001Pastor John from Bry Fellowship. Thank you so much. Let's pray. God, we thank you tonight for Lord first just the freedom to be here, Lord, and to gather. And Father, we thank you for this board, this board that's in front of me. God, we you tell us in your word that there is no authority except that which you have ordained. And Lord, these men and women are in these chairs tonight, Lord. Um fulfilling what you have called them to do. And we thank you for them, Lord. We pray for wisdom for them tonight as they God, as they continue to consider policy, as they consider personnel, we we pray for wisdom for them as they work together. Lord, give them unity. Lord, may they challenge one another. May they complement one another, Lord. May they
002work together as a team. We just thank you for them. So Lord, impart your wisdom, God. Your vision for this county, for the school system, for the kids. Lord, we thank you for the teachers. We thank you for the helpers. We thank you for all the administration. We pray an extra measure of your strength for them. Lord, even though summer is upon us, we know their minds continue to work, Lord, as they continue to work and prepare for yet another year. Give them the rest that they need, but also, Lord, just uh the the the uncction to move forward, Lord, and to continue what you've called them to do. So, Lord, just we thank you again for tonight, Lord. May what is done here tonight be pleasing and honoring to you. We pray for your
003presence, pray for your peace, pray for your wisdom, and we pray all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance to be followed by a moment of silence. The flag of the United States to the republic indivisible. Do we have anyone for public comment? Oh, do you have any comments? No. Okay. Okay. Okay, let's move on to the consent consent agenda. Oh, no. It changes the agenda, member. Oh, I'm sorry. Are there any changes to the agenda? Yes, Madam Chair. I'd like to uh add a discussion item to possibly either change or eliminate one of the board meetings. Okay, we'll add that to the agenda this summer. This summer. Madam Chair, I just wanted to mention something about the agenda. I had on my notes from
004the beginning of our planning that this was going to be a code of conduct review and so I just wanted to mention that because we're going to need to add that I guess at another meeting or decide when that's going to be. Okay, we can do that. So I I I will speak we've I've spoken with Mrs. Fischer about that. There is no changes to the code of conduct this year uh which is typically the approach that we take here. But if the board would like to just have an overview and and have a better understanding of what is in the code of conduct, then we can make that arrangement. Okay. Thank you. Did everyone have a chance to look at our um meeting minutes from May 5th? Did anybody have any uh changes or
005concerns about the minutes? If not, can I have a motion? Madam Chair, I make a motion that we accept the minutes for May the 5th, 2025. Second as presented. Motion mode motion and seconded. All in favor, please. I I chair votes I. Motion carries. Let's move on to our policies. Madam chair, the first section there, policies reviewed but not revised. This is um process that VSBA typically follows. They take a look at uh policies that are on a rotating cycle. And the five policies you have before you were policies that VSBA reviewed this year but made no changes. So they just wanted to make us aware that they have reviewed them on the uh standard timeline. Do we do I have a motion to approve those as presented? I'll make a motion that we approve
006the policies as presented. Second. Motion made and seconded. All in favor? I I chair votes I. Motion carries. Now to the VSBA policy updates. Madam Chair, we have these VSBA policy updates for you. There are additional policies that we will bring forth uh in in forthcoming meetings. These policies after we've reviewed them are policies that do not have substantive change to them at all. Uh so um we have them on the consent agenda this evening. I hope hopefully you guys have had a chance to take a look at them. Uh if there is any particular questions on any of them, I can certainly uh speak to or address them. But uh as far as the substance, there's not a whole lot of change in them. A lot of just cross cross reference updates and stuff.
007Yes, there was one in there, I believe, that Mrs. Cleveland wanted to talk about the uh was the code of conduct. Which one is that? The about you and I talked about it earlier. No, what I was saying was that this meeting was supposed to be the code of conduct review. That that's probably what you're thinking. I'm sorry. The student conduct is one of the updates in here. Yeah, it wasn't. I I I don't have any comments about that. Yeah. Thanks. Okay. So, is everyone um in agreement that these are acceptable as presented? Dr. avoid when I read through these there's several grammar errors in there. The SBA grammar errors words left out. Okay, we'll take a look at them. Okay, thank you, Mr. Frank. Do I have a motion? I make a motion that
008we accept these as presented with changes for them. Second motion made and seconded. All in favor? I I chair votes I. Motion carries. Next, we have on our agenda the FY26 budget approval. Uh, yes, Madam Chair. You have an attachment, and I'll just go through that quickly. Following the appropriation resolution from the King George County Board of Supervisors on May 20th, 2025, it's the responsibility of the King George County School Board to approve the annual annual budget allocation. The appropriation for consideration and approval by the King George County School Board takes into consideration expenditures and revenue forecasts that align with the budget adopted by the Virginia General Assembly. Following a very collaborative and as a result productive budget season, the board of supervisors allocated a local share of 26,328,370 for King George County Schools. These
009funds will help the school division make significant progress towards the goals outlined in our strategic plan. Uh my motion this evening uh if if you accept it would be to uh I recommend that we approve the budget allocation in a total amount of 68,981,650 for the operation of King George County Schools for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025 and ending on the 30th day of June 2026. Madam Chair, I make a motion that we approve the budget allocation in the amount of 68,981,650 for the um fiscal year beginning July 1st um ending July 30th of 2026. Second. Motion made and seconded. All in favor? I I chair votes I. Motion carries. Now we have our discussion items. First on the list is um our title one grant. Yes. So we have all of our
010title programs tonight. While Miss Harris comes up, we will uh review the applications this evening. We have those responsible for the applications with us tonight. And if you have any questions about uh title one, title two, title three, and title four, uh we'll be prepared to answer those this evening. Miss Harris, good evening. Chairman Hume, uh Hoover, excuse me. It's been a long day. We had first day of summer school. Woohoo. We survived. Uh members of the school board and Dr. Board, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the title one advisory committee report and the title one grant with you this evening. To give you a little historical information, Title One, the improving basic program state grant program is the most significant source of federal funding supporting Title One Part A. The purpose is
011to provide all children with significant opportunities to receive a fair, equitable, and high quality education and to close educational achievement gaps. The use of title one funds directly impacts student achievement. Provides students with enriched and accelerated academic programs. It offers additional services that increase the amount and quality of instruction. It significantly elevates the quality of instruction. It also provides parents with substantial and meaningful opportunities to participate in their child's education. Title One provides financial assistance to school divisions and public schools with high numbers or percentages of children from lowincome families. The goal is to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic content and achievement standards. Authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title One funding is awarded to state educational agencies on a formula basis. Funds must supplement, not supplant, local budgets.
012Title One funds may not be used to replace funds or services that would otherwise be provided. Instead, they are intended to enhance the regular educational program. The award on this this application that I presented to you this evening for the 2526 grant application is based on the previous year's award that we received in 2024-25. This amount is $515,991.86. This funding most likely will change when final allocations are given to the district and the grant will be revised. Sometimes we get less money, sometimes we get more. This is the most that we've ever had since I've been in this position. To give you a little background, there are two instructional models that we use here in King George County. We have the targeted assist model which provides supplemental instructional services to targeted at risk students. The
013funds can only be used to students and families identified for these services. PTOAC Elementary and Seleston Elementary are target assist schools. Our schoolwide model provides instructional services to enhance the entire academic program and you must have a low income of 40% or greater to achieve this this um model. and King George Elementary School is our schoolwide title one school. Also, to give you a little background, the Title One programming and application process is a collaborative effort involving our school, students, and our families. Each identified school has a title one committee, and we also have a divisionwide title one advisory committee. Each committee includes teachers, administrators, division reading and math specialists, parents, and other community members. These committees meet throughout the school year to identify program needs and to monitor student progress. With the implementation of
014more rigorous reading and math standards of learning in addition to the Virginia Literacy Act requirements, King George County Schools must adequately support our teachers and the students through systematic and explicit instruction. So to give you a little bit of more information with all the hard work that these committees have done throughout the year, our division title one advisory committee consisted of 21 members this year, which has been the largest we've had since I've been in this position, which is phenomenal. I think our goals that we created for the committee were to increase awareness and understanding of the title one programming and provide hands-on activities and opportunities for families to create a better understanding of how they can assist their child at home in reading and math. And we also in collaboration wanted to write a
015grant to address the student needs through this collaboration of all stakeholders. Just to highlight something that we're very very proud of and we this came up in our last advisory committee meeting. We serviced 714 students at the elementary level through our title one programming. 402 in reading, 234 in math, and 78 in both reading and math. This is all for the efforts of not only title one services, but all the hard work that has gone into all school members. Each school also hosted two title one family engagement nights for our families that uh one focused on reading and one focused on math. I think this is just so impressive of all the hard work and dedication. So, I would personally like to thank everyone for their dedication and commitment. Mr. Frank, thank you for being
016on our committee. Um, and just we really thank you for your continued support. So, hopefully uh you had a chance to read over the grant. The grant is a reflection of all the the kind of the needs assessment that we gave at each building and what we feel the division needs moving forward. So, if you have any questions, please let me know. Um, just one just want to make sure we have um I know King George L is the only one that's completely title one. The rest are targeted. So we have one full-time title one teachers paid paid for with title one funds. Teacher, right? A teacher. Yeah, at that school and about 22 Paris. Is that about right? Yeah, we have it's 20 in that school. We had to put that part of the
017application, right? There's only seven pairs paid out of the title one that of all the schools. Yeah, that's in of all combined. There are 22 pairs at Kings Elementary because I have to put that in. See, I see. I misunderstood. That's was my You saw Yeah. on the OC 1000. That tells you the personnel that the grant. I'm looking at that now. All right. So, there's just seven. It's seven pairs and one teacher. Okay. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other members have questions? Would it be helpful if we went ahead and approved this tonight? Oh, that would be amazing. That would be great. Madam Chair, I don't have any questions. I have uh some comments. I just want to thank you guys for all you do. I've I've uh this math and reading
018that you've got going on is really making a difference and hopefully can work to help the divisionwide get rid of the what I call social promotion and which is going to make everything better from, you know, third grade all the way to walking across the stage. So, thank you for all you do. You're so welcome. We enjoy it. Good. Okay. Well, thank you so much. So make a motion. Yeah, not there. So the motion would be to approve the title one part a grant. All right, I'll make the motion that we approve the title one part 1A grant as presented. Second. Motion made and seconded. All in favor? I. Chair votes I. Motion carries. Thank you so much for your continued support. Thank you, Miss Harris. Good job. Thank you very much. Uh next we
019have uh Miss Hill and she'll do title two and title three. Good evening, Chairman Hoover and school board members and team uh and everybody out in the online world. As you're aware, uh, Title 2 is a federally funded supplemental educational program that provides financial assistance to improve the skills of teachers and the quality of instruction in core academic subjects in public and private elementary and secondary schools. Title 2's program goals include supporting the recruitment and hiring of highly certified teachers to ensure highly qual high quality instruction for every King George student. increasing professional development opportunities for teachers directly focused on helping students learn goal or learning goals and support students in their focused uh academic areas especially in math and reading. Professional development to support teachers in the development of alternative assessments and support of
020a countywide mentorship program and lead teacher program. Title two supports uh becoming a career teacher and staying in the classroom with traditional instructional duties, becoming a mentor teacher, staying in the classroom but taking on additional duties such as mentoring firstear teachers and receiving extra pay for those duties and becoming an exemplary teacher based on a distinguished record and professional development and training. So some of the programs that we fund in our county with title 2 funds and this is also in the application are our lead teacher program, our mentor teacher program, regional professional development. It supports registration and travel to regional outside of our division. Uh registration and travel for our human resources department as they go to job fairs. reimbursement for employees who are working towards lensure and endorsement. And uh this year we're
021adding to our new teacher program that we'll have down at UMW on July 31st a leadership uh piece to that uh July 31st professional development training. In the past we've had mentor training. This year we're going to have leadership training. So, title two supports all of those things. Does anybody have any questions? I just have one. Um, on page five, paragraph 4, it just me mentions that you're going to be implementing a a crosswalk uh support plan crosswalk. What What is that? It's page five. Um, item four. I need to read it in context. Oh, no. That's why I'm page five. Um, item four says, "Currently, King George County Schools has one middle school." and so on. To address these areas of need, the division is implementing a support plan crosswalk. I just I mean,
022this sounds wonderful. I just wondered what it is. I'm sorry. I wrote this some time ago. Um, page five, item four. I'm with first first sentence. Oh, the support plan crosswalk um aligns with our strategic plan. So um when we're writing a support plan for a school, we crosswalk it with our strategic plan. So we take so we take our strategic plan for the division and then when we write our school improvement plans uh we crosswalk them so that the goals of the strategic plan are aligned with what we have in the actual school plans. So that's all that means. Okay. I didn't know whether that was a separate thing or it's just a connection between the two. Thank you. It's just the connection. That's fine. I don't sorry I couldn't answer that right away.
023I just went No, no, that's fine. I mean I I assumed it was something but I is this some special kind of but it's just relating the strategic plan with the title two. It's only special in that uh we have to ensure that that happens as a part of the process when we are writing any kind of plan. We need to make sure that it aligns with our strategic plan. Madam Chair, I'll make a motion that we approve the title 2 grant part A supporting effective instruction as written. Second. Motion made and seconded. All in favor? I. Chair votes I. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. I also uh would like to um address our title three grant which again is federally funded. Uh these are funds that are provided to us through a formula
024grant from our state. Uh title three supports our ESOL programs in our school system. uh which provides special instruction for our English learners who are trying to acquire language acquisition skills. This supports their regular instruction in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Title 3 funding supports highquality language instruction programs, professional development of our L's, I'm sorry, of our uh English learner teachers and materials. We don't receive a lot of funding for our ESOL program. Um so we our our funding only goes so far. Funding for ESOL is about $7,000. $7,022. King George employs three ESOL teachers. These teachers serve five schools and that does not include the preschool. We don't provide services to our preschool, just to our three elementary, middle, and high. English learner students in King George County speak 12 different languages. So, our
025ESOL teachers are working with students that have acquired language skills in 12 different languages. And that's this week. Next week, we could have brand new students enrolling. So, it is a moving uh program, moving tide. We have um a population that has nearly doubled since um COVID. And as of my last report, we had about 87 students, but it went up to 92 earlier in the school year. So there's a lot of uh transient students in our ESOL population. And most of our students are at a level one, two, or three, which means that they are still early acquisition language learners. Um and so we're very grateful to have our three Esau teachers, two of them which travel um from different buildings to um work with students. Anyone have any questions? She answered it. I
026was going to ask about how many students do we have and you said 92. Well, it was 92. It's 87 right now uh for the state report, but like I said, um we will most certainly um have more students this year. um because we keep acquiring more and more each year. Are the Esau teachers enough? Are they adequate or do we need more to to accommodate the students that we have? It would be better to have more. How many more? Well, starting with one. Okay. Well, I understand that. Okay. I mean, you know, uh I'd like to shoot for the moon, but if we could get one more. The problem with um having three teachers servicing five schools is that um we waste a lot of time with travel. Exactly. And uh it's also challenging
027because when these students are pulled for any kind of onetoone, they're um they have to do it outside of the regular instruction, the core instruction. So we don't want to pull a student out of reading instruction if to get their um Esau support instruction. We have both a push-in model and a pull out model, but typically our uh teachers do pull out to provide that support for students. Do you accept I'm sorry, I shouldn't say, but my wife is certified and she's asked about part-time. Do you take any part-time certified ESL teachers? I mean, would you be able to use We take what the budget allows. Okay. I mean, is there a need? I mean, could you My question is, can you use a part-time ESL teacher? Yes, I had a full-time ESL teacher in
028the budget. Okay. But it was not funded. So, I mean, we're in a situation where we have to make choices. And so, um, we're going to keep plugging along with the staff that we have. And, um, if ever we can, you know, get another teacher, that would be amazing. Okay. Yeah. I make a motion to approve title 3 part A grant in the amount of $7,224. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Second. Have a motion made and seconded. All those in favor? I I chair votes I. Motion carries. Thank you, Miss Hill. Ready. Good evening. Um, I'm here to talk about the Title 4 uh grant application, another federal grant that King George County Schools receives. Uh, we receive approximately uh $30,000 every year. This current application is um for the $34,526. Title 4 provides
029funding in three primary categories. Those are uh well-rounded education, safe and healthy students, and technology. Under category one, well-rounded education uh that helps students make connections between their academics, their interests, and then the skills they'll need later in life. Um two priorities that we have under category 1 are providing um information sessions, workshops, field experiences, etc. for students and families on their post secondary options such as work, military, college, um, etc. Another priority under category 1 is developing and expanding extracurricular programs that support, um, community involvement and help incorporate those cross-curricular activities into the college career and life readiness skills, which you'll see throughout um, abbreviated as CCLR. Category two is safe and healthy schools which focuses on enhancing students physical and emotional well-being um which helps foster academic success. Couple of our priorities under
030category 2 are improving and expanding on our tier one activities um such as our character education program that we call project kind. Um and then expansion of tier 2 and three activities that include small group and individual programming on um topics such as substance abuse, anger management, etc. Those are some of the courses that you um as a board are able to also assign students to during disciplinary hearings through our office on youth partnership. And then category three is use of technology. Um under title the title 4 grant um funds in category 3 are capped at a very small percent. Um and so we only have one priority under category 3 and that is uh providing professional development that supports technology based activities um such as our Naviance um which is our college and career
031readiness platform that's used at the middle school and high school um as well as vector which is our student library again that is able to assign courses to students um as a result of disciplinary infractions etc. And that is title four. Any board members have any questions for Mr. Sher? I'm looking but Mrs. Fisher, how much um of this grant would go towards do you know the project kind initiative? So it helps there's not an exact dollar amount. Um if you look in the various object codes, one thing that it helps support under projects kind is the like extra duties re as part of that program. Um Sarah Richie is our current um elementary school counselor at King George L and she also acts as the division coordinator for project kind. So she receives a
032small stipend um for that work. Uh we also use it to purchase supplies um materials and things for classroom lessons. Um so I don't have an exact dollar amount pregrant because we don't know what those costs are going to be. Um but I can get that to you from previous because this is an ongoing program that we've done. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve this? Madame Chair, I make a motion that we approve title 4 part A grant application. Second. Motion made and seconded. All in favor? I I. Chair votes I. Motion carries. Thank you, Mrs. Fischer. Next up, Madam Chair, we have uh the Virginia, excuse me, the division literacy plan, which we are required to approve annually. And we have Dr. Maninon this evening to present. Good evening. Good evening,
033Madame Chair Hoover, school board members, Dr. Boyd, and the King George community and staff. Um, my job this evening is to present our updated division literacy plan. It now includes our kindergarten through 8th grade students. Tonight, I'm asking your for your support and for your approval so that this plan can be submitted to the state. Once it is approved by the state, our division literacy plan will be posted on our King George community schools English website and communicated to our staff and community. I am available should any questions that you need answered. They want to have questions. Well, you did a lot last year, so how did that go for you, you think? or did y'all or how would you do things differently or going forward or maybe what worked for you guys? And it's
034interesting that you would ask that question because that question was posed by the state when we developed this K through8 section is what went well last year? What would we do differently? Probably the biggest piece that you would look at is we did integrate um our digital learning need into our vision. So, our vision from last year, it's been revised and a little more tight to include that digital literacy component. Um, we did have to include some components for the interventions. So, the list looks very long when you look at those interventions, but when we really drill down to what our students need for their instructional indicators in their student ring plans, each program is tailored for very specific needs. So if a student needs phmic awareness, they will do this particular program. They're not
035going to do all the 12 that are listed on that page. But our division literacy plan requires that we list all those evidence-based programs with highquality instructional materials as part of our plan that we may use those. In fact, if you look down at the bottom where it says TBD, we are awaiting another approval process by the state because the programs are so limited for the middle school that have been approved. That is one thing that we have really talked about as a team is we have these great programs and they have worked for our K through three students. What are the programs that we know that will work for our four through eight students? Not all of those students have phonetic phmic needs. They might have more fluency or comprehension needs. So we really
036had to examine some of those programs and find those ones that will work for that cluster of students on the upper adolescent elementary side. Um the other consideration that we really talked about what worked well and what didn't was the assessment itself. We had no idea what the val's test would involve, the amount of time that it would take and we just sat down and this was across the region too and and we did the best that we could and we realized we could have streamlined that assessment process and shortened that amount of time up so that instructional time was not lost. In fact, we had that conversation well into day three and day four of that fall testing window and we decided to do some things differently in January at the midyear time frame
037and at the end of the year and it really proved to be beneficial so that it only um took the teacher out to do some assessing for one day to do their whole class one to two days and they were just back in the ball game. and we had some assistance where they could keep the instruction occurring with some of our pair professional help and other um substitute teachers where they could come and instruct those students. So the professional learning, excuse me, the instructional learning kept going on while the teacher was pulling out the students to do our required assessments. So we really sat down to say we know we have to do this. How can we do this tighter, leaner, and get some valid data on our students? And so that was really a
038reflective process and you will find that in section four of the division literacy plan where we really looked at what kind of assessments we are giving, why we are giving those assessments and what can we do better for our students and our staff moving forward. Thank you. Yep. A lot of work this year. So, thank you for that for all the teachers and staff that were just going along with it and just doing their best because that was a lot. They really did. And that is there's a lot of celebrating there. There was so much learning that was occurring. There were new standards. There was a new literacy plan. There was a val screener. There was some new curriculum that we had put in with our writing component. And everyone was willing to try and
039I think that's fabulous. and and we supported each other and there were some struggles and there were some huge celebrations and there were some pull them up and let's continue on and let's do it better. So really the staff, the administrators that helped structure some of those processes to do the testing, we could not have done it. Um we could not have had as smooth a process as we did for our students. So it was really because we all pulled together. Shout out to our Paris too and our subs because without them we couldn't be as successful with it. I I hear George has the best Paris for sure. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Maninon. Do I have a motion to approve the literacy plan? I move that we approve the school year 2025 to
0402026 year oh division literacy plan. Second as written. Second. Motion made and seconded. All in favor? I. Chair votes I. Motion carries. Thank you again. Thank you very much. Well done. Dr. Boyd. Yes. First, let me say thank you ladies. I appreciate all the hard work that went into all of that. I I know it was a lot of hours and a lot of uh a lot of work. So, thank you so much for that. The next item is uh staff bonuses. We've all been talking about this for a few meetings now. So, uh if you open up your attachments, you'll see that the state has uh appropriated out of the direct aid to public education about $140 million, which equates to one-time bonus payments of $1,000 for SOQ funded positions across the state. I'm
041going to skip down to the second paragraph. Sufficient funding is provided for the entire cost of an average $1,000 bonus per funded SOQ instructional and support position in this act. Sufficient funding is provided for the entire cost of an average $1,000 bonus per academic year governor school and regional alternative education program instructional and support positions based on the most recent available full-time equivalent position counts as reported to the Department of Education. School divisions shall have the discretion to determine the amount of bonuses per employee to maximize the use of these funds to promote retention among instructional and support positions in this act. The funds for which a division is eligible to receive shall require no match by the local government. Localities are encouraged to use additional available funds to provide bonuses to other eligible instructional
042and support staff positions. Uh my recommendation this evening after consulting with neighboring superintendents and uh our our finance staff is I would recommend that we equally disperse the state provided funds to all full and part-time staff who've worked in King George County schools during the 2425 school year and have agreed via signed contract to return to King George County schools during the 2526 school year in the amount of $700 onetime bonuses for full-time staff and 350 one-time bonuses for all part-time staff paid out on July 31st, 2025. Thank you, Dr. Boy. Just for everyone's um knowledge, how many SOQ positions does King George County have? Do you know? Oh, it's about half of what we Yeah, it's a little maybe more than half, but nowhere near what we would need to cover all all staff.
043Sounds fair. Um is this include bus drivers? Yes, includes uh all staff. All full-time staff and all part-time staff. Yes, that's uh instructional staff, bus drivers, cafeterias, that's everybody. I think that's very fair. I think that um I think the entire staff will be appreciative and I don't think those that are strictly SOQ positions would hopefully feel badly about it because what little bit that they're sacrificing is now able to reward many, many more. Dr. Boy, quick question. Sorry, Madam Chair. For the SOQ positions, how are those chosen? Do they come in or do we have those positions available in a an assignum? To be honest with you, we don't actually, if you take a look at the state funding council, some some of it is down to the decimal as far as the number
044of positions they'll provide. So, we'll have like 1.5% of a of a position. So, we don't actually identify. Oh, wow. I mean, so it doesn't get down to that level. I mean, we probably could we can do that, but we don't uh and and we would prefer not to. Honestly, I can tell you some school divisions, and I I don't I wouldn't take this approach, but some school divisions are just paying SOQ uh individuals $1,000 and everyone else is not receiving a bonus. But my question is, do they come in as that or do we who determines if they're SOQ? The the SOQs are determined from the the state. So, it's a document that comes out and it says, you know, for for every 300 for every uh 350 kids at a at a school,
045you have to have one library. For every whatever the ratios are for guidance counselors and so on. They don't come in as Margaret doesn't come in with SOQ title. We don't I I don't No, I don't think we think that way. So, it's just basically who Yeah. Okay. So, really, it's fair. And I Yeah, I think spreading it evenly amongst our staff is is the fair and right thing to do. Is there anything that you have to other than like librarian any teachers that would have to qualify to be an SOQ or uh SOQ positions are usually teachers, guidance counselors, librarians, instructional aids, principles, and assistant principles, but as you know, I mean, we're well be, you know, there's well beyond that in terms of positions. It's not bus drivers. It's not um I mean,
046you can get the list is huge as far as what's not SOQ. I'm just trying to address if there's any teachers or staff that's going to come toward and say, "Hey, um, why are they getting it when they're not SOQ?" If there was any type of No, we're we're not even going to look at SOQ or not. We're going to spread it across the whole division. Okay. I do think the teachers probably know if they're holding an SOQ position. You don't think so? But he said it's like I don't think they know if they're SOQ or not. Better than No. Okay. No. No. That is Dr. Wood, who falls under this part-time work here? Uh Beth, who can you think of some examples of part-time bus drivers and parents? monitors is that do I have
047a motion to approve this expense? I make a motion that we approve the recommendation that the superintendent has given, which means that um in the 2526 school year in the amount of $700 for all one-time bonuses, all onetime bonuses for all full-time teachers and then $350 for onetime bonus for all part-time teachers paid out on July 31st. Second. Any discussion? I think you're going to have to modify that because it's not just teachers. All staff. Well, I'm sorry. Did I say teachers? I'm sorry. I meant all staff. Um, yeah, all full-time staff members. Sorry. Thank you. Motion was made and seconded. All in favor? I. I. Chair votes I. Motion carries. Thank you, Dr. Boyd. Yes, ma'am. Now, let's talk about school security. Yes, Madam Chair. So, uh we have heavily worked on uh the
048concept of school security and improving it over the uh spring. Well, really really for the entire school year, but really heavy in the spring. There there are three things that I'd like to bring to your attention tonight because I know there are issues that we have discussed most recently. Number one, I'm happy to report that King George Middle School next year will receive uh a school security officer, an SSO, uh that will be grant funded for four years. Uh so that'll certainly help with a number of things at the middle school. Middle school is very excited about an extra set of hands and and somebody that's um going to be an extra set of eyes and so on. Uh that's first. Secondly, uh you all charged me with taking a look at bus stop arm
049cameras. I've taken a look at that right now. I still need to explore some other options. The first option we received uh it was the business model was a little different than than uh what I thought it was on the front end. Uh originally I was under the assumption that the business model was one in which um the company would provide the cost of the capital up front, all of the equipment up front and then they would make their they would make up the cost of the capital and also be profitable based on citations that would be um given for anybody that passed a school bus when the stop arm was extended. Uh after further review and talking with that uh particular company and there's some other companies we can explore. I've got u Mr.
050Griggsby in transportation has a number of contacts and we'll work through some other options, but right now uh that option w was um about $1,600 on the front end per bus for installation and then a uh monthly cost of $270 per bus uh moving forward. So, as you can tell that we have about 60some buses on the road, so you can tell that cost would add up very quickly. Uh we certainly are interested in the technology and and would love to be able to employ it, but as I've looked around, it's something that uh most uh urban school divisions have. Uh in fact, in fact, I was driving through um I think it was Virginia Beach last weekend and and those schools uh buses have it. You don't see a lot of rural school divisions
051right now because if you're working out the cost of how many citations you're going to get in a rural community versus the cost upfront, it's it's it's an imbalanced equation. So, we're going to explore some other models and see if we can find um an option that suits King George County. Is there any questions on that before I move forward to the last item? I do have a question about the um SSO. Um, so that's going to have two SSOs at the middle school. Now that'll be one that'll be one SRO, school resource officer who is employed by the King George County Sheriff's Department and works for King George County Sheriff's Department and then an SSO, school security officer, will be employed by King George County Schools. So we'll have both of those individuals in
052that school. So is the SSO are they like the equivalent of the SRO? Do they can can they no same thing? Uh they they have different uh benefits and and drawbacks. So uh honestly an SRO has to follow more of the uh expectations of a school of a deputy. Um so they have to have um probable cause when they're uh conducting an investigation and they have a higher standard and usually they're a uh layer that comes in well after school administration. Uh, an SSO is going to be more like a school administrator or closer to um having the same freedoms as a school administrator where uh a lower threshold of reasonable suspicion uh before they can conduct an investigation and and that's very beneficial too. That that's a that provides more freedom to school employees
053to conduct searches and do things of that nature depending on what issues they're dealing with. So they both have benefits and drawbacks depending on their position, but uh having one of each at the school is going to be very beneficial to cover all bases. Mhm. So are they able to carry weapons? No. Okay. Thank you. Mhm. So is this when we should discuss the bullying thing or is that when are we going to discuss that student conduct? question. I wanted to talk about the bullying. You can go ahead right now. This would be a good time with the SSO. Yeah. So, I know that you said the SS SRO and the SSO being in the schools are going to help with that, combat that, but I really would like as a board to address the
054consequences of bullying. And I know that it's not our duty necessarily to pick those consequences, but um I would like to see them tightened up. I mean, bullying is probably worse than fighting. And we have stricter policy on fighting where, you know, we're just tired of seeing the bullies and the victims kind of be punished together. And that's a nation thing. I'm I'm learning all the school systems kind of do it that way, but I would just like to and I've spoken to some of the board members and we in agreement to kind of tighten the consequences up if possible. Yes, ma'am. I hear you loud and clear. and we'll uh talk about this that this summer and uh prepare to start the school year with some initiatives that will address bullying specific. Thank you.
055Uh and then finally uh in terms of school security, you do have an attachment in the agenda. Uh I think the board requested that we take a look deeply into employing weapon detection systems in all schools. And so um quickly beginning with the start of the 2526 school year, King George County Schools plans to implement the use of weapon detection systems at all five school buildings. Weapon detection systems have proven to enhance safety and threat prevention, provide psychological re reassurance for both our students and staff, deter individuals from entering our school buildings with a weapon, allow for more expedient emergency response, and provide greater support to school administration and law enforcement. The technology along with a myriad of other safety measures such as mental health supports and trained threat assessment teams, King George County Schools
056will continue to make safety or excuse me, student and staff safety a priority. Uh the request this evening includes five units at King George High School, four units at King George Middle School, and two units at each of our three elementary school board um excuse me, schoolboard office staff and building level administration will work collaborative collaboratively. and we already have started this this summer to allocate the human resources needed to support the requested units. Uh this evening, I recommend that we approve the purchase of 15 weapon detection systems along with the associated accessories as listed in the accompanying purchase order to use within King George County schools beginning in the 2526 school year. I have a question, Dr. Boyd. Um I see that there's a 4 to 8 week delivery period. So, do we think
057that's possible to get them in and installed? And I I I certainly hope so. Uh we're still pretty good in that window right now. Of course, I've done this before and and we'll figure out what happens in the world and and where we are in that. But uh I think if we get the approval this evening, then that'll speed the process up. And um we have already started working with staff. So, as soon as we have them on the property and we feel comfortable with the way they operate, I've already instructed principles to begin planning on what it looks like from a human resources standpoint. I think we're in good position to start the school year with uh these in place. And I think, you know, it's important to note that King George County right
058now is is really almost maybe with the exception of West Mand surrounded by all school divisions that have this technology. uh Stafford, Spotsy, Fredericksburg, uh Colonial Beach, I think Caroline, I think everybody at this point is certainly interested in employing this technology or is already employing this technology for the reasons that were just mentioned. Thank you for finding something that will work for us. I appreciate it. We all do. Dr. What is this technology look like? What is it exact? I mean, it's not. So, these are these are mobile units. Uh, and they are two um towers that stand probably about 6 ft tall. You can lean them over and you can actually pick them up. Uh, they have plates on the bottom of them and they can be operated by either plates are to
059to just weigh them down so that they don't move. They can be operated inside or outside. They can be battery operated uh or plugged in. Uh, and what they do is one pole communicates with the other pole. It can have just a visual response of a green light or a red light and it can also have an auditory response of a bell. Multiple people can go through at a time and you can adjust the sensitivity on the units to pick up, you know, at least weapons. Uh, but you can certainly adjust the sensitivity down to being even more precise for for smaller objects and things of that. in talking to the folks that provide this techn and this is a technology that's used at most stadiums. Uh you'll see this at many places right now.
060The the the company we want to go with is called OpenGate if you want to research that and review it. But um I think it'll be something that will serve us well. It has about 40 I think it was 49 antennas inside each of those towers. uh and and they go from from floor to to ceiling in terms of uh scanning. Looking at this purchase order, it says delivery date is 516 and expiration date is 530. I think we're a little past that. Yeah, it's going to go past that. Yeah. Well, can they be sensitized to go to the level of dictating a bullet? They I I understand they can be. Uh but at the same time, that will other things. Yeah. So, it can do other things. And um I I think what we'll
061do and we're very early in the infancy stage of planning the the the roll out of this, but in talking to other folks that have employed this, there are times where you can adjust the frequency of particular units at particular times. So if you're not going to adjust it to that fine level, because what'll happen is if you adjust it to a level so fine, you're going to pick up everything and it's going to take a long time to get into the building. Uh so what many schools do is they'll take a day out of the week or a day out of the month where they'll take one unit, move it around the building and uh scan at a higher level during that that period of time. A lot of experimentation. That's good. We can
062also use these at our stadiums for football games. We can use them uh at evening events as well. Is this the same company that several you said you talked to several other divisions and superintendents. Is this the same company that they use? Some are using openg gate. Uh some are using other technology as well. I notic on here they say that they're going to provide a couple hour training period is what it said like two hours or something like that. No, I think it's it works out to be something like a day. Uh I think they do four hours on the front end making sure that we know how to have the you know equipment hooked up and then also they train our staff which I think is going to be our administration and then
063they also uh require that they are there on the first day of implementation so that they can work with us handinand yeah good Dr. Boyd, in terms of like um what the process is or the policy is for if it does go off, does all that have to be written and reviewed and things like that? Uh we can Yeah. So that'll be a practice. It won't be a policy necessarily, but uh we're working with the company right now. That's part of the training is that they give us best practice. Uh there's certain things that uh they require you hand around the the detector like a Chromebook so that that doesn't set the unit off. Uh and then if you do set the unit off then there's a secondary search which requires the wand. Um and
064then usually that and many of us that went to uh Hopewell I think it was we saw that in operation a couple times. Um but from there usually you find what you're looking for and if not then we go to a private location and search from there. Anyone have any more questions? I think it's going to be a little bit time consuming without having that surveyor belt or whatever you call it to go through because most kids are going to have their Chromebook in their book bags. So, we got to figure out how that would work easiest. I think there's going to be a learning curve on the front end. You know, I think in terms of the board and really in terms of the community, I think we're going to have to give everybody
065some grace on the front end of getting this into the building and into the schools. When when I spoke with principles the first time, they were unders I I'll tell you I think what was said to me was that everyone is ready to pay this cost for this level of safety. It and it there will be a cost. I mean there's going to be time associated with it and and there's going to be um you know we're going to have to work through getting into school every day which is there's a cost associated with that. But I I think the things listed above, you know, psychological security, all of those things that go along with how everyone's going to feel in the building, I I think is well worth it at this point and and
066one that most school divisions are are ready to take the plunge on. All right, Madam Chair, um I move that we approve the purchase of 15 weapon detective systems along with the associated accessories as listed in the purchase order presented. Second motion made and seconded. All those in favor? I I chair votes I. Motion carries. Thank you, Dr. Board. Again, now um the last thing on our agenda for this topic is a schedule change that was added. Yeah, I talking just before the board meeting, there's a couple of us that may have some conflicts with the next board's meeting on the 16th. Um, and I know obviously we could somebody could call in, but of course that wouldn't count towards a quorum. So, it sounds like there might only be three. I would like to
067recommend if there's not anything serious, that we uh cancel the next board meeting on the 16th. But if it's something is needed, especially for approving personnel, that Dr. Boyd and um Aaron could um notify and there'll probably be at least three people available to meet in order to accomplish that. but to just simply cancel, not postpone, but cancel the next, which is commonly done in the summertime if um there's not a a big need um to cancel the next board meeting on the 16th. Okay. Discussion about that. Needs to be seconded. Got a motion. It's a motion. Yes. I'm making a motion that we cancel the board meeting on the 16th of June with the idea that if uh there is a need that an emergency meeting will be um uh held um to approve
068personnel or whatever if there's an emergency second all in favor I have I just have discussion I'm sure so I guess I we should ask do we need the meeting if so we'll we can do code of conduct at the uh meeting in June, July, excuse me. So that'll be July 7th. We talked earlier. There will be personnel that comes up and typically in the summertime when we have to have a special meeting, I'll I'll call Kathy and see if we can get at least three of us together to approve personnel because it's very busy in the summertime in terms of personnel. The other items that we had on there, do you recall stipens? We have some stipens that we want to discuss with you all. We can also that could wait until July if
069it needs to. Um, and then that was it, right? There's and then there's some VSBA policies that will have to be reviewed as well that have a little more substance than the ones we did tonight, but that can wait. That can also wait. This July 7th meeting is going to be a long one because we have disciplinary that starts at what? 1:30. 1:30. Yeah. So these are the three uh disciplinary hearings which we required to come back and uh we want to make sure that they have met the um expectations that we set forth. So yeah, that'll we'll have all three of those and then we'll roll right into the uh July 7th meeting. Okay, we have aation mode motion made and seconded. All those in favor? I I chair votes I. Motion carries. Thank
070you. Thank you very much. I don't know what's wrong with you. Dyslexia. What's that? And let's move on to committee reports. Um Mr. Frank, do you have any committee reports? No, I don't. Miss Cle, no committee reports. I do not. Mr. Bush. Yes, I have two of them. The ATI we met and it was very profitable. She gave endofear I don't think I reported this last time. Hopefully I didn't. Forgive me if I did, but she gave an end of year kind of report and it was very successful. Um especially I I liked and again forgive me if I already reported on this but there was a lot of students that may not have passed their SOS but um most of them that now attended ATI almost all of them passed. So it is a
071tremendous success story for what ATI has accomplished. I may have already reported some on that last one. We also I met with the uh u the special education advisory committee. We had a meeting um with Miss Howard. It went very well. We have specifically talked about I'm not going to pronounce her name right. Rhonda Nebauer um that Kate Miss Howard had met with her and they had several discussions about um oh what they're going to focus on in the coming year um and then specifically what to do with graduation as students graduate more emphasis on trying to help them as they graduate where they're going on to as they leave uh King George. Um, and then we also talked about some of the parent educational advocacy training center, the PATC, and we had some discussions
072about that. But overall, it was u it was a good meeting and looking forward to the next year. Thank you, Mr. Bush. Miss Davis. Uh, yes. So, our new director for the CBGS Ches Bay Governor School is uh Dr. Rob Wright. Um he is replacing Dr. Jason Strong. Strong. Yeah. Um and he this guy seems pretty fun and energetic as Jason was. So I I might be okay now. But uh he did graduate from Repan Community College and he was a part of the CBGS as well. Um and then something that I didn't do that I wish I did but I didn't catch it till now was uh I give a shout out to some of our King George students. I'm not going to say their names because there's a lot of them. 14. your
073daughter's one of them who made the director's list um for King um for the Bowling Green campus that represents the King George students that go there. So there was 14 of our King George students that made the director's list. That's all. Thank you. I have no committee reports. They will move along [Music] to superintendence. Yeah. So, Madam Chair, at I think it was some time ago, so I'm not sure if we remember, but we had some public comment about the trees that were um outside near the bus loop at the high school uh that were covering the band platform. That was some time ago. But, uh I want to let you know that when spring sprung and it was a good time to move those uh with uh the support of Mr. Watson and Mr.
074Mitchell at the high school, those trees have now been moved to closer to the entrance of the high school. if you're coming into uh Fox's Way, they're on the left hand side up on the hillside there. So, they look good and and I certainly appreciate everybody's effort on on adhering to that. Uh this Thursday, we have our leadership retreat. It's at MW and we'll do that from 8:00 to 4:00. There's been a lot of good work put into this uh very similar to what we did last year in terms of developing our leaders here in King George County. So, we'll spend the entire day there with a number of breakout sessions, uh, which involves we'll have an attorney from Sans Anderson come and address any questions that we've had through this school year. We've got
075a number of other breakout sessions for our instructional staff and also our administrative staff. So, it'll be a good day on Thursday at UMW. If anybody wants to stop by, you're more than welcome. Um, I did have the opportunity to listen to the town hall meeting the other night. I know uh Mr. Frank was there, I think, in that seat. in that seat right there. Uh I can tell you that at the beginning of that evening, there's still a lot of talk about uh schools and and the need for schools uh and also a desire to um develop our vocational programs here in King George County. Uh and you know, we're talking about the feasibility study for the vocational center, which should be coming uh very shortly. I've been in contact with RRMM and when
076that product is complete then they are going to provide a presentation to the school board about where or what it's going to take to get the vocational center up and running. So all very promising that you hear our community members and and our board of supervisors respond to the need for schools in King George County. Um I want to thank the board members for attending so many things uh at the at the end of the school year with the support of our principles providing all of those dates. Thank you all for uh being at so many of those events. Uh certainly means a lot to our staff. Uh and it really concluded last week with a a very beautiful and inspiring retirement lunchon. So, Mr. Frank, Miss Hoover, thank you for attending that. It was
077very nice. And thank you to our staff who uh put that on. They did a wonderful job. So, we're rolling into summer now and uh planning for next school year. But uh thank thank you board members. Thank you staff for for a really good school year. So, that's my report. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Dr. Boyd. Moving on to board comment, Mr. Bush. Just want to especially thank all the work that was done on the title programs. I do know that's a tremendous amount of work. In fact, I have a friend of mine who was assistant superintendent and uh his only job was working with teachers in the title programs. And to think that you all did that, there was no um you know input necessary. Well, there was input, but it wasn't like
078you had to have somebody in charge of all that. you all did it on your own. So, it was a wonderful, wonderful job. Thank you so much for that. Um, and also I appreciate um John John Henson, a good friend of mine. He's the pastor at Thrive where I also worship um leading us in a prayer today. And um also all the work and appreciate the fellow board members that attended so many things. I I know all of us have very big busy schedules and I wish I could have attended more but um um I just appreciate Mr. Frank and Miss Hoover and I know that um several others have attended many things at the end of the year. Thank you for doing that. And Dr. Boyd, thank you so much for being very attentive
079to um I think everything as the board for the last three and a half years that I've been on the board, you know, it's kind of like anything that we mentioned that we would like to see done, you respond to it and I thank you for being very attentive to that and it's very well appreciated. Thank you. That's all I have, Miss Davis. Um yes, the title one program I saw a it said 70% of our students made our S score was over 400 which is amazing right I mean I'm new at this so I was read yeah the title one program said 70 third through fifth grade made over 400 70% of them did right so that was really cool to read I just read it on this thing that she had yeah thank
080you for a great school year there's many many challenges we hear about and you guys just push through and keep going and with a smile on your face. So, thank you for that and all the hard work that you just continue to work especially when when a lot of people make comments and and do things on social media and when they have no idea what they're talking about half the time. You guys just keep going and doing what's right. Uh so, thank you for that. All of you, all the leaders, all the staff and and our teachers and um for just a great school year. Uh thank you, Pastor John, for coming. He's a good friend as well. I call him my uh my brother from another mother. He's a good guy. Good man. Um
081and that's it for today. Oh, graduation was awesome. I don't think we had a board meeting since then. Graduation was a lot of fun. It's very inspiring. Very inspiring. My kids got to go to one and and I hope that motivated them to see what they can do and how successful that they can be and what our schools offer them. So that was um encouraging to me for that. That was her first time ever being at one. So, thank you, Mr. Frank. I just want to thank everyone for all you do, all the teachers, all the staff. What you've done here tonight has been amazing. So, thank you very much. Uh, since the last meeting, I think I've been to every school but PTOAC and several times at at some of them. Uh, I made
082Silston's fifth grade graduation, which was fantastic. It was really, really good. Uh, Silston does a does a good job down there on that. Uh, and then the graduation uh retirement dinner. Congratulations out there, Christine. Uh, and everyone else who I I saw a lot of my friends that I used to teach with there retiring. So, it was it was all good. That's all I have. Thank you, Miss Cleveland. Yeah. I'd like to say thank you to our superintendent, Dr. Boyd as well as this board for approving the weapons detection systems. I know that it is definitely a need in our community and I know that we have a lot of families out there that are very excited to hear that our students are going our students and staff are going to be um more protected
083in the upcoming year. Um, I think this just sends a huge message to our community, um, to our staff and to our students, um, that safety is a priority for us and, um, we have worked really hard to make sure that this this happens. Um, and I just want to say thank you. Thank you, Miss Cleveland. So, I wanted to say how much I enjoyed the senior walk, the graduation, grandparents day, eighth grade celebration, fifth grade celebration, kindergarten promotion, and the retirement celebration. It was 300 how many years? 347 years and it was only about eight people that 13. Okay. Still a lot of years for so that that was a great celebration. Thank you to everybody for all your uh dedication throughout the years and also thank you for your work done to get
084our schools the grants that we need and use. Appreciate everybody here this evening. Um I also want to thank Dr. Boyd and all the staff for a great school year. Um we survived another one and um also my board here. We I think we work collaboratively and we all pick up where each other's strengths and weaknesses lie and I just appreciate everybody um everybody that works in the school system, everybody's doing a great job and again um even when we there's a lot a lot of negativity coming at us. Appreciate the positivity because it all is for the students and thank you. Now moving on to close meeting. Do I have a motion to move to close meeting? I make a motion that we go into close session pursuant to state code section 2.2-3712A of
085the code of Virginia. I move that the board convene in closed meeting to review hires, reassignments, designations, and retirements as permitted under 2.2-3711A number one of code of Virginia. Second. Motion made and seconded. All in favor? I. Chair votes I. Motion carries. We are now in close session. George County School Board returned to open session and certified that pursuit to state code section 2.2-3712D 2-3712D. Only pi public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under this chapter and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered in the meeting by the public body. Second and certify. Certify. Certify. Certify. motation mo made and seconded. All in favor? I I chair votes I. Motion carries. Do we have a motion to
086approve approve personnel as presented? I make a motion that we approve the personnel le presented. Seconded. All in favor? I I. Chair votes I. Motion carries. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? Second. All in favor? I I chair votes eye. Motion carries. We are now adjourned. And our next meeting is July 7th, July at 1:30, right? No, you're good.