001[Music] uh the item B1 is approval of electronic participation by a school board member uh is there a motion to approve I'll make a motion second Mr Andrew Mr depal any discussion Madam Clark would you please call the role Mr jilo yes Mr Andrews yes Mr TR yes Dr day yes Dr Gupta yes Dr Carter yes Mr depal yes Mrs Lorry yes motion carries M Preston you're on board now I am thank you uh item C1 is Pledge of Allegiance Dr day please rise for the pledge I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you Dr item D1 is approval of agenda is there a motion to approve the agenda I
002move we approve the agenda Dr day Miss Lowry second any discussion on the agenda Madam clerk would you please call the role Mr jilo yes Mr Andrews yes Mr Charles yes Dr day yes Dr gupter yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Miss Lori yes motion carries not9 to zero thank you item even is custodial assessment of Awards Dr Edwards yes so this is something new that we added this year um under Dr woda so we're really excited um to start the first of midi custodial Awards I'm going to turn over to Dr woda thank you Dr Edwards and good evening uh members of the board we uh stand tonight in celebration with uh some very wonderful uh and often under preciated and unsung uh Heroes of our School Division about a
003year ago um some some facility staff and I were touring some buildings and started to say Hey you know we we've got some some work to do in terms of cleanliness of some of our buildings and we really want to start taking a look and making sure that uh the learning environments that we have for our students are as happy healthy and and safe and and clean as they possibly can be so one of the things we often say is the most important things we can do in school administration uh are to have really incredible teachers but also have really incredible uh learning spaces for our students and and a huge part of that is the incredible work that our our custodians do on a day-to-day basis so about 6 months ago we started doing
004AAL assessment uh with the number of standards that we you know as a School Division we do a lot of that we do assessments on standards and seeing where we are uh and so we wanted to take a look at sort of where we are in terms of uh the cleanliness of our buildings we did an initial assessment gave some feedback uh and then took a look at the growth that we've seen and a number of our a number of our buildings uh that has been really incredible over that time period so we did a second assessment uh and we told them that at that time that we would create an awards program for the best and cleanest School the school an award we're calling the school of Distinction uh for custodial Services as well
005as uh a a growth award or a most improved award for each Elementary and a secondary school so uh Mr Floyd is going to join me and he's going to read off the winners of this we'll also have some honorable mentions as well who have made really great progress uh and we're really excited to hear from him so thank you Dr Waka Dr Edwards Dr Gupta school board members I'd like to bring Shirley Rucker up who is our supervisor for Environmental Services she's been a a key role in developing the custodial program across the division setting standards and um helped come up with the uh inspection form that we use so as Dr uh waka said that clean healthy schools are the strongest thing for student achievement uh we know that healthy it promotes a
006healthy teachers staff and students which can lead to Less abenes in school uh a better learning experience for students we know that if uh study show that a clean environment uh helps with uh theer uh students can focus learn and feel safe and comfortable in the school environment uh hopefully parental and Community involvement a clean safe tidy looking School promotes uh hopefully the parents know that their kids are cared for it's a safe environment and uh we be a source of Pride for the parents students and staff of that school so the main purpose of doing these assessments is truly about setting high expectations for our building administrators and custodial teams uh the goal is to have consistent and clear expectations so that everyone can learn grow and ultimately succeed in ensuring that our learning
007spaces are happy clean healthy as they possibly can be uh I do want to mention that also these assessments we took the opportunity to assess interior maintenance needs uh grounds needs so all that was looked at uh and we tried to uh ask questions of how we can help uh the school staff better um so on the assessment team uh we had Dr Wuda and then of course Shirley Rucker was instrumental in that Boyce Hamlet who was the assistant director facilities uh took part in this as well and then Brian Green who is a supervisor of grounds and then of course myself so without further Ado uh we'd like to award our first round of custodial assessment Awards so I'm going uh let Shirley Rucker she can read the uh I will read the school
008off so honorable mentions so we gave two Awards one at the secondary level and one at the elementary level for each um uh category we had an honorable mention and then we had a most improved and then we have the school of Distinction which was in our view was the cleanest at the time uh so our arnal mention school is at the secondary 11 was linkor Middle School and it was the head Cel was Donald ma all right uh and so uh honorable mention at the elementary level was Paul Monroe Elementary Mark Johnson our most improved uh I me I'm sorry that was AR so our most improved at the secondary level was Sandusky Middle School mono and then our most improved at the elementary level was Robert S Payne Elementary Brown yeah all right
009and without further Ado the big one the school of Distinction which we're hoping that this will become as popular and Sid after competitive as The Jug bowl there we [Laughter] go this trophy uh we're calling it The Golden dust pan award nice and I will show it to everybody and the school name will be put on it and so at the secondary level uh their first one goes to EC glass High School yeah very popular head custodian Greta Ford and her team all right the golden dust pan award for the elementary school level goes to TC [Applause] Miller first year head custodian Dora Landa Sarah bait so we intend for the uh the golden dustpan to be moved to the next school that is the cleanest at our next assessment unless he Miller and glass
010hold on to it there you go and at the end of the year at at the end of the year our plans to retire the award to the school that has won it the most times there you go excellent that's great thank you guys very [Applause] much Dr Edwards could do seats in the front if you anybody like to sit I did next one is item F1 congratulations to all the winners thank you Dr V and Dr Edwards for doing that job it shows the team spirit you I've seen that when they was flooding in EC glass High School uh they were all working as a team all night and in the morning when we arrived they still had Smiles on their face and they wanted to make sure the school is taken care of
011that's right that shows the dedication of our staff absolutely and my next item F1 goes right into it uh you know we uh is the chair comments and I like I'll say a few word lines and then I'll uh yield my time to Dr day as a chair of finance and Facilities committee now we're getting into the budget session and uh from December meeting we'll be uh going into budget discussions uh so it's important for this board to look into what we need to do as set our goals and priorities and uh we CH as we channel the budget through the financing facilities those of you uh who thinking who the members are is chaired by Dr day uh M Mr Andrews and Mr deal are the other two members of finance and Facilities committee
012so we'll be channeling that discussion through we have a parent member we have a parent member yeah Christy Mor yes uh Christy Mor Orford is the parent liazon on the finance and Facilities committee thank you and as we move into that discussion uh and Mr Andrews reminds me every time we had last year 1550 was our goal we could not reach because of some Financial constraints we stopped at 1547 Dr Edwards sent us the living wage right now is1 16.15 and we are still below and I was telling somebody a dollar increase means $40 a week it's about $2,000 a month and after tax you take home only $1,200 so uh when we say you're hardworking we appreciate we clap we need to reciprocate them in that real appreciation in terms of at least a
013living wage for our staff so my challenge for us I know we'll be tied for money is to see if we can achieve at least one of those two Market we play a catchup game Dr Carter you remember two years ago we were doing $15 what looked like a whole lot when we were at $13 an hour and the teachers are still behind compared to the local counties so um having said that I yield my time to Dr day as a chair of the finance committee well you you've said everything I might have said just to point out to the board as well as to the public that we're about to enter into this process uh the facilities and finance committee will have a lot to do do and we will be dependent on um
014a lot of information that uh we will need from the administration um we'll need information about Staffing and vacancies uh we'll want of course compare uh what we're looking at for the coming fiscal year to what we've seen this year and perhaps preceding years uh there's contingency fund requests um surpluses that we're expecting to have at the end of this year are long-range Capital Improvement plan um projected revenues so we're we're we are dependent on the administration and staff to give us a lot of information as soon as we can get that um we can begin um trying to digest it so um that's that's where we are the facilities and finance committee meets next uh week from today I believe and whatever we have on hand at that point we can begin coming to
015grips with thank you we'll all work as a team to make sure uh we take care of our family members which is the teachers and staff that's the and so that they can provide quality educational experience to our kids um the next one is item G1 public comments Dr D okay let me again as I always do read the brief statement of the policies regarding public comments uh persons appearing before the school board will not be allowed to campaign for for public office or promote private bit private business ventures and should not use profanity or vulgar language or gestures make comments about a public official or an employee that are not related to their official duties engage in behavior that disrupts the meetings or intimidates others or address the school board on issues that do
016not concern the services policies role Andor responsibilities of the local board individual speakers shall limit their comments to 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 their presentation a group may have no more than one spokesperson the total allotted time for public comments at school board meetings is 30 minutes public comments are reserved for the public to provide input the board does not respond to comments answer questions or otherwise engage in discussion at this time um I'm noting the clock at [Music] 5:17 um the first name on the list is Mr Tyler Turner hey guys thank you for having me tonight my name is Tyler Turner I'm with Americans for Prosperity foundation and I'm here to speak to
017you today about the effects of Education success accounts on the school board level from a budgetary standpoint here are the facts a student who is approved to take the esa will receive 95% of the S soq funding for the school year in four equal dis dis dispersements made periodically throughout the school year 5% of the S soq is maintained to fund the administration of the esa program Esa students will continue to be counted in the local District's ADM budget for as long as they're in the ES a program and continue to live in the local school district today if a student leaves the education system the system loses 100% of the funding for the student with the esa The Local District will continue to receive 50% of the students local per pupil expenditure if the
018student leaves the system the federal and local portions of the total education funding will continue to be available to the local school district Federal will be available for up to three addition additional years local will be available based upon the decisions made at the local level and districts will still receive the local education Revenue they have already received identification would be a property tax dollars based on statistical findings regarding similar education programs in Virginia and elsewhere the expectation is that at most 4.5% of the current students within the district will take advantage of the esa or other education opportunity programs this will likely lead to to more local education opt options as funding becomes available for non-traditional education routes particularly in lower income and Rural communities Teachers Pay will increase as additional funding becomes available
019due to continued ADM funding for students taken on in Esa and class sizes will become moderate even as educational options increase the local SE school district will continue to be the big fish in the Little Pond as the market for Education grows the availability of highle teachers will naturally increase as local options be increasingly lucrative so seeing that this issue has become hyperarid to put aside these differences is to come together and come up with Solutions this is a possible solution not just at the state level but it's also a solution at the local level certain localities have the jurisdiction to be able to implement Esa legislation and they actually can separate themselves and divorce themselves from State legislation this is not a this is not a partisan issue it has become especially on the
020state level and and National level it's become considered a partisan issue there's a mantra school choice now it's fun students not systems and people see this as an either or it's not an either or we need to have strong education systems in our local community that are publicly funded but we also need to allow each and every parent to make the decision that is best for their child a powerful country a powerful State a powerful Community empowers each every each individual with opportunities with choices and with options and it's not one-size fit all because as I know as a parent of four children and a member of this community each child is uniquely different each child has a unique way of learning and each child needs a different route to be successful in their life
021I would recommend all of you to promote and to support Esa legis ation because I think this will be instrumental in transforming our education and moving forward it will make a massive difference in our community and in the state thank you thank you next speaker is Carly schaer uh first I just want to say I support the east glass GSA Grant funded safe room uh last meeting you debated this for literally longer than it took you to close two schools no exaggeration and by approving this uh it's a no-brainer our students and staff at glass are working hard to provide an anti-bullying anti-suicide space for state for students to feel supported and loved minstral products are not controversial student support is not controversial your goal should be serving students and their needs do the right
022thing support the safe space next last last meeting you voted to keep TC Miller and sandeski open one more year to not disrupt the children before figuring out the exact plan your decisions have already severely disrupted these children's lives and continue to every day we are seeing the effects of this Reckless decision save our schools include sanduski and TC Miller zoned families and invited families families who are each board meeting and families who talk with us at carpool tech school who cannot attend due to jobs Transportation or child care we're parents but we're also professors teachers Engineers nurses not for-profit directors phds social workers counselors alumni and many with backgrounds in education I know I frankly am a white privileged mom but I'm not just here for my kids 65% of TC Miller and 70%
023of sandeski are students of color and a majority are lowincome research shows that closing these population schools will only increase the achievement Gap our black brown and low-income students historically get the short end of the stick and that is precisely what is is happening now at the August joint meeting you wouldn't touch scenario 4 at pal Monroe due to community response are our communities any less important is it Equitable to bust our kids as you suggested across town after closing us we urge you to think about why the schools of innovation were created in these Central locations where 90% of our Zone children are black and brown instead of dividing by race and income like the ghost Center does our schools exist of an actual Melting Pot of peers which is so rare our schools
024should be protected from what they offer to students who have systematically never been prioritized but you want to show these children you don't value them close their school doing so sends a message about who and what you value every student not so much we filed an appeal because this decision was rushed based purely on facilities and finances your job here is education yet you lacked educ educational studies to support your decision and why would you close a school of innovation only to pay millions to expand other schools to fit us and start new innovation programs DC Miller's facility is in the top five expandable and apparently very clean sanduski can be built affordably we are high- performing schools we've brought you viable Solutions and data every single meeting you can save both schools but will
025you LCS can't afford a step back in Community Trust why don't you work with us the people advocating so hard for public education why wouldn't you keep the thriving schools why wouldn't you address enrollment instead of closing where is the vision Colleen lens is ready to speak soon with you about sanduski getting rebuilt affordably please hear her we are asking you to create a hybrid school for TC Miller with one of the highest engaged populations via attendance and programs use our culture and success to build your preschool program where our littlest students can smoothly transition from from preschool to Elementary successfully keep TC Miller's school on the top levels and offer prese School in the five lower classrooms that can be utilized not even counting our ability to expand Mr trust and Mr Andrews have
026both supported this idea use the incredible environments Mr wiac Fosters and TCM has had for 30 years and pull families in increasing your enrollment and solving capacity concerns instead of continuing to disrupt and disvalue our students lives and well-being choose an alternative keep our schools open value these 600 students in the educational culture and home where they learn grow and become create an enrollment campaign that pulls that 33% of families who choose private in Lynchburg work with city council to cover the deficit utilize viable Solutions like PPA determine rezoning that does not resegregate our schools or close schools with vulnerable populations can we play as a team we're here waiting wanting to make this better the ball is in your court and for every second that goes by our students struggle the community's trust in
027you becomes weaker change the game keep our doors open save our schools and we can all actually win thank [Applause] you next is John Eckles good evening my name is John Eckles and I have lived in Lynchburg with my family since 1986 I served as the vice president and dean of students at the University of Lynchburg for 30 years I'm familiar with education budget considerations strategic plans and most importantly the concept of community or family you have heard all the logical reasons as to why these schools should remain open but clearly this has fallen on several deaf ears you have heard also TC Miller and sanduski being referred to as family so let me try to communicate from a slightly different perspective you are sitting in your home with your family enjoying the day together
028all of a sudden there's a knock on the door several City officials greet you with warm Smiles then they tell you that they're closing down your house and that you got to move you look at them shocked why on Earth would you do that you say well this house is just too old and we decided that it's in your best interest to move you well where will we move you say well we don't know yet but trust us we'll figure something out and sorry as a result of the move your family will have to split up but don't worry your kids are resilient you can't do this you say well actually we can see a couple of us got together and thought this was the best way despite previous input you have a year and
029then you're out of your house in the meantime just continue on if nothing's different we suppose this might be a bit stressful as you don't know where your family is going and that your family will be split up but just remember we know what's best for your family well the neighbors heard about this a few were just glad they weren't being moved out a couple of neighbors said that would never happen to them because they live in expensive new homes but the overwhelming majority gathered together and spoke in opposition to this idea but still the small group St stubbornly held to their decision you know what's best I submit to you that maybe you don't know what's best for these families would you like your family disrupted like this I think not you have chosen
030the most complex path just disrupting two families of 600 children and thousands of family members the hardest thing for a leader to do is put the brakes on and stop and realize the path you are going on is not the right one to turn around and retrace your steps until you find the correct one you have the opportunity to do this do the right thing and let the families of TC Miller and sanduski Thrive as they are doing right now thank [Applause] you uh next on the list is Colleen lens but the name is scratched out she's not here to speak tonight she's does not want to speak T okay so she's not speaking okay then next is Peter sephara good evening um first of all I just want to thank you if I could
031just address people I know it's against the rules but I just want to thank you for the important work you're all doing here um I want to uh follow up on comments that were made earlier by Mr Turner about Esa opportunities and legislation I would bet that many or most of the people in this room and in this city do not know what Esa is all about and since the SAA program could very possibly possibly impact Student Success um I would ask you to please consider forming a study group to evaluate the esa uh program and proposed legislation and communicate communicate what you find out to the public so that we all know from your professional opinion what what you think about the esa uh possibilities or the the impact of it or you know
032the benefit from from it and um uh help us understand it also because we're going to be you know ongoing basis I believe we're going to be asked to evaluate this and vote on it uh through our Representatives so um I would ask that you do that um last evening I emailed the board uh uh something about the um uh subject of equity was discussed by the equity task force in the last meeting I think it was the 24th of October um and the G I don't know if any of you read it yet but the gist of it is that we're discussing this important subject according to the task force it's the highest priority for the school system that's what they said and um I know that a lot of people do not understand
033what Equity is how it's defined within you know it being the way it's being used here um how you attain Equity what Equity looks like when it is attained what's the cost what's the negative the upside the downside how it affects all students education programs um I think we need to know that the public I I really believe in that people who are you know spending our money in controlling important aspects of our our city really need to communicate to the public what they're talking about the ramifications of what they're talking about because we don't probably don't have time or the wherewithal to study all those things but you in you have the opportunity to do that that's you're here for so please look at that and uh attend to the questions now I don't
034know how you communicate the answers to my questions to me or to the public but it would be nice to come up with a way to post answers or something so it's really nice for people to get up here but then you know I don't know you there's never any answers to anybody's questions so it' be nice if sometimes we got an answer so um consider doing that I really appreciate I said what you're doing and um we got progress to make here and I think we can do it if we all the community all works with you together uh on a um a basis of a positive basis with positive suggestions thank you very much thank you next is Mark [Music] [Applause] furo good evening my name is uh Reverend Mark furo I am
035a Lynchberg resident and a parent of a TC Miller third grader I'm also the Chief Operating Officer of the Episcopal dasis of Southwestern Virginia I can really sympathize I think with your situation in that I know that you've been tasked with a a very difficult task with one arm tie behind your back you don't have the purse strings and the financial control but you've been tasked to do something really hard so I want to get that out in front however um I have have a significant concern about the process uh this board's process and City council's process you have a split vote that doesn't show consensus with some members even reconsidering currently their position you have no secure Dependable financing plan for future plans from city council and as a process oper observation I would
036say we're in a foggy and very unclear moment this is the moment in time that I would normally say refer back to committee but honestly I don't know which committee to refer back to I think good governance starts with a committee process that listens and dig deep and creates consensus among stakeholders Financial plans and then can roll it out with a clear summary I don't have the one page paper abstract that can lay out what this is about so in uh as John eckl said earlier I think this is a moment when we really need to stop as Leaders take stock stop the process and begin as begin again as best as we can right now this process has led to a poison pill where several stakeholders including parents and teachers and administrators are hurt
037and conflicted that is an indicator a red flag for stopping and reassessing we have an O opportunity to do something different here in this particular moment I would ask that um until we understand what the financial plan is and obtain strong clear consistent Dependable financing and a strategic plan that matches it to make sense that the process pause stop people are confused and hurt and feeling vulnerable and walking into another year of uncertainty doesn't help stop table refer again to city council find a process that works management and government cannot be mixed in every single board meeting refer refer this work to a committee with stakeholders that make sense and do the homework then a board like this can do governance and make decisions I'm not seeing the data and the metrics at every level
038that can lead to a decision that makes sense last time I came here and said we can't judge schools based based on being a branch Bank by simple Financial indicators they each have their own narrative and their own places and you have to find metrics in a process that can lay everything out in a consistent understandable way that brings in multiple factors thank you you don't have the finances you don't have the plan table it thank [Applause] you next is Greg Barry good evening my name is Greg Barry and I am a member of the Lynchburg area City Elders I am the father of four children who graduated from Lindburg City schools and I am the grandfather and guardian of a current EC glass student most importantly I am a Christian who believes beles in
039the inherent word of God I would like to thank the school board for giving me the opportunity to address the GSA Grant proposal and Governor Yan's model policy for school boards as a Believer I believe that scripture is very uh clear about God's design and purpose for mankind Genesis 1 tells us so God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him male and female created he them and God blessed them and God said unto them be fruitful and multiply all people are created by God and are so greatly loved by him that he sent his only son to die for each one of us the reason Jesus died for us is because of the sins each of us have committed and he wants to free us from the bondage
040of all of our sins that includes the LBGTQ lifestyle and agenda the Bible is very clear that this is sin while our country is so great that it permits us many freedoms including in the area of sexual practices and preferences the schools are not the place for any of this let me be very clear the LBGTQ agenda in schools is about in doctrination and grooming our children into right right yes he is into an evil and wicked lifestyle all while circumventing the rights and responsibilities of parents pursuing the LBGTQ agenda in public schools is more about special privileges for those identifying as queer and curtailing the religious Liberties for the majority of lindbur citizens guaranteed by our constitution shouldn't we instead be focusing our efforts on the real purpose of the Lynchburg school system which
041is education if there is a need for discussion on sexual concerns these discussions should be conducted in the home by parents or counselors of the parents choosing Governor yonan's model policy takes into account the needs of all students and parents while protecting everyone's rights while still maintaining respect for different opinions and beliefs the intent and purpose of the of this policy maintains if you keep interrupting me I'll continue finish your sentence please attorney general Jason M uh was asked for a bride at a legal opinion about the model policy his conclusion is very clear chairman time is we it is therefore my further opinion that pursuant to Virginia code we let the previous speaker finish his remarks we can let this gentleman finish his as well local school boards are required to adopt policies that
042are consistent with these model policies thank you for your time and consideration thank you and I need to ask the audience to not to not make comments cat calls or things like that to intimidate the speaker regardless of whether you agree with them or not it's only fair and civil the next speaker is Vincent [Applause] Gonzalez excuse me sir please one moment I'm I'm we're not going to take from your time I promise let's remind people that when the buzzer goes off they need to stop okay that's that's point forward yes when the when the buzzer goes off you do need to stop thank you okay please proceed Mr Gonzalez hi my name is Vicente Gonzalez I'm a graduate of EC glass member of the equity task force queer town hall and the Latin American
043Community Center of Lynchburg first I want to say that the Lynchburg queer Town Hall CIO Latino Amico de Lynchberg stands in solidarity with the teachers students and community members who are mobilizing to fight against the closing of schools we understand that this effort as well as the effort that supports disabled students undocumented Youth and the push for restorative justice practices are all interconnected queer people are under attack our community is facing a seismic shift our lgbtq youth are being targeted proposed policy will create additional barriers for transgender youth that deny them equal access to education based on the behavior of this board in reference to the grant for the EC glass GSA and the junkan anti-tr policies we are extremely con concerned this board is clearly resistant to equal access to our schools for queer
044and LGBT people and I ask all fellow marginalized people to remember that when institutions Target one marginalized group they will most certainly Target others I thought that I might try to refute some of the claims and statements that were made during the last work session but I think these comments speak for themselves typically in response I would outline the the various statistics that prove that queer and trans youth experience disproportionate rates of trauma and violence but it's becoming evidently clear that this board simply does not care even with the knowledge that trans kids are highly at risk youth you insist on upholding barriers for them when it comes to access to Safe schools and public education the problematic comments being made by members of this board are actively encouraging harassment and harm to trans people
045people and youth you sit there and consider denying these kids access to life-saving support while having no plans to provide any alternatives Additionally you are considering to increase harmful policies for Trans youth knowing that these actions will make them Targets in the classroom in their homes and increase the likelihood that they will experience homelessness violence self harm and suicide is this school system prepared to cope with those kinds of changing conditions within a student body I beg any member of this board that has any sense of reason to check your fellow members because right now the most ignorant and harmful voices are the loudest the 50 state 50 grants award should have been seen as a historical step for this school system but because you do not value our lives you do not see value
046in this accomplishment voting no on this notion and denying any form of life-saving support to queer youth will be seen as intentionally causing harm to our students which this community simply cannot allow I would like to close by saying that queer people are revolutionary we challenge the very fabric of the systems of Oppression that have pervaded our society since its Inception your blatant ignorance of our community is your responsibility and this school system and our students should not have to bear the consequences of your Prejudice no matter what actions you take queer people will continue to carve out a life worth living and you do not have the power to erase us queer people will always choose resilience we will always choose Joy there is an illusion that you have power over our lives when
047we are the ones on the path to Liberation while you insist to engage yourself in ignorance and in that sense I pity you to the queer students of e glass and of all our schools every day you choose to be authentically yourselves and love yourself you are changing the city and in turn changing this world it gets better if we move together regardless of what might be in front of us and regardless of the decisions of this board [Applause] 30 minutes has uh elapsed since we began our public comments how many more speakers are left uh how many more are left one two three four five 6 7 8 9 10 plus uh three voice calls therec they got to have a motion to extend the time could we extend it just for students since
048they didn't I need a motion I'll make the motion to extend the time for uh 15 minutes student students only students only a second I'll make that motion okay second see can I [Music] who students then parents of students and then community members the problem is I don't have that information for every speaker your policies I know but I don't have the information to act on that let everybody speak would you commun me speak there there's a motion on the floor it's been seconded we need to unless there's further discussion any discussion call would you please call them Mr Jalil yes Mr Andrews yes Mr trose yes Dr day yes Dr Gupta yes Dr Carter yes Miss Preston Miss Preston mut I'm sorry I was muted yes Mr depal yes Miss Lowry yes motion carries
049motion was for 15 minutes 15 minutes okay so no the motion was for students only students only okay um well some of these individuals I can't tell I would just work on the honor System I trust them if they show up uh is Nicole spangenberg here I'm here but not a okay thank you thank you um um uh Community member Community member the next student I see is the last name is Phillips I can't read the first [Applause] name hello and good evening Schoolboard committee my name is mine Phillips but I my preferred name is Percy I'm a part of EC glasses GSA the gender and sexuality Alliance I'm myself and a part of the queer Community I am a sophomore at glass and I suffer from anxiety the safe room is a spectacular idea
050if you have kids and your child was having a panic attack at school wouldn't you want them to calm down and be safe so they can go back to learning once they've calmed down instead of suffering through class and maybe distracting other kids from learning when they're supposed to be at school and learning and what if your daughter had gotten her period at school we wouldn't want her to be bleed through her pants and be embarrassed when you want her to have quick and easy access to period products instead of having to go to the nurse every time she needs a pad or a tampon so that they are also less exposed to the illnesses present in the nurse's office these safe spaces are and easy access period products we are proposing for the school
051wouldn't just be for the queer kids it's for all of them it's to make sure kids feel more welcomed and more comfortable no matter what background they come from or how they identify or who they love I'm honestly terrified to be up here speaking to you all but I wanted to to advocate for those who can't and I know it would mean a whole lot to the girls and boys and non-binary kids at EC glass high school and things have already been changing for the better with our new principal but doing this would put us at a better on a better path and the bit of Courage I have to be up here is from Miss Carson and Miss Wilkins and the and Dr Rule and the GSA Club thank [Applause] you the next student
052I have is lindle Crosby hi hi my name is Lenley Crosby I am an 11th grader at cbgs and EC glass I would count myself a very involved member of my community I participate in clubs and sports and I have dedicated countless ours to the community as a volunteer and I want to help people I'm here to talk about the 50 states 50 voices Grant which I helped apply for at EC glass this grant would be able to provide support to countless students many students including myself struggle with mental health school can be overwhelming just by itself but a lot has happened in the last 3 or four years what with the uncertainty of coid along with the many lockdowns and how those have affected students School sometimes isn't the most comfortable place to be
053students have skipped school because they don't feel safe or they don't feel supported and these classrooms can be disruptive and chaotic and sometimes it can be too much we want to provide this safe room for students so they have somewhere to go and breathe for a second more than one in five students at some point experiences a serious mental health problem and even without that every every body has small everyday struggles I want everyone to feel safe and to know that there is somewhere that they can go and just breathe for a second Not only would we be creating a safe place but we would be also using this money to provide menstration products for all students and while there are currently menstration products available they are being provided by the school nurse out of
054her budget her paycheck and not by the school the LCS mission statement is every child by name and by need to graduation and Beyond and I would like to trust that my community is doing all that it can to make this statement true thank [Applause] you the last student I have on my list is Brittany Harris hello members of the Lynch Verity School Board my name is Britney Harris a senior at e glass high school and co-president of the genders and sexualities Alliance I was one of the primary members in the process for applying for the it gets better Grant I spent three long long weeks Gathering other members writing segments giving advice on how to conduct our video submission I put passion and energy into this project in hopes of bettering our school not
055just physically but socially I wanted there to be access to an area to express hard feelings and stress in a safe environment and for the ability of Sanitary products to no longer be limited to to one space but sadly due to the lack of attention and action this grant deserved no such opportunities have yet been available to the students at glass this is unfortunate as it seems there are some people who believe the issues we are ating against do not exist I would like to give a firsthand account of how wrong and negligent these views can be for years now I have been dealing with anxiety issues which can cause panic attacks and breakdowns at any moment and having one of these I was having one of these moments about a month ago it started
056in one of my classes and I quickly realized I needed to separate myself from others so I could calm down the only place for me to go was to our school's nurse's office this is during a period of time where our usual nurse was out for personal reason reasons so the following issue that is outlined has nothing to do with her supervision or negligence on her part I went to the nurse's office and was quickly allowed into one of our rest areas to calm down and get my work done unfortunately a student entered the clinic and bypassing the sub nurse there came into the room where I was working and began to harass me he pestered me about health issues and bered me hoping for an action for a reaction when he realized there was
057no reaction to be earned from me he went out into the main area and began to joke about me to another student this has caused me even more distress and further breakdown making me unable to continue working for the remainder of the day if this grant is not accepted and these resources to continue to be denied to students more situations like this could occur more students could be denied a safe space and the ab the ability to protect themselves in a state of distress and panic there is no reason for there to be such a disregard as we are seing for these in for these issues to continue the withholding of resources is to continue the endang of students there seems to be a high a hiddenly believed notion that this grant is grooming and
058indoctrinating students and to this I put forward the fact that this grant was never said to openly apply to those or to only to those who are a part of the LGBT plus Community to to disregard the obvious fact these resources are for the betterment of everyone is to support the bigoted views we've been exposed to tonight thank you [Applause] to speak so the chair is asking if there's other students here who did not sign up but wish to speak um okay I see two hands so the one on the right please come forward [Applause] identify sorry I have to sign into my computer quick hello my name is omry Dopp I'm a 10th grader at EC glass high school and I'm a member of the GSA I moved to Lynchburg around 10 years ago
059um right before my first grade year one of my first memories of this school system was a bomb threat at my school I remember as we walked to our designated Safe House everyone around me was excitedly talking about some news crew that had come to record us the idea of being on live TV was so cool when we got to the safe house I think we watched Happy Feet it was kind of a fun day we didn't really know what was happening several go years later in middle school there was a potential shooting I remember I remember huddling against a wall in the dark with my friends to distract ourselves we'd play quiet games like telephone or Chopsticks by the end of the lockdown we were all sore from sitting on the hard floor and
060just wanted to go home now I'm in high school and I freeze and hold my breath at the sound of the the intercom my first thought is that there's a shooter somewhere in the building when the intercom does tell us that there's a lock down I grab my phone and quietly rush to the corner of the room I turn my phone's brightness down as my teacher shuts off the light and locks Us in the first thing I do is text my little sister to make sure she's okay and in the next minute I get hundreds of texts from my friends asking if I'm okay if I'm safe if I made it to a room in time if anyone knows what's going on the GSA sorry the GSA wants to use the money from the it
061gets better project to create a safe room for EC class students this room would include things like comfortable chairs to sit in soft blankets and pillows warm lighting and just a place where you can take a breath we all have so many stressors in our Liv whether that's a difficult test or a traumatic experience like a lockdown sometimes we all just need a place where we can feel safe this is for all glass students not just members of the GSA or lgbtq community so thank you for your time and [Applause] consideration was the other student who raised their hand thank you [Applause] hi I am Chester lob um my pronouns are he him and I am a trans and crew student at EC glass I also co-president of GSA and I want to talk about
062my experience and how this grant would help EC glass as a whole um first as a career student um in one class we were reviewing people for our AP exam and a kid couldn't remember the person we were reviewing so so my teacher gave a hint oh her first name is the same as two people in this class we looked around confused cuz there were no overlapping names in the class she then explained that she was talking about me she then started talking about how she was using my real name when referring to me and she started uh defending herself for doing that and I I felt awful I felt embarrassed and that was an awful experience for for her to put me in and that was just one of the many experiences I have
063had at glass not including the many many times I've been misgendered just in the past week I um have been through a lot um as a career student and GSA has always been there to be a safe space for people like me queer students and part of the grant would help um our club um help more students like me then there is a safe room and I have had many panic attacks at class and what happens is I've been sent to the hallway where I will sit down and I will cry I am on the dirty ground it's not that dirty our um our custodians are our custodians are amazing but um I will sit on the ground and I will cry and I will have adults pass by me and students students in my
064grade students who know me pass by me and it is just an awful experience just knowing that they are possibly judging me and so having a room where I could actually calm down and not worry about the other students judging me it would be amazing and would definitely help me calm down a lot quicker and it would help me get back to class so I could actually continue learning the material because I do enjoy school I am in six APS and while I am doing really well I feel it does take away from my understanding being away from class for that long then the last um point is menstration products I have one of my classes down in the um very very bottom of the school and I would have to walk over 6 minutes
065for me to get over to the nurse's office if I am bleeding out I do not have that time to walk all the way over there for a product it would be amazing for menstrual products to be um available for everyone anywhere in the school so I would love if this grant were to be accepted thank you yeah [Applause] W that concludes the public comment period um we did have the three voice calls can I ask the clerk to forward those to uh the the com the board members so that we can listen to them thank you Dr D the next one is item H1 uh student representative comments Dr Edwards yes thank you thank you um as been our practice um we invite students from other schools to join us and share um and
066I believe tonight um we have some students from linol middle school are is that correct oh okay come on in that's been welcome assistant principal hello everyone can you hear me okay so my name is Tia Benfield I am one of the assistant principls at linor middle school and thank you for this I was here I just didn't want to push through the crowd but thank you for that um I would love to introduce to you guys the vice president of the best sea in Lynchburg U Miss Penny Helm she's going to come up and talk to you guys a little bit about the amazing things that we have going on in Jaguar country so hi are helloo um I'm penny I'm in seventh grade and I go to linor Middle School um so okay
067so I made a slideshow on what I like about my school and so what I like about LMS are the teachers the teachers at LMS are super nice and they work really hard to give us a great learning experience none of the teachers are mean and they always help us when we need it and I've had great teacher friends over the years and it's really nice to have teachers that are super nice at our school the building and environment provide a good learning environment and are never too distracting they always have pretty decorations and one thing I personally love about Linkhorn um is that Lorn has a breezeway way it is so refreshing after sitting down in a classroom for almost 2 hours straight you get to walk outside to go to class the environment
068feels and is super safe and there are friendly staff greeting you everywhere you go um we had this thing called Jag Olympics which was a competition throughout all the three grade levels of the school and we did several different fun activities like um using hula hoops to try to go through them and all this um eighth grade one overall and the classes that got that won got to go down to the gym and play a big round of tug of war the football team went undefeated this season and they did very well on the field one thing we have coming up is um Elf the musical Jr and and it is this Friday November 17th and Saturday November 18th at 7:00 p.m. and 3 and 700 p.m. on Saturday in our cafetorium to sah holiday
069musical Elf the musical Jr you can purchase tickets online or buy them at the door overall linor middle is an amazing school full of amazing students and staff everything it offers is great and it provides a great learning experience go Jaguars [Applause] did she have a PowerPoint presentation that we miss Benfield Benfield is there a PowerPoint that uh Penny put together a slideshow that she put together she did is a yeah yeah you can send it to me and I'll make sure everybody gets in we'll attach it to the board thank you thank you so much okay all right we're g to move on yes okay let's move on to our high school reps um starting with EC glass Lucy what hello everyone I hope you guys are having a good November so far thank
070you um to start off I've got a lot of athletic updates so just please sit tight for that because there's a lot of great things going on uh in EC glass Athletics first of all so proud of the varsity football team for bringing home The Jug in The Jug Bowl against har Heritage winning 17-6 and making it into the second round of the playoffs so we're really proud of them right now they have a record of 8-3 and they're going to be playing at JF this Friday um so a lot of the other fall Sports have ended JV football ended the season six and two- one varsity volleyball had a really good season fought really hard for their record of 14- seven and JV 14-5 and varsity field hockey ended at 5 and8 more updates
071in the Athletics huge congratulations to two of my fellow Hill Toppers who on November 7th signed to play their respective Sports at the college level Cooper Campbell signed at VCU to play baseball at the next level and when I recently asked him what made VCU the right choice for him he said picking a college was really difficult but uh it really came down to the coaching staff at VCU and him being close enough so his family and friends could come see him at the next level so big congratulations to Cooper and and then the second commit is Ivy Elizabeth or bis man who committed to winr University for lacrosse and I asked her what was so special about being on a team that made her want to take it to the next level and motivation
072you truly can't find anywhere through teams I've learned a lot I've learned about my sense of community and drive that I'm really excited to be a part of I've always loved my teams and I'm so thankful for every single one and I can't wait to continue my journey so congratulations to the two of them both very proud and then next I want to talk about our pep rally uh so this Friday before the JF game SCA is we're really excited to host uh the first pep rally of this school year freshman sophomores Juniors and seniors are going to wear their respective class colors to show spirit for not only their class but the school as a whole and students and staff are going to participate in fun games while we recognize all of our fall
073Sports and how successful they've been this year next EC glass theater yesterday they held auditions for their winter show silent Sky which is a true story about a 19th century astronomer Henrietta levit exploring A Woman's Place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries and when women's ideas were dismissed until men claimed credit for them the performances are going to be January 25th 26th and 27th and um I'm really excited to go see it so I hope all of y'all can get out there and see it too because I know it's going to be great uh next Beacon of Hope The Beacon of Hope has always provided really helpful resources and Aid to students when they're trying to find their path to college or to a career um and this month specifically they're helping
074students Craft College applications um Andor job applications and we really appreciate all that they do for us and we're so thankful to have our future Center and each month we welcome a new guest into the future Center to discuss their career with students who may have interest in a similar career path and this month we're so thankful that Jared Anderson a former Hill toer is going to share his expertise in the world of realy next um and certainly not least huge congratulations to the students of at part of the GSA at EC glass for taking the initiative and applying for the grant through it the it gets better project I know that there are a lot of different beliefs flying around about that but I think what's so important is that they showed the initiative
075in leadership to actually go out and apply for it when they saw something that maybe they felt wasn't enough being done about and they decided we want to see some change and they went and applied for it so congratulations to you guys for getting it that's really great and that's it thank you so much and I hope you guys have a Happy [Applause] Thanksgiving thank you so much for that very informative and and the interview with the students that was a nice touch we like that and we'll definitely be coming to play great okay next up Heritage say look thank you I believe there is a slideshow I can do it without if we have it but there's some good pictures on there so i' like to get that up all right that's all right
076I'll go ahead and get started so this month for recognition we have um our both both our competitive cheer team and our big orang orange marching machine made it past the district level and concluded their season competing at Regional levels so we're very proud of them in the way they concluded their season our JC Marksmanship team um they practiced so hard all season and received third at the Southside shootout um so we're very happy they brought home the bronze are we going to get these pictures Prett there we go thank you a look at that perfect all right starting off with recognition that's our big orange marching machine and our Marksmanship team on the second slide there um Performing Arts Heritage Pioneer theater has done a lot over the past month and they have a
077lot coming up so they received second place at VTA which is like a state level competition and they're going to be heading to the National level in Alabama in March to complete at setc they also got first at districts and are excited to go to Regionals to raise funds for their trip they're um hosting a poinsetta sale for the holiday season and I believe they're starting at $12 I'm not sure when sales are closing but if you want that get into that um events over the past month of course Halloween um Heritage SCA planned and hosted at Halloween kickball night uh we saw people dress up we saw our wonderful future Center Director there um staff students teachers everybody and it was just a lot of fun um also on the theme of Halloween Heritage
078chorus produced a fall concert and their theme was Edgar Allen Poe um they had songs like Monster Mash I Put a Spell on You and thriller so it was very festive um moving down the surprise faculty Spirit day this was a great one none of the students knew about it they choreographed it and the theme was dress as a student as you can see our wonderful principal Mr Bey participated um our head of guidance Department Miss Hester and of course our nurse along with a lot of the rest of the teaching department so that was fun for students and teachers alike we loved that uh moving on to achievement academics concluding the first quarter we had 392 students on honor roll and 102 students on scholar list so we're really proud of our Pioneers this
079first nine weeks starting off strong Virginia college application week this was something special for seniors so our guidance department and beac of Hope partnered to help the seniors prepare for college and any other anything else they may be doing career if they don't plan on going to postsecondary but 225 plus applications were submitted in this week alone and 96 students received acceptances from the provided on-site admissions so we're so proud of our seniors um besides Virginia college application week our guidance Department worked with all grade levels on their career planning um and gave them the necessary assets like our cosmetology program Early College cbgs so we're very excited to see where these pioneers years ago Community uh we did a lot in the community this past month Unity day was a big one um our
080varsity football and cheerleaders uh went to paramont Elementary on Unity day which is promotes anti-bullying acceptance kindness inclusion and one of the big themes is wearing orange so they welcomed students in off the buses and into the school um just to celebrate with them for Unity day mustaches for kids or you may have also heard stash for cash it's in connection with Lynchburg Beacon of Hope and two Heritage teachers Mr Daniels and and Mr garritson along with the future Center Director Mr Winton will be growing their mustaches from nothing over the next month to raise funds and so our wonderful Mr Daniels as you can see had to shave his long beard so we are very thankful for his donation and finally uh senior nights I just wanted to share some pictures to kind of
081wrap it up because those we had those for all our fall Sports and we're so proud of our seniors so we have volleyball abandon Color Guard cheerleading and football thank you guys thank you so much it's so great to just see um those wonderful pictures and thank you for sharing all the stats about honor rooll and the accomplishments that students are are making we appreciate thank you thank you next is item H1 Finance report Dr Edwards okay um on to our finance report uh Mr s then cannot be here but we have a worthy substitute in Dr woda thank you Dr Edwards and um last month I promised you that Mr senson would do this report unfortunately Mr Sorenson had a slight hiking accident and broke his arm so he's working from Omen Richmond this
082week uh just trying to recover so uh certainly hopefully he'll be back uh very soon U doing but also still engaged uh as we continue forward so uh last month uh we got a little ahead of ourselves because uh the Schoolboard meeting was a week later so we actually gave you the September report uh which was a month ahead so the report that you have in front of you is is unchanged from last month uh with the exception of the addition of the cost center report which is essentially the buy school and Department report that was requested by the the the facilities and finance committee um there's a couple things that I want to point out and that is um the the item on your board docs it's say September uh FY 24 objects by
083cost Center that file there's a few things as you examine that you that may come to mind that I just want to point out to you and if you open that uh the first sort of clump of numbers or the section uh is labeled 100 elementary schools and this is a cost center that uh is used for uh some components that that go across schools uh so that would be where we would put um sort of contingency um often times We'll add positions contingency we so if we need some positions through the year we'll budget for it there that sort of thing but it says uh 9xxx uh that's use of other other uses of funds and so what you'll see is that as an adjusted budget of $1.16 million and you'll see there there's
084been no expenditures there that is where the city uh reserve for contingencies are or reflected to balance out the revenue that was provided by the city and that that 1.9 million doll that's spread among spread among instruction and then the other categories Administration transportation and so forth so that's not an extra $1.1 million that's sitting there for us to use it is just sort of the offsetting expenditure that we won't actually spend uh during the year we just want to be be clear about that the other the other item and I and I I'll beg your grace on this uh as I've sitting here listening I've been reading this I do think that there is a problem with the available balance line I think that there is a uh it's adding the encumbrance and the
085expenditures so I need to I need to revise this and send it back to you um we need to revise this and send it back to you make sure that's accurate because if you put those lines together it uh appears that that's adding a double so you'll see a bunch of negative numbers there which are not accurate and so because it's double counting couple things so I will get that report to you later this week but I did not recognize that until as I was sitting here and looking at it so um there's that and then on page um page five of this document um as you're looking at it you might find uh um cost center 309 and Power Academy you may uh you will remember that uh that the empowerment Academy was closed
086and those positions were moved elsewhere or there were retirements um what we found is that those positions were not moved in the system so we will move them and get them addressed to get them straight so uh there are some there's some uh data errors that uh We've identified as a result of this process so that's a positive thing for for us uh that we will address uh and as we move forward so I did want to point those things out to you I will address that uh issue with the uh the way the available balance is calculating and we'll send it back to you questions for Dr W I just on behalf of the finance committee I want to say thank you for taking the effort to produce this report because it was at
087our request so thank you for that I had one question in expenses your uh your time is from July till um till September so you're doing like a 3 months so we are we will be back to uh it should be on the quarter so we agreed to do a quarterly a month behind so that that's what I said we got a little ahead of ourselves last time because we were a week later and so I got it we're back on schedule now and so next month will be be through November so last last months was early that's what you're saying the reason I'm asking is the incompetence was only 97% which has about a million dollars in savings so is that a true savings or that will be adjusted for future instruction structional line
088so that would be um so we don't have an incumbrance on that that Reserve that reserve for contingency so that's at least part of it and so there's others that it'll balance out so they will not is that just a timing issue yeah okay fair enough thank you thank you next one is the consent agenda go you got a question for Dr wara no okay consent agenda is there a motion to approve the consent agenda move the any items you like to pull out of the consent agenda I'd like to comment on one of them the uh number five the minutes from our October 24th meeting as you may recall at the beginning I made a cou number of comments about parliamentary procedure and um if it's the board's pleasure I can provide those comments
089in a written form and they can be attached to the minutes and provide to the cler and she'll amend what was that again at the previous meeting I made a number of comments about parliamentary procedure and I have those in a written form so that they can be uh attached to the minutes for the benefit of they were emailed I think to everybody on the committee but for the benefit of the public um they can be attached and I can I've already sent them to Tina do you want me to send them to you as well I'll I'll just write want me to talk to you separately about yeah I'll just write it on here and she'll okay okay is there a motion to approve the consent agenda a move we approve the consent Dr
090Carter second second Dr day any discussion M call would you please call R Mr Jalil yes Mr Andre yes Mr tro yes Dr day yes Dr Gupta yes Dr Carter yes Miss pron yes Mr depal yes Miss Lowry yes motion carries School Board member reports item K finance and Facilities committee well our last meeting was October 3rd um so we didn't have a new U meeting since our last board meeting we are scheduled to meet a week from today on November 21 and um the big issue before us as I've already said is going to be this coming Year's budget preparation process thank you go govern School Miss Lowry um we this meeting we're going next meeting is still December 6th it's not held um been held yet but um um November 15th the Juniors
091will test their designs um of egg protection containers and analyze of forces's impact using highspeed video on annual physics egg drop project on the 16th the force Middle School will have a tour of CV GS and the 21st special guest Cadet uh William Gregory cbgs class of 2022 will speak to Juniors about the opportunities at the United States Military Academy on the 29th High School promotional visit um at William Campbell combined school at 1:00 and the 30th High School um promotional visit at Jefferson Forest High School at two Lauren Dr Carter for the Laurel the next school board meeting is Wednesday December the 6 at 10: o00 and for the STEM Academy STEM Academy yes our next meeting is January the 23rd 11:00 via zoom and now our um the director is going around to
092visit all of the high schools and this region very ambitious undertaking thank you LSR Mr trust our legislative and AD advocacy and Community Relations Committee met today and we formulated our uh suggested legislative priorities for LCS for the 2324 year I will um talk about those later on in a separate agenda item um in addition we talked about our legislative breakfast and we're having we're working with respect to our local legislators to make sure their scheduling works with what we'd like to present we had it set but unfortunately one of our legislators who's really adamant about fortunately adamant about being at the breakfast was not able to make that meeting um but we're working on that schedule and um going to get some dates this have the facility at e see glass hopefully accommodate the
093legislator's schedule um our next lacro meeting is currently set for November 27th at 5:00 pm thank you Education Foundation Mr trost and Mr Jalil uh the uh education Foundation committee met today and we reviewed some of different items and really it was a status report just to get a lay of the land in terms of what the Education Foundation is doing and how we can interact with them uh one of the really important items for us as for the Education Foundation was they have really taking um Tak on the CTE program working with uh John Caps at cbcc in partnership with all of the uh five Regional Schools tools um of note is LCS got a $20,000 um I guess Grant or are stien to uh undertake the planning and promotion of the CTA CT
094um e program at cvcc really excited about that um with that they're going to have the Excel Academy for CTE skills and what I learned today is that the Lynch B City school system will have up to 100 slots available for our students to go uh learn these CTE skills so really really excited about that um and that's out of uh our general assembly providing aund million set aside for the promotion and development of CTE programs throughout Virginia and uh it's really going to be a fantastic opportunity starting in the fall of 2024 these hundred slot are going to be available for our LCS students under a dual enrollment program so really super excited about that and L for Education foundations work to help promote that um in conjunction with our um cbcc CTE Partners
095In addition um I'm going back to uh Rob douly shout out to him our CTE director he's working closely with that uh program and in addition with the Lynchburg education found Foundation they are organizing a CTE career fair in the spring and the fall and they're hoping for this to be an an ongoing practice to get our students out there in the workforce and one of the wonderful things that I thought uh out of that program was there's going to be a concerted effort to get internships and um they call it uh work-based learning so that's a new new phrase for me but what that does is it provides our students with the a a really soft direct entry into the workforce where they can learn these CTE skills and finish the program and hopefully
096have a job ready for them waiting and potentially get paid for these internships so I'm really excited about that it's just a fantastic uh win-win for everybody it's a win-win for our our business partners in in the area and it's a win-win for our students which is good for everybody so really excited about that another thing that uh Robbie douly is doing and I'm uh excited about that is in conjunction with CT U with our um Lynchburg education programs you know how the Lynchburg Education Foundation rather the business so good for them great can't say enough great things about what uh Mr dou is doing uh what Dr Edward staff is doing with respect to the CTE programs and the Lynchberg Education Foundation is right there supporting our efforts on um grooming and developing these
097highly important in sought-after skills of our students so really proud of that for all of our uh our LCS uh staff so thank you very much Dr Edwards and your staff for that very good Mr Jal would you like to add I said a lot you can try to I Concur and second that motion thank you uh next one is Partners in education Mr deal and Mrs Lowry um the um Partners in education um we have been Mee meeting at different businesses um for our meetings we've been at the vector space we've been the Sentra and this last place we went to was Iron Works um where which was really cool um there they have a music studio with Emy nominated equipment and people um they have 15 months worth of support so but there's
098six Seas of positive developments what they focus on and it's getting teens to contribute to their community in positive ways and like for example they have a park fi you um at Park V mission they have a cooking program and they have popup tennis on days there's no school and um so they're doing a lot of great things um but our next meeting is going to be um um we meet the first Thursday but it's going to be the next going to be in January but we do have the pi breakfast meeting um November 20th at 7:30 where we invite all our partners um business partners um current or past we'll be giving awards and we'll be um sharing what the students have been doing in the community so and within our school so that's
099on November 20th at University of Lynchburg so um we're looking forward to that so yeah we're continually um working with more and more business partners and people that we've not heard from trying to get in touch with them see if we can get them back or things like that but also getting them ingrained in working with um a school like on a regular basis not just a one one time thing so but no we're we're visiting some really cool neat places so if you not been to Vector space or iron works I highly suggest you go it's very good Mr deul would you like to add yes one of the things I found about um uh the last to Vector space and iron is that there's uh opportunities for internships or to use their facilities
100for alted or some of the other um alternative education universities that we that we have and it gets them out of a classroom and puts them into a tactile environment I think there's a lot of potential in using those two organizations the graduation rate for experiential learning like CT and is almost 100% where hrio has only 98% LCS is 100% that's so we're doing something good better than the other County um Beacon of Hope Mrs Preston and Mr Andrew whosoever wants to go first I think Miss PR as one of our student reps indicated they celebrated college application week October 23rd through 27 there are a total of 507 graduating students in in the two high schools of those 57 students during college application weeks they submitted 1100 applications to colleges universities technical certification programs
101Etc across the state of uh of Virginia and Beyond at absolutely no cost to those students so those seniors essentially saved $62,000 in application fees during that period of time and I think Mr Andrews has some other things to add yeah so on October 26 uh 16 colleges certification programs from across the Commonwealth join Beacon of Hope uh at Heritage High schoolc glass to offer on spot admissions to LCS students who had applied in advance uh more than 280 individual admissions decisions were awarded to students that week which is pretty freaking awesome um November 11th through the 12th this past weekend both um Beacon of Hope took 16 seniors to Virginia Tech for fall visitation um students found living or learned about living learning communities learned about majors and Leadership opportunities and all 16 um
102that visit Virginia Tech were signed on the spot which congrats to those [Applause] stud just a lot of love and respect goes to be of Hope as a partner of Education they're really doing really amazing things to make sure our students have or understand there's life outside or after high school right it's that Beyond peace so yeah that's it thank you Mr Andrews and Mrs Preston academic success committee Mr Jalil we had such a great meeting that I'm going to turn it over to uh Dr Pew or our other member to give you an update all right well we um had a visit um from the what is her name her name is um Casey quizenberry that's right Casey quizenberry she is very good she has been working um with students the individual student alternative
103education plan program isep I say it right ISP and so but they work with um students that they have to meet a criteria for the GED but they get them into the program they get them through their activities and they graduate them so they um work with um the the students that have a little more issues but when the children re the students they're not small children the students realize they can do and they can pass some of these tests and encourages them they can go back even if they don't pass they can go back get more help and tutoring and then come and retry so the whole point is to get them through their High School experience and they work with CT as well to get them into a job so but these are
104our kids that face more challenges and they have um a great program in place and it's and she's say she's been with them for six years and she loves it so she has been a great asset everything she told us um for the kids in this program and the people that she works with and the schools she works with so and then we also talked about um the um um Miss PE brought talked about the school accreditations and gave us some information for code and gave us also information about how our how things have been changed legisl legislature and also um just describe some of the things of what the charts and the grafts meant and how we were doing so overall we are we are moving forward you know you have your ups and
105downs but everything is still is showing a better number than last time so we're very pleased with that thank you Ed hoc uh discipline and policy Review Committee Dr day yeah um so as you may recall we uh the committee prepared a survey that went out to just about everyone in the division it was designed especially for teachers but it went out to bus drivers um principals uh School staff trying to identify where there might be improvements or changes to our policies affecting disciplinary problems as they occur in the schools um so we sent that survey out we have now received the results there are over 20 pages of individual comments and uh we sent a letter of acknowledgement to all the people all the people who were involved invited to participate in the survey
106and so I thought I couldn't do much better than to read to you from that letter because it explains the current status and where we're heading um so now I'm reading from the letter uh board members all got this but for the benefit of the public they they have not seen it the school board's discipline policy Review Committee together with student services staff began reviewing your responses at its November 2 meeting we want to inform you of the process ahead over the next several weeks each of us will be studying all the comments from your survey responses our next meeting is on January January 25th at which we will try to distill your input into a list of commonly perceived problems and concerns then we will begin considering what the board can do to address
107them through its ability to set policy this discussion will probably take us into the spring before we have something actionable to bring to the full board board and then we invited anyone who had not yet filled out the survey to please um do so um and then just at the end we're aware that classroom teachers face a lot of challenges and we're grateful for the labor and sacrifice that you make for the benefit of our students we hope that the process that began with this survey will lead to improvements for both you and your students um so that's where it stands as I said we are meeting next on January Ary 25th and at that point we'll really try to really comb through all the comments and information we have from the survey and see
108where we can go from there so the feedback is from students and faculty not students teachers okay uh every everyone who works in the schools with teachers including bus drivers because they interact with students as well okay and I have one comment I forgot something and on the academic success committee today we also talked about um the conflict resolution idea and we discussed the fact that maybe we want to start focusing on um that might help with the survey the behavior the behavior the relationship between students and teachers to see if there's a breakdown somewhere in there so maybe put a little more focus on that see if we can improve that relationship between the two to help with a behavior thank you Dr D do we got more go ahead Mr TR and Dr
109grup I all I too uh have one added item for under the Lynchberg education foundation in our meeting the superintendent's breakfast is scheduled for March 14th of 2024 it's going to be held at the University of Lynchburg and the theme is focused around Community this year so we're really excited about that and I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about I spoke so I was so excited about the CTE program and that side of our education Spectrum I want to talk about lynberg education um foundation and what they're doing on the younger side with the Lynch uh Lynchburg Imagination Library and really excited about that a lot of good things that they're helping there supporting that program for our younger students so shout out to them for that as well appreciate all the help that
110Education Foundation and support they do for our schools thank you Dr T do you have something more to add on the ad off no good right thank you next point is item L1 comprehensive uh communication plan and strategy Dr adwards yeah from time to time we'll bring an item from our comprehensive strategic plan we have spent a lot of time talking about the facilities master plan um and decided to uh revisit some of the other items our division um communication plan so um Dr woda and Mr Journey are here for those of you who don't know Mr Journey he is the behind the scenes um communication person all things communication crisis good news bad news um but he he does it all and and does it well and and just want to personally thank him
111for um the the degree and expedience that you get Communications out and updates out to our families I have heard that that is so much more improved um in that families are being communicated with and getting updates um appropriately so I just want to thank you for that and I will turn it over to the two of you to tell us a little bit more about the division communication plan well thank you Dr ERS and I Austin will do most of the talking but um I I just want to say Austin has taken uh Mr Journey has taken on a responsibility in the department that has grown over time um certainly I think you you may know him as our was our videographer and then has grown in responsibility and taken on wonderful new uh
112role and um has certainly in the last couple of months um really started to lead the department in a really strategic way and I'm looking forward to really great work that's that's going to continue and he's going to tell you about a lot of great stuff yeah great well thank you uh yes usually I am downstairs during these meetings where I've been the past uh 10 years or so uh so this is my first time uh speaking to you all as a body so uh thank you all um yes tonight uh we'll be talking a little bit about the communications plan uh so this is this year's update uh we'd like to really do this annually to update and tweak our Communications plans so uh you all may remember uh that you received a presentation
113around this time last year about the communications plan so we'll uh walk you through that uh this year's updates and we'll also talk a little bit about uh some results that we've received from a recent parent communication survey talk a little bit about the future of our Communications and engagement efforts uh moving forward so Jonathan you can go to the next slide for me um you know our Communications plan uh this is really what guides our Communications efforts uh this is this is really to to streamline how we do things uh and kind of guide us here all in line with our current uh comprehensive strategic plan for the division as well as section K of the board policy manual um and it's really meant to give us a framework to uh to be able
114to better communicate with all of our stakeholders and all the audiences that we have you can see here we have a lot of different folks who are engaged and interested in Lynchburg City schools that make up the LCS Community certainly our parents families uh student staff we have business organizations the media um you know different Lynchburg residents there a lot of different folks that we want to be able to uh not only communicate to but really to share all the great things that are happening here at lyberg City Schools all of the achievements and programs that that we have here so uh that's something we want to showcase how we do that uh we do that in a lot of different ways um I'll talk a little bit about uh the methods you see here
115uh looking at Mass notifications so that is all of the emails phone calls texts that we send to our families and our staff and our students uh I I pulled a few stats for this year because I thought it was really interesting so we've got about 23,000 contacts that we've reached um so this is General everyday messaging but also attendance and uh crisis Communications as Dr Edwards mentioned uh already so far this year we've sent uh We've delivered over 3 uh 71,000 emails just since the start of the school year uh that's up from last year um total messages were around 2,000 messages overall this year so again just the sheer volume of the what we're communicating um you know we're reaching all of our sort of internal families that way uh the websites are
116also important I we're we're reaching a lot of people in the community through our websites uh that is really the the One Source people go to if they want to know something about the website you know there are a lot of pages on the website a lot to maintain not only is that the division website but also all the individual school websites as well and the internal staff website so the the you know as with everything you know we're always looking to make improvements in the websites we really want to make sure that we're making sure that content is as accurate as possible so we're in that process now um but just looking at this year so far 990,000 visitors to the website uh over 500,000 total page hits so again a lot of volume
117going to uh the website there uh talking about media you know we have certainly social media which I'll talk about in a little bit uh but our traditional media media Partners wct uh you know our media Outlets here um you know the they they're great partners with us uh we have quarterly uh media meetings that we started last year so we're continuing those this year uh we'll have another one next month um you know we have a great relationship with them and you know for us you know we try to send uh usually a press release or a media advisor every week just to kind of let them know what's going on and and uh making sure that they're aware and can come and cover uh what we're what we're doing in the schools so
118um almost everything that we put out to them this year have been picked up at least by one Outlet if not multiple Outlets so um that really helps us amplify what we're doing the content that we're putting out not only are we putting you know news items on the website social media uh you know messages us out to families we want to make sure that all those things are kind of Amplified as well so a lot of different methods with that uh as far as Publications we have two uh Publications you may know our internal staff newsletter every week uh really just to make sure that staff is kept aware of uh everything that they need to know um but we just recently launched our uh Community newsletter which we're really excited about we've been
119wanting to do that for quite some time uh Jonathan if you'll go to the next slide uh So lately at LCS uh I signed you all up so you all should be getting those if not please let me know um but uh you know we we put this out to the community so that folks can subscribe if they're interested not just you know folks that are you know have not just staff members not just you know parents current parents but alumni community members that just want to stay up toate uh with with LCS we have over 6 600 subscribers so far which has been great it's only been a couple um a couple months um but we're really looking forward to continuing that and I put this QR code out here so if somebody's watching
120and they aren't subscribed yet they can go to this QR code they they can also go to the website uh and just search lately at LCS uh and they can subscribe to that uh from there uh yeah thank you um I want to talk about some of the content that we're putting out so we're we're doing a lot of uh articles and features and news stories uh but social media is one of the great ways that we're able to kind of get this content out so um you know we have a lot of great uh a lot of great content on on social media if I pulled the numbers uh for you just so you have an idea of some of the reach that we have right now now this is just the LCS division
121uh Pages this is not including the school pages but just looking at um the the amount of people that we're able to reach uh Facebook I think is up about a thousand from last year Instagram up about 2,000 which I think is really positive um you know part of that I think is just the um the the kind of content that we're putting out um which which uh shout out to Shannon Gage one of our communication specialist uh she does she does a great job with not only managing social media um but also uh you creating a lot of this content and and engaging with folks I mean we have people you know direct message us every day you know it's it's another source uh you know people are coming to social media to interact
122with LCS and get answers and things like that so engaging there sort of daily um but social media is is a great resource for us I pulled Jonathan if feel good the next lot thanks uh so I pulled a couple Clips so these are things from social media different stories that we've we we've put out um just to kind of give you an idea of uh the variety of content that we have and it's not just with social media it's it's with uh the news uh we're we're doing photo sets we have video reels I mean there's a lot of different uh ways we want to be able to Showcase what's happening uh at our schools we want to reach a lot of different audiences and you know Arts Athletics academics everything in between we
123want to make sure that we're getting uh those positive stories out and we've had a really great uh really great reception um with the content that we've been putting out this past year um that's kind of where we are with our Communications plan sort of our methods uh if if you look toward the end of our Communications plan you'll see some of the goals for uh this school year one of which is to develop uh you know a broader Communications engagement strategic plan that really is going to guide us for the next few years um I think it's important to not only evaluate where we are uh but also kind of plan ahead for the the future so one of the sort of First Steps in that is to get feedback from folks to see
124kind of where we are how we're doing um so I wanted to talk a little bit uh about the a recent parent survey so we put out a survey back in September so this was a few months ago uh we had uh 744 parent responses uh it's a pretty decent number for a survey like this um you know I will just say the the feedback from parents staff anybody really important to us but I will mention kind of what Dr Edwards mentioned earlier uh but you know over the last year and over the summer we got a lot of feedback about crisis Communications and how how we handled that so we had a lot of parents uh come to us and and we actually met with parents and sort of worked on how how can
125we address this how can we make this better and I it's not perfect it's not where it needs to be potentially but I think that because of that parent feedback and because of the work that we're able to do with those parents we're able to get it to a better place place um which I you know I feel is is sort of a much better uh area where we are right now so I think that it's really important to get that feedback so that we can actually kind of grow and improve and and change as we need to and address things so anyway a couple things with the the parent survey uh was really encouraging uh so the the folks that were responded you know we asked how satisfied are you overall with the communications
126with LCS and you know what somewhat satisfied or extremely satisfied we had about 72% of parents in that camp so that's pretty encouraging overall we had a lot of good positive notes but we had a lot of uh suggestions as well and I just wanted to to highlight a couple things as far as uh what parents uh brought up so you know overall Communications is good but really you know some parents suggested uh making improvements with some of the school-based uh Communications how can we maybe make things more consistent uh we had some suggestions about um Communications platforms uh how do we uh you know some some parents felt a little overwhelmed with the amount of messaging which I think is a good problem to have that you know there's a lot going but you
127know we're not just talking about division Communications we're talking about school Communications teacher Communications coaches communicating there's a lot for those you know parents that there's a lot going on they're getting a lot of information so that was one of the things that came up you know how how can we address some of that and some schools use communication apps some don't some use different ones so that was a common theme about how how do we really streamline and uh kind of make things a little bit more accessible as far as communication again the the positive notes about what we're communicating is really great but then how do we even uh stream like that further so that that was kind of the the major theme from the parent survey um just for time sake I
128didn't the the staff survey we we also put out a staff surve survey um and again a lot of a lot of great comments and feedback from staff what I'm planning to do is putting together a report for this that will be a part of this strategic plan that we're that we're looking ahead at but uh pages and pages of comments like it's really we're still we're still going through uh some of the comments but um it's great to get that feedback so um and then lastly like I mentioned the feedback is really going to guide uh be the starting point of of sort of how we look at a strategic plan moving forward um you know what what can we do to enhance our Communications engagement efforts uh we want to incorporate that that
129that feedback there um but I put a couple questions here uh kind of on the on the slide um you know things that I kind of want to to have the Strategic plan for communications engagement kind of kind of uh answer you know how do we how do we improve some of the school-based communications how do we improve our some of our our internal Communications and engagement with staff how do we improve our uh engagement communication with families and the community members you know business Partnerships you know how how can we improve some of these things how do we grow some of these things um really get better uh at communicating and engaging with folks um kind of more holistically um you know so the idea for that is really to to look at what
130are those goals uh that we want to address how do we get there and kind of start setting a timeline for that um and I ideally this would would be the timing wise I think is going to align up well with the uh division comprehensive strategic plan as well as we move into the the next phase of that so any if you have any questions I'm happy to answer or I'm happy to go back downstairs as well is your um database good for all that you have to handle all the input and everything yeah so I I had a meeting with it today actually yeah we're we're we're certainly we're addressing things you know we're kind of examining where things are um so we want to make sure that we can fully meet our needs
131uh so we're we're we're looking at that now yeah all right cool Dr D yeah I don't know if I want to say concern an idea I've had for some time yes there are a number of things that the board has to deal with uh for which we both legally and because it's our duty uh have uh presentations for the benefit of the public like in December we're to have a a public meeting about um our budget process um and I worry that the public doesn't know about those things unless they're very proactive and go searching for when is the board going to do such and such so I've wondered if we don't need some kind of a way for the board to communicate more directly with the public to tell it when are we
132going to be talking about this issue when are we going to be talking about that issue what's what are the hot things on our on our future agendas uh we've been through many meetings in the last few months in which there's been a tremendous amount of of public concern and input for the things we've been talking about and I just wonder if we need a way for the board to communicate to the public about what's coming so they don't have to go searching through board dos agendas and things like that and just to add on to that Mr sephara earlier tonight made mention about having questions answered now we can't as individuals do that but as a board chair maybe answer the questions that that gentleman had uh the questions that came in on some
133of his emails to add on to what you were saying a special section of some sort yeah so I I don't have a specific proposal other than I'm just looking for the best way to do that so I'm just offering that as maybe something for you to consider if you have ideas about it or if other board members have thoughts about a way to do that yeah certainly I I think something I'd love to discuss more I think that if there are certain communication priorities that the board has uh we want to make sure to amplify that just like you know the the media is amplifying sort of the things that we're putting out there so certainly if there's there are things that um are communication priorities if if we know about it we can
134sort of push those as well I was thinking maybe an easy way to do that is on um you go to LCS there's a board meeting it has the video where you can click on it maybe there's just a link where they can go to where we answer the questions there it's just use something that's already available and just add a link to it that make it easier should put a link where where whenever we have a board meeting like if you go to LCS edu.com or whatever like that um it'll have on their board meeting and then when we're having a board meeting and then when you click on that it it can take you to the meeting but there could probably be a link so a link from the LCS page to board
135where you can just well that would be one because it's already there so use something that instead of creating something new Dr Carter we already have added the um chair comments so that's a good spot right there to plug in any like the budget and or the public hearing that's a wonderful spot to do and we won't have to create anything else excellent thank you Mr Journey thank you you good night next is item M1 50 voices 50 states Grant Dr Edwards yep certainly so at our last meeting um Dr R um and team came and presented on the Grant from the 50 voices 50 states Grant you heard from students tonight um in terms of that Grant being primarily written by students but supported by obviously the adult sponsors um and this grant um
136is for $10,000 that they received um there were a couple questions as to the how will that area be branded and I believe that Dr Ras sent the answers to that as well as the logistics for the um safe space safe room um and just a reminder that we do have the similar rooms in other schools whether they're chill rooms calm down rooms um they all have different names and I don't want to repeat what the children said in terms of the space being available for everyone anyone um and you heard personally from them how it has benefited them as well as I can speak on our end um sometimes that's the place where we get a little bit of Intel too where we as adults can jump in and provide support um intervene in
137cases where and in sin serious cases where it may be um thoughts of harm thoughts of suicide and things like that so just having that a safe space for kids to go um and um as the student said you know sort of uh either cry get themselves together take a moment and I think what I liked best about what the the students said is so that I can quickly return to my learning and that is very very important to return to learning right and that is the reason why we provide opportunities and things like that for students it is the reason why staff support students to return to learning um so uh Dr R has also provided for the school board a few of the answers in terms of how will the space be monitored
138who's supervising it how does it work um it is clearly not a GSA Club only space I know that was a concern but I think between Dr ru's presentation and the students who spoke today um that should be made pretty clear um the grant is for $110,000 we have received the funds so they are just kind of sitting waiting for the board to um take action so that we can um start doing some of the activities that the students have put in in their Grant um in terms of just the other part of it and many of the students did speak about the uh period products menstration products um that's a real thing uh that is a real um struggle not every child can afford to have those supplies buy those supplies and keep them
139on their person and and um and every child is different so the amount of times that you actually have to change those supplies can be quite frequent um and and uh quite understanding and I'm grateful for um we do have some Community Support that also does that but just the students themselves um opening it up and providing a space where um those supplies can can um be available to students so definitely worthwhile um so this is back on the agenda for the board uh to um to consider and hopefully appr questions for Dr Edwards um I don't know where we where this started that it's going to be indoctrination and talk about sexuality but as for me I don't want to deny a safe space for any student and I wanted to hear from the
140students so I was so happy to hear from the students and and the student re from Heritage and um I really don't see a reason why we can't approve this tonight and I would like to make the motion that we go ahead and put this on are you making a motion make a motion I have a question well a motion letter believe it's been section second what was your motion I'm sorry we go we approve this grant a second I'd like to amend the motion so there's a motion could you repeat for the clerk but you Ving for the motion is that please to accept the grant funds to accept the grant funds as U you which is $10,000 yes and there's a second uh Dr D yeah I'm not sure what I is going
141to say is actually Amendment um let me explain my position on this I too support the creation of a safe room I am not comfortable accepting the funds from this particular Grant organization the way I would prefer to see us proceed is for the funds for this to come out of the LCS budget as I presume they have for all the other safe rooms that we're told previously exist so um that would I think that would be an inappropriate amendment to your motion because it basically is completely different so um if this motion your motion fails then I will make a different motion to that effect afterwards and it go ahead I agree with Dr day I would I am whatever makes it better for the students I am in favor of these calm down
142rooms and however they're they're going to be coined um I wanted to approve or a voice support for this money we need money I want to support it but I dug real deep into this project this organization there's no way no way I I feel comfortable accepting money from this group and especially having it branded in such a way uh that is going to um advertise them there's no way I could accept that I can I would do as much as I can to make sure that we have other other people donate um Randy tro knows I guess in the whole legal World lawyers are not the greatest donators but they know all the people who are so if there's a way that we can go out there and find other donations other grants fine
143not this project not this organization I dug too deep into it and I I came up with things that I don't even are not appropriate for Lynchburg City schools for minors there's so too much too much to go into that I would never vote for that Mr trost and then Mr Andrew and um I support the uh idea the concept I applaud GSA for going out and getting money um Dr Carter I think where maybe some of this notion of the agenda is if you go through and do a little bit of research on this uh this organization I think some of their agenda items does talk about promotion of uh those type of ideologies and I'm just uncomfortable with a public school system getting involved with that I want to be a public school
144system that stays neutral um I just don't think there's a lot of room for advocating one side or other I agree that we definitely I mean the fact that these children this young lady that talked about is very touching doesn't have a safe space to go to that's that's really that's on us and we can do better than that we will do better than that yes sir um but to address your point Dr Carter I think where some of the uh whether it's a misconception or not I think if you look at some of the uh the information on that particular particular organization is where you get those those those ideas of that they promote one particular ideology or not I just don't want to be in that business I I don't really want to
145be in the parenting business as a as a school system sometimes we're dealt those cards and we have to play them but to the degree that we can avoid that I would like to I fully support a safe room a calm down room I fully absolutely support the ministration products um and if there's some way that we can just make it a neutral concept and it sounds like Dr day may have some ideas on that I support that I just have a problem with the branding the theming with respect to this organization uh I think it leads us down a path that I don't want to have to go down um so if we can support the young people without having the Branded and I I I specifically asked and Dr rule did a excellent
146job providing the information about how this uh room was going to be um utilized what the protocol is going to be used for doing it thank you for that Dr Rule and but the one of the first things what I was interested in is is this money tied to having to Brand it a certain way or not and from what I can tell from the answer the answer is yes and I think that's just a shame so that makes me qu that makes me question as to what what the motives are behind the money the money we'll find the children deserve that room we're going to get them that room um but I just I have a problem with supporting this particular motion if we have to Brand a a room any way I want
147to remain neutral I think our children all the children deserve a neutrality and I do applaud the GSA for opening up the room and saying it's going to be used for all all students and thank you for that as well Mr Andrews um I don't really have a strong position other than I mean I think the safe room is a good idea these these students went out they did the research they um they appli for the grant they got the money it saves us from $10,000 out of our budget we especially since we keep preaching about money when we talking about closing schools um and so to me is not it's not we we we as a board are making more controversial than it has to be so it it's it's a safe space for
148all students $110,000 it what it does is if if we vote no on this it sends the message that we don't trust this the students we don't trust the teachers that have been advocating for this room we've been sending that same message the whole time when we're talking about closing schools when the community has told us over and over again this is what we want and then we continue to say nah we know what's in the best interest of you that's what we're doing today so I I don't this no disrespect to any of my fellow board members everybody has an opinion everybody should I mean this is democracy but I'm in support of this uh Grant um because I think they did an amazing job of um applying for the grant doing their research
149and may I remind everybody has a past like we could we could I mean we talk about our founding fathers but they also you know was very much into slavery right so we we talk about the history of different things but I think we as a board are making it more controversial than it really has to be so that's my opinion other comments or discussion on the motion I I got I got dude man yeah Mr R you know I love your brother but let me tell you one thing I don't think we as a board is making it controversial I think the gets better project makes it controversial so that's the problem I have and if if the it get gets better committee or Grant committee really truly cared about these children they would
150give them that money without any strings attached that's the problem I have okay so I I'll take their money all day long every day but for them to say their strings attached to that money that's not fair it's not fair to the these the GSA children it's not fair to anybody who wants to use that safe room it's not fair to the entire uh EC glass community and I'm trying to be fair to them we want to achieve that particular end result of having a safe space having ministration products available but I don't appreciate when somebody says hey I'm going to give you money oh yeah but guess what there's a catch I don't play that way so there go Mr and one thing I wanted I thought about this since our last meeting as
151well and I thought if the other schools have a safe space then we can create a safe space we don't we can get um donors and stuff for our room so I was thinking along the same lines we don't have to accept this grant to do it because like you said before that's a slippery slope and once you go down it it's hard to get back up Mrs Preston I'm just calling her because I any others ready for Dr Edwards um well I appreciate everyone's opinion on this board um and I wouldn't have it any other way without having your opinion uh I want to go back to something I think it was um I'm sorry Reverend Mark said about process um because the one thing that I am proud of the children is that
152they are doing what we ask them to do they are being leaders they are advocating they are using resources they are seeking resources something we desperately need to do um they are doing that in collaboration with their parents with their teacher staff new Administration old Administration um but they're following a process so I just want to make sure that this board if this is what we're going to do because this is one of many grants we receive many and this is probably my first time sitting with this board or any board since I've been here where we've gone into the details the I mean the details we're looking at you know coffee pods and and face painting kits like the details of this particular Grant I understand that you have reasons why that's not my
153question my question is about process so when a teacher fills out an ed found Foundation Grant or if there is any other grant for a stem activity or a grant from Thomas Jefferson Foundation I don't know is this board going to do the same due diligence for all the grants regardless of whether this one happens to be coming from the GSA but if it's coming from the art Club the FCA the athletic department the boosters wherever it's coming from I just want us to be consistent otherwise I would be remiss in that I am sitting here allowing a message that I don't want to be sent to our children that the reason why we are having this discussion has nothing to do with due diligence and really a board looking at Grants more to do
154with that it was just agsa [Applause] sponsor um but we were informed that the process wasn't followed correctly and so there were some they had to be reviewed and so and then part of that ended up being why they gave so much information so that's how we got there with that so understood well that's not what you said that is not what you just said no I understand that that process has not been followed I mean part that is not what you just said no understand I will correct what I'm saying but but we still are after the process was followed and after the information was given to this board and after a presentation was given and after questions were answer we are here now yes but let me tell you something you frame the
155argument in a different way with now you're changing the framing of the argument you're not going to be allowed to do that and spread I don't think I'm framing well you the reason we were got got to the position of getting into the weeds is because the grant process as Miss Lowry talked about was not followed that should have been the preference to your what you stated and you didn't give that preference do not want misinformation wait I'm not finished speaking not you you are do not interrupt me when I'm speaking I give you the same courtesy I expect that courtesy back Mr trust okay so very so I do I'm just tired of misinformation and that was not fair to the members of this board to start your your I won't even call it
156an argument your presentation with a false or not proper preference that Miss Lowry indicated that the correct preference is the reason we got here thank you so it is not my argument it is my opinion as I started with I value yours professional from where you're coming from and I hope that you also value mine from where I'm coming from because I have been sitting and educate this is all I have done I have worked with these children I have worked with these staff members I see what goes on in in the room and I'm not trying to throw any shame or anything or argue with school board members I just want us to be mindful of what we are doing right now and the reason why we are doing it right now I heard
157that we don't want to support this because of the organization or where the money comes from and if I misheard that then I apologize but when I hear that we we will support but we don't want to take money from the organization I stated by saying we get funding from lots of organizations that come this way are we going to do the same due diligence for every organization that comes this way that's all I was asking Mr D are the other organizations from which we receive money branding are they requiring that we put their sign out are they requiring that we use their materials no they're not have a problem with them based on the based on the things that they have promoted on their website if it's mentioned if it's identified that they are
158that someone is a contributor that's different than branding and if they do brand then yes I think that we should uh examine each one of those that requires strings um anything along that because I have I'm I'm proud of the students the GS the the the GSA the um um they did a great job they're I appreciate what they've done it's nothing to do with that has to do specifically with it gets BR project Dr Carter um that was one of my questions that I did Mark off is does every Grant come to the board and this is the first one that I've ever in all these years come through like this and the other one was the book grant that we got that we had to match 22,000 to but this does send a
159message whether we believe it or not is that because of the backing of this Grant and every Grant comes with strings attached every Grant wants you to say something or put something at the bottom of somewhere so you give credit to that Grant and I think we just need to say what we want to say that we just don't want this grant because of uh I don't know whatever your problems are with the grant but um is from what I'm hearing that no one's going to be indoctrinated no one's going to be told this that you do this or I want you to do this or I don't want you to tell your parents that it's just a safe place to go and it gets better is that a horrible thing and will there be
160colors on the doors or something or I haven't heard that so I I said let's call for the vote Mrs low I did look into it as well and there are short videos five to nine minutes or so that the kids would have to watch on this the lifestyle the ideology of this that's what I saw mhm so that's I'm like that's that's the strings attached that's a little bit too much so do these are these videos I don't know if they're required but they're saying that's part of the said it's part of the program so if if somewhere in the legal writing of it they have to watch these videos to get this money to use it or respond to how they use it going back to Dr um Edward's comments about about process
161maybe our process should say that we need to examine what the requirements are in order to receive funds from any institution and if those requirements are ones that put us in bad light if there on we don't approve of if they're ones that are going to be counter to our meaning the school systems the Lea system that we that might be a reason to not look at them and so maybe it's our process that needs to be revised anything above $5,000 comes to the school board for approval anything below 5,000 it's in the uh domain of the superintendent to just accept it but if it's $5,000 And1 or 5,1 and it comes to the school board to approve is that correct yes yeah we've approved other grants last year there was the grant for the
162school buses the electric school buses we didn't look at it in detail but it did come to the board for discussion and we gave our approval and if I can I'll point out we did um just for context we did receive a grant for a playground at Bass Elementary School from the Kaboom organization which was funded through the Virginia foundation for healthy communities and that branding is on the playground um thank you so I just I wish so yeah and the Virginia the Virginia Education Foundation book donation that you talked about they do require us to send out a press release as well as write a letter of receipt recognizing them as the organization those are stipulations for book donation fair enough Mr R Dr R wanted to say something uh yes because I think
163you wanted to respond to M sure just just point of clarity thank you board for considering this grant but just point of clarity is that it gets better project sign on the 8 1/2 by 11 piece of paper that we said we put outside the room is an ecy glass Choice as we would recognize someone that gave a $10,000 type donation so that is a choice so if there's um of the EC glass Community now if someone ask where the money comes from um that would certainly be at the discretion of the EC glass supervisor but that sign outside is not you must have a sign that Brands it but that is our EC glass Choice um um to recognize that where the $10,000 came from as far as the What's um our grant those
164$10,000 would be four it's exactly detailed in that spreadsheet so it wouldn't be anything beyond that um just only what's in that spreadsheet because that's what's before the board today so I just wanted to provide those so so you're saying that that sign is not required to that is not a required sign that's something that we right I mean they say that there needs to be something but it doesn't require any particular size any particular reing it just needs to say that this something is provided by them like any Grant does so that's so that signage was the choice of how we would recognize that group but we are it does require some kind of an acknowledgement is what an acknowledgement if great those not interrup if I can address the video um so the
165video program was actually where the it gets better project got started um when we had in the about 2012 there was a rash of LGBT uh suicides and it started as a project of uh adults talking about their own struggles with depression and their own struggles with suicidal ideation um and making videos talking about you know they made it through those struggles and their life gets so much better now that they made it to adulthood none of those videos are required for our students to watch it's PR really something separate than from the grant itself um but those videos were where that kind of Grant got started was it was a uh a way for people to talk about like even if you're struggling with something like this if you make it through life gets
166better on the other side um but none of those are we don't show them to the students they're on YouTube but we haven't we haven't shared them Dr car actually Mr Jalil was there before you thank you I was going to try to answer the um question on process by illustrating if I was putting forth this uh the effort to create the Grant and uh came across this this um obstacle well a similar thing did happen whereas I put forth the effort to get the Constitution uh collected and brought that out and what happened was that I went through all the process I did everything that I thought I did right and just before um actually after ordering constitutions I I took the one copy that I got and sent it I got three like
1673,000 plus I I gave it over to the administration they said it's wrong they said that copy was wrong so I had already 3,000 copies of the constitution in the wrong format and there was a reason because of the wording it's not just the wording of the Constitution there was an introduction and a prologue of some sort so I I had to call around and get other ones so my suggestion would be to try try again because we you're you there may be an undervalue of the importance of choosing another organization and the effort is not going to waste it's not I had to get another thousand few thousand copies of the constitution in order to get it out otherwise it couldn't do it and so that that so actually I have a bunch left
168in my car my house just stuck with these boxes of constitution so if anyone wants any um but I I see that correlation there and it's it's just my recommendation is try try again because you should not undervalue the import import of some of the things we've discovered about the organization thank you Dr Carter you had your hand up no that was must have been a leftover all okay now uh Dr R I guess I'm a little confused because I I got the information that we requested and I appreciate that and you laid out the protocol and how this room was to be implemented but the very first piece of the information I got was that's which which was the the signage The Branding what have you uh so I did I mean the Assumption
169was based upon thinking my question was being answered that way is this is a requirement to have this money so I guess from the sponsors I'm sorry I don't remember your name apologize but there is a requirement that there is some acknowledgement in terms of branding or is this or is there a simple you can say appreciate your donation what is what is the what is the answer for that particular question is there a requirement that there be branding at this room on school grounds for this money they want an acknowledgement but they don't they don't give us any kind of parameters for what it has to look like that is fairly common right well my point was that I'm I'm not in favor of this but I agree it is kind of you know
170you get you get the grants J crew with the art of supplying Arts was supplying materials for the Arts uh arts department yeah they they they deserve the acknowledgement I get that my arguments with who is the group the group so I guess we're at a tad of a different level because my argument is hey they're giving us some money I want these youngsters to get that money the problem is The Branding of it the acknowledgement quite frankly is they got all kinds of acknowledgement I mean they're on the media so they've been acknowledged what is that suff efficient I guess the answer is we don't know is that true sounds like they they want black on the wall or something they're not interested in this kind of creating this kind of controversy that's going
171to harm students sure frankly so um and they should an go ahead I'm sorry apologize so um you know I could type up a very small thing and um you know put it on a newsletter or something along those lines you know and uh it it really they're very flexible in terms of how we acknowledge Their donation but you're thank you for that that that really cleared it up uh for for people that never wrote grants before I understand what they're saying my argument with or my opinion my presentation with what Dr Ed Edwards was saying is if we came up with this and it's a controversial yes definitely we need to discuss it sure acknowledgement it's it's reasonable my point is and there's other people on the board who have this opinion and I
172believe that this is a group I don't think should be associated with LCS that's my position I want to make it as clear as I can there's other there's other parts that um you know whoever gives money yes I understand they want to be recognized um but I I don't think this is a good I I just don't I I cannot support that project with all the things that I've seen on their website I cannot do it understand and that it kind of gets back to the neutrality yes yeah fair enough Dr I just want to make sure there Clarity on one issue so if I was a student I went into the safe place I wouldn't have to watch a video that's correct yeah any other discussion before we call forward mam clerk please
173call for Mr Jill go ahead hold on I was going to the clerk ought to read the motion would you please read the motion and what a yes and no means the motion was made by Dr Carter to accept the grant funds of for the $10,000 50 voices 50 state Grant so if you're voting yes you're accepting the money if you're voting no you're saying we not accepting that's that's the motion mhm correct please call it all Mr jilo no Mr Andrews yes Mr TR no Dr day no Dr gupter No Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston Mrs Preston she might be muted she's muted um Mrs you have to unmute so we can I'm sorry I didn't realize um no no Mr depal no Mrs Lori no motion fails 8 to2 Dr D so as
174I said I would like to now make a different motion I move that we direct the LCS Administration to find the funds from within the LCS budget to establish a safe calm down room at EC glass which is available to all students and not associated with any particular group of students or organization second Madam cler do you have the voting of the motion I have it in writing here I can give it to her could you read it one Dr day move to direct the L Park City Schools to find the funds to support the safe room let me let me there's something else on this paper let let me separate it and I'll give it just if you can read it one more time so public can yeah I'll take it to her and
175she can copy it down oh you want me to just read it again yes all right I move that we direct the LCS Administration to find the funds from within the LCS budget to establish a safe calm down room at EC glass High School which is available to all students and not associated with any particular group of students or organization second so we have Dr D's motion Mr depal seconded Dr Carter do we are we able to do that and and what are the unintended unintended um what's the word I'm trying to say the UN intended um repercussion yeah what's going to happen I mean are we able to do that where are we going to get this from especially now with as tight as our budget is and we really don't operate or control
176our budget but I'm sure city council will give find us the money for this Mrs lry um I know I've been here since the 80s and the Lynchburg Community is very giving community and I think if we ask for donations people will donate go ahead let's ask I'll donate yeah I would donate mhm so your motion is from the budget or from private donors well people can donate to the budget we have we have policies concerning that there's a policy KH and there's a policy khh z-r that describe donations being made to the public schools so individuals can donate to the public schools uh if they want to and they can specify where it goes well I don't think this the policies address that but I'm sure that if a donation came in with a
177specification uh that this is in support of the safe room at EC glass I expect we would honor it yeah I have a quick question you gotta go through Dr Edwards you recognize it sure absolutely thank you um are these individuals that are going to donate are they going to be background checked and is their name going to be put on the the door ined yeah eded and everything else I would prefer to be in just want to help that in Mr J I was going to add an addendum to it if necessary and that I simply say to um subject to the approval of the full board once they find the funds so you can either say as soon as reasonably possible or subject to approval of these funds that are found I think
178go ahead I think you should pause just pause you're rushing another vote just pause you you're now trying to create something without their input that's the problem no I'm not I'm you are I'm trying to respond to the expressed need out time out time out time out because what you're doing is you you you were trying to create a vote without bringing them in and finding out what exactly they need in the school haven't we heard that from all they just expressed it they expressed their okay okay okay I just don't think it's right I just don't think it's right Dr Carter I know we have great ideas and I'm not I would never say that I know all about the school system because I don't and there are different things we don't know how
179they work and just to say that we now can get people to raise money and raise funds I think we do need to pause this then vote no on my motion I will that I will do and then if you then the the situation remains as it was after the last motion that was defeated yes and so somebody will have to bring forward a proposal if they want to move forward on this at all I've I've made a motion to propose how we can move forward and create the safe room at AC glass in a way that avoids the concerns that a number of board members have expressed I'm trying to respond to the expressed need as well as the expressed concerns and that was the purpose of my motion so please vote as your
180conscience tells you is it do do you want to do it this way or not if you don't want to do it this way please vote no but then if you want a safe room we're going to have to come up with another way to do it sir we do want to I do want to say any other discussion just Mr trust I wouldn't mind um I wouldn't mind understanding um if you can and and if you can it's okay just tell me that what your concern is about going forward at this point about the pause and not pausing just because my standpoint is I I heard a desire we've got to take care of these children that they need a space to protect themselves we're try I I thought we were trying to meet
181that need but you have a concern about that I just can you verbalize the concern to me because I just want to know what the plan is how will we do that because what I heard tonight is branding branding branding right but then there he's making a motion that we're probably going to approve because it's going to be a it's going to be a 7 to2 vote I mean it doesn't take a scientist to know that and so we're going to create a safe space but are we going to take in consideration of the students voices with no plan it's no different than any other thing that we've talked about having a plan in place right and so I think that's the issue that I have is that we're why not Pauls figure out exactly
182what their safe space needs to be and then come back to the table with a vote do we have any less of a plan here than we would having approved the grant we would have Buy in and I think that's way more important well that's different than a plan I'm not saying it's insignificant but not this it's just as important okay any other CL Mr TR you wanted some say something I don't want to R the Buy in resonates with me um as I but I think we have a need these children that need to be met concerned about that um we just don't have a plan in place as as far as finding the money right cuz he said we'll try to find it we'll try to find it out of the budget then
183I heard somebody say Oho we just get people to donate there's no plan once again we're operating just just because how we feel instead of just pausing and really having a plan in place I agree with you Mr Dr Carter now we may be looking at a situation where another group some of us are most of us won't like the donates that have strings attached that may not be as welcoming as this group for that want and we have $10,000 sitting here now for these students to have a safe place and we can't get past the whomever it is that Dr Carter but the same argument Donald Trump have given us 25,000 Plus in the same type of account for the same purpose and it would displease so many people well maybe only 50% of
184the people right but there's argument can be made right we don't know we don't know so the argument is there as well that you know it's not enough for me to change you were saying something let may I make a comment if people think this is the wrong thing to do you should vote no on the motion and if if you do that then I would encourage you to come back at some point in the future and tell us how to how you want to achieve the safe room right Madam Clark go ahead and call the role Please Mr jile yes Mr Andrews no Mr Charles no Dr day yes Dr Guta yes Dr Carter no Mrs Preston can you repeat the motion the motion is from Dr day that he moved that we direct
185the LCS Administration to find funds within the LCS budget to support the safe room at EC glass yes Mr depal yes yes Mrs laor yes motion passes 6 to3 what is it word 63 motion pass to 63 and Dr Edwards so just so I'm clear on the motion the motion was to direct Administration to find the money in the operating budget to we didn't put in the word operating but maybe it needs to be there in the budget the budget do it so and once I find the money is that subject to your approval or do I just do it we don't know because we don't have a plan well could this also be part of capital is is okay all right thank you all right so would you like us to clarify that yeah
186I move that if once LCS finds the $10,000 in the budget that they can proceed to implement the the plan based on the budget that has already been presented for this are you saying that or is that no I'm moving that for the board to to react to so that once the money is found then what was the that it does not need to come back to the board that she can go ahead and Implement give it to Dr Ru to buy the things they need to that should be included in the first one but understood clarify yeah it's up to you are the funds that were just offered to us through the grant um considered in the budget no no all right there's a motion on the floor is there a second second the
187motion Mr Jalil seconds the motion there discussion on the motion I think the point is that this is not about our students about the GS say I think everybody is proud of them for their initiative to do this but as often happens when you proceed on something a significant something that's in Troubled Waters sometimes the way you get there is not the way you thought you were going to get there and I believe that's what's happening here we're trying to get to what we understood uh the GSA to be looking for but we're trying to do it in a different way to satisfy the concerns of some board members and so that's that's my the purpose of this motion that's on the floor that that the uh funds that would have come from this grant
188are replaced by LCS funds and the uh implementation of that plan proceed as it was before it's just a replacement of the source of the funds and I guess one of my uh questions is what happens if the funds are not found in the budget so so I guess that's why kind of why I felt I understand where Mr Andrew is coming from now well at when I made my V vote because we really I I want to make sure that we're going to be able to find those funds in the budget because the children do need the room um and that's my primary objective it's the same objective that I think everybody in this room this table has is to get this safe room and I would add the menstration products for the children
189I'm just and I want I don't want to hold that process up so I I don't want to come back you know a month from now and say hey we didn't find the money in the budget well I just lost a month of time for these children to be putting together the the um the room for themselves that's Yeah question for Dr rule if I can ask is that funding you need ongoing basis or is one time one time so the funding is for the spreadsheet there's things for the there's other things that that funding is for so the 10,000 is beyond just the safe space for all students but there's also things for the GSA club and um different awareness pieces that they had in but it's a one time it's a one time
190yes yes sorry thank you so our desire is for the safe room to exist from the LCS side instead of another group right and my suggestion was to keep searching for other groups but if we can provide that safe space with some menstrual product provision and that's about it then I think that the same goal started with is accomplished overall and you said you have you have you have a room right now that you would like to yes ma'am okay I have a room you know um I don't have a whole lot of money but I I believe what this kid representing and I had tears in my eyes when that 10th grader was from EC glass was presenting and um I don't know if it's okay with go board or it's conflict of interest
191I'll be happy to contribute which this organization was contributing to have that space for them that's why I was asking is it one I cannot an ongoing basis I'll be eating food in your home every day uh but I can do one time if it board approves it and let me donate that I should not use the word donation that's not good um if that's I was asking Dr Edwards is it appropriate for me to even mention um you see I'm saying and that takes care of all the uh that this money needs to go that money goes to uh for them to have a safe space as long as we don't have to put Dr group on the door no I was going to do Anonymous but you know here the problem is is
192just will go on and on and on and um the kids need it kids need it kids need it let's get it done and move on and uh uh we need a board approval right for the money to come in how what will be the process Dr Edwards um I've got to look that up I've never had a board member donate over that amount to go specific so I'm going to just talk with hope okay attorney towns to so could we table this Dr is that okay with you anybody can move to table I make a motion to table this item till the next meeting second Mr St second I'm sorry I'm making a motion but he seconds the motion any discussion on it so the motion is to table the the motion that I
193had made yeah till we resolve the legal issues and Mr do Dr rule can have uh what is needed for these kids because I think it's important for them to have it um I have two daughters and it's absolutely essential absolutely iing is important are you resending what you just voted on no no no taing the mo most recent motion most recent motion okay so didn't y'all just vote to direct me to no that that was a motion it wasn't a vote yeah I thought it was a vote they did vote you did vote we voted against the motion that Dr Carter made can you no no we we voted we vot did we voted we voted to director to do that yes 6 to three yeah six Ah that's right so let let me
194okay yes yes okay right you're right so let me um the proper procedure will be to Des send the previous direction oh I see what you're I understand so somebody needs to make a motion send addendum or resend complete send the first one and then we uh table this for the future until she resolves right that that send the second one second one so the motion that I had made that we did vote on and was approved this is a this has to be Rec somebody's now going to make a motion to resend that which is would be an order yes remember remember it's supposed to be reconsideration oh that's right it's a reconsideration if it's the same meaning thank you Mr chair thank you and is it a prevailing party yes the mo to
195reconsider has to be made by somebody that voted in favor of the motion so I will move that we reconsider the motion I made um to direct the LCS Administration to find the funds and so forth I'm I'm recommending I'm moving that we reconsider that I second that motion any discussion Madam cler could you please call the room Mr jilo yes Mr Andrews Mr Mr tro yes Dr day yes Dr gter yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Mrs Lor yes motion CES not Z we come back to my motion where we table this till the next meeting in December MH till that time Dr Edwards will sort it out with our legal team uh if there's a conflict of interest with me giving money to this organization with no strings attached
196Dr will you hear that no strings it you can do whatever you want you don't want your picture on the door no sir but only one time only one time second Mr dep Paul seconds it any discussion on that motion Madam Clark would you please call the role Mr jalo yes Mr Andrews yes Mr tro yes Dr day yes Dr gupter yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Mrs Lori yes motion CES 9 to zero so we'll make sure that there's no conflict of interest um puzzle here right we move on to the thank you next item student services policy update Dr Brown Dr Edwards yeah and Dr Brown is online and in the back of the room so um uh these are the policies that we had discussed before they are
197up for a second review and also for approval and I'm going to ask uh Dr Brown just to come up we briefly went over these last time so any questions hey everybody sorry it's a little hard to hear um but I'm assuming everyone's read through policies I'm here to entertain any questions or concerns the board may have for a final vote I do have a couple questions yes sir um one of the policies that uh we're considering um to delete is R 7-12 um and that policy specified all the School attendance zones yes sir if you would um look at the that policy I believe those attendance zones included some schools that were no longer um schools and already have been closed and they're just old attendance zones that don't they're Antiquated and don't currently
198satisfy but we do have a another policy that does satisfy the current attendance zones so do do our attendance zones need to be specified in a policy okay so we don't need to have a policy that says the attendance Zone uh for perrymont is such and such like this policy did okay um um another one of the old numbered policies there were a pair of them here about clubs and organizations P 7- 43.1 and R 7- 43.1 um these seem to address Club finances um and I didn't see that addressed in the replacement policy there's probably and I'll have to check but in the section d if it's money it's probably going to be in section D and it might be under Student Activities funds so we can double check that the finance group the
199finance policy work group that looks at policies in D has not met yet okay yes sir um okay okay I don't have any other questions to any other questions I got ID is there a motion to approve it move that we approve the policies this second Dr Day Dr car any discussion Madam clerk would you please call the r Mr julo abstain Mr Andrews yes Dr day yes Dr Gupta yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Mrs Lori yes motion carries 8 to1 obain thank you one absent yes 7 to1 and one seven yes when absent when absent next one is facilities master plan remaining questions and path forward Dr yep so this is a continuation of what we started several meetings ago we had questions to just um clarify the direction
200that the board intended to go the last remaining question was on TC Miller with a close or convert and the conversion was looking at the possibility of um having uh TC Miller become a prek facility or host prek uh so that is up for discussion for the board right now so nothing nothing further than that other than to say that we are um we do need a decision uh because we're on a bit on hold for the attendance zones conversation until we get a decision on this because it just impacts capacity could you please share with the board what are the options for pre word um so so as we've describe them um we could add additional prek classrooms in the division if you want to do that uh you could also convert TC Miller
201to a preas center in the fall of 2025 when the board is allowed for that uh as well as you could take no additional action for prek at this point based on uh based on scenario three Dr D so um my concern about this is that um our facilities needs are already posing a funding challenge for us at the city council level um and there's the immediate issue of the request we've made for them to support $15 million for expansion at Bass and then there's the longer term issue of what amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars for Capital improvement over the next decade um and I guess I just think we need to be cognizant of not making requests or plans that are going to require even more funding approval from city council uh
202because I don't think we're likely to get it um it's already not clear whether they will approve the the 15 million we've asked for much less uh amounts above and beyond that uh so for that reason um I think what we should do is put our planning for pre K into the long-term capital Improvement uh aspect of our planning not try to do it immediately and so I mean Mr Andrew doesn't like me to make motions uh please um what about the close to home zoning because I'm more in favor with that with the preas going with siblings or family members that can walk them and being you know with their Community you know that they're used to that they're around people that they know and that love them you know and stuff like that
203so um instead of finding a new whole building for prek I'm thinking for me I'm thinking it would be better to just do close to home zoning wherever that preer lives so you so you're advocating for having the prek facilities inside existing elementary schools so that the students can be yep they go they go to the pre but I think the question at hand right now is just for the TC Mill building right so the question as as it exists in in scenario three there's a section that says you need to expand or you want to expand prek the question is at you know remember this is a this is a master plan that's going to be in development over over well 10 10 or more years uh so you you don't have to do
204that right now if you want if you want to use a facility for a pre- center that would be something that you would be able to do we could put that in the plan doesn't have to be done next year or the year after it could be done later in the plan if that's the concern uh if you want to have more of a focus on a dispersed uh set of pre around the division that's another direction that we just need to go so that that's really the the question is do you want to actually did you mean that you wanted to expand prek and if so how do you want to do that uh again there's two sort of sort of two models uh and maybe I shouldn't have put in Fall 2025 and
205I guess that could be different uh depending on where you would want to do that but you could do it in a in an initial prek Center Early Learning Center like a huton like a new huton or you could have additional uh classrooms out there or you could say no we didn't mean to say we want more prek in the division and that's that's your choice I thought you first said the three options were to add prek two existing classes at TC Miller the second one so what I what I said was there's the first is to add Elementary based prek classrooms in the division right so that might be under this model it might be in every Elementary School in the nine remaining elementary schools or it might be you would do additional classrooms
206in uh certain parts of the city may you would have that there's a couple different ways you could do that we we can you don't have to say that right now but it's just two different models you want to you want an Early Learning Center or do you want it dispersed out in division or do you not want to address that INE the um the Sy in the plan right now and that means if we don't address it that means it's status quo for what we have yeah how much more money will be needed to expand prek uh in this coming fiscal year when we start planning budget for 2425 well it so you know it it is a if you add it classroom you know it's it's essentially a a classroom teacher and we
207have have to find space we're not you know if you had another space space around um so it would essentially be in a teacher in an IIA teacher in an IIA Furniture um curriculum materials so you know in the in the in the tune of a few hundred thousand dolls probably per classroom are we talking about creating a new classroom or taking an existing room and configuring it for use with prek it would be configuring for use for prek unless again unless you wanted to build classrooms that would also be a Direction but I think where we would be be saying right now is uh using existing classrooms converting it uh and then you have it at a teacher because you just in a teacher in I and some changing the furniture because it needs
208to be different that would match what we're asking for CTE we're just not asking for a CTE building but we're asking to disperse it among different classrooms Andre different different models I think if I remember correctly I think the last me we had a huge conversation about I think Randy might have point about keeping TC Miller open and then adding prek to the school but then something about ADM can't I can't remember what the conversation was generally is that even an option keeping TC Miller open and just adding prek to the bottom I uh so we will make whatever you want sure we will find we will find a way and I and I I I I can't I can't tell you exactly how it would work right now I think we would figure out
209how to make it work um and we would be committed to that um and we certainly would be think that would be a valuable good process to go down again I think I said last time there might be another model where there maybe is a shared Primary Elementary uh kind of thing but we'd have to figure that out to make that work but I'm just thinking in of Dr day is saying which is I mean he's very valid points is that we we don't we don't know what council is going to do in terms of bass expansion $15 million so if we don't have that then we and if I could just say and please tell me if this is not what you want to hear but just remember as we're developing this master plan
210there will be different members on city council than there are now just as there were five years ago just as there probably we know there will be different Schoolboard members and hopefully I get to still be here uh as well but uh those things change so again and I think like you I've said this a couple times but want to make sure I feel like I need to say it that we this is where you cast The Vision uh you don't have to find all the details right this second but you you want to cast The Vision for how you're going to approach this work going forward you don't have to find the money today you you know that's where we figure that out over time um but again you're you're casting a vision for
211what you're trying to achieve as a School Division and so I think what you've done is you said okay we're going to contract a little bit in terms of our buildings try to rebuild programs and do that do a really great job there the question then becomes how do you you do your programmatic work at the prek level again you're planning that out you're you're giving a vision for where you want to go you will find we will work on figuring out the money later if if you take a look at the the downtown The Original downtown master plan that I think everybody takes a look at and says hey there's a lot of really great work that happened there uh you know the 25 years ago now uh there was there was a vision
212right they didn't know how they're going to fund it all they but they they didn't fund all of it but they got a lot of it done and this master plan process is really about how this body can develop a vision you develop your programmatic vision for what the School Division will be and in certainly you should take into account costs but again it's really primarily focused on what your vision your long-term vision for what the school system will be uh in again in the long term so I I just feel like I just have to say that hold M Dr Carter is and I think Dr wak could said and more professional than I was about to say you I really don't care what um our goal here is to make sure we're looking
213out for our students not I know we go to city council for finances but we really have to have the vision for what we want for our students and I think um I think Mr tro stated today that there were 200 students on the waiting list wait list for huderson huderson so I said if we can put get students in get them started to like and to love school and reading and all of that good stuff that's wonderful Miss low so what's the plan so what's the plan if um if city council says no we're not giving you money for TC Miller is there another plan for TC Miller to to keep it open to to to use it well I don't I mean I don't think that I mean the building needs needs some
214things but it's not I mean it's not falling down like by any means it's certainly not you know as people said it's not the worst building I think there will continue to be to be maintenance kind of needs in the future um so I I especially the toilets for the yeah we we would need to do that yeah so we can we would have to figure out but that's um so uh yeah I think that there's um a lot a lot of different options out there I just think that you you have to again trying to figure out what what general direction which which interstate are you taking right uh not um is it 8 or is an i5 yeah Mrs Preston go ahead I was simply want to say that that the success of
215Pon earling Learning Centers suggests that students can come from all over the city and still be successful in a prek program I think TC Miller gives us the opportunity to do that kind of in a different location within our city but it also considering keeping TC Miller open will also give give us the opportunity to consider with the program that's at TC Miller which a lot of our families want to continue with so that's that to seems like a really valuable viable option that we need to at least consider what um I guess I want to make sure we flush this out because I'm not an expert I you know I talked about maybe putting some um prek in the lower level of TC Miller I was at Hutcherson today wonderful facility can't sing their
216accolades enough but I guess and I I pose a questions some people there and say you know is it good to have a prek centralized facility or is it better to have a prek distributed facility and I didn't get clarity on what was best for the children from that type of question and that's kind of what we're asking for here is are we going to do a centralized pre prek or maybe two huderson and someone else or we going to do the distributed prek system and I really think we need to flush that that out and I'm not I don't have the education the expertise to address that matter um so that's kind of where I fall I know we need to make some decisions long term but part of that that decision- making process
217decision making proc process for me is understanding that um what what model prek model is best there's an absolute need for prek so so I think if you talk to most and and I'm not like you and we're probably maybe the least qualified person but I'll just say what I've understood from from my colleagues who who are those folks is that there are pros and cons for both ways of doing it you know we've heard some things about the TC Miller building about there's stairs and this sort of thing I think uh there it's a developmentally appropriate skill for children in early childhood to to be learning to walk stairs but that also can cause challenges for as classroom management and that sort of thing going going as well um I you I think there
218are there are pros and cons both are good and both have uh and and as we are expanding prek if that's the direction you want to go it is a you know certainly having it out in the city is great it's certainly having it at one place is great too because you're expanding pre and that's the most important thing let me just I just one question uh we had MGT as our consultant throughout this process so I agree with you like we don't have the expertise so where do they stand on these issues which come to this board what is their advice yeah I think they I think they they their advice and I will look into to report and make sure this is accurate but as you talk but my my recollection is that
219they said both are good you can you can do either one um and so uh you just have to decide what the what the path you want to go down is and and I we can provide whatever information you feel like we did we just just didn't get any other questions about that but we can if you could tell us what information you need to help make that decision we can provide that but it's just you know okay from the economies and efficiencies of scale it would make sense that we have something centralized from what Miss Lowry is saying having it the way it is where kids are closer to home it's probably better that way if it works either way it might if it if they're saying it from their point of view when
220it works either way and with all the great points are being brought up let's let it work way for now and as we do redistricting as we look at the expanding we can work on the good um the things that work in the existing format and where we need to make changes or where we need to modify I loved your point about the using the city and what they did downtown I love that because they did do it in phases and changed along the way and this we can do this with prek too depends upon demand there's so many many different things are going to be taken into consideration it's working now we don't need to change this it's working now and we can improve upon it as it exists or we can make it
221a centralized location at another time I would I would be counting on you for your and your experience to to educate me so I was going to say I mean I I like what she's saying close to home resoning right um we work together on 1550 right I really want to work with Dr Day on getting keeping TC Miller open and having prek there like you're an analytical guy you can we can work together I really want to keep TC Miller open I really want to add prek is that something that as a board we could support that's uh so one of the option we don't need to make a pre decision today right well they want here's the reason I need to I need some decision on prek at least a direct moving forward
222so we're we're getting ready to go into this resoning conversation but if if we were to move the question really would be if you were to move or the plan would be to move those existing prek classrooms out of the elementary schools and into a TC Miller well then you've opened up space and those and palmon rs pan paramont so the calculus is just different now it's not wrong or right it's just different and we just need to know that one way or another um now if you said keep the keep both and then you maybe wanted to expand into Early Learning Center in the future where you would have not only your your your classrooms out in the out in the division and you in the future you had additional pre at at a
223TC Miller that would that would not affect that so much because you those those spaces would not be uh impacted so that that's the only thing it's it's just it's it's space for several hundred students uh a couple hundred actually I say a couple hundred students uh in those those 10 or so classrooms M lo I need to make just one statement to Mr Andrews you know if we keep one school open then we got to talk about the other school too so we cannot send us Key Elementary out of the picture and saying I'm just for the one we got to be fair with both and otherwise the both are in the boat together so since there's uh nobody from sendas you know I like to have everybody included in the conversation so what
224I'm hearing from you is if the bo you got third option is no action right so the no action keeps that option open uh for right so you all your close to home reone will be keeping the status quo of those classrooms in those existing buildings right I think yeah and uh right that that that that carries it if any changes need to be made in the future well and my comment was that part of the process is to expand so if we're going to expand anyways then that's where our fre carers can go close to home Dr Carter I think we have to remember the 600 students that we need spes for so if we did do T Miller as prek then we can like you said open up those in spaces for more
225students that will have to go somewhere so we have to remember that too and is you're considering closer to home Zoning for everyone but if you're going to include prek you have to and I know we were talking about expansion um but you need to to look and that data was provided to you about where those students are physically living and where that closer to home school might be uh you might have um a school that has maybe one prek classroom and you've now singled that teacher out and she has no collaboration no um common time to plan no no supports there um and then you may have one school that you know may need two or three classrooms um so just keep that in mind as you're thinking about the closer to home Zoning
226for including prek if I could add to that so remember that you're again because your your distribution of your students is not uniform throughout the city you would and you so at at 10 classrooms right now right which are not all four-year-old but I guess they're all foury old there those are foury old 10 classrooms out throughout the city that means that's because the geographic distribution is not the same you would have classes that are big over here and classes that are small over here and I you know that that would just be a challenge that we would have to until we until at such time as you expanded those uh those those number of classrooms and also keep in mind that your max class for a prek4 is 16 students so like I said
227if you have you know 60 some students in this one area you're going to have four or more classes and if you have you know 12 students you're just going to have the one class class or three students that are in that Closer To Home Zone so it just becomes a challenge for that teacher if they don't have others to collaborate with if they're a Singleton teacher in terms of planning um and and collaboration Dr Carter just finish saying about the centralized um pre prek or whatever but then the challenge is I remember seeing uh my next door neighbor putting their child on the bus for pre- and I said why doesn't your child go right up the street where you can walk and but then eventually they the child did so that's the thing
228if you can see the school and you can walk right to it and then you're going to take a bus to go way somewhere else it doesn't have to be way somewhere El but somewhere else so there's like I I have I don't know that's a especially if you can see the school and you can walk right there and pick that child up and bring the child back versus waiting on the bus stop to send the child so it's a that's a catch all it's cuse right it is and I I think some of that has to do with numbers and where the students are located and because of the cap on the class size if I have a student who's may be enrolled a little bit later down the road perhaps like your neighbor
229there wasn't space in that school that they could see from the house so the coordinator had to place them in another school where we offer prek um so I mean and as Dr woda said there are pros and cons to both and I think if you were to talk to the prek coordinator she would tell you the same she um she's not going to tell you one is better than the other I think she would Express the concern about having Singleton prek classes in closer to home schools um that isolates that prek teacher Dr D um is there an attendance Zone associated with Hutcherson no no so the students who attend there come from all over the district yes and then for individual prek classes like say at pal androe do those students predominantly come
230from the pal Monro attendance Zone So currently the the attendance at a prek facility for a student is not really determined by where they live in some cases it is where they are closer to they may request I'd like to go here well it it's the prek coordinator does look at their physical address when she's placing them in classrooms but if you look at it and um I did ask Chuck yardo to do uh like a heat map of where our students are located so I can certainly share that with you so you'll see they're not you know equally dispersed they are centrally more located in in a downtown area but RS pan only has those you know few classes um and those fill up quickly and so then the coordinator just has to put
231them somewhere else and so unfortunately some of those students have to ride across town to get to Pal Monroe so no they are not going to their Zone school and I think what Miss Lowry is suggesting is that perhaps if we look at it for closer to home they could the biggest concern there is as Dr woda said you may have uneven class sizes or numbers of classes and you will have some teachers who will be isolated as the single weekk teacher in a CL in a school and that's not um good practice so one way to proceed would be for the immediate future we try to utilize our existing classroom space as efficiently as possible and in the long term uh look for an opportunity to create a more centralized second prec prek facility
232like Hutson may be located geographically different to cover a different area so again in the short term we could use the existing classroom space not immediately try to add new physical facilities but then put this as a agenda item for our long-term capital Improvement to try to create a second prek facility similar to huderson now it we still have to think about the ISS is of parents saying they can't attend their children's events because they live well that that's an issue that already exists I know that's what we're trying that's why I was thinking was trying to be resolved by the close to home and since we're building in the future and expanding and building classrooms then the area is when the red dising is done we see where that need is to build those
233classrooms then is part of that Capital Improvement plan as we go on so how is there a way to address that close to home issue in the next two years no no we probably have to keep it status quo until we get approval for finances till we get you so that's what I'm saying that we can't do anything about that in the short term no I'm saying that's I'm that no not in the short term in the long term that's what I would like to see so what is the solution is there a motion to I make a motion that we keep this that we postponed no action at this time no action at this time so you make you picking Dr watera you three choices could you please repeat uh if you don't mind
234I don't have them on the screen I so I will say that might may have been not as articular as I could have been on these choices but uh so it's essentially uh you take and you so if in scenario because you adopted scenario 3 you want to to add prek uh the the solutions of the plan would be potential options would be to add more Elementary based prek classrooms uh in the division right so these are ones that are out at elementary school School wherever uh you would convert uh TC the second would be that you could convert TC Miller to pre Center Early Learning Center I wrote on this in Fall 2025 but that obviously could be uh a different timeline uh and then or you keep the status quo no action this
235time so what's the difference between the first and the third uh you would add more in the first one you would add additional spaces in the elementary schools but that doesn't mean creating a physical new classroom it means using an existing room you're designating additional existing rooms for pre- and and the distinction would be that you have a new operating cost per classroom so $1 150 to $200,000 to each time you do that yes but again this is a a long-term Vision correct right so that's that's so this is not something that has to be done next year or the year after and I believe we have a need we have an unbelievable need for a prek and in this community um and I I fully believe that that's a great investment in the future
236of the children um that can help solve a myriad of issues that we see going up through we get some different life skills that maybe these children are learning in a prek level from a prek from us from the LCS um so I guess I'm leaning towards the first option because it's not something we have to do this year or the next year but it's our vision and it may change um and but I just don't know what it looks like but I don't think we anybody knows what it looks like and we ideally I'd want to weigh out the pros and con cons of the distributed of the distributed uh prek versus the centralized prek but this at least gives you the direction that we want more prek period and this will be at
237the elementary level Mr depa looks like mely motion right was there a second to that motion I no not yet um motion was to do no action at this time everybody knows we want more prek um as the need Rises I'm sure we're going to adjust if we had if we all of a sudden influx of students we would adjust for that right so at this point no action would be the least restrictive to what they're trying to accomplish and allow the the uh energies to be directed towards higher priority and I believe this is more of a [Music] prioritization well I I I don't know that I would characterize it that way I think again it's about the path you want to take and how you want to do pre right I mean I
238think that's so if we do no action at this point other things get prioritized well I I would okay so my again this might be because of the way I wrote this I apologize for that but I would maybe just take they at this time off of that and just say no action that third thing because if you're not going to say this is the direction you want to go no action means no action we're not going to expand PRK to me and that's how I that's how I understood it that's what I understood it's a long-term vision really yeah so no action I'll take mine mine off the uh off the floor and do number one and that's I mean yeah cuz I see now it's a vision that's how I understand you need
239some direction for a long-term Vision can I take it off the floor does a let me so you do you have a motion on the floor I'm can I just say I forget about it you can remove your I'll remove it so do you have a another motion or you just removing remove it let's let's do number one instead is that I need yes so doing number one motion to do number one add more Elementary based pre classrooms in the division as needed I was going to say an amendment to what you saying to say add more Elementary based prek classrooms in the division as we do the capital Improvement and expand on the future buildings okay that's what I think would be a good way to Mr L I got a motion if there
240is a second or not I'll second it so we can talk about it all right so that would include what Miss Lowry just said because it'll be as needed and it is as the capital plan develops develops yeah those class so if it needs to be modified we can modify it so do we have a clear statement of the motion no the motion is yes IFA is laughing it's bad news I modifi I said the first one but I modified it by saying add more Elementary based prek classrooms in the division as needed Miss Lowry added to that as we develop as Capal Improvement in the capital Improvement that is included in the as needed because if needed say that doesn't it you know that's all part of the plan if it's not needed I
241don't think they'd be adding classrooms I think add as needed is sufficient I think it includes what okay that's that's my motion is that is that clear to you Mr okay all right let me just say this so here's what I'm going to do if you vote for this all right so we're going to put in the master plan we're going to have uh an expansion of prek and we're going to say that it's going to we're going to do additional prek in the future when it needs to occur at this this or this school based on uh the the future needs right and we will identify kind of on the site where that might be if we do additional Capital Pro cap projects and that sort of thing so that that's my understanding is
242that we will we will expand in the in the elementary schools disperse throughout the city and we will in the master plan that's what we will write and we will write kind of where that's going to be and how that's going to look is that right that's as needed right that just going to do for the sake of do so think about when we put up the slides on the expand the potential future expansions of the schools we showed okay here on the site is kind of where you would do it right it would yes but you're not going to do it until it's until you recognize the need so okay that's all part of the planning process what you just went through the motion is as it sits as I as I said it
243to you that's my motion is and is there a second yeah I seconded it okay great but I have a question because I'm now confused because I thought that add new classrooms did not mean new physical classrooms it means ex but you just talked about looking at the maps of the sites and where were going where we were going to put additions I thought I heard that that was the that was the direction in the future in the future but but maybe I misunderstood if it's needed well that leaves it open in my opinion it leaves it open that we either modify or we add as needed it's a it's a moving Target and I think we're on the I think you and I may be on the same page let me make sure because
244I see as need as okay we have some classrooms here it may be that it's not necessarily the closest to home but we have classrooms here and it's more efficient if we were to bust these kids maybe not all the way across the town but bust them the neighboring zone right a neighboring zone is that absolutely because that we we don't need as a board to get into the weeds of the specifics of the day today we are offering a general direction and that's exactly what I'm that's exactly as I envisioned and that's basically what you would imp M menting with common common sense so does the motion that's on the floor is it advocating building new classroom space it leaves that it leaves that option that open okay so the way I guess so
245the way we could write this would be the first thing you would do if you needed to expand prek is that you would use existing classroom space first and then if that's not available here's where you that is your that's your job right bring it to the board if that's our understanding of the motion then I approve okay Mrs Preston go ahead I just have a question how is how is this going to impact students at um at home again please repeat that please how is this going to impact the students that that currently would be enrolled at so my understanding and please correct me I'm wrong but would continue as is and we would we would just we would be thinking about expanding the elementary prease elementary based preas so so okay now but
246if I have a I have a student that currently goes to huton and his little brother is going to enter school this this coming year and he would back go to some other school then what would happen with those students I think it doesn't mean that the students that are at Hutcherson have to stay at Hutcherson I think what we're saying is that Hutcherson would stay open as a Early Learning Center but the rezoning may be student placement may be different okay I just want to think about all the possibilities because if it can happen it's going to and and then somebody's gonna ask that question yeah I don't think it would make sense to say two students from this family are going to go to Hutcherson but one's going to be bust over to
247wherever the prek classroom is I I think if you are expanding Hutcherson still stays open as An Early Learning Center but the zoning or the placement of students may be a little bit different but it would still remain open we're not going to close it or move it anywhere is that an application it all of them are application okay and there's a wait list Dr Carter is that is this feasible can we do this given the the number of students that are going to be displaced in the two schools that we're going to potentially close and then we're going to open up more spaces for um prek that and some schools that don't currently have them well it depends on future enrollments if if if they follow as um as they're projected then you might
248might be okay if they if they don't follow the the projections then it may may be a challenge if they are if there are more students in the projections and we can change at that point any more discussion M CL go ahead call restate the motion please add more Elementary based pre classrooms in the division as needed thank you that was the option number one presented to us last time right am I correct I I added as needed with the addition as needed okay go ahead okay Mr Julio yes Mr Andrews yes Mr tro yes Dr day yes Dr Gupta yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Mrs Lori yes motion CES 9 to zero thank you item N1 uh L City School Board legislative priorities Mr TR let get my here
249all right the legislative uh School Board um the lacro meeting we had one today and we our charge was to identify and um develop our suggestive legislative priorities for the 23 24 legislative session I guess coming up in school year and I can go through and read them or the record in detail and then I will um seminate this sheet individually to the board members uh once I have it typed up and and finalized getting this draft so let me just go through the priorities we met legislative committee um with respect to uh our legislative position on prek um because we had not decided or had not understood where our um Early Childhood U prek stance is going to be now we have it we can kind of formulate that legislative priority at that point
250it kind of goes in line with what we have are you comfortable going forward with that one yeah well so before we knew where the board was going to be going in terms of prek um Vision in the future we had this we assumed we wanted to all um support prek education so we developed this legislative priority early childhood education LCS supports stable funding to support Early prek Childhood care and public education of individuals aged 3 to four years it is imperative that such programs once established be maintained to provide a reliable resource providing young students and their families support for future educational success State funding needs to take into account prek enrollment so that's our early childhood education priority next Student Success LCS supports additional funding needed to implement proven methods of preventing and
251addressing misbehaviors that lead to suspect ention and expulsion I.E vtss PBIS restorative justice Regional programs virtual services and communitybased SLP parental Services that's our Student Success legislative priority teacher Recruitment and Retention LCS supports a raise in teacher salaries to at least the national average should also a living wage for I'll add to staff the state should also play a part in encouraging Recruitment and Retention of high quality individuals to teach in schools through Innovative programs scholarships loans and incentive grants that's our teacher Recruitment and Retention legislative stance State Testing and standards of quality and State education funding State funding based on standards of quality s soqs are inadequate to meet so standards there needs to be a better match between State funding and state standards removal of the S soq support position cap should be
252part of this effort that's our state testing and standards of quality and State education uh legislative priority stands finally funding for physical facilities our agent infrastructure is going to need financial support for maintenance renovation or replacement so we want that's another uh legislative priority they we want to have put forth again that's for funding for our physical facilities um those were the uh legislative priorities that the uh the lacro committee developed um they they've kind of very similar to ones in the past were continuing to push for those particular legislative priorities I have it in draft form I will get that to all of our board members tomorrow go ahead what about um CA before covid we were allowing parents into the schools to help for like everything like um a registration I'd have a
253room Mom I'd have a computer helper I'd have a reader I'd have a Story Reader I have somebody to come in and help with language arts I had someone come and help with math I mean what about getting parents back in or is it just because of all the security and stuff we just can't do that anymore parents can now yeah they come in they can absolutely volunteers par okay I wasn't sure I felt like that was still like a abely encourage it all right we love our volunteers and support absolutely that's what I mean okay well and and along opening up to the entire board are there any other legislative priorities that you think we should think about develop put forth to uh to get support have you finalized the legislative breakfast date yet
254um with respect to the legislative breakfast we're waiting on some um right now we making sure I think we're waiting to see that uh we have a space based upon some dates that our legislators provided for us they were not able to meet uh December one date that we had set one of our legislators was at him and he really was felt it was important to be there he wanted to be there he had a conflict I've circulated some additional dates and I believe an email was sent to miss day to see if uh the facility could host on a number of given dates um so we're waiting waiting to hear back from that so I can put in concrete that date it's basically really driven by the um our ability to facilitate the meeting
255at a location so the short answer is not yet you circulate all this well we we'll um I'm circulating within the with among the legislators because that's how we see who we want to be talking to um and assuming that we can hopefully make our schedules flexible to meet their dates is that good good right thank you any other any other comments or feedback on our legislative priorities you're doing an excellent job well go ahead just just in case they're not you didn't call them out in any type of order oh excellent point yeah the the list the list yeah that's not a uh this is not a list of prioritization it just a list is how they were developed on the paper um we don't have a priority associated with any these at this
256point are we going to talk about school safety and legislative priorities we can I mean if that's if that's another legislative priority you want to put forth I we want to hear about that well there's a lot of funding surrounding this this school safety issue so if we can have more monies from putting this forth and uh making an argument for it and there's someone who's donated a million of dollars for whatever type of security system we can add to what what we already have I'd be more than willing to help let's let's formulate a priority and I want to make sure we circulated amongst the lacer committee um can you do that and I want to move forward on this are you able to we can discuss over the telephone tomorrow maybe no Wednesday
257Wednesday I have a limited time so probably Friday you can to can figure it out yeah how to resolve that yeah I'm already going to be meeting with legislators for other reason okay very good good thank you yep superintendent comments All One um okay Edward oh sure um sorry I'm kind of busy um uh first just my first one was going to be just reminding the public that on December 12th at 5 o' we do have a budget hearing uh for the upcoming uh school budget it is the opportunity for the public to share uh what they would like to um the board to consider as being priorities for the upcoming um School budget for FY 25 or 2425 uh and that's from 5 to 6 in the last couple years we haven't had as
258many folks out so I really want to encourage people um to come out and share we will do a second budget hearing in March and at that point that's when the budget is generally finalized and approved this first one is in input so it's an opportunity for people to share um just a couple shout outs uh to both the personnel and parent advisory committees we met with them um a little while ago and discussed a variety of issues and I'm grateful to the participation that we have from both our staff um in lots of questions but also our parents um we're we had lots of parents um and this might be the first time that I've actually had Fort Hill parents as well so that was great just to um have that um kids mentioned
259The Jug Bowl um had a great time there uh shout out to one Community One Voice uh today we were at the darington bike presentation um but since the last board meeting they have also given away four bikes at Heritage Elementary School and rs pay um so um we are very grateful for um their support there did have an opportunity to attend the vast conference a lot of it was legislative priority so good to hear some of the things that um we're discussing are quite in line with that uh spent the morning on threat assessment training about four hours of threat assessment training just um learning a little bit more about that process um we also have to have that process for adults in our building as well so um did that uh a big
260big shout out to miss McCormick Miss Brown Miss Wilson Dr Badger Miss Harris and Dr woda all for going to sleepa away camp I want to say um for inclusion and sleeping in Twin bunk beds um to support our students we had some amazing students from both EC glass and Heritage uh high schools that represented um LCS very very well so I'm grateful to have that opportunity to spend four days and and you did too yeah oh I did too yes I did too I went too I'm sorry grateful to to have that opportunity to um to learn alongside our students um and to listen to some of their great presentations that they gave us on um just culture and beliefs and things like that so looking forward to more of that um last week
261was school psychology Awareness Week um and this week is American Education week thank you board comments we'll start with Mrs Lowry um I want to give a shout out to one of our dunar middle school students Jameson um minkler he was on wln and he has um there's a a program called give good and he raised $5,000 with his lemonade stand to help fight substance abuse so and also EC glass um band um was in Four competitions and they came in first in every single competition which was great bra and also after our ACS me um meeting today I told Mrs Pew teachers as a teacher I had no no clue about the programs that we have and admin needs to showcase at least once a month the programs you have like the one I
262her today we have no clue I think half of it when teachers are saying oh nothing's being done whatever happened there's a lot going on we have no clue so I'd like to see Administration start showcasing their talents you know you guys do a lot of good so yeah I think she knows Gloria we can see you oh she said she knows okay okay she she not night like that so that's all I had to say you tell me if I'm in my night again right um I normally say no comment but I'm gonna just want to say to you two guys you're my heroes tonight uh when um you guys were discussing back and forth I was learning from you when Randy you called Anthony your brother I heard groans in the office and
263office in the in in the room G in a galley um and you were just yeah I just appreciate you guys that's I did not hear it but that's a shame it it I that was unfortunate but you guys you're my heroes tonight appreciate that I grew up with siblings man we a always get along exactly yeah Brothers family right you guys are great you guys are an example to all the kids I mean we are all St to talk to each other and work together give a shout out sry Mrs Preston go ahead I'm sorry chair was next nothing other than to say it's it's amazing how hard this group works it's also amazing how well we can we can manage to get along without without being unpleasant to each other so thank you
264for that Dr G want to give a give a shout out to RS pay um for honoring the veterans there's a a big display on their fence or gate U on the 12th Street side and some other schools may have some too but I pass by that quite often it's really really nice and EC glass for The Jug Bowl I think this may be the first time since I've been on the I know Tina that's a Traer right first time since I've been on the school board that Heritage didn't didn't win but um but we have to allow EC glass to win every so often ouch [Laughter] and and just for um Dr Waker for the custodial custodial assessment award that was awesome I go when I go to other schools very nice sometimes I
265look and I say oh they're one thing is we have the best custodial services and sometimes when I walk on the floor I just say is this wet you know it's so bright and shiny and my father owned a um janitorial service custodial service as a side job and and that's why I learned how to drive and clean and do a lot of things so and just to give that award was great and it was great to see one of my buddies Jared Anderson that's going to present here at EC glass and being alumni for there and also the Pioneer theater Little Shop of Horrors um Mr Bey is just awesome I saw he was standing there but he is just amazing and all of the actors and um this is just a sideb Katie
266Snider's son grew six inches since last year it seems that's all thank you Dr D um two things um I just want to acknowledge that this board this year is wrestling with some really difficult issues ones on which we have Divergent opinions um and although that can be uncomfortable it's it's when when you express one opinion and you know other people really disagree with your opinion that can be hard but I'm grateful that we managed to do that in a respectful way with each other and I think that that's important um so that's one thing the other thing is um um tomorrow evening at Heritage High School is the National Honor Society induction ceremony um I was originally afraid I was going to miss it because I would be in Williams but I'm not going
267to be in Williamsburg tomorrow so I'm going to be able to to do that uh we give a lot of highlights and accolades uh duly deserved to all our student athletes but I want to encourage us to praise the academic accomplishments of our students as well when I was in high school I was not on any sports teams um simply because that's not meaningful to me but I did do a lot of academic stuff and uh we didn't have have the National Honor Society then we had the California scholarship Association and I still have in my closet the black sweater that you got if you were a California scholarship Federation life member with little pins for the various subjects I was praised for and that's something I've clung to um all these years it's been
268over half a century um so I just want to encourage us to to Let's also praise the students who work hard at their studies um because it's the education that we're really here for not that the physical education it is also education it's not that I'm not saying anything derogatory or depreciating about that I just don't want us to neglect the academic accomplishments of our students as well thank you Dr n Mr Tross I want to give a shout out to the huderson Early Learning Center uh I I was fortunate enough to be invited to read to the students there today and I got to tell you if you have not had a chance to do that it is a gift from those children to they will be a gift from those children to you
269I had so much fun spoke to a number of different classes there read to them rather interacted with them it just solidified my belief in the pre-education uh prek education program that we have here um pulie Smith there is doing a fantastic job her staff is fantastic they truly care about those children they're making a difference in the lives of children going forward and I I would love to see uh City Council Members go there and read I believe they've been invited um I'm going to I'll I'll drive them there and read with them it just it's it is fun it's rewarding um I'm going to try to see if I can fit it on my calendar every month to do it because it was that I got so much out of it and uh
270you know so I left there it will brighten your day if you have a chance to go there and read to those children please take advantage of it Andrew um like to give a shout out to Dr Edwards uh Miss Pew Dr wer just for everything you guys do on a daily basis make this division better than it was yesterday I appreciate you absolutely I'll include Tina day in that oh yes abolutely that was no they're watching I'll walk I'll walk out with you I got your back kill me man too um just uh thankful for LCS and this group working together working hard and I'd like to um be thankful and share thanks to all the schools churches and any other uh buildings and organizations that open their doors for Tuesday December 7th voting
271I think it went uh fairly well and there was a lot of people that came out and LCS was um closed so that the you know students and teachers and all that could participate in some form so I just wanted to acknowledge that and I'm thankful for it thank you I just uh wanted to say you Dr Edwards do a great job you you have a lot of patience and I know sometimes things get heed but we need to be respectful of your position and um and try to make sure that we hold your office in respect there respect is important in our lives mutual respect is lot more important in our lives so having said that informational items is November 21st finance and Facilities committee meeting at 330 November 15 through November 17th is
272vsba in Williamsburg no work session in the month of November LCS will be closed November 23rd and 24th Thanksgiving holiday the next school board meeting is on Tuesday December 5th at 5:00 p.m. at school administration building boardroom is there a motion to adjourn before you adjourn I would like to thank Miss Co for stepping in thank thank you and I had the opportunity to go to linor Middle School to see my grandson be um inducted into the Junior Honor Society thank nice is there a motion toj motion second third [Laughter] four