School Board Meeting - 10/13/2022 - 5:00 PM

001thank you foreign good evening I'd like to call this regular meeting of the Bedford County school board for October 13 2022 to order Ms Johnson will you please take the role Mrs Kirby here Mr Hill here Mr Daniels here Mrs Hairston here Mr Holbrook here Dr mealy here Mr Nelms here Madam chair you have a quorum thank you ma'am do I have a motion to approve the agenda I have a motion by Mr Hill do I have a second second second by Ms Harrison any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries do I have a motion to go into closed session I'm sure I make a motion that we go into closed session pursue a Dakota Virginia 2.2-3711a138-1 to discuss the assignment appointment performance discipline and release of contract

002for specific School Board employees including the evaluation of the superintendent as provided in his contract of employment three for discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose or of the disposition of uh publicly held real property where discussion and an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body 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 counsel including School Board policy I have a motion by Mr Hill do I have a second second by Mr Holbrook any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye we're in closed session interior he's just going right through me we are out of closed session Ms Johnson will you

003certify the closed meeting police where's Bedford County school board has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions excuse me with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and where section 2.2-3712d of the code of Virginia requires a certificate a certification by this school board that such closed meeting was conducted in Conformity with Virginia law now therefore be it resolved at 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 close meeting were heard discussed or considered yes yes yes

004yes yes yes yes yes yes thank you okay given there was nothing to take action on we'll skip 2.03 move right to staff reports 3.01 CTE workplace development Dr Trosper or Mr Haas good evening in November 2022 Dr Woodford and I shared CT and workplace Readiness updates and during the presentation we shared information about CTE career clusters workplace Readiness skills CTE course offerings and Community Partnerships so this evening I'm joined by our supervisor of CTE and workplace Readiness Mr Trevor Haas we will update you on progress towards goals shared last year new goals celebrations and next steps for our CTE programs so as you know we had a HVAC ribbon cutting ceremony at Susie Gibson on October 11th we had a number of guests including representatives from the Bedford County Board of Supervisors Bedford County

005School Board and representatives from a number of local businesses including Southern air Davis Heating and Cooling Southern Refrigeration group Whit mechanical the vistas at dreaming Creek and Varney Incorporated prior to the ceremony Our Guest ate a meal prepared by students in our culinary program and went on a tour of Susie Gibson's led by our JROTC Cadets where they heard a brief presentation about each program during the ribbon cutting one of the speakers was Miss Pam Bailey the director of Bedford County Economic Development she shared how the programs at Susie Gibson and especially the HVAC program fills an important need in our local businesses overall the event was a celebration not only of how Susie Gibson supports our students in our division and how it supports our local Workforce we are thankful to those who attended

006and to those who helped make this special event happen I want to start by discussing current CTE course offerings in Bedford County CTE courses are offered at each of our secondary schools some courses are unique to the school and some are offered at all schools determinate determination of course offerings are made by the principal based on student course requests with support from the instruction team additionally Susie Gibson offers CTE programs that are accessible to students from all three high schools we are very proud of the 17 programs offered at Susie Gibson these programs require high level of specialized staff to teach these courses having a central program allows us to offer opportunities to more students as teachers for those programs are harder to find and because of the equipment required for instruction bodytalk Campbell and

007Franklin counties also have Technology Centers batata has 14 programs Campbell County has nine and Franklin County has 17. this year middle and high school has adopted a common bell schedule one of the motives was to make Susie Gibson programs more accessible to students from all three schools under the new schedule all students are still able to achieve the same number of credentials and certifications as they had in previous years now students are able to take a fourth class at the base school and attend Susie Gibson something that was not possible under the previous system the schedule has helped a variety of students for example some can participate in Susie Gibson programs and work towards an advanced diploma seniors can work towards graduation requirements with extra courses on campus and do not have to make the

008choice of graduating or attending Susie Gibson programs other students can take additional courses to better prepare them for post-secondary readiness as a result of the new bell schedule and recruiting efforts of Susie Gibson's staff enrollment at Susie Gibson is as high as it's ever been this year 452 students are enrolled at Susie Gibson the chart shows a five-year enrollment Trend at Susie Gibson we have waiting lists for all of our programs and we have for the past few years one program that has seen a large increase in enrollment is JROTC which has 54 students 33 of these are freshmen the most this program has ever had prior to the new bell schedule it was difficult for freshmen to access Susie Gibson programs due to the number of courses they needed to graduate on time the

009new schedule has made JROTC more accessible to freshmen and we hope this program continues to grow as we plan for next year the Susie Gibson counselor Mrs Flint has already met with sophomores at each school and we already have 422 applicants this is the most we've ever had this time of year interested sophomores at Stanton River High School and Liberty High School have already toured Susie Gibson approximately a hundred JF students will Tour on October the 20th we anticipate this number to continue to increase Susie Gibson also houses one of nine Governors Health Science academies in Virginia each Governor's Academy for Health Sciences incorporates academic content with Career and Technical instruction and implements the five career Pathways related to therapeutic services diagnostic services Health informatics support services and biotechnology research and development Bedford County students

010are able to take the courses displayed on the slide introduction to Health medical terminology biotech and forensics are offered virtually the virtual option and the new bell schedule has made a significant impact on course enrollment this year enrollment in the governor's Health Sciences Academy has increased from 62 during the 2122 school year to 272 this year the largest enrollment increase has been students from JF each middle school offers introductory CTE courses to provide opportunities to engage students in Hands-On and Career and Technical education opportunities prior to high school as they begin making their academic and career plans our high schools offer a variety of CTE courses course offerings are based on student interest and teacher certifications there are total of 42 CTE courses for students to choose from JF has 16 Liberty High School has

01128 and stent River has 34. most of these courses offered are part of a Career Cluster and the certified teacher in one of the core programs has room to offer other courses within their certification so for example an agriculture teacher could potentially offer vet science some could offer Horticulture it really depends on on what the needs are in student requests and teacher interest in a variety of topics currently there are six courses that are common to all three high schools so we are aware of the need to refine those offerings at the base schools to ensure that they are based on local Workforce needs and to ensure all courses include a complete or sequence this may result in less variants and course offerings between the three schools but it does not but it does make

012our course offerings more relevant to the workforce and it better prepares our students for post-secondary readiness we collected information from surrounding School divisions to show how Bedford County Compares with other CTE offerings and student achievement rates as you will see we have a lot to be proud of we're excited to share that CTE programs in Bedford County are leading other school divisions by every measure Bedford County students outperform students in other divisions while we are also providing more CTE opportunities for our students which better prepares them for post-secondary readiness the following slides will draw comparisons between surrounding School divisions in Bedford County these include Amherst Appomattox bottatot Campbell and Franklin County as well as Lynchburg City you will see that Bedford County is number one when compared to surrounding local divisions as we developed this

013data and saw that Bedford County was ahead of the surrounding districts it prompted us to see how we compare to all 20 divisions in region 5. we're excited to announce that Bedford County students placed in the top three or four in each category each division in front of Bedford County has more students the data I'm about to share comes from the school quality profiles from the vdoe website a completer is defined as a student who has met the requirements for a CTE concentration and all requirements for high school graduation as you can see by this chart Bedford County has more completers than all of our surrounding Neighbors examples of Bedford County completer sequences include construction one and two engineering exploration and Engineering analysis and marketing and advanced marketing by being completers students fulfill the vdoe

014sequential elective requirement for graduation when our students become completers it helps prepare them for post-secondary Readiness by showing a commitment to the field of study that they're passionate about and it opens the door to obtaining credentials which separate them from their peers for colleges a completer separates a Bedford County graduate from other prospective students because it shows expertise and dedication to a field at an early age College admissions will ask students to list their preferred pathway and being able to show that students are already completers in a specific pathway will give them a Competitive Edge over others applying and it gives them meaningful experience in a field they want to explore this chart shows that Bedford County students earn more credentials than all of our surrounding Neighbors a credential is a state-issued professional license required

015for entry into a specific occupation determined by Virginia licensure agencies a few examples of credentials students can earn through Bedford County CTE classes or icar with auto body ncct core through construction and the cosmetology licensure exam through cosmetology credentials that align with career students are interested in pursuing After High School helps prepare for post-secondary Readiness by showing employers that they've earned industry recognized credentials and that they've mastered the skills necessary to start working immediately after graduation similar to completers having a credential distinguishes students from their peers as they apply for college many Bedford County students also have taken advantage of the opportunity to earn one or more credentials through their CTE programs this chart shows that Bedford County students have further separated themselves from surrounding divisions when it comes to going above and beyond on

016credential earning Virginia workplace Readiness skills are a set of personal qualities people skills and professional abilities identified by Virginia employers and Educators as essential for employee success in the workplace developed and updated over the past 20 years to adapt to changing workplace Trends and needs these skills are incorporated into the curriculum of every state CTE course they not only give students of diverse backgrounds the opportunity to develop the personal resources they need to get and keep good jobs but they also help employers by providing them with entry-level workers who are well prepared to deal with a variety of workplace challenges in addition to supporting both students and employer needs Virginia's workplace Readiness skills also benefit Industries regions and the state as a whole the workplace Readiness exam counts as an industry credential and as you

017can see Bedford County students are passing the workplace Readiness test at a higher rate than surrounding School divisions in addition to Susie Gibson and the three high school students can also access CTE courses through this tvcc CTE Academy we partner with them to help students participate in programs that are not available through Bedford County CTE options at the September board meeting there was a discussion of funding scholarships for students attending the CTE Academy currently we pay for textbooks but we do not provide scholarships as a follow-up from last meeting we have researched other school divisions that access the CTE Academy each division that funds Scholarships in their annual budget only offer scholarships to seniors keep in mind that while divisions May set aside money in the budget not all seats are necessarily filled due to

018enrollment limitations at the CTE Academy so for comparison Amherst funds 25 to 28 scholarships a year Appomattox funds 10 Campbell funds 100 scholarships Lynchburg City funds 20 and they divide it 10 for each of their high schools each division utilizes an application process with the rubric to select scholarship recipients this process is similar to how Governor school students are selected for example the divisions that offer scholarships do have fewer program offerings at their tech center than Bedford County if they even have a tech center which is one explanation for why they can fund some Scholarships in Bedford County local and Perkins funds have been used for salaries equipment and other costs associated with running our own programs particularly at Susie Gibson I would also like the board to consider when determining if you want to

019offer scholarships that funding dedicated to scholarships could potentially take away from resources dedicated to our own CTE programs another point of information to consider is that we have a memorandum of understanding with cvcc and the University of Lynchburg where they offer reduced tuition to our students we fund 75 percent of tuition costs and we pay for textbooks for dual enrollment courses at high schools currently there are nine dual enrollment courses offerings at our high schools they are College English composition one and two English literature one and two pre-calculus one and two chemistry calculus and biology as Susie Gibson we have five dual enrollment programs these include culinary one and two early childhood education medical terminology and teachers for tomorrow students who qualify for free and reduced lunch pay reduce tuition or they do not pay

020tuition at all depending on their status since the last CT update we've developed a strategic framework goal number four says the Bedford County Public Schools will develop mutually supportive Partnerships with families and Community organizations to enhance student well-being and broaden opportunities for Workforce Development the framework says that Bedford County Schools recognizes the important role that families and Community Partners play in building better futures for students input from surveys indicated a need for a focus on improved communication and engagement with families and providing equal opportunities to students in all three school zones in developing this goal the team evaluated Virginia's current 21 workplace Readiness skills to ensure that they are up to date and align with the needs of local employers the data showed the importance of developing learning Pathways to incorporate workplace skills on-the-job training

021through high school internship opportunities by combining student interests with Workforce needs Bedford County Schools can offer opportunities for students as soon as they graduate since Mr Haas has been in his position and since developing the Strategic framework we have developed additional goals and next steps for our CTE programs while we have much to celebrate there are still some areas we have identified that can be improved first we want to improve our credential offerings at our high schools most credentials offered are at Susie Gibson and we certainly see room for improvement at our high schools this will further increase our students ability to contribute to the local Workforce and to give them a Competitive Edge over their peers who compete for College admission or when seeking employment second we want to explore offering more dual enrollment

022CTE course offerings to our Bedford County programs third offer relevant courses to students and a recent program of studies meeting with our secondary principals we shared the expectation that CTE course offerings would align with the community Workforce needs based on local market data I will be updating the board with specific course offerings when I discuss the program of studies at the November board meeting and finally we want to expand Partnerships locally and in our region last year Dr Woodford shared about business Partnerships with Susie Gibson since the beginning of the school year we have added six new partners some examples are Jamerson Lewis Construction Clayton Homes and Ray's Auto Body for example these Partners provide internships and meet with our students as we work together to fill local employment needs we continue to seek new

023partners currently Mr Haas serves on the workforce Foundation committee that is working on building internship and work-based learning opportunities for our students recently he was invited to join the Bedford area Resource Center Action Group which focuses on employment and training barriers in Bedford County finally Mr Haas has started a local CTE advisory committee consisting of individuals from Susie Gibson cbcc C the Bedford Center of Economic Development and local businesses their first meeting will be at the end of the month so at this time we'll be happy to answer any questions from the board any questions I do have one okay Miss Harrison thank you Dr Trosper um in regards to expanding the partnership and first of all let me just say this is a very good report thank you all for all the good information

024you've given you certainly have enlightened me now in regards to expanding the Partnerships which I think is so very key as well what are some areas that you pacifics that you guys are exploring or thinking about yeah well since this presentation was developed we actually had six of our HVAC Partners come to our ribbon cutting on Tuesday so so I think I said we added six really we could add those as partners too that was that was really exciting to see they are anxious to to meet with us to meet our students and because there's a real need in the community for that and so the criteria we look at is what is the local Workforce need um and there's a lot of data out there and that's part of our application process for new

025courses and so if we can look at that local Workforce data and identify companies that are hiring within that field that is really who we reach out to First and honestly Miss Harrison we have had a lot of companies reach out to us Mr Haas I I feel like it's once a week he's meeting with a new potential partner companies saying we need help we need employees you know what can we do I know that high schools as a former High School principal we got calls frequently from businesses just saying we need to hire can you help me out so in many ways just the quality of our program attracts businesses but but for us we try to be strategic about what is the local Workforce need and how can we meet that need I'm

026also wondering how what are some of the steps and strategies that we have in place to encourage at an early age or to be able to tap into you know maybe an idea or desire that a child has to particularly sure participate well part of a seventh grade requirement is an academic and career plan and so students take surveys sort of on their interest and helps them determine potential career paths so we have a really good program called major Clarity that Bedford County has been using more and more and we've actually um and I'd have to get back to you on the name but we want even a special recognition by this company major clayder for how much we use it I believe it's called a super user okay Ms Robertson can correct me on

027that but we're a super user yeah that's right so what is it Platinum level excuse me absolutely yeah anyway so we're that's something that we have have continued to push with with our secondary schools so not only does that give students ideas for what they can do our counselors have inputted Bedford County course offerings that apply to that field of study and so it would it could map out their course of study from middle school all the way to high school so it helps kids know what courses to sign up for but it also helps principals plan for future course offerings and so one of the fields for example has been Health Sciences that's a field that that students are seeing that they're interested in are our Governor's Health Science has grown so um it's

028been it's interesting to see what our students are are asking us for and being able to align that with the workforce you I do look forward to further discussion as we get into our budget planning and all to maybe explore opportunities where we can maybe give grants or scholarships to help some of these students who are in need thank you thank you questions Mr Ms currently do we have any type of like CTE advisory committee that you know consists of like local business owners that maybe you can elaborate on like what what is their role in this yeah Mr Haas is a member of One I'm gonna let him share that's okay so so part of the CTE advisory committee that we're we're starting that's going to be at the end of October it we're

029starting out small and we've got the director of Economic Development there who's going to help guide us on on the businesses that need to be at the table for the local Workforce so we're going to start small but that's going to Branch out and and we're going to bring in more and more businesses to that discussion sounds good Mr Daniels thank you Mr Haas and Dr Trosper it was great being here a couple days ago for the ribbon cutting and and getting the tour and getting to see all the all the teachers and the kids everyone was was definitely super excited 452 now that's almost double from last year so that's that's a tremendous that's a great Victory and I think we've all heard from around the community that they want to see enrollment up

030and you guys are delivering on that so thank you um we talked about you had mentioned the waiting list what are the um what are the issues that are causing the waiting list I know in in when we talked to in the in the CNA program when when they're out in the field she can only observe 10 at a time um there might be some OSHA regulations that we have is that the main hold up is that what's what's keeping the waiting list there is it you know depend on the program there are limitations for motion how many kids can be in class so so there is there's not a lot of room for growth in those programs but the exciting part is the more kids are interested we can really look at qualified individuals

031now the programs that that won't necessarily be held back is the governor's Health Science Academy JROTC so that's where we anticipate seeing a lot of growth over the next few years um is there anything you want to add to that any other programs that that are not limited by the waiting list yeah it's it's a lot really safety issues is what sure class limits and I'm definitely very interested to see what kind of offerings you think that we we could have I know I've had conversations with Dr Bergen on some of the things so very interested to hear what the community wants what the students want and what you guys think we can pull off so that would be great and then I guess final point is I'm really excited that we have something for

032seventh and 8th graders because I have been saying I was like hey you know we really need to get kids earlier on and you guys are already doing it so that's perfect so and one thing I will add is we have set up Mr Haas specifically has set up opportunities where every Elementary School is having a career day and our Susie Gibson teachers are going to elementary schools to talk to kids and so it's not so much um you know a lot of kids want to be a firefighter that's great but let's talk about how do you get there what steps do you take to be that and so we're trying to get to them early even before middle school that's great and and they said in the the nursing program our students are not

033even have not even graduated yet and they already all have jobs lined up so that I mean that's that's tremendous and then you know in in the construction department just he was bragging on his students and how well they were doing and just he just oozed enthusiasm and it was it was really great to see it's hard not to have a smile on your face in that class unless you drop something on your foot maybe that's the only other time but it was great thank you guys thanks okay I'm gonna bring up the tail in um with the JROTC I know at one point in time there was um problems with the enrollment and the possibility of the program dying out how is that enrollment improved yeah so what we did was we opened up

034opportunities for freshmen to attend and so part of this new bell schedule allowed students to take four classes instead of three at the base school when you're a freshman you really need to get a lot of those credits done early and it's hard to graduate on time if you can only take three credits that first year so by giving them that extra opportunity we've got 33 we've added 33 freshmen this year the other thing that's been helpful is we have a PE teacher that comes and works with the JROTC instructors and so they can get their PE credit meeting their pte competencies working with that instructor and then that PE teacher gives them their health instruction so that is a program we think will continue to grow even more so and so I I think

035we're the opposite at this point in terms of I don't think that's a concern about shutting it down anymore and we're very proud to say it's continuing to grow because we can add that extra set of freshmen well that's that's great news I'm really glad to hear that one um as far as our class offerings and I'm going back old school but I also know that there is a demand for these on masonry and Welding sure so that potential to come in on the horizon or we had welding at Liberty High School last year and then the teacher unfortunately left and so the challenge with that is just finding qualified individuals to teach it so it's still in our program of studies we would love to do that it's just a matter of finding somebody

036who could do that has there been any discussion of Masonry I'm not familiar with that but but welding we certainly would love to if we could find staff because I can remember sitting in region 2000 meetings several years ago and they said if they could have Masons and welders they have more than 2 000 jobs available right there Johnny on this side okay so that's something that that could potentially be a good career path um and the forensics technology I understood we have a good enrollment with that do you we do it it doubled from last year to this year a little more than double at about 10 students last year and and we're sitting at 24. um and and I I'm not I'm just curious for my own education purposes here um what career

037path can you go on with that because usually as a deputy or an officer they like for you to have at least an undergraduate program so how can this Advance you in that career field without your undergraduate program without your undergraduate degree that's what a lot of students take if they're interested in criminal justice is the forensics piece and it gives them it allows them to explore that field that that's one that does not currently have a credential which it may be beneficial to look at exploring a credential for forensics to help them go on that path towards the four-year degree so right right now it's mainly students exploring that field and so it's kind of a stepping stone to go to the post-secondary education yes ma'am okay thank you very much those are my

038questions anymore thank you both very much appreciate it thank you on 3.02 Staffing standards Dr Calvert Mr Hagler good evening uh due to the questions and concerns that the September board meeting in regard to Elementary class size Ms Kirby requested a presentation on Staffing standards so prior to this board meeting we met with the budget and finance committee to discuss Staffing standard considerations for the 2223 school year and options to address the current concern on Elementary class size this presentation will review current elementary class size and additional considerations for Reviving step revising Staffing standards as we prepare for the 2223 school budget foreign so before we get started I think it's important to review our current Staffing standard and the Virginia soq is a point of reference um the BCPS Staffing standard for classroom teacher

039in elementary is one full-time equivalent teaching position for every 21 students in K3 and one full-time teaching position for every 22 students in four or five the Virginia soq has an and these are averages it says that 24 to 1 with no class larger than 29 in kindergarten 24 and as an average and one to three with no class larger than 30 and 25 and 4 to 6 with no class larger than 35. so now that we've set the stage let's look at our current Elementary classes that are above 25. Big Island Elementary School has a class of 26 and a class of 30. there is one instructional Aid that is assigned this instructionally mainly goes to fourth grade goes to third grade when fourth grade is in resource um it is important to state

040that this school made an administrative decision to use one teaching position as a reading specialist through Title 1 funds giving Big Island Elementary School two reading specialists at a River Elementary School has one class of 27. there are two instructional aides that split coverage to this first grade class and it is covered all day New London Academy has two classes of 26 and there are no instructional aides assigned Moneta elementary school has one class of 26 and there is one Aid assigned for most of the day but not all of the day there was an administrative decision to use Title 1 funds in this school to have an extra instructional coach in lieu of an additional teacher Stewartsville elementary school has a class of 27 and 28. there is one instructional Aid that splits coverage

041between the two classes and Title 1 Fund in this school have been used for an instructional coach and a reading specialist The Proposal the recommendation from the budget and finance committee meeting were to use available funds from the current budget to add instructional aids to supplement for this year only putting A's in place where AIDS were not currently in place um it is important to know that all no not all current positions posted for AIDS have been filled at this time we are aggressively seeking applicants but currently there is need as we move in I might have went too far as we move into the 22-23 school year and look at our current Staffing standards we wanted to look at considerations and moving forward would there be a consideration for maximum Elementary class size so

042we have worked up Mr Hagler and I have worked up a couple of examples for your consideration all three of these considerations include teaching positions will be added to any school to prevent multiple grade level classrooms and these are examples using what our current data is to kind of project um if we had the condition of no single class will be greater than 24 and K1 26 and 2 3 and 28 and 4 5. it would require nine additional teachers which would be 603 thousand dollars if we had scenario number two with no single Elementary class would be greater than 25 in K5 it would be 12 additional teachers would be needed at eight hundred and four thousand dollars and our last example is if if we had no class would be greater than 29

043and K5 and that all classes greater than 25 would get an 8 assigned to K5 it would be one teacher and 13 pair professionals at 502 500 it is important to say that the majority of these teaching positions would go to small schools such as Moneta Big Island Huddleston and Otter River these schools because they are small have fewer options for spreading out their staff other Staffing standards that need to be considered as we look forward to the 22-23 budget um there is currently for reading Specialists there is one assigned per school that means small schools such as Big Island Elementary School and 150 students get one reading specialist and large schools such as TJ 480 students get one reading specialist um one consideration would be to add an additional reading specialist to schools over

044400. that would give three additional reading Specialists which would give a reading specialist at Bedford Elementary good view and TJ another consideration for the 2223 budget would be currently the Staffing standard for library media Specialists and school counselors say that there is one per school at student enrollment of there is half per School of student enrollment less than 250 and there's one if it's over 250. so currently with this Staffing standard Big Island Elementary School Huddleston Auto River and Monita would have to share library media and counseling staff um that becomes difficult because because Librarians act as an additional resource to Art music and PE an elementary setting that allows for teachers to have a 30-minute staff period so that is a consideration moving forward to just assign it as one library media specialist and

045one school counselor per School another staff in consideration for 2223 would be athletic trainer as Sports have been added we have not increased the number of athletic training serving our schools currently there's only one at each high school as we think about adding additional Sports middle school cross-country track competition cheer we must consider adding additional trainers trainers are currently serving multiple locations and um in multiple Sports especially in the spring um one consideration for the 22-23 staffing standard would be to add an additional trainer to each Zone and this would be shared between the height of school and middle school so these are considerations for the 2223 budget for Staffing standard adjustments Mr Hagler and I would be happy to answer any questions that we can of course here given the time do you want

046to hold questions until after the dinner break let's entertain a few and see where we'll go with that I have a few do you want to pick up with questions after DC okay that's what we'll do we'll go ahead and adjourn for dinner and then we'll come back and Mr Hagler and Dr Calvert you'll still be on the hot seat and we'll turn for dinners I know yeah good evening again would like to reconvene this regular meeting of the Bedford County school board for October 13 2022. if you would please join me for the pledge pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justices for all thank you foreign listed Dr Bergen yes ma'am tonight board

047members it's my pleasure to introduce you and the community to three administrators who have already been on the job since the beginning of this school year but we've just not yet had a chance to formally introduce them to you and to the community so these individuals have come forward when I call your name if you step to the podium we'll begin with Suzanne quiesenberry Miss Suzanne cuisenberry was previously appointed as our school nutrition supervisor she returns to K-12 Food Service following a four-year Hiatus working in the senior living segment as the food and beverage director for Richfield living in Salem Virginia before that appointment Miss cuisenberry held a similar role as the school nutrition director for Salem City schools for four years and prior to her start in school nutrition she worked for over 15

048years in college and university Food Service as the retail director for William and Mary food service director for Hollins University and Catering director for Virginia Tech she earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from East Carolina University and has a master's degree in Business Administration from National University we're just so thrilled to be able to hire somebody with that much experience welcome Suzanne quiesenberry School nutrition supervisor thank you Kelly was previously appointed by the board to serve in the role of supervisor of Health Services Mrs Thomas has also diverse experiences hers are in professional nursing school nursing and nursing leadership she has served as a medical officer in the United States Air Force a certified nurse assistant instructor and a home health nurse provider for the past 16 years Mrs Thomas served in Loudoun County

049Public Schools as a school nurse a resource nurse a specialist and as acting supervisor of student health services for Loudoun she earned her bachelor's degree in nursing from the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute in Utica and she is scheduled to complete this December a master's degree in nursing education from Western Governors University again we're just so thrilled to have somebody with that much experience leading our health services welcome Mrs Kelly Thomas [Applause] and next is Mrs Kate McNeely there she is Kate was previously appointed by this board to serve as the principal of the alternative education center Mrs McNeely earned her bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University and secondary education in English for her first teaching assignment Mrs McNeely chose to live and work in a village in Alaska that had a K-12 School

050of about 80 students living in the village was it 80 students or 80 villagers 80 villagers 80 villagers living in uh after that Adventure she taught Middle School English and social studies in three different School divisions including Charleston South Carolina as well as here in Virginia and Charlottesville and Chesapeake she earned her master's degree in administration and supervision from the University of Virginia she's been with Bedford County since 2019 and as a Liberty High School graduate is delighted with this opportunity to serve her community and the students here at the alternative education center so glad to have you congratulations and welcome Mrs Kate McNeely we had planned to introduce two other uh recently appointed administrators Mrs Heather Boyles from Thomas Jefferson Elementary principal and Kathy brisantine assistant principal of Stanton River Middle but they have

051both had some personal reasons that they couldn't be with us here tonight so we are going to invite them to come back on November 10th so we can introduce them at that time thank you very much welcome to the Bedford County Public Schools family um let's see so we will begin the public comment portion of tonight's meeting it's a public comment portion of tonight's agenda is limited to 40 minutes speakers are asked to State their name and voting district the 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 anytime while in attendance during this meeting we

052also ask that speakers keep their remarks objective and about the school in nature please keep all comments limited to matters related to the public schools and any comments that are harassing or amount to a personal attack against an identifying individual individual whether board member or staff or student are having the potential to cause unnecessary delay or disruption to this meeting are prohibited this is a public meeting for public matters Mr Edwards will serve as timekeeper for individual speakers with a ringing Bell indicating that a person has 30 seconds remaining and a second bell will ring indicating a four a person's four minutes have expired Mr Edwards will also serve as timekeeper for our cumulative 40-minute period well Mr Edwards four minute timer Bell Rings please discontinue speaking and allow the next person in line to

053come to the podium should you be unable to finish your comments please send or give them to Ms Johnson and she will give them to board members and we asked did you please do not adjust the microphone at the podium as it has been positioned for Optimum audio quality our first Speaker tonight is Beth Hein Beth Hein Dave Dietrich me I'm Dave Dietrich of the fourth ladies and gentlemen during the school board board meeting in September two books were donated to the Bedford County School System these books were white fragility by Robin D'Angelo and how to be an anti-racist by ibram X Kendy what follows is not an endorsement of those books but commentary it is critical that everyone understand what these authors have to say every adult citizen including parents school board members teachers

054administrators and even elected officials should take time to read these books it is also wise to reflect upon how these books might be influencing others associated with education in Bedford County including students these books speak volumes at how some citizens might see the current state of education and race relations in our country Commonwealth and Nation today for those who may not be familiar with these books here is a kind of Cliff's Notes version summary of them both of these books Advance critical race Theory or CRT based on what the authors have written neither academic success nor failure are dependent upon levels of individual intelligence Talent hard work and perseverance irrespective of gender or race rather academic success or failure is always a result of of individual and systemic racism put another way one has succeeded

055because another has not been allowed to succeed one has been held back because another has been allowed to succeed for some only equality of outcome or Equity can redress that perceived Injustice not equality of opportunity a Bedrock of American Liberty arguably neither author seems to offer sufficient empirical evidence for their claims and assumptions neither do they seem to give a satisfactory explanation for the terms they employ neither do they seem to offer dispassionate critical thinking in lieu of cherry-picking facts neither do they seem to acknowledge uncertainty or limits of knowledge most of all neither do they seem to consider scientifically based falsification if the central thesis were correct then we should expect to observe only European Americans succeeding and influencing others in life all others would have been prevented from doing so yet that is

056clearly not the case the lies of Benjamin Banneker Thomas so Bob Woodson Ben Carson the late Walter Williams Martin Luther King Frederick Douglass and many other great Americans are convincing proof of crt's falsity still some persistent in classifying people by an accident of birth by race rather than by consideration of individual virtuous character producing an exemplary life that's illuminated past regardless of skin color thank you thank you Mr Dietrich Cindy Young House Janet who saw thank you hello my name is Janet Houston I work at the Forest Elementary School I had an incident that happened July 12th it started as on July 12 2022 I Janet Houston went to Lori Manley office around to her office around 12 30 pm to inform her about some rights that was on her teacher's floor I was concerned

057that it was going to mess the vacuum cleaner up but miss Lloyd was she said she was going to take care of it and I said okay so I went to work the next day July 11th on 12 2022 I'm sorry I'm nervous so nervous woman so I'm sorry to interrupt you um but we are asking that you do not call Members out call people out by name to keep things objective um and we do not want anything that would be limit matters keep the remarks objective and about school school in nature um and there is a way to go about this through HR as opposed to calling someone's name out in a public forum like this uh I had emailed HR and I never got a response back yeah well I'm sorry but we

058um and I'm looking for it in here um I even emailed Fred well and we um that any comments that are harassing or amount to a personal attack and I'm not saying that this is but against any identifying individual whether board member staff or student or have any potential to cause unnecessary delay or Interruption to this meeting were prohibited foreign you say whatever you want just leave the names out is what I would say okay what the hell the board wishes to go you just leave the names out then leave the names in in the school out because that could also be an identifying Factor okay Percy okay July 12 2022 around 8 20 or to 8 30 A.M um someone approached me in front of the office when they were when I was it

059was in front of staff um and kids um I was told that I was so dramatic um I like to keep stuff going um when we had had a meeting me and my other supervisor um we had the meeting and I don't know how to say it if I can't say the name thank you um I was in the office and we were having a meeting and all of a sudden the person came into the room and was like what are y'all doing y'all having a secretive meeting and we all three spoke out and said yes um again the person talked to me I was sitting at the desk in the office and um and was told to me again you you are so dramatic um you let it keep stuff going um I got

060I got real upset and I said well I'm just gonna get up and go and find something to do and when I went to go around this person that's when they got me what was try to accuse me of knocking something off the desk that is that I was sitting at and which I didn't do um my supervisor spoke out and said no she didn't Janet didn't do that um you did it and she was like oh well she was like oh well she'll get over it that's when I went outside I got on my phone and I called the big the bigger supervisor and he never responded he sent me a text message back saying that for me to text him whatever I needed so I was like you know I can't deal with

061this so that's when I called another person that was higher than he was and and he was like well do you need to I was explaining upset and I was telling him that do um well he said do you need to go home um and I said no I would take I would go ahead and just deal with it you know for the rest of that day and then um the next day came he that person came and investigated me and when that person investigated me the other person that that done this stuff to me will grab me on my arm and everything I didn't got I I'm sorry I've gotten sidetracked I I thought I could say the name and it's and this this that's going on it's it's taking a toll on me

062every time I talk about it it just upsets me but anyway back I didn't miss out on some stuff but when I had before I went out of the room to call this person that's when this person had grabbed me on my arm and tried to pull me back into the office um gosh this just [Music] thank ma'am [Music] thank you ma'am thank you Debbie Harvey foreign my name is Debbie Harvey and I'm in District three on August 8th history and social study teachers in Bedford County Public Schools received a notice from the central office that you would once again be subscribing to Newsela and that it is available for classroom use Newsela is a Content platform that takes articles published in Outlets such as the Washington Post and the guardian and rewrites them to

063fit five different reading levels um after hearing concerns about Newsela I did some research and even media bias factcheck.com which has been accused of favoring the left he's they said of Newsela in review in reviewing their content Partners all aligned with least biased left-center or left we could not find one instance of a right-leaning source a student review from an 18 year old student on Common Sense Media said I am a student and I use this platform form quite often at school there are some reasons these are some reasons he's referring to other reviews of Newsela why you should not consider trying newzella it leans far far left keep in mind I am really liberal myself he said you will have a hard time finding an unbiased article even on the lightest and most laid

064back subjects while recording undercover accuracy and media spoke to administrators in States in which CRT and scl and the 1619 project are banned in the public schools while speaking of these banned Concepts an instructional coach was asked by the interviewer can you use other sources that have the same Concepts but don't use the same names she answered we do we have access to the company and it's called Newsela in a different state while being recorded undercover school officials said that they are using Newsela which has partnered with the 1619 project for the purpose of teaching this ideology one school officials said that it was one of their main go-to's a director of teaching and learning acknowledged that Newsela was the way school districts could bring in elements that opponents would identify as critical race Theory

065into the schools in a different school system a school official said that they are looking at Newsela and how they can bring some of that banned curriculum into the schools from the Newsela website itself it says four ways for the teachers four ways to integrate culturally responsive teaching into the ELA classroom in January 2021 Newsela had a website headline that said antibias anti-racism lessons in the Newsela SEL collection and the article that was highlighted was entitled power protest Youth and social justice in a book authored by Mary Graber she states the 1619 imprint is being marketed in educational products Newsela is Distributing the 1619 projects essays including one that reads in order to understand the brutality of American capitalism you have to start on the plantation the National Association of Scholars said in an online

066article when Newsela chooses articles with an ideological flavor that flavor is distinctively Progressive I know that some teachers use Newsela as a valuable resource when I'm asking for Bedford County Public Schools to look for a non-biased and pro-american alternative lastly I just wanted to say there has been a lot of talk of loyalty in these meetings or in past meetings loyalty can be good loyalty can be bad it depends on where you place your loyalty I want to thank Chris Daniels for your loyalty you have proven that your loyalty is to your principal your loyalty as to what is right your loyalty as to what is good your loyalty as to what is best for the children and for what is best in producing quality education your loyal to these things and principles even if

067it puts you at odds with childhood friends or those in your work circles your loyalty is not to bureaucracy or lead to circles I hurt you once in conversation say that you are dedicated to doing what is best for the children in Bedford County and not yourself and that is why you sought this seat the school board seat is one of great influence over the most precious and innocent Among Us the children we need Mr Daniels on the school board to continue with his correctly placed loyalty in these principles thank you thank you Ms Harvey Wendy dunmire I have a handout here I don't know who's the person that it goes to foreign Wendy dunmeyer District three I was four we've been moved anyway um I no longer want to be who God created me

068to be who said it first Lucifer somewhere along the line Humanity got the bright idea that the creative authority of God was up for debate or quarrel we his creation Were Somehow endowed with voting privileges that could actually overrule how the Creator planned for us to live and operate never before in our society has there been so much discontent with our gender of birth or the function and Order of male and female relationships and just as Lucifer grew discontent with his created purpose and assignment The Same Spirit and reasoning now run rampant in the lgbtq community as same-sex marriage laws and gender gender neutral education in our schools become The New Normal do you think affirming gender confusion and letting kids think they can change genders at their Leisure may have been the start or

069maybe you've heard of body Integrity dysphoria it's an extremely rare phenomenon in which a disturbed person desires to cut off their healthy limb because they feel a mismatch between their mental and physical image they seek an amputation in search of their true selves in one case a patient performed self-amputation of both legs by freezing them in dry ice how did we get here ask yourself who or what is influencing you you have the Mayo Clinic saying don't rush to label your child over time your child will continue to tell you what he feels is right or is it coming from Pearson who says equality and inclusion are not side issues they are not after thoughts or secondary considerations they sit at the heart of Education and at Pearson we are serious about doing what we

070can to help make this a reality why equality and inclusion and not kindness why Pearson Look at California who recently overhauled its sex education guidance for public school teachers and now encourages them to talk about gender identity with kindergartners and give advice to LGBT teenagers for navigating relationships and having safe sex Pearson has curriculum being created around this very small number of confused kids .003 percent teachers are getting trained on how to affirm them and they are being told to keep it confidential not sure that this is happening in Bedford County but I'm letting you know in a neighboring County County this is per teacher that lives in Bedford and teaches outside the county you can't even give a child that was about the confidentiality but I know for a fact that you can't even

071get a child in Aspirin without a parental permission slip yet you're telling teachers to not involve the parents when these kids are clearly confused and need help several years ago a parent called the police after her daughter walked into a locker room at a college and observed a naked man using the sauna according to the police report the transgendered man in question a 45 year old state college student leaving his name out was was sitting with her legs open and her male genitalia showing a college spokesman said they must follow a non-discrimination policy with the state so what about charging the man with indecent exposure I mean when I was a kid that's what would have happened why are we bending science so far in the opposite direction that we don't even recognize plain old-fashioned

072common sense Family Life curriculum needs an overhaul Advocates protecting children has a great video on YouTube and I am encouraging you guys to check it out it goes into great detail about all of the organizations that are funding the destruction of America's youth it's called caught in the transgender Industries web check it out I have a handout here and it's we'll make sure it gets around to you guys thank you Miss dunmire Don Roberts [Applause] Dawn Roberts good evening I'm Dawn Roberts District Seven I was asked to read this tonight by someone else so this is their words not mine as the baptized Born Again church every Sunday Bible study attending group leading Christian it's I don't understand the push for a christian-led public school if I wanted the school system to also teach my

073child my beliefs I'd utilize the option to send them to private school it's a great option and one that I'm glad parents have I think every family has to decide what is best for their kids personally I believe it is my job not Bedford County Public Schools job to teach my daughters about Jesus I don't need the public school system teaching my kids about Jesus I need them teaching them physics again every parent needs to decide what is best for their child unfortunately the current School Board Race seems determined to implement a school excuse me a schoolwork a school board whose policy is Christianity focused completely eliminating the option to have students attend a school that is solely education based I don't want the religious majority dictating my child's education and I am the religious

074majority while we may be in the religious majority today that is not guaranteed especially at the current numbers of people who are fleeing Christianity and while I think it's short-sighted that people don't consider that maybe one day Christianity won't be the majority I also think that people are short-sighted and not thinking through the differences even within Christianity itself say that Christians win and get to dictate education policy whose Christianity is represented in the schools Catholics methodists Jim Bob Duggars those all vary wildly even if I could design a school that aligned only with what my individual specific Church teaches the congregation of the church itself interprets the Bible in different ways do you agree with the person sitting to your left at church on every single issue I don't and that includes the days that

075my own husband sits to my left I would even dare to say that if you have a pastor you've never disagreed with you aren't thinking critically even as a devout Christian I don't believe that any religion should form school policy even my own to those of you who want the public school policy to be dictated by popular religious belief are you not concerned about a day when Christianity is no longer the majority or if not a day where those in power those creating policy believe that Christianity means something very different than the Christianity you believe do you not see the irony in forcing a Doctrine whose very Foundation is that of free will now she goes on to talk about the school board candidate that she supports which I'm not going to do because I

076don't think it's appropriate to do here but anyway I just thought that was a good reminder to all of us thank you Ms Roberts thank you hello I offer comments tonight not as a representative of any organization just my own comments that have been on my heart tonight I speak as a mother an aunt a Community member a Sunday school teacher a BCPS faculty member and a mother of a BCPS student and a chicken farmer if you need I know there are several policies up for review tonight most of which are rather benign but there are always one or two where emotions and passions can flare based on last Summer's incredibly contentious board meeting where a similar policy was up for debate my best guess is that proposed policy Joc has the potential to prompt

077such a reaction tonight and in the coming weeks before it's voted on tonight I just want to urge you to be very Vigilant and aware of your words when you discuss policy Joc as with everything we as parents know all too well little ears are always listening the way we speak about the population of students that this policy is meant to protect can and will have a very real impact on them even using the word them feels a little othering and can cause a dangerous disconnect whether intentional or not so for now I simply want to refer to transgender and all students who identify as a sexual identity Spectrum minority is our students with this in mind I present the following statistics from various peer-reviewed studies and National surveys compiled by the Trevor Project I've

078changed the pronouns to be more personal and I just ask you consider your words tonight as you discuss our students first of all suicide is quote the leading the second leading cause of death among our students our lgbtq students are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers according to sorry according to a 2020 study in the Journal of adolescent Health our transgender and non-binary students are two to two and a half times as likely to consider an attempt suicide when compared to our cisgender students among our lgbtq students statistically only one-third experience parental acceptance and an additional one-third experience complete parental rejection our lgbtq students who report physical harm or rejection from their parents are quote 12 times at greater odds of attempting suicide anyway the way we speak influences

079how our students see themselves and I kind of feel like it's already happening tonight I just ask that you as board members set an example tonight and know that our students are listening thanks thank you Miss Childress due to having two already open slots and two no-shows would anyone else like to speak this evening yes ma'am well I actually I was pointing to the lady behind you I'll get you in just a second Jessica I'm also a Jessica I'm Jessica Scott in the Third District um teachers are mandated reporters and why is that unfortunately because not all parents are always safe if a student tells a teacher that they're not going to be safe if a parent learns of their other name or their pronoun what happens then does the teacher report it to the

080admin or the counselor as they usually do with a situation that they are mandated to report and then is it the counselor administrators job to decide whether to inform the parents I suppose it would be they would take it from there I'm also concerned like the previous speaker for the safety and the well-being of our trans students because I'm saying I'm concerned for the safety and well-being of all of our students one thing that I like about youngin's proposed policy states quote schools should attempt to accommodate students with distinctive needs including any student with a persistent and sincere belief that his or her gender differs from his or her sex foreign there's an article published this year on the government website website on the NIH government National Library of Medicine anyway if you Google it

081it's going to be one of the top searches forty percent of transgender individuals have attempted suicide 82 percent have considered it the rate of suicide attempt is highest among the youth the youth that we serve these are the people that we protect and significant factors were found in this study The Usual Suspects and school was one of them how they are treated at school as one of the there were several not more than a handful of factors that affect whether they live or die thank you Miss Scott Mr Ward I'm sure most of you know I'm here to speak I've spent many Thursday nights although I went to the wrong location tonight initially um but I think Bedford has an equity problem not an individual policy problem because as she was speaking I remembered recently

082learning that the average life expectancy of an individual with autism is around 54 years old I found this out along with the information that individuals with autism are nine times more likely to die by Suicide and yet of the money raised in support of autism only seven percent is used to assist actual individuals with autism I come here tonight to talk to you about this because Bedford has a notorious reputation among parents for being awful for any special needs student let alone children with autism with behavioral problems I know of five people in the last month that have come to me and told me that in addition to my daughter when she was in kindergarten their children too before they had an appropriate IEP were suspended in kindergarten for behaviors that were a manifestation of

083their disability now tell me a kindergarten who is neurotypical understands being suspended in kindergarten let alone a child with a developmental disorder and language and communication difficulties a lot of people believe I expect unreasonable things from you but here is the data on special education from the vdoe that you reported individuals with disabilities are discriminately expelled and suspended at a higher rate in Bedford County that is not true of surrounding counties that is your data 47 of students with disabilities only 47 that's all disabilities in Bedford County have gainful employment or have entered higher education a year after graduation as a parent it's my worst fear that my daughter is dependent upon others for her survival because I know what transpires that group homes and long-term care it isn't pretty so I fight because my

084child is strong and capable but we rarely get the intervention she needs and they certainly push back and wait as long as possible to provide any interventions at all I was once told that they could give me some help with with a discipline of my autistic child but they didn't believe she had a disability I know many will say that school is only part of a child's success and I agree however those issues exist at every school and yet Botetourt County right up the road does not discriminately suspend and expel children with disabilities and over 73 percent of their disabled students are either working or enrolled in higher education within a year of graduation that means 30 of our students are forever dependent and at the mercy of systems that abuse and kill them because

085of your policies and because of the decisions you make in the chairs that you sit in I've spoken with many of you on the board individually I know a couple of you worked at schools and know that seclusion is an active part of Bedford County still although the special education actively denies it I know that the Virginia Department of Education personally came and did a training to make sure that people knew at least how to do it appropriately however clearly not because for the 2018-2019 school years Bedford said that they didn't seclude or restoring a single student that is false Bedford what are you going to do our neighbors are giving 30 percent more of their kids a chance at a decent life can we get with the program please thank you Mr Ward we

086have room for two more speakers would anybody else like to speak no volunteers I'll close public comment Tom do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda I have a motion by Mr Hill do I have a second second by Mr Nelms any discussion all those in favor of approving the consent of General sitting the Bible saying aye aye opposed approval granted we're going to pick up at item eight let the staff reports Dr Calvert Mr Hagler and Miss Hairston I believe you were up before to ask questions about the Staffing standards oh first off I want to say to Dr Calvert and to Mr Hagler excellent report that you all have put together for us I uh certainly appreciate it and I just lost my screen hold on it's here somewhere there we

087go so my question is regarding our current classes okay so I'm looking at that screen and I see where otter River in first grade they have two do they have two first grade classes at Otto River no they only have one okay and we have two instructional AIDS that's covering that one class yes Okay so they split it go ahead I'm sorry they split it they don't they're not both in there they split it they kind of rotate and go into another class maybe and help out okay with another group or grade all right um so we could would it be correct for me to say that throughout the day there is instructional hours there is a pair up in the classroom with that teacher yes okay and um this Para what instructional experience if

088any has he or she had I do not know the answer to that question okay okay um I didn't ask that level of detail to each of these principles all right all right um the other question that I have is um just kind of looking at our numbers I'll leave the auto River so we we have two instructional AIDS there and providing those students with that support that's a lot of children in the classroom that's for sure in first grade um I agree and I know we've had some difficulties finding teachers you know that's been really a challenge for our County as well as I know surrounding counties as well it is a challenge especially late in the year okay um you know the other question involves um just your recommendation for Staffing standards going

089forward for 22-23 it is the considerations that we need to discuss for the budget 2223 it's um just things that we thought needed to be mentioned for board discussion okay well then I would just like to Simply say to fellow board members as we discuss this further in the future that it's so important for us to strongly consider our Student Success and particularly at the elementary level where the foundation is laid for them and so I think it's also important and behooves us to really ensure that these class numbers are are as low as we can possibly make them and I certainly think the number that you all are proposing from another attachment that you said or that you sent us indicates in one option being I think 24 students in kindergarten and first grade

090yes there's one option that has 24 and K1 26 and 2 3 and 28 and 4 5. we just tried to work up from our discussion with budget and finance we tried to work up three different options they were just examples anything the board requests or wishes would be happy to work up well I know this will be further discussion that we'll have um but certainly I just want to say that the lower numbers in our kindergarten and and first and second grade or in elementary period is so very very important for their future success in middle and high school so thank you Dr Calvert that's all I have okay thank you Ms Harrison any further questions yeah I just want to make a comment um about the the standards what we discussed in the

091finance meeting was that instead of setting a firm number for Staffing standards from here on forward it may be something we need to do year to year depending on what our enrollment is and then how much money we have to work with so I would like the board to think about that we also have to think about things that we've promised to do as well one of them is restore steps so we have to keep in mind the things that we we wanted to do relative to this but I agree with Miss Hairston I think we need to try to keep it as low as we can and certainly we have money available all the covid money and Esser money that's come in that we can certainly put pairs in classrooms I agree I've spoken

092to several divisions there you know teachers are just really hard to get so it's it's going to be very difficult for us to do that at this time I mean we may find one or two but we're not going to find the the the the nine that we might need but if we can at least cover help these classes by covering them with instructional assistance that's certainly better than nothing so it's just something the board has to think about what are your priorities um and and you know looking at Staffing standards instead of long-term more short-term uh based on that year the enrollment and the money Dr melee any further questions I'll just make one mistake man I'm all about smaller classroom sizes but we've got to be able to pay for them and so

093as we continue to talk about these increased dollars as a board member my expectation is that we're coming to the table to say here's our options not only to add teachers but here's our options of how to get those dollars we cannot continue to add to the budget we're not printing money in the back room so we've got to be able to cut somewhere and we've got lots of things coming up that we need to be able to pay for and so my only consideration is when we're talking about this and it's absolutely the right time to be talking about Staffing and what's coming up but from a budget standpoint we've got to have an option of what are we cutting in order to add this I'm not saying this is wrong I'm just saying

094we've got to have options as a board of where do we get those dollars from absolutely and when we get into the budget cycle the revenue will be one side and our want to's on the other side and they've got a balance in the end this is the biggest part of our budget that's why it's coming a little bit earlier so the board members can think about that before we get into work sessions but 80 of our budget is people and infringes so this is unfortunately if there's Revenue shortfalls as Dr mealy said this is an outfit the Staffing standards is an allocation methodology so it can it changes if there's a shortfall you got to cut back on the allocation if you have more money you can give more out you got to decide

095where to put that money but maintenance reversion sros all those are competing in the budget on the expenditure side and we don't know the revenue side so but this is a little bit more complicated one and one that directly impacts students but I'd say our buildings impact students they've got to be you know HVAC has got to be working and stuff so everything has got to compete so yes you're exactly right and as we get more data at the end of December from the governor's proposed budget and move into January on the budget this will be brought with other competing things for the budget okay nice when when we start with the budget talks because this is a great presentation could we have a printout given to us at the yes ma'am at the beginning

096of the session of these slides that have the numbers on them so that way we can be reminded of exactly what the numbers are deck out to the board members yeah because I know we had this one then we had the one with the um Staffing athletic trainers but we also had one with cost of the athletic trainers the rating Specialists and so on and if we could have printouts of those yes to save those happy to do that okay thank you so much thank you Dr Mill I'm sorry yeah no no um I think the again the other thing is we do have competing things the steps the sros um the reversion things but this year at least we're kind of blessed because sales tax is much more than it we anticipated it would

097be and we do have the reversion I mean the uh the Esser money and the coveted money so I think what I'm asking you I'll do is again just think more short term I agree we're probably going to need to make cuts at some time right now we don't have to and because our kids are suffering from learning loss you know I I would always Advocate let's do what we can while we have the money but to to go along and say well from now until forever it's going to be a staffing standard of 24 to 1 we just can't do it I think it's smarter to just look at it all of us sit down look at it each year and see what we can do with what we have this year is actually

098pretty good I will be presenting the first quarter forecast at the next board meeting I've started working through that there are some positive things there on the revenue side but we also have set aside additional sr3 or coveted funds for things like this so in going forward and placing an aid in these larger classes I don't see as a problem we'll use either local money or sales tax money or from State money that's coming in a little bit better or I can shift it over to covet if I need to so I don't see a concern with doing that for this given year that is not going to be written into the Staffing standards this is a one-year thing that we would do for these class sizes if the board would like us to do

099that and this money is for this year use it or lose it right um sr3 is the last bucket uh can be used in the 24 year also and so there is money that we have specifically set aside to deal with any kind of learning loss and issues in the 24 year also but just not as much a lot of the money has been you know some of the other things that we're working on is HVAC issues that we've moved forward on with that much I I would say that you would have to make the best impact that we could and I I suggested it last time that if we can do something with getting powers in with that with that covered money now for to address learning loss it's something we should be doing

100anyone else thank you very much services on that that's okay with that but uh placing I think it was for the small the larger class sizes seeing if we can place an aid into those classes and give the schools additional help with a paraprofessionals I think I think that's not something that we should make a decision hey see on the spot until we see some numbers and figure out exactly where if it is going to qualify for Esther funds and I mean is it definite that would qualify for us for funds um and we could shift those salaries over to us or funds which we have not we'd put money into the budget for this year to use up up to two million dollars at this point I projected we're going to use about a

101million of that 2 million if we hire people now will they understand that they are short-term and possibly not have a job in the future uh we can explain that they would be the last hired so if there were reductions those would be the first to if we had to go into a roofing situation but with the turnover we expect experience every year I don't see five or six positions of spirit professionals being a problem whatsoever with retaining them for the next year it's up to them whatever they want to do yes ma'am for now so what other schools are out there that's in need of additional support our teachers or paraprofessionals this year do we have other classes I mean other schools would highly assessed Elementary classrooms because that's what you all asked me

102to do so I wouldn't have anything so the elementary schools that we haven't that you've included in your presentation are the only ones that are above 25 okay I was thinking perhaps maybe since our last meeting we've had some more students not to my knowledge okay okay and Madam chairman we also have money that has been set aside for loaning loss that can be used for that too um and and I think we should you know try to to do this as much as we possibly can as soon as we can the more time that goes by the worse it is for our our kids and Mr Hagler I know when we spoke was very confident that the money was there to do that this year do are you do you still remain confident Mr

103Hagler um as I mentioned before sr3 covered relief dollars for learning loss in the operating budget we had put a million dollars aside for that for this current year um anticipation from what we've already done is about a million of that will be spent um some of that we decided in previous could be shifted over to help with some HVAC project projects at TJ and good view but we still left in 300 000 in the current year for additional learning loss monies if we needed to spend it so um this would cost 167 000 estimated um depends on how fast we place them and when they get places probably be less than that in the end and so have about half of what we had set aside for additional learning loss yes 300 000. I

104would like to propose Madam chairman that we go ahead with this do I need to make it well we we have the bylaws in effect that we're going to present one month and vote the next and that has to be voted on to wave that role before we proceed forward can we at all Miss Madam chairman count that we asked for this information to want to do this last month and now the information has been brought to us we have to have a motion to waive the wave we the information was brought to us but it was presented it was an actual presentation this month so if this is the first month that would be coming up in normal uh according to our bylaws and procedures that we just adopted that it would be coming

105up for Action next month not this month unless someone makes my guess that's boring yeah make just a couple comments um first of all we've spent a significant amount of time not improperly talking about eight classrooms out of the many many classrooms we have pre-k through five our staffing I just don't want the public to be misled or have a misconception that we have large class sizes everywhere we have very small class sizes everywhere except in these eight these are eight that are above 25. because this board funds and appreciates small class sizes that's why you know our standards are 21-1 at K3 and 22-1 at four five um you're welcome to I'm happy for the board to provide direction if you so wish I see this as administrative there were questions and concerns raised

106at the last board meeting we brought a presentation back just to give you the data that was discussed so thoroughly in the last meeting we have coveted funds we we are currently spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in instruction it's not like this would be the first money we're spending towards learning loss we spend I don't have that figure before I'd be happy to produce it for you but we we've spent significant funds this year in teachers counselors Librarians out of our covet dollars and we can certainly advertise and hire more teaching assistants to go into these classrooms and this year because we're we're flush with that code money I don't know that I need a motion from the board but if you all want to take that direction I would see this administrative fun

107with it being administrative thank you Dr Bergen you're welcome you're still on the hot seat for the school activity audit as cold as it is here tonight I like being in Hot Seat being from South Florida um yes in front of you also in board docs electronically but I also pass out in paper format this is the annual audit of our school activity funds now just to distinguish between this is not the central office budget but actually the activity funds in the schools that they maintain and those are audited every year so we have otters go out to eat each school work with the bookkeepers and principals and review those happy to report that we received a clean bill and audit opinion on that on the audit report now there is a disclaimer on there

108that due to the nature and limited staff there are certain things that they cannot guarantee in that separation of Duties we have one bookkeeper per school so to separate all the duties is near impossible um but that is normal for any school system as they stated but other than that all all the financial statements are reported in good condition I will say that to mitigate some of that I've implemented some controls to oversee that we actually do the bank reconciliations at the central office to or give oversight to what's happening out in the school so that's an added layer of control that we've added in Bedford County schools and actually we review those accounts with the bookkeepers and the principals I go out and visit with principals and review the accounts probably once or twice

109a year is my goal to do that so the other thing I like to call your attention to is um they have comments on internal controls and other considerations the third item listed there was an item that's been there for a while it's just a philosophical disagreement I have with the Auditors but I'm going to implement and get that cleaned up it's that if somebody has a reimbursement coming to themselves their name should not be on the check we require two signatures on each check out of the schools and there has to be backup which authorizes the expenditure so if a principal we're going to sign a check to themselves it also it has to already be authorized by somebody from central office that was good enough for me Auditors like the Habit that that

110principle does not sign that check so I'm going to have that policy change it'll become before the board in the future and I'm going to address the bookkeepers next week in a meeting to say that practice will stop if the check is to yourself or the principal they'll have to get a different signature on that and we'll take care of that and that'll come off the auto report next year so just wanted to report on that on the school activity funds and just let you know our audit is ongoing right now to central office hopefully by November December or January I'll present that to you the county was a little bit delayed in the 21 audit and I think that was just finished up a month or two ago so I will present that to

111you at the next board meeting that was at the end of June 21 end of June 22 is being worked on right now and I'll bring that to the board as soon as that is completed so just want to give you a heads up on future audit reports that will be coming your way be happy to answer any questions you might have on the school activity funds yes that's me I do have a couple um Mr Hagler under the school comments and cash disbursements it's noted that the school tax exempt status was not utilized do we know why it wasn't utilized um just an oversight um there the bookkeepers know that they do everything possible to make sure we're using vendors that already have our sales tax exemption um and they and they pursue that

112and they actually go to make sure they get reimbursed if they don't utilize that uh there's so many transactions going on there may have been a teacher that did a transaction and sent salt reimbursement or they didn't have the sales tax exemption but those are few and far between we try to use all vendors that have our sales tax exemption on file and with our Purchase Card making sure that we submit that so I would say if one of those got through it probably wasn't one of the bookkeepers that put placed the order but maybe a reimbursement or something like that but they diligently go after that in all cases says that funds were received and appeared to be held overnight by a teacher um how did we how did we find that out or

113how do we um based upon when the money was turned into the bookkeeper and taking control of her um that is our policy that is in our policy manual the teachers that collect money need to turn it into the bookkeeper into into the into the office each and every day I will say that there probably are some circumstances where the teacher has collected money or collected money a little bit after school and the bookkeeper may have already left we have two schools where they share a bookkeeper so that's near impossible to turn it in for that day um but that is the policy and so when that's kind of broken the bookkeeper will report that to the principal in their conversation with with the teacher on that yep yeah I'll have to look into that

114one the only accounts that will have negative bounces at any time or when schools are spending title money they spend it then they request it from us and then we send them a check for that so those will go into negative I don't know if this particular one was a a grant one or not so I'll take a look at that and see what's happened with that one with that particular School but all counts should be positive except where they got to spend it and then ask for reimbursement any more questions for Mr Hagler like to conclude our bookkeepers do a great job and there's quite a bit of money flowing through those schools and they they watch every penny they do a great job so thank you thank you very much Mr Hagler moving

115on to item 4.01 calendar choices for 23 24 Dr Woodford good evening members of the board I am going to be sharing some information with you tonight about options for the 2023-24 school calendar um to help frame this information allow me to share just a few of the parameters that have to be considered when creating different options for calendars first the Virginia Department of Education requires that division school calendars plan and account for 180 days of instruction for students there are currently no waivers for a reduction of those days as we've had in the past with covid secondly Bedford County Public Schools does not start teachers prior to August the 2nd due to requirements for vrs and benefit contributions so any change to that part of our calendar would create a budget impact that the

116board would actually need to consider and approve um we also have to complete our year with students by the Friday prior to Memorial Day weekend to ensure the location of our high school graduations of course we could change the location um but the vine Center does provide nice facilities the ability to stream that graduation the ability to invite anybody a student would like plenty of parking so to change that would prove to be a little bit problematic and you saw that happen this year when we were going to graduate the weekend after Memorial and the graduation dates Lu holds them even prior to contracts for school divisions and for us so they will never give that Saturday away of Memorial weekend because they know we have traditionally over many years had that date so we

117found it was problematic to even find a date that wasn't held by another their School Division so we try to stay in that parameter to graduate Memorial weekend and we don't start until after August the 1st thirdly the soqs require professional development and instructional practices strategies and any new initiatives each year this has to be certified with the Department of Education and in addition they're on top of that many required trainings that are currently being mandated by the Department of Education and the general assembly for licensure for our staff we cannot skip those trainings and they are in addition to our required instructional professional development and just to give you some examples of what required training looks like that's bloodborne pathogens Title IX compliance annual ESL ell training seizure training for school Personnel training for

118IEP team members cyber security student mental health awareness and intervention and referral diffusing disruptive behaviors so those are required trainings on top of professional development so finally there's also the consideration placed on employee preferences for certain breaks for instance having three days at Thanksgiving two weeks for winter break a full week at Spring break if any of these breaks were shortened we could have some additional work days or professional development time put into the calendar throughout the year so with those parameters in mind that I just shared four draft calendars were created for consideration calendars A and B are the most similar to this year's school calendar the biggest differences between the drafts is the number of work days for teachers calendar a has 10 total work days for teachers compared to seven work days

119in calendar B to allow for more work days and calendar B we would have to decrease Spring Break by Three Days so you'll see that one calendar has more work days but a shorter Christmas or winter break and the second calendar has the full two weeks at winter break but fewer work days calendar C and D are similar to one another but they offer the option of something new that we've been discussing and that's a trend transition day for our kindergarten 6th and 9th grade students they would attend on their own a first day without other students in the building so they could get to know the school get to know the teachers get to know the routines find their classes be a little bit more comfortable and participate in other types of moving up

120activities um another feature um of this calendar that we've never seen in a calendar before is a virtual work day for teachers prior to teacher work week to allow time for completion of those State mandated trainings that are all virtual this day is put on the calendar as the Friday before work week but those trainings would be released earlier than that and teachers would have the option to complete those trainings whenever they could virtually at home and we would just have a deadline for them to be done and there wouldn't be time given during the work week to do those all other features match calendars A and B with respect to winter break shorter in calendar C and longer in calendar d um we did put out a survey um sorry we sent a memo

121out on September the 6th that the four options were available for viewing to all staff and that there was a survey link for employees to choose their top two choices for a calendar the survey was open sorry for a little over three weeks we ended up having about 340 responses with our first choice and 333 responses with a second choice this is probably a rate of about 37 percent of our employees if we look at all employees if we're just looking at teachers even though we know more than teachers just submitted we're looking probably at a 45 percent rate of response to these calendar choices the results of the survey indicated that the top First Choice calendar was draft B as a reminder this is the calendar with the fewest teacher work days and the

122two full weeks at winter break the survey indicated that draft D was the greatest second choice for calendars this is the calendar with a transition day in the virtual work day prior to the in-person teacher work week it also has the fewest teacher work days and the full two-week winter break um if we look at the first and second choices together overall calendar B was liked as the primary or secondary calendar by 41 of the staff overall and calendar D overall as either a first or a second choice was liked by 37 percent of the staff the other two options were were much lower than that So based on the feedback from staff we would recommend the adoption of calendar B for the 2023-24 school year and that would be a vote at the November

123board meeting this is just information tonight and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have questions Miss Harrison thank you Dr Woodford for putting together this presentation for us keeping it so clear um so it looks like calendar B is the calendar of choice for the majority of employees I'm not correct in that for the I would say the majority of those that responded we have a lot more employees than those that responded but of the people who responded that was the absolutely so calendar B yes you know I was just reflecting on the work days that we certainly have provided our teachers with for this school year and they've been very very beneficial for them um is there any possibility of us looking at adding at least another one work day for these

124teachers and you know when I look at calendar b um certainly that virtual day is going to be focused primarily on if I understood you correctly on just state level professional development that they have to focus on did I understand that correctly with the virtual so the reason I added that virt that information about the election day being a virtual day is typically that's a day that teachers don't work I was also trying to work into the calendar the promise made in the teacher resolution that we would give teachers to dates for virtual working at home that just felt like a good day part of the reason we don't bring teachers in on Election Day is to leave our polling schools open and not have interference in polling so it seems like a good day

125for teachers to be able to work at home now probably Honestly by election day those mandated trainings would have already had to be completed so they would have been completed either during work week or they would have been completed on one of the other two professional learning days that we we have to have in conjunction with professional learning we have to have for instruction I will say I have looked at every way to try to get an extra day here or there we could get an extra day work day put in the calendar if we were to consider only taking Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving instead of also the Wednesday we could also take a day or two from winter break um we could reduce we could reduce new teacher training we typically have don't

126hit me Leanne two days for new teachers and then we bring our other teachers back so that would really hurt getting our new teachers in and there's just a lot we do with them getting them you know prepped for technology and all that so there is a sacrifice any way you go with this calendar um so you know I'm happy to consider looking at I mean the second option is calendar D that has the virtual work day the Friday before work week um it also provides that transition day if the board's not interested in the transition day then we could probably gain a day there we were you know so I'll be starting the first day of school is is it the 14th I have to look at the calendars so yes ma'am the 14th

127that's on a Monday it is on a Monday oh gosh and that's so rare that our students have started you know on a Monday that hasn't happened in years it happened this past year and I will say I you know I think all of us really like the Wednesday start because it lets us have like a little breath over the weekend to regroup it gives you that time to teach us to yeah on some things and honestly I I tried that with this calendar it's all about the way the days are falling leading up to Winter Break um um you know if if the days Falling come closer to Christmas then it's easier to work a Wednesday start in I know it's it's really hard for me to explain without showing you all my little

128X's and O's but it's really the way the calendar Falls because I do think teachers and staff really like the Wednesday start and I tried to do that with the four options and could not make it work within all of those parameters I shared on the first screen so it is a Monday start with a full week before that teacher work week you know I would love to see that visual that you have it may even help me to understand well it's handwritten it's old-fashioned but I'll be happy to uh that's quite all right um I know that our teachers really really valued um those work days and um and they're important for them I I will say just I I really wish it would have come out in the surveys because you know it

129the majority of the surveys were they would rather have the longer breaks okay and not the work days so okay that is something that you know I I considered as I was looking at options the the PD days are important because if we don't have them we cannot get the trainings that are required in I know um [Music] well if your comments from those who responded were did not tend to want more work days well I will tell you the truth I didn't really open it up for comments I just asked if they had questions or concerns to email me and I did get a lot of emails and basically once I shared with them some of the parameters that we were dealing with I think they realized the options were somewhat limited to get

130that 180 days in um one thing we did discuss and I'll throw out there is the possibility of early release days we did away with that several years ago for a few reasons and I think it's something that you know we we've talked about the difficulty with bus runs and being able to get all of our runs with the shortage of drivers also the concern that when we send students home in the middle of the day especially young students there's a possibility that there's no one there to take care of them and we are considered in Bedford a daycare desert so there's not a lot of options for parents if they don't have families and things like that so we went away from early release days and that was why yeah we could look at

131that no I wouldn't be interested in fact that's just my thought okay um well I will I will love to see your chart so that I could just better understand it okay thank you Dr Wolf you're welcome Dr Woodford I see the recommendation is calendar B which is what our teachers and staff have selected does that meet all of the requirements that we made a commitment to with the teacher and staff resolution yes sir all four calendars meet that requirement I made sure well it sounds like our teachers and staff have spoken with their preference so I appreciate it thank you okay any further questions and I'm going to say that I know we we are looking out for teachers and staff like we always do but also too I think it's important that we

132keep the Thanksgiving and the Christmas winter break open like it is um because a lot of families I mean not only we were looking at the kids too and their families are going to travel during that time so we need to make sure we protect that as much as we can thank you very much thank you and one just last note that I'd like to add I would like to go ahead um in the early like January bring back the 24-25 calendar we used to approve school calendars at in twos so we gave parents lots of heads up about graduation so would that be a consensus with the board that you'd be okay with me going on and trying to get some data for the following year that'd be fun with me okay thank you

133thank you again Dr Woodford item 4.02 policy updates Dr Bergen yes Madam chair the intergovernmental Affairs committee met on September 26 to review proposed revisions and so tonight we're sharing a total of nine policies I'm going to talk about the first eight as a batch and then I'll talk about the nine separately so to begin just by way reminder to the board in the community if you want to read the detailed Redline versions they are available through the agenda if you just follow the link you can see the all the detail I'm just going to give you just a high level summary bdd electronic participation in meetings from remote locations is being recommended for an update to reflect changes in state code as well as updates to legal and policy cross-references efb Food Services is

134recommended to update to reflect our current practices which would prohibit the division from having students who owe School Meal debt to have to discard their meal after going through the line we do not do this apparently it was happening out of the school division so it's now being prohibited by code nor do we deny students participation in extracurricular extracurriculars if they have a meal debt um this would also require the division to apply for the federal after-school meal program for any after-school program and qualifying schools of course we we meet all of these criteria policy gcdc classes for recertification the time frame for professional license renewal is being increased from five to ten years that's per code GCI professional staff assignments and transfers as well as GDI support staff assignments and transfers both policies are

135being updated regarding transfer processes just to clarify that employees May apply an interview for any open position seniority and performance evaluations are considered when involuntary assignments reassignments need to be made and IG AG teaching about drugs alcohol and tobacco there's been recent legislation by the general assembly requiring instruction concerning gambling and The Addictive potential thereof so this instruction would moving forward be provided in health classrooms as part as the unit on addictive behaviors that's six of the eight the next two are igah Family Life Education it's recommended policy language be added to permit Family Life education curriculum which is offered before high school to incorporate age-appropriate Elements of Effective and evidence-based programs on the prevention recognition and awareness of sexual grooming and of human trafficking of children and policy ijd College and Career Readiness the

136policy is being recommended for update to reflect changes in state code requiring that schools provide information that assists high school students in making informed decisions about their Futures after graduating from high school to ensure that those students are aware of the costs and the benefits of the different educational and certificate programs so those eight policies are all up for information tonight and we can expect them to be back next month on November 10th for the board to take action the ninth policy that the intergovernmental Affairs committee reviewed on September 26 is a new and proposed policy Joc privacy dignity and respect for all students and parents in the schools this policy has been drafted using a template that was provided by the Virginia Department of Education that template is following vdoe guidance or a guidance

137document which is currently in public comment as required by law the public comment phase will extend through Opera October 26th so if anyone in the room here anyone listening would like to make public comment you still have until the 26th of October to join the nearly 60 000 other people who have made public comment on this guidance document that's an overwhelming number of public comments uh for the state um as I've shared with the board I've been advised by legal counsel that we can fully expect a delay of 30 days or more with the final publication of this guidance document meaning when public comment ends on the 26th it ordinarily would go into effect on the 27th of October however there's a different part in Virginia code that requires Whenever there is public comment and

138there are legal concerns raised in the public comment period that it will trigger a 30-day DeLay So that those legal challenges can be heard so given this information I just want to caution the board and the public that while this policy Joc is listed as an information item tonight we should not have an expectation that it will be back at the November 10th meeting for Action unless there's some change out of Richmond so we'll I'll of course be carefully monitoring as I know you will to see what happens on the 27th of October to see if there is going to be a delay if there is we'll know it won't be in for November or if it can be dense dispense with quickly and there can be minor changes to the policy through the governor

139and through the Secretary of Education and state superintendent of instruction and it doesn't have any material difference on the policy or any difference on the policy that's been presented tonight then the board could entertain taking action in November I don't think that's likely but it's possible okay so those are the nine policies that are on the information agenda for tonight Madam chair that's all I have on this item thank you very much any questions great we will move on then to item 9.01 approval policy updates presented at the September 8th 2022 board meeting do I have a motion chairman I have a motion by Dr mealy do I have a second second by Mr Daniels any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries item 10 superintendent's report Dr Bergen

140well I have some celebrations to share with the board and with the community they're being displayed on the screen here in front of you board members and being displayed for the viewing public on this first slide we'd just like to share with the board and the community some recognition our students have been receiving from the College Board students from across the country are recognized by the college board when they have excelled in the classroom and on College Board assessments to be eligible for the award that we're discussing tonight the student must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher and scored at least a three or more out of five on their AP exams and we're just so proud of three Bedford County Public School students who have earned this recognition from Stanton River High School

141Kirsten Bruns and two students from JF Raven Rucker and Maria Ziegler we also have two students who earned their AP Capstone diploma for this honor students have to score a three or higher on their AP seminar and AP research and on four additional AP exams of their choosing that's five altogether we have two students who've accomplished this exceptional achievement from Stanton River High School Parker Bruns and from Jefferson Forest Brent Hill and finally we want to recognize and congratulate all 56 of our AP Scholars from our three high schools collectively those 56 students all had an average score of 3.47 almost three and a half out of a five on their AP exam so congratulations to all of our students on their successes in their AP classes next we'd like to recognize two young scientists

142from Forest Middle School as you see there on the screen it's Olivia De La Pena and Avery piezek these two young students participated in the 2022 Central Virginia Regional virtual middle school science fair this past May and they won first place for their chemistry project so get this this was the title of their project plastic made from milk an investigation into the usability of milk plastic spoons versus petroleum-based plastic spoons huh they were two of 300 students selected from a field of over 1800 students from across the country the country and they will receive 125 bucks from the Department of Defense congratulations to you Olivia and Avery we love our FFA kids and our Liberty FFA and Smith Mountain FFA students recently competed at the State Fair of Virginia a place I'm very familiar with

143over the years having been many many times with my two boys collectively these two chapters had strong finishes in the competitions for forestry tractor operations tractor troubleshooting Horticulture and hippology you know what typology is I had to look it up to study of horses congratulations to our Liberty FFA students Claire chaston Adam Witt Nick DeWitt Andrew heiner Riley heiner Wyatt Jenkins and Allison long and to our Smith Mountain FFA students Kelsey Weston Adriana Jernigan M Emma bays and Alex Edwards Dr mealy this next slide is for you the Virginia pilot pathway scholarship program provides Flight Training for high school students in order to help those students who have demonstrated potential towards their career goal of becoming a commercial pilot congratulations to Jefferson Forest High School's Madeline Powell Madeline was selected to receive one of only

14411 scholarships for this fall each scholarship will cover up to 40 hours of Flight Training plus the Private Pilot licensing fee and so when she finishes up Dr me that she will come to you for additional training wait to go Madeline more than a decade ago a group of youth with disabilities requested that Virginia officially recognize the month of October as disability history and awareness month to help us all build awareness and promote positive attitudes in schools creating a culture of mutual respect understanding and equal opportunities for all so how fitting it was that our little feet meet was recently held at Liberty High School to allow our youngest students with disabilities and their unified Partners to participate in a variety of activities and friendly competition in their various various sports activities it was my

145thrill to be there and watch them compete and I'd just like to personally thank all of the staff and the volunteers the parents the community members and the students who made this event possible if you've been following Along on our Facebook page you know that the school administration this year in partnership with the Bedford area Education Foundation has one up on our bedford's best program that we implemented last year this year we're recognizing two staff members each month who go above and beyond to make a difference in students lives every day so in September it was our honor to go out and meet and congratulate two recipients that included Bethany Lyle Bethany is the school counselor at otter River High School and Patrick Northrup who serves as the school crossing guard out in front of

146Bedford Elementary and at Liberty High School the people who wrote in beautiful letters about both these individuals and the impact that they make on people every day I had the pleasure of visiting with them in their work site and presenting a gift of appreciation courtesy of the baef for all that they do now if anyone here tonight reviewing this meeting would like to nominate a staff member please visit our website and click on the bedford's best link under District news and we will continue to recognize two individuals each month for their outstanding efforts to serve our community earlier this month on October 2nd was National custodian day so if we didn't have a chance to do it on the second we'd like to do it tonight to all of our custodians we just want to

147pause and thank you for all that you do for our students and our staff and our visitors we simply couldn't do it without you Bedford County Public Schools recognizes and has for many years the 17th day of September as Constitution Day and the third week of September as Civics education week students from across the division participated in activities to reflect upon the importance of citizenship learn more about the United States constitution on its 235th anniversary and more about the rights and obligations of citizenship in the United States of America also celebrated earlier this month was blue stock welcome week how appropriate for Bedford County being the home of the national D-Day Memorial that we would pause and take recognition of blue star welcome week America's military families for those of you who served in the

148military or or or know those who have know that they're often called upon to move across the country and to a new community every year and approximately 600 000 military connected students need to begin again in a new school we can all understand how challenging and stressful that might be so we want to make sure that all 189 of our military connected students feel welcomed and we want to take this opportunity to share how much we appreciate them and their family members for the service and sacrifices they've made for our community and our country this is a busy month of recognitions and celebrations because it's also Hispanic Heritage Month so we'd like to take time out to recognize and celebrate the many contributions and the diverse cultures and extensive histories of our 454 Hispanic and

149Latino American students and their families students from across the division this month have been learning more about Hispanic culture by creating things like Hispanic inspired artwork and food dishes and singing songs and dancing to salsa to help them better understand and appreciate how much Hispanic culture has enriched all of our lives as was mentioned during the absolutely fabulous presentation from our instructional team earlier in this meeting we had a ribbon cutting ceremony at Susie G Gibson Science and Technology Center the building that we're in tonight to uh bring attention to our newest CTE program in heating ventilation and air conditioning or HVAC there are 12 students enrolled this year in this brand new program these 12 students will be earning credentials that will enable them to go straight into the workforce upon graduation since there

150is such a need for skilled HVAC technicians in this area we mentioned them earlier but it's certainly worthy of repeating again we'd like to thank those businesses who have made in-kind donations or otherwise supported us in beginning this program they include Southern Refrigeration Davis Heating and Cooling wit mechanical Gemaire Rim Southern trust Varney and the vistas at dreaming Creek Special thanks also to Chef Shoop and The Culinary Arts students who prepared a wonderful meal for everyone at the ribbon cutting ceremony and to our JROTC students who served as guides in giving tours on the campus and do all the staff and the community members who attended and made the event such a success and we'll end our presentation with three things you need to know so first we are just so proud of the exceptional

151work and collaboration from all of our teachers staff students parents and Community achieving achieving full accreditation for all of our BCPS schools and doing this particularly while navigating the many challenges of these past several years we still have a lot of work to do but together we're going to continue to advance student achievement and opportunities for all second a quick reminder that school is going to be closed for students next Monday and Tuesday October 17th kids are going to stay home that is an individual and Team Planning day for our staff the following day on Tuesday the 18th kids are going to stay home and that is a professional development day for our staff four day weekend for our kids lastly parents should be on the lookout for student report cards which will be sent

152home on the 24th of October for their achievements in the first quarter that's the 24th of October parents be on the lookout for those report cards Madam chair that concludes the superintendent's comments very much Jeff Bergen it's great to see so many things that we can celebrate yes ma'am okay we'll move on to committed reports Miss Harrison we'll start with you thank you madam chairman so on September the 30th the facility committee met we met bright and early like eight o'clock in the morning little shining stars here and and so I digress bear with me bear with me it's getting a little late um so we talked about a number of things and first I'd like to say to the each board member that certainly all of this the facility committee minutes are available for

153you to take a look at and certainly um Mr Holbrook and myself are certainly available to answer any questions that you all may have or to talk about these matters with you further okay if you want to do that so we talked a little bit about and Dr dewas shared this with us he gave us some updates and so some of the areas that I want to focus on and share with you um involves Stanton River High School's water pipes okay so um we're in the design phase with those water pipes and So the plan is for the summer of 2023 to work through that plan and move forward also Stanton River Middle School's fuel tank we're Consulting with a vendor for that and also with the School administration office the work just continues to

154be completed there so all of the Interior work is complete they're moving in furniture back into the building employees are working in the lower level and the roofing is to be completed hopefully real soon and Dr do wish you can give us any updates on that if still anticipating until around October and K I mentioned in our meeting the possibility of us once we have completed the School administration office to maybe have an open house for the community it is a historical building for them to come and just take a look at the work that has been done so just food for thought there for fellow board members to consider I think we would find our community would welcome that opportunity to see those up dates and changes it's really a wonderful beautiful building um

155the auditorium Tech upgrade update um that of course the staff is working with the point service audio and that's for our high schools to upgrade our technology there so that we can have a better um Technical Services as we have conduct our board meetings and also for our students in the community as well um the Solar projects at Goodview Elementary School and at Montville we're working through some pre-contract issues there and we will finalize the contract in upcoming weeks for those two schools um also the safety inspections they've been completed at all of our schools and also the Raptor implementation you know you guys probably know that that is a program that's used by our administrators in terms and working collectively with our police department and notifying them if there is an emergency so that

156particular program has been implemented got a few little things we're going to work on but to accelerate the timeline but it's moving along nicely Boonsboro HVAC project update I want to give you guys an update on that um we have um it was reported to us in our meeting that the whole duck calls were not uh part of the original design and we need and they need to be ordered and installed in the summer of 2023 and I know you all know how near and dear boonsboro's HVAC system means to me and so I was really happy to learn that we can certainly move forward on this it would be a change order but we have contingency funds that would certainly take care of it so it's no extra cost just a bit of a

157delay for the school but a much needed as you all know Boonsboro needs that HVAC system and so we've come along very nicely we just need the whole duck calls they're going to be just looked at and taken care of there uh if you have any questions don't hesitate to um to talk to us further about that and and if you want to share any input this evening on how we should proceed with it if you have a thought certainly Madam chairman I'm I assume it would be okay for board members to to talk about it further or you can reach out to Mr Holbrook or myself um as you can see we had quite a intense meeting here lots of things we discussed one of the things that we did um draw closure too

158so to speak and we talked a little bit about um involved our school capacity follow-up discussions you know we've we've had a number of meetings uh with the community and sharing with them our plan um for um just uh restructuring some of our our zones and so we are now wanting to have our public Hearing in January so in January we want to move forward with the public hearing and then in February we'd like very much to take action on that item so again if any of you have questions about any of the school capacity discussions that we've had previously I am I welcome a phone call from either any of you and willing to answer any questions that you all may have I'm glad that we are addressing I'm going to be redundant here

159but I'm glad that we are addressing the capacity issue at many of our schools and I I believe and feel confident that the plan that we have and that we're offering our community is one that is fair and one that's going to address this need that we have let's see what else am I leaving off okay I believe that's all that the facility committee that we talked about another committee as well well I'm no longer serving as that chair for the Laurel School and so um but you are still serving on the committee yes ma'am I am but we have not had a meeting and will not be having a meeting until I believe sometime in November or December very much before we move on um I Heard Miss Harrison make the request of the

160public Hearing in January um does anyone have an objection to go ahead and putting that on the calendar at the board meeting schedule for January we're going to do it at the same time as the board meeting we'll open up the public hearing before the board meeting like we've done previous public hearings will that be okay yep that's fine is that okay with everyone Miss Johnson thank you very much hey Dr Maley did you have any committee reports yes I'm not going to discuss the finance meeting because I think really Mr Hagler and Dr Calvert covered all that if you have if you have any questions or if you can be yourself I did go to a Roanoke Valley Governor's School meeting mostly to talk about the beginning of their year and and currently what

161they're doing their strategic plan but one thing that stood out to me there that I wanted to bring back here was they really look at subgroups and racial ethnic socio economic makeup of their students and it was a little distressing to see that there are currently eight divisions that participate with the Governor's School and three of the eight we are one of those when they first started the year had no students of black students that were part of the the group and no economically disadvantaged now later on they were able to pick up some some students who were economically disadvantaged but no black students and we do have a fairly good population of black students so I was just wondering no one has to do this tonight is it seems unreasonable to me that you

162know we started the year with no disadvantaged students when we have so many in this County and no black students so I'd just be interested if someone can just help me understand are these students not applying do they not know about it what do we need to do to try to improve that because I you know I believe when you're talking about the Governor's School you're talking about elementary school you got to get them in the pipeline and and working up toward going there but it was it was a little disturbing that and we weren't the only one there were three three divisions and um you know everyone else all the other divisions seem to be able to meet that so I'm just curious as to to why and is there anything we can do

163to improve that so who who isn't actually in charge of that or knows most sorry another thing on your plate and I'm not saying we did anything or whatever it's just you were there I'm just curious to you know it just seems a little unreasonable that we we don't have any of those subgroups that are in our mix there and certainly would benefit them that's all I have Madam chairman that's the only committee you have as well if I have my finance but Mr Hagler and Dr Calvert really discussed what we have unless you have anything else Mr announced okay Mr Hill um IGA meeting next meeting is October 25th all of the policies that we met last month were covered tonight there was no Central Virginia gov school meeting for October so we will

164meet again in November [Music] yep all right Mr nmg didn't have anything other than what okay Mr Daniels thank you we're meeting on October 20th that's at 5 45. um just want to announce that there is a special needs trunk for treat that's going to be held at Brookville High School on October 29th and I was at the little feet meet at Liberty High School Dr Bergen it was just a beautiful perfect day and to see all the kids just having such a great time and and their smiles and it was just overall it was just a great day all the volunteers and and staff that was able to attend just thank you from the from the bottom of my heart and everybody that was there I know it makes a very big impact so

165thank you thanks now we'll start with you for um comments and concerns from board members all right so um I do have an update regarding some old business that was talked about the last meeting uh Mrs sheldrake will be thrilled to hear that we have a group that's volunteered to step up and invest in your son Caden's future several months ago or several weeks ago I should say Randy Dunton executive director of Legacy education center whose mission it is to provide work study opportunities was made aware of the shell Jake household dilemma I spoke with him shortly thereafter and Legacy education center has agreed to step up and pay a hundred percent of Kaden sheldrake's education for the year all of it um this action on behalf of legacy to provide the solution for Kaden

166sheldrake is worthy of Applause and fulfills their mission of being empathetic and encouraging kids towards excellence in their choosing field thank you to Randy and Legacy for removing the financial barriers for the sheldrakes household as you've done with other kids um I wanted to let each of the board members know how much I appreciate them for a lot of different reasons but it's also the Special Sauce that allows us to debate and provide solutions that are actionable for Bedford County Mrs Hairston you said it past the last meeting when you said you have a big big big heart there was a community that continues to talk about your legacy as principal at otter River and the families that you've touched you have a big heart and a loving one we're thankful for your service and

167we thank you for the court I thank you for the courtesy that you've shown me on this board Dr merely I've come to find out that you seek answers and facts and you know facts are our friends you have a great attention to detail and ability to dig for answers sometimes I I didn't understand why you were asking the questions that you did but I come to understand that it's to gather all the Intel before you make a determination and there's also a way to help inform the public agree or disagree you go right at the problem or issue and you definitely stand your ground it's an example to the kids that you always do your homework Mr Holbrook I admire your ability to shoot people straight always being a man of character and and

168you you don't speak out a whole lot but you're wise when you do speak your love for Bedford County and your ability to relate to people from all walks of life is encouraging others and downright impressive God bless you keep up the good work you're truly a man of action and not words Mr Nelms your ability to smile on the face of adversity jump on a bus in a school and drop your personal life to event attend events is a great example of servant leadership I know the reason you shine and others do too while your reward won't be on this Earth it was my reward to work beside you thank you Mrs Kirby Mr chairwoman you have worked to ensure this board accomplishes so much and do so behind do so much behind the

169scenes that you you don't get credit for every time you speak your love for the students teachers and parents is evident every decision you make and every opportunity you brag on others is encouraging keep encouraging others and no one envies the situation that you've been put in at times but we are thankful for your grace and personality and I appreciate you being so kind and generous with my short time here Marcus your great mix of everyone that I just complimented you love the schools especially the teachers you're bold you seek answers you have a big heart and regardless sometimes the hard exterior this Administration this board and most everyone in your District know that you go above and beyond if you don't believe it walk through the Halls walk through a school and see those

170that admire him the most most of all you are a bold leader when Bedford needed it most those who truly know you understand your value and value your commitment to Bedford County Public Schools thanks for taking the arrows for the students teachers and parents over the years as many of you know there's a School Board Race going on this might be the last time that you see me up here I want to let you know that serving this community in this capacity has been an absolute pleasure it's one of the greatest honors of my life I've spent many hours pouring over the Budget Building policy engaging with the community and most of all doing my best to represent the parents teachers and students of Bedford and I've loved every minute of it I'm proud of

171all the accomplishments of this board over the last seven months it's been my absolute pleasure to serve all yes all the students parents teachers and staff of Bedford County I volunteered and got involved because I care if you've been a parent you've likely been a part of your parents of your child's sports program when nobody stands up and the same parents are the ones that constantly coach your kids team well our board only works when we all get involved thank you for trusting me with the appointment and my hope is to see the community participation grow to the administration teachers coaches drivers and principals you've been nothing short of amazing to those who serve tirelessly without validation like Nancy nimio of the of Liberty boosters thank you yeah we have a hot dog roller that

172we will have to you by baseball season I promise that most importantly we need to recognize that we all come from different areas a lot of us are not from here but we choose to live here and we want what's best for our community and we will accomplish so much more as productive members of Bedford County my objective takeaway from the time from my time on the board is that we spend a large portion of our time focusing on things that don't necessarily help teachers staffs or student Excellence as a community we should focus on academics Athletics after school programs and not get distracted by social influences focus on academics and the things that build our students Excellence is the floor so Excellence is the floor Les Brown said shoot for the moon even if

173you miss you'll land Among the Stars finally I'll be keeping my promise to donate my salary to programs each month last month's salary was donated to Liberty Athletics and I'll be doing donating this month to Stanton River Athletics and finally to Jefferson Forest Athletics in addition to helping launch three fundraisers for athletic programs thank you to everyone for all the love and support during my appointment God willing I will see you from this chair for many months thank you for providing me the ability to serve it's been a tremendous honor and let's continue to work for the community and to continue to increase enrollment and deliver on our promise to protect the future of our kids and our country thanks see you next month thank you Mr Daniels Mr Nelms I don't really know how

174you can follow something like that so um uh I'm just gonna say uh huge thank you to the people who are continuing to um boost our CTE programs um I love seeing that enrollment is the highest it's ever been and I want to continue to stay number one in leading other divisions thank you Mr Holbrook I was going to Echo what Dwayne said uh that's really good to see that it's just a shame that we have a waiting list of students now so I guess we kind of jumped out of the pot into the fire another problem of course but you know that's good to see that people are getting interested in some of the changes that were made by you know the board and the administrators have worked to get people signing up so

175just want to continue to continue on that path that's it thank you Mr Dr Mealy yes I want to start by thanking Sheriff Mike Miller the Bedford County Police the sros the special Tactical Team and the EMT Personnel for the active shooter training that I attended um uh Miss Harrison was there I think Mr Edwards attended the June 10th as well there were a few of us there this was probably one of the most enlightening and frightening and extremely worthwhile PDS I've ever been to we were given the opportunity at the beginning to ask questions and although I I don't want to share some of the questions we asked because it could compromise security I will tell you Mrs Harrison and I grilled these people have you thought about this have you thought about that

176what are you going to do if what's the plan for that and there wasn't one question that we asked that they hadn't already thought of a long long time ago figured out how they were going to keep our our students safe um we we had an opportunity to participate in a um in that scenario so um I I was given in an AR-15 and a vest that weighed like 40 pounds and um they set up a scenario of a shooter in a building and you can just see how fast things happen what they do how how you operate as a team in that situation and I just have to thank all of those people because they are their bravery their training their continued dedication to this County I walked away just feeling that our children

177are safe to the to the to the maximum extent that it is humanly possible to do these people were just incredible and and I'd like you to take this back to the Sheriff's Office please um uh so the dedication they exhibit to the community is was just mind-blowing to me I mean I've always appreciated First Responders but what they've learned and done in in to to counter an active shooter situation um is just amazing I don't know if you've ever seen a police dog take down somebody who's running but oh my God in heaven don't run from the animal that's for sure I mean the the shepherd just you know they run down the hall and the shepherd took off and I mean that guy was down and um it's it was just an amazing

178amazing day it was it was like I think ten to three it was a fairly long day but it was so worthwhile and again I just thank the Tactical teams and the Sheriff's Office and our sros just just amazing please make sure Sheriff Miller hears this I did hear Dr familiar you were a great shot well I don't know but it was very exciting it was uh you know the vest was like you can't you walk around with this thing and they said well yeah that's one of the light ones and I was like oh my gosh so it was just very putting yourself in that situation just brought everything you know to life it was it was amazing um I also as we um head toward the end of the the first quarter here

179I I just want to thank our teachers and staff as I try to do every month and and our students it's nice to have everybody back to normal it's it's nice to try to bring things back the way they used to be so thank you for all your hard work with that it is definitely not easy we have children who have not been in school in a while and and there's a lot of challenges that teachers are facing and and just know that you're so very appreciated all the work that you you put out in our our staff as well it takes all of us to do it from the custodians to the superintendent and I just thank all of you for such a great start to the year I do want to ask Dr

180Bergen since we are at the end of the um quarter will you be able to present us with some um assessment data in our November meeting since benchmarks should be over by that time and and that sort of you know any assessments I'll go back and check with our instruction team to see what data we can bring but we have lots of beginning of the year data so we'll go back and talk about that as a team I'd like to have data in front of this board every month that we can yeah I I will I think it at one time we had talked about looking at data at least quarterly so you know if we could if everybody's in agreement if we could set up like you know if it's October 14th well then

181the next you know meeting isn't until the second week in November so you know I think this board would be interested in seeing how our children performed and where we are relative to our our goals so if if everyone's okay with that Miss Madam chairman can that be added to our agenda for next month or as a staff report what do y'all think this name data's there yeah I mean absolutely I also want to take just a minute to uh thank Barry uh Sexton Mr Sexton and to David for all the work and all of our texts that they do to set this up I know it's a lot of work and I just really really appreciate all the time you put into this so thank you for that and and to the staff for

182all your your presentations you've really boiled things down so it makes it a little bit easier for us to understand so thank you for all the work you do for that it doesn't go unnoticed and it's very very appreciated and that's all I have all right well I also attended the um shooter training um I wasn't quite as actively engaged as my friend here Dr Haley she was all suited up um but we it was just so informative um I mean I remember making a comment to some of the officers there and maybe even to Dr do is that this is something that I feel a training an opportunity for principals and other staff members to actually witness and perhaps maybe even participate in but I want to also Echo the same sentiments that Dr

183mealy has shared regarding the police officers the technical team Sheriff Mike Miller just all of them they were just phenomenal and just remarkable individuals I had a lot of fun I really did but it was very very enlightening too as well and I also want to take the time to congratulate Mr Troy Doss of course principal here at Susie G Gibson and his staff for the newest program offering the HVAC that is just super exciting that we're able to offer that I'm just very very proud of all the hard work that's gone into that and I know it's been the board members it's been our goal to certainly grow the programs at Susie G Gibson and then I want to just as always say thank you to the teachers to the paraprofessionals to the bus

184drivers to our executive staff paraprofessionals all of you are students for all of your hard work your dedication to our school division to our parents thank you for your commitment as well and I also lastly just want to say to the paraprofessionals and these bus drivers and students and others hey enjoy your two days off Monday and Tuesday it's going to be make for a long weekend for you so that's all that I have thank you Miss Harrison from Mr field I'm gonna go quick um Dr Trosper Mr Halls thank you very much great job on CTE and workplace Readiness really appreciate the info that was shared uh shout out to JF hype platoon talk about school pride if you've been to a football game or a volleyball game they are really showing up and

185showing out so I really appreciate them congratulations to JF cheer on being District Champs also 5jf students selected for the Regional Orchestra congratulations to David Webb and the Band program at JF Cavalier theater Punk Rock Girl Thursday through Saturday that's tonight so you've missed it if you haven't been started at seven and then on us Thursday through Saturday at seven Sunday at three uh also um BCPS fully accredited I know Dr Bergen shared that we are very blessed to be able to say that I've been in several meetings the last couple of weeks not many of our partnering school systems can say that we actually have one that is at 50 percent um and so for us to be able to say 100 accredited is really a big accomplishment so kudos to the board to

186the staff to our teachers to our students and anyone involved um that is a huge accomplishment and so I want to say congratulations um and then the final thing your vote counts early voting is now until November 8th get out and vote thank you Mr Phil um I'm gonna pull my Shameless plug I believe we still need bus drivers if anyone is interested in helping us out driving a bus please contact transportation we sure would appreciate it um several things here that were mentioned tonight um parents if you're like me some things that you really want to take note of report cards are coming home don't let them hide them report cards are coming home and there is no school Monday and Tuesday so you have time to fill out an extra tour list for

187your children that will be home um I had the pleasure of attending the Liberty High School Hall of Fame golf tournament it was a beautiful day outside and they had a record number of teams and it was just a lot of fun to be around um we mentioned the culinary arts program earlier preparing the food for the ribbon cutting they also prepared dinner tonight and it was fabulous and we sure do appreciate it and it's a lot of talented a lot of talent coming out of there um earlier in the superintendent's comments he bragged on Liberty and Stanton River FFA I want to brag a little bit further on Liberty FFA um the Liberty FFA senior Forester team of Caleb Williamson Claire chaston Zane key and Nick DeWitt won the Hub Federation forestry contest on

188Tuesday top scores in this event were Claire Jason who was the top placing overall individual and Nick DeWitt Caleb Williamson Adam Witt zanky and Maggie DeWitt placed right behind her securing first through sixth place at the event Autumn Renfro was the only the only freshman in the entire contest did an excellent job way to go Liberty FFA the team will move on to the area event next week where they will square off with students from all over the South Ridge area of Virginia another FFA note the vet science program is gearing up for the national contest on October 26th in Indianapolis they already took the written part of the test virtually last week and they will know the results during the second portion of the contest in Indianapolis so good job Liberty FFA something to

189be really proud of congratulations to Liberty High School competition cheer squad for crushing it in last night's Seminole District competition they placed first in the 3A Division and second overall in the district they are now qualified for region 3C competition next weekend congratulations Liberty Minuteman cheer and best of luck next weekend and I said that was the last thing but a fibbed my last thing is I want to make sure that the kids the students know how much they are appreciated these guys are out there doing great things whether or not their name's caught out here or whether they just get an extra pat on the back at home from their parents but guys keep doing great things you are appreciated so now that was my last thing do I have a motion to adjourn

190so I have a motion by Mr Hill a second by Mr Daniels I'll call it bohell her time any discussion I didn't think so all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion carries we are adjourned