001good evening I'd like to call the uh General County school board meeting to order the November meeting uh Miss Shepard do you have a recommendation for closed session please do I recommend the Shenandoah County School Board convene a closed meeting under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act in order to discuss and consider several Personnel matters involving the assignment appointment promotion performance demotion salary discipline or resignation under Virginia code 2.2-3711 A14 and to discuss Scholastic records involving the discussion or consideration of a mission or disciplinary matters concerning any student of any school state school system under Virginia code 2.2-3711 A2 thank you you'll hear a motion to that effect please yes I move that the Shenandoah County School Board convened a closed meeting under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act in order to discuss and consider
002several Personnel matters involving the assignment appointment promotion performance emotions salary discipline or resignation under Virginia code 2.2-3711a14 and to discuss Scholastic records involving a discussion or consideration of admission or disciplinary matters concerning any student of any state school system under Virginia code 2.2-3711 A2 thank you Mr Barlow Joy here a second second second by Miss Mr got y'all all those in favor say aye aye all those 18 at 7 00 pm uh I need a motion to reconvene in Open Session please I saw Move Motion made by Mr Barlow do you hear a second second by Mr Keller all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed okay the board is now an open session County School Board hereby certifies by roll call vote that the best of each member's knowledge only public business
003matters lawfully Exempted from Open Session required by Virginia law we're discussing the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies and second only such public business matters as we're identifying the motion convening and closed meaning were heard discussed or considered by the Shenandoah County School Board each member responds I do ISO certified when called by the roll call vote School ISO certify also certified ISO certified I so certify I'm so certified okay next uh we will have the invocation by Miss rutz and uh grab you have the that slide I should have we'd all say an employee Miss Debbie uh bokin hour Miss gokenauer served us for 20 years as a paraprofessional and maybe we can have a moment of silence before you give the invocation if you don't matter please bear your heads Father
004in heaven we commit this meeting to you come and Reveal Your Wills in every aspect of our life in our ministry as we discuss the Affairs of the school we ask for your will to be done show us your purposes Enlighten us that we may know how you want us to accomplish our task and we desire your glory and your blessing and all that we do direct our thoughts our words decisions actions towards the right path and help us to stay on contact on track let your will be done as we plan and make decisions amen amen thank you hi please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible for liberty and justice for all foreign thank you
005uh you'll hear a motion to approve the agenda as presented I move to approve the agenda as presented motion made by Mr got y'all do I hear a second that's about Miss rux any discussion all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed the agenda has been approved okay uh Miss Shepard recognition for this evening please thank you first off I would like to introduce Miss Julie nice Whittaker and Darla Mumma instructors of the competent learning model um to recognize the staff that completed the CLM certification good evening I'm the competent your model coach for Shenandoah County the competent learner model is a team-based professional development package that includes training and instructional tools designed to accelerate learning in students with significant educational and behavioral challenges this evening I would like to call up Valerie
006sabanko Terry Stevens Sarah Mumma and Megan holler and Miss Stratton if you could come up we here at Shenandoah County public schools are part of the Shenandoah Valley Regional program and we have the largest implementation of CLM in the world and one of the ways that we're able to grow and maintain the largest implementation in the world is by growing our in-house staff tonight we would like to recognize Shenandoah County's most recent certified CLM coach Valerie sabanko Valerie received her coach certification in June of this year Valerie is a recently retired special education teacher from North Fork Middle School the coach certification process qualifies individuals to independently coach the implementation of the competent learner model in order to be certified Valerie must have had to successfully coach a team of individuals through the CLM course
007of study as well as coach a classroom through phase three in the implementation stage Valerie's coach certification is the culmination of six years of training as a CLM instructor and coach good evening I'm Darla Sue mumo and I am also a certified coach of CLM I'm a special ed teacher at Central High School currently we also have what Julie already introduced the four staff members so we I want to reiterate that we believe in order to develop competent Learners it's necessary to develop effective instructors and competent learner model provides weekly classroom coaching and an online course of study to develop these effective instructors in order to complete the CLM course of study these ladies have put in over 120 professional hours of development they have completed a sequence of 12 units which is a two-year
008process as each unit requires an online portion and an in-class application piece congratulations to Terry Stevens from North Fork Middle School Julie sabanko and Sarah Mumma from ww Robinson and Megan holler of Triplett and Central High School I also want to point out that Sarah mumo and Megan holler are the first ever gen Ed teachers to take this course of study so not just in Shenandoah County but in the Shenandoah Valley Regional program that consists of multiple counties so they're the first ones to do that and we're super proud [Applause] while you guys are lining up I just I want to thank Julie because she really she is so enthusiastic about this program and I the the whole train the trainers model that CLM has has been so important and it's not a small task
009for one person but then to have this many people who are certified in Shenandoah County is amazing and I really appreciate all your hard work Darla yours too so congratulations on that great accomplishment I know it was a lot of hard work foreign will be talking to us this evening about the 2022 vsb excellence in Workforce Readiness Award winners Todd good evening with Shepherd members of the school board it is my pleasure to let you guys know that we were recognized as an award winner for the Virginia School Board Association Career Development we took for the first time ever we took 11 students 10 from triple tech one from our bimed program and we put them in a phlebotomy class in the afternoon we did a little Tetris with their schedule out of that when
010it was also done we had eight certified phlebotomists that came out of that program so eight out of 11. that was a value add for our students we didn't do they didn't do it for on any other purpose other than they wanted the certification so it was pretty awesome that we had students that left us as dual certified both as nurses and phlebotomists they were very well received in the workforce where I believe all of those students are in the workforce in healthcare I believe in their CNA students and our one student in our biomed is also working in the workforce as he's taking a gap year as well so it was absolutely an amazing experience for them we're getting ready to start our second cohort in the spring we all also have dove into
011heavy equipment operator as well so we had six students last year I'm getting applications for that as well so that's a value add for our students that they take very seriously and it was a great opportunity for them and we were very excited to get some recognition from the Virginia School Board Association thank you thank you with triplet Tech announces State Fair Virginia skills USA winner I only bring winners when I come good evening everyone tripletech recently competed in skillsusa competitions at the State Fair of Virginia we had 22 students compete in eight contests we brought home five second place ribbons two fourth place one fifth fourth sixth place one seventh place ribbon for 8th Place ribbons and one ninth place ribbon but behind me are all the well we're missing it too but behind
012me are our first place winners and I brought them with us tonight we are well at Miss holler talk about that first but miss holler why don't you come up and talk about the two that are missing and what they participated in um Phoebe Alexander and Caitlin Lusby were my two that participated in the bulletin board demonstration um it's promotional bulletin board and our theme this year was our time is now so they created a super awesome bulletin board um promoting triplet and how now is the time to be in our trades um one of them right now is on her way to an FCCLA conference in Ohio and the other one is sick so that's why they're not here tonight with us all right next we have Sienna Morrell who was first place in
013CPR first aid hi I'm Sienna um I'm gonna talk about how all the competition what we did we did uh all the CPR and AED that is necessary to um get certified and then after we did the AED we did um they they had asked us some questions such as What fast stands for and um how like what we can use and do in a real life scenario so obviously you were the best at compressions right yeah okay thank you Mr Chrisman you bring your student up we got first ink carpentry at the State Fair so this year they at the State Fair they did Cabinetry and for the Cabinetry they did multiple different stations around like what to do for cabinets such as leveling a board putting a knob for a drawer different things
014like that uh it's usually residential carpentry so you know framing a wall mini wall but this year they changed it up because there's not many cabinet making programs in the state of Virginia so they're trying to promote that trade so we did really well for not having a camera making program so we're very very proud of all our winners and this is just a warm up for when we do District State and national competition so we're ready thank you [Applause] Sienna I have a question for you while you've got lined up did you do the phlebotomy program as well okay I was wondering if you were going to be as good as your mom because she can she can take some blood she's good at it okay put it on your list it runs in
015the family congratulations Sienna and Chris what a great accomplishment and the last thing on the recognitions are the vsba awards um recognize the school board members for their dedication time and hard work and improving boardmanship through skills through vsba meetings conferences board development and training active involvement in the association vsba members earn credits for the Academy Awards which are based on participation from June July 1st to June 30th of each year um the certificates and pins are in front of the school board members as you have if you have earned one congratulations we finally got one uh Andrew thank you you're welcome that is it thank you okay next on our agenda we have um thank you very much we have public comments and the Chandra County School Board welcomes public comment during the most
016regular meetings and doing 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 Journey allows up to 60 Minutes for public comments on agenda and non-agenda items at the beginning of the meeting if there's a large number of speakers the board May limit the total number time for comments or may reduce the time allotted for each speaker all comments should address the matter related to Shenandoah County Public Schools the school board will not hear public comments that involve a complaint about an individual staff member a a Personnel action a student disciplinary matter a complaint about an individual student or pending litigation the school board expects each speaker to be courteous modeling for our students how one can respectfully disagree
017with others views speakers will address the comments of the entire school board and not to one individual board member to the superintendent or to a staff member nor to the audience speakers will not engage in personal attacks speakers have signed up when you entered the the room here at the school board office speakers will be called in order that they signed up the first one is Carissa Jenkins good evening good evening Carissa Jenkins Central High School librarian the holiday season is right around the corner I plan to celebrate in the library by asking students to participate in a writing challenge The Prompt will ask them to explain a book they've read that impacted them similar to when they received the perfect holiday gift in my experience books often come to us at just the right
018time a character's Voice or struggle teaches us necessary life lessons authors find ways to reach readers where friends and family may fall short the young adult authors challenge is to meet readers where they are we've all been teenagers so we know that they frequently turn a deaf ear when adults give life advice teens can have tough exteriors to crack and they make it their mission to push boundaries they often think they know best and they refuse to listen to sound counsel characters in young adult novels mirror this stage of Life they are often insolent and rude they can make controversial choices or contemplate ideas that result in a library book challenge the disputable nature of these novels is the very thing that draws in many teen readers you may have read The Outsiders a nationally
019challenged book by Essie Hinton the main character Ponyboy is in a tough gang called the greasers who oppose the affluent socials both groups are contentious and make Brash decisions with extreme consequences many teenagers who read this book relate to the mature content and they are pulled into the jarring storyline the controversial aspects of The Outsiders draw in teenagers the valuable life lessons students take away in their hearts and Minds after reading the book may have have driven teachers to choose it for class instruction for over 50 years a library is like a Christmas tree overflowing with presents the brightly wrapped packages need to be as diverse as the stories on our shelves at one time or another we've all received a gift that didn't quite fit if this happens in the library simply return it
020and find something that better suits your personal style there is a gift for everyone under the tree but the presents are not always interchangeable for example gifting an auto mechanic a how to fix engines for dummies book will offend the receiver but it could be the perfect choice for a beginner exercise equipment may offend the recipient who thinks it suggests needed weight loss however it could be the gift that inspires another to go the extra mile resulting in him making the varsity team a great school library includes worldly books ready to give to every student in the same way gifts under the tree are unique for family members my job is similar to Santa Claus because he delivers presents under the tree and I deliver books to library shelves the diversity of the gifts or
021the books in my case must reflect the wants and sometimes the needs of the person who receives them thank you thank you the next speaker is Stephen Heisman good evening school board members Ms Shepherd thank you for a few minutes of your time this evening I wanted to just say a couple uh comments about a recent article that was in the Northern Virginia Daily pertaining to the weekly religious education I'm sure most of you all saw it and it was inspiring to uh to to know that Miss Michaela Wetzel the teacher of the classes and who's doing an outstanding job she begins each session with the Lord's Prayer and ends with a prayer also uh in one of the in one of the uh sessions she had the kids drawing a tar surrounded by what's
022most important to them not to be confused with a tower and um she said we want to put God at the top of the tower and Ms Wetzel told the class after they finished and then she asked why and a little seven-year-old um a little seven-year-old uh fella said because he's always in our lives these these children are learning and absorbing um the goodness that Weekly education provides they're being taught patients in another instance after some activities and returning to their tables the children finished reading the passage about God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his only son that he had waited decades to have that he was promised to sacrifice him on an altar only to stop him at at the last minute and a little seven-year-old girl raised her hand and said it was a
023test teacher it was a test God wanted to see if Abraham loved his son more than more than he loved God and um it's good to see that they are learning uh the stories in the gospel there's currently about 35 students in the enrolled throughout the county and I'm sure that that will increase as time goes on thank you very much thank you Steve and it's anyone else in the audience would like to speak you've raised your hand don't be bashable okay thank you all okay moving on colleagues do I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented I moved to approve the consent agenda as presented hey motion made by Mr got y'all do I hear a second by Mr Keller any discussion all those in favor say aye all those opposed
024the motion carries all right moving on that 37 4K information agenda Dr heingardner I think you have your first on the list about policies be a dash r those are three draft policies for information tonight for you to to look at to review to consider and then we have three versions of klb lb and there's three three versions there as well to be considered um over the course of the next month and then you would see these again for asking for approval of whichever one you would prefer and answer any questions about those well we've talked about them for several months now comments ma'am you could have spoke when we had public comments uh you you've been more than welcome we're we're we will take this up in the December meeting is that not correct
025so there will be public comment in the December meeting before the vote so you're more than welcome to come back at that time okay moving on uh the school calendar survey Miss Shepherd foreign okay so the intent of the school calendar survey was to get input from our parents our community our teachers our students on the adopted 2023-24 school calendar the survey was published on Tuesday October the 11th and it closed on Monday October the 24th there were 1906 responses to the calendar survey so just a little information before we go into the actual survey the survey could be submitted more than one time and that was the limitation of our software that we had to do the survey so somebody who wanted calendar a could have submitted three times somebody who won a calendar
026B could have submitted three times and so on and so forth the only way we could have um respondents could have re uh returned the survey one time would either have been to collect email addresses which we would have had to have verified each one of those individually or we could have asked them to sign into Google um to their Google account and not everyone has a Google account so um I think you know the way that we did it was much the same as the way that Hanover did it and you could respond more than once on Hanover surveys as well which we did in the past so of the 1906 respondents 58 percent were parents or Guardians 18 almost 20 percent were School staff or administrators so teachers paraprofessionals so on and so
027forth 13.4 percent were students 5.4 percent were community members and 3.4 percent were District staff or administrators so those people from the School Board office the 43 almost 44 of the respondents supported the calendar where school starts on August the 15th students are off for two days the week of the fair high school students complete fall Sol testing before winter break and the last day of schools around May the 24th about 34 percent of the respondents are 645 responses supported the school calendar that started after Labor Day and ended around June 11th 22.22 and a half percent of the respondents 428 responses supported the calendar that started around August the 9th had the entire week Affair off and then um the last day of school ended around May the 24th font says you will notice
028that the majority of the responses were from Central High School at 20 22 percent and that was about um let me look at my notes Here about 390 responses 16.1 percent were associated with WWE Robinson it's about 280 responses 13.6 was Mountain View High School 213 Sandy Hook Elementary School about 150 were Honey Run Elementary School 140 Strasburg High School 128 respondents were associated with Peter Muhlenberg 113 signal knob and 91 with North Fork so of the responses to the question which is most important to you as it relates to the school calendar almost 30 percent almost 29 percent said the first day of school as late as possible 24.3 percent the last day of school is as early as possible almost 20 percent students do not have class during Fair week 8.4 none of
029the uh none of the above 5.1 percent the first day of school as early as possible 4.6 students do not have homework or assignments during the fair 2.6 other and 1.5 percent the last day of school is is as late as possible so the recommendation based on the results of the survey is to keep the 2023-24 school calendars adopted with two slight modifications would like to change the time for the parent-teacher conference on the school calendar it has at the November 7th 2023 conference starts at 8 30 and goes to 3. we would like to change that from 12 noon to 7 pm to allow for parents who work during the day to have evening hours and that has been some feedback that we receive from parents and Guardians about this actual parent-teacher conference that
030we had Tuesday this week and then we would actually like to offer an additional parent-teacher conference on March the 11th so change from a professional development Day to a parent-teacher conference from noon to seven to allow for parent-teacher conferences so um that's that's those are the recommendations be happy to answer any questions foreign comments so I got y'all I was the one that kind of requested this because I had heard from people saying they were kind of unhappy with how it went this year but it's especially related to the kids that are participating in the fair and the livestock and stuff like that um again today I received a call from a parent Who's involved with that and his kids have been involved with it for years and you know I'm going to support keeping
031it or you know approving this one this year but I do think that we need to make some adjustments uh a concern that I was seeing the kids that were participating in the FFA when they would get back to school they were having to make up an insane amount of work and it seemed like the teachers maybe weren't it wasn't a good combination as far as coming in late and them wanting to help a lot so I think we're going to need to work closely with the teachers to ensure that they understand that these kids are going to be late but they shouldn't be punished for participating in the in the fair especially if we're excusing them for that very reason so I think that um I'm going to support again bringing it up next
032year and doing it on a one-year basis especially um after this year to see if the second year goes any better than this year I don't think there are a lot of major issues but I don't think it's fair for some students to be punished because they want to be in the fair for when they get back to school they have to spend you know two weeks catching up on stuff so that's kind of my view on it but again we did a survey the majority came back my stance on majorities with the surveys has kind of stayed the same throughout this year it's not going to change on this so I I'll support you know sticking with this again but I think we do need to make sure that that the students are not
033being punished for you know wanting to to do something that they've done for years on years so that's kind of where I'm at so Mr Keller and I met with the 4-H and FFA Livestock Show and sale group last evening and we received a lot of great feedback from them of course you know they would prefer not to have school during the fair but we we they also advocated for some of the things that we can change that would help help them Mr kellard yeah I think so and I think one of the things that we need to be able to say you know in some situations we didn't do a good enough job um I think so often when kids miss work our kids miss school they uh they're given a packet and they
034end up doing a lot of work that maybe the other kids didn't have to do when they were in in the classroom so I think we need to have a clear communication with staff about what our expectations are of students who Miss time because of the fair uh and and be able to to to to give them those opportunities to to make up that work in a enough time give them enough time to be able to do that I think the other thing we talked about that I'll throw out now is that I think as a school system we can do a better job of integrating stuff we do with the fair um you know one of the comments last night was about setting up a booth or a a place for each of the
035campuses where they could kind of show their their goods so I think it was a good conversation um they yeah I mean they would prefer that we not go to school at all that week but I think they understand the The Dilemma that that we're in with this um you know we we know that that starting early and taking that entire week off is probably not a good idea for our elementary kids and we know that uh that that starting late in doing Sol testing after the holiday break Christmas break is not a good idea for her our our upper level kids so um we just need to keep on working until we can get come up with something that that uh that works good Brandy um I had a question if you'll go back
036a couple um so the the next one okay so our highest number of respondents said they wanted to keep it right around August 15th but when it was desegregated down the highest amount was we wanted as late as possible so for me I'm struggling with the fact that one you could take it as many times as you wanted two that you know 28 percent wanted it as late as possible yet the largest amount on the back end wanted it around the 15th of of so I I mean that for me isn't exactly driving um I am curious to know I did ask about the Sol testing and so we can give sols anywhere from December 1st to December 22nd and if I'm correct this school building's just determine when those when those are so I
037want to know when education stops and we start reviewing for those for those things as far as keeping kids in a routine um you know I look at when we come back from just from Christmas break and you know we used to always start January 2nd you know the first day back now we're off uh two extra days for um you know for a paraprofessional day and we go back Thursday and Friday so you know they've already been out so now you're going to take them for two days you know it it for me it's it's if you can do it in one end of the of the calendar you can do it on the other end of the calendar um so I do want to know when we determine and and I could be
038wrong in the way I'm looking at this that I'm thinking that the extended the extended days on the front end is to make sure with all these other testing that if we see that we're not where we could be for good results on that Sol that we're building in days that we can make that up it's not so much about the days and the length of what we've got going on it's about making sure we have good results on the back end because we can pick what day anytime in December to take those sols yep so um a little bit about that doe gives us like Windows that we can test so we could test December the 1st through the 24th we could test January the first through the you know the 20 27th it's
039like a three or four week window so and we pick those dates um and at the high school level our students who make a 375 or above are able to retake to pass a test so we have to a lot some days in for that retake retake of those tests so you know so but we're going to push that window as as far back as we can and still allow for that retesting to occur as well because as many instructional days that we can have um the better and then to kind of address your um your question about the winter break yes our teachers are having our elementary teachers are having to reteach after after the processes and the procedures and the classroom expectations after winter break but for our kindergarten and our first graders
040you know they're in school for two or three weeks and then they're out for you know if it was 12 or you know 11 or 12 days you know that's a long period of time when they're just learning those processes by December or January they've had four or five months in order to be able to you know to acclimate those those processes um to memory okay the other concern I had was how we treat um you know you you mentioned um work catching up um from my understanding that if you filled out the form to be able to go to the fair you were counted as present so you were allowed to participate in your sports after school or whatever you whatever was going on that week for those students that don't participate in the
041fair if they missed that week it was an absence so we can't hold two accountability we can't hold double standards for for the fair if you know Kyle's parents decide that they're going to take vacation that week and he's out and he's of no you know it's it's not him making that decision um we we counted it as either an excused absence but it went as an absence you know if you're over here at the fair regardless of what you're doing all day you get counted as as present so you know I don't know that that's the best policy that we can hold to say well if you're not in the fair you're held to this to the exact standard that we should be holding everybody to everybody should be either counted present or everybody
042should be an excuse absence um you know because it's it's kind of a double standard there so AG um FFA and 4-H FFA would be called a co-curricular activity so it would be just like sending our kids to any of the national state or national conferences so you know so that and those are those are excused absences as well um the the 4-H we have a policy that allows 4-H students to um and I believe it's just one day but um we have a policy that says you know 4-H students are excused for one day for 4-H reasons and that is actually I believe that's in code I would have to double check that though yeah so I'm a Believer inside moved here I I've gotten appreciation a lot of my friends have kids who
043are involved in the uh in the fair and they have absolute um total dedication and focus on that and it's so wonderful to watch and it's uh it's so important and at the same time I put my I go back when I was teaching and to me to try to get those kids in class and start with history and get a love of that history and and what's going on a crisp firm hard beginning where all the kids are there and you're able to start from the from the from the when the gun goes off and everybody's together that's important to be as a teacher uh and so I'd hate to have you know two five seven students not here not there and yet they're doing something that's incredibly important to them uh so and
044what what I hear is we're doing a lot of workarounds to be able to do both at the same time to do so so and apparently it's working to some extent um but I would I just really love it if we could go I mean especially when a large portion is saying they'd like to come back as late as possible to have off school until until the fair's over and then begin school and then school is what everybody is focused on now the the problem is that uh that the Sol tests get shortchanged if you will because there's uh there's that holiday period when apparently the mine's going to go to sleep whatever uh and so I know that's a conundrum what do we do to make sure that the sols are because if we
045can solve that one then we can actually use that pattern of starting late having everybody off including the teachers for for the uh well maybe not maybe they'll be they'll be working to prepare things but nevertheless um to have that Fairway dedicated to Fair activities uh and so maybe I'm not suggesting it for the next year because I I agree with Kyle that we uh given the the mechanics that you've already developed over the past several years that we're able to kind of muddle through but it would be interesting to see if we could have some sort of study or or task force or something to see how we could um address the Sol problem such that if we could actually meet that challenge of a feeling we were preparing the students to Max their
046other achievement on sols then I would I would dearly love to see us have that uh clear boundary between the uh the fair and the school so I'll I'll be glad to accede to the current uh as Kyle suggested for for another year but I I I'd love to see if there's some way we can uh you know slice this Gordy and not and figure out how we could uh how we could uh find an answer to the Sol question so the difference between this question I think and the question about you know the first the first the highest what was go back as late as possible if this question was answered with some context whereas what's your preference what what would you rather have but this one it included some information in it I
047want to start as early as possible or I want to start as late as possible it sort of shows you what that repercussions of the different options are so I think that's the difference between the two questions um I just I want to remind everybody this isn't just about Sol tests it's also about aligning our calendar um to the divisions around us for things like gov school and sports and um de classes and lrcc classes and all that so it's not just about the Sol test yes that's part of it and that's an important part of it but it's not it's not the only reason that we looked at it to do it this way um and then also I think on the curriculum stuff that Kyle brought up at the beginning maybe we should
048look at what the teachers do later in the year when kids are off for four days for an FFA trip you know the middle schoolers just got back they were in Indianapolis maybe for four days so um maybe there is maybe there is something to be found there and what they do that maybe they teach for Mastery that week that's something I just learned recently um so you know there's there's lots of things that we can look at to address those I think that was it well I think uh I'd like to thank Andrew attending uh the meeting last night with uh Miss Shepard about hearing input from the 4-H and uh the FFA parents or whatever um I I thought that this year was it was a good compromise went to school for three
049three days and especially the third day the fifth grade had a field trip to the fair and we've heard many of them mentioned that was the first time they attended the fair and then Thursday and Friday they have off from school whatever and then uh a suggestion that has not been verified with the president of the Fair Association is move kids day to Thursday one day that they have off but I don't know where they have done that or whatever that's it their decision to make so thanks for the input and I assume with do we need to make a suggestion to change about the parent-teacher conference day in the calendar for 23-24 or just an understanding I'm fine with that yeah it's it's the same day it's just different hours I think I think
050it's an administrative change and we can we can make that change on the calendar absolutely can we make it for uh 2023 I think we can I mean I mean I'm looking at a a teacher work day yeah yeah okay if you got something planned yeah so we have some professional development plans there is no there is no parent conference for the second semester for the second semester not this year theoretically you see the flaw in that yes absolutely that's why we would like to correct it next year I heard complaints that this parent-teacher conference which was Tuesday it was from 8 8 30 to four 3 30. whatever and and people working has hard time scheduling that whatever so for next year we took care of that thank you okay any anything else on
051the school calendar for 23 24. okay moving on uh four three uh Shenandoah County School Board Association proposed legislative position amendments Miss Shepard 22 school board work session there was consensus by the Shenandoah County School Board to abstain from voting on the proposed Virginia School Board Association legislative positions amendments at the same time at the same meeting there was discussion by the school board regarding taking a local position on the proposed vs SBA legislative positions amendments tonight the school board will need to decide if there is interest in taking a local position on the proposed amendments and if so we will vote on the the local position at the December 8th score meeting and attached to this agenda item are the legislative position amendments foreign one day this week you went today lots of words
052you want to give a a summary of those three and a half hours so basically there were 12 um amendments to 12 well there were amendments to 12 positions they were very basic short people were confused about what the purpose of the voting was for a lot of people wanted to talk about the position itself and not the amendment so there was a lot of correcting of process it was suggested several times that school boards who did not like the process start earlier next year to get involved in the process and I think that's similar to what I said as well start at the beginning start when the legislature goes in start following bills and and go from there um all of the positions ended up passing we voted for nine of them separate from
053the block all of them ended up passing yeah all the men ended up passing there was one that was amended to include the the bus one it was amended to include and Propane because I guess some schools are moving to propane buses um I abstain from every single vote including procedural votes could have been helpful on procedural votes but I didn't distinct because I didn't know what you guys would want me to do so thank you I was the only one on many of them as far as taking a local stance I did reach out to Elizabeth Ewing today so I could get some understanding on how some of these worked we can take a local stage I think there's 200 to over 200 almost 250 legal positions that the vsba takes we can opt
054out of those and take local positions on those at any time and I would hope that you know maybe we look at those a little bit at a time blocks of 10 or whatever and decide whether that's what we plan to do if we're going to support it I asked her about the the um you know how it's written the lingo and and the fact that some of these things are so Broad and she said that was by Design so her ex her example a bad example she said at that but it was a short conversation um was the school buses um no actually it was Broadband so you know there's a legislative position here about extending broadband and you know had the vsba take in a position that they thought well you know um
055they wanted state legislators to you know come up with a proposal that say 95 percent of the county needed to be on broadband needed to have access to that and they went into legislative position or they went into you know to session it's been a long day guys sorry um and somebody you know a bill on the floor suggested it was going to be 85 percent well because we stuck with 95 in our legislative position um we we couldn't we couldn't do that so she said you know if we said we support you know Broadband being expanded across the county and um you know that was our stance say a bill came around and it was um you know our legislators had decided that they wanted the state to be on the hook for um
056broadband and they wanted say tax yeah for high-risk families they wanted it to be free our stance at that point might be something along that line and we would be able to say sure we're all we're all for that um it gives them a whole lot of leeway you know if bills come up they're catching bills now um I'm not exactly sure how lobbying all happens and what goes on I know that Stacy Haney and and you know they these folks have full-time legislators how they end up going and determining which bills they may hook onto rather it really represents Shenandoah County or not is is is something else and of course I've not been quiet on my views on using taxpayer money for lobbyists um you know I I don't think that that's something
057that taxpayer that we ought to be asking taxpayers for and especially when we don't really or can't guarantee what they're gonna when they're what they're going to lobby for once they get there um the third question I asked was how many of these legislative positions have actually made it into legislation and she couldn't tell me so um I did email Mr Kessler to asking because I'm curious um you know if some of these things like number 11 the Tebow bill you know has to do with the Tebow Bill me personally I'm all on board with homeschoolers being able to come and participate their tax dollars they're still giving them um you know the vsba um sent when Governor Younkin come into office and um you know had determined that parents get to decide on masking
058um we got an email that says hey reach out to your legislators and push back against this um I sent an email back and said absolutely not you know parents should have a say or so on masking so they have 250 legislative positions some of them I I know my constituents wouldn't want to sign on for so I hope that we can take these and look at them I I would hope that we can take a local position because again we can abstain we lost the vote they all passed anyway and what will happen is we don't take that legislative local position we still go in as agreeing to them on their end of things when they go to the go into legislation into lobbying for these things and I you know I don't find
059that to be a democratic process you know or a true process I find it to be appalling that I have to come back and actually take a a vote um you know just to make sure that we're not you know somebody in Richmond doesn't get the idea that we want uh tax dollars for electric buses here so that is my stance on it so two things one thing I've ever say about today and then Tebow bill S one where I could have helped had that boat been on the other side you know so I do think it's important that we take positions on these amendments in the future the Tebow bill passed or not the bill but the position passed 42-41 and there were I think four people who have stand on that one um
060Melanie probably already told you that but because she was on there um and then the other thing is many many school boards have legislative committees and we don't so rather than taking full board time maybe we either need to have alleged an ad hoc legislative committee or a couple of people who are willing to take this on as a project and then make a recommendation rather than having the whole board discussing 250 positions Dennis well actually I think that wouldn't mind at all coming up with the committee because I was completely uh uninformed because partly my fault I didn't know it wasn't all my fault at this pretty arcane Labyrinth of bureaucracy to be able to do this um because apparently yeah I guess we could have at some time this spring we could have
061actually as school board members or excuse me it's a school board I guess we could have gone to the vsba and said we have some ideas but um uh there's a spring call by the vsba Legislative positions committee I don't remember getting that call but I'm assuming it went out and then I forwarded you the email I forwarded it to all of you you should agree there wasn't much discussion about what we're going to do then um and then it has that goes quickly back to the legislative positions committee at the SBA and then when they get through taking a look at what they like then it goes to the board of directors and then it comes to us and with 45 days to make decision and so as I pointed out before we had
062won meetings time in which to digest these now I've read these 12 positions a dozen times in the last month it's still hard to understand what these are all about I do not understand why we don't have particular specific nuggets that some that we could be for I the reason the tebowville I think would that was the only one I could actually say yes is a yes or no to because the others were so incredibly broad about what what they could be and what they Encompass although we I mean one of them you know I had to do with trailers that has to do with making the schools uh in the in the underserved portions look as good as the wealthiest Schools they're words not mine uh and to and then it winds up with
063telling us that we're going to be supporting a um a way to have more cost-efficient uh energy efficient uh Renovations and so and and by the way when we turn those back they go back to the board of directors once again and they are the ones to decide how our lobbyists will present them so once this kind of trickles down to us and we Sorry rubber stamp and it goes back up uh you know that's that's uh that's our legislative or Democratic process in this it takes a lot of effort for us to do that uh and then trying to figure out which one of these I mean as you point out there are um I don't know how many pages these these 12 were but I'm guessing let's say 20 25 Pages maybe that
064um to be able to figure out how that's going to be uh presented by our lobbyists of something we would have no idea or which particular aspect of that thing is going to be promoted we have no idea and no control over so uh I'd like to be able to vote on these 12 next time just to get some idea at how we feel but frankly it's it was almost impossible for me to come up with a with a uh with a summary of what it was all about now in in the little booklet that we had in the the 12 Amendment positions it explains in in paragraph after paragraph and then it gives a summation which sometimes doesn't even flow from the explanation uh and so all I would like is some Precision about
065what it is that we're supporting or not supporting that Precision is not there and this afternoon I spent most of the afternoon trying to forget how we would vote on these individually and I just don't know I and not forget about whether we had a chance to make input or whatever um I really had this to have the idea that other than the last one I would have no idea what I'm really voting on here so um and I don't think it's at all clear and I looked at all the others that want the Brandy talks about the 250 that are out there so um so maybe we do need some sort of legislative committee that will try to make some sense out of it and boil it down in and even though it's it's
066a huge effort uh you know trying to work through all these and then send it to the board of directors so that they can look at it and get back to us and by the way we need to do that after the 45-day period so they give us these and we decide what it is we'd like to discuss and we have only a week and a half to get that back to them and for them to decide whether our opposition to it are questions about it are germane and they could decide they're not so so we send it to them and say mother may I and they say yes you may or may you know may you may not and and we're stuck with that decision until it's made and afterwards we can go back
067again as Brandy indicated and say we as a school board don't really uh agree with that it seems like an incredibly um bad waste of our time to have to go through all that and uh it it almost doesn't feel worth it because you feel like kind of the kind of the fix is in before it even starts but um but if if we can get some greater um participation in this thing is part of a legislative committee to look at that that's fine but it's uh it it's a lot of effort to be able to pull it out with all these 250 I mean it's page after page after page and and I have no idea what we really would be um signing up for it by the time it gets into the hands
068of the lobbyist and it's probably why there's a whole lot of just rubber stamping and going we hand the vsba 25 000 I believe and you know we take their training and we do that and then you know either the the lobbying positions either it's an important thing or it's not an important thing for me to have our name attached to something that we may not want it to be attached to um and still be sending the money with no no idea if it's actually going for something that represents Shenandoah County is a problem for me so you know I'm okay with a you know I'll be happy to serve on that that legislative committee you know I don't have a problem doing that we've already started digging into these and you know something that
069we can do and and just present it you know as a vote at some point um if anybody wants to be involved in that or you know if you if you don't like said you know 250 of them and some of them um are pretty hot topics so you know um I think we just we had the exact same conversation now that we had at the work session so I think we need to decide what we're going to do and if that's having a committee or a project to delve into them let's do that but I I think we've sort of talked it to that now because this one's already done so we need to decide what to do going forward and whether we're going to take local positions um so I I think that's
070where we are I do not want to serve on that committee what are the wishes of the other Brandy said she'll serve on I mean you're you and Dennis are on the policy committee you want to absorb that I don't have a problem with it that's fine I do think one thing about this though is is this needs to be board driven so this is going to require a lot of board work and not a lot of Staff work because this is board work so um so just just keep that in mind there are some things that we have to lead and that would be one of them you know that I mean the Constitution gives that that um to us to do so I you know I wouldn't I wouldn't dare think about asking
071the staff to take this on I think this is this is definitely our our baby uh it's uh at the legislative breakfast the other day uh I sat with a member of Rockham County School Board and I raised this how they would affect this and she said well I haven't looked at them yet and we're voting on a maybe this week or whatever so I think all boards are struggling with this how to handle it whatever okay moving on uh the uh Miss Shepherd the the physical activity Awards program for school personnel certainly on October October 20th Governor Younkin in partnership with the Virginia Department of Education announced a 2022-23 Governor's physical activity award program for school Personnel the program emphasizes the connection between regular physical physical activity and its benefits to overall health and
072wellness by making physical daily physical activity a priority the the adults in schools send an example for students the award program provides a structure and incentive for School Employees to exercise weekly participating School Employees will log their activities over the course of 16 weeks with a two-week extension allowed in the event of illness or unforeseen circumstances all School Personnel are encouraged to participate by completing and documenting their activities participants qualify for the following Awards brought forward 150 minutes or more of movement three days a week several civil silver award 200 minutes or more of movement four days a week the Gold Award 250 minutes or more of movement five days a week in the Platinum award 250 minutes of movement five days a week which includes muscle muscle strengthening activities at least two days a
073week in order to meet the 16-week physical activity period School Personnel will need to document their physical health starting the last week of December School Personnel should document their activities on the physical activity award which is attached to this agenda item and the Activity Award will need to be signed by the participant the participant supervisor by April 18 2023 the supervisor will send the completed form to Linda Hodges Director of Human Resources and then we will submit the activity log to the Virginia Department of Education by the April 20th deadline be happy to answer any questions I know this is something that Mr Barlow had asked us to pursue as long as it's voluntary I don't have a problem with it I don't think it should be a requirement but I'm fine with it being
074voluntary other comments well I'd I'd like to say uh no I there's no way this be mandatory but uh I do recall when I was in um Junior High School that uh President Kennedy started a physical fitness um program that that was instituted for the students and it was a it was it was very very um popular program and I was glad to see that Governor yonkin had kind of the same concept in applying it to uh to teachers and staff and I think it's uh I think it's it's a good thing that we as an organization endorse uh in terms of just giving an opportunity uh to the to our staff and teachers to be able to um have some a school condoned way of doing this to have some sort of recognition for
075the fact uh that uh that they want to um you know engage in something that can help them uh physically stay more physically fit uh and uh I think it's a a win-win for us and I hope that we would uh encourage our our staff and our teachers to participate a good time to uh to to take a look at um you know their their whole the whole body the whole concept of the as well as the physical and the intellectual and and uh having that that thing actually endorsed and overseen to for some sort of recognition and some extra impetus let's say just to to start a program in your own on your own and this is an individual thing but but I'd like to see the uh the school system actually uh support
076and endorse the governor's initiative and uh the extent that people want to get involved that's wonderful and to the extent that the school system can support and encourage that's wonderful too anything else I think it's an excellent program and also it it may help to reduce our health costs if the employees are healthier and exercise and and do the things if this is not two person of a pro uh something they need to fill out or whatever or for Miss Hodges to compile whatever and it may be to get it started maybe it's a competition between schools second uh high school middle school and Elementary and to get uh the participants to to sign up or whatever or campus-wise so go on board for that okay moving on uh okay we're action items Personnel it's
077next you'll hear a motion to approve the personnel I moved to approve the Personnel list as presented thank you Mr gut y'all do I hear a second I could second by Mr Keller uh any discussion hearing none roll call vote please yes okay next is the proposed calendar for the budget preparation on 24. uh Miss Shepard questions sorry no no oh okay I'll you've already moved on to the next one okay yes I thought I did excuse me I have two five two calendar I move that we accept the proposed budget development calendar as presented the motion made by Miss Ross do I hear a second a second second by Miss rutz discussion okay roll call vote yes it passes 6-0 next under action items is the uh Mount Jackson Newmarket Little League practice facility
078at Mountain View High School you'll hear a motion to that effect I moved that we approved the Little League mou practice facility in Mountain View High School motion made by Miss Walsh still here a second second by Mr Keller discussion roll call vote yes it carried by a 6-0 vote superintendents moving on superintendent's monthly report anything for the shepherd so I would just like to congratulate all of our sports teams that are moving on to the Regionals and States we have two football teams that are playing as we speak in some Regional competition and then we have some students who will be participating in Salem in the cross country meet on Saturday but I'd be happy to answer any questions Central's up seven six at halftime strasburg's up 28-nothing wow thank you thank you anything
079else about the monthly reports I see attendance is is saying about in the 93 percent range that we need it a little higher as always okay hearing none we uh board member comments who would like to start or should I call on somebody Andrew pass Miss rutz um yeah just just briefly um my last two days I spent a lot of time on the phone with several several um parents I would just like to remind folks we have policies in place please do not feel um that you shouldn't use them or you're not supported in using them or you you shouldn't look at them we have them in place for a reason and if we stop to the point that we we ignore policy um that basket to hand you know that held a handbag
080in a hill or whatever it you know the road to hell is um is pretty quickly to get there and we don't need um you know we talk about environments at home conducive to learning but we should have environments within our buildings that are conducive to learning and you know we we understand that there's you know extenuating circumstances sometimes um and things of that nature but when I hear of teachers that leave Subs that leave the building in tears and don't feel supported by their building administrator or they think that um there is um that they can't come any higher there is a there is a it is disturbing to think that um if there's a teacher that can't get satisfaction on something in their building that they can't come to us in this building
081or to the schools you know or to uh without getting without experiencing some some repercussions and it's a very real I have heard it since before you know when I was campaigning last year we can't say anything because our job's on the line or they will get me one way or the other and that's that is uh that is a toxic environment and I in no way shape and form thinks that that should be it and it's it may not it I my personal opinion it started with our last administrator and I think we'll be cleaning that mess up for a long time but I hope that we can work on some processes rather we need to look and I suggested that we look at our you know our student Conduct Handbook and you know
082look to see if that meets our needs I know that covid has screwed the pooch so to speak in in conduct and we have to teach these kids how to to what's expected and the expectations when they're back in our in our classrooms um and that's going to take some time but you can't do it if if you're all over the place with not clear clear concise um what's expected what's not expected and um you know rules and regulations again we've we've made policies stick to it um you know if if there's issues please reach out um you know I did get um an email from I think it was Bedford County who has a you know Bill of Rights for parents and for teachers um and it's a it's it's pretty good I'm going
083to afford it to you um because I think it's something that we should look at and one of the things is is that we can open our communication with our teachers our staff without them feeling that there's going to be repercussions if they say something I've also you know again asked you for referrals I'd like to know you know how many referrals we're getting I want to know how bad it is if it's as bad as what I'm hearing it is or if it's just blown out of proportion but you know when I hear from all ends of the counties that our subs are walking out of the and our teachers are walking out um in tears and don't feel supported I'm a little worried about that so um again don't be afraid to use
084the policies that we have we have to um and you know if there's something that needs to be addressed and you don't feel like it's being addressed call me we'll have a conversation I'll push it to the right people I mean I I don't know what else to do I don't want our staffing issues to be um you know to continue to grow I don't want them to be an option I want people to stay we have some wonderful people on staff in this building and in all other you know all the other 10 buildings we have um so you know it's a tough job and I don't necessarily think pays it I think it's paid not paid enough to deal with it so um you know please reach out thank you Mr gotcha go
085Falcons uh uh Mr Barlow well I'm I'm just going to pick on on what Brandi said for a minute I um I think a few weeks ago we were kind of shocked when we saw uh the extent of the plunging uh academic performance that we all kind of knew was there and but we found out uh according to the Secretary of Education in Virginia that it preceded our response to covet by two years so it from 2017 to now we've had some pretty declining dismal numbers and I credit our superintendent with taking that issue on head-on and with a staff that seems to be dedicated to reversing that Trend and so far it's looking really good you know I think that's that's a tribute to uh to the school system uh that that's operating even
086as we're operating today but um and you've actually taken issues or policies that have to do with the phones use the phones discipline and dress code all of which are really hard to codify and you've done a really good job of taking the policy and coming up with um operational guidelines for what for what needs to be done and now we're at that very very difficult position of actually doing it and um and so uh as some of the issues that we hear about and see and get phone calls about come in I would like to um emphasize to our administrators to our teachers to our staff that end adhering to these standards that you and we have set that I would urge you to be consistent not intermittent with their application I would ask
087you to be fair to everyone so that everybody's playing on the same field and not so fairness not favorites and then to be firm uh when you've given this much license or freedom to kids over the years and then trying to draw them back into line it's not easy it's hard uh it's something that's painful to both sides but something that's necessary and I think it's necessary for us to face up to this so um I think we're at that point where we're taking the policy and the and the operational nuggets and and putting that bridge to where it's just about meeting and that's the hardest thing is just joining that bridge in the Middle where you want it to meet and I think we're there and I think we have to uh realize that
088that's the toughest thing is to is to join those together so um I think we need as a community as an educational Community to work on that together and to realize that's a really really tough nut to crack but something that we have to face it probably probably the toughest thing we probably will have to do all year thank you Miss Walsh really quick um I didn't bring this up during the policy section because I didn't want to get into a long discussion I still have serious issues with the klb lb policy but I will send it to you all in an email to save time if any board members would like to talk about any of them separately give me a call there there are a couple of things I think we need to
089amend such as having an eight-member board what if it's split you know so I will send that to you I won't get into it tonight um we need to remember that respecting the professionals is another thing that that is incumbent upon us if we want to teach the good one if we want to keep the good ones so we need to just be mindful of when we are stepping on toes and um and we want to keep we want to keep the good employees um and uh oh yeah the central Strasbourg game was an amazing game um and the thing that I was struck by was that the two teams the kids were so supportive of each other helping each other up and you know it was it was a good game Strasbourg deserved to
090win they played better that night but but it was a really really good game and go Central go Strasbourg maybe we can play one more time if we both keep winning doubtful but maybe we can so uh that was it okay dag I know what Kyle wants to go to the game so I'll be brief oh I want to really uh what Steve Heisman said about the uh the weekday religious education on the front page of the nvd uh what a great article and if we hit if we help 30 kids get on the right path it's a program well worth it so Steve I also saw that the other one was in the day uh sometime this week Wednesday it says Clark County Supervisors pursue State funding change for education and as we all
091know that the funding we get from Richmond is based on the composite index and the Clark County's uh super Board of Supervisor chairperson was shocked to realize that Clark's index was 0.5728 while Loudoun one of the most affluent counties in the state was 0.5450 and I asked Ms Shepard this uh this evening ours is .3832 and I called uh Jeff Walters about this this funding Pro index has got to be changed somehow to be more Equitable about the ability for our County to pay and it's not just on the taxpayers back so you know that was something I thought and Jeff assured me the other thing uh friend uh brought a language arts improving your language from Columbia furnace Elementary School dated uh uh in uh 52-56 they checked them out and whatever whatever but
092on the inside cover Chad why did we go away with common sense things in language arts and I'm just going to read three things some important rules for language jobs conversation a discussion do you part and help others to take part give everyone a chance to talk listen carefully if you do not understand something ask for an explanation be courteous avoid interrupting talk about Pleasant things avoid embarrassing questions talk a little about yourself keep to the subject on discussion do not talk too long at a time which I'm probably doing this evening so I'm breaking that but Common Sense from 52 so this book is 70 years old if my math is right why did we get away from common sense in education and then finally I will in I got one more uh one
093more thing and then I'm gonna close with something convocable it's about me so you can laugh I want to commend Steve Iceman is here uh he and I have been uh friends all our lives and obviously we were on opposite sides about the renaming issue and we haven't spoken to each other for since June when we took that vote but he reached out to me Saturday morning we had a good conversation at the farm about our friendship and this should not get in the way of that and I appreciate that Steve you don't know how much and then the final the comical thing is Monday I didn't have my secretary with me at the tripletech and it was honoring the Personnel in our cafeterias and of course it was at page cross's uh Diner that
094is uh five stars so you know I'm not going to miss that dinner and Dr heingarden spoke and I they asked me to speak and for some reason I was addressing the transportation employees okay I don't know why it was the biggest snafu in three years I served on the board but I so I want to say to the the staff of the cafeterias if I would have pinpoint in you all serve for many of our students the best meal they get a day both breakfast and lunch and I missed that point badly okay but I did ask I did add y'all going to get a Christmas bonus so you can start shopping on amazon.com so but anyway I apologize for the uh cafeteria workers it was my mistake and I will end it at
0958 32. thank you Roseburg just got that