October 11, 2021 Campbell County School Board Meeting @ Rustburg High School Auditorium

001all right evening everyone i'd like to uh welcome you to our october regularly scheduled meeting thanks for coming out this evening the first item on our agenda today is our report from superintendent dr john thank you mr chairman i hope that that's working out there good okay so we tried to do a better job tonight with the microphone so we may have some issues but we'll do our best to make it work um i wanted to we changed the agenda up a little bit and moved my report to the beginning of the meeting as i we thought back and i talked to board members over the last several meetings there were some themes that felt like that needed to be addressed and i wanted to share some of those with you tonight first one of

002the things that we heard was the agenda and it not being posted until the friday before the school board meeting on monday we did this month and we will continue to post that a week earlier so as a i don't know the exact date but it was the friday prior to this past friday that we posted a preliminary agenda we finalized it on friday and we'll continue doing that moving forward and we will try not to make any changes especially to um agenda items that we believe would have interest in the community primarily policy but it is a business meeting and there are issues that come up from time to time during the week late notice bills that have to be paid or something needs to be posted but as far as the agenda items

003regarding policies we'll keep that as to the preliminary agenda so that will be posted in a week in advance to give you ample time to view that to make decisions as to whether or not you would like to attend the meeting another issue was email addresses of board members all of the email addresses were removed a year or so ago from our website that we had all teacher we had all um email addresses and you'd have to ask our technology staff the specifics but it was a a security issue so they were removed we have the on the website under the school board page put a button at the top that would say contact the school board and that would be an email that comes directly to staff at central office who will then direct

004it to the specific school board member in the last couple of meetings there were some discussions in regards to to immunity and it has been suggested that campbell county schools could offer liability waivers or hold harmless agreements to protect claims to protect against claims and allow parents a choice for the mask virginia is one of only three states that categorically refuse to enforce pre-injury liability waivers thus even if an injured party previously had agreed to release a business meaning school board from any and all of the claims based on any negligence the business can still be held liable for negligence this can really only be fixed at the general assembly level and in june of 2020 i sent a letter to senator newman specifically asking for quote legislation that grants school divisions complete immunity not

005just limited immunity as in sovereign immunity for opening school during a pandemic which would have allowed this board to have more flexibility and be assured that they would be covered in their insurance policy this past general assembly session no legislation was adopted granting school divisions full immunity and then one of the other issues is around critical race theory um we've stated or this board has stated that we do not teach it our curriculum is the virginia standards of learning most of you probably know that as a sol the standards in each core subject area are reviewed and revised every five to seven years primarily around every seven years the history and the social sciences revision process is underway now so we are in that year in july of 20 2021 this past summer there were

006committees established that reviewed the standards and made recommendations this fall additional committees meaning museums historians and so forth will review those changes this winter the department of ed will prepare all of the revised standards then in july of 22 next summer the standards will go before the state board of education so all the revisions all the changes to the any history of social studies k-12 will be presented to the state board of education in june of and immediately after that within days of it being sent to the state board of education the board of education will conduct regional meetings to get public comment there will be in-person as well as electronic comments that can be sent in and be received this is when if you're interested in the changes to the history and social sciences

007curriculum we haven't even seen that we don't know what that is that next spring and summer be paying attention to the virginia department of education website and if you're interested in making comment regarding any revisions to those standards that's when you need to do that before the department of education gets those and adopts them the new standards most likely will not take effect until probably the 20 the 2023-24 school year at the centers because of the processes it has to go to um this year there were a limited number of technical changes made for the current school year these have been reviewed extensively among our staff and they were found to be factual and not related to crt there have been some questions regarding cultural competency training which is also crt we have done no

008such training nor have we received any guidance from the department of education around that this past general assembly session senate bill 1196 did become law requiring the training not sensitivity training competency cultural competency training however we have not seen anything from the department of education regarding that training what what the requirements are what it might look like nor have we seen any provision that says we must adopt what the department of education puts together we haven't even seen that so there's been some questions about our stance and what we would do with that we haven't even seen that so it's immature for us to even comment on exactly what we're doing um regarding the new performance standards for teachers that is supposed to take effect next year that i'm hearing is being pushed out around

009those cultural competencies we have again seen nothing from the department of education however i'm not concerned necessarily about those because in my opinion um i think our teachers already do a great job in recognizing all students and meeting their individual needs and all that we don't they won't need training to do what's right by individual students so i hope that that answers some of the questions around some of those topics that that have been put out over the last couple of meetings all right thank you dr johnson next item on the agenda is matters from the floor um we have a list of speakers that have uh contacted us ahead of the meeting so thanks for contacting us and getting on the list i will ask that our speakers state your name prior to speaking

010your address and please respect the three-minute time limit i don't want to have to interrupt anybody at the end of their what they're saying so please keep your eye on the timer we have out back when you hear the chime try to wrap up what you're saying in the next five to 10 seconds so thank you very much uh miss mcclanahan our first speaker jen fitzgerald please sorry i was sitting all the way in the middle ah good evening my name is jen fitzgerald i live at 167 crestfield drive in edmonton first of all let me commend the board for its hard work in navigating the return to regularly scheduled school this year and i commend you for the success of the first eight weeks we've done well managing the education of our children through

011the pandemic has not been easy and it's brought many many challenges all of which i feel that campbell county has met and handled very well over the past 18 months the past year and a half of not normal schooling has affected everyone students and teachers and parents and the community students and teachers returned to the classrooms with more than the usual back-to-school worries this year and it's more than whether they should wear a mask or not some have family members who have died from covid and they're still grieving some have loved ones who are battling it now and many many have households who have been affected financially due to this pandemic teachers are trying to be the best teachers they can be for their students and students are trying to get back to their sense

012of normalcy in a world a school turned upside down one option i have thought of and i propose for consideration is an added benefit for teachers of professional one-on-one and or group counseling services this benefit has been in place in amherst county for the past year and has proven to be a much needed support for many it would also be a benefit for our students to have access to additional mental health professionals in every building our own school counselors already have an incredible amount of work so additional counselors to help handle the load would be a positive this is a time in history when we have the ability to rethink and possibly reframe education the block schedule that we've adopted is a step in the right direction because it does offer teachers more flexibility and

013lesson planning and students have the opportunities to take an extra class but let's keep going let's step up and think outside the box about our learning environments there have been suggestions made for increasing the amount of teacher work days and i am here to also suggest that we consider student workdays for our secondary schools this would consist of students being able to utilize a half or a whole date to catch up on work that may have been missed due to quarantine time where they could seek teacher help and they could catch up with remediation also the flexibility in instructional times would offer we would offer open labs for students i also think dress codes need to be reevaluated extracurricular activities and sports need to be focused on equally and funded accordingly we need to offer

014career path options such as military and apprenticeships foreign languages should be taught prior to the eighth grade and art classes need to be returned to our elementary curriculums we can accomplish all of this and more we can do this by working together and we can do this and keep moving forward thank you thank you miss fitzgerald next up is mclennan margaret kidd margaret kittley all right my name is margaret kidd i live at 291 rainbow forest drive everyone can relax because i'm not here to talk about the main three things that have been said at every single board meeting since school started i'm here to address something far more important and urgent that will actually affect students in the quality of their education i'm currently a senior at brookville high school i along with many

015of my peers have noticed the need for a solution to teacher exhaustion the school year has created many challenges among teachers including a shortage of substitute teachers due to increasing covet cases working hard to fill learning gaps from last school year and online quarantine students and general stress overall educators are being spread too thin students can tell when their teachers aren't getting the care that they need and it's starting to become alarming our teachers are giving up their planning periods to fill in for other teachers without substitutes the loss of their hour and a half is detrimental to their well-being and workload and it's becoming and it's starting to become evident in the classroom as well teachers are unable to remediate students during their planning periods and now are forced to offer before school and

016after school remedial hours but that time frame is not always applicable for most students while trying to limit learning loss from this school year it's hard to fill in gaps from last school year without appropriate time frames many of my teachers have mentioned their lack of breaks during the day and how hard it's been to catch up on grading and student correspondence i've noticed my teachers are staying later and arriving earlier to make up for their lost time but i feel passionate about finding a better solution that will support our teachers our students care greatly about our teachers and it's hard watching them struggle through the school year without the support they desire surrounding counties have offered a solution of shortening a school day either by signing more breaks in early dismissals or by shortening

017every school day roanoke county harrisonburg city and bottatok county are all examples of districts that have instilled a shortened school day in some form while still being able to meet the 990 hour requirement by section 22.1 through 98 of the code of virginia during this time teachers would be able to catch up on work and hopefully minimize the amount of additional stress this year has brought upon teachers a shortened school day would not only benefit the staff but also the students as this extra time would be appreciated to get extra work done i hope you'll greatly consider this issue as teachers are one of the building blocks to future generations and their well-being should be highly considered in the quality of education i also hope that my viewpoint as a student holds enough value for

018you to address this issue as i can see firsthand how impactful teachers are to the quality of my education and that's it [Applause] this kid i said thank you next up mr clanahan ian king good evening my name is ian keane i'm currently a senior at brookville high school and i live at 221 catalan evington virginia i have lived in campbell county my whole life i'm currently a senior at brookville high school i stand before you today to talk about school safety for myself my teachers my peers and for the future generations to come i believe we need to focus on protecting ourselves if an intruder got into one of the schools inside of campbell county to be more specific a school shooter starting in 2018 the number of school shootings per year have been

019over 100 and in 2021 we currently have 79. it's just a matter of time for a shooter to come into a campbell county school we need to be ready and i would off and i would like to offer two suggestions i first want to discuss doors in the school building we as teachers and students are told whenever you hear lockdown to turn off the lights hide arm yourself and barricade the door one problem with varicating the doors are some some of the doors open outwards if a school and shooter got into the building this would be a devastation because they can easily open the door get into the classroom and cause 20 to 25 casualties a scar that everybody else will remember for life and also you as the board will lose tons of money

020due to lawsuits the second problem we have is next to most classroom doors there are glass windows a person could easily break through and climb through my government teacher and i were talking about this issue and he put a little force on the window and it bent in and out of the frame if an intruder made it into the school this weak thin piece of glass is the first line of defense to add on to this at every exit at my school there are these heavy metal doors but next to them they have these huge glass panes that this podium can fit through to me this is the most dangerous part of our schools and it also goes beyond its initial intent one if the glass is broken it prevents the cost of replacing and

021cleaning it and two it can move it can prevent robberies from occurring inside inside of our schools there are a lot of expensive materials not only owned by the school itself but also the teachers while it is said we need to maintain a safe learning environment there are always improvements we can make to establish a safer learning environment in conclusion i would like to thank our school resource officers school administration and faculty and this board for keeping us safe up to this point i hope that you will take him to take into consideration my ideas and i look forward to speaking you further as we continue to make our school safer thank you [Applause] thank you mr king what's up miss mcqueen me here vias getting a fresh battery for you so good evening board

022members my name is mihir vyas and i'm from the timberlake district currently i'm a junior studying at brookville high school i'm here to speak about the lack of substitutes throughout campbell county and share some ideas that could possibly help fix the situation the lack of substitutes in campbell county is something that affects everyone including school staff and the students the effects of substitutes not being in the building are most directly felt by the teachers a few weeks back in brooklyn high school there were 14 teachers that were absent from school on the same day normally when teachers are absent from the school they were replaced by substitutes however only two teachers had substitutes on that day the teachers in the classroom on that day were forced to give up their planning period in order to

023substitute for other teachers this led to multiple consequences the first consequence of this situation is that teachers are unable to plan for the entirety of the period and therefore teaching and learning becomes less effective another consequence of this situation is that it is affecting the teacher's ability to grade assignments one of my teachers stated quote grading is one of my last priorities right now from what i have seen at school this day was not one off the lack of substitutes in the school is a common occurrence this school year is still suffering from the remnants of coca-19 many teachers cannot be in school for days on end because of being quarantined this was much more pressure on the staff and to alleviate some of this stress we need more substitutes in the schools my final

024point is that teachers were getting pulled out of planning so often that they eventually got compensated at forty dollars for every period they saw this does not make any financial sense at the end the consequences trickle down and ultimately impact the students of the county the teacher's efficiency directly relates to the students i know there's nothing i can do about it and only you as the board can fix it i need your help because i as a student am getting affected and my learning isn't as effective as it should be we need substitutes to sub not teachers the first step that we can take is uprooting the county policy where substitute teachers can work for no longer than 15 days a month i propose that the school board either employs more substitutes by increasing their

025salary or employs full-time substitute teachers thank you for taking your time and listening to my concerns [Applause] thank you mr vf next up mr anne parker and parker please good evening everybody how great is it to see students up here speaking right that's awesome my name is anne parker 615 collington drive lynchburg virginia 24502 still have two kids at brookville high school i actually i really appreciate everything you were saying mr johnson about the hold harmless and the other laws in place i'd definitely like to get some resources on that from you in the future being in contracts as a realtor for 32 plus years i do know that regarding liability the more layers that you have in place to protect yourself everyone can sue for anything so the more layers we have of protection

026can only help us so i want to bring up you guys i'm sure are all aware that in clark county nevada the school board was publicly served with a two hundred dollar 200 million dollar medical malpractice lawsuit for mandates i'll quote the gentleman who served them you're not nurses we're not nurses we're not doctors you're not responsible for the children's health your focus is for our children's education and education system so this is a problem this has just escalated the problem of the concern for risk in lawsuits it's not just the concern for a parent suing over a child contracting covid there are much larger problems also that can come from the other directions there's so many directions it's so multifaceted so obviously you know i've spoken about the whole harlem agreement at the last

027meeting and i did email each and every one of you including mr hawkins with cc'd in that email just a draft that i used off of something that i signed through the hospitality industry for a hold harmless again another layer of protection for campbell county i appreciate the dr miller and superintendent did respond as requested that your emails were received i really appreciate that and the whole harmless agreement does actually protect you against all liability except for what we call rogue lawsuits again i'm not a lawyer but i have done countless amounts of research on this there really are no negative results for this extra layer of of protection for the school board and what are the positive results you can honor the parental rights of all parents and restore those rights to us to

028make medical decisions for our children you can also restore our teachers and staffs rights to make their own medical decisions medical freedom and informed consent are our most basic human rights and the board does not have the power or the right to take it away for any reason neither does richmond or the federal government we ask you to do what's right and stand up for our teachers staff and students by approving and implementing a plan similar to a hold harmless agreement in campbell county schools which we'd love to see effective january 1st of thank you for your time thank you ms parker michael worley orlando good evening school board my name is michael hurley i live at 32 dawn ridge drive and 24502 in campbell county i am papa to three children currently in campbell

029county schools i rise to support the stated mission of campbell county school board which is quote to provide a world-class education that enables every student to choose and pursue any post k-12 endeavor unquote this so that the students are preparing for a successful future whatever that may be we must stay focused on that mission and not allow ourselves to be distracted by a host of divisive issues that have no place in the considerations this school board should entertain that jeopardize the health and safety of our children while they're being educated we have someone here tonight who is focused on that mission as a teacher who respects the mission of the campbell county school board and the authority and laws that are in place to allow it to function in a democracy she sees that mission

030statement as the guiding principle with which she encounters her students every day that is the focus we want to encourage this board and all our parents and grandparents and children to be focused on it is incumbent on this board to instill the necessity and value of respect for our government and its laws as our civics classes are teaching our children if we stay focused on this mission as the citizens of campbell county want us to we will set the example to our children for what respect for law and order respect for the officials of authority respect for each other and respect for education should look like the campbell county school board has put forth policies that i and a host of others believe are there to keep our children safe while there are no perfect

031environments that accomplish this to try as best we can to deliver this should be our highest focus and denigration of these efforts no matter how they are packaged should be considered as to whether they promote the well-being of all our students or not your acknowledgement of your mission and your commitment to stay true to it and the laws that support it are the only things we as parents and grandparents should focus on thank you [Applause] thank you mr worley speaking ashley pike hi there um so i had planned on writing out a big speech but i left my phone at home uh because i work night shifts so forgive me my name is ashley pike i reside at 2530 rusburg browns mill road rushburg virginia i am standing here today trying to speak out about

032how my children have been treated at yellow branch elementary after we have applied for a religious exemption my children have been bullied by staff members telling them that they have to wear a mask in order to get on the school bus i have spoke with the teachers and i'm still hearing from my daughter that she has to wear a mask in order to get on the bus and as a single mother who is going to school at two different colleges working a full-time job and taking care of two children on my own i would really appreciate if there was some way that we could figure out that my religious exemption is respected i have made choices for my children against everybody two nurses that are my parents and a load of aunts and uncles who

033all work in the medical field doing what i know is best for my children the choices that i make i would appreciate be respected we do not use over-the-counter medication we use alternatives to vaccines called homeoprophylaxis that has been around for almost two centuries i would appreciate if there was another way to handle the children that have come down with covid when our house did come down with covid my son tested negative twice and was still told that he could not come back to school he was left out of school for a whole month after negative tests i cannot have a job and be answering the phone all the time i i really do need help from the public school system to do what is best for my children and i've heard people say there

034are options to home school i cannot homeschool as a single parent i have to have a job i need your help last year whenever my children attended yellow branch elementary they were given a tablet to take home over the weekend to complete their school this did not happen this year whenever we came down with kovid it was my responsibility to reach out with the teachers even though i could not remember the last time i had ate the last time i had taken a shower and i was required to contact the school board to get my kids schoolwork together the schoolwork was not very lenient as to the fact that i'm doing everything that i can and so i would ask that if there is going to be implementations to help those parents that you can

035do something to make it electronic or have it set up to where the nurse can contact the teacher to have that schoolwork brought to their house because if we're on quarantine how am i supposed to leave my house in order to get homework for my children thank you so much [Applause] michael maggie good evening my name is michael naggy and i live at 204 spicer road innsburg i've come before the board tonight to give you a quick update from a teacher's viewpoint on how the school year has gone thus far i've attended the last three board meetings and i found myself at times appalled confused and saddened by some of the public comments contrary to what some in our community may think our kids are absolutely thrilled to be back in school the last 18

036months have been hard on them but i'm amazed every day at how resilient they are i teach 12th grade government here at russeburg high school the last normal school year these seniors had was ninth grade the disruptions they've had to go through as pertains to their education has been hard but they've adapted and are fighting through my kids are curious thoughtful and much more engaged in politics than some want to give them credit for we've started a new citizenship portfolio in the county for all 12th grade government students where they are encouraged to take a deep dive into an issue of their choice and to see its different impacts at the national state and local levels whether it's getting kids registered to vote in their first election for next month seeing them on the golf

037course after school at practice or football field on a friday night getting pep rallies back or honoring our state champion volleyball and softball teams from back in the spring our kids are excited to be back the last thing i want the board to do amidst all the comments from the past few meetings is to miss that simple fact i'd also be remiss in not taking the chance to say once again how lucky i am to work with the people that i do our teachers coaches administrators office staff counselors bus drivers and custodians are world class at what they do and that feeling has only been reinforced after the last two weeks we've had here at roseburg high school we have been asked and forced to do things because of the global pandemic that some people

038forget we're still in totally differently i have a second grader at leesville road and another daughter who will start kindergarten next year there is absolutely no other place i would send my kids nothing in this area beats a public school education there are a few things i'd rather not talk about to finish up my time but i feel like they must be quickly addressed masks simply work they've allowed us to safely stay in school since august of 2020. you all made the obvious correct decision in abiding by the mandate that came down from governor northam and health commissioner dr oliver in august period end of story and everyone here tonight whether watching a person or watching at home we do not teach critical race theory i am the department chairperson for the social studies department

039here at rhs no one teaches crt here no matter how often some of our representatives in dc or richmond say we do i've yet to hear someone at a board meeting be able to define what crt is that is against it but we don't teach it period end of discussion i'd like to thank the board for your time tonight you all do not have an easy job but i genuinely appreciate your support of what we do in the schools it doesn't go unnoticed thank you thank you mr naggy next up mr clinton david gifford mr gifford hello my name is david gifford i live at 285 beesley road i'm here to advocate sacred values including liberty and justice for all every day our salute to the flag reminds us that we are one nation under

040god and that we have the mutual commitment to liberty and justice for all in our present context the word and is critical students and parents in campbell county should expect both liberty and justice my concern however is that some people do not always appreciate the word and parents who educate their children in a school that does not have a mask mandate can experience liberty and parents who receive the educational funding that their citizenship deserves can experience justice however enjoying both liberty and justice during a mass mandate is only possible under very limited conditions one way to experience liberty is to drink science's kool-aid in march of 2020 we were sent home from school for two to three weeks for flat to flatten the curve at first science said that masks were not necessary but it

041later claimed that they were the explanation for this reversal was that science only told us we didn't need math so that health care workers could get them first maybe you like to be manipulated but to me liberty and justice for all demands that science doesn't change science also said that those who received the vaccine would not need masks but many locations near require both science is flip-flopping and when it's suggested that the curve could be adequately flattened in two to three weeks it was either naive or serving us kool-aid another way to enjoy liberty during a mass mandate is the thing that masks are a blessing from god ordained leaders if this is valid why are masked mandates coming from the same party that advocates abortion it is absurd to exalt a woman's right to

042change or procreate procreational decision above a child's right to life when we can't recognize a person's right to refuse a vaccine if it is their health at risk the highest law is the constitution and it guarantees both life and the free exercise of religion a family of faith that chooses private or home school should not be robbed of their fair share of the government's educational budget if god ordains all leaders he also caused america's founders to place the constitution above every other law surprisingly another way to enjoy liberty during a mask and even a vaccine mandate is to follow jesus on the cross he cried out my god why have you forsaken me but in his heart he knew that he would one day overturn the kingdoms of this world the cross was painful but

043jesus did not drink the kool-aid abort his plan to save us or summon his mighty angels he believed isaiah's prophecy and by his knowledge the righteous one my servant would justify the many for he will bear their wrongdoings if jesus were here today he might wear a mask and get a vaccine so that we wouldn't have to the next time we pledge one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all let us remember that policies like america only prosper when they are under god [Applause] thank you mr skipper one hand next speaker please eve breiner runner my name is eve rinard i live at 582 village highway rustburg virginia witnessing these meetings in the past there has been no discussion among the board or with the public when we come to ask questions

044or to raise issues we expect an answer if there is to be no interaction with us then i ask that these issues raised become a matter of quote old business end quote on the next month's agenda in accordance with robert's rules of order so that we can know where the board stands on those issues many in campbell county still want to see the historic 1919 rosberg high school building saved when petitions were made earlier the decision shared was that discussion was going on with contractors and more than likely it would have to be demolished reviewing the schematic of the plan for the new rustburg middle school overlaid with the existing building in dotted lines the historic 1919 rustburg high school footprint is not needed for building or parking lot space it could be saved in

045this time of black lives matter and critical race theory dividing the nation along racial lines this historic 1919 building has seen generations of rusburg students successfully go through integration in the 1960s and as a bedrock of our community it should be saved as has been the training school for the african-american community that has had numerous high-level monies donated by large corporations to renovate why save one school and not the other our community has a historic jail and historic courthouse this historic school building is touted as one of the oldest in campbell county the monies planned for its demolition could be redirected to close the back of it when the walkway that is attaching it to the existing rustburg middle school is removed the architecture of both the historic 1919 rustburg high school and the newly

046built bricked rustburg middle school complement each other it could serve as a museum to all rustburg high school trophies yearbooks and other memorabilia or as a band building or anything that would serve the schools and the community well thank you [Applause] thank you miss reiner lindsey sharman charlotte hi my name is lindsey sharman i live at 441 windingway road it's my seventh year teaching at brookfield high school i'm a brookfield high school alumni and campbell county resident my main concern tonight is to ask you to consider adding more teacher workdays to our scheduled student days and not tacking them on to june currently there are no pre-planned teacher work days and to ask you to rally more substitutes there are not enough substitutes to cover one school i've spoken to many coworkers that we can

047all agree this is the hardest school year in our tenure our social emotional learning team pulled our faculty 48 percent said a pr the primary concern right now is managing the total workload and 46 said i sometimes feel additional stress that frequently overwhelms me our administration in our building is amazing and keeps a positive safe and supported atmosphere but teacher work days are past our admin and into the hands of our school board members transition to a block schedule looks very different this year than last year 90 minutes must have an activity something to engage students to be hands-on every day it's not just taking two previous lessons and putting them together one t some teachers have brand new less classes they've never taught before last year we had 10 or less students in our

048classroom daily work was expected to be virtual due to mitigation and done independently at any time in case of a shutdown or long absence students emotional health was our top concern the curriculum was pared down and moved very fast to get things in when we saw students two days a week last year's work though thorough and helpful is not complete i am currently working on materials day to day and cannot get ahead this is this year our classrooms are packed in the upper 20s and some lower 30s we have full curriculum and an entirely different set of obstacles while filling in learning gaps in the previous year with scl still our top priority 90 minute planning sounds like a long time with three classes to prepare for and more to be done during plan it

049goes very quick that is if we get a planning period due to the limit number of substitutes we don't need professional development we need time to plan teachers are at their breaking point and it's not sustainable according to my math i see that we are 26 days over the minimum required by the vdoe there could be one teacher workday added per month without taking away the required seat time from the vdoe not asking you to take away instructional time but add to our time more wisely to support our teachers in addition i'd like to thank you for upholding the mask mandate in our schools handed down from the vdoe besides students in our schools there are many faculty and staff that make the day run without teachers there is no school day in our schools

050there are pregnant teachers faculty who take care of elderly parents and staff who have immune compromised family members to care for recently campbell county school employees were granted coveted sick days but only if we can prove it's work-related exposure planning to be absent from 10 days is not easy and finding substitute skills impossible i can promise parents that when you enter my classroom this year you'll see students doing graphic group activities laughing with friends and involved in their sports and clubs i hope that the passion that campbell county residents have displayed in the previous school board meetings can be funneled into solutions for our short staff bus drivers teacher pay to match inflation in our overworked school nurses in the coming months thank you [Applause] thank you next up mr clinton phil stevens steven good

051evening good evening thank you for for letting me become my name's phil stevens and i get to be pastor of a fantastic church windfall baptist church thank you yes there you are and um i get to live in uh in the rustburg district my son is six years old and he got in trouble in school the other day and i asked him what happened at school and his answer was i love blue dad and that was a problem for me because it didn't answer my question it's kind of cute and funny when a six-year-old does it but when uh the past several months many questions have come to this board and it doesn't feel like any of these questions get adequately answered i would love it i would absolutely love it if if we could

052all just be on the same page i understand that there's no crt in these uh that's what i'm lisa being told why not just vote on it why not just come together in that way as elected officials we would all know if you've all done that before we i have not heard it in the past several months and it would be fantastic if each and every one of you just decided yes we are against that especially now with this new information that our superintendent has given to us that if the these new curriculums are coming out and now it's going to be up for review we would love to be able to trust every single one of you to know that you know this is where you stand and this is where we are going

053as as the schools go excuse me um because of the silence um it is uh we're just we're just wondering i think as families and concerned parents and things like that are there issues that you will stand up to confront on just a regular basis how bad does the issue have to get before we expect a response what will it take for you to take a stand in my life i've learned that confronting issues before they get into the school is a lot better fight than the one that's trying to get it out of the school the leadership or the lack of in this board is currently providing may have worked in the past but moving forward we do need leadership that is not afraid to confront issues detrimental to our children sweeping them under

054the rug is not dealing with it if this board holds to the same philosophy that the democratic nominee for governor holds that and i quote i don't think parents should tell the schools what they should teach then our schools and children will be indoctrinated with an anti-god anti-life and anti-patriotic value that will further divide our country leadership is not rubber stamping everything that comes down from richmond and i know that you don't do that i'm not actually even saying that you do but true leadership is standing on the wall on behalf of parents and the best interest of our children and being a line of defense against horrible policies we have looked to this board for leadership we have looked for information and we have gotten silence parents and citizens have only grown more frustrated

055and angrier because of the concerns have not been heard and not been answered it is due to this lack of leadership that i am running for the russburg district seat as a write-in candidate to provide leadership for parents that expect it and our schools deserve thank you very much thank you mr stevens one hand next speaker crystal coming coming good evening i'm crystal coleman from alta vista virginia first let me say congratulations to our law enforcement for police appreciation week we thank you from the bottom of our hearts and next let's play ponder this for months black lives matter and antifa ravaged and ripped apart american cities and businesses it was proven that representative eric stallwell had relationships with a known chinese spy yet still remains on the house intelligence committee representative maxine waters publicly

056in sites for political violence against anyone opposing the democratic agenda senator rand paul and his wife are accosted and chased down the street by black lives matter senator cinema is accosted by leftist leftist activists in the bathroom in the plane at the airport the new york times conveniently exaggerates the child covered 19 hospitalizations by over 90 percent and democrat socialist rashida talib admits she only wears a mask when no cameras are around and we the people who attend school board meetings to protect our children are to have the fbi summoned against us by an attorney general whose son-in-law co-founded panorama education a company that has already built millions of dollars from 25 percent of american schools to push you guessed it critical race theory let me me remind you that we we own these schools

057our tax dollars have paid these schools not the government we do not co-parent with the government why do we appear so angry because except for comments that were made this evening we have heard nothing but useless canned statements no circle backs from complaints and issues we have communicated at the august board meeting i presented seven specific questions some of which you'd have chosen your vocabulary carefully to talk about but really didn't provide how to specifics to simply say you're not doing it means nothing if you don't know what it is do you know what woke kindergarten is did you know that virginia tech professor lane apologized to her students for being for her being white did you know that the virginia department of education 911 sensitivity training resource told teachers to reject american exceptionalism did

058you know that pedophilia and pornography were exposed in fairfax county library books did you know that american teachers are being asked by their unions to log students vaccination status and the status of their parents did you know a ucla professor is suspended for not grading black students more leniently did you know that gifted and talented programs are now considered a threat to equity let me say thank you to the national school board association and their contemptible collusion with joe biden's regime to send the fbi after parents it's the most motivating thing you have could have done for us and by the way nascar fans at talladega did not shout let's go brandon [Applause] rusty elliott mr elliott good evening my name is rusty elliott 251 stepping stone road concours district i'm going to talk on

059something a little bit different tonight our first amendment states that congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people to peaceably assemble to petition the government for a redress of grievances i quoted this because of a growing concern that i have of this board and has perceived infringements on this cherished right at the last meeting at yellow branch two individuals stood in the doorway blocking citizens from addressing their representatives the capacity posted for that room far exceeded the number of people allowed inside the last meeting was held here at rosberg high and for that we thank you for the change of venue however this last meeting a very concerning comment was made

060after a citizen said that every one of you are cowards mr brant you pointed at him and stated and i quote he ought to be locked up i was sitting next to that individual and he did nothing to deserve that kind of remark or threat is it the board's belief that citizens should be locked up for speaking their mind there is already a strong sense of a lack of transparent transparency within the community concerning the school board so what are we we the people to think when an elected representative says someone should be locked up for speaking their mind mr brant i would contend that you overstep your bounds and you violated your oath constitution of virginia article 1 bill of rights section 3 that government is or ought to be instituted for the common

061benefit protection and security of the people nation or community of all various modes and forms of government that is best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety and is most effectually secured against the danger of mal administration and whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes a majority of the community have an indubitable inalienable and indefeasible right to reform alter or abolish it in such a manner it shall be judged most conductive to the public wheel that should have never happened it's on video y'all aired it and multiple people took clips of it i'd really like to have an answer to that one [Applause] mr gardner good evening i'm glad to see that we're still in this location as i don't foresee this crowd getting any

062smaller in the future last month we heard from a number of parents and witnessed a great deal of support for those parents wishes for their children's education once again these parents were ignored and a pre-written response was read since that meeting we've all heard the comment from terry mcauliffe about how he believes parents shouldn't be telling schools what to teach well i'm here to tell you that terry is wrong his views on my children's education are wrong and if any of you believe that he's right you're wrong but some have made it very clear where they stand you may not have signed up to play politics but for anyone who hasn't figured it out yet parents aren't going to sit on the sidelines any longer and watch politics be played with their children this is

063where campbell county should be standing with the parents instead of kneeling with richmond mr brant you're my representative i have no doubt that you are likely the longest sitting representative on this board every year it seems you know every several years many times you run on a post now my thoughts on that are people either like the job you're doing or people have been apathetic to the position you old i can relate with those people i was one of them but after last month's meeting there was something else that i have no doubts on and that's where you stand i knew that when i saw you on video point to a grandparent in the crowd and you stated he should be locked up i think it's just coincidence that somebody else also saw that but

064the reason that you did that i have to assume is because he held beliefs that you didn't hold but it seemed like everyone else in the room did edmond burke once said the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing so i want to leave you with this the days of an easy term on the school board are gone you can thank richmond for that the days of parents not being vocal involved in their children's education are gone you thank richmond for that one too the days of running unopposed in sunburst district are gone and you can thank me for that one [Applause] jackie mendez i don't know that was a great speech that was great well good evening my name is jacqueline mendez and i live in

065evington virginia i'm a resident of campbell county my concern tonight is the public education is taking our future leaders our kids the curriculum outlined by the virginia board of education is a guide to cheapen our values of family community and civic duty we have learned from other parents that books containing pornography bisexual stories vilification of american values have been identified by parents in the commonwealth books such as lawn boy and gender queer contain depictions of pedophilia homosexual leanings and pornography books all found in the virginia public school libraries ask who buys these books for our schools who makes a decision find out under the pretext of equity diversity and inclusion buzzwords for critical race theory dictated by richmond and dc all driven by radical thinkers who push that our past is terrible and that our

066children have no future critical race theory states whites are racist and blacks are victims our children are becoming disengaged in their communities and they are being psychologically tortured no wonder we are seeing greater amounts of child depression and suicide and as a member and as a member of a protected group i'm a hispanic 98 of us do not want to be referred as latinx no way we object that label and concept to make hispanics part of the greater evil of critical race theories definition of diversity it's all bs parents have seen what's behind the curtain parents and community members will now join the process and we will not be kept out of our children's education parents take a look at the school curriculum curricula ask administrators if the 1619 project is used in teaching civics

067demand that you demand to see the materials the school is using meet with teachers the principal become an activist for transparency you have every right to ask what is being taught to your child there are underlying principles these are the underlying principles of our great nation and know this three members of the campbell county are running for school board and parker in the timberlake district dean moore in the brook nail and phillip stevens in rusburg get out and vote and vote the numbers are on our side and the best is yet to come thank you thank you miss mendez uh mr mcclenahan last speaker eric brownton mr ralton good evening forgive me if i ramble i am a lot more nervous than i anticipated my name is eric routen i'm from russeburg i was uh

068born here grew up here and my daughter graduated from rosberg as a special ed student um i've attended a few meetings i haven't spoken i wanted to see what was actually going on what's being voiced on social media what the news is saying i can go see for myself i've noticed some some things basic communication skills um i've noticed there's been a lot less stress in the room since we've moved the location thank you for that that was your duty as public servants you had a request there was a need and you met it you should feel good for that let's build on that it has led to hopefully in an improved environment in the room um as public servants and the responsibility you take on in that role the authority belongs to the people

069and it is dedicated handed to you temporarily to have someone that we have honored with that position to tell an old man he should be locked up simply because he got a little vocal was very disturbing as you know a guy just here to see what's going on that was that was bad man it's going to be hard to pay for that one politically so i'm supporting some candidates back there when communicating with people there's the gerard method and the dale carnegie method public speaking good communication skills require on being as honest as you can be reading as little as you can and doing effective q and a skills we got we answered some questions today that were answered last time thank you for that but you're not quite hearing what they're saying on some

070things as far as critical race they know it might not be hardcore and trained in campbell county right now they just want you to make a blanket public political statement that if it tries to get implemented anymore or in any sort of fashion you will automatically take a stand against it that's all they want you to do if it comes here we will not tolerate it and why will we not tolerate it because our authority is based locally the the seat of authority is local and then the state and then the federal is last in 1979 jimmy carter formed the department of education by gathering together smaller departments and our state of education has been on decline ever since we need to restore that authority to the local values that our constitution is based on

071local and state authority and it is a critical component of preserving our republic students we're a republic i would urge any students here to go on prageru and look up the difference between a democracy and a republic and i think you'll find that it makes a lot of sense thank you for your time [Applause] this concludes our matters from the floor segment i appreciate everybody coming out to speak tonight and um move on for approval of the minutes i have a motion approval of the minutes for the last meeting please motion on the floor can we get a second second a motion in a second all those in favor say aye those opposed the emotion carries next up we have payment of the bills okay we have a motion on the floor for approval of

072payment of the bills we have a second motion in a second we have any further discussion if not all those in favor say yeah all right those opposed a motion carries next up is acceptance of donations ms mcclanahan tonight you have nine donations for your approval that will listed in advance of the meeting unless you have any specific questions i ask that you approve them as presented move for approval mr chairman exactly the motion and a second on the floor for approval of acceptance and donations if you have any further comment if not all those in favor say aye aye those opposed a motion carries next we have consideration of requests for supplemental appropriations ms mclennan tonight you have three applicants being considered for approval as a non-resident tuition student principals have already endorsed them

073as acceptable and your approval is requested okay my apologies i skipped non-resident too much and thank you mr mcclenahan all right do we have a motion in regards to non-resident tuition second motion in a second any further discussion how are we in line with last year's numbers this time last year we had if not all those in favor say aye those opposed okay mushroom carrick okay now we have a request for supplemental appropriations mrs clinton tonight you have nine supplemental appropriations listed in advance of the meeting on board docs unless you have any questions i ask that you approve them as presented motion to approve second no motion in a second on the floor any further discussion in regards to supplemental appropriations not all those in favor see uh so the votes a motion carries

074secondary reading of her revised policies mr sisk mr chairman uh tonight you have two policies for second reading djfb purchasing and gaa staff time schedules if there are no questions i ask that you approve those two policy changes why do you feel they changed the purchase i'm sorry i couldn't hear you why do you feel they wanted to change the purchase cost just up the values i'm going to go ahead and i'm sorry i can't hear why do you feel that they changed the purchasing policy i just believe that the we're just aligning with state guidelines as to our purchasing but i mean no idea why they felt it need to be changed did we have a motion in regards to the revised policy second reading promotion second second any further discussion in regards to

075the policies okay all those in favor say aye aye those opposed okay motion carried next we have consideration for religious exemptions mr sisk yes sir tonight we have seven seven folks before us for religious exemption are released from compulsory attendance uh these folks have filed the proper paperwork and i ask that you approve those second motion and the second on the floor any further questions concerns comments see all those in favor say aye aye those opposed motion carries thanks okay we are at the uh matters from the board portion of the meeting um start on my left mr jones do you have anything tonight you have a couple things um first some of the speakers acknowledge the stress and the strain that a lot of our teachers are under throughout the county from all their

076responsibilities and added duties and just certainly express thanks to each and every one of them for their commitment to help our kids do the very best they can i thought i got quite a few emails back from individuals expressing their sincere appreciation for the work day we provided them last week just basically said it just gave them a chance to catch up so they felt like they'd been behind all year and it just gave them a chance to catch up get organized communicate with parents so i think it was a valuable day and i think it was a day well used i want to thank everybody for being here tonight in 20 years or more i've sat at school board meetings looking out over the audience who was composed of are administrators a few teachers

077and maybe a parent or two of a child that may be there for discipline appeal we've done some great things over 20 years some of our most recognized or memorable meetings we we recognize all the valedictorians and salutatorians from each high school each year they work their rear end off throughout the school years outstanding individuals with outstanding futures and we recognize them and there's nobody in the audience we have academic scholarship and just individual and team awards that we recognize it's a great event it's a great accomplishment people work their rear-ends off we recognize them at school board meetings there is no one in the audience teachers administrators achieve regional state national awards we recognize them school board meetings there's no one in the audience we've received monies funds from people that work to get

078donations and contributions from businesses and individuals in our county and our region and they make these significant donations to our school quite an achievement quite a feat no one in the audience to recognize it some of our most enjoyable meetings when we have presentations from our robotics teams science teams award winners that just amaze you to see what they've accomplished there's no one in the audience to see it maybe you'll be here in january when we build our budget maybe you'll be here when we build our budget to get to get the funding i would excuse me mr jones i'd ask uh order in the meeting please maybe you'll be here in general when we build our budget to get the funding we need to raise our teachers salaries above the median of the surrounding

079counties we need to raise our teachers salaries above the bottom of the local counties we compete against to retain them we try what do i okay to do to bring more people out that's what i ask myself [Applause] excuse me this order we're going to take a recess if we can't regain order in the meeting please we had a we had a time for speakers and now please allow board members to respond thank you mr brandt that's all okay thank you mr jones miss wright come on okay i reached out to my principals over the past couple of days to see what exciting things were happening in our schools i heard back from miss white at brookville high and she said that they were celebrating on friday they celebrated breast cancer awareness month everyone showed

080up wearing pink and the way she phrased it was the school spirit associated with this was bubbling they are also having pennywise wars between classes to support the sca if they meet their goals they will have several teachers and administrators who will get pied in the face at the pep rally uh homecoming game is october 22nd against amherst they'll have a spare spirit week leading up to that uh students will decorate hallways like they've been able to in the past um she did she did add add in here a phrase that says admits at missed amidst all of the tough things associated with coming back to school and getting into a routine while still in the in the midst of a pandemic and having coveted cases still out there our students are handling it with

081grace and resilience our teachers and staff have gone above and beyond to support our students and it is showing in our building students are embracing this new normal and are working hard to create the best high school experience they can and i was very glad to hear that because i know it's been hard on both our students and our faculty and staff speaking of faculty staff and students aaron scott one of our teachers at brookville is here tonight with your political science club a few today so well thank you for coming out and thank you to the students who spoke earlier um one of the students thanked the sros and i would just like to to basically echo that and thank the sros for all they do in our buildings on a daily basis and

082for being here tonight as well the high school drama club is her drama department is also working on the little shop of horrors it will be october 22nd 28th and 30th at 7 pm and october 31st at 2 pm tickets can be purchased online also the bands i had the chance on september 28th to go to the throwdown of a town where all of the county bands came together for an evening of basically showing their performance as well as gretna so all four bands plus gretna it was great to see the bands out there performing again that was something that was lost last year and i'm glad to see that it was back i know all of our bands have been doing wonderful things i've seen posts about several first and second places at different

083competitions across all four bands i've heard that chorus is doing as great they just aren't in the middle of marching band season so they're not out there quite as much as the bands are right now let's see here for a tomahawk they are going to do a penny wars as well the last week of october i believe that i believe it was administration was getting slimed if they reached two thousand dollars that's being held by the pto to support their various items i also saw today where tomahawk and leesville road were both um they both won a facebook voting contest by all washed up for playground cleanings that was announced about two hours before the meeting so i'm not sure the schools even know what's happened yet um and one of the administrators at one

084of the schools also strongly thanked us for the work day i received multiple emails from assorted staff doing that as well and i do definitely support more work days for staff so that they can have time to breathe and gather their thoughts and move forward for the best possible atmosphere for our students i think that's very important and that's a simple way for us to be able to show them how much we care and i believe that's all i have okay thank you mr listen to brian bob were thinking of brookwood high school i think you left one thing the sign out front of the school there at timberlake road it's been there for many many many years it's going to soon be replaced with a digital sign and i think horticulture is going to

085help that area also so i get it very good and i will concur with you on the days for the teachers during this very tough times so that's all i have well mr brown i also forgot to mention that jalen pannell one of the students at brookville had a very nice write-up in the paper on friday i believe he's a 10th grader at brookville about his his sports struggles and everything he had gone through and and i mean just what he's gone through and what he's now accomplishing is an inspiration yes thank you mr miller thank you um so i talked to both of the principals william campbell combined school and brooknell elementary school and it's a tough year many year many ways the express says harder than last year and teachers are trying to

086rise the occasion but struggling with kids all over the map on where they are from what they missed out on last year or what they were able to continue to do last year still wrestling a little bit with the broadband availability down there mr bennett's biggest concern is firstly third graders and i told him i would share that that those are such fundamental years and we're going to have to really stay on top of that and look for ways to to address that i too got several comments about the appreciation appreciation of the teacher work day that meant a lot to the teachers i don't know how our calendar can work to get more of those but i'd like to direct the administration to see if there's a way we can get a couple more

087of those in throughout the school year one way or the other i think it was appreciated i think it was a morale booster and this year we need some morale boosters so i'd like that to be addressed on a upbeat note and i don't know where they are right now but william campbell had our golf team in the state championship today so we're proud of our kids down there i appreciate all the speakers who came i always enjoy hearing students speak and you guys did a good job remember eye contact it's important but good job i know there's a lot of anger out there a lot of frustration i know you want this to be an open dialogue a board meeting is not meant to be an open dialogue you get the opportunity to speak

088we listen if you want dialogue call your representative that's what you do this isn't a town this this this isn't a town call order again please let mr miller let mr miller finish speaking please thank you this isn't a town hall we're not going to do that but you're welcome to call each individual member and hear their point of view i hear your frustration about or worry or concerned about crt i spent an hour and a half with the instructional specialist and the assistant superintendent to go over the whole curriculum the whole history curriculum we went over all the edits there was nothing in there that remotely resembled what i would consider crt if that comes down to pike i will oppose that i hope that that meets your needs mr stevens i will oppose

089that i will not susp i will not intervene with how history is taught history is history and it will we have good bad and ugly history it needs to be taught the way it is right now it is taught that way i will not question our teachers how they teach that history but i will oppose anything that resembles crt um i know there's a lot of anger somebody doesn't want me to win somebody hates me enough that they want to tear pull up my signs down in brook kneel my campaign signs i don't know who that is but um if you know who that is it's pretty low and i don't appreciate it and that's not a lecture that's all i have mr miller maddox excuse me i'll be short and sweet um september 24th

090alta vista had their homecoming game with william campbell and uh the town provided the kids with the parade they rode convertibles in the back of trucks and at halftime ashton gohan and christopher farmer were chosen as king and queen what makes this night so special is they were both special nice kids and i want to say thank you to the parents of those seniors y'all y'all are doing something right and also my last thing special ed committee does a uh truck retreat at ripple high school every year if you've never been out to it you need to come see it's pretty amazing it's october 30th at 8 o'clock at brooklyn high school the community steps up kids have a blast and it's a great day and also rustburg middle i think he's looking amazing i

091hope we're on schedule that's all i've got miss maddox mr epperson yeah i too would like to thank everyone for coming out tonight and speaking your mind and it's your right to say what you feel and we appreciate you coming out i in particular like to thank the students that spoke tonight thank you you guys did a great job and we appreciate you coming out and addressing the board as well i too would like to to to pay a big thank you to the administration the teachers the staff and all support for everything you've done this year and it's been a tough year and believe me it doesn't go unnoticed we appreciate all the effort and pushing through very very difficult times and i just hope you guys can enjoy a nice long weekend and

092just kind of get regrouped and it's still a lot of year left but at least give you a chance to take a break a breath and get ready for the the push down to the finish line so thanks a lot that's all of you miss jefferson um i had a couple emails from a couple of our principals um appreciative of our teacher work day so very well deserved and try to see what we can do to incorporate some additional time in that regard going forward also last friday night the state softball champions were recognized at the football game so congratulations to that team and we had 57 students that were accepted into the national office honor society so that's a great achievement congratulations to those students and lastly um catherine so our athletic trainer had

093a great article written in the paper for her so congratulations appreciate all of her hard work and good recognition on her behalf there so over at the middle school again appreciation for the teacher work day it also mentioned the substitute coverage getting being a challenge so we'll see what we can do to look into that and improve that situation um and we should uh miss kunda mentioned the open house at the middle school a couple weeks ago which uh my wife and i attended and a great turnout there and appreciate everybody coming out to that and taking a walk around the school it was a great day great event and they are also doing a service project for the allen b pearson cancer center preparing care bags so it's a great community event that that

094school is on taking there so in regards to the mask for the mask requirement we do have we have heard your concerns and if you recall up until august 12 the board was in favor of student and parent choice until the cdc changed their guidelines we got with our legal representation our attorneys to look into that explore options we could take and options that we couldn't take and we have a letter from our attorney it's posted on board docs uh the attachment to the agenda and there's also a hard copy of the letter um you can pick one up on your way out from the meeting it should be out at the front door there but in summary um just hit a couple of highlights from our attorney the health commissioner placed an order in

095place but where the rubber really hit the road so to speak was the 2021 special session virginia general assembly enacted senate bill 1303 it requires that the instruction be provided to the maximum extent practicable to apply mitigation strategies provided by the federal centers for disease control and prevention that was uh cdc changed those guidelines on august 4th and recommended universal indoor masking for all students staff and teachers so we are bound by that law we may not like the law and i don't like not only that law but some other laws that are on the books but we are bound by that law the general assembly passed it and only they can change it i'm sorry excuse me the school board cannot change the law if the school board were to fail to follow the

096law each member could be held criminally liable the public school system could be sued for tens of millions of dollars our insurance company will not cover those damages and that would mean taxpayers in campbell county have to pay more taxes to cover those potential lawsuits so those are some of the things we wrestled with as a board and that's how we ended up where we are and i just want to bring that to the attention of everyone and share that information with you and again we've got that letter out by the door and it is on the agenda for you to read in detail for yourself so trying to be transparent in that matter and share with you the information we have and how we came to that decision i also made two pages of

097notes from our speakers tonight and thank you for the speakers coming out um we appreciate you expressing your thoughts your concerns uh that's the point for the meetings somebody mentioned robert's rules of order um parliamentary procedure we do go by whose um procedures in the business meeting we listen to you i take notes i'm concerned about concerns you folks bring before the board and i wanted to follow up on a few things that we heard tonight i'm not going to read well i'm going to read but it's not a prepared statement but i'll have you know that the prepared statement that we read or that i read was on behalf of the board that's why it was a prepared statement because we had to get feedback from all board members to form the statement but

098each time we stated that we were against critical race theory against student choice of bathrooms and we stated the policy on mask that was the law we had by that law so looking back at some of the earlier comments from the speakers there was a comment made about dress codes we'll take a look a lot of these i'm not following folks on but we'll take a look at what some concerns may be in regards to dress codes feature exhaustion and lack of substitutes i hear you i think the board hears you the teacher work day was greatly appreciated and we'll see what we can do to take that further and try to provide our teachers with some relief the lack of substitutes we'll take a look at that i mentioned this kind of principle at

099crestburg elementary her middle school shared that information with me as well so we'll see what we can do in regard to opening up our substitute program and providing better relief for our teachers as needed safety in schools i think one of our student speakers brought that up that's a very important topic we've wrestled with that in years past because of that concern we've got a resource officer at every one of our schools and we've taken great measure on mitigations that we put in place at the front doors locking doors how the schools are laid out to deter someone from coming to those schools that's not welcome or that may mean harm to our students or our teachers but we'll continue to keep that safety concern in mind and see what we can do to further

100improve on that we spoke to the holt harmless agreement we'll continue to look into that with our our attorneys to make sure we take full advantage of that as applicable dr johnson also spoke to that earlier a couple of comments on um folks for masks it's a heated discussion a lot of people are for mask a lot of people are against masks we try or i try as a member of the board to do what i think is best first and foremost for our students for our teachers for our staff we want to keep everybody safe we recognize that it's not comfortable at my place of employment we have a mask policy i don't particularly like it myself but when i go into work i wear a mask because that's the policy so we have

101to as a civil society follow our laws and our policies that are put in place whether it's in school whether it's at work we try to do what's right by our students our teachers our staff we're not trying to make anybody uncomfortable we're not trying to infringe on anybody's religious or medical concerns and try to take those into account so please know that funding for homeschoolers that's come up in the past we'll take a look at that i'm not sure if we can do a whole lot there but i did jot sit down as a concern we had tonight as well the 1919 rosberg middle school building that's been discussed in previous meetings we have discussed it at our board meetings i hear what folks are saying i understand the the connection with that building

102it is a historic building whether we could do anything to save that building or not at this point is still unknown but right now we're on the path on taking that building down as we go into next year but i'll jot that down and check into that to see if anything can be done but right now we're on the path in the opposite direction there unfortunately fbi against citizens voicing their concerns and meetings i think i can speak for myself and the board as well we are not on board with that agenda please don't lump the school board in with everything you see on the news i came home from work today and i heard someone on the radio say school boards are doing this and school boards are doing that some boards may be

103doing some things but it's not all school boards so be careful not to lump your campbell county school board in with everything you hear on the news it's not factual we all try to listen to our constituents take your concerns keep those in mind when we make decisions about policies about our teachers our students our facilities we just don't go with the flow and whatever's happening in the news and follow that along several folks say they were thankful for the location change uh thank you for that feedback we try to take action where we can in regards like that same thing with emails i have a available tool for you reach out for us via email as needed some discussion about silence sweeping things under the rug i personally don't do that i don't think

104most of our board members do that we do carry out the meetings in a formal manner we hear your concerns and then at the matters of the board section we try to respond to those concerns and sometimes it may take the following meeting for us to go and dig into some information and find that out for you and then respond about a month later it draws it out sometimes we are listening we're not sweeping things under the rug i'm not ignoring what you folks are saying um writing that down and trying to follow up with as best we can i can say that every phone call i've gotten in my past four years in office i've returned every call i'm delayed i will admit that sometimes it's a few days before i get back to

105some folks but i think myself and the other board members did a pretty good job of that mr mcauliffe's statement on parents and their involvement in the school curriculum i'm not in agreement with um i'll leave that up to him to defend that statement but uh thank you guys for coming out and we value your opinions and i think parents definitely have a right and the curriculum is dr johnson talked to earlier in the meeting there will be upcoming meetings about some curriculums on updates in our history curriculum and we'll try to keep you appraised for that and you're welcome to come out to those meetings and voice your concerns um the comment about not playing politics with our kids i don't play politics with our kids with our teachers and i'm not going to

106campaign but i'm running as an independent because i don't believe politics belongs in our schools here we're here for our students and for our teachers and to educate our students in campbell county and prepare them for whatever comes next be it a job a college education or so forth so i think that's what i'm here for anyway so i agree there's no room for politics with our kids and if you have that impression of me i'd like to have a discussion with you because i don't agree with that somebody said you're taking an easy term on the school board i think this has been my first and only term the past four years and uh i will admit the first year or two was kind of in cruise control but i tell you the last

107two years have been anything that easy with the pandemic trying to keep kids in school contact tracing we've gotten feedback it's worn on our teachers on our administrator our staff a lot of people put a lot of hard work in to try to keep our schools open our campbell county schools have not closed throughout the pandemic we've had some classrooms that were closed for a brief period of time we got those kids those teachers back in so i commend dr johnson and his staff for doing an outstanding job and keeping our schools open we've done a lot better job than a lot of other areas in that regard so um library materials this is another one i've heard on the radio as well and i can't say i'm not concerned about that and we'll take

108a look at that but there will be some things in books and libraries it's not appropriate for some students and appropriate for other age levels and we try to make sure those books are at the appropriate schools and not edit schools that where they're not appropriate but again just kind of um something i heard on the radio over the past week or so and uh we can take a look at that i'm not saying we have that problem in campbell county i think whoever brought this up mentioned virginia public schools but i'm not sure we have anything like that in our campbell county schools but we can uh definitely take a look into that so those are some of the highlights and we are listening to you we are taking action as appropriate it may

109take a little longer than some people care for my apologies for that my apologies for the formalness of the meeting i know some folks like to have a back and forth but i think that can quickly derail the meeting and go into for lack of terms and argument almost we don't hear each other that way we listen to you guys when you sign up for the meetings you get my undivided attention for the three minutes i apologize for the three minutes but we had 18 speakers on the agenda tonight and if we give everybody free reign you will not hear everybody because we'll listen to the first 15 or 20 and then people are going to start filing out so we do have to have a time limit unfortunately so speaking of time limits i've

110rambled on long enough i appreciate your patience but that's my feedback for this evening so thank you for coming out tonight next on the agenda we do have a closed session matter to discuss so i would ask for a motion for uh to recess into closed session please mr chairman i move that we convene in a closed meeting for discussion or consideration of disciplinary matters or other matters that would involve the disclosure of information contained in a scholastic record concerning students in the school division specifically student number 14 from the 2021-2022 school year in accordance with section 2.2-3711 a2 of the code of virginia 1950 as amended second we have a motion and a second on the floor to adjourn into a closed meeting so we'll take a five minute recess have a closed meeting

111and then reconvene after we discuss those matters oh batteries make sure you're rolling okay ask for a motion to reconvene back into open session soul move we have a motion to the second floor buddy in favor say aye all right let's suppose ocean carries next up is to certify the closed session um as for a motion to certify closed session certifying to the best of each member's knowledge that during our closed meeting only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by virginia law and two only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening closed meeting were heard discussed or considered in the meeting by the school board motion second mr chairman i'll move that we accept the administration's recommendations on student number 14. okay second second all those in favor

112say aye aye okay motion carries it's all the business matters we had this evening move will adjourn yeah adjourn we have a motion do we have a second second second to adjourn all those in favor say aye aye opposed motion carries meeting is adjourned thank you