001[Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] all the February School Amherst County school board meeting to to order Dr
002Wells can turn it over to you for just a moment yes sir Mr chair ladies and gentlemen the board as you may know rough about a week and a week ago we were notified they had recovered the body of mice and Sylvester in the Rockfish River I do want to take a moment to as we do our moment of silence I'd ask that we all keep him and his family and friends and our thoughts and prayers along with the families friends and staff at the schools but also of the other two students as well because this was the third student in that incident at the Rockfish River so let's please keep everyone in our thoughts and prayers but especially those of my sins his body was just recovered thank you sir so if we could
003stand for a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance please 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 okay so um board I need an approval of for the agenda the move let's have a first can I get a second please second second all in favor aye all opposed okay we have an approved gender Dr Wells all right getting some feedback so I'm going to try to do this I might have to we have to scoot forward a little bit we'll find out how this works gotcha so the feedback gets bad we'll have to readjust um so February is a month of recognition so we have several recognitions we want to talk
004about first for this first list is School Board appreciation month so tonight uh we do recognize our school board February School Board appreciation month and we thank you for all you've done for the students and staff of Amherst County Public Schools at your place there are gifts from the schools um from our students and our staff and we just want to recognize you for your service and thank you for your service and the little Milton's next tonight we're in recognition of that we also have a short video that we uh name a jowls helped put together and so I would like take a moment to watch the video every Garden School Board appreciation month good evening good evening and welcome is it a motion to approve our agenda so moved my favorite all in favor
005um show Amherst County School counties how much we appreciate them thoughts thoughts our school board application why don't we can invite our voters and members of our community to cover our community to come in words about how our school about how our school today Anderson County unfortunatives too busy reading policies with basket reach number yeah I think it was nice but I think the staff should be in the inside much of their professional profess work environment environment curriculum day facility salary depending on our school board thank you notes I could tell everyone I could tell everyone what they took to spend on higher than some Xbox is pretty sexy the main reason our school board members work so hard to pretend it's all about the students of AAC Prince of AAC and if we really
006want to show our appreciation we should do it in a way that includes so many people they've influenced but especially the next Generations Next Generation right great so bright idea let's put together a video of our entire team anniversary showcase some of the important work we've done with our work we've done here give it a deal all in favor thank you foreign [Music] County School Board Commerce County school thank you hello Edwards County Schools listen this is a huge shout out and appreciate all the hard work that you do to help what you do to help us all about public all the public here and accounting and um behind the scenes and fun of those things we love you so much if we don't tell you that we're really afraid that we really appreciate you
007thank you for all your love you keep up the good and keep up the good work thank you what can you do it's more time your health your generous people you don't even have to be present to it's hard to be supporting cherries inspiring listening or visiting yourself we know what we what you do [Music] um just look let's see if you look classic along a special a special guilt see how what you do a wonderful place we appreciate all the hard work you do keep it up coordinate thank you school board for taking every child every day it's not letting cameras get lost on the Shelf with despises thank you thank you for yourself [Music] right all right thank you all so much for what you do here at the central office of Amherst
008County Public Schools we thank you for all you do we think for the hard work we thank you for the dedication we thank you for everything from me to you thank you thank you for keeping our school system straight throughout all the years thank you for giving us random days along I love to sleep on random love just so that y'all give us members thank you school board for all you do to support our students and staff happy School happy birthday School month school board members we know that your job is a difficult one but we know that you always have our best interests and our students best interest in mind so thank you for all that you do hi I'd just like to take a moment just like the year of school board appreciation
009board appreciation month to improved all the our students and staff at Amherst County Public Schools we know it's not an easy job but we do appreciate what you do thank you thank you school board for everything hello February School Board appreciation month on behalf of Amherst County Public Schools I want to thank our school board for showing up for acps their dedication students families staff and Community it's greatly appreciated and it's not good one notice thanks again for all you do for acps in for your time and your dedication to all the students County Public Schools go team ers [Applause] so I believe at your place you also should have a card for some strawberries and I think they're going to be in March 7th so just make sure you keep that card you have
010to redeem it for your strawberries also it's a good place to have a Valentine's card and some candy that was donated from a Community member so they didn't want to be named so they're at your place as well February so again thank you school board for all you do for us we appreciate it again so February is also Black History Month so schools across the division are conducting have been conducting events and activities and recognition of black history month so that's a school system you know we want to we want to thank members of our community for all they've done and and recognize all members of our society and our community for their contributions to Amherst County Public Schools uh National School counseling week was this week as well and uh so we thank our
011school counselors for all they've done for us and all they can do for our students you know when things like the incident happened with with our students in rockfish River and the death of those students you know that's one side of what the counselors are here for but there's so many other little things they do on a daily basis with our students so I just want to thank them for all they do for our students and our staff and their families so the appreciation to our school counselors uh next week is Virginia kindness week uh kindness weakest to recognize that simple day-to-day acts of kindness enable our schools communities and state to be a Kinder safer healthier and more inclusive place to live work learn and play so next week we'll be doing things throughout
012our division regarding School kindness week and so we do recognize that also next week is School Board clerk week so I want to thank Miss McNerney in advance for all she does for getting things set up and all the help she gives me and all the support she gives to school board and then finally uh National CTE month is this month so we want to thank and recognize our CTE teachers for all they do in our CT departments and I believe Mr Maddox is going to have a couple words to say regarding our CTE Department yeah thank you Dr world to the board members February is CTE month and the theme for this year is celebrate today own tomorrow and that provides our schools a chance an opportunity to showcase success stories of excellent and
013communicate The crucial role that CTE plays in preparing a highly skilled Workforce for our economy I just want to say our community is blessed with having some of the best CTE instructors in the state and would like to thank all the instructors for everything they do for our students and Amherst County Public Schools I also want to thank you as a school board for all your support for our programs it is greatly appreciated and also I'd like to thank all of our local businesses and Community for their support students giving them opportunities to do work-based learning participate in career fairs and also allowing our students to take tours in their business in in their buildings and stuff so some of the activities that are happening during the month are welding three students are building a
014firewood bundler which is a really neat thing for our FFA our Jag students are planning a field trip to Moore's electric as well as the Virginia Technical Institute our cyber security students have a competition at the University of Lynchburg on international relations terrorism and security our marketing students are also creating social media posts after interviewing some of our CTE structure instructors agriculture Amherst Middle School they're going to livestock and horse judging competitions at Virginia Tech and they're also preparing for the Spring Fling where they'll have plants and stuff and things of that nature to sell during that time so it's it's a lot of things going on in our buildings I know it's a lot of career exploration uh activities happening in elementary schools so if you get a chance get out and talk to
015the our teachers and our instructors they'd love to love to see you this month thank you sir okay so now we are moving on to 3.0 uh for public comment I have a list of names of people who've signed up ahead of time so when I call your name please come forward State your um do they have to State address any longer or is it just a vote right region yeah just to read District just read okay so first off is Kathleen ayal good evening I'm Kathleen ayal and I'm the the department chair at the high school for The English Department and an aea rep at the high school and I am a member of District Two um I'd like to just remind everybody that I know that we all want to have a quality
016challenging safe education for all of our students and I just hope all of us will remember that everything we do should be in the service of that goal um recently I sent a letter to school board members um addressing issues about the sexually explicit opt-in policy and also about recent challenges to library materials I did receive a few polite thank yous for that letter but that is uh really all I heard I want to just address the opt-in policy again and urge School Board to please reconsider and change that to an opt-out policy the opt-out policy really addresses all of our needs for parents students and teachers and is really much more easy to handle and in many ways is more inclusive than the opt-in policy a few problems with the opt-in policy it's very
017difficult to collect forms from all of the students who might need to return them in addition the definition of sexually sexually explicit as defined by the Virginia code still has ambiguities in it and this could cause two contention and confusion between parents and teachers um that would be unfortunate and um if we are not getting the forms back we have to develop alternative resources and prepare dual lessons which could be quite burdensome and potentially expensive for teachers to handle those are just a few of the considerations so I urge School Board to please revisit this and change it back we'll change it to an opt-out policy I know Lynchburg City schools has just done this um secondly I would like to just talk about the issue of indoctrination and about challenges to our library books
018nationally there's still a great deal of talk about indoctrination it's in our state it's in our County too as witnessed at a recent meeting that I intended the word indoctrination is really being used Loosely and incorrectly I just like to remind people indoctrination is the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically another definition it's the process of repeating an idea or belief to someone until they accept it without criticism or to teach to fully accept teach someone to fully accept the ideas opinions and beliefs of a particular group and not to consider other ideas or opinions this is not happening in our schools having a book available for checkout in a school library is not indoctrination just as it is not in any library that is not indoctrination
019libraries are repositories of human culture learning and ideas and uh we will not agree with everything we find in a library for example having a book in our library that might address the issue of critical race theory is not indoctrination yet this was cited as such in a recent meeting that I witnessed having an award-winning novel in our library that has an intentionally upsetting scene of molestation is not indoctrination in pornography and yet it was presented as such in the same meeting that I attended I'm not convinced that the recent scrutiny of the some of the texts in our library is really representative of the will of our County the will and the concern of our County those of us who want our students to have access to a wide variety of sources and to
020have the freedom to check out books of their choosing I would just encourage you to please speak up and make your wishes known to the county again um have respect for our Librarians they have a system to follow and excuse me you're three minutes ago okay uh anyway respect our libraries and the policies we have in place thank you next we have Kate McFatter good evening my name is Kate McPhatter and I think I'm District three I live at 973 Lewis Keith Road I have two children that have been enrolled in acps one graduated last year and is currently a freshman in college and the other is a junior enrolled at the Governor's School in the high school I am greatly concerned with what appears to be an attack on literature in our schools historically
021teachers have chosen instructional reading material based on best practices and guidelines from State mandated sols the new opt-in policy in the classroom is of particular concern to me again historically teachers have been able to choose novels for their classrooms with an opt-out policy if parents were not comfortable with the literature choice they could opt their student out of reading that novel and they would then be assigned an alternative choice now all students must opt in meaning a permission slip must go home with each novel if the permission slip doesn't get returned and if you have teenagers you know this is the case more often than not you may have a class reading many different novels which greatly detracts from classroom discussion and continuity it also creates an enormous workload for teachers potentially having to create
022and Implement multiple lesson plans for each class and adds even more administrative duties to their jobs both of my girls have received high quality instruction in literature and writing while enrolled in acps they have loved many of the novels chosen for their classes I have read many of those same books and count them among my favorites it opens up discussions in our home about real world issues conflicts and pressures that we all face those discussions can be a rarity in teenage years and I'm grateful to Mrs iow Mr Jacobs Mrs Dalton and many others for encouraging reading for instruction as well as pleasure so my ultimate question here is why why are we making it so difficult for students to have access to literature what is wrong with the traditional opt-out policy what is wrong
023with allowing trained professionals to choose materials for their classrooms as a parent I am much more concerned with what my children see on a screen than what they read in a book at least with a book they have to use their imagination it is no secret that the education field is harder than ever every division has staff shortages why then are we adding more duties Educators don't enter this profession for the pay but take away their autonomy in the classroom and I fear we will lose our best and brightest in fact just last night Lynchburg City School Board rejected the opt-in policy in part due to the logistical nightmare that it would cause change the policy back to opt out this still allows for choice for people that wish to do so the verbiage recently
024changed to opt in creates an unreasonable unreasonable workload for educators and very much looks like micromanagement at a time when Tick-Tock Instagram Snapchat and the internet reign supreme in our children's lives literature is the very least of our worries thank you Mr spider next next we have Beverly Jones I'm Beverly Jones District Five good evening to the entire school board I will say this I serve on numerous committees and boards from the alma County Public Schools Education Foundation today almost Canon Planning Commission with many many more in between I grew up in animals County being taught that God is love what I've come to realize is that what some people mean is that God is love only if you have the same religious and political beliefs as they do let's face it nobody is pushing
025pornography or CRT in the student sections of our school libraries you need to stop this false narrative that many of you keep pushing out to the public I urge board members regardless of your own beliefs about book content and location to remember this no one on the right side of History has ever been on the side of bias censorship and book Banning hate and fear disguised as moral outrage have no place in animals County public schools are Amherst County if some of you believe that keeping books off shelves Revenge students from assessing them then you need to equate yourself with the internet the citizen citizens County consists of taxpayers who are white black yes Brown gay straight Christians of various denominations and non-christians people from all backgrounds and walks of life no small portion of
026this County should dictate what others have access to just because you don't want to read it or see it that doesn't give you the right to deny others it seems that your main goal is to erase black history my history since the majority of the books you want to remove are by black authors you have injected sexually explicit in CRT references to instill fear and panic in the parents is that the message you want to send why is your belief system more important than others what would be next if you accomplish this mission our school system is laboring to rebound from months of lost educational opportunities some of you keep fouling those efforts by interjection of misinformation lies and Distortion and it did not originate here in Amherst County instead of being a part of
027the solution some of you are creating problems where none exists your book challenges and the opt-in policy Target those students who are diverse and different in our system do stop just stop do not demean them do not diminish them and stop belittling them remember your slogan every child every day start claiming it your teachers care your administrators care and I definitely care and I ask do you to Miss Jones next next we have uh embryo Ambria wood good evening my name is Ambria wood and I live in District Four I'm here today as a native Amherst County resident an active member of my daughter's PTO and most importantly a concerned mother of a school-aged child who attends Amherst County Public Schools as I sit here today I'm confused trying to understand how in the world
028did my little small Hometown get here the answer is simple a lack of transparency so let's talk about transparency put simply it means hiding nothing or allowing others to look through the window with the blinds open as an active participant in my daughter's education I have not received a letter an email or voicemail or newsletter asking how I feel about the opt out policy that was in place up until last month I also have not received any communication about the current opt-in policy I have heard nothing about it at all except from the NAACP who has been actively working on behalf of all children who attend Amherst County Public Schools as designed all around Amherst County I'm the parent at the PTO meeting back to school night communicating constantly with my children with my child's
029teachers and administrators if I'm not informed then who is the answer is simple we aren't informed because not one of you even asked why haven't you asked because in my opinion it appears as if the school board has lost focus on doing what is best for our children and teachers in public schools instead of being a board who supports our teachers who are teaching to a Virginia state board curriculum you have decided that parents know more than teachers and should get to upon upon lesson plans however when you think about it the opposite is true if I'm sending my child to public school I expect my teachers and administration to ensure my child is meeting the standards to compete against other children not only in the state of Virginia but also in the world if
030I want to control what my child is taught I plan and upon upon weekly lesson plans then I will homeschool my child if I'm wrong the majority of parents and the majority of her parents have objected to the optile policy show me these statistics and the data that support why you reverse the opt-out policy in place up until last month transparent communication means being consistent being open and being honest with your teachers your parents and your community at large who voted you in to do what is best for our children I ask that you reverse the option and policy to opt out thank you Miss Wood next we have Sam sober I say that correct hey all board great to see you all Sam sober District 2 acps parent you know us parents and Guardians
031along with our students are the primary stakeholders in this Enterprise that is public education we need acps to have your support they are running the machine that educates our children we can't have you disrupting that for a political agenda now you have every right to object to a book in a library just as you have every right not to read any novel if you so choose but you do not have the right to disrupt our students education you entertain the musings of people who apparently have little to no knowledge of what's going on in any Amherst School yet you brush aside the reality which is the first hand experience of the people who are actually in the schools it's completely offensive to these principles administrators and teachers as if you're imagining some kind of vast
032conspiracy that they're all in on it's ludicrous and the fact that this school board has caused tenured teachers that have to come down here to defend themselves it's infuriating to myself and other parents we don't need them wasting their time defending themselves we need them focused on teaching the students reading if you're offended by a famous American literature that's fine you have every right to live in isolated life cut off from mainstream society and I don't doubt that that's a potentially beautiful experience but we don't all have that luxury and it's certainly all of our right to participate in our society and have assigned to us the task of reading the great works of American art opt out is sufficient for parents or Guardians who don't want whatever book but how will opt-in be triggered
033is there a list of books what is it we need to understand better how this will be applied you bring to the table materials that are not of your own making they are standard set forth by some stranger to us whose words you are taking as gospel and then you expect us to live under those rules that's like Sharia law in places like Saudi Arabia we don't do that here in the United States again your right to practice your morals how you see fit whether that's Off the Grid or right on Route 29 but that goes two ways the rest of us the majority of us want not only to live righteous lives but also want our students to get an education that includes reading famous American novels we are also people with morals and
034we trust these Educators I find the action of this board to be really disappointing Miss Al Yao in her comments to you last month is Right Banning books silencing academics is a Hallmark of fascist regimes it's happened all over the world what is going on with this school board this is America we don't ban books here you know apparently there were some acps families that opted their students out of witnessing Obama's inauguration will we all have to sign an opt-in form for the next time a black person is elected president because you've got us right now on a disturbingly slippery slope the opt-in policy must be reversed thank you for your consideration thank you Mr Silver next we have Lynn Cable cable hello I'm Lynn cable and I believe I live in district one I
035am not a parent I am a taxpayer however and I am very alarmed by the amount of money it is going to cost as I see it as I see what's going to happen here if you have everybody opting in for everything that you're teaching in schools now I I'm sorry but uh if you instead of having people opt out and having a few kids whose parents don't want them in the class um to be in a separate room if you make it opt-in I hear you're complaining that the parents are not getting involved and the teenagers are not taking the paperwork home to be signed by their parents either one or the other it has the same effect which is that the paper doesn't get back it doesn't get signed if the paper had
036to be signed either way often or opt out with an explanation of what that was that would at least make some sense because you would at least know what people thought if you only have to opt in for your for your your child um to be able to read the standard curriculum you're going to have most of the students having problems getting the paper back okay now they get the paper back half of them bring the paper back half of them don't so now you've got to have two classes for every single class every single English class is going to have two classes every single history class if you don't like that they're teaching the Holocaust you gotta have two glasses I mean it's going to cost a fortune who's going to pay for this
037I mean I really I'm very stressed about it I think instead of money going for extracurriculars or for extra classes or for extra help for people that need it you're going to be spending on it having two classes for English every period two classes for history every period two classes for civics because it's so controversial what people think about civics and I think that's dangerous I think it really is and for me I mean when my kids were in school and I'm an old lady so it was a long time ago but one of the things that I found the most valuable was how many different people they got to meet in a public school from a different background having different beliefs having different thoughts and how they got to Value those thoughts and how
038they got to value and learn what they they themselves thought and I think that's really important and I hope that you will go back to an opt-out Theory or you know whatever it is opt out watch tell me what it is policy and as as they did in Lynchburg last night so thank you very much for your time thank you Miss cable next to have Miss Gloria Witt no I think we got a theme going on here uh Gloria Witt District 3 president of NAACP I want to talk about the January 23rd Amherst Republican committee meeting regular meeting last month of which the English chair mentioned the topic of that meeting was education in America is pornography and CRT indoctrination in Amherst schools very specific I found the definition a little bit different from the
039English chair indoctrination is defined as to fully accept the ideas opinions and beliefs of a particular group and not to consider others ideas opinions and beliefs several school board members attended this meeting this is their Civil Right to openly gain access to information Our concern is that this type of information is a form of propaganda and and our donation so yes indoctrination and Amber schools is happening the opt-in policy is an example to indoctrinate by limiting access to education by our board so how does this play out it's that policy opt-in is the manifestation of our school board disrupting education and controlling curriculum that is endorsed by the Virginia Department of Education we talked about it sounds familiar it builds a wall or a structural barrier for students to have access to Broad knowledge necessary
040for critical thinking and decision making it facilitates the lie that public education is grooming students about gender Equity diversity and multiculturalism that must be erased sounds familiar it feeds the fear that equity and diversity destroy American Christian Traditional Values and must be controlled sounds familiar you what are we to think those who have different life experiences and stories are invisible and their perspectives are irrelevant sounds familiar and doctrination happens when those in power positions infer that should the First Amendment fail to control education then we still have the Second Amendment sounds familiar the opt-in policy ignores the school board's responsibility to provide an equitable education to all students this policy creates a structural barrier to automatic assets to a curriculum that's already been approved by the school when teachers push back listen they are in
041the trenches every day last month they pushed back today we're pushing back we're sharing our concerns that's been identified by the administrative uh challenges that they experience the negative impact on parents and the impact of students learning when permission slips are are not returned sounds like the Voting Rights era when marginalized people and women had to jump through hoops to vote now the students must jump through hoops for knowledge are we making decisions in Amherst County fueled by indoctrination around pornography and CRT you get to decide and yes maybe in some other state or County pornography and CRT happens but not in Amherst County it's a non-issue according to Administration and our teachers but yet here we are so our call to action is reverse the opt-in policy back to opt out opt out provides
042free assets to approved curriculum content books and materials required to educate our students to be competitive in the future please thank you thank you Elizabeth next we have uh Barbara Pryor good evening I'm Barbara Pryor I'm District three once Amherst County School members were chosen by our supervisors the preservation and advancements of public schools with quality education for every child every day was the goal not political control in Virginia hundreds of professional Educators and members of the public have been involved in developing a Statewide curriculum a curriculum which allows students an inclusive balanced and Broad education instead of appreciating that school boards across the state are playing a shell game after initially running as independent we now have an openly partisan board members working to implement a biased anti-democratic right-wing agenda under the watchful eyes
043of political political operatives what is behind it all political power minority control and ultimately monetary gain many of these political opportunities his look back longingly to the days of reaganism as an imagined Golden Age what does that mean for Education it means eliminating the U.S Department of Education diverting public funds to private parochial and chartered schools reducing funding desperately needed for existing schools and despite First Amendment protections supporting religious observances with taxpayer money the impact has been felt throughout the public schools structural and equipment needs are neglected increase academic myths demands meet unreasonable timelines politically motivated standards are imposed and critical thinking is not encouraged costly Billboards and mass mailings designed to ignite alarm over imaginary issues are becoming the norm factions with extreme objectives are threatening to impose upon our young people and that
044endemic straight jacket putting their future in danger the political shell gang played is well planned and funded part of a nationwide effort to destroy public schools in America fear and panic are useful tools to mislead small concerns are magnified and Phantom issues are made to seem real just when our students are beginning to figure out who they are they and their teachers are being used as pawns the cost is severe the future of our country is at stake this country does not belong to Mega donors like the kochs and the devoses it should not answer to the American legislative exchange Council lobbyists it must not be unduly influenced by private educational institutions be they large University or home state school advocates Amherst County especially the children deserve better our administrators teachers and Librarians are professionally
045trained serious and cautious they are not Reckless they do not need ban a banned book list critical race 30 theory is a debatable concept concept explored in University graduate level schools it has never been taught in Virginia's K-12 classrooms there may be a problem on your TV your home computer her cell phone but sexually explicit material whatever the hell that means is not running rampant in our schools some stupid students and adults in our community I will finish my time I will take it some students and adults I need no distract but do you all want me to finish some students and adults in our community may self-identify in ways that others have trouble comprehending but they have human rights and they must be respected can we just try to show people as much love
046and respect as we do our Firearms our local school school boards must follow the code of Virginia beyond that it must answer to all citizens of America not to a biased few it is a job to be inclusive and welcoming not exclusionary and restrictive in good faith I hope this board will continue to support our teachers Librarians and other students by avoiding burdensome requirements please and restate the opt-in policy for curriculum literature thank you Mrs Pryor next we have uh Belinda Gaines oh okay next we have Suzanne Chambers good evening so I I thought I'd start with historic Integrity since it's so important to you guys some of you put it on a billboard brief history of book Banning history doesn't look fondly on any of it and the earliest 259 to 210 BC in
047China where an emperor had all of the scholars killed and burned all the books so history would begin with him the longest running is the vaticans 400 year continuous ban on books that uh uh from 1559 to 1959. I actually sort of lived under that one because it takes a while for Vatican decrees to get to the schools as you can imagine um then of course putting Galileo in prison burning all of his things home arrest sand the audacity imagine this to say that the Earth we robbed around the Sun but they got around to uh forgiving him the Vatican in 1992. uh there you go so we'll go to this so much um members of the Alabama this is 1983. members of the Alabama State textbook committee called for the rejection of the Diary
048of Anne Frank because it was a real down or [Laughter] and oh yeah there was some sexuality references young teenage girl gee that doesn't happen during the Bosnian War 1992 Serbian troops shelled the national librarian Sarajevo destroyed between 1.5 million and 3 million volumes one of the worst book burnings I skipped the Nazi one but we all know about that um in modern history soldiers shot at anyone who tried to save a book um so you get the point I love books I I books find me I like to say so I found this book last month in a box of used books the Marxist minstrels a handbook of communist subversion of Music in case you didn't know what Marxist meant we'll throw a Communists in the title because that'll get everybody rolling up well
049Usual Suspects Woody and Arlo the Rolling Stones The Beatles Elton John but it goes it's like ghost Cuckoo Land because it says that singing your child to sleep is a hypnotic form of getting into their brain and making it easier for Marxist music to get in so y'all if you ever sung a kid to sleep you were either a Marxist or you allowed them in um it's it's kind of like okay this guy marxists are responsible for the destruction but I gotta tell you his other treaties here is Christian rock a stratagem of Mephistopheles so was the devil that did that is that three minutes it's so fast because I didn't have a good chance to get are they brainwashing our children oh darn next time okay thank you Miss Chambers [Applause] next we have
050I think it's Joan Ingram John Ingram okay sorry John Ingram from District three concerned citizen freedom I believe in the freedom to read and for all economic classes to have free access to all information not just the rich that means public libraries and schools owe it to young people to provide every book possible thank you thank you sir [Applause] next we have uh Angela patillo patilo okay and then next we have I can't hardly make out the last name but it looks like Kenya thong you opt out okay then we have Keisha Turner not speaking either okay and lastly we have maybe Felicia Lewis okay see step down okay so that's all that we have who signed up is there anyone else in the audience who would like to speak to the board please state
051your name and voting district hello my name is Cheryl Fales I'm Amherst County High School public school teacher I teach history thank you all for coming thank you all for listening I am aea I think you heard that our community does want you to reverse opt-in and we would prefer opt out for every child every day thank you very much you're welcome [Applause] is there any others in the in the audience sure my name's Jeff Porter I live in Madison Heights um I think it's wonderful to be able to have different points of view talked about I think this is the Forum where that happens so it's good to see it happen my concern in this issue is that it's easy to talk about stereotypes on both sides for both sides to use fear for
052their arguments and to look at those who are on the edge of both sides as if they are mainstream for their particular point of view I am a person who talked about the the opt in policy that's my viewpoint just as people who have spoken this evening has talked about opt out we all want the best for our children you all are in a difficult position I don't know for myself if all of the community thinks one way or the other all we hear is for those who come so you've been given a tremendous responsibility and I am glad that you're willing to to take that on so thank you board thank you Mr Ford is there anyone else from the audience who'd like to approach the board and seeing none we will move we'll
053close public comments and move on to 4.0 consent agenda agenda yes I would just ask that you approve the consent agenda okay which year we've moved for improvement of consent agenda is written do I have a second second any discussion uh all in favor aye anyone opposed hearing none so Mr chair essentially approved the consent agenda I do want to announce our new football coach who is here with us tonight Mr Chris Moore uh Chris comes with us with 12 years of college experience and he's an Amherst County graduate from 2005. so I do want to thank uh recognize him tonight he is in the audience and so Chris if you want to say a couple words I don't know if I need this microphone but uh I feel like I can enunciate a little
054bit but it is a joy and honor to be with you guys here tonight I'm appreciative to the administration appreciative of the board of approving uh my my uh post as head football coach I'm truly humbled and honored not only to serve Amherst County as its football coach but also to join the dynamic faculty of Amherst County Public Schools which we've heard from many here tonight I actually texted Miss Jones the other night she said congratulations to me and one thing one story I'll share is I didn't have the luxury of having Miss Jones in middle school but I know every day she greeted me with a smile she has such a sense of Joy when I came in the building and and I always remembered the way she made me feel and so sometimes
055it's not always about the words that you say but it's how you make people feel and I always appreciate that about you Miss Jones and I'm glad I got to see you tonight but so I'm again humbled and honored to to join as head football coach and the dynamic faculty of acps appreciate you guys welcoming me here tonight and I look forward to serving you for years to come thank you all right thank you sir looking forward to it all right uh next 5.0 information items yes so 5.01 is Administrative Dr Hogan um okay sorry yes uh just wanted Mr Oaks and I just want to update you on the uh new construction the um we've been meeting with teachers welding agriculture Auditorium and cafeteria and we hope to have those uh things completed uh
056within the next week or two and Mr Oaks is going to talk a little bit about the actual application processor DEQ so our architect CRA has already submitted the Department of Environmental Quality forms everything for the basically the parking lot side over there where the county purchased the the Burley properties that's been done and the next aspect is waiting to get response back to them from them rather and from there CRA will start sitting out the bids we anticipate that happening in the next two to three weeks the reason we want to hold off sending out the bid package through CRA is to see if DEQ has any major issues because we don't want to send out the package prior to that and they have major issues when they had to change things so anyway
057we anticipate that that package will go out next two to three weeks as we mentioned before we had opened the bid package the bids will be open until about the March April time frame review those in May and if everything goes according to schedule looking at a June July type thing to break ground so in that process we're also the process of working to demo the existing house we're in that process of getting some quotes in as far as that goes hopefully that'll happen next month or so as well get that get that property ready for the construction thank you gentlemen yeah board anything okay thank you Doctor before I go on to 5.02 just a quick reminder you have a the sac listing at your stations just as a reminder for the dates you've
058signed up and then the three board members that were here tonight miss Justice Miss Legend and Mr Grazer you're on the school board discipline committee for the rest of the semester and I'll communicate with you on that as far as 5.02 you have in front of you the student suspensions for January 2023 report any comments on okay okay thank you all right so we also have Miss Patron is going to discuss uh initiative we started with the state called engaged Virginia Miss Patron having a few issues with attendance this year and our chronic absenteeism rates have been high the Virginia Department of Education has recognized that this is a problem across the state and they have partnered with graduation Alliance and they are offering a free supportive solution I I would say for chronic absenteeism
059basically we share some of our students information with them and they work to get those students re-engaged in school and they reach out and talk to families it's completely free for both families and the School Division we have decided that this is something that might help with our our problem and we are going to participate in this program we plan to put out information to families and to school staff tomorrow and into Monday and Tuesday of next week just to make sure everybody's aware of what's going on but this is a free program offered by the Virginia Department of Education I'll take any questions and it is voluntary we notified of families they have to get permission to participate Ford any questions okay moving on it's 6.01 so miss lecon just going to fill you
060in on our budget process good evening Mr chair of members of the school board tonight before you is your January financial report um it's really no change from the December reporting as far as our expenditure concerns we still have those same items we have discovered what made me stop talking about Fuel and that's electricity so overall for the year we're up about 20 percent however we know that the rate increases from AEP did not go into effect until the last couple months and just in January they are up 35 percent so we will be talking about this at our when we present the budget and also for our board retreat but I just wanted to pass that along since our last meeting we have had received some information regarding our state revenue and I wanted
061to pass that along to you as you recall at the January meeting we had said that we knew that we were going to have a decrease in our state funding and that was based off of the ADM and some technical updates with the December 16th count tool so that was something that was on our radar we then received after that meeting notification that there was an error in the stakes in the state's capital you may have seen it in the media and it involved that new line item for the grocery tax and it wasn't backed out of the basic Aid so this is impacting every School Division it is impacting both fiscal year 23 and fiscal year 24. so we do not have a new updated calc tool from the governor's budget however they did
062give us how we could calculate it and it's looking like for this year it's going to be about another 244 thousand dollar decrease now there's been a whole lot of discussion because again this impacts every School Division and it was very promising that the House and Senate proposed budget is having hold harmless in this fiscal year so we have not received the cap tools we are expecting those next week and we can give you an update and pass that along to you as well once we have better numbers do you have any questions okay board anything for Mr Cottage question cheers Mr Carnage so if I understand you correctly the hold harmless would compensate for the reduction in Revenue so we wouldn't this year experience that loss is that correct the 244 000 yes okay
063thank you they did not have any hold harmless stated for next fiscal year however they are working to see what they can do to minimize the impact of school divisions thank you okay anything else bored okay moving on 7.01 so 7.01 is instruction I've turned over to Dr Norman thank you Dr Wells Mr chairman and members of the board I've got an easy night tonight I get to tell you all great things the first item is about mid-year testing so we will finish up tomorrow with our Virginia Department of education's student growth assessment test and reading and math for grades three through eight and then on February the 20th uh fourth we will have finished up Benchmark testing for any student who will take an Sol test at the end of the year so we
064can have some mid-year data see where they are in the process of their learning what they've mastered and then be able to help teachers take that data and redirect instruction to support and kind of pull those learning gaps and and and help our students by the time we get to testing time in May I will have all of that data for you at the March meeting so you'll be able to see kind of where we are across the board for all of our schools and our students um the next thing I'd like to talk about are our grants we've got some exciting news specifically for the high school we've applied for the Community Schools grant for Amherst County Public Schools specifically for Amherst County High School and we were one of 16 divisions out of
065the 132 divisions in the state who were awarded this grant the grant is for 324 thousand dollars and some odd dollars that we will be able to have a community school building project not building as in facilities but building the bridge between the community and what goes on in the school and around the school for our students we will start working with a team and a committee from the high school along with the instructional Department here to kind of bridge that Gap and make sure that we have exactly what the high school is looking for in regards to attendance specifically attendance in regards to bringing the community back into our schools to see what's going on and to read gauge our kids in in Active Learning in the school environment so that is a huge
066win for us as a division and I'm just thanking the people who put their hard efforts into getting this grant for us it was a team effort and I appreciate all that they have done for us and we'll have more information once our once we form a committee we just found out yesterday Dr Wells was notified yesterday along with that we're also applying for a 21st century grant for four of our schools the max amount that we can apply for is 250 000 Dr Marvin McGinnis is heading that up for us it will be for Madison Heights Central Elementary Amherst Middle School and Men Ellison middle school and we hope we will have information over the next couple of months to let you know we've also received that Grant but we are in the process
067of applying for that we will we also are in our third project with a joint cvcc Grant application with it's called the lab school where it actually does a clear pathway from middle school in the area of CTE going from middle school to high school to Community College and into career and it is a joint effort with Dr Capps at Central Virginia Community College and Mr Maddox in regards to what we're going to do with that particular Grant it's a regional program and so Amherst County wants to be a part of that just like we are with the CTE Academy so we're very excited about that and then I have two other items that you have information that was provided to you the vsbe vsba art contest we have already started with our students in
068our art classes on a competition they will select those top winners which then you will Dr Wells will take to the vsba and it will represent our division at your conference that's coming up um also read across America um it starts March the second it is a day where we open up our schools for people to come in and read to our students and I would tell you to go ahead Dr Wells well since we scheduled our school board retreat with a budget for March 2nd therefore we can't go to the schools on March 2nd to read to our students so I want to work with the schools to see if we can pick a different day just a general day for us to go in and read so but March 2nd is our Retreat
069unless you I want to go there early and then come back in to further kind of early on 9 10 that's when I yeah it varies depending on what grade you're reading to so yes sir so we'll we'll figure something out even if we videotape you Mr grizer or we'll take a different day and pick a day for y'all to go into the schools and we all go in a different day if you want as opposed to March 2nd and the last two things that I have digital learning day is February 23rd for our students and our staff our itrts do a phenomenal job working with our teachers on Internet safety programs that they have implemented and all of the things that we do in our digital learning program and then parent teacher conferences if
070I can give a shout out to every single one of our teachers in the division they went above and beyond the Call of Duty and we had a total across the division 837 parent conferences that our teachers held talking about children talking about what's going on in the classrooms engaging the parents and what's taking place in the classroom and so I just I appreciate that from our teachers you know they stayed late they made sure they had phone calls they signed up teach a parents for it so it was just an extra thing that we were able to get back to this year that we haven't been able to do in the in the past couple of years um and that is all that I have if you have any questions I'll be more than
071happy to answer board any questions okay thank you Dr Norton thank you thank you moving on 8.01 that's 8.01 human resources uh Mr Gallagher all right Mr chair members of the board good evening I will start just by reiterating and saying thank you to all of our teachers support staff administrators and all of our employees in Arizona County public schools because we have a tremendous team here in this division so I'm very grateful for that the first item I have tonight for you is our current vacancy memo you have that in front of you soon you will have that broken out a little differently in March I'll start putting the current vacancies as well as next year's vacancies broken out depending on who may be leaving at the end of the year but I'll take
072any questions that you might have ordered any questions okay good all right the second memo you have is our 2023-24 acps professional development plan this is updated annually and provided to you each year to make sure it remains current and accurate for your information purposes so you've had that posted for review and I'll take any questions regarding that memo as well more than anything Miss Justice yes ma'am Mr Gallagher hi there our professional development are we doing that like in-house or is this through vsba or it's not through vsba it is partially in-house it's um through different uh educational providers vascl not a vsba group which is a Consortium provides professional development professionally we provide a lot of it ourselves we create a lot of our own professional development there was a lot of PD
073that comes to us and we review and vet through our instructional Specialists and myself and we send that out as well broadcast that information so that folks can take advantage of that and we also do maintain that and house that information so that we can also prescribe that if you would where needed and necessary and another question I think it's my understanding that if teachers desire to get some professional development that maybe hasn't been listed that they are supported in that as well they certainly can they can request to attend a variety of different professional development opportunities it does have to be approved you know first through the administrator then it goes through you know assistant superintendent's office and so forth for travel authorization but as long as it is appropriate and relevant to to
074their professional growth and it's something that was it was in within reason then we'll approve those opportunities and they can receive professional development recertification points for that as well that's awesome thank you yes ma'am anything else on the board yes Mr game Gallagher I was any thought to maybe changing how we're going out and looking for new teachers to come to the school what do you mean by new approaches I'm getting ready to talk about one of them but what do you ask I guess what are you speaking of as far as new approaches um and a way we can get these positions filled for our students oh I see okay well we have had significant efforts to do so part of the issue is that throughout the course of the Year there are very
075few qualified applicants anywhere in the pool there are a few that graduate you know during mid-year and we do try to promote our our fine division at that time we use social media we use a lot of advertising we we connect with all of our University Partners not just regionally but throughout the state and in other states to share our information in our openings we have a lot of promotion in that regard to try to put the word out there as to why this is a destination for educators and aspiring leaders to come and um any hopeful possibilities on getting some more of those bus driver positions filled well we are always hopeful to get those those bus drivers filled and we do obviously appreciate we are able to secure those we did have uh
076Grant funds out there and bonuses available for a while that period is now over that did actually produce results and I think the last time I reported we had hired I believe three full-time and several part-time positions through those bonuses so that was productive but again it is a position that Ebbs and flows and is very valued but we do continue our efforts to broadcast that I will touch base a little bit on that on my next segment so all right thank you you're welcome yes ma'am yes Justice thanks chair um Mr Gallagher on our science teacher um openings there do we have long-term Subs in those positions awesome so there's continuity of instruction there thank you that's correct and actually it says three there and we already have we have now hired one of
077those for next year so it will be filled as of next year will no longer be vacancy but that is not a current vacancy individuals under contract currently thank you you're welcome all right anything else on the board okay the next thing you have in front of you is a flyer I hope you have that in front of you for our education career fair which is on February 25th that is going to run from 9 to 11 30 for our in-person fair and then we will have a 12 o'clock to two o'clock virtual interview session for people who can sign up we have been promoting this pretty broadly sending this information out through social media through our website through our University Partners we have a commercial upcoming on wsdt that we're going to preview in
078just a moment here this is a huge opportunity for us to put the word out there to have amazing qualified aspiring Educators to come join our family that will be held here in this room and I do encourage any and all of you to come that morning and be present to walk around to meet some of our you know aspiring candidates that are coming through to see who they are and and and share good information about Amherst County public schools that is that opportunity is something that we look forward to every year so we are also so we have created a commercial to help broadcast this the more play we can get there the better so as of Monday on on WSET we will begin to run a commercial that was produced here I have
079to give a shout out to two individuals Miss Naomi Giles and Miss Madison Massey together the planning and production of the commercial we're about to show they they work long and hard to do that and I feel like came up with a great product and for all of you I will forward you the schedule of when that's going to air on WSET so you can look for that when it does play as well so miss McNairy if you're able Amherst County Public Schools is recruiting talent for all departments and positions in preparation for the 2023-24 school year join us Saturday February 25th from 9 A.M to 11 45 for the acps education Career Fair located at our school administration building we offer competitive salaries a high quality Mentor program and a supportive work environment to
080register please visit the acps website and click on job Seekers at the top of the page we hope to see you Saturday February 25th so hopefully that will be out there and also we'll attract some folks I think we're competing with a few other divisions that also have their career fair on that day those other divisions do not have a virtual uh component in the afternoon but we do want to make sure we attract you know as many uh quality individuals to join our team as possible and I will say that this is a time when all of our current teachers and those that are out there listening need to know how much we do support them and all their efforts and all the things they do and how much we value them because they
081are the Crux of everything the teachers and all of our employees I've always said that our employees in every position are all Educators and they all make a difference in the lives of every child every day so we will also be hosting a a support staff fair over in the County Administration conference room down the way so we will be hiring that morning also for bus drivers custodial staff instructional assistants and so forth and all the support positions so we really want to make an impact and attract amazing educator and if your your help is welcome in that effort so thank you thank you Miss Gallagher yes sir uh moving on to 9.01 9.01 we have student Representatives Miss Fatima Grace is not here with the evening but uh Evan is uh turn it over
082to heaven all right I gotta be honest I wasn't looking at this was coming up but so sadly my other representative Mrs Fatima Grace was not able to come today but I do have a few things I will mention later that she said for me too tell you about how school is going and first I'd like to start with some brief notes basketball for boys wrapped up girls soon soccer school screen indoor track isn't is right on its last limb there's a lot of things going on with college decisions right now or the acceptance letters are getting back February 15th for most people so that's pretty cool there's a college board next to the Future Center so whenever someone gets accepted and commits they go and put up there and it's pretty encouraging to the
083other students the seniors especially another thing I would like to note is I got an email about the Amherst County Public Schools diversity Council in partnership with shop Amherst hosting a future opportunities night coming up in March and later on and they've asked some students to volunteer there I'd be very happy to do so and it sounds pretty cool I'll read off some right here that they elaborated on and said that the goals outlined in the acbs comprehensive strategic plan and Empower families to make more informed decisions for the children and that the night will be divided into sections in which social time was spent to enjoy snacks and then many sections for the parents and students to sort of break off students are given Hands-On learning and parents are informed of some opportunities given
084to the students in the future and I'd just like to acknowledge how much that really means to the families and the students and the instructors staff these opportunities because we all want to see the students succeed and it's really nice to see reaching out like this for student volunteers to share their experience and for example me sharing my experience here you know I'm a member of this whole thing too so it's really nice to see everybody being heard and moving on to what Fatima Grace would have said if she was here she mentioned that uh Mrs Ratliff hosted a student Town Hall where students could give feedback and how to better the high school so it's sort of giving back student perspective on what they want changed and our principal Mr Crawford also has some
085student forms sent out to receive feedback on all grade levels to kind of get a more varied analysis on which students in which grade levels thought certain things about the school and which could be improved and another thing she mentioned was that senior class officers had a taco night before the Varsity Boys senior night and the student section for that she said was amazing I can attest to that I was there and finally what she said was that the planning to have an ice cream sundae bar Monday for the varsity girls game to excel to celebrate that and that's what she had to say and one more thing I'd like to mention that's pretty cool the scholarship board and the senior classroom is really helpful I go there every day and to talk to Mrs
086wand and seeing that being put up and updated constantly is really referring to the whole process of applying to college and I'm really thankful and grateful for her and everybody here today thank you thank you thank you Mr Fink uh 10.01 yes sir Mr chair members of the board uh we'll start with uh regulation IIA uh was that your place that's that's the draft version of that again that is to one to four change the policy from opt out to opt-in we had to readjust many of our regulations along those lines so we're in the process of updating those regulations what you have in front of you there it's a draft of those uh regulations and we're still in the process of that so if you see anything again it's uh for regulations it's not
087like policy where you have to approve it is for your awareness but if it's anything that stands out please let us know so we can discuss uh I'll turn it over to Dr Norman and Mr max if they have anything to add if you have any questions we'll be glad to answer but this is for you to review I think probably next month when we come in probably our time to discuss okay give you some time to review great thank you sir board Mr Justice you um Dr Wells ma'am um question for you so my understanding is that this new policy is not removing a previous opt-out but is an opt-in for exclusively sexually explicit instructional material am I correct in that the way the way the policy was written based on the board was
088it would be to be in compliance with the opt-in opt out the compliance aspect of that was the sexually supposed to material had to have a policy in place the board opted decided to go with the opt-in for those specially explicit materials some materials that are not sexually explicit would not need to have an opt-in but there's those that are sexually explicit so we still have our non-sexually explicit opt out correct if a parent does not wish to have their child participate in any lesson uh they have the right to opt them out of any lesson uh this policy that we had drafted was based off of the sexually explicit materials and and is just and along along those lines with sexually explicit content okay okay and so if I understand correctly I've heard from
089teachers we have no sexually explicit content in the instruction so for our teachers currently does this add any work to them it depends on what they're teaching right I can't sit there and say it wouldn't at work I know for for sexual education that does have sexually explicit content so we'll have incidents but there I didn't know for anatomy and physiology we'll have to have some discussions there as far as how we work that as far as English and social studies it depends on what they ought to teach and how they ought to do that lesson if they were to do a lesson that might have some reading that had a some content that could be considered sexually explicited by state code yes it would affect them okay thank you yes ma'am or anything else
090Dr Wells all right so uh budget update so February 23rd I I will present a budget to you on February 23rd right now we are waiting on the count tools to be reconfigured because the governor's Capital officially sent to us the Department of Education made a mistake in how they made that count tool so really really can't use that to build our budget we do know that it's as we said from what Mr kinda said earlier that's going to be about 200 some thousand dollars this year just in a manner of this year but it could also impact US based off the money that was not appropriated um that we anticipated being appropriate is around 500 000 for next year between five and six hundred thousand dollars based off the governor's budget uh we are
091waiting for the Senate budget which is helps us a lot uh the house budget does not help us as much to determine where we're going to be so hopefully next week the crossover was yesterday so hopefully next week we'll get the count tools we can work the decal tools and have a better idea of how the the fine print of all these budget amendments worked out for us to know exactly where we're going to be um but I'll say right now we anticipate needings that we will anticipate need nasty County for additional funds based off of what we know right now any questions Dr Wells sir I I got to backtrack a little bit I was having a little technical difficulty before and this uh policy that we're going to review the Ia regulation correct
092correct regulations um is there anything in there that's talking about banning books not in the regulations nothing in regulations was there anything in the opt-in policy that talked about banning books no there was nothing about banning books okay I was just kind of wondering where that comment was coming from this evening okay thank you okay so board any any questions for Dr Wells on the proposed budget uh we'll add March 2nd as I Retreat to discuss the budget and then um so we have the 23rd and March 2nd 23rd is just the I present the budget to you there's not really a question and answer we'll go through the budget I'll give you a bunch of books at the end you review the budget for the next two weeks then on March 2nd we sit
093down here all day and get to discuss the The Goods the ins and outs of the budget in more detail and then move forward from there and then we'll present our budget request to the county in March okay okay all right uh I have I've emailed and spoke to many of you about a board governance uh meeting on March 4th I know uh Miss Justice said she would be out of town but I think it'd still be good for us to meet on March 4th um if y'all are in agreement I'll get that set up for March 4th at morning at 9 A.M be a two hour meeting from 9 to 11 just go for governance and other issues that we may be facing four okay Miss Justice you can't join us okay okay I
094think everybody's in agreement all right okay the next I have is the state of the division um I plan on doing recording a video update on the status of division sort of like the president did the other night on State of the Union to lead a state of the school division it's not going to be alive I think it's going to be something I record five ten minutes we'll have something posted just on the state of the division so I'll have that hopefully by the end of the month and we'll have it posted uh in about early March um I want to discuss the community dinner I appreciate everybody who came to that I know we have some folks in the audience tonight who were there I know some of our board members attended and
095my staff that was engaged in that and involved in that as well as glad for their contributions Our Lives Amherst Education Foundation and our show up Amherst team so I do want to thank everyone for that we had 177 people show up it was a great night uh we intend to try to do it again next year maybe bigger and better but I think it was a great night for the first time and everybody's showing up and then also our Public Service uh folks who are there are Emergency Services Sheriff's Office Town Police know who were there and everybody else who was there for that evening so it was a great night and we appreciate everybody who was there so I just want to update you on that and just I thought it was a
096good evening so thanks everybody who was involved so you had mentioned um a public hearing regarding the budget so if if I look at our calendar our next scheduled board meeting is March 9th so we if you would like we could schedule a public hearing if that's the board's discretion regarding the budget during the March 9th school board meeting just have a special session for a public comment on our budget I know that was something you discussed earlier this year so if that's the FSD con decision of the board then we will schedule that for March 9th as part of our regular schedule board meeting instead of having a separate meeting to to discuss the budget your thoughts um how do we get the information out to the public prior to the meeting so they
097can make comment on it so after I present the budget to you we'll be published on our website the mark the February 23rd when I present the budget okay that's the budget we will be presenting that's that's what we'll present and then whatever changes you deem after that we would just have to update but the February 23rd would be the one we would post so that'll give the public two weeks too correct review thank you anyone else okay so I'm hearing that's the descript that's the decision okay so we'll schedule okay thank you so we have the uh south regional spring Forum which is vsba at Mecklenburg High School it's a brand new high school they just opened this year and that's the vsbs where we take the artwork down uh I think we have
098to get there at five o'clock Miss liggin I believe and so far Miss Ligon Miss Thompson Miss Justice have said you want to attend so if anybody else wants to go you're more than welcome I will drive get the van and we can hop in the van and drive down to Mecklenburg County about two hour drive so we'll do our plan accordingly but that is March 7th so I'll be glad to drive anyone who wants to ride with me and we'll be taking our artwork okay all right and the last I have is uh sometimes the good idea fairy hits every now and then and it hit again a couple months ago so we've been planning on this but we're playing the community leaders breakfast March 8th at Sweetbriar College um it'll be at the
099Wales Lounge at Florence sales and Conference Center uh we were posting things out really want our board the Board of Supervisors Community leaders Business Leaders in the community to come together for community breakfast um about an hour maybe longer if people have conversation but the purpose of this is for us to kind of talk about what the school system has to offer businesses and the community but also for the community to talk to us about what do they need out of Amherst County Public Schools and then have people be aware of all the programs we have but also for us to be aware of what the needs are for certain businesses and how we can better meet their needs so it's going to be an idea an area for us to kind of have some
100just good conversation um it's not going to be a lot of me talking it's going to be other people just having some conversation about what we have in Amherst County and how we can bring our community together and continue to bring our community together as you know that's been a focus of mine throughout since I became uh since you appointed me a superintendent is how can we re-engage with that community and how can we bring our community together and I feel this is a way that would help with that so be a breakfast again it'll be at the um Wells Lounge at the Florence Elston Conference Center on March 8th this week for our college and we'll have more more to put out on that we have some flyers that'll be going out tomorrow I
101want to Dutch you know first before it became official we'll send some flowers out tomorrow and y'all I'll be invited any questions or any questions sounds awesome thank you Dr Wells thank you that's all I have okay so moving on now to 12.01 individual School members and also um your committees and personal reports we can do them all at the same time so Mr Rossi would you start us off please absolutely um well we had our first uh stem committee meeting that was uh quite interesting we did it by Zoom they've got a lot of good planes we did approve a budget and um looking forward to learning a little bit more about that I've been a little uh tax this month uh busy wise uh didn't have a chance to meet up with anybody
102yet but uh next week things should clear up and maybe we can get together and take a tour and see what's really going on there and it's an amazing program I am amazed at what they're doing there and and moving students toward careers I I think it's a great program and it's it's not just Amherst I didn't realize it it expanded out throughout you know the counties and it's a good program and I look forward to working with the rest of people there and uh moving it forward um yeah comments tonight uh thank everybody for uh all the support uh we've got a ton of cards to look at and read and uh I will plant and also there was a there were some amazing artwork in my bag I appreciate that uh yeah it's
103it's not easy sitting on this side of the bench you know we try to do our best to look out for the children and everything that we do and say and yes we have a little bit of work to do on some policy um but the good thing is that policy can change um you know doing what's best for the children is is the reason I I ran for the school board and I have grandkids in the school and I I know there's been a lot of discussion and I'm glad it brought it out and the discussion about the opt-in the opt-out and I hope we continue to have discussion about it hopefully you know with our policies being a little more specific on what opt-in what opt out is I've heard several times that
104you know the uh the the classes don't include sexually explicit material they're for an opt-in really shouldn't impact the teacher and I've heard a lot about reading novels and that is concerned too because I know there's some graphic content and some novels but they're amazing literature and I don't think we should stop the children from seeing them and reading them and experiencing those novels but a novel is written in a way where it's connected um and it doesn't mean that that novel can be excluded from our policy you know it's just it it's a it's going to be a work in progress you know most of the teachers I know don't teach sexually explicit material and the opt-in won't affect them at all you know and I I was concerned about the Banning of books
105no I do not want to ban books and I don't think anybody on this board is is okay with Banning books I think everybody has the right to age-appropriate books let's let's put it there you know there's some things you know I don't I wouldn't let my uh seven-year-old Grand granddaughter look at certain material I just wouldn't and I would hope that the school would understand that and protect her and that's exactly you know what we do here we try to protect the children but give them the freedom to learn age appropriately thank you Mr Rossi Miss Justice thank you very much um uh first of all I just want to say thank you very much to the people who came and spoke today and used this opportunity to communicate um their feelings I was
106um concerned that there seemed to be a lot of misinformation out there and that we're not replacing an opt-out policy the opt-out is still available for instructional materials that parents people aren't comfortable with but that there is a new policy for sexually explicit instructional material and it is just making certain that parents know what's there and that they get to sign off on sexually explicit according to Virginia code and as there is not sexually explicit material being taught in our department that shouldn't cause any extra work for our instructors what I've heard from teachers that I've spoken to is that they hadn't read Virginia code or even the policy sometimes and so they had an understanding that wasn't complete so I would just say go ahead read the policy read the code another thing to
107consider is that for the books that are in our school library I had an administrator tell me that well we can't look at the book reports for those books because of our technology policy they would be flagged as sexually explicit so if we have books in our library that are School computers won't allow us to look at a book report about it obviously there's some because of sexually explicit material there's a um a discontinuity there so I I would say that that is something to consider I'm on the governor's committee and I was not able to attend this month but I'm looking forward to attending it in March and Evan I was so encouraged by your scholarship board I understand that you appreciated it and it just it took me back to oh my gosh
108all those scholarship applications for college and I'm just really blessed by our community our teachers our instructors our Administration that are so motivated to empower encourage and motivate you guys so I'm really excited and I look forward to hearing about which ones you get coming up thank you thank you Miss Justice Miss Berg um yes like to apologize for being late I actually had an opportunity to meet Mr Parker who was one of the leading lawyers on overturning Roe versus Wade so I had that great opportunity but I made it here as fast as I could um I would like to thank all our speak our community speakers today I would like to thank um Evan I always love hearing him speak he just sounds like a like a radio personality he's got a great
109radio voice and also I had a great opportunity this week I went to reedy's archery in Ambria Plaza shot my first bow with some of our students got two bullseyes by the way so I was quite happy great program down there I like to encourage all our families our students to go down there and actually get involved with some of the archery items he has there he opens it up to the community he has a lot of Youth that just come in they shoot bows all day and stay out of trouble and have fun great opportunity and um I think that's about it but thank you so much thank you Mr Ms Berg Mr Chrysler thank you Mr chair um the I kind of adopted a brevity policy with all these comment sections here as
110of late um but I'm gonna take a look at your time tonight first uh the student deaths I you know I overlooked that last week it's it's a it is uh you know that as as news comes as they find the other missing students that you know it's a sad situation and it is uh my thoughts go out to the staff and Community with that and as we heal from that uh thank you for this school board appreciation stuff I've made it known as a little friendly banter between Miss looking and I I don't like that kind of stuff I don't like gifts and attention and that kind of thing but I do appreciate in the efforts that all the schools put out the video is very nice uh welcome Coach Moore uh Friday football
111Friday Night Lights here in Amherst uh you were part of it and now you get to lead it and that's exciting um school counselor week great job that they do but I want to recognize them I'm looking forward to bringing my kids to the school board clerk appreciation parade that we have going on maybe have some fire engines and stuff Miss McNerney I appreciate that and then uh this next part I'm gonna try to remember this kindness week coming up because I you know I've gone through a little bit of a midlife crisis and trying to trying to be make sure that I'm a good example uh for my kids and for and and those kind of things so but I want to touch on two things because I wasn't here when we voted on
112the the policy the instructional material policy all right and I don't care what the labels this puts on me because you know this is how I feel um the instructor I was I'm against the opt-in and it's for this reason not because my three children and I'm not doing this for that but thank you though my three children in the school system I'm not concerned about them being taught something about that because because I know these teachers I'm a product of the school system all right I've I I've spent 13 plus years in there I've had to fortunate to be the the have these teachers Mentor me to leave Lasting Impressions on my life and my my opposition to the opt-in is not to open the door for any of this because I I trust
113it wasn't going on we still haven't seen evidence in Amherst County that it went on and I think the message that we send is this board is that we do the exact same things they're talking about it's a message of distrust and listen the we we are elected and and I know we're on this parental the parental rights Paradigm right now and I'm a parent I do not relinquish my rights to my children but as a as an elected official as a member of this board we also oversee the school system and there's a balance we take the input of the parents and we make informed decisions and we also consider the staff because for what I the message that I keep hearing is like you know who whoever's in our ear forsake the staff
114and that that drives me nuts because they work hard every day we sit there we sit here and and have these inquisitions to Mr Gallagher about why can't we find staff why can't we find something did we not not and and the reason is if we don't see that we're crossing this environment of distrust that we have to micromanage every single decision they go to school to to learn about things and to make these decisions and not a single one of them come in there with malice in their heart to do something to these kids and I'm sick of this fear that keeps getting promulgated by these ridiculous that's the instructional material now I do think there's some confusion there is a library thing that's coming around okay the library material you know again here
115we go with the misinformation thing and we're talking about transparency I think we need we we've cited these book challenges but the book challenges have come from one board member that doesn't even have their kids in the school system and that drives me nuts I have bit my tongue long enough about that all right I care about this Division and then the the part with this meeting The National Enquirer type poster to put this fear in the community and all you you don't if you don't recognize that what it does to the school system that it undermines the reason that you're on this board is to Pro it's just to promote this school system is something that's beneficial to the community it hurts I was so I bit my tongue when I saw the the
116notice I didn't know that was going on and when I found out about it I was livid my wife sat there and was trying to calm me down and she knows how I get when I get uptight about some of these things but to not even you're talking about one-sided you invited people that have never set foot in the school building you didn't even have the common courtesy to invite the superintendent to give a position or defense to the school division that's ridiculous we didn't I didn't get elected on any party platform I don't know if I've gotten so special in the last few years I don't affiliate with any party platform I'm going to speak my mind and I'm going to do what I feel for my raising for my education that I feel
117is right and ethical to people and we've got at some point come back to Center and realize that there's people on both sides of the fence and we've got to stop depriving our children because we're we're worried about what they might learn I raise my kids if they learn something in school I can also have a good conversation with them at home to explain my values and that's what I'm I'm just I'm growing more and frustrated I I don't want to see this turn into some kind of circus I I never imagined three years ago when I came on this board that we would deal with the things that we're dealing with you know that's I came on the sport because again I'm a product of this system I love this County I have a
118fond admiration for the employees that work in this division because my wife is one of them so I'm a little partial but I want to tell we've got to we've got to start realizing lesson that we cannot be political pawns that we have got to make decisions that are in the best interest of the School Division and also not just listen to the parental side all the time but that we've got to figure out the middle and respect our staff to make those decisions because again I'm not relinquishing my rights I'm going to make decisions to make my kids make sure they're safe and make sure they don't learn something or have access to something that I don't approve of but I'm these these ridiculous the opt-in for the instructional it's a child it's a
119childhood playground argument to say well if you ain't going to teach it you ain't got to worry about it again at the end of the day you're sending a message of distrust of this staff and I'm sick of it we've got to do something to change that okay [Applause] thank you Mr garajia Miss liggin well chair thank you John you must I must have rubbed off on you I'm talking like I used to talk um but I'm just I make a joke every now and then first of all I want to get back to reality I'm having a wonderful time with these gifts um because uh I could say I don't deserve it but let me put it this way I'm appreciative that people think enough of us to give us nice things let me
120just throw that out there first life is way too short to get too crazy so I come in tonight on school board Appreciation Night having a good time and I want to thank all the schools for just taking time they didn't have to do this they take time every year to give me give us nice stuff I'm speaking for myself I have things in my house that I look at every day when I'm having a bad day of what is really going on which brings me around to I was joking about John when I see things like this um that comes from children I remember why I'm here in the first place and I shared this with the superintendent he he and I had a two or three hour ride to Richmond and I talked
121the whole time I know he's crazy about it but I've said to him if I didn't say anything else that I we've got to keep the kids in front of us policies and all of these that's what we're here to do I've been through enough of that governance and we try to make it real but not just appreciating us tonight but knowing that the school system has got some kindness and love in their hearts is just what I'm looking at I'm not going to get too many comments and I'm not going to say too much about what happened tonight I enjoyed everything that was said I wrote lots of notes I would think it'd be in our best interest to look at that policy again uh at our next board meeting because we've been given
122some good guidelines and that's what we want to hear I will agree with John that I was here the night we voted it in but I remember saying um something to the fact that I don't know why we're doing this opt-in I can I can hear myself saying it and I kind of got over it um and John I agree my children my grown children came through this system I came through it and now I got six other little ones coming through it uh if they read anything out of sorts they didn't read it in the public school system they probably read it somewhere else but that does not excuse what we're trying to do but I I want to just say like he said I got to keep saying it because he said it
123before me everything keeps popping up every week on the news and all over the country and you can't grab a hold to everything that pops up because it don't it's not necessary for Amherst the parental control of having parents and more control of their child's education I'm fine with that but as he said we cannot take all the authority away from people who are trying to teach these English teachers and even the Librarians now I've been in libraries little ones big ones College ones it's up to you what you want to read you can just choose what you want to read in the libraries and there is some concern there has been talk out here even though it was said it wasn't somebody was looking at books somewhere and I'm not criticized and I'm not
124preparing to blame because I want out there because I don't go in the library much now I got internet thank God for that but when I did go into the libraries I I went to Amber's Library I think Dr Wells we had a meeting up at one night and I was sitting in the library and I looked around and I even picked out a book that I wanted on the Titanic so we we will look at this again uh Mr chair we'll look at this again after the comments have been brought to us didn't say we was going to change it we don't know but perhaps we were Hasty uh without hearing from everyone that we needed to hear from so I would just suggest if Mr chair would put it with the superintendent to
125look at this again to look at the language as uh Eric uh said maybe the language is a little distorted or maybe that's just the wrong information out there and if it is we would be the first to try to get that straight so if we're looking at to ban books uh I don't know is there a library committee form did I hear that was a committee form I'm not trying it now I don't use it I'll go by the rules it wasn't on the agenda so I'm not going to get too crazy about it but we will look at it if there's been a library committee formed then let us talk about that in our meeting or in our Retreat or where we need to talk about it if there are some books that
126are concerned to be taken out of the library I haven't heard I haven't seen it I'd like to know something about it as a board member uh before we remove anything is that all right yes ma'am just so everybody's on the same page then back to the good stuff um uh my my real report thank you John for doing what I used to do okay wait wait okay um we we attended a capital conference uh Dr Wells and I in Richmond where a lot of these things are discussed it would be good if all the board members could and couldn't go uh else get some information a lot of these things come up and we get a better understanding when we're listening to the people who propose these uh policies and these uh bills to
127be passed we listen to all the bills that will that will not be passed I think that even Mr Terry would talk when he was down there and so I enjoyed myself as I represent vsba through Amherst I would encourage you to read your legislative positions that you have in your book this time and if you have issues with those talk with me and we can get that straight early on my law board meeting last week was excellent um Dr Lewis is doing an excellent job over there we have four students at all at this time we're looking at the budget drafting the budget looking at all kinds of things that are going on there but things are well special ed is another area we could spend some time on to the good because it
128needs it needs our help we're seeing more and more children involved in special ed and that would be a conversation that I would like to be involved with how we can help to help our children as chair versus some of these other things that are among us right now but special ed is it's a big thing going on in Laurel and in Amherst County I just want to once again thank the councilors um this is a crucial time that counselors are in the students that they're seeing daily the students that they're trying to coach and comfort and and bring up and excite and then the councils who are trying to prepare those Juniors and seniors to be citizens of Amherst or elsewhere is huge responsibility so a shout out goes to the councils here in
129Amherst kindness week all of these things are things that I I like to involve myself in and I'm okay with all the other stuff too but let us not forget there are some good things going on Dr Wells thank you for the community dinner there's some good things going going on I had a great time the chicken and all that stuff I didn't need cholesterol was great and so keep up keep the y'all keep these things in front of you and come out and be a part of some of these activities you can sit down and eat a biscuit and talk about some of these things as well uh under good circumstance Brittany next week I may not see you but thank you for all you do for Clerk's week I had to ask right
130but I said who is the clerk we didn't know because she's so busy uh thank you for what you do for Dr Wells to help to do for us and so we're just excited my last thing is that um I did um go to senior night for basketball what a great time that Joey sent the uh athletes off with like a lot of good music and all that so once again people are working uh some things look bad but some people are happy in this County some things are going well and so we will be excited Dr Norma to see how our numbers look our achievement scores that's what I'm all about I want to see what you bring to the table and where we need to do work we can spend some time trying
131to figure out how to bring those scores up among all the gaps in our in our community so um Mr chair I think I've covered everything that John didn't cover so thank you so much thank you Miss Lincoln so um first I'd like to um a shout out from Ms Thompson she was not feeling well tonight so she could not join us and I am not on any boards but I will apologize to Mr Rossi for missing the stem meeting the other day so uh thank you for picking that up so I'd like to thank all their our pres speakers for coming tonight we'd like to hear um all sides um we have some for we have some against um we need to hear all sides thank you very much um I think most everybody
132has spoken about the gifts they're the neatest thing to get from the children especially when you know that they've uh they've put the thought and the the care into doing those it's uh it's it's very humbling so uh thanks to the principals and teachers for guiding them or you know however that came about but thank you all very much um Dr Wells I think people have spoken about the dinner it was a fabulous event um people from you know all sides of the community were there um it was great to see the First Responders there showing off their stuff it's it's a good way to get people together food does a wonderful thing so uh hopefully people will take you up on your community leaders breakfast um be good to have as many people from
133the different groups there to you know hash out differences and and uh to show up Amherst so that goes out to everybody within the community don't just sit back and talk come on out I mean I'd rather talk face to face than to um hear it from the Internet or whatever so please show up uh welcome back Chris Moore we're all looking forward to a a good football season um even those who are not big football fans are excited to see change coming in and go moving in a positive direction so we're looking forward to a good season um looking forward to the construction starting at the high school we've been talking about that for a couple years now uh of course the uh the auditorium was something they've been talking about for decades now
134so uh be nice to finally see that thing uh break ground and get going um that is another thing that will help unite the community you know having a big place where people can come together um all groups can use that and that's what it's for but to have it centered around our high school is that's about the best thing we can do put it where people can use it all groups can use it but it's centered around where our kids are so uh again show up Amherst and do your do the right thing um you know chronic absenteeism has been a big thing for us and so we're you know putting the shout out for our parents to make sure if the kids can be at school have them at school have them show
135up and do the right thing be at school um The Chronic absenteeism is going to bite Us in the rear end if we're not careful and hate to see that be the thing that drags us down um the you know the academics is coming along you like to see the the improvements there but if the chronic absenteeism is going to drag us down um the teachers can only teach if the kids are there so we need the parents to show up get the kids there and um Mr Fink it's will I hear what the uh what what's going on at the schools I know with the seniors it's final stretch you know graduation is right around the corner and um we like hearing how our our you know young adults are planning to move on
136with their lives whether they go on to college or whether they go into the workforce it's it's exciting for everybody I no longer have kids in the high school but um I have seen it happen and it is always exciting um so keep everybody you know engaged and and pumped up and and we we wish you all the best of luck so uh good luck to you guys um and and I think I would like to end tonight to say one more word about the um the loss of a student that we had um I don't think there's anything more devastating to a community to a school to a family to lose a child to lose a friend um especially somebody who you lost so unexpectedly so our hearts are broken for everyone in the
137community so uh let's all uh show up Amherst and support the families the students and let's do the right thing too so we need to move into closed session so pursuant to section 2.2-3711a1 of the code of Virginia it is recommended the board conveying a closed meeting for the following A1 [Applause] [Music]