001Everybody, good afternoon. Thank you for your patience. Uh, we are now calling to order the regular session of the New King County School Board. Do I hear a motion to come out of close session? So moved. I hear a second. Second. Miss Davis, please pull the board. Mr. R. Hi, Mr. Boy. Hi, Mr. Rossi. Hi, Muna. Hi, Mr. Pagan. I Miss Kuna, could you please read the certification of closed session? My pleasure. Whereas, the new Ken County School Board has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. And whereas section 2.2-3711 2-3711 of the code of Virginia requires a certification by the new Kent County School Board that such closed meeting was conducted in in conformity with
002Virginia law. Now, therefore, it be be it resolved that the new Kent County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting required requirement by Virginia law were discussed in closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies. And two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the new Kent County School Board. Thank you very much. Do I hear a motion to approve the certification of the close session? So moved. Mr. Vaude has the first. Do I have a second? Second. Second. Mr. Rhymer. Miss Davis, please pull the board. Mr. Rhyme. Hi. Mr. B. Hi. Mr. Mr. Sroski I miss I and Mr. Pagan I thank you. Motion passes
0035-0. We are now out of close. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. All right, everybody. First item on the agenda this evening is presentations, recognitions, and the school spotlight. Dr. Nichols. Yes. And tonight we are proud to have Quinton Elementary School here. Um, and they're going to talk about the work that they do uh specifically around special education. I will tell you when you go to Quinton it looks like magic because kids make incredible progress but it's incredible hard work by the staff that is here in partnership with our family. So with that I will turn it over to look at that right.
004So Miss Block will start us. Good evening Dr. Nichols Mr. Pagano school board members and guests. I'm Katie Block a special education teacher at Quinton Elementary. I'm joined by my colleagues Lauren Burkehead, preschool special education teacher, and Stephanie Berdock, multi-age special education teacher, to inform you about the wonderful aspects of our amazing special education department. Before we dive in, let's start with a special welcome. Oh, is here. Hi, school board. A what a sweetie. That's awesome. Let's start with the basics. We have multiple environments designed to support our students with disabilities. Our youngest cubs are served in preK, also known as early childhood special education. And I hear one of them over there coming in to see us. Our students with the highest academic, social, communication, behavior, and daily living needs are served between two
005academic support classrooms. Finally, we have 14 general education K through5 classes that support the individualized needs of a large number of students with disabilities. At Quinton, we serve 89 students with disabilities. This makes up about 16% of our population. My name is the Quinton Way centers around inclusion. But what does this mean? Inclusion gives all students access to the same spaces, learning opportunities, and experiences regardless of their differences. To execute and promote inclusivity, we teach all of our students about differences, tolerance, acceptance, and compassion. This ensures our Cubs leap for middle school of well-rounded, kind, accepting community members. To make our campus a place where all students can be successful, we have a variety of tools available to help support students needs. This includes flexible seating, communication boards in classrooms, playgrounds, hallways, and adaptive equipment.
006So, let's dig deeper into the different settings offered at Quinton. Most of our special education students are served in typical K through5 rooms focused on the standards of learning. Special educators might pull students for small group to work on their individualized education program goals, also known as IEPs. They also sometimes teach alongside the classroom teacher while implementing accommodations and helping their students utilize the skills they are being taught. to share more about our preschool program. I'm going to pass the torch to Miss Burkehead, also known as Miss Lauren. [Applause] In our special education preschool classroom, we serve both children in general education and special education. General education students serve as role models for um play skills, communication, social skills, and routines. Additionally, our general education students learn acceptance and inclusion at the youngest age and
007become lifelong advocates of inclusion. Uh half of the students in the classroom have a disability and all of the students are fully incorporated into the general education preschool curriculum. To show what this looks like, we have a in action. We have a short clip from one of our morning meetings. Um and just take note of how all of the different adults in the room are supporting varying needs. I promise it's worth the wait. [Music] Thank you. Olive O. O is for octopus and octopus. Peewee. P is for pirate penuin. You got to get your thumb in there, Timmy. P. Raise your hand, please. like it's like [Music] you do like zuponics. [Music] Um so as you can see all the students were fully participating and incorporated into the activity regardless of abilities and difference. And
008when students do require some extra support, my instructional assistants or myself are able to model comm communication move model movements, aid in different ways, and provide varying levels of support and prompts. Now, Miss Murdoch will discuss our academic support classrooms. Quentyn supports two classrooms for students with high needs across multiple areas. These may include communication, behavior, learning needs, social skills, and support with daily living. Our academic support classrooms are a zone program. So students with these high needs who are zoned for George Watkins or Newton Elementary are brought to Quinton for this special program. Our ASU students receive heavy modifications to the curriculum and layers of support to help meet their needs developmental and functionally. Most students use augmentative alternative communication or ADC devices to express their needs and wants which you heard a little
009bit earlier. Students in grades three through five are on a modified curriculum called the alter Virginia alternative assessment program and are on track for an applied studies diploma. Our school strives to incorporate our ASSE students into as much of the general education experience as possible. This includes daily morning meetings in their general education classrooms, lunch and recess with their gened peers and resource with their gened classes. Each room has instructional assistants who are vital in ensuring students individual needs are supported. Most ASC students along with many preschool and collaborative special education students receive support from our related service providers. Speech, occupational therapy, and physical therapy are vital to helping our students learn communication, fine motor, gross motor, and sensory skills needed to be successful in school and in the community. Instructional assistants also not only
010help to keep students safe, but also provide valuable instruction and accommodations for our special education students. Our special education department alongside all school staff work diligently every day to give our students an immersive, loving school environment. From assemblies to field trips, school concerts, morning meetings, our students are a vital part of our Cub community. Here are just a few more examples of how Quinton embraces the idea of inclusion. Every Friday, academic support students alongside a few general education peers deliver staff shoutouts throughout the building. Many of our students with higher needs have peer helpers who model behavior and social skills across settings within the building. Students are able to use their current classroom rewards to visit ASC classrooms as helpers for special activities like crafts or projects. Quinton is excited to be adding an additional
011special education preschool classroom and an additional academic support classroom next year. With our growing population of students with disabilities, we look forward to continuing to support their individualized needs while also teaching all of our cubs to be kind, accepting, and helpful community members. Now, let's finish things off with a special send off. Hi, Cam. Goodbye. Thank you for your time and your continued support of our cups. Thank you. Thank you, [Applause] Mr. If I may, if you're part of the Quinton family team, will you please stand for a second? It takes a There are a lot of individuals that wrap around [Applause] Oh, I'm sorry. Next up, I got How do you go from there? So, yes, Mr. This is the month of the military child. So, New County Public Schools proudly served over 200
012children and military families. So that number may be a surprise to you. Uh we take pride in educating and supporting our students and families who sacrifice so much for our country. We are working on a Purple Star designation for at least one of our schools for next year. We're in the middle of the process for that. Uh we do we work hard to support our military families and we believe that designation eventually will be across the entire school division, but um Ross and I are working for at least one if not two of our schools next year just in support of our military families. So very proud of them and our partnership. So the next recognition coming your way is autism acceptance month. So fits perfectly with Quinton Elementary's presentation. So April is autism acceptance
013month. Um it used to be autism awareness month. We need to get together and just be aware. Uh we got to take it another step uh or two or three. uh new schools uh raises awareness, promotes understanding and and celebrates the talents and contributions of of students uh with autism. So very proud of the work that we continue to do there. Um it is also April's a busy month. It is also school library month. Um April is school library month. We have incredible librarians special. So that is a picture from Quinton Elementary um in that seat which is incredibly comfortable. But we want to thank Miss Stamper, Miss Carmine, Miss Sonic, Miss Mortica, and Miss High School as part of the collaboration. And now board members for a new feature at our board meetings. Uh
014we're going to recognize we have so many incredible students. We're trying to find ways to weave them into our presentation. So we have some student athletes of the month I'd like to tell you about. So Ryan Griffin, please stand so I can say, let me tell you a little bit about Ryan. So Ryan is a 10th grade student at New Kent High School working through honors level coursework on her advanced diploma. She also attends Chesapeake Bay Governor's School. So Ryan, you may not know this, but Miss Kun is a board member who's part of that board, too. Um, she's the daughter of Angela Griffith and Daniel Leon. In addition to being a star athlete, she's also a stellar student. I didn't even know this was possible. Ryan has worked to earn herself a 4.4 grade
015point average and is currently holding straight A's juggling both New High School and Ches Bay. Um, she's also a highly dedicated student athlete. As a high school sophomore, this gymnastics season, Ryan led her team by earning her way off to the awards podium at every meet, including districts, regionals, and states. I will tell you I went to a couple of meets. You have gymnast and you have Ryan. So it's appropriate to say the bar is raised when Ryan takes the floor. Um so she at states where she placed in every event. So at the state level bars, floor, beam, and vault. She's the third in the all-around gymnastics category in the state of Virginia. [Music] I know we have other athletes in here, but so in state competition, it's by class, class one, class two,
016and you end up with six state champions. Gymnastics is like not like that. She is the third best gymnast in the state of Virginia. Cross classes. [Applause] So if you read the Richmond, she may also look familiar because she was chosen as this year's all metro gymnast of the year. So I present to the amazing Ryan. [Applause] Our next student athlete of the month is Marty Ray. [Music] [Applause] So, if you've been to a few basketball games, you may not recognize him because he's typically on the floor at some point uh recklessly going to the basket and defending the ball. Uh Marty is an 11th grade student at New Kent High School working through honors levels course work on his advanced diploma. He's the son of Angela Ray. off the court. Marty also excels in
017the classroom as he unfolds a 3.9 GPA and currently has straight A's for the semester which is in season. That is incredible. Uh Marty this year made first team all region, first team all district. He also finished fourth in the state VHSL and made threepoint shots. I can I can make it in attempts, but I don't. Uh Marty finished second scoring on the team and was a captain that led UK to historic 21-0 start. They were district champs, region runners up and also advance to the state. Marty works hard every day. What you may not know is if you go to the gym at 6:00 a.m., he will be in there. There's a reason he and uh Kyle and the rest are that good as they put in the time uh to do that work.
018coming every day before I should just read my script. Coming every day before school at 6 a.m. to work on this game and to be an example for all. And the great news with both of our student athletes of the month is they return next year. So congratulations. [Applause] So I know they have family here too. So we can have their family stand because we can't do this without you. So, if you just stand for a [Applause] second, thank you for sending this amazing uh young leaders. So, board members, our next recognition um is a first for us, but what I think will be a monthly occurrence. I don't know, Kyle, we'll see how we do. So, that doesn't happen again. That's on us. Um we want to recognize incredible seniors. So the class of
0192025 is full of them. So tonight I would like to introduce you to Kyle Diggs. So our senior of the month is Kyle Diggs. Kyle is the son of Ed and Lisa Diggs. In addition to Kyle's athletic two sport tenure his senior year, Kyle soarses academically. He's currently enrolled in both dual enrollment and honors courses where he's earned a 4.43 GPA. In addition to Ryan and Marty, Kyle has also worked incredibly hard to be a straight A student. He's a two-year captain. He's a four-year starter. He led weekend rebounds, steals, and assists, and was one of our 1,000 point scorers, which doesn't happen every day. Um, set a school record for three-point percentage at 46%. Often outside, he was the grit of the team and with his physicality and anchored everything we do. Kyle also
020made first team all region and first team all district. He was also a member of our state qualifying golf team. Um he was a first team player for the Bay Rivers District and also region 3A. Uh we're going to let Kyle since he's a graduating senior say a few words about his future plans, his e pathway and his time at New Kent High School. So Kyle, the floor is yours. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, school board members, Dr. Nicholls and guests. After I graduate this year, I plan on attending James Madison University and studying finance. Following college, I would like to work at corporate America or in corporate America as a financial analyst. For me, enrollment was always the right next step. College gives you the freedom to find and nurture
021your interests and hobbies. Finding who I am will not only help me in the real world as a person, but also as a worker and a leader. For the last 13 years, sports have been my outlet for growth. But as my athletic career comes to an end, it's time to find happiness. With that being said, I would like to thank Mr. Bareford for helping me through this decision, as well as giving me advice and just helping me through all the decisions that I've made in high school. I think it's important to recognize him for the impact he's had on me. Thank you all for taking the time to hear a little bit more about me. Thank you, Miss Strickland, for nominating me for this award. Um, thank you to all my teachers, past and present.
022And thank you to my mom and dad for supporting me here tonight. Thank you guys. [Applause] Mr. Digs, congratulations, sir. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. Thank you, Kyle. We have so many incredible seniors. We look forward to highlighting them each month. I did neglect Mr. Pagano. Uh, we met Ryan. Brian is although sophomore is solidly on the enrollment pathway. She hopes to extend gymnastics talents to the collegiate level depending on all her interests. She's interested in the medical field and criminal forensics. I see an intersection between that those two. Marty also plans to follow the enrollment pathway. He plans to spend the summer touring collegiate organizations following potential scholarship offers for basketball. And at this time he's keeping his options open, but he is looking to declare his major in business. And I wouldn't be
023the superintendent lead recruiter if I didn't say there are great careers in education. Should you see me and we will talk afterwards. We do it all. So, thank you. Thank you, Dr. Nichols. It's a It's an honor, guys. It's our honor. We're proud of you and great job. Can't wait to see what you guys do in the future. We are going to take a fiveminute recess. All right, everybody. We are reconvened. The next item on the agenda is our consent agenda. So board members, by now you've had the opportunity to review the items listed on the consent agenda, including minutes from the February 3rd and February 27th meetings, the monthly financials for February 2025, and the superintendent's recommendation regarding personnel matters only. Do I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? So
024moved. Second. Miss Davis, please call the board. Mr. Ryer, I. Mr. B, I miss. Miss Kunyan I Mr. I consent agenda is approved 50 moving on to new business the first item is Dr. Young the annual plan first read good evening Mr. Clariano, members of the board, and superintendent Nichols. Tonight, I'm just going to talk about our annual plan, proposed annual plan for 2526. The numbers being used for the proposed annual plan are actually the numbers from last year because the federal award has not been provided yet. So, the numbers may change, but the information will not. Okay. So an annual review is required in order to show the state and show the federal government that we are actually using this money for special education programs. Um we have to do three separate reviews. One
025is a proportionate set aside community meeting that was held on March 11th. We had four community members in attendance for that meeting. We have to pre present this to the local special education advisory committee. We did so on March 19th and then we have to present it to the local school board which is today. So the statement of insuranceances that we signed by submitting the annual plan is that we are going to guarantee a free and appropriate public education for students that will consist of individualized education programs and inclusive environment and prevent the overidentification of students. So we actually sign an agreement that states how we're going to do those things when we submit this plan. The range of services that we provide in New Kent County covers 14 categories of disability with the exception
026of deaf blind. We do not currently have any students enrolled that that meet that criteria. 14 is asterisks because technically the state only has 13 categories, but we use the 14th category of developmental delay to service some children that are younger under age seven who have different types of needs. Um, we serve our students under a continuum of service with a level of access to general education and their peers. And we also provide the the full slate of related services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and language, vision, orientation and mobility, deaf and heart of hearing and behavior support. Uh, we also have to in developing this plan, we have to consider three major uh components. One being the local jail's education program. If we have children who are incarcerated at the time um that also
027are covered under an IEP for us, we have to present a maintenance of effort which is a declaration that we are funding special education at the same or higher levels than we did the previous year. And we of course have to hold our proportionate set aside meeting. This is where we meet with members of the community to um decide how to use what's called the proportionate set aside funds. Our community chooses to use those who provide speech and language services for children who are privately placed or placed in home education. Part B uh it's actually broken into two parts. Part B is called section 611 and that is dealing with the education of students pre kindergarten through 12 uh grade 12 and our flow through funds of last year with salaries, benefits and indirect cost
028was [Music] $781,036. When you break that down, you can see the breakdown between what goes to salaries, benefits, contracted services, and proportionate set aside under part B. Part B section 619 is specifically funds um ear tagged for early childhood special education. Under our 619 annual plan last year we received $17,573 and oh I'm sorry and that covered um partial of one IIA position in the preschool program. And then there I put a link in there in case you guys wanted to do some more research about the annual plan. Is there any questions? Well, members, this is a first read. It'll come back to you in May for a second read. We're looking to Does anybody have any questions? I do. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Young. Next item on the agenda is the Perkins Grant.
029Mr. Ross Miller. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Dr. Nichols. Um it's um my pleasure tonight to bring forth the Perkins grant uh for um approval. And the Perkins grant is uh for the improvement of CTE programs and schools. So all the funds go towards the CTE program and building knowledge, technical skills for students and um basically putting together curriculum as well as equipment and materials for them. Um this is developed um by gathering feedback first from our CT teachers as well as our advisory members for our advisory board. We also get information from the lab labor market and some um basically performance indicators that we get back from the state on things that we're doing really well and things that they suggest that we work on. And we put all that together
030and then put it together into a grant. the grant total um is um uh $39,000. And so those funds we used for professional development. Um one of the areas that we were noted that we needed to improve on was non-traditional employment promotion or non-traditional employment training. And so that is um when you have people who aren't traditionally employed in in an area and providing that people those people with training in that area. so that we promote like sort of a big one is like women in engineering. Um and so to promote more more participation there, we use some of those funds for CT credential testing and then some of our curriculum and software for our CTE classes we also purchase through Perkins grant and then we do get a little bit of technology equipment from
031there as well. This is up for approval this evening. So, any questions? Nothing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next item is student fees, fines, and charges. Miss Haney Morgan. Mr. Chair, board members, Dr. Nichols. Tonight we bring um details regarding the proposed fees in our JN policy. Um, so you will see attached in board docs board docs a list of changes um, proposed changes for different items. I'll point out that a lot of these are just rising cost of consumables. So really it's just the cost of everything. Um, you guys know in your personal lives, it's no different in education and what we're trying to do. I will point out an increase in our athletic participation fee. We did look at other surrounding districts and we are proposing an increase to $50.
032Um, other items of interest, there is a beta um, change for our middle school program. Um, just a little bit of a lower fee, but then different charges for different types of um, activities that they do during the year. We'll take any questions. Any board member have any questions? I have just one. I I did look at it earlier. I can't pull it up, but did you say it's an increase of $50 for the athletic? No, ma'am.$50. So, it's actually $30. I'm trying not to say 250 because then it says I was $250. Our plan will now be $50. It was $30. There you go. Thank you. And our plan is to support the athletic program. A lot of that funds do go towards transportation of our teams. And so the difference of what we're
033increasing will actually go back into the athletic student activity fund. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We are moving to now another new section on the agenda. This is school board goals review and update. First item is project new elementary. Dr. Nichols, please. Yes, sir. And uh board members, uh as this is a a monthly feature, uh these will be shorter presentations. So each of them that we go through. Uh so this is project Kent Elementary. Uh want to talk to you about that. We've had a couple of design reasons. So I want to thank Mr. Banano and Mun for serving on that design committee along with staff and parents and uh county support too. So uh Mr. Hathway, a couple board of supervisors, Miss Pearson and Mr. Moyer, parks and recreation. Um so one
034of the parts of the the design committee had to do is they had to come up with a mission statement about what they want this school to be. So the committee worked through that. Uh really look at a school um that is adaptable as we continue to grow and continue to shift making sure we have that in place um and really prepare students for a bright future. Uh the graphic on the left that you'll see was an activity that we did where people uh shouted out what they wanted to see in the school and then we had to place our dots. We only got three of them I think maybe. Um and we we had to place those dots where we agreed. So uh like in the picture you can see maybe uh safety is
035has a ton of dots on the yellow and also functional is another one. So commit did a really nice job with that and coming up with the mission statement. Um so there you see some pictures of our work. Uh so the Mosley architect team was with us and helped us work through potential designs using the existing uh footprint of where a school could go. Um not that any groups technically won the competition. Um, but Miss Puna and Miss Warheim's group actually came up with sort of the winning uh design or winning mockup, I guess. Not that I'm bitter at all. Um, so in uh the first session, one of the things that we did is we came up with four different ways to situate that on the property. um just to familiarize yourself with it
036is is basically where the current baseball field is now for the the middle school. Um so 2.1 and 2.2 that was the twostory option. Uh 3.1 and 3.2 that is a threestory option. Um so we are actually going to go visit a couple threetory elementary schools in the coming weeks. Um just to kind of show that uh somebody in the conversation was was saying I don't know if you have a three-story school in New Kent that we direct them to New Kent Middle School which is actually three stories already. You just don't get that when you walk in. Um kids can't navigate stairs. I've seen it done. We we would be okay. Um that's a little bit of a spoiler for the next one. Um we also looked at one of the things that we're
037trying to solve is traffic is uh horrendous. uh so trying to solve some of the traffic flow issues that we could have. So we looked at where it would sit no matter what the floor plan was on the property. The brown area that you see right now on the screen, that is where the current school is. Um the other area is where the new school would sit and then some options in terms of traffic flow. Both designs there, orientations I should say, have a secondary road coming out of it. You can see that just below the brown area. Um, so the committee uh went with uh moving forward with a three-story option. There's still a ton of work that has to be done, but the committee did a great job of coming to um a
038consensus on how to move forward. So, here's where we're at right now. May looking at completing the schematic design. um August to potentially submit a site plan so that VOTE and everyone else can look at this. Uh fall of 2025 would be to complete bid documents. Uh, we would love, this is our potential timeline, to receive bids either in December or late January and potentially look at a new school opening fall of 2027 would be the earliest we could make that happen or even a January 2028 because we're dealing with a school that is is fun will function the entire time. We don't necessarily have to open in fall. U, we could look at a a later opening, although fall would be absolutely ideal. There's a six-month demo and site flip once the school opens.
039So, there's still a lot of things to be decided and I'll continue to update you at this meeting. I know the SC county is currently looking at potential tax increase to fund this project. Um, so there's a whole funding plan we have to work through and then some intensive design pieces which we would invite you to participate in as well. So, that's where we are uh with the new Kent Elementary School project. So open it up for any questions or board member comments for those that are part of this project. So thank you Dr. Nichols. That's my last line. Any board member have a question? Mr. Chair, so the um exit or the the entry would come off of the current traffic jam situation and would run behind. Is that a road that um Yeah,
040you would have to. So, how where would that road extend out to the end of the road coming out of there? Which side? Top of the screen or bottom? Bottom. The bottom screen would come out to the existing road that uh so that's New Kent Middle School in the bottom left, right? If you orient So that's coming out to that existing road there that comes into the high school. Um it does have a technical name. Egypt, right? Egypt's this one. Um, now I will tell you, Mr. B, we're also looking at potential. Could it come out further away from that? One of the things that I would like to do is get it away from That's what I was thinking. As far down as we can possibly take it to get it out of the
041Yes, sir. So, there is conversation and this will take a lot of support from the county is to run it um where the woods is on the bottom right. Yeah. And kind of run it ideally all the way out to Cumberland is um and really distance it because right now I will tell you there's a there's an operational issue. We have the maintenance team they direct traffic every morning and every afternoon um you have another outlet there uh which we would struggle to to manage and maintain. So we may gate it we may we're looking at all those things that's just kind of the car that's what I was going to add Dr. Dr. Nichols, you just said the word gate it. So part of the discussion, fellow board members, was you know what's more
042important for us to to remove sort of from the traffic flow or the or the impediment of traffic is either the parent drop off or the school bus loops. So you can see here these are the school bus loops. Those are less of a concern than the parent drop off at a elementary school. I think they were talking like insane numbers of parents. So, we were trying to, you know, have them come off of 249 at a different place, use the parent drop off, but then somehow gate or prevent them from exiting to where all the other school traffic is moving, right? So, they'd have to loop and then go back out to 249 at a different piece. That'll be our road similar to the one that's at Quinton. So, it's not statemaintained. So, we
043we can gate it, we can we can manage it um however we we sort of see fit. But I I'm still pushing for a secondary exit that that extends. Yeah. I mean, let's go for the ideal, right? Okay. Thank you. Yeah. That's using the the property that we own. Um that we're still pushing on the other side. Yes, sir. Anybody else have any questions about project New Kid Elementary? Right. Second item under this new um piece here, Dr. Nichols, is a strategic plan update. Yes, sir. Um, so board members, you know, we've worked hard on the strategic plan. Um, so I and my intent is each month to bring you an update based on a specific goal because if I was to do a strategic plan update across four goals and those strategies, we would
044be here till Thursday. Um, so really going to try to chunk it for us and for the audience um, and focus on specific goals. So um, it is our E3 strategic plan. There are four goals. Student achievement uh which also has the three E component. The recruitment and retention of highly effective talent, organizational efficiency, and then strengthening our partnerships with family and community. So, um this is uh approved by the board uh several meetings ago and we're already off and running it running with it. So, I'd like to zoom in on the first goal. Um the first goal, my picture looks familiar, um is student achievement. Um that's really uh so instruction that is who will be leading that piece. Uh employment, enlistment, enrollment. So really it's optimizing teaching and learning to prepare students for
045post-secary success or postsecary readiness. You saw several examples of that tonight with our students of the month. So within that goal u there are strategies um so we have several strategies related to that goal. Board members, as we go through the next couple of years with this plan, you will see strategies come out. You will see strategies come in as we continue to evolve. Some of these are things that we're going to be done. Did it complete? So, what do we need? So, that's the ongoing conversation in these meetings and moving forward uh related to it. Each of these goals has key performance indicators, KPIs related to it. Um so that we can talk about how are we delivering on this strategic plan. A lot of organizations have a strategic plan that just sits. Uh
046we want one that is actionable. So um some of those KPIs will shift too as the state and uh continues to evolve. So I do anticipate in early fall for us to bring you a whole host of data metrics around the three E related to the new accountability matrix um and some of the other components that we have there. So tonight I'd like to dive into strategy one uh which is develop implement and track intervention plans for students um identified as at risk either academically behavior and or due to chronic absenteeism. Um so key performance indicator that I want to share tonight is early literacy assessments that is vows vows is a brand new assessment to us so we can't benchmark it against anything yet but we can go are we getting better as an
047organization. So, um, that's what I'd like to share with you, um, this evening. So, the top bar is fall kindergarten across the school division. You can see where the So, it's sort of like a stoplight. Green all systems go, yellow, some caution, and then red stop and and intervene. Um, so the first line is fall K, the second is midyear. Midyear was given about a month ago. what you're seeing is uh beautiful and indict indictive of the work that our kind or that our teachers do. So if you look at that green line at the top fall K 26% and change by midyear now that standard goes up that mid year we're already over 58%. We're getting traction. You can't always determine where a kid comes in but you can certainly determine what you do
048with them while they're with you. Um, so you will see, so the next one is fall and the one under it is midyear fall. So you see all those lines sliding left. That is what you want to see. And when I bring you spring, I want to see it slide even further to the right. Um, this is all students in that grade level. Um, so fall 2 grade, you see that same trend to midyear 2 grade, all those greens are slotting left. So fall of third grade and midyear third grade fall of uh so that's the last one is total. So at fall you had 29% that fell in that uh percentage of risk and now we're down to 21%. Once again it's a brand new assessment. we don't have it benchmarked and there are
049still some longitudinal questions that I have from a data perspective but what I can say is we are growing kids um at an incredible rate and I look forward to kind of moving that forward you look like you have a oh I I just want to see what this looks like next year yes sir and that's across this three-year strategic plan we want to bring you that data longitudinally and look fall to fall because I want our fall first grade numbers to look better next because of all the intervention they've received in in so one of the questions that you may be having is like how do we do this work? Well, one we hire incredible people like the ones you saw before you tonight at Quinton Elementary. Um but we have a process for
050intervention. So what I'm sharing with you um so we did strategy, we did KPI and now we're kind of doing how. Um so we administer the vowels. That's step one. Um step two, we have low and moderate risk. So any student that is falling in that lower monitor risk requires intervention um or a student reading plan. If you're high risk uh you receive 2 and 1/2 hours of additional intervention per week and your student reading plan. So if you fall in any of those categories you have a student reading plan. We just ratchet up ratchet up the amount of intervention that you have. Um so that student reading plan uh reading specialists they are the specialists. They development plan um and they customize it for any student falling in that category. Um it includes specific
051interventions uh frequency and measurable goals. So each kid has their own version of their sort of strategic plan. Yes sir. So one of the things that I am interested too in what are we measuring? Have you been able to assess what we're measuring now that we weren't measuring before that is showing up as a deficiency? I think that is a question I can get you specific answers to. Are we seeing some trends and things that we weren't measuring before that are kind of flagging at this point? Uh yeah, of course. If if you're going to get it to me, you'd want the whole board. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. But absolutely. Um like I said, it is a new assessment. They do have different additional things related to it. Oh boy. um you can tell you're
052passionate about it. I am. I'm moved to tears on this one. Um intervention um so I said the highrisisk students and then there's progress monitoring. So um progress is monitored quarterly by the school. So even though it's the assessment is given three times um fall, mid and spring, it is monitored uh quarterly by school staff. Um I was with our principles today at 3 uh for a monthly meeting and we talked about the data displays and how they utilize this and they look at students across multiple factors. Um so one of the things that may fall into the student reading plan is attendance. If you're chronically absent, I can guarantee that you're probably not doing well in reading. So there may be an attendance component, maybe all of these. they really look at that whole
053child and whole family and put a plan in to support kids. Uh but we're incredibly excited about the progress that what we're seeing related to this strategy um and this KPI. So focus next month like I said I wanted to give you bite-sized versions of the strategic plan and then just continually bring this forward. So next month uh it is that season so it fits nicely is recruitment and retention of highly effective talent. Um so we have a whole new marketing campaign and a lot of things in place to make sure we're fully staffed to start the year. So I'll bring you an update on where we are relating to a strategy and also key performance indicators for so u the plan is not only approved it is in motion and making a difference. So,
054foremost, be happy to answer any questions you may have uh while I sip some orange. Thank you, Dr. Nichols. Anybody have any questions or further input? No. All right. Very good. So, the the last item under this section of the new agenda is policy review and revision. So, we do not have any submissions. There's nothing here to discuss. But in sort of recapping our prior meetings, fellow board members, this is where if there was a proposal that we decided we as a board wanted to take on where it would be for first read or second read and vote, you know, voting. So we don't have anything in that category this evening. So that's going to take us to the next new item on this uh agenda, which is items for vote of consideration. Um, and
055just again as a recap, the idea here was if some a board member wanted to propose something that we would then take up on the next meeting, this is your ability to present it to the board and we would vote or to consider whether as a group we wanted to address it at the next meeting. Uh, I would say in thinking about this and some of the other proposals that we'll look at tonight, we do have the ability as a as a board to vote uh to amend the things we're voting on tonight and maybe approve one of these one or two of these things, you know, this evening instead of carrying it forward if there's no need to do that. So, Mr. Rhymer, you are up first, sir, with technology oversight committee request. Yes.
056So, the idea of this request is we have a very small IT department here. Basically, it falls on the shoulder of one man. And uh the idea for this would be to go out and reach out into the community for people who have expertise in the technology sector and ask them to serve on a committee to review uh as a as a uh review team. Uh they would look at things like security, help with developing and inventory uh the applications. Uh look at how the applications interact among themselves. Uh look at how we do RFPs, participate in RFPs, look at rules for using technology. Um uh like I said once again, it's a way to augment our uh and uh augment our technology expertise at the school. Any questions on it? Um I proposed a
057draft. I'm open to suggestions for alteration and amendment. Uh once again uh I laid out the reason I thought that uh this might be useful. I have I have a question. U help me understand what's broken that we're trying to fix or what and let me finish my question please. And what um what will this do to improve if there's nothing broken or there's nothing that needs to be further developed just so I understand why we're I'm not a committee kind of guy. Okay. So the idea is that this would help to uh when when we do a review say of security we could take a overall look and see if there are vulnerability vulnerable sorry I know what you're saying vulnerabilities in the way that our software is deployed or being used um once
058again this is the idea of multip multiple people having had experience in this area might be able to catch things uh that we wouldn't have thought about. Okay. Uh the other idea being making sure that when we purchase software and I'm not sure that this has been a problem so far but we don't overpurchase in terms of features. A lot of times when we look at software, we're promised a lot of features, but we're really only looking for one or two. Um, and also making sure that the software we require operates uh seamlessly or as seamlessly as possible with the software that we already have. Um, once again, this isn't to uh replace what we have. to um kind of have another set of eyes looking at things. Okay, Mr. Rimer, does this include reviewing
059instructional software to possibly test for redundancies that maybe we could save money conceivably if depending upon the workload committee that certainly would be within the scope of something that they could do. Okay. Uh Mr. Rhyr, I understand that, you know, this is your background and your love, but aren't we talking about something that is more administrative in nature than a schoolboard obligation? Uh, I mean, we have a department that takes care of this. We have a man in charge of that. He has staff that helps him. Why are we getting involved in this? I don't see an unmet need. Well, so one of the reason we do have an oversight responsibility and and most of what we're talking about here is what I would consider oversight. Uh I'm not talking about, you know, doing the
060physical deployment. I'm just talking about reviewing how things are and looking and seeing if they're vulnerable. So let me let me understand that. Let me challenge you though. Isn't isn't there or could there be a better way to do this? higher board. What you're suggesting is a committee with five members, public meetings, minutes, y quarterly meetings. How is that oversight in helping our technology department um by it doesn't seem to to fasttrack anything. It doesn't seem to doesn't fast to provide advice. So, so that's what I'm I'm thinking like, you know, when when the technology department has an issue that, you know, maybe it's an idea that they need to consult with somebody or to get a second set of eyes on it. Isn't there or could there be a better way to do it
061more of an an alleart approach? I would think members of these the committee outside of meetings could be consulted and engaged. Now, once again, that would depend upon their time because uh if there are experts in their field that will almost certainly have full-time jobs. Uh but what you're suggesting that if there's no issue with the technology department that the committee is just there it exists they're having open public meetings subject to minutes being taken to just review what the technology department is doing on a daily basis. Not on a daily basis. It uh it would be you know per the meetings would be periodical. They would have an agenda before them. The members would work on the agenda between meetings. Anybody else have any questions or comments about this proposal? Do you have you
062had a chance to discuss this idea with Mr. Terry? I have and uh I have talked to the superintendent about setting up a meeting with Mr. Terry and uh and planning to do so. Mr. Robert and I were looking at steam, which we'll talk about in budget um in a few minutes. And then that was one of my suggestions was let's sit down and have a conversation um at the speed that we move and have to move in order to meet the needs um and and then also the line of of operations and oversight. So um I'm happy to make that happen. Um like I said, Mr. Ry and I talked about this specific thing on Friday. Mr. Terry and I spoke this morning. So, we have to kind of coordinate that and and I
063guess I would appreciate feedback from Mr. Terry and and understand from his perspective if this is something that could provide him with. Yeah. Something he would like to have. Yeah, I agree. I think that meeting should take place before we are able to move on. Okay. Committees can do one of two things. that can be amazing and helpful and and help promote or they can bog the whole process down and create a whole new set of issues on their own. And that's why that's why as you know may know is lean on this committee. Yeah. So I would I would I would suggest that we um that that meeting take place first and then see what comes out of that. One of the things if I may while Our technology department is incredibly lean. I
064think Shawn does a fantastic job. I believe that has moved us light years uh forward from when I started in 19 and when Sean came aboard a couple years ago. Uh we do have some incredible external partners that we rely on for things that we can't do. So I think we can kind of dive into that kind of share you know the role of Optek for example and the role of this piece and kind of work through that conversation. So happy to make that happen. Board members. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Thank you all. All right. Thank you, Mr. Rhymer. Moving on to Mr. Numbroski. You have a trio. The first one is the proposal to conduct a school board annual review at a meeting to be held prior to the end of the school
065year. Floor is yours. As you know, in our governance norms and protocols that we recently passed, it was specified that we would hold a schoolboard evaluation annually. It's also already in our policies and I wanted to get something on the calendar where we would take the time to go through this. There are a number of I don't know if rubric is the right word, but forms that can help you to determine the process of what that evaluation would look like. That is something I'm definitely open to suggestions. Um, but I really do feel strongly that it's important that we come together and more or less hash out what our goals are. Um, the over a year into our terms and in order to better communicate with Dr. Nichols and his staff exactly what our ultimate
066goals are as a board and come to a consensus on that. I I feel that hoping that evaluation before the end of the school year if possible if not maybe during the summer but so we're ready to go forward beginning in the fall. Okay. Anybody have any questions or comments about this proposal? U I think that it is important for us to have some type of evaluation uh self-evaluation as a board as a means of accountability and transparency uh just as we require uh an evaluation of the superintendent the superintendent requires evaluations of other admin and teachers. I think it's it's just a part of accountability and transparency as a board that we should be uh advocating for. Now, what that's going to look like, we have to decide amongst ourselves. Doesn't have to be
067anything too cumbersome or peer-to-peer. And as far as the method and what we use is going to is going to, you know, has to still be determined. So, I don't know how we want to proceed as far as that. Anyone else? All right. All right. I I have a question. So, just point of clarification, we have it in our rules, policies, regulations, whichever heading that falls under that we are to do a school board uh review annually. There is actually no state law that requires us to do that as opposed to we are required by law, right, to to evaluate the superintendent. So, just point of clarification on that. But are we suggesting that we're going to be evaluating ourselves or are we open to the idea of another mechanism of evaluation? third party superintendent
068evaluating us, something along those lines. Um, well, if you look, if I gota evaluate myself, I'm doing a pretty darn good job. Yeah, if we do peerto-peer, I want to I want to pair up. Well, if you look at the policy that's in our manual that specifies what the schoolboard evaluation can look like, um it there there's a number of different ways that it can be done, but it does say it's a schoolboard evaluation basically self where we are discussing things that we've done, maybe things where we can be better. um maybe setting a you know setting some goals as to what we are as a board really interested in accomplishing um not just for the next year but for the next three years and of course as this is something done annually we can
069keep it to the one year. Um, but I feel like when we have a a strong consensus of what we really want to accomplish, um, I feel like it can move us forward better and more effectively. Um, there's also where you can like have a calendar of what you're going to do when, setting something like that in place is also something that can be done during a schoolboard evaluation. that I mean to interrupt you, but that that sort of kind of leads to the next question I was going to ask you, which is in the materials that you've reviewed or the sample questionnaires or whatever. Is there one that sticks out to you that you think we should not we should use? Not yet. Okay. I'm still looking over. I think you sent this out
070initially and they had poor response, did you not? In generally speaking, I asked for goals. Correct. But this is tied to right the actual review of our performance overall or how we're operating. Yeah. Mr. Chairman, it strikes me odd that a legislative body is assessing itself. Uh given that we have different constituencies and different goals when we come in, it uh it strikes me odd, you know, we're both a an executive body and a decision-m and a legislative body at the same time. Now, I can see an executive getting some kind of assessment if we reported uh up a chain of responsibility. But the idea that the board itself, first of all, would have a common purpose doesn't necessarily strike me as being appropriate. Um we I am accountable to my constituents. Uh I'm not
071sure that especially if I find myself in a minority and find believe I was accountable to the rest of the board. Um and perhaps it shouldn't be on our list of uh things to do and policies and procedures. Yeah. I just a thought. Yeah. All all jokes aside, I I tend to agree with you. You know, there's a nuance, I think, to how do we evaluate ourselves as a board, right? But, right, but we haven't fully entertained the mechanisms and the methods that are out there. And I think if we do that, we can see if something fits, if something doesn't fit, if we can use an outside resource like maybe some of the administrators, maybe Dr. Nichols that then evaluate us and say, "Hey, this is where you guys are are doing good things
072and it's helping us. This is where you're holding us up and and and not." So we I think we can entertain that which then may mean that one of us or all of us needs to propose some amendment or change to the policies as they exist now because we are bound by those whatever they say at the moment. So this is um sounds like a good item for us to to put on and tackle. Thank you. Yes, sir. Anybody else have any questions or comments on this one? I would think your idea of a policy change is probably in place before we're moving forward with it. Um, just because it may not even be called a annual board evaluation. It may become something else with the understanding that we're not self-evaluating. We're not looking at
073what we've done. Right. I mean, that's what it's called in the policy. That's what it's referred to in the norms and protocol. Sure. But obviously it's we don't have to address that part. Um I just would like to have the conversation as far as goals and what we overall are looking to accomplish and do as a is is that so I think this kind of relates back to what Mr. Vault was suggesting a minute ago with the initial email. Is that the primary focus that you're trying to hit on here? there's just other sort of and I think that's something we could tackle in a work session like revisiting together what are the goals versus a schoolboard annual review as required by the existing policies. Now they may overlap but it sounds like this is
074one thing and this is another thing. Right. I was just going by the policy and the way it was worded as the mechanism to get to that type of work session or okay or regular work meeting whatever it would take to get us to that point where we could have that type of discussion. So that may be something in the future we bifurcate we go deal with the policy in the annual review and then we could always work session goals and things like that. Sure. Okay. Anybody else on this one? 8B. All right, moving forward. Mr. Mroski, you're up again with proposal to watch webinar. Yes. So, I uh signed up and attended a three-part series webinar. It was essentially geared towards what can be done to as a school board to attain and increase
075student achievement. This particular webinar that I'm recommending is called monitoring progress on goals. It um was done by an individual in Idaho. Uh it was just phenomenal in the things that it presented and how we can learn especially as we're looking to evaluate the metrics that are brought to us through the strategic plan. Um providing some insights that as a school board I feel like it would be good for us to all be on that same page and just have that opportunity as a school board to watch it. to composite and discuss things and they have the the um PowerPoint presentation with different pieces of information. Mr. Chairman, yes there a question. Is there a transcript of it? Um I don't think there's a transcript. There's just a video and then the PowerPoint. Can that
076be shared with us for us to view? Um, we are currently investigating that. Okay. Is your question individually? Yes. Instead of collect happy to I'm sure it can be done at at what cost we could we could look at that. Yeah. I just wondered if as a school board watching it, it might give us that opportunity to stop and discuss some of the things that are being brought up so that we can maybe have a consensus on some of the ideas presented. Are you proposing that we watch this together at for example a work session or an upcoming work session? Okay. How long is it? Uh about an hour. I would be reluctant to commit that much time to something that I don't know very much about. I would much prefer to read a transcript.
077Well, I'm going to I'm going to take that idea and spin on it, Mr. Rhymer, because you know, outside of a copyright issue or or you know, how much we all have to pay to watch a certain thing, we all have an annual obligation for a certain amount of hours of continuing legal education in our roles as board members. And I think Mr. Dumbroski's maybe unspoken ideas is maybe a good idea, which is depending on what that is two or three times a year, if we all got together, and we're not discussing business. We're just watching a proposal. I don't think we'd have to have public notice for that. Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, but we're able to as a group knock out some of our requirements, right? And and that does something
078else that that you guys may not be aware about as a whole, which is it saves us as a board money that we have aotted to spend on our continuing legal education requirements, which as of right now that money is exhausted. So if we wanted to take on something else, we would not be able to. Um, you know, there are, it's not right or wrong, but there are board members who are doing a lot more of that than other board members. So this is an opportunity for us to maybe equalize that and all get the education at the same time. The issue would be the material that one person may want to watch and another person doesn't, which which may be to your point, Mr. R. So, that could be something we figure out moving
079forward. Um, outside of copyright issues, right? If you got to pay $200 for one person to watch it, I don't think all five of us can watch it, right, without maybe doing something we're not supposed to be doing. But if it fulfills our legal requirement for education and we were, you know, we could do this on a good budget, I would be a lot more room to to pursue this. Right. Well, I think I heard also that the the discussion if we're going to discuss that, then you're moving into a a public meeting, correct? So, we we'll need to make sure that we understand the dynamics of that as well. Good point. But yeah, if we could roll that into a a a schoolboard education piece, save money for the the division and you know
080it actually be part of that then that'd be amazing. Right. I just when a lot of the information that he presented it just felt like so I just kept thinking what does this look like with us? And so be able to have that discussion and you can pause it and discuss it as it's right there in front of us. Yeah. Then I feel like it can help us again achieve some kind of consensus as to how we feel like we can apply it or whether we want to apply it into what we're doing as a school board strategic plan. So it's like that would constitute a a meeting, right? And it might. And so that's where maybe we you have a little bit more homework to do to figure out, you know, what what are
081we allowed to do copyright wise? What you know, what's your proposal for the structure of the meeting? Is it public notice? Is it not? Are we discussing? Are we not discussing? And maybe come back with a more specific proposal. Sure. You know, I like the idea of learning sessions for all of us that meet the requirements and we're all sort of digesting the same material, but I would also suggest that that aligns with the goals that we all have, right? So that may be Part one, right, is that annual review and and revisiting the goals and then seeing which educational materials are out there that align with the goals and then making sure we can do it so that we don't step over a line we're not supposed to be across. Right. All right. Anybody
082else have any questions or comments on this one? Thank you. All right, Mr. Mroski, you're up again. Batten third for proposal for November 7th resolution. So, a couple well several months ago, I uh read an article that talked about how November 7th is victims of communism memorial day. The article uh had a link that included uh that went to the civics alliance of the national association of scholars and it had a schoolboard model resolution to that could be adopted uh that specifies November 7th as victims of communism memorial day. The reason why November 7th is because it is uh the day that Lenin took over Russia essentially and that was the in 1917 and that's the day that um essentially kicked off communism and it began its militia spread around the world. the uh document
083itself, the model resolution, uh we can review and determine if that's something um if there's anything within that we want to change. It also endorses the material that is provided online at the victims of communism uh museum. Um, I also went to the museum on Friday with several other school board members from across Virginia and received a presentation directly from the president. He also provided us with they have a a book format that um is like 1999. Um but within the materials we can specify if there's a particular lesson that we want to be focused on. This is specific and most of it is specifically geared towards middle and high school. But in July they are coming out with a fourth through sixth grade curriculum and that will be geared primarily towards freedom movements. They
084also have a number of children's books that we could look into purchasing for our elementary school libraries that provide um on a very gentle level information that helps the children to to learn what communism does. And um they also provide a free online training where teachers can obtain 24 hours of professional development if they want to become certified in this type of curriculum. They do also offer where they can come into the school and teach offer inperson professional development. I've sent out an email asking if there's a cost to that. I have not heard back yet, but again, this was just Friday. Um, I was just thoroughly impressed by everything that they've put together and have been working on and the efforts that they are putting forth to make sure that America understands what this
085is and why we need to be aware of it and because that's what helped us to combat those types of ideas. Mr. Broski, is this something that the BDOE has and plans to place as part of a standard of learning in the social studies curriculum in Virginia? The last time I looked at the standards of learning for history, I believe it had information in there. Um, I do not remember specifically at what grade level that standard needed to be taught. Um, and I don't know if it's I haven't looked at the release very recently released standards uh for the history and social studies. Probably be when they teach World War I around World War I history. Yes. Yes, you can. Um, right. It it definitely weaves in the middle of high school history. Um, so
086this would be like a supplemental to what's already part of the curriculum. Uh well it could I don't know understand specifically how the curriculum will be developed if we're just pulling from different pieces but this is something and again it's free online so they could pull information from there and it's an actual curriculum so so it's a free resource online is a free resource and that's the expansive this just provides some additional you know I don't know that you have to buy one for every teacher again looking into copyright. I'm not sure how that works. Um but just providing that as a resource, Mr. Chair. Yes, sir. Um I as much as I appreciate this, I I I think this is this is something that should go first to um administrative for curriculum. um take
087a look at because if um I know that VOE is very stringent on what's out there for history, how that's followed, how that's taught in the in the public school system. Um and even as an addendum to what is already approved, I'm not sure how that would work out. Um, I talked to them about another curriculum that I had of interest. So, I would propose I don't think this is something for us to take up. I don't think it's something for us to vote on. I don't think it's a proposal. I think it probably would be a better fit to go to administrative and have uh Mr. Miller or, you know, his team look at this and determine, okay, yeah, this is something that um, you know, we're we're going to talk to VDOE about
088and see if we can implement it and or is this the um the desire of administration um and the full board to even do this? I don't think it's something for the board. Mr. We're we're getting off topic there. Actually, the original topic was the resolution itself and there is no proposal on our agenda for the materials. Mr. Drosski can make that proposal at a later date, but right now the resolution is about the the U discuss the original discussion was about the resolution which I think is a great idea. Well, I'm going to challenge you on that because if you look at the attachment, the resolution includes endorsing and commending the schools and school teachers in Newank County to use the following resources. And then it has all the links to all the material
089that I mean, I haven't read all of this material. I'm not sure history teachers have read all of this material. I don't know what it says. But the resolution is not goes beyond just sort of recognizing November 7th, right? But again, that's something that could be be moved before we adopt the resolution. Mr. Chair, if I may add context, um, House Bill 2191 was proposed this year. Um, essentially doing what Mr. Broski is asking, an annual proclamation from the governor and then, um, some additional components. Their local school boards would emphasize the topic in their instructional programs for those great. um just context-wise it was left in education on the 4th of so it did not make it out of the education piece. So I I think there is um just looking historically there is
090some push to that board but it it did not make it across the uh finish line. So it will not under that premise it will not go to BOE for official proclamation piece but um there are tenants of of um anti-communism and and what Mr. Brokal within the standards. I have not analyzed the new history standards because they're just being released. But I did the did the House bill also propose a recognition of that day November 7th. Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah. Was it is it tabled? Yes, sir. Yeah. It got left in education, so it didn't make it out of the education. Um, so but sometimes it takes a few sessions to correct to move that forward. I still don't think that prevents us from no sir. our own resolution especially if we remove the
091preferences to the other materials. Just context. Yes, sir. All right. To that end, I have another question. So then if we were going to vote to consider recognition of November 7th without necessarily the materials and so on and maybe we save that for another day or see what general assembly does. What do you envision that looking like? What what does that entail? What does it mean? What does that do to the the school? What are we doing just by honoring November 7th or or recognizing not honoring recognizing November 7th? That's a good point. I haven't thought that my my idea was essentially, you know, is it be a day that we make known? um and in that respect use that as an opportunity to teach a lesson about communism in the right format. Obviously, we
092wouldn't be looking to provide lessons in kindergarten through third grade, but with the resources including that and there's there's lots of other resources out there as well, but just something where we're starting to have that conversation and making children aware of it. Okay. Anybody else have any questions or comments on this item? No. Thank you. All right. Moving on to unfinished business, the fiscal year 26 superintendent's recommended budget. Miss Haney Morgan. Mr. Chair, board members, Dr. Nichols, the budget. So, we are asking for your approval this evening on our recommended budget, but we do have a couple of changes to present before you approve it. And so I've tried to make it very clear on this one page. Um, which is a hot off the press and we're still working through this. Um, but this
093is our recommendation to you. The chart that's at the top is the chart that and this is in board docs as well. Um, for anyone listening, the chart at the top is the chart that we provided at our last meeting. And really what that shows is the reduction, the $1.2 $2 million that was our ask from the county has been reduced by $450,000 in the um county administrator's recommended budget. It's currently as is. We also have a state budget that has gone to the governor um and he has until May 2nd to sign. There is some hope that the revenues that we included, if you remember me telling you about some additional state revenue that we felt fairly comfortable with, um we are suggesting that we continue to hold that revenue in this budget knowing
094that the governor still has not signed the budget. Um once he does sign that, we'll feel much better about where we are. if he does sign it without any veto action, we feel good with what we have included in the budget and we can proceed at that time. Um so that's basically the revenue portion that that top chart. Um if there's no questions on that and we can go through the whole thing and then just um talk about anything that you would like to discuss and board members just so the county revenue is not completely set in stone. we continue to push for additional funding from the county as they are um firming up their revenue sources um and how much money is coming in. So, we continue to advocate um and I know you
095guys are doing that too. So, please continue to advocate. Um we would love to have additional revenue to hire additional teachers as we continue to grow and shift. Um this is just where we are right now related to those things. We will not act on this budget until we have a governor's, you know, we have that finalized. Uh but for just us moving forward, we will come back before you several more times. I have a feeling uh to do amendments before we actually adopt this budget. So what we're asking for tonight is the approval piece, but we will not adopt until the county finalizes theirs sometime in in May. So just process-wise and kind of talking about but H is going to talk to you about kind of what we are proposing as cuts. Um
096and I will tell you this budget worries me to a degree. Um I thank Haney and her team and everybody for really thinking creatively to get us to a balance point. Um so with that I'll let Haney kind of talk about some of the reductions and I'll Mr. Chair before we continue. Mr. What was the county's rationale being they don't have their numbers together to immediately slash $450,000? Where did they I think they're working with what they have similar to what we do when we're anticipating state revenue. Um same on their side. I'm sure they're looking at all of their revenue sources and numbers that they're getting that they either have or do not have yet. And so they're also trying to build a budget without knowing what their revenue picture looks like. So this
097is the most conservative on their side of what they feel like we could receive on our end. Um which to Dr. Nichols point is that we're hopeful that maybe this could increase a little bit as their full revenue picture comes to light. Maybe there's a little bit more uh portion of that that the schools could receive. Um, so we certainly want you all to still advocate for that as we are with the finance team and Mr. Hathaway at the county and we appreciate every dollar we get. Um, it will certainly go directly towards additional positions. So that's kind of where they are right now. Yeah, I'm just I seems like to me that that would be left as it was with the request until at what time they found out they didn't or they they
098they didn't get the extra money. My concern is if in fact they do get what they hope and it is exceeded, will that be actually will that indeed be put back or even increase to meet what our real needs are? I do believe just based on uh past years and and different scenarios that we have worked through with the county, I have seen that happen. Okay. the conversations that we have are very very real I feel like and and um I do believe that if there is a little bit that can be carved out for schools I do believe that that's a goal of theirs um that they would try to work to um I could be completely wrong but I have seen that happen in the past that's encouraging and from our point of
099view I do get a little bit concerned I wouldn't want to come to you tonight and say yep we've got 1.2 2 million maybe. Um I'd rather be a little more conservative on this side knowing realistically what we can do and what Miss Anderson can hire, you know, starting now. Um so that we don't get ourselves in a little bit of trouble moving forward if that makes sense. I get it. Thank you. So some of the adjustments that we had on our last worksheet at our last meeting, um you will see them in here. Here you will see also a couple of new items. So I'll point them out. The recommended adjustments now on the expenditure side. So now we need to reduce our expenses. We would like to modify the maintenance technician to a
100mid-year hire. We spoke about that. That's really a position that you don't necessarily have to hire for a September start or an August start. You really could um potentially find a good employee in January. So that's a little bit of a savings there. We are recommending to eliminate the gifted teacher position that was in the budget. We will also be eliminating the high school assistant principal. And keep in mind, these are all still needs and goals that we have and positions that we would like to fund. Um so again, any dollars that become available, um hopefully next year's budget will look a little more favorable from the state. Um and so you will see a lot of these requests come back to you. And just so we're clear and for the public record, that's the
101high school assistant principal three. Correct. Not our existing. Correct. None of these none of these are existing people in position. So, thank you for the clarification. The next one, um I don't want to complicate you, but I've actually added money into the budget. And what this is is to fully fund a secondary position that we had originally when we brought to the budget. We were trying to be uh creative in saving the cost of a pair of professional position that we had to eliminate that position and to add a teaching position. And since then we have determined that we cannot fund that teaching position, but we do need another teacher position. So I'm now actually putting the cost of the pair professional back in there because we are not able to cut the pair professional
102position. Okay. Um, so what that does is still gives us another funded teacher. It's just we have to fully fund it. The projected healthcare we discussed already. So what that is is I'll just be reducing what I'm budgeting for uh projected vacancies and new hires and things of that nature. We have a special education administrative position. Um we will not be rehiring for that position. So, in the past, we were looking at possibly shifting or doing a mid-year hire. We fully eliminated that position. We went back and really looked at our custodial services um what is being spent at Bridging Communities and how that relates to our contract and what we're funding versus what Bridging Communities is funding. Um so, we're going to pass that expense hopefully on to Bridging. We are going to work
103with them and try to um figure out the best way for them to fund that in their budget. But that is the line item that we can reduce. And to balance just back to the 450, I've added that 10,288 back into our contingency line. Question. Yes, ma'am. So, who is going to be taking on a special education administrator? Thank you, M. Great. And I just I want to make the point of we're trying to protect classroom, we're trying to protect salaries for teachers or for staff. Um so the senior leadership team in New can sit around one of these tables and we're going to reduce one or those. Um so it will um the the short answer is everybody like we're all going to take on a little bit. Dr. Younger's done a phenomenal job.
104Um Emily Raper is here, supervisor of elementary. Um, we also have a secondary super, but like everybody's going to take, we're already stretched and we wear a lot. Um, Ross, um, is going to do some reorganization in his department. We try to take a piece and so it's it it we're all going to do a little bit something there. It's going to be a piece that I have. Um, so, you know, everybody all hands on deck to make that happen. But if that balances the budget and allows us to do the additional 1% for teachers in addition to the 3%, we're going to be all in to do that. if it allows us to keep an additional elementary teacher or add this special ed piece, you know, we're going to do that. So, I mean,
105we're doing exactly, you know, that's who we are and what we do. So, yeah. Very good. So, those are the total expenditure adjustments that you would be approving tonight for 450. Thought it would just be helpful as a reminder of what is actually still in the budget. So, I've just made a little detailed list here. Um, right now we are keeping the 1% additional salary for teachers. We are really trying to hold that harmless. Um, we would recommend holding on contracts until the governor were to sign uh the budget. So, we're hoping that that will come through quickly. Uh, we do still have the steam teacher at George Watkins. We are holding our ADM at 3500, which was um important to me. I'm glad that we're able to do that. We do have an additional
106secondary teacher in reserve that we're able to add. Um, we are continuing with the the preschool teacher through BPI that we added our maintenance technician while we're getting it midyear. That's still a very crucial position and we're happy to keep that in the budget. And then again, uh, we did have two positions that we had in the budget that weren't funded but were funded through attrition. So, we do still have the bus driver and the conversion of the part-time auto driver to full-time. So, just a couple of concerns that were listed on our page the last time we met. And also just to let you know that this is ongoing and there may be further adjustments that we make or transfers and positions um just to with every resignation or with every change we really
107do try to look at each position and really determine where is the need across the district. This is where we are today. So, next steps would be you would approve this the recommended budget with these recommended changes this evening and then we would uh wait for the governor's approval of the budget and look at what the county does with their approval and then we'll come back to you and ask for you to adopt our budget. If there are changes, we'll amend it before we adopt it. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ron add one thing that might be relevant. I reviewed uh Friday the steam uh curriculum along with Dr. Nichols at uh Quinton Elementary School. Um my assessment is that it's as valuable as any of the resource uh things that we teach music and art and
108they were being uh I saw first graders being taught proc engineering and problem solving. They weren't playing with 3D printers. They were being taught the principles of engineering, iteration, uh strategies, um all the kinds of things that you uh need to know as you tackle the technical problem. As a steam skeptic, uh Mr. Rhymer was invited to see u steam in action just how we do. And I just special thank you. Quint was here tonight. Um Ashley Campbell does a fantastic job there. um and really, you know, took time to kind of share some stuff in between. We actually got to see two classes, the end of one and the start of another and and to see it in action. So, good stuff. Anybody else have any questions or comments from Miss Morheim? I not
109from Miss Morheim, but um I think it would be incumbent upon the board members to advocate for the budget with the additional 450. um the cuts that are being made um are not we we can't make light of those. Um they're big cuts and we need to continue to advocate and continue to um with our constituents and with the board members for the full budget. Even though we're faced with approving what we have before us, we need to continue to advocate for absolutely the full and Mr. B to that point that 450,000 represents and I'll oversimplify it six additional teaching positions. So you you saw the power of what our teachers do. Six additional teaching positions um would be incredible to add. And I know Miss Anderson could hire them. And I'm not saying we
110would do six, but you know that that kind of piece of Thank you. Yeah, that's a concern. I mean, and classroom size, I mean, that's not something that people the general public hear about or recognize unless you have students in the school. But when you start to increase the um when we look at teacher retention and that's that all plays into the same thing because then you're going to overstress and overwork by adding a number of students. So, it's a that's why I'm saying we need to we need to make everyone aware that this is this is not just funding money over in the side in our pocket. This is this is essential funding and that goes to the classroom. Absolutely. And and class size um absolutely directly impacts students in student learning because they
111have less one-on-one time with that teacher. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Moving on to the citizen comment period. Madame Clerk, just want to confirm we still have no signups. All right. Thank you. Now we are on to action items. So the first item is approval of the Perkins grant as presented by Mr. Miller. Do I hear a motion to approve the grant? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Second to Mr. Dumbroski. Miss Davis, please pull the board. Mr. Ryer. Hi, Mr. B. Hi, Mr. Broski. Hi, Miss Kuna. Hi, Mr. Hi. All right. Motion passes 5. Next is the consider approval of the student fees, fines, and charges policy. Do I hear a motion to approve as presented? So moved. Second. Mr. Rhymer with the second. Madame Clerk,
112please pull the board. Mr. Rhymer, I. Mr. Mr. Balt Hi, Mr. Broski. Hi, Miss Kuna. Hi. And Mr. Hi. All right. Approval passes 50. The next item is consideration of approval for the vote of consideration for the technology oversight committee as presented by board member Mr. Rhymer. Uh based on our discussion, I am going to move to table this vote until there is a meeting with Mr. Terry and we get some specifics. I'll second that as we've discussed. Thank you, Mr. R. Um I would also suggest that we table the rest of the one one at a time. Okay. One at a time. Thank you, Miss Davis, please pull the board. Mr. Rhyme. Hi, Mr. Hi. Missky. Hi, Mun. Hi, Mr. Kan. I All right. So, the technology oversight committee uh is tabled until a
113later date. Now, we have consideration of approval for Mr. Broski's proposal to conduct an annual school board self-evaluation at a meeting to be held prior to the end of the school year. Anybody like to make a motion in this regard? I'd like to propose that we table this until there is uh movement on the procedures and more um finality about the format of the evaluation. I second. Go ahead, Mr. B. Second. All right, Miss Davis, please pull the board. Mr. Rhymer. Hi, Mr. B. Hi, Mr. Dumbroski. I Miss Puna. Hi, Mr. Pan. Hi. All right, we are tabled. Moving on to consider approval for the vote of consideration for the proposal to watch the webinar. Mr. Chair, I propose that we table also that until we are able to gather more information. Mr. V, can
114you give me a little bit more specifics on the information, please? um until it is uh vetted through the um curriculum administrative curriculum review. Is that the next the webinar? Oh yeah. No, I I think until we find out the information on um the copyright issues and what will constitute public board meeting and the format of how we view that. Thank you, sir. Do I have a second? or not it fulfills and whether or not it fulfills education requirements for the board. Sure. Have a second. All right. Muna second. Miss Davis, please pull the board. Mr. Rhymer. Hi. Mr. B. Hi. Mr. Broski. Hi. Miss Kuna. Hi. Mr. Pagano. Hi. All right. 50 tableabling. And then we have the consider approval of vote of consideration for the November 7th resolution. Do I have any motions?
115I move also that we table this until we have discussed it in with administration in the curriculum guidelines of VDOE and where they stand on how this would be and could be implemented. I would offer a second. Uh what is the a um a motion? You can move to amend Mr. Vault's motion. You can make your own motion. I would move to amend Mr. God's motion to uh table until a resolution that does not require instructional materials in the classroom is passed or it is reviewed with the administration to determine what materials are incorporated. All right, Mr. Vault, for clarification, will you withdraw your motion? I will. Thank you. All right, so the motion before us is to table the November 7th resolution uh based on Mr. Rhymer's motion. Do I have a second? Second.
116M. Davis, please pull the board. Mr. Rhymer. I. Mr. B. I. Mr. Broski. I. Muna. Hi. And Mr. Pan. I. All right. November 7th resolution is tabled for further review. Moving on to consideration of approval of the superintendent's proposed fiscal year 26 budget. Do I have a motion? I move that it be approved. Do I have a second? Second. Miss Davis, please pull the board. Mr. Rimer, hi. Mr. B, I Mr. Broski, I. Mia, I All right, budget is approved. 50. We're moving on to the comment section. Mr. Riner. Um, well, I hope that the uh community appreciates that budget times are difficult. Um right now our district is among the least funded um in the state for the size of our district. Um we try to spend our money primarily on our our teachers
117and the instruction of students. our administrative overhead is low for compared to other districts. Uh when you think about what may or may not be necessary as time comes forward, it's important to let your supervisors know that spending on schools is as important as some of the other pieces uh that the county requires. Whether or not that means a tax increase certainly is something that you need to talk to your supervisor about. Um there's very little more that we can do in terms of cutting our school costs and still maintain the quality of education that we're doing here. Thank you, Mr. VA. Um yeah, I just uh commend the students that were uh represented that came tonight and their accomplishments. Um and um quite exemplary coming from the size school system that we do have
118and the achievements that that they have accomplished and kudos to their parents and certainly their the teachers. Um and the presentation with the special education um is second to none. I mean, you the the the general public probably doesn't realize that because of the growth of New Kent County, we have more students coming in, but we also have more special education students coming in. and not just more but students that because parents recognize what an incredible job we do in Newent County with special ed, they are targeting Newent County as a residents to bring those students here purposely and and with an increased number of um difficulties and and and um situations that are above and beyond. So, I just commend that whole department, Dr. Young, everyone that's involved in that and um just doing
119an exemplary job um with everything that's being done there. Thank you, Mr. Broski. So, I have the honor and privilege of serving on the Maggie Walker Regional School Board. And this at the last meeting we held, there was uh two students that were recognized. And if I can find where they went, try. There we go. Okay. Um, the first one is uh Julia. She received a scholarship to go to Costa Rica. Um, Julia Mcccleintoch. She is a class of 26. She was um selected as a junior travel scholarship recipient. This is a national competition through the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. And she has been awarded a summer trip to Costa Rica. Her trip will balance a focus on conservation, ecoourism, and education while immersing her in the language and culture. Um,
120she wrote she had to go through an extensive application pro process including a written essay and a five-minute video interview that allowed her to showcase her talent and proficiency in Spanish and they spoke very highly of how extremely well she did. So well done Julia Mcccleintoch and they're representing new Kent. The other one is Jillian. She is a member of the We the People team, which Maggie Walker has. Her name is um Oh, sorry, I just wrote Julian. Um on February 1st, Maggie Walker's We the People team competed at the Virginia State Championship competition at Randolph Min College in Ashlin, Virginia, and won. It is the school's 25th state championship in the We the People uh program. So, thank you again to Julian for representing UK on that awesome team. Um, otherwise wanted to give
121a shout out to George Watkins. They had an incredible science fair. The new Kent Middle School play puffs or seven increasingly inventful years at a certain school of magic and magic was phenomenal. Very entertaining, well done. I also enjoyed the opportunity to uh be at the high school for the government roundts and work with the students. They had phenomenal questions and loved to see them engaged and uh Mr. Pagano's son was at my table at one point and very impressed with his question as well. Um Mr. Pagano gave them to him too. just love love love serving in New Kent on the school board. Grateful for the opportunity to serve alongside all of you and the chance to to make a difference. And I just want to thank Haney and everyone for all the efforts
122you have to put in in the the budget process and to all the teachers and everything that they do to serve our children so highly. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Kuna. Uh many wonderful things were said. I have nothing to add. Thank you. Uh I just want to thank everybody as always for coming out, participating. It's 8:00 at night, so we appreciate you're here and your effort and hanging in with us. It was a long meeting tonight. Uh I mirror the comments made by my colleagues. Everything they said, it holds true. I am overly impressed with the special education program and the teachers and and the videos we watched this evening with the elementary school and tonight's students. I mean, I I I wanted to get the entire basketball team in here, but those two
123gentlemen are the cream of the crop. Their character is outstanding. Their grades are obviously outstanding. I'm just overly impressed with those two guys. Um, and I would implore everyone to reach out to your board of supervisors, district representative, and advocate for increased funding, additional funding, more funding, whatever you want to call it for our schools. It is desperately needed. Uh, we need to fill those positions. We need the 1.2 million plus some extra. the 450 cut doesn't doesn't bold well with this board. So, um it helps if we have the public help us in that regard as well. So, thank you again everybody. Dr. Nichols. Uh yes, sir. Thank you. Just uh really briefly, you saw some great enrollment stories here. That's just one of the three that we have. Let me tell you about
124another one and that's on the employment front. We have some state champions and we'll bring them to a future board meeting. Um Harrison Adams got gold in marine service technology. He's in the small engine marine at Bridges Community. Caleb Merritt is in the HVAC program. He also got golden at the state level. Um Caleb already has his job ready for him as soon as he walks across the stage. We always talk about walking into something. That's what our kids are doing. Um and then Nathan Sweeney got drawn power equipment technology which is also uh part of small. So Harrison and Caleb are moving lots to the national competition. Um so there were five total medalists coming from bridging. Three of them were part of new elementary. So part of our budget is adding 20 additional
125seats to bridging communities. We have 29 kids returning and 95 more applicants. So we are continuing to push that employment piece um to make sure kids have that opportunity. Um, so the other thing I want to say is we did have the Monument Avenue 10K. It was a wellness initiative that we put out. Several runners uh are in this room. You may have seen walking in uh 10K is no joke. Uh but we had 100 almost 100 staff members participate in that 10K. So we really fourth largest team out of 20,000 runners. We had the fourth largest team. Uh they're asking how we did it. Um, and we did it because we're team UK new Kent. Like we pulled together and I got to tell you, there was something special because it's an out and
126back to look over at the people faster than you and see that run team new shirt and go, I got this. And then when you're on your way back to see like everybody cheered for everybody and there were run team new signs and there were it was absolutely unbelievable. So uh we talk about retention, we talk about taking care of people like we we really try to think differently about that and provide full service. So stay tuned uh for the possibilities of next year. We already have our marching orders. We need brighter shirts because there are other people in blue. So we had some unofficial team new camp members. Um but just uh thankful to work with the team and shout out to Miss Davis for really doing the back end of that work and
127making sure that we were straight with the mind that happened. 10K. Um, and then shout out to the bus driver who parked in a I still don't even know how you got in that alley, but that's what our bus drivers do. Like they make things happen. Um, so just everybody pulls together just like we're doing with this budget, so we're going to make things happen. It is the fourth mark period. Uh, we will be on the graduation stage before you know it. We only have two more board meetings before graduation, just to put that in context. So, the year is flying, but it's an honor and a privilege to serve amazing students, families, staff, and community. So, thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are my comments. Thank you, Dr. Nichols. The next meeting of the school
128board will be on Monday, May 5th, held here in the historic courthouse boardroom. The closed session will begin at 5:30. Regular session will begin at 6:00. With that, this evening's meeting is adjourned at 8:03 p.m. Thank you, sir.