MCPS School Board Meeting 05/20/2025

001All right. Good evening. We are reconvening to open meeting item 2.3. We'll take a roll call vote for declaration of subjects discussed in closed meeting. I'd like to make a motion to adopt the certificate of closed meeting as written. Do we have a second? I second it. And any discussion? There being none, Miss Morgan, may we have a roll call vote? Mr. Morgan? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Item 2.4, approval of personnel action. May I have a motion? I move that we approve the personnel action as written. Thank you. May I have a second? Second. Any discussion? There being none. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item 2.5 approval of 20 2526 personnel appointments. I have a motion. I make a motion to approve the 2025 2026 personnel appointments as listed. And

002do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? There being none, all those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item 2.6. May I have a motion for approval of student action? I make a motion to approve the placement of student in a long-term alternative education program. Thank you. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? There being none, all those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item 2.7. May have a motion for approval of student action. I make a motion to approve the placement of student in a long-term homebased virtual education program. Thank you. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? There being none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Motion passes. We are now adjourned. Have closed. And we are now in session for open meeting for the

003May 20th, 2025 Matthews County School Board regular monthly meeting. Would everyone please join me in the pledge of allegiance? [Music] 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. Thank you, [Music] Miss Morgan. May we have the roll call, please? Here. Mr. Morgan, present. Here. Here. Present. Thank you. Item 1.4, approval of the agenda, additions and deletions. May I have a motion? I make a motion to approve the agenda as listed. And do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item 1.5, the consent agenda. May have a motion. I make a motion to approve minutes of April 15, 2025. closed meeting, April 15,

0042025 regular monthly meeting, and April 21st, 2025 joint board of supervisors and schoolboard work session. Approval of requests for use of school bus and driver for Matthews Land Conservancy. Approval of requests for use of school bus and driver for Matthews YMCA. Approval of revised meeting location for June 17, 2025 regular monthly meeting and monthly claims as presented on the consent agenda. Thank you. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? There being none, all those in favor say I. I opposed. Motion passes. And on this item, we do have uh the remaining date of July 14th where claims are to be reviewed by a board member. And I am happy to take it if if no one else would like to. What's the date? It's July 14th. Miss Morgan, I will take July 14th. Thank

005you. Item 1.6, the Matthews County School Board governance norms and protocols. Going to be reading off the two highlighted um points and mistakes. You're on. Yes. Thank you. Uh we will be mindful of the different roles and responsibilities throughout the school system and maintain a focus on policy and governance. We affirm that we will faithfully and impartially perform our duties while respecting the confidentiality of private information. We will be aware of the different roles that we play as individuals, board members, citizens, parents, etc. Thank you, Miss Diggs. Moving on to item two, questions or comments from schoolboard student representative, Miss Jen. Hello. Good evening. Before we start today, I would um and as I end my last meeting today, I would like to express my gratitude and what an honor it was to work with

006you all and with you guys all up here. Not only have you guys taught me the importance of leadership, but we have worked through numerous things. For example, discussing how policies and regulations may be withdrawn, conducted, etc. But most importantly, I learned that as a leader, you will always have setbacks, but you have to keep persisting. We have conquered many problems and faced issues in the system that I might not have had an opinion on before coming into the school year. We've discussed cell phone policy issues, transportation issues, and budgeting, but most importantly to keep persisting. Working with you all has shaped me as a person, allowed me to gain confidence, and let me speak up against issues that arose. I hope that my legacy will be nothing but positive, and that we will all

007strive for success. I could admit that before I started this, I did watch some of the previous recorded live streams because I was nervous and I didn't know what to expect. But any future school board student representatives watching this, this position is nowhere near as impossible as one may think. It is a unique role to take on, but your opinion matters. And speak up the most where you can. Make change. Allow your solutions to be not only impactful, but also feasible. And that's one of the things that we had mentioned earlier during the VSBA conference, but I thought that stuck with me, so I had mentioned that again. Do not hesitate to speak up among your peers and your classmates. Befriend the board because after all, you're in this school system together. We are here

008to form a positive relationship that can enhance our school system. And then moving on to [Applause] Thank you. Moving on to Mrs. Ray at the elementary school. She mentions that they had a very busy month. On April 15th, the first and the second graders held their spring showcase. The students had some awesome artwork on display and they worked hard on their musical performance. On April 25th, the Virginia Department of Forestry visited our third graders. After the presentation, each student got a tree to take home and plant. On May 3rd, some MEES students went to the Great Computer Challenge at Old Dominion University. Our first and second grade team won excellent for graphic design, and our third and three fifth grade team won honorable mention and desktop presentations. We are so proud of all of the

009students who competed. On May 5th through 9th, we celebrated teacher appreciation week. The outpouring from the Matthews community was amazing, and MEES has never felt so loved. Our students recently completed the vowels testing, and our third and fourth grade students are wrapping up and rocking their SOS. On May 16th, the PTO hosted a sneaker ball. Um, and I just want to say as a student, I'm so happy to always see many parents turn out to chaperon. Yesterday on May 19th, the second graders started taking swimming lessons at the Matthews Yacht Club. I remember when I did that and I was not good. We are thankful to the Matthews YMCA for providing this opportunity for our students. We are looking forward to our prek promotion ceremony for our rising kindergarten students on May 30th at 9:00.

010MES will also host host field day on June 3rd. The students are excited and looking forward to a great day of friendly competition and I believe you can contact the school if um you guys want to help out. On June 5th, MEES will hold the fourth grade promotion ceremony. We are sad to see our fourth graders go, but we know that they are going to do amazing things at THMS and on. In a last message from Mrs. Simpson, Mrs. Simpson notes that the Seahawks have had a great month of school. Thank you to our SCA and family consumer science students who helped out at the Tor Chesapeake by making and selling breakfast items for the cyclists who participated in the event. Thank you to Mrs. Greg, Miss Williams, Mrs. Lindberg for supporting our Seahawks. Congratulations

011to our Seahawk band who had a great performance last week. Thanks to Mr. Given for providing a strong music program in Matthews County. The FCCLA students are also working diligently to prepare for the national competition in Orlando. Good luck to them. Students have been working on completing units and material for their classes. Teachers have also been reviewing content to ensure that students are prepared for their so assessments and the following dates are very important for ending the school year. May 16th was the last day to charge in the cafeteria. Please check your child's account to make sure they have money for meals. Students will also be testing this week for sixth and seventh grade so math on Thursday the 22nd. THMS is also host uh hosting a STEM night at THMS cafeteria on May 22nd

012from 5 to 7 o'clock. Everyone is invited to see the work that our students have been doing. To let students, parents, and guardians know, all books are due back to the THMS library on Friday, May 23rd. And seventh grade students will tie-dye shirts on May 27th and 28th. Students will need to bring in a white shirt to tie-dye for that day. Information about summer school will be coming out soon. Families will be notified about their child's participation. THMS Seahawks have been working on arriving on time and being at school each day. Great job, Seahawks. And a final message from Dr. Grief at the high school. We've had a lot of fun activities this past month as we approach graduation. Our last activity day was on April 18th where many of our clubs wrapped up the

013year with celebrations and awards. On April 22nd, many of our musicians were inducted into the Try Mic Honor Society. On April 26th, we enjoyed our junior senior prom and after prom party. Again, great support from the parents, faculty, and just chaperons. Thank you to Mrs. Griffith, the junior class officers, the Matthews County Sheriff's Office, and all of the chaperoons and volunteers who made this event so successful. On May 5th, our graduating seniors took their graduation picture in the auditorium, followed by our annual senior walk throughout all three schools. We really appreciate all the support and excitement from Matthews Elementary School and THMS to celebrate our graduates and send the message that everyone in our school division is proud of their accomplishments. On May 15th, our music department performed their annual spring concert. Congratulations to Mr.

014Given and all of our award recipients for all of their hard work to make this such a success. On May 18th, our seniors held our annual bal laurette service at Matthews Baptist Church, and we're all excited about graduation on May 31st at 10:00 a.m. in the Harry M. Ward auditorium at Matthews High School. Thank you, Miss Jang. Wonderful report and we will have a moment to speak of you in just a minute, but thank you so much for everything you've done for us this year. Been a real asset to the board. Thank you. May I just make Yes. Um, thank you. I, um, as members of the school board, we get a quarterly review magazine from VSBA and I open it up and I don't even know if you know that your picture is here.

015Yes, I will pass this on to you. Um, from the president, Dr. Joanda Rollins Fels, um, met with um, our school board representatives, the student representatives um, across the state. It doesn't have a date on here. Um but uh these young scholars I'm quoting these young scholars were brilliant, insightful and wellspoken. We delved into various topics such as the skills they have and are growing through their board experience, how they gather and share student voices and advice for future student representatives to name a few. They only have 10 pictures. I don't know if there were more students involved, but our very own Suki is right there um at the bottom. And I'll I'll send this to you. I'll pass it on to you for you to have. Okay. So, again, thank you for taking this

016so seriously and engaging at the state level. Thank you. Wonderful. That was excellent. Thank you. You're welcome. She get to keep that. That's for you. Certainly. Moving on to item three, recognitions. Item 3.1, the 2025 VSBA business honor role for Richardson's Cafe. And I would just like to would you would you please come up front? [Music] read this to you. Just stand so the audience can see you there. That's that's great. I'm going to read this resolution resolution for the 2025 Virginia School Boards Association business honor role. Whereas public schools and local businesses are an integral part of this community and whereas many local businesses play a crucial role role in support of our schools. And whereas the economic health of our community, state, and nation depend on a strong public school system. And whereas

017collaboration between public schools and local businesses strengthens schools and the business community alike by providing a well-trained and highly educated workforce. And whereas an excellent public school system is vital to the quality of life in this community and a fund and fundamental to preserving a strong democratic society now and in the future. Therefore, be it resolved that the Matthews County School Board names Richardson's Cafe to the 2025 Virginia School Boards Association Business Honor Role, showing appreciation for the ongoing support of this community's public schools. Your generosity has aided this community in focusing on the goal of providing the best public schools we can for every child who attends them. This was adopted on the 18th of March, 2025 and signed by all members. And I want to thank you personally for the extra effort and

018generosity that you have shown our board and our schools all year. It couldn't go to a more deserving party. Thank you. There you go. Thank you guys so much. Yes, sure. Go to the podium and feel free. Hang on. First, I'd like to thank God for blessing me with such a wonderful business and the awesome team that he's blessed me with. So many good employees which includes a lot of teachers. So, um I want to do that and also I want to thank my husband and Amy's with me tonight. As you all know, there is no I in team and it takes a village uh to do what we do and Amy is always there. Katie is always there to help me as well. She was unable to attend tonight, but it is an honor

019and it is truly our pleasure that we're able to sew and do what we do for the community. So, thank you. I want to thank you as well. [Applause] 2025 Expressions of Freedom contest for region three, Miss Ailia C. Payne. And I understand she is not present. Did you have a word to say, Dr. Daniel? Sure. So, I can um talk a little bit about that. So, Ailia is not with us this evening because she is actually in Richmond um participating in in this award. So, Ailia has been selected to represent region 3 in the 2025 expressions of freedom contest where student work has been chosen to be placed in a time capsule uh in the restored pedestal of the statue of George Washington located in the historic Trfaloger Square in London, England. This statue

020serves as a reminder of the enduring friendship and shared ideals, principles, and sacrifices between America and England. So today, representatives from the offices of the governor of Virginia, the first lady of Virginia, the secretary of education, the executive director of the Virginia 250, and the Virginia Department of Education are coming together to recognize and celebrate the outstanding work at a special ceremony at the Capitol in Richmond. So, um, our our Thomas Hunter Middle School student was recognized from across region three. Uh, her work was then, uh, chosen among the representatives from region 3 to be placed in that in that time capsule, but she couldn't be with us because she's in Richmond um, celebrating that recognition. So, we just wanted to make sure that we didn't let tonight go by without uh, recognizing her. Absolutely

021wonderful. And finally, our last recognition is item 3.3, our school board student representative. Again, Miss Shen, if you I I would really like to have um a picture with the board. Is Is that possible if we all join up front here? And Dr. Daniel [Music] Congratulations on being the most awesome student representative for our board. You have really set the stage for the next board and we look forward to hearing from you as you proceed with your education. We have great hopes and we know you're going to achieve all of your goals. Please From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for [Applause] everything to speak to. [Music] Yes. [Music] on. Yeah. Um, I've had the privilege uh s to be on some uh boards, scholarship boards, and uh your name has appeared more than

022once um on the ones I'm on and your documentation of what you have done in your education and not only in high school but in your whole education. Um it's it's at the top of the top I think and I feel as a board member that we are richer because you've been with us this year and I know you'll do great things in the future. The best to you. Thank you. [Music] Um first of all thank you um with all your other commitments and academics um to be here every meeting and to have a very prepared report um has been mo most appreciated. you have set a new bar for student um representative on the board. Um and and um you're I suspect you're going to be a hard act to follow. But what I've

023also noticed is that you have taken an opportunity to engage in the in in all dimensions of the board by going to the the conference the annual conference by participating um with the um Dr. Rollins and and that says to me that's probably what you do with your education. You don't just skim the surface. You take um advantage of all that's available to you and I I only expect to hear great things as you move on to UVA next year. We please keep in touch. We would love to hear back from you. Thank you. [Music] Uh, Suki, Miss Hajes used up a lot of my words, but you are going to be a very difficult act to follow. You've done a superb job. I'm very impressed with you and we are going to miss you

024up here. Just something awful, but take care of yourself and get a good education and come back and see us. Thank you. I'll miss you guys, too. Thank you. Thank you. It's been an honor. Thanks, Miss Shane. Can I add something? No, please. Sorry. I just wanted to add one piece. One, there's kind of a tangible example of how um Suki took control of this office is when we had some boiler issues at the elementary school and we ended up having to close all the schools across the division. Um there were some transportation challenges and issues regarding students uh going to Chesig Bay Governor School. So while we had received um some some parent requests, concerns, seeking out um opportunities for their kids, Suki took it upon herself to also reach out to the board

025and advocate for her fellow students uh with who were attending Chesig Bay Governor School and working with the board in an attempt to find solutions. So in years of working with school boards and working in the past, we've there are representatives who come in and do the things that are asked of them and that's you know it's a difficult difficult task and it's a reward to be able to just be the student rep. Um but the unique thing about Suki is at least in this one example and there are countless others but she took it upon herself to make that role a little larger um by advocating for her fellow students and um working with the school board and the superintendent to try to find a solution for her for her students. So that's that's

026going a little bit above and beyond what is just expected of that role. And so that's an example of kind of what we're up here talking about where where she kind of took the bull by the horns and tried to make something happen. So just a tremendous job. Great job. [Applause] And item four, another recognition for Miss Tracy Elliot, region 18 adult education program manager and Miss Edith W. Turner, adult education instructor. Good evening, Superintendent Dr. Daniel, Chairperson Gibbs, Vice Chairperson Hodgeges, and school board members. My name is Tracy Elliott, and I am the regional program manager for Middle Peninsula Race, or MP race as we like to call ourselves, shortened. We are the regional adult basic education, GED services, digital literacy, and elelll program that serves adults 18 and older in Matthews and throughout

027the Middle Peninsula. We have been serving Middle Peninsula residents for approximately 20 years. We offer in-person, virtual, one-on-one tutoring, and distance education options. One of the most difficult steps for an adult is making the initial phone call to the regional office to inquire about our services. It takes so much courage for our adult learners to call the office and say that they want to improve their reading skills or their math skills, learn English, or earn a GED. Their reasons run the gamut from a personal goal to setting an example for their children to getting a job, a raise, or continuing their education. The first question out of their mouths is always, "How long is this going to take me?" Unfortunately, that is a question I can't answer. Everyone's journey is different and there is no

028set time. Some adults need to brush up on a few skills and are ready to test, while other adults need longer to learn the academic and digital literacy skills necessary to pass the four subject test on on the GED. Historically, most of the adults we serve fall into the 25 to 46 age group and are predominantly female. When students do earn their GED credential, Dr. Beverly Godwin, the specialist of high school equivalency at VDOE, signs the certificate and it goes directly to the students. So, our student tonight already has her GED certificate. We have an amazing instructional team here in Matthews. I could not rave about them or say enough wonderful things about them. The team consists of Mrs. Susan Sanderson and Mrs. Edith Turner. Miss Edith Turner and they're here tonight. Come on up

029with [Applause] me. I'm gonna give y'all best to give. Every adult has a story to tell. We have had an incredible program year in Matthews. Two students have earned their GED credential and two other students are just one test away from earning their GED credential. So, it's been an incredible year here in Matthews. It is my honor tonight to introduce you to one of our most recent Matthews GED recipients, Miss Sharon Williams. So Sharon was set to graduate from high school in 1976. She had her cap and gown pictures taken. She was ready to go and life happened and she was not able to finish high school in 1976. Sharon is a fairly new resident in Matthews County, but she is not on this journey by herself. Sharon came to the Matthews class with her

030daughter back in January of 2024. Her daughter has passed two of the subjects on the GED test and is continuing on her journey to earn her GED credential. Sharon was always on time to class. She encouraged the other students and even though she was the oldest student in the class, she didn't let that deter her. Please help us acknowledge Sharon's achievement. [Applause] Thank you for your time and the opportunity to tell you about MP Race and recognize Miss Sharon Williams. Please excuse us. We're going to go celebrate with Sharon and her family. Thank you. [Applause] We're on to item five, a presentation from HS facilities management. Good evening, Matthews County Board of Education and Leadership we have here tonight as well as the community. My name is Russell Lee off with HS. I'm vice president

031of business development. I've been a citizen of uh Virginia now for about 25 years. I've been doing what I do today uh supporting schools for about 15 years. And I I am a big fan of public education. I grew up with a single mom. My father was killed in Vietnam in ' 67. So my mother had three boys to raise by herself. Well, she didn't do it by herself because we had teachers helped get us to school. I had coaches helped get me to practice. So public education was a big part of my life. So when I can help public education with what we do, we enjoy doing that. So I think we can help you. So we're going to talk a little bit about that real quick. So just a little bit about HES.

032uh you know our combined companies have been together since 1972. If you look at all our companies that's the oldest uh company in our portfolio. So we've got decades experience in our leadership team. As a matter of fact, our CEO started off as a custodian uh working at the University of Tennessee and that is how he worked his way through college and he's now our CEO. I didn't have that good fortune. I worked in a liquor store back then. Drinking age was 18. I was able to work in a liquor store, but I also worked my way through college. Um, we we're in 28 states now and we have over 160 education partners. Uh, we have about 10 school systems that we now serve in Virginia and we have a university which is our single

033higher ed. We plan to get more. Uh, but that's the single higher ed that we have. We are excited to be working with you. Uh, you may think, well, we're just a small school system. Well, we we have small school systems that we partner with and we have large school systems that we partner with. Uh you're not the smallest. We have one in North Carolina that's one school, one school building and three schools combined into one school building. So, it's the middle schools, the elementary school, and the high school all combined. Uh if you look at the uh list of some of the customers we have uh we serve Chester Chesterfield County public schools as an example of a big school system but then we also have small school systems you know like you and

034uh both are very effective. If you talk to Chesterfield they'll tell you that they're having a good experience with us. If you talk to any of the u customers that we have up here they'll tell you the same. And then down in the bottom right hand corner that is the school board for Powatan County Public Schools. We recently recognized them with an award because we we watch what you do. We watch your live streams. We watch you interact with the community. We watch how you interact with each other. And we've been watching Powatan and they've been doing a really great job. So, we presented them with an award, an excellence in education award along with a monetary grant to their school that they can use for scholarships or whatever they choose to use it for.

035Uh we hope to give you an award someday soon. Um we we're very proud of doing that because you know you don't always get the recognition you deserve and let me tell you I have the entire Southeast that I'm responsible for and I've been to a lot of board meetings and I've seen a lot of things. I've seen a lot of things. My my last experience that was pretty crazy is I got to be in a board meeting from uh 5:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. the next day. That's true story. I'm not going to tell you who it was. We won't we won't uh we won't call them out. Um just real quick uh we have a great team here in Virginia. Everybody that you see here that's in management and leadership on this uh

036slide is is is in Virginia. So we're all based in Virginia. I'm in Ameilia. My son who also works for our company. I did not have anything to do with him being hired. They just did it. They found out about him and hired him. Uh he lives in Powatan. We've got a couple people living in Lynburg, somebody in Williamsburg. Uh Ron Marble, Billy Pips and Chesterfield. So we we have a lot of support, leadership support in the state uh to support you and to support our other partners. Uh recruiting retention. Everybody always wants to say, you know, getting people and keeping people is all about paying them more. Well, it's not. Um I early in my career, I took a 50% pay cut to go work for a company who treated me with respect and

037cared about me. 50% pay cut is a pretty big pay cut. uh what we have done here is we've gone the other direction. We actually are going to have higher wages and we're going to include benefits with those wages. But what we feel is you got to avoid this cliff that's coming. And what I mean by that is if you look at the workforce in the United States right now for facilities management, the average age is 50. Almost 50. Not quite 50. Well, also if you look at the age of the buildings, guess what? They're almost 52. So if you don't get ahead of that curve, you're going to have a lot of your facilities management retire out and then there's not going to be anybody to fill their shoes. So one of the things

038that we're doing is we've we've structured how we do things, how we provide benefits, how we pay, and how we treat everybody to make sure that we can get a more youthful workforce. And what I mean by youthful, I'm not necessarily talking about age. I'm talking about finding folks who are early in their career, maybe just out of college or maybe they're not going to college. they graduated high school. We want to get them into the program as soon as we can. But not only get them into the program, we want to nurture them. We want to grow them. We want to develop them. And hopefully they get promoted. We just promoted uh a lady in Ashbur City Schools three times in the last four years. She started off as a custodian. She's now our

039regional manager running one of our large largest regions. She started off as a custodian for Ash City Schools. We got permission to talk to her about uh that advancement opportunity. They let us do it. Going back to the money um issue, it's it's not always about the money, but you do have to have competitive wages, but you also have to treat everyone with a lot of respect. When we started services with a school system not too far from here, I went into that school system 60 days later and I interviewed everybody. Well, not everybody, about 30 of their staff. And I asked them, "What do you like better with the change?" Because nobody likes change. I don't even like positive change because it's change. But what they said to me was they really appreciated having

040a manager, a supervisor who would return their phone calls because up to that point the school system was so busy they didn't have people who could return their phone calls. They didn't have anybody who could help them when they had a problem. So that was the number one answer. The number two answer surprised me. They said they were happy to have new equipment. They would get so frustrated trying to use a scrubber that didn't work or a spray bottle that didn't work that it would just frustrate them. And some people left because of it. I mean, you're not getting, you know, you don't you're not making a lot of money, you know, you're not being treated well, you don't have equipment that works well, you'll find something else to do. And so, that's that's key

041in in making sure that, you know, you have good morale. Um, we have standard operating procedures. So, when you think about safety, you're going to see that we have safety protocols that are consistent and everybody is taught and trained on the safety protocols. uh cleaning procedures are consistent across the board. You don't have them different from one school to the other, from one leader to the other. All they're all consistent. We also have incentives and bonuses. One of the things that we found is that we had to start paying people to come to work. You know, you can be fully staffed, 100% staffed, but if they don't come to work, it doesn't matter. So, we now have attendance performance uh incentives. So, we give them monetary incentives to have perfect attendance. Uh we also have

042referral fees that we give. So if you have someone who works for the school system, maybe it's an admin support uh position, they refer somebody to us, we're going to pay them a referral fee of $200 if that individual works 90 days. So we have a lot of incentives now. We have a lot of bonuses. Uh and we also have the promotion opportunities that I talked about. Lastly, and this is probably the most important is the C's. We have great communication with our staff. We have great communication with you. We have great communication with the principles who are really the CEOs of their schools. Uh we don't want the principles to lose control or feel like they lose control. We just don't want them to have to do the day-to-day management of the program, but

043we want them to maintain control. We also have connectivity. We have connectivity with you and also with our staff. We stay involved with them. We stay engaged with them. The main thing we do is we fight complacency because I don't care what you do, whether you're a sports team or whether you're a school board or whether you do what we do. Biggest problem is complacency. You have a lot of success. You're doing well. I hear a lot of recognition here tonight. It's easy when you have success to start letting things slide. Maybe not work as hard as you used to because things got comfortable. We won't do that. Uh we also have something called daily pay and this is exciting. your in the individual be working in your schools now will be able to get

044their pay every day up to 40%. So they work a shift, complete a shift, they can get up to 40% of their pay. This is important. Um you know, you can't it's hard to pay somebody once a month or twice a month, but when they have access to to 40% of their pay daily, that's a big deal for them. So with that said, I know I said a lot, but I wanted to get some of the the key components to our program out there before we went into Q&A. But now what I'd like to do is open it up to Q&A. questions. Well, I'll just say we're really looking forward to partnering partnering with you and looking forward to great things and um this sounds very uh individual oriented and very focused on the the

045uh employees and um I'm looking forward to it. Thank you. We are too. Members, you have any questions? Dr. Daniel, anything to say? Well, thank you for your time this evening. Dr. Daniels at 10 minutes. I hope I didn't go over. If I did, I apologize. But, uh, did you have something? Thank you very much for coming to speak with us tonight. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Item six, student achievement. Dr. Daniel be presenting the star data information. Hi, good evening. So, um tonight's student data presentation, uh we're going to talk a little about uh the year-long um star data uh results. We concluded the spring universal screening a couple weeks ago about the time um right just before our April schoolboard meeting. We had kind of wrapped up but we

046hadn't had time to get all the makeups um all the students who had missed to get all the makeups um testing completed. So um let's get this turned on and off. All right, there we go. Thank you. All right. So, one of the things I wanted to do was with this data is to compare where we were in the fall and how we finished up with our spring universal screening. So, again, the universal screening data is is quick. They're snapshots. They are not a comprehensive assessment in any way, shape, or form, but they are just kind of quick snapshots to give us an idea of how students are performing. But then also from the the school level and the division level, it gets us an gives us an idea of kind of how our grade

047levels are doing. We'll talk about tier one instruction. So this is a good way for us to get a gauge on what does our tier one um instruction look like. So we ideally we want to be at um probably an 80 to 85% of all of our students are um meeting benchmark at at these intervals and obviously when you look at the the numbers on the screen we are not at 80%. So we have work to do uh with our tier one instruction. Another piece to look at with to keep in mind with the star data is that when we started this last winter um over the summer the benchmarks um the tests were rebenchmarked. So our averages and norms had to be slightly adjusted. So instead of comparing this year to last year we're

048comparing kind of where we are spring to where we are where we were in the fall. So what I tried to do was highlight improvement areas. In some case improvement may be a reduction in number or improvement may be an increase in number. So we want more students at benchmark. In some cases we want more students at on fewer students at intervention and obviously fewer students at the intervention level. So if we're moving students up from intervention, um hopefully getting them to at benchmark. So if we're seeing kind of a reduction from that urgent level and an increase kind of up that up the line at benchmark, that's considered progress or that would be considered growth. So what is highlighted in green is an increase or an improvement from fall to spring. some close examination

049of the numbers, you'll see some fluctuation from our winter performance to our spring performance, whether that be in math or in reading. And so the the principles and leadership within the school is looking at that data and having grade level data conversations to to look at kind of why uh why we didn't see necessarily the growth across the board say from spring from the the winter testing. But kind of as we begin to look uh as we begin to close out the year, we're looking at kind of where we what the growth was from the fall to the springtime. So in most the wide majority the vast majority of our grade levels in math and in reading uh we saw growth from fall to spring. One other piece to keep in mind is that the

050benchmark the level of expectation continues to increase across the year. So that norm is going to continue to move up. So even if our students um if we're flat in terms of at benchmark those students are still growing they're growing at that at the expected pace. So where we have improvement we'll say from urgent moving into intervention those students are exceeding the growth rate than what was expected if that makes sense. So there's an expected return on instruction over the course of a year. So if a student moves from say on watch to at benchmark, that student exceeded the expected rate of growth to move out of one category and move up a category. I'm I'm kind of looking for nods that you're you're following me. So um they're doing more than a year's worth

051of growth within a year. Put it let me phrase it that way if that that helps. to move from one category to another. So, um so just some highlights. I think um second grade is is pretty significant growth across the board. Um I'm trying to remember some of the some of the specific pieces to highlight. Um, one of the things though I did want to do in terms of um, one of the observations looking at the data from fall to spring is really the reduction in the number of students who are at that urgent level. So what that suggests is our tier three or our most intensive interventions are being successful that we're moving students who were significantly below grade level. moving those students up closer to performing at grade level for math and for

052reading. Those are not um that doesn't happen by accident. It is very intentional, very hard work from the students in those programs, the families at home, but also the teachers in the classrooms and the intervention teachers who are working with those students. So they they the data shows pretty significant improvement across grade levels and moving students out of that urgent category and reducing the number of students who are significantly below grade level and working to move them towards grade level performance. Um, looking at our fifth through 8th grade, again, green is is highlighting growth or improvement from um the fall to the spring. Again, you're going to see some places where um there was um kind of moving from winter to spring, there isn't the same growth or we kind of move back a little

053bit um in terms of overall percentages. A piece too to keep in mind at grade level you're going to have roughly 60 students per grade level. That's going those numbers are a little bit smaller in the primary grades but roughly in grades five through eight you're going to have about 60 kids. So easy way to think about it is every every percentage is about two students. So kind of we're we're talking two three maybe four students up or down um in c from category to category. Um but again we see way more way more green than we do um white um in terms of um some of those highlights. Again looking at highlighting from urgent um moving students out of the urgent level and moving up. Um you see great growth in that category in

054fifth grade. Um some spots in terms of math performance in seventh grade. some reading um quite a bit of reading performance in eighth grade. Um we're working with the middle school um and teachers and grade levels to work on kind of um how do we get middle school is always difficult. It's difficult everywhere. Um just student engagement, student achievement, it's it's um it's it's difficult. So, um, working with teachers on how to engage students, um, having a more thorough adoption of CIP going into next year, having detailed curriculum, um, and just looking at instructional practices. So, we've had, um, work from CERN and William Mary coming in to work with teachers on various instructional practices. And as we move forward with MTSS, um we'll continue to see growth um in these in the areas with

055STAR. So next month we'll take a look at Val's um going from K through um third grade. So we'll look at that data. We can do a little bit of comparison between our Val's performance and growth in Val's performance data and our STAR data. So we're seeing the growth. It's obviously, again, I think I've said this several times, but it's it's not where we want it to be. Um, but um, high achievement doesn't happen by accident, and it doesn't happen overnight. So, it takes um, intentionality, and it takes time to change practices, change expectations, both within the classroom, but also within the community in terms of attendance practices and homework practices and engagement, and again, rigor and expectations. So, we're we're moving in that direction. I think we would all love it. Love to be

056able to move a little bit faster. Um, but progress progress is happening. So, any questions from the board on some STAR data? First of all, thank you. Um, it's clearly a mixed mixed bag here. Um, I'm wondering looking at let me first say it's good to see the progress made in so many areas. I I don't want to dismiss that. Um, I'm kind of honing in on the eighth grade math because one of the areas, one of the challenges I think have been students who don't have a strong math foundation at 8th grade now moving to algebra and having challenges there with passing the so is there any correlation with this star math and readiness for algebra? You know what I'm saying? Is there anything to take away from the these numbers at 8th grade

057to to let teachers know what they may they should be prepared for next year as they enter algebra one part one. So yes, so there's diagnostic information that you can pull from each student's STAR report that can guide um intervention or remediation um for future um future assistance for students. In terms of an indicator for algebra readiness, years ago, there was the ARDT or the algebra readiness diagnostic test. This isn't necessarily going to give you a readiness index for algebra. Okay. Um but STAR data coupled with performance in that eighth grade class, performance on that eighth grade so will make a decision with um will help inform the counselors and teachers and administration at the high school into which algebra class they may go in. So, they may be in a double blocked algebra 1

058class or they may um be in an algebra 1 part one class um in their ninth grade year as opposed to going into a single blocked algebra one class. And also for eighth grade, this is all eighth graders. So, it's every student in eighth grade. So, it's not just students who are in math 8 in eighth grade. So, just keeping that in mind. So seventh grade is all seventh graders. Um so yeah, so they'll look at student individual student performance when they're looking at what classes to schedule students into for algebra 1 the next year. Okay. Thank you. I would just um plant a seed maybe for future if certainly not this summer, but if we need to consider having some kind of math summer school for those 8th graders who are in math 8

059to help get them ready for algebra one part one. So because we know so many struggle passing that SOM. Well, I also think that as you look at seventh grade and the growth at in the seventh grade math that those students are going to be better prepared for than eighth grade math. And so that is going to continue to to build and to build and to build. Thank you for that good news. I appreciate that. I've got a I've got a question. When we were in strategic plan development last summer and uh we were talking about the moving of categories and how in some of our testing students were very close to the next the next level and we were close to having our 7075 and approaching the 80s. Um, is that something? How far

060are our onwatch students away from I know it's going to be it matters by student. Everything's unique, but how close are our onwatch to benchmark? It's a it's it's it's a range. So, students would fall into a range. Um, I would have to I think when we first started doing this in the winter and spring of last year, I gave you kind of the bar graphs and so there was very much a visual. So for me to try to give you know 18 bar graphs um was cumbersome. So I went to this this way to present. I can um pull or share just the spring data and kind of show you the bar graphs for spring and share that with the board to get it so you can have an idea of you know they

061were one question away or you know in this particular case they were two or three questions away from being on on grade level or at benchmark right that would be that would be exciting because if we could take if we can take benchmark and and on watch kind of together um we're we're moving, you know, we're moving, but if but if we're very far away, um you know, we have a lot more more work to do. And then on the um moving from urgent to intervention, is that a harder leap generally speaking than moving say intervention to onwatch or is it all the same? I would I would say yes. when I um I in the first couple days of so testing um I would look at the so the on demand reports um for

062one of our one of our tests reading or math and then immediately went and pulled the star data to get an idea of is this just you know happen stance is there a predictability to okay you know all of our benchmark and on watch kids are still passing in the so um what I was seeing was we were having intervention kids in some cases passing the so test every once in a while some onwatch kids were not passing the so but for a lot of our students who were in the urgent categor category there there wasn't an outlier of an urgent students um popping up and and passing that. So okay um typically the students um in the urgent have um longstanding challenges to learning and require um lots of adult services and um instructional

063services to um support them during the day. Um, so we're able as we're able to move students from that urgent to intervention, that's progress, that's success, that becomes um self-sustee sort of building that students are willing to engage in that hard work. And it gets more it gets more challenging and more um as students become more frustrated in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade that they've had years of school being difficult and school being frustrating um to turn that tide for students. So, it's really important that in K one, two, three that we're getting students on grade level as quickly as possible, getting the traction. But yeah, I would say the lift from urgent to intervention is is heavier than the lift from on watch to at benchmark or intervention to on watch. Makes that makes

064sense. Thank you for presenting this information. You're welcome. We're moving along to item seven, citizens questions, comments, or requests. Comments not pertaining to personnel or student matters are limited to one opportunity of three minutes. Please state your name and address for the school board clerk. Protocol for public comment period. Matthews County residents and school employees wishing to speak should sign up with their name and address on the sheet if provided. Comment period will end after 90 minutes. All comments should be directed to the school board. Speakers shall not address any matters involving students or personnel as these topics may violate confidentiality and are not appropriate in a 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

065dialogue 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. Our first speaker is Amy Bohannan Stewart. Good evening. Um, as a taxpayer here in Matthews, I'm very upset and disappointed that the budget issue of contracting out substitutes and custodial services was not discussed publicly before going through with such a drastic change. I would have wanted to weigh in on this issue and how well I see it doesn't work well where I'm currently employed. I think that it is entirely possible that you're going to open

066up our schools to a parade of various people that stay for a little while until they find a job they want instead of having a long-term reliable crew of custodians that are actually our employees. And now I'm wondering about how are special events going to work? I volunteer with Afterprom and worked late that night of the Afterprom event and one of your long-term loy lo loyal custodians was there to help us. How are things like that going to work in the future with contracted services? Now, I did not address the issue of contracted subs last time I spoke because I just didn't really have enough time. But I'm even more concerned about how contracting out with a company for subs will impact our children. I see that you'll be using the same company that my

067current employer uses. Every morning at the middle school where I teach now, a coverage sheet is sent out um that we are all required to check and it lets all the teachers know if we're going to be covering a class where sub could not be found. We have to cover classes with no sub so frequently that we have a building based substitute and they pay teachers like me almost weekly to cover classes. Regardless of being paid to do it, being pulled to sub as much as twice per week has stressed me out so much. And it was the one of the many reasons that prompted me to tell my principal that although I enjoyed working with her, I just couldn't work there next year because of things like this. And those things are beyond her

068control. The school where I work was unable to find a long-term substitute for a situation that we had in the fall. And I'm worried because Matthew seems to have a need for long-term substitutes because people keep leaving midyear. Please explain how long-term substitutes will work. Now, now that you seem to be adding a layer of complication by placing a company between the principal that needs a substitute and the substitute, I think it is best for the children if the substitutes are arranged by the assistant at the front desk that knows her school well and long-term subs negotiated directly with the principal instead of putting a middleman between them. Based on what I've experienced this past year, I would logically think contracting with a company to arrange substitutes is going to cause the lady that once

069called the subs to start arranging a lot more coverage for classes and may even lead to our daily the daily spreadsheet being sent out letting teachers know where they're going during their planning period. And we may as just call it a coverage period instead of a planning period. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Bohan Stewart. Is there anyone else who'd like to approach the podium? Okay, we will move on then to number eight, superintendent'sformational reports. Item 8.1 is a budget update. Um so to highlight for you all the um proposals for the FY26 amended budget. Make sure. Okay. Um, just to go back in time a little bit to February and the approved FY26 budget. So, that budget was based on again enrollment of 725 students. It included a 4% increase to the salary scale as

070well as a step for all all employees. It included absorbing all health insurance increases for employees and it included maintaining all current positions, but we said that we would review vacancies as they um arose. That budget had in it three new positions, one a secondary reading specialist, a teacher assistant, an additional teacher assistant, as well as a additional new CTE teacher. and that was based on re our revenue was projected based on the January calculation tool to tool provided by the state. Um again some of the highlights we had talked about what salary increases would look like again that's looking at across the board 1% 3% and 5%. What we were anticipating for health insurance increases um we knew that Cantara was going to come in at an increase of 21.4% 4% for a total

071of 300 $322,000. Anthem was going to be a 5.5% increase which was about 4344,000 and the estimated cost for those three new positions. So that totaled $1.1 million in new requested money um from the the county or new requested money towards our budget. and that was what was approved in um February. So at that time we still didn't know what the state budget was going to look like. So that state budget could have had impacts for um a possible bonus in FY25 and I'll come back to that in a second. it could have incurred we could have incurred a reduction in FY25 funding and we could have also seen an increase in FY25 funding. So of that our FY25 funding was was relatively stable um in terms of the SOQ bonus. So the state did

072approve the bonus uh for FY25. So we um that allocation of money should be coming in the next week or so. I have to certify how we are planning to deploy that that amount of money. That amount of money is based on $1,000 for SOQ positions per division. Um we obviously employ more than SOQ positions within our division. The guidance from the state and the um the legislation that was passed regarding this allows school divisions flexibility in how and when that that amount of money is allocated to employees. There is no match requirement from that. So it is a one-time um allocation per division. Um the and again I guess another way to put it the way they determined how each how much money each division was going to get was based on number of

073full-time SOQ positions. So, our plan, my proposal with that mount, with that SOQ bonus money is to um deploy the amount of money that we receive to our full-time employees who finish out their 2425 contracts with us. So, as a way of it's kind of a a thank you to the employees who finished this school year with us, the amount of money that we're getting from the state, we will um spread that evenly for our full-time employees um who finish the school year with us. Most divisions are using the money as a retention or a signing bonus going into the next school year. Um, but as we had conversations about the merger with um the maintenance department also moving to contracting out our custodial services. We felt um in some conversations with some individual board

074members felt that it was more appropriate for us to recognize the employees who had worked with us during the year. Um those those employees through no fault of their own were not going to be Matthews County Public Schools employees going into next year. So, um, we wanted to, um, recognize their their contribution. And so, therefore, the the goal with that that bonus money is to deploy it to towards employees this year who finish out their contracts this year. So, if you're still under contract and still working with us late into June, then that money will be allocated. Um, also too, uh, Miss Laauo has a strategy where we'll put it into with the check so it doesn't get taxed at a different bonus rate. Um, so we've she's got a strategy to deploy that. Um,

075so going back to future considerations, impacts for FY26. Um, we weren't sure at that time when we approved what the state legislature what that approved budget was going to look like. uh at that time we didn't know the number of positions that we may absorb as a school division due to declining enrollment and then facility improvement costs and impacts on the county budget. So we were still working and still continue to work with the county on just their commitment to um facility upgrades and maintenance upgrades within the schools and how that would impact the county's overall budget. Okay. So going into what um the board will be voting on this evening. So the amended FY26 um here are the highlights to meet the I guess fiscal realities uh within the county and the request the

076county made of the school division to reduce its uh request in local funding. So within this budget it includes on the teacher scale the scale moves up 4% and teachers will move one step which is 1%. So teachers will see um a total of a 5% salary um increase with scale and step support staff scales are 2% plus a step for a total of three. the student services scales and the administration, excuse me, the student services scale and administration scales um will be increased 1% and those individuals will also receive a step for a total of 2%. Um we're moving 50% of the increased health insurance premiums will be passed on to employees. um that impact is going to vary based on which insurance plan and which option um within that plan that you subscribe

077to. The biggest impact is going to be for individuals who have the Centa family plan. That increases is the largest. Um what we were attempting to do in reducing and adjusting some of the the salary increase rates to meet the the budgets was to um come close to absorbing the health insurance increase. Um, I think in most cases we were able to get there, but I don't know that in every case, um, every individual is going to have a a real raise, if you will, um, due to, um, depending on the the health insurance plan. Um, we removed two new positions requested, the CTE teacher and the teacher assistant. Hang on a second. Are you moving it or am I moving it? It's on me. Okay. It's just a little It's a little sluggish. Okay.

078So, also within the budget, we are absorbing six total positions. We are looking to reduce extra period supplements for teachers at the high school. We've reduced specific several specific line items, but some of those are the textbook line item, the cafeteria line item allocations to the thrifty spot. And then within specific line items, we're looking at subscriptions and lease agreements. So, we've not renewed several subscriptions. We're reviewing some lease agreements to see where we can find some savings. um not listed on here. We'll um we had to rebid our internet, so we're anticipating um savings with rebidding out our internet services um and various other things. So, um so we're we're going again going through with a fairly fine tooth comb. Um there's savings that come from um contracting out our custodial services, merging the

079maintenance departments, and some savings um associated with contracting out our substitute teachers. What is not impacted by this? We have not had to go into um cutting any Virginia High School League programs. We don't have to with this proposal. There are no cuts to our inter mural programs, to any of our regional programs. We haven't had to go in and look at employee contract lengths. One of the things we were worried about initially was if we were going to have to move some 12-month employees back to 11 months or some 11-month employees back to 10 months um and looking at those pieces. So, we've not had to um touch touch those pieces in order to um meet the needs of the budget. Um so, a quick review on expected funding and differences in the then

080amended FY26 budget. So, there's um about $128,000, an increase of about $500 or so. um into the the FY26 some state funding. Um one of the things even though our enrollment this budget that we're living under right now is 750 is based on 750 the next FY26 is based on 725 students. Um we are still because of the increase per student and SOQ funding we're anticipating um the calc tool has us an increase of about $46,000. That's a significant difference from the January calculation tool. So that that's about a $300,000 difference from what we were anticipating receiving from the state and what we um should and should receive from the state. um federal funding differences. Our local operating um is going down just under $600,000. Um and then the reduct reduction in um funding towards

081thrifty spot and cafeteria and textbooks is um listed there. The reduction in school food is from what was proposed at the February budget. Um, so there is still an increase over FY25 to FY26 in terms of funding for the cafeteria school food. However, we reduced the amount that we were planning to allocate towards the cafeteria. Um, ex expenditures. Um, so some of those reductions in expenditures are reflected there again. So the reduction in thrifty spot expenditures um operating um you'll see within instruction is increasing a little over half a million dollars. Um that's basically health insurance costs and um salary increases. Um reduction in the administration attendance and health category by just under $100,000. Transportation declines. Operations and maintenance is significant. Um that's due to moving that over most of that the bulk of that

082department over um to um to the county. Um the bulk of what's remaining in that $800,000 um a big chunk of that is contract for um custodial services. So that's about um $580,000 of that 800,000 is still still in there. Um so our our operating budget um for this year is um $15.9 million and then goes up to 17.1 with cafeteria textbooks etc. Questions on highlights? We've had lots of conversations and individual kind of small groupoup conversations and um but that's those are kind of the highlights. I had a question uh Dr. Daniel on the reduced line item for textbooks. Could you just So part of the part of the rationale and reducing the line item for textbooks has to do with the math textbook adoption. Okay. And so the state timeline is getting pushed.

083So we won't have a math textbook series to adopt until probably next year. And so we didn't need to allocate as much money for that because the the state isn't ready to sign off on math textbooks yet and give us an approved list that we can um begin to order from. So, because we're not buying a whole a K12 math textbook series, we don't need to have the money in there and so we can um put that in other areas. That's fortunate. Members questions. Okay, thank you very much. Yes, please. Item 8.2, the attendance update. I'll just go ahead and stay up here since I'm here. Okay, so attendance data. I'm going to fast forward through December hopefully. All right. So, April data, um, we're starting to inch closer, um, towards the end of the

084year. Um, it becomes increasingly, um, holding the line on attendance and chronic absenteeism gets gets difficult as the weather gets warmer. Um so looking at data from looking at who is um at the chronically absent state this year compared to last year we see an increase at the high school. Again a piece to keep in mind is the high school has an additional grade level this year over last year. Um so you see a reduction at Thomas Hunter this year compared to last year. They have one grade level um fewer but again 18 students is is um significant. Um, Matthews Elementary School is working diligently, but they're at 30 students um, chronically absent as opposed to 18 this time last year. Um, just a note with within the elementary school, those numbers include preK. So,

085the number of students who are absent, that is including our prek students. In terms of our state reporting, preK is not factored into our preK reporting. Um this is also um raw data. So there are going to be students who are included in here who may have withdrawn withdrawn and gone to homeschool um at various points as as we've continued to um develop attendance plans and also to um looking at percentages um for the um accountability framework. So below 15% chronically absent is the goal. Um and so I I ran the numbers. I didn't put them on this on this chart. So I think we're right at that threshold um with the high school in terms of the number of students. Um but so if even if the high school is at say 16% two

086years ago the high school was at 33% chronically absent. So while seeing 52 students out of 324 who have missed more than um 17 days is not where we want it to be again it's improvement it's changing habits it's it's changing um culture um again Thomas Hunter seeing success um to me the concern remains how do we remains with students at the elementary school and um ensuring and working with families to prioritize attendance at school every day being a critical piece. Um, littles are going to get sick and immune systems getting built up and school tolerance for cold and flu and etc. Um, but looking at some of the data like those habits um start start super super early and prioritizing school has to come super super early. And so, um, I know Miss Bray

087and the staff at the elementary school and Taran Thomas are working with families to make sure those students are are coming to school, um, and developing attendance plans and all that work is is paying off. But it again, it's it it's it's hard hard work. It's hard work changing habits and behaviors um, within a community. Um, sorry. I think that's I don't think I put tardy. Yeah, I don't think I put tardy data for for April on there. So, so yeah. So, that's that's kind of where we are right now. It's what's super important from now until the end of the year as we're working through um exams at the high school, so test completion um is keeping students engaged and keeping students coming to school in these last three weeks of school. um and

088making sure they're not moving from, you know, they're not missing days 15, 16, 17, and 18 in these last few weeks of school and moving them into that chronically absent. And I think I mentioned it last month, but the chronic absenteeism isn't isn't a Matthews rule, isn't a Virginia rule. It's a federal rule um that is passed on to states as part of state accountability to the USCD. And so therefore it's a local accountability measure within within the state. So and we have there constant conversations about you know you know we can do we can do what we can do but we can't do everything with we can't go and you know pull kids into the onto the school bus or into the schools but we can do a lot of things but it's I

089don't know that any school has any school division that I've talked to has the has the magic solution. Some some have better attendance rates than others, but I think all of them continue to struggle in one way, shape, or form or one zone or another zone. So, and just a note on this, we will be addressing absenteeism and the policy at the summer work session. Yes. So, we'll have an opportunity to speak about this. So, we're going to at length try to try to work on some a few more things to continue to to tighten up. Yeah. Um, I guess I'm speaking to both you, Dr. Daniel, and uh, to Dr. Gibbs. Um, I'm wondering if we need to try to do some research to see if there are any small divisions that have had

090some success in turning around um, the chronic absenteeism and and to see what they're doing differently. Um do is there anything that's published through the state? Um going I mean there have been some workshops and as I go to conferences there's some breakout sessions. A lot of it has to do with um having a you know hiring a school social worker that that we've done. Um it's breakfast after the bell to make sure kids are fed and encouraging students to come to school which which we've which we we've done. It's working on having different activities and attendance incentives, which we've we've done. Um, a a big part of it, and you know, some school divisions operate kind of a a second bus run in the morning that if you miss the first bus run, we'll

091come by and pick you up with the second bus run. Um, I don't know that that would I don't know that that's the solution for us. I I'm happy when there's an attendance plan and we can put in place call the school and we'll send somebody to come get you. I mean, we'll we'll find that solution with a student in a family who's on an attendance plan and you know, Timmy missed the bus and we don't have a car right now. We'll send somebody to go to go get Timmy. I don't think anybody has has sees that as a barrier. The barrier is then making sure that we get that phone call saying like, "Hey, can somebody come get I don't I don't think it's Are we doing that now? Are we are we are

092they I think that's in attendance plans where, you know, you can call in and we'll we'll figure out a way to to come get you." That's good. And I know they're working on different different solutions. Um it's making sure the court system is a partner with the school divisions and enforcing truency laws. Um I think that's it's been hit or miss. Um, but it also takes a really long time to get a a student in a family before a judge with truency. I mean, it it takes months in order for that to happen in order to meet the threshold to do all the steps required to then take it before the judge. So, it you know, it it has to be chronic often and early. And if you're lucky, you might, you know, meet that

093by January or February to get a student before the judge. So, and you may not know the answer to this. Um, do you know if there are any fam families that have um gone to homeschooling because of the absentee, the pressure from being at Okay. Yeah. Um it's not widespread but it's um when we looked at it at our um at our last retreat um Miss Thomas had pulled sort of I'd hidden the names but had pulled individual students the number the reasons for their attendance for their absences and there was a note section that listed you know has um withdrawn to homeschool and so I think there were about a half dozen students um across the three schools at that point who had withdrawn to homeschool due to um attendance and attendance and required

094you us enforcing attendance policy and state code for attendance. So when you go to homeschool there, you know, you're exempt from kind of those attendance laws. So thank you. And there are multiple reasons why again why students are absent and why students select homeschool or families select homeschool for their students. But but yeah we see that relatively frequently. Would you like to speak on the funding for asbestous abatement at Thomas Hunter Middle School? Okay. So, some really good news related to our um to the state budget. We were informed by the Virginia Department of Education um that a million dollars had been allocated in the state budget for asbestous abatement for Thomas Hunter Middle School. Um, that was part of the part of the legislation. Um, I want to give kudos to Miss Hodgeges and

095Senator McDougall's office um for working to support Matthews and Thomas Hunter Middle School to get that funding for us. This was born out of the legislators in our schools day where we had legislators um local and state and national um come and tour the school. And so we expressed to our legislators the needs within our school division. Uh Miss Hodgeges and um later on Dr. Gibbs worked with our liaison with Senator McDougall's office to answer questions, provide insight, documentation to his office, and he was able to um have legislation move through the general assembly to allocate um a million dollars to us. I've provided a a tentative scope of work to the Department of Education. We're anticipating receiving that money um in the next couple weeks. We're finalizing um a bid process to get the

096the engineering and program the project management sort of specked out and hope to get started on that as quickly as possible. Um but I think that will aid us in um ensuring the the health and safety of our students in our buildings um is the utmost the highest quality. It'll also as we're removing those asbests containing materials, we'll be able to upgrade a lot of the the finished surfaces within especially within Thomas Hunter. So, if we hopefully we'll finish under budget, we'll get I'll seek approval to then go apply that to um go to the high school and see what we can do with that. So, yeah, that's a big a piece of good news. Excellent. Okay. Um, so again within superintendent information items. So the Matthews High School graduation ceremony as Saturday, May 31st

097at 10:00 in the Harry M. Ward Auditorium. The Thomas Hunter is celebrating their seventh graders in the promotion ceremony on Thursday, June 5th at 11:00. Matthews Elementary School is going to celebrate do their preschool graduation on Friday, May 30th at 9:00 in the elementary cafeteria. And then Matthews Elementary School is also celebrating fourth graders with their promotion ceremony Thursday, June 5th at 9:00 in the Matthews Elementary School cafeteria. I would just make a a note for folks who are planning to come to the the school promotion ceremonies. Um, please have your driver's license available when you come to the door to go through the background check and screening. That process can bog down a little bit. I think you can come in advance um to get pre-screened so you can come on in, but we

098screen visitors who are coming into the building um against the the state registry. So, you need to make sure you have your driver's license when you come in. Um, when we have kids in the building and we have visitors in the building and you're going past the office, then you get you get screened on a background check. So, please um come early, get pre-screened, bring a driver's license the day of and arrive early so you don't get stuck in the line. Um 8.5 employee retirement award presentation will be Tuesday, June 17th during the school board meeting. So, we'll be recognizing all of our employees who are um graduating into retirement and being promoted into retirement. So, we'll recognize them at our June 17th um meeting and that meeting is being held at the M Matthews

099High School Media Center. Um finally, 8.6. Um some superintendent information items for our school board members. um listed there is um the various are the various financial reports for each school. Those are the school-based um financial reports. Um also is the April FY25 expenditure reports. Um a memo regarding summer hours. Um and I'm trying to remember what the cafeteria. So, it's a um kind of approval of the USDA donated food program within our um school division. So, just information items for you all. Okay. Any questions from members to Dr. Daniel? Thanks, Dr. Daniel. You're welcome. Moving on to number nine, schoolboard informationational reports 9.1. Uh we're going to uh briefly just discuss the policy committee member assignments. We were hoping to I was hoping to assign members uh to that committee tonight, but um Mr.

100Dobson is not with us. He was one of uh the members who expressed interest in being on that committee along with Mr. Morgan. But um I would just say that we'll give a a brief update on where we're at in the process and that we will hold on assigning uh the two members to that policy committee at this time. Um, and thank you, Miss Diggs, for offering to uh as needed pinch hit there. Um, but we will we will wait and get some more information on that. Yeah. But Mrs. Hodgees and I have uh successfully gone through the manual along with Miss Morgan has provided um so much help in setting up the system by which we're going to track policy reviews and um our goal is to get this uh being worked on a

101regular basis. So there won't be an onslaught of policy reviews but it will be ongoing with a a tickler. It'll be a constant uh due diligence that the board performs on maintaining our review of our policies. So, we hope to get um movement on that very very soon. Anybody have any comments or questions about that at this time? Just one thing, Dr. Yes. I did meet with Mrs. Morgan in schoolboard office and to look at the spreadsheet she has created and get some general information from her. Um, and as I told you before, I'm willing to serve on that committee if you would like me to. I would suggest uh I don't know uh where Mr. Dobson stands at the moment, but I would suggest that we do have two members, two people in that

102committee because some of those policies. I would feel much better if we had two separate pairs of eyes. Absolutely. And that is per policy that there are two members and others as needed, but not members, but other people from the school board office. Okay. Um you have that at your leisure, but definitely two members. Uh, okay. Sounds good. Create the committee. Thank you. And thank you for offering to to assist with that. Item 9.2, we have a first review of the VSBA policy updates for May. And so these are uh the red lines. So um they're quite a few. Does anybody have any comments? We're we're not voting on anything, but we're just reviewing just quite a lot. We'll continue to review those and uh we will see those in our packet next month. Excuse

103me. Did you say we would vote on next month? will be voting next month. Right. Okay. Thank you. Item 9.3, the school board conferences and webinars past and future. Again, taking a look at our uh due dates of our required trainings for for Koya, FOYA, and any Title 9 and additional um availability of workshops noted there. Of course, there are other entities that provide highquality education for schoolboard members and we we are mandated to take highquality uh schoolboard trainings. Any comments or questions? I do have a question. Just make sure I'm understanding this correctly. Um, under the title nine, it would appear that we all need to take this again because it's recommended annually. Is that what I just want to make sure? Okay. Confirm that, Miss Morgan. It's recommended. Training is recommended. It's recommended

104yearly on Title N. It depends on what [Music] that's what I thought and it's okay. Okay. A refresher or if there's been change in the policy then we would need to take that but new training. Yes, absolutely. I'm not sure we need it annually. Item 9.4 four board and committee reports by school board members and the superintendent. And first, let me just cover that we have all of the um board of supervisors meetings are covered. So, we are good through the end of the year on that. And uh I believe Miss uh Mrs. Hodes, you wanted to speak uh or give an update on CBGS. Yes. Thank you. First of all, I want to thank you Dr. Gibbs for attending the board of supervisors in mystead last week. My pleasure. Um Chesig Bay Governor School,

105the um executive the um director is leaving at the end of this year. He's given notice. Um Dr. Strong um uh we had a new director hired. Well um was offered a position and she accepted it, but then it uh later apparently another offer came in. So, as far as I know, we do not have a um a director. I know they they were supposed to they had a meeting the other day, which I was not able to attend, but I've not seen any email that said they have hired someone. That's right. I've not seen an email like announcing the the next I I think they had um two finalists, two or three finalists. Um and so I don't know that if subsequent interviews have been held and and a decision point has been made

106yet. Right. Yeah. So, at the end of this uh school year, there will not be um a anybody heading the governor's school. So, hopefully we'll be able to get someone in that place soon. Yeah, I would expect it shortly. That my understanding last Thursday at our regional superintendence meeting was that it was I I think this week there were there was to be movement on that decision this week. Thank you. Yes. Yes. And um regarding the regional special education meetings, uh I believe Mr. Dobson is a is a member there and Mr. Diggs, you are not correct. You are not a member um or an observer to the regional special education meetings. No, it's Mr. Dobson and he is not able to give a report on that. But I will just say for Heretta and

107for Cleo, uh Heretta being the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association, which oversees the WHRO, uh that meeting is tomorrow. So, uh no immediate update there. But um as far as the CLEO, the chief local elected officials meeting um that organization which I serve as a member at large and the liaison to the um workforce um the Bay Consortium workforce uh that organization um a point came up and and just so you know I'm the only school board member as a as an elected official. Others are mostly um board of supervisor members but um I did not know that uh when I was asked to be the member at large there is a succession on that after two years there's a succession to the next level which is vice chair of that that board. So I

108will be probably I will continue that but I will probably be looking for a replacement for my Heretta uh participation so and so that someone else can get that um that experience. But regarding Cleo something came up specific to schools and I think everybody is pretty familiar with Mr. Giles Scott. He is the he's the performs the youth component for the consortium and for for workforce and he has worked with the high school quite a bit and provides the virtual um occupational virtual training things is very big. Well, his job is is potentially um theoretically could be eliminated. And so what the executive director asked me was to float with our board um and she's going to be asking many other boards in our region if there would be a uh if we could see

109our way clear to sharing the cost of um Giles Scott. He has been so beneficial to our division and we really have gotten a lot of help from him and I told her I would float that out to the members and to the superintendent and just to she's just at the beginning stages. Nothing has happened yet but in anticipation with the budget reductions that they're facing. Um the youth program is the one that will be first affected. So just something to think about something we can talk about. But I do feel strongly that Giles Scott is an asset to our division and has made a difference. Um Dr. Grieve is here and shaking his head and and I know u Mrs. Dodge is also very involved with Giles and he they are really helpful during

110the career fair and in various other things um for our kids for future occupations. So, um, something to think about, think out of the box on this one at the way we could retain him. Um, along with the support of five or six other school divisions sharing sharing that cost. I have no details about what that would be at this point. But it's the concept. It's um, first of all, I think he called himself influencer, didn't he? Is that the term that they I think so. At least initially. I think so. So I thought I thought Cleo was um for like from Fredericksburg to Eastern Shore. So which is more than five or six. So is she is she are they thinking about just concentrating on five or six school divisions and not including the

111other ones. Is that what you're I did not know what her rationale was there and she seemed um to be keen on the five or six and I'm like well why not spread I I don't know what the vision is yet. I think she is just trying to be creative and anticipate this loss. Is it was it federal money? Is that what it was? It was Yes. Oh my. Yes. Thank you for indulging me to explain that situation. No, very helpful information. Okay. I appreciate you giving us an update on that. Great. Yes. It's a I really enjoyed that u being part of that and that group. Item 9.5. Our next regular schoolboard monthly meeting will be Tuesday, June 17th at 6 PM at the Matthews High School Media Center because that is primary or

112yeah, that is primary voting date. So, we have had a location change. Everybody, please note that. And item 9.6, we have an upcoming summer work session which is Wednesday, June 25th, um from 8 to 3 at the Chesapeake Bank community room. And moving on to item 10, action items. We have a few uh items here tonight. Item 10.1, seeking the approval of the amended adopted 2025 2026 school budget. May I have a motion? I make a motion to approve the amended adopted 2025 2026 school budget as listed. Well, thank you, Miss Diggs. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? I mean, I feel like um we have fiscal limitations clearly and that we're living within those limitations. And thinking about this um over the last several weeks, it just um it seems like whenever

113we have to have to reduce our budget, it's always teacher salaries that is where we reduce it. Um, we keep we've kept the programs going. That's great. I'm just saddened that teachers are are the ones and and faculty are the ones and staff are the ones that take the hit. Um, but we have to live within our limitations. So, well, and yet I was going to applaud the efforts of the schoolboard office for really doing something unique uh and looking at things creatively with those increases and trying to maintain our competitive edge with our teachers specifically and make other adjustments to accommodate to allow for that. So uh I know untold hours went into these adjustments and this the finesse with which um this amended budget was kind of carved out and put and put

114together. Um you know we have um we have to live within our means and uh we will continue to have an eye towards efficiencies going forward. Um and that is just that is the way of the world. That is the That is the way of the division and it Yes. Um Okay. Item 10.2. Nope. Need to take a vote. Oh yes. All right. Uh all those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item 10.2. Looking for the uh motion for the approval of authorization of signature in the absence of the division superintendent. May I have a motion? I make a motion to approve the authorization of signature for Leslie R. Hunley, assistant superintendent to sign all VA um Virginia Department of Education reports, documents, requisitions, and other official correspondence in the absence of the

115division superintendent from July 1st, 2025 until June 30th, 2026 as listed. Thank you, Mrs. Hodes. Do we have a second? Second discussion. I have a question regarding this. I want to clarify that any contracts that would require signature would not be included in this action. Correct. No. Yeah. Depends on the situation. I guess if you're out for a long term and the board, then I would need to sign. Yeah. So, I think there wouldn't be signature without conversation. So, um, if there was, you know, a pending contract, we're all aware of of what's going on and something un untold happens like a car accident may befall the superintendent on his way to work. Um, has happened. There's a hypothetical joke. I was in a car accident last week. Um, so that that could happen. Um,

116and so that, you know, there may be um a time frame where that that would need to be that would need to take place. Yeah. Okay. But it is not specifically written into the recommended action reports documents recommended for other official correspondence. It's correspondence official correspondence but is that construed as contract reports documents requisitions? Okay. Okay. Do we have a provision for the signing of contracts in the absence of the superintendent? I don't know. I don't know if we have that policy. I don't know if we have that in policy or not. Okay. Need to look at that. I will add it to the list for session. It's a good call. All right. Any more any more discussion? All right. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Item 10.3. I'm

117looking for a motion for the approval of the 2025 to 2030 local plan for the education of the gifted. Have a motion. I make a motion to approve the 2025 through 2030 local plan for the education of the gifted as written. We have a second. Second. Is there any discussion? just extend our thanks to Miss Gray for developing this and there there just seems like there were very minor changes reflected in your memo. So it's a very lengthy plan and thank you for your work on that. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed? Motion passes. Item 10.4 for the adoption of textbooks for grades 3 through 5 science for 2025 2026. May I have a motion? I make a motion to adopt the textbooks for grades 3 through 5 science for 2025 2026 as

118listed. Thank you, Miss Diggs. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? I wanted to make a comment that I really appreciate all of the hard work that it takes to set that up, the coordinating of it, Miss Hunley, and then the execution of it by the schools to have the um materials out for people to review. I appreciate the process and um I'm I'm grateful to have it and was pleased with what I saw with the textbooks that are up for adoption. Any more discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item 10.5. I'm looking for a motion for the adoption of textbooks for family and consumer sciences for 2025 2026. May I have a motion? Yes. I'll make a motion that we approve or adopt the textbooks for family

119and consumer sciences for 2025 2026. Thank you, Mr. Morgan. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? Ditto my previous comments. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item 10.6. I'm looking for a motion to approve the outofcount tuition waiverss requested by school employees for 2025 2026. I make a motion to approve the out ofount tuition waiverss requested by school employees for 2025 2026 as listed. Thank you, Mrs. Hodes. Do we have a second? I second. Any discussion? There being none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Thank you very much, board. Moving on to item 11, citizens comments on items discussed during the meeting. Do we have anybody who would like to approach the podium? Good evening. Um, my name is Kelly Lockerby. I live here in

120Matthews County. Um, I was confused by one thing. Um I was at the last meeting where um it was proposed the amendments to the budget and then I was at the joint meeting with the supervisors where it was discussed and so I was waiting to find out where it got voted on and so it appears that you guys just voted on the amendment. So I was confused by how we were able to enter into contracts with people if it wasn't voted on what that we were amending the budget that was previously voted on. Would you like to discuss the issuance of contracts being post vote? I guess depends on what country. Yeah. Um so just in terms of um employee contracts are issued will be issued tomorrow after the budget is and I don't know

121if you're referring to employee contracts or contracts with companies. Okay. that it's part of the proposed I mean we would we know what our funding is going to to be and so we can still engage in contracts um across fiscal years perhaps if more research is needed or discussion be else. I mean, we did approve a budget in February. Yes, there was a budget approved in February. Um, but if there if if that you may need to follow up and if you need to follow up, follow up. Would anyone else like to approach the the podium? Richard Hicks, North Virginia. I don't believe this was discussed during the meeting, but it's still cold in here. Thank you. Well, thank you, Mr. Hicks. Would anyone else like to approach the podium? Right. Schoolboard comments. Members have

122any comments tonight? Um I would like to personally thank as a board member personally thank um the board but particularly uh Dr. Daniels, Dr. Gibbs, and Miss Hodgeges for your work. Um Leslie Hunley, Miss Lao, all of you all who have worked so hard on this. um because I can see that and I just want to personally thank you. Thank you, Miss Digs. Sure. Mr. Morgan, any comments tonight, Miss? No. Well, thanks. I mean, I feel like I'm reiterating somewhat of what um both of you, both my colleagues have said. Um but I'm not sure the public is aware of of the um immense amount of additional work by the schoolboard office in um in this budget process and trying to come up with a variety of presentations um to the public and to the

123board of supervisors. It was an immense amount of work. Um that's I know many weekends were spent by many people trying to trying to pull this together. Um and it it is greatly appreciated and for the benefit of our students. That's right. Agreed. Very much appreciated. Right. Item 14, other business by the school board members or superintendent. 14.1. We will have a school board closed meeting Tuesday, June 17, 2025. We would like to start that closed at 4:00 p.m. That will request a change. Will be a 4:00 pm start on the closed meeting, not 5. And that will be at the Matthews comp uh Matthews High School conference room. Item 14.2, to next regular monthly meeting will be Tuesday, June 17th at 6 PM at the media center at the high school. And please note

124that is again a location change will not be here. It will be at the high school because of voting. Item 14.3 again our summer work session, the schoolboard summer work session will be June 25th 8 to 3 in the Chesapeake Bank community room. And finally item 14.4, for the end of year special meeting will be Monday, June 30th, 2025 at 9:00 am in the J. Murray Brooks Auditorium here at Thomas Hunter Middle School. There being none, no more information, no more comments by anyone. Just a final farewell to Miss Jen. Thank you for staying for our entire meeting. You did great. Big shoes to fill. Yes. And tonight's meeting is now adjourned. Thank you all.