special called meeting on Wednesday um the 24th uh yeah the

19924th at 11:30 it will be a virtual meeting um to um finish discussing the contractual matter in executive session that we discussed today and with that do I have a motion like make the motion that we adjourn the meeting do I have a second second I was going to call him Miss barart but I heard huddle first uh any discussion seeing none I'll call for the vote all in favor that motion carries 6 to zero and we will adjourn until Wednesday thank you