0016:30 and I'd like to call to order the um March 14th um sheno County school board meeting and um do we have a suggestion that we meet in closed session first you need to note that Mr isn't here sorry Tom thank you okay yeah so be before we do that I want to make note that uh five members of the school board are here the member who is not here is Tom Street who was expected to come in the middle of our close session uh we'll uh have him ushered in at that point but we decided we'll we'll proceed without him the first part of the close session meeting okay Madam superintendent thank you I recommend the school board of shanida County convene a closed meeting under the Virginia Freedom of Information act in order
002to discuss and consider several Personnel matters involving the assignment appointment promotion performance demotion salary discipline or resignation of several employees of the shinida County Public Schools under Virginia code 22- 3711 A14 and I also recommend that the school board of shanida County convene a closed meeting under Virginia Freedom of Information Act for the purposes of discussing and considering several student matters involving the adiss discipline or disclosure of information contained in a Scholastic record of students in the shanida County Public Schools under Virginia code 22- 3711 A2 do I hear a motion based on that recommendation I move that the sheno County School Board convene a closed meeting under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act in order to discuss and consider several Personnel matters involving the assign appointment promotion performance demotion salary discipline or resignation under
003Virginia code 22- 3711 A14 and to discuss Scholastic records involving the discussion or consideration of admission or disciplinary matters concerning any student of any state school system under Virginia code 22- 3711 A2 the motion has been made is there a second a second a second by Mrs rutz all those in favor is there any discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I I opposed none we will reconvene in Open Session approximately 7:00 and we'll convene in close session immediately e and I'm going to uh reconvene the open meeting of the aeno County School Board uh for March 14th 2024 and and I would like to entertain uh a motion to reconvene an open session I move to reconvene an open session a second any discussion all in favor say I I I
004opposed okay the shenoa County School Board hereby certifies by roll call vote that to the best of each member's knowledge only public business met M lawfully Exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which the certification resolution applies and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the Clos meeting were heard discussed or considered by the sheno County School Board each member responds I a certified when call and call vote please Sher Mr stre yes I say Sir m careno IO certified Mr Guta IO certified m r ISO certified Mr Ricker IO certify and Mr bar I so certify uh before we move on to the approval of the agenda I would like to take uh a moment and uh introduce um Mr Joe
005Bowman uh Joe if You' stand for us please uh we have a a new member of our Mary band today uh Mr Bowman uh is an ex a teacher for ra good uh who uh is steeped in parliamentary procedure with work with the FFA uh and as a a retired businessman from the area and we have discussed ground rules as follows uh any member of the school board or any other member who is uh engage with business with uh the school board uh when they raise a point of order uh Mr Bowman's uh task to make sure that we are following Robert's Rules and we're following the right protocols I've also asked Mr Bowman uh that uh if he detects a breach of protocol from those rules that he makes it known to us so
006that we don't continue to go down that wrong path is that is that good okay welcome and thank you for being with us so now uh we would like to take a look at the uh agenda and um and consider sorry invocation oh we haven't that's first okay good GL you st um yeah today the invocation um and uh the uh the pledge will be uh conducted by uh Mrs carinia all right so we start with the invocation go ahead sure okay um I would like to uh invite uh my pastor uh Duke mcaffrey from oakill church uh to the invocation let us pray Heavenly Father we come here tonight we just thank you for everything that you've given us we thank you that you are a great God and that that you care about
007each one of us here tonight Lord we just ask that your kingdom come here on Earth even as it is in heaven we ask that you continue to provide for our County for each one of us in our homes and we just ask for your blessing on us we ask you to forgive our sins and and those things that that we may have fallen short on help us to be better people each and every day Lord Lord we just ask for your protection of our County of our state of our nation and we just ask for you to move in strong ways to protect us and Lord we ask you for the wisdom tonight especially for our board members as they make decisions as they as they go over our budget and they make plans
008for the future Lord we just ask you to pour out your wisdom on them we ask you to help them to remember that one day they will have to answer for the decisions they make and help them to make those decisions in good conscience we ask all this in Jesus name amen amen amen thank you Pastor do the pledge allei please I pled aliance to the UN States of America and to the repic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you now we now we will um entertain the concept of approval of the agenda and we will have a motion to appr the agenda as presented I'm moved to approve the agenda as presented I second hearing no discussion all those in favor of approving the agenda
009say signify by saying I I I opposed none and now we'll move to the pleasant task of recognitions and we'll turn to our superintendent thank you so tonight we have with us strawber high school and Miss Melissa folz we'll introduce her our recognitions for strawsburg Dr Shephard chairman Barlo members of the board it's my pleasure to come before you this evening to recognize many student athletes and other students from sturg high school first I'd like to start with Miss Emily Davis and Ina r CH I'm not making you make a speech I just need you to come forward freshman Emily Davis became the first strawsburg High School swimmer to win a state swim Championship on Thursday February 15 2024 during the vhsl class one two State swim and dive championships Emily finished all state and
010two events the 200 individual medley finishing as the state runner up and then becoming the state champion in the 100 yard fly with a winning time of 59.94 seconds congratulations Emily and we look forward to many more to [Applause] come next I'd like to recognize our state wrestling team uh in their state championship on Friday February 16th and Saturday February 17th the strawsburg wrestling team traveled to Salem Civic Center for the Virginia High School league Class 2 State Wrestling Championships at the end of the tournament strawsburg high school wrestling team earned their third straight State wrestling championship the following 13 young men qualified and participated in the event and brought home their third trophy I will recognize those in attendance with us this evening at 106 lbs Aiden Swank yes you come forward at 132
011pounds earning All State as a state runner up Jaden shanholtz at 138 PBS All State as a state runner up Heath Burks at 150 lbs and state champion David Burks at 157 PBS Zach Bracken at 165 lbs Donovan Burks at 190 lb All State in third place Kobe Shaw and at 250 lb and state champion Hudson Conrad and they were led by head coach Daniel Reynolds congratulations to these individuals on their accomplishments and to the team for winning the state championship for the third year in a [Applause] row over here well they're getting their picture taking I just wanted to say I guess the message here is don't mess with the Burks yeah but uh I was I was a wrestling coach for a while guys and uh the thing that amazes me about wrestlers
012is how much discipline and individuality it calls for it's kind of a lonely life and it out there in the metal by yourself so congratulations to you guys [Music] incredible right now conratulations [Applause] and finally in the past four years I've been here many many times to recognize this young lady for all of her accolades and sports and uh with FCCLA but this year it's this time a little bit different and this is quite an honor at the 78th annual meeting of the United Way of the northern sanador Valley strawsburg High School senior Paige heiserman was presented as the 2023 youth volunteer of the Year this award recognizes a high school student in our region who shows a strong commitment to helping others and sets a positive example for their peers through her membership in
013FCCLA FFA SCA the National Honor Society the shanor County student advisory committee and athletic Leadership Council and her participation in three Sports cross country swim and track Paige shares that service has become a part of who she is as she takes advantage of every opportunity to volunteer and to be a leader Paige shared with the Northern Virginia Daily that she enjoys volunteering because of the connections she makes with people people of all ages please join me in congratulating paig heiserman with her [Applause] recognition and from Central High School we have Mr palmary principal good evening Mr chairman members of the board Dr Shepard my name is Frank paary principal of Central High School and is once again my honor to recognize one of our talented student athletes for their accomplishments during the winter sports season
014on Saturday February 17th 2024 Nathan Lopez CHS class of 2024 earned his second consecutive State 2 wrestling championship in Salem in addition to earning back-to-back District region and state titles Nathan has compiled an impressive resume football accomplishments such as being named a three-time first team District defensive player Regional defensive player nvy daily Player of the Year State defensive player leading tackler for nvy daily accomplishments that have earned Nathan a division one scholarship to the University of Maine more importantly the mentioned accolades Nathan has been the epitome of Excellence representing Central High School proudley I can confidently speak for those who interact with Nathan on daily basis that he will be bis next year and that we wish him nothing but the best ladies and Gentlemen please join me in congratulating Mr Nathan [Applause] Lopez that
015is all the recognitions this evening thank you chairman before moving on uh I just like to say thank you to honor Chrisman uh it didn't ever click with me until the the other night when I saw her taking uh admission for the soccer game some of these Co some of these kids she's coached in swim team uh through the high school she has been coaching since before they were even in school uh she did that through parks and wreck and the longevity she's got with these kids is is just Kudos kudos to you honor thank you yeah I don't know if the if the if the assembled crew here understands but uh um I was I was 14 yeah you guys have to stay for 30 more seconds I uh you know I was I
016was I taught school for 14 years was a coach for 14 years I think in that 14 years we had total of individual three state champions and here you you guys have what four four of you sitting right here that is incredible rare and one of those things to be as as a school system to be enjoyed and celebrated so it really says a lot for our athletic system and for our coaches and and principles who can make this happen so thank you for Echo what what Mr Rickard said whoos Thank you thank we have U reached that that portion where um the public have uh comments on staff comment on agenda items and non-agenda items good job guys the sheno County School Board welcomes public comment during most regular meetings during public hearings school
017board members do not respond to public comments during the meeting or hearing each speaker may speak up to 3 minutes the board generally allows up to 30 minutes for public comments on agenda and non agenda items at the beginning of the meeting if there are a large number of speakers the board May limit the total time for comments and or may reduce the time allotted for each speaker at the moment it looks like we have four so uh all comments comment should address a matter related sh shenoa County Public Schools complaints regarding division employees should be directed to the school principal or an appropriate School Division official the school board expects that each speaker will be courteous modeling for our students how one can respectfully disagree with with others views speakers will address their comments
018to the entire school board and not to one individual uh board member to the superintendent to a staff member nor to the audience speakers will not engage in personal attacks speakers May sign up to speak at a school board meeting or public hearing on a document provided with the clerk this one speakers who are called are called in the order in which theyve signed up if time allows chair may allow comments of individuals who have not signed up speaker may not speak more than once on a specific topic speakers who wish to speak on more than one topic must submit a separate request for each items if when you speak you would like to uh present a written comment to the school board uh you can do that when you come up here and you
019make a presentation so with that having been said the first person who signed up is Ronda Richard hello chairman Barlo Dr Shephard and board members my name is Ronda Richard and I live in quicksburg and I hope I can see with these new classes congratulations to all those that want at States in swimming and wrestling true Equity is defined as fairness with impartiality and inclusion who doesn't want to be included in life's Pursuits unfortunately those words have lost their true meanings the term diversity is misused to deceive children into following a system that Fosters division based on demographics and beliefs the term inclusion is wrapped to justify is Warped to justify the exclusion exclusion of anyone or idea that dares to disagree this double talk has taken the impartiality out of equity instead using fairness
020as a weapon to attain unreal unrealistic outcomes maybe there's a place for social science experiments but it's not in public schools let me ask a question how can you focus on a woman who Advocates diversity and inclusion when many even some Ed Educators refuse to Define what a woman truly is how can you celebrate an inclusion where children are forced to use ridiculous pronouns based on sociological and psychological friends the log this logical mess is a result of misinterpretation of what it means to be diverse fair and inclusive I ask this board to vote in favor of Miss Carlin's policy I also want to say this I have family that are remember that are lesbian I love her just as much as I love my own kids and she knows this my problem is with
021the transgender transgender part of this not everyone is out to harm but the but that small percentage of those that recognize theirself or identify as transgenders they may have ill intent in their mind and sadly it's been proven that they have that upsets the Apple part for everybody say if Tommy wakes up tomorrow and wants to be Sally and has bad thoughts going through his head how do we protect little Renee in the bathroom or locker room sadly that small percentage makes it rough on those mean no harm we need to protect all kids and all staff and not to put them In Harm's Way please remember this my rights don't end where your fillings begin now on to the budget most don't have issues with teachers getting raises but that one teacher making 103,000
022deserves every penny sadly it's only one maybe we need to focus on those that make less less than say $80,000 and bring them up to speed with those that don't teach and make tens of thousand dolls more we have 2011 full-time employees that make less than $225,000 in this school system that's sad that's below poverty we have 566 employees that make less than 75,000 we have 43 that make between 75 and 90 32 that make 90,000 $1 up to 110 over1 $110,000 $1 10 1251 to 146 one over 100 40 I asked this board to ask for level level funding this year and remember those that pay your pay your salaries or us taxpayers including the employees but we have not gotten that 14.5% pay raise in the last three years thank you thank you
023Mrs Richard uh Steve hman good evening school board members Dr Shephard thank you for allowing my voice to be heard this evening uh my name is Steve Heisman I live in District 2 out in conning bille it's good to hear that the weekly religious education program is holding steady even at this time of year with a few students being out with colds and flu Etc as we move through the Easter season the students are learning the real meaning of Easter the importance of Palm Sunday and the significance of the empty tomb that Sunday morning and many thanks to the host of wre on the southern campus the Yellow Barn uh the central campus the Redemption Hill Nazarene church and in strawsburg the strawsburg Presbyterian Church many thanks to uh all three of those organizations the
024um the ident the gender identity policy and such yes there are viewpoints and opinions uh from both sides and I know that this responsible board will make the right decisions when the time comes to vote all students and faculty need to be protected today we live here in a very confused and a very dangerous world and students need to be taught right from wrong as Christians we know know that our heavenly father created two genders only male and female period the fact is that our identity was determined at the moment of the miracle of conception and who are we as a sinful people think that it we have the right to change that identity each of us are miracles of creation and some of us are boys and some of us of are of us
025are girls and all of us are here and was made for a particular reason some say that our Mor the morals of our nation are in Decline and um probably recently I did not catch his name but it may have been said best by a World War II veteran and we know there's not many of those left uh here on the Earth but he said the problem we have with today's decline in society is we have 18 and 19 18y old boys that can't figure out if they want to be a boy or a girl and just two generations ago we had 18 and 19 year old boys storming the beaches of Normandy and that says a lot right there U on the budget we all want and deserve more and in tough Economic Times
026um we need to be able to separate our wants from our needs whether it is a business budget a a public government budget or our own household budget and I trust that both boards can make responsible decisions on the budget as they work through it we do live in a world where there's a major battle going on between good and evil and let's not let evil win thank you very much thank you Mr Heisman Wayne Sager good evening Mr chairman members of the school board Dr Shephard my name is Wayne Sager I reside in the town of Woodstock food insecurities housing emotional behavioral medical and mental health needs these are the resources that our student support Specialists provide to our students and their parents tonight I stand before you with an Earnest plea to recog
027ize and personally support a vital role within our educational ecosystem the student support specialists in a world where the challenges facing our youth to seem to multiply by the day we are in the middle of a mental health crisis not only in shanida County but nationally the role of the student support specialist has never been more critical these dedicated professionals serve as the bedrocks of support for our students offering guidance compassion and resources to navigate the complexities of academic personal and emotional growth they bring peace to a classroom experiencing difficulties they have decreased absentee they assist in fostering a safe and supportive School climate for all students however recently I've learned how vital these student support Specialists are not only to the students but to the teachers and school administrators they provide emotional relief to
028the staff bridge the gap between the parents and the teachers connect families with services or provide services to those families who may not qualify go to medical facilities when a student's in crisis conduct home visits provide substance use and substance misuse services and assist in keeping the student body safe and able to learn but this not can be achieved through words alone it requires a collective commitment from all stakeholders to prioritize the well-being and success of our students I ask you each of you the policy makers the budget deciders to consider funding all nine of these positions I understand these positions were funded through kach and those funds have an end date however our students parents teachers and Community have become relling on them and the services provided and our children they need them so
029let's stand together in support of our student support Specialists let's recognize their invaluable contributions and advocate for these resources we need to continue making a difference in their lives I appreciate each of you and your service to this Great Valley thank you thank you thank you Mr s uh Pastor ktie gswan Dr Shephard and our school board thank you for the time I would like to thank M Carino and Dr Shephard for pulling together this past month the mental health task force and for giving me the honor of being able to be in the room I was uh humbled to say the least for the many uh people that had come from all corners of our uh Community to be at that room and I look forward to where that task force will go I
030came to speak on supporting the student support Specialists I cannot improve on what Mr sagner just provided you I Echo his words I amplify his words if we can keep all nine student support Specialists that would be a blessing I understand that there are six in the budget right now and if we can find a way to keep nine I would heartily encourage that thank you thank you use less of my time that's the last person who signed up is there anybody else who would like to so when you come up please state your name so we can record it uh Christina Lawson from P flag Woodstock my pronouns are she her I'm here to talk about the transgender discrimination policy for students when I tell people I support the lgbtq plus Community I often
031get some type of religious push back when my father came out 45 years ago he was no longer welcome in the Catholic church for most people this would have caused a permanent break with their faith in God not my father he knew that being a member of the lgbtq plus Community does not exclude you from God's love during the last school board meeting and tonight uh one speaker stated that the passing of the transgender policy is no less epic than the battle between good and evil the truth is transgendered children won't know they're considered evil until someone in their church or their Community tells them that they are the truth is transgender children won't know that they're considered dangerous until their Schoolboard passes a policy that assumes they're all sexual predators I'm in my almost
03260 years I've seen bad policies and bad laws passed by many well-meaning people who thought they were doing the right thing history is not always kind to those people or those policies that were put into place I've spoken at three school board meetings and told you some of what it means to be a member of an lgbtq plus family I'm here to remind you that these types of policies are not just recorded on paper but affect the lives of real children and real families let's hope this school board chooses to be on the right side of History I say to the lgbtq plus Community You are not alone and I will always stand with you thank you thank you Christina any other speakers Duke McCaffrey Fort valy Virginia I'm going to keep this pretty brief
033but I just want to say I was disappointed to see that you all tabled the transgender policy um I understand you have pressing work with the budget and uh I just hope that you don't forget to bring it back up and then I wanted to quote John Adams who said our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other thank you that will uh conclude with the uh public comments and we'll move to the consent agenda uh there are numbers of um areas have to do with field trips and paid bills religious exemption minutes and so forth uh they'll have a motion to approve the those consent agenda items I move to approve the consent agenda as presented I second so the motion has
034been made by Mr goodshaw and seconded by Mrs rutz uh to approve the consent agenda all those in favor please signify by saying I I I opposed none and we will move into the informational agenda uh so Dr Shephard do you um is Andre oh Andrew you're over there okay I was looking around for you there we thank you Mr chairman members of the board each year an audit is conducted of shendo County Public Schools finances Robinson farmer Cox performed our fiscal year 2023 free audit Miss Marissa helck from Robinson farmer Cox will be here to present the results of this audit that show good and proper stewardship um fiscal stewardship of the shander County Public Schools finances okay thank you good evening my name is Marissa helck I am the audit manager that works
035on the audit for sheno County um which includes the school board so the old rview um for our audit results we will talk about the auditor's opinion uh we'll hit on some financial highlights uh the statement of Revenue expenditures and changes in fund balance we'll go into a budgetary analysis we'll review some statistical information from The Last 5 Years and we will look at compliance testing um and at the end we'll have time for questions our audit objective is to express the expression of opinions as to whether your basic financial statements are fairly presented in all material respects and Conformity with generally accepted accounting principles we report on internal control in accordance with government auditing standards uh we do not issue an opinion but here is where we would report any significant deficiencies or material
036weaknesses that we find um the third objective is to report on internal control related to major programs and compliance with the uniform guidance so here's um the single audit and federal programming our audit opinion in our opinion based on our audit and the report of others the financial statements referred to above present fairly in a material respects the respective financial position of the governmental activities business type activities the the discreetly presented component units each major fund and the aggregate remaining fund information of the county of Geno Virginia as of June 30th 2023 and the respective changes in financial position for the year then ended in accordance with accouny principles generally accepted in the United States of America uh so the school board falls into this highlighted area that discretely presented component units um we issued
037an unmodified opinion this is the highest assurance that our profession allows us to give it says that the financial statements are materially correct and conform to Gap so here it's kind of small um but is a statement of Revenue expenditures and changes in fund balance um by column so the First Column is operating fund the second column is the cafeteria fund the third column is the school activity fund and then the total for FY 23 the school board ended with total revenues of 90.6 million uh prior year was 84 million so approximately a $6 million increase expenditures total expenditures were 93 million uh last year were 86.5 so about another $6.5 million increase um other financing source so leases this was leases of copiers and then subscription based liabilities this line item is new for
0382023 um it's to do with a new accounting standard that went into effect for FY 23 and this is sub subscription based liabilities um it relates to instructional software um and more subscription assets so fund balance began with 4.8 million and ended with 2.9 Million the next slide shows um the Commonwealth of Virginia revenues so total for fi23 was 43 million this was up about 3 million from last year um and overall we're just seeing a increase in state line items there's not one specific line item it's just an overall increase in each line item um one line IEM to note is the school instru school construction line um the school board did receive more money than that 86,000 but has not spent that so you won't see that total there if that's something that
039you're looking for the next slot is Federal Government Federal Government revenues uh the ended shortly under $9 million um this is slightly up I think a million and a half from last year um Sesser cares Act is where the increase is really we're really seeing that it was about a million and a half more this year than it was in the previous year um another thing that's different is there's about $700,000 in arpa pandemic bonus um that was paid for through the coron release fund so for the operating fund budgetary expenditure analysis as I said um actual operating fund expenditures were about 85 a. half million um the final budget was 91 million so under budget about 6 million um the biggest uh place is that is for instruction uh so right at 60.8 million
040um in instruction but this is up 82 from it's about up three and a half million from the last year um and instructional where we're seeing that big increase um that includes mostly everything um salaries uh textbooks stuff like that operating fund revenues for the last five years so as you can see they're just increasing um year to year uh there was a large increase from last year so if you look here the big increase was in local government so it was about $3 million more um in local government revenue and another two million in Commonwealth and another two in federal so operating fund expenditures in The Last 5 Years um 85 million compared to the 82 and here's where you can really see the breakdown um by type so you'll see for most places
041it's an increase um things are just getting more expensive um you know fuel uh food cost food cost isn't in here but it is increased over the prior year so for our compliance testing um two areas where we do compliance testing we look at State compliance so in this group we're looking at some BRS testing related to retir we're looking at procurement to make sure that uh money is being spent in relation to the procurement Act of the state of Virginia um and we also look at conflict of interest policies um and then there's some other state compliance items that were required to test uh for those we had no non-compliance or other matters to report to the board uh we found no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses um the next session next section is
042the single audit um we audited two programs that fall under the school board uh the education state stabilization fund so this is Esser um cares act as you guys might see it as um and we had no non-compliance or other matters to report the second item is the coronavirus state and local fiscal Recovery Fund this is where the arpa pandemic bonuses Falls in um so little bit from the school board another portion from the county we audited as a whole uh but we had no non-compliance or other matters to report in that area as well and then any questions that you guys might have look like there are none okay thank you thank you m we appreciate it thank you angre you you back up again no what you uh computer screen what you have
043in front of you is um Mount Jackson what happened to my computer screen um the Mount Jackson um request for the deed for the water pipe uh to take on take ownership of that particular water pipe if you if you look at Honey Run you go around to the right hand side you see a little 10x10 brick building with a blue door that's the building they're talking about the the water runs in from that field in behind North Fork coming from Caverns Road and runs right straight towards Honey Run and then it goes around Honey Run and part of that where it goes around is on the Honey Run property so those are the lines that they um uh are requesting to take over we've had them I don't know why that's this is you
044know from long time ago and when I spoke with uh the supervisor of the water uh side of the house in the town of Mount Jackson he said you know this probably should have been done with this was installed but it it just wasn't for some reason so that this way they will take over um you know the maintenance of something braks and all that I asked about um water pressure you know changes and all that they said there there wasn't any intention to make any changes with anything to add anything or delete anything um the water already supplied the areas and the homes there um they just wanted to be able to get to it and access it and fix it if it's broken and because when that's been done in the past they've
045they've um they've come and worked on it and fixed it but then we've had to pay them back to do it pay them this way we won't have to do that so I it's I don't think it's anything difficult but that was some of the questions I think it have surface so the um I don't know who crafted this little explanation on here but it's really it's really very crisp and clear so I'd just like to read it because I think what it uh what does is make it very clear to all of us that the easement will simply Grant the town access to the existing water lines no plans to modify add or remove any lines so there won't be any impact on the water pressure and if any of the lines break or
046require maintenance after this agreement the town will be responsible for the repair replacement so those are the three bullets to stick out to me and make it pretty pretty clear and logical um I know it says in here there's no plans to modify at or remove will anybody from the town be here to answer questions such as what would happen if the farmer that has the farm there behind Honey Run decides to sell that and develop it at some point if they tap that line would it have any effect on the water pressure or the fire suppression for the schools around it well I mean that obviously that would be a question we'd have to ask them follow up I'll be happy to I spoke with much Mr L St before yesterday I believe um
047and that's that's what he said but I'd be happy to ask him that specifically um and then let you know okay to do that yeah I'd I think I think we'd like to hear that and I actually thought in one of the briefings that that was roached but but we'll find out I I had heard specifically what you just said said I I just heard it okay if there were going to be any additions to adding on to it generally speaking and he told me no when I did ask him that but I guess it depends on the zoning is it just like an agricultural zoning or the Zoning for that area I don't know I can find out and I'll let you know there thank you thank you Dr H appreciate it the next
048topic is is it the library policy yes okay so back to you Dr sheer thank you policy IP Library material selection requires that new library materials go through a process to ensure the the selection of Library materials of are of the highest quality suitable for supporting educational goals and worthwhile for the limited amount of time available and most appropriate for students regulation iib p-r Library material selection establishes clear procedures for the selection of new library materials in January the Librarians developed a draft list of new books proposed for purchase and provided the list to the principles for review and approval by January 15th the principles approved the list and fored the final draft list to the directors of Elementary and secondary education at that time the final draft list was placed on the division website
049for review the directors of Elementary and secondary education reviewed the final draft list of Library materials proposed for purchase the director of secondary education recommended reconsideration of three titles to be evaluated by a subcommittee of the parent Community advisory committee selected by the superintendent on February 15th the subcommittee of the parent advisory committee met and voted to allow the three books to be included on the final approved list the three books requested for reconsideration were the Mona sa vanishes a legendary painter a shocking Heist and the birth of a global celebrity by Nicholas Day Leva Atlas by Sarah Penny Packer and World Made of Glass by Amy Pinsky the final approved Library materials purchase lists are presented to the school board for information at this meeting and the recommendation will be for the school board
050to approve the final approved Library materials purchase list at the April 11th school board meeting and both uh all of the lists are attached to this item for review be happy to answer any questions I'd like to say that um I appreciate the intome report uh especially since it's a policy that we pass uh recently and there were questions about its implementation it sounds as if it's going smoothly uh and is if and as if the regulations have conformed to the policy uh I especially want to thank you for putting each of the title not only those but all the approved list so that we can we can U survey those as well so that I I find that extremely helpful and I I appreciate that certainly so um now we have information on Health
051dental Envision request uh Dr Shepard you going to lead us through that as well I am okay and Derek is putting up a presentation and while he was doing that I will introduce on January 16th 2024 a request for proposal was issued for health dental Envision effective July to be effective July 2024 the proposals were due February the 15th and I think in this uh PowerPoint presentation you will see the um the organizations that um provided a proposal for us so we'll just go through so in 2021 January 1st of 2021 we moved from Anthem to Etna because Valley Health and Anthem um were negotiating and there was a notice of intent to terminate um participation in anthem's network effect of January 1st 2021 so we signed an 18-month contract with Etna and Etna held
052costs relatively the same um for the 21 through June 30th of 2022 and then um and then in July 1st of 2022 Etna had um a renewal and the loss ratio at that time was 110% which mean for every which means for every dollar we gave Etna they um sent out A110 which isn't a good business practice um so we negotiated their original um intent was that our um heal insurance would increase by about 45% but we negotiated to under 23% and then reduced even further with changes to um the benefits and we um eliminated the $250 deductible plan so I want you to keep that in mind as we continue through this Pro um through this PowerPoint presentation that we eliminated one of our plans and then on S um July 1st of 23
053the same thing the loss ratio went down a little bit at 103% so every dollar we sent to Etna they sent out a dollar three um and they said their initial renewal was 26.5 and we negotiated to an 11.3% um but they were still losing money on chinoa County Public Schools so this year we decided in January to go out for a proposal and we issued the proposal on January the 16th and they were due the proposals were due back on February the 15th the Ross the loss ratio at that time was 109% um so Etna provided a proposal and they came in at 18.5% right below um that line you will see that Anthem actually came in at 5.5% increase to our current current and since we switched to Etna our employees have um
054indicated that they would love to return to um Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield so um this for us will represent a a premium increase of 536,000 in our budget you will notice that we put a $1 1,20,000 in for health insurance increase I think we were estimating a 12% increase but um we were able to with Anthem if we go with Anthem have a 5.5% increase I would like to recommend that the additional money that we put towards the additional 500,000 um go towards um our health care premiums reducing those and you'll see that in a future slide so you will notice down towards the bottom anthem's key Care Network for medical um it covers more um more than 99.8% of the providers that were paid claims to um utilized by scps employees with Etna
055it was 98.6 so it's even higher than etas and at the very last um the last bullet there you'll see that Anthem signed a new 5year agreement with Valley Health so we won't run into the same situation that um we did a few years ago in 2020 with um Valley Health so the top slide you will notice the organizations the companies that submitted bids there were four um that did healthare so Anthem ETA centa and the bottom one United Healthcare and some of the others just did Dental Envision or Vision we presented this information to our um teacher advisory committee and they were thrilled to know that we were recommending to go back to Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield the next slide shows there are current rates so that's at the bottom and then at
056the top is are the proposed and and I want to highlight it says proposed here and say that a few times as we talk because um this it's going to be proposed until we know what um the funding is from the Board of Supervisors um from our locality because if um if we have to cut this is one of the places that um would be a cut is in our health health insurance premiums but you will notice that we um paid particular attention most of the premiums are the same but we paid particular attention to employee child right here and employee family so if we're able to make these proposed changes it will put us in line with um Frederick and in Rockingham County with their health insurance we're a little higher than one a
057little lower than another so but we will be in line so we um we won't be fighting this battle every single year as we move forward if we're able to make these adjustments so um the employee child for keycare 1000 preventative um would be a savings of $53 a month the keycare 1,000 Comprehensive Dental would be a savings of $78 a month month the employee family preventative would be $188 a difference a month um from La um this year to next year and then the keycare comprehensive 1,000 would be um $682 which is a $231 decrease from last year you will notice the middle columns are the keycare 250 so we understand that some of our employees would like the Assurance of having a two a $250 deductible plan and this allows us to put
058that back in um it is still costly but that would be an employee choice they can they can do a c savings and go to the keycare 1000 which is currently our plan or they can purchase the $250 um deductible plan which will give um which will give them a lower deductible and a lower um out of pocket payment but those rates aren't so high that we couldn't bring it back because if you look at the rates they're similar to what we're paying in keare a th000 currently so be happy to answer any questions on Healthcare and Mr Street was at the presentation on Monday so he can answer some questions as well Mike am I understanding correctly like up top their employee only mhm if somebody were to get the preventive Dental keycare 1000
059they would pay $33 but if they wanted the $250 that would be additional to that $33 no it would just be $143 if they went to the key care 2250 um it's not added it's just that's the premium $143 and I failed to mention over in that last column um you will notice that um we will be contributing an extra $25 to our um employees who are on the um High deductible plan to their health care Savings Plan the deductible is going from a $3,000 deductible to a 3,200 and not because Anthem or or um Etna said hey you need to do that that's an IRS requirement so we would put an extra $25 per month in their um Health healthc Care savings plan which would offset that um extra $200 deductible thank you so
060you mentioned a couple times that uh that the staff was um what was your word thrilled thrilled um what made them thrilled about the about the anthem plan so over the last couple of years um there there's perception that um antha or that Etna does not pay out as well as Blue Cross or Anthem so that's their perception and um we've not been able to nail anything down to validate that but that's that's people's perception and I believe that on a previous slide there was Anthem covered more than 99.8% of the providers and Etna only 98 that's still good 98.6 is still good but Anthem has a few more providers that they cover than now thank you all right the last uh item on our um information items is um pertains to the model policies
061on ensuring privacy dignity and respect for all students and parents in Virginia's public schools uh and the che County public school policies on gender identity so this is um a topic which the school board decided not to vote on while we concentrated not only on the budget but also got more information that we thought pertinent before make a decision on the model policies uh but um about 10 days ago I think was about that time maybe not that long ago Mr Rickard uh had another uh version of a proposal that he wanted to have U put before us and so I recommended to the superintendent we include that in the informational uh batch today and so all three extent proposals are there to be seen viewed and compared and uh so when we take action
062those three proposals are front and center I've asked Mr rard if he wants to take a few minutes and explain a little bit of the context without getting into a discussion or debate Mr Rickard um basically what I did was I I reached out to miss careno and asked if I could kind of use her draft and make changes to it based on uh our meeting with Daniel Rose and after hearing um input from Miss ruts and you as well chairman Barlo um made those changes uh put it in my language a little bit and resubmitted it um to see if uh we could get some movement on that um so that being said I can field any questions you all have uh one of the things was uh on B2 uh the 24 hours
063of the report for discrimination harassment or bullying we extended that out to 48 Hours excluding weekends holidays or other times that was advice given by Daniel Rose um one of the other things was before we had in there um on C to uh per I think it was Miss rut's suggestion about um the psychiatrist we changed that to just a licensed health care provider um that way parents wouldn't have to go to Great Lengths to seek those accommodations um and there were a couple other changes uh the what I had said at the work session about our girls teams being able to to sit out of games if the opposing teams had Boys on their team um regardless of vhsl rules uh I inserted that in there as well um to cover our our girls
064and our coaches um and then there was was a change that I made under um I added the protections on I and changed uh we added the term as reflected by the official record when we're talking about um references of pronouns um or anything inconsistent with the students's actual biological sex put a or in there or as reflected by the official record um that way it doesn't hold our teachers liable or anything of the such thank you Mr recuit I appreciate that so um I just wanted to make it clear that all three policies that have been proposed now are U visible able to be seen compared and so as we drive toward a conclusion and discussion on this those three are uh are available and um and uh invite the Schoolboard members to read
065and compare those three and we may have a I'm sure we will have more questions and discussion we move into the next stage thank you we are um going to move now into our action items for this evening uh and lo and behold the superintendent's proposed budget no uh we're going to do I guess we should do Personnel first because okay I'm sorry um 5.1 Personnel um so the uh the superintendent did recommend personal actions on the attached list um those have been reported discussed and um uh I'm ready to accept the motion to approve that personal list as it was presented I'm move to approve the Personnel list as presented second okay the motion was made by Mr Guta and seconded U by Mr Rickard and uh there's no discussion all in favor uh
066please say by uh say so by saying I I any opposed please note uh all in favor and now we can work our way into the superintendent's proposed budget so Dr Shephard so okay um so the action item as is presented for us uh I guess there are there no no slides for the information here okay so um yeah we have in front of us at least in the in the war dos we have the the uh request made by DR Shephard and um so I'll just um I'll just recapitulate that and then ask for um for any uh any motion that would that would result from that so uh so the the requested budget appropriation um totals 98,2 44,1 uh in six different funds or categories uh which have been laid out for us
067um and I am ready to entertain a motion on that proposed budget are we going to have discussion on the budg motion a second and then you ask for discussion yeah but we have to we have to have the motion for the a motion and then the second and then you ask for discussion Mr B give me a thumbs up okay so um so we do need the motion for uh to approve the budget then is that correct I move to approve the fiscal year 2025 budget and the fiscal year 2025 to 2029 Capital Improvement as presented second all right so the motion uh to approve the fiscal year 2025 budget and the 2025 29 CIP has presented has been uh made by Mr Guta and seconded uh by Mr Street and we are ready
068for discussion um Mr Guta would you like to me off since you made the motion uh I view it as complete and I think it's a well put together budget by Dr Shephard um one of our speakers mentioned earlier tonight you know can't always be about our wants but our needs and I think if you look through this 99.9% of this is you know exactly what we need to have at this point um not a lot of loose spending and um things that are necessary so I thank the superintendent for putting together um a budget that is adequate and something that I feel is appropriate for the school system moving forward other comments do we make amendments now or motions or what are we doing now yes amendments okay so if I can say thank
069you um I have one more place to look now so um as you heard today from some of the speakers um we had a very uh successful uh mental health task force um meeting uh last week and um it was very well attended uh as was some people have commented um we have the Comm with attorney we have um Sheriff Carter we have um supervisor Taylor was there um Chiefs of police from um Woodstock uh New Market and uh strawber and chief Sager was here today talking about this uh we also have judge Logan who spoke and we have a lot of you know scps staff and um pastors community members and um social services and one of the things that that we talked a lot about was the student boort uh specialist that um
070Chief Seer also mentioned today and right now in the budget what we have we have cut it down to six from the nine that we currently have because they are currently funded by car's funds which are going to run out uh this summer and the proposal is by cutting cutting it back to six we're going to have the elementary schools are each going to have one but then the middle schools and the high schools are going to be sharing one um now I'm a little bit conflicted about this or I was a little bit conflicted in the beginning just for one minute let me ask a parliamentarian um should we have a a an amendment motion on the floor no you can discuss before you make your Amendment there's already the question before the group
071okay great keep going and make thank you thank you um so um so one of the things that uh so like I was saying we this is funded right now through cares act we kind of get back to six um and one of the things that I've always kind of been conflicted about is this is not really something that we as schools should be dealing with I mean this is really um a really all-encompassing kind of possession that we're talking about um but as Chief Seer just so well described it these are very important people that are serving that Nexus between the students and the communi and the school um we have we're at a time we have a lot of lot of needs and unfortunately for a lot of these kids they're not going
072to be able to learn uh appropriately if their needs are not being served um or also having a lot of potential issues with absenteeism which as we uh heard has actually decreased because of dispositions um and we have also a lot of um potentially disciplinary issues and eventually this is going to spill into the community so this is something that I think is really really important um so my motion is to actually introduce um the three additional the three that we have already just keep all nine of them so that each school um actually has one of these students support specialist um I think I spoke to Dr Shephard and right now we're talking about an additional about $300,000 um and this is actually including all our salaries Insurance retirement all that kind of stuff
073um but again it's one of the things that I would like to see funded at least this year and I would like to see if in the future we can actually have other agencies or maybe the Board of Supervisors or social services eventually create a niche for this positions to operate out of their um out of their agencies uh but I just I just feel strongly that if we cut dis positions right now we would do a great disservice not just to our students but also to our community and at a time when they needed the most I think we need to consider funding them so um we need a specific Amendment correct and so the amendment would be to add um the three additional um student support specialist so fully funded nine positions um
074at a cost of $300,000 in addition to what we have already so the U motion for the amendment is to add three additional service support Specialists to the six who are already in the superintendent's request that's correct and I don't know if Dr shepher could actually I don't know if there's a need to uh describe the positions better I don't have that description with me um but I don't know if that's needed um I I think that's I think that's a Germain question that we could ask the superintendent to enl lightness on the definition uh and um somewh the the parameters and and the roles of the service support specialist do anybody object to that explanation okay Dr she so the um their supervisor is here so would you mind if I called Miss Linton
075up to the podium so she can actually talk about exactly what they do on a no she's much too [Laughter] effective thanks for staying Debbie sure good evening chairman members of the board Dr Shephard so the student sport specialist I wish there was a a simple definition of what they do but basically they connect and interconnect the school the community and uh the student so whatever needs that that family and student needs the student sports specialist goes out and finds those services and helps to find funding if necessary for those families to have those services so the student can be successful when they come into the into the classroom and that can be anything from food insecurity as we mentioned before housing insecurity Mental Health Services and any other services mentoring whatever a parent might
076need in order for them to be successful with their children so that they can be engaged in their child's life and also into the school so that eventually it all comes down to academic success for our students they will go out and do everything for giv going to call for a student who's not in school today and I'm going to be a call and get you out of bed and try to get you in here to you need mental health you need Dental Health you need medical health and we'll help you make an appointment and help you get there cor basic needs you have to fill basic needs first before a student is ready to become academically successful and if I could add just really quickly um at the meeting that was why it was
077so impactful was to see all this um police Chiefs and and um our court you know our judge and even our come attorney talk about how crucial dispositions are in terms of how they do their own job with regards to the students that are coming to them with whatever issues they have thank you all right thank you very much we appreciate the explanation Other Board member comments B second a second no uh for the oh that's right so so thank you see technically you're earning your money tonight thank you for that okay so yeah so so we are at the point Mrs coleno has uh has um made a motion to add an amendment that would add three additional student support specials to the ask of six that already exists in the proposed um and
078we're looking for a second for that Amendment I'll second okay Mr Rickard second that Amendment and uh and now ready for U board discussion um see Tom I saw you first you go ahead yes I have a question if I can ask Mr Linton uh what is the average how many students if you have nine how many the averages U students per each one that they um advise that varies comp no right now each student support specialist um holds between 15 and 20 specific cases intensive very comprehensive needs that have to happen but then they also help service students throughout the school day and all of them have between 30 and 40 other students that they also touch face with intermittently throughout the the day or week of the school depending on what's going on
079so the average 15 to 20 and an additional 30 that they kind of keep up with okay any any more comments no okay um Mrs R um I you know want to remind the board that um our local Composite Index um increase this year and what that means is there is $1.9 million less coming from State funding so what happens is is that is put on the backs of taxpayers um with an increase of $3.5 million in an ask so we're up to $5.4 million that we're asking taxpayers to take on um you know it's it's tough for everybody including the folks inside here but the folks that have to bear the burden of the real estate taxes the personal property taxes whatever goes into the second largest budget um the uh ticket item for
080the county well first largest T first largest uh ticket item for the county um while I am very much appreciative of our our um our student support specialist when we got handed a whole bunch of money a couple years ago in cares we started taking on all these positions with the intention that there was an expiration date and free money there's no such thing as free money I mean it comes from somewhere it comes from your pocket and their pocket and my pocket in one way shape or form and just because you put a different title on it doesn't mean that it's not tax money it doesn't mean it comes out um and what we were worried about when this was proposed is where we're at now is that we would we would get comfortable
081with the positions and have to keep and and have to keep them and um so I'll be honest with you I'm looking at this budget and I'm thinking we've gone up every year I can't find any time in and I look in the past I had four budget books out that we've actually cut spending or we've cut anything that we didn't find a spot to re just reallocated um and so I am struggling with not only adding three more positions that we didn't have budgeted um with this Composite Index I mean it it just my you know I I I don't think I could support the extra three and in my position I I think that if we want to increase money we need to find places to cut um this isn't um shinder County
082Public Schools again I think I've said it last year um it's almost reminds me of the times when my kids were little and and they wanted something well just go to the ATM just go to the ATM not understanding that what I put into it had to had to come out of it uh it was never ending um it wasn't or it wasn't bottomless I didn't have the didn't always have that and um I think it's time that um the taxpayers get a little bit of say in where we're at I I don't have a problem with with the um cost of living and some of this stuff but I think we need to find places to cut to offset it thank you Mrs ruts um see have you spoken on the chat you had
083not right no Mr Rickard um I love what Miss rut just said about us cutting spending I would love to cut spending and the thing to keep in mind to all the taxpayers were accountable to is the fact that we're all taxpayers as well so we bear the same burden um with the current situation of the community I don't I don't think this is the time to be cutting money in this area I think we need to do whatever we can do to fund these three extra positions the number of cases that Miss Lon just said Each one has that's outstanding that they're balancing all those cases and taking care of you know 30 additional kids or 40 additional kids on a daily basis to me if we cut that number down we're going to
084have support Specialists that are suffering burnout and then they're just going to leave the county anyway so uh to me we've got to figure out a way to fund those three positions if it means cutting funding somewhere else that's all Mr Guta so for me you know looking at this it's it's hard for me to justify um supporting this and couple reasons for that number one um you know six was in the budget um it's a needs-based budget and that's what the superintendent believed we needed um when she submitted this to us and you know you look at our division as a whole there's a lot of positions that we could use more of and you know we could field calls for a month straight from different Departments of where we can use um another
085position here another position here and quite frankly you know if we do this what message does that send to other departments in our school system even if it's not exactly in this department um that may be in need or feeling burnt out or overworked um so for me it's just it's not something that I view as as a fair outcome I believe six um is something that we should move forward with and if it's something that doesn't work out well then we could always revisit that next year um but that's kind of where I'm stuck at I mean obviously there's a lot of importance in what they do and the value that they bring um we've only heard you know great things of what they've done um again it's important to note that these were
086temporary positions um and the fact that we're not just cutting them all and dropping them all off I think shows that the school system finds value in what they do and they've been effective um but I just want us to think about other departments and other areas where people are also asking for help for new positions that aren't getting you know mentioned tonight um I think it's a slap in the face to them to be able to just um throw these back in there so that's kind of my Outlook on it um but we'll move forward and see where we get from there thank you Mr guto um you have the last one word but I haven't spoken it so I'll have my intervention and then we'll give you the last um when the six
087uh positions were created two years ago I uh almost every time we talked about it I said please remember these expire two years from now they're gone and uh and I had every intention of being the person who at that point was going to say they're gone uh you know too many times I've seen Washington put in programs that stay forever no matter how bad they are just because they were started I changed my mind after hearing presentations uh earlier this year uh from from Deborah and I they're very compelling and I believe that they have facilitated learning and education significant significantly in our County I I I really really am a believer uh and I'm I'm glad glad that we are uh trying to fulfill and keep maintain those six and drive one I'm
088also happy that there's an aspirational aspect of trying to add three but I think I think uh Kyle has owned something here that um there are a lot of other needs that are lot people kind of pulled back on uh and um kind of asking over and above the ask at this point um might send the wrong message but there's another aspect of it too which is what these six wonderful people do so effectively nine six now no nine okay well I'm I'm sorry right thank you um is that they um are not teaching they're not in the business of what we would think is education they are facilitators they're doing a marvelous job I love what they're doing and I probably would like to see it increased my issue goes a little bit to
089what I've kind of been feeling the last year or so which is there's a lot going on in our school system that's bigger than education and we in the educational game are asked to take on more and more of these tasks while maybe the rest of the county is kind of pushing those issues into the schools to be taken care of and that's not what we as Educators I'm talking myself as a former teacher were trained to do and what we're supposed to be producing uh on the other hand we'd be fools not to understand in the 21st century that this problem exists of trying to get to students to be more effective by solving basic social problems that exist around them and in their very own families so uh I I think there's a
090move a foot looking at Mr wson um to create more of a comprehensive plan for our whole County and not have the school system have its own comprehensive plan and the county have another where we don't integrate these things a little bit more effectively so I guess my bottom line is I want to stick with the ask I want to I'm going to go and refund uh those six which whose funding actually comes to an end um but I would aggressively like to look at how this program can be um resourced uh in such a way that it just doesn't keep coming out of educational uh the educational pocket if you will so that's all I have to say and this well so I understand um what the sentiment is regard to first of all
091I wanted to clarify we have the nine positions right now um so this is about whether we refunded nine positions or we're going to go down to six positions um I understand um very much a tax W that we're talking about uh I I would be very happy to look at other areas of the budges where we can actually make some cuts on this but one of the things that was um that was a common theme about at this meeting and it was a large meeting I mean we had um 20 I it was like 20 something people and pretty much the the the Common Thread was that things are not the same since Co um in the last few years these kids have really suffered like we have no idea unless you're in schools
092right now unless your kids are in their school right now you probably don't realize all the challenges that these kids and their families are going through and I I've heard about a lot of those and unfortunately it's one of the things that sometimes it could be at home and the kid just doesn't have anybody to go to or doesn't know how to get resources um so it was a Comm theme that Co has really not just here it's all over the place but it it has be affecting our kids here in SHO County um and we've seen it there's the drug problems there's a right suicide um crime if we don't attend to this needs now when they're in school eventually it's going to spill over into the community and we're all going to pay
093for it one way or another um another sentiment that we heard um and we heard this from some of our principles saying that this student support specialist actually help the teachers because they're taking away the burden from these teachers having to deal with this discipline problems and this Pro problems that they cannot solve for the kids this student support specialist are actually taking that on and being able to help that student so that student is not going to be as as as destructive in the classroom as it would otherwise be so so it does help everybody in the school um like I said I'm very much afraid that by cutting this back given the very heavy uh load that they have right now what's going to happen is we're going to have three of them
094that are going to have anywhere from you know a core base of 40 intensive cares plus another 60 obviously that's not going to happen so a lot of kids and a lot of families are going to fall through the cracks at a time when they need it the most um because we know the econom is getting worse things are just getting worse there's to many distractions to many obstacles to many challenges and I believe um it's going to get worse um before it gets any better so I urge everybody to please reconsider I mean even if it was something that we needed to add just one or two make it a floater or at least discuss it that way way um because like I said this is not like we're adding it's not like we're
095just uh slapping anybody in the face this is just about refunding what we already have right now as opposed to cutting it out but that's just uh that's my motion all right um I have a question Mr chairman far as this Carriage money uh I just just uh did that come from fed or state it's a federal program Federal funding and it was the current VI virus Relief act money that has to be obligated and we have to be has to be spent by September okay so um if discussion is over will uh call for the question um and the motion once again uh for the amendment is to add three additional student support Specialists to the to to the request um sh uh would you like to do you do a roll call vote
096for us Mr stre yes Miss careno yes Mr Guta no Mr RS no Mr Rickard yes Mr bar no the amendment uh fails by a 33 time we will continue um with the comments uh or discussion on the superintendent's proposed budget uh so other comments on the total budget written large Mr R if I'd like to talk on the CIP and the cola would I do that separately or all at the same time I think you do it um right now okay um first of all I want to say thank you to all the staff that I've talked to over the past several weeks Danny orts meeting with me uh Matt heiserman meeting with me to look at the state of uh the things in the county that we requesting CIP money for um and
097while I was doing this I went out and met with Miss tuing and her third grade class to look at that playground at Honey Run uh big thank you to them while I was out there I didn't think to do it when I met with Danny cuz I did go and meet with him regarding Central's uh lights and their Cress box but I took some pictures of the playground at Honey Run um and I'd like to bring those up now cuz I know not everybody here all the members of the board were not able to go out and look at the things we looked at um as you can see here the stairs have rusted through and I caught it just at the right time there's actually a child going up the wrong way on
098the slide and I was told by several of the kids there and the teachers the kids at the top have to wait a turn until the kids come up the slide to go down because the stairs are rusted out um this is stuff the average taxpayer doesn't see every day unless their kid attends Honey Run I got to admit I was blind to it because this is at the southern end of the county I'm at the Northern end but I did get off work in time to make a trip down there and meet with the kids and man you couldn't ask for more respectful bunch of kids um and then uh other things that I was noticing or that they pointed out while I was down there sure it's one is it one what's that
099make sure it's on the side I got it yeah thank you that was just a closer up where you can see where the stairs have actually rusted out um here you can see the pegs that hold the the retainers up that hold the the mulch in the pins are actually sticking up above which is pretty dangerous um maybe we could get maintenance out there to drive those back down I don't know um it's not something I'm familiar with this here the kids actually pointed out to me I guess the town of Mount Jackson had done some repairs to their pump house and they ran the Overflow out into their playground around um and it was reported to me that that remained one big marshy swamp that they couldn't even play in anymore the picture doesn't
100do justice it's a pretty big area that takes up their playground um or their play area if you notice that section there in the middle U miss tuing explained to me that when the fourth grade class goes out there's about 130 to 140 kids that are expected to play on just that equipment right there there um so that being there takes up even more space where the kids can't play um this picture here this was the Press Box out at stalsburg high school um you can see where some of the flooring underneath has rotted away and birds are getting up in there and actually making nest and stuff um they're actually getting up into the walls as well but you can see where water there's doors on each end the doors right above there there's
101water getting in underneath and rotting that wood away um so like I said this is just informational for you guys cuz I know not everybody could get out there and talk to people I had spoken about the lights at Central High School um about still being able to get parts for them um I actually went out and met with Danny at Central and saw the condition of the lights um while I was speaking to the fact that you could get lamps and ballast in such form the the wiring that's out in the weather all the time that is actually deteriorating those lights have been there since 1985 um and when I look at the CIP and I see the lighting at all three high schools um if we keep kicking that can down the road
102eventually we're going to get to the point where all three high schools need to be done all at the same time so it it's a no-brainer that we've got to start somewhere um the Press Box at Central as well Tom's looked at it him and I had conversation about it um I think Tom Tom found some ideas of way to to save some money on that project um and I agreed with him after looking at it the foundation's still in good shape um maybe a little facelift of the first floor um and that could that could save some money there so all that being said um I think the CIP is good I think it's a good plan um I think some of this stuff we really need to expedite uh such as the playground
103for the for the children um you know the kids need some some relief of energy when they go outside and I'm sure the teachers would appreciate it too um and the safety the overall safety of the kids when they're out there um um the next thing that I wanted to talk about was the cola the cost of living adjustment um man I tell you if you want to learn anything in this County about steps and raises start asking questions and I walked away um more educated than I was but also more confused than I was but the overall feeling that got are the overall consensus that I got from every staff member Administration member that I talked to from the southern end all the way to the Northern end was that the step was important
104to them um so I would like to make a motion tonight that instead of giving the flat 32% um even if we have to renegotiate the percentage we include that step for all of our staff um so if we've got lower that percentage to add the step in I think it's a good idea for all of our staff I think uh it would definitely raise morale um and basically what I understand from it is it it's a difference of showing longevity um and years of service so I'd like to make a motion that we uh we change that Cola increase from a flat 3 and 1/2% um to a different percentage and include the step for all the staff need an amendment on that right so this would be an amendment that you're offering correct
105so you're you're moving to make an amendment and I think we're going to need some more precise language so um I mean you said three and a half two some number I move that we uh we changed the the cola increase or the cost of living adjustment from 35% flat across the board to maybe 3% plus a step for the staffe from half% to add a step increase I move that we change the cola from a flat 3 and a half% to 3% plus a step for all the employees okay um so Mr Rickard has moved to amend uh the request the budget request by um eliminating the flat three and a half% cola to 3% plus step I heard you say step for all employees I'm assuming that's all the employees who are covered
106by step right a second so motion is made by Mr Rickard and has been seconded by Mrs car so ordinarily hear your your uh rationale I think we've kind of heard it did you want to say anything more or no I mean I've talked with literally I would say over a hundred of our employees all the way from principles and admin down um and the consensus has all been the same that the percentage doesn't mean a whole lot to them the step is huge all right um other comments Mrs R I would like to know what that um what that means bottom line line figures compared to where we're at currently um your 3.5% uh and how changing that will impact the the bottom line I'm ready okay all right it's um an additional $395,500
107m895 400 3,889 $9 5,459 so it would be roughly additional $400,000 yes point of information um so the step because I don't understand it as well as you do um who does that apply to does that apply to everyone or just a teacher staff so everyone would get a step um there's different percentage of increases I'm sorry is it okay for me to speak please um a step is um applies to everyone um it's different percentages between each of the steps so for teachers it's a 1.1% for some administrators it's a 78 or 0.9 for bus drivers it's a 1% so I think that's yes so it's different for each each group but is the minimum of 1% 7 7 that's administrators 7.8.9 based on the scale that you're on as an administrator and um
108it goes all the way to 1.5% and that would be our um custodians and our pair of professionals who would get a 1 and a half% increase there may be others but those those are the ones that I have written so your estimate uh Dr Shepard is that U that would increase the requested budget by $400,000 approximately correct yes yes and you would appreciate us rounding up um Tom did you yeah I'd like to comment if I can so since you did those uh those calculations pretty quick so yes and I I will tell everybody you know I am in favor of the step from my invest you know reaching out and I understand because I understand from their position it's about the longevity in their career and if you don't keep up on that
109you get behind so I I I I may not be able to explain it sorry but I definitely understand it from from their positions so if you calculated that pretty quick which that's impressive um and I I had an idea it was basically 1% so instead of 3% what would it be if it's a step plus 2.5 we going to need them like 60 seconds here unless angel I think it I think you shot me that it was uh 3,618 24 something like that 3 3.6 I think is what you would 2.5 as would be 3,611 824 I mean we're here to discuss it so it's no big deal I only got to drive back to Harrisburg Pennsylvania but I I I guess my point in my opinion is where does the step plus a
110percentage get it where we're at in the proposed budget yeah I like that that's kind of what I was getting at Miss Stan do you have that number it's about $15,000 it's how much, 610,000 so it ends up being 2.25 million and we currently at 2.1 million so it would be an Ask of You said 105 so it would be an Ask of 3.6 105,000 what's the increase 100,000 is that right roughly 100,000 M yes what we have to round up salar we to make sure we capture it then he's going to do 3.45 I mean 2.45 I was thinking about it it's a number what's the difference calculator doesn't know that's right so my point of clarification here is that um so the amendment that you proposed is um is that the U Cola
111would grow from three and a half to three% plus of step and that would be an additional cost of 400,000 and the and a half% would be a cost of 300,000 no 100,000 1055 okay so okay I have that down any other discussion on this amendment so how could so what number do you need to get to to to make it level with where we're at with the step without increasing budget 2.35 no pressure I bet you Dr Shepard has a program worked out before the next [Music] budget I've got the calculator back there I know she's back here I have to put the camera on her this spot thank you for asking do the calculations I just then just being supportive with the motion I'm sorry to say again what while they're doing the
112cations can iead um I'm just going to be very brief on this um and Mr Rickard and I and I've been talking to Mr Street as well we've been kind of focusing on how to make our teachers happy and and kind of help with their retention you school because we know that a lot of them um are tempted to go to L count principum and anything that we can do to make them feel appreciated and Havey here um is something that I would like to see so um I I would definitely like to see if we can work these numbers and give the step if that is what they what they want you'd be really close with a 2.35% salary increase plus a step uhhuh yeah I was at 2.25 but I like your number
113better 2.3 2. 2.5 2.35 but I I make a comment um yes yeah and like she says it it's I guess yes we want to keep our employees happy we're all about you know I definitely support that in anything um but also I also think it's right just me personally I think it's right that they when an employee and their level of of the steps that they kind of stay in tune because if you don't then it it you know you get behind and I think it's just right to keep them it's just right for the employee to stay kind of within a certain range of their their levels okay Mr Guta I'm going to continue saying this I guess until I'm in my great but you know I think the biggest thing here is
114the insurance it's not necessarily the salary or what you know you're getting paid and we've had this that's why I brought this up at the work session a couple months ago because I knew it was going to become a big topic but you know the the big in my view the big thing is the insurance and we need to continue making that a focus and putting extra money into that rather than continuing the new steps that um you know someone's leaving because of a step increase or a lack thereof um I would be highly surprised but at the same time um you know I think that we need to continue prioritizing the insurance and um again you look at the scales we are very competitive with other districts and salary from about 1 to 10
115at least year-wise but the insurance we are not competitive in so we need to continue to put money in that um you know that along with discipline issues and lack of support is I believe was the main re three reasons why people were leaving last year salary was not one of them so I know that's one thing we talk about all the time but looking at our analytics from last year salary was not a top three maybe even a top po issue U but insurance continues to be an issue so um I'm going to continue to support trying to get the insurance fix rather than step increases um I actually going to um kind of piggy back off Kyle you know every year for the last this is the third budget and it's always um
116you know more money will make teachers happy sure it makes everybody happy it makes me happy to get more buy um but it doesn't it's it's not the reason that teachers leave um I think um we've had HR give a give presentations every year here discipline is one of the biggest things that causes teachers to leave being being overwhelmed asked too much um of you know again money isn't always it it's a it's it's great it really is um however if you go back to our funding last year the ask was 7 7% in a step the year before it was 5% I mean we consistently give increases every year um and and I can't you know I I hate to say that I compare I don't want to compare it to the private sector
117but not everybody that's paying the bill gets a rise every year they don't get a 5% raise every year they don't get a 5% in a step every year they don't get I mean gosh wouldn't it be great if I could pull in an extra 7% next year um we all have the same bills um I'm not opposed if we end up with a level amount um you know with no increase if the step is that important I'm okay to work that out um but you know I I don't I don't the the step increases um you know it would be it would be one thing if the step increase meant the same thing to those bottom tier those those pair of Pros making less than $25,000 a year as it does to the to
118the professionals making a 100 Grand it's a big difference um it's still important but again I'm not going I I don't feel that I could support um an increase to the an increase to the ask if we can work it out I'll consider it Mr Ricker Mr rut I appreciate uh you actually entertaining the idea of keeping it flat across the board um but adding the step so that it it's the same um I would like to know in just a guesstimate do we know how many of our staff what percentage of our staff actually participate with our insurance Andie is at 75% it was 58 participants so it's 3 yes about 34 yeah okay um because I mean none of the staff that I've talked to that have left or otherwise over the past
119year money hasn't been an issue the benefits weren't an issue it was the workload the lack of support um but like I said I've talked to over a 100 staff in the past month about this step and and it's hugely important to them so me for me not including the step as a non-starter for me um I'm okay with Miss rut's idea of lowering the percentage so that it's the same uh same amount in the budget I'm fine with that but as long as we give them their step like I said it's massively important to all the staff I think some of our our employees would love to particip ipate in our insurance but they find ways around it I think probably we don't have folks coming here they don't leave you know they may
120leave if there's more money and better Insurance maybe so but I think when they get an offer from us and they look at the bottom line in the insurance that might be a deterrent of why they don't come here um not as opposed to why they they leave and and if we can like Kyle continue to add into that you know then maybe will have more participating maybe we'll at some point get to you know an 85% or a 90% which can only unless unless we've stressed them out to the point that they're on SX and and and drinking binges but you know to the point that we we would have a better uh participation rate well the only reason I was asking about the participation is I know overwhelmingly the majority of our staff
121are females um such as my wife she's been with the county 10 years we don't participate with the insurance because I cover the whole family through my insurance I realize not everybody's that fortunate um but that that was why I asked the question was because of how many females we have working in the school system as opposed to males okay so we have an amendment before us uh and it continues to be that we uh dro the flat rate from three and a half to three uh to 3% plus step there has been discussion about flattening that we are Mr Bowman if I'm correcting this we are allowed to amend an amendment one time I would go ahead and get this voted up or down okay all right so and then come back with another
122okay so can I have a point of clarification sure can he amend his uh motion um I would I would dispose of what's on the floor right now and then we can come back with so let's I I appreciate that guidance and I so let me make it as clear as I can make sure I understand it too so um so if we when we vote on this particular Amendment uh that doesn't preclude and another amendment being immediately put forward that would have different um different different numbers of it correct you're right yeah you could do an amendment to the second degree but it's going to get seems to keep it a little cleaner for everybody okay so based on that unless any thank you sir so unless is unless there's any other is there
123any other discussion okay so what we're going to do now is we're going to have a roll call vote on the amendment made by um Mr Rickard uh that I guess I should say it again uh that would um change the flat rate Cola of 3 and half% to 3% plus a step for all employees if you are in favor of that then uh you want to vote on if you're opposed that you would vote no and um Cheryl would you do a roll call vote for us please Mr straight no Miss careno no Mr gut Shaw no Mr RS no Mr Ricker no Mr bar no are there any further amendments to the superintendent's proposed budget Mr Ricker I'll make a motion that instead of the 3.5% Cola flat across the board we go
124to a 2.35 percentage plus the step second all right so before I call that out so Cheryl did you get that the motion putting it in as we see all right so I move to amend the original to change the coal increase from 3.5% to 2.35% plus step employees on the superintendent proposed fisc year 2025 budget yes ma'am okay everything now except it's not it's not an amendment of the previous Amendment this is just okay the original motion got it yes okay now discussion on and that motion has been has been made by Mr Ron and seconded by Mrs carinia so is there any discussion okay hearing none ready for a ro call vote on that Amendment Mr stre yes Miss careno yes Mr beaw no M RZ yes Mr Rickard yes Mr bar yes
125so that uh Amendment passes with a 5 to one vote and we will return now to consideration of the superintendent's proposed budget with uh that Amendment included any further discussion um Mr Rickard has spoken uh any others who want to speak on the uh the budget Brit large one moose your question this is uh our last time to discuss before we vote on the entire um proposed budget by the superintendent okay um I would like to say something and that um I think it was really well thought out uh I note that um last year we didn't ask for that much more uh I think it uh the the the raise that we requested uh is a about 2.3% over the the request from last year uh and I want to applaud the superintendent for
126efficiencies that she has built into the system over the last year and a half such as um increasing of class size but still commender with good education uh and the attrition of staff that would allow for the budget to be realistic uh and I think that planning has uh put us in a position where we don't have to make a massive ask of of the county but as I said it's only when I say only uh you know 2. 38% more than ask last year I think of what inflation has done because the mango I bought in the store now be a $148 last year was 68 so this education is a Barbie anyway sorry um uh so I I I I really believe that the U that the analysis being done by the staff
127has been good I also want to uh to say that I think that the uh transparency with which it was done uh and listening to folks from around the state and the county uh with input on this has been kind of a breath of fresh fresh air for uh and then finally uh I uh I think that the uh individual initiative of Schoolboard members such as Mr Rickard and Mr Street particularly in talking to so many people and coming up with so so many ideas uh that uh I'd like to make it clear to everybody involved that um there have been great efficiencies that have come about as a result of what these Schoolboard members personally have done and uh I I haven't been involved here that long but I think that is something it
128was uh is is almost unheard of so I I think the I think the professionalism of the of the folks on this this board taking it seriously has been manifest in the budget that's before us so uh so th those are the reasons that I I I think it's a I think it's a good and supportable supportable budget so unless anybody has this is what um I appreciate all the hard work you you all have done um I again will put my plea in that we start this process earlier um again you know the idea that I mean again I this is the third one I have and and it it doesn't change it only goes up so I I feel that there's probably a baseline that we start at um that come October that
129we start having conversations with the board supervisors on what we need to do where we're at with things um you know we cut um last year we cut uh I ready I think it was or I Exel um that was a program that was costing us 100 Grand a year and we hadn't tested it to see nobody had gone back to look to see whether it actually was was something that was beneficial if it was working I mean it's it seems to me school systems are are like everybody else they like new Fango things and it all sounds great yet we don't go back and we don't audit um the benefit of it or or is it working as it's supposed to and what happens is it just piles on and every year we we
130have we have this program and this program or this people you are doing this and and we're doing that and when we get the budget in January it's not hard it's not hard numbers um it's an overview and I you know I still struggle with the fact that we ask the the public to come and give us their opinions when they don't have hard numbers um I I and then we're asked to to pretty much get it done in in in a matter of two weeks so um I think that as a I think to do justice to the to the budget and to be fiscally responsible we need to start this somewhere a whole lot earlier than what we do um so um other than that I you know it's you have to spend
131money unfortunately so um that's it thank you Mr VI I I I thank Miss rutz for those words because until you're in this position I mean some of us just got on board in January and we were handed a budget 3 four weeks ago and expected to vote on it tonight um I reached out to Miss Russ for some direction due to her time on the board and uh I was like I was feeling overwhelmed I'm like holy cow we were just handed this thing and we've got a vote on it in a week um and she clearly told me it doesn't get any easier every year um that we need to we need to start having this conversation earlier and I understand the position you're in Dr Shephard with not knowing the numbers from
132the state until the last minute um but if there is anything we can discuss earlier on um to maybe ease ease going into this session um I I think we should we should talk about it and uh and see what we can do even if it is you know that we don't have the state's numbers but we can still talk about the ons and the needs of the county ahead of time um to more preparation and I think we we could do I think the better serving we would be to the taxpayers any of the comments I think we're ready for a roll call vote um and Mr jet would you uh would you read the U oh yeah there's nothing for you to read I'll read it how about that um so the U
133proposal before us is to accept the superintendent's proposed fiscal year 2025 budget and the fiscal year 2025 through 2029 CIP as amended well it says as presented but the amendment will take care of that right we yeah did did we not vote on the Second Amendment yeah okay okay so I mean that's the amendment that I referred to okay so uh we're ready for real call vote on the propos stre yes M careno yes Mr bsha no M RS yes Mr Rickard yes Mr Bary yes the record will show that uh it passed with a 51 majority all right our next action item is a request for reappropriation of the 2023 fund balance and uh thein are you oh it is an action so we need to um we need to have a motion to
134approve the request for the reapportionment of the 2023 fund balance as has been presented I move to approve the request for the reappropriation of the fiscal year 2023 fund balanced as presented motion has been made by Mr Rickard is there a second a second Mrs rutz has seconded the motion is there any discussion if not I'll ask for a roll call vote Mr stre yes M caria yes Mr betaw yes Mr R yes Mr rer yes Mr bar yes item 5.4 is the request for reapportionment prior years Federal reimbursement balances do I have a motion to Rea portion to reappropriate excuse me prior years's Federal reimbursable balances as presented I move to approve the request for the appropriation of new state funds to the mentor is that which one we're doing oh sorry hit the
135wrong one I move to approve the request of reappropriation of the 2023 reimbursement Grant Balance of 7 of 71,9 not that one either huh I'm struggling tonight guys 5 huh 54 I'm in a hurry sorry I move to approve the request to reappropriate PRI Year's Federal reimbursement balances as presented second okay so the motion has been made by Mrs rut seconded by Mr Rickard is there any discussion hearing any um we'll ask for a roll call vote Cher Mr Street yes M Caro yes Mr bsha yes m r yes Mr Ricker yes and Mr bar yes 5.5 is the request to increase a special budget fund for fiscal year 24 Early Childhood provisionally licensed teacher grants I move to increase the special budget for fiscal year 2024 Early Childhood provisional licensed teacher Grant in the
136amount of $24,000 a second motion has been made uh by Mr Guta seconded uh by Mrs rutz um roll call vote Please Mr Street yes Miss carinia yes Mr bsha yes M RS yes Mr Rickard yes and Mr bar yes item 5.6 is a request for reappropriation of fiscal year 2023 reimbursable Grant Balance let me try this again I move to approve the request for reappropriation of the 20 FY 2023 reimbursable Grant Balance in the amount of $71,900 second motion has been uh made by Mrs rutz seconded by Mr Rickard um roll call vote Mr Street yes Miss carinia yes Mr gsha yes M RZ yes Mr Ricker yes and Mr bar yes and our final action item is the request for appropriation of new state funds for Mentor teacher Grant I move to approve
137the request for the appropriation of the new State funds for the mentor teacher Grant in the amount of $492 second motion has been made by Mrs rut seconded by Mr gsha over call vote Please Mr stre yes M careno yes Mr gell yes Mr R yes Mr Rickard yes and Mr bar yes you're ready uh to hear the superintendent's monthly reports thank you our students who competed in the Rockingham ruon spelling VI did a great job though they did not win they all did a fantastic job one of the words um that the winner um was given was statistician and that's a really difficult word to spell when you don't have a piece of paper to write it down on first so we're proud of our students um congratulations to the massaut regional governors students
138who won awards at the shenoa Valley Regional science and engineering Fair nine students participated and three of them qualified for State um science fair at ODU in April attendance was down slightly for February we've started another attendance awareness campaign and we are sharing statistics and information on social media and in the Friday update our schools will um continue to find creative ways to encourage attendance the classes with the best attendance at honeyrun elementary school got to see principal burner kiss a cow recently so good luck to all of our CTE students who will be competing at State conferences in April our FCCLA skills USA FBLA FFA um FFA is in June though some competitions occur throughout the spring so looking forward to um acknowledging them in the next couple of um months music the Central
139High School and strawsburg High School musics were wonderful our students and staff always put a lot of hard work into these Productions and it certainly shows Mountain View High School's performance will be in May so Central High School did Beauty and the Beast and strawsburg high school did Mama Mia and they were both fantastic and congratulations to our winter athletic teams in addition to the state's first place winners recognized earlier tonight we had many other athletes at all three high schools who performed well at both the regional and state level so we're proud of them I'll be happy to answer any questions on the reports that are attached to your agenda I have a question sorry um so yeah the the attendance was a little disappointing this last month and after all you guys had
140done I was kind of disappointed to see a little blip especially uh it seemed to especially hit the elementary schools um do we do we that to anything a flu and strap was alive and well okay at all of our elementary maybe not well yeah yeah yeah okay thank you um good good and that brings us to um board member comments has anybody would like to Mrs Ro um I just personally want to thank um the support um I received from my board members and the folks of um this staff um for the cards and the letters the love wishes um on the passing of my mother um it it it was it was needed and I appreciate when those letters came in and text and and I appreciate each one of you you have
141no idea um and I appreciate the patience um my colleagues have been given me um and um some of the public um through a really tough time so I thank you um thank you for um somewhat of a seamless budget uh I mean I I it it moved it was didn't seem as painful to me this time um it but you know the learning curve is coming around and maybe by the time my term is up I'll understand budgets um so um I thank you for that um as far as we've always used this in board Norms as as far as agenda items um I would like to have some information um on the idea and the I think we've touched on it a little bit um in the past is about a 4 day
142school week um you know you want to talk about retaining teachers and getting people to come here if we were the first ones in the state or in the first in in the surounding counties to be able to make to maneuver that to make it work to even probably investigate it would be would be something um so I would like to see if we can pull together some information on that that is all before we move on on that um from that um so um Mr Russ just mentioned an issue that we could take a look at sooner or later uh and as we consider things putting on the agenda is this something that we want this four discussion 4 day school week is this something that you would like to see cast out or
143something you like you you would like to see us I'm talking to you specifically for making the suggestion to put on the agenda I hadn't thought that far Dennis well think think about it at at the mo go ahead you know I I think Mrs Shepard I know we you and I have personally discussed this I know that back there in that corner we have discussed it um I would like to see some motion to it I mean let's actually sit down and actually have a serious conversation about what that would look like the engineering of it would it actually work uh let's talk about the pros and the cons of it it it you know we it would be something that unfortunately we couldn't put into motion fairly fairly quickly it would have to
144be some some forward discussion no but it is something that we could have an information brief cor at some point absolutely feasibility and and and okay thank you and who was next I think Mr Rick had Mr Rick first of all I'm overwhelmingly surprised I thought tonight was really going to be a late night with everything we had on this agenda so kudos to the rest of the school board I thought it went pretty smoothly um I also want to thank all the staff that I've talked to over the past month about this budget um I want to thank the people that have approached me the the staff that I've gone out and met with um it's been a wealth of information um I also want to thank Miss tuing um and her class for
145meeting with me and showing me the issues out at Honey Run uh that being said I wanted to bring to everybody's attention um March 22nd I was asked to share this with the board March 22nd that evening they're having an event uh at Honey Run they're having a silent Art Auction um they're trying to raise money for the school it's for a good cause um I will tell you I saw some of the artwork they put together some uh some um what do you call that cornhole boards that are going to be auctioned off phenomenal um outstanding I will be out of town that weekend but if any of you all can go I'm happy to share the information uh like I said it's Friday March 22nd from 5: to 7:00 at night um any
146of the parents in the county please go out and show them some love show them some support um also I don't know did the rest of you all receive a handwritten letter in the mail from a lady in Fort Valley by the name of Miss Bots then I won't bother sharing that if everybody got the same letter um it's been a long time since I've had a handwritten letter mailed to me uh it was a welcome surprise um so miss Bots if you're watching I appreciate you reaching out to us thank you very much um and thank you to all of you you made tonight painless that's all thank you Mr Mrs carinia these bot is phenomenal she's a great friend so I appreciate her very much I want to thank um Pastor M for
147being here and doing the invocation for us um I also want wanted to thank pastor gowin and chief Sor for being here and speaking on behalf um of the uh student support specialist um I wanted to thank um Dr Shephard for helping me put together this mental health task force um it was a phenomenal success it was I think everybody was very happy with what happened it was a very eye openening um meeting and I know there's a lot of good that can come out of this and hopefully one of those goods is going to be funding this position somehow um but we're going to continue working on that because I think there's a realization that mental health is a huge component of what's hurting our youth right now and um I think it needs
148to be a priority so we'll keep on working on that I also wanted to thank um principal uh Mason and Miss U at ww Robinson um who put together that science fair it was great to see the experiments that the fifth graders were doing um actually learned quite a few things uh so I appreciate doing that as well and um next up I'm going to be reviewing the retaliation policy and Dr Shepherd sent that a a little while ago and we really need to put one together um for our staff and teachers and that's something that comes up quite a bit with our uh teachers so we're going to be working on that um as well as I'm hoping our instruction committee will hopefully be meeting sometime soon and um I said 9:00 but it's
1499:30 so it's not too bad is it so thank you all for for being here today you pointing to him yeah okay go forward Mr street but Gloria I haven't spoke yet that's true apologize no it's not going to be that bad I'm every everybody knows I'm I'm a bottom line person and I just felt it like it is uh the three things I just want to touch on and the one probably should have said ear during the budget but anyway one uh the comment earlier about the transgender policy we're not kicking the can down the road we have as you can see we have to get to the budget stuff uh the time crunch and uh so we're not kicking it you know don't worry we're not kicking it down the road we this
150board will address that and look at it uh two um I understand you know number one the school system it's you know it's all about you know hey teaching and learning that's what we're here for teaching and learning um uh so you know my visits and talking you know I I'm I I want to commend the Dr shepher and and the staff uh for all you do the you know in the Schools administration you know I can you can just I can sense the goal the the the strategy the what they're striving for and and I'm proud of it and so you know the number one it it's about teaching and learning uh the other thing I want to point out um I I want to give praise to to uh Mr Lynn at triplet
151Tech uh was there again recently um he has a lot of good things going on there and uh I'm very proud to what he's doing there what he's leading there um those kids there at triplet Tech um hey not everybody can go to college let's face it you know if everybody you know not everybody is is can go to you know it's fit to go to college and so but those opportunities that he has going on there um and and to uh trade uh so I really I know he's trying to get the community to the businesses to uh to uh to be a part of it to support it and and I'm I'm all for it so you know hopefully I can work with him and we can try to make that even better
152and stronger uh last the budget um and I probably should have said this earlier hey I know I'm the new kid on the Block I get it she reminds me all the time um but so it's nothing new to a lot lot of you around here but but I do want if anybody's paying attention to this meeting I do want you to listen to this part and what I've learned and and and I knew it but until you get involved it it's you really see it you know right in front of you um and I'm just going to say this and it is what it is I'm actually disappointed in some of our levels of government I'm disappointed that we only receive 1.6% of our total budget for the school system from the FED right
153very disappointed in that cuz when I turn on the news I see a lot of money going through the capital being allocated to send you know out of this country hey I'm all for helping you know when I was at guard and uh we were doing a full-fledged Mission with the c5s that's when the earthquake took place in Haiti and all of a sudden we were just you know hey West Virginia National Guard they're they're at a full training they're ready to go let's go so I'm all for yeah let's go to Haiti let's you know let's take the stuff in there that needs to be the supply water you know food things that we just when we leave here it's for granted but I also believe in taking care of us you know right
154here in chandel County um so and in the state um nothing really I don't mean to be negative but hey now we're going to receive 1 point I don't know 8 1.9 million less than what we're supposed to get uh because of this formula that you know it's kind of like we we did well but now we're going to be uh reprimanded for doing well is one way to look at it so a little disappointed there what I'm getting at is it's pretty I think it's pretty easy for the fed and the state to pass the buck so who I feel sorry for is is the shano County Board of Supervisors because they're they're in a no- win situation everyone pass the buck It's On The Board of Supervisors and so I kind of feel
155you know I want people to realize you know they they're the ones that's in a tough spot because now all the fingers are pointing to them and you know and and and we heard earlier that's why I asked I just wanted to make it out there who funded carage program well that's another example of here's some money but we're going to stop giving it to you now now who's it up to well Board of Supervisors kind of it all goes back to them my point is I just want people to realize that before you um think talk whatever you know remember everybody's kind of in a way past the buck and and and I feel you know that group is in a tough spot because how are they going to you know no matter what
156they do it's it's it's it's you know darn if you do darn if you don't whatever you want to call it so anyway I just wanted to point out there that um that's the reality and uh hopefully we can um make things hopefully we can just somehow figure out how to make it work that's all thanks Tom I'd like to thank Dr Shephard and Angie and everyone who made the put the budget together um obviously you know something that takes a long time to make this work big budget book but do appreciate that um other thing was I got to go to ww Robinson again a couple weeks ago um it was I guess for Schoolboard appreciation month and um went around and saw some of the activities that they were doing I went to
157the art room which I'm off with art but I was trying to be creative and do something so um got to make some figures out of don't even know what the things were but it was something different um and while I was there they gave gave me t-shirts to bring here so while Mr Barlo speaks I'm going to run out to the car and bring every one in their ww Robinson t-shirt so I don't forget them um and you can wear it tomorrow in the heat with short sleeve shirt so I guess I know where I stand if you're going to go get the shirt just due to time constraint there you go you didn't beat Princess D however I want you to know that Princess D once spoke at a at a place where
158I was going to speak next room had 3,000 people in it when she finished speaking and left it was it was landmines you she picked up and left everybody went with including the technicians and the lights I was there in the dark ready to give my presentation so anyway Princess D did a better job than Kyle upstaging anyway um we've had some acrimony on this board and uh one of the members once described this group as the Dream Team and we first uh all got elected uh and I I think that appellation can still work and I saw some good um some good uh behaviors and some good professionalism this last month that indicates that we can get on track and have been on track uh to do this and I've seen individual school school
159board actions that I have not seen with other other school boards and um Tom has opened doors with individual members of the Board of Supervisors uh we've had uh we had Mike get together with uh with various teachers and and others uh to been a whirlwind going all around to places and it's been done the right way and there is a right way to let the system know that you're going to visit people and when you visit them you you're not you're not just springing them on and and what I think is good about this this group is you're asking for honest dialogue and uh even in the midst of a lot of personal turmoil Brandy still is Brandy asking the tough questions the important questions on the budget and uh and I I I
160really appreciate her uh doing that and um I tell people they don't believe it but you're a force of moderation in my life that tells you how how things are you got to get out more yeah yeah I got to get out more Europe um um one qu one thing I wanted to say was keep looking at these donations every week they're so cool so many people give so much money uh to uh to the school system I mean um companies and people and churches and um art repair and uh public officials and um we have to do something more to publicize because I mean I'm I'm I'm going to do business with these guys more you know the businesses and so forth but it's really I open to see how many people contribute to
161our school system uh it's it's heartwarming and I think it's kind of too bad we we we we kind of hide this I mean you can drill down and see it but you shouldn't have to drill down and see people giving of themselves so selflessly so good for those folks and maybe we should uh we should do more about publicizing that are you're back good you're not giving that to church yet thank you Mr Hensley for letting me back in the front door was locked so um the um I'll let the budget speak for itself I'll leave it alone except to say that um um I said a couple years ago and I was the Grinch the last couple of times anyway it's uh easy to give away other people's money and and look very
162generous when you're doing it and so I actually appreciate putting the breakes on on some of these things and living in sense of reality and priorities because all of life is priorities and and trying to figure out those things that that should be um funded uh and in context with what the folks in our communities can can afford to pay so uh I I think it's important that we continue to be to do OverWatch and I want to give a shout out to Mr gut Shaw for having the guts to do that um we will be discussing at our next meeting uh the Norms reviewing those that's on the docket just want you to know that um I'm asking that we do discuss the uh concept of where we go from here on Career and
163Technical education uh because there's money and opportunities out there if we can figure uh Cutting Edge technologies that we want to come in and and build upon I do think that we are building bridges to other folks I I want to give a shout out to Mrs Carino for um the uh the mental health task force there's nobody attended that meeting that wasn't impressed with what you and and Dr Shepard presented and how you ran the meeting and it was apparently a real tour to force and and I think that's a good segue for us to work not only closer with the board uh but also other agencies not just government agencies in our in our County and so uh if you know we're the 800lb gorilla then you know maybe we should use some
164of that some of that muscle to try to bring some folks together um and uh went kind of under the radar but we have uh the task of of reviewing policies uh and making sure that they are meet are up to up to speed and and we do that regularly and um Dr hin Gardner uh has created a really great system to allow those those of us in the committee uh to go through quickly and not I'm making up a a figure here but I'd say um if it would take 20 hours to go through all those things and and review them he has created a a tool for us to be able to do that in probably a couple hours and being as lazy as I am that's good news for me but so
165I want to appreciate the I know you don't have to do that but the fact that you do it makes it so much more effective for us and of course as he was doing that Dr Shepard was right there making sure everything was happening just right because you can't keep her out of a meeting if even if you try so it doesn't work anyway um and I guess we should remind ourselves that there can be some tweaking of this budget as of next month and so we ought to be watching what the Board of Supervisors are doing and ready to make any adjustments that we feel are uh necessary at that point so um as Yogi would say it ain't over to the fat lady say so is that what he said something like that
166help me out here all right uh with that I'm glad you're laughing see thank you okay um I will uh entertain a motion and you've been Joe you've been very patient with us and we needed you so thanks for coming anyway I will entertain a motion for adjournment move to adjourn second with no discussion I hereby adjourn the meeting at 9:44 in the PM e