001[Music] [Applause] Hey, [Music] Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] is called to order. Pledge of allegiance, >> Dr. Connor. Pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you sir. Approval for electronic participation by a school board member. I don't think we have anybody today for electronics. So we move on for approval of agenda. And this is your time to make any item you want removed or moved out of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> Motion. >> Second. Mr. >> Depal. Mrs.
002Lowry. Madame clerk would you please call the role. Mr. Baron, >> yes. >> Mr. Alen, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lori, >> yes. >> Mr. Connor, >> yes. >> Dr. Gupta, >> yes. >> Mr. Depal, >> yes. >> Mr. Galileo, >> yes. >> Dr. Farmer, >> yes. >> Mr. Poe, >> yes. >> Motion passes, not a zero. >> Thank you. Next one is chair comment. I don't have any comment. So, next one is public comment. Dr. Connor. >> Yes. Um, public comments. In accordance with policy BDDH, public participation, members of the community are invited and encouraged to attend meetings of the Lynchburg City School Board to observe its deliberations. Any member of the community may address the board on matters related to the Lynchburg City Public Schools at any regular meeting. Persons or group wishing to
003address the school board may do so by choosing one of the following. Leave a voice message on the school board clerk's phone line at 5434-5155077. Messages will be played during the public comment section of the school board meeting. Address the board in person during the public meeting. Persons desiring to address the school board by voicemail message shall submit the voicemail to the school board clerk no later than 3:30 p.m. on the day of the board meeting. Persons desiring to address the school board in person shall contact the clerk of the school board no later than 3:30 p.m. on the day of the school board meeting or by signing the public comment form which shall be available to the public 15 minutes before the meeting starts. Each person requesting to speak shall identify the subject they
004want to address. And if the speaker represents a group, the speaker must identify the group. Persons appearing before the school board will not be allowed to campaign for public office or promote private business ventures and should not use profanity or vulgar language or gestures, make comments about a public official or an employee that are not related to the public official or employees official duties. Engage in behavior that disrupts the meeting or intimidates others. or address the school board on issues that do not concern the services, policies, role, and/or responsibilities of the school board. Individual speakers shall limit their comments to three minutes. A speaker representing a group shall limit their comments to five minutes. The representative shall identify the group at the beginning of their presentation. A group may have mo no more than one
005spokesperson. The total allotted time for public comments at schoolboard meetings is 30 minutes. Voicemail messages to be played are also limited to three minutes for individuals and five minutes for speakers representing a group. Priority will be given to in-person comments before voicemail messages in the following order. One, students. Two, staff. Three, parents, guardians, and four, community members. Public comments are reserved for public to provide input. The board does not respond to comments, answer questions, or otherwise engage in discussion at this time. The chair is responsible for orderly conduct of the meeting and rules on such matters as the appropriateness of the subject being pre repres presented and the length of time for such presentation. No one will be allowed to make additional presentations until everyone who wishes to speak has an opportunity to make their
006initial presentation. Upon recognition by the chair, the speaker should clearly state name, address, and subject of the speaker's remarks. The speaker shall address the chair, and if at the conclusion of the speaker's remarks, any school board member desires further information, said member addresses the speaker only with the permission of the chair. The courtesy of the school board shall be extended to the speaker and the speaker shall respect the privilege extended by the school board or be ruled out of order by the chair. Um, do we have any phone messages? >> No, sir. >> Okay. Um, I have three people speaking today. I have Aaron Reed, an employee, a staff member, Robert Flood, community member, and Kimberly Dykes Harshley, community member. Mr. Reid, good evening. My name is Aaron Reid and the group I'm speaking for
007is the Lynchber Education Association. Good evening. My name is Aaron Reid and I speak to you tonight as the vice president of the LEA. For those of you that I have not yet met, I am a 28-year veteran teacher. I am a product of Lynchburg City Schools and of EC Glass High School, class of 1994. I am the chair of the English department at EC Glass. I teach AP language and composition. I teach AP research. I was the first teacher in the state of Virginia to bring AP African-American studies here to Lynchburg and indeed the entire state. In 2023, the VHSL named me the speech educator of the year for the state of Virginia. Tonight, I come to you with encouragement and a concern related to your focus on academic success and rigor in the
008classrooms of LCS. At the July meeting of this board, the chairman announced that the focus for the upcoming school year for this board would be raising the level of academic success and rigor in classrooms around the division. As a teacher, I welcome this focus and I look forward to working with you, with our new leadership and the colleagues in my building to do this very thing. But I offer a word of warning as we begin conversations about academics in the classroom. Too often, school systems and school boards can become blindsided to educational fads and for-profit players in the world of schools. The result can be policies and investments that do not have our best this our kids' best interest in mind. Two examples of these education of these are educational technology and the forprofit testing
009uh world that infects our schools. Businesses in these domains seek to supply school systems with ready-made programs, promising powerful data to shape instruction with ready-made programs. But my warning to you tonight is this. If we give way to these industries, we are going to affect staff morale, classroom autonomy, and most of all, student joy. And let's start by centering student joy. You and I want our school system to graduate students who are proficient in reading, mathematical thinking, with an understanding of the value of history and science together with experiences in the technical fields and cultural arts. But none of that matters if our graduates are burned out husks of a student more able to take a standardized test than to pursue and engage in their real passions. And what robs students of this joy of
010learning? Well, testing to start. Consider this. Every time that you as the board are presented with data or a report on student achievement, that is time that students have spent taking a test of some kind. Maybe it was a multiple choice test, maybe it was an essay test, maybe it was an oral language fluency at a young age. But whatever the case, it was classroom time spent checking for this understanding. And we do want to check for understanding. No one is denying that. But what in your opinion is the correct ratio of time students spend learning, discussing, and exploring versus time spent testing. I'm going to start with a snapshot for you of what this coming year's kindergarten class is going to take for tests. I'm going to list for you now in an overwhelming
011and influential way what they are about to do. These are the five and sixy olds in your division. Kindergarteners are going to start by taking a vowels assessment three times a year. Each of those testing periods lasts a 3-week window of time. Then they're going to take a VKRP test twice a year, which takes 45 minutes per child, and each child has to be tested individually. Next comes our reading series benchmark and the unit assessments given. This happens five times a year for a total of 10 assessments. Each assessment takes about one full school day. After that is the foundations assessment, a supplemental phonics program which requires s six sets of three tests each. While each test is admittedly only 5 minutes long per student, it provides you the exact same data that vows does.
012But wait, because next are ESGI tests. There are 24 of these in a year. Again, administered individually to each student. And we're not done because kindergarten is also required to give nine weeks assessments which means four times a year. These take about 30 minutes out of the day for five consecutive days. And this year there's an indication that LCS will add some testing to early elementary for more data collection. Are you exhausted yet? Are you tired? Are you sad? Congratulations. You have the smallest inkling of what it feels like to be a kindergarten teacher in your division. No one is saying that all tests are bad. And I want to recognize the new leadership we have in the office of the superintendent, the deputy superintendent, as well as those in teaching and learning. We look
013forward to working with you to fix this. >> Thank you. Now, we have Mr. Robert Flood, community member. >> Thank you. I'd like to uh thank the uh Lynchburg City School board letting me speak again. Uh been a minute, but it's two topics I like to speak on and I like to work with new superintendent uh to Lynchburg. Um I've been working with young people off and on for about 30 years with behavior problems. Um, I've worked with some young adults with problems and when they get in trouble, they get punished. I have been coming down here, I think a couple Tuesdays last last month, and I couldn't really see the person that I really want to direct this to, but I think he's here today. Uh, it was a situation that happened and I'm
014going back a little bit, but I want to bring it to the front because I don't understand why this person is still on the school board. It's an incident that happened that the superintendent had something to go over her her pitching. It supposed to have been a joke. I don't understand how a grown person can make a joke out of a grown woman that stood up here uh before we got the new superintendent and spoke for everybody and try to help everybody. And I know he been strict uh of some of his uh rules that he under his department of behavior, but I don't understand if you can't vote, why you sitting in here? while you on the school board when somebody else could take your place. Kids get in trouble and they get a
015whole year over something small. And I think you had something to do with that and something we should look at. Everybody that he had something a hand in. You need to look at every case. Some of these kids got sent home for little things for a whole year, six months. And it might have been something they could have stayed in school or get suspended and come back. But if a grown person can do something and get a pat on the back, how can you punish a kid when he do something even minded than that? We have a problem with that. We always, you know, play get politics with right and wrong. It's a right thing to do and a wrong thing to do. And I know it just wasn't him, you know. I mean, he
016he might have never said it, but no one person will put it up there and make it a joke. It wasn't a joke. A joke is when I said about nine kids want to come here to speak to him, but why he kicked him out of school and they don't show up. That's a joke. A joke is not when you put a picture of a grown person that represent the school and call it a joke after you get caught. I don't understand why you would still be here, but as a school board and Lynchburg City Council. That's my first thing that I wanted to talk about and I wanted to bring it out because I think he need to leave. That's just my opinion. Second thing, Mr. McCain, I know that he was kind of
017punished because he stood up here over five minutes and try to make mine less than five minutes because he was speaking the truth. 25, 30 years this man been talking about the scores of kids look like me or different. 25 years. I know this is a new school board. Most of y'all members are new. Some of y'all are not. But we can't wait 25 more years and nothing happened. 25 years. How do scores be that low and you have done nothing about it? Not y'all in general. But we got to do something about that. Kids failing 29%. English math. It's a problem with that. How you do it 25 years and nobody looking to it? That's a problem. Hopefully we can do it and maybe not talk about the problem but talk about solution. Our
018kids need us. That's why I can't speak a lot about the education part but the behavior. If they get in trouble, how they going to stay in school. That's what I've been dealing with for 30 years. I love all kids, but I don't want to see no kids be treated different than a grown person be treated. You can punish a kid, but why can't you punish a grown person? Because when he speak the truth, the truth hurts, but we got to play politics. You rub my back, I rub yours. We'll stay right here. The lady that spoke up, she's gone. That was Miss Preston. She spoke up because she's done the right thing. Then we come back two two or three Tuesdays later, everybody else want to get in or rushing judgment. You said what
019you said and you meant what you said, but you hear so much feedback from you had to change your mind. We don't have to get there. All we got to do is do the right thing for these kids. These kids are our future. Let's make it better, people. Thank you. Now we have Kimberly Dyke Harshley, a community member. Greetings and congratulations to the new school board members. I just want to remind myself and anyone else who isn't aware. The Lynchber City School's mission statement, according to the website, states, "Every child by name and by need to graduation and beyond, what that means to me and what I would like to see. We have to address high schoolers who have had considerable learning loss over the past five years. I'm urging everyone who can hear my
020voice and see me on this YouTube channel to reach out to your schoolboard members starting with the chair. Reach out to your new superintendent to include 9th through 12th graders in any plan that any committee creates to address learning loss, attendance, etc. There's no way in the world we can afford to wait another 10 years for the next group to come up. Yes, kindergarten, first, second, third, and all of the other grades need to be addressed, but you cannot leave out the ones who suffered the longest. They are getting ready to enter into the adult world. And we uh should be reminded that 78% I believe of those in prison cannot read on grade level. So I have to question any staff, any administrator, any board member who does not want to include high schoolers
0219 through 12, that's only four grades, two schools in the city. If you don't want to include them in the rigorous plan to address learning loss, then I have to question where you want them to go. Are you feeding them to the court system? Are you feeding them to the prison? Is there a kickback for this? Just questions I ask myself. Also to new school board members. In the past, presentations have been made to the board prior to this one. And some of the questions that were asked by those board members indicated to me that those board members had not done their research. Like parents are told it's on the website. Uh the policies need to be read every word for every policy. Go through that website is so tedious. But I'm smart. I know
022how to navigate. There are other smart people who just don't know how to navigate. Grandparents, they don't know where to find the information. The website, uh, hopefully we have some graphic engineers or designers coming out of the public schools who can help with that. However, there is so much information that is on the website that parents aren't aware of, staff isn't aware of, board members aren't aware of, and maybe administrators. It's on the website. However, there's a gap in the learning, in the knowing, in the utilizing of those resources. I heard a teacher consistently say since October, attendance is the biggest issue. And then I thought about William Marvin Bass Elementary and they have interessions for children who need it. We had grandchildren to go through there and it was very helpful. So if you
023have high schoolers who may have chronic absenteeism and we can't assume that all learning loss is due to behavior issues or chronic absenteeism could be due to classroom management, lack of quality instruction, other things that may impact. But could those high schoolers get in extra learning time by having inter session attendance whether in their home school or attending somewhere else? Just a thought. And thank you for listening. I hope these ideas will penetrate and go into a meeting somewhere, some committee by um oh um I'll save that for the next time. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That concludes our public comment for today. >> Thank you. Next one is consent agenda. There's a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Motion. >> Mrs. Lowry. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. All right.
024Madam clerk, will you please call the role? >> Mr. Baron? >> Yes. >> Mr. Alen? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lori? >> Yes. >> Mr. Connor? >> Yes. >> Dr. Gupta? >> Yes. >> Mr. Topal? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gillio? >> Yes. >> Dr. Farmer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Poe? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Next one is finance report. Dr. Mij. >> Good evening. I'm actually going to turn this over to Miss Jamie's for the financial reports. >> Good evening, Chairman Gupta, members of the school board, and Dr. Majette. Um, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. before you are copious amounts of data um provided for May and June. You will notice you did not receive a report at the last meeting because that was the organizational meeting and so
025there wasn't time on the agenda to provide uh the May report. Um as a result, we're going to go with the most recent report which is June and I'm going to talk a little bit about that this evening. Um, I always preface June's financial reports um with the fact that even though this is the last month of the fiscal year, these numbers are not always final um numbers for the fiscal year. There are there are payrolls because payroll doesn't end on June 30th um the way a fiscal year does. There's payrolls that happen in July that will need to be acred back into the June numbers which will adjust them from this report you're viewing now. In addition, the auditors will be visiting us in two weeks for a fun festive uh uh event. And
026so they will additionally make um changes by the auditor of public account standards and move things around in our fiscal year which will cause some changes as well. So June reports aren't always final reports. Um let's get into the fun of it, shall we? So as of June marks 100% of the fiscal year passing. Um, the percent of revenues collected versus original appropriation or what I budgeted at the time was 99.12%. You're welcome. We got pretty close to that 100%. Um the amount of expenditures versus the original appropriation was 97.17% which means we collected a little bit more revenue than at present based on these numbers than uh we expended. Uh we have some additional incumbrances that we'll need to clear out for items um that took place in June but has not been build
027yet. um and we're waiting for those to be build. So that will bring that number up to 97.32% which is still good in relation to the amount of revenues that you collected. So there are a few notable um variances on some of the budget lines and I'll just point them out rather quickly to you. Um on line 18 function 2100 which was administration personnel it used 109.18% of the budget. So this was due to some interim superintendent salaries and regular salaries and then the vacation payouts of some administrative staff that left. So that pushed us over the budgeted 100% mark. Um on line 22 function 2200 attendance health and services other um which is usually our materials and supply lines. Um it used 110.63% of its budget and most of those expenses were as a
028result those overages were as a result of the school clinics. Um they required some additional um uh items this year for operation. Line 68, function 5100, school food services personnel. It used um 218.24% of its budget. It's not a huge budget line. So that number looks scary, but it's not really. The reason that was so much is the school board and all your generosity chose to give our nutrition school workers the bonus that the governor gave um SOQ position. So you generously provided that bonus to school nutrition as well which kicked that number up a little bit. Like I said it's less than $100,000 line so it looks significant when it's not. Um line 71 function 5300 community services other has used 129.48% of its budget related for materials and supplies um related to sped
029and prek community involvement activities there. Again, that line is another small line that looks um out of whack when you have just a little bit spent over in that line. 78, function 6600, building and improvement services personnel. Um that is 263 uh 02%. Again, another small line. Um that is for a position shared with the city. So that will equalize out once all of the books are cleared. So we we share that position and get funding for that. Line 84 function 8,100 classroom instruction personnel. It's used 116.02% of its budget. And so um this should come as no shock to us. We did a midyear um uh benefits increase for our Anthem um bills. And so this um personnel uh received a lot of that increase. Remember uh back last January we went up 18.5%
030um on our insurance to to cover some bills that we were anticipating. Well, this is that decision coming into the data. um function 8500 um uh I mean sorry line 85 function 8100 classroom instruction other um it used 102.71% of its budget um but that was related to some learning textbook software and some other learning ex expenses in that line 86 function 8200 instructional support personnel it used 141.19% of its budget and it there again was as a result of the midyear unbudgeted health insurance increases. So that is your decision coming into to to the data there. Uh moving on, are there any questions about expenses? Trying to go quickly. There's a lot. >> Yes, sir. >> You know, you mentioned the bonus and the governor authorized $1,000, but it was only for SOQ. >>
031Yes, sir. Would you mind sharing with the public how much the division put in from our pocket to so that everybody gets a fair amount? >> Yes. >> How much was that amount and was that sent to everybody's paycheck in June? Um, so it the school board decided on a $750 bonus for full-time, um, half of that for part-time, and so everyone got a $750 bonus, including these school nutrition workers. Um, so we had to kick in some local um to to provide it to all our employees because the school board felt that all of our employees deserve that. not just the SOQ positions. So, it cost us around a ballpark figure, I don't have the numbers in front of me, $500,000 um to to be able to extend that to all of the employees
032as opposed to just giving it to SOQ position. >> That money has been dispersed to the >> Yes, sir. It has. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions? Okay, moving on to revenues. Um so the state, federal and local revenue collection rates are as follows. State um we collected 98.9 um 2%. Federal we collected 53.69% and local we collected 100% of the revenues promised by the city. Thank you very much city. Um so we also um had miscellaneous and charges for services significantly ahead of what I budgeted um their target for. So they came in respectively at 215.63% for miscellaneous and 129.7% um uh for charges for services. So those were pretty healthy and uh revenue lines for us. Um, moving on to the monthly uh summary report that mainly deals with our
033insurance. Um, as of June 2025 year to date versus June 2024 year to date, the balance of health insurance costs reduced by 62.86%. So that means people are getting better hopefully. And so um that that is a that is a move in the right direction that we want to see because of some decisions that we've made around um our health insurance. So June 2025 ended on a positive position. We took in $286,000 $286,580.37 more in receipts than we paid out in dispersements in in insurance um payments that we had to pay out. So that again is moving in the right direction. So I have a couple otherformational items. Um, as you're aware, we had our pre- audit visit from the auditors June 16th through the 20th. Um, we were way ahead of the game for
034that audit. Um, and we have the full audit um, in on August 18th through the 22nd for the FY 2025. Um, our intent is to provide all of the items that the auditors are going to want um prior to them arriving so that audit comes um seamless and is is painful uh as painless. Um so um yes is pain. So um I will entertain any other questions at this time and if there are none that concludes my report and thank you for your time. >> Questions for Miss Jims. I have one if nobody has. >> Yes sir. You >> mentioned insurance and I'm appreciate you. We are $286,000 in in in black. Would you mind sharing with the board where was the number last year? How much underwater we were last year? >> So last
035year um we were uh a negative $2,39,60.75. Uh that was in 2024, the same month in 2024. Just for the public information, we are self-funded insured. So >> Yes sir. >> The money we get is the money available for employees to use it for their health benefits. We not Anthem is just a sort of a manager of money. >> Yes sir. >> We're not like traditional we not traditional insurance provider >> on a month where we break even. That is a good day for us. Um and that's what we aim at. We we don't want to charge employees too much, but we want to charge employees enough to be able to pay the bills um when we receive them. Uh we did have a a follow-up meeting with um our insurance consultants and they gave
036us some positive news um for potentially next calendar year starting January. Our health insurance runs on a June to December um calendar year versus our fiscal year which runs on a July to June um cal year. So sometimes it's challenging because you have six months of insurance premiums in one year and then six months in the other. So there's a lot of um there's a lot of information you have to make sure that you look at. But I did have a meeting with our insurance consultants. um our hard decision that we made last January of the 18.5 um% increase um it came um it it helped us it helped our position obviously and there is potential if we make the right decisions about some of the um some of the options that we can choose
037um there's a potential that we may not have to do a significant increase or an increase at all um for our employees in in January. So those numbers are still out, but I'm very encouraged by them um and hope that we can continue on that trajectory. So >> just have one more question. I know the overage looks good, but it's not most of the benefits are dispersed in December or near the summer where you know employees take break and they do elective search. Yeah, we do during breaks have a significant more um bills from injuries. >> Having said that, I know last year our employees took a beating because the pay raise was there but it was negated by increase in health insurance. And I'm looking at the superintendent and saying if these overages continue
038where there'll be an intent to give that money back to the employees >> so at least you know we make up for that loss they have incurred this year cuz some of them went back in terms of the overall paycheck. Absolutely. >> Am I making sense? >> Yes, absolutely. We will run the numbers. Um and so in a perfect world, we would have way more money than we anticipated. But if we do start um in our health insurance reserve, we carry a health insurance reserve for years that are hard versus years that are easy. But if we start building up that health insurance reserve, I would anticipate that the school board would want to reduce the premiums charged to employees um in order to to allow them to take some of it back into their
039pay. If that reserve stays healthy and we can and our bills continue or start dropping, I I think that that is a perfectly generous and reasonable um request to do. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you for all your hard work, Miss James. >> Yes. Yes, sir. >> Thank you. >> No matter you said what I wanted to hear, but thank you. >> Next one is new business strategic plan RFP. Dr. >> Okay. Good evening again. Um you will see here tonight for information and action. It's a request for proposal for our strategic plan. Uh to give a little context, the current um the division's current plan titled a five-year road map and I'm on page three of the document I provided um roadmap to student success. It was originally created to guide
040the work from 2022 um through the 2022 232 23 academic year. It was extended in 23 24 and then I know you all extended it in 24 25 academic years. So while that existent plan provided a structure and direction we now need more of a forward-looking plan inclusive planning process and so the goal for us of putting the request for a proposal out or RFP out is so that we can build a unified vision that reflects our instructional goals ensuring that we get community input and then the long-term needs for our students and staff. So, I am putting this out here um today that we're able to put this RFP out so that we can start getting some vendors some proposals and be in a position to start a strategic planning process. >> Questions for
041Dr. >> I have a question. So, I've never done this before. So, do we is is it normal practice to get a contractor and go through all that? Okay. Yes, I was sure. >> And I just I wanted to make sure we we're doing in a clean slate. >> Yes. There's no preconceived party or a person in mind when you do this RFP, right? I'm putting you on spot, but that's those are the facts. It needs to be >> out there. This is a open bidding process. Anybody can bid. >> Yes. >> And that's what that that's the intent. >> Yes, sir. And that's absolutely the intent and that goes along with Miss Lowry's question is, you know, sometimes you may have where a superintendent comes in and they say, "Oh, well, I'm going to
042I can craft the strategic plan." It should be an unbiased party that can come in. They're going to work with all of us, get everyone's view, vantage points, and perspectives, and then help to craft the plan from there. Yes, ma'am. >> And this board delayed this because we were waiting for you to come in. >> Yes. Yes. >> We wanted you to draft the road map for next five years. >> Yes, sir. >> And hope you can do it so that our kids can succeed and flourish in their lives. >> Yes, sir. That's the goal. Absolutely. >> Other questions for Dr. Is there a motion to >> Let's just make sure that we don't reinvent the wheel. As I mentioned previously, I was involved with a uh comprehensive plan once and what I recall is
043that we took the plan that existed before and we each took time to edit it. We could edit it from front to back every point and then we put it together um have another meeting uh work it through and basically improve it ourselves. So you want to start from scratch and you want to have unbiased information which is good but of course everyone has their own bias. Um we don't want to throw out the past completely. When I say don't reinvent the wheel there must be some things working. And so we have to make sure that those things are included because when you redo everything starting from scratch, you lose institutional knowledge and there's good and bad institutional knowledge. But you don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. So be careful as
044we go forth in this process. I don't see why it wouldn't pass tonight, but we don't have to do but so much. I think some tweaks will make things so much better. I think it's 20% of a particular work makes all the difference. Um, so keep that in mind as we go forward in in this process. >> Thank you. I appreciate your feedback. And and just for a level of clarity, when a consultant comes in to work on this, it's not because it doesn't mean everything on the current plan is bad. They're going to look at all of it, but they're also going to look talk with you all as board members, talk with the community, and get that full input to help us sort of craft how that goes forward. >> Yes. I I
045appreciate your feedback. >> All the stakeholders will be involved, >> parents, guardians, community members, right? School board member, everybody. >> Yes, sir. >> That's the purpose of bringing this person. >> Yes. It's an unbiased uh 360 degree view of where we should be, where we are, we were where we are and where we should be. Right. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Is there a motion to approve the RFP? >> Motion. >> Mrs. Larry. >> Um Dr. Farmer, Madame Cler, would you please call the role? >> Mr. Baron, >> yes. >> Mr. Alen, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lori, >> yes. >> Mr. Connor, >> yes. >> Dr. Gupta, >> yes. >> Mr. Depal, >> yes. >> Mr. Jalo, >> no. >> Dr. Farmer, >> yes. >> Mr. Poe, >> yes. >> Motion passes 8 to1. >> Thank
046you. Uh, next one is proposed meeting structure. Dr. Mitch. >> Yes. Um, so I am I have a request is for information and action tonight, but it's a proposal to adjust the board meeting structure and this request would be effective 20 um September 2025 should it be approved. And I my request is beginning in September 2025, I'm proposing that we adjust our current two meeting structure so that the work session can take place on the first Tuesday of each month and then the regular meeting is held on the third Tuesday. Um the change will allow for our internal team time to gather information and present relevant data to you all during the work session and then it gives you time to review that information and discuss it should you need to take a vote later
047in the month. So it just a level of continuity. Right now we have it where we have the regular session at the beginning of the month and then later in the month we have the work session. So whatever work that we're doing at that point carries over to the next month versus if we could have the work session the first part of the month if there's something that um we need to gather more information for so that you're able to make a vote later in the month. It gives us that opportunity to do so and just keeps it a little cleaner. And then even for the financial perspective, it will give us more of a a 30-day window versus a was it 30-day? >> Absolutely. Currently, um, uh, invoices and bills processed through the 15th
048of the following month. Um while waiting on th those the prior month to close, we have to put off the board report until the beginning of the next month which causes um you not causes a little bit of lag time if you need to make some financial decisions and make some adjustments. Um, so this way if we flip the meeting schedule, I will have those financial reports through the 15th of the month and be able to make that report um during that second meeting. So it would be helpful and it would lend to less stale financials and allow um allow you to pivot better if there's some decisions that need to be made. So it's better fiscal oversight. >> Thank you. and it'll help us all overall fiscally instructionally just to sort of keep things
049within that same month. Of course, all items will continue to be in board docs clearly marked for informationational action. Everything pretty much stays the same. The only thing I'm asking is to swap the purpose of those two meetings each month. >> Motion second. >> Any discussion on this? One thing I was thinking that might help also because I feel like sometimes people come to the podium and speak and then after they speak we give them information they were looking for. So if we and it's usually well they speak at the first meeting but if we bring these up in the work session then by the time it's come they've gotten the answer be so it'll you know guide how if they really want to come to the podium because it's been addressed. >> Yes ma'am.
050>> So you think this flip is good for the school division? >> Yes sir. >> For the teachers and the staff and >> Yes sir. >> students. It'll be helpful with us gathering information, being able to give you a clearer picture and and keeping a level of continuity within that same month if we could. >> And we're looking to start this this coming month. >> Yes. In September. Yes, sir. >> So, would we do work session end of August and then do another work session September? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. >> For one month, it'll be two together. >> Yeah, it'll be back to back, but Yes, sir. >> I'm just I like perspective, so I'm just curious if there's any perspective as to why we have it the way we have it now. I'm
051sure there's a reason um just so I understand kind of how things are before >> when I came on school board there used to be two meetings a month >> and then we moved to only one meeting a month >> and then we added a second meeting and made it a work session. >> There was not a work session before unless I'm completely offline but to me that one meeting a month was becoming too much. We were meeting for like four and a half hours. M >> so but the second was made as a work session so you can take a deeper dive into any topic or discussion but work session became another another session where we are approving policies we are approving items you know was supposed to be only for discussion >> so
052that's how the uh we move from two meetings to one meeting to two meetings to justify the second meeting was made as a work session >> understood this seems to me to be a really good correction in that regard Thank you. >> Madam clerk, would you please call the role? >> Mr. Baron? >> Yes. >> Mr. Alen? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lori? >> Yes. >> Mr. Connor? >> Yes. >> Dr. Gupta? >> Yes. >> Mr. Depal? >> Yes. >> Mr. Jalo? >> Yes. >> Dr. Farmer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Poe? >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Next one is Enterprise Contract. Dr. Mitch. >> Yes. I'm actually going to turn this over to Miss Jaimes. And we have two representatives here from Enterprise that we'd like to bring forward to discuss the contract
053terms with you. Miss Jamies, did you want to give them a lead? >> Sure. Um, so let me just preface um the the contract um piece of it. So, as you're aware, our maintenance and operations um h have a plethora of vehicles under them. The majority of those vehicles are less than um to the year 2000 were acquired before the year 2000. Some of them hold zero value and we're paying over $1,000 a year in insurance for them. So, we have a we uh Lynchburg City Schools does not have a vehicle replacement plan and um should we institute one, it's going to be a considerable amount of CIP funding to try to um to do that. So, um the maintenance and operations department um worked with um the administration and myself um to think outside
054the box. Um generally um as a CFO, I I don't um recommend lease products and they're very aware um of that. Um when in a local government there's a certain um amount that you can depreciate vehicles that you own. But since we are not in we are not our own fund and we are part of a general fund we lose that depreciation factor at the end of the year. So in order um to to save us some money on the front end, we are recommending going to a fleet management type lease and um that is where Enterprise comes in and I will give the show to them. So this is Brian Nos [Laughter] >> from Enterprise Fleet and Go ahead Brian. Good evening everybody. Um, thank you Miss James. Uh, so like she said, my
055name is Brian Canals. I'm with Enterprise Fleet Management. That's okay. Nice. Um, and uh, we're a division of enterprise mobility. You think Enterprise Rent Cars, one of our brands. So, um, really the reason for my speaking here tonight is that we're seeking board approval for a partnership between Lynchburg City Schools, Enterprise Fleet Management. Um, so first I just want to kind of give you, you know, a perspective of, you know, who we are, what we do, and then can explain some of the conversations that we've had the past couple months with Lynchburg City Schools. Um, so for those of you who may not know, so Enterprise is, uh, actually one of the, you know, top 10 largest privately held companies in the country. Uh, we have a fleet of about two million vehicles that we
056operate as a company across about 12 different brands, one of them being Enterprise Fleet Management. Um, so every year we're buying roughly a million vehicles. We're also selling about a million vehicles across our company. Um, the reason this is relevant uh is is that we help plug our clients into that same buying power, that infrastructure and economies of scale that we've broke uh built on the rental side. That's made us really successful. Um, so uh in in Virginia alone uh just the Commonwealth of Virginia, we have about a thousand employees uh just within the enterprise. So large presence here, excuse me, within the Commonwealth. Um and again the whole point of our our my saying that is to explain how we've been able to leverage our economies of scale to plug in our clients with
057the manufacturer relationships that we have. So, um, if you don't mind, can you go to the next page here or, um, kind of kind of difficult to see, a little wonky there, but, um, so we started conversation with Lynburg City Schools regarding their age vehicles and with the objective to create a more proactive strategy for replacement with their vehicles. Um, in discussions, we learned that there's about 65% of the current light and medium duty fleet is well over 10 years old. So, what comes with that is, you know, higher maintenance cost items because these vehicles are out of warranty. Um, sometimes parts even aren't even made anymore. Um, but also significantly degraded resale on these vehicles. Um, you know, previous budgets uh in and you know, looking 5 10 plus years past uh have caused,
058you know, inconsistenc in investments within the fleet. Um, and resale has been significantly reduced. Again, safety features in particular are are significantly outdated on these vehicles given the age of them. Um, so statistically speaking, new vehicles, right, have significantly lower safety or maintenance expense plus improved safety and improved fuel economy. So the dis uh and the solutions that we've been discussing right the whole goal of our discussions and the partnership is to assist in planning and setting up just like Miss Jameus said a proactive vehicle replacement strategy and with this we'll shift from replacing inoperable vehicles as some of the current practices to proactively planning vehicle purchases. Um in our uh discussions and in our partnership, we'll utilize Sourcewell uh which if those of you who may not be familiar, it's a government purchasing cooperative
059to where and where Enterprise Fleet Management has been awarded contract for fleet management. Um and due diligence has already been completed through that. So, through a partnership, and I'll hit on some of the main points that we do here, but a benefit, a large one, is that we're leveraging an open-ended lease to maximize cash flow and recognize vehicle equity. This is different than a traditional lease and where there's not wear and tear fees, there's no mileage penalties or anything like that. Um, in doing so, we're going to shorten the current vehicle life cycle. Right now, current cycle time essentially from buying a vehicle to when it is retired from the fleet is almost 18 years. So, it's 17.6 years within the vehicle fleet. So, think about the safety concerns that come with that and the
060uh diminished resale. We're going to get that 18 years down to five years. Um we're going to free up more than $70,000 in capital in the first year just from the resale of older vehicles. Um fuel cost is going to be reduced by about 39% from newer, more efficient vehicles. Um maintenance is going to decrease itself by around 67%. So again, maximizing cash flow, recognizing equity from vehicles sold, and creating an internal vehicle replacement fund. Um, and then lastly, we're going to be able to uh leverage Enterprise Fleet Management's mobility or enterprise fleet management's ability to sell vehicles at an average of about 10% above what the commercial market is calling for on these vehicles due to the volume and, you know, frequency that we're selling vehicles. So, my overall recommendation is that by partnering
061with Enterprise Fleet Management, Lynchburg City Schools is going to be able to replace 18 of your o most age vehicles your first year. We're going to streamline operational processes with the help of an account team that's going to meet uh multiple times a year uh with the financial team and operational team to discuss goals and objectives and most strategic buying options. We're going to privatize resale process for greater returns. Going to lower the total cost of ownership and minimize operational spend by getting in newer fresher vehicles. and we're going to provide a lower sustainable cost that is predictable year-over-year, which I think has been the larger challenge. Um, lastly, by allowing all Lynchber city schools to replace all of its vehicle vehicles over five years is going to be able to create a sustainable savings
062of over $700,000 in a 10-year time period. So, within the 10 years, we'll be able to replace the entire twice. So, just to address a couple couple common questions I typically get. Um, number one, these are new vehicles. They're factory ordered. I'll come with a manufacturer warranty on these vehicles. Um, factory ordered means they're customized. We get them as is with as few features as we need or as many as we need. Um, and then lastly, the the program is just as easy to roll off as it is to roll on. So if the school board was ever in a situation where they said, you know, hey, we don't want to do this anymore, then were there multiple options to easily uh take possession of the vehicles, the schools themselves? Thank you. >> Questions? >>
063I have some questions. >> Mr. Conor, let Mr. Conor go. >> Um, what other school systems are currently using Enterprise? >> Great question. And so a number of schools we work with across within the Commonwealth where uh you know where I'm at. So Wise County Public Schools, Rono City Public Schools, Nawway County Public Schools, just to name a few. >> That's Rono City, >> correct? >> And you said >> uh Rono City Schools. Um so Wise County Public Schools not county public schools. Mr. Larry. >> Okay. So, how does this affect insurance? You said it's like over $1,000 insurance for cars that >> So, we will continue to carry um our liability insurance on these um vehicles. Um the insurance we're already paying for insurance for vehicles that have no value and it is a
064standard insurance rate that we pay for the vehicles. I don't anticipate that insurance going up much. Um but that is a discussion that I will have with VOR once um the school board directs us to continue with those conversations. >> So you're just saying you'd rather pay insurance for vehicles at value versus >> That is correct. Um currently we've identified five uh potential lines. Um the the maintenance and operations department has has identified five lines that we could potentially save money in because we're spending a lot of money to keep these very old vehicles on the road. Not only in repair cost, not only in parts, but in the gas. Um those vehicles are a lot less fuel friendly than newer vehicles are. So we see some potential for savings that would actually offset um
065the cost of this contract. In addition um to that uh Enterprise has offered to sell our existing vehicles, the approximately 18 existing vehicles and then put the money that is made off of that sale back into the contract to reduce our contract costs um by the amount that that we get off of those vehicles. >> So, who does the maintenance? Do we do them or does We will continue to do the maintenance although they are all under warranty. Um but so we we have the capacity to do the maintenance. We anticipate there will be a lot less maintenance um issues and calls for maintenance. We'll continue to do the routine oil changes and things like that, but these are brand new vehicles. I mean, this year, so we don't anticipate um there being a lot
066of things that happen to them. However, if something were to come up and we were to get a vehicle that, you know, was a lemon or something like that, we would work with Enterprise to get one um to replace that. >> So, this is only for Lynchburg City school vehicles, not for the staff and everybody else. >> It it is for our work trucks and uh things of that nature. Yes. >> Okay. I'm down. >> That's another question. Um, now this might be water under the bridge. Why have we allowed our vehicles to get 17 years old? Why didn't we like do something like um public surplus um to you know when they got down no more warranty, no more age. Um, many many schools, cities use something like public surplus and they auction the
067vehicles off and bring the revenue in and buy new vehicles. Why haven't we done that? >> So, I can't speak um past last year for Lynburg City Schools. >> But I do know that that is the one thing that most public school systems and most governments push down the road. That is the can they kick. Oh, it's still running. let's try to get one more or two more years out of it. So that that is the last thing that you know we try to take care of the emergent and the immediate needs now and vehicles are are last on the list. Now if it comes to a a police department or a fire department those are the first things on the list because of the nature of what they do. Um, but I to me
068I just think it was a matter of lack of funding and kicking the can down the road and other emergent needs that jumped in front of it. Um, it's easy to happen. Uh, you know, I'm not put uh faulting anyone or or pointing the finger. It it it it we are not the only ones that find oursel in this situation. There are lots of public schools and local governments that do. >> Question. >> Yes, sir. understanding I'm the same way as you are. I'd rather have the depreciation. I know that we have budget constraints. We have five lines of vehicles that potentially, not guaranteed, but potentially seems like it's good potential >> that uh these this program is going to benefit us. Can you tell me why it should wouldn't or shouldn't we why we
069should would or shouldn't wouldn't or shouldn't use this program? >> Well, >> what concerns you? So if I were in another type of governing governing where I had my own fund, um potentially there would be an asset depreciation that I could write off. Since we're part of a general fund, that's not a benefit that we um we get um because we're a part of a general fund. So that would be the only concern uh that I would have going in this direction if I were in another type of entity. >> In our type of entity, I think going this direction is going to save us money in trying to purchase these 18 plus vehicles and they're failing. These vehicles are failing us. Um, and so we are going to have to come up with the
070money to try to fix these failing vehicles or we're going to have our employees walking because we we don't have the equipment. We are not providing them the proper equipment to do their job. >> That's what I thought. That's what I heard you saying. >> Yes, sir. >> But you were kind of dismissing it at the beginning, but I just >> Yeah, that's what I thought I heard you say. Since we are a part of a general fund and we don't uh we are a a component of a general fund um I when we get our audits are looked at in slightly different way um in my opinion this is the um the cleanest way um to procure this many vehicles at one time and get the benefit of saving on repair cost on fuel
071cost on all of those things and um also auctioning off or getting rid of all of this other equipment, all these other vehicles that are just going to sit around once they go defunct that we don't have a mechanism by the way of getting rid of them. Does that make sense? >> I get it. Yes. >> There's no reason not to do it. >> Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Mel is going first. >> Uh yes sir. Thank you for your presentation. I see that you have a uh potential savings of sustainable savings of 744,000 and then up earlier you have 542,000 impact. Is that together or separate in your understanding of this? >> I'm sorry. Can you clarify your question? >> Yes. It's up in the near the top here. It says you have an impact
072statement of reducing our fleet spend by 542,000. >> Correct. So, um the yes, the the reason for the delta there is essentially unrealized equity. So, we're looking at a 10-year period. Um and essentially that's a savings over 10 years. So, around $50,000 a year. So, if you you know, right, if we do the math. Um, but the unrealized equity is essentially the equity in the vehicles that are halfway through their cycle at year 10 that we haven't essentially realized yet. So, if a program cut off at that point, you'd have a ton of equity left and that's where the difference is coming from. >> Got it. And who will maintenance the vehicles that are going to be sold 10% above the blackbook value or they or will they be sold as is? they'll they'll be
073sold as is. >> All right. >> So, uh consistently, you know, across the again hundreds of thousands of vehicles that we're selling, we're um if you're familiar with Kelly Blue Book, there's a commercial version of that called Blackbook value and we're consistently selling at 10% above what that blackbook value demands in a marketplace. So, those the reason uh for pointing that out and the reason it's beneficial for Lynburg City Schools is because that equity comes back to them. >> Yeah. >> Goes back to >> correct >> goes back to that vehicle fund. You know, we also have a uh elementary building that we need to be auctioned off. If you do that as well, we could trade you some vehicles for that and that would be good. But if you don't do that, then >>
074Thank you, Mr. >> Yeah. So, I have a and thanks for your presentation, a few questions. Um about four or five. >> So, how has uh Lynchburg City Schools in the past uh managed um their maintenance uh and their fleet of vehicles? So, I can only speak to um through last year, I I think um with the age of our fleet, I I think that they have kicked the can down the road. Now, um I I do know that if a new vehicle is purchased, we somehow found it um in in the budget to do that. Usually, I believe they kind of targeted at the end of the fiscal year if there was any money left over that they would go to the city and and say, "Hey, can we use this to purchase vehicles?"
075There hasn't been a lot of years where there was money left over um as evident in the age of our fleet. But I think that is in theory how they operated prior to now. >> Yeah. So, I guess what I'm what I'm asking like is are do you all have like on-site techs or I mean like a fleet department? >> So, we Yes, sir. We have Well, we have a transportation department and we have mechanics in that transportation department to help um with buses and those type of vehicles. We also have a maintenance department um that also has a skill set uh built into it to manage these um types of vehicles. I believe we can do oil changes in house >> um on vehicles. So th those are costs that we absorb through our
076employee base. The the real cost is when it comes to these older vehicles and they have to go to repair shops and that's that's when we start um acrewing a lot of bills in regards to that. Um so my next question is have you looked have you all looked at any other companies um other than enterprise? >> Well so uh enterprise from a procurement standpoint is on state contract. The source well that he spoke about that's a state contract. So we could uh legitimately go to any state contract. Um, Enterprise at this point is offering us the the package deal, so to speak, with selling our vehicles and all of those things. So, we just felt like a partnership with Enterprise was a win-win um for for the school system. >> And my my last
077question for now, >> yes, sir. um ha has LCS looked at a partnership with the city's fleet um to actually take a look at all this and merge your fleet and since they already have that system set up that works on vehicles, texts, all that good stuff. >> So, we have a similar system in our transportation department and maintenance departments. I I can't answer that question. Um I haven't been here and saw prior studies and um conversations with that. Um at this point I I don't I can't answer your question um fully um the full information. >> So I I do have a statement. I would I would I personally would like to see um that that discussion had to see because it could be more beneficial um what to look and see what that
078part is. >> We can absolutely uh um explore all um avenues um whatever is going to be the most efficient save us the most money we'll explore all avenues at this point. So >> thank you. >> Yes sir. >> And thank you. Thank you Mr. Jim. >> I concur with Mr. Poe. This is uh a good opportunity to find find out what the city does for this issue and um if we just know that then do a little comparison that would be great. Uh do you know anything about that sir? >> Haven't spoken with the city regarding theirs. >> Okay. Just something I would like to find out. >> It helps. We you know we work with a number of cities and towns as well across. So uh >> so my question would simply be
079what is your advantage over your competitors? So I' I'd start with number one our our our reach right our economies of scale. So like I mentioned enterprise is the largest transportation company in the country right uh so spanning footprint spanning over two million vehicles we we buy more vehicles than anyone we also sell more vehicles than anyone every single year. So when it comes to having the um the relationships with manufacturers um and our network of dealerships, our network of for immediate needs, our network of maintenance shops if needed um but also like I mentioned the the returns and equity on the resale side, uh it's unmatched. So Enterprise has been in established as a company for you know 68 years. So still third generation family-owned um got its name from you know uh our
080our founder walking off the USS Enterprise. So, um, you know, with a long-standing history of success and, um, being able to help specifically within the fleet management world, um, we have over 14,000 clients across the country. So, with a good about 20% of them being government clients. >> Question, >> Mr. Conor, and then you go ahead. >> Um, okay. So, is it my understanding that we don't have an annual budget to purchase vehicles? >> Uh, no sir. I believe in the past uh there is no um CIP money set aside for vehicle purchases. I believe in the past what they did was at the end of the fiscal year if they uh had revenues over um their expenditures and had a little extra money they would go to the city and request um to to
081bring back that money to purchase a fleet. Now, some who have been here longer than me may have a little bit more detail on that. Um, but from my understanding, that's how it it uh transpired in prior years. >> So, my second question is, yes, sir, >> there must be a annual maintenance budget for these vehicles. >> Um, yes, we've identified five lines. >> Okay. >> Um, that we could potentially decrease those lines to offset the cost of of this particular lease. Yes. Yes, that's what my question is. We don't have a budget to purchase vehicles. >> We have a budget to maintain. Yes, >> we have a budget to maintain. And you're saying that >> the budget money that we have set aside currently to maintain this fleet of outdated vehicles would pay for
082the monthly lease cost of buying of renting vehicles from Enterprise. >> Well, so it would go towards the lease cost of of it. It won't cover the entire lease cost. There will be a bit that we will have to uh identify other budget savings to go to that. So my question is a good portion of the existing lines that have been identified will go towards um this lease agreement. >> So since we don't have and have not had a vehicle purchase budget, >> correct? Now we're going to create additional revenue costs to buy and lease vehicles from enterprise when we weren't using. So what we will do is take funds, expenditures from these lines that have been um that have been exceeding their budget because of the age of our fleet and move that over
083to a purchase services line that will maintain a a lease because we're purchasing the service from Enterprise to have these vehicles. So that would be the mechanism by which we would do that >> and we'll know what the additional cost is before we agree to do this because there's got to be some additional cost. We're just transferring maintenance cost over to and then we're going to be paying lease monthly leases on each one of these vehices. Well, um we would uh prefer to do it annually, but yes, sir, we would we would know the difference, but there is a little variable in there in that we are not sure what we are going to get from these 18 plus vehicles that's going to go back into the contract to create a contract savings for us.
084So, um close your ears. we may end up on the good side of this decision. Um, as far as as the expense of it >> may Yes, sir. There's a may >> um I like what I'm hearing. I'm interested in the normal length of a contract as well as um um a free look so that everyone's questions if we choose to pass this tonight, what would be the free look period of the agreement with you and what is a typical contract term? >> So, um as far as the typical contract term, so we have these set up on uh 60-month leases um >> five years, >> correct? Okay. Um now with with the big emphasis of at any given point um you know if if there's you know dissatisfaction or or whatever reason we want
085to end the lease that there there like I said there are multiple uh ways for Lynchburg City Schools to take possession of these vehicles whether it's we we sell them and give the procedure of funds back to the city schools or they they're bought outright by Lynchburg city schools. There's there's multiple different ways that we can go about that >> and >> so Oh yeah. So free look like we say yes. I'm I'm not sure. >> Free look is like something insurance you know buyer's remorse happens the day after and everyone in the board decides they don't they really didn't want to do it. If we agree we have a time period between now and I guess paperwork is going to be signed. If we agree to this that doesn't uh obligate us. We have
086to have an actual signed contract from you. I'm assuming >> what is that free look period? >> Yeah. So, uh I know that contracts, paperwork, and everything has been looked over and vetted by um administration, but yeah, there's there's no set uh there's no clock on this if if that's what your question. >> Thank you very much. This is >> And if I may um answer to that, we have sent this contract over um to city attorney Towns and she has looked over it as well. The reason we're bringing this to you now is there are brand new vehicles um that we can get at a reduced rate. Um so we are trying to get those before the new vehicles come out and we miss the opportunity to get these vehicles at a reduced rate.
087So that's that's why we are, you know, asking you to consider this contract at this time. >> Thank you. >> Yes, absolutely. >> So yes, ma'am. >> It's clear as mud. We're going to take our We're going to take our maintenance money and we're going to wait until we sell those, get back what we might get for revenue, and then get on a yearly plan to make a payment. So, whatever that difference is, we'll liquidate something somewhere else to close the gap for >> Yes, ma'am. Financially paying for it by the year. >> Yes, ma'am. Okay. That's the >> So, it's a car payment pretty much. But >> pretty much, but we would do it annually versus monthly. It's just cleaner, um, from, you know, nobody has to remember to make that car payment every
088month. >> All right. And my other question was for you, um, Dr. Gupta, because you've been on the board the longest, and I know before we tried to combine the buses with the city to see if that would work. And so, um, in all your years, has the other boards tried to do this? say, "Well, the fleet thing and what they were talking about have or has city said, no, we're going to do our own thing." >> Consolidation is important. >> Very important. >> And uh can I >> Oh, yeah. >> I I have uh I have heard all the rosy things. $75,000 in maintenance will be saved. But what I have not heard is the cash out from the school district to enterprise on a yearly basis for lease. >> This is the dollar
089a month. It's approximately two $213,000 >> on on yearly basis. >> Uh yes sir. Yes sir. Now the first year could come in less because if we sell the vehicles we're able to put those vehicles back into that contract. So but it's approximately $213,000. It hasn't changed. >> Correct. Y >> because is the mileage you said there's no mileage limit on these vehicle right? >> We can put 100,000 miles and you're okay with that. Mhm. In a year. >> Correct. Yeah. That so what what that would affect is the resale we're able to sell a vehicle for which we have um estimated at the beginning. So we've looked at his the data from the current uh schools vehicles and they're averaging anywhere from 10 to 15,000 m per year. >> The resale will be on
090your shoulders whatever the resale is. What will be the turnaround of these vehicles? How often will you replace this? Uh so if we run 100,000 uh miles in first year and we say we'd like to get a new what what's your threshold to switch over to the new new vehicle. What mileage level? >> Yeah. >> 30,000 40,000. >> Yeah. The way we have them set up right now again estimating around 10,000 mi per year. Um anywhere from 50 to 60,000 miles we'll be selling these vehicles because they'll be at 5 years old. What it allow what that allows us to do is sell a vehicle that's still worth a good amount of money and put that either as a down payment as an invoice credit back for the city schools. So we're not pouring money
091into operating a vehicle that's getting uh that's every day being worth less and less and also out of warranty. So we're not pouring much a bunch of money into operational costs on these vehicles. Um we're we're keeping money in a capital budget for them to reduce the amount that we're spending to operate them. Not to mention the the downtime on the vehicle. So, what happens if a vehicle's down? Also, the the soft costs like your your labor hours and people that are, you know, is it in their job description to actually be doing the maintenance performed or shuttling these back and forth from dealerships. So, um factoring in all those uh is where we're looking at truly that what we consider the total cost of ownership. So to to answer your question, you know, 60
092months we have these vehicles set up on the vehicles are typically doing anywhere from 10 to 15,000 miles per year, but we're estimating them to have around 50 to 60,000 miles at the point of resale at 5 years to then cycle a vehicle back and hit a new >> goes about 15 is there like normally car dealerships will charge you a search charge. So do you are you guys I have not seen the contract so I apologize. Is there a search charge if we exceed 15,000 or 10,000 threshold? >> No sir. So, the what that would impact is um I'm going to use very round numbers here, not a mathematician. So, um on on say a $40,000 vehicle, after 5 years, that vehicle is worth $20,000 um with the estimated mileage on it. If we
093put an extra 5,000 miles on it, or let's say an extra 50,000 mi on it, it's worth $10,000 less. So, at this point, it's only worth $10,000. We're going to sell it, but that means you get $10,000 less off of that from that vehicle's proceeds. My other question, let me just finish my last question and I'll yield the floor to you. The $75,000 maintenance cost is all savings. Is it all coming from parts or is it labor? Are we losing employees in that process? >> Uh, no sir. We have not slated any employees to lose. There will be additional other vehicles for them to have to maintain that the school system has. We are just looking at replacing the oldest vehicles that are failing on us um for our employees. >> How did it $75,000
094came just purely the cost of parts or parts per plus labor? >> Um >> I can answer that but that was that was parts plus labor just just for these light and medium duty vehicles. So something to keep in mind. It's my understanding that the employees who are responsible for maintaining these vehicles are also responsible for maintaining school buses which are hundreds of thousands of dollars and cost a lot more to maintain. So allowing them to focus more on the proactive and preventative replacement of uh preventative maintenance of those vehicles allows for less time spent on these non important vehicles if you will, right? >> Okay. Direct question. You gave us a cost of 200 plus thousand dollars over the next five plus and it's going to provide us a savings of 70ome. Have you
095seen the line items on the budget that this is anticipating as being $300,000 and we're going to be replacing that $300,000 line with the 218. Have you you've seen that? You've added >> Yes, sir. I've got uh five line items pointed out. I got on >> that's all I was you've been saying this and sometimes it doesn't register. That's what I assumed you said. I just wanted to get it out clear that you saw it in the budget that it's X and you you're coming in this this group is coming in at X minus $70,000. >> Yes, thereabouts. I I think that we will end up um to the good at the end of the fiscal year. >> Fair enough. I was just being direct of what I was assuming, but I didn't want to
096end it. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> I do. I just because we keep I keep hearing unless something's changed over there at the garage, the bus mechanics work on buses. They're not even certified to work on gasoline vehicles. They're diesel mechanics. The gasoline vehicles go into a separate garage and there's a separate team that works on those vehicles. So, we're saying they've been combined in the last couple years or >> I still think that you have your segregation of those types of maintenance employees. Okay. >> Um that do the different levels. Uh the bus employ mechanics are extremely skilled and professional in their expert um level, but there are also other mechanics that we have that are general maintenance mechanics that work on all of the vehicles, all of the machines, all of the
097lawnmowers and all of those things. That is the sect of of mechanics that would are performing work on these vehicles. They we will still have need for them. They're not going anywhere. We have other vehicles and other equipment and other machines that they will still need to maintain. >> Yes, sir. >> Mrs. Lowry, you got a question? >> No, I don't. No. >> Yeah. Um, I think the bottom line for me is whether we're going to save money in the long run. Uh, I know sometimes when we, you know, we think about old vehicles, sometimes if you maintain them well, they can still do the job. I I have four vehicles, you know, no pun intended, and I maintain them well, and they do me well. But again, I would say the bottom line is,
098are we going to be able to save the system some money when all is said and done? If that if that pans out and we have money saved, then I'm I'm I'm off for that. >> That's the bottom line. >> I'd like to make a motion I'd like to make a motion that we table this until we can take a deeper dive this. I think we need more information. I think we need more information on what the current >> um costs are specific and then compared to what the potential costs could be cuz um you know his had a great question. So we're saying 5 years 50,000 um 60,000 miles and if these vehicles are doing a 100,000 miles a year we're going into the red. Um, I'd like to know what the current m
099what the current mileage on these old vehicles, what the mileage is, so we can look and see, okay, these this vehicle's 10 years old and it has X amount that tells us what we've been actually using. I just think we need more information. >> Made a motion. Is there a second? >> No, I want to before we before we do that, I want to put on I think I have to do it before it's seconded that I want to put a different motion ahead. I don't know whether you have to resend yours. I really think it's a good idea that we should go ahead with this. So, how would I go and do that? >> Once he second, you can put a substitute motion. >> Okay. All right. >> Mr. Po, you seconded the motion.
100>> Yeah, I second that. And I want uh some commentary. I I >> just I I really think we should um take a look at some other options. Um I brought up the city. I think we should take a look to see what our options are. Um it sounds like to me that we're putting on a band-aid on on a bigger issue. Um I don't have enough information. Um, but that's what it sounds like to me and I I think we should definitely take a deeper dive and see what our other options are. >> Okay. I'm I'd like to offer a substitute uh motion that we do accept this based on the way new models are coming out if we I don't know if you're going to have them for a couple two three months
101or someone else is going to take the deal. I think it's an opportunity that we take it now or we do it now and because I think what we're going to come in a couple months or however long it takes us to look through this I think we're going to come up with the same conclusion and we might have it a little more pricey >> um um contract. >> Is there a second to that substitute motion? >> Second, >> Mrs. Lowry. All right, madam discussion on substitute motion. Okay. My can I my discussion is my other thing is um I feel like if we could have combined with the city before we would have done it by now. So I'm not sure why that hasn't ever taken place with us joining with their fleet and
102why nobody's ever thought of that. So to me I'm thinking city is not going to do that because they failed um for us to join with the buses. They just said no we're not going to do that either. So that's why I'm thinking that's probably not going to pan out like we think. And if they're the largest company in the nation doing this, anybody smaller is probably going to come in under our expectations when we need things to turn out for the betterment because they're more a mom paw instead of a nationwide that can accommodate us. And then um my other thing was still just that as long as when we are doing this budget for these the annual budget for this um whatever you said some liquidate some other lines what other line that's
103my other concern what other lines are going to be liquidated like what's who's going to be missing out on whatever. So, we have some identified um lines for um materials and supplies that we spend on our older vehicles that we could move that money into a purchase service line. >> Capital outlay, we carry about $40,000 in there, we could move into the purchase service lines. Um our vehicle fuel lines who cost us more now because of the older model vehicles, we could move some of that funding into. So there are various lines that we feel like will reduce um as a result of having a newer fleet and be able to move those funds into a a so we won't be in a hole service line. >> So we won't be in a hole. >>
104Correct. That is the intent. The intent is to um create a more healthy um sustainable environment um for Lynchburg City Schools um not um you know recommend decisions that are going to to send us elsewhere. >> Other questions? >> Yeah. Again, I could could we say look at this a little bit more closely in our budget meeting when we do meet >> that's a main motion. >> Yeah. I would say that I I think I'm in agree bit with that stance. >> So, >> you know, this is it's a good idea. I like the idea, >> but I just feel like it's a little bit of a rush. We don't have all the details of it. At least in my spirit, that's the way I feel. >> And Mr. Bannon, I think somebody had >>
105How long have you been working on this particular deal? Um, so, uh, the former deputy superintendent has been working on it longer than I. I inherited it after that departure. >> So, I've been working on it about a month, maybe month and a half. >> Um, so I I'm not sure how long you guys have been working. >> We're working with Dr. Wooda since January on this. >> Oh, so this is not quick. >> We we've put together multiple analysis. So my question is, you know, one, uh, I assume you've done some of the, some of the questions have been asked. You've done some of the homework on that. So like, do we know the average annual mileage on our vehicles in the current fleet? >> What is that? >> The average annual mileage? >>
106You said 100,000. >> It's on the chart here. >> Annual mileage driven or annual mileage on all vehicles. >> Uh, per year. What are we putting on these vehicles? You're saying you're you're assessing at 10 to 10 to 15 per year. is I assume that's based on real data, not just a number that you guys are using by industry standard. >> Correct. Yeah, we're looking at uh less than 10,000 miles. >> So, you'll never see this. >> Okay. >> Uh and then my other question is what is a time frame? We talk about you I'm never one to pull quick trigger uh unnecessarily. So, what is a time frame we're looking at? We say, "Hey, we have these vehicles that we can get right now for a much better deal. Where do we lose out
107on that?" So, uh, model years, uh, for model year 2026 for many manufacturers is is already in production right now. Um, Chevrolet, for example, a lot of these vehicles that we're looking at replacing were cargo vans. Um, because most of those are, um, they're over 10 years old, 10.8 years old. So, uh, we're we're looking at replacing those with Chevrolet cargo vans. And those they're still open for 2025, but that is going to be closing here within the next week, two weeks max. So, then we're going to have to wait for, you know, a couple months to even consider placing an order and then getting it factory ordered. So, we're talking four or five months at least till delivery. >> Okay. So I I think just if I can make just general comment about that
108information that I see um again I'm not one to be rushed into something but my first question was how long you guys been working on this it's been some time right so it's not that we're rushing into something we've got gotten the information until just now >> but I'm I'm inclined to trust the people that we've put into positions to do this work that they've done their homework that they they've done due diligence um so that's number one um two I think there is because of the the nature of the timeline. Uh I think we we have to consider I I love I would love to see what the city would do. I would love to see that, but I'm I'm I'm not uh optimistic that that would be a quick turnaround. It may take
109another you said since January might take another six months >> and before we get that information. So >> those are my thoughts. My concern is, you know, I was on the finance committee since January, not once in any of our finance meeting was just brought to the finance committee >> to even start looking at it. So, being on the finance committee and on the school board, this first I heard of it. I should have heard about it 6 months ago, >> but you got to remember. >> Well, I should I mean, the truth is the truth. I should have heard about this six months ago so that we could be and we could be making a much more informed decision. But now we're um up against the wall. If we don't make a decision tonight,
110we're going to lose something, >> you know. Um it's like, oh, if you don't, you know, even we don't need something, we going to run because it's on sale, you know. Yeah, they're on sale, but is, you know, I want to know, is this actually going to save us the money? You know, I I just have some concerns. >> Understood. Yeah. And >> same here. I'm not comfortable uh voting for substitute motion because uh January to August is 8 months and as board we are hearing for the very first time. Every process we have in place in my mind has been undermined by that. It just brought to us as an action item >> in August as an action item where we know everything has to go through committee processes right that's the understanding where
111we vet it out through the committee they take a deeper dive then it comes to the board for discussion so purely on that principle to set up a wrong precedence I'm going to vote no for the substitute motion any other discussion before I call for vote >> I just wanted uh to rebuttal um you know there's been changes in leadership ship. Um the city's fleet, uh the fire department, their public safety used to have their own fleet. They've merged that. Um we have a city council that's um seemingly um interested in um merging um and saving and consolidating. So I again I think that's something that we should visit. Um we don't know why it did not happen in the past. We're only assuming. Maybe somebody did ask, maybe they didn't. I think it's worth
112investigating. Um, we don't know how tariffs and different things, um, I remember after the pandemic, it was, you know, you don't know how finding new vehicles, um, how that may affect, um, being able the ability to find new vehicles, which that could be anybody. And I just think whether it's the city or whether it's another company, um, we should look at our options. >> Thank you. So my last point of discussion is so if we're going to try to save money though with this deal is there any way we can connect with city council within a week and get it to finance if even if it's requires an emergency meeting so you can take that deeper dive and have an answer for them in two weeks one week two weeks >> I don't have an
113exact date they can close it >> in about two week I mean is that a possibility >> well we do have a meeting set up next A week from today, >> there's a CI requires much more complicated budgeting. >> It's not that easy just to meet the city council. >> Okay. >> Get the funding out. >> Oh, no. >> Madam Cler, would you please call the role on substitute motion, please? >> And clarify the substitute motion is to approve this. Correct. >> Yes. Correct. Contract. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Mr. Baron, >> motion is to approve the contract as presented to the board. >> Yes. >> Mr. Alen, >> no. >> Mrs. Li, >> yes. Connor. Mr. Connor. >> No. >> Dr. Gupta. >> No. >> Mr. Depal. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jal. >> No. >>
114Dr. Farmer? >> No. >> Mr. Poe? >> No. >> Motion fail. >> We come to the main motion now to table it. Is there discussion on the main motion? I'm all for the the uh decision overall, but I wanted to put forth a tentative approval while we look at what the city does. But because there's a deadline, we have the opportunity to the possibility of missing out on this. >> I don't want to do that. We can have an emergency meeting u if we do our own research. We don't need to wait for the the city's departments. We just need to talk to whoever we need to and find out what has been done, why it's not going hasn't gone forward and then we can make a decision at our next meeting. The gentleman isn't
115sure as to when our hard deadline is for losing this opportunity, but we have apparently at least one week. So, I think we should try and make um make all our questions answered within a week's time. If we focus on this and not other so many other things, we can get this done pretty quickly because it is an opportunity we don't want to miss out if we have nothing else afterwards. It'll just be gone. So, I I I would do a tenant of approval, but I I'm so interested in seeing why the city hasn't gone forth with it. And um and I just uh I would I'll I I would uh ask that we we make this an agenda item for next week to discuss >> other discussion. >> My other question is what kind
116of turnaround time are we looking at for this deeper dive? >> Well, we want to bring I would like you to have it on at the next finance meeting. It should be uh in the item >> which is this coming Tuesday. >> Yes sir. >> But I want because I have questions really on what we're current I need to see line by line what we are spending now. >> Sure. >> And I still have a question is why had you know why have we never had a annual capital budget for vine vehicles. So I mean I we won't be able to answer that question but I think if we if the finance committee is able to take a deeper dive then we can make a informed decision. >> I think right now with you know
117this is a great um PowerPoint presentation but it doesn't make me feel comfortable. >> Absolutely. >> Are there discussion? Madame clerk will you please call the role? >> Mr. Baron >> I'm sorry. Can we move one more time? The motion on the table is to table >> to to finance table. >> Yeah. Yes. >> Mr. Alen. Yes, >> Mrs. Lori. >> Yes, >> Mr. Connor. >> Yes, >> Dr. Gupta. >> Yes, >> Mr. Depal. >> No, >> Mr. Galileo. >> Yes, >> Dr. Farmer. >> Yes, >> Mr. Powell. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Next one is school board member reports. Uh, Gub School, Mrs. Lowry >> is tomorrow. >> Thank you. Laurel, Mrs. Lowry, >> September 3rd. >> Thank you. STEM Academy, Mr. Paul. >> Uh, yeah. So, uh, the STEM Academy
118on Wednesday, where are my notes? Sorry. Uh, there are juniors. I think they have about nine juniors, uh, um, coming into this, uh, school year, um, from from Lynchburg City Schools because this is a regional academy and seven seniors. Uh, orientation will be Wednesday for the juniors at 8 and Thursday at 9:00 for the seniors. Um the uh next board meeting is September 9th I believe and uh I plan on going to visit the school in September um once the schools have gotten enrolled and all that good stuff. >> Thank you. Next one is finance and facilities Mr. Depal. >> Next week. >> Thank you. Legislative advocacy, Mr. J. >> Next week. >> Thank you. Academic success, Mrs. Lowry, >> September 23rd. >> Thank you. Partners in education, Mr. Ellie and M. Dr. Farmer, >>
119we haven't made a decision that yet in terms of time. Yeah, >> thank you. Uh, LCSA foundation, Mr. Depal, Mr. J. Lazy Le. >> I think that Yeah, we'll we'll thank you. >> Beacon of hope, Mr. Baron, Mr. Po. >> Actually spoke to uh Miss Queen today and uh just three things want to report back in June. 75 LCS students completed their month-long paid internships at 25 Lynchburg companies. The experience includes softsklls training, career exploration, and internship site placement. Second, uh today and tomorrow, their future center teams at both high schools are hosting college application and essay boot camps to help students get a head start on their applications before school begins. And lastly, but not leastly, in partnership with EC Glass, they're hosting a glow up at Glass during Enrollment Day. This is pretty
120cool. 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. After receiving their schedule, students can enjoy a free pampering service, including haircuts, nail care, and more. >> They're doing great work. >> Thank you. >> Next one is Student Discipline. Mr. Connor, >> nothing to report. >> Thank you. Ad hoc achievement gap. Mrs. Lowry, >> we had our first meeting July 16th. Our next meeting is tomorrow. Our goal is to have the assignments to um split up um the research work and this committee aims to have the direction for the board on September 10th. Any needed continuous work will be picked up by the academic success committee to serve reports to the board on gap goals through the year. >> Thank you. Next one is superintendent comment. Dr. >> Yes. Well, good evening again. Um I just have a few comments.
121As you all know, it's been about 30 days since I've been here. As I'm working through the entry plan, I really have appreciated just the rich discussions I've had with many, many people. Um, I've met with probably just about everyone on the board. Um, some of us have even a follow-up meeting because the the conversation kept going and I appreciate um just asking the entry plan questions, getting to know each of you individually, working with the staff, community partners. Um, I've had a lot of meetings, but really good discussions about how people see our strengths in LCS and then how they want to help us continue to to grow and to move the needle for kids. Um, Monday we had our new teacher orientation. Huge thank you to our HR department as well as the
122instructional department for and technology. I know he's part of instruction, but just doing some really cool work with AI um of getting those new teachers acclimated and getting them going. and we have just about over 70 new teachers. And then I just want to touch on today. I really really want to say thank you um board members for coming out today. And you know, part of my entry plan was the bus ride and I do like, you know, I've been driving around the city in my little car, but but I really um just appreciated you coming out. I knew you would have a long night tonight, but given me part of your day so that we could go out and just um you know just a quick bus run, but to see where some of
123our students live, the neighborhoods, just for me, it was just so important to just see the role that transportation plays, a huge role of getting our kids to and from school safely. We saw some of those roads were narrow. >> They were narrow. um and just the skill of our drivers and and the hard work that they put in to make that happen, but really just giving me a better understanding of the neighborhood from which our kids come from because that helps me to better serve. And so I just wanted to um as being returning here 22 years later, which I figured out today when we went by EC Glass, but just um really appreciative of you all taking your time to do that that with me. And then if any of you all want
124to ride any other time and hop in the little car with me, we can and just be individually. But but truly just appreciate that that support for our kids and and community. It's um so I just want to give you a huge kudos on that and then that's it for my comments. >> Thank you. We'll start with board comment. Mr. Po, >> I'm sorry. >> Board board member comment. >> Uh yeah. Uh yeah, thank you for the invite. um that uh that's actually some of those um narrow streets where uh where I grew up at. So, it's definitely um um appreciative of the job that our school bus uh drivers um interested um also from some of that discussion um how we can um improve and get our bus driver capacity to to full um
125different things of that nature. Um again just you know happy to be on board. Um I appreciate the the ad hoc committee um for working on the achievement gap and uh everybody coming together and um you know voicing their perspectives and opinions um no matter how different um just so we can make sure that we make Lynchburg City Schools a much better place. >> Thank you sir. Dr. partner. >> I also want to thank you for that ride, but I also want to thank you for coming and talking to us and allowing us to share with you. >> That meant a whole lot. >> Thank you >> to us. >> Thank you, Mr. Jillian. >> Yes, I think it's a good idea and I hope to take a ride soon someday. Um, we have a
126great opportunity for Lynchburg City Schools to make this difference with so many new members of the administration in upcoming year. I do pray, hope and pray that we make a difference that changes the direction of Lynchburg City Schools. Um, I would like to give some insight on a number of different ideals that we could we could focus on, but I'm just going to summarize it by saying I think we need to make sure the culture of academia is a high standard of profess of professionalism amongst the students. We already know we're mature as adults to the degree that we are. um teaching and and learning doing their PT, but the students need a an academic environment mentality so that everything focuses on that and then all the secondary things um the sports and the fun
127that they have is in the it's in its proper place. I think it's I think it's a quote that says something to akin to culture eats something for breakfast >> strategy. So if you can create a culture around academia you make a large difference. Our students need to learn how to learn that's a big deal. If they could learn the techniques of brain the brainstorming and review and learning how to learn the things that they're expected to learn that will make a difference how to store information and read effect effectively mind mapping and then in line with Mr. Reed who spoke earlier today. Um we have large differences between our school system and international school systems. Um briefly I'll talk on I think people should look up Japan versus the United States. What 10-year-olds do
128differently. It's a 9 minute and 35 second video. Uh calculus is the Shakespeare of mathematics. Too many topics too quickly is one of our problems in the United States. We have not changed our secondary mathematics, algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2 since the 1890s very much at all. Um, and there's a Dr. Caldwell who testified at the House Committee on Science that US textbooks contain many more topics than those in other countries. Science texts gives to our eighth graders over 67 topics. In Germany, nine. So, it's a good way to learn less and less as you offer more and more. Process does not equal value. Teaching does not equal learning. Advancement does not equal education. Diplomas do not equal competency. And originality, creativity, and wit do not equal fluency. We have to be careful of these
129things as we go forward in making our plans and making a difference in at LCS. If we do what we what we've always done, we'll get what we always has gotten have gotten. And uh I would like you to be encouraged that I can see great changes on the horizon, but we need to make certain that it's not a just a new curriculum, just a new person in a certain place, just a new look at the VOE website. It has to be significant cultural shift around academic success. And the only thing I would like to practically share as a tip is anyone who has A's and B's should go to the head of line in everything. The head of the lunch line, head of the the bathroom line, head of every line possible getting a
130free ticket to play a game. If they have A's and B's, let's try to support the students to do that as we do with other things like sports. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Depal. Um to add to what u Mr. Jillio said regards to kids first, students first. >> We'll get students first as soon as we have our teachers first. >> Thank you, Mr. Connor. >> I just want to say I want to thank um Dr. Majette. Um really enjoyed the bus ride. brought back some some mixed feelings [Laughter] when he turned that one corner. I said, "I've turned that corner in a bus before, so I know how." And he did a great job. So, I really >> I have a heart for the bus drivers and that staff. But I want to
131say I want to appreciate that um the time you've given each board member to meet one- on-one and allowed us I mean it was just open. You didn't have like a preconceived agenda. uh with the expectation you allowed us to just share what we thought and what we think for the future and um I just want to know that you know so far I'm very pleased with the direction we're going. >> Thank you Mr. Lowry. I'm looking forward to the ad hoc bringing value to the solutions for LCS students as well as the academic success committee and looking forward to visiting schools this year and reading the students like I try to do every year and I hope the teachers have a good start to your year and be able to get into your class
132a little more than going to meetings. And thank you Dr. Majette for your open and clear leadership. I have um definitely seen and truly appreciate all that you're doing. So this is a great start to a great year. >> Thank you. Again, I want to thank you, Dr. for your leadership and the buzz that you brought to the city. Uh seem like there's a lot of hope and expectation and you bring that type of a perspective to the people and I I I just want to say that for me, I would like to be able to hang with you a little bit. Maybe if I can go to some of the schools and kind of tag along if that' be okay. And one of the things that I did mention to you when we had
133a conversation was I would love to see how we can connect with our parents, our families. >> I know academic is good. I know you know the learning in the classroom all that is wonderful but I think that necessary component of us making contact with the families with the parents we got to find a way to be able to connect with them and to be able to get them on board so that they will become part of the team as well. So I I don't know I I had a crazy idea. I don't know if it would pan out on the board level or not, but maybe us going to the neighborhoods at some point in time, have a open block party or something and invite the parents to come out and just talk to
134them, you know, and have them all engage. So, you know, so that's kind of my passion and I I kind of share that with you and I hope that maybe at some level we'll be able to implement something like that along the way. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Banner. >> Well, again, I share the same sentiment, Mr. Connor, with the uh transportation department. So, I was really excited to be a part of that this afternoon. Um, by the way, some of the longest tenured and most dedicated employees work in our transportation department. I know two that just retired at 33 years. That's wild. And there's a lot of them. >> Um, but we need more. And so I want to continue to put out a plea for people that are able to uh to jump
135in and drive a school bus. That solves a lot of our problems. You want to talk about truency, transportation is a big piece of that puzzle, right? You want to talk about academic achievement, transportation is often a big part of that puzzle. Great programs after school, uh but kids can't get to it. Doesn't matter how great the programs are. So transportation is is is a is a big one for me. Um, by the way, also our driver today was also a mechanic. Um, which is not uncommon in the transportation department to have their mechanics and their office staff all out driving buses because we have so few drivers. So, I just want to highlight again how what a great work they're doing in that department. Uh, and I also want to just extend a humble
136invitation. I'm going to personally be riding a school bus, hopefully my route from last year on the first day of school. See some of my my students. I want to invite you guys to participate in that as well. Maybe jump on a bus and and it's one thing to ride a bus with other >> professionals. >> You really ain't seen it till you ride it with kids. >> Exactly. >> You need to you need to get on there and ride it with the kids and see and see what the drivers and the aids are are are dealing with and and what they're working with. And these kids are great kids. They really are. They're kids, >> but they're great kids. And it's a great place to see that in action. So, I want to invite
137you all to to consider joining and jumping on a bus the first day of school. if not the first day of school, maybe setting up another time to be able to get on a bus and and see the city from that viewpoint. But I also want to e echo just the sentiments of optimism. I just see a general optimism uh as I'm talking to people uh about the schools and about within the schools. Uh and I think the thing that that really characterizes I think what I've seen from Dr. Mette and others I've talked to is is intentionality. And I define intentionality as doing everything on purpose with purpose. And I think if we can we can continue to move forward that way, doing what we do on purpose with purpose, I think we're going
138to go far and it's going to be beautiful. >> Thank you. Um I want to welcome Mr. Marshall. >> You want to say something to the people watching from home? >> Um I am thrilled to be I'm doing I'm excited to work with everybody. >> Thank you. And I Dr. you have certainly brought in a change to the school district. >> But I think as school board members, we need to be role models for everybody. >> Today the eight out of the nine board members showed up for the bus ride. I wish the participation was 100%. Superintendent has one to one meetings. Eight of the nine board members have done it. I wish the participation was 100%. >> So it's easy for us to give speeches from here, but we need to be role models
139for what we are saying. walk the talk >> and uh I hope I'm hoping and praying hopefully we we'll be able to achieve 100% participation in everything we do. We do it all together. >> Yeah. >> And uh not one less um and having said that know the next one is close session but I wanted to doformational item which is okay because most of the people will leave and they don't have information then I'll do the close session. Uh, next school board work session is Tuesday, August 19th at 5:00 p.m. LCR is August 19th at 3:30. Finance and facilities is August 12th at 3:30. Academic success >> September 3rd, it was moved. >> It's moved to September 3rd at 3:30. Same time. And the discipline data review committee is August 14th at uh 3 I'm
140assuming 3:30, right? >> Well, academic success. No, you mean Laurel? >> No, data review committee. I'm August 14th. the time the board clerk will have it. >> Now we come to the next item, notice of closed meeting. The school board chair recommend the school board approve a motion to convene a closed meeting to discuss the following permitted by Virginia code 2.2-3711A7 2-3711 A7 consultation with legal counsel and briefing by staff members or consultation pertaining to probable litigation where such consultation or briefing is open in inopen meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the school board. Is there a motion to go into the close session? >> Motion >> second. >> Madame clerk, would you please call the role? >> Mr. Baron, >> yes. >> Mr. Alen, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lori, >>
141yes. >> Mr. Connor, >> yes. >> Dr. Gupta, >> yes. Mr. Depal. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jillio. >> Yes. >> Dr. Palmer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pow. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. We go upstairs in the close up, right? >> Yes. [Music]