School Board Meeting - 6/8/2023 - 5:00 PM

001foreign [Music] foreign good evening everyone I'd like to call to order this regular monthly school board meeting for the Bedford County public schools for June 8 2023 Ms Harrison has contacted me she does have a family medical emergency and will not be here this evening with that being said Miss Johnson will you please call the roll Kirby here Mr Hill here Mr Daniels here Mr Holbrook here Dr melee here Mr Nelms here Madam chair you have a quorum thank you ma'am do I have a motion to approve the agenda well I have a motion by Mr Nelms do I have a second second by Dr Miley any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries do I have a motion to go into closed session Madam chair I'll make a

002motion that we go into closed session uh pursuant Dakota Virginia 2.2-3711a128 one to discuss the assignment appointment performance disciplining and release of contract for specific School Board employees including the evaluation of the superintendent as provided in his contract of employment two for the purpose of discussion or consideration of disciplinary matters concerning students enrolled in Bedford County Public Schools being student number 062023-a and student number 062023-b provision of legal I'm sorry for for consultation eight for consultation with legal counsel retained by the school board for advice on specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such Council including School Board policy I have a motion by Mr Hill do I have a second second second by Mr Holbrook any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed we're in closed session

003just sit right there foreign I have a motion by Mr Nelms do I have a second second by Dr Miley any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye we are out of closed session now for that Ms John's cast for procedure purpose or procedure question just to make sure that I'm correct um we do need to go back into closed session um at the end of the meeting um just for um wait a minute for number one but it does not affect the action that we would take on closed session maybe we go ahead and take the action now yes okay okay then do I have a motion chairman certify the meeting oh I'm sorry I apologize I always forget that stuff whereas the Bedford County school board has convened a closed

004meeting 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 and Conformity with Virginia law now therefore be it resolved that the Bedford 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 yes yes yes thank you Ms Johnson thank you for reminding me and do we need to amend the agenda

005in any way to go back into closed session or could we just go back into before the adjournment that is totally the prerogative of the board you can amend the agenda the agenda has already been approved so you can make a motion to amend again or just add a closed session at the end okay I'm fine with just adding plus session I don't think we need okay okay do I have a motion regarding this the student matters a clarifying question please yes uh do I make a motion for each individual student separately or can I go one big recommendation I would do separately okay all right so Madam chair uh we um I make a motion that we accept the superintendent's recommendation with conditions for student number zero six two zero two three dash a

006and those do we we do we give you who do we give those conditions to to Dr Bergen okay so just give them to him and okay so I'm sorry we have a motion regarding um give me that number students zero six two we have a motion regarding student number zero six two zero two three a do I have a second thank you second by who Mr Nelms any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye [Music] opposed motion carries okay do I have a motion now regarding student number zero six two zero two three B Madam chair I make a motion that we accept the superintendent recommendation for students number zero six two zero two three dash B motion by Mr Hill do I have a second second second by Dr mealy

007any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion carries okay and given the hour of 6 30 we're going to go ahead and break and then we will pick up with item three at number nine we're gonna move those down after the approval [Music] did you get to eat you know there's food left I'll be okay she said her name and I was like I already told him this was so delicious I can't even stand it did you eat it oh yeah did you eat it all yeah I did thank you good evening I'd like to reconvene this regular called me regular monthly meeting of Bedford County school board for June 8 2023 would you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance [Music] I wish it stands one nation under

008God indivisible with liberty justice for all thank you Madam chair Vice chair Hill and Dr Bergen can you please come forward for student recognition thank you all right let's start all right so our first student being recognized tonight is Alex Adkins from Stanton River High School first first place finish in carpentry at the skillsusa competition thank you Alex and other students from the Susie Gibson Science and Technology Center competed against students from all over Virginia and showcased his talent with Precision Precision and detail necessary to build success congratulations Alex on your first place finish [Applause] so our next four students are being recognized for their success at the Virginia history Day contest sponsored by the Virginia Museum of History and culture in Richmond first up is Michaela Branham from Liberty High School thank you Michaela

009finished in first place for her individual exhibit of forced cultural assimilation a new frontier in Richmond next up we have Andrew camrada from Jefferson Forest High School who placed first in his group document for J Robert Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb next we have Sarah Johnson who's from Liberty High School as well Sarah was the second place finisher for her individual performance of international ladies garment Workers Union a new frontier for workers rights and then next we have Yesenia baraja she's from Jefferson Forest High School and she's my second in her group exhibit Frontiers in feminism Clara Bow's Legacy all of these students will now continue on and compete at the National History Day contest later this month we certainly have our fingers crossed that history repeats itself [Applause] thank you great job guys and

010thanks for coming out tonight moving on to the public comment portion of tonight's meeting 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 their comments or any time while in attendance during this meeting we also ask that speakers keep their remarks of 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

011whether board members staff or student or having the potential to cause unnecessary delay or disruption to this meeting are prohibited this is a public meeting for public matters individuals will have four minutes to address the board an alarm will sound when an individual has 30 seconds remaining and his second alarm will sound when the allotted time has expired when the second alarm sounds please discontinue speaking and allow the next person in line to come to the podium should you be unable to finish your comments please send or give them to Ms Johnson and she will give them the board members and also we ask that you please do not adjust the microphone it's Podium as it has been positioned for Optimum audio quality our first Speaker tonight is Amy Sneed um good evening my name

012is Amy Snead district 7 with moms for Liberty as many of you know our organization's mission statement is dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government in the interest of that statement we would like to share our support for the policy INB if an issue arises such as gender identity or sexual orientation the parents should always be the first conversation about this regardless of anything else for example let's play out a few mock scenarios if I am the parent of a child who is gay who I fully support in that I do not want them having conversations with their teacher let's say who could potentially not be supportive of that lifestyle also if I am the parent of a

013student who's struggling with gender identity issues and I'm working through that at home with counseling and support services I do not want my student to have conversations with the teacher at school who may share a different Viewpoint regarding this issue this policy as written serves to support parental rights in that it ensures that a parent is the person who discusses controversial issues including sexual identity or excuse me sexual orientation and gender identity with their child this policy is so important and I appreciate the board's proactive approach to this as we've seen the devastating effects of this to the contrary both across our country and here in our own County last year this topic came to the Forefront of many conversations in one of our own elementary schools many of the families who sit in the

014auditorium tonight including my own were faced with a scenario in which a teacher shared information about gender identity and sexual orientation with a classroom full of fourth and fifth grade students I'm going to share something tonight that was sent to me by a parent of students in that class and I quote as two of my children sat in a class that was supposed to be science the very teacher impressing their young minds wasn't even sure of the subject matter being taught biology is science and clearly defines male and female no title feelings or surgery will change this fact last year I was forced as a parent to enter into conversations with my then fourth and fifth graders about titles we had not heard of and choices other people choose to make and how those choices

015affect everyone around us our conversations were rich and honest but untimely enforced a teacher brought confusion to the classroom and caused division in children I would also like to read another quote sent to me by the parent of a gay student I am a and I quote I am a Christian and my son is gay no one loves him more than his father and I do just as he is I would never leave the raising of my son to public education if I did he could have been taught that his parents don't love him that he isn't safe at home and he'd be a Perpetual victim rather than the amazing young man he is today on the flip side I don't want conservative teachers telling my son he's going to hell or he is evil

016because of his orientation this policy ensures my right to raise my son to choose what is best for him end quote on a more personal note just over a month ago I learned that my favorite teacher from high school passed away I cried she invested so much in each one of her students and in reminiscing with my classmates after her death it made me realize how special she made each and every one of us feel her classroom was always available to pop into if you needed help or a place to hang out as a foreign language teacher she traveled to Europe with us and for me deep into my love of foreign languages I remember seeing her years after I graduated and she was thrilled to know I spent a summer studying in Europe in

017reading her obituary I learned that her husband was a pastor in all the time I had spent with her I never knew that without a doubt having her as a teacher for four years in a row spending more time with her than I had any other teacher in my 13 years in public education she created an environment where kids thrived felt loved and inspired to learn but without ever sharing something that I'm certain was a huge part of her personal life it is possible to create that environment and it's been happening for years I urge the board even those who may have voted against this last time to consider these conversations belong at home and vote accordingly thank you thank you Miss need Cindy Young House [Applause] [Music] good evening I'm Cindy Young House of

018District 7. thank you for this opportunity to address the board I'm a parent of two BCPS students by training I'm a pediatric nurse with a master's degree in parent-child nursing as a nurse and a parent safety is a vital importance to me whether the danger is gun violence covid bigotry bullying or discrimination I think we can all agree as fellow parents and humans that safety for the students and teachers in our schools is non-negotiable everyone deserves to feel safe and seen at school including lgbtq plus people when students feel safe and supported in our schools learning and passing those sols happen naturally but Virginia schools aren't currently safe for lgbtq plus students as outlined in glsen's 2021 Virginia snapshot which I included in an email to each of you furthermore we all know one teacher

019can make a tremendously positive difference excuse me in a young person's life policy I and B would take that support away creating a school environment where both students and teachers fear for their safety possibly exacerbating staff vacancies I have questions for my school board I'm not asking them because I'm fearful of the answers I want answers sadly if this board answered all our questions truthfully the purpose of this policy would be revealed to erase lgbtq plus people so here are some questions how is policy INB going to improve the safety and well-being of vulnerable students including lgbtq plus youth what will happen to the youngest children who simply speak in elementary school Circle time about the weekend activities with their non-traditional families well I'll answer that one because of how vaguely INB is written a

020teacher would not be allowed to acknowledge the family without fear of recourse moreover instead of sharing the values of inclusion and acceptance a permanently harmful sense of Shame and stigma will be conveyed to that child we need policies that cultivate safe and affirming environments where all students can Thrive and learn including our lgbtq plus youth who are in Bedford County Schools right now who are watching our school board meetings and witnessing members debate their Humanity because in fact policy INB is so grossly vague it's unenforceable inviting a climate of discrimination lasting harm and potential litigation does the county have 10 million dollars lying around if we get sued for discrimination that's MC Gloucester County had to pay for their discriminatory and harmful bathroom policy that targeted a transgender student what will happen to your insurance

021policy when it's discovered INB violates federal and state laws you did swear an oath to uphold those laws I believe then how will you budget the millions it will cost you will you take funds from the Liberty High School Renovations from teachers salaries or paraprofessionals how will BCPS demonstrate excellence in anything but ignorance and bigotry with the policy as vague and harmful as INB I'm sure we can all agree to want safety and excellence in our schools and that your constituents aren't going to want their tax dollars funding lawsuits caused by inadequately written policy though let me be clear there is no version of this policy which could ever be viewed as adequate because policy I and B will be detrimental to safety excellence and fiscal soundness in our schools I urge you to vote

022against it it will cost you nothing to do the right thing which is rejecting this policy completely happy pride month and thank you for your time thank you Ms Young House Christian Sneed Christians need you don't want to waving Mary Catherine Bennett hello School Board my name is Mary Catherine Bennett and I reside in District 5 in forest and I am coming to you as a mother of six I have been very active and vocal in all things School related I have seen a huge progress in so many things in the community more involvement and I think that this policy is fantastic I think it's fantastic for all children I think it's fantastic for teachers and for parents where we have been greatly discounted it makes me extremely happy to see that you are taking

023the needs of the community seriously something that I don't quite understand is why people oppose this policy this policy merely protects the students and make sure that they're impressionable and malleable mind is protected again from anything that should not happen too soon we've seen the data we've seen the statistics gender confusion sexual um promiscuity all of it has gone up across the board constantly throughout the United States and you also see the extremes Bedford County does so many things right there are amazing teachers there's amazing staff and I want to make sure that those teachers and staff are acknowledged but just like in every field there is a select few that may be promoting things that aren't the best for the community that's how I feel within this school district as well that there are

024teachers there are staff members that do not have the same interest and the same views that the parents have this is a conservative County and conservative values and I have been contacted by many staff and teachers talking about how they're not able to speak with their Christianity views because they get in trouble and it seems to me that this right here protects all because Christianity cannot be discussed sexuality should not be discussed it seems to me that it evens the fields and just presents the children with education which is what we need the bottom line is raising the Excellence we all know we've seen how some of the schools are not performing well we've seen the sols we know what it is and I feel like we're so focused on fluff such as this Ridiculousness

025that this policy shouldn't even have to be implemented it Grieves me that it has to be implemented but I do think it's important so we can focus major on the majors as my mom always says and the feedback and what you're going to hear tonight people want this parents want to be involved they want to have good relationships with their teachers and know that when they're handing off their children for eight hours of the school day Monday through Friday that they are just being taught things that that are not detrimental to their young minds they're just learning math they're learning history they want to raise that standard of Excellence I hate that this is so conflicted I hate that this has become almost a circus show but the bottom line is is you have parents

026who are not going to stand down and they're not going to back down because we want what's best for all the children and you can be kind and you can be loving without putting forth any sort of agenda on either side to these children and so that is why I'm asking you to please adopt this policy and protect our children I very much appreciate each and every one of you I know your job's really difficult and you get lots of emails from all of us but I thank you I think the teachers and the staff so okay I made it thank you Miss Bennett another variable I'm sorry if I did too terribly bad that was actually really good thank you very much um good evening my name is Heather I live here in town

027I have two little boys that go to Bedford primary um I came tonight to speak in favor of the policy um and pray that it's passed for a very long time the church has been silent on these issues in just the past month I've witnessed others opposing this policy trying to silence Christians by manipulating scripture redefining love acceptance and Truth I can't stand by any longer and not fight for truth truth is not subjective and does not ebb and flow on whatever society's focus of the week is truth is defined by the reality of a situation and facts as teachers step into their roles each day the class in the classroom their primary focus should be teaching math science history and not on the false realities our society has is trying to push today it

028is each parent's job to introduce sexuality and gender to their children it is our god-given responsibility as parents not a teacher's children's Minds cannot handle and should not be forced to engage in untruth and force unrealistic perception of what reality is such as the transgender movement with our test scores continuing to drop why are we not focusing on the tools to help these children become successful instead we're focusing focusing on pushing social agendas not based on truth if we continue to focus on social issues and not academics our children's grades will continue to drop and I'm sure student enrollment will too thanks thank you ma'am [Applause] Debbie Harvey [Applause] Debbie Harvey District three I truly believe that everyone on the board wants what's best for our students but no one on the board nor anyone

029in the schools loves my children more than I do no one sacrifices for them more than I do or knows their struggles and their strengths better than I do discussions such as the ones referred to in inv belong only in the home when the parents think it's appropriate since it's been mentioned for two meetings now about the kindergartner that that may say what what am I supposed to say to if it's a non-traditional family well you say the same thing you did if it's a traditional family if they say they went out to ice cream with their non-traditional family or traditional family you say well what kind did you get what was your favorite the conversation following is the same so we're making an issue of something that's not at the last meeting there was

030a speaker that said that she didn't think we even needed the INB policy and I would like to share with you some reasons why I think we do first thirteen percent of teachers are members of the bcea and some of those members have voiced opposition to this policy the bcea is the local chapter of the self-identifying Union the vea the vea is the affiliate of the Nea I think we should look at the Union's published stances on these issues as some of their members have been vocal about the policy being considered these words are straight from their website as their guidance and the two most troubling that I want to point out it says students have the right to transition at school student I'm sorry schools and the second one schools must not disclose personal

031information about the student's identity without the student's consent and I notice that there's no mention of parents in these policies that they want to follow secondly Studies have historically shown that approximately 82 percent of mine are struggling with gender dysphoria grow out of this disorder dysphoria in young adulthood perhaps this will change considering the exponential rise in adolescents identifying as transgender the social contagions surrounding it in peer groups and the affirmation being given by adults at the May school board meeting a teacher said that she strongly disagreed that counselors I'm sorry I think it was the month before April are qualified to discuss this topic so she disagreed that only counselors are qualified to discuss this topic those self-appointing as counselors should not be advising or casually evaluating the depth of a student's gender dysphoria

032especially considering this typically awkward time of adolescence for all youth the policies should be passed to prohibit this from happening thirdly we need this policy because many young adults and teens who transitioned uh in different different levels are realizing this only harmed him them they are suing counselors doctors therapists and schools I have seen many interviews in which the young adult said that no one wanted to talk about their mental comorbid comorbidities over which 80 percent of trans identifying you have but yet they were ignored and the focus was on sex and sexuality these young adults will be struggling for life for the harmful advice given to others who meant well lastly there was a question from a teacher during the public comment section that was directed to those of you on the school board

033who are in favor of INB the question was what are you afraid of my child's class was asked by the teacher on at least two occasions to write down their preferred pronouns at FMS there was a math assignment in which students were asked how they identified there was a self-identified as a drag show being promoted by the school there was a Broadway flop chosen for theater of which the show's own adapter says of that Broadway flaw sex permeates the show yet it was chosen by adults to be performed by our kids I think the more appropriate question would be why is there an active minority behind a powerful movement obsessed with sexualizing the children I look forward to Bedford County returning to a school system that focuses solely on educating our children and talking about

034how to work together to provide a quality education for our students thank you thank you Miss Harvey boards yes I did hello I am Fenton Forbes of District 2. more importantly I'm a student second and I'm a person first as a student I've come to address my concerns disappointment and my feelings at the new policy revision INB or the policy wayana uh I believe that it destroys the idea of LGBT rights in schools and it curtails the rights of LGBT students and teachers I'll begin by honestly stating policy isn't necessary I could believe or I understand your mentality if you believe it has no place in schools I understand that I grew up in a household where it was a bad thing you don't talk about it it doesn't belong it's not what the Bible

035says however I also believe that educational controversy is any way we get anywhere in Athenian Society thousands of years ago only way men were allowed to do anything was if they argued with the men above them if they argued or played Devil's Advocate if they played for something they truly believed in that's what they got educational controversy gives us that and that starts with real world representation and education it's unrealistic to beat down one community's prevalence in our education system because however much of a minority we may be we exist and if you wish to shelter a child or just one more child from our existence hate to break it to you the majority of LGBT students come from our high schools and will continue to come for our high schools for possibly years so

036you got to look at it we'll be adults within the next two to five years this means that honestly we'll be voting adults with the idea that we exist and we got silenced you can force our teachers to stop listening to us with these policies and that's okay because they'll still talk to us about it it'll be off the books we'll be talking about it how we feel how we genuinely feel with these teachers same way we always do we'll find them and oftentimes we'll talk about how our parents don't really approve of who we are of how our friends stand with us how we went to a pride parade how we stood alongside our friends and played video games just talking about how we are it's unnecessary because when it comes down to it

037we're looking at such a small minority of teachers who care to listen to our mental health or genuinely want to talk about it and if you restrict that even further to hey if you want to talk to me about your chosen name or your chosen pronouns you can't talk about it nope want to talk to me about your same-sex partner nope can't talk about it our mental health in the way that we see the world should be your concern because times change and they shouldn't be the target help save a life don't end one honestly this policy is a huge step back for lgbtq rights and it goes against what this country should stand for my granddad lived and fought in this country in the Vietnam War and he way back when I lived in

038Allegheny County before this five years ago he approved of who I was in Middle School he said you can choose to be whoever you want to be just know that I'm here for you he fought for this country and that's what this country stands for it's absolute freedom absolute discussion and absolute anything we should build great things beautiful things out of love a universal understanding that we are all the same and that resentment you must feel any fear or anxieties can be stopped with an honest sit-down conversation with those you target build out of love not hate so in closing happy pride month to all the queers of Bedford County in 2023. [Applause] Josie Davis three I'm sorry could you repeat that you weren't in the microphone we couldn't hear excuse me I have read

039and reread the proposed policy and had to say how did we get here nobody wants us nobody wants to to have to even deal with this but I want to talk about one of the major catalysts in the formation of this policy and that's the decision-making and Judgment of some of our theater departments over the last year or so I think we all know what transpired but I want to explore the whys and I'm hoping the board is also interested in exploring the whys why was the play Head Over Heels chosen I went to a random site for choosing high school plays and there were 857 plays to choose from why was this play chosen according to the New York Times and I quote the play cost 14.5 million dollars to produce the show did

040not recoup its cost making it a flop and it was shut down on Broadway after five months so I ask again why was this play chosen why did the Cavalier theater on April 27th send out a message that said get out and support the great work of our friends at glass and Heritage the play they wanted to everyone to support was called prom and excerpt from the play refers to those who practice the judeo-christian feat Faith as fist pumping Bible thumping spam meeting cousin humping cow tipping shoulder slumping tea bagging Jesus jumping and losers with their inbred wives again I ask why was this message sent out in support of this play we have the drag show controversy and the invite to how the satanic temple presentation at the Jefferson Forest High School again why

041were these activities instigated conducted and promoted by our theater departments I've heard we were fundraising how much money was made was it generated by our community I don't think so what were the ticket sales of Head Over Heels versus the play that was presented at Liberty I've also heard we want to be kind and inclusive what about The Devout children of Christian Jewish and yes Muslim face that don't feel comfortable participating in such stuff are we being in kind and inclusive to those children I don't think so we go back to my original question why why is this being tolerated by administrative officials we all know these actions are dividing our community we know the actions are causing division among students we all know these actions are causing our board to spend hours debating and

042devising these policies we all know our school board members are spending hours answering emails from concerned parents when they should be figuring out why are buildings are in such disrepair why are test scores are in the toilet and how our Administration organizational structure got so out of hand and so bloated and I again asked the question why thank you thank you Cindy Gillespie good evening and thank you for allowing me to speak tonight my name is Cindy Gillespie and I have been teaching at State River High School for the past 24 years I also have one child that attends and one child that recently graduated from Sand River I want to thank the Bedford County Board of Supervisors for approving the 41 Cent tax raise I want the Bedford County School Board to know that

043we are all all watching and waiting I hope this money is spent on its publicized purposes as an educator I have been held accountable to fill the Gap that economic and other life issues have left on some of our students I've been to numerous workshops on Equity versus equality I hope that Bedford County School Board will listen to the same advice and help fill the Gap that some schools have please help bring some pride and Equity to schools in Bedford County also I have read the proposed changes to policy INB and I'm concerned about the proposed paragraph addition dealing with discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity it states teachers should not engage in discussions with students about sexual orientation and gender identity as a math teacher I do not generally teach or talk about

044controversial issues it deeply saddens me that I might not be able to start this the upcoming year by showing pictures of my family and discussing what I did with my husband and children over the summer since this will automatically Define my sexual orientation students need to be able to discuss their relationships issues and how excited they are to have spent their summer summer with someone they like please allow teachers to continue to discuss their life so that students can see that we we too have lives outside of school from the last school board I understand that several of you feel that these discussions about sexual orientation and general gender identity should take place in the home instead of at school clearly you are blessed to have a home that your children feel comfortable talking talking

045to you about their life unfortunately not all of our students live in a supportive loving home environment I know of students every year that have unsupportive parents this can lead to behavior issues grade issues and certainly mental health issues that can go as far as causing students to attempt or succeed in suicide these students get this love and support from their school mom or dad knowing known to you as teachers secretaries counselors custodians cafeteria staff bus drivers and other adults at the school please take this one paragraph out of the proposed INB policy update thank you thank you Michelle Blair [Applause] my name is Michelle Blair I'm the mother and grandmother of save Blair I adopted Sage when she was just shy of two years old sage is now 16 and a survivor of sex

046trafficking hers is a tragic story and it is a miracle that she was found alive I am eternally grateful that she survived God is definitely in the details when Sage was 13 years old she began to question who she was puberty and covet hit hard her mental health began to decline I thought I could I had a handle on it until she began her first day of ninth grade at Appomattox High School Sage decided to identify as a boy only because she thought the attention would help her find friends well she did get lots of attention just not the attention that helped her instead the attention harmed her due to the actions of the school her school teachers and counselors never told me that Sage was identifying as a boy they never told me nor

047bothered to even request a parent meeting instead they encouraged her transition behind my back and they never told me that a counselor encouraged her to use the boy's bathroom and the other counselor gave her two transgender sites and encouraged her to use the chat rooms to meet similar kids they never told me she was being threatened with physical harm they never told me she was being bullied they never told me she was petrified until it was too late my daughter ran away she ran from home into a um the hands of a sex trafficking ring and only 14 years old my daughter lost her innocence it was tragic Sage was gone 344 days she is now home she is safe she is working with a trauma therapist who was honest with me recently I asked

048Sage what advice she would tell other kids about her experience in running away her response the reason why getting groomed kidnapped isn't Fun you will get tortured mentally and physically you could be potentially killed if you don't want to kill yourself by then groomers don't care about you they will hurt you so I want to thank you for allowing me to speak here today we all need to speak up on what is happening to our children not just here in Virginia but in everywhere it's a social contagion that is attacking our children from within the family unit which is exactly why delegate Dave LaRock proposed Sage's law during the last legislative session a bill that seeks to ensure that a child cannot undergo any type of gender transition under School supervision without the knowledge of

049a parent or legal guardian I hope that by me speaking here today you may begin to understand why this is so important I'm not here to tell you how to raise your children I'm not here to criticize school officials and counselors I'm here to share my story in the hopes that it may save one child from what Sage had to endure because I never in a million years thought what happened to Sage could happen right here in my own backyard but it did the bottom line is that we need schools to communicate with parents this is there's absolutely no way that any school staff could know my child better than can know a child better than the parent please respect our parental rights if you have knowledge of a child identifying as anyone other than

050what is on their School record advise the parent because if you don't you become part of the problem not part of the solution a child needs their family even children from abused homes need professional support to keep the family together our children are trying to grow up in a lost world a world that wants to teach even Pre-K children that they can be any gender they feel and we won't tell your parents my heart breaks for the children that have run away to a glitter family and are still missing we don't hear about them because the parents are too traumatized to think straight I know I'm one of those parents had the had my daughter's school involved me she would not have a lifetime sentence of PTSD so please hear me if you don't think

051this could happen to your child think again I was a mom whose top priority was safety of my daughter yet she slipped right through the cracks because of a school's decision to keep me in the dark a decision that almost killed my daughter in the words of Benjamin Franklin an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure please help schools to become part of the Cure it does take a village please be part of a healthy Village a village that insists on honesty between schools and parents thank you thank you Miss Blair since we had a ziker forfeit their time we're going to move to the first person on the wait list which is Mr Dietrich good evening I'm Dave Dietrich from the fourth significant differences of opinion over education remain some believe education

052should be under the control of professionalized central bureaucracy others believe education should be opened up to the greater competition of ideas Central to these differences is the degree to which parents in a broader Community should be involved what to teach in order to educate remains a central issue that issue has been caused by a kind of ongoing cultural War in the western tradition from the ancient Greeks and Romans down through the church and the enlightenment education has dealt with discovery of Truth intellectual and moral growth the latter virtue have been Central critical thinking focusing on understanding the systems of things has been critical perhaps another element has been an influencing Factor as well faith during the Enlightenment Faith centered on belief in the progress of Science and its ability to improve The Human Condition in

053Christianity faith is centered not on a discoveries of Science and human Improvement but rather on a salvific work of Jesus Christ looked upon as Lord and Savior today there is a challenge to these classical Enlightenment and Christian views that together have constituted the core of Western thought why because there is no belief in God rights therefore no longer come from God many believe rights now come from government that arbitrarily grant them all becomes permissible except of course for the Western tradition and its truths and values the new thinking is term post-modernism it is also called nihilism wokeness Dei and the like it's anti-classical anti-enlightenment and anti-christian it is anti-classical anti-enlightenment and anti-christian to its core it is deeply political it is also deeply religious in that it has its own religiosity and cosmology upon which

054it is built its core religion focuses on deconstructionism moral relativism and rejection of both moral absolutes and absolute truth it does not tolerate dissent it persecutes under the guise of Dei diversity equity and inclusion it corrupts our youth it does not educate it indoctrinates listen closely and discern as we will continue to hear from its envoys and disciples their message must be peacefully resisted and refuted through reason and dispassion our children's Futures are at stake Alexis the tocqueville once wrote America is great because she is good and if America ever ceases to be good she will cease to be great let us not deconstruct America's greatness thank you thank you Mr Dietrich we have reached our 40-minute limit I will close the public comment portion of tonight's meeting let's move on to item 7.01 presentation

055by Brook Hill Farms Ms Joanne Miller hello I'm Joanne Miller and I want to bring some happiness to this evening by talking to you about a program that we have here in Bedford County called schooling with horses we've been serving the community since 2008. um we started out in 2001 as a horse rescue and I needed some help because again the horses needed care and there was just me so I brought in my background is education learning disabilities teacher I brought in some inner city youth from Lynchburg City and realized that these kids were failing school so I kind of said you have to work with the horses in order and get your homework done in order to work with the horses and what I found is what you all know already at-risk teens students

056with disabilities and students from economically disadvantaged homes tend to drop out of high school and this population is difficult to work with so I have a little graph here just showing you of all students students with disabilities and students economically disadvantaged from the Central Virginia area so everybody can see how you know obviously the dropout rate of these students is more through research we've found that smaller groups are what make these kids successful and we know that outdoor behavioral therapy is a well-known treatment for these at-risk teens which engages students on cognitive and behavioral levels it provides a stress-free emotional safe learning environment equine assisted learning is something that's brand new it started about 10 years ago and it's aiding personal growth and development of life skills and academics through horse interactions so we have

057a school on our property it is grades 9 through 12 ages 14 to 21. it's 10 student limit Single Sex classroom with a teacher and counselor we follow an IEP and a 504 plan our curriculum is virtual Virginia and the kids stay in the program throughout their High School we talk about solution focused learning it's student directed our program is interactional future oriented goal-oriented Competency Based the kids in future Envision the future which is high school graduation and we teach the skills to achieve that outcome skills needed to be successful in school critical thinking communication problem solving teamwork self-management study skills horse activities address all my I'm sorry modes of learning visual kinesthetic and auditory why horses in therapy you all have dogs up there dogs love you when you come home horses aren't that

058way horses are prey animals we're Predators we eat them they know that so what they do is they mirror us so the kids coming to the farm most of them have mental health issues diagnose mental health issues and are in alternative schools if you look at this picture right here the horse and the young lady two things could be happening in your picture the young lady could be getting ready to give the treat to the horse as you can see the horse is bringing his head in toward the child or she could get me ready to to bop him with her elbow so you can see the horse's body moving away the horses teach the kids how to learn about their body language and the kids make changes to get successful outcomes they develop life

059skills to loud growth in the face of adversity where it's based all based on theories this is the theory of resilience just a little side note I'm a college professor so I'm kind of nerdy so I really got into the research of this so the ability to have good outcomes in spite of serious threats to adaptation or development they need to develop resilience so we teach the kids with the horses how to control things that they can control things like their words their actions their ideas and they also have to learn how to work with things outside their control other people's actions other people's mistakes other people's ideas we teach them self-efficacy the development of empathy and a work ethic and how to work together and we have college interns from all the local colleges

060which introduce positive opportunities I would say a hundred percent of the kids that are in my program don't have parents that have even completed high school so to them college is just such a far reach so you say why horses and how do horses work fractions I'm going to give you something simple for those of you who don't aren't into more advanced math for instance the kids in the uh Equine Therapy ring will will do fractions we'll Circle two cones out of eight we can reduce those fractions it's kinetic they're working together English we also do English we do a lot of observations of horse herds and down at the creek for biology studies and all sorts of things which are real to the kids and and they're able to transfer that back into our

061classroom and I think I'm here tonight to tell you we have a 100 graduation rate of our kids which I think is unheard of every kid that comes to me is failing school every kid that comes to me doesn't go to school half the time and what we found is it improves their grades it improves their behavior and it improves their attendance now this is what it looks like if you look over the years you can see the Central Virginia students with disabilities Central Virginia students economically disadvantaged and then my Brook Hill kids we did a research paper on this which you have I think you should have a folder on your desk with the research paper there we are only able to use out of the 140 some that have graduated from my program

062we were only able to use 68 in our study because we wanted to match exactly what you have in your classrooms so we picked only students that were economically disadvantaged only students that were had a disability we did not pick children that had both so our study was limited to the 68. so the research project shows that when we have our academics we have our at-risk youth we have our deliberate practice where we're practicing over and over both on the ground and with the horses and then back in the classroom that we have a hundred percent success rate and we had 142 youth come through our program and like I said all these kids were failing school all of them were all dead so one of my biggest things I want to tell you of

063the 68 I had seven kids that got phds how many of you all can say that about any other program we had kids with master's degrees bachelor's degrees Community College and technical school every child that came through my program furthered their education and are no longer living below the poverty line Bedford County Bedford County partnered with us before covid obviously you have a new administrator and and new school system but we partnered with you all I had kids when covet came with Bedford County would send their alternative ed kids to us a couple times a week the kids that came to us actually dropped out of your school during covet and came to my school and got their geds to finish I think this says a lot about our program thank you so what is

064our school right now we have eight students we have three from Bedford County four from Lynchburg City one from Campbell County into this year I just had four graduate remember these kids are failing school alternative Ed behavior problems ankle bracelets sentenced sent to my school by the courts four of them have graduated not only from high school but from cvcc Early College and all of them are four of them are going to college have been accepted to college on a College Bound so I am here to let you know that this program exists in the county we are at a process right now in our program is trying to see how we want to move forward do we want to be Regional do we want to work with Bedford County where do we want to

065go with this program so I ask each of you to look at your folders please reach out to me and if you have any questions I'd be glad to answer them anybody have any questions not at this time I don't believe okay and anybody is welcome to visit us anytime we are in in the I think we're in district 7 in Forest thank you very much thank you so much Ms Miller appreciate it moving on to item 8 of the agenda do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda I have a motion by Mr nilms do I have a second second second by Mr Daniels any discussion yes I just want to say one thing again I know they say this a lot but I think it can't be said enough thank you

066Miss Johnson for your excellent notes and minutes that you take for us each and every month they're always excellent any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed the consent agenda is approved moving on to item nine picking up with items that were not covered at five o'clock picking up with 3.01 preliminary spring Sol data Dr Trosper I'm sorry Dr Bergen yes ma'am and thank you tonight board members and members of the public who are with us tonight and viewing online tonight we're going to be sharing the preliminary results for all grade levels from the spring standards of learning or Sol assessments which concluded at the end of this school year on May 26th I'd like to emphasize that the results we're sharing tonight are preliminary and that the Virginia Department

067of Education will release finalized data in September of course we will return to the board to share those finalized results and accreditation status once that information has been determined and published by the Virginia Department of Education as we are looking at the data tonight you're going to notice some obvious concerns particularly in middle school and across the board in science however while there is always room for improvement there is much to celebrate in these results and I'm very pleased and proud of the work of our teachers and students next week in our annual administrative conference when our entire Central leadership team and all of our principals gather together we will meet in conference sessions and be reflecting on these preliminary results in preparations for the upcoming 23-24 school year and principals of course will continue

068to analyze their school level data with their teachers to identify those factors that have impacted student academic progress and to develop action steps within their own continuous School Improvement plans for improving student outcomes so at this time I'd like to turn the presentation over to Dr Dr Trosper to share the preliminary results Dr Trosper this evening I will present preliminary data from recent Sol tests final scores as Dr Bergen said will not be available until later but there will likely be changes but we really have done our best to accurately represent student performance with the information that is available to us please note that this evening's report only gives overall student performance data spring testing did conclude on May the 26th this is a pretty quick turnaround to compile the data for tonight but as

069we continue to analyze we will give detailed subgroup data in future presentations our principles however do have the subgroup data and we expect that they should already be analyzing it the chart on the screen shows the Sol testing schedule for all students in Virginia students are required to test in reading and math every year from grades three through eight they test in Virginia studies in grade four and Science in grade five in grades seven and eight they test an all four core subject areas and also in grade 8 students take a writing test and they also have the opportunity to earn high school credit for courses such as world history 1 and Earth science once students enter High School testing requirements are a bit different per regulations from every student succeeds act students not yet

070meeting graduation requirements in a specific content area must take the Sol assessment once they have met graduation requirements they are no longer required to test in that subject there are some exceptions however high school students are required to take the biology Sol and English Sol in 11th grade and the Sol for the math course they are enrolled in as a freshman which could be Algebra 1 geometry or algebra 2. students must take the biology and math Sol assessment regardless of whether or not they need these assessments to meet graduation requirements so for example if a student passed the algebra 1 class and the algebra 1 Sol test in middle school he or she has earned the verified Credit in mathematics but they still must take the geometry or Algebra 2 Sol test in high school

071to meet the federal accountability requirements so when I report the scores at the high school level note that scores are not necessarily representative of overall student achievement and these core subject areas since not all students take the sols once they have met their graduation requirements also before reporting scores I want to explain some terminology to show how achievement rates are used in accreditation determine final performance level and this report is not intended to predict accreditation ratings but some slides will show a combined Pass rates that do factor in growth and recovery and some will only report on Raw scores which do not factor in growth and Recovery a combined rate a combined pass rate is available to students in grades three through eight in both English and math in calculating accreditation ratings the combined pass

072rate includes students who pass a state assessment students who fail the state assessment but demonstrate growth or students who pass the state assessment after failing the previous year State assessment and also received remedial instruction which counts for recovery note that science is measured using the raw pass rate growth and Recovery are not factored into final scores for science and then something else you'll see in the report is the combined Pass rates for English and math appear to be much higher in last year's scores than this year's so keep in mind that in the spring of 2022 student growth was calculated by comparing from the spring of 21 to the spring of 22 student scores were very low in the spring of 21 which made the pool of students eligible for growth quite large in the

073spring of 23 student growth was calculated by comparing fall of 22 to Spring of 23 so the number of students eligible for growth was lower this year than they were last year so just continue with where I left off in May Bedford County has joined a Consortium called the comprehensive instructional planning or CIP one of the benefits is that we receive data reports that help us see where we stand relative to other member divisions as a reminder the map on screen shows what divisions are members of CIP there are 53 School divisions represented in the data I'm going to share and there are 372 schools that have administered Sol tests so far the next few slides will show where Bedford County stands in relation to these divisions in compared to our schools in Bedford County

074the scores on this slide are based on projected accreditation rates for Bedford County and CIP schools that means they do include combined rates for students in English and math in grades three through eight as you can see many of the challenges and scores are not unique to Bedford County of the 372 CIP member schools so far only 30 have posted level 1 performance in all academic indicators this includes 25 elementary schools four high schools and one pre-k through eight School but as you can see on the chart in Elementary Bedford County students scored higher than CIP member divisions in math science and English in High School Bedford County students scored higher than CIP member divisions in math and English and four points lower in science in Middle School Bedford County students scored higher than CIP

075member divisions in science Four Points lower in math and have the same Pass rates in English as you can see Bedford County student performance is equal to or better than CIP member divisions and all core subject areas with the exception of high school science and middle school math the scores on this slide represent Ela tests raw Pass rates and do not factor in growth or recovery for Bedford County and CIP schools in ela Bedford County student performance is equal to or better than all CIP member division the scores on this slide also represent raw Pass rates for math courses in math Bedford County student performance is equal to or better than all CIP member divisions and five of the seven tests Algebra 1 is only two points lower than the other divisions but comfortably exceeds

076the state Benchmark is 70 percent there is a note I want to call to your attention about grade 7 math this score is an outlier we believe because of the way we accelerate middle school math courses students in seventh grade advanced math actually take the math 8 Sol this means only students not in an advanced track take Mass 7 in Bedford County so we do believe that drives the overall student scores down so our acceleration path may not necessarily be what other member divisions are doing the scores on this slide represent Pass rates for science and social studies for Bedford County and CIP schools in science Bedford County student performance is equal to or better than all CIP member divisions and two of the four tests in social studies student performance is equal to or

077better than all CIP member divisions in all tests so the following slides will show Pass rates for all Bedford County students for each core subject area while accreditation is based on the combined pass rate our team bases internal support on Raw score since they give us an accurate reflection of where students are based on grade level standards this chart displays a percentage of students who passed each ELA test given to students in Bedford County these scores represent raw Pass rates and again as I said don't factor in growth of recovery but do please note that the Pass rates in ela and math are lower than what you might see on the school quality profile for the 2122 school year because they do show the combined pass rate so I did not conclude those because it's

078or include those because it's not an accurate comparison but again raw scores for grade 3 reading were 71 percent pass rate grade 477 percent grade 575 percent grade 6 74 percent grade 7 73 percent grade 8 69 grade 8 writing 53 and then EOC which stands for end of course reading which is taken 11th grade there was a 90 percent pass rate and then EOC writing in 11th grade was an 81 pass rate so for grades 8 and 11 writing and reading actually are combined to get one Ela score as we begin to get our accreditation reports this chart displays the percentage of students who passed each math test given to students in Bedford County in grade 3 math 78 percent of students passed in grade 4 math 75. grade 5 math 74 percent grade

0796 math 66 percent grade 7 math 51 grade 8 math 61 and then algebra 182. this chart displays the percentage of students who passed each science SOL test given to students in Bedford County please note that growth and Recovery are again are not available to schools in science so these scores are are similar to what would be on the accreditation report so I did include 2122 scores because it is easier to draw comparison when looking at Raw scores so in science 2018 standards were newly implemented this year and they were first tested this year in grades five and eight and biology so again grades five grades 8 and biology were tested on new standards we monitored implementation of these new standards we do know that typically there is a drop in scores during the first

080year of new testing and this does appear to be the case in some subject areas so the percentage of students who pass the science SOL test in Bedford County grade 5 71 percent grade 8 science 61 earth science 65 and biology 66. so even with the new standards Bedford County students did improve our Pass rates in grades five and eight however biology scores did drop by four which again was not unexpected this chart displays a percentage of students who passed each social studies test given to students High School history scores are not included in this chart as I said previously there is no testing requirement for students in social studies once they have met the verified graduation credit the number of students who tested in world history 2 and Virginia U.S history is quite low

081and the number only includes students who have previously failed as social studies Sol also keep in mind that only science scores count towards accreditation history scores are reported on school quality profiles but they are not factored into those ratings so the percentage of students who pass social studies Sol tests are Virginia studies 76 Civics and economics 75 and world history 165. in all three areas students improve Virginia studies showed significant Improvement as their scores were 38 points higher than previous school years the following slides will show a combined pass rate for all Bedford County students for each core subject area again accreditation ratings are based on combined rates and I've included scores from last year so we have a accurate comparison the next three slides will show combined Pass rates for each Elementary School broken

082down by Zone and reading final 22 23 scores May improve slightly but we think this represents the most accurate data for where we are now and where we think we will be in August the cells that are highlighted in green means that schools met the state Benchmark for reading which is 75 percent so in the forest Zone all schools had over an 80 percent combined pass rate in the Liberty Zone all schools met the state benchmark and I want to give a special accommodation to Big Island Elementary which had a 92 percent pass rate an Ascent River Zone all elementary schools had over an 80 percent combined pass rate and so while there is room to improve we are very proud of our elementary Reading teachers administrators and students the next three slides will show

083combined Pass rates for each Elementary School broken down by Zone in math the cells again that are highlighted in green mean that schools met the state Benchmark and math and but for math it is 70 percent in the forest Zone all schools had over an 80 percent combined pass rate and three of them had over 90 percent in the Liberty Zone all schools met the state Benchmark as you can see they were very close to all three schools having an over 80 percent pass rate and in the stent River Zone all schools met the state benchmark and three schools had over an 80 percent pass rate so again there's always room to improve but we are proud of our elementary math teachers administrators and students and before going to the next slide I do want

084to address a trend that appears concerning notice in both reading and math it looks like many of our schools regressed from last year recall from slide three that student scores were very low in the spring of 2021. test results from the spring of 22 reflect a large number of growth and Recovery points because the number of students eligible for growth in recovery were larger and compared from growth spring of 21 to Spring of 22. as our raw scores have improved over the last few years that means there's fewer opportunities for growth and Recovery this year so these scores then are not necessarily A regression but they may actually be closer to an accurate performance indicator of where students really are in reading and math these charts display the percentage of students who passed each science

085and social studies Sol tests given to students in Bedford County again broken down by school and Zone the state Benchmark for science and social studies is 70 percent in science all Force Zone elementary schools met the state Benchmark and two showed significant growth in the previous school year in social studies all schools also met the state Benchmark comfortably in all but one showed growth in science One Liberty Zone Elementary School met the state Benchmark and two showed growth from previous school year in social studies two schools met the state Benchmark and one that did not actually showed a 13 growth from last year in science the recent River Zone elementary schools did not meet the state Benchmark but one showed growth in the previous year in social studies all schools met the state Benchmark and

086three show growth for science overall seven elementary schools met the state Benchmark and five did not this is actually the same as last year of those who did not meet The Benchmark three showed Improvement overall six of our schools showed improvement from last year and six did not but again I want to emphasize that grade five took an Sol test on these new science standards and typically those scores do drop during this first year of testing as as we see was the case for our elementary schools questions were just formatted differently as we've seen and they were just more rigorous than previous years so our teachers will need to make adjustments moving forward to better prepare students for this exam in social studies 10 elementary schools met the state Benchmark and two did not last

087year's seven schools met the Benchmark so there was growth of the two who did not meet The Benchmark one showed improvement from last year overall nine schools showed improvement from last year in three to nine this chart shows combined Pass rates for each Secondary School in English language arts note that Pass rates include a combined reading and writing score Pass rates for each score the following Force medal is 84 percent Liberty Middle 60 percent stent River Middle 66 percent Jefferson forced High School 93 percent Liberty High School 83 percent incent River High School 80 percent clearly our middle schools are trending in the wrong direction we'll be looking at this data more closely over the summer and we will be working on steps we can take to improve these scores high schools however continue to

088show very strong scores in Stenton River High School especially showed great Improvement so I do come in the English departments and administrators from all high schools for their efforts this chart shows the combined Pass rates for each Secondary School in math note that middle school scores represent scores for math 6 7 and 8 Algebra 1 and geometry test all students tested so we believe it does represent an accurate picture or a more accurate picture of where students are in math High School final scores include a combination of Algebra 1 geometry and Algebra 2 scores however as I shared in previous slides they are not necessarily an accurate representation because students are only required to test in math their freshman year and assuming they passed that would be the last test they take in high school

089for math the state Benchmark is 70 percent so if you look at Middle School's only Forest Middle met this Benchmark at the middle school level but our high schools all of our high schools did so we do congratulate our high schools on meeting State benchmark this shark shows combined Pass rates for each Secondary School in science note that middle school scores include science 8 and Earth Science High School final scores include a combination of biology earth science and chemistry scores again students are only required to test in biology and again very very few tests in earth science and chemistry as I share the state Benchmark for science is 70 percent only forest middle and Jefferson Forest High School met this Benchmark of our secondary schools and this chart shows combined Pass rates for each middle

090school and secondary excuse me each middle school and social studies again note that middle school scores include Civics and economics and world history one all students in grades seven and eight tested High School final scores include a combination of world history two and Virginia U.S history scores but the number of students testing was so low I did not include them in this report as you can see forest and scent River Middle met the state Benchmark and each School showed improvement from last year so overall the data shows that Bedford County students face similar struggles to divisions around the state and around the region in many areas we have excelled and in some areas we have significant concerns while there is room for improvement at every level we are especially proud of our Elementary and high

091school students teachers and administrators students continue to progress even and even outperform surrounding divisions our middle schools are simply not performing where they should be though as you saw from CIP data middle school students are struggling everywhere and I suspect overall State numbers will show the same even so their progress is unacceptable and we will be working on plans to guide them as they take their needed steps to improve as for next steps for the instruction team we will be reflecting on how to better support our students during the 23-24 school year just like we expect our school leadership teams to do we will be looking at data and conducting root cause analysis for factors that impact scores and we'll be developing action steps CF he does offer training for administrators on how to effectively

092use data to improve student outcomes we believe these trainings will be valuable for administrators as they gain new strategies for moving schools forward and will provide opportunities for networking with colleagues from other divisions each summer we have an administrative leadership conference as Dr Bergen said for all of our Bedford County principals this year we will continue to focus on Improvement and we will include topics such as high leverage and evidence-based practices to support our student subgroup achievement our secondary service training which is the curriculum we adopted last year for secondary English will will be implemented and we will reflect on how to continue to improve the delivery of curriculum as we enter the second year of implementation our elementary Reading curriculum training will now be given to our principals as they support teachers in and

093hold them accountable for implementing this new reading curriculum last week all of our K-5 Elementary reading teachers were trained on how to use the new Elementary reading curriculum Benchmark Advance this is a significant step in improving the foundational literacy skills of students in Bedford County the curriculum also aligns with the expectations of the Virginia literacy act which requires all teachers to implement curriculum align with the science of reading division staff is working on a middle school writing plan Dr Eisenhower has gotten input from middle school English departments on what they need to to be supported as they improve Middle School writing scores the plan will include professional development common instructional strategies and development of better processes for collecting data to identify students who are struggling early there will also be continued collaboration between the special

094education instructional teams during the upcoming school year we will focus again on implementing High leverage practices designed to support all students and and focus on training our principals and our staff so we can better serve our students both teams will be meeting regularly to analyze data and develop strategies that will help us respond effectively in science the science sequencing for middle school has been adjusted through our program of studies to allow students more time to Master Grade 8 standards and to better prepare them for high school science the new standards require more in-depth analysis of scientific Concepts rather than rote memorization and our current pacing just doesn't allow Middle School teachers the time to adequately prepare students for newly formatted tests we believe the new sequencing will allow this and biology teachers have already started

095collaborating on writing cluster items that are more aligned to state standards and assessments we have seen that students just need more practice developing skills they need to answer these types of questions and then in social studies we've also adjusted the social studies sequence of study where all students will take World Geography in eighth grade for the upcoming school year this course provides foundational skills students need to be successful in later social studies courses again we think this will better prepare students for success in upper level social studies courses so at this time I'd be happy to answer questions from the board [Music] um thank you so much for that report Dr Trosper is very enlightening I do have a couple of questions um regarding our subgroup data that you said you'd provide a detailed report

096later just what what is your feeling thus far with regard to that the performance of those groups yeah and I spent a great deal of time just working on this for overall so I have looked at it we've got plans to look with with my team in collaboration with the special ed team to really dive deeper it's it's not where we want to be but when you look at compared to other divisions in some areas we're we're doing okay some areas were a little behind it's it's kind of mixed bag it's I guess For Me overall there's obviously Improvement excuse me there's Improvement needed but what we also saw is when you compare scores this year to last year we did start to see some growth and so if I were to summarize subgroup data

097similar to this some areas we did okay some areas there's some very clear needs needs to change but we're starting to see growth even if it's incremental in some places think the subgroup performance overall is going to impact accreditation so the way accreditation works is we have the overall Pass rates and then we have our subgroup accreditation and so what we saw this year was that we had a few where overall scores led to school Improvement and then we had a few were in our subgroups they they there was some school Improvement factors I suspect it will be the same there will be some schools that didn't make it with subgroups as you saw there will be some that didn't make it in overall so again I would say similar trends given our schools what's

098your your estimation your best estimation in terms of will we have any schools that are the term changes so much accredited with conditions is it still that um do we do we anticipate we'll have schools accredited with conditions at this point we had schools that were what we would call schools an improvement who had specific action steps they needed to take as part of the school improvement process it's the office of school quality for the doe um we there's different levels of monitoring and support so some were fairly intense some were where there was required academic reviews then there were somewhere we did internal monitoring processes and so that number is was fairly large this year in terms of there's there's room to improve for everybody but it wasn't necessarily intensive supports quite honestly I

099have not gone back and looked at what I think it's going to be for accreditation so I just I can't really answer that honestly there will certainly be some that have some work to do for the Improvement and then and you know some that were in last year that grew and so we're very proud of them so it's just a little too early to tell um is the science going to stand alone this year do you believe or are they because it is a new test and probably it's a bloodbath across the state as it was in math the last time do you think they're going to do a combined three-year average at all or is it just going to be a standalone three-year average is typically considered in that that is not going to

100be as helpful as in years past because as you saw last year's scores were so low so we have not heard anything different from the doe to to suggest what they're going to do we typically find out I would say August maybe September um in fact we're going to have a question for you um so much of what we do these days is based on the ability to analyze data as Dr Trosper has pointed out to determine the root factors of uh issues that may be negative negatively impacting student performance so do all this is just a yes or no question do do all of our principles are they able to both analyze the data and really determine what needs to be done in their schools without relying on central office to provide them with

101that information do they have those skills to do that all of our principles no no our expectation is that all principles are deeply aware of the successes and challenges in their own school and where they need support we provide it I mentioned earlier we repeated a couple of times we'll all be together next week and we'll be reviewing this data together as our team did last summer and as they will do again this summer we'll model data analysis tools that for those that are are newer in their careers and not as accomplished in data analysis as others some of our principals could teach the class Dr Miley's I'm sure you could too so so so are you telling me that the answer to that question is yes yes that they they actually have those skills

102and they can do this yes it is the expectation yes they have the tools and yes they are supported if they need the support in learning to meet that expectation so we're still helping some principals learn how to do this then I'd say we're supporting all of our principles I'm going to take that as no all of our principles can't do that so I'm hoping that we're going to provide continue to provide um intense um professional development so that they can do that it's such an important skill to have um and not and although I absolutely applaud central office for all the data analysis they do I think all of you will say the same thing and if you're into your own data it provides you with a lot more information and if you don't

103understand how to do that that's that's a that's a detriment really we need to make sure that that is corrected I don't have any other questions Madam chair thank you Dr Maley Mr Daniels yep uh in the CIP group how many schools are there school divisions 53 I think maybe it's 53 School divisions yes sir okay do they have any just like overall rankings like are we number one in any category no I'm not sure if they do or not we just recently joined so one of the things I'm looking forward to is some of the summer trainings and they've set up a number of those across the state and we most of our principals have signed up for those as we move into the next school year there's also going to be monthly meetings

104where we talk about some of the data so that that might be available I just I don't know it's it's early enough I just haven't seen all they have to offer yet it would be nice to see where we are and to see when if we can improve you know it's great that some of those scores are are beating I guess the average there but it would be great to see where we rank top five top ten so I think that's important and it's good that you're you know always thinking about developing plans like how do we get better how do we get better but I think it's important that we one of the things we talk about at work is begin with the end in mind and I think it's important to say what

105is actually our goal we'd say we want every we want 100 pass rate okay well what would that take what would a 90 percent in each category I mean you can evaluate where you are we want to be 10 better 15 percent I think it's important when we're developing those plans we say this is our goal and this is how we're going to get there I think it's important not just for us but everybody else listening so it's just kind of a statement you could comment on if you want but it's just a general statement well I think it's a good point and certainly from the instruction team our goal is for every school to be fully accredited and that's our focus of our work as we plan for next year and it will be

106until that happens um it wasn't that long ago until when we were all accredited so it certainly is possible in Bedford County so that is our goal but you know every school has their own individual set of goals with their Improvement plan so I would say to a school that you know has Pass rates in the 90. let's look at your past Advance you know so your pass rate was good but how was your past advance and so there's always always room to grow and then but you're right look at Look Backwards after you start that goal and then then we figure out how to support them in their individual school goals any further questions Miss Shield um so in looking at this first of all thank you for presenting the preliminary data when should

107we expect the final data it's it's going to be either August or September typically we'll we'll find out from the doe in in August but there's just so much change going on right now and I do wonder if some of the science scores that they're going to have to go back and rethink some things so I don't want to make any promises but August September I think would be my assumption is what we're basing 23 24 year on are these results is that correct okay and so first question would be is the 2017-18 and 1819 data available should be okay because what I want to see with these results is pre-covered postcoded how did we do with results and I appreciate the effort of trying to show us year-over-year data but I think more data

108is better and so I want to see what is that 2017-18 1819 1920 where there is no data that's okay leave it blank but then the next two years how are we progressing are we getting worse are we getting better and then I want to be able to look at this and again as you're going through it you're giving me numbers Dr Trosper but when I'm looking at this presentation at midnight tomorrow night or next day I don't know what's passing what's not and so it in most business presentations and maybe I'm wrong I always have like a n equals or a target number and so what I'd like is what what's the number we're shooting for and if it's state let's identify it as state and Dr Woodford I've mentioned to you several times

109I want to get to a place where it's Bedford uh and so what are we shooting for from a Bedford standard and then I noticed you did this in some of the um slides you highlighted in green and I'm assuming that's passing that's a good we're good on that and then red is bad fell shortest statement you can't guess so I'm not sure why it's not in all of these slides because if I'm looking at BCPS versus CIP and my green am I red what you know even though I may have been better than CIP in the number was it still a passing rate and when I look at this I have no clue so if when we're looking at these because we're not going to have the final numbers until uh August or September

110I'd like to have that information based on these slides so I can go back and say do I have a slot of green or do I have a bunch of red that I then need to ask more questions about um because you know again we went through it that's great but I want to know where we are where do we stand you know one of the things that stands out to me and I know you're just presenting data tonight Dr Bergen but I'm looking for action plans too when I see Montvale at a I think it's 49 I don't want to quote 46. to me that's alarming and so we shouldn't have to ask what's the plan for my bill you know you guys should be coming to us to say this number's standing out

111here's what we're doing and the expectation is is we're doing something different than what we did last year and the year before and the year before so I just you know I want to make sure we're we're on to that and making sure that we've got a plan not only for overall but these underperforming schools we've got to have a major plan and I'm sure you already have it I just want you to share it with us and if this is not the night I should be expecting that tell me this is nothing that you should be expecting that we just got these results a week ago okay so what should we be expecting the action plans we are meeting with our principals next week the action plan you used the school name I won't

112repeat that every school has their own continuous School Improvement plan that's relative to their data and their action steps and where they need to show Improvement where they're not meeting minimum expectations which is State accreditation that we expect all schools to meet State accreditation where they are currently meeting State accreditation I think Dr Trosper gave a great example if you're at a 90 pass rate who are the 10 that did not pass that's in your subgroup data and what is your Advance pass rate and that's what would be in your comprehensive School Improvement plan maybe what we should do is we should start having if you'd like we can have schools review their comprehensive School Improvement plans which we support them in developing if you have a question about a particular school we can present

113I think I remember part of the discussion around us meeting in these different schools was to do exactly that so I would love that idea okay to say here's what's going on at our school that's great and when we're in the Liberty Zone I would love to invite the Middle School the elementary schools to come and do those presentations I think that's a great idea and it helps us understand because we can't get around to every single school but I think it's important for them to be able to present us what's being done uh and truly it's accountability for them to be able to say here's what we're doing here's what's working here's what's not and then also for them to be able to utilize that time to tell us here's what we need from

114you School Board or from me so yeah what's that or from the administration if we're not already providing those supports oh absolutely but I'm saying you mentioned them speaking and giving us a presentation I think that's a an opportunity for them to do that um so again I'm just giving feedback because I want to be able to read this data and understand it and and know where are we doing great where are we not the other thing that I would highly encourage if we're not doing this I saw a lot of green enforced I hope we're I hope we're sharing best practices um and and cultivating that of what are we doing over there that we can share across the board so the other thing that I had a question on was the BCPS admin

115leadership conference I saw where you mentioned that Dr Trosper I think the board was just like an agenda of what's going to be discussed or you know what what's the agenda and you know don't just say training I want to know what is the training what's the topic of it what's the the title who's doing the training I think that's important to kind of know because as we get feedback and discussions what are you doing we can answer it's an elevator speech for us sure we have confidence in our team here's what they're doing and I think it's important for us to have those talking points I appreciate that comment last year we did in after the the fact so uh I I remember it was remarkable training for our principals in data analysis one

116of the questions from Dr medley and I sent that to you all so you could review exactly the training that the principals had received if you want to go deeper into that we'd be happy to meet with you offline to take you through the training yourselves if you'd like but yeah we'll certainly create we have the agenda of course so we'll share that with you and then for those of you that would like more from we'll provide the information for all of you and then go from there I want to encourage the staff because I've had sidebar conversations of you know thinking outside of the box and doing I want to make sure you know you have the full confidence of the board that you can go do that we want every one of these

117zones to be successful and maybe what works and one doesn't work in the other I do think it's important to share best practices but I want you to have that Leverage to go figure out what makes those zones successful you know please make sure you're telling us what you need we're going to challenge you you might as well challenge us and that's what we're asking for so um you know overall you know the numbers are what they are again I can't tell you what's what's good what's bad I want to be able to analyze that so I can have different conversations but I do appreciate throwing this together so soon I know it's preliminary numbers I hope they'll change and get better um but I do want to be able to read and understand you

118know what's my number what am I shooting for yes and you would you had asked about raw data versus the slides that have the green the raw data is just that they are how many kids took a test and how many of them met the proficiency to say that they they had passed that test right but what's a good number I mean is the expectation we can't expect 100 so if it's 75 percent then that 75 percent or higher should be green for me to understand okay we're heading in the right direction yes and then we in the latter part of the slides where there is green those are raw scores plus students that showed growth as calculated by the Virginia Department of Education so they they grew some kids are way behind the start

119line and and catch up or almost catch up right so those are the good numbers and so what you're going to see uh Dr melee asked you know what can we anticipate unless something changes statistically and significantly two of our middle schools are not going to be accredited the the scores are concerning in math and in language arts those are the schools that we're going to continue to need to support and work with those schools to understand their challenges and make sure they have the resources and the support that they need I the elementary school scores across the board look very strong and high school high school scores look very strong as I preface science is a concern there's some individual subject areas that we're still analyzing but overall board members I'm I'm very pleased

120to see where we are given where we've been coming from so there's there's room for improvement we have lots of lots of work to do with our principals and our teachers and we look forward to doing it starting next week anyone else have any questions okay thank you Dr Trosper thank you Dr Bergen moving on to item 4.01 policy updates dodgeball uh yes Phantom chair so this item is coming to you from the intergovernmental Affairs committee from their last meeting on May 23rd uh the committee reviewed a number of policies in our sharing seven for the board's consideration for information tonight they include policy CBG evaluation of the superintendent these updates are required for change in state code so that superintendents across the state are now required to be evaluated in cultural competency as are

121all teachers so there's new language as to defining what the cultural competency standards are for the superintendent's evaluation also for information is policy dgc school activity funds the updates include the addition of cafeteria sales as a potential source as school activity funds when those funds are derived from extracurricular activities dja purchasing Authority has been edited simply to to simplify the wording without changing the content and there are updates to cross-references policy gcn evaluation of professional staff changes include the specification of areas included in teacher and principal evaluations ijd College and Career Readiness there are only updates to Legal references jhcd administering medicine to students the policy has been updated to include language to guide the prevental provision of over-the-counter medications and jhcda providing and administering non-aspirin pain relievers and oral antihistamines in school clinics is

122being recommended for deletion given the over-the-counter medication language that has been incorporated into jhcd as always the details are online for the board and for the viewing public through the link on this particular agenda item thank you Dr Bergen and moving on to item 4.02 it has come time to start thinking about our next year's meeting locations and um we sometimes schedule these we have there's a conflict between potential um Productions or things that are going on in the auditoriums and it kind of creates trouble for us to schedule there um Miss Johnson and I talked and we wondered if it would be a possibility maybe to bring in our board meeting room at the administration office again and throw that into the mix still continue trial but if it's going to be a conflict

123to be able to use that room or yo I don't have an issue with that don't have an issue prefer to have the larger venue and if there is a scheduling conflict then we can entertain using the School Board office okay but but you are okay if it is a last resort it's the last resort yes okay what about units to work say the same okay Dr Maley you'll have a problem with that okay so is it okay if I go ahead and tell Ms Johnson go ahead and figure out what we're going to do notes go around yeah okay doing that by consent okay thank you very much okay item five we've already gone to dinner so we gotta skip back down here um we're moving down to item 10. correct action items okay

124moving on to item 10.01 approval of title grants any information needed okay do I have a motion regarding the title grants have a motion by Mr Hill do I have a second by Mr Nelms any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries item 10.02 gifted annual plan do I have a motion regarding approval of the gifted annual plan we have a motion by Mr Hill do I have a second second second by Mr Daniels any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries superintendents designees for 23 2023 through 2024 do I have a motion to approve his designees so I'm having motion by Mr Nelms you'll have a second by Mr Holbrook any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed

125motion carries do I have a motion regarding the category budget transfer so moved I have a motion by Mr Hill that we approve moving to approve the budget transfer okay that motion but miss children second second second but Mr Holbrook any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye all the opposed motion carries okay do I have a motion regarding the policy updates presented at the April 6 2023 meeting Madam chair I I make a motion that we approve all of the policy updates together and I would like to take INB separately so we have a motion to separate policy R and B from the total and look at that examine that one separately I have a motion by Mr Daniels do I have a second second by Dr mealy any discussion all

126those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion carries so do I have a motion regarding the policies as presented at the April 6 2023 with the exception of policy INB the moved I heard two at the same time who wants right Mr day I have a motion by Mr Daniels a second by Dr Millie how about if we call it like that any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed the other policies were were approved do I have a motion regarding um policy number RMB manager I make a motion that we approve INB with one change the word in the second to last paragraph engage shall be changed to initiate yeah I have a motion by Mr Daniels to accept policy I and B as amended is that correct

127correct okay do I have a second second by Mr Nelms any discussion Madam chairman yes ma'am um just because I think there are so many people who have different understandings of this I want to try to go over something even when we spoke to the attorney I'm not sure I fully understand all of this so if all of you could help me um you know it's been said that this policy is very Broad and and very vague and I think that because of that and because of speakers we've had for the last two months it's important the teachers and staff understand what it means um it it really shouldn't be up for interpretation it should be this is what we we mean by this so that it doesn't get enforced in an unequal and unfair

128manner due to an individual interpreting the policy in their own manner such as the word reasonable that's in there or controversial that's in there so do I understand this correctly that if we pass this that all staff all people in our division are prohibited from initiating discussion about their sexual orientation whether they're heterosexual cisgender lgbtq anything is is that correct is that correct that was was that the intent okay so all people are not to talk about they're not to initiate initiate discussion about whether they're straight gay they're husbands their wives anything like that is that am I correct right to initiate because we're going by the amended all right and teachers am I understanding correctly teachers are able to use content curricular resources that address all sexual genders and orientations because it's part of

129the curriculum is that correct like if I have a a child who has two moms and I'm I don't know second grade teacher I read books about traditional families am I also able to read books about um families that are non-traditional families currently part of an approved curriculum if it's if it has anything to do with the approved curriculum we can do lgbtq cisgender heterosexual is that correct I think we have in there based on curriculum right and and is there do we have any definition of reasonable because that's what it's your definition of reasonable well my definition is pretty much anything that I would think actually applies to that but that may not be your definitions that's why I'm asking I'm not really trying to be difficult at all I'm trying to really understand

130what that means dude but the point is if it's an approved curriculum current approved curriculum then that's what it states okay so teachers if teachers determine it to be reasonable their definition of reasonable they they may use those resources they have questions about what they're supposed to do I would advise them to seek attention or help from their supervisor administrator as they do today so that would be them at the whim of that administrator whether it's reasonable or not well you're always talking about that the responsibility of a school is at the principal level so why are we going to change that well because the policy is saying we have to be reasonable and I'm not understanding what reasonable means well then you would go to your principal and ask what reasonable is as a

131principal right you know before it gets out of hand let you guys have been doing great keeping it civil let's keep it that way is there any concern from this board that one principal May deem the same book reasonable and another one deem it unreasonable chance of anything so do we do we have any way that we want to ensure that this policy is administered fairly and you know with equally across our division I would say that it is fair and I mean I'm perfectly fine with the way it's written so I okay um I think that just does leave us open that's just my opinion I'm entitled to that that we don't have if we don't have clear expectations about reasonableness or controversial even then that leaves it open to interpretation by each individual

132which then becomes your policy is open to interpretation or you can question every little thing and we can be here till midnight um you know on every policy but it's written it's defined we didn't Define reasonable or controversial no reasonable is reasonable and if you have a question about reasonable then you go to your supervisor and ask what reasonable is so it's going to be based on opinions and that's I'm scared if we have somebody that doesn't know the definition of reasonable well I think that would absolutely happen but that's just my opinion they might be unreasonable I I also want to just read something that I got I don't know if it went to everybody but I do want to read an email I'm not going to disclose the name of the person but

133this is an alumni from Jefferson Forest High School class of 2012. um and he says um as an alumni I feel my story is pertinent to this conversation as not only because I came out in 10th Grade but I also started jf's GSA I was the only able to do this and advocate for my right to be treated equally because of the support I was given from teachers and that I trusted that I trusted to come out to I came out to these adults before my family because I had no clue how my family would react the worst case scenario I could have been kicked out disowned or physically abused thankfully none of this happened however I wasn't quite supported by my fellow students and in some cases faculty given this background and with the

134very real implication that teachers cannot step in and help when a student is being bullied specifically because of being part of the lgdq plus Community under this policy how would a student engage in a conversation and seek help from this type of bullying numerous Studies have shown that even having one accepting adult can impact lgbtq plus youth favorably I sincerely hope you examine these and other possibilities when determining which policies to adopt and how they will impact those you are trying to protect um especially other faculty and top administrative persons were actively trying to to support me While others suppressed my voice and being able to attempt to educate and help people understand lgbtq students uh that they're that are deserving of respect is important and I just want to read that because you know

135we do have a very high rate of suicide with with our lgbtq students and I think these people this young man and others that have written to me and and my own opinion is that these people should be seen as valued regardless of about what um you know how they think of themselves what pronoun they use Madam chairman I I do want to also know if there would be any consideration if the board would have any consideration for coming to consensus regarding reviewing this policy yet again but not only with the committee but with a group of parents students both heterosexual lgbtq everyone teachers administrators and and look at this policy once again to see if we can make it less broad less vague and make it um something that all of us can live

136with before we did that I believe we would have to ask the committee if that's something that they would be willing to entertain I'm sure we have a motion on the floor that we should vote on and you know I know Dr mealy doesn't have a problem removing parental rights she showed us that with masks but we we are telling parents that we are putting this back on them to take care of at home not for our teachers our administrators or anybody in this school system to handle any type of gender identity or sexual orientation in a classroom and so yet again she wants to remove the parental rights and we are not going to do that it's time to vote we have a motion yeah and I'm not finished with my comments um so

137also I'm not trying to remove parent rights at all but what my concern is that is if you want to as a parent take anything with regard to your child and say I don't want my child involved in that I have no problem with that at all I never have but I think it's not not appropriate when some members of this community believe that it's incumbent upon them to force their beliefs religious values opinions upon all students so um you have the right to direct anything you want with your child just not everyone else's child and I think if you don't want your child to identify with a pronoun or read certain books or be included in certain activities we can provide we can we can manage that we can provide alternative lessons but leave

138others to live their lives in their own way and others to to to to determine who they want to love and how they want to do that I just believe that to the LGBT community I want you to know that I do value you I believe you have much to offer our community and that you have the right to live as you wish love as you wish and grow as you wish and I hope that this policy still allows us to do that in Bedford County Public Schools thank you madam chairman any other comments I would like to um take a moment to thank the committee for agreeing to the word initiate the conversation I did not vote for this prior because I do know that there are a lot of homes in this County

139in which the teacher is the only one that a student feels safe going to talk to I did not want that line of communication cut off completely whether or not they go to their teacher and that teacher further decides whether they need to go to a counselor to the principal to DSS whatever it may be I did not want that teacher to have to say no I'm sorry I can't listen to the fact that you're being abused at home but on the same token I believe a teacher should maintain the professionalism and keep their personal life as at home as much as possible so I do appreciate the changing of the word to initiate and that makes a world of difference to me with that being said I will are there any further comments I

140will call for a vote all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed Ms Johnson will you please pull the board Mr Daniels yes Mr Hill Mr Holbrook yes Mrs Kirby yes Dr Maley no Mr Nelms yes the eyes have it with five Madam chair thank you Miss Johnson the motion passes policy is approved as amended [Applause] and moving on to item 11 superintendent's report Dr Bergen yes Madam chair before I begin my usual celebration of the accomplishments of students and staff I have some thoughts that I'd like to share tonight on the revisions to policy upon which the board just took action specifically policy INB first of all for clarity per the code for Virginia it is the responsibility of school boards to adopt policies that govern the School Division which you just

141have I am and has always been very respectful of this board's role and responsibility in regard in regards to policy adoption and revision which is why I urge this board to create a policy review process at the committee level my role as superintendent is to work with our Central support team and our school-based administrators in implementing the policies of this board so that stated I'd like to address some of the concerns that have been shared tonight and at the past several board meetings about the revisions to this policy just in regards to its implementation first I want to stress that the title of this policy is teaching about controversial issues the additional language in this teach in this policy that teachers shall not initiate discussions with students about sexual orientation or gender identity pertains to

142classroom instruction when providing instruction as long as the discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity relates to the standards of the course while using approved curriculum materials teachers do not need to be concerned that they're in violation of school board policy this caution about using approved curriculum materials already exists in multiple School Board policies including policy IA instructional goals and objectives policy IAA notification of learning objectives which through the board's actions tonight has now been renamed to transparency in education policy if curriculum development and adoption policy IIA instructional materials and policy iiab supplemental materials selection and adoption in response to the concern that teachers will not be able to respond to students who are expressing their concerns that relate to a physical romantic or an emotional problem that the student might be facing this policy

143does not restrict students from initiating conversation with a staff member if a student is upset and initiates a conversation with a trusted teacher or counselor the revisions to this policy do not eliminate nor lessen the responsibility of our teachers and our support staff members as articulated in our strategic plan to provide for a safe and supportive learning environment both physically and emotionally including the importance of creating a school culture of acceptance so that schools promote a sense of belonging and Foster student social and emotional development consequently if a student is upset and initiates a conversation with their teacher the teacher should listen with empathy they should take action as appropriate particularly when the concern relates to bullying or harassment and they should encourage that student to speak with their parents in response to the concern

144that the changes in this policy are going to create an environment of discrimination I want to be very clear we do not tolerate discrimination against any student or staff member with regard to any of their personal characteristics school is and must always remain a safe place for everyone this is affirmed in school board policy in multiple policies including policy AC non-discrimination policy GB equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination policy JB equal educational opportunities and non-discrimination and policy jfha prohibition against harassment and retaliation if at any time any student or employee believes they or anyone else is a victim of discrimination bullying harassment or retaliation that individual should immediately report their concern so that the school administration can promptly investigate and take appropriate action lastly there were a number of changes to policy INB adopted by the

145school board tonight of which we've not had much discussion including a new section that's that I would like to quote verbatim it is the school board expects administrators teachers employees and students to respect the Dignity of others acknowledge the right of others to express differing opinions as well as Foster and defend intellectual honesty freedom of inquiry and instruction and freedom of speech and Association along those lines I would like to thank all of the community and staff members who have taken the time to attend a school board meeting and share their perspective that stated I'm also troubled as it was brought to my attention yesterday that there's a social media post circulating that both shows and names some of the individuals who have addressed the board and in that video uses Snippets of their public

146comments followed by a graphic protect the kids implying that our students need to be protected from these individuals these are our employees I know these individuals they are dedicated professionals who along with hundreds of our teachers and support staff work tirelessly every day to educate the children of this community and I'm troubled by this rhetoric that our students are at danger in school let me repeat what I stated earlier my first and most important obligation is to ensure that our schools are a safe place for everyone and that includes both students and staff so I would humbly ask that we all remain respectful of each other including those with whom we have differing opinions and continue to find ways that we can work together for the benefit of our students on that note I'd like

147to celebrate some of the accomplishments of our students and there are some amazing things to celebrate beginning with sports as we wrap up the spring season our talented student athletes have had the opportunity to showcase their talents on the field the court and the track beginning with Liberty High School the girls track team were crowned Regional Champions with Shania Brown in the shot put and Natalie powers in the 800 meters both went on to compete at state level winning All-State titles and Shania also finished in third place in state competition for the shot put Stanton River High School girls tennis team finished their season as region 3D runner-up and are advancing on to States and at Jefferson Forest High School the boys track team were region Champs with mobu niacor winning first place in both

148high jump and long jump while teammate Jaron Lee was the runner-up in the high jump mobu was also the state runner-up in the triple jump and just this week we learned that the Jefferson Forest High School boys soccer team brought home the regional championship title and are now advancing to the state semifinals with standout Chris Wiley being named District Player of the Year lastly just as a matter of personal privilege JF Alum Isaac Simmons son of our own Central support team Duo of Scott and Melanie has qualified to play in this year's U.S open congratulations to all of our student athletes and their coaches [Applause] in other extracurricular activities we're proud to share that both Liberty Middle and Forest Middle had top finishers at the regional Science Fair held last month after two rounds of

149competition against students from surrounding counties in the categories of biology chemistry and physics Liberty Middle School student Kayla Adams and Forest Middle School student Margaret Page qualified to advance to the nation's Premier stem research competition for middle school students invitations were extended to only the top 10 percent of students from Across the Nation so we are certainly exploding with joy for Kayla and Margaret congratulations also to members of the Cavalier theater for their recent wins at the state Film Festival Bridget spanenberg and Blake McGregor took first place in the commercial category while Sarah Lynn loux and Carter rice were state runner-ups in the experimental category over the past month our sixth and 7th grade students from all three middle schools have been expanding their minds and learning more about government Civics and history I had

150the opportunity to tag along with the 7th graders as they learned about Civics and government from a number of our own Bedford County officials including County Manager Robert hiss and Sheriff Mike Miller most recently all of our sixth grade students had guided tours of the national D-Day Memorial as well as the Bedford Boys tribute Center I had the pleasure of joining the Forest Middle School students on their field trip as the students were learning more about our nation's history and about its impact here in our own hometown many thanks to Crystal Delong on our instructional support team for organizing as well as to our partners at the D-Day Memorial and the tribute Center for hosting and speaking of D-Day Memorial the annual commemoration ceremony was held just this past Tuesday June 6 to Mark the

15179th anniversary of D-Day it was my honor to attend and represent the School Division at this important event Governor Younkin was a featured speaker and offered a sincere and heartfelt tribute to the sacrifices of the Bedford Boys and all those whose lives were lost on that fateful day it was also another opportunity for our own j.r.o JROTC Cadets to shine I'd like to remind parents that the national D-Day Memorial holds a summer camp every year for Rising 4th through sixth graders this year's dates are June 26 to 30. campers will have the opportunity to travel back in time to June 1944 and explore the most important events of that month if you're interested in more information and to sign up your child you can register your student at www.dday.org On a related topic of honoring

152our veterans each year with the help of community volunteers the Montville Elementary School staff and students who are known as the Montville Patriots welcome hundreds of veterans who are participating in the annual Run for the wall motorcycle Journey as bikers make their way from points all across the country to Washington D.C with loud cheers and Open Arms the bikers are welcomed into the school for lunch and a beautiful performance by all of the students with patriotic songs and other tributes for our veterans many thanks to Our Community Partners most especially Mission Barbecue for feeding the crowd and to Mr Spaulding and his staff are organizing this opportunity for our students over Memorial Day weekend we had the pleasure of Hosting lieutenant governor Winsome Earl Sears during her visit to Bedford County the lieutenant governor spent

153about 90 minutes interacting with students from all six of our secondary schools as they gathered together at Susie G Gibson Science and Technology Center for an informal Town Hall after meeting with the students the lieutenant governor took a tour of the building led by Mr Bob Carson to learn more about the history of the building and its namesake Mrs Gibson also on that same Memorial Day weekend of course we had the pleasure of holding our three High School graduations and watched with pride as our seniors from Jefferson Forest Liberty and Stanton River marched across the stage to receive their diplomas as I did last year I had the pleasure to speak with each of the graduating classes during the practice session at their schools and I spoke to them about living up to our school

154division's vision statement BCPS building citizens and promoting success and I asked our graduates what will you now build and how will you work to promote the success of yourself and others to make this world a better place thank you to all of our board members who were able to attend these important celebrations I know that you all can join me in congratulating our seniors and wishing them well as they prepare for the next chapter of their lives since we were last together I had the honor of visiting the final two bedford's best of recipients of the year many thanks to Margie Maddox of Monita Elementary who was nominated for being such a caring and compassionate individual who really deeply cares about kids and many thanks to Kelly mastretta of New London Academy who was nominated

155for creating such a caring understanding and inclusive classroom with the help from the Bedford area Education Foundation these two staff members were given their bedford's best coffee mug filled with goodies including a gift card for all of their hard work and finally here are the three things you need to know first summer school will begin next month for students of all grade levels who may need an extra academic push parents of students who have been invited to participate should already be in receipt of that information but if you have questions please reach out to your school principal second the Bedford County public libraries are again sponsoring a summer reading program the program is open to all students and includes many incentives so parents if you've not already done so please look for the registration link

156online through the library's website and lastly the Bedford County Parks and Recreation Department has opened up their fall Sports sign ups on their website so if your child is interested in playing soccer baseball softball football football cheer please visit the parks and rec website and register your child to participate Madam chair that concludes my remarks thank you Dr Bergen okay moving on to um item 12.01 committed reports we'll start with Dr Maley this time we haven't had a meeting okay Mr Hill committee reports Mr Nelms Mr Daniels well that was quick moving on to I know this is surprised me Mr Daniels moving on to 12.02 comment since we'll start with you right so yeah this week was D-Day and we know that that hits very close to home being that we are Bedford County

157um I Can Only Imagine what people in 1944 on this week were thinking about and what was going through the minds of of the folks here in Bedford County at that time the collector's sacrifice of um of our troops allows us to do what we do we owe much to the people who came before us and we owe just as much to our kids um I spoke in the past about what we've done with um with my job with teaming up with Reese across America who lays wreaths in cemeteries for fallen heroes their motto is To Remember honor and teach remember our fallen veterans honor those who serve and teach your children the value of freedom I'm glad we're living up to that promise with our promotion of patriotism policy and we need to remember

158that freedom isn't free I want to thank everybody in the community that spoke and I want to thank the my fellow members of this board for our unanimous vote and then sending that excellent letter to the county and we were able to work together um and we were able to stop the proposed drug rehab um from from being about a half mile away from our River I know we have many issues in this County with drugs and alcohol and and we know that there is a need that location was not the best place for this I hope our community will work hard to make sure that we can come up solutions to help the people of this County we're responsible to take care of our community and we do not need to import other problems

159here this board worked together to make a difference but it's also up to our community the County churches and other local organizations to continue to make a difference and educate everyone on the dangers of abuse based on a lot of the subjects that we talk about and things that are going on on TV and in the news we are definitely in some tough times that does require a lot of resolve it requires courage courage is most important of all the virtues but it's because it's upon courage that all the other virtues rest it's better to be a warrior warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war with that said I will continue to keep fighting fighting for a better outcome for our students a better future for our students and a workplace where

160our teachers can do what they love to do which is focus on actually teaching our students Father's Day is this month we know how important involved moms are but dad's play a vital role to the dads out there that attend games help with homework and get the kids ready for the day we see you when we're grateful to you I talk a lot about parental rights and and parental responsibility and you know we need that when it comes to behavior you know it's it's like I said it's difficult times there's a lot going on parents both fathers and mothers need to step up are you talking to your kids are you being involved in their lives do you make time for them do you make time with them we have plenty of issues that we

161deal with here at school but it's our job to educate your children not to raise them I'm again asking for parents to step up having kids is one thing but raising them is the hard part last year I was unable to attend graduation I was on a family vacation in which I was getting engaged family is very important to me and and to many others as you know it's it was important and it is important for me to spend as much quality time I can with them that vacation was booked the previous year and at that time I did not know I would be sitting up here on this Deus but for some in the community it was easy to throw stones they made graduation about me about me not being there and not knowing

162all the facts but the graduation is about our kids it's about them reaching this great achievement I did say at that time though that I would attend this year's graduations and I did it was it was definitely a lot of fun and as if some of our kids didn't have enough to do we threw in an extra fire drill at the end there um but it was great to see the kids celebrate their achievements and reflect on that moment even if it was brief before they started focusing on their Futures so I'm glad that they took the time to reflect you know success is different for each person but my sincere hope and prayer is for the infinite success of our for our students who graduated thank you thank you Mr Daniels Mr Nelms um

163first I just want to wish everyone a happy and fun-filled summer um last month we were asked to read a Bible verse so I'm going to give y'all one to read as well Romans 12 2. just take a gander at that one um and I'm just going to end with uh Dr Bergen you kind of took me off guard with that last statement you made um you mentioned the video was disrespectful and kind of you know you felt disgusted by it well I hate to tell you this but there's another page that you probably don't view that bashes school board members on a daily basis so for you to say that that lets me know where you stand so I just want to say that that video that had those clips in it those those

164same Clips can also be viewed on YouTube so I just want to put that out there okay Mr nilms thank you Mr Holbrook no comment okay thank you Miss Howard Dr Maley uh yes I want to start just by thanking all of our teachers staff everyone in the division for everything you did this year the entire year what you're going to do this summer to get ready and what we you will do as you begin next year I live that for 42 years and there's very little rest in the summer so I want you to rest first and relax and have some fun and then come back and and see us but thank you sincerely for everything that you you do to help make Bedford County a good place for all children and Dr Morgan

165I do want to thank you for your words about the inappropriate video posted online that video just endorses hate and lies I want to thank I want to thank our teachers and assure them that the video in question is being looked at as hate speech and found to be repulsive and it's certainly not a model a role model for our students so thank you for recognizing that and thank you Mr Nels for pointing out that there's a page that bashes the school board members yes you go read it because your name's on there too um and parents I want you to know that um we are here for you um it's it's not always possible for parents to step up to do everything they need to do their families because families aren't perfect and some

166of them have really really hard times that I I'm just gonna use myself I can't imagine because I haven't been in that situation before I've been fairly fortunate all my life I had loving parents they lived paycheck to paycheck but they were always there so it's unfortunate that all families aren't perfect but the reality is they're not so stop at step up as you're able and know that we're here to pick up whatever you need to try to help you with your families thank you madam chairman thank you Dr Mila Mr Hill um yeah so I just want to say congratulations uh to all the seniors who did graduate uh one that I wanted to make sure I mentioned Miss Kirby and I attended the alt Ed Center graduation and if you've never been to

167one of those uh it's it's rewarding but it what what I enjoyed the most and I think the kids also enjoyed was the speaker and that was an officer from Bedford PD Travis Thompson and what Travis did is he brought those kids into reality and he explained to them that he knows what it's like to be where they were sitting because he had been sitting there at their age but he also let them know and this should be a message is that you can be anything and do anything that you want to do but it's based on your actions and you have to take control and go do what you want to do with your life he talked about obstacles that he faced as um a young man a single father and the things that

168he had to do to succeed he also talked about how putting God first was an eye-opener for him and the doors that hit it had opened for him I don't know if that service was um recorded but if it was I would encourage you guys and anybody that knows Travis did I say Travis's name I hope I did yeah anybody that knows Travis knows that he is one of a kind and he is making a difference he's the Bedford PD Community officer I think is his title but he just talked about the many blessings of where he started the roadblocks obstacles and what he did to overcome those and he and he gave her praise for where he was today and so I thought that was excellent for our kids to hear but it was

169also a testimony of where he started and where he is today so um in addition to the um graduations I also wanted to mention a teacher sent me a comment around developing Advanced paths and their comment was can't develop Advance pass increases if we don't teach the same thing year to year and so I just wanted to make sure I passed that along if we need more detail let me know and I can get that but I wanted to make sure that I share the feedback that I get from our teachers could you just read that one more time we can't develop Advanced past increases if we don't teach the same thing year to year uh and then you know I wanted to comment on uh both well I'll start you know Dr Bergen uh

170you talked about creating a school of acceptance and then you went into a comment about the video and social media being troubled that you were troubled by this rhetoric and I've heard many people on this stage talk about equality and inclusion and so I would caution uh both of you who spoke tonight regarding that video you need to be careful it sounds as if you're choosing sides and that's certainly not creating a school of acceptance one other comment that I think is important we talk about opt out opt out opt out it's always an opt out opt out we are not going to create an opt out plan for the majority of our students to satisfy the minority of our students we're not going to do it and so I think that needs to be

171loud and clear we want every single student to be successful and we're going to set that up and give everybody an opportunity but we're not going to continue to build and opt out option on every single thing other than that I want to wish our students our staff our teachers I know not everybody gets to enjoy their summer but I do want to say Enjoy your summer to those who get some time off get outside go do some things and enjoy life so thank you thank you Michelle well since you came back in the room I wanted to tell Aaron Barry Sexton happy birthday again thank you for celebrating it with us I want to say congratulations to Scott Graham principal at Liberty Middle School who is now known as Dr Scott Graham um it

172was really cool they there were pictures posted on social media of all the kids celebrating him and it was great to see for a change and congratulations Scott um I'm going to sound like a broken record by the time it gets to me because all of my good stuff has already been taken but I also want to say congratulations to Isaac Simmons um on his qualification for the U.S open that that's just amazing um Mr Hill and I also attended out of all the stuff we went to the retirement celebration for our retirees and to me it was pretty impressive the number of years that we've had dedicated to our County and we are very appreciative of that this was the uh program that was there but on the back I know y'all can't see

173it from there I just want to show you how long an extensive the list is the years of service we had years here of 24 30 23. 31 24 23 31 21 37 35 33. that's that that's a true testimony and and I hope that we will never ever take those years of experience for granted that we are lucky to have them um Memorial Day weekend was very busy for Bedford County um I I was at all three graduations um I love graduation it's my favorite time of year it's the one time you get to celebrate with all the families and it's just really cool to see them to see the graduates really Relish in their accomplishments and knowing that they are now a grad and getting ready to start that next chapter of their

174life and I also want to give kudos this was mentioned earlier too but I've got to give kudos to Stanton River principal Darcy Parker as everyone knows we were evacuated because of a fire alarm during the Stanton River graduation we came back and Ms Parker in Her speech never missed a beat she jumped right in she made a a joke of the situation made light of it instead and people were not grumbly anymore for having to go outside and come back in but it was it was really cool the way that she just kept it going and kept Everything full flowing so thank you Miss Parker we appreciate that um and as Dr Bergen mentioned in his slides um lieutenant governor once Merle Sears did um go to Susie Gibson hosted a um a question

175and answer session Town Hall type meeting with our students we got we had gotten our volunteers so does more or less recommendations than they volunteered from all three zones from the middle schools and high schools we had a good turnout for the students especially considering that it was Memorial Day weekend and families were on vacation um the lieutenant governor when she was speaking to them of course she was very inspiring to them but I'm sitting there and I'm watching and she gives her opening speech which which was awesome to hear and knowing that lieutenant governor was talking to these kids and telling them that they could achieve anything but then was something else that really inspired me or amazed me was the questions the kids turned around and asked her we tend to sometimes we

176lump all of our kids into the fact that they are have their noses and their phones and they're not in touch with the world that's going on these kids very much work um they were asking thought-provoking questions they um she actually had to stop and think on a couple of those before she answered so they weren't they were thought provoking the kids had actually taken their time and thought about these and they're very sincere now with that being said several years ago this started this actually stopped probably about four years ago when I was first on the board I served on the student advisory committee that was where we had students from each from middle school and high school grade levels we had two students from each grade level from each Zone come that we

177would meet over at the school board meeting room and they would brainstorm we did not talk to them we gave them instruction of what to do they would brainstorm over what they needed in their school they would work together then at that first meeting they they had their sheets of paper and their markers and they would brainstorm then at the next meeting they would weed through after they thought about for a month it would weed through what was relevant and what stayed there then the next month the last month they would form kind of former presentation then their final meeting was they showed up at a board at a board meeting and they presented to us what we needed to do and the IGA committee was probably really interested in this but what policies or

178what we needed to do to help their experience in schools and I do remember from my time there that um we did adopt several policy changes and you probably remember them are you well you remember the advisory committee yeah and that is a wonderful way because we say that kids need to be involved and take ownership that's a wonderful way for them to take ownership and at some point in time especially when we're talking about committees being formed I would really like to see and getting hurt and get agreement for starting that student advisory Council back up um I think the kids would take a big advantage of it and it's good to know that they are being active and wanting to get involved um going back to the lieutenant Governor's tour I didn't mean

179to get sidetracked there but um she was really like said Mr Carson led the tour she was really impressed with or CTE offerings she was impressed with the school and it was really neat for her to look to see her looking at the legacy of Susie Gibson um she was really in intrigued by that and she actually told her staff to look into it further and I just thought that was that was really cool um as Mr Hill said we went to the um all day graduation and I tell you what I mean not only is Travis amazing in the way that he presents and talks to people but if you think people celebrate it at the vine Center you should have seen him there families were so happy and it was such an awesome

180event I'm so glad I went and congratulations to those graduates as well now um I've run out of things that I have written on my paper but I know we still have normally I asked for a motion to adjourn and I'm sorry I can't now but we did have matters to cover that we did not cover in closed sessions so do I have a motion to go back into closed session uh Madam chair I make a motion that we go back into closed session pursuant Dakota Virginia 2.2-3711a1 to discuss the assignment appointment performance discipline and release a contract for specific School Board employees including the evaluation of the superintendent as provided in his contract of employment okay I have a motion by Mr Hill do I have a second second second by Dr mealy no

181offense Mr Burke I heard her first any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed we were back in closed session foreign do I have a motion to come out of closed session yes some move I have a motion by Dr Miley do I have a second second by Mr Daniels any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries we are out of closed session and uh since there is no action item oh I'm sorry again see I always forget that we're gonna start having a little [Laughter] bit of a dollar in each time where's the Bedford 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

182and we're section 2.2-3712d of the code of Virginia requires a certification by this school board that such a closed meeting was conducted in Conformity with Virginia law now therefore be it resolved that the Bedford 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 this certification applies and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting will heard discussed or considered yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes now there was no action item to take on closed session so with that being said do I have a motion to adjourn smooth I have a motion by Dr Miley do I have a second second by

183Mr Holbrook any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion carries we are