SCPS School Board Meeting 02/12/2026

001Lift off. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Thursday, February the 12th, 2026 Shannon County School Board meeting. Madame Clerk, for the record, I note Mr. Street's absence, and we are not expecting him as sometimes he shows up late, so we're not expecting him at all. Madame Superintendent, might you have a recommendation to the board? >> I do. Thank you. I recommend the school board Shannidoa County convene a closed meeting under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act in order to discuss and consider several personnel matters involving the assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salary, discipline, or resignation of several employees of the Shannidoa County Public Schools under Virginia code 2.2-3711 3711 A14 and for the purposes of discussing and considering several student matters involving the admission, discipline or disclosure of information contained in the

002scholastic record of students in the Shannidoa County Public Schools under Virginia Code 2.2-3711A2 2-3711A2 and to have a briefing by staff members or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation where such consultation or briefing and open meetings would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of Shannidoa County Public Schools under Virginia code 2.2-3711A7. >> Chair recognizes Madame Chairperson Whitney Pence for the motion. I move that the Shando County School Board convene a closed meeting under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act in order to discuss and consider several personnel matters involving the assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salary, discipline or resignation under Virginia Code 2.2-3711 2 - 3711 A14 and for the purposes of discussing and considering several student matters involving the admission discipline or the disclosure of information contained in the scholastic record of students

003in the Shando County Public Schools under Virginia code 2.2-3711A2 2-3711A2 and to convene a closed meeting under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act to have a briefing by staff members or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation or such consultation or briefing in open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of Sheno County Public Schools under Virginia Code 2.2-3711A7. The motion on the floor is that the Shadowville County School Board convene a closed meeting under the eighth or mentioned provisions of Virginia Code. Is there a second to the motion? >> Second. >> Mr. Rickford seconds. All in favor of uh convening in close session indicate by saying I >> opposed. No. Bound to nothing. Madam clerk, we will retire to close session. the school board in open session. >> I'll move to reconvene

004in open session. >> Thank you, Mr. Richard. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> And seconded by Mr. Shotti. All in favor of convening in open session will indicate by saying I. I and oppose. No. And by a score of five to nothing, Madam Clerk, we are now in open session. The Shadow County School Board hereby certifies by roll call vote that to the best of each member's knowledge, one only public business matters lawfully exempted from multime requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies. And two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening to close the meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the Shadowville County School Board. Each member responds, "I so certify when called upon and the chair calls

005for a roll call vote." >> Mr. Shy, >> I so certify. >> Miss Carennio, >> I so certify. >> Miss Pence, >> I so certify. >> Mr. Ripper, >> I so certify. >> Mr. B, >> I so certify. And that should reflect a unanimous 5 to nothing. For purposes of leading us in invocation and the pledge of allegiance, I call upon madam chairperson, vice chairperson, Mrs. Pence. >> Thank you, Mr. Vance. Welcome everyone. Please bow your head and join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come to you this evening in thanks for the opportunity to serve our students, families, staff, and community. We are grateful for the teachers and employees who care for our students each day. Lord, we ask you to grant us wisdom, clarity, and unity, and help us remain focused on what

006matters most, the well-being, safety, and success of every child entrusted to the care of our school division. Lord, guide our conversations so they are respectful and productive. Remind us of the trust our community has placed in us and the responsibility we carry to serve wisely and well. May we listen carefully, lead with integrity, and work together in service to our community. In your name we pray. Amen. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. And thank you, Mrs. Pence, for leading us at that. >> The chair seeks a motion to approve the agenda as presented. >> Move to approve the agenda as presented. >> Thank you, Mr. Rickard. Is there

007a second? >> Second. and seconded by Miss Spence. All in favor of approving the agenda as presented will indicate by voice vote to say approval. Say >> I. >> And opposed? No. Dr. Nothing. Madame Clerk. Dr. Sheepard. It seems we have some guests here this evening. Maybe you can introduce some of these folks to us. >> We do. We have some great guests here this evening. Um the first person I would like to introduce is Dr. Martina Carol and she's going to do a special recognition for us. Good evening, members of the school board and Dr. Shepard. This evening, I am honored to recognize Miss Elizabeth Beretsky for her leadership and action in ensuring the safety of one of our students. Miss Barretty swiftly and calmly responded to a medical emergency involving one of our

008students. Without hesitation, Miss Barretzky performed the Heimlick maneuver when a student who was choking came up to her. Miss Baritzky acted with confidence and skill to ensure the students safety. Miss Baretsky also remained composed and discreet, handling a very sensitive situation in a way that avoided any unnecessary attention while taking immediate life-saving action. Miss Barrett, your quick thinking and calm presence put everyone at ease and showed care and professionalism that she brings forth to her building every single day. Thank you for leading with both skill and heart. Our students, staff, and school community are safer because of her. Please come on up. I'm just grateful that I was there. Um, you know, that she felt that she came up to me and um that I was there and I knew what to do. So, thank

009you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> So, we have quite a few music awards this evening. Um, Shannidoa County Public School students from Strawsburg, St. Jackson High School's audition for and were selected to the all county district 14 choir, orchestra, and band. So, advisors Devin Esleck, Colleen Robinson, Andre Stzman, and Madison Farmer, if you will come up to recognize your students. Good evening. My name is Devin Eick and I teach orchestra and band at Strawburg High School. Um this evening we are recognizing uh students from Strawburg High School and Stonewall Jackson High School who auditioned for and were accepted into either the VBODA I'm sorry VMEA District 14 uh either band orchestra or choir. Um, the way that this process works is, uh, all high school students are invited to audition. All high school musicians

010are invited to audition for one of these three groups. Um, regardless of experience level um, from Strawburg High School alone, there are students who've been playing, uh, because I'm an instrumental teacher, um, I I happen to know them the best. I have students who have been playing their instrument for upwards of seven years and students who have been playing their instrument for less than one year. Um, all of who have achieved the same honor. Um, they typically receive audition materials at the beginning of the school year and have a little bit more than a month to prepare their audition materials to then be performed for a panel of judges either in person or virtually. Um, auditions are then scored and the top students are accepted into the either district orchestra, band or choir. So, these

011are some of Shannidoa County's and in my opinion Virginia's finest students uh and the future of our uh of our our uh community and our uh our uh our nation at large in my opinion. So, these are some of our our finest that we have here. Yeah. All of you. >> So, Mr. Trean is going to um try to get a picture of all of you. So, um calling district. congratulations in Shannidoa County. We have such great rich programs and I will mention this here in a little bit, but our um Central High School will be performing their musical this weekend. So, if you um if you want to see a good show, Central High School and followed by uh Strawsburg High School and then Stonewall Jackson, you're in May, right? Yes. So, but great

012musical programs, great strings, band and choir. All right. So, the next recognition is um it is February is schoolboard appreciation month. So, at your um seat, you should have some some items from our schools and from the school office um regarding our appreciation for schoolboard members. Schoolboard members are elected to represent the interests of students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders. The school board plays a vital role in ensuring that students have access to high quality education, and members are responsible for the oversight, success, and effectiveness of school systems. February is schoolboard appreciation month, and we would like to acknowledge and celebrate our schoolboard um members. February is also schoolboard clerk appreciation and we have two wonderful um clerks. We have Cheryl Jack who is a schoolboard clerk and deputy clerk is Crystal Stickley and we

013appreciate all their hard work as well. So, in honor of schoolboard appreciation week, I would like to take a moment to recognize and express our appreciation for the outstanding contributions of Miss Jed and Miss Stickley as we celebrate school board clerk appreciation week. Let's acknowledge the role the school board clerk and deputy clerk play in the smooth operation of school board meetings. The clerk attends meetings, maintain accurate records, and address the needs of our school division. Miss Jet and Miss Stickley's attention to detail and organizational skills positively impact the lives of students, teachers, administrators, and schoolboard members. We're very fortunate to have them as part of our team. So, thank you so much, Miss Stickley and Miss Jack. We really appreciate you. That is all the recognitions I have this evening. Item 2.6 on the

014agenda is public and staff comment on agenda items and non-aggenda items. And I am to read the following as as caution and directions. The Shannidora County School Board welcomes public comment from Shannidor County residents, parents, or guardians, as well as from current students and employees of Shannidor County Public Schools. School board members do not respond to public comments during the meeting or hearing. Each speaker may speak for up to three minutes. The board generally allows up to 30 minutes for public comments on agenda and non-aggenda items at the beginning of the meeting, which is now. If there happens to be a large number of speakers, which is not the case because only three signed up, the board may limit the total time for comments and or may reduce the time allotted for each speaker. All

015comments should address a matter related to Shannondoa County Public Schools. Complaints regarding division employees should be directed to the school principal or an appropriate school division official. The school board expects that each speaker will be courteous, modeling for our students how one can respectfully disagree with others views. Speakers will address their comments to the entire school board and not to one individual board member, to the superintendent, to a staff member, nor to the audience. Speakers will not engage in personal attacks. Speakers have signed up to speak at this particular hearing on this document provided by the clerk of the school board. The school board clerk will ascertain that speakers indicate their role as stakeholders and ballot addresses. Speakers are called in the order in which they are signed up. If time allows, the chair may

016allow comments from individuals who have not signed up. A speaker may not speak more than once on a specific topic. Speakers who wish to speak on more than one topic must submit a separate request for each item. If a speaker would like to present written comments to the school board, eight copies, that's eight, should be provided to the school board clerk as the speaker approaches the podium to speak. And up first is Ann Lime King. Okay, happy uh appreciation. Yeah, appreciate each of you um our school board members and u congratulations to those folks as well. Like do a lot for us that typically goes unrecognized. Good evening school board members and Dr. Shepard. I'm here to respond to the presentation that was provided at the work session on February 2nd uh by the architects

017who provided a variety of options on how the school board could use funds budgeted for the urgent issues this county is facing in relation to the schools in our county. Before um becoming a school counselor 7 years ago, I had a small construction business for 14 years and my two brothers also work in this field. And I'm sure some of you in this room have personally experienced a new build of a home or a renovation and know the pros and cons that come with both. Tonight, I want you to imagine a full construction crew at WW Robinson and Sandy Hook Elementary working around 900 to,200 staff and students. Staff who are trying to teach our youngest student population. students who are trying to learn, work, take tests, eat, and hopefully play outside unless there's makeshift

018playgrounds that have to be provided. Then imagine that same construction crew working at a location that would not interfere or interrupt a single student trying to get an education here in Shando County. They would have the freedom to come and go without delays of traffic congestion. They could run their loud equipment that typically produces diesel fumes. There' be noises of demolition, removal of materials, the need to turn off electrical power to make needed upgrades or and assembling a new infrastructure that would be necessary if we had a renovation. I would like to read from the minutes from the last meeting, Mr. Rickard said, but I think he hit on a point a little while ago that to properly renovate these elementary schools, there's going to be disruption in instruction. That's realistic. And Mr. Cup said,

019there is. And then Mr. Rickard said, if we build that new elementary school first, took half of Sandy Hook, half of WW, we could then properly renovate those elementary schools by moving the kids. Mr. Cub, yes. Yeah, it would help. That takes enormous pressure off. And so we all know that it's to me it's a no-brainer that in order to best use the funds, keep our kids I mean we're already struggling. We know that with instruction and both the and I find that it's interesting that the two schools that are struggling with meeting the mark are the two largest schools in the division. So a new elementary school located in Mortown would be the most coste effective and provide no disruption to the education of our students and provide the ability to cost effectively renovate

020the school facilities that the taxpayer payers have already invested in. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Speaker number two, Paige Cross. Good evening. If you don't know, I'm Paige Cross. I run the culinary program at Triplette Tech. I think everyone's familiar with that. Um, I came before you this evening because I know the task before you is very difficult as being a member of the town council in Woodstock. I know the very difficult decisions you have to make concerning money and the uh opportunities that we would have to do that. Hopefully, you can still hear me. Um, I I just wanted to touch on two things. Number one, we all know in this county the teachers, we step up to the mark every ch every opportunity we get. We try to surpass, we try to

021um inflict or uh allow our students the opportunity to grow, mature, uh decide, define, project all these things, all these lovely activities that we do for our children at every level. I think your job really has to become we need both. I think all of you know that. I don't know what that looks like. I was at the last meeting. I had the opportunity to see lots of plans that were before you. I know that certainly could become overwhelming. Um but I know that this group can make an effective decision as to how you can best help us do what we do best. And that means we need better facilities, whatever that might look like. I would tell you that I'm partial to Triplet, of course. Um, I've been there for 14 years. I've been

022in Shannidoa County since 1985. I graduated from Central High School. Um, I came from a very large Richmond population to a very small community and I was afforded lots of opportunities because I came to a small community and had an opportunity to develop leadership. I stand before you this evening because of that. The second thing that I'd like to say is I know that the amount of money we're talking about spending is an astronomical amount of money, but it will never become any cheaper than it is right now. And so us waiting any longer to make any effective decisions one way or the other for one school or another school or both, um it it we know it's going to cost money, more money. So, um I hope that we can find a way to

023make um everyone's opportunities greater because of the fact that we we have more opportunities. We have more space. We have more defined things. We have more equipment on our end. We have lovely equipment and electrical issues out the out the out the window. I've lost $7,000 this year um from my um electrical issues that we had. We lost power for several days and we didn't know it. Um and I lost $7,000 worth of stuff out of my freezer. And that's not the first time that's happened. We lose equipment. I've lost two refrigerators this year due to electrical issues in our building. And so I just I ask you to really think and I know you are trying to come up with how we can make everything that we do in Shannidoa County be effective for

024our kids. So I thank you for your time. >> Thank you. And the third speaker, Gina Maddox. Can I read that one? >> No, Maddox. >> I'm here, but I didn't sign up to speed. >> Well, somebody by that name. >> Maybe you'd like to add lib for three minutes. >> She just she just wanted us to know she was here. >> No, >> I'll put she just wanted us to know she was here. The records will indicate as Miss Pence said that you were present. >> That concludes the uh the open forum. We now move to the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the following consent agenda items which includes but not limited to the approval of paid bills, donations, overnight field trips, minutes, more minutes, even more minutes and yes, more

025minutes and library book materials. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Move to approve the consent agenda. >> Thank you, Mr. Rickert. Is there a second? Second >> and dispense seconds. Please indicate by saying I if you approve. >> I >> and no if you do not. >> And once again, madame clerk, it is unanimous. Moving on to the instructional agenda, the annual child count for special education. And that would be Miss Baker. And this is Baker, by the way, is the director of student services. >> Thank you. Okay, I'm not quite as tall as everyone else and I'm not sure this is actually working. >> It's not. >> Everyone good? >> Okay. >> No, it's not working. >> Can you hear me okay though if I keep going? Okay. Good evening,

026school board members and Dr. Shepard. >> This evening, I'm presenting information from the 2025 child count. Each year, school divisions are required to report to the Virginia Department of Education a count of students with disabilities who receive special education services within the division. The data is considered a snapshot and is calculated based on student enrollment as of December 1st. Each student is counted only once based on their primary disability category and the data is then used at the state level to determine funding for special education services. To be included in the child count, a student must be eligible for special education services and have an individualized education plan or IEP, showing that they received special education services on December 1st. This slide shows the disability categories for educational related disabilities in Virginia. The highlighted column

027shows the most current child count data. As a division, we saw a decrease in the number of students reported with a primary disability category of speech language impairment and a decrease in the category of emotional disabilities. You might wonder why these categories decreased. In some situations, students may have transferred out of the division. They may have been found no longer eligible in that category or they may have been found eligible in a different primary category. As you can see, the categories of specific learning disability, autism, and developmental delay saw an increase as the primary identification. This might be due to new eligibility determinations, to students transferring between categories, or to students transferring into our division already identified from another division. As a whole, 16.5% of our student population has been identified as having an educational

028disability requiring special education supports. This is slightly higher than the national average of 15.2%. This image represents a fourth grade student. For the December 1st child count, this student would be counted as one record under the primary disability category of specific learning disabilities or SLD. But that's not a reflection of the full picture for this student. What the child count does not capture fully are the additional supports and staffing this student may require. For example, this student also has a hearing impairment requiring specialized instruction from the teacher of the deaf and heart of hearing. So now this student is represented by three very distinct case loads. A general education teacher for fourth grade, a teacher for the specific learning disabilities and a teacher for the hearing impairment. In addition, this student receives services from a

029speech language pathologist and an occupational therapist. So in total, this child who is counted one time under the child count actually requires staffing and supports from five different case managers. While the December 1 child count data provides a picture, it's important to understand that the numbers do not capture a full representation of student needs. Any questions before I keep going? >> I want to have a question um for the slide before that. I don't know if I need to ask you now or not. U regarding the emotional disability uh like what exactly is that? And also um I see that it has gone down drastically since 2020. I mean would that have something to do with the whole COVID and the pandemic or >> So there are five different um criteria for an emotional disability.

030I'll try my best to remember them on the spot, but I'm probably going to forget some. um an adverse reaction under typical conditions. Um a pervasive mood of depression, school phobia, and now my mind's going to go blank. There are two more, but there are different uh subcategories within emotional disability. Part of the reason you may see that decline since 2020 um is because students under that category of other health impairment has increased. And sometimes it's really hard to distinguish whether something is another health impairment, an emotional disability, or a social maladjustment. Um, so it may have been that our teams have gotten stronger at truly identifying what really is an emotional disability or it may be that they have moved to other categories. >> Would you know what the I mean, obviously you don't

031have them there, but do you have any idea what the numbers were approximately prior to 2020? I mean, were they that high or were they lower? >> I'm sorry. I can find that information. >> Yeah, that would be great. >> If we could do it maybe a couple years before that. >> Sure. >> Yeah. Okay. Now, I want to give you a little information about um section 504. So special education and section 504 are separate federal programs that frequently interface in a school environment. They both aim to support students with disabilities, but they differ in their legal structure and in the level of support that they provide. The Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA provides a broad civil rights protection for discrimination for all areas of disability. Um in this image, ADA is the canopy

032of the umbrella providing the outer layer of protections. The IDA or individuals with disabilities education act provides individualized specially designed instruction for students with specific qualifying disabilities. In this image, IDA is the specialized supports or braces under the umbrella's canopy. Section 504 focuses on leveling the playing field by removing barriers to access, ensuring that a student with a disability has the same educational opportunities as their non-disabled peer. In this image, section 504 is the handle or the operating mechanisms that allows the user to access the operation of the umbrella. December 1 child count does not capture students who are identified under section 504. Currently, we have 272 students eligible for section 504 as a primary category. This represents roughly 5% of our total student enrollment. This graph shows the number of eligible students as a

033percentage of the total division population. So while our while our child count data is showing an upward trend with the identification of students with disabilities across the division, we are working diligently with teams to meet the spirit of the of um state guidance. new guidance becomes available or as new precedents are set, our teams are responding to those updates. The Virginia Department of Education provides us with guidance documents that to utilize when making eligibility decisions. Our teams are utilizing those documents and we are working with the team leads to ensure accuracy and consistency across our division. Are there any questions I can answer about child count or about section 504? So I found the answer to Miss Carino's question earlier. It's on board docs um in 2020. So um the from 2014 to 2020 the

034um students with disabilities increased slightly every single year from 2014 to 2020 and in 2020 it was 15.8. 8% the emotional disabilities increased as well from that from that time. >> So it increased up to 2020 and then it started to trickle down I mean to come down since then. Okay. >> Thanks. >> I'll send this information. >> Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you. >> Moving on to item 4.2 2 celebrating America's 250th anniversary. I present the assistant superintendent of instruction as well. >> Good evening, chairman. >> Good evening, Shepard. >> Board members, how is everybody this evening? >> So, uh, quickly we're going to talk about, um, two items this evening. Um, I want to highlight first the 2023 Virginia History and Social Studies standards that were um put in place in 2023. Uh,

035just to kind of touch base, I think that it came up um maybe Miss Carlio, you had questions about some patriotism and so um I just wanted to highlight um the state must be thinking like you because they um also have embedded a lot of patriotism in the new standards. And so I'm just going to highlight that a little bit just so you have a frame of reference for that. And then we're also going to talk um briefly about where we're going to head for the American celebration of 250 years. So um the new standards that came in effect for 2023 really um has a patriotism um embedded all the way from kindergarten through 12th grade. Um, I just want to highlight that in the early grades, students begin with understanding symbols, traditions, and um,

036national identity. I can't read my notes because I don't have my glasses on. There we go. Um, and then in the uh, moving towards the upper elementary, then it starts to move into civic responsibility and in the middle school, civic responsibility and constitutional principles. And then by high school, students are starting to engage in the democratic participation, service, and defending American values. Um, but it's important to note that the patriotism in these standards is framed as informed and active citizenship, not just simply ceremonial participation. So, this ensures students understand why traditions and civic duties matter. I thought that was important. And then these next two slides just really um pull out for each grade level. that you have this on board doc so that you can refer back to it, but it really pulls out

037the specific standards that address um patriotism. And so you can see that through kindergarten through fourth grade. Keep in mind fifth grade is our local um history. And so it's it's um embedded in our local stuff, but I didn't pull that because it's not specifically from the state. And then in middle school um all the way up to uh government and high school. So you have that there to reference. And then as we move into the 250th Celebration of America, so just to kind of help the schools, we thought we would kind of bring together some ideas so that it wasn't um daunting for our um principles to figure out. So we've kind of taken the stance of symbols, voice, and service. And so our elementary schools will really be focusing on understanding national symbols

038and traditions, which goes along with the SOS that they're teaching. And then middle school, we'll really be working on exploring civic voice and democratic ideals, which goes along with their civics um units. And then at the high school, we really thought we'd engage in civic duty and community service and giving back to our communities. So, we'll be working with our high schools, middle schools, and elementary school principles uh at the next principal meeting to really talk about what they would like to see happening in their buildings. Um but we've just made a quick list of some of the things that we could be doing. So, of course, at the elementary schools, we could be writing or drawing what America means to me, patriotic songs and discussions, hallways and classroom displays. And I know um at

039WW Robinson, they usually have a theme for their field day. And so, Miss Mason even talked about possibly having um you know, American celebration be part of their theme for field day. So, those are some of the ideas for elementary. And then at middle school having mock voting, student voice walls, and historical examples of youth civic engagement. And then at the high school, we talked about having guest speakers and public service fields come in. Um student reflections on service and democracy. And then um thinking of ways that they could give back to their community. And we also talked about maybe some of the high school kids could go and help and do some community service in the elementary or middle schools to help with some of these other projects that are happening. So, those are

040just some ideas that um we've we've kind of brought together and I just kind of wanted to highlight those for you because I know that you guys were having questions about it. Um any questions for me? >> Well, I want to commend you um for you guys doing this. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Um now, here's a question. Are you guys going to do this only this year for the 250th anniversary or is this something that we're going to have ongoing? So the celebration part will probably just be this year for the 250th. But as I pointed those as well, those are every year that we have to teach curriculum part. >> Yes. So that curriculum is embedded every year. Um and we actually um have u materials that support

041those things. >> That's great. Thank you. >> Yes. >> I also want to thank you for doing that. Um just a quick question. Um, one of our neighboring counties is in the hot seat right now for letting staff lead their students on a protest. That will not be part of just wanted to assure that. Thank you. One thing I would add uh and by the way by the way complements to what you have prepared and with respect to upper level um maybe some focus on some primary sources dealing with the enlightenment and the thoughts of independence. Um certainly common sense comes to mind, John Block, uh the Virginia statute of religious freedom by Thomas Jefferson. The list can go on, but that's kind of upper level. So not only the symbols and the civic participation

042and giving back. Yes. Yes. To all of that. Uh but also those documents which >> primary sources is one of our our standards that we also have to teach. You say like that that little nuance of between Jefferson writing the inalienable rights and whoever changed it to the unalienable rights is a great mystery. But doesn't unalienable just magnify what he was trying to say? Whether Franklin did that or John Adams or the printer made a mistake, who knows? >> But it's an interesting thing to explore. >> Yes, I agree. >> So that's my input. Thank you. Yes. >> Anything else? >> Thank you. >> Next. The director of instruction, Miss Congardner, Literacy Task Force of Shannido County. >> Good evening, Dr. Shepard, Chairman Vance, members of the board. I am really excited to um share

043some information with you. Some of you have more knowledge than others. Um but I would like to um share some information about our newly developed volunteer program which we have recently branded as LEAP which stands for literacy excellence and achievement partnership. LEAP is a collaborative literacy initiative developed through partnership with Shannondoa County Public Schools and the Rotary Clubs of Shannondoa of Shannondoa County. Together we have designed this program to strengthen early literacy outcomes through structured teacher aligned volunteer support. This work reflects both instructional alignment and the power of community partnership in supporting student success. This work began through partnership and a shared commitment to improving literacy outcomes for our youngest learners. As we examined our literacy data and instructional priorities, it was clear that an additional structured practice of opportunities could strengthen student outcomes. Rotary

044and community members approached us in September with a desire to support our schools in meaningful ways and invited us to share our needs with community partners. From that initial meeting, we worked intentionally by scheduling follow-up meetings to design a program that supports existing instruction rather than creating something separate. In November, we began soliciting volunteers. You can see here the flyer that was created and shared through multiple avenues including but not limited to Rotary meetings, the Chamber of Commerce, and the public library. From the beginning, this has been a true partnership. Rotary has played a critical role in recruiting volunteers and helping build the community foundation necessary to sustain this work. The mission of LEAP is to strengthen early literacy through consistent trained and caring volunteer tutoring partnerships. This work focuses on three key objectives. supporting

045foundational reading skills, increasing student confidence, and partnering directly with teachers to provide targeted support. Our goal is not only to help students improve their reading skills, but also to build confidence and positive relationships with learning. LEAP was intentionally designed to ensure volunteers are prepared and supported. All volunteers complete an orientation and training process aligned with our literacy expectations. They receive a handbook, guidance, and ongoing communication to ensure consistency and clarity. Volunteers work directly with students during the school day under the guidance of classroom teachers. This structure ensures that volunteer support strengthens rather than replaces classroom instruction. The picture you see here is the division orientation that was held on January 15th at the community center in Mount Jackson. This is what LEAPS looks like in our schools. Volunteers are working directly with students in small

046groups and individual settings providing reading practice, reinforcement, and encouragement. They are helping students apply skills, build fluency, and develop confidence. Equally important, they are building relationships. Students know these volunteers are there to support them and that consistency matters. This is targeted, structured literacy support happening in real classrooms. Um, you should have a copy of this timeline for easy reading. I know it's probably hard to read on the slide. Um, but just wanted to kind of share the timeline because a lot has happened in a very short amount of time. The work began in September with program design and community conversations. Volunteer recruitment began in November, followed by training and initial placements in December. In January, we expanded placements providing division level training and implemented our tracking system which um I'll show you on the next

047slide where we are with um time. And on February 5th, Rotary formally named and launched our name as LEAP literacy excellence and achievement partnership. In just a few months, this program has grown from an idea into an active functioning support system in our schools. We are proud to share that leap has launched successfully and continues to grow. Currently we have 42 active volunteers. Five additional volunteers are awaiting placement. Um we are taking our volunteers on a rotation basis. Approximately 250 students are being supported within the rotations. Of the volunteers currently placed, 15 have begun reporting their service hours. So, the hours that you see here are just the 14 reporting volunteers, but there are other hours that just haven't been reported yet. Um, we're working on the best way to do that. Right now, we're

048using Google Forms, but we may need to use um paper and insert it that way. So, we're still working out the logistics of that. Um, but of the 15 that have reported to date, those volunteers have contributed 16 1/2 hours in December, 41 hours in January, and 8 and 1/2 hours so far in February. This represents a total of 66 hours of direct literacy support already provided to our students. These hours reflect early implementation as volunteers establish routines and begin working consistently with students as additional volunteers um begin placements and reporting. We expect both participation and impact to continue to grow. Rotary continues to play a critical role in recruiting volunteers and strengthening the sustainability of this partnership, ensuring this work can expand to support even more students over time. And right now, um, we

049have volunteers at Ashby Lee and WW Robinson. Um, as early as or yes, at this week um, actually Tina Maddox who signed up to speak but isn't actually speaking. Um, um, she is the president. Is that correct? >> President-elect, >> president of the Rotary Club in Charlesburg. Um, and we have two volunteers now who are ready to be placed. Um, I told her I said, "You could be the volunteer, I'll find a placement." Um, so she prom she promised me she'd get at least one and we got two. So, we're planning to um expand with Sandy Hope as well. This is probably the the coolest thing. Um, all of it's neat, but this is this is really neat. Our volunteers bring tremendous experience and expertise. And you do have this in front of you. Many

050are retired teachers, school leaders, and professionals with experience working with children. Others are community members deeply committed to supporting students. All volunteers complete training and background checks and work under the guidance of teachers and administrators. They are not replacing educators. They are strengthening our ability to support students. This is a powerful example of how our community investing is investing directly into our schools. And I will say as somebody who um travels to this division from a neighboring division, sitting in these meetings, it's a feeling that I really can't articulate to be around these really passionate individuals who just want to volunteer their time. I know how I feel when I leave their presence. I can only imagine how our kids feel. The success of LEAP is rooted in clearly defined roles and shared responsibility. Shannidoa

051County Public Schools provides program design, instructional alignment, training, and oversight. School administrators, and I know Tara is here tonight, school administrators coordinate implementation at the building level. Teachers provide guidance and ensure volunteer support aligns with classroom instruction. Volunteers provide structured literacy, practice, and encouragement for students. Rotary supports volunteer recruitment and helps sustain the community partnership that makes this work possible. Moving forward, our focus is on sustaining its I'm sorry, strengthening this work through continued recruitment, ongoing trainment, and al training in alignment with our instructional priorities. LEAP represents a sustainable model of partnership that strengthens literacy outcomes while reinforcing the strong instructional work already happening in our classrooms. In just a short time, we have built a structured, sustainable program that is already making a meaningful difference for students. We are grateful for the volunteers, educators,

052and community partners who are helping make this work possible. At this time, I would like to invite our LEAP volunteers who are present and our LEAP leaders who are here as well as our administrator this evening. So, please stand so we can recognize you. Thank you for the impact you're making in our SCHOOL and I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. I just want to say I am so happy that you guys are doing this. I mean this is exactly um the kind of thing that I would like that I like to see in the community. I know in our mental health task force we talk about this all the time. Not only are you helping the students with literacy which obviously is a problem. I'm not going to say necessarily here,

053but nationwide, we know our kids are not reading as much. Um, but also that mentorship that the fact that you have somebody else who's also helping and you're gonna be playing a key role in that student's life is great. But also the whole building community. I mean, I think this is great. I really wish you the best. I hope um that we can grow this um because this is exactly the kind of thing that we need to see more of in our schools. So, thank you very much for that. >> Yes, sir. Yeah, thank you for having them stand. However, I identified some of them in the pictures on the slides you put up and I just wanted to personally thank you all. There's nothing more important than teaching a child to read and uh

054thank you for volunteering your time. That it means the world to me. >> Yeah. I just want to say that this group truly operated as a task force. Um I've been very fortunate to be part of their meeting since September. Um, and it's been really amazing just to see how the members just zeroed in on our reading data. You know, they identified the need and they developed a plan and they they moved right into action. Um, you know, with just in a few months like there were volunteers already providing support in our schools. So, I'm really looking forward to seeing the impact of this work. So, thank you all very much. And um I'll follow up on all I mean I agree with all those comments and the speed of this has really been amazing.

055So um typically in these types of um situations things don't usually move very fast and this moved at light speed. So you had you set quite a standard. So um you know we expect more out of um any of these other groups coming up. Now thank you for you know this is vitally important especially at the young ages. So well done. >> Well, I will second everything that's been said by everyone with added enthusiasm. >> Thank you so much. >> Moving to theformational agenda. Superintendent's proposed fiscal year 2027 budget and capital improvement plan. Dr. Thank you. So, I will be referencing um the budget book as we go through this presentation. So, just um if you want to have that handy. So, as with the last few presentations, here is the budget timeline. You can

056actually see the entire budget timeline on page 12 of your um of the budget book, but you'll notice uh this evening we are at February the 12th and this will um this is where I present my proposed budget to the school board. On February the 23, the school board will have an opportunity to talk about my proposal. And then on March the 12th, so a month away, um we the school board will approve the fiscal year 2027 budget. We likely will not have all of the information back from the general assembly on our state funds by then, but we approve the school board will approve the information that we have available to us. And then the board of supervisors um will meet with us on um Monday, March the 16th. Then on the 17th, they

057will um set the established tax rate for the budget advertisement. And then on April the 6, they will have their public hearing. April the 14th, they will come back and approve their fisc year 27 budget and tax rate. And then on April 27th, the school board can react to what the board of supervisors funds. So just wanted to highlight that Shannidoa County continues to be the number one employer here in Shannidoa County. We've been number one um the year 2016, but at least through 2010, we've been the number one employee here in Shannonoa County. So, and we continue to be so budget initiatives, division goals. We have talked about this for the last three meetings and the budget goals that this budget the division goals that this budget will speak to are academic achievement and

058growth, positive recruit, excuse me, recruitment support and retain enthusiastic professionals and high quality and adequate um facilities and learning environments. So on page 17 of the budget book, you will see my proposal and it starts with academic achievement and growth. You will notice the very top ask or proposal is new instructional positions at 308,000. This is one um special ed program compliance teacher that will allow us to have a program a special ed program compliance teacher at each elementary school and also a program compliance teacher shared between the middle and the high schools. this program compliance teacher actually takes some of the work off of the teachers in special ed meetings and re-evaluation meetings and and things like that and making sure that we're in compliance with um our individual education plans. You will notice

059that we have I've proposed two additional special education teachers, one at WW Robinson and one at Ashby Lee Elementary School because their case load is getting higher. And you will notice from Miss um Baker's presentation earlier that our numbers are creeping up in the number of students we have with disabilities over the last couple of years. The second u main bullet point there is the grant absorption and and fiscal year 26 FTE positions. We have received several grants that we have hired people um with and we would like to put them in this budget because those funds um go away at the end of June. Three of those positions are special ed teachers, one assistant principal at Ashby Lee Elementary School, a full-time interventionist at WW Robinson, the halftime aviation teacher at Triplette Tech, and

060then our tutoring and attendance recovery program that we started with the all-in Virginia money uh two to three years ago. and we have noticed great success with student achievement improvement on with the tutoring and attendance recovery programs. The third major bullet point is expanding our middle school sports program. We would like to add middle school volleyball, seventh grade boys basketball, and seventh grade girls basketball. We have heard over and over again from our middle school students um especially on the mental health task force that there are not um they would like to see additional opportunities for them to be um involved in their school community. For the second mission that we're looking at is the recruit, support, and retain enthusiastic professionals. My recommendation is a 3.25 cost of living adjustment to all salary scales plus

061a step increase. And you'll notice that's a little over almost $2.9 million. I would like to propose a special education teacher incentive which would give each special education teacher a $5,000 stipend whether they're a new hire or a an existing special ed teacher. Um, and that the cost of that initiative is $430,000. And then health insurance increase at $3.2 million. And we knew we were going to have a health insurance increase. We are still negotiating that price. So hopefully that will come down as as the weeks up to March the 12th um lapse. And my recommendation is that we leave the proposed health insurance um premium for our employees the same as it was last year. We're not going to be able to do anything more with our health insurance rates, but to leave them

062static would be my recommendation. We've made great gains over the last five years in health insurance and we and we don't want to lose ground. Now then the last statement, the high quality and adequate facilities and learning environment. Um 180,000 for inflation increases in our in our maintenance budget. And then also um my proposal is to add someone who would have oversight of all the capital improvement projects that we have right now. We have a director of maintenance and an assistant superintendent of student services and operation that this is their role and they're doing it as they have time which is not an efficient practice. whenever you have currently we have over $7 million in capital improvement funds that we need somebody to manage that I anticipate if we hire someone to do that it

063will save us money in the long run so while you have heard a number you know a number of increases there the actual potential request from the county is 2.1 million because we are getting additional state revenue and additional we have some cost savings on the Virginia retirement system at a little over a million dollars and in turnover funds at a little over a million dollars that were able to put towards all of those other things that that um are in the requests. So that request from the locality is less than the increase on our health insurance at this time. And that request may go down as I said when we have our final information on our health insurance increase and also the final state budget. So, the the cost of all of the initiatives

064added up was almost $8 million. To look at my notes real quick to make sure I'm not missing anything. Page 19 displays this chart here. And the cost savings from our Virginia retirement system was $1.4 4 million and the cost savings in vacancy savings was 1.2 million. So to give you a little financial information, there's a couple of ways to look at a proposed budget. And here is one way to look at at a at the proposed budget. We have um fund one which is general operating, fund two which is special budgets, fund three which is capital projects, fund five which is food service and fund six which is county technology services. The county fund six county technology services. These funds go directly to Shannidoa County Local Government. Um their their part of the tech

065their portion of the technology services or you can look at the budget based on the Virginia code. We're required to use nine major major classifications. And we really only use six of these major classifications. We use instruction, attendance, and administration. um health, pupil, transportation, operations and maintenance, food service and technology facilities we will we will use if we start some major capital projects. This information is on page 22 of your budget book. And the other two codes categories that we do not use are contingency and reserves and debt. So, another way to look at that, the the six categories that we use, here are the six categories that we use, and here's the funding that we're requesting from each of those categories. And the next slide will show a chart that will display this information

066as well. And that chart is on page 24 in the budget book. So, you will notice we're still spending a little over 71% on instruction, which is our main focus. And the rest of the rest of the chart shows administration, attendance and health, transportation, operations and maintenance, food service and technology. A few years ago, our board of supervisors had requested um possibly doing categorical funding. We have the information in our budget book if we are be if we're requested to do categorical funding. So, we're prepared for that if that's a request from the board of supervisors this year. >> I'm sorry. Does that mean that they they would um fund things by category or >> it it would mean that they would fund things by category. So, instruction, they would say, "Okay, 72% of your

067budget, this amount of money is for instruction." And if we had to change um request a transfer between categories, we would have to get permission from the board of supervisors to do that. So this next slide is on page 20 of your budget book. So we're going back a couple of pages. And this is the proposed budget. You will notice under county it has an asterct and there is no request there. Um we usually do not put a request there but our request at this time for the county is a little over 2.1 million. You'll notice local um our local is rebates, um grants, things like that. State funds, you'll notice, has increased by almost 3.5 million. You'll notice that our um our local composite index decreased by 2%. So, we received more state money

068than we would have otherwise. federal going down a little bit, not significantly, but at $32,000. This chart is on page 21 of your budget book and it shows the percentage of of how we're funded. So, the state funds us at 56%. The county funds us at 30 almost 36% federal 7% and locals 1.2 and our local composite index was442 so about 40%. So we're right in line with our local composite index with how we're how we're being funded. The next chart you can find on page 24 of your budget book. 86% of our budget of the proposed budget is people salaries and benefits. And I say it every year, our teachers have the number one impact on student learning. Followed by our school administrators, our principles and assistant principles. They're a close second. So this

069is the end of the budget portion of the presentation. The next part will go into capital improvement plan and then the next agenda item will be major capital. So we um this is what Mr. Hensley and Miss Campbell have been presenting over the last couple of weeks. I included it in my presentation because it is now part of the um the superintendent's proposed budget. The information is the same that as you've seen over the last few few weeks. You'll see our facilities at a glance. And you'll notice our elementary schools are close to 90% or above at capacity. Our middle schools at 65 to 79% capacity. And our high school between 62 and 77 78% capacity. You'll notice our capital improvement funding over the last 12 14 years. Um you'll see the requested amount and

070then the funded amount. And you will notice that fiscal year 26, which is last year, we requested more funding than we had previously. And this year, we are also requesting more money than we have previously. This year's request includes design, architectural design money for our major capital projects, which you'll see here in a couple of slides. You'll see the major facility construction um information and it's at $211 million. This this number comes from the information from option C that we did last year. So it's not from the information that we had at the last schoolboard meeting from Miller Cup and Daily Mather Architects. This is information from last year. We will update this information after the March 12th vote on what our major capital and facility construction um request will be. You'll notice the number

071of desirable, necessary, and urgent items that we have on our um capital improvement plan. And the number below um at 258 million that is that's a five-year total. The one on the right is this year's this fiscal year's request. shown in a different way. It shows the major capital information over um displayed over five years and it also shows the operating CIP which includes transportation, safety and security, HVAC, roofing, electrical plumbing, equipment replacement, athletic facilities and minor construction. You'll notice the figure beside capital maintenance and facility construction that top row you'll notice that for fiscal or for year 20 26 27 it's $8 million and that is the design the architectural design cost of whatever we may And again these these figures the 211 million are num are figures that we used for option C

072when we presented this information at that time. So the CIP list you can see transportation we're asking for 5.5 million over the next few years. Safety and security. There's a list of things and this this is just a duplication of what you've heard over the last number of meetings. Total safety and security is 4 and a.5 million heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The top number has increased the HVAC replacement and upgrade. Um I'm not sure is this Mr. Hley is this the number that was presented last at the last meeting or is this a new number? 13.5 million. As we get new information, we're trying to update that number. So, the HVAC is 22.9 million. roofing, electrical, plumbing, and drainage. And you'll notice the red font. If that's there, if we do a project, some

073of these projects may fall off the CIP because they will be taken care of in those major capital projects. >> Yes. >> Equipment replacement addition 2.6 million Athletic facilities 1.6 Modern construction at 5 million. and then again the budget timeline. So all of the CIP information, if you have the slide presentation in front of you, is summarized on slide number 24. Yes, I think that's right. Slide 24. And then going back to the to the calendar, the opportunity for the school board to discuss this is on February the 23rd. If you have any thoughts between now and February the 23rd that you would like information on, please share that with myself, Miss Campbell, Mr. Hensley. So if we need to gather information, we will have it available for you on the 23rd because it is

074a short turnaround time between February the 23rd and March the 12th whenever that um whenever the school board will approve a fiscal year 2027 um budget. So please get us that information if you would like to see additions or subtractions, whatever you would like to see in the um in the budget. Please let us know. Great opportunity on February 23rd to actually talk about this so um we can hit the have the information available and be prepared for March as well. >> Yes sir. >> I have two questions and one statement. Um, first question, the tutoring and attendance recovery programs you spoke of under uh fund one, >> um, do you have data to to support that? >> We have we have data that supports um, yes, we do. >> Could you uh get that

075to us, please? >> Um, also the 3.25% 25% cola and step increase. Is that going to keep us competitive with our neighboring counties? >> So, while I have not heard officially what our neighboring counties are proposing, um I know that we lag behind, and I hate to say this out loud in public, um that we lag behind Frederick County. Um, we are a little ahead of Rockingham County though, but I don't know what their proposal is for for next um for fiscal year 27. The last thing I have is I noticed you put in a $5,000 stipen for the uh sped teachers. I want to applaud you on that. I know we had originally talked about 2500 last year. um we got to do whatever we can to fill those positions and if we've got

076teachers that are sped certified that are in gened classrooms that might just attract them to come back to sped. So I applaud you for that. Thank you. >> Most of the counties that surround us are either doing something or have proposed to do something in that same manner. So um we don't want to lag behind our other counties because we need the best special ed teachers that we can get. >> Good. Thank you for that. One more question and then regarding that cola increase. Is that including the state money that >> So it does um Governor Ynan proposed a 2% pay increase. So that does include that 2%. Yes. >> We we do not know what the general assembly is going to come up with. So, you know, we're still a little um uncertain, but

077hopefully we'll get some information at the end of February that can inform our decision, >> but we're definitely getting the 2%. >> Yes. 2%. >> So, then it would be at most we would be doing an percentage and a half >> plus. Yes. >> All right. I'm looking forward to February 23rd. >> I'm not going to be here. So, we're ready for cell phone discussion. >> Um, major capital. >> Oh, major capital. >> Yes. >> And really, I just have a statement on major capital. We'll have an opportunity to discuss major capital again at the February 23rd meeting. you. All of the documents that we have um shared previously are part of the board agenda and we will make it part of the board agenda item for February the 23rd. And this it'll be a

078great opportunity for schoolboard members to have discussion on where you want to see us move with major capital projects because again that'll be up for vote at March the 12th. >> And that's it. >> That's it. Hey policy JHCP cell phone free education. >> A school board member requested revisions to policy JHCP cell phone free education. So at this time I am going to turn it over to Mr. Shotti. >> Thank you uh Dr. Shepard. Um, I'd uh suggested the changes, which of course I don't have in front of me, but um uh to be a more encompassing um program uh that would cover the use of other wearable items like um in in particular the the medical glasses and such things. I think that our our policy was falling a little short um in

079comprehensiveness. So I had suggested um the the uh changes here which thank you Dr. Shepard. So um I guess I will read through the whole policy or >> you could just talk about the changes. >> Okay. Yeah. So the changes to each to the existing policy um are kind of um they just add in wearable and body uh mounted digital technology um and uh it it limits unsupervised access to the internet um while in during instructional time or bell-to-bell. Um, so it would it would add um wearable, body-mounted or hands-free devices um to our already uh existing cell phone policy. Um there were no changes to um any of the other uh um things like you know the appropriate use by staff and so forth. So, this just was done to um to try to

080keep up with the additional technology that is moving so fast. Um and uh when while watching the Super Bowl, that was probably the only uh commercial I really took note of was that Oakley has sunglasses now that um don't look any different from the other Oakley sunglasses. So, we'll have to um keep an eye on this and um uh because they are prescription now in particular speaking about the glasses. Um so before we know it, people could be recording or you know or doing their you can talk to it and tell it to look down and and answer a calculus pro problem and it will do it for you and speak it into your ear. So, I'd like to um you know, try to stay ahead of this and and make it easier for our

081teachers um to uh to teach without the um the distractions of wireless or cell phone devices. >> Anything for Mr. Shavei? Questions, comments? >> Supervisor of Student Services, Dr. Carol. Thank you. Good evening again. Um, so I'm here to talk to you about our student support specialists and just kind of the work that they do for our schools and for our community members. Uh, first I would like for you to meet our student support specialists in case you don't know who they are. We have Miss Ellen Motton. I'm going to just read from the top. Uh, we have Miss Shell Velasquez Rivera. uh Rivera, Miss Anna Maria Berto Bertoini, Miss Lindseay Mock, Miss Stephanie Moore, and then Miss Bailey George. And as you can notice underneath their names are the schools that they service. Um

082and if you also take note that they service two schools um within our campuses. So the purpose of today's meeting um I just want to let you understand the scope and impact that the student support specialists make um in our everyday lives. I want you to also learn how our student support specialists support our schools families but also the community. And then just to kind of review the responsibilities and collaborative partnerships that they help um facilitate for our schools and our community. So, one of the things that I wanted to bring to your attention is they do have a student support specialist mission and that is through a culture of care and respect. The student support specialist will connect students and their families with services and resources that address or minimize personal challenges outside of

083the classroom that can also impede the academic progress and achievement of educational goals. So if you look at the diagram over there, you can see our student support specialists are in the blue and they have a lot of arrows pointing at them. So they work very collaboratively with our building administrators, they work with our school counselors, they work with teachers and other staff like nurses, speech pathologists. Um, and they really work together to make a connection to help our students achieve. Um, if you also look, you can see where it says preIDT and IDT. So they work very closely with our community and court liaison in order to work on attendance and truency and getting those kids to come to school and help them learn. Um up top, we'll speak about this a little bit

084later, but there's FPM, which are family partnership meetings, and then our FAT um procedures as well. So, a lot of times you might hear, "What's the difference between a student support specialist and a school counselor?" And coming into this division, I never had a student support specialist before, and I was wondering the same thing. So, I'm not going to read everything to you, but just to let you know, a school counselor is a certified and licensed um educator. And if you look at our student support specialists, they might not be a licensed educator, but they do have a bachelor degree in human uh services or possibly education. Our counselors do a lot of work to support our students in our schools. So, they provide support and deliver those counseling services to all of our students.

085Uh they really do help a lot with the academic and career planning of our students. They facilitate guidance lessons that are focused on academics, career, personal development, um conducting those targeted group sessions. So they might have things called um like lunch sessions or lunch groups where they work on um maybe sharing or how to handle difficult situations. They do provide short-term counseling to our students and submit long-term referrals. So if a student needs uh long-term counseling, the counselors are not able to provide that. So they'll submit referrals to outside agencies to see if we can get those services for our students. Guidance counselors or school counselors collaborate with families, teachers, administrators just like our support specialists do, but I'll get into that in just a moment about how that differs a little bit. They do

086a lot with conducting needs assessments and then also guiding students through course selections to make sure that they're prepared not only for that year but for future years and to help them achieve the goals that they want to achieve in life. So, switching over to our student support specialists, um they work with targeted students and families through those administrative referrals. Whereas counselors kind of work with all students, the support specialists will work with those targeted students of families that are at risk or in need. Um they conduct family partnership meetings. So, those family partnership meetings really work to help find those families um support services. is we identify what needs uh those people have and then we work together with the community agencies to help provide those families with those supports. Uh they connect students

087and families to those needed services and act as a resource during the school day. So as I mentioned with guidance counselors uh school counselors they can do group work whereas the student support specialists do mainly one- on-one work with those students. They also conduct student family assessments to provide any kind of prevention uh services. And then I had mentioned FAP before which is our family assessment and planning team. Um so that is really where we work to find those funding sources to help the students get those needed services. Our student support specialists work directly with community agencies. So they may work in partnership with Northwestern or life enrichment services. And then they also participate in school-based student support meetings that um include attendance, discipline, and academic success of our students. So, as I mentioned, they

088do a lot of work, a lot of collaboration. Um, and these are just some of the stakeholders. So, they work with students directly and their families. They work with building administrators. Uh building administrators meet weekly with their student support specialists and talk about students who are in need of support. And that could look like therapy services or maybe just daily check-ins. They work with, like I mentioned before, our counselors, nurses, teachers, um even sometimes our school resource officers. They work with our special education department because sometimes the students that they serve have special education needs and services. I mentioned again before our community and court liaison. So they work with her to ensure that our students are coming to school if there's any barriers. So maybe a family isn't able to provide transportation or maybe

089they're just having difficulty getting their child into school. They work with um the the families to figure out what that barrier is and how to get them to school. Again, I mentioned community agencies and service providers, but also medical providers. So, they work with insurance companies. They help the families fill out insurance paperwork if needed. Um we'll get into that in a second. And then the family assessment and planning team, which is FAP. So the impact on the students um it helps really make a stronger school and family relationship. If you are coming in and I know this from experience as an administrator and I'm coming to talk to a family, they put up a wall right away because they look at me as an authoritative role and they feel like they're getting in trouble.

090our student support specialists really help to bridge that gap um and work in a more delicate fashion to to let families know it's okay and we're all on the same page to support one another. Again, I mentioned improved attendance and school engagement sometimes. Um and I had mentioned this at the mental health task force. I haven't mentioned it here yet, but these students are not with these student support specialists for one year. Sometimes they're with them for multiple years. I was just in a meeting today and one of our student support specialists said, "I've had this student for six years." And so they really build that relationship and sometimes that's the face that those students need in order to come to school. Sometimes things are just weighing heavy on their minds and that is their

091safe place to go. They help to reduce barriers to learning. Again, that's through speaking with the administrators, speaking with the teachers, speaking with the special education department. What is going on? Um, and how can we best help this student? Um, they serve as a resource and support to those teachers because teachers have a hard job and sometimes these students are putting up a wall in class and they're shutting down and it's hard for them to learn. and the student support specialist will come in, take that student, get them back down to a base level, and then say before we get to class, let's work on this together. Um, and then they make a positive impact on the school climate, climate, and also student success. So, you can see in that graph I have from 2021

092up until 2025. Um, I have some information here about 2026, the 2526 school year. We're not done compiling all of that information because the school year hasn't ended. Um, but I do have some information about that. >> Can I just ask a quick question? >> Yes, ma'am. >> What's What's driving the changes like in the number of family partnership meetings as well as the direct intensive cases? >> Yep. Actually, that's part of my >> There you go. your little segue for you. >> No, that's okay. So, actually, um, when the student support specialists first started their positions, the community agencies that they were collaborating with had some challenges themselves. There's some of COVID going on and some of the agencies were not fully staffed. So that's why in 2021-22 you can see that the numbers

093are higher um because our student support specialists were helping to take on some of those um supports for those agencies. Um so that's why you can see like with the family partnership meetings. So I do have a number for that for this year. Um last year we were at 142 and right now at this point we are at 59 family partnership meetings. And that's where we're just getting um the and and the reason for that is because Northwestern right now is actually the one that's facilitating those meetings. So our student support service um or our student support specialists are not facilitating the meetings but they are attending those meetings. So these numbers are showing the ones that they had facilitated over the years, but because now those um agencies are staffed or um have the

094capacity to do it, they're taking on that facilitation which is showing a drop in our numbers. Um the other thing too is so to get back to your point when you made your face point. >> So we have things called socioultural histories. Um, and sometimes when families, so we used to have two licensed social workers. So that's why you see zeros there and then the number shoots way up to 185. So we do not have the two licensed social workers anymore. So our student support specialists are doing those socioulturals. And actually to date right now, we have 89 completed and 40 pending. So that makes a total of 129 since um July 1st that our student support specialists have been conducting and facilitating. So, with the question to insurance, they're um sometimes the families have

095trouble filling out just applications and so our student support specialists are helping them just kind of understand the process and how to fill out a referral or um like to show their insurance to to the companies. So, they're not >> Does that make sense? >> Yeah. So that social cultural histories that's just another broad umbrella of it could be anything or what? >> Yeah. >> That kind of stuff, right? >> Yeah. So socioultural um socioulturals are ways for us to um get a broader look at students. So we talk about milestones of the students um pretty much kind of like from when they were born up until now. And it just gives us a broader understanding of that student and the family's needs and the students needs. So when we're making referrals, we can say

096they might need play therapy or equin therapy or um you know, maybe they need this service or so it it's just a way to really figure out what is going on with the student and how we can best support them with our local community agencies. Do we have any other questions on that slide? No. Um, so then just to review, our student support specialists really do bridge the gap and reduce barriers between students needs and learning. Um they provide collaboration amongst all the stakeholders um which is our students, families, the school systems and they really do build relationships but they also monitor the students. So once they get um into therapy or once they get a service that they need, it's not like we just go, "All right, you're done. I don't need to look

097at you anymore." They still continue to check on those kids. We monitor them. We talk about them constantly. and see if they're doing well or if they're not, what's not working. And let's re-evaluate the process to see how we can figure out maybe getting a different type of support that would be better fit for them. And that's all I have. Any questions? >> Okay, you have a question. Let me see how I can face it. Um, so I know we have a growing number of ESL students. Mhm. >> Um so sometimes they do have some problems with culture, you know, like they don't they don't understand exactly I think there's also a lot of um lack of understanding of how much um they can get involved with regards to the teacher or how this you

098know they may not want to ask how the student is doing. I mean that that that kind of stuff that's just different maybe in their country. So, um, an ESL teacher may or may not be able to help with that, >> but would the student support specialists be helping out with that transition? You know what I mean? like um >> for those students and those families when they come in um would that be something that the student support specialist would also be doing or is that something that would be strictly counselors or strictly um ESL teachers or >> No, the student support specialists can help um with that transition. So, um, in the beginning slide when I had shown, um, who the student sports specialists were, we're very lucky to have Michelle and she is,

099um, Hispanic speaking and she really does a lot with our Hispanic speaking population and helping to to bridge that gap and see like the the communication gap, I should say, and um, to see what supports and kind of just help those students get acclimated. Can I ask she's on the she's in the southern campus, correct? >> I think >> um Yes, ma'am. >> issues. I mean, I'm just wondering because I've spoken to other parents. I'm trying not to say too much, but you know, there may be parents that just um >> you know that their kids maybe they don't speak any English and their kids may be in elementary school and they they don't know if they should be talking to the teacher, if they should be talking to the principal. So, you know what

100I mean? that they they may not know. >> We also, Miss Proctor, >> sorry, I'm back. I choking out. Um, we also have two EL liaison uh that we pay for um through title one and title three. We have Fabiana French and Gus Gel, sorry. And um and so they also help families with that is their primary role. What you just described is their primary. >> Okay. So that's just them. >> Yes. And then if they need more support then they would reach out to >> see that's what I was wondering. I mean once you know because I guess there's only so much they can do. So I was wondering if the student support specialist will pick up anything from that. >> Yes closely together. >> Yes. Because those numbers are increasing. I mean we've

101seen it in in the charts that we have um looking over the last couple of years and you know we only have a small amount of people who are >> you know being able to help. Yes, I wasn't sure. >> Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Just go ahead. >> Just out of curiosity, um, looking at this and hearing your presentation, our staff may spend a considerable amount of time on each of these families. >> Um, do we find that a lot of these families are in the area for a short time and then out of the area? Are we investing a lot of time in families that are, you know, in and then out? >> No. I mean, we always have transition. We always have families that come in and out. Um, and then

102there are times where we have families that have to go to a foster home that might not be in our division. So, you always have a percentage of families that move in and out. But as I mentioned before, um we see the the student support specialists are with those students for multiple years. So they do get to build that relationship not just with the student but with the family. >> Thank you. >> What uh does each uh student support specialist case load look like? like are they able to keep up? Um you know with the increasing numbers of need you know and as uh you know if the population continues to grow here will we need more positions? >> Yes. >> The answer is yes. Um so I actually just had a meeting with the

103student support specialist today and we were looking at their case loads. So they have students who are in our schools and then they also help with students who are outplaced. Um so each of our student support specialists are looking at with with the numbers that I have about between 25 to 30 students that they're consistently working with checking on um and making sure that everything is okay. Um, I know Miss Mason is here and I know that you also have another list as well in your schools and it might be students who are not as intensive needs as the ones that I'm speaking with the specialist. It might just be they're doing a daily check-in with that student. Um, so and to also remember they are across two different schools. >> Yeah, that's what I

104was asking. So at what point would it be too difficult for one of them, you know, to handle both at schools? >> Is there a tipping point? >> Yes. I mean, there would be, especially since they're doing these socioulturals. Um, and as I was mentioning before, it really encompasses a lot. So a socio with a socioultural they sit down with the family and do kind of like an interview where they talk to the family, ask questions and and find out that important information. And that typically will last anywhere between an hour and a half to two hours. And then when they're done then they have to write up their report which can take probably about another hour to hour and a half to type up. Um so it does take quite a a bit of

105time um to do those socioulturals and then they do have to manage their time to juggle um students at two different schools. So a magic number I wouldn't know like a a magic number but I do know that they are working very hard every day to make sure that our students are getting what they need. Do you have much feedback um postgraduate about how the program assisted them, gave them a lift? Any anecdotic anecdotal evidence of that? >> I don't do I don't I was going to say I don't know if you do. I don't but I can look into seeing maybe working with Miss Amy Miller who is our supervisor of counseling and seeing if she has any feedback on that. Okay, >> that might not be a bad idea just to have them

106at the end of the year kind of evaluate the program and >> yeah, I'd like to uh second or third that. That was a great question. I'd like to see that data if it is available. >> I'll work on that. >> I don't know how soon I could go to you, but I'll work on it. >> I want to make a promise. >> Amy will help you out on that. Tell her I said so. We all heard it. >> Any other questions? >> No, mine were on case loads that Mr. Shy asked. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Have a good evening. >> The director of finance is making her way to the microphone. a request to increase the fiscal year 2026 special budget where action is requested at the

107March meeting. >> Thank you, Chairman Vance. School board members, good evening. Before you tonight, um just for consideration, action at the next meeting, as Mr. Grant said is a request to increase the current year. I know we heard about next year a lot, but the current year's budget for $11,565. We have received some additional funding. Two of our title grants received some small allocation increases and then we received two new grants that help support our teachers on their journey to lensure. So, we'd like to get these appropriated so we can make sure to get the money out to those who need it. I'm happy to take any questions. >> These are 100% covered by the grants. >> Yes, sir. >> Well, what do you mean by these do not require local match? >> That's what

108I'm saying. It's not costing us anything. >> No, sir. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> That should be non-controversial. Last item I have on the instructional agenda is the library book materials purchase list. Dr. >> Thank you. Regulation IIP-R library material selection establishes procedures for the selection of new library book materials. In January, the librarians developed a draft a draft list of the new books proposed for purchase and provided it to the principles and the assistant superintendent for instruction for review. On Friday, February the 23rd, the draft the final draft lists were placed on the division website for review. The final draft list are available are presented to the school board this evening for information and there will be a request for approval at the March 12th schoolboard meeting have any questions for Dr.

109Shepard? Now we move to section number six, the action items 6.1, personnel. I'm looking for a motion to approve the personnel list as provided. >> I move to approve the personnel list as presented. >> Thank you, Miss CZ. Is there a second to the motion? >> Second, >> Mr. Rivers. So seconds. All in favor, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> And oppose. No. >> And it is approved unanimously. 6.2. Two, recommendation to approve changes to policies FFA school names. Is there a motion to approve the new version? >> Can I make a motion to approve version one of the recommended revisions to policy FFA school names >> version one? Right. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Carino. Is there a second? Second, >> Mr. Seconds. Now the floor is open for discussion.

110>> Mr. Um Yes. So, um the the only um issue or the the only reason I brought up a a second motion or um a second possibility was the the final part. Um, and where your change is where we crossed out uh names of persons serving Shannondoa County. It says on a full-time basis shall not be considered. Um, I made mine a little bit more encompassing because the way I read that, you could be employed or serving Shannidoa County, which is current. The word serving doesn't say served. um you could be serving on a part-time basis and technically you would be eligible to have something named after. So um I would like to you know discuss changing some of those words. >> Well, how about proposing an amendment just to add the word um on

111a full-time or part-time basis? >> That would that would work for me. >> All right. So then it would read names uh the last sentence uh would be names of persons serving Shannidora County on a full-time or part-time basis shall not be considered. >> Well um but that so that all right so names of persons serving currently. Yes. So that that would do the same thing I wanted to do. So okay. Yep. >> I mean just just to avoid any confusion. I think that's a perfectly good um amendment and we can just add that. Um so then that last sentence would just read names of persons serving Shannondoa County on a full-time or part-time basis shall not be considered. Is that >> right? So should I move to amend in that manner then? >> Yes.

112Yes. >> So could I pause for a minute before you make that amendment? Should we add the word currently before serving or is it necessary? Does any other board member see the necessity of that? >> Well, um serving is a current, you know, a present um verb, so I don't think that would be necessary, but yeah, to me it would be redundant. But >> why don't you read it? >> Yeah. So um I move to amend when was this version one um in the I don't know what paragraph this is where after names of uh individuals who have made such exceptional or outstanding contributions may be proposed to the following sentence names of persons serving Shannidoa County on a full or part-time basis shall not be considered. You have heard the amendment. Is there a

113second? >> Second. >> And second by Mr. Rick. >> Any further discussion before we vote on the amendment hearing? None. All in favor of the amendment as presented by Mr. Shi will indicate by saying I. >> I. Oppose. No. >> And it also passes five to nothing. Any discussion on the main motion as amended? Hearing none, we're going to vote. All in favor of the motion as amended, please indicate by saying I. Am I following the right procedure here, Mr. Parliamentary? I want to make sure you're awake over there. You're fine. >> Okay. As amended, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos? No. And the motion passes as amended. >> Okay. Targeted support and improvement plan for Sandy Hook and WW Robinson. I need a motion to approve the targeted support and improvement

114elementary plan as presented. I will need a second and then if there's any discussion, we will proceed. >> I move to to approve the targeted support and improvement elementary plan as presented. >> And is there a second to the motion? >> Second. Miss Carlin seconds. The floor is open for discussion on the motion to approve the targeted support and improvement elementary plan as presented. And Miss Proctor, would you would you be available to answer any questions? You would be will you want to come up front >> just in case? questions or discussions. >> I have one. >> Okay. >> So, when do we have to start implementing the plan? When is it? >> We have already begun. >> Okay. And then my other question is, you know, during your initial presentation, um, the root cause

115analysis was, you know, the lack of collaboration between our special education teachers and our general ed teachers. And so within this plan, are are there specific changes that are being implemented to remove those barriers? So the afterchool PD will give the special ed teachers and the gened teachers the opportunity to collaborate because during the day their schedules don't always allow that to happen. So this will give them that opportunity after school and then they're also getting paid for that. So that and then what we hope to do is move forward next year in removing more of those barriers so that it doesn't have to happen after school. And then on that, can you just remind us who is required to be at those meetings? Yes. Bed teachers um all all grades K through five. Just

116so it's K through. >> Yes. So it is K through five. All of our GED teachers and then also we have included our special ed teachers. Our reading specialists are either helping facilitate or they are also attending. And I'm going to look back at Tara and Monica. Am I forgetting anybody else? I think that's everybody. Yeah. Um and then some school both of the schools I think in some capacity are also working with their pair of professionals to offer them any extra training that they might need or want but that would be voluntary but they would get paid. >> Tell me about the uh contributions of kindergarten, first and second grade at these meetings. testing begins third grade. Am I right about that? >> Yes, correct. Uh however, third grade is really accumulation of all

117of the SOS from K through three. Uh and we're also building that foundation in kindergarten, first and second. So really what we're working on in those grades are decoding. And so the goal would be for our special ed teachers and our gened teachers to work together on how to make sure all students are getting exposure to grade level content. >> And we have assessments at the K12 grade level that will show us >> if kids are progressing or not. >> Vowels. >> Yes, we have vowels. You may have heard it in years past called PALS, but it has been uh switched over. >> Well, it switched over. It's now vowels. And that just started last year. Last year was our first year implementing that testing, but it really tests students um decoding and reading abilities.

118So at the primary school level, I would assume, please correct me, that special education teachers are not assigned to a particular grade level that a special education teacher may be servicing all grades. Uh, I wouldn't say all grades, probably a couple grades. >> So, must they have to uh pick and choose which meeting to go to? >> Uh, it could, but um >> I mean, is that one of the barriers that >> That's a great question. Uh, so it could be, but most of the time they either work with the lower grades or they work with the upper grades. And so the way we have this PD designed is K2 will be getting essentially the same thing and 35 will be essentially getting the same thing. They might be working on different nuances for that

119grade level. Um so yes, there is the possibility that they would have to choose which one to go to. Um but hopefully what the skills that they're learning they can apply to other grade levels without having to be at that specific grade level. If that makes sense. If we walked into one of these uh professional development, what would we see? >> That's a great question, too. Uh hopefully what you would see is a lot of collaboration. You might see one person kind of leading the discussion, but you would see teachers working together. You'd see them have some of their um SOS out that they're working on for reading or math depending on the subject. And you would see them collaborating on what does that look like in class. So, one of the things we really

120want to work on is that these um EBIs that we picked, which were decoding for um reading, and then the CRA, which is concrete to representational to abstract and math, essentially using manipulatives. Um what we want them what the goal is is for these to be scaffolds to help students be on grade level. We don't want to create, we don't want to treat these things as an intervention. and that if they are in an intervention, they live in isolation. We really want the teachers to be able to see how these skills apply to grade level content. >> Well, similar question and I asked somebody over there, who was it? Uh Carol, uh somewhat um how long is this when did you kick this off? >> Uh so tomorrow will be the first uh PD for

121WW Robinson and Sandy Hook starts started today. Um, and so yes. >> Okay. So, you don't have any feedback yet from the participants. >> Not yet. >> Hey, we came up with some great lesson plans or anything like that? Not yet. >> No feedback yet. >> Well, we have another meeting in March. >> I can get you some feedback if you'd like. Yes. >> Okay. Well, I'm done. Any questions? >> I do have a question. Um, I do love the idea of the manipulatives for math and science. Um, is this something we already have? is something that the teachers are going to need additional training on because I know it's different teaching with >> manipulatives. So that the math manipulative we have already Maggie our math um specialist has been working diligently over the last

122couple years and making sure that teachers have the manipulatives but just because they have them doesn't always mean they have the skills to know how to use them. So that will be the purpose of this PD really working with teachers in small groups to make sure that they're understanding and they're really looking for looking ahead. Okay, so in two weeks we're getting ready to do multiplication. So how could we use our manipulatives to help students that might be struggling with that concept and really need to understand the concrete um concrete ideas behind the wrote activities? >> Okay, that's great. >> Mr. Rick, >> I I didn't cut you off. >> No, no. Mr. Rick, >> um what is the reception like with the teachers? I mean, we're talking about pretty much, not to sugarcoat it,

123forced overtime. Are we going to experience a mass exodus after this school year is over? >> Well, we certainly hope not. However, school improvement is never a fun thing. I mean, it it is what it is, and we need to use it and view it as a positive for our teachers to have an opportunity to learn and grow. Um, so I feel like our administrators have done a really good job at for frontloading that with our teachers and saying, "Hey, this is something we're going to do." And we've tried to make it something that is applicable to what they're doing, not something that's an add-on extra, not something that's different from what they're already doing. So, I would hope the answer to that would be no. Um, I think that once they see how it's

124working, we'll get positive results. But >> I'm just concerned that some of the liability is not on you can't point your finger at the students or the staff but the working conditions that they're you know those are our two schools that are loaded to the max and you've got teachers sharing classrooms you've got sped teachers sharing classrooms. So, I'm just concerned that those other factors are what's driving these numbers down. Um, so I mean, I hope that it turns out positive. I pray it does. Um, I just don't want to see us lose good staff due to stuff that's out of their control. I mean, you know, you hear about sped students going to ALC and when they're in ALC, they're with a parapro that's not a sped teacher. that's not providing them services. So,

125I mean, that child's missing out on that time that they're in ALC or whatever they call it at WW Robinson. Um, so that's my only concern is that we're asking these teachers to stay late for professional development, have these meetings, and the the factors outside their control are what's actually driving the numbers down. Does that make sense? You know what I'm saying? Yes. Um, however, you know, as we've been working through this process all year, there are definitely areas where our teachers can get better and and that is in their control. And so that's what this will hopefully help them feel better about because the things that we need to work on like alignment and scaffolds and and the instruction piece, this will help them be better professionals. So hopefully they will feel that way

126at the end because we've tried to make it as user friendly as possible. Our administrators have been working really hard with the facilitators to make sure it feels like it's meaningful. And if it's meaningful and they're getting something out of it, then it's worth their time. >> Well, you you actually spurred a thought right there. Are the administrators staying late with the staff? >> Oh, yes. Absolutely. >> So, they are leading by >> Oh, yes, absolutely. >> Great. Thank you. >> Yes. >> What will be your rubric for the measurement of success of this plan? >> That we will be out of TSI. and we will not know that information until December of next year unfortunately. >> So this will be continued again into the next school year, >> but we will be keeping data

127on our students uh you know our students with disabilities as we do with all of our students. Um so we hope to see that data increase and go up. We also do a lot of informal data. We do walkthroughs the instructional department with the administrators. we're going in and doing walkthroughs and it's um anonymous data that we can share with teachers. So like for example um I'm going to pick on Tara since she's here. Um we when we did walkthroughs at WW Robinson, one of the things that we saw were that teachers lessons weren't always aligned exactly to the standard the way it's written. And so that's something they've been working diligently on. How can we make sure that teachers are writing lesson plans that are truly aligned to the standard? And so this afterchool

128PD will be part of that process that will help them >> writing and executing the lesson. >> Yes. Yes. >> Correct. >> Yeah. >> Um how much oversight from you know the um from the state comes down to look at this. So you know and how often do you have to report data to them? So, they don't really take any data from here from us, but they will we will have check-ins that we have to do with somebody from the state. Um, we haven't gotten that schedule yet, so I'm not sure. They haven't shared exactly what that's going to look like, but if we can model it after what happened last year, we checked in with them twice. One time it was with just the division folks and the other time it was actually with

129the building administrators. >> Okay. And in the future when we're out of TSI, which hopefully is very soon, >> will we be incorporating some of this training into our regular teacher training so that we don't go down this road again? >> Yes. >> Okay. And um this you guys started implementing this when? >> Uh so Sandy Hook started today and Robinson will be having their kickoff tomorrow. >> All right. Okay. I just uh found a little odd that we're making we're voting on something that already started. So I just curious to know if there was oversight or anything coming from somewhere else before this. >> Yeah, we did not want to waste any time and um we we would have figured out if you said no. >> Did you did you monitor Sandy Hook today?

130>> No, I did not get to go because we had a board meeting this evening. So, I didn't get to go. >> Yes, we did. >> Yes. Well, I was just wondering about the impact on traffic on Holiday Street with the tutoring program >> and how many how many teachers were >> I will say that uh I don't know I can't answer that question but I will say that Mrs. Herman shared with me they did start tutoring as well this week and they had >> 220 students stay after >> till >> I don't know how I think it was only an hour. >> That's correct. >> Yeah. >> So was that volunteer? Oh, sorry. Yes, they they opened it up for um parents to be able to have their kids stay after for tutoring and

131they got 220. And when I was at Sandy Hook on Tuesday, were we there on Tuesday? There was another stack waiting for Veronica to get >> after the buses. >> Yes. >> That's not like a It's not being viewed as a babysitting service, is it? >> No. I just have one final question. >> Um, are you able to just elaborate a little bit or explain that you know because this plan seems very heavily instructional based >> and I just want to know um are have we considered anything to address like the staffing and possibly the scheduling structure? So, >> to get this collaboration a little bit more, >> Miss Baker and I have already started talking about what that needs to look like for next year and to make sure that we're meeting with our

132elementary principles so that we can really look at our master schedule so that our sped teachers are getting opportunity to go into collaborative planning with the teachers that they're working with. I will say when I was at Robinson for their facilitator meeting, I was able to sit with a sped teacher and the kindergarten, first and second facilitators and it was a great discussion and you know you were worried about how they feel like they don't love that they have to stay after. I mean nobody wants to have to stay and do more work but they were excited about the work that they were going to be doing and this bed teacher had a lot to bring to the table and like the collaboration that was already happening just about facilitating it was really positive. All

133right. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> I'd like to observe one of those sessions. >> Okay. They're going to be on Thursdays after school at Robinson and Sandy Hill. >> I'll make contact with you. >> Okay. Sounds good. >> Mrs. >> Any other really I mean any other questions? >> Do you want to share that the facilitators or teacher leaders were not leading? >> Yes, the facilitators are teacher leaders. Each principal picked um folks in their building that are doing a really good job at these things, including some of the sped teachers. So, they're the ones that are facilitating and getting paid to facilitate this after school PD. >> Okay. Whoops. Will you or uh Chad or Dr. Shepard be dropping in on these to see how they're going? >> Oh, yes. >> I'm big in

134leading by example. reason I >> Yes, absolutely. >> So, one of the things we weren't required to do, but we've done um Miss Proctor and Miss Hearner um was um we also did root calls at Ashby Lee Elementary School to see if they were having the same issue and >> they were Yes. >> So, so they're already working on things that they can do too. However, they won't be staying after school uh because we don't have the funds for that. Other questions? >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> As I recall the motion, it was uh to approve the targeted support and improvement elementary plan as presented. It was properly seconded. We've had our discussion. >> I guess we're ready to vote. All in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> And

135opposed? No. Another unanimous vote. Madam clerk, >> superintendent report monthly. >> Thank you. So, 23 students from our three elementary schools and three middle schools competed in the annual county spelling be on January the 23rd. After several rounds of intense spelling words that I could not spell myself, um, six finalists qualified for the regional spelling be, which will be held at Skyline Middle School in Harrisonburg on Saturday, March the 7th. The top three finishers were Luke Funkhouser from North Fork Middle School, Kaylee Quentilia Rivier second place, and then Lucas Sportsy um was third place for middle um both of them were for Peter Millerberg Middle School. For the sixth straight month, we saw improvement in our attendance rate year-over-year with an overall attendance rate for the month of January at 94.3%. And our elementary school

136students love to celebrate the 100th day of school, which was February the 4th. and students and staff dressed up and participated in a variety of activities to mark the milestone of being in school for 100 days, being 100 days smarter since the start of the school year. We um I was I had the privilege on Tuesday and Miss Proctor joined me on delivering the news to um seven of our staff that they have received 190,000 197,000 from the Moore grant. Um there was projects such as a new courtyard at Sandy Hook Elementary School, welding equipment at Strawsburg High School and Stonewall Jackson High School. And it's always so great to see the um reactions of the staff when they realize that their um their project was funded. So that was $197,000 from a trust that

137we've received um that we are able to give out every single year. And we're looking for some really innovative um projects for next year. Um I mentioned this earlier, spring musicals and um it's play season as well. We have musicals starting this weekend at Central High School. I think they are doing The Wizard of Oz. So, looking forward to seeing that this weekend. Um, we're going to have Frozen at Stonewall Jackson High School, Newsies at Strawburg High School, Matilda Jr. at Peter Muenberg Middle School, and The Emerald Heist at Northwork Middle School. So, um, be on the lookout for advertisements for those musicals. They always do such a great job. It's great to see the students perform. I would like to congratulate the Central boys and girls swim teams on winning their region 2B titles.

138The Falcon boy the Falcon boys were led by sophomore Theo Brown who was named the region 2B boys swimmer of the year. Still Jackson boys um placed second and Strawburg boys and girls teams both finished third. Um, all three schools had multiple swimmers qualify for the state meet. And then last but not least, our triplet tech students showed off their skills at competitions this past week. Carpentry swept the top three places in their district compet competition, while electricity took first and second place in theirs. At a skills competition in Faulier on Saturday, our auto students took first place in maintenance and light repair and second in automobile service technology. So, we have some really skilled um CTE students. Be happy to answer any questions. >> Uh I have a question, but um you may have

139to bring the information up and I can easily slide that under comments. Um, some folks particularly teachers have asked about the uh the makeup and I I know that was I think was in one of your Friday notes. There are so many days but you convert to hours. You want me to come back to that under comments. Are you ready? And hopefully with you know the media will let people know this >> suggestion only. Suggestion only. >> We are good. Spring break is safe. Um, and we are good to end school on time and still have our entire spring break. We can miss several more days, which I hope we do not. We can miss several more days for weather um before we would have to do any makeups or add extra time to the

140end of the day. So, >> well, that's that's important information for folks, >> particularly teachers I run into at all. >> Yes. >> Thank you. I also just have one quick question and it pertains to the spelling be. Um, and I'm just wondering how many people in this room could spell ordurves because that was one of the words and it was simply amazing just to watch those students navigate through the the word that they were given. And quite frankly, the student that received that word, she was unable to spell it correctly. Then the next student comes up and I think his word was like cheddar or something like that and I'm thinking how in the world do we go from orurve to cheddar. So just think about that you know the the abilities that our

141students have because you know when I asked that question almost every head in here said no I wouldn't be able to spell that either. So that was all. >> Thank you. >> Reported board members and other business. Previously, I started on the uh southern end of the county and work my way north. That was the full month of January. I'm going to start on the northern end, work my way south, just for variety. There's no rhyme or reason to what I'm doing. District six, Mr. Mike. >> Oh boy. I've got a I got a little bit of a list here, but first of all, I want to thank um all of the thoughtful gifts for schoolboard appreciation month from the kids at North Fork Middle School. Uh WW Robinson. Um got one here from uh

142the positive peer leadership team at WW Robinson. And then I've got one that actually took the time and signed her card. So, I want to sincerely thank Molly Jane Davis. All this stuff means the world, guys. Um, you know, the time and energy that we put into um to overseeing uh Shannidoa County, it means a lot when you get stuff like this. It's the small things. Um, going into the rest, um, I wanted to make the public aware. Um, it was just made aware of us today. Um, it was made aware to us a couple months ago that there was a a problem between Chantel's email and our emails. Um, so we were getting questions. Hey, why aren't you guys returning my emails? Well, it turned out we weren't getting their emails. Um, so if

143you guys are emailing us, talking to the public here, if you're emailing us and you have a Chentel Domain email and you feel like you should have gotten a response, pick up the phone and call us. Um, I'm available all day long from 4:00 in the morning until 10:30 at night. If you call me, my phone's open. Um, I want to thank Mr. Doug Collers because he did come up with a plan. Apparently, he still has a personal Chantel email. Um, so he's going to email himself every day to his work email to make sure it goes through. So, I really appreciate him stepping up to do that. Um, the second thing is is several several people in the county have asked me, hey, does so and so from the board ever return an email?

144I got to say all of us, and I'm even talking to myself, I'm not going to pinpoint anybody. We've all got to be better about returning emails to people. I can't stand email to be honest with all the all of you. Um I hate I hate email. Um so even myself, I'm challenging myself. We've got to be better about responding to people's emails. Um the third thing, earlier this week, we were made aware of a 504 issue. Um, and I'm not sure if this staff member reports to you, Miss Baker, but it was Miss Danielle Ames, um, that actually stepped in and rectified it. Um, I want to thank her for that. Um, it was an issue at one of our schools, and I believe it was at multiple of our schools, and we didn't

145even realize it. Um, but once she got the email and saw what was going on, she was able to reach out to the staff that were involved and she rectified it and I really want to thank her for that. So, if you could pass that on, I really appreciate that. Um, the next thing, SEAK meetings, I just got the updated. Thank you for sending that to me. Um, back when my child was still in school, we were notified by our sped teachers when a CAT meeting was coming up. Do we still do that? >> Special education teachers don't do that. >> Okay. I'd like to see that information passed along somehow if possible. Um I believe parental involvement. I mean that's going to go a long way in that child's education. Um the next thing

146we've got committees for everything and I believe it's you two that has to sign off on the bills every month. Um >> it's myself and Mr. Shy. >> Mr. Shy. Um, sometimes I feel like we're just up here rubber stamping stuff. Um, and every month we we make a motion to approve the consent agenda and then we pass it. And in there it includes approve approval of paid bills. Um, I think it would go a long way. Um, just food for thought for you guys to think about in the realm of transparency and the public and everything. If we had some type of committee that got that report, I mean, it's public information and actually went through it and any questions that came up. Hey, what was this for? You know, Amazon, whatever amount for

147for Sandy Hook Elementary School or Signal Middle School, and I'm just throwing out those as examples. Um, we'd be able to go back and and look at that. um and provide more information, I believe. So, I don't know what everybody else thinks about it, but possibly starting up some kind of committee for that where there's some community involvement. After all, we are overseeing taxpayer dollars. Um, and the last thing I have this was brought to my attention, um, earlier this week and we've always asked about retaliation within our school buildings. Um, I realize as a county we're we do pretty good. Um but a staff member was reprimanded for sending out a mass invite. Um and was told that she violated policy GA I IA. Um and somehow somehow she was told that it it

148involved politics. I I reviewed it myself. I passed it on to Miss Carenio who's also on the personnel committee to review it. herself. Neither one of us found anything wrong with what happened. Um me personally, it just it was highly upsetting to see that, especially when it was somebody that was advocating for our kids, for our buildings. Um and all they were doing was letting fellow staff members know, hey, there's a meeting such and such a date. Be there. Um, I I don't see how it involved politics at all. I was forwarded the email. I reviewed it. I checked out the policy. I didn't see a problem with it. Um, but I really hope we can do better in the future. Um there's no reason our staff members should feel u like they've got to

149walk on eggshells when it comes to um voicing their concerns or talking to their fellow staff members about stuff like this. Um hopefully we can do better. Um I think we owe that staff member an apology at best. Um that's all I've got. Thank you for the folks from Triplette. Thank you, Tara, all the uh staff and the public that came out tonight. Really appreciate you all being here. Um, thank you. And thank you to all our staff. Really appreciate the job you all are doing. And for our kids, hopefully you all enjoy your 4-day weekend. >> Thank you, Mr. Ricker. District 4, Miss Pence. >> Thank you, Mr. Vance. Um, I'd like to start by just thanking all of our public speakers um for coming. Uh, you know, they don't they don't usually get

150a lot of credit, but it does take a lot to stand up here and actually speak to us. So, I appreciate that. Um, as well as, you know, our constituent staff, um, teachers who come and just sit through this meeting just to, you know, have their ear on it firsthand. Um, it's a long night. Um, so I appreciate you being here. Um, I also want to thank the staff who put together all of the presentations for this evening. Um, your work does not go unnoticed as well. Um, but I do want to take this moment just to recognize uh the incredible amount of work happening every day inside of our buildings. Uh there's so much happening behind the scenes and we know that work is what keeps our school division focused on what matters the

151most and that's improving the outcome of our students. So I truly appreciate everything our teachers and staff are doing. So thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. District three, Miss Corinio. >> Um I want to first echo a couple of things that um Mr. record talked about um I I especially with regards to retaliation I know this is something we've been talking about um and I think this is something that we're going to address this uh probably this this uh the next few months um with the personnel committee um but first I wanted to thank uh like Miss said thank you to all um for all that you have done to for us um for the uh schoolboard appreciation week. I again I especially love these, you know, when we get the stuff from the kids.

152This one has apparently a bunch of jokes that I can't wait to read. So, um thank you again. These are just great. I love uh getting those. Um the other thing I wanted to talk about uh briefly is one of the things that I've been talking a lot about is uh regard with regards to digital um screens that we have for our kids and especially our Chromebooks uh particularly for the elementary school years even the middle school and high school. I think we definitely need to um look at this and this is something that I've been doing. I wanted to recommend a couple of books because I think as we have this discussion, there's a lot of misconceptions out there as to how much these computers are really helping. And the bottom line is they're

153not helping with education. They're not helping with the anxiety of the students. They're not they're not helping our students develop the way that they should be developing. Uh one of the great books that just actually just came out recently in fact this year uh is a digital delusion um by Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath. He is a neuroscientist and educator. Uh he's taught at at Harvard and he's been looking at the human learning memory and the brain function. This book has a lot of great information, a lot of great analysis of studies that we actually have out there um on how the technology is actually affecting our kids' brain. I mean, in the past, we've talked about uh the anxious generation by Dr. Jonathan Height, which was a great book that everybody was talking about in

154terms of the uh cell phones and and how this is affecting the students brain. This is picking up where that book left off and this is actually looking specifically at the digital education itself with regards to our student learning um in education. So this is a great book that I highly uh recommend. There's also a couple other books. There's one uh digital cocaine by Brad Huddleston who is somebody who actually we saw at one of our um I think it's the Noah Webster convention. >> Yeah. He he lives I think he's in Stuntton. is somewhere close. I I was hoping that maybe we could have him as a speaker someday because he has some great information in there as well. And then this one, Breaking the Digital Delusion in Education. I haven't read this one

155yet. Um this one's by Dr. Marcus Wells. This is the next one I'm going to be reading. Um I was hoping for more snow because that's how I got to read this one. But um anyways, I highly recommend this books. Um this is a conversation that needs to be had. I know some people are starting to talk about it in other districts but because this is something that it has been ingrained on us that computers are better that digit digital is better that AI is going to be better it's not and now we have the data to prove it we need to have our kids learn the fundamentals before they use the computers so having said that I want to commend all the staff and the teachers and the principles and it was a great

156meeting today I mean just hearing about all that you guys are doing and you know implementing new programs and having the community help out with the tutoring or whether it's the teachers doing manipulatives. I mean this is something that is very important. I mean that the concepts of math and science are a lot easier for some people to understand if you're actually touching it, if you're actually seeing it. I'm a very visual learner so I know for me I I have to see it um how it works. So kudos to you guys. Great job. I I think there's a lot of good stuff going on. Um we need to uh continue to support you in doing all that. But again, I I really hope that everybody picks up this book. Um or read more about

157it. Actually, he's been on a lot of interviews lately. Like I've been noticing that he's been um I think he just testified before Congress and I think he was in some of those Good Morning America or whatever um shows talking about this book and talking about the data. Um I'm seeing more and more videos uh and compilation of videos on YouTube usually from Tik Toks and all that um from teachers who are starting you know all around the nation who are talking about how how this has how the technology has so adversely influenced what they're teaching and also the the conduct of the students and all that. So, it's just a lot more. There's so many different aspects that have been affected by the technology that I really hope that we can read it and

158really understand um what is going on with that. So, um with that, I'm done for tonight. So, good night. >> Thank you. >> Noting that Mr. Street is not here, I'll move then to district one. Mr. Shine. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And um I want to second everything that um Mr. Carino said about the cell phones and screens in schools. I mean um they become babysitters at home um and kids lose focus and it's with you know having dealt with groups of kids and things before and my two wild uh little boys. It's a lot easier to captivate them and get them to behave if there's a screen on. So the challenge is that have the structure to not and um their their behavior change changes considerably if they have little or no screen

159time in my house. So um I find it would find it very hard to believe that that does not relate to the classrooms. So, um I think a comprehensive look at limiting um h how and when we use computers is important and um but it's a fine line that we don't want to fall behind. Um you know because the kids will need to use them and need to know how to use them but um it has to be completely supervised. So secondary and third and fourth everything else I did not expect all these gifts and cards. Some of these are really awesome. I can't wait to read them either. Um, and in all my years of coaching, I still have um notes and cards from kids each year and um hung up and some are

160more special to me than others. Shoe County lost the heat in their homes, but our c our crews kept the heat on in the buildings and with a few hiccups lately, but um we didn't have to shut any schools down um once we got back in over temperature. And um another you know kudos to our transportation department cuz um we didn't have any buses with jelled up fuel or um you know or or starting problems. All our buses ran on time. Uh so um you know kudos to to all to all of them. So, um, and I want to thank some of the community members, too, in my district because, um, I've gotten a lot of calls and emails over the last, um, week or so about the masonry program. Um, people are worried we

161don't have a full-time teacher and stuff, but, um, I understand that there's a very capable candidate who has become interested through the community involvement. So, um I really um call everyone in the community to get more involved. Come to these meetings, talk, become more active in in, you know, your children's education and and not only your children's, everyone else's. It's a community effort and um it takes all of us in this room and every person and every child in the county to make it successful for for everyone. Um on final note, too, um we had a power outage Tuesday. um on the northern campus and um all three schools went down. Um luckily Sandy Hook came back up because um they don't have generators in these schools. So, and if anyone's ever been to Sandy

162Hook at dismissal time, they need electronics to to communicate to get those kids in the right lines and and everything. So, um I understand Dr. Shepard, a couple of our schools have generators, >> middle schools. >> Okay. The middle schools have generators. Um, not that I'm looking to add more things to the CIP list, but if they're not already on there, I think we need to discuss getting generators to at least run the offices in all in all the other schools is important. Um, not to mention the freezers and refrigerators, um, which, uh, you know, um, triplet tech keeps running into, but same thing in an elementary school. the power's out for, you know, eight or 10 hours, you're going to lose all of that frozen and cold storage, too. Um, and and high schools

163as well. Not to mention the fact, um, I believe the phones will go down because they're centrally and computerized. And, um, if, uh, we're in a power outage, power outage, um, security and and communications are important. We can't leave any school vulnerable during an extended period of of power. So, um I I you know, we'll discuss it at the work session or whatever, but um I'm going to request that we have some real conversation about adding that to the immediate CIP list. And um that's all I have. Thank you. The district 5 representative would like to note today is recognized as Abraham Lincoln's birthday. uh the president of the United States who essentially gave his life for this country and you think about his education sitting by a lantern or the fireplace and learning to

164read and I'm paraphrasing he said I'm pretty good at reading and ciphering but said everything else was learned by experience and he didn't have support services he didn't have u where did I Oh, TS I E P. He didn't have that when he was a youngster. And how going back to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, how he in his own way with three prepositional phrases defined this country of, for and by. So the reason I point this out is with all this support and the things you've heard here. Imagine the possibilities. Just imagine the possibilities. Imagine a motion that says it's time to adjourn. >> Move to adjourn. >> Thank you, Mr. Richard. Is there a second? >> Second, Mr. Shabi. So second. All in favor of adjournment indicate by

165saying I. >> I. I. and we stand adjourn until uh February the 23rd at 6:30. See you then.