Shenandoah County Public Schools - School Board Meeting - July 09, 2020

001so if all the scored members are here I'll ask for a motion to reconvene an open session I knew that we reconvene in open session excuse me Shelby Klein thank you miss Klein is there a second second Cindy wash it's been properly moved and seconded that we reconvene an open session all in favor say aye aye all opposed say no we are now in open session the Shenandoah County School Board hereby certifies by roll call vote that to the best of each members knowledge business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements barber general meeting to which the certification resolution applies and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convenien the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the Shenandoah County School Board each members responds are so certified when called

002this wash iso certified this climb this Manning I so started by mr. Keller ISO certified mr. helsley's ISO certified this website's next on our agenda is approval of the agenda is there a motion I move that we approve the agenda as presented sandy wash it's been moved that we approve the agenda is there a second second Michelle mani any discussion hearing none all in favor of approving the agenda say ah all opposed say no the agenda is approved next on our agenda is public and staff comments on agenda items the Shenandoah County Board welcomes public comment during most regular meetings and during public hearings school board members do not respond to public comments during the meeting or hearing each speaker may speak for up to three minutes the speaker should conclude their remarks at the

003end of three minutes the board generally allows up to thirty minutes for public comments on agenda items at the beginning of the meeting and for non agenda items at the end of the meeting if there are large number of speakers the Board may limit the total time for comment and/or reduce the time allotted for each speaker all comments should address a matter related to the Shenandoah County Public Schools the school board will not hear public comments that involve a complaint about an individual staff member personnel action a student disciplinary matter a complaint about an individual student or pending litigation the school board expects that each speaker will be courteous modeling for our students how one can respectfully disagree with others views vicar's will address their comments to the entire school board and not to one

004individual board member nor to the superintendent to a staff member nor to the audience speakers will not engage in personal attacks speakers are have signed up to speak using the process described in the meeting announcement and they will be called in the order in which they signed up and with that being said our first speaker is Dennis Barlow mr. Barlow is mr. Dennis Barlow they're not hearing mr. Barlow moved to the next person and then trying to come back our next speaker is Santa's conference will now be recorded sarah.nicholls Coors mist month last month an african-american pastor called 9-1-1 due to assault by a white and was initially unheard arrested and charged the Washington Post responded with gonna do a County what are you going to do education is the key that means ensuring our

005current and future students that should enjoy it County believes in them and takes its mission seriously the state and national standards change local core curricula are altered to accommodate those revisions shouldn't the same be true for school names as a respectful reminder that we really do provide a safe and nurturing environment that promotes the physical social emotional and cognitive development of all students I'm an alum of southern campus schools I sat in those buildings and had no idea that less than a mile away there was a slave cemetery with two dozen African Americans including children this county failed in fact today in 1853 a little girl named Caroline was born to Serena one of the enslaves likely buried in that sacred space Stevens 1861 cornerstone speech clearly indicates the purpose of the Civil War this

006valley is where a large part of that war was fought families like my own lost men farms were pillaged and burned this valley was in ruins why because wealthy plantation owners and Confederate leaders like Jackson Ashby and Lee wanted to preserve slavery a majority of our hard-working ancestors did it have a say in that why do we continue to dishonor them by honoring the very men who used them in this beautiful land for an uncivil war why do we celebrate four years of killing over the relative peace of two hundred and forty-four years of our County's establishment before the Civil War twelve and a half percent of our population was enslaved plantation and furnace owners in our County use slave labor here in 1878 public lashing was still used as punishment for black citizens in

007the 1950s a storm forced children under a mount Jackson store awning one little girl was made to stand in the pouring rain because she was different he was black how much more wasn't I told because my school system was following the status quo and the white privilege narrative ignorant of such a racist heritage how many have been fearful confused or embarrassed under the names of our schools because our children should have high expectations of their schools to quality public education is the key we turn to each of you our respected school board members to make the difficult decisions unpopular to many but vital to cultivate a healthy compassionate peaceful thriving community for our current and future students thank you this cause I wasn't sure if I could hear the buzzer from here but I can

008thank you let's go back to mr. Dennis Varley mr. Barlow are you here now not hearing him the next speaker is Geoffrey Rudy [Music] good afternoon my name is Jeff Rudy and I'm president of the Shenandoah County Education Association first I applaud the school board's resolution condemning racism and affirming the divisions commitment to an inclusive school environment from June 25th 2020 your resolution acknowledges racism in America today and recognizes the marginalized members of the african-american community in Shenandoah County Public Schools rest assured your recent actions aligns itself with our Board of Supervisors resolution aligned itself with dr. Johnson and Shenandoah County Public Schools recognition of the death of George Floyd aligns itself with governor northrop's recent letter to school board's across Virginia aligns itself with the Virginia Education Association stance on educational and social justice

009and aligns itself with the SCEA own position on this important topic as well we are all in this together second the SCEA supports the school board in changing the names and mascots of our schools in our county that celebrate the Confederacy and excludes our marginalized students without the name changes and we really follow Gendo County Public Schools mission statement to have an environment that encourages and supports trust and mutual respect and we're all members of our learning community our valued and respected when our school names and mascots say something very different our school building should be inclusive diverse and welcoming to all of our students our children deserve a place to learn without implicit and explicit oppression from school names and mascots our students need a place to learn where dignity and respect begins with

010the name of the building they come to throughout their formative years and our children should not graduate traumatized by years of attending schools whose names and mascots do not represent them the see a fully acknowledges that proclamations resolutions and school name changes do not defeat racism but it's a start these ideas start the healing process embraces our entire community and moves us one step forward together change takes courage and I urge you to consider the weight and importance of today's votes and it is your civic duty to do what's best for the children of our community how will you be remembered what will be your legacy and remember the choices you make today shape our world tomorrow thank you thank you mr. Rudy I think I saw mr. Barlow has arrived mr. Barlow are you

011ready to speak yes can you hear me yes yes sir oh come on please can you hear me yes sir oh you get you know should I begin well yes begin now and let me you have three minutes and you'll hear a buzzer and then would you please finish the sentence wrong man and well go to the next speaker thank you okay I appreciate that very much my name is Dennis Barlow I've lived in Newmarket for 14 years I've been a public school teacher I taught at Princeton University was an army officer and I concluded in my career as Professor James Madison University I'm opposed to this motion for five reasons raised as I agreed that we need to reaffirm a school system dedicated to equality which condemns racism but that condemnation needs to affirm

012itself in the context of an objective definition for instance the merriam-webster dictionary definition and not an arbitrary and subjective one use of the term as relates the persons who lived 160 years ago it's not your condemnation which should be decoupled from the renaming of the schools the two issues are distinct and several concerns which should be the focus of forward actions - why the rush I am also concerned that the pace in nature of this motion there are those who in the future will have grounds object to it based on the relative non-public way in which it has been handled the speed with which it is being pushed through and imprecise and judgmental implications of the resolution those issues need sober and measured responses there is no need for breakneck speed in deciding them the

013cost if you decide to earmark a half-million dollars - that's cosmetic effort you can be absolutely positive that your budgetary requests in the future will be met with objections noting that you spent a significant amount of money on the trendy and emotional action at the expense of substantive enhancements precedent as you consider changing the names of the revered institutions I asked you to consider this question are you willing to accept a society which can and will expunge the names of all those who do not comply with conventional wisdom 160 years after the fact what if in 20 years society decides that all Americans who participated in world war ii should be condemned because they did not act earlier to alleviate the persecutions of the jews there's logic to it but it is not consider the

014complex realities of the era itself we cannot redefine the past in our image it is foolishness it is dangerous let us not become the Taliban and finally toxicity feelings both personal and historic run deep in our Valley that we debate and discuss budgets and priorities we try not to let politics fill over into our dedication to quality education if the board takes up this divisive expensive and emotional issue it will create a battlefield in the culture war the board will not be able to control either side once the conflict begins but the battlefield will be messy all battlefields are and trust me on this the victors will not care a whit for the casualties they leave behind I leave you with the biggest lesson I learned at the Naval War College letsa Wars even culture

015war are easy to start and hard to stop thank you Thank You mr. Barlow and I'd like to remind everybody if you're not speaking please put your mic off or mute your mic because we're getting a little feedback our next speaker is Dennis Atwood good afternoon can you hear me all right hello yes sir okay good afternoon chair Wetzel and board members I'm speaking to item 6.5 on today's agenda we have arrived at a threshold you must decide whether or not to take the on-ramp to the highway where many Virginia school districts have already traveled starting in 2017 when jev Stewart and Falls Church was renamed Justice High School Arlington Fairfax County Loudoun County Staunton and recently Prince William County where two schools named snowball Jackson were renamed all of these school systems and more

016are traveling that road I hear some interference noise someone's not muted on sorry and more are traveling the road the road to reckoning and rectification regarding the dark legacy of slavery and white supremacy many of them made these decisions this spring and summer while coping with the COBE 19 pandemic an estimated cost did not deter them our schools must not serve as icons in any way honoring figures such as Confederate generals our students must not be required to experience such an educational environment with athletic uniforms yearbooks newspaper articles and diploma bearing those names paramount to all the personal and public history today is a frank and just consideration of the truths about the Civil War done in the context of our nation's renewed emphasis on the experiences of African American race from 1619 until today

017Shenandoah County must not maintain public school facilities name four generals who led Confederate troops in battles to destroy the Union in the defense of slavery and white supremacy regarding the allegation that advocates for changing the names are trying to change history and heritage I believe is incumbent upon us living in the now to identify false or misleading history and to rectify it there should be no change regarding the military service of the ancestors of many of our county residents their service records the official archives are their units and battles or their letters diaries and photos nor the soldiers cemeteries all of this is rightfully cherished by their descendants the sons of confederate veterans will continue their recounting of the war the Virginia Museum of the Civil War in Dennis Barlow's new market and the Cedar

018Creek and Belle Grove National Historic Park in Middletown including its programs on slavery are essential resources for studying this war so I urge you to vote YES to enter that highway to the future by embarking on the renaming process the path to making real your resolution condemning racism thank you for your service to our children and our community thank you mr. Atwood our next speaker is Kevin Folse it's Kevin here yes ma'am all right go ahead Kevin okay elected school board members and superintendent dr. Johnson thank you for allowing me to speak in this not so public meeting I want to state that my point is plain and simple let we the people decide this school name issue by boat we have an established way of government let the people decide by voting there's not

019an issue that only a handful of people look at me I was born in January of 1959 I'm 61 the same age as the school name Stonewall Jackson so far as so for as long as I am old it has been the name of that high school when did it all of a sudden become wrong bad and racist when outsider started telling us that it was that's when please don't insult me by saying that it's not all from outside sources because the whole concept of this destruction of history came and continues to come from outsiders we are in the past that Germany was going down as the Nazis took over destruction of history censorship and persecution of religious groups such as Jews and Christians can you see the Virginia flag behind me you will notice

020some slight differences it is an unreconstructed flag from before 19 1865 during the 12 years of heavy-handed occupancy and oppression under the northerners our state flag was redesigned they pulled down the top left on the center figure which is virtue exposing her breasts in shame they she thirst soared and uttered spirit if in the ground this is a representation of outside change don't allow outside sources to decide what we want see the unchanged state motto Sic Semper Tyrannis meaning thus always to tyrants do the right thing and don't listen to the tyrants on that list of over 3000 names opposing this name change you will find that the names of my wife and sister all both graduates of Stonewall Jackson also my daughter and two grandchildren who both go to Central High School also my

021dad who is 91 years old served in Korea war and just last week told me it was the shame of the direction this country is going you have the ability to do the right thing let the people decide this issue table this name change motion 6.5 and get with the Board of Supervisors and put it to a referendum vote don't let this be your legacy alone share it with us the voters of Shenandoah County let us decide if we vote to change the names by the majority then it's done and finished we'll even pay the half million dollars to make the changes please don't dirt virtue bear and bind her hands don't let tire tyrant rise up and beat her with this vlog of oppression again Thank You mr. Falls our next speaker is jonathan

022not array as lee ask ladies and gentlemen of the school board I'm Jonathon notoriously a resident Edinburgh in an educated in six metres what is in the name of the school the name of the school may reflect a place the name of the school may reflect a person the name of a school may reflect a moment of time most importantly the name of the school reflects a school community 66 years ago Supreme Court passed Brown versus the Board of Education by the times for more taxes Virginians was in one of its darkest moments significantly restricting integration during this time school systems commonly used school names to show their continued resistance of integration even when the courts ruled that they must begin to integrate this was done throughout the Commonwealth and was done often by naming

023schools after famous civil war heroes simply the message was if I cannot stop you from going to school here I can stop you from feeling welcome here in this school let us move to 2020 Shantanu a County Public Schools currently serves a minority population of 23.1% Stonewall Jackson serves a population of 21.7% minority and Ashby Lee's serves 26 percent minority students I asked there's a minority do these students name make me feel welcome as a minority do these names make me feel safe as a minority do these names reflect my school community the answer to all of these things is no it is imperative that we as a system create a culture that reflects the diversity that our community represents by having schools named and mascots used that reflect periods of known oppression and in

024hate do not provide a positive place for students to learn and fraud it is time to attack one of the last pieces of historical resistance that has stood the test of time tired the names of Stonewall Jackson High School Ashby the elementary school and changed the rebel mascot at North fourth middle school Thank You mr. natto natto Riaz Lee and that speaker is Jessica Kelly members of the school board and dr. Johnson good afternoon my name is Jessica Kelly and I'm a parent with two children who attend school on the south campus I appreciate the willingness of the board to not only consider statements about equity and inclusion but to also consider actions the names and symbols we use tell the rest of the world what we value the High School on the south campus

025was built at a time when the country and Virginia in particular were fighting back against the civil rights movement names and symbols of the Confederacy were the language used to signify opposition and remind people blacks in particular that they were allowed in only under duress that this then transitioned into an entire theme of the southern campus with the addition of the names of robert e lee and Turner Ashby to the elementary school and the rebels mascots to the middle school only goes to prove the point further that the lost cause and that symbolism are alive and well as you have heard from others the initial harm extends beyond and through the decades I am asking you to take corrective action and vote to remove these symbols replace them with what we actually value diversity inclusivity

026and empathy we also find ourselves now in a moment of a larger reckoning with race the system that says it's not so bad we're simply honoring generals with admirable qualities is the same system that says if you were polite and had confide you wouldn't have been beaten or killed you have all voted in agreement with the anti-racist statement the board made last month and I asked you not to be satisfied with words alone and changing the names of our schools is one of the smallest actions we can take to make progress in this area thank you for your time and your thoughtful service to the county thank you miss Kelly our next speaker is Christopher Smith mr. Smith here not hearing anyone our next speaker is Katy Dean is Katy being here hi thank you

027for your time and consideration towards changing the names of the southern campus my name is Katy Dean and this is my mom Diana who is a teacher for 15 years in Shenandoah County Public Schools I grew up in Shenandoah County and I went to Ashley north work and Stonewall Jackson High School's I believe it's time to change the names of the schools that represent Confederate generals I graduated in 2004 from Stonewall and while I can only speak for myself my experience was really positive I had amazing teachers who really prepared me for college and taught me to think creatively as well as analytically but that being said I don't list them long as the school I graduated from because I don't think the name represents the kind of education that I got um for people

028who might say I don't have a connection to the Civil War or that I'm trying to erase history my great-great-great great-grandfather fought in the Civil War he was from West Virginia I was a farmer he fought for the Union and my husband's great great great uncle was General Steven Dodson Ram sir who fought alongside Stonewall Jackson at a lot of battles in the for the Confederacy I believe the phrase rich man's war poor man's fight to be true about the Civil War and I also believe that context of everything Brown vs. Board of Education was passed in 1954 and around that time many schools in Virginia and around the south changed their names to represent Confederate icons those things aren't unrelated and we can't look so far back that we were ignore our more recent

029history similarly around that time symbols of the Confederacy were erected in towns to show dominance as a direct symbol of their opposition to integration Stonewall Jackson High School was named in 1959 that matters for everyone who says we can't erase history I agree let's also not erase the history of why these schools were named what they were named in the first place and what the intention of those symbols were the names of the schools I went to I want to match what I was taught inside those schools mutual respect kindness courtesy and inclusion and I understand that causes of consideration and that renaming schools is not a small budget item although a lot of things about covet have been terrible I also think it's an opportunity to reset to adjust or redefine things that need

030adjusting some of these things can be done gradually and some of these things some of these overdue things should be done swiftly and immediately I appreciate the incredible task you are faced with I recognize the opposition you will face and I hope that you need it with courage thank you so much for your time thank you miss Dean do we have Christopher Smith here yes yes we do thank you go ahead and speak mr. Smith I'm just gonna kind of shoot from the hip I've heard a lot of conversations on the phone today about for and against and I think we really have kind of missed the bar on national County happens to be one of the poorest counties in the state of Virginia and the sheer cost of this alone in a campus or

031community that was more funded would be an arduous task with the mental health needs on a lot of the campus campus overcrowding some of the issues we faced I think a name change just isn't in the immediate need of our County I'd hoped to hop on this call and have a discussion around you know we have looking forward to the fall with the return to school and that plan but apparently that is not going to happen so in a respective time I think everybody's for saying their opinion on both sides that I think we really didn't look at cost in essential needs of our community and campus before we look at that Thanks thank you mr. Smith and I actually did have you down to speak about the school reading plan um next is Colby

032Thomas is Colby Thomas here Steph Kaufman Mary Payne yes I'm here oh I'm sorry mr. Cole yes I'm here thank you good afternoon school board members my name is Seth Kaufman I live in quicks burg I'm a lifelong resident of Shenandoah County ancestors on my father's side have lived in chendo County since the 1700s I'm a 1998 graduate of Stonewall Jackson High School and I'm here today asking you to live in to the anti-racism resolution you passed two weeks ago and change the name to stonewall jackson - billie elementary school the school board passed unanimously a resolution that condemned racism and affirmed the divisions commitment to an inclusive school environment for all a commendable action but it begs the question what's next and I'm glad to see on this agenda discussion in action the superintendent

033has said it's not the name of the school that matters it's the culture in the building and for that reason you shouldn't consider changing the name well we know that's not entirely true names do matter how can we say we are committed to an inclusive school environment for all when the very name of the building is a reminder of Virginia school segregationist policies and practices from the 50s and 60s regardless of how welcoming and inclusive the people in the building are if the name on the outside prevents people from seeing what is inside then we have a problem the name matters because it affects not only families currently living in chendo County and also affects the county's image last year my family hosted a Valley League baseball player from outside the area when his family

034dropped them all from Memorial Day weekend we make conversation and Meyer at our beautiful Valley and spoke proudly of our community we asked had any trouble finding our house they acknowledge with a bit of disgust that they had noticed the name of my alma mater on their way to our home I saw the disappointment in their faces and heard the tone of their voices it made me cringe thinking how the name of that landmark might have made them feel I want to tell the black families sitting in my living room I know but it's just a name I graduate from there I'm not raised but the damage was already done the name had influenced their opinions of the area and opinions my family had to work to change in 1778 decisions have done more County

035named in honor of the Virginia governor and forth a row of Dunmore changed the name to Shenandoah County when the oral was when the Earl was forced from office for his loyalty to the crown the citizens of Shantou Kelly decided they didn't want their colonial past to carry over into their American future when this area became Shandell County those residents weren't erasing history either making it the new names mattered King's name will not take away from the memories I have of my time at Stonewall Jackson all the memories of other alumni changing the name is not about changing history it's a creating the future if we build a new school today would we ever consider naming it after Confederate General of course not so how can we allow the name to remain or buildings any

036longer now is the time to do this Aldo Leopold who is a biologist and conservationist from the first half of the 20th century wrote this in his book round River one of the penalties of having an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen an ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science were none of his business or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise through my profession I see those ecological wounds and now I've shed the Bliss of ignorance and educated myself on these matters that people of color see every day and the

037wounds they live with and I feel compelled to act and I hope you as a school board will also feel compelled to action thank you thank you mr. Kaufman next on the list Mary Payne hello my name is Mary Payne and I'm the creator of the petition to change the names of Ashby Lee elementary school and Stonewall Jackson High School my motivation behind creating the petition is the desire to create a safer and more positive environment for all students as you've seen the petition has garnered nearly 2,000 100 signatures from Shenandoah County residents in current and former students of Shenandoah County Public Schools there are many people looking upon you to move forward with this change in the Shenandoah County Public Schools please believe statement it states that your mission is in part all members

038of the learning community are to be valued and respected and atmosphere an atmosphere of respect must exist and continuous growth and improvement is expected for everyone not to mention the assurance that the schools will not discriminate on the basis of race color national origin sex disability or age and its programs or activities if these beliefs were true the right thing to do would be to remove the hatred and racism the Stonewall Jackson Turner Ashby and robert e lee stood and fought for the constant worship and honor that three generals get does not promote a positive inclusive environment I ask you to put yourself in the position of an african-american student for a moment imagine the feeling of walking into your school with a face and name and names of men who fought and killed to

039own you and your ancestors staring back at you imagine fear and intimidation you will feel knowing that you are not meant to be there if things would have turned out differently in the Civil War the names of the schools automatically put african-american students in a place of inferiority which completely contradicts your mission and belief statements as an african-american alum myself I feel saddened by the thought of my brothers and sisters of color who have to endure that fear though I did not attend Stonewall campus from speaking with black students who did / do I can confirm that they fear the fear and demonstrate and discrimination I ask you to look deeper than just a name just to see what these names stood for then I asked then ask yourself do I want to move forward

040and improve the experiences of the students I promise to protect and support I personally experienced racism many times some very obvious and a lot of times just microaggressions whichever way you spend it though racism is racism and it should have no place in the schools changing the names will not magically make racism disappear but it is a huge first step in the right direction it's a step that we can take immediately and effectively taking down the names and monuments proves that you are actually committed to making school environments inclusive and safe that being said I am aware of the major opposition to the name change and what people are worried about with this cost while I am not 100 aware of all of the budget ins and outs I do know that lots of other

041school systems have done this without major pushback from without major changes from budgets with Cogan 19 changing schools drastically this year I assume that there will be a lack of need for certain funds which can be put towards the name change in conclusion I do hope that hearing from the supporters of the change and seeing just how many people want this as well as the current climate of change in the country right now you also motivated to do the right thing thank you all for your time thank you miss Payne our next speaker is Fred nice thanks Karen thank you my name is Fred my family has gone to the schools here in this family ever since before it was Shenandoah County and I'm at hopes to renaming these schools this is not the time

042to consider it with all the cuts in spending and duty the cove at 19 where will the money come from we all know the answer to that or tax dollars this is not one of my Doc's knowledgeable on this is not the way to go about it it's built like a sneak attack you need to listen to our team the people who elected you not to be lured liberals who have the range resinous this is not the place for not sharing all yeah we don't buckle come trial threshold for bugs you need to stand tall for our schools and our city do what is right I've had black and white and brown people to sign our petition to save remains let's start with standard or County to be the trendsetters they know the radical thoughts

043there are more pressing things to spend your town and our money young in these challenging times we were here before you were in on the board and we'll be here when you are off the board if score means change now they can certainly thank one leader thank you for your call thank you mr. nees and I'd like to remind everybody if you're not speaking please mute your microphone because we're getting a lot of feedback our next speaker is Jack Jared mr. Jarrett are you there think I'm ready yeah can you hear me yes I can go ahead thank you I am J Jarrett and I'm in my fortieth year of teaching agriculture at Stonewall Jackson High School during my time there I've come to know many students and their families as well as lots of

044great hard-working honest people I'm part of our shunned or County community I am distressed to hear of the effort to remove names or mascots of the three schools in the southern end of the county Stonewall Jackson High School has been in existence for 61 years and I guess that there are about 60 100 graduates of Stonewall I believe most of them are proud to be graduates of stone wall just like graduates of central and Strasburg are proud over 3,000 signatures have been gathered in shandola County from people who do not want any school names changed these are not people from Fairfax County or Richmond or Utah or California they are your friends and neighbors who feel strongly that we should make our own decisions my understanding is that if the name has changed then everything

045Stovall will be removed plaques trophies banners pictures everything 61 years of history will be treated as if it never happened no archives no Museum just stacked in the closet somewhere as if we are ashamed of it I am not ashamed I am proud of the good things and the good people from Stonewall listed in the agenda as the cost for changing these names $500,000 at a time when local and state money is going to be very tight that half million dollars would buy lots of Chromebooks or hotspots or teachers or buses what is next the people who are trying to erase our heritage although they smugly say they are not trying to erase our heritage they will not stop is Peter Muhlenberg next how about signal knob how about road names or town names will

046we jump on those bandwagons - nothing is safe when measured by is somewhat offended by the people of Shenandoah County should make our own decisions I respectfully ask that the naming of schools vote by the citizens of our county and only the citizens of our county thank you thank you mr. Jarrett our next speaker is Carolyn long good evening go ahead Carolyn I sent each of you a letter that offered my feelings about the proposal that we are considering that you are considering this afternoon and I appreciate those of you who were able to respond with a group from my congregation I am presently studying a book entitled dear church the author explains that passivity is the new engine of systemic racism you just have to believe that this is the way things are I

047was struck by an article in today's noir in Virginia daily that quoted someone who opposes changing the school names and the mascot and who says something very similar to what I have read in this book she says she feels sorry for the people that don't understand this is the way we've lived this is a Civil War community and it's been that way for ever and ever it's precisely because this is the way we've lived all our lives and this is the way things have always been then I believe that you are called to act as leaders today I asked you to say once and for all yes this is who we have been but we will no longer tolerate names symbols or actions that contribute to a system that hurts the marginalized I am asking

048each of you not to passively accept the engine a systemic racism I ask you to vote in favor of this motion to change our school names and I would additionally like to respond to earlier speakers who said we're rushing we need to wait I went to end with a quote by dr. Martin Luther King and he said for years now I have heard the word wait it rings in the ear of every new home with piercing familiarity this wait has almost always meant never thank you thank you miss long our next speaker is Kathleen Curtis miss Curtis every game um fighting young now and you hear me yes I can very good thank you for the opportunity just in the board members um I'm actually kind of shocked the business the priority right now the

049knave taint not that it shouldn't be done yes is that really the most important thing that needs to be done right this minute I understand if there's strong feelings on both sides I also think we can take the name and make it more positive after all the reputation is made by what you produce and the school's dog by their own admission produce students who have learned rudimentary skills that they need on their own capability on their personal pathway to adulthood or any independence the stated goals for tenon those goals include rigorous and authentic learning collaborative and creative learning curve you providing an engaging environment and healthy be emotionally ready learning offered I understand all of these goals and I'm sure that there's people that can speak to both sides of that where it may be

050L&G one way or the other for some students but the important thing is that these things are not happening right now at all because the kids have been out of school since marked and the priority I would hope for the school is for the same fandora County schools is to provide firm and reliable learning environment for children in the county now rather than stressing this moment over the issue of the name King it's a fantasy Samantha navigating a game that is elastic mesh are well improved in our schools any purported problems that have or might someday result from an association with so are you just economists have to focus on the most critical thing right now which is getting the kids back in the classroom particularly kids with special needs since who have certainly limitations

051that we are in fact and in some help distance learning and the laughing so I'm having a hard time taking the pirate I think maintaining over actually educating right now is a real problem I understand and I have actually went through most of the Huntley 36 pages that the State Department of Education has to define for guide my in the distraction I'm very costly distracted but it's a waste of your time agnostic Theresa it is a distraction of the plane and energy right down that you should be put in another correction they need it indeed we need to history look at the challenges that have been there improve on notice that we have again expressed and consider how to characterize keeping correct principles starting kneeling in the classroom the smallest actions that can be taken

052are they continuing in the classroom get beyond raises variance your turnaround point or last point let the people decide by a bump on this opportunity to have changes next on our list is Colby Thomas Colby are you here now if you're here Colby you may go ahead and speak all right moving on Charles Street it's Charles Street here next Steven Curtis I'm here all right you may speak thank you for this opportunity geographically I consider myself a Yankee or I guess I'd have to be classed as a Yankee spend most of my life in the West and a good part of my professional career in New Jersey but I respect history and I ask my two of my grandsons that are in high school ask them if they do anything about stolen well Jackson they

053didn't know a thing about I'm guessing that may be the case around here any fear that these children have probably was instilled by US adults I respect Stonewall Thomas Stonewall Jackson for the military tactics I I served in the military retired from the military reserves and also the name Stonewall denotes kind of a perseverance or or resolve that was one of the things he was known for he was actually an educator I don't know if anyone knows that he actually talked some slaves to read when it was against the law to read to teach a blacks to read and I don't know that he ever had any slaves and I'm not sure why he fought for the south he lived in Virginia of course so it was probably from patriotism for his state because he

054was a faithful Union officer before secession but what a waste of time we have here this is just pure politics but with the government with the taxpayers money you're doing politics with with our money I don't have any money to politic this but you're using our money to politic and ironically this board is stonewalling the Republican women have asked you since March to get ten minutes to give a proposal that would actually change education in this county and you have stonewalled that request because it wasn't important and look at the time we've spent here today what a waste now I'm going to suggest the name if you have to change the name change the name to general Philip Sheridan high school and it can be the liberators I think everyone knows who general Sheridan was

055he's probably not well white for the south but he was the Liberator of sways and then in that man we could honor them Philip Sheridan now what about the cemetery in Mount Jackson during world war two as a Jewish cemeteries were decimated decimate that cemetery because those boys were fighting for slavery I think the money should be used to further education and not to have a frivolous name change thank you dr. Curtis our next speaker is brandy Reinhart good afternoon my name is brandy memoir unhurt and I am a 2000 graduate of Stonewall Jackson High School and proud to call myself the Stonewall general not because I'm racist and certainly not because I believe in slavery I was raised to see no color and to see only people right somewhere along the line people have

056been misled to believe that if you do not like history by knocking down a statue or changing the name of a building will change what is done in the past I think we all know things in the past cannot be changed what would you say to a young man whose name was Lee or Robert would his name have to be changed before entering our school system would he have to use a nickname or a middle name I'm sure his parents were not thinking about previous history except maybe family history of a certain name carried on one why is everything sought to have been chosen based on a run skin color or racism imagine how I must fell as a stolen graduate thirty years from now and my grandkids asking the name of my high school

057tell me what I should say there once was a high school named Stonewall Jackson but because certain people didn't like that part of history they tried to rewrite it and now my high school no longer exists what did I say when they want to see my Letterman's jacket class ring diploma certificates earned that bear the name Stonewall Jackson High School if you think by changing these school names its changing history you're absolutely right except the history that you're changing is mine the classes before me and the classes after me I question you as a board member if you know who I'm speaking of when I say the name Brandon Kelly Dawson and the history that surrounds him and Stonewall if you do not then I urge you that before you make any decisions on changing

058the school name that you read and learn his story I will tell you by changing the school name you're not only changing the name on the building but you're asking for a removal of a memorial for a young general athlete who lost his life way too soon and let me end with us racism does not exist because of any certain statue or names of buildings racism starts with you the person and your heart if you cannot see past a person's skin color the racism will always live in you and no amount of demolishing statues or changing of names will make a difference thank you for your time thank you miss Reinhard next on the list we have Margaret home hello give me one second good afternoon my name is Margaret Han I'm from Woodstock Virginia

059and I'm and I'm a 2020 graduate of Central High School I will be speaking today in support of the proposal to change the names of Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary I'd like to start by thanking the school board for hearing our voices today and to thank Mary Payne who have had the honor of knowing and graduating in the same class as and who's incredibly successful successful petition brought us here today during my time as a student I didn't go to many football games I can't say that I've ever been much of a sports fan but occasionally I would go because a friend was going or because I wanted to support someone but I'm going to a central like exterminate and dominate we're blowing you away CHS is number one and we are

060here to stay there was danced to it to that got faster every time it was repeated and in this context it seemed relatively harmless and the students were all having fun on the sidelines with the sideline champ as we showed our school spirit what if the lyrics were altered for a different school obviously CHS is shorter and fits better into the rhythm of the chant but ignoring that for a second exterminate and dominate with blowing you away Stonewall Jackson is number one and we are here Tuesday feels a bit different now doesn't it now I'm not sure what's sjh s is sideline traditions are but I even the thought of yelling let's go stonewall from the bleachers makes me cringe of it you imagine how a person of color would feel wanting to support their

061team from the sides there's a difference between our history and our honored history is taught to learn from our own mistakes you think you listen museums and learn it in school you learn about the good the bad and the ugly parts of history not because we want to idolize every single one of them but because we want to teach ourselves what worked what didn't and how we can do better in the future honor is bestowed upon those in history that we as a society have decided that we would like to indicate either the people who you we put up monuments for and name our schools after as a small child first enterings at school at the central campus i had no idea who w w robinson or peter lea milling burgh seneschal oops scratch that

062one i didn't know who they were but i knew that they must be such special i knew that when my bus pulled up and my teacher yelled welcome two rods robinson whoever this robinson guy was had to be have been pretty cool when parents who are people of color have have to send their kindergarden to a school club ashby weed there isn't an easy way to explain to them that these people whose names they would walk under every day for the next six years a lot to keep them in a set of chains if this doesn't make sense i'd like you to imagine something with me for a second no i'm not going to make a comparison here to Hitler or bin Laden because I'm pretty sure that we're all familiar to familiar with their

063place in history now instead of them I'd like to bring up someone that hits a little closer to home and here in the valley though is wrongfully idolized in some parts of the country Philip Sheridan for those of you who don't know was a union general who led his men down the valley to destroy farmland burn infrastructure and starve the valley of their harvests imagine if there were a school named after him and Shengo cannon why would we stand to allow our children to attend a school named after a person who laid waste to the land that is now our home we wouldn't tolerate those who said move away if you don't like it if you don't like the name or suck it up we would change the name Turner Ashby and Stonewall Jackson all

064fought to keep my friends in Chains we need to change the names not because we don't respect our history I learned who Stonewall Jackson was in school before I learned there was a Stonewall Jackson High School just down the road from me we need to change the names because we can no longer honor the people that no matter how they chose to treat their own slaves lot to keep an entire human race in a position of inferiority and bondage change the names thank you for your time thank you miss Han I think I see a Charles Street are you there yes I am sorry for their difficulties can you hear me I bet I can hear you well thank you thank you dr. Johnson's school board members uh thank you for taking the time for

065me to speak I'm against changing the name of school because we have my family's been in this school system for over 20 years we have helped the school we have donated our time our schedules our skills and everything else do you help improve the schools in that 20 years my father and mother were booster club members for 12 years and I myself have been booster dog president for six years I please ask you not to change the name because when I was going there I didn't have any problem with racial issues I don't think Stonewall did either and I beg to differ that there are more racist problems in the school then everyone says there are the central campus I believe last year had publicly a racial problem at the basketball games stalsberg also the

066Stonewall Jackson High School it is very proud the alumni that we have been there for many generations and also the problem with today's society is they're not we have to educate them more on racism and the attributes to fix the problem of racism I've spoken to the black families in New Market and Mount Jackson and they did not have a problem with racism so I beg to differ about changing the name of the school and asked me lead a spiel II was actually named after the district that we lived in myself did not know them that it was after generally in Turner Ashby I did not know that it was named but I believe that if we change the names that's gonna cost more than five hundred thousand dollars that could be more spent in

067education that we already don't have enough money to allow our kids to do better in school we do do this I think Peter Muhlenberg which also was a slave owner name needs to be changed as well those are my thoughts thank you for having me thank you mr. Street next on the list is Bethany ogle hi I'm here thank you go ahead back okay um like you said I just want to say thank you really quick to school board for your time and service here today I know this is an emotionally-charged agenda item and I appreciate your all's courage and taking it on like you said my name is Beth Feeney ogle and I am a bi-racial resident of Shenandoah County I grew up in Shanan Tovah County as did my parents I attended the

068southern in schools from K through 12 graduating from s J in 99 my parents are Stonewall grads as well I now have children attending school in the southern campus I've heard many opposed to the named name change say that this is coming from nowhere I can assure you I've been championing championing a name change as have others for years our voice just happens to be a little bit louder now for everyone to hear it the honest and ugly truth of the Confederacy is that it was founded on the steadfast belief in the institution of slavery and white supremacy we know this it is written in the articles of the succession Confederate flags and generals are symbols of that oppressive belief honoring this symbolism with our school names when we know what they represent means we

069are accepting condoning and perpetuating these ideals it is a cruel irresponsible and shameful message to send to our black brown and our white children who attend these schools and to the children and families to our visitors I've shared with each of you my own trauma from Confederate symbolism on the south end and you've heard many more personal stories of how much pain these names bring the people of color this is a very clear choice of right and wrong retiring the names is the right thing to do it's not the most convenient choice it will cost money and sadly it will probably cost you friends but isn't that one of the lessons we want to teach our students that they should always do the right thing no matter the cost to their pride their friendships or

070especially their wallets the decision you make today about retiring these we'll send a message to our children and our community as to how much we truly value black lives and inclusion this decision will set the tone for all messages and attempts at equity moving forward please do the right thing but to retire the names thank you thank you my circle next our our speaker list mr. Brad thank you can you hear me yes I can go ahead I'm mad chairman thank you oh good afternoon I speak as a proud 1978 graduate of Stonewall Jackson High School sadly well I learned nothing about the greatness kindness and Christianity of Thomas Jackson at the time years later after college law school active duty in the Marine Corps and turning down an $80,000 a year job I volunteered

071for the campaign of Douglas Wilder who was thereafter elected the first black governor in our nation's history and I proudly worked for him for three years after that I returned home and hung my shingle here in shadow County over the years I have of course represented hundreds of African American citizens my most recent client is the mother of a black of a young black man who was shot by the Winchester police while running away from them this afternoon I spent time in the chambers of the first African American elevated to the bench of the courts in the northern valley in short I get it but the answer is not tearing down monuments or changing the name of a school named in honor of a man who loved his slaves educated them in violation of Virginia

072criminal law and who is loved to this day by the african-american community of Lexington he is a great role model for our students and all citizens of Shenandoah County the answer to the current outcry and problem is to recognize the greatness of great african-americans in that spirit a statue was erected in honor of Arthur Ashe who I'm proud to say I drove in my green convertible about 30 years ago I expect statues in honor of my former boss governor duh you I think we have lost your sound mr. pollak are you still there all right thank you our next speaker is daya deal lit dial n the corner and I'm sorry if I said that incorrectly oh not at all um it's in in silent McCarter um good afternoon I'm glad to be with you

073thank you for allowing me to speak um can you hear me okay this may I'm go ahead alrighty I am a Shenandoah County president and a Shenandoah County Public Schools employee and a Shenandoah County Education Association member I respectfully request that the names of the elementary and high schools at the southern end of the county be changed although what is inside the schools may be loving welcoming places of learning on the outside the names reflect disrespect and dishonor to many we've all heard the schoolyard chant sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me we know now in the time of social-emotional learning that names do hurt names do matter I implore this board to change the names the time is now thank you so much for your consideration thank you

074Miss McCory door our next speaker is Shana ramen thank you much time today it's great to see all of you all to my all-white presenting school board members and hello to the majority of my fellow white audience who is listening it looks like the names are working well I attended school at Ashby Lee North Fork middle and Stonewall Jackson High School and then I went to J mu for undergrad and grad school and then substitute taught and nearly all of the Shenandoah County Public Schools years later I now live in Richmond Virginia I used to joke the Stonewall followed me here from my high school monument happening and now I can no longer say that because that racist symbol is gone I invite you to consider that the fact that we are even having this

075conversation is racist should we or shouldn't we continue to honor a Confederate General and the flag of an educational institution and we are the majority ourselves white since since I graduated in 2004 from a state SJ HS I have actively worked and will for the rest of my life work to combat my racism yes I am a racist and I was taught racism from attending SJ HS there were numerous cues like when the opposing black team came to play us at our home game gym and saw the flag flag in our gym with distraught faces that were reminders of the hate my white ancestors had placed in this educational institution I digress as I taught there and whom not considered returning to teach there or go there other than for a funeral of a beloved

076classmate friend a neighbor Tyler been stuck in fact I actively avoid the schools this is not about money if it is please know that this fight is not over and you will likely be paying to clean off graffiti and other efforts to make changes if you do not make those changes today additionally you are losing out on top talent educators like myself while at high school I played on an all boys soccer team for four years until the year after I graduated each other and your return on investment would be priceless our high school name is a bully to many students and an encouragement of hate to many others you have a great opportunity today to make history defeat this school bully today this is not going away the world is watching as am I

077in Richmond I love Canada a County and my friends and family are still there who I adore and love to let's take Stonewall out again with friendly fire if you are not practicing anti racism you are practicing racism thank you so much for your time and have a great afternoon thank you miss ramen our next speaker is Abigail French ma'am ma'am yes my name is Ross poplar I would like to object to the last speakers threat the speaker's list four people have signed up um Abigail French please hello members of the school board can you even hear me okay yes ma'am go ahead hello members of the school board I'm Abigail Weissenborn French I'm speaking today as a parent teacher and lifelong resident of this county having grown up in Newmarket attended a truly elementary

078school Newmarket middle school in Stonewall Jackson High School as a parent and an educator in Shenandoah County it is important to me to create a culture where children feel safe secure and valued so that they may develop their own sense of self their own identity to better understand the world around them past and present how children see themselves especially as reflected by the trusted adults in their lives and the environment where they spend their time impacts their emotional and intellectual growth we know this and we work extremely hard each day to ensure our children have the best opportunity for a positive and meaningful experience in Shenandoah County Public Schools that prepares them for their future this is why I'm stating my passionate support for renaming our schools that bear names of Confederate leaders I attended

079these schools never having to question the significance of their names being anything but a benign commemoration of our County's Civil War history the time I just took it for granted that everyone shared this that same experience but what I once blindly accepted is certainly no longer appropriate and really never was I realize now that it was a privilege that allowed me to think that way that in the great lottery of birth had I been born black my perspective of walking through the doors of Stonewall Jackson High School and into the gymnasium bearing the Confederate flag may been very different Shenandoah County public schools must do everything in its powers to abolish any policy and practice that actively harms harasses and oppresses members of our school community my students as well as my own children need

080our school system to set the bar at what honors basic human dignity we don't have to share the exact same experiences and realities to be able to do what protects and honors are the safe and secure culture for all the time is now to vote on the side of history that pertussis the well-being of our fellow citizens over memorializing former Confederates leaders and school pride the only thing that should be taken for granted when walking through the doors of a public school is that it is a beacon of equality equity and dignity for every student starting with the name above the door thank you thank you miss fridge next we have Luther Santa fold is mr. Santa Paul here then I'll move on to Sam Clark is Sam Clark here soon yes mr. speaker I'm

081here can you hear me thank you Sam go ahead Sam excellent well if it pleases the chair before I begin I'd like to say a few words regarding um myself as mentioned my name is Sam Clark I'm a current student of Stonewall Jackson High School I will be a senior this year and before I begin I'd like to thank you as well as the other members of the board for allowing me the chance to speak tonight as well as for the chance to talk to each one of you individually yesterday as well to mention that I will be speaking on behalf of mr. Colby Thomas this evening who was not able to join the call as well as um several dozens of my other colleagues who are currently watching uh but I do believe I

082speak on their behalf as well so at the discretion of the chair I'll begin thank you go ahead yes ma'am all righty well I would like to begin by expressing my view and as I said before I believe in it I share this view with the overwhelming majority of my classmates by saying that I am strongly opposed to changing the name of Stonewall Jackson High School many believe that Stonewall Jackson was a racist however as history has shown through his operation of a Sunday School for slave children an act that was highly illegal at the time that such an accusation can be be debunked very quickly I will leave the teaching of history to those that are more qualified than I but I would like to introduce an excerpt from a work by a minister

083Richard G Williams jr. titled Stonewall Jackson the black man's friends saying quote Stonewall Jackson was no defender of slavery he accepted as the mysterious Providence of God and walk and work to lift the existence of slaves within his sphere of influence on the subject of whether or not the name Stonewall Jackson is a representation of the hatred and oppression towards people of color both are things that are completely unacceptable in our school system many would be quick to bring up the notion that Stonewall Jackson High School was named as such to take a stab at the civil rights movement as true as that statement may be or not be the question arises does the name of Stonewall Jackson High School still represent that which was originally intended I would argue that despite the name the

084names questionable past to argue that the name Stonewall Jackson High School still represents a feeling of hatred towards people of color is nothing if not an outrageous misrepresentation of the students staff and alumni of Stonewall Jackson high school over the years we have but we as alumni and students have managed to transform that which was meant as insult and to a beautiful remembrance of a man whose legacy means so much to not only the people of our community but also to the state of Virginia claiming that the southern campus is an inherently racist and non-inclusive facility as some choose to do is just as simple of of a mistake and as judging a book by it's cover we do not credit the titles of Hunger Games and Harry Potter to the novels nor should we

085attribute the names of Stonewall Jackson High School to the character of those who learn and work there dr. Johnson said himself that Stonewall Jackson high school is a warm and welcoming environment because the students and staff make so and as such if there were problems with racial prejudice at Stone it would be because the students and staff make it so not the name and so help me God we do not have these problems at Stonewall Jackson High School I can promise you that representative Keller told me yesterday on the phone call that the world is always changing and if we embrace that change instead of fighting it then we will be a lot better off so let's make a change let's embrace our proud southern history and continue to honor the man who gave his

086life for our home and put down the notion that there is hatred and racism within the southern campus due to the names of its facilities alone I am proud to be a Stonewall Jackson General I intend to graduate as a Stonewall Jackson general I believe that I share the view of many most of my classmates by saying that I am proud of my school's name I'm proud of my heritage and I will leave you by saying that I implore you not to vote in favor of this egregious disservice to those members of our community who value their southern heritage I thank you all again for your time very much so and go generals thank you thank you mr. Clarke next Susan Jones do we have Susan Jones hello um can everyone hear me yes everyone

087hear me okay good evening my name is Susan Jones I am a parent of four children spanning an age from elementary through college I'm also a teacher at Central High School I'm concerned that the safety of children and the safety of teachers is not being fully addressed I've read countless articles and have reviewed the reopening guidelines put out by the CDC Virginia and Shannon Dodd County these guidelines state that children who attend school will be required to wear face coverings at times throughout the day I have asked for clarification about the mask in schools and have been told that it will be a recommendation not a requirement I know that schools are doing their best to social distance and classrooms but the reality is we still don't know enough about this virus we don't know

088how long it lingers in the air we don't know why adults are more at risk than children we don't know the role children play and transmission of the virus or even why some people show more than cold symptoms while others end up in the ICU what we do know is that the most effective use of maps is when everyone is wearing them not just those who feel vulnerable when top health officials and studies agree that the most important guideline that we can follow is wearing masks why are we not requiring everyone to wear masks when you wear a mask you're not just taking safety precautions for yourself you're safeguarding those around you why is a teacher can I not protect myself and make my room safer by requiring all of my students to wear masks

089in the classroom we have teachers who are afraid to come back to work teachers who are at risk due to their health and/or age and teachers who are worried that they will be exposed to the virus and bring it home to their families why are we willing to put teachers in danger why should we not take every precaution for the safety and health of our teachers as well as our students Shenandoah County has the authority to mandate that everyone wear masks I for one feel that the health of teachers families and communities is worth the discomfort of wearing a mask thank you for your can your attention and consideration thank you Miss Jin's let's go one more time to mr. Luther Santa fall is mr. Santa fall here not hearing him we have concluded our

090period of public comments thank you to all speakers now move on to our regular agenda first on the agenda I have the consent agenda Israel notion that we approve the consent agenda as presented I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented Cindy watch is there a second Shawn thank you any discussion or dr. Johnston do you have anything to mention about any of the consent agenda I do not miss miss let's all any questions or discussion from school board members hearing none let's have the roll call vote please miss Walsh yes this plan piece is Manny yes mr. Keller yes mr. Helsley yes miss Wetzel yes we have nothing under our instructional agenda tonight but we do have an informational agenda 5.1 is the Virginia School Boards Association delegate and alternate for delegate

091assembly which we need to send in next month and of course I would be happy to do that but since I'm on the vsba board I'll be there at the delegate assembly in that capacity so is there any discussion about anybody that would like to volunteer to be the delegate or the alternate I think your Cindy would be a great delegate there thanks a lot Andrew the other volunteers and will actually need to vote on under action items and when I said I'll be there I'm that I'll be right here at my computer because it will be a virtual convention I'm willing to be the alternative Cindy can't be there because I think Cindy would be great all right and the other volunteers before we move on I'm happy to do it while those sitting

092for five hours does not sound like fun next on the informational agenda we have next steps for resolution condemning racism and affirming the divisions commitment to it inclusive school environments for all every month as you know our policy says that the score chairman will set the agenda with the superintendent we always involve our school board vice chairman too and of the week before we do the agenda setting we do send out to all members any agenda items that they would like on the agenda and several members suggested that we need to go to next steps on our resolution and some of the other things we could talk about or a diversity committee and we have to painting if we're interested the school name change and anything else does any dr. Johnston do you have any

093comments on next steps I do not miss Wetzel does any other board member have any comments on the next steps I just have a procedural question or point of clarification would it be would it be proper for us to wait to do our comments and discussion under this topic under action rather than under information I think so if we get a motion in a second that will be the time for discussion on the motion on the school name changes hearing nothing else will go into action items first we have policy updates we looked at these last month is there a motion to approve the policy updates as presented I'm usually a premium policy on a days as presented Michele Manning is there a second second it's been moved and seconded that we approve the policy

094updates does anybody have any discussion hearing none roll call vote please this Walsh yes miss Klein yes miss Manning yes mr. Keller yes mr. Helsley yes miss Wetzel yes next on our agenda is the plan for school reopening is there a motion that the school board let me see the wording here on the school board accepts the plan for the school reopening is there a motion and I have I said that right dr. Johnston yep yep mr. Wessel yes this will now be an appropriate time to have a little discussion will not matter well it will get the motion and second and then we'll have the discussion okay so is there a motion that we accept the school plan for reopening I mean we accept the school plan for a week reopening so we can

095move to the discussion miss Manning moves that we accept the school plan for reopening is there a second I can't cindy Walsh all right it's been moved and seconded that we accept the school plan for reopening dr. Johnson did you want to say anything else about the school plan we did go over this in detail I think at our work session yes I would a couple things one is that we now have our first look at the data from the parent surveys where we had an 87 percent response rate and so what we are doing now is is assigning that data by school so we can see the number of students who would attend each school would have much space we have and what I can tell you is that it's almost it's a certainty

096that it looks like fifth grade will be at the middle school that's the only place where we have enough space so for example at Sandy Hook elementary school we have 805 students expected to return and grades pre-k through five and so we don't have room for the fifth grade there nor do we have room for the 910 students at wwr ABBA's and again 87 percent return rate and what we have done so that we can be prepared is to make the assumption that if one did not return the survey that we're preparing for their return the other thing I can share with you is that from our data on transportation that was a good news area in the fact that we asked parents if you if you could not afforded transportation would you be able

097to provide transportation for your child and if you and then if you were up for transportation would you wear a mask so that we can maximize our transportation system to one child Percy and what we found from that data is that it appears that anyone who required transportation will be provided transportation so that was very good news so again that's bait it's it's based on sheer numbers the other thing I did want to say is the of the considerations around reopening there certainly I know one of our speakers arlier commented on the document that we have from the state that we're working from I just wanted to also point out that in that document there there it's not addressed very well but in our conference calls with the State Superintendent things we have to be

098mindful of are things like teacher certifications we still have to have teachers teaching within their certification areas we've also conducted a staff survey 97 percent return rate on the staff survey which was very helpful to us as well and so so we have to look at the teachers that are able to return and working through that process right now to determine if they are not returning or can't return to make sure that that's a validated reason we're looking a consideration of course as the number of classrooms the sizes of those classrooms there was a piece that came out earlier and the revenge some revisions to the mitigation plans the phase three mitigation plans that references a three-foot social distancing and we were very excited to read that until we found that that only works if

099students are wearing face coverings throughout the day so imagine that you staff a classroom and you arranged s so that students are three-foot apart this would require that student be pre-k through five would it be Rick well any student would be required to wear a mask the entire day and that is just developmentally inappropriate and is not a recommendation that it's even in the best interest of those children so we are still looking at a six foot physical distancing ages you know keeping ages together so that you know students that are you know fifth graders are in one place not across buildings and then instruction that the instructional models such as things like related arts you know how do we provide music and art instruction which we are committed to providing and so again all

100of that is is weighing into our considerations as we move forward and I did want to comment that well going to stay there well can I ask you a question mark yes please Andrew about the six through twelve and we're all we with that with that group yes we are limited right now to one day per week because that's as much as we can accommodate so fifth grade I mentioned need to be in the middle schools for us to be able to provide four days of instruction for grade 5 and grade 8 will then need to move over to or high school so of course grade to 8th is already at Stonewall Jackson High School grade at the central campus will need to move over to central and grade 8 at the northern campus will

101need to move over to Strasburg High School in order for us to accommodate as many students as we can so we are unable based on our survey data to increase what we were looking at was increasing the number of days per week increasing four days per week to sixth grade and I'm fortunate I have to tell you that we do not that will not be able to be the case well how how ready are we to develop plans for for broader to do yes if we do that today or weeks notice we can do that probably closer to a weeks notice and here's why it's not instantaneous is we're having to relocate furniture for example take we have 4-foot tables in the elementary school that we're gonna probably need to move some desks from high

102schools into the elementary schools and middle schools to the elementary schools in order to have desks that allow for the physical distancing so that kids are not forced to mask up all day long and so it would require time for our facilities folks to get that furniture moved from locations or out of storage and so on so it wouldn't happen on a dime but we're certainly going to be watching this everything from day one and day two and day three we've been studying these models very closely even since the data set became available - his first thing Wednesday morning remember the survey clothes at the close of business on Tuesday and so we've been crunching the numbers looking to see if there were ways to increase at this point so we could ramp up probably

103I would suggest maybe a week to 10 days certainly as quickly as possible given you know limitations of staff and ability to move things from one location to the other so for example you know adding students you know for example the sixth grade could go two days a week once we get up and running and we see that that can happen then we can make those changes a little more quickly but we still have to have things in place right okay well that kind of leads me to my next question and that would be who is providing the guidance for for reopening I mean I think we're getting a lot of sources here yeah ultimately who's providing that guides okay so we'll start at the local level well the instructional model guidance is coming from

104the Virginia Department of Education some of the aspects of that are coming from the federal Department of Education in terms of what instruction looks like for students with disabilities so there's a connection there so the instructional piece really are both the state and the federal Department of Education in terms of health guidance it is the local health department which is part of the Lord Fairfax Health District that is the you know is providing the health guidance and mr. Keller if I could I'm gonna I'm gonna share my screen here for a second because I do want to share just a piece of data with you with folks so that they understand fully you know what we are up against here so if you give me just one second I want to share this with you

105and see here well yeah here we go sorry so let me share it now I'm good is it chilling my screen here yes yes we can I think you see the screen here with the map of Virginia yes okay so when I mouse over this this is uh this is the data for the state this is the Virginia Department of Health and you'll notice here around the ie1 and corridor the northern part of the valley we have you know we're kind of a more a darker blue in other parts of the state but what I want to show you is what that data looks like when I process it by an even number so for example Fairfax County of course as a million people and more so 20 cases there and 20 cases in Shenandoah

106County is a much higher per capita rate here than it is in shape than it is in Fairfax but what you'll notice when I switch to this 400,000 number all of a sudden Shenandoah in Page County become dark blue and in Shenandoah County unfortunately you're now at 600 for cases 35 deaths when we met two weeks ago this number was much lower we're about thirteen hundred eighty eight point six per hundred thousand two weeks ago we were twelve fifty seven our deaths two weeks ago when the 25th when we last looked at this was sixty two point one four hundred thousand we are now at eighty point five and what I'll tell you is that the hurt third largest in the state so we're not in a position such as bland County down here Bath

107County where they just recorded their first case within the first the last few days so for us we are being very very stringent about our health guidelines and so on so again the three-foot with mask is not going to work here because we have a high infection rate and we have a high death rate per capita and with everything being even you know so I guess I'll share a little bit of dr. Greene who's head of the Lord Fairfax Health District frustration you know people keep asking well let's get schools open let's get sport back let's get all these things our community is not ready for that because we simply won't do what's needed to be done to mitigate and we're gonna keep being we've been among the highest here for some time now and

108again anyone can go in and look at this but we look at this daily we we had a update from the Virginia Department of Health I'm sorry north of the the valley health officials today which includes dr. green from the from the Lord Fairfax Health District he said of that so again all of this is weighing into our decisions and our guidance comes from the Health Department so if something were to happen they're the ones who make the call about school closures and all of that their guidance comes from the Centers for Disease Control which is the national group and what just so you kind of understand the complexity of it so yesterday in the updated guidance on phase mitigation all of a sudden now some of that's referred to World Health Organization so and

109I'm not going to get into all the politics around the World Health Organization that you may have read that you know the United States has threatened to withdraw from the World Health Organization and if that's the case than where we use in that organization for planning purposes but for us locally it is the Lord Fairfax Health District which is part of the Virginia Department of Health which relies upon the Centers for Disease Control okay your question I'm sorry let me switch gears here a little bit I think it would be helpful if you could kind of describe a typical day for a student in grades 6 through 12 I mean that those that are coming once a week you know relying on Virtual Learning the rest of the time yeah so and we're working on

110some communications pieces to get out to our parents as quickly as possible so we can we're working with our principals to get together to make sure that we're consistent in our schedules and so on but typically what would happen and the first thing to to note is at that time the child will be with their teacher is going to be very high quality time because it will be essentially a fourth of class so where you know some schools are doing you know say you've got 24 students in a class if the alphabet breaks out perfectly that would be six of those students per day per class that's very intensive individualized time with those children so that's time so it's a school runs through a sort of a master schedule each day the students will have

111intensive time with their teachers they will have opportunities to get personalized help with where they may be having difficulty whether that difficulty be with content whether it be with accessing you know the management system for the for the instructional materials and so on so there'll be a lot of high focused time during that time and then they'll be able to meet with all of their teachers they'll be able to participate in electives classes when I met those been known as specials and and we're still working out specific details so for example we met with elementary principals yesterday and we talked about the schedules for specials and we were looking at times you know how much time will I get in art and how much time and music and physical education and so and so we're

112still working through those details but it'll be if it it won't be a traditional day because again you're coming one one day a week but it'll be intensive time and it would be time that'll be well spent with the child so that when they do work independently at home or with the supervision of the of someone else or with someone else then they've got they've got a structure to that the one thing people have asked about is you know real time classes unfortunately we have a number of children that do not have internet access in real time so those so for example if I were to like I'm sitting here broadcasting to you and you you that you can see me and I can be teaching a lesson there will be children who are not

113going to be able to participate in that because they don't have internet access at home and so I don't I don't money so I don't want to make I can't make that required because I know I've got students who won't be able to access at that time however let's say well let's say that if I'm doing something like a a lesson on least common denominator in math I may I make video that and then put that up in my learning management system so the kids can access whenever they whenever they can access that and so it's not dependent upon real times things that are real time will not be mandated because we can't mandate it because we know we have students they just don't have that access and I know we've got a number of

114people watching in here too so I would like to add the way that then works is we we're adding Wi-Fi expansion at each of our campuses our public libraries we're also creating mobile hotspots for more remote areas of the county and the way the learning management system works is when you go to that space your work will upload to the system and you'll download new work and then you can take that device your Chromebook go home work on your lessons so when you come back to school or for students who are learning entirely virtually when maybe mom and dad go get groceries at the Wal Mart they might slip by Central High School for a few minutes download and upload as they go home and then the child has their lessons to work on okay

115thank you you're welcome so would it be correct to say a student going to high school on their one day they would go to all four of their classes that day yes and then the other days they be doing in virtual yeah the high school schedule but the traditional high school can't schedule actually works very well we the system because children attend four classes a day what what we're working on right now with our middle schools is the way they do alternating days the way they do extended periods short periods it really doesn't make a lot of sense to spend 15 or 20 or maybe 2025 minutes here and then run here and then run there and so on so we're work we're working with our middle school principals to come to some consensus around

116what is the very best model and once we have that gelled more then our plan is to put that out for parents to say okay this is what your typical day will look like and they reached a lot of we had met with middle school today and they made a lot of progress so pence principals have been working very very hard on this trying to work through those details if that's helpful one of the things that I liked about our plan is up through fifth grade they'll be going four days a week and I know and some of the surrounding divisions may be just through second grade will be going four days a week so that part I was hoping like I think everybody that we could get the middle on high schoolers in there

117a little bit more time I guess and again you know kind of going back to mr. Keller's question if we find is unfortunately we want this to be the very best because it's a bad situation all the way around we want it to be the very best of a bad situation and the problem we have is we don't get to do a dry run we've never opened school this way ever we we've recreated and changed nearly every aspect of what we do and so our first trial run is the first day of school so that first day of school on a Monday if if over those first few days because I both of you who have children that are past you know kindergarten age you know I remember you go to the central campus the

118first day of school and it is like mass chaos at dismissal time it is amazing that by day two that's virtually disappeared so teachers get it down pretty quick principal get it down pretty quick this is gonna take probably a little more time we're gonna be a lot better at the you know middle September them we will be the first day we don't want to we don't want to get ourselves locked into a model that's so rigid that if the day school opens it doesn't go as well as we would like we've got a you got to make those adjustments and then when we're ready to look at okay look we can do better we can expand more than that's what we plan to do and that's one of the reasons your motion is to

119accept the plan so that if we decide we not decide but if we find we're able to bring kids in more days a week then I don't have to come back to the board and say hey could you prove this for me you would have accepted it and so that gives us some flexibility I there is not a scenario I can see where flexibility would be withdrawn I only see scenarios where flexibility would increase by bringing students in more days or more more time what more days time and so on that's the point that I wanted to clarify is that if we accept this plan we are we're accepting that it's a point we're accepting that that it's a start it's the absolute minimum we can provide at this point but as things change hopefully

120he'll only get better but there's always a possibility that the Health Department is going to tell us we have to pull back so I think parents and community members need to realize that we're doing the best we can we are gonna try very hard to have this at the absolute minimum but everybody needs to be flexible because some of these things are out of our control and I'm not sure I would say absolute minimum miss Walsh because it's really it's what we think we can accomplish very well to start out yeah I think if we were minimum we would be looking at you know reducing further giving ourselves a little more room but we don't you know right now it's really it's a lot of a math process we'll be in a square footage numbers

121of kids space between desks how larger the room you know how many staff do we have how we assign them and someone and so on and so until we get into day 1 of school again we're gonna have the best week we can and we we do that we do school well but again we've never done this before so you just need to have a little bit of space for ourselves so we make sure it's it's good and that's right I am emailed dr. Johnston earlier this week I think maybe I can't remember providing meals on days that students aren't able to attend we're mechanism to be able to handle that I've seen that with some other divisions but I know that that's a big undertaking as well so I'm presuming that as those details

122get worked out that maybe we haven't seen and also the details of what happens if we have if we backslide to phase 2 or having trip in phase 1 that that will be an additional - what we're accepting at at this point that is correct and so much of the food service program depends on what the USDA decides that were very dependent on them and again miss Polk is keeping very close tabs on that I wouldn't I would add to tell you as well we're working very closely with Parks and Rec to offer a kids rec program on Fridays so for parents who have childcare issues particularly pre-k through 5 and teacher planning on those Fridays there may we will have kids rec programs in our schools the details of that I don't yet know

123would there be any chance we would be providing transportation for those kids rec programs it may be because our drivers will be contracted for the five-day workweek the other thing we were thinking miss Manning was to use those drivers for some food distribution so we'll have to look at where our priorities are then transport for child care given our limits patience but again good news on on the account numbers and the numbers we saw from the surveys was that we'll be able to accommodate anybody who said they could not attend the school without transportation I will tell you this that I was a little surprised to see you know we have a question and again health a compelling health condition is is is allowable certainly if you can't wear a mask because of a medical

124condition or for children who can't remove the mask that's another requirement but we ask parents if you are offered bus transportation it is likely we're going to require masks will you wear one well your child wear one and we had approximately I want to say 54 were certain number of parents who said no so we're not going to be able to offer transportation because we're not going to compromise children on the bus because somebody refuses to wear masks unless of course it's a medical condition and in that case we'll have to physically distance so that the child you know we're not discriminating because you can't wear a mask but it's a bit matter of whether you choose to wear one or whether you can't wear one lots of lot of things to work through mark

125I read them a question ha the cameras you were about hot lunches we're looking right now mr. Helsley it may be yet we're planning to do hot lunches during the week when students are in attendance looking at whether those lunches might be shelf-stable food for example like one a Thursday afternoon when students go home we may be sending shelf-stable food home with them and likely it'll be breakfast will be kind of a more of a grab-and-go like we do at some of our schools already which would be cold products healthy products but cold products so but by and large well the lunch the lunch program will be a hot lunch yes thank you a couple other things especially Institute's you know initially we said they were all four days a week we are I think

126what we said is that's certainly the IEP that a student has a student with a disability has will in part determine but our when you look at special education the standard to mean is free appropriate public education our free appropriate public education model for six through twelve will be school one day a week so unless you have a disability that when it's it's hard some students may be yes some may not so it will not be the disability so much that'll make that determination as it is you know what's in the best interest of the child what is needed relative to what other children receive so for example virtual learning is part of a free appropriate public education and least restrictive environment the students are choosing that and that's a choice they can make so

127again we have to work through that with our students with disabilities as we work through between now and the first day of school though a rising ninth grader if he needs more than one day a week if it's included in his plan that will be accommodated if that is a necessary accommodation I don't I don't want a message that just because a student has a disability automatically grants them an additional day of learning or two or three it's really going to come down to what isn't that students best interest what is their least restrictive environment and what is a free appropriate public education for that child as it is the case for all all of the students we serve okay elect ace I can p teachers do with primary students pretty much anything they do

128now there are some restrictions around the use of you know objects like balls things that students with touch there's sanitation requirements in between use and so on and so on but in terms of restrictions other than physical distancing and I mean physical distancing very deliberate use of objects and devices and if you kind of go into our PE classes now in physical education classes today those really are focused much more on lifetime fitness activities for kids so I don't I don't foresee any particular challenges there our gems will be available or playgrounds and so on even though we're in a situation where students have to visit the distance music well if they're in a course class they can sing as long as we can physically distance and and in in banging class they can use

129your instrument just like normal as long as they're not using others instruments and so on and there are particular guide install it's called the a big book the the restart recovery reopen document that talks specifically about some of that and so when our teachers return we're going to be working through to make sure that those are absolutely safe endeavors and whatever we need to do so for example one of the things we talked about today and our planning team was our you know use of you know perhaps our small gems and the high schools for musical groups so that they can spread out further than what they can in a typical music room so again we're going through all that the principals are working very hard to make sure all of that that's coming together

130okay how about on the high school level let's say an egg class they only meet once a week how can they visually do that at home or come on the prod yeah so for example the state just held their FFA convention virtually and we had students and chapters that perform very very well as is typical and so AG science has actually rounded that curve already and there's demonstrated evidence that it was very successful and so our teachers like our other like other content teachers are going to be working to make sure they create activities and instruction that align with the systems we have in place and that meet all the requirements and in tripling they're going twice twice a week triplet students currently attend triplet either in the morning for I can't remember which is

131which but either in the morning or the afternoon and so the model we've come up with four triplets working with them uh spangle the principal there is because they have to have contact hours to get their license and so there's a mandated amount of time of hands-on with licensure they will attend rather than attending in the morning and then the afternoon at their home school or vice versa they will attend triplet two days per week so a junior would attend two days per week we will serve lunch and the other thing it does is right now we transport in the morning kids to triplet we transport them back to their home school because they take classes back there and then we pick up another group and transport them back to triplet for the afternoon and

132then transport them back to their home school at the end of the day this way we'll be able to they'll be on a delayed schedule in that once we do our runs in the morning or bus runs then a bus finishes its run now it goes and picks up triplets students and takes them directly to triplet where students either bring their lunch or we provide a lunch coming over from the work metals where the lunches will be prepared and they stayed the entire day till 2:00 so rather than the teachers having planning time in the middle of the day they'll have planning time at the beginning and end of the day the kids will arrive around 9:00 they will remain till around 2:00 they'll be transported back home and then those buses will go and

133take students home from the other schools the other thing is that and then then one day one of the other two days they're not attending triplet they will attend classes at their home school because they're enrolled in credits there as well so that actually adds a little bit of efficiency and keeps our transportation system available for moving kids to and from school and governors go they attend twice a week correct juniors will turn yours on two days and then seniors on two days so that they can be physically distance and then they'll be supporting their research projects on Fridays as they have done in the past discussion I have one more question dr. Johnston a couple of parents and they expressed a concern regarding transportation and I just want to clarify as well will a

134student be able to potentially ride a different bus home if they need to go to Grandma's house for childcare in the afternoon or because of our restriction for transportation will that not be possible or because of our restriction for transportation that will not be possible I figured that was the answer and I understand why that I just wanted ask it publicly I appreciate you asking that miss mainly because it it's you know we have done that in the past but it's it's it we're not able to now because we're just so while we have understanding all right last so I have one well teacher aides be in charge of a regular class teacher aides will be in the same role that they currently are which is to assist this classroom teachers what was that again

135sir that they'll keep the same roles they currently have which is to assist the classroom teacher so just like now when a classroom assistant or a paraprofessional works with a teacher they may have a group of students that they're supervising in an activity they would continue to do that under this model they are not the teacher of those students and they're not not to be employed as teachers so they are there as instructional assistants to support the teachers in their role we're going to try to make every effort that whoever they teacher is in the client if it split they're certified at that level yes absolutely well we're required to by the state that doesn't get waived not not that you'd want to do that anyway because again you don't want eaters teaching in their

136area of expertise right okay so I'm thinking a little bit about some of our special ed kids and our 504 kids and the time that it's taking to rewrite ie cheese now that we might know might be coming or not in prior written notices and I'm I'm just wondering if those teachers aren't going to be really crunched for time in order to get all of that done in the first day of school it is a huge challenge as that's one of the reasons we were really anxious to get our data in so we could get moving and get our model pinned down better I know we were wanting to have it you know two weeks ago but we also need a time to develop a model too so parents had informed decisions to make and

137understood enough about it so they could give us a notion of where they were planning to be and we're doing our best to get that done unfortunately we had hoped that there might be some waivers on some of the timeline restrictions and some of that but the federal Department of Education which controls that has made no attempts to exercise any of that flexibility so we're doing what we have to do and I so appreciate our teachers willingness to support that effort and I recognize it as a monumental task I would also I should also thank and note the members of the special education department here at the central office that are working so very hard to help accommodate all of that as well I assume that then our building principals are working with our special

138ed teachers and I'm just I'll just pick the easy one I'm just a middle school student who I apologize coming one day a week and making sure that they the time - I know that's all in their IEP but are we making sure that our principals are making sure that those teachers are freed up - yep that time I think I know the the answer but I think for those parents watching I think it's important for them to also know that as well okay let me ask you a question so how how well do you know and trust our special education director genus Tedder to make sure that that happens and I see you smile again you get my point where all we've become a really really close team that's not just our central office

139staff and directors but also our school principals we're now meeting with them twice a week once a week in in logistical planning and then once a week by levels and again that's been part of our conversation so we find things we problem-solve we get things to work and we keep moving ahead it's a lot and those mainly fall I'm assuming on our assistant principals still the budget cuts due to Co vids so there's a lot of work to be done there before we did within the umbrella of special ed gifted ed and 504 is all over the Rolla that needs to be done prior to August 17th yes thank you welcome do we have any other questions or discussion hearing none the motion on the floor is that we accept the plan for school reopening

140I'll ask for a roll call vote please this Walsh yes miss plan yes miss Manning yes mr. Keller yes yes mr. hell sleep no and miss Wetzel yes next on our action agenda is the revised shadow County Public Schools 2020 21 instructional calendar is there a motion that we approve the revised instructional calendar that we talked about at our work session and we did you know more than all that doctor well dr. Johnson do you want to explain the different between what we looked at yes I wasn't sure what the appropriate time was to do that but I'm gonna share my screen again with you here and you should see a Ching with some yellow spots on it do you see that yeah oh yes one of the one of the questions we were asked

141were koala days and how they fell out in terms of days of the week and so originally there was when we got down to a deeper look on this there was a number of days the number of events that were occurring with occurring on Mondays that would have affected students attending school on Mondays and so if you look at the bottom of that she made some adjustments from what you saw in your original calendar that was moved the Monday October 12th Conference day to October 15th which is a Thursday so what that does is it moves one Monday to a Thursday that actually works pretty nicely because as you know our conference days go into the later hours and so for our staff that's a little helpful but they're not coming in so we give

142them a little more flexibility in terms of arriving at school the day after so that work of better actually January 4th I marked remember that for teachers who completed the virtual Virginia blended learning certification program that extended beyond their contract time at the end of the year and so what we agreed to do was provide January 4th as a holiday for them so those teachers who completed that will celebrate but we still have to leave it on the calendar because teachers who did not complete that or other staff are not receiving that as a holiday so that one remained the other change was March 15th professional development day rather than having that on a Monday moved that to Friday that week to March 19th and then feather would be the Monday after spring break which

143is the Monday after Easter Sunday that has been a traditional student holiday we figured that given everything that's going on this year that we would just eliminate that holiday and 12-month staff would celebrate that on April 1st and so by baking those changes we ended up with a greater balance in terms of missed days and this is for the entire year of six days on what six Mondays for Tuesday's for Wednesday's five thursdays and six fridays so those were the changes that were made from when we first looked at this on April I'm sorry June 25th I don't know where April came from all right is there a motion that we accept the revised 2020 21 calendar I mean we accept the revised 20 21 calendar is there a second second and that was moved

144by Miss Walsh second abundance Manning and discussion or other questions for dr. Johnston Soto waiting of Japan and and fixing it up so it made it more equitable I appreciate that you're welcome thank you dr. Johnson why do you think variety is the day that they need off while other surroundings has taken Wednesday off midweek okay so a couple things mr. Bosley's one of the things we've learned with the Wednesday was the shared Technical Center down in Rockingham County so in order to accommodate multiple divisions taking advantage of that technical center that is shared Wednesday worked better for them for us it was because of our pre-k through five students our youngest learners you think about this a second if we were to have a Wednesday rather than a today little ones kindergarteners first graders

145would be coming to school Monday Tuesday off Wednesday on Thursday on Friday off Saturday off Sunday on Monday on Tuesday off Wednesday and that kind of change is not in their best interest developmentally so by doing the Monday through Thursday and our ability to accommodate pre-k through 5 for those days it made a lot more sense to have those be consecutive days of attendance again building up a little more of a routine we've met with our principals about it just to check as well to see if they had a preference and they felt that the Fridays were best as well and that would be elementary and middle school principals as well because I did you know I wanted to make sure I followed up on that and they weighed in and said that that they

146certainly were in favor of the Friday's rather than the Wednesday's hey thank you welcome it does seem like that might be better for childcare too because the parent could perhaps a child could go with a relative out of the district for the three days rather than having the one day there and you know frankly to the way things have gone if the family gets the opportunity to take a Friday and can take a three day trip and not worry about school it's probably in their best interest to do so but and I know some of the other districts mr. Hawley have used Wednesday and said that gives them the opportunity to clean and ask dr. Johnston about that and we have will be doing cleaning every night with our electrostatic cleaners yes yeah yeah and

147actually the principal's pointed out that you know having so by having the Friday the custodians will be much happier as well again we're gonna we're gonna deep clean every day so it was interesting because somebody's just like you know the Wednesday for deep cleaning Rockingham's doing Monday Thursday Tuesday Friday seemed kind of odd because they're gonna have four groups of kids in there so anyway not to be critical of anybody else but like I said it the principal felt pretty strongly that you know teachers are more likely to finish their day on Friday afternoon the part which will actually give the Estonians a little more time whereas on a Wednesday they would then be putting in all their longer hours probably more likely since they don't have the weekend ahead of them any other questions

148or discussion hearing none it's been properly moved and seconded that we approve 2020 21 revised instructional calendar roll call vote please miss Walsh yes this plan yes miss Manning yes mr. Keller yes mr. Helsley yes miss Wetzel yes next on our action agenda is the Virginia School Boards Association delegate and alternate for delegate assembly is there a motion we approve miss Walsh and miss Manning is the alternate I would like to make that motion is there a second to that motion mr. Keller made the motion miss Klein seconds at any discussion during nine roll call vote please miss Walsh yes miss Klein yes miss Manning yes mr. Keller yes mr. Helsley yes miss Wetzel yes thank you ladies so much next on the agenda is the is the next steps for the resolution condemning racism

149is there a motion on this action item that madam chair yes sir I like to move that the school board postpone take an action on the discussion I am involved in the next steps for the board's resolution condemning racism and affirming the division committed to an inclusive school environment or as it relates to school names until the board's next regular scheduled meeting all right mr. Helsley has made a motion is there a second I'll second that all right it's been properly moved and seconded that the school board postpone taking action on the discussion item involving the next steps for the board's resolution condemning racism and affirming the divisions commitment to an inclusive school environment for all as it relates to school names until the board's next regularly scheduled meeting discussion um thank you mr. Keller

150for a second it I think bringing this up is too short of a the general public doesn't have enough time to weigh in on it and I like to share what dr. Johnson put out admit it's not the name of the school that matters as much as the cultures of school and that those students who attend the school are free from bias and discrimination our school board policy specifically addresses that we do not tolerate discrimination based on race ethnicity gender Stonewall Jackson is a warm welcoming school because of the students teachers administrators and parents have made it so it has the highest rate of dual enrollment courses completion in the division it's diverse and the diversity is celebrated through formal and informal school events and he shared at this time I believe we should be

151coming together rather than finding things that are pushing it apart let me repeat that I think at this time with the pandemic going on we should be coming together whether than finding ways that we are pushing apart I know all of you have got a number of phone calls and emails from both sides and I just think that we need more time the public needs away in Steve Baker vice chair of the Board of Supervisors called me before I left the house and there you're planning a resolution at their next board meeting I do I would think even though this virtual meeting and I think speakers had trouble speaking whatever we need an open forum in some fashion and I would hope that we arrange at and about racism I listened to a number of

152people that sides about changing it and I am convinced changing the name is not going to improve racism in our county it's got to come from one's heart it's got to be taught and I just think and concerning Somali accent I I went I did some research about when it was when it was originally named and it was named I can find in my notes I have it here the name of the schools came to the school board meeting or 12 858 and it was tabled for one month and in February 959 the southern end was decided on Stonewall Jackson obviously the other two schools we're done at the same time and the school board recommended open house to be on 10 1959 some of the speakers spoke about some well Jackson a college professor

153James Roberts Roberson wrote a book on so Moll Jackson he was professor of Virginia Tech he knew him as if he lived with him with the research he did his classes at Tech was overflowing with students and visitors who just wanted to hear him speak and the one I'm not gonna read this I know we've been into this a lot to seve nning but this is the one thing that stuck out on me of the material that I've been research he was deeply religious and 1855 you started a Sundays to class for blacks at a Presbyterian Church in direct conflict with state law at that time needless to say if we go against state law right now we'll be in trouble but this is the thing a the 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church in Roanoke Virginia

154in African American congregation dedicated a window for him for his work and I've seen pictures of it and I assumed it's still there I did not check on that and I'll say a few more words and I'll let my colleagues enter in yesterday was the first day I got calls from students that will be there in the ball one spoke tonight and I didn't even consider what they're going to be they're going through some has a letter on jacket somes already about their class rings parents have spent a bunch of money thinking about they're going to be going there what are we telling those students that maybe on August 17th the the name will not be there I mean it was just so powerful and to the students who called me and probably each one

155of you they spoke very politely courteous they were nervous you could tell in their voice but they spoke from the heart and of the many phone calls I got from people in my district on this and the one I'm going to share was a a war veteran a war veteran and when he got that out of his mouth I thanked him for his service and then he said all my children and grandchildren will go there please do not change it so hastily for them I think we need to have a break give some time I'll do whatever I can to de les in the fear that is gonna get out of hand the people in the southern end in this county will conduct themselves propria Lee oh and they will respect the other side I

156just hope that we can delay this thirty thirty days thank you thank you mister Helsley or a point of order we're now discussing the motion to postpone so is there any other discussion on the motion to postpone any action hearing no further discussion the motion on the floor is that we would postpone taking action on the discussion item involving the next steps for the board's resolution condemning racism and affirming the divisions commitment to an inclusive school environment for all as it relates to school names until the board's next regularly scheduled meeting and when we have the roll call if you've a yes you're voting to postpone no you're voting not to postpone so roll call vote please this Walsh no this plan no miss Manning no mr. cat no mr. Helsley yes miss Wetzel no

157that motion has so is there now a motion public to man here yes is there now a motion um does someone want to make a motion on action items to proceed with the the name change comment on that comment section the public should comment on that thank you let me remind everybody we are now in the school board meeting we had a public comment session we had a number of speakers we're now about we're now trying to do our business if people keep interrupting I'm gonna ask the host to to remove them I need you to comment on that resolution I feel people should be able to speak ma'am I did not know how to set up an appointment to be able to UM is there a motion miss Klein I think you were making

158the motion were you not yes I move that the names of Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee elementary school be retired as well as the rebel mascot at North Fork middle school the board directs the superintendent to develop a process and timeline in accordance with board policy FFA for selection of new names and a new mascot to bring back to the board at their August August 13th meeting miss quad has made the motion is there a second second miss Manning seconds discussion yes I would like to have something to say discussion from board members discussions you go ahead Eddie I'm sorry I was just gonna ask Miss Wetzel if she wanted to go in any particular order or should we just chime in um yes usually I call the order let's start with you

159miss Walsh why didn't you start with the under next okay so I prepared a statement because this is such an emotional issue and I really wanted to keep on topic and on point so I I don't typically read statements as during this part but I'm not very good at speaking off-the-cuff so here's my statement I need to start by setting the record straight on a few things the issue before us tonight is not the product of recent national events although I do think that some of the rhetoric on both sides is informed somewhat by those events the word does not enter into this vote lightly we were not forced to do this by a commentary piece in the local paper or a recent graduate doing a petition or anything like that it became a more

160pressing issue for me at least when alumni of Stonewall Jackson High School Black by Rachel and white came to us with their stories summoned or outright racism summoned or racial tension a quote from an alumni is this even in the eighties classmates openly lauded the Confederacy and supported a return to the good old days we were taught that Virginians fought for states rights and to defend their farms and families from Northern Aggression once I began some independent research it was clear that what we were really taught committed the fact that defending slavery was the very foundation of the Confederate government some alumni told us that they had moved away after they graduated because they did not want to raise their children in the community that still revered a general best known for his participation in

161the losing sprite of the Civil War you heard history lessons from several people this afternoon and whether you think of Stonewall Jackson as a great man who did some bad things or a bad man who did some good things the fact remains that he was a Confederate General and the Confederates and he was all about states rights people forgetting to finish that sentence and to finish that sentence is the Confederacy with all about states rights to continue the practice of slavery in our country ask for 100 years to 1959 when Stonewall Jackson High School was built it was after Brown versus Board of Education it was a time when schools were being integrated but many southern states including Virginia were practicing massive resistance to immigration I had a nice conversation with the son of a

162man who was known to many in the community for his love of Civil War history participation in reenactments and things like that he told me that it had suggested the name because of history of all the positives that stolen Jackson contributed and I jumped out his enthusiasm enthusiasm and making that suggestion but surely superintendent and school board at the time had to know that naming a high school after a Confederate General would send a clear message to black families that they were not in that brand-new school that they had to drive by every day to drive to their black school in Harrisonburg here we are present day and we're still struggling to make sure that every student in our school feels safe welcomed and included other patients with current students and recent graduates on both

163sides of the renaming issue including the young man who spoke this evening here are a couple comments from people who wrote in but didn't speak tonight I loved the succinct way this graduate put it this is not an attempt to erase history nor is it making change an erasure of history a building named in honor of building named in honor of a person is not history it is a so of that person's history I do not support a celebration of someone who fought to keep people as slaves and to maintain a system of slavery it is more impossible to teach history without making a celebration of actions that ought to be condemned and from a recent Stonewall graduate I understand the importance and value of heritage in history but this name represents a time in

164our history when our country was torn apart the name was written during a time when our schools were segregated I feel that our school should represent inclusion and acceptance to all students changing the name of our schools will not diminish our history and heritage it is more very present in our museums or cemeteries and our battlefields and she went on to say in her comments and I I believe the whole board got her comments she attended regional Governor's School last summer and when she told her peers the name of her high school she was met there yikes and I'm sorry and that's a terrible name for a school here we are about to take a vote about retiring the names of two of our schools and the mascot of another change is never easy timing

165is never easy school boards are taps for providing the best opportunities and experiences for their students after six years it's time to reflect on the message that the naming of the schools meant for current and future students families visitors and even businesses who look to locate here I believe that this is the right time to do the right thing thank you thank you miss Walsh mr. Keller did you have some comments you like Marty I'm gonna I'm gonna talk I guess from the heart like Cindy I brought to read it from script but I probably won't ramble more than I do anything I guess the first thing I would say is that I don't relish this opportunity in that in and of itself might be a flaw in my character but if this is not

166something and I set out and decided I want to do wanted to do but I think in the end that I think we all knew it was coming it you know I probably hope that that there there was another board that was going to take care of this or you know I'm asking why a previous board didn't look at it as well but that's not the way it is and here we set we got to make a decision like this based on all these emails and phone calls and in letters that we've received and I guess based on that voice that we have inside of us that tells us right and wrong and whether we listen to that as well but I would say this that politics in history aside I think we can all

167agree that public school names probably shouldn't be controversial and yet these are in the thing about controversy that I found is that there's always at least two sides to that issue and the unfortunate part of this is that with this controversy I don't think there's a compromise you know there's no way to preserve the traditions and heritage of one group and ease the the inequity that another group may have felt you can't keep a name in remove racist implications from it you can't claim to be inclusive which we do in in have students who feel like they're excluded but but here's the problem with all of this in in and I want to make it clear today I don't think that that school community of Stonewall Jackson is conclusionary I don't think that they practice

168bigotry I don't think they practice hatred and I don't think they're prejudiced I believe I felt this way since I was in high school Strasburg high school I've always felt that those students it's no longer the communities from Edinburgh to Newmarket represent what I would call the salt of the earth I mean these are good people they work hard they expect their neighbors to work hard and they love their schools and they love their community so whatever decision is made today this is certainly not an indictment on any of those people they are great people I've liked you guys have probably researched Stonewall Jackson in the last two weeks more than I admit and I've come to some conclusions that are probably the same that you have and that is that is it was a

169good man a high character extremely revered by soldiers by his state of Virginia and by the nation he also owned slaves and fought in a war on the side whose main purpose was to preserve the right for people to own slaves though on the surface those characteristics make sound conflicting but from the perspective of 1860 in the south I think it probably was pretty familiar now I've received countless emails from people on both sides of this controversy as I'm sure you guys have as well and each offer me a perspective of the situation and they talk about the valor in greatness of Jackson is a true Virginian and they convey to me their concerns about their heritage and their history and these stories are truly compelling and then I've got other emails and phone calls

170from people who didn't share a different perspective they tell me about times in which they felt unwelcome unwanted and subordinate that school not so much about how they were being treated by others but how they were being made to feel by the name on the building or the symbols inside that building so when I weigh all these things I boil it they I boil it down to perspective you know where you stand determines what you see in what you don't see and so I've got perspective we all have perspectives on this it's it's a learn thing and it's derived from our experiences and life's the tough task I believe in this situation is look at edit from the perspective of someone else and I can tell you that looking at things from another perspective they

171you know naturally we just don't want to do we want to avoid that at all cost but but this is one of those times I think you know you got it you got it look at the challenge from other perspectives so I'm left today with this being the essential question that I feel like I've got to answer and and the board has to answer to and that is this is which is more important someone's heritage regarding a school's name are someone's inclusion into that school they're their right to feel welcome so you know that goes into my decisions in you know I've always said that you know I'm gonna make some decisions you have made a play of them in my career and I'm gonna make some mistakes too but I would hope that those

172mistakes that I make are done with the best interest of kids at heart so that would be that would be my hope in this whole process Thank You mr. Keller mr. Hales League do you have any comments I yes I do my question is where's this going in you know are they coming to Woodstock and find something wrong with Peter Muhlenberg or they're gonna go a little bit north to Strasburg eventually we're going to have to take a stand against what people who want to destroy what we are founding fathers did in the Revolutionary War and I mean I know I'm making this bigger than what it is but eventually we got to take a stand if not we're going to lose the country and to my colleagues who did not even consider delaying it

173I would have gave you all the consideration of one month if the high school or the name we were presented you wanted more time for your constituents and the besides mr. Keller you voted no um and in the people in the southern end heard that loud and clear goddamn right I have four people voting for the entire county is not writing that letter have a public one this this meeting we're now having school board member discussions miss Kline do you have any comments yes yes I do thank you miss Wetzel I appreciate that I have heard from as mr. Keller and mr. Helmsley have said a multitude of constituents and students former students alumni on both sides of the issue of retiring the names in the mascots on the southern campus Shenandoah County Board of

174Supervisors unanimous resolution On June 9th on anti-racism and our own boards unanimous anti race resolution dated just recently in 25th where we condemn and affirm that our schools commitment is an inclusive environment for all it's imperative that we as a school division actively acknowledge and address and prevent racial bias that occurs as a result of our divisions policies practices and actions it's really important that we create an environment where every child is respected and valued for who they are regardless of their skin color and I cannot tell you how much I do appreciate all of the folks that have emailed or called I have read every single one and I've tried to respond every single one um and I do appreciate that and I respect your your thoughts and ideas completely surrounding the names of

175our schools and I think that in order for us to continue the work of creating an inclusive environment for all kids we need to consider the names of the mascots that are on our southern campus schools I can tell you this has been something that has been weighing heavily on my part this is a hard decision I just want folks to know that and it is about the kids and as mr. Keller said we have to make the decision that's best for all kids thank you miss Wetzel thank you miss Klein miss Manning do you have any comments on I do just a couple my fellow board members have expressed a lot of the same thoughts that I've had I to speak to mr. Helsley and his motion to postpone myself my reason for voting

176no is because we have received an overwhelming amount of emails and petitions and there is much repetition within all of those emails and I don't know that there is going to be anything more that comes to light than what we've already read and and heard and like Miss Klein I have read all of them tried to respond to all of them as much as possible except for in the last 8 hours or so and as a board member I feel that our primary responsibility is to the best interest of the children of Shenandoah County we focus a lot on social emotional learning and I think we between that and our unanimous vote on our resolution and our last meeting those things we cannot set that aside I just want to read one line from one

177of a former student of Stonewall Jackson and he wrote in order to empathize with someone's experiences each of you have to be willing to believe them as they see it and not how you imagine their experiences to be I like mr. Keller I do not think that the schools on this southern end of the campus are full of racists who outward they try to belittle anyone but if one child walks into the schools with those names a child of color and feels less than or in any way intimidated or embarrassed by the name on their diploma because it what it represents to them and their ancestors or if one child feels empowered by the name on the building to make someone feel less than then it is in the best interest of all the children

178to eradicate that name from the building not from history not from heritage just from the building and the other thing I would say is I don't think that any of us expected this to be a change that takes place overnight there has to be thought there have to be there's a lot that needs to be considered before we move forward I think this is simply just the first step in making the change for the current students and the future students that will be attending schools in Shenandoah Johnny thank you miss Wetzel thank you I have a few comments too in 1994 I did a research paper for my history of American education class at James Madison University it was on school desegregation in Virginia part of the research included interviews with black educators who had

179experienced desegregation one of my interviews was with a colleague who worked in Shenandoah County Schools she was black and she attended the Creekside elementary school in Woodstock because she was not allowed to go to the white public schools and there were only two black schools at the time in Shenandoah County Creekside and the sunset school in Strasburg that you may have heard about on the news recently parents had to provide the transportation so she did not get to start school so she was eight years old later the school division hired a cab to take students from Mount Jackson to Woodstock however if he got another fare they might have to go to Skule late or return home several hours late Shenandoah County provided no high schools for black students so her parents centered to Harrisonburg

180where she boarded with another family and attended Lucy Simms high school she had to sit out a year until her parents could afford room and board because she had sisters who were also going to school here in 1964 black students were allowed to attend Stonewall Jackson High School for the first time even though Brown versus Board of Education was it was decided by the Supreme Court in 1954 this person was one of the first students through the door she told me about the National Guard being outside the school as the black students entered all five of her stood children also attended Stonewall Jackson High School but left the area to find work and she mentioned the isolation of being the only black employ in her building this week when she heard this item was on

181the school board agenda I got a letter from her and I would like to read a couple of the things she said and I'm quoting now the name of Stonewall Jackson High School should be changed as a graduate of Stonewall Jackson High School I think my input should be valuable to me Stonewall Jackson as a Confederate soldier and Confederate flags make people of color hurt these symbolize hatred people don't think about how this makes others feel until it's too late I don't want it to be too late in recent years my children and I have experienced heightened acts of hatred from our peers in the community this has taken the form of hate speech and social media and in person with the experiences I and my five children had at and after leaving Stonewall Jackson

182High School the name should be changed to something more appropriate to comply with this new age I know it's old history but it's hate history and we don't need to continue that way end quote and today I heard from email and also got a phone call from to 1998 black graduates of Stonewall Jackson school who felt also the name needed to be changed and described some of their experiences as some of the first black students there as a West Virginia native I know a lot about Thomas Jonathan Jackson and the good things he did in his life I attended state 4-h camp and girls stayed at Jacksons mill where he lived with his uncle for good part of his younger years West Virginia left Virginia on June 20th 1863 and became a separate state still

183there were good feelings in West Virginia about Stonewall Jackson's good side but when one hears his name one doesn't think first about his work as a teacher of black children or a university professor one thing's Confederate General and by the way Stonewall Jackson middle school in Kanawha County West Virginia just voted unanimously on Monday to change their school name I worked at Asheville E for 21 years that I was from sports Stonewall Jackson for 10 years although I was very careful that we did not have a confederate flag in the building I may have contributed myself to some feeling and welcome by using generic generals and flags and for that I'm sorry retiring the name will not take anything away from the memories I and many others have of the schools no one will have

184their diploma taken or their trophy changed as one high school student from Stonewall Jackson challenged me today quote if you go to keep the name you would be making a conscious decision to maintain a symbolic reference to a time of inequality and racism school should be welcoming to all a place of Education forward thinking and bettering ourselves how can we move forward if our schools name is only looking backwards in quote and a 1964 graduate of Stonewall Jackson High School sent me this message today ironically she graduated the same year that black students were first admitted to Stonewall Jackson high school quote I have learned of a proposal to change the name of Stonewall Jackson High School I'm writing in support of that proposal I'm a graduate of Stonewall Jackson high school class of 1964

185we called ourselves five-star generals the first class to complete all five years at Stonewall we didn't realize then that the name represented resistance to the very idea of integration or that it was a message that this was a place where white people were in charge now we know how offensive and painful that name and message are we recognize and must reckon with the effects of a system systemic racism built into every one of our institutions changing the name does not correct the wrongs done throughout history to black and indigenous people but it we if we are making the change an honest acknowledgement of those wrongs it's single signals and intention to make bigger more substance each changes in the field of education that means more resources for the students who have been disadvantaged by our

186system it means more diverse faculties and administrations it means curricula that includes the histories of black Native American Latino and Asian people and their contributions to our country I support the board in making its name change it signals an intention to pursue justice and offer my support in that pursuit include I'd also like to mention that two former district one scored members have reached out to me and have both said that they support returning the school names and mascots I would like to thank everyone in Shenandoah County who reached out to me and other school board members about retiring the names of the mascot I have read and considered every communication I know that however I vote there will be people who are disappointed I'm sad that there are some people who are already angry

187with me for even talking about this and I'm sure that they will not be uh Nagre in the future but I do take my responsibilities as a school board member seriously and I do the best I can thank you all right any other discussion tazza madam chairman chairperson we have not talked about how we're going to pay for this that would be part of a plan that the superintendent would present to us if this notion passes okay I I have one request dr. Johnson Planning Committee and my request is I'm speaking for the seniors and juniors who's at Stonewall I know I'm on the losing side here but could we delay the change until they graduate from Stonewall that's 2021 class in 2022 who already spent a lot of money on their letterman jacket and

188their classrooms make that as a suggestion all right Thank You mr. Hensley hearing no more discussion the motion on the floor is that the names of Stonewall Jackson High School in Asheville a elementary school be retired as well as the rebel mascot at North Fork middle school the board directs the superintendent to develop a process and timeline in accordance with board policy FFA for selection of new names and a new mascot to bring back to the board at their August 13th meeting roll call vote please miss Walsh yes miss Kline yes miss Manning yes mr. Keller yes mr. Helsley no Wetzel yes next on our action agenda is personnel is there a motion that we approve the personnel list as presented animate the win I move that we approve the personnel list as presented Cindy

189watch is there a second starting and elitism inactive for people in a county of 42,000 people I think miss Manning seconded that any discussion on approving a personnel hearing none roll call vote please miss Walsh yes is flying miss Manning yes mr. Naylor no no no yes mr. callously yes miss Wetzel yes we're now down to superintendent's monthly reports you have the report in your board packet are there any questions for dr. Johnston or did you want to say anything about the reports dr. Johnson no I'm happy to answer any questions you might have [Music] hearing no questions report of board members other businesses and does any board member have any other comments or business you would like to bring up I don't all right we have no nope no one signed up for public

190and staff comment or non agenda items so without objection forgot to get my gavel this meeting is now adjourned thank you all very much scored members