001[Music] n [Music] a [Music] oh [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] get he [Music] [Applause] [Music] he he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] was a custodian at Central Elementary School to been her 17 years and she lost her battle with cancer so we do want to keep her and her family as well as CES staff in our thoughts and prayers as a du moment of silence
002tonight okay thank you very much so uh if we could stand for a moment of silence and pledge allegiance and keep the families in mind 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 right um board have you seen the agenda okay is there is there a motion motion to am agenda I would like to move um the student reps up to position number five okay okay I have a motion second okay all in favor I I so we have an amended agenda do I have a u a motion to approve the amended agenda motion to approve amended agenda second second all in favor I I so Mr chair if I would if
003that's the purview of the board that they be at five moving forward when we create the agendas moving forward we can have them to that place if that's a that yeah that works okay thank you you guys don't have to run at that time we're just saying that you know we help you out a little bit okay um Dr Wells recognitions yes sir so I wanted to start with recognizing a former principal at in amers County Public Schools um Mr Ralph steel and Mr steel was 37 years in Amis County Schools he was a principal at amalon elementary school he graduated from Temperance High School when Temperance was a high school not an elementary school and uh went to Lynchburg College master's deget from Eva and and then came back to amers County um again
004he was a longtime fixture in our school system and uh was a sort of a mentor to me when I first came back into the school system I just want to thank I just want to recognize him for that you know he probably I don't know how many thousands of students came through his school when he was there as principal but he influenced thousands of students in our community over his tenure at the school so we want to keep him and his family or thoughts and just uh have a moment to recognize him for that and thank the family for allowing him to be with us as long as he was so thank you okay thank you okay so next have have students all right we will start with students of the month for November
005so when I call your name please come forward uh if they're not here again I'm not going to read the description if they're not here but but again students want to call your name please come forward um Joselyn taana Marcia [Applause] Martinez all right uh joslin's a star student Tatiana is a star student of the month she is a senior at the high school and has straight A for the year she is always kind and positive she currently is an intern a local dentist office and has been an asset As an interpreter as well as learning valuable skills in the dental hygienist field she is a wonderful student and exemplifies the definition of an acps star student and understand you passed the test in the past day or so that you're in good shape to
006graduate now right all right congratulations from aec Christopher yansy okay Christopher is not with us from ammer middle school Maddie [Applause] white Maddie is an eighth grade student at amoris Middle School she is the definition of the AMS big three where she leads by example by what it means to be respectful responsible and resilient Maddie has perfect attendance so far this school year and has Straight A's she has a positive infectious attitude and always has a smile on her face she is part of the drama club where she earned the lead role as Maria in The Sound of Music Maddie is a talented actress and singer and we look forward to seeing her perform this role in the spring congratulations to Maddie as the AMS student the month manela Middle School Kinsley [Applause] arganbright Kinsley
007is a seventh grader at Melisa middle school and she's been selected because she has shown tremendous growth from last year to this year improving in both her academic performance and overall confidence her hard work and determination have truly paid off and it's clear she has become a stronger student we are Inc incredibly proud of her accomplishments and excited to see her continue to excel congratulations amalan Joy [Applause] Floyd congratulations Joy approaches her her task with enthusiasm as she proclaims she is growing her brain she keeps trying and cheers on other students when they get answers right she encourages others when they make mistakes as well in addition she is always looking out for others and making sure they feel loved and appreciated she is a true representative of an amalon Bulldog congratulations ammer Elementary Maggie
008[Applause] REI so Maggie is a third grader at amers elementary school and she'll select it because she is considered to be the epitome of a student who thrives every single day academically and socially she is cons consistent in her efforts to always be the very best she can be she is always kind to others and demonstrates leadership skills at all times AES is proud of you Maggie also Maggie is always so happy and cheerful every time we see her she has great manners and is always so kind to everyone congratulations Central Elementary School Tinley Tomlin so Tinley is a third grader at Central Elementary and has been selected because she is kind and intentional Tenley has gone above and beyond in making her peers feel loved and she truly cares for them she is hardworking
009student who makes a difference each day at CES congratulations elen Elementary Brielle [Applause] Rober Belle's a fifth grader at elen has been selected because she's a great role model for other students she has a Caring Heart and genuinely empowers her peers this month she was very helpful to Mrs ma during small group peer session additionally she L the charge of Girls on the Run making sure her running mates felt motivated and loved as they prepared for the race thank you B for all for being a great example and a Soaring Eagle congratulations Madison Heights Elementary Naomi Tolliver not here okay and then Temperance Elementary Maggie wheeler you can go on that end that way we're kind of balanced out so Maggie is a fourth grader at Temperance and has been selected because she is a
010model student she comes into class repair to learn each and every day she is kind to everyone she is around and always has a smile and a story to tell Maggie is always asking questions and cont to class discussion Magie exemplifies what it means to be a Temperance tiger congratulations all right now we're taking the picture so we need to moving all [Applause] right all right all right now we have our staff of the month from Amis County High School Mr Preston [Applause] Sandage Mr Sandage has worked at ACS for many years and cares deeply for our school and Community whenever there's an issue Mr Sandage always comes to our Aid Mr Sanders Works incredibly hard to maintain our building and we appreciate his leadership and his dedication to our school and they want to
011say thank you Preston and I will say I've been I was at the high school quite a few years Preston has been there many of those years and when I was a teacher assistant principal and principal and he was always somebody who got the job done I could always go to him if there was a need he got taken care of so Preston thank you for your time and all you've done for amers County High School thank you from aec tatari not with us amoris Middle School Katherine [Applause] whitrick Miss wri is an eighth grade math and geometry teacher at ammer middle school is a November staff of the month miss wri establishes a great Rapport for students and finds unique ways to build relationships with her students she wears many hats at AMS as
012a math 8 and geometry teacher athletic director coordinates the drama club sponsors the FCA Club helps with the steam club and much more all of these roles benefit the students in a positive and engaging way Miss wri collaborates well with her colleagues and leads by example she is a fantastic role model for our students as she is a great example of the AMS big three respect responsibility and resilience congratulations Miss wri and AMF staff of the month manelis Jennifer Fielder not with us okay they're having a a community dinner tonight so she's there for that um amalon Amanda prze ammer Elementary Kelly [Applause] Arrington Miss Arrington is a fourth grade teacher at Amis Elementary has been selected because she always comes to school with the smile on her face Miss Arington truly has a heart
013for teaching that shows through her dedication to her students she makes a point of forming laston relationships with her kids and is always looking to improve her practice thanks for all you do congratulations Central Corey [Applause] tar Cory Tyre is a fifth grade teacher at Central and she's been selected because she may be new to Central Elementary this year but she has embraced the wcat family with open arms and it's a great addition to the team Miss Ty loves her students and is passionate about teaching them Math and Science she incorporates songs tricks and overall fun into class while being energetic and keeping her students engaged thank you any songs you want to share tonight oh you don't have to we're good elen Michelle [Applause] D Miss Del is an instructional instructional assistant at elen
014has been selected because she is always willing to help out wherever elen has a need her kindness Cal demeanor and unwavering dependability have been a beacon of support for both colleagues and students whether through assisting teachers students the main office or covering the clinic as a lay responder she consistently exemplifies the values we hold dear her role is an integral asset to our school is undeniable thank you Miss delit for all you do Madison Heights Alexis me [Applause] congratulations seems like gu the year at to high school Alexis is a fifth grade teacher at Madison Heights Elementary has been selected as a star faculty of the month because she works tirelessly tirelessly to build meaningful relationships with her students and their families creates a supportive and caring classroom and and creates a supportive and caring
015classroom environment she goes above and beyond by attending her students supporting events and activities showing them how much she values and supports him congratulations Alexis on this well-deserved recognition Temperance Elementary Miss Bobby Campbell I do know Bob you cannot be here tonight because she just recently had surgery and she's recovering from that I do want to thank her for all she does and she's been a face of that school for the last 20 years I think um and she is Lance here I don't want to say anything bad but she could she could probably run to school without us being up there um so she's just a great person and a great employee so I want to recognize her for that um transportation Miss Brenda Dunning and from the school administration office Mr Rodney Carter
016[Applause] Rodney thanks and Rodney is known for going above and beyond to help out he consistently brightens everyone's St with kindness and his willingness to lend a helping hand his acceptional work ethic and positive attitude makes him an invaluable part of our School Division congratulations Rodney and thank you for all you do appreciate it all right so to our parents um we'll have certificates and photos uh for you tonight and so we'll get those to your student school you're welcome to stay if you want to stay for the meeting um if not I understand uh but we do appreciate you being here tonight and again thank you for letting us recognize your your child and then for us teachers thank you all and again you're welcome to stay but I understand that's okay yeah yeah
017thank you r so tonight we're also going to recognize our school bookkeepers um did I skip one what did I miss middle school middle school I did Skip One let me get that all right Middle School the um hammer Middle School their FFA uh participated in the State Fair farry competition in the I guess the junior class correct farry field day and they won so I'm GNA ask Miss par to come up and she can speak to it a lot better than I [Laughter] can so we'll see how good I do at this because I have all right so forestry field day um it's seven students they do a series of five different competitions um and we've come close to First and this year we got first so I'll start off with Hume Campbell so
018if you'll come forward hum so Hume was our water accuracy guy so he wears an Indian pump on his back and there's a little can way away and he has to spray into that and see how much water he can get and I do remember off the top of my head what he got he got 12 oz of water in the can in a minute I believe you guys have so the next two that I'm going to recognize are Bella Torres and Olivia Hughes Bella and Olivia were my Crosscut team this year so My First Year having two girls for my Crosscut last year I had a Jack and Jill team um they can cut almost as fast as the high schooler so good job for them and their girls so go girls um next
019is Jasper Tomlin and Brantley Martin and Jasper and Brentley are our log roll team so they have to get a log from one end of the court to the other end spin it halfway and keep going um I'll go back to Olivia and Bella they are cutting a piece of wood and using a Crosscut saw two man saw um so in case you don't know what that is and then my last one is Jesse back there Jesse Tyrie and Jesse is our Bowa guy he's done it the last two years um and he has perfected his time and doing well with that so oh and Preston sorry sorry guys um Preston madx is our log toss so he stands at the end of the court and Chucks a log as far as he can Chuck
020it and so his height helps us with that and this is his first year competing with that so he did well so they practice from about two weeks into school into October the 1 of October so it's kind of hard to get them all organized and get them there but they show up they get it done and we are so proud of them so conrat everybody good congratulations [Applause] s over 20 teams yeah there are 20 teams that competed in that competition so wow great job thank you thank you sir thank you sir all right now we get to recognize our bookkeeper sorry trying to get you a little bit earlier Britney wouldn't let me so our bookkeepers when you come into a school you know they're often the first people you see when ENT
021the building they a voice on the phone they answer to phone um they take on many hats but they also keep our books for for our schools and there's a lot that goes into that um we don't realize most people don't realize the amount of time and energy goes into making sure not only you got to keep the books but at their right and we know where the money's going how much money comes in matches what goes out and vice versa so um you they have lots they have again they wear lots of hats but again we want to again recognize them and Mr Conor is going to speak a little bit this later in the Pres in our meeting tonight about um our our audit and a lot of that audit is due to
022what they do in the buildings again last month you had the activity account again with later on tonight but we do want to recognize our bookkeeper so those that are here just want to call your name if you can call your name please come forward from amalon Miss Jessica stennet [Applause] thank you from Amis Elementary Jessica dowy Central Kim Floyd Elon Karen [Applause] Lynch Temperance again miss Bobby Campbell and we know she's recovering from surgery manelis Lori [Applause] Maguire ammer midle Terry Campbell and ammer County High School Donna [Applause] doding congratulations thank you Mr Terry than [Applause] you all right public hearing wa yeah okay moving on uh 3.0 public hearing uh is there anyone here to speak to the school board have you have to open the public hearing oh sorry sorry sorry so
023can I get a motion to open public hear so move okay second second all in favor I I sorry all right so is there anyone here tonight who would like to speak to the board about the uh 25 26 School operational budget okay yeah yeah just making sure so um motion to close is anything else anything okay four got motion second second all in favor I I okay okay now public comment um we currently have one person who has signed up tonight um Miss Ona uh McKennon you come forward please state your name and address for the record please my name is Ona mcclinon I live in Madison Hots I have been driving a school bus for you for the last 13 years as of this month I'm here tonight to express my opposition and
024amazement to a proposal that you will apparently deal with this evening I'm referring to the plan to send a message to the Virginia School Board Association that this board does not support adding protection for gender identity to the Virginia human rights act with sending this message mean that you support discrimination towards staff and students based on gender identity how amazing it is to me that the board would want the option of treating someone differently based entirely on their gender identity we all have a gender identity the difference here is that some members of this board May disagree with my gender identity there are several efforts nationally to discredit to discredit and humiliate transgender persons why because we are small in number we don't conform to Convention we are different and because we are different we
025make people uncomfortable we scare people and as a result many people want the approval of the government to treat us differently less humanely and many demonize US for purely political purposes you all know by now that I am transgender many want to treat me differently based on the fact that I'm a member of the small transgender Community for example just two days ago a fellow school bus driver confronted me saying that I chose the wrong name for myself 8 years ago I told this person that I believed Ona has worked well for me this person said I was wrong and even told me that they believe told me what they believed was the best name I should have given myself one's name is very personal it took me months to come up with Ona this
026struck me as arrogant and insensitive and I'm worried is this the new normal where opinions are not expressed only online but to the person's face fortunately many other people in this County treat me with the same fairness and and respect with which they treat everyone the email sent to the board members in November as reported by The Daily Advance said that protecting gender identity is not reflective of the Amber County's values how is this known was a scientific survey taken using a perfectly random selection of County residents including a carefully calculated margin of error or is the board assuming that everyone in the county thinks the same way that the board members think from personal experience I can tell you this is not so there is no law or policy that can legitimately say that
027that discrimination based on gender identity is acceptable and the absence of laws and policies addressing discrimination based on gender identity also does not mean discrimination is acceptable by sending this message to the Virginia School Board Association the board will be saying that a transgender person does not deserve treatment equal to the members of Virginia school boards or other members of our community God does not pick favorites he loves and Embraces all equally and without conditions his presence can be felt by everyone at all times and in all places he even tells me to love all school board members even when even those with whom I disagree fortunately loving respecting and forgiving are not hard to do I invite you to look at me directly and tell me that I'm not equal to you it can't
028be done no child of God can say that to any other child of God I cannot and will not and would not say that to you thank you thank you ma'am so that was the only one we had signed up is anyone from the audience who would like to approach the board okay seeing none we'll move on Dr Wells yes sir amended agenda I guess that means that's students students good evening I hope you are all doing well first I would like to start off by saying that we held our third animal Winter Fest at the high school starting on Tuesday and it went on through Wednesday on Tuesday it was followed by our Winter concert where our chorus and show choir sung and on Wednesday it was followed by improv night a lot of
029the other schools are have also been having a lot of holiday celebrations AMS had a band and chorus concert at the beginning of the month manelis Middle School they held a they are holding a chorus and band concert on the 17th of this month and they are holding a community dinner tonight amalon they had they're having they had cookies with Santa on the 10th and a lot of the elementary schools are doing Angel Che trees which I think is a great way to spread Christmas cheer and encourage students to come to school later on next week we have senior movie night where we will be watching a Christmas movie and spring spending time with each other for everyone who's paid their senior dues and we have spirit week next week which is a part of
030our attendance competition to encourage students to come to school thank you how's it going um uh on that Christmas season uh we have a lot going on it's a season of giving um our NHS did a toy drive um where we um collected toys and a lot of it was from funds that we've raised for NHS um some of our officers went to the store and um actually the um Town police were right outside so we didn't even have to sort that out and just gave them the toys a whole cart and uh that was cool and convenient and uh exciting um also with the giving our class officers actually um gave all the seniors little Christmas cards with candy canes um so that's exciting we've also had different food drives uh at the high
031school and at other schools as well um just so everybody can have a happier holiday season um on that same note we have a lot of decorations around the high school um that I've seen there's a big snowman in the library that I know a lot of people get a kick out of cuz it's taller than Mr Jerk and that's rare to come by um our FFA had a um Christmas tree sale or is still having a Christmas tree sale um and not on the holiday season but back to sports what I love to talk about every time I come um our girls basball has had a good start to their season they're three in one with our top scorer averaging over 17 points a game um she's doing phenomenal um wrestling is also starting
032off well and then uh I know I don't represent only the high school I've seen multiple middle schoolers as well um come to the high school for conditionings I play soccer I've seen um several come out to conditioning more than any year I've seen before and I know they come out for other sports as well um so that's exciting and then what I think is pretty cool is our journalism class um start a new news network Lancer News Network and we'll see their first um airing or whatever like their video that they've made it's about 6 minutes long we'll see that tomorrow for the first time and um what I've heard I talked to a couple the the journalism students they said it'll be on campus news local news and world news um so that'll
033be exciting and um we're looking forward to Christmas thank you board anything for our student reps so well I will tell you guys thanks for all that you've you know endured coming to all the meetings you have one semester left that's that's that's amazing that it's it's that close it's going quick so uh like I said just hang in there um look forward to June June May June May 23rd for May 23rd gotcha scary Mr Terry yes ma'am quick question the new uh Network that's going on where do we watch it I know that they're sending an email to teachers that's how students will watch it um I can find out for you where um where other people could watch it as well that would be really cool yeah exactly right they're send an email
034out tomorrow um it's actually collaboration between our journalism class and aded classes together to fil this they're out next we and they're do once a we students EXC thank you sir cool thank you anyone else on the board thank you guys okay all right Dr Wells moving on so on the amended agenda item six um approval of additional position so Mr chair members of the board um in my previous conversations and emails and requests throughout the the month we had a request for a position at amalon elementary school for an instructional assistant and this is to meet the needs of special education students uh at that building so I would ask if there's any questions we'll be glad to try to answer those but I would like to for that position to be added um
035any discussion on that first and then we'll go from there okay for anything for Dr Wells Mr Terry yes sir Dr Wells um paying for this position yes in a long term I don't know if we're going to keep this position I don't know if we just have a need right now and that may change how is that going to look so these These are com out of title funds title 6B funds however these are needs based on individual students for this year so as we get students transfer in or transfer out that have certain needs right we sometimes need to hire assistance for them so this is a yearly a one-year position and then next year that's what to 6p funds are kind of for so we look at things in the beginning of
036the year and we assess and as we go through the year we say hey we need support here here and that's how we do those funds so it's not a budgeted position because we can't anticipate some of these needs got it's a flexible position it's a one year it'll go from there the end of the school year and then next year we' assess and see if we need that position or not understand Mr Dar that's it okay so Mr Terry yes if I understand correctly did you say it was being funded by a grant yes title 6B tile 6 B thank you yes I just I don't recall seeing that email for that position but it was sent last month last month yes okay and I asked you that was part of last month and
037the followup and then we wanted to discuss it this month I want to give you time to okay all right I'm back with you I thought it was something new this month I'm remember that's that was the one from I introduced it last month to you before the board meeting and want youall have time to reflect and then we discuss it this month okay perfect board is there anything else for Dr Wells okay we have someone to fill this position we would have to advertise yeah nobody's in it obviously we haven't approved it so right why didn't know if you had somebody in mind that you wanted to put we have to advertise it and then the the right person for the job hopefully we'll find okay so you need a motion I need a
038motion to approve that position okay so board can I get a motion so move Mr Terry okay can I get a second second all in favor I I okay thank you all right the next was uh we also had some a memo sent out earlier it was last month as well was a possible need for a math um or CTE position at monelison I've sent a follow-up email a week about a week week and a half ago with a proposal to um change schedules around and to add to request a um position for art because we were mov staff around to have an art vacancy upon further review with staff here we have really found that we would probably be best served to add a section to two Math teachers and drop a section of
039uh robotics seventh grade robotics and and cover the position that the need that way as opposed to adding the position I would recommend that we have discussion because next year I believe we will need that position and this is just easier to do now versus midye and tangling up the whole mess um and making a you know just changing schedules everybody else so I feel like when we do budget discussions in January and February that we consider adding a CT position or art whichever way it may go um at man Ellison to the budget for that but I think that' be a discussion to have later I think right now we can cover the math need at monelison by adding a section um to those two Math teachers as opposed to adding the new position
040at the school okay okay board any discussion Miss Terry yes so the um robot robotics robotics yes are we dropping just a class or are we dropping all of Robotics we will drop the seventh grade and they will be redistributed throughout was called the wheel through exploratory classes eighth grade robotics would stay we have two sections of eighth grade robotics that would remain but we would drop seventh grade robotics for this one class this year and then hopefully you know as we work through things through the budget process for next year we could have those classes um without having to drop the whole 11 students it's 11 students in that seventh grade class that would be that have to be put into other classes for second semester and where would we place those 11 students
041into they will get looked at where we have vacancies and what what they want to take and we'll work it that way because some classes we're not going to you know if a class has 20 students we wouldn't another class has 15 I wouldn't put them into the class of 20 they'd be spread out amongst the other uh classes those electives in that class in that period and Dr Norman so it would be probably in our a program or our um computer apps program art music band any of the other electives we have a novel study um so those 11 students and the two math sections that we'll be picking up we know that several of those students need additional math supports and so they would be um placed in those math remediation classes so
042sometimes those classes are usually a setup for the following year right so youve got like introduction to Robotics and then in eighth grade you've get a more advanced study that so if we take these 11 students would they not be at the level they need to be to take the eth grade or will they be behind will not as much out of the program um right now the wheel that is at um both of our middle schools they don't run on a level one level two level three um we have to provide opportunities for students in the areas of math I mean in the areas of band music art um some type of Technology some type of a and some type of health and physical education and as long as they rotate through that in
043a year's time frame over the three years than we have met the requirements what we try to do there is provide them multiple opportunities to do that at sixth grade level seventh grade level and eighth grade level so they don't miss out um this is a second semester so I don't even believe these 11 students have actually are actually in the course right now am I right on that yeah so they won't they would have started in January but we're not opening that section up for them so they're not actually in the they're not in the class right now it's a semester class all right so we're looking at next semester okay yes sir thank you m children you got something yes um all right so for transparency I need to make a statement that
044my wife works at an Allison and would be one of the teachers particular um potentially affected by any moves um my concern and I shared this via email is that there's a disparity already between amoris middle and manelis as far as the number of sections the number of students in the sections uh per teacher and um when I ran the numbers looking at eth grade we had six sections available for uh eighth grade students and um seven MH for am mle and so my concern is is that we're taking away the seventh grade Robotics and so we're we're reducing already one second something that's already um a negative uh for the School Division and I'm just I'm not I don't feel very good about that um I think we need to have more offerings not
045less offerings correct I I totally agree with you um one of the things that I'll say in regards to that is this is a a fix for this year it is mine as well as Mr Maddox and I know Dr Well's intention to come to the board to talk about the equity between the two middle schools in regards to the resources in related arts and CTE classes during the budget cycle um there are things that we're required to do in regards to math because manelis is federally identified and so that was the reason that we had to put in those additional sections of math um and in doing that we really wanted to be able to have a position to where we wouldn't have to take away anything um but I think the board um
046and correct me if I'm wrong the board would have a better understanding of what we're trying to do for the following year during budget so you can see the long-term plan that we need um we as you know uh several years ago we had to combine the art um because we lost a POS position in 2014 at that school actually we lost two positions in the CTE at that school um those need to come back into the system there and um that's one of the things that we'll recommend to the board during budget um if you want to give us a position right now we'll take it but I know that that's not something we can make it work based on our requirements under the federal ident being federally identified right now so we wanted
047to one count at work yes without stressing the board on adding the position um again if you want to add a position we will take a position we will we will make the change however we can do what we need to do for math without adding the position right now but again during budget season I do think we need to really look at the two two programs in both schools and what what positions we may need and the equity there between the two and also look at how course are set up as well um and we can have those conversations during budget but again I both options are there um I just feel that we can make it work with the second one I presented to you last earlier uh in the week as opposed
048to adding the position and I I I appreciate that and you and I've had a few conversations about um basically getting the job done right you know um the last thing I want for our school division is to just get it across the line right I don't want to just barely meet standards or barely yeah we can get it done but it's not going to be yes perfect it's not going to be great we're getting by right we I don't want to get by because if we're just getting by what is that doing to our students what's that doing to our community and so I am a proponent if we've got budget if we' if we got a a person in mind to teach uh because you're talking about creating a new position I think
049that's where we should be going because it's about how are we affecting our students long term right AB because these courses they have a profound effect on our kids as they're thinking about career opportunities and what they get to experience in these CTE courses and quite frankly the kids at monelison are already being cheated because they don't have the same opportunities that the smaller middle school has so and again I can appreciate you wanting to let's get by but I don't want a School Division that just gets by I want a School Division that's going to Excel and we're not going to just make the Mark we're going to exceed the mark So and that's my piece okay Miss Justus did you have something okay okay um of the students the 11 students that would
050be removed from the seventh grade class um you said several needed math remediation so I presume they would be going into math classes during that time of those that don't need the remediation is there room to put them in the eth grade CL robot robotics the class schedule's different period because it's the how they set it up first and second period is one grade level second third third and fourth another grade level so it wouldn't match I and we are keeping the sixth seventh and eighth grade robotics Club um that they'll anybody can participate in that as well so I'll present this as up I'll just leave it to the board yall it's we have two options we can make both well both a viable options is up to the board and your budget process
051and if you want to add dep position I'll gladly do it but I want to give you another option besides that in case there were concerns about adding a position to the budget Dr What what is the budget impact and that may be a question for Mr conage sorry so obviously both will have a budget impact the full FTE would be more um if it's the desire of the board we could do that we just you just know that our enrollments down we're looking at sales tax we're we may have to make decisions later in the year um but we can what does that mean what once we get an updated account tool and we see exactly what our revenue is going to be looking like you know we talk about how we try to
052hold money back for an extra bus um you know everything if if you spit it on one thing it's going to be what's the offset so um if it's the desire of the board we can certainly put it in there and then just be you know put that in there to our analysis as we prepare halfe position for the half year correct so a half year position somebody with a intro position it be roughly 25,000 in salary and then another right I usually when I do my budget think 75,000 for a full year so um and you that whether they take benefits or not that you there's some variables there so roughly 33,000 for up half year is what it would be for the budget and the position yeah what's the which position would it
053be it' be art art okay okay no it wouldn't be art you already have art well we were talking about switching around switching teachers which we had that if somebody moved into right but we're not talking about creating a new art position you already have but what's the new position you would be creating well that's what they're asking the position would be a CTE position but we would move you'd be hiring an art teacher okay I'm back because we would move well an existing staff member into that position how's that well you want me to matter go yes yeah so one thing that you have to understand is if we move and we take that and move that whole position into CTE right now that the person that moves in would probably not be doing
054the robotics they would move and do something like Computer Solutions and then we would come back any spring and have conversations and build a curriculum for the new technology class that we would like to start next year so understand that and that was one of the things we looked at we if if we do this then we're going to remove robotics we might be able to keep the two eighth grade but the others we would have to move to get the sections of math in that we need and then those kids would be in Computer Solutions which would be more of spreadsheets Google Docs things like that which is good for all kids to know but it's not it's really not where we want to go moving forward into next year Mr yes ma'am so
055if I understand correctly if the board were to authorize another teacher the robotics class would still be gone yes in order to in order to get the math classes I need the robotics teacher teaches the math classes so one section would go away that one section would still have to go away because I need that person to teach math but it would free up the wheel and some other things would free up to make it those students would have somewhere to go if I dropped the robotics they would have to go to those other other positions um so it's uh can I explain something sure so right now we have um students in the wheel who first nine weeks they took art class and so because we don't have enough slots in the wheel um
056because we lost a couple of positions back several years ago some students actually rotate through in fourth nine weeks they'll have art a second time or they'll have music a second time or they'll have computer apps a second time and so this would allow for us to open up more slots to where that kid who took art first nine weeks doesn't have to go through the process of taking art the last nine weeks and they get another opportunity another Rel related artart class to participate in if that makes sense okay Mr Terry yes sir why we don't just hire another math teacher this is where we're the the problem I have is finding I can find an art teacher a lot easier I can hire a math teacher because Math teachers are those that can
057teach have jobs right now because it's middle of the Year art teachers I don't have the same requirements for art that I do for math and I need a highly qualified math teacher to lead these math remediations and math courses I wouldn't want to put somebody in here has never taught math even if they might be have a math degree into these courses because they I need somebody that I know can get the kids where I need them as opposed to with art I can we have December graduates I don't have an so in art I have an so and math that we I understand that and I also understand that we haven't been doing so good at math and that's why we in this position so do we need to look at next year
058budget looking for we'll have several options coming to you during budget season yes sir okay yes yes ma'am so we're talking about hiring another art teacher right right we would move current art teacher who has CTE endorsement can go teach the CTE class that we would add we would add the we we hire an art teacher to replace the CTE teacher who's currently teaching art right so we that open up the art section and then our math we would those because those students that are in robotics would come out of Robotics that would open up my sections for robotics from robotics math teacher can teach more math classes okay so the math teacher is just going to get more sections for math yes so that's if we add a position if you don't add a
059position two sections of btics remain I add a section six period to two Math teachers classes NE that two math teacher schedules and they can teach an extra subject an extra class per day and do the do the math work that way and you don't add to position but you still add to sections of math and I just pay them an extra money four or5 th000 right that just to get us through this semester and that will get through the semester yes and we fight it on the budget end for next year in January in February but either way we do it we lose the robotics class we lose at least one section of Robotics either way um you use seventh grade robotics either way if we add the position I may have to lose
060another SE the other robotics because I need that teacher to teach the two sections of math correct so okay sorry hey well at Le just trying to explain it so I understand give multiple options okay anything else Mr my final question Dr Wells is so you presented two options to the board yes um what is your preferred option so I knew that was coming I'm always gonna ask it from a budgetary I'm going to give you two ansers so no I want to know what your preferred one is my preferred one would be what causes the least amount of disruption to the school would be to add the two sections to those to those Math teachers already have and that would cause the least disruption to the building this year and then to talk to
061you very seriously have serious conversations during budget season about adding the CT position for next year so we can make sure we're scheduled that in and we have it locked in our our budget and locked in to school so in the school year starts that position is there so I think the least disruption is to add two sections add a section to those two Math teachers courses and that has at least change to staff who are already teaching classes having to pick up a new curriculum and start something brand new middle of the year but and it also disrupts the building the leas as far as a schedules and routines and things of that nature as well so that'll be my recommendation which would have the most impact on instruction or or the better impact
062on instruction I guess specifically math for math I would feel that doing opt the the two sections of math of those two Math teachers would probably impact math the most right now well that's Mr yes sir that's the bottom line anyways isn't that why we in this yes ma'am I'm use your word wheel is because we're trying to deal with the mass situation according to the reports that we've been getting correct so it could be a short-term fix I understand that but for right now it's got to be a fix right uh because we we got issues there regardless of what we do I have to add two sections of math yeah that's that's I want hear is and I I understand Miss children too about we need if we need I don't have a
063problem if we need a position but what you're saying giving you that right now not going to be a big deal I mean it's not I'm sure you would say I need a position if you needed one is that right if I couldn't make it work you would tell us that you would not have gotten the second email yes yeah I read all emails two or three times but so I mean you know I think somebody ask the same thing less disruption especially for the students and also for the staff I don't want say that just and to to try to deal with this math situation is what your recommendation was just now uh but up when it's time for Budget questions that this would need to be right up there again is that right
064correct and what position is that it's no in the bud it's a CTE position gu art something to do with art I I'm not stupid I'm just trying to it's in the career career technal education so it probably be in the business slash computer apps SL technology and that's looking that's what you're looking for yes ma'am Mr yes yes sir good job I'm sorry he did I'm good last question for me so I don't want to knock our Math teachers because I know they're doing everything they canre and I know there's real struggle out there I I I've seen it I know I understand what do our CTE teachers think about taking on this position are they on board with it because they were teaching other classes and putting them into the math position is
065that something that they're on board with are we going to ask them to he step out of here and do this just because you've got this tool in your toolbx we're not going to throw them into you know the lies den and not support the teacher that is doing the robotics is also one of our strongest Math teachers and her ability to do robotics is because of her strength in math um so it would really strengthen the math by having her Teach an extra section of math and our other teachers also one of our stronger Math teachers that we would at to section to so these are current Math teachers but one of them just teaches math and Robotics so we would just take the section robotics away and add a section to math well
066I I understand that but I also understand that I may be really really good at something but I can do other things and I really have a passion for this and I don't want to take that away from our teachers the conversations have' been positive with the staff okay yes ma'am final question um either Choice doesn't give more access to math to the student students you're going to serve the same number of students either way with math adding two section I'm adding two sections of math okay so it does either way thank you yeah so it adds math so Dr Wells you need well approval oh I don't need to add the two sections I don't need approval because I'm not hiring somebody okay if you want to add a position yes you would have
067to vote and approve so that comes to you if you just want me to add the two sections of math to those two teacher schedules is done I don't need your approval there um if you want me to add a position then that's what you need to vote on if you wanted to position okay so in listening to it I mean um it sounds like if we hired that extra position um the bang wouldn't be as big as we thought it would as it sounds like it might be that's just what I'm hearing unless I'm hearing it wrong um so I I would lean toward making the switches that you've got listed but I'm up for the the board's prevy Mr I I do believe that you know to get through this semester obviously we
068have a math crisis we're trying to mitigate and I think that we're in the middle of budget talks obviously so positions will be discussed for next year and I I think that with the minimum amount of disruption and and qualified teachers adding those two those two classes is the right thing to do to to move us through the rest of the semester without a doubt okay anything else from the board okay okay think we're good Dr Wills thank you thank you sry it took so long to get there I'm glad need to understand so we're fine so the next um action I you had was legislative positions so last month the board had discussion on the vsba legislative positions you voted on the current positions that were taken that Miss Lian uh took to represent
069the board to the vsba conference and she voted per your request um there was also request by Miss Justice to review previous legislative positions taken by the vsba uh during the conversation recommended the board research those positions and reconvene at a later date to discuss and I was asked by the board members tonight to place each positions on the agenda tonight so Mr chair I going to turn it over to you for discussion okay so um board is there any discussion of the uh legislative positions um if the board approves one thought I'd have is so that we could give more time to student achievement tonight that we just ammer just considered requesting vsba not represent them when they're lobbying so we would still be members of the vsba we would still be um getting
070legislative updates and everything it's just they wouldn't have they wouldn't be representing us when they're lobbying at the state level any yes ma'am what if it was a position that we actually wanted them to lobby for us then we would be excluded from that correct yes or you could choose to have a legislative committee a governance committee like some of the other District have and each board member would appoint two people from their District to that committee and then the board would direct that committee to um research their priorities and come up with their own positions which if we're not if if we were to as a board if we were to send a letter that says we don't want you to represent us you don't represent amers in these four areas we would still
071need to formulate our own legislative position position to then be sent to the legislators so so would that be for anything going forward right not looking backwards but any legislative positions that's 2025 or well it's going backwards too because right now they use all of the legislative positions in the book to lobby and then if there is a legislative action being presented if it's not represented by a previous legislative position or a current legislative position then the executive director and the president um have a conversation and decide how vsba should go forward and that happens in the crossover time usually because there's not enough time to get all the members together to take a vote I guess I'm still a little confused by a lot of this because you know I don't want to make
072a decision on something that um happened 10 years ago let's say that doesn't seem quite it's not one of these quick decisions that I would feel comfortable making I would like to have you know have more thought into that so that's what I go with that yes ma'am I I guess and I'm not going to go on and on I I don't know where this is coming from really I mean let's just say we have a book A book in front of us of um laws and regulations whether you want them or not the book is still there it doesn't mean you have to want it so I don't know what it is that we're trying just somebody help me understand what it is what is you asking us to do so what I am
073just suggesting is that rather than have a discussion tonight about no I mean I don't care when a discussion is I just know what are we discussing the the individual legislative positions that were brought up last month what I'm saying is instead of doing that just say you want to cut TI with it all together no ma'am that would be taking out our vsba membership right this would be just saying you don't represent ammer when you're lobbying at the legisl isn't that the same thing no if we removed ourselves from vsb membership we save ourselves $177,000 so what what in there would you not want them to lobby for I I did what you said in Williamsburg you were behind me so you heard what I said so if you you either for it or
074you're not for it so what are you saying now just don't we want you want to start your own governance committee well a lot of districts do have their own governance uh Bedford I mean did this board decide on that right did this board decide on that no ma'am that's why that's why it's up for discussion okay okay so let's just see what is it I still want know what is it that you want to do I'm suggesting that for now we just send a letter saying right now you don't represent don't Lobby for ammer isn't that I I really you know I'm not going this is Christmas time I'm not going to get crazy and I don't get crazy anywhere but I I think there's a question here that I'm not getting answered I
075mean what brought this on well we've got scheduled to do legislative discussion pardon on our agenda we have a no but I mean why is it there why is it there because there have been questions brought forward about from the community from my research of reading it have you read the whole handbook what handbook the VBA the two yes I've been for 25 years okay so but but that doesn't mean that the board can make any decision let me just be clear then I'm going to leave it alone you say you you don't want the vsba to represent you in Rich didn't say that I said certain things I said to avoid a conversation tonight so we can focus on student achievement instead of politics yeah there we go yeah isn't that what's happening that's
076what CBA has become very political uh I went to the conference how much can we table can we table this please so recommendation sir yes sir would be if the board so chooses that you convene a special board meeting sometime in January after our normal regular board meeting that y'all can sit down as a board and discuss this if you so desire but as opposed to during tonight or regular board meeting or you figure out how you want to table this all together that's up to you and the board but if you do want to continue discussion I would recommend we have a special session at some point in January to have that conversation okay so at board I I I kind of agree that if we want to discuss this further we need to
077have this as its own thing instead of sitting here till 10 o'clock tonight um so Mr Terry yes sir can I can I just ask so what does it mean really and I think more for the audience when we talk about the vsba saying they representing amers County what does that really mean like if we send a letter as she suggests or if we send a letter saying don't represent us on one one thing or whatever what does that mean for the vsba and what does that mean for AMR County like what's really happening behind the scenes if a letter is sent can you answer that Miss Justice how that or Miss Lian exactly how that okay so currently as GBA members um vsba goes to the legislature talks with the um committees the boards
078the representatives the delegates Etc and says school boards in Virginia who are represented by vsba are opposed to you um teachers getting um supplemental vs matching for their school bus driving I don't think that's something that ammer is opposed to or that um vsba member boards which would include ammer is opposed to the money following the child to the educational choice of that parent for their child if we send according to the vsba handbook if ammer doesn't agree with that lobbying which is an effort to change laws and code that we need to send a letter to vsba stating that we don't want them to do that right so but what that means in the end and that's the piece I'm trying to get out to I think our audience can really understand what it
079is we're talking about is that when they do that lobbying they basically say we have all these schools and with all the names to say yes these are in support of this agenda and that helps to support them as they Lobby and push for whatever topic it is right and let's be honest it's politics a lot of it right and so what you're suggesting is is that we send a letter to the vsba that says you know what we'll participate in vsba for the other stuff but we don't want you to have our name associated with any lobbying period okay just want to make sure I understood what we're talking about so like Bard if we want to continue this discussion I believe it should be tabled to a different time um next month after
080our regular board meeting uh at a time that is convenient for those who would like to have this conversation so um is there any objection to that okay so Dr Wells can you and Britney work work out send some information out to the board and try to uh you know nail down something nail down time got you yes sir okay Dr Wells moving on 7 point .0 you should have the consent agenda sir okay supp do everybody seeing the items on the consent agenda question to approve okay thank you is there a second second all in favor to approve the consent agenda I I Dr Wells all right thank you sir seven next we have well the old seven the new eight depends on how we look at it so next we have the uh
081administrative uh items and I'll turn up Dr hoden yes so been uh real busy with construction here lately I'm going to let Mr Rog start off with the uh construction project that relates to the auditorium cafeteria at the high school there we go terrible when you got have use your glass to turn on the mic we are old uh but anyway good evening ladies and gentlemen uh so the construction project as Dr H mentioned continues to progress uh we got have gotten to a point now from the outside of the building you'll see minimal changes to the outside still see some but uh it is still progressing so the first picture you actually here is the uh conceptual drawing that was used on all of architectural drawings and things like that to give you a
082comparison of where we are today other than they getting I wish they could gotten a picture with a lift out of there but uh sort of the same angle type of thing so we are getting there and uh making uh great progress as we move along uh this is the wall from the parking lot the the tall section there is of course the auditorium the section to the right is the classrooms that's actually the band classroom on the back side there uh windows are start to go in this is on the uh the left picture is the hallway down toward the the band room and the uh so right or the course room is and the picture on the right is what we call Main Street right above the uh the new restroom looking that
083is looking into the uh existing um part of the school the top part the glasses are looking over top the girls locker room but that is over top the new restroom in the main uh Main Street on the back hallway where the classrooms are you can see all the windows are in with the frame it's most of the glasses in the door has not been placed up yet but uh as you can see on the right hand picture that's a shot of what we look at now as well and other things like I said you a lot of times you don't see unless you're walking through there the left picture is all the HVAC equipment in top of the over top of the new cafeteria as well as the uh some electrical wiring being pulled
084into the junction boxes and this is back in the uh the band equipment room in addition to that back over a Thanksgiving break on that Wednesday uh we shut the power off to that back half of the school put in two disconnects uh with Mor electric install the disconnects so now we can control the power within the the construction area part of the school so we need install new electrical equipment things like that we no longer have to allow on a to to killer power of the Transformer so that was a big huge success there we can control the destiny now we have a lot more control when and when and we we cannot do those type of things so all those things are taking shape over the next few weeks uh several things will
085be caring um some minor brick work is continuing out on the cafeteria end we hope to get that brick work done the still directors are in this week putting the uh roof over top the existing entranceway we had some issues there that they have worked out with engineering so we hope to have everything capped off in there hopefully by Saturday or maybe Monday of next week they are working this weekend for what I understand as well as if you remember walking through the Edition uh they end up toward the coach's office and that end up had a you know we have a nice Skylight up there right now but they're closing all that in hopefully this week so they're they're doing that um a lot of things going on a lot of L work and
086uh they actually today I'll have pictures next next month they actually set the HVAC units today on the back part of the U uh over top of the classrooms so that that was another big event that's going on oh here sorry uh I didn't know where the break was in my pictures and this is the uh shop from the auditorium this is looking from the uh uh flat part of the auditorium seating area looking up on the stage as you can see most of the building particularly in the auditorium and the classroom Parts have had the the uh block primed and this is in the auditorium of course they got the the first coat of black paint on there and um you know wait to get some more finishing work done most of the um
087HVAC work is done in there the electricians are in there now installing all the electrical wiring for lights and those type of things sprinkler systems are in there also this week and in addition to that they also started this week putting the catwalk up um coming across the auditorium so about I don't know probably 10 to 15t in the seat itself from the from the stage will be a catwalk all way across there where you can adjust the lights and those type of things where in the existing Auditorium we had to install scaffolding clim up the scaffolding it was not the best of situation so this will be real good when it gets in and uh we get this up and running this is the uh the ground view back on 111 2023 I took
088out a lot of the pictures we've been sort of going over the last few months but I do have an aerial shop from uh Jameson Lois's drone and this this is a drone shop uh back I think December the 5th and it gives you an idea of what the construction footprint looks like from overhead uh with a new addition out there and uh the new cafeteria s down at the bottom of the stage you see that on like 45 degree angle and the staggered steps where the um the addition comes in and the cafeteria and that wall where the cafeteria all the students everything will be setting to eat as well as then you if you follow it up the hallway up the hall there you can see the roofs covered in uh was called
089Main Street street so a lot of improvements a lot of advancements this over last few weeks and uh still a ways to go but we continue making progress or anything for Mr Rooks Mr Terry yes sir oh okay okay good so that's the uh building a second part is the Fieldhouse so the Fieldhouse lab was poured last week uh it is resting comfortably under some blankets with the weather temperatures um the forms you see have been removed and they did a monolithic pour which basically means they poured the Footers in the floor at the same time um that will be uncovered sometime later this week and then next Monday they will begin placing the steel so there you see they're placing the gravel and there is the pour that started at 6:00 a.m. correct nice
090early Friday morning last week one of the coldest mornings we had but uh it was a great day great day had fun by just some more uh pictures of them finishing in the concrete and that looks like glass floor okay there it was it was cut and then they immediately covered it uh to make sure that it was protected and I will note Justin fauler how you like those pictures with the the picture of the trees reflecting in the concrete quite nice in it thank you all right but anyway you can see some of the things are going on like said finishing roof the existing building um continue electric mechanical continue the painting aspect and then like Dr hen said getting erection on the Fieldhouse now Monday and then the doors for the uh uh
091Auditorium actually came today so they'll start putting those in this week and next week so to get that all weathered in awesome questions for anything for Dr hoden Miss Terry yes sir so we had a little it pop up in the kitchen uh that I assume has been taken care of so how how long before we get the other kitchen up and going we can forget about that ever happening well that so that item was actually obsolete it was a a freak incident that just it arked it was a an old motor if you will yeah it had absolutely nothing to do with the construction there's a motor that control the gas that went to the old hood system that has been taken out years ago when they did some type of constructional work in
092the cafeteria unfortunately you know electricity was left on that device and what happens the capacitor that drove that motor burn up actually you know it arked a little bit and smoked and that was it since then we have removed that aspect of it will never happen again uh to answer you a question the the new kitchen once we can get the uh cafeteria opened up which we're hoping is into April in the new addition part um if we can get the the the existing cafeteria released so we can get in there so you the new kitchen will actually reside in about Midway of the existing cafeteria so we got to get that out get the students in the new section and hopefully we get start on that before the end of the school year because
093it's going to be a long busy summer trying to get that new kitchen up and running before we start school in September in August rather the April May will be moving everything from the um band and choir they'll be moving back into those classrooms so then we can start on there and then we'll also be able to use that Auditorium in may we anticipate the kitchen being open when school starts great whatever the first day of school is we should be cooking in that kitchen all right awesome some of the students are hoping the food gets better with it just saying any other questions Mr Terry uh board anything for yeah just um Dr hen how are we doing on change orders for the project and we have not had many change orders uh recently
094we've we've been able to kind of keep those under um a couple of the things we've done uh direct we had to change some lights uh we had to change a couple other projects and we just did those on our own so we kind of keep that under under wraps anything else board thank you Dr H all right next on my agenda uh we did receive the school safety Grant uh we received $213,300 uh and in that we are working on so the uh camera systems and the um elementary schools are pretty obsolete so we have been working slowly to get those so we'll work on getting those improved uh hopefully a lot of that work will be done over Christmas break um so those principes will have those new camera systems also was able
095to get some new radios uh for communication so we've updated upgraded some of our radios kind of shift them down so the administration will get some new ones and then make sure our custodians will have some and then also uh in the elementary school we'll be able to give those to uh our teach teachers outside on recess so they'll have communication where if anything happened and then um our PE teachers that go outside or um like at the high school Mr Mae he'll be able to take a radio out you know he has a cell phone but it's also nice to have a radio so awesome radios and then another thing that we uh purchased were uh some updated UPS backup battery backups uh they not only filter the uh current coming in but then
096also if we lose power uh they're able to um Power some of our devices for a short time so those were those were some of the other things we purchased and then uh we're also going to upgrade the um uh security door hardware in the interior at Central so lots of things planned lots of things going uh the windows are almost done at the high school uh the exterior windows and we put an RFP out today uh for the other elementary schools so hopefully that'll be work in progress here uh through the right after the break or anything than for Dr H yes sir sorry um Dr hen have we done any studies on um like EMS uh radios emergency radios in our buildings for so Mr has lots of experience with that I'm going
097to let him talk about that for a minute yes overall we have I would say fairly decent coverage throughout the buildings obviously we have dead spots anytime you come inside concrete and metal like that you're going to have um not as good service um one of the options to actually say we have done a study of our buildings no we have not um in my previous career as a consultant with the company um I did Rockingham County all the Harrison BR City schools and and um Rockingham County Schools where we actually go through and and test different devices and and get readings throughout the school it gives us an idea where we need to and donate do not need to put what's called BDA a b directional antenas basically a booster system in the school
098so to my knowledge has never been there when I was here as director of Public Safety we have tried things out when we went from an analog uh system years ago to a new digital system that they currently use today um the penetration is better but to say we have 100% coverage throughout the schools we've never tested that and you know I do feel we we probably have some dat areas we need we could look at in schools yeah just I think it's important especially new construction you'll find out in this Edition you're going to have very limited coverage if it works at all in there and I think it's important um it's easy to do those studies I'm sure you've participated in it I mean when I done it in Louisa I get with
099the uh SRO and and we set it up with this patch that we're going to be doing Radio Calls throughout the building and we literally walk the building from stem to stern every floor every nook and cranny and uh made you know made decisions on install on the BDA and so I'm actually going through that process now and getting that in all of our schools so right and actually on the radios themselves uh depending on how their program you know particular like with har we use Harris radios here and with the Harris radios um radio I had is a consultant we can program and and actually it shows you the level it gives you the the decimal levels of where you're at where you know where's penetration those type of things so we can actually
100tell you I mean yes talking back and forth that's a great test it tells you where anywhere and you cannot talk but also we we can have the data that says hey you're at exible here and you're exal here so you know exactly where you need to put the bdas at so Mr roges for those of you that don't know his previous life was in there so he's he's quite the expert on radio so it's nice to have him on on with that one note that I will say I uh went to the region five uh meeting last week and we still have three districts that don't have buses in their radios which I was quite shocked at that so we're we're doing pretty well with with the radios all right next on my agenda
101Mr Terry uh members of the board is a um Verizon Wireless Tower uh they have given us a uh proposal uh for the grounds at manelis middle school and as you will see uh that area where the star is is way back behind the fields in the woods back there it's a 75 by 75 area that they wish to uh lease they can't give the exact location until they do a study but so the procedure for this is that if you would seek them to go further and you approve it then they have to go through the county but they have to go through you first uh so if you entertain any interest I would have um Nathan Holland uh come and do the presentation next week and then if you approved it then it
102would go to the county so it's a it's a lengthy process and you have the first uh right of ref refusal it's 195 ft Tower uh what they're proposing is um for the lease they would uh it's $800 a month uh $9,600 a year and it would be the first term would be a 5year lease within uh fouryear options after that Mr Terry okay yes sir on that cell tower um are we going to get the money for the school district or is the county going to pick it up because it has to go through it's our it's our property property yes they have to go through the zoning process I sometimes County can do what the county does and and one thing just to clarify the company is celco and it is a Verizon
103tower I do know from living in the area that there are spots right there that are completely dropping calls and being that close to the school kind of concerning they they say it's very very needed as stud yes sir so again what we could do if the board deire we could have them come back in January do a presentation you could hear from them as far as all the ins and outs and then if so chooses the board so choos us and we could take that from then to the board of let them go to the Board of Supervisors and start the process but this will just again um if you want to hear about more about it in January just to hear about it then you can make a decision after that Dr hoden
104is that in the woods or is that on the edge of a field it would be it would be actually in the woods slightly um the the tower location yeah right about there so it's into the woods a little bit now that's the they have to do a little bit more study for the actual but that's the proposed and it has to be there has to be a fall area too for uh for where our property line is and it gets a little bit um complicated on that but that's that's the approximate from the study okay our property goes down to the creek behind there which is about 300 feet okay Mr Terry yes ma'am okay um do do we have any cell towers on on any of our other school properties um we thought
105about having like a focus group or some something for parents to find because I don't know how many parents are going to be Keen about a Sal tower being so close to the school where the kids are well doesn't it have to get still approved by county and all the stuff and that's why they're putting that's why they want to place it where they are it's not close to the school that's about as far as you can get uh and but again what I would like to do is have them come speak to you I would next month and then y'all can make a decision after you hear from them directly now Pros or cons this is your choice and again that you are only the first in the long leg so if you are
106interested for them for him to even come and do the demonstration for you next month that is when you would approve or disapprove if you approve then it goes down the line to planning and there's again quite the length that they have to follow yes ma'am is it going to be a 5G Tower I would imagine yes everything everything we did have request earlier last year to look at the high school property along 29 but that company went was a different position but you know was down below the parking lot on the age of 29 they were looking at that but that company didn't want to follow through with that they went with another option but this will be the only this will be the first place on the school property um for steel Tower
107not looking at El anymore are we no no that one already went on the AL property so that was a nightmare all right thank you um so board um I think it'd be behoove us to at least have a presentation to hear what he's got to say um we can make decisions at that point um any objection okay Dr Hood we get I will set that up and uh let Nathan know and have that for you next month thank you sir all right 702 student suspensions you have in front of you the uh student suspensions for November all right okay thank you and then we have website website yeah so uh Mr chair next we have our our website presentation with Miss bco and I'll have her come forward to the podium and she can
108fill you in or where we are the website discussion thank you good evening Mr chairman members of the board thank you for your time this evening I do have a brief update for you where we are with regards to the website um as we've been working through the process of gathering information so that we make can make decisions on the website um we have held meetings and met individually with all of our building level leaders um we have met with all of our school-based web managers as well as we've met with staff from all of the Departments within the within the division the idea behind me meeting with all those individuals is to seek their input their thoughts and their opinions on how the current website is working for us what the user experience has
109been the organization and thoughts on the overall evaluation of the website meeting our needs um I would tell you that in those conversations there has been a consistency in the messages received um there's been consistency in concerns and there has also been some consistency in what as a div Vision we want to see moving forward which has all been positive when you think about the the process in addition we did convene a nine-person committee um that dis came together to discuss and review the website and the members of that committee we had five departments represented we had instructional staff from both our elementary and our secondary schools and both of those individuals are current web managers so they have a lot of uh firsthand knowledge with working a with a website and then also we
110did have a school member um a school board member representative and we do appreciate um Mr childis and the time that he spent with the committee the committee held three meetings the first meeting was on November the 12th and that was an introductory meeting where we talked about the purpose what we were hoping to do and just some general discussions about the current website and how we would like to move forward the second meeting was on November the 26 and we had four potential website vendors present to the committee um they gave a presentation and then it allowed for some question and answer between the committee members and the vendors and then some again some general discussion about the layouts and designs and what we are hoping to see moving forward and then our final
111meeting was earlier this week where the committee came together um to discuss our final recommendations um the committee does have a final recommendation for a uh provider as well as some thoughts on the design and the layout um and we did Revisited some of the discussions that we had about the website from the first meeting so at this point I do have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning to meet with Dr Wells to present to him the recommendations of the committee and that recommendation will include which vendor the committee recommends that we go with um thoughts on the design and layout for him to make choices on as well as um content for the new website are there any questions for any questions okay thank you very much thank you very much um nine got
112it right this time nine Finance Mr conage good evening Mr chair members of the board tonight we're presenting the financial reports through November um there's really no new items no nothing to note that's different from my prior last month's reporting um um we are anxiously the one thing I do want to point out is that we are anxiously awaiting the new C tool both for starting the budget prep for the next school year but also to see any Revenue changes that will impact this this year um the C tool that should come out next week if we're lucky um will provide will provide updated numbers based off of our fall ADM and we're hoping um that perhaps they will adjust basic Aid because sales tax is coming in lower so I will have more information
113on that um next month once we have a chance to see that and review it um I'll pause now if you have any questions on the reports before I go to my next item Bo any questions from Mr conage thank you ma'am okay so the next item is last month we had presented the Brown Edward's report of the Student Activity audit for the 2324 school year so the first thing we want to do is go back a year further and to see where we stood at the end of 2223 um we had two schools that received perfect Audits and that was amalon elementary and ammer Elementary um the Auditors identified some areas they wanted us to focus on to improve and you'll see them listed on the slide it was mentioning the um accounting software
114that we were using at the time a lot to do with cash receipts and dispersements segregation of Duties and lack of written processes so we took that listing seriously and we started doing some work um the next slide will actually give you by school the area of the weaknesses um as you look across you will see that for elen they wrot struggled that year and had findings in any in each of those program areas and that school became quickly became a focus for the 23 24 school year and we wanted to to address those issues one area Focus that they mentioned again was the school's activity um accounting software um so I want to give a special thanks to Mane Davis our accounting coordinator and joy Foster a former School bookkeeper um we could not
115have gotten this done in the time that we did without their assistance and I know man is in the audience today so thank you um phase one of the school funds online went live July 1st of 2024 so we will H we have that in place currently we are working on phase two which is the school cash online which allows for electronic payments in hopes of reducing the cash that's going into the schools the next Focus was a review of our process and our trainings we held a bookkeeper boot camp to review best practices and discuss challenges this was a full day boot camp for our bookkeepers our principles we we had them come for only a half of the day um at this training we distributed a receipt writing guide to give to your
116teachers in activity sponsors just really stressing the documentation of and receding of all those re seats um we also started a monthly internal audit Again by our accounting coordinator Miss Davis would post those results and she shares them Dr Wells has access to them the principles the bookkeepers myself we can see each month how they're doing um with their audits we created a fee sheet to assist with receding processes at the schools um and establish a cash carrier threshold to prevent finding for minimal receipts after deposits have been made so if a bookkeeper had gone to the school had gone to the bank excuse me and had made a deposit and they get back and they get a $2 you know deposit it would be a finding if they hadn't gone back so we put
117in a minimal threshold so that that would not be a finding during the audit the next was the segregation of Duties and that will probably never go away we do not have enough staff that we could have those proper um the segregation of Duties and the chain of command um and that's that's every School Division has that um that is the most challenging for us to do the one thing we can do is put in um mitigating controls um proper checks and balances just so that everybody can see what's going on in those accounts Miss Davis also created and we distributed an accounting manual at that bot Camp boot camp and this clearly outlined the expectations and the responsibilities of everyone it had the principal's responsibility the bookkeeper responsibility it was um standardizing the processes
118so that everyone was doing the same thing if if someone went to another school they would have the exact same process at the school they was in so a lot of work has been done and I'm very proud to say that it has shown in the next year's audit so just remember the first one where you had all those columns and all those X's so you'll see in the shear there's not as many columns there not many not as many X's um all these are tied to cash receipts and again we're hoping that that school cash online will assist in those areas minimizing the amount of cash and the reeding that has to go through um again last year we had two schools with perfect Audits and I want to congratulate the schools receiving perfect
119audits for the 23 24 school year that's amalon Elementary they have received this is their second year backtack year for a perfect audit um ammer middle school monelisa middle school ammer high school and I just have to say I'm especially proud to say this we recognize the fifth school which is amalon Elementary I apologize Elon Elementary they did a phenomenal job um to turn it around as as fast as they did um even the Auditors mentioned that to us and I do apologize staying in the wrong school um so I am very grateful to have such a dedicated staff that you know we work well together and we have the same goal in mind and I just want to thank everybody do youall have any questions board anything from Mr colage thank you for your
120efforts that's looks that's great to see that it is thank you maam and nice work thank you that's okay okay Dr Wells 10 so next we have uh item 10 instruction Dr Norman thank you Mr chairman and members of the board I have three quick items for you tonight the first would be um the division support plan you were provided that information last month a copy of it um that was sent to the Virginia Department of Education along with the three school plans it was approved at your place tonight you have actually the um paperwork from vooe that shows the three times that it was reviewed as well as our completion for our division plan and all the updates as well as the Madison Heights um manelis Middle School and Central Elementary so right now
121we are in compliance with all of our federal requirements regarding our um federal identification schools and the division support plan and I'll take any questions that you may have or any questions for Dr Norman okay number two um the second thing is that I would like to explain to you three different pockets of academic progress data that you had requested the first one is in a packet that looks like this and it is a lot of information it is our vows assessment which replaced Pal's assessment so it is our Virginia literacy Virginia language and literacy screening that we do K through fifth grade students um and the first page really is just an overview for you because the pages behind it um are very very specific very detailed by grade level um as well as
122division information that gives you very specific information on how our reading is going whether it's through fluency decoding um word wreck um comprehension and how that lines out with our students at each grade level students that have been ided is what it is called on your paperwork means that they have some type of reading deficiency that we they get additional supports from our reading specialist in our elementary schools and I'm going to give that to you tonight please feel free to take a look at it if you have any questions you can contact myself um Ashley Hutchinson who is our instructional specialist for literacy in elementary or of course Miss wheeler who oversees the program as our supervisor on the vs front this is the first year going from Pals to vals so we have
123no real data to compared to like previous year so this is the this is the Baseline year and we'll have grow from there forward so you really can't compare the bows test to the pal test because they're on a different level and different scoring scale so they're different tests yes thank you you're very welcome so the second pocket of information looks like this it is your red yellow green chart and it is an overview of information on the four content areas or three content areas that are assessed at each of our school schools depending on the so um tests that are taken it is done by grade level and it is done by content area by school and this is just a snapshot for the month of November so the principals pulled their information together
124that they had from their plc's they ranked their students um according to data that they had pulled um whether it was a common assessment that they had in the grade level or a um unit test or anecdotal information from the teachers or grades that go into the grade book a lot of information went into this but this is what they believe um are targeted kids in the area of needs additional support um at risk meaning we need to do a little tweaks with those kids or that are well prepared and this is based on what they would do by the end of the school year I will also allow you to have as much time as you want to so take a look at that and purview it you can contact me um Dr Wells
125uh you can contact directly to the uh building principles I would ask that if you do that you just kind of give me a heads up um and Dr Wells a heads up that you've done that don't stress my principles out just CCS on email okay B anything for Dr Norman thank you you're very welcome okay and the last one I'm going to turn it over to miss so she oversees the laser program that we have been patiently waiting for for VOE to release they have done that um you will get a monthly report from Miss Cecil um a couple of pages but I've asked her tonight to walk you through the memo that she's going to give you monthly so you'll know the big sections and what laser will do for you um so
126miss Cecil take it away and before she gets started out also add that um this is an overview if you want more detailed discussion this is I would say let's scheduled two by tws in January or February we can do sit downs and just talk about it as opposed to tonight um with time but again with two by twos I would say we can do that in January February and sit down with you and discuss this in depth and answer any questions you have once youve had a chance to look at it absolutely thank you all right good evening Mr chair members of the board I will I am going to give you a very brief update about this Digital Data platform that we have now that is live and running that we're still unpacking
127um so as a reminder laser has access gives us access to three different dashboards it gives us access to an accrediation dashboard a group comparison dashboard and the early warning system dashboard so the information and update that I'm going to provide you this evening is really just related directly to the early warning system dashboard so as you'll see um at your place that the early warning system follows an ABC model which means it looks at data related to a for attendance B for behavior and C for coursework um and noted for you at the top through those lenses each has their own decision rule for identifying students within the ranges of on track early warning and needing intervention so you'll see those noted there and so each section to follow in the information that you
128have at your place really provides you specific information related to those individual components within the early warning system dashboard so the first overview provided for you is the division-wide information um and so you'll see those Focus areas that I just mentioned and just to summarize um you'll see that 36.6 of students are on track while 37.1 of those um require intervention and that really means that students those students have been identified in at least one of the ABC areas for needing support so again for each area you're going to see percentages for students that are on track identified for early warning or are in need for intervention and so just flipping the page um we're going to get some more school specific information represented in those colored stack bars there and so this provides you
129know the same information that you just saw at the div division level but it's more spe more school specific there and so this information is going to help us with our comparison data it's going to help us prioritizing supports where needed in those areas of attendance behavior and coursework and so just to continue um the information that follows there just unpacks a little bit further within those three areas um so to start you'll see information related to the attendance early warning status and so again underneath that image you'll see those decision rules below the image and the attendance rate listed in descending order so you'll see that Temperance and elen Elementary currently hold that highest overall attendance rate and on the right side you'll see those stacked bars that show the breakdown um in percentages
130for that early warning level there so for example you'll see AMR County High School and you'll see Central Elementary showing higher needs for intervention there so I do just want to stop for a second here and remind the board that this data is just a snapshot in current time and so it doesn't have any information here to show any growth which I do believe the both of those schools have been showing um and so moving on to behav behavior that overview there we'll see information related to the number of behavior events again on the right side percentages and number of students in each of the war early warning statuses and then here um is where you can see the highest number where the highest number of behavior events are happening and how that's impacting um
131instruction there and so finally that last piece there is the cours workk and so here um the decision rules are a little bit more nuanced um so we are using information or laser is using information um from potentially three different areas we've got students Summit of scores so not all of their scores and so for us that's going to be items labeled under that Mastery of content there and the most current s so data um as well as the previous year's data so again this visual has those two pieces where you're seeing um first the grades by school grade averages by school in that descending order and then the second is that early warning system status so again I want to reiterate that this information only pulls grades coded as Mastery of content so those
132summative um and then when looking at elementary schools just learned this today I'm very excited um that K and one remember those are standards based grading So currently what laser does is it pulls all of the information that it has and so it doesn't have those averages for K and one so it plugs a zero in its place so that obviously is going to impact that average there so I did just want to note that and so that is the information that I have for you today and so as we continue to kind of dig deep into this platform and learn more about it and what it has to offer well obviously like Dr Norman and Dr well stated bring that to you monthly and if you have any questions I'd be happy to try
133to answer them at this time but again as Dr W stated also be available for some unpacking further and 2 by tws okay board anything for Miss Cecil Miss Cil Dr Norman so now that you're finally have gotten to use laser uh it is it living up to the hype uh are we happy with what we're seeing are we getting the information are we going to get the information that we so there's a couple of things that um we already know that we have questions into vooe in regards to and that's the span of time does it go back and pick up a year's time 12 months or is it a current school year where it starts from August and goes to the end of the school year that data piece one of the other
134not concerns but just to make sure that y'all understand this this is not something that we are are able to go back and look at or track backwards because it is a real time data so it changes about 4 four times a day depending on if teacher like laser sweeps our system four times at least um through a 24-hour period and so if a teacher updates a grade book and takes a zero out because a kid put brought in their assignment it changes so it's a it's varied it is a snapshot that's why you get a printed copy rather than us trying to give you a um a digital copy of it um because that data changes it's already changed from when we pulled this um earlier this week so in order for us to
135really do a comparison you have to do a screenshot save it a month later same time pull it again or a week later same time pull it again to kind of get a comparison but it does give you real time data so it's it's updated all the time so but what you see today you can't really compare to three days ago because they haven't figured out a way to export yet um which I find odd um but I would strongly suggest for you to set up some time two by twos for to meet with so you can actually see it in process um we can bring it up pull it up show you exactly you can tell us um what subgroups you want to take a look at and what that looks like it drills
136down very specific to students it does the the drill Downs by grade by demographics but all those things is very good to sit down and click and you can go you know so economically disadvantaged male female whatever race and you can click all those things and click those groups and it'll give you a list of students and you can kind of see where they are yeah like I shared with you guys before as far as I think a board is concerned we're concerned with that high level view right and so we want to see those green sections getting bigger yes and maybe the yellow getting bigger but the red getting smaller um for all groups right for all of our students so um I'm I'm excited to hear that it's finally alive it is and
137uh I hope that it does live up to the hype and I hope we understand the data you know I've been in education for a long time and for a long time we've talked about data data data and uh I've yet to really see a lot of people use the data that they get effectively to improve and structure right I think the question becomes once you get it now what right right what do we do with it that's where we got to really focus that's we've working with our staff on too is okay we have it now what yeah and Miss Cil um trained our principles in it Monday Monday yep and then they were very excited to have real- time access to real time summarized data I will say that as with any new
138platform right once you click into something and learn something else and then I think on their side also are learning you know getting through a few Kinks so um sometimes it will be live and sometimes they [Laughter] won't for anything else for Dr Norman Miss Cil thank you for bringing this forward and giving it to us and um making the opportunity for us to meet with you two by two to have a greater understanding thank you thank you thank you Miss Cil next on the agenda I have um I've asked Mr Maddox to come we um are going through Federal monitoring on several fronts this year uh but one of the major ones that uh we are undertaking this year and Mr Maddox is overseeing this entire project along with Mr prel is our uh
139CTE Federal monitoring so I've asked him just to come before the board provide you with some information the timeline so you'll have an understanding of what's getting ready to take place because it is a truly a huge undertaking for our division Mr Maddox yes ma'am Mr chairman members of the board in your package you have a memo regarding the federal monitoring and review uh the memorandum highlights the upcoming Federal Career and Technical education monitoring review scheduled for March 11th and 12th uh this is the first onsite review since I can remember I'm early 90s late 80s maybe uh we've went through some desk audits before but nothing that's an an on-site and it's going to be a two-day on-site review so the purpose of the review is to ensure compliance with the Perkins uh five
140requirements it evaluates program quality and it supports ongoing Improvement and efforts so when you look at the Timeline right now uh through November and December we've been collecting and reviewing uh the necessary documentation that includes Financial records uh teacher syllabus uh Improvement plans everything that we have to go through with that and we've also assigned roles to different people as far as who's going to go through the review and what the responsibilities are uh with those folks so we met with our teachers they understand that piece and their role in that and we're going to come later uh as you see and meet meet with the principles and things like that cuz um in January we'll submit our PR Min AR documentation to the state uh we try to do that by January 24th uh
141we'll coordinate planning meetings with administrators and staff then hopefully in February uh we're going to organize all those materials for review and then we're going to conduct a uh mock monitoring sessions and finalize the visitation schedule so we're hoping to use some of our local CTE directors that we know to come in and and we'll do a walk through with the schools so the staff and the teachers will understand kind of what's going on so and then March after they come in and they do the on-site review uh within 45 days we'll get a report of their findings and then develop and submit corrective action plans uh as needed so we really view this uh process as an opportunity a positive opportunity to showcase our programs uh and our strengths but also identify areas of
142improvement and I'll answer any questions you may have board any questions for yeah Mr Maddox well I would like to remind the board that to we're going through the construction project at the high school which is in part in that CTE area as well so U Mr roges and Dr hoden they are promising we're me that we're going to get really good scores right okay we're we're actually having a meeting tomorrow we have virtual meetings every so often with uh the VOE representatives and we're going to meet with them tomorrow and and they've been very very supportive in this process so uh like I said we view it as a as being positive okay Bo anything for Mr Maddox thank you sir thank you all right what number are we on lost track that was
14311 that was 11 now okay 11 now okay so now we go to student services and Mr neighbors cannot be with us tonight but Dr Patrone is and she will take the lead thank you Dr Wells good evening Mr chair members of the board um before you you have the best lab data for the month of November um you could see there that 92 students continued to be served in our best Labs um and that was for more than 1,400 visits you can see the um by the first chart there Madison Heights continues to be um pretty busy in the best lab they have a lot of students that are benefiting from that service you can see by the next graph um that our early Elementary continues to be a hot spot for behavior um
144that is the same as in previous months and then at the bottom there is the student count so you can see that some students are accessing um multiple times throughout the month um like many times throughout the month and some are you know two to five visits throughout the month so um different plans for every student everything is very individualized um but there's that data for you guys um and I could take any questions okay board any questions well M yes ma'am kind of put Mr chill oh he he stepped out to the alluded to so what is this is fairly new but what are you doing with the data I mean what what are you coming up with well this data is actually um by the board's request every month I mean what internally
145when you're seeing it yourselves and working through this and the gentleman that's in charge this what what are you seeing that needs to to be done or I mean just is there a plan right we're we're looking at what supports and what we're targeting where and that's going to feed into my next okay conversation but yeah okay anything else Bo thank you Dr okay so 11.02 is me also um you have in front of you or you should at least a mental health um document it might be brightly colored mine's in black and white um and this is um by the board's requests uh that we provide you with our big picture of where we want to go with mental health services in amers County Public Schools so the first thing um there is our
146priorities and these would be the things that we want to make sure that we're implementing as soon as possible the uh best labs in every school would be one of them you could see there the um at with the previous presentation that there was a lot of usage that our elementary schools continue to have um I I'm going to use the term Hots spots in the early grades where we're having a lot of behaviors that are disrupting classes and and causing kids to be removed from classes and the best lab is really um decreasing how much time kids are out of classes by giving them structured breaks and um giving them that time where they can regulate their emotions before they go back into class or they could check in and do that ahead of
147time so we want to expand that into every building it is also working at the secondary level we do have a best Lab at aec and a best Lab at monelison that are also being highly effective and um we want to get one into every building the um second bullet point there is to expand our Behavior Uh program this past year the board was gracious enough to give us a teacher for um grades K through two and two instructional assistants um and so that program uh started this year and we've had some pretty good success with um getting kids who would otherwise be on homebound or who would otherwise be put into a private day setting and therefore costing lots of money to the county um we've been able to keep them within ammer County
148Public Schools and so we want to expand that program for grades 3 through five and we would ask again for a teacher position and two instructional aids to do that um we have also been um requesting certified behavior supports and this goes to your question Miss Lian when we're looking at that data and we're seeing Madison Heights and Central Elementary School um with different data Central Elementary School's data is really in their um discipline data we're seeing the the huge need to support behaviors and so having certified Behavior technicians people who have undergone special training and have certifications to deal with that type of behavior would be um positions that we would really want in those buildings um and then uh we would like to develop and well plan to implement a um Universal screener
149and the response protocols that go along with that so that we can support all of our students and we can start being more preventative instead of just responding to mental health stuff we could start identifying things ahead of time and dealing with them so going a little further out um we want to start adding in licensed counselors and these are positions that would be Medicaid billable so hopefully would be more budget neutral they might have a cost in the front end to get them onboarded and get their case loads built up but as they fill up they should be um they should pay for themselves uh we also would like to request um and again this is in the future uh a a par professional who can go to Every Elementary School and help with
150um ISS right now ISD ISS is in the front office of most of our elementary schools takes up a lot of time from our Administrative Assistant St who are also our bookkeepers as you heard earlier and are doing many duties and also our administrators who really need to be in classrooms focused on instruction but instead are um monitoring students with behavior in the front office so that would be a a a solution to that problem um and then of course there would be targeted professional development for our staff um who are dealing with behavior and um our teachers who are having classrooms that are uh more challenging to manage than maybe in past years going a little further out into um 2026 and Beyond is more about expansion it's expanding the services I just talked
151about the counseling services the behavior supports that's what ABA is for it's the um behavior supports and then looking at parent Resource Centers um people who can help support students with transitions whether that's coming back from homebound instruction coming back from a long-term suspension or even coming back from aec and going back into the high school having person who may be able to help facilitate that trans that transition would be really beneficial for some of our students um as you know from the suspension report vaping sensation would be something that might benefit some of our kids um and Mr Rooks could attest to that with the clogging of our pipes um and another thing is that in our region and I know that many of you have heard me talk about this we have a
152um shortage of Mental Health Counselors so maybe in the future looking at coursework at the high school level that introduces that field to our students and make get them excited about that so that they can go on to be the counselors and fill those positions in the future so those are some of our bigger picture things um we will continue we have a mental health team that meets each month with Dr Wells um it's um several school counselors uh several teachers uh a representative from each building that team will continue to make recommendations and be a part of this decision-making process we will continue to work with all of the local vendors and Contra contractors to meet our students needs whether these things get funded or not whether these things happen or not um so
153that will still be a part of our process we are constantly looking for grant opportunities to pay for some of these services and help support our kids and um the last thing that is ongoing is just making sure that we have calming spaces that our classrooms have what they need for students to do self-regulation and all of that um so I'm happy to take some questions but I would love to sit down and Che by twos with you guys and go through this in much more detail cuz this is a lot of information and each one of these things could be its own presentation so I feel like that would be a a better way to explain all of this um and make sure that all of your your questions are answered but I'm happy
154to take any questions now also Bo any questions for Dr Patron yes sir sorry that's okay Dr Pon um so I'm gonna ask a couple questions and I'm not against adding these positions or or you know I think we have a mental health crisis in our country uh a lot of school divisions are experiencing similar problems but as a board our primary focus is you know how do we provide the best instruction to our kids so as we look at you know the budget uh discussions and talking about adding new instructional positions increasing pay for IAS and teachers and classified staff as a board member could you give us some insight on how do we balance adding those instructional positions and these and and the positions that you're um some yeah yeah so some of
155these things would be um there would be a cost upfront to get people up and running but we we would be able to get Medicaid reimburse but don't we have issues right now with Medicaid reimbursement we do and that's why we don't have these things yet right that's why they're out in the future but yeah I think part of that though too Mr childis is if we're not taking taking care of those needs of the students they can't they won't be successful in school again I'm not saying we don't do it I'm not saying I'm saying right as a board member where do we balance the scales right so I'm I'm selfishly looking for some insight yeah I I can't answer that I mean I feel I also have other responsibilities outside of mental health
156and I feel strongly about some of those other things that you just said also that I think our IAS deser you know opin yeah so this is why I didn't run for school board but again it something as we go through this process of prioritizing and how we go through the pr prioritization process but also working through this as well knowing that hopefully Medicaid as we look at these you know longer term goals that we might not be able to do some of these this year it it's something we would like to see but if we can't get there we can't get there but also hopefully Medicare is going to work out some of their kinks in the next next months into year and once we know those Kinks worked out those reimbursements come in
157would actually offset the cost of that to us because we could Medicaid billable so it's a process again I think as we go through the budget process here we're going to have have some serious conversations and as we prioritize things we will have recommendations to you based on the budget so we'll have our recommendations based on what we think is doable and then beyond that would be you know where we we see where we end up those are going to be not just getting us across the line but where we think we need to be ex exceling and Mr Children um Mr neighbors he's not here tonight but when we were talking about this same conversation today in senior staff he talked about if we don't come up with our own solution for the kids
158and the children in amers County either we're going to pay for it now or we're going to pay for it later and I will tell you that if a child is not mentally healthy physically healthy and able to be in that classroom and behave I can't teach them anything and I got to make sure that that is for every teacher in the classroom for every instructional person that they understand that the mental and physical health of our children is important just as much as teaching the content to them they're not going to learn the content until they feel safe and secure and are able to do what they need to do in the classroom right but and we can talk about this the day but for me the balance is is when you're talking about
159a position that's gon to affect a few that have um to deal with those concerns versus the majority of students right and so that's the Dilemma that I think we struggle with I think long term we really need to figure out the root cause absolutely rather you know it seems like we do a lot of putting Band-Aids on things to address the issues to try and move us along to get us past this issue to the next one but until we can identify the root cause and start addressing those concerns and issues then we're going to continue have to deal with all these struggles yes sir okay board anything else thank you Dr Patron all right next we go to Human Resources Mr Gallagher both all right Mr chair members of the board good evening
160um the first item we have is the VAC can see memo for the month so you have that in front of you and I'm happy to take any questions regarding that memo this month that you might have Bo anything for Mr Gallagher okay thank sir good okay um secondly on the agenda I just want to give you an update on the calendar and kind of where we are with that as you know we formed a calendar committee that committee did come up with a survey that we pushed out um for a proposed calendar back on November 12th that survey closed on the 26th uh we had 173 respondents during that time frame uh 63% of those respondents were were teachers and uh 10% were secretaries or administrative assistants um a report that we did have
161a 75.7% of the respondents that that U liked the calendar that was de developed and proposed so they they agreed that this is going to meet the needs of all stakeholders involved but there was also an opportunity to provide some written feedback you all probably saw the survey as well um so we met Monday December 9th the committee did to review the written comments provided by respondents to consider any NE uh necessary revisions based on that um the only immediate revision was uh to to change the uh the timing of a particular teacher work day just relative to the end of the grading period to make it consistent which was a small adjustment um but the um the frequency the highest frequency comments in the survey uh were to add a fall bre add an
162additional fall break day there's one already in there and that was um eight uh respondents uh to make Thanksgiving break a whole week uh so you know there two days that we we come to school then take off to bate a whole week um that was six respondents um to make the last day of school a teacher work day we understand the rationale for that um to facilitate end of year responsibilities and there were five respondents there out of the out of the 173 and to add an additional uh teacher to add additional teacher work or PD days um so addition to have opportunities for professional development or work days more of those throughout the year um so with those comments uh we are in the process of determining do we want to push out
163a second survey the only way these things could be accommodated to be quite honest you can't uh you can't give without taking something away um so to actually accommod ate these requests of the of you know some of the respondents you would have to go into Thursday of the first week of June uh in order to meet those needs then you'll be able to provide additional days but you're going to have to give those back on the on the back end uh so we will either have a proposal for you for first read in January or we're considering a second survey just a look at what that would look like extending the school year out to meet the needs or the requests of of of a minority of of the respondents um so we're kind
164of in that process and one way or another we'll keep you informed of where we are with that so I will then take any questions you might have okay Terry yes sir Mr gar if yes sir you take maybe the top three things that they were asking for and say which one do you want would be better than saying okay do we want to extend the school year because I have a feeling when you tell everybody you're going to want to extend the school year they're going to say forget it well I agree with you but maybe give them something on that list instead of just saying okay we're going to give you option A B or C pick the one and that's the one we're going to go with well any one of them
165is going to extend the year at least a day or more and so but I understand uh but by not doing so we would actually be honoring the overwhelming M majority of the responses or feedback from the past several years which is to end in May you know sometimes they'll ask to start later but you know if the one thing that's been reiterated year after year is we want to end in May right so I do believe that trying to meet and and again there were U you know 5% 3% the comments weren't of a lot of the respondents but to add them in any one of them for whatever amount of days it's going to add to the end of the year right and maybe sending that survey back out and letting all everybody
166that's involved in the survey know this could happen may get more people to respond to the survey and and that's that's possibility yes sir Bo anything else for Mr Gallagher okay next subject thank you I'm G turn it over to Dr Rose good evening Mr chair and board members I'm going to share some recruiting initiatives and recognition events that we have on our calendar beginning in January we will start our recruiting season and that will run through April we'll be um visiting with our recruitment team that we'll be gathering together in the next couple of weeks um we will be giv we will be visiting 11 colleges and universities in the state of Virginia including um Longwood um JMU Virginia State University Virginia Union Liberty Old Dominion University of Lynchberg and um Bridgewater College um
167we're also delighted to invite you to our teacher of the year and staff support um support staff member of the Year recognition ceremony that's going to be held um January 16th at Sweet barer college that will be at 6:00 p.m. um we will be honoring all our school level um Rec nominees and that that time we will announce our division winners for each of those categories so we hope you'll be able to join us on that evening and more information will be sent to you regarding that and additionally I'm pleased to announce that on January 1st we will hold our annual career fair here at the school at February 1st our annual career fair here at the school administration building I believe you have a flyer inside your folder detailing that and you'll be seeing
168information going out on our social media to really promote that in the positions that we're going to be vying for and we're hoping that we're going to meet some exceptional individuals who can be a part of our acps family and I am here for any questions you might have but other than that I am that concludes all I have to share okay board any questions for Dr Rose Dr Rose real quick question uh we I did hear somebody dropped the word December graduates coming up do we have we tapped into any um graduates coming up here soon each time we have an opening that we know is on the The Horizon we start connecting with our um our connectors at the various universities in the surrounding area and it has come up with some promising
169um opportunities for some good yeah and I'll just that we are in close collaboration with all of our University partners and staying in touch with those December grads and when you look at the vacancy memo sometimes you see some of those positions where unfortunately there just aren't very many so I mean if if it were Elementary positions or even special education or some things there might be more candidates coming out in December some of whom were probably our student teaching with us um our current openings for this year not for next year but for this year are difficult to fill and there are just not many candidates out there coming out right now thank you board anything else okay moving on all right next we have my matters 12 um 13 I believe that's where
170we are I hope so we're going anyway no um earlier this month you received courtly review data from me and what that was was a summary sections from each principal and their courtly reviews so I just want make sure you have look at that and if you have questions on that feel free to reach out to me um statement of economic interest opens January 1st you have until February 3rd to get it in if you don't get in by February 3r a $250 fine so you can't start until January 1st I will send you an email reminder on January 1st second third time frame that hey you can start now but don't start now because it doesn't do any good to start now so wait until January 1st and yeah Britney will send you some
171PDF information on it um Community dinner uh we are held in a community dinner to show up ammer initiative on January 28th we at M night's Community Center again so we are looking forward to that just want to get on the calendar we'll send you more information on that as well the Board of Supervisors construction tour is the 17th at 5:00 p.m. at the high school and we will take them on the walk you are welcome to join us um if you so desire it'll be at 5:00 we'll meet in the Lusher Hall area again and do take a walking tour of the uh new construction with our Board of Supervisors um the Committees Miss Justice had asked for a list of all the Committees that we have so what we did actually I'll say
172we what Britney did um was compile a list of Schoolboard committees you just have an email that earlier this evening if Schoolboard committees then my committees that we have so you'll see that list so some are what you are required and you've asked for other are the commities that we just run as a division outside of what you have asked us to run so you have that list of committees and names everyone on it so if you have questions on that feel free to let us know we'll be glad to discuss it with you um the auditorium grand opening again another save the date and you'll be getting this multiple times this May 10th and it'll be at for the high school edition grand opening we just want to get on your calendars and we
173will send more stuff out to you about that but that'll be May 10th from 1 to5 we'll do a ribbon cutting have some speeches and all the good stuff and then have tours of the construction of a new Auditorium and some music group singing and everything else and food and make it a good afternoon look forward to it right uh that's all I have P any questions Bo anything for Dr Wells thank you sir thank you all righty moving on school board members with your committee and um closing comments for each so Mr childr you want to start us off please yes sir I will keep it brief as always um I don't have any committee report we have not met again since uh the last uh uh meeting and uh so nothing to report
174there with with the governor um with the um STEM Academy trying to remember which committee I'm on um I do want to say you know it's we talk about the our students and all the recognitions it's awesome to hear all these wonderful things and um it um it really I think it opens our eyes and allows the community to see a wonderful things our students are doing but also our staff I think our staff uh needs um to be recognized for sure um I do want to um just say a quick thing about uh Ralph steel uh he was my Elementary principal and I remember him uh very vividly um a great man and uh we uh he lived in the community and um I remember as I was refering soccer and I would be
175up there and he would be there with his granddaughter and we would talk about uh how good of a student I was in school but um he had a huge impact in this community and uh he's definitely going to be missed so um I did uh have an opportunity to visit U masss Elementary School this past month past month Mr Hutson uh gave me uh walked me around I got to see all the various classrooms I got to see some of the teachers and action and visit with our students and it's just phenomenal uh and um you know it's I wish our community could to get to see that to see our teachers in action and the relationships uh that they have with the students it uh it really is a great experience so I
176do appreciate having the opportunity uh to do that um I did also get to attend the vsba conference uh with um a few of you as well and so that was uh very good I got to attend the um the biggest session I remember was the uh AI session uh which I disagreed with some of the comments they were saying but that's okay um and speaking of AI I did attend the the fourth and final fast AI training for region five uh today so okay all I got great thank you sir Miss Saunders yes I was um glad to see all the students it's always nice to recognize them but I did want to point out that it was girl power tonight just going to say it just putting it out there boys y'all got
177St St it up um one of the things though I was really disappointed was there was no one that came forward for the budget and we sit up here and we make decisions that affect a lot of you guys out in the audience I'm hoping that someone's actually listen to this at 8:30 at night but it would be really great if you guys would tell us a direction that you want us to go into I mean I I I know this way that the staff may want but as a community as parents it would be really helpful if you guys could give us some direction sometime as well um it was also I want to say the last thing is the spirit of giving from the schools and the students that's awesome to see because
178pay it forward that's a great way to end on happy holidays to everyone thank you thank you ma'am Mr Rossi yes it is uh Christmas time I love this time of year uh I understand we've got a new doctor in the building is that is that correct congratulations Dr Joey Crawford Crawford congratulations you're welcome hard work went into that and now we got to get you a new placard I guess right are we going to do that or do he already got one at the school way good right right I got you I got you well he understands we can get a crayon for him he'll be want to jinx it prior to it going want to order before it happen all right well I understand superstitions so yeah uh a lot of good things
179going on um I I know we've had a lot of discussion tonight and the vsba and you know I've never been a big fan of government getting involved in education I think since 1985 that whole National Education was just a disaster I think there's numbers that prove it is and yet you know millions and millions of go into it every year out of our own pockets and I think ammer should be able to take care take care of amrest and when I hear the word Lobby I really get nervous because that's people that are paying money to push an agenda and putting politics in school it just doesn't belong there's no need we got to get back to the basics and that's part of the reason we got into the mess we're in now now
180you know back when we were founding this country and building off what we had it was little one room School houses that educated our children to build this country into one of the greatest Nations the world's ever seen and you know the federal government getting into it I just I don't have a warm fuzzy feeling because is our voice really being heard when they're making these laws that we have to follow is our voice really being heard and you know we we sit and you know we complain about this complain about that and yet how many show up like you were talking about the budget earlier you know we're going to approve a budget and then right after we approve it everybody's going to show up and have something to say about the budget you
181know you can complain about it that you're right but do something show up to a meeting make a comment you know there's nothing wrong with showing up to a meeting and saying you're your peace you know and that's we encourage it we want the input from the community we work for the community that's what we're doing here we're trying to educate the children of this community and people need to put that in perspective instead of just getting behind a keyboard or sending an email show up you know every four years we've got positions opened up on this board you can always run for for office and actually be a part of it make an impact if you don't think things are going right get on the ballot do something about it don't just sit behind
182your keyboard and complain about it but that's enough about that Christmas time Vapes I've got a little inside tip on The Vape issue and I encourage parents to go through their children's phone accounts they're moving dollars at a time so Mom and Dad don't grow where you spend that dollar at oh lunch got a ice cream one person gets a dollar from 40 of his friends and he goes and buys that Vape that's how they're getting it past the parents so parents if you're listening open up the account and see how many times your student your child spends a dollar at the school not to the school but to a person oh Sally needed a dollar Jimmy needed a dollar Susie needed a dollar that's where the money's coming from the or they've got their
183PayPal accounts or their what is it Apple pay I think is the way they're using it so pay attention to your children's accounts find out where that money is going really going and then if your child has a $35 deposit on their iPhone may want to find out where that money went that's just little Insider stuff that I've got from other students so be aware of that and the last thing I've got to say is um as we enter the Christmas SE reason my God didn't make any mistakes I don't need to understand why I just know my God didn't say oops when he created me he created me in the most perfect thing I could be we're all Sinners we're all Sinners and to know that God doesn't say oops he'll accept you as
184you are but if you accept him he will change who you are and turn you into love and merry Christmas everybody thanks sir Miss Justice all right um G School met um the first Wednesday of this month they adopted a cell phone policy um cell phones will be out of sight unless students get explicit permission from the staff member for a specific purpose not because of the the population they're they're not really anticipating much um conflict over that he said in 15 years as superintendent he's not had any referrals so um the first promotional um visit from CV cbgs at ammer high school is going to be on December 16th at 1 p.m. January 23rd is going to be the program Overview at the school from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. I encourage you parents take
185your kids there way whether they're interested or not I'm sure they're going to see some really cool stuff um ammer Middle School is touring the Govern gu school on Friday January 31st that sounds pretty exciting and manelis is going to do it February 20th they purchased new laptops this year and they're looking at donating them to the um Jubilee family development and Park View mission and Peacemaker volunteers um Mrs Miller good has informed me we have 20 eligible students that were referred to go school which is really um really good and I'm very excited about that um next on my agenda it has been an incredibly busy four weeks um I went to vsba um for three and a half days and um thanks Miss Lian for casting the vote as a the board asked
186you um it was very interesting to sit in the delegate assembly and see how it operated um there were um Fairfax brought up a couple questions that were really interesting that uh regarding ex officio members in the bylaws and um anyways lots of interesting stuff I hadn't even looked at and I've looked at tons so um I really appreciated one of the workshops was on how you work together as a board when you're coming from different um perspectives but you have a same goal which is the betterment of the students and I appreciated that I also went to the Schoolboard member Alliance where um we got to um speak with Amy gadera she was she was there all day um I got to just talk about chronic absenteeism you know if you can limit that
187to those who aren't achieving those who have behavioral issues you'll get a better reflection of what's happening in the district if you have a student that's sick for three weeks and still achieving and has excused absences that's not what you're looking for as an indicator of what's going on in the schools um so got to Advocate that way um got to um listen to Elizabeth Schultz and she shared about the Cannabis toolkits um those are available online and you know I know you've heard this before but parents that talk with their kids about cannabis the um statistics on the students that use go way down when their parents have had a conversation so um just there was a lot of really good stuff so um you know Dr Wells tonight we heard from Ona regarding
188a very troubling um interaction with another employee it sounded like is that correct okay does our current policy um protect or give process for Ona to pursue Justice in that situation okay good I wanted to make certain that our policy does not encourage or allow that kind of treatment um we're all created specially in due respect and kindness and I personally very very aggravated when I get to see someone treated because they think differently or live differently in a disrespectful derogatory dehumanizing Manner and um that may be very sad so thank you that our policy does protect um I hope during this Christmas season you get to spend time with family you get to um celebrate the reason for the season and if that's not your focal point I hope you have lots of great
189time with family and friends and rest and recuperate get out enjoy the beautiful lights Bluff walk is pretty cool driving Country Roads around here where there are no leaves is pretty cool yeah make some memories and just take care of yourself and for those of you that are having a really hard time during this season um just I just want to remind you you're not alone you make a difference and how you feel today or yesterday isn't going to be that way forever and you only have to walk one step at a time reach out there are people around you that care about you so Merry Christmas okay thank you ma'am Miss Lian um just Mr chair just a few items Laur la board met last week and at this time Amhurst has five students
190there um Dr Copeland in Lynchburg is the interim uh Superintendent at this time while Lynchburg is looking for a superintendent um we had a great meeting and um we we have some new members coming and going from different divisions but Ro is still um doing very well under the direction of Dr Lewis uh I think mental health when I was at the conference which I enjoyed uh Hot Topic was mental health uh nothing new Dr Patron and her company is very much on top of it and it's going to be here for a while a few years ago the aente ism still is so we've switched now to NAS mental health and they all related if you ask me uh to to achievement and that's what I look at uh I did indure the subzero
191temperatures at the parade I'm still here if Dr well survived it I was up there watching him I'm still here and um we also had uh cookies with Santa and the Grinch this week at amalon so uh I wasn't able to get to the uh High School event because my little people said come on down here but things are just great in the area and this is a great time for the children and for the staff to enjoy the holidays so I'm looking forward to we're closing out a year basically and uh we got we got some things to challenge us and every school division does but I was listening to um you all suggesting 2 by tws and all these scenarios well yes and know it might just be a time that you have
192to get together and have a meeting uh you can use a word Retreat or you can use a word Workshop where everybody gets an understanding and and it doesn't have to be all day I don't mind calling you on two by TW but time time is a little bit off me sometime but just may have to have another little session um on the achievement uh when it's before budget time you know but I appreciate all the emails from Dr Wells explaining the budgets I mean explain exp the positions Mr CH is zooming in on that and I think we all as I close just want the same thing we just want the children to succeed got a few bumps in the road so I was reading some of the things you sent and I especially
193took notice to substitutes the consistency of teaching when you have to have a sub or when the teachers are out by no means we want anyone to come to work sick uh however we do know that these sort of things will at some moment have an influence on achievement so so many factors and we all working together so uh once again um I I'll just say happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all and look forward to continuing on a little while longer okay thank you ma'am so um I did not brave the cold Miss lean I'm I must apologize I missed you I know you did you did the right thing yeah y'all are better people than I anyway uh so I'd like to I would like to thank everybody for the information that was
194provided here tonight and Echo what Mr childr and Miss Lian both kind of alluded to earlier when we have that data that shows something what do we do with it let's take it move forward and go hey this is where we are what are we going to do what's our next step and help that guide us in part of the budget process you know it's we need it here we need it there where are we and and like Miss Saunders mentioned you know the commun is going I want to see us improve in these areas let's let's hear from our our our community um we we not tonight but we have had some people come and speak various things about the budget uh we've heard those things we've got those noted down that those are
195items we are going to be looking at um we can't address everything because it's not an unlimited supply of money that's for sure but we can prioritize so um um would take you people's input on that so uh um Dr Crawford I'd like to uh also congratulate you sir and let him know that that the uh the live wreath that we got and tree is all everything's all good so supporting the what is it the FFA FFA crew yep so um that's that's a great little thing they got going on out there looking forward to seeing that you know more progress on the the the building out at the high school um it's amazing to see how far it's come in a relatively short amount of time um take a nice tour with a Board
196of Supervisors and show them the progress and you know get them excited and seeing them with the community growing and just that connection I think that'll be a good thing for us um again mer Christmas to everybody hope everybody has a good and safe holiday and uh we'll do this again in January all right so now I have something to read you do okay oh can I say one thing I forget I forget Dr Crawford um I'm just echoing them I've known you for a minute and my family for a minute and my family congratulates you okay I just about get that info Trina text me so all right okay Dr Wills so pursuant to section 2.2 3711 A1 of the code of Virginia it is recommended the board can be a closed meeting for
197the following A1 Personnel matters okay board you got a motion don't move sir okay got a second all in favor I I in close session [Music]