001Dr. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Next, we'll move to recognitions. 4.1 spelling be winner. And I'll turn it over to Miss Barnes. Yes. And we'll also do reading bowl as well. All right. Good evening. I'm so excited to be able to kick us off um with some competition awards this evening. Uh I will talk about the spelling bee and the reading bowl, both of which fit into um our strategic plan. Uh we'll begin with the spelling bee. Um we had a winner and a runner up from each school. So 18 students participated in the DPS spelling bee on March 8th. And um our overall runner up was Kingston Vogler from Forest Hills. And our first place winner was Benjamin Cassa from OT Bonner. And I would just like to recognize um we have one of our
002school winners here tonight, Owen Davis from Activate. [Applause] I know. So, we we just had our awards ceremony last night, so I've already given out all the medals and the big trophies and everything. Um Yes. We had a lovely awards ceremony last night though which they also attended. Um so we'll have to save the banner for Mr. Mayo later. Um we do have some of our Yes, we do have some of our reading bowl uh winners in attendance. So um this year our reading bowl expanded. You know last year we piloted it with only Forest Hills and Park Avenue. This year, all of our fourth and fifth grade students had a chance to participate. And again, um just before I recognized the Gibson students, our runners up were Activate. And we have one of those
003team members here tonight. So, we'll just recognize our runners up um from Activate. And it was a close competition, I tell you what. Um some of the games were won by one point. Um, but we were thrilled to have EA Gibson as our overall school winners for the reading. [Applause] This year was a stellar year for our programs. For the first time in many years, we had participation from eight of our secondary ensembles, ranging from grades eight, excuse me, 6 through 12. I'm happy to present the following schools and their directors and the accolades that they earned. From OT Bonner Middle School Choir, Dr. Heather Pman, director with a rating of excellent. Oh, wow. Damble Middle School Honors Orchestra. Mrs. Fernita Griffin, director, rating of excellent. George Washington High School Choir interim director, Mr. Cody
004Kesling, director of excellent rating of the Westwood Middle School Honors Band. Mr. Demand McNair, director rating of superior. The OT Bonner Middle School Honors Band, Mr. Cameron Walker, director, rating of superior. The George Washington High School Orchestra, Mrs. Fernita Griffin, director, rating of superior. [Applause] and the George Washington High School Symphonic Band and the George Washington High School Wind Ensemble under direction of Mr. Cody Kesling, director rating of superior. Now, on a special note, because of the superior rating earned at the state marching assessment along with the state concert assessment, the George Washington High School band under the direction of Mr. Kesling is a Virginia 2025 honor band. Wow. This is the first time this award has been earned by the program under Mr. Keslin's direction. I am sure that each of you along with
005me are very very proud of what we are trying to accomplish with our talented students in the Danville public school music programs. As we look to the future, it is our hope that we will continue to grow and showcase the excellence in all aspects of our musical disciplines. A world without music would be a very quiet place to exist. Please help us with your continued support of what we do for all of our students. Thank you. I also want to thank you, Mr. Fervis. Thank you. Four and a half years ago, you were sitting quietly in retirement. Was you were a little restless. A little restless. Yes. And you came to us and we knew we needed support. There was a gap for support. and we appreciate you coming out of retirement and working with
006our students and our teachers to get us to a very high level of performance and we are very excited and you have a spirit of excellence and it is showing in everything we do. Thank you. Well, I thank you so much for the opportunities that you are giving me to work with these folks and everybody else in our division. So, thank you. And um we have our we have our spell and be student from Bonner who will come up if you don't mind after um you all take if you all stay here for a minute. Okay. to fostering environmental stewardship, sustainability, and a strong sense of community among our students and staff. Whereas, in celebration of Arbor Day week, the following events will take place at all Danville public schools. tree planting ceremony at each
007school in partnership this with the city's public works department. Students will explore the historical significance of Arbor Day, the science of trees, the impact on the ecosystem, and how they can contribute to environmental conservation through engaging lessons. Now therefore, be it resolved that Danville public schools do hereby proclaim the week of April 21 through 25, 2025 as Arbor Day week throughout Danville public schools and encourage all students, teachers, staff, and families to participate in educational and community activities that celebrate the importance of trees in our lives. Signed Taekwon Graves, um, chair of the school board and Dr. Angela Haristen, superintendent. Good evening and thank you for this meaningful proclamation. Arbor Day is a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for the environment and protect the natural beauty of our community. Arbor Day is a
008special holiday dedicated to planting, celebrating, and caring for trees. Founded in 1872 by J. Sterling Wharton, this day reminds us of the vital role that trees play in our environment. Trees are not only vital to our ecosystem, they also symbolize growth, resilience, and a healthier future for all generations to come. We're honored to celebrate this day and reaffirm our commitment to planting and preserving trees across our division. During this week of April 21st to 25th, Dambo Public Schools will feature a tree planting ceremony engaging lessons, activities to deepen the understanding for students of Arba Day has been shared with all schools. Students will explore the science of trees, their impact on the ecosystem, and the ways that they can contribute to environmental conservation. We extend an invitation to join us as we celebrate the beauty
009and importance of trees, inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards. We have Miss Huard, the proud principal of Schoolfield Elementary, here who will share what her school will be doing to celebrate this day. Good evening, school board. Dr. Haristen. Um, all this week at School Elementary, we have proudly been participating in an environmental awareness spirit week. Um, today was celebrate the Sunday, so you can see we're wearing bright yellow. It was very cheerful in the building today. Um, tomorrow at 9:30, we will be hosting the Arbor Day uh tree planting ceremony. Um, we'll have students in Miss Self's third grade class who will be presenting poems, um, excerpts from their writing prompts that they've done this week, um, in reference to the environment and to Arbor Day, um, as well as, um, our proclamation to
010care for the trees that are being planted on our school campus. And we plan to involve our schoolfield sixth grade academy students next year to care for those trees, as well as our nature club um, that we've started this year with 21st Century. So, we hope that this will continue um at our school to care for our environment. Thank you. [Applause] Next, we'll move to item 5.1. Public may address the board. We have any signed up? Next, we'll move to item 6.1, accounts payable warrants. This time, I'll turn it over to Miss Gillis. Good evening, Chairman Gregs, Vice Chairman, Vice Chair Averit, Superintendent Harrison, and members of the board. This evening, we have before you accounts payable warrant number 195 in the amount of 5,34,52289. Number 199 in the amount of 2,291,8789. Number 2011 in
011the amount of $452,637.14. Number 208 in the amount of 2,70,924.3 and 212 in the amount of $790,438 $483.84. If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them. Any questions? Any questions? Thank you. Next, we'll move to item 7.1, update on name and school facilities committee. And I'll turn it over to Miss Hilton. Good evening, Chairman Graves, Vice Chair Aver, school board members, Dr. Harrison. I'm here to report on the request for naming of the gymnasium at George Washington High School. On December 12th, 2024, Mr. Jerome Harris addressed the Danville School Board to ask the school board to consider naming the gym at GW High School after Harry Johnson in memory of the late coach. For policy FFA naming school facilities, a committee was formed to review the request. The committee met
012at George Washington High School on April 9th, 2025 at 400 p.m. The policy on naming school facilities was reviewed. Within the policy, it states, "Schools and school facilities may be named for individuals who have been deceased for at least 10 years, nor can a facility be named for a living individual." Coach Harry Johnson passed away in 20120. According to the policy, the gym at GW High School cannot be named after Coach Harry Johnson because he has not been deceased for at least 10 years. Written communication will be provided to Mr. Mr. Harris on the denial of this request. Correction for the minutes. Mr. Morris. Derro Morris. I'm sorry. Jerome Morris. Okay. Sorry. Any questions? Any questions? Mr. Grace. Yes. What would be the procedure now since um the candidates that has been presented um has
013not been deceased more than 10 years? It is it's not recommended from the committee based on policy. So will we go back to the drawing board or what's the next step is what I'm saying since we can't use those candidates. Someone would have to present u from the community and other if they so desired. Thank you. Any other questions? Any other questions? Thank you, Miss Hilton. Next, we'll move to item 8.1, public notice for May 2025. Thursday, May 1st, 2025, 5:30 p.m., we have a regular board meeting. Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 4:30 p.m., finance committee meeting. Thursday, May 15, 2025, 4:30 p.m., a governance committee meeting. Thursday, May 15, 2025, 5:30 p.m. regular board meeting. On Tuesday, May 20th, 2025, 5:30m, student achievement committee meeting. And on Thursday, May 29th, 2025, at 5:30 p.m., we
014have our operations, facilities, and planning committee meeting. May 26, 2025 is a Memorial Day holiday. Um May 29th, 2025 is a makeup day and last day for students. And on May 30th, it's a teacher work day. Next, we'll move to item 9.1, governance committee update. I'll turn it over to Miss A. Okay. Yes. Um, the governance committee met on April 10th, 2025 at 400 PM. In attendance were Mr. Tyrell Payne, Mr. Kesha Walker, Mrs. Victoria McKinnus, Miss Kesha Ait, and Dr. Angela Haren. The committee reviewed a sample governance manual and discussed the process for creating a schoolboard governance manual. Committee decided to review sample items and be prepared at the next meeting to move into action of creating the manual. Next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 15th at 4:30. Thank you, Miss Aver. Next,
015we'll move to 9.2 governor school committee update. I'll turn it over to Miss Walker. Yes. Pedmont Governor School met on March 18th on the campus of Patrick and Patrick Henry at the building. Initially, we had a quarterly meeting where we discussed um the January and February expenditures. Governor's school director Tiffany Gray reported recruitment for 2025 2026 school year was going well. Also, Miss Gravely discussed the senior lunchon and the schedule for May 12th. Um the Pete Muts Governor Schools will honor and recognize the class of 2025 for their hard work and dedication to the program. Also, Miss Gravely presented the proposed budget of 2025 2026 with the priorities being um in order to recruit and retain highly qualified staff. Provide overall steps to raises instructional staff that equate to 3% raise in salary for um
016all levels. continue to invest and replace instructional technology to provide modern technology. Instructional technology to provide modern for student um techn for students and staff. Board members and super superintendent convened to the fri hall to participate in a VDOE site evaluation for um the Pedmont Governor schools representatives that came from the BDO. It was conducted um a focus group interviews with the governing board's members, stakeholders, and superintendent. The video evaluation criteria was evaluated by administrative information, current student and graduate data, and stakeholder survey data. Petemont Governor Schools was commended how administration and faculty work together to provide rigorous student center instruction. The evaluation mentioned also that the Petemont's Governor School administration and staff was commended for implementing more PBA style assignment. Some of the recommendations that were given was that the faculty to continue to
017seek student learning opportunities outside the classroom, seek opportunities for students to interact in a greater community, and they highlighted the recommendation that Petemont Governor schools consider adding part-time counselors to support students social and emotional needs and facilitate college and career planning. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Walker. Any questions? Next we'll move to item 10.1 finance report. At this time I'll turn it over to skills. Good evening once again. You have for you the revenue and expenditure statement for the month of March 2025. You also have the reappropriations report for carryover funds for the month of March as well as reports on the textbook and school nutrition funds. Anyone has any questions about this report? I'd be happy to try to answer them. Any questions? Any questions? This is an action item. So move. I second.
018Motion made by Mr. Payne. Second by Dr. Williams. Any discussion hearing? None. Madam clerk, please call the role. Dr. Williams. Yes. Yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Dr. Silverman, yes. Yes. Miss Walker. Yes. Thank you. Next, we'll move to item 11.1, personnel recommendations. At this time, I'll turn it over to Miss Wimberly. Good evening, Chairman Graves, Vice Chair A, Dr. Harrison, and members of the board. You've been presented with the personnel recommendations for your review, consideration, and approval. I'll answer any questions if you have them. Any questions? Any questions? This is an action item. So move. Second. Motion made by Dr. Williams, second by Dr. Sman. Any discussion? Any discussion? Hear none. Madam clerk, please call roll. Mr. Payne, yes. Miss Ara, yes. Dr. Williams, yes. Dr. Silverman, yes. Miss Cunningham, yes. Miss Walker, yes. Mr. Gre,
019yes. Thank you. Next, we'll move to item 12.1, recommendation for RFP 2425-528 CR for Forest Hills Elementary. At this time, I'll turn it over to Mr. Lucas. Good evening, board members. Um, I'm here to remind to mention that back in August of last year, we came before the board with a resolution asking to start on the uh design and renovation of the Forest Hills Elementary School. We did a resolution asking your permission to do a CM at risk type of delivery method. You approved it. So, tonight I have a resolution asking you to let us proceed with awarding the contract to one of the four uh short list biders that we had and we interviewed all of them. In this resolution, the procedure permits the awarding of the design build or the construction management at
020risk contract for the forest hills renovation and additions. the superintendent and her design included the evaluation committee uh where we had uh interviews with several contractors. We came up with a short list of four contractors. We reintered them and then out of that four we as a committee picked a contractor that we felt was best suitable for our needs to proceed with the contract. Um, so we have picked out of the four people or contractors, we have picked New Atlantic Construction. And I have here with me Michael Burus, who is our construction management firm to help uh explain how the CM at risk process works. Uh, I have Yansy Powers from who's our architect who's going to show you some renditions of what the school will look like. And then I have New Atlantic here
021to introduce them to allow you to ask them some questions. So, the way the PE uh consu uh CM at risk goes is you have to do the interviews and once we pick a contractor, then we go into two phases. The phase we want to start with after we award the contract is called the preconstruction phase. That's where the contractor works with the design team. He reviews all of our drawings, all of our designs and he has to look for uh valued engineering ambiguities and bring them forth so that we have minimal change orders. At the end of this time frame, we will start negotiating with him for what's called a guaranteed maximum price. At that point, I will be back here around Thanksgiving to uh notify the board of what the final contract pricing
022will be. And then we're looking at starting construction in January of next year. Um, so if you have any questions on how the CM at risk works, I will be happy to answer them to you. Um, the four contractors that we chose from was New Atlantic Branch Construction, who is now currently doing our Arnett Hills job, Jr. Vanoi and English Construction. It was a very tight uh uh committee discussion and out of that we chose New Atlantic. So I'm asking for your approval to award to New Atlantic construction to proceed with preconstruction and ultimately construction of the project. Any questions? Any questions? Miss just I don't know. is so um with demo land what was like probably one of the most determining factors that you all decided to go with that we used a rubric
023and out that rubric was several questions that every company asked um and uh was a point system and then a discussion system and and following that um a selection was made. Any other any other questions? I see numbers from New Atlantic. Do we have numbers for anybody else? We don't have any numbers uh because the numbers you're seeing for New Atlantic is we've already talked to them about the preconstruction fee. We won't know the actual construction cost of the school until we go through the preconstruction and negotiate a guaranteed maximum price. So come November, end of November, I will have a actual construction cost for the project. Awesome. Thank you for working on this. I see you have New Atlantic here. You mind introducing who you have with you? Um, well, I'll get Yansancy Powers,
024the architect. He can show you some uh renditions of the school first and uh then I'll have New Atlantic come up. Start coffee until it's time to come up with some sudden it's their stop. So, just wanted to give you all an update. I think y'all have seen these in the past. Um, we have completed the documents. The documents have been filed with the state and the documents have been filed with local permitting agencies. They have been reviewed and comments have been addressed and then they've been handed off to the um to the the CM teams. Everybody that bid on it had the opportunity to see these same packages. So, they are all bidding on the same process. You can see that the floor plan has not changed much. Yeah, I'm trying. It's Yeah. So
025you can go just a little bit more and stop. So essentially the floor plan has not changed. What we have here are each of the levels. We still have the gyms, the eight classrooms, and the additions. The items. If you go down just go down one or two more here, you can see the exterior still pretty much stayed true to what we showed y'all from the beginning. We tried to stay true to that same that same look from day one. Um, and then we have a couple different views of the outside areas here. And then one of the things that has changed is we have went through and had conversations with the finish group and chose interior finishes and colors for the schools. So all that has been embedded in the documents and you can
026see a few images of different areas of the school always some colors that we have coming up the media center is that smaller one there and the gym and the cafeteria classrooms. So um any questions about the design or anything that might have changed over the past year? Yes sir. Well we've acquired a new property that I understand will allow sort of something to be done differently. Can you speak to that? Is that Yes. So, uh, if you go back to the original site plan, think back to that that side of the school over there is back where the playground is for the kids now. That was going to be a playground area. And so, with the, uh, relocation of the house, it will allow us to expand that playground area for those kids. It
027will also give us opportunities for different construction entrances and exits so we can, you know, bring materials in on different spots and then possibly rework it to have a little bit more that space, too. So, it's going to give us a lot more freedom. We're pretty landlocked, so every little bit helps. Okay. Thank you. And Dr. Silverman, the house um will be relocated to the George Washington High School campus and converted over time to a life skills um h home for our students at GW who require that course. Your Canterbury or Canterbury might be a little tight. So, I think it's probably going to be more um toward the other side near the band area. Uh but Mr. uh Lucas will identify that area, ensure that we move the house appropriately and then there has
028to be some design work because now we're working with students has to be ADA compliant and so over time there um our students at um George Washington who require a life skills course oftent times it's you know how you uh care for a home cook and those types of things and so that home will be dedicated to that program. That sounds very good. I take it maybe we'll include a history of the home. Hopefully. So, I I've learned it a lot myself. Okay. Thanks much. Um, Mr. Lucas, thank you all for the presentation. Mr. Lucas, in the in the past, we've always had a a chart with the bid prices. Why not today? Because we don't have prices. This this kind of pre uh uh delivery method. the uh final contract price is negotiated by
029going with a guaranteed maximum price which is sort of like we did at GW and Arnett Hills. Uh the contractor has to do the job for that price that he guarantees unless the owner does any changes to change the price of the contract. what what the price that I come back to you with in November will be the price awarded to him for the construction. Mr. Burrus, you've worked with the um Mike, you've you've worked with CM at risk more than Can you um so we've used a PPE, we've used a design bid build and this is a CM at risk. Can you u speak to the differences in the three? Okay, first let's start with a response back to the seam at risk in the contracts with that. By bringing in the general contractor
030in his role as a CM in particular in this case since the drawings are already completed, you've minimized the pre-construction phase or costs that are associated with that. And but the team has the time now to be able to evaluate those plans, walk through the building with no students there and make sure that all of the things that have been addressed on the drawings are are on the drawings or need to be addressed are on the drawings. We have also through working with your staff gone through and already estimated the cost of that project and know what it should be. So when we get to the negotiation phase with New Atlantic, it's not something that's going to be unknown. It's not something that needs to be um debated a lot because we have the facts
031and they have the facts about what something is and what it costs. And therefore our process is to negotiate their fees and their costs to the to the lowest common denominator that we have between the two. Um by doing so what you do is you are locking in what a guaranteed maximum price will be. You're not make if you don't make programmatic changes and there's very little opportunity because of the size of this campus to make programmatic opportun changes in the design. Your deliverable price should be what you finish up with. Their contract requires them to do constructibility reviews to make sure that uh all items are identified. We have costs associated with doing investigations behind walls and things like that so we know what's we're going to find when we actually get started with
032the construction. And so it's a very um prudent renovation or prudent contract type for a a messy potentially messy renovation. And this was a qualitative approach rather than a quantitative which is PPE and design bid bills. So would you reflect on those two? Correct. I think that one of the things she was talking about was if you were asking about a bid tally we would see bid tallies when you do a design build or a hard bid project and you have contractor A gives you a dollar amount, contractor B gives you a dollar amount, C gives you dollar amount and you go off the lowest bid price. This was a quantity or quality type job. So we judged everybody on their prior work and everybody was judged on their prior work because the scope of
033work is defined. The competitive side of this comes in with the guaranteed maximum price portion of it. So they will send out when it comes time for them to price they're going to send this out to three electricians, three drywallers, three mechanical guys, and that's where the competitive price. They've set their fixed price on their on their services. Mhm. We'll have a total of about 30 bid packages that'll actually go out or more and each of those will have three to five or more subcontractors bid on that work. The lowest responsible and responsive subcontractor will be evaluated by New Atlantic and ourselves. It'll be a public opening of those bids and then we'll bring the forth the um a list of those subcontracts, not only including what the base rate is, but any kind of
034pub participation they may have or swim participation in the project. And then from that we'll make the um determination what portions of the work we get started with and do subcontract and do a contract for that GMAT. So so just basically you know because I understand so even though there's lobby it's also like as she spoke as far as qualitative like as far as the quality of the work because sometimes because it's low doesn't mean it's the best option. So you all also are looking at it from as she's saying even in the perspective he's talking about from a qualitative perspective. All of their subcontractors first go through a pre-qualification process to make sure that they have the correct lensure and professional ability to perform the work. They'll after they receive those bids that they
035come back in from the subs they'll be evaluated. that team be evaluated to see if it conforms and their superintendent and supervision are adequate to do the job. If they're not, they can move on to the number two and we'll make that aware to you today. So that doing a CM process, you do have the availability to um find the best selection for you. This is a little different subject, but when do we expect the construction to be complete? Is that May of 2028? May of 2028. Okay. So, we have a little ways to go, but getting started. Okay. Let's this might Mr. G. This may sound out of pocket, but um I think moving forward, we should get the prices before we vote on everything somehow. Well, I mean, I I just think we
036we just looking at one right now. So, it just that's just me. So, Mr. list of all the all the subcontractors that bid on each of the bid packages and a total list of the whole bid packages. So So this process is a little different in the design bid build. You get prices from everybody. But in the CM at risk, you're not going to get those prices till Thanksgiving. And so um this group is a qualitative approach to select um based on the four that we um have and then they provide their time and their expense to get to a pricing. So with the CM at risk that wouldn't be possible to give you for the other projects that you've had like the PPPA you did a selection based off qualifications and on uh pricing
037for those. the final determination of that pricing since they were design bib design build kind of projects um that's determined by the general contractor in his negotiations with the subs that you didn't necessarily have the opportunity to participate in within the hard bid job with Langston for instance it was a lowest common denominator bid and and all the items that are associated with that in this format seem risk is a good option to use because one, a tight renovation, tight site, a lot of communications is going to have to take place with the neighborhood and um all of the access and critical items around that site. And so that's why basing selection on somebody that's been through that process before, knows the staff that's able to administer that contract in an effective way and then
038deliver a final product on budget and on time is what we're looking for. Thank you. Thank you. I was just gonna say because the good thing about this is the CMA at risk there is a cap like you're saying is a cap. So I'm sure. Yeah. So that's the good thing I guess in my foresight. Also with the renovation there's so many unexpected um and that's what we found with you know versus an arnett you're just building out with the even with GW is it's been so many unexpected uh things that have come up and so this opportunity um will enable the team to look at all aspects of and and price it appropriately and price it so that we it's very transparent. So by the time we arrive at a price in Thanksgiving at
039Thanksgiving or whenever we arrive at that, we all understand, you know, what what's about to happen because renovations um are just very very challenging. Like like the uh PPE at GW and Arnett Hills, the architect worked for the contractor. We had lots of meetings with the architects and the contractors to come up with a scope of work and in the end the contractor gave us English was the only contractor they gave us a guaranteed maximum price. The difference with this contract is the architect works for Danville public schools. We picked him last year. We did the design and during this type of contract, the contractor reviews all the design documents and it's prudent to him to come up with any ambiguities or any things that can change in the document. So in the price that
040you saw see tonight, the contractor will be going through the school with a fine tooth comb and looking for things that the architect may have missed or things that can be done better and cheaper to achieve the final goal. But in bottom line is the price that we agree to is the price that we have we do the job for. Any other would you all like to meet the contract before you vote? Um first before we move forward I first of all thank y'all for explaining um I think moving forward if we would discuss this in a uh a work session because this was a lot um to be completely honest. Um I know a rubric was mentioned on the different companies. Is there any way that moving forward we can be provided those rubrics
041because and and the reason We have that documentation of all the interviews, all the We have all of the because what I did first was I went out with an RFP asking for contractors to submit proposals for the project and then we reviewed their proposals as a committee. We interviewed all of I think we had six contractors total and out of those six we chose the four that are on your list and they were asked in an addendum to provide another proposal that just specified what they're going to do for us on our project. The other proposal is just generic about their companies and other historic jobs they've done. So when we interviewed these four, we interviewed them based on our project. So we asked them questions like quality assurance. We asked, we had them
042bring their actual team that's going to be on the job every day here. So we could ask them questions, not just the president and vice president, right? And we don't have to get that deep in the weeds as far as the interviews, but just something because what and and I can't speak for all the board members, but what we see is four companies and then we select that one. So, you know, for transparency for us and for for the community, we have no idea how this company didn't provide. Why don't we do this? Why don't we uh before we do the final one have Jire because Jeremy Carol came uh to a work session and presented the entire CM at risk process. So why don't we have him come back um before we do the
043final and do a work session on CM at risk and and provide what we can legally provide. Okay, we can do that. You want to turn it over? Yep. I will let New Atlantic come up and introduce themselves. And while they're coming, I just wanted to be on record that I have all the faith and trust in the world and Mr. Lucas is just I'm Dwayne Rex Straw with New Atlantic Contracting project directors. Mary Key being not uh Joe Watkins who lives in Martinsville was our project manager for it. He was he's on vacation this week so he couldn't be here. But I want to talk a little bit about I I hear your uh concerns or pain and that I agree with you as a general contractor in New Atlantic. We do design build,
044we do construction manager risk, we do um just every every type out there, you know, hard bid for this particular project. The way you your your organization has chosen to go see at risk, I do the feel is the best way because it's it's a messy project. You got the renovation part portion of a very old building which I commend you for saving. I've got one in my backyard that um our school system's looking at just tearing it down and it breaks my heart on. Um but the uh the construction manager at risk, you're interviewing your contractors based on their qualifications and and legally we're not you're not able to ask for what our price is during that process. You say, "I'm going to pick the best person to join our team up front and
045then negotiate on a price." And you have the option if you don't like our price, you can go to the next biders or talk to other people. But that's just that's the way the CM risk process works. It's not anything that your team is doing differently or underhanded. It's just the way it works. You're you're choosing the best person for the success of your project or the best company for the success of your project. And we're honored that we're standing here to hopefully get the project. Um but um once we you bring us on board as a team member, we help do the we help develop and and uh further the the documents so that our subcontracting members know what they're bidding. We put out a bid package that tells them exactly what we expect
046every every package to do. Like uh Walter mentioned, we you know 30 plus 40 packages and we'd say, you know, Mr. the drywall value. You're expected to do this. I mean, down to the need, we get into the weeds as you said, Mr. Ray. Um, so, um, and then we they all bid at their packages individually, competitively, and you and that's open book, transparent. So, um I don't know what else to say to try to alleve your concerns, but it is a different process, but the primary portion of our objective as a teammate to be on your team and help deliver the best project for a school district. Last comment I would just say because I'm a real estate professional so I commend you because a lot of times I think sometimes when you're dealing
047with older buildings like this I understand you run into different situations and for to do it with another type of method it's more cost effective because you going to have to deal with it in that moment and at times frame investing versus dealing with this seem at risk. It's like you all are capped it off and say this is what we're going to do based on but you're doing it based on from the start from a qualitative. So we're dealing with you with quality and we're saying we're capping you so you can't go over and we're going in up front again as your teammate looking at the building looking at the and trying to anticipate what are going to be the problems, what are going to be the challenges, what is going to cost more
048and somebody else said earlier, how can we do it differently? And we're putting that in the bid packages and documents up front and evaluating it, you know, with the ANC and the whole team. How what's the best thing for the owner? What's the best thing for the project? And that's that's at the forefront from the, you know, from the beginning and throughout. Well, this is an action item. Do I have a motion? I motion that we um move forward with the with the the rendering is with the rendering or that we move forward with this. Yes, for the RFP. Got a second. I second that. Motion made by Miss Walker, second by Dr. Silverman. Any discussion on the motion? Any discussion hearing? None. Madam clerk, please call for a vote. Miss A? Yes. Mr. Payne?
049No. Miss Cunningham? Yes, Miss Walker. Yes, Dr. Williams. Yes, Dr. Silverman. Yes, Mr. Gra. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we'll move to item 13.1, board requests for information for future agenda items. We have any All right. Next, we'll move to comments. Superintendent. Yes. First of all, I'd like to congratulate Mr. Charles Woolborn for um uh being the he received an award for his um journalism there uh from one of the organizations working with the registry. So, congratulations. He was featured most recently. We always take pictures of ourselves and he does a good job covering us. Also want to thank the Our Time, our town editors. You have a poster back here. You have a nice Our Town um it's a tongue twister our town uh magazine at your
050uh table. So we are Laneany uh worked with them. Thank you Laney for working on featuring D public schools and all that we have to alter to offer. It is an educational month guide and we were so excited to be a sponsor and to be featured in that. Next, I want to thank Miss Dr. Babalola and Miss Prunty. They have uh taken us through a couple of days of evaluating of walkthroughs of classrooms and very exciting to see what's happening in our classes. Our teachers are working very very hard and our students as well to be prepared for so testing. And um lastly, thank you to our HR team and our finance team for getting contracts out today. Understand this is about um two weeks earlier than we've done them in the past. So, thank
051you all so much for getting those out uh today. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dodson. Thanks for having me. Allan just wanted to send his best from Charlottesville. He'll see you at the next meeting. Madam clerk, please call roll. Dr. Williams. Yes. Uh, first I just want to give a huge congratulations to our student honores tonight. Um, I know that it's right in the middle of spring with like sports and things like that, but to see that their heads are still in the books. They're doing great things for our schools. I just want to commend them on that. Uh, I want to offer a big congratulations to Miss Cuttingham. She's got some new ventures going on. So, kudos to you and all of that. U, thank you to Showcase for featuring us. I actually
052taught that young man right there at the in the middle. Yeah. So, I feel old. So, um and to our teachers and to our students and staff, I know that we're in the fourth quarter. Uh we're right here at testing season. Uh so, best of luck. Uh show what you know. You've done great things all years. And teachers, please sign your contracts. Uh first, I want to say how happy I am about the way we're proceeding with Forest Hills. Um Forest Hills has been in my life all your life, uh since 1958. So looking forward to seeing you make it whole again and very very pleased what I heard tonight. Uh secondly, I want to reiterate what Dr. Harrison said about coming up. Uh next week is the last week before uh for students to
053prepare and they're working tutorial programs both in school and a after school. going to encourage uh parents to talk to their students about uh what what this means and and uh give them a pat on the back and send send make sure they get to school on time and and all that type of thing and I'll make that Walker. So again, kudos to the um RFP. I know we had a lot of conversations but that's a lot of work. Um and that and then as they have said um for parents staff that is listening um just constantly tell your children you believe in them in these next couple weeks of this testing. And then um two weeks ago I saw where our student um schoolboard representative um at the FBLA state leadership conference uh he
054won um job interview first place. just letting him know how proud we are because he represents us well outside of this boardroom. So that's about it. Okay. Good evening everyone. Um just quick comments. Um a lot of our students with DPS, some of their artwork was presented and shown at Bonner Middle School. Um, now what they have done is I know activate for sure they have moved their artwork from Bonner and they have placed it now downtown at Main Street Art Collective. Um, so if you if you have not had an opportunity to view their artwork, please stop by Main Street Art Collective. I was there this afternoon and just to be able to see a lot of the children go into an actual physical store where you can shop and then go through the
055hallway and see their artwork actually being presented on a wall. It was a very a very drastic difference than seeing it inside of our school. So, if you have the opportunity to do that, please do so. My daughter had two pieces and she was really really excited to see that it was presented there. Um also this afternoon I took a few students also to go to Woodberry Hills um and where we were able to um fellowship and be with some young ladies who are in their girls with pearls program um it amazing amazing group of young ladies um about 20 about 20 young ladies where they are focusing on leadership they're focusing on character they're focusing focusing on poise and it was just wonderful to be there with them so I definitely thank them for
056that opportunity. Also, not to reiterate again, SOS are coming up. So, if I can say anything to your to the parents, help them, help us, help prepare them, help get them ready, empower them, nurture them, um pray for them as they um get ready to take their SOS and put their best foot forward. Thank you, no comments. Thank you. Hi. Good evening. Uh so first and foremost, as always, a big thank you to Damo Public Schools for all that you've already done for me, all that you continue to do, and all that you do for the students at Galileo Magnet High School. I am really excited for Arbor Day tomorrow. Um we are going to have our tree planting ceremony and uh we've decided to sing a song. We all seen the Lorax. Everyone seen
057the Lorax. You guys know at the end of the movie, Let It Grow, Let It So I'm excited to that. They gave me the granny part. So that that's going to be fun. Um, but yeah. Huh. Oh, at Gal Galileo Magnet High School next. Sure. Sure. And when will the Arbor Day event be? What time of day will it be? What time of day will it be? Um, yeah. 9:00 a.m. early. Yeah, it'll be pretty early. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, if you guys have time to come on by, see us thing, you know, come say hello. But, um, yeah, uh, special thank you. Um, as I'm kind of, you know, getting ready for exam season and I mean, graduation's May 30th. It's right around the corner now. It's just, I mean, it's crazy to look
058back and see how far I've come. Um, I'm starting to wrap up with the IB program. You know, it was it was rough for a while, but um, I've gotten through all my big essays now and all my big projects. So, we're just kind of preparing for exams and I'm excited for it and I I really couldn't have done it without the the wonderful teachers at my school. Um, which all thanks to Danville Public Schools. So, I just thank you. Thank you. You guys have made it a wonderful experience and I will be sure to let everyone proudly know that I am from Danville when I'm off to UVA um in the fall. [Applause] Darren, you're a tough act to follow. Um, just to reiterate what's already been said, um, as we are approaching testing
059season and the end of the school year. This young man is a a great example of what you can accomplish when you keep your head in the game. So, thank you for being a great role model to all of our students. Darian, um I do just want to make one announcement that the Danville Public Schools Education Foundation will be hosting its second annual education open on Friday, May 16th. The tea time is 9:00 a.m. Um this will be held at the Goodyear Golf Club, which is 2:45 Jenny Lane. So, anyone who plays golf on a golf team interested in signing up um to participate in this open, you can find the link to register your team on the Danville Public Schools website or on the Danville Public Schools Education Foundation page on Facebook. Um all
060of those proceeds will go to support student scholarships. In reference to that golf tournament, I think uh Marcus Cheney, Dr. Haristen, Mr. Lucas, and Miss Hilton, M and Dr. Babalo, we going to be on a team. So, go ahead and sign us up. I love it. Um, so, you know, Darien, I'm extremely proud of you. Um, Sophia Lee, Sophia is our alter alternate. She'll be sitting up here uh next school year. We're we're extremely proud. I know y'all competed in uh what is it? the uh FBLA, they was a part of that and he ranked first place and Sophia Lee, she was a runner up. So, we're extremely proud of you guys and how y'all represent Galileo Magna High School. Let's give them a round of applause. You know, I and it's it's so refreshing
061to come in and listen to students. You know, yesterday I was sitting in an interview room uh with a with a young kid that had committed murder um first degree and and today it's just a breath of fresh air to just hear from young people that truly want to do something and are super encouraged about their future. So again, continue to do what you're doing. We are proud of you. We're going to support you. It's okay to be different and don't worry about the naysayers because you are going to run into that if you have not already. But continue to pursue and do what you what you want to do with your life. So we are proud of you guys. Um New Atlantic, thank you for being here today. We are uh proud partners. We're
062excited to work with you. Um so we're looking forward to the work that's to come. Uh to all that received awards today, I want to say congratulations to you. We're super excited. And I I mean every time I see young people in the boardroom, I can never get enough of it. Um we got to continue to push our kids to be the best version of themselves. That's why we're here. Um we're not in the business of adults. We're in the business of children and that's who we're going to continue to serve. So again, board members, thank you. Staff, thank you. And let's push our people to sign those contracts. All right. Next, we'll move to item 14.4. Clarify school board request. I don't think we have no request. Um the requests made earlier are scheduled
063though. Okay, we'll move to 15.1 recess. We have a time frame. How many minutes? A motion. Need a motion. Got a motion for seven. You got a second. [Applause] Second. Motion made by Miss Avery, second by Dr. Williams. Any discussion? Seven minutes. Please call. Mr. Yes. Dr. Yes. Yes. Walker. Yes. Yes.