001[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 yes ma'am [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you it's all good [Music] kill him [Music] understand [Music] teacher [Music] thank you I'm doing well trying to keep [Music] thank you football yeah went all the way up [Music] thank you [Music] thank you Mr why we have talked so many times [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] and I didn't know [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you because I'm not going to specifically [Music] thank you they're all good right [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you reverse [Music] stuff here and my wife called and
002she said well [Music] thank you I didn't know I didn't paid that one [Music] table like Christmas dinner [Music] call the board meeting to order please stand as we have a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance 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 foreign like to take this time for us to approve tonight's agenda I need a motion still moved have a motion for Mrs Berg to approve the agenda to have second second all in favor aye okay we have on our agenda um tonight we have uh starting us off a recognition of the Lions Club yes Madam chair members of the board tonight we want to recognize the
003Amherst Lions Club we have with us tonight uh I believe all of y'all are here if I miss somebody let me know Mr Ron White miss Ann white miss Robin Davies and Ronnie Unruh and so uh I'll say a few words and then y'all can come forward or you can come forward now if you like and I can go ahead and uh while I'm saying this but the alliance club uh this year um screened I usually don't know they do Vision screenings for our students so this year they screened 1166 students and 192 of those students are Refuge referred for eye doctor appointments um due to the screenings they have 90 plus they have volunteer 90 Plus hours with us this year um they have a screening machine that is a little older about 10
004years old now and so they're trying to get that replacement they've received a grant through the alliance Club but they're also trying to get the other four thousand one hundred dollars and and matching funds so we are going to try to work with them to to figure out ways to fund fund that either through grants or through some organizations um over the last five years by doing these Vision screenings they have saved the School Division at least fifteen thousand dollars by partnering with us on these on these clinic visits so they do a great job supporting our students and supporting our school divisions I just want to personally thank them for what they've done and for their hours of doing that so that being said we have certificate of appreciation for Amherst County Public Schools
005proudly presents the certificate on December 8 2022 to the Amherst County Lions Club for providing Vision screenings to students famous County Public Schools thank you for your dedication I'm William Wells and Abby Thompson so thank you [Applause] [Laughter] y'all want us to stand or be out of the way or [Laughter] thank you to each of you that's what the Lions Club we really appreciate what you do for us and for our students and your partnership um Dr Wells thank you very much um I'd like to open up now a public hearing concerning our 2023-2024 school operational budget um is there anyone that would like to come and speak to us tonight concerning that budget they see none I will close the budget hearing and I know that we are promotion now pardon need a motion
006sorry I need a motion to close the public hearing don't move to Madam chair I have a motion to close public here and I need a second second for Mr Rossi all in favor aye aye thank you um session is closed now we are moving into our public hearing um public comments from the citizens um I think before we do that uh Dr Wells you had something you wanted to add yes ma'am uh just like to make a comment to everyone regarding some information this week and again I usually don't respond to social media posts as I understand some use these platforms to vent their frustrations and or share information with others on their feed however I've had several staff community members contact me over the past two days regarding a post made by a
007parent that I felt I needed to make comment how support free speech and people have the right to share information on various social media forms people can say what they wish about me when I accepted this position I knew they went along with a job however I can't sit by when people post information about the School Division and or my staff a superintendent of Anderson County Public Schools have been entrusted by the school board to leave this Division and assure that we provide a safe and supportive educational environment for our students and staff I take that charge very seriously and have expressed some expectations to the faculty and staff of the school division if I make a mistake I hold myself accountable when students for staff make mistakes in judgment or behavior I expect them
008to be held accountable for their actions as a School Division we do our best to deal with those mistakes in an appropriate manner based on the seriousness of the offense however we cannot share decisions regarding students or personnel with the public I would ask that if parents grandparents or other persons feel that they need to report something please report it to your principal and if that principle does not deal with that please report it to my office and I'll be glad to to intervene I will also say that no one is perfect and as human beings we are prone to mistakes the leaders of the school division work hard every day to realize our shortcomings and improve we have devoted our professional lives provided an education to our students and serving our community in the
009Bible Jesus States in John 8 7 he that is without sin among you let him cast his Stone and the Golden Rule estate at Matthew 7 12 therefore whatever you want men to do to you and do also to them I wish people reflect on the meaning of these passages and apply them to their own lives as a school Community made up of students parents staff and community members we need to work together to solve the multitude of issues that we are facing on a daily basis spreading hurtful or inaccurate information only serves to divide us instead of uniting us as a community I would ask that we do our best to work together to find common ground so we can continue to do work that will benefit our students and our community thank you
010thank you Dr Wells before we go into our public comment period I'd like to remind everybody who is going to be speaking tonight that you are asked to address the board that you limit your comments to three minutes and that not to mention any student or employee names instead just say student or staff member no other identifying information I will reiterate that what Dr Wells has said if you have concerns please contact your school administrator if you need to go further contact Dr Wells and the same vein you can also contact us as board members and we're happy to sit and work with you because this is a team effort uh so as we open tonight's public comment concerning School matters and again there will be no additional comment period at the end thank you
011almost forgot this to lead us off I'm going to make a public comment statement about our Esser Grant Amherst County Public School received in 2021 a total of 7 million three hundred and one thousand six hundred and eighty nine dollars and 84 cents under the American Rescue plan act the purpose of the American Rescue plan ARP act Elementary and secondary school relief funds or the Esser fund three was to assist School divisions in safely reopening and sustaining the safe operation of schools while addressing the impacts of covet 19. Amherst County Public School was required to address students academic social emotional and mental health needs in an ongoing division plan every six months this plan goes under revision with feedback from all stakeholders notices to the public asking for input were sent through school messenger social
012media platforms and an intake form on the division website the current plan is posted on the division website home page along with a survey for feedback that can be filled out by Amherst citizens at any time through the grant period which is through until September 2024. if anyone like would like to provide their comments directly to the board regarding this plan we will also take them at this time um board this has been provided with you in your packet as well and I think Dr Norman will address it also a little bit later but wanted to make sure the public was aware of that okay tonight leading off for public comment the first name that I have is Kathy Beck right here come here to the microphone yes and when you come up if you
013will just um state your name and your address right there and you look at us yeah you dress the board okay I am not a public speaker I'm not a politician so I can't lie good I'm just here I'm a 66 year old grandmother I have a five-year-old grandson at Amherst Elementary and my husband and IGM have four children that have gone through the Amherst County Public Schools okay and I'm not real familiar what across the board the Virginia school board is doing on this um on this curriculum about opt-in or opt out and that's what I read in the newspaper and what I'm going to speak about um so anyway I'm going to tell a little bit of story about don't count my time yet just have you started okay okay I don't believe
014that government and laws can delegate morality but government and Educators can guide sensibly persons in their care storytelling time for me is going to be a is included in this and I'm using my cheat cards here so I won't go down a rabbit Trail like my husband says I do often so we moved Amherst County in 1994 and we've been taxpayers for 30 years using the Amherst County Public School System educating our four children our oldest and special edu special education and the other three in regular classes our youngest got his diploma in 2008 with the help of Dr Ed Hopkins who we highly regard and he has since retired he was he was excellent and encouraging I'm here tonight to speak on Common Sense and it is let's educate our children and not indoctrinate
015our children while their minds are fertiled their minds are fertile now they're like mush right we need to focus on discipline of the three R's Reading Writing and arithmetics so they will be prepared to function in a world of Commerce let's let nature and childhood take its course I've got two stories to tell I've got a five-year-old grandson at Amherst Elementary kindergarten and we have a vested interest of course in him the first week he came home from kindergarten he told us the name of all the pretty girls all the pretty teachers and the kids who went to the principal's office no one had to instruct him in gender appreciation for him he knew the difference again let nature take its course when ready to explore his attraction to the opposite sex the listening ears
016of parents Guardians caregivers will guide him in the understanding of human development he certainly doesn't need detailed instructions on sexual component of his puppy lover crushes again let nature take its natural course in due time from kindergarten to fourth grade let's skip to fifth grade when we begin adolescence we all were adolescents at one time true agreed was it a stressful time yes we must respect just remember to address the board please oh I'm sorry we all have peers and we compare ourselves we're vulnerable am I fast enough am I going to get picked for the softball team am I smart enough or do I look good enough so our job as Educators and parents are to guide and encourage them through the rough patch of human development in increasing their self-worth okay again how
017we go back to the three R's the big part of this Reading Writing arithmetic because knowledge is power kids still look up to Educators and parents and um because teachers become a substitute parent as they explore the world around them away from home a side note social media and influencers on social media are here to stay unfortunately we must be reminded that personal relationships with adults parents coaches and Educators still influence our children and the development of their minds Mrs back it's already done yes but you can always email us or you can give it to the office and they can send us your comments okay certainly welcome okay I'm willing to go on but thank you okay Kathy back 181 Glenway Drive Amherst Virginia thank you okay the next speaker we have is Ruth
018Warner Ruth Warner okay she's not present so we're going to move along to Rachel Martin okay Mrs Martin is not here so uh Mr Porter our my name is Jeff Porter 478 Woody's Lake Road Madison Heights Virginia I am speaking concerning the proposed revisions that are found in item 5.01 these in that memoranda that I'm talking to is on page two and it's item C which says informs parents of the right to have their child use upon request and non-punitive manner alternative instructional materials that do not include which which do include sexually explicit content so far as I have knowledge of the opt-out form with the family life education program I don't know if any other classes or teachers are using this form from what I have heard when from one parent I heard her
019child was in the class but she found about found found out about dissolved out form from a friend as I understand it there is supposed to be a mailing which happens 30 days prior and apparently at least with this situation it had not my rationale is that if a teacher or a person is considering using such material they should gear the instructional time which does not include the sexually explicit material as alternate content once again we believe that parents and Community expect Public School instruction to provide wholesome edifying and and age appropriate materials sexually explicit is not the societal Norm that we want to affirm or gloss over therefore it should not be considered so polit Public Schools I believe must promote wholesome and edifying teaching materials and therefore I would urge you that as
020you consider this issue tonight to think of what I have just said to you now in the midst of all the seriousness I have something to also say merry Merry Christmas to you all right thank you sir Merry Christmas to you Merry Christmas thank you Mr Porter Merry Christmas to you okay um I believe Mrs Martin would you like to come and speak foreign state your name and address good evening my name is Rachel Martin and I am here to make not only the school board aware of some very serious issues but the parents of Amherst County students as well my daughter is an eighth grader at menelausen and this school year something has changed this year she has had her life threatened bullied and been sexually harassed when she had her breasts groped she
021went to her teacher and told him to which he replied it was an accident and to go back to what she was doing this was without speaking to the other student my daughter was also involved in an incident at the October pep rally a student became angry when asked by other students to scoot down and he threatened to stab and kill my daughter while punching the wall by her he was on camera punching another wall while storming out a staff member told me he saw some kind of disturbance but never checked to see what happened as reported to me this child is known to be violent and is autistic the fact that he was allowed to be without an aide during a loud chaotic event like this is nothing short of negligent my child and
022her friends reported the incident but when the staff member called home it was downplayed to stabbing with a pencil by him claimed no one had told him of the death threat he told me that day that the boy was harassed by students on the bus ride home who wanted to know why he threatened her with a pencil he told me he wanted the student to feel safe in school and also wanted my daughter to feel safe bully first victim second he told me my child's friends were a bunch of loudmouths and implied that they had caused him to become angry after emailing him that evening he called the next day I told him I had spoken to several students who said they had reported it and it caused him to remember one other student reporting
023it a few minutes later he denied this again until I reminded him that he had already admitted it he had his Superior call me and during this conversation he gave me a Virginia state code and said I'd be unable to press charges against the student like I wanted to since he threatened her without a weapon on his person he told me that a resource officer gave him the code and told him this information I spoke with this officer yesterday and he said he did give this code however he never said I couldn't press charges the staff member was rude condescending and belittled me in a way I've never experienced an appointment was then scheduled with another staff member for November 2nd in which we discussed everything he said he would start an investigation of my
024allegations and would call me November 5th to let me know how the investigation was going and would update me until it was closed I never received a call or email until this Tuesday five weeks later when I posted my story on social media and emailed him letting him know his response to this was Mrs Martin I urge you to be careful with accusations that are not accurate regarding individuals considered slanderous I'm here because everything I've said is true I'm sharing my story with the Potential Threat of being sued because I care about my daughter and every child being bullied at that school whose complaints are falling on deaf ears my social media post response shocked me I had countless parents grandparents as well as past and current Amherst County Employees share similar stories and complaints
025your three minutes are up okay thank you very much right before we close public session is there anyone else that would like to speak yes come up and state your name and address please good evening board I'm Sam sober District 2 parent thanks very much for the opportunity to speak I just want to let you know I'm here representing parents who have faith in you who trust our superintendent and our school principals and as was stated in a meeting a couple months ago the teachers are looking out for each other veteran teachers are looking out for the rookie teachers it's open door so the idea that there's Rogue actors you know is sounds silly to me that there's a lot of a robust system of checks and balances that goes on in Amherst County Public
026Schools I volunteered in the schools and for what I've seen with my own eyes is a very well-behaved uh student population uh really awesome teachers who are looking out and have these students best interests in mind I trust my students principal and guidance counselor and the teachers and so I just want to let you all know that I'm here representing a lot of parents that feel that way and when it comes to this question of opt-in or opt out the way that I see it and I think a lot of us see it is that a parent or Guardian in Amherst County can opt their student out of anything they want any material they want and opt-in is going to potentially prevent a family that you know missed that email from them reading you know
027a Steinbeck novel or something like that that maybe they wanted their student to read so I think that there's already a system in place opt out they could opt their students out of whatever they want and I think a lot of a lot of what we've been hearing the last couple months in these meetings is a lot of much to do about nothing and if there are issues well let's cross that bridge when we come to it but as far as I can see right now we can trust our school system and have faith in them and that's what I want to let you all know that I'm here to represent those parents that are we're good with what's going on our students are learning they're they're working on the three R's that's all they're
028working on as far as I can tell Reading Writing and arithmetic so thank you very much acps for all that you do appreciate y'all peace and love thank you but before you leave can you state your address oh he did his district oh you did the district okay thank you anyone else wishing to speak before we close the public comment I can't need a motion to close public comment motion to close public comment do you have a second second I have a second for Mr Rossi all in favor aye um motion passes hmm right now we're moving to 5.01 discussion and consider approval of the proposed revisions to Amherst County public school policy manual Dr Wells yes Madam chair members of the board so with the policy as you are aware as we've mentioned in
029previous meetings the general assembly and legislation requires us to have a policy in place regarding sexually supposed materials by January 1 2023 so we have given you a draft a policy IIA which would be the policy with on this and Mr Maddox was going to speak with you tonight about this as he's on the committee and Mr Grazer is the school board member on the committee and they must have been something that committed this past week when they admit because both of those individuals are not able to be here tonight uh there's some illness going around as we all know and so um anyhow they're not able to be here so I'll ask Dr Norman to speak regarding the work the committee did and I'll be glad Al chime in to it was necessary try
030to fill in as best I can you have in your onboard docs the information from Mr Maddox regarding what the instructional committee materials committee that you established did on your behalf and this is their recommendation to you so they had several meetings I think it was six total meetings for the committee got together they reviewed the law that came down from the state legislature they also reviewed information from the vast the model policy the vast policy that was sent out and then our current policy and pulled all of those together what they have submitted to you is a recommendation to adopt policy IIA and iiab which are from the Virginia School Board Association and the model policy that they actually submitted to us and to take that in full and then they also submitted to
031you for a request to adopt the regulation that goes along with that policy which is the regulations and procedures for iiar and that is from them so one is written through the Virginia School Board Association and the other is written from the committee that was specific to your request to review materials the the only thing that gets approved by you tonight is the one for the policy and then we'd like your feedback on the recommended on the regulation so that Dr Wells can have guidance from you as a board to implement that as stands and Dr Norman I'm not sure if the regulation was actually attached so we can get that to them to review I'm not sure if it was attached from our end up here it is looks kind of like that so
032it was in the packet that I handed that I gave you I don't know if so it's called instructional materials regulation and procedures I iar I'm not sure if we attached it so we can we can get you that information already can share it with you you have two pieces of paper in front of you well is it on that as well docs okay all we all they have is uh the regular all they have is the policy we correct okay and I IAB is just our regular policy with an additional sentence that's been added correct just requiring teachers to follow policy II a if that's adopted so uh board members what is your pleasure tonight do I hear a motion do you want to have discussion secretary um I'm good with what's presented okay
033here Mrs fligan Mrs Burke trying to catch up with what's going on right now with uh not having the other one with us so I'm trying to right okay Mr Rossi do you have any thoughts we're approving the not the actual revisions were just approving the policies so what what's in front of you is the policy IIA which states that we have to notify parents within 30 days if there's an essentially explicit material covered in class parents have the right to opt out of that so the building principle if there were a case where this would happen which is not very likely or not very you know frequent that would happen the building principal would send a letter home to the parent stating that this is information there'll be information regarding whatever book or whatever
034they're covering in class and therefore the parent would have the right to be to be notified of that but also have the right to opt out of that assignment with a different assignment and the parents also have an opportunity to review material I understand they can review material at any time at any time yes sir so they only have to wait until the 30 days or anything like that at any point they can review any of the material if it's available correct right the only time that we don't put it up on the website or there's a link not there is when it's copywritten but they can come into the building at any time and ask to look at textbooks materials anything that a teacher uses in the classroom that's all materially what about uh
035supplemental in materials also any material they'll be used in instruction covers in this coverage well parents have the right to review everything if they said completely transparent I'm good with that I have a quick question why would we have sexually explicit content anyways and as you as I think Miss Justice stated earlier there were some library books that according to her um research that were considered to be on that list of material that could be considered sexually explicit so that was in the library this Dakota Virginia just requires this so that's why we have to have a policy in place some of our AP classes May due to the content of those things have more of have material that is maybe fall in that category I guess it's up into interpretation of you know but
036looking at code of Virginia what those standards are so um I can't I can't sit here and say that it's every classroom has things but there may be materials that could fall into that category some of the classics that fall into that category based on what is written so the way that this was actually brought up through legislation is based on the Family Life Education many people have placed that on their websites or it's made available to the public but not all School divisions did that so we have always allowed for opt-out process we've always provided curriculum in regards to our family life we've made that available to parents but not every division did that and so in order to make sure that all divisions were met that criteria because there are sexually explicit curriculum
037in with the health and physical education standards age appropriate that the content that's taught in there as well as the supplemental materials that's used in instruction parents have the right to review that that's how the whole policy came before legislation it didn't Target library books until later on and they've kind of combined both of them this particular policy that you're supposed to have in place and approved by January 1 is specific to instructional materials in the classroom Madam chair Rossi um so when we defined sexually explicit material as sort of uh a red flag for parents so that in the case it was used it was defined on what that would be is is that the way I'm understanding it it's not that we use right use it but it is defined so when the
038alert does go out that they would know so then the definition is actually the code of Virginia requires it and in our policy it states what the state definition of that material is and it's it's written in the policy so it talks about nudity that a masochistic could be sexually explicit and so forth it's in the fallacy as you've read so all that stuff is this detailed as to what that would be and if if we if it were a case where a letter had to go home it would be what what falls under that category would be listed in that letter so parents would know what it is that their parents students will you may not be reading one one of the um concerns that I have I actually have two is that this
039policy well I know it is adopted by the vsba and it's a response to the governor's model policy um telling us we have to have something in place and so I know that's the heart that this was done with but one of the things that I feel and I think a lot of our citizens feel and parents feel is that our school system as Mr Porter put it need to be providing wholesome edifying and age-appropriate materials and I believe as Mr sogar said we are doing that so one of the concerns I have is that this policy doesn't set that standard you know if there was an addition to it somewhere up near the top that said we're responsible for providing the selection use of instructional materials and that we will be providing wholesome edifying
040and age-appropriate materials but should instructional material if instructional material were to contain sexually explicit such as in the classics then we have a policy in place so I just feel that our intent is missing from this the other piece that I have a little bit of a concern with is I know that this is addressing instructional material and supplemental material but the policy that we're putting forth is not addressing non-instructional materials and that non-instructional materials I believe on good faith will be addressed in the regulations but we're responsible for policy we're not responsible for regulation we're responsible for policy and so I don't see that accountability in this and I've said that at our last two board meetings that I had hoped our policy would have some of that in there um and I know
041Mrs Justice who is not with us and I myself believe that we should have an opt-out as opposed I mean an opt-in as opposed to an opt out just because you could have a student participating in sexually explicit material if that were to be the case and a parent would find out after the fact so my personal opinion is that I think the parents need to be the ones who say my student will be in these lessons if that were to come but as a school board that's not our goal our goal is to provide wholesome edifying and age-appropriate materials so those are some of the concerns that I have I think it's it definitely hits the minimal of what we need to have based on the governor's directions and based on the vsba it's
042just a very generic policy but nothing prohibits us as a board from going above and beyond this but those are my concerns and they I may be the only one so anybody else have any comments or motions Madam chair yeah I'm I'm definitely with the opt in for notification and for parents to choose to take their child's education down that path you know if they see fit I'm I I know that some parents are perfectly capable of educating their children and and certain subjects and they should have that option and to be aware of it and have to opt into it if they choose not to educate their child the way they see fit and that'll that'll bring out some accountability in that aspect and I I do agree with an of an opt-in versus
043an opt-out the other discussion uh Madam chair I'm also in agreement with a opt-in and in no way do I want that to reflect on my confidence and our teachers and our staff but just with everything you hear going on and you know parents are busy this and that I know I specifically every year my enroll my daughter again I look for those opt-out sheets to fill out for her for this type of subject but I really would like to say opt-in instead another discussion okay um do I have a motion to close discussion oh moved have a motion to close discussion do I have a second second have a second all in favor aye all right the word I need a motion on it to whether we will adopt policy IIA as stated or
044whatever motion you care to make foreign so I just want to remind everyone if you you could if if the opt-in is to Route the board so chooses to take you would have to make a motion to amend this policy you would not approve this policy you have to not pass this policy you'd have to make a motion to put opt-in as equate we will notify parents and then you'd have to approve it with opt-in as part of the as part of the policy so you just need to be aware of that so just want to put that out there that's supposed to opt out yes I would like to make a motion that we redo this policy and put the opt-in option in there and vote on it then next meeting well I have
045to have this in place by January 1st so you can make a motion to include opt-in in this policy we can put it in the policy if that's the board's desire and then the policy passed with the opt-in option versus an opt-out option motion to put that in the policy then with the opt-in versus the opt out emotion that we adopt policy IIA with the addition of clarifying that there is an opt-in policy instead of an opt-out Madam chair Rossi I'm not sure am I allowed to expand on her and make a noise there's a motion on the floor so okay the better off the past that motion and then open up a discussion again for if you have further discussion as opposed to amending the existing uh a second the motion from uh Amendment
046from Miss Berg okay I have a second so we have a motion on the floor we are open for discussion about chair so if we amend the the uh the policy as it is it will take out the opt out and place opt-in in its place is that that's what we're saying let's make sure that was the motion on the floor that's what the motion I'm just making sure that okay we're taking things out putting things in making sure we got it you remove the opt out option it's not as written so I'm just making sure and make it opt in option okay and then add it to the to the to the policy another discussion okay scene none I need a motion on the floor to close discussion Madam chair motion to close discussion
047all right we're closing discussion do I have a second okay second from Mr Terry all in favor aye aye okay we now have a motion on the floor that we will adopt policy IIA with taking out the opt out and changing it to an opt-in is that correct you have to vote on the motion to amend first was there you made them you made a You made a discussion to add that as a addition but you never then you have to vote on two at two well I didn't think we got a motion on the floor to adopt this as it was you didn't so now we just only had a single motion which was Mrs Bergs which was to adopt this with a change right yes so that we've had discussion on that yeah
048that's not an amendment now you have to vote no we have to vote on that okay all in favor say aye aye aye any opposed um I'm going to ask one more time all in favor say aye aye aye any opposed okay um motion passes okay now we're going to go to our next uh item uh agenda we haven't approved the we approved the amendment we have and approved the the whole thing right we just approved the amendment is that correct um you didn't approve the policy right that's what I thought just did that we just voted on was the policy itself we were approving hers and then coming back to my change to hers how did we pass that we just wanted to add more verbiage I apologize okay um board are you open
049to revisiting this at this time what are we revisiting I believe that there was a misunderstanding um Mr Rossi thought we were voting on an amendment to the motion correct Madam chair I just think that your comment earlier about adding the accountability to the beginning of the of the policy was accurate and we should have discussion on that um can you clarify the motion that we just passed was presented by Ms Burke to at sorry the motion that was passed that was presented by Miss Berg was to amend the policy to add the opt-in in place of the opt out okay so we passed the amendment that Mrs Berg said so was my misunderstanding I think you're on track yes okay all right okay so forgive me for misunderstanding and moving on we're we're uh
050yeah I want to amend and add the accountability statement that you made earlier in the beginning of the con in the beginning of the policy for the man help me out the whole song how do you make that motion um let's be clear what um said that I understand and I don't get confused again um are you talking about the statement that I made at the beginning that clarifies our intent correct okay and so stating that we have a purpose of our instructional materials being wholesome edifying and age-appropriate correct agent appropriate and that if it contained sexually explicit material then that policy would apply right right okay Madam chair I just Mrs Dr I'm sorry about this that's okay so I'm reading back through it and your motion Miss Berg if I'm understanding correctly was
051to change the wording from opt out to opt in is that correct there is no wording of opt out in iiaa so you would not replace the wording you would add the word you would actually add that into the policy that's what I was and I should have said something that's why I was asking him I'm like where are they reading that at the intent is actually in the policy the policy at the bottom of the page where there's a process and there's a 30-day notification to parents prior to it on the second page it talks about non-punitive alternate instructional it's the third bullet where that is the intent of an opt in or opt out but you would actually want to put that if your if your motion is to replace the wording you
052you probably need to make it we need to rebuild do another motion we need to revamp it yeah and you're talking about C and this is what uh Mr Porter originally talked with us about tonight yes okay so let's uh revisit really quickly um to make sure that we have this one straight and then we'll talk about uh what your concerns are Mr Rossi um so Mrs Berg could you give us a motion that would address bullet C um yes I would like to make a motion to include the verbiage for to opt in this is in the third bullet on page one C yes ma'am and let's just says just make sure you have the right paragraph a process about which principles will provide that's a paragraph yes that's when you're talking about Miss
053Bear yes sir and the C port version of that one okay with that information that Dr Norman noted Mrs Berg has made a motion that we add opt in under bullet C on the first page paragraph one two six is that correct okay Justin yes okay so bullet four so bullet 3 C is the intent bullet four a process by which parents may change their decision that's where you would probably want to put the opt in a a process by which parents May opt in or may change their decision with the respect to use that would be my recommendation to the board so instead of the third it'd be the fourth to be the fourth right okay and put it here one more down that would be fine that would be the fourth bullet point
054so it would read a process by which parents May opt in or change their decision with respect to the use of alternative stress materials but providing written notice yes sir do I need to make it again sir yes if you um we had it hasn't been seconded so you need to just clarify what that motion is going to be okay I would like to make a motion that we put the opt-in verbiage into the fourth bullet point instead of the third and that's the opt-in yes ma'am okay a process by which parents May opt in or change their decision with respect to the use of alternative instructional materials well that does have them up lips before I call for a second Mrs Berg can you read that bullet carefully and make sure that they're opting
055into the sexually explicit as or are they opting into alternative instructional materials kind of look at them all together oh it's my understanding about reading it that's what they're doing they're opting their students to use optional they have to excuse me your apps in this state so they would opt into instructional materials as opposed to opting into the content correct write a letter saying I want a watch of instruction yes ma'am but I think so that's not what we're talking about we're talking about a parent having to write and say I want my child to participate in the sexually explicit content not the alternative concept that would be the third bulletin Point like what I can right so the original the so I'm going to use Family Life as a as our example the state
056requires certain standards to be taught and we as a division are allowed to choose those materials instructional materials that our teachers utilize the content of what the standard is cannot be altered the resources and material instructional materials that we use to get that content across can be parents can opt children out completely of it in regards to family life but when you get into verified credits of if I'm taking a biology class or a science class and there is a standard that talks about um the physical body that's a and they have an Sol test on that that is content that must be covered we're required to give that the instructional materials that are used parents can opt those children out of utilizing those materials I think I'm I hope I'm clear I understand okay
057what you're saying so does there need to be a policy for but standards that are required by the Virginia Department of Education or just the selection of instructional materials that reach that this to me this policy does not specify the difference between the two correct I would like to go back to the third bulletin point because I think it fits in there better than the fourth okay Madam chair from Mr Rossi so putting it in bulletin three will basically opt them out of the class entirely is is that what my understanding is it will opt them out of the actual lesson so not the course so if a a lesson is taught that particular day that child has opted out that particular day all right and if that's in bullet point three so the difference
058between bullet point three or four would just opt them out of material um well four refers to the use of alternate materials as opposed to the instruction taking place all right so if you want an opt-in if you want parents to have the ability to opt their students in to require parents to opt their students into that material then that's would be as opposed to parents being able to opt their students out of that material of that instruction that's that's what you're coming down to now as if if a teacher is going to teach something and parents do not return the letter to the school then that student cannot receive that instruction in that material because they did not opt their students in when given the letter as opposed to instruction taking place and a
059parent being informed and notified of school they want their child to be removed from that instruction which is the opt out so let's make sure you understand the difference in the opt-in and opt out and how that impacts the instruction I mean I believe if within the classroom that they are developing content that has sexually explicit material in it and let's just say a classic they also need to be providing within their lesson plan an alternative to that with non-sexually explicit materials anticipating they may have students participating one or the other and if there's value for the classic that has the sexually explicit material the parent needs to understand that value and say okay my child can participate in that for me if a parent is not I'm not saying that the school doesn't inform
060them but if that parent doesn't receive that information then that child is receiving sexually explicit content without the parental permission and that that's what bothers me but Madam chair like you're saying but I mean I that what you just said that's really nothing we can do about that yes there is we can do an opt-in so they opted I mean I must be reading this wrongly automatically opted in on things aren't they let's say we were here I would either choose to be at the board meeting or not be at the board and I'm using analogy so when are you not opted in you would have to the parents would say I don't want my kid to have I don't want my kid but I mean when when would you have to opt in I
061guess I'm confused you're not even opting out I'm trying to say here um if if something is being taught and you you don't want your child to be taught that you would opt out is that correct yes but that's nothing else why would you say I want to opt in it's already you automatically opted in aren't you well for me I understand that I don't know why we have any sexually explicit material in our school I don't think so but let me answer Madam chair I was looking at something great here uh the superintendent or superintendent's designee creates and updates as necessary guidelines and procedures for the selection of materials the guidelines and procedures are designed to ensure that appropriate instructional materials are selected and provide an opportunity for the professional staff and Community to
062participate and be informed of the selection so that statement's already there that's good that's kind of what you always saying a few minutes ago but then and I don't have a problem with the wording but aren't they already opted in anyway automatically automatically so if you want to put an opt out in here and I'm you know that's that can be done so the parent sends a note and says I don't want them talking about Gulliver's Travels but if you don't send the note we're gonna they're gonna be talking about Gulliver's Travels unless I'm reading it wrong that is opt out but I think but I think what the and I don't speak for the but no don't tell me explain to me so the opt-in would be we would notify traffic on Gulliver's Travels
063that we're reading Gulliver's Travels in 30 days okay and in order for that student to be participating in the goal of a travel discussion I want them to say I think the parents would have to say this they can read Gulliver's Travels that's what the board is saying Madam chair I Know Myself and I believe Mr Rossi and even you personally have received several letters in the past about materials that were available in the school and parents actually upside over that and that knowing that that was going to be presented and I think it would be a service to our more more of our parents if they actually knew that this lesson was coming up and they would have to agree to have their child being okay thought that material can I stop discuss for
064a minute because you had a motion on the floor from Miss bird to put opt in in section three we never had a second and so we can't but really shouldn't have gone into discussion until we had a second so um so have a second to move up to we have a motion to move opt-in into the third bullet point was there a second before they're gonna move it back I think that's why we don't have a second to it Mrs Burke was determining I got confused with the third and the fourth you were a lot of places your last statement he said let's place it in the third yes and then she suggested the fourth but I don't think it fits into the fourth and you came back and said the third so what
065motion would you like to have on the floor I would I like the third relational State your motion for the um Clerk um Madame chair like to make a motion to put the opt-in language into the bullet point three sorry second all right I have a second on the floor um now we can have discussion about adding opt-in on bullet C on the third bullet Madam chair how does that read I mean how I mean I would have to I would have to draft something up the states that the parents would have the right to opt their students in to that material so it's not going to read but it'll be a statement added that would have to state that the parent would have to uh once given the third day notice the parent would
066have to have the right to have to adopt their student into that instruction that's something along those lines is what it would read I can't sit here verbatim and tell you right right I've got to make it an illegal format and Mr Terry since this is discussion um we Dr Wells could consider something like informed parents of their right to opt in to have their child participate in the selection of sexually explicit material upon request and not a punitive manner alternative instructional material would be provided or something like that so I guess the question and I'll I'll refer to my staff on this as well Dr Norman since we we would need to have something written down verbatim as to what this policy will state as opposed to me creating because you need to have
067something verbatim as to what it would be so therefore we need to have it explicitly stated what that policy would be yes okay we're going to continue discussion Mr Terry do you have any other questions or comments no I was just curious how that you know truly was worded in there any other discussion being none I need a motion to close discussion motion to close discussion close discussion a second all in favor aye aye now we need to vote on the motion um so what I need to do is I'm writing something now that I think captures what you're trying to say Thank you so you can actually vote on an actual the actual verbiage as opposed to just a term opt-in okay so if you give me a second I will try to write
068that and Dr Norman I think is doing the same thing I need an emotion motion to take a five minute recess motion take five minute recess left second second I have a second all in favor and I will re-adjourn in five minutes thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] all right any post okay recess is over we are going to resume um I know that Dr Norman and Dr Wells have worked on the verbiage Force to consider before we vote Dr Wells so we instead of added the section to Bullet three or bullet four we made it a separate bullet because it's a standalone bullet okay so parents will be required to opt their students into the instruction upon receipt of the
06930-day notice students who are not opted in will receive alternative instructional materials thank you so much sir so now we need a motion if you want to accept that as the verbiage I like to make a motion to accept that as the verbiage they have a motion on the floor a second second second Mr Rossi all in favor aye okay so we have uh any opposed okay motion passes so you've added that to the verbiage now you have to pass the policy I'd like to pass policy IIA with the amended verbiage um I need a motion a motion to pass with the amendment motion for Mr Rossi I need a second second second for Mrs Burke all in favor aye aye opposed okay motion passes then we also had iiab which basically just states that
070the teachers will do what a state of Nia make a motion to pass i i a b I have a motion on the floor to pass i i a b I have a second second for Mr Rossi all in favor aye aye any opposed okay motion passes thank you took us a while to get there but that's all right thank you sir I got where we wanted to be right and then the um regulation information will be provided to the board members January oh we'll send it to you send that out to us we'll send it out thank you moving on to item action item six our consent agenda I need a motion I want you to approve second um all in favor aye all right we have consent agenda approved now we're down to
071informational items update on administrative Services Dr hooden ESS is this one there we go Dr Wells members of the board we had meetings with the teachers and the architect and um Gary last week and the teachers really appreciated their time so that they could give the input for the classrooms all those meetings went well and then we have a meeting on December 14th with the town to for the public hearings on that you want to expand on it yes like I said as you know we met with the Town Council and the Planning Commission last month to go through some public hearings as a formality if you will to get the property at 139 Lance Lane in Amsterdam High School brought into their plans where it needed to be from a planning zoning standpoint for
072decades that hadn't been done so we're just going through the process we don't anticipate any issues there also as far as the construction goes and then the process continue to meet with architect and the goal is to hopefully have the bid drawings and the bid out sometime in late January early February is what the goal is and then get those bits back and go from that process to see exactly where we're at so they like Dr Hoda mentioned we continue to make the staff get their input making some few tweaks in here meeting with Engineers usually on a weekly basis going through the schools and those type of things and and uh you know get that process done so it's it's moving along we've also uh actually this this week as far as the house
073at 178 Lancer Lane the old quote Burley property we're in the process of going through the the demolition aspect and that included the first phase of that was Monday we had a contractor come out and do us as best to study before you do it demo anything so we have sort of that process this week as well so we go ahead and get get that process moving too cosmetology and then of course any other questions as far as the high school goes then the next thing is of course the big project is a cosmetology equipment and a cosmetology Lab at the high school that equipment came in about two weeks ago and they're working with the contractor on that to have that installed over the Christmas holidays while there's no students in school to prevent
074any disruption as much as possible so that is being lined up and we'll start working with that here uh hopefully Monday the 19th once the students leave and this is a temporary lab that we're putting in place for the course and as the new construction takes place they'll get a larger land facility under new construction um Madam chair for the equipment um do we mean the sinks yes ma'am yay this is this includes things and I think there's five actual styling stations if you will you know I don't do too much of those and uh but you still got style yes ma'am but uh anyway that's uh that includes two sinks and five styling stations uh that will be uh put in the ground level of the uh what we call the G Wing over
075right now so that'll be a temporary service that runs electricity to those but all the equipment that came in so we're preparing to do that thank you so much yes ma'am questions on that you have in front of you the student suspensions we had to add a few there were a few omitted and there were also a few other items omitted and we today we updated that so what is shown in your on your agendas now is the updated version so we apologize for any errors that were on there board members any questions or comments for Dr Houghton um thank you for that update thank you okay um down to finance 8.01 so finance my finance uh Chief finance officer is not with us due to the other uh illnesses that are going on in
076in the community so uh she has those reports listed on board docs I would ask you to review those uh those nothing that was majorly outstanding that that I'm aware of and so if you have questions regarding anything on this posted on board docs I would ask that you email myself and Mr Carnage so we can answer your questions but she is not able to be here to answer your questions this evening you can ask me and I'll do my best but she's probably more of an expert on it than I at this point or do you all have any questions on the finance Financial reports okay update on accountability yes ma'am thank you madam chair and members of the board I have a couple of items that you've been provided memos on and some
077little items placed at your place tonight the first one is the program of studies memo this is something that we do for information to you just so you have that for your constituents when you're talking to them about what offerings are available at Amherst County High School and we do a memo that shows the changes and we also have you a copy of next year's program of studies a couple of changes we've made have been in the name changes because the state has changed specific names we also added a several AP classes to provide additional opportunities for our students and then of course in our career in technical education field we added in we were approved for the um um Early Childhood Education Services Board program that application has been submitted so we're waiting on
078approval for that one but the cosmetology if you'll actually see all of that level one two and the level one and two for the prerequisites has been approved by the board the board of education for the state and we've placed that into the program of studies for the upcoming school year Mr Maddox and Stephanie mullenkamp have worked very hard with the administrative team at the high school Mr Crawford to pull together some great opportunities for our students so we hope to continue that the chair just one quick question I was wondering if there's any word on the sign language offering that is of course yet that has been placed in an application process so we're getting towards that we have not heard anything back from the Virginia Department of Education all right you're welcome the
079next item is Toys for Tots literacy program and you should have this wonderful little book at your place so when you have a memo that explains it each year Toys for Tots works with Amherst County Public Schools and they offer us a wonderful array of children's books that are very similar to what you have in front of you that one is a can be used at first a kindergarten or first grade and what they do is provide us books of all interest non-fiction and fiction as well as readability level Pre-K all the way through fifth grade and they give us one for just about every student in the division and we supplement that each year we purchase for it covers usually Pre-K all the way through third and some of fourth and then we purchase
080so our remaining all of our fourth graders can get it and our fifth graders can too and so next week at every single Elementary School there'll be tables set up there will be some cocoa and kids can come in and they get to choose their own books our reading specialist Miss wheeler and Miss Matheny have worked tirelessly to get the books into the hands of the children before they leave for their winter break so they'll have that as a gift as a parting gift for the semester so that's just something that we look forward to instead of the children the next is the emergency connectivity fund Mr Joel Joe Goldman has placed for you just information we receive emergency connectivity funds over the last two years I want to say and what we are required
081to do with that fund so he is placed in here I asked him to just kind of give you a ballpark figure of what we've what the technology department has done and it they have worked tirelessly 1515 students received Chromebooks and those weren't white gloved those were just you pack them out of the box and you put them in the case and it's a lot of Hands-On that he and his staff do to get those ready for our children as well as all of the 415 that were the touch screens that we were able to provide there and then of course our information that went out to staff as well that Thompson and items there so we were able to get a large quantity of our technology and our devices for our staff and our
082students through this emergency connectivity fund which was very nice any questions on that and he's in the back if you have any questions okay the final thing and I'm going to try to do double duty here tonight um is the sr3 update so we have this is the Esser plan that comes before you every six months and on our website under what's news is a link that takes you to the user page where all of our grants actually it's the cares page where all of our grants are listed on that page is a copy of the original um plan that was implemented by Dr Wells and myself back in 2020 2021 school year and each six months we have to update that particular plan post it to where the public can comment on it and
083then provide you with that information as well as any changes or redirections that we get from you that we put into place so this is our six month regular update to you I will tell you that we this is the first time that we've had public actually go on to our website submit the public comment form and I would just like to give you some information on what the public has said you have a copy of that I believe that your place where it speaks specifically about addressing um academic needs at the middle schools closing the learning Gap it talks in several of them about school security as well as some metal detectors school uniforms and these are things that our our community has provided they've answered questions and provided that input on it also
084talks about the need to hire more reading Specialists and math specialists at the secondary level as well in putting a a plan for clubs which I think Mr Crawford has that into our secondary schools and then also along with the safety concerns in there it was addressed to um for us to look at the amount of Glass on the entrance of some of our elementary schools so a large information that came from our public that we were very excited to get this is the first time we've seen them talk about it the plan itself the only thing that we changed or that we updated here was specific to the spending piece of it at the very initial plan we had where it was set aside for 20 percent of the seven million dollars that we
085received that would go to learning loss we have actually spent or have encumbered or ready to plan to spend 32 percent so that amount amount based on what your request was at our last six month review to focus more on the actual direct needs of students in the classroom so we have done that in several areas which bumped up our amount percentage from 20 to 32 percent we also keep the public comment open for anybody at any time we download that monthly so if there are additional public comments we'll forward those to you as well and I'll answer any questions that you have on that particular piece there is a second piece that I have to talk about as well and this is updated every six months yes ma'am and this update will occur on
086when so once you now that you have been provided information and the board and the public has been provided opportunity to comment this is the change that will go up on the website probably tomorrow or Monday and then they will be able to comment on that so they'll get to comment on did we use the funding of that moving from 20 to 30 to percent in the right manner that was addressed previously and then those concerns and comments can be considered when it's updated again yes ma'am in six months thank you the next portion is the um and I'm kind of filling in for um Miss lucana to has done a great job on tracking all of our spending so the S the plan that we have encompasses multiple grants it encompasses our gears grant
087that we initially got that did all of our health mitigation um our additional custodial staff our I don't know what you spending on William but we're good all of the cleaning supplies and all that things that went on the floor all the little stickers and yeah um so we that money as well as Esser One S or two and then sr3 which were divided Out Among learning loss social emotional learning additional Personnel addition bonuses um and then HVAC systems and Renovations so there's multiple this particular plan that you now have it's called the sr3 spending plan it only deals with that seven million or that um I believe it's the 7 million that focuses specifically on this particular sr3 Grant so there's like five different grants the spending plan only addresses one of those grants
088and it goes through how do we post that to the public how do we get input back from it what groups have we provided information to and we have reached out to to seek input from that is all listed in this as well as the learning loss piece that goes through very specific information on how we're addressing instructional needs in the classroom it also at the very back of it talks about what positions have been hired where we're placing um um instructional where we're meeting instructional needs and then on the very last page it identifies the actual budget of where IT addresses does it address learning loss does it address something other than learning loss and we've tried to focus it completely on learning loss what is budgeted for those specific areas the amount that
089has already been obligated how much we've already spent and then what is remaining to be spent in the grant before September 2024. and now take any questions you may have on that or you can email myself Dr Wells or Mrs Garnett any questions for Dr Norman and this time thank you Dr Norman thank you very much that's all I have now it's time for 10.01 update on human resources all righty Madam chair Mr Vice chair members of the board good evening now that Dr Norman's giving you plenty of reading material I will jump into my section and I have our most recent vacancy update for your review at your place that should be the only well that's one of the documents that you have available so I'll take any questions that you have regarding that
090document I will say that I'm encouraged because we are now at that juncture where we have December graduates and our wonderful University partners are forwarding emails to all the different from all the December graduates and their content areas and at least some of the universities look like they have a broad range of candidates so we will begin emailing tomorrow reaching out and encouraging people to apply so that's hopeful but questions okay thank you Mr Gallery thank you next I want to give you an update on the school calendar uh we will have a school calendar we'll get one proposed um as you all are probably aware because I sent a survey out recently we put out a survey that kind of represented a compromise from the the previous two drafts that were sent out in
091November we submitted a draft a and a draft B the draft a ended earlier at the end of May and draft B was more reflective of our current calendar structure of the respondents for which there were 319 63 percent of them selected draft a which was the shorter version within that calendar however there were still concerns among those respondents of not having a full winter break and a few other uh pieces that was the primary one right there 37 responded uh percent responded for draft B they wanted to have more frequent breaks throughout the course of the year with the reason why they they went with that and I will say that is still a concern that people do have with uh going to a limited calendar so taking all that input the calendar committee
092reviewed that and came up with a compromise we still wanted to try to do our best to end in May so what you see in front of it well you don't see in front of you see the three draft calendars I believe is what you have in front of you calendar C that draft is our compromise calendar and what we did there was try to remove five days that would allow us to get down to the ending in May but still uphold the the priorities of the division as well as our Educators instruction as well as our teachers needs so on calendar C Tuesday October October 10th was changed from fall break to an instructional day we had two fall break days we pulled one of those Monday November 6 was removed that was a
093PD day and changed to an instructional day so that removed one division-wide PD Tuesday January 2nd was was removed as a site-based staff development and changed to an instructional day that's probably the area I've gotten the most feedback on thus far on the new calendar people like that transition back in however this does provide for two full weeks plus a Monday and we have to kind of give somewhere if we're going to end in the end of May Friday June 7th no I'm sorry I'm jumping ahead Friday March 8th we removed the teacher work day and changed it to an instructional day there so that was a work day a teacher work day removed Friday June 7th was also a worth day but it was the last day of the calendar it was after instruction
094was over and it was for teachers and unfortunately we'd love to have that time afterwards to get grades done and all those things but in order to end in may we wanted to we removed that and we would hope people would work diligently to get their things accomplished if not we did actually as you can see we've added now we we went from 12 professional development and work days it now has 12 where it used to be 16. so the professor development work days were reduced from 12 to 16 but what was increased were discretionary days and I'll talk about those we had four previously we now have eight discretionary days mean that teachers have eight days within their contract that they can do they're there for activities after school for staff meetings before school
095for other activities to participate so if you have a 200-day contract you really are only working 192 days and you have eight days of discretionary time so that you can do all those things that we expect of you to do to participate and be a part of the community so that's actually helpful to the staff when you look at that so we just felt like these revisions created a compromise that hopefully works and still provides what we need for our instruction for our students and doesn't give that up but also provides enough breaks that there's no significant long periods of instruction where they don't have at least a teacher work there or planning day to catch up and they make sure we're kind of recharging and so forth so that's what we have out there
096I hope you all can take a look at it and please do feel free to to give input to that which was emailed out to everybody so do you have questions about that process I hope I've explained that well Mr Gallagher I think explained it well I really like the calendar I think the it was very responsive to the comments um I just don't want to go back to the discretionary days from four to eight um What do teachers use those for and are they documented so they're they have not been documented for some time they may have been in the past it's it's been a while uh as far as I'm concerned or know about they're used basically they would have been the work days PD days that they're in the calendar the two
097PD days the two teacher work days that were removed those in essence are those now discretionary days because we moved it back but it really is for time when they are going to parent-teacher conferences they're going to after school activities night reads things we expect our teachers to participate in and I will say that you know responsible individuals that are part of that Community they do show up and do those things we have not recently documented to verify and hold people accountable to put that time in this does not account for all the time teachers put in anyway in the evenings and weekends that's not what that's meant for this is truly for activities for showing up for being present outside of your contract contract time so that you don't have that expectation without being
098compensated for it thank you anyone else okay thank you you're very welcome so lastly I told you the last board meeting that we'll be holding our new teacher forums and I think I've told you in the past that I really love those opportunities to hold those forums because we could hear from our new teachers and find out everything we sit down with them we let them know that this information we're not going to take notes by name we want good honest feedback from our new teachers on all the things that are going well for them all the things that have been challenging for them all the supports we provided during new teacher orientation those things have been provided along the way with induction the support they've received from administrators how's the mentor program going what
099suggestions do you have to give us feedback on how we might get better so it really is an authentic and genuine opportunity to hear from them we held the Elementary new teacher Forum so far and I will be holding the secondary new teacher Forum in early January to get information from those folks but I do kind of like to touch on and reflect on the themes that we hear back and those themes are not all all to give you just The Rosy stuff and all what's good but to give you the areas for growth as well as documented by our new teachers which also get shared with our administrators so they understand kind of how they're perceiving their time here with us so some of the positives that they indicated they've appreciated the new teacher
100orientation now if you remember that seven days we've been doing there's always opportunities to determine if we want to go back and make that back to five days some divisions only have one or two days but what we've done is made that very valuable to them some of the things that they've liked about that orientation is not only has been beneficial instructional but it's also given them time in classrooms which they asked for in their previous forums and we've given them more of during that orientation process and they've appreciated it and of course they love the bus tour they typically reflect on that they're mentors and they're veteran teachers who are not their mentors who are supporting them seem to have been very helpful for them that felt supported valued and welcome that has supportive
101teams built relationships seeing progress of the students has been has been really great for them and they commented on the building level and division level supports like the Specialists that get they're in the schools from the central office for example that are there for non-evaluative measures but truly there to just go in and help and provide them supports and those within their buildings as well so those could be you know their you know their own division or I'm sorry their Department leads or their administrators and so forth pushing in effective communication from building a division level now areas for growth more training on classroom management managing challenging Behavior that's a frequent Trend and which we've heard that and we do have plans actually to We Do cover that but we actually have plans for next
102year to increase that that Focus area so I appreciate hearing that from them how to work with difficult or upset parents and just how to communicate sometimes to help diffuse situations and build connections more professional development for lesson planning and time to meet with mentors sometimes they have a difficult time finding time to meet and pairing Mentor assignments that are similar in nature some of the struggles have been in the past Co the post covert achievement gaps that they work to overcome and sometimes several have indicated that there's been a lot of emails as a new teacher that they didn't anticipate getting the volume of emails that they get and having to respond that so it becomes time management so good to hear these things so we know we can share with principals where we
103need to also be mindful full of getting better two of the comments I always like to look for something that stood out to me that makes me happy but two of the comments I received I look forward to being here for years to come certainly like to hear that and our community supports education there's another comment that I received and I appreciated hearing that so I will post you on the secondary new teacher forums in January and that's all I have thank you for doing that so like a wonderful opportunity and good information quick question for our new teachers they're usually younger fresh out of college and if they're so happy is there any way we can come up with some type of incentive for them to go out and bring their friends to come
104work for us to fill up some of these empty spots yeah we don't you know we don't currently have like a finder's fee type of a thing like that in place at this point in time like and you know we could consider that it's been brought up before and there's been some reasons why you know we haven't had people recommend like that process of who recommended them quite honestly if their friends are out there we're trying to recruit them as it is and I'm not sure who's out there to bring in back on their Facebook pages but you know hopefully um we are going to reach out and do a great job of looking to try to secure some of these December graduates that are coming out but that idea has been discussed and it
105has not been put into place in the past always something we can revisit thank you you're welcome now we are down to items from student Representatives but before you get started Evan I do want to make a comment regarding this so Evan uh we had several students apply for the presidential Scholars competition it's a region uh Regional competition for superintendents in superintendent region five and Evan was one of the students who submitted us an application and I'm proud to say that out of 20 different School divisions in region five he is one of two students that was selected to represent region five in the state for the presidential Scholars competition so congratulations on that and job well done thank you thank you foreign when you talk with us I know you have things to say
106but maybe you can share a little bit of information about that purpose as well about your representing Us in region five yes when I heard about the scholarship I was very excited and honestly I didn't think I had much of a chance considering it's the entire state a lot of people competing and I'm very honored and happy to represent us more about what's going on right now with the school it's a big crunch time last couple weeks before the end and there's a lot of Christmas spirit a lot of things and events going on before the new year my family while I was sick went out and got the Christmas tree from the FFA event they were selling them and it was a great time from what I heard the Amherst parade and also the
107Lynchburg parade where I was in I'm a little bit biased towards Amherst parade but I I had to fulfill my duties as a college rep going there and yeah it was phenomenal it got track both indoor track and basketball starting up and I saw Mr fitzger and a Fister and a funny costume I can't remember who he was dressed up as but yeah it's a pretty cool time and I'll pass it over to my fellow representative Fatima my name is Fatima Grace I just want to highlight the National Honor Society Ms Stinson as well as our student officers have provided many different volunteer opportunities some including the fair the Apple Harvest Festival tutoring gardening opportunities the Little League football games and then making Christmas cards and sending them to the Troops and then as Evan
108mentioned we are also really excited for all the events coming up with this month regarding the holiday season on Tuesday and Wednesday they had the Winter Fest at the high school where the community got to come out and like make Christmas cards and different crafts and like you said Mr Fister was dressed up as Santa and there was Mrs Claus in the Grinch and that was just a really good time to see everyone come together um and then we are also having a senior breakfast this coming week um where we're gonna have the opportunity to take pictures with Santa and I'll be together for breakfast which I think will be really fun and oh and then also iron and diamonds is presenting the Grinch so just all different Christmas events going on that I'm really
109excited about because I just love Christmas I think it's a good way to keep students engaged and involved thank you um now superintendent all right Madam chair members of the board so a few items that I had on my agenda tonight and first is discussing the legislators visit and the jaywalk report so the legislature's visit um we had Senator Peake and delegate Campbell president from the state legislature we had Jeremy Bryant the acting County Administrator Drew Wade from the Board of Supervisors from the county had Sarah McGuffin and Mike Driscoll from the town of Amherst and again we had Miss Thompson MS ligan Miss Bergen Miss Justice from the school board president and I really felt it was a very I think was a positive meeting I think that they heard what we were what
110we were trying to get across to them as far as what our needs are and what some of our concerns are and I really that really was a priest of the fact that uh Senator Peak was actively engaged and asking a lot of questions so hopefully he'll take that information to to Richmond when they go to General Session this in January and and fight on our behalf on some of these issues we talked about as far as the j-lock report uh cited that several times in in my uh presentation and you have a copy of that at your place if you so choose to read it it's about 60 70 pages of fun reading but it does give you good information about the state and where we are and this is a this is a
111report that is uh it's funded through the general assembly and they uh send us a lot of questions and things across and we have to you know we complete our questionnaires for that and they compile it and it's just it's good general information regarding the state and where we are any questions or comments on that okay we also had the recently went to the vsba convention in Williamsburg uh had the pleasure of grabbing this legging down to Williamsburg we had a for the early bird session in the regular session uh Miss Thompson you were able to join us remotely and Miss Justice was able to join us on the last day of the session uh again I thought the session was very informative and we had a good good time there on a personal note
112they had a 5K race and uh I finished third in my age group and seventh overall in a little race and I was first in region five by the way I beat the superintendent from Bath County in the race so I'm the region five champ anyway uh from The superintense Advisory Council we've been meeting monthly and at first we started working on lesson plans and they kind of have a we've kind of presented that to our principals and staff and I mentioned last month where I went to all the schools and talked about lesson planning the importance of the lesson plans and now they're starting to work on lesson plan templates and so they're actually working on several different templates to uh for staff to use we're not going to dictate a particular template needs
113to be used as a division principles may but it's a division we're not but we want to give teachers options of different templates they can use in their lesson plan development so that is taking place now as well from A diversity Council we have opted on three main folk areas of focus we have academics human resources and behavior last past couple years has been a focus on academics and Human Resources but the committee wanted to add Behavior looking at Behavior to this to what we're doing now so we're now in the we're trying to transition from the planning and and I guess Gathering data into the implementation phase of what we're trying to do so one part of this process is the academic team is going to host a future night at each Elementary School
114in March the purpose of these events is for parents students and their families to learn about the future Pathways available in the division and how they are how can they set their feet on the right pathway as early as elementary school because we all know that if you want to go to gov school or you want to go in some of these other programs that really starts taking effect in fourth and fifth grade as to what programs are placed in whether the advanced math or not so when you get your algebra in middle school and you're on the right track for that so we need to notify parents of this because sometimes they don't think about it until they're a junior you know maybe a sophomore in high school by then if they're not on
115the proper track if they haven't taken those classes at in sixth grade seventh graders need to have they really won't qualify or they'll have to take additional classes in summer school and things like that to meet the requirements of the gov school or some of these other programs so we want teachers we want to excuse me our parents to understand what they need to do and start working with them at an earlier age so we'll be going through all the schools and we'll have some food for them to eat and we'll have some dinner and we'll have presentation to give so we're at Amherst Elementary on March 2nd we're Central on March 9th we're at Elin on March 14th we're at Temperance on March 16th we're at amalot on March 21st and we're at Madison
116Heights on March 28th so I can give those dates again I'll email those to you so you'll know this will get closer to March but I just want to be aware of what we're doing and we'll start advertising this here pretty hard moving forward but really uh a good I think this would be a good program for our parents and hopefully we'll get a good turnout at each of our schools we decided to do it at each school so the parents would maybe feel more comfortable coming to their their school versus a general common location they may not feel as comfortable going to uh historical positions as the next thing I want to talk about and Brittany if you could pull that one up I'd appreciate it so that's it okay so what I want
117to hit here a little bit and you have us in your board docs and I just wanted to just be aware that when the recession hit in 2008 2009 time frame it really impacted the number of positions we had because as funding dropped we cut positions so if you look at 2008 2000 2009 2010 we lost eight and a half but we've dropped eight and a half positions in 2010 2011 it was we cut 40 positions 11 12 we added 3 12 13 we dropped another 39 and then we dropped two added two plus one minus three and so forth minus 11 and a half again Seventeen eighteen and then we've added uh 14 cents so if you take the you know the big pictures of 40 into 39.7 that's 80 positions we cut and
118we really only added about 14 positions since then so we talk about student achievement and student growth and what we need to do well if you look back at where we were compared to where we are now we have even though our popular student population has only changed maybe a couple hundred students we are several we are you know we're over 50 you know we're a lot lower in our staff our 76 staff less than where we were so not that I'm going to ask you to ask 70 staff to our budget this year because that would be you know an impossible ask but we do need to be aware that when the state cut funding due to the recession we did cut a lot of positions that have not been added back in and
119so we look at class sizes of 22 23 to a class that we added a couple teachers in those areas we'd be down to 18 to 20 which would be a much I think a better number as far as what we have a ratio of teacher student ratio than in the 20s but again that all comes from where we had to cut numbers back during the recession and some of y'all were on the board kind of remember some of those decisions we had to make I know at the high school I had cut several when I was principal at the high school just because we didn't have the funding so just want you to be aware of that so as we start the budget season if I say hey we might need a position here
120or there there's there's there's going to be some legitimacy to that okay any questions yes ma'am thank you so I've completed quarterly reviews uh met with every principal in the division and they went through their data they went through their Democrat their Sol data or their testing data there's and they've also gone through their academic all their academic data their attendance data interdisciplinary data attendance that I talked about student attendance as well as teacher attendance so I made them dive into that a little bit and brief uh senior my senior staff on that I feel have gone very well most of all the principals said that doing this actually made them become more aware of some of the some of the things that they weren't really seen that they didn't think it was going to
121be so it was a good process it was the first time we've done this process so it's a learning process for them but I do feel it was it was a good process to go through and we'll do this every quarter so then the second nine weeks we'll do it again and they'll have data to share with us as well on that so I do feel it's been a very positive experience for them they might have had a few extra headaches having to prepare the data Mr Cropper sitting there but um but I do feel that in talking with the principals they felt was a it was a positive experience even though it may have been a little painful Dr Wells I know that we've talked about the importance of all of our students attending
122school and that we're making a conservative conservative effort on that based on the information you heard are we making progress I think we are making progress but we're not where we need to be the big issue we have is the different differentiating between sometimes parents feel if I write the note and it's excused we're okay and it can be excused absence and from from a truancy standpoint of going to court that is yes you are to know you're not going to go to court because you have another state and your child was sick or the doctor however the state does not really care about whether the child was sick or not they just know they can't miss more than 10 percent of the school year so whether he wrote another parent writes a note or
123not if that student that she is absent more than 10 percent of the school year they're considered chronically absent which requires us to lose accreditation if we get to that magic number so um that's just where we are we are seeing some improvement but we're not where we need to be the next thing I want to talk about is the literary literary Loan program this was just posted this week and they've been advertised so what this does it allows School divisions to to apply for construction loans and it's a low interest rate like two to three percent interest rate um so we're looking at this I'd like I'm just asking just letting you know their consensus to look into this further I would need to talk to the county the deadline for the loans to
124the application February 10th but because it would add to Debt Service I need to talk to the county about that but it would be a way for us to get a loan to cover some of the other costs that we may have you know construction costs that could be going on whether it's other schools whether it's the window replacements things like that they're coming in a little higher on budget so it will give us a never Revenue Source on that so with the board's consensus I would just like just say we'd like to move forward and just looking into this further okay okay all right thank you we're also getting ready they're also getting ready to release a grant program through the state for uh Construction Grants that's not a loan it's just a grant
125and it could for us it could cover 20 of a project um so we are also going to look into applying for those grants once we get the prices and things like that but it'll cover 20 so a sample at the high school project that that came in at a higher number we could apply for that Grant it could pay up to 20 percent of the total cost of the high school project if we're awarded the grant so we're going to also be applying for that once it comes out I think it's going to come out next week according to what I've been hearing through the grapevine but in the near future that should come out okay upcoming events we have the career day is Wednesday January 14th at Evans County high school and I
126believe that's from eight to three is that correct Mr Crawford and so what that's going to be is we'll have different um members from the community there businesses Etc that are going to be there talking about student careers and students who'll have a chance we'll have seniors and juniors we're all students but think the morning that's going to be your Juniors and seniors they're going to go through and talk to different uh individuals that are their businesses that are represented and then all students will rotate through so if you want to ask you if you'd encourage you to come by on the 14th if at all possible and take a look at at what is going on that's that is December 14th next week Wednesday okay and then we also have another event coming up
127which is the community connections dinner and that's part of the show up Amherst initiative with our lives and Education Foundation and I'm going to ask Marie to speak for a second on that she thought she's going to get off the hook tonight can you hear me okay he handled attendance so well I thought I was off the hook um yeah so we are planning a community connections dinner and this is going to be an event where we're inviting families students community members anybody who wants to come out to have a nice hot meal um there will be food for that's catered both to the children who show up and to the adults it's going to be at the Madison Heights Community Center at six o'clock on January 19th and there will be games there will
128be a speaker that will do about a 20-minute presentation about communication um it'll be a fun night a fun event where people can talk and get to know one another and just kind of get back together and one of the things we're really want to emphasize with our parents and our community is you know so often if you go to a restaurant you see these things out and everybody's at the table on their phone but nobody's really having they're not conversing with each other I have to tell you well they're all in their own little world so we're trying to work on ways as far as I show up Amherst and being part of our community to work with people on how to have those conversations what kind of conversations can we have what kind
129of activities can we do at home might be a game we could play at home uh that could get people just interacting again versus stuck in the virtual world so that's kind of the one of the purposes of this as well and then the last thing um I have for you is that we're almost there for Christmas and I want to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I hope you have a great holiday break and uh we'll be taking some vacation during the break and uh hopefully we'll get some rest and everybody come back refreshed on January 2nd and students come back on January 3rd to be present at school all right so we need our students back to school on January 3rd so anyway just what you want
130to merry Christmas and a happy New Year so thank you thank you Dr Wells um now we're down to committee report for school board members and individual items that you may have um Mr Rossi would you like to start us off yeah um first off I'd like to uh yes wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year um the some of the speakers and concerned citizens that came forward tonight um I I like Community input and I hope that we represent our our community well here on the board and um the Lions Club for uh doing those those eye exams and and volunteering their time in their services is just it's it's a wonderful thing that the community feels well enough about the schools to help out and hopefully the community as a
131whole turns out for the upcoming events it looks like we've got a lot of new things planned uh Dr Wells I was really impressed with you know the the new things that you've come up with in the show up Amherst initiative and the the way of getting the teachers engaged and the students engaged and everything it's it's it it always makes me so proud to be part of this this community and as a member of the school board well so I have a great team that comes up all these ideas yeah yeah yeah um I'm sorry for putting a little extra work on that uh last vote um and I think bringing that up with the opt-in is what the community wanted I think that that is going to instead of a parent sitting back
132and just wishing that their child gets the education they're they're hoping they receive that it gets them involved and and to help bring them out into what their child is learning and after sitting here tonight and learning that parents had the opportunity to come out and review any of the material at any time about any subject any any topic that they have the ability to do that and take charge and take control of their their uh their child's learning and and for the school system to be that transparent to put everything out there really says a lot it says a lot for the schools says Lafayette district and and the administration for for applying yourselves and opening yourselves up to take that you know from the community and listening and putting in their input it's
133you know it's not just one person controlling things here it's it's us it's it's we it's the community we're all in this together and we're going to continue to move forward and I think the moment momentum from the beginning of the school year is moving so fast and in great ways you know it seems like you know I know we were just here a month ago but so much has happened and so many good things have happened and I just I just like to keep that momentum going and and everybody putting in those long hours and the hard work it it's really good to be a part of this I really mean that I really really enjoy being a part of this and um I think that was it thank you Mr Rossi Mrs Burke
134um yes like to say a special thank you to the Lions Club for all the ice greetings that they did for the school greatly appreciated great asset to the community and also to our community or for our community comment we had um Mrs back Mr Porter Mrs Martin and of course Sam I'd like to thank everybody for all their comments um and also from the toys from tats these books I was glancing at it adorable pictures thank you so much and um a special thank you to our student reps Fatima and Evan and uh congratulations to Evan for his accomplishments and um to all of the Amherst community and all of our staff a very Merry Christmas and a blessed and happy New Year Mrs Burke Mrs liggin well I'd like to Echo what Ms
135Burke said about happy holidays Merry Christmas and looking for a prospers and happy New Years we go forward I've enjoyed everything tonight so far and Evan congratulations and the Lions Club always so supportive of the school system so we want to thank them for very important business that they're doing as far as my report is concerned we did have a lower board meeting yesterday and um at this time Amherst has four uh young people at Laurel and Dr Lewis and her staff are doing a wonderful job there we did have a presentation yesterday um on the soar program uh soar and that stands for successful opportunity for achievement and resilience and this is a new program at Laurel and each School Division can am I right doctor Wells have two two students there and the
136goal here let me just read this easier to read than to try to figure it out is to develop adaptive flexible Learners who acquire pro-social skills needed to assess important qualities of life that bring meaning and fulfillment within their natural environment so they're trying to teach young people to diffuse situations of anger and behavior and we can't fix it which I found out yesterday was interesting you can't fix it but you try to adapt a way of understanding it and so this is a great program that is now part of loyal so we're excited about that also the budget has been presented over there and things are well and long we did approve for some additional pay raises for the Tas just like any other organization the Tas we're losing them instructional assistance I think
137we call them so Dr Lewis has come up and LCS has come up with the raise as far as vsba Dr Wells was correct we enjoyed I enjoyed myself thank you for taking me down I focus my attention his time on some of the mental health classes and they're doing some of the same things that we're trying to do here in Amherst not just for the students but for the staff so I enjoyed that I also enjoyed um I went to one on teacher shortages there's not a real answer but just coming out of that trying to keep people happy in their environment keeping them liking what they do on a long-term basis is what we're trying to do but another good point was brought out that not just teachers people are just changing jobs
138right now they're finding that they want to do something different some within a year some within five years and there's no secret when a person decides to move on to either growth or or to go home that you can't really stop that so we're probably doing the best we can here to retain and then of course yes the pandemic when people went this is what was discussed when people went home to work not just teachers but business people they enjoy being in the basement with their own office and and looking out the window and drinking a cup of tea they may never come back to the establishment again and so we have to realize that that did change and change our lives and it changed Staffing not just in public education but in other things
139so those with two events and I've been out and about with some sports activities very proud of lancers and all that they do and Mr Crawford has run a wonderful show up there and just he's in the middle of the parking lot in the middle of the road the other night I almost ran over he was directing traffic I told him I didn't know if I was supposed to get on a parade float or go into the school for the game but things were such orderly fashion so we thank everybody for everything that's going on and once again happy holidays to everybody thank you Mrs Lincoln Mr Terry yes so um stem board meeting was so long ago I don't think it was in the last 30 days okay I couldn't remember but I didn't
140find it on my calendar so we haven't had a meeting since so um yeah I like to bring up something that nobody has mentioned tonight and Dr Wells you did a great job emcee in the parade it was uh uh if you've never been to the Amherst parade it's awesome it's really good so um yeah I just like to Echo a lot of you know a lot of what's already been said you know Merry Christmas to everybody let's have good holidays come back here in January and get things uh get off on the right foot um Lions Club I've had family members in the Lions before they do a fabulous job they support the community they support the schools they're out and about they are show up Amherst you know they they're The Originals um
141the our student reps we love hearing what's going on at the schools I did get to come up on Tuesday and flip a burger and a hot dog for the winter fest I am no cook um at this table we all know who the cook is and it's not me um but uh the uh FFA also with the Christmas trees and Reeves we went up and got a couple wreaths um you know it's good to see those guys you know doing things for the community being out there and uh that was the first thing my wife she put out a question to people where can I get a live wreath and the first place they said was go to the high school so uh you know it's good to see those things things available um
142Evan congratulations on your scholarship good going um the new teachers coming out um Mr Gallagher hopefully we can get a few uh these new graduates that we can help join our team so uh that'd be great and uh I I am proud to say I I don't use Facebook very often unless you're putting like a big fish that you caught or you know where you've been hiking or maybe something that my kids or my wife has put out there so I don't see a lot of the rants that go out there um I'd be curious on getting a little bit more information um but hearing from a a person instead of a Facebook post so um and as far as um the policy I I you know I I don't think we would walk out
143of here tonight pleasing everybody I think we do the best on what we got I believe we can make this work um opt-in opt out I think it I think both will work I just want to make sure that you know for parents who will now have to opt into things please don't get to the end of the year and go I can't believe they're not teaching such and such because they didn't remember to opt in so I just want to throw that out there and make sure but I believe both of them would work so let's give this a shot and see how it goes so that's it thank you Gary well I want to want a team and welcome back we you have been missed and um congratulations to Evan as well I
144do also want to thank the Marine Corps Toys for Tots for all of the books that they've distributed and continue to support our schools and Partnerships as well as the Lions Club and I thought how much more do they need for that machine four thousand one hundred four thousand one hundred surely we can do some online contributions or something we got to come up with something there to help them so um looking forward to that goal being met and having a new machine also the common equipment for cosmetology I know that's been waiting for quite a while so that's exciting and our students will really benefit from that I'm also thankful for the increased funds from our extra Grant going to learning loss I think that's something that will affect all of our students and
145something that is greatly important also I want to comment on the legislative meeting where our legislators were present board members I know you've listed them all Board of Supervisors and I know I'm missing some but my point I want to make is it was a great meeting and Dr Wells did a wonderful job representing our challenges in a very positive way we had some good dialogues I just appreciate everything that you did to make that happen and for the students at the high school and the teachers that helped put together that wonderful breakfast and thank you all for attending that was great looking forward to the future night I think that's a great idea and a great Focus something much needed to build that knowledge of those opportunities early I also want to reiterate one
146more time as I I've done before about the importance of attendance we talk about accreditation we talk about truancy but my goal is that we talk about learning and the best way for our students to learn is that they value education and that they're in school every day so I hope that we as a community as parents as teachers that we're focused on the quality of instruction and that we're focused on having our students there every day because that's why we're here um also I want to assure our community that we are all working to provide a safe and secure and kind environment in all of our schools for our students and I appreciate the comments sometimes they're not things we want to hear but we need to hear sometimes there are things like Mr
147sogar I appreciate very much your comments and your support of the school having that balance helps us feel like we are a community and that we can face the challenges but we can do it in a kind way and we can do in a way that our students will benefit so thank you for that I appreciate that appreciate all of the public comments that were here Mr Porter I know you're still remaining so I'll say thank you to you as well to your valuable comments um so just want to say um thank you to everybody and again have a Merry Christmas so Madam chair we need to move into closed sessions so pursuant to section 2.2-3711a1 of the code of Virginia it is recommended the board convene a closed meeting for the following A1 Personnel
148matters motion to go into closed session I have a motion second of a second all in favor aye that pollution passes we are now in closed session [Music] foreign [Music]