001[Music] e meeting is called to order uh meeting is called to order uh chair recommends the school board approve electronic participation by school board members uh due to circumstances associated with employment military or a family emergency and identifies the specific specificity the nature of the Personnel matter in policy bdd is there a motion to approve electronic participation of two School motion second Mr uh theal Mrs Lowry um Madame Clark would you please call the role Mr Julio yes Mr Andrew yes Mr Charles yes Dr yes Mrs Preston yes Mr yes Mrs yes carries Dr D and Dr Carter you're officially in go for pledge of allegiance with stand for the pledge please I pledge alence to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for stands one nation under God indivisible
002with liy and justice for all thank you m all right thank you the next one is the agenda approval for public hearing and work session is there a motion to approve the agenda for public hearing and so moved Mrs Preston second Mrs Lowry any discussion Madam clerk would you please call the Mr jilo yes Mr Andrews yes Mr Charles yes Dr Day Dr day it com Dr gupa yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes thank you Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Mrs Lori yes motion carries thank you now we are into item E1 um fiscal year 2425 School Board budget public hearing U Dr Edward you run uh how how this is my first time oh okay well um I can just briefly go over the purpose of the hearing is uh so this
003you guys know we had a hearing in the uh fall to get input on the budget development this hearing is the official one for the the spring where we get to hear from our citizens residents parents um staff members regarding the budget uh we do have a joint City Schools meeting on March 26 so the budget is not finalized until we get all of the state revenue City revenue and together but this process um sort of officially kicks it off with those budget discussions so tonight what we want to do is hear from you all um input on the budget and things that you priorities that you want us to consider um and just your general opinion thank you uh so I'll read out the statement from here the persons appearing before the school board
004will not be allowed to campaign for public office or promote private business ventures and should not use profanity or V vulgar language or gestures make comments about a public official or an employee that are not related to their 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 roles and or responsibilities of the school board individual speak speakers shall limit their comments to 3 minutes a speaker representing a group shall limit their comments to 5 minutes the representative shall identify the group at the beginning of the presentation a group may have no more than one spokesperson the total allocated time for public comments at school board meetings is 30 minutes public comments are reserved for for public to provide
005input the board does not respond to comments answers questions or otherwise engage in discussions at this time um I'm assuming the 30- minute window doesn't apply here it's 1 hour long budget hearing so U I'll go by the order it is I know Dr D much more U discipline in following policies I'll go with Miss Larkins you're number one in the list there are times in life that you hope that you're wrong that you don't think you are but you hope that you are and I hopes Beyond hope that I was wrong about what the rezoning and lack of planning meant for our children but here we are 6 months later and the resoning plan has been released and it's everything we feared it would be it's going to racially divide our city it's going
006to overcrowd our schools except for the 03s it is going to cause division but more than that you have completely continued to forget about our children you have forgotten about us over and over again we have come to you and we have asked you to work with us not against us that hasn't happened when we said that we were blindsided by the closure of sandeski you said that's it's not true we're being completely honest well how honest is it when you look through every paper of a board dock to find one line at the very end buried eight pages deep that says the closure of sandeski and TC Miller for 2024 how honest is that how transparent is that how much input are you asking when you do that seems like not very much to
007me at all and then it brings us to what I have seen in this boardroom I have been to every meeting a few have have watched online I will correct that a few have watched online and I can tell you what I have observed in this room you spent more time talking about grants and what name we should call children than you have about sanduski and where our children will go you spent more time admonishing us on public radio and interviews Dr day I quote said the P sorry Dr Gupta said the parents are trying to string us up on WL and I you have spent more time saying those types of things than talking about our children our staff members and our teachers you have spent more time complaining about city council and pointing
008the finger at them then you have talking about our students our schools and what the future holds where is the plan there is no plan 10 pages with mostly pictures of a rezoning plan my marketing plan for my business is 10 times longer than that IEPs are longer than that so my question is what are you planning to do with our children is cutting our school this year going to do anything it's not you're going to have 240 children with nowhere to go you are accountable for that you make decisions in this room that matter and yet time and time again you have failed at those decisions you have made bad decision after bad decision and you have dug your heels in on those bad decisions because you don't want to go back on them
009instead of trying to fix them there's been no innovation of plans we've tried to come to Solutions with you we've tried to work with you and I will tell you everything in my body after looking at the board docs for this meeting want to come up here and yell it does every piece of me but I tell my children yelling solves nothing yelling solves nothing but I've stood in this room and I've watched you guys bully our principal I've watched you guys talk down about other parents I've watched members of this school board act in ways that are unconscionable so what is going to change moving forward what are you going to do to better our children's future because right now you are failing and if you continue down this road it will be devastating
010devastating to the babies who go to our school devastating to our school district and devastating to our city please do [Applause] better remember this is a budget hearing so the comment should be related to the budget discussion Mrs Carla Jones I don't I don't think she heard you she's not here she's here I don't think she heard you I thought I saw cares this is Carla Jones to the budget I realize that this is supposed to be about budget I can tie everything into that but I do find it interesting that on the board docs is something brand new not related to budget as far as being brand new and not allowing us to to discuss it so I feel like it's Groundhog Day every time I show up here because it's always students parents
011and community members advocating on behalf of their kids and asking to work with the school board and admin to find Solutions only to be completely ignored by the school board and admin repeat repeat repeat this is now the fourth time I've brought up solutions that the school board and admin have yet to give any cons serious consideration to imagine if you had take taken our Solutions seriously and actually investigated them where could we be right now I tell you what I do know you could have an entire proposal of the cost Savings of implementing solar through ppas whether you went through with it or not you know exactly where you stand without spending a single penny but nope didn't even look into that using public buses to transport high school kids not even looked into
012no serious investigation there either just as simple we looked at that 10 years ago but a lot changes in 10 years shoot a lot changes in 5 years cutting admin costs wasn't even a consideration until it was forced through budget cuts and somehow you were able to cut almost $200,000 from the admin budget the movement Foundation this is the foundation that can build a new sandeski Elementary for a fraction of the cost originally believed in fact the foundation thought they could build a new school for around 15 million which is the same cost as adding 10 classrooms at Bass imagine getting a brand new school that can fit well over 350 students versus adding 10 classrooms to a school elsewhere why is this not being seriously looked at and considered one conversation about it isn't
013enough to determine if it's a good fit or not what happened to going to visit one of the schools and why has there been zero communication regarding this and the lack of transparency from the board and the admin throughout this entire process has been infuriating and Trust breaking here's the perfect example Le TCM was considered for converting it to all prek during one of the Fall meetings uh it was determined to not be ideal due to many factors in the building the three levels being one so we proposed make TCM hybrid bringing in three prek classrooms without any renovation needed there's been zero discussion on the potential to make TC Miller hybrid yet lo and behold there are plumbers showing up at TCM to look at reworking Plumbing for prek anyone care to expand on
014that because everyone else is in the dark and that's just one example I could list dozens more but alas this is what happens when you don't communicate you don't listen to community input and you don't make a long long-term Plan before implementing major changes what you have created is chaos and you've broken any small thread of Community Trust You may have still had [Applause] Mrs Cindy caps it's been six months since the original vote to close our school out of the clear blue and when the public especially when the public clearly and blatantly did not choose to close our school and we have been coming to you at every opportunity asking for a plan for our students for our staff and our community and for six long months there has been no plan created nor
015presented nothing just a game of hot potato between you and city council with our students staff and families in the middle as of yesterday there's a mention on the operating budget discussion to close our school earlier than originally planned so that's the plan overnight there's a plan no there's not it's time to stop playing games with our school our students our staff our amilies and the community when was this synopsis added that suggests closing sces and TCM by the fall of 2024 and isn't there a formal process in order for that to be done when was that meeting held and which board members were involved did you really think that you could add mention of this label it as a synopsis so readers would think that it was merely a recap of other documents that
016they had already read and so no one would discover it there's never been a plan for us and there isn't one now this is out of nowhere there is nowhere for our students to go there are no positions for our staff to fill you have not communicated with anyone parents staff no one there's been one draft of redistricting that's been made public and it's a disaster so much so that there are local civil rights groups noticing and getting involved this proposal is throwing Lynchberg City Schools back into the 1960s this is not my Lynchberg not my hometown not my community get it together you're playing with our children children's future and our staff's livelihood there's been no plan and no communication for 6 months six months and now there's a plan for it to be
017resolved in four highquality classrooms that you speak of are not classrooms that are overcrowded great public schools are designed for Community Excellence I agree but if you continue to make decisions without rational thought and plans of actions we won't have either one M Davis on October 24th 2023 I sat in this very room while the educational future of my children and 600 other students from TC Miller and sanduski were being determined that that night the board discussed four possible scenarios and how they would implement the facility's master plan after much much discussion the board voted unanimously on option for to defer the closing of TC Miller and sanduski to 2025 I'd like to remind you of some statements members of this board made that night Dr Gupta option four will create the least disturbance for
018our kids we should not forget the child we have to be mindful of the fact that at the end of the day the child is not speaking for themselves Mr trost I don't want to put the children through rezoning twice Miss Lowry to Dr Edwards in regards to the defer closing date does this also mean mean that this will give you time to get done what you need to get done at Bass and The Innovation program set up there Dr Edwards we will definitely work on that and lastly Dr Gupta again I am in favor of option four but how do we balance the budget in this coming year if we defer closing to 2025 to which Dr Day replied we are going to have that issue of how we balance the budget regardless this
019may make it harder for a year nonetheless the unanimous decision was still made TCM and sanduski would close in 2025 after that emotional meeting many families went home to their children and comforted them with at least one small victory in this exhausting fight their school would remain open for one more year after this for my family I'm sorry for my family that meant my oldest child would get to finish Elementary School at TCM it meant she would get to take her final bows on stage as a fifth grader a sacred ritual at TCM yet here we are 6 months later and just two months remaining of the school year thank you discussing the upcoming proposal to this year's budget and to close sandeski and TCM at the end of this Academic Year what was the
020point of that vote on October 24th how could the board possibly considered doing this to our students and staff have they gone through enough in addition where is the 15 million you are planning on requesting for expansion at Bass it has not been included in this budget what happened to that plan what happened to the promises we heard over and over and over again in this room that the school of innovation wasn't going anywhere we had been waiting for answers all this time only to find out this that the so-called plan was to take those 600 students and stuff them back into their neighborhood schools no school of innovation no expansion of Tass plenty of disruption members of the school board you have lost our trust and we are tired of empty promises it is
021time for the school board to do the right thing and keep keep the promises that you have made to us and to our children please prove to us that you stand on your word and that your word means something do not approve the budget proposal to close TM and and sanduski at the end of this Academic Year to use Dr gupta's own words do not forget the child thank [Music] [Applause] you for the past six months meeting after meeting community members have come to express their concerns to you we asked questions they weren't answered we gave solutions to financial strugg struggles they were tossed aside with no thought we had meetings with you all and we were given lip service at this point in the process we expected a plan but what were what were
022we given a halfhazard zoning map any any junior year engineering student could have done for a project the night before it was due and I can say this because I was an engineering student and I've done this before and I did the same data analysis of the demographics of the resoning without the official information from LCS and got nearly the same results that you did after months of planning and drafts from a consulting company and I warned you about this I warned you school board members council members that you are going to resegregate the schools and overcrowd the schools that our most marginalized students attend see bass 97% capacity that is unacceptable when given These Warnings I was said I'm being dramatic they don't have the correct information we won't let that happen well eventually
023it took so long I thought okay they're doing drafts they're doing plans they must be doing it correctly because how could our city officials be this deceptive incompetent and ignorant you have sat here and stated we don't know why we were zoned this way it's not relevant anymore Lynchburg has changed we're not we're past racism and discrimination that is ignorance you're ignoring lynchburg's history culture and systems that still persist that continue discrimination and perpetuate racism you have stated we have the green factors required to get out the desegregation order however you have not looked at any of the recent rulings from district courts for desegregation orders the fist circuit one of the most conservative circuits in the country has stated that if you have a school that is plus or minus 15% more of the
024average of the District of One race it's racially identified ible and that you cannot then get out of the desegregation order well pre rezoning lynberg had four racially identifiable schools post resoning you have over six so explain how that works explain how you can get past the rezoning explain how any of this works this isn't even the brink of how LCS doesn't fit into the green factors and no I did not figure this out myself the there are lawyers who are much smarter than me with extensive background working on desegregation court order cases who care about this who care about Equity who care about access to education and who care about the issue in Lynchburg and want to get involved we want to work with you we've tried and you've ignored us you've called us
025whiners and complainers you've stopped you haven't done anything and you come up with a halfhazard plan we still want to work with you but it seems the egos in this room will not let that happen we are still organizing and for anyone watching this on YouTube Follow save our schools LCS our Facebook page as we continue to post contact us we're organizing community members we want to hear your stories we want to hear and share those with the people we're talking to so message us on that page look at our website save our schools Lynchberg and contact us through our email so we can meet with you we can share your stories share your concerns and represent you to the city officials when you haven't been heard because this is unacceptable and on the note
026I'm a daughter of a teacher here and you guys have been absolutely disrespectful to all the teachers sitting in this room and you're throwing their lives and their livelihood into the trash can and that is not what the school board or the administration should be doing thank you [Applause] mrha loyal Royal good evening it's one little line buried at the very end of the synopsis it's one little line that we stumbled across it's one little line that could change the fate of our children it's one little line that seems so deceitful and hidden that one little line simply States closing sandeski and TC Miller in 2024 that one little line says so much for the last 6 months we've pleaded for a plan simple straightforward questions have gone unanswered where will our children go to
027school what will happen to our dedicated staff how will this transition be managed and why the decision to close sanduski yet every time we asked we were met with Promises of a forthcoming plan 3 months passed still no plan four months still nothing 5 months silence now 6 months later the plan presented is nothing more than a vague outline with glaring gaps and no real solutions when we stated that we were blindsided by the first decision you denied that and said you listen to the public that was stretching the truth and now this one little line how do you explain this blatant disregard for transparency and communication how do you justify the lack of planning and preparation the truth is clear you have failed you prioritized talking about grant money and had no intention of
028giving our students and political posturing over the well-being and education of our children you spent more time deflecting blame and attacking concerned parents than actually addressing the issues at hand you've told us time and time again to go across the street to city council but what are we supposed to advocate for we have nothing substantial from you to present to city council are we supposed to ask them to Simply give you more money when you haven't even stated you would keep our school open if you got it how can they trust you with additional funding when you can't even come up with a concrete plan for our children it's like asking someone to invest in our business with a one p page business plan it's simply not acceptable and nobody would invest in us we
029have tiously advocated for increased funding however the lack of planning and transparency from your end has not only shaken our confidence but also raised concern within city council the numbers simply don't add up on one hand there are claims to cut funding while on the other hand there's a request for almost $1 million in additional Administration costs this discrepancy appears disingenuous and raises doubts about the financial management of our schools moreover the overall administrative costs are significantly higher than they should be adding to the skepticism surrounding the budget app ation and priorities now please understand I'm not absolving City Council of responsibility they do need to provide more funding to the schools but you have to do your part to come up with wellth thought thorough plans when city council presents a 452 page budget
030document for our city and you plan to reone an entire District in only 10 pages that's a glaring problem back to the one little line to talk about the people who are most often forgotten in this conversation our teachers for six months you've been utterly silent completely ignoring these dedicated individuals who in some cases have given over a decade of their lives to this District you blindsided them with a closure 6 months ago and since then you've been silent about the future yet they show up every single day and perform their jobs with integrity and love for our children if you were to walk into sandeski Elementary you wouldn't know it was slated for closure because the dedication and Care continues they are truly fulfilling the words of Mr Welch as long as there is
031a 58 28 Apache Lane we will be there educating our kids you have failed the very people you are supposed to lead you have failed the students family staff teachers and city it's time to stop the political games and start putting our children first it's time to listen collaborate and work towards the real solutions that benefit everyone involved our children's future is at stake and we will not stand Ally by while it is jeopardized by incompetence and neglect thank you [Applause] Mr Derek wck good evening first I want to say to the school board thank you all for your tireless efforts um and of course as always I I toggle between saying something and not saying something I said that earlier in the year um but I've been quiet long enough um on September 26th
032I sent an email to all Schoolboard members my question in that email was where are you now since September 19th when the decision was made we've been in that building when the building has been open doing just what you hired us to do to educate our children my question Still Remains today where are you now we make decisions about the future and our present often times sitting behind the desk and not going out and seeing exactly who we're making decisions about where are you now I just ask that you look in the mirror and ask yourselves how often have I been into sandeski Elementary School Dr Brennan came and said go into the schools see what's going on there you are the only ones who can answer the question of how many times you've been
033into sandeski Elementary School yes some of you have come and read yes some of you have come and met with me one on-one I received one response to my email one board member came and met with me regarding my email it was said before on news stations Mr wac knew not true been shared Bard Mr wack knew not true so I was upset I was disappointed but I had to calm myself down board member told me no don't say anything yet some other things going on don't back anyone into a corner exact words I've been quiet long enough I'm being as respectful as I possibly can we've been called miners we've been called a little bit of everything and all we've done is come in day after day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday we take
034work home and sometimes come in on Saturday and on Sunday to make sure that our children have exactly what they need not because of you but because of them and we're going to continue to do that because of them I understand that you have difficult decisions to make understand that but at least look in the face those individuals that you're making decisions about whether you live two houses up or whether you live across town somewhere you can come into our building to see what's going on day after day after day one of the questions was asked why so many resignations there's no trust question was ask of a teacher while you resigning wasn't the right teacher so do we know the individuals that we're making decisions about that's what I ask Dr Brennan said it
035clearly come into the building and see what's going on the trust is gone we're going to continue to do I'm not here just for Mr W I'm here for my staff I'm here for TC Miller staff I'm here for the Educators who come day in and day out to support those babies that's right we don't leave at 4:00 5:00 and that's it and we come back the next day 2:00 in the morning and my wife can attest I'm sitting up because I'm thinking about my babies so as I make decisions I think about every child by name and by need and so I feel blindsided again because if you want our trust involve Us in the conversation yes it was disheartened and disappointing to look on a Monday morning professional development day and see where
036s dusk is listed at the bottom for closure for fall of 2024 that's when I found out you know what I had to do that day had to put my big boy underwear on had to pull up my boots strap him up and go into the building and have a conversation with my staff to say don't be alarmed when you see this on the agenda I didn't know it was there hadn't been communicated with me that it was there you someone said you need to check this out Mr wac and when I look that's when I found out about it but if that's going to be on there and you are dedicated to the staffs is what you say why haven't you been into my building to say staff how are you why haven't you
037been into our buildings to say staff is there anything we can do for you Mr wac how are you I'm fine go check on my staff is what I'm going to tell you why hasn't that been done and that's what I ask each board member to ask yourselves have we gone into those buildings because these are the buildings that are having a difficult time now people are trying to leave left and right but are you supporting them because that's what you said you would do support our staffs and support our students it's easy to sit behind the desk and make decisions one of the city council members and I leave with this came and said I shouldn't have come out here because I see how dedicated you are I wouldn't want this Building closed either
038tough decisions to make but I implore you come and check on us again in my email I said if it's not genuine don't come and I still mean that but it's hard for me to believe that none of you have come and that you all are that disingenuous I cannot believe and I know that that's not you all help to prove me wrong as long as there's 5828 Apache Lane my teachers are going to be there as long as there's 5828 Apache Lane our children will be there as long as there's 58 28 Apache Lane my heart and I will be there because we do do it better when we do it [Applause] thank [Applause] you there are five voicemails yes sir please go ahead hi my name is Rebecca um and I'm leaving this
039voicemail to be played at the meeting today as I cannot attend um I am the parent of a TC Miller student um and I'm just calling concerning the proposal to close the school's um TC Miller and sanduski at the end of this year um to hopefully save a couple of million dollars um I understand the need to save money I understand that from a budgeting standpoint I work in finance my concern is there has been no thought about how this will affect the students Lynchburg City Schools continually states that the purpose is to make sure that our students are well educated they stand on this principle of um educate the students however I feel like this is a huge disservice to the to the city students who will then now have huge classroom sizes where
040all the research shows that smaller classrooms make a difference specifically for students who live in um lowincome areas for students of color um there's so much research on the importance of smaller classroom sizes um my understanding is that um the management company said that this school should not be over 85% but this will bump the schools out of that percentile um so I just have a lot of questions that I don't feel like you guys are answering I don't feel like this is well thought of if I was to say hey I'm gonna move to another state in three months and have no plan like that makes no sense but you guys are saying we're g to move hundreds of students to other schools we'll see what happens and that literally makes no sense um
041so I just wanted to make those comments I hope that you guys have something that you have to show for your plan or your proposal because this is [Music] nonsensical hi my name is Beth Pard I'm a a parent and a Community member uh for the Lynchburg City School District and I wanted to leave a voicemail for the budget meeting this evening I'm very concerned that we're still talking about the budget for school year 2425 during the month of March um that is terrifying to me and it tells me we probably don't have a budget plan for the next five years or 10 years as well I think this is concerning um I understand that there is a deficit that needs to be addressed I do not think that closing TC Miller and sanduski elementary
042schools will get you very far in um in uh meeting that deficit I don't think that uh it's worth it um I think that if you're looking for cutting FTE maybe looking at some of the other options um particularly ones identified uh last year like option one I think Community um had selected was uh the most okay with them might be the one to explore we've been saying this all year I don't know if we've been heard um I think the first step to solving any problem is identifying the problem I don't even think that part has happened yet identify the real problem here uh in a way to come up with a solution uh if you're not being honest with yourselves or the community as to what has contributed to this problem then how
043on Earth are you to solve it you need to be honest and accountable for the reasons this deficit exists in order to be able to rebuild trust in the community so stop talking about rezoning as the reason why you want to change everything or bringing in a new curriculum to shake things up um The Honest problem before us is that we don't have the money for uh funding the school programs next year uh and I think all ideas need to be exhausted I hope that before you had thought about closing our very best elementary school you have uh explored uh any options for state aid and federal aid maybe public private Co um Partnerships um certainly I would say stop hiring Consultants how many FTE uh are are these Consultants um costing you you know
044what is what is the equivalent in in uh paying um this these Consultants is it is it four teacher positions is it 10 teacher positions what are we talking about I mean stop spending more money you guys are bright enough to come up with an i with with Solutions on your own I feel like everybody's been looking for a reason for why you're in this position and waiting for answer to just fall into your lap like city council is going to give more money or the governor is going to give more money we have to go out and get that money um I implore you do not just close these elementary schools at the end of this year I think that would show a lack of foresight instead like us have careful consideration and thoughtful
045and thorough planning thank you this message is for the City School Board this is Angela Davis I am a mother of four children in Lynchburg City Schools one who is a graduating senior this year and one who is a kindergartener at seski elementary school I am voicing my opinion because I'm unable to attend the meeting tonight but I just want to be clear that this plan to move forward with closing sandeski is not in the best interest of our students sandeski needs to be in the budget for next year uh you all need to have a plan for where our students are going to go the resoning plan is not acceptable we are looking at overcrowding of classrooms and um an unequal division of race and economic status and we are going to do everything
046that we can in order to make sure that our kids have a fair chance at their education please consider this in your vote um again a concerned parent of four Lynchberg City Schools one who started their education at sces and one who has just started their education at sces please keep sandeski open please keep those Educators and administrative staff employed please keep our kids out of 25 plus classrooms please keep our kids in sandeski elementary thank you the following message is for the school board meeting tonight good even good evening my name is Hadley Jones and I attend teaching Elementary and I'm wanting to tell you that to me you just care about the money and all the kids at TC Miller in sanduski elementary have nowhere to go because there isn't enough room to
047fit all of us at the other schools we matter more than the money you can't just shut down a school and keep the money and throw us away I bet you every kid who knows that their school is getting shut down they go home and just sit there and cry and think there's no school that I want to go to cuz the school I'm at is a is where I'm going to stay cuz that's exactly what I did and I and I and seeing what you've been putting these elementary kids through and their parents thank you for your time hi my name is Joanna Darren Becker I'm an LCS parent I have two daughters one at sandeski middle and one at purage high school and this message is for the school board meeting um tonight
048on March 19th um I just am calling to to express my concern regarding the proposed resoning plan um I think while I understand the logistics for or the the need for logistical adjustments um I really strongly oppose this plan because I think it can exacerbate racial divisions and it's going to lead to overcrowding um I think that um we are segregating our communities um or and concentrating students for marginalized backgrounds into these specific schools and that perpetuates in inequality and it also undermines um diversity and inclusion um we want our schools to be vibrant um Equitable spaces that Foster learning um among students from all backgrounds um I also think that this is going to impact the quality of education and their student well-being um it's going to strain resources it's going to compromise teacher
049to student ratios and it's going to be detrimental to all of our students and our students deserve better um so I just urge to consider some alternative solutions that prioritize diversity equity and inclusion and the well-being of all our students and I think we need to work together um to find a solution that promotes um inclus inclusive excuse me that promotes diversity and provides every child just like you say by name and by need with an opportunity to thrive thanks thank you madam clar does it cover everybody who has signed up or has left a voicemail yes any emails no sir thank you is there a motion to adjourn public hearing section motion second Mrs Lowry Mr dep Adam CL would you please call the RO Mr jilo yes Mr Andrews yes Mr Charles yes
050Dr Dave yes Dr Guta yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Mrs Lorry yes motion carries not zero thank you uh next one is chair comment as I said and I'm confirming that we're still working on the budget the but the realities of the budget and if you look at it in last three years the governor has given a about 12% pay raise but when they give pay raises they give only for S soq faculty they don't Finance or fund uh the rest of the nons soq faculty that's the district has to come up from their own and uh 80% of our budget is human resource so you do the numbers and you know and our funding as Dr day has stated in his documents has gone down from 42 million from
051local contribution to almost 37.4 which 1.9 on top of that was in contingency reserve not in our operating budget so if you add the numbers together and if you're running your own business or running your own home you figure out how you're going to run it now in terms of building schools as you know there's a uh bill in the house which was passed the the bill also went through senate for carving out 1% sale tax for building local school infrastructure last year Halifax County her they approved it the but it it it depends on localities to approve it so if the locality approves that 1% car out uh and it's on a referendum for citizens to approve that it gives to City of Lynchberg City School System almost 15 million am I correct I'm
052looking at Dr wara $15 million a year so you may ask what is $15 million going to give me in terms of building a school what it does is it provides City the more capability to borrow money because when the bond issuers know and I hope I'm not too technical that they know that you have the capacity to pay off those Bonds in a certain period of time they're willing to lend you money so 15 million a year think about that our Deford maintenance in city of Lynchburg schools is about 100 million roughly 100 million in 7 years that defer maintenance is taken care of if you think about building sender Kei right now is about $65 million so that Bond issuance become lot more easier for the localities to do it which they don't
053have the capability at this point to do but school school boards don't have we don't have power to generate Revenue uh you may ask us to give this but our finances are limited in terms of what we get so I just wanted to stop there and present those facts to you uh because uh the reality is the school board doesn't have resources Revenue generation power anywhere in the Commonwealth of Virginia so thank you next one is item H1 notice of closed beating um the school board chair recommend School Board approves a motion to convene a close uh meeting to discuss the following as permitted by Virginia Court s-37 11188 consultation with legal council on the issue of transgender model policy and Virginia code s 2.2 3711 A4 a A14 discussion of assignment and appointment of
054employees in consideration of uh budget related deduction in force is there a motion to motion Mr second Mr trost U Madame clerk would you please call the role Mr jalo yes Mr Andrews yes Mr TR yes Dr day yes Dr Koopa yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr defal yes Mrs Lorry yes motion carries we in close session we'll go upstairs to second floor thank you [Music] w [Music] h [Music] w [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] e Lynchberg school board certifies that in the Clos meeting just concluded nothing was discussed except the matter or matters number one specifically identified in the motion to convene a closed meeting and two lawfully proved to be so discussed under the provisions of Virginia Freedom of Information Act cited in that motion is there a motion to motion
055uh Mr depal second Rost mam CL would you please call the Mr jilo yes Mr Andrews yes Mr tro yes Dr Dave yes Dr Carter sorry yes Dr Gupta yes Mrs Preston yes Mr toal yes Mrs Lori yes motion carries so we are out back in the out of close session the next next item is item i1 fiscal year 2025 operating budget discussion Dr Edwards y so um let me start with the end in mind and the end is really not the end but just a a mid break so by code before April 1 we have to give an official this is our request for funds for um Lynchburg City Schools to the appropriating body which makes sense because we're going right into the joint meeting next week and then negotiation uh between the two
056governing bodies be and they um city council will vote on their budget in their two their session and work session two sessions in May uh so part of what we've done is kind of go back in time to some of the things that we presented earlier so a lot of these documents are the same documents that you you've seen uh and usually I put dates on them from January when all we had was the governor's budget at that point from December we know a lot has happened since then I do want to point out that the governor's budget originally had a 1% bonus not a salary increase and now we're hearing that it's most likely going to be a 3% salary increase so while we are looking at voting on a a budget number uh
057things still have to be worked out in terms of what what all that entails uh with that we provided a lot of data that the board had requested so you'll see some additional data as well as budget history um and then the I do want to point out that the item that's 1.2b submitted component unit LCS budget fy2 board vote this was the vote that uh the board took in January based on the governor's budget um and where we were then it is on the document that the city requires that we submit um to them and I did mod mod ify that document just a tiny bit so I don't get in trouble um and in the modification there is an area that says agency requested that's us and then there's a manager proposed that
058is the city manager and at the time that we did this we did not have the proposed manager's budget so both of those columns are identical and it says agency that's us and then it says LCS proposal that is the exact same thing again if anybody's looking and wondering why why um that's different but we wanted to keep it on the sheets that the city gave us because ultimately that's what we're going to submit back to the city along with um much more uh detail over the past couple months we've talked a little bit about some of the budget cuts that we have to make I think Dr Waka teed us off with 17 million I need to be clear that that is not $17 Million worth of cares only money and I do believe
059at the presentation that Dr woda did in January he kind of outlined where those different um um deficits are coming from some of it is cares some of it is increases in uh just the natural cost of doing business here in LCS but I I did hear that folks think oh you're just getting rid of the $17 Million worth of care stuff not true so some of the cuts that we did propose in January and we continue to look at are operating budget cuts not just cares funded things that we've added in the last two years you've heard a lot about the Virtual Academy LCS restore um but there are other positions and other things that we have to look at to make those cuts um so we've been having those discussions about that but
060ultimately the budget is not final until the state finishes theirs and the city finishes theirs and then we get our final um appropriation which probably won't be until the end of May so what we need to do tonight before we're finish um we can talk and have answer a lot of questions is at the end of the night we either are going to have to schedule another meeting before April 1 if we do not vote tonight on what to um submit to the city as the the official to meet that date uh Mrs Mrs Jamie will put it all back together in whatever form we we using that uh component unit whatever that final decision is tonight so hope I teed all that up and got everybody at least where we need to be Dr
061D want to explain your uh your chair of finance committee sure yeah I think um there's a lot that that needs explaining here um could we display um that's posted synopsis 3 first page of it please synopsis 3 first page um I think I'm seeing what oh yeah there we go yes okay so this page is largely something that you've seen before this is just an an attempt to summarize um the budget process that the board has been through up to this point um so at the top is well the about the top 2third um is the original proposal from the administration uh you see in the balance at the right hand column the deficit anticipated deficit of $ 17.7 million then you see uh 9.5 million in in proposed division level reductions um and
0625.2 in proposed School level reductions that means each individual school is asked to contribute a portion of that 5.2 million in reductions um and uh you in the revenue column you see that that um in order to make that balance with uh to make to make our Revenue an operations balance we would need an additional $3.1 million that was the original proposal from the administration now on January 30 when the board looked at this the board was uncomfortable with the number of positions being contemplated for reduction they were uncomfortable with the cancellation of the Virtual Academy and with the uh cuts to LCS restore so um the board uh asked to put back in those uh three items that uh was putting back in an additional $5 million um and so um we that that
063meant we uh we're going to need to increase our request from the city to 47.5 that's above the flat funding that we have been told over and over and over again is the most that we can expect from the city so it was that number 47.5 that was the basis of what the board recommended on January 30 um it still includes a lot of the cuts in positions and programs that are outlined there now um the this the next page of this document has generated a lot of uh angst consternation frustration all understandable on the part of the community um I think there's been a misunderstanding here there is no proposal to close sanduski or TC Miller early that is not what this document is all this is is saying what if the city says
064no the city insists that they're only giving us flat funding that leaves us with a deficit of about $3 million where are we going to find $3 million this document simply suggests that one way to do that would be to close sanduski and TC Miller early but there is no proposal on the table to do that this is just saying if the city inist on flat funding we have a gap to fill if if we can come up with other ways to come up with an additional three $3.1 million then there would be no need to close those schools early it's just making the point that we may be faced with that level of a decision this is again this is not a proposal to close those schools early it's just asking people to realize
065that might be something we're forced to if the city insists on flat funding so I understand people's concern and how uh hyper sensitive everyone is right now about the school closures that we've been contemplating but this is not at this point a proposal to close schools early I want people to understand that now the last thing I want to say is well then what should we do the board's current recommendation was to base its requests from the to make its request from the city to be the 47.5 million um which is above the flat funding that the school or that the city has told us um I would like to suggest that we that we not ask for that much not because I disagree with um the desire to put these um or roughly 25%
066positions the Virtual Academy and Ellis restore back on their feet but simply because there's zero probability that we're going to get it we've been told over and over and over that it's not possible and I don't want to send the superintendent up before the city council to make a case for something that we have been told repeatedly is outside of the realm of possibility I don't think it's fair to the superintendent I don't think it's fair to the administration to be planning on something that we know is not possible so my suggestion is that we go back to the administration's original proposal to request 42.5 million from the city um as a compromise between flat funding and what we think it ought to be that's um that's all I have to say Dr D the
06739.4 was what city manager had in his presentation to the city council last Tuesday is that the correct statement yes that's what that's what was presented to the city council a recommendation of flat funding to Lynchburg City Schools so you are asking for 3.2 million more on top of that 39.4 so we don't have to uh cut another 3.2 from our yes yes discussion so Mr chair I was just going to say that I for first of all I I commend you guys for coming out again right telling us how you feel I I heard you um don't have a plan you're frustrated trust is lost I get it um and so when I when I saw this this is me personally as individual School Board member you know it does scare you right because
068it says that we're closing the school early right but that's a failure on our part to communicate that that this is more of a scare tactic than the reality right and so if I was going to make a motion to remove that line item stated early closure um so I think as we go into and I'm talking to you guys as we go into budget discussions with Council which is open to the public you know you guys need to understand or we also need to understand that sometimes when things are written down they're they're um perceived differently right I have no intention of closing a school personally I've always went with scenario one um so I think as a board we have to do better in communicating this to public especially if it's in board
069dos and bold we're closing a school if that's not what Our intention is then we don't need to scare you guys we need to scare across the street okay so from this individual board member I apologize so that's what I wanted to share so Mr trust all right I guess we're get to go around do uh board comments no no we okay well let me just say a couple things and I I have been I had spoken to some of you individually but you have to understand when you from my perspective again individual board member and an attorney when you engage in litigation it becomes an adversarial situation so I don't know who gave you guys the advice to engage in litigation but at that point I can't speak to you guys anymore and I
070thought I tried to make that clear that's me and that's just it's just it is what it is but I also think you understand now that we do not as a board want to close any school TC Miller and sanduski are wonderful schools but it comes down too far funding and we do not have capability to raise funds I do want I do not want to close sanduski or TC Miller for next year I want that extra bit of Runway so we can do some analysis and come up with some other opportunities potentially as the hybrid model at TC Miller those are all plans I think are fantastic but our hands are being forced so and for you guys to come up here and express your anger at us as a board I don't quite
071think it's fair especially when I can't defend myself I can't stand that that drives me crazy we don't get to defend ourselves ever or you get to speak without any unchecked fact comments so do you well you can check me that's not interest okay well all right well never mind so in anyway you tell me and I know you say these plans the whether it's a solar plan or what have you I think there's a neat ideas I do we are running out of Runway TimeWise to investigate some of those plans so we need we need another year or so we don't not want to close these schools and you guys have been going across the street and thank you for doing that but you have to understand there's only so much that we can
072do as a school board and trying to get money out of city council just a fact that's a a fact unfortunately um but we do not want to close the schools you I mean you've even quoted me somebody quoted me is we don't want to subject these children to multiple uh movement of the of schools nobody wants to do that it is about the children for us so that's what's saying I appreciate you I can ask you to continue to go across the street try to see if we can get we've been told we asked I think we voted 47.5 million I voted for that we knew that was a a long shot but you got to ask to get it it's not it's not a reality let's see if we can get the get
073the extra 3.2 and buy some time for TC Miller and sanduski we have very difficult decisions that we're having to make not fun decisions not just on closing schools but other Personnel matters we don't want to make them but we're being forced to do it it's the facts so I appreciate your comments um and we'll do what we can and I'll speak to anybody well I guess you can't I can't I can't of us on lawsuit I'm dialogue you're engaging it's not a time yeah oh well listen anybody can be a potential witness and litigation Mr chairman yes sir yeah I'm that's fine I'm done D you want to talk about that PPA legal statement I had one other uh comment I wanted to make which I think is something that's important to the public
074um a a number of the emails that uh board members have received have raised the issue of why haven't we done anything about uh funding for the additional classrooms at Bass um and the public needs to know that there is something in the works concerning the construction of additional classrooms at Bass it will come to the board at its April 9th meeting but at present the details of this are protected under the terms of the public private education facilities and infrastructure Act of 2002 um now the staff wanted me to be clear that the staff has um known about this for a few months now and there have been some close sessions briefings to the board about it but because of the confidential confidentiality requirements of the law um we could not make those things
075public it will be come public on April 9th and then I think at the meeting after that the board will have an opportunity to vote on it so I just wanted the public to know that it's not the case that nothing is happening about that something is happening but it's confidential information according to law at this point in time other comments on the presentation I think the I think the public wants to know at least a good majority of it um that the schools will be safe if we do find the money if the money is given by city council to LCS that the schools will be first in consideration for being saved uh that's not shown clearly on the presentation I think that people would appreciate apprciate seeing that as a priority there are
076a couple of avenues where the money could come in as was stated city council could simply provide it above level funding but that covers what's on this page that Dr day just presented it could come by the state increase of 1% for sales tax that then the city council would have to agree on but again that money that approximately 15 million is not designated here specifically for the two schools so that's an issue and just like it's not likely the school system is going to receive above level funding as was mentioned it's also not likely that the city council can all agree on increasing that 1% or approving that 1% in tax sales increase if it gets through Richmond all that being said I'm for turning TC Miller into a hybrid school I'm for rebuilding
077sandeski perhaps with this uh organization that can build cheaper school buildings if we can get above level funding for those things at least an extra at least heading towards that direction in a year ahead then I would certainly vote for that I think our communication needs to be clearer I think it has to be more more interactive with the public and if the public can show us other Avenues of gaining the money we need to keep the schools open specifically not just save uh these positions and other things that are on this document that was presented then we can move forward I think with a lot of collaboration other comments Mr tro use the word adversarial I think this situation has put us in an adversarial position the fact that most of us are sitting
078here suggests that we are concerned about children that we care about children that we want what's best for them and so we cannot afford to allow our different thoughts about things to put us in an adversarial position because the truth of the matter is we're on the same team we want what's best for kids we want this funding to be provided so that our children can be well educated so they can go to Safe schools schools that that they can identify with if if if you will and so I just request that we all be patient with each other that we all remember that we are on the same team that we're speaking the same language that we're saying to city council we want this money and this money comes from our city and we
079expect you to appropriate the funds that are necessary to help our children Mrs L or Mr dep com on I just want you guys to I want to Echo sort of what she um Mrs Preston was saying you know it's it's not over till it's over for one thing and two we are trying to get the money that we need for you guys but we it's I've learned being new on the board we're the child there's a parent when the parent gives you your allowance you have to deal with that allowance what you're getting with what you're given so I can't go out on my own if I'm let's pretend I'm five years old and get a job I can't bring in that extra revenue and now I can we apply for Grants we go
080and do other things to try to get funding but at the end of the day we know we need to be fiscally responsible and that's what we're trying to do as well but if you looked at the last presentation when Dr Marton did it and he showed how little we've been getting and how inflation has gone up but we're not getting more we're not going along with the inflation and receiving that revenue from that parent then we have to De with what we're given and you know you can't what is it get blood out of a turnup I mean you got to deal with what you've given so but hang in there we're working on it okay Dr Carter I was just reflecting back on the fact that when I started on the board about
081nine years ago that we were receiving about million and now we have more demands students with more struggles and challenges and are now receiving less money and if you are receiving if you have a household who goes back that much money and you have to meet the challenges of today that just doesn't make sense but at the same time we're not the only School Division the care funds was wonderful but it also helped the appropriating bodies to say you all have money and to take us back this far but as for the sanduski and TC Miller we hear you and I I hate the fact that we cause more anxiety and frustration and just we're not here to try to scare anybody um and we will we really need to remove that from that document
082if it's not um important or if it's not needed and it's not we need to take it off of there thank you can I mention one thing real quick go ahead so uh there was a comment tonight about um the Energy Efficiency and solar process I just wanted to give the board an update we we did have a that was a great suggestion when we when it came up before um something that been on our agenda for a little while um so we have gone through the first process of procuring um a relationship for Energy Efficiency and potentially solar going forward so that that is in process just understand that that takes uh some time there's a capital intensive process not necessarily for for Capital from us but but other folks so it does take
083some time so we're definitely working through that uh but that's not probably something that will be up and running for next fiscal year at least certainly not July 1st but uh it isn't is it it is in the works we're we're doing it uh and really appreciate that conversation because again it uh was something we has been on our radar and it was a great uh push to to move that forward anybody else before I make my so I wanted to say certain things you know some of you may think that we are just sitting idle not fighting for you to give you an example last Friday we had a meeting and I asked the city hall how how do you feel that your employees will get 3% increase and ours will have to struggle
084because we don't have that million and a half nons soq match funding required so in terms of building schools definitely but the problem is the funding the city's funding capability or capacity as you know you been a city manager is almost to the top so it requires some Revenue stream to justify issuing more bonds to get more debt so this 1% tax I thought was an idea which can uh move some money and justify uh building a school or schools or fixing the current infrastructure in terms of funding if you look at it and I don't normally don't point fingers but I'm going to say that tonight $13 million of overflow this year on the city hall side how much of that came to Lynchburg City Schools zero where were people fighting for Lynchburg City
085schools at their time saying how come LCS doesn't have a dime out of that $13 million nobody I watch those public comments I watch those but I cannot go there and fight that's the problem in my current role is but that $13 million is zero not a scent came to Lynchburg City schools and if that's the trend you're projecting good luck and so that's the problem we have uh in our current offices there's so much we can say publicly Mr Tross you know it right and but the reality is the city manager made his presentation last Tuesday when we were meeting as a board and the the projection was $ 39.4 million it what LCS will get now for us we can keep fighting for 47.5 and never get it or try to figure out
086a Midway ground where we can say okay can you come up with another 3 million 2 million 2 a half million because we need to patch up that gap of 3.1 million plus we need 1.5 million to pay 3% increase for our teachers because I don't want to be working for a school district where the governor is saying I'm giving you 3% increase but not knowing that half of that is unfunded mandate the go this the legislator enrichment is telling you I'm giving teachers 3% but technically they're giving only s soq the nons soq Dr Edwards and the school district has to come up from their own pocket and we depend on localities to fund their money year after year as I said before 12% in last three years $80 million budget that's $9.6 million
087half of that is almost $4.8 million of funding through the school district we don't have their kind of coffers because we don't have uh Power to raise taxes or generate Revenue right and that's a dilemma we have year after year and this will continue for the years to come it's not going to change with this school board or next School Board the problem is uh the the revenue side is shrinking and the Need side is going up and as I said to several of you people say you got 600 less students yes but the number of students with IEP is remain constant at 1,000 is 1,000 my own daughter wasn't on IEP she had a one toone instruction from a herit High School teacher and I think I was talking to you m m low
088today $65,000 a year one to1 instruction required by law need to fulfill that IEP God knows how many students are in the same shoes and if I can add to what you're saying I visited um Laurel and their numbers have gone up for children that have need those IEPs and earn wheelchairs the num has gone up so public school system is taking care of students which normally a private school will not take because they're high need High behavior issues and requires 2 to1 3 to1 one to1 care so when you tell me the number of students are down I fully understand but come with me to the schools and walk through the hallway the needs have gone up they have gone up and uh the thing is the needs have gone up with the with
089the the problem is the budget the top line is constant or decreasing so you got to manage within those resources and I feel for our teachers they got to do multiple tasks means um the other day we were at uh permont Elementary they were doing the U science test the same day I think problem the problem multiple schools are doing events on the same night sendeski had a family night permont had a science night uh you know so but these teachers are staying Beyond regular hours to work and teach these students and show to the community what excellent good job they're doing so but they're not compensated for that and you don't and I'm not running for an office to make a statement to make you feel good and be happy and walk away saying
090Gupta guy is a good guy and need to collap for him the the problem is you don't become a teacher just for the money I would not have been a professor if I'm looking for money money you make in business and you make plenty of money but it has to be a reasonable compensation think about that our teachers if they don't get 3% increase this year what happens to their morale and every day I'm looking at it and I've talked to several of you where will that $1.5 million will come from now we are looking at 3.2 wi showing up 1.2 the problem is you got to beyond that you got employees who are working in the system they hearing the news every day that the governor is doing three Senate is doing 3.6 there'll
091be somewhere in between and I'm looking at non sop so the dollars are still moving part uh 26 we have a joint session with the and uh hopefully we can come to a consensus where uh we don't have to make a lot of cuts but it has become sort of a year after year this is not the first year Mr Andrews you were there with us Heritage High School last year you and I were sitting right beside each other there was a Litany of things we need to be cutting and two school closures was there at that time too you remember the sheet was presented at at right at the 11th hour to the school board m so these things are have been there this is not anything new Mr Jalil go ahead yes sir
092I am willing to put forth a motion to cut the ask from 47.5 million down to 45.4 million that's one thing related to that I would like to know a couple of scenarios from you are you making a motion for 45.5 I'm not finished yet sir okay I would like to hear from you a couple of scenarios where either both schools could be saved as is or changed one to the I don't have any opinions on that you have no what I don't have where will I have scenarios from you have the same knowledge as I do so what do you expect to do what do you think would be required to actually keep the schools functioning as they are through 2024 2025 and so forth $3.2 million the gap between the level funding and
093what the superintendent has asked and maybe 1.5 on top of that for giving teachers 1.5 yeah that's that's I think they would value uh the saving the schools over an increase of their paychecks so you answering your own question but what are you I I'm not sorry I'm not clear that extra 1.5 so my I'm just going to repeat the question is under what I don't see here giving 3.1 million getting 3.1 million from the city council is going to save both schools that's what you're telling me or no ask Dr D that's you're asking I'm asking you because you're asking for the 3.1 million from city council and you're saying 47.5 is too high some median would be great 39 is level funding what are you 47.5 is a pie in the sky to
094be very honest with you that's a very high level of funding you can ask it day in day out if you get it good luck but city manager in his but proposed budget which is this the bureaucracy bureaucracies work in a certain way the city manager last Tuesday in his budget to the city council presented 39.4 funding for Lynchburg City Schools that's what we have right now and you're going to ask for 3.1 million above that I'm just one of the nine board members are we going to ask for 3.1 million above that if the board agrees to do that and will that save those two schools I don't know we'll see you're asking me questions based on Dr D's okay Dr day can you hear us that's you that table is not mine you're
095asking the wrong guy so yes I can hear you yeah he has a question for your table do you hear the line of so you you are asking that if we if I am understanding your question is um if we go with the superintendent's original recommendation of a request of 42.5 from the city um um which is an increase of um over their level funding would that save the two schools that number just assumes that the board's decision last fall to close those two schools in the fall of 2025 still stands under that proposal um those schools would operate for one additional year whether they operate beyond that or not would be a subject for the budget in future fiscal years our decision on this year's budget is based on the assumption that those schools
096are going to continue to operate for the fiscal year 2024 through 2025 I don't know if that answers your question I'm that's the best I can do for you the 3.1 million will enable those schools to run 2024 to 2025 that's what that that's what I understood from what you're saying you look at this table the numbers were clear there and I see 3.2 I'm not sure where you're getting the 3.1 you 3.2 if you look at synopsis number three yes look at the very bottom line Second Page yep there subtracting 3.2 um and the reason 3.2 is the 3.2 came from the estimates that we had in the middle of the facilities study about what the cost savings would be if we closed DC Miller and sanduski that's where that number came from and
097we're not asking for that same number back in this proposal with the 42 whatever correct we're not asking for the 3.2 in order to save those no we're not not correct so the only way to actually keep the schools going is to change our decision as a board to keep the schools operating and and look for budget cuts elsewhere to the tune at first of 3.2 million for the actually for both for for these two schools so we would have to look for another 3.2 million and then and then apply it to the schools but we wouldd have to make another decision um to actually keep the schools going I think I see what you're saying and that would have to be done for every but every Year's budget year after year after year into
098the future yes yes so just as he as uh someone was saying just giving us a little extra time on the runway to look for other monies whether it's grants otherwise so in my original statement I was willing to to put forth the motion to take off I think it was 2.1 million from the original The Proposal I had made beforehand to 45.4 million um ask to city council nevertheless that would only save LCS ReStore in the Virtual Academy nothing else so it's not addressing the issue of the two schools staying open it's just addressing a more likely scenario where we would get more money than the level funding because again as um was mentioned a couple by a couple different board members and staff Administration unless you ask you will not you have you
099have zero chance you're talking about zero chance based on what they said in in real life people don't always make decisions based on things that are ethereal they they make decisions based on what's in front of them so what is it called a bird in the hand is worth more than two in a bush or something like that so we have to make an Ask above level funding or there is absolutely 0.00 chance to get it to get anymore can I say something yes we did that and the the memo said dead upon arrival so we already tried that that's why we're saying that doesn't work that's why if we go with what um superintendent Edwards had in the first place our chances are better than continually raising it cuz we raised it once and
100yeah it was like no there was there is 100% more of a chance though from last time because the last time that this happened it was a no the last time right yes it was a definite no right but that wasn't asking for more that was asking for no we asked for more thought we asked we asked for 47 that's way more than 42 when was this I'm not talking about this I'm talking you're I'm talking about before I was a board member Dr Edwards oh well you didn't stipulate that when you're talking there was uh a mention of asking city council for a certain amount and what it came back as you know in the current year saw my previous years it was uh yeah I can kind of go back and see last
101year we did ask for more we were trying to get to, 1550 last year we asked for what we yeah yeah we've asked for what we what we've um needed I will say during the covid years we did we did try to do level funding because we were trying to be that that partner that said we're we're fortunate that we have car's funding and we can use that right now but it won't be here later so we're just buying time with the hopes that we would get back up to where where we need to be I I do want just the public to understand um parts of this and and the how we do this so you know the city has all different departments obviously um that are also doing their budgets at the same
102time and one of the things that I did ask was it's not uncommon for especially in in trying times for a manager or even myself as a superintendent to say I need you to come in at level funding right and I'll say that to my principal where my principal right there I'll say that to my principal come in at level if you come in a little bit lower that's even better but come in at level um but what does that mean all right for a building principle what that usually means is he's looking at purchase Services supplies uh other things PD and trying to keep that flat right we're still going to have the same amount of money for field trips y'all we have a little less for something else and and you know those
103types of things not necessarily thinking about staff right so the process for us when we're asked to come in at level funding it is stay where you are including your Staffing numbers right your staff your staff raises whatever you do you have to stay at level I asked the question just about how it happens on the other side with the city and whether or not the police or the fire department when they're asked to come in at level funding is it the the same it is not so when they're asked to come in at level funding similarly they'll look at the stuff the things the purchases and that's what they keep in their salaries are done by the city manager um our salaries are inclusive of a level ass so when we say 39 if
104the governor does like he did last year or two years ago 5% 5% 2% right that was really nice but when it was at level funding we had to find it somewhere so we found it in car's money we we sort of bought bought time um and that is what is occurring again we're being asked to come in at level funding recognizing that things go up salaries go up as they should um but our pocket has to stay there now if all I had was about 20% of my funding was employees I might be able to work that but when 80% of your budget is people coming in that level makes it very very difficult if you even expect just keep up with the cost of living or inflation so those are some of the
105challenges that we we fa we've asked for more after we came out of Co even before we went in Co I remember doing a slide saying we are here right now where we're asking for level but we need to get back to where we were the responsibility of both state and local government to fund our schools right that is our responsibility and you all have heard me say it would be very wrong for me to say um to a staff member before I determine how much I'm going to give you in a raise I need to know how your spouse is going to do are they bringing home more money because if you're getting more from one end split funded then I get to lower you right who does that anybody's household right that's what
106we experienced last year the state did a higher investment in schools in general even with declining enrollment the city went down right those are facts not pointing fingers just dealing with the facts so we stay level there is no way if the future of our school division is to stay level level for life we we're not going to survive at stay level for life our teachers won't be able to make it our kids won't be able to make it cuz it's just not enough to sustain what needs to happen in here so part of what we are trying to do is be fiscally responsible while stepping up at increments that hopefully the city can handle we can manage and then the next year because you don't just do one budget at a time you gota
107be Forward Thinking right so we do a little bit a little bit a little bit and we work our way out there there are are two very important things that I just need to say one you you all have stood up here and told us the research on small schools and you are not wrong right we all know small schools work we know that right not one person not one parent came up here and said I'm just complaining my school's too small and it's not working for my children says no parent ever we the Educators we know that we if if that's where we are we love our small schools our community has to commit to we love our small schools and yes we know it does cost more to operate a small school right
108because you got start with the basis got to have principal nurse all that all the things but we love it and that's what we want to do that's commitment number one and I have been in communities where that's been the commitment they're just like nope this is what we do here commitment number two says we have so many buildings and not one of those buildings is a school where parents are coming up here going close at school these teachers are terrible these not one not one so this is not about performances and matter of fact it's been the opposite right all of you are out here like love my school we're doing the things right we got kids out here so it's not that but when we have so many buildings nobody none of my
109teachers need to be in the building where it leaks where there's mold where the temperature on this side is is 50° and the temperature on that side is 90° and we know that that's a reality you have to commit to an ongoing regular maintenance plan first you got to get it all back up right but you also have to say each year I'm going to budget four because I don't want to wait until the windows are falling apart to develop a window replacement plan I know in so many years I'm going to need Windows I know that we're going to need this and I'm going to budget for it that is the community that we need to be in if we're going to keep all of our schools open and you all know that since
110I started like week two Edwards hits the ground running closes School declining enrollment what are you doing right our Capital Improvement plan we've had conversations about that no secret when we started it was Bill sanduski right it was get a new school these are all the things that is not where we are right now and I never want any of you to sit here and think you've been saying all this and it's just going on Def what you're saying is right what we're missing is a commitment that says that acknowledges yes we have small schools where there's two two teachers per grade level that's a that's a real small school effective School works for kids some kids might not want to be in a small school but we are committed to saying that's important enough
111for us to keep keep that open but we need everybody with the pockets to say that we have all of these elementary schools and we're committed to keeping them all open and healthy and by healthy I mean investing in the buildings right making sure that they do have the proper ventilation and heating and never mind all the other things that make a school wonderful we need that Community to do that part and the piece that we have been facing is the financial piece that says we don't have that in there we hear it we don't have it in there on the Staffing on the operating side we don't have it on the capital Improvement side that's where we're facing but I need you to know that that we're we do hear you we we absolutely
112side with you on what you're saying in terms of those things this is our current reality you said if we don't ask we don't get I've been asking and asking and and still not getting that didn't stop me I haven't gotten anything I asked yet still have to go out there and advocate for what we what we need for the kids but also have to be physically responsible to say I've got to I've got to make it work within the city and I appreciate each one of you for trying to do that as well other things that you need to know and Austin or or My Tech Team if you could bring up to be submitted the component unit diagram because I do need to address this so that we're all on the same page
113yes um if you go down to operating expenditures and our favorite line which we we we stop at comma Administration there's a comma there attendance and health and if you notice from one year to the next if we go back to 2023 it was N 9 million 9.2 and then magically it went down to 7.7 right the attendance and health are part of administration I say that all the time I know when people think Administration they just probably think oh people in this building and they're just going up and up and up what we did last year was move a group of people who serve in the schools as attendants and health folks into cares so we could give them the 15 and up an hour we bought time we're out of cares we're not
114going to fire those people we're going to put them back in operating so what you see as an increase that make maybe make you think like Administration they're adding more people we're just bringing the people back that we move so that we could pay them a decent wage with car's funding that is not a whole bunch of new Administration positions please don't put that spin out there it is not those are well meaning front facing greet you at the door check on you individuals who were always in operating and then last year we were forced to move them when the budget cut because we weren't cutting them and now we're putting them back cuz we don't have car's funding um so I I really just want to be real clear on some of of the
115factual things that are going on um with with the budget so the other thing is in the 39.4 level funding last year 1.9 was in contingency line so all these budgets have built assuming the contingency line will come into the operating line otherwise we'll be in hold by another $1.9 million so Mr Jal I I I was assuming you're making a motion well if it's agreeable I can do that let's see what's your motion my motion is to amend our decision to ask city council for 47.5 million at our joint City School city council meeting to a$ 45.4 million ask instead a reduction of 2 .1 million is there a second to that motion go ahead I'll second it because I want to ENT I want to understand I for discussion purposes I'll second it
116because I do think it warant some discussion at this point just just for discuss motion is on the flation discussion on that motion okay so it's reasonable well could you could you tell tell me can I ask that the numbers be repeated okay yes the the original uh ask we were going to make of city council was 47.5 million and I'm amending that or replacing that with an ask for 45.4 million a reduction of 2.1 million and part of the discussion uh explaining it is it is a something to be considered that you can't over askk a ping the Sky type thing is a legitimate argument whereas if you have almost any number of illustrations of of over asking you know going up to someone and just asking them for and I understand the philosophy
117could you break down how you arrived at 45.4 million I think I I don't want to speculate as to how you got to that number but could you break that down just for all of us certainly um LCS restore which is 1.2 the Virtual Academy which is 1.7 and the 25% of positions that's back to $ 47.5 million correct so taking away the third one which so you're adding you're adding I just want to make sure I so level funding at 39 well 39.4 assuming we get the contingency money then you're adding I'm this is my speculation you tell me if I'm right or wrong then I I'm speculating that you're adding 3.2 million to got get us another year of TC Miller TC Miller and sanduski is that correct no sir okay why are
118you shaking your head Dr day well no just focus on I mean he may but because I'll tell you why I thought that because if you look at the level funding at 30 39 four add 3.2 for sanduski it gets you to a um 42.5 then if you add another 1.2 for the restorative acad restorative Academy get you to 43.7 then you add another 1.7 for the Virtual Academy it gets you to 45.4 so that's why I I did these numbers independently but that's why assume maybe that's what you were going at and maybe I want to make sure I'm and number one make sure I'm right on my numbers well the problem is all that you added that you wanted there's already the 42.5 we're at we're going to ask so all that's really
119higher than 45 that you're asking with all that you would just added that's what I want to make sure I understand yeah so the 42.5 is what the superintendent wants us to ask for does that save those two schools for a year that's the question does the 42.5 include the 3.2 to save sandeski and TC Miller for an extra year yeah so originally when we proposed the 42.5 we weren't it wasn't even on our brain to close those two schools it we had cuts that we had to make and you saw where we tried to balance that with a 9 million and then 5 million from the schools but that was when we did the division cuts and then we did the school Cuts then we stopped and we said we're here we need 3
120million 3.2 or whatever that was I forget the exact number that's why we asked for more we didn't go go down into school closures because in our brain the closures were forecasted for fall of 2025 let me yeah and just clarify I think I just want I want everybody to be under to be clear because I think we're on the same page but I want to make sure we're on the same page the question the million dollar question is how do you make up for the $3.2 million gap you had in your original right uh from Level funding to uh what's needed right so which need and let's define what what is what's needed what was your 42.5 was a base asked to operate what you operating right now without 3% salary increase correct that
121was but with without the 3% that was based on a Governor's budget correct but it but that also what's needed included we're not closing the schools in 2024 we're we Clos in 202 it comes out to be one school closure based on facilties study was 2.5 second School closure was 700 somehow it added up to be 3.2 which Dr D's presentation was the gap between the level funding and what the superintendent was exactly got it so that's what they ask from the city is 3.2 more million keeps those schools open for one more year and but it still doesn't pay for that uh that that was a monkey wrench thrown in the whole mix of things as we got this unfunded salary unfunded mandate yeah which I get that so and we I mean I'm
122not sure we we don't know what we're going to do at that point at that point because we don't have we don't have the C we don't have the C tool and the exact numbers but remember the the salary increase does come with the compensation supplement for S soq so there's a little bit more there's a local match and there may be some more in the atrisk add-on Aid in there that we might be able to help but we thought that last year and then that when we found out that we have is it 3.7 for all in I don't know the exact I believe ours is a little over 4 million for Allin so we we got an increase last year got excited and then we were told this money is only to be
123used for the Allin Governor's all in which you all know teachers um 70% of that is tutoring 20% of that is the VA Virginia literacy act and 10% of that is chronic absenteeism so you can't use that for salaries B like operating stuff so while we got an increase and got excited then we got the restrictions that made us less excited we were excited to have the funds obviously for our kids but it didn't help us with that Dr D you want to say something I no he's coughing he's all right you all right he's SI yeah I'm still alive um I hang on here okay let I wanted to comment on one thing and it's not going to address the motion that's on the floor um I just wanted to clear up one thing
124um that the public May a be be may be able to contribute to Mr jalile mentioned a little while ago this uh potential 1% sales tax increase and I wanted to add some clarity about that um that refers to I think the bill is Senate bill 14 which has been passed by both houses of the legislature it's now sitting on the governor's desk last I checked a few days ago um so it's waiting his signature um I have written to the governor to ask him to sign that piece of legislation and this is something maybe the public can contribute to you could also write to the governor and ask him to sign if if he signs that legislation then it would be up to our city council to approve of voter referendum city council would
125not impose a sales tax increase on their own but they do have to authorize a voter referendum if they do that and then if the voters approve that referendum then we increase our sales tax in Lynchburg by 1% that would provide we're estimating something like 15 million a year to go not just to the schools in general but to school uh Capital Improvement projects School construction that would go a long way to solving all these problems that are causing us so much headache in my mind that's the brightest Prospect for sorting all this out so I would encourage you to write to the governor and hope to persuade him to sign that legislation and let Lynchberg voters decide if they are willing to increase their sales tax by 1% to support the schools thank you
126Dr D any discussion mam would yes sir go ahead I like what Dr da said I think that is correct in addition to that I would think it would be best to begin asking asking the city council members to ask the governor to sign it I think that the governor will sign it I don't think that's going to be much of an obstacle for various reasons the main obstacle to getting this done is the city council once it's signed they're they're going to have this Dynamic of um budgetary Viewpoint or in sales tax uh viewpoints uh that conflict so if you can get them to make get uh a 70 vote for this that's that keeps everybody on the same page and it's for a good reason it's for school buildings if if not it
127won't pass at all so it won't be on the table after that if it does go in the affirmative and it does pass all these levels then we would need to apply that money to these two schools specifically in saving them keeping them operating right so we would have to visit the decision again either way otherwise it could go to something the money could go to something else in the in capital fund funding so thank you madam clerk would you please call the RO Mr J yes Mr Andrews no Mr tro no Dr Day no Dr GTA no Dr Carter yes Mr Preston no Mr depal no Mrs Lor no motion fails I have a motion Mr Andrews go ahead so can I make a motion to um support the 42.5 ask in addition to
128LCS restore Academy which is 1.4 that gives us 4 43.9 especially if behavior is an issue in our division and Council talks about that that saves the schools for another year we don't lose the $10 million in grant money that uh Dr Brown has secured for that I'm willing to go to B for 439 I I second that second that motion discussion on that motion I think and uh the Fantastic point that you make there is you we were told by different people city council go get grant money Dr Brown went out and secured grant money to address a particular problem that everybody's been saying that we need to address the lynchb SE school system and that's our behavioral problem we recognize we had it we've been doing something about it and the restorative Academy
129the good work that Dr Edwards commissioned with respect to Dr Brown is showing results it's early stages of that program um and Dr Brown is very very careful to what what he wants to State about the success of it so I will save that for him but one of the other things is he has secured significant grant money and some of those Grant grants are conditioned upon having an imp infrastructure in place that Dr Brown has put in place so if we dissolve that infrastructure we're going to lose significant grant money which again is one of the charges that was given Upon Us by City councils hey go go find some grant money bring some more Revenue in and that's one way we did find money through fantastic staff that the admen Miss Pew and
130Dr wo and crew have W crew have done in terms of getting grant money we went out again Dr ERS went out and did what was asked of her to do with her staff don't want to give that money back if we can help it so I I fully support that it also buys us the extra year of time to hopefully come up with some um to investigate some ideas with TC Miller and sanduski and we can collaborate with them to create a solid plan right this is what I'm hearing yep so and and can we double check the numbers do we need to I yeah I my number was 43.7 but there's 39.4 in flat level funding plus 3.2 plus 3.2 for sanduski which is 42.6 plus a 1 Point 1 Point uh 1.4
131for LCS restore is it 1.4 1.2 I had 1 point is it 1.2 1.2 I had 1.2 what's that number so 46 + 1.2 8 43.8 does that sound correct Dr day I it's eight 43.9 no no we had 42.5 and then the motion was to add LCS restore which is 1.2 42.5 + 1.2 is 43.7 which is what I that's better than 43.9 is better than my motion 40 so we want to amend amend the motion 43.7 Amendment accepted uh any more discussion I would only ask if does this I I I think it's great is this a replacement of our 47.5 or does it have to be rescinded no it will replace 47 just by adopting this that is canel thank you and and we're trying I mean we're we're working trying it's
132it's not as big of an Ask as the pie in the sky it's although everybody's echoed we've been told 39 I mean we've been told level funding level funding level funding mam clerk would you please call the r Mr Julio yes Mr Andrews yes Mr tros yes Dr day yes Dr gter yes Dr Carter yes that's it Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Mr L yes question carries right thank you so 43. s s is our new number we go to item two 2526 Elementary resoning MGT first draft Dr Edwards yeah let me let me just tee this one up um and again uh Community our original plan was for uh MGT to sort of give us just just put it on paper and then what we wanted to do because we knew once you
133put it on paper it it wouldn't look pretty I'll say it that way um the next step for us as administrative team was what we put on paper our neighborhoods kids and families we wanted to go to our principles and say okay it is it's not not pretty but how can we address some going back to those green factors by moving these lines but also being mindful of you know your neighborhoods you know your families um with that and then kind of work that through take it back take it back before we brought it to you all to say this is the DFT so what you have what the public has seen which was presented to academic success and those of you who were there didn't I say we're going to own this narrative cuz
134from the public it's going to look like this was the best you all could do and that's not it that was not the original plan at all but we understood that the board wanted us to share it with um academic success which is a public meeting right um so we did not get to do the part with the principles but we still will because we need to and we also did not get to do the rest of it which is the comeback to you all that says what does this look like you know how do we how do we massage this so that we to a place where we all may not agree but at least we feel like we've given it our best vetting and looked at it from multiple angles so this document
135that um Dr woda is about to go over is what I would call for me as a superintendent put it on paper let me look at it and then let me take it to my team and then because it's it's just not ready it wasn't ready for public digestion it's like being served up a raw meal that's what we just did we gave y'all a raw meal and you looked at it and said you expect us to eat this no we do not expect you to eat this this is a starting point for what do the boundary lines what could they look like and then of course we needed the percentages to set tell us what does this look like and yes I do think like bass was way over and maybe Paul Monroe is
136way under and I need we need to see that so we can say all right that's not right we have to make adjustments we didn't get to make those adjustments before we came to you because we're torn between transparency right show it to them show them to them let them see what you're thinking but we also know that people will see that and say is this what they're thinking no so I the people who are here people who are watching that is not the meal we wanted to serve you my principles know that I had to had to go to them several times and E Crow and say sorry because we said how we were going to do it because we don't know all the children and families the way that they do and then
137of course the way that you all do so we want to pull that back still going to go over it so you can see pretty much what I would see on a put it on paper give it to us what would it look like because we know that's not where we're going to end and that's what we're presenting to you also with and and Dr woda and I had planned on coming back out to you at different places because everybody doesn't come to the board meeting or watch it um to get your feedback about it um what we what our zoning lines would look like which is why fall of 2 makes so much more sense with regard to TC Miller sanduski cuz I keep hearing there is no plan there is no plan there
138is no plan this is the start of the plan we've got to get if if we're doing the zoning thing has to be right right so and you all have to weigh in and say okay this what it looks like so if it looks this way and bass has this this amount of number okay could we move the school of innovation to bass but if it looks different we move the school of innovation we don't have enough room we need to do that first put the teachers and the staff whether the grade levels that we have where our people going I want to tell you where you're going if I don't know where we're going what our programming looks like that's going to take the work of all of us so in my head on
139we've got direction we have to solve this first and then we can come back and do the rest of it so I want to just say there's not that there isn't a plan and I need to know are we adding 10 classrooms to Bass because that makes a difference on what we do going forward right and I don't want to promise you something and then you say Dr we're them 10 classrooms if we're not going to get the 10 class if we're not going to get the 10 class what is the backup plan but I need to know that first and operate from a position of this is reasonably certain right and you guys know we are in reasonably uncertain right now with that and we would love to just just talk to you about
140that we absolutely need you to do that I do recognize that this is critical right now and you all should know we're in March staff is if I'm a staff member and and and Mr wck said when I'm in the building I'm doing everything I want for children but when I get in my car to go home my brain is somewhere else maybe thinking am I going to be here where am I going to be that's AA right we don't want that and I know that I know that I get that we don't want that we want to be able to place our staff so we're going to go over this um First Look throw it I'm gonna call this we're GNA go over to throw it on paper but this is not the version
141Look of this just so that you understand and then understand what we all as a community have to do to make this look a little bit more like Lynchberg should look I hope it's up there oh I don't even know it's up there look a little bit more like what Lynchberg should look like so I'm going to turn it over to Dr wua but I wanted to preface that because I know seeing that if I didn't have context I'd have just set the same conclusion that you all came to so that's the second time tonight that we have put something up there that you all have been left to be like what does this mean and we own that we have to stop doing that right we absolutely have to stop doing that as a
142board and team thank you Dr Edward and as as uh members of the board as Dr said we' hoped to go through a number of iterations with some stakeholders before this became public and so uh because we didn't what I I tried to do as I made this PowerPoint was to write as many times as I could first draft uh this is not sort of the final proposal um and and obviously I failed at that uh and so for that I I do apologize that that did cause some concern and confusion and so I just hope you will um recognize that as being sincere um so just on the first slide uh just a couple of the background points and these are these are items that we went over last time as well um but
143we the school board did receive an update on the the resoning plan in the work that was being done on February 20th that time the school board again asked that the academic success committee reive that briefing and then ultimately School Board uh as we went moveed forward uh we did that conversation had a good uh good feedback conversation and uh wanted to bring that to the board to see what we discussed um we worked on this first draft proposal recognizing that there's a number of the zones as they exist now that do need to be rebalanced they need to be changed some of the school utilizations um the variety of information that is there uh certainly would would is not intended as any sort of anything besides a first draft um and I think that
144was clear with the committee uh but it was based on the uh the variety of of components that were addressed uh where the final votes were taken on October 24th of last year that included those those particular items um in November December we started the the data analysis component uh January we had some initial drafts and then February by the time we got to you uh we had that sort of initial draft and that's when we sort of stopped and said okay let's let's get some feedback first before we do uh some of that work so uh there there's a timing process this do this work does take some time uh it certainly is is far more complicated than just some simply doing some GIS work uh we have to think about what Transportation routs
145might look like all those sorts of things lots of consideration so it does take some time to do it uh but we just want to make sure that it's clear that uh we want to we're being very intentional in this process to the best extent we possibly can and again uh this would uh re require that uh we do do the things that the board said you want to do and that certainly is inclusive of um expanding pass um so just a couple of of reminder slides uh go through these really quickly because I know we're sort of late on time uh this is the existing boundaries of our elementary school districts um again you see this sort of Patchwork approach uh again uh we're done for very important reasons uh at the time uh
146but uh the city has changed to some extent and we have to just have a conversation about whether or not that's the right thing to do or a more close to home zoning approach that we'll talk about in just a moment uh is more appropriate on the next slide just a reminder our elementary division wide enrollment right now uh 71% minority students and 29% white non-hispanic students and then in the next slide we can see how that breaks down uh currently in as of January 30th of 2024 so so at the time when we did this initial update that was uh the most current data um obviously we have February data now but that is very similar to what it was uh just a month earlier uh comparing that to January 2015 so 9 years
147before uh so you see there has been some change throughout the division the number of or percentage of minor minority students in each School largely they're the sort sort of sort of very similar um and I think when we look at the potential proposed would be sort of similar there as well um again uh not to say this is right just saying that that's that that that's what exists um and on the next slide we have uh again where we are compared to uh that average of that 71% 29% of the existing schools and how that that is a little bit um there certainly are three schools that that are very close to being representative of that uh we have a number of schools that are either five to % uh away from those those
148averages and and certainly many more that are more than uh 10% or more uh away from those uh minority student and white student averages throughout the City and so you heard a little bit about that ear earlier tonight about this you know realizing that it's be it would be very difficult to have every single school be exactly that same average but we need to be very close if we possibly can and our goal here is to make sure that our schools are getting as close and representative to uh that average as we possibly can um so again well I'll just show you this uh on the next slide real quick that's the existing zoning map right now um that gets us to that previous slide that's where we uh get there in addition to the
149choice programs The Innovation schools the ghost Center uh that's how some of the diversity was achieved in some of the schools uh the ghost Center and The Innovation schools that's that's a large part of why those uh those schools have the diversity that they do and compliment that they do um and what we'll show you next hasn't taken that into account yet um so this is the uh the very first draft uh again for discussion only that this very first convers publicly about what zones might look like um and you can see they just look very different than what they did before they're they're all contiguous uh they don't have sort of islands of zones to themselves um they in many in many cases depending on the size of the school sort of stretch across
150the city rather than sort of being small Islands uh that allows for a an attempt at least to provide uh opportunities from different people in different neighborhoods to to attend uh schools uh throughout um and again this is just very much a first draft first discussion Point only and again you see bass's uh uh area is very large part of that is that much of that sort of western part of the city um this area that you know there's a landfill there there's a number of of area a fair amount of area that's not populated uh or or uh um not densely populated that's sort of why it's so large and that that it includes the idea that we would add 10 classrooms to Bass right so if that changes obviously this map has to
151significantly change or we can't use uh we would have to use alternative methods like uh like mobile trailers and things like that that that would be used so that's again very first draft very first uh crack at something that we thought would be a place to start um and then on the next slide it shows you uh what that transition looks like so you have this current elementary zones and then what that Transitions and I think it's important to show them side by side and just kind of look at that for a moment and just kind of reflect on how that is different from where we are now again uh the first draft zones are not they're not the proposal zones uh final proposal zones but they are kind of moving in the direction of
152what we think might be the direction does anybody have any questions about anything that I've said so far I know I went through that really fast because I know we talked about the prior stuff before but um did just want to kind of get your perspective on on that um or do you want me to go to the demographic slide first I can do the demographic slide first so we I have a question from the very last slide okay just to public to know you'll be doing community uh yeah we'll get to that just a second I thoughts on that as well so can I just okay so remember this is the throw down on paper piece for me my mic sorry this is the throw it down on paper piece for me that says
153how what does it look like like visually what does this look like before we even get to whether or not it works on um with the demographics and and there's multiple things um and and I'm a side by think I'm a side by-side person just to see and then what might that how does that change and is this the kind of zoning that we're trying to achieve that's where we were at let us just see it piece of it and then of course it was like let's look at the numbers because we're pretty sure the numbers probably don't match up where we need to be there's more work to be done and I can't stress that second part there is more work to be done um for this so go ahead yeah absolutely so on
154the next slide we'll just we'll go through each one of these um in in a little bit more detail um on the left side where you see the the where it's in white that's the current uh enrollment um breakdown between minority students and white non-hispanic students uh and then in the green you see the the first draft uh proposal of what that might look like at Bass um very similar breakdown uh but a concern there is that it would have a 97% utilization um that again of course includes the idea that we've expanded bass so that's too high uh in all respects and so we need to address that uh the Bedford Hills Zone um is actually uh further away from from being uh a mix of what is representative of the school division as
155it currently is so that needs to get fixed and uh resolved before that gets done the other thing that needs to get resolved is that Bedford Hills in this model is underutilized at 71% that needs to be at least in the 80s uh at the very minimum um and I think as we as we move some of those lines around that'll allow us to to accomplish both of those goals of making sure again it's being reflective of the school division as a whole and better utilizing uh the school darington again has a very similar um breakdown compared to to before and after is at 86% um I think that's in the range of being being reasonable but we can we can talk through that um Heritage uh in this model is closer to being representative
156of the school division um but is on the low end of utilization within within range but 86 80.6% is a little too low and so we can make some changes there I have a question yes ma'am when you say utilization you mean how much space is used in in the building yeah how many how many kids can the the school hold oh I'm how so if the school can hold 500 well easy if a school could hold 100 uh students uh then then that would be that there 80 students or 81 students so you have room for 20 more yeah I didn't want to do the M yeah yeah no that's cool that works for me uh Linkhorn again is very similar to what it currently is now uh but puts us a little high
157at 92% but but reasonable given the conversation we're having uh pal Monroe same conversation there that I I mentioned with Bedford Hill so that's got to be be resolved uh on both both accounts both the the mix of students and on the utilization of the school so that gets that needs to get resolved um permont um is again very similar to its existing uh mix of students uh and and the utilization is uh close to being what the expectation would be um RS pain um again of course is probably um certainly two high in terms of uh change from where the existing school is now so that's 78% minority student to 86% so pretty significant jump but a but a significant part of that is that RS pain in this model doesn't include the ghost
158Center placements right and so that that would need to get get resolved in and and do that again as as we change our thought process on what each school might do in the future that might affect that um but it's important to note that in this model 92.6% utilization so if you start adding students there that will will cause that to rise so that that's another thing that needs to get resolved um as well Sheffield uh as well uh again very similar to what their mix is now but the utilization is too high so you have Sheffield utilization too high Heritage utilization too low that's a there's a fairly simple uh pairing of what might change just given their proximity um again but you do have to make sure you're watching how that's affecting the
159minority in white population so um again lots of different uh components of diversity but in this case we we're thinking largely about race and so we need to to just be clear about that does this include IEPs no this is not this isn't reflective of what is yeah this is simp change depending on whether sandeski Dr Carter go ahead I think I've said this before so it seems like this change this change won't only impact sandeski and TC Miller to impact um students from from every school absolutely so so when we when we the close to home zoning concept was possibly inclusive of sort of a city-wide resoning now um you know it's it's really dependent on which which student we're talking about depending on where their their Zone lies now but potentially could be
160you know the Citywide impacts and I just ask that we keep the we we keep the sanduski and what the other TC Miller data up there until till they really close sure thing so so um we'll continue to do that I so we did not include them as include those schools as part of the model because of the board boards decisions on October 24th and so that was the direction uh that we received and so and that and expanding bass and so if there are different directions we will need to know that very quickly so that we can do that do that analysis again um as well may we simply make a motion that you uh do the do the data on the on those adding those in so so do the so to do
161the close to home zoning analysis adding in Sandusky TC is that yeah absolutely we can we can certainly do that if that if that's what the board would like us to do again that that's going to cost us some money but that's that's okay and that's that's up to you but certainly could be could be done but again this is driven based on the boards this is board's decision right this is not any of us making this decision this is the board's decision so that's right and just with the possibility of gaining some money by this tax increase and other things if the schools end up being saved then it would be viable or a um a benefit to have them these numbers ready it'd be a good place to start for sure y are
162there any other questions about where we are and I guess if there um so that's a really great question and I think if there are other questions that you or other issues that you would like to see resolved in the next iteration besides the ones that I mentioned ones that are sort of highlighted up there are there other issues that you see that do need to be resolved that you're concerned about that you would like us to take into account I just have a general question to what extent do natural boundaries um play in this for instance you whether it's a boundary of a street like this side of the street goes to this school what what interplay does that have in the decision process for great these zes I think that's very important I
163think um we probably haven't taken into account uh like um waterways and things like that but I think definitely roadways will need to be the next part so if there's a there's a great example also if you can go back to the the slide with the yeah one more so if you see where it says perrymont Elementary yes there's a section there that that is that is listed for bass right and what would probably make more sense is for that uh little little corner that is between the expressway and the fort Avenue yeah thanks thanks for that the expressway and Fort Avenue that probably would make more sense to be zoned for for perrymont or Sheffield and that those are things that we can go through that next iteration um the same thing and it's
164it's a little hard to see right where it says darington Elementary School that that's a yellow uh but but it's actually an RS p district there you go it's an RS p district but but that Fifth Street that comes through maybe that makes some sense to go align with the Bedford Hills Zone because it's it would be contiguous anyway and we know we need to better utilize that and we need to get them get the school so lots of things like that so I would I think that's a great point that we can make sure that we're adding in to say let's let's really hone in on those natural boundar at least with roadways um waterways are harder just you know but but definitely with roadways and when it was brought to the academic success
165committee one thing I know we said we wanted people to understand is these big spaces even though we know it's going to change there's businesses there's a rehab centers there's people that are older that all kids that still in their homes it looks big but that's not 100% students so excellent and Mr chur what you brought up is exactly what we were thinking which is why it is critical that we take this back to the schools back to the principles back to social workers the people who are boots on the ground who know these neighborhoods know these kids and can better advise and say it probably looks like you should do this but when you go there it's better to do this and that there are some enrollment projectives that I think would be considered
166too because there are some communities that are there's a lot of bills there is we're industrial yes which is why Dr Wok has stressed over and over first iteration rough draft thank you yeah any other thoughts on uh issues that you'd like us to work with the consultant on to to bring up so definitely we'll take a look at at alternative uh the you know returning back to the 11 School model um if that's what the board likes to do and we'll add in make sure on this model we're adding in those those components on roadways um any other thoughts that and you need us to you would like us to do before we bring it back to you you and we and we'll probably have some other things we want to do too besides
167adding those two schools in as a model you are considering the rezoning and anything else what is the green um the green factors the green factors play into this so the green factors and um I can give you another handout on that but that was actually from the court case where you're looking at the assignment of your students the assignment of your teachers your classified staff participation in um Sports and things like that so there are those six factors that we have to look at and compare um more to the district it doesn't say that everything has to be equal equal equal across the division but you you can't have and I think one of our parents who also knows is you can't have those big disparities which is why well you don't have it
168up here anymore we needed to see like oh nope this too high this too low this is off and we've got to rebalance somehow when we do that so we'll still look at that okay so we'll we'll take that into account as we do the next iteration of this on the next slide uh just finishing up um I'll say we we've identified sort of a process uh here and and I I I do know that there is a desire to kind of get this plan done and going I I would also just say that I I I hope that everyone appreciates that this does need to be an iterative process and I I also think everyone has to everyone must understand that um the school board has some pretty tremendous decisions to make in the
169next several months uh related to budget and those those sorts of things so I would I would suggest that we we take the time to do this work uh and and not push this to do the to do it too fast uh because we want to make sure that you have a deliberative process that includes um some other folks so lots of other folks as many as we can so I think what we have there might be a little aggressive I think that's sort of what I thought we heard last time but I would say let's let's spend some time this summer working with a consultant going back and forth let's let's hear feedback from families and then we hit sort of late summer early fall maybe that would be the time for the board
170to hear final decisions if if that's the case and particularly if we're going to add models um that that is going to take some time as well not saying it's the wrong thing to do but that that is going to take some time to do some analysis so I would just ask you to consider can we have a few more months to do this work and again I know that doesn't meet with um the goal of of having decisions sort of finally made but I don't want this to be done in a way that is uh rushed and any way shape re form so if that if that's fair are you thinking Junior July well so I think what we have up there is is sort of getting that to to may I mean I
171would think probably you know later summer would be a better time frame to get all that sort of time but you know I I understand you have competing um competing goals there okay good thank you thank you yes thank you go see what bring next is item J1 student services policy update Dr Edwards okay all righty ah I think these are all up for first read Dr Brown is here so the student services policy workg group met on February 23rd uh these are three-year reviews and um I'll Dr Brown will give us a quick summary of the ones that we really need to zoom in on uh thank you Dr Edwards good evening members of the board I won't be before you very long today um we did meet as a committee to go through
172um and review the the policies that needed to be reviewed we don't have any suggestions on needing any changes we just wanted to make sure that we had um revised them we did want to um make one change to the last policy um JG DZ and want to recommend that for removal because that process and policy is already in place and seven other locations and specified as more of a redundant policy that doesn't have any significance at this current time who's on this policy work group from the board that is um Miss Preston and Miss Dr Carter since there are no suggestions is there a desire to make it an action item and of him coming back next time I'm make a motion to make an action item is there a second yes I think
173we can make this mam cler would you please call the all Mr jilo abstain Mr Andrews yes Mr trust yes Dr Day yes Dr Gupta yes Dr Carter yes yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Mrs Lori yes this is an action item now is there a motion to approve it motion to approve a second all right Mrs Lowry and Mr Andrews mam cler would you please call the room Mr jilo abstain Mr Andrews yes Mr TR yes Dr day yes Dr Gupta yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr defal yes Mr Lor yes motion carries thank you next is item J2 School nutrition policy update so you all know that we had an excellent thank you Dr Brown thanks Dr Brown thank you an excellent review when we had our on-site school facilities
174um report uh thank you Miss Morrison School nutrition team um they did recommend to uh policies to add some additional language so I'm going to turn that over to Dr W could have quickly go through that thank you Dr Edwards um if I can just briefly add on to that I just really like if we can just celebrate a little bit uh so School nutrition uh had a wonderful uh audit uh we had one finding uh that and that is that um you know there's a bamerican act uh responsibility they did find that we had some broccoli from Ecuador uh so we will be resolving that as we move into the future but that's apparently the only place you can get it broccoli so uh we're going to work on that but uh there were
175some technical uh suggestions you will recall that in December we made some updates to the school nutrition policy uh to be ready for that uh that review um apparently the rules changed in between time uh so they they gave us some suggestions uh the first is f um EF EFC um and that is just adding a statement that we will not uh limit a student's ability to participate in extracurricular activities if they have a school debt and you will Rec from last time we talked about this we don't have school debt our school meal debt anyway uh but it is required to be in our policy and so that does um uh not apply to us but it is required for us to be in the policy uh the other item is uh J H
176cf- RZ and there's an addition of a statement that if there's a fundraiser that sells food or beverages it cannot be during um School meal service times um that is federal law um that includes 6: a.m. to the end of the breakfast period and during lunch periods and uh the school principal approves and tracks and monitors all uh food and beverage fundraisers and that fundraiser document is kept on file in the main office so that is something we already do anyway um so that's a part of our process so those are just two items that are just clean up from that audit process again very successful audit so we're very proud of that um and we should celebrate that I have a question for Dr Edwards um do do the is there still the library
177book policy in place like if a student loses books they can't they have to pay the fine before they get their diploma is that still in place we had removed some of those findes when we were um in Co and we're trying our best to kind of balance and see where we can help students and things like that I'm gon to teach them more to be responsible and bring the B most important part Yeah because sometimes it's from elementary school so so yeah this is mostly a cleanup it will not be fair for drka have to ask any intention to make it action yeah let's make an yes motion motion I'll second please call the all Mr jile yes Mr Andrew yes Mr TR yes Dr day yes Dr Gupta yes Dr Carter yes Mrs
178Preston yes Mr depal yes Mrs Lor yes since it's an action item is there a motion to approve it I would like to say something first or ask a question according to the presentation today under operating expenditures School Food Services and other non- construction operations are being reduced from 42,45 to 13,185 explain that yeah great question so um what you're looking at on that sheet of paper is fund one the operating fund School nutrition operates in uh fund three which is just separate from all other operating funds and so you don't see that ultimately you'll get that budget to to adopt and school school nutrition just operates on on a different set of of of funds and so there is some um there's some operating money that goes into school nutrition for certain services but
179that's you know that's just a calculation that's done every year I get that right yes so uh it's it's just a it's just a change in from year to year on what the the internal Services cost all right do we have a plan to increase it or no we don't uh for for that I don't think there's a need for that in the operating fund there MO to approve the policies I think you did you made a motion and you seconded the motion mam cler could you please call the room Mr Jalil yes Mr Andrews yes Mr tro yes Dr day yes Dr G yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes m depal yes Mrs Lori yes carries thank you next is k1 literacy textbook adoption Dr Edwards yep so this morning uh Miss Pew
180myself Dr Brown Miss Cruz and a couple other team members um spent the morning having our second right second training second and four um with the Virginia literacy act but more importantly doing our division um literacy plan and the first thing that we talked about was these high quality instructional material um and uh we were somewhat ahead of the game for some of the divisions in that we've had a wonderful process which you can see some of those materials here I'm inviting Miss Cruz up to talk a little bit about the process for getting to where we are with material selection good evening everybody thank you so much we can go to the next slide again this is just a review for our K5 literacy textbook adoption and just a reiteration to remind you uh
181Virginia literacy Act has been uh we're in implementation of that got more information this fall and we are steadily getting more information um as the days go by um but again this is wrapped around the science of reading um it's supporting that science-based reading research those five pillars uh through evidence-based literacy instruction we are in the phasing of phase one the focus of K through three phase two is a focus of grades four through eight um and the overall goal for the literacy Act is that preparation of teachers the educator prep program the alignment of the science of reading again addressing those five pillars that are going to enhance our students in the reading components and what does that look like uh for the Virginia literacy act it's a new literacy screener which is called
182vs and vs is the Virginia language and literacy screening system um and that'll be full implementation for 2425 for K through3 and then the K8 evidence-based literacy curriculum again focusing on uh the core which Dr Edwards alluded to um and our team worked on more specifically today that core material and what you all have had the opportunity to vet along with many other members and then that K8 supplemental material so what does that look like in our division what are we working toward all of our teachers will complete coursework that focuses on evidence-based practices uh I am happy to report that our administ rators are are in a course right now for letters it is specific to administrators so that they can get out ahead of that and our team is so wonderful um actually
183they were already working on some of that letters training and we have some folks that are already in cohort 2 so we are moving along very very nicely in this plan uh the the other piece and we talk about this in some of our academic success and just conversations I've had with you all is how do we get out ahead of this even more and how do we include the community and we're pre those at home resources for continued support for families so that they feel like they can support at home uh with this literacy initiative and understanding the importance of literacy overall what's required of our division is that K5 Focus for 2425 uh with that literacy plan being due in July and there's a K8 Focus for 2526 and that's actually some new
184information as I said that we we just got a about two weeks ago so that's always good news that we're out ahead of the game what are we doing currently in LCS we're proud again of the work that we're doing those instructional materials Wilson language program which is includes foundations and just words so that's prek 34 and just words is Fifth and it's under that umbrella of Wilson the Hagerty functions so the pheic and phonological awareness geodes and our youly program and bridge the gap program that address specifically our Title One students those are all program that we have up and going and we are seeing very very good success with currently what does professional learning look like for us um I know that I've heard Miss Lowry multiple times mention OG um Orton Gillingham
185training and that's with our literacy coaches and title teachers our classroom teachers again specifically addressing those literacy needs letters training which I spoke about just a just a little bit ago and we have several cohorts going cohort one we started again we have a group in cohort report to for letters training um our our title teachers are involved in that literacy coaches classroom teachers our cni team literacy team and our administrators who have done very very well and have been very inquisitive um during that process and then VP we're in Partnership and they are offering a canvas course and we are working with them to figure out how that's going to best suit our Educators throughout the summer and how we can provide that professional learning so that they are adequately prepared going into the
1862425 school year so our next steps uh I mention the selection and and Adoption of the K5 Core Curriculum we are out ahead of the curve here with the work that we are doing but that is the expectation for the 2425 school year and the reason we have been at such a pace is so that we can provide the materials to our Educators and provide professional learning and make sure that that is very intimate um in a sense and making sure we're pushing into the buildings not to only address the overall needs of Lynchberg City schools for literacy but to make that a unique and a personal experience for each one of the schools based on their overall needs and based on our data um and and we have a plan in mind for that
187um that we that we'll have more information coming up after spring break as well so that selection of that high quality material um we're going to select the K8 supplemental material and if you notice up there I'm speaking just briefly about supplemental because we don't have um we don't have full approval that will be with the Board of Education after March 28th and I'll be very happy to report back I'm sure there are several people there are going to be happy to hear about what those supplemental materials are uh we would then move into the development of that LCS literacy plan which we want to collaborate with our schools in that literacy component again we develop a division plan but we know that each School each child each educator makes up that literacy plan for
188us and so developing that PL plan for K3 classroom teachers that work starts upon that adoption of that high quality material so when we get to a place where you say yes this is what we want to do this is how we want to move we've already started the ball rolling in the in the right direction not only with our current professional learning and the supplemental materials and programs that we're already providing but how do we get out ahead of this before we even have our Educators walk out of the door how do we prepare them how do we build a plan to successfully do that and again we've started that work with science of reading addressing those five pillars how that's integrated into literacy reading and writing components how that's a cross-curricular approach such
189as that letters program so what is the timeline looked like for us we have been busy and I will be the first to say our amazing team has done a lot of this work um I I am just honored to be a part of the process and the feedback and the wonderful conversations and the feedback we've gotten from the buildings has just been very very uh crucial in this process so again we began this we started to get information um mid to late November so we started immediately um and that first round was the review team it's a smaller team of our literacy coaches in the division our principes and members of the curriculum and instruction team we started that with a review of online materials from Publishers that were provided January we moved right
190into that first round review of the physical materials and if you all remember there were lots of materials um upstairs we used the video videoe provided rubric to score the material so that we had something consistent in nature that we could measure from and that was based off of the approved Publishers so not just a selection of this is what we like to see but this is Core Curriculum that has been approved already by vdoe so we knew we were moving in the right direction our cni team then reviewed the results from the survey um with Chuck yarboro who's been wonderful in this process as well and determin the top two Publishers we were able to narrow down to that uh during this January time frame so again very very busy February um there's notification
191of the textbook review on the LCS website that was published School level review with the top two Publishers it was narrowed down to amplify and Benchmark from the first round review and we received a great deal of feedback had access to all the online and physical materials at each School Missy fretwell did a wonderful job in making sure that we got those materials and resources out to the school so that they could be reviewed and we did hear from several of our principles that our Educators were taking this process very very seriously because they wanted to be a part of that and moving that uh moving that peace for literacy and cross-curricular that was mentioned a great deal across this with that integration for the science of reading live publisher info sessions amplify and Benchmark
192were both gracious enough to come to us and provide those live sessions and provide feedback and additional resources and answer questions for us um over at ITC we're currently in March and and moving quickly into April I can't believe we're already so far and we're here to make recommendations for the literacy textbook to you all as a board and obtain your Schoolboard approval um through this process so when we're talking about any literacy look fors again as a reminder when we're going through that rubric what are we looking for what helps to benefit our students and what lines up with the supplemental resources that we are already doing so it's not a one more thing it is just good quality instruction so focusing on that pheic awareness for K1 phonics as a K3 the vocab
193ulary has to be integrated immediately moving into that K5 reading fluency foundational reading skills and development of that comprehension and background knowledge which is key for all of our students small group instruction and independent practice what that looks like how we model that and how we successfully Implement that K through three and we actually are pushing that even more through our instructional walks and and other components we've seen some wonderful small group instruction and writing has to be at the top of our pillar to help develop our students in preparation and moving forward outside of this realm So based on the results we we got the results in and again thank you to everybody who participated all community members all of you who have participated our wonderful Educators our principes our cni team based on
194the results and reviewer feedback um we've reviewed cost of materials and recommendation for adoption is The Benchmark materials and we actually have those located back here again um and uh we are super super excited um with the amount of feedback and just things that we can U utilize to develop our PL plan with the approval for you all we also have attached in here uh Benchmark put together a wonderful Resource Bank and it's off of padlet and it offers all kinds of even cross-curricular approaches and how that um how that ties in for science social studies math Etc so if you all had have had an opportunity you can start to review some of those pieces and then there is a price quote and one of the things I want to mention about this the
195price quote is actually for a seven-year contract so with the adoption it is seven years and I don't come to you today to ask for any additional funding or any of those things this is already worked into our textbook Reserve um so we are not asking for additional funding we would be able to fully cover this and meet the expectations for the 2425 implementation with this adoption right question yes ma'am do you have the and So within this do you have the funds for the supplementals that you would like to everything is included in that seven-year contract yes ma'am it is line item by line item and everything's included we don't we are not asking for anything else at this moment but you can get the supplementals that you want everything is in there yes
196ma'am other question for Miss Cruz or Dr is is it typical to have a seven-year term on a contract such as this m yes sir yes yes sir yep s your rotation good yeah thank you right thank you so do you need this to V is there an approval request oh okay yeah well put it this way looking that's why I thought you were going to ask me that the quicker that you all approve it the quicker we can get it in the hands of the teachers and one of the things is we want to make sure as you can see from all of these wonderful things this is not something we want teachers to be like okay school starts in in 5 days go through all that if we can start doing training now
197and really get them to dive in and we have teachers who are already hungry some of them are already they're probably stuck in between those anyhow because they've been in but that depends on you all so that we can get that order out I motion that we make it second you're making a motion to make it action item yes Mr Andrew's U check it discussion right Madam clerk would you please call the r Mr julo yes Mr Andrews yes Mr troll yes Dr day yes yes Dr gupa yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr toal yes Mrs Lori yes now an action item is there a motion to approve it motion approved second L Mr Andrews discussion I just like to say that I enjoyed what I saw when I read through a lot
198of the material over there uh the other day and when I look through it I was impressed with the layout the colors the sources and information so I think you made the right choice thank you sir other discussion Madam Clark would you please call the all Mr jilo yes Mr Andrews yes Mr Char yes Dr day yes Dr goter yes yes Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depar yes Mrs Lori yes motion carries thank you thank you all thank you just add one more piece thank you for approving that um and conditional with that is a little thing that we want to do with you all and just as we do future work sessions getting back to the the work part of it and sharing maybe 5 to 10 minutes of this is what this
199program is like and letting you guys kind of experience it also giving us the opportunity to say hey parents at home you could try this um but really let's let's bring the curriculum to the table U and not just for literacy but we're going to start with literacy so I just need your permission no more than 10 minutes we're not trying to do a full programming but maybe give you one of the things like the thing we did today which had us all like oh my goodness it would be great for board members to see what teachers are working with or what parents be working and I think that helps keep us solid conversation yes perf okay thank you thank you next is informational items uh number one is join city council School Board budget
200meeting 400 p.m. March 26 at business Alliance building school board meeting March 9th at 5:00 p.m. here in boardroom discipline committee data review uh Thursday March 11th at 400 p.m. I'm sorry April 11th at 400 p.m. fin and facilities at April 16th at 3:30 p.m. academic success committee April 2 cor yeah I think we changed we changed that April 23rd is that right Dr day yes for which one what is the correction dr3 for the finance and Facilities committee meeting same time 3:30 April 23rd 3:30 230 at 3:30 yes yes sir okay so finance and Facilities amended and we'll change online April 23rd at 3:30 academic success committee April 23rd at 3:30 board work session April 16th at 5:00 p.m. ad hoc discipline and policy Review Committee April 25th but I'm assuming it's 3:30 another
201correction yeah go ahead Dr day there's no time on that should be March 28th March 28th the ad hoc discipline and policy Review Committee what time 3:30 it's usually 3:30 3:30 all right so item number seven is March 28th at 3:30 p.m. that's correct all right thank you we we are adjourn thank you e