Curriculum, Progress, & Outcomes Committee Meeting - 8/12/2025 - 3:00 PM

001How's everybody? >> Well, how are you? >> All right. Open houses last night went off without a hitch. From everything I heard, >> everything I heard, I think it was pretty good. Pretty calm. >> Ready to go tomorrow. >> Ready or not, here they come. >> Right. Did you have any uh additions or subtractions to make to the minutes? >> Um I was just looking over the minutes from 27 from >> from last year. >> From last time >> feels like about a year, right? I did not have any changes. >> We didn't we did talk about dress code last time. >> I don't see that. >> Didn't we talk about dress code last time? >> I don't I don't recall if it was there or in another forum. So, >> I'm going back to

002see We had it on April 22nd. We talked about it. >> I thought I brought it up again this time, too. Maybe I didn't, but I thought I did. It's been a while. >> Yeah. I'm looking at the minutes from April. You had a whole paragraph on tape. They all start to go together after a while. >> They do. >> And we may have talked about it as we reviewed the minutes. >> Yeah. >> As opposed to a new discussion. I know we had a lengthy discussion in April because Mr. Tucker was here. Last time it was just Miss Jair and I and Dr. Trosper had a smaller group. So >> there certainly wasn't any action taken on it. >> It's fine. We have the Motion to approve the minutes from May 27th. >> I

003make a motion stand. >> All right. I I >> So the minutes are approved. Miss Jennings. >> You got something for us today? >> I do. Um so good afternoon. You have been provided with the Buffer County Public School special education performance report. This should be in your packet. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires each state to report to the public on state level data and individual school division level data and to report on whether the state and the divisions met those state targets described in the state's state performance annual plan. Um the report compares a division's performance to the state target. You'll see on the top of the report it says federal fiscal year 2023. This is because these reports are always a year behind. So the indicator information that is provided to

004you today is according to the 22 23 school year for a couple indicators which I'll I'll let you know which those are as well as the 23 24 school year. So data is always a year behind when we're looking at this. The four there's 14 indicators. Six, seven, and 12 are early childhood special education indicators and all others are school age performance indicators. So let's start with number one. Indicator one is graduation. This indicator measures students with disabilities who graduate with a standard or an advanced diploma. It does not include students with disabilities who graduate with an applied studies diploma. So if you remember there's three diplomas that our students can um graduate with and that's applied studies and that's through their IEP um standard or advanced. So when we're looking at this that the

005information is from the 22 23 school year. So, this is one of those that is even further behind than just the 23 um 24 school year. As you can see, we did not meet the state standard, but I will let you know that we increased last year. So, we're seeing that progression upwards as we move forward. And we've also with the use of credit accommodations and other things provided by the state to support our students, we're going to see that number continue to rise. >> Indicator. So, just so I'm reading this chart correctly, the 57.58 is what we accomplished if that's what we got >> on the 2223 school year >> on the 2223. And then the 72.24 is that >> that's the state target. >> The target. Okay. >> And that state target, just

006so you guys know, state target on indicator is slowly going up every year because their goal is to put it at 100%. So that state target is always moving as we're trying to reach it. Um as well I will tell you last year it was 51.32% so we did um gain 6% and more in points um moving toward the goal that we want to definitely working on that graduation and remember this is standard and advanced. >> How does that compare to other districts around us? because that doesn't really give me an idea of >> Yeah, I I do look and compare to our other districts. Um and for many of those um that are about the same size, um we're either doing better or about the same. >> You mean Le Campbell County and Ammerston?

007>> Well, Ammerst is smaller than we are. So, I I really don't compare because you're looking at 500 student compared to over a thousand. Um but when you look at Lark City, Campbell County, um Reno City, those fields that are comparative in size. >> Thank you. >> Um indicator two is dropouts. As you can see, um this measures the students that dropped out. So if you remember, students in special education can be in school until they're 22 um or until they get their standard diploma. So, we have some students that drop out before that time. Um, so that percentage went up this year that we're not really happy with. It was much lower. We met the standard um last year. We met the state target last year, but not this year. So, that's something we're

008looking very closely at and starting to work and really working with our students on staying in school and what jobs do they want and working on job skills so they know the importance of school and why to stay in school. Did other schools see a rise in dropout rate as well with COVID and all the absenteeism that skyrocketed? And I guess you want to >> I've looked at other schools. Some um one in particular that I looked at I think was Rain City and Lynburg City was much higher than theirs is. Um but I think you with dropouts you see a eb and flow. >> There's a bug down there. Do you want to crawl in on your phone? >> Sorry. It was a little distracting to me. >> Thank you for letting me know.

009I not crawling in the middle of this. Um, you can see an e and flow. Like I said, last year we met the state target and this year we're seeing that higher percentage. So, we start looking into that and we talk to teachers. Um Erikica Rogers is our supervisor for high school and she works very closely with DARS and community and our schools and making sure that we're keeping kids in school and we're we're providing them those transition plans. >> So 9.09 is is 2022 >> 2022 202 and I couldn't hear you. Is there any indication 23 24? >> Not yet. We we'll get that next year. >> So what was it before that when we did meet? I'm let me see if I wrote that down. I'll have to pull it up from last

010time, but I can pull up last year's. I'm thinking it was around four or five percent, but I'd have to look um to make sure. >> I can also add just as a high school principal, we work specifically on this one. It can be a little bit deceiving in that this this rate just applies to that graduating cohort, that group. So, you could have a senior class that one year has 11 students with a disability in it. The next year, that same the next senior class might have 27 students with a disability. And so one to two students could make a massive percentage difference when in reality we had three this year and three the next year. But this was three from a group of 30. This was three from a group of 12. So

011I I know I saw my rate change drastically each year and it was typically about the same number of kids. It was the size of the students with disabilities in that group. >> So then the question then is the 9.09. How many total kids were there in that program? >> And I would have to look back at that number in 22 23. Is that something you can just email us? >> I'll have to see if I can get it or not. Get that information and I'll let you know. >> That's okay. >> A lot of the data it kind of aggregates from our systems into percentages. >> So, it's not not like Kelly's putting in like individual students aggregating out of powers school. So, >> and sometimes the data that's put in too from powers

012school isn't translated correctly to BDOE. So sometimes their percentages are off as well. We're finding that if they're coded differently in P school and how that's looked at. So those are things that we're constantly looking at and trying to make sure we have correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. So indicator 3, as you can see, is in um three parts. Four. I'm sorry. Let me look. Four parts. Um the first one 3A is that part participation rate. And this is how many of our students are actually participating in the SOS. Um they only look at that fourth grade, eighth grade, and high school. As you can see, um and this is are they participating in the SOS and that's for reading and for math. So both three AA's at the top. The first

013one's reading, the second one's for math. Um as you can see, elementary and middle school, we everyone's participating. High school again, as as U. Mr. Mr. Tucker also said it's one of those that sometimes the kids are participating in and sometimes they're not and sometimes they don't have to. So say a kid with a disability took geometry, they already passed their algebra so they don't have to take their geometry so they may not. So they may not participate in that because they don't need it. They already have the verified credit. So that's why you will see in high school you'll see those rates a little bit lower for participation because it's not necessarily that they have to to participate in that actual >> So so do all high school students have to I'm sorry. So

014I know it's algebra one and two because I know my son had to do SOS for both of those but they do all high school students not have to do geometry. So SLS are provided for in the credit for all of those classes. And and I'm sure Dr. Trosber can answer this question better, but with our students with disabilities because they only need the five verified credits. And yes, our students without disabilities only need five as well. They generally if they don't have to take that so they won't take that so because that's added pressure. >> Yeah. They're required to take their ninth grade math class the so for that. So that could be algebra, geometry. >> I see. And then they have to take biology. So it might be 10th grade, might be ninth

015grade, but so it's freshman math and biology they're required to. >> And so and even in reading, some of our students may not do the 11th grade end of credit. They may do it in 12th grade when they do that. So that's why you'll see those numbers. Um but we are working for all of our students to participate to get that verified credit. Okay. >> Um so the next one 3B is that proficiency rate. So how did they do on the SOS? Did they meet the state target and you can see 3B for reading and math in all three areas. We did meet the state target. Um this is all it's not as high as I would like it. We're always increasing but we continue to want to increase and do even better than what

016the state target is. So um right now we are meeting state target. Um and I have other directors in other counties reaching out saying how are we doing this? You know what does that look like for us? Because they're not. And so um I'm very proud that we are but again it's always our expectation to continue to grow and to improve. >> Excellent. >> Um so 3C is that proficiency rate um for children for VAP. So these are the students that are in alternative assessments. They don't take SOS. Um VAP has become increasingly harder. They've put that um on the computer now. It's no longer a collection of evidence in a notebook. Students are on the computer. They've also put more rigid um qualifications for a child to be in that. So they're for our

017students who truly truly have um extensive needs. Um and there's a reason they can't participate in the gened curriculum. Um but you can see here that we met the state target for BAP and reading for fourth grade, but we didn't meet it. Um for eighth in high school, we are at 72%. Um so we'd like to see that percentage go up. Um, so that's there. And as well at the bottom, we were able to do it for fourth and high school, but not for middle school. So, we'll continue to work on those as well. >> We're pretty close though in eighth grade. >> Yeah. >> High school, maybe. Not so much. >> Yeah. Middle school is very close for reading. As you can see, 72.73 and the state target was 72. >> I know. Yeah.

018Very close. >> Yeah. Yeah. So those are things that we'll continue to work with our teachers, work with our students, and making sure we're understanding those key souls. And then 3D is just kind of that gap. And what you want to see with this number is for this number to get smaller and smaller. So this is more of a decrease, not an increase that you want to see. Um so we we want that gap between our students without disabilities and our students with disabilities um to be smaller. And they have our state target here. So on their proficiency rate, that's where we are um with the gap of meeting the state target. Um some are really close as well. >> Close eighth grade. >> And we'll continue to I think it's as we continue to

019see that proficiency rate rise in 3B. You're going to see this get smaller in 3D. So that that's the goal when we look at that. >> So the fourth graders seem to be doing well in this. So they would be sixth graders now, seventh graders. >> Yes. they would 23 24. Yeah. So they should be close to middle school this time of year. >> And then of course when standards change we always have all of that that goes on. Um so indicator four is our suspension rate um of our students. Um it's if we suspend students with disabilities greater than 10 days in a school year compared to their same age peers um or their general education peers. We were found to have a discrepancy with our students with disabilities against their same age peers.

020So, I know they don't put the state target here, but they want you at two 2.0% or less. Um, we were at 4.72%. Um, and we were found discrepancy um with 3.92% for students who are white. Um, so we were found in that area, but we were not found that we weren't doing the things that we need to be doing. So for this indicator, we tell them all the things that we're doing with discipline and how we're working together. And I work closely with Mr. Tucker and Dr. Trosper and their teams as we look at that discipline and suspension and alternatives to suspension and keeping them in school. Um, so this is something we're always working on with those positive behavioral supports and looking at that discrepancy. Indicator five is the least restrictive environment for

021our school age students. So when a student is um found to have a disability and they have an IEP, we have to make sure they're in their least restrictive environment. So we want them included in the regular classroom um in which we are meeting that state target that they're included in regular classroom 80% or more of the day. Um as you can see students in a regular classroom less than 40%, we don't want that high. We want that lower. Um so you can see we did not meet that but we're right there. So, we're really working with keeping our students in the general education curriculum, keeping them in the classrooms and making sure they're getting the same instruction as all of our students as well as their specially designed instruction. Um, 5C are students served

022in a public or private school. So, these are students that we would write IEPs for them to be in an outside placement. um we didn't meet state target but I can tell you with confidence that we had the lowest rate of students in private placements in the surrounding districts and that would include Ammeris Aamatics Lynchberg Rook Campbell all of those school system we do have the lowest number at private day we work very hard with keeping our kids here providing behavioral supports that they need um to make sure that they're in their community school and with their peers Indicator six is your preschool outcomes. And so this is your preschool environments. Um, as you can see, we met all of that. We want to make sure our kids have good role models. We know it

023starts early when we're looking at our students and growing them. So our students with disabilities, we want them included with their peers and participating with their peers to give them that start. We met we have met all of the state target on those. um we don't have them enrolled outside of programs. We have them inside of our programs. And um we do really well with this and I'm very proud of this indicator as well. Preschool outcomes when children come into us and are found eligible for special education. Um there's a chart we have to fill out for indicator 7 and we state where they are when they come in if they're below age expectations and then where they're leading us. So they come to us when they're three, they're going to kindergarten when they're five.

024We have another chart that rates they came in at a four, they're leaving us at a seven. And that's what we want to see. As you can see, we are doing that with their social emotional skills. Um, and then when we're looking at communication as well as behavior, we're not quite meeting the state target when they're exiting. Um, but we're working on um our streaming three curriculum as well as our conscious discipline. We work very hard with our students and growing our students so that they will be meeting um these outcomes. So that that is our goal and we're constantly moving toward that state target and above. All right, parent involvement is indicator eight and this is where it's a survey parents fill out and really this is one of those that it's how many

025parents fill it out and that's where the percentage comes from. Last year we were over 80% that had reported to us for the 22 23 this school year. This year we had 69%. We give this to them at every meeting. So every meeting they get a get a paper that has a QR code and all they have to do is click their phone on it. It's like two questions. If we ask them to fill it out, we beg them to fill it out. Um and we still encourage parents to fill that out. And that that percentage goes up when those when parents are filling that out. So a little less control over that. The indicator 9 and 10 is if we are finding students and we're disproportionate in our eligibility and services. Um so we

026weren't found for 23 24 school year um either one of those. We were found that we are um doing eligibility right if you want to say we're not finding a certain race or ethnicity group overly we're not overly finding them for a certain disability care category. Um so that just means that when we do our eligibilities we're following the protocols. We're following the DOE criteria. So um we were found in compliance there. As well as indicator 11, we have a timeline for eligibility under IDA. Once we suspect a disability of a child, we have 65 days to do those assessments and do the eligibility. Um the expectation is for us to do that at 100% because that's required through IDA. Um you can see there that we are meeting our timelines and we're in compliance.

027And for indicators 12 again that's a preschool. They come from us from part C which is infant toddler. Are we doing the eligibility and having their IEP before they turn three so they can come into school age preschool. And you can see that we're doing that as well. That's 100%. Indicator 13 and 14 are the last two. Indicator 13 is secondary IEP goals and transition services. Are we writing our IEPs and providing that for our students? making sure they have a transition plan and we are doing that at 100%. And then indicated four is post-secondary outcomes. So this is one that a year after students graduate with disabilities, we try to call them. So we have our case managers, our social workers, all of us are trying to call parents, call children and see where

028they are and what they're doing. This can be very difficult finding a lot to be able to to do that and get the answers um and looking to see are they enrolled in higher education. do they have a job? Are they in the military? All of those those things. And so, um, we're moving toward that. We want to see this improve, um, tremendously, but we have not met that state target, um, for postsecary outcomes, but we're working very hard with communities with DAR um, as well as in our schools providing those transition plans and supporting kids and employment. So this concludes all the information on our performance report for the 23 24 school year. Um as you can see we we are looking at improvement for those post-secary um indicators and graduation rates as well

029as looking at the suspension rates of students. Um our goal is always for our students with disabilities to perform and exceed expectations and we continue to grow by developing our staff through training and support in order to provide those positive outcomes. If you got any questions, >> um, indicator 14, uh, can you give us some track record on on that in terms of where we were last year or the years before? And, um, because I know that with JARS and some of the post-graduation, uh, or the pre-graduation planning that we've been making big pushes to to try and improve these numbers. So, is it successful? Yeah. So, I actually do graph that every year. So, I graph I have a graph of where we are from each year. So, I can either pull that out

030or I'll be more than happy I don't know how much time we have today to send that information to you as well of where we were the year before and where we are now. >> I'm trying to remember. >> Was it going up or is it plateaued or >> I think we're seeing some go up and I'm trying to remember which one of these were going up and then I I think one dropped. I think 14 A dropped, but I think 14 B and C went up. But to tell you that to make sure I'm giving you the right information. >> Yeah, you can email those graphs to me. But >> absolutely. >> So you did you did a great >> I imagine that that number fluctuates with the cohort too. >> It does. >>

031And that's the hard part and statistics any of the high school indicators. That's what makes it so difficult. She might be talking about the group one year group the next year kind of group next. >> So obviously we don't have comparisons from the year before or other places but what in your estimation is the the area that you think that needs the most attention and what what plans do you have for that? >> So my area that I feel I is graduation rates. We would like to see students graduate with that standard diploma um or advanced diploma. So that's one of big and when we see that happen we'll see that dropout reduced which is one of those goals. I also want to see those postsecary outcomes that we were just talking about. That is

032one of the emphasis we've also been talking about and working with um Miss Rogers who's a supervisors. We work with Trevor who's part of Dr. Prosper's team as well as CTE um getting them involved more in Susie Gibson programs and finding them jobs as well so that we can see those positive outcomes see them be able to be independent sufficient adults that they're able to find jobs and move forward. So that is that area of focus. Um we are focusing with Mr. Tucker's team on the discipline alternatives to that behavior. How can we keep them in school so they can learn because we know kids have to be in school to be able to learn. Um, so that was the other one of those that we were really looking at. I always want to improve

033our performance outcomes in their so scores. I always want to see our students progress in that general education curriculum, those SOS. Um, so if I would say my top three, that would be my top three. But all of these areas are areas we are always working on and making sure that we're seeing that improvement with our students. So, so, um, what are you I mean, obviously there's areas those those are your top three areas. So, in those top three areas, are there things that you need to change that might help with that? Or is there um I'm a big proponent of finding best practices wherever wherever like like you're saying, people are calling you saying, "How did you do this? This is great." So, do you have resources that you're utilizing for that? >> Yeah.

034So, last year, Miss Rogers actually went to the state transition academy. She was accepted into that as a leader in transition, which is those post-secary outcomes, which is those post-secary pieces, graduation. So, she's been networking with other districts, seeing what's working for them, what's working for us. The other thing is she's working very closely, like I said, with Trevor, with the CTE and CZG, trying to get our students doing more. We're also developing a class where kids can do internships through an independent, I don't want to call it independent study class, but it's kind of where we're working on those careers and we're working with them on those functional skills and finding jobs. So, we're always moving toward that. And that's just some of the things that are in place. We also have a relationship

035with DAR as well as VCU transition that we're working very closely with that we're all working together to um work on those students and work on those post-secondary outcomes. So you'll see changes coming through that um and we're all training our teachers and using all the tools that are there. They're all researchbased, evidence-based practices that we're using. >> Um SLS, you know, I mean, we're doing tier one instruction. We're working very closely with Dr. Trosker's team uh observations um when we're looking at co-eing collabs. How are we providing students all the tier one instruction and then what are we doing different for our students with disabilities? What is that specially designed instruction? Um we have a new state training that's come out for specially designed instruction that all our teachers are taking. Last year high

036school teachers did it. This year elementary teachers will be doing it. Um we've also been doing a lot of trainings with that across um the board. So, we're always and then we're finding those intervention programs through the BLA. What are the interventions that are being recommended for our students? Um, and what does that look like for them? And then we're assessing looking and then if that's not working, we assess again and move forward. It always feels to me like we're with the state targets that we're trying to fit a whole lot of square pegs into round a round hole. You know, because when you when you talk about the disability world, you're talking about some kids that are profound and some kids that are marginal and yet they all end up with an IEP. And

037we put them all in this one lump and say we you need to meet this percentage. And for some of them, it's not possible. And for some of them, it's highly achievable. And you then you see year to year these huge fluctuations and met the goal, didn't meet the goal. Um so >> tough job. >> Yeah. >> And all of the methods that you guys are are doing are good. You know, you need all those tools in a toolbox to make something work. >> It's a team in a village. >> As you see, I talk about Mr. Tucker and Dr. Troser because we all have to work together to make it work. And like I said, our students with disabilities learn differently. It's not that they can't learn, they just learn differently and we've got

038to find the right plan for them. >> Y >> and each one's different. >> Absolutely. >> That's true. Kids are we call everybody learns differently. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Did you do Dr. Trosper? Are you on for the for the bowels update? >> I think I am. Yeah. So, you have a handout, a couple of charts that printed out in color. So, I'm just doing some preliminary so data. We We don't have accreditation data yet. I'm thinking early to midepptember, but that's really outside our control. So, I'm just kind of telling you what we're hearing. So, we we really would look forward to sharing with you what accreditation looks like, but this is just preliminary. Um, but I'm going to start with Vows. And so, Vows is our literacy screener that

039was given to students in grades K through three. Um, now it has expanded and this coming school year, it's going to be given K through 8. So, we're we're working on getting our fourth and fifth grade and then middle schools ready to to be assessed on that. Um, and that's going to be very different from middle school. They've never really done something like that, but vows is the assessment that replaced PALS, which was our previous literacy screener. Um, it's more rigorous and I think some of the scores showed that. Um, it's also kind of interesting as you look at it. It shows kind of where we started and and you know, in the fall kind of is what it is, especially kindergarten, first grade. Those kids just come to us from wherever their their home

040life is like and then we try to work with them. And so what's really helpful to me is to compare the the number of high risk and then has that number dropped in the spring and then the number of low risk and has that number gotten higher. So what I wanted to do is look at the first chart that the title says 2025 vowels Bedford County versus Virginia. So just this past week we did see Virginia uh strands and so as you can see students once they take the assessment are categorized as high risk, moderate risk and low risk. Um, and so what I did was on that chart you can see at the top in the fall it says that the percentage of students who are identified in Virginia as high-risisk in kindergarten for

041example was 35.9 and then in Bedford County it was 35.19. So not a huge difference. And then as you kind of track down in the fall you can see we're similar to the state. We're we're um not quite as many high-risisk in third grade but when they start out there's not a whole lot of difference. And then again, moderate and low risk. Um, what what I really look at again is the comparison. So, I want to take you to the spring chart all the way under low risk. Um, that's really what I'm looking at because that shows the kids that have grown. Uh, one thing that we're really proud of is that at the end of the year in kindergarten, 54.85 students were in Bedford County were identified as low risk. Um, so they almost

042doubled from the fall, which is which I think is really positive. Um now if you compare to the state we're about five points lower um than Virginia so they had a few more kids that were um the higher number than low risk and then same with first grade. So what the chart shows me is that in kindergarten and first grade we're not far behind the state but we're a little bit behind the state in terms of um getting the kids to low risk which is where we want them to be. Um and again a lot of what we deal with especially in kindergarten is that's how they come to us and we and it takes some time. think it's good evidence for a consistent implementation of a reading curriculum that's evidence-based. And so, because this

043is the first year, it's kind of hard to to show the results of that, but we're going to be going into year three of our reading curriculum. So, we'll kind of see what that looks like. But what is good to see in the data, if you go to second and third grade, we actually outperform the state. So, we were um in the number or the percentage of kids that are low risk, we were 6.73 um points higher. And then in third grade, we were 34.75. So, our third graders did an incredible job compared to the state. So, um that's something that we're really proud of. Um it's an interesting chart because we know where we continue to need to focus kindergarten, first grade, and then second, third grade doing well and let's keep improving. And

044um one thing I'm not sure I said, if a student is identified as high risk, then that that gets them extra reading intervention. So, they work with the our reading specialist um and they get an individualized like a student reading plan. So that could be our specialist or somehow they have designed a plan to try to address those. So um that's where we are with vows right now. Um as usual, our title one schools are the ones where we want to focus on. So we're we're even breaking it down more in my team. We're looking for what specific schools we need to go to, what grade levels. Um but from a division perspective, I think that's kind of a good big picture of where we are. So, um, any questions about the vowels before I

045go on to the so? >> I'm just making sure I'm understanding the chart. Um, on the first section for the fall, I just noticed that third grade, the high risk was 10 or -10.08. >> Yes. >> And then when they did the test in the spring, the high risk is -2.83. >> Yes. That was the difference between the state and between Bedford County. >> So does that what does that mean? I'm sorry. >> So what you want from fall to spring is you want that number of high risk to drop. So you're looking at third grade. So in Bedford County, 26.62% of our students were identified as high risk. If you go down to third grade in the spring, 24.47 were identified as high risk. Um, so they're going to be in one of those

046three bands. That number dropped a little bit. Um, and it was 2.83 less than the state. Um, so that's a good thing that we're lower than the state and high risk. >> Okay, that's what I thought. >> So as you go over there, you can see kind of how they move to moderate risk. So the ones that didn't stay hopefully moved to moderate and then an even larger percentage moved to um low risk. So if you look at what the state did in third grade, only 14% were low risk. and ours ours kind of went the other direction which is um that's a real positive data point. >> It was only less than 2% change from the fall to the spring in that high-risk >> Yeah. >> group though that seems >> different than everything

047else. Everything else was >> Yeah. So what what happened was it that tells me we had a a group of kids about a quarter of them are really tough to move forward. It looks like a lot of the moderate risk kids were able to move into low risk which is what we want. But this this coming year, we've got to get those kids as they go into fourth grade. We've got to get more moving into that moderate and hopefully the low risk. So, um that I would have liked to have seen that number move a little more in third grade. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Because that's that's a high number. A quarter of our kids that that's a high number, high risk. >> Yeah. And it just didn't change that much, right? And they're they're

048the kids that are getting additional remedial help. And >> you know, why are they stuck in the mud? >> Sure. And that could include special education, English language, um low socioeconomic status. I mean, there's all kinds of factors that we play. But >> this is over all students, not just special needs ch children. >> Yeah. Yeah. That that group includes. So it doesn't have to be that, but that's generally in that low group. That's who they are. >> 24% of our students in third grade are high risk at um I guess this is reading, is that correct? Yeah, high risk to have reading difficulties or at risk to struggle. This doesn't necessarily mean they're at risk to to not pass their SOS, but essentially just says we've got to try to get them on grade

049level. Um well, before they leave elementary school, really before they leave 8th grade, if if they don't get there by middle school, it's really tough to get them back. So >> So I'm going to ask you a really controversial question >> because I'd like to do that. You just can't help yourself. Okay. >> My my brother lives in Tucson and he teaches year round. They get two weeks here year off, but they and they do it so that when they're coming in in the fall, they're not lost so much. >> What is your opinion on that? >> Well, um I I do know that over the summer the reading loss is a big concern, especially in our title one schools. So, I mean, the data shows when they go for extended time without reading or

050getting that work at home, they do drop off. So, we essentially have to to work even harder to catch them up as opposed to a school where they're reading every night with their families. So, yeah, that's and you know, we do offer summer school programs. We do offer extended learning for kids with disabilities who qualify. And so, for the ones that are in that, they were invited to summer school. Doesn't mean they all attended, but we try to mitigate that by doing pretty much most of June we had summer school. So, um, it wasn't quite year round, but it was it was more than other kids got in school. >> Yeah, I was going to say if there if there's some kind of program to help those 24% during the summer so that they can

051get ahead. Sure. >> I mean, kids need a break and and we don't want them to hate school. So, there's a balance there, but um, you know, if they're in the 24% high risk, that's that's a problem. >> And we know that re figure out a way to help them. >> If they're not going to read well, they're not going to do much else. Well, >> yeah, absolutely. >> Yeah. And the other thing to keep in mind, this is the first year we've given this. It' be really interesting as we kind of learn how to work with our kids. We're learning the science of reading. I mean, we've there's been a lot of changes with reading instruction the last few years. I mean, even reading specialists will tell you the way they were trained to

052remediate students in reading is very different than what we're being trained now. So, we're all kind of learning together. Um, and it's and I'm just I'm curious how next year will look as we start to compare. >> Are we heading in the right direction or the wrong direction? I >> I think we are. >> Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's >> what we're doing in Virginia. We've kind of modeled after other states that have seen great gains in reading. I mean, states that were historically very low like like Mississippi has has turned into kind of a model for reading instruction just just based on the science of reading. So, we're we're trying to mimic that in Virginia and we're starting to see good results. I mean, there's a lot of good, too. So, But but obviously

053there's always work to be done. >> Um just my experience as a homeschool mom teaching my son to read. I had a curriculum that just did more site words and just and he at the end of second grade he still couldn't read. And I'm like forget this. and I went to phonics and I just did a little bit within a little phonics book in the summer and he was voraciously reading at like fifth or sixth grade level by the time September came around. It's just that the tools need to be right, you know. >> Yeah, that's right. >> And I want to make sure that we're doing phonics, we're doing, you know, proper >> Yeah. >> proper learning for reading. >> Remember, the DOE has a a list of approved curriculums that's been vetted very

054thoroughly. good >> by experts in the field and so we're only using those resources and and there's a lot more consistency in the division there's ever been. So hoping that long term that pays off >> and Dr. trust. That's what the vow does. It breaks down if they're struggling with fluency or phonics or what it is and that intervention actually >> marks what they're working. That's what they would work on. So that's what that vows kind of breaks it all into. >> Well, that's good. Yeah, I didn't know that. That's good. >> So you know what it is. >> All right. So there's no more questions about vows. We'll move on to the next handout which is the vision path rate by test. So that is the preliminary so score. So and again we don't

055have accreditation data but this kind of gives us an idea of what our pass rates were for each subject. And so what what data is on there is is our pass rate um for the subject where it says 25 PR that's percentile rankings. And remember we have talked in the past about the CIP consortium. Uh that is is 72 school divisions. And so the data that we compare that this data set compares to 72 school divisions. There's actually 467 schools that were compared to and we try to look at how we rank compared to other schools and school divisions. And then I showed last year's pass percentage um and then compared to the percentile rankings. And then the final two charts just shows how our pass rate changed whether it improved or did not in

056the percentile rankings. And so as you look at that, I kind of broke it down by core subject area. So math is is the first one. And algebra was a tough year for algebra. We had a lot of personnel challenges. We had teachers leave. Um algebra overall the pass rate is pretty good. I mean 70 almost 80% is a pretty good pass rate. Um but in terms of percentile rankings, we dipped a little bit in Bedford County compared to last year it was 38%. That's a percentage compared to other counties >> compared to the other 72 divisions in CIP. And that's one thing we found, especially with the new standards, it's it's actually more useful to look at percentile rankings, how we compare, because like as we've talked about with the new standards, we expect

057to drop a little bit with math. >> Um, but if we can kind of see how we're doing relative to others, that gives us a better indicator. Um, with that being said, algebra, we have some work to do. Um but if you look at the other maths um grade eight math improved um which which was a positive um and then grade three, four, six and seven, those those are not they I guess what I'll say is they did what was expected. They stepped back just a little bit in terms of percentile rankings. We're still doing okay. Um yellow being the middle third, green being the top third. So we're either in the middle or the top third in comparison to all those. Um, but they have all dipped just a little bit, which is interesting

058because math the last two or three years has been the strongest subject in Bedford County. So, you know, as far as what we're doing about that, we've got the new reading or the math curriculum that we're we're really excited about. We've trained our teachers. Um, we'll start rolling that out in the next few weeks. So, I I look for those to improve, but the new standards were really tough in math. They just were different. They were more rigorous. Um and and I think we not unexpectedly but we did take a a slight step back in that. Um but the good news is if you look at the other core areas those have all done really well. So English um we actually improved our percentile rankings in high school writing um grade three, grade five, grade

059seven and grade eight. And um grade 5 through eight that was all double digit improvement in percentile ranking. So, the reading scores in our second year of our reading curriculum had done really well. Um, the only one that took a step back was grade four reading. So, we've got to get in there and kind of figure out what happened there. It's still a relatively high percentile ranking, but we we you know, they they dropped by three points in terms of pass rate. So, um, with new English standards to to do that well, I'm really pleased with our schools for that. Um, science is the one I'm most excited about. Uh if you remember the last few years, science scores have just been lagging behind. We we just couldn't get them where we needed to go

060and they took a really big leap forward. So biology actually improved their percentile rankings by 22 points. Uh grade five science by 26 and grade eight science, this is the first year we've given that. Last year we gave Earth science. Um but we we were in the 92nd percentile and that's kind of gratifying because we changed our science sequence to get kids more prepared for eighth grade science. and this is the first group that's gone through that full sequence in middle school. So, I am really really pleased with science and we're looking to continue to move forward in that. Um, and then finally, social studies, civics, um, improved, Virginia studies, that's a fourth grade US or Virginia US history that that stayed steady. Um, and then world geography improved as well. So, overall, um, last

061thing I'll say, if you look under the percentile rankings on grade seven math, it shows we're in the 29th percentile. That's not unexpected. Um, we always see math seven being lower because the advanced math 7 take the math eight test and so you have all of our advanced or high achieving students in seventh grade are taking the eight. So it's it's a smaller pool that have have demonstrated lesser achievement in the past. >> Not that that's acceptable, but it's not unexpected that other divisions don't do that and that's why we rank low. Um, and then with world history one that's a that's a high school class. So if you have not passed your SOS for that subject, that's when you take the SOS in high school. So that's from a testing group of kids that

062already did not pass. They failed their so before. So again, it's not it doesn't represent every kid. It's it's I I don't I don't look at high school as much in terms of pass rates just because it's not the same group of kids. But um overall, for the most part, we've taken a step forward. We got some clear areas to work on, but um we're pleased with it and looking forward to seeing what accredititation ratings look like when they come out. Hopefully midepptember. >> Any questions about that? >> We're not I think that at the school board meeting they said something about the history books not going to be changed next year. >> Well, the state has to come out with a release list and so they have we've not heard anything from them yet.

063The last we've heard is they're thinking maybe March is when they're going to have a release list. So that's going to be really condensed timeline to try to to do that. So just we'll see what happens, but there's a chance we may have to wait till the next year just because we may not have the information we need. So that's our goal, but it's again it's kind of out of our hands at this point. >> So you're waiting on the state instead of which we may have a totally different governor at that time. >> Yes. >> Hopefully that didn't change that work. Hopefully. Okay. All right. Do we have uh any old business to discuss? Mr. Dupair, I sent you um something that I had shared with you Karen earlier and that was um on

064the respect project. >> Respect. >> Mhm. Um >> I think the SPNA just sent something about that too. >> Yeah, they did. >> Did you? Yeah, I think that that >> as a uh professional development >> program. It's been several months since I sent to you the original. >> We actually added it to our PD playlist for teachers. So on our PD days, um we added that as an option for teachers to do and get PD points. So it's been on our playlist. It just took me a minute to remember. It's been on our offerings since you sent it to me and we looked at it. >> Okay. We've been getting it out to teachers. So, >> because I know that they have a a webinar that they're doing on the 19th, I think from

06512 to 1 that uh [Music] and I can't remember Mr. Dair, do you remember the >> I think it's I think it is a training session >> August 19th webinar, >> right? From 12 to 1. I know. And I I think it is the training that they go through, but I've done it. It's and it's it's very informative. Um anyway, I just wanted to throw that if it's on if it's on their list then um and that's good. That's I'll respond to marketing and let him know that that is has been implemented. Um, there was also an old business from the previous one about the math fee and you were going to mention it to the principles at the administrator conference. Did that happen or did you have that yet? >> It wasn't in the

066math session. So, I'm not sure, but I'll follow up at our next principal's meeting. We've had multiple sessions and people leading them. Um and Mr. um has implemented it and he said it's been very successful and so I guess he can probably spearhead that if somebody else was interested kind of showing them what they did. I don't even know what they did and I haven't been to their be but um a little bit going on but >> and then Dr. Crossber, I wanted to follow up on the email that I sent you about um the family life curriculum and um how the the current curriculum addresses pornography >> versus um leaving it to a 10th grade curriculum which is too little too late. >> Yeah. Yeah. So I I've started to look back at some

067of the early standards just to see where we could fit it in. Um so I that's that's kind of my plan is to look at that next week and try to add that to the guide. One of the ones I looked at was like the role of media. I think we could put it in something like that. Um there's one on sexual exploitation. I think we could probably do that. So what we can do is try to highlight those discussions and the standards that that are already there. Yeah. So I I haven't looked in depth but I will look into them. >> Okay. because I I feel like that's pretty important in terms of how that particular aspect of uh family life undermines and destroys families. >> Um and if we're not addressing that, then

068we're falling short of our mandate. Sure. Well, and that was mentioned I mentioned that during our schoolboard meeting as well to make sure that we had that in our lower grades something about cyber security. >> Yes. >> Yeah. And there was when I look through the curriculum there is something in every grade level from fourth on up uh that addresses sexuality in the media. >> And it seems like a perfect Yeah. place to insert that and and just be more specific. Yeah, absolutely. That that was kind of our thinking, too. So, we I'll I'll get those in the guides, too. >> Great. Great. Um I know that it was presented to the board at the last board meeting. So, any changes that we make to it then need to be emailed for review or how

069how does that happen? That becomes an action item at the next board meeting. We can probably do what we probably do is a Wednesday memo with any changes made just to inform the board and then put the new updated guides in for action. >> Okay. >> So unless I mean unless you want us to bring it back again for info with an explanation and then action the following month. >> I don't think so. >> Typically we just do it in a Wednesday memo. >> Yeah. whatever is gonna keep us on the same time frame because if we >> further delay it then it's >> it's not going to be implemented. >> Sure. >> So we'll get Dr. Troser just to make up like what what changed and then um we'll add that also to the

070board um the actual board agenda where we put a list of changes. We'll put that in there with the new updated guide. So >> Okay. Um, as far as the library books and stuff, how what's the status on that? Mr. Dupair, >> I went through and studied and looked at the libraries where I could hear person. >> Destiny uh destiny on almost all of them. I took um as I said the other night um list of books that were in Montgomery County Supreme Court. Um most of those do not show up in any of our libraries. There was a handful of them. Some of them were on witchcraft. Some one was on murder death and several were on stories where it's a child's book and and he went like a kid went on vacation and

071met a gay friend or made met somebody's at a location. So really wasn't into any advocation for um most of those books did not exist in my libraries almost almost all of them but there were a few that did in high school middle school but very very little in elementary to the point of I think it was more of a witchcraft type thing in elementary which I guess falls into the categories of you know some of the popular books that we've had in the recent years. I can't even think of the name of them now, but >> Harry Potter. >> Yeah, like a Harry Potter type of thing. But um then I went and met with two librarians at Liberty and one in the communications department of of the library and one in that does

072the um children's library which supplements the education department. and she told me how they get their books, how they procure them, how they what process they do. There is no association that's outside of the two that already exist and kind of coexist. Um I think it's ALA and AASL or something like that. Um they don't exist. They just have to use discretion as to how they apply. But some did give us a a list of links that could be used by librarians or parents. Some of them already exist on the bottom of our library pages in Destiny where a parent can go in and put in a title search a profile of that book synopsis. So some of that some of the links they use are we use um she said welcome to our world

073we have to be very discretionary that she discretionary as to what we allow and don't allow people. You know, it's it's it's a concern for everybody, but I think we've done a pretty good job and I think we can go back to looking at what was done maybe three or four years ago and the process put in place to remove them if they if they are in a situation where a parent wants to dispute them. Um there's a lot of those policies in in place already. Um so I think that's to our benefit. I I don't think that most of the counties around us have those policies the same way we do. So I think we're ahead of most of our counterparts. So it I mean she went through and and kind of backed me

074up and did the same study just to make sure I was looking at the right things and she came up with almost identical results when Dr. Wood did. So I think I feel I feel pretty good about what's happening in our libraries. Um, we just have to make sure that um, and I think this discussion is going to go through the principal to make sure that you scrutinize what it's being ordered in your school. >> So, what about purity? >> Say that again. >> Par. >> Um, you know, I looked I I took all of the terms that you put in there and I literally spent a day just looking under those comparison terms. And you can find a lot of books for instance and faith. Um there were books like the Baronstein Bears that

075had faith integrated into them. >> Um because they were speaking about the the golden rule. U so they're already do they do exist to some extent. Obviously, if if your librarians are more conscious of that, you could increase that time just by repurchases, but it it does already exist. Um, I put in creation and evolution separately. And I think I said the other night, I found evolution to go in many different directions. mostly went into the directions of evolution of the American flag, evolution, the evolution of the Civil War, the evolution of of things besides creation >> besides creation. But there were a whole set of books, Bibles to be more specific that identify genu Genesis 3 as the discussion or story of creation. So that parody does exist. Um I took all of those

076terms and put them all in and I did not there were a lot of terms that did not even show up. I wish I brought that up. Um a lot of the terms didn't even show up when I when we went. >> Is there you mean terms that didn't show up? >> Did you use like when when you use the contrasting terms in your email? I put one against the other. And and a lot of those they didn't recognize show up. >> In other words, there might be something there on let's say evolution or something else other than evolution, but there might be a creation. So >> what about the um LGBTQ books that promote homosexuality? >> I do not find much of that at all. I mean it is minuscule. So, um, >> but

077do we have anything that shows the kids how dangerous all that stuff is or how >> I don't think danger, but there is a whole series of books on what proper family should look like. Um, >> such as books on what it look what it means to be a dad, a mom, a grandpar, a parent, an uncle, an aunt. I mean it goes through structurally what a family should look like. That was a whole series topical series >> uh on families. Um and there were in those series like 10 books that a kid could check out. This is what looks like. I did not find it I did not find the contrast to that. Um, >> so I I had gone to uh we had town hall in um Stanton River >> and there was

078a big display of you know so you think you're gay or you know there was a whole display of several books >> sitting here. >> Now this was back when we had the town halls before you were hired. Um and that was a big display. I can't imagine and I didn't go searching but I can't imagine there that I'd see any other books that say you know if you're considering this you know you need to maybe consider all the ramifications because we do know that a lot the LGBTQ community usually those kids are needing psychological help and they're vulnerable and um and many of them end up getting trafficked. So, we just have to be I I just want to make sure that kids realize some of that stuff. >> I didn't see a lot

079of books. Let's take another topic. For instance, climate change and climate cycles. I think that's the term you used. >> Well, yeah. >> And there were books on climate change because it you know it it it gets a chapter here and a chapter here and a chapter there. But there were in one particular elementary there were 15 books on weather conditions or or cycles of weather. All of those were literally not they were all what proper science says about you know tornadoes or hurricanes or I didn't write them all down but it was literally what what is rain? What is this? What is winter? What is summer? >> Well yeah but >> those books all exist. So none of them necessarily refer to climate change. >> I mean I guess cycle would be like sometimes

080we have warmer years and other years are colder whatever that that's a cycle that our earth goes through. >> There was a what I'm saying is there was a whole series of books on weather just weather not necessarily negative look or climate change look just literally this is what weather is think take on what we see. >> So, in regards to the the whole parody topic, um we have a mechanism in place to remove books that are controversial, right? To for them to be reviewed and removed if they're found to be um they weren't removable. Um what is there a mechanism in place for students to request books? So our librarians usually get suggestions if students come to them looking for a particular series or something. Um you know they kind of keep up with

081new books that are out. Um how the cott winners and Newberry award winners and um they also ask teachers are there certain things that curriculum wise you're teaching that I can get some support materials for. So, our librarians do that and they try really hard to um get things that the school community is interested in. We have had parents who have donated books um and the librarians go through them, make sure they're appropriate, and you know, uh make sure that that is something that would be okay in their library. Um but parents could make suggestions, too. I'm sure some parents do. Um, and ultimately we kind of leave it up to the librarian and then they put their orders in and the principles check them. Um, I can't say that principles look up every I

082mean typically it's thousands of dollars worth of books when they do it. They have huge books cheap. >> Yeah. And so for a principal to look at every one. So that's why we trust our trained library media specialists. They're trained to do that. Um, as Mr. Pair said um we added a couple of years ago so that parents because we added that option for parents to get that email saying this is what your child checked out. So we added these are places you can go and get a synopsis of that book. Here's how you know what that book is about. Um as far as specifically going in and saying this is a topic that you know we want to have parody with. I don't know that we've done that. Like if you put a display

083up here, we want to display here. We we've never told our librarians what to display. >> I was looking more at what already exists in this, right? I went to this topic and this topic, what what did I see in volume? >> Um, one of the things that I mentioned to Dr. Woodford and I know I think she already mentioned Dr. offer is that you can go on to some of these web pages and they are so well structured like library page of a school. It's so well structured and then you go to another you got you got to literally put in questions to get through. So I think one of the goals that I came out of with this is to take these principles with really good top-notch uh formats so to speak and

084on some of them there is a place for a parent to make a suggestion they they didn't find this book and they can put it in and the library can see that. So and some of it exists and some of it did not. So I think my goal here is if we can find those really good schools that have a really good page, let's duplicate that across the board. I find I found that to be probably about 50% of our elementaryaries did a pretty decent page. The other 50 were somewhere between it was difficult to get in or had to spend time. And really when you go in and you pull down about us, you find a library and you auto page and see instantly that you have this system in place. And in some

085of them when you pull it up, it literally starts listing books by content. Like it'll say these are, you know, athletic books, these are mysteries, these are, you know, it'll go right down and clump them all together. So that's probably what we should look at is how is Destiny being used? How is it? >> And I could say so for elementary librarians, they teach. >> So they don't just have kids come into the library whenever. They actually teach lessons. They teach creative writing. They read to kids. It's actually one of our teachers planning periods because that's the only way we can do it at the elementary level. So those librarians work the same number of days as teachers. And um but middle school and high school, they don't teach. And you can correct me if

086I'm wrong, but they don't teach. Um and they also are high school librarians are 12 months, so they have the whole summer to work on websites and things like that. And they don't teach kids. Not that that's a good or bad thing. They help kids with research. So, I just in defense of our elementary librarians, I think they have a lot on their plate and websites are, you know, I think there's more in-depth websites at the high school probably because there's more time to create that. Um, and also, I mean, one of our middle school libraries has an aid, a full-time library aid to help. So, you know, our elementary librarians are checking out books, checking them back in, teaching lessons, creating lesson plans. I'm an elementary person at heart. I have to defend my

087>> whoever creates your what they just >> used to go in there and say they call it if it's not the library. >> I'm not sure who >> it's always somebody extra. It's it's an extra for somebody if nobody's assigned to it. Just like here at schoolboard office, we all try to do our own pages. And then last year we got an OCR complaint. We had to pull a lot of stuff off our website to go back into compliance. And so low key so the um the public libraries have where you can go to one library look for a book and it'll tell you what other libraries locally might have that book. We don't have anything like that in >> we do. >> Yeah. The librarians can search. There's an option to search across district

088and it will show um what books are in other other schools. >> Good. >> I know like public libraries will use that and they they will transfer books from one to the other. We don't really have a mechanism for that to transport books from one library to another. I I think there are a few librarians that have done that that have, you know, borrowed books from one school, but uh we don't have anything internal because most of those have like a a library courier that drives them, >> right? Yeah. We'd have to have a whole system. >> Yeah. So, what's the even the utility of being able to search Campbell County's libraries if we can't access the books? >> Now, we can't now we can search our schools internally. You can't search outside of >>

089in Bedford only is what we >> but you can't like go to Forest Middle and pick out a book and then turn it into JF. you'd have to turn it back into >> but the librarians can see what books are in >> and we have a courier system if we wanted I mean we could check something out put it in a courier to travel >> and I think they have if there's research topics you can get so much now on the internet I'm not sure how much a lot of online resources for kids too like online um encyclopedias is one that stay up to date, not like the old fashioned. >> Mr. Deerry, you had also um I I've sent several different to Dr. Trosper and to you of different books um series that I'd

090seen that were really good series from what I've seen. Um what's the status on any of >> I look I went I went through all of those myself and I think those fall into that category of let's just speak there. there wasn't that stood out to say I live. >> So, so you are you letting principles know about them or librarian? >> Well, we wanted to have that discussion. >> You're I'm sorry. I didn't hear. >> I'm sorry. I'm still having a hard time hearing so I'm not talking loud enough probably. Um yeah, that's something you're going to have that discussion with the principles about some of >> the same way that we'll say you have these resources out there you can here they are we haven't done that yet either we haven't passed on

091through library to libraries or principles all the links because I only got those a week and a half ago so we kind of wanted to finish the whole project of putting everything together we just say get a meeting either principal meeting or an email >> these these links are available. You can use them. These books were suggested. >> And you did contact the librarians in LU. Did you How was that? >> I spent a morning um with two of them and um as I was saying before, basically they don't have any advantage over what we do. They deal with the same issue. >> Okay. Um there is like I said before there is no other option for library association than the two that exist that are national. So she said you if you're coming to

092me to look for an alternative I don't have one. We do we we scrutinize the same thing you have to scrutinize public school. I'm just concerned some of those associations don't even they don't even look at some of the books that are out there. But >> it wasn't it was interesting that she said welcome to my world basically. >> So it's not like there's anything alternative out there. You have to be very scrutinizing what you do, what you know. I'm dying to say this because I was, you know, not to be funny or anything, but I found a 120 variations of Cinderella. >> Yeah. It's >> unbelievable. Um, >> Three Little Pigs. Try that one, too. >> I did that one. I did them all. There are so many. >> And you can't even find

093the classic, you know, just the classic one. >> I found them in I found them in I found them mixed in >> here in our school. >> Oh, cool. because I I tried to find them in the public. No, >> I went >> I had to go to Campbell County to find them. >> I took all of the topics. >> Uh Snow White, Jack and Bog, Goldilocks, Three Bears, three Little Red Riding Hood, um the Three Pigs, Hansel and Gretle. Um this one came up, Moldy Locks and the Three Beards. It's a humorous take on it. >> Oh my god. um fairy tales in general, 141 books on them and there and and a a high level of them, you know, the I would say 1950s version, so to speak. Um you know, Beauty and

094the Beast, all of it. Um, I did not find them all, but I probably about 1, two, 3, four, five, six, seven topics or, you know, stories and in many cases like Cinderella um, in every version of every country in the world just about and >> so we do >> perspective of the mouse. the perspective of the mouse who turn who turned into a horse. The perspective of the >> that's funny >> of the stepmother who wait a minute this is not all that bad I'm not that bad you know that type of thing. And so they're all out there, many of them with the humorous things, too. Just put a different perspective on the story, but I didn't find a lot of negative. I have to say that when I was reading at Bedford

095Elementary, I think it was Bedford Elementary Primary, Bedford Primary, I think it was, um, you know, I started I I tried to find classics to come read to the kids and, um, I had a hard time in the public schools finding any, but when I mentioned them to the kids, a lot of them had heard of those. They'd already heard those stories, so that was encouraging to me. >> Well, for instance, Sleeping Beauty, there was 16. Um, one of them is considered the other story of all the fairy tales. For instance, Sleeping Beauty was not all that great cuz she stole a whole different story. And then another one, you know, Bubble Still, it just went on and on. It was comical reading several. So there is there is a lot of perspective out there.

096And what do we use perspective for? >> You know, you have to ask yourself, what do we use it for? you use it for so that you don't just get one perspective in your life. I mean, I I I like humor. I enjoy looking at some of these because I've never seen that perspective before. Um, and that might be something I can read to my grandchildren, you know, uh, because I have suffered in about an hour and they make me read to them every Tuesday night and I'm not getting out of the house until I have four or five kids on my lap reading. So, um, you know, it's just I mean it it was it was a it was a day long uh probably day and a half and I was pleasantly surprised at

097what we have. We don't have a lot of negative stuff open. >> That's good. >> Thank you. >> I would like to add too that our libraries can be searched through our Destiny site publicly. >> Where how do I get that? >> I can give you the address. It's actually bedfordva.fletdestinestinest.com. fallesty.com >> and then you can choose a school and you can search um the library books in that school. >> Can you email that to us please? That would be helpful. >> So, and then I think too if we want to build a positive u supply to our libraries too. Uh parents need to know that they can request books on more conservative topics or uh a counter view to something that they find in the library. >> I think that's um the communication to

098our parents is important for some of that. I think that's a good point >> and and we don't want to just bombard them with all kinds of emails because then they stop reading. But >> we could add it to our next newsletter from the superintendent. We do a parent newsletter from the superintendent every quarter. Kind of updates of things you need to know where you can find stuff. You can add it to that. I think a lot of parents look at that. >> That would be good. >> I did I did I for instance I did politics and I got >> nothing on political activist one particular school. Nothing on political activist, nothing on political campaigns and nothing on politics. Nothing at all politics in the whole thing. >> Not from the standpoint of partisan

099or anything like that. This is kids focus. >> We were focused a little bit more in elementary. >> I think you >> when we were we were trying to >> Yeah. Most of our research is in elementary. >> That's where the most impression is and they're not necessarily using their books for research. >> So you haven't really researched the middle and high schools. I did but not as deep as I did elementary because elementary was my biggest concern first. >> I think that's where you and I having most of our conversation was with the elementary. Now I did go into middle school and high school few topics showed up but very few >> some of the books that I sent to you were elementary I guess. Yeah, some of them were middle school. [Music] One

100of the old topic uh things that I wanted to bring up too as we're starting into a new school year was we have consistently identified the uh academic success of our kids linked to the parental involvement. And as we talked about um elementary schools and and how to get parents involved, it was whenever they gather together to a kids play or a performance or something that the parents are all there because they want to see little Jimmy and Susie re recite whatever they have been learning in school and sing their songs and those things are great, but they're also a captive audience. Yes. >> Mhm. >> And in terms of educating them on the statistics of cell phone use at home, right? and the fact that while they're sleeping, their kids are surfing the web

101and tick tocking and and whatnot from 11:00 a.m. to 6 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. and wrecking their school day and just taking those educational moments where we have parents as a captive audience to for us to develop some sort of a curriculum presentation like I don't know top 10 statistics that the parents need to know that they probably don't that are destroying their kids and over the course of the year maybe present two of them at each of the performances or something. Um, we need to have a strategy to >> Well, that's excellent. >> Parent education when we have them as a captive audience. >> Well, and also like the signs for mental health issues. Parents don't really and where to go and what to do. Um, >> yeah, that's excellent. Um, I I

102got a a fact sheet uh from a veteran organization that you guys probably know, Be Anxious for Nothing. >> Um, and it's just a little fact sheet that comes with their October run and it it hits just some of the startling statistics related to these things. And uh it doesn't take but a second to look at it. We could even print a flyer like that to hand out to the parents. You know, threequarters of them end up in the trash, but the ones that read them, you know, read those bullet points, which are super easy, may just get their wheels turning. >> Another idea, too, and this has been tossed around, I think, with other schoolboard members just in other conversations. So, I don't know if it ever went with the full board meeting discussion,

103but we're talking about the financial um how can we save in different ways and how can we get grandma and grandpa to come, you know, sit with the kids in the back of the room just a little extra help. Um we would have to vet them or whatever. But, um a lot of them would volunteer. They would absolutely love to do that. some, you know, grandparents to be able to sit in their kids classroom maybe twice a year, you know, um, and we could rotate some different people out, especially with teachers who maybe need a little bit of extra eyes and and hands or whatever. Um, utilize grandparents or parents, you know, that that can help with class management or or whatever. um where we wouldn't necessarily pay them for that, but we just have

104more eyes and ears and and so on. I don't know if that's is that something that's reasonable. Is that already been >> Well, we do that with dads, right? The dad's program London does a good job with that where dads come in and and >> watch. >> Do we have that already? Yeah, >> we have it at several schools. >> Got pictures. >> I've done it. >> Watch. >> That's awesome. >> Yeah. But but the kids love it. >> Oh, yeah. But the grandparents may be more available >> than the, you know, the moms and dads because of their jobs. But >> and some may not have grandkids in the school system even, but I don't know how we get a hold of them. But I mean, you can even ask the parents to come

105in. Do you have a neighbor who kind of has adopted your kids who might, you know, who might be interested in coming and whatever? I mean, I know when I lived in Oregon, I didn't have any family near me and we kind of had adopted grandparents, you know, for my kids and >> they would have probably love to do something like that. >> I think a lot of these strategies would be good. We're really working on our strategic plan and there's a whole section on family and community engagement and so a lot of these ideas we could probably put in as strategies and actions that we could kind of work on. So I know we've talked about our volunteer programs and beefing those up and how do we support schools that thank you. >> When

106do when does that strategic planning happen? So we are going to bring to the board at the September meeting we want to add um a fifth goal to fail our goals >> our falling goals. >> Yes. Our falling goals. We really I mean I think we realized it early on but we we don't really have a a goal for our capital improvement plans which are really really important in keeping our schools upgraded and all that. So Ry's team is gonna if the board approves the addition of that goal and we want to change goal four to be more about family and community engagement not just about community partnerships but really engaging our families. So, we're going to bring that in September and if the board approves that, then our teams will start meeting to update

107our strategic plan. And then our plan is then to report um on those goals and the strategies. And so, every month we will bring something from the strategic plan to the board to share um and update the board on. So, we'll probably start it depending on how quick Ry's team can go. We kind of said we'll kind of try to match it to topics. So for SOS, we could talk about goal one and academic achievement, but I don't know that we'll ever have a presentation in. So um with our new goal, I know Randy has a lot that he wants to put in there and then we could in kind of beefing up our family and community one. We'll probably bring those back to the board pretty quick. So our teams work on them constantly.

108Mhm. >> Um, but it's a it's it's like a 30-page document, so we give it to you in snippets so that it's not overwhelmed. >> Yeah, Mr. Depair gave me a copy of it. >> And I I brought that up at two of the last three board meetings that we were going to do this. So, like she said, we'll probably start in September. Take a goal, take a strategy, discuss what we're doing. I've got the new graphic for adding goal five. So present that to get the board to approve the goals. We can't change without board approval. So and that probably will take an information action but that doesn't mean if we feel like the board is supportive. I mean the strategies and actions we put in can fit multiple categories. So, we'll we'll be

109working on it way before >> I was going to say things like this where we, you know, do some parent education at a at a community meeting >> shouldn't take a board approval and maybe a consensus opinion or >> well and things like that. So, the individual strategies and actions, they wouldn't need board approval. It's just the big goals before we change any goals and add any strategies underneath it. But what is nice about the strategic framework is that as you're suggesting those things, each of us kind of own a goal. So when you're suggesting things, we as a team can kind of vet that and say, well, what how can we put that in? How can we put that in as part of our action or how we disseminate that information? So the individual

110pieces, the suggestions you're making, we would just put those in as things we could work on. And then as we're presenting the board can also just offer any suggestions. Um and we're also going to try to tie it a little bit to our committee meetings. So our high academic achievements and you know our discipline and our which we have most of we have a lot of goals. So we'll kind of vet those through CBO as we're going to as we working on them and adding to them and updating. Um, just a question about the grandparents coming >> and just I'm just thinking about how to sell it, but um I really loved coming and reading to the kids >> and I know that reading to the kids helps make them want to read. I mean

111that's a really important part of their development for reading. >> So could that even be um you know something that I know there's a lot to to cover. I mean I taught elementary and I taught all the subjects all in the same, you know, >> there's a lot to cover. You just kind of have to keep moving. But, um, >> is there a space for that? Is there space in the curriculum where the teacher would normally be reading them a book >> and then they had just have the grandparents do it instead or something? I don't know if there's space in the curriculum, but I think it would be it's good to for instance like the nutrition groups they do grandparents day where they have all they invite all the grandparents kids to come in

112with come in and eat with your grandchildren. Um or your adopted grandparents bring your adopted grandparents and some other kids don't have grandparents so bring your mom or your dad. And so we could on occasions like that say if you want to stay and read or you know we could kind of tag on those kinds of things. Um >> and and and honestly probably schools are doing so much more like their own each school has their own individual school improvement plan and they I'm amazed at the things that they do. Um, so they're probably doing a lot of these things and that's probably what we'll find out as we start talking to them. Like they have great ideas and they do collaborate together in principal meetings and share those ideas and they'll take from, you

113know, so you know, we used to have each school present in the board meetings and those took a long time and I I'm assuming that Mr. Mr. Hills suggested to X that because he likes to get in, get out. But some of those some of those wonderful ideas were there. I' I'd love to just somehow be able to >> bottle them up, but share them with other schools to do stuff like that. >> Is that even a possibility? >> It is a I mean, so we meet with our principles every month and so typically we try to put some collaboration time in so that they can share ideas about things they're doing. Um, and sometimes we try to be really intentional about the topic. Um, so I mean we can always do that. We meet

114with the monthly. It's already scheduled out and we can give them collaboration time. And one of the big things that we can talk about are volunteer programs. I know we hit on it a little bit last year. We're getting towards the end of the year and they were tired and trying to finish things up. So I mean we can always hit like talk to us about how you get volunteers in. How do you get family members? So we can do an int intentional collaboration. Awesome. >> Very good. Anything else? >> Good ideas, good conversations, good work. >> A lot of stuff to throw out. >> I know. Next time I'll bring a notebook. [Laughter] Thank you for your work on the libraries and >> was interesting >> being diligent about that. >> What will you

115read to your grandkids tonight? >> Whatever they bring. >> What they bring you? >> They have a library in dad's office. >> Okay. Several hundred books. And my wife brought all of her books when our boys were little. And we have one in our house. I'm envisioning a princess bride moment. >> Grandfather comes and reads to >> Oh, yeah. Change the stories just to be humorous. But that's not the right story. >> I used to make up stories for my kids. >> They know it. >> My daughter would say, "Tell me a story." And I just make one up. Of course, she was always in it, you know. >> All right. Shall we adjourn? >> We are journed. Thank you all. >> Thank you.