001Good afternoon and welcome to the April 8th business meeting of the Rockill School District. Local news media outlets were notified and writing this agenda uh on Saturday, April 5th. If you will please all uh join me for the pledge of allegiance followed by a silence. And today I am uh dedicating that to the tragic loss of a student and a long-term administrator in our district. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. We have Miss Harris and Mr. Burns with us uh remote. So, we do have a full board for board. At this point, I will entertain a motion to approve the meeting agenda as presented. Motion to approve. Uh
002made by Dr. Belton and I do have a second by Mr. Nosal. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? All opposed? Motion carries. 70. We first up we had a oneh hour uh executive session uh for the purpose of discussion of employment contract recommendations and legal advice regarding the same. Um I do have a written notification uh from board member Dr. Belton who has formally requested in writing he produce himself from all discussion and any action related to the specific contract of his spouse Dr. Tonia Belam um and he has followed our policy BCB and is in accordance with the state law of notifying the esport chair of his writing uh in writing of his intent to recuse himself. So with that um I will entertain a motion to adjourn the open session and
003enter the executive session for that matter. Um and again that is all contract conversations not just Dr. B. So uh first n matters discussion of employment contract recommendations and legal advice regarding sus and I do have a second by uh Mr. Nusel. Any discussion hearing none all those in favor? Hi. All budget. We'll be back in a minute. Good evening and welcome to the um April 8th school board business meeting. Uh we have been meeting in executive session since 5:00. local news media was notified uh and uh on Saturday, April 5th and we did approve the agenda at 5. Uh so at this point I will entertain a motion to adjourn the executive session and reconvene the open session. So moved. Thank you. Did I have a second? Thank you. Any discussion? Fair enough. Do
004I have uh votes coming from Miss Harris and Mr. Barnes? Yay. All post carries 70. At this point, uh we're going to move straight into recognitions. Um and uh for the purpose of recognitions, uh first up, we have the Winthre uh the 25 Spanish French spelling bee. And I believe we have Dr. Piski here tonight uh to introduce our students. Hello. Good evening. Today I have a couple of young ladies who Oh, good. There we go. Okay. Good evening. Today we have a couple of young ladies here to um to celebrate and honor and also faculty members who uh who have continuously supported our dual language immersion students at Sullivan. Um, two outstanding young ladies along with a whole team of students from Sullivan participated at the barrier competition at Winthre University. Uh, this is
005an annual event that's held every year in French and in Spanish and our two young ladies here outperformed even high school students for the spelling be competition portion. So, I have Katherine Larkin here, right here. And Catherine participated in the French portion of the competition and this is her second time scoring first place in the French language competition spelling beard. And Jordan Maynard participated in the Spanish portion and she scored second out of all candidates there at Winthr University. [Applause] two faculty members here who helped lead the program. We have Madame Texera who leads the French and then we have Miss Hobert here and Miss Hobert leads the Spanish portion. So we are in so proud of our faculty and our students in a wonderful job that they did at Winthre this year. All right.
006Three, two, one. Hold on. Thank you. [Applause] Next up is the Rock Hill School's secondary honors choir. And um we have our coral directors here tonight. It's uh Lisa Pakarina, William Benson, TJ Williams, and Carla Calton who are here to recognize their students. Good evening. My name is Charlotte Coff and I'm the coral director from South Point High School. South Carolina American Coral Directors Association honor choirs. These students are selected from a virtually submitted audition that consisted of singing America the Beautiful um as well as ascending and descending vocal warm-ups. Um this is open to every middle and high school student across the state. That's that's in a coral program. Um over 1,200 students across the state um auditioned and um these are just a few of ours that represented Rockill Schools and total choirs
007about 450 to 500 students total with the choir. So I would ask these students just to take a step forward as I call your name. Josie Chella from Rollison Road. Angelina Glenn from South Point is not here tonight. Anna Raymond from South Point High School. Kayla Munos from South Point High School is not with us tonight. Mallerie Massie from South Point High School is not with us tonight. Na Muffet from South Point High School. Lydia Tersy from South Point High School who's not with us tonight. Jonah Snider from Northwestern High School who's not with us. Asher Henson from Rockill. Um Dylan Morton from Rockill. Cooper Thirsten from Rock Hill. And Eva Bumgardner from Rock Hill. Good job students. [Applause] My bad. I'm sorry. My name is TJ Williams. I'm the choir director at Northwestern High
008School. The South Carolina Music Educators Association All State Chorus um is who we're recognizing these students tonight. These students are selected from auditions that consist of singing a prepared piece. Uh this year it was Honor and Glory by JS Boach. And if any of you have been in choir before in South Carolina, you probably sung that piece because they don't change them. Um and and site reading a 16 measure complex musical passage at first sight. These auditions are open to every 9th through 12th grade uh student across the state. We'd like to recognize these students. Um if you'll step forward, we've got several that are not here tonight because they're running track meets and tennis matches and they're just all over the place. Um, Angelina Glenn from South Point, Eva Bumgardner from Rock Hill, Dylan
009Morton from Rock Hill, Riley Reynolds from Northwestern, and Macy Monzinski from Northwestern. Speak public speaking, digital content, creation, marketing, and working with the public. Her footprints are all over our community in various social and public media forms. As an award-winning journalist, Miss Monday brings rich experiences as a news director, reporter, producer, and sales associate in the television industry. She has previously chaired the radio, TV, and digital news association of the Carolas. She has served as an advisory board member in the teleuction technology department at York Technical College and has received numerous Emmy nominations and an Emmy award winner. One of her references stated, "Laura Bree is one of the best communication officers I've had the chance to work with on my team. She's also excellent at building and maintaining relationships. She and her team have
010utilized their budget to produce premium communications product, sometimes even on a shoestring budget. Larry has hit the ground running here in Rockill Schools. Hopefully, you had the chance to see the media that she released last week and she pushed out regarding uh recognition of our teacher of the year nominees as well as our staff members of the year, even highlighting the York County female flag football league. Uh she desires to share many positive stories happening all over our district. And I'm just so pleased to welcome Laura Marie Monday to the Rock Hill Schools family. Welcome. [Applause] Well, thank you. I will just spend a moment to share again um as I communicated on our social media pages already how humbled I am by the response. I'm excited to be here. Um I really see a
011great future for Rock Hill Schools. I'm looking forward to be part of it. I think that um at the end of the day, one thing that I came back to when I was thinking about taking this position is everybody's rooting for Rock Hill Schools. Nobody doesn't want Rock Hill Schools to be successful. And so with that, I think that makes my task at hand a little bit easier. I'm not pretending there's not an uphill battle a little bit and that we've got some work ahead to communicate all the great things that are happening in our district, but there are great things happening here and they've been happening before I got here. we're just going to hopefully do a good job of getting that message and that story out. So, I'm really um thrilled to be
012on board part of the Rockville Schools family. I appreciate the opportunity. I'm going to do my best. Um I know I have things to learn, but I also think I have a lot to share. So, thank you again for the opportunity. It truly is my pleasure to be here. We're excited to have you. Thanks for not be permitted to take their own personal agendas and use their positions of authority for personal vendettas. As is typical in this district, everything was done behind closed doors and hiding so parties could not could be coerced and threatened to keep them quiet. only for the perpetrators themselves to call in the media to publicly defame an innocent man. How you now sit here allowing these actions to take place. You seem to have forgotten this is a public school
013system that you serve and the public does have a right to know what you all are doing. All of it. I would suggest you reinstate Coach Burch before you cost this district more money it doesn't have and more legal issues that only distract from the real purpose, which is to educate the students who still choose to attend Rock Hill Schools. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, uh, we're going to move to consent action agenda. Uh, under the consent action agenda. Oops. Next up, we're going to move to consent action agenda. Oops. Um, under the consent action agenda, we have a few items. We have minutes from the March 19th special call board meeting, the March 25th schoolboard business meeting, and personnel recommendations. Do I have a motion to approve uh the consent action agenda? Thank
014you, Mr. Nos. Do I have a second? So good. Thank you, Daniel. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, Mr. Bars. All those motion car 6. Um, next up, uh, we're going to move into our action agenda. And first up, uh, is, uh, elementary and secondary MC textbook adoption selection. It's up for second read. Uh, and I believe we have Dr. Bigger and Mr. Hopper here tonight. Are there any questions for them regarding the uh elementary and second math textbook adoption selections? If not, I would entertain a motion to or motion to approve. [Music] Thank you, Miss Daniel. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. and Miss Hutchinson. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I I. All opposed. Motion carries 70. Thank you. Next up uh is policy GCB, professional
015staff contracts and compensation. This is up for second read and uh it is being proposed by Dr. John Jones. Dr. Jones, good evening again. I'm coming back with second read uh regarding GCB professional staff contracts and compensation. Um I want to take a moment to walk through just a few of the proposed changes and feedback that I received. Was asked at the last meeting to touch base over the last week with administrators and folks who were involved with that. You also uh concerns or engaged uh with with work outside of Rock Hill schools. You also have seen the feedback that was provided from the public. Just a couple of notes uh and the revisions. I think they reflect thoughtful consideration and collaboration uh that we try to gather input not only from community members but
016also from staff members. Um there are questions and concerns that have come forward raised. A couple I would like to acknowledge uh are questions regarding how will the superintendent manage and monitor this policy effectively. Um questions regarding personal and professional boundaries. Uh one said what is the line of demarcation between district oversight and individual personal business and how they spend their personal time. Um clarity on professional service uh that that is um uh in the policy. clarity needed there and and the scope of administrative contracts. How deep does that go? We have administrative contracts that are filled by assistant superintendent. We have it as far as uh folks that are working in curriculum and and and have administrative contracts there specialist in other roles. Um so a couple other things mentioned um you know there
017were there were several in discussing this uh regarding specifics of you know if they're offering that contract service and that contract services to an education uh nonprofit what would need to happen there um what specifically would administrators do to seek approval? How would requests be handled? So you have a lot of questions there on procedure and policy. I think what I bring to you is that if the policy does go forward and is approved that we would need to develop and implement clear administrative guidelines and procedures. We would need to make sure that we are clearly stating what needs to be done almost even providing the form or the documentation that can be filled out so that it's uniform across the district and maybe even stating what it is and what it isn't. uh you
018know one what it isn't we know is if it's a part-time job that one of our educators has out that's outside of education that would not fall under educational contracts you know but we have many people who have done some teaching and collaboration with Winthrop University um as I mentioned the last time we have some folks that have been sought out by professional agencies to serve on boards or maybe consult uh so I I feel that if the if the guidelines u from the policy are and the policy is passed. I think that while I know we're going to need to make sure we um are particularly provide the expectations, approval processes and what the boundaries of the intent are in the policy. That's basically the feedback I've received on what we can do. Any
019questions for Dr. Jones or comments? Yes, Miss Hutchinson. No, no, no. Go ahead. Okay. Um after reviewing the back and what you just said, Dr. Jones, I I do actually have some questions. Um because I think to what some of the feedback has said, we are teetering on a line um of what we allow our uh staff to do um on their personal time um and that it's not impacting the um school hours. You know I I I am concerned and I did you know I received the feedback and I now it does give me some pause on this. I would like for us if we do decide to move forward well actually before we move forward I think I would want us to actually create the procedures prior to voting on this because I
020think that there are so many gray areas. um not 100% with this quite there just because there's you know we we have so much talent in this district teachers all the way up to our administrators and they are dedicated to this district but in this economic climate um you know people may seek outside employment that may be in education um and I would be concerned with hindering uh someone from that or making them feel shy or making them even feel that their job is threatened in a sense. So I just have that's my commentary. My thoughts are still bubbling. But in in my conversations that I had with administrators and others who have, I have found that they they say and and most of them voluntarily said, "I did let my supervisor know." uh and
021that you know if it was taken during the working hours that they requested the time off or they took a a personal day or a vacation day uh to be able to do that. But I did find across the board that they said I did let my supervisor know if I was going to do this. But there is no formal document that that that guides that in the district. Nothing that we have that is as consistent. they simply informed their their Mr. was looking at the comments and the last comment um you know it's probably written by a teacher and it's kind of a lot of the comments that I hear often from the teachers um with the people outside of our schools that work for our district. I I in terms of this In
022terms of what Miss Hutcherson said, somebody once told me that often times the appearance of a conflict of interest is off is usually worse than the actual conflict of interest. And this is generally not a good look for our senior leaders to be engaging in um consulting during the day outside whether they're on vacation or not. It's just it's not a good look. And so I I appreciate you um trying to fix it with this policy. But I again, you know, our senior leaders lead by example and we need them to lead by example. And if there's a question of are we walking a line or not, probably shouldn't be on the line. Um, and then this has been covered I believe, but the feedback I received since our last meeting is just can you
023spell out a little further who this policy would apply to or who it does not? I had a lot of teachers reached out concern. I tried to explain but can we just again explain that later the policy reads employees on administrative contracts. So if they're on an administrative contract, then that would be the the the employee that would be included. Again, what Mr. Nosel just stated when he said senior uh leaders, you know, but there are some who are on administrative contact contracts that may not be considered senior leaders. They're on administrative contract that they work. So, you know, I think that's a part of that is who do we identify that this policy would apply? As it states right now, employees on administrative contracts and just for clarification, is that considered public and or
024maybe um assistant principles and above? It could be assistant principles, it could be principles, it could be specialist in our curriculum department. Uh it could it could be folks who work in safety and security, anyone that has an administrative contract in Rockill Schools. I do think it's important to point out though that the policy it is my understanding is it's it's requiring approval. It doesn't mean that they cannot engage in some of these activities. It's just a question of having the superintendent uh sign off on it. Correct. It says before entering any agreement, right? Superintendent and and based on sort of your presentation last time, it was my understanding that you know there there plenty of these things that that we have as administrators do that are beneficial to the district as a whole that
025we you know we would gladly encourage just like Dr. Jones um and I was somewhat taken back by some of the fe let let me just say this um from the outset that I do think we need to have something in place and in terms I obviously and I'm also aware of the internal communication that we had among among some board members that we were really this was really intended to target senior le administrators who in many instances make far more than the average assistant principal or director of safety and so That's what this was about. Um, so let me just state that out there. And I do not want something that unintentionally hurts some people. And I know this for you and I, this is not uncommon because when you and I work together,
026we had the policy and I think this was the exact language that was in our policy. So it was always known when I was hired as an administrator that I could not do outside work. It was always in the policy. So this is new to Rock Hill, but it's not uncommon in other districts. Would would you agree with that? I don't want to misstate something. Correct. All right. So, this was not new to you and I and I think that's where this was pulled from looking at some policies in other districts. Do you think there's a possibility, as Miss Hutcherson said, that we could get some of these procedures in place and we can flesh it out more so we know what it looks like to just to ensure that we're not hurting the assistant
027principal who may be working somewhere or some curriculum specialist who may be doing some online work somewhere. I just want to make sure that we're not hurting those people. But you know, even if the language says senior administrators or assistant superintendent or something where it's very clear, but I also agree with Mr. knows if right now with where we are in Rock Hill schools in terms of our test scores, our academic performance, I just don't believe that anyone on an administrator's contract making a hundred plus thousands a year, most of them who are making at that level who are essential to the function of this district, I just don't know where you're going to have the time to do based on the two presentations we're going to get here in a few minutes. So that's
028I'll leave it at that. And I I I mean I I think that's fair. I think that's fair. But I do agree with Dr. Bel. If we again I think I already said it. If we could just flesh that a little bit more to make it a little bit more specific because I don't want to inadvertently hurt someone that may benefit in some way. But I do thank you for clarifying that it is a policy that is happens in other districts. That's it's a common policy. It's not uncommon. I just don't want to in hurt anybody unnecessarily. So, one version of how we could move forward is that we um would entertain a amended motion for the uh approval of the policy, but to ask the superintendent to come up with an administrative rule to
029attach to that policy, which the board by default does not have to um approve, per se. Um and and to present that to the board uh through hotline or something like that over the coming weeks. Uh that would be one way of of of addressing some of the concerns. And and and am I correct in saying that because I don't want to speak for other board members that really what we were trying to capture is senior level administrators and principles during the school day. We need them running their schools or we need senior lead senior leaders, senior leaders with boots on the ground doing what they're supposed to be doing that we're not trying to capture some curriculum a curriculum specialist who may be writing curriculum for some online program somewhere and doing most of
030the work at home or our data specialists who may be crunching numbers for some other district who doesn't have a full-time data specialist and they're doing it at 10 o'clock at night. Am I correct in saying that? That we're not trying to capture those people. We're trying to capture the assistant superintendent particular as assistant superintendent and principles. Is that fair to say? And senior level. What? Yes. You know, executive directors, assistant superintendent, principles. Is that fair to and again you know having the superintendent have events but also have knowledge of what happens uh in the district because you know whether you are taking a personal day off or not you are an employee and and face to back to what Mr. said it's the implication that there is a conflict of interest or something like
031that. So the superintendent just needs to be aware that it's happening. I can support your motion if someone So somebody else needs to make because I can't make a motion. Uh so I will at this point entertain a motion uh to um approve the professional hang make sure I get the right motion. to approve policy GCB, professional staff contracts and compensation and further direct the um interim superintendent to develop a uh accompanying administrative rule to detail uh the policy. I think Dr. Mr. Belton made the motion and I believe it's seconded by you, Mr. Burton, and with the understanding of who we are trying to capture in this. Okay. Right. Yes. What we're trying to capture. All right. And so we have a motion and a second. Discussion. Yes. want to say that um in
032my discussions and in monitoring the school system uh I have not seen or have not experienced anyone that has expected someone to do but work for contracting that they they do. It's a great point that that is made with that. Uh the only thing that I know that we engage with for external is when an employee is looking for attaining their doctorate and so we signed an agreement where the data department may assist them for their for their dissertation studies. But outside of that, as far as bringing to a department work for someone that's on contract, that didn't emerge or I'm not aware of that. We try to monitor that carefully all the way from our maintenance department that may do some outsourcing on their own time all the way to to our work at
033the district office. And that's a very good point because some of our maintenance people on administrators contracting, if they're doing HVAC or plumbing work on the weekends, I don't think that's the school district's business. And I don't think this I don't think they should have to ask the superintendent for it. So keeping in mind what we're trying to capture, I think a motion has been made and second and I think you understand where we are. Yeah. So with that, I have a motion. Um and uh a second. Um if there is no further discussion, uh can we just can can we have that by the next board meeting, Dr. We have a couple weeks if you have the time. We'll do our best. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Awesome. In that case, all those in favor
034I miss Burns. All oppos. [Music] Thank you, Dr. Um, we do not have any communications today. Uh, we do have a few presentations. So, we're going to start off with the continuous improvement turnaround uh plans update. Um and I believe first up is Richmond Drive. Uh and we have principal uh Robert H with us now. Welcome Thank you. Good evening, members of the board. Dr. Jones, our viewing audience. I am Robert Ham, the proud principal of Richmond Drive Elementary School, and I'm proud to present our third update on all the great things that are going on at Richmond Drive. Uh upon becoming the principal at Richmond Drive and seeing the staff survey and the climate survey data from last year, I came in with a focus on culture. With that to support our culture, we
035have had ex extended amount of family engagement opportunities. One of these is with our family literacy night. We've had spirit night at a local neighborhood restaurant and also our schoolwide leader and me studentled conference where students presented their leadership notebooks. This is important because students need to know their strengths as learners. We had schoolwide math and ELA academic competitions to increase student motivation and engagement. And we could feel the excitement in the in the school as our specialist came up and announced our schoolwide winners with our data goal. With our math benchmarks, we have built on standards that were previously taught. We know that math benchmarks are cumulative, so it's crucial to build stamina. Our teaching practices include spiral reviews. We were responsive to this data by taking the most missed questions and retaught that
036standard. Teachers would talk through the problem and implement repeated practice so students could apply strategies more confidently. With our language arts benchmark data, we're very proud of this data. We have found that through the new standards, new HMH curriculum, and the targeted leadership of district specialists and our school-based literacy coach, we are maintaining high fidelity in our instructional practices. And we know that there's a direct correlation between our MTSS interventions because most of our students that receive interventions, they're in they're in literacy. So, there has been that direct correlation with our science benchmarks. We know this is an area of immediate concern. We recognize that academic vocabulary is not enough. We know that both the district benchmark and state science assessment require high level of application. We are being incredibly responsive to this data. We
037have partnered with Dr. Consolvi, our new science specialist. We are also using additional resources like discovery education and hands-on activities to increase student understanding and improve these scores. How do we move learning forward with our data? We are having students show mastery of learning in real time. We are requiring evidence of learning. We understand that if a student or students can't prove that evidence, we must pull small groups. Small groups are the most effective way to immediately address educational gaps. With our PLC, professional learning communities goal. Following my second presentation, we have successfully implemented these instructional priorities. The strategy with the greatest impact has been including a representative of our special education, our ML and interventionist and our ATSI coach working with grade level PLC's every week. How do we move it move PLC's forward?
038We know that teachers have to know the task demands of each standard. We must provide opportunities to talk about their learning through strategies like turn and talk and pair share. Students simply at the elementary level can't sit and get. They have to be engaged in the [Music] learning. With our MTSS goal, we acknowledge that this percentage is higher than the national recommendation. One contributing factor is that the state of South Carolina is now requiring that any kindergarten through 2 grade student that scores at risk or some risk on any particular one domain in FastBridge, they are required an intervention plan. We will be rescreening next week in FastBridge which will decrease these numbers. With MTSS, we use universal screening tools to identify student needs early. We use progress monitoring to track growth and adjust interventions
039and also communicate communicate clear expectations to families about the child's progress. We know that we have to be equal partners with our parents and they have to be involved in this process. How do we move MTSS moving forward? We have intervention programs like risely and fast bridge that are moving students. So, we need to empower teachers to be able to diagnose and prescribe the most effective interventions in real time. During our intervention tiger time, we recognize that we need to use this time to maximize learning through small groupoup instruction. with goal four, our resource inequity. The implementation of the state climate survey was taken extremely seriously recently as we know this is a part of our state school report card in an area that was not strong as it needed to be last year. The
040student climate survey that was taken recently was administered similar to state testing environment with two certified staff in each class to support student students as they went through this um through the survey. With regard to our professional learning at Richmond Drive, as a school's instructional leader, our instruction is being directly supported by targeted professional learning. We know that small groupoup instruction is the key area to address instructional gaps and we thank Miss Leler and Dr. Holmes for their support in this area. I know that I broke record time on that one. So with that, as always, I want to thank and congratulate and just give props to the the faculty and staff at Richmond Drive. They are putting in the work. Um, every day they put the child first. They're doing everything they can to
041meet every instructional need of every individual child from kindergarten to fifth grade, whether they're ML, special ed, it does not matter. These are our babies. So, I applaud our teachers for their hard work and dedication and also the staff sitting to my left who are partnering with us daily. they are in our building and we are very targeted with what we're doing to support our teachers to make sure that our students are growing. So, thank you very much and I appreciate your time. Thank you. And and just your your your passion shows. So, thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Do we have any questions or any comments for Mr. H? Yes. Um, I want to honor that ELA growth of 15% to the 30%. Any ideas that you can share for the good of the group?
042What's what's working? It's not just magic. So, what have you found? A lot of that is with our MTSS. Um, and we are putting a lot of resources into our ELA because we know that that transcends into science and math. So, and with our MTS having most interventions in literacy, a lot of extra support is going into that. So, we started map testing today with the ELA and we're so excited. It was from my announcements in the morning to me saying goodbye to them in the afternoon. Did you meet your goal? Did you meet your goal? How'd you do? It just there's just a new feel in the building and a lot of that is that culture part now. There's that high expectation that we can do this and we're going to do this together.
043Thank you and thank you for visiting our school. I appreciate you so much and thank you also. Oh, you're welcome. I just And those of you who will be coming very soon. I I just wanted to comment on you're you're confident about the culture and that's true and that you can feel the love in that school. You can feel your staff is dedicated to those children. Um, and I know that this is this is hard. This is hard work and I can tell that they're dedicated to it. And and like Daniel said, this jump, especially with your multilingual learners, Um that's huge to go from 10% to 25.5%. So kudos to the work. Um what do we say? Leaders are leaders. So you are creating leaders there. So thank you for the work that you're
044doing. And I and I know science is I mean science this it's tough. It's a it's a tough because the concepts are are sometimes difficult for children to grasp. Um but I I trust you. Well, I know you didn't have a question in that, but we're very proud of what we're doing with science right now. Yeah. We are working extremely hard that partnership with with Dr. Kalvi, he is there every week and he met on full days on our our staff professional development days when all of us were doing letters training. He was with our fourth grade teachers all day. So his his dedication and support. I called him this morning. We we were meeting about this presentation, our leadership group, and something very natural came out of those conversations. our our ML teacher said,
045"Hey, why don't I support you with those science standards? I can do hands-on activities. We're practicing our language, but we could be doing it through science." That was organic and that is just the new culture of Richmond Drive that I'm extremely proud of. Thank you. Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Mr. Ham, I No problem, Mr. Mr. Ham. I'll just say your enthusiasm for learning certainly exudes when you come here. Um certainly your reputation of a can do attitude um is becoming known around this district and among your staff and among the leadership. So thank you for that. Obviously we all can look at this and recognize that you have work to do. And my comment is you started your conversation by talking about culture but you ended it by talking about instructional leadership
046and a focus on teaching and learning. And so I sincerely hope that that's where you are that certainly we need a good culture. These babies got to learn to read, right, and count and do science. So well, those two things are are interconnected. So thank you very much. Thank you, ma'am. Good luck to you and your and look forward to seeing you soon. Yes, sir. So next up is uh Rocket High and we're welcome. Good evening, Chair Miller, Vice Chair Hutcherson, board members, and Dr. Jones. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to come present where we are with our continuous improvement plan. Uh, there's lots of hard work going on at Rockill High School. Tell you, especially in our EOC areas, those PLC's are putting in hard work and starting to make gains. Um, some
047highlights that I'd like to share. Our arts department and arts programs have had a phenomenal um, spring. Iraq High music programs have earned superior ratings in the performance assessments in the following areas: concert choir, concert band, symphonic band, and orchestra class ensemble. And again, a superior rating is the highest rating those groups can receive at their state assessments. Our winter guard placed second in the Carolina Winter Carolina Winter Ensemble Association Championships. And tomorrow they leave for Ohio to compete in the Guard International or excuse me, Guard International World Championships. So they'll be traveling to Ohio. Uh I think they perform at 10:30 on Thursday. So we'll be looking forward to it. Uh Mr. Fleshman has got the live streaming and and I plan to be uh in the band room watching with those students that
048are not part of the the uh winter guard or excuse me the drum line so we can support them from afar. Our theater earned superior play ratings at the state festival. Our ROC program has completed over 2,000 hours of community service and earned several top three finishes at their drill meets this season. And finally, in the visual arts, Rockill High School earned four first place awards, three second place awards, and an honorable mention at the Teachers Choice Rockill School District's art showcase. There are phenomenal things going on at Rockill High School. Getting to our goals and our data, as as we've talked every time, our goals are to increase uh the percentage of students who score C or higher in algebra 1, English 2, biology, and US history. uh and also to increase the number
049of students who graduate in four years or that percentage. Uh where are we now? Uh we are currently in the process this week of doing our district formative assessment number three. If you compare our district formative assessments uh from first semester to second semester uh we've increased on DFA by 1% uh in algebra and by 3% in in u on the second district formative assessment. The third one is to be completed by Friday and we're looking forward to see that data so that we can look and see where we stood last year or last semester comparing to this semester so we can kind of get a gauge of where we might uh end up on our EOC scores as we saw some growth last semester in algebra. In English again, we saw a 6% from
050DFA2 uh increase up to 68% uh scoring at mastery or near mastery or uh mastery. Uh that's a 6% a pretty good jump uh to a group that was performing well into the average range in the state scores. In biology, you see a bump from DFA1 first semester to second semester of 64 to 70% and on DFA2 15% from 57% to 72. Uh last year was the first year for our new biology standards. So, our biology teachers have really jumped in looking at that test and these new standards uh using the uh state template for the EOCC courses and I think they are offering higher quality instruction and you can see our students are performing at higher rates because of that. In our US history, we don't have a comparison group from first semester to
051second semester in the DFA because they took survey of American history, which we don't do DFAs uh first semester and now they're taking um US history second semester. The last DFA was number four. They do twice as many because they're it's not a year-long course. So, they scored at 67% m year mastery or higher. So that there's a lot of growth there. You look at our PLC's, excuse me, how are we going to go moving forward? Um the last district formative assessment again number three for English, algebra, and biology is this week. So we'll be seeing those scores next week. um our EOCC's, all those groups have prepared um formal test reviews and they've started actually doing those cyclical test reviews now, giving us a month before they take the EOC. They're jumping into that
052and and cycling back to those standards that the students struggled with. They have started those reviews right now. The benchmark test for all of our EOCC courses happened next week. We'll be able to take a look then at the benchmarks from last semester and last year to look at how we do this semester. And then I'm looking forward to seeing how our benchmarks align with what our EOCC results are so that we can have that data going forward to compare and see where we are earlier in the semester as we move. Uh once all DFAs and benchmarks are completed and we do our EOCC's here in the next month or so, we're going to sit down with our leadership team and our PLC's and we're going to analyze the data and make adjustments to our
053current plan to move forward because we're going to get out of where we are this year, but we're not stopping there. We're planning on moving forward to move uh beyond average to good. our PLC's, our professional learning communities. We want to enhance instruction, provide daily feedback, and improve instruction in our classroom. Uh again, our four core areas, algebra 1, English 2, and biology, and US history. We've com um our teachers have looked at the scores, students grades, how they're doing on our DFAS, and they've created a tier 2 level of instruction for small groups during office hours and RTI in each of those groups. Those success groups have been going on since the end of January. And we're starting to see with those students being called in for small group instruction, improvements in those areas
054for those students. administrators are conducting uh observations and doing feedback. Last semester, I think we completed 182 observations as of today. When I turned the slide in last week, it was 191. We're at 197 observations uh this semester. How do we move forward? We're going to review what our success group, excuse me, are doing. And in in a minute, I'll come back and talk to you about more specifics of the success groups to see what we need to continue to do move moving forward to continuously improve our EOCC test prep. This is the first time we've created these packets and are presenting them starting a month early outside of in front of the test. We look forward to see how that is going to help us increase gains. We're already starting to talk about master
055scheduling for next year. How can we better create a master schedule that will help our students to achieve at higher rates? How can we do common planning as much as possible? How can we get ES and ML teachers to push in? I'm excited about some training we received in P school about how we can program information in about these students and it will help us more efficiently create these small groups and this push-in instruction for our students to be better. MTSS, our MTSS group. Again, we started from nothing. I mean, as a high school, MTSS was kind of foreign to us. Um, Mr. King, Dr. Bryson, Miss Padet have done a phenomenal job uh with with our MTSS plan. We've already got plans to move next year from that one MTSS group to a second
056MTSS group so we can serve more students quicker. excited about. Just this last week, we partnered with our school school improvement council to do an attendance program. Attendance is one of those things that we find is a challenge at high school and and lack of attendance probably has a negative effect on student achievement. So, we talked to SIC, how can we encourage it? They went out to local businesses and got discount cards and coupon uh gift certificates. We were able to give 322 320 discount cards from local businesses to students who had three or less absences in the first nine weeks. We had about 600 and something uh qualify. So we did a random sample. We assigned each student a number and did a random sampler and these 320 students got that reward. Um, we've
057initiated the lunchtime credit recovery program uh that the counselors have helped put students into and we also have the March Forward afterchool credit recovery program. Between those two programs, we've had about 40 students recover about 60 classes. Um, so it's been a positive to help get kids on track to graduate on time. Uh, our MTSS team has reached out to teachers. We now have 25 teachers on our staff that are those those weekly check-in folks for our MTSS group that we're working with. We're also excited about partnering with our SIC. They've reached out to Elevation and they've agreed to partner with us and we're going to reward those teachers that are those check-in mentors. We're going to have an ice cream social for them here at the end of April thanking them for what they're
058doing going above and beyond for our students. uh we've already started planning our it can't be March forward because next semester after the first uh quarter we won't be in March but we're trying to figure out how we can implement another program to get those students that are behind to help them catch up after quarter 1 next fall and I've already mentioned that we're expanding our MTSS screening team to two teams to double what we're able to do now resource and equity we want to be sure our students are prepared for technical school college university experience the workforce, the military, and provide them opportunities for training. Uh we administered the WIN career assessment, which is what's given to all third-year students on u March 25th. And we also brought back 106 fourthyear students that hadn't
059scored career ready uh and and gave those students some testing on the 25th and 26th. Uh Mr. Grimsley is working on a package for me right now of the number of students from that 106 that'll count in this year's graduation cohort that are now college or career or excuse me career ready from that test. We also administered the ASVAB to a volunteer group of 61 students in all four of our graduation cohorts the other day and are looking forward to those scores to see how many of those students would qualify as an ASVAB completer for college and career ready. And tomorrow we are administering the SAT to 229 students. Hopefully some of those will reach that mark um to be considered college ready. Uh our SI not our SIC our our um excuse me, our
060academic booster association sponsored a SAT prep course a week ago students could sign up for to prepare them to get ready for this test. Moving forward, we're continuing to use the college and career ready status. Um, Mr. Grimsley is monitoring that regularly and and and scoring those students that now have achieved the mark to be college and career ready. We continue to use the grad rate track uh on all our students. We just recently sent out a list to all our counselors, administrators, and our our graduation coaches. And we found some kids that were missing. We found them that they've gone to other schools. phone calls, emails, and hard work to get those students uh that don't belong in our denominator off so that our grad rate can increase. And we're continuing with Miss Starcher
061to offer career uh counseling, I mean, excuse me, career lunch and learns uh so that students are getting exposure to many opportunities of what careers are out there and available. As far as professional development, we have continued to focus on our um on feedback to students and small groups. and we're seeing that small groupoup instruction is paying off and we're seeing a lot more small groupoup activity in our classes. Um, and we conducted a model classroom experience where we had several teachers go in and and a consultant came in and did some teaching focusing on how you could help special ed students in the classroom at tier one instruction. uh several teachers were able to participate in that and we're looking forward to them implementing those strategies in their classroom soon. Going back to quickly
062to our um going to our small groups and success groups. Um wanted to just share some numbers for you. So right now we have four algebra 1 teachers teaching this semester. Those teachers have each selected 12 students out of their group that are near mastery and they're bringing those 12 into these success groups for two days a week of 30 minute instruction during our RTN office hours. So that's 25% of the students that are current taking algebra serving um were serving in our success groups. In English we have seven teachers. They've got 10 to 12 students that they're bringing in twice a week working on those English standards. In biology, the six teachers that are teaching biology have a group of 10 to 12 students they're bringing in twice a week. And in US history,
063the seven teachers that are teaching are bringing 10 to 12 students in again. And we're seeing gains. If you look at those scores from DFA from comparing first semester to second semester, we're making gains and we're optimistic about what's going to happen with our EOC. Again, it's a lot of hard work by our teachers. We're trying to provide them resources and and time to get the work done, and they're taking the challenge. We're excited about what's coming at Rock Hill High School with our scores this spring. Thank you. Questions for I just have one question, Mr. Hall. On slots, I'm sorry, Mr. Hall, not hall. My apology, Mr. All on slide seven, you indicated increase from 36 to 39% and um increased by 6% on your English too. Are those the same students or different
064students? So that's different students. Yes, sir. Because they're different semesters. We don't have the year-long classes, but it's the same assessment and those students that will then be taking the EOC. What I'm trying to do is get the data to where we can track based on our DFAS each semester and then when we get our final benchmark scores, compare that to our EOCC. So we'll have some trend data so we'll know earlier in the process where it looks like we're going to perform at the end of the semester and be able to make adjustments earlier from that data. Thank you. Any other questions for M? Thank you. Thank you Mr. Hall. Thank you Mr. Hall. Next up uh it is the professional Good evening, Chair Miller, Vice Chair Hudson, board members, and viewing audience. I
065am going to provide tonight an overview of district professional learning. I will intend to be brief yet comprehensive. Sorry, the acoustics are terrible, so we can't hear you unless you're right in the mic. Okay. Okay. So, um I will end by just providing just a little insight about what professional learning uh opportunities and what professional learning represents in our district. So, our professional learning opportunities provide us with the opportunity to partner strategically with our schools and to really get at those skills and knowledge that we want our teachers to be able to uh show and demonstrate in their instruction. We have a variety of delivery models. Um we provide a diff a lot of different um opportunities for learning to happen but key to our support is that a lot of the professional learning opportunities
066that we provide is based on our instructional framework as well as the key practices in the 4.0 rubric which we know is the evaluation system for the state. Uh finally, we give uh opportunities for teachers to receive renewal credits for the events in which they engage in, which we know is a part of the obligation or responsibility for each teacher to renew their certificates every four years. Our district calendar that's approved every year uh has builtin opportunities for professional learning to happen. Over the past couple years, we have uh uh adhered to uh awarding or allotting five days for professional development. Um, additionally, this calendar year or this school year, we have reserved nine early release days for work that is uh at the discretion of schools and then of course we have five required
067uh teacher work days within the calendar as well. So to overview our five professional learning days, as you can see, we have several that are allotted specifically to district professional learning opportunities, but the majority of those dates uh outlined in our professional learning days are for sitebased learning opportunities and then some that were reserved for state required uh learning such as letters. our nine early release days. As you can see, most of those were also reserved for sitebased learning opportunities. And then we had a couple that were um additionally for uh statewide training like letters. Our five teacher work days are reserved specifically for that purpose. So we do not provide any professional learning on our teacher work days. So our goal overall this year with professional learning was to capture three key elements. Alignment,
068capacity, and having a high level of flexibility with the support that we provided. So to align our work, we spent a great deal of time working with schools and school leadership teams to really identify as a district what our uh goals would be for their continuous improvement plans. And that is a vehicle through which we used a lot of our our we sought out a lot of our professional learning opportunities. So in aligning that work with those continuous improvement plans, we work with schools to um identify what the specific action steps would be, but to make sure that each of those action steps were in alignment with components of our district's instructional framework. We then spent some time engaging in what the aligning uh professional learning partnerships would be for each of those action steps.
069And of course within each of those action steps, we made sure that the instructional practices of course reflected in our in instructional framework but also were high lever practices that we knew would move student learning forward. To accompany the work with the continuous improvement plans, um I created a set of competencies. So each of those high leverage practices within the continuous improvement plan, we outlined a fourpart or a four-leveled um set of competencies that were designed to first uh define and provide some clarity around what implementation of that practice was, but also to provide teachers with the opportunity to self assess and self-reflect to determine where they were on those four levels. And of course to allow us the chance to differentiate the support that we are providing the schools. So to make sure that
070all of the work that we were doing was aligned in addition to the work that we were doing in schools, we have two events that take place prior to students returning at the beginning of the year. Our learning to rock conference with for new teachers and our professional learning conference. We made sure that each of the sessions that were outlined there were in alignment with those practices in those continuous improvement plans that we created with schools. So every session um learning the rock as well as the conference was closely aligned. We shared with principles um to share with their staffs what their goals were so that they were aware of what sessions would be best fit for their school. But in cases where that information wasn't shared, teachers were allowed to choose areas of interest
071to them. in our alignment with schools. We sat down with school leadership teams and really mapped out what the support would look like for the year with each school. So they had the opportunity to us to support them in really customizing what that support would look like. Uh we mapped out dates which individuals would be in charge of delivering the support uh what that support would look like. Um and we also developed uh an aligning walkthrough tool in our platform kickup that allowed us to really capture um in the form of teacher practice data what uh what practices were being implemented in the classrooms to continue to build capacity beyond the conversations where we were building the plans and monitoring the plans. We also utilize the monthly principal meetings and assistant principal meetings to have
072discussion about uh common challenges uh to provide additional support resources. Um during those times we also worked very closely with our school coaches who serve as the boots on the ground really doing a lot of the work um and leading that work in buildings. And so we uh saw those coaches corner opportunities as opportunities to you know build them up and and uh feed them forward with uh support and tools that they would need to support their schools as well. We had the opportunity because we met with schools or meet with schools every school every 30 60 and 90 days to discuss their continuous improvement plans. That's the time for us to really flexibly reflect on what's happening uh to make any changes to the plans or to the support. If it's uh areas that
073we need to change, if there are things that we need to do more or less of, those opportunities within those CIP meetings were the times for those conversations to take place. It also allowed us to collaborate uh collaborate and reflect on the work that's already been done and of course make revisions where necessary. So outside of the continuous improvement process, of course, we provide other opportunities for support for teachers uh that include but are not limited to our partnership with Winthrop University. We're a where we are able to offer graduate level courses to our teachers based on their areas of interest. Um as well as our quarterly curriculum planning meetings that or sessions that we have for our elementary educators. Additionally, we are always looking to build our teacher capacity. We want them leading this
074work and leading the charge in their building. So, we have opportunities like our very successful leadership academy um as well as some opportunities for them to lead within their uh professional learning communities. So, we have uh PLC activators as well. And then finally to make sure that their areas of interest are covered, we have a formal grant process where teachers, school individual teachers, uh teacher teams and schools can apply for professional learning grants to fund projects for their personal learning endeavors. And we have a um professional learning newsletter that we publish every uh three uh three three times a year which uh demon or shows external and internal uh professional learning events that are available for teachers to engage in. And at this point I will questions that you may have. Um yes, thank you
075for your presentation. Appreciate that. I had a question um about site based learning and actually the differences in the site based learning versus like the state required training and how does that work? Um is the state required training something that happens virtually or somebody comes from Okay, got it. So the state training for us right now is is just letters and so we do have virtual training opportunities and that happens those are scheduled on the days that where we do not have school students. So professional learning days and ideally the early release days. But in the places where you saw it was sitebased, those are days that schools have autonomy to design with us or without us the support that they think is needed most for their schools. So they have a high level of
076flexibility. We work very closely with them to plan. Sometimes dis members of the district team lead, other times we work with them to plan the support that they need in their schools, but there's a lot of flexibility within those days. So like what Mr. Ham mentioned um that would be like something where the team would come in and help with their PLC's right homes. Can you go back to the slide early on that talked about the district calendar and sorry I don't have the number. with the No. Yes, that one. Okay. So, of that, how many of those days? So, that appears to be five, 14, um, if I can count right, 19 days, is that correct? Of those 19 days that teachers have for professional development, how many of those days are letters training?
077How many of those days are letters training? And then what are the other days for? Okay, so there are four days required for letters training. So we uh schedule them on a mixture of professional learning days and early release days. Okay. The other days though are the days that we are designing the support from the plan. So there there's nothing uh mandatory or required. We had a conference that was scheduled the first one of the early uh days before students return but after that everything else was based on the support outlined in their plans. Last question. Um because obviously I'm sure we all at least I have gotten some concerns from teachers about a large number of their time and days are tied up in professional development and those things. Of those 19 days there,
078how many of those days are dedicated to teachers for individual principles or to work in their classrooms or whatever, how many of those days are they working in the classroom of those 19 days? Five. The teacher work days. Okay. So teachers are never pulled on teacher work days unless they're pulled by their principal. Right. Okay. And that's and that's the autonomy that that has that happens at the school level. Right. So I have a question. Um how do we measure the success of the PD um offered? Uh do we have any long-term data to show us trends? Um yes. So the model that we have been using is uh a five-part model but it starts with teacher feedback around the professional learning. Uh within each session we also engage teachers in a manner that allows
079us to determine their understanding of what we're kind of sharing with them. Uh we also have a level where we go into classrooms and we observe to see if the practices have been put in place. And then of course the final and and most important level is uh student learning. So multiple points of data, multiple uh ways that we're capturing, but most significant for us are teachers uh responses or reactions to the PD, but also what we see happening in the classroom after the PD. So to that point, I I think it would be interesting for the board to get more of that deep data, but maybe in a hotline type format or something like that, you know. Um, we talk about PD sort sort of as an overarching concept of the district, but I
080hear that there are some challenges and again this is anecdotal data uh but with PD that is uh specifically in certain of our contact areas uh specifically arts um and performing arts uh that we don't have as robust of offerings are local level and that uh is bringing thought process about how we're moving forward to to sort of supply a a more robust offering, right? Um and that is ab absolutely an issue. One of the conflicts that we experience or the challenges that we experience is on those days, those early release days, we've designated certain ones of them for what we call singleton PLC's, meaning you're one of few people in your building who teach that. And most of our visual performing arts teachers fall into that category. Um and so with few opportunities and
081limited days um and then sometimes there are conflicts where there you know schools who have also scheduled leader and me training on the same day that's been designated for a PLC to meet uh we of course experience some challenges with that but we do have uh structure structures in place where our um visual and performing arts specialist has worked with teams to schedule clinicians to come in. Um unfortunately the time is just few and far between. So, we've had some conversation with Dr. Jones about looking at some other options to have some afterchool um designated days across the district for those teams to meet to hopefully take advantage of some uh professional learning uh as a group. Okay, I think that concludes the question. Yes, sure. And I would say that I have worked in
082the district uh seven years and in working in academics and I think one thing that has evolved is uh and when I was a principal many times our PD provided was a place you went uh and your teachers went science to this location or went to this school or to this center and a lot has happened to push in and and again I I recognize what Dr. Holmes stating about customizing customizing where those are the two presentations that were made tonight. Dr. Holmes and her team has been in and they're designing scaffolding uh that support around that continuous improvement. I will tell you that um I used to see them a lot more before this involved. They are out in the schools. uh they're out trying to work with with meeting those needs individually at
083the school in that and that's something that's involved in in in Rock Hill that I think is a point of point of pride in how we support uh particularly with the continuous improvement. So thank you for that work. This is I believe Mr. Thank you Dr. Holmes. How many members of do you have on your team? When we say team, so I directly supervise five people, but we have maybe double that in our department who go into schools and provide support depending on their area of expertise. So, so are there 10 people that are in our schools full-time? Not in the schools. I thought you meant districtwide. So, we do have school-based coaches and then we have district specialists. So, so the 10 people that So, you supervise directly five that are they go into
084schools sometimes but not not they're not full-time in the schools, right? And then you've got 10 coaches that are full-time in a school. We have roughly I'll say about 25 coaches. So we have uh literacy coaches in each elementary school. We have about four or five schools with a math coach and those are all elementary. And then we have five uh middle school instructional coaches. And so those coaches that are in the elementary school, if a teacher or a principal has a question during the day, they can just go in and, you know, ask that coach a question and that coach go. Right. Right. And then what percentage of the time of the five people that you supervise are spent in our schools all the time. So 100%. Okay. Yes. Thank you. I just I
085heard you say there was a conflict of leader and me and and training. Yes. Um, I'm just wondering, this is for us, I think. I'm just wondering how we continue forward with leader and maybe that's a discussion that we need to have if that's something that's going to be beneficial for us in the long run as we're trying to turn some things around. Um, because if we really and I think there I see improvements definitely like with Mr. Ham for sure. Just wondering if maybe that's something that's an open comment on how we move forward with leader me as far as it determines if it's good for a professional development for our schools and maybe it's just an individual school can make the decision. It depends on when the uh the wave of training comes.
086So if you have a first year that's probably your most demanding year of of training although the folks leader and me good to say hey we can stretch it beyond a year. there's they're seeing that that that that first year implementation. When you get to a second year, it's more of one day of training and then they have lighthouse trainings through the year. It would be small group of leadership. And Dr. Holmes is and and and her team have have really worked to support those teams that that that have had that implementation. But probably the biggest challenge is that first year of of of when you're a leader in B school for that implementation. And because I'm saying that because too I've gotten feedback from teachers who says that it can be a lot and
087maybe it is that first year but but still just we don't put too much because I know they work hard so yeah definitely want to give them opportunity to get more development and more sight based absolutely development. Yes. Well thank you then Dr. Adams I look forward to um I'm gonna turn it over to Dr. John and he is going to talk a little bit about the three years turnover data and share a little bit as [Music] requested give you a copy of this data. We sent it out yesterday. um or this presentation the data was in your packet. However, you got some technical issues with so we just give you a copy to make sure that you have this and good evening again. Um, our board has been requesting a report on our teacher
088turnover over the past three years in Rock Hill schools. I'm providing data this evening. It was sent in your packet that informs you of the attrition rate and the retention rate of our teachers broken down by schools. We do monitor our teacher retention and must report this to the state each year. More importantly, teacher retention is important to our principles. and general principles work to retain as many highly qualified teachers as possible and still you're going to hit years that as much as you try. There are factors that affect uh and influence turnover and with all data that we see there certainly are areas that are glows and areas that will need to grow. I'm just going to make a couple of comments. Next slide down. That these are areas that affect resignations in Rock
089Hill schools. Uh it's it's not just one particular area that we look at. Uh we uh anywhere from from retirements all the way to uh higher compensation, better benefits, uh promotions, all of that is listed there. Job dissatisfaction can uh be related to stress of the work, school concerns, school climate, uh content, uh concerns with student, family, leadership, that can all be a part of that. But just looking at the number, just be mindful that there are there are variety of reasons why you do see uh resignations and turnover in our schools. Next slide, please. I just wanted to make note quickly uh looking at trend data over the three years. I do think we see some glows in this area uh and just going kind of line by line in our elementary area for
090teachers uh over the past three years. We saw in the second year 2022 23 that we had an increase of 5.5% uh but we had a decrease of.7% from 87.1 to 86.4 four in our middle school. Our two years we basically were flat and then we had an increase of 0.2 uh%. And then at the high school level uh we saw a decrease of.3% in our second year. But if you look at that we had a 4.8% increase. I think our our next lines show that in the district overall we have the highest this year of 85% of being able to retain our teachers. Um and that the state we're above the state the state is 83% they did decrease a little this year however we are below the average of 90 uh.1%. But we
091are above the state average uh in that area. Next slide please. Just a couple other notes u I'll make I know that um or chair Burns has requested information on uh teachers and in rating not only of the uh of of the the working conditions but also uh with their leadership and all of the factors at school that is being taken has been taken. uh we had 51% uh participation in that and uh we will have those surveys soon. When those results come uh back soon, we will provide those to you. Um one note also is we we're our human resources is pushing harder to make sure that we get uh exit survey data. Exit survey data. We've seen an increase in that. They've been more intentional instead of just sending the link out. How
092can we make sure we gain more of our exit survey? That's that's very uh important. Then of course you see uh some data points there. Uh just a couple of notes that there are some schools that had already had high percentages and they had uh retention that um that that there was a decrease. Uh, for example, one of our elementary schools had 91% had a decrease that but yet had that rate that was that was that was high. Um, couple of schools uh 20% gain over the last three years uh that we we've seen. Uh we we we've been pleased with with those numbers uh that we see as far as retention there and it goes. I want to say also for a couple of our schools that are in the uh 70% range, we
093don't have a school that has hit below 70, but uh I know a school particularly in that group uh that that school has had tremendous retention in the past couple of years and um all of a sudden had several retirements that hit at one time. Uh I know because one of them was the school nurse and every time I visit the school I would go by and say, "You haven't left me yet, have you?" And so we do what we can to encourage. We do what we can to do that. But you do find that there are teachers that that and staff members also of course that that that retire in that text data. And then of course you have the sheets that have the data and I'll be glad to answer questions or what
094I can do to provide information. I can ask me. Uh do you all have um any preliminary numbers on like this? Where are you seeing any improvements? Even though I see improvements, just wondering if you're seeing any improvements. So I'm going to say this and then you certainly can if you want to come up and address as well. I know that we have our intent data the intent what that that we've seen fewer folks indicating that they plan to resign from Rockill Schools. And if I'm correct in that, Mr. Yes. Um good evening everyone. Um we send out letters of intent um in the January to February range each year. Um we have seen a significant decline in the number of teachers who have indicated that they intend to leave the district. Um we can
095get you the specific data through hotline. You can see those trends as well. Um but that is a point of pride for us right now to see such a sharp decrease in that area. Thank you. I think there are initiative also that are help and I have to thank the board uh well want to thank the board certainly initiatives that you've taken in compensation initiative over the past years and investment with our teachers that I feel is is attributing to absolutely to those numbers um a detail that may be of interest is that one initiative we started recently is called stay interviews so our educator engagement specialists are actually polling teachers sending out surveys to see why you are staying in Rock Hill. Um what's been exciting about that is that yes, pay has been
096one thing that has been um commented on, which is great, but the other comments deal with family, the collegiality among staff, um the leadership, the dedication of students. That one just just warmed my heart to see that our teachers are staying because they're seeing our kids working hard. So, um we're beginning to initiate many more initiatives to get that data in lots of different ways. not just when teachers are leaving, but really examining why they're staying with us so that we can spread that success across the district. Thank you. There's something else. So, next up um is um the um superintendent search update. As uh uh promised, we are going to have a segment um up until the point where we are concluding our um superintendent search just to kind of give an update. And
097tonight we actually have Zeal, our search firm with us who uh has been over the past two or so weeks uh collecting um information from the community regarding uh attributes that uh our community would like to see in our next superintendent. Um and they have uh developed a leadership profile uh based on all of that. Um and while we're getting them connected on behalf of the board, um I just want to say thank you. Thank you to our community to of course that includes stakeholders from various groups whether it's staff members um parents uh folks that just happen to live in Rockill and are interested in and and so forth. So um we are thankful for you uh giving feedback is great when it works. Yes. Frustrating when it doesn't. What I can do is
098skip forward to the report superintendent and uh allow you some extra time to figure out whatever needs to be figured out. So, I'm going to turn it over. We're going to come back to to Zeal here in a moment. I want to turn it over to Dr. Jones uh for your announcements uh as well as some conversations about our enrollment. Thank you so much. And because I've got some great things to share, you've got a little time to to hit that mark and get connected. So, let me start by um mentioning that I and Dr. Dicki had a chance an opportunity to participate as judges in the ortorial contest for Rock Hill Schools uh about two weeks ago. Uh this has become an amazing event. It's an event that is above and beyond what we
099uh basically require in teaching. This is an event where people have come together and said how we develop students as speakers and presenters is important. Uh students had to develop a composition as well as deliver a topic of choice that could have been pro uniforms. Uh food in the cafeteria, reading and literacy students. It was all driven and it was an amazing amazing event. Congratulations to the winner Landon Clark from Evanport Elementary School. Just phenomenal. And then the runner up was Michelle Perez Moreno uh representing Independence Elementary School and all the students that participated. Such such fine such fine students and in the great job that they did. So we we enjoy that and are proud of that. A lot of great acting is going on in Rockill schools right now. Uh so many shows
100to catch. Congratulations to our ice our high schools as I have attended digging up Desa at Sampo High School. Hello Dolly. Northwestern High School last week and I look forward to the miraculous journey of Edward Tulain next week at Rockill High School. I was able to catch High School Musical uh at that last week at Rollinsson Road Middle School and and and the place was rocking. I mean that was that was incredible. Um and have seen others our kids are amazing in the arts. The performing arts, the visual arts is is such a strength and and drawing card I think for Rock Hill School. So again, that was great. Um, I also was able to participate, as you may have seen in the video, the recognition of our top three teacher of the year nominations
101as well as support staff members at Mount Gallant, Dutchman Creek, Northwestern, Saluda Trail, as well as the district office last week. Uh hopefully again, you had a chance to see the video that was released. So much to be proud of. And their students are excited for them. That's when you go in. I like to watch the students and the students that that cheer and support their teachers. Uh just one more note to make sure you're aware that we have completed our final planning for graduation 2025 at Winthre May 27th, the day after Memorial Day holiday final walkthrough tomorrow. We have and of course just a reminder on the 27th that will be 10 o'clock Rockill High School, 1:00 uh um Northwestern and 4:00 South Point High School. And I also want to thank uh First
102Baptist Church for partnering with us and helping our schools uh with their balance ceremonies. Uh one important note to remember, proms are around the corner on May 3rd. This is an exciting time. We want our students and families to be prepared. Prom is one of the most exciting times in a student's life. However, it can be a risky one. So, for more than 30 years, prom pledge has played a major role in keeping the tri county safe during prom season. Our programs involved in person speakers and law enforcement with assistance from Keystone of York County, counseling services, Hazel Pitman Center, the South Carolina Highway Patrol, and once again once again this year, our three high schools are participating with all 17 high school in the area with the weeks leading up to the prom. Our
103prom pledge dates and locations. Rock Hill High School, April 25th, Northwestern High May 1st, and South Point High School May 2nd. And we thank our sponsors as well as RHI for broadcasting and making this possible. And um finally, just remember that uh speaking of proms, that this is the second year we're bringing back our ESC prom out at Dutzman Creek on Saturday evening, May 10th. We invite our students to this event and parents, you can gain more information if you haven't heard uh from your child's ESC teacher, but that is an incredible event and I'll remind the board if you can stop in. Uh lots of so much so that other districts are asking if they can be a part of it. It's just it's phenomenal. Uh so that that is coming up. I do
104have on the agenda uh a South Carolina High School League rule update and also a mention of open enrollment. So, the South Carolina High School League has revised their eligibility criteria in order for student athletes and parents that provides a clear understanding of the eligibility rules for high schools and middle schools. In this revision, student athletes are afforded a one-time penalty-free transfer from one school to another in the state. Now, the caveat with this is that it is for academic eligibility, but this does not surpass current or supersede any current state legislation or any of our district policies governing student assignment. The high school league criteria does not overrule our current enrollment policies in Rockill schools. Our leadership team has been asked to look into the possibilities of any changes in our enrollment policies that
105will potentially allow this eligibility rule to be available for our students. We are currently looking at a pilot program for our students being able to enroll at another school within the district which will be in an open enrollment format. Considerations currently structuring for the structure that we're looking at are building capacities, student teacher ratios, space for students, internal protocol and processes, the current timing of the school year. I mean, we're underway planning for the upcoming school year and allocations and preparation. Uh maybe a proposed window in which students may indicate their interest and we're able to process as quickly as possible as well as other factors. our administration team, particularly Dr. Marty Connor, uh is is working with Mr. Jimmy Duncan, uh with a plan to present this as soon as possible. Hopefully the next
106board meeting, the layout of what we want to offer at this time for the upcoming 2025 2026 school year. More information uh will follow. Well, thank you for that update. And I believe we now have uh a Zoom link uh working for uh Dr. Melinda's with Zeal. Is that correct? Fantastic. So, we're going to backtrack uh down to the superintendent of the church update and turn it over to uh Dr. Good evening. Uh I cannot see you, but hopefully you can see our presentation. Do you see the uh screen with schools on it? We do, but I do believe we probably need to bring the microphone over to that um and I don't know if there's any way to increase questions. We can hear you. Yes. So, we we hear you. Fantastic. Now, I think
107we're still having some technical difficulties. You didn't say anything. Are you Can you hear us? Yes, I can hear whoever's speaking right now. I don't know who's speaking, but I heard that very clearly. So we can hear you. You can go ahead. Yeah, you can go ahead. Okay, great. Can you Can you see our screen? You can. Excellent. Thank you. So, good evening everyone. My name is Jeff Melendez. I'm the CEO at Zal. I have two of my colleagues here, uh, Dr. Michael Quinn and Dr. Joe Michler. Uh, Joe was traveling today, so his camera's off. Unfortunately, Lori Marorrow, uh, our other team member, wasn't able to make it tonight, but I'm here to, um, give a brief overview of the progress that we've made on your search so far. Uh, if you might remember,
108this is the timeline that we had established, and April 8th is uh, when we had said we would present a leadership profile, and that's obviously what we're doing tonight. uh we really enjoyed and it was a pleasure to to meet and be engaged with your stakeholders throughout the community. Um my colleagues did that directly. I sort of had a a distant participation from afar. If you remember there was three primary ways that we were engaged. One was through thought exchange which was that app that we all uh had the opportunity to respond to and read each other's thoughts. Another was in person interviews and focus groups and the third were virtual interviews and focus groups. And so as we had discussed previously the leadership profile serves two functions. One is uh we use all the
109information that we captured from the stakeholders to identify some of the strengths and opportunities of the school community and we do that to attract candidates. So, we want to in our recruitment process, we want to understand um what makes Rock Hill the type of school district that a candidate uh would want to come to. Uh we also use the leadership profile to help the board evaluate candidates and determine if the persons that are applying have the skills and dispositions to be successful in your community. So, um this I know that this is a very um it's hard to this uh slide um but I wanted to do it just for full transparency to demonstrate the number of participants that we had the groups that we were able to speak to both in person and virtually
110and the people we engaged with through the thought exchange. As you can see uh these were the people that um on the left this table right here were the people that uh were met with through uh the interviews and focus groups both in person and virtually. Every person uh that participated was asked to respond to five questions. Uh they were basically what what are the Rock Hills strengths? What are the immediate challenges? What should be the focus of change? What should be the new superintendent's change priority? And then an open-ended question if there was anything else that the people we were speaking to wanted to share. We spoke to 279 people and from that we were able to obtain about 619 uh unique ideas and thoughts. Uh so that was really robust good feedback. The
111second portion on your right is uh the results of the thought exchange um participation. You can see uh the number of participants, the percentage of those participants and what groups they represented. And you'll see that there were a little over a thousand or 1100 um individual responses to the open-ended question. What is your top priority for the next superintendent of schools? Uh from that about 886 people took the opportunity to write something on their own. And then this is where it gets really exciting and really valuable. Uh there were over almost 22,000 responses to that data that was um from people that participated. So you weren't obligated to write a response to what your top priority was, but um you did have the opportunity to respond and react to other people's thoughts. So um so
112now you know what did people say? So we have that we've given to the board of education and we're planning to make it public um after this meeting once the board approves um a full comprehensive leadership profile. It will go up on our on the website. It can go on your website. It'll be emailed to all the potential candidates. It'll be posted very broadly on all our basically um again I wanted to just try to be concise. There's probably a 10page report that goes into many more details of this, but basically what were the district strengths? And um I'll just in case people can't read it, um I will just read out really quick the bullets. Uh sorry if uh this is redundant for some of you that have already read it. Uh but the
113district strengths came across clearly as their strong community support. There's a diverse and inclusive environment and a very dedicated and talented staff. A lot of the response is focused around the faculty and staff, particularly the teachers. I think that's a very um strong asset that you have in your community. What are the district's greatest immediate challenges? So, um the things that came up most often were staffing shortages, communication and transparency issues, and uh struggles around budget and resource resource allocation. When asked the question, what should be the focus of change? Uh the top most common responses circled around centered around improving student achievement, enhancing communication and accountability and upgrading facilities and um optimizing resources. When asked what should the new leaders the next superintendent's change priority be which means of course a superintendent is going
114to come in and is going to have this data and is going to make their own you know assumptions and impressions uh when they meet with people but this was what came up as the greatest priority for change for the new superintendent and it focused around academics. They want uh the community that had responded really clearly wanted to have um a focus on academics and um community engagement wanting this person to be visible in the community and also to focus on the mental health of students. Um finally the last question is there anything else you wanted to share? Uh the topic of ethical leadership came up. They want support for the arts and the whole child and somebody that is truly student centered, a student centered leader. Um, again going back to the thought exchange
115and this is the last uh slide that I'll present um on this and I'll read it because I know it's really small but like I said there were 886 or so um thoughts that were shared. These were the top five of those. Um, in the report I I put the top 10. Uh, so those could be seen and reviewed if anybody would like to review more of them. Um, when you see on the right, and I know it's very small, but um, there's the five star that's that means that the most it looks like that had a 4.6 out of five star rating. So most people agreed this was the most um agreed with comment. Uh, answering the question, what do we want in our next superintendent? And the the answer to that response was
116character, one of integrity and honesty and someone willing to have open communication with parents, students, teachers, and staff about goals, plans, etc. Uh the second one, um the second highest rated response was address the teacher shortage and make changes to re regain good teachers. quality. The sub comment to that was quality teaching in the classroom is a critical need in every school. The third one um stated I have been in the district for 15 years and have had four superintendents. Everyone comes in with big vision and one leaves. We need stability. Teacher retention and student retention are a huge issue if or I'm sorry. I feel we need to focus on the good things we have and not reinvent the wheel every time. Certainly an understandable sentiment and a very important attribute uh to have
117somebody that would offer stability. The fourth comment says I think it is very important for the suit to put teachers and students first. More than ever we need to make teachers want with emphasis to be in the classroom. Good teachers are leaving. The culture of the classroom is changing. And then finally the last comment is supporting teachers. Teacher working conditions are student learning conditions. Teachers need to feel supported and treated as professionals. So um just wanted to wrap up this very brief um uh presentation and I'm happy to and my team is here to answer any questions. This is sort of again the timeline we are getting to uh nearing the end. We will close the applications on April 20th and then we will begin the process of evaluating candidates and making recommendations to the
118board for a slate of candidates of 8 to 10 candidates. Um I have spoken to the board chair about a slight revision to our timeline and I've put those notes here. Uh I believe that you you might be able to discuss that this evening. Just a reminder, we are hoping to hold our semi-final interviews on May 13th and then during the day hold final interviews on May 15th and then in the evening of that 15 hold three for the potentially for the three finalists three um meet and greet opportunities maybe having you know 30 minutes in three rooms at the high school per se or the central office wherever you decide and and the candidates can stay in place and the groups can circulate in and turn like stations uh to meet the three c
119final candidates and then May 16th can we can reconvene in an executive session for the board of deliberate. We would al also administer a survey an exit survey or exit ticket to the uh community members that participated in that meet and greet so that they could give feedback that we can then translate and give to the board uh that evening. So they can be that is um additional information to deliberate on as they make their decision and then May 28th would be the appointment of the superintendent which reaches your goal June 1st. So yes, so Dr. Melend answer any questions? Yes. So Dr. Melendez, before we go into questions, uh, you know, the board, uh, you you spoke to myself and and and Miss Hutchinson regarding the revised time schedule and, uh, the board will
120receive feedback tonight from the rest of the board members and be in touch with you over the next day or two to figure out if that's doable for all board members. Um, and, uh, to the public, just so you know that we know that the screen be a little small to see, but over the next couple of days, I'm not going to give an exact time frame, uh Laura Brie, uh and as well as Miss Serena Williams, we'll work together with Zil uh to make sure that the comprehensive presentation of tonight uh is on the superintendent search website. Um but I can't promise that's going to be tomorrow. It may take a day or two, but it will be out there for the entire community to see. Um, and again, as far as that timeline
121goes, the board needs to make sure that our schedule's aligned because it's a rather large um, time commitment to make sure that we have the entire board being able to be present if we need to revise it. So, do you have a question, Miss Sessions? Yes. Thank you, Chair Miller. I just quick question since we've created this leadership profile and the application deadline is the 20th, Mr. Can you just uh confirm if there's somebody watching right now that want to apply where could they go and apply? Yes. So um I think it's very difficult to hear I'm sorry I think I've heard the question around how can applicants who are interested in this position find the application and apply. Yes. Yes. So um there is there are many ways for candidates to find the application.
122It is on Zeal's website. We have dedicated a domain specifically to it. It is www.zal z-ed.comward slrockhill. Uh that um has the posting for the position. It also um will as of tomorrow contain the leadership profile and a downloadable and fillable application. All the instructions are are there. Um it's also posted on social media and other uh job um um job boards. Uh most notably AASA. Um it will be on there until April 20th until the posting closes. It's got a featured status so anybody that visits that site um will see it immediately and uh we believe that um there's a lot of knowledge of the position. We've gotten many inquiries and are reaching out to a lot of candidates. Thank you. Thank you. Well, we look forward to continued updates and thank you for
123your work uh Dr. Melendez and team and uh to community. You will see the updates uh forthcoming within 48 hours or so on the website. So with that uh we have already had the superintendence updates. So we do have an executive session today continued. Um it is for the purpose of personnel matters discussion and employment contract recommendations and legal advice regarding the same. Um madam chair before we before you enter the motion I may just make a comment. Yes about the public and certainly I know we typically do this at the end but it may be late when we come back. Um I I want to say and I'm speaking for Montreal Belton um to the community specifically about the Rockill High situation um that I have gotten the emails. I've read the emails. Um
124I do not think it's appropriate for a board member to respond to the emails. So I've chosen not to respond to the email. Certainly we are the elected leaders. We are ultimately responsible for what happens in this district. But there are some things that are left to the hands of the administration and we as a board, me as an individual, I'll speak for Montreal and I'll speak collectively as a board because I think as a board if there had been a briefing to the board, I would have been invited to that briefing. So I know me as an individual board member and us as a board collectively have never been briefed on the situation at Rocky High School. I do not know the specifics, the facts, or anything else about Rock Hill High School. That
125has been a decision. Whatever decisions have been made have been made by our leadership team. And I'll I'll end it at that. Great. And thank you for for for clarifying that. So, uh, we do, as I said, have an executive session, uh, for the purpose of discussioning of employment contract recommendations and legal advice regarding the same. Uh as was stated at the beginning of our board meeting at five o'clock, uh board member Dr. Montreal Belton has formally requested a writing to recuse himself uh from all discussion and any action related to the specific contract confer uh discussion uh of his spouse Dr. Tanya Belton. Um and by doing so he has followed our policy BCB and state law by notifying myself and writing of his intent to recuse himself. However, you know, this uh conversation
126in uh executive session is in relationship to all the context. So, he is recusing himself from a small small portion of it. So, with that uh I will entertain a motion uh to uh adjourn the session for that reason. Motion. Uh thank you, Dr. Belton. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Rosal. Any discussion? Very. All those in favor James is called he got k but he said he all carries. I'm going to count that as Good evening and welcome back. Uh we have a meeting in executive session uh for the purpose of discussion of employment contract recommendations and uh legal uh advice regarding the same. At this point, do I have a motion to adjourn the executive session and reconvene the open session? So moved. U was that you miss? Yeah. Sorry,
127I didn't see Miss Daniel. Do I have a second? Second. Dr. Bell. Any discussion? Fair enough. All those in favor? Motion passes 70. Do I have any motions uh coming out of executive session? Madam Chair, I have a motion. Okay. Based on the recommendation of the administration, I move that the board approve the remployment under teacher contracts for the 2025 2026 school year. Those individuals listed on contract recommendation one. These are the teachers. Thank you, sir. I have that motion. Do I have a second? Second. I believe Miss Daniel. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? All opposed? Motion carries. 70. Do I have any further motions coming out of executive session? Uh chair, I have a motion. Um, based on the recommendation of the administration, I move that the board approve the reemployment
128as administrators for the 2025 2026 school year of those administrators listed on contract recommendation 2A. Thank you. And just to clarify, um, this is the motion that, uh, Dr. Belton has uh, recused himself from. So that motion has been made uh, by uh, Hutchinson. And do I have a second? Thanksal. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? All post. Motion carries 6 with a refusal from Mr. Do I have any further motion coming out of executive session? Madam Chair, I don't have a formal motion based. That's the motion. Yes. Based on the recommendation of the administration, I move that the board approve the reemployment as administrators for the 2025 2026 school year of those administrators listed on the amended contract recommendation two. Thank you, sir. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss
129Nanny. Any discussion? Bearing none. All those in favor. We will loose. Hey, it's the um the motion on the amended administrators. I the amended um contract recommendation two. Okay. So that's seven eyes and none against. Correct. Motion car seven here. Is there any further motions coming out of executive session? No. Var. Right. Um I will at this Huh? I did. Okay. And he has No, you asking me if I have a motion. Correct. Yes, I do have a Oh, sorry. Madam Chair, I move that the board do not approve the reemployment of administrative contract number 86 on the amended list. Um, do I have a second on that? Um, that is Miss Harris. Um, any discussion? Very none. All those in favor. All opposed. Motion carries five with Daniel and Hutchinson against. Is there any
130further motions? Madam Chair, I'd just like to make a point of clarification. Um, we did vote on an amended recommendation too. Correct. Correct. Correct. With multiple amendments. Thank you. Um, if there are no other further or no further motions, I will at this point attend entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjurnn. Thank you, Dr. Bel. Do I have a second? Any discussion? All those favor. All of us.