001okay are you good you get it I'm good all right everybody good everybody ready good evening everyone and welcome to the May 8th meeting of the Campbell County School Board appreciate everybody being here tonight and a special uh thank you and congratulations for teacher appreciation week thanks to all our teachers and all their hard work put into take care of our kids we appreciate all you do so just didn't want to be remiss if I didn't say that first thing so thank you very much uh at this time let's begin with pledge allegiance and a moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America indivisible with liberty and justice for all wait okay first item up we have a presentation from the Campbell County Educational Foundation good evening Mr
002chair superintendent [Laughter] um someone mentioned to me earlier that you should be addressing me as Madam president so I think we're going to go with that I'll do that um superintendent members of the Campbell County school board thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening I'm Rose Epperson and I'm here to represent the Campbell County Educational Foundation we're a group of volunteers that have been working to provide financial assistance to our students to help them with their post-secondary Pursuits the Campbell County Educational Foundation board includes Susan Brandt Dean farmer Linda grubba Vicki Maddox Elizabeth neighborhood Brandon Treadway Sam Vance and Clay Stanley the foundation was created in 2017 to support quality educational programs that encourage and prepare Campbell County students to become successful citizens of our region by removing financial and knowledge barriers to
003College and Career Success when a group of us reached out to Dr Johnson to ask if forming an Educational Foundation in Campbell County was a feasible idea and what his thoughts were on what the foundation's focus should be he recommended the dual enrollment program Dr Johnson we appreciate your guidance resourcefulness and supportive voice from day one your encouragement has helped us form a foundation for students to prosper from and it will be a foundation that takes Campbell County into perpetuity the financial backing we have received to provide students with a start to their lifelong Success Through college readiness programs is overwhelming as a bonus our county is also reaping the rewards with citizens entering the trades generous donors of the Campbell County Educational Foundation have now donated over a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars
004to Campbell County schools for the career guidance programs Dr Johnson we started out in 2019 with our first gift of five thousand dollars and we are pleased to make tonight's gift of twenty five thousand dollars in your honor yeah thank you for helping us with the groundwork of this foundation and for helping lead us to your to our best year to date you are leaving an outstanding Legacy and we wish you well in your retirement thank you [Applause] thank you madam president sure let's do let's do it Bobby holder they want to hear are we going out hello right here all right thank you thank you so much thank you wow I know I'm biased but it's pretty impressive 125 000 since 2019 it's pretty awesome okay next item up we have a special education
005advisory committee good evening my name is Amy Witt and this is Kim Lindberg and we are your current co-chairs of ciac so we're coming to you to give you our annual seaac report um as well as to just provide some other information for you um so this year again we held the truck or treat event at Brookville High School this year we partnered with a local non-profit just to give us a little bit more support and be able to collect donations we had over 500 again come through this has become one of the largest special needs events in Central Virginia and other people are really looking at us in the model that we've done here in Campbell County because we do it for other schools and just being very open with that and so it's
006we're very excited every year to be able to do that that's our Christmas Mr Maddox comes out every year and he enjoys and I know some of you have come out in the past um again this year our graduation rate for students with disabilities has continued to meet and exceed all the expectations of any of our surrounding districts so our special education department is doing the job and they're doing it very well better than any of the other localities around us so that's something that the board should be very proud of um in addition we do have some news both Kim and I have told the SeaTac committee we met before that both of us will be stepping down our roles come September I have been a part of CX since my daughter was four
007in 2009 um and she will be graduating and going into the postgraduate of the adoptive curriculum and Kim has been on since 2013 and she's taken on some other roles and so we will still be members of ciac but we will just not be in the leadership role um our list has grown we have now toppled to 28 to members on our mailing list which is the most that ciac has ever had in fact tonight we had weird it's the first time that we've met in person and we had two new members show up so we will go back to doing virtual meetings because we've been having a lot of Parental participation with that and so we'll continue to do those we and that's what our parents need um furthermore Dr Johnson this is tough
008I mean I know um but we got you something a little special you have um by far um have just always supported ciac in some of the toughest times most importantly what what I remember is right before covet when I put our name on the list and I asked you that are adaptive in our highly structured kids still be able to go to school and you listen to us many of the school board members also took time to listen to us but you were able to make it happen you were able to support us support the teachers that came into that school building support the admins that a lot that had those teachers in to make them feel that they were appreciated for coming in and that they were doing the job there are a
009lot of other tough topics that I could bring up but that by far made the biggest impact on our community so with that we have a little piece of puzzle for you that says never forget you are the piece that made the difference thank you for your unwavering support the Campbell County siac thank you very very much okay at this time the board will hear Matters from the floor each speaker will have three minutes to speak please be respectful of the three-minute time limit prior to speaking please state your name and address comments must be directed to the board and not to staff the audience or the media all right first speaker up will be Miss Crystal Coleman Ms Coleman foreign good evening I'm Crystal Coleman from Alta Vista tonight I'm going to continue the
010look what I found out from my foia requests when I initially asked which Castle programs our schools were using I was told none but that quickly changed to an acknowledgment of four such programs now everyone who knows anything about SEL programs knows that they use all sorts of buzzwords like respect kindness empathy belonging and all those feel-good words to disguise that they are really indoctrinating kids with extremist ideas that many parents don't condone and guess which company is at the top of the list you guessed it Castle how many of you know what these programs are really about how extensively have you advised parents about these programs are you aware that these programs have different tiers which is a disguised way of school staff inserting the curriculum into the emotional life of a student that
011teaches on your staff are not qualified nor should they be be expected to be to act as prospective therapists you don't give them enough time to teach the things they should be focused on no less this how familiar are you with the varied activities and the carefully selected language that is supposed to be used I used to be on the webinar thread for character strong one of your program selections but I eventually got blocked and why you might ask because I asked questions about how they Define the groups they assign children to why some of the founders and creators of the program insisted on using certain pronouns and not to mention how much parental involvement and parental rights are part of it Kaboom went my access to character strong this school board cannot shrug this
012off as nothing to see here like it did with the concerns I repeatedly expressed on the revised history and social studies curriculum this board publicly stated that Campbell County staff had reviewed that curriculum and saw no problems really it took the election of a new governor and two complete revisions to get it back on track so I am asking this report this board to report back to the public that they have a full no awareness of what SEL programs are how they have transparently informed parents and how all four programs Campbell County uses have been thoroughly reviewed thank you foreign [Applause] okay next speaker is Jackie Mendez Miss Mendez well good evening my name is Jackie Mendez and I'm a resident in Evington Virginia and the founder of Campbell kids the nation's report card shows
013scores in American history and Civics for 8th graders are down across the country and here in Virginia the average U.S history score dropped five points with only 13 percent of 8th graders scoring at or above the proficient level going back to the start of the assessment in 1994 this year's history scores are their lowest ever recorded the average Civic scores dropped two points from 2018 with only 22 percent of 8th graders scoring at or above the proficient level uh this was the first drop in the scores recorded for civics the U.S Department of Education immediate reaction to the abysmal results was the blame the lack of funding and the culture wars apparently there's not enough critical race Theory being taught in K-12 classrooms so parents send their children to school to learn these nap results
014as well as the scores released in September of 22 show that children are not in fact learning the trust between families and schools has been shattered and it's going to take significant work and time to rebuild so as a board member who oversees these matters I ask the following questions what plans are being considered to have students here in the county Master Civics and U.S history above proficiency level what curriculum is being used for elementary and secondary education have you attended a class in the last month in the last nine months of this Academic Year to observe how certain are you that the materials used in classrooms are appropriate and balanced and an accurate view of our documented history so where do you draw the red line board members to assure our community that children
015are being taught patriotic content and not the other garbage promoted by Progressive Advocates of indoctrination so you are the decision makers and we are not satisfied with the events of the last year and a half we need bold leadership and courage to address these issues you cannot go back to business as usual of highlighting the good and hiding the bad thank you thank you Ms Mendez next up Mr David Gifford thank you for hearing me today my name is David Gifford I live on 285 Beasley Road says it's Lynchburg but it's actually cable County before I discuss what Concord District citizens are saying offer gratitude to the Legacy organization who's attempting to Mentor students about their Futures into John Hardy and his team for having a job fair for students they're able and willing to
016work someone said it takes a village to raise a child but a better motto is this wise students and their parents consider all the resources at their disposal thanks to Mr hardy and Legacy Campbell County families have more options to consider also want to thank all those responsible for this new initiative that provides prevental notification and summaries about library books this is an answer to prayer hopefully this program will conclude follow-up evaluations of these summaries to make sure that their Publishers don't overlook the details of which about which families are most concerned this response is prove that everyone benefits When concerned citizens speak up since I have last seen you I have had more time to ask Concord citizens what they want you to know once again many people feel isolated from participating but good
017suggestions are coming forth one man said that our schools should always hire the best possible employees so that we get it right the first time another man encouraged me to do my best which advice I also pass on to you once again the response to the Bible's literature electives is overwhelmingly positive some believe this will produce benefits Beyond Sol knowledge that we will never be able to quantify one man almost became emotional amazed and someone knocked on his door with this concern for our schools as part of my efforts I attended the four high school track meet at Heritage High School and the gentleman from the little city of Lynchburg gave me this flyer The City is hiring an unbiased outside firm to evaluate their school's facilities and offer proposals for the future people can
018complete a master plan survey and will be invited to feedback sessions about about the proposals I explained that I lived in Campbell County it was only a substitute for both LLCs and ccps and he still wanted my input this process seems much better than the Board of Supervisors claim that 50 million of unidentified dollars worth of unidentified improvements to BHS are necessary and advisable and in the best interest of the county without proof thankfully Mr Jones informed me that this proposal includes astro turf and I must pay us on to you that the people I've spoken with about this so far about this question so far about this so far question both the need for us to Turf and why BHS gets special treatment in my view Rustburg high is more Central has more space
019and is a better is thus a better location for it astrosurf field that is if the county really needs one in some I command you for your concern for taxpayers and for families and hope that your progress to disregard will continue to Blossom [Music] [Applause] next up Mr Doug Behringer I'm still Doug Behringer and I still live in Rustburg and I just wanted to apologize for missing the last couple meetings I've been extremely busy organizing a senate district convention this house district convention and assisted in a senate district convention last week and Saturday but so I don't have a remarks as prepared as usual but I wanted to uh I'm very thankful that I was afraid I would miss uh seeing our superintendent before he left and I'm glad I want to extend my thanks
020for your years of service uh and um so beyond that I'm supposed to address the board but I would want it to an extend a thank you to Nikki McCullough who is listed as the school secretary at Rustburg High School she was extremely helpful in helping the Campbell County Republican committee arranged to use the Rustburg high school gym for two different times for a very reasonable price first for the Republican Mass meeting and then for a Virginia house district 51 nominating convention when only one candidate candidate filed before the deadline we were able to cancel both and she was equally gracious in helping us cancel our reservation and charge this no uh penalty for uh for for cancellation and as a side note I learned that Ms McCullough is the daughter-in-law of the former Pamela
021Goff who attended school from grades one through at rosberg elementary through grade 12 at the former Rustburg High School which leads me to my next topic School community it is a community my primary topic has been to serve a reminder of how I believe we should and must Define the Campbell County School Community the concept of community when I first started attending uh board meetings in 2017 I got the distinct impression that school Community was pretty much limited to students teachers administrators and school board after the horrific problems were uncovered at Loudoun County Public School uh the the uh the concept of school Community was extended to include parents um although a significant number of uh educational professionals and liberal Democrat politicians continue to argue that parents should have no say in what and how
022their children are taught fortunately I did not see this opposition in Campbell County and I thank you for that uh however I just want to remind everyone that um I would expand the concept of school community on more than just sporting events to include all Campbell County taxpayers who fund the schools and all voters in Campbell County who elect uh you you lady and gentlemen uh uh we all have a stake in the uh in the in the students uh that you prepare and train up to be our future leaders and uh our community and I just wanted to very quickly uh congratulate clay Stanley um I I would like to continue our conversation on the subject of curriculum and how we can access books online and and hard copy I take the blame for
023letting that fall to the floor with all my other duties but I look forward to uh to continuing that conversation with you as well thank you thank you Mr Barron next item up approval of the April 24th 2023 meeting minutes just trying to move and approve the minutes second we've got a motion by Mr Brandt in a second by Mr Phillips is there any further discussion regarding the minutes if not all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed [Music] motion cares payment of bills chairman I've reviewed the list of bills and moved to approved payments second okay we have a motion by Dr Miller and a second by Mr Maddox is there any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed most cares Miss McClanahan acceptance of donations tonight
024you have five donations that were listed in advance poor Ducks unless you have any questions I ask you to approve that prove them second I had a motion about it and a second by Mr Jones is any further discussion I would just say you know every every week I look at this or every month I look at it and it's it's really appreciated this comes from all different sources and we appreciate everything there so all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion cares consideration of requests for supplemental transfer of Appropriations Ms McClanahan tonight you have five Appropriations on board docs unless you have any questions I ask that you approve them as presented motion to approve second we got a motion by Mr Phillips in a second by Dr Miller is there
025any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion carries CIS consideration of religious exemptions give me Mr chair members of the board tonight we have one family that's requested a religious exemption for their children request that you approve that motion all right in in the letter that was if there's specific information about the student I would need that to move to a closed session say that again if there's specific information about a student it's not specific okay it's about the letter okay that was written reference homeschooling it's not I've spoken with the person specifically and asked them for what they requested and the code section that was addressed specifically is talking about religious good afternoon okay thank you for that clarity I had a motion by Mr Maddox second by
026Mr Brandt is there any further discussions or questions for Mr Sisk all those in favor signify by cni opposed thank you thank you Mr sis Personnel report it's only thank you I think Mr chairman members of the board you have another full Personnel report in front of you unless you have any questions I'd ask that you approve it as written got a motion by Mr Brandt the second by Mr Jones or any further questions or discussion if not all those in favor signify by saying aye aye aye opposed motion cares thank you Miss honey sure I did want to point out if you don't mind really quick in the right time this month we do have Miss Ferguson she is the new um appointed assistant principal at Tomahawk she came to the meeting welcome welcome
027Miss Ferguson is coming to us from Amherst County and her um her own kiddos went to Rustburg high school so she's got ties in Campbell County and excited to be here with Mr Adam who joined her tonight at Tomahawk great welcome aboard yep thank you thank you great thank you [Applause] okay next item up report of the superintendent thank you Mr chairman can you hear that this mic working yep okay just a couple of things one is we close in on in May you know how fast and furious everything happens we're going to be putting out information to you I know Dr Hale put out a email today with secondary um award ceremonies and all those events we'll be sure to get all of that out and and we will plan to have our valedictorians
028and salutatorians hopefully here in in June to be recognized we'll we'll work on that um but I'll just quickly say thanks to the um thanks for the kind words from seaac and I alone did none of this it's our team effort Dr Pontius and his group all of the teachers staff um you know take a lot of Pride and and I I said this recently at Laurel I'm humbled by the the good work that they do and I appreciate that work and uh and also to the foundation in um Miss Epperson was correct when we first a small Core group I appreciate the whole board it was a small Core group that came together we were one of I think the only school systems around that didn't have a foundation and we began that process
029I never thought I'd learned uh I know I do not want to be involved in IRS tax code and because when we were working on this that application it was not fun but we worked through it and really proud of the work that they have done and and the good things it's done for our dual enrollment program it's allowed us to expand our offerings as well as a number of students that we'll go and I think we have a record number of students this year that have applied to go over 115 students so anyway that's all I have thanks okay all right both different topics from the board Mr brand don't really have much in the other than chemical change case Association uh I want to thank them for but they continue to bring many
030many dollars in and the hard work that all of them are doing Amy thank you for your presentation tonight excellent and all you have done thank you quality years of service for both of you and um we said the graduates will be here soon I mean throughout the valedictorian be here next month and just all the graduates uh coming up in a few weeks I want to congratulate all of them all all the high schools that's all I have thank you Mr Brown Mr Max uh well this being teacher appreciation week I appreciate it I'm like definitely thank the teachers everything to do but I'd also like to thank the ptas ptos the booster clubs on the Chrome Club we're feeding the teachers this week for everything they're going to do support the teachers this
031week that's all I got knocked him out yeah I'd also like to recognize the teachers and appreciate all that they do and um Campbell County Educational Foundation I certainly appreciate all the hard work that um the members put in but I'd just like it to be shared that um thank you to the donors and I hope that that trickles down at our personal appreciation from the board to each donor it's just a real blessing to our school system that the generosity the seaac team Amy and Kim I know you've put in a lot of work um we are proud of our sped program here and I have the privilege of being on the Laurel board and know how hard Dr Pontius is how how committed he is to these kids and um and I just
032appreciate all the work that you do and and I hope that the team continues to be a strong team under the next leadership but thank you for all you've done and I wanted to thank again the maintenance department we got rid of some dead trees on JJ Frey property and I appreciate that work so and thank you for the speakers that spoke to the board tonight that's all I got Miss Parker well thank you chairman I appreciate that um yes Kim and Amy thank you for all your years and I'm glad you're staying on the board I've only heard wonderful things both in this school and outside in the community when Mr mayringer mentioned about Community kind of tie that into the community is really involved I got to the end of the trunk or
033treat this year brought Michael Myers you know my husband's always Michael Myers and that was a lot of fun planned to be there with the Jeep next year and yeah it's great and I hear about it and other parts of the community whether it's home builders you know real estate everywhere about that specific event so thank you guys so much for doing that and for everything you've done the ladies who have already left I mean that Educational Foundation how amazing is that um I can't even thank them enough I just learned tonight you know they have grant writers and they have mailings and you know all of all that goes in it it's not just a phone call and asking someone for a donation there is a lot of work so I appreciate all their
034volunteer time to bring that extra money to our our children my children have been have benefited from the dual enrollment and the tech center as well um don't want to get out of order on my schools to thanking people um let's see I want to thank um um and I just jumped over but Mr Scott my favorite government teacher I don't know what I'll do without him but he had a mock Court in his uh at school it was amazing it was for all students they took turns being in positions or being on the jury so it wasn't just you know the popular kid got to be the lawyer you know what I mean they mixed it up and they all did an amazing job just the confidence building that I watched you know in
035the for the children who don't normally stand up it was just mind-blowing I was very impressed I want to thank and congratulate Miss Emanuel our theater um teacher at Brookville she's been amazing for my family and anyone who gets in in around her she's just amazing and I just I went to the Newsies performance on Friday the kids were unbelievable I mean the choreograph the choreography I can't say it correctly I apologize was off the charts and it was just amazing and again talk about Community the room was filled and I heard they had a great um they were packed every night so that's fabulous as well but also Mr Scott's getting ready to take the kids on a field trip to the senior government class to the courthouse the Sheriff's Office and the 911
036Center call center which I think is awesome as well they can see how our community other things they can do when they graduate as well trying to talk to folks about getting involved in law enforcement and I'm glad we have the posting for the events that was shared with us for across the county I did reach out to the Middle School in the elementary school we've got a talent show at the elementary school coming up on the 25th field day on the 30th and then fifth year fifth grade graduation right on the 31st last day of school also eighth grade Awards not graduation but awards at the middle school on Tuesday May 30th so I'm excited to go and attend those as well and my last thanks is to a friend of mine Rusty Elliott
037who works at Virginia med-fab out in Appomattox he was able to get his company to donate five angle grinders to the cbcc welding program to the professors over there to help the kids have access to one-on-one Machinery so so I want to thank everybody for that and happy Teacher Appreciation Week thank you Mr Phil um so yeah thanks again to the Campbell County Education Foundation for their outstanding donation tonight again thanks to all the teachers for teacher appreciation week this week special education advisory committee Amy and Kim thank you to you too and Amy congratulations to your daughter for her accomplishments and thanks to all both of you for your hard work um and lots going on at the schools I'll hit a few highlights uh real busy months coming up I wanted to recognize
038Bailey Morris at Rustburg high school he was selected for the Better Business Bureau student of Integrity scholarship award um May the 11th through 14th the presentation or the Play Willy Wonka will be at Rustburg high school that's uh Thursday Friday Saturday and Sunday and I think most all the schools have a play you mentioned Newsies but a lot of theatrical events happening now with the area schools so try to get out and support those events um May 15th Sol's begin and there's the cvcc commencement ceremony which a lot of our students will be involved in with the dual enrollment spring course concert is at Rustburg high school May 16th at seven o'clock and the band concert is May 18th at seven o'clock so a couple of more events there let's see Senior Community Awards night
039is May 30th and lastly June 3rd is the graduation at one o'clock for Rustburg and then on the yellow Branch side Pre-K kindergarten PTO performance is May the 9th so if you missed the high school performances there's performances at elementary school as well they have a field day coming up on the 30th and lastly the fifth grade and Pre-K promotion ceremonies are May 31st so like I said a lot going on at all the schools this month so try to get out and attend those activities so it's all ahead thank you Mr Phillips Mr Jones just again teacher appreciation week I hope the teachers understand how much we appreciate what they do I mean it's it's a thankless job we we really appreciate what they do day in and day out I couldn't do it
040but Campbell County Education Foundation they continue to bring us generous donations and we just truly appreciate it it's just a great effort they put forth and we can't thank them enough uh the donations again tonight truly appreciate those Amy and Kim appreciate all y'all your leadership roles appreciate everything you've done thank you so much and one day last week I got to experience B drive at the close of school I mean I thought russberg and Concord were bad but I think y'all made a lead that parade but uh I I heard y'all talk about it but I got to experience it and my wife was trying to figure out whether they were going to Tomahawk or Rustburg middle school and I said I don't know it's just a mob of people there so my heart's
041out to you guys too so that's all I got thank you Mr Jones I just have a couple things first of all Echo Dr Miller um appreciate the Educational Foundation but also all the donors that contribute and there's a lot of hard work that goes in soliciting those donations but if it weren't for the donations it wouldn't exist so I think everybody again for that again Happy Teachers Appreciation Week thanks to all the teachers and support they get for uh for all they do for our kids and then last thing I had is just a it's kind of to mention that the STEM Academy is hosting their senior banquet and award ceremony tomorrow night and I thank Dr Hale you and I will be attending that looking forward to that um as they close out
042the year so that's all I've got if we have no other comments or questions I will entertain a motion to take us into closed session Mr chairman I move that we convene into a closed meeting for discussion or consideration of the investment of public funds where competition or bargaining is involved where it made public initially the financial interest of the governmental unit would be adversely affected in accordance with Section 2.2-3711 parentheses a parentheses six of the code of Virginia 1950 as amended so I got a motion by Mr Phillips second by Mr Jones there's no further discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed we'll take a quick five-minute recess and foreign all those in favor signify by cni opposed back in Open Session yep okay at this time I asked for
043a motion certified that to the best of each member's knowledge that during our closed meeting only public business models will lawfully Exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered in the meeting by the school board second and about motion by Mr Brandt a second by Dr Miller all those in favor signify by raising your right hand Susan did that Mr Jones Mr chairman I recommend that we reject the proposal presented to the school board during this closed session second got a motion by Mr Jones and a second by Mr Phillips is any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed moose carries is there any other business to be discussed
044tonight if not I'll entertain a motion got a motion by Mr Brandt second got a second by Miss Parker any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye [Music] good evening everybody thank you we'll take my wife to McDonald's for anniversary thank you I'll get it they got a special tonight