001Good evening and welcome to the uh public hearing for the 2627 modified year round calendar. We're going to start off with uh a motion to approve uh the uh agenda. >> So move. >> Thank you, sir. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Daniel. Any discussion? Var. All those in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? Motion carries. 70. So this is a public hearing and the between a public hearing and a regularly scheduled board meeting is that policy be allows the board to conduct public hearings from time to time in order for the public to express their views regarding a specific issue. In this case, it is the next coming year's calendar. As we go through this, the board's role is to open the meeting and to close the meeting.
002The board will not comment nor ask questions in our business meeting that will come directly after this meeting. There will be ample time for board members to discuss the uh specific questions that they may have regarding the calendar. So with that said, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Elder and team. >> I'd like to call up every Monday, our public information officer. She'll give us some background on the calendar and how it was constructed. Um, and at that point we'll open up for public comment. Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. Hope you're well. Good evening Chairwoman Miller, board of trustees, Superintendent Dr. Elder. It's my pleasure to be here to present the draft calendar. Know a lot of curiosity about it, so we're happy to present it. And before we do, we will
003kind of tell you how we got here. There's obviously state requirements and district requirements. So, we'd like to go through what led to um some of our decisions. Uh starting with the state requirements, 190 days annually is what is expected. That's 180 days for student instruction in the classroom over nine months. There have to be three scheduled days to be used for professional development. No e-learning days can be used unless it is in response to an emergency, for example, severe weather. There have to be a minimum of three scheduled makeup days, two days uninterrupted prep time for teachers. You cannot start before the third Monday in August unless you're operating on a year round modified school calendar, which is what we are proposing tonight. Closed on election day this year because it will be an
004even numbered year and learning is not allowed on election day. As far as some district considerations that we took into account, SC ready testing needs to be the last 20 days of school. EOCC last 15 days. Employee evaluation schedules we want to consider the number of days per semester. We want to try and be as close to equal as possible. The first semester we'd like completed before winter break. And we also take into consideration as much as possible athletic schedules. So this calendar is very similar to the one that we are rolling out right now, the one we're living, the 2526 calendar. So there were some common themes from that previous feedback that Dr. Elder and I and the team really dug into. We looked at it extensively and a lot of it repeated uh
005again this year. More consistency people wanted to see. They didn't want to flip-flop between traditional and modified and just keep going back and forth, whatever we land on. A lot of people wanted to see stick. They did not want to have too many half days. They felt those were undesirable for student learning. There are some half days though that are necessary and we just want to explain that. Um they're going to be four on this calendar and two of them are because at the end of the semester they like to finish testing at the high school on a half day for those final exams and the other makes sense because our teachers in special areas like music or those singleton teachers those half days are when they do their PLC their professional learning communities meet
006on those half days. So we like to provide an opportunity for them to collaborate. Uh generally previously and this year October and February breaks were viewed positively and once we have lived through this modified calendar about we're about a quarter of the way through this year. Once we've lived a modified calendar, getting lots more feedback probably makes a lot more sense at that point because then we'll really have pros and cons to consider. So, as far as the feedback that we were able to receive, and we've shared this with some of our board members throughout the process who were part of the feedback program, uh stakeholder calendar feedback came from our teacher forum and they heavily promoted a shorter summer and they said maybe personally they might not have loved it as much, but they
007did believe almost collectively that it was better for students that the start of this year really did not see the summer slide that they had seen previously. ly which they thought was worth having and they wanted those two weeks of summer redistributed somehow during the school year. Student leadership we met with they also liked the breaks. They were coming off of their first quarter and um those that spoke up were very happy to get kind of that breather and break after that first quarter was done. Of course, principles and district leadership we spoke with as well. Student Improvement Council we met with and citizen participation as always is an option here at board meetings and we did open up about a week of feedback online as well. So we'd love to really dig into what
008the calendar looks like. Do you guys have a goodiz copy in front of you? Okay. Um it's online and it's also obviously part of this presentation, but if anyone online is watching, if you click on the calendar under Rockill School District, you'll find it as well. So, let me just walk you through this a little bit. Um, 180 days and we've checked and cross-cheed that. Many eyeballs have hit this and we believe we are where we need to be. So, the student semesters are going to run August 3rd, which does start on a Monday, and run through December 18th, which is going to be a half day. Students will return on January 5th, and they will go out on May 28th, also a half day. Teachers, however, will start on July 27th, a Monday, which
009we have on here as an unencumbered day. I want to circle back on that at the end of the presentation. Um, July 28th, also an unencumbered day. Again, they need two, but we might be asking to adjust one of those. Teacher work and professional days are July 29th through 31st. And then those additional professional development days and work days are going to be October 12th, January 4th, February 1st, March 26th, which is Good Friday and June 1st. Teachers will end on June 1st, which is a work day and a possible weather makeup day as well. Early dismissal days, again, I mentioned we have four, so we're looking at August 28th, December 18th, April 23rd, and May 28th. Breaks for students and eligible staff. We're proposing an October break. That's October 5th through the 9th. And
010then a February break is February 16th through 19th, but that Monday is President's Day, so students would be out for a full week. Everyone would be out for a whole week. And again, these are breaks in our modified year- round calendar. Um, if we're looking at just student and staff holidays, so no school at all. I just want to run through those. Labor Day is September the 7th, election day, November 3rd. Thanksgiving break, they'd be out November 25th through 27th. Winter break would run December 21st through January 1st. MLK day, January 18th. President's Day, February 15th. Spring break, we're looking at March 29th through April 2nd. Easter is March 28th, just FYI. And Memorial Day is May the 31st. So, we do want to break down our quarters just to see that everything adds up
011correctly. Our first quarter is 45 days and that ends October the 13th. Second quarter 44 days that ends December 18th. Third quarter 46 days ending March 18th and the fourth quarter 45 days ending May 28th. First semester is 89 days, second semester is 91 days. again totaling 180 student days. And we did send out, like I mentioned, a survey. It's been out for about a week in our business meeting. I'll really dig into that and explain some of the feedback we got there, but I do want to open it up if there's anybody who has any comments or questions. >> So, if we have anyone in the audience who would like to uh comment on the calendar, uh please proceed up to the podium uh and use the microphone to address uh the board and
012regarding human communication. Welcome. >> Hi. How are you? Um I guess I'm going to speak on a different aspect on a parent viewpoint for this. Um, I know it's only two of the full weeks, but um, it kind of puts a little strain on the parents um, where we got to figure out work schedules and uh, after school care or summer camp and we run into the issue of um, where you're paying for after school care and you're also paying for summer camp for the same week. Whereas if it was through the summer, uh you wouldn't have have both of those payments because school would be over. Um if that makes any sense. Uh because they I guess the after school care continues from the the start of school to the end of school. So
013when you have those those weeks, you're still paying as opposed to if school was out, you would only pay for say summer camp. So, it adds an extra hundred or so dollars a week. Um, you've also got parents that can't take uh that don't have flexible schedules that can't work from home or take that time off and and it kind of puts a strain on on work. So, that was one of my concerns. Thank you. Do we have anyone else in the audience who is interested in in leaving a public comment? I don't believe so. So, I'm going to turn it back over to you. Oh, yes, we do. Welcome all. >> Hi, Tiara Ramsey. Some of the same comments that were said before, only they were mixed. I asked uh our PTO and so
014I think it was more so the middle schoolers. Nobody wants to leave their middle schoolers at home and there aren't any camps available um for them that we could find that were reasonable in price and for those families with multiple kids it was really expensive. Um let me think of what else uh was said. We also found that like you said teachers do appreciate the break. Some parents actually with flexible schedules do appreciate the break. I appreciated the break. Um, but it was just a bit early in the year. Um, we feel like they just got there. And I think that's all that's all I'll say for now. Hopefully you keep the survey open to allow us to, you know, add more later. Thank you. Thank you. And also um for the viewing audience as
015well as those here in the room, no decision on this calendar will be made today. What you will see in the business meeting is a presentation for the board with the board to hear it officially and we are going to have some questions and feedback and comments and then at the following business meeting is when we will take action. Uh I'm presumably that's when you are going to ask us to approve the calendar. So just a timeline. So yes, there will be more opportunities to answer that question. Well, do you have anything else? >> Do you have anything, Dr. >> Okay. Well, at that point, I would entertain a motion to adjourn the public hearing and then we will reconvene for the business meeting at 6:00. I have a motion to adjourn. >> Uh, thank
016you, ma'am. >> Second from Mr. Noal any discussion hearing none all those favor I all opposed motion carries 70 Good evening and welcome to the October 14th business meeting of the Rockville School Board. Local news media outlets were notified in writing of this agenda for the meeting on Tuesday, October 7th, 2025. If you all please join me for the To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Please be seated. First off, I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda as posted. >> So moved. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Daniel. Any discussion? Very none. All those in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. Motion
017carries. 70. We do not have any recognitions tonight. Uh how about no uh uh citizen participation either which are going to move us now to the consent action agenda and we do have some personnel recommendations on there that was provided to the board and we accept the board packet. >> Do I have a motion to approve the uh consent action agenda? >> So moved. >> Thank you Mr. Nosal. Do I have a second? >> Uh thank you Mr. Harris. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. Motion carries. 70. >> That brings us to our action agenda for the evening. And uh we're going to start off with the dual credit course approval business statistics BAM 205 Win. Again, I'm going to welcome up Miss Alicia Johnson. Good evening, Chair
018Miller, Vice Chair Hutchinson, members of the board, Dr. Elder, and members of the community. I'm Alicia Johnson, executive director for secondary education and have a series of presentations this evening for your approval all around the the topic of dual enrollment and dual credit. So the first one involves a program revision for the business and leadership and dual enrollment program at Winthre. I worked collaboratively with the leaders at Winthre to map out these courses for students that are currently in the business and leadership cohort. So, as you can see, we have mapped out the courses that they would take for fall of 2025, spring 2026, fall of 26, and spring of 27. So we mapped these out and we had a few students who were currently enrolled in an AP macroeconomics course and they received AP
019credit for the course through that advanced placement course. So the ECON 216 that you're seeing in the spring of 2026, they already have credit for that. So because they already have credit for that, Winther was challenged with coming up with a different course for them to take. So the ECON 216 was in the buyout model and what that means is that we have a group of students that were that are in that particular course or would be in that course all together all Rockill school students um and it counted as an economics course or it could count as an elective for dual credit. So what we're proposing is that that Econ 216 course is substituted with business statistics. um students would be co-mingled. That means that they would be in the classes with Win University
020students. They would count as an elective for dual credit. It is transferable and the prerequisites are listed there. So the students who have already received credit for the AP macroeconomics, which means they have credit for ECON 216. We are proposing that they be allowed to take the business statistics course in its place. And then what we also worked on in collaboration with Winter is a kind of a cheat sheet for school counselors. So when they're registering students, they will be able to see the courses that students are going to take um in the actual program to try to avoid students being registered for AP course that would also count as a college course through the courses that they're registered for. So this is just a snapshot of that um IGP document that counselors um are
021going to be asked to use moving forward. Thank you. Are there any questions? >> I don't believe so. Um so with that, I would entertain a motion to approve the dual credit course approval for course business statistics. >> Miss John, I just want to once again thank you. I know how tirelessly you worked on this and that was actually last Friday I was on and I forgot to thank you there but I want to thank you now. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Um so um for that course business statistics Ban 205. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So move. >> Thank you Mr. Burns. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Uh I believe Mr. Nosel beat you to it. Chairman or Vice Chair Autinson. Uh but we do have a first
022and a second. Um all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose. Motion carries. 70. Next up is also Miss Alicia Johnson. And at this time it is uh dual credit course approvals for York Tech and USC Lancaster. >> So this presentation involves expanding opportunities for all students. So, we've been focusing in on the structured programs, the dual enrollment program at Winthre and the middle college high school programs, but we don't want to forget the students who um want to take dual credit courses but are not in those structured programs. So, here I've listed the benefits of expanding options for all students. Again, they would get that early um college exposure um increased academic preparation. Of course, for the families, it will reduce tuition cost after high school and also boost their confidence.
023So, listed here, these are the courses that are currently available and accessible to all students. Um, regardless, they're not in any program, but these are the courses that they could take. Um, they're all listed as electives. So, they were previously approved years ago to count as electives. And so, you'll see through York Tech and USC Lancaster what those courses are. So, these are the ones that are already accessible. I met with a group of counselors and we went through um just list of courses that they thought that students may be interested in and ones that they would like to offer. And so, this is the new list that we came up with. So, we want to add these courses to um the list of already approved courses. So, in parentheses, you will see what the
024courses will count as for the the dual credit component. So, for example, the probability and statistics, they thought that would be a popular one that would count as a math a math dual credit um course or would count as an elective of course. So, you see what those are in parenthesis. And also, we wanted to be able to offer some more lab science courses for students with dual credit. And you'll see on the screen which courses those are for York Tech and which courses those are for USC Lancaster. So, they could take them through either institution. Thank you. Any questions? Any questions? >> Bearing none, I would entertain a motion to approve the dual credit course for York Tech. >> Thank you, Mr. Burns. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Uh, thank you,
025Miss Daniel. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? car 70 and next up still Miss Alicia Johnson and this time we're talking about the middle college high school pilot approval for US Lancaster. >> Okay so we currently have um a dual enrollment program through Winth University. Um that one has the focus of business and leadership. Then we currently have a middle college high school where students can earn an associate degree and that one is through York Tech. So USC Lancaster is interested in piloting a program with us. So that's what this one is about. Um here I've listed the advantages of middle college high school programs. Again, the college credit that they're getting, the early exposure that they're getting, but also with this one, they're getting the opportunity
026to earn an associate degree alongside their high school diploma. The program structure would be very similar to what we already have in place. So there are two blocks that they would be on the campus or enrolled in online courses and USC Lancaster has the capability to provide a lot of online courses um through the programs that they're going to offer. So though right now currently we're using the first two blocks of the day and it's structured that way so that students will be able to participate in afterchool activities and activities that occur during the fourth block at their high schools. That's when they have pep rallies and things like that. So we wanted to keep that same structure in place. They would have access to college and university amenities. For example, they can use the
027library on the campuses of um on the campus of US Lancaster. They would also have access to the academic enrichment and tutoring centers. And then of course the check-ins would continue. I check in with the students and the families to make sure that the students are successful because we not only want to put them in the program, we want to make sure that they're being successful in the program. So this would be a fall 2026 launch. USC Lancaster has asked to start with 30 scholars. So they are the University of South Carolina at Lancaster Lancers. So 30 Lancer scholars. Um the courses would be universally transferable. you received the list of courses in your board packet and they are offering the associate in science degree, associate in criminal justice degree and they also could offer
028the associate in arts. Um they have that capability to do that one as well. Um but we currently have that one in place with um tuition would be covered through the lottery tuition assistance program and the cost to families would be course fees like lab fees. For example, if they had a biology class, for example, they would have to pay a lab fee for that, which is approximately $40 or $50. And then the instructional materials, which would be the books in the access codes. And then the proposed dual credit courses again for the degree programs were listed in your in your board packet. Thank you. Any questions about this? >> Miss Johnson, I do have a couple of questions. Number one, USC Lancaster obviously talking about about 35 miles from Rockill. 30 35 miles. Is
029transportation provided here? >> Transportation is not provided. >> All right. So, this would be high school students driving to Lancaster when they would have to go on campus. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Or or they have the opportunity to enroll in they have a lot of online options as well, >> but the online kind of defeats the purpose of doing the middle college, which you get kind of the college experience like they're getting at Winthre and at York Tech. Okay. still would get an associate degree, >> right? Thank you. Yeah, that that's important. Um, secondly, the lottery tuition program, is that something that's available to all students or do you have to apply for it? Is it means based? How do you get lottery or do they just automatically get it if they sign up?
030>> They're lottery eligible if they're a US citizen and they have been here at least a year, >> right? Lottery eligible doesn't mean lottery guaranteed. So, I I'm just unfamiliar with it. So >> it doesn't mean lottery guaranteed, but if they are a US citizen um and they've been in the United States at least a year, then they are lottery eligible. >> Okay. So let me ask a question a different way. If I am a student and I want to go to USC Lancaster, there's a tuition cost. Does the district pay that tuition cost? >> No. >> All right. And so now I have to go into a lottery to get the tuition. Correct. >> No. As long as you take the six credit hours, um, you will get the lottery tuition. >> Okay. So,
031it's a lottery guaranteed. >> Yes. Guaranteed in that percent. Yes. >> Okay. All right. So, also as long as you're eligible through your citizenship. >> Okay. As long as you're I got it. I understand. I understand what you're saying. So, that means some of our children who may not be citizens may not get How about DA kids? I mean, I'm getting down in the weeds. >> Yeah. They may not be eligible. >> Okay. All right. they would be able to pay but they just wouldn't be eligible for the tuition assistance. >> All right then. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Any other questions from board members? Question. >> One more question. Children who um the other fee there were for classes like lab classes, biology, etc., etc. Is there any type of assistance for people
032who may be eligible in every other way but they just can't pay that that fee that course fee or instructional material fee or whatever. >> Is there any assistance for those children? >> Do you need financial assistance? >> Correct. >> No. Um and the court the colleges are working with the families. So for example at York Tech they are paying for the instructional materials but they have the entire semester to pay for those um materials. they don't have to pay it up front. So, they are working with them through a payment plan. >> I do just have one more question. Did we look at the possibility of transporting those children via bus and what that would cost to the district? I'm just kind of concerned with going to Lancaster. And I know from Rock Hill,
033I guess you can go through Fort Mill, go Indian and get 521, you got a four lane, but if you leave here, I mean, you got to go out by bow water and all that, which is not a I mean, That just gives me some reservations as a parent. 30 miles down, 30 miles back. You got 70 miles of travel and they're there about um children. >> So did we consider transportation and what the financial implications would be? >> We did not because when you think about the 30 students that would be in the program, they would all have different schedules. So this is not a buyout model like the one that we have at Winth where all of the students are in one are the same course together. So you're talking about 30 students
034with 30 different schedules. So I may have an eight o'clock class where somebody else may have a nine o'clock class and an online class. Somebody else may have one that starts at 10. So you're kind of back and forth. So um we could definitely consider that if we have the funding and the personnel to be able to do that. >> Those were my exact questions. Um that is in my neck of the woods and I I'm excited to know that this opportunity is there. But I do have pause for the fact that that highway five more accidents happened there and I know that there's different routes. Um but again I go back to the quote that um a choice a limited choice is not a choice for all. So if we don't have transportation and
035I know we we said we want to serve all students that is something I'd like for us as a board to consider. I know you can't answer that for us but I'm with you Dr. if we could look to see if there's monies available because I I am concerned about that um travel back and forth from here to >> I I appreciate the opportunities just the distance of USC Lancaster from >> from Rockill to Lancaster and just access to all children and if you're not going to get the as you clearly stated in your previous slide the college experience of being on the campus certainly you get the two-year degree but that's who don't have access then you got to do it online if you're not an online learner. So it's just that just gives
036me some pause and for that reason I I can't support that and won't support it here tonight. So I have hopes that you know we'll take a look at and I just ask other board members to just consider some of the concerns we raised and how limiting that is to a lot of our students. >> Any other questions? Mr. >> Thank you, Miss Johnson. Um, I guess my only question, I apologize if I missed this. Is there a program at USC Lancaster that is being offered that is not offered at York Tech? >> The associate in criminal justice. So, York Tech offers an associate in criminal justice, but it's an applied associate in criminal justice. It does not transfer. So, it prepares you for a job in law enforcement, but it does not transfer um
037as college credits, if that makes sense. So if I was in that program, I could not use the the two years to go toward a four-year degree. >> Not at the one in a >> So it really is just that is the only unique program is that USC likes of criminal justice. Do you know >> comparison to what we're offering? Yes. >> Do you have any idea of how many kids are interested in that criminal justice? I'm not because we I have to get your approval before I even advertise anything. Um so they don't even know about this um because it's based on your approval. >> I and I share y'all I mean I I drive probably drive to Lancaster more than anybody on this board. So I know what it's like and I know
038you don't leave Rock Hill to drive up to Fort Mill to go across Debby's Bridge because then that's an hour drive. >> That is a hard scary drive and I I hear what you are saying. >> I um chair I I share the same concerns with the lack of transportation. So I'm very grateful that USC did reach out to the school district to offer this program. It is a concern having our you know most valuable positions driving that stretch of road from Rockville to Winchester because that is a a daunting drive especially if you're doing it early morning. um you know especially when a start that is a concern so I share the same concerns that fellow board >> any other comments or questions okay u so we do have an ask to approve the
039middle school high school pilot approval and again it's pilot for us Lancaster and I have a motion to approve the >> so move >> thank you Mr. Burns do I have a second >> second >> thank you Mr. proposal. Um, any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor? All opposed? >> I motion carries. 43. >> Thank you, >> good job on all that work. >> Yes, absolutely. three different colleges that you're working in to put this together. That's that's a lot. Thank you. >> Yes. Next up is so next up is the certification of delegates uh for the 2025 delegate assembly board for the South Carolina School Boards Association. Our board is designated six voting slots for the cert certificate or for the certification process and the meeting will be held uh at December
0406th during the annual business meeting. So my question to you board members are who are planning on going and if you are going would you consider being a delegate? Uh the conference uh and the annual meeting is December 6th through the 9th. >> I'm registered to attend. >> You are planning on attending. Who else is planning on attending? >> What was the date, Chair Miller? Is that the one in December? >> That is the one in December. December 6th through 9th. So while you're pondering, I'm going to go sit again. Is it through the night? I'm sorry. >> It Yes, it is. However, the district assembly or or the the assembly is um it's 5th through the 7th. My apologies. And the meeting in question is Saturday, December 6th. So, so far I'm hearing Miss
041Daniels attending for sure. Um >> I am attending. You are attending. I'm planning on attending. Anybody else know for sure that they're voting? Okay. So, there are three of us, which means that we could have two votes equally a person. So if if it is the pleasure of a board, I could entertain a motion to certify Helena Miller two votes. Lacy Daniel two votes and Jennifer Hutchinson two votes. >> Thank you, Miss Daniel. Do I have a second? >> Thank you, Miss Harris. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I >> all opposed. Motion carries 70 and I will make sure that this form makes it into them um on time. We have four weeks to turn it in. So they will have it at the end of this week. Thank you for that.
042Uh we do not have any communications today because we have a uh a reschedule of the item that is posted on the agenda. So that brings us to presentations. And tonight uh we have a starting off with a construction update of Sunset Park. And I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Darl Wilson uh and he will introduce the uh team from Light Construction. Welcome on. >> Good evening, Chair Miller, Vice Chair Hutchinson, members of the board of viewing community, and Dr. Elder. Um, tonight we would like to give a brief update of the new construction project at Sunset Park. Um, for the viewing community, I'm Darren Wilson, the assistant superintendent of operations, and we have a team from Lightner Construction with us tonight. Tonight, we have Dexter Kingston, who is our site superintendent, Judy
043Hudson, who is our project manager, Jack Lightner, who's the owner, and Jimmy Wilhyde who is LS3P. At this time, I'm going to turn the presentation over to the team. Uh at the end I'll step back up and give a brief financial update on that and then answer any questions that we may have just showing 901 there. We uh we tied in our RCP 30inch RCP over Alman Road. We had to tie into 901 Heckle Ball. We did that as completed. We ran our song drain up there. We ran our song drain up Alden Road to um approximately 200 ft from Barnes Road. We ran into some hangups. Uh natural J County natural gas was holding us up. They had to relocate the gas line, but uh we got that taken care. We jump back on
044that on Monday. You see where we coming to the Ogden Road um entrance. You see the settlement basin that's in the final stage. We made a single road there. We didn't do a construction entrance there. We did a single road there because we want we didn't want to disrupt the school's pickup and drop off. I spoke with Dr. Barnes, Brian, and Darren about that. You see the rear parking lot? The rear parking lot is showing stone now, but I paved that on Thursday and Friday. I scraed that yesterday. So, the whole rear parking lot is paved. You see the concrete? All that is at 100% heavy duty concrete behind the gym and behind uh building E. All that is done. Everything is tied into the school. All the utility, the electrical, water, um gas, sewer,
045all that's tied in. The do is at 100%. The main water, we're at 95%. We're working on that today. Um I got inspection set up at 12:00 tomorrow. We should finish the main around 11:00 tomorrow. Um, we installed two fire hydrants today. One on the corner of C and then one on the corner of A. Uh, you see the front parking lot now. Uh, we're going to put that on grade Monday and then I'm going to start uh staking for curb and then I'mma put stone on it and then when I put stone on it, I'mma pave it as well. I'm trying my best to not go in the winter with any um anything not being paved. I want to go into a clean building. I want I don't want to take mud and trash
046into a building. I don't want to have to fight to try to get to work. So that's my goal. So rushing to get everything paved and it just speeds up the process. It don't it stop it hind you for not slowing down. It keeps the progress going. So that's my goal. And from the Barnes Road construction entrance, we poured the curb and gutter last week and we put stone on it today. >> So I'mma pay it next week Monday. >> I will talk a little bit about the interior. So what we're looking at right here is the main entrance vestibule. There's two smaller vestibules on either side. Um, we will be working on getting the roofing on in the next couple of weeks. As we enter through here, this is the main entrance. To our
047left is the nurse's office and health clinic. And to your right is the reception area. We've got interior framing completed in there. We've got inwall rough and overhead is underway. Uh, we're traveling down the main hallway with our first faculty workroom on the left, administrative offices on the right, media center in front. This is looking to your prek and kindergarten halls. And then to our left is the first and second grade halls. Your media center is a twostory um open uh media center. We've got it all framed in there. We've got Joyce picking up um and we'll be putting that roof on and getting mechanical units installed in the next week. Um as let's see, uh we're looking right now at the first and second grades. This was the last portion of the school to
048have the slabs poured. We just poured the second story slab on October 3rd. Right now, we've got exterior framing and interior framing going on in that area. As we travel down the hallway here, we are looking at the common area. You can see that we've got the brick columns all in. We've got them washed and cleaned. Um, as we travel down here, you can see the kitchen and serving area are to your left. This common area is going to be your cafeteria area. Um to your right is your performance area, your stage. We've got our motorized partitions in already. Um we've got overhead duct work installed. We've got drain uh rain leaders in. We've got sophets and windows are going in this week in this area. We're now traveling over to the kindergarten and prek
049area. This what we're looking at right here is the prek or excuse me the kindergarten area. Um this is one of the birds along areas. Um it's classroom wings. You can see we've got interior um overhead. Uh we've got some exterior doors installed. Windows are going in next week. Sheetrock. We had our inwall inspections today. So we'll be closing up these walls in the next day or so. Uh now we're heading towards the back of the building to where the PE room is located. We've got uh group restrooms on either side of the hall. And we're coming into the PE room now. We've got duct work installed. We've got electrical fire c fire alarm cable pulled. And these windows are on site and going in this week. Traveling back out. There's two water fountain stations,
050one on each side of the hallway. And now we're entering into the back of the building into the mechanical yard. This is off of the kitchen. There's a receiving area here as well. Coming in here, we've got our cooling towers, which are an impressive 26,000 pounds each. Um, we've also got our utility transformer already set in this yard. Generator and ATS are coming in uh very shortly. This is our main electrical room. We've got switchboard and our main distribution panels installed in here. As you can see, they're landing wires, pulling feeders, getting power ready for this building. Now we are entering down the hallway to the exceptional students classroom. There's three large classrooms here. You can see everything's roughed in overhead. Um walls are ready to be closed up. Windows are already installed in this
051area. That's a shot of looking at the uh second grade classrooms from where we are. This is one of the staircases in the building, not including the rooftop stairs. Um, and as you travel up these stairs, it's open to the common area below. We are looking at the fifth grade classroom area right here. As I mentioned earlier, this is last portion to get poured. So, we will we're working on um trusses right now to get the roof dried in so we can start interior framing and exterior framing. There's another set of stairs that are located to your right about here and then into the fourth grade wing. This area is going to have also six classrooms. We are now looking at the some flex space which is got some open windows looking down into the
052media um center. This is your art room. We're getting ready to put some decking up there so we can get this dried in down this hallway. We're heading towards the third grade classrooms. Our elevator pit is right there. And right now the third grade classrooms are um the exterior is done. Excuse me. The exterior framing is completed. Interior framing is ongoing and they are hanging duct work and pulling in wall as we speak. So, that is the um our little drone footage on the interior of the building. Uh I did want to mention some of the items that we find very important in keeping the site cleanliness, not even just on the site, but also our tire washing and everything when the sites get muddy in order to keep any kind of mud or dirt
053off the roads. Um we've got open communications with neighbors for pores. Um most of our major pores are completed now but Dexter still has his relationship with the neighbors in the community. Um some activities that we have done we did Kona ice truck for the students and faculty for field day last May um lightener along with uh one of the school's partners donated book bags in July and we also did a coffee truck and pastry truck for teachers in September to welcome them back. I'm going to take just a minute and uh back up for just a second to the the slide here. This is only a portion of what you see. I wanted to take an opportunity to publicly thank Lightner and and in particular Dexter. Um I have watched them go over and
054above with those residents around that construction site. Um, I've seen, you know, Dexter step in and go above and beyond what is required work and fix drainage problem, flood flood flood problems for some of those residents, um, at no cost to us or the resident. Um, so feed feed those guys when we had to close down and inconvenience them and roads. Um, it goes above and beyond, takes out trash for some of the elderly that can't do that. So I wanted to personally and and publicly thank them for how they're not representing not only Lightner but the district in that process. The construction report um we do have a total budget uh guaranteed max price of 57 million7 uh $76,131. Uh to date we have used just below $26 million worth of that aotment. The
055price per square foot uh is $42947 and we do have a monthly payout uh that is on a monthly progress billing format. Um in other words, we are paying for the the work is as it is completed. During that process, we do have LS3P which is Mr. Wilhyde that comes in and kind of verifies all the work has been completed and is is done correctly uh before the billing process happens. So just wanted to do that. Okay. And at this time, we' we'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. >> Absolutely. Uh first of all, thank you for that presentation and uh I feel like we were just at Sent Park. That burn footage was fantastic. So, thank you for that. Questions from board members or comments? >> No. >> Um >> yes.
056>> And what percentage you think the project is complete? Right now, >> we're a little under 50%. 45 to 50. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That build out number is not enough at a certain point. That's an indicator of the schedule and slipping behind. So to watch that closely and we were we were a little concerned when we had the the month of rain, but these, you know, past weeks of dry has has helped us catch up um and feel better about where we are. So we're back on on schedule. So, I have a question, a two-part question. Are we on time and are we within budget? >> Yes. Yes, sir. To both. >> Thank you. >> Again, then we if there is no other comments, we say thank you to Black Construction, uh, to
057LSP and to Mr. Wilson. >> Thank you. >> And we look forward to hearing an update here in Again. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> So, brings us to our next presentation which is the draft of the 26 27 school calendar that we just had a problem about. Um so I'm going to welcome up Dr. Miss Lorry Monday as well as Dr. Dicki uh to uh revisit the calendar again. >> Absolutely. >> Hey everybody, good evening again. Good evening, Chairwoman Miller, Vice Chair Hutchinson, Board of Trustees, and of course, Superintendent Dr. Elder. As you heard in our public hearing, we are presenting the draft of the 2627 calendar. We're going to walk through our presentation one more time, if that works for all of you, and then we're going to wrap up with some more
058of our recent feedback. We want to how we got here. So if we look at requirements that come from the state and also the district, um here is what is required. We have to hit 190 days every year. 180 of those days have to be for student instruction over 9 months. We have to have three scheduled days for professional development. We also need um to not have an e-learning day unless it's in response to an emergency situation like severe weather. Minimum three scheduled makeup days. We have to have two uninterrupted prep days for teachers and we cannot start before the third Monday in August unless we are operating on a year- round modified calendar which is again what we are presenting and what we are living this year as well. We have to be closed
059on election day in November of each evennumbered year and this would be the 26th year. When we look at our district considerations, um, we want to look at our SC ready testing, that has to be the last 20 days of school, EOCC, last 15 days. Employee evaluation schedule, the number of days per semester, we try to make as equal as possible. Our first semester we'd like to have completed prior to winter break, and athletics is something we also take under consideration. We look back pretty extensively into last year's feedback. Again, that was the first year that we were proposing a modified calendar. I was not here, but we looked back at some of that feedback and people wanted consistency from the calendar from year to year. They didn't want to keep bouncing all over the
060place. Um, too many half days were not desirable for student learning, but keep in mind those half days do serve a purpose. Professional learning community for our singleton classes are taken on those half days. Those afternoons is how those teachers spend their time. And for our high schools, they have shared that they like to have a half day for finals. We also got very positive feedback about having that time off for October and February. And as I mentioned earlier, we've not lived this calendar a full year. So once we have a better understanding of the pros and cons, we can probably analyze it that much better. We reached out to a number of stakeholder groups that already exist. Um, our teacher forum is made up of our teacher of the year folks and they had
061some really great feedback. One included that they did like for the sake of student achievement a shorter summer. They said it was better for students. Uh, and they specifically talked about reducing the summer slide. They wanted to redistribute those two weeks from summer into some other configuration. And again, we're proposing February and October. Student leadership group, principles, district leadership, and school improvement council. The majority did like our current calendar um and citizen participation as always is available here. And we did open up um a week of feedback that I'll be digging into here in just a moment. But first, we'd really like to walk through the calendar one more time. If you'll indulge us, I know we just did, but for anyone who might have tuned in later, we want to hit 180 days. We've
062cross-cheed and double checked and we believe we're hitting 180 days. Uh the semesterers for students are going to start on Monday, August the 3rd through December 18th. That last day of the semester is a half day. The second semester will start for students January the 5th and run May through May 28th. And that will also be a half day. Our teachers are set to start on July 27th and July 28th. Those two days right now are set to be unencumbered days. Teacher work and professional development days will run the rest of that week. July 29th through 31st. There'll be additional professional development days and teacher work days on October 12th, January 4th, February 1st, March 26th, which is also Good Friday, and June 1st. Teachers would end on June 1st. That is also a possible
063weather makeup day. Early dismissal days, we have four on this calendar. We're looking at August 28th, December 18th, April 23rd, and May 28th. Again, we're looking at two additional breaks. Same as this year, October would run October 5th through 9th. This is for students and eligible staff. The February break is February 16th through 19th. That Monday is President's Day, so everyone would be off that day as well. Again, these are the breaks for this modified year- round format. And then just to fly through quickly the holidays that everybody would be out. We did Labor Day of course September 7th, election day November 3rd. Thanksgiving break is November 25th through 27th. Winter break is going to run December 21st through January 1st of 2027. Hard to believe we're saying that. MLK day is January 18th. President's
064Day February 15th. Spring break would run March 29th through April 2nd. Easter, just as a reminder, would be that prior Sunday, March 28th, and Memorial Day is May 31st. Each quarter uh runs approximately the same. We're looking at 45 days. For the first quarter, ending October 13th. The second quarter, 44 days. That ends on December 18th, totaling 89 days. The third quarter, 46 days, ending March 18th. And the fourth quarter, 45 days ending May 28th. and that totals 91 with 180 student days total. So about a week ago or so we opened up a survey online and tallied a lot of that feedback. We got about 400 comments. Um and let me go through a little bit of that for you. We were looking at mostly parents. Um about 180 of those respondents were parents.
06586 were teachers, some who were both teachers and parents of course about 44 of those. And then we had staff members and additional community members weighing in as well. The majority of the comments for the positives some shared said they appreciated the rest and reset opportunities during the fall and winter breaks. The breaks were seen as beneficial for mental health, reducing burnout and improving focus. Student learning was touched on. Some noted that the calendar supported student achievement and planning. Um, on the negative side, most frequent critique, parents worried about child care and teachers and instructional time. About 25% of the folks who were opposed to this calendar reference that we did share and post child care options for families as you guys know. Um, and our expectation is that if more notice was given, there's
066a good chance that more options would be available. Also, several called for more days in school or fewer breaks. But we do want to point out it's 180 days, however it's less. So whether it's taken from summer or taken during the school year, kids are in school the same number of days regardless. Um, one other thing that came up, some noted sports challenges. We did have athletes that still had to play or perform over the week and about 5% of our respondents um referenced that about overlapping. Um, something that did come up that we'd love to throw at you guys as a change is after the draft went out, um, it was suggested by a number of our principles that we move that first unencumbered day a little further into the week so principles can
067set their expectations before staff is just given kind of the the run to to set up. So, that is a little bit of an overview. happy to answer questions and talk about it tomorrow. >> Questions and comments from board members. >> Um I know we already went to this earlier today, but um kind of want to start picking your brain, especially uh since we always talk about the 180 days for the kids. I want to start looking at se time. Um what we go to our legislators with because I know that's it's always 180 days for the kids, 190 for the administration and teachers. look at what we really do with this calendar. The seat time is adjusted and for the best for the kids just something to start working on because as soon as
068November 19th comes together that's what I plan on tackling next. >> Any other comments or questions? I have two oh one question I'm looking at February 1st um I guess it's no student professional development day that day is coming um February 1st and then exactly two weeks later you have a week off which is one of the inter sessions I guess what my question is that February 1 day seems to be kind of an odd day that's standing there and why is it important to have it that day or could it moved to Friday, February the 12th where at least students and parents could start a long weekend prior to that week off because it's just a random day that's sitting up there. Um just like we just had a week off in my understanding
069um next week or in two weeks we got one of those kind of random days off. So is there I guess what my question is is there a reason why that day is there? Could that date be moved to that Friday? Just make the just make it a long weekend or make it the Monday after the week off if teachers are going to come back Monday, make it on the 22nd or make it on the 12th. So at least students and parents have a long weekend. >> Great. I think that's something we can look at. Um I'll defer just briefly to see if Dr. Dicky has any academic thoughts as to why we might have picked that day, but I think just trying to break up some time for teachers and give them the six
070days off, but sometimes I think they like having a little breather during months, but I think that could be moved. >> So, my my next um couple of points, and I need you to indulge me for a second here, um to kind of lay out my my position. Um we have got Sure, I'm not the only board member that's gotten quite a bit of feedback from the community and and I I would be being dishonest and disingenuous if I didn't say a 100% of the comments that I got from teachers were positive and wanted this calendar. Okay. The parents that reached out to me really just depended on the perspective they were looking for and quite frankly the side of town they lived on. Um on the side of town where I represent, those parents
071who have reached out by and large this week created a major challenge for them. Um certainly there were some community options that were available, but those community options were not affordable for people. They they were not. Um um the lady who spoke in here earlier is one of my neighbors. Um there were several neighbors who spoke out who had two, three children. Um and when you're talking about 500 bucks a week, um now I also understand the the the perspective of whether or not school district has a responsibility to provide child care for that. So I've also heard that perspective. My friends with parents who are parents on the other side of town absolutely love this schedule and many of them spent this opportunity to vacation and other things. So I I got it from
072both sides and I understand that. Um my position though is is somewhat different. Um, my position is when I look at Iowa, our state report card, our state report card in every single area right now academically, we're not doing well. We have room to grow, which we're not similar situated as the other districts here in our county. I am not opposed to this calendar per se. What I am opposed to is I will not willing to financially support what the school district is here for academics. And I would like if we want to go with this calendar, go with this calendar and I can support that. But as the district and as my board members, are we willing to put some money behind providing some opportunities for not only our children who are struggling, but
073we also have children where um I know at least historically, I know our report card is embargoed now, so obviously I don't know what that data is, but historically we've even had some problems with our high achieving students not growing. And so why can't we create some opportunities there? Maybe we can't do it for all children, but what are our most critical areas academically? And could we create some opportunities for parents who may want to take advantage of or all third grade math we offer an opportunity for enrichment? So, I don't believe that Rock Hill Schools right now is in a position that we can take two weeks off. Um, so I know that it creates a vacation for teachers. Um, I know that it creates an opportunity for some people to vacation. I know
074it creates opportunity for others. It creates a struggle for others. I know we can't force kids to come more than 190 days. But I would like if we are saying we support this calendar, let's put our money with where we say our priorities are. And that's in academics. And so I I say we pass it. My proposal would be if we're going to support this, then we put a and we put a provision in place that direct our superintendent to locate some money to figure out some critical areas in academics and at least provide some opportunities for enrichment and or acceleration. >> Thank you Dr. Belton for saying that. I I agree with what you're saying and and I committed. We have a 240 248 million budget. We ought to be able to fund academic
075programs dur throughout the school year. And so, and I have talked to Dr. Elder about this when we start having budget discussions that we that we fund we we fund these weeks and we fund the the arts and we fund academics. We fund that first because that's that's what our kids need is to take care of them. And then whatever money we have left after that, we fund that second. And and I recognize we may not be able to offer an opportunity for all 16,000 kids. But I just fail to believe that we can't do anything for anybody. And so if we're willing to do that, I'm willing to support it. If we're not willing to do it, then I ask the other board members to please reconsider your position that if we're about academics
076and student success and and academic excellence, then we should be willing to put some money behind this calendar. If we're saying this is for the best for kids academically, we should be willing to to to invest in you. >> I mean, my kids were at school all last week and there was nothing academic. I I don't even think they had study hall, but they I mean, we should we should be funding it. So I I agree with you. Let's make let's make it happen this year. >> I think it would be helpful also if we could get some information on what other districts have implemented this calendar. Um not necessarily in our local area, but I know that there are quite a few districts across the state that has a calendar with inter sessions. If
077there are other models in terms of the academic programs that Dr. Belton and Mr. Nel are referring to that are being utilized or implemented in other places in the state. I think that would be nice supplemental information for our discussion at the upcoming board meeting. >> Okay, >> Chair Miller. >> Yes. >> May I? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Um I I just wanted I also wanted to second Mr. No, Dr. Belton. Um I also have concerns because of the uh the athletics that was actually happening at the same time. I did as well get a lot of feedback from like Dr. and said it depends upon what side of town you were on. Um, but what I heard overwhelmingly from parents that had children in athletics, there was some level of confusion and then lack
078of just I guess continuity and what was happening in that week. So, if if there's a way for us to maybe work with our ads at the three high schools and even the middle schools to ensure that we have support if we are doing this calendar next year, um, that would be great. And I do hope that these also can fund it uh through the budget as well and provide academic support somehow to the children that need it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Pastor Hutchinson. Anyone else? >> I feel um I did receive positive feedback like I think a lot of us heard. I also think when we make a change to an academic calendar that this has been structured for how many decades. I think we'll go through some growing pains and we're going
079to see those as we live through this school year. I do think we need some consistency and uh not to change things up too quickly if we go into a 26 27 calendar um for the next school year. Some things that I did hear are the same feedback that you shared that were concerns with um child care. I I understand it is not the district's position to provide child care, but I do think putting out those resources and that those advertisements will become very important leading into February and future years, just making uh families aware of what is available. We heard from the speaker tonight um that made a comment at the hearing. It did not occur to me um just because of what my family is set up as middle schoolers at home for
080the week. Um that really is an area that is lacking for care within the community and maybe the district reaching out to our community partners or making them aware and just having those conversations. I'm sure they were happening but going forward knowing um going into February and the next school year and presenting more opportunities to families looking for affordable opportunities that is always a concern. Um middle school sports for students that play with high school middle schoolers that play on high school teams. Um, we felt that in my own home. I know it's not necessarily an adjustment that we can make, but just getting him to practice or coordinating that. Um, because practice was still happening during the week out and he doesn't drive. I felt it. It didn't occur to me before we went
081into the week and then the week showed up and that's something that we noticed. Um, but that has been brought up in parent shared feedback about that one. Teacher feedback because I've got to be a voice for the teachers out there and I'm not sure anything can be done with this one because I know why June 1st is placed as a work day, but I do have to put that out there as a teacher coming back for just that one day. I know if you move it, you're going to move the end of the semester back one more day. So, I do want to acknowledge that, but I do want to be a voice for the teachers that reached out um and just say that was the feedback that I received with that work day
082on June 1st. >> Sure, we saw that as well. The question is where do you pull it from, right? Do you do four day breaks? Do you move the whole semester like you suggested? And I'm not sure I mentioned that of the 405 respondents, 95% did overall or felt neutral about it and that they favored it. They were happy with the way it was and they had no comments were for it and about 5% expressed the concerns that we've all mentioned. Um that was just of that population that filled out the form but just for your knowledge. >> Okay. I don't see any more comments at this measure, but um I know that we will be revisiting this with an ask to approve with some additional information in two weeks. We say thank you to
083both of you and um chairman before before we leave um before we leave this topic. I think it was on here, not as an action item, but can we ask at least the superintendent to take a look at, you know, what are our I'm looking here at our state report card from last year. It seems like there are a lot of critical areas and, you know, I recognize that, but I would like to be able to make an educated vote like what would it cost if we said we wanted to do third grade reading more? I I don't know what the critical areas are. That's not my lane. That's the staff, superintendent and staff. But if we wanted to do something, what would that cost for us to do it? And that be part of
084the information we have to make a decision before we vote. >> Madam Chair, member Felton, yes, of that was running through my head as everybody was talking. I need to bring some cost out so we're very clear on what we could do and how much it would cost. I can bring a variety of options to the board when we bring the I do want to note though that the decoupling of the timing that we have to approve the calendar and the time that we know what our budget is going to look like is months and months apart, right? So that does present a logistical challenge, but I think that it's perfectly reasonable to cost out some estimates for some different options. >> Thank you. Okay. Thank you, De. Uh and at this point, I am
085going to uh introduce again Alicia Johnson who was going to come up and talk about the essay career readiness 242. >> So our division of school performance and accountability committed to a series of data presentations and this is the third one in our series. Um so tonight this one is about the soft career readiness test. um data are still embargoed. So um we are presenting tonight on the win assessment. So career readiness um students have to meet one or more of the following to be to be deemed career ready. They have to be a career and technical education completer which means that they're completing a series of courses on a pathway and they're earning a national or state industry credential. So that's the first way. The second way is they would score 31 or higher
086on the ASPAD, which is the armed force, the armed services vocational aptitude battery test. The third way is they would do a workbased learning experience of 40 or more practical experience hours. And then the other way is to score a three or higher on the win career ready test. And so that's the assessment that I'm going to speak about. So this test is administered to all 11th grade students um between March and April. It measures common foundational skills for employment. It has timed multiplechoice questions. So for example, you see the areas there for the soft skills. They get an hour um on that particular component. It's 22-part questions, 17 multiple choice questions. For the math, they get 55 minutes and it's 40 multiple choice questions. For the reading, they get 55 minutes and it's 38
087multiple choice questions. And for the data component, they get 55 minutes and there are 26 multiple choice questions. So, it's administered in the fall and the spring. And so, just to give you an example of some of the types of questions that students would have to answer, um an example would be a crew is mixing concrete. One batch requires three bags of cement for every five bags of sand. If the crew has 20 bags of sand, how many bags of cement are needed to keep the same ratios? So, that would be an example of a type of question for the math component that they would answer. An example of a soft skills question that they may answer is, "You notice a coworker repeatedly skipping safety steps to finish faster. What should you do? A, ignore
088it since it's not your responsibility. B, tell others so they're aware. C, remind the coworker about safety procedures and notify a supervisor. Or D, if it continues, wait until someone gets hurt before saying anything. So, that's another example of the types of questions that students answer on this. So, this slide show you the different achievement levels that will earn a credential. So, achievement level two through five. So, I'm going to start with two. So, for two, um students would have to have some previous work-related skill, knowledge or experience to earn a credential of achievement level two. And then there are different ONET job zones that are that are assigned to the different achievement levels. So for each achievement level is assigned to the ONET job zone. So ONET is the occupational information network which is
089developed by the United States Department of Labor. Each zone describes the level of education, training and experience needed to to enter and ex and succeed in an occupation. So for example for achievement level two about a third of the jobs would fall into this particular category. So about 35%. The training in this category would be several months to a year of on the job experience or vocational training. The education would be along the level of a high school diploma. So an example of jobs that would fall into achievement level two would be like a security guard or a nursing assistant. So for achievement level three, you can see what's required there with the previous workrelated skill, knowledge or experience. About 59 You add this level in, you get about 59% of the ONET job sites.
090So for training for this level three, it would be one to two years of training or related work experience. The education would be like a technical school or an associate degree. So an example of jobs that will fall in this category, achievement level three would be an electrician or a dental hygienist. For achievement level four, you can see what's needed there. considerable amount of work related skill, knowledge or experience here for you would need several years of related experience or on the job training. The education would be around a bachelor's degree. And when you add this particular one in, you're going to have about 83% of the job zones covered. And so examples of careers or jobs in achievement level four would be teacher, an accountant, or like a registered nurse. And then achievement level
091five. This is extensive experience um usually five or more years. And so when you add in this particular level, you will have covered 100% of the job zones. And so areas that fall into this achievement level would be like a physician, an engineer or a lawyer. So this slide is showing a comparison um from spring 2025 um with Rock Hill schools a comparison to the state. And so what will stand out on this slide is we were slightly higher than the state for achievement level three um on par with achievement level two. Um but note we have more students that are not receiving a credential. Um so that is something on the slide um that that pops up. We have 35% of our students who are not earning a credential and we're pretty much on
092par with the state um to achieve a level five. Okay, this slide is comparing us to ourselves basically um from last year to this past year. So the 2023 24 school year to the 2425 school year. So this graph shows more students are not earning a credential. It shows that we have fewer students in level two. We have about the same number of students that are earning in level three. fewer in level four and relatively the same number of students that are achieving in level five. So the highlights are some of the ones that I just mentioned um for achievement level five were on part of the state um with a slight increase from 24 to 25 and then for achievement level three slightly higher than the state hill state from 24 to 25. So
093I want to focus for a minute on our areas of growth. Um one thing we need to do is focus on the number of students who are not earning a credential. Um so these are students that are scoring achievement level one. Um which you didn't see on there because they don't earn a credential if they score in that particular level. So focusing on that um using graphs real world application problems um embedding those types of problems into um students already existing classes. Um, another one would be providing targeted interventions for students that score below that level four. Um, so what could we do with that particular group of students? And then building teacher and school level counselor capacity. So what I mean by this one is working with teachers and school level counselors so that
094they understand the assessment. And another thing that I discovered that we need to do is start working with the students earlier than the year that they're tested. So they're tested in the junior year, but students are rostered earlier than that. So we essentially could start with ninth graders um and pressing upon them the importance of this assessment and helping them to understand what it means for them to get this particular credential and then fostering some type of motivation, comparison, competitions among students to make them um have a little bit more buy in in the assessment. Um our current actions we're using the win courseware for student practice and this is just for students who are taking the assessment. So the juniors um and when does not that's not an acronym for anything. It is the
095name of the company when learning. So they have access to this courseware that they can use for practice. And then some some courses it depends on what the course is. They're using graphs tables charts and diagrams but we need to make sure that we're spreading that into more courses. Thank you. Any questions? >> I do. Miss Johnson, you've been the lady of the hour for the last seven minutes. So, I hope you get a week off the a month off the next meeting. Let me add a couple of questions. Um, when did you say this test is given again? >> Um, March to April. >> So, it's given in March to April and I guess the school or school district decides between a window when to give it. Yes. So, okay. Um secondly, does the
096win test count toward any of the components of academic achievement on our district report card or state report card? >> It does. It counts as the CCR component, the college and career readiness component. >> Okay. All right. So, this just goes back to my latter conversation and I'm that you know, here's the one where if you can you go back a few screens. >> Okay. >> Not that screen. Not that one. I'm back. Not that one. Not that one. That one. >> Okay. >> So, we got 35% of our students in Rock Hill schools who did not get a credential and we're given a test where a window opens up in March and we're taking a week off in February. This is a perfect opportunity where we can get 11th grade students in there, many
097of them can drive, offer an opportunity for them to come in there and do a week of wind testing and familiarizing them with it and go through practice exams, etc., et, etc., etc. This is exactly what I'm talking about. What I believe the district should be funding during those weeks. Can we make them come? No. But think about if we really push that out and gave an opportunity where we make it move that 35. You know, who knows where we can decrease that width with just four or five days of intensive working with our 11th graders during February when they're going to take the test in March. So, just the point I wanted to make on that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? No. Then we say thank you. >> And this is your
098last appearance uh tonight in front of us. >> Thank you so much uh bullet pro. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Elder for the report of the superintendent. Good evening. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. I'm excited to give you an update on progress um to this point. Um I'm starting to organize my updates according to the five priority areas that were in the super the five superintendent change priority areas that were in the report from Zeal that was that I framed my 100 day plan around. So starting with student achievement, you will be glad to know that we did offer some opportunity for high school students last week during the inter session in a budget neutral manner. We had 27 students come for content recovery support. Um
099and that was in our EOCC courses and we had 71 students come for makeup school who needed the makeup seat time. So we were able to offer that in a similar manner to the way we normally offer summer school for high school students. We consolidated all at one high school. There was no transportation. There was no food service, but there were opportunities for kids. So we were able to serve um just over a hundred students last weekend in our high schools. I'd also like to thank uh Books a Million and our community for donating $5,000 worth of books to support students uh who participated back in our summer reading camp in the summer. Under community engagement, I'd like to thank Lightener again. Um I got to stop by and visit with the staff at Sunset
100Park as they enjoyed their coffee. That was lovely. Um, I also got to have some continue our parent superintendent round table series. Uh, the next ones coming up will be this Thursday at EMTT Scott and Thursday the 23rd at Castle Heights. And then we have several more after that and I am missing page two. And so that concludes my report for this evening. Thank you, Dr. Adams. We do have an executive session uh scheduled tonight uh for the purpose of human resource matters briefing regarding personnel matters for the bill council. >> At this point I will entertain a motion to adjourn the open session and enter the executive session for the matter I just moved. >> Thank you Mr. Burns. Do I have a second? >> Thank you Mr. Rosel. Any discussion? Hearing none. All
101those in favor? >> I >> All of those motion carry seven Good evening and welcome back. We've had a uh executive session uh to discuss um human resource matters. Uh at this point, I will um well, first of all, is there any action coming out of the executive session? >> Hearing none, I would entertain a motion to adjourn the executive session, reconvene the open session. >> So moved. >> Uh I believe Miss is followed by Mr. Nosul as a second. Uh any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor. >> All opposed. Motion carries 70. >> So um we did not have any action. However, other and future business, um I do want to revisit a conversation that we've had a little uh earlier than when we had our first uh planning session um together with
102Dr. Elder and that is to talk about the next step which would be for us to have some goal setting and uh to start having strategic conversations uh about where we see the district going into the budget season and so forth. And I I know that as we're talking through these uh different things that are put in front of us, uh we often go back to well what's going to happen with the budget and where are we as a board wanting collectively to see our priorities are right now we have no detailed priorities. So I think it's in the best interest of us together with Dr. get together and uh have those discussions and come up with true ideas of what our firm priorities are so that when we start having the budget conversations we
103can go further. So, what I would like to do over the next week or so is I'm going to send out some opportunities as far as dates goes. And if you could all be so kind to send me back what your firm knows are in terms of your scheduling that you know is already a conflict because this conversation it is crucial that we have all board members there. It may be, you know, in in a virtual format, but we need all seven voices being part of this and I would not like to schedule something if we know that we have a board. >> Sounds good. >> Yes. >> Okay. Anything else? If not, >> madam chair, future business, I also like to bring up um maybe it's a board policy, but why we have citizen
104participation and communications. Um maybe is it a policy that we have to have both if we didn't go back to one? >> So so we do have a policy that states that we have both as an as an agenda item. Now just like any other policy the board can always go back and revisit that and make changes to it. I think if I look at my time on the board, the the the change or the differentiation between the two has always been that citizen participation is in regards to an agenda matter that we're making a decision on or talking about that evening. Where communications is an opportunity for someone to come and bring something that is not on the agenda and a lot of times for partnership with organizations to come in and do a
105presentation. So that the presentation sement is sort of differentiated between district staff versus communication or or or community members. But again, if there are board members who would like to revisit how we have the meetings structured, then we do that. And maybe this is something that we should have a conversation with at the strategy meeting as well because how we conduct our business meetings is also part of our common goal and strategies. I see Montre. >> Well, no, I am actually kind of cosign what Mr. Burns has said. There seems to be a lot of that is pretty redundant and I'm not sure if we need to do it in every single meeting this way and also citizen participation where it is on the agenda doesn't always give citizens an opportunity. Um really and truly
106they should kind of hear the discussion we're having and then weigh in. So just where it is on the agenda is kind of an awkward place to me. So I'm glad Mr. Burns has brought that up. and then the communication just seems to kind of be a freef fall and I'm not sure that that's the best use of the community's time or our time. So I would like for us to reook at that. >> So based on that and and I agree, you know, with much of what you're saying, uh what I what I suggest we do is that we include that in the uh conversation. Uh much like the communication policy conversation that we had earlier that resulted in that was presented for us to approve. We could do the same thing with the
107board meeting policy, but just revisit the policy. >> Okay. >> Just the last point for future business. Um, and I don't know, um, obviously I know this, let me just say it >> at some point here, probably pretty soon, we're going to be going into budget budget planning and those things. And certainly, I hope that that things are done differently moving forward. Um, I would like to see I mean we get a lot of presentations from academics and accountability and of course that's our core but I really would like to hear some updates from some of our other divisions. I would love to hear Bobby talk about where are we financially? What are we doing with the budget? Where are we with our building construction? I would like to hear Mr. Wilson tell me about
108our facilities and what's going on in safety and security. May we hear from accountability that we need to but we have four or five other divisions that at least I've been on the board, we've heard very little to nothing from. >> I think that's very valid feedback and as Dr. Hopson and I go together and have the agenda setting meetings with Dr. Elder, we'll we'll have those conversations and there's nothing that says that we can't take one of these divisions and put them on for an update at the coming board meeting. So stay tuned for that. But good feedback. >> Thank you. Okay, I think that concludes that and if that is the case, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. >> So move. >> Thank you, Mr. Burns. Do I have a second? >>
109Second. >> Miss Harris, any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I >> All opposed. measure here. 7