RHS School Board Meeting 03-10-26

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening and welcome to the March 10th business meeting of the Rock Hill School Board. Local news media outlets were notified in writing of this agenda on Monday, March 9th. First up is our agenda. Do I have a motion Oh, actually, before we do that, we need to do the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the moment of silence. I pledge allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. So, now we have the agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Anello. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those

002in favor? All opposed? Motion carries 6-0. Next up is an executive session and we will be back here by 6:00 for the remainder of the meeting, but we do have an executive session for the purpose of discussion of pending litigation. Do I have a motion to adjourn the open session and enter executive session for the following legal matter, uh discussion of pending litigation? So moved. Uh thank you, Ms. Daniels. Seconded by Mr. Burns. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? All opposed? Motion carries 7-0. We'll see you in 30 minutes. >> Mhm. >> Good job. >> Good evening and welcome to the March 10th school board business meeting. We have been meeting since 5:30 in executive session. So at this point I'm going to hear a motion to adjourn the executive session and reconvene

003the open session. So moved. I believe Mr. Nossel with the second of Ms. Harris. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? All opposed? Motion carries 7-0. I do not believe we have any action coming out of executive session, correct? No. So then what I'm going to do is we're going to start off with recognitions. And first up is the National Elementary Art Honor Society Pilot Chapter at India Hook Elementary School. And I'm going to welcome up Stacy Walton. Welcome. Hello. All right. I have a few of my students here with me tonight and Mr. Rhodes as well. They created the little gifts that she found on the tables. But we have 16 members, so lots of them were double booked tonight. But we have Rosie Calhoun here, Hadley Goolsby, and Cason Miracle. They are

004all fifth grade members of our art honor society. We do have a mixture of fourth and fifth grade though. Do you all have any questions for us about what what we do exactly? Yes, can you sure. So I know that Miss Grant is also going to share a little bit later, but we are one of the pilot programs pilot chapter for any AHS. So they brought National Art Honor Society to the elementary level this year and tested it out in schools all over the country. So we were lucky to be selected as one of them and in the fall our group focused more on what we could do with our service through our art outside of our school and then this spring is going to be what we can do at India Hook. And so

005the the group kind of talked it over and decided that in the fall we wanted to support an animal nonprofit of some sort. So we found Richardson Rescue here in our local community. So they created these artworks. They're little bobbleheads. Some of them bobble in the box. Some of them are packed in there a little tight, but they work collaboratively collaboratively on those and then they were on display to bring awareness in our school and we did a little supply drive in December and then they came up with another idea for helping out around our school. So they they are getting ready to actually start next week on a project that they came up with for some new signage at India Hook. So next time you visit us, you should be able to see it

006by the end of the year. That's fantastic. I think Miss Hudson Oh, yes. I was just curious. What's the criteria to become a member of the elementary Honor Society? Sure. So it varies a little bit across the country because some schools they do have different grades or different assessments that they already are doing in the elementary special area or related arts classes. In our district since we do not show up on the report card, the criteria is more of just my assessment of them in my classroom and how they've been identified as a student that is showing that kind of higher level of creative thinking and you know, coming up with really critical problem solving to the different projects that we do in the classroom and then they had the opportunity to apply to be

007a part of our group. So I think there were about 25 invited to apply and then 16 that we inducted. It just worked out well with the schedule and things like that. Thank you. That's fantastic and I think we all have big smiles on our faces as we look at our personal little bobble heads that I'm sure we're all going to be displaying in our individual offices. So thank you for that. We're super proud of this initiative, right? Let's give them a ROUND OF APPLAUSE. THANK YOU. WE'LL TAKE A PICTURE AND I SAW SOME CAMERAS up so if you guys want to come over here and stand right here and face your families we can get one picture this way. And so All right, Harper and you're going to step over this way and take

008a photo with them all. >> Okay. Perfect. Take a few. 1 2 3 and Thank you. 1 Thank you. Beautiful work. Thank you. So next up we have the Rock Hill High School girls wrestling 5A state champions presented by Mr. ERIC ROWLING. GOOD EVENING MADAM CHAIR, DR. ELDER, SCHOOL board members. It is with great pride that I get to announce tonight the 5A girls state championship wrestling team. Uh this season they finished the dual championships with a 17 and 0 record. Even more impressive over the last 2 years are 33 and 0 winning back-to-back uh state titles recognized by the South Carolina High School League. Uh this marks the fourth consecutive state championship for this team. Um which I would like to say is a dynasty for these young ladies. Uh two of them were

009recognized by the South Carolina Coaches Association and then the last two in wrestling was recognized by the South Carolina High School League. They won back-to-back state championships. Also, I'd like to uh recognize Coach Beer. This is his eighth state championship, four with the boys and four with the girls. Um it's been an amazing year for them and not only have they done it on the on the mat, but over the last uh this so far this year they have a 3.6 combined overall GPA. So uh they have had a tremendous season and a lot of that is the standard and excellence that the coaches and administration has set forth for them and it certainly needs to be recognized. I also want to thank Dr. Elder and Mr. Nozzle for attending some of the wrestling events

010this year. I think they will testify that this is an unbelievable team and I I tell Coach Beard and and and Coach Cook the same thing all year that I've been at Rock Hill a while, but this is probably one of the most dominant teams I have seen at Rock Hill High School and and and I think Mr. Nozzle and Dr. Elder will will speak to that as well. They completely dominated the mat in the state championship and I think after the first five or six matches, it was over. They just continued to wrestle and and they should be recognized for that. So, congratulations. Next, we'll have Coach Beard and Coach Cook come up and recognize the individual state finalists. Thank you, guys. Um our first state champ, if you will enter I'll tell you

011what, we'll start. Our first runner-up uh finished the year 48 and four. Uh her only losses were to defending state champions. Uh our first state runner-up is Reagan Beard. Our first state champion uh finished the year 44 and four and was the 125 lb state champion, Audrey Noonan. And one of only two seniors that we have on this year's squad, um this young lady finished her career or finished the season 50 and two. She finished her career uh which is a state record, 126 wins over the course of four years against 11 losses. She's a three-time state finalist, four-time state qualifier, and your 155 state champ this year, ALICIA THOMAS. ALL RIGHT, THANK Y'ALL. WE JUST REALLY appreciate all the support from everybody all throughout the district. Our guys team, we had a pretty good

012season as well. We ended up starting off a little rocky, but uh we ended up wrestling for the upper state championship and came up one match short, but we did have two state finalists. Uh Trey Robinson, he finished um with a 34 and one record on the season. He missed a lot of the season due to injury, uh but came back and had a great run. And then Josiah Rockymore, uh he finished the season with a 65 and seven record and a state runner-up as well. Once again, thank you for brought for bringing all the resources that these teams need to be successful. Um I think this is the fourth state championship for Rock Hill School District this year, and hopefully we can bring a couple more before the year's out. So, thank you very

013much. Thank you. Let's go this way, and if the board wants to come forward and join in the photo or stay there, it's we'll just face this way. So, if you guys all want to line up that way with your families, like join me. We'll just face that face that Okay. Get some more in this end. Plenty of room. All right, we'll squeeze in. Thank you. All right, we're doing a couple. One, two, 3 3 2 1 and let me get out of the way and let them take for just a second. All right, 1 2 3 cheese. Big champs. Thank you, GUYS. CONGRATULATIONS. NEXT UP IS THE 2026 recipient of the Inez Tenenbaum Leadership Award. And I'm going to welcome up our superintendent, Dr. Deborah Eder, for that presentation. Principal Leonard, please join me.

014There you are. I am so proud to announce that Rock Hill Schools recognizes Mrs. Sheila Leonard, principal of Ebenezer Avenue Elementary School, as the 2026 recipient of the Inez Tenenbaum Leadership Award. This distinction is awarded to one principal from the School Leadership Executive Institute, a 7-month program led by the South Carolina Department of Education in partnership with the Truist Leadership Inner Institute. Ms. Leonard was selected by her peers from across South Carolina for making the greatest impact on the cohort and was praised for her encouragement, support, and commitment to uplifting others, just like she does in our schools every single day and with her colleagues. The award honors the legacy of Inez Tenenbaum and her enduring influence on educational leadership. Rock Hill Schools congratulates Ms. Leonard for her exemplary service and leadership. And Dr. Elder

015is staying up there because next up in our recognition series is administrative appointments, who's also presented by Dr. Elder. Thank you. I am so excited to announce several new members to our administration team and I'm going to actually go ahead and call call up our four principals and Mr. Vecchio so that you're up here when I talk about you and I say things about you. Um as they make their way up, um I want to start first with the four principals. Um the four principals had a very rigorous application process and a very rigorous search process. And it all started with meeting um Dr. Dickey, Dr. Connor, um Mr. Vecchio and I went and met with each staff at each of the four schools just to have the conversation to tell us what is important

016to you and your next principal. What do you want us to look for? And then from that, um we developed a survey that went out to anybody who couldn't come to that particular meeting that day as well as to parents and to community. And so we had a really good picture of what each school wanted and each school had had unique unique wants, right? Um that survey then informed the the interview questions for the first interview that included members of the teaching staff, of the non-certified staff and an SSIC member, a parent. And that was the first interview. Then they had another interview um with Dr. Dickey and Dr. Connor. And then the finalists came to me for a final interview where I grilled them pretty good. And at the end of the day, I

017am so proud to announce that I am very happy with our choices for our principal positions. And I'll talk more about Mr. Beckius' process in a minute. So starting with Kendall Futrell, new principal of Cherry Park Elementary School. LET'S HEAR IT. MS. FUTRELL IS A LONG-TIME MEMBER OF THE Cherry Park community. She brings a deep knowledge of the school's culture and a strong commitment to multilingual learning as well as student growth. She holds a master's degree from Gardner-Webb University. So welcome aboard. Next, we have Adrian Young. She will join Independence as principal from her role as assistant principal at Northside Elementary. Let's hear it. She is deeply committed to student achievement, positive school culture, and teacher support, and holds master's degrees from Gardner-Webb University, City Winthrop University, and Grand Canyon University. Next, we have Kenisha

018Williams, incoming principal from Fort Mill Dutchman Creek Middle School. Currently, Ms. Williams is assistant principal at South Point High School. She brings very strong instructional leadership and a passion for student success. She holds degrees from the College of Charleston and Gardner-Webb University and is committed to building a positive, collaborative school community. And certainly not not least, but last, is Buddy King, who is principal of Rock Hill High School. Mr. King is a dedicated member of the Rock Hill High School community. He has served in multiple roles, and most recently as interim principal since the summer. He demonstrated exceptional leadership and an unwavering commitment to students and staff. He holds a master's degree from Winthrop University. And next, we have Darlinda Vae Q, the no longer interim assistant superintendent of human resources. Ms. Darlinda Vae Q

019underwent a rigorous national search process, um where she came out as the top candidate. Um she brings a strong commitment to supporting educators and strengthening systems that directly impact student success. Um since serving as interim super interim assistant superintendent, she has demonstrated effective leadership. For example, um we started this school year with a 98% staff rate in our classrooms, unheard of in a very difficult time. Ms. Darlinda Vae Q holds a Master of Education and Supervision and Administration from Rutgers University. She is dedicated to fostering collaboration, developing leaders, and cultivating a culture of trust and excellence across the district. Welcome aboard, Ms. Darlinda Vae Q. All right, you can sit so you're not hanging off the wall. There you go. Thank you. And I'm going to put you in focus. All right, now you're in

020focus. 3 2 1 1 2 3 and if you guys want to go around and shake hands, please do. Email me if you need anything. Congratulations. That concludes our recognitions and next up is citizen participation. Any citizen can sign up by 6:00 p.m. to address the board. They have 3 minutes and we have one person that has done that tonight and that is I believe Ms. Carrie Bishop regarding matrix and she's representing herself. Welcome. I wanted to address the discipline matrix cuz my son came home one day to tell me he was made to walk laps for getting in trouble in class during recess instead of getting set out at lunch instead anything. So, when I read the matrix and I saw that that's not a thing, I was very shocked. It is corporal punishment.

021And my sixth grader has now confirmed that Mall Mall Holly Elementary has been doing it ever since he's been going there. Some teachers do, some teachers don't. It's left up to the teacher, apparently. Um I brought it to their attention and his current teacher is not doing it now. But that doesn't mean the rest of the school is. I know Rock Hill High does not. Glad to see some of those principals here today. I know South Pointe High does not. And I know Saluda Middle does not. So, I'm very concerned that we're doing that in an elementary school. It's very weird. Also, at that same elementary school, my son threatened his whole entire class to stab them. And that principal did nothing but call me. He wasn't given any mental services, which is on the

022matrix. I brought it to the superintendent's the new ones attention. Nothing was done. He's now getting into fights over at Saluda and it's becoming a problem. So, I'm not sure where we're going with the discipline matrix, but um it's just not happening at some of them and it seems to be left at the discretion of the principal and the teachers, which I don't really think is acceptable, either. So, I wanted to bring it to the board's attention because, you know, someday something serious might happen. If we're not following protocol with that, who's to say what's going to happen with all these school shootings and things like that. It's a real problem. So. Okay. Thank you. I have a question. What did she say her son I'm just asking. What did she say her son is

023doing? I missed what she said. Some small class. Running laps. Making him walk laps. Okay. I I hear you. Thank you. You understand? I just didn't hear you. Thank you. So, by policy, the board does not respond to citizen participation. However, our superintendent is here tonight and we'll follow up. So, thank you for that, ma'am. That concludes Sorry, that concludes our citizen participation for the evening. We do have a consent action agenda. It has a few items on it. Um starting with the minutes from the February 24th school board business meeting and the February 24th school board work session, as well as personnel recommendations. Uh do I have a motion to approve the consent action agenda? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Brooks. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Ms. Harris. Any discussion? Hearing

024none, all >> I do want to make a comment. Um Madam Chair, um Dr. Bell, I do want to take a moment um to thank all of the retirees who are on this agenda. Um there is a special retiree that's on this agenda that's important to me, so I do want to take a moment of personal privilege to say um thank you to all the retirees who joined this noble profession of ours. Um specifically to Rock Hill Schools, I want to give a special shout-out, a special thank you to Dr. Tonya Belton, um who is my wife, who um many may not know that I met her in the lobby of Rock Hill School District while we were both applying for jobs in Rock Hill Schools on April the 3rd, 1996. That 30 years later,

025um a marriage, two children, um I've been on this journey literally since day one. Children say um been here from day one. I literally was here the first day that she started this journey, and I'm glad to be part of her life on the last day of this journey. Um with that being said, Tonya often reminds me when I try to convince her that we have two year two children in college, you may need to stay around for a few more years. She reminds me that um she's 52, and all but the three years, zero to three, and the four years she was in college, she's been part of Rock Hill Schools as a student or as an employee. So, for 46 years of her 52 years on this earth, she's been connected to Rock

026Hill Schools as an employee or as a student. And so, it's just time this time this time in her life for her to do something different. So, I do say to you, Tanya, all of the retirees, but especially Tanya, congratulations, JOB WELL DONE. I DON'T THINK ANY OF THE BOARD MEMBERS CAN TOP that discussion later. So, with that, all those in favor of accepting the consent action agenda. All opposed? Motion carries 7-0. Sorry. There we go. So, that brings us down to our action agenda. And we I'm going to welcome up Miss Alicia Johnson, who's the executive director of secondary education, to present a competency-based education waiver proposal. But before I do that, I have been notified that the display of the actual PowerPoint is not working correctly on the power on the live stream

027right now. We're streaming live in terms of the presentation sound, but if people want to see a close-up of the actual presentations, there is a link that is posted on Facebook as well as on the website, and you can go into the civility packet and pull it up and follow the agenda. But I just wanted to highlight that. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to you, Mary. All right, good evening. Chair Miller, Vice Chair Hutchinson, members of the board, Dr. Elder, and members of the community. I'm Alicia Johnson, Executive Director of Secondary Education, and I'm here this evening to seek your approval to submit a competency-based education waiver to the state of South Carolina for approval and their review. But before I start, I want to acknowledge the presence and support of

028high school principal, Michael Abraham, and Buddy Kinney, and I know that after Williams. Thank you for your presence and your support of being here. I also want to acknowledge the presence and support of Mr. Rico Barber. He is the research and accountability manager that helped me with the attendance initiative and helping to pull together the data um to show the reason for this competency-based education waiver. So, thank you all for being here to support it. So, first I want to start with um the alignment to the board goal. So, of your four goals, this competency-based education waiver is aligned to goal one, delivering academic excellence to ignite each student's highest potential. Before we get into what the competency-based waiver is, I want to review a couple of um laws, regulations. So, the first one is

029the South Carolina compulsory attendance law. This one outlines that parents and guardians are legally responsible for ensuring regular attendance. So, students must attend school ages 5 to 17. They're truant if they have three consecutive unlawful absences or five unlawful absences for the year. The next one I want to call your attention to is the student attendance regulation 43-274.7B. This one is the one that we are seeking um an exemption from. This one, students receive one Carnegie unit of credit, but in order to receive that unit of credit, the student must be in attendance at least 120 hours per unit, Regardless of the days missed, they must demonstrate proficiency as determined by the local school district. So, all high school credit-bearing courses, they must be in attendance 120 hours in order to get the credit. So,

030this is the one that we are seeking an exception from. So, let's get into the competency-based education. So, what is this? This is an approach that is going to award credit to a student based on mastery of academic standards. And it's not going to be based on a student the number of hours that the students are spending in the classroom. So, in this model, the students are going to move forward once they have mastered the content. So, the reason for this, why do we need this? So, in 2022-23, we had 1,184 FAs. So, an FA is failure due to attendance. Those are FAs that were not cleared. So, those are credits lost. In 2023-24, we had 1,356 FAs that were not cleared. Those are credits lost. And then this past school year, we had 1,579

031FAs. So, we've had an increase of 34 34% over the past 3 years. So, this is the reason that we need a waiver in place. So, the key components of the waiver, learning expectations must be clearly defined. They have to be aligned to the South Carolina academic standards. Students have to demonstrate mastery through meaningful assessments. And some of those assessments, we know are EOCs, our SC Ready assessments that are already in place. And then of course, in this waiver, students will still get the additional support that they need if they need additional time. And then students who are demonstrating academic readiness, they can advance without being held back due to the lack of time in the classroom. This comes with a high level of accountability, um, because evidence is required to prove that students are

032actually demonstrating mastery in the courses. So, this next slide shows, um, what the competency-based education waiver is and what it is not. And so, I want to highlight a few things on the slide. Um, it is based on what students know and what they can do. It's based on evidence of learning. And it's also based on monitoring at the school and the district level. What it is not, really want to focus in on what it is not. It is not credit earned based on seat time hours. You have to be in there 120 hours. That's not what the waiver is about. It is not self-paced and left to the teachers to decide. And it is not a free pass for excessive absences. Definitely not a free pass for excessive absences. So, this probably leads to

033the question of what guardrails are in place to make sure that students will maintain good attendance. So, a few things that are in place, um, school-level attendance clerks will monitor attendance patterns and help principals to identify when an attendance plan needs to be in place for students. We also have a district-level attendance officer position that helps to monitor, um, um, patterns in student attendance and to identify students who need to be placed on plans. And then also truancy. That attendance officer at the district level identifies students who have been truant, um, and put those processes in place. Um, research and accountability, that department has also put some measures in place to help schools to easily monitor attendance. Um, they have the PowerSchool custom builder, known as the PSCD custom reports, that are in place that

034are helping schools to streamline attendance processes and procedures. And then this year we implemented a pilot for exam exemptions. And so under this pilot, we did it for seniors. And so under the pilot, seniors who had a grade of 80 at least 5 days before the end of the course, and no more than three absences in a quarter-long course, six absences in a semester-long course, and 10 absences in a year-long course were able to exempt teacher-made exams. So that was a pilot that we had in place. I met with the principals and their assistant principals for instruction, and they are all on board to expand that school-wide next year. So if we get this waiver approved, then school-wide 9-12 students will be able to exempt teacher-made exams. So those are some of the guardrails that

035would be in place. So the requirements of the waiver. So included in your packet this week, you received all of this information. So the application components, those were included in your packet. It requires four letters of support. So one of the letters will come from the principals, middle school and high school principals. Another letter came from Dr. Elder. She has provided the letter. A third letter has come from Mr. Foster. He is a school improvement council parent representative from South Point High School. So he provided a letter of support. And then if approved tonight, I would love for Chair Miller to provide on behalf of the board a letter of support to include in the packet. The district evaluation tool. So in your packet, Um, received the district evaluation tool. And so in this tool,

036there are four program quality indicators. So there are four areas that we would use to monitor the effectiveness of the plan. So one of those areas is student and parent engagement. Another one is standards aligned curriculum and instruction. Um, the third one is student mastery progress monitoring, and then college and career readiness. The plan has to be aligned to the aligned to the profile of the South Carolina graduate. And so this monitoring and evaluation tool will help us to um it'll give us the evidence of implementation. It'll show you the short-term metrics, and it will also show you the long-term um outcomes. So this is the tool that also has to be submitted with the waiver. And then, last but not least, we need your approval. Do we have any questions? First order of business,

037Dr. Hutchinson? No. Go go ahead, Dr. Mr. Stanley, first. Oh, I'm still I'll jump. Dr. Hutchinson? I I just have a thank you for doing this. That's that's more of a statement. Just my two questions, and I'll ask them. Um, is is this available to every student in every course that's taking a high school course? And if not, then if not, um how are you choosing which classes and which courses and which students it will be available for? So the competency-based waiver, if approved tonight, we submit it to the state. And if they approve it, it would be district-wide. So it would apply to all high school credit-bearing courses. Uh I believe Vice Sorry. Dr. Hutchinson, your questions? I'm sorry. >> That concludes your questions. >> Oh, it does. Thank you. So, uh Vice Chair

038Hutchinson, and followed by Mr. Stanley. Uh Mr. Stanley, thank you for this. Thank you for this presentation. Definitely appreciate it. I have I do have a question about the the numbers you gave for the absences over the course of a couple years. Based upon um if this is approved, what number or percentage decline do you imagine seeing uh in those absences uh from our students? I guess out of this percentage of students at 1,579, for example, from last year, how many students do you think could have benefited um from having an option like this? Well, these are actually credits that we lost. So, if this waiver were in place, um these numbers would not exist. >> They wouldn't exist at all. They would not exist at all. Okay. Cuz these are the numbers that I

039shared with you tonight, those are credits that were lost due to failure of attendance, due to attendance. And just to be clear, the FA means that they had the grade, they just didn't have the time in the classroom, right? That's what FA means. Okay. >> Thank you for that clarification. So, for example, in a semester class, um let's say in a semester class if I have eight absences in a class. So, I was allowed six absences. So, I can make up absences seven and eight. But if I get over 10, I can't make up any absences. Well, I'm going to say thank you on behalf of my daughter. She's been sitting in a classroom straight A's. I mean, just to make up seat time. Second, um thank you for looking into this and making this

040actually happen. This is this actually makes us competitive with charter schools now. Yes, thank you. Ms. Daniel. And I just want to say thank you for this. And I hope as that the state realizes we need to open up a conversation that just being in the classroom doesn't mean learning is taking place or that anything different is happening. That's an arbitrary number with number of school days or number of hours in the classroom isn't necessarily giving us the outcome we're looking for with the amount of learning. So, I appreciate you looking into this. Um I probably have some questions just on the back side as an educator and understanding, but I do I do appreciate you looking into this and moving it forward tonight. Thank you. A waiver requires a lot of monitoring and so

041we are now working, in case you approve it and it's submitted and it's approved at the state level, we will work on um how to get those pieces out to schools. Um that's where my questions were. In terms of the pieces, like what that monitoring looks like. Mr. Nessel, I believe. Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for for doing this hard work. Um this policy would keep the kids in school that have the grades that have to do the work with their parents during the week and just have excessive absences and then just, you know, get the F and then they just never come back to school. So, this is This is This will make us more efficient. This will reward the kids that that are doing the work while they're in school and if they can

042do the work half the time, you know, it's still fine. Um I really appreciate what you did with that pilot program to allow these kids to exempt out at the end of at the end of the semester. Um I think it's great to tie it in with with absences. That provides an incentive to be in school, to do what they need to do. I would like um Dr. Elder, if if maybe you can consider adding some type of behavior component to this. Um maybe no referrals or one referral. Um just to provide some more incentives just to follow the rules. But, thank you very, very much. I I think this is a fantastic initiative for for some of the reasons that my colleagues have already stated. I know that there is a lot of kids

043that for economic reasons um have excessive absences and don't have the same opportunities to get to make up school and things like that. So, what the state is making us do right now is putting, you know, to put it bluntly, poor kids at a disadvantage. Poor kids who are passing these classes just because of seat time. And we currently have charter schools that we compete with that don't have these requirements. So, I think this is a fantastic way to offer more opportunities for all kids in our high schools. So, I will be wholeheartedly supporting it. Thank you. It's wonderful. Also, I think the public needs to hear and and Ms. Johnson, I know at one point you were a high school principal and I was a high school assistant principal and starting at about after

044the week after spring break, you spend the vast majority of your time, particularly as an assistant principal, running down the children who didn't have the hours, trying to hustle them up, get them in credit recovery, and all of those things. And now that takes away some of this. I want to say to the public though that I hope that we will give the staff some grace with this. I know Dr. Carter and his team, you know, the assistant superintendents who are going to be responsible for this, certainly there are going to be some children who may take advantage of it or find some loopholes and those things, but that doesn't mean we have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. For those of us who worked in high schools, this is a good thing

045for our children and for our community. It's just going to take a year or two to get the kinks worked out. So, I hope that we will extend some grace to the staff and your attendance people and all those who are trying to find the wrongdoers, but this is a good thing. So, thank you and I just want to say that to the public. Thank you. High school principals are on board. Mr. Barber, we're all on board. We're ready. I see all the hands. So, with that, I will entertain a motion to approve the competency-based education waiver proposal. So moved. Uh I believe Mr. Soul with Burns, possibly? Or was it Harris? Right. There we go. Any discussions further? All those in favor? My vote is yes. All opposed? Motion carries 7-0. Thank you all

046so much. That starts the application process. Now we just hope that it is approved. Next up Next up we have communications. Any individual or a group can sign up to speak under communications and tonight we have a non-profit that has come to speak with us. So I'm going to come up. York County Reads. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Um Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for your commitment to Rock Hill schools. Thank you for letting me be here tonight. Really grateful and excited. Um my name is Lisa Felzer. I'm the executive director of York County Reads. Um it's a local non-profit. Um where we don't teach ourselves how to use a computer apparently. Um and I'm here with Megan Wolfeare. She's one of our board members, our treasurer and tutor extraordinaire.

047Um York County Reads was founded in 2021. Um we provide no to low cost literacy instruction to underserved struggling readers in York County. Um throughout this presentation you will see evidence of the fact that a large percentage of York County students are not reading at grade level and the impact that it has. We would like to offer a potential solution through a strategic partnership with Rock Hill school district at zero cost to the district. Okay, I'm still not using it right. I did. Yay. Um, you may be aware that this country is facing a national literacy literacy crisis. Um, you'll see on the next slide that more than half of our nation's fourth grade students are not reading on grade level. You may also be aware that these same students are four times more likely

048to drop out of high school. If you factor in race and socioeconomic status, that jumps to six times more likely to drop out. And without proficient reading skills and or high school diploma, a person's future is pretty bleak. And you can see it's on my numbers on the slide. Nearly 85% of kids that face the juvenile justice system and 75% of adult inmates are functionally illiterate and 90% of high school dropouts end up on welfare. Um, and here's the national statistics I just talked about. Um, as shocking as this is, it shows that 31% of the fourth graders nationwide are reading at or above proficiency, which means that 69% are not. And to me, that's just startling and scary. Um, however, when we get to York County schools, it's a little bit better. Um, but

049we still have work to do, right? Uh, we're ahead of the national average and because of changes made to our curriculum in 2024, um, we our reading levels on average have increased dramatically. You can see where we went from 41.5% to 30.4% and that's the total percentage of third grade students throughout York County that are not reading on grade level. Um, but as I said, we still have work to do and these these statistics don't look the same in our Title 1 schools. So, here you have the Title 1 schools for Rock Hill School District and the numbers range from 31.7% to 64.8% of third grade students not meeting grade reading proficiency all based on the SC Ready ELA scores from 2024-25. Um and our state superintendent wants this those numbers to be under 25%

050by the year 2030. Um with consistent tutoring, which would be two times a week at 45 to 60 minutes each, our kids make great gains after only 30 sessions. We see about a 25 to 50% growth in single oral word reading, spelling, and sight word recognition, which then leads to greater fluency and comprehension. We often hear from the teachers very early on that the students' confidence and engagement in the classroom has increased dramatically. Um and and while we are growing, our growth is very slow, costly, and not scalable. Additionally, we work with our students after school, hunting and packing for public spaces to work in. The kids are tired. Um their attendance is not always consistent. So, working during the school day is a better scenario and eliminates many of these issues. Which brings me

051to the proposal or the potential solution that I mentioned in the beginning. Um we would like to create a formal partnership designed to bring services to Rock Hill's Title 1 schools through a scalable, evidence-based, custom-designed remote tutoring platform. The partnership would be between the Augustine Literacy Project of Charlotte, York County Reads, and the Rock Hill School District. A little bit about ALP is that the this chapter in Charlotte was founded in 2005. They're one of 15 independent ALP sites throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. Their mission is basically the same as ours at York County Reads. Um they provide free, long-term, one-on-one tutoring kindergarten through second grade to underserved students. However, the difference is they work with inside uh um Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools during the day in their title one schools. In the next couple

052of slides I get to show you their impact and their success. Um, you have a green folder in front of you that, um, has some information. This is not in there, but there's a link to it in, um, one of the pages. This is from their 2025 end of year report. Um, you can see it shows you from the year 2020 on the left with, ah, they served 188 students all the way up to 2025 where they served 596 students. They are on target to serve 700 students in 2026. The reason for this crazy growth started in 2022, um, where they streamlined their their tutoring program and they did a pilot, um, they implemented this custom created remote tutoring platform I talked about. They did it as a pilot study and it was wildly successful.

053So, 3 years later they've more than doubled their impact and they have decreased their cost per student by 58.4%. Um, what's the advantage? Um, delivered tutoring during the day, it improves attendance, focus, consistency as compared to our after school models. Um, it eliminates these travel travel barriers, maintains quality at scale, um, and the lessons delivered through this platform are aligned with the science of reading, um, which works on those five pillars of reading being phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. All this is accompanied by data uh, driven progress monitoring which happens in real time. It's really important to understand that ALP has harnessed the power of AI in creating this platform. The tutor is the human touch and more of a guide through the lesson. The tutor and the child make a real connection

054and as you will see, these students make incredible gains in reading growth. This um table comes from the information found in the report that's in your green folder. It is an independent study done by UNC Charlotte of ALP's work. Um essentially, the report says that first grade students receiving instruction through ALP were two times more likely to be at benchmark than their matched peers. Second grade was not as pronounced, but the gains are still pretty significant. And it's important to note that all ALP students, if you look at that middle row, Sorry. I think Oh. If you look at the middle row, it shows you the beginning of year who's at what level. We got 7% in the first grade for the ALP students and 25.5% of their matched pair. So, at the end of

055first grade, um the ALP students in that year were at were above their peers their matched peers in their reading levels, which is just amazing to me. Um Additionally, so here's some important uh details about the proposal that we are outlining. Um there's no cost to Rock Hill School District. Let me just make that really clear. Um ALP provides all the necessary equipment and the expert guidance to ensure a successful launch and sustained implementation. York County Reads provides the feet on the ground, and all we need from you is a school and one room to work out of. Um your return on investment. By shifting the structured tutoring externally, administrators gain the flexibility to deploy resources toward other needs, such as social emotional support, classroom differentiation, and classroom uh extended Sorry, extended intervention. Um we

056carefully screen these students for the program and take those children that do not have documented learning differences. That then um they're just behind because of their circumstances. That then leaves special education teachers less burdened and more available for those students that really need them. Um this creates a multiplier effect. It enhances reading outcomes for students. It relieves school burdens and makes for a stronger long-term sustainability for literacy efforts in our Title One schools. Additionally, we all know that um early intervention is significantly less expensive than later remediation. This partnership maximizes outcomes while minimizing new district expenditures. It leverages proven infrastructure and helps to create a sustainable growth model. Um ALP had a created a similar partnership last school year. Well, no, this school year. Um they with a uh I'm going to try this again.

057In Durham, um they started with one school in the fall and then they added another one after Christmas break this year and they're on target to add a third school in the fall of 2026. So, all that recent experience only serves to help make the process smoother. So, here's a proposed implementation implementation timeline. We would start the planning later this spring and into the summer. In the fall, hopefully have an official launch in one Title school Title One school. Um we would provide frequent data reporting to the district. And in December, give you an end of semester evaluation. January 2027, potentially we expand and add more students. And then in May, we do an end of year evaluation and start hopefully planning for fall of 2027. Um so, for an up-close and personal understanding of

058ALP in action, I invite you to join meet myself and and or Megan at Newell Elementary School in Charlotte. It's their It's ALP supersite. Um there's a Well, I'll get to that in a minute, but you can meet with ALP staff, hear from school administrators, ask questions, etc. If anyone's interested, you can let me know. We need to RSVP and I will email you a link. And lastly, um it's very, very difficult to understand this program in action, um and for you to understand what we're offering. So, what I've given you, I'm imploring you to watch these three short videos that are behind these QR codes. They are also in your packet. Um you can If you watch the videos or come to Newell Elementary School, it's easier to understand what we're offering. And I

059know after you visit or watch these videos or do both, you'll be as excited as we are about this potential. Anybody has any questions? I thank you again for your time. Let me ask a Does that one quick question. We have over a thousand kids that are English as a second language. Do you have bilingual um volunteers? We do not. However, Newell Elementary School has a large percentage of ESL kids, and that's the school that's made the most gains in such a short period of time. Excuse me. That was also one of my questions about support for our multi-language learners because um you know, one of the schools listed on there has a high percentage of multi-language learners. But the good thing from what I can see from our perspective is that our reading scores

060are improving in Rock Hill schools for the last couple of years. So, I'm of the mindset of if it ain't broke, don't fix it kind of thing. So, what would you do to integrate uh with what we're currently doing to improve those numbers? What supports do you have in place with our the hard work of our administration and our teachers that have been working hard to improve those? What do you all do when you're trying to integrate with a school district to improve. It could cuz it sounds like a plug and play, but I don't know if we need a plug and play program. Yeah, no. It's So, how is it you work and integrate with like our district office staff and our teachers to ensure that um We'd have a lot >> we can

061continue on that growth. Yeah, we'd have a lot of conversations and we certainly don't want to come in and step on any toes and we do recognize that there's been a lot of hard work done in the last few years and all the numbers are coming up. It looks great. But, there's always going to be those those outliers, those students that because of their home life or because they're multi-language learners that they need extra support, but they don't actually need to be with a special education teacher. There are other students, maybe they have dyslexia or you know, other learning differences where these kids do not. They just need a little extra support. Um as far as integrating, again, it's a lot of conversations and we'd start with a very small sort of test pilot, if

062you will. One school, maybe six to eight students for one semester and see if if we if we fit in, if we're doing well, if it's meshing with your administration, etc. Okay. That's good. So, as a school district and and as a board, we frequently plead to the community uh that we can't do it alone. That we are welcoming in volunteers and and anyone to come help us with our students. So, you you know, I I think any help we can get, especially at the at at the price of like free, is worth evaluating, for sure. You know, um I think this is obviously a operational task. So, you you know, I I would turn it over to the superintendent for potential next steps. Unless somebody else has anything. I have a question. Yes. I

063just Thank you for your presentation. Just um could you list out the three schools? Um I'm guessing one is Neil. What were the other two schools you said that you're working? I thought I already said you had three schools. No, we didn't. Um, it's it's all most title one schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Okay. And I don't know them personally. I don't I don't work for ALP. I'm just doing a partner together. Okay. Um, my apologies. I misheard. I'll write down that you weren't currently working at three schools. No, we're working throughout Charlotte-Mecklenburg and actually other places as well. Okay. Oh, the three schools is referring to um, the Durham district in North Carolina. So, ALP Charlotte created a partnership with now they're called ALP Durham. Um, and they are working they've worked with one school, they

064added another school, and then they added a third school. And I have no idea who what the schools are cuz it's Durham, North Carolina. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Dr. Kennedy. Well, of course I have a million questions, but I think those would be better in a conversation than than here. So, definitely we'll reach out. Dr. Dickey and I will reach out very soon. Okay. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. So, next up is our presentation segment. Um, and we're going to start off with a district organization pattern with Superintendent Dr. Eva Carr. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. Um, just to kind of put uh, this uh, presentation into context, um, policy BDD tasks the board with approving an organizational pattern for the district

065and it tasks the superintendent to make assignments for each position with the board's authorization. And so, I appreciate your opportunity this evening to present organizational pattern for the district for the 2026-27 school year. Um and I appreciate your voting an affirmative vote for that organizational pattern at our last meeting on February 24th. Uh since then, um I've interviewed I've reviewed the pattern with the cabinet, the executive leaders, the DO, and principals. But this evening allows an opportunity for the public to get a full look at the organizational pattern for next school year, along with an explanation around the rationale behind it. So, while I know that you have seen this before a couple of times, um I appreciate you offering offering the opportunity to make this fully transparent um with the community. So, as with

066everything, um this pattern actually started with um stakeholder input. Uh as you recall, I spent the fall um visiting every school, holding parent roundtables, community roundtables, and hearing about what assets and barriers um that our stakeholders see in our district. And so, some of the assets that were consistently recognized were that we do have knowledgeable leadership in our district and in our schools. There is a collective willingness to contribute to advancing organizational excellence. Everybody wants excellence. There's also broad agreement on the need for greater coherence, consistency, and focus in our district. As well as widespread recognition that our schools have not yet reached our full potential. Nobody thinks that we're topped out. Nobody thinks that we can't do better. Everybody thinks that we can, and we all know that that's true. But there are realities

067of some barriers currently. First, our district operates in silos and that results in too many priorities that our stakeholders, especially our teachers in the classroom, see dilute quality, reduce impact, and undermine accountability and effectiveness when you have so many things thrown at you, too many tools, too many resources, you can't possibly put them together cohesively. Our district office performs key functions well, but separately without adequate coordination and that creates from for schools, for teachers and principals competing priorities and timelines for school staff. So, I had multiple examples where information came from multiple departments asking for information from a school asking for the same information. And so, they asked me questions like, "Can y'all talk to each other over there?" I think they have a good point. We need to talk to each other over here

068and coordinate and communicate. The other piece that I really think is extremely important to call out, we all know that the number one factor in student achievement is the teacher in in the classroom and the instruction that happens within the classroom. But very close second, research shows, is the principal. The principal is responsible for creating an atmosphere in the school, providing support for the teachers, and instructional direction that makes a difference in student achievement wall to wall, bell to bell every single day. And right now, our principal supervisor to principal ratio is way too high at 1 to 24. This is absolutely no reflection on any one person's work, it's just the structure under which we are working. And finally, our academic division is separate from our school leadership division leading to, again, miscommunication sometimes

069and sometimes perception of competing priorities. And so, bottom line, I think we can all agree that teaching and learning is the number one core function of our organization, but right now it's not at the center of the work as reflected on our organizational pattern. And so, some of the actions that I outlined in my entry plan findings included aligning our district office organization to Board of Trustees goals, applying the principles of students first and no surprises to the relationship between the district office and the schools. Next, aligning the district and the schools through shared focus solely number one on student outcomes and stakeholder service. And finally, creating opportunities to operate as a highly effective cross-functional team, not in silos, with students at the center of all that we do. And so, the goals of the

070alignment of the organizational pattern really reflect those same actions. Alignment to district goals, establishing and sustaining a service orientation. So, putting students at the center of all we do, closely followed by those who serve students most closely, and then with like going out from there. So, putting students first, those that serve them most closely, and then followed by everybody else. Um reducing the principal supervisor to principal ratio is critical for us to move forward to realize our full potential. Also, I heard a lot from families and from um from other stakeholders in the community, accessing and navigating the district office is difficult. Um often times due to titles of jobs that weren't clear what people to do. So, it's hard to know, and even from staff it's hard to know who to call for what.

071And so, final goal is to break down silos through cross-functional teams that coordinate work, streamline initiatives, and communicate with one consistent message. So, what this looks like is starts with the superintendent's cabinet. Um as you can see, this is a thinned-down um org chart. You can see that we have schools at the center, um principals, and then we'll have an assistant superintendent for elementary education, and then assistant superintendent for secondary education. So, schools are at the center of the org chart. Service to schools and supportive schools and improvement of schools is at the center of all that we do. Principals will report to their assistant superintendents. Um however, they also should always have a direct line to the superintendent, and so so they they already do, they know that, um and they use it, um

072but that will continue. I think it's important to visually display that. Um I did choose to reinstitute the deputy superintendent role. That role has been critical for many years, and the absence of that role has been deeply felt this year, especially by our leadership team. Having that one person who just brings everything together um has been a void in our district, and I know that people feel it. Um we'll continue to have a public information officer. Our internal auditor, I think some years reported to the finance officer and some years to the superintendent. Um I'm choosing next year to keep that role with a direct line um to my office, just so that we we have that direct communication at all times. Um as you know, we have a chief finance officer and an assistant

073superintendent of human resources. This chart reflects one fewer um cabinet member than we had before. One of our cabinet members, our ombudsman is is he calls it graduating at the end of the school year and we are I don't want to steal his thunder with his announcement, but you will notice that that position is not being replaced so that we we keep the team small, tight and lean. So let's move to the assistant superintendent of of elementary education role first. Underneath that superintendent will have 14 elementary school principals and the senior director of the central child development center. Assisting that super that assistant soup will be an executive director of leadership. That executive director of leadership will help grow, coach, support, equip and hold accountable our principals so that they grow as instructional leaders as

074well as operational and financial leaders, but primarily focused on instructional leadership. Every principal next year will have a weekly coaching session with either the executive director of leadership or the assistant superintendent of either elementary or secondary education so that we are investing heavily in their growth and development as leaders. Next you'll see an executive director of a service team and this is something that sounds very different because it is. That executive director will have people who who report directly to them. In the the case of elementary, the assistant director of parent smart and the welcome center, but in addition, there will be shared supervision across K-12 between elementary and secondary of various specialists in different content areas. They'll also coordinate with secondary counselors to be sure that we are keeping on track. Um behavior services,

075nursing services, attendance, family outreach, um and then the key to this service team director, this is where the cross-functional teaming comes in. The um service team executive director will pull together people from communications, from safety, from human resources, from finance, procurement, payroll, research and accountability, homebound, um and technology to be able to create that one consistent message, to have calendars of meetings so that we're not creating conflicting meetings, so that we're asking the same role group to be in two meetings at the same time, um and making sure that everything is aligned. Um if you go to the right, next we have an executive director of instruction, who will directly oversee the content specialists, including instructional technology, um but also coordinate closely with research and accountability and the elementary team. Uh finally, to your right

076is a director of elementary exceptional student education. Um that role will oversee the ESC coaches for the elementary schools and the ESC master teachers. And I think what's really important to know is that in this structure, we have to focus K-12. So while we have an office for elementary and a very, very similar office, stay with me, for secondary, there it is, it looks basically the same, we have to have very strong communication across those elementary and secondary offices so that we build a cohesive K-12 student experience and teacher experience to focus in the classroom. So I won't go through um the entire secondary chart. Um you can see it looks basically the same as elementary, only with eight secondary principals, adult ed, alternative ed, and the ATC. Um other difference would differences in the

077service team would be the director of activities and athletics. Um we're adding activities to the athletics role so that we can make sure that all of our students are engaged in something outside of going to four classes a day in high school. We know that kids who are engaged in school outside of their classes have better graduation rate, higher GPA, and are more engaged in student life. So, the rest of the chart looks identical to that of elementary. Um and again, this chart just defines roles and where they sit within the structure. And so, the elementary and secondary offices are the schools. They're the heart of everything that we do. So, the three executive director roles, um and the exceptional and the ESC director will have again some shared responsibilities. Right now, we have individuals

078who do span that that K-12 um that K-12 continuum, um whether it's in the arts or global studies, multi-language learning, um behavior services, all the things that you see up here. They do span K-12, and so those will have shared supervision between the elementary and the secondary office, again to ensure that continuity. The deputy superintendent role in most districts traditionally does not have direct reports. However, there are two areas um that I want to keep very close. Um one is school safety. Of course, that is always top priority, and the other is research and accountability. That's the engine that drives us towards continuous improvement. And so, those two areas will fall under the Deputy Superintendent, um in addition to the Deputy Superintendent serving as the glue and being the person who makes sure that things

079keep moving. And I know I keep talking about positions without naming names, and the reason for that is that the purpose of this presentation is to look at the positions and the organizational pattern, not at the assignments of the people in the roles. You'll notice the Chief Financial Officer has significantly more duties than in the past. Um if you look at the middle and the middle right, the Executive Director of Finance um will oversee budget, payroll, and procurement. Um and the Director of School Nutrition um will continue same with an Accounting Analyst. And in the current work chart under which we're working, those two lines are the only lines that the CFO has. 26-27, the CFO will also have technology, state and federal programs, which are an important part of our our budget as a

080whole picture, as well as operations through so maintenance and transportation as well. And our Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources um has an Executive Director, two Directors, one of Educator Effectiveness, and one of Human Resources. This is where some of those name changes have come into play, just to make it a little bit more clear of what to do. So, if you want want help with Educator Effectiveness and improving teaching, you call the Educator Effectiveness people. Um there's a Director, a Specialist, a Coordinator, and two Master Teachers. If you have like hardcore HR things that you need help with, you call the Director of HR or the assistant director, coordinator, compliance coordinator, associate, or the coordinator for non-certified. Um we'll continue to have a coordination coordinator for HR information systems, um as well as a risk

081management and benefits department. And those will be called benefits. Uh there's no change um to the public information officer's office. We'll continue to have um two assistant directors and a specialist in that office. And so just to conclude um with a few thoughts on what alignment is and what it is not. Alignment is a structure that keeps students at the center of all district functions. It's a structure that mitigates the impact of silos and promotes a unified coordinated system. It is not a reduction in force. Um it is not resulting in unemployment for any current employees whatsoever. Everybody has a job next year that has a job this year. Um but what we need to do do now that we have a structure is we need to learn to work differently. And Dr. Belton, to

082your point earlier, when you try something new, it takes a little while to work those bugs out. And it is going to take us some time. We're going to Everybody's going to be expected to work in different ways, to communicate and coordinate the work behind the scenes so that the people in the schools don't have to do that work for us times 24 schools. We can do that ourselves and have give them their time back to focus on the teaching and learning in the classroom. So we roll up our sleeves. Um we get ready to work differently um so that we have a more focused and unified service oriented orientated reality for our students, for employees, and for our community. And so thank you for your attention. Uh uh Um and again, thank you for

083your approval of the chart. And um thank you to our audience here and far for paying attention during this presentation. Thank you. Okay. I have some cool questions, Dr. Elder. Thank you very much for your presentation presenting the new alignment. We did unfortunately go through this uh last year, so we're here again a year later doing this again. It does of course would cause some concern um amongst not only just district office staff, but throughout the district. Change, as you mentioned, you know, it does take some time. But I have a question. So, I took the opportunity to kind of look at our district organization chart that we did last year versus what is here this year. And some positions are missing and some have changed in name um and they are missing. So, I

084have two questions. Um where there has been a change in like, let's say an executive director position um what are like the requirements in particular for certain positions that you have that you've set? Um say for uh for example, let me ask. This is just out of curiosity. Anything that's uh school facing, I would say. I would say um like, we don't have an executive director of elementary educ- uh except- exceptional student education. Why do we not have an executive director? What was the decision in that? In making a change like that, for example. So, we do we've had a vacant executive director of exceptional student education all year. It's been advertised all year long and has not been filled. Um so, what you'll see, we do have a director of um exceptional student education

085in both the elementary and the secondary. And so that we make sure that we have ESC covered. ESC is a highly vulnerable area and we absolutely need to prioritize our most vulnerable students. So, we will have two directors instead of an executive director and a director. But, two except two underneath each one. Uh, each under elementary and secondary. >> One under elementary, one under secondary. So, you won't be backfilling during the uh, this That's correct. Okay. That's correct. It was repurposed. Okay. It's vacant. Okay. Um, so you did mention everyone has a job. If uh, if someone goes to apply for a job and they may not have like the criteria, what do you mean when you say they may have a job? Like what would happen? Let's say if someone applied for a job

086and they didn't meet the criteria, what would happen to that individual? Right. So, of course we have to have everyone meet the criteria for any job that they apply for. Um, and so if someone doesn't meet the criteria for the job that they apply for, then we assist them with finding a different job that they do qualify for and hold their salary harmless for a year. Okay. I'm just asking cuz we did this last year and I you know, it's a it's another shakeup. I know what people feel. Right. And and to be clear, this was also shared with all of DO um, principals and so everybody's real clear on that. So that no no everybody knows that nobody's out in the cold. That was not the purpose of this particular um, alignment. The focus

087of this is to be able to focus on the work in the way that we need to focus on the work. Last year when you all did this, uh, what work did the work chart, it was it had different purposes than this year has. Um, the other thing that I told staff uh, last week and I'm not even saying it loud, proud and in is um, my hope is that I am your superintendent for a very long time. This is the way I want our district to work with schools at the center. That is the number one priority that I bring to the table and I think that that is the priority that we all share. Um so my intention would not be to continue to upset this apple cart every year. We need to

088learn how to work under this structure with schools at the center and once we nail that, we're going to see incredible improvement. So for anything that might be missing from what we did last year to this year, are you going to go back and review those positions and and and add them in places or are you able to I guess further Maybe I can take this off with you but further explain where those things will fall in the work chart. I'm not sure I'm tracking. Um so for positions that are missing from what we did last year to this year, um we have like a couple of There are a couple positions that are missing. Are you constantly reviewing this to make sure that where there are gaps, that you're filling those gaps in places

089that we're doing? Yes, and and actually the whole staff is helping with that. All right, thank you. Thank you. Okay, I don't see Oh. That's the gentleman. Um Dr. Thank you and and I don't have any questions. I just have um a statement. It's kind of a long statement but it's a statement. Um when you've done this long enough, you recognize that I know you're calling it alignment. I'm going to call it what it is. It's a reorganization cuz I don't like to play with words. I like to be very clear to the public of what it is. But it is your right to do it. It's your right to as superintendent to do it and frankly, I don't have any issues with it. It makes sense. Um maybe as I told you, the executive

090director service team is a little fuzzy to me but again, if it makes sense to you, I'm fine with it. Where my challenge comes, and I just just need you to hear me and receive what I'm saying is we have some good people in this district office who committed their lives and their careers to Rockwall schools, who worked hard, and have earned positions in this district. And to be told in some of those positions, particularly, I'm going to say like the executive director of service team, that if you have not been a principal for 3 years, in which when I voted yes for this last month, we were never told that downstream there were going to be people. And as I said to you, and I'm going to say it here publicly, saying that everyone

091will have a job is not an accurate statement. And again, I don't like to play with words. If I'm going to If I'm an executive director, and next year my job is a teacher, for those of us in education, that's not a job. My My salary may be held harmless for a year, but that's not a job. That's That's how we in education, in the government, that's how we get rid of people we don't want. I did it when I was in senior leadership in education. That's how it works. So, I just say to you that you have the votes, you have the power. You have to use that carefully. And I've been in this business long enough, I've been in this district long enough, and I've seen the wind blow both ways. So, I

092just I'm I'm just asking you I'm simply asking you to be very conscientious to good people in this district who worked hard and committed their lives in these arbitrary criteria that we are putting in place to make people not qualify for positions like you need to be a principal for 3 years. That concerns me. And I'll just leave my comments there. Not asking for a response, I'm just simply asking you to to truly consider that. Thank you. And Madam Chair, if I may respond. >> Absolutely. Um and Dr. Bettencourt, I appreciate your comments and and they mirror the conversation that we had that we've had privately as well. Um but I do want to recall that in that conversation, we also talked about how important it is for anyone who's going to be um to

093have authority over principals to have done the work. And so yes, one of the criteria for the executive directors is that they have been a principal and they've been a proven principal and they've done the work. And they've shown results in their schools. And so and so for that, I I stand on that. I believe in that. I believe that that is very important to build that um support system for principals with people who have done the work. And so that said, um absolutely making sure that we have and that we keep people employed and that they have good jobs, that is also important to me. But I want to just be really clear that if we want our schools to improve, we need to support their leaders with people who are proven in doing

094that job. May I? Okay. Just like in three presentations ago when we said 120 hours is an arbitrary number, three years is an arbitrary number. It's totally arbitrary. And that there are some positions like for instance, executive director of service team, and certainly I haven't seen the I haven't seen the full job description, but at least what has been presented to the board and what's been on the screen does not a direct supervisor of principals. And I think that in some many instances, we have jobs that say a bachelor's degree or prior work experience. And your prior work experience and commitment to the district, absent some type of bad evaluation or something, should be enough to qualify people. It has qualified others for job in this district and it has qualified others for job in

095this district recently. So, it should qualify people, prior work experience. I'm just saying I've seen this thing cut both ways and I'm just asking you to be mindful of that and mindful of our employees. Yes, sir. I have one more comment on the back of that. I think that though it is like Dr. Bolton said, it is your right, I do think that it is very limiting because there are people that are in positions that don't qualify under the metric that you have set for through your principalship. So, it's unfair to set that metric. So, this is just my comment. Education is such a vast field and there's so many opportunities and there's teachers sitting in our classroom right now that have no desire to be a principal, but they may bring skill sets to

096the table that will allow them to serve in these positions that are now executive directors that you have that that arbitrary number against and I think that is unfair to our hardworking staff, teachers, administrators to say that you have to have this and be rigid about that when we don't have the same standard for everyone. And I think again that that limits us to have a a bright and the best talent pool when we pick arbitrary numbers to make um decisions on who we hire. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for your work. I'm going to give you this, Dr. Elder, and and putting schools at the center of this and our teachers at the center of this. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. I have one. Oh, sorry. Um how will we because

097it is a alignment or reorganization and a lot of the work that is done at the district office is behind the scenes. How will we know a year from now that this reorganization is working. What will we as board look for? What will the administration feel? What will your district office feel? How will we know that this is the right path and to continue down with this reorganization? Great question, um Madam Chair and member Daniels. We'll be gathering feedback from those that we serve um frequently throughout the year looking for looking at a baseline and then looking for improvement in the baseline in that communication, coordination, communicating with one voice, consistent messaging, and pairing down to a manageable cohesive set of um initiatives. We look forward to those reports. Thank you. Thank you. So, next

098up uh I am going to uh welcome up the other Dr. Melton, Dr. Tony Melton. Uh he is the director of federal and state programs who is going to give us a report on his federal state programs overview. Welcome. Greetings of the season. Ms. Johnson has already established protocol, so we will jump right into the presentation. The board goal is goal two, optimize operational, human, financial, and capital resources to efficiently and effectively enhance excellence in each student's experience and academic success. So, when we think about federal programs, the whole purpose of federal programs is to create a long-term commitment to equal opportunity for all students and provide states with additional flexibility and encourages states and schools to innovate and build upon past success while at the same time building accountable students. One of our first

099grants that we see we receive is Title I funds, and the purpose of Title I is to provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair and high-quality education and to close educational achievement gaps. Rock Hill Schools was allocated $4,567,495.16 and we support seven traditional settings and one non-traditional setting. The charter school is the Palmetto School and St. Anne Catholic School all also receive funds. St. Anne Catholic School receives funds based off of the identified students in the school that would qualify as a pupil in poverty but is in the attendance zone of one of our already identified Title I schools. The preliminary allocation for Title I is identified by the 135th day count every year and this year it would be March the 18th. Last year it was March the 12th. And so we

100look at that data and we get it verified by the state of South Carolina and then the state of South Carolina uses that information for each district in the state to give out a proportion of the funds a proportion of the funds to each school district. Rock Hill Schools uses part of its Title I funds for district set aside opportunities. Part of that is to support our identified McKinney-Vento students and our family outreach associates support our students with providing clothing, school supplies. Sometimes we actually provide resources to help them have a comfortable home life when they are having some of those challenges. Through parent and family engagement opportunities, the goal is to share knowledge so parents are empowered to advocate for their children and strategies so parents can support children when they are out of

101school. The district also provides professional learning opportunities for our teachers and our um other staff members. This year we are looking at focusing on science, math, and ELA as that support. Additional district um set aside includes a Title I literacy specialist, a Title I math specialist, and um a Title I coordinator, and parent specialist, and indirect costs. Um that is less about 30% of the budget is set aside for district support. And our schools receive about 68% of the funds, and they use their funds to provide academic support to the students through academic interventionists and tutors, um provide support to staff through like math coaches and MTSS um support teams, professional learning opportunities where they have consultants come in to work one-on-one or in small group with staff, also for staff to be able to

102attend conferences outside of the district. Other resources or expenditures include instructional materials and resources, and parent and family engagement sessions, such as math nights, literacy in the loop. You have winter reading materials. Also, we have opportunities where students can have a free book fair where they can do reading challenges. Have been some of the opportunities. Our next grant um that will be shared tonight is Title I neglected and delinquent or you may hear it as Title I Part D. Um that is based off of the identified students in the children's attention home in New Hope, Carolina. The funding does not support students that are necessary They are Some of them attend our schools, but it's based off of the count identified in those two facilities. The funding is to support personnel, software, instructional resources, especially

103to help students transition because they are not necessarily living at home with their families. And some of them will be graduating and they will need opportunities to be successful outside of K-12 education. And the software program gives them career educational opportunities or career exploration. There are social emotional resources that are also purchased using Title I Part D or Title I Neglected and Delinquent funds. Title III is our third grant resource that we receive funding for. This year we received a slight increase in our funding to um St. Anne's Catholic School and Rock Hill schools are the two participants in the grant. Again, St. Anne's students are identified based off of their screener just like Rock Hill school students are. Our funding provides professional learning opportunities, tutoring, parent engagement sessions, and instructional resources. Lastly, we have

104Title IV Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant. You will see that Westminster Catawba Christian School also participates in this grant along with St. Anne's Catholic School and all of the schools in Rock Hill. We provide summer enrichment opportunities. Our middle level STEAM camp is sponsored through this grant. We have professional learning opportunities that relate to MTSS and our core subject areas, instructional resources to close some of the achievement gaps in some of our subject areas. We also use these funds to provide additional arts opportunities that are not funded in any other grants or sources. And so the total allocations are displayed on the screen. Are there any questions? No questions. No well, I do have a question. Thank you for this presentation. I definitely appreciate that. What are you hearing as far as potential, I

105know you don't have exact numbers, but what are you hearing as far as the allocations from the federal government? Are you hearing any potential of decreases in the next year as things are happening at the federal level? Anything that we need to be concerned about on our outlook for what we do in in the near future? And so it will vary. One, the state of South Carolina had a decrease in its percentage of poverty. So if the entire state has a decrease, I just went to a state meeting on Friday and they shared a presentation where the entire state had a decrease in identified pupils in poverty. So if the state has a decrease, then that means that the whole state will probably get a slight decrease in funding. Now it's not as doom and

106gloom as it was in the fall because we were concerned about the funding, but as of right now it does not seem to be as devastating as it could have been based off of some discussions that were happening in the fall. Thank you. At least one more question. So because of that we may have some schools that fall out of Title 1 status when there is a decrease in pupils in poverty. Um are there any I guess allocations and you may or may not know the answer to this, but for a school like we had York Road, York Road was once a Title I and now they're no longer a Title I. And they may still have some the supports that they lost. Um are are there any supports in place outside of this that

107you may again, you may or may not know the answer to this, but that can help a York Road transition out of Title I status? So, for the past few years, anytime a school has transitioned off of the Title I identified list and I and emphasize identified because you can qualify for Title I just by having a 40% pupils in poverty um number. So, several of our schools would qualify for Title I. We just run out of funds. So, those are the identified Title I schools. So, whenever we have an identified Title I school not receive funds the next year, they are able to use their carryover funds to continue some of the support. Now, the carryover funds are not at the same level and rate as the original allocation, but they are able to

108provide some of those resources. Secondly, Dr. Dickey and the rest of the team will work with the principal and the members of the leadership team because we are able to use some of our other funding sources um specially if the school has some other identifications such as a high ML population. So, we may be able to do some professional development using some Title III funds. Secondly, if a school also has a designation through ATSI or TSI, we can use some of those other grant type funds to support them. So, when a school rolls off as not been an identified Title I school for the next year, they are not left high and dry. Um we do try our best to continue some of the services, but not at the same level as when they were

109identified as a title one school. Thank you very much, Dr. Belton. I appreciate that answer. Thank you. You're Just one question. Title four, you said that it provides some support in the arts. Can you be more specific about that? So, this year we worked with Ms. Grant to provide opportunities Why don't you come up? Cuz you'll say it better. I'm so glad you asked. So, one of the barriers for some of our students is transportation. Um, we have a lot of events that take place outside the district um, or even inside the district where they just don't have the means to get from point A to point B. And so, Dr. Belton and I worked on trying to remove some of those barriers. So, bussing costs and paying mileage and drivers to transport students to

110internal and external events for the arts is one of the ways that we've used the title four funds. Another way is we have a 60-member elementary honors choir that is our GT offering for elementary. And many of those students would not be able to participate if we didn't have some programming to support that program. Um, it's expensive to have director, co-director, supervision, bussing, events, all of those things. So, when we looked at our budget and saw that we didn't necessarily have everything that we needed, I reached out to Dr. Belton. We had a lot of good conversations about how we could remove some of those barriers to keep those programs active and healthy. Interesting. Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you, Dr. Belton. Thank you. Uh, and uh she's already up here. We're going to

111turn it over to Ms. Grant that she is going to give us a presentation on the state of the arts in Rock Hill schools. Welcome. Good evening and thank you for giving me the opportunity to share an update with you from the Rock Hill Schools Arts Strategic Plan. Um over the past 2 years, our district has taken intentional steps to strengthen arts education across all schools. Tonight, I want to highlight the progress that we've made um and the impact that this work is having on students. This work is about ensuring that every student in Rock Hill schools has access to high-quality arts experiences that support both creative growth and academic success. Um the Board of Trustees goal number four is the the goal that aligns They all do, but this one aligns in particular for

112a lot of the work that the strategic plan is addressing. So, our work is directly aligned to the board goal of making Rock Hill schools the first choice for students and families. To support that vision, the Arts Strategic Plan focuses on four key goals that support teachers, programs, facilities, and partnerships. And together, these help ensure that students have access to high-quality arts learning. Our goal one, and I would love to tell you that this is all that we did, but there are a thousand things that did not make the slide. I apologize for all the bullets, but our first priority has been supporting the teachers who make arts learning possible. Over the past year, we provided arts-specific professional development, created opportunities for PLC collaboration, and supported teachers through coaching and resources. Moving forward, we continue

113to expand these supports while gathering teacher feedback to guide our work. Our arts educators are incredibly talented, and part of this plan has been ensuring that they have the professional support and collaboration that they need to continue providing outstanding experiences for students. I just want to note that the items in white represent things that we accomplished this year and the items in green represent things that we know that we still have work to do. So those are our next steps in green. Goal two, arts instruction and programming. Um when you reflect on the goals as I have, this is one of those goals that I feel like with was a heavy hitter for us this year. Strong arts programs are one of the ways that districts attract and retain students and we want Rock Hill

114schools to continue being a place where families know their children can thrive academically and creatively. 11,730 of the 15,420 Rock Hill school students are participating in daily arts instruction this year. 100% of our elementary students receive art and music weekly. York Road has an additional has additional minutes in dance and Independence Elementary has additional minutes in theater. With North Side School of the Arts offering two additional areas of theater and dance for their students weekly. 89.7% is the average participation of students when they transition into middle school and 42.9% is the average participation in high school. In total, that's roughly 75% of students who complete the entire journey from K or 3K all the way to graduation participating at least one if not more different art domains. In order for us to support all of

115that teaching and learning, we do have to work on other goals like goal three, which is our facilities and equipment and materials goal. So in order in order to support the strong instruction, we did several things this year. We upgraded our curriculum for secondary arts courses to align with South Carolina standards. We did a revamping of the um the sorry, my word. Uh the course catalog. The state redid all of the visual and performing arts guidelines and we supported that work. We identified 35 new GT artistic students in middle school and we will send 87 of those students to Winthrop Summer Starts program this summer. And we had 60 GT artistic students in the elementary honors choir um that met weekly and performed across the district and the state. And we have provided additional funding

116to our teachers this year to support their innovation and creative activities within their classroom. 30 teachers received $500 to use for classroom innovation and creativity through the district arts support grant funding that we received through the South Carolina Arts Commission this year. So with all of these expanding opportunities and all of these programs, we do have to look at our facilities, equipment, and materials as a way to maintain and grow. So I jumped ahead in that slide, but here we're going to be looking at how do we maintain and how do we advance with state-of-the-art equipment and material and art spaces. Um our district supports the arts through intentional budgeting for these items or teaching positions, curriculum resources, program materials, and equipment. We also will be seeking additional funding through federal grants when they're available.

117And with art learning comes the need to maintain those spaces and those performance spaces are are in some cases have great need. So, moving forward we're going to be begin working on some long-range plans cohesively as a district to look at how we can maintain and improve those learning environments. One of my favorite goals is how we work together. We can't do it all alone. One of our strengths in arts education in Rock Hill schools is our community partners. We have a number of very strong partners. In this conversation I'm using that word is just collaborating with us, not necessarily financial partners, but collaborating with us. Um organizations like the Arts Council of York County, Rock Hill Symphony Orchestra, the ABC Institute, Winthrop University, and one of our newest partners is the Blue Goose Art

118Supply who's held a couple of our PLC meetings and has also done some professional develop with with directly with our teachers. Um we couldn't do what we do without the support and love on us that we get from our community and we're always looking for ways to use these partnerships to make our program stronger and make more meaningful experiences for students. Favorite slide of the night is uh and the toughest slide. I apologize for all the words. This is my time to brag and these were some, certainly not all, of the arts outstanding achievements that Rock Hill schools completed just this year. So, I'm going to read a couple that um are on there and some that are not. Through performances, exhibitions, and classroom experiences, students are developing confidence, creativity, and collaboration. We had two

119South Carolina Art Education Association Teachers of the Year from our district this year. Stacy Walden from India Hook Elementary was the elementary teacher of the year and Sandra Queen from Northwestern High School was the secondary teacher of the year. Our performing ensembles in band, orchestra, and chorus consistently received superior ratings in South Carolina concert performance assessments, with several of those ensembles receiving superior with distinction, which is the highest score possible. Several of our ensembles have received the outstanding performance awards to their program. Musically, students were accepted into competitive ensembles, all-region, all-state, the American Choral Directors Association in both middle and high school programs. We piloted an early band program at Richmond Drive Elementary School for students who were interested in starting to look at instrumental music. We have the first chapter of the National Art

120Honor Society at one of our elementary schools in Dutch Hook Elementary. Northside and Saluda Trail both um are still certified ABC schools, who are Arts in the Basic Curriculum schools, and we're investigating future future opportunities for ABC schools across the district. Two of our performing ensembles performed at the South Carolina Music Educators Association conference recently. Our elementary honors choir was selected as the only elementary choir to achieve this in many, many years. And Northwestern Symphonic Band just played earlier this month, and will be playing on stage, excuse me, at Carnegie Hall later in the month. In theater, performers wowed us across the district. They excel in local, state, and national competitions, middle and high school theater students consistently receiving superior ratings and superiors with distinction at South Carolina Thespian and Junior Thespian festivals, as well

121as Palmetto Dramatic Association. Artistically, across the district, we also had top-ranking students in digital and visual art competitions. We also had two back-to-back best of show winners in photography at the South Carolina State Fair. I could go on and on if I had the breath. So, arts have impact. I think if I just stop right there, I could probably end my speech. But, outside of arts achievement, arts education supports the development of the whole child. Students exposed and engaged in the arts build skills like communication, critical thinking, perseverance, and emotional expression. I heard a quote recently that said, "You don't have to be sick to get better." And that's I thought that's what arts do. They help kids get better. Academically, we did a little digging. I've always believed that students who were early engaged

122and may remained engaged in the arts outperformed other students in academics as well as in the arts. Something I've always believed to be true, didn't necessarily have the numbers to back it up. So, the district data team was happy to do some Rock Hill Schools data analysis to see if some of those theories played out. So, students invested in the arts consistently show higher achievement in core areas like math and ELA. Even more importantly, the data showed clearly that the longer students stay engaged in the arts, the stronger that academic outcome becomes. This reinforces an important truth. Arts education supports academic success. This reminds us that art education is not separate from academic from academic success. It's one of the ways that students develop the thinking and perseverance to support achievement across all subjects. I

123want to say thank you to a number of people. Many of you in this room have worked with me over the past 6 years to design this plan, to execute this plan, to monitor. Um I'd like to thank two organizations that have helped us fund some of these initiatives in Rock Hill schools, the South Carolina Arts Commission that we just recently received $25,000 to help support our district goals, and we'll receive another $25,000 next year to continue this work, and Arts and Basic Curriculum Institute. Both of these have had a strong footprint in the growth in Rock Hill schools. Their collaboration and yours helps ensure that students have opportunities to learn, create, and grow. Through the arts, students are not only learning, they're learning to think, create, collaborate, and imagine what is possible for their

124future. Thank you for your continued leadership and decision-making to help support the arts in Rock Hill. Do you have any questions? No no questions, just comment here. Okay. I went into I enjoyed Sullivan Trail the other day uh cuz of my son's school choice um but just want to commend you because I can see all that you're doing to integrate. They have like a sculpture class in like middle school, which I thought was really cool. And to note the photography like I think the photography winners came from Sullivan Trail. I I might be wrong, but I think I remember hearing that that somewhere. But anyways, I just want to commend you for all that you're doing to integrate arts throughout all of our schools. They really do have some amazing arts program, and I really

125appreciate you and our friend Dickie's dedication to ensuring that that is a continuum in our district. That we have so many offerings that every child should have something to choose from. And I want to thank many of you. I I'm at those events on Sundays, on Friday nights, on Wednesday nights, and I see many of your faces, and it matters. It matters when you show up. It matters when they see you there. It matters to me, and it matters to those teachers and students as well. So, thank you for that. We see you there. So, thank you for being here. I try to get to as much as I can. Yes, thank you. And I would encourage the community to take advantage of all of the amazing performances that our students put on, kindergarten all

126the way up through high school. Um there's a lot of times where I've seen a certain play or performance at a expensive place in our big city next door and our kids in elementary middle school outperform those guys every day of the week. So, thank you to you and your team for what you do and the opportunities that you give to all the kids. This is amazing. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you. Um just I do have a couple really couple of questions. I'm This is really, really important for our students' um development. It's their intellectual development, their character development, everything. How how do we make it so these kids it doesn't matter what school they go to, they have the same opportunities to to participate in choir, in orchestra, in band. I do

127think it is, you know, I think it's wonderful that we have photography in the middle schools. Um but I especially band and orchestra it's critical that the kids are engaged the earlier the better. And I I don't think we don't know if anybody I guess we could have an elementary school band. But traditionally I think middle school is when the kids learn to play an instrument, whether it's brass, woodwind, strings. How do we make sure that if you go to Sullivan, you go to Sweetwater Trail, you have the same access to these programs that you have at Rawlinson or Dutchman Creek. Now, I don't know, does every middle school have a choir? So, right now in in part of part of the way you answer that question is that's why we have a strategic plan.

128I think one of the things that a strategic plan does is ensure that the the students are getting access to arts education in every school in your district. Sometimes that means putting a new position there and sometimes it means partnering in the community or doing some shared roles. Um there's a lot of ways that we can pull in and when we have you know, let's say we have a school that doesn't have dance yet. It's been one of my goals to have dance at all of our schools. We're not there yet. We're just not there yet. But I think over time with students getting to see it, putting it in front of them, that's why the performances are so important. They're not only uplifting, they're the best way for us to recruit new talent and

129new interest into what we do. So, we have to make sure that we don't hide what we do so that parents get to see it and experience it. Um but I think the other the other part of that is is part of the data. As we've started looking at, what do we know is happening when they move from fifth to sixth? How do we know what's going into those decisions? How do we know what their first uh experience with orchestra was? Part of the reason we did the fifth grade full fifth grade orchestra concert, and we've done that for the past three years with the Rock Hill Symphony, that was a free concert. We bust every kid to Sullivan Middle for to see a symphony play. It was to make sure they had an early

130experience so they could attach to it and go, I want that when I get into middle school. So, some of the things that we do are very strategic. Um and hopefully that, you know, builds interest and then we have teachers to sustain that work. So, it has been a difficult fight with shrinking enrollments, I'm not going to lie. It's been It's been challenging to make sure that we have everything everywhere. Um but it starts with the decisions in this room, the continued support from from finding funding sources when we don't have it, um to just making sure that the community still supports what we're doing in the arts. Thank you. And I do think it's, you know, we have to be efficient with our resources, and we do have some challenges ahead that we're going

131to have to address, but in the age of of screens and moving away from paper and pencil, I mean, the arts are this is the analog world. Like I you could go to a performance and you could feel the sound waves coming at you. And this is something that these kids will not get unless they're engaged in the arts. And and your position is is critical for their development. And we have to work together to make sure that these kids all have the opportunity to engage in these programs. I agree, and I think one of the reasons that data that data project was so powerful is that we saw that each art, no matter which one, when students engage with something in the arts, they tend to increase their academic performance. And we haven't even

132started to look at things like attendance. You talked about attendance being such a barrier. I can guarantee if we look at arts investment and how that affects other things like intended attendance, behavior, all of those things that come with when you really focus on the whole child. So, I mean, I'm I'm fairly new in this work, but as I the deeper I get into it, the more there is to uncover. It's just exciting. And I I really appreciate the time that you all give me to share all of these things. Every one of these bullets represents countless faces to me, people, children, teachers, schools, programs. Um so, it is a labor of love. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to support that comment that you just made. I know we talk athletics a lot

133and the connections that students make with athletics, but the arts are just as important and I know from a teacher perspective and the arts teachers in the building will tell you there are students that are academic challenges or behavior challenges in their contact courses, but when they show up for those art classes, that is a different student that they see and that's because they've connected with an adult in their life and they've connected with their people in regards to the arts and it's very important to me that every student finds their people and their special person their adult to connect with as they move through their K-12 education. So, the arts are very important and I'm not just making that statement. I've seen it in my own children. I've seen the what do we want

134to call it? Vertical alignment that has worked with the band at Dutchman Creek all the way up through Northwestern. I really want to commend. I can't I'm not saying it doesn't happen at other schools, but I can tell you our experience at Dutchman is those band directors work very well together to make sure those students are aware of their opportunities and as successful as possible as they can be. So, I appreciate it and we'll do what we can to support the arts. I appreciate that comment. Yes, Ms. Harris. Yes, thank you. Well, thank you for your enthusiasm and passion. It just, you know, filters it right up here. So, just thank you for that and you know, aligning up with our our number four goal. Um, I do see that where arts can be a

135deciding factor for whether children stay in our in our district or where newcomers coming in and this is a way to recruit them. So, just thank you for that and I I have an idea. You can sell or make t-shirts that says arts have impact. That'd be a fundraiser cuz I love that tagline. So, just thank you. Thank you. I appreciate all of that. It makes an our community. All of my children have been involved in arts and it's been a lifeline for them. So, just thank you for it what you and your staff do to pour into our children. I appreciate that. I will definitely share that with There there are no hard more hard working teachers and you probably know that than the arts teachers that support these children. Um sunup to sundown,

136weekday, weeknight, weekend. Um and you know, they only want what's in the best interest of these kids, successful futures. And so, I just get to help them do that every day and it's amazing. So, I appreciate you letting me brag on my family and um we appreciate you and your decision-making and your leadership as we continue to thrive as as a D district to be for the arts. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, I'm going to welcome up Dr. Carlos Arambula, the executive director of alternative programs here at Rockwall Schools, and he is going to give a presentation on alternative education programs. Dr. Arambula. Good evening, uh Madam Chair, to the board of trustees, Dr. Elder, and to the public. Uh my name is Dr. Carlos Arambula. I serve as the executive director for

137alternative learning programs, and I'm really super excited to talk about our four pathway programs that we have uh here within the district. And our programs that we have, particularly around alternative ed, really come from a a centric voice, vision, and mission really focused around uh supporting students with flexible learning opportunities. Our mission is very, very focused around innovation and flexibility, and personalized learning to get our students back on track uh towards their learning that on their on their particular pathways. We have four direct, specific uh pathways for support for our students from kindergarten through 12th grade. I'm going to spend some time over the next 8 minutes talking about those specifically, so we can get really get down to the weeds of who they are and learn more about the unpacking and highlights they bring

138and the supports they bring to our families in the district. Uh first up, we have our uh MUSC day treatment program, uh which is housed at Bellows, which is a K8 program really focused around uh integrated therapeutic support for students who may be suffering from behavioral disabilities or maybe even mental health disorders. And so, our partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina, which is a new partnership we have this year with a very strategic MOU agreement we have with them, really provides support for students in four different pathways. There's There's therapy through therapy sessions, through group individual and psychosocial therapy sessions. There's group social supports that are There's individual intervention sessions happening on a daily basis. And then there's family wraparound therapy supports there as well. You can see the kind of frequency of

139what happens on an average for each one of those four support areas there for for MUSC. Also housed at Bell Vue is our T3 program, which is a K5 program to support really a really focused around an intensive 8-12 short-term intervention cycle kind of support program for our students who are suffering from who whose behaviors are getting in the way of their academic achievement. And their entire purpose of being there is to work on those three T's, which is teaching, training, and then transition. Transitioning back to their traditional settings with a very supportive plan so they continue that support. The goal here is for students to be able to be able to be able to learn skills necessary to to be able to return to their emotions and then return back to their traditional settings.

140We have served up to date 18 students in that particular program. You can see the numbers of how many students are currently still integrated within that program, how many of them are parents in transition back to their home schools, and how many have already successfully done that. We do have some students who may have received additional higher levels of care along the way. Right now, we're on pace to be about 60 to 70% of students reintegrated back into their traditional school setting, which means there's some students who may extend beyond that 8-12 week program for the year. Aspire is our secondary support program for middle and high school students housed at the flexible learning center. It is a short-term intervention program as well. Really focused around academic and behavioral goals. It's specific of students who

141have been referred to Aspire for a variety of reasons. Could be for off-track get academic support to get back on track towards graduation. It might be behavior support for referral. And it also could be students who have been referred through the expulsionary process. So there's very different pathways students might attend Aspire. Ultimately the goal is still for them to be successful transition back to their home schools. As I said earlier, we serve middle and high school at Aspire. Students are there for a short term either through a semester, maybe a quarter, maybe for a year period of time. And then we certainly make end of year placement decisions at the behest of that administrative team that's at Aspire. Some of the highlights for Aspire this year, very very successful transition from fall to spring this

142year. We were able to award 188 credits this past fall semester students at the high school level. We have 18 students who have already transitioned back to their high school settings this upcoming this coming semester. We had two winter graduates. We had three students who actually going to be early graduates. We have four students who are actually on time to graduate this coming May. And then you'll see six students who have already transitioned back to the middle school settings. The most proud part we're very is that last piece here, students who have been off grade level at middle school being able to transition to their own grade level status this year. And that's so very important because we know that while students may physically drop out in high school, they mentally drop out in middle

143in middle school. And so to be able to get them back on track, to see hope and to their future is is a great thing that we're seeing there. And then the fourth pathway program for us is the Rock Hill Virtual Academy. Really focused around flexible rigorous online learning pathways to give families a lot of different options about learning. This is specifically designed for high school students, so a lot of career college readiness preparations around with military readiness as well and college readiness. It has two different pathways by which you can receive learning. It's a blended learning approach. There's a synchronized scheduled live instruction approach that students receive from their teachers throughout throughout the day. And then there's asynchronous opportunities as well for students who have may have very complex daily schedules and need to

144have an asynchronous approach to their learning. With that support that's provided for them. There's a lot of flexible learning is allowed there in our Rock Hill Virtual program. Right now we are on a strategic enrollment push right now through our Rock Hill Virtual Academy. We know that we had some you support received some information currently this year about our declining enrollment over the last several years. And so we want to be intentional with trying to attract families back to Rock Hill schools who live in the Rock Hill district and Rock Hill Virtual Academy is one way to do that. Our goal this year in this program option cycle because Rock Hill Virtual is a program option for our district, is we're trying to enroll attract minimum of 50 students. We currently have 150 students in

145our program and we our goal is to be at a 200 going into the next school year. The graphic on the on the right that you see on the screen outlines our current program option plan right now that families have the option to right now. At the Rock Hill Virtual Academy we'll have an extended deadline for families to consider to come there. So we are very intentional of trying to market to our community and tell families who live in Rock Hill schools why they need to be and why they should choose to be in our Rock Hill Virtual Academy. Number one, we have live instruction with qualified highly compassionate teachers that that we think can rival other alternative you know online platforms. The fact that you can be a Rock Hill student, right? When you're

146in a Rock Hill Virtual Academy means that you're taking class through Rock Hill Virtual and you can still participate in your home schools athletics, performing arts, and clubs and organizations exist in your zone high school. We think that's very powerful. And then lastly, you get to you get to live where you learn, right? You get to be a part of the Rock Hill community, be a part of our district. And so we're being very intentional with reaching out and marketing towards families. Obviously, families in Rock Hill can choose to be a part of this, but being very more intentional with families who may live in Rock Hill who may have chosen not to receive their education through our school district. And with that, you know, when I was preparing for this presentation, made me think

147about all the various students and families who benefit from this program. There's one particular student that I really wanted to I think his story captures captures the theme and the the essence of what what alternative education can be. I think about a student named by the name of Nick who was with us this past semester at Aspire. He's a high school student. Nick, you know, had a lot of challenges, decision-making, lapse in judgment allowed him to be at Aspire. And he was very apprehensive about that. He's very afraid of what that meant for his trajectory in school and what it meant to be at Aspire. A lot of rumors about what it means to go to an alternative school. And Nick came in and he saw the support that was provided to him at Aspire,

148had a phenomenal semester. Well, Nick is now since transitioned back to his home school this to his high school this semester. And we got an email from Nick last week where he has been applied and accepted to College of College of Charleston, University of South Carolina, and Wake Forest. Students like Nick is what inspires us to do this work, why we have these pathways, why they exist. It allows us to make sure we meet the the essence of this quote that we see before us to make sure that we understand the students are different, they have a lot of different challenges in their lives, and we have the right kind of programming to be the support that they need for them in their lives. So, with that, I'll take any questions that you may have.

149Fine. No questions. Ms. Harris, I'm sorry, I didn't see you. Um Dr. Gray, thank you for this information and just this reminds me that alternative learning is that there's many paths to the top of the mountain. And this is a living testament that there are so many ways that our children can succeed. It may not be the the path that they that parents think this is the way that we get there, but again, just having these different alternative options. Back to Aspire, I want to say I had the opportunity to go to Aspire. And just the support that I've seen there from the staff and to the young man his name Nick, is that right? Yeah. I can see how that he led how the end result led to that success because seeing the the

150staff and the teachers there really pour in support the the students. So that's a living testament to the work that's being done. So just thank you again for being here and sharing and being an advocate for these great options. And thank you for saying that cuz while I may be the one representing and giving this presentation tonight, the true heart of what's happening here are the people that's in the classrooms and the hallways with our students every day. They get it, they understand it, and every day is a fresh new day for them. And that's what our kids deserve and need and there's no judgement. We're coming in and we're going to help and support you get to the next level of your life. Ms. Archer. My apologies. I'm just in here, so I apologize.

151I just wanted to say thank you Dr. Elder, Dr. Connor, and Dr. Graham for this increase in enrollment in the virtual academy. I think that that that's very important cuz like you said, um uh you can do virtual academy and you can still participate in the arts and you can still participate in academics. And so thank you for your work in making sure that those numbers are increasing and and the supports that we have in place that we need. Really appreciate that. When you said that the other day, I was very excited to hear that and and and and thank you for seeing the importance in that and how that will make give us a competitive edge in the school district and in the area. So, thank you all. I just have Yes, ma'am. Um

152I've shared this with Dr. Elder since she came on and I wanted to share it with you. I firmly believe that if we really are pushing for goal four, where it's where we're a proud first choice for students and families within our district, I firmly believe we need to look at our virtual game and up that virtual option. I deal with it daily and I believe it can be successful if done right. And I think families would come back to the district if they knew they had this option at least in high school and possibly in middle school. I realize it came down to resources and finances last year and I think Rock Hill is missing a game if we don't try to get it. Thank you for what you did. You're welcome. Thank you.

153So, to the point of my colleagues and for your and to the point of you encouraging people to take a look at at the virtual academy. If I'm part of the viewing audience right now and I have just heard Dr. Carlos Brown's amazing presentation and I want to look at virtual and and these programs for my kid. Where do I go? Oh, great question. You go right to the Rock Hill Schools website. Program options. Matter of fact, when you go there it's going to be the first things that pop up. Go to that link, fill out the applic- the program option process there, choose Rock Hill Virtual Academy. There you go. Fantastic. Well, we say thank you to you. If nobody else has anything, and your team. Thanks. So, Don, I am going to welcome

154up Ms. Dorlean Del Vecchio who is our assistant superintendent of human resources and she is going to give two presentations starting with recruitment and retention and then moving into staffing and standards. I'm not going to introduce you twice. You got one in the back. Thank you. Good evening Chairwoman Miller, Vice Chair Hutchinson, members of the board, Dr. Elder, and the viewing audience. Yes, I will be sharing two presentations this evening. So, I apologize that you'll have to bear with me for a little bit. I would like to share with you a brief snapshot of our retention and recruitment efforts that we have implemented over the past A few of them have started a few years back, but those that we are currently utilizing to support and make sure that we have our top tier talent

155invested in Rock Hill schools. Of course, these align to both goal two and goal four for our district to optimize operational, human, financial, and capital resources to efficiently and effectively advance excellence in each student's experience and academic success, as well as elevating Rock Hill schools to be the proud first choice for students, families, and employees. We work very diligently to make sure that we are the choice for our educators. The purpose of this area of our division is to ensure that we strategically develop, retain, and recruit high-performing educators and staff who will advance the instructional innovation and strengthen organizational effectiveness and ensure a success for every student. You'll notice that I have developed, retained, and recruited in that order specifically because we like to make sure that retention is our first priority and we do

156that by making sure that we fully develop our educators and provide a positive work and growth environment for all. Some of the retention strategies that we implement fall within our educator effectiveness team. That is led by our Dr. Mary Rouge. Um we have building level liaisons that are assigned to each of our 24 building locations, and they serve as an opportunity to make sure that our educators provide um effective instruction as well as able to receive one-on-one coaching, mentoring as they are entering into the classroom, throughout their evaluation process, as well as any point within the life cycle of the employee. We like to ensure that we are providing a positive working environment, and we are happy to report that our satisfaction and enjoyment of the roles is top tier. Our educator effectiveness branch also

157provides coaching to the educators and support for the administrators, especially as they are working to provide effective feedback to their teachers. The first-year teachers are also paired with a highly valued and experienced mentor that support them as they learn the business of teaching. We understand that mentoring is not only for students, but we also as adults rely on our own mentors. And so we are proud to offer mentors to all of our novice educators. This year we partnered with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, NIET, to provide strength-based coaching. If you've seen NIET on some documents around the SCDE, that's because they were the partners that developed our educator effectiveness evaluation. Um we utilize our partnership with NIET to provide strength-based coaching to our educators. We have partnered with a few of our schools

158in our district that help our educators not just know when things aren't going well, but how we can maximize the things that they are doing well. What they are doing to make sure that our students are being stretched, that they are being provided opportunities to advance their learning, and so that we can help make sure that our teachers aren't just so that they're also being told, "Great. Let's Let's keep doing this. Let's expand it and see how far we can go with it." In addition to coaching, we also provide stay interviews. So, we all heard about exit interviews. We like to make sure that, based on our letters of intent that we implement earlier this year, we sent them out just before before the end of first semester. We have an opportunity where our building

159level liaisons are able to touch base and provide stay interviews with our educators to see what feedback they have for us, what are we doing well, what are ways in which the district can provide additional support for them, and promote a positive work culture. Those stay interviews are currently underway. We are also grateful for our partnership with the school performance and accountability department. Our educator effectiveness team partners with them to make sure that our educators are getting the right support from the right folks at the right time. And we are really proud of our collaboration with them and grateful for their insight and support. Some of our most fun retention strategies lie with our recognitions. So, currently we are underway with our of the year finalist celebrations. So, today we were able to highlight our

160beginning teacher of the year, assistant principal of the year, and principal of the year finalists. Last week, we did our teacher of the year finalists, and tomorrow we will continue with beginning teacher, assistant principal, and principal of the year finalists. We also recognize our mentor teacher of the year. That will um be announced later. And why this is so important is because we know that educators we're not in this for the money, we're not in this for the fame. We're in this for the work that we do with our students. But it is really great to be recognized by our peers for the work that we are doing each day. And so we are so grateful for the opportunity to provide times where we can go in and surprise these educators and say, "Job well

161done. We are so grateful for you." Um and it's really fun to see their surprise. Um we're also very grateful for our partnership with the Education Foundation. So this year we have our champions of change. And once a month we are able to surprise an educator with a $500 um gift as well as a certificate that recognizes them in one of the areas for um our core values. So for example, this month we were able to surprise Ms. Manor of Old Point for her demonstration of student experience. Um and it's really a nice opportunity for us to recognize teachers based on what their administrators are noticing that they do and what they bring to their schools each day. This year our assistant principals, to support their retention strategies, they were invited to create a human

162capital playbook. And that playbook uses their individual schools' data based on their retention and attrition as well as school climate data to decide how they are going to provide strategic ways to highlight total rewards, how they're going to increase their marketing, and provide an additional um support strategy for their school environment. While retention is the goal, we understand that sometimes our educators make different choices and choose to pursue other paths. So, this graphic identifies of the 119 exiting educators from the 2024-2025 school year going into the 2025-2026 school year, where they have chosen to why they have chosen to leave us. You'll see that 49.6% are now currently working in another South Carolina district. Just about 6% have pursued a career change. Almost 11% have moved out of state. Almost 2% have decided to leave

163due to family reasons. 11% We are grateful for their service, but they have decided to retire and not return. Um and then we have 21% that either are not currently working in another South Carolina district because we use this data from the beginning of this year, but we also follow up to see if anybody landed somewhere after they departed from us without telling us so. We have about 21% that have just chosen other paths. Okay. So, when they choose other paths, then we have the opportunity to recruit top talent and we are really excited that when we were finally able to host our recruitment fair on February 26th, we were able to offer not one, not two, not three, but five early contracts. And what made that even more special was the fact that two

164of those early contracts were from our current Winthrop interns, as well as two of our grow your own interns. And I'll explain a little bit more about that in a few moments. And then we have one early contract that was offered to an experienced educator from a neighboring district. In addition, since this report was prepared, I just signed another one earlier today, and we had one that is in my queue. So, I'm very excited about the fact that we are already moving forward to support and anticipate vacancies that we will have. At our fair, we had 117 total in attendance. Of those, 82 had pre-registered, and 35 were walk-ins. So, despite the let's reschedule, we need to reschedule, we had a very beautiful turnout. We received a lot of really great feedback, and we were

165very excited to see all of the smiling faces. Although we only had five, I'll say only, but that's twice as many as what we've had in years past. Our administrators also shared that they collected some very promising resumes, which they are pursuing and kind of keeping them warm and those engagements open, inviting those individuals in for tours and anticipated interviews. As part of our recruitment efforts, we have been strategic in choosing which recruitment fairs we attend with our university partners. So, you'll see up here a list of universities across the Carolinas and local area that we have decided to attend, either we have already attended or we are already registered to attend upcoming. We are also, I want to mention, we are so grateful that we have so many of our educators and administrators that

166join us or lead these recruitment fairs um, our behalf. So, we have recently had administrators, um, that have gone and done the conversations and recruitment efforts at the universities and talking it up even if they don't currently have any vacancies at their schools. So, we're really, very grateful for them. Okay, so grow your own is a very up-and-coming opportunity for districts, especially ours, to, um, find ways to make sure that we are building our own home base. So, we know that universities are not pumping out graduates at the rate that they used to. When I was coming up, you know, teachers were a dime a dozen and it was hard to find a position. Now, universities are having a harder time finding students who want to get their degree in education. So, the way that

167we are working towards supporting the efforts of making sure that we have a strong recruitment pathway is through the grow your own partnerships. Currently, Clemson offers a Master of Arts in Teaching program that leads to licensure and the individuals work on their graduate classes online while being employed as a teaching assistant, which would eventually lead to an internship. Upon finishing the program, then they will have both the master's degree and an assignment within Rock Hill schools. Since they are coming out with a master's degree, then they're able to find a more, um, a higher place on the salary schedule, as well. What's great about this is that we already have shown significant success with our instructional assistants that then decide, "You know what? I can do this. I want to do this." and have decided

168to go forth and get their, um, degree and certification in education. We also partner with Carolina Cap, which is a residency and candidate pathway program. This is a non-degree program that provides a professional professional certificate upon completion. These candidates pass the Praxis exam, complete coursework, and then they receive an alternative certification. They also are partnered with a coach for 3 years one-on-one, and at the end of 3 years is when they receive their professional certificate. One of the things that we were very proud and grateful to see in the Human Capital Playbook that our assistant principals provided this year was that they are also focusing on our current interns. We have 40 interns spread across our schools within the district, specifically from Winthrop. Um I'm proud to say that we have the highest allotment of

169Winthrop interns across the county. Um and so that is a great opportunity for us to make sure that we are showing them what a positive, proud, and exciting place it is to be in Rock Hill schools and all of the wonderful things that we have to offer our educators. We also have two interns from Coastal Carolina, two from Columbia College, one from USC Columbia, and two from Grand Canyon University. With all of this, I also want to remember to thank and appreciate the amazing mentors and host teachers that we have. This is This is a lift to invite an intern into your classroom, to have them work with your students. It's a lot of extra work. People look at that and say, "Oh, well, you know, you just have the intern do it. You could

170just" No, they are pouring into these interns and ensuring that they are set up for success, showing them what it means to be a strong educator, and we are so grateful for their commitment not only to their own students, but to the success of education as particularly that here in Rock Hill schools. Another pathway for recruitment efforts are through our alternative pathways. So, we have several partnerships. Pace and SC Create are both through the state department. SC Create is for special education. We also have alternative pathway educators through American Board, Carolina Cap, Teachers of Tomorrow, and then also Winthrop's net app program. And then some of the universities that we partner with and have attended many of our recruitment fairs. We've got Winthrop, Grand Canyon University, which offers both bachelor's and master's, North Greenville University,

171which offers a bachelor's, but they support elementary only. And then of course, as I mentioned earlier, Clemson. At this time, I'll be happy to support Any questions for Ms. Holladay? Um I do have one. Okay. How do we unless somebody else um do we have any ideas compared to previous years where we're at as far as our numbers coming in? And I realize that, you know, contracts aren't even due back yet, correct? So, >> They haven't been issued yet. That was right, right. So, I I know that it is very early in the season, but based on your expertise and seeing the numbers um so far, what what's your thoughts as we go into the summer and fall? >> that's a great question, Madam Chair. So, thank you for asking. Um we anticipate the past

172several years our um attrition has wavered between 10 and 12 and 1/2%. So, based on our current numbers, we're looking around similar numbers. Um we do have more opportunity and are a little bit ahead of the game with our ways that we have already attracted and engaged in partnerships with both Winthrop and our grow your own strategies to make sure that we are lined up for another successful start to the school year. Fantastic. Yes. Start as one. Thank you. Um I I I do want to commend you for uh prioritizing the um both like the traditional entry way to teaching and the uh non-traditional ways because I just I know that, you know, my kids have been have had lots of fantastic teachers that came to the profession the traditional way, but like it's kind

173of not really surprising, but there's they've had some incredible teachers that did not. And it's like we've got a lot of great people in Rock Hill that are thinking about doing something else and they're not even aware that these resources are are out there to help them make that change. So, thank you for being open-minded and just looking for just excellence across the board. So. Yes, for sure. Madam Chair, if I may respond to that, that's actually because of a point that I forgot to mention. So, thank you for bringing that up. Um across the state as well as here, we show that we have higher retention rates for educators that come in through the um system through an alternative pathway as opposed to the um reciprocity method. So. Not that it's necessarily more for

174the traditional pathway, but our retention for our alternative pathway is higher. Perfect. So, in conclusion, I'm going to ask you the same question as I asked Dr. Grant earlier, which is if you are a community member or somebody who's not currently teaching in Rock Hill schools, but is interested, how would you one go about finding out how to do one of ours? I'm so grateful for the questions and thank you for that. Yes, if you are interested and eager to join Rock Hill Schools because we are the place to be and we offer more resources and support than anybody around, you can go to the Rock Hill Schools website, choose human resources and you'll be able to click right on our school springs dashboard where you'll be able to connect with opportunities there. Find a

175job. Fantastic. So then I'm going to turn it back over to you again. Okay. So Good evening. I'm Chair, Vice Chair Hutchinson, members of the board, Dr. Elder. So as far as we move toward our budget season, we also are scheduled to talk about our staffing standards. This is one area that I don't believe we have discussed in the past, but I would appreciate the opportunity to share that with you this evening. This aligns with goal two about optimizing operational, human, financial, and capital resources to efficiently and effectively advance excellence in each student's experience and academic success. We want to make sure that we are ensuring that we provide a consistent framework for our staffing and scheduling decisions at all levels. We also work diligently to ensure that we are providing an equitable allocation of

176instructional resources to provide balanced teacher workloads, align staffing decisions with approved budgets, and maximize efficient use of district personnel, and maintain student access to both required and the elective coursework while supporting appropriate instructional environments. The state provides maximum student to teacher allocations as well as maximum average ratios. So, what you have up here are our state maximum at the elementary setting, which is 20 to 1 for pre-K, 30 to 1 for kindergarten and grades 1 through 3. But, you'll notice that for grade kindergarten through third grade, there's a 21 to 1 um limit for as an average for those courses. So, of course, we recognize that we have to pay particular attention to math and ELA. I can be proud to share that our current ratios for elementary sizes across the grade bands are just

177under 20 to 1. So, we are well within that mind of ensuring that our reading and math ratios are not only within the state maximum, but also well beneath it. Um some of the other pieces to recognize with this is that these are the average ratios. So, we are going to have some classes that may be a little bit higher and a little bit lower. Um but, this is the standard by which we recognize and aim for as we are deciding staffing for each of the schools. For grades kindergarten through fifth grade, when we remove related arts from the course load, we are looking at an average of 19 students for one teacher across the district. Like I said, of course, you're going to have some that are a little bit lower and some that

178are a little bit higher, but the average is 19 to 1. For related arts and PE, music, and art, we have a state maximum of 40 to 1, and we are proud to show that that are at 24 to 1 is the average. We have one media specialist per elementary school. The state requires that at 750, we also provide a media clerk. And then we have one school counselor at each elementary school. However, Cherry Park and Oak Point have two. And that's just based on their student enrollment. At the middle school setting, the state has it set a maximum of 30 to 1 and 35 to 1 for our non-math and ELA courses. All 7th and 8th grade academic and exploratory courses also have a 35 to 1 with a limit of 150 students per

179day. Um we have an average of Sorry, let me grab that for you. An average of 19 for grade 6 when we do not include related arts and a district average of 20 for our academic areas as well. When you include related arts, our district average is at 27 to 1. So also well below our state maximum and our own staffing standards. For the school counselors, um we have currently one per grade level at the middle schools. And then for media specialists, again, we have one media specialist per school. For the middle schools that have higher than 750 students, we also have a media clerk. Again, you'll see similar numbers at the high school level. So we have a 35 to 1 and no more than 150 students in a day for academic and exploratory

180subjects. We have one media specialist and a clerk for each of the high schools that have 750 students or more. And then we provide a school counselor in a ratio of 300 to 1 as our minimum staffing ratios. For special education, I am proud to report that we maintain our ratios well below the state recommended guidelines. For our UP1 and they have a state of 15 to 1, we utilize 14 to 1 with two paras. We provide an additional instructional assistant above what the state requires. For UP2 and UP3, we have staffing ratios at 10 to 1 and 8 to 1. However, we utilize an 8 to 1 with two paras. And then our building bridges is also 8 to 1, whereas the state requires 12 to 1. And then our learning connections course, which

181is not an identified differential within the state department, but we have a 4 to 1 with two para ratio. At the middle school level, we for UP1, we have an 18 to 1 with two paras. So again, we provide an additional instructional assistant above state requirement. We have 10 to 1 for UP2 and 8 to 1 for UP3. Again, we maintain a goal of 8 to 1 for both UP2 and UP3. Our building bridges, again, significantly lower than what the state requirement is. We have an 8 to 1 with two paras. And again, learning connections is 4 to 1 with two. At the high school level, our UP1 students are in occupation occupational credential courses. So they are in their own course work. The UP2 and UP3 is at a 15 to 1 with two

182power model and our building bridges and learning connections follow the same. For gifted and talented we utilize a pull out model in most of our schools. So the state department recognizes a 1 to 10 for itinerant that would be when the teacher pushes into the classroom gifted teacher that pushes in and then a 1 to 15 for pull out. We currently have seven GT teachers that serve 13 elementary schools and South Point has its own as GT as its own academic option so it's utilized in their in their main course work. And then for middle school that is within a 25 to 1 ratio since it is taught using the special class model. It's time to entertain any questions. Any questions? No? Then we say thank you. Thank you. That concludes our presentations this evening

183and I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Ryder for the board report of the superintendent. All right, thank you Madam Chair, members of the board. I'm going to give you just a very quick and brief recap of the last couple of weeks. I have had some incredible opportunities to experience our arts education opportunities. Rowland Road Middle School did a tremendous tremendous rendition of Shrek that I got to see Friday night. Last week got to go to the teachers choice art show and see incredible student work displayed. I also got to participate in Reading Across America with third graders at Mount Gallant Elementary. I read them the book called What Do You Do With a Problem? Spoiler alert, the answer is try to find an opportunity in it. Um, it's a great conversation with third

184graders. Um, I've gotten to attend several basketball games, specifically from South Pointe High School. Traveled to Gaffney to see the girls play the um upper state championship. They didn't make it, but make it, but they definitely definitely deserved to be there. They took the floor, they owned it. Um, and saw the boys play uh in Columbia on Saturday for a heartbreaking um double overtime, but um all of us who were there quit breathing for most of the game. Our um state champion football teams from Northwestern and South Pointe were recognized at the South Carolina State House. Um, thank you to Representative Guffey for helping to coordinate the special recognition for them. Um, also had the opportunity on Saturday to attend breakfast with the Optimist Club. What an amazing and lovely group of people. Enjoyed them

185tremendously. Um, we've talked about the teacher recruitment fair. We've been going around surprising our of the year finalists, um teachers, assistant principals, principals, um new teachers. It's been so much fun. Um, and of course the greatest highlight of the last couple weeks is the official um naming of the Samuel Foster Welcome Center at Northwestern High School. Um, both here at the board meeting followed by ceremony at the school. Um, truly an opportunity I will never forget in my life. Meeting him has been life changing. And so with that, our next meeting is scheduled for March 24th. Executive session will be followed by the business meeting at 6:00 p.m. And we're work session followed after that. The meeting of course will be streamed on our website and Facebook. Thank you. Other than future business, I don't

186have anything. Does anybody else have anything? Yes, very quickly, Madam Chair. Um Madam Chair, I've been just extremely concerned over the last week. The number of calls that I've gotten from staff employed in Rock Hill schools, particularly um I would not have supported the new organization chart if I had known the next day a number of people were going to be told that they were going to have to reapply for their jobs. As a board member, I do think that is in our purview. Um I would have liked to have known that before I voted. I voted out of ignorance. Um there's nothing I can do about the vote and I should have asked the question. I did and that is what it is. Um I do think it's in our purview though. Um certainly

187the superintendent has a right to put people in those jobs that she chooses to put in those jobs. But I do think that we should have we have some oversight over this process and our next school board meeting um I would like an update on these job descriptions and how we're coming up with who's qualified for these positions and more importantly and maybe this is more of an executive session um why some people are chosen as opposed to others. Um thank you. Okay, I'll make a note. Yes, my microphone is on. I'll make a note on that for the agenda setting and and like you mentioned, when we're dealing with HR, some of this may have to be in in executive session. So yes, absolutely we will do. Anything else? Very nothing else. I would

188then entertain need to adjourn. I move to >> adjourn. Second. Thank you. Uh made by Burns, seconded by Bolton. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor. All opposed? The motion carries 7-0.