001[Music] Heat up here. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] meeting is called to order. Uh we don't have any electronic participation, madame clerk, right? Correct. So we'll move to a pledge of allegiance. Dr. Please rise for the pledge. I pledge algiance 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. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? I move we approve the agenda. Dr. Mr. Connor, would you please call the role? Mr. Connor, yes. Mr. Gillio, yes. Mr. Andrews, yes. Dr. Day, yes. Dr. Yes. Mrs. Preston, yes. Mr. Depal, yes. Dr. Tinsley, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Comprehensive Literacy Network, Dr. Copel. Looking for Miss Campbell and Miss Bennett. The floor is yours, right? To
002talk about and Miss Oh, sorry. That's okay. I'm I'm gonna take uh Dr. Davis's place. Okay. not able to be with us tonight. So, let you start us off. Absolutely. Can you all They're going to bring up the presentation. All right. Um, thank you so much for allowing us uh this time. Um, this is focused on our work with TNTP and the literacy um support network um which is a partnership. If you would go to the next slide. Thank you. Um Lynchburg City Schools is lucky enough to be part of the comprehensive literacy network and it's a partnership between um about 12 school divisions in the Commonwealth, the Virginia Virginia Department of Education and TNTP which you'll hear a little bit more about in in just a few minutes. But the partnership was um started
003by VDOE and the focus is on implementing uh helping divisions implement best practices in reading instruction. As you know, we are focused on the Virginia Literacy Act for the past several years. Um, you all approved our literacy plan um, last year that we are following this year at the elementary level up to third grade. Um, so this is focused on that work. Next slide. So TNTP um, is a partner again with VDOE and Lynchberg again was one of those divisions that was lucky enough to be selected to participate in this. There are only about 12 divisions as I mentioned. Um, and so we are working together to implement evidence-based literacy practices that are again outlined in the Virginia Literacy Act. and it really is focusing on giving the participating divisions access to very strategic, very
004individualized support um from TNTP, who is a national nonprofit um and they have significant experience in managing change efforts um that accompany adoption and implementation of highquality instructional materials. And you may have heard us talk before about HQIM. Those are high quality instructional materials and in Lynchberg right now in LCS benchmark is that new curriculum that has been focusing on um that the science of reading and literacy instruction. Next slide. So the partnership is assisting us in improving our literacy outcomes and they are providing key uh support in these key areas really around strategy. So we've been working together to look at data. Um we've been looking at action plans about how we've what we have done in the past and how we're moving forward. They have provided since the beginning of January a lot
005of professional learning opportunities at the division level um for this team that is participating and that includes myself, Dr. Davis, um Miss Campbell and Miss Bennett and Dr. Copelan has also participated in some of that. Um and we are moving that forward now. Um we've they've also provided opportunities um with the principles and you'll hear a little bit more about that. Um but we've really looked at observations and analyzing student work and some of these things we were already doing but TNTP has been helping us in that collaboration of how can we make that better and how can we really narrow our focus moving forward to support the implementation of benchmark. So again, TNTP is a nationally recognized leader in education. Um they use a lot of deep research and have uh policy expertise and
006then they provide those consultants who are hands-on. They have been to Lynchburg. You'll see in just a minute several times we've done lots of virtual sessions. Um but they are really helping us again focus on ensuring that our students have pathways um to move past um education when we when they graduate. So beyond that, next slide. So their approach is three-fold. Um they use um some insight by identifying challenges in education. Um and these insights are grounded in um decades of field experience and uh research. Um TNTP's second approach is courage. Um and they don't have a problem that they have not been able to tackle. Um so they listen, they collaborate and they do lead with courage. And I will have to say they do listen and and we have said this multiple times,
007but this is in my tenure the very first partnership where someone from the outside from an agency from the outside has truly come in has listened, observed, and provided resources and support that are truly tailored to what LCS needs. So it truly is collaborative. Um and then again, they're helping us take actions. So we're looking at measurable and sustainable goals that will have impact not only at the school um level but also at the division level. And this is just a little bit of their statistics and this is gathered um since 19 uh excuse me since 2020. So they have o million plus um students have received stronger instruction because of their efforts. 4.5 million plus in students engaged in uh grade appropriate assignments and I'm not going to read the rest but they have
008had a a huge impact and we have already in Lynchburg City Schools seen the impact through student so scores this spring from the work that they've been doing with us at the school level. So now I'm going to turn it over to Miss Campbell. Um and oh I have one more slide. Sorry. Again, we are one of um 10 plus divisions that were selected to participate. Um and we are working currently with our five targeted um federally identified elementary schools which you can see as um Bedford Hills, uh Heritage Elementary, Lynn Elementary, RS Payne, and Sanduski Elementary. So, we've been working with those five schools since January. And now I'll turn it over to Miss Campbell. So, yes, we accepted the to be a part of um if you want to click on the next
009slide, you'll see our timeline of implementation. Um and we accepted this back in December and our division team, as Amy mentioned, we've been meeting with TNT consultants bi-weekly. every every other Wednesday we are doing virtual um meetings with them and they have really truly um been collaborative and supportive of the division team to help and guide and refine our goals and priorities of our division literacy plan um through the implementation of our HQIM of benchmark. Um as you can see in February they were here we did on-site visit at all five of our um elementary schools that we are working with with skill and knowledge lessons. They were here for two days. We came back in in March. We did professional learning. We did on-site visits. We have done observations. That first one in February,
010we did about 30 observations. And then in March, uh we did close to um probably 25 um observations. They were back in April, came for three days. Um we did more on-site visits. This time our principles got to walk out of their regular school day buildings and went to visit other schools. And it was amazing. um they were able we were able to visit classrooms and we also as a division team were able to do on-site visits. But what's really neat about it when we're doing after we've done the observations, we have debrief sessions and the Allison French and Blake Barber um are t TN TNTP consultants and Allison was here on site and we immediately talk about what we've seen in the classrooms having the rich conversation. and they were here um yesterday. Allison
011was here and we had just rich discussion with the principles of best practices. What are we seeing? What can what can we do um to move our our to move instruction. So it has been very very um impactful um for us. So if we look at the next slide, we are what the VDOE um in partnership with TNTP, the VDOE created walkthrough tools and that's to help coh our co coherence around literacy instruction. These indicators provide clarity and a very streamline focus for all stakeholders on the key aspects needed to deliver the high quality and standards aligned ELA and foundational skills instruction. The walkthrough tools are broken down into core actions and under each core action are indicators that provide more information on strong instructional practice practices. In partnership with TNTP, our division team is
012using these walkthrough tools with our principles to observe instruction in real time. During our debrief and professional learning sessions, we're able or together we're able to build a common vision for implementing our highquality instructional materials across schools and classrooms. As our narrowed focus continues to strengthen, we are will continue to build consistency and literacy throughout the division. So, we're going to take a look at um datadriven action planning. And this this data collection is critical in better understanding where we are with our schools and our classrooms and the implementation of our benchmark advance our materials and what we need to be done in order to improve that effectiveness. So, now we're going to look at the data. So I said they were here in February. So we had they had to collect some initial data.
013So we went to um as you can see we saw 30 classrooms across the five schools across the K through five classrooms. And now we're going to look at um this this data that was collected. So during the February observations um that was centered around the ELA benchmark reading instruction, you can see that the overall ratings are broken down by each core action. So core action one is the lesson focus on highquality text. Core action two does the lesson employ questions and task both oral and written in which integrate the standards and build students comprehension of the text. And the third core action is are the students cognitively engaged in the work on the lesson from start to finish. If you can look at the the bar graph that is up there, the division has
014been very successful in investing in um staff to utilize our selected highquality instructional materials and that is benchmark. We believe that the 93% is attributed to the professional learning days that we had at the end of the school year last year in May when we got out early, we had professional learning. We dedicated that to learning more about benchmark advance um in preparation for this school year. Our next steps are to focus on refining our uni utilization of our curriculum in order to increase the effectiveness of our instruction specifically our alignment to grade level standards and cognitive student ownership. So then we also we talked about our ELA. Now we're going to look at our foundational skills. Again this is data that was collected. There were core actions. The three core actions are first one
015is is the lesson intentionally focused on grade level reading foundational skills. Core action two, does the teacher make the foundational skills of the lesson explicit and allow time for student practice? And the third core action, do students practice foundational skills in a variety of ways to support mastery during the instruction? If you're looking at this data here, this data shows it that we hardly had any classroom scoring in the not yet bucket for any of the core actions for foundational skills. And I would say as a division, we have been very successful with investing our teachers to utilize again the highquality instructional materials and we're very proud of this work. And I would say that we are very proud because we've been using foundations since 2021. So that has been our core there for to
016learning the foundational skills with the science of reading and that that this initial data is showing that. So again just as before with our ELA our next steps will to be focusing on that utilization of the curriculum in order to increase the effectiveness of our instruction and specifically with the explicit um instruction and quality for our students to practice with grade level standards um with our um ELA. So, as Sarah and Amy mentioned before, we've been working closely with Allison to really dive into the work that we've been doing and looking very closely at what we still need to refine. So based on the data that you just observed, TNTP and the teaching and learning um department, we've learn we've set a spring priority that works to increase the effectiveness of our ELA benchmark instruction
017while simultaneously developing our principles as literacy leaders with a common vision of excellence. Our road map of priorities is to work with teachers on the alignment of rigor progression and the suggested implementations of their questions and tasks in their benchmark lessons. We are also working with their principles to help them have a common vision as they are observing teachers for the implementation of instruction and in their feedback of their literacy lessons. So you can see that um we reflected in our timeline the work that we've done makes gains on our spring priorities while simultaneously planning for the expansion for school year 2526. Our spring priorities that we've begun working towards in April and continuing in May have already led our principles growing in their knowledge and understanding of what to look for in benchmark implementation.
018We're going to expand this work this summer during summer leadership and in the fall with all of our elementary and middle school principles and administrators to implement all the priorities in each of our buildings. you'll yeah so we as the division team we when we go in and observe we can see the impact of the work that we've been focusing on as we've been observing in classrooms each month but we wanted to reflect and ask each one of our principles that we've the five principles and get their perspective on the impact of this work so so far I'd like for you to take a moment on this slide and the next slide just to read some of the statements from our principles we sent out a survey and ask what the impact was and this
019is what they have said. So if you'll take just a few seconds and read those advance the slide. So, as you can see, our principles have found value in their intentional and focused time spent together learning and building their capacity for best practices in literacy. Which brings us to looking ahead to the 2526 school year. In partnership with TNTP, we've set priorities that are going to help us achieve more coherence and consistency around strong literacy instruction. Those priorities will focus on both ELA and their foundational skills for instruction. Our priorities will include coaching and feedback, collaborative planning, deepening the teacher knowledge and implementation of best practices while using our high quality instructional materials for both ELA and the foundational skills. In order for us to reach those priorities, you can change the slide. those. In
020order for us to reach those priorities, we have our levers of change for LCS's success. And this is going to help lead towards higher levels of success. You can see in this visual that our levers of change are focused around our priorities that are set for moving our instruction forward in LCS. So in looking ahead, we have our larger goal of expanding and increasing continuity across the division in our approach to improving literacy outcomes. You can advance the slide. Our first opportunities will be to share the following objectives during our summer leadership training in June and July. We are really looking forward to continuing this intentional work next school year with all of our stakeholders. With your continued support, we foresee increasing student achievement. Thank you. What questions? Questions. Yeah, Dr. D, go ahead. Yeah.
021Um, so is this like an experimental program statewide? Is a state intending to expand this to all divisions at some point? I wouldn't call it experimental. Um, and I don't think they're intending to expand it. Um, they they selected divisions based on their need for support and their willingness to participate. Um, and so there are, as I mentioned, I think 11 or 12 divisions um, across the state. Um, some as close as uh, Rono and um, Ronoke and Danville. Uh, then we've got Enriiko, some as far away as Alexandria. Um so really focusing on that implementation and I I think they were we were selected based on our um submission of our literacy plan that you all approved last year. So they were very intrigued with the things that we were working on um but
022looking at ways that they could support us to make sure that it was um an implementation that is done with fidelity and the work that we're doing in a small um with a small group of of principles. We focused on, as I said, those five elementary schools that are federally identified based on their subgroup results um because they have the most need. So, we're working with them, but next this summer, beginning this summer, we're taking the strategies um that we've learned thus far, and we're expanding it to the other five elementary schools and as well as the three middle schools because um we are submitting a literacy plan for four through eight for this coming year. So, we're going to expand that. But beyond next year, then it will be Lynchburg City School staff um
023with the help of some of the principles that are in here. I believe Miss um Anderson is in here um with some of the five principles and then others to take the strategies that we have learned then to um focus next year again on literacy um and implementation, but then we can take those same strategies in the future and focus on math, right? Because we need to do that as well. But um I don't believe that VDOE has the intention of doing this across the state. Okay. Um I wonder if we could go back to slide 13. Which one back up? We'll keep going backwards there. Yeah. Um so there were two slides that had the data presented in this way. And I notice on both of them that the top uh graphic is 85%.
024Yes. Mhm. Um it looks pretty dramatically different from the lower two. So is that indicative of areas where we need special concentration? Yes, sir. And they're helping us with to improve those numbers. So this is we did those uh 30 initial observations as Miss Campbell said um in February. Um and so they use the data from those 30 observations specifically looking at those indicators or core actions. And um I will have to say core action one is is the lesson focused on a highquality text which the highquality text is part of our benchmark curriculum. And because again the school board last May allowed us to have a week with our teachers to do really intensive um professional learning around the benchmark curriculum which was new for them versus having to wait until last August. We
025really feel like because we were able to give them that early start in May and then continue the support over the summer and then when they came back in August that our we have that high um you know 80 93% um observed had you know that com they were using that complex text and and I think it's 85% tech um yes and then some mostly but those are the that's what we're doing very well. So the other two are the areas that we're focusing on moving forward. Okay. Okay. On both sides. Okay. Any other questions? So Mr. Preston, um just a couple of questions. Question number one is what data was used to identify the five schools that you implemented this program with and number two is how are you going to expand it to
026the the remaining elementary schools. So our five schools were the federally identified schools and so that's how we have our Heritage, Linkorn, RSpane, um, Bedford Hills and Sanduski. So that's where we started there. Our plan now as we are looking ahead to the summer is to start that work with the other five principles during our summer leadership. And that's part of what we were planning today while Allison and um, Gail were here from TNTP and really starting to move that work. So, we're going to look toward our our five leaders that are in the work now and they're going to help us lead that with our other five. Okay. Thank you, Lori. And I noticed that on the same slide that um Dr. Day asked about and it talked about questions. Okay. And I I
027know teachers in general, we ask a lot of questions anyways, but it wasn't all Yes. So, are you finding that the questions aren't in the curriculum? The questions aren't correct in their plans? The questions aren't where Correct. So, I'm sorry. the questions are in the curriculum. They're in benchmark. But what we're finding is teachers were sometimes going off um you know on their own and just make it or you know asking questions. They were still great questions, but sometimes the questions aren't to the rigor that benchmark had them as. And so that's where that baseline data was um started at was what level of questioning. So you're looking for more rigor in the questions, not necessarily question. Correct. And specifically, are they using the questions that are in the benchmark lesson plan? So, you know,
028Benchmark has a lesson plan every single day and it is pretty prescriptive, you know. So, if if I'm a teacher and, you know, I can use that lesson plan and I don't have to read it word for word, but I can then summarize, but I should be using the questions that are that have been developed and are part of that lesson in benchmark because those are rigorous and they are specifically tied to the text that the students are reading on that day. So, we're looking are they using the questions that are in the benchmark lesson plan and then as part of that are they then allowing the students time to answer those questions and are they allowing them time to work together to turn and talk to share out um those types of things. So,
029we're we're looking specifically for that implementation of the high quality instructional material which in our case is benchmark. So, and if they come up with a rigorous question themselves, that's allowed as well, though, right? I mean, if you find it's just as rigorous because a lot of times we'll read I've gone through enough curriculums to know that they have questions in there, but I can think of other questions based on the the client of children I have to help them dig deeper and that falls into our scaffolding that we are going to do. So, as the core, they have blue text that has questions in there that we're going to follow. We're going to follow that rigor and progression. But then, hey, I'm not sure if this group right here, I can see that there's
030some scaffolding things that I can do and then I can start asking those who, what, when, where, why questions to getting them to dig deeper. Okay. All right. Good. Thank you. Very question. Go ahead. Since the new teacher pro the new teacher project is a uh 501c3 nonprofit organization, how much are we paying for its services? And is it every year that we are zero? We don't pay. That's great. We don't pay anything. It is a partnership with VOE and TNTP. So, I imagine VOE, they had some grant money. Um, and there's a little bit I don't have it up, but there is some information on the VDOE website specifically about this and the funds that they received and how they are using those funds um to support literacy implementation. So, we are not paying
031anything and this partnership um and this learning piece of it is for two years. So, this year and then next year. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Great job for all your work. The next one is governor's policy update. Dr. Cook, uh, one policy uh, agenda item uh, for tonight is to add wording. Uh, Miss Towns, uh, your attorney uh, provided the additional wording and it's there in the agenda item just to be added to the one school board committee's policy. Is there a motion to approve? Approve. Mrs. Lowry, Mr. Andrews. Madame Cler, could you please call the role? Mr. Connor. One second. Yes. Mr. Galileo. Yes. Mr. Andrews. Yes. Dr. Day. Yes. Dr. Gupta. Yes. Mrs. Preston. Yes. Mr. Depal. Yes. Mrs. Lori. Yes. Dr. Tinsley. Yes. Motion carries. School year 202425
032bonus. Dr. Coin. I would ask our chief financial officer to cover this topic on us. Yes. Good evening, Chairman Gupta, members of the school board, and Dr. Copelan. As you are aware, uh the governor has graciously extended uh funding for a one-time bonus in FY2025 in the amount of $827,699. you have before you um a sheet that lays out the uh superintendent's recommendation on what that bonus should look like um for our staff. He has recommended a $750 for full-time employees and a $375 bonus for part-time employees. that equates to a con in consideration of school nutrition Fort Hill and the governor's school. Um that equates to a local portion of $375,00041268. So, um we are looking for the school board if you um are are amiable to to go ahead and um process and
033approve that. So, a couple of additional details. Uh the governor provided uh $1,000 per SOQ position. Okay. Our SOQ positions really run about 60% of SOQ funded, 40% are locally funded. Uh so the 827699 was that 1,000 per employee number the governor provided. Um many school divisions around us are somewhere between 750 and a th000 depending on the amount of money that they have to support the bonus. Uh if we were to provide the bonus at a thou the $1,000 level across the board, uh it's we would be needing to provide a significantly much larger number. 768,000. Say that again. $768, um, $949. As we're coming into the end of the budget year, uh, I feel very comfortable in the $375,000 is available in the budget to get this bonus. And this bonus would be
034paid out on the June 15th payday. So, everybody would see it right after the end of the school year. We'll answer any questions you might have. Is Is there a motion to approve? Discussion. Motion. Second. Uh, is there discussion on the bonus? Madam Cler, would you please call the RO? Mr. Connor? Yes. Mr. Jalo? Yes. Mr. Andrews? Yes. Dr. Day? Yes. Dr. Gupta? Yes. Mrs. Preston? Yes. Mr. Depal? Yes. Mrs. Lori? Yes. Dr. Tansley? Yes. Motion carries. I want to thank Delegate Walker. He's there for all your hard work in Richmond to get us this. Would you like to say a few words? So, you have worked hard for our teachers uh to get this. I'll make it a few words because my wife is waiting on me to get home and fix dinner. So,
035but as always, uh well, first of all, thank you for all the hard work that each one of you do here uh for the city of Lynchburg because I like to brag about my favorite city in which I live. I like to tell people how smart we are. Not only do we have four private colleges, but we we're doing a lot to bring up our future generation of uh workers. You know, we're so blessed here with a lot of great businesses. Our young people don't have to leave Lynchburg anymore to go find jobs any place else. They're right here. And so, education is our future. And investing in education is very important. And over the last three and a half years under the governor Yncan's administration, that has been a priority not only for the
036governor, but for myself is trying to increase the teacher pay rate across the Commonwealth, even right here in Lynchburg. I wish I could say we could do more, but every teacher works very hard. We know that. We appreciate that. I send out letters of appreciation to the teachers, honor the smart kids, and this past Saturday, we honored a bunch of kids at Durington with some bicycles. Uh what a wonderful way to motivate people to learn. Uh I didn't have that opportunity. When I come along, when I would get up in the morning, I wouldn't feel good. Uh my mom would always say, "Well, sweetheart, wait just a second." She'd come back with a fabricated board of education. It's amazing how miracles happen because I felt so great. I got out of bed and I went
037to school and I'm glad I did. But anyway, we do appreciate everything you do on behalf of representing the city of Lynchburg and part of Campbell County. Anything that we can do to help further uh the funding, the education out here, please feel free to reach out to me. Thank you. Thank you, Delegate Walker. We appreciate everything you're doing in Richmond. Next is informational. Thank you, sir. Next is information. Now, or do you have any questions? We'll do questions privately later on. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Next isformational items. Academic success committee, Tuesday, May 27th at 3:30. Next school board meeting, June 3rd at 5:00 p.m. Finance and Facilities, June 10th at 3:30. Discipline data review committee June 12th at 3:30. LACR June 17th at 3:30. Uh, next work session of
038school board on June 17th at 5:00 p.m. Academic success committee June 24th and 3:30 p.m. That brings us to the next item, board report on new superintendent. I give the floor to Dr. Tinsley. Thank you, uh, Mr. Chair. Well, first of all, as the co-chair of the ad hoc search committee, I want to thank the ad hoc search committee. Again, I want to name those people once more for all the fine work that they did. Of course, my co-chair, Dr. Mike Nillis. Yes, sir. Uh, Leticia Lowry here on the board. Hen Larkin, uh, Tim Bey, principal over at Heritage, Danny McCann, and Megan Lucas. And so, I just want to thank them publicly again for all their work. Uh, Dr. Gupta, Dr. today. Thank you for all the work that you all did behind the
039scenes to help support the ad hoc search committee, particularly here in these final days. I really appreciate all that. Uh, Miss Day, I mean, couldn't have been done without you. Yes, sir. A whole lot of She was the logistics hub of everything. Yes. Uh, Attorney Hope Towns for all of her advice and and guidance and of course the rest of the board and all the work that you all did. I just want to go through the timeline of events to kind of sum it all up. We were I was giving updates each month at the public meetings, but for the public's sake, I want you to see the work that was done because a lot went into this. I don't know if you realize it or not, but September the 16th of 2024 was our
040first meeting of the ad hoc search committee. Uh we discussed the committee's conduct and proposed the committee charter during that meeting. Met again on September the 30th. Uh and discussed the RFP process request for proposals. we had to we decided we were going to use a search committee. So, we had to go through that process. Um that took us through October 17th where the RFP was posted uh where we solicited businesses. Um RFP closed on November the 1st. Uh that we had six search firms that applied for that. November the 6th uh November the 14th and November the 25th 2024 we met as ad hoc search committee to talk about uh the different search firms strengths and weaknesses so we could present that to the board. December 3rd, December the 17th, uh we met with
041the LCS board, this body here, to select our search firm that we wanted to use in the superintendent search. And that was when we selected McFersonson and Jacobson. Went through the holidays and again met again on January the 16th of 2025 as an ad hoc search committee, discussed the details of the search process with McFersonson and Jacobson. End of that month, January 23rd, uh drafted a superintendent job announcement, stakeholder meeting schedule. on or about the 31st of January, superintendent job announcement was posted public. You can see how long it took to get to that, but we were stepping through the process uh the entire time. February 3rd through the 5th, you'll remember we had the stakeholder meetings where McFerson Jacobson came down here and talked to you all the public. February 12th, 2025, um we
042received a stakeholder report from McFerson and Jason, which we promptly posted for the public to see. February 27th application period closed and we got 27 applications for the job of superintendent Lynchber public schools. March 3rd 13th rather 2025 ad hoc search committee met again reviewed the superintendent applicants. On March 18th we had a a close session of the board uh where we looked at superintendent finalists on or about March 19th of 2025. McFerson and Jake began the background checks on our superintendent finalists. March 26th, McFerson Jacobson concluded the background checks on the superintendent finalists and sent a report to the ad hoc search committee. On April the 1st, 2025, Lynchburg City School Board uh had a closed meeting where we reviewed the superintendent finalist. April 27th, we interviewed four of those finalists. April 29th, we
043had a closed session where we discussed the finalist and the superintendent finalist was chosen. uh April 30th made a tentative offer to that superintendent and we are here today May 20th and Mr. Chair if you will entertain a motion. Yes sir. Go ahead. I move that the Lynchburg City School Board appoint Dr. Christy Somerville Mijette as the next superintendent of schools of the Lynchber city school. Is there a second to that? Second. I got multiple seconds. So I'll on document Mrs. Lowry, Mr. Depal, and Mr. Con. Mr. Connor then three seconds. second, third, and a fourth. Dr. Day, uh, any discussion on the motion? Well, um, I thoroughly approve of this motion. Um, I guess I'd like to add that after we had, uh, significant interviews, in-person interviews with the four top people that we
044brought to town for those interviews. I think it's fair to say the board was very quick to identify Dr. summer Mette as our top candidate. Um I think we could have made that decision as soon as the four interview interviews were over. The the feelings were pretty strong. Um she has both bachelor's and master's degrees from University of Lynchber with an emphasis on special education. She also has a PhD from Liberty University. She began her teaching career as a special education teacher and subsequent to that has 16 years of administrative experience in Virginia's public schools. She has served as an assistant principal, a principal, the director of secondary instruction and CTE as an assistant superintendent, and then most recently as superintendent for the last seven years in Brunswick County. She was recognized by the governor
045for leading her district to the highest growth for mathematics students in grades 3 through 8 in the 2023 24 school year. And in addition, she is a past president of the Virginia Association of School Superintendent. She impressed the board members for having dealt with several difficult situations, including a budget crisis and uncomfortable but clearly necessary personnel decisions. She has led facilities planning involving both new construction and consolidation and um moreover she is straightforward, sincere, a quiet but strong leader who seeks to cultivate teamwork. I think we're all grateful that she has accepted our offer. She will officially start on July 1 and until then she will be formulating her transition plan and working with Dr. Copeland as he prepares to pass the torch to her. So, please join me in welcoming. We'll have to take
046a roll call. Oh, we need a vote. Would you please call? Go ahead, Mr. Jill. Go ahead. Oh, I loved observing the hiring process of this board and getting the timely updates from the committee, the search committee. I um saw the resume and I was impressed. I think there's a lot of good that will come from this decision. I only did not like one thing which was the decision of having the interviews on a Sunday more early morning till afternoon or late evening and um because of that I was not going to stop uh the ministry that I had already previously committed to. So I did not attend and I want to make that note. Thank you. Thank you. Madam cler, will you please call the role? Mr. Connor, yes. Mr. Galileo, no. Mr. Andrews,
047yes. Dr. Day, yes. Dr. Gupta, yes. Mrs. Preston, yes. Mr. Depal, yes. Mrs. Lori, yes. Dr. Tensley, yes. Motion carries. Okay. Now, will you join me in welcoming Dr. Somerville Mad? [Applause] Wow. Thank you, Dr. Samur, our new superintendent for Lynchburg City Schools. Uh, Mrs. Lai, please come. I'm gonna step out of the way. Let y'all do what y'all do. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Dr. floor is yours. Oh, awesome. Good evening everyone. Good evening. I am so excited to be here. I did prepare a few remarks. Um, and I'll just start there. It is truly an incredible honor to be here before you tonight as your next superintendent for Lynburg City Schools. I just want to begin by sincerely thanking the school board, the search committee. Um, as well as and I recognize uh
048Dr. Tinsley was sharing all the we listen outside all of the people that were part of the committee and I just appreciate the confidence in me um the thoughtful the thorough approach to this entire process. I appreciated the tough questions, the honest dialogue and the clear commitment that you all have for doing what's right for the students here in Lynburg City. um the cander and care that you brought to this process. It said so much about what matters to you and that's and I'm grateful to be a part of a community that holds schools at such a high standard. But for me, this is deeply personal. I'm a proud graduate of Lynchburg College, which is now University of Lynchber. I recognize the change, and Liberty University. I completed my student teaching right here in Lynchburg
049City Schools at Perrymont Elementary School and EC Glass High School. Um, early in my career, I had the opportunity to teach at EC Glass and the Lynchberg Detention Center. And I really had the privilege of learning how to support students and particularly in their most vulnerable moments. And I've worked with some of the best educators that I have in my entire career. This city, this school division, it shaped me as a teacher, as a leader, and as a person. And tonight, I truly return to you with gratitude, a sense of purpose, excitement, and I'm committed to serving the students and the community that helped me build the foundation of my career. So, as I prepare to officially begin in July, I look forward to listening, meeting with our students, our families, our faculty and staff,
050our business partners, elected officials, and all other civic leaders in this community because I do believe the strength of our schools is deeply connected to the community for which we serve and we all will continue to move forward together. So, just thank you again for just welcoming me home and I'm so ready and excited to get started. We'd love to have you. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] I'm going to adjourn the meeting and then we'll have open up if you like to meet um anybody here in this right is that Dr. That's fine with me. Meeting is a journ is all uh