001Davis yes ma'am I'm Pastor Davis I vot in the dowran district been pastor at Tabernacle babst Church for the past 40 y'all were born except for Mr Bush there 48 years thank you for the wonderful opportunity to lead in a word of prayer so let's pray our heavenly father we do vow thanking you for the wonderful privilege Lord to approach the throne of grace and Lord we're so thankful that it's a throne of grace and not a throne of judgment Lord you exhort us to first of all supplications and prayers and intercessions and giving of thanks to be made for all men for all that are in authority and I can't think of any higher responsibil ility than being the teachers and Lord uh those involved in our children's education that they may lead a
002quiet and peaceful life and all godliness and honesty well this is good the Bible says and acceptable in the sight of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ all all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth for there is one God and one minity between God and man the men Christ Jesus Lord we're thankful again so often so we're always so concerned about Lord uh with what is our concerns what we're going through right now sometimes we're inated by our own cares our own cries our own crisises our own concerns our own Ambitions but Lord may we be busy or we're often too busy Lord with the wood hay and stubble of life we ask you to restore our concerns for your heart for your heart's cries and
003Lord may we be used of you mightily to Lord restore Lord uh godliness in our in our nation we love you because you first loved us so tonight we do pray for our school board we pray for David Bush and pray Lord for Ed Franks and Carrie Cleveland we pray Lord for Colleen Davis and Kathy uh Hoover Lord bless these that give them wisdom as they lead Lord and try to do what Lord they they believe that You' have them to do we pray for Dr Boyd Lord as he is a superintendent we got give him wisdom and understanding and Lord for the teachers who desire prayers I pray for the teachers and principles and all those Lord and and the students who would uh desire for us to pray for them we ask you
004Lord to work and help us to make King George County Schools the best in the state we will praise you and thank you for all that you accomplished and all that you do in Jesus wonderful name we pray amen and amen God bless you the Pledge of Allegiance tonight will be led by the King George Middle School all district band and we that will be followed by a Moment of Silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all hi let's hear about this all district band sure uh good evening uh members of the board uh as you know King George Middle School was asked to share an instructional highlight um from what's been going
005on at the middle school this semester in this year um and we were very grateful that we were asked by Dr nice to be able to come in um and give that presentation my name is Kevin chetam I'm one of the band directors at King George middle school and I brought with me eight of the 10 students who made uh all district ban this year um you can wave when I call your name uh we had a sixth grader who is fiia means made the b a seventh grader Liam Miller an eighth grade Chase Miller Sandy Miller Maddox Yates Eli nicoletti Irene Rivera Reyes cydney landrith and we also had Christian Palmer and Tyler trer make the band who weren't able uh to be here uh with us this evening uh but this was a
006great opportunity for our students to go perform uh on February 7th and 8th at Stafford High School and I have a couple of them that are going to come up uh and explain kind of what it was how they got selected and what they learned from it so I want to start with arene the floor is yours hi I'm aren and I play the trumpet I was an all district band which is essentially a select group of band students within a district chosen by audition the audition requires you to do various things like memorize scales and place a priz be pieces in front of judges after that you are scored and depending on the score you get it will decide if you make the band or not then the the band will practice for 2
007days and then play a mini concert for family and friends my name is Sydney and I auditioned and made the all district band in sixth seventh and eighth grade in this year's concert I was fair and percussion this concert is important because it teaches kids to take on the challenge of learning music that is harder than they're used to and they have to learn it fast it has made me play better and I can site read music quickly I've been able to use what I've learned and and last fall I became part of the King George Royal regiment marching band in the pit section thank you hello I'm Eli nicoletti um I was in The District Band this year and only this year I made it to the concert band Claret fourth chair um some
008of the things that you can learn is like learning how to overcome challenges in a short amount in a short amount of time um just for the auditions um another thing you can learn is how to work as a team and develop trust in a short amount of time uh these are all important because they're like very important life skills and this is also important because it can um help you gain confidence in yourself and like your skills thank you as always we're very grateful uh to Dr nice and for the other administration at King George middle school for allowing us to have this opportunity as well as for transportation and getting us there and getting us home at crazy hours with some weird weather delays this year uh but we're very grateful for the
009opportunity to come and present and we thank you very much for for listening to us thank you does the board have any questions yeah um anybody can answer this but again I often ask this question what's the most enjoyable part of being part of the middle school band what do you enjoy the most any of you want to come forward and be brave about that one Liam why don't you answer that for us my favorite part about band is the stupid video Friday on Friday yeah what does that mean hold on you can't just walk away sorry the least educational thing that we do on Fridays if the band is good then we get to watch like a really stupid video all right I get it all all pertaining to music of course of course
010yes and what was the hardest thing what's the most difficult thing about being in the band um it's playing together for real like it's kind of hard to play as a group because we're all making different sounds we're at different places and like we need a director to put it all like put it together and that's my statement that's a that's a great answer thank you m no no questions but just wanted to say thank you for coming and and sharing that information with us and congratulations to all of you for making the band putting in all the hard work I know it's a lot of work when I was in Middle School I paid the violin I was terrible didn't make the band thank you for the time that you guys put into the
011students and giv them the opportunity to learn and for that for him to say that the three bullet points was overcoming challenges working as a team and building trust those are such valuable um things to learn at such a young age so good job to you guys too and good job B congratulations guys thanks so much no you okay next we have is anybody signed up for public comment okay if you have not signed up for public comment please see the clerk now to sign up public comment is a time for the community to to present matters that they believe deserve the board's attention comments are one-way communication from the Community member to the school board and they are not a form of dialogue or debate the school board applies the following procedures to all
012speakers and does not discriminate based on the identity of the speaker or the view point of the speaker comments should be presented in a courteous respectful and appropriate manner the public shall address the school board only on matters that are related to the services and policies of the school division speeches that cause disruption to the meeting promote private business ventures involve threats of any kind involve intimidating language relate to public office campaigns involve complaints identifying individual students or personal tax of Staff members is prohibited property Quorum and the provision of this procedural directive are expected to be followed at all public meetings of the school board the members of the audience shall conduct themselves in the same manner as outlined above for the individual speakers and shall not disrupt an open public meeting of the
013School Board nor incite others to do so at the discretion of the chair any person violating the rules listed above may be asked to leave the board meetings when recognized by the chair speakers will be asked to identify themselves by name State their relationship to the school Division and indicate in which magisterial district they reside commentary during public comment time is limited to 3 minutes our first Speaker of the evening is Shan Davis surprise surprise surprise I am Pastor Davis same one was here while ago and I'm here to try to encourage each of you I vote in the Dow district and I've just come out each uh time to uh encourage uh I'm sure all of you are familiar with Matthew 14 of the story of Jesus uh walking on the water and uh
014there's a storm and Jesus comes and I don't know what each of you are going through the trials and temptations and all that uh you go through by being board members but anyway U there's a storm taking place and Jesus comes walking on the water on the storm and as he approaches the ship uh uh Peter says Lord if it's you bid me to come to you well the Lord can't deny himself so he said one word come and uh Peter stepped out Apostle Peter stepped out on the water SED walking towards the Lord and um he began to sink and of course Lord reached out and and picked him up and put him back to the boat but uh the point is uh not only did Jesus walk on the water but Jesus walked
015on the Storm he didn't call Peter on a calm see he called Peter to step out in the midst of a storm I don't know what kind of storms you may be going through in life but I want you to understand that if you uh fixate yourself on the Storm rather than the one who can walk on the Storm it'll Crush you uh people you know now we have social media today and folks can say anything not to be true they can just say it and uh but whatever the storm is if you get fixated on that it will crush you will take you down so I want to encourage you today not to be fixated on whatever the trial is whatever the storm is you're going through but be fixated on Jesus Christ who
016is the one who will get you through the storm and not allow it to crush and so Jesus is calling us all to get out of the boat he didn't call Peter on the Cal and if you waited on calm seas uh s Pastor 40 eight years and if I'm waiting on the Seas to be calm to do that uh every day every week every there's a storm and U so just realize that that they're coming and if you waited on the calwalk you may not make it okay and just trust the Lord and he's called us out of the boat because he is with you in the storm and so just trust him keep on trusting keep on looking up keep on asking the Lord to give you the strength no matter what storm
017you're going through you can do it by the grace of God grace God's Redemption at Christ's expense g r a c e trust him and he's never will let you down God bless you thank you for your time appreciate it thank you next we have Candace pz good evening my name is Candace PS and I am a first grade teacher at pic Elementary and I reside here in King George um here tonight because many teachers and parents wrote to our superintendent and to our school board in regards to the meeting held without public notice that added time to our calendar after the teachers were asked to prepare packets at the last minute to protect our instructional time I was disappointed and the response that we received from our superintendent and the copied and paste message
018we received from our chairperson that directed us back to the Su superintendent so we're our concerns really addressed were they even read my questions and concerns were never addressed by the superintendent or the chairperson uh the Dr Boyd's condenscending message made me feel like I'm not putting my students first when that's all I ever do putting my family and my health on the back burner daily in my 10 years of teaching all at patomic I have been awarded PES teacher of the year my second year PTA outstanding educator of the year my nth year I started toing during Co taking on 10 to 12 students a week and I've been teaching summer school for the last 7 to eight years this doesn't sound like a teacher who doesn't have her students best interest at heart
019it's always been my top priority I'm an extremely dedicated educator but I also know the value of my time it is obvious that the leaders in our division and those asked to represent our community are out of touch with the reality of what life is really like in the classrooms our task list is already unmanageable students needs and behaviors are the highest we've ever seen and our physical and mental health is at risk so how are students needs going to be met if teachers have no time and are continuously stressed to meet deadlines with only 40 minutes a day to complete all the necessary tasks to run a classroom go to the bathroom and maybe even take a 5 minute break you know the one where you don't actually have to do any work I
020am going to just read the response that reates all my questions that I sent back to the chairperson so I just wanted to know why the meeting was held without the public being made aware what was the urgency why were parents and staff not able to offer other options other than taking teachers planning time if this change was indeed necessary these changes added one day to our calendar time and if Dr Boyd and School Board were really looking at the best interest of the students this time would have been taken from spring break not teachers planning time these kids will leave at the end of March for a 9-day break and come back like it's day one all over again with another 4-day weekend shortly after all this time right before State Testing not sure
021how the two days and the one whole day will make any difference besides taking the much needed time from already overworked and underpaid teachers so if anybody would like to answer my questions I am still waiting so if your purpose is to put students learning first how to taking the much needed planning and professional development time from our teachers leaving us exhausted and underprepared put our students first thank you thank you next we have Kate Jones hi my name is Kate Jones and I reside in the doen district um I'm speaking tonight H tonight on behalf of myself a third grade teacher and other students other teachers in King George County Schools regarding the recent decision by the board and superintendent to remove one teacher work day and several half days from the calendar I've
022emailed the board twice I've received two emails in response to my inquiry from the same people Candace named and one made me feel as if if I were putting students first I wouldn't be concerned about losing teacher work time our King George County School teachers are putting students first and it's precisely the reason why I'm addressing you tonight no one chooses this job for the fame or the fortune we are here because we want to help children strive to be the best students and future citizens that they can possibly be while teachers are putting our students first teachers cannot pour from an empty cup and that's where we are as a teacher of 25 years I know how important face to-face instructional time is for students and for teachers and I respect the decision the
023boards decisions the board makes to prioritize this valuable time however our teachers are burdened with an extraordinary amount of tasks and duties which C us to use our own personal time to do our jobs we plan grade communicate with families and work on report cards on our own time teachers do get 40 minutes of planning time at Daily not nearly enough for all that a teacher is required to do to be successful 40 minutes per day is not enough time to get these tasks accomplished with high quality outcomes also there are times that meetings are scheduled during instructional time and we are required to have Subs in our classroom if instructional time is being PRI prioritized then why are we pulling teachers out of classrooms during the school day the two half days that were
024turned into full days were supposed to be time dedicated to our staff for our VA training 30 hours of training when are we supposed to complete the rest of the training modules that are required to be done by the end of the year that is a state requirement must be done that is now another task that will fall on us to do on our own time what other profession requires their employees to give up their person time to do their job with no compensation what other profession requires teachers to do their training during their own personal time the work day on March 7th fell at report card time that day should have been spent working on report cards and doing comments for families discussing and prepping so materials and gearing up for quarter four many
025other meetings were also scheduled on that day when are those going to happen those tasks of report cards will now also fall on teachers personal time I ask that you please consider all that is required of teachers on a daily basis and provide us with much needed work days and time to do all we need to do to be successful at our jobs planning engaging lessons and activities and collaborating with our teams requires time if we are not given the time and students aren't getting meaningful and engaging lessons teachers cannot pour from an empty cup thank you next we have we have Dustin Nichols hello my name is Dustin Nichol I live in Spotsylvania County but I'm a third grade teacher at seon elementary and I'd like to take a few minutes to address the
026recent calendar changes that were made without any warning I believe the teachers uh who are opposed to the calendar changes have made very valid points and I could make reference to the number of days and hours required the time needed for the VA modules or the lack of plan time as part of uh the reason many of us are frustrated instead I'd like to focus on the way this decision was made and then announce the school board met without any prior notice to families or teachers during the middle of a workday then after the decision was made which directly affected those families and teachers um it was there was an email sent out on a Friday afternoon after we had left for the day uh about the upcoming changes the teacher work days were originally
027added to the calendar to allow the teachers the time to finish the required vaa modules unfortunately some of that time had already been used up by the scheduled meetings during those workday I know that some teachers have had to go to the math textbook adoption meetings on those work days as I was one of uh many teachers uh our last day our last work day fell on the day in which we decided to make those three days of asynchronous learning um that morning I was at a textbook adoption meeting when when we found out we were informed that we are doing this extra work now so that we would not need to add the days to the calendar later but apparently that was not true instead of getting any modules or meaningful planning done that
028day I spent my morning at the textbook adoption meeting then when I got back to cson we had a meeting about the asynchronous days after the meeting I had to come up with the work and then copy it all because it was supposed to be done by the next workday so all of this took my entire uh my entire workday it was a total loss and a waste of time especially since we didn't save any of the days that they said we were going to save then we got an email response to many of the teachers concerns that came across um as how I felt it was very condescending it felt as if the superintendent was thanking those who praised the changes and was trying to guilt those who opposeed the changes or how those
029changes were made this was followed by a copy and paste email from one of the school board members stating that all of our concerns had been addressed um this was another Act of blatant disregard for the teachers input and opinions I feel confident in saying that if you're trying to retain good teachers or boost morale this is not the way to do it teachers have forever been guilted into working longer than contracted hours because we need to do it for the kids we wouldn't be in this profession if we weren't trying to always do what's best for our kids Dr Boyd has said many times that the teachers in King George County always aim to exceed the bare minim minimum and deliver the highest quality of instruction and he's absolutely right however we are not
030compensated as such or treated as if our opinions are valued we are tired of the lip service and want to be shown that we are valued by your actions if I could only go over a little bit I ask that you reconsider some of these changes and I fear that without you showing that you value your teachers by your act by your actions instead of just your words uh many good teachers may leave to other surrounding counties if King George schools are committed to prioritize Student Success then they must also be committed to retaining high quality teachers thank you thank you Dr Boyd superintendent comment yes thank you madam chair first let me uh thank Pastor Davis I thought it was a very very timely message tonight I have certainly been focusing on Storms lately
031and literally focusing on uh winter storms and if my job this year as meteorologist is done I am more than happy to give up the Reigns of being meteorologist uh now to the teachers that that came tonight thank you all for coming I I certainly appreciate it uh I will not speak for the board I've spoken with the board quite a bit I I'll be speaking for myself this evening I want you guys to know that I appreciate you coming out tonight and your dedication to the school division I've spent all of my career 25 years now really promoting the value that a teacher has on a child the time you give the dedication you have to your children I think there is an there's immense value to that I've also spent the same amount
032of time in my career advocating for as was described the empty cup that we're continuing to pour out of there's not enough time in the day to meet all the demands that we have been placed upon us and as your superintendent if you're asking me to advocate for you when it comes to additional State demands when it comes to competing for fair salaries when it comes to making sure that we are a top ranked School Division I will continue to be there for you in that endeavor I promise you that but when it comes to putting our kids at the Forefront and providing them an opportunity for a quality education I will be putting them there okay we talked about and I heard tonight that we're pouring out of empty cup and I couldn't agree
033with you more there's a ton of Demands VA is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the added demands we place on Educators right now I'll continue in that fight so with the unimited amount of time that we have left and the value that I know you have why would we not take every single minute we have left given the fact and I won't go through all the numbers right now but but we've lost 10 and 1 half days to snow and another week if we want to start counting days time that we would have been in front of our children this year I can tell you as a former High School principal and I can tell you now as a superintendent there are many teachers right now that are rolling
034over in their bed at night thinking I've got kids that are unprepared for AP exams I've got kids that are getting ready to set for tests that might determine whether or not they graduate from high school rolling over in their beds right now wondering if in the absence of 15 instructional days are they going to be able to deliver to those children they're wondering that about themselves as well because they will be held accountable as we all know we're held accountable for those results so why would we not with every minute we have left focus on the children and provide as much as we possibly can and I'll be happy to make the argument with you that two days may not be enough if you look around at our other school divisions right now I
035know some of you are new to education the concept of making up snow days is not a new one the concept of of the Schoolboard making the decision on how to adjust a calendar because of a influx of snow days is not a new one all of all of our communities around us right now have lost President Day they've lost spring break they've extended the school day in my career I've gone to school on Saturdays I've extended the school year what we were trying to do in this effort and and really one of the reasons for the quick turnaround was to take the time that we know we have left already together and focus that time with you in front of children we think that's valuable we think that's important and if that comes at
036the expense of a V uh module or something of that nature I'm willing to take that bullet for you but I'm not willing to look at our kids in our community and say we couldn't deliver because we had to we had to do other things I'm not willing to do that so the last that's the point I'll make on that and the last point I'll make here is there's been a lot of comments about the meeting and how it took place so I want to take a step back for a minute and let's talk about this meeting where the school board got together to figure out how to get our kids in school that was the content of that meeting a regular meeting per policy requires three days advaned notice a special meeting which this
037was which most are in terms of making up time for snow because you're on a quick turnaround as they have been in every other School Division around us only requires notice to to the community when notice is made available to our board we figured out we could pull that meeting together Friday morning and we pulled it together Friday morning because the earliest possible date that we could have used where we had time with students and with teachers in the building was when was Wednesday of last week which I'm not sure if you guys have heard but I've heard students telling me man last week was the first full week of School I've had I think in this year and I felt good about it I felt good about coming to school for a whole week
038I got into a rhythm first full week of school in a long time so when you knew our board knew what the content of the meeting was was figuring out how to get our kids back in school as for as many hours as we possibly could before they sat for State exams and really the intent and the purpose was because we believe that is great great great value in you being not in front of a computer screen but being in front of our children and providing as much time as you can and providing them as much opportunity as they can get before they have high stakes tests that they have to set before so I know that was long but I'll stop there Madam chair and uh as you can tell I feel very passionate
039about you all uh and what you provide but even just as equally our kids and what they deserve uh so without extending our school year any longer we I I personally believe and again I'm not speaking for the board uh that this was the best use of the remaining time we had left so thank you madam chair thank you Dr Boyd does anyone have any changes to the agenda OHP okay moving right along I believe that our um instructional highlight with the band has already been um presented so next we have the gift advisory annual report all right good evening everyone good evening chairman Hoover Dr bour and esteemed members of the school board I am Angie Harris and I'm supervisor of Elementary instruction and also serve on our division gifted advisory committee so thank
040you for the opportunity for us tonight to kind of share with you a little bit of what our committee has been working on this year also Mr duser is here with me he serves as the chairman of our gifted advisory committee and together we're going to share the goals established by the committee this year and give you a a little snapshot of the gifted programming and opportunities that we offer at each of the schools so let's just Dive Right In Our gifted advisor committee this year is made up we have 22 uh committee members which includes parents teachers administrators and a Schoolboard representative the committee we meet three times a year uh Mr D Dustin Piper as I've mentioned is our chairman of our committee and Miss uh Kathy Hoover is our Schoolboard representative so
041I'd like to appreciate all their leadership in our committee to this point we our goals that our committee set our first meeting we held in the early fall our goals that we wanted to accomplish this year is we wanted to increase communication and professional development of a gifted program we wanted to explore ways to expose and identify more under representative populations to our gifted program and we also wanted to continue to discuss and revise um and make revisions if needed to our current gifted plan that you guys approved um last year for we have fiveyear plan so with that said what does our current gifted population look like I think we are accomplish some these some of these goals at this time we have 203 students that are identified as gifted students K to 12
042we have 106 are males 97 are females we have 15 twice exceptional students and we have six different races represented in this population the program now represents about 4.6 of our school uh population which is alignment with the state and uh National Norms so at this time I'm going to turn the rest of the presentation over to our chairman Mr pyer and he's going to share with you the services and different opportunities that we have at each of the school levels Mr Piper uh good evening members of the board um I want to thank all the members of gift advisory committee and Miss Kathy Hoover um it's nice to have a group of people that can get together and kind of advocate for these students um I want to go over what the services look
043like and then um kind of what's next for our gifted programming uh in grades K through two we only identify students for English language arts and right now we only have five students identified um they meet with a gifted resource teacher twice weekly at their home school at celson at pomac and King George Elementary School they get enriching lessons beyond what they would get in a general kindergarten first or second grade classroom um they also get some critical thinking creative thinking games and activities to kind of challenge them beyond what they're getting uh for example the the ones I work with at King George Elementary School we had a quick turnaround um but we read through The Chronicles of Narnia the line the witch in The Wardrobe before they went to the place since I
044knew they were going to the play that's on a fifth grade reading level and I had first and second graders kind of reading through it studying it anal Iz in looking at symbolism and things like that in it so it gives them that opportunity just for twice a week to leave the classroom get pulled out and work on um more engaging well more challenging activities uh in grades three through five that's when our programming really starts they students attend King George Elementary school full-time for gifted instruction in their identified area either mathematics or language arts uh we currently have 62 students identified the way the language arts program works is that it's we meet the state required um education we go through we use the same curriculum as the Gen ed class but then we
045extend beyond that um Beyond grade level expectations they're working through novel units that aren't included in the reading curriculum and it gives them a chance to kind of be pushed and challenged a little bit more um in the math in third grade it's kind of the same they get enrichment outside of the state required curriculum but in fourth grade they start accelerating a little bit more and in fifth grade is when they're actually tested at the upper level so fifth grade takes their sixth grade so and then as I go on to the Middle School um I'll talk about what the math program looks like there um one thing I highlighted last year and want to continue to highlight is the summer enrichment program that we offer for identify gifted students um we're looking forward
046to having our third year of that the first uh the second and third week after school is out uh last year we had the dogr stem Outreach come up and offer a plethora of classes uh for the students they did Lego spike programming robots they did an infrared um lighting one they played with liquid nitrogen um they had the interns from down at the base come up and work with the kids that was really cool we had an AI class all about Ai and kind of just an introductory into what it is kind of how it works Works uh being very cautious with it um we had cryptology forensics the King George Sheriff's Department brought the forensics truck over for a field trip the picture was in there earlier they got to go through the
047the forensic unit truck and look at all the things had a guest speaker we had podcasting we had a guest speaker for that one uh the kids we had different types of podcast some did pop culture uh one group wrote their own like scary sto and kind of narrated that through um they learned about content and Publishing and things like that um we had a creative writing class logic and strategy games we had a guest come in and teach the kids chess some of them that didn't know how to do it uh science Adventures breakout rooms and all the students participated in a mini economy project where they designed prototypes and then manufactured the kids throughout the week earned currency and then at the end each team set up their booth and sold their items
048and then we calculated what was their cost and how much they made off of it so there's a bunch of the highlights from that the liquid nitrogen up in the top left um the forensics unit they did teeth and fingerprinting like uh teeth in prints and fingerprinting to solve crimes that they had the chest down on the bottom uh we worked with infrared lighting and they brought in special glasses where we could see the Spectrum of light and the students looked at fluorescent lights versus LED lights versus uh incandescent bulbs and they could see how the light spectrum was different in each one so very valuable experience for them in middle school and high school in middle school grades 6 through eight we have 61 students um the language arts classes they're ident the identified
049students participate in specific language arts classes that are accelerated Beyond and then math as I said in fifth grade they take the sixth grade so in Middle School the sixth graders take math 8 seventh graders identifi take Algebra 1 and by 8th grade they've completed geometry in grades 9 through 12 um they're counseled into what would be their strength specific uh classes they can take the honors advanced placement dual enrollment with the differentiated curriculums there and then they have the option to apply to CGS cbgs and the Academy of technology and interview Innovation this is a slide that just kind of talks about all of them on there uh CGS and cbgs I believe you guys are all pretty familiar with their halfday programs the ATI program is a full day one at uh Mary
050Washington and Stafford and then they also have the option to apply for the summer residential Governor school which is I don't remember if it's a week long two weeks um programming in math science technology Humanities there's a ton of options for the high school kids fxburg Regional govern school is also available for Rising 7th through 12th graders um it takes place in Fredericksburg at James Monroe High School that's kind of where it's housed out of and I know seventh grade does wetlands 8 grade is caves and minerals um ninth grade is environmental technology and then 10th 11th and 12th they can do chemistry engineering and there's a mentorship program all right so what's next for gifted advisory uh we want to continue to enhance that communication with families especially at the elementary level um Miss
051merges our gifted math teacher at King Geor Elementary has implemented a quarterly quarterly newsletter going to families just to kind of keep them in the loop of upcoming opportunities for the students and what's going on in gifted Services um we continue to look at the current plan assess its Effectiveness and how it can better meet the needs of the students and every couple years uh the gifted resource teachers us usually reach out to seon and pomac to talk with the teachers there about referring gift uh students for gifted Services what does that look like in a student um is it just a high achieving student or is it the student who's maybe a little off task but very capable and we try to get a lot of our referrals from the students who see those
052kids in the classroom every single day they know those kids best they know where they are among their peers um so usually every other year we reach out to all the Elementary School staffs to make sure that they know that we're still around and um they're free to recommend students for that and then our next advisory committee meeting is March 19th um open to the public 4:15 at the Schoolboard office thank you Mr Piper does anybody have any questions Madam chair I don't have any questions but I just wanted to you know say thank you for all that you guys do um I'm actually on the CGS board um I just started so I don't know a lot of information about it but um I think just making the students aware of these opportunities is
053critical um especially you know in our community making sure that um all everyone knows that there's these opportunities available for them um you know if they qualify so I appreciate it I I love the program and I I hope that one of my kids can get in it one day but they're probably a little bit too lazy thank you know I appreciate all the all the parents that come out as well in addition to the two of you and all the other staff members so it's a really great program and you guys put a lot of effort into it thank you moving on we have no student representative comments or does anybody have anything from a student rep to read okay do I have a motion to go into closed session yes Madam chair I'm
054pursuing to code to state code section 2-2-3 712a of the a of the code of Virginia I move that the board convene and a closed meeting to review hires substitutes resignations stens and requirements and retirements as as permitted under 2.2 A-1 of the code of Virginia all those in favor I oh I'm sorry I'll second it second all in favor all in favor okay we are now in closed session County School Board return to open session and certify that pursuit to state code section 2.2 3712 D only 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 all those in favor
055I I V ey motion carries oh that's right second certified all certified certify certify okay motion carries we are back in Open Session Shar sorry now we have to vote for the decision okay now the action resulting from the closed meeting do we have a motion to approve personnel as presented I make a motion that we approve the personel L presented second all those in favor I I I chair votes I motion carries okay up for discussion tonight first is the um we have the consent agenda consent agenda first agenda it's okay the meeting the minutes um has everybody had a chance to look at those and does anybody have any comments you want to approve them all yeah if there's I think we can't approve them all unless somebody has a concern to pull
056one out I make a motion to approve the meting minutes from February 10th and February 21st as presented second all those in favor I chair votes I motion carries now let's go on to the um policy update for College and Career Readiness uh yes Madam chair so this policy is an update from the last vssb revision the policy is updated to enact really a change in the the uh previous General Assembly to match House Bill uh 1087 and Senate Bill 627 if you look at the content of the policy igd what you'll see is that the college in career Readiness now references two programs that the community college has which is titled the passport program and the uniform certificate of General Studies program uh these are programs that are offered through the Virginia Community College
057network and now this policy references our students ability uh to seek uh college credits through those programs and we we are uh in a position in King George County Schools to offer those so I would ask for approval this evening awesome does anybody have any discussion about that I make a motion that we approve the um policy code ijd AS amended second all those in favor I I chair votes I motion carries okay next we had a task to discuss goals of the school board now I can't find my notes um so the there was two uh themes here students and teachers so I'm going to combine and and they're not necessarily in any order but um the goal to diminish the number of tests given every year and increase interest in AP and dual
058credit courses I think that that can be combined because that's very student oriented and then as far as teachers go um we had high expectations and Leadership training for for principes and staff so I think leadership was a common goal there as well um so somehow we can roll that into a goal and put it into words right and then the third thing was um also students and substance appuse education for students and I think we've worked on that this year and that was a goal for us but we need to uh continue on and that thank you everybody who gave feedback because that I think that the it's it's all about the students and the teacher so um I'll put those into writing we can publish that or whatever and that does anybody have
059any to add to that okay you did get mine I got yours yep yours fine was one of the ones that I read um and then moving on we have the balol year 24 funds balance yes Madam chair I wanted to provide the board an update on the uh fund balance if you remember I went to the Board of Supervisors to request our end of the year fund balance from fy2 24 and and they did award it to uh King George County Schools uh it really broke down into three areas and I wanted to provide an update to the board on those three areas uh first was the large chunk of that money was $900,000 for the math curriculum that's required by the state uh I spoke with our instructional team recently and we are
060still waiting for in fact I think we we've just received word from the state that they've approved additional Publishers um for the math curriculum they started off with only one publisher uh and we wanted to explore other options so I think they're now up to I think it's three Publishers now and we're making final determinations and from what I've been told we should have a a decision on the math curriculum that we intend to purchase uh by April so uh that'll be well before the end of this fiscal year which will satisfy the requirements of these funds uh 100,000 was set aside for uh reimbursing school activity funds that money has been pushed back to the schools to reimburse their activity funds so that that money has now been received by our schools and this
061is for things like covering the cost of uh community events graduation things like that so that money has been pushed back to all all of our five schools and then finally uh $200,000 of that money was set aside um with with the the idea of allowing us to to use it as a catalyst to kick off some discussions about um reopening The Vocational building between the Middle School and the high school uh so I wanted to give you guys really kind of an update on the on the work that we've done in that area uh as you guys know $200,000 is is not going to open that building um and we're on a on a rather tight timeline so I want to let you know what's kind of happened in that short amount of time
062I did speak with uh Bryce young at the county and talk to him about maybe some next steps he is uh he was on vacation last week but he's going to come back uh and walk the building and give us a pretty good idea of what he thinks U from his mindset but he gave me a very good point uh that that we need to to probably do first and we are going to do first is we're going to conduct a hazardous material study that building was built in 1968 and last used in 2008 according to what I've been told so there's a potential that there's hazardous materials in the building so when you renovate you need to make sure that you know asbest things of that nature are things that are mitigated for so
063we have um scheduled with a company that's going to do the hazardous material study uh it's a modest cost uh and they can they can uh complete that study on March 12th so that's pretty quick turnaround and we're pleased uh to have that done at that time according to Mr Young that's really going to kind of set the stage for what's next if if they uh find a decent amount of hazardous materials or it's a lot to mitigate then then we probably have to go the route of exploring um you know a feasibility study or or trying to figure out um how we go forward from a professional nature with some some larger architectural firms uh and see what they can do in terms of getting that building back up and running if we find
064that there's not much to mitigate and there's not much concern in that building then there's a potential that maybe we can piece out some of these projects and get it done for substantially cheaper than what we know we would pay through an architectural firm uh at this so I've reached out to three firms so far uh one of them has not got back to me one of them has already submitted a proposal the other one is meeting we were supposed to meet last Thursday he had to cancel because he was sick he's coming Wednesday I'm taking our instructional team over to the building we're going to walk the building and we're going to get an idea of not only from an instructional standpoint what we want to put in that building as in terms of
065vocational programs but also uh you know with the nuts and bolts of the building look like and and start to get an idea of what it's going to take to get that building back up and operational um met with the instructional team outside of meeting with the Architects and we're really starting to take a look at some of the data we have we have student survey data we have industry standards we have a number of other pieces of data that are going to lead or are lean heavy into the programs that we need to consider in that in the building um there's a lot of great ideas right now we haven't nailed those down yet in terms of the programs but between ourselves and the folks that are coming through the building to take a
066look at the building we're hoping to have all of that laid out before we you know begin to to really plan for that building so that's where that sits right now I don't know how far 200 $200,000 is going to go in the next three months I think uh but we certainly do appreciate uh the money from the Board of Supervisors it will help us get this idea kicked off uh but that's kind of where we stand today in terms of progress made on those projects I'll stop if there's any questions or comments from board members i' be happy to answer thanks for looking into that I know that that a lot of people are anxious to get get it up and running and get some good programs in there so appreciate your work thank
067you anyone else okay moving on we have the joint um school board and board of supervisors uh meeting that I believe we have set it on a date yes Madam chair uh so if I may uh there's been a lot of moving Parts a lot of discussion as we all know with these two by two meetings and now we're going for a 5 by5 meeting and trying to get everybody together so between myself and Mr smick uh I think it's uh March 10th eight is the one that it works the best for for 12 people um it is scheduled right now for 5:30 and I I I'll like some feedback from you guys on on um not the time and date at this point but in speaking with Mr smck today uh the two the
068two ideas that were discussed in terms of really broad uh topics to cover at this meeting are facilities uh and where we stand with facilities and then secondly obviously our operating budget uh so the desire is uh really to just kind of talk about where we are with capacity and enrollment and and uh not only within our school buildings but I think there's a there's a lot of and I think it's in your world too as far as mine there's a lot of conversation about what are we going to do with the Schoolboard office what are we going to do where does the Middle where does the elementary school project stand where are we with the vocational building uh and then on the county side where do we stand where where do they stand with
069the courthouse uh the Old Courthouse house there's just a lot of moving parts right now and I think it would really behoove us as um County Administrator superintendent and two boards to probably not dig down to the details but take a 30,000 foot view of where we stand in terms of facilities in the community and see if we can't come up with some commonalities and some common goals in terms of that because it really starts to drive what we intend to do moving forward so I I think it would be beneficial for us to get on the same page with where we are with facilities uh and then secondly they've requ or uh Mr small neck has requested that we provide them the budget presentation uh and then take any filled any questions that they
070may have for for the FY 26 operating budget uh presentation so any feedback on that or anything you would like me to relay to Mr small Nick I I would I would greatly appreciate Madam chair um I know you've already met with Mr small Nick and you've already shown the budget and he shared that with all of the board of supervisor members okay yeah so so he hasn't he hasn't done a a presentation yet but they all have our budget books cop they they all have our budget books okay I'm just um it would be this is just a thought okay it would be nice if there was um is if asked some of the Board of Supervisors go through some of the books some questions they may have ahead of time in other words
071again you don't you don't want questions of getting into the deep details but maybe some of the broad questions um I'm just wondering how it would be very valuable if we walking into that meeting we knew some of the big questions that several of the Board of Supervisors might have now this is difficult because obviously Mr Smalling doesn't know that um and it would have to kind of go through the chair to ask but I would think it's a Board of Supervisors and I'd like to know too if I'm walking into this meeting what are the big I'm I'm guessing as to what I think they are I've spoken I've spent some time speaking with TC Collins and uh it's been a month or two since I spoke with Kathy but um it's I would
072like to know before we go in what are some of the big concerns they may have is that possible sounds like a great idea reach out to the chairperson of the Board of Supervisors and ask him if he can you know even in an email you know they can individually email back right I can do that before next Monday okay that would be great because what happens a lot of times is if that that would accomplish two things in my opinion one is that it would kind of maybe force them a little bit as okay let me look at this right now because they would understand the value of that and number two it would help is if they're all of a sudden it's being presented on Monday and then they're looking at things and
073oh oh wait what about this it would avoid I think them getting into a lot of detail because if it's first presented then immediately you're kind of looking at stuff for if they look at it ahead of time it would give us time to prepare and yes yes yes yes yes yes all right thank you anyone else okay um next um we have our morale and cell phone survey results they've all been posted and um what we're going to do with this data is just kind of analyze it and put it in a in a is this just for me you said David it doesn't matter go ahead um anyway we're going to use it as a baseline for how we can how we can improve things in the future so we'll take the feedback
074and then in in six months or so we'll we'll we'll send them survey out again and hopefully based upon the feedback that we receive we can make some adjustments and changes and get positive more positive feedback the next SL so Madam chair if I may so we're not going to disc discuss this then we just what we can sure well no we don't have to I'm just wondering I mean I came prepared but I was thinking it's just going to be a three-hour meeting so we don't necessarily have to I just wonder if there's a format in which we could might be able to discuss this um I have some ideas but I'd just like to hear from some other board members yeah I was um when I was looking through it I was wondering
075you said that the data was going to be analyzed and I'm trying to figure out are we just individual analyzing the data or do we have is there do we have a data data analytics person that can help us that's what I okay so we have to be the data analyed person okay got it all right so if that's the case then yeah we are going to have to have some sort of discussion on it I have I looked at it as well and there are some things that we can correlate and talk about and fix yeah yeah we could even talk about sort of a paradigm or something just an example we don't have to do this such as anything that reaches 30% or higher of a concern 25% would come up with some
076percentage you know those are things that maybe 15 or 20% or less we'd say okay that maybe a small concern but let's really deal with those that are especially in the negative idea if it's say over 25 or 30% we really need to talk about those just maybe maybe sometime and maybe even individually we could email you madam chair and just um because I was thinking along those lines in terms of what uh um what Carri was talking about and analyzing that data using some percentages as a paradigm and not simply talk about everything I think that's a good idea look at the things that the the high the higher percentages right okay that's that you're always going to have with every one of these you're going to have that 10 12 15% that are
077going to be against it but when we get up into numbers of 25 or 30% that's probably something we should look at Frank Madam shair uh Dr Bo is excuse me I think we had 200 73 responses to this time uh out of 715 out the last one we did I think we had 272 I believe that was out of 700 72 this one is 272 total the new one I'm looking at it right now but I mean numbers are way down how do we e those numbers up it's tough and I'd say it's tough with any type of it's not just here as tough it's tough with surveys like this because as much as we try to convince folks that it's Anonymous there's still hesitation um that that's part of the concern I think
078another part of the concern is what we've heard tonight of it's It's you want me to do something else uh I think that's part of it uh but really it's it's not these are similar numbers that we see when we get information back from the uh State as well in terms of survey uh results so uh I can certainly brainstorm and see what we can do see if we can provide opportunity uh or or I don't know if we want to go as far as incentivizing it I don't know if we can but uh trying to figure out some ways to see if we can increase participation rate is something we can think about I mean right now we're getting about a third of the population yeah right it's about a third I think think
079I may be wrong Madam chair but I think that that's pretty standard when it comes to surveys um I know that um just in the past whether it's school or other things when you see 30 35 40% that's pretty much standard about the people that will respond to a survey I don't know about pres providing incentives I'm kind of there's lots of negatives about that yeah I'm they'll do the survey and okay well I want to get that so I'm gonna do this you know I I don't know about that but I don't think that this is um um abnormal I think this is kind of a normal response Mr Frank I could be wrong but I think so thank you Mrs Higgins for for doing that for us and it won't your your time
080will not be wasted anyone else okay now let's discuss our policy about promotion and retention this is just a discussion item to open up that conversation about because when we looked at it we actually have a pretty solid policy um maybe just need to make some adjustments to it so yes so the first uh packet you you'll see the the policy actually isn't much it basically just says we have a policy on retention uh where the meat of it is is if you go into the regulation uh and the regulation although dated is not far off from what our practice is right now and talking to our instructional team uh we do need to and I think this is a very good exercise and probably a good conversation in in uh or at least the
081beginning of a good conversation and talking about uh promotion and retention because the policy hasn't been revised since 2014 so it does need to be updated we use different terms now we go through different uh practices and procedures um I can I can tell you that if you dig into the regulation right now in in summary what it is is if you believe you have a kid that's performing below below grade level then you pull together a team of of professionals classroom teacher School administration counselor and then anyone else maybe U school psychologist resource uh teacher and then the parent as well you're required to do that uh if you believe that there's deficiency you're required to do that before the end of the first semester and really in that meeting what you what you
082try to come up with is any type of modifications or accommodations you can use to see if you can address those uh deficiencies it's not written in this policy this way but what we what we use now as a program um it's our it's our esit team okay they get together they do this very same thing now uh they continue to to develop this plan and work it through the second semester during the second semester they continue to meet and at the conclusion of the second semester if these modifications or accommodations were unsuccessful then they have a deeper conversation about promotion or retention uh looking at our numbers we have not retained many students uh in the past although we do have a number of these meetings in fact I think it's it's worth briefly
083sharing with you because I I kept the note let me just pull this up quickly uh I think this year so far May make sure I don't misquote this oh of course my computer doesn't want to work now uh here it is I'm sorry uh this this year this uh the esit team on the elementary school level for the 2425 school year has had 147 meetings uh regarding 51 students who are not meeting grade level standards uh the reasons for these concerns vary which is important when we're having this conversation uh they they include suspected disabilities attendance issues behavior and illness are are common reasons for these retention or or these esbit meetings uh that could lead to retention uh sometimes the issues are not academic sometimes they're social sometimes they're emotional sometimes they're you
084know they're not you know in the school uh some of these students are now eligible we we find them eligible for special education because of this process we find them eligible for 504s because of this process uh and some others are making sufficient progress now after these meetings and after these modifications and accommodations many of these students right now are receiving tier 2 and tier three interventions which are our highest level of interventions uh in terms of trying to address any any learning deficits uh and um while no decisions have made been made regarding uh retention yet all all assistant principles have confirmed that at least one uh meeting has been held with those um 51 families that are in question right now so so the process is um in effect uh it it probably
085the policy most certainly needs to be updated I can tell you as I've begun to discuss this with our Schoolboard Office Team and and our building level teams they're they're very interested in engaging in the conversation with the school board and and maybe even providing a presentation to you guys on what they do what they could be doing and and what we could do to help support them in that effort in terms of updating the policy so I know this is just kind of a kickoff but I wanted to provide some of that information on the front end Bush um this is a big area um and it is something I'm glad that we're talking about you know this concept of social promotion really it's referring to advancing the student next grade level regardless of
086whether they've mastered the curriculum or not and it's almost as if I have no problem with retaining a student if they haven't mastered the curriculum and we need to do everything we can to make sure that they do Master it but I have a big problem with simply socially promoting them because of their age in other words if they haven't mastered the curriculum and then we socially promote them I that term is not even anywhere in the policy and I'm kind of glad it's not but still that's still a reality if we promote them simply because we're afraid of their age and them getting too far behind socially um I think that's the real danger and again this gets into a whole lot of philosophy in other words this gets into ages of kids I
087mean obviously there's been a lot of research on this you know in grades you know two one two 3 four all the way up to about grade five you know to retain somebody does not have the significance it does if you retain them six seven and eight and so on I just think that this is and it might be good to have a presentation with somebody that's done a whole lot more research than I have I just know that the practice of advancing a student that has not mastered the curriculum because of their age is a dangerous practice because in my opinion A lot of times not always there's exceptions it would mean that later on they're probably going to end up failing anyway I agree I think that we need to um maybe take
088your offer up and get a presentation or whatever if the board um it's the board's will to you know have have some feedback from the staff yes and Madam Sheriff from Dr W at the same time that we can find some effective alternatives to the retention and the social promotion I mean Nei neither one of those are good no matter how you're look at but if we can find some effective alternatives to those things uh and with some data supporting what we have I mean I don't even know how many what you said we have 51 right now but I mean what we have last year what was year before of those 51 I mean it's too early to track them right now to see what happens when they get to high school you know
089are they the the problems in the classroom at the high school or you know what happens there those are excellent that's an excellent suggestion I'll I'll see if we can pull together a presentation if the board is okay with that I'll see if we can get some longitudinal data how far we can go back and see if we can figure out some outcomes and then I think a great idea is figuring out what type of interventions and what type of practices I can tell you there's no as we know there's no Silver Bullet uh but if we had a a number of options in our tool belt in terms of how we can address uh these students that are behind grade level so that we can throw a lot at them and see if we
090can't see anything that that becomes successful so that we can get them back on track to graduate because uh social promotion is not the answer and and we certainly need to make sure that we prepare these students uh not only for graduating from high school but post-secondary opportunities and making sure they're successful citizens in our community also I just if I may Madam chair just to make sure in the having that research that the earlier that you can detect an issue obviously the better and there's a tremendous amount of research out there in there and detecting the potential of possible um not being able to master something and just they're barely making it and dealing with that maybe in the ele at the elementary level rather than waiting until they get and there's anyway part
091of the presentation just make sure we get into some of that research because there's a lot out there oh yes and especially in terms of dealing with it in the younger ages not waiting until they get older Perfect all right I appreciate the guidance from the board Yep this this will be a good conversation and a good effort anyone else have anything to add to that okay I just want to make sure it's not something else but that we're adding to the plates of the teachers no I I I think this will be our instructional team from the School Board office really this affects a lot of areas and it's it I'll be honest with you it's an exciting topic for many of our School Board office personnels because it's directly focused on what we
092can do to help kids and when we had this conversation in our uh supervisors and coordinators meeting there's a lot of folks that spoke up and said hey this is part of my department oh this is also part of my department what and we could might be able to help from here so I I think this effort is one that doesn't feel like extra it feels like good work yeah maybe even be to help the workload yeah do a better job identifying and doing some interventions yeah thank you thank you Dr Boyd um does anyone have committee reports Mr Bush um yeah I visit I did I have the seak meeting since we visited last I think I already reported on that but we did go to ATI and it was um The Academy of
093technology and Innovation and had a meeting last Wednesday and um Dr Boyd and I were along with all the other divisions that are involved with this were very impressed this is that first year that ATI has been open and um what she has accomplished uh Dr to is just really astounding what she's been able to do in the first year of opening some something up and um again I think I mentioned this last time when we actually visited Dr boy and I during the school day and saw the actual activities they were doing and the way those kids were engaged was phenomenal I mean it was very exciting seeing you know not only some of the college professors coming in and helping but then the engagement of which the kids were doing some very things
094that would have I would have been interested in doing I would have loved to have stopped and been involved with many of the things that they were doing anyway just I think we made a very good decision on U moving forward with the ATI it is a little expensive but I think it's very valuable for our kids um and also budget-wise she's done a great job too because she got a big Grant but she has done a good job when that Grant is done she's done a very good job because it's going down every year and at the time when the grant is over with she has figured out a way that there um she'll be able to just continue to move forward anyway so very impressed with what's going on and I think we
095made a good decision with that and um that's the only committee I have a meeting with cak day after tomorrow on Wednesday um but that's all I have thank you madam chair thank you Mr Bush Mrs Davis I'm good no Mr Frank no there have been some meetings but I have not been able to attend clevel to report okay all my meetings are coming up in the next couple weeks as well so I have nothing to report now we have the superintendent's report yes uh should I start with the relatively good news yes all right so we did hear back from uh our Healthcare and and uh we were expecting a 20% increase uh and it's going to be 12% uh so that's that's good news it's cost savings there uh so I've got uh
096Miss Miss Williams crunching numbers right now I I think it'll be uh somewhere in the ballpark of uh four 4 to $500,000 callings uh just from that so that'll that'll be good uh we'll update the budget presentation and and uh we should have that prepared for our joint meeting that update uh had a very busy busy weekend uh as I don't think we said publicly but uh we did have our job fair this weekend which went wonderful uh it's every year they just W up it and it gets better and better and uh as a result we're attracting good talent uh to King Geor County Schools also uh we don't have a student rep this this evening but from the kids side of things I don't know if you guys are on the same email
097feeds that I'm on but we had an amazing amazingly successful weekend I had uh emails from Deca criminal justice fbaa and NC drill team all going off on competitions this past weekend and bringing home Awards so we do a wonderful job in King George County Schools as as far as extra uh programs and things of that nature so it's it's just um it's just a blessing to work for a School Division that um is has really dedicated individuals that provide for our students and we see it every year at this time uh moving forward we we did receive uh or the chair did receive an invitation for the njc ball uh so we'll have to have a conversation and determine what we want to do in terms of that um as far as attendance is
098concerned it's always a great great event uh three more more things let me see if I can put them in the right order tomorrow night is the annual vsba Regional spring Forum so that's uh event last year was at West Morland high school we all went last year I'm hoping that most of us can attend this year uh we will be at in Caroline it's a little closer it's at matanai Springs the barns at matapan Springs I haven't been there but I heard it's a very nice venue uh and and they always celebrate students there so it's a nice evening uh that's tomorrow night I'll be driving if you want to drive yourself feel free but if you want to jump in then then we're here to to take you there as well uh March
09912th is the reschedule for the reverse career fair if you haven't seen one of those at the high school it's an event that uh is is worth seeing I think Mr Frank and I went last time and uh it's one where our students are on display they do a wonderful job of answering interview questions and we also get a number of Community organizations Community folks that come out and interview our students for their particular uh jobs that they aspire to so that's something that if you can make it uh I would suggest trying to make it uh and then finally if you haven't received it uh we did receive an invitation at the Schoolboard office for the County's uh Courthouse ribbon cutting which is uh the 21st of March at 2 pm so if we
100can make it to that that certainly I think would be well received uh if we had some attendance there in terms of the school board and I think I can stop there Madam chair thank you thank you Dr Boyd Mr Frank time for board comments I just want to thank all the uh teachers and staff for all that they do uh I know the trenches that you're in because I've been there also so uh I know what you're R out there also like to shout out to uh to Mr Watson uh I've got several phone calls and talk to other people and the phone policy is beginning to work well at the high school so thank you for that Mr Watson I appreciate that Miss Cleveland I'm so excited to hear about the insurance our
101talks are going to be a lot easier now that makes me feel so happy um so thank you for sharing that and giving us some positive tonight and also about the job fair success it was so nice to hear all of the folks that came out to the job fair wanting to seek a position with King George County schools that also makes me feel really good um that they're they're looking for employment here in our County um I want to thank the teachers for coming out and uh sharing some feedback about the change in schedule I know that changes are hard I know that they work very hard and need those days um but I I I am going to stick by I think we made the best decision uh rather than adding these days
102to the end of the school year ra rather than adding them to to Saturdays or um even on Spring Break um so I I I appreciate the feedback and um definitely will be thinking about that as we go into the calendar for next year about some Alternatives that could possibly be made to make sure that we have enough time available in the day to complete the training uh when you hear um you know staff tell you that they don't have enough time to do their training we we really need to take that seriously and think about ways that we can make sure that happens thank thank you Miss Cleveland Mr Bush a few things first of all I want to thank the middle school band it's great and what they've accomplished and what they're doing
103it was very nice to see them um and then also again I agree with Miss Cleveland the insurance what a great um uh announcement that was to know that it's only 12% rather than 20 which saves a massive amount of money obviously for the school but even more so for the teachers and the staff so very excited about that um also um I agree I think that um this whole calendar change thing I know we received a lot of emails and appreciate the teachers that came out tonight and said something and I did want to say something we probably could have done a better job communicating that I'm I I don't disagree with that but I agree totally that when you look at um the the students and the ones that that can Le still
104learn just as well with asynchronous learning we learned from the pandemic there are a few that obviously did fine but we had a significant number that not having the the face face tof face teacher instruction had a significant negative impact on a large number of students percentage wise and with that in mind and a lot of other kinds of research we know um that students perform a whole lot better when they're sitting in front of a teacher it just uh that type of instruction is definitely better than any asynchronous learning so with that in mind um really there were only three choices in my mind to make sure that we would have that kind of learning and that was um one is that we use some of the teacher workdays like we did the decision
105we made another one would have been I think Miss Cleveland already said is we could have taken some Saturdays another one which a teacher mentioned is we could have taken some spring break days and the last one and really the worst was we could have taken some days in the summer uh I noticed that Dr Boyd and I when we were at the board meeting for Ati there was some discussion that some of the divisions are adding days to the school year in the summer and I just think that we might have got a whole lot more emails if we' have been adding days in the summer or taking springing break days or having to come on Saturdays so I think with that in mind knowing that we what is best for the students and
106that that um in-person instruction definitely they achieve more um even though we could have done a better job with communicating I I agree with Miss Cleveland and with the uh um Administration I believe we made the best decision and I also agree that we always need to be aware um to provide more opportunities um for our teachers to have that training that they need and is required and try to give them even more opportunities to do so and we'll try to do even a better job with the calendar in the coming year thank you thank you Mr Bush Mrs Davis I want to thank the King George Middle School band coming out today that was refreshing especially after I think all of us everyone here today is going through a lot in their life right
107now and and a lot of storms as Pastor Davis was uh mentioning I want to thank Pastor Davis for always being willing to come out and fill in um when when nobody else show show up to doing vacation he's our backup but he's always there and ready to serve so thank him for always being willing uh for the teachers that came out took time out of their day to come out and speak and share their concerns I thank you I do want to mention one of the I didn't like hearing secret meetings because that's against my character one of the reasons it was so fast is because I was super sick and I had Dr Boyd on hold on whether I could meet and show up for that meeting there were other two board members
108that couldn't make it so it was up to me on whether I could make it and I did not know if I was going to be able to make it till that morning when I text him and said I can come in so that was the whole secret meeting which wasn't a secret meeting so it's it it hurts when I give my time constantly I'm always in the schools people that means I'm losing pay from my work and and coming into schools and being part of the classrooms and then to be accused of having like that character of secretly trying to make things hard on people people is was kind of hurtful um but we did hear you um like Kathy and David said very well I think y'all both said it very well um
109as far as we we can do better with trying to communicate those things better um going forward there was something else oh you know and to come at Miss Hoover who does more I mean a giving of herself and the time that she takes out all the time from work and the stuff that she's going through in her personal life on top of a full-time job with the with the demands that's happening with the government and then showing up for school board and taking time off to teach kids how to do hot cocoa mix um the truth of the matter is that there was a chat gbt post made by a teacher of some sort I was told this by a teacher who was invited to be a part of it so we got bombarded
110with uh copy and paste email that was changed a little bit to make it their own but was bombarded with chat GB email about why we had a secret meeting so she didn't have enough time to answer every single one personally and and it was the same answer that she was going to give so that's why I am speaking for her because she's got a very heavy heart right now with things that she's going on in her life and to and I know how much time she gives of herself so I just felt like that needs to be considered and and I'm sorry that that was at came at you like that um being the chair so um let me see what else do I got the I think the survey I think last survey
111we had we only had 76 fill out that survey so this one we had 272 which yeah I would like to see a lot more because that helps us when we do have how we can address things but um so far it looks I like what I'm seeing it looks overall positive so thank you for the ones who do take the time to do the survey because that helps us um be able to help you or make your job easier so thank you thank you Miss Davis um I just also would like to thank all the teachers that came out to give their feedback about the calendar change and we absolutely will take into consideration doing better with timing and more notice and um apologies for that but again it wasn't a secret meeting um
112I'm just excited about all the positive things that Dr Boyd mentioned um all the wins we came home from with this weekend um the middle school band those are some amazing kids if anybody was paying attention to how much time and effort and how many years they've been um involved musically we always have such great kids um and then the um the gifted advisory um presentation I really appreciate I sit in those meetings and they put a lot of Blood Sweat and Tears into that so I appreciate everybody that came out to support that um and um just thanks let's do let's just do good things this week in school do I have a motion to adjourn I make a motion that we adjourn second all those in favor I I chair votes I motion
113carries e