SCPS School Board Meeting 01/11/2024

001well good evening I would like to uh call to order the uh January 11th 2024 uh regular school board meeting uh for shinoa County and um the first order business is to um ask Madam superintendent if you have any suggestions I do thank you I recommend the shanid County School Board convene a closed meeting under the Virginia freedom of Information Act in order to discuss and consider sever several Personnel matters involving the assignment appointment promotion performance demotion salary discipline or resignation under Virginia 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 and to have a briefing by staff members or Consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation where such consult consultation

002or briefing an open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of shanida County Public Schools under Virginia code 22- A7 do I have a motion to that effect yes Mr chairman I moveed at the shano County School Board conven a closed meeting under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act in order to discuss and consider several Personnel matters including the assignment appointment promotion performance demotion salary discipline or resignation under Virginia 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 Under Virginia code 22- 3711 A2 and to have a briefing by staff members or Consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation where such consultation or briefing and open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of

003shinida County Public Schools under Virginia code 22- 3711 A7 at second okay the uh motion was made by Mr G shaww and seconded by Mrs rutz there any discussion all in flavor favor of convening in Clos session say I I I opposed reconvene in Clos session so I would like to entertain a motion to reconvene an open session I move to reconvene an open session as second motion has been made by Mr Guta and seconded by Mrs rutz that we Recon Recon we conven in session uh all those in favor say I I I opposed and um we need a a motion to um to certify the Clos meeting or I do I just do the uh call you need to read that statement okay but I don't have to make a motion to okay

004thank you the shinoa County School Board hereby certifies by roll call vote that to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully Exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies and two only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the shenell County School Board each member responds ISO certify when called Mr is certified m caria i so certify Mr v i so certify Mr r i so certify Mr rer IO certify Mr bar IO certify at this point um we'll have um the invocation and the pledge um just like to say a word before before we do that that it's been a rich tradition of this um

005school board for years to have such uh invocation and uh I think we are fortunate in being able to uh have such devotionals and inspiration from Schoolboard members and uh also to draw upon uh the clergy in our community who often come and and do these so I think those are both really good sources we have to have um such a such a way to to begin our meeting so uh what I propose we do in the future is to uh just go by District 1 2 3 4 5 6 January through June and then begin again uh and that uh places me on me a hot seat for tonight so uh I'll I'll begin the invocation and then we'll have the pledge to the flag so uh join with me in prayer if you

006will father we do thank you for this time together we thank you for this beautiful County and this wonderful country of ours we pray that you um be with this uh school system as we educate the children we do the best for them for their parents for the stakeholders and indeed for the entire country by raising up those who should learn in a proper fashion in a positive fashion uh we remember as Paul told us to to concentrate on the positive things the good things the wonderful things and they're happening around about us we thank you for such dedicated staff and such dedicated faculty and uh support Personnel up and down the line we thank you so much for them we ask father that you be with us tonight that your spirit lead us to

007wisdom uh to discernment uh and to uh an understanding that we would be effective at at serving these children uh the best way we can we pray it in your name amen amen please also join me in say I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all do I hear a motion to approve the agenda as it has been presented and move as presented I'm sorry I said I move to to approve the agenda as presented okay second okay so the motion has been made by Mrs rutz and um and seconded by Miss Mrs D careno and uh so all those in favor say I I any opposed all right tonight uh we're

008having two sessions for a public comments and uh as you noticed or should have noticed when you came in there is there were two sign and sheets we want to make these two sets uh discret um so if so the first one we're going to take is those comments that have to do with uh the budget and um and then when those are complete then we'll take comments on other topics so um we have a list of people who signed up for the you don't have any signed up for pre-budget okay all right well I will say this about the budget it's uh the budget season will be upon us very quickly uh sometimes almost always it seems like uh we try to Crunch the numbers too late and we try to think of things

009uh when we're coming down uh to the finish line so I would uh urge those on the board as well as those comments to make about the budget to um make your feelings known early and with that uh we will move into um public and staff comments on um agenda and non-agenda items and so I will just go down the list as it has been presented here and um I I have to read all this right yeah okay so um so the ground rules sheno County School Board welcomes public comment during most regular meetings and during public hearings school board members do not respond to public comments during the meeting or hearing each speaker may speak up to three minutes the board generally allows up to 30 minutes for public comments on agenda and non-agenda

010items 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 all comment should address a matter related to sheno County Public Schools complaints regarding division employees should be directed to the school principal or an appropriate School Division official the school board expects that each speaker will be courteous modeling for our students how one can respectfully disagree with others views speakers will address their comments to the entire school board and not to one individual board member to the superintendent to a staff member nor to the audience speakers will not engage in personal attacks speakers May sign up to speak at the Schoolboard meeting or public hearing on a document provided by the clerk

011you signed others are called in the um speakers are called in the order in which they're signed up if time allows the chair may allow comments from individuals who have not signed up a speaker may not speak more than once on a specific topic speakers who wish to speak on more than one topic must submit a separate request for each item so with that um Mr Skipper thank you good evening and happy New Year I come before you tonight to express my deep concerns and opposition to the pending lgbtq policy resolution presented for consideration well I fully appreci apprciate the need to protect parental rights and uphold constitutional principles it is crucial to recognize the significant shortcomings and potential harm that this policy could inflict Upon Our transgender students in the broader School Community first

012and foremost this policy places undue emphasis on biological sex as the sole determinant for participation in school activities and Facilities by failing to acknowledge and respect the gender identity of transgender transgendered uh students we risk creating an environment where they face discrimination and exclusion this directly contradicts the core principles of equality and non-discrimination enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution furthermore this policy's insistence on using names and pronouns based solely on biological sex has the potential to subject transgender students to harassment and bullying we must prioritize creating a safe and supportive learning environment for all students regardless of their gender identity numerous studies and medical experts have emphasized the importance of affirming a student's gender identity Pro to protect their mental and emotional well-being legally adopting this policy exposes the school board to potential

013lawsuits and liabilities courts across the country have consistently ruled in favor of transgender student rights to be treated in accordance with their General uh gender identity ignoring these legal precedents could have costly consequences as seen most recently in the 1.7 million dooll award to Gavin Grim in his litigation against the Glouster County School Board a case the Supreme Court of the United States has declined to review more importantly we must consider the adverse impact of this policy on our students well-being it risks further isolating transgender students and will make them feel marginalized and unwelcome instead we should foster an inclusive School culture where all students feel respected and valued regardless of their gender identity I note that religion is cited frequently and is being used as a cudel here but the Bible is quite clear

014in teaching unqualified love and acceptance of all of God's children I urge you to read Galatians 3:28 it reads quote there is neither Jew nor Gentile neither slave nor free nor is there male and female for all of you are one in Christ Jesus in conclusion I respect the importance of parental rights and constitutional princi principles supremely and I believe this policy resolution spes places your rights above the rights and well-being of our transgender students their parents and our constitution it can harm our students emotionally academically and legally instead let's focus on policies that promote inclusive inclusivity respect and support for all members of our school Community thank you thank you Mr Skipper appreciate it Chris Lawson Hi how are you all my name is Christina Lawson and my pronouns are she her I'm here

015as a member of P flag Woodstock to comment on your draft resolution regarding gender identity on your website it states the shanadoo County School Board is committed to providing equal opportunity for every student that statement is laughable in the face of this proposed resolution how is the targeting and shaming of a small group of minority students anything other than government sanctioned discrimination and bullying what happened to equal protection under the law where and how will transgender and non-binary students receive their equal opportunity you state that you want every student to achieve maximum intellectual social and emotional growth it's been well documented Ed that children learn better in a safe nurturing environment where they feel valued and understood this resolution will dictate that transgender and non-binary children and adults have no value and no place in

016your school system you must prepare your student body for the world outside of shanadoa county in order to be competent in higher education and the workplace you must expose them to other people and cultures trying to hide transgender and non-binary students may fit your personal narrative but does not help students become well-rounded members of society the last paragraph of this resolution indicates that there will be no punitive action taken against teachers students and staff who bully transgender and non-binary students by misgendering and not using their preferred names and pronouns this resolution provides the mechanism for open harassment of LGBT q students I'll make an appeal to the broader Community to the parents grandparents and community members that don't think it's right to shame and punish students for something they cannot control to those who don't

017think it's right for elected officials to have more say in these children's lives than parents and medical professionals lgbtq students are four times more likely to attempt suicide compared to their straight peers poor treatment and bullying has shown to be a significant risk factor affirming and inclusive schools should be everyone's goal I appeal to the business Community including the Chamber of Commerce and economic development team shanadoa County markets its educated Workforce and quality of life to developers and corporations the passing of this resolution sends the message not everyone is welcome in our community school is meant to be a safe space for all students we must create an environment where all children can live learn and Thrive to lgbtq young people I say You are not alone there is no shame and you have done

018nothing wrong thank Youk you Randy Gilbert and a very happy 2024 to all of you uh this is really a great board and I appreciate all the service you guys are doing uh I just really thank you for for putting together a resolution that uh we have before us and I really do think that it's as important as the one that a couple years ago we put together for uh what would be our Second Amendment and gun rights uh it was unanimously approved and I just recommend that you guys uh would follow suit and approve this uh and there's a bigger issue that all of us have to uh to look at uh in and what's happening uh throughout our school system and and one of the reasons why I believe that you guys are

019are uh elected to to to represent us and Dennis thank you so much for representing in the the first district I really appreciate all the work that you've done uh for all of you uh in uh in putting in the time and the resources uh what what we see happening uh across the country and certainly across the world uh is a degradation in following what is really known as the rule of law uh there there seems to be a pushing uh and it's going through uh all all all parts of our society including education to uh to to throw away what is real science uh to just make it be where we have opinions that uh uh and of course they're opinions of professional people but but there're still just opinions and not really uh

020science uh that's being taught uh and and what is being encouraged through uh through the school system and uh and and certainly uh What uh what what is a science is that we we all we all came from parents we all came from mothers there are no no no men that uh uh you know had any child born to them uh this is you know one of those things that's a part of Science and but mother and father uh they are the ones that have the the real responsibility uh for education and they're putting a huge amount of trust uh in people like yourselves uh who represent on the school board now uh to protect their rights uh and it needs to go All the Way Beyond just this uh resolution it needs to be

021a basically a a brick wall uh that that we have put up uh that we don't go any further than what we've gone now uh in trying to basically uh tell people tell children uh you know that uh that what what the actual science is is not true uh it's it's a wrong thing to to do to them um let let's stick with being able toh to teach them the the reading writing arithmetic uh it is one of those things it's a truism that both my wife and I have lived our lives uh in in suppor of with the schools is uh you you teach that child how to read uh and they'll be able to read to learn and especially if they got good good books in their in their libraries too uh thank

022you very much for your time again thank you for your service Carol I'm going to need some help with your last last name balac balac thank you hi thank you so much for the opportunity to speak my name is Cara Balzac um I live in District 3 and I'm also here to comment on the proposed policies on gender identity propo policy G3 in the proposed policy addresses bathroom use and it states quote students shall use bathrooms that correspond to his or her sex and I noticed that this is actually a departure from what the uh Virginia Department of Education and Governor yunan put forth in their model policies the model policy actually reads quote students shall use bathrooms that correspond to his or her sex except to the extent that federal law otherwise requires C

023Grim versus the Gloucester County School Board end quote as you may know in that court case a transgender boy Gavin Grim sued the school after he was denied access to the boy's bathroom the case was in litigation for six years and went all the way to the Supreme Court which found that the school board was in the wrong that they were discriminating against the student because of his transgender status and that this was a violation of Title 9 which prohibits sex discrimination in schools the court found that providing the student with an alternate single occupancy bathroom was not sufficient and that he should be allowed to use the boy's bathroom and in the end the school board was ordered to pay over $1 million I'm here to ask that you follow Governor yonan's model language

024and ensure that the County's bathroom policy aligns with the Supreme Court requirements failing to do this could expose our our County to significant Financial Risk additionally this case is important to look at because it offers a glimpse into the experience that transgender students can have here in Virginia the school's refusal to use Gavin's name refusal to identify him as a boy and refusal to let him use the boy's bathroom contributed to his depression and to his hospitalization for suicidal thoughts and this is not unusual the National Institute of Health has reported that 82% of transgender people have considered killing themselves 82% and 40% have even attempted suicide these suicide rates drop when transgender people are able to live openly and have their gender accepted by the people around them I hope that hearing these statistics

025can plant some seeds of compassion and those of you who may not currently support the transgender youth in our community but if not I hope that at least you will consider the legal and financial ramifications of the policies that you're considering it's important to avoid putting our County at the kind of immense Financial Risk that gler County faced and in light of that I hope that you will adopt the state's recommended policy that requires alignment with this Supreme Court decision thank you Eric baller SEC hi um I appreciate the time thank you for allowing me to speak um I'm not going to be quite as polished um I don't have uh notes in front of me but I do want to speak uh very clearly if I can about language and uh I'm going to

026use some words right now that is probably going to confuse you probably going to frustrate you maybe even irritate you but I'll get to my point in just a second one that ail the sh the Dr of March and of which verer and you might be going what is this guy saying well I am using your language I am using English English the fact is that the English language has changed it adopts we adopt to it we make the English language what it needs to be so when we talk about pronouns for people this is just a matter of respect it's a matter of dignity we should not really worry about it and the thing is we use it all the time we use it right now you use it right now when you see

027something missing on the ground you don't say that belongs to her or to him you say I wonder who they are it's a very natural very simple thing to do and to do that with people who don't identify as being male or female and to use another pronoun it's a matter of respect and the other thing to consider is that trans people have been with us since there have been people and it is only now that we are seeing those people and being and paying attention to them and with that seeing there becomes more scrutiny so that is a benefit to the trans people but it also can be harmful let's not let it be harmful let's let it be respectful let's provide them the dignity that they deserve we use ways to distinguish so

028many things other than people and we do it very simply we do it very easily what is the harm what does it take away from you to use the pronouns that people have asked you to use nothing so I ask you when you look at this language that you're proposing consider that and I would say if you want to respect if you want to provide dignity if you want to provide a loving caring environment that you will consider the use of pronouns thank you Levi Miller good evening everyone so I come before you today um I was born and raised here in shanoa County shouldn't matter but I know it does to a lot of people I've had three kids graduate from Central High School in the last four years and I have another one

029that's approaching school age here in about two years so you could say that I'm pretty invested in not only our community but also our school system and I'm also standing in front of you tonight as a transgender man one who gets up and goes to work every single day to pay my bills and to take care of my family we like to go hiking find new places to vacation in what little spare time that I do have as a man with a family I enjoy Woodworking and Building Things I'm not so different from everyone else here in this room tonight even though resolutions like the one on the agenda tonight like to paint a picture that I am do you have any idea how exhausting it is for me as a transgender man to come

030and stand before a group of people who don't believe that people like me exist or should exist and then to try to convince you that you shouldn't pass a resolution that allows the Discrimination of transend students in 2021 the US Department of Education confirmed that title 9 extends to include gender identity and its prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sex so it's not lost on me that you want to give this County a sanctuary status given that this resolution as well as the model policies put forth by the Virginia Department of Education are both in direct violation of federal law and personal feelings aside this resolution opens up our County to significant financial risk not only in the form of lawsuits but also in the potential loss of federal funding and as a citizen

031of this County and as a father of a child who would also suffer as a result I would much rather my tax dollars go to program and resolutions that Empower and uplift our children not to defend ones that tear them down and belittle them thank you Rhonda zingraff good evening I'm asking you to not approve this policy as currently written I'm asking as an ally of people who identify as lgbtq q and then face minority status misunderstanding and social exclusion I agree that you need a gender identity policy and I see some benefits in this one lgbtq students are protected from bullying and harassment and are freed from sex-based dress codes if they are lesbian or gay they may participate in athletic programs with their same seex peers and they're not under Fire for their

032pronouns but they face harm ful limits on what they can learn and services that they can access unless they're considered a suicide risk they can't be canell at school without parental approval even if Parental rejection is the reason they need help so the support for lesbian or gay students is very thin even though they could avoid the most in position which is directed actually at the bisexual transgender and queer questioning students this policy is not helpful for them especially sections GH and I under policy under policies in appendix a they are clearly anti-trans and antagonistic to anyone not in cookie cutter compliance with their sex at Birth the human rights failures embedded in this and exposure to legal and financial liabilities really need to be resolved I hope you will do that and in revision

033please stop using constitutional religious rights to Shield the prejudices of some number of people I've always known people who disparaged lgbtq people based on their religious beliefs that's their private judgment but it's wrong for Public Policy to subordinate the rest of us to them the Constitution protects my religious freedom too and in my Christian denomination we are open and affirming people this policy imposes restrictions on our religion those of us who follow Jesus in caring for the people who need a Good Samaritan lastly Sanctuary protects vulnerable people and most vulnerable in this context are the lgbtq people who are targeted by this policy sexual insult and aggression comes overwhelmingly from heterosexual males this is about Sanctuary from that it's about protecting perspectives that are out of step with freedom and human rights it's not a

034child protection policy it's a Prejudice protection policy Dennis Atwood good evening chair Barlo board members superintendent Shephard I'm Dennis Atwood up from mortown I've already addressed last year your library media selection policy and I still find that it is intrusive and it is unnecessary uh and and it's ideologically based so I want to talk about both 5.5 on the agenda and 5.7 there were already in the school systems policy manual carefully written policies and procedures to deal with these matters including concerns of parents they could opt out of a book being made available to their child that's already in place what you have done is proposed ideologically based policies which will interfere with the professional work of our faculty and staff and efforts to meet all of our students needs well I hope you will

035of course pay attention to some of the things I say you need not really pay attention to my original thoughts but I do urge you to pay attention to some of the resources or references I'm going to identify here as they're intended for your benefit and the benefit of the school system excuse me dry call off I hope you practice lifelong learning and I should have bought a bottle of water here oh thank you so much I hope that helps thank you br I recommend access on your own time and privacy if you wish a collection of Ted talks the subject of the collection of TED Talks is celebrating and deconstructing the gender Spectrum celebrating and deconstructing the gender Spectrum point one is that it is indeed a spectrum because a person hasn't experienced a

036person of another gender expression doesn't mean they're not valid and don't exist Ted means originally technology entertainment and design started 39 years ago as a global informational and educational audiences they're out there on YouTube so what are superintendent Shephard's priorities well there's five goals in the Strategic plan and I'd ask you to consider which of those goals do your proposed policies here further I think there's not much I mentioned just one abiding problem that's bother me for quite a while why do our teachers have to pay for their own instructional materials for their classroom it's ridiculous it's amazingly bad you should address that budget item as you get started on your budget so I urge you to correct your navigation in line with the superintendent strategic plan thank you so much Richard and by the

037way we can't hear this thing's not working good evening chairman Barlo board members and superintendent shepher thank you for allowing me to speak my name is Ronda Richard and I live in quicksburg congratulations to the new board members and continuing thank you to all the previous board members that are still sitting for your dedication and service Cent County Public Schools this board is now in a position to step back and look at the events that have transpired over the last 3 years with Co being a key factor to those events let me name a few mental health issues are on the rise with our students riseing drug use and addiction is on the rise loss of personnel even with five and five and 6% pay raises lack of lack or loss of discipline within our

038schools loss of accountability loss of transparency loss of support for teachers and staff to just name a few isn't it now isn't it now the time for this board to take a look back and fix the issues within within our school system and hold people accountable for their actions thank you Charles Street good evening I hope everyone is well elected school board members superintendent Dr Melody Shephard thank you for allowing me to speak tonight first I hope everyone had a wonderful and joyful holiday break second I would like to personally thank you melody for your support our family appreciates you taking time valuable time to give to others third I would like to congratulate the new board members on a very successful campaign congratulations chair Dennis Barlo and vice chair Kyle gut Shaw I'm excited

039with anticipation in what this board can accomplish the people's voices have been finally heard and hopefully correct the past wrongdoings thank you for your time Steve hman may we start off with a moment of silence uh for the uh Tom Street family in their recent loss amen school board members Dr Shephard thank you all for allowing me to uh have my voice heard this evening I'm Steve hman District 2 and I live out in the conicville area a big Happy New Year to uh you and the entire staff and employees of the shandle County Public Schools it's good always to hear that the weekly religious education program is doing well and holding steady the students participating in the program have now an A more of an idea of the real reason for the Christmas season

040in the birth of Jesus Christ I want to congratulate the new uh school board members on their election win we live in a republic in this country we recite that every time we say the Pledge of Allegiance which is a government of the People by the people and of course for the people three years ago during the covid event uh on some school issues the people's voice was not allowed to be heard Andor it was ignored that November the people's Voice Was Heard at The Ballot Box and three new school board members were elected by Landslide election results last year the school board once again would not allow the voice of the people to be heard on different items and topics and the uh V their voices were heard again in November uh where they

041spoke loud and clear at The Ballot Box El electing three new board members in a massive Landslide election that could also be looked at as a tsunami the people of this County have had enough and have spoken loud and clear the school board has management and business and employee decisions that need to be made and but it's also critical that we listen to the voice of the people in your prospective districts that voted you into office I myself am very excited about this fresh new school board and everyone uh working together fixing concerned areas making shannond County Schools a great place for citizens to work and for students to learn thank you very much that says end of the uh the list of folks who've signed up is there anybody who wants to take the

042floor hi guys thanks for allowing me to be here um for those of you I need you to stay here I'm getting ready to okay thank um for those of you who don't know me I'm up here a lot my name is Sarah gimple um I have two daughters in strawsburg schools uh one's a freshman one's a third grader and I wasn't planning on speaking this evening I actually wasn't even going to be here this evening um but it seems like there's always a good time at the school board meetings um so this gender policy that's come out you know we keep hearing about inclusivity inclusivity and I think what we keep forgetting is by saying that we need to be inclusive of transgenders we keep forgetting our our girls um I have two daughters

043uh as you you know you've seen in Lowden County these policies they don't work because this just wide open gives boys free free range to say hey I I'm identifying as a girl today let me walk in into the locker room with your daughters and we've seen it happen we've seen the rapes all across the country I'm not saying we shouldn't be fair to anyone who identifies however they want to identify but we need to be protecting our kids we need to be protecting our our daughters we need to make sure that we're taking into account their needs um and and just overall I'm kind of Blown Away that we've gotten to this point that we've gotten to the point where a very small minority with mental illness is now taking over the majority um

044and so you know great policy I'm glad we're getting back to Common Sense policies um I I just want to say thank you for everything you all do um again I wasn't planning on speaking but I just wanted to come up and say thanks for thanks for trying to protect my girls thank you this point we're going to move to the uh consent agenda we've be taking a look at the minutes the donations Urban Night Trips Etc uh do I hear a motion to approve the uh following consent agenda items I move to approve the consent agenda as presented second so we have a motion on the floor from um Mr Guta to approve the consent items that's listed and uh then we have a second from Tom street is there any discussion all in

045favor of the motion say I I opposed with that we will move into the instructional agenda and uh Mr Hy you're out there somewhere good evening Mr chairman members of the board Dr shepher thank you for giving me the opportunity to share with you our results which have not come up yet they're in front of me tonight I'd like to share with you our preliminary accreditation results that we did we took our Assessments in December after our first semester and what I'd like to share with you today is a comparison from last year in December to a comparison this year in December when we started out the year we knew that there's areas that we wanted to work on and hopefully I can point out in this data the areas that we were working on

046you can see growth in those areas two of those areas are science and history that we really need to have some growth within the areas as you know the Virginia stands are learning the S sols they test in English Math Science History and we do it at the end of the semester or a full year course so we just finished our semester courses so we did our so tests this December the first slide I have are Middle Screw if you look green is good that means we're going up red means we may have slid a little bit sometimes that happens we go back we look at the data and we see what happens but if you look at our middle schools and look at the fall of 22 to the fall of 23 results you

047can see that we've made significant in increases in some schools but all schools have made increases in some subjects in science and history so if we look that in a bar graph for our Science and History we need to get a 70% Prof rate as you can see if you look at the fall of 22 the winter it's in light green you can see that we all went up in history except for one school Peter millberg they had a slight Decline and also in science we had significant increases and I contribute that to the hard work that our teachers have put in this summer they met together they worked on curriculum they looked at curriculum Frameworks and making sure the resources that we have match what should be taught in classes what's going to be

048tested when we look at high school high school is a little bit different uh you have various students taken in the first semester various students taking the second semester some students uh such as math they may be retesting they may be doing a geometry class because maybe they didn't pass algebra so it may be a second time test for them because they didn't pass their algebra so the numbers we have overall data and percentages but the number of students within classes may be small like geometry you may have a smaller group of stud students taking the assessment than what would be in algebra as you can see across our schools we did have increases there are areas that we had decreases so in English you have to have a 75% proficiency rate all the others

049are 70 so you can see where we went down even though it's red it doesn't mean we're below the proficiency rate it just means that we declined in our proficiency from the year before if we look at that in a bar graph this is our three schools you can see that in science and history our high schools also make growth our high school teachers work this summer also and also in our PD days on their curriculum and modified assignments modified the information they're providing to students so we can see that the things that we're doing is working and we're all working towards that proficiency line but we want to get Beyond obviously that's our fall report I know it's short any questions will you send this to us absolutely I think it's going to be

050posted after the board meeting C thank you if you have any questions before fre you call thank you thank you hey we will be moving into the informational agenda and the first uh item there is the um request increase uh operational budget by um $110,000 G we don't usually hear about those that amount but that's well we're trying to stay transparent um and it's it's always good to bring um dollars that our our people are going out there and um requesting um um finding finding funding so um on January 2nd of this year year we um received $10,000 um distributed by the Commonwealth of Virginia these additional funds are provided to encourage and insist assist our teachers in pursuing dual enrollment courses needed to become dual enrollment instructors um and teach these courses to our

051students we're providing this for information and it will be on your agenda um for Action in February any questions is this uh something you will continue to see um actually Chad is this something that you'll continue to work with this was the um dual enrollment Grant uh if it's available it was made available it came through the state department uh through Chev and I applied for it so anytime they make funds available we'll apply for do they what what uh drives them to make it available do we have any ideas I'm not sure so you keep your antenna open I just I just received the email okay thought and this this amount deals with two teachers teachers two teachers and we do um we do have staff I think I've said it before um but

052for the new members um we have a lot of staff that pursue um grant opportunities and things like that so um we don't have a grant writer on staff um but we have we have faculty and staff that that pursue those needs so thanks thank all right 5.2 is uh the revised instructional calendar Dr Shephard thank you in order to accommodate the primary election scheduled for March the 5th it is recommended that March 5th become a parent teacher conference day with no school for students that was scheduled for March 11th and March 11th become a regular school day both strawsburg high school and Central High School are designated voting precincts since this is a time sensitive um matter the recommendation is for approval at the school board meeting I know that school board me members

053received an email from a teacher asking to make um March 5th a teacher work day as well as March leave March 11th as a parent teacher conference day the elementary teacher mentioned the need for additional time to prepare for parent teacher conferences I understand the need for teachers to have additional planning time to prepare for conferences and student learning however at this time of year it's a difficult to determine the number of days that we're going to miss for weather and since we missed uh Tuesday we are already into um teaching hours versus um calendar day so uh policy ICI requires the school year to be at least 180 teaching days or 990 teaching hours our school calendar does not have any built-in weather days and with the weather we missed on Tuesday January 9th

054we are currently at 179 days so we will revert to teaching hours we have extra hours built into our school day to allow us to miss several days due to weather without having to add time or extend the school year over the last 10 years we have missed an average of seven days of school due to weather however there's been years that we've missed 16 days as many as 16 days and years that we've missed as few as three days so since we're at the beginning of the weather season my recommendation is that March 5th become a parent teacher conference day with no school for students and March Mar 11th become a regular school day um I do understand though the need for our especially our elementary school teachers to have additional planning um planning

055time for student learning we have to answer any questions how many days do we have built in for weather so we have no days built in for weather however since we're on um teaching hours we can um Miss up to 10 days and not have to add any additional time or um days at the end of the year so students are um students in elementary school are um need to have 680 hours of instructional time in English Math Science and History and social sciences and we can count some recess but it can't be over 15% of the total so it's a complex you know um formula and we have to take the school that has the least amount of time and factor that into it so we can miss up to 10 days and not

056have to add any time or um or days at the end of the year what would the possibility be to meet the teachers halfway and make March 5th a half day I'm sorry I didn't hear what you said what's the possibility of making March 5th half a day that way the students go to school half day the teachers have the rest of the have to prepare for parent teacher conferences that could be a consideration and that's uh we're because of the time constraint we do want to take this up for Action tonight and if that's if that's something you want to put on the table we can do that when it comes for action the uh next information is a modification to the school board policy BCE uh the school board committees Dr Shephard Mr

057chair is that last conversation still open when we take action later so there'll be a a first motion there'll be a a motion and then a second and then there'll be time for discussion okay to to include any any amendments so policy BCE School Board committee states that the shanida County school board has the following committees buildings and grounds finance and budget instruction insurance and employee benefits Personnel policy review and transportation um the original recommendation was to dissolve the insurance and employee benefits committee and the Personnel committee and to add the special education advisory committee and Career and Technical education committee um attached to the agenda item our list for all of those committees um I believe the recommendation at this point is going to change um but um the recommendation is to approve this

058this evening this policy this evening so that the school board uh committee membership can be determined because there is one committee on one of our lists that need needs to be appointed tonight and it's the starns um because there's a meeting next I think it's next Friday be happy to answer any questions so just as with the last item we'll discuss uh this and can put it in form of motion and we can we can change the motion as well that point looks like it's it's a good time to talk about the starns so you can about that one so the shanid County School Board appoints trustees to the starns education trust and sets the term and conditions for which the trustees will continue to serve um for the trust past School Board member and

059Trustee of the Stars educational trust Andrew Keller did not seek a second term to the office therefore at the January 11th this meeting the recommendation is for the school board to appoint a trustee to the meel Mary Ellen and Donald D star's educ trust and app and approve the resolution setting terms and conditions for the trust at the January 2nd School Board organizational meeting Kyle gut Shaw um District 4 School Board member was proposed as the Starr trustee attached below attached to this agenda item is the resolution setting the terms and conditions and appointing trustees to the me uh Mary Ellen and Donald D star's education trust and then there was also a copy of the star's last willm Tes the next meeting of the starns education trust is scheduled for Friday January 19th at

060300 p.m. be happy to answer any questions and this also will be an action item in the next next moving on to policy uh 5.5 policy on ensuring privacy dignity and respect for all students and parents Dr shepher thank you at the January 2nd School Board organizational meeting two school board members requested adding information on thees on ensuring privacy dignity dignity and respect for all students and parents in Virginia's public schools and propos resolution and revisions to the and proposed a resolution and revisions to the model policies for the January 11th school board meeting attached to the agenda item are the model policies in the proposed resolution and revisions the model policy for the treatment of transgender students in public elementary and secondary schools was developed in response to House Bill 145 and Senate Bill

061161 enacted by the 2020 Virginia General Assembly the Virginia code 221-233 treatment of transgender students states that the Department of Education shall develop and make available to each School Board model policies concerning the treatment of transgender students in public elementary and secondary schools that address common issues regarding transgender students in accordance with evidence-based practices and include information guidance procedures and standards relating to compliance with applicable non-discrimination laws maintenance of a safe and supporting learning environment for all students prevention of in response to bullying and harassment maintenance of Student Records identification of students protection of student privacy and confidential ity of sensitive information enforcement of sex based dress codes and the student participation in sex specific school activities and events and use of the school facilities the code goes on to say that each School Board

062shall adopt policies that are consistent with but may may be more comprehensive than the model policy developed by the Virginia Department of Education the 2021 model policies were adopted by the Virginia Department of Education on Mark Mar 4th 2021 after 2021 model policies were adopted the shinida County School Board reviewed our existing policies on non-discrimination character education equal educational opportunities non-discrimination prohibition against harassment and retaliation among other policies and determined that the current policies at that time met the code of Virginia on July 18th 2023 the Virginia Department of Education issued a new model policies on ensuring privacy dignity and respect for all students and parents in Virginia's public schools the Virginia Department of education's model policies are attached to the this agenda item local school boards must adopt policies that are at a minimum

063consistent with the 2023 model policies local school boards May adopt policies that are more comprehensive than the polic the 2023 model policies as long as they are consistent with the 2023 model policies the recommendation is to introduce the model policy on ensuring privacy dignity and respect for all students and parents in Virginia's public schools and the proposed resolution and revisions at the this meeting and then discussion will happen at the January 22nd Work session be happy to answer any question I know that was a little long-winded and unlike the previous two there will be no action on that item tonight but it will be an agenda item for the work session on January the 22nd the next uh item is 5.6 U Rules of Order and uh Dr Shepard you're going to give us a

064little tutorial there as well I believe certainly according to policy B DDE Rules of Order the shanadoa County School Board to establish Rules of Order as well as adopt bylaws policies and regulations a member of the school board would like to discuss the Rules of Order specifically Robert's Rules of Order the recommendation is to discuss the um policy bdde Rules of Order at um or to present it at this school board meeting with discussion at the January 22nd school board meeting and last policy here five 5.7 is the draft regulation on Library material selection Dr Shephard so this is a little lengthy as well so please forgive me um according to policy BFC policy adoption regulations are developed by or through the superintendent are presented to the school board as information items unless the school

065board informs a superintendent that it wants to act on specific regulations attached is the library material selection regulation that details the operational framework necessary for the implementation of the library material selection policy policy passed by the shanida County school board on November the 9th the primary objective of this regulation is to ensure the selection of Library materials takes into account age appropriateness allowing parents and other stakeholders the opportunity to review all prospective Acquisitions the regulation also ensures parental notification of materials with sexually explicit content the regulation provides criteria for the selection and replace selection of Library materials with a focus on maximizing transparency with parents and community members while meeting students needs to provide supplemental enrichment by identifying the purchasing and purchasing the best and most appropriate materials the regulation provides details ensuring explicit guidelines

066and crer and criteria for the selection and procurement of Library materials in accordance with the library material selection policy the regulation delineates the stages involved involved in the selection and acquisition process specifies timelines and clarifies criteria and procedures for weeding Library materials we received an email from a concerned um parent and um I have made a modification of the regulation that I'm going to hand to the it's a very minor um so I'm going to hand this to the left but if you'll notice on page one um about the six line down it says this regulation provides criteria for the selection and replacement of Library materials and really we're only looking at new purchases to go through this process so a line through um and replacement so that would no longer be in the regulation

067um only new books will be required to go through this process any books that are damaged can be reordered at any time um if there is a book that is currently on our library shelf that um that parent is concerned about there's a process to go through the public review of learning U materials or learning resources process um are we happy to answer any other question that you guys may have just so we understand the um the policy that was passed by the board was um taken by and uh according to BFC policy adoption the requirement was to operationalize that policy and the superintendent has met with other members of the staff and Librarians to to develop what is now this the draft regulation which is is if you want to think of it a

068different way kind of operationalizing uh and what has been done here is laying out uh gu guidelines and phases for how each of these would would be accomplished so it operationalizes if you will the the policy so um it's a it's still uh it's it's still a draft form so it is a draft form but if you'll look at page four um the timeline it says spring 2024 purchases so that is if we're going to do a spr 24 purchase and expect the books to be um in our libraries before the end of the fiscal year which would be June 30th we really need to get this started um fairly quickly and you'll notice that the timeline starts January the 8th which our Librarians have submitted a book list to their principles and um January

06915th then the principls turn that book list over to our director of Elementary and secondary instruction and they have a little bit of time and we also at that point put it put the lists on um our website for parents to review and I know one of the concerns from the parent was that you know how if they don't have access to the book are they going to be able to review the book it's the same way that our Librarians would be reviewing the materials and it's through literary reviews or some websites that give some specific um details about the particular book it would be the same way that our Librarians that would would be vetting these books is how our parents and our community would would have the opportunity to do that um and

070then the it goes on to um the community review if there are any books that um our director of Elementary and secondary instruction um feel are inappropriate for students for whatever reason so um would those uh list of reviews be available for parents to see yes they'll be on our website absolutely and then um then board notification so the um process for this spring like I said is kind of compacted but um the school board will approve the final um we view the final list in March and then they'll approve the final list in April at this at the school board meeting um but as I understand it the the fact that you have developed this regulation as a way of carrying out this policy is is yours as a superintendent yes and and in

071order to meet the quick timeline here we all want to get on board so uh I don't think there's any this is informational for us about the regulation that you've developed that you intend to implement y so just board notification is is my requirement for regulation and the other piece is that we will be taking another um look at this after this spring because we're going to remove that column that says spring 2024 purchases only so and we'll have an opportunity you'll have an opportunity to see it again likely in June or July so one thing on here um it's going to be passed on to the subcommittee on February 20th the three new board members were tasked with um putting forward two two people from their District to serve on that committee do we

072know when that first meeting date is with the the newcomers to that that committee right so we currently have a committee but if you know if you get me the new names then we can um invite them to the committee meeting our next committee meeting is next week um as a matter of effects it's the third Thursday of every month at 5:00 third third Thursday yes and I have a really rough draft of the um what the committee entails that I'll send you tomorrow but realize that it's it's in you know just rough draft form because there are have been only two of us that have looked at it at this point so and and that process believe would be gist for the nil for our discussions on the 22nd session where are the meetings

073held here this upstairs upstairs all right uh we are going to move to U action items and the first is um to uh approve the Personnel list as presented so I you need to hear a motion to approve the list that we were presented I move to approve the Personnel list as presented a second the motion to approve the Personnel list uh is made by Mr Rickard and seconded by Mrs rutz all in favor say I I I opposed second action item uh is to to um approve a request to increase our uh fiscal year 24 special budget in the amount of $342,000 7 400 I'm not good with do sorry guys $342 73811 for funds received from the stronger connections Grant um I hear a motion to approve the request to increase that budget

074in the amount of that in that amount I move to approve the request to increase the fiscal year 24 special budget in the amount of $342,884 I opposed if we Mr chair yes if we've got questions about that I mean it's already passed I didn't speak up myself but uh we had questions about that when is the discussion time for that after the second uh I I should have asked for discussion but uh so I'll uh we don't have our Roberts rules of not yet but I if you have a question I think it would be proper for you to ask that question being new to the board I couldn't approve it because I didn't know anything about it um is that part of I'm Sorry Miss stey is that part of um our cafeteria

075no the special budget is a lot of Grants and federal funding um it's for excuse me for specific purposes um in this case we this is under This falls under title four part a um and it's distributed under the bipartisan safer communities act so this will help um provide significant funding to support um healthy students um and it'll be for safety purposes thank you you're welcome is there anybody would like to have a revote on that based on that information so this money is going to be used for um doorbell or um audible alarms when our doors are left propped open and then also some door security equipment at all all of our schools so that gives you just a little more detail y thank you and uh 6.3 is the request for appropriation of

076food service Grant on the amount of the ward is um $22,266 and it says it requires an appropriation um do I hear a motion to approve appropriating that amount of money from the Food Service Grant to improve the breakfast program sorry Mr chair I've got another question I thought our food service uh program was self-funding so it it is self funding and this is a an outside Grant um so we received there's no local funding for this this is a um a local Grant though when we say a local Grant it's just an agency um that is providing funding and we applied for it and we received it okay I move to approve appropriating two $222,222.22 appropriation from the Food Service Grant uh and we have a second from U Mr Street all those so

077now this time ask is there any discussion I'm hearing none then I'm going to call for the vote those in favor of the motion uh please signify by saying I I opposed 6.4 the action is as described by Dr Shephard earlier uh is to um is to change the parent teacher conference day um to March 5th 2024 in lie of the uh primary election day of conflict on March 11th um now so the proper way to do this would uh would be if somebody wants to make a motion and then second and then we can have discussion so is anybody prepared to make a motion to that effect I move to approve the revised 2023 24 sheno County Public Schools instructional calendar to make March 5th 2024 a parent teacher conference day in March 11th

0782024 a regular school day second okay so we we have the the motion made by Mrs rutz and seconded by Mr Street is there discussion yeah actually I would like to actually discuss Mr Ricker's proposal of making that second day a half day um if if that's something that we can throw out there oh would Mike need to make just an amendment well um is there discussion first I guess yeah we need to have a discussion first and we can we can uh undertake the amendment um but I think the discussion uh can be far ranging here for the moment uh I would like to ask never mind I I'll I'll defer until the other members have spoken but um so um you you brought this up Mr Rickard so you go ahead I actually

079I think I'm going where I think you were going and Dr Shephard could you give us some insight the financial impact of a half day versus giving the kids the whole day off and having the teachers have that day to plan for parent teacher conferences so I can give you some insight I don't know if it's a financial Insight or not but um if it would be a 2-hour early release so it would give teachers a couple of hours at the end of the day to plan for a um the parent teacher conferences or student instruction or whatever um it would in the whole scheme of things it would reduce the number of hours that we you know that we had to um byy two hours which is not really you know that big of

080a deal um in in the whole scheme of things um there's no Financial impact because we're going to run the buses parents would have to find child care after school um for that particular day for two hours where they may not if we went a full day so that would be one of the um considerations as well thank you yeah our elementary school teachers have about 45 minutes of planning every day um and that's at the maximum that's if they don't have other meetings or if they you know go to the restroom or have to deal with student Behavior or whatever so you know it it would be well warranted so if if I were to say is is the payoff worth kind of the logistical administ of ripples uh would your answer be it

081could be worth it it could be worth it I believe our teachers would appreciate it have you ever tried vacuuming with a bunch of kids around two hours is a big deal yes I have okay um now um Mr G you made the motion I think who who made the motion I did I think I think it would be in order if you were to propose uh the change yourself rather than to go through an amendment process um so we just want to read it off with no amendment I I would like to move to M RS um March 11th March 5th is before March 11th so we would need March 5th to be a whole day off or the whole day off right and March 11th a half a day correct so but then

082you're not getting you're not getting March 11th is the parent teacher conferences yeah you're not getting that whole day there for parent teacher conferences so so what's the proposal here so that was The Proposal but um yeah Dr H Gardner stepped in and and um what the heck so can we leave March 11th as parent teacher conference day and make March 5th the half day no because that's when you're going to have um people at strawsburg high school and Central High School coming to for the primary elections um and both those schools are pulling places and we anticipate that it'll be um a heavy traffic day then can we make a motion that bear with me I'm looking at the calendar we give the teachers a half day the last week of February to prepare

083you could do a half fidale March the 4th which is Monday the day before parent teacher conferences I would like to do that I'd like to meet the teachers halfway may I ask our instructional people if they have any if they would like to weigh in two hours that they before isn't really enough to prepare like I understand you want to give them that time but the amount of work that they need two hours is I mean that's a consolation proc us I don't know that and then I would also worry that attendance wouldn't work that day the kids wouldn't come to school because well they're going to be off on Tuesday and now we're getting out early at 1:00 on Monday and then we won't have any kids at school our attendance will be

084V for and as you know attendance is an area that we need to work on Mr chair I'm going to propose that we just move forward with the recommended motion so we will act on the motion it has been made and seconded you have to end the debate right sorry you have to end the discussion first yeah we'll do that so uh so we still operating under the motion as it has been seced with no modifications and we've heard now various points of view from the staff so uh we'll continue with the original motion but is there any further discussion yes Mr chair I would like to um discuss giving the teachers the full day March 4th and giving them both days one day to prepare one day for parent teacher conferences since becoming on

085board I've had many teachers reach out to me and their biggest issue is planning their planning time is being invaded on a pretty much daily basis and we've got some pretty desperate teachers right now um I say we give them March 4th to prepare for parent teacher conferences any further discussion before we vote on the original motion we'll restate the original motion in a moment but any any comments I'm curious to know what instructions thinks about the whole day I'm sorry that was a good question it goes back to Melody's original point which is we're worried about if we run out of enough hours by giving them that day if we're going to do that then we might as well have done what the original thing was which was the fifth and the 11th but

086I think that that would be my concern is that we would then have to ask teachers to work more at the end of the year because we don't have enough hours or we might have to take something at Spring break but if we're talking about hours you said we could we could reduce recess time to make up hours correct no recess time does not necessarily count um but we have to have recess every day at our elementary school um we can count up to 15% any other comments all right then I'm going restate the motion um actually I'll have the person who made the motion restate the motion um Co was that you that was me yeah go forward Brandy uh I move to approve the revised 2023 24 Shen County Public Schools instructional calendar

087ton make March 5th 2024 parent teacher conference day and March 11th 2024 a regular school dat and I'm guessing we should do this via roll call vote yes and so Cheryl if you don't mind would you pull the school board Mr stre yes M careno yes Mr gsha yes M RS yes Mr rord no Mr bar yes the record will show that the uh vote was 5 to one in favor of the proposed motion motion carries action item 6.5 modification to policy BC board committees uh we had we've heard a original lay down for what would happen here from Dr Shepard uh there um the basic concept was that we were to eliminate two policy or excuse me two committees uh in favor and add two other committees that looked like they were more be

088more conducive to Committee Action within the school board um there has been um one of the Committees that we were going to um eliminate uh was the um employee benefits uh committee employee benefits yeah and I want to make sure that we understand it was not because that was deemed to be unimportant it was deemed that it wasn't necessarily conducive to having one or two people acting as quotes a committee on it um and each one of the people on the board have been assigned to three committees already so rather than to spread ourselves further we were thinking that perhaps we wouldn't go that far subsequently um uh Schoolboard member Tom Street uh has shown an interest in taking this on and has uh and has U experience in that regard and I think all

089of us uh understand the morale factor that goes with insurance and employee benefits and so um they um we may want to rethink jettisoning that committee and maintaining it uh so um with that background in mind I'm uh I'm ready to entertain a motion on uh the current status of this of this of this situation I move to approve the modification of polici BCE Schoolboard committees to dissolve the Personnel committee and add the special education advisory committee and Career and Technical education committee last second all right so there is a motion made by Mr gut Shaw and seconded by Mrs rutz uh that we would modify the policy as it stated uh to dissolve uh only the Personnel committee and add special education advisory committee and the Career and Technical education committee we're all clear

090right now we're going to discuss that discussion okay um so I think uh we had talked a little bit about um I know Mr Ricker and I had talked about the the fact that I think we need the Personnel a committee I'm I'm willing and I think Mr Rickard is as well um as he mentioned we have heard from a lot of teachers um that have some some complaints and they have some concerns about you know some of the the things that um are not are driving many of them to leave leave our school system and I think this is something that we seriously need to consider um and I think this would be the perfect committee to take that on and talk to teachers and see what's going on in terms of what can

091we do to keep them here in Shin County other comments no I don't think that the committee is it looks like it's ever had any action before um and I would be interested to see you know exactly how you all would um you know if you can get teachers to open up prior to uh when they're really ticked off and just you know at their WS in ready to walk out the door cuz that's generally when I hear from them so um I I I am behind you on this um I said I don't think it's been done before it's been a long time I couldn't find any history on the committee so I think it's fine other comments I agree with both Miss R and Miss carinia anybody else no I I totally agree

092that um you know we need to interact and entertain the interest there to see what that whole department and um what are their concerns and thinking and as far as you know retention I guess I would say that like chairman Marlo mentioned at the work session uh last week you know this is retaining teachers is something that I would say the board as a whole tries to Monitor and help with and like Mr rutz mentioned the this committee hasn't been utilized in two plus years and that might be generous but um I'm kind of an agreement with chairman Barlo I don't know if we necessarily need it because we're already stretching then with three or four different committees but uh again I feel like the board as a whole oversees our teacher retention and employee

093retention um you can finish I um um before you speak twice I get a chance to speak once um the Personnel decisions that we have to oversee are critical they're they're massive uh and so by not having a committee that's not saying we're downplaying that what it what basically is saying is it is such a massive pervasive issue Personnel how many things fall under that uh reping retention so forth that um they're trying to kind of pigeon hole it into a committee of one or two people um probably isn't doing it giving it its right cognizance uh that it's something that the Board needs to be aware of and um anybody who's been around the board the last four or six years knows that the committee process is not one that's fully active it hasn't

094been until recently and just starting to get cranked so if we do if we do name uh maintain the Personnel committee realize that it's going to be uh part and parcel of what the rest the rest of the board does for a lot of its time uh it doesn't mean it that be duplicate duplication what it does mean is is yet another assignment for somebody in the board so somebody's going to take on a fourth assignment and the question is to whether you know we we individually can take on four of these committees when we're trying to do our regular school board work anyway which takes me some time um I'm not I'm not sure it's worth you know we could create 100 committees if we want uh but but how many are we going

095to be active in so uh I'm I met your I met your disposal but uh so if we're going to have uh a person or a couple people be active on this and and have their antenna up looking for those Personnel issues that they can bring to us and kind of uh Foster that's fine with me uh but so anyway I'm sorry so you wanted to say something Mr I think it's too important of a committee to let go I mean Mr gutell brought up a good point it hasn't been used in two years I can tell you at Sandy Hook Elementary School 21 teachers left last year our teacher retentions not so if we got to put a a committee in place I know bry's heard from them glor has heard from them because

096I've heard from you all the teachers are calling you when they're at their last they're hanging on by a thread at that point there's really not a whole lot you can do I had a teacher from stalsburg high school come to me on Election Day the board approved his resignation last month we don't have a whole lot of male teachers to female teachers in our County and to have one leave because of a student's Behavior we've got to figure out a way to fix this and to me if it if it means me putting more time in on a committee to hear from the teacher and to come up with ideas to increase morale and increase how we do things in the county I think it's worthwh we've got a lot of good teachers and

097I hate to see them leave and if I could just add to that now keep in mind um there is almost we have fear of retaliation we have folks that will not and may not come to you at all I mean you can put this committee together we've had open sessions where we've met you know with with you know the public hey come tell talk to us about this come talk to us about that and we sat down at schools all and no one shows up so there is that possibility that you could have a breakfast at Queen Street Diner and and invite you know your teacher friends and still not get anything however I would be I would feel much better knowing that that committee is there we've at least tried it and we

098put it out there that there is open communication with board members that you shouldn't have to wait till you have are at your wits end ued your um medication and are looking at to head out the door before you call us um and you know if if this is what it takes we're not out anything because the committee's always been there and if you want to do that so be it I I see this as a committee that can actually um like brand like Mr Mr R said um a lot of teachers may be afraid of actually talking people in this in the school district just because they're afraid of retaliation um but I'm hoping that maybe we can they can see in us somebody that they can come over and express some of the

099concerns that they have and if we can have a committee um that can at least present some uh recommendations about what things we can do then I think it's worth the time and I volunteer for it too any further discussion all right now we do have um we do have a motion on the floor uh to which would in essence add the two committees which we haven't talked about but which we which is in this motion special education advisory committee and the tech the Career and Technical education committee so that's part and parts of the motion um but it would also be to um to eliminate the Personnel committee as as as the motion stands um Mr Gall that's your motion are you am I able to withdraw my motion yes okay I'd like to

100withdraw my motion on the floor all right so do I hear a an alternative motion I move that we leave the committees as they stand approve the the two new ones okay is there a second second all right so the motion is that the Committees would remain as they are currently constituted with the addition of special educ education advisory committee and the Career and Technical education committee and that motion was made by Mr Rickard has it been seconded yes the second seconded may I ask so the motion is to approve the modification to add the special education advisory committee and Career and Technical education committee correct and to to eliminate the phrase is said dissolve the insurance and employee benefits commit and the personel committee right so we're just taking that part out and just

101the modif only modification is to add the special education advisory committee and the career of technical committee correct so I'm going to reread the motion I move to approve the modification of policy dce School Board committees to add the special education advisory committee and PR and Technical education committee because we're not making a motion to dissolve the cor that's exactly correct yes so the motion was Mr R and the second yeah here Carin any discussion on that motion hearing none going to ask Cheryl if you would do a roll call vote for us Mr Street yes M careno yes Mr gsha yes M yes Mr yes Mr yes record will show that the uh motion was carried by a six to nothing tally we did have uh we're now at um number 6.6 which is

102the uh the school board committee assignments and uh we have had um a number of changes there and indeed um we now have a committee uh with nobody on it that we've just add so um we I don't know if we can we we could for a discussion just adding the names and keep driving on I think it would be the the smart thing to do and we could do it quickly uh so um we could wrap wrap this up we we um we have uh we have a motion that would um that would that would would add somebody onto the the new or the the the maintained uh insurance and employee benefits so that person Tom street is willing to to accept that assignment so what we would have to agree on moving forward

103to fill out the last and everybody's aware the other committee is assments which have been proposed would be uh would be a person or two to to uh to form that to form the Personnel committee so I need to hear this question which are probably indicate a a willingness to take on that role I believe you got M Caren as already said she would she would serve in that position okay sure yes I'll I'll serve any way I can well um I can't tell you what motion make but but if you are if uh Mrs uh carlino is willing to take the role as the uh chair of that committee and and Mr Rickard is willing to take the alternate then uh that we have the two person Comm committee um you want to try

104try to um I move the Shen the school board committee assignments and the representatives from shanid County School Board to other boards be approved as presented with the addition of naming Thomas Street to the insurance and employees benefits committee and Gloria careno and Michael Ricker to the Personnel committee second any discussion Cheryl are you ready for a roll call vote are you still trying to Cobble together that uh that motion yeah right I'm going to reread the motion and the motion was by Mr bushaw and the second was by Caro all right so I move School Board committee assignments and the representa shendo County School Board to other boards approved as presented with the addition of naming Thomas Street to the insurance and employee benefits committee and Gloria careno to the Personnel committee is that

105correct and Michael rard with Michael record as alternate okay to that committee and alterate now committee yes all right I'm going to read again I move the school board committee assignments and the representatives from shendo County School Board to other boards be approved as presented with the addition of naming Thomas Street to the insurance and employee benefits committee and Gloria careno to the Personnel committee and Michael R an alterate to the personel commit that correct that's correct all right and Mr Guta made the motion and Miss Caro second correct ready for the roll call M Mr Street yes M careno yes Mr gut Shaw yes M Rook yes Mr record yes and Mr bar yes the record again will show that was a 60 vote in favor of that motion final action item uh will

106be um the school board appointing trustee to the um stars education trust and sets the terms and conditions of that participation um the uh proposed motion would be uh for U I move to approve the attached resolution appointing Kyle gut Shaw as the shener County School Board Stars trustee second the motion to U named Kyle gsha as the uh as representative to the Stars education trust has been made by Mrs ruts and seconded by Mr street is there any discussion all in favor say I I opposed motion carried and now it's time for the superintendent's report thank you so Governor yunan has proclaimed January 14th through the 20 as Virginia school principal Appreciation Week serving as a principal is a 24-hour 7-Day a week job um that requires dedication and our principales impact our students

107staff families and the community um immeasurably so I would like to for um us to recognize them this evening for um Virginia principal school principals Appreciation Week January 14th through the 20th and if you see them please um thank them also our December attend was up slightly from last year um thank you to our parents for continuing to make attendance a priority and thank our staff for encouraging good attendance we would like to congratulate Honey Run Elementary School for placing first in the state of Virginia at the elementary level in the fall 2023 stock market game they play 16th out of all 137 schools which included elementary middle and high schools and that participated in the competition and they raised close their um gain was quite significant for an elementary school um I hope you

108will join me in at the County Spelling be which is next Friday January 19th at Central High School and then the all count um band concert is scheduled for um Saturday January 13th at 2 pm at strawsburg high school so hope you will join me there as well that's all I have I'll be happy to answer any questions on the monthly report all right we have come come to a board member comments and this will be the first time three of you have had a chance to do that so um I'm going to um kick off with uh with the Mr Rickard so if you'd like to start with uh comments dra on nothing like being put on the spot um went pretty smooth tonight first off second off I'd like to um thank all

109the the staff and the parents that have reached out to me since winning election um one thing that I've noted from many of the staff that I've talked to there's a common theme amongst the staff that I've talked to that had some I don't want to call them complaints um but things they asked us to look at and that was their planning time being invaded by meetings with admin teacher to parent phone calls um disciplinary issues I think we need to look at something to where their planning time every day is off limits that's their time to get their curriculum together we expect our teachers to put out good critical thinkers um and to teach the subject well and I think if we start invading their planning time and making them go substitute in another

110classroom during their planning time or whatever um I think we could we could start to increase some morale if we made that off limits their planning times their planning time if they volunteer to go substitute in another classroom for X number of dollars that's between them and the admin um that is all I have on that um I do uh I do want to extend my thoughts and my prayers to the Henderson Family um on the passing of Doug Henderson today he's a member of the strawsburg community he's coach coached many kids in Little League in strawsburg uh he even coached two of mine t-ball baseball softball he passed today and I'd like to ask that we keep him and uh his famili in our thoughts and prayers that's it Tom uh thank you um

111I guess I'll kind of make it short and sweet I want to thank everyone in the public that put me here in this spot thank you for everyone for their support and what they did for me i' really looking have been looking forward to this and like I've told people since last summer um really looking forward to working with this board um the six of us look really look forward to working with Dr Shepard and her staff uh you know the principls the teachers um we're going to have a lot of things that we face um that you've heard tonight and you know we take those things serious and uh we need to support the you know Dr shepher and her staff here and and we need to make this County the best that we

112can make it uh you know education never plateaus so I look forward to working with us but not only us but I look forward to working with the Board of Supervisors um obviously we rely on them uh very heavily for he uh heavy for the finances and and uh if we have an issue or uh it feels good to know that um we do have some Resources with Todd Gilbert Timmy French to U you if we do have questions or somehow to get to Richmond we've got contacts so looking forward to all that um it's the first meeting January so um that's about all I can say as far as looking forward to working together and and and make this County and the public education system better thank you well I want to thank everybody

113uh for being here today and um like my colleagues I'm very happy to be here and I know it was a long election um campaign um but um we're here to make our schools better and work for our students and our teachers um and our staff I do want to make some um remarks regarding the transgender uh policy resolution since uh so many people here uh came for that and I know this is not something that we're going to vote until next time but I did want to make some uh remarks on this and one of the reasons that we made this one of the first ERS of business is because um this is a very important step uh making our schools safer to all the members of our community uh it is our first

114order of business for several reasons and the first being that this is modeled after the model policies that Governor yonan introduced last summer in other words we are way overdue as our attorney general Jason Mi stated in his opinion these policies must be actively enacted by the school boards something that we have failed to do most importantly we have modeled the accompanying resolution after our own Shen andoa County Board of Supervisors resolution making this County a second amendment Sanctuary a few years ago because we are basing our arguments on the principes stated in our constitution as a constitutional representative Republic the US Constitution is the supreme law of the land All rights and laws are derived from as such we are declaring the Constitution to be the guiding principle of what we have stated in

115this policy and its resolution does protecting our County our schools our students and our teachers and staff from arbitrary executive actions that are contrary to the principles of our constitution in other words it is the sanctuary resolution which protects a policy under our US Constitution and not the political whims of a bureaucrat or an executive I'm a stound second amendment supporter but I believe that the safety of our children is at least as important as a protection of our Second Amendment I believe it may be more so so let's rally around this policy and the resolution as we did our uh Second Amendment just a few year short years ago now Governor yin's model policies while great are not perfect I know many people myself included who believe that they needed some strengthening and clarification

116this is what we have attempted to do here I'm not going to go over every single one of the provisions but some of us some of the most important goal goals here are number one to clarify that the sex of the student is a biological sex that is assigned upon birth based on his or her set of chromosones and no it cannot be changed in a wh by a confused student or a parent who has decided that she's not content with her child's biological sex second to protect the teachers and the staff from any liability or punitive actions that may arise from their failure to comply with one of the child or the parents wish the names used will be the legal names the pronouns used will be the grammatically correct pronouns that are correspond

117to the sex at Birth three it will protect our girls and our girl Sports we will protect our girls from the intrusion of having biological males enter their bathrooms and locker rooms most importantly we will protect our girls from any potential physical harm that may come from having to compete against biological males in the sport of their choosing and finally number four it also identifies the need to provide as adequate counseling and to strive to provide better Mental Health Services for our students who may be experiencing an eon gender dysphoria this last point is obviously a very complex issue that cannot be resolved with any one policy or resolution this is why we will be working with our superintendent and leaders of our community to establish an inter agency mental health task force that will

118seek Solutions and funding to address the Mental Health crisis that our County like most of our country is currently experiencing we will be calling on leaders of our community to step up and join us in this effort so stay tun for that but for now we must focus on passing this policy and resolution from my experience going out in community door knocking at close to 500 homes meeting people at the fair and the community events that I attended over an 8mon period and from calls and emails that I have received this is the second most important issue that parents and members of our community have red right after the lack of preparedness um and overall indoctrination that is taking place at schools around the nation the purpose of our schools used to be to teach

119children to be independent productive members of society we used to focus on Reading Writing and math as well as in the students resilience and conduct while preparing them on how to behave in civilized society today our schools have been transformed into cultural indoctrination centers where students aren't necessarily educated in the skills that they need for life but are molded to be part of cultural agendas that promote confusion and sadly yes their own destruction our children are facing unprecedented rates of suicide drug abuse violence and now gender and sexual confusion this madness has to stop and while we may not be able to do much to influence the rest of the world and the crazy culture that is destroying it we can take a stand for our children here in sheno County we must protect our

120students we must protect the staff members and teachers who refuse to be a part of the destructive agendas that are being implemented elsewhere and this policy and resolution will help us do that and so I encourage my fellow board members to vote Yes when the time comes and um also that our citizens to support and rally behind this uh policy and the resolution thank you very much Randy um nice job on the first meeting um in your new positions yes um I think it went very well much better had I would have had had the opportunity to run it so I appreciate that um I wish the three of you um that have signed on the new ones um to um the best of luck it's we're not always going to agree um but I

121do believe that uh we're here for the um betterment of our count and our and our kids and uh for me they they come first um I'd also like to um to um extend um some sympathies thoughts and prayers to the family of Austin seek for um one of our students that passed um in the last couple days um losing a child I have I I you know um there are no words it it gives me it gives me chills talking about it and um I am my heart goes out to them other than that that's it well I think Tom Street had a great message when he spoke just a few minutes few minutes ago um you know as new board member coming on and we came on two years ago a lot of

122questions and unknowns so if you have any questions don't hesitate to reach out to us but um I think we as a board will do some good things moving forward the next two years um you know working with Dr Shepard and the rest of the staff um a lot of people have good intentions here and want to do best for the education of our school system in our County so I do look forward to working with the board of course uh our new board members and then Mr Barlo chairman Barlo and Miss rutz um I think we can accomplish a lot over the next few years so well I have just a couple things one is uh I I do want to uh commend the uh the staff faculty for what I think has been

123a marvelous ability to to persevere with messaging uh and instead of an issue dour uh the attendance has stayed as as an emphasis the the drug overdoses is are taking uh getting good publicity and and getting that out there the trainings that you've done for the principles is paying off and we see some strong principles at work who are PAL as our principles out there who are um working harder uh and working tougher but but achieving great greater results and I think those are they're getting to be where they're actually demonstrable in an objective way uh so I I really appreciate uh that um that continuity I'm going to say something very quick about the uh about the uh the policy model policies dealing with transgender and that is that um in spite of the

124fact that we have seen two versions of that I think we need we as a board need to be taking a look at a lot of eaches that can be used in molding the best possible solution we can and not like a yes or yes up or down on one of those two and I hope we're in um I I do believe we need to take timely action but we need to take uh action that's smart uh and takes cognizance of different concepts that need to be welded into this melded into this so that it's a good policy by good I mean does support the Constitution does provide for equality under the law does provide for protection all of these things are very possible uh it's not that that's an Impossible Dream it's something we

125can accomplish and and I think we can and and I also want to make sure we have a legal eyes on it to make sure that it's that it's uh it's going to pass muster because of if we pass something that we think is just cool and it's not legal it's a waste of time so so I want to get some some legal eyes on that as well and the final thing I want to say is Dr Shepard can you give us the names of the kids at honeyrun who can pick stock for our Ira I because mine has been plummeting for two years and and these kids went out and they actually achieved better than the middle school and the high schools I wonder if they're able to short stocks maybe they were shorting

126I hope not I anyway um based on that ridiculous comment um I would like to ask if anybody would make a motion to adjourn this meeting Mr chair I move to adjourn the meeting I have a motion for Mr Guta to adjourn a second second by Mrs rutz all in favor say I meeting is adjourned at PR