001Madam clerk, please call roll. Dr. Williams, present. Mr. Pay, here. Miss Walker, present. Dr. Silverman, Miss Cunningham, present. Favor, present. [clears throat] Here. Next, we'll move to item 1.3, the approval of the agenda. So move. A second. Motion made by Mr. Payne, second by Dr. Williams. Any discussion? Any discussion? Hearing none, madam clerk, please call. Miss Cunningham? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. M. Yes. Dr. Williams? Yes. M. Walker? Yes. Mr. G? Yes. Next, we'll have moment of silence and pledge of allegiance by Miss Cunningham. If we can all please stand for the moment of silence. And now the pledge algiance 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. Next, we'll move to item 2.1.
002These are the uh approval of minutes. These are minutes from May 1st, 2025 regular meeting and May 1st, 2025 work session. So, move a second. Second. Motion made by Mr. Payne, second by Miss A. Any discussion on the motion? Any discussion? Hearing none, madam clerk, please call roll. Miss Ab, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Dr. Williams, yes. Wro? Yes. Mhm. Yes. Mr. G. Yes. Next. We'll move item 3.1, mental health awareness month. This is a consent item. So move. Second. Motion made by Dr. Williams, second by Miss Cunningham. Any discussion? Any discussion? Hearing none. Madam clerk, please call a role. Dr. Williams? Yes. Miss Cunningham? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Miss Walker? Yes. Miss Aver? Yes. Mr. Yes. Next, we'll move to item 4.1, recognizing our student representatives from both Galileo Magnet High School and George Washington
003High School. At this time, if we'll ask both Miss Journey Mitchell and Darian Sers to please come forward. So, I'm going to be very short. We have any family members here for you? Any family members? Family, please come and join. Let's give him a round of applause. Job well done. [applause] So, tonight we're honoring Come on, forward parents. Come on, be recognized. Be proud of these these young individuals. Listen, so we're extremely proud of both of you guys. You are the first cohort of our student representatives. So, we're proud. I'm going to pass the mic and allow the opportunity for our board members to just share a few brief comments. But we have Darien Saunders who is at Galileo Magnet High School. He is off to UVA with a 4.0 GPA. We're excited for him.
004[applause] Then we also have Miss Journey Mitchell from George Washington High School, 3.4 3.5ish GPA. Let's let's recognize those. [applause] So, also on behalf of uh the mayor, Alonzo Jones, in his absence, he's also uh sent some pins and we have Miss Abra who's coming around. She's going to pin you on behalf of the mayor and city council. Uh but we want you to know that the board is extremely proud of your hard work, your dedication, and perseverance. Parents, you should be extremely proud of these young people. And madame clerk, if you don't mind, if we'll just go around a horn, if you want to call roll and let's let's give these young people some encouraging words. Dr. Williams. Well, I know that I'm one of the new kids on the block, but in the
005few months that I've worked with both of y'all, it's been a true honor. You guys are super bright. You bring so much joy, so much wisdom to the board. Um, you're just beginning the next chapter of your life. Uh, I'm looking forward to see the exciting things that you all will do. Best of luck. Please stay in contact. Um I'm looking forward to seeing you on the ballot and voting for you one day. [laughter] But best of luck and if there's anything we can do to further support you, please reach out. Uh just very small talk. Um it has been a good experience with Darius and Jouri. Um just as he said, I expect to see um Darius on someone's um ballot one day because he's definitely a debater. But um just appreciate how he
006really um represented the board and so um continue to do great things for Jouri. I always say she's a quiet storm. Even though she's quiet when it comes to leadership, she's did well. Like when I've seen her go to different um uh legislative or different things for the board, she spoke up when she needed to. So um we know you all are going to do great things and it has just been a really good blessing to be with you all through this process. Okay. Um um I've only been on the board for a very short time. Um in the midst of that, what I can say to both of you all is that it has been a complete honor um to get to know you. Um what I can say to you both is I
007hope that you do realize the foundation that you have laid and the example that you have set for others to follow in your footsteps. um continue to be great. Continue to excel and strive for greatness. Don't remember. Don't forget home. Um and just come back and instill that wisdom in others to make sure that they follow in those same footsteps. I'm very proud of you both. Um and I consider it in all joy to know both of you. Continue on, Mr. P. So, I can say a lot about both of them staying up in midnight eating donuts and different things like that. Um it's been a great experience being with you two at Williamsburg and different functions. Um Miss Cunningham said something that was very profound that the foundation that has been set by you
008all. I've heard other students different scholars now is looking to take the same role as you all. Um and I want to also thank uh Mr. Graves. Um let's give him a round of applause. [applause] I said that because years ago he has been pushing and fighting for student representatives and these two scholars are standing here because he heard the people. He listened to the people and he listened to the students and you have not let Mr. Graves nor this board nor this school district. Darren, you have spoken Richmond. I I was in one session and they said, uh, Mr. Darren Saunders is leading a session. I was like, he's supposed to be in there learning [laughter] and he's leading a whole session. And I I just thank you all for all that you all
009have done um speaking up for the students. I know Miss Miss Kesha Walker is going to miss you, Darien, um, for debating like you do. And, uh, we wish you all the best and, um, the best is yet to come. Thank you. Well, I won't reiterate everything that was said, but what I will say, it has been a absolute pleasure having both of you um on the board as student reps. I know you came on to learn from us and I think I can speak for every board member. We definitely learned from both of you. Um, thank you for being great models to other students in DPS of what leaders look like. Um, a lot of times we have a vision of what you should look like or how you should act as a leader,
010but both of you are very well-rounded, very smart. Um, and you have your own leadership style and you were not afraid to let that shine through. And I think it was great that you were able to show that. um not only here in Danville but across the state and even out of state right there. So um again I wish you both nothing but the best and I am sure that you're going to do great things. Don't forget about us. You get great breaks in college. So stop by. We will still be here meeting [laughter] Thursdays. So, feel free to drop by and if you need anything, have a question, just want to talk, uh, food's getting low, money's getting low, you can reach out to Mr. Graves or Mr. P. [laughter] Mr. Graves. So, I
011think they've given you your flowers, Journey, and Darian. So, but I want I want to shift just for a second. I want to give the parents their flowers. the I mean these kids are amazing. I mean they're [applause] amazing. So this is this is a true testament to what you've raised and you guys have raised some fine young people and you know there's a saying that it takes a village to raise a child and I'm going tell you I believe that everybody in this room is excited and proud to be a part of that village because these young people are going places. So again, parents, thank you for allowing us to have some time with them, spend some time with them. And and young people, man, just dream big. And you know, the best is
012still yet to come, right? So let's give them another round of applause. [applause] And we do have two more cards for you guys. Darren has to go to an awards assembly, I believe. Come on up and take a picture now. We'll yell. So Journey will be going to school at UNCG and UVA. Ernie Mitchell will be attending UNCC Greensboro. So, [applause] next we'll move to item 4.2, Mental Health Awareness Month. At this time, I'll ask Miss Carter to come forward and I'll turn it over to Mr. Payne. Proclamation, Mental Health Awareness Month, May 2025. Whereas mental health awareness month has been observed in May in the United States since 1949 and was first commemorated by the Mental Health American organization. Mental health is an essential part of overall overall well-being impacting individuals, families, and communities
013across Gamble Public Schools. Whereas in one in six US youth aged 6 through 17 experience a mental health disorder each year and half of all mental health conditions begin by the age of 14. And whereas mental health challenges if left unressed can significantly impact a student's ability to learn, build relationships and achieve their full potential. And whereas with early detection of effective treatment, individuals who suffer with mental health conditions can recover and live full productive lives while also effectively reducing the burden of mental health conditions on individuals and their families. And whereas engaging in prevention strategies such as early identification of warning signs, symptoms, and early interventions are effective ways to reduce the stigma of mental illness. And whereas positive childhood experiences such as forming strong relationships with a trusted adult experiences a sense of
014belonging and building coping skills to deal with stress in a healthy way have been proven to counter the impact of adverse childhood experiences ACEs. [clears throat] And whereas the 2025 theme of mental health awareness month, turn a wellness into action encapsulates the opportunity to raise awareness, combat stigma, and promote mental health resources. Whereas Danville public schools has committed itself to supporting students mental health and social emotional development. And now therefore, the school board of dam public schools does hereby proclaim May as mental health awareness month. Let's continue to prioritize mental health to seek and offer help without judgment and to work together in creating a supportive environment where all students can thrive. Adopted by the Damma School Board on May 1st, 2025. Signed by Mr. Ty Corn Graves, school board chair and Dr. Angela Harston,
015EDB superintendent. Thank you. Thank you all. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. So May is mental health awareness month. Uh my name is Shria Cardi. I'm the mental health liaison and community and schools liaison. So what my role is with mental health liaison, I coordinate mental health services for students. So at this time we do have individual counseling for counseling services, therapeutic day treatment, intensive inhome counseling, psychiatric services, substance use counseling, and family counseling services. Currently we have um contracted with nine companies in um the Danville city city limits and we currently have um a provider for every school. We actually have two providers for um for most of the schools. Um, Health and Wellness is a district-wide is a company that provides services for all of our schools. Petemont United provides services for Gibson and Park
016Avenue. Focus point provides services for George Washington High and Rise Academy. Therapeutic Interventions, Active 8 and Galileo Magnet School and Schoolfield Landing Support and Resources provide support for Johnson and Westwood and Jacopy Behavior Center, Northside Grove Park and Woodbury. and epic partners provide support to Bonner. I am proud to say that we currently have 125 students that is receiving professional counseling and we have 79 students that is receiving therapeutic day treatment. Our partnership and impact Miss Walker. So currently under Miss Carter's leadership and the various mental health services providers have supported students in improving academically becoming more emotionally stable and then also reducing the stigma around seeking help. Additionally, partnerships with these providers has offered extra support and then contributing to our overall attendance improvement. And next we will have Shael Murphy from Health and
017Wellness. Hello everyone. It has been a pleasure working with Miss Sherica Carter. Um this year, health and wellness, we have been blessed to be able to um contract through Danville public schools. Um this is the third year. Um and this is the first year that we've been able to provide inschool TDT, therapeutic day treatment. Um and also for those who need a high level of care and just some inh home. Um so it has been pretty smooth um for the most part you know in regard to um us receiving referrals um coordination making sure we can reach the parents because that's usually um the gap um that we usually have when we are trying to provide the service [clears throat] to the children. Um but Sherica, she makes that process smooth um much smoother than
018it's been over the past few years. Um and we you know continue to look forward to um service the Denver public schools um and making sure that we can um meet the needs um because it is a huge need um with children needing mental health services and also the parents. Um so thank you Sherica. And next we have Miss Valerie Johnson. Thank you for the thank you for this most important recognition of Mental Health Month. I am honored to accept this proclamation on behalf of everyone working to support mental health and wellness in our schools. Mental health affects every part of a student's life and it's encouraging to see this commitment to raise awareness and providing support. Thank you and thank you again. Thank you. Next, we'll move to item 5.1. Public may address the
019board. We have any signed up? Yes, sir. Next, we'll move to item 6.1, literacy campaign update. At this time, I'll turn it over to Miss Barnes. Good evening, uh, Chairman Graves, Vice Chair Ait, school board members, and Dr. Harrison. It is our privilege to present you with updates on the 202425 literacy campaign. All elements of our literacy campaign align with goal one, objective A of our strategic plan, which is to improve content mastery in all subjects with a laser focus on literacy and numeracy. Danville has a division literacy vision wherein Danville public school students are effective readers, writers, and listeners, and critical thinkers. All DPS students are taught with rigor and high expectations using highquality instructional materials and with instruction based on the science of reading. It is our goal that by the end of
020the school year, at least 80% of students will be reading on grade level. To that end, uh, Danville public schools developed a division literacy plan as part of the Virginia literacy act. It has been updated for the next two years. Moving forward, they will be implemented bienally. Um, the changes for next year reflect the expansion of the Virginia Literacy Act into grades 4 through 8 and uh, DPS's commitment to highquality professional learning. So you can see that we have updated some elements of our plan. High-quality instructional materials, our training plan for staff, communication plan, assessment and monitoring plan. This year the biggest change for us under the Virginia Literacy Act was the Val screener. Val stands for Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System. Got it right. And um this is a screener that we give
021to students in grades K through three next year. That's what's expanding into four through eight. And students who are deemed at high risk for reading difficulties received student reading plans which qualified them for an extra 2 and 1/2 hours a week of reading instruction. So what you see here are some preliminary results from fall to spring. Kindergarten is still testing. So their numbers are not final. But as you can see, first grade um moved significantly in the fall. 50% of our first graders were in that high-risisk band. And at this time, that number has fallen to 35%. Which is a great improvement. Second grade has also made gains um going [snorts] from 42% of students in the high-risisk band to 37. And again, kindergarten is still testing, but just in what we've seen so far,
022um they've gone from 36% of students in the high-risisk band to only 29%. So, we are very pleased with our Val's results and the implementation of our student reading plans. [clears throat] So, I get to do the fun part, the testimonials, because we can show data, but hearing it from actual teachers in our district is so important. First, I'm going to read a um quote from Anessa McCain, academic specialist at Activate STEM Academy. Participating in the VLP modules, reading specialist training and vows program provided valuable tools and strategies that supported my growth as an instructional leader. By encouraging fellow educators to embrace the science of reading and effective reading strategies, we saw a positive impact on literacy outcomes. My involvement also included offering support through modeling, coaching, and being present at parent conferences. These experiences
023have enhanced both educator and student literacy development and I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of these initiatives this year. And next I will read a quote by Katherine Moon, a reading specialist at Park Avenue. Receiving training as a reading specialist has equipped me with advanced skills in literacy instruction assessment and intervention, allowing me to support struggling readers effectively. This specialized training has enhanced student outcomes, boosted my confidence as an educator, and opened up new career opportunities. Additionally, as a reading specialist, I feel as though I play a vital role in improving schoolwide literacy rates, helping teachers, and implementing evidence-based strategies to foster lifelong reading success. And that lifelong lifelong learning and reading is our ultimate goal is to um produce lifelong readers. Um, next I have a parent that is going
024to come and give her testimonial. I'd like to welcome Jennifer Ran, a parent of a first grader at Forest Hills Elementary. Hey everyone, my name is Jennifer Ran. My daughter is Zoe Ran. Um, she has um attended Forest Hills and been in the program for the past two years. and um her reading level has went way high. Um she's now on two and three levels now um and doing an excellent job. Thank you. [applause] And what better way than to let the people that are in the trenches every day in our schools have something to say. And I would like to welcome Rhonda Pluto, uh language intervention specialist for all of our elementary schools. Crystal Vaden, reading specialist at Johnson Elementary. Margaret Robertson, literacy coach at Forest Hills, and Robin Brandon, reading specialist at Woodbury.
025Good evening, everyone. Good evening. I am super excited about how our reading programs are going. Um, Colleen spoke to the vowels um for the spring. I will tell you that midy year, now I do the moderate children. um they're between the high and low risk and my goal is to get them to low risk. So midy year I serviced 80 children and 74% of those children are no longer at risk. So that was an excellent [applause] I'm still working on spring um data. So I will provide that once I have it. I wanted to share just a couple of success stories because I get so excited guys. Y'all know if y'all see me in the school I'm stopping you and saying guess what this happened. This happened. So, um I have a student that is
026in the third grade and December he was on a kindergarten reading level and last week he passes at reading so [applause] now this right here these the children I'm referring to now they are children that stayed in the after school tutoring program. So that's yet another service that we offer our students that is very beneficial. Um, I have another little student. He was on a first grade reading level. He is almost at grade level now. He made a 391 on his reading so he is currently receiving so remediation from me and he says he is determined to pass on the retake and I believe he will. I honestly believe he will. One more is this little boy at Gibson. While doing vows testing with a student, I realized that he knew letter sounds and he
027could segment these sounds, but he could not blend them, which means he couldn't read. He was on a kindergarten reading level, but he was so eager to learn every day. Miss Pluto, can you pull me? Miss Pluto, will you pull me? And I was like, okay, even though you're high risk and I do moderate risk, I'm going to pull you and see what we can do. And this I kind of get choked up. Sorry. After um working with him for several months, he is successfully reading and he absolutely loves to read Pete the Cat books and he has a stack of them that his mom is buying him because he is devouring books now. So that's just a few of the stories I get to say. [applause] Good evening. Um, as a reading specialist, I
028have the incredible privilege of unlocking the power of literacy for every student, especially those at GLH Johnson. Reading is more than just a skill. is the foundation for learning, critical thinking, and future success. Each day, I strive to meet students where they are, identify their unique strengths and challenges, and guide them toward becoming confident, independent readers. I collaborate with teachers, support families, and use evidence based strategies to ensure that no child is left behind in their journey to literacy. Watching a student go from struggling to striving is the most rewarding part of this work and it's a reminder of why I chose to um this meaningful and transformative profession of a reading specialist. [applause] Um first off I want to just thank you um for even and thank you all for allowing us to be
029able to come and talk about our successes in our school. I'm at Forest Hills and one of the main successes there are three that I that come to mind is our literacy pair and that's the um teacher that works with that work with Zoe. She is a 30-year retired teacher from North Carolina and she pulls small groups based on the data that they provide for us. It's always data driven. That's the thing that works. So, um, she has she does push-in instruction during the day and she has small groups at the end of the day where she pulls and those are students that are on our high wristband and we've seen a lot of success. She's seen she's been able to move her groups based on the mid-year data. Some students she keeps, but it's
030a good working relationship with her and the teacher. Also, um the fact that we have two literacy coaches. We thank you for that because Miss Jane Lockhart, she is over K1 and two um over 3, four, and five. And we are able to really work in the schools, really talk to the teachers, really be in the trenches with them. And that allows us to do station teaching. And in our station teaching during our intervention time, we push in and we have 30 minutes. And they just kind of station, we rotate. And that of course is also data driven using the valves using our our ready using progress learning. So those have been great assets just to be able to work together to talk together to plan together to um use the data in our PLC
031meetings to really attack the the skills that the kids need. And for the last part, it's just it's just great to be able to see the vertical alignment of this of the data cuz I've been at Forest Hills for three years. So I see the group of kids that had revolving teachers and I see now in fifth grade that most of those kids are passing. Like that is a huge that's a huge thing to see. Um a lot of students that are recovery students with they didn't pass for third grade but then they pass for fourth grade. But that's because of the consistent intervention that we are allowed to have um that we need to have based on our PAL data. And we thank you so much for your leadership. Thank you. [applause] Hello, I'm
032Robin Brandon. I'm the reading specialist at Woodberry Hills Elementary School. Everybody knows me. I love middle school. So when I went to elementary, my sister said, "I know you ain't doing that." And I laughed and I said, "Yeah, I think that's happening." So, she was saying, "You said you never work with little kids." And I said, "Yeah, cuz I thought it was difficult to teach them how to read." But I'm here to say I really appreciate the training that I received from the VP modules and being allowed for our district to fund us to go to VP training. On top of that, our district offered um reading specialist trainings every month to make sure we were on top of every new literature that was coming out with the Virginia Literacy Act. So, for me now,
033I feel very confident as a literacy coach, moving as a reading specialist to teach students how to read. Cuz being someone who loved to read, that was one of my favorite things. I went to Woodberry as a student. My biggest memory of being at Woodberry, of course, was Miss Brown, but Miss Brown opened me up to imagination through reading. I was one of those kids who never went outside to play. I sat in my room and I had a reading nook and I looked out the window and I would read the entire time. I would go anywhere I wanted to through a book. I was fortunate enough to work with her this year and explain to her just by her opening up my imagination and my passion for reading. I was then able to travel
034abroad and teach literacy in foreign countries. And that was one of the things that I felt that was so impactful. But I knew if I didn't have those foundational skills that were given to me while I was a student at Woodbury, I would have never been able to do that. So, as being a reading specialist at Woodbury, I have some quick highlights I want to give you. Our kindergarten teachers have been so successful. They have 85% of their students now that are low risk according to their vows data. They have finished testing [applause] and we have only 85%. And that is really good because we only have 15% that's left. And I'm really proud of my kindergarten team because they are veteran teachers. They have received every foundational literacy training that the district has offered
035because they've been here for 15 to 20 years. And they say that every year when something new comes out, they feel prepared, they feel ready, they feel able to do because our district has provided that professional development for them. For myself, with going to the VP trainings, I've learned how to grow students and also to teach them how to read. As a reading specialist, I've learned how to teach foundational skills to students. In fourth and fifth grade is where I am placed, but I support K through three. And with doing that, I've seen that 76% of our tier three students, which are our group one students who were reading at three to four years below grade level, have so shown success on the I Ready diagnostic testing, 76%. And also in addition 48% have reached
036their stretch growth for our ready testing which is really really great. Even though it's not the goal that I set of 70% I know that with the growth that we had this year that we will hit that goal for next year. So as always I'm proud of being a part of DPS but I'm also really proud to be a part of one team one dream at Woodberry Hills. Thank you. [applause] So, we've heard of all the work that the specialists have been doing, but let me share some of the work that the students have been doing. So, this year we have read an enormous amount of books. So much so that it's 84,000 more than they read last year. [applause] We've been using our literacy campaign including the reading challenges. So in order to build
037a culture of literacy in schools and the community, we have implement implemented monthly reading challenges. These challenges have been hosted by Beanstack. The theme of it is every great adventure begins at home. The librarians have been pulling books around these themes, around the monthly themes, and we've been reaching out to community leaders and teachers to do readalouds, and we'll record them and place them on the website. And we've also had monthly prize drawings that allow students to participate for the chance to win gift cards. So far this school year, DPS has logged over 116,000 books in Beanstack. I want to say that since the last two weeks when we have been coming [clears throat] up with this, it has now reached to over 125,000 in just two weeks. [applause] But the challenge doesn't stop there.
038We're continuing with a summer challenge where we're going to splash into stories and students can log the number of minutes that they spend reading each day. Our goal is to have about 600 minutes by the time they return to school. So that's roughly 10 minutes each day reading their books. We have also partnered with Book Break to bring virtual authors, author talks and mini lessons to the elementary and middle schools. And this is where the author talks can be viewed live or later and students can write and draw along and submit questions for the author to answer. And we have over 500 student views of author events this school year. And one of the things that we are working to do is to have them aligned with our pacing calendar throughout the year. Good afternoon.
039So, in an effort to increase um literacy and family and community engagement with our families and our students and to foster a love for reading, we've hosted a number of events throughout uh DPS. Um we had our read across America where we had schoolboard members, community members, as well as central off members visit the elementary schools and read stories to our students. We also had the books for kids um campaign where we had local sponsors donate books to our preschool and kindergarten students. And we also hosted in collaboration with student support services and our faith specialists family workshop sessions um where we um talked to parents about how they can support their children at home and have ac academic success at home. Um, a number of the schools also hosted literacy events which included snuggle
040up with a book at Park Avenue, a literacy night at Johnson, warm up to a good book at Woodbury Hills, a Marty Gro book parade at Activate, a reading flood at Forest Hills and Gibson and Schoolfield both had grandparents day and so families were welcomed into the schools to spend the time with their children and enjoy reading books together. And in addition, we also collaborated with the LEAP department, which is um for our English learners. And we had this event at the Ruby Archie Library and our EEL families came and um it was a really grand event. Um at this event, we had um free books for the students. Um the families were able to visit different stations where they read books about different cultures and in different languages. Um students received u multilingual bookmarks.
041And then um as they got their stamps on their passports or on their maps, they were able to get a ticket to the Sunset Slush Bus, which was really a highlight for the children. So, we've been working really hard to make sure that, you know, we're fostering a love for reading. So, we were very excited this year that we were able to expand the Ruby Archie Reading Bowl to all fourth and fifth graders um in the district. It was such a fun experience. Um, students were able to show off their comprehension skills in a competition against their peers and it was so impressive to watch these children and how much they could remember from the books. The minor details from the books. Um, it was just amazing to watch. The reading bowl promotes lifelong reading
042enjoyment. It increases their vocabulary and comprehension skills and it also helps them to develop that student confidence. um getting up competing with your peers. That takes a lot of of confidence for a child to do. Um the next little video is going to show you what the children thought about the reading bowl from our winners at Gibson Elementary. They loved it. The best part they said [laughter] the best part they said was winning. Of course they they they won and they were excited. I'm sorry you couldn't watch the video. [laughter] So to highlight our reading campaign, DPS has provided yard signs for readers to take home and display. We've also been sending home multilingual bookmarks with reading tips for families. um updating the website with BLA resources as well as including re weekly reading tips
043on social media. As the students log all these books, they are helping their schools to become trailblazers. In order to be a trailblazer, the school has to have 75% participation in the reading challenges. And I'm proud to say we have eight schools in the district that are notorized as trailblazers. [applause] Thank you. As you can hear, we have so many fantastic people um doing some really great work with literacy in our schools this year and we appreciate your time tonight to hear this update and your ongoing support of literacy in our schools. Um so, thank you very much. Are there any questions? Any questions, Miss Walker? Um I don't have a question, but I just wanted to thank you all for this um presentation. um it was one that I asked about and just to
044see your patience and your passion for the work of these children in regards to um literacy is just amazing. So I appreciate everything that you all are doing in regards to that. Thank you Dr. Williams. Thank you all again. That was a really thorough especially during this time of year. Thank you so much for the information. What can community members and adults do to support kids over the summer? uh with the um yeah that that's a great question. Of course, the best thing to do is read with and to students. Um they are never too old to be read aloud to. Um so we really encourage students. We are sending home So glad you asked that. I forgot to say we're sending home some student reading um summer reading materials with our students and we
045also are working in conjunction with the public library. So, our students will be getting some information about how to access books at the library because, you know, they can check out books for free. Um, there are also going to be updated resources going home with students from the VA that's more targeted towards the lower grades that have activities that um, you know, families can do with their students. Very easy things just like print awareness as you're walking through the grocery store and things like that. So families should look out for those resources coming home in the next week. Thank you. Let's give this literacy team a round of applause. Awesome. [applause] Thank you for that presentation. Next, we'll move to item 6.2. So preparation overview. I'll turn it over to Dr. Babalola. Well, that's a
046hard act to follow now. Wow. Great job, team. Great evening board members, vice chair, school board members, Dr. Harrison. Thank you for requesting this presentation and thank you for your continuous support and commitment to ensuring that all students receive the adequate support and resources needed to be successful. I am pleasantly pleased to share updates on our so assessment preparation and the strategic actions we've taken to support student success across our division. The journey. Our journey is rooted in one powerful goal. To give every DPS student a better education, a brighter future, and a fair chance to thrive. We believe in serving our students, our staff, and community through strategic and impactful actions every single day. And you heard some of that through the literacy team and also our staff that provided updates. So testing is
047just one part of that journey. It does not define the whole story. True success comes from year-long intentional preparation that supports deep meaningful learning. Our approach to state test readiness is not about lastminute cramming. It's an integrated ongoing process that fuels sustained academic growth. Everything we do from the instructional strategies to family engagement is aligned with our district's larger goals. Improving academics, closing opportunity gaps, and preparing every student for lifelong success. This is our shared mission. Together, educators, students, and families, we will ensure that every student is equipped to succeed both on the test and far beyond. Our year-long journey includes implementation of our DEX curriculum, ensuring that all students have access to high quality instructional materials. This year, we continued our program of studies by expanding expanding rigorous options like our advanced diploma for
048all, expanding more elective courses, and bringing more high school level courses to middle school. We have to reach all students through our fine arts department activities as well. For example, yesterday Bonner had a fantastic um dance recital. Those students come to school even more because they wanted to participate in that as well. [clears throat] We have expanded school choice with new programs at Activate. We expanded to sixth grade. At the same time, we have maintained rigorous focus on monitoring through our corrective action plan. And we also receive support from the Virginia Department of Education, Office of School Quality. We also have monthly walkthroughs. We have quarterly audits and we also have implemented our literacy playbook, mathematics playbook, science and also history playbooks. All of this is connected to ensuring that our students are prepared and
049our teachers and educators are ready for our state assessment. to interrupt learning loss and inspire students. We also have expanded summer school programs that include remediation, acceleration, and also enrichment. We also have introduced divisionwide field trips, those wonderful academic competitions in all content areas. We have student internships and we al also have improved our learning environments at at several sites by providing 21st century furniture so our students can have comfortable spaces to learn our DPS assessment framework. It ensures that our standardized assessment practices across the entire division. We work very close with partners like Hampton City Schools to have that data framework and also the University of Virginia to implement a robust data-driven instructional model that informs our teaching every day. Our principles and our teachers, they're able to see where students are every day
050based on our assessments. And now that we're in our SOL testing window, they're able to see the results immediately. But beyond academics, we prioritize engagement and behavioral supports. Programs like the alternative suspension program for students who make mistakes but still need academic support. Our second chance bus transportation for our students who like to have a Uber experience to school. They take that opportunity, right? They take that opportunity. [laughter] They take it now. And that helps help that helps us help our students and our community stay connected that we're willing to go the extra mile to provide variety of supports for all of our students. We fully implement the Virginia's all-in tutoring plan where we offer um supports during school. We do it after school and also on the weekends. Now, our all hands-on deck approach
051emphasizes that students come first. In August, our district staff stepped into classrooms to fill temporary vacancies because we wanted to ensure that there was not any gaps in learning in our schools in August. If there are any district members here who provided that support, can you please stand up? [applause] Thank you for doing that. From March to May, staff, retirees, and schoolboard members provide weekly hands-on support at school sites to provide remediation and reduce the class size so that our students are better prepared for the SO. It truly takes a village. So some say why do we even have the so why do we have the state assessment and that's to measure student learning. It's also to guide instruction. It's also to evaluate effectiveness, promote equity to ensure that all students are learning the same
052level minimally and above. And it's also to influence key policy and funding decisions. Our assessments are tools to lift all students and to ensure no one falls through the crack. Oh, are you clicking? Oh, yes. I was like, is he clicking or me clicking? Okay. So next I'm going to talk about what happens the first semester at the schools to adequately prepare for SOS. So during the first semester which is August to December the focus is on building foundations diagnosing needs and beginning supports. We start with a diagnostic assessment to determine the students baseline readiness. Teachers align lessons tightly with our standards of learning which is our SOS and they also use our division provided HQIM which is high quality instructional materials. We also launch enrichment and intervention programs based on that information which also
053includes Saturday school and also to accelerate learning for those who need it most. We also have formative assessment, ongoing formative assessments that includes benchmark assessments and also classroom assessments that help guide instructional adjustments just in time instead of waiting all the way to the end. We support our teachers with ongoing professional development and we also use our professional learning communities at the schools to review data to guide instructional adjustments. And then our families are also engaged through um family conference days and they get student progress report updates twice during the first semester and report cards twice during the first semester. We also ensure that all students are ready for online testing. So we start that in the first semester. We don't wait until March to start preparing students for online testing which is the testnav
054platform. We do that to address um to make sure our students are familiar with the platform and to reduce any tech related barriers. We make sure all of that is ready and set with the IT team. Now the second semester which is from January to May. The focus in the second semester is intensifying the supports, building student stamina and executing testing plans. We have midyear benchmarks as well which allows us to get the data again to provide more adjustment and adjust our student groups. Teacher continue aligning their lessons to the SOS that is our focus and they follow the pacing guides and they use our high quality instructional materials and they also continue and have deeper dives with their data and professional learning and PLC's. Teachers also at this time they start spiraling reviewing those
055high priority standards in their lessons to build confidence with our students. We incorporate test format practice and stam stamina building activities in the lessons. So we have like a question of the day. They have a spiral review and we also increase the length of our assessment. So like the first semester the assessments may be 15 questions long. The second semester it may be 30. Like we increase it over time so students could be prepared for that stamina and practice sessions. At the same time we focus on student motivation. We have test taking strategies and then we also have um family conferences again aligned to our um comprehensive support network. So once March get here, we was like, "Oh, we have to intensify it a little more." So we have our spring intensification. So that's when
056we ramp up instruction. We have those boot camps, those review sessions, and we implement a mock so assessment so that we can get the big picture of what the possible results may be. And as we move into the state testing window in May, we ensure that testing logistics are smooth and students are well prepared. And we also celebrate right before, get kids all excited, get the community excited, and then we also celebrate after when we see the results. So we have plenty of tools that we use to adequately prepare for the state assessment. We leverage various tools. We use state release practice items. We use test now which is the state digital platform. We use tools that we provide from the division level such as EXL lexia core. We also have strategy toolkits where we
057use graphic organizers such as vin diagrams and whatnot. And the schools have weekly incentives where they have games where students play to reinforce learning and also to provide um effective motivation. So success is measured in many ways as it relates to the so and for our division. We look at benchmark growth. We also looked at increased engagement, the mastery of the standards and of course we look at the gains in the state assessment. But most importantly, our students are growing in confidence and capability. They are really getting better every single year and that takes a journey. So let's remember success is a shared responsibility. It takes all of us to ensure that our students are successful on this so which is proficiency. It takes the families. It takes the students, the educators, the leaders and
058community partners. It's one collaborative approach. We need families to reinforce learning at home and ensure their students are present every single day. It's important to come to school every single day. We need students to stay engaged, practice their skills, and set ambitious goals. Like Miss um Robin said earlier that the students have stretch goals that's beyond their original goal. They're going beyond. That's them ambitious goals. We need teachers to continue to deliver rigorous instruction, so aligned instruction, use their data to guide their teaching, and inspire our students every single day. And we need our leaders and community members to serve as champions, offering resources, support, and encouragement. Every action, every strategy, and every partnership moves us closer to our vision of excellence for every student in Danville public schools. So, I thank our families, our
059students, our teachers, and our leaders and our communities members, including the school board, for being essential parts of our mission. So, I I have this picture for final thoughts because in DPS, we have to give all of our students a a fighting chance. starting in kindergarten all the way to high school. We have to have consistent support, consistent instruction, consistent resources so that our students can thrive and make it to graduation because graduation preparation, so preparation starts soon as they start in kindergarten. You have to prepare the whole way. You can't wait till they're in third grade and say, "Oh, let's do so prep." You have to prepare the whole way. So this is a collective mission and it's for us to ensure that every student is prepared for test. Not just for test but
060for life. Thank you. Any questions? [applause] Awesome. Any questions? Any questions? Any questions? Mr. Grace. Um Dr. Babalola. Yes, sir. [clears throat] Awesome. Awesome presentation. Um, I want to go back to the second chance a aka Uber GPS Uber. Yes. Um, I have heard so so many great things about that and I just want to say thank you to you and your team for putting that together because I have seen where kids that the scholars, excuse me, that would miss school because of transportation, missing the bus because of parents having to work third shift, etc. Yes. This right here has closed that gap. Yes. And with closing that gap, I think we go back to what was said earlier about unlocking the power. And I think that's good. So, I applaud you and your team.
061Awesome. Awesome work. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] Thank you again, Dr. Babalola. Next, we'll move to item 6.3, update on communities and schools. And at this time, I'll turn it over to Miss Carter. Good afternoon again. Good afternoon. Um, I want to introduce our community and schools that we have partnered with. We have community and schools at George Washington High School, Bonner Middle School, and Westwood Middle School. And Miss Cob will take over providing you the information. Good evening. Thank you all for allowing us to present this evening. Um before I get started, I'd like to call my colleagues up to present alongside me. Teamwork makes the dream work. Um my name is Crystal Cobbs. Um and I am a student support coordinator at George Washington High School and I absolutely love what I get
062to do um every day over there with those students. Um, communities and schools is not a new program, although it is new to fairly new to the city of Danville. The organization itself has been around for almost 50 years. Um, and one thing I um shared with the advisory board was I used to always say um it'll take our whole community that turns our school turn our school system around. This is what it is. This is what it looks like. And I had no idea what communities and schools was, but this program, this organization, um us bringing partners in and having caring adults in the building um that they can rely on. And so I also want to let you know you have packets of information. You have a whole lot of information in front
063of you. Um so at the end, if we don't get a chance to answer all of your questions here, if you're going through it when you get home, please feel free to reach out to us and so we can get started. All right. So um the first thing is we surround students with a community of support empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. The simplest way I break down what communities and schools is is a dropout prevention program. We want to remove all barriers to having our whatever barriers may exist, we want to remove them so that our students can be successful not just in school but outside of school. And so if you see we there are several CS affiliates um in the state of Virginia. Um, I know there are
064some in Richmond, um, Hansen, several different places. I won't name all of them, but they they're there. Um, we are site coordinators. So, we are that that next line. Um, we have Miss Brenda David here who is at Bonner. And if you can go back to that other slide for Miss Brenda Davis at Bonner, um, Miss Bailey Ray is at Westwood. Mr. Bethea is with me at GW. And we also have a colleague, another colleague who is with us, Miss Henderson. So it's it's several of us here. I really wish we could have one person per student, but we're not there yet. Um [laughter] so um so we start off with the needs assessment. We do one for each school at the beginning of the school year to see what are the needs of this
065school. Um this school year we've been working on um academics and specifically science. So we don't just do the needs assessment for this school, we also do a needs assessment for each student. Each student also gets a need needs assessment and then we go into planning. What would this year look like? And so we've already started planning for the next school year. What are the activities um that we need to put in place? What are the supports we need to put in place? So integrated student supports is another way to say wraparound services. We really it's really nothing that we don't do for for these kids. I mean and they'll tell you later, you'll hear from them, but we really try I was um one of those posters over there. Grow through what you go
066through. I was working with a senior yesterday and she was talking about how challenging her 11th grade year was. She's ready to graduate and she was like, "Where were you last year?" And I was like, "We had somebody here." But you know, but I mean just small things sitting there with a child doing posters. You don't know what will come out. And so those things that seem really small really make a big difference in the lives of our students. Um and so like I said, we have academic assistance, um basic needs, we feed the kids. They come in, they know our office is the hot spot for chips, candy, Gatorade, juice. We're getting healthier snacks as well, but teenagers love those things. Um, right? They don't want this. They don't want that. So, but anyway,
067so they come in for those things, but they leave out they going to always leave out with a nugget, whether it's something we say directly or whether it's something one of their peers say. Um, they're always learning in that environment. Um, so monitoring adjusting is next. So we'll look, we've already started looking at what things work well this year. Um what are the things that we need to change and then um evaluation and I apologize we have Mr. Curts is our program director and big boss I don't know his full title but he's big [laughter] Mr. Willie Gillis you want to share your title my name is Willie Gillis Jr. I'm the director of emerging programs community schools. Thank you. All right we can move to the next slide. And again, just the the integrated
068supports again target academic and non-academic barriers because although we focused on science this year, if the child is not coming to school, we can't help them with science. Um if they're having behavior issues, not getting along with people, we can't help them with science. So although we say our focus was academics, we're really surrounding them with um supports in every area. Um you can move to the next slide. So, I'll turn this portion over um to Miss David who'll talk about um specifically things that have happened at Bonner this year. All right. Good evening. Um it's only appropriate that I have to give a shout out to my principles. Um Mr. Mayo and Mr. Simmons. They're one of the the best principles in this district. Um so, always got to say something about them. Um,
069and I do want to recognize the students that did come with me tonight. I have two that have been with me since I started at um with communities and schools. Now, they are in high school. Um, but when I was talking to them about that I had to come here tonight, they wanted to come with me. And so they sit over here, which is um Abigail meter and um Wesley Dawkins. And and then one of the parents, one of the kids couldn't come, but his mom came instead, which is um Crystal Hernandez. And so they have when it's time for them to say something, they'll be able to say something. But I just wanted to point them out. Um now back to Bonner. Um we have with tier one supports we did uh 46 which
070is much higher now and that includes science night um the science nights there career day and the backpack program and reason I say it's higher now because we did the after school program and that's included which makes it much much higher and then I did um uh lunch duty every day and so that made it much much higher. And then also in this um we have Danville Utilities came um and we also had uh Dan River Basin that came and so that's not included in that and so that increases it by a little bit more. Um tier 2 supports we had 637 which is peer mediation progress reports and then our trip to um North Carolina ENT which also should include our field trip to um the institute and then also um it should include
071the some small groups that we do. Um, we did a soccer over spring break and so AI was generous enough to volunteer their time for free and so the kids got to go over there for a week and they worked with them on the basics of soccer and hopefully it's going to lead to a soccer camp um during the summertime. And then for tier three, we have 69, which is the hygiene closet and the angel tree and career counseling. And we have several churches that have are donating to the hygiene closet and now they're also donating clothes. And so when you look at the um the pie chart, it just shows the tier one supports. Um in the green is our academics. Um and then the tier two um again the green is the academics.
072Now I'm not the writing is small. I am 51 years old. My eyes cannot see all of that. Um, so I'mma kind of if I if I see something wrong, y'all forgive me. Okay, so the green is academics, the blue is civic engagement. The red is college and career readiness. That would be the the um career day going to the college, career counseling. The yellow is life social skills. Thank you. That's usually when um there's a a emotional problem, a disagreement with the girls. Um two boys wanting to fight about this that or the other and we're just talking trying to work something out. The orange enrichment um someone just talking to them. We did have a uh a speaker come down from Richmond and spoke to the kids um in one of the classrooms
073like a motivational speaker. So that would count for that. And the blue is attendance. One of the things that we do um we had some students that were missing a couple of days and so we started giving out certificates and that is in the um folder that I handed out. So, we started giving out certificates to students that were um that were in danger of having phone calls or a social worker go after their house. And so, not only did they get a certificate, but they got a free um Taco Bell coupon. Um and then they got a CI CIS cup and then I bought them some juice during lunchtime. And so, that worked really good for them coming um to school. And I think that pretty much sums up all the colors up there.
074Oh, and family engagement. Um, when the kids were staying for after school, if they were in CIS, I would have the parents come in and talk to them and talk about how the kids are doing. A lot of the parents, um, I have their numbers in my cell phone. So, as soon as something happened, I'm calling mama or daddy or grandma, whoever it is, and confronting them, letting parent know right then, this is what's going on. Um, you know, what do you want me to say? What do you want me to do? Um, so it's no, it's they can't go home and tell a different story. Um, and then anytime there's any event at school, I go to it and then I spend time with the parent and the um and the child. So that's
075our family time. And then as you see, I got one of the parents here with me. So I try to get close with the parents. So it makes it easier when the child misbehave in school for me to say, "I'll call you mama. I'm not playing." So um, and that's pretty much it for Bana. Thank you, Miss David. And I before um Miss Ray steps up, and I apologize I didn't talk about the tiers. So when um tier one is whole school um services that we provide to the entire school. Um tier 2 supports are those smaller um group, we do lunch and learns and different things like that, the field trips. And then tier three is onetoone support. So as we're using that language, that's what that means. Tier one is the entire school,
076tier two um groups, and tier three is onetoone. Um and next I'll turn it over to Miss Ray. Uh yes, I'm Bailey Rafe. Um and I'm at Westwood Middle School. And so just to go over um some, not nearly all the things we've been doing. Um some of the tier one supports, we did a so pep rally just, you know, boost the morale and get the kids excited for the SOS. Um, we did some I did some uh gift card giveaways for that if they won some games and stuff. Um, we had a big science day at the beginning of the year where um our eighth graders got to go around and do different hands-on experiments and stations just to get them excited to learn. Um, we did a career fair during lunch so different
077people from the community came in and the kids could go up and talk to them and learn um different things. They could try on the fire suit and hat and all that type of fun stuff. Um, and as Brenda shared, I'm usually at lunch duty as well, checking in on my kids and just the other kids that I've gotten to know. Um, some of the tier 2 supports, peer mediations. Um, like she also said, there's always some drama or something going on. So, you know, we just have to meet with the kids and helping them work it out amongst themselves as well before it escalates. Um, lots of small groups, whether it's academic or just um, social emotional type of conversations. And then again, lunch talks where I can chat with the kids, just check
078in on them, or we can get in small groups there as well and just, you know, talk about their day. And then some tier three supports are one-on-one check-ins, um, basic needs, if they need food, hygiene products, whatever it is that the kids need, you know, to help make their day better. And then just the basic case management. Um, and then that's the breakdown as well. I won't go through each [clears throat] thing, but that's just a little bit of what, you know, we're doing in schools. And I brought with me one of my eighth graders, Cavani. Um, she'll get to speak in a second, but yeah, that's who brought with me. Me and Mr. B will tag team. He is affectionately known as Mr. B over at George Washington High School. And so if
079you um can see our tier one supports, we have um 31, Mr. Bethea, myself, 33, Miss Henderson 4. Tier 2 supports um 116, 170 and 77. Tier three supports 20, 389, and 42. And again, that's those one to one. So, it's going to look different. I may have a student who comes to see me every single day. And so, that's how those those numbers add up um really quickly. And so, again, they we've already kind of talked about what each color means, but um we stay pretty busy um in our office. There there's students that come in um to talk to us. They may just drop in, stay in high, but some of them come in um for a quiet space to work. We help them with academics. Mr. B is um the greatest tutor
080um [laughter] the greatest tutor, but no, I mean, he breaks things down to the students where they really understand it. And so um just we all we all have our different strengths and that is definitely one of his strengths is to help help the students um one-on-one with their assignments. Um you can move to the next piece and we'll get hold on. Where is our piece about the I'm sorry, we don't have our little Okay, this Okay. All right. So, here we have the um improved academics and this is overall for Bonner. Um 83%. If you see where there's no data, that just means maybe um the SOL hasn't been taken yet. So, that's what that could mean. Um so 83% at Bonner, 80% at Westwood and 73% at um George Washington High School and
081so that no data there is I have some students who I'm not tracking um science specifically but the SOS and they haven't taken the so yet. All right. So these are some of um the school year initiatives overall. Um, Bonner has had the science fair, E3 mentoring, Danville Utilities, um, Valley Star Credit Union Bank, um, Dan River Basin, and peer mediation. Westwood, so rally, lunch and learn, seal events, and science day. Um, at George Washington, we've had the candy and convos. Here, he's standing in front of the winner circle. We created a winner circle. Each quarter, everybody in communities and schools who gets a C or above is entered for a $25 gift card. And so for the fourth quarter, we're doing the entire school and they'll get a $100 gift card. And so, you
082know, we put signs up around the school saying, "Hey, you know, you have an opportunity to win this gift card." And so those are for students who are not that we don't directly work with um one-on-one, but it's for the whole school. So that's just an example of how the different tiers work. Um we have a partnership with the ministerial alliance. They come in every Thursday. They go to in school suspension first and then they work with a small group of students in communities and schools and then again peer mediation is a really big one trying to um help our students um choose different ways of settling things. I hope I said that correctly. [laughter] Yeah. Um and again um just some of our partners. We've pretty much named all of those. You can go
083to the next slide. Student perspective. So, at this time we will have our students come up and share. Um, unfortunately for George Washington High School, we had some who were not able to make it. Um, but Miss Borges is going to read their statements and you also have a whole lot of them in your packet as well. Um, I'm supportive of communities and school. Communities and school has helped us with a lot with like attendance tutoring. Ting is really good. And then just personal support. Yeah. He's nervous. Um, I'm Wesley. Um, communities and schools really have um really helped me with like attendance, getting like my head right, where I need to be at and everything and what I'm going to do after school. Um, I'm Ayana Borges and this is my first year in
084high school, freshman. And communities in school to me has been like life-changing. I was terrible in middle school. I'm not going to lie. And and so when I came to George Washington and I was like, "Oh my gosh, I need people to talk to like adultwise because they have been there. Y'all have been in situations that are like, I need other people to talk to. So, when I went to communities in school, I met Mr. Bethea, Miss Henderson, she's not here, and Miss Cobbs, and they were really sweet, and just yeah, it's like a family at this point. It's I don't know how to explain it, but yeah, it's very good. I love it. Um, I will also be reading from the other people in committees in school. This is Lamaya Cruz. She's a 12th
085grader. She sadly leaves us tomorrow. She said, "I would like to thank the CIS for being helpful to us. It helped us in so many different ways. They made sure we kept our grades up, kept tracked on our attendance, made sure we was doing okay mental mentally and they were always listening to us. Thanks to Miss Cobb, Mr. B, and Miss Henderson, they made sure my senior year was my best year of high school. This is Antoine Freeman. He's an 11th grader. Um, communities in school helps me keep in helps me keep trying with my grades. They showed me other opportunities to try. They never gave up on me. Now I keep saying I had a good school year. They made sure we were all happy, made sure we were caught up, and made sure
086we stayed on task. I hope next year I have this opportunity. This is from Ron Trey. He is in the 10th grade. Uh my experience with communities in school has made me become a better person. It has helped me out with my anger and it even changed my life and I would love for communities in school to stay for school next year. Communities in school has helped me because they push all of us for greatness. They stay on us about our grades and how well we are doing in class. I learned that you can always talk to them about anything. Your family, friends, anything you need, they got you. This one is I don't know how to pronounce her name but it is a lady uh Mr. Betha has helped me a lot. He has
087been here for to help me with my missing work and whenever my grades are low. Your dedication to helping students succeeds truly what did I say? Commendable. I am grateful for the time you take to help me. Your encouragement and belief in my potential uh oh my gosh potential gave me the confidence to pursue my goals. Thank you for being such a supportive and caring guidance counselor. I am incredibly thankful for your assistance. I feel confident [laughter] in passing because of Mr. Bethea. We have always made sure I am being good. He has always made sure I am doing good in my classes and I am very thankful for that. This is from one of my closest friends, Kaia Bennett. Since working with communities in school, especially Mr. Betha, I feel more social. My grades
088have improved and I am excited to be at school. Before I joined, I was reserved and speak and spoke less to others. But since I joined, I feel more talkative. I speak to more people and had great conversations. After I joined, I had someone to not only show me my grades but also care for them and also me. It was a nice feeling because most teachers I had only cared for my grade and not how I was doing mentally. After I joined, I felt more excited to be at school, not just for my friends, but also because I genuinely enjoy it. I'm no longer that one quiet girl thanks to this program. Oh my gosh. This is Mania Tally. She's in the ninth grade. To whom is reading this? I'm writing I'm writing this to
089show my appreciation to the CIS program. I feel as if CIS is a great program and as a student in the CIS, I think it helps with many things in today's world. I believe this program praise plays a big part in my future success in education. Ever since I've been at CIS, I felt the improvement in myself. I feel like I'm more focused on my grades and future success than ever. They've gave me the tools to improve in myself and start thinking about my career goals and academics. CIS has been a big help to me personally and I know many people in CIS feel the same. This is from um Sakina. Mr. Bethea is a good listener. Pay attention. He pays attention. Helps me learn how to talk things out. keeps me out of trouble
090and lets me explain myself and always gives me prep. What is that? Okay. And gives me pep talks and keeps me on the right track. Can't read that. Yeah. Good evening board. I'm Mr. Bethe. I work at CIS um George Washington High School and u this is my first year and what we're trying to do is have more students like Ayana who's like a great ambassador for our program and so moving forward what we're trying to do is continue to build upon that. Um one of my favorite TV shows growing up was or still is is at the elementary school and if you're familiar with that is they try to meet the kids where they are and that's the approach that we have to take when we're going into our schools and we're working with
091our students. We have to meet them exactly where they are. So with that said, with that being said, I'm going to read this statement from this student. Dear Mr. Bethea, I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for all the support and guidance you have proved uh have pro provided for me. Your mentorship has been invaluable and I truly appreciate the time and effort you have invested in helping me grow. Your ability to inspire, motivate in me has made me a significant has made a significant difference in my life. The advice you the advice you share has not only helped me but helped me navigate through challenges and has also equipped me with the tools I need to succeed in school and beyond. I feel
092much more confident in my abilities and more focused on my goals thanks to you. Thanks to your guidance. Thank you for being such a positive influence and for being a leader sending me on the right path. I'm incred I am incredibly grateful to have you. Uh, sincerely Selena Hawker and her father Jonathan Hawker. Got the last one. There is one more by Savannah Carter. Community and schools impacted me by offering to help me with any of my schoolwork and also offers to read questions to me on a test or an assessment. When we went on the Norfolk trip, we went to each stand. I learned some things. The community and school has motivated me to try and get better grades. Um, and then I have Cavani Knight. She's one of my eighth graders. She's asked
093me to read it because she's a little nervous. Um, so this is Cavani. She says, "Miss Ray is very caring, sweet, kind, and loving. Every time I say something bad, she helps me to calm down and always finds time to speak to me." you all will give our students a hand who came up and thank you all again. Um public speaking is a very difficult thing to do. So we thank you all for being here. So next we'll move into our plans for and Brenda will talk about what will be happening at Boner. Okay. Um we're going to um have we're going to start the ambassador program um and through um communities and schools there is a vision screening that we can apply for. Um and then also with uh PATHs coming over and doing
094more vision screenings. Um we I recently found out probably about a month ago that the middle schools are going to start uh teaching classes. So um I think it was from 9 I think from 9 to 12 we're going to do um exploratory classes. So we um life skills is the curriculum that I believe will fit the middle schools. It covers self-esteem, um, career readiness. There's a lot of areas that the middle school students will benefit from. Um, another thing we're going to do is a career fair and it's going to be for the eighth graders only and it will help them when it's time to pick the path they're going to go on when they get in high school. Um I assisted the guidance counselors in um registering the soon to be ninth graders
095and a lot of them had questions on the career path that they was going to choose. They had no idea what a lot of the careers was. And so, um, I think it would be a great idea for them to have this career day so they will understand what careers they can get in welding, what careers they can get in criminal justice, um, in cyber security, um, so on and so forth. Um, another thing we're going to do is we're going to have I've spoke to the manager at Lowe's and this will work really good with Earth Science and they have agreed to come over every quarter and provide um, uh, give all the students plants and teach them how to grow vegetables and um, uh, flowers and stuff like that. Um, another thing we're
096going to do is the Virginia Aquarium Education. Um, there's a grant that we applied for and they're going to since we are out of district, they will have to do a Zoom and it is a six-w week program and so for the sixth and eighth grade, I believe it is that have science. they will just come and it would just be a big Zoom call, but the students will benefit from that because they'll show them animals and their lifestyles and they'll get to see different animals, but it's on Zoom, but again, it's something that will help them um on the SOS of course. Um and I think that is it only thing that's going forward that we're going to be doing. Um, and then we're going to have family nights cuz another thing we're going
097to do is it's in conjunction with Red Ribbon Week, but we're going to focus on the reason it started is with um law enforcement. Enrique and I cannot pronounce his last name because it is a Spanish name, but he was um Nancy Reagan started it because of him because he was murdered trying to stop the um drug trade from Mexico to the US. And so we're going to use that and honor anyone who has done um made a difference in someone's life. Um law enforcement, SRO's, um a community leader. and we're going to have the students pick someone. They're going to have to write a interview that person. They got to type it up and they got to read it. Um and then we're going to do it in the afternoon and they're going to
098present the award to them. Um have parents and stuff come out and then have light refreshments. Um and then we also think about doing the same thing for the veterans, but just honoring veterans of Bonner Middle School. And again, that will help the students with reading and writing and typing out everything. But that's it. That's all we got for Bonner for this seme for this quarter. Uh, and so for Westwood, some plans for next year. Um, catch my breath, which would be through DPCS. They would come in. It's a um a vaping program that they teach for the students life skills as well. Um, with us and DPCS can also assist with that. Um, I would love to bring Rachel's challenge, which is a um anti-bullying program. It can be at a big assembly. It
099can be a all day thing, but it's a really good um meaningful and impactful message for anti-bullying. And then um hopefully just bring in some more community members to be guest speakers since I will have that class time for them to come in and talk and teach things as well. So, I'm going to skip down to the launch alumni network and then I'll turn it over to Mr. Bethea. So, one of the things we will be doing um this upcoming year is um putting out a call to action for 10 we're going to start um with a pilot program 10 mentors um who graduated from George Washington High School to um support give support to our students. That's when I was you know joking earlier about each student having a mentor. I do think that
100could be a real reality one day. Um is you know it doesn't have to be CIS staff but again um just having caring adults in the community to come back. And so I've been working closely with um the faith specialists um because we don't want to duplicate services, but um we've been talking to them and they said, you know, to start with a pilot 10 at GW and then we could see if we can take it to other schools or increase the number at George Washington High School. But I really think that's going to be um a great program to give our students more support that they need. So for the 25 26 school year goals and planned events, one of the things that we're working on right now is a pipeline visit from middle
101school to high school. And what that looks like is our eighth grade students at both Bonner and Westwood taking a visit at the to the new George Washington campus and just getting acclimated to what is the surroundings going to be like using our CIS 9th graders who hopefully will be 10th graders next year. Right, Miss Borges? Yeah. Okay. um they will take the lead on that and basically peer or mentor or peer mediate with those students so they get not only accustomed but acclimated and familiar with the people that are going to be there. Um that way when they transition to high school they already know a friendly face, a buddy that could help them, show them the ropes, the regulations, rules and policies what to do and not do. So that's how we're going
102to continue to spread what we're doing it with the CIS program and just getting those students to see, hey, listen, this is what we're looking for. this is the goal that we're going to achieve and I think this pipeline will definitely help them be more comfortable in any anxiety that they have. You know, I hope it'll just dissipate to the point where they're actually excited and ready to begin their nth grade year at GW. The next thing is pushing for professionalism. Again, I know you guys are probably tired of me saying it. Meet the kids where where they are. Well, in order to get the kids where you want them to be or meet them where they are, they have to be able to identify with you. And if they can see themselves in you,
103then you're already half the battles won. So now I want to do is take them over to my world. They see me come in with the sneakers and they, "Oh, you like the sneakers, Mr. B? You on our level." But what happens if they see me in the suit? I toyed around with the idea of saying, "Hey, what would y'all do? What would you guys do if you call same, excuse me, see me come in with the suit, uh, slacks tie?" And they said, "You know what? We'd be down to do it." That's part of that buy in. And so pushing for professionalism looks like them getting acclimated to what the society when you go out for a job interview, helping them articulate, you know, um, phrases and sentences, getting them comfortable with what they're
104going to be doing, like public speaking. You know, right now I'm nervous with it, but this gives them and I feel for it and gives them an opportunity to work out those nerves and that anxiety. So once a month what we're going to do is we're going to get dressed up and we're going to go to they're going to go to school and they're just going to embody again what we're working on with the CIS program and that will hopefully bring more students and attract more students saying what are we they doing you know um preparing them for life skills preparing them to um meet with college uh boards and things like that being able just to articulate themselves and being confident in the process. So that's what prof pushing for professionalism looks like next
105year for GW. I believe that was our last slide. Yes. So um at this time if you all have any questions any questions? Any questions Mr. P? I have a lot of I feel good today. So uh Mr. B um when you start that program please let us know so we can be a part of that. We've been trying to get that back start. I think Miss Avery said something about that last year. I think that's a great program because it starts them early on how to dress, how to present themselves. So, I think that's great. Miss Cobbs, everyone, I think this is a great move. Um, even having the the young the scholars come on tonight, it shows how they have uh come to a different level. And uh we want to say listen
106it's it's always hard getting in front of um the the [clears throat] board. I get nervous when I get in front of different boards, hospital and different places. So that's normal. But what they're doing there is working it out and what they're teaching you is going to help you to days to come. So embrace it, get nervous, look over it, and keep moving forward. Okay? So that's all I want to say. But congratulations on the success and keep moving forward. Thank you, Miss Cob. Thank you. Any others? Any others? Thank you again and we appreciate it and I hope you know this program continue to grow. We see the impact. We hear the impact. You guys are living testimonies of that. So, we do appreciate that and I feel everything you're saying. I mean, we
107definitely have to meet them where they are. Coming from law enforcement background, I see it every day. So, I'll be the first to sign up and be a mentor. So, thank you. Thank you all for your support. Thank you. [applause] Next, we'll move to 7.1 accounts payable warrants. Miss Gillis. Good evening, Chairman Graves, Vice Chair Aver, Superintendent Harrison, and members of the board. You have before you this evening accounts payable warrant number 216 in the amount of $1,525. Warrant number 217 in the amount of 500,000. $500,8327 number 221 in the amount of uh let me see $5,583.60 accounts payable number one no warrant number 226 in the amount of $4,426,94642 and 230 in the amount of 3,9,271.51. If anyone has any questions concerning these expenditures, I'd be happy to try to answer them. Any questions?
108Any questions? Thank you. Next, we'll move to 8.1 public notice for June 2025. Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. there's an operations, facilities, and planning committee meeting. Thursday, June 5th, 2025, 5:30 p.m. regular meeting followed by a work session. Tuesday, June 10th, 2025, 4:30 p.m. there's a finance committee meeting. Tuesday, June 17th, 2025, 5:30 p.m. Student Achievement Committee meeting. Thursday, June 26, 2025, 4:30 p.m. there's a policy committee meeting. And on Thursday, June 26, 2025, at 5:30 p.m., there's a regular meeting. All will be held here in the Dangle room. Next, we'll move to item 9.1, personnel recommendations. At this time, I'll turn it over to Miss Wimberly. Good evening, Chairman Graves, Vice Chair AI, Superintendent Harrison, and members of the board. You've been presented with the personnel recommendations for your review, consideration, and
109approval. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Any questions? Miss Walker, I would like to pull um case number for close. Could you repeat that, please? Case 25. Yeah. Okay. 01 051525-05. 05. Yes. Thank you. 05 and 25. Yes. [snorts] Any others? Any others? This is an action item. Mr. Grace, I would like to approve all presented besides 05 and 25 and 25. Excuse me. Is it five and 25? No, it's just 25. Oh, 05. Yes. Just case number ended in 05. I second that. Motion made by Mr. Payne, second by Dr. Williams to approve all cases except case 05. Any uh discussion? Any discussion? Hearing none, madam clerk, please call for a vote. Dr. Williams, yes. Mr. Yes. Yes. Mr. Yes. Thank you. Next, we'll move to item 9.2, recommendation for instructional
110supervisor for Activate Academy. I'll turn it over to Dr. Harrison. Thank you, Mr. Braves. Um this evening I bring to you Miss Britney Scott if you'll stand. Um the instructional supervisor as this is a program serves um similar to the role of principal in our programs. Um Miss Scott served actually started her career as a kindergarten assistant. Uh she worked that job until she received her degree a bachelor of science and elementary education. She has served as a third, fifth, and sixth grade teacher, a STEM instructional coach at Gibson, and then she worked with us at the district office for two and a half years as a STEM specialist. Uh she's been serving as assistant principal since January back at Gibson where she started here and uh has a has earned in the meantime her
111masters in education administration. Um, Miss Scott and Olivia McCra uh were heavily involved in the development of the STEM curriculum and the sequence of lessons at Activate as Mr. Simmons finished his uh assistant principal ship at Woodberry before going there as the instructional leader. Uh so this evening I recommend to you uh Miss Britney Scott as our instructional supervisor for activate um to begin um uh June 1st. Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Esen recommended Miss Scott to be the supervisor over at Activate Academy. This is an action item. That's a move. Second. Motion made by Dr. Williams. Second by Mr. Payne. Any discussion on the motion? Any discussion hearing? None. Madam clerk, please call for a vote. Mr. Yes. M. Yes. Dr. Williams. Yes. Yes. Mr. Walker, I abstain. Mr. Yes. Thank you. Let's welcome
112Miss Scott. And she has Mr. Clifton's got her husband with her this evening. Let's give him a hand. [applause] and I use welcome lightly because she's no stranger to Danville public schools and we know you will do an exceptional job and I'm looking forward to all the great things that you will do over at Activate Academy. So, let's give her another round of applause. [applause] And it's nothing like having, you know, a supervisor who is the, you know, cheering the loudest in the room. So, let's let's [laughter] just let's recognize That's awesome. Next, we'll move to item 10.1, the finance report, Miss Gillis. Good evening. Once again, you have before you um this evening the revenue and expenditure statement for the month ended April 30th, 2025. And you also have the reappropriations report for carryover
113funds for the month of April as well as the textbook budget and school nutrition funds. If anyone has any questions about the report, I'd be happy to try to answer them. Any questions? Hearing none. This is an action item. So move. Second. Motion made by Mr. Payne, second by Miss A. Any discussion on the motion? Any discussion? Hearing none. Madam clerk, please call for a vote. Miss, yes. Yes, Walker. Yes, thank you. Next, we'll move to item 11.1, math textbook review. I'll turn it over to Mr. Fawn. Good evening, Chair Graves, Vice Chair Ait, members of the board, Dr. Haristston. Miss Hayes and I would like to thank you for the opportunity to address the board this evening regarding mathematics textbook adoption. Textbook adoption would address the goals of our strategic plan of student achievement
114and it would improve content mastery in all subjects with laser focus on literacy and numeracy. to address our need for textbook adoption. That is in order to remain current with the standards alignments and the shifts in the Virginia aligned curriculum. So for that reason, Danville public schools requests approval to adopt new mathematics textbooks. The previous standards were coherent to content within each course while the new standards are vertically coherent across successive courses. The previous standards focus on individual student skills while the new standards are focused on student understanding and application of those skills. And the previous standards promoted fluency within basic facts while the new standards require mastery of those basic facts. The criteria we put before our team and community are a blend of Virginia expectations and DPS values. Uh we considered textbooks with
115specific criteria, state and district sta math standards, coverage of grade level concepts, real world applications and problem solving opportunities, student uh support of student understanding and mastery, uh differentiated learning experience, teacher resources and instructional supports. We ask that these textbooks be engaging and studentfriendly and that they are accessible to all of our students. The VDOE has been building toward textbook adoption statewide since the implementation of the standards last July. DPS participated in the state review of textbooks and began the review process with them upon the initial reviews in October of 2024 as well as the public review in December of 2024. After compiling the analyses from all Virginia stakeholders, the first round of approved textbooks was released on February 27th of this year and then that was updated as of March 27th, 2025. It's from
116this process and the data from the available texts that DPS has considered textbook adoption. resources have been made available for review to an internal team of content professionals as well as to all DPS stakeholders. These materials can be seen on the provided link and public comment on the resources was also made available through email, through the website, and through our district social media accounts. We've provided you with the same materials this evening, and physical copies of the books are in the lobby on the first floor of this schoolboard office. Danville public schools sought curricular resources to align with the current math standards of learning from among the approved vendors. The very strongest alignment is found in kiddom Virginia math for elementary resources. Math space is 100% aligned in grades 6, 7, and 8, algebra 1,
117algebra 2, and geometry. Sengage provides a trigonometry resource suitable to our district. Pearson provides pre-calculus and discrete math. Our advanced placement courses and international balora courses are already aligned to the program expectations of each. Each of these publishers utilizes a problem-based lesson structure and they're aligned to the Virginia standards of learning. These resources are designed with instructional routines that promote student engagement, questioning and discussion, and they offer specialized guidance and support for teachers to support all learners. Um, online access is included with these resources, though these are physical textbooks. The kiddom elementary resources are consumables for the students whereas all of the others the math space sengage and Pearson are hardbound physical textbooks. We've already begun preparing for professional learning subject to the approval of this committee. During the summer of 2025, we will begin
118our district staff first in June of 2025. And then in July, we will host a full day of professional learning focused on our new textbooks. The session will provide educators with the tools and insights necessary to effectively implement and maximize the use of these resources in the classroom. So beginning in July, we will start assisting our teachers, administrators, coaches, district staff, and all new staff in the learning and implementation of these resources. And we will follow up with continued training through August, November, and January of the same resources. Um, we will also monitor and support staff with these resources through walkthroughs, maintaining office hours, uh, PLC's, professional learning, commuting, community meetings at the schools, and also additional on-site uh, training sessions. The cost of these resources, Kiddomdum addressing students in seven elementary schools with the
119textbooks, the manipulatives, and the centers stations. The cost would be $83,717.91. Math space addressing six levels of instruction for our students, 678, algebra 1, algebra 2, geometry. Those resources would be $421,552. The Pearson textbooks for trigonometry and discretet $37,78.65 and the Sengage materials for pre-calculus $15,138 for a total of 1,278,116.56. These funds are obtained from the Virginia Department of Education textbook fund. These would not come from our local funding. Miss Gillis will speak. So with the approval of the textbook adoption, we would ask that you also appropriate the fund balance in the amount of the $1.2 million. We have a separate textbook budget as you as I report on every month. But this fund balance is years and years of accumulated textbook funds that were unspent. When we get the funds from the state, we
120put it in a separate fund. And those funds we we accumulate those funds just for this purpose of adopting textbooks. So that's why we um are asking um for the approval of the fund balance as well. And right now we have about $2.6 million in our fund balance for textbooks. So we're asking for approval of the textbook adoption and the appropriation from fund B textbook fund balance. Does the board have any questions at this time? Any questions? Any questions? The use of these resources, is this mandatory of teachers or is this an optional resource? This is the expected resource. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Any others? Dr. Williams, uh, first, thank you for the presentation. What's the longevity of the textbook? How long will the, um, staff use these textbooks? This is a seven-year adoption cycle. That's
121Thank you. All right. What's the first recommendation? Give us the first. Oh, Mr. Attorney, are we approving these together? This is a separate motion. Yeah. I mean, however, you want to craft a motion, you could. All right. Motion is already written. Just need a want to make a motion. I make a motion that we respectfully request the approval of the recommended textbooks and the appropriation of BDOE textbook fund balance in the amount of 1,278 111656. [laughter] Second motion made by Miss Walker, second by Miss Cunningham. Any discussion? Any discussion on the motion hearing? None. Madam clerk, please call for a vote. Mr. Kane, yes. Miss Cunningham, yes. Miss Walker, yes. Miss A, yes. William, yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you all. Next, we'll move to item 11.2, Office of Exceptional Children Annual Plan. We'll turn
122it over to Miss Mentor. Good evening, Chairman Graves, Vice Chair Ait, members of the board, Dr. Haristen. I bring before you this evening the special education annual plan part B flowthrough grant application for your review and approval. The purpose of the grant application is to assist school divisions in fulfilling federal and state mandates in order to educate and provide special education services to students with disabilities as outlined in IDEIDA part B. Part of the application is a comprehensive plan detailing special special education services for children ages three through 21. Special education allocations are proposed for school age students and for preschool students. Part of the application requires that the division makes assurances of adherence to federal and state regulations for expenditure of these funds. Programs and programs and services supported by the annual plan include
12315 special education instructional staff positions, one vision impaired teacher, one hearing impairment teacher, 11 transportation bus aids positions, our VCU autism consortium for region six, which allows staff to have the assistance of VCU to come in and provide um autism support in classrooms. s also funding for our Virginia IEP management system, instructional programs and supplies, professional development, our child find activities to seek and identify students with disabilities, parental involvement and assisted technology. The amount projected for this year's application is $2,62,53158 for the 2026 6B award. I've noted on their last year's award. The reason for the increase is the number of students receiving special education services in our district has increased and these funds would allow us to provide them educational opportunities, supports, and resources. We'll receive final notification in July of 2025 and this
124is 100% reimburseable. Awesome. Any questions? Any questions? This is an action item. So move, Mr. Gre. Second. Motion made by Mr. Payne, second by Miss Aver. Any discussion on the motion hearing? None. Madam clerk, please call for vote. M. Yes. Mr. Yes. Yes. M. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Next, we'll move to item 11.3, update on the 2526 academic calendar. This time, I'll turn it over to Dr. Babau and Dr. Trent. Good evening again. We're here to provide the updates for the academic the 2526 academic calendar update. Um to recap from the last schoolboard meeting, we provided some notable updates to the academic calendar to provide a simplified look to we adjusted the spring break to align to our um Pennsylvania county school system. We also updated the teacher professional days. We rebranded the name from
125teacher work days to teacher professional days to embody different components for teachers. We also added our district level professional learning days. We added extended makeup days on the original calendar and we also updated at the bottom to have the nineweek grading cycle, spring testing and also summer learning. The rationale for our updates including aligning our spring break and our start and end dates closer to Pennsylvania county school system and that was to support our AET gov school students so that they can have the same calendar. they have the Pennsylvania county calendar. So, typically when we're on spring break, they still have to go to school. And we also updated it to have a sleeker, cleaner look for ease of use and access for all of the information that we provide in one location. You also
126have a copy of it in your folder. to just share with you the process. While on looking at the agenda, the calendar may not look exciting to a lot of people, the calendar is the most exciting thing there is. So, we take that feedback and excitement from people and put it together in making a calendar process. And if you recall the 2324 school year, we shared the 2425 and 2526 calendar that you all approved. And as we close out this school year, we've gotten more feedback from teachers, school um school staff, division staff, community members, and we will share some of that with you. But we've taken that to heart and and tried to make these updates for you all to respectfully approve. um to let you know of our process when making the calendar.
127We look at division needs, state requirements, uh testing calendars, all these things that go into building a framework and then we gather a community of leaders in the division and the school teachers and we sit down together, discuss, iron out a calendar, vote on it, and then bring it to you all's approval. So, we did the same thing in with these updates. So, as we share some of that feedback, then we'll ask for your approval. We had 136 responses to the survey that we put out. Um, and you can see the numbers on the screen. And the three key takeaways that they asked for, the teachers wanted to move the start date to July 31st to have two teacher professional work days before um district training. And the other most alarming response from almost everyone
128who completed the survey, they do not want to have spring break as an option for makeup days. So we made those changes. Look, you like yes. So we made those changes. And then the other change that was um loud and clear on the survey that they wanted to end school on May 22nd and not come back after Memorial Day. So we made those three changes to the calendar that you have in front of you. I added some comments so you can kind of see some of the feedback that we received. One community member said they appreciate that the spring break for DPS and Pennsylvania County aligns. My family works in both school districts. That was a community member. A parent stated, "Thank you for aligning holiday schedule with county with two students attending gov school.
129They did not have a break." And then the last comment was about the makeup days and from a teacher and a parent. I'm concerned that our spring break is listed as potential makeup days and the parents say do not agree on makeup days being spring break. And a lot of the comments about that said that they need a break, too. So, we made those three changes to the calendar and you have them with you. So, we're here to respectfully ask for approval of the revised academic calendar. Any questions? Any questions? This is an action item. Oh, I'm sorry. Did you have one? This is an action item. So, move, Mr. Craig. Second. Motion made by Mr. Payne, second by Miss Cunningham. Any discussion? Any discussion? Hearing none, madam clerk, please call for a vote. Mr.
130Payne, yes. Miss Cunningham, yes. Miss Walker, yes. Miss A, yes. Dr. Williams. Yes. Grace. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we'll move to item 12.1. Board request for information for future agenda items. You have any? All right. 13.1. Superintendent. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Boy, this year has gone by so very quickly. In August, we challenged our parents to be a partner in educating our children. We started out with a video with Rosyn Scott from Activate who was a former PTA president at Johnson and I can tell you our parents this year have really u met the challenge and a lot of planning when it has gone into with the principles like Mr. Jackson and a face specialist planning events. I can remember Miss Ragsdale going to Gibson three years ago to a parent event and
131there were 400 chairs. Had been 400 chairs out there and there were 10 parents and I was so sad that only 10 parents showed up for that event. But I attended an event with your parents this past year in February and I think we needed more chairs, right? There were so many parents there even at the dance recital this past week at Bonner. Uh Mr. Jackson has had several events and and so I would like to thank not only our staff for a great year, but I want to thank our parents for meeting that challenge and participating in our education and partnering with us to ensure we have success. It means a lot. But we need our parents to go one step further. We have a robust summer reading program as as was described this
132evening. Thank you all so much. And we'd like uh to ask for support for that uh summer reading program. Being able to read u with texts in hand and being able to read long passages and develop sustainability means a lot. It impacts everything that children um are exposed to in other content areas. It means the world. So, thank you all uh to our staff, our board members for a great year as we close out with graduations and celebrations. And Mr. Gillis, thank you for um taking on this challenge. Mr. Gillis was a I think he's a retired NFL football player who uh really uh could be doing a lot of other things but invest in children. So, thank you so much and thank you to our community for an absolutely great year. Thank you. turn.
133I don't have any comments. You can call the roll. So, I've been trying to like look at the calendar. I think we're at 11 days, I think. Is that it? I knew someone would agree. [laughter] Um, so we're almost at the single digits. Um, just to echo what Dr. Harrison said, it's been an incredible year. I've seen nothing but growth. Um, just the shift in the energy of the school year, uh, it seems like it's been incredible. So, um, just take time to reflect over the next 10 days, 11 days, whatever it is. Um it's been a great year. Um also with wrapping up just in the tone of mental health awareness month, checking up yourself, teachers, students, take care of you. U teachers especially find community. Um teaching is not supposed to be a
134lonely journey. So uh as we wrap up with exams and test scores and all those things, you've poured everything that you could into these children. So I'm excited to celebrate your data as it comes back, but please take time to recharge, shut down your laptop this summer. Um, and students, um, just as we're wrapping up too with exams and stuff, uh, you're not alone. Talk to an adult. Talk to your favorite teacher. Talk to a board member. Um, there are so many adults, trust me, who are losing sleep over you. So, uh, we truly care about you and you are our reason why. Um, and my final thing, please read this summer. Whether it's a book, comic book, the backboard cereal box, the English teacher is begging you just to pick up something. What did
135they say? 10 minutes a day. So, um, that's all I have. All I have to say is Miss Scott, welcome to Activate and I hope I do not get on your nerves. [laughter] So, um I'm kind of emotional today. I have uh one daughter that's leaving George Washington High School as well as graduating with her early college degree. Um, so I'm emotional today that I have my baby girl. Um, will be starting Galileo next year. Um, we always talk about the negative things. Let's focus somewhat on the positive things. I have two beautiful daughters that, you know, are in activities outside of school, but as well as maintaining um, great grades. Great great grades. And I want to u recognize um my oldest girl, Alyssa WAC. Um she will be attending VCU on next year.
136Y'all pray for us um as we start this college journey. Um but I'm looking forward to it. Um want to talk just a little bit about where we come from. And sometimes we don't stop and pat ourselves on the back. Um, I don't know if if a lot of people remember where we come from, but I'm not gonna talk about that tonight. I'm gonna talk about where we at now. Let's look at the attendance of school has increased tremendously. Let's look at the attendance of the scholars at the high school has increased tremendously. The communication with the teachers and administration has increased tremendously. You look at the uh the way the schools are clean has increased tremendously. You see how uh the students are not just uh missing school but they they getting a ride
137to school now because we have different activities that we have involved inside the schools. So I think sometime we need to just stop and look at where we come from and where we're at now. We got a new gym being built. Uh you know we got a new elementary school. We got a new school board office coming. All of those things that was unheard of four years ago, 5 years ago when I got on the board and yes, I was nervous, Dr. Babalola, cuz I didn't know what to expect. [laughter] I had heard so many different things, but where I stand at now, Mr. Grace said all the time, it's not about us, and I have to make sure I keep that in front of me. It's not about us, but it's about those scholars
138that's continue to move forward. As I conclude, when I first got on the board, we was in the process of looking for a superintendent. I don't know if y'all familiar with looking for a superintendent. It is a stressful journey. It's not easy by no means. And we have a great superintendent. Um, at the last city council meeting, Dr. Harrison was awarded the mayor's award and we want to just take time and recognize her for receiving the mayor's award at the last city council meeting and we want to thank you Dr. Harrison. I know sometime that I can be the one that calls the most and different things but I want to say today that I really do appreciate I really do appreciate you. Um it's a lot of questions that I get from the city
139and different community leaders and I can pick the phone up and sometimes she'll call you 1:30 in the morning um just to um get you your answer to your question. So I want to say I do appreciate you and what you do is being seen by all. So we want to thank you to the board members. I really do appreciate working with you all. We bump head sometime but I think we got a board that's going in the right direction. And if we keep going this way, we're going to have better success on next year. So, as this year concludes, I want everybody to continue to get some rest and come on back next year because we got some more work to do. Thank you. So, good evening again. Just wanted to um kind of
140ditto on what Mr. Payne said. Wanted to thank Dr. Harrison tonight um for the organization of a lot of those board requests tonight because a lot of those were board requested information. wanted to um also did on the fact of um the communities in school that program has um grew a lot. I was sitting here and um looking at the numbers and to look at um the numbers you all had over 2,000 student support service groups and that's a lot to be said. Um one of the other things Dr. Fabalola. Um, in regards to your um, so preparation overview, I think a lot of times, and that's why I requested that that a lot of times the parents and the community do not know um, what goes on within the district to in the preparation
141of the children with the um, SOS. And so, you know, while we sit and wait and maybe look at scores, sometimes it's just good to know what the work that's being put in. And sometimes um just going by schools or riding by just to see like the whole administration is putting in all efforts. And I will say Dr. Harrison, she probably wakes up extremely early because I think she makes sure that everything is in order when it comes to testing. And so you know it's just a blessing to have you know um that within our district. So I want to thank you for that. And then um the last thing I wanted to say was publicly um I probably hadn't been as visual this um second semester, but I wanted to um uh publicly thank
142the board cuz like you say sometimes um I had been caretaking for my mother. She had a surgery um in like January like and so it was just good that a lot of times in the moments that I was home or couldn't come to certain things that each board member would reach out to me. um uh send flowers and that means a lot when you are um having to deal with your parents. So I wanted to publicly thank you all for even you know taking time to say how your mom doing what she's doing great now but I just want you know like he just said even though we bump heads sometimes um it is family sometimes you can really call one another or just text and just say I'm praying for you. So, I
143want to thank you all for that. Miss, um, a lot has already been said this evening. Um, so I won't be long. Um, we are almost at the end, but I did want to highlight um, two of the presentations tonight. We we got a lot of good information tonight. um the literacy team and the CIS um presentation both um and what I heard is the building of relationships with the students is what is going to continue to propel them forward. Um both presentations the presenters spoke with so much passion and excitement about the work that they're doing and the students see it, they appreciate it and they're willing to rise to the expectations that have been set before them. So I want to thank um everybody in the district um definitely Dr. Haristen for her
144vision um for orchestrating top down um and making sure everything is running smoothly. But seriously um those presentations just show how much um our district cares about our students and how much they enjoy and they they want to see them succeed. and that just says a lot about the work that's being done in Danville public schools. So, um we're almost at the end. Lots of celebrations are happening. [snorts] Um lot of busy days, long nights, early mornings still. Um so, as Dr. Williams said, get your rest, check in on each other, um and celebrate that we've made it to the end and get ready for the next school year. Yes, thank you. Um, Miss Barnes, I have never, um, you know, until I started attending meetings here, saw or witness so many teachers and educators
145so excited to present, you know, and and spend time outside of the classroom, you know, coming here and giving us information and just to hear our educators extremely excited to talk about what they're doing and what's happening in their classroom is super powerful. So, I thank you uh for this literacy work that you're doing and your team. So, please express our gratitude and appreciation uh for their work that they're doing to ensure that all of our students are reading and reading well. Um secondly, uh to our the CIS, Mr. Curts and Mr. Gillis, thank you for choosing Danville. First of all, you have an amazing team. Um and you you were witnesses here tonight just like we were of the work that they're doing. And it's amazing work. And I think uh Mr. be said,
146you know, and you hit the head, you know, the nail on the head. You got to meet them what they are, where they are, and that's what they're doing, you know, and kids want to be accepted. Kids want to be loved, and that's what CIS is doing in our schools. And I hope that eventually we can reach our elementary age students. Um, because that's that's another big plus if we can put our hands on them. But you guys, I I can't thank you enough for what you guys are doing and what this program is doing for Danville Public Schools. Um, to uh Dr. Haristston. Uh I think Terrell has already said, but uh thank you for your leadership. Um we were at the uh school uh the city council meeting last week, week before last,
147and they uh awarded you with the mayor's award. And you talk about her getting up early. We, you know, she reached out to me about 1:00 a.m. this morning. So I know how it is. Um but uh thank you for your leadership and you talk about, you know, from you know, where we come from to where we are now. and and it's because of your leadership and it's and and your and your delegation. That's right. That team is back there. You have an amazing team, Dr. Babalola, all your chief and all all the staff, thank you for your hard work. Um to the board members, uh thank you. We've had I think just about every day, every day we've had something and you guys have shown up and shown out and we're some of the
148loudest cheerleaders in the room. So, I do appreciate you guys. and we talk about the hours spent, you know, but I know you guys love every every bit of it. So, thank you for that. And um and lastly, I just want to touch a couple things. Um Miss Gillis, thank you for your leadership in the finance department. I have been on the phone with every single city council member, uh city manager, whoever I needed to talk to to ensure that our teachers and our staff got what they need. And it's because of you and your leadership and what you're doing. I appreciate that. Um, we're talking eight 8% for teachers, 4% for staff, we're talking insurance premiums. Um, we're talking uh I teach programs. I can the list can go on and on about what's
149ready to happen for for our staff. And thank you for putting that together. And I couldn't always say that, you know. So, this is this is pretty, you know, pretty new for Dam Public Schools where we can walk in with a budget that's accepted by by a lot of people. So, again, thank you for your leadership there. um and DCC and the early college graduation that we attended, 36 students in early college. I mean, that's amazing. 17 graduated with honors. So, again, I want to thank Miss Agner and her team and and the Danville Community College, Dr. Johnson for his his work on that. And lastly, I want to send a special prayer and a speedy recovery for Dr. Silverman, who is currently in the hospital. He's not here tonight. So, please keep him in
150prayers and your thoughts. And I think that's all I have. Um, so next we'll move to item. Let's see here. 13.4. Clarify school board request. Do we have any requests? No requests. Okay. All right. Next, we'll move to 14.1. Recess. We have motion for recess. Mr. Chair, I'd like to recess for at least seven minutes, please, sir. Seven minutes. We have a second. Second. We got a motion by Mr. Payne, second by Dr. Williams for seven minutes. Any discussion? Madam clerk, please call roll. M. Yes.