RHS School Board Meeting 05-28-25

001Good evening and welcome to the May 28th uh business meeting of the Rock Hills board. Local news media outlets were notified in writing of this agenda for the meeting on Friday, May 23rd. If you will please rise and pledge allegiance followed by a moment of silence. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. So, first up is the approval of the meeting agenda as posted. Do I have a motion to approve? So, moved. Thank you, Mr. Nosal. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Harris. Any discussion? Var. All those in favor? All opposed? Motion carries 6. First up is an executive session for a couple of

002different uh matters. uh personnel matters, discussion contract of employment and superintendent as well as legal matter receive legal advice regarding pending and potential claims, employee grievances, employer requests. At this point, I will entertain a motion to adjourn the open session and enter executive session for the stated stated matters. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Nel. Do I have a second? Second. I think Miss Daniel was um any discussions. All those in favor? All measure six. Good evening and welcome to the um May 28th business meeting of the Rockville School Board. We started our meeting at 5:00 with an executive session and I shared at that point that who had been notified of writing on Friday, May 23rd. In addition, we our pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. At this point, I will entertain a

003motion to adjourn the executive session and reconvene the open session. So move. Thank you, Mr. Burns. Do I have a second? You're five. I just didn't see you. Um, any discussion right now? All those in favor? Motion carries 70. Do I have any motions coming out of executive session? Madam Chair, prior to a motion being made, I would like to stand and address the board and the community. Thank you. Ask you give me at least four or five minutes. Madam Chair Miller, Vice Chair Hutcherson, colleagues on the board, staff, and members of the community. I stand here today as an elected representative of Rock Hill School Board. Though I am elected from district 1. Um, I am a trustee. As a trustee, I feel an immense responsibility to all of this district, not just the

004children that live in my district. and I feel this responsibility to all regardless of their geographic locations in the community. I stand here today on the shoulders of many that love Rockill Schools, including my wife of now 23 years, Tanya. She reminds me often that she's 51 years old and she spent 44 of those 51 years in Rockill Schools. She started Rockill Schools at three years old at the old Imit Scott only left Rockill schools for the four years that she went to college only to start July 1st her 30th year as an employee of Rockill schools. I'm also the parent of a college age son who spent all of his elementary years in Rockill schools. And I am the parent, proud parent of a daughter who texts me today that she now has a

0054.77 at Rockill High and her entire educational experience has been in Rockville School. I started my professional career as a teacher here in Rockill schools at Rollison Roads having Mr. Burns and his sister Lucenne as some of my first students when I was teaching 8th grade at Rollison Road. Tanya and I chose Rock Hill Schools for our children, not out of convenience and certainly not out of lack of resources. We chose Rockill Schools because we firmly believe then and we believe now that our children could get and in fact have gotten the best most well-rounded educational experience for them and our family. Our children had options and we chose Rock Hill School and they are better off for it and we still choose Rockill Schools and we believe that our daughter is better off for

006it. We also chose to invest in a primary resident in Rock Hill because we believe in the Rockill community. This community has invested a lot in us and we feel obligated to reinvest in it. We couldn't easily retreat to our personal oasis and leave the decisions and trials of this community to others. However, we chose to get involved when many people our age are starting to be empty nesters checking bucket list, checking items off of our bucket dream list. They're not signing up. People our age, my my my co-workers, my colleagues, people in my age group, they're not signing up to be harassed on Facebook. constantly accused of being dishonest, unethical, and every other adjective one can imagine. Thank God I didn't grow up in the social media era, so I don't see most of

007it, but I do hear about it. Running for political office is hard and a tremendous sacrifice for families. It's extremely difficult for those of us also who work full-time jobs. Winning in a political office is much more difficult because unfortunately the politics and pettiness do not end. It's difficult to listen to and hear comments that adults make to your 17-year-old child who has nothing to do with the decisions of her father. It's hard to be accused of and opt not to respond to innuendos that are part of some that you're part of some grand conspiracy with people andor organizations in which you have no affiliation and in some instances do not even know they exist. Last week um I was contemplating resigning from the seat not because the work is too hard or impossible. I

008simply know Montreal Beltton and I know that I don't have the temperament or patience to continue to ignore the pettiness while our children and their future are in our hands. I am fortunate actually I'm blessed that I had enough credibility and a 30-year reputation in this community as a teacher, coach, and attorney that I ran a campaign and was elected with have without having to attach myself to any group. There is no group or political organization. I neither sought nor secure the political endorsement of any political party, Republican or Democrat, or anybody in the middle. I received no money from any activist or activist group. I didn't solicit any money from any um any individuals who had a political motive. I was elected for the people and by the people to do what I believe

009is in the right in the best interest of these children in this community. I made no promises when campaigning and I made no promises now. I only promise to deal with topics that come before the board and try to intellectually um dissect the topic, learn as much as I can and work with my colleagues to build a consensus. More importantly, my granddaddy told me many years ago, and I need this audience to hear this. A foolish man chooses an enemy because the experiences of somebody else. I'm not a foolish man. And so, I need you to hear me. Nobody on this board is my enemy. I don't care what their political party is. I don't care what anyone thinks about anybody on this board. Nobody on this board is my enemy. regardless of the decisions

010that they make on one particular issue. I realize that I have three and a half more years and this community depends on me. Therefore, I have to continue to work to build consensus with individuals with hopes that we can find common ground on future decisions. I'm smart enough to realize that there are seven members on this board and it takes four of us to pass a motion or conversely four of us to stop something. I prefer to win debate by the power of my ideas, not name calling and accusations, and am no value to members of my community if I can't work with colleagues sitting to trying to accomplish something. And maturity and my knowledge of how democracy works teaches me that I will not always be on the winning side of a vote. But

011I can say and will say emphatically that regardless of how any member of this board votes on an issue, I do not believe any member of this board is evil. I do not believe any member of this board is dishonest. And I do not believe that any member of this board wants to destroy Rockill Schools. I sincerely believe it is the opposite. I believe they love Rockill Schools as much as I do and they want it to succeed. We may differ on how we get there, but they love Rockill Schools. Rockill Schools and this Rockill community. And I'm especially speaking to the audience now. We can keep fighting. We can keep suing. We can keep accusing each other. And we can keep name calling and all the other things we can figure out or we

012can figure out how we can work together for our children. The book of Mark says, and Abraham Lincoln repeated, "A house divided cannot and will not be stand. We are divided and we are crumbling." The decision is ours. I chose to run for office to be p part of the solution. I gave up a pretty lucrative role as an agitator of Rock Hill Schools and became an agent. I want Rock Hill and this district to win. That winning can start tonight. I intend to enthusiastically motion this board to enter a contract with Dr. Deborah Elder to be our next superintendent. I pray it passes and July 1st she will be our new leader. I want Dr. Elder to win. If she wins, our children win, our district wins, our community wins. I'm asking all segments

013of this community, regardless of your political affiliation, your geographic location, to wrap your arms around Dr. elder and support her as she implements her vision for Rockill Schools. She knows we want to improve academically. She knows we want to increase our student population. She knows we want to reclaim families that are living in our community but not in our schools. She knows we need to assess our student assignment plans and reassign some students. She knows we have aging facilities and may have to close some facilities. These will be hard decisions, but she needs your support. If we're going to win, my fellow board members, this message is to you. Our job is governance. It's defined in the state statute. It's defined in our board policy, not day-to-day operations of running the school district. We are

014hiring a new leader, Dr. Elder. I hope, Dr. Elder, you're watching. I hope you will stand up to each and every board member and say no or get out of the way, get out of the day-to-day um operations if any of us, any of the seven of us crosses that line between governance and day-to-day operation. And you have to trust that the rest of the board will support you if you have to admonish one of us. We are trusting you to not take sides of any interest groups, political part parties or segments of the community. just do what's right for our children and our community. To those of you that want to continue the pettiness and being an obstructionist, internet pirates, and agitators, to use the word words of my 17-year-old daughter, please miss me

015with it. I'm ready to move forward. I'm ready for this district to move forward. And madame chair, with that, I move the board to approve the employment agreement between the board and Dr. Deborah El Elder as superintendent. that has been negotiated by the parties and which the board has reviewed in executive session this evening and that we authorize the board chair to execute the agreement on behalf of the board. Thank you. Thank you Dr. [Applause] Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor. All opposed. Motion carries 70. So now we can give you a round of [Applause] applause. Wisdom for sure. So with that um that's a tough act to follow sir. Um I had a statement prepared on behalf of the board welcoming doc Dr. Elder but I think um I think Dr.

016Belton was much more eloquent than mine will be. But nevertheless, um, on behalf of the Rockill School Board of Trustees, I'm honored to officially welcome Dr. Elder as our new superintendent. We're so excited for the future of our district under her leadership. Dr. Elder brings not only a wealth of experience and insight, but also deep commitment to students, educators, and public education. We look forward to partnering with her as we continue to move our schools forward together for all of the civians and rocket schools. As we welcome Dr. Elder, we also want to extend our heartfelt thank you to Dr. John who is one of the most amazing human beings that this community has ever had. He has served as the interim superintendent during this time of transition. Dr. Joe stepped into this role with

017steady hands and a very steady heart, providing guidance, reassurance, and thoughtful leadership when it was needed the most. We're truly grateful for your service, sir, and dedication to Rockill Schools. And we know that regardless of your retirement plans, you will always be part of the Rockill Schools family. We also want to recognize and thank Zeal Education Group for their support and professionalism throughout the superintendent from the process. Their expertise helped us navigate this important decision and confidence. To the many qualified candidates who applied, we said thank you. Your passion for education and your willingness to serve in this process both meaningful and inspiring. And finally, to our Rockville schools community, we say you showed up. You spoke out, you stayed engaged. You your voices were important part of this process and we're so grateful for

018your involvement. As Dr. Elder steps into this role, we truly hope that you will continue to support and engage with her as we all work together as a community for our students to have the most best and possible future. This is an exciting new chapter for Rockville schools. We say welcome Dr. Elder. We're glad you're coming um starting officially on July 1st. Um and again, we say thank you to Dr. Jones for your leadership. Um and um to our entire community, thank you for your continued partnership. Um with that, I would like to give Dr. Jones a standing round of applause. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Thank you. Thank you. Secretary trying to get it before you got back over here. I just said to the community, thank you for your support. Have had seven wonderful years

019here. Um, and just the students, the people, that's the richness of this school system and that will continue. And I thank you for that opportunity to serve. And I would say to the staff that I've had the chance to work with, you make every day bright coming to work. Thank you for being bright lights in my life as well as the work. And thank you board of education so much for the opportunity twice to be able to support and serve. It has been the icing on my on my cake for my career. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. Any further motions coming out of executive session? No. So, we are going to move to our recognitions. And first up, I would like to welcome up Miss uh Maggie Magma uh with Scouting America, formerly

020known as the Boy Scouts. Welcome up. Good evening. Thank you to Dr. Jones and the Rock Hill School Board for allowing us to be here this evening. This is our third year getting to be here to present the Elbert K. Frontwell Outstanding Leaders, Outstanding Educator Award. And Dr. Frontwell was our second chief scout executive for Scouting America back in the late 40s. and he believed that extracurricular activities such as scouting, soccer, dance, gymnastics, anything was a valuable asset to a child to allow them to learn better and do better in the classroom. And so after he passed away, Scout America decided to create this award as a way to honor him and remember him. And so we serve 17 school districts in the PA council and every year we go around and present this award

021to one deserving educator in each district. And so today it is my honor to recognize Mr. Derek McQuiston. Did I get it right? He is the alternative the executive director of alternative learning for Rockill Schools. And I will say in his nomination, it was pointed out his dedication to serving the students of Rockill Schools and the valuable asset assets that you have brought to the teams here in Rock Hill. And I know that you are very much appreciated by the school board, by Dr. Jones, and everyone that you work with. Um, numerous people found out that the award was being given to you while I was sitting in the audience and said how much they loved you. So, I know that it is very much deserved. Again, thank you for allowing us to be here

022this evening and hopefully I'll be back next year to present the same award to someone different. So, Thank you so much. [Music] [Applause] And I believe the next award is going to be presented by no one except Dr. himself. Good evening. It is my honor to offer congratulations to Dr. Nancy Turner, director of behavioral health for Rockill Schools, who was awarded the lifetime achievement award in this award in the Southeastern School Behavior Health Conference held at Myrtle Beach Convention Center. Dr. Turner has spent 45 years as dedicated public schools educator with the last 10 focused on supporting mental health needs in Rockill schools for our students, for our families, and for our educators. This award is a welldeserved recognition of her commit commitment, her compassion, and her leadership. Dr. Turner came to us and of

023course was executive director of exceptional student education. Shared her passion and support for every one of our students and families and transitioned in a time that we needed additional help and leadership with uh student health and student wellness. Uh she's left a tremendous mark upon Rockill Schools. She does retire this year. uh and um you can find her teaching water aerobics at Hawaii in Charlotte. Uh but but she moves a tremendous mark of commitment and and her love for schools and and and for our students. So Dr. Turner, congratulations to you leaving me for being part of walking with me to create these initiatives and services and programming for our students, families, and for the community. I will always thank you. Thank you. And Dr. Wood RHI uh this morning and you can certainly pull

024that up and listen to that. Thank you. Next up, I am going to ask Mr. Caleb Gther to come up to recognize the Northwestern Track State Champions. Oh, I am sorry. Thank you for correcting me. I I was too quick. Yes. I'm going to ask Miss Alexandria Green to come up to um the York County Regional Chamber Business Expedition Saluda and Trail and All American Cornhole. And again, my apologies. Salute trail. Good evening. I am not Mrs. Green. However, I am Mrs. Dwire Dancler and Mrs. Green unfortunately was unable to be with us this evening. But good evening once again, madame chair, madame vice chair, members of our school board, and Dr. Jones. Saluda Trail's first cornhole expedition business project with all cornhole was an unforgettable experience for our students and our staff. Together, this

025collaboration has created a powerful learning experience that has empowered our students and strengthened our ties with the community. It stands as an amazing model for future schoolto business partnerships. All cornhole manufacturing brought to life our students designs and they were so excited to see the entire process of creating cornhole boards. There were nine students on this team, four of which are with us today and four teachers from our related arts department who worked with this group. Our students received firsthand experience of the process of working together as a team, designing uh quality control, interview readiness, workforce skills, and holding each other accountable through meetings. They were also able to tour the manufacturing company which was a huge eyeopener and we could really see the excitement in our students as well as the staff who attended

026as well. We sincerely um thank everyone who was involved. Um I hope I'm not leaving anybody out but we had um Mr. McAllister, Mr. Monroe and Mrs. Bini who came during the morning meetings with the students with their leadership guidance and their unwavering support throughout this project. Their commitment to student growth and experimental learning has made a lasting impact. The students chosen for this uh this um exposition came from our related arts classes. um they came from art, digital design, uh digital photography, and our engineering robotics classes. And we actually have one student who's going to come up just briefly to kind of share his experiences with this. Um first of all, I just want to say thank y'all for the opportunity and letting us do this. And I think it was really fun and

027amazing how we got to design our own cornhole for us to do the trail. I really love it. So, thank you. And this was an amazing experience. Um we um stroke this year our yearbook theme was elevate and we really elevated this year. our kids not through academics and athletics but through all areas and this was just a a positive note that we will remember forever. Well, thank you and two quick notes. I know that you have friends with you with the partners of both Saluda Trail in the school district. Uh we got Celeste Hiller and Mr. Um, and we're very thankful for those partnerships, uh, as that helps with our workforce development. I also have an ask because I had an opportunity to tag along for a little piece of this field trip. And

028I know that these cornhole boards, I think that's an appropriate term, are very cool looking. So ask the board, we would absolutely love to see the finished product whenever you have it uh at a future date. So they are actually at Salute Trail. We were blessed to have um the I guess you call the um original size um boards and the kids were divided into two teams and they did mini boards for the second team and they are on display at Sal. So anytime anybody would like to come over also they are um going to um add these to their website. So, if anybody is interested in purchasing those, they should be up soon. Very cool. Thank you for that. I love it. Well, let's give them a round of [Applause] applause. Congratulations. Don't move

029around if you guys want. So now I'm going to welcome up Mr. Kellen Gther who will uh introduce the Northwest track stage champions. [Applause] [Music] Good evening. I'm Caleb Ga, the athletic director at Northwestern High School. And tonight we are proud to recognize Austin Smith who's a junior at North High School and a member of our state runner boys track state championship team. Austin recently captured the state championship in the 400 meter dash running a personal best 47.23 seconds. This incredible performance not only earned him his first individual state title but also broke his school record which was previously set earlier this season. He ranks number nine all time in South Carolina. Offensive individual success comes as a part of another strong year for our boys track and field team which again finished as state

030runner up third time in the last four years. We are incredibly proud of Austin and all that he's accomplished. Congrats to his family and we look forward to see him next season return to defend his title. [Applause] We are also excited to officially welcome Ty Bumgardner, the new manager of our men's basketball program at Northwestern High School. Coach Bombgarnner brings with him a decorated coaching career and a strong track record of player development. He most recently led the program at Collins Hill High School in Swany, Georgia, where he continued a tradition of competitive excellence. Prior to his time in Georgia, Coach Barner built success programs at Olympic High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. Westwood High School in Columbia, South Carolina. Jackson County High School in Georgia and Topeka High School in Kansas. In 2013, his

031Olympic High School team finished number five in the country and he was named the Associated Press North Carolina State Coach of the Year. Throughout his career, Coach Ball Garner has been honored as region board conference coach of the year eight times. He's coached seven allstate players and one all-American. He's also helped over 55 student athletes uh achieve college basketball scholarships. We're certainly thrilled to have coach Bon Garner join the Trojan family and we look forward to his leadership and excellence that he'll bring to our [Applause] basketball. Welcome. I'm glad to have you. Welcome. Good luck to you. Next up, I'm going to welcome up Mr. Eric Rollins, who is going to introduce the Rockill High uh track state champions, as well as the new head football coach for Rock High School. Good evening board. I'm

032excited to be here tonight to recognize some outstanding student athletes and their accomp accomplishments this year in track and field. First of all, Aiden Graham is a track athlete that could not be here tonight. He's actually on vacation headed to the beach, but he um finished state runner up in the shot and discus this year at the state meet. He also broke two 30-year-old records at Rockill High School this year that stood for forever. And then he finished first at the All-American Classic in Colombia. So he's not here, but definitely want to recognize him as well. And then our 4x100 girls relaying, won the state championship in the 5A division one. The members of that team were Cherish Paul, step forward, Zoe Mcccluren, Aubrey Stevenson, and Kamani Rockymore Cruz. And then we had an alternate

033as well, Mia Funberg, who could not be here [Applause] tonight. Even more amazing, we had one individual who won three state titles in one day, which was Kamani Rocky Moore Cruz. She won not only in the 4x1, but she won it in the 100 and the 200 meter meter races. Uh this is a a feat that has hadn't been accomplished at Rockville High School in 38 years when Kendra Mackey Warren, who is now at University of South Carolina as a director of operations for track and field, actually came back and presented her award at our athletic awards night the other night. Been 38 years since something has been accomplishing. Kendra won four that year. So a huge accomplishment for her and something you may not see for a while again. So congratulations [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

034And then last but not least, want to introduce to you our new head football coach who comes from us from Ludolf Elgen, coach Leon Bolar. He has came in in just a short amount of time and done a tremendous job. I'm not sure anybody uh could have came in and did did things as quickly as he did as far as putting a staff together and and pushing our football program forward like he has over the last two or three months maybe. So, he's done a tremendous job. So, I definitely want to recognize our new head football coach, Coach Leon Boy. [Applause] Good luck to you. And Madam Chair, while they're lining up, I do want to shout out Laura Brie. Laur, great job on the coach's press conference. I did watch it. Um, someone sent

035me the link and it was phenomenal. Did a good job on the coaches. Get out of the way. Let's give all a round of applause. [Applause] Last but certainly not least, uh I would like to welcome Officer Carlos Richardson who is going to recognize the California State Champions. I call coach Calvin McCall the head boys and girls track coach along with me is our assistant principal and assistant uh coach coach Sacko. Um want to thank y'all for honoring these young pe these young men and women for their achievements. First we'll start out with Evan Ryback. Evan Ryback is um our um 1600 meter state champion this year. It was his uh second year running in in a state meet. He he became state champion. Next is Aiah Adams. uh her along with the other uh

036three young ladies there they won the state in the 4x1 relay. Zia Adams freshman got second third in the 100 and third in the 200 as a freshman. Um the next three ladies, this is their second year here back in a row. The 4x1 won the state last year and everybody's up here will be back next year. So hopefully they'll be back again. Um, Miss um, Adams, I mean, not Miss Adams, Miss U. Um, this is her third year coming in a row. She won the state in the 4x1 twice and she won it in in the high jump. So, this is her third year. Next year will be her senior year. So, next year she'll be back again. That's [Applause] And while they're lining up, you know, my apologies, they give me a list

037of the names of who you're supposed to present, and I just read it assuming that that is who is coming. So my apologies for that. [Applause] Next up is citizen participation. Um the Rockville school board policy have two versions of how you can participate in board meetings with public comment. The first one is public participation. This requires u the individual to sign up no later than 6:00 the night before meeting. It has to be the item that is on the agenda and the time limit is 3 minutes. The one restriction is that the board by policy do not respond or interact with speaker. That segment is what we're covering now which is citizen participation. I have three is that correct this panel that have signed up under this segment. So I'm going to welcome them

038up for the three minute segment in the order of labor. Starting off with um Andrew Meki who is going to speak uh on personnel recommendations. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh I'm here for the second time uh here with a very heavy heart. uh since I spoke last obviously these last two weeks we've been ending the year and part of ending that year is with recognition of our staff and our faculty at uh at Dustin Creek Middle School and during those two weeks the amount of out point I've seen for uh Mr. mountain and what he's been going through. Uh I've been on the car rider line in the mornings and just having parents stop and say thank you and talk to him and myself as well uh for speaking up for him uh

039as well as the outpouring that happened uh during our final uh goodbyes yesterday uh and end of the year celebrations that took place yesterday at Thusman Creek. Um, it's just very when you look at what he's accomplished and what he's done since 1999 for this community and this school district, I I can't imagine anyone who would come up and make a decision to throw that away on a whim. It's beyond me the lack of transparency and objectivity that has gone into this and what he's had to go through and nobody all we hear are rumors and speculation and we get nothing and then to hear about this pettiness and politics and so forth uh at the beginning uh of this session and then not hear a motion to uh revote. It's something that it boggles

040my mind how we how you would do that. And so for me, I'd like to request that uh this board uh make a formal revote in public uh tonight on uh the decision to uh let Mr. Lis, principal of uh Dutchman Creek Middle School. um you're you're going to break this district if you keep this uh decision. And I really looked at this as an opportunity uh to right or wrong. And this district is going to hurt if they do and they continue to do what they've been doing. And I hope the new superintendent does not stand up and come up as uh becoming a puppet uh for this school board and sees what is actually going on right now and what these decisions am allowing to and uh for a while now. But this

041is just something that good luck. Thank you. Next up is uh Mr. Dia. speaking uh on Dash Creek Middle School. Good evening everybody. Um I've come before the board once again to plead for reinstatement for claim motion since the decision April 20 uh April 30, excuse me, announcement. The climate is not built as track has truly changed. Excuse me. It has been tough for everybody facing ultimate decisions thinking it was done to him. So what is different for us? It doesn't make us feel safe and what is next for our future for the near and distant future. This doesn't impact us teachers, staff, but it mostly impacts the students of Dustin Creek. Whether it gives whether you give us clarity or transparent, we all feel that you owe it to him. He has been a

042dedicated employee of this district for over 27 years, being recruited at the top of his class and relocated to Rock Eagle. I just ask please push a motion to reinstate Mr. Moten and just do the best you can to keep this district together. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Mr. Eric Robinson also speaking on the topic of Good evening, board members. Uh, my name is Eric Robinson and I'm a former Rocker High graduate and I've been a teacher for the school district for citizen years and I currently teach at Dutchman Creek Middle School and I'm here to strongly support the reinstatement of Mr. Clayton Motton as principal of Dutchman Creek Middle School. In his 25 years of service, as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and now principal, Mr. Motton has built a legacy of

043respect and consistency and excellence. His leadership has united students, athletes, staffs, and families across diverse backgrounds, and its impact is reflecting both data and community trust. Under his leadership, Dr. Creek has achieved remarkable academic progress. The school earned the prestigious schools to watch designation three times and boasts the highest report card rating among all Rockill Middle Schools. The school also leads in achievements like National History Day qualifiers, superior ratings in fine arts and multiple district athletic championships. As principal, Mr. both took the helm of a school with a report card score of 36 and within a couple of years successfully raised it to a report card grade of 50. Currently, the school boasts a report card score of 46 based on public records, which is still 10 points higher than what he founded. These scores

044showcase steady improvements in academic achievement and student progress. Notably, Dutchman Creek now holds the highest report card scored among all five middle schools in the district. Desmond Creek has had the largest student population yet the fewest referrals and bullying incidents among all five middle schools within the district. Referrals and bully uh incidents have declined steadily under principal Met's tenure. These outcomes are a direct result of his uh safety initiatives, inclusive culture, and emphasis on student leadership. Losing Principal Motton would be more than just a change in staff. It would cause significant disrupt disruption. His absence could lower staff and community morale, disrupt stability, and even slow down student growth. And for the sake of the students and stability of Dutchman Creek, I respectfully urge the board of to do the right thing and reinstate Mr.

045Clayton Muk as principal of Dutchman Creek. Thank you. Thank [Applause] you. includes citizen participation which moves us to the consent action agenda because I have two items on there. Um minutes from the May 13th specially called meeting and secondly uh personnel recommendations. Do I have a motion to uh approve the consent action agenda as taken? Move. Thank you, Mr. Burns. Do I have a second? Thank you, Miss Harris. Any discussion? All post motion carries 61. That brings us to the action agenda and I'm going to start off with introducing Johnson who is coming up to ask for the dual credit course approval from Middle College High School at York. Good evening, Chair Miller, Vice Chair Hutcherson, board members, and Dr. Jones. In February, you approved a partnership with York Technical College for the establishment of

046a middle college. And today's agenda item is the approval of the courses the counties. Thank you. Are there any specific questions for Miss Johnson? If there are no questions, I'll entertain a motion to approve the dual credit course for middle high school. I'll second. Thank you, Mr. Dr. Um any discussion? No discussion. Only to say not um Mr. Johnson, thank you so much for your hard work on this. These are changes and not only what you've done for the middle college um but also what you've done for dual credit and winter. Thank you for your hard work and your team. I can only second that and say that this is I think a game changer for the students in Rock Hill. Um I think the opportunity to earn um college credits as you're going through

047Rock Hill Schools is an amazing opportunity for our our district and and again I just echo what Dr. Belton said. I think the passion that you've shown and poured into the hard work on this project on very very short runway to get it up and running is amazing. So I think it was Mr. Nel and Miss Harris. I I just want to echo what we're saying Johnson. cannot tell you how much positive feedback I've gotten from this and how wonderful it's going to be for our students to partner and for us to partner with Winthre to to make our city better. So, thank you for your hard work and getting this across the finish line. Miss Johnson, I echo all the the board's sentiments and just very impressed by the time frame that you just

048you had a short runway and you took the mantle and you ran with it and I saw your passion and just thank you because I think this is just a a great u partnership between Winthrop University and our school district. So, thank you. Thank you so much. This is a passion of mine and I'm excited to expand the options for our students. That's awesome. M I see you moving closer to the microphone. Yeah, this this is something that's a it's been a pet few class since I've been on the board for four years and I thank you for finally getting it across the finish line. Now, that gaya we're going to throw this summer though. I need your help on that because I'm not much of a party planner, but it's going to be a

049big one. All right. Thank you. Funny aside, she had a pretty young lady walking across the stage yesterday. So, she probably sees the expense of college and realize how this can really parents afford college. So, that's a personal passion there. So, okay. Kennedy won't benefit, but maybe some of the rest of us will. Thank you. I do believe though in the middle of it, I think Dr. Jones had a question. Yeah. I want to tell it like it is and just say that I attended um our our OBC, our old English consortia uh meeting a couple of a couple of weeks ago. And so we had it at Winthre and Winthre came in and they wanted to highlight the school the stu school systems and their work in DLI Rockill far exceeded uh plans and

050programs that are in place highlighted in the very front and and there's more to come and these universities as well as uh University South Carolina Lancaster York Tech they are stepping up. So board you're going to see more. you're going to see more and you have a leader who is is putting it into action. So very proud that Rocky leads the way in this work. Yes. Thank you. Amazing. All right. So we do have a motion on the floor. It has been made and seconded. Uh I assume this is going to pass based on the positive feedback. We still have to take the formal vote. All those in favor say I. I. All the motion carries. 70. Yes. Next up is policy JCA for second read and I'm going to introduce welcome up Dr. Marty

051Consignment of students to schools. All right. Good evening madam chair, members of the board. This is for the second read of policy JCA. Uh you received last week in your packet. um minor modification that was requested by the board and I wanted to highlight that at this time and then entertain any questions before we uh recommend for a um a second read and voting for this uh JCA policy. Again, this was a open enrollment policy to allow students to attend schools uh that they were not shown for. So, we made one um adjustment to the policy based on just some uh and more in depth uh communication with our transportation department and some others uh with research. If you look in the third paragraph, our policy JCA highlighted here, I'll read that part to you

052where we initially had it there. There was no transportation. We've updated that pro that um particular area that says the district will provide transportation for all pupils to the schools which they are assigned except for students who reside in one and one half mile of their school provided they are attending the school that serves as a legal residents. The district will provide transportation up on a student's request pending. There are no budgetary restrictions and Rockill school transportation uh approves for students who are approved to attend a school outside their zone for open enrollment. That was the change made at this time that would include an option for transportation with those students that may request that. So we made that question. Are there any comments or questions? Yes, followed by Daniel, Miss Harris, and Dr. Um,

053so thank you, Dr. Connor. Um, so you're saying that you've worked out the transportation potential transportation costs. Yeah, transportation costs again we shared earlier um to to obtain transportation costs. It's about $1.2 million for initially as 245 students, but they don't have available an option for transportation depending on, you know, the routes of those students. But again, that is at the request of each student that may request transportation. And um how would those routes work out? Would it be a kind of a I'm going to come to your door and pick you up? Yeah. Uh so with with the high school students, we actually in for pilot for high school students only. Someone I call like a Uber transportation. Go right to students house to pick up and go to that student's uh school of

054choice. And we're asking for the pilot for only students who are currently residents of Rock Hill but live go to school outside of our zone at this current time. Wait, wait. Did you say that eventually it'll go for students that live outside of our zone? So So students who reside currently in in Rockill, you know, in our first read, we asked for a pilot for students over the open enrollment policy. For this pilot here, we're asking for students who live in Rock Hill, but they're legal residents, but may attend a school outside of our zone. So if you go to a charter school but you're resident of Rock Hill, you can return to our school and choose a school of your choice. Well, I mean if someone goes to a charter school in our school

055zone, they're technically a Rock Hill, right? Rock Hill, but you're not talking about say someone in Fort Mill wants to come to No, not at all. Again, again, I'm sharing. So that student who lives in a Rock Hill high school zone that goes to a charter school somewhere else they could then attend maybe South Point. This is where the option opened up for the option for that student. I mean, okay. Chargers don't I don't think charers have said zones, but I understand what you're saying. I didn't understand. I think next up was Miss Dan. Yeah, I have a few questions. Um, this was based on recommendation from high school. Correct. Um, I mentioned earlier pack you see there I talked about the purpose really three-fold. One was a house bill 31 199. Uh secondly was

056a high school uh rule that passed uh back in March article 3 section 10 uh kind of stated what what an option for this and also you know an appetite to open up more choices for student is kind of three endeavor right but there's nothing from the state to do this at this point correct no um so why the push for this timeline to turn around so quickly exactly not really a push just an option for you guys to vote on I think for us we want to get ahead what could be an option first in our zone and in our school district as you mentioned earlier the high school league does have a rule uh that they passed back in March. So again the board that may be an option for this we want

057to provide option that would allow more school choice but as I said earlier in the first reading there is a particular bill that's been talked about state department house bill 311 3199 so want to kind of ease into it um I mentioned earlier about 245 option for this again you guys an option to vote on this option for us to get this opened up. Just a couple are transportation and finance in the room. Can they address this conversation? I'm not comfortable with the language and the budgetary version in there. I'll be glad. I got some some information I could share about the budgetary um information I gathered from them. So they're not here to speak on what I feel if I could share what question you may have about budget with our uh initial um

058members that that we've gathered. I just know we learned from the school of choice that is not a choice. Transportation is not provided and then I also know we have $116 million in our budget but now we're turning around. It feels to me like they're going to do budgetary restrictions on this transportation. I would like to hear more from transportation finance or what other sure if you want to share I can share with you just the total cost right now uh we have 11 buses that run school of choice uh buses cost about $300,000 per bus and so when you you know put in the mix for this we need no new buses right now right now we are in need of one bus for school choice so this wouldn't above that all as far

059as the overall cost for school choice in those comparison about $1.2 $2 million that we currently have 170 students for schools school of choice right now. So this wouldn't disrupt that piece we're talking about longterm in the future. So if we were to have open enrollment that say November of 245 students that would open up and would uh apply for open enrollment then that would look at you know what the budgetary restrictions may be. Okay. Um I think we got we got several. So um so I just I just want to say Dr. Connor for you and your team, thank you for going back and hearing our request because I heard a quote last week and we talked about school choices. Great choices without transportation is not a choice for kids. So thank you for

060recrafting the language. And I I do share the same concerns of budgetary constraints of what that would look like. But I do want to acknowledge you hearing us and going back and recrafting this language. Thank you, Dr. and Dr. Dr. CL. First of all, I echo Miss Harris, thank you so much for hearing um what I was very vocal about and that was transportation. I do believe that um choice without transportation is not choice. Um so we have to make it available. But I I think it's important for the community to hear what you're saying. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Number one, this is a pilot. Yes. All right. Number two, this is not open to students who are currently enrolled. This is one of many efforts that this district is trying to recruit

061students back into the district who currently live in Rockill but are choosing not to choose Rock Hill schools. Correct. Absolutely correct. And so, and it's only open to high school. So, it's limited. And then we will revisit this at some point during next school year. and whether we're going to expand it, limit it. But right now, what you are recommending is that we do this as a pilot to see if this works that we can pull in some students from other who are currently paying taxes in Rock Hill but are choosing not choosing Rock Hill schools. Got you. Absolutely correct. I think for us we want to your point Dr. Bel kind of into what we have in the pilot. I think one option here is to allow for those students who currently live in

062our in our zone, they're residents of Rock Hill, if you go to some other school, you know, one thing that we've heard areas that students may live in one particular school zone but have a choice to go somewhere else. And so this will allow that student to receive, you know, to open up to where they would like to go to. So to your point, yes, it will allow for other students who live in our our zone as well as pay taxes to come back to a school of their choice. Our goal is to see how uh this pilot goes. We anticipate, you know, we've kind of got some some some feedback from parents who have interest right now who heard the our board meeting. Uh we don't anticipate a very large number of students right

063now. So it wouldn't be a large number that would impact any kind of budgetary concerns. However, as we look at, you know, uh over the next few months coming back in September and August and October, she sharing hay board to see where the numbers are and let you guys let us you know uh give you some numbers that would may be a budgetary line item for us next year. So again, that would allow for those students to return without any kind of um budgetary at this point in time with our pilot. And I just want to just say my last comment that I I can I I can and will support this pilot on a limited basis. I just ask you as a as a as a as staff um very clearly said I don't

064think it's our role to be in day-to-day operations or be instruction to things that you're you're attempting to do. But will you please come back to the board if we are having to deny students because transportation says they can't afford it or they can't run you routes. Please let us know cuz we need to drop back and punt. Yeah. And and I would say this, you know, in our we went back to the uh the table with our transportation very complex engine that runs the routing system. Right now we have over 700 routes that run our school choice, 11 buses. On average, there's some things important this year that she'll have this appetite for what the numbers are. On average, about 30 minutes per route, you know, on average with school of choice about an

065hour and a half. So, you're talking about a lot of different things that cars want to make sure that we're considering when you talk about, you know, just, you know, one side of town to the other. So when we talk about, you know, transportation approval when you have a student that lives, you know, um on the hill side of town have to go to South Point, you talk about maybe a two-hour ride. And so again, does that fit in the grand scheme? So we don't want to limit any student from having transportation, but that's a one-way uh Uber ride, if you will, and that's a very very challenging, you know, uh thing that may come up here with the bus route. So again, you know, our goal is to any all but again want to

066um um I guess make sure that we are doing what's feasible for our budget and not you know over oursel based on what we're saying that we can't do at this point. Um just follow so again on the on the the uh costs I I think I'm going to say that I'm not going to support this and I may be in the minority on this. So when we're talking about costs that we have and we're talking about the attractiveness of kids that are not currently in Rockfield schools to Rockill schools, we could use that 1 point whatever million dollars to help children that are currently in Rockville schools. So although I would love to have everybody come back to Rockill schools, I'm thinking feasibility of our financial burden. And then I'm also thinking about do

067we talk about bell schedules and how that would affect students if you're talking about a child being on a bus for 30 minutes? Because I know with um our students that go to the ATC, for example, that have to ride the bus from Rock Hill over to the ATC. I've talked with the staff at the ATC and those students sometimes are late to the classes at the ATC, no fault of their own, but now we're talking about adding an extra complexity to bell schedules along with transportation. So, I'm not comfortable as to approving this without vetting what transportation is going to look like and then again using that money that we could use to support the transportation kids that are currently here. We need to improve cameras on buses. We need to fix some of

068the buses. I I just don't feel comfortable giving money to that's something that's not even guaranteed. And I I'll just make this one I guess uh affirmation what you said. Certainly this would not change anyone schedule. I think what I was mentioning earlier in the routes someone would be late at school. And so to your point, when you provide transportation with our current uh school of choice, it extends the time students are on the bus. And those things are not controlled by necessarily, you know, um the transportation along when you're going from, you know, Rollson Road uh school zone to a Saluda Trail school zone. That's what extends the time of the bus. So that's the those things we don't control. to your point, you know, those things are are barriers potentially where, you know,

069there's there's a cost associated with that, but we're not going to change any uh any bell schedules to what we have. But again, if a parent were to drive, you know, you have the autonomy to go to school at your own time. So again, those reviews that you're missing that we're pretty much affirming as well. I still think we need some time to flush out community and committees on this. I think I believe Mr. that back to you. Miss Daniel and then our name I think Pete next [Music] Thank you Dr. Con for doing this. Um I absolutely can support this and I think it was important. Thank you Dr. Bel for flushing out that issue that this is not a pilot program for children that are currently enrolled in our schools. It is a

070pilot program for kids that live in our district but are choosing not to go to our schools. It's for the kid that can walk to Riverwalk Academy but is zoned for Northwestern and has transportation to Northwestern but might want to go to Rockill High and that will give that child the opportunity to go to Rockill High. That's my understanding of this program edition. That is correct with our pilot. Yes. Okay. And so, and for that child that's living by Riverwalk and choosing not to go to Northwestern, but wants to go to Rock Hill High, how much money is associated that is going to come into our district with that child? I can't speak on the exact amount of money. I think it's based cost per $15,000. Yes. That student at based cost would be the

071amount that would, you know, student that returns to our district that lives somewhere else that goes some that live that that lives with us that goes in the school that's a basically good cost amount and so and so what we're trying to do is to bring more kids back in because the more kids that we have the more funding that we get to use to educate them and I'll say that again you know to Dr. Bill's point, this is really, you know, a multi-ter kind of endeavor. So, you know, the initial pilot would allow for those students to return who live with us to go somewhere else. The long term is, you know, as you look at, you know, open enrollment, it gives more flexib trail and want to go to Castle Heights. So, again,

072we start looking at the multifacet numbers, students that may want to go to different places, it will amount of cost, you know. So, with that being said, that cost right now, as I said, is 57 students. Uh that's about $1.2 million with 11 buses on 700 routes. So, when you increase that number down the road, but it will come in a cost. So, what that cost would be, we don't know right now because we don't have the data to support that based on who based on our current pilot. But again, our goal is to look at that September and October and come back to the board and say, "Hey, what we projected it may be your on that and also you know going through our transportation department I spoke with uh Mr. Murphy who pretty

073much agreed with you know what could happen but also what those barriers may could be as well. So we've done some research on that but again the pilot give us a chance to kind of ease into what this may be for us long term. And I just have one further question. The cost for transportation doesn't incrementally rise with every student. If if you are going to one particular neighborhood to pick up a student the cost to transfer trans bring that student to a school is the same as if you're picking up five students in that neighborhood. I can I can speak to, you know, the the cost that it costs right now for uh school of choice. You know, again, what it costs per per individual student, I don't have that data point. I get

074that for you. But again, you know, I do know it's $1.2 million, 700 routes, 57 students right now. when you increase that number, you know, that is and we're talking about if we increase the number, open if we open this up next year, you know, and allow students who are currently in our district, you know, that goes to South Point and want to go to Rockill High, you know, that's going to come with a cost. And so, can we afford that cost? We know that's what we want to make sure that we can afford that and make those recommendation. That's why that language there as well. But for the pilot, you know, there's not an additional cost because it is for those students who live uh in our in our zone, but they attend schools

075beyond. I thank you for the work you put in. We also have things that we don't have a lot of answers on. Um, I have would like to propose a motion under policy BPE that the chairperson put together a committee and put a pause on this to bring more departments to the table and come back and visit this in a year. I second. So, um, you you want to make that motion like a second rather than letting Dr. Well done. Okay, we we can take a vote on that. Um, so you are you're requesting for a policy BDE that I put in a uh special committee to vet this process. Uh, and it has been seconded by Miss Hutchinson. And um, any discussion on that? I I just agree with Miss Daniel. I mean, I've

076looked at our preliminary budget, and if we're talking about continuing rising costs and the deficit that we're currently sitting in, we are moving this to get this, to move this, to get this. We still have priorities in this district that we need to take care of. Uh, we need to raise our salaries for support staff and other workers around the district. Again, I'm just not comfortable with burdening a additional cost on something that may not be guaranteed via pilot. So, Dr. Connor, Dr. I thank you for your work. I I do I do thank you for your research and your hard work on this. I just think not saying that you didn't do anything wrong. I just think we need a little more. But thank you. Let me just um we are at the question

077bar, right? Let me let me just obviously you know I've spent you know the last two three weeks since the last meeting kind of going through this and and and I I too am just appreciative of this. But but help me understand this. I'm not seeing how at this point, and tell me if I'm wrong, that this would be any additional financial expense to the district because we are running now two schools, two high schools that are currently choice schools. We only have one that's not a choice school, and that's Northwestern. Correct. That is correct. Okay. So I you know and maybe I'm just missing something but I've tried spend the time thinking through this but we're no fault of this board but we we're running two schools high schools who are choice schools now

078and so we're running many of these routes anyway. And just for clarification again, you know, I think just looking at there are about two different components of this and be very clear this the the open enrollment policy itself, you know, as we went to to first read there was a a request to add transportation, you know, um as an option. So we wanted we added that that also knowing what we initially recommended that it will come with budgetary line item. So we added that as a caveat. If a parent request uh and we have the funds and the routes working, it will work for us. But to your point uh the pilot, there's no cost associated associated at all because students who will require bus who live in our in our district, they pay tax

079in our district and they go to a school that is outside of our district, they will have to drive from their home to their school of choice if they so select that. So there's no cost this initial uh poll. If the if the board approves the open enrollment then as we look at down the road and present to you guys maybe in October or September where it opens up for students who are within our district and you have a portal that will allow for 400 kids to then move from one school to another is going to come with a cost. And so those dynamics are not going to change. You will get a cost and those numbers given to you. We have 1 to be with five or seven students. So you just do a

080simple math on that you would have increasing cost afford that is where you want to make sure that we can afford that and if we cannot then you know that transportation you know we can't provide. So that's the kind of the two different uh complexities of what we're presenting tonight. Okay. So we do have a motion to um following policy PD uh to establish a committee. It was been made by Miss Daniels and seconded by Miss Hutchinson. Um we're in the discussion portion portion. Um are there any more discussion or are we ready to vote on the possibility of committee? Hearing none. All those in favor of committee. All oppose fails. 25 uh with function and Daniel's four. So that brings us back to conversation regarding policy JCA. Um I had a couple of quick

081comments. Um I I want to speak real quick if that's okay. Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes, sir. Dr. Connor, I really appreciate you doing this. I'm from District 3. That's who I represent now. It seems like is the uh district of forgotten kids and and taxpayers. You go through my district and you see swaths of neighborhoods of kids that don't use our school system and you're you're offering a a pilot program that can bring them back which increases our revenue. I really appreciate you doing this because it's the first time in four years I've seen school actually try to increase enrollment revenue for the school district. So, thank you. Well, I do want to say at the bottom of this before the chairperson, I assume she's going to call for a vote of policy JCA,

082the very last paragraph on what was in our packet seems to be inconsistent with the third paragraph, the very last paragraph says if if student is selected to participate in open enrollment option, district bus transportation is not provided parents and guardians must provide transportation to and from the requested school. that's still in here. But up here, of course, it says the district will provide transportation. So, whatever we pass, we need to make sure we clean it later as well. Yes, sir. Thank you. So, with that, just a quick comment. Um, and that is that I um I want to say thank you to you and team uh for hearing the various concerns from the board and and going back and revisiting. Uh thank you to some of our board members who have you know really

083dug in deep on this one to come up with a solution. Um I know that our enrollment as a district has been um stagnant and uh part of that is looking at different options. We saw dual enrollment here a few moments ago as one option to make sure that we serve all the kids in our community. Um I think that having a pilot program is a fantastic way to explore if this is something that is right for for our community. Um I do echo the sentiment of Miss Harris that u public school um should offer transportation. Um I was part many many years ago I feel like I've been on this board forever sometimes that brought uh transportation as a requirement for school choice. that was not originally the case. I do firmly believe that

084you don't have transportation. It's really not a choice. It's a choice for some. So you you know with that segment um I will also state that I think uh seeing the cohesive work between staff and board u is is commendable. I'm really I'm really excited about those parts. Um I do have one request. Should this pass tonight? Um I would love for both the community and the board um sometime midfall uh to have uh an update so that we can keep uh an ongoing sort of record on how that pilot program is going because you know we need to make sure that we can evaluate this as we start the budget process for next year. So, so my only request would be if it passes tonight that any kind of that we see ongoing quarterly

085reports coming back to the board of the community and I believe Dr. Belton has something And just not only the financial implications but other unintended con consequences like lopsiding, you know, racial equity, so economics, the all the things that that metrics that we have that we that in schools that we we're just fully apprised of it so we can but again a pilot is a pilot. It doesn't work, we can draw back and punch. So thank you. And I'll say one last thing. I think one big thing you guys can both to your point one to make sure that we you know address all different metrics and criteria that could be you know various for kids and one you know we want to want to have um enrollments that are lopsided. So again we have

086some criteria that kind of puts a hold on schools becoming you know old other schools becoming unrolled as well. We kind of vetted some of those process. We'll definitely bring back Miller. You know, our data shows where this is September up being prepared for maybe the next phase of this in late late uh first semester. If this if this doesn't work, let's just say it doesn't work, what happens to those students that are now enrolled in Rock High School? They can just do what they've done before. They can just Yeah. Yeah. And I think doesn't work. We got to admit that mean doesn't work. I think the students who are currently at Rock Hill uh is not doesn't work or doesn't work. They currently exist what they currently are. I think your point what may

087not work is no students enrolled open up. So in that regard we want to return to our schools that regard it didn't work for us to get kids back in. But I think the real work will be we open this up to students who are currently in our in our district fall sometime in the spring provide all. So with that um at this point I will entertain a motion to approve policy JCA including the change that Dr. Belta brought out uh for second read. Do I have a motion? Thank you Mr. Do I have a second? No. Any discussion? Very none. All those in favor? All post? Motion cares 5 to2 with Daniel and thank you sir. We appreciate the air condition. I see people fanning so I just want to make sure. Yes, thank

088you for that. Yeah, it is all as it went on. Yes. Uh so last on the action agenda is calendar process and um I had together with such and sen put together a memo to accompany this um uh segment. Uh so what drove this segment and I put it over the action uh agenda just so that the board would have an opportunity to take action if you so choose to use um there has been um a lot of discussion um regarding um the calendar um and uh we've also had conversations about committees um and currently um we do have a policy as you heard a little earlier called BD uh that does give uh the chair an opportunity to assign a committee for special uh short-term uh projects as it may be. Um we know

089that uh if this uh if we were to do a process for calendar uh all of those meetings have to be publicly posted. They are open to the public and they have to be notified just like we would do with any meetings for policy. Um So, a couple of things when it comes to the calendar, it it has to be uh per policy uh approved by December of every year. And um what that means is when we take a look for the coming year, uh we do have some time. However, we also know that a lot of people are right now looking at, you know, plans, vacation plans, and having to plan around graduations and all of those things. So delaying in a decision process to December is probably not asking for a specific document

090for trans related to um we know that we are at this point not getting a presentation regarding the county. One of the things that we're hearing coming from the community as well is um a lot of questions about the inter sessions uh that are scheduled for the fall. Um so when the board took action on the calendar that is currently approved for the fall uh we were told uh by the former administration that plans and processes in place for these include a partnership with organizations and plans for extra help with for kids who need it. Um it since seems like that is not necessarily the case. So, I want to open up both of these topics for board for open, honest, and transparent, heartfelt communication because our district and our families deserve to have an

091understanding of what the plans for the fall inter sessions are. Um, and in addition, we need to set sort of a path for how we go through the calendar process for next year. So, I'm just going to open it up and hear what people have to say. Madam chairperson, with your permission, I'd like to just direct my conversations very directly to the superintendent. We contract teachers for 190 days. 10 of those are non work day. Non students are not present. 180 days for students. Do we have currently do we have any teachers who are contracted beyond their 190 days? Teachers. No, sir. No. No. All right. Is there a plan and is there a budget for inter session next year? Right now, as we're sitting here tonight, we have projections on numbers. Um there is

092no one guide of what inter session looks like. Uh you you basically base on the need. Uh so we have numbers based that if we took every school because it was stated using it to catch students up which is remediation. If you looked at elementary and middle schools and let's say you took the top 30 students that need that remediation the most at each grade level three, four and five because of being an assessed area as well as six, seven, and eight then we have numbers on based on what that daily rate of teachers would be. Uh we would have to find money in our budget for that sir. All right. I don't want Mr. Nosal to say anything and I don't want to sound disrespectful. Is that answer a no? That would be we

093don't have money budget particularly. Okay. Thank you. I'm going to take it as a no. And if that's incorrect, correct me. Okay. Yes, Mr. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So, at this current moment, Yeah. Um so at this current moment I think we need to talk about if we don't have the money to do interess interession with our students what other opportunities I mean essentially we're going to have to call the break um what opportunities do we have we looked into um any partnerships like with be great or boys that's boys girl or the ya to provide lowcost options to our children that I'll be honest, I don't want my eight-year-old at home by herself because mommy and daddy have to work. Well, and my and 10-year-old, but I don't want my kids all day

094at home by themselves because mommy and daddy have to work. Now, I do have resources, but that would require me as a parent to send my children away. So, have we worked on any types of partnerships with anyone that we could provide low cost or affordable options to families that may need that help with a break would certainly be great academy. They're wonderful partners with us, the Boys and Girls Club. Uh we we transitioned from uh running our overseeing our own after school program to be great and Dr. Barbara has done a wonderful job working with that organization. We feel that they will be able to step up and say this is what we can do. There are other afterchool programs in the community that certainly want to collect uh information and share with our

095families and broadcast that. So yes partnerships that that we have that that could could work with us would be interesting. Um, I'm really disappointed that this council was passed without a plan in place for inter session ahead of time. There were questions that I had in the audience that night. I'm very disappointed that a plan was not laid out. Budget was not considered. Um, but that's a whole school district that's out for two weeks. says, "We sit and talk about test scores." Essentially, we have given them two more weeks of vacation because there was not a plan in place. Um, and that was my hedge with the open enrollment. I just need a plan in place, y'all. And can't go back and do it. Um, so, but I I have to say that publicly. Any

096educator could have looked at you and said, "We need to lay out a long range plan for this." Yet, that decision was made and now here we sit. You know, I'm going to have to come up with what to do with my kids two weeks next year when they can be in school and there are going to be children that need to be fed. What are we what what are we doing? Um, so I'm really disappointed that we're at this discussion right now for something coming up in October. And I hope that as a board when we go to make decisions in the future that are as large as this, we insist that a plan is in place and we have a talk behind this and nutrition and transportation and that we truly know what

097is going to happen rather than just well somebody will lay on the plane it'll happen. We put these people in a bind and it's not fair and it's to the detriment of their education. So thank you. I I second that. I'm sorry. I just miss Daniel. I think that this is good that we're going to do a committee going forward, but we really need to stop making decisions without plans and without community input and full community input and having people come into this room and speak before us and tell us what they need. We cannot continue to make these decisions without asking our community to give us the input that we need because we can't make decisions for children without the community. [Applause] that I want to clarify is that this recommendation was not made

098for the board to approve by Dr. Jones. Dr. Jones is stepping into the role. I don't want anybody listening feeling like some of the criticism that is being raised by all of us for the process and and how it was presented is on Dr. Jones because that is not the case. So with that, you know, clearly I think we're all, you know, understanding that the community needs um answers. Um and I I understand that there are some plans in place. Um I think what we you know, we're availability that you shared. I think that it's important that we push that information out so that our families have an option and see what those options look like sooner rather than later because this literally affects our entire community in every single student. And I know that

099back during CO when we had children that were um on different schedules, the AB schedule and you know when we're doing virtual learning, the amount of heartache that we heard through our district because students were you know left without proper supervision was just awful and I fear that this is we don't offer good opportunities. So that I just want to echo excuse Dr. What Dr. Belman said, it's fine. Well, I'll call you that when we're done, but I I think this is like Miss Daniel presented, committees. I think we need to revisit the policy about not having committees. I think it's a time again to implement and change our policy and I'm willing to um bring that to you to bring to the agenda at some point in the near future because I think when

100we're talking about budget, we're talking about calendar, we're talking about things like open enrollment, we need committee. So, I'm letting you know that I'm going to bring that to you so that we can have a whole community involvement on these decisions that affect our children. So, so note that the policy in place is for board committees involving board members, not necessarily community members. At least that's not Well, we represent the community. Yes. Correct. Right. But just I'm a community member on the school board, so I voices are just as important as mine. I understand. Um but so on that topic, um obviously some of our neighboring districts have passed uh calendars for the future. you know, we're talking about the 26 27 school year that are very much mirror the calendar that we have currently,

101which is the one involving interessions. I think that it is probably a good idea for us not to go ahead and just start pushing forward with a similar calendar where we're clearly having concerns about the inter sessions this year. Yeah. You know, we need to figure this part out before we just push the problem over to the following year. So there's a couple of ways we can do that. You know, we can either utilize that policy and I appoint the committee with three board members or whatever who are interested in in spending some extra time together with staff in a public setting to to look through this. Or we can um start that committee work sometime during the summer or in August or we can wait until the next superintendent come in. There's a lot

102of different versions of how we how we do this. We do however know that it has to be approved by December fully knowing that I have this week alone already gotten four or five different pieces of communication with people asking what does the next school year look like? I am being asked to put in vacation days for my employer kind of thing. So thoughts do you all want me to do? Do we want a special committee starting now? And if so, who's interested in starting on calendar committee. Okay. So, we got Miss Harris, Miss Daniel, and Miss Hutch. Okay. Um, I'd like superintendent start process. Oh, of course. Right. Right. that I formally appoint policy a calendar committee um consisting of the three board members and I will sometime during this week send out some

103communication about what the process legalities are so to speak and I will include Dr. Jones um our incoming superintendent as well as our PIO who is always part of the sort of the calendar process by role and then we will see what the work of y'all would come up with and I think the most key here is that keep having the conversation and we could even put an update in um um like sort of a standing line item or not line item um like a standing agenda item going forward until we have uh proposed we're or approved this so that we have continuous communication going to I see yeah and madam chair I just just two points that I want to make and I I don't have anything further to say about this um you

104know dating myself but I remember 30 years ago teachers were on the calendar committee I was on the calendar committee one of those years and I remember very vividly a discussion being about calendars trying to mirror our part neighboring what we called them partnering districts back then. Number one, we were sharing our applied technology center. Many may not remember that but students from other districts actually used to use the applied technology center which for the entire county and their students came. And number two, we we exchanged a lot of employees and we didn't want teachers in one district to be off teachers in other districts. So, I'm not saying we need to do what the other districts are doing, but I do hope that we keep that in some considerations that there could be some

105unintended consequences if we stray too far away, particular things like spring break, Christmas break, those things. Um, lastly, I will say that this is extremely difficult for me because I do think that there should have been some things in place and I echo what Miss Daniel said, but I also recognize and realize that, and I won't, again, I'm I'm speaking to the community, not necessarily to the board, that we can only contract teachers for 190 days. We cannot legally force a teacher to come in during intercession. contracts have already gone out and have been signed for the 2526 school year. This board has zero authority, zero legal authority to make teachers come in. So regardless of what our personal thoughts are about intercession, there is absolutely no way that we can have intercession for the

1062526 school year. We do not have the legal authority to make a teacher work one day longer than 190 days. I think you have a question. Now, this is something I I have a question, but could we pay them overtime? Could we certainly we could pay them over time? We could have paid over time. We could have paid if we had the money to do it. So, there we could have had the teachers if we had the money. That's why I said at this point where we are right now, right? During the planning, we could have put we could have planned what schools we were going to do it in, choose schools, choose routes, those types of things. But we didn't do that. So at this state where we are now, teachers have signed their

107contracts. Thank you for the clarification. Okay. So we got a plan and again over the next couple of days I'll send out communication and and everyone will sort of take it from there. So that concludes uh the action portion of our agenda. And madam chair, I just want to be clear. Do we need to take an action or is it clear and binding that students will not be in school during inter session? I don't want to leave this meeting without it being clear to the community that this conversation is closed as far as the school district is. So So I don't know that that was the Can you repeat that Dr. B? Just make sure I I you know the five people that have come by my office to include my neighbor. I don't want

108to leave here with that conversation being open with parents thinking there is a possibility that we could do intercession. I do we need to take an action as a board to say we are not going to have inter session where we're going to have intercession the students will not be in school during inter session or do we need to take a vote and say this budget we're going to ask our CFO to redo a budget and put a couple of million dollars in there for inter session but I I just think we need to close this conversation tonight so for clarification what Dr. Elton is saying to community is that the calendar as far as when the students are receiving instruction and when the inter session periods are will not change because the calendar has

109been approved. What the question is is what are the opportunities for students as we heard when in in when we were approving this calendar was the presentation coming from administration and the PIO explaining that there were going to be all kinds of community and and district opportunities for the students. We have since learned from Dr. Jones as you heard that those plans are not there currently which means that we are in a position to where intercessions right now is going to be either vacation times for students or there are going to be some ideas that Dr. is going to push out the community with options to parents, but they are not run by Rockill Schools and it is not part of our curriculum. Thank you. Answer my question. Thank you. And I would like to

110say when the calendar was passed on October 8th, one of the questions came about athletics and athletics would run practices that week and then we run athletics. Okay. So moving forward uh we do have communications and we're now back to the public participation in meetings. There are like I stated earlier two various forms of all that have the public participation. Communications requires um the individual or group to submit a request um once they at noon the week before uh when we before our agenda setting meeting. Uh this segment allows for 30 minutes per policy. Uh tonight we have six individuals uh that have signed up which means that each individual will get about five minutes. Now the difference between this segment and the one that we heard before publication is that the board can respond

111and h can address uh the speaker with follow-up questions or clarifications if board members so choose. However, for policy and foyer regulations, there will be no action taken based on anything. That would have to be posted for a future meeting. So, with that said, um I am going to start off with welcoming up Miss Gretchen Hansen who is going to address the board on the topic of student discipline. Welcome. First, I want to thank you for letting me speak tonight. My name is Gretchen Hansen and I'm a parent of graduate and have been subbing subbing in the Rock Hill School District for the past two and a half school years. Two of which have been as a building sub. For those that don't know what a building sub is, it means I go to the

112same school every day, go into classrooms that and go into classrooms that need a temporary teacher. So I know the students and the personnel in that school. My reason for speaking tonight is the behavior in schools. I'll start by asking when are students who come ready to learn going to come first? My firsthand observations and in talking with teachers um behavior is theirs and my biggest concern. In my school, five teachers, three assistants, two building subs, and one reading coach have quit before the school year ended. mainly due to behavior. In some cases, the HR files do not reflect the real reasons they left. It seems the same kids day after day cause disruption, disrespect, and chaos to the point they have daily check-ins or walks with certain personnel. This needs to be addressed and

113beyond a limited timeline. As the saying goes, shape up or ship out. Teachers have so many things on their plate to work with and bad behavior should not be a daily all day occurrence. Many teachers have some or all of the following. Bad behaving students, special needs, medical needs, learning challenged and language barriers all in one classroom. When you have 20 plus students, this is unachievable to reach or teach. The effects of this is seen in the number of students who can't read, do basic math, and write proficiently by fifth grade. Many days I see the same students in the administration offices. It is common for students to talk back to teachers, talk non-stop in class, not to work, sleep, or try to start something with other students. If this behavior doesn't get stopped in

114elementary, it will only get worse going forward. And to that I ask, how is that helping students, good or bad? Students ready to learn should not have to keep being subjected to this learning environment. In fact, I've had many students tell me that they wish they weren't in the classrooms that they were in. I can say in my experience that I have been told to shut up, call disrespectful names, told make me when I ask a student to sit down, a student punching their hand as if punching me because I told them to do their work. um and a student threatening to hit me with their book bag, just to name a few of the incidents, but not the entirety or the enormity of them. They don't even care if you tell admin or parents

115of the bad behavior. I know this is a problem throughout the district and not just one school. I hear it from other teachers and other schools and certain groups on social media. We don't need to be the district of bad behavior and low student achievement. If students can't behave, then they need to be excused from the schools until such time that they are ready to learn. The school's job is to teach and the parents job to parent. More and more educators will leave if things don't change. We can't keep allowing bad behavior. I have been told by teachers in multiple schools that codes on referrals are being changed from ones they originally entered by them. What I'm asking is parents whose students are in chaotic classrooms to advocate for them. Get into schools and observe,

116talk with admin, or even go to the state board of education if needed. Our schools need help and it is my belief that if behavior gets under control, then the academics will follow. Um, on another quick note, just because I'm bringing stuff that people from my school are mentioning to me that are problems in the school, but they don't feel comfortable in coming to talk. Um, getting rid of technical support is a mistake. There's computer there's computer problems every day and in most every single classroom. Without technical support in the schools, I don't know what they're going to do. And as a building sub, that's primarily what we're left. Um, also our special needs classrooms are in dire need of support. These classrooms have good students, but these students have a lot of needs. Student

117frustration can be high where they hit, kick, bite, pinch, and scratch teachers daily. That can wear on anyone when done regularly. Smaller class sizes, more personnel, and higher pay for all in the class is something to be considered the attention of these teachers and assistants. Some of these students could go much further if they had more one-on-one instruction before or if being transitioned to general education classrooms. I thank you all for listening and um for your service. Thank you. [Applause] Next up is Powell. Um, regarding being safe. Good evening everybody. Thank you all for having me and welcome to the new superintendent clean. Hopefully we have a good time. I'm new to Raquel uh, South Carolina. I moved from Texas, Katy, Texas to be inside and uh I spent over 25 years in my district

118which I work and serve my community along with my representative house district senate as far as Congress. It was amazing experience and I tend to share my wonderful idea in Texas with Raquel. My 10 months in Raquel I have observed A lot of staff are working in transportation. So, I'm in the speak of transportation. Um, I'm a little bit upset and disappointed with our police and I feel that I invested a lot of money, a lot of money that I will be a military in my country in Raquel and I think that the money need to be spent wisely and sufficiently by everybody. Raquel is a very good district. We have a lot of lovely people. I've come to this building many time to advocate on my son with a special need for help and

119I've got a lot of support from that department. So therefore speaking on um the safety for our children whether you black, blue, green, yellow, brown, we are a community and it takes every one of us as a village to have a successful community. um working in transportation. I travel to Raquel School District and during the AM round and the billion round, I'm a little bit disappointed that our money, taxpayer money, my money is not being spent wisely in having enough police officer around during those hour to assist the bus drivers, to assist the community because of the lack of police officer or some police officer running the stop arm of the bus to maybe cause an accident and kill any child or parent. I have experienced it countless time and I'm very disappointed and heard

120that something will happen to one of our children one of the days coming up if something is not been done during the AM route and the B route. So therefore I'm coming asking you guys to please do something about it. They put it in the work directed with transportation to have the route in the hand kept the observation of all the routes to make sure that none of our parents not even myself run a stop sign and kill a child. So please do something about that. That's number one. Number two, I'm a homeowner. Very proud to have a little kid. But I believe that I don't know how you say them work in Texas. We don't have a lot of trees. So it's very strange to me. A lot of trees everywhere. Um there is

121trees on the road and there is trees in the driveway. So I do not know the dimension of where it stopped. Who covered what if the home owner cover the trees or the city responsible for the trees. But one thing I do know for sure that whosoever responsible what the city or what the homeowner somebody should be responsible when the tree is tangal wire that's a safety hassle some notice for tornado or hurricane just like Texas so when I see the tree running into the wire I get scared and I feel that the tree is hanging so low it may cost us money to replace the bus because it's bounding on the bass. So therefore, you guys need to look into it and if the home owner is responsible, home owner should be responsible to

122cut the tree. If they don't cut the tree, it should be fine. And if the city is responsible, they say go ahead and do the job. We've been there to do the job. So they should do the job. That's all right. On safety. So the same thing for our community, symptom for our children, same thing for everything regarding Rock Hill to become a successful district. It last in our hand. It takes us as a village to make Raquel School District one of the best district ever. We are not over yet. I listen to a lot of talk this evening and I see that we can do more. We have the resources. We have the fund. We just need to go and get the money. If Donald Trump is not sending the money to Africa anymore,

123he can give us the money. Have a good evening. Thank you. Well, real quick, um before um first of all, I want to say thank you for your passion and thank you for being part of that team and part thank you for caring about our community, our kids. Um so most of the issues that you are bringing up um specifically the police and as far as where the responsibility goes between uh who is responsible for maintenance, it falls in either the city or the county depending on uh which part of town or which route you're on. Yes. But I what I would love is for uh some of our folks that work closely together with the transportation and to communicate some of these things with the city to potentially have um a meeting uh so

124that you can share some of the specific places so that they can advocate on behalf of students. So if you can um I know that you submitted the written request. So what I will do is I will send you an email uh with a followup because what you're bringing up is really truly a safety concern and we want to make sure that we collaborate together as a community. And you're right, it takes a village. So we're all part of it. I was like, "Oh, thank I just when you were saying police, were you saying like police officers or were you saying security on the buses?" Police not security on the bus. Police officer that you won't see more police officer on the street. If you don't commit a crime, you're not afraid of the police

125officer. For me, I won't see police officer 247. Even if I commit a crime, I still want to see him. So to piggy back on that question when you said u I will be looking for for that email. I also gentlemen I was test representative and tell her my concern beside what I just spoke about there is some other things that does not regard the school board authority to handle it. So I will be meeting with he or she whatsoever they may be to address that because as I said it take us as a community to make a successful community. It's not white black going up it's us every one of us. Thank you. Thank you. I look forward to connecting with you tomorrow. I'll get that email out by end of business tomorrow. Okay.

126Thank you. Uh next up is next up is Jason Hansinger who is staffing. Yes. Hello. Thank you for having me. My name is Jason Huninger. I'm a former teacher middle school and a parent of two students in the school district. I want to create a fictitious scenario that describes a random school district in a random state. The school district has normal characters. You know, superintendent, board members, teachers, administrators, a whole bunch of district office employees. Let's establish some basic rules in our school. We can call them policies. I can't name all of them, but I want to point out three important ones. Section one, bullet two. Understand that the basic function of the school board is policymaking, not administration. by accepting the responsibility of learning to discriminate intelligently between these two functions. Section three, bullet

127three, acting only upon the recommendation of the superintendent in matters of employment or dismissal of a school personnel. Bullet seven, presenting personal criticisms of any employee directly to the superintendent. I assume we can agree upon these especially in our fictitious school district. Since we have well educated professionals as employees, we want to make sure that we definitely have a system of due process. So if any administrator wants to remove a staff member, there has to be a well doumented process that principles follow to provide excessive amounts of documentation about that staff member. After this, there's a specific process that takes place where evidence is gathered and upon the evidence being gathered, the staff member is either put back into their position without conditions or they are put on a school improvement plan, performance improvement plan,

128or they could be recommended for termination. That would be rare. But even in this termination scenario, we would in most cases offer the employee the opportunity to resign just out of respect. If they refuse to resign based on our random state law, they would be provided with a written notice, evidence supporting the dismissal, and they would even get the opportunity to do a court hearing. So, I'd like to present some what if rhetorical questions about our fictitious school district. What if in our fictitious school district, we had all of this in place for teachers and other staff, but the process for dismissing a principal went something like this. Despite the agreed upon policy, the superintendent recommends contracts and on administrators and the school board completely ignores the recommendation and instead made decisions on the contract

129based on arbitrary subjective one-sided information. What if in our fictitious school district there were schools that were winning national awards and being recognized at board meetings and 30 minutes later at the same board meeting a board member openly suggested they were not surprised that bad behavior took place and that school and then vowed to clean it up. What if in our fictitious school district there were parents that disagreed with the decisions that were made and they carried a grudge for years and years until they finally got a chance for revenge? What if in our fictitious school district there was a disgruntled parents that used others as puppets to help make decisions about people's careers and contracts without any regard to objective datadriven decision-making process or policy? What if in our fictitious school district there were

130board members that went along with the decisions that they knew in their heart weren't right? Maybe out of fear fear maybe to receive campaign support or funding for current or future offices or maybe even so that they can accomplish their own agendas. What if in our fictitious school district, the school board genuinely wanted to do the right thing, but in the process they overstepped their designed authority and continued to run off competent superintendent due to retirement. Let's step out of our fictitious land for a moment. Whether you board members realize it or not, the Rockill School District is on life support. The morale and confidence in our elected leadership has never been lowered. Since the superintendent voted yes and you guys voted no without objective evidence, I would argue that that's a direct violation of

131policy BCA section 3 bullet 3, acting only upon the recommendation of the superintendent in matters of employment or dismissal of a school personnel. This action is unprecedented and highlights the personal nature of the decision. So, why are so many families that kid that have kids with great behavior and above average test scores finding alternative ways to educate their children? Well, here's what we can't do. We can't blame it on superintendent because we haven't had one around long enough to know whether or not they're an effective leader. Why might that be the case? Well, since we're in the business of passing out subjective opinions, here's mine. This board has clearly come to the conclusion that they are better suited to run this school district than the superintendent. Here's the reality. Our system was designed in a

132way that has a perfect balance of power that works. But that only happens if everyone stays in their lane and does their job. Right now, this school board is operating outside of its intended purpose. The good news is the school district being all life support means it isn't dead yet. It's not too late. We all make wrong decisions. The greatest quality of a real leader is one that is willing to stand up and admit that they were wrong. Grace can and will be extended. I trust I pray that someone on this board can remember the oath taken under George Gu, Judge God, the one that articulated the right to due process, limited government, separation of powers from popular sovereignty over personal agendas. I believe with the best of intentions that each one of you want

133to do the right thing and in order to accomplish that sir. three non-rhetorical questions, but I do want to jump on one thing Dr. Belton said, and I just want to let you know how much I appreciate what you said earlier. I really do with all of my heart and I believe that you guys have an opportunity to put in action what he spoke on, sir. Which was the fact that you guys are here for policy, not operations, and you all made an decision about Mr. which is an operational decision which is a direct violation of the policies that a board help so I implore you to please reverse this decision and put your money where your mouth policy I'm asking you please to respect the time so my question back to that would be

134are we going to pick and choose which policies we're going to listen to because clearly the one about listening to the superintendent's recommendation doesn't matter, but the one about me stepping off this does. I'm really confused. Sure. I believe there was a question post. Anyone else? Thank you. Thank you for your consideration. I appreciate you letting me speak. [Applause] who is going to address the board on the topic of teacher concerns. Over the past week, I have spent time listening, really listening to the concerns of the silent majority in our schools. I have had I have heard and read. What I have heard and read is deeply troubling. Educators feel dismissed. Decisions are being made without their insight and fear has been replaced. Open dialogue. There these are the voices of the teachers and staff

135who have grown weary of speaking up. Ones who have been met with silence or even worse retaliation. They are people on the front lines of education. The ones shaping the minds the teaching who are teaching our future. They have been silenced. They are exhausted. We all are exhausted. But here we are again seeing if we can get this board to listen to their words, our words. These voices deserve more than silence. They deserve respect, recognition, and above all action. I have taken the time to organize a few of their concerns for you. I truly care if you truly care about restoring trust. If you truly believe in the mission of serving our students and supporting those who educate them, then I urge you to take these concerns seriously. Let this be the start of your

136checklist, not of political priorities or personal agendas. The opportunity right in front of you. The question now is, will you finally listen? One coach wants to go ahead and get on the record raising his concerns about the transfer policy since this issue will be an upcoming decision made by the board. He writes, "I have a major concern over the possible transfer policy that has been proposed for our district. During my nearly two decades of coaching, recruiting has been rampant across our district in nearly every sport. The proposed policy to allow students a one-time no question asked transfer is nothing more than a green light for widespread recruiting. I understand that there are circumstances that warrant a transfer, but to allow anyone to transfer anywhere they want to in the district just because they want to

137is absolutely insane. What happened to the 365day rule that was supposedly implemented several years ago. I know of no incident in any of our three schools where the policy was actually enforced. Enough is enough. It is unbelievable if it is understandable, excuse me, it is understandable if a family moves into another school district zone, but outside of those circumstances, students should go to the school they zone to live in. Another co other coaches wrote to me with different concerns. Three coaches in our district district who hold tryyouts and involve that involve cuts are now concerned they could be unfairly targeted next. Their fear stems from a recent incident in which the school district appears to validate a perception of discrimination and racism leaked confidential information from a coaching in investigation and bypass both principal and

138athletic director to carry out what many view as an unjust removal. The public has spoke on the to this very board multiple times about the situation and yet their voices fall on deaf ears. Nothing is being done. No reassurance has been given. If a coach If coaches know their athletic directors and school principles words aren't being heard, how are they to feel secure in doing their jobs as coaches? An employee of the athletic of an athletic department backed up his concerns by writing, "We can't do our job for the fear that 1% will be upset about something. Some board member some board members appear to believe it's appropriate to pick up the phone and dictate what dictate what we should or shouldn't be doing. But we have to ask since when did it become the

139role of the school board to be involved to involve itself directly in the day-to-day operations of our athletic department. That is not your business. And overreach like this is under it only undermines the professional professionals hired to lead the manage these programs. To sum up everything I've received and to speed this up, I will share a letter written. One Rockill school teacher said, "How much time do I have? Since we had another speaker go over, I'm I'm going to go over a little bit and um please be mindful of the time and anything that you have written down, you can also send to all of us or to me and I'll just give you that board as well. Okay. [Music] Um, I have a lot written that a lot that would like to be said

140by teachers who have wrote to me the silent majority that have written and want their voices to be heard, coaches, teachers, staff, and I want to be heard that. Um but given the the time restraint for for tonight um we can either continue the segment at the board meeting or if you want to send a written version to us. Could you please email it to me? Yeah, I think we all would love to read it. Absolutely. But um and I'll I'll stop here but um before um Before I leave, I'd like to say something to Mr. Nosle. Um, the next time you think to call me and tell me that my words directly affect the donations coming into the bear Bearcat backers and affect our athletes, I want you to remember the damage that you

141and this board have already done to our student athletes. Thank you. [Applause] Dr. Chair, Miss Shook is taking taking her seat. Um certainly no ma'am, you could. It's not a question. It's just a statement. First of all, I do appreciate all the community coming, speaking. This is what a democracy does and this is how a democracy works. I I do just want to make sure because I do think it's important that we educate and I won't go too far down the rabbit hole, but I I I'll keep it high level, but just say this. There have been several people who've come before this board in the last couple of weeks and have indicated and I assume what you were um talking about was the decision at Rocky High School. I want the community again to

142hear me because I'm speaking to the community. Um every vote that we take, we have to take publicly. This board since I have been on it in November, this board has not voted on any athletic decisions or hirings at Rocket High School. So, I'm not sure where that information has gotten to the public, but it is inaccurate information that this board made any decisions about those things since I've been on the board since November of 2024. And that would be true prior to the election as well. Nothing has come before this board about Rocky High School. It would have to come here publicly and the vote would have to be taken publicly. That has not happened. Uh with that, um I'm going to welcome up Emma Vong who is going to speak regarding underperforming schools.

143Welcome Thank you. I will try to be quick. I have a speech written, but I'm just I did it with my notes. They covered some of the things that I had wanted to say. The most important thing to me is something a mother told me years ago. Some of you may know the little Red River middle community, very poor land, houses close to the road. She said, "Why do people speed through here? Don't they know that we love our children just as much as they love theirs?" That's what Rockill School District needs to be about. Everybody loves their children just like you do. Something else that my old age. I think most of us feel the same. Don't you want this for your children, for your grandchild, whatever. I'm still doing things. I'm still volunteering.

144I'm going to volunteer more next year back in the schools. But unless I look in the mirror, I don't know my great grandma. I am blessed with good health. I'm here, there, and everywhere. And I'm glad to continue to be I need a walking cane. I told my girls, I'll use it. I'm on the phone and break a leg. Think of that. Teachers, I think, are the least racist people in this world. And I bet y'all pretty much agree with me. Those children that walk in our door are our children. We don't worry about their race, their sexual orientation, anything for nine months. They're our children. When I hear any school board, it's not just this one, talk about underperforming schools. I as a teacher say it's not underperforming schools. Okay. You even said it's

145the lowincome school uh children, lowincome families, high majority of people who don't speak English. Okay, they're compared with others. I hope that uh when they're not meeting their goals that they have their own individual goals. Uh teachers work hard. Students and parents need to work hard too. Most of you parents, you're right there with your kids. You also don't want it maybe they don't have the time. They don't care. things that teachers enforce like if someone is across from Sullivan Middle School at 5:30 in a fight that has nothing to do with Rock Hill schools. That's the parents. We teach them all this kind of stuff. And if you thought about how little trouble we have in Rockill schools compared to how many children we have, teaching is a hard job, but it's a community.

146Some of you have been teachers are in the schools now. You know it. Especially elementary. I think we're a community. We know those kids from kindergarten to fifth grade. We work together. Um let me tell you real quickly. All test scores are not created equal. After I retired, we went to my um granddaughter in Texas second grade uh commencement. We talk about Rock Hill School kids not being able to pass test. 90% of their um fourth graders p made 100 on the test. 100% of the fifth graders made 100. I said, "How did you do that?" But we each gave one class period a week to help the who were underperforming. No, their test first grader pass. We got through an email in Rockill schools when I was subbing which is a test on the

147fifth grade test in um Texas and which is a test on a question on the third grade te uh test in South Carolina. It's a twopart test was on the third grade. The two-part math question was on the third grade test in South Carolina. The simple one part was on Texas. Yeah. The tests aren't the same. But think about when you have these under um performing schools, it's not the schools that are underperforming. They need more money. They need help. I loved working with uh I was paid subpay $100 a day. Has it improved any? Uh to work with four to six kids at the time at Lesley Elementary. We had a ball and we made big improvements. That's where our money needs to be going to help these kids and they need to be

148in school. These half days, y'all did get rid of half days, didn't you? They are no good. Nothing happens for half days, get fed and sent home, right? Thank you. Thank you so much. [Applause] and for coming on. I just wanted to thank you for saying what you said about what happens across the street. It's not on the burden of the teachers. It's not the fault of the teachers because I know the teachers are working hard when the children within those walls and even when they're not in the walls. So, thank you for saying that and that's important for us to make sure that we don't publicly demonish our teachers and staff. Thank you. So, uh, next up is, uh, Miss Sally Young, and she's gonna speak regarding renewal and strategic plans. Good evening, friends.

149Come here regular here. So, if you'll bear with me, I have some prepared comments, but after Dr. Bell spoke, I now scribbled comments, so I'm going to do my best to read them. Dr. Jones, thank you. Thank you for your service to our district. Better for you. appreciate it. Um, so thank you Dr. Belton for your comments. Um, I have revised my comments since I since I sat down. Um, I did come with some report card data and some contentious comments and the truth is all day I myself was struggling with how to come and bring peace um, for this district. So, thank you for your example. Um, I ask that you do make a meaningful humble move um to restore Mr. All Mr. Motus principles. I think if you do this, you will show

150that what you that you mean what you said. Um the board did overstep. Y'all made a mistake and allowed some personal preferences to step in to day-to-day operations um in contradiction to the recommendation of this fine appropriately honored interim superintendent and staff before us tonight. Um show the community and Dr. Elder that you mean what you say. Um and that you will get out of the way and do the right thing. the right decision for Rock Hill High and Dutchman Creek is that you keep these principles. There are good, stable leaders that have served our students well. With that said, we do have real problems and some hard decisions to make. Um, Dr. Belton did identify some of those major issues. So, clearly you are aware. We don't need to repeat everything, but I hope

151you are ready and I hope the community heard you and is also ready to set aside the attacks. We do need to work together. It is time. The house divided cannot stand. We do need to come together to serve this school district. Let's have meaningful, kind, respectful conversations. Start with students and teachers at the center of everything that you do. The district staff is a support staff for our schools. They are here to serve the teachers, not for the teachers to serve them. Listen to the teachers. You've heard from many other people tonight. Listen to the teachers. Trust them. Respect them. Let them do their job. We have excellent teachers in this school district. Don't run them off right now. They think they can't trust you and they think they aren't trusted. We do all

152love this district. We do thank you all for your service. I do believe you all are kind, good people who ran on good agendas to come and serve. So, let's all work together. Serve this district. We want this district to be successful, meaning that we are educating the children of our district well. Like you, Dr. Belton, and other board members, my family has chosen to be here. We choose to stay here even when we don't agree. We have other options. I strongly believe the public school system is vitally important to a community. I would like to see more open public debate, less decisions made behind closed doors, more transparency. If you feel good about your decisions, you don't need to hide them. Let's put the dollars in the classroom first and foremost. Not about to

153see a budget. I think about 50% of that is in support staff. Look at those dollars. Where are they going? Can they go to the classrooms? Teachers are not leaving teaching because of money. There's not a teacher who came into teaching thinking they were going to get rich. They leave for all the things they are asked to do outside of teaching. They leave because they aren't respected. They leave because of all the things that make teaching hard other than the kids. The lack of resources, too many meetings, paperwork, discipline issues, not feeling supported, feeling alone in the classroom with a district staff that doesn't have the be the support the teachers need to teach our kids. Know who we are. We are Rock Hill. We're not Fort Mill. We're not Clover. We're not York. We're

154Rock Hill. And we're proud to be Rockill. Let's be who Rock Hill is with our calendar, with our decisions, with our students. Don't rush decisions. This has come up a couple times in the last few weeks with the um admin contract policy a few weeks ago. Open enrollment tonight calendar. We're talking about the strategic and improvement plans. Slow down. Take your time. Governance, it takes time. It takes information. That's your role to govern, to look at the big picture. Take your time. Don't get involved in the day-to-day operations. Slow down. Be transparent. Do look at the budget that's about to be presented. Where are all the dollars going? Every dollar is a taxpayer dollar. It needs to be justified and it needs to be spent in the classroom community. We have to show up. We've

155been silent for too long. Maybe we thought we hadn't been heard. I hear tonight and all this board has done that you are listening. So community, we have to show up. We have to speak. We have to be involved. Thank you board members. Thank you for your service. We do appreciate you. I do hope that everybody can be kind and work together as a community. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] So that concludes the communications and we're going to move on to presentations starting off with the fiscal year 202526 budget uh featuring our CO and I believe Dr. Jones has comments as well. This is not up for approval. This is certainly just a uh first glance with Sure. I want to thank uh Miss Smith, Miss Lipsy, our budgeting director, as well as the team

156as they are giving us the first glance of our preliminary general uh fund budget in the area of student funding. A lot is changing at the student level. A lot is on the table and Miss Smith has has been to Columbia. I don't want to I was just going to say I just saw two board members who probably needed a personal break. There's a third. And there's a third. So my apologies. We're going to take a five minute break and we return at 8:30. Okay. Thank Thank you, ma'am. Sorry about this. I'm hungry. Okay, we are back and we uh started not really but we attempted and then took a break. Uh we're going to uh we're under presentations and we're discussing this year 256 budget. This is the first board has of this uh

157it's being presented by CF Smith and I'm sure Dr. Jones has part of this as well. Sure. Again, I want to thank Miss Smith, Miss Lipy, and our team for working through uh this prelim preliminary general fund budget that you're going to see the presentation tonight. Of course, this reflects the the the changing student aid funding that happens from the state level. Uh local funding that that comes in looking at all revenues. Uh, also what's proposed tonight is our work on proposed cuts and projected savings that we presented earlier and have worked to stay true to that. Uh, and um, I'll turn it over to Miss Smith. Thank you so much. Thank you, Dr. Jones. Good evening, Madam Chair, Dr. Jones. Tonight, I will share with you the preliminary general fund budget fiscal year 2526.

158For our viewing audience and those that are in attendance, the general fund is our main operating fund and the board must legally adopt a budget for this fund. The general fund accounts for all unrestricted operating revenues and expenditures for the educational and support programs of the district. It is our main operating fund and districts may only have one general fund. The focus of the presentation tonight is on our general fund. However, it is important to mention that districts do have additional other type of funds besides the general fund. Revenues received must be reported in a specific fund for what the intended purpose is for those funds. All funds excluding the general fund are restricted for a specific purpose. During the legislative session, the general assembly allocated an additional $112 million to state aids and classrooms,

159which will bring the average per pupil appropriation for state sources to 5,884 per pupil. That average per pupil amount is for state sources only. The additional allocation to state aid to classrooms will increase the state's beginning teacher salary to 48,500, which is a $1,500 increase. That increase is on the state's minimum teacher salary scale. I mentioned last year that in fiscal year 2223, a teacher recruitment and retention task force was established. In the governor's executive budget for fiscal year 2425, it included a new teacher salary scale proposed by the task force. Historically, the teacher salary scale consists of five degree bands and that's the bachelor's, bachelor's plus 18 hours, masters, masters plus 30 hours and doctorate. The task force recommendation was to streamline these degree bands into two categories, bachelor's and graduate. the graduate category

160would include those teachers with either a master's degree or a doctorate. So this legislative session, the general assembly is deleting the bachelor plus 18 degree category. So what does that mean for Rockill Schools teachers? We are waiting to receive additional information from the state department of education. However, those teachers currently until we get that information, they are c those that are currently on the bachelor plus 18 pay band will be grandfathered and remain on that band until they earn their master's degree. No new teachers will be added to the bachelor's plus 18 pay moving forward. It is as it will no longer exist. The general assembly is increasing the state minimum bus driver hourly rate by 2% which we will increase our bus driver hourly rate by the required amount on the state portion. We

161continue to see annual increases in health insurance premiums. There was 118% increase for calendar year 2025. There will be another increase of 4.6% for calendar year 2026. For fiscal year 2425, Rock Hill Schools made a substantial increase in teacher salaries. The beginning teacher salary is 52,000, which currently is the highest salary of the four York County districts. The average teacher salary for Rock Hill Schools is 70,587, which is currently 20% higher than the average state minimum teacher salary and a minimum of 6% higher than the other three York County districts. For this upcoming fiscal year, the average state minimum teacher salary is 61,642 and the projected southeastern average teacher salary is 61,964. The state has been making huge strides towards reaching the southeastern average teacher salary. Rockill schools enrollment continues to decline. On 135th day,

162our average daily membership was 15,460. This is a decrease of 250 from last year. There has been approximately a 10% decrease in enrollment since fiscal year 1819. This slide provides the history of the four York County school districts operating millillage since fiscal year 2011. During this time, Rockill Schools has increased operating millillage six times. Districts cannot recoup loss tax revenue for the years the board chooses not to increase millillage. This year is a reassessment year. The county and the South Carolina Department of Revenue are required to appraise real property every 5 years or when property is sold. The purpose of reassessment is to equalize the property values. Operating millage is adjusted to ensure there is not a windfall or a gain due to new assessed values. The district's adjusted operating millage cannot be calculated until

163after York County finalizes their fourth quarter, which will be late July. The preliminary local revenue budget of $89.6 million does not include a millage increase. The new estimated value of the mill is $438,000. The current military rate of 193.2 will be rolled back to maintain current revenue levels due to reassessment. We have no control over our state revenue. However, we have limited control over local property taxes. We are subject to act 388 to how much we can increase operating millage. The increase is limited to the increase in CPI, the consumer price index for the preceding calendar year plus the percentage increase in population. The district can increase millage by 7.2 meals at the new estimated value of a meal of 438,000. 7.2 meals could generate approximately $3.1 million. Districts can also do a three-year look

164back and recapture any millillage that is still available. There are 9.3 mills available that Rock Hill Schools could recapture which could generate approximately $4.1 million. Our fee in lie of taxes is estimated to increase approximately 600,000. In lie of taxes is a contractual property tax incentive between a company and the county in which the company is located. The assessment ratio is negotiated to a reduced percentage. Our preliminary budget for local revenues is 89.6 million. 98% of that budget consists of property taxes and fees in lie of taxes. The preliminary budget for state and other financing sources is $140 million which is a decrease of 2% from 2425. Our finance other financing sources res refers to financial sources that are not typically classified as revenues but rather represent inflows of financial sources such as transfers from

165other funds. State aid to classrooms is the funding methodology in proviso that replaced the education finance actbased student cost funding. We received three different revenue lines for the state aid to classrooms. The projections for state aid to classrooms are based on a 135 day average daily membership and they reflect an increase of $3.7 million. This is not based on the change in waiting for the virtual charter schools that was made by the conference committee last Wednesday. We received revenue to will offset the cost of retirey insurance premiums which reflect an increase of approximately $891,000. The PIBA retirement credit is a payment paid directly to PEIBA on behalf of districts. That amount will not change from year to year. State property tax reimbursement is projected to increase $1 million. This is related to tier three revenue

166which we receive 1% of sales tax revenue reimbursement due to lost property tax revenue from act 388. We are expecting a decrease in our federal grants as well as a reduction in the indirect cost rate. The budget allocated for indirect cost has been reduced by 118,000. Districts are allowed to charge a percentage to federal grants to cover indirect costs, which are expenditures not directly linked to a specific grant or program activity, but are necessary for the overall operation and administration of the school district. As you are aware, the fiscal year 2425 budget was balanced with using one-time funds, $7.4 4 million from fund balance and 8.3 million from nonrestricted capital funds, meaning no bond proceeds. The preliminary budget does not include a transfer from nonrestricted capital funds. Therefore, that budget has been removed for fiscal

167year 2526. State aid to classrooms account for 68% of the budget for state and other financing sources. State property tax reimbursement accounts for 24%. The total preliminary revenue budget is 229,578,857. 61% is from state and other financing sources. 39% is from local sources, which is primarily property taxes. The district's preliminary expenditure budget of $232,68,265 reflects a 3% decrease in budget as compared to fiscal year 2425. That is a $6.6 6 million de decrease which is primarily due to a reduction in positions. 91% of the preliminary expenditure budget is salaries and benefits. Purchase services account for 5% of the budget. Purchase services are services that are provided to the district by other organizations such as legal services, repairs and maintenance, travel, and property insurance. Utilities and supplies account for 4% of the budget. This slide provides

168a breakdown of the preliminary expenditure budget by function which indicates the purpose of the expenditure. 124 million is directly related to instructional activities. 107 million is budgeted for support services of the district. Now support services does not mean that it is entirely the district office. Examples of support services include the school guidance, health services, mental health services, library services, school administration, and of course services provided by departments. 53% of the budget is instructional services and 46% of the budget is support services. The next two slides list the budget challenges for fiscal year 2425. Districts are required to give a one-year experience step for all eligible teachers paid on the teacher salary scale. Teachers must work 152 days to receive a step. I mentioned earlier that the state minimum bus driver salary scale will increase by

1692%. The increase in health insurance is $1.5 million. Insurance premiums are on a calendar basis. So this reflects the premium increase for six months. The district's property and casualty insurance premiums and workers compensation premiums will increase as well. With the district being part of Schisbet, the South Carolina School Board and Insurance Trust, we received a one-time discount of $257,000 for this upcoming year. The budget allocated for SRO services must be increased by 63,000. We continue to anticipate a reduction in federal grant allocations. So we are currently estimating 676,000 in potential reductions that will have to be shifted to the general fund. The Palmetto School is a charter school that is sponsored by the district. They receive a small portion of our revenues as required by legislation. that budget will be increasing for next year. This

170is the list of budget reductions. There was one line item that was omitted in error on the PowerPoint version that you received in the more packet. That item has been added to this slide and it is the last bullet point um on this slide. The reductions listed were made an effort to reduce the $15.8 million budget deficit that was going into fiscal year 2526. Budget allocations for departments were reduced 5% in fiscal year 2425. They will further reduce by 15% for the upcoming fiscal year. We are a district-wide C participant. C stands for community eligibility provision. As a C district, breakfast and lunch meals are served to students at no cost. Budget was set aside for potential implementation costs. Our program has been very successful. So we are eliminating that budget. In March, Dr. Dr.

171Jones presented program changes to day treatment, virtual, and mental health. Those changes reflect a budget reduction of $3.1 million. Additional personnel changes reflect a reduction of $5.2 million. These changes are due to the reduction in force, district office reorganization, employee position changes, retirees, transfers, and new hires. Human resources is committed in reducing the costs associated with the J1 visas by 33% for this upcoming year. Budget for community organization partnership donations has been reduced by 20%. Funding for a community summer camp program as well as the budget for the OEC membership has been eliminated. The total preliminary revenue budget is $229.6 million. The total preliminary expenditure budget is $232.6 million. So this leaves a budget deficit of $3 million. There are two options to balance the budget for the board to consider. You may choose to

172increase operating millage by seven meals or if a available useetime funds. The preliminary budget does not include a cost of living increase for any groups of employees except for bus drivers as required by legislation. We are not required per legislation to provide teachers a cost living increase because we are currently above the state minimum teacher salary scale. If the board chooses to provide a cost of living increase for any group of employees, then operating millage must be increased appropriately accordingly. There are a few important dates to mention. Today, the general assembly returned to take up the state budget on June 10th. I think there are additional changes to the preliminary budget. An update will be provided at the board meeting which I do anticipate that there will be additional changes. There is still a lot

173of work that needs to be done and we are continuing that work. The district will hold its public hearing on the proposed budget on June 24th. The board will also vote to approve the proposed budget that same night. The public hearing announcement will be published in the Herald on June 6th. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have at this time. Um, Miss Smith, I just got a question about options to consider. I was wondering if um we can see what it would cost if we increase millage for with the purpose of increasing salaries for our support staff. Um I think that that's something that's overdue. We're talking about teachers or citizens on down. Um is that something that we could add to that so we can consider that option because I think

174that's something that we should and on that note I would I would say two pieces. any questions regarding more information that you may have after this meeting, whether it's feedback from the constituents community or anything like that or questions or more information that you need about any of the numbers or options as we go through this budget process. If you could please forward those to Dr. Jones and he will get answers and then he can make sure that those are distributed equally across all your members because I suspect that when we get out tonight, over the next coming days and maybe a week, we're going to get a lot of community information and questions and requests. And I think that it's just vital that we all have the same information. So, you know, question for

175tonight, but we have pass through those as well. Oh, just a quick question. Um, will there be an opportunity for the community to provide feedback on a Yes. Yes. So, so that is the purpose of the public hearing, right? So, that will be that evening, but again, we're going to have an updated again at the next board meeting, which I believe is June 11th. I June 10th, whatever. June 10th. 10th. So, June 10th, we're going to have another publication much like tonight. And like Miss Smith indicated, there are most likely going to be some variations in numbers depending on what we're seeing from the state. And that is also an opportunity since it's an agenda item where people can either email me and or Miss Gammons and ask to be put on the agenda or

176they can sign up to speak to the budget and give feedback as well. So So there will be several if I can respond to her. Oh, first question. Thank you. I will run those scenarios for the your the support staff and then for the other groups as well and and support and it's an umbrella. So, I'm thinking assistance uh front desk employees down to see what that would cost and I have some But I will I can send them Dr. Jones to you. Thank you. And um yes, I will I will gather that information and run those scenarios and I will have that for June 10th for you. Um I do want to mention though that in the 2425 budget in the current year, we did have 650,000 that was set aside for support staff

177and we did provide raises to those um to those staff. Um, so that did take place in I believe August of last year. Yes. Any other questions at this stage for? I just want to say thank you. You didn't have to do all this for us and I'm greatly appreciative. Truly showed your care. Um, just just a quick question. Are there any more pay raises for district office personnel uh in this budget? Yes, there is. For those individuals that received a promotion, they would receive an increase in pay for the added responsibilities. Okay. I think in light of that information probably would be helpful if we just in full transparencies or information sent what that looks like just so you can see the varian obviously as community sees 91% of our uh budget speaking u

178so just for transparency what those numbers are um a second u yeah I second uh Mr. Burns comments about thank you to you and your team. I know one of them at least is in the audience today. So, thank you for all your work. And I'm going to turn it over to I believe Dr. And again, thank you, Miss Smith, for your hard work. It's very evident. The work and attention to detail and just how thorough this presentation is. That's extremely appreciated and anyone who sees it and reads it should be able to understand what's going on with um Rock Hill's finances. and you presented it in a way in layman's terms. Um, and I want to speak for Montreal Bell and nobody in the community. It was a presentation for dummies and I'm the

179dummy. All right? So, no, no, nobody else. So, thank you for doing that and simplifying it. I do want to just make one point and again um I'm obviously I'm very interested in the support staff and and what they're paid particularly bus drivers. And I know in several of those slides we talk about a 2% increase for bus drivers. I just want to make sure that we're clear that bus drivers salaries are kind of broken as every as most people most of our employees have broken into two pieces. There's a state piece and there's a local piece. And that 2% only goes on the local piece. So it really doesn't move the bus driver salaries that much or go ahead. So it is that 2% is on the state portion. So the state base of

180the hourly rate, right? So that is what we are required by legislation to increase for the 2%. So the increase in their hourly rate will be on that state portion only, not on the local piece that we put on top of it. You are correct. Okay. So I just when we are talking about bus drivers, sometimes that may stick out that they're getting 2%, but that's really not a whole lot because it's on that base and not on the extra. That's the only point. But again, I echo what Mr. Burns said. Thank you so much. Very good job. Very well done. Very well presented. Very informative. Thank you. Okay. Let me say thank you to you and your team. Again, I encourage board members to pass along any questions for information to Dr. Jones. And

181if you can please make sure that that is distributed to all board members because I have a feeling that it'll get sort of the same feedback. Uh so next up is the Sunset Park update and waiting. We got Mr. Brian with LCP. Welcome Good evening and thank you for the opportunity tonight for us to give you a quick update um on our construction for Sunset Park Elementary School. Um tonight we have LS3D. Mr. Jimmy Wilhyde is our architect firm and Lightner Construction is here. Mr. Jack Lightner will be here just in a second to introduce his team. But just as a reminder, this is a school that is being built currently. It will open in August of 26 for no tax increase for Rockill Schools um and for the community. Thank you, Brian. Thank you

182members of the board for having us tonight. I want to first introduce our team. Kenny Smith's our vice president. Judy Hudson is the project manager on your project and Dexter Kingston is the uh lead site superintendent on the project. We're going to keep this high level. You're welcome to put the five minute timer on us. No problem. Great. Um but uh yeah, to kind of recap, we started the pre-con pre-construction process early last year. Uh we broke ground November 1st and we're going to give you an update tonight and tell you currently uh where we are. So I'm going to turn it over to the project team. So uh we started with a field and here we are. This was as of last week. Uh, and then we got rain, so we were hoping to

183have a couple more slabs poured. Um, my day-to-day responsibility is to oversee all of the construction process. Uh, I visit Sunset Park two to three times sometimes a day. And, uh, in my opinion, we're ahead of where we need to be. We've been slamming it. And it's not because of me. It's because of these two that are there dayto day boots on the ground getting dirty. So, I'm going to let them uh update you specifically in each area where we are, but uh um we're going vertical, which is good. We didn't really put a bucket in the ground to start the vertical construction until February. Um and as you can see in what is that three months worth of work, that's where we are. So, I'll turn it over to Judy and Dexter. Hi, everyone.

184Um so I'm going to talk a little bit about um the vertical construction where we are where we started. Um so we started in area D which is the gymnasium portion and right now we are all the way up to um where we're going to install joist and decking um next week. So that's exciting. And we moved over to area E which was the second area which is your um kitchen area. And then area F, which is actually the exceptional students area that'll be receiving um trusses, which is the first step in getting a roof on and getting this um area dried in. Um as you can see from the different uh colors of concrete, the C2 area, which is actually um that one side of it um is actually the second grade wing. Um

185and directly to the left of that is your commons area which is going to be your um kitchen uh excuse me your cafeteria as well as auditorium um and stage area. So um we'll be starting some masonry work on that in the coming days. Um C1 is your first grade area, first grade wing. Um area B, you can tell by the different color concrete that that has um been freshly poured. This photo was taken last Monday. Um and that area B is your media center. Um the blue area that you see is the vapor barrier that's down. That is in preparation of pouring slab which we plan on doing at the end of this week. Um area A1 underground construction is completed for electrical and plumbing and that is ready for concrete to be poured.

186Um so that uh in the next week or so. And then A2 um it has electrical underground left to do and that will also be completed and ready for pour um next week as well. So that kind of gives you an idea of the different areas what they are doing. Now that's a two-story building. So we got a whole another set of classrooms upstairs once we get there. But that's kind of the area that we are now um on that first level of the building. Dexter is going to talk a little bit about the site work. Hi, I'm Dexter. I'm the site superintendent. I'm over all the civil all the civil site. My job is to make sure that uh Excuse me. I'm a little nervous. I get it together. Are you guys as excited

187as you? Yes, ma'am. You're good. My job is to make sure that the site is running properly, that everything is going accordingly. I talk to Dr. Barnes every day. My job is to update her on what's going on. We talk every day. When I lock the gate at the end of the day, my job is to text her and let her know what the progress was, what happened. My job is to talk to the community. I keep those guys involved in what's going on. When we have concrete pores, it's my job to let them know when we going to have it, what's going on, what time it's going to line up, the noise. Um, I stay in constant contact with those guys. Um, it's it's a lot. you doing just fine. Um, you're doing just

188fine. Yeah, my job is also Uber safety. I'm the safety manager. So, my job is to make sure that everybody come on our site has been um has went through a background check. Once they come on site, it's my job to orientate those guys. So, my guys uh they come on site, I give them a full orientation, let them know that the site is a active school site. So, they got to be mindful what they say, how they act, how to comport theirel. They must wear PPE at all times so we can identify who they are. If there if there's an issue, there's a problem at any given time, which we have not had any problems. Thank God. We haven't had any problems on our site. Um, all the guys are turning in tool talks.

189We we required to they're required to turn in tool talks every week. Tools are when they're um talk about and they got to bring that to me. We keep a file of that. That's in the file cabin at the office. Um, good job. Gster likes presentations as much as I um, we do want to recognize that, you know, the the Rockill School District decided to keep this project local and we've tried to do our best make our best effort to keep this project local with subcontractors and vendors. Um just some quick math I looked at over we're right at over $20 million is kept here in York County um out of the project. I'd say that 80% to 90% of the total value of the project probably kept in a 60 mile radius but right

190here in York County that's around 35 37%. So we're really uh we're really happy with that. Um and even though we went through several different design iterations all talked about that you know u as far as the design process through schematic design development and construction documents. We were pricing back and forth with what the documents were relative to the scope and program of of what the the school district uh wanted us to to provide. And so there was cost measures throughout that whole process and even still we're we're analyzing different issues. For instance, there's one noted there with the landscaping with the city uh city requirements through zoning uh was a was a lot of of trees that were were on the site and and one reason for not having those trees is safety. You

191wanted to see and be exposed, have that transparency. So, we communicated with the the city and worked together as a team to reduce that, thus saving money and being best for for what the the school needed from a safety standpoint. So, we're constantly looking at at ways to reduce cost. [Music] Just another part that we're going to touch on is uh you know what's dead that we're not building out in a field in the country or anything. We're on an active school site and what it what I want to brag on is how they handle the safety of the school and the community around them. Dexter touched on this brief uh a little early, but um he and Judy are going to talk through some of the things we've implemented to keep them safe and

192you know it's our job for Dr. Barnes to not really know we're there and um I think they've done a great job of this and I'd like for youall to highlight some of the things you've done. Yeah. Um de Dexter had mentioned some things about um the door hangers. Some we we do our pores early in the morning, our concrete pores um in order to keep out of the way of the school traffic. Um I know there's pickup times and drop off times and we have half days and it's a lot to keep up with, but we try to schedule everything so that our deliveries are not impeding on the school. Um so we're we also, you know, with the door hangers, we let people know that there might be a little bit of noise

193or early in the morning. We try to communicate that with the um residents uh ahead of time. Um also with um some of the engagements that we've had, we've had to we've honored some requests that Dr. Barnes has had in order during our testing times. We wanted to keep down traffic, keep down noise, and we've been able to accommodate that so far. It's something that's really important. Um, uh, some of the fun things that we've gotten to do with the faculty is we got to take them on like a little walk around the job site, explain to them exactly like, okay, this is your admin area. This is where you're going to be walking in. This is your different wings that I just explained and and they really enjoy that and and Dr. Bar Dexter

194will take pick up Dr. Barnes on the gator and drive her around whenever she wants. So, um, we we do that. We also last Monday um Sunset Park had their field day and so we decided it would be a great idea to bring in Kona Ice for them for all the students and faculty so that um they could have a nice little treat on their field day. Mass grading is at 100%. Um utility works ongoing. We're still in the process of doing utilities. Um you uh utilities still ongoing sewer we starting sewer tomorrow. Um the reason why I was coordinating with Dr. Bars we wanted to wait till the school was out to be able to start sewer. So we starting sewer tomorrow we I coordinate that with her. Um water will follow sewer. Water

195will uh it'll be two weeks. We start water in two weeks. So the site is moving like it's supposed to. We're we're doing big things. Um, you come by there, you'll see signs everywhere. You'll see barricades up, you'll see the fence up. Um, we stay on top of our erosion. Everything is just going the way it's supposed to go. And like I said, I kind of made some friends in the community. Uh, I knock on everybody door. So, every time we have a pour, they see me. Um, so I made some friends. So, I go there and I got one young lady, well, not young lady, she's 83 years old. I kind of assume the responsibility to take out her trash every day. So, man, she sit on the porch and she uh she'll look

196for me to leave and I leave at 6 o'clock, 6:30 because we working longer days to get the job done because of all the rain. We're working on weekends to make this happen to keep our substantial date. But, uh she'll come outside about 5:30 and she'll sit on the porch and she'll look for me to lock the gate and when I come over there, she say, "Son, you going to take my trash out today?" "Yes, ma'am." Um She was she the one that made you buy her TV? Well, she didn't make me, but yeah, I went there and she had this TV and she had these rabbit ears and I said, "Oh, God." So, um um I went and bought her a TV and I paid you back. Yeah, Kenny. I didn't want to, but

197he he paid me back. But, uh those are the kind of things that we do with the community. We not only keeping Dr. Barnes involved, we keeping the, you know, community and the residents involved. And um like I said, I got a tour next week with uh three of the residents. They want to come and see what's going on. they want to ride on the gator and they want to see what's going on on the site and I told them I would I give them hard hats, put a vest on them. I'll take them around and show them what's going on. Also, additions to that, we took 30 I took 30 teachers around, Dr. Barnes and 30 teachers. I took them around about two weeks and uh gave them a job tour and they were

198just happy. They were tickled to death to see what was going on, see the progress. So, like Kenny say, we're trying to build this with the guy with you guys. We want you guys to stay in stay in phone and you know stay in contact and and we just want to do it together. Y'all this is their school and we can't do with you without two you guys and we just want to do it together. So that's where we're at. Just one thing I wanted to mention about this slide. It's just a different angle, but it's kind of a bird's eye view. You can kind of see the different classrooms and you can kind of see where they're working on some of the different areas. Um anyway, it was just kind of a different shot

199kind of put things into perspective. That's 901 that rides right along there. So, the school is now facing freedom. Um, that's the orientation of it. And again, thank you for your time tonight. If there's any questions, we'll be more than happy to answer, but we have an incredible team as you can see. And, um, they are here to make sure that our Sunset Park community is well taken care of. I think for the fall when uh school returns uh I think it will be an amazing opportunity for the board uh to potentially come and visit site to get a a real tour in real life. Um and I also think that we may be able to arrange something for our uh superintendent incoming uh to to make sure she gets an opport. Yes, you can

200go. always part of our family and you always miss Miss Miller. I didn't know how I was. I just got one quick comment. I'm glad to finally meet Dexter. Dexter, I've heard about you. Really? Couple of Sundays ago at church. I was actually told about this Dexter, but I was told you were an employee of the school district who was building Sunset Park. Obviously, as a board member, I'm supposed to know who Dexter is. So, I'm glad to finally put a face with a name. One question for Mr. Lightner, I appreciate the numbers you gave about 20 million stand in York County. I I look back at the board meeting and I know that was important in in choosing Lightner to do this. I'm glad to hear 35 37% of his remain in your county.

201In your slide, you had local and minority participation. Um do you have a breakdown of that of how much of that is minority participation? Well, in that percentage, we've kind of grouped local and minority and DBE participation together. So, and I may have missed that wasn't all local or all York County that was minority DBE or uh local participation in those numbers. So, but we've it commits it's continues to grow as well. We haven't committed to everybody. There's certain sections that we've carved out that we can choose a minority or another local business. For instance, uh landscaping. Um, additionally, final cleaning crews. There's a there's a lot of them around. I actually uh went to high school and played football with a gentleman who owns a local company that cleaning service that is a So,

202there's still opportunities out there. Yes, sir. Thank you. And we're not and it's the same as money savings. We're not stopping, but the major components are bold out. Thank you. Yes. Dr. Just want to say how very proud our Sunset Park leadership and teachers are of this project. And I have overseen two school buildings as a princ as a founding principal. I've never seen quite the level of engagement that we're seeing how you're including the school that Dexter may say he's nervous. Did you go visit him? There's nothing nervous. He is on the go. The day we went, he was across the street talking with folks. um and engaging with with our with our our leadership and um thank you for because you stand right in front of Sunset Park, you wouldn't know that a

203building is going up right behind it and how you've worked and embraced. Thank you so much for for how you're supporting our school and their excitement and Jimmy great plans as well. Thank you for all you've done to for a beautiful building that can be built. Thank you. Thank you. We look forward to tomorrow and trial days. Thank you so very much. Uh yesterday was truly a special and unforgettable day for Rockill Schools as our board and all of us gathered at Winthre University Coliseum to celebrate our graduates and three outstanding high schools, their programs. From the moment the ceremonies began, there was a sense of joy, pride, and unity that filled the air. And it was it was more than just a day of recognition. It was a reflection of the students and the

204teachers and the parents and community's hard work, growth, and support of what our mission is all about. We're grateful to our principles, faculty, and staff for the incredible effort and care they put into planning such a dignified and inspiring ceremony. Their attention to detail, calm leadership, and commitment to excellence really ensured that all ran smoothly and that we got to shake the hands of all of our graduates on a great day to remember. Also want to thank our families, the loved ones, and community who showed up to support us all in full support of our graduates. Your presence and encouragement are powerful reminders of the village it takes to raise, educate, and launch these people into the world. And just a reminder to our graduates out there, uh this is your moment. We are so

205proud of all that you have achieved. You have overcome challenges, embraced opportunities, and grown into thoughtful, capable uh individuals ready to make your mark on the world. Always remember that Rockill Schools will forever be a part of your story. This community will always be your home and a place where you are believed in, supported, and celebrated. Congratulations again, class of 2025. Also want to recognize a new collaboration with several law enforcement agencies here in the area as we engage uh with a a program and a framework called Handle with Care. The Handle with Care program in South Carolina is a collaborative initiative between schools, law enforcement, and mental health agencies. I actually learned that when we went to a planning meeting out at the Kataba Nation and their encouragement and involvement. Uh as well, uh

206this this program ensures that when a child is exposed to traumatic event, first responders notify the school with simple messages of handle with care. No detail about the incidents are shared, only the awareness that the student may needs extra support for the day. The goal is to create a traumainformed response that promotes emot emotional safety and academic success. And we're partnering with the state and the first is Rockill to offer this in York County and we'll work with our partners at the Katavin Nation, Rockill Police, York County Sheriff's Office as we move forward. Uh some more information will be coming on that in the future, but we're excited about this opportunity to meet the needs of our students and our families. I do want to give one quick commercial to a question has been asked

207tonight as well as uh in past meetings. Mr. Vaughn and his team and Andrew Jones will present an update on safety and security later this summer and looking at the year. But I do want you to know that through Miss Smith's work, Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Jones in our procurement department, we're going to have upgrades and our cameras are going to be able to tell you about. There's some capital funding that they have used. We know that that has been a question and a concern and they are on top of that. They're in process right now. And so in that safety and security, I just won't be here at the microphone to tell you, but we've heard about that. We hear the concerns and you'll be listening to updates that that happened about our new

208cameras. Summer hours beginning in our district will be closed on Fridays, June 6th through July 18th. Our regular hours when we are open to the public will be the same 8 am to 4 pm and will also be closed on Thursday, July 3rd. Now, good news. Our summer feeding program in the district will be offering free breakfast and lunch meals to school age children in our community Monday through Friday and that will begin coming up on June 2nd and run through July 25th. Locations include Richmond Drive Elementary, Old Point Elementary, and Northwestern High School. Let's make sure our viewing public you have that. Richmond Drive Elementary, Old Point Elementary, and Northwestern High School, but ours is a little different, and you certainly can look on our website to get the specifics. Our next schoolboard meeting

209is scheduled for Tuesday, June 10th, 2025 at 6 o'clock p.m. It will be streamed on our website and replays will be available after the meeting. And one final reminder, the first day back for students will be Monday, August 4th. August 4th. Enjoy your summer. Thank you, sir. Madam Chair, I wanted to second Dr. Jones on the the graduation. in the five years that I've been on this board now, that was the best one I've seen so far. So, kudos to the principles. Certainly. Uh, next up is other and future business. Um, the only thing I have is that you're going to see a series of emails or random things that we discussed tonight follow. Um, I'll try to get all of it done today or sorry, tomorrow, but it may spill over into Thursday or

210Friday depending on. So that's it. Anybody else have anything else? What's it going to take to get a and I'm just asking because just one board member to stand up and do what's right. A motion to adjourn the meeting. Just let me let me let me [Music] for your purposes is not on our agenda. We cannot make that motion tonight. We understand you can make one in the future if a board member has to put it on there. At this time, madam chair, I have a motion to adjourn this meeting. Thank you, Dr. Welcome. Second. Second. Thank you, Ms. Any discussion? Very