001Okay, good evening. We're gonna begin this evening with potentially executive session. If there is a motion to go into executive session at this point and discuss legally. I'll make a motion then. I have a second. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed. Okay, at this time the board will enter executive session. I'd like to welcome everyone here before we get started. Kevin Harrison was elected to the school board. He was not able to be with us in November. I mean in December. Did he see our lights? So we're gonna get him sworn in. So I'm gonna ask Kevin Harrison and Wendell Lee to switch down the other front. Mr. Lee is going to hold the Bible, which is Harrison. That's much more important. It's been a little over a while. He's very active in
002our community. That's a great job. He won re-election, but we gotta get him sworn in. This is the only serving board member, Mr. Lee. If you don't know Mr. Lee, he's an incredible member of our community. He came in the district the same year. He was a person. Harrison, if you'll put your hand on the Bible and read after me. I do solemnly swear. I do solemnly swear. That I am duly qualified. That I am duly qualified. According to the constitution of this state. According to the constitution of this state. To exercise the duties of the office. To exercise the duties of this office. Be watchful, I have been elected. I have been elected. And then I will. And I will. To the best of my ability. To the best of my ability. Discharge the
003duties thereof. Discharge the duties thereof. And preserve, protect, and defend. And preserve, protect, and defend. The constitution of this state. The constitution of this state. And of the United States. And of the United States. So help me God. So help me God. Let's give Mr. Harrison a big round of applause. I love Mr. Lee keep this Bible, but I think he's got a memorandum. Welcome to our first board meeting of 2026. This is one of our favorite board meetings. We want to welcome all of our elementary students. All of our parents. Our administrators who are with us tonight. We also want to take an opportunity to thank those of you that might be joining us to be in the live meeting. If you're part of the District 6 community. We appreciate you joining us and
004spending time with us this evening. We're going to open our board meeting in prayer as we always do. Thank you Mr. Harman. God bless you. Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. Just hearing Father we just want to thank you Father for that. Thank you for keeping our students safe over the holidays. Bringing them back to us so that we can continue to educate them Father. We also thank you for their parents and their families Father. For allowing us to educate them and take care of them Father. Father bless and watch over our educators. Watch over our school boards. Watch over our administrative Father. Give them the wisdom and the guidance. Make our children there and where they are and what they can be Father. Father when we leave every day. Father keep
005us safe and guide us. I thought that you always did Father. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thanks Mr. Boyd. We begin the meeting this evening with the approval of our December minutes. Minutes of the December board meeting were set up electronically prior to this meeting to review. Are there any changes or corrections to December board minutes? Hearing no changes the minutes are approved by acclamation. Next on our agenda will be consideration of our December invoices. December invoices were sent to us prior to tonight's board meeting. Are there any questions regarding the December 25 minutes? Hearing no questions do I have a motion to approve the December 25 minutes? Approved. Do I have a second? Thank you. All approved say aye. Any objections? Hearing none December invoices stand approved. At this time I would
006like to turn the meeting over to our superintendent. Thank you Mr. Yarbrough. This is board appreciation month. And before we move on to our presentations I just want to say to our board of trustees it is absolutely an incredible honor to serve such an outstanding school board. Thank you for being committed to students. And for those who don't know this is a very active board of trustees. They're in our schools every month. They do our visits from the board for our teachers. They have school visits. When they come to lunch they're at the school with the kids. They're at our events. And every conversation that is held by this board is focused on doing what is best for students. They're genuine. They're sincere. And they don't get paid anything. All they get paid is the
007knowledge and the comfort of knowing they're doing what's best for students. So I just want to say thank you. The time that you give. The dedication that you have. It requires a lot of sacrifice from you and your family. And I just personally want to thank you as superintendent. As a parent. As a former teacher that you gave in middle school. But just as a member of this community that's got a vision to make sure that we're doing what's best for kids. You can say thank you to our students. They're prepared for their future. Thank you so much for what you do. Let's give a big round of applause. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Wu. And I will say Ms. Christy Johnson, our board chair, is in Italy. She teaches at Wofford.
008And she is in Italy right now with her students and could not make it. And Mr. Henry Ross could not be with us either. So I just want to say I apologize if they're absent. And on their behalf, we'll let you know they would be here if they could if they had other obligations. Dr. Wu. Thank you, Dr. Pfizer. As we recognize the board and appreciate them, I want to take a moment to express our sincere gratitude to our board members. You're a credit to our students, to our staff, and to our community that not get a little unnoticed. The time, goal, and fear that you invest in decision-making, often complex and challenging ones, help shape the future of our schools and ensure that every student will have an audience for intense opportunities to succeed.
009Thank you for your leadership, your service, your willingness to listen and to advocate for what is best for our history. Truly appreciate it. To me and all of you. And in honor of Board Appreciation Month, we have some very special guests here with us this evening, as we always do during the month of January. We have our elementary students, one representing each one of our schools. We will be presenting each board member with a book. So students, as you see your board member, and you see your video that Robinson put together for us for this evening, if you will make your way up to the front, your board member will come down and shoot you a fire. And I'm sure that Robinson will want to take some pictures of it. We will begin with a
010little bit from where you are. Hello, I'm Leah Everett Cheney, and I'm the student body president of Westview Elementary School. It is my honor to present the book, Be a Maker, by Katie Havre to board member Mr. Troy Yarbrough. Be a Maker is a story that encourages students to see themselves as creative problem solvers. Be a Maker celebrates that you can all be a maker in different ways. We chose this book for you because as a CEO of a golfing year group, we know that you're an innovative thinker, collaborator, and problem solver. Mr. Yarbrough, Westview Elementary appreciates you. Thank you for everything you do for the students and staff in District Safe. Thank you for being an awesome board member. Hello, I'm Leah Everett Cheney, and I'm the student body president of Woodland Exhibitions. It
011is my honor to present the book, Tea Party Girls to Board Member Ms. Nicole Wood. Tea Party Girls is a la-ha-la fun book at the required give-and-take play time. Tea Party Girls is a friendship story that will delight every couple of fancy girls in cookie-loving network. We chose this book from this woman because she loves cooking and is big time with her family. On behalf of Woodland High School, we thank you Ms. Bowman for your service and commitment to the students, families, and staff of Spartanburg School District 6. My name is Grace Monahan, and I'm a fifth grader in the student body district here at Ameson Mountain Elementary School. It's my pleasure to present the book, Mouthwater River, a journey through nature to Mr. Lincoln. Mouthwater River is a story about a mouse who goes
012down the river and experiences new adventures while enjoying the beauty of nature. Mouth bleeds new friends and discovers how amazing mine can be just by having the courage to take on new challenges. Mr. Harris, we chose this book for you because you lean and serve our community each day with courage, care, and compassion. This book reminds us of how lucky we are to have you as our school board. On behalf of Ameson Middle, we thank you for your service and dedication. My name is Linda Gleasy, and I'm Fairfax Elementary School's student council president. Therefore, I've chosen the book, What is Dinner from the Heart for School Board Member, Ms. Charles Boyd. In the book, James struggles to think of a gift to give a friend. The book remembers his preaching words. What is Dinner from
013the Heart with Preaches at Heart? Mr. Boyd, we chose this book especially for you because of your love, encouragement, and support for all DC students. Thank you for all that you do for Fairfax and all of our students in District 6. My name is David Charles Medina, and I am a student leadership president at our Cato Elementary School. It is my honor to present the book, Bird by Brook to Board Member Reverend Kevin Kirsten. Bird by Brook is a story that celebrates a father and a son. Bucky is a bricklayer that works hard to build the city and the boilers are at school. They both share dreams, have their own house, a dream that comes true thanks to Bucky's hard work and love for his friends. Reverend Harrison, we chose this book for you because
014you work hard in your business to make it successful and we all know that you love your family. Thank you for everything you do for the students and family in District 6. We appreciate you. Hello, my name is Xavier Aguiz and I am a fifth grader at Mono Elementary School. It is my honor to present the book, Hello White House to District 6 Board Member Mr. Aaron Ross. This book tells the story of a White House and its last keeper. We chose this book for you because just as a White House keeper is responsible for keeping the library to God's ships, you ensure the educational, safety, and well-being of all students from being a consistent part of our community, changes, and storms. Mr. Ross Mono appreciates you and everything you do for the students in
015District 6. Thank you for being our community, White House. I'm excited to share with you the book, Hush, Hush Forest by Eric Henson. This book shows what happens in the forest as night comes and winter gets close. While the warm inside listens to the stories, animals outside are being raised to rest. The scenes of the last song that they could finish with gathering branches and the deer, raccoons, owls, rabbits, and even bear girls settle for the postseason. This book uses beautiful words and pictures to show how the forest, quiet and down-to-earth, how every future prepares for the winter, is a calm and peaceful story that feels like saying goodbye to the cold forest. Mr. Lee, we hope you enjoy this book. I am a fifth-grade serving as student body president at Grubbuck Elementary School. I
016am presenting the book, James Harriet's Treasure Through Children, a book full of warm and joyful tales to Ms. Tracy Smith. I am presenting this book to Ms. Tracy Smith because it highlights how family is important and what they can do not just in your childhood, but when you get older. I am Ms. Tracy Smith. Change your grandchildren with hope. I am in honor to be presenting this book to such a smart, caring, and joyful person in the D-6 world. And I want to congratulate Ms. Tracy Smith. It's different from years. It's a little bit of a topology. I don't know if you've ever looked at me. You can't believe that. But I sincerely appreciate how something in leadership can help as well as teaching. Yeah, students, let me just tell you, I am so proud
017of you. That is challenging to get on the video, make a video, give a speech, present a book. Y'all did amazing. And I am so proud of y'all, so are your parents. I want all the students that just presented, if you will, stand up and let's all give them a big round of applause. Thank you so much. And I tell you what, for the principals that are here, each one of these students that presented, it's on me. Send me the bill, which I'll get ice cream for school this week for every day you have it. And I'll pay for that, so just send me that number, free ice cream. Thank y'all so much. And I presented too, so I'm going to get myself an ice cream right now. And I'm just going to go over
018it. It concludes my presentation. Thank you, Dr. Kaiser. I'd like to echo Dr. Kaiser's comments to our students. Students, not only did you do a phenomenal job with each of your videos, you all are leaders in your schools. You're leaders of the elementary schools that you represent. And it is an absolute blessing. I said in my holy comments, it's one of our favorite meetings of the year. Not because you say nice things about us, but because we get to see the wonderful work that you all are doing in your schools. So thank you for being leaders in your schools. You are the future of this district. We're very proud of you, and we're very proud of the schools that you represent this time. So thank you very much, parents. I'd like to echo Dr. Wooten
019as well. Thank you for supporting being here tonight to make this a special evening. Principals, thank you for being here as well. We're going to take a short break before we continue with our meeting to allow students and families if you would like to leave, you may. If you would like to stay around and hear finance, feel free to do so as well. We've started back. Next on the agenda is finance with Dr. O'Reilly. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good evening. Tonight we're going to recap our Calgary improvement plan, and we're going to talk about a few things. We're going to talk about enrollment, ASPE, and then, of course, the challenges of our vision with the increased growth that we see coming within the next 10 years. Last month we had MDT, who actually
020does demographic studies when I present, about projected enrollment. I think the key that came from that presentation was the number of students we're expecting over the next 10 years. We're looking at between 2025 and 2030, about 734 additional students, and then from 2030 to 2034, about another 1,100 students. We're pushing 2,000 students that we're expecting over the next 10 years. Of course, one of the things they looked at also was the past. Where is this growth coming from? So one of the things they presented from the demographic study was residential development. This is my middle school here. This is my middle school attendance area. So you can see here, over the next 10 years, we're expecting about 3,200 new units, approximately 1,200 new students from those units. One of the things we can actually look
021at here, too, is the elementary school growth, too. This is Fairfax Elementary attendance area, Arcadia, and Bubbub. So you can see the actual number of units that are expected, not only in the middle schools, but also in the elementary schools. This is Gable attendance area here. We're already seeing a lot of growth here in the Gable attendance area, primarily in the roadblock here. This is Robux, where you see a lot of the new subdivisions of residential development plan here. Over 3,350 new units expected over the next 10 years, about 1,300 new students in addition. Dawkins, probably the lowest growth area, compared to Gable, compared to our middle. 17 projects are currently being proposed for our B Dawkins, about 1,000 new units. You see, as far as elementary, most of those are in the middle of
022the attendance area. So, with all the growth that's coming, what we want to look at is how does that impact the capacity of our students. This is our existing capacity here. The re-entry is really where we see the challenges. You see here at Westby Elementary, Monmouth Elementary, our parks and current problems, and it's not all related to growth. Some of it's just program space that we need in our school. So, the next five years, what does the capacity look like in the school district? You see, Fairfax Elementary now is at 160 percent capacity. Botto Elementary 113 percent capacity. Westby 114 percent capacity. Robux Elementary 107 percent capacity. The main challenge that we're looking at is in 10 years. Look at the capacity of our students in 10 years. All schools by Woodland High School and
023Pauline Glitz Elementary have capacity issues because of their role. Woodland High School and Pauline Glitz also have capacity issues because of program studies. And so, you see the numbers here is why we're concerned about the number of students that are coming and the capacity issues in the school district. This is our middle school study here. So, Fairfax Middle School currently we're at 102 percent capacity. Dawkins 107 percent. And Gable 60 percent. Let's look over time. 119 percent for Fairfax Middle School. 98 percent for Dawkins. 92 percent for Gable. And look what happens because really the broken five to 10 years, generally in the Gable area, we're at 110 percent where they naturally surpassed Dawkins. 132 percent for Fairfax Middle. That is something we have to be concerned about. It's something we have to start addressing.
024This is the proposed plan to address the capacity issues. It's key class sizes for our schools. We have nine projects that we're looking at. A new elementary school located at the existing Dawkins Middle School site. Helps with elementary growth challenges, temporary learning spaces, and additional learning places. A new child health center, a new elementary school. This is because not only the capacity issues, it's because of the age of the school. If you ever went to visit CDC and Child Development Center, that school was disrupted and not completed before. One of our oldest schools in the district. Health and safety issues here. Growth challenges. Temporary learning spaces. Poor capacity challenges in the northern district. This school could actually be a relief to Fairfax Elementary, Jesse Bubba, and Long Oak Elementary. A new Dawkins Middle School. Original
025construction, 1972. Originally an elementary school. Middle school growth challenges. Temporary learning spaces. A capacity for middle school population. This could actually be an opportunity to look at leaving Gable Middle School population, leaving some of the growth at Fairfax Middle School, but the new Dawkins Middle School. Paul England Springfield Interdiction. Capacity and additional learning spaces. Again, program spaces are actually a challenge for our school district. Special needs, resource classes. Some of the things we have to address as we look at these additions. Fairfax Middle School addition. Of course, the growth of Fairfax Middle School. 132% capacity in 10 years is something we have to look at and address. Also, additional learning spaces for special education. Small class society. Woodland Heights Elementary School. Capacity and additional learning spaces. Emcee Mill Elementary. Addition. Growth. 120% capacity. Additional learning
026spaces. Gable Middle School addition. Forest. Regional construction in 1980. How do we fix the common areas in Gable Middle School? We need to address that. That's a safety issue we need to look at. 110% capacity. Small book learning spaces. Some of the things we need to look at for Gable Middle School. Of course, all of these schools feed into going to freshman academy. We need to look at growth, capacity, and additional learning spaces. In any question we can answer on the proposed government improvements. Again, the bottom line for this is we need to look and address capacity issues and the growth challenges for our school district if we're going to keep class sizes low. It's one of the things that we need to get relief for these problems. So we were first trying on advisors
027to look at how do we do this in a timely manner considering the growth challenges that we have in the school district. Without a referendum, we'd be looking at at least 10 to 12 years before we complete all these projects. Of course, another piece is to be waiting that long. Without a referendum, you've got inflationary costs. We're going to have to deal with that in the school district. The increase in the price of construction. A referendum allows us to complete these projects in three to five years. No debt service bill increase. We would need to do, why? Because we have capacity and growth and assessment in the school district to accommodate the $395 million in bonds we're looking at. 30-year term. That would be the terms of our bonds that we would issue with an
028estimated interest rate of 4.25%. One of the things that's important for our students, we still have projects to be able to do. We have HVAC, we have road improvements, we have technology. We have things that we have to continue doing. Our structure right now still leaves money in these things, about $35 million a year, under our existing capacity, outside of the referendum. So that was going to import to us as a school district, to keep us to get those bonds, do some of the normal operating expenses or capital improvement expenses that we have as students. So just to give a little bit more detail about the projects. Opportunities here. He's going to talk a little bit about each one of the individual projects to address those concerns. I'm Dr. Daniels, a member of the board.
029I appreciate the opportunity to come in and share this information with you tonight. What I'm going to give you is a summary of what we discussed previously. We're going to talk about a high-level program in terms of a lot of the spaces that have been described. We're going to take a look at each of the individual projects and talk about sizes and capacities and pamphlets. All right, so as we're all aware, we're touching nine projects in this referendum. These span all the way across the district and touch all of the different communities that are part of District 6 standards. They range in complexity from two new elementaries, new mineral, and six additional renovation projects. So the first one, just going out of that order, Andersonville Elementary. Andersonville Elementary has a need for additional classroom spaces,
030indicate your file space, where we program additional classes here. They have needs for resource rooms, special needs classrooms. So we put all of these into our program and we come up with about an addition of 29,600 square feet. What does that mean in terms of capacity? That's about an additional 300 students here. Next, we move to the CDC Child Development Center. This would be constructed on the current CDC site, so this would be a phased project that we could deal with a new CDC wing. Then move the CDC students, then tear down and build a new classroom. So this is programmed at about 150,000 square feet. It's all located in five classrooms, plus the additional spaces that we need, catheteries, kitchens, gymnasiums, etc. From a capacity standpoint, we're looking at about 240 pre-k students and
031600 K through 5 students. Next, we're talking middle school. So from a programming perspective, we're at about 185,000 square feet. This would be composed of classroom wings reaching the different grade levels, sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, all the support spaces including gyms, catheteries, athletics, related arts, etc. And this would be programmed for about 1,200 students. Going in front of my canvas, here we have a big need for classrooms. So we're looking at adding 14 classrooms in a couple of different wing scenarios, adding science labs. We're calling it the Flex Lab, which is a space that gives schools the ability to do different things, a new practice gym, a new weight room, a cafeteria addition, plus a cafeteria free type, so we'd add all the extra students, and then some related arts spaces. So this
032would give us the ability to add about 400. Air Force Middle School came on. This is a 21,000 square feet additional capacity for about 320 students. Gable Middle School, as you're all aware, the challenge is here with multiple buildings that are not connected, so we've got to deal with the security issue of connecting all the different buildings. Here we're looking at another complete grade level wing, similar to the sixth grade wing, so this is about 18 classrooms, plus science labs, a cafeteria related arts renovation, and resource rooms, and then creating these secure corridors to connect all the different buildings from the gym to the sixth grade wing. Pauline Wind Springs, again, this is very similar to the Anderson Middle Needs, needs across the board in all of the different classroom or grade levels, so we're
033adding capacity in K through five, need for resource rooms, need for a special education platform. In this particular scenario, we're also talking about adding multiple bacteria in addition to taxing. Living Heights, a very similar story, adding on to the kindergarten, fifth grade classrooms, staff workrooms, also have additional staff on board, resource rooms, special education rooms, cafeteria. So that's very quickly a view, overview of all of the projects. The renovation and addition projects, in addition to the new work, but also a large amount of renovation work, we need to go into the schools and verify the firearm systems of today, are there any finishes that need to be updated, so there's a lot of different things that we can work into this program to take care of some of the existing needs here. From a schedule
034perspective, this is just illustrating a projected potential referendum here. So that is, this is our proposed construction and design construction. So we've got preliminary work that takes place here between now and say in March, April. Then we have our design schedule that runs through to middle of 27. Then we have construction that varies depending on the scope of the project. So again, that's a very brief overview of kind of what is contained within the scope of work for these projects and not taking questions at all. I believe that the ideal way to address the growth in the school district, particularly the capacity issues, is to do these as quickly as we can. And of course, the financial way to do that is through a referendum. The referendum allows us to borrow above our 8% capacity.
035And we're able to do a lot of these projects in five years and actually still have a little bit of the growth that is coming to the school district. You have the resolution in your packet. We have a written on the part of the code here to answer any question that we need to on the resolution. The resolution does cover the referendum itself by allowing the school district to issue up to $395 million in bonds. It also creates a question on the ballot for the referendum, whether the school district is allowed to do this or not. The third thing that this resolution does is the necessary steps to prepare for the referendum, March 31, 2026. Is there any question that we can ask on the resolution itself? If not, the administrator recommends the approval of
036the order for resolution for the $395 million general obligation bond. Members of the board, we have a recommendation from administration to order a referendum on March 31, 2026 to allow voters within the district to consider the question of whether the district is authorized to issue $395 million of general obligation bonds. We also have a recommendation from administration to fund apparel improvements needed to provide modern and adequate facilities to serve the current student population and the anticipated growth in the projected student enrollment of the school district. Are there any questions from the board? No questions. Do I have a motion to approve the resolution to order a referendum on March 31, 2026? Do I have a second? Second. All the groups say aye. Aye. Any objections? Hearing no objections, the resolution to order a referendum on
037March 31, 2026 stands approved. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Daniels. Thank you, Dr. Cheney, for the work prior to this evening and the work ahead of us. Is there any other more additional business for the board to add to this? If not, thank you to all the presenters. I thank you for district staff attending. Everyone can get home safely. Thank you.