SCPS School Board Meeting

001okay it's 5 30 i would like to call this meeting of the shenandoah county school board to order the first thing we have this evening is a closed session the shepherd you have a recommendation for closed session i do thank you i recommend the school board of shenandoah county me convene a closed meeting under the virginia freedom of information act in order to discuss and consider several personnel matters involving the assignment appointment promotion performance demotion salary discipline or resignation of several employees of the shenandoah county public schools under virginia code 2.2-3711-814 and for the purpose of discussing and considering several student matters involving the admission discipline or the disclosure of information contained in a scholastic record of students in the shenandoah county public schools under virginia code 2.2-3711a2 and convene a closed meeting under the

002virginia freedom of information act pursuant to the provisions of virginia code 2.2-3711 a7 for the purpose of consulting with legal counsel to discuss pending litigation and receive related advice when consultation in open meeting would adversely affect the litigating posture of the school board thank you do i have a motion i move that 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 2.2-3711814 and to discuss scholastic records involving the discussion or consideration of admission mission or disciplinary matters concerning any student of any state school system under virginia code 2.2-3711a2 and i further move that the shenandoah county school board convene a closed meeting under the virginia

003freedom of information act pursuant to the provisions of virginia code 2.2-3 for the purpose of consulting with legal counsel to discuss pending litigation and receive related advice when consultation in open meeting would adversely affect the litigating posture of the school board thank you is there a second second it's been properly moved by ms manning and seconded by ms klein that we enter into closed session under the code sections listed all those in favor say aye aye oppose no okay we are now in closed session we hope to be out by 7 pm or around there do i have a motion that we reconvene in open session so move is there a second second it's been moved by mr helsi and seconded by mr keller that we reconvene in open session all those in favor say

004aye aye all those opposed no okay um we are going to certify our closed session now the shenandoah 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 only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the shenandoah county school board each member responds iso certify one called ms manning iso certified ms wessel iso certified mr housley iso certified ms klein iso certified mr keller i'm so certified i iso certify thank you next we have the invocation and pledge ms yes um could we all please stand so this evening or

005today i've been uh thinking a lot about everything that's been happening in our community and in my personal life with several deaths this week of family members some due to kovitz some not so it's a time of reflection i've been thinking about well thanksgiving's coming up and so i thought and felt like maybe a poem might best express how i feel about shenandoah county public schools and all that's happening in the world today the poem is called remember and it is by joy harjo she was elected u.s poet laureate in poem is entitled remember remember the sky that you were born under know each of the star's stories remember the moon and know who she is remember the sun's birth at dawn that is the strongest point of time remember sundown and the giving away

006tonight remember your birth how your mother struggled to give you form and breath your evidence of her life and her mother's answers remember your father he is your life also remember the earth whose skin you are red earth black earth yellow earth white earth brown earth we are earth remember the plants trees animal life who all have their tribes their families their histories too talk to them listen to them they are alive poems remember the wind remember her voice she knows the origin of this universe remember you are all people and all people are you remember you are this universe and this universe is you remember all in its motion is growing is you remember language comes from this remember the dance language is that life is remember at this time if we could all

007please observe a moment of silence of all of those in our families and those that we care for our students our staff who are all suffering and we never never know what someone's going through please observe a melbourne with silence with me thank you and now for the pledge of allegiance 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 with liberty and justice for all next on the agenda is the approval of the agenda do i have a motion i move we approve the agenda as presented thank you is there a second second it's been properly moved by miss swetzel and seconded by ms manning that we approve the agenda as presented all those in favor say aye aye

008oppose no okay the agenda is approved before we get to recognitions um ms shepherd i thought maybe because today is veterans day we could recognize any veterans who might be with us this evening i don't see mr barlow oh there he is he's hidden um if there are if you'd like to stand and if there are any other veterans or people who have served in the military in the room thank you thank you [Applause] thank you for your service okay let's check her out thank you tonight we have a special presentation by our um 4-h group so i would like to recognize miss carol nancel who is going to talk to us about 4-h thank you i'm carol mansell 4-h extension agent for shenandoah county and i know this is november but during october millions

009of youth parents volunteers and alumni across the country celebrated national 4-h week including members of the 10 shenandoah county 4-h clubs 4-h is the largest informal youth development and empowerment organization in the u.s 4-h programs i could just use my camp voice all right is that better okay all right so as i said 4-h is the largest informal youth development organization in the united states our 4-h programs reach 6 million young people through 110 land-grant universities and through cooperative extension and more than 3 000 local offices that serve every county and every parish in the country our national 4-h week theme is find your spark which highlights many of the life skills that 4-agers learn as they're completing projects in areas such as health science agriculture leadership and civic engagement the positive environment provided by

0104-h volunteer leaders ensures that all youth are encouraged to take on proactive leadership roles and are empowered with the skills to lead during the pandemic the shenandoah county 4-h program in addition to our state and national 4-h programs pivoted quickly to provide virtual educational experiences for our youth meetings competitions and award programs were held through zoom we did how-to videos to support project work and day camp in a box programs were designed to bring age-appropriate hands-on learning to youth at home those were just a few of the educational programs that we provided locally we face the pandemic challenges as a team and as a result we've actually identified some positive outcomes that will continue into the future so tonight i am pleased to introduce three of our best and brightest 4-hours who are currently serving

011in leadership roles at the county level they will be sharing their own stories of growth and they have also brought a special treat for you so i'll introduce all three of them and they'll come up in this order you notice you all have a napkin there um danielle renkert will be our first speaker danielle is a county 4-h council representative a 4-h all-star and member of the tomsbrook 4-h club and honor club she will be representing virginia 4-h at national 4-h congress later this month in atlanta chris bybee will be our next speaker i mean chad baby i'm sorry chris this is daddy's here too chad bibi is our next speaker he's the county 4-h council first vice president this year a 4-h honor club member and a member of the newmarket 4-h club cheyenne

012estep will be our third speaker she is the county 4-h council vice president of 4-h all-star and a member of our 4-h livestock and 4-honor clubs cheyenne was elected as a district for a 4-h ambassador this summer she will also be representing virginia at national 4-h congress later this month and a fourth one who's kind of here in absentia lindsey rigby is our county council president this year she was not able to be with us tonight because she's actually in louisville kentucky showing her lamb and goat at the north american international livestock exposition but she made the cookies for you all tonight i haven't mentioned her she's been yes and you will see why once you taste them they're really good so i will turn this over to danielle at this point good evening my

013name is danielle rinker i'm 17 years old and a proud sharlsberg senior along with being part of reschendo county biomedical academy i was very very fortunate to be a forced into the 4-h organization i am a fourth-year generation followed by my father my grandmother and my great-grandmother who luckily started the club that i am now part of the thomas brook 4-h club i have always been a member in 4-h even since i was born and i have been talking in front of people ever since i could talk that is one of my biggest contests within 4-h is public speaking without it i would not be able to get up here and stand in front of you all and talk i have competed in multiple different public speaking contests from our local state and even southern

014regional national level and within our virginia 4-h horse program i have been very very active i ride and show horses along with training them but i'm more focused on advocating for them i have competed in our district 4-h horse contest along with our state equismarts contest and i was very lucky to represent virginia at the southern 4-h regionals horse and shoney po competing in public speaking within just the county level i have done a lot i have held every single position within our club and i have even been representative for our shenandoah for our um county council i have done a lot from state congress which all has been virtual unfortunately to now even representing virginia and shenandoah county at our national 4-h congress that we leave for two weeks from tomorrow i am very

015very fortunate to be a member of this organization and i would not be where i am today if it wasn't for it granted i do have the leadership skills from my dad's side of the family and the public speaking skill from my mom's side of the family considering that both my grandmother and my grandfather were both teachers at strasbourg high school i also would not be here today if it was not for my older sister abby rinker who has been a big leader within my life and she has showed me the ropes also would also not be because of carol if she was not giving me these opportunities and forcing me out of my comfort zone to try something new i am super glad to be a virgin 4-h all-star and hopefully continue out 4-h

016within my college level i plan on attending university of tennessee at chattanooga and majoring in exercise science while working as an emt as i am now enrolled in emc classes i would not be where i am today if it was not for this organization and i wish other kids would realize it as well it has not only given me the leadership skills my public speaking skills and every other skill that i have known but i would not be as prepared for adulthood as i am right now i appreciate for all of y'all support for our county and state 4-h organization do you all have any questions just because you said that your parents are educators yes so my grandmother vivian rinker and my grandfather daniel renker were both teachers over at strasbourg [Laughter] your grandfather

017gave me what's some of the best advice ever oh i bet and i was taking chemistry he said mr keller don't bother taking physics i'm actually really good at chemistry and i blame it on my grandfather's genes so yes you did a great job to see thank you i appreciate it thank you all well i'd like to start off with a good evening and thank you all for having voice representatives here at this school board meeting my name is chad bibi i am 15 and a sophomore at mountain view high school so several years ago mr eaton allowed my sister and i to participate in loan a cow program this program is working with dairy cows for new beginners and younger kids without the huge expense of buying your own cow at that age or

018starting out and after that year i was hooked with showing animals and being part of 4-h has since been a part of my life since that time i have held numerous offices in 4-h organization from treasures from treasurer of my club to now president of the new market 4-h club a member of the county honor club and a youth representative on the show and sell committee for the fair so let's fast forward to today it has been four years since i showed a dairy cow i've sent some shown two steers and participated in many projects contests and other clubs 4-h is allowed for it to allow my character to grow from being shy to now competing in extemporaneous speaking public speaking and being a representative for the youth show and sale committee 4-h is not

019all about animals is about building lifelong skills friends and resources from participating in county state and national competitions from helping our younger members with their projects and bringing ideas to life voice has allowed me to grow my leadership skills communication skills and problem solving it has helped me build the confidence to speak publicly when just five years ago i was very shy and was not comfortable talking in front of a big committee and 4-h helps with working as a team and a larger goal at what we do as a club from trash pickups cleaning the park carrying it at nursing homes to helping each other being a part of 4-h has helped build stronger communities friends and respect and we invite you to attend a local 4-h club club meeting to experience the fun teamwork

020and work that members do thank you for your time and support of 4-h and 4-h activities in the county you all have any questions i have one what was the breed of your dairy cow oh my dairy cow the steer of the heifer oh i mean what breed was that hosting it was a holstein and then a steer was a jersey hosting mix okay thank you good evening my name is cheyenne stepp and i'm from shenandoah county and i'm affiliated with the livestock 4-h club i'm a senior at central high school and massanutten regional governor school i started my 4-h journey when i joined cloverbuds ever since then 4-h has impacted my life in so many ways the multiple opportunities activities and people you meet through 4-h are unimaginable to name a few highlights of

021my 4-h journey is when i traveled to the dominican republic for a service trip serving as vice president of my livestock 4-h club being a recipient of the allen boyer memorial award youth representative for the livestock sale and executive committee a virginia 4-h all-star northern district ambassador on the state 4-h cabinet and a participant in the state 4-h and ffa teen excellence and leadership institute when i'm not in 4-h events i'm serving in other organizations as well i traveled to the dominican republic for my service trip this was my first time traveling outside of the country this amazing opportunity offered me ways to learn more about the different cultures develop a better understanding of the things that we take for granted and leadership skills i was able to put together a 4-h camp for the

022children in the dominican republic including activities such as tie-dying shirts and other crafts the friends i met over there i continued to communicate still to this day the real life skills i learned i use in everyday club activities sports or school work i have been in the 4-h livestock club for eight years during my time i've served as the secretary for two years treasurer and vice president for two years this club has and continues to teach me public speaking record keeping time management and responsibility not only do we focus on our animals but community service the skills i've learned in this club has helped me throughout my 4-h journey again like i said i was a recipient of the alan boyer memorial award when accepting the award i felt a great honor because it represents

023an outstanding character citizenship leadership and achievement in the shenandoah county 4-h program i thought my well-rounded involvement throughout the 4-h activities that i have done was signified his award greatly i have been a listening year for our fellow exhibitors ideas and opinions i've been heavily involved with weigh-ins at the shows helping prepare for the shows and more with that i've learned effective communication and active listening i've also become a virginia 4-h all-star and although my journey hasn't been traditional due to the coronavirus i've been able to network with various people and serve my community and the commonwealth of virginia all in all my 4-h journey has been very influential i would like to say thank you and say that i believe my well-rounded involvement in 4-h school and community leadership has greatly affected this program

024i've grown from a small little girl watching my brother in 4-h to growing up and following in his footsteps and then going beyond to taking initiative when something needed to be done i've not only grown myself but helped others grow as well my service through 4-h will never end because i enjoy serving my club my community my country and my world serving 4-h has been delightful and above all fun i could sit here and list more accomplishments on the local state and national levels but it doesn't compare to the real life lessons i learned the friendships i created and the experiences i would cherish forever in 4-h as a leader i hope to provide everyone with the knowledge happiness and genuine love i've had for this organization thank you so much for all your support

025in our program [Applause] here comes the good stuff [Laughter] cheyenne i think this is the first time since i've known you that you have ever looked tired you look tired absolutely you're doing you're doing a lot aria thank you thank you very much and as they are serving us i would like to say this is the second time thank you that i am just amazed at how well our students can speak in public i am like i think they're amazing [Applause] i could not at this age get up and stand in front of six board members in i don't know 50 75 people i i'm just great job great job thank you all thank you excellent speakers and to sort of echo what ms klein said i heard danielle and lindsay and another 4-h speak

026to the board of supervisors at their meeting last month and they did a very good job too so wow wow and we always appreciate the milk and cookies so our 4-h members are amazing and if we can just give them another round of applause [Applause] so our next recognition is a group that is near and dear to my heart it's our school nurses they have done an amazing job over the last 16 months keeping us in school they've taken on extra work and they have done fantastic so miss linton is here to recognize our school nurses madden chair members of the board ms shepherd you've kind of stolen some of my thunder here but that's that's okay it is my pleasure this evening to recognize a group of medical professionals that have gone above and

027beyond the call of duty and that is our school nurses i think it's fitting today on veterans day that we recognize this group because they too have been fighting a relentless enemy and it's called covid it continues and our battle continues every day under the leadership of our school nurse coordinator the nursing staff has provided education empathy and reassurance to students staff and parents they have educated the masses on mitigation strategies they have become seasoned detectives in contact tracing they have worked evenings weekends and holidays because covid doesn't stop they have balanced the work of a pandemic with the usual tasks that a school nurse has to do and in that it's a full-time job by itself in return for this hard work and dedication at times they have been ignored yelled at contradicted and

028questioned yet they have borne the brunt of frustration and have given reassurance to those who are frustrated they have battle scars but through it all our nursing staff have been professional and they have been a leader throughout this pandemic last year our nursing staff was nominated for and received what's called the grit award and that award is sponsored by the virginia association of school nurses grit stands for grace resilience and inspiration throughout this award was created to recognize the work of school nurses during this pandemic in virginia and we are extremely proud that our nursing staff won this award because they have worked hard and we have appreciated that and we especially have appreciated their expertise our nurses have just demonstrated grace resiliency and have been an inspiration to others they have demonstrated true grit

029throughout this pandemic the proclamation that they are getting ready to receive reads as follows whereas the virginia association of school nurses wishes to recognize virginia school nurses who demonstrated grace resilience and inspiration throughout the covet 19 pandemic of 2021 and beyond and whereas vasn's grid award is a small token of the huge role that virginia school nurses play in the lives of their students every day therefore let it be known that shenandoah county school nurses are recognized by the virginia association of school nurses as a school nurse team with true grit at this time i would like to present that award to each nurse and as i should call your name if you'll please come forward and receive your proclamation and then kind of file behind me because we do want to get pictures afterwards

030so just hang on there ladies tracy turner at honey run elementary school angela delauter at north fork middle school cheyenne morton mountain view high school and french w.w robinson elementary school carrie ziegler w.w robinson elementary school alexis primdahl peter meulenberg middle school andrea avny central high school kelly sager sandy hook elementary school patty stickley sandy hook elementary school danielle knox signal knob middle school sydney martin strasburg high school and the leader through all of this who has i look to every day for medical expertise and that is becky cooper our school nurse coordinator can we have a hand for all of those uh could you see me smiling thank you thank you let's have one more hand for the nurses thank you all we have very large schools especially elementary schools in shenandoah county and

031we keep our nurses busy busy busy so thank you for all you do for our kiddos thank you vsva awards points for attendance in vsba professional development the association recognizes board members for their dedication time hard work in improving workmanship skills through vsba meetings conferences for development and training and active involvement in the association vsba members earn credits for vsba academy awards which are based on participation from july 1st to june 30th of each year there are five levels of awards with certificates and pins awarded for particular levels the vsva academy awards are presented annually to school board members who meet the requirements tonight michelle manning is getting the award of achievement a certificate in a bronze pen shelby klein an award of honor a certificate and a gold pin cynthia walsh an award of

032honor a certificate and a gold pin and carol wetz karen wetzel award of distinction certificate and starfish pin [Applause] thank you two at a time and now the moment excuse me andrew you and i need to do better i'll tell you what marty when you start doing you let me know because i don't want next year i don't want to be the only one up here we didn't get that memo apparently not so tonight central high school is going to do a one-act perform performance and i am going to introduce lori swartzel who will introduce her one act to play good evening good evening ms shepherd madam chair and members of the board we appreciate the opportunity to be here this evening i just want to say thank you so much for your service i

033know um the last year in education hasn't necessarily been the easiest easiest to lead and appreciate the overtime that you guys have put in as well to help serve our staff and students in shenandoah county so i have the pleasure of introducing our one act team as you can see in the back they're going to be coming forward in just a minute if you're not familiar with what one act is one act is a short excerpt that students do and it focuses on minimal props and so you really have to use facial expression a character interaction to develop a plot so you can imagine with masks what a challenge that has been to practice facial expression and you can't see the face so um that makes what our students have accomplished this year even more

034impressive in the fact that uh this year they placed second in the bull run sectional competition which has advanced them now to the region the region is on saturday in clark county and so i wanted tonight to help celebrate these students because with one act you practice they've been practicing since about august mid-august uh you get one chance at making it it's not like sports where you get multiple opportunities to succeed there's one competition if you don't uh advance in that you don't move on and so these students work hard they work behind the scenes to accomplish the tasks that they've accomplished so it's a huge deal for them the performance they did this year is just a stage he's going through by pat cook the protagonist dwight struggles with understanding his reality and he

035ultimately realizes that he is but a character in a play so this evening you're going to get to see a glimpse into his journey and i'm going to ask the students to come up introduce yourself and say what grade you're in if you want to say anything else feel free so come on up guys i've had the privilege of working with quite a few of these in musical and it's so much fun behind the scenes if you've never had an opportunity to go behind stage in a musical it is awesome so thank you hi i'm buddy happ and i'm in grade 11 a junior at central high school hi i'm ashley coulson and i'm in 10th grade at central high school hi i'm samantha shank and i am in 11th grade hello my name is

036corbin bowman and i'm in 10th grade hi my name is luda kimball and i'm a senior 12th grade hi i'm delilah fox and i'm in 11th grade hi i'm erin reilly and i'm in 11th grade and in order for them to perform to everybody if you guys would like to come around is that possible thank you break a leg did not come forward but um their coaches back here she's phenomenal um never mind just get out of here and get to work will you get to work but i thought it was in the middle go on i thought it was the middle of the night what's this the city calls it a bus stop do you believe it you think they'd clean it up once in a while i mean why do i pay our

037taxes a bus stop disgrace isn't it but it can't be i was just over there first i was in my bedroom i walked a few feet and now i'm at a bus stop do any of these people out hello what are you crazy man what's the idea of stepping into the street street but this used to be a wall what is going on here well that certainly is one way to make sure the bus stops we have a human sacrifice person be cool man hold on here this ain't no bus stop am i the only one who sees the audience and my mom appearing and disappearing and the lights flickering on and off that's the trouble with the public transit you get so much of the public stepped right onto the street diddy maybe he

038just needs glasses maybe he's had too many glasses hey stop saying those things about me you could hear us we were whispering of course i can hear you and they can hear you they yes all of them out there just sitting and maybe i'd better try a different approach hey i dig it man one day it's like this for me too of course so it's february i gotta get a hold of myself get some berries i gotta i better take this one item at a time say isn't that saxophone you're carrying right man it's my axe but i thought it was a saxophone oh man it's just what i call it it's scat talksy most folks hear sacks but i see an axe man i get it i finally get it so i see one

039thing and you see the same thing but we can call it two different things yeah man so i see an audience my wife sees a wall and you see a street oh be over here isn't he like on the city council i wouldn't be surprised his mother probably overcoddled him he was always like that even as a kid always seeing things that weren't there not again such an imagination but you gotta love him did you see her my mom was right there maybe we better not let him on the bus who wants you to pull them out of the street me i'm never volunteer i think it was those two hey be cool man i thought he was like you know human yeah a person almost i gotta get a grip now get some bearings

040i my robe i'm still in my pajamas and rope hey do you all see what i'm wearing very nice fashionable good idea humor him you you like this not me personally but i'm not the three-piece suit type of guy three pieces i'm wearing a three-piece suit yes and thank you for wearing gloves you're not when the bus gets here we better warn the driver yeah good it's good maybe the driver can put what's his name in the baggage carrier or something will you people stop this you all that's right it's all ambush they'll see a bus stop and me in a three-piece suit they'll see everything as it should be he's talking to himself now better than us i'm sorry but i seem to be having problems i mean first it's the middle of the

041night and i'm in bed and now five minutes later i'm at a bus stop and i'm i'm just having trouble with reality that's all oh why didn't you just say so is that all i mean haven't we all been there especially on mondays feel like you've lost your group right yeah can't get your bearings monday and that's the thing [Applause] so thank you for that great performance and good luck on saturday right in clark county thank you guys very much that was awesome good luck on saturday enjoy the amazing auditorium at clark county that's all i had okay thank you okay next on the agenda is public and staff comment on agenda items and non-agenda items you can look at board docs to see the whole lengthy regulation that explains our rules but just a

042reminder that each speaker is given three minutes and we have our nice countdown now so you can see when you're getting close and we just ask that everyone is respectful of each other um i'm not sure which one was first so i'm going to start with the short list first um amy cooley on non-agenda items i've never did this before so uh thank you for allowing me to speak um i'm here to talk about the book it feels good to be yourself i'd heard that they're voting to take it out of libraries um they shouldn't have any books removed from the library because learning is for everybody sorry i'm a little nervous um but yeah as a out and proud trans woman i'm a poster child for untreated gender dysphoria and if i had these

043kind of books when i was a kid to know that what i was feeling and what i was going through is okay and other people do it too it would have saved the county a lot of money and me a lot of money is i spent five years in juvenile psychiatric placements and all because of untreated gender dysphoria um and so i really don't feel that books like this should be taken out just because they want to erase you know any representation of trans gay lgbtq any of them people because even if you take away the books we're still here and okay and uh the only thing taking away the information and letting a kid know that what they're going through is valid and what they feel is valid is doing is hurting the kids

044because they're if you grow up hating yourself because you don't think anybody else is like that you end up in a bad place yeah that's my part thank you very much thank you our next speaker is devon ross hi guys as you guys know some of you recognize me what are you doing okay so i'm devin ross and i work at um north fork cafe in norfolk middle school i've met you mr ansley thank you so i wrote this i'm going to read it real quick okay 89.4 87.9 78.2 these are not cool radio stations in the valley these are real-time temperatures that my co-workers and myself were forced to endure on the weekly basis the first two months of this school year at north fork cafe all while wearing hot polyester knit fatigues a

045hair net face mask and standing behind fiberglass shielding i myself have been taken out by ambulance twice in my almost six years at north fork middle school due to the stressful conditions and the toll it has taken on my body i am so happy to hear that the cooling problem in all kitchens and all campuses have been recognized and attempts are being made to update the system with that being said this is more than a cooling problem this is a heating problem as well i have had to wear my winter coat while preparing main courses for many times because of the intense and non-stop cold air being blown on me from above at my workstation in the wintertime myself and others are wearing long shirts jackets anything to keep warm in the kitchen during the

046winter months and i hope this board will also recognize this when considering the solution to the air problem that we're having the next thing i want to address is the real problem of every cafe on every campus being understaffed under overworked and spread very thin if i am now required to do the job of three people i certainly should be compensated monetarily for this request i am a single mother on a very fixed income any significant amount would really make a difference in my life and a posit and i'm positive in many others as well as our workload is very heavy every day with extend extensive custom recipes handmade bread breakfast to go lunches daycare and with new approved requests coming in every week the sensible thing for all of us would be to grow

047four more arms and be because the two we have now is just not cutting it if shenandoah county schools started new employees on a sensible salary gave the employees you have now any kind of recognition incentive or a bonus maybe things would be different morale is at an all-time low across all campuses with all of us um i am putting in my own request for all shenandoah county school cafe employees to have off for rest in recuperation on the 22nd and 23rd of november um 2021. custodial staff cafe workers teachers have all been on the front lines of coven 19 since day one if not for teachers parents or people in our small community the cafe staff and any camp campus would never receive a thank you a card or a small bag of chips

048anything i don't really know if i've seen any of you down there except for maybe just a few of my friends here that's come down this is really sad there's a real disconnect between the higher ups and us peons below and i would like for that to change because when there's no reward for good work ethic there soon becomes no motivation to work harder and that is where a lot of us stand right now and that's it i appreciate you all will see you thank you the next speaker is josh rinehart how's it going josh reinhardt 84 barrick lay in bell jackson virginia um got a little disheartened i guess it was last week i received a phone call that shadow county public schools will be hosting a vaccine clinic for children ages 5 to

04911 contrary to the propaganda that i read in the newspaper our children are not in need of more injections um the shot being offered it's not a vaccine it's mrna gene therapy they call it a vaccine the cdc has changed the meaning of vaccine to fit their narrative multiple times over the last five plus years our children have amazing immune systems and to the best of my knowledge no child in the county school system has had a fatal injury due to moving unfortunately we've had multiple children pass away for other reasons maybe some of those deaths could have been prevented by not making our you know kids wear a mask i hope this board administration would change its stance on holding this injection clinic why did pfizer just add an anti-heart attack medicine to their

050mrna gene therapy injection called true methamine um if anybody's paid attention to anything going on around the world country after country is banning these injections for people under 30 uh mainly for heart issues most notably myocarditis the short and long-term effects of microtitis can be lethal there's hockey players soccer players bikers athletes on today the the national us mountain bike champion he had to retire two weeks after taking the pfizer vaccine because of um it was another one of those itis you know that these vaccines are causing um even the vares a lot of people don't know what vares is it's the vaccine adverse effect reporting system the last time i looked uh there was like over 25 20 000 deaths from these injections that's 20 000 people that may have lived if they didn't

051take the injection because they obviously had survived you know coveted the vare system is grossly underreported you know between 40 and 90 percent meaning they could be hundreds of thousands um parents need to know that these injections slash vaccine manufacturers they have no liability if your child has a reaction so if the child has a reaction while getting this uh injection at chandler county public schools who's going to take care of them who's going to be liable is the county going to be liable um you know i bet most people don't know there's a secret vaccine court you know where the government has paid out billions of dollars for vaccine injuries but it doesn't matter no amount of money is going to help that kid if they have long-term injuries um you know the way

052it looks to me my child the other kids around it they're doing just fine um you know with their immune systems you know i don't know what would happen um to these children i don't think any of us do there's been no long-term studies what happens if these children become sick and that we do have this after giving them these vaccines in our schools it's just something to think about thank you for your time [Applause] next speaker is dennis barlow well good evening my name is dennis barlow i live in newmarket last month i criticized the sunshine and lollipop attitude which the current board often displays i observe that ignoring the real challenges of problems faced by our students parents and teachers would invariably lead to terrible consequences we've now entered the area in which

053we're experiencing the results of such a hands-off approach while this board in virginia generally has engaged in virtue signaling in dealing with issues of the school name change transgender policies and the mass mandate it has ignored the greater dangers which those very policies inject into our campuses over the last three months i've witnessed a continuous stream of young mothers almost all of whom were choking back tears testify of their concerns over these issues to this board they were met with stony silence it's a truism among educators as well as health care providers that we first do no harm so before we teach the first lesson on quadratic equations where the first novel is assigned there is the unassailable expectation by our parents that everything that humanly can be done to protect the mental and physical

054well-being of our students will be done take away that expectation and system failure is not far behind one could make the argument that supporting the three issues in question can make some people feel more at ease but any clear and objective analysis of those policies virtually guarantees that much greater threats and demons will be loosed as they have been already whether this board has the will even at this late date to acknowledge this fact i don't know about two nights ago the hanover school board had the courage to reject the most egregious parts of the transgender policy models so the movement has started in closing let me quote from you'll never hear this very often but from a cnn broadcast earlier this week in which a mother who had voted for biden for president but

055voted for yunkan last tuesday explained her change of mind we think our kids are in crisis the learning loss is real so we're in a situation where our kids are really far behind and they need a lot of help they need a lot of additional tutoring they need a lot of additional time after school to help them catch up they're not focusing on that it's like a situation where you're in front of your house and the driveway is really dirty but the house is also on fire and you're using the hose to wash off the driveway instead of putting out the fire in the house i think that's what parents are registering and i hope the board takes that to heart thank you mr borland next is patricia botts hi good evening i'm patricia botz

056i live in fort valley and i'm glad to have a chance to share my thoughts with you all 243 years our country has been the land of the free this is veterans day and there are a lot of them and we all of us owe them we owe them to persevere in the face of adversity all of us my age have experienced adversity and made it we've endured we've persevered i have asked you before and i want to say it again some of the kids you represent haven't learned that there is always a next time our school's staff have the best chance to recognize when a student would be helped by a positive influence our shenandoah county schools should study the value of a mentoring program veterans day so we're doing a lot of things

057right i have three central graduates my grandchildren on active duty as we speak so far one is the captain flying amazing plane they call them ospreys one is still training to fly and the third one will graduate from the air force academy in the spring so thank you very much for doing a lot of things right thank you next is pastor katie gosselin superintendent shepard madam chair and members of the school board on behalf of the weekday religious education steering committee and myself personally we want to thank you for your faithful service to public offices that you have held as servants in our community on a day when we remember the men and women who have faithfully served our country through military service we want to thank our civil servants as well we believe that

058you have sought to make the best informed decisions for the sake of our schools staff and students alike during these challenging times this past month we held three meetings geographically set for the communities represented at each of our school campuses with the hope that the public would take advantage of these opportunities to come and be informed and show their support admittedly the turnout from the public was disappointing but what was not a disappointment was the strong showing from you our school board our staff the candidates and newly elected to the board and our supervisors superintendent shepherd and assistant superintendent dave heingardner ms walsh mr helsley ms wetzel mr keller along with the candidates mr gutschel mr walker ms rutz mr barlow and mr schaefer and board of supervisors tim taylor and dennis morris our sincerest

059thank you for adding to your already busy schedules and taking the time to be part of those evenings what more can we ask of our leaders than they seek to be informed and listen to the ideas the dreams the hopes of their fellow citizens you are not a disappointment over the past weeks the northern virginia daily has been printing pictures of the former weekday religious education teachers and staff i was surprised to see reformation lutheran pastor barney troutman of blessed memory who i consider to be a a mentor and he was a president of wre however in some ways those pictures do a disservice as i've seen how they cause people to pine for what some thought were the good old days when what those memories should do is challenge us face up to the

060needs and the demands of this day for which we have been given into our mutual care i don't think in the 1970s we could have imagined the struggles our schools experienced today it is time for wre to be available for those who need and desire the teachings of jesus whose understanding of love and tolerance can aid us in standing together with integrity for the sake of the community we dream for tomorrow thank you our next speaker is rita louder you're not gonna okay and we didn't have anybody virtual this evening okay so that was our last speaker for the evening thank you all next on the agenda is the consent agenda do i have a motion to approve the consent agenda i'm moved that we approve the consent agenda as presented thank you is there

061a second second it's been properly moved by ms klein and seconded by mr helsley that we approve the consent agenda as presented is there any discussion no okay uh can we do a roll call vote on the consent agenda ms manning yes is wetzel yes mr housley yes this is plan yes yes yes thank you next is the instructional agenda mr shepard thank you earlier this year we presented student information on our spring standards of learning exams tonight we are going to present information on the new virginia department of education fall student growth assessment ms ryman will be sharing the information from the fall sga thank you mr shepherd members of the board good to see you one second should i do anything there it comes okay good deal all right so i hope my

062eyes here too i can't quite see that far so as miss shepherd said i wanted to give you a little bit of an update on the spa growth assessments that just took place um this first slide here you first saw when mr hensley and i talked to you about this back in september i believe so but just to refresh everyone's memory the purpose of these assessments is to help identify where gaps are in unfinished learning for our students and this was a result of a couple different pieces of general assembly legislation it was the reason why we're giving these next year you'll recall we mentioned that not only will these occur in the fall like we just did but they'll occur mid-year along with the spring sol test unless something should come along and change

063that legislation but that's how it currently stands so we gave these fall assessments between september 27th and october 15th students were typically tested on standards from the previous grade level so if you're a fourth grader and you sat down to take this test you took it on third grade standards so that we kind of think about it when we talk about a lot of times in the summer you know we talk about the summer the summer slide so it's helping to assess where they still hold on to that content from the previous year it was about 50 shorter than a typical sol test to around 25ish questions and it was computer adaptive and i know we all think that our parents think traditionally of us sol scaled score from zero to 600 we all have

064ingrained in us that 400 is a pass and so on but the purpose here ultimately is also to use these assessments for growth towards accreditation so because the standards are different grade level because that fourth grader just took a test on third grade standards but at the end of the year they're going to take a test on fourth grade standards right so the state has been working to align those scores on a new vertical scaled score so these didn't come to us in the typical 400 500 fashion they came to us in a four-digit scale score a must reinforce though that because of that there is no such thing as pass fail there's that's not what this is about not for the student not for the teachers not for the school this is truly about

065assessing where our kids right now so we can use that information to make solid instructional decisions okay there is more information available on the website if you'd like to see it okay so let me explain all this information you will recall that we participate with the cip cohort not capital improvement plan cip too many acronyms that are the same right but comprehensive instructional program that is a cohort of divisions across the state of virginia we share pacing we share instructional resources and we utilize you know pair with each other to help make good things happen and the director of the cip after we have common assessments like this across the state takes all that data and combines it together for us so we can see ourselves in relationship to one another and we can break

066it down even more in house so what this chart is showing you is in that consortium 45 divisions are in that counting us some in the local area but most of which are down south like region 7 southwest virginia okay so the left-hand column is showing you of all those 45 divisions broken down by grade level and math or reading and then the number of tests that were given across everybody the middle column the average fall pass is basically this data was taken what would be the equivalent of an sol pass or like a 400 was put on that scale and that percentage column is from this fall that mini assessment they just took what that pass rate is so like they're at the top grade four math 39.31 of students within the whole consortium

067receive what would be like a pass the spring is reflecting back to last may when our kids took sol tests okay during the 2021 school year everybody together for grade four math had an average 55.83 percent so what's it appear that happened for fall it looks like a slide right that's why you see that negative 16.52 percent in the past difference so that's the main column i want you to focus on but i wanted to explain that clearly to help get us there so if we leveled anybody who leveled and held on based on this data to all the learning that they had from before would just be at a zero like a flat does that make sense okay so as you'll notice as you scan down through there you don't see any positives across

068the whole consortium 45 divisions all tests combined together there were over 70 000 tests you lump them into one big pot which really isn't a great way to look at it but for the sake of conversation was negative nine point six nine percent okay all right so hold that thought so we're gonna zoom in a little bit that top line is that same last piece of data everybody all those tests together all 45 divisions negative 9.69 but if we just take shenandoah county students there were 3 467 reading and math tests across all those grade levels in the fall that we just finished 50.07 compared to 50.65 percent in the spring so it's a loss but it's less than one percentage point when those when all the divisions and i didn't want to put their

069names up there right so it didn't show you all this but when all the divisions in the cohort and the consortium were ranked from least amount of change to most two divisions had a positive pass difference meaning they appear to have not only held on to the learning they had but have lifted some since spring everybody else had a larger decrease than us other than those two that came out positive the range of that past difference was from an increase of 2.12 to a decrease of 21.67 percent so while we know we have a lot of work to do there's no doubt about that there's still a lot of work to happen particularly younger and younger grade levels but this is a half glass full moment and that the slide appears to not have been

070as much as we maybe had been worried about so again still zoomed in on scps on this one if you break it apart by math and reading grades three through eight in math the number of tests again you can see the average fall past and spring pass and we took a decline but you'll remember we've been talking for probably a year now but what we've been seeing even nationwide that trends seem to show that math took a bigger hit during this pandemic than reading did reading we actually had a positive change little but we'll take it right 1.9 percent the range in the parentheses is for our schools so three elementary three middle county mountain view eighth graders all of those kids to get those schools together we had a range within our buildings of

071either staying flat in math or as low as 8.96 percentage drop in reading as high as 6.27 percent improvement from spring to a drop of 4.14 and a couple reminders i put there because i think it's just important to remember we had third grade students sit down to take this who've never experienced an sol test in their life before so it was only what six weeks maybe into the school year and it was shorter yes but nonetheless it was a formal testing environment that they haven't experienced before but every third grader across the state experienced that and again the test is much shorter so we all know that right you have a five question test versus a 50 question test one question makes takes more of a difference okay so what do we do about

072it okay great we got the numbers what's it mean what are we going to do with it again this is not about pass fail the data that came from this helps us our principals have this in hand and they're studying it and working with their teachers by department by grade level and looking at it because it will let's say you all are in my class and i have this data and i don't necess i can get it by student yes but holy i can look at it and go oh wow all six of them seem to struggle on standard 3.4 and i'm teaching fourth grade to them right now but here's where 3.4 is going to connect with fourth grade content so it helps me understand where some of those gaps are so i can

073fill them in instructionally so we're continuing to use targeted resources to get on on finished learning formal and informal assessments all of these things this this probably looks familiar too because we've talked about this before but continuing to use our assessment using our before and after support planning common plannings for teachers as much as we can make that possible within our schedules pd you name it we're trying to think of everything we can do to meet the needs of our students and address this this unfinished learning so i think that's the last thing i had yes so what questions do you have is reading computer adaptive yes really okay yes it'll change the passage that you get oh so you'll get a passage that might have multiple questions that won't change while you're in it

074but it might dictate the next passage that you're getting very good what else how were the school divisions selected for the cip it's not a selection process it's something you elect to join so we became part of the cip cohort five years ago maybe six years ago because we saw the value and having that resource and that collaboration across divisions so you you choose to join it's a service so so any of the localities around us are in our a couple of localities nearby are there like i said it kind of was born out of southwest virginia and has gradually kind of peaked up this way and it's sort of similar to the smaller rural schools very much i belong to very much we have similar demographics we have similar issues so it makes sense

075to join with them and i remember when we were first talking about cip how amazingly well wise county was doing yes and it stuck in my head because that's where my dad grew up and just you know there is so much value and working together with other divisions so you can share best practices as you said pacing guides you know just different um and it's a voice to bring to the table right the director dr matt hurt is often at a lot of the events that we go to to speak up share ideas you know that has a voice with um the vdoe so it's it's a good collaboration to be part of that's great well and the data is pretty good yeah but there are just some other problems that there wasn't as much

076slide do you think it do you think our sort of vigorous summer school contribution i definitely think that helped yes i definitely think that helped and we certainly want to continue to do that again as you probably know the um the government put out the sr3 set-aside funds and summer summer programs as part of that so we're looking into that so that we continue to have access for a couple of years to extra funds to maintain that level of robustness i'm very pleasantly pleased with what i saw with the reading scores being a former reading specialist in the county reading is usually a little harder for us to in years past before pandemic to meet you know accreditation and this is this is good news that our kids yes it is but like i said

077i don't want to detract from the fact that we know we all took that moment to go okay that's that's good right like you need those along the way because it's still an uphill battle but yes there's still work to do absolutely especially for our youngest learners like that we don't have in this pot to to see that way like our k12s right right sure okay any other questions all right thank you thank you okay next on the agenda is our informational agenda the first is an update on a regulation you can see in your packet there this this update is very very simple um the two editions on 19 and 20 are there because of the loan taken out for seminar middle schools and this is part of that loan or rules that go

078along with that and that we have to facilities may only be scheduled for continuous use for three months at a time and that no facility can go beyond 5 used by non-government agencies very we have very few non-government agencies so i don't expect hardly any impact at all to use of our facilities during the time that we have this loan that's helping take care of some major cip projects so just want to bring that to your attention anybody have any questions just point out that dr hein gardner sent that to ms wetzel and me as we're on the policy committee asking for input and my question our questions back to him were how will this impact use who would potentially be denied and dr hein gardner had met with parks and rec who you know

079are who our facilities are that goes through for other people to use through parks and rec and can like dr hanconer said because there are so few governmental agencies that would ever utilize that the impact was virtually nil i just wanted to do something that's not they're not included yeah i just wanted to be sure that to recognize that he talked to parks and rec as well right okay thank you next on the agenda is uh the calendar change for november 22nd and 23rd mrs shepherd thank you i would like to take this time to thank all of our staff for the incredible work that they are doing this year they are working hard to ensure our students are learning that includes everybody from our teachers to our school counselors to our custodians our bus

080drivers food service workers central office staff principals assistant principals everybody is is working hard to ensure student learning many of our teachers have been asked to give up their planning time this year to cover additional classes the pandemic has made it incredibly difficult to fill teaching positions and also to find substitutes to cover when teachers are sick or on leave some days we only have enough substitutes to fill about half the number of spots teachers and other staff are asked to cover any openings that we cannot fill so when students can be in school in person planning lessons to make sure that each student is getting what they need is time consuming during normal school year during a normal school year this year it's even more difficult as teachers work to help students recover from

081unfinished learning due to the pandemic the recommendation is to modify the 2021-2022 school calendar to make monday november 22nd and tuesday november 23rd teacher work days the additional planning time will allow teachers to reflect on what each student needs collaborate with their grade level or subject teams and plan effectively so they can help students grow even more when they return from thanksgiving break further this time will give teachers an opportunity to reach out to students who have been quarantined to help them catch up on the instructional material the student has missed while quarantine i'll be happy to answer any questions so you're recommending that monday and tuesday be work days so as i went from school to school um and talked to teachers what i kept hearing was collaborative learning time when i met with

082a group of teacher representatives on tuesday they would like to have collaborative collaborative planning time and they would also like to be able to work from home on that second day well yeah is there any way that we can uh accommodate that that they could work from home on on that second day um as opposed to come in and yeah you know i think that's a it's a small thing uh but they're professionals and uh i think it'd be a good gesture to allow them to stay home and uh and do it uh virtually if that's possible anybody else i agree with mr keller they'll they'll they've said they need time so i trust like you said they're professionals and i trust that if they need that time and they can do that tuesday from

083home they still need the time you know so i trust that they would use their time wisely regardless of where they are i guess the one thing that concerns me is one of the one of the things they talked about was collaborating at grade level or subject matter and that that's harder to do when you're virtual than when you're in the same room but you know but not impossible not impossible and if they choose to come in on tuesday they can so if they want to set up time to collaborate and come in for even part of the tuesday to meet collaboratively and then spend the rest of the day working from home potentially then i think as long as if they're working from home they're available for student questions too because the one thing

084one thing that we talked about that's that's not necessarily in the rationale is these two days are actually great catch-up days for the students you know i know my kids they keep up as best they can but they both have an english assignment missing right now and you know i know they can use those two days but it would be really it would be really helpful if the teacher is on call for that tuesday even if they're working from home if a student has a question or if they answer emails within a certain amount of time or something like that i i would be okay with working from home for the second day ms shepherd how many uh i know obviously we didn't have enough subs to cover how many uh classes been split you

085put maybe 10 in one class to a teacher and and the other 10 and the other has that been done i do not have the data on that i mean just roughly done i knew it in elementary school we had quarantined a class so that teacher actually took um two other um teachers took the kids that weren't quarantined took those students so i know that there's been many times that that's happened how about i mean overall how is substitutes so before our substitute fill rate was between 50 and 60 it is now between 70 and 80 percent still not great but um it's better than it was much better yeah i think they're coming from all over the substitute channel when i was up here just yesterday the day before there were two people filling

086out paperwork to be a sub and i was just here briefly in an hour i think um what we did a couple months last month or two months ago with raising subpay people are coming from over across the mountain or you know different places so and when colleges finish their first semester they usually don't go back to what the third week in january i assume uh miss hodges we get some subs from that pool what does the sub training consist of is that a whole day before covid the sub training was a half day and we would have administrators from each level come and present the training but because of covid we did a voiceover with the powerpoint that we were using for the in-person training and then we have some videos linked to that

087training we have not returned to in-person training for subs yet but it seems that we get them on board faster by sending the the powerpoint voice over and videos sure because they can do that at their convenience right which may be earlier than the next time we would offer a training in person thank you any other questions or um shepherd did you have anything else on that that was it thank you okay sorry i have one question sorry um other staff outside of teachers since we don't have students in the building that day will custodians will still be offering lunch the tuesday yeah the monday tuesday yes ma'am yeah so um i haven't thought through that okay but cafeteria staff will not have to work cafeteria staff will not have to work our bus drivers

088will not have to work um custodians there will still be some people in the building i know the school board office staff will still be here so our principals will be here 250 day employees we will not be offering meals for pickup those days no okay okay okay thank you and that's one thing we need to keep in mind as we as we do these days off that it's not just an adjustment in child care for families but it's also potentially difficult for kids with food and insecurity so we just have to make sure we do these things mindfully i got a email from a parent and so uh she was a support that recommended i support this which i'm going to but she said and i especially elementary teachers i mean they're overwhelmed and

089she went into her child's uh classroom and she was just amazed at what they have done and especially if they got quarantined students and then if they got five others coming from another class i don't see how they do it and so i mean it's it's a good suggestion by miss shepherd that we yeah give the give the students i don't know if this is the right time for this too but um i mean the masks are one thing um in terms of a hurdle that or obstacles are dealing but the quarantine is is particularly debilitating i think for students and parents um and i'm under the impression that that might improve somewhat okay we started that this past monday right the reduced quarantine time test at day five um quarantine for seven days if

090you're not showing any symptoms in return on day eight which before it was returned on day 11 so we are saving three days of instruction let me ask this you know i know that we're providing covet days for staff that have to quarantine how about staff whose kids have to quarantine and they have to be home with them has there been any consideration about about those folks so that was not what i asked for in november however we've had a little bit of october we've had a little bit of um concerns about that so it probably will be something that comes back yeah because i'm you know if we're asking a kid to be home an elementary kid to be home for 10 days because of the quarantine requirement and in that parent happens to

091be a teacher i think it's the right thing to do in some cases we have both parents workforce and so they're tag teaming trying to you know and one might be a coach too you know that kind of stuff so anything else no okay um let's move on to action items the first item is personnel do i have a motion i move we approve the personnel list as presented thank you is there a second second it's been properly moved by ms wetzel and seconded by mr helsley that we approve the personnel list as presented uh roll call vote please ms manning yes yes mr helsley yes yes mr keller yes this is walsh yes thank you next is the additional allocation for budget fiscal recovery funds for ventilation which we heard about last month under

092information do i have a motion i move we approve the additional allocation for budget fiscal recovery funds for ventilation be approved as presented is there a second second it's been properly moved by ms manning and seconded by ms klein that we approve 6.2 the additional allocation for budget fiscal recovery funds for ventilation is there any discussion yes uh dr eingar we heard a speaker about the the kitchen what's the standing on that i don't know whether it's in this uh motion or whatever but we're still pursuing that and are we go i mean do we have a target date we're going to have plenty of funds whenever we have a plan mr dykes hasn't provided a timeline yet the last time he presented was like two months ago i think it was three when he

093presented what his what he had researched thus far but he hasn't been back to us with a timeline or a plan at this point but this money that we're about to potentially approve those improvements are rolled into this additional funding for ventilation okay anything else okay uh roll call vote please ms manning yes ms yes mr helsley yes yes mr keller yes ms walsh yes thank you next is 6.3 update regulation gcbd and policy gaa do i have a motion i move we approve the update to regulation g c b d r and policy g a a thank you is there a second second it's been properly moved by miss wetzel and seconded by ms manning that we approve 6.3 um to update the regulation noted uh roll call vote please oh is there any

094discussion sorry we heard about this last month um about student teaching okay roll call vote please ms manning yes ms wetzel yes yes thank you uh 6.4 2021-2022 calendar change for november 22nd and 23rd 2021. do i have a motion i move we approve the calendar change as presented is there a second second it's been properly moved by ms manning and seconded by ms wetzel that we approve the calendar calendar change as presented uh is there any discussion it was presented that do we need to clarify that we agreed to tuesday being a virtual day i was just looking to see if any other questions on that no okay we're all called vote please ms manning yes ms wetzel yes mr housley yes yes ms walsh yes thank you that's all of the action items

095next on the agenda is the superintendent's monthly report mr shepard do you have anything you want to point out to us i do not i'll be happy to answer any questions yeah how's attendance yeah significantly and my understanding from the virginia department of education is that chronic absenteeism there will not be a weaver well yeah i think it's it's down extensively everywhere and you know whether there's a waiver or not i don't know what the solution is to to make those improvements and we're asking kids to stay home to quarantine you mentioned that earlier attendance rates are typically in the 90s and they're in the 80s is there any attendance credit given for students who are quarantining but actively engage in their learning yes there there is um we call that meaningful interaction and if

096students are actively engaged or completing their work then they are giving credit for being present if they're quarantined and teachers are reaching out we have some attendance people reaching out to try to get our students to attend more more regularly virtually or in person and with the reduction of quarantine days one would presume attendance will improve to some degree correct i mean logic you would think that that's the hope okay anything else in that section nope okay um report of board members and other business i think i started with miss wetzel last time so i'll start with mr keller this time i'm good you're good are you okay miss klein you say that and then you say something i'm not gonna do it um just uh you know again a big thank you to the

097teachers and the staff and the folks that are out there every day trying to get the job done because it's not an easy job so i appreciate them and i can never say enough how much they are appreciated so that's all i have just a couple things we miss wetzel ms shepherd and i attended the x extension co-op exec co-op extension reception and presentation and um it was good to hear how they've been navigating covid continuing to work in the community and their contributions with our students our 4-h clubs and all the rest so and that was lovely out of muse and food was good all provided by local growers and and farmers and families so that was really nice i did attend back on the 18th of october which is why i was not

098able to attend the wre presentation the online review for delegates thank you for everybody who responded to me so that i can accurately represent your votes on monday when we do that virtually and lastly i want to congratulate all of our teams central everybody who's moving on to their next round that saturday is going to be a busy day in shenandoah county so just wanted to congratulate everybody cindy are you done michelle yes ma'am i i wanted to say one other thing i apologize i'm taking your place i even had it written down um i've had a few constituents contact me asking um and i did mention this to ms shepherd uh that perhaps with the the tough times with mental health with teachers and and all that you know could we investigate maybe another

099additional half day a professional leave perhaps once a month and um that's not a surprise to ms shepherd i did share that with her but i've had several constituents teacher constituents asking so thank you i don't normally forget my stuff when it's written down sorry mr housely mr helper you did not interrupt me at all sorry okay uh the the first thing um and this came to the same email i had about uh uh teacher work days on uh the two days we approved was the mental health and um of course we had a tragedy as one of our students on monday and uh we pray for the for that child and the family dealing with such uh circumstance and we got to do more and my wife found this article that was it goes

100back to 2017 uh a set of parents from kansas city the title is our son died by suicide this is what we want parents and educators to know and i will share this with jessica whatever but they had no warning great kid no warning and they set up a foundation called keep the spark alive foundation and and uh it's a program that reaches out to school divisions throughout the country and one program the foundation is funded is called sources of strength in which they train students and teachers to support students with mental health and ironic i read an article on the daily news record that broadway just started that a couple weeks ago they had the training and we may learn something from them but we got to do more and with covert and the

101math so anyway i'll leave this article with so that maybe maybe she can share that maybe we can get a committee together whatever so uh you know i remember my personal life i had a young man that helped me on the farm one summer and he was leaving for bridgewater that fall and just like this article spoke to no signs great kid great athlete handsome young man and he did not want to leave home and basically and he took his own life when he was supposed to report to bridgewater and i and i was with him i mean i was with him a lot that summer i saw no signs none so but if we can say one person whatever so but anyway that's uh anyway all right um i uh i attended the bus

102driver's breakfast at uh the southern campus and uh dr hein gardner was there and um there was a bus driver there and miss hodges you i don't have the name she has driven the bus for 48 years did you comprehend that do you know who that is where what was it no no no i i don't remember but but anyway and and that uh uh dr hein gardner they had some concerns do we have all those resolved but if if i wouldn't have went and of course when there's food i usually go but but it will i i was enjoying talking to them and i don't know whether they would open up or would come to a they're superior uh but but uh dr hein gardner was very he listened and i know he followed

103up with him um now now this this thing it came to my attention that at muhlenberg if you don't where you mass right you have a detention session can this not i mean it was hard for me to believe so somebody may need to check on that but i heard it in the community a couple sources but anyway um and and i like to uh congratulate the newly elected school board members uh dennis barlow kyle gutchall was here and brandi woods i don't know whether she was here the three remaining school board members will will do our best to welcome you and uh so good luck and i like to say just what it was part about the the athletic teams that are going on to regional play and uh good luck on saturday and

104beyond that's all i have thank you the same day that we had the extension service showcase i went to the shenandoah county chamber of commerce fourth annual economic development breakfast which was a is always a very good event and uh toddling and amy miller had a boost set up for shenandoah county public schools that evening i think miss shepherd was following me because we both showed up at the mountain view high school fall music concert which is a great opportunity and because it was close halloween they were dressed in costumes which was which was fun and then saturday i went to the all county orchestra festival and i'd like to encourage other school board members besides going to athletic events and places they serve food give us some of the fine arts things and this

105is laughing i didn't say give up those things this saturday at two o'clock i think at mountain view high school there will be the all county choir and that should be a really good event and i know some of you do go to those but um the the fine arts people i think feel left out sometimes because they don't see as many school board members there and finally i'd like to say next week november 15th through 19th is american education week to celebrate public education and honor the individuals working to make sure that every student receives a quality education and as a couple of you have said ms shepherd and miss klein let's all remember to thank our employees and let's honor them all of our great educators and every one of those positions are

106educators in their own way and that's it thank you so i have a couple of things that were on other people's lists um i was going to thank dr hein gardner as well for his help with some transportation issues that have been resolved um so i echo molly's molly sorry that's who the problem was um marty's uh thanks for that um kids aren't just acting up in schools they're acting up on buses because they've been out of practice of how to act around other children um so that so bus drivers are having a lot of issues on the buses i was also going to mention sources of strength which is the program that marty also brought up uh it is being used in rockingham county at broadway high school and it's not just about counseling

107but it's about building up students sense of community sense of self-worth that kind of thing they had a community day that was amazing and one of our former teachers who is now an assistant principal in rockingham county has offered to come and talk to us about it and how how they're using the program there and i think that's a great idea um sports are doing very well in the county as others have said um i just have to give my shout out to central because i am a central mom one act that we saw earlier tonight is actually a vhsl activity so although it's not a sport it is vhsl and they have moved on and then also on saturday we have girls cross country from central girls volleyball from central and the football team

108um all playing on saturday and kudos to justin broughton for making sure none of those overlapped so everybody is accommodated at least cross country is a way so that that's good i wanted to give a shout out to ms shepherd because in addition to doing her job and going to school she attends everything she has been seen at sporting events musical events she attends advisory board meetings she attends meetings in the community when um when she's invited to come and speak like riverton clubs and and that kind of thing and i don't know when you sleep because you're constantly attending things outside school hours and i i really appreciate it and karen thanks for mentioning all county choir that's at two o'clock on sunday at mountain view and that was it anything else i know

109andrew wants to say that strasbourg high school is playing seven o'clock in the regional football a regional football game at strasbourg high school on friday night yes actually what i what i was thinking yeah i did go to the central strasbourg game saturday and let me say that that the the level of sportsmanship that i saw from both teams was remarkable and needs to be commended as well i mean we had a kid from strasbourg broke his ankle and on the central side of the field and i think very supportive in i think every the community's appreciative of that that's great that's good we missed that game we had a travel soccer game i really wanted to go i tell you central central is good i have a question i saw photos on facebook what

110is it with the baby powder and the central fans or i assume that was baby powder that was thrown i've never seen it okay where was it at football game it was that it was at the strasbourg game and it and it was well anyway it was magic dust probably i think that's what they call it anyway okay i'll check with the aed yeah well i know the central fans are very active and they have theme nights they they have theme nights you know so black out night everybody wears black the other night of the volleyball game it was televised so it could have been part of their theme we expect you to report back next month i will do that i'm going to remind you yeah you might know anybody else nope okay great

111great meeting thank you all meeting's adjourned martin luther you're here otherwise with me 8 30.