ACPS Regular School Board Meeting - Thursday, July 10, 2025

001Test. Test one. Test two. Test one. Test two. Oh, it is. I'm watching Yes. She is fit there. That's right. Welcome everybody to the July Ammeris County School Board meeting. Um before we have a moment of silence, is there anything you need to start with back? Yes, sir. Okay. So, if we could stand for a moment of silence and pledge allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Hey, board 1.02, I get approval of the agenda. I make a motion that we approve tonight's agenda. Second. All in favor? I. Okay. Dr. Wells, we have an agenda. Thank you, sir. So, um we have two people who have signed up to

002speak uh for public comments. So, uh when I call your name, if you could come forward, state your name and your uh your address or your voting district. Uh Stephanie Smith. Hello. Did you pull that mic down so that somebody really tall was there? Yeah, obviously. Um, Stephanie Smith, I vote at Manellison, so I'm not sure what district that is. Um, I do have some concerns. Never been here before, so please bear with me. Um, so you want my address, correct? Yeah, if you could, please. Okay. I live at 495 Woodland Drive, Madison Heights, right behind Walmart. If anybody wants to come help me pick weeds, I will be glad to put you to work cuz I have a lot. Um, I typed up what I need to say just because it's just three concerns.

003Um, and I just want to make sure that I make my point. Um it's not really that big of a deal, but it's kind of important. Summer school, um the schedule for summer school is great. It's like great schedule, 3 weeks in and out, perfect. Um it just doesn't work for the camps. So there's some camps that are offered for that are free. Um one is through the rec department. There was a art and music camp that was offered through Donna Meeks that was um about $25 which was a great opportunity and exposure for young kids. Perfect. Um however, it's during summer school. So what happens to the kids that need the summer school for SOS or the kids that need like that extra push just to get them to where they need to be?

004Of course, I had to put on my superwoman cape. I had to drive all the way up here to Ammeris, do the camp, then get him all the way back to Madison Heights to do school. So, he was missing the important math and reading in the mornings, but then he got the activities in the evenings. So, I'm just suggesting that if we're going to do these camps that are being offered, maybe switch the times, have them a little bit later or earlier. I don't know. I I get the logistics. I understand all that, but it's just interfering because I didn't mind, but I'm sure there's other parents that, you know, like I have to pick and choose. Why do we have to pick and choose? Like, why can't he do both? We can do it

005during the school year. Why can't we do it during the summer, too? So, that's just my first concern. Um, my second concern is the calendar. I understand that you post it online. I understand that you post it on social media. I understand that it's on Class Dojo. I get that. But what about the people that don't have the internet? When he went to kindergarten, my son, it was shoved down my throat what day school started, what day we were out for snow, everything I knew. Now I had to beg. When do schools start? I'm a planner. I like to have my calendar ready for six months in advance. I don't know anything. I can't figure out stuff. I don't know what's going on. What about the other people that don't have access to all these

006things? So, I just wonder like, am I missing something? What's going on? Like, where is it available? You know, why do I have to hunt for it? Are we saving a tree? What's going on? Like, I just don't know. Which brings me to my third point. So, my son went to summer school this summer. A incident happened at school on June 27th with another student. My son told me about it on that Sunday. Because I was notified on Saturday before summer school started, I called the number that was left on my voicemail and spoke to the lady that was acting as the principal of the summer school program. Her response was she knew about the incident and had spoke with my son and the other student and would address it on Monday. She sent my

007son to the nurse. However, this incident was before dismissal. The nurse said that he was fine. He was put on the bus and sent home. He told me about the incident. The school never called me. They never notified me or anything. He was kicked in the stomach. The little girl took her foot off the ground and kicked him in the stomach. She kicked him hard enough for him to cry. So, you can imagine that she kicked him hard enough to make him cry. They had time enough to take him to the nurse. They had time enough for the nurse to check him out. They had time enough to put him on the bus. But no one never called me. I had to call her. when I called her and she did call me back on

008Monday. By this time, of course, I'm angry, but I didn't say anything. The problem with this is if he had did it to her, how would that story have played out? If my son had put his hands or his feet on this little girl, what would the story have been different? How would what would the reaction been? what would the consequences been? Who would have been called? Who wouldn't have been called? She did apologize for not telling me. She said, "I own it." You know, whatever. I don't care about all that because that's not the point. The issue with it was we were already having a problem and he had to go to the doctor. And when we were in the doctor, the doctor said, "Has anything happened?" I'm like, "Nah, everything's fine." It wasn't,

009but I didn't know about it. What is the policy concerning if another child puts their hands on my child and I'm not notified? That's all that I wanted to know. Okay. Good. Thank you very much. Okay. Next speaker is uh Mr. Porter. There you are. My name is Jeff Porter, 478 Woody's Lake Road, Madison Heights, Virginia. Um I have one statement to make and then uh expression of uh appreciation. Um I understand that uh Verizon is going to be making a a presentation about the cell phone tower. Uh, I knew this was coming and um I've been curious about this because I really haven't heard from you as a school board as members or from the school district why we're even talking about having a cell phone tower on school property. And so I'm curious

010tonight to hear first of all the presentation. Uh, I always want to learn. I want to find out things. Um, but I'm also curious because I just haven't heard anyone really talk about why this has come to this point where we're considering having a cell phone tower. If it's for the school district, then I'm curious to know what the rationale is. Uh so I'm looking forward to hearing some answers tonight and to hearing from you as well. Um the comment that I have to make is uh one of my friends uh is a a janitor in one of your schools and I understand that you all are doing repainting in the schools and um it's good to hear about uh doing maintenance that's ongoing. uh oftentimes that's allowed to slide because of budget issues or

011whatever. So, I'm glad that you as a school district and as a school board are trying to keep our property up and looking well. Thank you very much for your time. Looking forward to hearing some answers tonight. Okay. Thank you, sir. So, those are the only two who have signed up to uh speak. Is anyone from the audience who would like to approach the the board? Okay, seeing none, we're going to move on to 3.0 consent agenda. I make a motion that we approve tonight's consent agenda. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Uh, all in favor? I Okay. All right. Mr. Chair, if I may. Yes, sir. Um, since you approved the consent agenda tonight, uh, you approved Miss Jasmine Glaze to be the new assistant principal at Amalan Elementary School. We'd

012like to recognize Jasmine. Little bit of a bio. Um, she began her career of ACPS in 2015 as a long-term sub at uh, in biology at the high school. She served as an instructional assistant during the 15-16 school year and was hired as a full-time biology teacher in 2016. From 2016 to 2021, she taught a variety of science courses at the high school. In 2021, she transitioned to higher education, serving as lead learning specialist at Liberty University. She returned to ACPS in August of 23 as biology teacher and intervention and support team chair. Shortly thereafter, she was named the school climate community grant coordinator for the division. Um she has contributed to ACPS as a cheer coach, assistant volleyball coach, member of the recruiting committee, and a member of the school improvement team representing Amoris

013Education Center. We're pleased to welcome Jasmine to Amalan Elementary School and look forward to her leadership in the year ahead. Thank you, Jasmine. Anything you want to say? I just want to say as an Ammeris native, I'm really honored to serve in this role and be able to serve my elementary school um in this capacity. So, thank you all for this opportunity. Thank you. Uh 4.0, Dr. Wells. 4.01, we have administrative. We turn it over to Dr. Hoden and Mr. Ro. Yes. Uh good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Uh lots of uh information tonight on some construction before I turn over Mr. Roges. Just a couple other uh things. I don't have pictures for this because it just started, but the lecture hall has undergone uh quite a faceelift, new painting, and the

014carpet is finished in there. Uh the new seats will be installed uh if not the end of next week, the beginning of the following week. So, that will be a nice addition. We'll have pictures for you uh at the next meeting. The library uh was just finished today. uh that was painted and uh carpet and LVT was laid in there and the uh new furniture will be delivered next week. So again, we'll have some pictures for that. So that is uh that is some great news. They're finishing the windows. They have two more schools to finish for that and then all the uh exterior doors that we're doing are have been completed. So lots going on and as um Mr. reporter noted uh painting uh is just about finished at uh down at Manellison and

015then they've moved on to Ammerst Middle and then we'll also start some paving. So there are lots of projects going on this summer. Um one thing I want to say before Mr. Ro goes just to let you know um that um there have been some setbacks with construction. Uh there is a possibility that we will not have a kitchen when school starts uh for the first week or two. However, we've talked to uh Kim and there is a uh contingency plan in case that uh that's not ready to go. So, run into really some of the 1950 construction has been quite interesting when we've peeled the onion back, found some beams that weren't complete and then of course we had to do some abatement and Mr. Oaks can share a few other things with that.

016But just to let you know if if that is a U does come to fruition that we already have a contingency plan. We've talked to Kim and Mr. Crawford and we have a plan for for that for the short term that that would that would happen. Questions on any of that before I turn it over to Mr. Oaks? Board, any questions? Okay, Mr. Oaks, go ahead. All right, all that's left is slideshow. So, uh, updated picture, got the signs in front of the school there, the letters, the rest of that hope will be coming next week. As you can see in this picture, we've had to uh we're in the process of redoing the front entrance way uh due to some issues with the concrete that had um poor concrete finish on them and we

017rejected that pad. So, they're going to redo that. Uh this is inside the cafeteria. We've had the tables and chairs for quite some time there and uh they start setting them up this week just to you get things laid out a little bit and and we'll readress those and uh make room for the the new students in the new year for the cafeteria. Just a different look looking down the the counter spot counter space area and across the cafeteria there as well. Uh new bathroom. You've seen that multiple times before. And looking down Main Street with a really completely finished the glassware for the trophy cases, display cases should be in late this week or first part of next week. And uh the rest of the finishes down the hallway are pretty much done now.

018Inside the auditorium, not a lot of changes inside the auditorium. Um you know, from from last month, we have finished the the cap work and we've got that stain. You see now the steps on both sides of the stage. Um they still got those pretty construction steps right in the middle uh that we haven't taken out yet. there. Um they were a free gift to us. So uh the steps are done and and we're still working some issues with lighting on the out lights and that's why you you see that the carpet's not in place yet. As we move into phase two, as Dr. Hood mentioned, uh there's some questions regarding the cafeteria to orient a little bit to where these pictures are taken. Um I'm standing in the uh old cafeteria part on the

019left picture looking back toward the old kitchen. So that back wall you see in the back picture um with a scaffling in front of it, that's actually uh support brackets uh holding up uh the structure where we need to put some limls in and waiting for more steel beams as as he mentioned earlier. And um so right here on the right picture is uh in the old kitchen area as well. So, we're actually where that little mini hoe is sitting in those pictures. That is going to be the new serving area. Um, you know, for the uh the new cafeteria part, the picture on the left and right is actually I'm standing inside the new freezer, which is probably about twice as big as the old the two old existing uh freezers combined. So, the

020freezer walls are up in place. And the right picture, if you look at top there above the the shiny white end down there, you'll see a horizontal piece going across. That's the roof of the freezer going in and I haven't been in there today, but uh been outside in the mud most of the day there. So anyway, freezer work's going on. All the kitchen equipment is there. There's in the process of installing it and again uh getting some things lined up in the floor. So it's but still a lot of work to be done. Picture on the left is looking at the new uh bathroom in the across from the the old auxiliary gym. Uh this is looking into the bathroom from the hallway as is the right picture. Um you can also see the

021darkness in the floor there uh that we've removed all the tile and uh from that point all the way up to basically the main lobby part of the u existing old auditorium all the tile has been removed and again the floor below that can contain asbestous. So all that's been uh mitigated as well. Picture on the left and right is some of the classroom. Picture on the left is one of the classrooms up front that used to be in the old cafeteria and the picture on the right is actually um standing in the corner looking at two new hallways that have been built. Going to the left side of that picture is going toward the CTE wing. And that wall that you're looking at through the the brakes down there is actually the outside wall

022of the old auditorium. Going to the right, you're going up that hallway. That's the hall that leads down uh from the front of the school to the back. uh toward the old cafeteria or gymnasium area. So, just sort of try to get you acclimated to where you are looking at the 90° angle right there. That's a classroom there. There's one to the left and there's uh two behind me on the wall behind me again. And actually some of the the walls been primed and like the the first coat of paint been put on those in the hallways. Uh and we just got to hang some sheetrock in that. All the mechanical, electrical, and that type work has been done except for hanging the likes and and the finished dark work. So, they're sort of working

023their way from that point out. And um but these classes should be ready for the uh beginning of the school year. Some things fun things at the fieldhouse. Um ones on left are the drainage ditches we put in to tie the roof leaders and the gutters. uh that will be all piped into that and then that water will be um gone off you know offsite down through the uh drainage system to get it away from the building. And then the picture on the right doing one of our fabulous storms that we've had on north end of the county here in recent weeks. This is about two weeks ago. Uh came here and that's what we found to our meter box. Brand spanking new meter box. Uh the little it's hard to see but the the

024debris you see on the ground is what used to be the meter. What used to be the meter. Yeah. And uh so anyway, actually we just got that power turned back on this meeting uh this morning. Uh put in a new beater box, new meter. Um fortunately, the wiring from the transformer up to this point was good. We did rewire everything uh from the meter box back inside to the panel. From what we can tell so far, there's no damage to any equipment or anything inside there. And the damage did not does not appear to have extended past the outside of the meter box here. And then we've got sidewalks poured at the fieldhouse. Excuse me. Do we know what caused that? Uh, lightning. Lightning. Okay. I actually have contacted uh National Weather Service. You

025know, going back to my prior life, used to do this on structure fires. Contact National Weather Service. They have a mapping system and they can show me maps of where lightning strikes happen in the area. We actually had one down here in the end of nearby patch. So was that or power surge because again it did not go into the structure and uh so you came up through the line everything the AB code talking to them everybody's fairly confident was a result of a lightning strike. The one thing about this since we have not taken ownership of the building we do not have a co the question asked y'all apply to our insurance and the question was absolutely not. So we don't own it it's on our property but it's under construction. So anyway, sidewalks

026support and around the fieldhouse. Again, we've had to do some um working on the grade work and and uh parking area behind the school and that's taking priority over top of the grade work here. So that is where we're at. Uh next steps, complete phase one, pay the parking lot, continue kitchen classrooms in phase two, and uh complete site work at the fieldhouse. Board, any questions? Yes, sir. Uh, so I did want to go back to what you were talking about, Tim, with the uh delay for the kitchen and stuff. Um, the unexpected changes or things that weren't right. Um, I'm assuming we're doing change orders uh for that type of work. Yes. And what's that doing to our budget? Like how much is this costing? And well, the abatements hurting. Um, and where are

027we getting the funding for that? We we had some reserves for that. Yeah. Could we um get an update of the accounting for that for the project at the next meeting, please? Yeah, we can do that for you. Yep. And then yeah, the abatement um for that and then some beams that had to be added because it was I can show you some pictures later of how they finished it in 1950. That was Yeah, you showed those to me uh the other week. And and part of the issue too when they did the renovation in 1990 um with they redid the kitchen there, the cafeteria, the dining area there, they didn't abate some of the they just did the areas they had to abate. And so when we dug into it, we found asbestous that

028we didn't anticipate finding because it should have been abated in 1990. However, it wasn't. And therefore, when we hit it, we had to get it abated to do it right. We didn't want to go forward and in 30 years somebody come back and ask us, "What in the world are y'all thinking?" He didn't take care of this the right way, so we're fixing it the right way. We wanted to make sure we did it right this time. Yeah. No, I agree with doing it the right way. So, that's Yeah, that's something that, as you know, takes time with the abatement. And um just surprisingly in 90, they laid the tiles over the the old tiles and they didn't take them up. So, not sure why that happened, but it did. So, again, saving money. You

029don't mess with the best asbestous. You don't have to deal with taking it up at that time. But we Yeah, that time. But uh yeah, we wanted to make sure we did it right this time. So, okay. Thank you, sir. And board, any other questions? Thank you, sir. And um just a quick note, if um any of you, you know, want to do a quick walk through, just let Gary I know and we'll be glad to take you through. It's pretty exciting and lots of uh lots of interesting things going on there. Okay. All right. Uh, next we have the um cell phone tower and uh Nathan is here so I'll invite him up to the podium. Thank you. Good evening. Uh again, my name is Nate Holland. I represent um Verizon Wireless. Um we

030were here a couple months ago talking about possibility of leasing some space at Manelson Middle School to put up a tower. uh between that time and now uh our engineer has visited the facility has provided a um exhibit which I can will show you and um we've also pre presented um the school board or administration with a lease draft and we've discussed that with uh the school board attorney and so there's been uh somewhat consensus on the agreement. Um, and so at this point I just wanted to kind of give you an update and then talk about the next steps kind of which we need to discuss which I need some input from you all on how to proceed. So um, we're looking at the tax map here. U I think I presented this last

031time. Um, we're showing the school and then the tower location would be about 800 feet uh towards the rear of the property in the wooded area behind uh the existing baseball field. So, this is the exhibit drawing that our engineer came up with. basically shows what I showed you previously the location of the access road which is there a pointer on here um is along uh this dotted line. So part of this access um there is a gate and um there is a somewhat paved access which stops at some point. So, we'll follow that access and bring it all the way back towards the rear of the property and uh to the square spot which is that would be the lease area and the tower location. So, um this kind of gives talks about the

032next steps. Uh what we'd be looking at is Verizon uh would perform the on-site visit with our civil engineer which we had done that is complete. Um we provided a lease document uh to for review by county staff and county attorney. Uh that is complete and um we are you know fairly close to a final agreement. Uh the next step which would be oh whoops let's go back. I screwed that up. um which be number three is you all had talked about wanting to complete a community meeting uh with the folks around um rotten in the neighborhood around the school. And so um also part of that is for the county's administrative review process for our application with our use permit, we are required to do a balloon test. And so we fly a balloon

033height of the tower. We've couple hours people can come out and view it and that gives an folks an idea of where they'll be able to see the balloon. Um so typically we do the balloon test in the mornings. Usually the mornings are the best um time of day to fly the balloons. You usually have less winds. You know we try to look at forecast and you know try to determine ahead of time what the winds will be. Sometimes those forecasts are right, sometimes they're not. Um, you all had mentioned holding the community meeting. Uh, we can definitely do that. We can schedule it around however you all feel that you need to want folks to be able to come out. I don't know if having a balloon test in the evening is the best

034time of day. Usually there's more winds in the evening, late afternoon, but we can definitely schedule that. We can schedule it on the same day. We might, you know, depending on the weather, might follow up our plans. So, wanted just to present that at this point and, you know, see how you all feel about proceeding. Board, any questions, comments right now? Yes, ma'am. Thank you, sir. Um, so one of my questions on your flyer there is it says that both Verizon and school board have provided comments. I don't recall the school board giving comments. Yeah, I does that mean the lawyers? Yes. Yes. The that that's what I meant by that and I'm okay. Thank you. Yeah. Um, I can just say that for myself there is a lot of controversy around cell towers. Um,

035you have Montgomery County, Maryland schools no longer allow cell towers. Prince George County, Maryland Board of Education didn't renew their cell tower. Portland, Oregon schools ended all their new leases with cell towers. The Southerntherland Elementary School local school council in Illinois voted against this. San Jose, lots of school districts are voting against this. And I don't think it's because they're all agreed that it's a bad thing. I think it's because there is not agreement that it's a good thing. And when you're putting it on school property that has compulsory requirements for children to attend, I think it comes into an ethical place. That's why to me it is so critical that prior to the board um saying, "Oh, sure. let's send this to the county. We need to have a um a community meeting that

036gets a lot of press so everyone knows. So people aren't saying, "I didn't know." Well, I know it was on the schoolboard website, but I didn't get a paper. I didn't see a press conference. I didn't hear WCT. I think that's correct. Correct. Thank you. Um and so for myself, that really concerns me. the school can't from an ethical perspective. You know, if you go to the health site, there's um potential headaches, school disturbances. You've got places in Europe that aren't even allowing Wi-Fi in their schools because it's impacting the mental and physical health of children. So, that is my perspective as just one person. Okay. Board, anybody else? Miss Terry. Yes, sir. So, uh, could you bring up the map of the school again, please? With the lots. Yeah. The aerial shot right there.

037Okay. Um, so that's basically going to be almost right in my front yard. So, that'll be 800 feet from the school. I'm pretty sure. 800 yards. Actually, 800 yards. Correct. Okay. Now, where is the nearest cell tower in reference to that one? It's right across the street from 29, right at the end of uh where is it? It's right where 84 Lumber is. There's a tower right there. I wonder how close that is to yardage. Does anybody want to try to give a guess? Say within a thousand yards probably of the school. More than that. More than that. More than a thousand yards. Yes sir. Say give me a second. I can figure it out. I know I lose service coming down Woody's Lake Road for sure. And I'm just trying to figure out what

038Verizon's advantage is to putting a cell tower there. Yeah. Why was it chosen? Why was that? Yeah. Why was that location chosen? I mean, I'm sure it wasn't for the residents on Woody's Lake Road. So, there's a lot that goes into involve in deciding where these are located. They look at their existing locations that they have, cellside locations. Those could be on a tower. Those could be on a water tank. This could be on um a high tension tower. They sometimes use those the the public utility towers. So the engineer deter looks at where their other locations are at. They look at where they're having issues with coverage or they're having issues with service. Is there a cell site that is existing site that is having gets so much use that it it's not working

039properly? Um there's a lot involved in that. And so I mean you sometimes think of it like as a puzzle. They don't want sites too close together. They don't want sites too far apart. So I I don't have the map in front of me of their other sites at this point. But in my my mind is what I'm thinking is that they've decided that this location works best to fit within that puzzle. Okay. It it and it's an area that needs some service. I know there was a mentioning of needing service behind or at the Walmart which is nearby. Correct. Um they're probably they may have gotten complaints from folks that live in a neighborhood behind the school. Maybe there's a lack of service. I I I can get that information that data from my

040engineer. I just don't have that. And one at this point I just have one more question. How many other schools have Verizon towers on their property in the state of Virginia? Do you happen to know that number? I I don't know the number. I could I could try to find that. I know that there's from off the top of my head, City of Newport News, Al County. Um I I I know those two in particular. I don't know. I' I'd have to I'd have to get that data directly from Verizon and see. Right. Yeah. It's I know there's several there's several that either on their rooftops or have towers, you know, next on their property at some at some point, right? Okay. Board, any other questions, Mr. Chair? Yes, ma'am. Um, I have just a

041few. Um, what is the proposed height of this tower? we would be looking at a 195 ft monopole tower which is I think I have a picture that is a monopole tower single pole tower um no guide wires some of the towers you see look like um they have three legs that kind of look like the Eiffel Tower those are called self-support towers in this case this would be a monopole tower it's a single foundation and would have the equipment mounted ended up at the top of the tower. Given that height, how far would the cell coverage of this tower reach? Would it reach Walmart? How many neighborhoods? Uh, I don't have the exact, you know, like the exact number, but typically what they tell us is is a mile, mile and a half. In

042somewhat urban areas and rural areas, it could be a little bit more, could be a little bit less. A lot of it depends on topography, you know, how much what they call clutter, trees, buildings, all all sorts of things go into determining, you know, how far that coverage can propagate. But usually a mile and a half to two miles is is the typical average distance of these cell sites. Some could be more, some could be like if it's up on a mountain may get a little bit more spread out than you would in Well, I'm I'm trying to address just this one particular one and I know that uh Mr. Rossi had some questions. Um I've asked a couple of questions and your response, you know, was that you don't have that information prior to

043any public meeting that we have with the community. I would like to ask that you get those answers to those questions so that we don't have to look at the public. Sure. And say I don't have that information. Sure. We need to be anticipating anything they may be asking. And one of them would be, you know, how far is the reach of this cell service going to be? Um because I I know for me and and we had a citizen who asked why we were looking at this. For me personally, um I didn't want to take it upon myself just to say no. If this is something that the community wanted, if it's something that the community needed, I felt like the community needed a voice in that. So for me, I think being able

044for you to say to the public, this is what we want to do, 195 foot monopole tower, and this is how far it's going to reach. these are the neighborhoods that would benefit from it and how they would benefit. I know sometimes it is coverage, sometimes it's additional data. Um, so I think those questions or those answers would be vital to be able to say to the public it will reach these neighborhoods. It's not going to provide you any more sales service. It's just going to provide more data coverage or maybe it will provide more sales service. So before for me before I go into any kind of an agreement I want to know that the public is very clear and that they want what you have to offer. Does that make sense? I don't

045want to sign it or agree to it for me personally if we're just going on this is what we hope it does. engineers should be able to give you that information and and I don't know if they and it it's not an exact science so they can give you an an idea of where the coverage I don't think they'll definitely say it'll definitely reach this neighborhood but they can give us an idea coveragewise what the expectation should be because there's it's not an exact science they're using modeling data that you know is not 100% so they're not going to confirm, yes, you will have four bars at this house location, but they'll do their best to say this is what the expectation for this the coverage is, right? I mean, to me, they could say

046we have coverage in this area, but we have an additional data need and this is what it's going to give you. Yeah. Um or if it's coverage, you know, if it's a mile, mile and a half, which neighborhoods is it going to be affected? Is it going to affect the Walmart parking lot? Um those kind of things. So, I definitely think it'll we'll def that shouldn't be an issue because the Walmart's close enough. But so my other question is back to the site plan for the um the actual square. Is that at the back end of a baseball field? It is um if you look here uh the baseball field is it's right there in front of the right there. And so the back stop is pointing in like I think if I remember in

047this direction. Um so it would be in in um it would be in right field basically right right baseline basically. So if you go back to the other drawing does that service road encroach on the baseball field? It it it it no we might have to move a fence. There's a fence that's out there that you really can't see in the picture. Um, we'll have to move remove just part of that and to to get the road in, but other than that, we won't affect the use of the field. Okay. So, I see the blue line, which I assume is the property line there to the right of the field. Correct. Correct. And the service road is going to be within that blue line between it and the baseball field. Yeah. It'll it we'll try

048to hug the line as much as possible. Um, but there is a little bit of topography change that we will probably jut out of the of the of the field and and and try to hug that that wood line as much as possible. So, you've got enough space between the baseball field and the property in order to put a road. Yes. Okay. Um, Mr. Chairman. Yes. May I? Yes, sir. Uh, regarding the topography in that area back there, um, it's going to be tight on that side of the fence line based upon the grade going down the hill there. Um, and he's right the way the baseball field is oriented. That little brown spot you see right below that, I think it's 800 yards. I can't see that well, but that's the uh the infield

049right here or right there. And then it faces out toward the houses is way the the field is oriented. the fence on the right hand side. Um, as he stated, it gets narrower as it goes back, but probably about halfway between the infield and the outfield fence out there. Um, you run out of real estate. So, as you mentioned, that fence along the baseball field would have to come down. And uh and of course the the fence on the outside back there. The fence around the back f back side field of the field is probably 50 ft long but it does not circle the whole field back there. So and again from the use of that field obviously we as a school division you know we don't play any sports on anything right now. Uh

050the little league softball and baseball they will practice back there but the field is in you know shape where there's no games. It's just a practice type field back there now. Okay. Thank you. I think that's helpful. Um so for moving forward, I think that it's really important for us to have a public meeting. Um you mentioned the balloon um uh test or flight, whatever you call it. Um, I think that's important, but I don't know that for me that it it would deter having a public meeting prior to that for us as a board to hear the public's wishes and desires to get information out. Then you can always do a balloon test from my perspective after that as long as you're giving information to the public. Okay. Um, but that would be my

051opinion is I think that I I don't want the public to think that we are rushing and moving ahead with it without getting their input because for me that's the most important. Understand? Okay. Yes, ma'am. You know, I had asked before uh we, you know, Amalon Commerce Center is what do we say, Gary? I think it's a mile as a crow flies and we don't have sales service in that area. So for me as an economic developer, I am excited about this because this is our growth area. So we need the data. We need the service. So we're growing in that. That's our growth area. That's where we're going to be putting more homes and hopefully more businesses. So I know that's not affecting the schools as much except for kids coming in, but from

052a business point of view, that's for me it's a good thing. Also, if you need a place to put a cell tower, the north end, I have SOS from my house all the way to 29th. So, I will not I will not deter that. So, just remember. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Um, that is a question. What What would be the difference between putting it on in the business park, which is around the corner, which is not a compulsory education area, and I'll take the rent. We will I would I you know I would have to take a look at the location and you know take a look at the property and see where it would if it would fit in. I I you know I unfortunately can't answer that at the moment but I

053can definitely and that site's within 800 yards of Amalon. So there's really no difference in the distance from the school. The distance is that the the difference is that at least it would be private public business and it wouldn't be on an educational site which I think could really be an issue for parents some at least. So but it could still be with the same distance from the school from a school. Yes, sir. Just a younger school. Yes. Okay. Okay. Yes, sir. Did you say? So, um just wanted to get my opinion out there uh for everybody. So, I am not opposed to putting a cell tower uh there. I would like to have uh input from the community. So, I am anxious to um you know have a community um uh meeting to to

054get opportunity to hear what they say. Um, I think, uh, everybody in this room probably has a cell phone on them. Uh, and so we need the, uh, that network, that backbone, uh, for us to do what we do every day. Uh, so I'm certainly not opposed to it in that sense. Um, but I would love to hear from my constituents to hear what they have to say about it. So if if you're listening and, uh, you're opposed to this or if you're for it, um, contact the board members and let us know. And then when we schedule uh an opportunity for hearing for it, public u debate, then uh certainly, you know, we'd love to see uh people come out and participate in that. But um I think it's a good opportunity. Why would

055we consider this as a school division? Uh for me, it it's in an area of property that's not you utilized for the schools and it's an opportunity potentially for us to earn some money. Uh you we talk about tight budgets every year. Although it's not a lot of money, it is um you know in the thousands of dollars a year that could offset and provide some educational opportunities um you know for our students. So to me it's a win-win. Mr. Cherry. Yes, ma'am. I'm probably going to say the opposite of what everybody's saying in a different way. That's just who I am. Uh I know we've talked about this before. I feel like I'm in deja vu. Um, we have so many pressing issues in the school system that the cell tower is not on

056top of my list. But let me just say this. I economic development, I hear you. When my cell phone goes dead and I'm having important conversation, I'm upset. We had this conversation 10 years ago trying to put a sale tower up uh 130. We went through four or five meetings wasting time. I was there and we didn't put it up. So, what the board if the board is even into this and I I I imagine we got into it from what you just said there is a there can be some monetary value. Um it's it's a good site. Of course, Verizon wants to put it up. So, it would be quite simple. We talked last time or somewhere along the line about getting community input and if there needs to be a community meeting, maybe

057the county can do it. I don't know. We have things to do here. I do. Um I'm not opposed or not not unopposed, but we keep asking what are you going to do? He's made a presentation. A young lady made a presentation. It's the same slides. I'm serious about this. We've been here. We waited 45 minutes and do we know anything yet? We know where we wanted to be or where they wanted to be. We've heard some controversy. I don't I I don't like to speak about the health of the children in a cell tower. stay away from that because we can look that up and that's that's controversial. I mean, you can hear one group of people saying there's no harm, no danger. And yes, people choose like you say not to have it

058because they're probably doing what we doing here tonight. So, I would say if we want to have the public involved and and just do it, have whatever you call it, community get involved. I imagine people know about this. I imagine I imagine they know about it because it was in the paper, was it, J? Maybe not. But it's been it's going well it's been No, we talked about we've talked about it on the air here because I can hear myself listen to it. I didn't say anything last time. And I'm not being crazy this afternoon. I'm just saying if we want public comment, go ahead and get it done and let these people get the information. I appreci who do or don't want cell towers in their midst want to know everything about it. I

059would tell you that you know everything. and and so you know I am not a scientist, electrician, none of that. I am into radiation. I do know a little something. So I think if you if the board says tonight and be through with it, let the public make a decision and then come back to us. Is that what we talking about, Mr. Terry? No, I think we're here's my re Mr. Chair mine. So our recommendation would be that we do the balloon test and hold a public hearing roughly at the same time at Manelison Middle School. We can have a hearing night separate from a board meeting night so it doesn't encroach on a board meeting business and we can even do it jointly with the county so the county could even be involved in

060it or we can do it independent of the county. That makes no difference to me but it would be that we hold a we hold a public hearing uh regarding the tower. You can get input from the community. You can then make a decision on your decision based on that information and then from there it goes whichever direction it goes. But I think we do the balloon test and we would have a public hearing for you to get input from the community and then go forward from there. We could set this up for August September time frame and then we can move forward with it. That would be again if the board so chose to move forward, we move forward. If the board so chooses not to, then we let Verizon know that you chose

061not to. And then I think that would be the easiest, quickest way for us to do it. And then if you so choose to do that, then the county could do their part and so forth. Um, we would, Miss Justice, for your point, we would have to advertise this. It would be advertised because it's a public hearing. We have to advertise it two weeks prior. So, it would be advertised and we could probably even get Justin to do an article on it if he so chose um within the time frame so people know about it and we would also advertise it on our social media and other platforms. Dr. Well, in order for us to have a joint meeting with the county, um do they have to have applied in order for the county to

062do that, which is what um Dr. Hoden was saying this afternoon. So, based on what some of the members have said, we would have to have our public hearing because in order for them to have it with the county, they would have we would have to have given blessing for them to then move forward. So, we need to have our public hearing first. And I'm not hearing a blessing tonight. Right. Correct. No, tonight I think would be the consensus that we have the balloon test and we get public hearing have a public hearing and then you'd make a decision after that. That would be our recommendation to the board. Mr. Chair. Yes, ma'am. Um, as far as the balloon test goes, that's a requirement for you to do that when it goes to planning or

063Okay. So, for us as a school board, the balloon test is not required. Is that correct? Correct. Correct. If we were to include a balloon test with our meeting, would that preclude it having to be done when it goes to planning if it were to go to planning or would you have to do it again? Yes. Yes, you would have to do two. Well, I have we've talked to staff and staff would consider that balloon test part of our as part of our application. And so we should the one balloon test would would satisfy whatever we needed to do for planning. So we wouldn't have to repeat the balloon test. So we didn't wouldn't have to do two of them. Okay? As long as we do one and we notify and part of the balloon

064test is we have to not we have to put a we have to put a notice in the paper. We have to notify adjacent property owners and we have to post a sign. So those are the three things that we have to do. So as long as we do all those things, it would satisfy what planning staff, community development would would want to see from us when we officially submit our application. Well, thank you for that. Um, I just really want to make sure that the public knows that this is in our area, in our arena for us to consider and communicate with them as a community and that it is not an official lease application moving forward. Yeah. So to me to hear you say that it's part of an official application that concerns

065me. I get well let me we are not when when we submit our official application. There's a process that the community development department has and part of that is a balloon test. We're not officially submitting an application at this time. That would be after your community meeting. Um, and we can for your all's community meeting, we can definitely send out letters. Typically, that's what we do through the US mail to notify people of the community meeting. Typically, you know, some some jurisdictions pick a radius, some pick, you know, specific properties. So we can send out letters and say hey there is if if you want Verizon to do that we can do that and we can notify people on such and such a day at Melson Middle School at specific time we're having a public

066hearing to discuss this tower with you know you all and get their thoughts and opinions and Mr. Cher, I want to clear up one thing also. Ma'am, just so you know, before they can apply, the land owner has to sign. So, we haven't done that and we're not ready to do that yet. So, they can't even apply until we have a consensus and sign. So, we're looking for a consensus to whether to have our public meeting and the balloon test for us. Is that what we're looking for? So, my question, Mr. chair is do we even need the balloon test for our hearing? It's it's not required, Mr. Childers, but I think for the community to see the height and maybe give them more feel as to what it's going to look like. So, you

067think it would benefit the community? I think it would benefit the community to have the balloon test. Okay. And that way you can they can come in and say here's 195 ft. This is what it looks like. So, if they have concerns of the height of it and they can they can express those concerns to you um as opposed to not really realizing what is 195 ft. So, I think it would benefit the community to be able to give you more information when they come in to speak. Yeah. The picture of the tower that you had, the monopole tower, I mean, that's 195 ft, right? Yeah. And then that's taken from, you know, perspective close to tell what that's going to look like sitting out back. And with the balloon test, we typically we drive

068around and we take pictures, you know, from various locations. And so if we do the balloon test prior to the community meeting, we can have those pictures readily available and and present them to the community. Okay. And Nathan, could you also let us know what time you're going to do that so we can notify the public it'll be between 9 and 11 or something? Yeah. And and we can also, you know, um typically we could we can include that in a notice letter of the meeting that there will be a balloon test on such and such a day. And that way they know when the balloon test is and when the community meeting will be taking place and I would recommend the same day if at all possible. Okay, Mr. Chair, I think it would

069be a good idea for the community to see that. I do. Um, one of the concerns I have is the notice letter. If it goes out to the community from Verizon, I don't know that every individual family might pay attention to it. Um, would it be possible that we send something from the school so that when they see it, they recognize the school name and then they look at it? And I say that from personal experience. Um, I got a card in the mail when we were looking at it years ago and it had Verizon's name on it. I didn't I just tossed it in the trash. I went up and down my street and every single person had tossed it in the trash. It was just one more flyer from Verizon. So, um if

070there was something that could come from the school, I think that that would reach and speak to our community much more. That's fine. Okay. Board, anything else? Okay. Yeah. I mean, I I think we're we're in consensus that we need the public's opinion and um would like their input. So, before we go signing a contract, so if we could Dr. Wells, Dr. Hoden, get um scheduled a meeting, go from there. So, what we'll need to do was again for Miss Thompson's point, well, we need to get, you know, the range and the addresses and kind of figure that with count with the county just to pull those addresses so we know where to send the information to and we'll do our public information as best we can to get information out from us. And then

071also work with Verizon on a date and work with you on a date. So, we'll probably give you some proposed dates um that it could occur based on Verizon's availability and your availability. But I think we'd be looking at late August, September time frame before we can get this to have enough time to get everything worked out. Also think it would be important to include the um parents of students that go to school there. Yes, ma'am. Okay, board. Anything else? Thank you, sir. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Um, Mr. Chair, members of the board, you have uh several policies in front of you for first read. I would also like to mention that today uh this afternoon we had was it three or four? So this Yes, sir. this afternoon uh BSBA

072published three um additional not additional policies, three of the ones that are in your packet. DJF, JFC, and KBA. I say again, DJF, JFC, and KBA. Around 3:00 this afternoon, we received an update from VSBA. I have not read the policies yet because they came in so late. So, you may what you'll get from us once we have a chance to read them is we'll send you information by email in the next week or so, updating those three as to what the changes were. But, um, just so you know, those three policies may get some additional information because of what just came from VSBA. I know one was just a a legal update, but I'm not sure about the other two, so I haven't had a chance to get into them yet. But once we

073get that done, we will send you an update on those. But there's a large stack here. Again, the three that the VSBA just updated today with DJF, JFC, and KBA. So again, you have those for first read. Okay. Thanks, sir. Thank you. Dr. Wells 51. Now we have finance mottage. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Your as always your June financial report is going to be provided at the next board meeting in August. We do that because we are that's your year-end report and we are still in the middle of closing out that year. moving from a cash basis to a modified acrruel, closing out payrolls and all the accounts payables that were from the prior year and setting up receivables for any grants that are owed. Um, we're still waiting on January

074um January July and August sales tax. Um, and also the estimate of our health insurance claim runoff. So, there's a lot of information that's still that's material that's outstanding. Um, so at this point it really wouldn't be a good snapshot of where we are. So that information while it won't be final at the August because again we will still have the August sales tax, there's just a couple things outstanding and that report will be of better value. So it's more to come. It'll just be there in August. Okay. Thank you, ma'am. 6.0. Mr. Neighbors with instruction. And uh before we get started, the first um item under instruction is middle school electives and Mr. Childerson as has to include that on the agenda. So that's why it's on the agenda. And um we'll take whatever

075questions the board may have regarding middle school electives and then Mr. Neighbors will carry on with this presentation. Sure. Go ahead. Yes, sir. Yep. So, um I just wanted to do a review of the middle school electives because it seems like they've changed since last year. We had a technology I'm sorry, we had a robotics course um that we cut back um so because we had a math teacher um that we wanted to give her more uh sections of math which I'm grateful for that because we needed some assistance in math. Yes, sir. Um but it appears that we've totally eliminated that robotics course at this time and I don't know that we've replaced it with anything. So that's question number one. And question number two is um have you reviewed the um middle school

076program of studies that's on the middle school website? So I'll answer it in order there. So the first question you are correct with all those points. We actually have been working with Mr. Holmes even as recently as today to make sure that we have all the concerns related to the wheel taken care of. And as you know it's a couple of years in the making with not really having enough options. We've had students repeat. We've had some issues with making sure we have enough options for students. We have been able to work with Mr. Holmes to identify some space that he has in his schedule right now to be able to fix that problem. We're actually going to do the first run of that tomorrow and we'll be able to get back with the board

077and verify that we have actually been able to fix that particular issue. U the details on that and working through with him, it really is coming out of some of the things we've been looking at for enrichment. So that also gives us an opportunity to expand some of our literacy enrichment options to more students. So it's kind of a win-win with what we're looking at now, but ultimately we want to be able to make that run and be able to verify to the board that we've been able to fix that particular problem. So are we looking at adding um No, sir. We're able to do that within our current FTEES at Melison Middle long term. How are we able to do that? lost a um one of our teachers years ago that never got replaced

078during co um and and I guess I'm just curious because we have two middle schools, one nearly twice the size of the other, but they have the identical course offering. So, how are we able to provide what's really needed for those kids? thinking about how many um students are in a classroom in comparison and that you know that Ammeris Middle must have much smaller classroom uh student counts than uh Ammeris than Manellison and then looking at the program of studies it shows a technology uh elective in there and I don't know of any technology electives no not currently offered so just like the high school program of studies that's an exhaustive list of what can be offered ultimately we have to have it in the program studies to be able to offer the course going

079forward. That's been a lensure issue in years past, having somebody that can actually do that the way that we need to. Mr. Maddox has actually put forward a couple of recommendations in light of these conversations with Mr. Holmes to figure out how we can fix that long term. Shortterm, those are really the conversations we've been having with him. How do we make sure for this coming school year we have those options available for students so we're not having all those repeats and issues we've had in years past with that? Is that an answer that question partially? Not really. I mean, if we if we made a program of studies for 2526 and we know we're not offering we don't have any technology offerings, why would we put it in that program of studies? That makes

080no sense to me. So again, just like what we do with the high school program of studies, if we don't have it in there, if we are able to locate a teacher, if we do have a position that's made available by the board at any point, we have to have that verified in our program of studies as something that we offer. It's a process we follow with the state making sure we're using appropriate schedule codes. When we get students scheduled, we just have that as an ongoing recurring exhaustive list of the courses that we offer at those different levels. So really no different than our practice with what we do at the high school program of studies for many many years. All right. Then the only other thing I have about the program of studies

081is there's um potential conflict we need to address. On page eight, it talks about uh high school credits that can be admitted and it says that's only available for students in eighth grade. Uh but then we're also offering um algebra 1 and geometry to seventh graders. That would mean that according to that policy, those students would not be eligible for that grade to be omitted. And I will double check that the expungement policy there and how it's referenced in that particular program of studies. I'll make sure that verbiage aligns with that. And then I think there may be some conflicts as well as far as uh on the uh electives and availability because it talks about band being a quarter elective. So available for nine weeks and semester and I don't think that band uh

082is available for a nineweek selection. It's either semester or for the year. Right. That is correct. And again, it sounds like to me I'm going to go back and verify um the exact verbiage that they used. That that was probably an overextension of other things that we've done with electives. So, as a part of the wheel, you are correct. Band is not something we look at on a quarterly basis. Of course, a student could always add. That's a pretty unusual distinction. Usually, they know from the beginning of the year if they're going to be in man throughout the year. So, we'll just make sure that verbiage is aligned in the way that it needs to. Yeah. Yeah. Again, I just I think that's something we need to consider as a board and as the administrators

083is those CT offerings. You know, we we've talked about ensuring that our students have um lots of opportunities and I just don't know that we have that in our current selection. Absolutely. I know Mr. Maddox would be here to come to the board and talk about what those options could look like. For sure. Thank you, sir. Okay, Mr. Chair. Yes, ma'am. Um I just want to reiterate it sounds like if we're removing robotics and we don't have technology program offerings. What is it that we are offering to our students in line of technology um robotics anything that gives those students with those type of skills and interests a place to grow and learn. Absolutely. So if you don't mind I would love to get clarification from Mr. Maddox on that. I don't have that quite

084all set in my brain just yet in regards to what those offerings are, but I'd be happy to provide that back to the board. I do know some that is something that Mr. Maddox has continually come back to exactly what you just said, Mr. Childress, how we making sure the pathways are there for our students, especially at those grade levels to be able to get into those interests and feed into those great CTE programs we have at the high school. Correct. And you reminded me of the verbiage pathways because we've talked about that for a while. Um, we've gotten the mobile unit that we take down there and let the students actually have some hands-on experience. And we've had a priority in the past in which we want to get these type of um opportunities

085in front of our middle school students so that as they grow and mature, they have those experiences and that those skills that they can take with them into the high school and into the workforce. So, are we just sort of letting them slip out of our fingers? Do we still have them? is that is still priority, you know, for the administration. It is for me as a board member. Um, so that was my concern when I saw robotics leaving and then tonight hearing that there's no technology program. So any information you can get to me about those pathways for those students I think would be important. Absolutely. In the short term obviously is making sure that we've got that wheel sewn up and we're not having that issue of students repeating and repeating which caused

086quite a bit of issue particularly at Minnellison last year. long term meaning beyond the school year. We definitely for me that that's really only one part of the problem. I think we need to have a good elect enough electives. Yeah. Um to satisfy the curiosity of our kids. Completely agree. And I think to answer your question um and what you said is this is an exhaustive list that's available on the website. Right. So we know we can look at this list and we can see what's what's there to offer. We got art, band, music, act, science, and technology. But no technology. So you have art, band, music, and and science. Part of the technology issue was having us find a certified teacher because we didn't have one that was certified to teach it. Therefore, we

087couldn't offer it. A couple year a few years ago, we still haven't found that individual who has that certification. But it but is it something we advertise for each year and we continue to keep that on our website? We've been looking. And I can't I have to look at Mr. Gallagher back here to answer that question. But I know that initially it was because we lost certifications people left and lost certifications and trying to find that certification has been difficult. Same with our egg science last year with Yes. You know the issue we had there. Yes. Well to me it just goes back to priority. If that is what we want as an administration, as a board, as a school system, then you know we need to make those efforts to get that teacher in

088those sections. Most certainly wanting to bring Mr. atics back because even beyond what's traditionally been that technology course there are other courses even within that realm that aren't as dependent upon lensure or specific lensure so we would be able to still again make that pathway alive and well within the middle school which is most certainly that priority going forward yes ma'am what I'm hearing between the two and I hadn't looked at it myself um but I'm familiar with from my own children being there probably just need to look at a revamping just um maybe that's the wrong word just really kind of look at the whole picture there from the ideas that you've gotten tonight from U Miss Thompson, Miss Childris, and I think uh we all can agree that technology is up top. You

089know, CTE taking over workforce, all of that. That's middle school coming to camps every which way they can for technology. So, um while I had not looked at, I think it's a good idea just to reinforce that. Take a good look at the middle school setup. It's probably long overdue. Yes, ma'am. Hold on. That's all I had on that. Okay. Board. Anything else? So, on the endorsement for that, what what endorsement are we looking for for someone? Yeah. Honestly, we talk about technology. Is it the Because we used to have like the old Perkins lab, correct? Right. Is is that what we're talking about when we talk about technology or because I think at one time we had a different technology teacher though that didn't do the this that STEM lab. Right. Right. So, which

090one are we talking about? Either one. Both. I think I at this point we would be open to anything that again is going to keep that pathway alive. I know what Mr. Maddox has done a lot of work on is figuring out how we bring some of that into a little bit more of where we are now. So it's become a lot more specific some of those technology components. So being able to find someone who has a general background or a general lensure that's able to fill maybe a couple of different spots as it relates to courses that we could offer through. again. And and yeah, someone may get me this might get me in trouble, but we do have a teacher that is licensed in STEM. Okay. Uh so because she taught it for

091so many years, but okay. I I hope she's not going to fuss with me when I get home and say that. She loves teaching art, so she may not want to teach that class. Yes. Well, we end up having a conversation. But I'm just saying, you know, if we're looking for someone I mean, absolutely. Is it? Yeah. For me as a looking at as an administrator, is it easier to fill an arts position or the STEM position? Absolutely. And she will kill me when I get home. Well, and ultimately discussed that. So, yeah, Mr. Maddox has sure. Well, and I appreciate that. It's all all the feedback at this point, especially getting into it and making sure we're covering the bases we need to. I appreciate that. Yeah. M Justice, Mr. Chair, thank you. So,

092the question that was asked by Miss Mrs. Thompson was so we've been we've had a need for several years now. Have we been advertising for that? We had the robotics which covered the technology stuff last year but this year we we moved because we had to get the coverage. Uh as far as advertising on the wheel I I couldn't speak to that and Jim you would have to because I can't remember if we advertised that position or not. Does she have Yeah, I'll do my best. We haven't advertised for an additional FTE if that's what we're asking. I think if we're going to add a program at the middle school, it would take adding an endorsement to a current teacher and then deciding if they're going to teach that rather than what they're currently teaching.

093I I've not been asked to, you know, add an FTE in that realm due to budgetary reasons. It would be an extra teacher if that's what you're asking. Um, so if you're looking at ways to do that, you would need to use a current teacher and look to add an endorsement perhaps and then prioritize. And if it's somebody who's already teaching one elective and you give the added endorsement and you begin teaching another, you may pull the one that's currently being taught. That's that's the answer. So there are ways and you know what's easier or not? None of them are easy. Like we're still looking for you know are currently there's not a lot of applicants in any of those fields, but there are avenues to add endorsements to current teachers in different areas through

094practice assessments and so forth. So I heard three things. I heard that we've got it advertised on the website as our program so that we can hire someone if someone's available. I've heard that we have not been advertising for it because we don't have a full-time position for it. So, and that we can be creative to fill that position through an endorsement or moving someone around. But those two things are contradictory to me. I think the advertising piece was that it's when you're call you're saying it's advertised by being in the program of studies. It's not been posted at the middle school for a technology teacher on our website. That's what you're asking. When you say it's advertised, you're looking up the program and it indicates that we offer that. I think that's what you

095were saying. I think we said advertise. I I Well, I'm talking about if it's listed as as Mr. children's pointed out if it's listed as a part of our program of studies and we do not have a qualified teacher for that then I believe he was suggesting that we should be taking it down but then I heard Mr. neighbors say that it has to be up there in order to put a qualified applicant into that position. But then I heard from you that we haven't done that because we it's a budgetary concern to have a FTE in technology. That's I just told you that we have not advertised specifically for a middle school position for technology and that from an HR perspective. If someone was wanting to offer that program, you'd have to look at

096a current teacher. When I said budget, that's because we don't have the option to add an FTE teacher that I'm aware of. I'm not sure if that's been something we've made an effort to do. I'm not aware. But a current teacher would have to add that endorsement in order to teach that in the building. there are pathways that you could search to do that if in fact in the program of studies we wanted to offer that rather than something else that we're currently offering. So um I don't know if that answers the question. I'm trying to be about as clear as I can be. So I apologize. Thank you. So again, I'm just I'm confused on that because we had an FTE because we had a robotics teacher that we consumed portion of it and

097now and that's the whole part that I'm I'm really concerned about is that we were already as you guys said the wheel. We were already short in the wheel where we were double booking kids. So on that, but how do we get rid of a course and we still have more room to put these kids in? She was teaching I think two math and three robotics or three math and two robotics. So we pulled that away with band. Band last year was a fourear course. Band is no longer a four-year course. Band is now semester for eighth and nth for seven, sixth and seventh grade. So it opens up more spaces on the wheel as opposed to being a year-long class. It gets you space there. And we also they added the um English I

098forot the name of the course. No study novel study course into the program there. So students are going to be in novel study which also impacts their ability to get re remediation and other additional support in reading. So they get a novel study class but students will be in novel study as opposed to being in year-long band. They're being in semester band. Therefore they can take that twice as opposed to being locked in that. So it offers more opportunities for students to take those classes. Now robotics was again the math teacher that math teacher needs to be teaching math. We're not in trouble for robotics. were in trouble for math and we needed her teaching math and that's why that decision was made. We're not questioning it. I already said that we like the idea

099of of going to of doing the math but what we're saying is that that the position of robotics got eliminated. Right. That was not a position. That was a math teacher teaching robotics sections as opposed to math. Was she Did she have the endorsement? Yes, but she also has the math endorsement. Therefore, she's teaching math this year. That's where we need her. I need her in math. She's the best math teacher in the school. I need her teaching math. So we we've changed programs but we've not lost FTE. So there's nothing to post for specifically is what I was trying to indicate. So and I'd be happy if the board would like to be able to once we've made that run tomorrow and verified that we're working the way that we have measured it would

100be able to provide that breakdown. I can send out an email, send it through Mr. Terry, however you'all would like to do that just to give you an idea what that's going to look like for 2526. Again, short term wanted to be able to fix some of those logistical issues. long term. We know this is issue we have to come back to to be able to keep those pathways open to increase those opportunities for kiddos. Mr. Chair. Yes, ma'am. Um Mr. Neighbors. Yes, ma'am. It seems like to me in the recent past there was a requirement for us to do pathways with our middle school students. Um is that still a requirement? So we still work with them every year on their um career plan essentially. So they have that time where they're working with

101counselors, working with other teachers to be able to figure out what those some of those goals are long term that ultimately does or should feed into those offerings like what you're talking about with those pathways. So the requirement is more uh planning like paper planning with students. So I I feel like for me there's been a time in our county in our schools in which we um made a big push on CTE. Um and I thought that that's where we were headed. Um I'm a little surprised to find where we are at this point. So I guess I would like to see if this is a priority for the administration, for the board. If so, can we talk about moving forward the pathways, offerings that we can offer so that our students are prepared to

102move into those kind of skilled areas at the high school? Um because we have a lot of students out there that have a lot of um interest in hands-on technology and anything that we can do to grow and feed them. So, we it sounds like we just need to all get our priorities and get on the same page. Yes, ma'am. But that might come into play if you can share with us a little bit more about what those pathways are and how we are mentoring our middle school students along those lines. That would be important for me. Absolutely. And I'd be happy to have Mr. Matis come back. That's okay. To our next meeting. I wanted to look over my shoulder wishing he was out in the peanut gallery to be able to give us

103some of that. Uh but at the end of the day really wanting him to be able to come back and lay out what some of his visions are because I know he's put a lot of work into envisioning what that could be. Thank you. Okay, board. Any more questions? Okay, moving on. All right, moving on. Uh we wanted to bring back this month uh some additions to our initial uh preliminary data presentation from last month. Uh so what I will be doing here is providing a little bit of background information, some uh clarifying information, uh and then handing off to our wonderful data team there in the corner, Miss Wheeler and Miss Smith, who joined us this evening. Uh so what I wanted to start with on our second slide there uh was just kind

104of again a reminder of what we're talking about. So this is still our data preliminary that we have collected. Uh nothing official from the state. It's going to be a little bit before we get any of that. Uh we've provided the raw scores that we provided last month. Again in addition to that though we've given numbers relative to students that based on how things have historically been calculated would qualify for what's called recovery or growth. So we wanted to provide those numbers to the board tonight. there's just raw numbers of students uh that we believe could fall into those categories depending upon what VTOE decides as we are going forward. Ultimately, that gives us a picture of how those pass rates will be impacted as we're moving into getting those official accreditation results a little

105bit later in the fall. We have not taken a swing at calculating. We actually thought that there was going to be a new calculation system coming into next school year. Uh that all did not come to fruition. We are now still waiting for the BDA to tell us officially what that's going to look like, but we wanted to give the board at least an idea of what we think that could look like as we're going forward and how that will impact those pass rates for us. Uh just a couple of terms we wanted to cover. So when we're thinking about the word recovery, ultimately we're talking about a student who had failed their so in a previous year and then current year on their first attempt passed the so it only applies to reading and

106math. that doesn't apply to either third grade or high school EOCC courses. Um, but ultimately this is really showing that student has made that growth. They weren't where they needed to be from a pass rate standpoint previous year. They've been able to meet that mark or exceed it in current year. So, always great to see that recovery or those recovery numbers I should say. Uh, the other piece we'll be talking about tonight relative to growth, this is still where we have the most uh mystery I guess you might say around how exactly VOE is going to prescribe. we have gone back to what it has historically been. So when we're talking about students that we have identified as likely meeting growth, we're using these definitions. So students, excuse me, uh looking at those reading and

107math SOS again, um they're failing that so in the current year, but they have moved that vertical band. So thinking about being able to bump up those scores uh and how that looked from one test to the next, not passing the test, but being able to make enough to be considered to have achieved growth. Last year, we didn't get official calculations. We didn't kind of get any kind of worksheet for that. We literally just got raw numbers that we then plugged in to what the state provided to us. So this is still something that they haven't given us a lot of information on even historically. uh current year. We are waiting, eagerly anticipating what that information will be so we can give a little more specific guidance and give a little better idea of what

108it might look like when we're getting those official results in September. All right. Well, I'm going to go ahead and hand it off to our team there in the corner, go through school by school exactly what we're looking at with some of those recovery and growth numbers. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Um, as Mr. Neighbor said, Miss Mththeni and I are going to just kind of give you a quick overview of where our schools are specific to raw data. um including the number of students that were kind of in the range that qualified for a retake, number of students who are considered recovered um because they they failed a previous so and then passed on the first attempt this year and then the number of students that moved in those growth bands

109um again by content and by school. Um so first off is Amalon Elementary. So at Amalon, as you can see by those up arrows there, um we're seeing encouraging signs of progress across all four of their content areas. compared to where they were last year. Um, improvements range from 4% uh percentage points in math to 14 percentage points in reading. Um, with really strong movement if you look there to the far right with the growth bands um for students in reading and math who maybe didn't pass that so but they did show tremendous growth moving from one wristband to another. Um, overall these results at Amalon suggest that we're moving in the right direction um there in that building. Um, next up we have Ammerst Elementary School. Um, you can see at Ammerst Elementary School

110we are meeting or exceeding um, pass rates uh, for benchmarks in reading, math and history. Um, with notable improvement there with the up arrows and math and history. Um, science continues to be um, an area of concern and that's an area we're going to continue to focus on specifically um, at Ammerst Elementary with the drop there that we saw from the previous year. Um, and science specifically is not uh, you know, a one school thing. It's something divisionwide that we're going to continue to look at. When we think about Central Elementary School there, um, Central did experience some fluctuations in their pass rates this year. Um, math did show an improvement um, from 53% to 57%. Um, and we can kind of acknowledge that, um, with significant growth that occurred in grades four and five.

111Um, impacted that that positive growth there. Um, science again as I mentioned with Ammerst Elementary continues to be an area of focus. Um, last year's science pass rate um was below benchmark again with this year's it also fell below where it was last year. And so some of the targeted supports that we put in place this year with the school improvement grant um with STEM scopes um being able to put um a science support specialist there this year that's actually going to be based at Central Elementary School. Um we're going to continue to kind of prioritize science specifically, but also all of the academic areas at Central. So that's new for the 2526 school year. Yes, sir. Um when we think about Elen Elementary, um again, Elen, when you can look at the up arrows

112in the green there on the chart, um they're meeting or exceeding pass rates um in math, science, and history. Um notable improvement there in reading with just a one percentage point if we look at raw data from meeting the state benchmark. um likely when we look at the number of recovery students there in reading they will hit that 75% benchmark um and just continue to build that positive momentum um there at Elen. Then moving on to Madison Heights Elementary School um so you can see the increase there with math and science specifically um at Madison at Madison Heights. Um although the data there shows that they did have a decrease um in reading, there were certain grade levels that did see an increase this year. Um so we just want to go back and make

113sure that we're replicating what was happening in that grade level across the building. Um I do want to point out that if you remember data from previous years for Madison Heights, um they had a pass rate in science at 15%. So, they have made tremendous improvements specifically in science. Again, attributing a lot of the hands-on u manipulatives and things that we were able to purchase with some of that school improvement money. Again, specifically noting STEM scopes, being able to provide that resource to our teachers. Um, and again, looking to the far right there, the number of students who move from growth bands when we look at those scaled scores is also promising. And then finishing out our elementary um schools, we have Temperance Elementary School um who you can see uh met benchmarks and did

114have some u movement um in a positive direction there specifically in reading, science, and history. Um we did see a little bit of a dip there in math, but still meeting uh the pass rate there for raw data. Um, and so even though this school continues to maintain positive performance, um, you know, we're going to continue to dig into the data there through our comprehensive needs assessment, looking at subgroups, again, trying to see what we can continue to build on there in that building. Um, and Mrs. Smith is going to talk to you about our secondary data. All right. So looking at uh Ammeris Middle School, our pass rates for Ammeris Middle have remained relatively stable and they are meeting and exceeding uh benchmarks in reading, math, and history. One of the things I do

115want to make a note of for Ammeris Middle in particular is the science uh scores. We did not administer a science so score at the middle schools this year because of a pathway change. So the scores that they had the previous year will actually carry over into this next accreditation year. So that 65% will carry over and will be something that we're working on strengthening up to meet that required 70% pass rate uh for them. Um but if we look at uh Menllison Middle School, they're also making some great gains there. And again, just like Ammeris Middle, looking at that science score in particular, um because their science pass rate fell significantly below the benchmark, um looking at some of the things that we've put into place this past school year and upcoming school year

116through our school improvement grant using the materials um from STEM scopes and also our instructional specialists going to be providing more significant uh levels of support there in the upcoming year. Uh for reading and math, uh Menellison has shown improvement in both of those areas with a significant amount of students falling in the that recovered category. So that means again those students failed the previous year and have now passed. So that's very encouraging to see that uh happening at Menllison. We also saw pretty significant numbers of students that scored in the retake eligible range. So, they're very very close to passing. Uh, which gives us an opportunity to make sure that as we're moving into the upcoming school year, we're really looking at what are those gaps that the students have and how can we

117fill those in as we're moving forward into the next grade level. So, again, positive there for the growth. Uh, for Ammerst County High School, uh, we did see some slight decreases in pass rates for reading and math. um science his and history remained relatively steady to where they were the previous year. Um but again looking at the significant numbers of students that scored in that retake range giving us an opportunity as we're moving into this next school year to identify who those students are, the types of support they need, and really providing those targeted interventions for students. Uh, one also thing to note about the high school is that those growth and recovery measures don't generally uh apply to those courses at that are at the high school because those are end of course courses

118with the exception of algebra 1 which does um qualify for recovery. And so one of the things that you have to keep in mind about the high school is that all summer long we continue to have students come in and we provide remediation and work with those students. So those numbers um should increase based on the activity that's happening this summer to boost those pass rates. And as far as English goes at the high school, um English pass rates continue to be relatively strong when we're looking at our raw data. Uh the last slide here that I wanted to point out as far as division data goes, we brought you division data last uh month, but Dr. Dr. Wils had asked us to look at that data specifically in reading and math and look at

119whether um those levels of mastery compared to the calculations that we've always done with VDOE how we would perform in that regard. So if we look at overall as a division using those historical recovery and growth calculations that we've received from VDOE um we're meeting and exceeding those required pass rates at the division level for reading and math. Um, and if we apply those calculations to the school level, we would have six out of nine of our schools meet those required pass rates outright for reading and seven out of nine for math as well. Um, and again, those are some positive uh encouragements that we're seeing in our data. Um, but as Mr. Neighbors mentioned a minute ago, we're still kind of awaiting from the VDOE what those calculations are going to look like with

120the upcoming school year. um for accreditation and accountability, but we're seeing lots of growth across all of our schools as well. And I believe Miss Mcdernney, yep, one more slide there. So, what's next? Um we're going to be providing in the next bullet detailed memo of kind of our upcoming timeline, what that looks like to get this accountability data back from the state. Uh we're expecting that in September is a typical time frame for that. Nothing to tell us that would be different uh this year. Um, obviously that's going to tell us where we are from an accreditation standpoint, give us information relative to federal identification, all the other pieces that drive some of those more specific supports and that technical assistance will be providing to schools based on that information. Uh, schools are doing

121their own data digs. Some act actually as we speak or at least as we did this morning uh at certain schools to really get into that. We do that at the division level as well to really looked at those trends. How do we best support teachers in the classroom? how do we best support our administrators uh across the division and being able to move forward with that and think about ongoing school improvement uh and anything we have to do with monitoring our federal identification. So ultimately that data for us from a division standpoint really helps guide a lot of those efforts that we put into that strategic support uh for each of our schools. Uh and with that we would be happy to answer any questions the board might have. Board any questions for Mr.

122Neighbors, Miss Wheeler or Mr. Matheni? [Music] Yes, sir. Um, so I guess my first question is, um, how do we feel about the results that we've seen? And this is, I guess, more for the administration. Uh, are we happy with the results? Uh, never never happy till it's 100%. And I I know that sounds glib, but that's that's the reality, right? If we're going to say every child every day, we need to need to own that. Uh for me, I think the positive trends are really looking at a couple of different data points. So those are strong numbers. When we're thinking about recovery and growth, the state calculates as they have in the past, I think we're going to end up with some very positive numbers at a lot of our schools where we've really

123needed to see that growth, right? Really need to see those numbers improve. The population that I have most honed in on throughout this data analysis process are those students that fell 375 to 399 is in some pockets it's a very large number of students that we got very very close but didn't get to where we needed them to get to. So thinking about how we move forward and how we target all students but target specific groups of students to really get that next bump and take that next step. That's a large group of students that we need to be focusing on even more so to make sure they're making that move. There's a lot of potential in the data maybe is the way to say that. Uh but certainly not not where we want to

124be. And that sentiment's been echoed by every administrator that at least I've spoken to over the last month and a half. We know there's some positive trends. We know there's some good things happening. We also there know there's a lot of work to be done still with them. So how did uh how does this data align with our projection? So all year long, you know, we we talk about data data data, right? And so we're making decisions on tiered interventions and remediation. And so, you know, obviously we have students, again, I like to think of the stoplight report that that I asked for, you know, the red, yellow, green. Um the students that we have predicted that were, you know, red and yellow, did they kind of fall within those groups? So the the you

125know I'm looking here at Ammeris High School and we had 43 students in math that fell in that 375 to 399 range. Were those the kids that we were predicting were kind of in there? So, and I guess I'm asking that question because to get to the point of are we providing the right students with the targeted interventions that they need to be successful and it just we just didn't hit the bar with these kids or or have we gotten that far into the data yet to make that determination. Right. And that's the process we're in right now. We really do try to approach that school by school. one of our best indicators there. And again, you alluded to not necessarily having that universal system or indicator to be able to tell us all those

126pieces, but really getting down to the nitty-gritty honestly with each teacher. Did we really hit the mark with where we needed to be? And that's a lot of what that dayto-day dig does. Are we surprised by some of these kiddos, good or bad? What does that actually mean? How do we trace that back to what was provided them over the course of the school year to get them to that point? So the the short answer is we're still in process with that with the day-to-day digs that are ongoing and what we'll be doing at the division level. But that's really how we try to approach it. Do we understand that student by student and we're able to take that information and create a more specific action plan going into next year? And and so the

127reason for me asking that question as a board member is to assess like everything that we stand behind that we're you know um are approving that you ask for you for you to support our students. Absolutely. are we making the right decisions? So, are we making the right decisions in and in and supporting what you guys are asking? So, are y'all making the right decisions? Um, and so ultimately we look at the test numbers and we can get a a quick snapshot and say we've made some progress, uh, but we're not nearly where we need to be. Right. But that's why I'm really curious to to understand and I would love to get some information back as far as looking into that data. the the the the students that we were projecting and providing those

128remediation uh to was it effective and so you know then asking the question if that wasn't effective what do we need to do this year to make it effective exactly yeah and we actually spent Tuesday with our administrators and leadership conference going over similar concepts right understanding why we use some of the systems and structures that we do thinking about PLC thinking about intervention tracking it's really hitting it exactly what you're talking about now. Do we know what we're doing is effective for each kiddo? Show me how. Show me how we got there. How do we replicate that? If it's not working, who else do we need to bring in? What else do we need to bring in to be able to make that work? So, spot on with exactly what those processes are supposed

129to bring us. But as a part of that data dig and what we can bring back later in the fall with our overall accreditation data, would be happy to share that as well. And so, with that, we get some type of we and again, I'm not asking for specifics on individual students. We don't need that as a board. But what I'm asking for is overall, how effective were we as an administration at predicting which of our kids really needed those interventions and then how successful were they, right? Some of those trends that are coming out of those data. Absolutely. And that way it helps us come behind you uh which I think is part of what our job is to support you to provide the funding for you know all these things that we're asking

130for so that ultimately you know we're doing it for the betterment of all of our kids. Absolutely. Yeah. And again I know sometimes it's tough with the overarching presentations like this to get all the detail we need. Always happy to be able to schedule some of that additional time with every member of the board to be able to work through some of that. There's a lot that goes into it and there's a lot of work that our teachers put in, teams put in over the summer to be able to really get into that data and obviously we can provide those themes and kind of those big ideas pictures, but always happy to dig further in if anybody would be interested in that. Mr. Chair, yes ma'am. Um I appreciate your willingness to dig into that.

131Um I think knowing if we're successful is a good thing. Along those lines, um we have a lot of different programs that have been put in place the last few years. So maybe if you have time to do some kind of a general analysis of which ones are most successful, maybe the ones that aren't meeting your expectations, you know, as as well as, you know, subgroup data. I know that's coming not too long, isn't it? Absolutely. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, that's definitely been a part of entry consultations I've had, not just with staff up here, but with administrators and teachers as well. Are we actually utilizing what we have out there in our classrooms to be able to do? Right. So, all of that is a part of what we're looking at. Again,

132if we don't know what's working, we need to find something else that we know will. That's right. Which programs are the most successful? Exactly. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Or Yes, ma'am. Um I don't like I've never been one to single out schools, so I'm not going to start to do that tonight, but what is uh someone can answer what what in the world is going on with history? and somebody just help me with that because that like I said I don't want to go back to the slide because I'm not about single out schools but can someone just shed some light on that with me what you can whatever you can help me with because I that's pretty tight right there. Uh yes ma'am I agree. Um this I won't do this very often but

133this is where I will say this is day seven on the job right now. That is part of my dayto-day dig with it but I that is what jumps out or one of the pieces that jump out to me as well. Um, I know there are a lot of individual nuance situations that we talk about with that in certain schools, certain certain scenarios, but at the end of the day, we know that is an area that that needs work for sure. And and I just especially when uh when it's an elementary level, yes, ma'am, we can't get much better unless we turn that around real quick. And then the next discussion which I had 25 years ago, I'll just say that because I'm old. Um, what is with science? I I don't know. science to

134me just because I'm a in science is different way but science is science I don't understand every year why we are uh just going all the pieces with science is is this what someone said I I respect you just got to this position but you're doing quite well let me just tell you thank you kudos but here it is I didn't want to throw this out there but since you brought it um what in the world has happened that we are not getting what we need in science this this just didn't start this year and last year It's it's been a conversation in this county for a minute. I'm just trying to get a hold of it. At the elementary level, we've we're going to look at best practice and we've have some schools that

135have done well in science and what they are doing I think they've done more of a of a decision. Those particular teachers have done more the science is a fourth and fifth grade class. So what you get taught in fourth grade, you don't get tested on until fifth grade. And if that fifth grade teacher does not go back and retach some of those concepts from fourth grade at a high enough level, then those students don't carry that knowledge forward. And so what we're finding in some some of the conversations we've had with uh schools so far this early summer into where we are now is we've we've seen evidence of that that the teachers that really went back and focused and spiraled in the fourth grade concepts into their fifth grade content or the ones

136who've done really well. Their scores were better. So now we're going to make sure that happens at all schools and those fifth grade teachers really need to make sure they're spiral in that content from fourth grade to make sure that they can carry that content forward in the fifth grade so teachers so the students don't lose that content that knowledge they had in fourth grade. If you if you expect somebody 10 years old to remember something from, you know, September of fourth grade year into May of their fifth grade year, they're probably not going to get it unless you really are specific and focused on reteing that material throughout and and pulling it back into your fifth grade content. And the ones that are more successful, the the scores that are the better schools that

137have scored higher are the ones that are doing that more consistently. And that's something we have seen and we're going to make sure we've push this year and make it a uh a drive across the division. Those fifth grade teachers really have to do that and really give them supports to do that. And and I I agree and I think you you told us that a little bit before. That's why I brought my mind to it. But I think that that ought to be a priority. Now, as a school board member, no, I'm going to take back half of what I said. Not not half of. As a school board member, I don't ever mandate what you all should make student make teachers do. However, if there's inconsistency, correct, in in the division and the

138science is science is science, then everybody ought to be on board. One of the the orientations with teachers or whatever you have you have you get together. It ought to be said that you know this this school is looking good in science and I would like if at all possible for you to maybe talk to this person or whatever mannerism you do it so that we can get this thing over. Um I did write down and I'm almost through Mr. on the science support. Now, what what what does that mean? You putting someone in the school system to do what? So, we have an instructional specialist that's going to be dedicated particularly to science this upcoming school year. So, she'll be able to look uh with teachers at science curriculum, co-plan together, um looking at

139ways to spiral those skills in, ways to bring some more hands-on investigations and give student more ownership of those investigative skills um throughout the school year. And so, we are looking at prioritizing those schools that need more support with science. Um but as you mentioned before, one of the things that we do offer, we have science leads at every school in our in our uh division. And one of the things that we are going to be looking at at the beginning of the year, one of our first year meetings is actually digging into our data and looking at those specific skill weaknesses from fourth grade in particular for for elementary, but also for grade six and life science because those are also included on the physical science test for middle school as well. So, we're

140going to be digging into that and kind of sharing strategies across the division with each other as science leaves, but then they can take that back to their schools and share that as well. Well, I I think that's something I'm through. I think that's that has to happen in order to be in order to, you know, I've never dealt with that word growth. I just stopped right there. I I see that and I appreciate that. But the scores that I saw in a couple of things and I appreciate what Dr. Wells has said, I think it has to happen. collaboration uh will bring those scores up. Now, I haven't done any science in elementary in a while. I probably don't want to, but it I do remember we were starting some some things in the

141classroom where the students were getting more hands-on and I thought somebody said that was going to bring us over the top. That took us to the bottom. Yeah, it's more so making sure that we're actually following through and doing that and providing those opportunities for students. Well, I mean, like I said, I don't like to be critical, but every now and then when I see I looked at this last night, when I see some numbers, I think I think it's my responsibility just to throw some out there. Yeah. And it's not about what must be done. I I think it's what we really need to put a lot of attention to. And it's probably why I said about the sale tower, right? I'm more I'm more concerned with that number I saw with history than

142I am about the sale towel. I'm through, Mr. I'll say part of the conversation that I had with staff on Tuesday during leadership was focused on making sure we collaborate and we share what works in our schools that is working and they're really communicating with the schools that aren't to make sure that we're on the same page because if it's working at three of our schools it can work at the other three of our schools and there's no reason it can't. I do know one of our schools we did have some personnel issues in which there was somebody at the end of the year was out because of maternity leave and that kind of affected but I'm not making excuses for it but those things did happen but there's no reason if we can do

143it at three schools we can't do it the other three and I respect I respect what you just said how I heard that too not from you um you remember that don't you science teacher was out or something and and we understand that because when you have this is no disrespect for teaching or subbing let me just get clear but when you have that transition and and and then we at the end of the year we come up with these terrible scores because of that transition. So I don't know what we need to do with that. Um the sub or the transfer of teaching uh we cannot let the students suffer for that. Um and that's not what you said but I've heard that has happened to us in the past. It happened right down

144the road teacher was gone or something and the science grades dropped to the bottom and we look like may not be for that reason that it's happening again. And I I just feel I need to throw that in there. I am through this time, Mr. Terry. Yes, ma'am. Sorry. Um, so one of the first questions that I had was I was the statistical viability of the numbers and how our our raw data is comparing to like the VDOE. And so one of the things that I looked at in one of the schools was just looking at the pass rate. And when I look at the previous 3 years, I just want to say that our raw data estimates are lower than what we actually end up um achieving. So I just want to say that's

145really good. Um the other thing um I wanted to say was when I was looking at um one school in 2021 for science it was 54 2022 was 38 then it went up to 47 in 23 and we saw a similar trend um which I know you're aware of but it's like we can't sustain that very long. We can't sustain it period. Um and then the other thing was at the beginning of last school year, you know, we budgeted um I think it was five grand for the nature nurtures audit. I have not seen that report and I'd like to know that was specifically for science. I'd like to know how that helped us. um you know so yes ma'am that's oh and then the third thing is just I may be missing it but

146it would be nice to have these presentations on our board docs so we can look at it prior to coming here now that might be me I'm a technical person it was under executive content on board docs you have to I'll keep scrolling and I can go back to previous years and do the same thing right y okay well I'll work on it technically challenged thank you very much board. Anybody else? I have one. Yes, ma'am. Comment. I want to say thank you for providing the additional science support. I think that's really important. And I know what Dr. Wells said about spiraling that content in fourth grade content into fifth grade or you know even a fourth grade can teach fifth grade content because the students are ready. So that conversation has been around the

147slogan for a long time and you know we're we're all disappointed when we find out that's not happening. So I think the science support when the science leads will be able to help with that. My purpose for this little comment is to our school principles. The school principles are instructional leaders in our buildings and they need to be in those classrooms and they need to be looking at lesson plans and they need to be assuring our superintendent that that data is spiraled not after the tests are done but during the school year as it's going on. And I remember, Miss Lean, when I first came on the board almost nine years ago, maybe eight years ago, we did not have assistant principles, but we specifically put them in the schools to free principles up to

148become a quality instructional leader in each of our buildings. And I trust that each of our principles is doing that. But if they're not, we need to be holding them accountable. um that is going to be one of the greatest things they can do to make sure those type of things are not happening or I should say that they are happening that that spiraling is taking place. So just it's a team effort I know and I thank you for that. But I just want to reiterate I know one of our plans that you gave us on u school improvement is that the DOE came back and they said the principal should become the instructional leader and should mark time off in their calendar to be in those classrooms and reviewing lesson plans. So I guess

149I just want to support that and reiterate that because it is a team effort and that science support person and those science lead teachers can't do it on their own and we spend eight hours on Monday on Tuesday having that conversation to follow our principles and they got some uh some good PD from our staff on making sure they are the instructional leader and they can lead this school what they need to be doing and what the expectations are. Um they were also told what the expectation was going to be that uh we'll be all green by 2028 and that's the expectation of this school of me to them and of you to them as well told they were they were told that in a basically in that terms that's where we're going to be

150and that's our goal. That's where we're going to get to and uh we need to do what we have to do to get there and so we're going to get there. Well, thank you. Appreciate that accountability. I mean we're all accountable to each other. Yes, ma'am. Board, anyone else? Yeah, I would like to um you know mesh a little bit what Miss Wheeler and and Mr. Neighbors both said. You know, if the score is 15% or the score is 85%. Neither one of them is 100. So, we can't go, "Yeah, 85 is good. We're going to concentrate on the 15 because for long that 85 will slide." So, we need to keep pushing. when we see hundreds all the way, you know, that's when you know exactly where you want to be. So, thank you

151guys for everything. So, next. All right, got a lot of bullets tonight. Uh, the next is a memo. We wanted to lay out our timeline that we have from the state in regards to when we're going to get um some official accountability results from them. You'll see in July and August, there's a lot of reporting, a lot of verification, uh, a lot of things that are going back and forth between us and the state. we start to get some preliminary data. Again, that's still unofficial embargo data towards the end of this month because, and Miss Matheni mentioned it earlier, there is so much testing we are still doing even over the summer. Those results will continue to change uh and continue to be augmented as we're going forward. When we get into September, that's when

152we really start to see some things coming back from the state in a more official capacity. Uh so sometime in those first couple of weeks, we will get uh the release of the school quality profiles. uh we'll get some final accreditation results. We'll get some information related to federal identification. All that will be released to us first before it goes public later in the month of September and then is widely available. So depending upon the time frame for that, we're hoping that in September we'll be able to bring those final accreditation results to the board and talk about what that means for us. We spent a lot of time on Tuesday talking about a results orientation. We have this data. What are we doing about it? That's really what what we want it to be

153in September. It's not just what the numbers are. what does that mean we're going to do? How are we going to move forward? Make sure we're addressing the concerns uh that the board was just bringing up there a moment ago. Uh so this gives you that rundown. Again, September is going to be our month where a lot of that is coming down. As that information is available, we'll be continually talking to you about that. Uh a lot of miles to go from a reporting standpoint before we get there, but uh we're expecting it same time frame as usual there in September. I'll answer any questions the board has about that. Okay. board. All right, we'll keep on rolling. Uh the next one, uh and I believe Miss Thompson alluded to this a moment ago, a

154report from the Office of School Quality. So, our three schools that were federally identified for this past school year, uh they had consistent check-ins and um meetings and interactions uh with Dr. Powers and Dr. Cox from VDOE. uh we found them to be excellent partners in this process and I was pleasantly surprised by how engaged they were, the specificity of the feedback and ideas that they were giving to principles. Uh they've had that experience, they've done the job, they've worked in schools where they've turned them around and brought them forward. Uh and all of our principles that were engaging with them made comments multiple times about how valuable those times were with them. So, we're very fortunate to have both of them working with us this year. Uh did have some great commendations there. We're

155excited to see that. Uh, as Miss Thompson alluded to earlier, the common the recommendations, excuse me, really centered around how are we prioritizing those components of the job that we associate with instructional leadership. How are we making sure that yes, there are so many things that come up over the course of the day, so many responsibilities that our principles have. How do we support them with that? But ultimately, how do they work to develop those systems for themselves to be where they need to be in those classrooms, knowing what's going on, supporting those teachers directly? A lot of our conversation on Tuesday revolved around this really digging into what does it look like to be an instructional leader. We asked them to look in the mirror. We've been looking in the mirror as a division

156team. How do we support them with that? How do we develop those systems that aren't asking more without giving that support? How we encouraging them, giving them the tools they need to be able to do all of those pieces. So, we were glad that we saw some alignment, not just what we got with OSQ, but feedback we've also gotten from principles and ultimately the direction we want to be able to go as we're moving forward. We want to be able to support them in meeting these recommendations that the office has laid out for them. Uh, so again, I'll answer any questions the board may have. Okay, board. Any questions for Mr. Neighbors? Thank you, sir. All right. Uh well, last but not least, I will turn it back over to Miss Wheeler to give uh

157the board an update on VA implementation. Y and it's okay. I'm going to roll in HMH as well and make it a one-stop shop. Um so for the Virginia Literacy Act is full swing ahead. We are in full implementation for the 2526 school year. Um and what that means for us is that we are extending all of the requirements of the VA now into grades four through eight. Um so that means that those students in grades four through eight um who have failed an SOL test in the previous year um will qualify to have the vows assessment administered which is the assessment we currently use in K3. Um the state has come out with a version for 4 through eight a little less cumbersome as far as subtask um but really to drill down to

158those students who are having difficulty. what is the piece or what are the pieces as we spoke to? What interventions do we need to put in place to to shore up those foundational reading skills to make sure those students have the capacity to then be able to go and take that reading so test. Um and so with that come student reading plans. So those are being extended now into stu for students in grades four through eight um to be able that those students uh have access to remediation um during the win time at elementary school or during a remediation block at middle school. Um along with that we are working uh to move into year two of our open court implementation. Um so really making sure that we're supporting our teachers um with being able

159to address the instruction in the three color bands that they started with last year. um really being able to uh move into true fidelity uh with the program materials there to see where that gets us with our tier instruction or tier one instruction. Um and then this year we are um moving into year one of HMH as our core curriculum for secondary school. So I want to again thank you uh for approving that curriculum for us and for us to be able to move forward with that. Um, we have training set up for that in August for our teachers, uh, the end of this month for our administrators to be able to get an overview of what that program will offer them, specifically from the data standpoint to be able to speak to where our

160kiddos are. Um, and resources are in the process of being delivered. We hope to have everything in place uh, when school starts. So, any questions? I'll be happy to answer them. Thank you, ma'am. Board, any questions, Miss Wheeler? Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Dr. Wells, moving on. Next, we have human resources, Mr. Gallagher. All right, Mr. Chair, members of the board, good evening to you all. Um, the first item you have up this evening uh for HR is the vacancy memo in front of you. And as you know, we're very active in this in this summertime. So, there are some updates to that already. Um, we have, if you notice, we have multiple positions. We have hired the math teacher for AEC. We have hired the English teacher for Manellison. Uh we do still have the

161elementary teacher for tees which ultimately could also be an art position because that individual would like to transfer and we if we hire art um we could uh not have that need. So that's good. It has flexibility. U special education teacher, we have no more vacancies there. We are full. Um, and we do still have the counselor position and there have not been uh very many applicants that are qualified there unfortunately to date. So, we keep working at that reading specialist as well. Um, remains um open down under classified positions. Um, we do still have several instructional assistant positions to fill. Actively seeking to do that. U, we have one school health assistant remaining vacant. Um, we do have the bus driver positions remaining. uh one CNP assistant position and the part-time custodian. We have

162an interview set up for that and we um are looking for candidates for the full-time position at the high school. So any questions I'd be happy to take those but continue to make progress even day by day. So this was I think published Friday or Monday has changed. So any questions? I'd be happy to take them. Order. Any questions? Mr. G, my my only question, you you rolled through a whole bunch that have been filled. Yes. So, I'm looking at the uh the professional positions. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight that are listed up there. How many are open now? Three remaining. Okay. And the classified positions. Um, so we have we actually have three in instructional assistant rather than two. And that's only because one IA moved in to fill a health

163assistant position opening that up. So that was that was due to a promotional transfer. Um one health assistant and that actually is at Elen right now. Um and the remain the rest of those remain accurate. Okay. Okay. Cool. Yeah. Good work. Thank you. All right. If there aren't any questions, the next thing on the agenda I do believe you have in front of you is the new teacher orientation um calendar that we have provided for you. The agenda for that week. Um, as you're aware, the new teacher orientation, which I love that week, that's a wonderful week to bring all of our new teachers in to the fold and and grow them and develop them and get to know them. Um, July 28th through August 1st and some of the dates that I'd like you

164to be aware of that first day. Um, and this is going to be at Ammerst County High School in the dining commons that is still on point to occur. Um, that welcome breakfast uh on July 28th. We would love you all to be present. Um, Dr. Wells will give a brief introduction. love to introduce you all as well as we get to know our uh new teacher crew there. Um the next date of relevance um is is uh Tuesday, July 29th, and that's because we have that bus tour. Now um that's not something that we you necessarily have to participate in, but you're also you are welcome to come to breakfast before we go on that tour. If you missed Monday and want to come uh introduce yourself uh to everybody that day, that'd be

165fine as well. Thursday, big event. Um, that is our new teacher lunchon again over at Sweet Brier Prothrow. So, I'd encourage you to please make every effort to to be available. Um, we'll work all the logistics to make sure it's easy to get by the gate on that day uh and get to just have a nice opportunity to to share lunch and meet everybody on that day. Um, let's see. From there, that's all for new teacher orientation as far as the relevant dates. Uh, as far as our work week, which you know begins on August 4th, there are some relevant dates there. You don't have that in front of you because that's going to be finalized, I believe, tomorrow, and we'll start putting that out there. But, uh, most relevant, uh, to begin with is

166Tuesday, August 5th, which is convocation. Uh, so 10:00 to 11:00. Um, and I believe that is at the high school. Am I correct on that as well? It is. There it is. Auditorium for the high school. So, um, just so you're aware, we would encourage you to please be present for that. obviously as we welcome everybody back. And then transition day is on the following Tuesday. Um just for your awareness as we um have those individuals moving up into kindergarten up into sixth grade up into 9th grade have opportunities on that day and then the first day of school coming around the corner uh Wednesday, August 13th. So I just want to make sure you're aware of all the relevant dates and again all those dates for the new teacher orientation along with convocation. Please

167do make every effort if you could to be there. We'd love to have you. uh being to be introduced to the new teachers and so forth. Any questions? I'll take them. Board, any questions? Thank you, sir. You're welcome. I'll turn things over. Good evening, Mr. Chair and members of the board. I know you have in front of you the information regarding the overall division school breakdown for employee exit survey results. Um, as you can see, we had a greater response this year than than we did last year of the 78 exiting employees. We had 37 responders. And just an overall umbrella summary, um, 78% of the respondents indicated that they would recommend ACPS as a good place to work. This is a drop from last year of about 5%. Um, the top reasons for leaving

168pretty much stayed where they always are. um personal reasons with being the largest level of responses and that includes retirement, spouse relocation and family considerations. The second largest responses came for professional reasons and that might be um change in career or job description responsibilities and teaching in different school divisions. And then the last highest um responses came from learning and climate which covered things such as discipline, school culture and workload. Um, one of the biggest factors in the survey regarding what may have encouraged staff to stay came with possibly pay increases, um, having more time to plan and fewer discipline problems. Um, in looking at the data, we've already started putting the plan together of how to be responsive to much of this. Um, realizing one com particular p component missing is higher responses from

169our classified staff. um we only had four indicated on here which has already told us we have to come up with a different mechanism in connecting with our classified staff members and making sure that their voice is being heard before exiting. Um I one big change also with HR is we now oversee the email addresses within our department. So we have more control over when those get cut off to try to give them ample time to respond to the survey before they leave. But we might have to go to some paper mechanisms, face-to-face conversations to try to make sure we're initiating conversations with them as well. Um, and another way in which we're trying to be responsive, um, one of the higher components that came out of it, even in exit interviews, was streamlining data

170processes, um, and removing some of the redundancy. And kudos to the instructional department for really trying to take a lead on being responsive in regards to that. I think that's the biggest thing we're trying to pull out of the survey information is to respond. Not just to take the survey information and just sit idly twiddling our hands, but to actually start putting a plan together on what we need to do with it. Um, and also in our department, um, something that came out as well was being more cognizant of the support we give to new teachers, not just ones that are coming in straight out of college, but those that might be career switchers who still might have gaps in going over classroom management and, you know, how to use their time more effectively in

171the classroom and with their planning. their needs are going to be a little bit different than somebody who went through a full program at the college level with student teaching and all that in a different mannerism. So that's how our department is trying to work in regards to that and we've kind of aligned some of our goals in regards to um mentoring program and onboarding and also with stay interviews which I hope to bring that information to you in August or September of how we're trying to be more responsive to what the data is telling us. So, if you have any questions in regard to that, I'd be glad to answer them at this time. Okay. For Yes, ma'am. I just have one. Let me get my mic on. Um, on the discipline part, is

172it, you know, I know it's hard to tell, but is it more maybe more um work with the newer teachers that have never had this responsibilities or is it just our kids are like running a muck? I mean, do we know which one it is? And I'm just curious some of the things that came up like even in our new teacher forum. I remember one in particular was like senioritis like when they're getting close to the holidays trying to keep them engaged and just knowing those things that really speak to the students that are in front of them. They might be trying certain things. But I think they could learn more and even came up today in conversations with leaning on peers and learning from peers that seem to really be doing it well and

173trying to put that in the context of their own classroom. How could I use what that teacher is doing, not to be a duplicate or a mini me, but how could I use what's going on in that classroom in the context of my classroom to make the learning environment more conducive for learning and less chaotic so I don't feel the frustration of things like that. Yeah. When that's one of the top three, it just speaks out to you, right? And that's what you think when you have teachers coming in provisionally licensed who may not go, they they're missing on that component sometimes of classroom management. and we have Kristen Atkins who goes around and does a phenomenal job supporting teachers with that regard. So, we're trying to make them feel comfortable in reaching out to

174ask for that type of help so we can connect them with the right supports. Yes, ma'am. And it kind of piggy back and miss Saunders. I was just what are we what is climate control? Where is that? Learning climate school culture and climate. What what are we talking about? It could be um what's the feeling you get when you're in the building from your colleagues, from your co-workers, from the classroom atmosphere. Mhm. That can be it. You know, sometimes when one person is unhappy, they kind of want to have company with them. And you know, sometimes that can breed a lot of negativity in the in the building. Just like on the opposite, when everybody's having a good morale and feeling good about what they're doing and high buy in, there's a different type of

175joy you carry in in your classroom or in the building or with your co-workers. So, I think that's a piece that has a lot to do with it. And and I usually don't look at this as deep as I am this time, but I'm just making a statement. Uh some months back, someone came with a survey they had done. Um and we were talking about morale and this that and the other. you know, that kind of goes and comes. But I'm just hoping that this year, and I don't know how, and not and not just here at Amherst, but at every school system, that could be just a a good set off. Um, when we speak about lack of support, 40%. I I don't know. We just spoke tonight of so many people trying to

176give support to so many people. Where do you find Where do you think that really is? Um, lack of support from supervising school administrators 40%. E 10 responses. You had four out of the 10. Yeah. But I mean, what do you think they're they're talking about here? I mean, I know I've heard that before. It could be just making sure that they have that relationship with their administrator that they feel like they could come to them and that they're actually going to take some type of action and connecting them with the supports they need. they make the request and are you reaching out and um putting me in contact with somebody at SA SAO or a mentor in the building or a peer um are you coming to my classroom and being a thought partner

177with me working alongside me and partnering with me so it's just making sure that you don't get caught so caught up in the managerial types of things of being a school leader it's just as Mr. neighbors and everyone was alluding to it being part of an instructional leader. It's also being like an instructional coach and working along with your staff. But you got to make sure that you're being intentional about that and and I don't you know this is everywhere not everywhere but I'm talking about amus right now but I'm just hoping that we can use this as you already said to develop some things that are going now this the school policies and procedures um some of those are just fit I mean this is what we have to do um right and it's

178a bad thing to say it's our way or the highway but I mean you know I I just look at certain things but we that falls into that accountability pieces that all schools just have to follow. And not to say that everybody's happy about the processes that you some have to go through, but like we said, some of the um processes are being more streamlined this year. So, it doesn't feel like it's such a heavy lift across the board with some of the things that teachers are being asked to do. And then my last one, when I I looked at this other night, I mean, just lack of support from parents and community. Well, um we have PTO. What's it not PTA now? have something uh back to school nights and all kind of things

179where I see teachers talking to to family members. I'm out there myself having a hot dog. So, I don't know um if we could look at that. Oh, you can't look at everything, but just be mindful of it. And then my last thing, Miss Terry, is um the mentor teachers. Um back to what we were talking about with support and all these scenarios and and classroom management, new teachers are given a mentor teacher. Am I right? Yes. I know. because they stand up with them. Uh do you feel that's been is that working? I believe it's working very well. We have outstanding mentors within our division and they set up strategic time throughout the um grading period to meet with them weekly also protected time where they can sit down and do peer observations to

180support them in their classroom as well. We've heard very good feedback from them. We actually um surveyed them in December about how they thought it was going and they feel like their mentors are really there to support them and they can be a partner with them in what they're doing in the class. Well, that's the intention. Yeah. But when someone leaves our organ when someone leaves our I think I'm in the hospital. When somebody leaves our system and say certain things we we just want to make sure that all the the loops have been looped up is the mentor teachers. If I come to my mentor and said, "I'm frustrated. I don't feel like" The mentor needs to say, "Wait a minute. Let's look at this. Let's see who you can get to help you

181before you run off to another county saying this was terrible business here." Because I think we just really this year, among other things, have to pay close attention to retention. And we can't make everybody happy. We're not crazy. You know, everybody has their own reason for leaving. Uh when I say retirement, I'm not going to argue with those people because I'm ready to do it. But if if we leave and say, you know, this was a bad place to work. I didn't get any help. Nobody liked me. Then we need to say, well, what in the world's going on? The best we can. That's all I had to say about. Okay. I just I'm just going to make one comment, too, that there's a range of of respondents, you know, in this, too. So, when

182you see like several, you know, a number of folks who responded, there are also those that we've kind of worked with and parted ways and and maybe they didn't like the expectations that were set or, you know, didn't like to be held accountable. And so there it's it's a variety. There's a lot that actually is very meaningful and there's also some that probably, you know, it wasn't a bad thing necessarily. They felt like they weren't supported, but actually they may have been but didn't like the expectations that were held. So, it's a big broad variety in there. It's a big mix. My comments are not to blame anybody. That's not what I'm But I do I'm out in the community and and you know, just like with other people telling their telling their board members

183something, I do hear sometime that there are things that were not good. And so I'm leaving and usually they leave before they tell us. You know, we don't know till they've left. And then after they leave, we hear all this. It's like a jet. All this smoke is behind and I can't do anything about it. Jet's gone. So I'm just saying we can head some things off. Best we can. Can't nobody work miracles of workers. We have responsibilities. But if the mentor teachers can can jive in and then other people, I believe we might can pull this thing off a little bit. And and that's one of the reasons why we're trying to pivot in the fall to continue with the state interviews, hitting classified staff. Even Mr. Childish, you brought up we should be

184hitting people who have been with us over 25 years to see what keeps them in the division so that we can tap in on a different way with some of our practices to make sure that we're giving people what they need when they need it. Yes, sir. Um Mr. Gallagher, did you say that we have staff members who we mutually parted ways conduct an exit interview? Everybody that everybody that leaves the division, but if we if we basically told them to leave, we don't need an exit interview. We know why they left because we wanted them to leave, right? Well, we've done we've done exit interviews with all all levers, right? But I mean, whether or not we should or as you just said though a minute ago, it kind of messes with the data.

185Well, right, because you get erroneous data because we already told them to leave. You have to I don't think that's a good practice. It does mean you have to dig into it a little bit and and know the differences. But but good good or bad practice, it's good input to have if you you know if you all thought we we should change that and not provide individuals who are leaving for those reasons and opportunity to speak. We've always given everybody that's a lever that opportunity by practice and not tried to pick and choose. And I don't know if that's good or bad. That's been the standard practice. So yeah, I I don't think we should be providing extra interviews to people we've asked to leave. Though we might want to know how we could have

186kept them. We can ask him that question, but I don't think you count in your data. I'm just messing with your man. I think Eric had a question. Yeah. Yeah. With exit interviews, I believe it should be for everyone because something led to that person to leave. Now, even though we asked them to leave, whatever the case may be, there's a million things, but maybe that particular employee acted a certain way because of something that was going on within within our division. Yes, we can't satisfy everybody. I get that. But there may be data in there just the same. Now, if he says or she says that they're leaving because everything's bad, then obviously that data is no good. But if they can pick the one thing that roadblocked them from moving forward or staying

187with our division, that might be useful. You know, if they just say, you know, I just can't handle policy or I just I just can't handle the lack of support from staff, then maybe that is a useful tool. In my opinion, that should have been done before we asked them to leave. I guess you know that information already. So, but anybody else? Well, really quickly, um, I just want to say thank you. I think this is a very thorough report. Um, I'm really excited about the positive comments that people had about what, you know, even though they left, they enjoyed their experience here. That's wonderful news. And I know that when you look at this, you want to dig in to specifics, but a couple of things that I saw was the salary. We all

188know that we're working on that board. Um, one of the things that I would be interested in knowing is what salary bands did they fall within. Um, that might be giving us information as we're looking at budget um, in the coming year. The other on the first page was lack of tuition assistance. There was only one person that said that, but I'll be honest, I never thought about that. Um, if that's something that we can do and it doesn't have a huge price tag on it, that might be an additional way. Um, so I think that that was um you like, oh yeah, that was a brainstorm for me. We all know that we've got to work on the discipline and the school culture and the climate, but I was intrigued when we got to

189E. And there were three bullets there. I'm not going to reiterate them, but all of those we can improve upon. It doesn't have a single dollar tag to it. So I thought that was a good eyeopener. as well as pol um f um school policies and procedures um you know is on the interview exit interview do they have a place that they can put specifics maybe they did and you know what they are I mean what do you do about it if you don't know what they are right there is an open-ended space where they can add additional comments and that's the survey when they do an interview with me we're sitting there face to face having a conversation going through things and and so I just thought they were great you've already broken down

190by school so that the you know the the staff and the administration there know what to address. But um I just want to say thank you and you know as you break it down into specifics I'm sure that you'll be utilizing that more but great for us to look at ways to try to retain teachers. Thank you board. Anything else? Thank you ma'am. Thank you sir. Dr. Wells move on. Yes sir. Mr. Next is uh information from me. So again as I said earlier Tuesday and Wednesday we had our leadership conference and what we really wanted to focus on was instructional leadership and uh as I told the the team that we do a good job of collecting data and we have a lot of data and schools have a lot of data but what

191I think we've had issues with especially at the school level and some of it's our fault. I'll say our fault, my team's fault because some of the stuff we're having them do is time consuming and so we had trouble getting from the data collection aspect of it into the action stages. Right? So we have all the data. We have it all. We might have a binder this thick. Ruth has spreadsheets that try to fill up a hard drive. Um but with that information then what do we do with it? and know. So, we really have to we really want to have a focus this year of not just collecting the data, but being able to discuss it and then figuring out what are we going to do now that we have it and how we're

192going to take that to move the needle forward. The issue as I told staff, you know, the accountability is needle is we're going to move that needle and it's going to require us to really get from just looking at the data to developing action steps based on that to know how to move us forward. And so, you know, that is our goal. That is what we're going to do. Um, if we do what we expect to do, you'll see that needle move. Um, I think we had a good two days of discussion and teamwork and building on that, the collaborative aspect of it and how we can learn from each other, but also really how the PLC process can be utilized to do this. And I think we've the PLC process we've been using, we've

193been using it, but I don't think we've been using it, and I think my team could probably speak to this better than I, but as effectively as we should be. Um it's been a lot of things. We're not really we haven't really been focusing where we need to focus. So as we move forward this year, you'll see a change in that. You'll see the focus changing again. Not just on collecting it. We got to get past just collecting. We have to get into the action steps and what we going to do now that we know what where we are. How are we going to implement those changes? Whether it's a teacher in the classroom, whether it's a building administrator, whether it's us at central office, we're all focused on that same concept of what are

194we going to do to move it. We spent a lot of time this past spring talking to building administrators and teachers on what their concerns were and what's what some of the drawbacks were. So, we revamped our our processes and now we're pushing those processes out this fall. So, you'll see a lot of change there in that aspect. um there's still some non-negotiables, but also we also need to make sure that we are giving our staff the time to dig into that data and then make decisions off of that and how we're going to move that needle. And that's where we're going to focus this year. So, you'll hear us talking more about that, but that was the gist of day one. Um what is an instructional leader? How how do we make sure our

195our building principles and assistant principles are being those instruction leaders in their buildings? And how are they going to, as you said earlier, Miss Thompson, sitting at time? We can all get distracted. We have so many things going on in the building. You can easily get distracted every day. And if you don't prioritize and say on Monday, I'm going to spend two hours in classrooms. You'll find enough emergencies going on to to not get there. Um so we're going to that is a priority. Uh we're going to make sure that our staff or administrators are doing that and they're getting in classrooms, they're observing, even if they're not officially observing, they're in classrooms knowing what's going on. And then they can have us conversation with teachers as to this is what I saw. It's not

196the official observation, but they know we're going to be in classrooms. They know we're going to be out and about. They know we're going to be seeing. So, we know what's happening in those classrooms just as as much as as they do. So, it's very important for us and my staff as well. Um it might not be on the official days with a clipboard in hand, but just getting out there and walking in schools and making sure we know what's going on in the buildings. Um that's going to be a priority. And so, we're taking some of the things we're, you know, we always reflect. We always look at lessons learned and we're going to push those things forward based on where we think we need to be and what we can do to improve

197instruction across the build the division. It all comes down to the students and if we're not focused on the students and improving instruction then we're we're missing the we're missing the game. And so, um, we have to f that has to be our focus and that's where we need to be. And that was the focus. That was our point on Tuesday and Wednesday to make sure they understand where our focus needs to be because if we're not focused on that, we're not going to we're not going to change and we're not going to get the gains we need to get. So, um, that was a bunch of our leadership conference. We also hit our other aspects of our regular administrative things. We have to hit the new legal aspects and stuff like that. But our

198goal was to really get folks to focus on instruction and where they need to be and narrowing down some of the some of the paperwork aspects of it to get it more to where they can not spend as much time filling out forms, but spend more time getting ready for instruction and making sure the kids are getting what they need. So, wanted to hit that. Any questions there? More any questions? A quick question? Yes, ma'am. Um, I appreciate you looking at the PLC's because I know that's um affects the students and the teachers. Um, I mentioned earlier that I had heard that there were two PLC's a week. Is that still going to be in place or are you reducing number of requirements? Because to me, a PLC should be a very natural thing where

199the teachers get together and do their job. Yes, ma'am. And do their work because they want to. Um, but are there going to be one or two requirements? I'm hoping that maybe we can pull some of those requirements back from teachers. Yes, ma'am. And the focus really has been on streamlining. So, even thinking about the baseline requirements, we have provided the lowest level threshold. These are the minimal things that we need to touch on. You just said it there. How are we creating a space where teachers can get together, talk about their students, they can make each other better, they can improve their own practices by talking to each other. That's where we really focus that attention. So the administrator leddled or the administrator facilit facilitated PLC is one time a week. The other meeting

200that they have is that common planning time. So we talk about that and the concept of PLC. We've really been trying to drive a mindset component. So it's not just once or twice a week. We are PLC, right? Everything we do is that professional learning community. We're all working together to get better. So trying to change that mindset a little bit as well. The requirement components is just that one time a week with the administrator. the rest of the time we want them getting together talking about their students and getting better because they have that time together. Thank you for that clarity and and for the new focus. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Board, anything else. Okay, so important dates coming up. Mr. Gallagher hit a few of these, but I do want to reiterate some

201again. First day for new teachers is is the 28th. you are invited uh to join us for breakfast and say a few words at where breakfast is at 8 on the 28th and we'll send you an email with all these reminders about a couple days out just to remind you of the dates but so you know if you forget a couple dates here and there the new teacher lunchon again is July 31st that's at 12:30 at Sweet Brower College in Prothro we're doing a pack the bus event on August 2nd that'll be at Walmart Madison Heights we will have the bus pulled up in front and that'll go from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. And so we'll be pushing advertisements on that, but that is on August 2nd. Um the auditorium grand opening will be

202that afternoon at 1:00. I would highly encourage all of us to be there so we can do the ribbon cutting and do all that and a few words to be said inside and then there'll just be an open house for folks to tour the facility. Again, that's August 2nd at 1 from 1 to 5, the same afternoon as as the as the pack the bus. So, we do pack the bus in the morning. Pack the bus starts at um 8 and goes to 2:00 and then the grand opening is from 1:00 to 5:00. So, we'll be down at pack the bus in the morning. Then we'll come to the high school, change clothes, transition, and be ready for the grand opening thing at 1:00. A few speeches we made, Mr. you'd be expected to say

203a couple words, I think. Um, we'll also talk to the county, our county counterparts to make sure they're there um to say a few words as well. And then we'll um, you know, go from there and just have it open to the public. And we'll have some hot dogs and stuff for people to eat if they so choose and just have a just a welcoming environment for folks to come in to see the see the facility. Um, convocation is August 5th. again that is we'll do tours from 9:00 to 9:45. Folks can walk around and see your thing cuz not everybody's going to be there staff-wise so they can come in and walk around and see what we have and then we'll start actual convocation at 10:00 and you know uh we'll have a few

204words from whichever of you want to speak I guess Mr. Terry whoever else wants to speak and then I'll say a few words. We'll be using the new auditorium. So, everybody will be in there in some comfortable seats and um we'll do lunch after and then they go back to their schools that afternoon. So, we'll speak from 10 to 11 roughly and then um we'll have them return, eat lunch and they can go back to their schools that afternoon. We're we're all we're also hosting a division back to school event and this is part of our community schools aspect of it trying to get folks to come out. Um, so a lot of the supplies we are going to be collecting at the at the uh pack the bus event on the 2nd. We're going

205to bring to the high school, unpack, have them sit out. Parents can come in, pick whatever supplies up they need to meet the needs of their kids, and they can also tour the building. We'll have folks from Johnson's Health there. We'll have folks from the health department and so forth, other community agencies there to be available for parents if they need resources, additional resources, but we also want to bring them in, give them a chance to we're using a new building to kind of encourage them to come in, hey, see the new building, but also come get your school supplies, come with some of this stuff at no cost. If you need it, you can come pick it up and take it home. So, you have that. A lot of the materials we're collecting for

206the pack the bus event, we will have available for parents if they so need them uh to support their families on the 11th at the high school. And that is from 5 to 8:00 p.m. on the 11th. And then again, as we said, the transition day is the 12th and the first day of school is the 13th. And then it's wide open. We have about four weeks to get it all done. Um so those are the big events coming up. But again, I just want to reiterate the fact that we're, you know, we're really trying to focus on action and getting beyond uh just the discovery stage, but then getting to the action stage because if we don't get to that point, we're not going to get where we need to be. We're not going

207to move the needle. So, that's kind of where we're focused and that's what we're going to be doing. And uh principles have heard the heard the call and they're going to be expected to get there. So, and so is everyone here. So, that's where we're going to go. So, that's all I have. And any questions? board. Any questions? No questions. I'd just like to say thank you so much for all your hard work. Um, I think having been on the board, this is my fourth year, I really resonated with some of the discussion about changes in direction as far as PLC. And I really resonated with the improving of um opportunities for teachers to be collaborating together and doing the work they need to be doing in their classroom and learning from each other. and

208the um making the data expanding the utility of it for the teachers, how they can implement, how they can benefit from the hard work they're putting in to do that testing. So, I just wanted to say I really appreciate what I perceive as listening to your teachers and um just um I can't think of the other word, but thank you for what you're doing. I really appreciate it. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Okay, any other questions or comments? Okay, hearing none, we will move on to uh where are we? Nine public comments. 9.0 public comments. So, at this point in the meeting, anyone from the audience who would like to approach the board? Uh the podium is yours. Yes, sir. Jeff Porter, 478 Woody's Lake Road, Madison Heights. I really appreciate the ways that you all

209work at trying to make uh every child every day a u practical issue. uh you exhibit that as you ask questions and uh I appreciate um your collective uh desire to make our schools the best. And I say that to you as a board as well as to you as a uh school district. When I came up earlier, I was asking about um the uh cell phone tower and as I heard your questions, they were um uh functional kinds of questions. And um one of the questions that I heard or one of the comments that I heard was that there was going to be some kind of uh monetary benefit for the school district. Uh I have not heard any kind of dollar figure so I'm not quite sure how much that is but I

210think before the public meeting or at the public meeting the public needs to know what the financial benefit would be. My hope when I heard the person from Verizon talk this evening was not just to relay what was said earlier several months ago, but I thought I had heard some concerns by you as a school board members about health concerns for children and I didn't hear any of that. Um, I know some people think that the issue of cell phone towers and the medical um issues that might result in that are kind of odd or weird. But there are scientific studies that have been done not only on children but also on the workers who actually have to put up these towers. I think you as a school board need to know what the scientific

211evidence is. And I would hope that as you talk with Verizon that you ask them for their scientific evidence. Not just that, oh, we've talked about this and it's perfectly safe, but what evidence are they working on? We've talked about the importance of sciencebased decisions. I want that same standard applied to this issue of the cell phone tower. I think that it's important. The health, the mental health and physical health of our children, of the people who work in these buildings is important. I'd like to hear some response from Verizon and I'd like to hear your response as well. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anyone else from the audience like to approach the board? Okay, seeing none, we'll go into committee reports and individual uh reports from the board members. So, Miss Saunders, kick it

212off, please. I would like to be first. That's right. Okay. One of the things I really want to thank you, Dr. Wells. Um, if we aren't focusing on students, then why are we really here? And that's that's should be that's a baseline, right? That's our theme. Every child every day. But I'm also one of the I'm an Elvis fan for y'all that don't know. A little less talk, a lot more action. And I like that. And when that was probably the hardest thing I got had to get used to when I started working for government is I'm ready to roll. Um, so that's Thank you for that. I'm ready to see that because the data is a lot. Every time I look at it, I'm overwhelmed. But to know what we're going to do with

213it is important. Um, and one of those things I know when my kids were in school, they noticed when the principles walk the the building. They noticed that and they felt valued. So that is so important and I hope that everyone all the administrators will remember that. Um, one of the things I think is it Miss Smith? Is that your last name? I will reach out to the recck department and see if they would be um and maybe move some of those camp dates. I can ask. No promises, but if they know that the conflict is there, they may be willing to do that. Um thank you all for all the information. Dr. Rose, thank you. I've been asking for those individual schools. I want to see that. I think it all sort of comes

214together, the re the retention, the student learning, and then a lot of people are leaving. So, all of it does tie in together. So, thank you all. And that's it for me. Mr. Rossi. Yes, thank you. Um, well, we got some uh news tonight. Uh, some of it was kind of what I was expecting. Um, I know we've talked a lot about learning loss from COVID and the struggles that we've had to come back from it. And the four years that I've been here on the board, it's been a constant we're going to do this and this is going to, you know, show us improvement. We're going to do that. This is going to show us improvement. So, it's not that we were aware of what was going on. We It's not that we weren't

215aware of where the children were at and the struggles that they face. It's just such a large problem. It's going to take time. It didn't happen. Well, it kind of did happen over a year, but it's not something we're going to bounce back from immediately. And we knew this. We knew it was going to be a struggle. And we were kind of prepared for the scores that we saw from a meeting last year. I remember moving the bar was kind of what I was told. So, expect expect them not to be as great as they should be and I was prepared for that. However, I think that maybe some of the programs we're doing aren't effective enough and maybe thinking outside of the box and looking at something that's unconventional may work. And I thought

216of something and I may be way outside the box. I don't know. But after seeing those exit interviews, it may not be so far out of the box. But I don't know how many in administration has ever sat in front of a room of children and taught. But maybe that ought to be a priority this year. Maybe administration needs to go in instead of walking the halls, maybe actually stand in front of a class and teach a lesson. Get back to the roots of what brought you all to education. Cuz I'm guessing that most of you probably stood in front of a classroom at some point. And maybe that would be the trigger to show the teachers that you support them. You're willing to do their job. You're not going to ask them to do

217something you wouldn't be willing to do yourself. And that that carries a lot of weight in other business. I guess I know education is different, but to be able to step into the shoes of the people that you're in charge of or the people that you're you're mentoring makes a difference. Step in those shoes once in a while. Get in those schools other than just observing. Give them a little time to reflect and maybe go and teach their class for them. I think it would carry a lot of weight and it might change the mood of the school. I guess it might change the atmosphere and uh talk about cell phone towers after we see those reports. I'm really have no reservation about a cell phone tower. However, I will tell you that there was

218a study done once that smoking wasn't harmful. Even doctors and everybody else said, "Oh, it was safe. It was safe. It was safe. less than 5% of all scientific studies are unbiased. So when you look at scientific studies, be aware of that. Um I also saw a study that said that uh Florida should be underwater two years ago and we'd have no more ice on the polar ice caps. And that hasn't happened yet either. So when you talk about scientific data, you got to do research on the data. Find out where the money is coming from to fund the data. And the bias is everywhere. So there's a good chance that less than 5% of your studies are unbiased and based in scientific fact. So there's going to be a study by Verizon. There's going

219to be a study by somebody else. They're going to conflict and they're both going to claim that their data is accurate. So, I've also heard that there's more radiation coming from your cell phone in your pocket than you get from living next to a cell tower. Do I know? No. But I do know that everybody carries one, even though the scientific data has been out that it's dangerous. But something that's a little more dangerous, science scores, math scores, reading scores. To me, that's a little more dangerous. So, we'll have our meeting and let the public decide about a cell phone tower. I think we as a board need to be focused in our education of the schools. I mean, sure, a little bit of money would help. You know, the budget, it would definitely help,

220but is it worth the cost? I don't know. We'll see what the public has to say about that. That's all I have, Mr. Thank you, sir. Mr. Justice, thank you, sir. Um, so Gov School didn't have a board meeting this month that we will in August. Um, our slots are all filled and, um, probably the big thing on the agenda for Gov School this year is finding a new director with um, Dr. Smith retiring. He's been there for 13 plus years and so um that's a board's big decision. So I'm looking forward to all the activities that are happening in our district. I am thankful for the opportunity to have the conversation regarding cell tower, regarding student achievement, regarding exit interviews and I'm just thankful to be a part of it and more people come

221and talk and um the public comment tonight about an individual experience with a student just brought to mind again that I think we need to look at our student code of conduct and look at how do we respond to students that aren't doing anything criminal, you know, if you go directly by the code, but are doing things that are destructive to other students sense of safety. And I'm not certain what that looks like, but I think um there needs to be some discussion because the the consistent thing I am hearing from people out there, teachers and parents alike, is that the discipline is an issue. And um I would like I'd like to know that um students that are intentionally putting their hands and feet on the bodies of teachers or other students that there

222is a consequence there other than just removing the student that got affected by it. So thank you very much for listening and continue to enjoy your summer. Thank you, Miss Thompson. Thank you. Um I would like to also thank Mrs. Smith for coming tonight um and for your three points. Um I I'll start with the one that u Mrs. Justice just mentioned. Um Dr. Wells, are you aware of that and in communication with Rove that incident? I was not aware. Okay. Um well, Mrs. Smith, I want to encourage you to talk with your school principal and and with Dr. Wells over that. Um, I think that it would be important to just communicate over that and the communication of when you were notified and there should be certain policies in place. I'm sure Dr. Wells

223will help you. Um, the other piece was about the calendar and camps. That was a sort of a new one to me. So, thank you for that. Um, and perhaps the administration does coordinate with the camps on summer school, but maybe if it's not been done in the past, it can be done now. I think that's a very good recommendation and um for summer school. And then I just want a little clarity on the back to school information about the starting day of school. Um if you don't have internet, are you getting information about the back to school? Are we getting it out via a letter um in the mail? That kind of thing? All that will be going out for the next for this school year from schools here relatively quickly and then everything

224else been posted and it should have been part of the end of year stuff let end year when they send information home the calendar aspects but it'll be going out to all parents by mail here in the next week or so. Okay. And I'm sure that'll have a calendar in place as well. Okay. Thank you. Um then um also want to welcome um Mrs. Glaze to her new position. Um, I'm excited about that. And it sounds like she's been really busy um with all the activities that she's done to to prepare for something like an assistant principal position. Um, also would like to say um thank you for sort of a realignment or academic focus this year. Um and moving forward maybe trying to realign some of our CTE and pathway goals as well if

225that's um you know the superintendent and the board's um path that they want to go on. But I just want to say welcome. I mean it's like amazing. The school year just ended and now by the time we get ready to meet again it will be here. So um I guess it's almost like a welcome back and you know um welcome to the new teachers and all that. It's here. Um, and I would like to just follow up that um, and that cost of the change order for the construction, you know, how are we aligned on where we were financially initially and where are we now? You know, just to keep some perspective on that. So, thank you for everything you're doing. I appreciate it. And the next time we meet will be the second

226day of school. Yeah. See, I knew it was close right there. So, welcome back teachers and students. Miss Ligan. Well, I mean, I think this has been a great meeting, very productive. Um, so I won't prolong it, but thank I do want to thank everybody for all the information and maybe I asked a lot of questions. That's just for clarity because I am excited about um getting the numbers up. I've never been too excited with 75 no matter where I've been or where I work. So, we can surpass that. It's okay with me. But, we definitely want to get out of the low low numbers. We Laurel is very quiet right now. Only thing I got was a um amendment to the budget according to what Lynchburg City is doing uh to give some raises

227over there. But uh Dr. Lewis will be meeting with us again in August and we will be enjoying oursel there. Uh just a question um about the funds paused. What what effect are we having in Amherst, Dr. Wells? Uh with um adult education and so forth. So adult education, those funds, we are the fiscal agent for adult education. Um, so right now, as you know, the federal uh fiscal year goes through September 30th. So, we're still funded through September 30th. So, hopefully between now and then, they will find some reconciliation as to how they're going to move forward with that. But, as it stands right now, budget-wise, um, they'd be funded through September 30th and then we would, uh, have to figure out as a region, because it's a regional program, how we move forward.

228uh we are meeting Monday as regional superintendent uh region 2000 superintendent and Mr. Sea Dr. Secha to kind of discuss that um and kind of look at that. Uh one thing that I will propose uh to the region would be if the funding does not come through I would hate not to have that program because it is very important for our um continuing education for our adults that may need a GED or other training because it's more than just GED. other training they do. It would be cont, you know, really working with our local governing bodies as far as board of supervisors and so forth to see if they could offset some of that cost if it's not there so we can continue the program cuz right now it's all either state or federal uh

229funds that that do this that that support this program. And so what the state has actually said is that they may if they don't get federal funds, they don't have a required match because if they don't get the federal money, the required match isn't there. So they really don't have to give the matching dollars because there's no federal funds coming. So there's some back and forth there. We're waiting for more information on that. Um, we received Suss's memo yesterday, but it really didn't just kind of said what was said in the initial conversation that there been frozen. And until we hear more on whether it's going to be funded or not, we really won't know. But if it's not funded, I think as a region, as a as school boards, um again, we'll talk about

230this more on Monday with our with local superintendents would be to really work with our business partners and chambers and things of that nature and really push to um get our local elected bodies to see if they can find some funds to offset the deficits. Well, I'm not going to dwell on, but I think it's very important be a great loss to this county uh to literacy and to all kind of things that uh if we lost that funding and of course on other end of it um the undermath of that other other possible funding pauses and losses eventually will affect the children. Yes. Uh so I I look at that pretty pretty seriously. And then my last thing is uh I just wonder was summer school a success? I don't need to know the

231numbers. Enough numbers here, but do we feel it there was a success number-wise? Summer school. Uhhuh. Good turnout. Yes, ma'am. So, we were right around 350 U for our primary program. And then Miss Ratliff at the high school has about 150 students coming in in the next few weeks for remediation. So, we're a little on target, maybe even a little bit above. Uh, but Dr. McInness will be coming back in August and giving a full rundown. I was just checking into it. How about the lunch program? I they packed I mean the bus thing. Did that work out well? Nutrition? Yeah, they've been feeding come out and get the lunch that we've been pushing out to the communities as well. So, uh it's been everything I've been hearing is is positive. Yeah. Well, that's all

232that's good stuff. And once again, as I close, just thank everybody for all the information. I'm looking forward to all the new beginnings. Um thank you for my card to get into the football games. Don't forget my pass. Don't forget my pocket. That's all I'm concentrating. Don't forget my pocket pass. Thank you, Miss Terry. send message right now. That's right. That's right. That's right. Thank you, ma'am. Mr. Childress. All right. Well, I uh a lot has been said already tonight about many different things. I'm going to keep mine short and sweet. Um and that is um going to be centered around uh student achievement. And so, it's directed to you, Mr. Neighbors, and that um you have uh a lot uh to do over the school year. High expectations. Um, you know, we got a,

233um, we saw some success, I think, in in the numbers. Obviously, not where any of us would want to be. And so, um, you know, I really encourage you to, uh, look at the data we're collecting, um, how we're collecting and using the data. And if we're not using it to the benefit of our teachers or to the success of our students, then find another way to do it. Let's stop wasting our teachers time and allow them to get back in the classrooms and teach. So, uh, beyond that, I will say I am extremely disappointed this year that, um, convocation is on the same date as the convocation for my school division that I work for. So, I will not be able to be here uh, for that. So, I'm very disappointed in that. Um,

234but I am going to do my best to get here for the 28th. And so, uh, look forward to seeing everyone there. Thank you, sir. So, um, most of what I had to say has also already been said. U, Miss Smith, I hope you get the data that you were looking for, you the answers to the questions you have. Uh, I know Dr. Wells or anybody will be able to help you with a lot of that. Um, and I encourage people that when things come up like that, be sure and reach out to your principles and administration because they can handle it really quick at that level. So, uh, just, um, take take advantage of those those things. Um, this is the night that I do blow up my wife's calendar with all of the

235little things on there. She's usually the one who does that. I've done that tonight. I have to admit I will not be able to be at all of those things, but, uh, I do have some of them that I will definitely be attending. Um, as far as the cell tower, um, yeah, I I'll say I'm in favor of a cell tower as long as it's not, um, a harm to our students. Um, and like Mr. Rossi said, it doesn't matter. I can I can pull up one web page and it'll say it's perfectly fine. I can pull up another one, it's going to say it's it it'll zap them in a second. So, uh, um, we need to hear from the community. That's why we'll have the meeting. We'll show them how tall it's going

236to be. We'll give them the data that we got. We let them make educated decisions on their own and and we can go from there. But, um, we need the community's input input. Um, like we've said, we want every child every day, um, out there doing their best. So, like we were talking about with with scoring on our students. We don't care whether they're at a 15% or 85%. We want them to be a hundred. So, no matter where we are, we've still got growth we can make. So, uh let's let's keep pushing forward. We are looking forward to another great school year coming around. It's hard to believe it's here already, but it is. So, uh students, parents, get ready. Here it comes. Teachers, get ready. It's got time to start back. So, uh

237look forward to it. Um, and thank you, Miss Ligan, for reminding me the football pass is in there. Yeah. So, yeah, they'll be coming. And that's all I got for tonight. So, let's see. I have something to read. Okay, you go ahead. You read. Uh, in accordance with section 2.2 to just 3711 A1 of the code of Virginia. I need a motion from the Oh, I need to ask you to go into close session to discuss superintendent uh contracts and other personnel matters. Okay. Do I have a motion? Motion to go in close session discuss matters. Second. All in favor? I