001There's our Good evening and welcome to the June 17, 2025 Matthews County School Board School Board regular scheduled meeting. Would everyone please Excuse me. Thank you, Miss Morgan. I don't have a It's struggling. Let me see if I can get it. I think it's now. It's finally It's finally here. Just because you walked over. Yes, I think I think we're good. All right, we'll reconvene to open meeting item 2.3. would like to have a roll call vote for declaration of subjects discussed in closed meeting. I make a motion to adopt the certificate of closed meeting as written. Thank you for the motion. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? Miss Morgan, maybe we have a roll call vote. Mr. Johnson, here. Mr. Morgan, yes. Here. Yes. Yes. Item 2.4. May I have a motion
002to approve the personnel as listed? I move that we approve the personnel matters as listed. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Now, we'd like to call to order the June 17th, 2025 Matthews County School Board monthly meeting. Would everyone please join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Item 1.3, roll call, please. here. Mr. Morgan present here. Mrs. Haj here. Dr. Present. Item 1.4, approval of the agenda, additions and deletions. May have a motion. I make a motion to approve the agenda as listed. Thank you, Miss Diggs. Do we have a second?
003Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Item 1.5, our consent agenda. May I have a motion? I make a motion to approve the minutes of May 20th, 2025 closed meeting. May 20th, 2025 regular monthly meeting. Approval of requests for use of school bus and driver from Matthews Matthews Memorial Library. Approval of requests for use of two school buses and drivers for Matthews Volunteer Fire Department for Matthews Fireworks Event and East River Boatfest. Approval of revised meeting location for June June 30th, 2025 endofear special meeting. July 15, 2025 regular monthly meeting preceded by closed meeting. Approval of 2025 2026 Title One program application. Approval of 2025 2026 Title 3 statewide consortium application. Approval of 2025 2026 local consolidated application. Approval of 2025 2026 pay schedule and monthly claims
004as presented on the consent agenda. Thank you, Mrs. judges. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? No discussion. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. And please note we have all of our months for claims to be reviewed are completed. Uh July 14th will be myself. August being Mr. Morgan. Item 1.6. six, the Matthews County School Board governance norms and protocols. Every month we read a couple of these items and I believe we are up to Mr. Morgan. Could be. Okay. We will stay focused on our work as a school board and not interrupt the day-to-day operations of the school system which is the responsibility of the superintendent. We will maintain open communication with with each other, the administration and the community at large. Information shared with one board member will
005be shared with all board members. If considerable work more than two hours is required to generate data, the full board must endorse the request at a meeting of the board. Thank you, Mr. Morgan. Moving on to item two is our presentation of retirement awards by myself and Dr. Daniel. This is This is very exciting. I guess I should probably give some uh some directions as uh before I get up and start shaking hands and um providing plaques. Um, so what I'll do is I'll kind of call out the the retirees who are in attendance this evening and um family members if you all want to want to grab some pictures and then um we'll ask for kind of a group picture of all the retirees um who are in attendance tonight kind of stay up.
006Okay. All right. All right. Um, so our first retiree has been working and I overheard over some of the conversations. So I won't say how young she was when she started working but our first retired variety of roles within our division but most recently has been our math specialist at the elementary school. with our teachers and working with our kids to improve math and congratulations. [Applause] What I would say is probably the one of the most difficult jobs in the school division is to drive a bus. And to drive a bus for 35 years is is an amazing commitment to your community, a commitment to the children in this community, making sure that they are getting from their homes into school and back home again safely. It's just foundational commitment to our education system. [Applause]
007There are a couple jobs in a school division that require just a ton of work ethic. The job completely changes from day to day to week and hour to hour. What we ask of ours on a daily basis and a weekly basis is a tremendous amount of work. They make sure that classroom is ready for kids when they come in the door. They're working with our teachers to make sure their classrooms are set up and clean. They're responsible for health and safety throughout our building. So that that commitment and dedication to our school and to our community is a thankless task. So I want to congratulate for 17 years. [Applause] If you have to be a custodian at a high school, you're in charge of a ton of things. It's not just classroom, but it's
008bleachers and sporting events. It's it's late nights. It's coordinating the efforts of the social calendar of the high school. It's athletic events. It's being a part of instruction. It's again being a part of health and safety of our teachers and the walk through our doors every day. So, I want to thank Mr. Mr. for his 25 years of service. [Applause] And tonight, last but not least, If you have spent any time in an elementary school um and you walk by the office, typically the the clinic is never far from the office. Um there are probably three jobs in the school division that I want no part of. One is driving a bus, one is working in the cafeteria, and the third is being the nurse in an elementary school, high school or middle school. You're
009dealing with sick kids, kids who want to be sick but haven't quite gotten there, dealing with kids who are just trying to get out of class. And it's your job to separate what's fiction. Do the best you can with the tools and the equipment that you have at your disposal. But it is an important lifeline for our families to know that we have that service within our schools and can assist our students on so many different cong. Congratulations for years. Can we get all your other way? You want to turn this way? We won't tell anybody. It'll just be on video. Thank you. Can I ask all of our retirees to come up and get a picture? Turn it right. Everybody make sure you have great advice for us. No. No. The opposite, please. Everybody
010else perfect. [Applause] Okay. And just real quick, um, some other staff members who were not able to attend this evening. Uh, Miss Patricia Lewis is retiring as nurse from the high school after five years. So again, we we thank her for [Applause] Mr. Amos Ace again, one of our custodians at the elementary school for seven years of his service to the elementary school and the kids and the faculty and staff at the elementary school. But Mr. [Applause] and Miss Dolores Bloomfield, otherwise known as DLO. DO was retiring again. she retired and then we kind of coached her to come back out of retirement for one more year to work with us. But Miss Bloomfield for her 28 years of service. That was wonderful. And then we have another wonderful moment uh with item three in
011student recognitions. Spring sports with Mrs. Amy O'Neal. Coach, [Music] good evening everyone. Good evening. So, I want to uh let you know what we've done this spring. It's been a very very very very busy spring with all the rain and reschedules and whatnot. We had uh three new coaches this spring and um they did a wonderful job. We actually our record was 11 and seven. Um our new co coaches hit the ground running. They did fundraising. They got everything they needed to get going. Um we hosted our uh regional quarterfinal for the first time in who knows how long. Um so that was really exciting for the boys too. Um we have very many honors this spring for all district, all region and um we do have a an all state actually also. So if
012you'll look at this, we have three on first team, four on second team. I'm not going to call out all the names um but we we are extremely proud. They deserve this and um getting Matthews back on the map. So we're very proud. um all region honors we had. Um which is really cool because um it it it's been a while. So we're just really happy that they they received these honors. Our seniors, we're going to miss them. Christian Blue, Jordan Cosby, Trey Green, Justin Jones, two Rs in your name, Cameron Matthews, and Colin Moore. We we're definitely going to miss these guys. I personally gonna miss them because I just love every single one of them and they hang out in my office all the time. So, I'm gonna miss that a lot. Um,
013our crew team, um, we were small but mighty. We, um, ended up having three this year. Um, uh, head coach Tim Alaker, assistant coach Caitlyn Sheek. Um, we want to thank them very much for for, um, everything they've done this season. And although we were small, we we meddled um we placed second in states which is really cool. They also went to um Stosberry which is the biggest high school event uh for crew and um so it was a really good experience for them also. Um we had Sydney who placed fourth in state. So that very very cool. Um, let's see. Our outdoor um, track and field team is phenomenal. Again, um, want to appreciate Tony Forest and Russell Reed for doing everything they've done. Um, again, I'm going to say this every single time.
014We have a couple state champions which could not be here tonight, but I'm going to acknowledge them. Um, with the facilities that we have, imagine what we could do if we had better facilities. Um, and I'll keep saying that. um they've done really really well without having what they've needed. So I'm very proud of them. Um I would like to acknowledge Donovan Forest for being a three pete on state champion. He um Donovan um I don't know if you saw any pictures on Facebook, but Donovan won by a landslide. I mean he was they weren't even close. So when Donovan has been um actually thank you Dr. Gibbs and Miss Hodgeges for being at our signing the other night. It was a very nice night. Um he has signed with Virginia State. [Applause] Extremely proud
015of him. And um I feel like he hasn't had anyone to push him in the district, the region, or the state. So when he gets to college, I have a feeling he's going to do even more um spectacular. So, I I I think he's gonna, you know, do a wonderful job. So, we had a lot of district honors. Again, we we have a a a great track team. Um they work really hard. Region honors just as many. And here's our state finishers. We had um fourth, fourth, fifth, and uh first, fourth, and fifth place. We had girls in fourth and fifth. And um that's that's pretty impressive for um you know our small little schools um state champion again. Here you go. There's the picture. Yes. Great picture. [Applause] I was lucky enough to to
016be right there and take that picture because it was it was amazing. And again, um once he has someone to actually push him, he's going to do be faster and and better. So, I'm real proud of him. Um, here is Gavin Dustin. I have a little story about Gavin. Um, Gavin was very, very nervous. Two hours before his race, he was pacing. He was like, "Missio, I'm so nervous." And I said, "Well, you know, Gavin, have you done everything that you can to prepare for this?" And he said, "Yes, I think so." I said, "Well, just have the confidence and knowing that you're prepared and go do it." And, uh, the funny thing is when I go to track meets, because they're extremely long, and I used to be a track athlete, so I know
017this. Um, I usually don't stay for Gavin's race and he's like, "Miss O'Neal, you better stay for my race." So, I stayed and I was really glad I did. So, um, he he was a state champion. He won first place. So, I'm very proud of him. Here are seniors. Congratulations to them. Gavin Dustin, Donovan Forest, Seth James, and Jerel Johnson. Senior girls, Bailey Bell, and Lena Carvalo. Um, we have our JV, as you know, our JV teams, we don't keep records and things like that, but I'm very proud of our JV teams because they are building the future. So, um, we have some excellent coaches that that teach fundamentals and teach the right ways of doing things, so they're prepared for the varsity level. And I want to thank Andre Smith, our coach for JB
018soccer. He did a wonderful job this season. Here are some pictures of our our crew and our soccer uh our boys team did tremendously well. Um we were 113 and one this year which is so far our best season yet. Um look out for next year because we lost one senior Seth James. Congratulations to him. But we have a full team coming back. They are really great. So, we expect to even see better next year. Um, and thank you to Craig, Trey, and Justin as coaches for that as well. And here are the honors for um our team, district, region, and we had a um Wait a minute. Hold on. Oh, first team all region for um S. Yeah, that was great. And our senior Seth James soccer girls. Um the girls soccer team is
019a little different because um region A and region B, we really don't have enough teams to have our own region competition. So we do a super region. It's a little different. It's uh a little confusing, but um so we we lost in our our regional game, but we were able to go to the state quarterfinals. So that was a little different, but it was really cool that they got another opportunity. Um they have improved tremendously. Um, and this is the best record they've had. This is the third year they've been in existence, but they keep getting better and better. And, um, that goes to Mike Congrove and Chris Bernie for putting everything into it that they have. Um, we we got I mean, for a team that's only been in existence for three years, this
020is pretty impressive to get first team and second team honors. So, very proud of them as well. And region honors. Um Lauren in particular. Lauren I I wish I could tell you how many goals she scored, but I'll tell you in one game she scored seven out of the eight uh goals that we had. So look for her. She's just a sophomore. So we have a bright future. And the rest of the girls are fabulous, too. And our seniors, Bailey Bell, Kristen Blake, Lena Carbalo, Shayon Congro Conro, um Haley Dener, Cat Murphy, Kaylee Russell, and Suki Jen. JV softball. I want to thank uh Tim Tillage and Ashley Hubard this year. They took on they took on a lot because unfortunately and we've talked about this kind of got thrown into it because by the
021time we got them situated and and vetted and ready to go, um they we had the first game and it was like go go go go. And so they they hung in there with no direction and they did such a great job and the girls really had a great experience. Um and they improved every time too. So they are definitely two wonderful coaches who definitely teach fundamentals and that's important for going to the varsity level because the worst thing you want as a coach as a varsity coach and I've been there is to have to teach 11th grader how to play. So to have a strong JV program means your varsity program is going to be be even better. And here's some pictures with them as well. Our varsity team, thank you to JJ Ashberry,
022Gilbert Coons, and Molina Hester. We had um district honors. Um Bentley, well Angel is a um senior. She did a great job as pitcher. Bentley is a freshman. So Bentley is a great athlete. We're going to see some good things from her in the future. Seniors Lindseay Coons and Angel Schultz. And our tennis, thank you to John Hatch. Um, our tennis team does a wonderful job every year. Um, we were 1A regional runnerup. We won the state quarterfinals against uh William Campbell High School and that was really, really great because it was it felt like it was 150 degrees there. It was uh close to Lynchburg, no shade anywhere. And um I know that they were hot and tired and you just exhausted and they won to advance to the um state semi-finals at RAP.
023Unfortunately, RAP is a beast and they won state. So, we lost to the state champions for the third, you know, they they are state champions for a third time. So, that's a big accomplishment. Seniors Liberty Carter and Marissa Hudgens. And we have a male athlete of the year and a female athlete of the year. Donovan, our three repeat state champion, was our athlete of the year this year. And Lena Carbalo. So, we're very, very proud of them. Um, again, we're always grateful to our booster club who helps us um supports us and they're just hardworking people and I appreciate them very much. And it's been a great year. Thank you. What's that? You bring me the cooker? Yeah. All right. Coach, I just want to say um specifically the students are amazing. The coaches are
024are wonderful. Your leadership is stellar. Thank you so much for all you give to our school division. You are amazing. [Applause] All right, moving on to item four. Uh Dr. Daniel will present the vowels data. And of course, this is very um important, wonderful information on student achievement and supportive of our strategic plan. So, just um a brief reminder, Val is replacing the former PAL's um data or reading screening um tool that was you that's used in grades K through three. So the vowels better aligns with Virginia literacy act and much of the initiatives coming down from the state and through the department of education regarding um literacy instruction in Virginia. So the vows again were administered for the first time this fall. They had been piloted in other divisions across the state, but um
025this was the um first year uh for administration of this much more rigorous um assessment for our students. So if you look at the columns and it let me I guess explain a little bit too. So high risk versus low risk. So high it's students who are categorized in that area are at a high risk for developing reading um difficulties as they move forward. Low risk is a higher performance or higher achieving but meaning they're in at a lower risk for developing um reading difficulties. So um what we want is to see from the fall to the spring a movement from high risk to low risk. So we want to see um ideally we would have loved to have a ton of students who were in the a small amount of students in the high
026risk category. Um and all of our students score in the the low risk from the beginning but that's that's not where we are. So at the beginning of the year within kindergarten especially you can see that about 60% of our kindergarten students or 24 out of 40 um were assessed to be in the high-risk category. Um through the hard work and dedication of our kindergarten teachers, the reading specialists, the support staff, the TAs, everybody involved um at that grade level. um that 60% was reduced down to 35%. And if you go across that column in the fall, we only had 12 and a half percent or five students who were in that low risk category. But at our spring assessment, that number had increased to 14 students had increased to 37.8.4, excuse me, 37.84% of
027our students now in that lowrisk category. So if it's if it's green, it's good. So as we're looking for a reduction in students in the high-risisk category, we want to see an increase in students in the in the low risk. I keep saying that, it's hard, it's kind of mindbending a little bit, but we want to see more students in the lowrisk category. So almost universally across the board, we see um the work of our teachers and staff and TAs and as administrators um paying dividends as we're able to um kind of reduce the high-risisk category and increase the lowrisk um category areas. Um it's often kind of difficult to tell unless you get into per student and look at um very granularly um to determine in that moderate risk category. But looking at the
028numbers it you know you're seeing students coming from that high moving into the moderate. Some of the moderate students are then moving into the the low risk category area. So all of those trends are are really going in in the right direction. And we probably could have put the third grade spring moderate risk in green, but we would need to take a look at the individual students to determine if kind of that the same percentage that 22% is my guess is probably different students as we have students coming out of that high risk moving into moderate, but we had an equal number of students moving out of moderate and going into into low. So, um it's they're not all the numbers um that we again that we want to see. However, what the the trends
029are pointing in the right direction. The efforts are beginning to pay off. Um but it teaching students to read is not doesn't happen by happen stance. It does it's not always an easy thing. It requires a school and home and community partnership in order to make sure that our students um are are reading at grade level and doing so as as early as possible. So um I'm pretty optimistic on on our vow scores. Um and again we're our teachers are also working on implementing the Virginia Literacy Act which is new to school divisions this year. So our our parents in the audience who have children in grades K through five will know the differences that occurred with um reading textbooks and the rigor that was expected of our students in those primary grades this year.
030So um all that the work again the work is paying off from from top to bottom from kids across the board. Any any questions from the board members on the data? Going in the right direction. Going in the right direction. Thank you, Dr. Thank you. Moving on to item five, we have the SEAK report from Mrs. Kelly Lockerby. Thank you. [Music] Okay, y'all bear with me because I'm not a professional. I'm just a mom here. So, never done a PowerPoint. So, okay. So, I just wanted to do a quick um just introduction to um special education advisory committees. Okay. What is the SEAK? Uh the special education advisory committee um has a long history. Um, every school division is required to have a SEAK as detailed in regulations governing special education programs for children with
031disabilities in Virginia effective January 25th, 2010. The major purchase purpose of SEAK is to provide an opportunity for parents to have a voice in the way that school divisions provide services to students with disabilities. SEAKs are extensions of local school boards since members are appointed by them and SEAKs should be given the opportunity to provide reports and recommendations to their school boards. The special education regul regulations pertaining to local sects are 8 VAC 20-81-230D and they state that a local advisory committee for special education appointed by each local school board shall advise the school board through the division superintendent. SEAK membership requirements are a majority of the committee shall be parents of children with disabilities or individuals with disabilities. The committee shall include one teacher. Additional local school division personnel shall serve only as consultants
032to the committee meaning that they do not get to vote. Functional duties of the seat committee. They advise the local school divisions of needs in education of children with disabilities. Participate in the development of priorities and strategies for meeting the needs of students with disabilities. They submit periodic reports and recommendations regarding the education of children with disabilities to the division superintendent for transmission to the school board. They review policies and procedures for the provision of special education and related services prior to submission to the local school board and participate in review of the local school division's annual plan. SEAK notices and meetings. Public notices shall be made to inform the date and time and location of the meetings. Committee meetings shall be held at least four times in a school year and shall be open
033to the public. We also have a state special education advisory committee. Um the state SEAK is organized and functions in accordance with state and federal requirements. Def they define plans for identifying children with disabilities. They develop long range plans that will provide services for children with disabilities, determine unmet needs of children with disabilities within the state, develop priorities and strategies for meeting identified needs of children with disabilities, and they review the state improvement plan and any regulations proposed by the state regarding the education of children with disabilities. They review findings and decisions regarding due process procedures for parents and children. And they advise the state in developing corrective plans to address findings identified in federal monitoring reports and prepare and submit an annual report to the Virginia board of education and we present that to
034the general assembly annually. The state seak is composed of representatives of stakeholders and groups prescribed by IDA. A majority of the members must be individuals with disabilities or parents of childrens with disabilities elig eligible to receive services under IDA. Members are appointed by the Virginia Board of Education SEAK State SEAK organization. The activities of the state seak are governed by the board of ed education bylaws. The state seak runs year from July 1st to June 30th. Several subcommittees are established to help conduct the work of the committee. Members are assigned to a subcommittee and a member of the executive committee chairs each subcommittee. I myself have been on the state SEAK for years and I am currently the chair of the um student outcome and and achievements. Um the state um SEAK meeting schedule is
035the same as um locals. You have to have it four times a year. It meets in regular sessions four times a year and each session generally consists of three days. It's we go in on Wednesday, we come out on Friday. Um meetings are held in Richmond. They are open to the public and each regular meeting includes a public comment section. So why is this all important? It's because it is the law. The most important law for this process is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, commonly known as IDA. IDA is the nation's special education law. It gives rights and protections to students with disabilities. IDA is the federal law that ensures students with disabilities receive FAE. That is a free and appropriate public education. The tool that drives that is called an IEP. Individualized education
036programs, IEPs. Indiv individualized education programs are vital tools designed to ensure that students with disabilities receive the appropriate education services and accommodations they need to succeed in school. IEPs are comprehensive documents developed for students with disabilities who require special education services. IEPs are not mere suggestions. They are legally binding agreements that schools must follow under the Individuals with Disabilities Act. Summary: Special education advisory committees and the laws are crucial for ensuring equal opportunities, inclusion, protecting rights, providing necessary support for students with disabilities to succeed. One final thought, our job is to teach the kids we have, not the ones we used to have, not the ones we wish we had, but the ones we have right now and all of them. Thank you. Mrs. Lockerby, Mrs. Lockerby, me. Oh, I'm sorry. I want to thank
037you for your presentation. Um, I also want to thank you for your participation in the strategic plan work session that we had last summer and also, you know, you're you're a non-stop vocal advocate for special education and children with special needs and I appreciate that. Thank you. Oh, thank you for the opportunity. You're welcome. All right, we're moving on now to number six, item six, citizens questions, comments, or requests. Comments not pertaining to personnel or student matters. Protocol for public comment. Period. Citizens wishing to speak should sign up with their name and address on the sheet provided. Each individual will have three minutes to speak. All comments should be directed to the school board. Speaker Speakers shall not address matters involving students or personnel as these topics may violate confidentiality and are not appropriate in
038a public forum. Public comment is the school board's opportunity to listen to the speaker. Since our purpose is to hear from you, the board will not engage in dialogue with the audience or whomever is at the podium. Matters requiring a response will be directed to the superintendent for research and response. The superintendent may report back on such matters at a subsequent business meeting session as appropriate. The school board carefully considers your comments when deciding on matters brought before us. We appreciate your attendance and your input. I do not have a sheet with any names there. I've been no one has signed up. Is there anyone who would wish to speak at this time for citizen comment? There being none, we will move on to item seven for superintendent'sformational reports, beginning with the THMS update. All
039right. Okay, thank you, Dr. Gibbs. Um, so a little bit on the um timeline and background regarding the Thomas Hunter abatement um process that is currently ongoing. Um, so a lot of the momentum for this abatement process um really picked up steam during our legislative tour in November of 2024. Um, we were able to have several representatives from legislators across the state. In particular, an aid from Senator McDougall's office um, attended. Um, at the end of that tour um, that aid, Joseph White, submitted a report to Senator McDougall. But, um, I'd have I need to really give credit to Miss Hajes and Dr. Gibbs um for really pushing the the need for asbestous abatement at Thomas Hunter and really focusing on the the health and the climate within that school um and getting having that
040pro getting the funding to um have those needs addressed. Um, so the a Joseph White kind of really took that to heart, advocated on Matthews's behalf to Senator McDougall's office. Senator McDougall was then able to push that funding through the general assembly. Um, so we had a couple meetings, um, phone calls back and forth with Senator McDougall's office during the budget process, remaining in contact and and working with, um, his office on estimates and numbers. Um, so ultimately that that funding came through directly from the state. Um, another piece I think there are some questions out there because we've had debates or there have been debates within the community about um that are related to a declining student enrollment and the merits behind renovation versus a rebuild or um a demolition. So during our spring
041break there was a facility walkth through with uh me, Dr. Gibbs, um Tim Tage from the county. Um there were representatives from an architectural and engineering firm. Um some members uh invite was sent to the county as well. I think there were some scheduling conflicts. So Mr. Tillage was ended up being the the lone um county representative on that. But we spent about three three to four hours walking through the elementary school, the middle school, and the high school looking at various aspects going into classrooms. um crawling up into well I didn't but the representative from the architectural and engineering firm crawled up into the ceilings to to look at roof structures walking around the outside looking at foundations looking at seals around windows and cracks in the mortar and stuff along those stuff that
042like just if you do that for a living you know what to look for. Um and so at at the end of that walkth through their assessment, it was an informal assessment. They were doing it for free. Um so if if we wanted to drop several thousand dollars, they would have put it on paper, but they were willing to come and and donate their time. Um but their assessment was that we basically had good bones. The especially Thomas Hunter had good bones that we could renovate from. There weren't foundation issues. There weren't existing significant roof issues. There's some electrical work that needs to happen, but I think we already knew that. So, their cost estimate for renovation was about a third of what it would be for a new construction. So, we have a legislative
043tour that ends up resulting in money for abatement that we can use um to abate but also replace with new modern materials. We have an assessment that says the school has good bones. It's worth rehabbing. Um partnering with the county, air quality testing revealed no airborne asbestous concerns in Thomas Hunter. Additional testing also did showed there were no mold concerns at any of the three schools. So then in miday we received notification that the state budget did include a million dollars in funding to um remove the asbestous from Thomas Hunter Middle School. our init our initial um scope of work proposal really had us looking at abatement next summer um that timeline um got um accelerated I guess is the right word um as we had an abatement company who was in the community having
044conversations with the county about some county abatement projects. Um so conversations with them they were able to um make the scheduling happen for us. There's an existing state contract that we were able to um utilize to contract the work. And so we did a walk through, a couple actually walkthroughs with them to assess, create a timeline and then work to figure out what what needed to happen. Uh what what things we needed to move in order for abatement to happen really the first day after kids kids were gone. Um we adjusted that timeline a little bit. I think our initial attempt was to get the whole school done this summer. I think cooler heads probably prevailed and we backed off of that timeline a little bit to make sure that what we could get done
045we could do well and make sure that schools started um on time and without a ton of chaos. Um so the chaos did ensue with having to move um basically empty down to every item in the classrooms in one half of Thomas Hunter move all of that either to a dumpster if it was beat up and nasty and broken or it had to be broke up to get out of the classrooms or if we could save it, reuse it, it was moved, it was tagged, labeled and moved to the gym. Um, as the asbestous company is is working through um the half of Thomas Hunter, um, there is an on-site monitoring company. So, there's a third part of the regulations require a third-party monitoring. So, there's a air quality testing that is occurring outside where
046the specific demo sites are taking place. Um, so they're monitoring for the safety of anyone who is who may happen to be around. Um, so what is being abated this summer is what is current the current seventh grade hallway, the art classroom, band, family, consumer science, health, IT, the clinic, the former fifth grade classrooms, and the former seventh grade classrooms. So, we're starting kind of on the the wing, the hallway, that's the art room, moving up that hallway to the gym. Um, kind of in the foyer on the back side of the gym. We're going to hang a left going towards the main office, do that main hallway, and then in front of the main office, we're going to hang a left and go down that hallway doing the hallways and the spaces, classrooms, conference
047rooms, etc. Um, getting those done. Um, that plan changed a little bit. Initially, we were going to go the opposite direction, but we decided um to kind of go in this direction. So, it includes the main hallways and the grade level hallways. Next summer we'll do um the gym over and do the other classrooms and the other spaces. Um next summer um what what we're able to use the money for are any costs associated with abatement. So we're pulling up 1950s um floor tile and we're going to we are able to replace that with new floor tile um as part of this project. Classrooms are being painted, hallways are being painted. Um and so when we have students coming back into Thomas Hunter, they'll come back into freshly painted with um new floor tiles um
048classrooms. In many cases, I'm going to have to replace chalk boards with new white boards because there's asbestous glue behind those original chalk boards and bulletin boards. Um so they're they're going through with a fine tooth comb. they're testing and double testing and making sure we're um really trying to get it all at this point. Um so each phase is is about um each section of the phase is about two weeks. Um so we'll have painting and flooring coming in after the abatement finishes as they move through from one section to another. Um they have to let the rooms um I guess cure a little bit. some of the solvents and stuff they have to put down to get the glue, the asbestous glue up and out um needs time um to kind of ventilate,
049airate and then after that then painters will come in and then flooring crews will come in and um put down new flooring. Um so why I talked a little bit about the why. Um, basically it boiled down to um that really that that building uh has has good bones. There's no foundation or roofing issues. Um, idea talked about the cost or about a third of what it would cost to build new. And then this money combined with um money that's earmarked for energy audit and upgrades, like we are going to be able to do an awful lot for a lot less money. um by um preserving a resource within the county. Um so we'll be able to keep that building in existence, usable, functional um within within the county. Um and to touch a little
050bit on the student capacity issue. So while our enrollment has declined there, we're still going to need to occupy Thomas Hunter Middle School um for at least two grade levels. our work is um as student achievement increases and our um facilities improve, I'm quite optimistic that our student enrollment is going to turn around and return to and increasing student enrollment. Um, and by focusing on renovating and doing the preventative maintenance at Thomas Hunter, but at our other schools, um, it's it allows us flexibility for either relocating our schoolboard office to the front of Thomas Hunter and making that the home of the the hub of Matthews County Public Schools. Um, but it also allows us flexibility. should the enrollment turn around and increase, we can very easily um redeploy those spaces for classrooms down the
051road. So, um it, you know, it seemed like a a pretty um pretty good idea to go ahead and get the abatement out of there. And even like one of the other pieces is if you if you demo a building and it's known to have asbestous, you're still going to have to spend money for abatement. the cost is much reduced if you're not going to reinhabit that space, but there's still an abatement cost that that comes even with demolition. So, but that's that's a little bit on the um Thomas Hunter. Are there any questions from the board regarding the abatement process? I have a question about the two-year process. So, in in the plans for next year, let me take a step back. I I guess I was under the assumption that what was going
052to be addressed this summer was where the asbestous was primarily. But should I now assume that asbestous is in that part that will be addressed next summer as well? That's correct. So part of the AHA report and part of our walk through and other samples indicated that um there is asbestous. The the oldest part of the building that we're addressing right now is the part of the building that has um definitively 9 in um floor tiles which are known as containing materials. In addition to that, the glue below the that floor tile contains asbestous, right? In other in the newer parts of the building where 12-in tiles have been laid. Um, in some cases, there is asbestous glue that it was used or they didn't pull the asbestous glue completely off when they replaced the
0539in tiles with 12in tiles. So, we're going to have to go back, remove the 12-in tiles and then the asbesus containing glue or mastic glue um under those floor tiles as well. So, there was a concern about ceiling tiles in some parts of the building. So, if you look above us though, this is a drop ceiling. Um there was concern that in some parts of the building the drop ceiling tiles contained asbestous. So we um took samples of those tiles and had those tested immediately. Those tiles came back negative for asbestous. Um there's also a concern in some of the classrooms that don't have the drop ceiling but have kind of a fiberglass um deck kind of ceiling. Um but there is a popcorn type substance that has been sprayed on that. So, we're going
054to have samples taken of that popcorn sort of spray-on um texturing material to make sure that that does not have asbestous. If it does, then we'll scrape all that off and abate abate that material as well. And the popcorn ceiling is in the part that's being addressed now or correct. Yes, it's it's in this this summer's this summer's work. Yes. So, so, um, the next question has to do with this money that's been earmarked. Um, I guess I was under the impression whether I just assumed it or whether it was so that we needed to use this up by next. So, it's there for as long as it takes. Okay. So the money um the the we the money has been allocated to Matthews County for the abatement of um asbestous at Thomas Hunter. Um
055so that money has already been dropped to us. There is um there is not as part of the legislation there is not or the funding amendment there's not a deadline on having to expend it. There's not a timeline. my expediency was um I didn't want to wait any longer. Like I it just like we've kind of um we've delayed um work in the buildings long enough. We've had ongoing conversations about the health and safety especially of Thomas Hunter. Um there was a window for us to get the work done. And so, um, in cooperation with some folks from the county and a very willing, um, contractor and working on schedules, um, we I jumped on it to make it happen. And so, I would be remiss without thanking the the staff, the custodial staff, and
056the the teachers at Thomas Hunter and everybody for really just rolling up their sleeves and filling boxes and um, making it making it happen. um to just, you know, accept the challenge and be flexible and willing to to do it and um make it happen. So, I mean, it took a it took an an army's effort to to get it to work. And so, the Tim Tillage and the county were especially helpful in um running and getting some materials for us and boxes especially and um just working with other folks to to get it moving. I have one final question and it has to do with if um the schoolboard office does move there. Um how much additional renovation might be required um to make that um inhabit habitable for the schoolboard office or make
057it lend itself to to what the schoolboard office needs versus classrooms? Honestly, I don't really know. Um, so we've put out an RFP for a term contract with an architectural and engineering firm that closes I think Thursday. So, um, part of that the the thinking behind putting out an RFP for the term contract is to be able to consult with a firm to provide us some guidance on a facility study and how we could either enhance facilities modify facilities. Um we can take you know we can author that uh request that study to look at various things. One of which could be um hey if we move this if we make the if we want this to be a schoolboard office what would we need to do? Like I I would imagine a typical classroom
058is larger than what an office like needs to be. So, are there some ways to bring in um sheetrock walls or temporary kind of wall spacing or things along those lines? But part of the as we're replacing things, so I mentioned before that we're pulling off chalkboards because there's asbestous glue behind those chalkboards. So, where we know classrooms aren't going back into immediately, we're not replacing those chalkboards with whiteboards and equipping those classrooms or those spaces as we would if they were going to be utilized as a classroom in the near future. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. The I have a question on on what are you looking at that you don't already have? Are you looking at anything? I mean, what do you in terms of asbes as containing materials? No, I'm talking about setting
059up your school board office in the school itself. in in terms of what what I would look for and I think ideally the schoolboard office being on under one roof. So all of our directors um and assistant superintendent and kind of everything with kind of that division level being under the same roof is going to improve efficiency and communication. So right now we're kind of spread across different buildings and and different parts of the school division. So having us in theory or having us in in practice on one hallway is going to facilitate getting questions answered and being able to better collaborate in terms of like usable spaces. I think you know one immediate thing is is having a conference room and kind of a work room where we can map out and plan and
060and do a little better job of of planning uh both the work and then the communication about the work. Um and then you know I think just usable office space and I think that by being under the same space we may be able to um share some staff and responsibilities and find some efficiencies in that way. Would you want a media room or something? I mean I think we could take a look at um like how how we would operate with the Brooks multi-purpose room and can that be set up in a certain way. Um, we have a fantastic library in that middle school space. Um, does it make would it make any sense to have, you know, our our board meetings there? I would probably lean towards Brooks and keeping the the meetings at
061in Brooks. Um, but I think we would also want to look at some safety and security upgrades in that building. um just kind of when we have meetings in the buildings, we don't have facilities that lend themselves well to securing movement. Um Charlie, don't give anybody ideas in in the press, please. But I mean, I think we can do a better job with being able to um lock down access to buildings when we have a public in the metal fences becomes issues with fire egress and so you need to have um kind of panic bars on doors. So, it's a it's the same idea, but just a little different hardware in order to make that work. Yeah. But I'm just saying if you want to shut down some of the hallways, you just pull them
062across. Yeah. Yeah, but I I think the the fire marshals don't really like those the old school sort of fencing that you pull across and gate and so because you can't you want to have that panic bar where you can like get out in case there's some sort of emergency and if you're kind of chained in you're you're stuck. So yeah, that's why they require other stuff. Yes, ma'am. Dr. Daniels um what they are doing this summer right now at Thompson Center Middle School. Do they and you anticipate this going through the summer to the beginning of the school year or or not? I I think if anything continues into the school year, it may be the um laying of flooring in the last couple classrooms at the end of the hallway where we don't
063have students occupying. There was there's a little bit of a delay. Um the flooring the floor tiles that we wanted weren't immediately in stock, so we're waiting for those to come in. Um, I had a choice of going with a different floor tile. And the tile that I wanted is, um, kind of the same tile that we have at the high school and at the elementary school. So, I wanted to have a consistent floor tile that we could then use across schools. We've moved over the last two years to having the same color paint across all the all the schools and all the hallways. So we can just buy like one kind of paint and we can paint any classroom in any school and this is the white, this is the blue, this is the
064whatever. So um I'm rolled the dice and so to get the the floor tile that best matches what we're currently deploying throughout the rest of our division. Um, and so that's part of the reason we changed the the direction or the order of where we were going because if there's a delay, I'd rather the delay occur where I don't have kids. And so if we're moving the other way, then we can move furniture and get rooms painted, tile laid, and then floors waxed. Um, several coats, and then we can then begin moving the furniture out of the gym into those classrooms. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Any other questions? I have a comment. Dr. Daniel, while our number one priority in the division is fill in the blank. Oh, student achievement. Student achievement. Yes. Clearly, uh,
065you have devoted an inordinate amount of time to this issue, this very important issue for the health and safety of that building. I am thrilled that we are able to uh return that building to good health for the students and staff and the community and um to be doing focusing on student achievement at the same time as this major project is is really a big deal. And thank you for uh a great presentation to get everybody up to speed on where we're at uh with Thomas Hunter Middle School and the abatement process and more updates to come. But it's this is a this is a huge deal and I cannot uh leave the mic without spelling out to the community that it was due to Mrs. Linda Haj's efforts that we received the money for
066this asbestous abatement period. The end. [Applause] Okay. I'll um no other questions on um abatement. I'll move on to attendance 7.2 and attendance update. Right. Right. Um so for the folks who view at home or kind of go into board docs, I've kept each month since we started um tracking attendance and um posting the chart. I've just added, excuse me, added a slide to each month. So the previous months are are all there. And I've tried to make the font bigger um as we as we've gone along um more or less success. All right, so May and June is combined. So here's some um really great news. Um so let me let me back up real quick. So, one of the issues that we were talking about in April is that we were worried that
067um both at the high school and time like our numbers like seemed seemed high compared to um this time last year. And so, a lot of effort and work from administration and teachers and Taran Thomas, our school social worker, um were kind of um not panning out and we were quite what quite concerned. But when we head into May, June, um our numbers, like the number of students who were chronically absent have held pretty consistent, but what seemed to have really fluctuated, the difference between this year and last year was really that last month of school and the number of absences that creeped up in that last month last year that didn't necessarily happen this years. So whether that's um we can go back and and try to speculate as to what was what the
068occurrence was um you know one of the things and I'm not saying this is the the reason why it's it's different but it's one of the elements or one of the things that were different. I mean obviously we had a focus on attendance all the way through the last day of school. Um, one of the ripple effects of us losing instructional so much instructional time in January that was that we moved some of those last days of school from half days to full days. We would have to go back and look at the attendance rates on those days and compare this year to last year, but to see if we had more students attending in those last few days um than we did last year. So there there are a number of things that that
069we can look at. Um we can look at different ways that we coded for exam exemptions and students not being required to come to school. Um but none the you know regardless of of you know it may be a combination of all those things. Um but we have what appears to be a pretty significant reduction in chronically absent students. I will caution that this is raw data and how the state goes and does their algorithm and their calculations with regards to chronic absenteeism um should be clear to understand but um that and ADM and how they come up with those numbers aren't always particularly clear to the folks um in the localities. Um, but I'm pretty optimistic about our continued reduction in all of our schools um to be below u to just improve. So
070these calculations for the elementary school and the middle school would have us below the 15% threshold. Um if this calculation holds for the high school, I think it I think it's like 17% u which would have us in like tier two. But where we were two years ago was about 34ish percent chronically absent. So for us to reduce that um number in half in two years is is pretty significant. So I I mean it's just a lot of again a lot of effort from a lot of people um paying off. That's parents getting their kids to school. It's teachers making phone calls. It's administrators making decisions about schedules and student engagement and it's, you know, it's teachers, you know, teaching all the way to the last day of school and making every day relevant. So,
071I mean, it's it's just a a global effort to improve that factor. And I think once we get our um so data finalized, we've got some raw numbers. Um, but I think the the work on attendance is going to pay off in the achievement data that we're seeing with so performance. So, great. So, please, any questions on attendance? I just have a um request um for next year if we could possibly get the data by by grade as our as our our grades more from building to building. It's hard for my brain to like, okay, where's that grade from last year in the year four? So, if we could do that, that would be helpful for me. Okay, it's not too much trouble. And I also want to note that we will be talking about
072the attendance policy. We'll be talking about this issue more uh at the summer work session. So, this is it's a focus area for us, but definitely again moving in the right direction. Very good sign. Okay, no other questions on attendance. Um item 7.3, some schoolboard information. So, um within board docs, you have um the schoolbased financial reports um for each school. You have the overall expenditure report um which um looks looks like we're in pretty good shape um for that. Um the gifted local advisory committee um their annual report. Um we also have for your information the um kind of memo regarding the division literacy plan and you also have for your information it doesn't need approval but just for your information the division literacy plan. Um, just also so you're aware, each division's literacy
073plan gets posted on the Department of Education's website. So that is available for um any citizen in any locality anywhere to kind of go in and look and compare literacy plans. Um, I'll be honest, we we've taken a peek at other school divisions to kind of compare compare notes. Um, I think ours, um, is is a very solid, smart, um, you know, appropriate plan for where we are right now. So, proud of the work Miss Hunley has put in to develop the literacy plan along with, um, the work of our reading specialists and and teachers at the elementary school and middle school. Are there any questions on any of those reports or items that I can help answer? Just I have a couple comments just on the literacy plan. Was it helpful or did you
074did you uh sort try to align strategic plan with the literacy plan? Did those overlap? Did those was that uh informative? Um so we had a draft of the literacy plan in existence. um already. So to be honest, I think the literacy plan helped to inform parts of the strategic plan. Um and part of um as we've then developed that strategic plan, we're also working on MTSS and multi-tered systems of support. And so the strategic plan goals and benchmark numbers have been are being baked into our goals and vision for MTSS. So, as we talk about this is what we want our literacy pass rate to be, our mathematics pass rate to be, that is being um baked into that that MTSS process. But a lot of the strategies that are um baked into the
075literacy plan are were kind of known and were put into the strategic plan. And then just a a a shout out as I've already expressed a couple of occasions, but for the kindergarten camp that happened in May, um Mrs. Bray put on a fabulous uh kindergarten camp as well as the teachers and the specialists. The focus of that for the parents was to be informed on the Val's assessment tool. And if if you've ever left a child off for kindergarten and you're going to a kindergarten orientation as a parent, I was never oriented to any kind of assessment tool at that at that event at a kindergarten camp. Uh so hats off, great job informing parents of the expectations, but also equipping them to have fornowledge of um the Val's process. And I think year
076two with Bells is going to be um is going to go smoothly and uh it was it was just a wonderful experience. I would just add um anyone at home or um anyone in our audience if you have kindergarten age students and you have not registered those students yet, please please please come and register your kindergartener um so we can um make that that first day of school transition as smooth as possible. Um the elementary school office right now is kind of closed because yes, we're doing some work at the elementary school too. Um getting some HVAC and some piping work done there. Um so the elementary school office is located here at the high school for probably another week and a halfish weekend. We'll make You're right. I So we'll call it two weeks.
077Um so um but please please please please please um have get your kindergartener um registered um as soon as possible. Wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Daniel. Moving on to item eight with schoolboardformational reports. Item 8.1. Just a reminder, we have our first schoolboard summer work session Wednesday, June 25th, 8 to 3 at the Ches Bank community room. That's the summer work session number one. Then at item 8.2, we'll head the end of year special meeting Monday, June 30th, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. at this in this very room, Matthews High School Media Center. Item 8.3, we have our summer work session part two, which will be on Thursday, July 17th, 2025, 8 to 3 in the Chesapeake uh bank community room. Item 8.4 Four, you can open up and see conferences and webinars, past and future. Check
078your dates to make sure that you are in compliance with any uh of your webinars that you need to take, classes, workshops you need to take. And and finally, item there it is, item 8.5, board and committee reports by school board members and superintendent. Um, does anyone have anything to add on this one in terms of their board membership? I do want to again I mentioned last month that the Heretta uh board position or the participation position may have to be relinquished on my part. So please be considering for the new year if uh another member and would be interested in taking over that position. Again, Heretta is the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications um association and they oversee the WHRO and they you can attend virtually and it's once about once a quarter once once
079a quarter I think. Again, we have all of our board of supervisors meetings covered. Uh the June meeting, which is tomorrow night, due to the holiday on Thursday, the board of supervisors meeting is tomorrow night. Mr. Dobson will be in attendance there with Miss Diggs to follow on the July 17th long day for you, Miss Diggs on July 17th. Sorry about that. Moving on to if there are no questions, comments, is there an announcement around Cleo in your participation in that? Uh well, regarding the move up the food chain. Yes. as a member of CLEO um which is local officials local elected officials um affiliated with the workforce development board. Uh I didn't know that when you were then when you were gracious and volunteered to be a member at large, you know, to be
080the the at large that you were on a necessarily increasing ranking. You were going up. So now I'm the vice chair. just suffice it to say I'm now the vice chair of this of this. Oh, thank you. Yes. Uh just very koi. That's that's me. That's my middle name. So anyway, just uh did not know until the actual moment when they were describing this um right before it happened. So yes, thank you so much. Thank you. Moving on to uh action items. Item nine. We have three action items tonight. Our first one is 9.1 approval of the VSBA policy updates for February 2025 and May 2025. We have um as you can see um if mine will open. It's so slow. There we go. Okay. Um we have many many policies that are up for
081uh approval to be approved as listed. Just a reminder that several policies from the um proposed or recommended policies were pulled out having optional features to them either in whole or part and those will be discussed at a at a later meeting discussed and voted on at a later meeting. Um these these all were presented last month for review and are up for approval this month. Um do I have a motion? Yes. I make a motion that we approve these policies as listed. Thank you, Mr. Morgan. Do we have a second? I second. Any discussion? I I just have a question on one of them. Um it would be um I think it's CHD. What at the top line? Um it talks about in between meetings um that the superintendent has the power to act
082but then informs us at the next meeting something comes up. I just was wondering if that has ever occurred. Is it is something ever come up in that where an action needed to be taken by the school division in between meetings. I'm just trying to understand the policy better and and I better if I understand a situation where it may have occurred. Um, I'm trying to think of a of a situation where that may happen. The only scenario that I can hypothesize would be if it's um approaching the opening of school, there's a vacant position and needing to hire um hire a teacher prior to board action. I mean, my practice has been um making a phone call and like, hey, this is um you know, this is what I need to do or this
083is, you know, um you know, a quality candidate to bring on board. Um but that's probably um you know, the best scenario I can think of in the absence of some fictitious emergency or surrounding personnel probably. I I would think so. Yes. All right. Thank you. Good question. Any further discussion? Right. There being none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. 5-0. Item 9.2. The naming of the 2025 BSBA annual convention official delegate and alternate delegate. I make a motion to name the official delegate and alternate alternate delegate to the 2025 VSBA annual convention as listed. Thank you, Mrs. Hodes. Do we have a second? Second. Discussion. I suppose we need to name someone, right? We're going to need to um the letter attached requests a delegate and an alternate delegate
084as we've done in the past. If no name is submitted, the chair and the vice chair will be listed as delegate and alternate. Is recommended that the delegate or alternate not be a member of the VSBA board of directors. Let's see. I've been a delegate. I've been a delegate. There is. We don't want to monopolize this. Wouldn't want to do that. Why? Why am I being stared at? Are you asking for a volunteer? You said it. No. Volunteer. Mary Katherine. Thank you. If you are unsure at this time, Miss Morgan, do we have any leeway in assigning Miss Miss Morgan? Do Thank you. Try again. I'll do it if you'd like. I'll be Thank you, Mr. Morgan. Mr. Morgan, thank you for being delegate and alternate. There is a way out there, Mr. I'll be
085I'll be an alternate. Thank you, Miss Digs. What What is the date of this? It'd be the weekend. Usually, it's the weekend before Thanksgiving, but you know. Oh, I'm not I'm not here then. Okay. Not weekend, but that's that Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I'm leaving on my trip. Miss Morgan, we're going to split the baby. We're going to assign Mr. Morgan as delegate and we will come back to alternate next month. Thank you. Next year. Moving on to item 9.3, the approval of the VSBA policy services agreement for 2025 2026. May I have a motion? I make a motion to approve the Virginia School Boards Association policy services agreement for 2025 2026 as written. Thank you, Mrs. Hodes. We have a second. I second it. Discussion. I have a question. Do you have at your fingertips
086the um cost of that? Yes, it's in the letter. It's contained within the letter that was addressed to Dr. Daniel, the sup the the superintendent of the school division. Keep in mind the acronym stands for Virginia School Board Association. The fee of $2,100 um is due on or before June 30th when our current contract will expire. That was sent to us by Gina Patterson, the executive director. What else what is the other school board's association price? The policy price, the policy services price alone for uh the school board member association, I believe is what you're referring to, Mr. Dobson, is $2,900. Oh, it's more. It is more. However, I would just like to inform the board that in FY24, our division spent $9,557 with BSBA. This year so far, and the year is not finished,
087and this contract is not paid, we're at $11,821. So on average, if you just wanted to take an average, membership in DSBA is costing about $10,000 a year. That's a lot of money. It's a lot of money for what we get. Yes. Well, but right now we're focused on on on just this piece. I think for me I I think that's worthy of a conversation maybe at one of our um work sessions to look at the cost of the other association but but for this I know we have discussed looking at what the alliance um um uh publishes as far as um the contract but I've not the contract excuse me the actual policies but I've I if I don't think I've seen anything to be able to compare and contrast to see what the
088differences are, right? Um so I would be thinking for at least one more year. Let's do this and over the next year if we can get some thing I'd like to see the differences. I know we've talked about that. My understanding is the alliance is is is let me say it differently. the VSBA VSBA in some policies have taken some liberties um in broadening that that's just my words um where the alliance is p is is very pure as to what the legislation says but I would like to see some of those differences as we move forward over the next year that's just one person's thought well I can give you one difference in the legislative positions of the Virginia school boards association published in January 2025 Item 4.23, expansion of the Virginia Human Rights
089Act. They're a lobbyist group. VSBA is a is a lobbying group. Um, SBMA is not. They do not lobby. The VSBA requests the expansion of classifications contained in the Virginia Human Rights Act Code of Virginia 2.2-3900 and 2.2-39 2-3901 to include sexual orientation and gender identity and to further amend the code of Virginia 22.1-78 to allow local school boards to similarly expand the protected classifications contained in local schoolboard policies and regulations. So that would be one difference that I would be concerned about that they lobby for. I got a question. Yes, Mr. D. Since we're not sure where we get our bang for the bucks during one of the summer workshops, I think we need to address this and then decide which one we're going to hire. Can you repeat that, please? I said, I
090think we should look at the differences, see where we get the bang for the bucks, and go with that and vote on which one we want off that information during the summer, one of the summer recess days. Thank you for that input. I will remind you also that we have been speaking of this at the two past prior work sessions uh and considering policy services from another source. We have been talking about this for about two years. Um but we can keep talking about it. Well, I don't want to talk about it. I want to talk about it and then pick a vote. Okay. But right now, as Mrs. Hodgees said, we are voting on only one element of VSBA, which is policy services. There is a motion and a second. I voted on anything
091and we are bound to take a vote. Further discussion clarification. Yes, please. Those amounts that you include conferences. Yes. And not just the membership and policy services correct are 21 and membership is 21 correct that's correct yes so that would mean we're benefiting by going to the conferences by getting information okay so right which is not the only place to get information no it's not no I I understand that but I think again I'm veering away from what the motion is on the floor but back to Mr. Dobson's point. It seems I I would like to have more information what policies cost, how much is how much is spent in attending conferences where you're getting information and how much is spent on being a member and if there's other costs associated. I've not ever seen
092a a kind of a breakdown of the costs and then compare it also with what the alliance um has as far as the same similar Right. And and all of that may information is at Miss Laauo's fingertips and she's shared it at my request and it's all easily accessible um through her and that is very fair and I think we should do it. But I think we should be very interested in knowing what is best for our school division. The VSBA is the holds the majority of school boards in the state. One size does not fit all and I believe that we can um do just as good a job at policy either with assistance or frankly without and I am concerned about some of the motivations behind BSBA and the policy recommendations that they
093may make because of those advocacy concerns that they that they purport. So um and and you know you know me you know I've been talking about this I have been speaking with on this topic um so I think I think we'll take the vote at this point with all that being said just for clarification our contract with them or service agreement with them expires on June 30th correct we have roughly two weeks or so right okay Let's take a roll call vote. Mr. No, no. Yes. No, the motion does not pass. Item 10, citizens comments on items discussed during the meeting. Schoolboard comments. Citizens comments. Oh, citizens comments. This is citizens comments, not ours. I always get messed up. We have citizens who'd like to approach the podium. Please state your name and address. Uh,
094so I'm Amy Bohannan Stewart, um, 11150 Buckley Hall Road, Matthews, Virginia. Um, so I wasn't really planning on speaking tonight, but I was listening to the attendance update and my mind went to something I brought up, I don't know if it was a year ago or two years ago when we were talking about probably talking about attendance. Um, I I worked at Matthews for a long time. um 21 years. I was eighth grade science teacher. Um and we used to have a different we used to have a a policy. It was a schoolboard policy um that helped with attendance and basically and I don't remember the exact wording of it. I'll look it up um perhaps and send it to you guys. But there were three ways to be exempt from exams. And exams were
095given starting in eighth grade. Okay. Miss Hodgeges was probably on the school board when this was a policy, I'm guessing. Um, so the three ways that you could be exempt, as I my memory serves me correctly, to be exempt from an exam starting in eighth grade was an A in the class, passing the so test if there was an SO test associated with that particular class, or three or fewer absences for that class, and I believe three tardies for that class counted as an absence. Now, part of the passing the so test, I used to be able to, and this is part of the policy, too, I believe, put in a 97, a grade of 97 in for their final exam in my eighth grade science class if they just passed the so test. And
096I believe I was allowed to put a 100 exam grade in if we had if they had a perfect score. And I remember back when I first started teaching, it was like, well, how many perfect scores we were were we going to get? often pass rates were in the 90s and we were, you know, it was sometimes we'd have like six kids that got a perfect score. So, um I really don't remember attendance being a problem back then when we had that policy. Now, I don't understand why we got rid of it. Maybe part of it needed to be adjusted because where I taught this past year, I wanted to find a way to get them to buy into it. And I was used to giving a final exam and I wasn't allowed to give
097one in New Kent. And if I did, you know, you couldn't give a reward for like a grade for passing their so test. I think that came from the state. But I'm sure that we could get pieces of that old policy in to help with attendance. I mean, the first step in success is showing up. And I don't I don't remember attendance being a big problem. Maybe it was for very few kids, but I seem to remember attendance being pretty good back then. So, anyway, I just thought it's time to bring that up again. So, please consider that. And I I'll try to I I probably have my old agendas. I may even have an old piece of paper with it printed out on it. And if I can find that in the next couple
098weeks, I'll send it to you guys. Thanks, Miss Bohan and Stewart. Is there anyone else who'd like to approach the podium? There being none, we will move on to item 10.1 then with schoolboard comments. Miss Diggs. Yes. Okay. Um even though Mrs. O'Neal has gone home. Um, I just wanted to say how much we all appreciate her work for the students, for the coaches, and um, for the whole program at the high school. She's done a great job. U, Miss Lockby, I wanted to thank you tonight for your good presentation. um when I was subbing um some years ago, I can remember the kids with the IEPs and tonight you did a great job in my mind of explaining things well and thank you for all that you have done for the state of Virginia
099and for Matthews. Appreciate it. And Miss Bohan and Stewart, if you can find that on the policy, that'd be super, too. We'll do anything to get the attendance make it better. Thank you all and thank you folks for attending tonight. Thanks, Miss Digs. Mrs. Hodes. Yes. I um again um as with um my colleague Miss Dix said, thank you Miss Bohan Stewart for bringing that up. It seems to to me my recollection is and I I hope you find that policy and I was not on the school board then. I was working at the high school. Um is that um Mr. MCI brought that policy with him when he came um and it worked very effectively. Um, and then it seems to me there weren't the final exams or the so something shifted and and
100so it really was applicable for only a handful of students. And I'm not sure all the pieces that shifted, but I think if we have some incentives um as that policy did and and like you said, it worked very effectively for for for many for several years. Um, if we could do something like that, that would be that would be a win-win for everybody. Excuse me. Mr. Dobson, since I wasn't here last month and we lost our student representative, I would like to praise some accolades to Suki Zane. She was the first student representative that I had on this board when I served that brought some good things attention to the board. And that was when we had problems with the boiler and everything. We weren't taking our personnel going to other schools to the
101other schools because we said there would be no transportation. And she brought it to our attention right away. The next day we had transportation for everybody that was going elsewhere which I thought was appropriate. I would like to see a little bit more representative of the student representative from the kids in the school to this to the school board. I I I personally believe that they should have some type of input, not just reading off a script of what was going on. Um, I think that would might be a little better and give a little bit more sensitive to people maybe wanting to sit on on on that position. But I thought she served very well. would also like to thanks everybody that played sports this year. It looked like we did rather well and
102I'm hoping this might help us with the football team this year. We had a lot of people play a lot of different things this year and a lot of people spread out over over everything and that's what school's about. We have all these extra activities for our students to join and and have a good time at. And I'm glad to see that we do that. And we should never ever forget that. Not all students are athletics. All of them are not uh the smart ones and this that and the other. Everybody has a capability of doing something and there should be an extra activity to provide for that person. And then there's extra activities that can be utilized through the school system. Um, one of them I can think of right now is the uh
103video part of Mr. travel course because we've asked them for the US 250 to come up there and film the Battle of Crooked Hill when when it's performed next year on reenactors, which would be a very good thing to have and we can show it at different times. the the Matthews um museum can show that on a regular basis. And then they're going to do Crickets on a Hill, which is a play that's also uh about the battle and and that's more of a comic thing. And I believe the kids will perform that one and we're going to film that and have that on hand to show through the years. But there's a lot of things that the school gets involved with that can also go out. We're working on the tiny house, which I
104think is an exceptionally good item. If we can continue to find these things to keep our children learning at a better rate than what they are now, I'm all for it. I I know we don't have the money to do a lot of things, but there's things we can do that aren't going to take large consumptions of money. I mean, we got the carpenter class, so we're building stuff anyway. Now, we're just redirecting where we're building. And I'd like to see some more classes like that, especially in the CTE area, which I think we're adding. And you know, not everybody goes to college. Think of what it goes to college today. What it cost. You got people out there that'll continue 10, 15 years down the road to pay on it. You go over here
105to Gloucester and you look at the junior program, they're teaching kids over there how to fly drones and right now you go to police departments and everything to fly drones is a six-digit figure. Now here you can have a kid coming out of high school. He's going to have his license because you pay $357 and they'll come in and give and give you the test for the license. And if you pass the license, you now have a drones license. So I mean there's always way to look at things for these kids and I don't think we should miss out on any of it if we can. That's all I have to say. I agree. Thanks Mr. Dobson. kind of blended 10.1 with 11, which is school board reports. Is there are there any other comments
106from members? Anything else you'd like to add in or say? Right. Moving on to item 12, other business by school board members or superintendent. 12.1 again reiterating the school board summer session number one will be June 25th from 8 to 3, the Chesapeake Bank community room. Our end of year special school board meeting will be Monday, June 30th at 9:00 at the Matthews High School Media Center right here. Item 12.3 is our next monthly meeting, which is Tuesday, July 15th at 6 PM at the Matthews High School Media Center, preceded by closed meeting at 5:00 p.m. And then finally, item 12.4, for the summer work session part two is Thursday July 17th from 8 to 3 at Chesake Bank community room. There are any comments Dr. Daniel? Any other member comments? I would like to
107adjourn the meeting. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you for your participation everyone. Thank you for being here tonight.