001staff and the Carolina community. I, Lidell Fortune, chair of the board, would like to call the March school board meeting to order. Uh, it is my privilege to welcome those attending in person at Caroline Middle School as well as those viewing on our CCPS YouTube channel. Each provides an avenue for you to receive information, heightened education, awareness, and involvement. The school board is grateful for your attendance as we continue to move our school division in a forward direction as hashtag one Caroline. Again, welcome to the school board meeting. And now I would like to ask the clerk of the board to call the role. >> Mrs. Allison Sears representing the Western Caroline District. Mr. La Fortune representing the Madapana district. Dr. Sarah Calvaric, superintendent of schools. Dr. Jawanda Rollins Fels representing the Rei Church District.
002Mr. Calvin Taylor representing the Port Royal District. Mr. Shan Kelly representing the Madison District. And I am Lisa Stevens, clerk of the board. Mr. Chair, we have a quorum. >> Thank you, Madame Clerk. On prior agenda, I will now read the CCPS statement of government governance uh norms. As a governance team, we agreed to employ the following norms in all our interactions. We put the welfare, safety, and achievement of all students at the forefront of our decisions. We align all decisions to the strategic plan. We hear each opinion, share background information, consider options as a group, but ultimately act as one board. The chair or designate speaks as the official voice of the board. A single board member will not represent the board without the consent of the board. We are mindful of the different
003roles and responsibilities throughout the school system and maintain a focus on policy governance and not interfere with the day-to-day operation of the school system. Concerns with operational matters will be directed to the superintendent or design. We are aware of the different roles that we play as individuals whether board member, citizen, parent, etc. We maintain open communication with each other, the administration and the community at large. Information shared with one board member will be shared with all members and we will begin meetings on time and prepared. Thank you. Uh tonight the school board would like to take a minute to pause and share the passing of one of our very own Mr. John Butler Seavoy Jr. 86 of Ruther Glenn entered into eternal rest on Saturday, March the 7th, 2026 at his residence. CCPS had the
004opportunity to join with him and celebrate his retirement from the transportation department at the 2025 annual recognition event. And these were the words we shared since 1991. Big John has been a constant from driving cars, including outofcount routes to keeping school grounds clean, polished, and full of pride. John has done it all, and he's done it with a smile, a strong work ethic, and a heart as big as his nickname. He's not just been a driver or a custodian. He's been the guy who shows up, who steps in, who gets it done. Beloved throughout the community, Big John is known for lending a helping hand, sharing a laugh, and always doing his part to make the set, our schools, a better place for everyone. At this time, the school board would like to enter into
005a moment of silence. Thank you. Uh we will now continue with our agenda with words of inspiration from Mrs. Sears. >> Thank you, Mr. Fortune. We come from different places. We bring different experiences, different opinions, different perspectives, different voices, but one purpose. We are educators. We are families. We are leaders. We are one community. Our strength is not found in agreement. It is found in respect. It is found in listening. It is found in unity. Unity does not mean sameness. Unity means standing together. Even when we stand differently, every student matters. Every voice matters. Every decision matters because every future matters. Tonight we choose collaboration over conflict, understanding over assumption, purpose over division. We lead with care. We lead with courage. We lead with commitment for our students, for our schools, and for our community.
006Together, we move forward. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Sears. Uh at this time, it is my pleasure to uh welcome the Caroline High School community. uh as they lead us into our uh with our pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. All right. At this time, I will ask for approval of the March 18, 2026 agenda. >> So moved. >> It's been moved and properly second that we uh approve the agenda. Is there any discussion? >> I move to edit the agenda and add a discussion on town hall meetings. >> Second. So, it's been moved and properly second. Well, let me ask uh was is would this
007be a substitute motion or would you agree to the addition or amendment to your motion to approve the agenda as presented? >> I'll amend my previous motion. >> Okay. >> And I'll amend my second. >> Okay. Thank you. So, it's been moved and properly second that we add a discussion about town halls to our um previously printed agenda. Is there any additional discussion hearing? None. Madame clerk, please call for the vote. >> Dr. Rollins spells. >> I. >> Mr. Kelly. >> Hi. >> Mr. Taylor. >> Mrs. Sears. >> I. >> Mr. Fortune. >> I. So we will add the discussion of town hall meetings to our new business section which will now be add uh letter F will be added um to section 11 new business. All right thank you so much. All right, moving
008forward in our agenda at this time, we have uh a musical selection uh with the recognition of arts and music in our schools month. Uh Mrs. Haley, >> thank you. >> Great evening, Chair Chairman Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, members of the Caroline County School Board, and Dr. Cal Bareric. It is with great pleasure and honor to share in our celebration of arts in our schools. Through fine arts instruction, students build a wide range of abilities, including critical thinking, creative problem solving, effective communication, collaboration, cultural and historical understanding, and imaginative and flexible thinking. We CCPS acknowledge the importance of the arts and here tonight we will begin with the performance from the ORF club at Louiswis and Clark Elementary. So if you all will come forward. This club is led by music teacher Miss Gonzalez. Following
009their presentation, there are two selections. Miss Stephanie Ro will join us here at the podium. Um she is our visual arts content liaison and she will share the remaining of our presentation with you of the captivating artwork and artistic happenings throughout our division. Miss Gonzalez Mr. Chairman, could I just take a privilege to say thank you? I'm not the chairman. I'm not taking his job, >> but I'm a teacher. And I just want to say to these young people, you have done a marvelous job. And the chairman was probably going to say that anyway, but I just want to say that you've done a marvelous job and thank you. It's difficult for kids to perform and with all these people in here, >> I don't know that I would be able to do that. So,
010I I want to say thank you to them and congratulations to them and I just want them to know how proud we are of them. >> You are. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Mr. Taylor, I couldn't have said it better myself. Once again, thank you so much to uh Miss Gonzalez and the Orf Ensemble for an amazing performance. >> Good evening. My name is Andrea Campbell and I am the performance content liaison here in Caroline. The group that you just saw is modeled after the ORF method of teaching music and this was composed by our fourth and fifth grade students at Lewis and Clark. They meet once a week after school to practice their music using instruments that were graciously donated by the Caroline County Education Foundation, Horus Man, and other local donors. They performed
011for you tonight uh two different pieces with very catchy main melodies. They were performing these works that were required musical independence from each musician in the ensemble. It has stretched their musicianship and has taught them that at first if you don't succeed then you try again. Viewf Ensemble would like to thank the school board for the invitation to perform as well as Don Hudson and the administrative team at Lewis and Clark for their continued support with their ensemble. And now I have Miss Stephanie Row. Please join me in giving this group of young m musicians another round of applause. Each March, Caroline County and other districts across the nation highlight and celebrate the performing and visual arts. Art gives students a voice and builds empathy by helping them see the world through different perspectives. Arts
012education also strengthens critical thinking, problem solving, resilience, and innovation. Skills students need for success in school and beyond. When we invest in the arts, we invest in confident, compassionate, and creative thinkers. So, please also join me for thanking our music, art, and theater teachers here in Caroline County for instilling the love for the arts and having standards of excellence in the arts for our students. These teachers are at BGES, Kelly Wanro, Anthony Jones. At LCEES, Don Hudson, Glattis Gonzalez, Clara Schwarz, and Stephanie Row. at MEES, Andrea Brock, Anthony Jones, Don Hudson, Tyena Kyan, at CMS, Tena Stevens Young, Nicholas Rymer Stevens, Patricia Jackson, Riley Smith, and Mary Mulligan. And at CHS, Carter King, Shawn McBride, Katherine Boltz, Kate Bear, and Taylor Stewart. Now, to learn a little more about how the arts will be celebrated
013throughout our schools this month, I would like to ask Andrea Brock, music teacher at Madison Elementary, to share some more. Thank you. We have had many students representing the Caroline County at the recent all district chorus concert from fifth grade all the way through high school under the supervision of Miss Stevens Young of CHS and Miss Hudson of Lewis and Clark Elementary School. Every year, instrumental ensembles participate in the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association assessments, which are equivalent to yearly growth assessments in academics. Our ensembles all performed amazingly well under the direction of Mr. King at CHS and Mr. Rmmer Stevens at CHS. Here are some fantastic artworks created by students in Mrs. Schwarz art classes at Lewis and Clark Elementary School. And look at the creativity of students in Miss Kyan's art class
014from Madison Elementary. These pieces showcase the talent at CMS from students in Miss Jackson and Miss Smith's classes. These pieces were created by students in Miss Bear's graphics, graphic arts and art one classes, showcasing their creativity and growing artistic skills. These incredible pieces were created by students in Miss Stewart's photography and art one classes. And these artworks are from Miss Boltz's AP Art and Art for students who were winners at the state fair last fall. An impressive achievement that highlights their talent and dedication. And not to be missed, Mr. McBride's Cavalier Theater Company will present their final production of the 2025 2026 season from March 20th to the 22nd, Little Shop of Horse. We would also like to spotlight a few students that have been recognized on the state and national level stage, growing, showing
015how our strong arts programs are creating standout students. Violet Beven, a second grade student in Miss Rose's class at Louiswis and Clark Elementary, won second place at the Virginia School Board Association's Eastern Region Art Contest. Genesis Melo, a student from Mr. Raymond Stevens band at CMS, traveled to Virginia Tech to play at the Honor Band Festival. And lastly, Sophie Ro from Mr. King's marching band who played in the Bands of America Rose Bowl Honor Band parade. Even though March is Art in Our Schools Month, we celebrate the arts in Caroline all year round. To see and hear more of our talented students work, please join us on April 23rd at CHS from 5 to 8:00 p.m. at our spring arts show. Thank you for your attention, recognition, and celebration of the arts in our schools.
016>> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you so much. And congratulations to all of the students um families etc who were highlighted for their outstanding uh work produced in the arts and in music. And at this time we will move forward in our agenda with our achieve 2027 spotlight project search uh presented by Dr. Calverick and Jennifer uh Mcdana. Dr. Calvary. >> Good evening, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, and members of the board. I am thrilled this evening to kick off this month's strategic plan achieve 2027 highlight focusing on goal one academic access and opportunity and profile of a graduate as well as goal two relationships specifically sense of belonging, studentled learning, and partners in education. I am happy to introduce not Miss Jennifer, but Mr. Matthew Luther, the transition and education services manager from
017the division of rehabilitative services, who will spotlight a future focused school division, DAR and Kalahari partnership called Project SEARCH aimed at the success of our students with disabilities ages 18 and beyond. At this time, I invite Mr. Luther to the podium. >> Thank you, Dr. Calver. Can you hear me everybody? >> Yes. >> It's a pleasure to be here and I really appreciate the opportunity. Obviously, I'm not Jen Mcdunes. She's our statewide coordinator. You get me. I'm the substitute. And judged by the audience, I'll be pretty quick tonight so they don't rough me up and I'll get out of here. But so, it's a team effort. These are some of the partners that you can see in collaboration. And the one that I wanted to highlight that you may not know is an employment service
018organization. Those are agencies that we contract with that provide job support for participants on the job who need that or require that accommodation. Now, we're going to show you about four minutes of this video. It's 11 minutes long. You can watch it in your entirety another time. We just wanted to give you overall the big picture what it is about. Every day at every hospital in the country, there is so much work to be done. Every room must be stocked with the essential items that ensure every patient has what he or she needs to be comfortable to recover in a clean environment to ensure that every instrument used in the surgical process is perfectly sterile. This is essential to the work of doctors, nurses, and therapists. It is the work of some capable and highly
019dedicated young people who are learning skills, >> confidence, >> and are headed toward a brighter future. This is the work of Project Search. Project Search is a one-year high school transition program that provides skills training and internship opportunities for young adults with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 22. People like Ashley. >> I love working here. This is the beer. This is number one beautiful hospital in America. >> And so did you find the pillowcases? >> Yes, my face is given to me. >> As Ashley prepares a maternity room in a hospital with guidance from her project search instructor, Jim Kefir, she is doing so with her entire routine memorized. >> And the last thing on the list is the pink bad pan. >> She knows what needs to be placed where. She keeps
020a tight schedule. Whether it's making packets for new moms or stocking supplies for patients in their rooms, this high school student has already gained important work skills during her first internships. >> Have you learned anything about yourself in doing the work here? >> Um, I learned how to be more mature and take more and take more responsibility into my hands. With Ashley, we we we noticed in her she's a very outgoing personality. Um a good work ethic. Um she tries her best. Um and those are some qualities that we really look for in our students. >> Ashley's work in Project Search is part of a collaborative effort to increase the employment outcomes of youth with significant disabilities. Project Search, originally founded by Aaron Riley at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital, blends the local resources of businesses,
021school systems, and rehabilitation services to create a win-win situation for all. The program matches student strengths and interests to three internship opportunities in the business. For Kyle, that means using his mathematical skills to ensure nurses have all the stocked items next to the nursing station, ready at a moment's notice. >> He's in charge of stocking all of the patient supplies. So, without him, patients wouldn't have any supplies at all. Um, and he definitely loves to um be important. It's very important to him that the work he's doing is important. And so, he's um definitely doing a good job. And he he's very mathematically minded. So it's easy for him to count, doing the inventory. He really enjoys that type of work. >> For Renal, that means ensuring surgical instruments are thoroughly clean before they're sterilized.
022Damian now works in the main pharmacy where medications are placed and replaced before they expire. Annie secured her job in the maternity ward where newborns and their parents are insured clean surfaces wherever they go. Chris didn't take long to catch on to his responsibilities as an intern. His work and his capabilities earned him a job in the durable medical equipment unit where he thoroughly cleans the infant isoletes and other medical equipment. >> No concerns at all with Chris. Uh Chris caught on real fast. Uh he's a quick learner. Uh we have good trainers here that work with him diligently um throughout his process in the beginning. Um Chris was actually independently working on his own within two weeks. His enthusiasm, his uh his willing to work, he's on time. Interested students like Annie and Chris
023completed an application and interviewed for the program through their local school system. The hospital can offer a student intern a job at any point during the school year or upon graduation. By doing this program, we we hope that they get the the job skills, um you know, things such as time management, staying on task, um work pace, things of that nature, that they can learn those skills and then we can apply it in a practical setting. >> Why are we here? >> To learn job skills. >> Who are we? >> Project search intern. The So, so thank you very much, Miss Stephen. So, that was just a general overview of the program. This just goes into a little more detail uh that it's a nine-month school to work program. And the one phrase there, competitive
024employment in the community, we talk about competitive and integrated employment. That means earning at least minimum wage, working in the community around people who are without disabilities. Um they participate in three unpaid internships and the various levels of support that they have in theos in this particular project search at the hospital with VCU and the different partners that we have. And again, it's a one-year program based on the school schedule. When schools start, when do they end? Um, and it's specifically for students who are on an applied studies diploma currently in Virginia. That may be changing down the road, but right now that's what uh the student this program is designed for. And the last statement there, desire to work. That's obviously the goal after they complete the training is that we would get them
025a job and not just an entry levelvel job, but a job where they could have a pathways to advancement in future opportunities. This just a sample what a day or schedule would look like for the intern. They arrive at their internship site then wherever it is Cal Kalahari Resort. some of the examples they start off with in the classroom instruction and then they go to their internship site and the rest of their day. They receive assistance from their supports their the managers and mentors from where they're uh doing their internship. So it's very much like on the job training. Uh and they get this in ongoing support throughout the whole the whole program in each internship that they participate in. These are just some examples of internship sites. I'm not going to go go into
026great detail. I'll just go through each slide with some of the job duties. But the very first one is administration. you know, make copies, scan documents, etc. The next one is uh food and beverage for folks who might be interested in working in food service. And you have front desk. It's all right. And I think everyone can see some of the job duties, housekeeping. Uh and these are partic specifically related to the hospital. Then they talked about the benefits of the program. Obviously, it's a collaborative program between the school, the division of rehabilitative services, the business, and that goal is that they would have individuals, you know, working there. Uh, and if you can have a business that's employs people with disabilities, they're disability friendly, then I think it shows something to folks in the
027community, that's a place that they would like to go, right? And also we're trying to educate employers that just because people have a disability doesn't mean that they're not capable of performing a job. These are just some of the costs. Uh you know it always irks me when you see the money amount but if you partner with other schools and collaborate then that cost comes down. But that's just to have the title of project search underneath Cincinnati. And this is just an example of a timeline from the time we get the program started. Um, you know, you secure the partners, you develop a memoranduming of un understanding, you recruit the students, and you get all these things in place in order to get the program up and running. Dr. Kel, did you have anything you
028want to add? Thank you all. I appreciate your time. >> Thank you to Mr. Luther. He um took the bull by the horns and ran when Miss Jennifer wasn't able to make it due to our date change for inclement weather. You will not find a bigger champion for this program than me. As a special education teacher by trade, this makes my heart extremely happy. And theft is indeed one teacher, one parah, and the $18,000 fee for the training that all three divisions would be experiencing. So that that actual amount of funding would be divided by three if Spennsylvania and Fredericksburg city indeed participate in the program. One thing logistically with that I don't believe was shared was that Kalahari also has this program in two of their other resorts already. So this is not something
029that is new to them and they have field experience that they will then bring to the Fredericksburg area so that we can really hit the ground running. And uh ultimately we are looking forward to um building this into a future budget so that we can offer this growth experience for our post 18 students with disabilities. So, at this time, we're happy to entertain any questions, but this really does align beautifully with access and opportunity for goal one and for goal two, which is relationships, um, specifically partners in education and sense of belonging. >> Uh, are there any questions or comments from board members? >> Mr. Chair, I have one question. Um, on slide five, it said that this would accommodate approximately 8 to 12 students per year. Is that per school or would those slots
030be divided by the three school divisions? >> You want us to answer that? You're fine. >> 12 total. And so in the process of developing a memorandum of understanding, we would articulate how the selection process would go to ensure that each division felt like they were receiving their fair slice of opportunity. Spennsylvania actually already has an 18 plus program that's really robust. Fred City and Caroline are developing and this would be an amazing branch of that process. Um, but that would really be articulated beautifully within that document over the summer. >> And just to have add, we do have other sites across the Commonwealth where we have multiple school systems and if you wanted to get more information from those schools, you know, I can share that information with you too. >> Thank you. They
031also noted when we met, just to play off that question, uh that typically at the end of the year-long internship, when the students have experienced three placements within that host business, the business elects to hire three to four of the 12 participants and then DARS and some of those other businesses will place the other students in businesses throughout the region. And so it sounded when I walked away as if a 100% of the students would be placed, not specifically with Kalahari, but they would have gainful employment. Yeah. And in some of our hospitals where we've been working with them 10 plus years, they've hired uh we had a um a reunion party and some of them they've hired almost 50 people and they've become mentors. So it's really an opportunity of growth for a lot
032of individuals. Yeah. >> Any additional questions or comments? >> Um, I would just say that when I first heard about this opportunity, I was really elated. Um, more so because one of the final positions that my mother had at Caroline County Public Schools was a job coach back in the day. Not sure if Mr. Wick was principal at the time or not, but uh my mom would actually uh take some of our developmentally disabled students around the community um to job sites. and just growing up hearing the joy that she had and making a small difference in giving um our students the ability to acquire skills that they could take them far beyond you know graduation was really really impactful u for her and by extension you know to me so you know kudos to
033this program I'm definitely personally um excited to hear more about the opportunity um potential opport opportunity for our students um today. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you. And DARS will be presenting to Fredericksburg City and Spennsylvania, I believe, within the next month. So, all three regional U school divisions will be um well informed. >> Awesome. Thank you so much, Dr. Calverick and Mr. Luther. >> So, moving on in our agenda, we've now reached uh the recognition portion of our agenda. and we enjoy having an opportunity to recognize staff, uh, students and community members. Uh, we ask that you remain seated until all recognitions are complete and then the board will pause for a quick break uh for anyone that would like to dismiss. And with that, we will begin our recognition um segment
034with a women's history month um recognition led by Mrs. Haley and Miss Landon. >> Thank you. Great evening, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, members of the board, and Dr. Caleric. I'm pleased to stand before you today with Courtney Lander, our history and social science instructional specialist to bring this year's recognition to Women's History Month. Thank you, Miss Haley, and good evening, everyone. Tonight, we join in celebrating Women's History Month. This year's theme, leading the change, women shaping a sustainable future, reminds us that true sustainability, begins in the homes, in the classroom, and within a community where we tend the fire of today to ensure that the world of tomorrow never has to sit in the dark. This evening, we recognize the women who serve as the architects of that future. From the educators who spark
035curiosity in our labs to the mothers and mentors who champion our children at home, our community is sustained by women who lead with both heart and grit. They remind us that a sustainable future is built on a foundation of equity, resilience, and care. Most importantly, we look to our students in every classroom, athletic field, and art studio. The young women of this district are already leading the change. They are innovating in our STEM programs to solve the environmental and social challenges of the next century. Advocating for kindness and inclusion and ensuring our social fabric remains strong. Defining what it means to be a leader through service and scholarship. To shape a sustainable future, we must empower the voices of today. By honoring Women's History Month, we aren't just looking back. We are fueling a brilliance
036of the girls who will shape, nurture, reimagine, and transcend the future. Let us continue to foster an environment where every student knows that her visionary leadership is the light that will carry us forward. >> Thank you so much, Mrs. Haley and Miss Lander for that awesome uh recognition of Women's History Month. Uh we will now move forward uh with the 202526 um smart mayor V FW national citizenship education teacher award. So each year uh the veterans uh of foreign affairs selects elementary, middle, and high school teachers uh to participate uh in this program uh where they identify and recognize America's best educators who instill a sense of national pride in students. So at this time I will ask Mrs. Haley and Miss Lander um to move forward with that recognition. >> Great evening again, Chair
037Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, members of the board, and Dr. Calveric. It is a privilege to recognize an educator who embodies the very heart of what it means to be an American citizen and a mentor. Here to present the award is Miss Courtney Lander, history social science instructional specialist who has also worked alongside the awardee and served as a reference for this nomination. Thank you, Miss Haley. We are proud to celebrate Miss Charma Harvey, who has been honored with the VFW Citizenship Education Teacher Award, both at the local and district levels. Miss Harvey is defined by a proud dedication to her fourth grade classroom. She is a passionate advocate for every child, particularly our diverse learners. For Miss Harvey, citizenship is a daily practice of equity. She ensures that every student, regardless of their individual needs,
038has a seat at the table and access to engaging highquality lessons they deserve. Her innovative practice lies in her ability to merge flexible learning principles with high energy total participation techniques by integrating whole brain teaching and hands-on projects. She transforms complex American history concepts into movement and collaboration. Please join us in congratulating Miss Charma Harvey on this well-deserved distinction. teaching it in the blood. All right, congratulations once again, Miss Harvey, and thank you for being such a great role model uh for our CCPS community. All right, moving forward, we will now have the CCPS division spelling bee winners recognized u by Mrs. Haley. Great evening, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, school board members, and Dr. Calber. Tonight, I am proud to recognize our outstanding spelling bee champions for our division. In January, top spellers from
039our division schools came together to compete in the CCPS division spelling be. We had an amazing lineup of scholars who earned this honor. They are and were from CMS. Jeffrey Ramirez, CMS, Estavan Castro, Levi Thomas from Bowling Green, Abigail Melgar, also from Bowling Green, Iris Crawford from Lewis and Clark, Jackson Vince Vincelet from Lewis and Clark, and from Madison, Lydia Catlet, and Blessing Hamu. Tonight, we extend congratulations to two talented spelling scholars and invite them down to receive recognition and their awards. We commend Iris Crawford, fourth grade student at Lewis and Clark for an impressive performance as this year's runner up. Come on down and accept your award. She has her beautiful medal on as well. >> Wonderful. Outstanding. And the scholar who earned the title of CCPS division spelling be champion. He is also
040a fourth grade Grizzly. Jackson Vinclet, come on down. Congratulations, Jackson. Jackson also had the privilege to compete in the regional spelling bee last month, and we thank him for representing Caroline County Public Schools. would Miss Brown come down as well, the principal of these proud scholars. >> We want to extend while she's coming, we want to extend gratitude to the dedicated teachers, supportive school administrators, and proud parents as well who are in the audience um for sure for encouraging their success and our other participants success. Thank you so much. Congratulations. And to the parents and family supporters, >> please stand. Parents, Jackson, Iris's families, please stand. Congratulations. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, board. >> Oh, thank you. And congratulations once again to Iris, to Jackson, and all our amazing, exceptional U spelling scholars
041who were recognized tonight. Um, moving forward uh with our recognition at this time, the art student of the month uh will be presented by uh Dr. Calverick. >> It's an art kind of night. I probably should have linked myself to the fabulous performances, but again, good evening, Chair Taylor. Excuse me, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, and members of the board. Exposure to art is critical to the development of every child. Art not only teaches students how to express themselves in creative and individual ways, but students who participate in regular art related activities, perform better academically, develop greater confidence, and sharpen their fine motor skills. Beyond these benefits, our education promotes problem solving, critical thinking, perseverance, growth mindset, collaboration, focus, and accountability. All power skills that CCPS graduates need to be 3E ready, enrolled, enlisted, and/or
042employed. In cooperation with CCPS art teachers, I have the great honor of supporting one student each month with a certificate to honor their individual artwork. The students art will be on display at the schoolboard office in safekeeping for the remainder of the month. Our amazing art teacher from Caroline High School will now introduce the March recipient of su the superintendent stu student art honor. And I'm not certain is it you Miss Boltz. Come on down. >> Not sure my student is here. >> Well, we are going to honor Emily Hernandez Fernandez anyway in her absence. and I'm going to hold her artwork up for you to explain. >> Very good. >> Good evening. We have a drawing by Emmy. Um their assignment was to draw a portrait of a hero of theirs and she's got
043a picture of herself and her mom that she drew. Um Emmy is in Little Shop of Horrors and they're having tech week this week. The production is this weekend, so I'm sure she got caught up over there. and she's a amazingly gifted senior who plans on going to college for um uh fashion design next year. Good evening, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, members of the board, and Dr. Calvaric. I am excited tonight to be here to recognize the outstanding staff members who were nominated for and selected to receive the third quarter above and beyond the call of duty awards for our 2526 school year. This round we received over 20 nominations which really speaks to the dedication and hard work happening across our division. The ABCD award recognizes employees who truly go above and beyond
044in their roles. Anyone across our school division can be nominated. Teachers, administrators, support staff, office professionals, instructional assistants, nurses, nutrition services, transportation, and maintenance teams. Nominees are recognized for things like improving efficiency, enhancing the quality of services, increasing safety, conserving resources, performing humanitarian or heroic acts, or simply stepping up to solve problems and meet needs without being asked. At this time, I'm pleased to recognize our award recipients. And our first award is Miss Billy Gene Haney. Come on down. Miss Haney consistently demonstrates dedication and professionalism in her role as a behavior support pair professional. She rema she maintains excellent attendance, responds promptly to the needs of her assigned students and willingly assists with additional tasks whenever asked. Her positive attitude, responsiveness, and reflective approach make her easy and collaborative to work with. Most importantly, she
045displays genuine compassion for every student, fostering a supportive and caring environment that benefits the entire school community. Yes, come on down. And I think your girls are here, too, Miss Haney. Want a picture with them? You're not. All right. Our next recipient is Jasper Morton, widely known as Chef Jazz. Is he here tonight? I know he was on a bus, but He is driving now. Okay. Well, we're gonna recognize him anyway. He is nominated in recognition of his dedication and service during storm burn. When Caroline County Fire and Rescue contacted CCPS to open CHS as an emergency shelter for residents impacted by the storm, Chef Jazz was asked to assist with meal preparation. Without hesitation, he eerily eagerly volunteered to help ensure shelter residents received hot, nutritious meals during the snowstorm. Chef Jazz immediately traveled
046through the snowy conditions to the school and began preparing a pasta dinner for residents, as well as the many individuals supporting the shelter, including emergency personnel, public works employees, and CCPS staff. His enthusiasm, generosity, and willingness to step in during a time of need made a meaningful difference for the Caroline community. Chef Jazz's actions truly exemplify going above and beyond, making him highly deserving of the ABCD award. All right. And our last award is Mr. Nath Wilson. Know he's here. Yes. Mr. Wilson has been selected for his exceptional service during the emergency shelter activation for Storm Fern. When Caroline Fire and Rescue Services requested assistance in opening a shelter at CHS, Mr. Wilson immediately stepped forward to oversee the facility and ensure all custodial needs were met. He worked extended hours, even sleeping on site
047to maintain a clean, safe, and fully operational environment for residents, shelter staff, and emergency personnel. During the posttorm debrief, county officials praised Nath for his helpful, kind, and accommodating demeanor. His dedication and positive attitude truly exemplify going above and beyond the call of duty. All right. And here are the rest of our wonderful nominees and they will all receive a copy of their nomination forms. Keep up the good work doing all things with excellence. >> All right. Thank you so much uh Miss Tucker and once again corre congratulations to Mrs. Haney uh Chef Jazz uh Mr. Wilson and all those who were uh nominated for this award. Uh moving forward in our recognition, we will now have the recognition of our fall student athletes um by Dr. Neighbors. >> Oh, I did skip one. Oh,
048my apologies. Yes. How could I skip the all district course participants? Uh we will recognize them at this moment. Um Dr. Neighbors whenever you're ready. >> Yes. Good evening, Chairman Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, members of the board, and Dr. Calvaric. I'm honored to be here tonight to celebrate some of our amazing secondary school students in alignment with Achieve 2027. These accomplishments demonstrate goal one teaching and learning objective 1.2 access and opportunities through a variety of opportunities that we offer here at our schools and our programs. So, it's very fitting that the first two areas that we're going to celebrate are brought to the board tonight because it is March is our arts and music in our schools month. So, we're going to continue to celebrate the arts. I would like to ask our chorus teacher,
049Miss Tena Stevens Young, to share about the all district chorus honors. While she's coming up to the podium, please join me in thanking her for her work both at the middle school and the high school. Good evening. So, I'm going to begin tonight by recognizing our middle school students from Caroline Middle School who participated in district course um just a few weeks ago. So, we'll begin with Joel Washington. Go. I can go in. Okay. And then Lauren Bundy, please. Serenity Scott, Payton Denniston, and Anva Santana. Once again, congratulations to our middle school district chorus participants. Our next section is for our high school students. So we'll begin with Reese Ramy, Olivia Acriman, Asher Drake, Carson Rainey, who also had a solo um at district course as well. And for the other individuals who are not
050here, I would like to also recognize Kayn Collins who is ill and our other students who are preparing for little shop as well for this opening weekend who are Ali Sears um Naji Nance and J Jordan Kellaher and Kayla Bradshaw. Our second program to recognize the arts is the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula All Area Band. I'd like to ask our band teacher, Mr. Carter King, to share about the band honors. And again, while he is coming up, please congratulate him for the work that he's doing in expanding our arts. Hi friends. So uh part of auditioning for um honor bands we have is the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula Honor Band. It is comprised of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula. It's smaller than the district. Uh we had six individuals audition this past
051January and all six made it which is amazing. So we have three individuals here tonight. Oh yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Claps. Yeah. Uh we have three individuals here tonight. Uh we have Alice Heath who made it on flute. We have Tommy Tuttle who made it on clarinet. And we have Ethan Hayden who also made it on clarinet. We have some students that weren't unfortunately weren't able to make it. Uh here we have Cara Carter who made it on flute. We have Cam or who made it on baritone. We have Zen Hines who made it on bassoon. And then we have Sophie Rail who made it on alto saxophone. And this is a big uh big improvement from last year where we had only a few students audition. We had double the amount of students audition this
052year. And for district band, we also had double the amount of students. In terms of double as well, I just like to mention that all of our music instrumental music classes for next year are almost doubling in size, which is an amazing accomplishment. Yeah. Great way to keep celebrating the arts. And now we're going to celebrate our student athletes. So, finally, we'll celebrate all of our fall student athletes. Mr. Josh Grind is on the field supporting our spring athletics. So, I've asked Dr. um Tom Connelly to come forward to the podium to do our fall sports athletes. >> Good evening. Uh before we move on to the athletes, I do want to say one thing. Um, please come out to the Little Shop of Horrors opening on Friday night. One show on Friday, two shows
053on Saturday, and one show on Sunday. Uh, those guys have and um are our performers have done an amazing job preparing. So, please come out. It's going to be an awesome performance. Um, so we are going to start our athletic acknowledgements with football and if I could have coach Alexander please come come join me and help me out. Uh, we had an excellent football season. We've have several recognitions. First, I'm going to start off with uh Treasure Kohl's. Treasure Kohl's recognized for first team all district offense and defense. Honorable mention allpurpose and second team all region defense. Blair Morris. Blair Morris being recognized for first team all district offense, second team all district defense, and second team all district offense. Angelo Torey. Angelo is being recognized for first team all district defense and second team
054all district offense. And gentlemen, as your names are called, please come on up and and receive your awards. Uh Dre Coleman, Dre Coleman is being recognized for second team all district defense. I'm sorry, all district offense. I don't see Blake in the crowd, but Blake Morris was recognized as the Battlefield District Offensive Player of the Year. Xavier Prior, second team all district offense, honorable mention for special teams and honorable mention for defense. Gavin Chenalt, second team all district defense. Cole Jordan, honorable mention offense. Zamir Whiting, honorable mention offense. Tawn Fletcher, honorable mention for both offense and defense. Cody Swatton, honorable mention, all district special teams. Aiden Brangan, honorable mention, all district defense. Christian Blevens, I'm sorry, Christian Bleven, honorable mention, all district defense. Jordan Reynolds, honorable mention, all district defense. Xavon Tomkins, honorable mention, all
055district defense. And Ethan Tinario, honorable mention, all district defense. >> Great job, guys. Parents, if you want to please come down and take your pictures. Okay. >> Okay. Next, we're going to move on to volleyball. I have coach Forehand is here. Liberty. >> That is correct. Yes. water. None of players going beyond Carolina High School to play ball. Moving on to volleyball. Uh, coach Forehand is not here tonight, but who is here is Riley Forehand, who being honored for first team all district and first team all region. Jordan Wilkerson, first team all district. And Ally Parkinson, honorable mention, all district. I believe Ally is with the play tonight. for softball. on. And as Jordan returns to receipt, I will say um the when the admission office contacted us from Princeton, they let us know she's
056the first ever alum from Caroline ever to attend Princeton University and she's a Mustang. >> Jordan's my niece. I just had to say it. When it's all said and done, we're all gonna claim a piece of Jordan. >> Next up is cheer. And if coach Douglas could join us at the podium, please. So, cheer is a little bit different. Um, all our other athletes who you saw tonight compete 10 to 20 times per season. Cheer gets one guaranteed competition. and if they're good enough, they get a second. So, they worked very hard for that one competition and they did an amazing job this year. uh for our all district um cheer f first team all district Laya Johnson first team all district Abby Mayo first I'm sorry second team all district Kasia Tonight, we also
057have Aaliyah Baker and Lauren Johnson that were honored who are not not here tonight. Okay. And our final recognition is field hockey. Is coach Dena here? >> Okay. That she's watching on YouTube. Uh for our field hockey honores, Hope Shannon, second team all district, first team all region. Cade Hartzell, first team all region. Bria Pal, second team all region. Reagan Parkinson, second team all district and second team all region. And Adriana Wakowski, honorable mention, all district and second team all region goalkeeper. So once again, congratulations to all of our uh district all district chorus members, our all band um members as well as all of our fall athletes who were uh recognized uh this evening. What an amazing accomplishment. So, as promised at this time, we will take a quick break uh for anyone that
058would like to uh dismiss at this time. He'll fix this. Curious. All right. So, we will go ahead and move forward in our agendas. in our agenda. We are now at the information from the district and Mr. Robinson will uh provide us uh information regarding Magic School AI. >> Good evening, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, members of the board, and Dr. Calverick. This evening, I would like to introduce Miss Cara Keller from Magic School AI who will provide a high level overview of the application and our partnership as we move forward with implementation. >> Good evening. I was excited for the big crowd I was going to get in. Then everyone like no one wants to learn about magic school. Um good evening. I am Cara Keller, Virginia partnerships manager. Live just down the road
059in Richmond and really excited to be here with you guys tonight to share a little bit more about our work um in partnership with Caroline County. So um our partnership includes really three main pillars which are student uh teacher support, AI literacy and district government governance when it comes to AI. So um if I've heard it once over the last three years, four years since trash came out I have heard it so many times that it is the wild west. AI is out there. We are all living in a deeply AIdriven world and the risk is not whether AI is here but if us as adults have the opportunity to control it and through our partnership that's exactly what we're able to do with you guys in Caroline County. So moving from students um exposed
060to AI like outside of school um in the world that we all live in to an opportunity for teachers to really guard rail the experience um and to teach that really critical AI literacy ahead of students using it. Um we also know that demands are really high in Virginia. They've always been high and they're continuing to increase. So, um, moving from what you see on the lefth hand side, uh, of that screen that I know is behind you, um, which is like just the AI all over the place to like pointed directly at your strategic priorities. Um, sorry, this is a movement slide, so if you could just go to the next slide. Um, aligning directly with your strategic priorities and vision is what we aim to do through this partnership. Um, so I'm sorry,
061this one's also a movement. I shouldn't have done that. Just click it three more times. Thank you. Um, on the left hand side is an infographic that shows the design of Magic School. Um, built from the ground up specifically for education. That middle layer there is really important. It's what differentiates Magic School from a more general purpose chatbot like a chat GPT. So, Magic School leverages OpenAI, Gemini, and Claude as the large language models powering our tools. Um, we have all those different large language models at our disposal because each one has strength distinct strengths and weaknesses. Um, Claude, as an example, is safest, best at following directions. Um, so that p that powers the student side of Magic School, which we're not opening up currently in Caroline County, but it's there and ready um
062when we get to that point. um if we get to that point. Um and then that middle layer there is the educational layer. Extensive content filtering exists within that layer. What allow you know what is allowed um based off of a school-based setting and what's not. Um also within that layer is our evaluations platform. So that monitors every single prompt or input that goes into Magic School and every single output that's um given out. It monitors against bias, hallucinations, accuracy, following directions, all of those really important measures for teacher effectiveness. Um, and then that top layer uh is our our user interface. So, equity, accessibility are core in Magic School support. We want to ensure that every single educator feels comfortable and confident leveraging AI so that they can model that safe and effective use
063for students. they can address questions from the community about how Caroline County is safeguarding the AI experience. Um, we also have built-in moderations and protections, so moderation system, um, messaging limits and a completely teacher and division controlled environment um, with extensive oversight dashboards. Um, and then finally, I want to chat about um the difference between access to AI and really leveraging AI to supercharge Caroline County's strategic priorities, which is what we're able to do through our partnership. So, listed on the screen are a few core areas in which Magic School can deeply support. things like the Virginia Literacy Act or VLA um helping uh support teachers as they're preparing for the uh upcoming increase in so proficiency expectations preparation for vowels screening. Um everything is deeply aligned with the Virginia SOS. um all kept up
064to date with uh all the the updates and then also accessibility in terms of supporting students with IEPs and multilingual learners as well um through tiered support and alignment directly with WEDA. Um, so again, Magic School being designed specifically for the classroom with the realities of um the classroom in mind and being very different than like a general purpose chatbot in um really how it it it supports and is able to um align with with Caroline County strategic priorities and important Virginia initiatives. Um and then finally, through our partnership, we're able to ensure that AI really strengthens teaching um supports student success and aligns fully with the district's academic priorities so that Caroline County can lead in the face of AI um to ensure that students and teachers are prepared for an AI embedded world.
065So, welcome any questions that you guys have. >> Thank you. Uh do board members have any questions? Dr. Calbertt. >> Hello. Thank you so much for being with us. Could you please share with the school board and our community some of the 80 tools that will be at the disposal of our educators and then ultimately students will be able to access and utilize as appropriate. >> Yeah, of course. Um, so we have everything from like instructional material creation like lesson planning, do questions, rubric generation, um, things that teachers are spending so much time doing. And Magic School allows them to implement the 8020 approach. So use AI for that first 80% and then always adding in your professional judgment and expertise and that collaboration element for that last 20%. Um, we have a lot of
066student support tools as well. So, um things like supporting students with IEPs, goal creation, IEP meeting simulator. Um we have a lot of student engagement tools like one of my favorites is song generator for kinesesthetic learners. Um quiz me with AI allows for students to get some extra practice on areas that they might, you know, be struggling with. Um, I had an IEP as an elementary school student and um, no matter how many times my dad would explain, it always felt like he was explaining in the same way to me. He wasn't a teacher. He did not know how to teach in a different way. So things like common misconceptions or step by step are so helpful for students walking them through um, some problems that they might be challenged with if if the the
067way that it was taught to them isn't quite resonating. >> Thank you. And my last question before I hit my question quota is could you or Mr. Robinson or Mr. Mud someone speak to the rollout plan and professional learning associated with the platform? >> Okay. >> Yes. So we uh have a meeting with them next week uh Monday to hash out more of the PD options that we have. They have in-person PD and virtual PD. And there's sort of a train to trainer model that we and Mr. Mud have expressed who we would like to be part of that train to trainer and we also are going to reach out with Magic School as to what days are available for their in-person PD and how we want to handle that moving forward versus the virtual
068PD with the goal of maybe having some of those in-person days that are kind of in draft form. maybe at our leadership retreat to touch on our operations side and our um instructional side as well as in our back to school week where we can have a couple sessions where they can be as choice sessions during those PD days to have give out that training in addition to once the school year starts to provide some more tools, modifications and trainings throughout the school year as the vast majority of tools that are available it can be overwhelming. So, we may need to turn some of those off and allow them as we go. >> Thank you. And I was dishonest. I actually have a third question, but it's data driven for Cara, if she does not
069mind. Um when I had the opportunity to meet with you at a conference, um what I was really impressed was with was um Magic School came to the table ready for a meeting with Caroline County specifically and you brought data in relation to how many of our classroom teachers already had free accounts with Magic School. Can you recall an approximate number of users we had before we invested and vetted other programs along with Magic School? Um, I think it was around 30% of teachers. And the really incredible thing about that is like the foundation is already so strong in which Caroline County is able to build off of. Um, most technology initiatives have fail fail because of teacher adoption. And so teachers are already raising their hand and saying this is a tool I'm getting
070immense value out of. Now with the enterprise environment opened up, not only does the division have the opportunity to really control and monitor that environment, um, but also to enhance quality of life. 95% of teachers who use Magic School say that it enhances enhances their quality of life. >> Thank you. I'm done. >> Uh, yes, Mr. Kelly. >> I would just like to ask as a division, do we have any type of AI that we are utilizing in any capacity? Do we have a subscription with anybody this current academic year? >> Uh we don't necessarily have a subscription but because we use Google we are adop we have adopted Gemini because it's part of the Google suite. So that's I guess you would say not necessarily a paid subscription but it's inherent in what we
071do. The everyone else is using free versions of various items or teachers may have their own individual paid versions of certain things. Um, la last question. I I promise I won't go over my quota. Um, can I sit in on some of those trainings? Because like I mean it's I get to me it's a it's a lot of trial and error with AI is like I want this and then first time you do it you're kind of like oh look what I've got. Oh no, there's a whole bunch of just errors. So you have to like you know you have to learn to teach yourself I got to proofread this is wrong. This actually isn't really what I want. So, it's a lot of like back and forth and I would love to get the
072opportunity to sit down and from a minute from every capacity in life just get a better idea of how to use the tools that we have. >> Sure. >> So, I think it'd be cool if our board could do that. >> We do have a summer retreat and we are happy to embed Magic School into the schoolboard retreat for you, Mr. Kelly, but you also are always welcome to attend our professional learning, so we'll be sure to make you aware. >> Thank you. >> Sounds good. as a u point of p personal privilege. I am especially excited to potentially learn about this as a first year teacher. So um I'll just add that uh to the conversation. Um any additional comments hearing none. Thank you so much for the presentation. >> Thank you. >> All
073right. Moving forward, we will now have our monthly revenues and expenditures and ADM report by Dr. Farley. >> Good evening, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, members of the board, and Dr. Caleric. This evening, I'll be presenting the financial report for February of fiscal year 2026. Operating revenues for February were 3.8 million with year-to- date revenues at 42.8 million or 65.53%. Special fund revenues for February were $48,000 with year-to- date revenues of 3.2 million or 39.83%. 83%. Total revenues for all funds for February were 4.3 million with year-to- date totals of 46.1 million or 62.68%. Under expenditures, operating expenditures for February are 5.6 million with year-to- date expenditures at 43.4 million or 66.39%. Special fund expenditures for February were $462,000 with 4.2 2 million year to date or 52.15%. Total expenditures for all funds for February
074were 6.1 million with year-to- date totals at 47.6 million or 64.81%. Happy to take any questions from the board on the February fiscal year 26 financial report. >> Any questions from board members hearing? None. Dr. F. >> Thank you. Next, I'll be uh be presenting the average daily membership ADM update for February 2026. Average daily membership is determined by dividing the total aggregate daily membership by the number of days schools in session during the school year. For February 2026, the principal's ADM report reflects a total of 4,265.618 students. The year-to- date total stands at 4,285.267. be happy to take any questions from the board regarding the February ADM report. >> I have I have a quick question. If um based upon like the projected numbers that we have for ADM, it looks like we're going
075to fall slightly short of um what the projected amount was, what the actual numbers have versus projected. Is that going to be any detrimental effect to the budget at the end of the year? Yeah. So, I was looking back a year ago and uh when you compare February of 2025 to February 2026, we're actually down 47 students and our projection at 4340 is significantly higher um than where we are currently. The March, you know, the April board meeting will be interesting because we'll have the March 31st cutoff um which is the critical point is it relates to funding. So, um we're going to have to see what year end totals. The answer is um we're going to have to see um where we stand with funding with year end um look at our revenues, look
076at our expenditures, and possibly have to make some adjustments. Um historically, we have had a significant amount of money at year end because we're good stewards of the public school budget. So, yet to be determined. >> I I get what you're saying. Thank you. >> Any additional questions? >> All right. Thank you, Dr. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. So this uh now takes us to our consent agenda. Chair will entertain a motion to um accept. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and properly second that we uh accept our consent agenda as presented. Madame clerk, please call for the vote. >> Dr. Rollins Fells. >> I. >> Mr. Kelly. >> Hi. >> Mr. Taylor. >> I. >> Mrs. Sears. >> Hi. >> Mr. Fortune. I. All right. Motion passes. Thank you.
077So, now we have arrived at our citizen comment period. The Carolina County School Board welcomes public comments during regular meetings and public hearings. Speakers may address an item on the boarded board meeting agenda or an item not on the agenda. During this time, all comments should address a matter related to Caroline County Public Schools. Each speaker may speak for up to three minutes. Once you see the red light on the traffic light positioned in front of the clerk, please make your last statement. The school board chair is responsible for recognizing all speakers for maintaining proper order and for adhering to the time limits stated above. The chair is authorized to stop and or have removed any speaker who uses language that is obscene, constitutes fighting words, true threats, or solicitation to commit crimes and incites
078imminent lawless action. Moreover, the chair may stop and or have removed any person who disrupts the orderly functioning of the meeting by making loud, boisterous, or threatening comments. Once you come to the lect turn, if you're if you have not signed in with the clerk, please complete the appearance request form, state your name and your district. At this time, the clerk will call those who have signed up prior to the meeting. Hearing none, excuse me, since there are no additional comments or no comments at this time, I should say, the citizen comment period is closed. Oh yes. Okay. Trying to jump the gun here. Is there anyone in the audience who wish to wishes to speak during public comments? Is there anyone in the audience wishing to speak during public comment? Is there anyone in
079the audience who would like to speak during public comments? Hearing none, the comment the public comment period is now closed. All right. Thank you. All right. This takes us to uh item number 10 in our agenda, our action items. First, we will have the VSBA workforce and excellence submission uh CT and culinary by uh Dr. Neighbors. >> I'm sad that Chef Jazz isn't here and he um couldn't join us tonight because um this is his program. So um good evening, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, Dr. Calvaric and esteemed members of the board. Tonight, I will share our nomination for the Virginia School Boards Association Excellence and Workforce Readiness Award, which requires a board support and vote. This award recognizes Virginia school divisions that demonstrate excellence in preparing students for the workforce through innovative programs and
080partnerships within the school community. The focus is on meaningful connections between education and industry that help students develop real world skills and career awareness. Divisions receiving this recognition typically demonstrate strong communication and collaboration with the business community, ensuring that local workforce needs inform educational opportunities. This might include partnership mentorships, internships, or advisory groups that help align instruction with realworld career pathways. This means providing students with authentic experiences such as job shadowing, work-based learning, guest speakers, site visits to help them better understand the career opportunities and expectations. And finally, this award um celebrates students entrepreneurial activities allowing students to develop creativity, problem solving, business skills. Overall, this recognition celebrates the divisions that are intentionally connecting classroom learning with workforce. And so now I'd like to turn it over to Miss Fry, our um assistant principal for
081CTE and work-based learning to share about our application and nomination. Caroline High School's culinary art program led by Jasper Morton or more commonly known as Chef Jazz is a strong example of what highquality career and technical education looks like. Students in the program are not simply learning recipes in a classroom. They operate fully functioning BA school-based restaurant where they gain experience in menu planning, food cost analysis, inventory management, customer service, and business operations. The program has produced strong results. This year, 36 students have earned the Serve Safe Manager Cert uh certification, which is a nationally recognized credential that allows students to enter the food service uh workforce immediately after graduation. Students are also demonstrating their technical skills at the state level. Multiple students placed at the Virginia State Fair. Eight students will complete compete at
082the FCCLA State Leadership Conference this spring. What makes this program especially impactful is its commitment to community service. Each month, students volunteer their times on a Saturday to prepare and serve meals for individuals experiencing homelessness in Caroline County. Through this work, students develop not only industry skills, but leadership, professionalism, and a strong sense of service to their community. Chef Jazz has built a program where his students graduate with credentials, real world experience, and the confidence to enter the workforce or continue their education in culinary and hospitality fields. The program is highly supported by the Caroline County Public Schools Food Service Department and the Corner Store. >> Thank you. So, at this time, the chair would entertain a motion to uh approve the nomination of the CHSCTE culinary program uh for the VSB VSBA Excellence in
083Workforce Readiness Award. >> So, move. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and properly second um that we approve the nomination um of the CHSCTE culinary program uh for this award. Is there any discussion? The only thing I would add, if there is anybody out there that can out cook Chef J, you need to bring them in. You >> I don't think I've ever seen a chef that everything he cooks is good. And I've been in his class. I've I've seen him um in his class and it's it's just very impressionable. And I certainly as a school board member support that nomination 100%. Thank you, Mr. Taylor. If there no further discussion, uh, Madame Clerk, please call for the vote. >> Mrs. Sears, >> I. >> Mr. Taylor, >> I. >> Mr. Kelly, >>
084I. >> Dr. Rollins Fells, >> I'm going to abstain due to my role with BSBA. >> Yes. Thank you. And Mr. Fortune. >> I. Thank you. So, the motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Right. Moving forward, we have uh for an action the inclement weather codes uh presented by Mr. Wick. Good evening, chair, Mr. Fortune, vice chair, chair, Miss Sears. Um the codes the um the codes that were proposed in December are in board docs for you to review, but I will do a quick review since it's been a couple months. Basically, in a nutshell, there are seven codes there, which you can actually see on the screen, which cover two-hour delay options, um, systemwide closing, um, when essential personnel would be used, as well as synchronous learning
085days. So, you basically have seven options that we're going to propose to use beginning, I guess, immediately if you approve this. So, it's up to you for approval unless you have questions. >> Right. Thank you so much, uh, Mr. Wick. Uh any questions from the board members? Okay. At this time, the chair would entertain a motion to approve the new codes. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and properly second that we approve the uh new proposed uh inclement weather codes. U Madam Clerk, please call for the vote. >> Mr. Taylor, >> Dr. Rollins Fels. >> I. >> Mr. Kelly. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Sears. >> Hi. >> Mr. Fortune. I thank you. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you so much once again, Mr. Wick. All right. This takes us now to
086uh new business. And at this time, we will have the first read of the 2026 2027 Head Start Transportation Waiver by Mrs. Ross. Sorry, the screen said student fees. That's why it didn't come down. I apologize. Okay. Good evening, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, members of the board, and Dr. Cover. This evening, I will present the first read of the 2026 2027 Head Start transportation waiver. As you know, the CCPS preschool program braids funding from Head Start, VPI, and Title One, and we adhere to Head Start performance standards. All of our CCPS transportation vehicles used to transport preschool students are currently in compliance with all 45 CFR part 1310 regulations with the exception of the use of child safety restraint systems and bus monitors. Various other transportation options have been considered. However, they are not
087viable at this time due to either lack of additional funding, the potential for longer bus rides for our students, the possibility that preschool students would no longer be able to ride buses with their siblings, and or the potential need to shorten our instructional day. These options would create hardships or barriers for our families and negatively impact the integrity of our preschool program. So, at this time, the CCPS preschool program will submit a transportation waiver for child safety restraint systems and bus monitors in order to remain in compliance with Head Start requirements for the 26 and 27 school year. So, I will be back in April asking for approval, but I am happy to answer any questions that you might have at this time. >> Does any board member have uh questions? >> Hearing none. Thank
088you, Mr. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Next on the new business, we will have the first read of uh student fees for the uh 2627 school year by Mr. Mud. >> Good evening, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, members of the board, and Dr. Calvaric. Policy regulation uh JN-R student fees, fines, and charges has been reviewed and updated for the 2627 school year, and revisions and additions will be shared this evening for first read. The proposed fee list for 2627 is available to you in your printed materials this evening as well. The 2627 fee overview begins first with elementary. At the elementary level, there are no changes to fees. We are proposing to maintain fees at the same level as we did our current school year. At the middle school level, there is one additional
089fee for the 2627 school year proposed. Noted on the presentation in yellow, you will see the addition of a $5 fee for theater. We have not previously had a fee for theater at the middle school level. However, with the increased activity and interest in theater productions at the middle school level, this fee will help to support materials and resources for the course and related productions. This slide represents two fee changes at the high school level for the coming school year. The behind the wheel fee has increased from $100 to $175. This increase will help will move us closer to balancing our driver's education budget and support the cost of paying instructors for this service. The ecology fee is proposed to be raised from $5 to $10 for the coming school year. This change will provide
090a stronger budget for lab supplies. Noted on this slide is a new fine arts course we are offering in the 2627 school year. We're happy to now be offering jazz ensemble as a new course and staff is proposing a $25 fee to support materials and supplies for this course, which is in alignment with our fee for strings and band. This concludes tonight's presentation of the first read of the proposed changes for the student fees for 2627. Once approved, the updated student fees will be shared with all families, students, families, and community via online platforms and through social media and other communication mechanisms. But for tonight, as first read, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Does board member have board members have any questions? >> I don't have a question as much
091as I have a comment. Um, when we look at the CTE fees, um, I'm in full support of especially the kits and things that students need, making sure that everything is in it and they are equipped. But I would, um, put out to my fellow board members if we could continue to look at um, appropriating budget to support CTE classrooms as well. I'd like to put a plug in Champion for that. Thank you, Dr. Rollinsfelds. Any additional questions? >> I too support uh what uh Dr. Ross Fel said. And I didn't have a question. Um in cases where students don't have the funds, we do have something in place where we could maybe offer some assistance. >> I guess I'm I think we do, but I just want to make sure. Yes, we wouldn't allow
092the fee to be a barrier for students and our schools um do have um some reserves that where they can help to support if needed um to help our programs and our students. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right, Dr. Calvary, >> I did notice the $75 increase associated with the behind the wheel. And I do um want to point out what the cost of going to a private vendor in the community may be as a mom of three young adults that are driving. Um that can run anywhere from three to $500. And so while that increase feels heavy, it still remains a bargain, it additionally provides ease of access when it's done during the school day. So I did just want to draw attention to that. While that amount is high, it's not a
093mandatory class. It's optional, but it is still a bargain, possibly at 50% the cost. >> Yes. And as I mentioned, this moves us closer to balancing our budget. Um we we did run numbers a number of times uh and we'll be able to make it work with this proposed fee. Um but the cost is actually more when you consider the cost of the employee to help with behind the wheel and then um gas and other maintenance on the vehicles as well. >> Thank you, Mr. Mud. >> Thank you. >> All right. We will now uh move on with um first read of the 2026 27 Perkins grant and we have Dr. Neighbors and Miss Fry. >> Good evening, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, Dr. Calic, and the C members of the board tonight. Melissa Fry,
094assistant principal for CTE and workbased learning at CHS, and I will share an overview of the Perkins Grant for the first read. When developing our Perkins grant for this year, we began reviewing our career and technical education annual performance data, which measures how our programs are performing across several indicators established by the state and federal government. This year, we did not meet performance targets in three indicators. The first was 2S1 which measures academic proficiency uh in reading for CTE concentrators. We are seeing more students entering CTE pathways with identified literacy gaps. So we are working to strengthen literacy supports and targeted interventions to better support those students. The second indicator was 4S1 which measures graduation rates for CTE concentrators. A small number of students who did not graduate within their four-year significantly impacted this measure
095due to the size of the cohort. In response, we have strengthen our senior monitoring processes and expanded credit recovery uh supports to help ensure students stay on track to graduate. The third area was 5S4, which measures completion among non-traditional CTE concentrators. Um because this is a relatively small cohort, non uh even a minor fluctuation can affect the overall rate. Some students also change pathways which impacted completion. Um we also had the VDOE take away non-traditional for a couple of CTE courses which impacted our numbers as well. We are reinforcing recruitment and retention strategies with non-tradition non-traditional students to encourage continued participation and completion in these programs. Overall, reviewing this data helps us ensure that our Perkins grant is funding is directed towards areas where we can have the greatest impact on students success in the
096program improvement. This this slide highlights two of our CTE performance indicators. Four-year graduation rate for CTE completers and non-traditional um I non-traditional program concentration. Um for our CTE four-year graduation rate continues to remain extremely strong. The state performance target is 99.5% and this year 200 of our 201 CT CTE completers graduated maintaining a 99.5% graduation rate. In the previous two years we saw 100% graduation rate and um the previous year we saw 99.44% graduation rate. These results reflect strong student monitoring pathway completion support and collaboration between CTE core academics programs to ensure students remain on track for graduation. The second indicator is non-traditional program concentration which measures students completing programs where their gender is traditionally underrepresented. Our current rate is 20.71% compared to 32.59% last year. Because these programs often have small cohort sizes, um
097even a few students can significantly impact the percentage. We are continuing to strengthen recruitment awareness and retention efforts to encourage students to explore non-traditional pathways. Overall, these results demonstrate strong student completion and graduation outcomes in our CTE programs while also highlighting areas where we are working to expand participation and opportunity across all pathways. For students in CTE programs, the report also documents their performance in English, math, science, and end of course testing performance. One other indicator from the report that informed our analysis was our work-based learning. Again, this is another area where we exceeded the standard for both all CTE completers and special populations. While we did decrease our percentage from school year 23 24 to school year 2425, we still exceeded the sta exceeded the standard expectation and anticipated growth due to themmies of
098Caroline at the high school level. And this was done with the um definition of work-based learning and opportunities available changes. Please note all this data crunching and all this work was led by Miss Fry as well as the CTE teachers and our CTE advisory board and thank you for those that serve as a member on that on that board. So that was all helping to create our comprehensive local needs assessment. I get that mixed up. Um and so that data is we will also submit that we have to complete that report every two years. So that is part of our Perkins and part of um our analysis when we look at what we're going to request in our Perkins budget which I'm going to move to now. So our CP CCPS CTE priorities for the
099following year. Um this actually I'm sorry it should be 26 27 are in the same four areas that they've been for the last three years. Um in talent acquisition we want to continue to use our Perkins funds for professional learning. um under goal one teaching and learning assessment and accountability that we will continue to use those funds for industry certifications and credentiing in addition under goal one teaching and learning that we'll continue to use Perkins funds and allocate for curriculum resources and support courses that are part of our academy model. And then finally under goal three health and service um health and safety excuse me um it'll be under school modernization that is a lot of our Perkins grant um around classroom and lab equipment usage. We've addressed our priorities in the grant through the
100following allocations. Please note that some of the dollar amounts I will share with you tonight account for monies that will be included in more than one area highlighted on this slide. We use those grant documents to help us work through the formulas to determine amounts on each area. Going around the slide here clockwise here, we'll start with equipment. So equipment will be um allocated $9,000. Money for equipment falls under the Perkins grant heading CTE program size, scope, and quality. And it's allocated for this portion of the grant can be used for consumables, materials, and supplies for classroom instruction. And that is our local match that we have to submit as part of the Perkins grant. CTE program implementation is another part of our Perkins grant that can be used for equipment. We allocated $31,533.70 under
101this section which will be used to purchase equipment to improve, expand and modernize CTE programs including relevant and innovative technology. These funds will support expansion enhancements especially in our health and medical science programs and meet industry standards. Next on the graphic, you'll see new program courses in this grant. This falls under the heading CTE program alignment to labor market. We've allocated 23,000 in funds in this area to purchase and expand modernize quality CTE educational programs um specifically for cosmetology, automotive, and carpentry programs to meet the standards. We've also allocated for credential testing $11,53.99 to use for all of our credential t um testing throughout all of our pathways. the COS CTSO competitions which we're expanding. Um we have $11,53 and999 to support special populations to determine career choices and pathways develop and share career pathways
102through field trips, guest lectures, work-based learning opportunities. Um this provides um special populations to attend CTSO district, regional, state, and national conferences. And finally, under professional development, we address $15,750 um for the areas for staff to attend and participate in training conferences, workshops, and other sanctioned BDOE options. Teachers will receive training to ensure current best practices are used in the CTE classroom. If we go to the last slide, you'll have a breakdown of our budget by budget code for an overall grant of $86,38769. What questions may you have? >> Are there any questions from board members? Uh, Mr. Kelly, >> I have a question about slide three. Um, it may have escaped me, but um at the very bottom on slide three, it said uh 2022 2023 at the the bottom >> right 105%. >>
103Yeah, I'm not good at math. Okay. So, um out of fairness, this was before I took over the role and this was also when we were the last year we did CCCRI before we did the um school performance framework. So, we were able to do a we were able to achieve 105.56% because we had weighted credits with our dual enrollment um with Mr. blacks um de CAD and DE engineering classes. >> I think students can also be counted multiple times which is why you have the over 105. So if you have a student in a um special population that is um designated so for instance would would that qualify um females in construction? Would that be is that still qualify now? According to the state it doesn't. So they've changed qualifications, but when this was
104there, a student could be qualified if it was a female in an area that was under reppresented multiple times if that female was in two different areas, which gives you a higher percentage. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. So we were winning by too much, so they changed the rules >> a little bit. >> They changed the entire framework, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Because we were looking too good because we're over 100%. I got it. I understand. Thank you. >> Um, Mr. Chairman, I have a couple of questions. Um, how many CTE programs do we currently offer >> at the middle school and high school combined or just the high school? >> However you want to share it. >> Okay. Um, so we I can't give you an exact number unless I think through
105all of them and that will take me a minute. I apologize, but we are upwards of 30. Um, and that is because we have a wide birth of options, especially at the middle school level. At the high school level, we are pathway aligned. >> We have 16 pathways in our >> 16 pathways in ouries and then um a lot of options at the middle school level. >> Gotcha. Um and sorry to put you on the spot. My questions are designed for you to brag on what's going on with CT because you know I'm an advocate. I'm a fan. But I do want to take this moment to champion because I do have a budget concern. Um, so lots of different programs, lots of different offerings. Um, I want to say thank you publicly to um,
106you miss Fry. You are so knowledgeable about what you do. Um, anytime that I have questions, you're so patient with me. Um, and so thank you for that. And Dr. Neighbors and Mr. Mud as well. Um, >> thank you. With this total of $86, >> $387, is there an opportunity for us to request more funds in this Perkin Gr Perkins grant or no based on the formula? >> No, we're allotted, and please correct me if I'm wrong because I think you have another year of experience than I do with this. Um, that we are allotted the amount we are given based on census data. And so when I first stepped in the role, we actually lost about $6,000 because we had too many people over the poverty line. Um, so we're hoping that we can
107get the $86,387 again this year, but we can't apply for more. >> Thank you for that. Um and then the programs that you've called out um in terms of I think it's under program and courses you said automotive, carpentry and cosmetology. That's based upon a needs assessment and the cycle of the programs. Is that correct? >> That's correct. Another big area that will probably be on the roster for next year will be agriculture. But these are our biggest areas um with teachers who are active in the community. We have business partners who have come in toward our facilities and made note of what areas, what equipment we specifically need in those areas to bring us up. >> Outstanding. Um, next question. How will the academy models continue to support student achievement in those other indicator
108areas? >> Thank you. I love that question. Um, so because of the academy model, we can actually really um hone in on specific industry credentials that our students need that will be meaningful and impactful. Right now, for a lot of tests and areas, we rely on workplace readiness. It is an easy test to give. We can have multiple students take it. However, that's not what the industry needs. By switching to the academy model of and having clearly defined pathways, students continuing from course one to course two to course three, we can identify which credential best makes sense with them. talking with our um our community partners as well as get them certified in multiple areas. So, they are able to go to um college, they are able to go into the workforce, they are able
109to go in the military, they're able to do all three at once if they want to and leave with something where they can get right in their hands on. >> And then I Oh, go ahead. >> Can I expand on one thing? um that I just really think the academy model has um we we started this year and to continue. One of the gaps is literacy. So I can't um not use this moment to champion the literacy work that's happening. So um because of the academy model, our English classes right now are paired then with the CTE and they have a monthly um SLC meeting kind of like a PLC but it's the English teachers small learning communities. Thank you. And so those English teachers are pairing with the CTE teachers and they're talking about
110literacy strategies across um in the CTE class and how can they help by passing the industry certification. How do we help some of those literacy skills? And then the CTE teachers are sharing strategies for like project- based learning in the English classroom. So that collaboration that's part of the academy model uh I think will address one of those gaps that was on a a earlier slide about our our reading um and our literacy and how those percentages dropped a little bit and so we have a plan in place um that's already been implemented this year. Um last question slash comment. Um with the academy model supporting this with preparing our students to be three ready in all of the ease. One of the things that I've been looking at while I've been on this committee
111is the amount of funding. Um it is my understanding that the Perkins grant fund should be supplemental. Is that accurate? >> Yes. Ideally for when you are built Yes. ideally for when you're building up programs. Um the Perkins grant cannot fund an entirely new program while supporting other programs. For instance, we are going to the plant systems pathway. We have plant systems this year. We have horiculture next year. We would love to have a greenhouse to support this. We cannot buy a greenhouse with Perkins fund. So we're looking into other opportunities. Um but Perkins should not be the only funding source for CTE. Outstanding. And so this circles me back around to the comment that I made earlier. Um to my board members to my left and right. When we look at the amount of
112funding that is supporting our CTE programs, I would like to publicly champion for us to look at our budget and look at ways that we can dedicate more funds specifically um to CTE. Um I want to thank our teachers. I think they are very resourceful and collaborative and out there making the relationships, but I do think as a school division there is an area of opportunity for us to contribute. So, I'd like further conversation about how we can do that. If $86,000 is supplemental, then I would like to see that we can at least match that, if not exceed. >> Thank you. Thank you. Any additional questions from board members hearing? None. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. That takes us now to uh first read of the approval of a
113new course which will presented be presented by Dr. Neighbors and Miss Wheeler. >> Good evening again, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, Superintendent Dr. Calvar, and members of the school board. Tonight I'm here to present additional new courses to propose to our 2627 program of studies um along with u Miss Wheeler. On the next slides we will review the new courses and the rationale of why these were not part of our previous past presentations. Thank you. Good evening. The addition of the AP pre-calculus class to the program of studies will help expand rigorous mathematics opportunities and strengthen students preparation for college and high demand careers. This is a newly developed course through the College Board that deepens students understanding of functions, modeling, and quantitative reasoning skills that are essential for success in advanced mathematics, STEM fields,
114and many technical careers. Our math instructional specialist, Miss Beth Bernapp, attended anformational session in February regarding this course from the College Board and the many benefits such as providing more structure and resources as our current BDOE aligned pre-calculus course does not have these resources currently available from the state. in discussions with administration and teachers at Caroline High School. This was the desired course for next year and we currently have a math acceleration grant from the state that will support covering the cost to train a teacher this summer. AP pre-calculus provides an important bridge between algebra 2 and higher level courses such as AP Calculus, increasing access to advanced placement or AP coursework for a broader group of students while supporting the division's commitment to academic rigor and college and career readiness to help our students
115be 3, particularly in the area of enrollment. As we were just talking about CTE and grant funding, pending the award of a go Virginia grant program on March 24th, we are hold crossing fingers in partnership with Stafford County Public Schools. The division proposes these additional four courses that would be supported then through that grant. Geospatial technology 1, geospatial technology 2, unmanned aircraft systems and information technology fundamentals to the program of studies. These courses will expand our career and technical education pathways aligned to high demand technology and SPE geospatial careers providing students with hand-on learning experiences in mapping technology drone operations and foundational IT skills through opportunity for industry aligned instruction, career and technical student organization participation and work-based learning. Students will develop technical problem solving and leadership skills that support both post-secary education and workforce
116readiness while strengthening our regional collaboration with Stafford and workforce development. The grant will cover the cost of the equipment, teacher training, and teacher certification. What questions do you have? >> The board members have any question, Mrs. Sears? >> I have a question about the um AP pre-calculus. At what point like what is the mapping for that? When should students what math should they have? And then where in the timeline should they take? >> Yes, it would take the place of our current pre-calculus course and it just gives a a lot a robust kind of curriculum around that and that typically after students take algebra 2. So um after algebra 2 our students can go in different pathways and go to data science they can go to statistics but if they're want to go into a
117math field then um pre-calculus AP pre-calculus ideally and then into AP calculus or even AP statistics could be a pathway for our students. >> Thank you. >> I have I have a quick question. It's it's with the um with the pre-calc. Would this by chance encourage us to modify the middle school curriculum to add more rigorous math courses there? Because AP pre-calc is pretty tough, but right now we don't offer geometry in the middle school. Correct. >> We we don't at this point, but we are expanding a higher percentage of students in algebra 1. And Miss Wheeler, I'm glad you're beside me so you can but I think we have three sections right now. And I think next year we're going to look we have almost four sections of algebra 1. So expanding oh five
118sections of algebra 1. So as we're expanding that could a double acceleration which geometry would be be in our future. I think that could be possible. Um but right now we're trying to expand more percentage of our students taking algebra 1 at the eighth grade level as well. Yeah. Eighth grade. >> Yeah. because we I mean I know back in the day we used to offer algebra one in seventh grade and then take geometry in eighth grade and as far as I know we're one of the few middle schools regionally that does not offer geometry as a geometry option for students on the advanced track. So I really encourage this board and admin to look into potentially getting that course back for us. I think that that would help us in three, four, five years
119of getting more students involved in AP calculus if they're on that track. >> I will say we do have a couple students that take geometry. Um, and for the 2627 school year, we're um coordinating the middle school schedule with the high school schedule to have students be able to take geometry at the high school. Um, either first block A or B days. Um, it is a smaller it's a very small percentage of students. Um, but I think if we look at that trickle down effect, we'd also have to look at like a compacted math for fifth grade so that we'd be able to see success in in that vision. >> Yeah. And it it's I mean it's a little off topic, but you know I work in another division in a program where I know
120next month we are strategically doing elementary outreach to convince kids in fourth and fifth grade to take the most advanced math track that they can in middle school to prepare themselves for application to high school programs. And I was just thinking about how we do not offer geometry right now. And it's like I know we have some kids but anyway I'll get off my soap box. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. Any additional questions? Hearing none. Thank you so much. Oh, I'm so sorry. I do have a question um for both of you student interest. Obviously, it's wonderful to expand pathways, but tell us a little bit about how you know the AP calculus or pre-calculus course is going to fill and then especially associated with the go Virginia grant courses. So, I can speak to the
121AP pre-calculus. Um, we have several students that are pursuing that rigor and um the conflict we run into is they hit AP calculus, they have AP stats and some students aren't aligned for AP stats. So, this provides another college potential opportunity for them. But more importantly, this AP class with the College Board aligns with VDOE standards and would be a more robust course than we currently offer. three and we have three um sections of current interest in pre-calculus. So, the interest is there. And one thing I didn't add before, if students are starting their um high school math courses in high school instead of in middle school, if they're starting algebra one, it's hard to get to a point where they can take an AP AP pre-calculus will allow those students that may not be
122getting to AP calculus or AP stats still to have an AP class in math in their high school career. And I think that's huge. And then to answer your second portion of your question. So our IT track is um when themies were designed our and if Miss Fry can always um if you want to if you don't mind coming up but when our IT track we had cyber security that was um what we had for our technology pathway and um we had a difficult time over the last years keeping a staff member in cyber security um just in in the field of education and we know that that's not a Caroline that's a challenge across different districts because of education pay versus what a um person in the cyber security can make in the private
123sectors. So it was really hard to keep a teacher. We knew we needed a technology pathway and so this is one we explored partly because of Stafford reaching out to us last August. We've been working on the school Virginia grant and the needs of our local community with data centers and with other businesses coming in. We heard from our community but we also know that our technology we have interest there and I miss Fry being at the high school if you can share student interest. Another reason um for that we know that there is student interest is with the um cyber security program. We've done several field trips and like to Cyber Bites um to Simventions and Fredericksburg and the students are told on a regular basis it's fantastic that you want to do this
124but we are inundated with applications and it's this isn't going to be a pathway for very long a viable one because AI is taking over and so um they were actually promoting geospatial technology and it as other options. So, we had students coming back from the field trips and expressing interest of coming up to me, coming up to the cyber security teacher at the time, um, Mr. Smith now, saying, "Is this something you think we can offer?" We're looking for innovative pathways that aren't going anywhere that are open to a lot of different areas that maybe haven't been seen in the past. And as a previous GIS teacher, it's a fun pathway to explore. Thank you. >> Any additional questions? Uh hearing none. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on
125uh with our next first read of special education uh annual plan by Mrs. Ross. >> Good evening, Chair Fortune, Vice Chair Sears, members of the board, and Dr. Caleric. Tonight, on behalf of Mrs. Heron, director of exceptional education. I will present an update on the special education plan for IDEIDA part B section 611 and 619 grant for the 2627 school year. The special education annual plan is a VDOE requirement. The 2026 2027 special education plan part B flowthrough application serves as the formal agreement between a local school board and the Virginia Department of Education for implementing federal and state laws and regulations governing special education and related services provided. Caroline County Public Schools currently serves all 13 disability categories that are recognized by the VDOE and you can see those on the slide before you.
126Our current December 1 count for the 2526 school year was 769 students with disabilities. We are currently reporting 775 students with disabilities for CCPS as of March 1st, 2026. The student count is based on the number of students that qualify for services, the number of students that no longer qualify for services, and students that transfer into the county that have services under IDA. And you can see from the slide that from 2021 to now our numbers continue to increase. There are four components that are required in the annual planning process. Identification of local policies and procedures, information regarding maintenance of effort, information regarding our proportionate set aside and information regarding our excess cost. Our special education local policies and procedures are identified in the special education handbook that is given to a staff and found
127on our CCPS website. Maintenance of effort ore identifies the annual allocation from the US Department of Education. This allocation is a supplement to the existing local and state funding received for students with disabilities. The proportionate set aside funds are for students with disabilities that are parentally placed in private schools or homeschooled. And we currently have 25 students that fall within this category. The excess cost calculation determines the amount of regular education funds being spent on the basic education of students with disabilities. And this slide identifies the funding received for part B section 611 for school age students kindergarten through 12th and part C section 619 for early childhood special education for our preschool students with disabilities ages 2 through 4. Some factors that we consider with funding are the following. That CCPS uses IDEIDA funds
128to cover a portion of needed special education positions. In recent years, costs have exceeded the grant due to an increase in student population and the impact of disabilities that students have. As student numbers and student numbers and needs increase, one or more positions may need to be moved from local funding to provide needed services and support. And the Office of Exceptional Education will continue to monitor student enrollment to determine those staffing needs. Thank you for your time and attention. And while I likely am not able to answer your questions, um, someone else in the audience might be able to or we can get back to you with, um, answers for Mrs. Herren when she returns. >> Right. Are there any questions from board members? Mr. Kelly? >> Yes, sir. Um, in regards to slide 10
129where CCPS uh, we use IDA funding, costs have exceeded the grant due to an increase in student population and the impact of disability that the students have. Is there a way to modify a grant if we have an increase in special ed population um that have more needs than what we have been historically providing to help us compensate for those costs. >> When the IDEIDA grant was put in place, it was supposed to be funding about 40% of our special education needs. I do not have the exact math on the top of my head, but I would say we're funding about 10% of our special education needs um here at CCPS from that idea grant. >> Can that be changed? >> We cannot change it. It's based on the funding formula from the feds and
130it's provided to us similar to the Perkins grant. >> This is what we call an unfunded mandate, Mr. Kelly and it is worsening as needs diversify within our schools and across the nation. Additionally, as special educators that have expertise areas such as speech language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, music therapy become more challenging to identify and hire. We then have growing expenses to utilize third-party vendors which are much more costly than actually hiring a full-time equivalent. And so that is also a massive driver of expenses within Caroline County. I will share with you we are working with Virginia Association of School Superintendent. Uh Miss Haron upon her return, Mr. Mud, Miss Stevens and I will be meeting with VAS and we will be going into an audit associated with special education funding, programming, staffing to
131see if there are any greater levels of efficiency that can be embraced in relation to these matters. >> Okay, thank you for the clarification. >> Any additional questions are hearing none. Thank you so much, Mrs. Ross. >> Thank you. All right. So, this uh takes us to the newly newly added item to our agenda. Um a conversation regarding the holding of uh town halls. So, um, as my colleagues, I'm sure, remember during our last work session, uh, we did talk about, uh, the possibility of holding town hall meetings, um, to elicit, uh, community feedback in particular to, uh, the issue of, uh, our growing county and capacity and spatial needs. Also, we talked about the um need the potential need to have hold town hall meetings, especially targeted to the Louiswis and Clark um elementary
132school community given um the immediate capacity concerns that we're trying to address uh via the potential u installation of learning cottages and uh to also discuss potential alternatives if that um plan doesn't come to fruition. So, I'm hopefully I've adequately set up the conversation. Um so, at this time, I'll open the floor for um discussion centering around uh the develop potential development of um town hall meetings and and such. >> Well, Mr. Mr. Chairman, if if I might uh let me just um start by saying um I I was approached by um Mr. Thomas. Um he he said that he was going to do a a town hall meeting and he asked if I would uh consider doing it with him. Now, let me just say in the beginning, I I never pass up an
133opportunity to talk to constituents about what we do now. But I also will not participate in, and I'm not saying that that's what he was saying, but I'm saying I will not participate in any type of meeting. um unless the school board knows about it and we have talked about it and uh and that's not because I'm intimidated, you know, I'm not intimidated by anything, but I'm a professional and we sit on this DS and we work together. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don't. But I will never leave this room and go off in a direction representing this board unless this board tells me to do that. So I guess in short, I said to Mr. Thomas, if the school board has no problem, I I have no problem um in a town hall. Uh
134but now the other thing is if we are going to set up town halls where constituents will get an opportunity to come and ask questions and talk to us, then I think it would be far more effective if the entire board was there to answer whatever questions any constituent might have. And I think it would be even more effective if we had staff members there who could answer particulars. I mean, we I I know what we do, but u I don't want to be answering questions that deal with specific facts or specific amounts of money or, you know, why one direction is is is more economically sound than another direction. That that's what we pay staff to do. And so I would certainly feel more comfortable if we were all doing the same thing at
135the same time or you know maybe everybody may not be able to be there or whatever but everybody would know about it and everybody would have an opportunity to be a part of it as opposed to uh because I've learned you know I I've been an elected official since 1992. That's a long time. And the one thing I have learned is that an elected official has to be very careful when you are responding, especially when you're dealing with issues of controversy because you can make a statement and that statement can be interpreted very differently than what you meant. often times what you say and what people hear are two totally different things. So having said that, you know, um I I will always take my lead from this board and I will always represent this
136board. Um, I have my opinion and I don't have a problem stating that, but I'm not going to do it in a in a fashion as to make the board look bad. I that's not me and I will never ever do that. >> Oh, yeah. No, absolutely. I I I understand that sentiment, Mr. Taylor. And to be quite honest with you, this conversation really has nothing to do with that conversation. Okay? >> Because we, if you recall, we talked about as a board >> a couple, you know, during our work session >> about the possibility of, you know, having a town hall meeting. And I think, if I'm not mistaken, I think you made the excellent point that that would be a good vehicle to elicit feedback. So you know we've for you know for
137reasons that um you know we we've we've not moved forward in planning that process because we were waiting for you know some confirmation regarding u discussions um regarding the umou and such but we are now in the middle of March and so I think the discussion is ripe right now to decide as a board how do we want to proceed proceed and I know our superintendent wants to know if we want to proceed in that vein. Um or if we don't we don't but uh I think plans need to be discussed articulated etc. Um now if we are wanting to engage our community or engage the community um especially once again in light of the critical need to decide what we need to do at Lewis and Clark. So once again um I would love
138to elicit um comments from my colleagues as to how to proceed. I think at least for Mr. Kelly and I who serve Madison and Western whose stu whose constituents children go to Lewis and Clark, I think it would be very valuable for us to make a presentation on what our plans and what what things will look like. Um, I think it's really important for those um, parents to hear how crucial in a way the situation is at Lewis and Clark and to hear what we plan to do about it and how we can move forward. Um, I think Mr. Kelly is kind of in agreement with that idea. >> Yeah. And I I think that sooner is better than later. And and I mean that by like next week because uh you know, we just
139got the ADM numbers and they're this they haven't really changed. And one one more time, the dem the demographic study that we did, those guys are spot on with the number of kids that we would have in that school at this time. Um, and I I think that I'm in favor of doing it. I would love it if we could do it sooner rather than later. Um, I think that we've been very transparent in this process. I think that we've been vocal in this process, but I think having a town hall and bringing people in and asking questions or having them ask us questions. Um, and I think that I don't think there's any question that they could ask us that would throw us off guard. And I think they deserve to the information. And
140again, you know, we're here, this is being recorded. how many people are actually going on the YouTube channel at 8:02 on a Wednesday night to see what's going on. And they've I know they've talked I've had people ask me questions. It would be great if we had some type of polished presentation that we could provide with what the numbers look like, what our plan is, and really specifically if we could drill down and explain what the funding issue is that we're having and why we cannot move forward with what we want to implement and say here's what we want to do and leave it there with them and let I think we have a really really um we have a very active constituency here. I know in the Madison district we do and um they're
141chomping at the bit for information because they keep wanting to know why. And I think we can if we can go out there and say this is what we have. We don't even have to air quote tell our story. But if we can show the information, show the work that we have done and just outlay here are some of the solutions that we have for this overcrowding problem and explain why we are struggling to move forward at this point with it. I I don't know. Do we we need a motion to have a town hall? >> We do not need a motion to have a town hall. I think ultimately we just need direction from the board and we are happy to put together a polished presentation with notes so that you are able to
142facilitate the meeting with us in the wings to support some of those more intimate details that um Mr. Taylor was referencing. I will say that we do need time to advertise and that requires a certain amount of days. And um I will also share that Marshia Stevens, our chief operations officer, is being elected as president of Vasbbo next week and will be at the Vaso conference. So she will not be available. And I think she is a critical um person that we would want at the table with her fountain of knowledge. uh regarding our longitudinal history on this topic. So I would recommend that we earmark the immediate week following spring break. >> Okay, that that works great. That because I had we have parent teacher conferences at my job and then the week after
143that I'm doing what seems to be an infinite amount of college visits with my son right now. So the week after that would be great. Um, do you need us to set up a date right now or do we need to like take a break and everybody do the email chain and say what works best for us and and what's the appropriate amount of board members there? Do you just want the two members from the district? Obviously, I would be there this, you know, and Allison would be there. >> It will be a published meeting. So that will afford any board member who is interested in attending the opportunity to attend versus it needing to remain at the number of two. Um because it because it is a published meeting, we do have that latitude.
144Let us go ahead and work through the logistics um through our normal channels of organization outside of our meeting so we can proceed forward in a timely fashion and um we will um follow up tomorrow with some potential dates. >> Okay, sounds great. Thank you. >> All right, sounds wonderful. Uh, does any board member have any um comments um prior to um moving forward with our board comments? >> U Mr. Chair, if I may. Um I just want to say I'm in agreement with the rest of my colleagues. Um the purpose of a town hall is to inform the community and have more uh two-way communication. Um the one thing that I do want us to anchor in is that as a board we understand governance and governance happens in collaboration with operations. So having
145staff um as an active part of this is a critical component. Um and so I do I do not want there to be an isolation of staff and what their role can or cannot be because they're very much a part of the process. The other thing is I do appreciate that it's a published meeting because I don't think that we want to venture into a space where the only elected officials who are speaking on a topic are those who may have a constituency in a particular area because we govern as a board. um if we start the individual um approach it is campaigning it is not governance and so I would just like to note that and and anchor us in what we know to be best practice. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Rollins
146Fels. Uh any other comment? >> Yes, just one more thing I'd like to add with what Dr. Rollins Fel I agree with you 100% about having everybody there. I mean, I think we all remember what it was like down in Williamsburg over a year ago when the con the annual convention ended and we sat together for hours and hours and pulled apart every page of that presentation and went through everything together. And I think this is a good opportunity for us to show not only have we done our due diligence, but we all believe in what the best path forward is, and that is to do what we were elected to do as leaders in in a great community. Um, and I I I just really support that, Joanda, putting us all together on the
147same page because I think we've all done our homework and I think we're all accountable and I think we've all made great decisions with where we want to go. Thank you. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Kelly. All right. Wonderful. And Dr. Cal, just to be clear, you have everything that you need from the board to move forward. >> I do. Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Awesome. All right. Thank you. So basically what we are saying is that we are going to do a town hall where we will be able to answer questions, give out information um as it is needed. So that being said, personally there would be no need for me to be a part of a of a separate town hall. any persons who would have questions could come to that meeting
148and and certainly have their questions answered not only by me but but by all of the board or staff or whatever which would you know I'm smart but I'm not that smart. So I think it'd be better to have us as a group and answer whatever questions constituents might have. >> Absolutely. We will make sure that we create marketing materials that will be shared widespread. We will send those out through all of our different venues on Facebook, social media, email. We'll make sure our supervisors are aware. If they'd like to attend in the audience as an attendee and hear what's being shared, we welcome them to do so. Um and then um we can entertain maybe a joint workshop with them following town halls to see if we can gain additional momentum. All right. Thank
149you. All right. So, now that takes us to our schoolboard member comments, and I'll start to my far right with Mr. Kelly. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, just commenting about arts and music, and I we have done such a great job uh growing our programs so much. And, you know, I talk about my daughter getting ready to graduate all the time. I'm really excited about not paying that tuition anymore. But uh I would be remiss if I did not say that yes, my daughter learned that she joined the swim team here. She fell in love with it. She went to college. She's a college athlete. I'm super proud of that. She got tuition money. She got a scholarship to play in the chamber orchestra at Bridgewwater. And that was because of the music that
150she learned when she was at Louiswis and Clark, learning how to play uh the viola when she was at the middle school and carrying that on here at the high school. And it wasn't a ton of money, but you know, it's money I didn't have to pay and she loves it. She loves music because of what? So, I just thought it was very appropriate to kind of bring that home. Um it's kind of touching. I did let her know. I was like, "Hey, your picture's up there again." And you remember all this? She was like, "Oh." And then she started to mention all of her teachers. And I had to tell her that Miss French doesn't work here anymore. she retired. No. Um so at the lab school for Mary Washington, we have worked on
151the budget um and approved that uh which was interesting because we that's like the this is the only time of year we have to meet multiple times in a row. Um the gifted advisory committee met and we are working on the local plan um that we will be submitting soon. And it was nice to see us work together and all agree that mentioning the lab school um the the ATI in the gifted at the local plan is kind of a neat way of saying here's another service that we offer for our children. Chespig Bay meets tomorrow. Uh thank you very much Dr. Calvaric and everybody that's involved with the information regarding inclement weather. That was uh scary and I think we made the right decision. At times it seemed like you go outside and it
152be beautiful and then 5 minutes later it's like pouring rain. So, thank you very much for keeping everybody I've heard a lot of praise in the community about that. Uh on Saturday we all went to Bowling Green and participated with the literacy initiative and that was so much fun. Um just walking around and seeing all the the students involved in so much of the process I think was great especially the high school kids and I kind of got sucked into the poetry reading um at the heist which was very nice. Tomorrow we have our hot topics conference and I am looking forward to going down there tomorrow in Charlottesville and spending time with some of my best friends. So thank you guys Mr. Chairman. That concludes my comments. >> All right. Thank you so much
153Mr. Kelly. Uh Mr. Taylor. Uh thank you Mr. Chairman. Um, I don't have very much of I do want to talk a little bit about the the the Caroline Reed. Uh, Mr. uh Kelly made mention of that was very very good. There were it was just really well attended. Uh I think there was up to maybe maybe 400 students. uh which really speaks to um how the community feels about education and the schools and uh and and we have a tough job to do and I think that people realize that and hopefully we can continue uh in the vein that we're doing uh so that we can provide the kind of services that we want to provide. Um, I did read and I had a I had about uh I I guess probably about 15
154or 20 young uh young students and uh it kind of took me back for a minute there and uh it was it was really good. We we had a a nice time and the parents were there supporting those children and uh it was just a good thing. So uh I was glad to be able to be a part of that. Uh, I also want to take a minute to just uh say thank you and to congratulate all the ladies because this is uh Women History Month. We've made a little bit of a mention about that. Uh, but as men, we really need to step up and give credit where credit is due because, you know, we men wouldn't be nowhere without you ladies. Uh, and I I say that and I and I really mean
155that. I tease my wife all the time. I say, you know, you're so lucky to have married me. I can't tell you what she said cuz we on the D, but but at any rate, uh, I just want to say thank you to the ladies for all you do and for the great, um, um, things that you have helped us to accomplish. Uh, and I dare say that Woman History Month should be more than one month and maybe we'll even extend it. That'll be my idea. Uh, the other thing I would say is the I belong to the men of Omega Sci-Fi fraternity and we do a talent hunt. Well, we do a lot of things, but we do a talent hunt and we had that talent hunt here at uh, Caroline High School. Uh,
156and it was it was very nice and um I thought Jay was going to be here tonight. Um, uh, but um, she was one of the contestants and she is very very talented. She sings beautifully and she got an award. I I don't remember which one it was. I don't know if it was second or third place, but I know she got an award and it was really, really good. And I was very proud of her uh because she not only represents Carolina County, she represents the school board. And so uh she did an excellent job. And uh in closing, I would just say that um we are moving in a direction where we want to provide the services that we need for the students of this county. And in order to do that, it
157takes funding. And hopefully we can find a a method to work with the local uh governing body uh to try to help us to provide those funds that we need uh because we can't do certain things unless we have the funding to do it. And if we don't get the funding to do it, our children suffer, our program suffers, and I just don't want to see that happen. Now, I don't want to see us give up rights and authorities that we have, but hopefully we can come to the table and find a way to work together to make this happen because this is serious business and we can't provide students with an education without the funding that it takes to do that. and all of us, the board, the school board, the board of supervisors,
158each of us, we need to come together and figure out how we going to fix this because if we don't, our children are going to be the ones that suffer. That's all I have to say. >> All right. Thank you so much, Mr. Taylor. Uh, Dr. Rollins Fellows. >> Yes, sir. Um, a couple announcements. Um the first one is I wanted to just express public condolences to Big John and his family. Um he is truly um beloved in this community and just wanted to take a moment uh to honor his legacy and his memory. Um in terms of board committee meetings, done a lot of work with the CTE program. Um they've had the advisory board meeting. At that meeting I had opportunity to speak to um a representative from Kalahari. So, I was glad
159to see that Dr. Calvaric and some other staff had a chance to do a site visit there. And I was really happy to hear about uh Project Search. Um and so my question was not to hoard the spots, but it was to see how does this work out um and make sure that we have representation. So, um I'm looking forward to future updates with that uh particular program. Um other than the CT advisory committee, there was also um opportunity where we hosted uh King George. They actually came here and what was really cool about that site visit was it included their school board members um there were members of their appropriating body, their board of supervisors there as well um as staff. And I'm telling you, I was I was strutting like a peacock. Our
160programs looked amazing. We came into the classrooms, the kids were engaged. Um, I need to get a cutting board from the carpentry class. I need to put my order in. Um, and the kids were just excited and it was so cool to just see them in their natural element. And so, um, to know me, you know, I'm passionate about it and and yes, I'm going to keep pushing for funding, funding, funding, um, so that they can continue to thrive. Um, outside of CTE, I also had the opportunity to come here at CMS um, where there was a black history judging um, contest and also a program. And I wanted to give kudos to the staff here at CMS and the principal because all thousand some plus students were in the gym, middle schoolers in the
161gym in one environment. And yes, there were moments where, you know, conversation and the buzz happened, but when they asked them to come to a level zero, those kids were on it. They were so respectful. Um, our jazz ensemble, what kind of energy was in that room? I don't know, but I need to bottle it. It was amazing. So, I'm not surprised to see um the stats that our music programs are growing. Um in addition to that um I have been very active with my state role and my national role. So I missed um the reading program. Sorry about that. But um part of me going to these different things is to learn best practices and different resources that I can bring back. And so one of the big things um Mr. Fortune and Dr.
162Calverick I'd like to uh make a connection with you all with is with the education foundation. there was a group that have raised a significant amount of money um with leveraging their alumni and some really creative things um and they are willing to share. This organization is out of Illinois so I'll pass that on and if we can follow up I think we can help um our program to continue to grow. Um there was also significant board governance training and a big focus on dignity in communication. So, I brought some of those resources back as well. And you know, sometimes you don't see the picture until you get outside of the frame. And every time I travel, I come back home and I can say there's no place like Virginia and there is no place
163like Caroline County because we um and just the respect and rapport that we have with one another really is a shining example. Um and so I just wanted to say that. And then my last comment um to all of the staff, Dr. Calvaric, all of you guys, y'all are up. Um, Mr. Wick with safety, transport, everybody, y'all are up 24 hours, seven days a week, monitoring that weather and all of those things. And from Dollar General to the food line to the gas station. Um, parents were really thankful that school was closed that day. Um, in my area, it came through and it sounded like a freight train. Um, and I have been in school, I think it was like the third day of school, this is probably about 10 years ago with a tornado
164coming down the back of where the schoolboard office is. So, it is a scary moment. Um, but I can tell you that from what I've heard, people are really thankful. And then thank you to the community because everybody was just checking on everybody and just being neighborly. So, thank you guys for all that you do to keep us safe. Those are my comments. >> Thank you so much, Dr. Rollinsvilles. Vice Chair Sears, >> thank you. Um, I also miss the Caroline Reeds, but I was supporting our newly formed um, CHS Scarlet Winter Guard. They had their second competition of the season, and it was very exciting. They had improvements um, from their first competition. And on Saturday, they will, next Saturday, they will compete in the AIA Championships. And that is very exciting. And I
165really want to thank um Coach Natalie and Mr. King and Coach Addison for bringing that back to Caroline High School because they have had really good numbers and they have a really good foundation to build on for next year. Um, I have seen my share of many winter sports teams. And as that has concluded, I just want to say congratulations to all of our athletes who participated. And I really want to thank coaches and parents for the time that you have put in with our athletes and our students and your children because it is not always the easiest thing to do. Um, and as that ends, well, it's now spring sports season and I am very excited to get out and watch as many competitions as I can because I love supporting um our our
166students who are participating. Um tomorrow I have my Commonwealth Governor Schoolboard meeting and I will come back in April with reports from that. Um and as it is art and music month, I will just say once again, please come out and support the spring musical. Um Mr. McBride and Miss Steven Young have worked very hard with our students to really hone in on their craft and I think it's going to be an amazing show and there's four opportunities to come and see it. Um so I hope to see everyone there. I will be there at all four shows. Um definitely showing my support. Um, last, I just really want to thank um, our teachers and staff. And I hope you know that we as a board appreciate all of you so much. I personally appreciate
167you so much. Um, if you teach one of my two children, you've probably gotten an email from me or, you know, a question about something and everyone's always quick to respond. And as a parent, I really appreciate that. Um, but it's hard work. I teach myself and I understand you know we are getting towards spring break and sometimes that some of us are white knuckling it just trying to get to spring break. Um so I hope that it is it is very soon for us here in Caroline and so I hope you get a chance to rest and relax and that concludes my comments. >> Mr. Chairman, I forgot a kudo if that's okay. Sure. I was out and about and I saw our very own board member, Miss Allison Sears, um at a regional
168meeting serving um in her sign language role and people were just ranting and raving about how great the kids did and who's that lady and I was like, she's on our school board. So um just wanted to give you those public kudos. Great job. >> Awesome. Awesome. Thank you. So, as uh board member uh Taylor used to say, by the time the comment section comes to the chair, a lot of the good things have already been taken. Um, however, I definitely want to echo uh the thank yous um that have been expressed today to our staff, uh to our leadership, uh for all the work that you do. um in particular once again uh all the work that it takes to keep us as a division safe um during this trying winter. So um thank
169you so much uh for all that you do um in that space in particular and we'll continue to do moving forward. Uh unfortunately I wasn't able to attend uh the Caroline Reeds kickoff on Saturday either um due to illness. Um, but I do want to thank all of those who participated, all of the community members u that participated. Um, I would especially like to thank my wife Joy for participating. Um, she actually read the book called The Gruff and passed out hats uh to the children that she was uh able to um to read to. So, that was a a great event. Um, I don't feel too bad because the community got the better half of the duo of the fortune duo. So, uh, once again, thank you for every to everyone. Um, as I
170reflect on Women's History Month, um, I'm taking back to, uh, something that my pastor used to say growing up in St. John Baptist Church. Um the late Reverend WG Barryman, he often said sarcastically from the pullpit, "Can anything good come out of Caroline?" And of course after he said that, he would go into um congratulating um individuals from Caroline who have accomplished great things. Um, and today I want to kind of rift off of that and ask, can any great female state leaders come out of the Carolina County School Division? And I am happy to say the answer is an emphatic yes. Um, amongst our midst tonight, we have Dr. Rollins Fels who served as the immediate past president of the Virginia School Board Association. We also have u sitting to my right Dr. Calvaric
171who is the presidentelect of the Virginia Association of State Superintendent. Um, in the audience, we also have Marsha Stevens, who's the current president-elect, but will become president of the Virginia Association of School Business Officials. And last but not least, as of a couple of days ago, last week, we have in our midst Mrs. Tariq Haley who now serves as the president of the women education uh leaders in Virginia. So, uh, once again, as I reflect on Women's History Month, I just want everyone in the community to know that we have some amazing women in our school division who are doing great things and deserve all of the accolades uh, that's associated with your wonderful work um, not only with within our division, but also um, on a state level. So once again, thank you for
172being a role model for all of us and we are so blessed to have you in our school division. So with that, that concludes my comments and we'll move to Dr. Calvary. Thank you so much for those kind words and acknowledgement of the fabulous female leadership that we are so blessed to serve amongst on um each and every day. I have a list of calendar dates to share. You know, it is fast and furious in the spring months and I wanted to give some gentle reminders. Some are a bit redundant, including the Little Shop of Horrors, which takes place this Friday through Sunday. Please come out and support our Cavalier Theater actors and actresses. We also have spring break around the corner beginning on Saturday, March 28th, and running through Monday, April 6th. Monday is
173indeed a holiday for students and our teachers. It is a 12 month work day. 12-month employees will take that day off if they would like to um be at home. We also have our partner in education recognition breakfast on April 9th and that will take place at the Matapana Barnes. They are actually one of our past recipients of the partner in education award. On April 15th, we have Special Olympics at Caroline High School beginning at 9:30. We invite all of our board members to come out if your schedule permits. April 17th is the Caroline High School prom. April 23rd, you heard earlier this evening, is the Caroline County Public School Art Festival from 5 to 7:30 at the high school. If you have not been to this event, it is a sight to be seen.
174It is one of the most impressive things that I think we do on an annual basis, and I would love to see the community come out and support. At the risk of being repetitive, I cannot emphasize how amazing the Caroline Reed's kickoff was on Saturday, doing it on Main Street and having 10 to 11 businesses open their doors so that not only they were able to receive our community, but they also provided a literacy activity craft or read aloud to all of our participants. It was just a joy to be out in the Caroline community. The streets were humming with activity and with people. The weather was perfect. And some businesses indicated that they had done four times the amount of business that they had done in the past. What a symbiotic relationship that was.
175So looking forward to um doing a final count. Mr. Taylor, I think you hit the nail on the head. I think we did about 400 passports that our students received. But then you multiply that by each family member that was walking the streets with them and there probably was in excess of over a thousand people on Main Street during that three-hour window. So just I think a hallmark event and hopefully one that we can sustain with other funding once beyond all-in grant monies. Also just want to um remind families that we're in the middle of the literacy charity challenge. Each school K through 8 has chosen a local charity to support. Your students can be reading and filling out their reading log with your signatures. third through fifth graders read 10 20 minutes and K
176through two students read 10 minutes and they get little individual incentives but they also by next Friday if they've hit 12 signatures in the month of March they will be able to pick an item to donate to that charity and those charities are the Caroline Humane Society Ronald McDonald House of Richmond and Caroline's promise so really proud of the year-long literacy campaign we are closing out our first adult book club this Thursday. One is being hosted virtually. One is being hosted at the YMCA, one at the town hall. So, if you're a member of one of those three genre book clubs, we can't wait to close out round one. And stay tuned. We already have our books picked for round two, which will run from May to June. So, keep your eye out for that
177announcement. With that, I'll yield the floor. >> All right. Thank you so much, Dr. Calver. All right. So, at this time, uh, the chair will entertain a motion to move into close session, uh, for the superintendent's personnel agenda for the discussion of professional appointments, classified appointments, stipens, clubs, retirements, springport, coach appointments, resignations, corrections, position changes, substitute appointments as authorized by Virginia Code section 2.2-3711, subsection A3. So moved. >> Second. Um it's been moved and properly seconded that we move into close session. Is there any discussion hearing? None. Madame chair, please. Madam clerk, please call for the vote. Vote. >> Dr. Ran spells. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Sears. >> Hi. >> Mr. Kelly. >> Hi. >> Mr. Taylor. >> Hi. >> Mr. Fortune. >> I. We're in close session. that we uh return from close session.
178>> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second that we return from close session. All those in favor, please uh make it be known by saying I. >> I. >> No objection. Motion carries. We are back in regular session. I move for certification of close session. I certify. >> All right. >> I certify. >> I so certify. >> And I so certify. >> I move for approval of superintendent's personnel agenda as presented. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly seconded that we approve the superintendent's agenda as presented. Any discussion? All in favor, please make it be known by saying I. >> I. >> Any oppose? None. Motion carries. And at this time, the chair would ask for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second that
179we adjourn. All those in favor, please make it be known by saying I. I. I. >> Eyes haven't. Motion carries. And we are adjourned. Thank you.