001Good afternoon and welcome to the June 10th business meeting of the Rockville School Board. local news media outlets were notified in writing of the agenda of this meeting on Monday, June 9th at 11:45. Um, if you will please join me for the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence. I pledge algiance 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. First up, um, approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? Motion to approve. Thank you, Dr. Belton. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. I have a motion made by Dr. Belton and a second by Mr. Burns. Any discussion hearing? None. All those
002in favor. Oh, I'm sorry. All motion carries 70. Um, first up, we do have an executive session for contractual matter matters, lease agreement, personnel matters, receive of legal advice regarding the same, and approval of administrative contract, as well as the legal matter pending litigation receipt of legal advice regarding the same. At this point, I will entertain a motion to adjourn the open session and enter the executive session for those stated matters. I believe Miss Harris seconded by Dr. Belton. Any discussion? Fair now. All those in favor? All motion carries. 70. Thank you. Good evening and welcome back to the uh June 10th uh business meeting of Rockville School Board. Uh we have been meeting in the executive session for the past two hours for numerous matters. Uh so at this point I will entertain a
003motion to adjourn the executive session and reconvene the open session. So moved. Uh thank you Mson. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you Miss Daniel. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor. All opposed. Motion carries. Senator. Do I have any motions coming out of the executive session? Madam Chair, I move to approve the superintendent's recommendation for the executive director alternative programs. Thank you. Do I have a second? Thank you, Miss Harris. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? All opposed? Motion carries. 70. Do I have any further motions? Madam Chair, I move to accept the superintendent's recommendation for assistant principal. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Nosal. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? All opposed? Motion carries. 70. Do I have any further motions coming
004out of hearing? None. Uh we are going to go to our recognition segment and I am going to welcome Miss Alicia Johnson to the podium. Good evening, Chair Miller, Vice Chair Hutchinson, board members, Dr. Jones, and members of our community. It is my pleasure to introduce Mrs. Renee Haye. Miss Haye will serve as our math strategist working within the school performance and accountability department. Miss Haye has served as a high school math teacher, beginning her career at Northwestern High School in 2011. She has also worked as a dean of instruction, assistant principal, and principal all within public and charter schools in North Carolina. In her role as math strategist, she will support mathematics instruction by analyzing data, designing and modeling lessons, providing coaching to strengthen instructional capacity and content knowledge, promoting the implementation of researchbased
005best practices, and creating systems and structures to improve student achievement in mathematics through the vertical alignment and articulation of K12 math standards. So, welcome Miss Renee H. Congratulations. [Applause] Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. Welcome from us and thank you for bringing us. Next up is citizen participation. Uh do we have any? Uh that brings us down to the consent action agenda. We have a few items on here. Uh it is the minutes from the May 13th and uh the 15th board meeting as well as personnel recommendations. Uh, do I have a motion to approve the consent action agenda? Motion to approve. Thank you, Miss Harris. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Hutchinson. Any discussion? Very none. All those in favor? All motion carries. 70. We do not have any action agenda tonight.
006Uh, which brings us to communications. And I'm going to start off with uh welcoming up uh Mr. David Lisk with York County First Steps uh collaborative partnership and continue. Come on up. Good evening. My name is David Lisk and I serve as the executive director of York County First Steps. I appreciate the opportunity to have this time to speak with you this evening. One of my first official duties as the director of York County First Steps was to come before this board in 2009 to advocate for early childhood programs and interventions during the recession. My last visit was just over a year ago as we celebrated over 25 years of partnership with the Rockill School District and serving as for preschool children and their families. In serving York County First Steps for 16 years as
007the executive director, I count it as a privilege to collaborate with all four school districts. Each has its own culture and its own approach to how they serve their unique communities. But early childhood interventions has been and continues to be a high priority of which I'm very appreciative. I came to speak with you this evening about the priority of early childhood investments within the community. In many cases, our society seeks out investments that pay off the quickest returns. Even though we should all know the power of compounding interest as it relates to long-term investments, we want to see a return on our investments within a short horizon. And sometimes our lack of patience overlooks the real gains that can come. I came to this field by a rather securitous route. I spent over 20 years
008in the corporate world where my appreciation for business models and tools and evaluating where investments should be made was developed. I then helped my wife as she operated two child care centers serving over 200 children in North and South Carolina. Both of these opportunities help provide me with a unique perspective in viewing early childhood interventions as well as the value of community partnerships. It is where these two topics intersect is where I'd like to focus and encourage you to consider how to integrate this into your priorities and initiatives in serving our community. I'd like to share a couple of statements that came from a rather that come from a rather odd source. When we think of the value of early education, I'll identify the source after I share these statements. Early childhood development programs are
009rarely portrayed as economic development initiatives. And we think that that is a mistake. Such programs, if they appear at all, are at the bottom of the economic development list for state and local governments. They should be at the top. Most of the numerous projects and initiatives that state and local governments fund in the name of creating new private businesses and new jobs result in few public benefits. In contrast, studies find that wellfocused investments in early childhood development yield high public as well as private returns. Knowing that we need a highly educated workforce, however, does not tell us where to invest limited public resources. Policymakers must identify the educational investments that yield the highest public returns. Here the literature is clear. Dollars invested in early childhood development yield extraordinary public returns. The quality of life for
010a child and contributions the child makes to society as an adult can be traced back to the first few years of life. From birth until about five years old, a child underos tremendous growth and change. If this period of life includes support for growth in cognition, language, motor skills, adaptive skills, and social emotional functioning, the child is more likely to succeed in school and later contribute to society. However, without support during these early years, a child is more likely to drop out of school, receive welfare benefits, and commit crime. A well-managed and well-funded early childhood development program provides such support. These include home visits as well as center-based programs to supplement and enhance the ability of parents to provide a solid foundation for their children. Some have been initiated on a large scale such as
011federally funded Head Start while other smallcale model programs have been implemented locally. The return on investments from early childhood development is extraordinary resulting in better working public schools, more educated workers, and less crime. All of these statements come from an economic report by Bob Grunwalt and others. They are staff economist at the Federal Reserve of the United States. They were and have been evaluating the return on investments of dollars spent on early childhood programs around the country for years strictly on the dollars returned not on the societal benefit but the dollars. evidence-based programs that include parents as teachers, nurse family partnership, which are home visitation models, and other programs that engage, educate, and enable families to understand their role in preparing and supporting their child to make the most of their educational opportunity. These exact
012programs are offered by either parents smart, a 30-year investment by the Rock Hill School District and or your county first steps, a 26-year partner with the Rock Hill School District. You may be familiar with the kids count database collected and reported by Annie KC Foundation with the Children's Trust of South Carolina being the state partner. It may not come as a surprise, but York County ranks first overall in South Carolina. If you have never seen this, I encourage you to take an opportunity to review it, and I'm glad to send anyone the link so that you can take a look. There are four major categories taken into calculating the rankings: economic well-being, education, health, and family, and community. York's overall ranking for these areas ranks number one in the state for children under 18 years
013of age. There are two of these categories where we rank number one. They are education and family and community. I contend that this isn't by accident. There have been school boards, district leaders, community and civic leaders that have created an environment where we positively impact the families in need in a sustainable manner. A key element of this success has been the school district's parent smart model, providing a one-stop location for families to seek and receive preschool interventions. I can tell you that not all school districts in South Carolina see early childhood as a priority for their investment. The family resource model is seen as an effective model for engaging families and preschool children. This wasn't done in a vacuum, but in many ways this was a commitment by the school district to lead by example
014which attracted many other communities to see how they could adapt such an approach in their community. and the statements I read from the Federal Reserve's report, what they mapped out already existed in Rock Hill. York ranks among the best for working together to address complex issues with limited resources. So, first and foremost, how we work together to make our community better is critical to our future. So, for a quick recap, early childhood investments are a great means for economic growth in the communities. York County and Rock Hill seem to be doing pretty well in this since we are number one for child well-being in South Carolina. With this in mind, why am I here? These are indeed true today, but they may not be tomorrow. I am concerned that in today's environment, good effective programs
015with years of proven results have been and may be reduced or eliminated unintentionally because of the lack of knowledge or full comprehension of the scope of the program and its impacts. In recent weeks, overall funding and early childhood programs have been reduced and more are being considered. This will be a mistake that will not show up immediately, but will impact the community's capacity to thrive in the future. The educational skills we invest in our children don't pay dividends until they grow up and they start their own business invent a new device, cure cancer, or just shop at our own store and support our economy. When I became the executive director in 2009, our total program budget was roughly half a million dollars with 10% of that budget paid to the Rockill School District to support
016the parents as teachers program with parents smart. Today, our budget is over $2 million. We still pay $40 to $50,000 to the Rock Hill School District for parents as teachers, but we collaboratively have added these following programs. Nurse Family Partnership, an evidence-based program working with first-time moms for home visitation. Connected families partnership with the Department of Social Services to provide parents as teachers to families with a founded case to remedy issues within the family. Healthy steps support to a local pediatric clinic to help at risk families connect as needed services to st excuse me to stabilize the home environment. an expansion of our countdown to kindergarten program, a transition program for rising 4K and 5K students to help students and parents adapt to being in public school settings. With each of these programs, we are
017either the only First Steps County providing them or we are one of five to seven counties that are piloting them. These programs are serving 900 to a,000 children in York County each year. This doesn't include the parents smart programs or their other programs with child care centers and childcare vouchers. These programs would not be in York County if the foundational support that allows us to work collaboratively and that we as a community prioritize early childhood development. Even though York County may be number one in South Carolina, South Carolina is still the bottom 25% in the US. I serve on the state early childhood advisory board and recently we had a presentation on economic development and initiating and how to attract major corporations to relocate to South Carolina. In the conversation there was a lot of
018going on about what we can do to attract them. And I made the statement that until state leadership takes the needed steps and investments to rank higher in education, this was going to be a very hard sale. When families with young children decide where to move, the quality of the area's education is the top priority. We have that priority and investment in York County and in the Rock Hill School District. I encourage each of you to keep it there for our future sakes. Today there are a number of viewpoints regarding education. What works? What is effective? Who should be in the classroom? All working to inspire our children to take advantage of the educational opportunities to their fullest potential. At times there are well-meaning influences that can enter the dialogue, but in their haste to
019make changes overlook and have unintended consequences that can undo effective and initiatives that may have been overlooked. I encourage you to see early childhood investments for what they can do for our community. I appreciate the time to speak with you and I'm very willing to engage with anyone interested in further discussions and how we can serve our community together. I open it up for any questions or comments. Well, thank you, Mr. Lisk. And I would love for and and then Miss Harris has a question. Um, and I would love for you to send me that link that you referenced and that way I can forward it out to the entire board. That would be great. Miss Mr. Liz, thank you for your thought presentation and for your advocacy. I had the opportunity to work with
020you in in a different capacity. And um, just to piggyback on what you're saying is um, definitely the investment for $1 spent in early childhood is a $7 return if not more. now within this past year probably I would say dare to say up to probably $12 if we do the math but just thank you for your advocacy and for um bringing this to the attention of the school district because often in the community oftentimes I feel like early childhood is often looked at as daycare and not an investment of growing little minds that's the we plant the seed then that continues their academic journey so just thank you for your advocacy and for bringing attention to our community. Thank you. Let's give him a round. Sorry. Thank you for coming. Thank you for your
021partnership with our school district. I I may have missed this. How are you are you funded through donations from businesses and from other nonprofits? I'll try to keep it a short answer. When I started in 2009, about 90% 95% of our funding was through the state allocation. First Steps is a permanent organization at this particular point that has a footprint in every county. And so there's a state allocation that comes based on population and things of that nature. I still get that same just shy of $500,000 state allocation. the $2 million. The rest of it has come from grants that I have uh we have written we have asked for and we have a number of partners that fund our investments and have seen the positive nature of which we can impact the population and
022the children that we're here as well as and I think equally important as to why we're piloting these new programs and why they're here is because we have the support relationships with the community itself and I don't short change that at all because when they look for a new program, if we put it in, they say, "Well, we know that it'll get a fair shake there because that's almost the ideal situation that we can have." So, that other $2 million is coming from uh grants and other outside donations and things of that nature. Well, that's impressive. Thank you for being aggressive and continuing to work with us. Thank you for your partnership. Next up is uh Melissa who is going to talk about the general project. Welcome. Um excuse me. I'm a little nervous. Um
023thank you board members and Dr. Jones, interim superintendent, for allowing me to speak tonight. I would like to share some stories about some amazing employees in our schools that are not recognized often but continue to give 110% to our students. I'm going to start with Miss Carmen and Miss Annie. I have a picture up here. Um this is my son Andrew. This was his first day of school and when he started kindergarten at Old Point and then that's his last day of school when he was that's his um when he ended at York Road Elementary School. The special needs transportation department provides transportation for multiple reasons. For us it is because Andrew goes to school in a school that's not a zoned area due to the program he attends. Miss Car, Miss Carmen, and Miss
024Annie have been picking up Andrew and bringing him to and from school for the last seven years. They are our family now. They not only pick him up and help him get to and from school, they've also bought Happy Meals for all of their bus riders. They've given them special Christmas presents and included special items that only Andrew liked. They even got gifts for moms during Mother's Day. Was this part of their job? No, they go above and beyond. And most of these extras come out of their own pockets. They make far less than teachers and district office employees. They are just two. But daily, our bus drivers impact students more than some of our classroom teachers. Teachers change each grade level, but bus drivers rarely change and take students on the same routes for
025years. Bus drivers and aids are one constant that students may have. As a teacher at Ronaldson mode, I've had the opportunity to see and hear about this for my students and their families. Miss Jennifer, who drives 69, is one of my students at school. He's a special education student, but he has a special safe person. When he started at Rollison Road with Mr. Ronnie as his bus driver, he had amazing warnings. When Mr. Ronnie retired, it impacted my students entire school day. When Miss Jennifer stepped in, she had big shoes to fill. She stepped up and met my student where he was, worked with him to build a relationship. Now, my student saves special treats and gets gives all of his incentives to her at the end of the day. He knows that she will
026not only provide a safe ride home, but emotional support going to and from school. Another set of another set of support staff that I would like to speak on are teacher assistants. Our family has not only been blessed by amazing teachers in Miss Lavender and Miss Blackwell at War Elementary School in the unique pathways program, but also their teacher assistants. Miss Arwood and Miss Arnson were the first to help Andrew as he moved to UP1 in 2020, right before CO closed schools. He was in kindergarten. Miss Arnson sent mail to Andrew once or twice a month. It included letters, coloring sheets, activities, pictures of him with his classmates, and special surprises. These were not expected to be sent. These were things she did as she wanted to because her students were important to her. Again,
027the cost of mailing and the activities came from her own pocket. Miss Gent. Um, she's the one over here on the corner closest to me. Um, Miss Gent has been a part of Andrew's life for three years. She helps him get on and off the bus daily. She greets him with a joke and then he always shares one. She has done this for three years. Miss Hall has grown to love my silly boy over the last three years. She retired, but she returned during the year to um volunteer and also visit the UP1 class on special occasions and celebrations. She even came to his fifth grade promotion ceremony that he invited her to. While there, she also helped Miss Blackwell and the rest of the class that attended and served as welcome to parents and
028the families. And next, this is Miss Alderman. Miss Alderman has worked with Andrew for the last two years. She is Andrew's best friend. She helped him to and from safety patrol this past year. Even when he didn't want to go and wanted to quit on almost daily basis, she encouraged him and supported him during his time slot. Then she made sure he got to his much awaited breakfast. On the day of fifth grade promotion, even though she had her own son being recognized, she made sure that Andrew was ready when it came his turn. When I picked him up from school that day, it was the last time that she escorted him to be checked out. As an ESE teacher, um I also have some stories of my own assistant, Miss Feaster. She helps me
029lead small groups and support students, but she also goes out of her own pocket to buy incentives for our classroom, extra surprises and supplies. She is also a friend to many of our students at Rollison Road. So much so that eighth grade students had to find her on their last day for their goodbye hugs. She was one of the first people I met when I started. She knew about every student in our class. She knew their triggers and she knew what worked best to help them support them. She interacts with all of our students as the first person to see them on the school day when they get off the bus. This is an additional duty that she serves daily starting at 7:30. She supports Swsonston Road along with other um staff members to get
030those students on the bus and mark down when the bus comes and does that for our administration. These are additional duties to serve our school as well as what she does in the classroom and in the classes that she um assists with. Miss Patrick, who retired the year after I started, drove from Union to be with our class. She supported them when there was no teacher. She purchased incentives, special surprises for holidays and birthdays. She came back after retiring to support kindness week and attended all three promotion ceremonies for our eighth graders. She taught Mr. Wilkins, who worked with my class as well, served as the wrestling coach. He connected with our students in ESA and through his connection to his students outside of ESSE, helped to foster relationships between some of our students and
031his athletes. This impacted our students by teaching them about friendship and also encouraged them to find their own friendships within our school. There are a few more at Rollison Road that I want to highlight. Well, Miss Faulenberry and Miss Delaney, who serve in the UP2 class, they have helped Miss Hillsman, who was Miss Taff, to provide unique gifts for each student and helped her to provide a prom for her class at the end of the school year. They provided items for the coffee cart and school and the class that the class started and supplies for her special t-shirts she made out of her own pocket. This is just one example of some of the t-shirts she made, but she makes them throughout the year for all three of the people that work in UP2 and
032different ESSE members. And building bridges, we have Miss Miss Massie and Miss Dickerson. But I couldn't um end without highlighting the other important support staff as our front office, Miss Murk, who greets students and family. She serves as the first point of contact. She also works with our special needs students when they arrive, helping to provide them passes when their buses are running late. At the end of the day, she helps to make sure that students are riding the correct special needs bus before they leave and that they are all on the bus. The these additional duties create relationships with students, staffs, and families. There are many more support staff in our district. Miss Knox at Rock Hill High School and Miss Recctor at York Road Elementary School that work as attendance clerk, but also
033serve as the first person many families interact with. They know all of the students. Each year, new students come and go, but these support staff professionals know each student by name. These s there are stories like this across our district. I came tonight to put some names and faces with the dollars and numbers. As you consider the general budget, please consider how all of these support professionals across our district support our students. We are all important and touch lives outside of our job description. When considering increases, please make adjustments to provide an increase that will help these professionals see that they are valued. Consider who they interact with. They serve as the face of the district in many situations. Families and students rarely visit the district office. Please put the dollars where the greatest impact
034is being made. Thank you. Yes. Oh, thank you. Thank you for coming up and and and sharing the faces, you know, of our support staff. We we talked about it last meeting about the importance of making sure that we do something to help. I think not I think I know that we need to do something to help our staff and and give everyone across the board the proper compensation they need for all the work they do. So, thank you for putting those faces up there so we can see the story. Appreciate because Andrew will actually have all new bus drivers and all new teachers starting in the fall at Castle Heights. So, we're going to miss all of these people. Looks like you have good relationships with those. So, hopefully that'll continue on. Thank you.
035Just just to echo um Miss Hutcherson's remarks, um thank you who are advocating for unsung heroes. Oftent times um I always say the bus drivers and the um secretaries at the front office are the first face and they set the tone for a child's day. They can make or break their day. So um I I hope that we can rise up to the challenge and and infuse them and and show value that that we have that we know that they hold into that they have in our in our district. So just thank you again for your voice and for advocating for for them. Thank you. Thank you so much. That concludes our communications and brings us to presentations and I'm going to welcome up our CFO Miss Carrie Smith who is going to give you
036or us rather or the community as well a an update on the 202526 general fun budget and this is scheduled for approval at the 20 Janu June 24th board. This is not Good evening. Tonight's presentation will be a continuation of the May 28th budget presentation. If any of the stakeholders have not seen or viewed that presentation, I encourage you to do so. The board meeting videos are posted on the district's website. Periodically, we receive updated information from York County regarding this year's tax collections and the current year's value of a meal. The preliminary budget for property taxes has been increased by 1.9 million to reflect the change in the collectible value of a meal in fiscal year 2425 as compared to fiscal year 2324. That increase represents a 2.8% 8% increase in property tax revenue
037and approximately $10,000 increase in the collectible value of the meal which is approximately 370,000. Please note that that number the collectible value of the meal that is before reassessment. Last Thursday, districts received updated projections for the state aid to classroom allocations. Those amounts are not included on this slide. The increase for Rock Hill Schools is approximately $241,000. That represents a 0.25% increase in the state aid classroom allocations for this district. with only the change in the property tax revenue and not including the change in the state aid classrooms local revenue will account for 40% of the district's budget. When I take the state aid to classrooms that small increase that will bring local revenue back down to 39% of the revenue budget. The preliminary expenditure budget changed slightly by $229,000 which represents a 0.1% increase.
038Those changes were made in salary and benefits and supplies. Salaries and benefits continue to represent 91% of the expenditure budget. The percentage reflected in this graph did not change from the May 28th preliminary budget. As I mentioned, the expendure budget changed slightly by 229,000. Instructional services decreased by 30,000 and support services increased by 259,000. As I mentioned on May 28th, support services does not mean that this amount is entirely the district office. Students receive several support services within the schools. Similar to the previous graph, the percentages did not change from the May 28th preliminary budget. Instructional services still account for 53% of the budget and support services account for 46%. So, what makes up the 229,000 budget increase? An additional 61,500 has been allocated for the high school band programs. Originally, each program was allocated
03944,500. Therefore, this increase will bring the direct allocation for each band program to 65,000. Principles may elect to provide additional funding to this program from their school allocations if they so choose. The latest personnel changes over the uh past week and a half since the May 28th board meeting has increased the budget by 168,000. So at this point in the budget process, the overall budget decrease in personnel, which includes the salaries and benefits, is $5 million from fiscal year 2425. With a few changes that have been made since May 28th, the budget deficit is now 1.3 million. When we incorporate the new state aid to classroom allocation, the budget deficit will decrease to approximately 1,64,000. A question was asked at the May 28th board meeting regarding how much it would cost to provide an increase
040to support staff. I have provided estimated cost breakdown for each of the employee categories listed on this slide. If a one-year experience step is provided to eligible employees, the district will hold its public hearing meeting of the proposed general fund budget on June 24th at 5:00 at the district office. The public hearing notice was advertised in the Herald on Friday, June 6th. The board will also vote on the proposed budget at the June 24th regular board meeting. And that concludes the updates. Just a quick note, um I want to say thank you for uh considering the um uh high school band allocations. Um when comparing ourselves to competing programs, uh our students need um that support uh in order to make sure that our uh students have the opportunities as everyone else in York County
041and this is really important. Uh that has been brought to my attention. So thank you for including that Dr. I have excuse me I'm sorry about that. I I do have several questions probably about four or five questions if you're bear with me. Let me kind of walk through. First of all thank you for the update. Thank you for the presentation last week. Um, can you help me understand what was our projected um, tax revenue collection last year versus what we actually collected? Was there a difference in what we were projecting to collect compared to what we actually collected from fiscal year 24 compared to fiscal year 25? Yes. So when we did our budget for the 2425 school year, we're doing it on projections. What we're expecting tax revenue to be. So what what
042did we expect it to be versus what did we actually collect? So the percentage of collections varies from year to year in the Rock Hill area. So it can range anywhere from 93% collections to this year right now we're looking 97% collections and of course we are still waiting on a few more months to be posted with the county uh treasurer. Now, so keep in mind um with reassessment when property values are reassessed for their taxable value that is only done every five years or when property is sold. So when that property is being sold, those percent the the value of the meal changes, right? So the budget for 2425 was based off of about 365,000 per meal and we're looking at 370,000 per meal. So I'm I'm kind of jumping ahead. So, let me
043drill down because maybe I'm I'm I'm not asking the question what I'm trying let's let's take percentages off the table because my brain I just can't calculate percentages. So, if we can deal with actual dollar amount, how much was projected versus how much did we actually collect? And let me tell you why I'm asking the question. Because when I'm looking at the numbers and I'm talking to the people in county, I'm I am hearing that we actually collected $8 million more in taxes than what we were projected to collect. We have not received as of the last month or so, we have not seen $8 million additional in taxes do. So, if we were projected to collect $1, did we collect $1? Did we collect $3? Or did we collect less than $1? At the
044moment, we're about $2 million more collection. Yes. But not eight. All right. So, if So, let's work on the $2 million then. If we if we if we collected $2 million and we started with 15.8, that takes us down to 13.8. And right now we are saying 1.2. Um, so technically right now we don't have a 1.2 deficit because we collected more than what we anticipating collecting. This is a budget deficit. I'm not talking about cash. So this is a budget ca budget deficit. Our revenues is this amount. Our expenditures are this amount. So right now that is where that million dollars is when I take in consideration the state aid to classrooms allocation. And and the reason I'm asking the questions this way obviously I I've had no other opportunity to discuss with you
045staff or anybody else superintendent or anyone else regarding the budget in an informal setting. So this is the only opportunity as a trustee that I'm I'm getting a chance to ask these questions. So, you're just going to have to bear with me and my colleagues are going to have to bear with me because I need an understanding and the community needs an understanding before we make a make these decisions of whether or not to raise taxes, whether or not to give to pay increases. I want to understand it. So, I'm going to just ask my questions now. um if we um one of the things that in all of my experiences in working with budgets that this is a collaborative effort between staff. So I'm asking because I honestly don't know um have you sat
046down with our senior staff and gone through this and and the reason for that is we have a lot of old buildings in Rock Hill. What I am not able to pierce to parse out of this is there any consideration in our budgeting the last couple of years and even this year and maintenance deferred maintenance um and those types of those types of things. So if you as you know in the 2425 budget there is a 15.8 million budget deficit. Dr. Jones and I have worked very hard since the middle or the end of January to bring that budget deficit down. There is a 15% reduction in division budget allocations. 2425 it was a 5% reduction. So we're looking at almost 20% reduction in our allocations. M Miss Smith, again, I don't I don't want
047to cut you off, but in all due respect, what the question that was asked is, have you sat down with I'm sure Mr. Bond is in here. He probably has and Mr. Cop, they probably have far more knowledge about buildings, what the buildings need, how much it would cost, etc. That's what the question is. You know, when we're talking about what we're going to allocate for instruction, have you sat down with Dr. Dicki and said, "Is this enough? Is this too much? Is this not enough? I worked in a school system for 15 years. I also worked at the Department of Education. The budget was developed by senior staff in collaboration. That's the question I'm asking. Historically, yes. Okay. However, because of the $15.8 million budget deficit and Dr. Jones and myself having to bring
048that down starting in February. We there is no options for increases. We have got to bring that deficit down and that's what Dr. Jones and I have done. Well, we have sat we have sat and talked with staff. You know, when we were looking at the cuts, the 15% was one of the strategies that we looked at because we didn't want to cut at the school level. We wanted to look at the district level as well. So that was that conversation we've looked at as well as when we looked at the rift and reorganization. I understand. But there are options. That's why I'm asking the question because I'm trying to get an understanding. We have options. We have options in millage increases and we have options in what programs we cut versus others. And I'm
049just want to make sure that we have senior staff people. Certainly, you're an expert in the finances, but they're the experts in what programming we need, how much does it cost, and those types of things. That's what I'm trying to drill down in is if we have money allocated over here for our physical plant, then has Mr. Von and his team been involved in that to say $3,000 is enough, $3,000 is not enough over the next 10 years, this is going to have to be done. and and and so let me just ask my last two questions and and I'll I I'll I'll move on. Um what current our board policy says that we can take our fund balance down to 17%. Um I know you disagree with that, but that's that's our decision to
050make. Um I know you also disagree with a military um increase. That's also our decision to make. Um so I'm not operating out of a budget deficit. that I'm operating in. I can see the numbers, have read the numbers. So, what my question is is where are we with our fund balance now in terms of percentage and where are we um with uh well, let's just answer the question with the fund balance. Miss Lipy and I have been focused primarily on this budget. There's a lot of work that has had to be done in a very short amount of time. So, at this in time. I do not know where fund balance is at. It does change week to week as payments go out the door and payments or revenue is received. Right now board
051you've got a budget deficit of 1 point well tech really it's 1 million64,000 and that is your decision of do you want to use fund balance or would you like to increase millage to cover that dis uh that budget deficit. Um boards have to pass a balanced budget. It is just how are you going to balance that budget. Dr. Jones, my my last comment, I'll just direct this at you and my colleagues. Um I would highly encourage us to put this budget in the hands of our senior staff. I if if they are okay with this, we can figure out how to make up this 1.3. But I'm not an expert in the fiscal plan and whether or not this is enough money to run operations. I'm not an expert in whether or not Dr.
052Dicki has enough to run instructions. We can't have the expectations to do a job, but they have no decision making in how much money they get or what the resources they get. They need to be part of this process. And Dr. Jones, I hate to put you on the spot, but you and I worked together and you and I sat at the budget table together and you know that we would not have tolerated a budget being presented or passed by a board or we would have been upset. we would have had to tolerate it, but we would have been upset if a board and we had had no voice in it. So, I'm just asking us before we vote that we have some expectation that senior staff participate in this budget development process. And I
053thank you for your your question on that. I do want to say that when we looked at addressing the budget deficit, we looked at what a 5%, what a 10%, what a 15% and a 20% would be. those numbers that we have and I presented those uh to you and the staff you know when we landed on the 15% that's where they have the certainly the decision making regarding their their budgets and what they can look at making shifts with uh and they're making some difficult decisions but I can we can go back and look if we're saying that that that if there are opportunities to increase what we have tried to cut from the budget at the central level we could go back and have that discussion. Well, not not necessarily at the central
054level, but at the school level, etc. Well, I'll give you an example. And again, in the grand scheme of a 200 plus million dollar budget is is really minuscule, but we had up here the old English consortium. Um, now some of that becomes political, but I'm not speaking political because I can care less about the politics, but practically speaking, as someone who's been a principal, who's been in school with singletons, we got a brand new superintendent coming in, and what we're going to say to our new superintendent, we're going to cut you off from professional development with everybody else in in in our count in our region. what we're saying to our art teachers who's normally one of us at schools, our chorus teachers who are normally one of at schools. The old English consortium
055provides a consortium for that professional development. That's so to me that's in the grand scheme of a budget that's $30,000, but that has impact way beyond that $30,000. So to me that seems like more of a political cut as opposed to what's really in the best interest of the district. And so I just hope that we will step back and really really think through this and really involve the people who going to have to take this budget and make it work. And if they're good with it, I'm good with it. But I I just have some concerns if if they have have not had a voice in it. Right. and with the old English consorcia certainly if that is looked at being cut then most likely our professional learning because professional learning and collaboration for
056our new administration uh taking place that money may have to come from other areas that we can sustain that to be able to offer the the professional development for those singletons and for I think the OEC offers really a a cost-effective way to do that. I mean, as a superintendent, do you want us to pull out of the O? I know. I mean, you won't be here past June 30, but in your prior experiences as the deputy and as the superintendent, do you recommend our pulling out? I found great value in the OEC. You do? I find great value in the OEC with the collaboration that we see at the teacher level uh where our teachers are able to come together and collaborate. I see it also that our our leaders in our areas, for
057example, I'll say Dr. Dicki in academics instruction one time a month she is sitting down with all her job alikes in nine districts and so you have these meetings where they're able to collaborate and they're able to say hey what has happened or how are you addressing uh certain issues from the state so I mean see great value in it so I have a followup one second I have a follow-up question regarding the um um fund balance obviously like you stated you know there are a couple of different opportunities for the board to consider as far as how we handle the $1 million 641 million64,000. Um I do think it would be helpful for us to at least have those numbers so um over the next week or so if if it's possible so that
058Dr. Jones can can share those with the board so that we know if that's even a possibility or not if that makes sense. Oh, Miss Smith, thank you. Thank you for the appreciation. Just a question about the village. What is the value of a mill right now? One mill right now is 370,000. That is before reassessment. We will not have this district will not have the value of the meal because of reassessment until your county finishes their fourth quarter. So that will be end of July, maybe the first part of August before we know what that new value of the meal is. Okay. Because and I'm asking um about the uh thank you for offering up what the cost would be for the step increases for our support staff. Very important. I think that is
059something that we should consider as a board. Um because that would be a reoccurring cost. And this is a question I'm kind of asking so the public would know. Because that is a reoccurring cost. It might maybe increasing the millillage might help with this in your professional opinion would increasing the millage help with something of that nature that is a reoccurring cost that we would need rather than trying to take out of a one time. You're absolutely correct. Anytime of if you are using one-time funds on recurring expenditures that is not recommended. Okay. So you do want that recurring revenue coming in to pay for recurring expenses. So yes, you would want to do a millage increase for that to take care of these things. Okay, ma'am, you are correct. Thank you, M. And just
060to to remind the board too that in the Miley report that was one of the statements that was made in there as well that you using fund balance is certainly not the most advantageous path to go and I am not a proponent for it personally. However, I do think that since the question was raised, it's important for us to at least have the facts on the table as we go into the conversations. Yes. Want to go back also to important comment I think Taco Bell made and that was regarding operations and Mr. Vaughn decisions that that are on our facilities decisions on our operations and one thing that the board is going to have is that he with a team has completed an extensive facility study that we've gone back and assessed and there's such
061information in there uh as right now the um the life of our chillers and our HVA systems and all of that with looking projections that's going to be presented to you guys, I think, at a at a retreat, but that will give also some projections for decisions being able to be made for facilities. And and and Dr. Jones, to your point, um I have not had I just he just happens to be in my line of sight. So, that's why facilities just became my topic of conversation because as I look down, that's who I see is is Mr. Vaughn. But I am aware of this facility study that has been done. Yes, there's been, you know, individual conversations and I know at some point it's going to be presented to the board. And that's the
062very reason why I asked, are we developing a budget with that in mind because I do know that is coming. That's the very what you just raised is the very reason I asked that question. This is strictly the general fund budget. So those type of expenditures need to be addressed in the capital budget, not the general fund budget. I know that we've so two things just about the the old English consortium. As a former band kid all the way through college, I think it's very important to have that professional development for our for our um our what do you call them? Singletons. Singletons. Thank you. Thank you. That's just my listening to you talk about that. But also um we we there's a reduction here for the J1 visas. That's that is for our international
063teachers, right? So that's a potential, I guess, loss of having the ability to hire international teachers to help with some of the subject matter like math and science that we have deficits in right now currently. Is that is that how Miss Miss Hutch, May I jump in for a second? And that I just want to make sure I understand so I can and and I and that is another issue and that's again the reason why I'm asking has senior staff been involved in these conversations. I'm not for increasing or decreasing J1 visas, but what I got from Dr. Jones the other day is where we are with vacancies. And what I'm saying as a board, should we put this impediment in front of senior staff or should they make the decision we need X number
064of J1 visas or we don't need X1 J1 visas? That decision should be made by them, not by us. Or maybe we need to move some things around. That's exactly why I'm asking this question. Has HR or people who are responsible have they said we can reduce this and we still can fill these vacancies because I you know human resources provided that information to Dr. jokes that yes, they would reduce that by 13. And let me say this publicly, you know, it's it's no secret that I've represented probably the vast majority of J1 visas that are coming to South Carolina as teachers. I don't in Rock Hill anymore. I have no financial interest in this. So, let me say that publicly before someone says this, but I'm working with enough other school districts and I
065would like to know where Rock Hill has some magic wand that other school districts don't have where they are finding teachers. I you know again we can make these decisions and we can have our ideology on what we think of international teachers but I want to know what does Rock Hill have that other school districts in South Carolina do not have that they are not able to get teachers and where where they are hiring teachers and again if we're going to tell our people you cannot use J1 visas then we cannot also be upset when we have a large number of classrooms that start without certified teachers. J1 visa teachers have to have at least five years of experience and they have to be certified by the Department of Educ South Carolina Department of Education.
066They have a license before they go into the classroom. So, I'm I'm just again, if that's the impediment we want to put in place, let's put it in place, but understand the consequences that come with that. That shouldn't be our decision. That should be their decision. And that's a frightening thought just as a as a parent, you know, having a classroom where you don't have a teacher that's available and ready to teach. Um, that is a little bit not a little bit that's a lot of concerning, but I think that's where that that monitoring and that input from our staff is important because the total budget for J1 visas is 600,000. We only cut 200,000 to see how we would do. So far I'm hearing that we're doing well with that. But if we have
067to make adjustments as we go so that we have teachers in classroom and you know just talking about what Rock Hill has uh we have a situation with attaining a French teacher at Cherry Park uh for the immersion and that that can be a challenge and we actually are using that as a strategy and the principal is using uh some funds and we're working at some funds to see what we can do. So, we're communicating and and looking, but that J1 was a 33% cut. Anything else at this point? And I'm sure I'd like to throw it in there. Dr. Jones, Miss Smith, thanks again for putting this together. I know you guys are pretty much behind the eightball on this. You came in at the 11th hour. You made the cuts and you got
068it done. And I thank y'all. You know, this isn't this isn't a beat up session. This is I really commend y'all for what you did. You did it in two weeks, Dr. Jones and Miss Smith, what the other administration couldn't do in months. I really appreciate that. You know, we talk a lot about things in here, but I had heard one person say anything about the business community and raising taxes or anything else either. We had talk about the community as well. Talk about raising militaries. We start talking about anything that affects them, especially the businesses. This is huge. we have if we have decreases enrollment we have to look at in that aspect as well. What are we doing to increase enrollment rather than what are we doing I mean this all comes down
069to our revenue streams and the more kids that go outside of our doors the less the less revenue we get. So at some point we have to talk about that but once again thank y'all for coming in here and fixing this and I thank you for saying that. Mr. Burns. I do have to say also to the staff who you know when we went in and we sat down and we had to say what is a 10% cut like what is a 15% cut? They were they with their staffs have been problem solvers as well. So it's it's been collaborative uh in in this process and and Dr. Jones let me let me say this. This is not a beat up session. And I think I started my comments by saying that this is the
070only opportunity that um and I hope Miss Smith doesn't take it as a beat up session or you but as a trustee I think I have a responsibility to ask the questions and as a board we don't have a finance committee. We we haven't had small groups. We've had no opportunity to sit down and ask staff these questions or that we could send in an email and I sent in an email and I got a response to my email. there's not been an opportunity for a dialogue or one or a back and forth. Secondly, and I I do respect what you're saying, Mr. Burns, but I also want to remind that two years ago, this board did raise mill rate and the business community is not a them. I am the business community here. I
071own a business here and we also own rental property here that I pay commercial taxes on. So any decision that I make, I'm also making on my business and my and not only primary residents, but I'm also making it on my businesses that I have here in town. So when I'm talking, I'm not talking about of them. And certainly, you know, I know you own a business here and I know Mr. Nose well. I think your business may may be here other places, but certainly I I have I have business property here in Rock Hill. So I am the them. So thank you, Mr. M. ification when it comes to to having the conversations about business taxes. Um there is one version of it that really impacts a lot of our um citizens immediately and
072that is that your apartment complexes and all of your rental properties in Rock Hill is considered um business which means that if this board were to raise millages that affects the business community um the biggest target is really going to be our folks in town that are renting their homes because most likely those increases would be passed on to our renters. So, I I just wanted to say I I'm not I I just want to say I don't necessarily want to increase the millillage, but if we can't afford to pay the the lifeblood, which is our support staff, and and and they they won't be I mean, we're talking about businesses and what the impact be to businesses, but we need to think about what the impact will be to the people that work in
073our schools every day with our children. It's I mean we could say we don't want to raise the millage, we don't want to raise taxes, but if they can't afford to go into these businesses and buy anything, then the economy doesn't keep going and the economy stalls out. So I'm thinking from terms of how do we help the people that are doing the day-to-day work in our schools for our children. Does that mean that we have to maybe put a little bit of impact on our businesses? Unfortunately, that might be an option that we have, not necessarily what we want to do, but I really want us to think and consider helping those people that are doing the hard work with our kids. Mr. N. And I guess I want to add on that. I
074really want us to prioritize our schools. Our schools exist for teachers to educate our students. And this district does not exist to provide jobs for adults. It just it doesn't. It exists to to educate our children. And our children starts with the bus driver. It goes to the front desk worker. It goes to the teacher assistants and it goes to the teachers. And if we provide a safe, effective learning environment for everyone in our school, we're not going to have to go and use J1 pieces. Our teachers, our science teachers are going to stay. Our math teachers are going to stay. But we're getting ahead, please. I'm sorry. That's who we have to prioritize. And we can Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. You go. No, no, no. I'm sorry. I thought you were done. I
075apologize. That's on me. I apologize. I just I don't know. Do we have to But are are people going to school for teaching? These these are that's the questions that we have to talk about. Are we getting our college educated our kids that are graduating from college? Are they math teachers? Are they science teachers? Like those are the broader questions that we have to ask. I agree with you. The quality of the education is important, but are the kids graduating? I've heard, you know, staff members say they go to to um job fairs and you only have two or three, you know, students graduating out of science. Just I'm just saying that's what I'm hearing. So, I apologize. I didn't mean to cut you off. I'm just Okay. I was there's a number that probably
076most people in the audience don't know, but um I put together the entire public education, how much it costs for York County is $880 million. And so it'll be a billion dollar before we know it. I think we can take the money that we currently have. We can allocate it obviously through leadership as Dr. Jones, Miss Smith, y'all done a great job so far. I agree with you, Dr. Beld. We should allow the staff to do it and bring it to us balance the budget and we approve it. So, you know, but with $880 million in for county, that is a lot of money. And if we can allocate that correctly, I think we can do a lot of great things. Madam Chair, if I can make one comment certainly to respond to Mr. Nosal.
077Um I know the audience staff has heard numerous times about refocus they are at the school level. I do want to make I do want to mention that those that work in departments are crucial are crucial to this department to the district and they the district's not going to function even with those departments. So I I I just want to mention that everyone that works in departments, I appreciate everything they do, they are hardworking as well. So we can't forget them as we cannot forget them. And Miss Smith, I assume you're talking about people like in business services because I agree with you. I I think there are some unsung heroes that aren't necessarily bus drivers or unnecessarily um um teacher assistants but are behind the scenes cutting checks and those things and we we
078probably do need to look at those people as well. I I agree with you. So I think that there's a couple of pieces here right now. Number one is again I echo everybody's comments about thank you for the hard work that has been put in. Um obviously we know that we have 1 million deficit. Um, a little bit over that. Um, and we do have some really important things on that wish list. I don't think that there's a single board member out here that second guesses the fact that we value our support staff and our bus drivers um, and every other employee in this district. But the question is, how can we and in what way and possibly can we take a look at those pay increases and where does the money come from? Right?
079So with that said, what I would recommend is that uh any board member who wants specific information uh reaches out to Dr. Jones and Dr. Jones can you know answer things in um in detail. Um if there are conversations uh and a willingness to have small group over the next week, then reach out to Dr. Jones and see if you can arrange that if that's possible. I know that we have about two weeks left for the next board meeting. Um, so we'll we'll go from there. But keep the questions coming because I think it's important as you are looking through the budget and get answers to other questions. Make sure that you constantly keep sending those in and don't save them for the last minute so to speak because we have that opportunity to send
080them into Dr. Jones so that information is flowing to give him as well as Smith and her staff the best opportunity to present a budget for us to consider for final approval on the 24th. Dr. Can we add the elementary assistant first to this? We've talked about a little bit. Can you just I email I'm saying it so I forget just elementary or all assistant principles? Well, all assistant principles to get them to that level that we've talked about. So all the principles. Thank you. Lots of lots of good questions. Um certainly more are going to come. Um we say thank you to you or both of you and um look forward to more information for coming. Okay. Thank you. So uh next up is the report of the superintendent. Thank you very much and
081I thank you for the discussion and discourse tonight. board members, as we wrap up another school year, I want to take a moment to thank our entire Rock Hill Schools community. We have accomplished many, many things together. We're grateful for each of you. Uh just some important reminders as we progress through the summer time. Um we we had wonderful graduations, grateful to be a part of them, and our communications department has put together some wonderful videos. So, if you're not following us on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube, uh please take a chance to look. Some great videos and things that are in place as we hop in and and check out the great things happening. Um 4K enrollment is again now open. Uh as we heard this evening, such an important important piece of of of
082students learning that begins in the preK. It doesn't begin in kindergarten. what our parents invest as well as our prek programs. Uh that investment makes the difference. That's where it starts and it's so key. So visit our website uh for our spaces that we have that that are available. And if your child turns four on or before September 1st, again, if your child turns four, on or before September 1st, it's time to enroll in our 4K programming. Uh kindergarten registration is also underway. Families of rising kindergarteners, please register online as soon as possible. So, every will have a space prepared for you. Every registered kindergarten student should get an opportunity to participate in kinder camp during the first week of school. An exciting start to their school experience. And we are now working with the
083state to get that final approval so that we can do that. But we anticipate that's going to come through. it's been afforded to other districts as well that have the same format. So, we expect approval on that. But again, look for information on Kinder Camp. Uh returning student verification, a reminder is so important uh that our parents, our guardians, family members, uh if your child will be returning to Rockill Schools in the fall, please complete the verification process. It's now called final forms. You'll see that on the ribbon uh that is on the website. and we've switched that format. We're hearing that it's a lot easier and the steps are are more easy to navigate. Um, but we know it's our first year with that. So, we stand to support you. Our schools do, but
084go ahead and make sure that uh information of course has been sent in emails. Uh, and two reminders have already gone out to this summer. If you didn't receive an email, you might want to check your email address with your child's school. And of course, we are hiring. We're looking for great teachers. We've already had some wonderful hires. Our hiring with our vacancies, very doable that we can start fully staffed. And we want you to come be a part of of of Rock Hill Schools. Touchhearts teach.com to view our open positions and apply. Uh we are in our summer hours right now. Uh we are able to power down our buildings on Fridays. So, uh, our buildings and offices are open from 8:00 a.m. to 4, uh, Monday through Thursday. And please note that we're
085going to be closed on July 3rd and July the 4th is that is July 4th is on a Friday. Uh, our summer feeding programs, please, they're up and running in our community. Uh, Old Point, Monday through Friday now through July 25th. Um, 20, yes, 25th. Let me give you some times if if you don't mind. At Old Point Elementary, you can have breakfast from 7:30 to 8:30 and lunch from 11:30 to 1. If you're near Northwestern High School or can travel there Monday through Friday through the 25th, breakfast is 7:30. Uh, excuse me, 8:00 to 9:00, 8:00 to 9:00 from Northwestern. Lunch 11:30 to 1. And then our Richmond Drive Elementary, uh, Monday through Thursday, uh, June 11 through 26, breakfast 7:30 to 8 and lunch 11:30, uh, to 10:00 to 11:30. Uh, and speaking
086of uh, our child nutrition programming, I do have to give a shout out here as we finish up the year. Uh, a big shout out extended to our Sedexo contractor teams and Mr. Gary Black, director of student nutrition. This year as we served 2,48,682 meals. That's 2,48,682 meals to our students. And that number increased from last year when we served just 2.1 million. So we're up to 2.4 million. And they also served 176,744 snacks. and one of those snacks a student shared with me in a visit and it was delicious. Next school board meeting, June 24th, the public hearing for proposed 202526 budget will begin at 5:00 p.m. The board meeting is scheduled for June 44th at 6:00 p.m. It will be streamed on our website and replays will be available afterwards. Who knows for
087all of my comments? Thank you. Thank you. Uh other and future business, Dr. May, may I jump in here for a second? This is the shortest meeting we've had, so I don't want to prolong it, but I do want to give a shout out to Laura Brie and your team. Um, the the information, the positive information that you're getting out about this school district is absolutely phenomenal. Thank you so much for helping us to drive home the good, wonderful, positive things that are going on in Rock Hill School. So, a huge shout out and kudos to you and your team. And I want to nobody else. Thank you. I want to I don't know all the gentleman's name. I know your name and I know William's name, but to the rest of you who work
088with her, good job. Um, and Dr. Jones, one other thing, and this kind of came to my attention by happen stance, and so I don't know if it's the norm, but I will ask you and Dr. Connor to please just keep a look at it. And uh we passed an important um um policy last month about open enrollment. I think we all at least the majority of us collectively want to see more kids come to Rockio School, particularly people who are here paying taxes here. But um one parent had a concern that it was easier for people who are not in the district to come into the district at a school of their choice than people who are currently here. The second one is probably more of a concern of mine that there is a
089particular child who wasn't in good academic standing at one of the charter schools or were basically on the verge of being expelled and now Rocky schools becomes an option. And so I don't know if you all have thought about that. I don't know if you've thought about regulations. I don't know. I don't even know the truth of it. But I just want to make sure that we got some things in place. Yeah, you may know more about it than actually. By law, if a charter school kicks a kid out, by law, the public school has to take the kid in with no funding. So, we have to take the kid anyway. No, no. Charter schools are public schools. If they're expelled out of a chart, if they're expelled out of a public school, we don't
090have to take them back. We And no public school has to take them back. Absolutely not. I do this every day, all day. I can I can bring the statute. Absolutely. They do not have to. If you're expelled from a if you're expelled from a public school in South Carolina, another public school does not have to does not have to accept you. Um, now where the challenge becomes is when you're told we won't expel you. That won't be on your transcript and then you go and enroll in Rockill Schools or you're in academic standing and you're not the particular child that we want in our charter school. So, you can now go back to your home school. So, and again, I don't know if any of this is true. I just hope that you all
091will just keep your ears and eyes open and when we're getting those reports, we talk through that. So, we don't I don't need to have any more discussion about I see Dr. Connor shaking his head. So, he's already on top. I see Dr. Connor nodding and and maybe if he can provide an update via either a memo or something like that. I So with that, uh, I would at this point entertain a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting. Motion. Thank you, Miss Daniel. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Nosal. Any discussion? Right now, all those in favor