001Alawite County School Board's in session. Madam clerk, Mrs. Perkins, Mr. Collic here, Mr. Cunningham here, Mr. Worooster here, and Mr. Marsh here. Mr. Chair, I move to approve the agenda for close session as presented. Second. A motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, Madam Clerk. Mr. Collic, yes. Mr. Cunningham, yes. Mr. Worster, yes. And Mr. Marsh, yes. Motion passes. Mr. Chair, I move to approve the agenda for open session as presented. Second a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Madam clerk, Mr. Collic. Yes. Mr. Cunningham. Yes. Mr. Worooster. Yes. And Mr. Marsh. Yes. Motion passes. Mr. Chair, I move to go into close session to review the personnel report posted on board docs under personnel tab number 18.1 as authorized by Virginia code 2.2-3711A1 2-3711A1 for purposes of discussion and consideration of
002prospective candidates of Alawite public schools for employment, contract changes, transfers, salary adjustments, supplemental contracts, deletions, supplemental pay, resignations of Alawite County Public Schools employees, and to discuss a matter involving one religious exemption student that would involve the disclosure of information contained in a scholastic record concerning Stu concerning students as authorized by Virginia code 2.2-3711A2 and to discuss and consider one early admission for a student as authorized by Virginia code 2.2-3711A2 involving the disclosure of information concerning identifiable students of Alawite County schools. Second motion a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Madam clerk, Mr. Collic, yes. Mr. Cunningham, yes. Mr. Worster, yes. And Mr. Marsh, yes. Motion passes. Do we have anyone signed up to speak, ma'am? No, sir. Okay. On that, we'll go into close session. Okay. [Music] Alawite County School Board's in session. Mr. Chair,
003I move that the closed meeting was conducted in conformity with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act as required by section 2.2-3712D 2-3712D of the Code of Virginia and certify that only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements were discussed and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered. Second motion in a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Madam clerk, Mr. Collic, yes. Mr. Cunningham, yes. Mr. Worster, yes. And Mr. Marsh. Yes. Motion passes. Over to you, Sh. Will everyone please stand for a moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty
004and justice for all. Thank you. Good evening. Evening. Come on. Good evening. Evening. All right. Make sure everybody's awake. It is May 8th and we are in Westside Elementary School for our monthly a regular monthly schoolboard meeting. Um we'll kick it right over to the Alawite achievers. Mrs. Briggs. Good evening. The vision for Isle of White County Schools is to create a learning environment that will enable every child to discover his or her unique gifts and talents. The White Achiever section of our board meeting gives us an opportunity to recognize and celebrate our students and staff for their unique talents and gifts. And we're going to start with our seniors of the month. Um, and our first one is from Windsor High and I'm not sure if she is here. So, let me just announce
005the senior of the month for May from Windsor High School is Daniela Graawiki Cardinus and Dr. Coleman's going to look around, but I don't think you're going to see Daniellea. Okay. So, um I will read real quick a few things about Daniela. She exemplifies academic excellence, leadership, and a strong commitment to service with a passion for forensic science and a deep sense of justice. She brings both focus and integrity to everything she does. quote, "Danielella is a diligent worker who skillfully balances her academic pursuits, community service, and work responsibilities. Honest and dependable, she consistently follows through on every task, understanding with conviction the importance of education." And that comes from Jennifer Davis, math teacher and Beta Club sponsor. And Daniela will attend George Mason University in the fall to pursue a degree in forensic science.
006So, we congratulate Daniela in her [Applause] absence. Our senior of the month for May from Smithville High School is Donnie Deberry. So Donnie, if you'll come on up. Dr. Coleman has a plaque and a pin for you. And then you'll stand here in front of the table facing the board while I finish reading all these wonderful things about you. And then afterwards for all of our achievers, you're going to follow the same pattern. We'll have you go to the backdrop after each um group is recognized and you can get your picture. So we're going to have you stand facing them. So, let me tell you a few things about Donnie. Donnie is a highly involved student who has made a significant impact at Smithville High School and in his community. He's been an active member
007of both the football and basketball teams and he also participates in several student organizations including Beta, the Green Club, and the Interact Club. Beyond school, Donnie is deeply engaged in his church and regularly volunteers to support his community. Last summer, Donnie earned a prestigious opportunity to participate in the Bank of America Student Leaders Program, an 8-week internship held in Washington, DC. During the program, he collaborated with students from across the country, worked alongside government officials, and engaged with leaders from Bank of America. Donniey's also a respected peer mentor at Smithville High School. As a member of Next Up, the school males mentorship club, he consistently demonstrates outstanding leadership and integrity. His quiet and respectful demeanor positively influences those around him, and his ability to collaborate and lead contribute to the school's inclusive and encouraging atmosphere.
008Academically, Donnie stands out for his intellectual curiosity and passion for learning. His commitment to personal growth is especially evident in his approach to challenges. When faced with difficulty and advanced placement economics, Donnie didn't give up. He adjusted his study strategies, which led to success in both the course and on the AP exam. quote, "Donnie is the quintessential model student because of his thirst for knowledge, his desire to learn, and his perseverance in the face of adversity. Rather than give up or quit on himself, Donnie pivoted by altering his methodology on how to best study and prepare for his advanced placement economics exams, leading to success in both the class and on the exam. As his former AP teacher, I am so proud of his growth and honored to say he is one of my favorite
009students." And that's from Steven KCK, AP economics teacher. Donnie plans to attend the Massachusetts Maritime Academy where he will play football and major in facility engineering. Awesome. Congratulations, Donnie. So, we're going to have you go over to the [Applause] backdrop. And if there are any family members here that want to get a picture, this is the perfect time to come up when we've got them over here for this photo. And you're welcome to hop in the photo as well. So, I I know Donnie brought some guests with him. I saw them come in. There they come. Yep. Some of them are coming up. Come on up. Don't be bashful. Yeah. Come on up. Yes. [Applause] And we will be posting these on our Facebook page. So you'll get to see uh the beautiful picture online.
010A now that is a Christmas card photo. There you go. That really is. It's gorgeous. Wonderful. Congratulations again, Donnie. Very proud of you. [Applause] So, we're going to move on to the Great Computer Challenge, uh, which is one of my favorite events. And Windsor High School students recently participated in the senior division of the Great Computer Challenge last month. The long-running event is a joint project of WHRO, the Consortium for Interactive Instruction, and Old Dominion University. It provides a competitive opportunity for students in kindergarten through 12th grade from public and private schools to demonstrate their knowledge of various computer applications and programming skills. We're excited to recognize the teams from Windsor High School that placed at the competition. Now, I I will say May is a rough month for high school kids because they're everything
011under the sun is happening in May. So, you may hear lots of names. You may not see many faces, but but no, we we're still congratulating them for outstanding um showing at GCC as I call it. So, in computer aed design, Windsor Windsor Zachary Sharp received honorable mention. In graphic design, Windsor High took third place and the team was uh made up of Divinity Robinson, Jakira Jones, and Trayvon Goodwin. In video editing, they took second place. Team members are Mariah Garcia, Nerra Butler, Jamie Scott, and Jalia Hollowman. Uh they Windsor High took second place in desktop publishing. Team members are Javvante McNeel, Journey Johnson, and Jason Langford. And Windsor High earned first place in desktop presentations. And team members are Yansancy Martinez and Desire Pachardo. Coaches are Sharon Smallwood Moore and drum roll Tyler Mosley.
012Who is here? Oh. Oh, who did I miss? Who is that? Divinity. Divinity. Thank you for being with us. Divinity. So, yes. So, Divinity was on the team that took third place in graphic design. Congratulations, Divinity. That's that's wonderful. We're very proud of you and the rest of the Windsor High [Applause] students. Very good. Congratulations once again. Very [Applause] proud. All right. Next, we've got some students who participated in the Skills USA challenge. Uh, first, we want to recognize uh members of the Smithh High robotics team and also the Skills USA welding teams on their outstanding performance at the 2025 Skills USA Virginia State Leadership Conference, which was held back in April. The Smithville High School robotics team made an impressive showing in two separate competitions. Emily Miller and John Worthington, and if y'all are
013here, come on up. captured gold in the mobile robotics technology competition. This rigorous event included three components: the VEX high stakes game, a comprehensive engineering notebook, and a formal interview with judges. In the VEX challenge, teams had just 90 seconds to direct their robot to pick up goals and place donutshaped rings. And we'll get you guys to stop right there and face the Yep. board uh donut shaped rings onto goalposts before transporting them to designated zones. The Smival High team's robot was scored across both autonomous and driver controlled rounds. Their engineering notebook stood out for its thorough documentation, including design process notes, data, and CAD drawings. Emily and John began building their robot in August 24 and competed in the regional VEX competitions in Richmond to refine their design. Their gold medal win qualifies them
014to compete at the National Skills USA Championship in air, excuse me, Atlanta this June. Joining them, we also have Amberllin Fucci and Vincent Jamie Sawyer, who earned the bronze medal in the urban search and rescue robotics competition. Their robot successfully navigated a search area designed to simulate the urban rescue mission, locating hidden ordinances in small inside small structures. The challenge required precision teamwork and communication with one team member guiding the robot operator by using real-time camera feedback. Their engineering notebook and interview performance also contributed to their final score. The Smith High engineering instructor is Heather Greer. Miss Greer, please come and join this wonderful team. Oh, I'm sorry. I just saw backs of shirts, so I apologize. Oh my heavens. No, no, you're fine. Well, congratulations to all of you on an outstanding showing. And
015we'll have you go over here to the backdrop. [Applause] And I'm going to go on to the next group with welding. I'm not sure we have any of our welding participants here, but we certainly want to recognize them. So, if you're here, come on up. Uh, students in the IWCS welding program demonstrated strength and technical skill and teamwork in the Skills USA competition. Nathan Mcdana from Smithl High, Gavin Howell from Smithl High, and Chris Barrett from Windsor High School competed in team fabrication, showcasing their ability to work with various metals, interpret blueprints, and construct complex welded projects from raw materials. James Ferguson from Smithville High competed in the welding, excuse me, individual welding event um at Skills USA. The original fabrication team had previously earned second place in the individual welding category at the district
016level, and the welding program is led by instructor Paul Miller. and we want to congratulate all of those team members on how well they did. Good [Applause] job. Okay, now we're going to wrap up our achievers with um a competition that I think we hear quite a bit. Kidwin. The Kidwin Challenge is a hands-on design competition that engages students in STEM through the lens of wind and solar energy. Student teams design and construct small wind turbines and solar structures that they test and then meet with a panel of industry professional judges to present their design process and demonstrate their contextual knowledge of renewable energy. Teams also engage in a variety of instant challenges to gauge their on the spot teamwork and problem solving skills. Smithfield Middle has six teams placed in the Eastern Virginia Regional
017Challenge and participate in the state challenge held at James Madison University on April 2nd. So, as I call your name from Smithfield Middle and talk about you, please come up and get your pen and stay up here until we get all the smith middle group in front. So, three teams from Smithl Middle competed in the win category. The chill guys placed third at regionals. Team members include Het Perit, Lucas Cester, and Luke Waycastaster, and they were the only team in the state to get 100% on the knowledge quiz at regionals. So, that's impressive. Also, we have the Airbenders who placed second at regionals and went to state competition. Team members are Madison Bogard, Amari Brown, Landon Gibbs, Harley Hubard, and Eastston Saunders. And the Breezy Bros placed first at regionals. Team members for that team
018include Kevin Breland, Bryson Ragnet, Colin Stevenson, and Ben Stimson. In the solar category, Smithfield Middle had three teams compete at the state level. The Mad Scientist team placed third at regionals. Team members are Avery Barefoot, Sophia Hodgeges, and Sydney Shike. The Lasadra team placed second at regionals. And those team members are Britain Hoffman, Shane Lucas, Ryan Morton, and Blake Willilifford. And the Wind and Thunder team placed first at regionals. Team members include Kevin Richterberg, Austin Thomas, and Adam Agorum. And they are coached by technology teacher at Smithl Middle, Danielle Joiner. So I don't think Miss Joiner's up here yet. So Miss Joiner, please. There we go. Very good. Yep. No. No. Very good. So we want to congratulate. What an outstanding showing to have six teams make it to states um from Smithville Middle School.
019Great job everybody. Great job, Miss Joiner. And we look forward to seeing great things from you guys next year with Kid Win. So congratulations and let's go get a picture. [Applause] [Music] And once again, family members, perfect time to come up and get a photo as well. And that's it. That's it. Thank you. All right. Wait a minute. Let's make sure. Wait, wait, wait. We're gonna make sure every parent got a picture. Are we good? All right. They have permission to go. Great job. And with that, that's going to conclude it. Uh, achievers for tonight. I want to uh congratulate once again all of the students and staff that were honored and thank their family members and friends for coming out to support them. Thanks, Miss Brig. And congratulations to all. All right, that takes
020us to eye on instruction. Let you let you young men and women set up whenever you're ready. Miss Warren, do we want to let him get the wiggles out? No. The floor is yours. Hello, we are the Carolton Elementary School Morning Tweet news group. Hi, I'm Trace. I'm the producer of the morning. Hi, I'm Trace. I'm the producer of the morning treat. In the beginning of the year, we offered up a job application for the job we wanted for the morning treat. We interviewed an addition for the job. As a producer, I direct the crew and use technology such as Google Sides and the one for looking for searching views on the broadcast. So, what people see on the broadcast, I used to give feedback and suggestions to my team during the recordings. Hi, I
021am Henry. I am the cameraman for the morning tweet. As the cameraman, I work behind the scenes with the producer to make sure that the morning tweet is interesting for our viewers. I ensure the camera is properly set up as well as the teleprompter to make sure that the morning tweet is interesting for a school community watching. Hi, I'm Travis. I'm an anchor for the morning tweet. Every Monday, the news crew meets during lunch to talk about what is happening for the week at our school. As anchors, we work on the best ways to communicate the news. Hi, I'm Kelsey, an anchor for the morning tweet. As a part of our Monday meetings, we watch videos of local news anchors and mimic their tone as well as how they sit, stand, and use their voices
022to deliver the news. Hi, I'm Asher, a reporter for the Morning Tweet. As a reporter, we pitch our ideas for our weekly ongoing segments. Some segments that we've done include Wacky Wednesday, Teamwork Tuesday, and Find It Friday. We also report stuff that needs to be reported on the morning tweet for that week. Some special segments we've done include Black History Month and Woman histories. Woman history month. We had special segments dressing up students and interviewing them on the morning tweet. Hi, I'm Omar. I'm a berologist for the morning tweet. It's my job to communicate what the weather will be like for our cardinals and how to dress for the weather. Hi, I'm Mlin, an anchor for the morning treat. We would like to thank you for your time. Do you have any questions? [Applause] [Music]
023for the meteorologist. Do you always get the weather right? So, there's like a teleprompter we read and it tells us like the weather and like what to say. Got it. So, what? It's a good answer. Um, I'll let anybody answer. Why do you want to be a part of the morning tweets? I want to be a part of the morning tweet because I want everybody to see me and I want them to have a good time. Got it. I can appreciate that. Anybody else? Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. I like being on the morning tree just to be like shown everywhere. You like being center of the attention, huh? Yeah, I got so much attention. I get it. Okay, I've got a question. Who wants to be in the news or on the news when
024they grow up? No one apparently. That's cute. Okay. Does anybody do sports? Oh, everybody. All right. Great. Everybody loves sports. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thanks for coming up and sharing that with us. Great job. Yeah. You got to get the picture. Yeah. There we go. There you go. Woo! [Applause] Oh my god. Oh my gosh. I got to go out. All right. Well, that moves us into U citizen comments. Madame clerk, do we have anyone signed up to speak? Yes, sir. In accordance to policy BDDH-E, presentation of information on any subject will be concluded at the discretion of the board. No person will be recognized to speak more than once. Citizens scheduled on the agenda to speak will be permitted four minutes maximum time for their presentation. Delegations will be requested to limit their speakers
025to two. Persons speaking are asked to be specific. State the issues for the board's consideration and attach a copy of your prepared remarks. If you have prepared remarks, they should be given to the board clerk. Please do not approach the board members. Any matter relating to specific students will be heard by the school board only in a closed meeting. First, we have Miss Amy Carr. Okay. Do I press anything? No. Okay. All right. Good evening. My name is Amy Carr and I am a fifth grade teacher at Windsor Elementary School. In 2016, I joined Aloite County Schools after spending the first 15 years of my career in a neighboring school district. I chose to come to Aloway for two reasons. I wanted my daughters to have the opportunities of Aloite schools, the opportunities Alawite schools
026had to offer. And at the time, the pay was better. In the nine years that I've been here, the education of Alawait County Schools has remained top-notch. But the pay for its teachers, not so much. When my daughter graduates from Windsor High in two years, I have some serious decisions to make. Will I stay with Alawite County Schools where I drive further and get paid less, or will I try to return to the neighboring school district I came from in order to be closer to home and make thousands of dollars more? In the economy that we're living in today, I'd be foolish not to seek better pay. I am a dedicated teacher that cares for my students, communicates well with their parents, and is always looking for ways to better my craft. I get along
027well with my colleagues and create a sense of community within my classroom. I am not a cocky person, but I do know my worth. You shouldn't want to lose me or other teachers just like me to neighboring school districts who are paying so much more. High turnover rate for teachers is a significant issue in the education system all over the United States. It negatively impacts the students as well as the staff that's left behind. Here's an example. Just this year, a fifth grade teacher at Windsor resigned before Thanksgiving break due to the demands of the job. Instead of hiring a replacement, the remaining fifth grade teachers were required to split the students from this class. This increased my class size from 21 fifth graders to 27. The increased class size increased my workload, which therefore
028increased my stress level considerably. Your teachers in Alawait County deserve to make a salary that will help support their families. Currently, many of your teachers are not only feeling the stress that the job causes, but we're also feeling financial stress. We are wondering how we can pay the bills, the monthly ones, and the unexpected ones. Financial stress leads to anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. It is real and we are feeling it. Stress inevitably leads to negative job performance and teacher burnout. So why should you pay the teachers of Alawite County more? Why should this be your number one priority? It's quite simple actually. We the teachers play a vital and crucial role in preparing the students of Alawite County to be college and career ready. We lay the groundwork for their success now
029and in the future. a minute. Not only are we educating our students in academics, we are helping them build character, values, and social skills. Our job requires extensive training, long hours outside of the school day, and the ability to navigate emotional situations that require a significant amount of patience and flexibility. Increasing teacher salaries for Alowake County will attract dedicated teachers, whether they be fresh from college or veteran teachers like myself with decades of experience. Higher pay is crucial for teacher retention, improving student performance, and closing educational gaps. So my question is, will you make teacher pay raises a number one priority in Alawite County? Are you going to put your teachers first and show them that you support them and the job they are doing? It is my hope and prayer that your answer is
030yes. Thank you. Herb Decraftoft Mr. Chairman, board members, Dr. Kramer, Herby Groth, District number five. I've come this evening to talk to you a little bit about this board's fiscal responsibility and about the teachers appearing before the county soups pleading for their step increase and Dr. Kramer's public corrective action plan for fiscal year 23 and that $345,000 deficit. At the present time, uh, this operating budget and capital projects could cost taxpayers $9 million through a real estate increase of 5 cents per hundred. And that's pretty absurd. This board has a fiscal responsibility as one of their primary responsibility to county taxpayers, your constituents who put you in your seats. This board has the authority to stop the increase in taxes by just making a soup info decisions before the soups do vote on it finally.
031put the old central office complex and the two sped office trailers up for sale. Maybe make a hund half a million. Change the boiler room uh idea of $1.4 million renovation and use those four classrooms that technical staff abandoned. Do that for about a h 100,000 and save 1.2 million. Approve the 775,000 as Mr. Cunningham suggested for renovating the bus garage instead of spending $7.5 million over the next two fiscal years to build a new garage. Vote to guarantee a maximum cost for the Carolton Elementary HVA system replacement at 6 million uh since the accepted low bid was 5.7 million instead of using the entire $7.5 million loan and save of one a.5 million. Dr. Kramer spent funds from two Virginia school construction grants that totaled 4.7 million to build that Taj Mahal central office
032at the old Hardy site with six private bathrooms for himself and his highly compensated cabinet that cost thousands more for each one. As Dr. Coleman informed the IWS board during the 12 December 24 board meeting, he believed the cost of project should be no more than 1.4 million. Well, please ask Dr. framer publicly how much is left from those two construction grants. By this board just doing your job and recouping this money from the five areas I mentioned, you can save a little better than $7 million plus that alleged surplus between now and the end of this fiscal year. You can get close to 10 million. In any case, the step increases for the teachers, as you just heard, has to be one of your, in fact, it has to be your first priority because
033the teachers make the difference in the classroom. As Mrs. Edwards used to say, they don't count in mortar and bricks. It's what takes place in the classroom. And uh, Mr. Edwards was dead on. In any case, um, Dr. Kramer also got a standup desk. I guess he's tired of sitting down. And some new rugs. Gee, I got some spare rugs at home. I'd have been glad to give him. In any case, I attended the supervisor's public hearing and I was astounded at the number of teachers that showed up to get on the board of supervisors about the step increase. That's y'all's job. He has a responsibility to help maintain an adequate and effective teaching staff and recommend to you that we do those step increases. and that has to be the priority for the benefit
034of the children we're educating in this county. In any case, uh I'm asking that you all answer these questions about financial transparency and since it's what you all advocate, hold a special call board meeting and review these things. See if you can recoup some of that $7 million because the taxpayers in this county that are your constituents are going to have to pony up. But do look out for all these teachers and a step increase. And uh have a happy Mother's Day, y'all. By the way, I sent this to you in an email, so I won't give anybody a copy. Thank you very much. Sorry. Go ahead, Caitlyn Britt. Thank you. I appreciate that. All righty. Good evening. My name is Caitlyn Britt and I am here to speak on funding the step increase for
035teachers. I am a reading interventionist and um a parent at Windsor Elementary School. A colleague of mine uses a saying that has stuck with me. That saying is clear is kind. It is clear to me that experienced teachers are one of the most important investments in a school system. As a reading intervention teacher and a parent of three children, I see the benefits firsthand of having teachers who stay in the county and are trained and seasoned with our practices and curriculum. Our students now more than ever need stability. I feel very strongly about keeping experienced teachers in our school. I don't want to have a revolving door of inexperienced teachers. I don't want to have to worry if my children will get a good teacher each year. What is unclear to me is why the
036step increase is being treated as an option and not a priority. Teachers have enough to worry about within the walls of the schools. A step increase should not be something teachers have to worry about for not one but two years in a row. Teachers need to know that we are going to be able to grow financially and be fairly compensated for years of experience and service, not just given a cost of living raise when the governor mandates it. We're already one of the lower paid counties in our area and freezing the steps makes that discrepancy even larger. What is a step? A step is a year of service. Teachers have earned this pay based on how long they've been in the system. When teachers apply to work for the county, the county advertises the teacher
037pay scale and that is how we know what salary we'll make. There is nowhere that I've ever seen it posted that it says sometimes these steps are frozen. Sometimes you don't actually get it. It is the opposite. that it stays year 1 blank amount year 13 blank amount year 30 blank amount. This is a poor leadership decision to not honor the step plan. This is what we clearly sign up for when we agree to teach in Alawway County. The step scale is not new. It has been noted that it has been used in the county for longer than I've been alive. While it is unclear on whose idea it was to treat the step as an option, it has become clear to me that paying close attention to the budget, speaking up, and having these
038difficult conversations is crucial. At first, it seems as if the money wasn't there, but now it looks as though money could be moved around to make this happen. I'm asking the board to clearly make the teachers a priority. I am asking to clearly define the step increase as a need and not a want moving forward. I want to keep our teachers. Thank you. Thanks, Elizabeth Everett. Good. Okay. Good evening. My name is Elizabeth Everett. I'm a reading intervention teacher here in the county and I'm speaking tonight regarding the school budget and the teacher step scale. I was told by numerous people in the county the main reason we didn't receive our pay last year, our STEP pay, was because the board of supervisors is not funding us enough. And I think there's some truth in
039that. However, they're indicating that it was more of a schoolboard decision to put the money in other places. I don't know all the ins and outs of the budget. That's not my job to know. But since we are not being paid to match our years of service, I've begun to make it my mission to better understand it. It seems to me the decision to freeze our step may lie with everyone. The board of supervisors who are being too conservative with their funding and are not prioritizing us like they should and then you all the school board who are approving such budgets that leave us out. However you cut it, it really doesn't matter. The fact is we've been put as a lower priority on more than one occasion. I understand that you're working hard to
040make it happen this year, which is appreciated, but the fact that it's even on a list is a problem. It should just be a part of your working budget. After asking some questions about the budget, I've learned that central office makes multiple recommendations on the budget to the school board. Frankly, we don't feel that there should ever be a proposed budget without the step included. Steps are years of service. It's our desire that the operating budget every year includes the salary adjustment to reflect the step plan that every teacher in this county deserves. This should be a standard way of doing business. is moving forward. We know the reason for this was because we got the 3% from the state, but that's they did not give us that with the intention of you undercutting the
041step. Therefore, it's not a real raise. It's not a real 3%. It's more like a one. This has become a common practice in this county and we can't keep taking it. We're also wondering when the budgets are being made and according to you all, it's very tight. Are any other employees salary such as our central office staff evaluated to see if they too could take a 1% decrease? I I genuinely don't know if that's happening behind closed doors. I applaud it and I appreciate it. But if only teachers salaries are contributing as a way to save money, I think the school division needs to think about what that says about us. If our leaders at the top aren't willing to sacrifice a small portion of their income, why should teachers have to sacrifice theirs? We
042need to prioritize the people in this system first, then the nuts and bolts. This is a hurdle we need to face and get over together. We aren't here tonight to strictly discuss this budget. We are here to talk about every budget moving forward. We don't want to be up here year after year begging for the money that's promised to us that's listed on the county website. It would be easy for us to leave and go to a county that increases our individual finances, but many of us don't want to do that. I live here. My son starts kindergarten in the fall here. I want to invest in my community here. I will forego more money because I want to see this through. I believe there are many great qualities in this school system and that
043we have a chance to improve upon it even more. We need to keep our solid teachers. We need to give them a reliable school system that they can count on and not the instability year after year of wondering what their contract's going to look like and if it'll come up short. We want to have leaders in a school board who are proud of their teachers enough to make sure that they take care of us every year, not just some. We're not asking for you to be financially irresponsible. And you don't and you don't have to be to make us a priority. We're not a dying county in the middle of Appalachia. We're a growing and thriving community who can afford what we're asking. You all are better than this. We are better than this. We
044deserve to have this. We have faith that you all can turn this around. We want to be on the same team and work towards a common goal. Please do your part in helping us get there. Thank you. Thanks, Miss Everett. Do we have anyone else? That's it. So, Miss Everett, Miss Carr, and Miss Britt, I ask you ladies to hang around. So, we we're going to discuss some of this a little bit later on. So, thank you for coming up. And it is. And just for clarification, teachers pay and the step increase was our number one priority. We we'll clarify some of this a little bit later on. All right, that takes us to 141, our student liaison. Cameron. Um, so last month on April 26th, our debate team went to states for it was
045not even it. We've gone just about every year. We placed third overall. Uh, the team at Smithfield and we had individual placings, five different groups, five different individuals, three different groups. Um, the metal detectors are the second thing I was going to talk about. They're going well. People are adjusting and the times for getting in are cutting down with each day and people are really getting used to this new system. In addition to that is teacher appreciation week and throughout the week our SCA has provided different lunches for the teachers and it's been going over smoothly and this week and the week after our AP season sort of PE students are taking their AP exams and so far it's been going well. So that's all I have to report for this month. Thanks Cameron Connor.
046Uh good evening. So right now Windsor is just cruising along. Um as as Cameron mentioned, this week is teacher appreciation week. So uh our teachers have gotten lunch every day. And uh actually today the beta sponsored a teacher car wash. So they could pick a time, come in and we would wash their car. I stayed out there all day. It was hot, but it was worth it because the uh teachers were very, very uh appreciated. Uh last Friday, we had our senior class trip. We went to uh Kings Dom to Minion. Um everybody had fun. We rode. And then when we were done riding, we rode some more. Um so it it was a great time. And then lastly, the uh track is getting worked on. They uh removed the old pavement and um and
047replaced the the new pavement. Now we're just waiting on the tricky part, which is finding the uh right weather and conditions to lay down the actual track itself. But uh that's all I've got. Thank you. How's it look? It looks fabulous. It looks great. Looks great. I put eyes on Smithfield's track, too. It's looking good as well. All right. Appreciate you. No, no, no negative reports. No negative reports. I thought about that leaving my house. I always think about it. I'm like, what am I going to talk about? And I was I was thinking I was like, I don't have anything negative. So, that's a win. So, thank you. That's a win. Thank you, Dr. Coleman. All right. Uh, it's a school night, so I'll defer to you two to make a decision as to
048when you want to pack up and roll out. Hang up as long as you want. I'm good for a little bit. Okay. You take off if you want to. All right. Uh what do we got? Tuition rates 151. Mr. Mr. Chair, I move to approve the tuition rates of $6,000 per student for all students attending Alawway County Schools who do not live within the county in accordance with the provisions of section 22.1-5 of the code of Virginia. And I second it. All right. Any comments or discussion? Uh just a couple questions. You know, when it comes to money, you know, we know money's tight, so I'm always going to have a couple questions on that. Um, is this the same rate that we have uh this current year? No, sir. It was Okay. This is
049the one we voted on earlier in the year. Yes. Um, the current current school year is 5,750. Okay. Okay. And my next question is um how much, if you can figure it out uh on the fly, I'm sorry. Um, does the county contribute per student approximately? What what I want to get at is, you know, we get so much money from the state. Yes. And I want to make sure the county is not footing the bill for people who don't live in the county or who don't work here. Um well, we looked at that for the fiscal year 26 upcoming budget and based on um the county contribution and um the funded ADM which is low um it would be substantially higher. The tuition would be like $6,900. Okay. So the county is paying about
050$900 per student who comes in from out of town. I think that's, you know, in my mind that's kind of steep. We do get ADM for them, right? No, I understand that. I understand that. And but that's after the ADM and everything. It's still, you know. Yes. So this ADM that I used for the calculation is based on what we based our budget on. So it could be low. Okay. So, what I'm trying to get at is, and I thought I asked the question correctly, is how much, you know, how much money is the county paying for each one of the students? You're correct. Okay. You were correct. Okay. So, we're paying roughly countyy's paying roughly $900 per student. phasing is not such a big increase. Yes, we we did talk about phasing it in
051to get it back up there, you know, but to do one in in one year is just a very big jump. It is. I I would agree with that. Um but also asking the taxpayers to, you know, to make up the difference I think is unfair, you know, especially right now when the supervisor considering a a tax increase. Um, so how many students is it? 10 more than 15. Yeah, it's no more than you know 10 to 15 students. Okay. I I think it's low. You know, I'll leave it to the others to, you know, to voice their opinions. Um, if I may say, Mr. colleague. I mean, yeah, I think it's important to note that this has been the case. So, we're asking to increase this and I think Mr. Ver made a really
052important point and that is it's the board's decision ultimately, but to do that one year might be a tad bit steep, but I think that's why we're requesting to have the increase. Right. And you said it's increasing from current year to this $300. Uh, 250. 250. Okay. I I think last year last year we increased it as well and I I was thinking we increased it by about five last year. Yes. And that right school year 24 it was 5216. So it went up to 5750. Yeah. I would I would ask that we do it again and and you know increase it from the current year rates by [Music] $500 which would put it at um we say 6250 6250 Yeah. Is that is that what it would be adding $500 to the current rate?
053Yes, sir. Yeah, honestly chair that's that's what I would propose. Um I I think I would support that. It's I'm just trying to think of uh being on the other end of that. Yeah, I I have no idea what tuition is for IWA or Mansman. I'm sure it's significant. Quite a bit more than what we're charging. Yes, it is. Yeah. Um and I would argue that we are as good if not better than either one of those. Well, um, yeah. I mean, I would support that. What do you guys think? Yeah. What do you say, Mr. Worster? Okay. You want to amend your amend your uh motion? Yeah, Mr. Chair. I would like to amend my previous motion. Now I move to approve the tuition rate of $6,250 per student for all students attending Olive
054White County Schools who do not live within the county in accordance with the provisions of section 22.1-5 of the code of Virginia. Second a motion and a second. Any other discussions? No. Madame clerk. Mr. Collic. Yes. Mr. Cunningham? Yes. Mr. Worster? Yes. And Mr. Marsh? Yes. Motion passes. All right, ma'am. 152, Health Insurance Program and Premiums. Yes. Um I believe you have it on your screen or in your packet. Um the proposed uh tuition rates um they reflect a 22% increase in the actual premium um of which we continue to propose that uh the school board pick up all of um the increase and that all of the employees portion remains the same. And Mrs. It's very just for clarification when we initiated our budget conversations back in January our initial budget proposed based off
055estimates and when we adopted the budget we didn't know definitively what these rates were going to be. So these are these are relatively new based off your work with the consultant. Yes. We received our insurance renewal a week or two ago. Right. Right. So that was after um what the school board had adopted, right? Um this is a little timesensitive. Our open enrollment is to begin next week. Um the consultant is waiting to hear from me this evening so that they can get the information to the printers um so we can proceed with um open enrollment. Understood. Mr. C, do you want to speak about this? Actually, I do. Um, again, you know, we're fighting for every penny we can get. Um, and it it's my position for the last four years, you know, since
056I've been on board. I think this is the fourth one I'm doing. Um, we continue to absorb that, you know, from the school boards and our employees don't have any anything added, you know, to their portion. So, it raises the amount, the percentage, um, that the school board is funding. Um we we we have one plan that we're funding at 95%. Um this the Anthem Healthkeepers HSA 2000 the employee only. So we're funding that at 95%. And then for the other three for the employee and spouse, employee and children and family we're funding each of those at about 80%. Okay. Um and the next line it does it does go down. You know, the Anthem Healthkeepers were funding that anywhere from 71 to 83%. Anthem key HSA 2000 anywhere from 79 to 93%. And the
057Anthem Key PO 500 and that that in my mind is relatively good, relatively where where we should be. We're finding that anywhere from 67 to 78%. you know, so it's my position that the increase um that we have the employees should maintain the current percentage um that they're paying towards their healthcare. If you go anywhere else in industry in the government, you know, uh military retires, when the when the health care costs are increased, the uh employee still has their burden that they have to pay. Okay, their employers for the most part, there are some employers that do pay 100%. For the most part, that car sharing continues. Um, and I just I just think uh that that should that should happen here in this case. Do you yield, sir? Yes. Um, I don't think
058you're wrong. Uh, but I guess my my issue with that, Mr. call it is that we we started this budget work back in January and we unanimously adopted a budget on the understanding that we were going to absorb those premium costs. See, I don't think we had that particular the same amount. It wasn't the same amount, but we voted unanimously with the pre premise that we were going to absorb the health insurance premium increases. and and we discussed this at length. Um my my biggest concern is that we we not only unanimously adopted that budget, we prioritized it and we sent it over to the county and I I've personally been involved with I've lost c lost track of the number of meetings and hours that I've worked closely with the county supervisors to figure
059out a way to make this happen to to focus focus on the salary increases and the step increases and we've discussed surpluses and uh unexpected revenues that are coming in for FY26. We've discussed this at nauseium and the the board of supervisors are literally right now working on their budget. Dr. Kramer and his staff has been working with the county administrator and his staff to get this wrapped up. So, I think to go back and and change the premise is I don't it's counterproductive. I don't think we're changing the premise. I had these exact same questions at a couple different meetings and um Mr. Very told me she didn't have that information and she couldn't answer them questions until she had it. Tonight is the first time that she's got the information for the board.
060I I do not debate that, but when we adopted the budget, we knew that these were I've got it written down with notes. These were tentative tentative uh projections. So in other words, we said pass it and we'll see what's in it later. I'll show you the note quite literally and we could roll the tape. Pending final numbers for FY26. When we were given this a couple months ago, we knew that these were projections. So just last week, she finally got the final projections from the uh consultants that do this. I am not arguing that at all. I I was there, but we didn't come to a conclusion on the insurance until we had the final numbers. You're right. But what we did do and tonight is when we have the final numbers. But what
061we did do is we unanimously agreed because this this directly correlates with salary, right? So one could argue that increasing premiums and increasing salary really negates the other out. No, not necessarily. It will for some, but it won't for all. And we're never going to make everyone happy. My point is we we also unanimously agreed to uh perform a compensation study and that compensation study and that was tied into this very discussion was that we could look across the board of employees and see how we were compensating the different categories of employees whether it be nurses IAS uh our uh teachers administrators across the gamut so that rather than kind kind of guessing and comparing to what other divisions were doing, we could look at this moving forward with a a factual make some factual
062and informed decisions. So I I I don't I'm not saying you're wrong, right? But I think to change what we're doing now given this stage in the game is counterproductive. And I would strongly recommend that we adopt what's being presented tonight and then we move forward and look at it again closely. And I'll add this. I'm going to add this um in the discussions and and Dr. Kramer, Mrs. Diver, you can contest to this. We discussed it during joint session with the county and I've discussed it offline on numerous occasions. There's absolutely a desire at the county to look at our self-funded health health care program and find alternative options to ensure that the health insurance that Alawite County schools the the coverage that our school employees have align with or gets closer in alignment
063with what the county employees have. And I also understand that the percentage per employee that the county plays pays per employee exceeds the percentage per employee that Alawway County Schools pays on behalf of the employees. So to if I can make if I'm making any sense at all, if we were to increase premium rates on the employees today, that delta between what we do for our employees as compared to what the county does for county employees, it increases even more. In other words, the county is doing more by each employee than we are now. So if we raise these premiums, it's going in the wrong direction. Does that make sense? Not sure. I exactly understand. I agree with everything you said except that we finished this because in my mind explain that miss in my
064mind we didn't finish this. Could you help me articulate that a little better about how we pay per employee as compared to the county the average cost? So if you look at the total employer costs um and then divide that by the total number of participants or total number of employees you get an average cost per employee. Sure, I understand that. So what the county is paying is higher than what we are paying per employee. So if we would raise what the employee is paying, that's going to make that even greater. The the difference between what the county is paying on average and what we are paying on average. Uh I think we've been doing this for a number of years and it's become standard practice um to to do it that way. And I
065just I think it's wrong. Okay. I think it's uh using the taxpayers money to give a benefit to our employees and and God love the teachers and everyone else. But our taxpayers don't get this benefit, you know, for the most part with their employers. They they quite literally do. The county employees get this benefit and we're all taxpayers. Um, okay. Your non-county employees, your regular Joe that goes out to the shipyard, goes over to Norphick, works in the hospital, you know, if their insurance premiums go up, their employer is going to make make their personal insurance premiums go up. But if I'm the only one, you know, that feels this way, so be it. Okay? Um, it's just that's that's the way I'll vote. Okay? I I just I'm a firm believer in that. Okay.
066I think it's I think it's more fiscally responsible from an elected person's position um to stay consistent with, you know, what most people do, okay, in regard to insurance. I I appreciate the spirited debate and I think it's it's it's probably good that we don't sit up here all the time singing kumbaya. Like we should have these spirited debates. I would respectfully disagree. Um certainly isn't personal. Uh I think that as a part of the overall compensation package for Alawway County school employees, especially knowing that the county employees have a better deal than the school employees and and really they're all county employees, right? Every one of us. Um it's important to keep that package as as beneficial as we can. Um and I I would applaud Supervisor Roundry and Dafana. Like those two have
067um I don't know the word. They're all in especially given Supervisor Roundry's background in healthcare. They are all in and sitting down with us as soon as this budget's passed and looking at options and exploring options and figuring out a way to reduce premiums and have a better overall health care program for the schools that aligns better with what they're doing at the county level. Oh yeah, I I agree. That's something I've been advocating for and Dr. Coleman would tell you since January of uh what's four years ago in 2021. That's right. And I think I think really we've got the right people in spot right now to make some good positive movement on that. Um I don't want to yeah I don't want to speak for Mrs. Roundtree but she told me and I
068think I could say it in good faith that it's one of her top priorities as soon as the budget's done is to sit down with county and school and figure out how to do better for the healthcare. Absolutely. And and I want to get on board and work hard to make that happen. Mr. Mr. Chair, if I may. Yes, sir. Thank you both for making really valid points and to your point, Chair Marsh, we will be having a very extensive and robust conversation regarding health care as we enter the next budget cycle. I think my concern um board member Collin again I think you make very valid points is the timing of this. This is timesensitive. Mr. Very and I had that discussion earlier. uh she stated she's going to be communicating with our provider
069this evening. Uh this will delay obviously our ability to get this information out to staff. Would you speak to uh the ramifications of this, Mr. Vary, if for some reason this is delayed and it's not approved this evening? Um then open enrollment is going to have to be delayed which is already scheduled. um preliminary information has already been sent to employees and it's also stated that there would be no increase to um employees because we we talked about that early on. I think that's part of the case I'm trying to plead Mr. Ka because we've already we've already publicly discussed that we weren't going to raise health incur health premium increases. we were going to take that on board as a school and to go backwards on that now I think is uh Mr. Chair,
070may I add just a little piece of information? Uh Miss Sullivan isn't able to be here tonight, but this past week um she offered 10 positions to teachers. Eight declined due to salary and benefits. Eight declined. We have a number of positions that we need to fill. And I greatly worry that if we were to change this, that's only going to hurt our benefits package, therefore the salary. Um, we're struggling as it is to get teachers right now. That's the reality. I just wanted you to know that. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a couple of questions for uh Mr. Barry. Yes, ma. Yes, sir. Um, and I know we've we've spoken about this before, but I'm sitting here. I'm looking at the uh various health care premiums um monthly contribution from the employer
071and the employee monthly contribution and I'm looking at multiple figures. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the average person probably going to Well, you tell me. Um which which one is more prevalent? the employee only, employee plus spouse, employee plus children, or the family plan. I would say the employee only is the most. Okay? Because I'm I'm looking at this and if you look at the family plan, then you're looking at the employee monthly contribution of 467 for Anthem Healthkeepers, uh, the HSA. But if you drop down to Anthem Key, you're looking at $2,121 per month. Looking at different types of insurance, are we looking in the future? Are we looking at different health care providers to improve on these monthly contributions and give a better coverage option? Absolutely. you know,
072we want to explore all of our options. Um, and with one of the of course cost is always a a determining factor, but we want to improve the level of benefits that the employee receives. Uh, for instance, on this first one that you mentioned with the HSA 2000, you know, an employee has to meet a $2,000 deductible first. Um, the other ones um have a $500 deductible. So, not only are they paying higher per month, they also have to meet a deductible until certain, you know, insurance coverages kick in. So, that's where where what I mean by saying we want to improve the benefits that they get. Um, lower deductibles and co-pays when they have to go to the doctor's office. Um, you know, we'll look at the pricing of the tiered pricing with all
073the pharmaceuticals, with the medication, you know, what how much do you pay out of pocket if you have to go to the emergency room or hospital stay, you know, all of those types of benefits. Um, that's what we really need to look at improving as well, right? Um, and I may be doing apples to oranges comparison here, but with me for example, being being a federal employee, I have the uh Blue Cross Blue Shield federal employee program. I'm nowhere near to these premiums and I've got employee and family. So, that that's another thing I'm looking at. Also, when looking at board of supervisors or county employees, are they utilizing the same health care providers that we have listed here? Um, I believe there there the program they're using is called the local choice, which is
074a pulled health insurance program um that's offered within the state. So, it's a a whole bunch of other local governments, school districts where they all pull together to provide health insurance, but it is still through Anthem. So, it's the same um provider. How about the uh the premiums? I don't know off the top of my head on their premiums. Okay. Yeah. But I know the benefits are are better. Yeah, personally looking at this, I I seriously think we should be looking at various health care providers and looking at different options because this to me is atrocious. Agreed. I mean, when we look at this too, we need to look at all the options. meaning we may very well stay self-insured but go with a different provider or we may look at a pulled you know
075like the local choice program. That's where we have to look at all of the options available not just think we're staying self-insured or we're going you know another way too. We got to look at all of them to see what's best for both of us the employer and the employee. There's also something that's not captured on this chart and that's the retirement, right? And and I bet Mrs. D can speak to this better than I can, but if a county employee retires, they have options for health care afterwards. I'm not familiar with what they do, but here you um if you retire before the age 65, you can stay on our health insurance up until that age, but you pay, you know, 100% of the cost, right? So you it's it's 65 not good. And
076and how many teachers teach till the age of 65? Not very many. Right. I mean insurance keeps them there, right? Sure. The e-rip is a blessing. The extended retirement incentive program. I think that's a blessing for those that opt to do that. Um but that's if I was retiring as a teacher, that would certainly be something I'd be considering. Make a motion somebody or we want to talk about it tomorrow. Um, I'll make a motion. Yeah. Um, I move to approve the 2025 2026 health insurance program rates as presented. Second. Motion in a second. Any other comments? Can we have a a gentleman's agreement? We'll fill Mrs. Perkins in when she gets back with us that this will be a top priority moving forward. Depending the outcome of the vote here, we'll Either way, we're
077going to sit down and work hard with the county and look at some better options for the employees. We have to. We have We do. We have to. Let's take a vote. Mr. Collic, no. Mr. Cunningham? Yes. Mr. Worster? Yes. And Mr. Marsh? Yes. Motion passes. Seems like a perfect transition into the monthly financial reports. Yes. I was very appreciative of having all of my items right here in a row. That's very nice. Um not much to point out um on the financial reports, especially with regard to the general fund. Um you'll see um it's all positive. Uh year to date, we have uh 5 million additional in revenue than we do in expenditures. However, the spending plan compared, you know, looking at your budget, um, expended year-to- date and comparing it to last year,
078we're right at around the same, about 81.1%. [Music] Um, I will bring up the health insurance fund. Um, as you can see, claims are still uh 34% ahead of where they were this time last year. Um and unfortunately I am seeing because we just have two months left but I am projecting that we will uh we'll have a shortfall in the health insurance fund meaning our expenditures are going to exceed the revenues and I'm thinking it's going to be in the neighborhood of $60,000. Now, if you'll recall, we do have reserves within our health insurance fund of about 1.3 million. So, we will be, you know, dipping into that that fund reserve um in order to to cover this this projected shortfall. So, Mr. Vary, well, there's a lot of people watching, right? We've talked
079about all this stuff before, but I think just for the sake of uh transparency and and some people haven't some folks haven't been watching this from the onset. So, the health healthc care fund for Alawawai County schools and these are my words. You can use a proper verbiage if you want. Legally, that's the only contingency fund we're we're allowed to have. Reserves. Reserves. Right. I call it contingency. You call it reserves. We are the schools are not allowed to carry a reserves fund. Correct. Uh our appropriating agency, the county, they are fortunate enough to carry a they call it the rainy day fund. So we bottom line, we don't have that for the health care. The recommendation, as I recall, is three months worth of claims. Yes. And what does that dollar amount based off
080our current claims? What is three months worth of claims? It's probably close to two and a half million, but we've been trying to get it at two 2.2, right? Because we weren't, you know, we had 1.3 at the end of last year. So, we weren't quite there even going into this year. So, for those folks that are watching and looking intently at the financial summary, if you look at the health insurance fund, you'll see that we have a a current balance of one 1.2 million plus or minus. Yes. And we're supposed to be maintaining 2 2.2 2.2. So we're about a million dollars short of what's recommended. And why are we recommended to have that much of a reserve fund uh for extending circumstances when you have, you know, your claims um go up even
081higher. So god forbid an employee goes out, gets hurt, and it's a half million dollar medical plan. We we do have a stop-loss okay policy. So, and that is limit limited to $125,000 per employee per um covered event. Okay? So, they can't, you know, the stop-loss provision or stop-loss insurance kicks in um if you were to have a situation like that, anything above 125. And we are expecting, and I've already taken that into account, we're expecting about $70,000 back from our stop-loss insurance. Good. So again, just for the listening audience, any any unlikely or let's say un let's hope it doesn't happen. We were to surplus or that reserve, then what would we be? What would we do? um claims jump up and our $1.2 million is zero. We're negative. What would we do if
082you do not have the excess funds within your general fund at the time? You know, like how we're going to talk about here shortly, you would need to go back to the county and ask for an additional additional funds. That's what I wanted to get out, Rob. So, I think it's important that everybody understands that's that's why we have that reserve and that's the recommended amount so on and so forth. I'll let you carry on. Um, with regard to the financial report, that's all um that I wanted to point out. Um, so any questions anyone might have? I would like to just carry on this dialogue here again because people are watching. Um and we've got three of our teachers sitting over there watching intently. Um let's let's talk about this projected surplus a little
083bit if we could. Okay. For fiscal year 25. Yes. And I want to I want to be clear to everybody watching and listening that we're talking only about the current fiscal year 25 which ends June 30th. So we're not talking about next year. It's from now until June 30th. Um I believe we have um So it can go up on Perfect. Perfect. Go ahead. If you would if you would entertain my rambling for a bit. Again, we do not have a reserve fund. We don't have that luxury. Correct. So, we the schools are are tasked with budgeting 12 months out and we do that without knowing indefinitely how much revenue we're going to have and without knowing indefinitely how much revenue we're going to expend in a 12-month period. Uh, for the listening audience, that's
084a that's that's a huge undertaking. It requires a lot of work, a lot of monitoring. Um, and it really it never stops. And and the longer I sit up here and dig into these numbers, the more I learn and appreciate what an undertaking that is. The county does it on on a on the same scale. Um, but they do have a cushion, and that's not throwing shade to it. It just is what it is. Um, but they too, just like us, they budget the same way. They budget for revenues in at the end of the year. In a perfect world, it zeros out. um that $3 million, that estimated surplus, where did that revenue come from? Um that is a projected savings in salaries and benefits due to vacancies we've had throughout the year as
085well as attrition. So that's what I am projecting we will have and it's it's not necessarily revenue, it's a savings on the expenditure side. So, just for simple examples, and I'm a simple guy. Uh, if we have an employee that makes $100,000 a year, and for whatever reason that employee resigns halfway through the year, that's $50,000 that we could potentially find in surplus. At the same time, we have to hire and fund a substitute teacher. Yes. So, it's not always dollar for dollar. Correct. And another good example is if we have a entry level teacher, zero experience, they're going to fall in at the bottom of the pay scale. Pick a position, any position. That position, excuse me, that position is still budgeted for the top of the pay scale or is an average. Um,
086well, it depends on if it was if it's was currently a vacancy at the time of budgeting, then I believe we we we don't do it at the very lowest. So, but if the position was, you know, there was somebody that was filled, then we're going to budget it based on that person's, you know, salary at the time, right? I think it's fair to say that it has to be a conservative estimate. Otherwise, if you're not conservative, you can potentially end up at the end of the year with a deficit. And we've lived through that. Um, so can we talk about the line items? Walk us through this. So we've all we've all heard this. Walk us through for the public your uh your itemized list up there if you would. Sure. So currently the
087projection um for the just the savings and salary and benefits is $3 million. Um, so what has to come out of that first is there is a shortfall in state revenue due to a reduction in our ADM. And ADM is average daily membership. We budgeted an average daily membership of 5,410. the state measures and um will look at your current year's revenue numbers based on your March 31st ADM. And that ADM came in at 5,332. And to be clear, that's about 114 kids that we fell short on estimating. and we adopted our budget to present to the county before we received these final numbers. Well, this is the current year 25, right? Yes. But we we approve the budget on an estimate and at the end of the year, we get the final outcome. Yes.
088So, we literally adopt the budget before we know exactly how much money we're going to get. Yes. Yes, sir. And in this instance, we were $682,000 off from the state revenue. Yes, we will be be short $682,000. Got it. If if that happened and we didn't have any reserves from salary and benefits, what would we do? We would have to go back to the county and ask for more local funds. That's right. The point I'm trying to make is when you're doing these budgets, and I've I've told Dr. After cramming this repeatedly, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. If you end up with a surplus, the perception is you didn't budget correctly. If you end up with a deficit, the perception is you didn't budget correctly. So, the best you can
089do is be conservative. And and this year, I think it's a welcome change to be discussing a surplus as opposed to the last time we were trying to figure out what we were going to do with a deficit. if you could carry on please ma'am. Thank you for entertaining this. Yes. Uh the next uh shortfall in revenue that I'm projecting is with uh federal and local sources. For instance, impact aid. It's not going to come in quite as high as we had budgeted. On the local sources is uh tuition. Um as you approved earlier uh we budget for a certain number of students. We did not receive that many. So therefore, we're not going to get that tuition amount. So that totals about almost 46,000. And to some degree, moving forward, what Mr. Collik's motion
090was to raise the tuition is going to offset some of this for the coming year. Yes. Yeah. So I I think that's a wise decision, sir. And I glad we brought that up. Uh supplements. So supplements and stipens. Um the ones that I'm referring to um are like for coaches and the spring coaches, those are paid in the month of May. And when I first did the salary and benefit projection, I did not take that into account, that one-time payment in May. So that's why I'm needing to subtract that here. It's not that it wasn't budgeted. It was budgeted. It was just I didn't include it in my projection. Understood. For for the surplus. Understood. The next item is um the governor and general assembly have approved a $1,000 bonus for SOQ positions um teachers
091and instructional. But as you know, we have many more positions and many more staff than what we are funded for for SOQ. So in order to provide everyone the same $1,000 bonus, it was we will need to contribute an additional $750,000. Now, it's important to note that this bonus that they provided said it did not require any local match. So, we are able to do this because of having these additional funds um you know the savings and the salaries and benefits. So, I estimate it should be around $750,000. So, I appreciate you bringing that up. So when when this board ranked and prioritized our priorities, this did not make the quote required list because it wasn't required and and Governor Yncan was clear that it wasn't u there was no required local match. But this
092is in 252, right? So this at any rate, we we didn't budget for it. Correct. And because we don't have a contingency or a reserve fund, we don't have $750,000 sitting around in a reserve fund to make sure that all employees get a bonus. So, a part of this surplus that was a result of excess from salaries and benefits, we're proposing to roll that into the $1,000 bonus so that not only the SOQ funded positions get it, everyone gets it for the division. Correct. And this was this is something that came out of the general assembly. Um it wasn't in the red, you know, original uh bienium budget. This was something that just came out this year. um through the general assembly and the governor approved. Correct. The next line um utilities, you know, our
093electricity, water, sewer. Um it has historically been underbudgeted. Um, and I'm projecting that we will need an additional $158,000 over what we budgeted in order to um settle out for the year. So hopefully I'm uh I'm at that a little high, but I can, you know, I look at what we paid last year, look at what we've paid year to date. You know, your utility bills normally do not go down. That's correct. The next item that I have to take into account when I'm trying to project a year in balance is other items like acred salaries and benefits. These are um like time like for instance um somebody that retires when after they retire we pay them out their balance of their leave that does not get done till July. So since that referred to
094or pertained to the fiscal year 25 we have to acrue it back standard accounting procedure but it takes money to do so. So that's why I have subtracted it out of this excess as well. And the the acred salaries and benefits that's not captured in your salaries for the year. No, we don't do an outright um different budget line for it since you it's really difficult to to try to project. You don't know if someone's going to retire. Correct. Got it. And then the next item is some unexpected repairs that have come up uh most recently which um Dr. Coleman can speak to if you'd like more detail on them. I I've got some notes and I can rattle them off. Again, I think it's fair to say that this board prides itself on being
095transparency. We're open book, so there's no secrets here. Um, and you keep me straight, doc, if I misspeak, but you're looking at roughly 60k to rehab some buildings down at Carsville. Correct. Um, that is correct. Right. Uh, there are some issues that need to be repaired over at the land lab. um slope and grade and then the smoke detectors. I think it was this year we had ongoing issues with those smoke detectors going off and Windsor fire department responding to Absolutely. That is correct. That issue has been fixed and the landl drainage issue has been fixed also. Right. Uh there was a big giant crater drainage hole in the middle of the Smithville High tennis courts. That is correct. The drainage pipe was under the tennis courts. Uh Smithville High School and Windsor High School
096field lights were repaired. I think we had some throwing sparks. If memory serves, uh that was last year with throwing sparks and replacing light bulbs at this time. The Windsor High wait room HVAC. I think you said it was moldy and it was uh it went out maybe last year, Mr. Connors might know, but it was repaired and now the weight room does have an HVAC system once again. Good. It's a good place to have a little fresh air. Uh the concession stand. I think you told me that they were looking at failing a health inspection. Absolutely. You had to make some repairs on that. No hard water and ventilation. Yes, sir. And then uh there's a non-pable water well at Smithfield High that's used to irrigate the fields. Yes, sir. For the baseball and
097softball fields. So those are all unexpected repairs. They didn't make the capital request. These are things that need to be fixed. I think everyone argued that this is Yes, sir. stuff that certainly needs attention. So where does that put us, Mr. Vary? At the end of the day with your projections, that leaves a balance of $752,000. Right. However, as I mentioned just a couple minutes ago regarding our health insurance fund, um since we're going to more than likely be dipping into the reserves for a like amount, um Dr. Kramer, I believe, will recommend to the school board that we take any money we have remaining here and move that to the health insurance fund. That is correct. Let me start right back where we started. The current healthc care balance, reserve balance of 1.2 million.3
098is recommended to be 2 three and we're trying to get closer to that recommended balance. Yes. This is very fluid. You know, still have two months. Um, and you know, as you also know too, the final sales tax numbers that we we takes us until almost September till we get those. Hopefully, they will be a little bit higher than what we have budgeted, but we won't know in a couple months. You know, there there's I got to address this. So, if you read the newspaper, you'll see that there's accusations that the school has been uh perhaps disingenuous or withholding information. Look, we're wide open. There's the books. That's it. The only reason this hasn't been publicly spoken about before is because we found out after our last board meeting. So, and these numbers are always
099a moving target. So, anything else, gentlemen? want to take five. Are we at a spot or do we want to finish up financials? I would just like to just give you a couple more things um with regard to the fiscal year 26 budget if that's okay. I absolutely and I know that's what these three young ladies over here are anxious to hear about. Yes, Mrs. Brit's giving me the stink eye. Do I do not have this to go um up so I'll just kind of go through um a little bit more quickly. So, the governor adopted the budget last Friday. Um, the general assembly did put out our count tool, which is where we get all of our our numbers of state revenue, and they put that out when they finished um with their recommendation
100back in March. However, as you know, the budget that Dr. Kramer presented and you subsequently adopted was based on the governor's budget. So, since the governor adopted and we know that there um were no changes to what the general assembly had uh recommended, we have been told by several state officials that the Cal tool that's out there right now, that is what it should be or very close. And with that, um we are should be receiving an additional 1.2 million in state revenue. And this is as compared to the amount that was reflected in the budget that you adopted. So it's an additional 1.2 meaning that we should be able to cover your number one priority which was the step increase or is the step increase. Say that again. We we should we will be
101able to cover the school board's number one priority of a step increase. and that was a estimated about 521,000. Thank you, ma'am. So, ladies and everybody else who's watching right now, uh now that this board has talked about this publicly, [Music] uh I believe Dr. Kramer's already had some initial talks with the county administrator. Uh we've been working back and forth to figure out a way so that the county and the schools can make sure that you teachers get your step increase. Everything you ladies said, I don't think anyone's going to argue with that. To deny you a step increase is just it's just bad business. I I don't like it. Mr. Worooster and I were talking about it just the other day. We're both federal employees. We too have a schedule and if you
102were to tell me on my mark to get a step increase that I wasn't one get gonna get it. I would lose my mind. Uh the board of supervisors also appreciate and recognize that. So while you didn't necessarily see all the behind the scenes work to make this happen. Um and this lady right here gets most of the credit. It looks like, and it's not official until the county approves the budget, but it looks like we're going to make sure that you get your step increase and that's and that's on top of a 3% cost of living. Yes, ma'am. So, the county has already verbalized that that was going to happen and I think they talked about it publicly when Mr. Keaton presented his budget to the county. They're looking at giving us everything that
103we had listed as required and they were they were hung up on the step increase. So that's $520,000, which is almost a one cent increase on real estate tax. Well, that may not seem like a much by itself, but when we look at all the other stuff that those uh supervisors have to deal with, it's a lot. And so there's there's a constant balance of who's getting what and how it's going to get allocated. Um, if you take nothing else from my rambling tonight, please know that this board and the county board of supervisors absolutely worked hard and continue to work hard to make sure that everybody gets everything we can. So, there'll be some other revised changes, but just to remind you and and everyone else that may be listening, you have a special
104board meeting scheduled for May 29th. Yes. at which time we will um address or look at um the fiscical year 26 budget. Hopefully we can Dr. Kramer will make a recommendation for you to adopt. We'll be looking at the salary um scales um the employee rosters um this officially um approving this $1,000 bonus. Um trying to think I think that's everything. And once everybody signs the budget and everybody's happy and we're moving forward to fiscal year 20 looking forward six7, right? Um we're still moving forward on a compensation study. We are sir. Okay. Hopefully I think we're looking at uh July one once we get into the new fiscal year. Yes. We hope to get quotes this summer to get that underway. That should be interesting. And again, we're going to work closely with the
105county and revisit in depth the healthcare. Mr. Chair, if I may, I think you and Mr. Ver stated this, but I think it's also helpful to be somewhat redundant so that people can hear this. I think one of the huge benefits you spoke about the savings for the 2025 year and so did Mr. vary. That's going to enable us to honor the bonus for the nonSOQ positions without having to go back to the county. So, that's really important. Additionally, with the additional revenue, the 1.2 additional dollars we're getting from the state, that will allow us to provide the step increase without having to go back to the county for additional revenue. So, we're able to provide these additional benefits to our employees without needing additional revenue from the county. And I I don't think that
106that can be overstated. I agree, sir. I I did, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one that got an email. One of them may have come from one of you three ladies about if we've got three million left over in surplus, why can't you just give us our step increase? That's a valid question, right? Um, and I may goof this up, but if you take a surplus for fiscal year 25 and you just roll it over to fiscal year 26, you've just rolled over excess, but you've also raised the floor for the operating budget so that years following that, you would also have to maintain that standard. And by just rolling over revenues that are a surplus from one year into another fiscal year, in my mind, you're essentially writing a check that you
107don't know if you can cash. Another way to to put it too, if I may, is that um you don't want to take one-time money because the savings is one-time money and you don't want to apply it to a recurring operating expense. So that's That's the way. That's why you're the CFO and I'm just a knucklehead board member. Thank you. But you said it well too. Probably not. Anything else? Are we good for a break point? All right, let's take five. Yeah, we're back in session. It's all you, ma'am. Uh, good evening, uh, Chairman Marsh, Dr. Kramer, board. My name is Tiffany Truit. I know that I've been up here a few times, but I don't actually think I've ever kind of fully described or explained, uh, what I do here at central office. So,
108uh, as an instructional coordinator, I have the extreme privilege of working with secondary English, uh, gifted in history, and K through2 fine arts. And tonight, I get to share some wonderful highlights of the work that teachers and students in these disciplines uh, have been doing the past two years uh, to celebrate Virginia 250. So what is Virginia 250? So Virginia 250 was launched by the state in 2020 to help Virginia recognize and reflect on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Uh the celebration started last year and it's a three-year celebration and uh particularly what is very exciting about uh this is it highlights uh what role Virginia played and what role our own uh local uh history played in the founding of our country. And so uh students and teachers from all of the
109disciplines uh that I listed have been contributing to contributing to this work uh for the past several years. So here's just kind of a brief overview of our project. So we have again we started last year with the mural project at Cantara St. Luke's. Uh this year we did our student podcast and we had our gifted and talented night and then we will share kind of at the end what we uh plan to do for next year. So a little bit about the mural. So this was our first project to highlight this event. So we were actually uh approached by Santara St. books. Uh they had a common space that was used uh by the community for a variety of reasons. In fact, we use it now for our new teacher academy. Um the the
110space needed some renovation and they wanted to kind of incorporate some local history. And so they uh came to my office and asked if Smithville High School would be interested in uh creating and painting a mural in this space. And so I brought it to um some wonderful history teachers and their art department and I said, you know, what are your ideas for this space? And they're really the ones who came up with this uh brilliant project. And so students in the Virginia US history courses at Smithville High School uh explored local history and with particular uh attention to our role in the Virginia 250 concept and they identified uh local structures that they felt best represented the Alawawai area. Um so that included um Windsor Castle, St. Luke's itself. Um, and these history students
111had to design how those particular buildings would be represented in the mural and then make the argument to the art students about what particular structures should be included and why. And then the art students then had to design the mural, price out how much the supplies were going to be, go to the space, draft it out, and uh we were lucky enough actually to get um some news coverage for this uh project by channel 3. And so hopefully this works so you can kind of get um some additional background on the project. I'm April Love at Centa St. Luke's in Carolton and the campus just unveiled a brand new mural that showcases the rich history of Isa White County. Let's go check it out. We are um excited to show you guys the mural that
112Centa was able to partner with Smithfield High School's fine arts department and the history department on designing and painting for us. This was Isa White County School's first project for the Nationwide America 250 project. It highlights the importance local history has played in the founding of our country and we realized the opportunity to engage our students across multiple subjects is a fantastic opportunity. The mural is located inside the community room. Christopher says nonprofit organizations can reserve this room for free. So, we were wanting to bring some more life to this space. So, one of our opportunities was to be able to have this mural um represent different elements of the history here in Isle of White. It feels really good. Um, a little exciting. Um, but it feels really great to know that I was
113able to help with expressing our history to other people who may come in and see it. Avery is a junior at Smithville High School. She was one of more than 60 art and history students involved in the mural project. I did some of the color blocking on the left and a little bit on the [Music] right. We have the mansion on Main Street, which you know, Main Street is a staple of Smithfield, historic Main Street. We have St. Luke's Church, St. Luke's Historic Church, which actually predates the town of Smithfield. It's older than Smithfield. Right here we have the Windsor Castle Park, which again, you know, predates Smithfield. And we have the schoolhouse museum which actually was a celebration. It was created to commemorate Jamestown's 400th anniversary in 2007. So here we are now including
114that commemoration in our own commemoration for uh VA 250. And lastly we have the Smithfield station which is a staple of culture, you know, good food, uh good time with people in Smithfield. And then you got the pigs. And then we have the pigs. This is Smithfield. You got to have the pigs. QR codes will be added to the mural. You can scan them with your phone to learn more about the painting. The school will add more artwork to St. Luke's here soon in Carolton. April Loveland, News 3. I'm April Loveland at Santara St. Luke's. I'm April Lovelin at Santara St. Luke. All right, so last year we kind of just dipped our toes in the water and then we just wanted to make it uh a bigger and more rich experience this year. So,
115uh, in February, uh, Windsor High and Smithville High during their eye on instruction presentations talked about their podcast. Uh, these students visited, uh, St. Luke's Historic Church, the museum, the courthouse. Again, um, doing research, working with his local historians about, um, again the lo, uh, the role that our our city and town played in the American Revolution. And then just last month, um, we kind of wrapped up that project where students held a discussion panel at the museum, um, where they kind of gave their final thoughts on the project, what they learned, uh, and not even what they learned just about local history, but what they learned about collaboration as well. And so the project resulted in um what's called the revolutionary roots uh website which I think Miss Briggs is either has or is
116in the process of uh linking on our district school website. Um and you can find all of the student podcasts on here, their research, creative writing samples, um the video that Mr. Elliot made outlining what went into the project. Um it truly is something special. Um, and I hope that everyone has the opportunity to look at it. We actually were highlighted um by the Virginia 250 commission for this work. And so I just want to kind of bring attention that this is out there in the universe. I did get to play around on it and and listen to some of the interviews and it's obvious they spent a lot of time on it. They they really did and and this is a course where many of them are taking so just to um be able
117to manage both of those even from the teacher side is really impressive. Of course, then we had our gifted and talented night. So, this is our second year of what will be an annual event. And so, um to kind of honor this Virginia 250 theme, we encourage both our teachers and our students to explore that concept in a variety of ways. Um if you're unfamiliar with the gifted and talent tonight, um every single school is represented. We probably had close to 400 kids perform and or present. um students from our gifted programs, our math plus programs, and all of our fine and performing arts. So, just to kind of give you an example of the connection to the Virginia 250 theme, um all of the musical performances were encouraged uh to select at least one
118musical piece that connects to Virginia 250. And you can see some examples here on the screen. Um, while not all of these songs were directly written during that time period, um, kind of those overarching themes of liberty and patriotism and what it means to be an American, um, are clearly represented. And of course, we have some examples here of some of the artwork, um, some of the student projects and I would like to point out particularly uh, the upper right hand corner. Um, that student whose name is Canon uh, made a cannon. So, we lovingly call it Canon's Cannon. And this was in the uh gifted middle school elective course. Um where they kind of had a lot of freedom to choose how they wanted to represent their learning. And these students also um went
119on field trips to visit local historical sites. And I believe I saw on social media that he dedicated his entire spring break uh to creating that project, which it's been a long time since I've seen students that excited about learning and wanting to expand it outside of the classroom. And that is much to the credit not only of the students but the teachers. Um and so what are the benefits of doing projects like this? So for teachers, we saw a lot of crosscurricular collaboration. It's not often time times that you might see um you know a ninth grade creative writing student collaborating effectively with an 11th grade history student but we have many examples of that. Um but they're also aligned to our standards. It takes our standards which we are um held accountable for
120teaching but expands it beyond that. I can learn about the American Revolution but when I can tie it to local history it's much more important and those are the things that I'm going to remember. It helps us build leadership with our students. I think you know, Chairman Marsh saw the the website and listened to some of the podcasts. Those were totally student driven. Um we just facilitated the learning and it's really amazing to see what young people can do. Um they for students, you know, they develop research, communication, creativ uh creativity skills. That's creativity. Um they for our community, we we are inviting now families back into our buildings. Before the pandemic, Alawite County was known for like their, you know, PBL expose and and families being uh true partners in our learning and and
121we're trying to bring that back through this project. And then, of course, we're now making better and stronger connections with our local historians and our tourism community. So, speaking of what can we expect in 2026? So some of the things that we've been discussing is the implications for our CTE courses and how we can get our history students and fine art performing arts students uh to collaborate on some additional project. So, just one like dream of mine for next year uh would be to have our culinary students um informed through the work of our history students recreate a meal from that time period um and using the same cooking methods and recipes and just so we can authentically experience what that would be like or having our nursing students talk about medical treatments during that
122time period, especially during times of battle. um looking forward to uh meeting with hopefully our director of CTE to make these these things happen. It takes a lot of work to coordinate. Um and then we actually were through our connections that we've been making with tourism. Um we've been invited to participate in the sail 250 program. Not sure how many people are aware, but a tall ship is actually going to be docking here um next not this June, next June. And so our students are already committed to presenting in the art show there, but hopefully looking for other ways that we can collaborate as well. So again, just wanted to provide you an update on where we are with this and then potential things to come. Any questions? No question. Just kudos. It's it's obvious
123that you found a way to uh make history fun. Yeah. I think most kids, mine included, don't really care much for history. So, if you can make that fun and get them excited about it, which you've obviously done, kudos to you and everybody involved. And and truly, I can't stress enough how um talented our teachers are, and I'm so happy that you guys are supporting them with the step increase. I want to particularly shout out the three teachers who were involved and they just won an aisle award. I think Dr. Kramer will talk about it, but with the podcast, all of those teachers are secondyear teachers. So to see the commitment that they're already exuding is just truly something to celebrate especially during teacher appreciation week. So awesome. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Coleman. Mr.
124Board chair, school board members, operations report. First, I'd like for to pull up the bus pictures. Bus pictures. All right. So, three of the five buses have arrived. So, this is a great thing. The expectation the expectation for the buses to arrive was between 12 and 18 months. uh because we sent off last year a letter of intent early to the company, we're able to proceed forth. We're we're trying to wait as long as we can this year just to ensure that we're going to have the funds, but a letter of intent will be issued again this year uh on behalf of IWCS to start the process uh for the five buses once again. The other two buses should arrive later this month. home, right? And go to the next. But that's all of the
125wonderful buses. I think Mr. Woo has already had an opportunity to go out and I don't know if he drove one of the buses, but he did get let you drive it. I drove some burnouts. Also, along with the transportation, just uh Mr. Fike did not have opportunity to be here tonight, but MA View will be rolling out. Uh the Carolton parents should expect Thank you. The Carsville parents should expect uh information going out concerning my view. Once again, it is a pallet program. We're still working through all of the details. So, we ask that everyone has patience, but this is something that not only the board, but the community asks for. All right. Right ahead, Mr. Cooper out of Oakland. This is me. Windsor High School and Smithville Middle School roof repairs. These are
126the last two roofs in the division that actually need repairs. The only other school that has uh has not had repairs on the roof is Westside. Uh we already have quotes for Westside, but at the same time, it's a larger discussion. The gist of this particular slide is that the there's a metal roof at Windsor High School and the measurements for the skylights are going in. Everything is going in as planned. We did have to stop due to so um going on. So is going on at this time. The noise that was being caused, but it did not slow down production too much. Uh right now we're still moving forward on the weekends to get the project totally wrapped up. The same thing at Smithfield Middle School. and um no big issues. Just want to
127make sure there's no large issues that have occurred at this time. All right, Mr. Walters have really jumped into this slide. He's already taken a lot of my talking points concerning this and the date on the milling and paving for Smithville High School has already been moved back. Um, as you can see, we have uh Dr. Kramer, Mr. Rude, and uh other contractors, myself on the site at Windsor Haskell as the paving was going on. Um, due to sports activities, parent nights, um um not only parent nights, but senior nights and different things that are going on at this time. We're trying to work around the paving uh so that each school can truly go through their normal response, their normal day-to-day activities at this time of year. We would hate for a senior to
128miss senior night at their field, but at the same time, we're still trying to move forward. So, right now, Windsor High School will be first, and at this present time, we're scheduled for the 19th of this month. So, we'll keep you updated as we go along. and um and um just make sure that we're trying to really respect the players, the seniors, the parents, the community, and get the job done at the same time. Carlton HVAC Progress. All right, this is the first meeting. This is a lovely picture that I found of Mr. Brennan. I told him he should wait for this. So, we've finally found had our first meeting with the Carolton Hback Progress. Um, we're starting work in the school on May 19th. This is going to be in the back area of
129the school that doesn't interfere with instruction at all. Uh, we're going to be discussing and moving relocation of archive records, communication with outside agencies. Um, Justin summer school and all summer usage uh as to go over there. Uh, monitoring indoor air quality during and after instruction and pretty much verifying safety signage. So, that is all what's going to be going on to start off. Um, I do want to comment on some conversations I've had with the county concerning the 7.4 million and the bid of 5.9. Yes, the bid did come in at 5.9 and um, as we did, we selected the top bidder for that, but that area of the 7.4 to the 5.9 still there's a lot of things that need to go on. um things of the nature of moving furniture, conxes for
130storage of teachers of of supplies, things of that nature that everyone doesn't really understand the full complexity of a project of this nature. So, with that stated, the 5.9 is for 100% the physical HVAC system. Other than that, there's a lot of intangibles that go in that also. So, I just want to make sure I point that out as we move forward with the HVAC project at Carolton. Tisha Bice update. Had an opportunity to meet with Carson Bice. Well, me and Miss Briggs had opportunity to talk to Mr. Carson Bice leading up the Tishla Bice residential development pipeline and u full out understanding of what's going on with the county, the residential developments. And what he's focusing on right now is going to be a apologize. It's going to be a six task activity to
131ensure that everything is complete. Right now only task one is complete and that is project initiation and data acquisition which is still accumulating data from the county at this time. I will keep you up to date as we work through all six steps for uh for the delivery of the packet. Also on this slide, I just wanted to reiterate once again, it was a uh something that we talked to Tishan Vice concerning. Uh the understanding of Westside School as we move forward with understanding the construction element of this is not slated for a plan expansion, but rather it needs to be identified in the CIP as we move forward as a replacement school. And that is a very critical element to understand. I do not want the terminology for Westside to get confused with um
132with something other than we all know it's time for Westside to be replaced. The board has stated this, the uh school board, the board of supervisors and several several community members. So, I do not want to get that terminology mixed up. That was also something you had to identify and correct with the Smithville Planning Commission, was it not? That is so that is so. So, keep banging that drum and if you need us to help you bang that drum, we'll we'll march alongside. Yes, sir. And that is it. Are there any questions at this time? Appreciate you. Yes, sir. What was your sir? Very good. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. April was certainly a busy month. Um, so let's jump right in. So let's recognize the April isle award recipients. Top left,
133the Inspire Award was presented to Erin Gumay, English language teacher. Top right, the Succeed Award was presented to the Isisle of White County Museum, the historic courthouse, and St. Luke's. and as was a for mentioned for all of their support uh with the Virginia 250 initiative. Bottom left, the lead award was presented to Mr. Kimmy Alexander from our building management contractor ABM for his support. And bottom right, the Empower Award was presented to Zachary Kemp, Samantha Lewis, and Heather Howell, who are our high school Virginia 250 podcast project teachers. So, please join me as we congratulate our April isle award recipients. [Applause] Okay, moving right along. It was a pleasure hosting officials from the Virginia Department of Education and the region 2 child nutrition directors at the Isisle um Isle of White land lab on
134April 22nd. Ala White hosted approximately 30 region 2 child nutrition directors as well as regional specialists from the child nutrition department uh at VDOE. Students from the land lab gave tours of the farm as you can see to all of our guests and shared the amazing student created spaces throughout the farm including the hydro hydroponics greenhouse and the items sold by students. Many of the visitors enjoy themselves so much that they're interested in bringing their students from their respective counties back to see the great things and the great work that is occurring in Isa White at our agricultural land lab. The next there was another school division visiting the land lab last month and it was a pleasure hosting officials from King George County Public Schools at our agricultural land lab. Uh thank you again
135to our students and staff for representing the school division so well and being generous host. Uh it is clear that the land lab is the envy of the region and the state. As a result, we often receive visitors and again we receive uh two visiting school uh two different groups uh a school division and a number of other individuals from around the state. So great job uh Mr. Judkins, Mr. brittle and our agricultural land lab students. This was mentioned earlier, but I will touch on this a bit as well. Uh, thank you to all who made the gifted and talented night a tremendous success. As Dr. Truit mentioned, this special evening showcased the incredible work of our math plus students, our gifted learners, and fine arts, fine and performing arts students from across the division.
136In addition, some of the work highlights Isa White County Schools commitment, as Dr. Tro mentioned, the Virginia 250 initiative, Virginia's two-year long initiative commemorating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution through student exploration, creativity, and civic learning. So, this is ongoing great work. And I had the opportunity, which I'll mention as well, to visit the courthouse. So, let's go into the next slide there. Uh, Ellaw White County Schools launched the Virginia 250 podcast uh, project revolutionary roots. Can you go back one slide there? A student lady initiative celebrating Virginia's 250th anniversary by exploring local history through research and create creative writing. uh students from WSOR and Smithfield High used their findings to script and produce original podcast episodes which were featured on a website and discussed during the student le panel at the Isa White
137County Museum. So officials asked our students questions and they responded um with their incredible knowledge as a result of this project. Thank you Isaite Museum 1750 courthouse and St. Lukes for all of the support you provided uh the Smithfield and WSOR students, staff with this project. And a special thank you to Mr. David Hunley uh who is there bottom right for taking the time to provide me with a tour of the 1750 courthouse and the rich history of Isa County. Next, uh our patient care technician classroom. On April 25th, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held for the new patient care technician classroom and showcased our new patient care space. This ribbon cutting represents our commitment to equipping students with the skills they need for immediate career opportunities in a growing field. Continued thanks to our
138community partners and stakeholders. This program would not be possible without the incredible support of our community partners, healthcare providers, and local businesses. Your collaboration helps make this pathway a reality for our students. And a special thanks to the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation, the Hampton Workforce Council, Mrs. Christina Brooks, Nurse Judy Carter, Dr. Marsha Kale, uh the Riverside Hospital and Smithfield Family Medical, and thank you board member uh Chairman Marsh, and board member Cunningham for joining us on that day. Next, we have uh the Winter Elementary greenhouse ribbon cutting. On April 28th, Winter Elementary held a celebratory ribbon cutting for their greenhouse for their new greenhouse made possible by a generous donation from AES, which is an energy uh company. Uh students and teachers from Isle Grow, from the Grow program at Windsor Elementary performed at
139the event and even provided thank you gifts to those in attendance. As you may recall again, AES, the energy company, donated green houses not just to uh Windsor Elementary, but to all of our elementary schools. So, thank you to them. Next, our farm day. Uh thank you to all who made the farm day a success. Thank you to the Isa White County elementary teachers and students for attending. And a special thank you to the agricultural landlap students again, Mr. Brittle and Mr. Juckkins for bringing um the animals uh and for being an integral part of the event. Uh second graders in Isa White County attended uh the farm day at and help me with the pronunciation. Is it Indica farms? Yes. Okay. Uh in Windsor. Uh and this event is designated to enlighten the young
140students agriculture, natural resources, and farming in their hometown here in Alawite County. The students learned about many topics such as crops, beef, cattle, and peanuts. Uh the agricultural land lab students participated and brought animals to the event such as chickens, goats, rabbits, and pigs. And of course, the animals are always a hit as you can see there. Next, uh a new initiative. Hold on. Excuse me. Can we go back? I got to point out that looks like Mr. Collic right there in the center. Is that you, Mr. Coll? Yes. Not only is a school board member, he's a Windsor EMT, the local Oh, there you are. Bottom uh second, but we're going to let that slide by, sir. To the right. You were there to make sure everyone was safe. I missed you there, Mr.
141Collie. Thank you for being there to support. Absolutely. You wear many hats, sir. We appreciate all that you do. Thank you, uh, Mr. Chair. Okay. Next, uh, our new initiative here, support employees of the year. Isa White County Schools is proud to introduce the support employee of the year program recognizing the invaluable contributions of staff members who help create a thriving learning environment for our students. This year's support employees of the year are Carrie Douglas from Carolton Elementary, Amy May from Carsville Elementary, Tina Clifton from our central office staff, Lorenzo Sanders from Georgie Tyler Middle, Kathy Wood from Hardy Elementary, Paula Morehead from Smithfield High, Lakesha Ashby from Smithville Middle, Connie Bryant from the transportation department, Caitlyn Duck from Windsor Elementary, Lori Wall from Windsor High and Angela Two TW Tweford Ford, pardon from Westside
142Elementary. A division level selection committee will review applications for each candidate and will select the inaugural overall Isawite County School Support employee of the year to be announced on May 13. Again, congratulations to these very deserving employees. And Mrs. Briggs, thank you for leading this initiative. We appreciate you uh helping to highlight these uh very talented, welldeserving employees. Next, we had a visit from the Wallace Foundation and others. So, the Wallace Rural Pipeline Project Meeting, uh, we hosted an event for the Wallace Foundation, uh, officials from Virginia Tech, officials from Franklin City Public Schools and Pakosen Public Schools last Friday. And remember that we received a generous donation um for $250,000 from the Wallace Foundation. Uh then the these are the founders of the readers digest and this donation for $250,000 was in collaboration with
143the Kosen uh public schools and Franklin City public schools to support the leadership pipeline uh in rural school districts. Uh we're grateful again for the collaboration with Picosen and Franklin City uh as we build stronger leadership pathways and increase student success. our CTE uh Virginia Department of Education grant was awarded to uh Isa White County Schools. So this week uh the Virginia Department of Education announced the awarding of 600,000 in competitive grants to 16 school divisions to upgrade equipment for career and technical education programs and schools and technical centers. Smithfield High School was one of the 16 schools in the state to be selected for a grant of $37,500 for innovative CTE equipment. Uh this will allow our CTE program to purchase a multi-process welder. Uh thank you to our welding instructor, Mr. Miller, for
144applying for and being selected for this competitive grant. And thank you for your resilience, Mr. Miller because as I recall and he shared with me we applied last year uh didn't receive the award but we applied and we've received it. So uh congratulations to the welding students and to Mr. Miller. Next uh our annual cost report. Uh this year our division was one of five school divisions across the entire Commonwealth of Virginia that had no findings and no questions on our annual cost report. Mrs. Casey Pulley. [Applause] Yes. Where is Miss Pulley? She's right there. All righty. In the wonderful green jacket there. Yes, ma'am. This particular report and others that she completes generates revenue for our school division. These funds support the division by offsetting the cost of providing required services to students. And
145you've already beat me to the punch. I was going to say, let's extend a well-deserved round of applause. Thank you so much, Miss Pulley. We greatly appreciate you. Absolutely. Multi-talented, not just here on the stage of college. We have people all over who are wearing many hats and doing great things for our division. The region 2 teacher um of the year event. What a wonderful event this was last night. So congratulations again to Mrs. Indiana Dina, pardon, Hubble from Carsville Elementary for being recognized last night by Governor Glenn Ynan at a ceremony where we uh where he honored the 2026 regional teachers of the year. And after the ceremony, Governor Yncan graciously invited the teachers and their guest back to the governor's mansion for a reception. And he was very generous with his time as
146he spoke with each teacher and their guest. as you will look uh bottom right there and we are so proud of you Mrs. Hubble and we thank you for representing Carsville Isa White and the entire region uh so well thank you chairman Marsh and Mr. Vice Chair Worster for joining Principal Outland and me uh as we supported Mrs. Hubble uh for the special recognition from uh Governor Yon Ynan and the Virginia Department of Education. Yes, sir. And doc, how many years did you say it had been since Isa White won this? And help me, Miss Briggs. Is it close to 30 years, approximately 30 years since Isa White was uh identified as had a teacher who was regional teacher of the year? Yes. Yes. That's Yes. So approximately 30 years. And this is an amazing
147honor. Again, she not only is representing Carsville Elementary and Isa White, she's representing all of this area. So huge kudos. This was a major honor. Only eight people from around the state. And again, that's why such a huge honor. Uh our governor uh brought them to Richmond to honor them. And to the uh to the right, the left of the government there uh is the new state superintendent uh Dr. Gullixson. And again, at the bottom right, you see we were all honored to be able to be invited back to uh the governor's mansion where we had a chance to interact with the governor at a warm reception there. Wonderful event and due to the incredible uh work of Mrs. Hubble, she is affording our county this tremendous honor. So, round of applause for Carsville and
148Mrs. [Applause] Hubble. And I think uh Mr. chairman. Uh no, we have one more thing I'd like to share with you this uh week, teacher appreciation week, and we' just like to state that we celebrated our teacher appreciation week this week. U let's take this moment to acknowledge the incredible impact of our Isisle of White teachers uh that they have on our students lives. Thank you to all of the educators for their dedication, their patience, and unwavering commitment to shaping bright futures of our students. Our teachers are a major reason why Isa White County is one of the fastest growing counties in the state of Virginia. And many of our residents move here because we have good schools. And I venture to say we would not have good schools without our dedicated and hardworking teachers.
149Uh, Isa White teachers, we appreciate all that you do for our students and for our community. So, a round of applause for our amazing teachers during teacher appreciation week. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the board. That concludes my superintendent's update. Thank you, sir. All right, let's wrap up a few action items there. 181 Personnel Report. Mr. Chair, I move to approve the personnel report as presented, a copy of which can be obtained from the school board clerk. Second motion in a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Madam clerk, Mr. Collic, yes. Mr. Cunningham, yes. Mr. Worster, yes. And Mr. Marsh, yes. Motion passes. Mr. Chair, move to approve the superintendent's recommendation for early admission of student EA2526-0 one one one second we have motion and a second any discussion hearing none madam clerk Mr.
150Collic yes Mr. Cunningham yes Mr. Worster. Yes. And Mr. Marsh. Yes. Motion passes. Yes sir. Mr. Chair, I move to grant the exemption from compulsory attendance for student REX2425-08. Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Madame clerk. Mr. Collic. Yes. Mr. Cunningham? Yes. Mr. Worster? Yes. And Mr. Marsh? Yes. Motion passes. That takes us to 19.1. The consent. Mr. Chair, I'll move to approve the consent agenda as attached and presented. Second. Motion and a second. Any discussions? Uh, I would like to rattle off the May donations meuh memo. May donations memo. Thank you to the Women's Club of Windsor for donating school supplies for the students at Windsor Elementary. Over to you, Mr. Collic. Yes. Mr. Cunningham? Yes. Mr. Worster? Yes. And Mr. Marsh? Yes. Motion passes. We're getting down to it, gents.
151Board member comments. Where did I skip? Yeah, we're good. Who's first? Go for it, sir. Okay. The only thing I have to say is uh we know what Sunday is. So, happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. Hope you have a lovely day. Thank you, sir. That's all I got. Mr. Collic. No, I really don't have anything to say today. Um, I've been super busy but with a lot of personal stuff going on. So, it's a busy time. Thank you, sir. Mr. Worster, I'm just going to give a little brief thing. Uh, Dr. Kramer's pretty much already explained everything about uh the trip to Richmond. Um, teacher recognition, trip to the governor's mansion. I just want to say it was an honor to be a part of it and I respect everyone that
152was there here. Here it was a good time. Okay. Thank you, sir. Uh let's see. It has been a busy month. We did already talked about gifted and talented. We talked about the ribbon cutting. I will say that after the ribbon cutting at the primary care technician lab, uh I took advantage of the time off work and uh mosied over to the culinary lab and I got to talk to and interact with uh uh some of the students and I walked out of there with a jar of pickles and a pastry. Um and uh I went over to the welding lab and Mr. Willer had Mr. Miller had his class in the classroom. they weren't actually welding and uh you know those those kids don't know who I was and I was just peppering them
153with questions like what's next and three of them had already signed up or already or had already been enrolled in an apprentice program across the river. Uh there was a fourth student that was in a different apprentice program and I forget the name of the company. It wasn't the shipyard. Um and and then I meandered over to the engineering lab and I spoke with uh I forget his name. Uh Mr. Shipman. Yeah. And so I I'm walking around. I kind of barged in on him, which I don't like to do, but I did. I just kind of I rolled in there. Uh Dr. Kramer turned me loose and I just took it upon myself to kind of walk in. And uh one of the first things I noticed was all the Kidwin stuff. And he
154grabbed a couple students and they showed me a couple of gears. These kids were putting together helical gears and I didn't know what it was called. And they were because I'd been up to JMU to watch the Kidwood competition. I'm familiar with the program and how they do it. And these kids were redesigning gears that would mesh and cause less friction in in hope to be more efficient. Um, and from what I've seen from the from the the release, they did very well up there. So, I'm anxious to when they get to come up here and present and ask them about their helical gears. And then I noticed a bunch of electric guitars hanging on Mr. Shipman's classroom. And I asked him about it and he explained to me that that was a part of
155their capstone course. And I was blown away. I had no idea that these kids were in there. Mhm. To be fair, the lab is a little bit it's a little bit ramshackle. It's it's it's a lab. It looks like the mad scientist in there, but these kids are using CNC machines and 3D printers and all this stuff and they're building electric guitars. And so my my ask, and I already asked you on the email, I'm gonna put you on the spot. If you could figure out a way, if not this year, it's kind of late in the game, to document that process, and if you could find a way to get a music kid to come in here and play an electric guitar that one of these engineers built, I mean, how cool would that
156be? I can't stress enough how impressed I am with what these kids are doing in these labs that most people have no idea about. from the farm lab to the culinary lab to the welding lab, most people have no idea. So, bang that drum. I applaud you all. They're doing some really cool stuff. Um, SEAP meeting. We're working on the budget for that. I think we're we have a meeting coming up uh next month. I forget the date. Yeah, it's on the calendar. I can Yeah, it doesn't matter. That's coming up. We're going to vote on the C. I think it's later this month, actually. Yes, sir. And um what else? Mr. Worster and I sat down with supervisors Roundtree and Distano, Dr. Kramer, uh Dr. Coleman, and and Mrs. Briggs and and Mrs. Gets.
157appreciate you folks taking time well past your normal working hours to uh kind of open the conversations that we started in a joint meeting about how we're going to address school capacities and and align with the growth in their efforts and it directly ties in with the Tishler Bice study. The county's got their own efforts going on. So, more of that to follow as we move forward, but those conversations are ongoing and and I look forward to seeing how that comes to fruition. Um, you want to add on that? I just want to add on one thing. Um, going back to what you mentioned about Mr. Miller and the way he supports his students. I'm just going to give a plug for him right now and add to that that even once the student graduates,
158he is still there following that student and assisting in attaining jobs and job placement. So, my hat is off to him um as well as all of the other CTE and you know, teachers in general. But um I just want to give a plug to him and I know firsthand because my child was in his class and he is still following him and making sure he's doing what he needs to do. So just big thank you to Mr. Miller here. Here anything else. All right, let's call it a night. We're journed.