001everyone it's 7:00 and it's time to call our March 20th 2025 regular meeting of the school board to order thank you all for coming do we have a motion to come out of close session so move second any discussion all in favor of that motion signify by saying I I oppose no motion carries do we have a motion for certification pursuant to 2.2 3711 of the code of Virginia I move that the Franklin City School Board convened oops I'm on the wrong page I think I apologize whereas the Franklin City School Board has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and whereas section 2.2 3712 D of the code of Virginia requires a certification by this
002school board that such closed meeting was conducted in Conformity with Virginia law and now therefore be it resolved that the Franklin City School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge one only public business matters lawfully Exempted by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification applies and two only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered thank you do we have a second any discussion all in favor of the motion for certification signify by saying I I I oppose no that motion carries would you stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible
003withy andice for all I believe we only have one motion coming out of our close session and that is to approve our Personal Agenda as presented do we have that motion so move do we have a second second any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I oppose no motion carries do we have a motion to approve our agenda I move that we approve the agenda do we have a second second any discussion all in favor of the motion to approve our agenda signify by saying I I oppose no that motion carries Miss Davis roll call please Dr Carter present Miss hunt present Mrs councel here Mr hul present Mrs boom here Miss Parker pres Dr Scott here Dr Reed yes here sorry har Dr Harrison present thank you Dr Walters here Dr cor
004no Dr Walters is not here this is just the second read of the uh for the public Hearing in regards to school construction uh was presented as a a first read uh last last uh board meeting we did have this first reading last meeting and this would be the second this is for PPA Act of 202 board members do we have a motion to approve I move to approve do we have a second second any further discussion all in favor signify by saying I I oppose no motion carries we have first reading of our minutes for the January 27th meet oh excuse me February 27th meeting we will approve those next time Dr Carter superintendent's report please thank you sir Miss Morrison Dr Carter school board and community members good evening tonight I have one
005proposed budget amendment and I will be asking for a Schoolboard vote um this Slide the Virginia Department of Education has a very complex set of calculations that determine State funding and required local match funding however as we know there's two primary drivers in education Finance the first is average daily membership and that's simply the average student count um and it's collected in the fall and again in the spring the second would be the local Composite Index and that determines a locality's ability to pay towards Education costs the lower the index U the lower the less the city has to contribute towards education funding Franklin has consistently had a relatively low Composite Index at 02884 next slide please okay this slide is a summary depiction of Franklin City Public Schools portion of State education funding these
006changes have been approved by the general assembly in order to be conservative instead of the 1067 that uh vooe has for us we are only increasing our budget as if we had 1,40 students So based on the ADM of 1040 students and the composite index of 2884 that would show in the First Column the state funding would be 14,99 466 the code of Virginia requires that localities contribute at least the amount that Virginia Department of Education calculates as the required local match um so if you look at the second column on this Slide the required local local match for this level of ADM is 4,725 n30 our current approved budget reflects a local appropriation of 4, 330,000 however the 330,000 was earmarked for Capital Improvements and cannot be counted towards the standard standards of quality
007required local match so our current budget has a local match of $4 million and that's been approved and um on the next slide you will see the proposed budget amendment this would add this the remaining 725,000 to our budget to be used for various instructional expenditures that would result from having an ADM increase as we have of 15% in in the past year and a half I would entertain any questions at this time so the total budget amendment 72 5 930 correct yes sir okay should the school board approve this it would go next to the city manager for inclusion on the next city council agenda do we have a motion to approve the budget amendment as presented I so move do we have a second second any discussion all in favor signify by saying
008I I oppose no motion carries thank you thank you Tracy our next item is Citizens time and we have 10 people signed up remind everyone you have three minutes uh we ask that you be respectful and honor the lights that will tell you when your time is up so our first Speaker Mr Don spaman that can't here can you hear oh okay P check with Josh just a second let's try again Don thank you Don Benjamin 128 Clay Street Franklin Virginia the last time that I spoke to you I asked you where do We Go From Here in our schools I am back tonight with the same question according to the organizational chart on the division website the division superintendent is accountable to the school board and the school board is accountable to the residents
009what does that really mean who are the residents for a school board parents are one category residents followed closely by Business Leaders how does this school board gather input from residents in a transparent planned way do residents have the option to give input and if they do is the put valued or is input and exercised have you heard from parents and Business Leaders about what they want in our school leaders could this input have in Altered recent events from recent events city council does not think we have the right School Board leadership does resident input regarding the reinstatement of Mr Felts the resignation of Mr Holt and the termination of Dr Carter matter are you being accountable to the residents Where Do We Stand now in our schools think about this SP Morton at least
010eight and by some Council 11 principles in the last 13 years in 2425 6th grade moved to SP Morton from 1617 to 2425 there had been seven years of accreditation reports during these seven years SP Morton was accredited one time in 1819 Franklin High School same principal for the last 12 years in 2324 8th grade moved to Franklin High School in 2425 7th grade moved to Franklin High School during the previous seven years where accreditation was reported FHS was accredited for the first 5 years consecutively in 2324 and 2425 FHS was accredited with conditions what changed in school years 23 24 and 24 25 where no schools meant full accreditation Dr Carter's appointment as superintendent 8th grade moved to Franklin High School seventh grade moved to the High School sixth grade moved to Morton I
011ask each School Board member to think hard about your part in the decisions that have been made what kind of questions did you ask did you ask what planning was done and what shoulder-to-shoulder support was given did anyone ask about each principal's track record over time did you ask specifically what the superintendent and and staff are doing on the ground to support each building certainly there is no evidence to suggest moving principles has improved the accreditation data as board members does everyone dig into issues or do you rely on this word chair to give you details and data do you ask for clarification and documentation so you have a true understanding of issues prior to making decisions and casting your vote in closing if Mr Mr PHS does not return as principal it is imperative
012that his new position is one where he can lead leaders in making a positive impact on all students don't we all value a leader who solution oriented a problem solving solver transparent questions what is the best path stands up for the students and staff understands accreditation and shares with all stakeholders this is Travis Felts my fellow residents and I look forward to hearing from you regarding answers to our questions thank you that's just a reminder of the um of responsibilities Pam Le good evening my name is Pam Lee I live at 13113 Clay Street first off I want to say congrats to the FHS basketball team coaches players and fans for being Runners up in the state aome accomplishment I just wish Mr Phelps would have been on the court after the game with the
013team to celebrate this historic moment we are also so proud of them I am here to address the ongoing mishandling of Franklin City Public Schools performance issues and the unjust removal of Mr Phillips's principal I see that all of you all are still here such a disappointment to say the least however since you remain in your positions you still have the opportunity to correct your mistakes and perhaps regain a shred of dignity for at least a decade now Community leaders current and in the past have always come up to Dave and I even you Mr hul to say please talk Travis into being superintendent and we of course have always said we have tried but it's not his heart he has always loved being in the schools with the staff and with the students it
014was made clear based on the slideshows from the February 27th meeting that due diligence was not done when assessing FHS performance or the decision to remove Mr phelts I have several questions questions I know that you will not answer in the settings but ones that definitely demand reflection if first firsttime Pass rates are so critical did you examine the firsttime Pass rates of the stame students before they arrived at FHS did failure just begin when they entered in Franklin High School the answer is no FHS pass rate is higher than both SPM and JP King are students arriving at FHS on grade level in reading and math the answer is no if JP King were still in middle school would would they have met their accreditation status how many benchmarks would they have met the
015answer is zero out of five the same students from JP King which meant none of those accreditation standards are now at FHS so I ask again who's responsibility is this when the entire division is failing it's yours the superintendent and you the school board so let's talk about this Administration blo that we have why does our system need all these doctors 23 highly paid central office administrators when we only had seven that used to do the same work a superintendent two assistant superintendent and a chief academic officer for a district with only two schools why aren't these highlevel administrators being held to the same accountability as Mr Phelps where is the accountability the solution is simple do your job take action remove the current superintendent and then resign all of you the longer you remain
016the more harm you inflict on our community our schools our staff and students it is time for leadership that actually serves our children not bureaucratic self-preservation thank [Applause] you Carrie Johnson good evening I recognize that you shushed the Applause of the basketball team for the previous speaker but that just happens to be how my speech starts as well as a longtime supporter of the Broncos I would like to start off by congratulating the 310 boys for their amazing season and their ability to unite not only our community but neighboring communities as well at the start of the season the Franklin High School boys basketball team was 2 and8 even I as a wrestling mom know that that's a rough start but you didn't replace Place coach cut midseason you didn't Panic trusted the process invested
017in the players and the coach did his job and because of that those boys didn't just turn things around they became state Runners up so why aren't we applying that same mindset to Mr PHS so scores aren't where you want them yet but success doesn't happen overnight when I sat on that board PHS never sugarcoated his midyear scores but he was in it for the long haul every year we saw huge gains by June huge just like in sports education takes time leadership and consistency cutting a coach midseason doesn't build a winning team it creates chaos and the same goes for our schools the students deserve a steadfast leader who is known to support them even when their year starts off a little Rocky and while we're on the subject of support where was it
018when Kristen felt past a member of our school Community is gone yes our school community and yet there was no meaningful acknowledgement for the division's powers that be it was radio silence and that silence was deafening she may have taught in Smithfield but she was an active member of our booster club a team mom for multiple Franklin High School sports and she personally started a mission through her church that over multiple years gave thousands of our students a free winter coat to keep them warm yet at the very least you could not even be bothered to post an inmemoriam message on social media if you say you value your people you need to show it you can't claim to be about growth and perseverance if you don't practice what you preach what kind of culture
019are you promoting when staff regularly checks open jobs in our division just to see if they're about to be let go trust the process and support your people and Dr Carter if you can't please take the opportunity to go to another division by choice before you're asked to take a cryptic leave of absence and forced to resign I'd hate for you to be hit with a bad case of Mitchellville Deja Vu and with my remaining time I'd like to take this opportunity to honor christon with a moment of silence [Applause] audre Lee you know I had so much I wanted to say to y'all tonight but God had me to come tonight as a messenger instead of as a fighter because the battle is his he said whoever will cause one of these little ones
020who believe in me to stumble it would be better for him if he was thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck I speak to you the school board of Franklin Virginia and I ask you to let our children free and whatever it's going to take to get Mr phel back into a position where he can help our babies woe unto you Randon Lily good evening my name is Brandon Lily and I reside at 105 Homestead Road and I'm here on behalf of myself and Lindsay Malachi two former FHS employees who worked under Mr PHS I am here today to address concerns with a recent decision to remove Travis Felts as principal of Franklin High School particularly after his recent favorable evaluation this time last year you stated concerns about scores after
021seeing declines in English and math similar to this year you were unhappy with the results in January but according to your own statement encouraged by the results at the end of the year FHS has a history of having low scores in January high scores in May FHS finished last year level one in English and math including every single Gap group The vdoe released projections of where schools would rank under the new accreditation system FHS was on track FHS schedules students that struggle academically so they test in January to give them additional opportunities so they can retest in May if needed and that does count toward that school Year's creditation in the spring there are more dual enrollment honors courses as those students are academically stronger and need one opportunity to test so we see considerable
022rise in scores every May the superintendent's aware of that central office chose to stop teaching science in the Middle School a few years back putting kids farther behind now science scores are low and you blame the principal PHS didn't make that call central office implemented a 4-day work week losing instructional time for students your superintendent stated scores are unacceptable so the answer is less instructional days I know it's po but we can literally see that that decision resulted in a steady decline um since that time FS didn't make that call what about the decision after Fel was mooved to implement some form of reward system where students can earn incentives to miss class and ignore instruction it's unacceptable that your scores are where they are yet we can miss more instructional time Fells didn't Implement
023that right now you're getting pushed back from all the stakeholders because of the manner you chose to handle the remover Travis Felts and how you treated him since then he he was the pillar of stability the last one you had at FCPS and you will never replace him he is Franklin that is his building and you could stick him right now he will bleed blue and gold why should any highly qualified teacher come to your vision when you are giving them less days to teach allowing kids to ignore instruction as a reward and then you have an attitude that everyone is Expendable as long as you get the one thing you care about scores one piece of data y'all didn't track during the last meeting is the thing that matters most in education relationships students
024must maslo before they can bloom Franklin students come to us with a variety of needs and they need someone like Travis PHS to be there to provide the climate they need that only he can provide to help them meet maso's hierarchy of needs with the decision to remove Travis Felts there is one thing that You' made clear there are a lot of doctors in the division but you are falling short at diagnosing the problem thank [Applause] you Felicia Jones good evening my name is Felicia Jones my address is 325 Harris Street I come before you this evening because of my concern for my granddaughter's health and wellbeing my granddaughter has had a five four excuse me my granddaughter has had a 54 and a DMP a DMP in place since third grade and now she
025is in the 10th I delivered a letter to the school for my granddaughter's doctor stating that her phone needed to be with her at all times because of her medical conditions on yesterday her phone was placed in a pouch and then locked this was the same as taking her phone from her because she was not able to use it I want to know why someone didn't check with the office and see that she needed to have a phone with her I thought having a 504 would automatically and having a DMP which is her direct medical plan with rag flag that we may need to check her records first I decided to keep my granddaughter home today because I was afraid she was sick and I was afraid that her phone would be taken from her
026again I wish Mr Phelps was still there for all the years because he has followed her he has followed her and he knows her he would have made sure this would not have happened as he have been looking out for her for years please make some changes in this school system in order to save our children thank [Applause] you Whitney hill good evening everyone my name is Whitney hill and I live at 5 00 v l in Franklin why am I here I don't have any kids in this school system anymore and my husband no longer coaches here so do I have any skin in the game absolutely I am a Franklin City resident a homeowner and that gives me a vested interest in what happens in our school systems in fact I have more
027at stake than some of the very people sitting before me tonight as a homeowner and taxpayer I am deeply frustrated by the way this school system is being run some of you don't even live in Franklin yet you continue to make decisions that are driving our schools in our city into the around years ago we enrolled our daughter in kindergarten at SP Morton by second grade we transferred her out and she is now a softmore at Southampton High and let me be clear things aren't rainbows and butterflies over there either but our worst experience was in Franklin many of the teachers from that time have since left and I understand why they weren't allowed to correct students who misbehaved or protect children from bullying something my daughter experienced firsthand teachers openly admitted that they received
028no support from admin Administration and from what I can see things haven't improved still we considered giving Franklin schools another chance our son after forming relationships with students and staff while his father was coaching wanted to attend eighth grade here next year but after what we've witnessed this year no thank you there is no real consideration for these children and no transparency for employees major changes need to be made it takes a The Village to raise a child yet the people who truly care about our students are being pushed out of their jobs we don't need an interim Auntie or a super Uncle showing up and allowing our kids to be on their phones directly against the governor's orders or scrambling to cover their tracks by making students stand outside in the cold while staff
029adjusted to the new phone pouches and finally while Franklin is rightfully proud of our basketball teams achiev achievements excuse me it is disheartening to see people in Authority treat is nothing more than a photo opportunity some were at the championship game just long enough to be seen and have their pictures taken but hold your horses because they were only there for show where were those same people when the team bus rolled into Franklin after all their hard work the team deserved the full support of their school's leadership win or lose start caring about our kids in our community or respectfully step aside for someone who will thank you [Applause] Naisha Reed good evening everyone board members and audience my name is NY for those that know me I'm a proud parent of four children that
030attend schools in the Franklin District I have came to a few meetings as of today I am disgusted because you as board members don't really care about the children in this community like you pretend to be for some of you the kids are just a paycheck for you you know how we can stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and say one nation right but can't even support our community you removed a man from a position that he desired PHS wasn't just a principal he's the king of all Kings if you had an issue once he knew about it it's already taken care of you the board aren't people who care about the this community they are parents struggling and yall know this and if you engage the community it'll be a better community last fight
031of the boys championship game you only showed your faces because you already know the community is not playing with you guys people are speaking out and showing up I told one employee if my kids needed to speak with them would they be a listening ear the person said do you want to speak to the new principal I said no they asked why I said because the new principal is not Phelps hey board members did anyone give any type of donations or have any considerations towards the felt's family when they lost their Queen another issue I have how do you have children sit outside for an hour for cell phone patches instead of doing the first block this ain't Southampton this is Franklin but wait didn't they have an assem about them having a free time
032with their phones I'm confused PHS would have done this my kids started opening up with PHS and felt comfortable with him you're robbing our children of a great experience with this wonderful man kids that are seniors don't want nobody graduating them but Mr Phelps you let Fels go as principal because his presence alone was intimidating Mr Carter I don't like your character I had two children last year straight AIDS top of the class for JP King you put them in ISS they were on Med they didn't have no medication you put them in ISS cuz they didn't raise their hand in a science class right let me tell you something I'm the parent that said you either take them out or I'm about to pull up there are kids that are going to the Reset
033program for mental health regular Health whatever but at the end of the day you guys don't care about that you just want a paycheck stop with this foolishness stop trying to act like you're doing something for us cuz you're really not we really want you to be gone if you're not here for these kids please get off the dog on stand cuz we do not need you you guys are a disgrace coach Hill Miss Lawrence and other staff members are a pillar to the community and students oh do you say you care about these kids no you don't I'm going to get documentation for my kids to make sure they have phones cuz my kids need it but I'm tell you one thing and one don't forget these kids had covid too that's why they
034struggling like I said before and I'm going continue to say forever Phelps thank you Seline Edwards Seline Edwards she's having a baby herter having a baby Dr Alvin Harris my name is Alvin Harris I live at 1100 North High Street I grew up in Franklin I attended Franklin City Public Schools I went to a segregated School proud of it w good enough to go to school with white folks at that time we had a school board of white gentlemen whatever decision they made everybody accepted it I'm here to thank you human beings for serving because what I saw tonight this ain't about school and learning this is about a certain level of ignorance that a town with one of the highest poverty rates in Tad water Virginia is proud of a few years back a
035preacher black preacher named Reverend Andrew J Stokes and the Andrew part was Andrew Jackson Stokes told the city of Franklin that they were off course that they thought Union Camp was God I thought Reverend STS was crazy he said Union Camp was going to leave Franklin he didn't know he said God told him that Union Camp is gone and the people who worshiped it as God most of them are gone I had the opportunity to work with some kids in Franklin City Public Schools Franklin City public school has a lot of work to do much of it started 5 years ago when Co came through the children said they can't do homework in the sixth grade they were given grades in the seventh grade they couldn't do homework and all of that you give them
036a test they had serious problems you give them a test with answers in the book they got serious problems so I'm here to ask you to not worry about all this BS that folks are telling you focus on these children because if they don't get an education many of them going to wind up in prison in jail on ski Road in the cemeter and it's more than just one person that folks want to worship it's about the children it's about education it's about giving them Knowledge and Skills so that they can adapt to the changes that are going to occur in this city in this state in this nation and in this world and so it's nice to hoop law and all of that but education is King it knowledge is power thank you Dr
037Harris up thank you all uh for your comments uh we'd like to congratulate the boys basketball team for a wonderful season this year do you have any Miss Parker do you want to talk about SP Morton you want to talk about the PTA at all laptops so Tuesday uh the SP PTA had a AT&T sponsored event for their go Tech go so 25 computers were laptops were awarded to our for to our PTA and we actually gave out 20 five of those to the students who were in need of those so just a thanks to AT&T to the SP Mor PTA for hosting that event board members anything else Dr Carter do we have a motion for adjournment do we have a second all in favor signify by saying I I I oppos no we're
038adjourned thank you