June 26, 2023 School Board Meeting

001testing one two three testing okay I'd like to call this meeting on June 26 2023 to order do I have a motion to approve the agenda Mr Hogan do you have a second Mr Scully any discussion thing then I'll call the question all in favor the motion passes seven to zero Miss Honda have a motion relative to the agenda um I move that all officer meetings be live streamed to the public and non-officers be able to watch the executive portion of the meeting without participating do I have a second Miss Barnhart um the reason of um it's not everybody can get there obviously and I know that in the last meeting a couple of the officers were remote so if we can allow the officers to remote to be remote why not allow the public

002to also be remote it would just be easier for everyone right and I will say that there were two um board members that were remote that day that actually happened the day of the meeting because of extenuating circumstances from Mr Hogan was not able to be there and we did not have the ability to reschedule that meeting based on schedules to prepare for this meeting um which is why we made a special exception for that um do I have any like other questions or or does anybody have any thoughts or is that even appropriate to have that motion I mean that's not on the agenda well I thought it was appropriate because it's um appropriate to the approval of the agenda because it's how the agenda gets created to start with I mean I would

003almost think that it uh and I had gotten your email requesting that conversation I almost think that that would be more appropriate to put on a regular agenda to discuss um just because it's not I mean that that was a request that you made after this agenda had been set that's my thoughts on that um it's not that I have any I mean I I have questions for the administration just regarding the logistics of our officers meeting because I had actually requested the same um with uh last year and I was told that the Manpower um with the district to set that up and and for that to be live streamed was an issue so I would just like to have that conversation and have that on an agenda not necessarily voted on tonight without

004having those like logistical conversations I'm okay withdrawing it if we can put it on our next question we can put it on that agenda okay I would just that's fine okay yeah I would just like to be able to have information from the administration about how that works and why um you know the logistical part of all of that and can I ask that y'all look at two options ideally we would live stream for the whole public but if that's too problematic I'd ask that we look at like what was done in the last meeting only the other board members just wouldn't be their mics would be turned off they wouldn't participate so I'd just like to look at both but given your commitment to putting on the next agenda I'll withdraw the motion okay

005that's fine is that okay with everyone okay um all right do I have a motion to enter executive session Mr Hogan like the motion to enter executive session and consider the following a selected employment items exhibit a for Action B selected employment items exhibit B information only C employee grievance appeal Exhibit C and B evaluation of superintendent for 2022-2023 Shannon exhibit D do I have a second Mr I heard Miss Snipes first Miss knives any discussion any discussion seeing none we will adjourn for executive sessions oh no yeah okay vote sorry Monday every time I'll call the question all in favor the motion carry 7-0 we will adjourn for executive session and we'll return at seven o'clock his sisters foreign I'd like to call to order this June 26 2023 board meeting I'd like to

006welcome everyone for attending and we are going to start with the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance from trustee Matt Hogan good about our heads and let us pray our heavenly father we come humbly before you and ask for your protection guidance and clarity as we navigate the decisions that impact our children neighbors and Friends we ask you this in your name we pray amen that will bring us to number eight on our agenda which is the superintendent's report so Dr Ross Madam chair members of the board and our community thank you for the opportunity to do the superintendent's report we have three items we'd like to bring to you the first one is our year review but it always starts off with three critical questions that we ask ourselves each and every day that's

007the vision question why do we exist the mission question how do we accomplish our vision and then the outcomes that we all love and that's what have we created what are those outcomes our vision our why questions driven by that notion that we love and we grow our students our mission is that we provide a safe secure diverse and Equitable learning environments focused on academic social and emotional growth and development what are the outcomes that we see we seek those outcomes that every student feels loved in our schools and that our objective is that every student has demonstrated academic growth in our schools what does that look like is measured in our performance goals and our strategic plan our school climate our teacher admin quality student achievement goals and our gifted and talented strategies our

008goal this year is to be focused on that growth and development and I'm excited about the work that our teachers our students our support staff Administration our parents in our communities have done to stay focused on that growth and development some highlights from the past year that I'm excited to tell is that we were able to continue to tell our story we put in our D5 rd5 story good news ambassadors to continue to tell that story I'm excited to announce that the national school public relations Association awarded our district 2 golden Achievement Award for communication and telling the story that we have as well as our Sunday uh videos that we do to our parents and so I'm very appreciative of that of that telling that story and we look forward to next year as

009we continue Vol 2 of telling our story each and every day I'm excited about the supports that we have for our students if you remember last year this time the the nation was gripped and the threats that we received in terms of what was going on in Uvalde and how we could secure our buildings we were dealing with situations in terms of making sure we had Sr roles in school safety officers and every in every school we opened with the open Gates and did the emergency procurement to ensure that we had a weapons detection systems in every school I was very proud to see that Lexington and Richland County and our in our security team we all acted as a board as a community to come together and on the first day of school every

010school was covered we haven't had one school with three groups of security from Lexington and our private security I'm excited about the work that we've done with kerosolus uh this is not about efficiency but it's about Effectiveness that when you deal with a a system where we have we went from 30 suicide evaluations a month to 36 but we had the people in place for those students for those families through our Carousel supports our first job initiative expanding to all of the the high schools excited that when I thank those members who could attend the board our signing day where we had our students when we dealt with the situation of a work shortage we looked into our own classrooms and found students who could do state approved work based learning experiences right here in

011school district five uh we're excited about the the staff recognitions not only financial but the the social the supportive ones supporting our teachers uh this board supported the D5 Stars program where we had two of our very own State teachers of the Year South Carolina State teachers of the year who are giving back to their colleagues to their teachers in support roles and to hear the testimonies of those first-year teachers that had those supports from our two very own State teachers of the year it's very reassuring I'm excited about the capital projects the work to get a an amazing design for Irma High School the brown great great king at Chapin High School and our work with Contracting with a strategy in place for a Five-Year Plan but we do it so that our students

012are ready for their Futures with a different from our past and I'm excited that the class of 2023 at that point at this point consists of 1241 students but we're excited to say we won't stop there as we look forward to summer graduation where we continue to add to the class of 2023. so again we have a lot to celebrate this is just a a very short breakdown of the year we'll do another one as we we start off the year but I wanted you to see just some of the amazing accomplishments that we've had in school district five as always we have an opportunity to look forward and what is the the future look for look like looks like our strategic plan we committed to that Five-Year Plan and we're going to continue to

013see those strategies through so goal one is on school climate we have six strategies that our administrators are working on our teachers and our staff go to is about student achievement we have six strategies that are our District employees are working on each and every day goal three is about teacher and admin quality those six strategies that we're working on to ensure the best teachers and administrative teams the number one impactor to a child's education is a teacher number two is an effective principal working with that teacher and then number four gifted and talented strategies how do we stretch our students to get the the best and we expand that notion of gifted to include all talents and gifts so with that Madam chair that's just a quick highlight of the 2022-2023 school year and

014we look forward to the continued Excellence of school district five for the upcoming year before we move on to the monthly financials or any questions staff any questions on this year do you have any questions Miss huddle um Dr Ross on the mental health and the particularly the suicides I read a study recently where some scientists dissected CDC data and they found that more teenagers commit suicide during weekdays and during the school year than they do on weekends in the Summers and they kind of delved into that and found that too of the driving forces were anxiety associated with school work and homework in particular and also bullying so I was just curious or do do you think that might be the case in in our district as well as you know nationally and if

015so what kind of things are are we considering or doing to try to lessen that that anxiety and the bullying thank you I think the the number one thing we can do is within if you look at our our annual report we talked about our number one issue that we think challenges us as mental health issues and we see those on on the notion from anxiety to depression um uh these these are things that are gripping us substance use disorder those are the those root causes that we we need to address I am very committed to what's known as SEL or social emotional learning an opportunity to look at how do we address with a Common Language these issues that the children are dealing with when a child has a flu the flu it seems

016like the whole Community comes around that family with remedies and and things that could help that child with the flu when a family is going through suicide audiation it seems like that family is all alone when a family is going through acute depression or or sustained anxiety sometimes you feel by yourself what we're dealing with now in our classrooms is it's not just two or three students it seems like the majority of students and our teachers are are not equipped with those tools at mass in that scale to get students in that area where they're prepared to learn uh we are doing it very well in Pockets but I want to support every teacher every school with the correct vocabulary with the correct science so that we can identify those things we have opportunities uh

017with our we're going to be in the next year talking about our our grading philosophy we're engaging the community on on what is the what are our beliefs about grades about school work how much the frequency progression measuring all of that is a great opportunity to do this we're talking about technology and this impacts and so this is an opportunity this year to really get ahead of it we're going to bring back to this board our recommendations for discussion with the community how do we equip our classrooms with those tools so they can dress the environment and and the the mental state of our children there are those that say that's not our place we're supposed to teach read and write and arithmetic but if you're not in the learning mind you can't get to

018those three hours any more questions for Domino's Mr Satterfield yeah I had a question since Miss Otto brought that up I wonder how many do we ever get get any feedback on how many students that we have within our district that are zoned for our schools that are enrolled in Connections Academy and some of the online services I I the reason is I ran into one of the a friend of mine who's an administrator with that organization and I'm because of my age I'll probably forget exactly what he told me about I want to say they had like 65 000 students enrolled in that or that's children that normally would no I don't mean you know across the state but uh that's a lot of children and again I could be high on that number

019but I was just curious if uh and I know that I have taught with some parents who have said their children are going to be online taking online courses because of anxiety and one of them specifically said that to me but um I was just curious if we ever got any feedback or any numbers or do we have any data how many students that are enrolled in online schools not coming day to day we do um let me set a field do keep track of students who are enrolled in online homeschool associations throughout the state and that's an annual accounting of students in various and Sundry programs obviously I don't have numbers for you at this particular moment but the answer to your question is yes we do uh track that information just to have

020knowledge and awareness of where these students are enrolled I would um you know I think as we this will give us a really we brought this up with the parents advisory because they're having some of the same questions about the options there is a term called fomo and have you heard of that fear of missing out I'm talking about the lives of our students you heard of this term um that if you look at the amount of interruptions we have during the day you think about a teenager in school or adolescence with the cell phone I mean data that shows that you can be enter you would in a week the average person checks their cell phone 1500 times receive 30 emails an hour the average worker um the amount of interruptions and so when

021you have a student in the class for an hour and a half and you're told you can't look at that we're looking at addictive issues that that we need to address and address in the right way um if I'm we're saying that we're seeing data that says teenagers manage five screens on a cell phone at the same time these are this is the reality of our and that constant Interruption to them in their daily lives is something that they're dealing with that we might not have to deal with and so when we put them into the the current society that we're in and the demands that we have we have to help our children manage through that that if somebody calling me the expectation we have students who say that when they ignore it and

022they look at it it says I've read your text and why haven't you responded back am I am I not accepted by this group so all of this gives us an opportunity as a community to wrap around our children and talk and and focus on what best situation we can put them in to learn we've been excited that with organizations like here Solace we can refer these at higher and higher rates for for help but this year I'm excited that we as a community can look at some root causes under that number one priority on our annual review any other questions all right at this time I'm going to ask our CFO Ms Madison Paul to come forward with our financial monthly Financial update for April good evening Madam chair members of the board and

023Dr Ross thank you for inviting me here tonight to review the monthly financial report through the month of April 30th 2023 I'm going to start out with the revenue report so as always this is broken up between local state and other financing sources looking at the total to date through April 30th 2023 where we have collected approximately 187 million dollars which is 87.5 percent of our total budget um by time we are roughly 83 percent through the fiscal year but again about 87.5 percent of our Revenue collected on the local side at the top we are at roughly 97.7.4 percent as you all know we do collect most of our local tax revenue prior to February on the state side that is more of a monthly sequential number so we have collected about 81.63 percent

024of our total state budget we have received all of tier one on the property tax relief for um act 388 um act or tier 2 and tier three will wrap up over the next few months so again in total roughly 187 million of our 213 million dollar budget turning over to the expenditure report so for the summary through April 30th 2023 you'll see that of our 213 million dollar budget we have spent 160 million of that budget which is about 75 percent um this is overall right on track with the prior year expenditures um if y'all recall we do have we do extend our 180 and 190 day employees paychecks through August 15th so they will still receive three more paychecks after June 30th so that number will continue to climb in that first section

025we have seen additionally some Savings in our contractual Services um and this was adjusted in the new budget that y'all approved last meeting but overall right on track um 160 million of the 213 million dollar budget I'll be glad to take any questions we have any questions Miss huddle um I have several and I'll do one at a time in case other people do but I think I may have asked this before and this time I'm going to write it down but um supplies and materials in operation of plant is expected to be over budget I think one million six hundred and ninety thousand dollars I know that's not on this slide but it was in the packet that we received sorry can you point me to um supplies and materials and it's under operation

026and maintenance of plant which I think is right under facilities does that function 254 I did not write the number down I apologize it's the only line item anywhere in there that's that much over expected to be that much over budget um I'd I'll have to take a look at that okay I'm not sure off the top of my head that's fine I have some more questions but does anyone else have any questions okay um I've had a member of the community send to me a organization that we paid for mentoring and I've sent some emails about that they've sent me another one which I haven't sent you guys yet but the overarching question both of these were for Dutch Fork High School and I looked and I haven't seen any mentors that we paid

027for any other schools so my question is several parts when do we pay mentors when do we not when how do we decide how much to pay mentors I believe we decide that at the school level that's not something that comes through my office so anybody can put in like an application or if somebody wants to be a paid Mentor how do they go about doing that um based on our procurement and correct me from Rome on our procurement policy there are items where we don't put out the bid correct yeah so Educational Services student services um if it's less than twenty five thousand dollars then that um does not go through that doesn't go out to bid and school principals do have the authority to look at Educational Services uh as per the procurement

028policy correct yes sir and so we give those principles that authority to to do they have their budget and they have the procurement policy in which they have to follow yes sir um if a member of the community wanted to support students as mentors whether it's a paid how would they go about that so they would um you know enter into a memorandum of agreement or a memorandum of understanding with either the school or the district um and they would you know then if it's at the school level they would decide on the services that um you know they would render through that agreement and then at that point they would put in a purchase order for that contract amount and then they would begin you know once they provided the service they would begin

029in invoicing at that point all right so if somebody's interested they would have to contact the school um another question I had is the same individual sent me um whether we had paid a church for some I think it was called it was under sr2 money was used and it was called for supplies miscellaneous purchase services and summer camp so my questions on that were did we make that type of program and it was like over fifteen thousand dollars did we make that type of program available to all of the faith-based organizations in our community and if so how did we make that program available to Dr Harris on that question early in the process of the Essa funding we did have a Roundtable conversation in fact here in this room with a number of

030internal external persons who were represented to talk about how would we address the funding that was made available and at that particular time faith-based organizations were a part of that conversation and if they were interested they would contact us to inquire and to share what their plans would be and out of that as a result of that there were churches that shared plans some follow through others did not okay so they would have had to have been watching our board meeting to know that this was available there was no other way that we let organizations know is my question right this segment I don't recall nor do I have available whether there was written correspondence to that effect or not I don't know that at this second but I do know that that was a

031part of the conversations as well as through our Vera's advisories that we have and I think they're attuned to 14 different advisories that the superintendent leads and that I've been a part of as well so we spoke to those in all of those and all of those different times and I'm certain that it was also a part of conversations and forums such as this as well okay I've asked these questions and haven't really gotten complete answers yet so I've written this up and I just asked for like I'm asking to have it put in the minutes thank you I concludes a financial at this time we had some questions about graduation requirements and so we're going to have our chief of academics and our director of secondary education chief of academics Anna Miller director of

032secondary education and a School District Five and asunder Waltz has come forward with our graduation requirements update [Music] you more information on our graduation requirements specifically our content recovery and our credit recovery our seat time recapture and our credit recovery so our as Dr Ross said our director of secondary education Mr Shonda Walters will share that with us tonight and then we'll stand for any questions good evening thank you Miss Miller thank you Dr Ross Madam chair and Board of Trustees I'd like to briefly provide you with additional Insight onto a few of our high school programs that we mentioned during a previous board meeting credit recovery and credit recapture our high school administrators have worked very hard to monitor student progress towards on-time graduation throughout the school year but of course as we all

033know there may be a few students who may not complete all the requirements within the time frame given what happens in our high schools to monitor grad raid is actually a year-round process for all grade levels which makes their work with credit recovery and credit recapture which we commonly call also seat time recovery it makes that work extremely worthwhile participating in either program would allow a student the opportunity to be one step closer to on-time graduation now the state department of education allows students in this graduation cohort to continue to work towards completing requirements throughout the summer if they failed courses at their time that they need to recapture so we do have students that are working this summer to recoup credits that they may not have gotten over the course of the school year

034in the event a student should fail a course with it within the approved excuse me grade range they're given the opportunity to use credit recovery to recruit that credit for the majority of the students is completed using an online program that we use Apex but we also use Virtual SC when necessary courses in Apex are prescriptive so for each unit students will take a pre-test in order to determine whether or not that material has been mastered and also to design content that's to be learned and assessed for Proficiency in case it's not in order to participate in Credit Recovery students who fail the course had to have failed within a range of 50 to 59 during the school year and during the summer time right now students are assigned to a teacher in that content

035area to provide assistance when needed credit recapture on the other hand looks at students who need to do seat time recovery and it's offered to students who fail the course due to excessive absenteeism schools allow students to make up excessively missed time within the instructional within assign instructional materials outside of the regular school day commonly on Saturday mornings and after school with certified staff students have in this recent school year they've been allowed to recapture up to 24 hours of sea time per semester but we do know that there are some gaps in what we've been doing in our academic team routinely and is right now reviewing some of our program policies and procedures in order to best meet the needs of our students and our teachers and so as we begin to update our

036plans for next school year for credit recovery and recapture we'll make sure we will be providing internal professional development and an abundance of communication to parents and to students and that's our presentation we'll stand for any questions do we have any questions how many what's the 24 hours relative to how many hours is a class one hour one class period Miss equates to one one out like in a semester how many hours is it 40 how many hours does it does a student go to class in a semester total total that's a good number because you're talking about for a high school student you may be taking up to eight classes four classes on an a day four classes on a b day an hour and a half each day four of classes over the

037course of 108 school days I was just trying to figure out like what percentage the 24 hours is so I'm not doing the math in my head um and so I guess the other question I had is for both of you and Dr Ross so this really ties into the grading philosophy too because I know we've had discussions about the minimum 50 so theoretically if you have the minimum 50 then every student who fails is eligible for the re recovery the credit recovery correct it yeah so if you if you think about credit recovery and Equipment if I'm wrong that's summer school so when you fail you get the opportunity to take the class again for summer school and as we talk about the uh the grading philosophy uh for for next year one of

038the things we need to be aware of is the South Carolina uniform rating policy uh do you know I don't know if we should make the public the kids probably already know but you could drop the class and get a 50. you can stay in the class and get a 12. so the the the policy in our practice have to be in line so we want to make sure that we our focus is on what that grading philosophy draft that we presented is that do we have a that looks at the students growth uh and uh and can we find uh their their growth and achievement and can we look at ways to accelerate or remediate and if it's not doing that if the technology is not helping us with that then that's where I

039think we need to really focus our our time but uh we really need to understand that that grading philosophy in line with our South Carolina uniform grading policy and I I don't know if I've missed anything that you want to add no I think that's great um I was just going to let you know that the idea behind the credit recovery versus taking the class again behind that 50 of 59 is the student retained enough that they wouldn't need the entire course again um but if that's the case below a 50 then of course they would want to retake that entire course so just a little background information on on why that 50 to 59 was there but we would certainly want to look back at that as we do when we review any more

040questions Mr Scully yeah just briefly um regarding the credit or capture the 24 hours how how did we I'm just curious how did we come up and arrive at that number and I assume that that's the part that you're looking at revising and how are we going to determine it we are and I think I inherited that from our predecessor so that's why with a fresh set of eyes um I've been a high school principal as well and um everywhere we all do something different as far as what's allowed the state and I mentioned that the state doesn't say you can only allow students to make up this amount so that number was probably an arbitrary number I'm not sure how it was derived but that is something that we're looking at because I think

041what the point that you were making Miss huddle was about the percentage of time that a student is being allowed to miss so that is what I along with student services office are looking at this summer any more questions all right Dr Ross all right thank you Miss Waters Ms Miller one of the things I think is important to note is that this is our first year of kind of holding the line as we say because during covet seat time was removed so you could miss if you had a passing grade didn't no matter how many classes you missed you would still be able to receive credit so now we're bringing that line back and and holding our students to it but this is as you go through it and and you know this is

042um you know working in the schools it's a family conversation it's really engaging those families to ensure that everybody is uh is aware of not only what the attendance requirements are but then how do we address what's going on so that that child is not only present but but they're ready to learn and so Madam chair that's our D5 story we're excited to continue to tell about the Excellence of our students and staff in in School District Five that concludes the superintendent's report thank you are there any final questions for Dr Ross all right saying none that moves us to number nine on our agenda the approval of the minutes of the June 12 2023 board meeting do I have a motion Mr Hogan like to make the motion the board approved the minutes of

043the June 12 2023 board meeting you have a second Mr Scully do we have any discussion saying that I'll call for the vote all in favor of approving the minutes motion carries seven to zero and that moves us to public participation and um just a disclaimer before we start the board welcomes and encourages public participation we respectfully ask that you adhere to the procedures provided in board policy bedh public participation at meetings your comments should be limited to three minutes and must remain on either the topic noted on your sign-in form or a listed agenda item questions asked during public participation will be handled in accordance with board policy bedh and I believe we have nine speakers all right I'll turn it over to you okay our first Speaker tonight is Stephanie berquist who's here

044to talk about board policy hey how is everybody um all right so I'm here today to talk to parents board members community members teachers anybody who's paying attention um I don't know if everybody knows but little Columbia South Carolina in the greater Columbia area has now made national news twice in the last two weeks that's big time news for us here in South Carolina and there's been some interesting things going on um the first thing that made national news was the South Carolina Freedom caucus versus Lexington one lawsuit of which Lexington one who's a neighboring district has now been demanded to remove and disconnect themselves from emotional learning critical race Theory all funds are now required under this lawsuit to be severed and as we know what happens in neighboring districts affects every District in

045the area so that's very important the Second Story here is right here in this District we now know that there have been teach teachings in a school here in this District of systemic racism there have been assignments given on systemic racism these topics are very uncomfortable and inappropriate I will quote from this book in question one of the books in question here and I quote said White America is a Syndicate to dominate and control our bodies okay this is not only inappropriate and divisive this is illegal according to our South Carolina Proviso not only is it illegal according to the current Proviso we now have precedent that has been set just a week or two prior or before forgive me the timeline in the Lexington one lawsuit these things are happening locally they are important

046and it is imperative that every board in the Columbia area and in South Carolina follow these regulations we had students email some board members that said they feel ashamed to be white after reading these books and being assigned to these assignments again this is not only inappropriate it's illegal we the parents are tired we're tired it's been a long time we've made a lot of progress but it's been a long time and we're tired I understand today that a cease and desist letter was sent to the board members today these things are simply Insanity it is insane that I'm standing up here talking about this and so why am I here today right I want to ask that this be added to the agenda whether the next meeting or shortly after this topic needs to

047be discussed it needs to stop in this District it needs to we need to ensure that we're following the Proviso in all of the neighboring districts we now have law to stand behind that and you have neighboring districts that are setting precedent for this um lastly I want to thank one of the board members here who took these emails we all know who this is but I'll just keep the names off the Record uh but there is one board member here who took this into consideration and really brought this to lay and so we really appreciate you thank you all right next we have Solis sobatovsky of Chapin here to talk about teacher teaching CRT good evening my name is celissa batowski I have a daughter at Chapin High School I'm speaking tonight regarding the

048Chapin teacher who made State and national news for illegally teaching CRT I would like to thank the I guess I can't say your name I'd like to thank the board member or members of this um in this board who put a stop to this teacher's so-called AP lesson I was surprised to find that this teacher is still employed at Chapin High especially as she showed no remorse and strongly offended herself after she broke the law she stated that she quote fears the policing of teachers lessons will end up pushing more teachers out of the profession unquote first of all this so-called policing of teachers is called enforcing the law second this District adopted a resolution last year which states that parents are the primary stakeholders in their children's education and we have a right to

049direct our children's education in fact it's my god-given right to do that anyway this assignment was for the purpose of writing an argumentative essay there's plenty of other subject material out there but she chose systemic racism and there's an agenda there not only that but she presented only one side in the two videos she made her students watch were offensive and clearly designed to make white kids feel guilty for being white and portray black people and other people of color as victims because of discrimination or events which took place many years ago some of them centuries ago America is a land of opportunity not of Oppression as our own Senators Tim Scott recently stated these videos as well as the rest of this assignment are clear violations of State Proviso 1.93 but what's to stop

050her or anyone else from doing it again if there were no consequences the first time District 5 needs a policy not only to stop teachers from breaking the law but to impose consequences when they do and I believe these decisions should be dictated by our elected board not delegated to only the principal and the superintendent I would also like to see an updated nepotism policy I'm sending my children to school for an education not indoctrination and I want teachers not activists thank you Janet Howell of Chapin is here to speak about CRT good evening I'm Janet Howell I am a new resident here to South Carolina first time I've ever attended a school board meeting I believe I have grandchildren who will be coming here soon first of all we open the meeting with a

051prayer that was awesome I hope that means we're all Christians on this board I am very concerned excuse me concerned about the incident with this teacher it's been brought to my attention in the past few weeks and the most important thing or the most concerning thing is that I've been told there was no disciplinary action taken I don't know if I'm allowed to ask you board members but was there any discipline involved in this or will there be has if there has not what disciplinary actions will be taken and we need that needs to make the news as well as other things um because of this one incident I think you're going to have more eyes watching everything that you as a superintendent you as principals teachers board members are doing for our community and

052remember board members you are elected by your constituents and we ask that you remember this South Carolina is a conservative State many of us moved here for that reason and we ask that you continue this reputation you as board members have our children's Futures in your hands and the decisions you make have long lasting effects on the children and our community thank you Dr Trisha Kling of Chapin is here to speak about CRT good evening and I thank you for allowing me the privilege to speak before you all my name is Trisha Kling and I am here to speak on behalf of other professionals and parents like myself who hold the same stance regarding critical race Theory or CRT I am adamantly opposed to allowing any space in our schools for this divisive Theory or

053rhetoric I have served as an educator for the last 30 plus years and have had I have a doctorate in educational leadership with an emphasis in educational psychology most of my years have been either in teaching Administration or as the school psychologist in my experience I can guarantee you that CRT is counter-intuitive to truly teaching our students social emotional learning or SEL which emphasizes the soft skills as you know that we critically need in today's society we need to emphasize the tenets of SEL self-awareness self-regulation social awareness really excuse me relationship skills and responsible decision making using SEL as a front or a guise to promote CRT is egregious it's illegal here I have seen arise personally I've seen a rise in my profession in anxiety depression hopelessness and self-hatred of all Races and ethnicities

054since the introduction of CRT that breaks my heart as a professional who Advocates strongly for children as it should you this is certainly not the intention or the intended outcome for SEL CRT as you know and are aware serves to divide demoralize and demean through a Machiavellian lens whereas SEL Works to build cohesive and restorative relationships therefore I strongly advise you when this comes up behind closed doors that you stay far far away from anything that promulgates CRT thank you for your time RJ May is here to talk about CRT thank you madam chairman members of the board I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight a number of parents asked me to to be here to share my thoughts as it relates to the South Carolina Freedom caucus in our recent settlement agreement

055with Lexington school district one for those of you don't know I was a plaintiff in that case um we were provided information where Lexington school district one was enabled by El education to teach critical race Theory derived ideas which is obviously uh illegal as it relates to the budget Proviso and hopefully codified into permanent law through transparency and education bill but on half of the South Carolina Freedom caucus I would like to thank the board members who take this area issue seriously our constitution serves equality on their law the quality under the law is a deeply held American value what critical race Theory derived ideas does diversity Equity inclusion it seeks to supplant that idea of equality under the law with Equity under the law the Supreme Court is held in our Constitution and our

056Declaration of Independence states that we should be a colorblind Society one that values uh Merit and success as opposed to one that views people as oppressor are oppressed because of the color of their skin um what El education critical race Theory derived ideas critical race theorists and those who subscribe to the racist nonsense that is diversity Equity inclusion they seek to get rid of our Constitution and our deeply held Declaration of Independence that says all men are created equal so those board members who are taking this issue seriously I thank you um they also those being the critical race theorists believe in anti-racism anti-racism of course a kindy definition would be that the only way to make up for historical wrongdoings is present discrimination and future discrimination uh legal discrimination in today's day and age

057of course that would violate our constitution it would violate the idea of a colorless and colorblind Society so again I thank those members of the board who are taking this issue seriously we are currently still engaged in in legal Avenues against Charleston School District um but are happy to engage in more when we believe that that budget Proviso has been violated uh so any members of the board if you are fighting uh critical race Theory derived ideas diversity Equity inclusion that seeks to separate and only look through the lens of race if you are fighting that you have an ally and members of the freedom caucus particularly Jay kill Martin who represents a large portion of this district and I would encourage you to reach out I've got 20 seconds left and happy to take

058any questions that would be appropriate madam chairwoman thank you thank you thank you Joe White is here to speak about CRT thank you I'm state house representative for all of Newberry County in one Precinct in Chapin the people of South Carolina has spoken pretty loudly to us legislators about what they think about how we're spending education money all I'm asking tonight is that each one of you write down my name and my telephone number and call me or text me so that I can meet with each one of you individually because I need to talk one-on-one with a superintendent with each one of the school board members because I need to find out where you're coming from and let you find out where I'm coming from so my telephone number is 803 -429-9423 [Music] thank

059you we have Renee Kelly from Chapin who's here to speak about CRT thank you for your attention tonight we the parents stand here before you as the primary stakeholders in our children's education I do appreciate appreciate all you members taking on the great responsibility of your position I do want to remind everyone of the oath of office that was taken I do solemnly swear or affirm that I'm duly qualified according to the Constitution of the state to exercise the duties of the office to which I've been elected and that I will to the best of my ability discharge the duties thereof and preserve protect and defend the constitution of this state and of the United States to help me God among the responsibilities as a board member is to adhere to the ethical principles which

060is also available on the website according to that some of those are things such as avoiding conflicts of interest and refrain from using the board position for personal or partisan gain also to support legislation and funding which will improve the educational opportunities and environment for students and staff I do want to commend The Bravery of this particular board member and hope all of you will join me in applauding her for taking on this role seriously and bringing to light the recent violations of the South Carolina Proviso um during to that recent violation the AP English assignment uh had a memoir on racism this did cause several students to feel uncomfortable because of the color of their skin it is not difficult to see that this is in direct violation of this Proviso there are other

061options that they could have chosen for the same particular assignment let's get back to the Reading Writing Math Science and Civics let's teach American history the good and the bad let's teach them how we have come so far and how much further we need to go America is not systemically racist we do not teach unfounded theory that portrays people today as problematic due to their skin color do not condemn them because of the actions of their ancestors one of the board members did mention about suicide rates being improved going up being taught that you're a bad person just because your skin color too is going to add to that dilemma if we don't stop this now how long will it be until six of our board members are going to be ousted solely because of

062the lightness or the whiteness of their skin and their inherent biases let's embrace our uniqueness and work toward the common goal such as the Constitution states to form a more perfect union and the ideals of the Declaration of Independence that we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights among those are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness thank you Pamela Godwin is here to talk about CRT in the classroom good evening I'm very happy to be here tonight I am the chairwoman for Lexington County Republican party and I am here to support Elizabeth Barnhart and Kathy huddle and their defense of Proviso 1.93 I also support the South Carolina Freedom caucus and their Endeavors to stop CRT for

063being taught in our South Carolina schools we must remember and adhere to Proviso 1.93 which requires educators not to teach CRT and it bans education indoctrination we have had enough is enough we don't want to see this happen again and I implore you every one of you to put policies in place that implement the Banning of CRT and teachers penalties for teachers that teach CRT our kids the students deserve better I also congratulate the freedom caucus for winning this recent victory for district one there are more victories to come we are watching thank you to all the trustees and everyone in here for their hard work and working on this issue thank you [Applause] Kim Murphy is here to speak about live stream yeah good evening I listened to a little bit of the meeting

064earlier at four o'clock when you approve the agenda and I think Miss huddle and I didn't catch it all may have made a motion to add um to the agenda live streaming of the ORD officers meeting where the agendas are set and um and I understand that that is going to be placed on a future agenda which I really appreciate and Miss Hines thank you for taking the the stand that it is a public meeting now I don't know whether it is perfoya but thank you for making them public I attend those meetings which you know along with Barbara who is here behind me and we are probably one of two um it came up in discussion that there was a concern possibly about the cost of staff to live stream so that may be

065so is there another platform that could be used instead WebEx or Google meets I don't know I'm not a computer person but if there is something that would alleviate having to have a staff person there for that that would be helpful but if there isn't it would go a long way towards transparency to have those live streamed and thank you very much for considering it that is all that is signed up for public participation thank you I'm gonna actually I have a I have um something that I want to address so we don't typically comment on public participation um however I'm going to tonight and I'm going to ask something of the superintendent and I'm I would like to clarify something to the public um you know we're in the very rare category of elected

066officials that have limitations on what we can and cannot discuss in specific specifically based on certain situations due to Legal constraints and I know that that is frustrating but it that is the truth and um that is regardless of our personal thoughts and it's based on our oath of office however I do think that there needs to be a conversation within the board and I would like to ask you Dr Ross to add to your superintendent's report for the next meeting to discuss a couple of policies that we we can discuss and and may give some clarification and those policies are policy IB on academic freedom and policy IMB on controversial materials so I would um like I said I would request that you put that on your superintendent's report for next time so that

067we can have a conversation I know that there's a lot of conversation happening and I would like to be able to address that to the best of our ability at that time Miss Barnhart I'd like to make a motion um I moved to address the concerns of parents and members of the community that were presented I moved that the chair can be in a policy Review Committee before the July 17th meeting to propose possible changes to policy BCB IB IG gvea GBE and kec and order to ensure compliance with the South Carolina law included in the budget Professor 1.93 the board's adoption of the print the parent primary stakeholder resolution and our commitment to always put our students first and then an agenda item be placed on the July 17th meeting for the committee to

068present its recommendations to the board second do I have any comments I have a comment but I'll let anyone else go first no solution okay go ahead go ahead well um I just think given recent events we should take a more clear concise look at these policies and how they're implemented within the district any comments out okay go ahead um policy I mean I appreciate your suggestion for Dr Ross to put it on the superintendent's agenda but policy is the purview of the board so I support Miss barnhart's um motion that we look at these policies and do it in a policy committee so that we can speed up the process because if we don't have any discussions about it until July 17th then you're talking about a discussion and then a first reading and

069a second reading and I'd like to thank that no one intentionally violated the law or no one intentionally violated the policies so by going back through the policies we can make them Crystal Clear if they're not and we can make any repercussions if people do violate them crystal clear as well any comments Mr Hogan Miss Barnhart can you read those policies again that's policy BCB board member conflict of interest policy IB academic freedom policy IG curriculum development policy gbea staff ethics and conflicts of interest policy GBE staff conduct and kec material selection and reconsideration okay and and so with this motion you want the policy committee to convene me discuss and then come back with recommendations at the next meeting that's correct okay is there enough time between today next meeting for that that's one

070of my concerns because we know that several staff members are going to be gone for an extended period of time even given discussions that we kind of had today on other levels I understand obviously it is summertime the stuff levels like you said are not at what they normally would be during the year so I mean if July 17th is not the I mean be all end-all but I would like to have a policy committee to get this to address maybe over the course of the summer so that we have something in place by the beginning of the school year to make sure that everything is is so my thoughts on that um and my thoughts on committees in general is that when you have a committee meeting at the district office there are very

071few people that actually come to those meetings or listen to those meetings and then you have to repeat yourself again in a board meeting and not all board members can make policy or committee meetings due to work schedules and I think that when we talk about policies especially important policies we really need the full board here it's not that I disagree with conversations about policies but I do disagree with having committee meetings because then it like you rehash it all over again in here and I think that by starting the conversation and the questions at our next meeting based off of the policies that are the most related to the situation at hand I think we're getting the process started and we might I mean I might be more Amino amiable to discuss all of

072those policies at once after we have those conversations that's just my thoughts I completely understand that I also think that this has been something that's been uh kind of in play for I mean quite a few months now so I think that given the situation we should we should at least work to I understand that and I but I also understand that there are things that we cannot I mean our hands are kind of tied so um we just can't discuss much more than that I mean and I do think that we should discuss as much as we can um and get as much clarification as we can in a fully public forum that's just my thoughts are there any other thoughts before I call the question and I'll be clear my concern is timing

073with with more clear timing of when the policy could convene to the board you know given a more firm definite date past the July 17th meeting um you know under you know being the summer being vacation schedules and everything else I want to make sure the district has enough time to put their recommendations in and make sure that we have the opportunity to discuss it openly the given of time to digest it come back to have these conversations and to have enough time to discuss it at the meeting and one of the things that was determined at our last board officers meeting was the the July 17th meeting and there are are several complex conversations on that agenda so for that meeting because we've already set that agenda I would I would think that we

074would want more time to be able to discuss those conversations I mean that's just my thoughts um Miss huddle it's that meeting's three weeks from now we normally have meetings every two weeks usually um the committee meetings are open to the full board there when we did them before they're very informal um and that will keep the regular board meeting from being so long if we have a committee meeting and nobody has to go in there with preconceived ideas the administration's there the board members are there people can bring their ideas that will move this along our communities upset we're in the news we need to resolve this I don't think any of us want to be in the news these parents don't want this stuff we want to try to get this resolved before

075we go back to school in the fall so I would say let's put our our big britches on and let's have a committee meeting we've got three weeks that's a great sound bite but in reality everybody making it to a school to a policy meeting in the next three weeks with multiple staff members out for long periods of time is unlikely so you know and I'm going to stand by the fact that I think that these kinds of discussions need to happen with as much public Viewpoint like view than a policy meeting um so I am going to call for the question all in favor of Miss barnhart's motion motion care uh all opposed to miss barnhart's motion that motion fails um four to three and that moves us on to number 11 on the

076action agenda which is action as necessary or appropriate on matters discussed in executive session Mr Hogan like to make the motion that the board approves selected employment items Shannon exhibit a I do have a second Mr Satterfield any discussion I'll call for the question all in favor at motion carries seven to zero and that goes to brings us to number 12 which is the superintendent's annual performance review and definition I've got one more for executive session under C employee agreements appeal oh I'm sorry yep yeah I'd like to make the motion that the board Grant the employee agreements to be heard by the board at the next convenient board meeting to be scheduled a second okay Miss huddle any discussion all right I'll call for the vote all in favor of Mr Hogan's motion all

077opposed all right that motion carries six to one and now that brings us to item 12. um the superintendent's annual performance review and formal statement by the board do I have any emotions sorry madam chair after reviewing Dr Ross's evaluation and considering the board members comments regarding Dr Ross's performance a move that we conclude as a board that Dr Ross received in overall effective evaluation for the 22-23 school year a second Mr Hogan any discussion seeing none I'll call for the vote all in favor all opposed all right so that motion carries five and two abstentions yes ma'am um I'd like to further move that as a result of Dr Ross's overall effective evaluation we extend his contract by one year through June 30th 2027 and that we issue a statement regarding his evaluation all

078right any discussion all in favor all opposed all right that motion carries five um one opposed and one abstention and um based on that motion the board has a draft statement that I'll read or has a statement that I'll read at our board meetings on June 12th and this evening the board met to evaluate Dr Ross's performance during the past school year and we met with Dr Ross to discuss his evaluation the board evaluated Dr Ross's performance in five primary areas including governance and board relations community relations staff relations business and finance and instructional leadership we wish to commend Dr Ross on his overall effective evaluation for the 2022-23 school year we appreciate the ongoing leadership that he has provided to the district Dr Ross is a good communicator with the board The District staff

079and Community he is a people person with a big heart for children and he considers the whole child Dr Ross continues to seek innovative ideas to provide additional value to our students and staff he has the unique ability to adjust and pivot when needed as a result of Dr Ross's overall effective evaluation the board voted to extend his contract one year through June 30th 2027 we appreciate Dr Ross's exceptional leadership and commitment to the district and the leadership he will continue to provide to the district thank you Dr Ross that moves us to item 13 on the action agenda which is the second and final reading of the proposed new board policy gcca gdca paid parental leave exhibit f thank you madam chair members of the board in our community this brings us to Second

080and final reading of our board policy regarding pay parental leave just as a reminder that this actually by a state statute goes into effect today and so we're here at second reading we have by lull two decisions to make the first one is that who is eligible so the school districts must decide who are the eligible employees for this benefit this can be employees defined as certified or it can be those who are certified and classified it is the administrative recommendation that we include both certified and classified for this benefit the second part of the statute that we must consider is the period of Parental paid leave and so we have two options option A and and option b and so I wanted to go over these particular options option A would include the subsequent

081contractual term option b would not include the subsequent contractual term and why is this important this is important because when we look at this benefit for state employees many state employees are not 190 day employees as teachers so we have to convert this over to the 190 day contract so if I was to look at option b first the term would be defined by that previous summer starting today June 26 through August 6 and the beginning of school August 7th through May 31st that would be the defined benefit period under option b if the event or the qualifying event was May 20th that employee eligible employee would only receive two weeks of paid family leave under the option being under option A if we look at that the term would have the subsequent contractual term

082so in that same instance where the qualifying event was May 20th that employee eligible employee would receive two weeks of pay family leave and at the beginning of the next contractual term received the remaining full weeks so under option a six weeks or six weeks for a full-time employee if it's a part-time employee a 0.5 ft then it would be three weeks but you have the the full benefit of six weeks no matter when the qualifying event occurred so as a result of section code of laws 8 11 151 the administration recommends option A that this would work through subsequent contractual terms so that Madam chair members of the board we have for a second and final reading those two decisions for our paid parental leave and we stand for any questions do we have

083emotion or um Miss Kimberly Snipes Madam chair I make a motion that the board approved the second and final reading of the proposed new board policy gcca gdca paid parental leave option A and completely implement the provisions of the ACT effective June 26 2023. the administration recommends that the final version of the policy allow an eligible District employees entitlement to leave under this policy to extend beyond their designated term of employment for their contractual term allowing the employee to continue their period of paid parental leave and subsequent contractual terms provided the employee remains an eligible District employee do I have a second Mr Hogan any conversation I have a question um Dr Ross could somebody I'm just a little worried that someone would um let's say be out two weeks before summer and then they

084have four weeks left and they could be intending really not to come back would they can could they tell you that so they could get there for Lee four weeks of leave and thereby we would get kind of a heads up that we would need to fill that position Dr Turner the leave would still be relevant so they would be entitled to leave that would be the rule and we would treat it just as we would FMLA and any other type of leave so they would be granted there believe that they're entitled to so they would not be penalized for letting us know in advance like they could say I intend to resign you know September 20th or something like no man there would be no penalty for that thank you any more questions conversation

085saying that I'll call for the question all in favor of this motion see the motion carries seven to zero and that brings us to our discussion agenda item 14 which is the discussion of district attorney listings for 2023 2024 exhibit G Dr Ross yes we have a discussion item on our Legal Services I want to ask Ms Paul to come forward and uh discuss our Legal Services thank you good evening again Madam chair members of the board and Dr Ross tonight I'll speak to you about legal services so board policy bdg governs legal services and then board policy bdg administrative rule also states that the board will approve the attorney listing at least annually so this is just for discussion tonight so not for action until a later meeting but you do have in front

086of you the list of all of the attorneys that the district currently uses this is the list that was approved last year this list has not changed we have not added any or deleted any firms from this list since the last time that you approved it but I will be glad to take any questions that you may have do we have any questions Miss huddle not a question but I sent everyone on the board the the policy was modified after that last list was created specifically to make it very clear that the list was going to be individual attorneys and not firms so I think before the next meeting we need the administration to list out the actual attorneys I mean you could put their firms in in parentheses or something and then the other

087thing was I don't think a minimum score was required but the board was also per policy going to look at I believe it's the Martindale Hubble score so that's another piece of information I think we'll need do I have Mister yeah I had a question um Minnesota with the individual attorneys would that what would happen if let's say that uh Dr Ross or somebody needed to get in touch with someone who was on vacation I mean if there was something that was very pressing uh what typically what are your Alternatives Dr Ross says somebody's not readily available or in in court or because all right now I'm dealing with an estate planning issue and my attorney's been in court for two weeks straight so I'm just curious do you have Alternatives I appreciate the opportunity

088for clarification we interpret it differently we we've interpreted so we need clarification of the board on what is the intent we engage with firms so we're engaged with the firm with the legal matter if the lead attorney is out then we go to whoever that partner is with the firm we do know that for adding someone to as I read the policy is that if we're going to add someone to that policy the way I read it is that we provide the the names the scores all under the procurement process but for the annual review I did not know I did not read it as we had to have individual names and scores for each person on all of those firms so if that's the that's the view of the uh of the board we

089will definitely do so I I know that this policy was um modified in May of last year and um I kind of had some some questions on how that works just based off of like the nature of how law firms and work within you know if they have an associate doing research or helping out if a partner does I mean that could be an issue but what I took it as is that say you have um Joe Smith Law Firm and they have four attorneys that work at that firm that you would list each of those attorneys on the list and if there came to be an issue that you know one attorney you know I don't know I mean I I mean one attorney wouldn't meet the qualifications and they wouldn't be put on

090the list um I I see pros and cons to this policy and um and I I have the same questions about how the administration and the board would be limited if um there were to be an associate that wasn't on this list doing work because Associates turnover in law firms relatively you know I mean they turn over more than like a partner would frequently I was blanking on the word sorry um so I mean that's my I have an answer yeah the policy allows the board's attorney to to use other attorneys as needed um and I believe that was expressly why that was in there so that if that situation arrives but there is absolutely no doubt that the policy says attorneys it does not say firms and if you go back and you look

091at what the policy was and how it was changed it was intentional for it to say attorneys and not firms if you will recall we had two instances where we got attorneys involved in stuff that were not the attorney they were part of the firm but they weren't the attorney we thought we were getting and I think that's one of the reasons that led to this but I mean I think if you're concerned that there's not enough Choice like you said Miss um Blackburn Hines list out all the attorneys but um if you don't do that you have some firms that have hundreds of employees so or lawyers I should say so if we want to change the policy let's change the policy but the policy does not say firms it says attorneys and you

092can go back and look at how it was changed well I think listing the attorneys out that would be the likely attorneys to handle you know these you know school board or School District related matters you know is a fair assessment I mean because then you know and if there is a situation where an associate is you know a new associate before and a list can be updated and our our board attorney can you know you know clear provide clarification to the board on that and that's I mean that's a a good thing I mean that's my thoughts um I don't I can't say that I really have strong feelings either way on that but um my question would be more about consistency with other policies do we do our other approval vendors that same

093way or would this be an outlier attorneys are a little bit unique in this in the way that they operate with Staffing I would say it's not like a the same as you know a con construction firm or you know a computer firm that you're you're working with it's not the same kind of it's the 710 exemption so if you look in a procurement code There's 7 10 exemptions it's the only one miss Paul can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it's the only one where there is a list of available all the other 710 exemptions are the district can choose whoever they want I think go back and check that I'm not sure I'll see him and I would just like I mean just for as we move forward with this and

094um you know if when when we bring this for action and after that period of time um if there are significant issues faced by the administration I think that that's important to provide that feedback to the board but we haven't really had enough time to really see how that plays out and I think at this point you know who the I don't know how the art you know how it looks if you know who the attorneys are at you know a certain Law Firm that you can list out or if that needs to do we need to reissue or I mean we could certainly just look at our invoices and see you know what attorneys we have worked with over the past year or two years however far we want to go back and we

095could list those um for y'all if that's helpful or if you all think we need to do a full RFP you know we're not adding I don't believe we're adding anyone right um so we I guess we could do either way but if you just want to look back at the invoices and see who we have used who has you know from these listed firms who has been listed on the invoices we could certainly provide that information I think that would be helpful before we you know approve anything clarification for the administration as I read the policy it says the board will select attorneys based on qualifications submitted from interest or firms these are submitted from my understanding from an RF RFP or a request for proposal so the outline of the score and the

096the peer review ratings The the license the all of this we were doing as a function of a request for proposal is this being requested for every attorney on that we've worked with from all of our firms yeah that was the other thing that was changed because in the past I think it was sometimes uh I don't know if it was a formal RFQ but it was sent out and that was another policy change was to send a a letter or out to interested attorneys and ask them if they want to be on the list because it's been hodgepodge in the past so so for clarification we're to do a request for proposal for all of the attorneys do we need to do that or do we just need to send a letter to our

097existing firm saying can you verify this information for us I mean to me that would be the easiest way to without having to reissue um and if you if you can find the attorney if you know the attorneys that we work with that are already on this list then you can send that information to them and they can I mean these are these should be fairly straightforward questions from any any attorney from a from one of these firms I would think um I think we can definitely look at the list and if you want us to send out a letter as well um you know it just says that when you the need to do an RFP is when you're any additions to the list require full board approval following the submission of an RFP

098so if we're not adding any then I would think we could just list them on right Mr Scully yeah and again I I don't have any strong feelings on this but are we I'm worried that it would this be creating any unnecessary red tape or paperwork I mean how if the attorneys have the ability as Ms subtle said to delegate it essentially to other attorneys or anyone else in the firm how's that different than just hiring approving The Firm like what do they have to tell us I mean what kind of paperwork how do we know if they do that or don't you know what's the procedure there and is the one board attorney so in right now Mr Bradley is the board attorney so if someone was needed that wasn't on the list Mr

099Bradley could bring them in um and he's the only one was that implied just like there's an employee matter and the district is working with the firm to handle the employee matter and the partner wants to delegate to a subordinate that's a new attorney to the firm I would take it as the administration would talk to Ward and Mr Bradley would reach out to the firm and and basically just make sure that we know about it we're aware of it and everything is okay and I mean yeah I'm just trying to think forward like for a future honestly honestly we have to actually have to implement this so there's I mean there there could be some ambiguities we don't know about that's why I think the intent of it was something weird happened like let's

100say somebody fell out of a tree and there's an attorney that specializes in people falling out of trees I mean that's a crazy example but that was really why that was put in there but it could also be used that someone's just not available but it was really just because there might be an area of expertise that's not on our list any more question on this Dr Ross do you need any more clarification or matt um I think I guess in July we will bring back to you a list of all the attorneys that are we already have the firm so a list of all the attorneys that are in these firms that we have used in the past year to however far we need to go back um and then y'all at that time

101would approve in July right yeah right and making sure that we've reached out to them for for these qualifications just to make sure everything is on the up and up and as you know and as long as you've gotten the response back if you don't get the response back in July because people are on this is a very weird time of year so I mean I would unless there is you know somebody has a differenting opinion and I mean that's okay do we need to provide the Martindale Hubble peer review rating for each of these attorneys I think that's a very interesting um qualification because I don't know that everybody participates in that program but it is in the policy so um I would just probably if they have it and if they don't notate

102that they don't and then we can discuss it at that time any I'm not trying to you could ask them to provide the writing right you know and I don't think the policy precludes you from selecting someone I think the again the idea was you know we want a seasoned attorney not and especially in certain situations not necessarily someone who just graduated kind of thing right but those folks are going to be overseen by a part typically what we see as the partner is the one actually providing the information but research or administrative stuff may happen so just my thoughts we can do that all right all right thank you Madison Miss Paul all right so that moves us to number 15 on our agenda discussion agenda which is the discussion of selection of procurement

103review panel exhibit h uh Miss Paul um yes so um you'll have before you a memo regarding the procurement review panel this is governed from our procurement code in section 4410 this talks about the creation of the panel and the reasons why the panel may be needed I did discuss this with an attorney and the way that he kind of described this panel is more of like a court of appeals so basically the process for protests debarment any issues when it comes to contracts all of that would come through me so I am considered the chief business official for the district as well as the chief procurement officer so any of those um request again for protests anything like that would first come through me as the chief business official I would then make a

104written determination and then that determination could then be appealed by any by the affected party um so this is um you know this has been in our new code since April of 2022. um you know this is similar to what was in our old code as well in the past seven years since our procurement coordinator has been here this has only risen to this level one time so this is really on an as needed basis so at this time um you know this is just for discussion but there are some items that we'll need to take action on by the board at some time whether that's today or at the July 17th meeting but it does talk about the membership and who is composed of this review panel this panel is chaired by a member

105of the board so that would be a vote by the Board of Trustees and then additionally there are four additional members of this board these additional persons are appointed by the board chair the vice chair the superintendent and the chief business official um so there are some guidelines about who these members should be really just members of the community who are well respected and have knowledge in the areas of procurement um and that the term runs from July 1 through June 30th annually and again at this you know at this point it's just on an as needed basis but we do feel that it is important to go ahead and establish this committee for the new fiscal year I have a question regarding this policy and when it is established and whether or not it

106has to be I see that you may you don't you may not have to have a standing procurement review panel um and I feel like the last one that we had there were some like when there was a situation that came up that for potential review there was a there could have been like a conflict of interest because a board member was a you know a chair and then I think it you know their job related to whatever the subject matter was so I guess I question whether or not we have we established this before a situation occurs because if there is a if if a situation arises where somebody may have a conflict because of a current or previous job or or something like that um then you kind of have to restart the

107process I'm sorry um I will just note so there's a drafting note actually from the state procurement board because you know of course they reviewed our procurement code and made sure that it complied with the state code and there's a note that it says um you know districts may not have a standing procurement review panel so basically the change that they suggested was that everything goes to the chief business officials so that there's always somebody on staff to receive any protests any issues anything like that to make those written determinations and then if it rises to the level that basically is appealed at that point then you could establish the procurement review panel at that time um you know I did discuss that with the attorney as well um and he said we could we

108could really do either way um but you know it is in this is our new you know relatively new procurement code it's only been in place about a year and a half truly been affected for the past um school year so it would be up to the board whether you all wanted to truly establish it for the entire fiscal year or if you wanted to establish it when it was when it was needed do you have any questions so um if we did it for the remainder of the year or for example that wouldn't be considered permanent so we would be okay um would it would it help you in terms of how quickly do we need to put a committee together to have kind of a committee already flushed out yeah so there are

109definitely guidelines for that timeline um so in section B it says that request for for EU must be submitted to the chief business official within 15 days and then the committee must convene can't find it but I believe it must convene within 15 days after the written response so after you know after that appeal the committee was must convene within 15 days okay so um I I guess the question that I would you know we just can kind of decide I mean this is on the discussion agenda so we don't we're not taking action on on this tonight but um if we want to make a determination on this we should put it on the action agenda at the next meeting okay um I guess you know what I would ask the board because we're

110not really taking a vote um I don't know I mean I guess do we want to to put it on the action agenda for for next meeting or do we want to just let it light lay I mean I don't know I mean I got a question our recommendation is that the way we read this is that in the event there's a protest of any procurement item and they call upon the review panel we should have that already in place so I would think that the best thing is close to July 1 we have a chair of that panel from one of of the board members you nominated chair and then as expressed in the policy we would send the chair the vice chair the superintendent the CFO would send names of community members from

111the different procurement areas to that that that chair of that panel and in the event there's a protest of any procurement item we would already be established and uh so that that's something that they stand they're only called if there's a protest correct yeah as if there's a protest or if there is a let me read because it's 42 10 42 20 and 4230 are the code sections of the procurement code so 4210 is regarding protests 4220 is recording regarding department or suspension so that would be a written response from a written notice of me from me that we are debarring or suspending someone or a vendor and then they would have the ability to appeal again the first the first level of appeal comes to me and then I would make a written determination

112for that appeal and then if then it could go further to the procurement panel and then the third section is regarding contracts and breach of contract controversies so again all those would be written determinations from the chief business official and if there is an appeal the appeal would come directly to me first if it cannot be resolved at that level that is when it goes to the procurement review panel and again we've seen in the past that's happened one time in seven years so it's not a committee that would can convene very often we don't think right right so we could put this on the action agenda for the next meeting that would be our recommendation time Mr Scully yeah um I'm not sure what the outcome is going to be but if we do

113have this panel I would like to nominate me for chair of the panel okay Mr Rogan Miss Paul with the um members from the community that would be selected to serve on this panel just for us to help us navigate through asking those questions obviously it's going to be something that would be called upon so that wouldn't anything they would have to schedule their time to appear on a routine basis but is it just the conversation saying would you serve on this wait to hear from the district or yes pretty much you know you know again we don't expect them to convene very often um so you know it would certainly be are you willing to serve in this capacity this is what this looks like um you know you could give them some history

114of again we've had this committee convene one time in the past seven years um and then you would I would request that you would send your appointment to me just so that I have record of all of those appointments between the four of us and of course I would send that on to whoever becomes the chair but we would just want to make sure that we have record of all the appointees perfect Mr Satterfield did you have a question yes ma'am I'm trying to read this as I listen to uh Miss Paul there uh given a clear explanation um now this is more a procedural question so if somebody in the community questioned something with regard to procurement they fill out a form much like they would they were contesting a book right and they

115write down their concerns and does every concern does result in the committee getting together or is this something where the chairman or the somebody makes a determination whether or not this goes forward that's a great question Ms Paul you want to clarify yeah yeah but section 4210 which is the right to protest um this it has to be someone who is aggrieved in connection with the solicitation so this would be a prospective bidder and offer a contractor or some subcontractor who is aggrieved in connection with the solicitation shall protest to the chief business official within 15 days so you have to be impacted by the award by the solicitation by the process something like that um so that's the very you know kind of minimum is that you have to be someone that is a

116party to the action so somebody just said I disagree I understand there's an uh an erroneous invoice and all that now you have to gather these people from their jobs and bring them together but it's somebody that who is adversely affected by the process yes sir if there are any other you know questions concerning the process all of those again would go to the chief business official and would would um of course try to be resolved at the administrative level sure prior to going to any further action of the panel thank you yes sir all right any other discussion of just miss huddle I just thought it might help to explain kind of what happened the last time we didn't have a standing committee and somebody did protest I think it was an insurance company

117and um I think Matt and I Mr Hogan and I both knew them so that's why we didn't do it so it's that's the only challenge is you could put the committee together and they don't know which vendors May complain and if a vendor complains you may have to replace a Committee Member if they know that person I think that was kind of the I remember that there was an insurance issue with the last one so we had to go through like half the board to even get a chair for the committee which is why I was wondering whether you know we should wait until we knew what the matter was um but I mean that's just my you know I don't have a strong opinion either way on that I just remember that being

118an issue I think it was I doubt it would happen again I think it was just I shouldn't say that knock on wood I think it was just it just so happened that Matt and I have both been in Insurance before and knew them but most of the things the district buys or School related so I would be optimistic that everyone would be fine all right so any other discussion for this item all right seeing none that thank you Miss Paul very much um seeing none that takes us to the next item on our discussion agenda which is the discussion of proposed revisions to board policy gcqe retirement of professional staff exhibit I uh Madam chair with your permission we would like to do both um item 16 and 17 are very similar any objections

119to that I don't see any okay go ahead all right Dr Turner all right um items for 4 16 and 17 for exhibit I and J I do want to make a correction to what was submitted the agenda says it's the discussion of proposed revisions your handouts may say it's discussion and first reading but this is just the discussion so my recommendation will be based on this just being the discussion periodically we get notifications from the South Carolina School Board Association and they provide reminders to us about where we need to look at policies to update them this is relevant for these two proposed revisions to provide some context our current policies gcqe and gdqc retirement of professional staff and retirement of support staff we still have the language that references the Terry program and

120that Terry program was repealed in 2012 and officially took effect in July 1st 2018 so the proposed revisions is that we update our two policies to remove that language about Terry so the administration for both of these exhibits I and J we recommend the board move to the first reading approval of both these policies at the July 17th board meeting do we have any questions relating to this policy all right thank you Dr Turner thank you thank you very much and that leads us to number 18 on our agenda correct yes all right do I have a motion Mr Hogan I'd like to make the motion that we adjourn the meeting have a second a second uh I heard Miss Barnhart um any discussion about this motion all right seeing none I'll call for the

121vote motion carries seven to zero meeting adjournal