001I'm pretty sure yeah okay you hear this okay here we go the Isle of Wight County School Board is now in session today is Tuesday March 7th 2023. we are holding a school board public hearing we're located at Westside Elementary School 800 West Main Street Smithfield Virginia and we are preparing students for college career and life and the clerk will take the Roll Call Mr Wooster Mr Cunningham president Mrs tons Mr Marsh here and Mr colic here and Miss clerk please uh note that Mr Worster is on duty at the fire department thank you for back could rise for a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance allegiance to the flag next we'll have the approval of the agenda or amendments Mr chairman I move to approve the agenda as presented second we have
002Motion in a second clerk will take the vote Mr Cunningham yay Mrs tynes yeah Mr Marsh yeah and Mr colic yay and tonight I want to welcome everyone uh that is here and those that may be watching on their computers at home tonight we're having a school board public hearing on the budget on the budget's very important to us it's uh we don't have the exact amounts that we're going to be working with so this year we're going to be prioritizing the budget in order of what we need and where we need it so when we do find out what funding we have from the Board of Supervisors we will be able to move forward very very quickly so we're looking forward to the comments we've got a number of emails from folks on their
003concerns or the budgets they will be taking into consideration just as the comments uh here tonight will be so without any further Ado we will move forward with the public hearing 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 to 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
004heard by the school board only in a closed meeting first we have Miss Ellen Carter Carver sorry yeah good evening Dr Kramer and Isle of Wight County school board members I'm Ellen Carver I'm the executive director of Girls on the Run Hampton Roads a positive youth development program I would like to express our gratitude for the district's past commitment to provide access to our empowering curriculum to hundreds of girls at all seven elementary and middle schools the investment the school district has made in these students has had a measurably positive impact which I will explain in a moment I want to clarify some misinformation that was discussed at the school board meeting last month and That Was Then reprinted in the Smithfield times about the flow of funds from Isle of Wight County Schools to
005Girls on the Run Hampton Roads the superintendent proposed forty thousand dollars for Girls on the Run expenses in next year's budget this amount was never intended to be paid to Girls on the Run most of these funds were proposed to pay coach stipends to Isle of Wight County Employees after school transportation and healthy snacks the total amount of funds ever received by Girls on the Run Hampton Roads in one fiscal year from the district is three thousand dollars or twenty three dollars per girl enrolled this is not a donation to a non-profit as was phrased by one of the members of the board last time you met in other words it helps to fray but does not nearly cover the direct costs for a health and wellness provider to distribute items like sneakers a sports
006bag water bottle t-shirts journals markers entry into a 5k event which includes a souvenir running bib a metal Finish Line recovery food and team supplies to name just a few our annual cost per girl is actually 280 on average and this includes some expenses that are not obvious on the surface funded in large part by a grant from the obici Healthcare Foundation we launched a partnership here in 2021. since then enrollment has grown 500 percent from what started as 23 students on one small team at Hardy Elementary School to almost 130 girls on average over the past three years at all seven schools that I mentioned a moment ago that's 384 girls experiencing our curriculum which teaches critical life skills builds confidence promotes community service and increases physical stamina these girls also experience the incredible
007Triumph of crossing a Finish Line as young as age eight at our community 5K there is loads of academic data that supports our position that youth who are in good physical health who have high self-esteem who participate in community community service simply do better in school in an independent evaluation conducted in the spring of 22 in the region 90 percent of girls who had completed the program agreed with these statements I learned things at girls on the run to help me deal with strong emotions I feel like I can speak up and share my opinions a less obvious benefit of the program is that 415 adults are also having the experience and confidence and health that comes from preparing for and crossing the finish line of our 5K alongside the kids of particular note this
008Isle of Wight partnership received top honors as the winner for wellness and physical activity last year at the July 22 Virginia school boards Association conference on education this TurnKey program serves hundreds of students per year for a monetary investment that is less than a salary of one's bus driver time thank you so much for your time thank you Miss Carver next we have Reverend Williams good afternoon board chair and all of the board members I too have come and in with a plea and that is I plead with the board to give approval on the funding of Girls on the Run program and I I call for the board to fund this because I believe it enhances the purpose of the school board system which is found in file INB teaching about controversial issues the
009first line says the Isle of Wight County School Board recognized that preparing students to become effective citizens is one of the major purposes of Education I was appalls when I read in the Smithfield times that a school board member by the name of uh Mr Jason Marsh recommended that Dr Kramer modified a budget to include canine dogs in the school system as opposed to Girls on the Run please tell me please inform me please enlighten me as to how canine dogs can prepare students to become effective citizen I I fail I failed to comprehend that and the flimsy excuses that uh Mr colic is using and and his cohort uh Mr Jason Marsh he is supporting him on it is just outrageous to say that you don't want to support a program that will enhance
010the purpose of the educational assistance simply because you don't believe in supporting non-profit organization I mean what kind of thinking is that and then for Jason Lars uh to say that he didn't like the program after going through it with his daughter and the reason being that and this is a direct quote from the Smithfield time says the Smithfield times calling the program uh Jason Marsh called it device set I'm wondering where are these guys getting this device in this since systemic racism where where are they coming from with this stuff when I looked at the Windsor uh newspaper one minute then when's the time that was printed February the 24th and I'm going to read exactly what was written the title of the article was conservative pack political action committee contributed to last year's
011School Board race records show and this was done by Stephen feliski a mackinville a Mechanicsville base political action committee played a marginal role in given Isle of Wight candidate five member School Board is conservative majority campaign finance and you tell me if I'm wrong here campaign Finance report filed by newly elected District Four School Board member Jason Marsh showed a 750 non-monetary contribution on October the third from the middle of the resolution uh I can bring this to a close real quick you guys abort and you're bought by the Republican party and you're bought by a pack the very thing that you say that no employee and this is Jeff Williams time employees of the Isle of Wight County Schools shall not endorse any if that stands true for the employee then what should the
012reference thank you very much have a nice night foreign Fletcher good evening Dr Kramer ladies and gentlemen of the board thank you for having me here this evening I do plan to speak a little bit about about the budget and I guess Girls on the Run is budget as well as um uh having flipped the board American parents parents in Isle of Wight are very concerned about the status of Education we're very concerned about propaganda that's being pushed to the schools and we want education to be about educating our children we no longer want to see deficits we've had a continuing steady stream of death visits in learning for the last 50 years this is not an attack on teachers this is an attack on a system that is failing regarding Girls on the Run
013as a taxpayer first of all it is wrong for our taxes to be taken given to essentially a non-profit which is public education because you're not generating money and then to go on and siphon it down to other non-profits I have a problem with that just like I do whro taking our tax money funneling it all around we lose track of where that money is going we have no control about of how it's being spent Girls on the Run is involved in again critical race Theory using diversity equity and inclusion in those programs another issue which we've never dealt with after I've come and spoken before the board multiple times frankly for a couple of years now it is throughout all of our curriculum there's no denying it it is there and it needs to
014be gone regarding the budget I would like to have seen something more transparent Dr Kramer I just saw essentially the red line that you're asking for four million dollars additionally from taxpayers um I have a problem with that too I would like to have seen some cost-saving measures included in that budget where you all could save money how things could have been maybe appropriated from other areas moved into other areas that you could Shore up rather than coming again for just more money you're coming in after a huge and you're not alone you're not alone I appreciate your being here I just really would like for us to be Thrifty we're heading into a very very difficult time economically I just have a few figures here I gave them last time we're 31 trillion dollars
015in debt the debt per citizen is ninety four thousand three hundred ninety seven dollars and the debt per taxpayer is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and now we're being asked for another you know four million when we really aren't seeing any proof of any you know Improvement anywhere so uh Mr Marsh I appreciate what you're doing Mr colic I appreciate what you're doing thank you very much please hold them to the fire don't just rubber stamp budgets if you have a question I'd like for you to get to the bottom of it I I really do have concerns I might need to come up and speak again thank you Mr herb degroft even Mr chairman board members Dr Kramer herb degroft 15411 Mill Swamp Road Smithfield but in the Cartersville District thank you very
016much for uh having this meeting this evening wish we had more people my comments uh first most of the requested increase from a solid white taxpayers through our Board of Supervisors for this fiscal year 24 budget are once and really not Virginia standards of quality funded and needed and this means of course that our Virginia Department of Education is determined through the requirements by the laws passed by the general assembly that they aren't needed period therefore I propose that any item in this budget that is not required by a Virginia code 22 decimal ones Provisions that they be eliminated immediately before you are meeting later this week and illuminate many millions from this proposed budget for 2024. for example two High School deans of students seriously an assistant athletic director at Windsor High School seriously
017131 thousand dollars for lunch monitors and of course all these are plus 25 percent in additional benefits cause fringe benefits costs so it really is a problem and then there's that hanging out there of continuing to pay for Hampton City Public Schools aligned curriculum because in August of 21 we found out that for six years we haven't had an aligned curriculum which was the responsibility of the past superintendent and a current employee who got a promotion when they weren't doing their job to begin with astounding in business I know this if you work for Joe luter or George Hamilton you'd have been on the street um so it's this kind of thing that really Burns me when County taxpayers uh you know are ponying up the money this issue of why do we even have
018two or have a deputy superintendent let alone two the state soq funds for assistant superintendents according to Virginia code 22 decimal ones provisions and Mr Cunningham even read from the bylaw of school boards are to adopt policy to provide for the day-to-day supervision to school I agree with that and Mr Mary's has quoted policy BBA School boards that are see that school laws are properly explained and forced and observed well we still got a long way to go there and I realize uh four of you are really new to the board three of you even newer than that but there's a lot to be learned therefore I'm proposing that you take the two deputies superintendents and two direct Physicians that are supervising principles and change their titles to two assistant superintendents to be in compliance
019with iwcs policy in Virginia school law and save about three hundred thousand dollars and I really think Dr Kramer has been given some horrible advice by his so-called executive leadership team especially by the deputy superintendents for such an exorbitant proposed fiscal year 24 budget that was prevented to the Board of Supervisors back on the 2nd of March with a new Hardy Elementary being built costing over 36 million in reinstatement of the car tax taxpayers in the county particularly those who are on limited income and I know a lot of them they're going to have a really tough time if this were to be passed as is in that 10 cent increase was put on their taxes per hundred dollars of real estate value so I'll be addressing the Board of Supervisors at their next meeting
020and ask them to fund the budget level with last year or possibly even less if they work that out in their own minds and I appreciate what you as five individuals will do having sat there I know it is not an easy job it really takes going to school and getting to the nitty-gritty of the budget process because it's really complex and as a border supervisor said it's so complex you think sometimes it's made that way to make sure people don't understand so God bless you and thank you very much okay thank you everyone for your comments we will certainly consider them with along with all the other comments that were received through emails next we have board member comments Miss times yes I have a comment I um the girls on the run I
021guess I'm the board member that really supported that I will continue to support it and advocate for it and I told you all I think at the last two meetings are at our meeting when we uh Dr Kramer presented his budget to us and when we went out last week and presented it to the uh Board of Supervisors I uh advocated for it there as well and um Mr chair I noticed the night when it first came up won the budget you mentioned the fact as well as some of the other board members that it was a 501 3C therefore uh 501c3 therefore you could not support it well my question to you is tonight is um after looking at the board docs for our Thursday meeting I see that you have joined the school
022board members Alliance which is uh svma is a 501c3 it's an association that empowers school board members now you um join that I didn't know that we could join that because as a board member I have not said in any meetings and I know I have not missed any meetings in over three years and um I I I it wasn't approved by the board and uh wait a minute I'm still speaking um and I know the question is going to come back uh was the Virginia School Board Association approved by the board yes it was but we don't want to prove it every year once they approved that we're going to belongs to it belong to an organization it stays there when we pay the membership fees or dues or whatever it's a rollover every
023year if we neglect in paying our fees then that's when we come out um I'm thinking if this is an organization that we want to support why wasn't it open it open to all members and uh I I personally I have sat in that chair twice as Butch here I have never used Public Funding without permission of the entire board meaning I was authorized through an action and we had no action but you joined that Association and used Public Funding to do so but yet you're going to say something about something that's helping our students that is going to help you as an adult a board member but you're going to say something about a line item that's going to help our students that's why we're here we're here to educate the young citizens of
024Isle of Wight County and you're gonna say something about that you cannot support something because it's a 501c3 okay let me let me respond to that because you you made some good points but we go back into the bylaws and near the end of the bylaws if not the last paragraph for the bylaws there is a link with a list excuse me of all the educational organizations that we are allowed to obtain training from and many of them to obtain training you have to be a member and that was passed by this body obvious you know three to two and so as I told you in in an email I went ahead and joined that believing that we had the authority to do so and if the CFO was to come out and say that
025no you weren't supposed to do that I will reimburse the county okay if I made a mistake I will publicly admit it now as far as Girls on the Run goes I was in contact with Mrs Carver I responded to her email this morning and I asked her if a couple questions and if she could make the case that this benefits education and if she could I could possibly support but I am not one that's just going to go out and say let's give money to support a 501c3 there has to be a good benefit there has to be a benefit to to it and yes um vsba is a tax-exempt organization as well and I understand the background the history and all of that goes along with it sbma is a very new organization
026but again I believe based on the bylaws that I could and if I was wrong I said I will admit it and I will refund that money to the school district please thank you thank the fact that you're wrong is the fact that you did this without the authority of the entire bullet that's that's where I have a concern because you're sitting there as a board chair and you're saying okay I'm going to join this organization without it being approved by the board I know you said something about the bylaws through the bylaws the bylaws you know they the bylaws that you wrote okay you wrote those bylaws I never agreed to those bylaws personally you just said the vote was three to uh two to three I didn't agree with those bylaws and I
027told you that you wrote those bylaws we did not sit down as a board and develop the bylaws you developed the bylaws okay to benefit you to benefit the school board members Alliance okay that's my personal opinion okay and for you to go out and spend Public Funding and not being authorized because you're saying that bylaws that you developed said you could do it okay but I did not vote for those bylaws no you didn't and I will not vote for those bylaws as they were written give me the opportunity to sit down with the board and develop our bylaws together as a board the times you had approximately four to six weeks we were never invited to do so when I say sit down is just like we're sitting down right now we're develop
028we're doing a budget okay we're doing a budget to send forward to the Board of Supervisors we have had two me three meetings this is our third meeting here this is for the public we're supposed to have another session just for the board members why not have a session just for the board members to sit down and develop our bylaws that didn't happen Mr Steins when I asked the board to do that neither you nor Mr Cunningham wanted to do that when I asked last year I was told no basically go sit in the corner we're in charge now okay I asked for input I asked for a work session you did not want to participate in either because you could already ridden the bylaws and I'm not going to participate in something that's one-sided
029I I know where it's going okay I I have been here on this Earth for 65 years and a few days 66. I know where it's going don't take out of White County Schools down that path too many people too many people have sat in these chairs that we're sitting in today they have worked hard it has been a struggle back from the beginning of time we're sitting here today because of those individuals they fought for the students they fought for education in Isle of Wight County Schools I refuse to let anyone come here tear down what they have built what what they built in a matter of a few months that is where it's going I have never seen such okay and this is not my first board public board being on WE you
030don't get an option here Mrs times there's nobody on this board whether I agree with them or not that is here to tear down this school system the school division everybody comes on this board I believe because they want to make our schools better they want to work for the children of this County including myself now we're here to talk about the budget and if you've got no more comments on the budget we can go to the next person but this conversation I am more than willing to have at a regular meeting well well okay this is where I'm going you all wanted to cut out girls on the run because it was a 501 C3 I just brought to your attention you join a 501 C3 Girls on the Run needs to stay on
031that line okay thank you I mean we can't we can't say the students can't do it but I can do it and that's what you pretty much did I'm gonna do it but the students I'm not going to allow the students to do it and that's on the budget what I'm talking about thank you Mr times Mr Cunningham do you have anything uh the only thing I have to say is um I'm supporting any any program that mentors to young ladies and young men any positive uh mentorship uh Girls on the Run is one of those organizations doesn't matter um you know non-profit whatever if it's supporting uh our kids our students then I'm all for it um and and now looking at the limited amount of money uh that they received from Isle of
032Wight County Schools I see no reason for us not to support it um I know it's other costs that are involved with that but even the Board of Supervisors uh I know at least two of them were positive on uh supporting the girls on the run they were saying hey even even though it's a non-profit there are good non-profits out there and I think that's a win-win for the county and for the uh uh school if we do support it that's all I have on that thank you Mr Marsh okay so the comments that I have tonight are you know we've got a very large budget that we've got to go through it's approximately um I believe 83 million dollars that we're asking for we had about 78 million dollars last year so that's a
033five million dollar um the difference and so we've got to look very closely at the budget we've got to justify and prioritize everything okay uh Miss Carver I thank you for that email this morning very informative tonight you gave me some more information that I didn't know and I I do appreciate that where will Girls on the Run fall I don't know okay um where will many of these other programs fall don't know okay we've got to really sit down and go through everything okay 83 million dollars worth of everything to make a determination of where it where that line is going to fall and then we have to wait and find out how much money we get so basically we'll prioritize everything with the help of the uh with Dr Kramer and the staff
034and then when we find out what the money is there's going to be a line drawn everything above it's what we get everything below it we don't and so it's almost going to be like the the board um will not be saying hey we're going to get this we're going to get that we're going to prioritize it and see where the money comes in and what what we can afford so um that's you know that's pretty much all I've got to say um we can't take any more comments right now yeah no we yeah we've got to follow through consistency what I would like to say something impossible yeah we've got to after the after the meetings adjourned if if you want to and people want to listen but we've we've got to you know
035stick to the agenda we voted on the agenda you know we've got it we've got to stick to it okay not not tonight no Okay so Miss times this is a public hearing yeah okay have we adjourned from the public hearing is it still open we're getting ready to yeah well as long as they have not spoken previously I they can come to speak we normally open it up for anyone in the public if we still have time as long as they have not spoken previously during the hearing okay that's that's how historically we've done it okay young lady hi my name is Ali Bowen and I am the program director for Suffolk and Western Tidewater for Girls on the Run Hampton Roads um so I just wanted to clarify some things many school districts
036the majority of our school districts the 14 school districts we serve in Hampton Roads we collect the enrollment fee directly from the families this fee is based on household size and annual income so families pay anywhere from forty five dollars to 185 so if the school board votes to stop paying go to Hampton Roads the largely discounted fee of 23 dollars per girl our plan is to implement the family fee process that we use in other districts Girls on the Run is a non-partisan organization last year there was an article written um or an op-ed in the Smithfield times that said that our program included critical race Theory the Isle of Wight County School director of curriculum conducted a page by Page review of our curriculum last year and found that there was nothing to
037do with CRT in our curriculum I also wanted to clarify that Isle of Wight County Schools does support other non-profits including the Beta Club the great computer Challenge and also the Virginia High School league and we would also ask that as you finalize your budget that if you approve the line item for sixty thousand dollars for after school buses that Girls on the Run girls have access to that option and we would also ask that if I Isle of Wight County School staff are being compensated for coaching or if they're being compensated for leading clubs like the Beta Club and like the great computer challenge that those staff members could also be paid for supporting and coaching girls on the run thank you thank you no business okay this school board public