001Thank you. Big Countdown clock I was just going. All right, let's roll. I'd like to call to order the regular meeting for the Beer County School Board for tonight, Thursday, June 12th, 2025. Uh, Miss Johnson, just to let you know, um, Dr. Hubach and, um, Mr. Daniels let me know they would not be present tonight. And then, of course, we are interviewing for the District 1 seat tonight. So, um, that's why you see four of us up here tonight, but just want to let you know if you would uh, please do roll call. Mr. M. Hill here. Mr. S. Hill here. Mr. Hullbrook here. Mrs. Pervvis here. Mr. Chairman, you have a quorum. Thank you. Do I have a motion uh to approve the agenda as presented? So moved. Have a motion by Mr. Hill.
002Do I have a second? Second. Second by Mr. Hullbrook. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed. All right. Agenda is approved. If you will please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please join me for a moment of silence. Thank you. Great. Uh you will notice that our agenda uh has changed uh since last month and this next um section we're going into is called work session. Uh and so we are going to first do 2.01 which is committee reports. Uh Mr. Hullbrook, we'll start with you. Um we haven't had any meetings. you might be able to. Yeah,
003I think um I think we're going to be doing a little presentation tonight kind of updating about construction kind of the construction progress major um things that we've got a meeting in July to start updating. We've got a lot of facilities work happening right now. Okay. Um but yeah, other than that, we're just rolling along. Um, Gov School and STEM Academy are both raising their rates $300 per student um, next year. Is that effective 20 the 2526 year? And do we know was that in the budget or is that new? Um, that was this they they announced it this or they let us know this week. Okay. Or this last session. It was a couple couple weeks ago. I've already let Randy know. They let us. So I think yeah they they basically gave this
004information to us in spring. Okay. All right. So thank you for sharing that because we'll need to talk about that finance committee just to make sure it's covered. So um yeah so other than that we have um you know a good group and we just finished you know the graduations as well. Um so that's done. In the CPO meetings, we were discussing um a little bit more about dress code and the family life curriculum and um yeah some some other options. So anyway, that's it. All right. Um so for finance committee, we will be meeting end of July. I don't think we have anything set for early. Um, and I've already instructed Randy a couple things I want to be looking at is the um, we've looked at the budget line items, but I want
005to go detail for detail of who who are we making payments to like what is what are those line items? What's attached to those line items? So, really want to go to the granular next granular level of um, those dollars. Um, one of the things and I had asked about and and it is part of the policy which I want to talk about since Chris or Dr. uh Mr. Daniels or M Dr. Hubach are not here in the policy uh IG you're going to see tonight where we're presenting a policy that impacts uh is it transfer what what's the verb? transfer students is non non-resident yeah non-residents and so one of the things from a finance I want to take a look at because we're going to be recommending that policy is recommending that we're
006reducing it from the current $4500 charge to 500 uh and we'll talk about that when when that policy comes up but I want to know the impacts to the overall budget so if we've currently got a hundred non-resident students and 2500 per student and then we reduce it to five. what's the impact and how many do we need to increase that number by to you know make up the whole the whole reason for that again we'll talk about it in the policy piece is to help drive revenue and to increase student population where we have that opportunity to do to grab from you know other counties where students may want to come not may they're going to want to come uh and so we want to take a look at at that option so um
007finance piece we'll be looking at that per se of you know are there impacts and and if it is a negative what do we do um from a financial I don't think it will be I think it's going to help us um but um given that update uh policies and Mr. Pair is going to talk about that when we go to present. Uh and that is on the action item tonight. All right. So that's committee reports. Um anybody have anything else from a committee report? All right. So um Miss Pervvis will go to you for comments and concerns from schoolboard members. Um well, I had the privilege of going to Richmond this this week um to take part in the so u cuts course and um yeah, it was a it was a really um
008interesting time. I learned a lot and um so we are thankful for um our governor and for the the BDOE who is um working hard on trying to get our standards of learning higher than they have been so that we can be more competitive um and our students can be more competitive in their in their fields um and in you know up through graduation and their requirements. So, um, the other thing I would like to propose, if we have consensus today, is to, um, being that we want to be good stewards of our money, uh, I would like to introduce the opportunity to look for a more, um, another attorney for the school board. Um, we would keep the attorney probably for the special needs because it is hard to find that and we have
009ongoing things that um that have been helpful. I just saw Kelly do this number. I don't know if she do that publicly, but sorry, Kelly. Um, but I'd like to at least explore other options for other uh other attorneys and we would probably interview and do all of that if we have consensus to at least start looking for some um other options. And just to make sure you guys understand, we we would have to put out, keep my term, RFP, RFQ, RFQ that says, hey, we're looking and anyone who is interested to present. Um, and then we would go from there to interview those individuals to see who is interested in representing us from a new attorney perspective. So, so we just need consensus, I guess. Well, any questions or comments? I have a lot
010of questions. Um, some of the things that I I want to make sure that we're considering um for this is so we spend about $100,000 a year on uh attorney fees outside of special ed. Um so it's not an insignificant number that we spend. Some of the things that you know if we're going to switch attorneys, which I think it's very fair to to be looking into, um I kind of want to know about the transition time. if we were to switch, what is involved in transition? What are we gonna have to do? What what amount of build buildable hours are gonna have to duplicate because all right, well, we got to get these people up to speed. Um, you know, so let me make a comment on that. So in the past when we've
011done this what we we have grandfathered in whatever the current attorney is working on they would finalize and any new projects on a go forward basis would go to the new attorney. So we would be overlapping for a while until it all is finalized. So current projects or current cases that attorney would keep. anything new on a go forward basis would go with the new attorney if we choose to go with someone else. And what all and just so for my knowledge, I'm very new to the board here. What all are we we're not doing special needs. Uh what all are we going to be incorporating in this? You know, I'm assuming it's HR. I'm assuming it's, you know, any type of us getting sued for a litany of reasons. Well, I I'm not an
012attorney. I'm just going to speak from from the experience over eight years. So yes, um to answer your question, however, there are certain times where we don't choose the attorney based on our insurance. Keep me what's the correct terminology. Um they are assigned. They are assigned. So we don't have an option for that. Even today with us having an attorney, we don't choose that if it's covered under our insurance policy. So, the insurance company would would would choose that. Um, we're not saying we would not absolutely um vac Thank you. That's the word I I knew it was a term for it. I just want to make sure um you know, we're saying we we would probably not want to go with a new sped attorney, just the fact of the experience and what we
013what I mean really what we've gone through with them. But that's not to say we're shutting that down. So, if a new attorney presents, that would be something we take a look at. Um, but everything else that would be requiring an attorney, yes, it would be covered. Okay. Um, and I'm only that again, it would have to be consensus. we can break it down as a board to say, "Hey, we only want them the new person to handle HR requirements or I mean to me I think we if we're going to present it as we're looking for a new attorney." Yeah. We go out and say, "Hey, what what do you have available? What what are you recommending to us?" And we look at it. So would that open this up to also taking bids
014for the special education or is that is it would are we just shutting that off? As a board, we can do that consensus right now. We can say we want it to include it or we don't. I have done a little research on that and it's hard to find. Um because it is a specialized most attorneys don't have a whole department in that. Um so that's why um we we probably will stay with but we can always look into it and see if we find anything else. if you want to open that up. I mean, I think that um Miss Tennings is probably going to sweat bullets, but I will tell you the recommendation from our staff is that they would prefer from a sped perspective to stay with who we have. That doesn't mean
015we can't stray from that, but I'm just I'm I'm letting the board know that's that's what our staff would tell us. Entertain. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Um when we do or if we give consensus and we do this um can we also include on there any type of document transfers that they need any onboarding time you know do we get a special rate to onboard versus once you're actually representing us or is it all just hey you get hit with about $300 per hour regardless of what we do for you. Yeah, I think we can be specific in our ask and we'll have to work with Randy when he presents that. But, you know, provide us your fees of, you know, onboarding or just is it a one fee fits all. So, we can certainly ask
016those questions when we're putting out that RFQ. Yeah, some attorneys have a one flat fee and others have well if you actually talk to the actual attorney you get you you get paid you you pay more but then they have helpers and then they bill out less. Um it depends on the firm. The last kind of point I wanted to kind of just just bring up for the for the board as we consider this, I think there will be a significant transition time as far as getting to know our staff, getting to know our our past cases, our you know, you're you're going to I'm assuming now if we call up the same attorney we've always been using, this is what I do in my business. I'll go, "Hey, do you remember that John Smith
017case we did a couple years ago? I got a similar one coming up. we need to go ahead and this is the defense that we're gonna start doing. So, there's going to be a a little bit of a knowledge gap there just from not having the history with us. So, there just things I want to consider when we're when we're presenting this this opportunity. Absolutely agree and hear you that sometimes change is good to get a different opinion. So, um but all valid questions. I think that's some those are some things that as we interview that would be important for us to ask and we may stick with the one we have after all of that. So I think we should at least explore some options. That's all. It's my opinion stronger. Any questions? All
018right. Do we have consensus to allow that to go out? Yes. Yes. And yes. So, Miss Johnson, any other concerns? All right, Mr. Hill. No. Okay. Um, the only thing that I wanted to talk about and um we had three wonderful graduations. Everything was great. Uh, it was really good to see. It's always good to see how each zone uh celebrates their class. Um one of the things that um I did want to talk about and make sure we're addressing and I know I've already talked to a couple staff um executive team about it. Um we've got policies around graduation. And so I know last year we had a group come to us and asked if they could wear a certain um not a robe but cord cord and we had set our policy is
019x and we stuck to that policy. Um, unfortunately during some of the graduate or one of the graduations at least there were some members that were wearing things that were not approved and so I just want to make sure with our policy how do we ensure that it is followed on graduation day. I mean because you can say hey you're not allowed to do this but where I have a concern is we say no and last year it was Odyssey of the mind which is a great organization and they you know but we said no our policy is our policy but then we had someone who didn't ask and just wore it. How do we make sure that does not happen during our graduations? So not looking for an answer today. I just want to
020make sure we're reviewing our current policy and then reviewing it with our three high school staff um administrations to make sure we're following that policy and it does not happen on graduation day. And if it does, what what do we do? So, all right. Any other comments or concerns from school board? Miss Johnson, we would like to start our interviews for district 1 board seats. Sure. All right. We do not have hard copies, but you should have inbox from Yep. from D. All right. So, Kathleen, I'm not even going to attempt your last name, but if you will, if you will introduce yourself. Uh, but first of all, welcome and thank you for uh showing an interest in our district 1 board seat. Um, the board is going to ask you a series of questions
021tonight. Um, and, uh, we will ask you those questions. Please, if you need us to repeat it, just let us know. We want to make sure our whole mission tonight is to make sure not only do we find the right candidate, but also that you feel comfortable uh in the questions that we're asking you and then at the end we'll we'll see if you have questions for us. Um but you know, we want you comfortable making sure you're able to answer, but if in any time we need to repeat, just let us know. All right. So to get us started, if you would, we have your your information that you submitted, but if you would introduce yourself and just tell us a little bit about uh about yourself and why you're interested in the district
0221 seat. Okay. My name is Kathleen Joan. Um I was approached a couple times about the open seat and um so I was very honored and so I was pondering and contemplating for a little while now and um you know I I decided obviously that I would go ahead. Um and um so in pondering that I I was thinking about how um you know we were saying the pledge of allegiance and we were talking about the republic and I know that you know we're given a republic if we can keep it. Um, and I know that that is kind of a really big concept, but coming down to um serving um for on the board, you know, I feel that um that it all it's all it's included in um in in just that value
023that we want to make sure that um that we keep this treasure that we have in our country. And it really starts kind of down with um with the children in the in the school systems and how we educate. And um so I'm trying not to I'm trying to bring this small and and down to you know why I wanted to um go ahead and and see if it's something that um you know I could go ahead and um and apply for to serve. Um uh I believe that you know if there's a need and then I can help fill that need. with the seat, then you know it'll work out and and I could um bring what I have to the table. And not only that, you know, um the value of, you know,
024keeping the republic, but um just serving the community, serving, uh the children and and and the parents. Um, my background is um in well I'm 62 now so I feel like I have this big story and I'm trying to kind of bring it down small like why would I even be interested in um in serving? Um I think it's important to you know not necessarily fight against something but fight for something and that is for the community and the children and the parents because it's their children. Um, I'm retired kind of like it sounds so old. I don't like that word, but I'm retired. So, I I'm more available and I've served um as a Christian. I I love serving. That's probably what when I was told about this position, that's probably what even made
025me consider it was because there was a need and I love to serve and help and I was like, if I can help and serve in this area, I would be happy to. Um but I uh worked with um families and children and um clinical therapy. Um I love governance and and just being aware of what's going on in the country and um the good as well as the bad. I'm aware of the controversy and the struggles in our country and in our families. Um, and I think because I'm very well aware of what the struggle has been, I think it's kind of on my heart to maybe um, come in with a voice of reason and um, not to fight against something, but four things that are the best for the children and the
026parents. Um, and I may be going on a little too long because I'm nervous. So, um, I didn't think I'd be nervous, but I I just came in just with no prep, just like, well, here I am and I'll answer your questions. Perfect. Well, I appreciate you doing that and introducing um Mr. Hill. Uh do you want to take the next question? And then Mr. Hullbrook and then Miss Pervvis, if you'll be All right. Um so, please describe your ideal form of government and how that applies to the Bedford County School Board. My ideal form of government? Well, um I think governance should be for a purpose to protect us and um provide you know social constructs and and things for the citizens and the communities to promote well-being and and what is good for
027uh the family and individuals. Um and um can you repeat your question? Was there Yeah. Like please describe the ideal form of government and how that applies to the Bedford County School Board. Okay. So when you say government, I'm just thinking freedom and America. But um I guess just government is just um for you all your responsibility and governance is to make sure that um I think that fiscal responsibility is important. But I also think along with that um the children um their needs for education. Um and um I think that um your oversight, governance and oversight is very important. Um and um as far as um again the school board um to bring kind of that down to a smaller form of governance. Um I think to um be a voice of reason and
028to be um available to all parents and children um is it's very diverse I'm sure um and find solutions um that promote the well-being of all children and all families while also recognizing that you know the governance um or government isn't responsible for everything because the family is really the one that's responsible for their children. But um yeah, thank you so much. What uh what would be the the main goal you have to accomplish being a school board member? Well, I think of my giftings. I guess my goal would be to um bring ideas in um to bring understanding through my experiences through working with different families and children. um um to be supportive and um honestly to meet a need because I was told that there was a vacant seat that needed um to
029be filled and um I guess I'm kind of the personality wants to help if there's a need and um save the day and so to come in and and to fill that seat and to be um offer you know my background information, ideas, but also to learn um things that I, you know, I don't quite understand at this point about um being on the school board. Yeah. So, I'm in your same shoes. I'm older and don't have any kids anymore in the school system and um have a little more time on my hands. So, I appreciate you giving me that. I'm also very interested in political stuff and all of that stuff and keeping up with everything. So, I appreciate your willingness to step up. Um, obviously you had mentioned in your um in your
030resume or your I guess survey, whatever you want to call it. Um that you were only interested in coming till January when we or whenever November when we would actually um vote for somebody else. would you consider running for more a longer term? And if so, um what are some of the strengths that you have? Like for example, my my um background is education. Some of these guys are contractors or engineers, businessmen. What value would you bring to the board in that respect? Yeah. So, I just want to be very open and forthright. And so, when I did fill out my application, I just I just want to be completely open that um I was coming to meet a need and if you all wanted me to fill that need, um I would be honored
031and uh happy to do so, but I um if that somebody else came along that would be um a better fit. Um because I know that you have to run against somebody and to be honest um I am open um miracles happen every day. I am open to possibly but uh it's not in my nature or my personality to necessarily run against um somebody for the position. So um you know I I'm not quite sure but what I would bring to um the board um which is a second part of your question. Um, was that okay? I wasn't doing too good with two-part questions, but I remembered that one. Um, like I said, I um raised four children. Um, we actually utilized the public school and the private school and homechool. Not because we didn't,
032you know, what we wanted to do, but as you know, just to meet different needs because we had a span of four children and a lot of years in between all of them. So, we're, you know, I I feel like having that background coming into um the board and into the public school, um I believe that having that outside kind of view could be helpful. Um if there's a struggle or problems, uh maybe my insight and my experience would be helpful. Um and uh also in my professional field um I have um experience and insight to um the schools and um the need for um just the different needs and I think that the families have within the schools and somehow sometimes the schools could utilize outside resources instead of inside um to help families
033in their struggles and educating their children. Um yes, that's it for now, I guess. So, Kathleen, um it's not always easy, uh being a school board member. There's difficult decisions that have to be made. And so, I want to understand how what your approach would be in um tough topics uh with your constituents. Uh some of the things that we've talked about recently is budget concerns. Uh and those budget concerns are just going to continue to grow. And so I'm interested in how you would handle any type of topic. Uh so for example, school consolidations or school closings. uh those could be topics that come your way. I'm interested in your your um one your thought on school consolidations or school closings and then how do you handle that messaging? I guess I guess first
034you have to look at uh just the realities of what you have in front of you. Um, and then there's probably then the the emotional parts um, and the conversations and dealing with the the different um, opinions, I guess, is is what you're asking. Um well I feel if you're given the authority then you have a very serious responsibility um to know exactly what you're talking about and what you're looking at and um to convey that um I think that with grace always you know and um but also just the facts and the truth of the matter and sometimes Um, I think there are different people that probably do a better job with trying to um, reason and communicate with other people that might be in opposition um, to bring everybody to um, you know,
035a place where um, there's more understanding of what's going on and what needs to be done. Um, I guess I would find that um maybe more of my strength um to want to help kind of resolve some things and and um but I think at the end of the day I um I definitely stand with sometimes decisions are not easy but you have to make them. Um, okay. All right. Thank you. Do you have another question? Yes. Um, in your view, what role should technology play in the Bedford County classroom? Well, I know that's probably a little controversial, if you will, because there's so much good about technology and then so much bad. Um, I think whenever it's for education and promoting information, um, to improve on the academics, it's probably a very good thing.
036Uh I think that some of the uh technology has been very detrimental. It's opened the door to very difficult things for children and teenagers probably. Um probably promoted a lot of problems that we didn't really need to have in the school systems. But you live and you learn and now it's like how do you now you have to fix it. Um, so I'm not a big tech guru, but I'm I'm aware and I, you know, I know that it's very important, uh, especially to keep all youth and our children to a point where they can also prosper and have opportunity. Um, but I was having a conversation recently um with my husband that long ago we trusted our teachers with our children with a say for instance a cell phone. And if our if we're
037giving our children to the teachers and the administration because we trust them, then we have to trust them that they're going to keep them safe. Um and they're going to do what they need to do and make the decisions that they need to do make whether they're sick or whether, you know, whatever their need would be that they would be having to have their phone with them at all times. Um, just kind of an example I guess that I was thinking about and pondering that that um, if we once trusted the people that we put our children under their care, why would we not be able to trust them now? So maybe that's not really what the issue is. Thank you. Sure. Okay. All right. That's the questions that we have. Uh do you have
038anything for us uh that we need to clarify or clear up for you as far as questions that we've asked? No, I think some of the smaller little details I could um I could find out about the Right. Thank you. Thank you. See these three chips? Sure. Mr. Carts, we appreciate you coming in. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. We have your information that you submitted on the survey and uh we have that, but if you would take a few minutes and uh introduce yourself uh to the board and if you would let us know why you're interested in filling the district 1 seat. Well, sure. Um obviously my name is Jordan KS. Uh been a Bever County resident for pretty much my whole life. There was a small time there where I was born.
039I wasn't quite here, but for the majority of it, I've been here. Um, I run uh Northwest Hardware Company, which is a chain of 16 hardware stores based out of Ron Oak. We have stores down North Carolina all the way up to Louisa, Virginia. And my job is basically to uh put out fires and hire personnel, build budgets, and set policy. So, it seemed like a pretty good fit for what you guys do, which is, you know, set policy, hire people, and also build budgets. So, um, the primary reason that I'm interested in becoming a board member, is I have two children. One's in sixth grade and one's in ninth grade, both at Stanton River, uh, middle and high school. And, uh, unfortunately, I'm not very athletic. I don't have a lot of skills outside
040of business, so I was never going to coach them in ball. And uh I thought this might be a good way of making sure they get a good quality education. You know, I'm a parent first. I want to see my kids succeed and I want to be involved in that if I can. Mr. Please describe um the ideal form of government and how that would apply to Bedford County School Board. The ideal form of government in my mind would be a a constitutionalbased democratic republic, but believe that's what we have. So, we have a little bit of a leaky boat sometimes, but I I still believe that it can work as long as we can kind of patch the holes, so to speak. I would apply to Bever County is the same way it applies
041to every other county in the United States. You know, we have elected officials, set policy, tried to do the best they can, and move on. Great. Thank you. And Mr. Cars, I should have said this, and I apologize. If we ask a question and you need us to repeat it, please just ask us. We want to make sure you understand what we're asking. Somebody already told you I half deaf, didn't they? I picked you up. I apologize for saying that. That's what I want to know. All right. Good deal, Mr. Brook. So what uh what would be your main goal that you want to accomplish be on the school board? I think the main goal is to have the best education the money can buy given the amount of money we have. So I I
042like I kind of thrive on data. That's that's what I do every day and it's what I enjoy doing. So I like to see what what we can get with what we have and kind of data mine that and see where we can where we can move. Um, we we do a in the hardware industry, a lot of what we do is based off what's called Omni Rowass, which is how much money we spent for how much we actually accomplished with that dollar. And it it extrapolates to a lot of things. You you see it primarily in advertising as well as, you know, big business growth. I think it would work the same way in Bever County, but that's kind of what I want to see happen. I want to see good quality education as
043cheap as we can get it. So, okay. So, um two questions. It's it's I'm I've got them both together, but um charge double for that. Yep, that's right. Um first of all, are you interested or are will you be running for school board um in November? Well, I guess it would that be a possibility? I guess it depends on if I'm appointed. If I'm appointed, then I would kind of say yes, I have to. If I'm not appointed, y'all might hurt my feelings so bad that I just, you know, don't want to run. I I haven't given it a lot of thought, ma'am, to be honest with you. Uh, if I'm appointed, I kind of want to see how it goes. Um, as juror rule of thumb, I don't like to commit to anything until
044I actually kind of kind of know what I'm doing. But I I believe if appointed I would have to. Yes, ma'am. Well, it does take a lot of time more well as much as you can give. But um then the second part of my question is what do you bring to the table that you feel like would make you a valuable player in this board? For example, I'm an educator. We have businessmen and obviously you said you were businessmen. um we have contractors and um so all of those things are pretty important when you're dealing with facilities and children and and education and so on. What do you feel like your your strong point would be that you would bring to the table in this? Well, my my strongest attribute is I'm a very good
045critical thinker. I'm good on my feet. I'm outside the box problem solver. That's where I got to where I am today. That's why I've excelled at where I am. Um, what I could offer though would be a wide breath of knowledge. So, I've done everything from facilities management through, again, we have 16 stores. We own all of our own real estate. So, there's a lot of things that break down and from AC units to bathrooms to everything else. And then facilitating that, working with contractors, getting RFQS, requests for quotes. U we do that quite often. So, it's a wide breath of knowledge, but the biggest thing I could offer is I'm a really really good problem solver, right? U my question is around um it's not always easy to be a school board member. It's
046not always fun. So, there's going to be tough topics that come up. Uh if you've been keeping up with us, you've heard us talk about budget. Um you've also tal heard us talk about um school consolidations and school closings. So my questions to you are how do you handle the communication back to your constituents and how do you make decisions when it comes to those topics? Best way you can communicate is to open open it up to the people. Let them ask questions and then present them with the best answers you can. Doesn't necessarily mean they're the right answers. It's the best answer that you have at that time. So how I would present it that remains to be seen. The best way I can think of currently would be u make myself available at
047meetings, make myself available committee, but honestly I don't want somebody showing up at my house at midnight either. So there's going to be a small amount of that that I have to keep private. I'm a fairly public figure, especially in my stores. I have a store in Venton, Virginia, just outside of Bedford County. So it's easy for people to find me. But to communicate policy to people, it needs to be done in a formal setting. In my opinion, doesn't need to be done outside of this room. In your view, what role should technology play in Bedford County classrooms? It's an everchanging environment. So, I don't necessarily know that technology shouldn't play the biggest role ever. I mean, most of our children are going to be cutting edge on technology in the next jobs they take
048in. If they go to college, they'll have to deal with it as well. But, um, to be perfectly frank, the role of technology is so ever vast and changing. I don't know that I can answer that question fully. Thank you. Anything else? Any follow-up questions? Well, my only concern is because you're very businessoriented, which is a great thing, but we're dealing with a lot of emotional attachments to schools, a lot of emotional attachments to opinions and and um you have to you have to handle that with a little bit of of a you know, care. Ma'am, I oversee 274 employees. There's a lot of things that happen dayto day that you have to be considerate and compassionate about. But at the end of the day, we still have a job to do. We need to
049make sure that while we don't have to beat him over the head with it, if a tough decision's made, it still needs to be made. That's all the questions we have for you. Yes, sir. Is there anything that we can clarify or answer for you? Those sir, I believe I'm pretty well cleared. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your time. Wait for her. routine. I can close up. I have a motion to go in close session. So um pursuing to code of Virginia 2.2-3711A1 2-3711A1 for the discussion, consideration or interviews of prospective candidates for employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining, or resignation of civic employees of Bford County Public Schools. Have a motion by Mr. S. Hill. Do I have a second? Second. Third. Second by Mr. All right. Um, all those in favor signify
050by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? All right. We are now in close session. [Music] Do have a motion to come out of close session. Have a motion by Miss Pervis. Do have a second. Second. Second by Mr. S. Hill. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed. We're out of close session if you will certify. Whereas the Bedford County School Board has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and where section 2.2-3712D of the code of Virginia requires a certification by this school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Befford County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each
051member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which the certification applies and only excuse me and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Do I have action on closed meeting? Do I have a motion? So, Mr. Chair, I would like to make a motion to appoint Kathleen Bedrosian to the school board and for district one. Have a motion by Miss Pervvis. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Mr. Hullbrook. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? All right, welcome to the board. You are welcome to join us at the table. So, uh, I'm going to go ahead
052and do this publicly. So, tonight, any actions that we take, you are not able to vote. you can certainly join in on the conversations and ask questions, but when we go to take a vote, you are not able to vote until you are publicly sworn in. Um, and then just as a reminder to all board members, when we are in close session, anything discussed in close session is not discussed publicly at all. Um, so those do remain uh close session. You are able to participate in that. Uh, but again, any actions that we take, you would not be able to um join in. All right. All right. Mr. uh Dupair, superintendent report. Yes. Congratulations again goes to BCPS class of 2025 from Stanton River High School, Liberty High School, Jefferson Forest High School, and BCPS
053GED graduates as well as practical nursing program at Susie G. Gibson for their dedication and success as they move from this milestone to their next. And I would say that having gone to practical nursing, I was touched by one almost middle-aged mom who was finishing her uh degree and um just her passion and never wanting to give up on this. And uh it just was touching to see some of these older people who were were still uh grasping for that hope of getting their GED or getting uh their applications to go into a workforce. So that was pretty special. Um I'd also like to thank those individuals that were highlighted in our graduations that also are joining the Bedford County workforce with their endorsements that they achieved in our CTE programs. And last, that I
054I'd like to um respect those that have chosen to enlist to serve our country in the military. Those individ all of these individuals of the class of 2025 have given us much to be proud of, and we salute them for their hard work and determination. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Kevin Spalding, principal of Montville, and his many teachers, staff, volunteers, along with junior ROC of Susie G, who made this year's run for the wall event another success on May 22nd. Um, this year's ride of motorcyclist, and they're all Vietnam, most of them are Vietnam veterans, marks the 50th year of the end of Vietnam War and 35th year of the running of Run for the Wall. The school entertained which was quite interesting and sang to the to the motorcyclist
055and the veterans. They fed them and they saluted over 300 riders who came from California to Washington DC and there were four of those rides. Montville is a stop of the southern route every year. Um it was great to be able to see and to be able to celebrate individuals that um have served our country and and they need to get that respect. It was get it was good to see them sit down at tables and have conversations with kids to understand what it means to be in the military and what it means to have served at Vietnam. Uh it was just refreshing. I'd also like to respect and and pay appreciation to the 42 individuals who've retired from Bedford County schools through the end of 2023 24 and the course of 24-25. Thank you
056for your service and most importantly to the service to your families and students of Bedford County. We thank you for your dedication over this uh point of time. Two weeks ago, Governor Yncan signed Virginia House 1941 bill and Senate uh Bill 738 legislation mandating bell-to-bell cell phone free education in Virginia into law. The bipartisan legislation codifies the governor's executive order 33 and all Virginia school divisions are now required to adopt a bell-to-bell uh free poleree policy during school hours if not having already done so. In a few minutes, you're going to hear Dr. Woodford give us a synopsis of how it went this year and the reflections as to how we use that moving forward. While we embrace June and July as the summer months, there is still much work to be done. These past
057Tuesday, this past Tuesday and Wednesday, school administrators met to discuss operational topics to include clinical protocol, IT updates, website accessibility, school safety, administration, collaboration, and school discipline. Plans are in the work for additional administrative training on July 8th and 9th to include but not limited to instructional programming uh sped student service support and overall discussion of academic expectations for 2526 school year um which is coming faster than we know on August 13th. In closing, I'd like to welcome our new interim board member, Kathleen Bedrosian, and state that the executive board is here to help bring you up to speed as fast as we can and all things that are Bedford County Public Schools. Congratulations again on your appointment. This concludes the superintendent's report. Thank you, sir. 42 end of year cell phone policy update. Dr.
058Woodford. Good evening, members of the board. Tonight, I would like to share some feedback and data related to our no sale bell-to-bell phone policy for this school year. Uh just to refresh your memory, um Governor Yncan signed Executive Order 33 on July 9th of last year. The order directed the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Health Department to create guidance to schools for creating phone-f free instructional periods. In addition, schools were directed to have a policy in place by January the 1st of 2025. Um, when the executive team read the executive order, uh, we talked to the principles and felt like we had a pretty good policy for phone-f free classrooms, uh, with the allowance of high school students to use their phones during lunch and in between classes. On September 17, 2024, the
059guidance came from the Virginia Department of Education. And part of that guidance was training for staff, parents, and students. As the executive team began to read the research and really dive deeper into the why behind the governor's plan, we realized that the goal of no phones bell to bell included all times between the first bell and the last bell of school. The research really showed us that students would have more social time interacting with people face- tof face and not through a screen. In addition, we read the research behind the issues caused by cell phone use too early in a student's development, the types of interactions that could happen on social media that were causing significant mental health issues in our students and the anxiety associated with wanting to be constantly connected with friends and
060family. After many weeks of discussion, we asked the board for approval of an updated cell phone policy and to use the yonder pouches to help manage that. We know that students and parents struggled with this choice. We even had some educators who struggled, but our administrators implemented this new policy using the magnetic pouches. On May 30th, 2025, with bipartisan support, Governor Yncan signed legislation that codifies the bell-to-bell cell phone free education. School divisions will be required to adopt and implement a full bell-to-bell cell phone free policy during school hours. And I would just like to say thank you because you supported us in doing that in January. Um, so after the governor's executive order, we revised that policy. Um, we made a very stricter bell-to-bell definition for our students not accessing their phones during the
061instructional day. Um, and throughout this entire process of thinking about yonder pouches, we tried to gather feedback, um, verbal feedback, survey feedback. We had looked at some of our school data and in the next few slides, I just want to share some of that feedback with you. Let's start with student feedback. Um to preface this data, it was clear that most of our students do not feel that they are addicted to their cell phones and they do not think that using cell phones in class causes any issues with engagement during class time. And in some of their comments, they were um very angry with the deputy superintendent. And that's okay. Ah, I'm having really struggle in here, Barry. Um, so we sent out a pre-ervey to our students in December. Some of the data we
062collected indicated some of the following. Um, we asked students how distracting they thought their phones were in class. 83% of our students said not distracting at all. And I have to say we had 1547 responses, which is almost unheard of in survey responses. So, um, but 83 said they weren't distracting. Um, some said a little bit. How often do you think students use their phones during instructional time? 53 over half of our kids said never. Um, 47% were were pretty honest though that sometimes or frequently it they were being used during instructional time. And I'm not saying that teachers were using them, students were using them during class periods. Um, when we asked them how concerned they were about the effect of cell phone use on their education, 78% said they weren't concerned at all.
063And they 50% said they were very annoyed and angry that we were making them use the yonder pouches. And so very honest feedback they gave us. We did a post implementation survey. So after we had a whole semester with our phones right before we um let out in May, we sent another survey um asking some questions like, "Have you seen improvement in your ability to focus and learn with the implementation of the policy?" 93% said no. Um do you think teachers have more time for teaching with the implementation? 68% said no real change. Um no, they didn't feel like there was an effect. Um, we also asked the question, "We know that many people may not like putting their phones in pouches, but now that you've tried it, how do you feel?" Um, I love
064the fact that 61% of our kids said, you know, I don't like it, but I follow the rules, which is what we all do as human beings and as responsible citizens. Um, and then when asking about do you use your yonder pouch, 42% said yes every day. Um 36% said no, they just keep it off and away. 22% said I don't even have a phone. I just leave it at home or in my car. Um so I think we got um some really good data from kids even though it may look um I think it truly reflects their heart. They they have been raised with cell phones and they don't really see the impact. Um so some takeaways that I think are important um is that the majority of our kids are rule followers and
065they do obey those rules. And then that fourth question um I think will help our administrators really think about um our kids using their yonder pouches. We talked a little bit about you know do we have some spot checks? Um, do we say that everyone has to have a yonder pouch? Because we do have some students who are just turning them off and putting them away and we're not seeing them. So, at the end of the day, if we're not seeing them, they're not out in class. I think we've been successful. Um, so I wanted to also share um some important feedback and that's the superintendent student advisory. The executive team spent several meetings with high school student representatives on the superintendent advisory board. At the first meeting, they really wanted to understand the why
066behind the cell phone policy. And we had great discussions with them. They are juniors and seniors who've been selected um at their school. They filled out applications to serve on this committee. Um, and the more we shared the why, the more they began to understand, even though they said they really didn't feel like they needed to have that limitation on their phones, at least they understood what the governor's message was. Um, we listened to them, express their frustrations. Um, they also admitted to us very candidly that kids use their phones in class and they go out of class to the bathroom so they can message friends and they do sneak their cell phones like in their book bag so no one's looking. So they acknowledged that if they had no required store option somewhere to
067put those phones that they would continue to use their phones during class the way they um had been doing. Um, I think that later when we brought the superintendent's advisory group back at the end of the year, um, and we just kind of asked, "How is it going? How did you feel about it?" They honestly said, "We got used to it." And it was fine. And yes, we were socializing more. And you know what? It didn't kill us. Uh, one of our students said, "Well, I think my phone usage went up at night, but I was just trying to catch up with the day, but I wasn't trying to catch up on the messages from my friends because they weren't messaging me during the day." So, I feel like at the end of the year,
068we got some positive feedback from our students um, in that respect. Now, let's look a little bit at teacher feedback. Um so I asked the secondary teachers to just give me some feedback uh feedback um on how things were how they felt it was going at the secondary level. So the first question was, what impact has the implementation of Yonder had on the overall dynamics of your classroom regarding student phone usage? And 71% of our teachers had seen some degree of positive impact regarding student cell phone use during their class instruction. And I feel like that says a lot about maybe what the adults were seeing. Um, I asked them had they observed any changes in student engagement or focus in their classrooms with the implementation and 64% of our teachers said they saw increased
069student engagement during class time. Um, and then the last question, has the yonder pouch made it easier or harder to implement the cell phone policy? And 67% of our teachers said the pouch made it easier to implement the phone policy. Um, the pouch took away the arguments and the battles over phones in the classroom and it gave teachers time. Kids came in, they didn't have to say, "Put your phones away." They didn't have to remind students. They were able to get right to work. Um, the other data points we we looked at are our discipline and academic data points. I do want to preface this data by saying that there is no way that I can draw a direct correlation to this data from using yonder pouches are having a stricter cell phone policy. There
070are many reasons that probably have a more significant impact such as instruction, our teachers remediation, our administrators, our bus drivers, and the list goes on and on. But that was one of the things that the research showed us that discipline and academic data would improve. So I want to share that with you. Um when we look at our discipline data, um we saw an increase of 54% in cell phone violations from semester 1 to semester 2. That is not a surprise. We knew that students were going to challenge our policy. That's human nature. We also had a much stricter policy um that was easily enforcable due to very specific consequences and our principles and our teachers knew that the school board and the executive team were going to back them if they dealt with cell
071phones being out during class. So with that stricter policy and with that um them knowing that we were going to support them, we did see more referrals during the second semester. I think that will go down. Um in addition, we saw a reduction in bus referrals in middle school and high school from first semester to second semester with a 3% decrease in middle school and a 29% decrease in high school. I would just like to say that 29% in high school was probably all of them getting on their phones on the bus and trying to catch up before they got home. That's going to be my what I think. Um, as far as school referrals, there was an increase from semester 1 to semester 2 and middle school by 14% and a decrease at the
072high school level by 9%. Um, no real surprises because it really could have been anything. And we also added in those 54 cell phone policy violations. So not really surprised about that. But overall for the 2425 school year, we saw a 14.9% reduction in bus referrals and a 9.9% reduction in school referrals for the year. Again, please note I am not saying that this is all directly linked to our cell phone policy, but I do hope that it may have helped in some way. Well, either way, it's good news. There you go. Um, and we are very proud of our preliminary testing data from the spring. Once again, I would like to emphasize that this achievement is a result of the collective efforts of our teachers, students, parents, administrators, and school staff. Um, I would
073like to share some general information at this time because we're continuing to get finalized results. We had to send paper uh tests into the DOE. They haven't been scored yet. So these are very preliminary. At the secondary level, there are 20 possible so tests in five subjects that students might take. In reviewing the data we currently have from spring testing and comparing that to last year's data, we have a lot to be proud of. I want to also remind the board that math and reading um standards changed this year. So, our math and reading teachers were teaching completely different content and they were tested on those new standards this spring. Typically, we see a drop in test scores in what we call a crossover year where we get new SOS. This did not happen this
074year overall for our school division. Um, and that I think is a testament to our teachers and our instructional team who is supporting the teachers and our students who are working very hard. Um so looking at the data on on the chart here in math there are six possible um we call them um end of course test. Um in three of those tests we showed improvement from our scores last year. Our scores last year in those three tests were already above the state pass level. Um even with the two that didn't show additional growth, they still were over 70% which is the cutoff for um the the school in Virginia. That's our cutoff score 70%. So we did not see a drop below 70%. Um the one test that one area is one that we
075have been struggling with some and that's that middle school math area that we'll dive a little bit deeper into. Um in reading there are four end of course tests that students can take. We improved our scores from last year in all four of those reading test. Um in writing there's only one test and that's 11th grade and we improved our scores on the writing test and it was also a new format for the writing test. Um we have four science tests in our subject areas that we looked at. Two of them showed improved scores. One of the tests showed a score over 70% which is again at what the state requires. The the one test that we didn't show growth in and this is for science and history both. There are science and history classes
076that students take um further into their high school career because they need a verified credit for graduation. So typically those students have not passed their algebra 1 or biology test early on. They've retested. They still can't pass. So we give them a new science, a new history class. It's typically a very small amount of children who take that class. But those students are students who've already been struggling to get their verified credit and pass an so test. Um so that was the the test in history and in science that we didn't show improvement in. Um, and again, we'll dive deeper into that, but I think improving in four of those history tests out of the five given was pretty impressive. Um, so I just want to say again, a big thank you to our students
077and our staff and all of the hard work. We are excited to really dig into the data and share more with you in July or August whenever we start getting those final results. Um, but I feel very good about the fact that um, our scores this year are going to be um, better than last year. So, I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. Can you go back to that chart? Yeah, you said three that you were improved. Did we go down in the other slightly by just a all of the test scored. Um, but they were well over the 70% even with the new test. So, the ones that were above were well above. Is that what you're saying? Um, I don't want to say that. I'm not I don't have it
078in front of me. Um, but even if they they didn't improve, they didn't decrease a whole lot. It was like one or two percentage points, but yeah. But they were above the 70. They're above the 70%. Yeah. And these were tests so scores. I'm sorry. The these are any of the overall tests for all the whole district. So the whole district in middle and high school because I I was looking specifically at so testing at the middle and high school because that's where we implemented the cell phone policy. The Let me go. So it's still tied to the cell. Okay. Well, I was just trying to give you some data with the cell phone if I I wanted to share because we talked about we were hoping academics would stay strong and discipline would improve.
079So, I'm sharing um the so data just because maybe it could be tied to more engagement in school. Maybe it could be I mean I I want to say too, we missed a lot of snow days and our teachers and students still did a great job and I'm really really proud of them. And our our elementary scores look good, too. Well, I just want to make a comment too on the cell phone. When I was teaching in the high school level, it was non-stop from the beginning of class to the end of all the kids who have to use the bathroom and every single class period. Like like the the same kids would have to go to the bathroom the next hour and the following hour. And and when you're a teacher and you're constantly
080having to deal with stopping your teaching so that you can do the pass do the pass so that they can go and it's it's non-stop all day long just that alone. Right. I mean and you can't tell them no you can't use the bathroom. Right. Right. I think that we had some teachers who had really good policies in place like put your phones in a box or put your phones in a caddy. So they weren't, you know, they had kind of set up a system for themselves and it was working for them. I think teachers who were thinking it really wasn't a problem. We got a lot of comments about, wow, we do have more time and it it really is effective. I think the most the biggest appreciation was they weren't fighting with kids
081over cell phones. It just was a non it was a non-issue. So So we probably don't need to go to school as many days. what you're saying. I would never say that. There's always something to learn, right? More PE. Uh, speaking of Beyond Bouches, um, so this is obviously our first summer that we're implementing this. We don't have any historical data on what we're going to need to replace. Do we have the funds set aside to purchase more if we need to replace a certain percentage of them? So, um, we ordered enough, um, with our all in Virginia money that we still have. Um, we ordered enough for all of the sixth graders coming into middle school. Um, and then, um, we ordered additional actually Mr. Ston um, and his team created an inventory. So
082every student's yonder pouch had a had a barcode on it. It was like checking out a library book. So we could keep up with if students were damaging or they didn't have it, that sort of thing. Um we asked seniors if you don't want your yonder pouch and it's still in good condition and you want to donate it that and so we had some that did that. Um we have plenty to get through next year. Um and and honestly we'll see what happens in the fall when they come back. We did ask them to keep their pouches at home instead of putting them all together. Um, just because we know that when we do Chromebook roll out, which is kind of the same thing, we do the scanning the barcodes and we we send them
083out like library books, it would take us at least a week or so to get those pouches back out with our Chromebooks at the same time. And and we just decided, you know, we just need to trust our kids. We ask parents to just help them put it away somewhere um so they'll have it on the first day of school. And so I don't know, it'll be our first fall with it. So we'll see how it goes. But we did order with the grant funding we already had. Well, a lot of the kids decorated theirs. They did. They decorated them very fancy. And yes, some were dirty. Some of them were dirty. Yeah. You don't want them. And and we're also kind of testing how they hold up. We did have uh they have a
084a metal pin in them that holds the magnet together and some of those pins were getting easily damaged and I don't think it was anything the children were doing. So we kind of have talked through that. We actually have a we'll have a longer discussion with our principles later this summer and you know what can we do better next year. Are we in any type of contract with the yonder pouches or just it's a buy. It's a buy when you need it. So, I wasn't aware that we were giving them to the seniors. So, that's fine. Um, I guess my question would be, have we looked at an alternative of you return them back to us? Because to me, that funding or grant money is going to run out and you guys have got a
085very tough decision next year when it comes to budget period. So, when it comes to continuing to fund Yonder pouches, I want to make sure, right? And I get it. They're decorating them or whatever, but is there a way to refurbish? Even if they are Yeah. When we looked at them, they cannot be washed. They can be um like sponge cleaned. Um the fabric um will get dirty in their book bags, in their pockets, things like that. So, we just thought for sanitary reasons, we just we weren't going to take them back up. We may have to re-examine that. Um, especially if it's multiple years with them. Um, six through 12. Great. That's Yeah. And I'm not sure they'll last that long. I'll be honest. Now that I've seen them in action in the schools,
086I'm not sure they'll last that long. So, um, we may have to think of some other alternatives. And I think we can do that. I think seeing the success and um you know we'll see what okay seeing the value of of that I think should help the teachers even because some of some of the teachers I know when I was teaching some of the teachers didn't didn't you know enforce anything and um I think then just seeing the difference I'm hoping that more teachers will stand stand firm on that. Yeah, I mean, not disagreeing with the data, but I did scratch I wanted to scratch my head on 6% of our teachers said it was harder to enforce the phone policy because of the yonder pouch. Yeah, I'm not sure. Um, they didn't the comments
087weren't directly under the question. Um, but yeah, small percentage said harder. a lot of our It's funny. I think our middle school te because at middle school the policy that those principles had been using was it's turned off and we don't see it all day. They didn't take it out at lunch. They didn't take it out between classes. And I think our middle school principles felt very good about their cell phone policies. So I think when they say harder, I think it it was that now we're handing them out. Now we're having to say put your phones in there. And so that could be it. Yeah. Thank you for explaining that. That makes sense. Okay. Any other questions? Any questions? All right. Thank you. All right. Um, yes, I'm 39 minutes late for public comment,
088so I apologize. U, the public comment portion of tonight's agenda is limited to 40 minutes. Speakers are asked to state their name and voting district. The school board is here to listen to your comments, but will not engage or respond to speakers during this 40-minute period. Please remember that this is a public meeting and that we expect all speakers to refrain from any foul, profane, abusive, or hateful language during the comments or anytime while in attendance during this meeting. We also ask that speakers keep their remarks objective and about the school in nature. Please keep all comments limited to matters related to the public schools and any comments that are harassing or amount to a personal attack against any identifiable individual whether board member or staff or student or having the potential to cause unnecessary
089delay or disruption to this meeting are prohibited. This is a public meeting for public matters. If a speaker is not present when their name is called, we will proceed with the next name on the list. An individual who has not signed up to speak may not substitute for that time slot. Individuals will have four minutes to address the board. An alarm will sound when an individual has 30 seconds remaining and a second alarm will sound when the allotted four minutes have expired. When this second alarm sounds, please discontinue speaking and allow the person in line to come to the podium. Should you be unable to finish your comments, please send or give them to Miss Johnson and she will give them to board members. Please do not adjust the microphone at the podium as it
090has been positioned for optimum audio quality. We have no one signed up for public comment tonight, but is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak? All right, with no one showing an interest, we are going to close public comment time and we will move to 4.03 summer construction progress update. All right. Thank you, uh, Mr. Hill. Thank you, members of the board. Uh, Mr. Haggler asked us to come tonight to, uh, talk about some of the projects that are going on. We have a ton of projects going on in our facilities department here at BCPS. Uh, we're only going to touch on some of our bigger projects. U, I'll turn it over to Taylor Bell. If you haven't met Taylor, he's our construction coordinator for the department. He's been with us since
091August and he'll give uh give us a quick overview of some of our bigger projects that we have going on. And then as we reach the end, we'll be able to answer any questions if there's any facility specific questions that we can answer. All right. So, as Sheldon mentioned, I'm Taylor Bell. For those of you who haven't met, um happy to be here this evening with you. So, we'll start out with Liberty High School. Um, Stanton River High School also is is just about the same kind of same standard as as uh Liberty right now as far as progress goes. Um, so we started both of these projects on May 27th with a groundbreaking ceremony. Uh, a little bit of a rainy day for those ceremonies. Um, highlighted while we're doing some of the work
092there um, currently. Um, so to date some of the work that's been done uh, mainly it's been mobilization of the contractors. Um, a lot of demolition has occurred. You got demolition of walls, flooring, sections of canopy. Um, auditorium seating is now completely gone out of all of the auditoriums as you can see in that photo there. Um, HBA HBAC equipment has been demoed, ceilings have been demoed, bathrooms, toilets, plumbing, piping, etc. Um at Liberty uh the asbestous abatement has been completed throughout the facility and on the canopies. Um audiovisisual equipment that has been removed from the auditorium. A lot of the audiovisisual equipment um is going to be reused in the new auditorium spaces. I think that was just replaced a few years back. So we wanted to make sure that we could reuse that
093equipment within our space. Um, a lot of the prep work has been going on for the new canopies and the roofing system that's going to be going on top of those. Um, so that's kind of where we're at currently as far as work uh to date. Looking ahead at the next month or so and month and a half. Um, continue cleaning the canopies, prepping those for the new EPDM roofing systems at both schools. Um we'll start doing storm sewer and sewer piping rec re relocations for the additions of the buildings as well. Um earth work will commence. Um then we'll start doing concrete um rebar formwork etc for the building additions as well. Um contractor layown yards and and temporary parking areas will be installed as well. Um, currently the contractor is on board and
094on track to finish in June of 2026 for both auditoriums. So, as I mentioned, Stanton River is in a very similar place as Liberty with a few different caveats. Um, at Stanton River, uh, one of the big portions of that project is the fiber optic cable that is currently run on a lot of our canopies out there. Um the contractors, they're currently putting in new underground conduit um for that fiber optic. Um they are just about done with the new fiber optic cable. Um so that's a a huge step in the right direction for us there. Um another different thing at Stanton River is fire alarm. Um VSC contractor there should be working at the end of this month putting in new panels and working on our main panel um in main office at Stanton
095River. Um, and again at Stanton River, they're expected to be complete in June of 2026 currently. So, uh, moving on, still with the PPA project, uh, the Beford Primary School gym. Um, we started this one a little bit earlier than the auditoriums. We started on March 3rd there with a groundbreaking ceremony as well. Um, to date, it's been a lot of earth work. Um, they've been doing a lot of the ENS measures as far as silk fence, sediment trap, and pond. um a lot of storm sewer and sewer relocation and tie-ins. Um a lot of the the weather that we've been getting recently has been slowing progress there with the rain. Um they're also working through some challenges as far as subgrade and dirt. Um there's been a lot of of digging and over excavating
096to get good dirt and good material for compaction for the gym and uh the slab there. So, in some instances, they've had to undercut in about 12 foot. So, um it's been a slow process, but they're getting close to to getting all that squared away. Looking ahead the next few weeks and month there, things are really going to change. Um concrete and rebar and all that should be ongoing within the next two weeks. Get footers done, slab done. Um the pre-cast or the pre uh pre-fab metal building um has been released. We're expecting that on site in about 3 weeks. So, just about as soon as the concrete work is done, the building should be on site and going up. So, things are going to change out there very quickly here in the next month,
097which is great. Um contractor with with the weather that we've got on track to finish in December of this year on the gym. So, moving on to Stanton River Wastewater Treatment Plant and Wellhouse upgrades. Um, this project's been going on since October of last year. Um, so this one is just about complete. Um, so this is kind of broken out into two two projects within one. So at the wastewater plant there, as you see, um, that's where you've got your small building there and the blue structure in those photos. Um, so the new lab building, which is the building that's in the photo that you see there, that's been built. It's about 99% complete as far as uh, plumbing goes, electrical goes. um a lab station for the Bedford Regional Water Authority operator that works
098there. Um the wastewater treatment plant itself, which is the blue structure you see, was delivered last week and set in the hole with a crane. That operation went very smooth. We're very happy to see that. Um ongoing work there now is is final electrical panel installation and terminations. Um, in the next month or so here, we're going to be planning for startup and testing of all the new equipment there at the wastewater plant. Now, moving on to the wellhouse, which is the third photo you see there in the bottom right. Uh, it has changed since that photo has actually been posted here. The tank that you see there now is gone. Um, we've got a brand new tank on the way. It will be delivered Wednesday of next week. Um, which is great. Um, pulling
099that tank out was was definitely a great decision. and there was probably 6 in of mud or so in there. Um it's a great decision to get that tank out. It's going to serve us very very well. Um so there we've got all the electrical installed, pumps installed. Um so within about 3 weeks we'll have that new system online for the school. Um looking at completion for both of these projects in early August. Moving on to Stewartsville Elementary HVAC replacement. Um this one's been this just started um day after Memorial Day, May 27th. Um contractors been in there doing a lot of prep work. Um they've been working on the new duck work that was due to be installed in some of the hallways. Um prepping for the new propane tanks to be installed within
100the courtyard and gas piping. Um, the existing boiler that was in the basement of Stewartsville has been decommissioned, locked out, tagged out electrically and mechanically. Is currently on track to finish this up. Is currently on track to finish this up very early on August. Moving on to Boonboro. Um, we've got the atrium renovations there. Um, it's a little bit hard to see, but you can see the glass there in the photos. Um, so we're taking all of that glass out and going back with a metal roofing system and new framing there to to cut down on the leaks and and all of that there. Um, contractors currently gotten through about half of that atrium um with framing and glass demo and they're coming back behind them now with the new framing, sheathing, and decking. We
101don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves to make sure we keep the building closed up and dry during the summer for storms and stuff like that. So, they've been working very diligently there. Um, all materials have been ordered. Everything is on site aside from a few lighting fixtures. Um, they're on track to finish that in mid July. Moving on to Bedford Elementary Lighting, and this is the LED lighting upgrade at that school. Um, crew started there on June 3rd. Um, the crew is is currently making their way through all of the classrooms, installing the new retrofit kits in the classroom spaces. So, all of your 2x4 layin fixtures and 2x two layin fixtures in office spaces. Um, they're currently about 3/4 of the way through all classroom spaces um with the retrofit kits.
102Uh, they've been working very diligently doing that. Um, after they finish the bulk, which is the the classroom lighting there, they'll move into some more of the specialty fixtures and the hallways and stuff like that. They're currently tracking to finish end of July as well. Uh, Manita window replacement. Um, things have changed dramat dramatically since these photos were taken. As of today, all of the new windows are installed. Um so this was uh so to date we had asbestous abatement so all the windows were demolished disposed of properly new windows installed so all the windows now are installed and then contractors working on trim work around interior of the building etc. So everything's closed up there and that was been very successful so far. Um they should be finishing up in the next week or
103so. Forest Elementary and Big Island roof painting. Um, so a contractor started there in early May. We were able to work with the school and getting some evening work and prep work for the contractor there at that roof where we weren't disturbing children during testing, etc. Um, so the picture on the left you see there is kind of what the roofing looked like uh when the contractor arrived and on the right is kind of what the finished product is going to be. So you can see the difference of what was there and what's going to be there. Um so contractors mainly been focusing at Big Island right now. They didn't want to spread themselves out at both schools. Um pending we have good weather, they should be finished at Big Island here in the next
104couple weeks and then move on to Forest Elementary uh to start prep work next week as well. So um they're tracking to finish Forest Elementary end of July. Last but not least, we got Forest Middle School baseball field. Um, so we've got some grading and drainage upgrades there. Um, the baseball team kept winning, so it was it's been a little bit challenging uh to get up there and do some of the work. Uh, part of the portion of the work was taking out the visitors bullpen mound and that warm-up area. So, um, now we've we've been able to access the whole site there. Can I just want to make one correction because if not, we'll have a ton of emails tomorrow. Yeah. This is actually JF's high school baseball field that's located at Forest Middle
105School. That is correct. Forest Middle School does not have a baseball field for the middle school. That's correct. Just correct. Anyhow, so um as of uh yesterday, they were able to to get in there and get into that side of the field and and start their grading work. Um they've got a new drain structure and piping to install which should be done uh tomorrow. And um after that the crew will stabilize the banks, seed and straw and be moved out of there next week. So um with that, that's all I've got. Happy to answer any questions on anything. Happy to roll back through any slides or any questions. You got a question? Did they have they started on the the pole build? They have not. They have not. Okay. Is this contractor going to do
106any of the grading around that? Not planning, not but the people doing the pole building. It's it's separate. Um, we're supposed to Yes, understood. So, where that currently stands is is it's in limbo at the moment permitting wise. Okay. And license wise was going to do it. So, um, we're game planning a different plan for that. Okay. All right. And I had a question. I think Mr. Hill, you and I had the conversation about the lighting in um Bedford Elementary, making sure that it wasn't high blue light. Did you manage to Yes. Correct. Yes, that's that's absolutely correct. So, we we set at the lowest level possible, right? Yep. So, we the fixtures that we have in there are what they call selectable as far as your color and CCT. Um, so all the fixtures
107that are in there, the selections that the contractor is leaving them at is what we recommended them to do, which is just about the lowest setting on every fixture that we can. So most of them are at 3500 Kelvin or 4,000 Kelvin, which is either neutral or below neutral on the CCT scale. Good. So good. Should be good to go there. Staff is very happy with the way they look so far. um in and out of the building there checking on them. So, well, I want to say thank you to both of you guys. I know it's a lot of work that's taking place. Uh it's great to see all of the projects that are taking place within Bedford County uh public schools, but I also want to thank uh both of you guys uh
108because you've been on that committee and you've pushed this stuff forward and you've had the right conversations. And so, um, you know, for many years, this is my eighth year on the board, and there has been a lot of need, uh, for facilities and improvements. And, uh, I want to congratulate this board and say thank you just for the fact that we're getting stuff done. And it's good to see appreciate you guys keeping it on track and, uh, giving these updates. So, it's really good to hear. So, yeah. Yeah, they've done a great job. Really have. And I'll point out this is just our bigger project. So there's a ton of projects going on behind the scenes, other smaller projects across the district that we're also tracking on at the same time. And hopefully we
109can get uh everything ready and have our buildings open in August. And on behalf of Boon Elementary, they're looking forward to no leaks. Yes. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh 5.01 policy updates. On June 5th, the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee met to review proposed revisions to the following 10 policies. I'm going to read those policies to you, but I'm going to stop at at one of them because as mentioned before, one of them is going to go to action. So, I'm going to explain that one a little bit more specifically. Um the first is CLA reporting acts of violence and substance abuse. The second is FG retirement of facilities. The third is GBR voluntary retirement savings programs. The next is IKF, the Virginia Assessment Program and Graduation Requirements. JC is student attendance
110areas. Uh just change of wording, legal references. Uh the next is JCE which we're going to come back and look at as an action item later and I'm going to read that to you now. Policy it's for JC is for non-resident transfers of students. Policy la last reviewed in 2011. Edits include changes to wording to maintain consistency with all other policies. Changes to the requirements for non-resident students. A change to the yearly tuition rate. updated legal references and additional uh wording for children of military staff on assignment and residing temporarily with relatives to list uh to list the allowable non-resident consideration. The last four are JEC, school admission, JM restraint and seclusion of students, LBD, home instruction, and the last is changes to the application process for charter schools, LC. Any questions on the policy
111updates? Yes, sir. staff reports. All right. Additional action items. 8.01 gifted plan. Dr. Trosper. Yeah, this was presented um last month for information. So tonight it's just here for action. Just voted on the annual gifted plan. Any questions for Dr. Trosper? We'll have a motion to approve 8.01 gifted plan. So I got Mr. Hill for a motion. Mr. Hol Brook second. All right. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? All right. 8.01 is approved. 8.02 CAT bylaws. Miss Jennings, any updates or anything you want to add before we? No, nothing more um except what we presented to you guys for you to review. Any questions? Do I have a motion? So move. Have a motion by Mr. Hullbrook. A second. Second. Second by Mr. S. Hill. Any discussion? All
112those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? All right. 8.03 title grants one, two, three, and four. Dr. Woodford, anything to add? Um, they are the same as they were last month. So, no additions or changes. Do I have a motion? Have a motion by Mr. S. Hill. Second. Second. Right. Mr. Hol Brook. I'm trying to listen for you, Miss Perks. Just All right. Any discussion? All those in favor to approve title grants one, two, three, and four. I do so. I do. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? No. Man, I'm so sorry. All right. 8.04, approval of policy JCE. Mr. Mr. Duper, let's spend some time on this one. Okay. I think the reason we wanted to expedite this was because we were looking at reducing the tuition
113fee, which is ranged anywhere from 24,400. I think next year was supposed to be 2,800. 48, I'm sorry, 4,800. Um, so yeah, it was any range from 42 to 48 over the last couple years. And so, um, the board asked us to look at reducing that to 400 to try to, uh, encourage, uh, transfers from the outside in. Uh, there were also some things in there that were not in our pre, uh, we asked for $4.2 million. In addition, we got a million dollars back. So, we've had to adjust our budget. And so, a lot of the discussion was around what can we do to help drive additional revenue into our schools? And so really having conversation about the uh forest zone where we tie up to Lynchburg City, Campbell County, and we've got availability.
114Now, any school that is closed, if there's an elementary school where we don't accept zone transfers, it would not be available for outside uh counties or cities to come in. However, if we have room, Forest Middle School, Jefferson Forest High School, all of our other middle schools and high schools, and really the focus was also around Stewartsville Elementary, as we all know, I think 52% capacity, we've got room for growth. And so if we can go advertise um that we have availability and it's now not going to cost $4,500 but instead it's going to cost 500. We may have more parents say absolutely we want our kid to go to Bedford County. So the $500 is not where we're getting the revenue. The revenue is coming from the state where we get it. Can y'all
115keep me honest? 8,500. Yeah. So it's 8,500 per student. So if they're in our seat in our building where we're not adding any cost because the buildings are there, the teachers are there, that's additional revenue coming our way. So that was our whole discussion around trying to generate revenue where we have control over that. And let's face it, Beer County is a place people want to go to school. We we we've proven that. And so if we can reduce that cost and allow people to come and pay us 500 versus 4500, we think we're going to get some traction on that. Now the first year might be a little bit slower, but as we advertise and we and it gets known, I think we will attract more uh to our buildings. And I think it's
116safe to say when you look at that poster and you hear her report about what's anticipated, it's going to become even more of an interest to outside. I looked at a study this week and I think we have to do more thinking this way. I looked at a study from Welen Cooper Center and it talks about the number of available students in a county and it went through the entire state. there are something like in in the 23 24 year there was something like 14,000 and change students available for education from K5 to 12 and then there was another small group of below K5 in those that can stay um instead and so when you start looking at that and you think about how many kids we've got here we need to start addressing this
117issue publicly because there's close to 5,000 students that are either involved in homeschool school or private education. And and I know I know how taxing that is on people. So, we do need to work very diligent over the next year to really publicize because I I'm still going through the public now and I'm asking people, do they know that Bedford ranks 36 out of 131? They don't. And so we we've got to push this, continue to push this, and we got to look at additional ways outside of this even to to generate interest and bring them back. I think it's important for the board to also know we get to set stipulations of who we accept, right? So it's not that free-for-all. It's you have to apply and then our team gets to decide academically
118uh behaviorally and are you going to cost us additional funding because if that's the case then we can deny that. What was the purpose of charging the 4500 to begin with? It's the value correct me if I'm wrong. It's the value of what you get from local comparative to the local dollars we get from the board of supervisors. So because they're not residents, we wouldn't be getting that portion. So that's why we That's why But we're still getting So is that 45 coming out of the 8,500 or is that after? After because it was Okay, I got you. So we still be getting 8,500 or 9,000 plus extra forest then to provide the other 4,000. No, because you're not a resident. Yeah. Don't pay taxes. But we're not adding expense. We've already got seats is
119what we're trying to say. Got a school in Steuartsville 52% capacity. If I can fill that up and get $8,500 per student from the state that allows us to continue to operate that school. And again, I'm going to keep reminding this board, we got a budget issue and it's not going away. So, we've got to be creative in trying to bring in revenue that we've already been shown. We're not going to get it always from the more supervisors. So, we've got to be creative. So, I the question I have then is if we're the 8,500 is is what we're after, why put the barrier at 500? Like why not do it at $50 or like what what's the rational for doing that? We're going from 4500 to 500. And I asked that question, what one
120of the others is low as $500? So, I said, let's match that or drop it to that. um you know you do want to have some skin in the game to be able to come here versus just saying oh come on you know which I know we've set you know academics behavior etc but I do think there needs to be some monetary tie to it for parents to be able to to bring now one question I did ask uh and I don't know if we have the answer um I did ask how many students do we have today where we're accepting that 4500 because if we reduce that that's 4,000 per student. That's going to we've got to make up for that by changing from 45 to five. Does that make sense? So, I'm sorry.
121You want how many we had last year and then Okay. So, we had 18 students last year who paid the it was $4,500 last year. Okay. So, that was about $81,000 in revenue. Um this year so far we've had 15 express interest which means they've turned in the application. Um and those are people that we have um approved. Um so that's about if we go with the 500 that's about 7500. So of those 15 they still thought the tuition was 4,800 when they applied. So we'll be calling them next week the week after to let them know that tuition has been reduced. um they haven't only one person has paid so we'll have to do a refund but all others have been waiting to. So that's something we have to consider because you're talking 120
122students that we have to add to make up for the 4,000 that we're going to be dropping. That's a big number. I don't think the first year is going to be success. I I think it's hey it's available and you know Randy and I had some conversation in the finance committee about you know from a Stewartsville perspective if we can go to Venton and Rono and possibly provide transportation to say hey drop off here we will take them to elementary that's an opportunity yes it adds a bus route but again I can getund 100 kids it it's worth it So, you know, I want to make sure one other kids are having the same opportunities. I mean, we're providing a service and it is a privilege to come to Bedford County, but again, I'm trying
123to think outside of the box to create revenue. So, that that's the whole purpose of doing that. Uh, if we change it, we need to go ahead and change it so we can really start advertising it heavy for the next what, six weeks. Um and we also don't want to the people who have applied to pay and we have to do a lot of reinforcement. Three questions. One, wouldn't we be adding any more teachers possibly a bus route? We would we consider even adding or would we have to add it? I think we'd have to look. Um so that's one of the things that says residents receive priority and space and program availability. Um, so we would have to look to see if it's adding expenses on the other side. And so, um, that's why
124with the new application, we'll have to look very deeply at that, not just approve because, you know, 15 or 16 spread out over the county, but as we get more, we'll have to look at that. We added that verbiage. If it adds additional cost, we can say nothing. And along with teachers, um, you know, we, especially in the Stewartsville area, whatever, we had our hard time getting teachers and also dealing with a lot of the special needs teachers, you know. Um, so I mean if we end up with let's say 50 new students and then you know maybe spread out in the classrooms which we might be able to handle but then 30 of them are special needs. We definitely that's going to be a big burden to that school. So I'm just making sure
125that one of the things that I mean go ahead. One of the things that we are going to ask for in the application is everything. First of all, a signed release to the school that they're currently in. So, we can look at grades, we can look at behavior, we can look at attendance because when you don't have transportation, attendance could just get worse. Um, and then if they have a gifted plan or an IEP, so that we know what level of service that would be. um because we don't want to put undue stress on the staff that we have um because $500 won't buy a lot of teach, you know. So, um we'll look at each of those individually and it'll be on a first come first- serve basis and we'll we won't over tax
126our staff. And so that was my third question which you kind of partly answered is the discipline like a child gets kicked out of school in one district and comes in our district. I mean we just need to have some boundaries for that respect. Yeah. And if they're expelled in one school district um they are not allowed to come to another school district under an expulsion. Um, and if we get students that sometimes they transfer in because they're living here now with long-term suspension discipline, we put them in our all center. Like we follow what that prior county or city decided. Well, and I'll just say this because part of your question was, you know, we've had a hard time finding teachers. Well, I think part of it was due to concern of us having
127to consolidate or close that school. So, lots of those teachers said, "I'm going to go find somewhere else to teach." Which I understand, but again, we're trying to show this motion of we're trying to grow, not decrease and and and close. So, I'm hoping that message will help sell, hey, we're really going after this to try to bring in more students. And of course, and I'll say this over and over, I welcome more jobs and more families moving into the areas where we're showing decrease in capacity at schools, but you know, if we're not going to get that, then this is our way of going out trying to get more students. You had mentioned you were going to put together an advertising campaign or some sort. What does that consist of? We haven't gotten that
128far, honestly. Um, we I'm purposely not hiding behind. I didn't want to look big billboard somewhere near the We also don't want to make enemies of our no friends across the I'm not trying to make enemies with anybody, but again, I want to sell the fact of it's a privilege to come to Bever County Public Schools. We're number 36 of 131. We've got a lot to offer and hey, we're going to give it to you at a bargain price of 500 bucks. I I'll put our schools against any schools in any county or city around us. That's your campaign right there. We've got to put it on paper. Social media, billboards, advertisements. It is what it is. We I mean, Bever County speaks for itself. Well, I have to ask a question. And um so
129what's it costing us to educate a child, which I'm sure that's kind of hard to pinpoint really, isn't it? Um because so there are um reports that Randy works through um you know per people expenditures of the average cost. I think I don't want to quote and Ry's not here. I want to say like there there are those numbers. We do. Okay. Yes. Whenever Randy gets back we'll be able to get that from we have it. We just don't know what it is right now. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, we're going to have to have a motion to to take action on this, but again, I I want to make sure everybody's comfortable with why we're doing it, what we're trying to accomplish. I mean, this is different than what we've done in the past.
130I mean, it's truly we're kind of taking a gamble to say, "Hey, let's see if it works." And look, if it doesn't next year, we can change it back to 48. That was that was my next question. Yeah. It's our policy. We'll change whatever we want. Yeah. Are there other districts that are doing 500? Is that what you got? Yes. Yes. What other districts are doing? Well, I know of Campbell County and I don't know the other like how much they're charging. It varies. Um so 500 a,000. We looked up some or I looked up some um pretty reasonable. Yeah. Other than some of the larger like Charlottesville city, it's much higher than that. Um but around here it 500 to a thousand is about what it is. Does anyone and obviously I don't know
131that anyone was at that time maybe you might have been what is the rationale why we picked 4500 because that's tax yeah Randy calculated what we received locally per student so we just said that's the normal that's the number and that's the way it was written in the policy that it's a yearly calculated local expenditures that we would receive. So we would still receive those then. No students. They're not a resident. What I'm trying to what I'm trying to make sure we understand, we're not adding expense. So the teacher is already there. The building is already there. The transportation is going to be they're going to bring the child unless we as a board say we want to go to Benton and provide transportation and and we go that route. That's that's the expense. But
132other than that, there's no expense. until we get a large number of children. Correct. Then we may have to add some teachers. That's right. We just got to the options. Yeah. Then we can say, "No, we're at capacity." Any point you'd establish what the capacity is, you're not going to have to go hire more teachers because you're filling empty seats. That's Yeah. And if other students come in, like if we have a baby boom, God help us. But um you know, do we deny the ones who've already been in there and tell them to go back to their own county? You have that option. Yes. And it's a yearly application. So parents have to apply every year and be approved every year. So it's our policy. And if you look at some of those projections,
133that baby boom you're talking about, that escalation doesn't happen with it probably it doesn't move until almost five or six years out. Yeah. And does that affect Big Island? I mean, would that draw anybody? Possibly. It's possible. Possible. Yeah, maybe on the long ways. A long ways. But I mean, there's people that work at GP there that I mean, that's what I'm saying. There's so many possibilities possibilities for has a lot of non-resident. You get a lot there. But yeah, anything's possible now that the tuition is lower. I remember when Nancy S was principal over there. The biggest thing there was houses that you could see the school and they thought they could come to school there and they're in the city. Yeah. I mean, you know, you live over there, but that's a possibility.
134I mean, you can now come to elementary $500. Do they have room? Yeah, there's some capacity. Absolutely. All right. Sorry. I I'm Yeah, I'm passionate about this one, but I think it's the right thing to think outside of the box of how do we how do we drive red shot? So, all right. So, do I have a motion to approve uh this policy JCE as presented? So moved. Have a motion by Miss Pervis. Have a second. Second. Second by Mr. Hullbrook. Any additional conversation or discussion? All right. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? All right. Bill is approved. [Music] All right. Okay. Do I have a motion to go into close session pursuant to code of Virginia 2.2-3711A12-1 2-3711A12-1 for the discussion, consideration or interviews of prospective candidates for employment,
135assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplinary, and resignation of civic employees at Bedford County Public Schools for the purpose of discussion or consideration of disciplinary matters concerning students enrolled in Bedford County Public Schools being student number 06. 61225A. I have a motion by Mr. S. Hill. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Mr. Hullbrook. Any discussion? All those in favor of going into close session signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? We're now in close session. and then hit SC for that. All right. Do I have a motion to come out of close session? I have a motion by Miss Pervvis. Do I have a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Hullbrook. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I any opposed? All right, we are out of close session. Miss Johnson,
136where Beth County School Board has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and where section 2.2-3712D of the code of Virginia requires a certification by this school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now therefore be it resolved that the Beetler County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which the certification applies and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I do need confirmation since she was in there. Just say
137yes. Say yes. Yes. All right. I'd like to make a motion to uphold recommendation on student number 061225A. All right. So, we have a motion by Mr. S. Hill to hold student number 061225A. Do I have a second? Second. Second, Miss Pervvis. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? All right, that motion is upheld. All right, do I have a motion for the approval of the consent agenda? All right, I have a motion by Mr. S. Hill. Second. Second. Have a second by Miss Pervis. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? All right. Approval for consent agenda. All right. Matters from the board. The last topic is the Ruer Valley Gov School member appointment. Um [Laughter] you um the previous member um Johnny
138Knight held that seat. uh we all have uh one to two appointments or three um appointments and so we were hoping that you would be willing to take the Renault Valley Gov School. Um Dr. Woodford, can you help explain the um commitment? I think the hours are in the evening. Correct. They are in the evening. They the board meetings start at 6:30 and they're usually over no later than 7:30. Um, and it is at the Rona Governor School, which is at Patrick Henry High School. Um, and they meet once every quarter. So, it's like four meetings a year. Um, and so I think the next one is maybe October. So, it's a good ways away. So, would you be willing to take that appointment? All right. And I'm all I'm always there, too. So, I'm
139I'll be your cheerleader in the audience. So, Miss Johnson, do we have to approve that appointment? Okay. All right. Good deal. Thank you. All right. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? So move. All right. Mr. Hullbrook. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Mr. S. Hill. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? We are adjourned.