SCPS School Board Meeting 01/08/2026

001school board will come to order. Madam superintendent, I suspect you have a recommendation. >> I do. Thank you. I recommend the school board county convene a close 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. 3711A1 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 in the Shannidoa County Public Schools under Virginia code 2.2-3711A2. >> And uh for the record, please note that we are proceeding without Mr. Street who has promised us she'll be here in 15 minutes. Uh recognize Miss Pence. >> I move that

002the Shando County School Board convene in 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 3711 A14 and to discuss scholistic scholastic records involving the discussion or consideration of admission or disciplinary matters concerning any student of any state school system under Virginia code 2.2-371182. >> Is there a second to the motion? >> Second and second by Mr. Richard. All in favor of uh going into a closed session, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos? No. And we will return shortly. Clerk, Mr. Street joined us in close session at 5:47 and is with us now. Is there a motion to reconvene in open session? >> Move to reconvene in open

003session. Is there and a second? >> The Shandro 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 open meeting requirements as stated by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies. And number two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the Shadow County School Board. Each member will respond by saying, "I socertify when called upon by the clerk, and the chair calls for a roll call vote." >> Mr. Shy, >> I so certify. >> Mr. Stre >> I so certify. >> Miss Carlinia, >> I so certify. Miss P. >> I so certified. >> Mr. Ricker, >> I so certify.

004>> Mr. Vain, >> I so certified. >> For purposes of an invocation and to lead us in the pledge of allegiance, I call upon district one member, Mr. Shad. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of learning and the privilege of shaping the hearts and minds of our students. Please bless this board with wisdom and clarity as we make decisions that impact education in our community. Help us to foster environments where every child can grow in knowledge, character, and opportunity. strengthen and encourage our teachers and staff who dedicate themselves tirelessly daily to guiding and inspiring our students. May our work tonight reflect a commitment to excellence and the future of those we serve. In your name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. Pledge to the flag of

005the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, Mr. Shotty. Thank you all. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented? >> Move to approve the agenda as presented. >> Thank you, Mr. Rickert. Is there a second? >> Second. >> The motion is to approve the agenda as presented. All in favor, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos? No. And the agenda as presented is approved. >> Madam superintendent, I have a suspicion you have some recognitions. We do. We have two recognitions for this evening. This evening, we're going to start with a donation to our middle and high school FFA organization. So, I would like to ask um from Central High School, Sher

006Heisman and Derek Rittnau and their students to come forward. Um from Peter Muenberg Middle School, Ambrosia Church and your students to come forward from Sigma Middle School, Dakota Stout and any students you've brought with you. Um, Strawsburg High School, Abby Cobb, and any students you have brought with you. North uh, North Fork Middle School, Britney Bowman, and any students you have brought with you. And then Stonewall Jackson High School, Terrena Sherman and Dylan Dawson, and any students that you have brought with you. Did I forget anyone? Okay. Um, Mr. Street, I want to turn it over to you. >> Okay. Um, I want I'll have Toby Markley, God come up and Toby or which one decided to speak. >> I'm talking, guys. Correcting me. >> All right. He'll explain the what the three of us

007represent and doing and and and going to do. >> We represent the Keystone National Truck and Tractor Pool. We've been doing it since 2007. Um, it's been primarily for the FFAS and in the past years we've done given money to the county FFAS as long as with the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and U and here, but some of the state Pennsylvania, we we've sponsored some stuff for the state of Pennsylvania also. Um, we just a bunch of old country boys that like tractor pulling and we put a pull on in Harrisburg in March of every year. been doing it all except for co every year is the only year that we missed was then. So we just wanted to show our support and some of our profits of our labor. It's all nonprofit. Nobody makes nothing off

008of it. We just spend a lot of time and a lot of hard work so we can raise money to give away. That's what we're doing. Guys got the money. >> Well, and we we have a lot of volunteers from Shannor County that goes up there. They take off work and help us volunteer and some of them parents of the kids standing here. >> Yeah. See, he correct me when I don't do it all. >> Yeah. So, that's probably important to to point out that it's not just the three of us that rep, you know, we're the on the committee, but like you said, there's who knows how many volunteers from Shando County that come up, they take off work and put this event on. So, we just the three of us representing this area

009and there's a group that'll do the same in Pennsylvania and Maryland. But, uh, what we wanted to do tonight was give each middle school FFA chapter $900 and to give each high school FFA chapter $1,500. >> Here's North Fork. >> I will hand them out. >> Hand them out. All right, that sounds good. Thank you very much. $200. >> Thank you. school. >> Central. >> Congratulations. >> I'll have to take school a little bit more often. >> Thank you. Let me get in the back. >> I'm a little >> Thank you. So, thank you for that donation. That's that's fantastic. I am sure it will be used wisely by our FFA chapters. And without further ado, I would like to introduce Miss Melissa Foss from Strawburg High School, who needs to be home by 7:30

010because there's a great big football game that she wants to attend to watch on TV. Yes, Miss is playing someone. I don't know, but Miss is going to win. >> Come up here. >> You look so big and then all a sudden they stood up and now you look like a dwarf. >> I know. I know. >> Y'all people in that one disappear. >> It's beautiful. You ready? It's your turn. >> Dr. Shepard, Chairman Vance, members of the board, I appreciate the opportunity to come before you tonight to recognize an amazing accomplishment by our football team this year. Success does not come without hard work and dedication. Success also does not come without support. So tonight, I would publicly like to thank all of the parents and guardians of the players and managers, all of

011the families of the coaching staff, the faculty and staff of Strawburg High School, the seniors from last year's football team that started this, the Strawburg Graham community, the citizens of of Shannidor County and beyond. past Strawburg High School alumni and beyond for all of the support, the encouragement given to our football team throughout this season. Dr. Shepard and members of the board, I would also like to take this opportunity to publicly thank you. Though I'm a little early, February is designated as schoolboard appreciation month in Virginia. And appropriately, this year's theme happens to be champions for opportunity, advocates for excellence. So with your support and the support of those mentioned above, I believe you will agree that the Strawburg team seized every opportunity this season and pursued excellence in their journey to the state championship.

012So, as a token of our appreciation for your support and in recognition of schoolboard appreciation month, we'd like to present each of you with a Strawburg High School state championship shirt. >> Wow. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. And now for the recognition of really while we're here, I'm going to turn this over to athletic director, Mr. Matthew Herman. >> Just one second. If the school board members would stand up again and the football players would do a 180. Um, Mr. Trean is going to get a picture. I'll have to stand up under so >> I'll be right >> you may have to move out. >> Oh, we can switch. Okay. Count of three. One, two, three. >> Good job, >> Mr. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Don't go anywhere. >> Don't

013get to go anywhere yet. >> Good evening, Dr. Shepard, Chairman Vance, members of the school board. Tonight, we are here to recognize something far greater than a championship trophy. We are here to recognize a journey. This season did not begin the way anyone had planned. In just the second game, this team faced an early loss, the kind that makes people question, doubt, sometimes count you out far too soon. But instead of letting that moment define the season, these young men chose to let it shape them. They learned early that advers adversity doesn't ask permission. It just shows up. and how you respond is what matters. At the same time, this program was facing something much bigger than football and far more important than any scoreboard. This program has a coach has a coach that showed

014up with courage, faith, and heart. And this team carried that strength with him every single week. What followed was something special. This team grew closer. This team worked harder. They believed when belief was the hardest thing to do. They thought they fought through the Bull Run district. They fought through region 2B. And they earned their way to the state championship game for a second straight year, not with excuses, but with effort, discipline, and brotherhood. And then bec and then came the biggest stage of all. In the state championship game, things didn't start easily. Falling behind 12 nothing could have broken a lesser team. But not this one. Instead of panic, there was poise. Instead of frustration, there was focus. Play by play, stop by stop, this team reminded everyone who they were. What happened next

015was nothing short of remarkable. They responded with heart. They responded with toughness. They responded together. And when the final whistle blew, that scoreboard told a story no one could ever forget. A 49 to 27 victory in a state championship earned the hard way. This championship represents more than wins and losses. It represents resilience. It represents unity. It represents choosing character over comfort and perseverance over doubt. It represents a community. To the players, you pro you proved that belief, discipline, and brotherhood can overcome any obstacle. To the coaches, thank you for your leadership, sacrifice, and strength. Especially to a coach whose fight inspired us all. And to this entire program, you didn't just win a championship. You showed what it means to never quit, to stand together, and to rise when it matters the most. This

016team also produced all state performers. Engage Gutierrez as a first team center. Jacob Britain, first team offensive line, second team defensive line. Quincy Williams, first team running back, second team linebacker. Hudson Conrad, first team defensive lineman. Nate Turner, a first team linebacker. Brady Knight, first team defensive back. It also produced the class 2 offensive player of the year in Quincy Williams, the class two defensive player of the year in Hudson Conrad, and the class 2 coach of the year in coach Trip Lamb. Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great honor I present to you the 2025 Virginia High School League class 2 state football champions, the Strawsburg Rams. Coach, you want to say anything? Coach, >> first I'd like to thank the boys. Um, the old saying goes, coaches get too much blame when you

017lose and they get too much credit when you win. It's really about these guys. It always has been. Um when we got off the bus after beating Glimmer and Strawsburg, there were thousands of people waiting to meet us there. And uh you know, we saw how much it meant to Strawsburg for us to win it. But since winning it, I've come to learn how much it means to everybody in Shannidoa County. So I would like to thank everybody in Shannidoa County for their support throughout our whole journey. Thank you very much. We may bend the rules here in case any of the uh board members would like to make their own personal comments. Starting down on District 6. >> Guys, I couldn't be prouder of all your um incredible year to follow. The juniors, the

018sophomores, and the freshman's, y'all got big shoes to fill. The seniors really stepped up this year. The seniors, I'm going to miss you guys. We started back in football. I helped coach there. I watched all y'all come up. It's hard to see some of you guys graduate. But what a way to go out. Good job. Proud of all of y'all. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Uh, sure. No, I'm definitely proud of you all. Um, I was back playing at Stonewall back in the years back in the 80s when made several when you all Strawsburg made several trips to the state playoffs and I'm sure there's a lot people in this room to remember that and I always felt sorry that felt bad for Strawburg cuz just never could quite pull it off but

019you finally, you know, um, y'all finally did it. So, I'm proud of y'all. Uh, Mr. Shy and I had were fortunate we made the trip down there and was able to see the game. was a little shaky there at first, but you all pulled through. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Well, um, gentlemen and coach, don't sell yourself short. I, uh, coached for over 20 years, um, up through high school level in Pennsylvania, and, um, Mr. Street was probably ready to throw me out of the stadium down at, uh, Salem after the first quarter because I was overanalyzing everything that happened. But, um, one thing there, resilience. you spotted them points, but not once did it did I think that you guys gave up and you didn't. So, keep that up. Not just on the field,

020but in everything you all do in life. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> There's not a whole lot I can add, but um you guys have done a great job. I mean, this has been a great year for Strawburg. Um, so I I just want to thank thank you again for um the joy that you bring everybody and uh I know this is something you're going to bring with you for the rest of your life. You know, you're never going to forget this. Um and don't forget the the lessons that you learned as well. Um so good luck with everything that you have in the future. And again, thank you and congratulations. Thank you. >> As a former high school athlete myself many, many, many years ago, um I never had the opportunity to go to

021a state championship. So, that is something for you to surely be proud of and something that you can carry along with you for the rest of your life because when you're my age, you're still going to remember this day, the day that you won. And that's something very, very special to have for the rest of your life. Congratulations. >> Thank you. Um, I took witness to some of those other games. What was it, Matt? Five runner-ups. I took witness to some of those games and uh, you went over the hump and I was attending a community event the day you all played. Bunch of rugged people there, tough, strong physically, emotionally. They were a little up unsettled there at the beginning. All right, things turned around. Thank you for that. And uh when you all

022hit 41, I know the final score is 49. 41, it was over. They said, LB, if we hook a John Deere tractor to a hay wagon, will you drive us through the parade? I said, I guess I'd better. I'm probably the only one in here who's capable of driving the tractor at that particular point in time. And I won't go into why I was the one that was probably capable. And I just want to reinforce what the the board members have said. I know how you feel. I can see it in your face, the community, the Strawburg community, the the the county community, how uplifting it was to have that accomplishment. Congratulations and God bless each and every one of you. >> Thank you. I have two words to say. Go R. >> Good job,

023guys. >> Thanks for the t-shirt. >> Thank you. Oh, >> are you kidding? Are you kidding? >> I've been too busy. >> Old Miss My daughter teaches at Old Miss. So that's why Yeah. >> That's why I'm an old Yeah. That's why I told Dr. Shepherd weed in Miami. When's when's Virginia Tech play? >> Next year. >> Must be something like I got to do that. Item 2.6 on the agenda is a pre-budget public input on budget for fiscal year 2027. No one signed up to speak. >> So then we proceed to the next item which is 2.7 public and staff comment on agenda items and non-aggenda items. The Shadow County School Board welcomes public comment from Shannido County residents, parents or guardians as well as from current students and employees of Shannido County Public

024Schools. School board members do not respond to public comments during the meeting or the hearing. There are certain rules that apply to this. One is time. Each speaker may speak for up to three minutes. All comments should address the matter related to Shannondo County Public Schools. Complaints regarding division employees should be directed to the school principal or the appropriate school division official. Decorum. The school board expects that each speaker will be courteous modeling for our students how one can respectfully disagree with other views. Speakers will address their comments to the entire school board and not to one individual board member, to the superintendent, to staff members, nor to the audience. Speakers will not engage in personal attacks. You have signed up to speak. There will be uh two speakers. If a speaker would like to

025present written comments to the school board, a copy should be provided to the school board clerk as the speaker approaches the podium to speak. The first one to speak is Devin Ross. You're up. >> Hi. >> All right. Hi guys. >> Um, good evening. My name is Devin Ross and I'm a 1997 alumni of Stonewall Jackson High School, former North Fork Middle School Cafe employee and I live in District 2. My child is a current student at Stonewall Jackson High School. Um, I would first like to give my sincere congratulations to our newest school board members. As many of you know, I've been a face in the crowd and I've been following the race closely. My hat is off to anyone willing to step up to the plate when it comes to leading the children

026in our county. In my opinion, it takes courage, logic, empathy, determination, of course, the willingness to work together as a strong team to make a successful school board. So, thank you all for answering that call. Today is January 8th, only 8 days into the new year. Um, I felt compelled to stand before you tonight and speak about my ex my expectations for this board as a parent in this county whose child you are leading. I think it is impossible to ignore the several ongoing legal matters the school board is facing as I've also been a face in that crowd and in those rooms as well. Every week, negative articles are posted on social media in regards to several of those sitting on this panel this evening. It's very hard for me to read those articles

027at times due to the negativity of it all. I'm often left feeling saddened and confused about how things have come this far and what can be done to repair the damage that has been caused in the past. As a parent paying attention, I was shocked to see that after only eight days into the new year, negative social media posts from members on this board are already being circulated on Facebook, labeling fellow board members as back scratchers in back rooms. This is very concerning not only to me, but to many others in the community who saw this post. In my opinion, this is not the way or to set the stage for a su successful reorganization. My question is, well, how do we expect our children to act with integrity toward one another when the panel

028elected to guide them are, in my opinion, not capable of demonstrating the same model? Voted officials should lead by example, especially those who are elected to represent and lead our children, the most vulnerable and preachable in our community. It's two 2026. If the last several years have taught us anything, it would be how words matter and how words can come back to haunt us. myself included as I'm not immune to mistakes or poor decisions. We do not need another scandal or tit fortat school board. What I request as a taxpayer and a parent from this board is leadership, integrity, care, dialogue, open communication, and most importantly, confidence that this panel will do the right thing by working with one another, not against each other. As a parent and someone paying attention, I'm certainly concerned by

029seeing this team fighting with one another, especially only after eight days. I think each one of you hold qualities that are unique. Lead from a place of your own moral compass and are completely capable of success if only the qualities were used wisely with teamwork. Um there is still plenty of time to turn this around and I hope to see more cooperation moving forward. Remember your oaths and what you represent. Realize parents, teachers, and children are watching and we owe it to our children to do better. If in 2026, let's leave the gloves off and the egos at the door. I do wish you all the best and I'm looking forward to seeing what the school board can accomplish and thank you for your service and thank you for letting me speak tonight. >> Thank

030you. >> Speaker number two, Katherine Kaufman from Woodstock. >> Good evening, Dr. Shepard and school board members. My name is Katherine Kaufman. Um I live in Woodstock. My late husband, Milt, and I had a combined total of over 60 years serving the students of Shannido County as public school educators. In the 58 years I've been a taxpaying resident of Shannido County, I have seen many dedicated schoolboard members such as yourselves unselfishly serve our students. Here are just a few of their names. Florence Young, Dr. Thomas Burke, Reverend WW Pendleton, Don Sager, Elizabeth Katrrol, Gerald Kennedy, Ralph Bosman, Carolyn Long, Nathaniel Kirkland, Tom Linsky, CJ Bordon, Gordon Bis, James Fitz Simmons, Steve Schaefer, Larry Helley, Doug Arthur, Evelyn Burner, Lisa Curry. These are just naming a few. The common thread these past school board members shared

031was that the public didn't know or care if they were Republicans, Democrats, or independents. They put aside their differences, problem solving, and reaching consensus all in the best interests of our students, parents, teachers, and staff. I realize, I'm not naive. I realize that politics plays somewhat of a role in running a school system. However, my fear is that national politics and personal agendas are trickling down into the running of Shannidoa County Public Schools. As 2026 begins, I urge you to park your politics outside the door while serving our school system. If you choose not to park your politics, I fear our school board will self-implode. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. >> Thank you. >> Is there anyone who wishes to speak who did not sign up? Okay. Item three on the agenda is

032the consent agenda which includes uh the minutes of the previous meeting, library, books, donations, field trips, and so forth. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Move to approve the consent agenda. >> Thank you, Mr. Richard. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Hearing none, we proceed to vote on the motion to approve the consent agenda items as noted. Please indicate your support by saying I. >> No. The eyes prevail. The consent agenda is approved. Instructional agenda. Miss Jennifer Proctor, assistant superintendent of instruction on school accountability framework information. Thank you, Mrs. Proctor. >> Good evening, chairman, board members. Dr. Shepard. Move this down a little bit. All right. So, I'm going to apologize ahead of time because I have a lot of information on the slides that

033I'm getting ready to share with you. And um it's a lot of information. I believe that uh Miss Jet also made you copies so that you have those as well. Um so as we're going through, if you have questions, don't hesitate to stop me and ask because it is a lot of information. Okay, so with that being said, we're going to talk about um accreditation and our performance framework. This is just a reminder of what the new framework looks like. If you remember, elementary um and middle school and high school have little nuances that are um unique to each level. Uh elementary mastery is 65% whereas at middle school it's 60 and at high school it's 50. And at um elementary growth is 25, middle school growth is 20. And there is no growth for

034high school. There's just graduation and readiness. And then readiness is 10% at the elementary school and 20% at the middle school. And if you see those all add up to 100. So the next slide talks about the the um the label that each school gets based on their amount of points. So distinguished is 90 points and above on track 80 to 89 off track 65 to 79 and needs intensive support is below 65. And if you just look at the bottom row of that that slide, you'll notice on off track it says schools will receive additional support from the VDOE. And under needs intensive support, schools will receive more intensive support from the VDOE. We're not 100% sure what all those supports are going to be yet, but I will share with you what I

035do know when we get to that point um of the supports that we are aware of. So with that being said, what does this new framework tell us? The new framework tells us that we're looking at achievement, growth, and readiness, and that schools can also perform well, but also have a subgroup that needs support. And annual results help us identify where targeted improvement is needed. So, with that being said, we're going to start with Ashb Lever and start with our elementary schools. So, this is Ashb Lee. And if you remember, for those of you that were here in the fall, I think the new board members were probably in the audience in the fall. Um, but we did look at some of this, but we didn't have our growth. So, this includes all of the

036information that we have on Ashb Lee right now. So, you can see their um, mastery ended up over to the left. There's the totals. So, their mastery points ended up at 51.85, growth ended up at 14.24, and their readiness at 8.88, which gave them a combined score of 74.96, which puts them off track. The next school is WW Robinson and you can see that their mastery was 52, growth 16, readiness 8.66 and again their cumulative score is a 77.63 which puts them off track. And then we have Sandy Hook. Sandy Hook is a 55 for mastery. I can round that up to 56. Growth about a 15. Readiness about a nine which comes to a 79.03. again puts them off track. However, we also have federal accountability and federal accountability takes into account subgroups. And

037so these are the three different types of support that can be identified federally. So you can have comprehensive support which means it's a support for the whole school. There's the full school is in um need of support. You can have additional targeted support which just which is intensive support for one student group or targeted support which just talks about one student group. So with that being said, we do have schools that are in targeted support. And so how do we identify who needs targeted support? Well, first of all, that's reviewed annually. So the state looks at this every year. So you can come into TSI and you can go out of TSI. One year in, one year out. Um it it's not a um you're in it for so many years. So we look at

038that each year. And so the process that they use to identify our TSI schools is they look at the lowest performing 5% of the schools statewide by level. So the lowest 5% of our elementary schools, the lowest 5% of our middle schools, and the lowest 5% of our high schools. And they take the highest performing school of those 5%s and they use their scores to set the benchmark. And we're going to I have examples that I'm going to show you. So a school is identified TSI when a subgroup score is below that benchmark. And it has to be in all three content areas, reading, math, and science. Okay, you with me so far? Okay, so here are the thresholds for elementary school. So the overall framework score had to be a 71.8. And then you'll

039see that the reading performance needed to be a 71.3 or higher, math a 74.51 or higher, and science at 84.25 or higher. So, we're going to put that into effect here, and we're going to start with WW Robinson. So, here's WW Robinson's subgroup performances. There are two other subgroups that are not on here because they had less than 15 students in that subgroup, so I did not include them, but that is black and Asian. Uh, so these are the subgroups for WW Robinson. So, the first thing we're going to do is we're going to look at our overall performance. That's this box. And in that box, we're looking for a score that is below 71.8. And so you will see that our students with disabilities, that score is a 60.80. So we're below. And our

040English learners, a 70.80. So we were slightly below there, too, because we needed a 71.8. So both of those subgroups, we now have to look further. So the next thing we're going to do is we're going to look to see does our reading, math, and science performance fall below that benchmark. So our reading benchmark, if you look at that slide, was a 71.3. So for students with disabilities, we did not meet it. Math needed to be 74.51. For students with disabilities, we did not meet it. And for science, it needed to be an 84.25. And again, we did not meet it. So that would be our t our subgroup that is identified at WW Robinson. So now we need to go to the next subgroup which is our English learners. And again that's a 70.8.

041So we that's why we got identified. But then in reading they needed to have a 71.3. Well we were at a 74. So check we're good because we have that one check mark. That subgroup's automatically eliminated as an issue. that that is not a subgroup we have to worry about. We only have to worry about it if it is an X in every single subject, reading, math, and science. But just for this situation, we're going to keep going just so we can look at it. So again, in math, we met it. We were at a 77, we needed a 74. However, in science, we needed an 84, and we were at an 82. That does tell us for WW Robinson this is another area that we need to just be monitoring and be aware of.

042However, the state isn't requiring us to do anything specifically for them. But that doesn't mean that as Sheno County we still aren't keeping our eye on that situation. Any questions about that one? All right, we're going to go to the next school which is Sandy Hook and we'll do the same thing. So, first we're going to look at our overall performance. And in this school, our subgroup areas that got identified were multiple races and students with disabilities. So, under multiple races, we met all of the benchmarks. Under students with disabilities, we did not. So, again, that's how we identified which subgroups needed to be identified for TSI. Got it. Okay. Yes. Could you explain the multiple races because it looks like we're already split up with Hispanic, white. >> Multiple races are um students that

043identify with more than one race. >> Does that make sense? Okay. All right. So, WW Robinson and Sandy Hook are both TSI schools for students with disabilities. What does this mean? So each identified school develops a targeted plan to improve outcomes for that that student group. The plan is based on a needs assessment that looks closely at student data, instruction, and supports. So we will need to do a more deep dive needs assessment into what's happening in those schools with our students with disabilities. Then strategies are selected and they must be evidence-based, proven to support student learning. So, we can't just go and say, "Oh, we like this idea." Um, it has to be something that has evidence base behind it, research behind it that says that this is a proven strategy. And then the

044state also gives us funding uh directly to those schools. Last year it was $50,000 per school. I'm assuming it will be the same amount. We have our webinar next week to find out the nitty-gritty details, but I'm assure assuming it will be 50,000 again. And then when a school is identified for TSI, its overall accountability rating is then lowered by one level. So that means that now WW Robinson is needs intensive support and Sandy Hook is needs intensive support. I would like to point out one thing about Sandy Hook. If you remember back on slide two, I showed you what the labels and the amount of points they needed to be. And so just note that Sandy Hook was actually only 0.97 points away from being on track. And so had they been just a

045tenth of a point, you know, one point higher, they would have only been moved down to off track. So >> can I ask a question, Miss Proctor? >> Yes. >> Do you know what the students with disabilities numbers are for Ashley Lee? Are they I you know, because they're not listed here. >> No. Um I don't have them off the top of my head. Um, but there's but they were able to they did not meet it in all three areas. I'm not sure exactly which area, >> but I'm just curious to see if that's sort of a weak spot service of our schools. So, >> yes. And so, one of the things that we'll talk about a little bit later is what we're doing at each one of our elementary schools. And so, that will

046come out. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. All right. So, elementary takeaways. Overall elementary performance remains consistent. When we look at our scores from last year to this year, we haven't dropped significantly. It's just a different way that we're looking at the data because of the new accountability system. Reading and mo math growth shows positive trends. We seem to be moving in the right direction. Chronic absenteeism continues to improve at our elementary levels. TSI identification is limited. We only had one subgroup at those two schools. And early identification enables timely and effective support. So as much as it doesn't feel good to have two schools that are targeted, it's also an opportunity to put some supports in place. It's an opportunity to have some money to put some supports in place and it gives us an

047opportunity to intervene. So now we're going to talk about our middle schools. So this is North Fork Middle School and you can see their combined score was an 87.6 which puts them on track. might note they're only less than three points away from being distinguished. Peter Muenberg 86.73 they're on track and signal NA but with an 83.61 61. And then we talk about our oh, middle schools are on track. Um, we have strong performance and growth and readiness at our middle schools. And we feel like this indicates that we have instructional systems that are working and are in place. So then we have our high schools. Stonewall ended up with a combined score of 101.4 and they're distinguished. Central High School 94.98 distinguished as well and uh Strawsburg High School 105.03 and they're distinguished. And

048so our high school takeaways are that they're all distinguished. Graduation and post-secary readiness are areas of strength for our high schools and we are uh continue to perform well above regional peers which I'm going to talk about as well. So, here is a snapshot of just region 4. And I thought this would be really good for you to look at and put it in perspective of all the different schools that are in our region divisions. And then you can see how those school systems are comparing to ours. Um, Paige County, who is probably similar in demographics, theirs looks pretty similar to ours as well. Um, and you can look at that. I don't have anything really to point out, but I just wanted you to have that information so you could refer back to it.

049Um, but region 4 does include some of the highest performing divisions in the state and we consistently appear among the top performers and this confirms that district systems are working overall. We just know that we need to add some systems and supports in for our elementary schools. So, region four data. So, here are some positives um that I wanted to share. And I know that um I think Dr. Shepard has already shared some of this with you, but I wanted to bring more of this out and bring it to light. So, Peter Nullenberg appeared in the top five for growth in math and Northfor appeared in the top five for readiness and chronic absenteeism. And then Peter Milenberg also appeared in the top there's 20 schools here and they appeared in the top 20. And

050they're all tied, so they're just alphabetical in this um slide. And then when we look at our high schools, our top five high schools by total points, you can see that Strawsburg was the highest and then Stonewall came in at fifth there. And so that's that's pretty exciting information. And I think we've talked about that before, but want to highlight it again. And also then for top five and four-year gradu graduation rate we have uh Strawsburg High School. And then the top five readiness for chronic absenteeism we have Stonewall. And then on our top five for readiness the three overall we have Stonewall in that category at the top. And then for top three in employment Stonewall falls in that category. And then also for enlistment Stonewall falls in the top three as well. So,

051let's talk about what we're doing to help our elementary schools. So, each Friday we have what we call a Friday focus meeting. And at that Friday focus meeting um the instructional department all has different schools. We go out to Ashby Lee, WW Robinson, and Sandy Hook. And we um like to do what we're calling classroom visits to action. So, we are have things that we're looking for in the classrooms. We're going, we're observing, and then we're coming back together and talking about our takeaways. What did we see in those walkthroughs? What um what are some things that we need to change immediately? And so, we're identifying the instructional needs that need to happen. And then we're also aligning anything that needs to happen from our level at the division that needs to come out and

052deploy. So, if we see something in math, does does Miss Gavell need to come out and help with that? Or if we see something in English, does Mr. Sher need to come out and do that? So, so then we have planned targeted supports for each school. Why does this mass matter? Well, it's a faster support. We're able to get get in there quickly and see what's happening and then we're also able to intervene quicker. We have consistent expectations because of that. The whole instructional department is on the same page and we're getting our admin teams on the same page. We have better alignment and we have stronger instruction. So, you'll see there that circle. So we have classroom classroom visits that we do during the week. Then we have a Friday focus meeting. Then we

053put in any targeted supports that we need. And then we hope to see improved teaching and learning. And then we do the whole cycle again. We're also um doing a needs assessment for each one of our schools at our TSI for students with disabilities. We will also be doing that for Ashb. Even though they weren't targeted, we know that it's still a concern. And so we're going to also be looking at Ashby Lee students with disabilities. And so with us in that um endeavor, we have the special ed department that is partnering with us. And so they have deployed their team. And so each school has their own little Friday focus team that comes out on Fridays and works with them. So the next step in our process is really diving into students with disabilities.

054And that's going to be a really quick turnaround because our application for that $50,000 for each one of those schools is due in February. So, we don't have a whole lot of time to get that done and we need to get in there and see what the problems are and what are the quick wins that we can make and get in there and start working on those things. Any questions on Friday focus meetings? >> I do have a question about the classroom visits. >> Yes. So, can you just explain like are you going in at different times or different class periods during that Friday? Like one Friday you're in math and the fall Friday maybe you're in science. So, >> yes, we're we're going across the board and each school has diff has identified different

055things that we're looking for. So, across the board, we're looking for alignment. So, like when we go in, is the lesson that we're watching, is it aligned to the standards that they're supposed to be teaching? That's one of the first things we do. Some schools have us looking for um student engagement. Are students actually engaged? Is the teacher holding all students to the engagement or just randomly calling on kids? And so only five kids really need to be engaged in the process. Um and then other schools have us looking at scaffolds. Are there scaffolds in place? And if they are, are they are they doing them the way that we would expect them to do them? Um and so we are taking that data for us. It's a it's anonymous. We don't put any names

056with it. The school administrators then do give teachers feedback on what they're seeing. They have a different form that they will give the teacher some information back so that they the teacher knows what we're looking for as well. >> Thank you. >> Yep. All right. So this is also just a recap of um we've talked about this I believe earlier in the year as well but it's talking about using the data to drive our decisions and it's just a recap of what we're doing for all of our schools in the division. So each each quarter we have um teacher quarter data disagregation meetings and that drives the principal data meetings which we are actually in the process of doing right now for quarter two. Um, we actually had some meetings today and then, um, we

057follow up then with leadership meetings and things like that. The schools follow up with leadership meetings at their school to kind of recap where they're at with their school improvement plans, where they're at with their data, and then any changes or anything that needs to be shared with the school teams is shared out through that. So key takeaways, we remain strong overall under Virginia's accountability system. A small number of our schools require targeted subgroup support. Identification leads to resources, planning, and action. As much as it feels not so great, it's not necessarily a bad thing. We need to know who those subgroups are that need extra um supports and be able to go in and help and make sure that's not a problem. And progress is monitored and adjusted annually. questions. Feel like that was

058a lot of information. >> I have a question. Um what were the trends um statewide with this? I mean I know there were some fears before that a lot of schools were going to fall down you know fall off or that you know um that it wasn't going to help a lot of schools with there a lot of movement um statewide with regards to how schools were assessed. So I I can't answer statewide, but what I can tell you the little bit that I do know, it seems as most of the schools that are in offtrack or needs intensive support tend to be the elementary schools across the state, >> but that didn't change much. I mean like in terms of that's what was before. >> Well, Sandy Hook wouldn't have been identified, I don't

059think, under the old system. So I think it's it's just a new way of looking at it. I can't though answer if across the state some schools were identified or not. I mean I have that region four data I can look at. Um yeah. Do you know of any correlation between success and the student population in a building? Uh we all know that for example Sandy Hook is 97% capacity Robinson is 92% and um those on the board who have visited San Diego will tell you it's it's a little crowded. Uh is there any correlation between success and the size of a elementary school? I don't have any data to support that. But what I can tell you is that when I was the principal at WW Robinson, I looked for it and I've looked

060for it in the last year being at the schoolboard office to find a school that has the same demographics as WW Robinson, which is a high number of EEL students, 50% poverty, and a thousand kids. And I can't find another school in the state of Virginia that has similar demographics. So, it's really hard for me to compare a school that size to other schools in Virginia that might be close to that size. Um, and it's relative to how big their schools are, if they're overcrowded or not. If they have a big school that can accommodate a thousand kids, that might be different. I will say from personal experience at Robinson, moving that many teachers out in a positive direction is a difficult thing. It It's a lot to There's a lot of staff. WW Robinson

061has more staff members than any of our high schools. That's a lot. And Sandy Hook would probably be knocking on the door because they're just as big. >> Okay. >> Almost. >> Other questions for Mr. Brockton? >> Mike? >> I got one question, but it may be I was planning on it later. The trailer showed up at Sandy Hook yesterday and today. Um, I know the plumbing is not going to be hooked up anytime soon, but do we have any kind of forecast as far as like electrical when we could get the kids in there and and try to relieve some class size inside the school? >> So, I believe there is a setup meeting tomorrow morning and that should give us more information on when those those modular units will be completed. Is that

062correct? >> Y >> is the plan to get teachers and kids in there before the plumbing is installed? >> Yes. And the likelihood that it'll be um not classes but more teachers who have small groups um is more likely than moving classes out there because of the restroom situation, the plumbing. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? >> Just one more question. Sorry. Um I know that there's a a national shortage of special education teachers. >> How does that factor into this? >> Well, I mean, I don't have any data to say that it factors in, but of course, it's impacting our students with disabilities. Um, because we may have teachers that are not fully credentialed to be a special ed teacher and so their knowledge, their professional knowledge isn't as much as a teacher that

063might be. But it also runs true for classroom teachers. We have the same issue in our classrooms where we have teachers that are filling in as teachers that may not have a four-year teaching degree or they're going through some alternative program and so their professional knowledge isn't as high. Um so it's really important that administrators when they're placing students also think about that um you know where are teachers strengths and how can we work to everybody's strengths. Um but it's definitely a factor. Yeah. Thanks. >> And and on that note, um the support that's coming in, you know, funding helps, but what what what personnel does that provide if there aren't any personnel poss? I mean, is are there other support specialists that come in? >> So, the $50,000 can't be really used for people.

064You can use it for materials. You can use it for professional development. You can use it for I'm not 100% sure if we can use it for after school tutoring. We'd have to check on that one. Um but it's usually used for buying materials, programs, professional development, those types of things. The state doesn't send anybody to the schools. the pro the the the the way that they supported us in these programs prior was that we had a liaison from the state that worked with us and so we had to present what we were doing as a division to them. Um Dr. Shepard is always really good about trying to get them to come out to our school system and come into our schools to really kind of give us boots on the ground feedback about

065what we're seeing. And so the um the lady that we had the last couple years, which I hope is the same lady this year, um she has always come out when we've asked, it's just not always been on our timeline. It's been on their timeline because we're not the only school division they're supporting. And so if you look at that one slide of all the schools that are in needs intensive support, I don't know how many people they deploy out, but if she's the only one for our region, she's going to be pretty busy. >> I can imagine. >> Yeah. And if you will remember, um, we had two middle schools that were in TSI. Was that two or three years ago? >> Um, two years ago. >> Two years ago. And both of them

066are now on track and and, um, well within on track. So, you know, TSI is just really a short time. And what we did with that that money, the $50,000 is professional development for our teachers. >> To piggy back on that conversation, I know Last year we had talked about a different pay scale for the sped teachers and you came with a stipen. Um I can't recall did we approve that stipen? >> We did not but that's going to be a recommendation again this year. >> Do we still believe that may entice some of the teachers that are certified to teach sped to come back into the spec classroom? >> Well, I don't know about all of the um divisions that surround us. I'm going to answer your question in a minute. Um, there are

067many divisions around us that offer the stipen. So, my fear is that we will lose our special ed teachers to other divisions who pay that stipen. Um, do I believe that there will be teachers who have the special ed endorsement that will come back to special ed if they're teaching math or English or something else? Possibly. And and I think as teachers get closer to retirement, they think about those ways that they can maximize their income so that they can get their three high years. And and that would be great to have experienced teachers um move from uh content area to special ed because we're getting the best of the best in that in that area. >> Thank you. Well, last December, um, Sanado County high schools rank among Virginia's top performers and, uh, we

068look forward to seeing the headline reading all county schools. >> Me, too. >> Okay. All right. Good. I think it'll happen. >> I do, too. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Shepard. Initial fiscal year 2027 budget meeting. Thank you, Derek. This is my absolute favorite time of the year, budget season. >> Can I get some support for that? So, um, the information that I'm going to present tonight does not tell what my budget initiatives are for this year. Um, we had our pre-budget public hearing this evening and we had no one who spoke. So, um, I was hoping we would get some input from the community on what they would like to see in our budget for this year. We will have an opportunity for conversation at the schoolboard work session

069on January the 26th I believe which is a Monday. So looking forward to that and then you will see my proposal at the February 12th meeting along with a draft budget book. So um the information that you're going to get tonight is just background information that will help us help you make decisions um on the fiscal year 2027 budget for this year. So, please feel free to stop me if you have any questions. Um, I always start our budget presentation with our division goals, our mission, and our vision. So, while I'm not going to spend a lot of time on these slides, I will, you know, leave a few seconds for you guys to read them because we have a pretty hefty agenda tonight. So, and I think you have a copy of this presentation

070in front of you. And um relating to um chairman Vance's remark earlier, we want all of our schools in Shannidoa County to be the best of the best and that is reflective of our vision. So hopefully all of them will be on track or distinguished this coming year and our beliefs. So enrollment information um there is a a declining a downward trend of enrollment in the Commonwealth of Virginia and Shadow County is no different. You will see over the last 12 or 13 years that we've had a a decrease in our enrollment. The dark blue number is K12 and the lighter blue number is um preK12. But you will notice that we've had a declining trend. We saw a small uptick in 202 uh 23 24 and then an uptick another uptick in 2425. But

071you'll notice that we had about a 48 student decrease here this um current school year. And um one of the things that attribute to that, I'm looking for my notes, is that we had a really high senior class graduate last year and a really small kindergarten class enter. So we um from our senior class, there were 75 less kindergarten students that entered this year than graduated last year. So that is one of the reasons for our you know our decline and that was 75 students while we only lost 48. Um that could be one of the reasons that we our enrollment has declined. The next slide again is uh just the same information presented a different way. We take two measures of our um our student enrollment. We do a September 30th enrollment um mark

072and then we do another one in March. And you'll see that usually always our March enrollment is membership is a little less than what we measured uh September 30th. And our number for this year is 5,492 students. Our number last year was 5,540 students. in this information. Um the next slide is enrollment trends in our elementary schools and you will notice uh over the last three years they they have pretty much remained steady. Uh there was a slight decrease at uh Sandy Hook Elementary School from 2324 to 2425 but otherwise it's it's pretty steady. Our our middle schools and then our high schools. And you will notice there was a um a pretty significant decrease at Central High School from last year to this year. They had a really large 12th grade class that graduated

073last year. in the ninth grade class that came up was not as large. So birth rate, you will notice in 2020 we had an uptick in birth rate at 517 um births. While we may have enrolled some of those students this year, we may enroll some addition some of those students next year as well. So, so we will see we should see a slight uptick in our our kindergarten class next year. But then you'll see in 2022, which would be the 2027 kindergarten class, um there was a significant decrease in births. And then here's just another way to look at that information. So what are some of the other things that impact budget? Well, our free and reduced lunch eligibility or our low so e economic students um impacts our budget. Sometimes we need to

074provide additional supports for the students who may not have the same experiences at home as um as their peers when they get to school. But you'll notice there's been um a significant uptick in our low socioeconomic or our free reduced lunch eligibility from 2021 to uh 2025 2026. English language learners over the last number of years that has increased. We went from 627 English language learners last year to 651. And if you'll remember, we added four or five EL teachers this past uh year because of requirements from the Department of Education. Um, our English learners speak 16 languages and the most common is Spanish followed by MR. Is that right? And then here's our students with disabilities or 504s. Um we have a slight uptick from 861 students with disabilities last year to 897 this

075year. And and you'll notice on the right hand side of this chart that our students with 504 plans are decreasing. My information is different than the information that um Ellen will present. I believe it's next month. Um my information comes from September 30th. Hers comes from December 5th. So there's always a little variation in in the numbers, but um we take our our snapshots at different times of the year. So >> the 504 declining in the sped increasing correlation there. >> I don't think so. Um, I think that we um we are paying particular attention to our 504s on whether is it really a 504 plan that is needed or can it be a um um a health plan like if you're um if you're allergic to be stings, do you really need a 504

076or do you or do you just need a health plan in order to get a um a shot of your stump IV? So, um, so I think we're taking great consideration into, um, to why we're writing those 504 plans. >> Do you have anything to add? >> Um, the only thing I would add is one of the initiatives that we've done this year is looking at the number of kids who might have both types of documents simultaneously before an IEP. And in situations where it um was feasible to embed it just into the IEP, we've done that to eliminate the 504 plan. Um that doesn't work in every situation, but when it can, it makes the the paperwork side and the process side um more streamlined for the teachers and for the parents. And so

077we have done that. That may be part of the data picture. Um I don't know that it's the full data picture though. >> Thank you. So personnel I am going to um go through these fairly fast. This is the same information that Linda presented. Linda I just presented in September I believe but I just want to bring your attention to it because it does have budget impact. Where do we want to put our money um when we talk about budget? So um our retention our teacher retention rate was up this year which is fantastic. It went from 82% from 23 24 to 87%. So our turnover was only 13 only 13%. I wish it was below 10 but 13% is much better than what we have seen over the last five or six years. So

078um teacher retention is up and we hope that that continues. And then if you look at the experience of our our teaching staff, most of our teaching staff, not quite 50% um of our teachers have 11 or more years of experience. So 50% of our staff have 11 or more years of experience. The other approximately 50% of our staff have 10 years or less of experience. So when you look at who is leading SCPS, you will notice it's our teachers who have more years of experience 11 11 years plus. So 29% of the teachers who left us had 11 to 20 years of experience and 32% had 21 years plus. And who is coming? We're getting the teachers who have zero to three years of experience um coming to SCPS. About 50% of the teachers

079that we hired have zero to three years of experience. On the previous slide, you'll notice that about 7% of our new teachers previously taught in Channidoa County. So, they went somewhere else and they come back. Last year, that number was 20%. So, we always love to welcome um previous SCPS employees back to Shannidora County Public Schools. And you will also notice that we had graduates return to be teachers. So, we had six of the northern campus, six at the central campus, and then five at the southern campus. Always always love to have SCPS graduates um as employees. And we have we are in um collaboration with many divisions that surround us in Laurel Ridge and Germaine Community College um to actually grow our own teachers. So, um, we have I'm making a guess at this,

080um, but I think it's six slots, uh, for students in 11th grade to attend this lab school that will get the students an associates degree. when they graduate from high school, they'll need two additional years to um go to a four-year university to either be an elementary school teacher or a uh or a special ed teacher. So, this year we sent two students, one from Central and one from Strawsburg. And next year we have more applicants than we have slots, which is a great place to be in. and hopefully um other divisions that surround us will send uh their number of people so we can capture their slots as well. So we'll see how that works out for us. But um that's a great opportunity because the first two years are free for the students

081and with grants and scholarships then the next two years are will be low cost or um at no cost for our students and looking forward to continuing that. >> Those students have to return to the school district. They do. I think it's for two years. >> That's what I thought. >> I think it's for two years. >> Thank you. >> And then um we filled 98 teacher positions. Total new to SCPS was 84. And then I believe the last of the slides from Linda's presentation in September was um here are the uh vacancies that were unfilled as of September 5th. >> Are we going to get an updated list of the unfilled vacancies? >> We can. Yes. >> So the next slide um is one that I always hesitate to put up because I'm telling

082teachers um go to make more money than Chinida County. However, um you know, in full transparency, I think it's important um if you look at Shannidoa County, um here's our his or our salary scale for this current school year for our teachers. And then it right beside of um the column beside is Frederick County and then beside that is Rockingham. Frederick County until this past year, we were um higher them on higher than them on the first scale. Now they're slightly higher than us. Um and they um they remain slightly um over our pay for the I only went to 19 years of experience, but through the 30-year scale um they remain high slightly higher than us. But Rockingham, they actually um I think it's at step uh year six that we actually start outpacing

083Rockingham County. And when we get over to the um insurance part of this presentation, you'll see that our insurance is better than Rocky County. Oh, next slide. So if you look at our health insurance, we have made concerted efforts over the last four and a half years to make sure that our healthc care is affordable. And if you will look at our employee only, which is circled there, Shvidoa County is the lowest um for employee only at $55 per month. Um you have Frederick County at 90 about $92 and then Rockingham at 115. Employee plus child were were in the mix. Um employee plus children were still a little higher than a lot higher than Frederick County. um but a little higher than Rockingham. Employee plus spouse um lower than both Frederick and Rockingham. And

084then employee plus family $655 and Frederick is 630 and Rockingham is 697. So we're in the mix. So, we've made great gains and thanks to the school board and the board of supervisors who I see members out there um for um helping us do that because I think that makes a difference because that's real money in people's pockets. And then here's um this is just the last three years in where we've come with with health care. And the two I really like to point out is the employee plus children and employee plus family. Um, four and a half years ago, that premium per month was $1,249. So, $1,250 per month premium. That's a house payment. And now we're at $655. We have made great gains in those in those areas. So, budget process and information.

085So, there are codes of Virginia that pertain to budget and here are the codes. Um the first code says that the superintendent must prepare uh a needsbased budget for the school board and then the school then the next code that I'm going to say is the school board has to um send a budget to the board of supervisors by the first day of April each year. So that you know that then we backwards map our our schedule to make sure that we have the board of supervisors and budget by that time and I think we're going to have it to them mid-Marchch this year. Um the calendar comes in a slide or two. Oh here it is. So if you look um and I'll just highlight a few of these. December 17th, Governor Yncan introduced

086the 2026 2028 banial budget. And towards the end of this presentation, I have a few highlights of what he has proposed. So then tonight, you guys hear a little bit of pre-budget information, but um and then next week the general assembly convenes. So what's going to happen is the general assembly is going to make the proposed the governor's proposed budget and make some amendments. So, the House will make some amendments and the um recommendations and the Senate will make some recommendations and then they'll get together and decide what that you know what the what the budget's going to look like. Yes. What you'll notice down towards the bottom of this slide is um Shannidora County School Board approves the budget on March the 12th. Well, the general assembly is going to conclude sometime mid-March, so

087likely after our meeting on the 12th. So, the likelihood that we do not know what our state funds are before you guys have to vote on the budget is pretty high. So, um but we'll you'll have there will be multiple opportunities to talk about budget, talk about your what you would like to see in the budget over the next until March the 12th. over the next couple of months. Um the first opportunity will be Monday, January the 26th and then um like I said, the budget draft um book will be available on February the 12th. There'll be another opportunity to discuss it on February the 23rd and then the school board will approve the budget on the 12th. the um the budget approval on the 12th, there's actually another opportunity after that, after the board

088of supervisors comes back to the school board and said and and says, "This is what we're going to be able to fund you." There's another opportunity to approve the budget after that. And that is April the 27th. Any questions about the calendar? It's It'll be a busy few months. So sources of revenue. So this is the information from this current budget. Um just wanted to give you a flavor of what it looked like. Um federal about $3.5 million which is about 4% of our budget. State is about 52 uh 50 about 53 million. the county is 30 about 30 a little less than 35 million and then other other is um money that the uh school division collects from like rental of our facilities and things like that things um so that's about $1.5 million

089but um read the little bullet at the bottom that says the funds do not include the capital improvement county technology or street food services so those are excluded in in this in this chart here and over the next several slides that I will present. So if you look at the federal revenue over the last number of years, you'll see that and that in and that is because we've received federal um one time federal funds like CARES funds or other funds over the a number of years um and we didn't get them other years. So, so you'll see that that fluctuation there in in revenue. So, the next slide is about state funds. So, how how are state funds determined? And one of the ways that state funds are determined is based on our local composite

090index. And that local composite index equals or means the locality's ability to pay. And it is based on three factors. the true value of real property which is um weighted at 50% the adjusted gross income which is weighted at 40% and then taxable retail sales which is weighted at 10%. So two years ago, let's say 2022 to 2024, our local composite index um was lower and then in 2426 it increased by four percentage points and we received about $2 million less from the state than if if that LCI wouldn't have increased by 4%. our we just received our LCI numbers for this uh 2026 to 2028 and it reduced by two uh 2 06%. So the anticipation is that we will get additional state funds and I have notes. Let me there were there are

091a total of 134 divisions and of those 134 divisions 37 divisions decreased. We were one of the divisions that decreased by 2%. Nine divisions are capped. One division remained the same and the other 87 divisions increased. So what I am hoping for is that because we were only one of 37 divisions that decreased, we will receive more state revenue than the 87 uh divisions that increased. Now, we won't know that information until later, but you know, that's that's my hope. Um, and you can see here while on the chart you can see the true property value has increased over the last three times that they they've taken these measures. Our LCI still decreased. You can see that our adjusted adjusted gross income increased a little bit the last time, but it decreased a little bit

092this this most recent time. And then the retail sales has has remained pretty stagnant. Any questions about this slide? Um, it's a lot of information that we um we really have we as a school division have no control over and there's no way that we can guesstimate what it's going to be. December is always a great time. Um Kayn and I look forward to um December so we know what our LCI was it November or December? >> November. Um so we know what our LCI is going to be. So, and this will remain into effect this year and next year as well. But our state funds is as our um based on local composite index incentive programs um cate categorical program accounts and lottery funds. And then here's our our state funding. So you see

093increases over the last um last number of years. And then our county operational funds. So this is where we get our money. So where do we spend our money? And I sound like a broken record because we spend most of our money on people. So um 61 1% is personnel and 26.7% benefits. So that's 70 80 um almost 90% of our our money is spent on people and people make a difference. Teachers have the number one impact on student achievement. We know that. and 75% of our budget is um expended on instruction. These numbers have remained constant probably not identical but close to identical over the last four or five years. We value teachers and we value instruction. That's where we're going to make the biggest difference. And then um just to I said I

094would highlight a few of the governor's um proposals um for the 2026 to 2028 budget proposals or the upcoming budgets. Um they'll fully fund the state share of rebenchmarking which we should receive additional state funds for that. Um he has recommended a 2% salary increase for this fiscal year, 2% salary increase for next fiscal year. There is money in there to expand the child care subsidy program for um children, preschool children. And then additional funds for school construction grants. Now, my understanding of those school construction grants is you have to be ready shovel ready for that for that money. >> And then um >> I'm sorry, by when would that be? So um one of the they're going to seek additional um o they're going to have additional opportunities for grant funding in March. So

095I don't know that you know I don't know that we'll make it to that point but hopefully there will be other opportunities available in the near future. So um if he's put additional funds in for the 26 fiscal year 27 then that does not start until July 1st. So there should be opportunities after July 1. And then so a budget amendment for this current school year is there was a reduction to the state budget due to decreased enrollment across the state. So um you noticed that we had a decrease in student enrollment. Um we anticipated that. So, we um it's not going to hurt our um it's not going to we're not going to have to save money in order to be able to um afford that that decrease. We're we're okay. But you'll see

096the bullet below that is a 2% budget for or bonus for employees for fiscal year 2026, which is this school year. And it would have to be paid out before the end of May. And um while this isn't finalized, um a lot of times this is proposed and it ends up being maybe a $1,000 budget for all employees or whatever. But we'll keep our our ear to the ground to to um see where that this lands at the end of the at the end of the budget cycle because a lot of times um a lot of times the general assembly will convene without passing a budget and sometimes we don't have that information until May or June. So hopefully this won't um won't be delayed because it takes a few weeks in order to process

097a a bonus. So, >> we had that bonus last year as well, didn't we? >> I think it was a flat $1,000. >> Yes, flat 10,000. I remember that. >> Yeah, but I think it started out as a percentage or maybe it did, you know, it it might have started out as a percentage. And then just finally, um the last slide is, you know, this is what um we're going to look forward to over the next four months. Um, and again, like I said, we do not know when the general assembly concludes and you know, we're going to have a new governor, so I don't know um, you know, if she'll approve the budget right away or whether it'll be a delay. So, it'll be interesting to see how things fall out this this um,

098this year. Any questions? How you do? Um going back to the whole uh school construction grants. Um I have a couple of questions. One is what exactly do we need to have? I mean what is considered ready uh to go? I mean is it just pass you know a decision? Do we need to have blueprints? Um what exactly do we have? And then also where do we stand with that? Because I we were going to be having that vote back in the fall and then we kicked it to today. I don't think it's in the action um items for today. So when what are we doing with this? >> Yeah. So I'm presenting information I think that's next on the agenda. I'm presenting information on the major capital projects and then at the January 26th

099meeting we'll have a conversation about it. Um and then at the February 12th meeting um we'll vote and then we'll send that vote on to the board of supervisors for their consideration. I'm going to ask Kayyn to talk a little bit about the construction funds because she has done some pretty indepth um looking at what what we may be um able to apply for and if we're if we'll qualify. So Kaylin cable. >> So to answer your most immediate question about what is shovel ready, that means having architectural plans complete, ready to break ground construction um contract awarded. We are ready to go. We are just awaiting funding. >> So we're not going to get there. >> Probably not by March. Thank you. >> Any other questions? Do we still have drawings available for say

100Sandy Hook Elementary School or WW Robinson? probably not that one because of the size or ashby lean >> to where we could have those updated. So, we have all of our plans and I think some of them are digitized, but um and it depends um if we're doing renovations or expansions, we'll use those plans. If we're doing a new elementary school, um it's going to depend on where we put that new elementary school and the topography of the land. So, um it'll depend if we can recycle those drawings. Um because if we like the layout of Sandy Hook Elementary School, then we may want, you know, we may want to u copy that somewhat. But all all topography is going to be a little different. We'll have to um make changes for that. >> That

101was more of what I was getting at is that could expedite the process if we already have a set of drawings in a school that we like and we know where we want to put it. Could it be updated to today's standards and put out quicker than coming up with a whole new design? >> Yeah, I think any architect is going to And by the way, um the two architects that we have been working with, they're they're working together. It's Dale Cup from Miller Cup Architects and John Mather from Daily Ma Matter Daily Architects. Um, and they're both firms out of Harrisonenburg. They will be here on January the 26 to answer any questions that you have about the information that I'm going to share here briefly. >> Thank you. >> Other questions, comments? Um,

102I guess I got a question being kind of I'm just curious being a bottom line number a bottom line person. Uh, this is really good information and the way it's presented the way it is and very interested in numbers. I'm just curious and I don't know if it would help or not. Uh, but would but it would help to if a copy of this would go to each board supervisor, you know, just to kind of be educated with bottom line numbers. We can. Yeah, we could do that. >> I mean, it is interesting going through this and >> um I didn't know if that would be possible. >> Certainly. >> Any other questions or thoughts? >> Well, as foreshadowed from the prior discussion, we go to item 5.2, information on potential major capital projects. Dr.

103Shepard. Thank you. So in was it November, we discussed our major capital projects and there were We talked about a new elementary school. We talked about renovation andor expansion of our three elementary schools, Sandy Hook, WW Robinson, and Ashby Lee. We talked about CTE and what we wanted to do there. We talked about a new CTE facility in the center of the um the county. We talked about renovation of our existing triplet tech. And then we also talked about um possibly the renovation of another property. Um so I have highlevel information on that um which high level means a 30,000 foot view um and um estimated cost and I do want to preface this is I have it is in no particular order. So I um as I move through this um this presentation um

104I'm not preferring one over the other. It's just the order that they're in. And um what I handed out earlier was the information from Dale Cuff and John Mather that they provided for us. So I may reference a page number in here. Um but you're welcome to to glance through that uh the book as I go through this presentation. So, we talked about this earlier, but I thought it would be nice to have a one-stop shop if you needed information on enrollment and what we're um what we're wanting to do with um with any of our facilities. So, I am not going to review this information again, but it's here if you need it. This is a slide that I did not um talk about or put in the budget presentation. And this is the

105same glad I verified it with our um with the county last week or two weeks ago and this is this information is is up to date. So we have here are the you know the housing developments that are on the books and here are the number of homes that we can expect and it's a little less than half a kid per home. Um, Limol Hancock is um rerunning that information for us. Um, it was point4 uh 444 students per home and 46 for a town home. Um, and and he's going to rerun that information to make sure that's still accurate. But you can you can see at Strawsburg there are um 320 homes on the books which would bring us approximately 145 students that those students would range from K12. Uh we have 873 homes

106in the Woodstock area and that would be approximately 395 students and again that's K12 and 30 homes in Edinburg which would be 14 students that would also be at the central campus. So just just information for you um as we talk through this. So if you look at the um the first proposal here is the potential new elementary school. And I do want to note that this is the county property that the current um what's on there? There is the Frisbee golf course and a few other there's a a track and a few other things there. Where this um school has been placed is not indicative of where it would be placed. Um it's just there for um for um as an indication that the for demonstration purposes only. Um they have not taken a

107deep dive the architects have not taken a deep dive in where that final location would be. So, I don't want anyone to believe that we're taking the space that is currently the Frisbee golf course. So, um but the project estimate for a new elementary school I think is right in line with what we've been saying over the last little bit is between 40 and $50 million. Um um Dale Cup and John Mather the architects have said that hey it's going to be about $45 million. Our 30,000 our 35,000 foot view says it's going to be about $45 million. It's going to be a 90,000 square foot building at about $400 per square foot and um it's going to meet VOTE requirements. It's going to have uh site that it includes site um roadways and parking.

108It has an equipment budget. There's a contingency funds in there and so on and so forth. So just you know so a new elementary school would be according to um the architects around $45 million. Sandy Hook Elementary School, you've seen this information before. It was built in 1970. This information was updated for um for this year's information. We have 825 students. We're at 96.15% capacity. This slide you've seen before. These are the things the overall condition of Sandy Hook Elementary School. And then what Miller Cup did is what you see in red there um what you what the architects did because it's two architects Miller Cup and Maly they what you see in red there would be additions to Sandy Hook if we did the renovation slashexpansion and The project estimate for the renovation slashexpansion

109would be between 14 million and 18 million and their estimate was um 15 million 85,000 and you can see all of the bulleted items that it would include. And it would add approximately 11 classrooms and I think it was four to six resource rooms and some covered walkways and so on and so forth. So, you can kind of see where they've added anything in red. And I know that's difficult to see or read, but it may be easier to read in this. If it's not, you're welcome to my binder, which has larger pages. Um, but I'll need this back at some at some point that has the 11 by7. You're welcome to take this and look at it. Do we know or do you know right off hand the average size of an elementary school

110in state of Virginia? >> I do not. Um, I don't think there's an average size. Some school divisions have chosen to do 350 student elementary schools. Shannidoa County has chosen to do larger elementary schools um because we have the um campus model. So, it just it just depends on the um the locality and what they're interested in doing. So, here's, you know, here's what a renovation slashexpansion of um Sandy Hook would look like. WW Robinson is next, and we're at 90% capacity with,034 students. There's the overall condition. And you can see in red where the architects have added some classrooms and a new gym space. Sandy Hook Elementary School has access to two gym areas. WW Robinson has access also to two gym areas, but one is much smaller than a regular size gym. So

111um so what Miller um what the architects have um recommended is that we turn that gym into multiple classrooms and we add a a more standardized gym with a stage that could allow some performances. >> Looking at these renovation drawings, >> it looks like the renovation that was just done on the school offices would be renovated all over again. >> There would be some there would be some changes there. Yes. Yes. And as a matter of fact, they have um bumped out the um the that area, the office where the office area is. They've bumped it out a little bit. Yes. >> So that money would just go to >> So and you'll see there preliminary budget is 18 million 800,000. And you can look at the list of the of the things that it

112would include. And again, you know, this is a this is a half level view. It's not, you know, we are not getting into the details at this point. It's too soon to do that. >> Now, have they expressed whether we're going to need additional parking for either one of those schools or >> Yeah. So, they've added they have parking allowances in um in all of their proposals. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Which is in this in this document here. >> Okay. >> Yeah. just asking and I don't know if you know but like Sandy Hook if they were to expand that where would they put the additional part? >> So um I don't think he included it in his drawing. So one of the things that we were talking about as we were doing the um

113tours with the architects was the play space at Sandy Hook. I'm trying to orient myself here. Is across from the uh the students have to cross the parking lot to get to the play space. So, is there a place where you can actually move the playground where it would be safer for students and you know, so so that's one of the things we discussed. We also, you know, one of the areas could be that the ball field that's on the left, but then you would have to relocate that ball field. So, um the softball field. Um but when we get into the details, that's when we would know where we put a where we put the playground space, where we put the additional parking because we own that space there and we also own the

114space to the left. We have another we'll say it's 40 acres, but I don't think it's quite 40 acres behind those ball fields there. You see them? And then we have Ashley Lee um who is not lagging far behind um 90% capacity. They're at 80 almost almost 90% 89.8% capacity with 693 students. And one of the things that they included in Ashb Lee's is again another gym because Ashby Lee now has 771 kids that go to one gym. They they do not even have a second gym. And you know that their number of students is slightly less than um than WW and Sandy Hook, but they have a significant number of students who are who are accessing one one um recess area or the Zet area. And again here you can you can notice the

115the red spaces which is the additional additional classrooms resource areas. And and if you look at this space too, Mr. Rick, I think you'll they've moved the offices um to the front of the building to the left. So, it would, you know, while I don't think it would um all of the work that was just done on those um front entrances, I think there, you know, some of that will be undone in order to um to accommodate this new space. And they'll have um when they come on January the 26th, they'll have larger pictures that you know, bigger size that it's easier to see what they plan on doing. And here is the cost um for doing that. Yes, project estimate is between 12 and 16 million and their estimate is 14.2 million. Um and

116their the number of classroom spaces WW and Sandy Hook were around 10 or 11 classroom spaces with, you know, six to eight resource rooms. Um Ashby Le, it's a lot less. It's about half of that. five to six classroom spaces with some with some resource rooms and a gym. >> Am I reading this correctly that then um this ex renovation also fixes the main problems that the schools have right now that need to be fixed regardless? >> It would be a it would be a massive renovation. So it would include HVAC. It would include all of all of those. Yes. Electrical, um plumbing. Yes. Some of the things that you're going to see on Mr. Hensley's list this evening for group >> and are we also going to get um an idea of how that

117would be done if we do the renovations you know because obviously we can't do it while the kids are in school >> I mean is that just going to mean takes longer over time or is that going to be you know temporary classrooms I mean how is that going to be done >> so you know that's all in the details and that comes you know when we actually contract with an architect to do this work for us they'll have a schedule and the likelihood that that schedule the work is done over the summer is pretty high because we don't want to disrupt instruction in order to do this work. So while they may work some evenings and weekends a lot of the heavy lift will be done during um May, June, July and the first

118part of August >> all three at the same time. >> It could be. It just depends on who um which company um contractor actually bids on the projects and um larger contractors have the capacity to be able to do more than one school at a time. >> We've had a hard time in this county in the past uh doing that much work all at one time. Correct. >> Um I believe we did all three. So the last project um was the law the last large project was the renovation of the three high schools and they were done at the same time but I don't remember I don't I wasn't here so I don't know how that how that worked. I know with our um when we added the new front entrances that was considered a

119small renovation project. So when you get when you're spending in the tens of millions of dollars, you get larger companies who are interested in bidding on these projects. So we may get a different size company that's able to um that has more capacity. >> The uh the timeline though, I don't think it's feasible to do all this work over the summer. I mean, even when they did the um the vestibules and renovations, there were kids in the schools at the time. So I I think we all need to realize that there's it will have some imp impact. >> Yeah. And there's possibility to do the work evenings and weekends or you know even during the day but um when I've worked on construction projects previously um we worked really well with the contractor and said

120you know we're so testing the whole month of May. So if you can do another project during that time that would be wonderful. And they were always very um accommodating. If I'm correct here, um if my math is approximately correct, we're talking about similar price tags, right? >> So, um this slide actually I think answers your question. So, um this is a very busy slide. So, I'm going to try to work um work through it. If you look uh at the blue title, it says new elementary and renovation of existing elementary schools. So renovation means only renovation not expansion. So new elementary school and renovation that would be at the very bottom you'll see the estimated cost is between um 59.5 million to 81.5 million. And then you if you look at their um the

121facilities improvement options that that um the architects provided um they gave specific dollar amount. So if you look at their their uh preliminary budget estimated cost their estimated cost for all of those projects. So it would be a new ele school and the renovations without expansion of Sandy Hook WW and Ashby Lee it would be a total of $70 million 702 uh 325,000. So that would do the new elementary schools and the um the renovations without expansion. So if you look on the right side of the um vertical line, you will see that the expansion renovation of elementary schools and this includes the expansion. The total price of that would be it's the very bottom line 47,775,000. So there's there's your two numbers that you um and that would give us approximately with um Sandy

122Hook, WW Robinson, and Ashley Lee. That would give us approximately um 28 additional classrooms across the division. Um and don't ask me how many classrooms the new elementary school has in it because I don't know. I know we sent a plan for a 700 to 750 student elementary school. Any question about this busy slide? >> On this busy slide, is there anywhere that shows the new elementary school total and just renovations of the elementary school's total? I'm not seeing it, but I'm I may be overlooking it. >> So, then this was 45 million. No. >> And then the renovation. >> So if you look at the new elementary school at the top here, >> the preliminary budget estimate is 45 million right there. >> Right. >> Um and then if you look at the renovation

123without expansion, there's those numbers. So they're they're there individually just not as a total. They're not totaled at the bottom. So renovations would be 25,325 >> approximately. So just just over 25. >> Yes. Yes. >> So is that the number we're looking at at the bottom? 70 million 325 >> for both together. >> So we just need to get rid of the the >> Yes. If you I guess expansion. Yeah. Well, >> but we want to take out the word expansion. Was that word expansion put in there by mistake? >> Yes. >> Right. Yes. You're >> okay. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Expansion is on the other one. The other side. >> Sorry about that. >> All right. I'm going to move on to CTE. Are you ready? career technical education. So, Triplette Tech is currently

124a 50,000 square foot square building. It was built in ' 66. There was some small addition in 75. There have been no major renovations over the last 50 years. Here, um, we asked the architects to do three um different scenarios for us. One of them was the renovation expansion of the of the existing triplet tech. What would that cost? The second one was a renovation um of the Mount Jackson Press building and a renovation of the current triplet tech. And then the third option was a new CTE facility in the center of the county along with a renovation of um of triplette. So we'll be seeing so the very first option is the renovation and expansion of existing triplette and you see here that on the left you have the renovation expansion of existing triplette

125and you see that the architect's um projected cost is 38,600 600,000 and that would add approximately 50,000 square feet for trade classes and a front edition of the facility. And you can read the other things that are included there. And then if you look on the right of this slide, you will see that the um renovation of triplette without expansion is about 750,000 >> that does that renovation add any classroom? >> It does not add any classroom space. >> Now the one with the expansion um is does that is that considering buying that extra lot of land and is that including the cost of the land in there? >> That yes it has a cost um it has eight calls for again you know not a it's an educated guess >> um cost of some

126land, some additional land and um and it does include some money for that. >> Okay. >> That renovation without the expansion, do we know what we're getting for our money in that? Um those no those details we would have to ask them on January the 26. Those details weren't as uh they weren't as detailed as the elementary schools which you know had some categories. So they just did square they just did a square foot cost for the renovation. Would that be like including highways or anything like that or we don't know that? >> It's it's just it's just >> fixing what's wrong right now. >> Yes. >> I'm sorry. >> You don't know if that covers upgrade of the electrical system or anything like that? >> No. No. It's a $250 per square foot um

127cost and the only it would include a minor addition of a little less than 10,000 square ft. But again, you know, this is this is really conceptual design at this point. Um when we start talking about the details, we would have to have a um a contract with an architect to do that. So that's when we get more firm numbers. >> But for the renovation expansion, it'll basically double double the size of Triple Tech. >> Yes. And then the second thing we asked the architects to do is to look at the Mount Jackson press building and then um we combine that also because if you um that would just take the trades to the Mount Jackson press building and which would you know let's say it's automotive and maybe we add diesel mechanics and maybe

128we do welding and so on and so forth. Um that just be the trades and then the other classes would remain like culinary would remain at the current triplet tech. So there would need to be some renovations there. So this this slide um shows what the renovation of the Mount Jackson Press building would cost. And if you um if you look it's a $23 million estimate and it does include the purchase of the property. The that I wanted to point out which I do have a question about is the $1.5 million here for the equipment budget. Um so that number changes in all three of the scenarios. So and I'm not sure why. So that's a question that I have is so this is back to the previous one we looked at. There's a $2.5

129million equipment budget in there, but it doesn't. So, why is it $2.5 million here for the renovation and expansion of triplette and a $1.5 million here? I'm not sure. So, you know, that's one of the questions that I have. And then the next you're going to see that it's a $5 million um budget item. And so, I'm not sure why, but you know, that's one of the things that stuck out in my mind that I want to um ask additional questions on. But you can see here that, you know, they estimated the purchase of the property and and all of that and it's a it's about a 57 um,000 square foot building. You can see that the estimate is 23 million. But then when you add the, you know, the renovation of triplet tech without

130expansion, then you know the project cost is 38 um.75 million. And I have a slide at the end of this that that shows all three of these together so you can compare. And then the the third option was the new correct uh career technical education facility at the you know maybe on the 40 acres that we have um in Woodstock and the renovation of triplette. And you can see here where um this project actually does a few extra things um than the other two would. It would this project allow us to have another road to um out out of our central campus to Hooper. So that's included in the cost the estimated cost of this this project that we're getting ready to see. >> I don't think we have that one. >> The last few

131slides. >> Okay. >> I mean we don't have we don't have like the breakdown or anything like that. >> Okay. So yeah, here it is. Um, you don't have the breakdown of >> Yeah, we don't have anything on the new CT. >> So, the um new career technical education facility looking here. Um, is what their estimate was was $28.4 million. And then if you look down at the bottom, it has 5 million for equipment. So, I'm not I'm not sure why it's different in all three scenarios. So, you know, like I said, that's a question, but you see included in this 28.4 million is a new roadway that connects to Hoover Road. um the new CT facility, it would be 30 30,000 square feet. Um there would be parking lots and this one would add

132a bus loop at Pier Muerberg. So there would be some additional um additional things there. And one of the other things if they added the bus loop at um Peter Muenberg, they would have to relocate one of the ball fields. And you can see that ball field right there. Um on um the other piece of property, we own that kind of bow tie. We own that whole space there. Um the lighter I guess it's lighter green or whatever. So that's all Shannido County public school property. >> Now if we were going to build a new triplet deck, >> why would we only build a 30,000 square foot facility? So, and we we can ask them to to price that out, but I think one of the one of the thoughts was, you know, do we

133renovate um and we can do that per square foot because we have the per square foot cost here. Um but one of the thoughts was do we renovate current triplette or do we build a new facility? So, we yes, we can we can add that call or that. So, is this the idea of we move some of the programs first and then expand later? Is that what we're talking about? >> That's a possibility. >> And so, the estimated cost there is $42.6 million. And here are all of the projects on one slide on one very busy slide. So, when you look at the top left, you'll see the renovation expansion of Triplette Tech. So if we expanded that, we would be able to add some additional programs. It would be 38.6 million. That would be

134a renovation and an expansion. In the lower left, we have the renovation of the Mount Jackson Press building and the renovation of Triplettech. And you see the cost of that project is 38.75 million. And then on the right side you see, you know, the smaller um new facility at 30,000 square feet and you see the um the cost of the renovation of triplette and the cost there is 42.65 million. So, those are the three scenarios that we discussed with the architect. But I do want, you know, I do want to caution you that that um equipment fee wasn't the same throughout all three all three scenarios. And if you think about the $5 million um fee from the new facility, you take that off, you're at 37.65 million um at that point. And and the

135only other thing that I'm going to mention is remember that we have um two donations that were um offered and one of them was with the Mount Jackson Press Building and it was that they would paid for the parking which was 500,000 and the new roof which was 200,000. So about a $750 um,000 donation which would bring that cost down to 38 million. But then we have the $5 million um donation for if we did something new um in the center of the of the county which would be a $5 million um donation. So, just want to make sure that that we keep those two things in the forefront as we're talking through this. >> That um equipment budget, I'm assuming that's talking about like Mr. Judy's lifts, the culinary arts. Um I mean, maybe

136that's why it's so much different is if you go with a new building, of course, you're going to have to buy new equipment, especially if we're keeping the original triplet tech, >> right? But if we're Yes. But if we're renovating, so my thought is the the equipment costs for the Mount Jackson Press building and the new facility should have been identical. >> Right. >> That was my thought process, but maybe I'm missing I could be missing something. >> Well, I have I have a question because I don't know if I misheard you. Uh did you say that if they if we did the Jackson Press um building, some of the programs will still stay in the old triplet? Did you say culinary and all that would stay? Why is that? >> Because the Mount Jackson

137Press building is um 50,000 square feet with high base space. There's not enough space to do to do our um our trades and also um the other programs that we offer like healthcare sciences and so on. >> So regardless it would be split. >> Yes. So what what programs would stay and which ones? >> Again we we don't we're not in that level of detail at this point. So, the the programs that would go out to the Mount Jackson Press Building would be all of those programs like your um carpentry, electricity, >> mechanics, >> auto tech, auto body. Yes. All of those would go to the Mount Jackson Press building. The the the classes that need to have a space. >> Okay. I guess I have Yeah. If we added welding, it would it would

138go there. So, and I'm going to see if I can print the rest of those slides for you guys so you have a complete packet before you leave here. >> Any other questions? >> Well, giving Dr. Shepard a much a muchdeserved respit, we'll turn our attention to Mr. Mr. Hinsley and Miss Campbell. Mr. Hensley is the assistant superintendent of student services and operations. Miss Campbell is the finance director for our schools. >> Good evening, Mr. Chair, Dr. Shepard, members of the board. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to speak to you about the CIP. The one thing I did want to say is that Mr. Rickard stole my thunder a while ago when he said that the mobile units had arrived at Sandy Hook. So, we were expecting them to arrive uh a day

139ago and tomorrow. However, they brought them all in within two days. So, we're excited about that. And we do have a meeting with them tomorrow to just uh discuss the details on setup. So, that'll give us an idea of when they're going to be able to get them put together, get them set, leveled, and then we can start working on electricity to get it in. But probably looking into February, March more than likely. That's a guesstimate. So don't hold me to that, Mr. Vance. >> So, uh, Miss Campbell and I was able to do CIP this year. This is new for me. I've been involved in instruction for the last 27 years. So, different set of eyes walking through buildings, and I can't believe I walked by some things that I've been able to see

140as we did this. So the first you're going to have this packet that Miss Jet should have provided to you. In that packet you're going to have an overview on the first page and then from that point on it's going to have a breakdown of each category and the expenses that we're going to talk about tonight and it's going to be laid out across five years. So that's going to be the hard document that goes behind what we're sharing with you tonight. The first thing I want to share is the process that we go through. We have a calendar that we go through. We start in September. And the purpose of that is to go out and walk the facilities, meet with the administration, meet with the people in the building to see what are

141the issues that they are having in that building. And then we take that information, we come back and we use a rubric to go through which I'll share with you. The goal is March the 12th. We have something put together that can go with Dr. Shepard's budget to go to our county board. So, what is the capital improvement that we're doing? The assistant superintendent has her staff go out and do this every year. It focuses on the plan of our major projects over five years. So, we're not looking at just one year. We're looking at a long-term plan. However, we will focus coming into the budget year on what we're trying to get accomplished for the next school year. This is a document that you see fairly frequently. And the thing that I want to

142bring to your attention is that we have 12 facilities that we are looking at. Uh when we go through the most important things I want you to look on this document tonight is the utilization. That utilization comes from the prek12 enrollment fall 25 number. That's where those percentages come to with the capacity. So that's where our our number of capacity comes from. And I know that she spoke earlier tonight that when you get to about 80 or 90% you need to be looking or 80% you need to be looking at building and doing something and we're currently at 90%. So our projects are broken down into three categories that we give and they're ranked from 1 to four on a skill on a rubric. is desirable with points 6 to 12, necessary 13 to 19,

143and urgent 20 to 24. So that's broken out into six different parts of a rubric. And this is the parts of the rubric that it's broken out to the impact on student learning, impact on health and safety, vehicle, equipment, facility conditions, planning time needed, level of service provided, and energy efficient and sustainability. The one thing that I want to point out that both Miss Campbell and myself realized as we were working through this year being brand new to this is that there are two categories that negatively affect some projects. The first one is the impact on student learning and the second one being planning time needed because sometimes those may not get rated very high which brings the point levels down. So when we think about these desirable, necessary, and urgent, you're going to see

144a sharp increase this year in things that we're trying to accomplish. And that's a lot of times because it was marked as desirable and necessary in the past and we didn't touch it because it wasn't urgent, but it's really urgent. Some of these things are necessary are really urgent that need to happen. So this is the capital improvement funding over time. So you can go back to 2008. The dark blue is what was appropriated from the county body. The light blue is what we have requested during those years. So as you can see when we hit 27, it jumps way up and that's what we're getting ready to talk to you about. And that's because there's some infrastructure things that's coming that that's making that jump way up. We want to make sure that we

145broke it down so that you could kind of see where does the money fall within those desirable, necessary, and urgent projects. You'll look and see that there was 75 projects in total that's in this CIP. However, we took in approximately 200 projects that we had to go through and determine what's going to actually make it into the CIP budget. So, only 75 of those 200 projects actually made it into this budget. They may have been put out into building operations and other places that we need to try to fund things, but that's a cost in those areas too. So when we look at this, obviously Dr. Shepers talked about five projects that that 211 million is what we worked with the county budget on capital. These are the projects we submitted to them and we

146worked to come into a ranking that was presented earlier at the board their board meeting. There are 12 desiraables in this budget that we have. There's 38 necessaries and there's 20 urgents. This is the page that's an overview of your breakdown that you have by every item. So as you can see there are certain in 26 27 what may carry a large impact is HVAC at 15 over 15 million. That's our elementary schools. So, as we have tackled our elementary schools where we know we have moisture, we know we have humidity, we know that our our HVAC's need to be replaced, as we've worked through that, I've talked to some of you in our buildings. It was originally around 9 million as the engineers. We've been working with trained engineers through plans as they've been

147coming back. They've come back now three times. And the last time that they come back, it went from about three million per school to about 4.35 million per school because there are some things that they're running into with fresh air, with air scrubbers, things within the buildings that will need to be put in. So, let's look at the different categories. I'm going to skip over the major capital maintenance. Dr. Shepard just went over that. Transportation, pretty self-explanatory. These are where we're purchasing our school buses. We're replacing driver's ed cars that kids are learning in our activity buses that take our students around, our service vehicles. So, you can see in the comments how that lays out within your plan. Five buses per year, three vehicles per year, a vehicle that's proposed maybe for driver's ed

148per year to keep us on track. Safety and security. So, when we get into safety and security, there are some things that I want to highlight. And what I want to highlight are like the light poles at Strawburg High School for the softball field that was on our CIP. We also have in here the light poles at Snowball Jackson around the track. Those are wooden poles. So the goal is that we need to get rid of those wooden poles because a lot of those wooden poles rot from the inside out. You may look at them on the outside and they look perfectly fine, but on the inside is where the damage is happening and we don't know that. So, uh, best practice would be to get those items off of our facilities if we can.

149The next thing would be repainting of kitchens. And some people would say, why do you need to repaint kitchens? We actually had a comment in our right up this time from our inspectors about the kitchens with our paint. And basically, that paint is failing in the kitchens, and you need to have smooth surfaces that can be cleaned, that can't harbor bacteria and hold things. So, we're at a point that we need to start doing that across all of our buildings. the clock and bell intercom systems. Uh, this is very interesting. I ran into this on day one that I started this job that I went and picked up a 1990 computer and went to one of our schools trying to figure out how to change our bell systems. And that's not a joke. It's a

1501994 computer system that's running our schools. So, there are times and triple text here that I've went down and I've reset the clocks. Some of the clocks will run and change, all the others stay at the same time and they never move. Or we reset the system and the bells are still at the same time. They're ringing an hour before school is out. So, we need to get on a system that we have one common system. We have three different systems right now that we're trying to manage. So, this is a plan to get on one common system throughout this plan. And I'm not going to point them all out, but you're going to see that there's ADA things throughout this plan. One of the focuses from the state is to make sure that you

151are still progressing with ADA compliance. And you'll see this in here whether it's sidewalks, whether it's access to those sidewalks. One thing I did want to point out is the bottom two on this is the flashing lights and a drainage pipe at Ashb Lee Elementary School. If anyone's visited the playground in the back of Ashb Elementary School, there is about I believe a 8 to 10 inch pipe that is sticking out from underneath the track where kids are running around playing. They're not looking for holes. They're not looking for pipes. It's exposed. It's something that we need to do something to get that drainage out. The problem is right now drains into their play area and it becomes a pond where their where their play area is. The safety lights were on our last CIP.

152We're working on that now. We had $50,000 in there. And what we found is that 50,000 is not going to pay for that because when we start renovating these lights along the road, VOTE has regulations that you cannot use what's there. You have to take it out and replace it with, in this case, like breakable things that will break off. So, there's some changes that we weren't aware of when we started this project. Tree trimming. I was fortunate enough to walk around with Mr. surveance one day looking at some trees at a school. Um, unfortunately this is across our entire division. If you go to Strawsburg and drive down Ram Drive, um, I encourage you to count how many dead trees are on Ram Drive. We're in a process that we're going to need to

153remove all right now all the trees along Ram Drive on the graveyard side because when winds happen, they're falling grave sense. So, we need to make sure we take care of that, that we're not damaging uh people's property with those trees. there is a request like here's something necessary that's not urgent movable walls. Um we have these in a lot of our schools and we went through our elementary renovations. All of their principles talked about there too getting rid of these movable walls. And the reason why is that it's a safety concern for them that once you get into one room you can get into another room. So that's one of those reasons why they're trying to get rid of the removable walls. the playground fence. As you know, Mr. Savvy, we put a lot

154of money into playground fences. Um, the one thing that we did not do during that process was totally enclose those fences. So, kids run east as well as they run west. So, we want to make sure we want to close off on the other sides, too, and make sure that they're enclosed if a if a student would be running. I'm going to skip one. So, here's here's the big one, and I think this is what we need to take a close look at, is that this HVAC replacement and upgrade, you're going to see in this document, there's some red writing. Anywhere where there's red writing, that means if we do something, this pro this cost is going to go away within another cost because it's a part of another cost. So, if we're renovating or

155we're doing something in our schools, a lot of this HVA cost will go away because that would be part of the upgrades that happened during that time. As we've moved through this, not only do we know that we have a system that's called a dualpipe system, and right now we're being flooded. It's kind of warm outside, so maintenance is getting flooded. It's too hot. It's too hot in my room. It's too hot in my room because it's only one flow. It's either heat on or heat off. It's either air on or air off. So, replacing a system allows us to condition both ways. If the air is too moist, we can heat it. We can take that moisture out of it and dump that fresh air in. That's what this is talking about. If you

156notice the next one, it's 6.2 million. As we've got into this project, uh we have aging systems across our entire division. There's a 580 controller right now that we have in our buildings. We had six, I believe, of those units at our storage area in case something happened. Central High School had two go out in one week. We have four left. That's four left for the entire division. you cannot buy any more of them. They're obsolete. So, we have a large number of these controllers that once we use those controllers that we have, there's no more. We can't use the controller. So, part of this would be as we're looking at HVAC's, we have to be a little bit smart when we do something. We have to know that when we replace the controller here,

157we save that controller back because we know we have that old controller someplace else. So there is some reusing of things as we move through too that we can be smart about. The other thing that hit us um about 4 weeks into this as we're working with the engineers is that a company decided that they're no longer making the computer board to one of our systems. So our the computer boards are now going to be obsolete. We can't purchase those. So throughout time we have to start getting rid of those computer boards. Also we've held back on rooftop units. As you can see, it's red. If we are moving on with HVAC renovations, we don't want to put in a $200,000 unit if it's part of something else. But if we don't move forward, this

158unit needs to be replaced. It's not that it's something that we can sit and wait on. So, we still have these things in here because they're needed, but we also understand that $13.5 million is a lot of money to renovate three schools. The VAB boxes are for the high schools and it's basically to control the humidity just like we're having problems at the elementary school. This is our science wings in our high schools. We also know that if we're doing this across time, we're not going to probably get everything in on time. So the HBAC piping insulation that is to identify those areas that we do have leaks from condensation to repair those as time goes along so that that's not being part of that moisture and humidity issues that we have. The other thing

159that we have is high school locker rooms. We have some really old high school locker rooms that we have people coming in at Strawsburg. I know that they were using them this past winter or this winter when they had their tournament that I encourage you to visit our high schools and look at those locker rooms that they are in desperate need of renovation. And then also we have here's a here's a perfect example of something that's desirable but it's it's really we need this in a learning environment in a school setting. We we need to add HVAC to our autom automotive shops into our shops that kids are working. The fact is if you go to a shop where kids are working now, it's usually a door goes up, they go in, door goes down,

160it's aced in those areas, but this is also a learning environment for kids. So, we need to catch up on that end. But that could go away also if we're renovating triplet roofing replacements. Uh we have been working tirelessly on roofs. Um we just replaced one at WW that when we took the roof off and you looked up you could see through the roof. Um so we are working every year trying to replace. So this is to put us on a replacement cycle. So as RS go through, we can't go through just kind of like we build schools, put all of our roofs on at one time and then take them all off. It's it's not economical to do that. So this is putting in a replacement schedule for that. The electricity at triplet needs

161to be upgraded. A perfect example, we got a call today from triplet that the freezer had went down for the culinary program. So we we expect a total loss of all those perishable items there. So the items that we purchased now we're going to have to replace. So that's part of it's part of electric. But you're also going to see in here that we're asking for a generator because if the electricity goes off, we we don't have a generator. We lose items, too. So, I've been on break that we've received calls that we're rushing items from Triplette to Stonewall or wherever to try to save them because electricity may be out. Plumbing and drainage. This is basically we have some areas in our division that water just does not run off. It sets, it ponds.

162So, it's correct in those areas. We have some elevators in our school that need to be replaced. They're at that that time. They've reached the expected useful life. So, at Sandy Hook and Central, they need to be replaced. Our stadium light, I know Mr. Ricker, we talked about this two years ago. Um, Strawsburg just had theirs updated, but it's time to update all those lights that they need to be replaced. So, everyone here all set. We're continuing with the playground replacements. That's been huge. If you talk to any of our elementary uh students, they are loving the new items that they have out. We also had a committee that we have a plan moving forwards of what we're going to do with this money. At our middle schools, we have some units such as our

163welding boos, our our dust collecting units that are not working properly. Um they're also in here. One that doesn't seem here's one that I think is urgent, not necessary, is cafeteria tables. A lot of these members walked through on our school walks. You saw where we are welding seats back on cafeteria tables. Um, you're able to see where the top of the table is separating from the frames where we have tried to retrofit, screw, and brace the tops of the tables back down. This is to provide money on a 10-year recycle placement to get something in that we can start replacing those tables. The generator uh for Triple Tech today is a perfect example of what a use of a generator would be great for. And then our transportation uh facility, even though it's marked

164as desirable, it's it's really more than desirable, right? Because we need to fix vehicles, but this has been broke now for some time. It's inoperable. It's about replacing it, resurfacing a track. Um, for the first year, Strawsburg High School will not have an invitational and they will not host um the district track meet there. And that's the first time in about 8 to 10 years uh for that reason. And the reason being is that our track there has deteriorated to the point that's a safety risk to ath athletes. And when I say that, if you walk down and look at it, it's down to the asphalt. There's no rubber at some places on that track. So that's what this is for. Stonewall Jackson has places that it's coming up. It's nowhere near in desire need

165of what Strawsburg is, but it's on its way there if we don't fix it. Tennis courts. We replaced um some tennis courts. We fixed tennis courts. I think you will remember at Strawsburg a year ago. And uh they came in. They looked great. They were phenomenal. We were able to practice on them. We were able to play on them. And about 5 months later, the poles have collapsed in. It's starting to crack apart. And the issue is it's not the surfacing of it that we've done. The issue is the base under it. So, it needs to be a total restoration of that. The base needs to be taken out. It needs to be refilled, packed so that it's solid. We can keep putting stuff on top of it, but it's going to keep shifting. It's

166going to keep cracking and it's not going to be a be able to use. They can't use it this year. Uh the football field's been on at Stonewall for multiple years. Um and it's a safety issue. It's just something that we need to do. It's part of keeping up with our facilities. Welding booths and ventilation systems are big. Our high schools, the booths are there are the booze pretty much that were put in when they were put in. They're not drawing the way they should. So, this is looking at working through them to upgrade those because it's part of our a program that we use and it's a desperate need in those schools. We've had multiple teachers come to us talking about the ventilation, worried about the ventilation. Even at the middle school, they were

167talking about it there how it's not pulling the way it should. So, in all honesty, they've talked to us. I spoke to the principal. I said, "You don't weld. We're not going to put kids in safety away. Um, we're not going to harm students." So unfortunately some of those students in those schools because they're not pulling they're not going to well because we don't have a system to pull it right now. Some of you walk through WW uh the breezeway going towards Peter Milenberg. This is where uh if you were with us you could stick your finger through the metal frame because the metal frame has rusted out. And then the ephus is the top of our schools. It's the stucco part of our middle schools. uh Sandy uh signal knob has money in it

168that we're going to put out an RFP for to have it fixed. I encourage you to drive down and look at Northfor uh at the damage that is on that that needs to be fixed. That would be the next one. It's the worst one that we have. And then uh Pier Millberg follow that. I was able to walk around with our director 3 days ago at Stonewall Jackson High School because they have some ephus problems happening with it coming off. And I asked the gentleman that was with us that was there looking at it, how much time do we really have that we can work with this to get there and his answer was is that Chad, you need to replace this within a year or you're going to be doing major construction to your

169building because you don't have anything protecting it. So some of these things that have been shown up as necessary or things that we've been putting off are now coming to be urgent for us. We have lots of overhangs and doors. Um the aging of buildings that need to be replaced. Replacement of the gym floor at Northfor. That's important. That's the only gym floor in the division that has not been sanded down and redone. So, um currently if you'd walk in, you will see looks like holes in the floor, but like out the out of the wax, the sealant um throughout the floor because where things have been on the floor has been pulled up. So, it's it needs to be replaced. The locker rooms, I spoke about them earlier, the floors um with epoxy. And

170then, uh we've been replacing a lot of carpet in elementary. And the goal was within a year to have all that out and and have LBT tile in it. At the high school, in the music rooms and in the libraries, we're looking to put carpeted tile. So, if that tile goes wrong, we just pull that tile up, put another one down. softball press boxes. I think it's important to know we are currently at Snowall Jackson at Central High School using storage sheds as press boxes. We have taken a storage shed, set it down, and cut a window into it to use as as a press box. Um, as a school system, we need to get to a place that at our softball fields where our girls play that they have the same things that our

171boys have as press boxes. Warehouse space. Uh, Miss Pence knows a little bit about this. We talked about as we walked around um little people or people don't know how little space that we have. We we really don't have storage. Our maintenance stores are paper right now and that's pretty much all they can store. Uh we have no room in maintenance. These were the two facilities. Maintenance and transportation were the two facilities that were the worst. We're working on transportation. Maintenance was the next one on the report that they did. um we have to run and get our supplies every time because we we can't bring supplies and have in a warehouse to be able to go and get and then replenish. A lot of our supplies we have to go and get because we

172don't have anywhere to put it. And just parking lots as as we move forwards, some of them are degrading and we're going to have to start doing some patching and repainting. Ephas is all the elementary schools. This is important. They're different than the middle schools. However, we don't want to get to the point with our elementary schools that we are with our middle schools right now, but that will be fixed if we do renovations. All of our shop floors and a departments, uh, they need to be redone. It's pretty much the original floors that was down and it's epoxy that would be put down on those. Same way a triple tech, same type of flooring for the automotive classroom. So, it's everything. I know it's a lot. I know I didn't hit everything on the

173list. Uh, are there any questions that I or Kayn can answer? I know we went through a lot of lot of information and we've we've saw a lot of different facilities needs through this. >> I know uh we had talked about carpet replacement over the the winter break. Was that was any of that done? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yep. So, that was done. And then um they'll start back up again. Any break that we have in the school year, we're going to try to like spring break, we'll try to capture again, get them to come in and do more. And then as we hit summer, then they'll start on the rest of it. >> That um 4.1 million that the board of supervisors gave us back last year, can we get a report sometime

174before our next meeting showing where all those projects stand at this point in time? >> Sure. I appreciate that. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Y >> do you have um a ballpark number of what the 200 projects would be all together? We only have 75. So there's 125 projects that did not make. >> So I think I think that will bring us up to that would take us up to about 50 million. It would bring us up to about 50 million from about 47 million where we are now. >> Okay. The remaining projects were usually smaller, which is why they didn't make it to the rank of CIP. They were usually 5,000, 10,000, a couple hundred. So that increment is much smaller for those final 125 projects. >> Sure. But it still adds up.

175>> Still 5 million. Yes. Thank you. >> Other questions, comments. >> Very thorough. Thank you very much. Well, Dr. Shepard, are you rested now? >> I am. Thank you. >> Okay. Well, then we're ready to hear about the uh terms and conditions appointing trustees to the Stars Education Trust. >> So, the school board appoints trustees to the Stars Education Trust and sets the terms and conditions upon which the trustee will continue serving as the trustees of the trust. Um, past board member Mr. forgot y'all served uh in this capacity for the last couple of years. So, this seat is vacant and um I think I believe yes, this is on the action agenda for this evening as well. I have heard from one school board member who is interested and have not heard from any

176other, but um Miss Whitney Pence is interested in serving in this capacity. Thank you for the information. Proposed changes to policy FFA school names. Dr. Shepard. >> Thank you. So, a school board member requested revisions to policy FFA school names. And I am going to turn this information over to Miss Carlin who made the request. >> Thank you, Dr. Shepard. Um well the reason um I included this is uh we have um uh some changes that I would like to propose uh to the the policy FFA regarding school names. Um we've had situations like even right now with the recent passing of um Mr. Lynn that we were thinking about naming some things maybe after him. But one of the things that it says um with regards to the school names or even um facility

177like if we wanted to name something the person you know there's a lot of um things that we cannot do like for example the individual has to be deceased for at least 10 years to be considered. Uh so that was one of the things that I thought that maybe we could go ahead and get rid of that um language which would give us more freedom to um actually when we need to name schools or name facilities to have u more choices um in naming them. So this item is for information this evening and I believe there will be discussion there will be an opportunity for discussion at the um Monday January 26 meeting for action at the February 12th meeting library book materials purchase list. >> Thank you. So each month the um schoolboard office,

178the director, the assistant superintendent for instruction and the director of instruction reviews the library draft book list that were proposed by the librarians. Um this is the attached list for December for the elementary, middle, and high school are on the agenda item and I'm happy to answer any questions. This will be on the consent agenda for February 12th. have questions or concerns? >> Not hearing any questions. >> Heading into the home stretch. Action items. Personnel. Is there a motion to approve the personnel list as was presented in close session? >> I move to approve the personnel list as presented. >> Thank you, Mr. Rickard. Is there a second? I'll second. >> Okay. All in favor, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> No. >> Mr. Street was out of the room, >> sir. >>

179Mr. Street. >> Oh, Mr. Street is missing. Yes. Sorry, which brings us back to the stars. So a motion to approve the resolution and appointing fill in the blank as the Shadowville County School Board Stars trustee. Mr. Shotty, I move to approve the attached resolution appointing Miss Whitney Pence as the Shannido County School Board Storms Trustee. >> And a second to that. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ricker. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Post no. And it passes 5 to zero. >> Mr. Street is absent at those. >> Mr. Street is absent at the moment. Yes. 6.3 resolution of the Sanro County School Board celebrating America's 250th anniversary. Miss Carlen, I believe you were the >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, so this is a resolution that

180I proposed because this is a year of our semiquincentennial. Um, and I know there's going to be a lot of celebrations. Well, hopefully there will be all over the nation, but I wanted toh this resolution as a board because I would like to encourage our teachers uh and our staff to actually um promote uh this semi quincentennial and um maybe provide more activities uh to teach our kids about our school I mean about our school about our country about um our history and um and that's what this resolution would do. Now, one thing that we did need to fill out was at the end, uh, well, we want this to happen throughout the year because it's the year 2026 is the the 250th anniversary. We wanted to designate a a week at the end of

181the semester that the teachers would actually, you know, that that's going to be declared like the week of America's semicentennial. Um, and maybe even have more activities going on during that week. And I believe we had decided that it was going to be at the end of the semester, right? Do we have the the dates already or >> May 18th. Okay. So it would be >> May 18th. >> The week of May 18th. So it would be for um so that now therefore be resolved that the Shannondo County School Board proudly commemorates the 250th anniversary of the United States of America by declaring the week of May 18th as America's quincentennial um semiquentennial week during which district schools will engage staff, students and families in patriotic assemblies, lessons on the Constitution and founding documents, projects

182honoring veterans and civic leaders and activities celebrating American his history, achievements, and future. So that would be the that paragraph right there. Any questions? >> Is it possible to move that date up? I know May 18th, our seniors are already gone, aren't they? >> They are. However, we do so testing the last two weeks of um we're the last three weeks of school. So, we could move it up. Um, but it may get in um in the way of getting ready for our so testing. >> I just feel like with our seniors going out into the world, >> it would be a missed opportunity to to help educate them on the Constitution. I mean, again, we're hoping that this will be that the idea of the resolution and passing it now is that hopefully the

183teachers and staff will do it throughout the entire year. Um, this was just one week that we're hoping maybe we'll have additional um activities maybe as a as a schoolwide or districtwide. Um, but but the idea is we're hoping that our teachers will take this opportunity throughout the semester um to actually reinforce those things. I have no problem with the date. That's why I left it open. It was just a matter of the of the SOS, but I I'm open to any changes if anybody wants to do that. >> Well, I need your motion to approve the resolution. >> Oh, so you might I will get motion. Okay. Okay. Um so uh with that um I move to approve the 2025 resolution uh of the Shannondoa County School Board celebrating America's 250th anniversary and declaring

184the week of May 18th, 2026 as the week Shannondoa County Public Schools commemorates America's semi-quincentennial week. >> A second to the motion, please. >> Second. >> Um I'm going to join into the discussion. And I'd like to thank Miss Carino for the introduction of this resolution. And when I first read it, Miss Carino and others, I was reminded of something I had uh learned a number of years ago was something about John Adams. that he was writing to his wife Abigail that this day July the 4th 1776 would be commemorated and I quote as a day of deliverance to be celebrated with pomp and parade bonfires and illuminations from one end of the continent to the other from this time forward forever more. And at the same time as I was considering this resolution, let

185us not forget the role of one of our own county residents, one Reverend Peter Gabriel Muenberg, who on January the 28th, 1776, months before July the 4th, threw aside his clerical robe and revealed the uniform of a continental colonel. His text that day was from the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 1-8. A time of war and a time for peace. And he declared that the time to fight had come. And he even went further because he then raised the eighth Virginia regiment which was known as the German uh regiment and served noticeably during the revolutionary war. And of course, he is honored with a bust and a statue in front of our courthouse. There is a street named after him. And oh yes, there is a middle school. And I was hoping Jen Martin would

186stick around for this, but um she has gone. So I'm certain that the uh vendors uh that supply the schools have already cranked out resource materials uh to sell to the various teachers and so forth. And one item I would suggest to you is this. The greatest sentence ever written. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator. And you know the rest. I'm not doing a Joe Biden here. And you know the rest. But this is a quick read. This is a quick read. You could take two cups of hot tea and probably read it during halftime little football game. So I recommend that book to you. The greatest sentence ever written. Other discussion on the resolution celebrating the uh Declaration of Independence.

187>> Uh yes, Mr. Chairman. I would like Mr. an amendment um a slight change to the um to the resolution um on paragraph three after um Whereas in instilling respect for our constitution, I would like to add comma the history of our republic. Another comma and then the word our before flag. >> Is there a second to the amendment? >> He did say he meant to say I move to a correct he >> Oh, >> you proposed to amend. Yes. >> Yes. I'm sorry. >> Does that clarify that? I move to amend the resolution of the Shandela Shendale County Public School Board celebrating America's 250th anniversary. Um to change paragraph three from where from after whereas instilling respect for our constitution, I would like to add the history of our republic, and the word our

188before flag. And is there a second to the amendment? >> Second. >> And it's been seconded. >> Who was the second? >> Uh M. Pence second that the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence speaks to the theory the political theory of the Declaration um which they are creating a republic. Fast forward to 1787 at the constitutional convention and constitutional convention was held in secret and when the work was done and as Dr. Franklin was leaving independence hall they asked him what government have you created and Mr. Franklin said, "A republic if you can keep it." There was a time at the constitutional convention where there was still talk of having a king, a hereditary government, divine right. And Dr. Franklin listened carefully and when it was his turn to speak, he succinctly defined a

189republican form of government as outlined in that second paragraph of the Declaration. When Dr. Franklin said here the people govern and that is a republican form of government. So I'm assuming Mr. uh parliamentarian if there's no other discussion and I know I filled the buster here um we vote on the amendment. >> Yep. Do the amendment >> and we vote on the main motion as amended. >> Very good. >> Okay. Thank you sir. Just wanted to clarify that. So all in favor of the amendment as proposed and outlined here adding the words the history of our republic comma hour will indicate by saying I >> I >> six to nothing. And now we vote on the resolution as amended adding the amendment. All in favor please indicate by saying I to that. I >> and

190that passes six to nothing. Madame clerk. I will have a whole lot less to say on item 6.4, the resolution of the Shannono County School Board encouraging balanced instruction through reduced screen use. And I defer again to Miss Carlin here. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um so this is a resolution that I introduced um because this is a an issue that I've talked about before and it's very near and dear to my heart um following up with the cell phone ban and trying to um also keep away and and and try to avoid as much technology as we can that is not necessary for actual learning. And uh the idea behind doing this resolution um and I know I've been talking about this before is this is going to help guide me um and whoever

191is going to be serving with me um on the instruction committee which I believe is going to be Mr. Rickard. Um but one of the things that I have been looking into a lot I've been talking to a lot of other schoolboard members. I have been uh as I mentioned before I'm a member of an AI working group um that is a national uh working group that has been working on um a lot of the the the problems that computers that AI that a lot of this digital exposure has actually um brought about to our education system and especially our kids. I mean we have seen the numbers in terms of how the education the quality of the education has declined. We have seen the problems with um um just students being able to concentrate

192better um you know not concentrate as well because of the of the digital um um instruction. So the idea behind this is to actually um promote teacher-led teaching. So instead of just relying on computers and relying on the Chromebooks um we want to see more teachers actually leading the teaching. We want to see the kids uh actually being active participants in the in the reading in the writing. Um not just reading from a Chromebook or or um relying on AI. Uh we also have the problem with you know the problems that excessive screen time um it has on as adverse physical and mental um issues uh mental health issues but also physical with the eyesight and all that. Um I always um uh talk about the anxious generation book that talks a lot about this

193and and how how our kids have been greatly harmed by this reliance on the digital uh screens. But also we have a problem with privacy concerns because a lot of this what a lot of people don't realize that a lot of these companies especially with the Chromebooks uh they've been harvesting the data of our kids and um and that's one problem that a lot of people haven't really talked about and I'm hoping that we'll talk about it more as we uh progress in this discussion. Uh but also uh in terms of our kids, you know, our people don't realize even though we have these firewalls uh that are not that are supposed to prevent our kids from reaching other websites and and things that are not desirable, our kids are smart and they can actually

194very easily overcome those firewalls, even younger kids. So that's that's one concern that I have also about the computers and the Chromebooks. Um now we I understand we live in a in a society that is very reliant on technology. So obviously we will have to teach at some point um technology and how to use it responsibly. But the thing that I always go back to is any kid even a two-year-old can use an iPad and a phone with no problems nowadays. I mean these kids are almost born wired to be able to use technology. Um so I I don't foresee that being a problem. I personally believe that we should completely um avoid this computers during elementary years, elementary school years. Um I think we should probably avoid it mostly during middle school. At the

195high school level, maybe we can start, you know, talking about introducing some aspects of it just so the kids will be ready. But I want to make sure that our kids have the right foundation before they use a computer. Before they use a computer, I want to make sure that they know how to read and they're not just having the Chromebook read to them. I want to make sure that they know how to write and that includes writing cursive and not just typing on a computer. I want to make sure that if they have a question that the teacher is not telling them, well, here here's a Chromebook, you figure it out or go to the YouTube, which I know we're getting that because we've heard it from some kids. Um, I want to make

196sure that the kids if they have a problem or if they have, you know, some problem solving that they need to work on that they're actually talking to other students and talking to the teachers, not just doing the work on the computer. So there's a lot of issues that can be resolved and hopefully work on our kids foundation if we get rid of a lot of these problems that the Chromebooks have been bringing and Chromebooks and digital overall. Now I know a lot of the schools um including ours, we've come to rely on this and I know so testing and I know um a lot of probably the newer teachers are more used to using that than our older teachers. So, we're going to have to be talking about a timeline and transition and um

197that's something that we're going to have to be doing in the next few months. I'm hoping to have the dialogue um with parents, with students, with teachers, with board members as to what would be best to do. But what I would like to see us is at least take the stance right now to be acknowledged that this has become a problem and that we do need to address it in some way. Um, and that's why it's just a resolution right now. Um, doesn't really have a whole lot of teeth right now. What it does is it just encourages the teachers to start looking into what's coming and and telling them, you know, we would rather you teach, not just give them the Chromebook. We would rather us, you know, have the kids learn cursive and

198learn how to write notetaking. You know, that's something that I I've talked to college counselors and they've told me that's the number one deficit that the kids have is that they don't even know how to take notes anymore. So, there's a lot of things that that can be resolved just by limiting this. Um, but I wanted to start with the resolution so at least we're taking a stance on this and then from there we can look into what exactly is that going to look like? What is it going to look like next year? What is it going to look like down down the road? Um, I don't know what's going to be, you know, what the final answer is going to be. But at least for now, we're taking the stance. We're sending the message

199that we believe that the conventional traditional schooling that most of us received is the right thing and that that's what we need our kids to be fluent in. That that's the only way that we're really going to be able to um make sure that our kids are prepared before they move on to the computer. But there's any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Well, would the uh representative from district three like to make a motion at this time? >> I would like to make a motion. >> What is your motion? >> And the motion will be um I move to approve the resolution of the Shindor County School Board encouraging balanced instruction through reduced screen use as presented. >> And is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Richard. And the floor continues to

200be open for discussion. >> Whitney? >> Sure. >> Um I really I want to Miss Carino for bringing this forward. Um, as a parent, um, I do see the value in pencil to paper and in having a physical book in their hands. Um, those practices, they support focus, comprehension, long-term retention in ways that a screen simply just cannot do. Um, I appreciate also that this resolution is balanced. it's not completely eliminating the Chromebook itself. Um, and we actually just talked about this topic in November. It was technology and cyber education at our SBMA conference. Um, so that just reinforces that there's school divisions that are also dealing with this um continuing to wrestle wrestle with the balance. Um, so it it's a very thoughtful step forward that our school um for our school division being

201more intentional about how and when technology is used to best support um student learning. >> Other discussion? Uh Mike Rickard. >> I had a email about this topic and I thought I had it under control when I talked to the parent. The parent brought up several things um such as right now they had taken all the electronics away from their child and the one they could not take away was the Chromebook. Me being an advocate for parents being involved in their children's education, I said that's simple. I said go to the school, tell them you need paper materials for whatever is being taught right now while the child is being restricted. She said, "I've tried that in the past and the school can't provide me anything." I don't know whether that's true or not. Um,

202but I find it hard to believe. I find that disheartening if we can't provide a paper document teaching the same thing that they're being set in front of a Chromebook on. Um, she had brought up some other points to me, um, which I given much thought to because I've got three kids that came through the school system myself, my third being a senior right now. Some of the handwriting I see is atrocious. Um, but she brought up things that I hadn't even thought of, such as when they're writing a paper, um, they're typing it on the computer. The computer, the software automatically tells them if it's, you know, a new paragraph or where to end a sentence. Um, the kids don't even know that anymore. Um, the computers fix everything for them. Um, they also

203used the computers to basically text back and forth during class via email from student to student. I really I applaud you for coming up with this. Um, I do think we need to take a hard look at this. I think we need to put some serious guard rails up and put bigger teeth into this. Um, so I'm fully on board with it and I know several parents are as well. So, thank you. >> This direction, Mr. Shavey. >> Um, yes. And long gone are the days that you pass notificant class, right, Mr. >> Right. Um but um as a parent of of um two you know elementary school age kids um and in personal experience with my 8-year-old it's a lot more difficult to claw something take something away um than to limit it in

204the beginning. So, I am fully behind this um because as the kids get more and more reliant on um on the technology, it's going to be hard for us to dial it back later. So, I think starting that in the elementary schools is key. Um and I am, you know, I'm 100% behind this. Um and I'll be bringing out something along the lines of my um board member comments um at the end. So, but great job, Miss Carlin. you know, this is something that we want to get in front of um you know, and try to be proactive rather than reactive. So, well done. >> No, I definitely definitely support this. Very good job. Um there's been things that have bothered me in the past and just never executed it. But, uh I do um

205I'm sure it's not a shock to people that, you know, um I understand technology and I understand it's the future. It's part of the future. is not going away. It it doesn't even plateau. But there needs to be a good balance of not everything going, you know, the computer screen and and the basics u the foundations, the basics. So, I definitely support this and um I don't even know if I should say this because I think it's kind of embarrassing myself. I just tell it like it is. I wrote something on a piece of paper and not too long ago and I handed it to a student and I was expecting a a response and the bottom line is I said, "Well, don't you have a response?" And they kept looking at it, kept looking

206at it and said, "What?" So finally had to tell me they didn't really know how to read cursive and I just I was embarrassed. So I definitely support this. Well, the motion on the floor is a resolution that the Shannidor County School Board encourages balanced instruction to reduce screen use as presented. It has been properly cited and discussed. I'm assuming that there is no additions to the discussion. And we call for the vote. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. >> And oppose. No. Six to nothing. Dr. Shepard >> called your name a lot today. >> So here are the presentations with the last few pages. So not sure why it didn't print the first time but there you go. Um, so I would, um, we welcome back our students and staff this week.

207Um, from what was hopefully a restful and fun winter break for the start of the se second semester, our schools celebrated the return to schools in a variety of ways, including Sandy Hook and Ashley Lee Elementary, both rolling out the red carpet for their students as they arrived uh for their first day back on Tuesday. Um, as you know, I take a strong interest in student attendance for the fifth straight month. We saw improvement in our attendance rate year-over-year with an average overall attendance rate of 93.36 for the month of December. And we look forward to that number being a little higher in January. Um, several of our FFA and FCCLA chapters participated in the Reese Across America event in December. Reese across America honors and remembers the brave men and women who have served

208our country by placing Reese on their grave to graves to express gratitude and ensure their sacrifices are never forgotten. Um I want to recognize our um Strawsburg Rams again. Um our Rams shine at the Strawburg Science Fair. Dr. Mson um at the Strawsburg Science Department held their annual science fair before break and once again had some really impressive projects on display. Each student group proudly displayed and explained their projects to the judges who scored them based on their research presentation and public speaking skills. The top three finishers were Darius Maynard and Conrad Lynchens Lyens for their project Nasty Knobs which looked at culturing bacteria on different doorork knobs at school. Uh Lillian Higs for her project on does caffeine affect reaction time and Rusty Filbert for his project on does saltwater conduct electricity. If you

209get the opportunity to be a judge at any of our science fairs across the division, please do so. You will be very impressed with the level of work that goes into these projects from the elementary all the way to the high school. Um, and then just finally want to acknowledge that we had a strong fall sports season. We had several athletes who were honored by the Northern Virginia Daily. Congratulations to Strawburg Jr. Gavin Butler on being named the golfer of the year. Stonewall Jackson Jr. Marcus Foley on being named the cross country runner of the year. Strawber sophomore Piper Dinger on being named the girls cross country runner of the year. Senior Central senior Hadley Wro on being named the volleyball player of the year. Strawber senior Hudson Conrad on being named the football defensive

210player of the year. Strawber Jr. Quincy Williams on being named the Cove Football Offensive Offensive Player of the Year. So, we had a lot of great players um this year. So, be happy to answer any questions. >> For me, >> well, hearing none board member comments, I'm going to take a geographical approach to this. I'm going to start on the southern end of the county with district one and Mr. Shi. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, as I mentioned a minute ago, I heard from uh constituents today um bringing up um smart glasses, meta glasses. So I started looking into those and um then I went and looked at our cell phone policy and um I think um in the upcoming meetings we should have a discussion and um I'm going to um propose a change

211to our cell phone policy to include those. Um the technology is moving so fast um and we mentioned watches and phones, you don't even need those now. You can get a pair of prescription glasses. It gives you instant um uh access to the internet and you could even get it to tell you how to do a calculus problem and it will talk it into your ear. So, that's something I think um along the lines of technology that um we should take a hard look at soon. Um, and uh, with an eight-year-old who is very technology um, uh, driven, I just hope that Jefferson doesn't need to have glasses because he'll be asking for these. Um, so, but on on the other note, as we close tonight, um, I want to take a moment to thank

212um, our teachers and our staff um, across the county and and our administrators. You know, all of you here this evening, obviously included. um the commitment that our staff and and teachers and administration show of our students every day uh should not go unnoticed. Um, and as somebody who's there, you know, in the schools a lot now, um, in this position, but was there before, um, I wanted the person to say, "Your professionalism, care, and really perseverance, um, are the foundation of what makes our schools so so strong." And I believe we do have strong schools. Um, so I'm grateful also to serve along you board members um and who would actually represent our families um because I am a big proponent of parents and and teachers and schools being partners in their children's education.

213So, I'm grateful to be up here with all of you. And um I'll close with something I came across um a little earlier. Uh some words that were that are often attributed to Booker T. John um Washington. Uh there are two educations. One that teaches us how to make a living and the other that teaches us how to live. And um parents and teachers have to be a partnership in both of those educations. Thank you. Uh, District Two, Mr. Street. >> Well, first of all, I'm wondering, Mr. Shy, you got a pair of those glasses on now? >> No, it would make me smarter and that's not these these definitely don't do that. >> Well, want to welcome you, Mr. Sh, and you, Mr. Spence, to the board. >> Glad to have you. U, something's

214happening. >> Yeah, you broke it. Um, want to thank everybody that did all the work on the presentations today. I'm sure there's a lot of work that had to be done um to provide all this information and numbers. So, thank you all for doing that. I appreciate it. And once again, I want to congratulate Strawsburg's football team for the state champions. Congratulate them and also all the other um sports and their accomplishments through the county. Uh so anyway um once again thank everybody for what you do and that's all I have. Mr. Chairman, >> thank you. District 3, Miss Carlin. >> Um yes, I have a few things that I wanted to talk about real quick. Um again, thank you to my colleagues uh for passing this resolution on the Chromebooks. Um it's very important

215that we look into this. Like I said, I would like to eliminate it for the elementary schools and then see how we go with the other ones. Um, I'm not sure yet how I'm going to do this. Um, I've considered maybe even doing like a a workg groupoup kind of task force uh that would include parents and teachers. I'm I'm still not sure if there's interest in that. I may do that just so that we can look at timelines, transitions, and then what kind of alternatives um we can actually consider. Um, but one of the things that I also want to do uh as part of the instruction committee um which I led last couple of years and I'm hoping to lead again this time is something that we've talked about before and I kind

216of mentioned it with regards to the Chromebooks. It's the handwriting and and I'm glad that Mr. Street actually mentioned that because um that is something that I I know parent I know we teach it and um I know parents who have told me that they're very grateful that we do. The question is, do we need to add more years to what we're teaching? You know, instead of just doing a couple years, should we extend that just to make sure that the kids really do know um how to write in cursive? Um so that's something I want to look at. And also I would like to see our teachers starting to teach more about the note taking skills because like I said, that's something that is really um lacking. That involves a lot of things. It

217involves the listening to the teacher. involves the processing of what is the important information and then actually the writing. So there's a lot more that goes into than just note takingaking, but I know that that's a skill that it's um it's unfortunately uh going by the wayside because students just don't have to do it anymore. And then the third one in the instruction committee um that I've been talking to Dr. Shepard and I'm hoping that maybe next time we can um start looking at what we have is uh the patriotic curriculum. I know we passed this uh 250th anniversary resolution today. Uh but we can do more than that. And um there are a number of curriculums, national curriculums. I know there's one um in Louisiana that came highly recommended that we can look at

218um that would take an approach from K through 12 to start teaching our kids uh more about our country. And it can start from very little. I mean, even in elementary school, I think I've told this story before about um kids not knowing some of the songs that we grew up with, you know, like um America the Beautiful. So, you know, that's something that you can do when you're in kindergarten and and teach our kids. So, those are things that I'm going to be working on. Instruction uh committee, personal committee. We're going to keep on um working hard uh with Mr. Rickard and I are probably going to be uh setting up the meetings pretty soon to meet at the three campuses. Um, the other thing is we just had a meeting yesterday for the

219mental health task force and we had a a great presentation by the Shannondova Community Health Clinic and a great conversation came up from that presentation and that is the fact that we don't have enough civic or volunteer opportunities for our kids. Uh, I know some other school districts around the Commonwealth require that of all their students. Um, I don't necessarily agree that we should be requiring that of all our students just because some of our students have other uh responsibilities that would probably not give them that time or maybe they don't have the transportation. But I would like to see more at our high schools and middle school, more opportunities for our kids to volunteer. Uh, we already have a couple of our schools. I know uh Robin Robbie Robinson and I think Sandy Hook

220has um some of the teachers have actually um uh formed like a club where the kids can volunteer and help around the school and and the kids really like that. I mean it's not only about giving to others and doing things for others but it also really helps with their self-esteem. So, I would like to see uh how we can actually work on that. Just provide more uh civic opportunities, maybe some clubs that we can have at our high schools and maybe at middle schools so our our kids can actually volunteer. And I know they shouldn't do a a community health clinic, for example. It's going to start a food bank in March. Well, that's something that our kids could actually help with. Um they're going to need painting, you know, just things like that

221that I know that our kids could really u benefit from that. And then finally, I just wanted to kind of u address uh real quick uh the the comment earlier today about the the Facebook. Um and I can assure you that I am not going to stop talk writing on Facebook if I think there is something important. Um if somebody doesn't want to read it, I'm fine with that. That's that's your option. Um but I was elected here to do a job. I'm not going to look the other way. this is not something that I'm going to be doing all the time, but if it's something that I feel it's important, that's the way I'm going to communicate um with my constituents and the people um that I that I represent. So, I just kind

222of wanted to make sure that I made mention of that because um I it always kind of strikes me as odd when people are trying to say that you should not talk as much. But I want to make sure that yeah, accountability and transparency are definitely something that I believe very strongly in and it's going to continue. Happy New Year to everybody and I'm glad to be here and uh I look forward to any feedback from anybody regarding these issues. Thank you. >> Thank you. District 4, Whitney Pence. >> Yes, sir. One more time, um, I want to just once again acknowledge, uh, the Strawburg High School football team for their state championship. It it is quite a tremendous accomplishment. And it's it it's something that brings pride to our community. And like I said,

223as a former high school athlete, I'm a little bit envious. So, um, I hope that they do enjoy that um, from now until the rest of their lives. Um, another thing I wanted to just talk about, um, I kind of want to resort back to November just for a minute. Um, I had the pleasure of attending several, um, uh, coral and band winter performances in December. Um, and I was just really amazed at the talent uh, that our students have. Um, I myself probably have the creativity and music ability of a water buffalo. So, I'm very appreciative of the talents that um our students have. Um, and tonight we were um given a lot of information. Um, but one thing I do want to highlight is I want to just acknowledge the presentation from Miss

224Proctor again on um, our school accountability and encourage parents and guardians to continue to stay engaged with what their students are bringing home because it's that partnership that's important and is, you know, one that's very beneficial for um, and essential for student success. Um, so we've just started our second semester. Um, and I want to just extend my sincere thanks to teachers and all of our school staff. Um, and that we just have a successful second semester. Um, and I do appreciate uh our our staff's hard work and dedication. >> Thank you, Mr. Rickert. District six. Uh, I've just got a few things um that I wanted to talk about. Um, one of the first things is I'd like to revisit our board norms, namely policy BHB. Uh, at our organizational meeting, I brought up

225professional development. Um, this state is kind of vague on it. It it doesn't really have a whole lot of teeth. Um, however, we hold our teachers to a certain standard when it comes to professional development. And I believe if we're going to serve on the school board, um, we should make it a point to hold ourselves accountable and, uh, fulfill our state obligation to get professional development. Um, so I'd like to revisit that and look over that policy, see if we could hold ourselves to a higher standard when it comes to that. Um the second thing is is I wanted to thank the staff and the residents of Shannondoa County that reached out to me. Some sent emails um pulling off the agenda the nomination for board chair and uh vice chair and filled my

226name in and Miss Carenio. Um and I really want to thank them. That that says a lot that people would entrust me with that position. um that thought highly enough of us to put the put those positions out there. Um you know, people have also reached out to me since that meeting and extended condolences. And I told them, I said, "One thing that probably doesn't convey very well is I'm a son of God and I go wherever he leads. So, you know, that position was probably not meant to be and it's not a big deal. Um, I want to assure the the students, the staff, the residents of Shannidoa County that I still intend to do this job just as I've done it for the last two years with honor, integrity, and transparency. And it

227doesn't matter whether I'm sitting in that chair or this chair, like I said at the organizational meeting, the only difference in the two positions is leadership. You're either up there leading or you're here. It's the same job. Um, the last thing I've got is um Tom, I would like you to reach out to your pastor, Pastor Bowers, and please thank him and his uh staff there at the church for doing the dinner this Sunday. Um, I will not be in attendance. Um, the organizational meeting still still bothers me a little bit. I reached out to uh four of you all, well actually all you all early in December to let you know that I was going to be running for chair and asking for your support and all of you told me. Um oh, I

228haven't even thought about that yet. It's too early on. Um I got to see who else is running. Well, as God would have it, the last board member that I contacted was Chairman Vance. And uh he said, "Well, Mike," he said, A couple people have already reached out to me and asked me to run. And I thought to myself, well, that's awfully odd. I I kept getting the story that it's too early to consider that. Um, so the stories didn't match up. But anyway, right now, um, I just don't believe I could sit down with you guys and have a meal. And I hope you guys have a great time. Um, again, thank you to Pastor Bowers. Thank you to the to the congregation of that church for putting that on for us. I appreciate

229it. Um other than that, happy new year to our staff. Thank our staff for all you guys do for our students and our school division. Um I hope you found some time to rest and relax over the Christmas break. And uh welcome back. Mr. Hensley had a very thorough report. She left one important thing out. Do you know what that was? the road signs at the Sandy Hook Elementary who are turned around and not facing the traffic so they can read them. But that's okay. We'll get that straightened out. I appreciate you're all hanging in here with us this evening. We're coming up here at 9:30. I appreciate all the teamwork on on all of this. And it was Confucious who said, "Before you can move mountains, you must learn to move pebbles." And on

230that note, the chair seeks a motion for adjournment. >> Motion to adjourn. >> We have two motions to adjourn. Mr. Pence, Mr. Richard, is there a second? >> Second. >> And we have a second for Mr. Street. >> All in favor of adjourning at uh 9:30 p.m., please indicate by saying, "I." I >> we will stand adjourned until January the 26th at 6:30. Thank you and have a good evening.