001[Music] my do we have a quum yes we do today Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance please all rise I pledge 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 item C agenda approval is there a motion to approve the agenda I move to amend agenda please like what's your amendment I have three let's do one at a time all right first I would like to discuss moving our board meeting from 5:00 to 5:15 or 5:30 p.m. so your motion is is to change the board time to discuss changing the board time to discuss or to change to discuss changing the board time so to discuss yes not necessarily to Institute a change just to have
002a conversation about it correct could you open this for right here is there a second are you second in the uh amending the agenda or to his motion amending the his his motion okay to his motion not sure all right motion fail all right second all right the second motion is to discuss the possible imple implementation of a 4-day school week instead of five so you recommending we should have four day school week instead of five any your motion no his his motion is again to discuss not to implement a change correct correct it needs a second is there a second there's no second the motion fails my last motion is to reconsider our October 19th vote on scenario 3 with the $5 million ask so the third motion is to reconsider scenario three with
00315 million dollar vote there's a point of order here uh you have to explain what you mean by reconsider technically according to Robert's Rules a motion to reconsider has to be made in the same meeting that the original motion was made so technical reconsideration is out of order here now maybe you mean something different than that I can make a motion to discuss reconsideration or I can make a motion to discuss resending of scenario 3 well you have to decide what your motion is my motion is according to Robert's Rules of Order I did see that that in the same day that the vote was taken you can either do that or to you want you want to hurry up and go to it yes sir would you be specific what your motion number three
004is my motion originally because you said that not today not this second but to discuss reconsideration of scenario 3 with a $15 million ask so your motion is again to discuss not to not to implement any change am I understanding it correctly it does it should allow for the after the discussion to either visit that issue or not but in in the original motion he discussed re reconsideration of scenario 3 because you said that reconsideration as a point of order cannot be brought up after the vote however may we question that what do you mean by may we question that I'm just trying to understand what your motion is may we question your comment on the reconsideration can only be had on a day of the vote you want me to read Robert's rules to
005you that's part of it that's part of it but I would I would like I would like either a second opinion or to to know how a previous um the previous passed motion was which which was adopted was either brought up again for discussion in another meeting such as a health issue or just resend it so are you using the word rescent or are you using reconsideration you're you're using multiple terms there there is a legitimate motion to resend a previous action which means to remove the vote that was taken previously yes is that what you're moving I would like to discuss so you just want you just want a discussion I would like to discuss Rec ing the motion that we approved on September 19th on scenario three so if I fix your words
006you you're making a move to resend I'm making a motion to discuss resending he just wants to have a discussion the Roberts will allow a member to ask for a motion to resent yeah so I'm just asking that will include discussion too I'm asking for a motion to discuss resending our vote on September 19th concerning scenario 3 all right is that a second I second [Applause] it now the maker of the motion is the first to speak to the motion so give your reasoning your chance to support so we have to approve the amended agenda agenda well this is an amendment to the agenda so we have to deal with this motion before we can approve the agenda yeah you don't want to place it in the agenda somewhere first yeah we'll have to vote
007on the amendment we have to decide if it's part of the agenda first it seems to me and then we'll decide on the placement very well very well it is my expressed hope and expectation that the outcome of this extraordinary opportunity for the board to reconsider this scenario and accomplish at least three things it will significantly lessen the outcry and hunger for knowledge of the details of our plan our vision the actual outcomes of the path we have begun to tread so that LCS employees can wrap their heads and organize their lives around solid milestones and get behind the vision overall together as a big family LCS family number two what our board can accomplish by this motion is and I wish this could be my last point because it's like a cap St it's
008very important we are going to engender trust in our board against the conception preconception and Judgment of backdoor discussions away from the eyes of the public by this motion we we remove these things and we will not be working around the general public specifically of course the teachers and those involved with this decision and those who show up to engage with us will see Integrity they will see unity and they will see that we are not in factions that are entrenched two by this motion we get to cancel the division that has begun over a major decision that will color every major decision from now on moving forward these two two things not only point to Integrity but to trust professionalism sincerity overall not Perfection but blameless Integrity this is what we should strive for
009and this motion achieves it for us finally this motion to resend this vote no it's a motion to discuss to discuss the res to discuss resending this vote reverses any mistreatment perceived by sandeski Elementary School supporters employees and others that although rather whose school was named in the four scenarios and knowing that they were on the cut list in general but did not experience the same feeling of impending danger of school closure as other schools were given the opportunity to have the only example I could think of this is you can watch a firework display show going on for a quarter mile away and you say that was good oh that wasn't very good oh that was nice or a teenager can sneak up behind you and put a bunch of fireworks at your feet
010light them off and that will get you moving that will definitely get your attention and there's a big difference so when we took this scenario originally and altered it and came out with two schools and then we had a big discussion and we decided to hold off brought back another scenario customized with $15 million it should have gone through the process of allowing for sanduski specifically to hear that they were in impending danger of closure before we voted it down and everyone could see from the my vote that I made that I would I was I was contemplating something something was in the back of my mind and I just didn't see what it was that was one of the major things that I brought up and that's why I want to not only discuss
011it but I would like to reveal the things that I was I was thinking of while I was making this vote these three things are very important and I believe that's worthy of discussing the motion to resend all right the motion is on the table other discussion on this motion to amend Mr Andrews with all due respect I mean not to him just to everybody I just simply want us to slow down I just feel like uh we rushing the process a little bit um we don't technically have a plan in place even though we're working with Dr woda and Dr Edwards to create a plan um but honestly there's probably nobody in this room that wants Universal prek other than Dr Edwards more than myself and for me to say that we should hold
012off on the process says a lot and granted Dr Edwards gave us a November 1 deadline because she was under the impression that we wanted to um renovate schools by the 2425 school year right and I understand that we're pressing for f for funds right because we're using car's money um but does that come at the expense of of displacing kids and I understand we we're thinking about buildings and we're thinking about walls and we're thinking about infrastructure um but we're also need to think about about displacing families and how do we um facilitate those families into other schools and I just don't think some of those details are ironed out I don't feel comfortable moving forward without a plan simple that it's just that simple right um having had experience building a school from
013scratch it takes a lot it's more than just money it's buying it's um it's people understanding the vision and getting behind the plan supporting the plan all the way through um I mean I'm going to do whatever is going to be in the best interest of Lynchburg City schools and of course I'm going to support the board um but my opinion my opinion is that we just need to slow down um and really think about what's being at what's at stake here and then also if we're preaching about Community involvement and engagement and um trying to get parents to tell us how they feel but then yet we turn around and say n thank thank you for your input we're going to do whatever we want to do in the first place that just doesn't
014make any sense to me whatsoever um so I was one of the 70% of the people that voted for scenario one um if we had to choose a scenario it would have been that scenario but if we don't have to choose a scenario I would much rather just step back for a second um and rethink about everything now granted uh Dr Edwards the team Dr wer Amy Pew everybody has put amazing work and time into the project thus far and I don't negate that whatsoever but out of respect for them and out of respect for the community and out of respect for parents and kids that we love I think that we need to take a second look at this and really take the the deeper dive as we cons continue continue to say so
015um that's my opinion on the motion so other discussion Dr Carter I have to agree with Mr Jal and Mr Andrews I think some of us have been saying all the time put the breaks on and I don't want us to go back to any scenarios or go forward to any of them when we got the facility studies we were supposed to look and do a discussion but that was interrupted by a plan another plan that was not part of the original plans and then we just came and did another plan we don't need to do any more plans we need to go and look at what variables do we want to look at especially what things are we're going to look at because right now this is not helping the staff it's not helping
016the students and I was a product of redistricting and it's not as easy yes you they I know Dr Edwards and her team would do amazing work with making a plan and she's already done that and hate that we keep giving different instructions but even in that we were in gyms we were in cafeterias because it there's a lot of students and we're looking at 600 with this late L with this last plan of being somewhere and you're going to have to find space like I said if you go to any school there's not space then we're thinking about staff and and people are jumping ship they're they're tired of this so we really need to I think take put on breaks take some steps back and look at what are our variables we may
017come back to the same decisions we may come to a different decision but we as nine need to look at this and take a deeper dive other discussion I would have to agree because it seems to me that we have been um somewhat abrupt in in in making our decisions it's easy to pick this school or that school that's going to be closed but you also have to think about but what about the students and other people that that closure is going to impact do they go to this school do they go to that school do we need to rezone some students in order to make this work what are the pluses and minuses what are the needs of the populations of those schools because the population's needs are not always the same all those
018things need to be considered and is is the decision going to be one that everybody is happy with probably not but at least they will be able to say but my position was considered they heard me they understood what I felt and they tried their best to hear and make a decision that was collaborative and in the best interest of of all the students and I think that's critical Dr D you want to say anything you are the uh maker of the original motion I am just concerned as um Dr Carter pointed out at our last meeting about changing course changing course changing course and putting the community through a lot of turmoil every time we do that um it's not at all clear to me that we will come to a different decision if
019we proceed in this way I think the best thing for us to do is uh follow through with the decision the board has already made um a lot of effort has already gone into working out the details of that and working out the details is as we see from the rest of our agenda this evening a very non-trivial task it's not something that can be done in a day or week we've got uh A month's worth of work ahead of us to work out the details of this particular plan I don't think it's feasible for us to do that separately for several competing plans it's been my understanding all along that what we would do is make a basic decision about which of these scenarios we would follow and then work out the details it's
020like being at a fork in the road the right hand Fork goes over the hill you can't see beyond a quarter of a mile the left hand road goes around around a band into a valley you can't see more than a quarter of a mile yet you have to make that decision at the fork in the road and commit yourself to dealing with all the particulars that you find as you proceed along your way that's the way I've envisioned this process I'm going to call the water now because we have discussed mam clerk I'm not finished with because this is just an amendment to agenda so you can discuss when the motion is approved you can make statements at that time finished my part I'm going to excuse me sir please I'm going stop you
021madam clerk would you please call the role now Mr julon wait what's the motion motion is to rescent so if you vote Yes No the motion is to put on the agenda a discussion a discussion I think this misunderstanding gives me an opportunity to De clarify my motion and that's why I'm going to speak so you're going to State a new version of your motion we are trying to solve a short-term concern with long-term actions Dr Gupta said this we we don't have a comprehensive strategic plan for each of these scenarios I remember the illustration that it's like going to a doctor and giving us five or 10 a few things to do that your body is running falling apart and you have all these things and then you you decide what you're going to
022do with your body and it was also a similar thing was brought up this is not a time to give speeches I told you you you specify your motion we discussed we got to move on we got to have te agenda in front of us when it comes if the motion is approved you have plenty of time to discuss it you did ask me to present this motion to even put it on the agenda so if I don't do it correctly there may be no chance for it to that's why he asking you what is your like would you like to amend the why don't we ask him to restate his motion yes but you know you did go I just just just quickly ask you did go to other people to ask them for
023comments right why wouldn't it come back you spoke first yes yes why wouldn't it come back for me for me is there something about that I think he's allowed to continue continue concerning TC Miller it's nonsensical to close a school that has a wait list like it does closing it will disincentivize are you discussing your motion or you discussing the decision the board made I'm going to seems to me you're discussing something other than your motion I'm going to bring out the motion right right after this so since closing schools may not be the best thing in LC's long-term interest I bring this motion to discuss resending our scenario 3 vote from September 19th so your motion is to rescent the decision made by the the motion is to discuss possibly resending because he used
024the word resend I know that's what he that's what he wants to discuss discuss okay so if you're yes you're voting to discuss and possibly resent that's what I need a chance to be heard and this is not allowing it so yeah I'm asking for a very simple I'm at my motion is to discuss resending the vote on September 19th concerning scenario three all right this Madam cler do you have it written yes would you please repeat the motion the motion is to discuss resend the motion that was made by Lynchburg City School Board on September the 19th for scenario 3 so if you vote Yes you uh making voting Yes means we put it on the agenda to have a discussion and voting no means we don't want not be having it means we're
025not amending the agenda Madame clerk would you please call the RO Mr jilo yes Mr Andrews yes Dr day no Dr gupa No Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr deul no Mrs Lori no is a TI mtion motion fails right so now we move to the uh main agenda is there a motion to approve the agenda I have one amendment to to the agenda and that is if we can put on the agenda um long overdue recognition of two board members Dr sinna and Brennan if we can do that for you want to do it at this meeting or at a future meeting we can do it for not to recognize them this meeting but just to discuss doing it that we can do in the agend because we have to give them right
026but just to put it on for this so we can have it at a later meeting does that make sense I'll second that motion okay any discussion on that motion that's good so your your motion is to recognize the two uh previous school board members whose terms just expired yes on June 30th Madam Clark do you have the motion yes sir would you please read it just a motion to disc discuss recognition of two previous board members any discussion on that motion could you please call at all Mr Andrews excuse me I'm sorry Mr Julio yes Mr Andrews yes Dr day yes Dr Gupta Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes M Mr depal yes Mrs Lori yes motion carries 8 to zero Mr Andrews can I make a motion also to amend the agenda to
027extend public comment appropriate time the board sees fit would you specify the time so it doesn't have to be 30 minutes but it could be an appropriate time that everybody feels like this is appropriate time so so just till we get to the end of the list no or do you want to how many people do we have lined up for public comment tonight um let's see one two three four five six 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 19 20 22 and it's one voicemail and one voicemail 23 * three some of those are speaking for groups a couple of them are for groups but most of them are individuals we have very young students from har yeah so um are you specifying a Time Mr Andrews yes
028sir can we extend it to 30 minutes 30 minutes a 30 minute extension so the total will be will be 60 Minutes 60 minutes okay Madam Clark would you please repeat the motion was there a second oh sorry there's a second I'll second it I'll second it second is there any discussion on it Madam Clark would you please repeat the motion the motion is to extend public comments for an addition additional 30 minutes right by Mr Andrews second by Dr day all let's call the RO Mr Jal yes Mr Andrews yes Dr day yes Dr guper yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes M Lor yes motion cares 8 to zero Dr Edward you were saying something I'll make the motion for you to you to tell me what you were saying
029yes um just because we have on the agenda um student reps we have our two new ones here here with us but we also have guest student reps from Heritage Elementary and um given that public comment is going to take an hour and I know parents are here um with their with their students as well as our two student reps who probably have some homework that they need to get um home to do if we can move them above public comment that would be great and then the public would at least get to hear from our student reps and our student reps won't have to stay out too late I'll make a motion to move item F to uh uh in place of item D second second by Dr C any discussion on this motion
030so we moving item f um before item D so they'll become item D and the others right right sequentially student representative comments will come first then the public comment yes any discussion on that motion mam clerk would you please call uh um specify the motion the motion is to move section f up to section D yeah would you please call the RO Mr jilo yes Mr Andrews yes Dr day yes Dr gupa yes Dr Carter yes M Preston yes Mr depal yes Mrs Lori yes motion car is 8 to zero thank you um now we are back to the main agenda I would like to amend the agenda what's your amend I would like to extend public comments for another 30 minutes to make it 90 minutes if needed of course may I suggest we
031just extend public comments until everyone on the list has spoken fair enough so I'm I guess I'm amending amending your your motion I'm suggesting a uh substitute Mo that we extend public comments until all the people on the list which I have Pro been provided with have had the opportunity to speak you okay with the substitute motion yes is there a second on this Mo substitute motion second Dr car I think we discussed Madame Madame cler would you please call the RO Mr J yes Mr Andrews yes Dr day yes Dr gupter yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Mr slur yes motion carries 8 to zero all right now we are to the main agenda are there any more amendments to agenda I have a parliamentary note you have a motion
032amend to amend the agenda not a statement a motion to amend the agenda concerning amending the agenda that if new information is given between the time of the vote and now that we can do a reconsideration instead of just it being at the day of the vote you're making a statement I'm asking you do you have a motion to amend the agenda we've already settled that issue can't bring that issue up a second time at the same meeting well we didn't we didn't go there we went to just just resending is that correct we didn't go into reconsideration because of your statement so if there is a a new piece of information does that does that not allow for reconsideration takes a motion okay I make a making a motion do you have a new
033motion on the table I make a motion to to reconsider our September 19th vote concerning the adoption of scenario 3 with $15 million but as we've said before that's out of order because the motion it refers to is not in the same meeting correct but there has been a lot of new information since that time there has been new data there has been new suggestions there has been um tours there has been a number of let's take the motion correct all right let's so would you repeat your motion to them cler I make a motion to reconsider scenario 3's vote on September 19th concerning the $15 million ask with scenario 3 is there is there a second to that motion second Mr Andrew second has there any discussion on that motion there's a lot of
034data that has come am I allowed to speak with that yeah so there's a lot of data that has come out a lot of suggestions I have one that I brought up that I didn't get to discuss today but I may bring it up in the future there's a lot of things we can do to make income a lot of things we can do to save one side of the coin is income the other is expenses if we go to a 4-day work week then we cut the expenses if we go to a um a referendum then we bring in income so I think that we really can make something happen in the next few months if we just focus on Solutions instead of just cutting out the bottom line and and really if you
035look at the videos from the previous um meetings it was mentioned a couple time a few times that closing these schools will not result in immediate expense reduction and the savings of 5 million for one scenario 3 million for another would not really even be effective until uh distant future so trying to really address our expenses now will require something else other than cutting these two schools out right other discussion Madam Clark would you please call the RO Mr Julio yes Mr Andrews yes Dr day no Dr gupter No Dr Carter no Mrs PR no Mr toal no Mrs Lori no motion fails we're back to the main agenda now is there a motion to approve the agenda move Mr depal Mr day any discussion on the main agenda mam Clark would you please call
036the role Mr jilo no Mr Andrews no Dr day yes Dr gupter yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Miss Lori yes motion carries thank you student representative comments Dr Edwards sure okay so um this is our first meeting where we have um our student reps with us uh we do have our two High School reps who I will introduce in a second who will be at every meeting but we rotate through elementary schools and middle schools to hear from our students at those schools so tonight first up from our rotation on the guest rep is U Mrs Anderson and Heritage Elementary School students we have and if I Mis pronounce your name please correct me because it's important that we get this right on TV uh Cassidy Anderson Kamara price chamra
037price AIT Snider Aiden Yule um Owen Andrews and Caroline Goku yes all right well they are going to share with us some of the wonderful things that are happening at heritage heritage I was about to say Heritage High School Heritage Elementary School I've already promoted you all up gymnasium she'll be a Heritage High yes yes and I I first just want to thank you all thank the students for being here tonight um and joining us and you didn't have to do it but we appreciate it and just remind everybody in the audience that all the world is a classroom and students learn how to handle challenging situations and talk to one another from watching us um so tonight we're excited to learn from you because we adults can always learn something from you all as
038well so I'm going to turn it over to Mrs Anderson and little orange country all right great evening Dr Edwards School Board chair Dr Gupta and the Lynchberg City School Board I am the proud and excited principal at here to elementary school right this evening I have our newly elected SCA officers for the 2023 2024 school year as well as their faculty sponsors Mrs Katherine May McGuire title one teacher and Miss Amy Stone third grade teacher they will share the exciting things that are happening in number one what little orange [Laughter] country as Miss Anderson said my name is Amy Stone and I'm a third grade teacher at Heritage Elementary School this is the second year we've had a student council at Heritage Elementary School students in third through fifth grade selected candidates for each
039Home Room for for the offices candidates gave speeches and made posters and all third through fifth grade students voted the purpose of the student council is to give students an opportunity to develop leadership by organizing and carrying out school activities and service projects in addition to planning events that contribute to school spirit in community welfare the student council is the voice of the student body now our officer officers and representatives will introduce themselves good evening my name is camir price I am the sea president of Heritage Elementary good evening my name is Caroline goui I am the sca secretary from Heritage Elementary good evening good evening my name is AVID Snider and I am the sca Treasurer at Heritage Elementary good evening my name is Aiden Yol I am the I am a SCA representative
040of her Elementary good evening my name is Cassidy Anderson I am a SCA representative good evening my name is Owen Andrews and I am a SCA representative now we will share with you our little Pioneer pledge that we say each day in number one what little orange country I education I listen follow directions and do my work I be honest and do what is right I treat others the way I want to be treated I think about the feelings of others I come to school to learn and I will learn by doing all these things I will be proud of myself and others will be proud of me too we will now share our Pioneer Pride chant pioner pride is going wide we're prepared respectful in control determined and engaged our we are excited to
041share with you a short presentation on the activities that we had during the four the first quarter and number one thank you thank you for all that you do for us and thank you for allowing us to come this evening to to share the great things that are happening at Heritage Elementary School thank you Miss Anderson uh thank you thank you very much for all the hard work you're doing thank you great presentation Dr Edwards it's always wonderful to have the kids come and just share with us um through their eyes the things that they're doing experiencing and um just their General love for their school and we see that in all of our schools so I I do want to note that and thank them um for that uh we do have our high
042school student reps who uh will be here with us each and every month this is their first month joining us um and I am going to introduce them and I think the order tonight will be Heritage first and then e glass second so representing Heritage High School uh number one big orange country right uh sa K kkin right kkin um it will be representing Heritage and then over at e glass later we're going to have Lucy white you can just speak from there if you like it's up to e whatever you're comfortable with yeah if you're comfortable better sitting down there all right hi guys it's nice to be here nice to meet you I'm sa urin as she introduced from Heritage um this has been quite an eventful first quarter for us we've had
043a lot of fun that's a picture from the first day of school um so as you can see students excited to be here uh moving into some student events of the month um that's a picture from our homecoming uh which we had celebrated a Spirit Week leading up to homecoming several different themes throwback um it was a lot of fun organized by Miss Gafford our leadership teacher and their students um the game also organized by leadership following the game was a hoko hangout which is like a bonfire we do it every year as opposed to a dance and I think it really uh helps us stand out in the community as a high school it's very different and I personally I love it um as well coming up we have VCA which is Virginia college
044application week so Lynchberg Beacon of Hope Has partnered with our guidance department and during the school day they're going to host different events to assist students in applying to local colleges within the state and um they're even going to be hosting onsite admissions so that's really exciting for our seniors this year uh moving into some fall Athletics which as you know is quite big at Heritage um our football team Varsity record is 4-2 and JB record is also 4-2 um varsity's next game is this Friday against rusber it's away and JV will also be playing rberg on the 16th uh girls volleyball is currently having their game against rberg so wish them good luck um their varsity record is 312 and their JV record is 015 but I have faith in them they can do
045it um our fall cheerleading so competition cheerleading hosted their first ever Big Orange Invitational on the 16th um they saw support from their football players their parents and the rest of the school admin it was a really great experience um they play Third at Broadway and they're set to host regionals on the 28th um as far as recognition Akira Mallette and Marcus White a caramela is class of 2024 and Marcus White graduated in 2023 they both received the title of 2023 news and Advance outdoor track and field athletes of the year so having that talent in Heritage is really it's just amazing it's great to be recognized clubs moving into theater um their fall show Little Shop of Horrors actually opens this Friday night so excited to see that um they're also running for the
046best live theater in Lynchburg so go vote for them our coding Club is started by two senior students Aaron jothy and Brady Manville uh they took the initiative with um Mr Carter I believe and so they're starting up the coding club which is something very different that we haven't had at Heritage and it really caters to those stem focused students so I'm excited to see that yeah thank you guys thank thank you well thank you for sharing that with us and it's always a pleasure to see the Athletics the Arts the coding Club um and I did hear you say that was a student Le Club so that is an opportunity for those who don't know for our students if you have an interest you can you know approach uh willing sponsor advisor and you
047can start your own club so I'm glad that to see that all right Miss Lucy thank you all so much for having me tonight I'm Lucy white I'm the student representative from EC glass and um tonight I would like to start talking about our Athletics next slide um we are so proud of our fall Sports they've been starting off really strong working really hard football's got a record of 5- one they're playing Jefferson Forest this Friday for their senior night and paint game which benefits the awareness Garden Foundation uh JV football is 4 in one playing JF as well on Monday October 16th bar Varity volleyball is uh a strong 10 and5 JV volleyball is 10 and4 and varsity field hockey is 3- six next slide uh next I want to talk about the art
048so theater marching band this year EC glass theater department has a season filled with really exciting shows the current one being play on it's going to actually start showing October 12th it's going to go 13th and 14th um according to um some leadership in the E glass theater Club it's been a great experience especially for the newer freshmen who are getting acclimated to the busy High School environment uh the show is being directed by Aaron Foreman who's the tech director at eClass high school and we would like to give a special shout out to the marching band for giving us fantastic performances of this year's football half halftime show with the theme of the classics so next one student life Student Life um I think it's been really buzzing so far they've been um participating
049in themes in the student sections at football games and I think this is great because it really increases school spirit and unity among the student body so far the themes have been Hawaiian USA white out and Camo and on the 16th of September our student council worked tireless tirelessly for many months to put on this year's disco themed homecoming there were no doubt some bumps along the way but overall we had a great turnout and everyone seemed to love it and next I want to talk about the central Virginia's Central Virginia's govern excuse me Central Virginia governor school which is based over at Heritage and it seems that our Hill Toppers are settling into cbgs really well so far um they're enjoying the challenges that are given to them one cbgs JR says I think
050Central Virginia governor school provides an excellent atmosphere for the rigor that it holds the teachers are always willing to help if um the students are struggling and you can collaborate with your peers that also have a drive to succeed like you do as it is difficult I feel I am being challenged in a good way that will provide me with many skills as I go into college so really proud of all of the Griffins um this month is um National bullying prevention month so next slide please uh Unity day is an annual event occurring occurring during National bullying prevention month in October which promotes joining together to create healthier communities in our schools through kindness acceptance of differences and inclusion um and EC the EC glass student body is encouraged to wear orange on October
05118th to show their support for those who feel they need it in the next slide I would like to congratulate those um who may have received LCS AP honors Awards over at EC glass so back in September many many students from EC glass and Heritage were awarded with diplomas certificates and awards for high achievements on AP exams uh six students from glass were awarded with the AP Capstone diploma two uh got the AP seminar and research certificates 15 received AP Scholars with distinction Awards 12 qualified for the AP Scholars with honor and 64 students qualified for the AP scholar award so congratulations to all the high Achievers that's all I've got for you so thank you so much for your time I like how you threw all those wonderful stats in there and said that's
052all I got that's a lot so again appreciate J the wealth of information that you shared with us and again highlighting the school for all all of the wonderful things that it does from Athletics to Arts to um scholarship to the Griffins at at uh cbgs and also other opportunities for students for Early College dual enrollment there's a lot going on in your high school so both of you should be very proud as we are proud of both of you thank you you thank you Dr Edward and if you need to scooted out now because you have some rigorous homework to do you may do so yeah but we're not we're not Shing them away no we're not we're not just in interest of time I don't have any comments so we move to uh
053Vice chair de for public comment okay so this Begins the public comment period um I will read briefly uh the pertinent uh policies pertaining to this persons appearing before the board school board will not be allowed to campaign for public office or promote private business ventures and should not use profanity or vulgar language or gestures make comments about a public official or an employee that are not related to their official duties engage in behavior that disrupts the meeting or intimidates others or address the school board on issues that do not concern the services policies role Andor responsibilities of the school board individual speakers shall limit their comments to three minutes a speaker representing a group shall limit their comments to five minutes the representatives shall identify the group at the beginning of their presentation a
054group 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 the discussion at this time now as as everyone is aware uh the board has agreed to uh let everyone who signed up have a chance to speak so we're not going to cut things off at 30 minutes but um another aspect of our policy does specify the order in which the comments will be made at the top of the list are students after that come staff after that come parents and at the end will come community members so we will begin with the students the first student on the list is
055Kevin larkens hello my name is Kevin lens and I'm a fifth grader at sanduski elementary for many years Mr wac has told us we do it better when we do it together every time I hear that it makes me feel like I'm not alone and if you close down the school we won't be able to hear his encouraging voice anymore that is just one of the many reasons I love sanduski my teachers challenged me to discover new things like Mrs Lewis does in depth they are always there to help me when I need it my gym class with Miss Smith Miss Smith is the most fun I have all day sanduski Elementary is more than just a school it is a place where I and other students come to learn and grow closing sanduski Elementary
056would hurt our students our families and our entire Community I am asking you to please vote against closing sanduski Elementary School I've been lucky enough to do it better for the last 5 years because I've been at sanduski please help us continue to do it together for the next [Applause] 50 next is McKinley [Applause] Alexander good afternoon my name is McKinley and the reason this school is special to me is I have a very nice principal a very nice teacher and my sister used to go there and that's why my school is really special and if the school shuts down there's not going to be no more sanduski Spartans and sanduski Spartans are respectful responsible and ready and we do it better when we do it [Music] together thank you uh the next student speaker
057is uh Jeff I hope I don't mispronounce this Jefferson Royal okay my apologies hi I am a hi I'm Jefferson Royal and I am in fifth grade sandeski is a proud and feel school not only that but it's our home our community and it would bring us together for our ionic slogan we do it better when we do it together so we are coming together to fight to save our school I believe no school should be closed so of course we can't give up closing all school would do so much to us mentally and it would and it would be unfair to us and our parents we hope you we s we we consider your decision thank you for allowing me speak [Applause] today okay those are all the students that I have on the
058list uh next we move to staff I see one staff me member Mr wac principal of sanduski [Applause] good afternoon boy to my colleagues at central office good afternoon thank you all for uh this opportunity to address you on this evening I am Derek wac the proud principal of sanduski elementary school and uh I want to thank you all board for your service I know it takes time you take time out of your busy schedules to do what you do and believe me it doesn't go unnoticed uh as we have some of those things that happen at sanduski as well taking time out of our day in the evenings after we leave and so I've toyed and going back and forth with do you say something do you not say something what do you say
059do you go before the board I find myself in the position of being uh a member of an LCS family uh who the board approved for me to be at Sandusky Elementary School and when they approved for me uh for hire at Sandusky Elementary School there came along a list of expectations the expectations that that you follow through with uh the board expectations the rules the guidelines that the board has set forth that you don't reflect negatively upon the board and I've done my best for 29 years to uphold those guidelines and those standards uh some of you are able to uh testify to that as you've been in buildings previously and so in your buildings you were able uh to uphold the standards and the expectations that were set forth uh within those buildings
060but then I found myself on the other side of saying now they're getting ready to close your school what do you do what do you say what can you say what should you not say because this is a board that hired you to do a job so what do you say when that board then decides that the school that they assigned you to is one that they no longer want to be in or have open enrollment have enrollment for the coming years what do you say understand that yes your decisions are hard yes you have funds that you have to look at you have to appropriate those funds according to what's given to you what do you say Mr wac what can you say during this time because you find yourself still having to uphold
061the standards and the guidelines that the board has put forward but you're on the other side feeling as though not my school yes not my school not TC Miller not darington not Paul Monroe not Heritage what do you do Mr woman what do you say so that you don't come across as going against what the board is saying while at the same time being a person who is a resident of Lynchburg whose children 20 uh n years ago I have been working here and I brought two daughters through Lynchburg City schools and a son that's in high school now what do you say sanduski means so much to me lburg City School I've been here because 29 years has meant so much to me what do you say what do you do and so you're
062going to continue Mr wac as long as 5828 Apache Lane is open to do what they hired you to do8 you're going to teach the children you're going to love the children you're going to nurture the children you're going to continue to do that but they also hired you to Advocate come on back to lburg City Schools and I've done that why because we every child by name and by need not by number not by 7.2 7.5 15 million but every student by name and by need when they come through that door they have an advocate in me while still Yes following what you've expected me to do as the principal at Sandusky Elementary School advocating every child by name and by need advocating what do they need they need a sense of belonging sanduski
063is a sense of belonging TC Miller is a sense of belonging it's a family sandeski is family sandeski is better together that's right and I'll leave you with this please understand and accept the intent for which I stand here it's because it's more than just about Mr woman it's about sesy it's about all schools anything worth fighting for or anything worth having is worth fighting for you are fighting we do it [Applause] thank you Mr wac um I don't see any other staff members on the list so we'll now go through the parents that have signed up the first is Colleen Lin um my children have been in Lynchberg City schools for almost 10 years I know many of these amazing parents and people who are going to speak to you tonight are going to
064talk about the impact of school closures on the kids but I want to talk to you tonight about the impact of school closures on our teachers um I've heard this board say time and time again we have a shortage of teachers that is not a secret in the last board meeting Dr Gupta talked about them leaving and going to other districts although that is not a shocker to me it is a little surprising when I think of sanduski Elementary My First Son came through 10 years ago when I walk the halls in sanduski I see almost all the same faces I did 10 years ago those people have found a home under Mr wmax leadership they love working there and our kids love them imagine those same teachers who we love and see all the
065time going home on September 19th hard day of work and getting a text from someone the place you love the kids you nurture that's all going away without warning and that part can be debatable but without warning in our opinion they still had to go to school that next day they still had to look these precious babies in the face and not only did they have to do everything they normally did on a day but they had to reassure those children it was going to be okay when they themselves don't know if it's going to be okay and any given day a teacher is a counselor a nurse a referee a party planner a comforter a detective a confidant and an educator they are the backbone of Lynchberg City schools yet we are pushing them
066aside and not taking the time to hear them and a 2021 survey sent to LCS staff by Lynchberg Education Association there was a question about what positive things were happening to them during that year they could pick three things they could pick co-workers are positive kids are positive their princip principles are positive they did pick all of those things but not a single teacher not one and all of Lynchburg City Schools said that a positive thing in their environment was support from LCS Administration not one would you want to work in a place that didn't support you would you want to work at a place that marginalized you would you want to work at a place where even though you have excellent performance you might lose your job I wouldn't the teacher shortage is a
067problem and situations like these are making it worse these are the very people that make our district great these are the very people that make sandeski and TC Miller great you keep saying it's just about the building it's just about the building the building's bad we have to replace the building that's because you don't know the people who are in the building they are who without them we are nothing without them our children do not get the education they [Applause] deserve thank you uh next on the list is Carly schaer I'm are you Carly Schaefer I am okay go ahead I'm here uh from TC Miller PTO to discuss the concerns of proceeding with scenario 3 Community input supposedly matters scenario 3 was second to last on survey vote preferences regarding who to vote who
068to close the only one below it was Paul Monroe almost 2,000 of us have signed a petition to keep schools open we have turned out in record numbers for school board meetings you've received email after email we're told that parents should have a seat at the table but we remain unheard but let's say you don't care what your community thinks let's just look at our facility data TC Miller ranks above five of the other schools for our building score and Paul Monroe Ambassador only one point away we have expansion capacity some of you have tored our build building and realized it's completely ideal for an elementary school and is built like a tank so facilities too point to keeping TC Miller open perhaps it's the academics but no we're accredited have some of the best
069attendance in the district with a majority of low-income students our proficiency scores are excellent at a level one for both math and language arts we're a school of innovation you've heard what we offer and yet you are proceeding with scenario 3 why I've read the board for today and remain perplexed why these actions seem like the best path forward for LCS September 19th a version of scenario 3 was presented by Dr Day individually in a work session and voted on in less than an hour to make the most significant decision for LCS in the last decade in a work session with no public comment was inappropriate and broke Community Trust the result was that almost 600 children found out that their school was closing with no information on where they'd be going when or how
070after only one normal year postco you took their stability developmentally this is extremely harmful for children whom you are meant to serve teachers and staff received no communication about their future or their value this is not how we achieve teacher retention or positive work cultures and tonight you won't even discuss it rezoning and the new enrollment projections have not been determined making this decision on declining enrollment is misleading our application numbers at are 100 plus and lynchburg's young population is only growing making this decision on hoping to convert to a whole school preschool fails to understand the layout of the building the many stairs and the needed renovations to meet preschool code on every floor additionally a deep dive on the maintenance and utilization reports was never presented scenario one was thrown out because of
071a single conversation Dr day had with a former principal of Fort Hill Dr Glover the current principal stated he needs one building with more space and therefore scenario one would support their needs the most frustrating piece all the data being used is one-dimensional based on facilities where are the programmatic studies matriculation reports academics curriculum culture stream Performing Arts data this begs the question leaders how do you measure value in education students teachers academics curriculum Equity culture not a simple algorithm that consists of two oversimplified numbers you'll hear from Administration the many routes you could take to push scenario 3 forward but we maintain that you should not proceed with this according to board docs two rezonings will have to occur or you have schools open in limbo for a year creating student distress a teacher
072Exodus and postponing cost savings which is supposedly the whole reason we're in this mess we're told that the programs will move you can't simply pick up programs in culture and move them like Furniture to a new school they take time dedicated teachers resources grants and an established culture you're also choosing to close schools in W 2 which has the highest density remaining schools could rise to a 92% capacity creating issues in discipline and student achievement you say these matter yet this decision does not support those metrics financially this doesn't solve the deficit what are the offset costs costs of converting the operational costs will remain as well as the instructional costs by closing TCM LCS loses 1.9 million of Federal Aid 15 million is going to Bass why why aren't we investing in a similar
073size school or schools with four times applications in a zoned neighborhood that can grow being so worried about taking action means that you're losing sight of whether this is the right action the most important decision LCS faces needs more thought time and to prioritize students and thriving communities build on the 70% call for scenario one build on our school loyalty please resend and consider the vote potentially at the next meeting when all members are present create a viable plan while resoning and keep what is thriving in our system or we will not have a school system left to [Applause] save thank you the next speaker is NY [Applause] Webb I'm Netty Webb and I'm here to say that I'm dis appointed in the proposed revive scenario 3 and the refusal of the school board to
074adequately consider all data new old quantitative and qualitative the manner in which the school board made the decision to close the and Dusky and TC Miller was a disservice to the community for many reasons including a lack of consideration archaic analysis short-sided perspectives closed mindness uninformed decisions and extensive diversity and Equity con concerns when we discuss diversity and equity in Lynchburg we must acknowledge the difference between the city schools in the city Lindburg City Schools is 31% white and 69% minority the city is 64% white and 36% minority if you have a school that is diverse it must be representative of the school system and not the City closing both C and dusy TC Miller and Zoning for Clos a home will have severe Equity implications there are two separate components to this first W
0752 has the densest student population this was presented specifically by Dominion 7 with their population density maps and closing a school in War I along with sand dusy and then also zoning close to home will put undue pressure on War I schools and create increased class sizes for our most vulnerable students which will increase the achievement Gap secondly zoning close to home will decrease diversity and this has been acknowledged by administrators this leads ignores the fact that diversity quote leads to better discussions decisions and outcomes for all and that it is associated with less pure victimization less loneliness and greater quality of Education sense of safety creativity Innovation for all students in Lynchberg every school except bford Hills and pal Monroe have a between 65 to 70% minority students many of these schools P pull
076from War I areas because they have 40% more minority students in War II and also have the most economically disadvantaged students with the lowest median income by closing the school and Zoning close to home you will extremely increase disparities between schools the War I schools and the schools of innovation were created to address these INE I ities TC Miller and Daron were opened as programs magnet schools as schools of innovation to bring resources to students who would not have access to them this abides by the fact that quote genuine education Equity will be achieved only when schools serving low-income children me are the options that affluent parents can afford you are not abiding by this and you're doing a disservice to our schools I vote for you to urge the vote to resend this offer
077until we have full school board members here and present thank you uh the next speaker on the list is Casey [Applause] Eckles good evening my name is Casey Eckles and I urge you somewhere over here um I urge one of you to motion to table a discussion of resending or reconsidering the vote for scenario 3 until all board members are present the teachers of sanduski the teachers and students of sanduski and TCM deserve more than that TC Miller school for Innovation should be protected cherished and should serve as a model for other elementary schools in our district the academic attendance and behavioral metrics all provide solid proof that TCM is a highly sought after school one of the more important reasons to keep TCM protected is for its size and its class size here is
078a quick overview of scholarly research about small schools with small classes students are less likely to have discipline problems students feel safer learning disabilities and challenges are identified earlier no one has talked about that category minority students perform better after two years of small classes students in small classes have about three months more learning in those than are in classes of 22 students students or more students from lowincome families are more successful teachers are more likely to continue working in a school that supports small classes and feel like they make a difference students in small classes in elementary school develop stronger skills needed for middle school and for high school studies also show that elementary students who have three or four years three or more years in small classroom increase the odds of graduating by
07967% what is better than an elementary school with small classes a small school with small classes small schools have tremendous outcomes they especially help the economically disadvantaged and minority families LCS has 68% minority enrollment as nety just said and 43 economically disadvantaged enrollments and many of us know that both Stu students fall into both categories LCS needs TC Miller and sanduski having a small school of innovation with small class sizes is appealing to the city and anyone looking to to relocate L LCS is competing with private schools because of class size almost 5,500 students are enrolled in private schools in the area we only have more than like almost 8,000 that's a lot the ratio for most schools goes private schools goes from 7 to1 student teacher to 14 to1 with LCA at 17 to1
080student ratio ls's ratio is 17 to1 and TC Miller is right there with it we keep losing students to private schools which includes using losing parent and Community Support we don't need to we have these schools right here the idea that you don't want to take time to see what is over the hill in the fork of the road before you take 600 kids behind it in a school bus is infuriating if you take that side of the fork of the road and not know where your students are going like my sister said you won't have any more schools to take him to thank you the next speaker is Cindy [Music] [Applause] caps good evening board school board and community members there is no plan Schoolboard members are meeting in pairs and smaller groups off
081the Record school board members are meeting with various City Council Members off the Record to make plans and decisions out of the public eye and outside of the proper channels and procedures all because they know there is no plan in place for the for them to push the scenario that they are so desperately trying to push through with the help of City council's approval of $15 million they are grabbing at straws recommending renovating all elementary schools yet closing a neighborhood school and this saves US money how the superintendent promised to discuss the impacts and concern of the scenario in question with our parent staff and our Administration and we're still waiting for that opportunity please recall the discussion and call for a revote on scenario 3 slow down and look more in depth at each
082scenario and actually develop a plan before plowing ahead our children staff Administration and Community are worth the effort that's the investment on which you need to be focused in Dominion 7's facilities report they said that the division needed to create Next Step plans uh options for renovation expansion consolidation and closure repurposing revised attendance zone for redistricting operational maintenance Transportation costs which were to be provided by LCS short-term maintenance repair list for immediate concerns and Energy savings opportunities this study resulted in the rebuilding of sandeski middle school and Heritage High School and sandeski Elementary was the next on the list large scale repairs and maintenance at sces were delayed because sandeski was being rebuilt and now we are realizing all that we should have been doing we switched superintendents and Consulting teams so none of this
083was ever developed into a new plan Dominion 7 also said this about sandeski elementary the core classrooms were designed around common areas that could serve as Extended Learning areas these classrooms are also larger than V vdoe guidelines which is a plus for these reasons the school is an excellent candidate to renovate sandeski was also named one of the highest utilization schools in the division in the study sandeski is one of only a few Elementary School LCS elementary schools that is handicap accessible and all but one of the classrooms from grades K to two has a toilet in the classroom the study showed that families are moving from the downtown areas and into neighborhoods so how does it make sense to close a neighborhood school closing sandeski would negate the close to home resoning because sces
084is already a neighborhood school and it serves a very broad geographic area of children last but not least it is the school that residents for over 1,000 new apartments on graves Mill Road will be zoned for children to attend the board is calling for two possible rounds of close to home result resoning resulting in two different School transfers for our babies for our students giving our students zero consistency and ensuring academic performance could plummet these students need stability and sandeski is the only stability and consistency that some of our students know they need to experience success they need to experience belonging and the community sandeski elementary students family and staff experience this together we are more than a building we are more than walls in a roof we are a family and a community in
085which our students flourish and feel safe and supported if you're not you're not trying to close a building you're trying to disband a family that relies on one another grows together trusts one another and meets one another's needs because that sanduski element we do it better because we do it [Applause] together thank you the next speaker is Carla Jones I am speaking on behalf of a group um what is the group save our schools are you the only person speaking on behalf of that group that is correct okay then then you're allowed five minutes okay my name is Carla Jones I'm here tonight to talk more in depth about Solutions Administration and the school board claimed they aim to be fiscally responsible yet when presented with possible solutions other than closing schools they were written
086off without an actual investigation into their feasibility or savings according to our data analysis these areas should all be seriously considered increasing enrollment is the first solution I'm not going to speak to that a colleague of mine Abby will solar ppas I spoke directly with suntribe solar out of Charlottesville they focus solely on installing solar panels for school districts here are the highlights school districts our size are saving Millions energy rates went up in both dominion and Appalachian Power by 20% last year alone if we were spending a million dollars on energy energy before we are now spending $1.2 million with nothing changing so why is this not something that is being seriously considered we were brushed off saying LCS applied for Grants last year but we're unsuccessful in securing them PPA are not grants
087grants are extremely labor and time intensive PPA are not ppas are extremely hands-off for the school district the due diligence process is simple provide energy bills for the past 12 months and the roof age of each school if a school needs a new roof it can be built into the PPA providing a new roof and still saving money there is zero cost to the school district for the entire process until the first kilowatt of energy is used on the roof you can byass some of the bureaucracy utilizing Cooperative procurement which again saves resources in the form of personnel and red tape and the icing on the cake they provide a full curriculum integration program for every grade level and for CTE what a better way to meet Virginia 2050 green goals than to prepare students
088for 21st century Workforce green jobs what does LCS have to lose in exploring this option public transportation we have provided a close look at the potential savings that could be realized us using public transportation for high schoolers and the many benefits of doing so like in eliminating bus driver shortage academic benefits to students and reducing absenteeism the only response from this proposal is that's been looked at already then share more about what was discussed what was the outcome how long ago was that considered what were the pros and cons you can't dismiss a potential solution just because it may not have worked in the past has there been a discussion with gltc about potential collaboration I spoke with Josh Moore the general manager of gltc who said he would absolutely be open to a discussion
089about a potential collaboration with LCS we never gave the misconception that this is an easy fix of course it would take coordination and collaboration but how do we know it won't work if we don't have the discussion first perhaps what didn't work in the past may work now admin costs efficient allocation of resources is crucial for educational institutions to provide quality education while maintaining fiscal responsibility in Lynchberg admin costs have increased by 1.8% of the fiscal budget since 2018 this totals are greater than $3.5 million increase in four years these increases have not led to any increases in student performance and Readiness and should be re-evaluated to see if they are necessary for districts of similar size to Lynchburg the recommended national average for admin costs is 5.5% of the district's fiscal budget currently admin
090costs are 88.6% of the fiscal budget by reducing costs to 7 % we can save over 1.7 million reduce to 6% and save 2.8 million just because there were admin Cuts last year doesn't mean more aren't needed additionally admin keep saying their budget increase because of coid money and the classification of positions then an audit needs to be done and shared publicly about how these funds are going to student facing positions the school board can charge admin with providing audit information as well as finding more savings after all admin continues to talk about being more fiscally responsible I urge you to resend or reconsider scenario 3 at the next meeting with all members present and instead do what Mr Andrew suggested and slow down to look more in depth at each of these scenarios and
091investigate further these solutions that have the potential to save the school district millions of dollars create a committee of community members and board members to work through each scenario and Garner Community buyin what is the be what is in the best interest for our kids and our school system demands this thank you thank you the next speaker is Abby [Applause] Skinner hi good evening my name is Abby Skinner and I am the PTO president of TC Miller Elementary school um I have a third grader there who actually drew that painting that's right behind toal's head there I just realized that tonight so pretty proud of that um I'm here to address the issue of enrollment in our school system and offer possible solutions as we know one of the reasons School Board is weighing the
092possibility of closing school buildings is due to declining enrollment while some of the decline can be blamed on demographic shifts we have no control over in Lynchberg issues with our educational offerings are a large contributing factor across the country 9% of families choose private education over public in Lynchberg it's 33% instead of accepting the local Exodus from public schools why don't we address it how can we bring families back to LCS or prevent others from leaving first we can stop capping enrollment at TC Miller Desi and Dunbar this year 28 students sat on TC Miller's weit list and last year 31 were turned away tcm's current enrollment is 191 but we have the capacity for 250 why are children turned down principles of each of our our schools of innovation told us they don't even
093know why they don't have a say in the process and aren't sure who does Dr Glover the former assistant principal at Dumar told us when I was there the school administra administration didn't decide how many applicants were taken that was all done by the central office can you all tell us why enrollment in our schools for innovation has declined over the last four years while interest in them is not second we need to highlight our district strengths having schools for Innovation is one of them across the country magnet schools have approved proven track record of attracting students and families due to their unique and specialized educational offerings our schools for Innovation focus on specific themes curricula and educational approaches that set them apart from traditional Public Schools their diverse populations also make them stand out
094and Foster cultures of acceptance and inclusivity if we want to keep our local kids in public school and attract new residents to our area let's reinvest in the schools that make parents choose public over private third let's focus on community outreach reach you can't address enrollment challenges in isolation the joke at TC Miller is that it's lynchburg's best kept secret when I applied for my son to attend I had to dig around the Lynchberg City School website and then keep checking back for the application I hear a similar story from most parents the school system used to advertise for these schools with Billboards and commercials and even visited preschools to invite parents to apply why did we stop marketing ourselves engaging with our parents local businesses and organizations is imperative and would max out tcm's
095250 child capacity in no time since your proposal to close TCM in sanduski went public several local private schools that I've spoken to have seen an increase in tour requests families are already thinking about fleeing and you are responsible please make a motion to resend scenario 3 in the next meeting when all members are present and as we've already said slow down and look more in depth at each of these scenarios we're counting on you thank you the next on the list is Sonia Langhorn is Sonia Langhorn here no out in the lobby perhaps she's not here she's not here okay all right then uh next is um Loria Alexander [Applause] you good evening I attended the last informal school board meeting schools were graded poorly if the student teacher ratio was low but what
096about our children that don't learn this way every child won't learn in a 20 to1 ratio this is why I have my sign some need similar smaller cases of oneone or let's say 2: one what happened to every child by name by need to graduation and beond these words mean everything to me as both my children attend Lynchburg City Schools my first child Amani now attends NSU the foundation started at sandeski there were so many teachers that helped her when she was having a hard time she still talks about Miss robers and Miss Allen as if she still goes to school there I now have my second child McKing in SC yes I love sand Desy so much that they were there 12 years apart so I'm starting all over mckenley has been a Spartan
097since she was born and called the class baby this is why we do it better when we do it together we are family and fames shouldn't be broken apart has the school board considered the negative effect of the closures that will have on our children not only our children but the children in the surrounding schools children will now just be a number in class not by name and by need and that will change the way that things work in our school system as a parent I recently went through chemo and I had to leave my children here so they wouldn't miss school as a mother I love the heartfelt messages the pictures the extra hugs she received all the things they let that was sent through sandeski to let me know my child was okay
098so as I look at this every child by name by need by graduation and Beyond and families shouldn't be broken please [Applause] reconsider thank you uh next is Tiara Royal [Applause] good evening I am Tia Royal president of the sandeski elementary PTO we are here today to respond the plan for closure of sandeski elementary school this closure would have lasting effects on our community and as such we respectfully request that you attend the town hall meeting hosted by vice mayor Chris faldi on Tuesday October 17th at 6:30 p.m. at San sesi to have a conversation with the people most affected by this decision the decision to close sandeski and TC Miller was made without proper planning or consideration although we have paid two different Consultants a considerable amount of money to look at our district
099there is still no concrete plan in place just as our children are getting their security and stability back after being out of school fulltime for 18 months due to coid you have now thrown almost 16 600 kids back into uncertainty with this decision it has been said several times that the closure of sanduski is just about a building sanduski is more than just a building it always has been our kids don't need state-of-the-art technology or a fancy Auditorium to learn with those things be nice of course but are they worth the cost of closing an excent excellent elementary school with teachers who help our children learn and grow no it simply is not we ask that you go back to the drawing board and find find a solution that has a realistic concrete plan behind
100it so that our kids parents teachers and Community can move forward in confidence I would ask that you please make a motion to reconsider scenario 3 thank [Applause] you thank you next is Joanna Darren [Applause] Bacher hello my name is Joanna Darren backer I have been an LCS parent for 10 years and have two daughters w at Heritage High School who literally 10 minutes ago just won her first JV volleyball game and my other daughter I'm Sophie who's at sanduski middle school and she's with me here tonight when my oldest daughter was in preschool I encountered surprise from other parents when they learned that we were sending her to LCS the prevailing sentiment was that LCS wasn't the first choice for Min inire community I must say that our decision has resulted in primarily positive
101experiences the dedication of the teachers and staff have played crucial roles in fostering our children's growth and development we are genuinely grateful for the decision that we made however tonight I would like to express my concern and dismay at the proposal to close sanduski and TC Miller the decision to close without a clear plan for this displaced students is a matter of grave concern to me the transition for these students will be daunting and disruptive experience and it is our responsibility to sure that they are provided with a wellth thought out transition I've been a nurse for 18 years in our community I'm extremely worried that without a clear plan in place students and their families may experience heightened stress and uncertainty adverse experiences at home and school impair normal development of the brain and
102the nervous system which can cause impaired learning and difficulties with emotional self-regulation that can last into adulthood closing a school without a plan in place for the effective students is akin to leaving them a drift in uncertainty research search consistently shows that school closures can lead to heightened levels of stress anxiety and emotional turmoil among students they are suddenly faced with the loss of their support system their friends and the comforting routine that school provides moreover children who face challenges at home are disproportionately affected by these disruptions to address this concern I request the following actions develop a comprehensive transition plan it's imperative that we have this plan in place that outlines where the affected students will be transferred including details about transportation School resources and any additional Support Services I really feel like this
103should have been outli before a decision was made prioritize student well-being the emotional and physiological or sorry psychological well-being of our students is a top priority consider the cost of implementing additional counseling services and support programs to help students cope with transition and any Associated stress Engage The LCS Community gather input and feedback regarding the transition plan while you did this with the survey that you sent in July it did not include any need transitional plans involving the community in the creation of this plan is invaluable ensure educational continuity make sure that schools are receiving um that the receiving schools have the resources and capacity to take on these new students and so I ask for you to make a motion to resend scenario 3 and take the time to thoroughly look at your plans
104I urge you to consider the long-term consequences of closing schools without a plan the trauma our children may experience and the detrimental effects on our community cannot be overlooked while difficult decisions are sometimes necessary is equally important to demonstrate our commitment to the well-being and the education of our children thank [Applause] you thank you next is Micah [Applause] Dev good evening my name is Micah and I'm a mom of two kids who go to TC Miller my children are thriv driving there but I've been hearing one reason after another from members of this board about why their school needs to close and why they need to go to Bass the buildings a liability there's no Auditorium the school is too small first of all there's no such thing as a school that's too small only
105a school that's too big but even so why was TCM put on a wait list freeze we have a line of families that are trying to get their kids enrolled there maybe it's because TCM has something to offer in LCS even if the chairs of the Auditorium are not bolted to the floor Dominion 7 says we need to modernize our buildings that we have too many elementary schools too small to quote provide a quality educational environment what does dominion 7 know about what constitutes a quality educational environment nothing they're an architectural firm don't go to an architect to get opinions on education what they can tell you and what they did tell you is that TCM is built like a tank and that it's in the top five facilities for elementary schools yes our building
106is old but clearly this doesn't present a problem as the board is considering repurposing it as a prek facility you've told us the school of innovation isn't going anywhere the plan is to expand bass to fit TCM with what the 15 million you don't have yet and what if city council decides not to give you that 15 million how can you promise US that the school of innovation is here to stay when you don't have yet have the finances to back that kind of promise if you don't get the funds for renovations at Bass will you simply stuff like sardines almost 600 students into the remaining schools in closing Sandusky you will already have to relocate over 300 students into its three closest schools all of which are the most highly utilized elementary schools in
107the city so much for small classrooms the board's choice of scenario 3 will increase total classroom utilization from around 83% to 90% or higher which is not good for students MGT stated in their analysis is that any school above 90% utilization will feel crowded and will be limited in flow process and procedure ideal utilization according to MGT is 85% which is very close to where we are now members of this board have claimed that this has been an in-depth conversation when scenario was for was put forth by the finance and Facilities committee it was discussed by this board for a total of 40 minutes before the vote took place Dominion 7 and Dr days oversimplified oversimplified the complex problem into a simple algorithm ignoring ignoring critical aspects like Community impact and diversity the board's failure
108to consider these factors is highly troubling to our community in closing TCM keeps families within LCS closing this school will not help the declining enrollment problem but will actually cause more families to leave LCS for good anyone who has actually walked the halls of our schools knows how special these schools are to our community and how absurd this solution is we ask the school board to make a motion to resend their vote on scenario 3 and take more time time to learn all the information before making such a pivotal decision to close two vital schools to our community thank you thank you next is Elizabeth [Applause] Brown hello again my my name is Beth Brown I'm a second grade teacher at TC Miller Elementary School and I have a f first grader that also goes
109to TC Miller with me I urge you to say to resend or reconsider scenario 3 to cut right to the chase in previous emails and speeches I have discussed mostly the students and my personal children this time we're going to talk about the adults this decision is putting the leaders in a ve or the teachers in a very difficult position how are we in good faith going to continue working for a School Division that does not appreciate the very soul of our career path Lynchberg City Schools is going to lose Decades of valuable experience in the educational field they are going to lose the passion that drives the teachers to bring success and love to our students they are going to lose the professional ability to handle students with trauma economically disadvantaged students students with
110little to no support at home the student will the city will lose the valued members of our community that have been able to lead students to Greatness close these schools is going to push some of your greatest Educators to leave the division the division had many open positions this year on the first day of school this will continue if teachers are not valued appreciated and considered when it comes to big decisions like closing down our second homes due to the importance of this matter I'm sure you have inundated yourself with the immense amounts of data and concerns that our save the schools groups have sent to you as well as your own personal research I can't imagine you'd feel comfortable making this big of a decision without knowing every single detail these concerns include but
111are not limited to class sizes behavior problems overpopulation diversity issues and many many more until these concerns are taken into consideration and well planned for we cannot close these schools the numbers don't make sense the money doesn't make sense the job situation doesn't make sense very little of this plan makes sense please look into these concerns with the intensity that you would if your children also attended these [Applause] schools thank you next is Lynn [Applause] forth to the school board please make a motion to uh resin the vote on scenario 3 until all board members are present much of the data you are basing your analysis on came from Dominion 7 an Architecture Firm not an education firm according to Mr Blair Smith from Dominion 7 the average Elementary School size in the Commonwealth is
112800 students their company and study prioritizes utilization while ignoring vital programs like special education Mr Blair simply stated that high utilization was the cost of doing business a popular item that keeps being discussed is declining enrollment as a school board it is part of your duties to find ways to increase enrollment instead we're here discussing your vote to close two schools one of which is a school for Innovation closing schools isn't Innovative you're reinforcing to the public parents and students that our local public school system doesn't matter is not worth improving and can't compete with lynchburg's private schools you should want LCS to compete since you were elected to ensure that our students would have the best education possible it's part of your strategic plan after all don't wait for parents to lose trust in
113the city school system to switch their kids to private schools you're willing to ask city council for 15 million to add classrooms to an existing Elementary School why aren't you willing to ask money for to invest in making improvements to schools where students are thriving like TC Miller and sandeski countless research has proven that smaller class sizes create thriving learning environments do you know why you have declining enrollment because parents who can afford it are sending their kids to private schools where they'll find smaller classrooms with more individualized attention all along you've been saying that everything will stay the same these special programs and students will just move to Bass how do you see this happening when your biggest push has been for close to home resoning if close to home resoning is the backbone
114of these Master plans my son will not simply move to bass but will have to go to perrymont and if you're closing sanduski many of those students will also go to perrymont a school that currently only has 88 empty seats tell me how do you propose to fit all those students in the remaining elementary schools without causing overcrowding it's also worth noting that perrymont is number five on the list of bailing buildings with failing conditions according to the Dominion 7 report making this rash decision by voting for scenario 3 and choosing close to home rezoning you're jeopardizing and impacting almost 600 students Futures students who attend TC Miller are able to take advantage of special programs regardless of their parents socioeconomic status you've said that these programs will just move to bass but not every
115student will move with them and just like that you've removed access to programs like stream a theater program and advanced art from the students who most desperately need them if the essence of a school cannot be tied to a building what would our government be without the capital what would what the would the presidency mean without the White House the essence of a school is the unique combination of students teachers and the environment they exist in so no a school can't just be picked up students randomly moved elsewhere and be expected to remain the same when facing a big decision often the only impact that's considered is the cost of doing business ask yourselves this what about the human cost thank you thank you next is Nicole uh spangenberg good afternoon school board and Community
116my name is Nicole spangenberg I'll keep this brief out of respect for all of these community members here to speak for our schools which will continue being an important topic in the months to come Schoolboard has a variety of projects and responsibilities at at the same time some happening much more quietly than others so I'm here to speak for a different group of students in our community as a social worker and as a gay Community member regarding the $110,000 grant that has been awarded to EC glass from the it gets better project to support lgbtq plus students in our community it is my understanding that the school board is discussing whether or not to approve the school accepting this Grant and I'm here to encourage you to approve the use of this grant they were
117one of only 50 schools in the US and Canada to win the grant which is a great accomplishment they won the grant because they express that they have unmet needs in their school and in their Community otherwise they wouldn't have been chosen for this grant this is such a wonderful opportunity to meet the students needs and reward them for all of their hard work I want to congratulate all of those students and staff that worked hard throughout the Grant application process and those working through each stage of the grant acceptance and planning process now from what I've learned the students hope and plan to use the funds to support a SAA a student-led organization to support um lgbtq plus students to create a safe space inclusive calming room and to purchase inclusive books representing the
118lgbtq plus Community student-led organizations give great leadership opportunities that will help students now and down the road a club that's student L that provides a safe affirming space and a more welcoming climate is life-changing only 15% of lgbtq plus students say that they're taught positive representations of their community in school including people history or events so it's very exciting that there could be new inclusive curriculum coming to Glass the grant request stood out to the it gets better project because the students and everyone else working on applying Focus not only on the school but the Lynchberg community at large students voed that they need more support in school and in the community and if they had sufficient support and needs met they wouldn't have caught the eye of this National Organization that saw them as
119needing $10,000 of support so I urge you to support and accept and encourage this group to accept the grant opportunity to take the students lead on what is needed um and to see all students by name and need thank you so much to all of those students taking initiative to make your community a brighter [Applause] space thank you uh next is Kimberly Dyke carsley harsley I'm sorry I can't quite read the [Applause] handwriting all with okay I'm Kimberly D carsley here to share some concerns ideas suggestions Congress defines neighborhood schools as nearest the students place of residence I'm one who encourages resoning darington is a neighborhood school if you do the asset mapping of the area where seven out of 10 enrolled live in the area everything that is needed is within walking distance of
1201 half to one mile I've listed that before in previous comments perhaps turmoil already exist exist because public participation at school board meetings doesn't get any feedback I don't know if I'm heard I know I'm seen because I see you but maybe that rule needs to be changed that some type of acknowledgement or recognition of the public participation exists and speaking of Renovations looks like this room is too small too amen I'm looking at uh in my head my grandmother was my maternal grandmother a great seamstress and quilt maker and her pieces were even I could pick out what went where now look at this picture over here kind of reminds me of the redlining map not of minorities but of the global majority who were affected see minority is a demeaning term for the
121record some area wasn't D mentioned in any any uh conversation we all know what areas they were wouldn't dare mention closing those schools I recall swiping my student card on the gltc bus for free maybe go back to those swiping the student IDs hopefully William Marvin bass does get that 15 million or more that side of town hasn't been invested in in quite a long time my great-grandfather stood on that ground it was Morgan State College I believe and he gave the valid dictorian address in six different languages shout out to William Robert Dyke senior um Justice Scalia stated constitutional right doesn't mean equal racial population it just means equal access diversity can be defined by many different factors not just race classifications because the complaint isn't always that I haven't heard that complaint from
122those who are classified as minority have [Applause] you thank you and I think we're down to our last speaker vincenti [Applause] Gonzalez I'm speaking for a group I'm speaking for a group yes oh just because it says three minutes okay what's the name of the group yeah what's the name of your group queer Town Hall go ahead uh hi my name is viente Gonzalez and I'm here representing the Lynchburg queer Town Hall I'm queer and on binary and a graduate of EC glass high school first I would like to say that the queer Town Hall stands in full support support of our LCS Community amid the confusion and Chaos of the current school closings there is a lot to say about this issue but for now we'll simply acknowledge what we were up against schools
123are closing the school budget has been significantly cut by a far right city council there are significant attempts to ban books and remove diversity initiatives from the classroom in order to confront these challenges we need to build coalitions when we defend and support support each other we can build something that is strong and longlasting we must organize and develop alliances that cross cultural political and socioeconomic boundaries I am here today to highlight and celebrate the EC glass High School gender and sexuality Alliance on being awarded a $10,000 Grant by the National lgbtq Organization that it gets better campaign this grant is being used by students all over the country to support school-based projects based on local needs varying from creating queer youth conferences to developing trainings for educators and administrators and even creating lgbtq history
124classes this grant is giving students the opportunity to imagine a world where they are included celebrated and loved we are so moved and proud of the students at EC glass for being the chosen winners from the state of Virginia for this highly competitive Grant this is nothing short of a huge accomplishment accomplishment and the Lynchburg City School System should be thrilled I think it's important to take this moment to not only celebrate our students but also take a look at ourselves why is it that students are looking for outside sources of support when it comes to queer in lgbtq allyship where is the underlying lack of support from the administration and school board when it comes to providing safe learning environments for queer lgbtq and transgender students students are tuning in and digesting the antiquer
125messages being pushed by city council members and other leading figures in our community we are living in a political moment where queer and transgender people are being attacked and scapegoated these conditions are resulting in queer and trans students being harassed and bullied in their schools homes and community harassment bullying and isolation is resulting in queer youth being significantly more likely to experience depression substance abuse homelessness and attempted suicide according to the CDC 14% of queered Youth did not go to school for safety concerns in contrast to 7% of their heterosexual and cisgender peers the same study found that 22% of queer youth experience sexual violence versus 8% of hetero and Cy students in Virginia 40 34% of students reported experiencing threat or harm because of their sexuality or gender identity 70% experienced discrimination according to
126the 2022 National survey of lgbtq mental health 58% of Youth surveyed reported experiencing depression 50% of queer youth surveyed between ages of 13 and 1 17 considered suicide 18% attempted in the state of Virginia 43% of queer youth reported considering suicide while 133% attempted these rates increase for black and Indigenous queer youth this grant is not simply providing support but providing life-saving support so I ask you are you willing to stand in the way of a student's access to life saving support I truly hope that the school board the LCS Administration and the administration of EC glass will do nothing less that provide their full support to these students this is not simply an issue of queer Liberation but also an issue of equal access to public education if queer and trans students do not
127have access to equal access to bathrooms extracurricular activities and safe academic learning environment ments then they do not have equal access to public schools thank you for [Applause] L he that concludes the list of all the speakers who signed up to speak I believe we have one voicemail comment is that correct yes sir okay you're going to play it for us I voicemail for public comments I'm not sure if this is the place to do that or if that's another number um just in case I'll go ahead and put it here um I hope that's not too inconvenient for you but I I appreciate it um my name is Kellen Knight and I wanted to congratulate the students heading the GSA at EC class they received a $10,000 Grant they are one of the 50
128schools in the state and the only School in Virginia to receive this Grant from the AIT better campaign Justin um Tim uh timball um from the campaign um stated that one of the reasons their application stood out was that they not only wanted to better their school but also wanted to reach out into the community in Lynchburg um which I think is a really amazing example of great citizen ship um I also know that the adults have been working for a while and talking for a while about creating a better Community um for the lgbtq plus community in our schools um and that's been slowo um so I hope that the students are proud um and it's very admirable that they were able to advocate for what they need and attain that I also think
129it's important that we re reflect that that's what it took um that the students were so in need um and the adults weren't there to step up uh I also understand that there's been some push back to them receiving this grant um and whether or not it should be accepted one of the proponents of this Alex Nester stated it's because adults are pushing Politics on children um which shows a misunderstanding of how the grant works so they applied for with a plan for the money um actually they have a wonderful outline for how they'll spend the money that they earned um so I look forward to seeing where they go with this cre a safe place in their school um as every kid deserves to go to school and feel safe um that's it thanks
130okay thank you that concludes the public comment period thank you Dr Day Finance report Dr Edward I am going to turn it over to Dr watera thank you Dr Edwards um first I'd like to introduce Mr Chris senson who is across the way uh who will assuming that the board approves a consent agenda will be serving as our interim Chief Financial Officer uh in lie of the prior individual that was in the position um so he'll be with us for several months uh hopefully um uh until we get it CF full-time CFO or January I think whichever is there so so welcome to him and I will uh complete the summary of the uh board report uh for this month and then next month Mr senson will be up to speed and be ready this
131is his second day uh so uh we'll start on the board report uh just the cover sheet that we have here as as we always do um and on the revenues that we received for uh today um you'll note that we are at 19.18% uh as a as opposed to 20.93% last year that uh variation is reflected as a result of largely the city Reserve that or the reserve that city council put into place uh this year so it is shown as a revenue of course it is not Revenue that's available to us but there is that difference in that number as as we go forward so I just want you to know that um on the expenditure side of things we're at 22.6% as composed to compos compared to 19.38% last uh last year
132um much of that sort of larger percentage has to do with the end of year expenditures that we had last year that were actually spent uh during this year and once the Auditors release that we will we will convert that back to last year's fund so that will change over time over the next couple of months um you'll see the expenditure uh encumberance is there we have as you can see we simply just encumbered more money this year that gives us a better sense of where we'll be um earlier in the year so that we can make adjustments as we need to uh last year you will remember that we sort of hit the end of the year made some adjustments sort of at the very end hopefully we'll be able to make adjustments a
133little bit earlier this year that gives us a better idea of where we're going to be uh the reserves as you'll see uh listed they are as as not changed last month um and the next three items are related to health insurance uh and the first is sep this year as of September 2023 uh for Year year-to date total we have received and receipts that's the premiums that we paid uh $2,684 th000 uh and dispersements have been 3 million for a deficit at this point of 342,000 um if you compare that to last year we were at a deficit of $1.4 million so we have received about $600,000 more this year in receipts and expended about $400,000 less than we did last year remember we also have a rate increase that comes in January so
134I think we're headed in the right direction and it's a it's a good Trend as well um so certainly would take any questions that you may have about the financial report and then we'll if you if you don't then we'll move to the the grant F questions for Dr War this was the N that this is the monthly you were looking at correct this is the monthly yes okay where do we stand on budget I know it's month of October now so are we collecting information from principles to we are yes sir so we uh have submitted to principal's budget instructions uh and giving them the opportunity to uh see their budget sheets and they're working through that um the other thing that's for next year's budget but remember we also will have to revise
135this year's budget once the VOE Cal tool is available and it's just not going to be able to is there have they given a date when the Cal tool will be okay on the car's funding report um there's a this is a quarterly report that we would provide to you and I want to just highlight a couple of things um on that item on page two number six that is our sr2 funds those are the second funds those those funds uh technically expire September 30th but they have to be expended before uh November 15th that's a little bit complicated but um they have to be encumbered by September 30th but spent by September 15th uh we're at 82.76% of those those money spent uh encumbrances that will be spent by November 15th are right at
136100% so we're not leaving any money on the table so we have uh ensured that we are spending those funds uh on number seven uh we are that is sr3 or three that is a fund those are funds that are due to be spent by September 30th of next year uh so you'll see have incumbrances and and all the other items that we've spent we're at a little over 71% again we do have a plan to have those spent some of that will be dependent upon uh the results of the Cal tool we would like to if we can move as many of the positions out of cares as we can that are in cares again we need that information from the vdoe Cal tool to be able to know how many positions we can
137do with that and from that information we'll be able to use that to reallocate those funds as appropriate and again those funds must be spent by September of 2024 um and then just one more item I'll note um number 10 it's on page three uh this shows uh 3.26% spent and has to be spent by December 31st of 2024 this is the dunar Middle School heating project that that the school board approved in August and city council approved in September and so we are in design right now and that will be spent um well in in advance of of the the deadline so certainly would take any questions you have on these items I have a question s um on number 11 what is unfinished learning sure that was a separate um grant that was
138addressing unfinished learning that's coming from out of out of the pandemic so it really is again summer programs there was a piece of that uh before and after school was a piece of it but addressing unfinished learning was around on tutoring and mentoring and okay um achievement Gap that type of thing thank you I have a couple brief questions on item number four um it says the uh current status is 69.4 4% spent and then it says LCS portion is 69.4 the full LCS portion so that we as I recall that was money that was that expired last year a year ago as I recall that money we we were able to expend about 70% of the of the LCS portion uh there was also I think some private school funds and that sorts okay
139um so there there are there were funds that that were not expended and we we've adjusted to address that okay and then on item eight um it um talks about adaptive playground equipment pending and I just what is adaptive playground equipment this is playground that's specifically designed for students with special needs special ed students they those items have been ordered and they're just they're on the very good that's all my questions on this thank you other questions Dr W I have a question item number seven and I've been asking it for a long time we got $28 million sitting there to patch up the learning loss we have used about 30% of it expires in less than 11 months now do we have a plan in place to use that money so so remember some
140of that money a fair am amount of that money is dedicated to staff that are being paid for with the These funds so a significant amount of that money will be paid and hopefully as little as we possibly can because we'll be able to move them into the operating budget before it's time um my colleague maybe could talk a little bit more about learning loss I do and we have allocated as as um we've um spoken to the board before um we have allocated funds in um curriculum and instruction as well as student services um as well as information technology so those funds have been allocated to different departments but because we have moved some of the Staffing into S3 we want to make sure that we're not overspending on the things that we've um
141put in place or identified for um achievement Gap curriculum instruction those types of things mental health support uh behavioral support So as Dr OA said when the state releases their C tool then we'll be able to better calculate how much we have left um outside of Staffing to allocate we have moved Staffing uh These funds for hiring permanent staff or temporary staff so so for the care so for car's funds there are there are positions that have been we probably most people think about as as permanent staff potentially in those those funds in those in those uh uh those car story funds so so so for example as we increased the behavioral support behavioral coaches we were paying for that with car's funding there were some other positions as well would you be able to
142present to this board that mental health Grant Dr Brown got last year where do we stand on that U because um I'm particularly interested in that um increase in stien we were giving to our employees you know so I we can certainly do that I know that Dr Brown um is going to attend I believe in just a few weeks there are um accountability checks and meetings and he's attending a full day meeting on the school based mental health Grant um to talk about data and and um expenditures so I will we we'll bring that to the board thank you any other questions Dr Carter you were saying you need a break you need a break um all right before we move to the next item how about we take five minutes there are there
143two more items on the uh fin you more so so I we don't usually go through the the detail reports but certainly happy to answer any questions I didn't have any questions I just didn't want you to be cut off so is that okay if we take a five minute break please we'll come back to the consent [Music] AG [Music] compensation the back in session may you can maybe you can show me the line yeah yeah I can show you we did get more money for I mean we did get more money this show get more back in session show me wi please at the bottom it's the one two third fourth one from the bottom we need to get a bill back in session uh the next item is consent agenda is there a
144motion to approve the consent agenda I move that we approve the consent agenda Dr C Mr Andrew seconded the motion any discussion on consent agenda any item you want pull out any discussion Madam clerk would you please call the RO Mr jilo obain Mr Andrews yes Dr day yes Dr scopa yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr defal yes Mrs Lori yes was cares thank you next one is comprehensive strategic plan facilities master plan follow-up. so under the facilities master plan is where we have our discussion um about scenario 3 and um the additional $15 million for bass what we want to do tonight with the exception of just probably the first question is not make any motions or any major decisions but the way that we have structured this and I've sent the
145questions to school board members in advance is so that we can have thoughtful discussion tonight and then for those of us who need a little bit more time for things to mle around in our heads before we make a decision we can come back to our work session in two weeks to really get to more thoughtful decisions if we're ready at that time so there is no need to really um push through but rather to talk about a lot of the things that um are presented here many of them are questions that will help guide the work that we um would need to do moving forward um I will also just talk more about process uh in understanding that the work that we do here uh a resoning plan close to home plan programmatic plan
146Talent all of that will ultimately come back to the school board come back to the public this most immediate part is um regarding just formalizing Direction there will be another opportunity for a public hearing I believe sometime in January and then of course another vote to firm up and finalize any directions that we have for that will impact um next school year so again just want to lay the foundation um that we all want to make very thoughtful decisions uh and also tease out pros and cons things we may not have seen so that we make sure as we follow um the direction that the board wants to go one that we understand that direction and two that we're all going um accordingly so uh Dr Dr Edwards I am Dr Edward today along I
147Dr woda has um put together a PowerPoint um that has what we call the five critical questions it and we want to call this a facilitated discussion and not a presentation because there's just no way we can do this in 15 minutes and we really want to engage the board in a discussion with us and in a discussion with each other um just about some of these items um here so we have a lot of information presented in the PowerPoint um on the um uh there's a spreadsheet as well and again even for the public listening um this is our opportunity to do a little uh digging deep and being thoughtful and mindful it also gives the public an opportunity to look at the questions that we have the things that we're thinking about as
148we're moving forward um so that when we do um come back and re-engage with the public um they'll understand this proc process so I think I've heed it up pretty well I'm going to turn it over to uh Dr woda and Mrs Pew and myself will kind of tag team along with him as needed well thank you Dr Edwards uh and good evening again as Dr Edward said we hope to have a guided discussion this this evening um just about some of these particular critical questions that we have um as Dr erber said this really will help us guide the implementation plan and the development of the implementation plan and I'll just add to what she said and that we want to make sure that there there's not something that we're leaving to sort of
149our interpretation uh any questions that are there and so I want to make sure that we are all on the same page working in the same direction uh and understanding what the intent of the board is and where we're going um so that as we continue to develop a imple an excuse me an implementation plan that we are working again on the same in the same direction so I'll start just with the next uh slide um just a little bit of of of cross tracking here and just a little bit of history and throughout this presentation or this conversation there's a little bit of context that we'll provide as well as and we'll we'll sort of take take stops uh for discussion uh that you may have we we're also going to ask you through
150time uh what specific information that you might need as we go forward to make decisions on these particular questions um we understand that scenario 3 uh seems to be the direction we're going U but again there are some Nuance questions we want to make sure if you have specific pieces of information that you need that we can have time to provide that to you and have a good discussion about that so we just want to make sure again we're working in the same direction so on the left side of the screen you have here the Dominion 7 recommendations those came from 2022 uh where there were three sort of major options the first was operational efficiency that would be that we construct much larger schools that consolidate those other schools into those larger schools have
151attendance zones uh and repurpose some of those schools none of those sort of trans that option didn't translate really into any of the new options that came forward with MGT right because that would require the construction of several large uh new elementary schools we just didn't think that was going to be a feasible solution the second one is the the middle ground so consolidate maybe some schools build maybe one new school repurpose some schools make those attendance zones Zone adjustments and that really reflects into scenario one uh that came through uh MGT and the last is option three uh which is sort of financially uh the the ones that are a little bit easier to do but we had a number number of options that are there uh we're focus on focusing sort of on
152existing facilities making sure that we're taking care of what we have we might have fewer schools of course that would be uh different than option option one uh but no new schools uh and and really again focusing on on maintaining uh the schools and so really scenarios two three and four really reflect on that and that's based on the guidance we received from the school board at the time uh and then again of of course ultimately as we know uh the school board elected to to choose scenario three as we go forward um okay the next slide so this is just a reflection of what the the actions were in scenario 3 so there were the the primary components right that we we have the graphic on the side that's resoning for close to home
153close convert close and convert TC Miller Clos Sandusky Elementary expand several elementary schools renovate others uh and do other Elementary School improvements but there also are these core actions that are a part of what the re mgt's recommendation are that that' be a core action of any that we do right and and there's components to that that that we just have to have some conversation around right so again of course close to home zoning improving those Elementary buildings expanding prek options expanding CTE options and of course removing uh portable classrooms and we just want to know uh and we want to have a conversation with you about what precisely did the board intend when you voted on scenario 3 um and what components to that if any that might be different from your understanding of
154what you voted on to ensure that we're doing the same thing so go to the next next qu uh slide and the first question is around phasing of these components there's lots of things that are here and we reviewed the board meeting on September 19th and we think what we've done is categorized on the next slide uh where we think those each one of those items fits right so phase one which will be in the next year to two years and then future phases we want to ask you and this is the kind of question we want to ask hopefully you'll answer sort of by consensus tonight uh is are these items in the right place right so phase one or future phases um and uh that's very important for us as we continue this
155conversation so if you go to the next slide um there we have divided them for phase one uh for rezoning for close to home expanding bass of course that was added to uh scenario three closing sanduski this question about converting or closing TC Miller we have more conversation about that in in the uh in the coming slides uh removing portable classrooms and then beginning the development or implementation of the safety and maintenance Improvement plan for all the other elementary schools uh phase two would be these all the other items that you see there that would be done you know potentially in the next seven to 10 years or potentially a little bit a little bit longer the question that we have for you is not necessarily do you want to for instance renovate RS pay
156we just want to make sure that as we have defined them in the phasing as we develop the implementation plan are these in the right place uh and if not help us understand what needs to be changed again you're not saying that we're we're definitely going to do all of these things it's just simply saying are they are did we interpret your your directions in the right way and I think that's a first good stopping point and we'd love to take any perspective that anybody might have on this so I have one I guess it's a question because we're not making any decisions tonight we're just getting the issues that we need to address on the table um my question concerns the portable classrooms and whether holding on to them longer than two years would
157help us in whatever form the transition ultimately takes would it help to have those portable classrooms still usable would that smooth any aspect of the transition um if it would then I would say well then we ought to hold on to them for longer than two years agreed okay all right so we can we can we'll have that we can answer that question Flo between yeah yeah and and I'll say one one one point is we in order to help balance the budget this year we have already removed some of them that was that was that's the shefield we do have remaining portable classrooms at at Bedford Hills and darington so any go ahead the uh idea of combining safety maintenance and improvements Al together uh I would rather see safety as its own separate
158issue if there is a safety concern in any of the schools that needs to be addressed first okay in my opinion sure and and something like that we could definitely that as we develop the capital plan that could be definitely something we focused as we structure the financing plan for that for sure so expansion to preure expansion of CTE will will that require fresh cash inflow or well so as we'll get to in in the next couple of slides that that depends on what you do um and and again um we don't we don't necessarily want to say in this this question do this or not right this is the question is did we interpret the the the timing right right but but I think depending on what you do there could be the one
159of the your phase one is convert TCM conversion was to pre prek right so if you convert right now that conversion will require additional cash from the board yeah but we're not we're not asking you whether or not you on this slide whether or not you want to convert or to close all we're asking is did we get the right now let's pay attention to this top row right now and we'll have lots of discussion on the right now and then the bottom row is sort of the these are the longer term have we brought them you know separated them accordingly and we can make decisions about all of those but just did we do the timing right is what we're going for and so I'm sorry so in the next next couple of slides
160we have that question to okay and mine was um sort of floating between the two if the on the TC Miller if it's um closed and we reone for all the prek the phase for the bottom part in my mind I'm my question is those children are they since they pass sand they pass perrymont to go to sanduski elementary school would it be would they if they're going to end up at s at at perrymont are they is that where they're zoned for like they're zoned for perrymont then we should probably I'm thinking I would say like perrymont would be there and then because some of those children live off of Fort Avenue so they're close then I would I was thinking when I was looking at this would it be possible to do Perry
161month and then would pain make sense more if those other kids are zoned closer to that ver then um Linkhorn Elementary um I saw we expand in the parking lot then B Hills and then the others it it could be um and I think that's why we we put in that close to home zoning yes first because because I think that's you know that's that's a thing that we need to do pretty quickly if we continue down this path that yeah so that's why I was wondering I can't answer that specific question so based on their close to home would the perrymont element be more important that's right the ones on the bottom were not enter particular oh okay oh on I didn't understand all right all right so so I guess the question is
162did did we generally get these in the right place and I think we could say yes or no I think yes but we're not are we making that decision now or you want that ultimate that that kind of important for now that one is important I would say has a question please remind me what the resoning for close to home is I is this for transportation issues um to cut down in transportation costs so two things so certainly transportation is one of those things the other idea is that we want families to be able to engage more fully um so when we have particularly the long distances between uh neighborhoods that are served in the schools they they're in again the the the the example we use all the time is some of Florida Avenue
163and Heritage Elementary School it's very difficult often times for families to engage uh that way um so there's there's a couple different nuances but but certainly transportation is an important one so they don't come is what happens so maybe in short it means the attendance zones right what what area is sort of I I get that I'm more and I know that we're past a lot of the things that brought us to the um the section one uh Title One concerns we've come a long way since then but I still think that there might I just have a issue I think there's a benefit to having more balanced populations and if we're close to home it might not be as balanced is my concern yeah well there's I think there's certainly a tension there between
164close to home and I mean this would fall under Equity considerations too that U that that is something that we're looking at and that's why we went with close to home not necessarily the like you've heard conversation like neighborhoods schools um because we do want to make sure that doing anything does not sort of disrupt the balance in our schools we want to preserve that and I think we heard a lot of parents talk about diversity um on multiple levels in our school so I just see that as doing nothing but disrupting it well at the same time I think to if kids are going to the same schools their siblings are going to or you know they see each other in their neighborhood it's I mean when I was growing up that's how it
165was I mean you really weren't unless it's some there was no like like where I was growing up in Vegas there's no middle school there period so we had to be bust far away as far as Elementary everybody went to the closest one to them so because we all walk to school so I don't I don't want to overstep but I think there of course there may be some uh discussion about individual items but it seems to me like we' got them sort of in the right place is that I'm sorry I didn't I just really don't understand this reasone to close to home what is our definition of close to home but the other thing is you're asking or us to just to say this is the direction when we have an amendment addendum
166or discussion for um to look at a resending a vote can we there's no such motion active at this point it failed it failed oh it failed oh Lord okay otherwise we that would have removed this whole discussion from the agenda okay all we're doing is deciding which topics are the first two years which topics are your the long term after that that's all we're deciding here oh I thought we were going left to right too no no no no no no they're not in any kind of grp that's my that's my graphic design I apologize we thought we had it but we're good so what what is close to what does that mean so when we if and I the Elementary map is is back there near the parents but when you look at
167our original Elementary map and and much of that might have been um done in in response to what happened in 1971 and so on oh thank you there you go um if you look at our map you can see like if you look at Heritage which is sort of the dark pink on the bottom left you'll see there's a lot of neighborhoods around Heritage but you'll also see that there's another dark pink way on the other side of town so when we're talking about close to home zoning we're trying to really rebalance that in a way and and this is why I said this may affect more than just the school districts that our school districts the schools that were mentioned we're trying to rebalance that so we get a nice balance of um diversity
168in our schools as well as making it comfortable for families to be able to get back to the schools and participate in school activities engagements and things of the like if s Dusky Elementary is is closed would would it perhaps increase diversity perhaps increased diversity of Heritage if in fact some of those students went to Heritage rather than some of the Green Field students that currently go to Heritage I mean it's it's going to have to be some balancing to try to to make to make all of that happen in addition to the fact that if TC Miller is converted or closed or whatever we want to call it then doesn't that also mean that the students that currently go to sanduski or at least some of them could then go to TC Miller so
169because it's not terribly far away from each other and so the students that population of paramont used to be sanduski and TC Miller could kind of be broken down and that would in that would preserve both the um the diversity but also help the numbers and and that is the work to be done and that's why we have to constantly bring those types of things back to you but not only you all the community as well to say here's a proposal for how this could work here's maybe another option for how this could work that's the work um that MGT will start to do with us once we have a direction and know well which buildings were we trying to sort of reallocate and if if I may we we we have a slide a
170couple slid yeah we do we do the process the analytical process that we'll go through so certainly yeah um and also I was wondering because of the and someone mentioned it but it's been brought up to city council too the the building's going up by Home Depot so and since the city council owns all the land is should we even think about saying hey we like a new school built because these kids are going to be coming in so then that we could take these kids and these kids I mean do we want to consider is that something we want to consider because if you've got they said well of course when everybody moves in not everybody and have children but they're going to be children there where are they going to go and what
171would they overpopulate and if it's in a school like sandeski that we're going to shut down because it's not safe than what you know what I'm saying like I wonder if we should tell some we might need a new building so so if I can't so I think um there's items on the on the bottom the second line that are that say renovate and expand and so I think we would all agree that it wouldn't make sense to go Ahad and expand those now but if they're but we want to put them in the master plan to say if you do have increasing enrollment down the road here is where you could do expansions on these sites and and we've put them in sort of the the schools that are sort of in the center
172of the city so that they're accessible around and we'll talk more about that as well it's great it's a really great building being we're trying to do is is think through not just what's the issue today but also how do we set the School Division up for Success 15 or 20 years from now well because though that division be finished what by the end of the year probably or in the beginning of next year gra probably so people start coming so yeah M um as I recall I don't remember which report it was in it might have even been the um um GIS Cropper GIS demographic study there was some discussion [Music] of um uh for instance when when I and my wife were in our childbearing years it was typical for a young family
173to have two or three children but now that's not so typical anymore now we're seeing more and more young couples that are both professionals and not all of them choose to have children at all and so there are demographic changes that I think we're we're incorporated into all the planning that affects that you know um uh a a new Housing Development with a th000 new units in 1960 is going to generate a different number of children than a new housing unit with a th000 units in 2024 2025 and so I believe there was an effort to take current demographic trends like that into account in making the enrollment projections that we are are underlying a lot of what we're doing here well and a side note to that there are a lot more immigrants coming
174into the city too that's true as they have large F and they're very different in terms of uh their so may so maybe uh yeah we I don't want to take that away but but again let me just add one point to to that and then we'll we'll move to the next slide so at my um I sit on ubaa um K12 advisory Council so Wen Cooper is doing a another demographic study of Virginia but also School Division so we'll get that probably in December um so we'll be able to look at what the projections are and compare it to the previous Weld and Cooper study and the Cropper GIS study and information thank you so I think if we're if we're okay generally where we are right now we can maybe move I think
175everybody says okay uh we can move to the next item and there are items you will recall from the graphic that were not included on that list of phases so we're going to add two things that we're going to stop and talk about just very briefly well maybe not briefly but we'll talk about for a few minutes uh related to uh expansion of CTE again we want to make sure we understand what the intent and the desire of the board is uh and again doesn't don't have to make this decision tonight but we just want to hear your perspective as well as get some feedback uh and then also expanding prek so if we'll go to the next slide do you want to do this expansion yeah okay um just a a current um view
176of where we are um with CTE and opportunities for our students So currently uh for middle school and high school students there are more than 65 courses that sit under 13 areas of focus um and I didn't list them all there but uh but they are in our our current um uh program of studies um cvcc um as you know we have had students there for the past two years they have a CTE Academy for our high school students to participate in last year I believe we had maybe uh 12 or 13 students participating from both schools uh this year we have 25 and I think we have students that are again interested in attending so that will the number of students that can participate in that will certainly increase they have more than 50
177courses offered at that CTE Academy that are under eight areas of focus and what is a particular interest is that th those eight areas are different from the 13 areas that we offer so this partnership um allows uh for our students to take uh courses and focus in different areas of of CTE that we are not able to provide and then for the high school we also have other opportunities for them to have some uh experiences at the governor School STEM Academy um there will hopefully be a cvcc lab school coming in 2025 which is um really much focused on C embedded CTE um that is is there so that would be a wonderful opportunity for our students and we're already exploring internships we've been working with um Beacon of Hope and some others to
178to Really uh boost up the opportunity for our students to have internships and if you'll notice over on the right hand side um this is part of our programmatic and instructional Vision um currently Dunbar mle is a school for Innovation that focuses around uh theater and herpetology as well as Communications um but looking at a specific Focus for all of our middle schools um that our elementary schools would feed into with some Focus areas on CTE but Linkhorn Middle School um would be focused on health and environmental Sciences again Dunbar would be arts and Global Studies and then the focus at sanduski middle school would be engineering and technology and and that's a a heavy CTE component um for our students to to have opportunities so I think we wanted to give you just a
179little bit of a sneak peek that we're we're starting to really think about that programmatic Vision uh and and we wanted to just let you know that that is we were working on that sort of sort of at the same time we're going to continue to bring that forward to us as well um and then if on the next Slide the really the big question that we need you to answer uh in the next couple of weeks is and and the reason we're asking this is because we've heard different things from different people and the question is do we the expansion we think of of CTE programs is critical to the success and the way that we do the instructional approach um but Clarity is really needed on to what the board hoped to to
180accomplish uh whether that be through construction or curriculum right because there has some I know been some conversation about should we have a purpose-built CTE School perfectly good uh thing to do uh but we want to make sure that we should be thinking about that or we should be thinking about developing programs differently and I think we sort of have a a silly one maybe not silly but it's it's should we build a radiology lab right or should we partner with the health system with a hospital system to to build experiential learning opportunities there right so that's we're probably not going to build build a radiology lab but these are the things that just kind of gives you an idea what we're talking about so again is this we talking about a purpose-built CTE Pro
181building or is it about expanding CTE programs and our question is uh that and what more information would the board need to sort of make that that decision and give that guidance okay one because I'm on the CT committee so um one of the things that we've been talking about is probably a little bit both of construction and curriculum because um the expand they need more rooms so in in other successful CTE programs in other parts of the nation and and counties the public the community has access and it's hard to get access if everything is in the center so for example um at Heritage High School the Cosmopolitan area is in the middle so Community people cannot come through the school so if we could move them from the center maybe to closer to
182the doors so that and then the make the rooms bigger because those rooms are so small people are stepping over each other to get where they need to go and then also in the culinary there they need a serving area so also um and at glass they also need a serving area and they need a seating area they have a door but not a door that the public could come through into a seating area so if that could be opened up that would be helpful too and also the program that they would think about adding would be nice if we could get a barbering program because um Heritage has cosmetology but um but barbering is very especially to the guys it's becoming a very popular thing and more guys want to get into it but
183we need a program for that and they also would need a big room to do that in just doesn't need to be a bunch of rooms just one big room to do that in um and then also um if we can and as far as like Radiology like I said you know but that would be a CVC thing but it would be more of an exploratory on CVC on the CTE committee because there doesn't seem to be a ton of interest in that so we would probably if we could just um partner with Sentra that would be better and the last one is that the more accessibility that the community has if we can build it these programs so that the community can get to their these um areas whether it be the automotive whether
184it be the cosmetology or the barbering or The Culinary to um build a relationship with the community then the because a lot of some of the things the community doesn't even know about but if they have have an easy access without you know security wise getting anything else they shouldn't get into the more they know the more support we can get from the community gotta so great appreciate good ideas so um she just gave a list of a a lot of specific types of CTE that were consider ideas whether they run with them well and my what I was going to say is I think what we need is if there's any additional uh whether whether it's barbering whether it's welding whether it's uh electricians training I think we need to know what are the
185specific CTE programs that we're talking about and what are the needs and you enumerated some of them for the ones that you have but is is is that list exhaustive or there others maybe that the community has has mentioned is we need a carpentry program um so I think before we can this is my response to what information do we need I think we need that information we need to know what CTE programs we're interested in either new ones or expansion um and then the other comment I would make is where we're talking about new construction that costs money of course and that's always an issue and as soon as we're talking about dollars then we're competing with all the other um issues and functions and operations of the district that also need dollars and
186so we my my personal um response is to not jump too quickly into things that require new construction if there's an alternative and that's why we said leave the CTS where they are just we need bigger rooms all they might have to move it within the school or just keep it close to doors but not build anything new just move it and and again we are not looking for the board to decide we're looking for exactly that what are you thinking about and and when you say construction that means different things to different folks because if I said construction or renov renovation some folks might oh well I need the dental lab renovated to have uped equipment not necessarily construction but as you explained it you know that's a little bit more the door for
187the community a seting area but you even talking on existing facilities not construction new facil so as we are having this conversation and P teasing out these ideas these are the things that we want to hear from board members so that we when we come back we can really make a thoughtful decision that will guide the work and cost estimates where they're available are relevant too in a in a community where recent surveys have mentioned that the biggest or the most popular consideration for employment or career as digital influencer are we barking up the wrong tree thinking that kids are going to want to be carpenters and plumbers so you you want to have a CTE program for digital no I don't I'm just there with I really really don't we need our counselors to
188focus teachers to focus them to more realistic views as opposed to be coming when we were growing up professional ball players I I think that that's a decision that the board is going to be involved in is which C CTE programs we would want to pursue and we could also have Robbie dly come in some you do have a CTE advisory um that does this work and we can yeah so maybe we should ask them if they have any input on this I also think and and Anthony and I have been involved with Beacon of Hope because that's part of our job responsibility so to speak but they have developed a number of internship types of programs they consequently have connections with businesses and and business and work opportunities here in the city and so
189I think it would be a wise decision to have some conversations with them about because they've had students work with Vector space they've had students um work with fallwell airport they took some students to Detroit for some kind of information about some scholarship programs that are available but my point is they're all similar kinds of things that we're talking about and if they've already got the connections and perhaps in within those connections we could provide internships for for some students there's a way to collaborate all of that together to to make some of it work and to glor's point we there are in turns so with CTA to follow up on that if any of the people connected with Beacon of Pope or that people you're referring to that youve learned from have ideas about
190CTE program that would be important for the particular areas that they're interested in whether it's Aviation for instance that's that would be a relevant piece of information for what we're talking about here CTE programs are good for graduation rates you know in our district is 100% andrio is 98% so there's a com it builds up a camaraderie whether it's curriculum based or building based it does help students graduate through high school and the plumbing and the carpentry are very well-paid jobs especially since a lot of people aren't going into them they're yeah they're paying day so again this is something that mull it over and think about it but um each one of these we kind of thought we may know what you mean but again just wanting to be sure that we didn't miss
191anything particularly as some of the things that we heard were about constructing new facilities for CTE and um we have for the last couple years been leveraging Partnerships and programming for CTE to get more kids CTE opportunities either through direct Curriculum by participating in one of the college programs or even I think I sent something to you in my newsletter about what Home Depot is doing at you know one of our elementary schools just bringing in um different things like that I know you're taking feedback from this School Board how about the other stakeholders you got teachers you got oh we'll get them too yeah you're getting the same feedback well once we kind of get a direction from you all then of course nobody builds a CTE program without talking to their staff and
192and parents and um what I was referring to is what does the um teachers think is do we need to expand City or not do we need to you know the the the the stakeholders out there what do they think um should we go in this direction or should we take a slightly you know what I'm talking about this is that a viable option at this point I think when we did the survey part of what came out of the survey when we surveyed teachers and well not just teachers but we survey Community was expansion of CTE that's where we got some of those driving forces from surveys focus groups and and that kind of thing so so we're building off of previous survey data but just ref finding it a little more um and
193I will say all of this that we're planning on doing we're also planning on doing it going back into the community going back into um buildings we showed you the slide of the three middle schools we can't do that without the assistance of the three middle schools and their staff so I do have a question about the three bubbles the middle schools so let's say I'm at Dumar but I want to check out the technology at the other school will the kids have that like that the high schools they can go back and forth will the Middle School schools have that or no yeah we haven't refined it yet we are looking at some level of choice so that um kids can have options um students can go back and forth between high schools because
194we can make it work with Transportation right now and and scheduling is very similar so as we build a program those are things that we have to consider for bubbles I was think you miss you left the business completely it's technology is there the Arts is there communication and business uh you know yeah just just wait till you see what we have it's it's in there for sure it may not be listed but it's in there yeah for sure okay good okay so all right so just to just to summarize some additional information that you'd like to see uh what are the programs that we know we need to have we can give some of that preliminary information that we know um maybe some some very preliminary cost estimates and just can get some ideas
195um and then and then we also think we we just need to make sure we communicate to the board the programs we already have just a listing because I'm not sure that we've necessarily told all that information just yet so I think we we'll do that and probably partners that we're already oh Partners we already have we're already ex okay right so we'll go to the next one and that is expansion of prek and the the question is um what what does that mean and we just want to provide an option of what a potential option of a conversion at TC Miller might look like again we're not advocating for this but we just want to make sure that that is something something that you know what that would look like as well um so
196our our thought process is a couple different ways if you wanted to do that um so in addition to huton there's 10 prek classrooms in the division that are that are housed in elementary buildings three at RS pan three at perrymont three four at pal Monroe um and TC Miller has about 14 classrooms that are available um so potentially uh this is just again an option uh converting TC M to all prek would add uh potentially four additional pre- spaces that would give us about 60 additional spots that also free up about 200 places uh opportunities for enrollment in the RS pain perrymont and pal Monroe zones as well so that you're sort of freeing up additional space um and in K5 classrooms so um if you go to the next slide that that just
197gives you some context so our big question here is does the board want to convert TC Miller to a pre site and if so should we consider consider expanding ing the number of pre- classrooms right so that would not that would be not taking those classrooms from those Elementary School that would be just literally adding more classrooms right that that is uh certainly that would add an additional 198 seats potentially to uh to address the 200 plus waiting list of course that is more costly because you would be adding teachers in the future right the alternative as I just went through uh potentially could be that we move existing prek classrooms and the elementary schools at TC Miller that would open other uh open additional capacity other elementary schools uh some pros to that are
198um again small expansions in additional space uh you could have potentially more about 60 more prease students uh you would have also more space in in uh the elementary schools uh majority of savings would be in place I can explain that if that doesn't make sense uh but of course the utility and maintenance cost as well as some support staff position cost would be added uh in this scenario um so uh again that's a big question um certainly again don't expect you to make that decision tonight um but love to hear from you about what additional information that you might need is there a problem including prek in the closed to they go to the same Elementary School yeah so in in that scenario I mean you could do that if and I guess do
199you mean that we would have prek in every Elementary yes yeah okay we could certainly do that um it it would just be space but um we could we could take a it make more sense close to home if we're going to do the close to home thing too yeah I I think that that will be um that would be you know an additional additional cost right to because it'll take more people to do that's we want to compare yeah for sure for sure but the teachers that we have now for prek mean they would just be teaching in the Close to Home Zone school for those children so you have the staff for it because you have the staff for it now so it's just so in the what the rebuilding the renovating and
200all that stuff we have to take in the idea of the cost of rooms to add prease for those Zone schools okay so that's an alternative yes think what might be helpful is to see where um what their closer to closer to homeschool would be um because right now like for instance those that are at pal Monroe are you know mostly um coming from the downtown area um so we'd have to look at class size and those types of things just to kind of get a comparison so I think I I can work with Miss Anderson to get that information of you know how many students are coming from what area so we can see what their closer to home schools might be and then we'll have a better idea okay got so Dr Waker
201so with this the going back to what you were saying would there be two two schools for prek huderson and possibly you said we could combin like everyone at TC Miller well I had I had two know of two children that went to prek one at Hutcherson and one at a school that had two or three classes and the experience was totally different because Hutcherson only has prek they had a richer and more rewarding experience versus being separated out not saying separated out but being at a school that didn't have as many pre and even Hutcherson had a huge celebration graduation and the other school didn't and they knew each other so they compared and so I I'm really for that concentration of the prek and that would give us how many seats does Hedon
202have it's 185 or something I think and this will give us 200 so we're looking at about yeah um currently uh there's about 150 students at Hutcherson including prek 3 and four is huton mainly for it's just is this I was reading somewhere that they had for children for Disabilities they're separate so those are the Early Childhood classes the classes that we're talking about are part of the Virginia preschool initiative to their VPI classrooms so when you know I say they have about 100 between 140 and 150 students that's just the VPI classes That's not including those Early Childhood which might be two to four year olds oh okay and and those are the students with disabilities and Dr Carter also I know other elementary schools that have three k they do graduations they do
203graduations but this one didn't um go and would that also include like would that help with that the waiting waiting list and also with the pre the three year olds what do we call that prek prek 3 will that help with the well it depends so the on the waiting list conversation if you just move the 10 classrooms you had and didn't add had more teachers it it' be about the same of what you had but you would then in the excuse me in the future you would have additional classroom space to expand that if you wanted to if you wanted to do more that would be fine so um I think you know it's it might be a phase at work potentially so but if we use CC the building we have to pay
204for to keeping that open utilities uh and then you would need you would need support staff so yeah um so a couple comments I just wanted to Echo what Dr Carter said um we recently toured Hutcherson after one of our agenda planning meetings and my impression was that at Hutcherson because it's a exclusively prek facility they could have the staff there that's especially trained to deal with the children that maybe need more intensive um supervision training interaction with adults um they can have a a dedicated staff to that at Hutcherson but when it's a couple classrooms here a couple classrooms there it's hard to have that kind of well-trained dedicated staff at each of those sides so that's I'm supporting your argument that one uh a a dedicated facility is better than a scattered facility
205but the other side of that is as you just pointed out if we're keeping a building open for prek that other wise we would not keep open then we're forfeiting the operational savings that we would have by closing that building so there's there's always a financial side to it and the third thing I was going to say is expanding our prek offerings you know we've heard pretty universally from all the community comments we've had that this is something that's important to the community um on the other hand uh this would represent an an expansion of what LCS is doing we're we're taking on an additional level of responsibility for prek training most of the facilities discussion is just concerning the facilities that we need to maintain the services that we are currently offering so to
206me there it's a little bit different I I wonder if we should have a separate prek implementation plan and not mingle the facilities discussion with the prek quite is intimately that an expansion of prek is going to require more financial resources we're going to have to be asking city council to support it if we if that's what we want to do so it seems to me that it's it's a little bit different in character than the rest of our facilities plan now I'm not saying what we should do because of that remark I'm just pointing out that it is an expansion of what we're doing in LCS not just providing facilities for what we are currently doing I disagree please you won't if you want kids to read on grade level it starts with early
207childhood education well I'm not arguing against it's value I don't think it's in I don't think it PRK is an expansion of LCS I think it's just the foundation of it I think if you want kids to graduate on it starts with that so I mean the argument is it's pretty evident the data is out there that shows it so there 200 kids is on the weit list why not expand the program especially if those kids are having behavioral issues because they're staying at home with Grandma why not bringing them to school again I'm not I'm not disagreeing with that but I am disagreeing so it's not an expansion of LCS it's the foundation what we do do do the prek count numbers count towards our ADM no they don't so how do we fund
208prek we do receive um currently uh for the uh fall this year's uh 23 24 um we receive about um $1.6 million in Revenue um for these students that are in the uh Virginia the VPI program Virginia preschool Initiative Program so we do receive funding but it's not the same as ADM so it's uh does it able to break even at that funding level means no profit no loss I that I don't know I'd have to I'd have to look into what those expenditures are but we certainly could see what we what information we have I I don't think anything we do breaks even so maybe I maybe I just can explain the cost difference so um my perspective on that we can have a conversation about that but if so if you have the
209existing prek teachers and you move them into one central place right those those those positions already exist right that's not not new expenditures then you have the existing TC Miller if that's that's the place positions that will be reabsorbed into the rest of the system so those are different what we call FTE or full-time equivalent positions that would actually go away which is where you get most of your operational savings and so you get most of your operational Savings in that in that scenario unless you were to add more more classrooms so you would still have to pay you probably have to pay for what we call a principal at that site you know maybe a uh you know Administrative Assistant I guess a nurse those sorts of things so there's a few hundred thousand
210dollars worth of cost there in addition to utilities so you won't have quite as much savings but the majority of the savings still is isn't isn't isn't the perspec excuse me the part people expenditures for a full day of of prek both prek 3 and four are about $8,300 per student and how much does that grand pays for covers that or 8300 or well there's that that's what the revenue that's received but there you also have to keep in mind is that there is a local match piece to it it's not 100% but there are um so our required piece for the local match of that 1500 is um I don't know around $900,000 okay could get the prek um financials yeah I can get we can get more information and and I'll say uh
211the the that is also based on the composite index and I know that because Chris Thon just texted me and told me that so so thank you and also speaking to the part about well free cares when they're all together but you could say that for first graders second graders third graders fourth graders children Thrive if they and our city school teachers are are loving and caring people children will thrive in their schools if you just give them that opportunity to so I don't think having them all in one place is going to make a difference as far as their emotional umel you mentioned Composite Index the jrrc they looked at the new funding formula so will that impact how we look at prek or will be the same status quo well is yeah I'm
212sorry legislative committee at the state level you know they made a presentation of new funding formula this year which hopefully legislature will consider so the local Composite Index only changes once every two years so the governor's budget will be released with the same Composite index that we had in the original capital so it will not impact at least it it will not impact any funding correct looking for dollar everywhere we sure totally get it um um so maybe just summarize what we we additional information unless anybody's else anything to talk so um what would it look like to do sort of a close to home component U so that every school has a prek you can look that from a operational Financial perspective we know that there needs to be some a a more full
213prek implementation plan and maybe we won't have that fully done but we just get maybe give you an idea of how that might be done as well as the prek financials um is there anything else that you need to Paul Monroe has I think about four sections of prek about 80 students hardship from superintendent so know 80 students 80 it's 16 in a class hardship students how many do we have oh oh for babysitter hardship and superintendent placement probably I got I don't have the number off the top let's say my estimate was about 80 students so if you move prek out from there and you take that babysitter hardship just suppose for mov then what impact does it have on that school will be able to um create another domino effect and I think
214I think that would be where you're sort of and I think with the close to home zoning it's going to be a complete look at the system right so you would balance the school districts U both in terms of numbers but also in terms of demographics the best you can um and so I mean it would open up additional space um but you know it would address some issues we have you know for instance at Bedford Hills where we have our division wide law doesn't program there so that that takes space to do that so there's there's additional opportunities there so I think that I think that's part of it is that there's there's some potential I think it gives you some flexibility potentially and I can speak that because I was at Palo and
215we were in those classes and then when PRK came we had first grade had to all leave and go down the other Hall so if those classes are emptied and they come back then there's a shift and there' be more open rooms if thatand or people come or you know for close to home I know um Dr you stated that we've been able to move different not so much zones but uh students so how are we making sure we're maintaining proper guidance to to change or to re re um to look at this the zoning so when whenever we do a sort of proposal of Shifting this is what you can shift each kid's unique identifying information shifts too so I might be able to look at that from address or from gender or from
216soci socioeconomic status or where are elll kids you know so we can look at those things through that lens to make some decisions about th those proposals before you say this one is what you really want to do and we have a tool for that there is a there is a tool yeah there is a tool right any other any other information that you need okay so that we'll get to that that's that's good stuff okay those were the good ones uh so um on the next uh Austin we go two more slides we'll start with the phase one actions uh and again these are immediate actions we think need to be taken within two years we'll just give you some context and there's not necessarily a question um on this one but we just
217want to share our perspective on on how we will go about doing this if Close to Home Zone is the direction we go um so we sort of split this in between what school administration will do versus what the school board uh will need to do uh the first is that we again we've already provided the consultant with the student location data that's simply a data file that has uh the student um unique identifier uh as well as their demographic information as well as their address we know where they live so that way we can use that geographic information tool to say as we draw boundaries we understand what the demographic concentrations are in each one of the proposed schools um we'll then uh worked with MGT to develop three attendance boundary options again based
218on those implementation plans that we'll talk about in just a few minutes that are selected by the board we'll do that in in November and we will also at the same time once those sort of basic plans are done we're going to uh collaborate with Elementary principles as well as school leadership to get their perspective on the ground on on on these items um as well as of course the transportation department because there is a significant impact to them as well we'll provide that sort of initial review uh to the uh to the public as well uh that's sort of that November December time frame uh we will then publish those attendance Zone options uh as we present them to the school board and we'll uh provide the opportunity for public input that'll happen in
219January uh as well as a public hearing that will either I have February here but it be January February uh that the school board will will need to hold on those proposed attendance zones and ultimately we'd like uh we'd ask you to make a decision on those attendance boundaries uh by March of this year if that's if we go in that direction and so um so that will allow us to I think make those transitions build the new routes for for school buses um as we go along uh what you'll find in the next couple of slides is that in some cases depending on how we do this this might require a secondary rezoning what we would propose to do is to figure all of that out at one time and and say okay here's
220the first one and then a year from now this is what will happen so that we're not doing it again and doing that whole process again so that's that's what we we'll propose to do and let me just add one point to about your collaborate with Elementary principles and school leadership teams again understanding that this most likely will impact all of our schools whether it's just one little Block in this school zone we've already we've had a conversation with our elementary principles to to ask them to start thinking about um their school leadership teams and who can sort of work with us work with MGT at the building level to really take a closer look at the kids the the zoning the concerns and those types of things so um while that has not been
221formalized we at least started that conversation about you know the elementary resoning may affect almost every elementary school so while your school may not be um you know one of the schools in scenario 3 specifically mentioned there it may be in effect too so a question how what is how long like what are the um how long does it take to do resoning like what are the steps does it take you a month to do it does it take you yeah I think the so the formal GE you know Geographic analysis is is not a terribly complicated process um so there's a computer program that that will spit out suggestions and then and then we will refine them as they as as appropriate um and that so it it'll take some time but it's it's
222it's not like we're you know it's not like the old days where you're probably using where you draw this line and cut off of this street so so fortunately the the power of of GIS is amazing yes okay so and that just speaks to like what AI can do they can do quickly but we have to have a human look at that too right so it's not just an AI generated it really has to have a little oversight and that's the importance of collaborating first with I think the school leaders and the school building leaders and then and then hearing again really important to hear from the public on what impacts that those will have okay so I didn't I didn't ask this question but if there's any other further information that you need on
223on this we we'd love to know what that is um could they send you emails if something pops up in somebody's mind oh absolutely absolutely absolutely okay so if not we'll go to the next one and this is this number four is really the big question um that will'll take some time and again we'll uh we don't need to vote tonight um there's a couple of points that we just want to bring out and just this really relates to timing of where all this this sort of occurs and and I you know I don't know where everyone's mind was on everything but we just want to point out that there's a couple of different ways that you could do it there's impacts um sort of pros and cons to each one uh and we just
224want to talk through what that might be again these are just simply four that we see as potential options and so what we're going to ask you is um what implementation plan does the board uh support and and sort of when do we do all the things that we want to we want to do so the first potential option is you would close sanduski and convert or close TC Miller uh immediately next year uh the second would be that you would in the second and third one are really uh similar but one would be um closing sanduski first the other would be closing TC Miller first and then doing the other the the following year there's some pros and cons to that and the the fourth is closing can converting TC Miller and closing sand
225uh not this coming year but the next year again pros and cons on that and so we'll ask you what information I'm going to go through some some of those pros and cons over the next several slides but I just ask you to be thinking about what additional information you might need uh what perspectives you might have um as we go forward we just want to make sure that all those details are on the table all our perspectives are on the table um as well so awesome if you go to the next slide um okay so the first one is uh sort of uh the option one and I I I will point out also in your board doc there are more of these financial analysis sheets that show you a little bit more information
226on that they are uh colorcoded uh so you can you can see them um and they they refer and we'll get to that in just a minute but they refer to where we're going um as well uh so the first is that we would close and convert TC Miller and close sanduski in Fall of 20 24 uh again those that would again happen for next school year that close to home zoning is completed without those two schools in the system I just want to point out that it's not likely that bass would be the expansion would be complete if it occurs for the 2024 2025 school year so as a result of that because it would not likely be ready for the next school year there would be sort of a secondary necessary rezoning so
227the initial rezoning that would occur as a result of those closures in Fall of 2024 as as well as the close to home zoning um and then the sort of later rezoning to rebalance with the bass expansion that's necessary couple of pros and cons to that the pros we think uh that there's sort of this immediate cost savings that we've talked about uh there's sort of minimal waiting time in con closed or converted schools so you've heard folks talk about you know sort of what's next uh if there's another year um there's that is a concern um and again if we expand prek there's there's more capacity available um on the con side again there's sort of multiple disruptions to students and staff and families um and again specific disruptions to those schools that we
228particularly impact so it means you'll end up moving kids multiple times that's right um so you do twice essentially so yeah and what we've provided and and I won't read this to you on on this page on on the next slide um is just a a draft general time frame for how each one of these things occur each one of these we we've already started as I mentioned before the removal of portable classrooms from Sheffield and we'll go through and there's some Nuance to each one um but again much of this is dependent on that I I will say we we've insumed uh 12 to 15-month construction period after about a 5 month uh procurement period for bass Elementary you all will remember uh the time it took for us to get through the procurement
229for Dunbar um and so it it does take some time so just we probably would not be ready for that until probably May of this coming year or of 2024 um so just under just make sure we understand what the time frame is plus 12 to 15 months of construction that's based on some conversations we've had so I wasn't here for the procurement how long did that take it took about five months okay and there's I'm sorry what you're saying is public private partnership will expedite but not expedited to have it by Fall it'll yeah it'll exped but I don't I don't think there's any way even if you start a construction you know in January I don't know that you could have it you know by I just don't I think that's that's not
230likely so um but it will we'll expedite from a traditional design bid build process so um I think of the of the four different uh sequences here that you've talked about uh I think three of them have a two-phase resoning in them so my question for all of those is for is can we can we estimate how many students would be rezoned twice now I know that that would depend upon the rezoning decisions but if if we had a rough estimate that might make a difference if if one sequence quence involved uh 500 students that have to be rezoned twice and another one involved uh 100 that would be pretty significant I think so I don't know if that's possible to come up with information I you know off the top of my head I'm
231I'm not sure how we would do that but let me think about it and see what we can figure out see personally for me one variable is constant is the least disruption for our kids so there's absolutely no compromise on that so if any of these your scenarios is putting multiple disruptions in their life personally to me that's not acceptable go ahead and I'm right there with you we um just I think one person stage a day we've just come off from the pandemic students are just coming back and settling in and like I said I was in this the same thing and you do not want to continue some people may be fine I'm a little rigid I don't I didn't like being pushed from one school to the next so the less disruption
232we can have for students and staff the best well in addition to just changing schools the students that are at TC Miller that kind of have almost a different philosophy if you will about education that's going to be even a greater transition for them than it is going to be for sandeski elementary students you know they've been in a school of innovation where are they going to be how are they going to still be able to pursue the areas of Interest that they have all of that I think that's something that really has to be Dr Edward will the school for Innovation transplant yeah that's something that we would have to prioritize and again that has a applicant status and a well currently an applicant and his own status an applicant status so that would
233have to factor into some of these Dr G so I think also adding to that first list is my mind I just lost it what you say the r um for Innovation then that needs to be added there and also bass is year round a lot of people don't want that so I think th those two factors have to be included so maybe I could just offer a different way to say it is that we need to include in Phase One a um the adoption and development of a programmatic vision division one is that fair Dr ad you're running a dual track at Bass right now it all can we write that um transition program is on this this phase one or the first not ideal but they're making um so the so the next
234potential option and again number two and number three are sort of similar just opposites uh where we would close one school next year uh the following school would would would be the next year again uh this would each of those would require two rezoning phases they are nuanced for the reasons that you mentioned about the Innovation school as well uh so this first one is related to closing sanduski um that is more movement of students there's that's a bigger School uh in that item um so again Pros on that are it's this is a sort of a slightly more intentional process where we're making sure that we're slowly uh doing this there is some cost savings again uh it is disruptive to staff and and again specific disruption to those student students and you'll see
235a timeline and really the only difference between the two timelines for the second and third one are which school closes when and you can you can see that now you say disruptive but doesn't this won't this will be at the beginning of the school year like after summer break uh so it's not in the middle of their year it's just when school starts the next fall and I would suggest we'd probably do that for any of the scenarios yes okay so it really isn't disruptive so much as it's just a change it it is a change Y is a CH and you're close to home reone will be done prior to closure right because my assessment was about 50% from Heritage are not Zone they come from downtown and at sendeski correct me if I'm
236wrong 25% come from downtown uh 25% from Timberlake further down yeah I don't know the number of time so what I'm saying is when you do the close to home reone the district may look uh different sure absolutely and and I don't know if we said this but um despite which plan we choose we want to be able to say what the in plan is so even if you do choose one that has a you go here first what we don't want to do to the community is say and wait and see we'll figure out where you're going next so it would be presenting that to families that says your in zone your in plan might be here with a temporary stop than here here okay good I am just still having trouble with this
237close to home we're saying that the concentration of schools are in War II and I've heard um descriptions or descriptives as um mostly africanamerican well I didn't hear that but and also lower social e economic or advantaged so how are we going to make sure that we maintain diversity in those schools so it's a it is a is a tremendously important part of our our perspective and our conversation so I mean technically what you do is you you draw those zones and you do your very best to balance them to the best extent you can um and that ultimately just will provide that information to the school board and and where that is now there's lots of different uh components to diversity U and there's that means a lot of different things to a lot
238of different people and so we want to make sure we provide as many different uh opportunities and information pieces of information as we can to you so that you can assess that um and again what the idea is that the the mapping will help us figure out what the impact of those different decisions may be so if a if a Zone looks you know like this it might have this percentage of white or black students and if it looks like that it might look very different and so you'll have that information up front and know really have the information to know what what decision you're making and I think we focus on black and white but there is more Hispanic and Asian and and I don't I don't mean no no I'm saying it's just
239not always just black and white I hope no one got that but I didn't mean just that there I know there's a lot of diversity but my question is so then so we look at the schools that so it will appear that the some of the schools I know there is the one that that's the furthest is that um beff Hills and then we have Heritage Elementary those two are the furthest out so I can see those the concentrations this is just it's a little scary when we look in the close oh this what I was going to say is okay sleep is great what I was going to say is that when you do close to home someone is not going to be close to home to keep this as close to home or
240close yes closer closer right but what's closer so it's it's probably not like a so it's not you know going to be totally so we can't and there will be there will be no perfect solution um but I think just given the goals of of ensuring that we're maintaining diverse and inclusive schools and reducing our our our transportation impacts and I think certainly it's a cost thing but also it's a reliability and ability to actually fulfill the mission and transportation it's just it's the system right now is just tremendously complex and that's why I think we have some of the challenges that we do so it's it's multifaceted and I and I but but your point is well taken it it's not you know it's not something that we do fluently and if I can
241speak to Dr Carter what she was saying we've had parents I know that've complained why is my child on the bus 40 minutes you know they're complaining that their child's on the bus too long so I think this is trying to alleviate that issue so um on number three the the difference again is is which one you would close your convert first in this case the other difference would be that you would have the potential uh to do the prek change if you wanted to do that uh next year as opposed to the year after that um again that's that's something that you can consider um same pros and cons um as well um and then the last one this is a uh an option to close or convert TC Miller uh and close sanduski
242in Fall of 2025 that gives you a year out um that would delay rezoning until 2025 2026 uh bass expansion hopefully would be uh hopefully would be complete we'll be very close to being complete uh that would allow us then to Dr D's Point earlier remove the Portables uh at that point you keep them in place to hold that um uh close home zoning would be completed without those with capacity added uh and then again would only require one rezoning process uh and one disrupt well disruption might be the right word but it's one change for folks uh for the pros um again least leas disruption to students and staff again the whole city is being rezoned at one time I think we could probably argue about whether that's a pro or con but it
243is a it is a reality um and if we're converting for prek that would certainly add that capacity for the future um there would not be cost savings that you we've discussed in the first year uh and then that on on a con side for both of those uh is that that final year here in that that close sort of soon to be closed schools I think would be pretty challenging I think you've heard that tonight so I don't think that you know we shouldn't take that lightly um so I think the principles would be um just would ask that you consider you know them leading those schools uh during that sort of additional final year um and again um there are there's a there's an example um as we go uh to the next
244slide uh of the potential summary of actions there um and again the question will be which of these scenarios does the board want to consider we can we can evaluate a couple of them um and then what uh additional information do you need in order to make that decision again not asking you to make a decision tonight uh but we do just want to hear from you about what information you might need as well as what uh and as we move forward what scenarios would you want to consider moving forward again you don't have to tell us thison I but okay I have a question sure that why would you delay zoning until 25 26 couldn't you do it next year and then have it in place and ready oh I changed that I'm sorry
245that should be done that should be done uh this coming this coming year that should be oh okay I was like why I thought i' changed it okay yeah no problem dang all right and you know I was thinking of that one con final year to soon be closed then this gives them everybody two years to be prepared and that's a good amount of time y so so in the last scenario what I'm hearing from you the resoning will be done in 24 25 years well I would I would do the well I no I would say I would do the you wouldn't I'm sorry I may have misunderstood what you said so I would do the analysis now so we know where that is but then I wouldn't actually make the physical changes until
246the next year because that way you only have to do one resoning um I'm sorry if I miss to do that analysis when you said this it's software driven could you bring a status report to this board sometime in Spring oh yes so our our goal would be to bring something options for to consider in January Jan how if you do the resoning analysis and it's ready in January and you implement it in this coming season 2425 how would they be moving twice well so if if in in this fourth scenario you would not you would wait to close those two schools in 2526 and so you would have to I got you I got thank you yep I didn't click sure that's so any other information that you would need um for that information
247I didn't I don't think I picked up anything that and we said if if you get questions would you put them uh later on on the board do so public can see what the questions were asked absolutely uh so that way you know it's a public information go okay so we'll move on to the next uh this is this sort of moves into the future phases these are these actions to be completed within 7 to 10 years um so again those scenario three included um from a very basic statement full renovations to linor Elementary Paul Monroe perrymont and rs pain uh future expansions to linor Elementary Bedford Hills in perrymont and actually this is where this is where these um color codes come in uh in these this financial analysis um so in on the
248next slide um in scenario 3 it wasn't entirely clear to to at least us uh from the board meeting on the 19th whether the board intended to include those Renovations uh as identified full Renovations you know the the sort of to the studs Renovations um or if we should limit those to again those safety and maintenance improvements that we identified again the difference being much less expensive to do those safety and maintenance items but it's not you know nearly as as as as much of an improvement um it also wasn't entirely clear with the approving of uh approval of a bass expansion if the board intended to continue to support future expansions at permont linor Bedford Hills again as I mentioned before I think it would make sense to probably have them in the plan
249but maybe not um do them right away um as I mentioned on that slide there again this would allow us to sort of protect these spaces that we've identified later and just so that we don't build a a baseball field where we think we should build a future future building right and that's that's really the intent of that um so we've in on slide 26 we've provided um a quadrant approach these are are are colors there align uh on the screen with the colors on your sheets uh so you because it's it's just a lot of data it's a lot of information so use that information to evaluate what uh each one of these potential options May cost and what you may allow for and so again uh with question five is given the bass
250expansion and how that was approved along with scenario three uh which capital Improvement approach does the board support and again uh what additional information do you need to make this decision so the financial information gives us the cost difference between the full Renovations and the safety and maintenance renovations but I I think we should see some details about what those specific projects are at at any one of these schools what what is the additional project that would be included under a uh sort of the full expansion versus the safety and maintenance okay so based on your numbers the full renovation is about 125 million which which color are you in I'm looking at Green U green um it's about it's a yeah in 2023 cost those just those Renovations well those that that includes the
251expansions so just the renovations are included in uh the orange item that has full Renovations no expansions and that's 100 101 million 106 million sorry dollar so you can study these certainly don't expect you to uh digest those right the second as always you can certainly reach out and and ask any questions you may have yes sir but these numbers have high school and middle schools and elementary schools the whole nine yard the whole division yes right so uh the scenarios were restricted only to elementary schools right so but I think from the perspective and I think we heard this from the community as well is just to make sure that we're also thinking about the the the facility needs at those those high school and middle schools as well and we just want to
252make sure those are on your mind as well just to understand what um what costs are coming I mean they there are there are real costs and and you if you look at the uh if you just add up the the secondary costs there's some pretty significant costs associated with those of course glass glass is a big building Heritage uh by by the end of this planning period we're sort of looking at 2035 by that point it 20 years old so you there will be some things that need to be done um at that point because 103 million looks pretty um High large number but you look at only Elementary it's an average of 3 million for safety maintenance that's I think that's fair a fair number you know what I'm saying yeah so and
253like it's only about $30 million if you take if you take all those out if you take the secondaries out so then and that's an approach right I mean I mean you you all have to kind of help us figure out what the political approach is uh and where where you want to uh make that ask um we just want to make sure that it's clear the bigger picture of all the schools and what the cost could potentially be and certainly if we want to start with elementary schools I mean that elementary schools has been where the least investment has been frankly um certainly has been a new high school Heritage renovation a number of years ago glass um and also the other other middle schools but it is it is a good thing to
254be talking about middle elementary schools just purely from a lay man's perspective if I embark on a $103 million uh expansion and maintenance project and I could rather build sendeski for 62 million and have a brand new Elementary School you see what I'm saying just purely from a sure limit perspective but you do that with one school right and so I think you know there's there's there are tremendous needs throughout the division uh and and that's I think that's the point so what it would I'm sorry would easier just to see the elementary though portion we we can I can give you that yeah absolutely and I think because these documents are public and we have multiple audiences multiple eyes multiple lenses looking at them um to be fully transparent we want our public to
255understand that as we look at the future of elementary schools we're doing it in context with also looking at all of our buildings because what we don't want to do is is look at elementary only and then in 15 years someone looked back and say well why weren't you considering the middle schools you knew they were going to get here and they were going to need maintenance too and in a sense you know some of that has been um some of the conversation around sanduski right why wasn't the maintenance done when the maintenance was scheduled to be done so we're we're just trying to really do due diligence to make sure everybody in the community has their information that sort of says it it gets into our thinking what are they thinking about are they
256really looking at Big Picture long term and I think that's part of what the community needs to see us vet and do and we can again look at the big picture pull it apart look at the elementary picture separate it any way that you guys want and and I would just say I think that the The Hope in this whole process is that it provides hopefully it's me the next you know number of years doing this right but if you kick me out somebody else comes uh and can see sort of a plan for how we're going to make various changes over the next decade uh to to 15 years uh because we're in a position right now we don't we just don't have that that analysis just for whatever reason we don't have it
257right and so we need we need to know where those where we're going and so I think certainly thinking about the money and getting the right strategy is tremendously important we just I think the more important part is really just developing that road map so that future iterations of the board and and School Administration staff can at least have something to go by not that they have to necessarily do what we say but there's something that's an option there the work and this is not a city council but you know if we look at the debt ratio do we have the um space there to borrow more money right and so that's that's certainly not our decision but I think to M Mr jil's Point earlier about you know there are options that the state
258uh does provide you know certainly the the 1% sales tax uh option is is something that is very valuable and has been tremendously successful uh and in communities like uh Danville and Pennsylvania county that you know we may not have thought would would pass and and it did and ultimately and they are making tremendous improvements to uh their schools as a result of that that would generate uh a lot of Revenue uh to provide those those Capital Improvements and so that certainly you know would be it's just a political conversation to have um but that would be a way to do it um and I think would be a good one up to 1% you you don't have to do all up 1% thank you okay so just just the additional information I'm just we'll
259just provide the elementary portion just so you have that information okay all right in the next couple slides um I just want to just kind of brief you on these uh these are not decisions you necessarily have to make unless you disagree that we shouldn't uh we should be asking for these expansions but our perspective I think right now is that we should just identify them in the master plan of where future expansions might occur um um and uh I think we already talked about slide 28 um that's just about expansion of bass um what what capacity could have again what the the the cost process will be and if you go to the next slide here's where we're sort of envisioning where that might go so we're on the back side of the school
260um and of course bass has the benefit of a full gym an auditorium um we have there is some space there and and fortunately the building is multi-story with an elevator already so so the footprint is much smaller so it actually provides a little bit um actually better construction opportunity for us um The Challenge on this site parking and traffic flow is a challenge uh it's pretty poorly designed at this point um we need to address that as well in sort of upcoming uh potential opportunities as we um as if if that expansion does occur um where's the new playground is that up in the upper right are are there okay thank you which is convenient because and and it may be we'll see what we end up I I was a little nervous about
261that that they were going to put it exactly where we needed to put in the classrooms so I hope I hope that doesn't well so I think there's some options there so we we talk about building classrooms and that certainly could be the case but it it may be that in the expansion maybe that's where the the cafeteria comes and then we turn the cafeteria into classrooms it could be different I don't know that's what we'll do that's an option and then you would be next to the play ground as you go out to resour so so I think there's some potentially good options as we as as we do it and I was thinking for the park I mean for the the people come pick up their kids because of palro have no so
262you know they just call them up and they line them up at in the room and they call them when their car is here absolutely so that's one way to get around having to build a biger you know and I think in the Dominion 7 study there was some mention of possibly needing another access route v um I guess that would involve the city because that would be Road planning and stuff like that right away issues and things so the access point would be if you sort of go out the top upper left corner um but there's a pretty significant Ravine it would be a bridge and and so would be we're talking about a lot of money I think it's doable physically but you know it's just PR the city yeah Dr Dr War
263any you say expansion so it means we'll have two trains one will be the CIP the other will be the expansion or they'll merge I think all of it's got to merge so all the CIP future projects will be under so what what we'll do is hopefully we'll we'll come to some conclusions on the 24th I'll get to this in just a second um but our CIP submission is due on the 27th so uh we need to have this information we're going to preset a lot of that stuff so it's ready to go um but that'll all be included whatever whatever decisions you may make so the previous CIP items will stay there or will they change we we will include so the trouble is that we included a number of items that did not
264get funded such as the gym Heritage right uh but there's things like Athletics uh facilities like the the track at glass and and Heritage too but certainly the track at glass uh is is in pretty dire condition that the turf fields and other things that are out there so we're going to include those um and hopefully they get through and we'll start to include all this bigger picture items as well but I don't I to your point I don't want to lose sight of the items that are not maybe in the in the physical space of the building but are important parts of where we need to go Dr car aren't some of these items already identified on the CIP they are yes ma'am yes ma'am so we they've just been pushed down and well
265what happened and and I we understand why this happened but um we we submitted a lot of things last year um that pretty much got eliminated with the decisions that were made related to the funding availability right and so we're going to put them back on and and we'll see where we go so going back to Heritage Elementary gymnasium they said they're putting it on hold the school closure decision is made so it means it'll back on the uh CIP now we're going to we're going to put it on we'll see what happens absolutely also if you go to the next slide uh this is just an idea of where a future expansion at linkor elementary might occur uh we would probably replace the Pod that is the original sort of 60s or 70s pod
266um that um has some good attributes but but again it's just not really suited for today there isn't also an opportunity there's not a full gym at at Linkhorn so I think in this space you again we provide an opportunity for 30,000 square feet here that would include a gym um as well so uh we do be thinking about those things again that'll be a future future opportunity that we just identify um expansion at perrymont this one's a little bit more difficult uh just because of the topography of the site uh but we would probably like likely put it over on the existing black top and then rearrange the traffic as well as the that would be there so good thing about that is you would provide better access to the gym um that might
267might be able to get that without cting to go outside um and then um again this is about 15,000 sare feet on one story gu the walkway to the gym right now you know we were there the other day in Winter these kids have to walk outside into the gymnasium so a controlled environment walkway from building to the gymnasia absolutely that be very valuable and if nothing else in the next you know in the more immediate term maybe we do a uh a canopy um that like we have at Bedford Hills that would be I think pretty valuable we just don't have that so would that building be connected to the other to the gym so we probably do some kind of Breezeway may not be directly connected but it be some kind of Breeze
268sort of sort of similar to and if you go to the next slide on edford Hills it would be sort of similar there as well and again this is just more space this would provide 20,000 square feet all right so the last um the last slide we we've talked about a lot of things I really appreciate the conversation the feedback is really good they you've given us a lot of work to to to gather information um but there are lots of other things that we need we will be working on to discuss you heard them from from folks in the community tonight as well um first is related to talent management again uh our our staff and the most important thing we do is put incredible people with our students every single day um some
269of these staff reassignment and procedures that will be dependent on some of the decisions that we do need you to make um but that uh I think will certainly need to need to occur um and then we also have our programmatic vision uh we talked about just a few minutes ago uh again there's prek to2 services that are that are offered and in in where the different programs and what impacts and how they might evolve over time programs like the goost center programs like the Innovation schools how those things certainly uh the elements of them are provided how those are visioned for how they might evolve into the future I think will be tremendously important for us to talk about as a school board uh and as a School Division for the next coming years
270um and I think that'll be important to include into our master plan so uh that's the information that I have to give uh hope certainly would take any questions you might might have so the SFI will be designated as part of this so TC Miller closes which will be the new building taking that school for Innovation I'm sorry say that one more time so the TC Miller building is closed let's say year or two years from now there'll be a building designated as school for Innovation yeah we're going to try to continue our SFI programs and we're we're also adding new programs like we all have the lab school at Linkhorn um but this gives us an opportunity to look at our bigger picture programmatic and how our elementary schools feed into our middle schools
271and what do our middle schools do for our high schools and you've seen sort of the back end of the middle school high school plan um but even with our schools of innovation how do we address Innovation most of their Charters were done in 1994 um and there's some great things that they are doing that we absolutely should continue but and how do we enhance that and I think uh Dr W alluded a little bit when we talked about business and communic ation and there's elements of those things that we can add to our programs to make them um enhance them and the other thing is just looking at gifted education which was another one of the things that we had talked about and how um do we expand those offerings um for children in
272our division so that part and and we purposely put it on this slide because we didn't want anyone watching or listening particularly our staff and fames going you're talking about buildings buildings buildings but you're not talking about people people people and and I think it was said here tonight that people combined with the programs make for the experience in obviously if we have excellent buildings that aren't cold and leaky um that's great so we just want you all to know there's a lot more for us to talk about and share with you share with the community and we we put a placeholder for they coming soon more not 15minute conversations but conversations worth um board meeting time as well as when we talk about talent management that takes us out to the schools and working
273with schools and principes and teachers and staff to really talk about um what it is that we're trying to provide for our our kids and and what are our staff interests and how do we make this work thank you Dr W we move to the new item new business item K1 all Virginia Miss okay yep uh uh in the middle of all this we've got a new um plan for the coming from the um Governor all in Virginia which is um a high-intensity tutoring plan uh and we just wanted to share with you tonight where LCS is uh and they have been quite busy over the last two weeks uh Mrs Cruz is here along with Miss Pew um Mrs Cruz is our director of instruction and program uh and she has been leading the
274Allin uh Lynchberg City Schools the aim initiative and she's going to share that with us tonight good evening I I know um know we've sat through a lot of information tonight but this is extremely important for our students and I know um just to give a little background there was the initiative that came down from the governor and then has been pushed um by Department of Education and this is again across all of Virginia and the goal was to Target our third through eighth grade students um with a plan that would would help them receive high intensity tutoring um and help them accelerate and Co and close some of those achievement gaps so I'm just going to walk you through the overview our team has been incredible they've been meeting um hours and hours and
275hours and we've been getting to schools um to make sure that we get the input and make sure that that's a very individualized approach for our students in those specific school buildings so what we'll go through the following presentation again collection of resources that focuses on that student development and prioritizing skills to accelerate at risk students to their grade level that's very important for us and uh and what that what that would require so I won't read through through the entire overview you all have access to this but again um the Virginia high-intensity academic tutoring um is a research-based approach and we are targeting and pulling from effective models of high-intensity tutoring we have taken that Playbook that has been pushed down from booe we have scanned it we have scanned it and we've scanned
276it again and we wanted to make sure that we modeled something that was very inclusive and direct to Lynchburg City schools and we very much appreciate those recommendations that have come down from the state we have been collaborating with other members um and other districts across the region to ensure that uh we are taking as much feedback as possible when we are building the plan for ourselves but again making that very individualized for us so what are some of the requirements in the division flexibilities again it's grades three through eight that are being targeted um for this at risk or non-proficient group of students and there are two categories and again a lot of this is defined on the videoe website and a lot of the information that has gone out to schools and we'll
277go out to parents shortly we'll provide more information on that about the selection of the students and what the requirements were to be in that at risk or non-proficient category and what type of tutoring that they would receive uh the dosage is varying and we again are making uh making sure that we are working with our staff not only our principles our assistant principles our coaches and our and our Educators in the building but we are really reaching out and seeing what's going to be the most powerful the most impactful to move the needle for our students the duration time uh again I mentioned the atrisk and the non- proficiency the duration time for atrisk students would start at that 18 weeks and where we intend to start our plan at would be that we
278would wrap just short of spring break uh to make sure that we can go back in and provide some some additional tutoring um resources before any standardized testing would occur in the spring season our ratio again we're adhering to the recommendations of the Virginia Department of Education that's on to that Playbook and our recommendations would be that 1 to 10 ratio and we want to stick as closely to that as possible as we're working along with our students we understand and realize the impact of small group instruction and that direct instruction we we also uh recognize the impact of monitoring data and the attendance component within this as well tutors we will be working with our staff within the buildings um whether that be our instructional assistants our coaches um we we consider this to
279be an all Hands-On deck so that we can again close those achievement gaps for our students and accelerate our students um to the level that we know that they're capable of achieving so we want to make sure that we are working with our staff to provide that training and we will uh start to reach out to the community to see if we have interest within tutors and if you all are looking at the VOE site there is an area on there for folks to sign up for to for that tutoring component and those lists would then be cycled down to our school um and we would go through the process of looking at uh who signed up for that providing them training on that high impact tutoring model and working with them uh individ ually
280to ensure that they are prepared to go in and work with our students uh materials and Data Tracking the personalized sessions should be grounded in grade level instruction we understand and recognize the importance of providing grade level instruction uh and grade level instructional materials to our students to help them rise uh to meet what we know that they are capable of so again we're focused when we go in for this tutoring component we are strictly focused on providing that grade level material so that we can help our students accelerate and Achieve um what we know that they're capable of attendance has to be submitted monthly we will take daily attendance as we are uh participating in the tutoring component but we will submit that monthly data um to uh the state as the requirement each
281month we will also practice that data that data monitoring component and our wonderful wonderful cni team um has taken the opportunity to build a dashboard where we'll will be able to house all all of that material that is again very specific to the school the data monitoring any schedule changes any resources that we may have and utilize suggestions updates and the communication logs for them so what's our timeline look like um all of this rolled out to us in September and we have been working very very hard since then um October 16th is the date that our division plan is due we have uh we have that up ready to go for a preview again we are working with our schools and um we're going through that process even throughout this week we met with
282our elementary principles again and met with our Middle School principles our cni team works every day on some part of this to make sure that it again is very inclusive and very uh very in impactful and intense uh intensive for our students so they're doing the work for that while understanding the need for for that individualized approach per school and what that may look like so we've worked through September on those uh on that communication and the planning phases October we've gone through the administrative meetings we're continuing to have those uh reviewing data we have uh built a dashboard again for that review of data to see who falls in what category um and help those uh help the administrators start to um desegregate that data as well um again plans will be ready T
283tutoring opportunities and training opportunities are coming up through professional learning um on October 20th uh November will be in full implementation of a plan we'll continue to monitor review data plans we will have liaison that will work with the buildings um individually to ensure that we are meeting the needs um and continuing to monitor progress and adjusting those plans accordingly um as needed December through April will complete will St will start in complete our plan through that 18 weeks where we will then monitor go right into spring testing and review that data as well what are some of our resources we currently use Exel um as a data plat or excuse me as a platform um where we can collect data that is a reading and math component exact path is a newer platform for
284us through the adum um platform and we will receive additional training on that and that focuses I think it's important to note that it focuses not only on reading and math but that literacy component when we're talking about the Virginia literacy act and how that aligns to the plan itself um and then vooe resources they were gracious enough to offer us two platforms um two free platforms and those platforms were announced last week which is ignite for reading and zern for Math and we will receive we will receive additional information and we will provide training to our staff and our tutors on that as well yes sir I don't know if you want questions now or if you want I will take them whenever you so the the several different um uh digital platforms that
285are listed here do they overlap to some extent in what they provide um so how do we handle that I Exel and exact path actually do not overlap those are our two platforms that we're using I I can't give you specifics on um ignite and zern until they send us some additional information but I will be happy to provide updates to the board I'm just trying to not have too many different platforms all trying to do the same thing sir that's confusing both for everybody absolutely it is um I EXL is something that we've been utilizing for a while for that data monitoring exact path would be more specific to this um high impact tutoring session and um exact path has the element of focusing on not only the content but grade level specific material
286differentiation and it also focuses on on skill and standard level are are standards for Virginia um to ensure that we are aligned um when providing that grade level instruction so action items and next steps we when we were building this working on the all-in plan that is um I'm happy to say is as ready to go for preview um we'll be working through that we do have a principal meeting this week where we'll be speaking to the principles and getting some input as far as that goes some informational texts that we have with would be those division dashboards um and providing those links to our staff uh for easy access in one collected item that they can move through um and be able to house everything again because we don't want things all over the
287place or to make this any more difficult on folks um we we certainly want to see this as a positive and we want to help our students move the needle to achieve some of these components that were discussed earlier in the board meeting of getting to those Avenues of the CTE Pathways and Beyond uh for our students so that they can truly enjoy the the academic um experience here at Lynchberg City Schools thank you questions Dr G is this initiative funded okay great yes ma'am it is I yes and it comes with groups of so a tutor would have up to a maximum of 10 students that they will at one time or well that'll be dependent uh too but the maximum we would hit with 10 would be 10 the more individuals we can
288get in front of our students it's our goal to reduce those small groups um even lower than that and so how are they identified the students the students are identified um what the recommendation was was from the S so scores um for fourth through 8th grade so a non-proficient student would fall between the ranges of 0 and 399 and an at risk student would be considered to be at 400 up to a 448 in some categories our third grade students are measured from the Virginia growth assessment that they have taken this fall those scores started to come in um October 6th and then there was a scaled uh scaled score that we would look at to evaluate what would be non-proficient and what would be at risk on that as well okay thanks yes ma'am
289those were determine at state level yes ma'am and I know one of the policies were saying that if you were a tutor you can only be paid through LCS and not through another source is that was that thought red or is that a different tutoring yeah we do have a tutoring policy that we probably do need to revisit because I think I I recall what you're what you're talking about is on list yeah the policy is saying that if um teachers can only be paid by LCS if they're tutoring a student who's in their class so if I have a student in my class roster um to to tutor them I'd have to be paid the LCS I couldn't be paid by their parent or you know some other outside Source but if they're not
290on my class list then I can tutor and and be paid by the parent or whatever that is but that's not this tutoring program that is not I me that is not do you need an action on this item tonight uh we it's really not clear so we aired on the side of just in case somebody goes back and says did your board did you give your board a report to a approve your plan we put it on here as an so are you looking for a board approval yes I am sir is there a willingness to make it an action item tonight yes it says second by m Preston Dr car any discussion on questions Madam clerk would you please call the Mr jilo yes Mr Andrews yes Dr day yes Dr gupter yes
291Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes M Lori yes much encourage do know a to zero did we just make it an action item it is an action item so we just voted on it yeah okay that's fine that's what I thought I was doing yes okay go ahead second one thank Youk thank you all right um the next one is Adopt a classroom um and we have another art donation I'm going to let Dr W could talk about that yes ma'am thank you um so we are thrilled that Jay crew that's the clothing uh provider not our director of instruction partnering with adopt a classroom.org to provide art teachers to the city of Lynch or Lynchburg City Schools uh with $20,000 um so selected teachers up up to 50 will receive an
292equal portion uh depending on who who needs it um and those those uh if approved those funds are distributed uh the week of October 16th so uh we by policy bring these uh larger donations to you for your information so is this the whole company or just out enforced that's a good question I think it's the like J crew corporate I think oh okay thanks so move Mr makes a motion there a second second any discussion on it call the RO CL Mr julo yes Dr day yes Dr gupter yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Mr depal yes Mr Lori yes motion carries item three an will required public notification yep so every year we are required to notify the public payment um in our community of of these this exhausted list of things
293here um we typically do it in October and most of the information can be found on our website um our LCS budget information for the current year is not up to date because we're still waiting for obviously the C tool and the to finalize that budget but um the links are up to date Just for information that any parent or Community member um Wanted about our School Division you this is not nope I just need to have this as a public notice um and have it available to everyone so item number four item number four is the requests to move the um November 7th school board meeting I believe to November 14th uh it's election day and schools are closed during uh November 7th I'm move approval second Dr D Miss Lowry any discussion Dr
294D that's the day right before the vssb yes yes day before if we have one of these long nights so I hope when you all are preparing the agenda you'll keep that in mind because I could beat you blame it on Dr Edwards out in 15 minutes [Laughter] mam CL would you call the RO Mr jilo yes Mr Andrews yes Dr day yes Dr gupter yes Dr Carter yes Mrs Preston yes Dr Mr depar doctor please yes sir Miss Lori yes motion carries 8 to zero thank you terms of school board member reports in in interest of time what I will say is if you have one um please feel free to chime in you know School Board member of course yes so do you have one yes we have two in fact all right
295go ahead um facilities and finance committee met on October 3rd uh we reev viwed briefly the budget calendar that was presented to the full board on September 19th um there's not really anything for the facilities and finance committee to do until that process reaches the board the initial stages as Dr woda mentioned earlier involved starting at the school level and working up from there um we considered also the information about athletic coach stiens that was presented to the board uh previously on September 19th and uh the administration is considering the stipend levels for all the different Personnel categories that have special stiens attached to them and uh possible ways that our stipend levels might be compared to those of neighboring districts to help us determine what levels are appropriate we also brought up the ongoing
296concern that Regional facilities are not carrying their fair share of health insurance claims paid out in excessive premiums received uh but it is a rather complicated issue uh for instance depending upon the details of contracts with individual units um so um our previous uh CFO had begun looking at that um and uh before we can make much progress I think we're waiting for a new permanent CFO to be in place to help us sort out the details of that so it's that issue is not forgotten it's just uh we need the qualified person in place to make progress on it and uh we did I guess it's not so critical but we did set future meeting dates for that committee we had formerly been planning meetings one at the time but we've now got them
297scheduled through the rest of the uh term of this board thank you got this Healthcare we were contributing about $384,000 as of last year so that'll be a significant saving thank you anybody else from any committee reports um I've got for Governor's School they're not having their next meeting till December 6 But for recent events since September this update is September 14th the anatomy and physiology classes had a guest speaker Dr Richard Newton a radiologist and parent of a CV GS graduate graduate September 16th cbgs was open for an optional Saturday session from 9:00 a.m. till noon um September 19th the anatomy and physiology classes had a guest speaker Elizabeth poopes uh local nurse practitioner um the board met the foundational board met um at a cbgs at noon on the 20th and um September
29822nd Mrs uh chont uh drove the Juniors who were conducting research with fruit flies to the University of Virginia to meet with Dr hir and expert with um this model um organism um upcoming events um October 17th the cbgs school Advisory Board will meet at cbgs at noon and the 21st they will open will be open for an optional Saturday session from 9: till noon and the 26 will be the first parent teacher conference night that'll be held from 5: to 7: and also November four 5 1st um from 5 to 7 thank you other reports Dr Carter the STEM Academy met September the 12th and the report is there are 29 seniors 32 Juniors and other 32 Juniors nine are from LCS the senior orientation was August the 9th 9th one day before school
299and the junior orientation was August the 10th they're hosting or having mock interviews for students that will be Friday no November the 17th scholarships if anyone wants to support a student EST stem contact Susan cash and she's also looking to expand the number of Juniors to five more students and also looking at pursuing per pupil funding and ADV ating for that at the state level want she wants to grow the number of students to 65 and they've had some unexpected expenses or and unanticipated expenses one is a filter is needed for laser um device and also the academy Insurance increase and the next meeting is November the 14th at 11 o' thank you other reports Dr so um the ad hoc discipline policy Review Committee met up on September 28th um along with the student
300services staff we worked on a questionnaire that will go out to teachers counselors staff bus drivers um pretty much anyone we could think of that has contact with students in the schools or school activities asking their input on existing policies or perhaps new policies that relate to um handling discipline issues in the school um we're expecting to have the results by October 20 and will'll review them at our next meeting which will be on October 26 and at that point we will decide what if any our issues that committee wants to look at perfect thank you other reports um we received a report from The Beacon of Hope to indicate to us that um 29 students were were visited uh Randolph college or with the future centers um future Center students and they uh applied
301for college on that day of which of the students that went 29 were accepted on on that day or 21 were accepted 29 went and 21 were actually accepted on that day uh Lindburg city council recognized four graduates of Beacon of Hope and Vector space women in marching program all of whom are LCS graduates or current employees The Beacon of Hope also took 50 students out to fwell airport to experience careers in aviation and that was something that we mentioned when we talked about working on some kinds of internships so Beacon might be a good um entity to talk with concerning that in October members of Beacon of Hope traveled to Detroit to meet with leaders from over 400 communities who have promised scholarship programs around the country um and Beacon of Hope also relaunched
302its Middle School Heroes program with sanduski and its kids to college program with perrymont this year and I think that's about it did I leave out anything Anthony hit right on the head okay notion Dr Carter the legislative advocacy and Community Relations Committee we will be contacting attorney tro will be contacting individuals regarding the legislative breakfast which is scheduled for November the 3D at 8:30 at EC glass so save that date please and we will um give what everyone there was an email that we have pancake jamboi same day will the committee reconsider rescheduling has there been a conversation thank you Jam what was it well generally the pancake Jam is from 6:30 in the morning until at night some of these uh get two breakfast yeah you can no no some of these political
303personalities were doing u a flapping handak they may not be able to come to the um I'll let Mr tro know that hey um the partners in education um we did uh the last time we met we met at Vector space and um we there were some requests for uh Financial requests for uniforms at um bass Elementary and hair products for sandes elementary we did work on um the breakfast the pie breakfast which will be on March 14th um um we're the the plan we're planning for that but it'll be on March 14th and I think that was the major things um we were given $1,000 from the Education Foundation to assist LCS families when basic needs or barriers to education are identified which are not covered for um from the division level budget um
304and we're able to purchase uniforms for two Elementary age students who were last enrolled in bass Elementary and were able to uh Prov provide um sandeski middle school with hair products for their students and then we talked about gift ideas for the pi meeting and then evaluation forms for the um uh stakeholders the Partnerships that we have and then and then also the Pi Day um breakfast will be on March 14th thank you just and I know Pi is meeting but March 14th from J generally 7 to probably 10ish is the breakfast with the superintendent for the Ed Foundation yeah I think there was I was talked about there was a slight conflict so that's why it's a big conflict yeah that's a huge conflict eily both it's like the pancake Jamber us just might
305want to Y too much on the plate I think just only because it's the same folks that um come to the breakfast with super attendant as the pride breakfast okay the uh Regional business Alliance the the Ed Foundation breakfast is I believe at the University of Lynchburg what is it March 14 Mar 14 okay hey you're good well they said also the meeting of the purpose of this meeting is to bring awareness to the partners in education program and invite new business organizations to join in so all the businesses are usually at the we have a meeting com out so this week yeah I'll bring that back up thank you superintendent comment fa okay um first I just like to thank um Heritage Elementary students for being our first group of guest students and teeing
306off uh that process they did a great job as did our two High School reps who joined us for the first time um it is n uh Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th to to October 15th so I wanted to acknowledge that give a couple of the things we should be celebrating national school lunch week which is this week um disability awareness month which is this month school bus safety awareness and it is also National bullying prevention or anti-bullying um month on October 18th and I think um um one of the um student rep share this is the uh wear orange day for um bullying prevention and support of a bully-free Zone in Lynchburg City Schools um keeping it short thank you we'll do board comments from Miss Lowry go okay um no I want
307to thank everybody that came and spoke and I'm glad that now after seeing Mr vus and his team's hard work that we are developing a plan going forward so those that worried about a plan now they know we we have something in place Mr deul no comments Mr Preston no Dr Carter no I Dr D no any interest of time Mr Ang just wishing Mr TR a speedy recovery hope it feels well Mr Jal I was glad to see Mr Day come back from his bout with Co thank you I got no comments so thank you informational items we have a governance training coming up October 13th in Charlesville at bsba office starting at what 9 9:00 9 to2 uh academic success committee meeting October 17th at 3:30 p.m. school board work session October 24th
308at 5:00 p.m. here in school admin building October 26 3:30 p.m. head hog discipline committee meeting and the next school board meeting will be now on November 14th it says November 7th here since we approved November 14th at 5:00 p.m. here in the School admin building right Miss day that will be modified yes to the informational item to November 14 yes now there's an we have a closed meeting so I'm going to read the um the uh notice for close meeting right Tuesday November 7th change LCS we go into a close session certif notice of close the board chair moves that the Lynch in City School Board said oh no the school board shair recommends the school board approve the certification it is not certification what am I reading here is it 10:00 and my
309brain is gone dead pursuant to Virginia code of Virginia 2 2.2 d uh 3711 A1 the School Board needs to convene a closed meeting for the purpose of discussing the following specific matters the superintendent's evaluation uh do I have a motion to go into to close session second Dr day cler I'm sorry didn't I hear who who made the motion Mr Mr julo yes Mr Andrews yes Dr day yes yes Dr Carter yes Mr yes Mr yes Mrs laor yes car 8 we are in close session we'll just continue meeting here they can turn off to mics Mr Austin