001that means you're okay you want to make the motion to come out of closed session foreign good evening everybody do I hear a motion to come out of closed session so moved thank you Miss daskill Dwyer a second thank you Miss Barber and a vote all in favor say aye aye all opposed none okay we are out of closed session Mr Mead could you please read the certification of the closed session whereas the New Kent County school board has convened a closed meeting on this day pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote in accordance with the provision of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and as whereas section 2.2 Dash 3711 of the code of Virginia requires a certification by New Kent County School Board the such closed meeting was conducted in Conformity with Virginia law
002now therefore 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 requirement by Virginia law were discussed in closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the New Kent County School Board okay thank you Mr Mead do I hear a motion to approve the certification of the closed session so moved thank you Miss daskell do I hear a second thank you Mr Mead and a vote all in favor say aye aye all opposed none all right the motion carries good evening everybody and welcome to our December school board meeting at this time I would
003ask that we rise for the Pledge of Allegiance which will be led by Finn Miller a student at George Watkins Elementary School to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you Finn and again welcome to everybody this evening it's good to have a a lot of attendees in our boardroom tonight we welcome all of our guests all right the first item on our agenda this evening is the public hearing this is our public hearing for the sr3 and it is our citizen comment period before I begin I'd like to thank everybody for coming out again this evening please note that comments for this public hearing are limited to three minutes once the timer sounds
004please promptly finish your comment and return to your seat it is customary for the school board not to make comment during the citizen comment period please make sure that your contact information is provided on the sign up sheet if you would like someone to follow up with you directly and again thank you for coming this evening and Miss Davis do we have anyone signed up this evening for public comment okay she is she's checking okay okay we have two speakers this evening our first speaker is Tom Miller beautiful I don't think I need a two foot booster uh I'm delighted to speak tonight at the public Hearing in particular because we have a lot of parents here and this is something that they should all be interested in I'm sure they're here to watch their
005children in the program but they also get to hear the benefit of a couple of us speak and after I received notice early last week of the public hearing I went to the website uh and there's some issues with the website because when you click on the agenda or try to get to the agenda it says click here go to board docs and at least on my computer when you click there it goes to this website as security issues and I know the schools don't have security issues with their website but anyway by navigating it around and finally getting to board docs I got to the agenda for tonight's public hearing it is on sr3 which is entry of interest to all of us for those of you in the audience uh I know the
006school board knows esser3 is a funding for the covid uh stuff to help the school divisions deal with uh with covet I asked about a document uh because last Thursday there was nothing except an indicator that there would be a public hearing on sr3 later that day a document did appear it was dated May 17th so I wondered why we had a document and having a public hearing for a document dated all the way back in May later that document changed its state sometime over the weekend to October 27th okay so I'm not sure why all that took place but it did it seems uh odd to me that we would be having a December 5th public hearing and nothing up on the website until the Thursday prior to the public hearing sr3 funds are
007made available to local school districts for the purposes of dress addressing the covid impact but in the document that's on the web page there's no funding it's all a narrative uh I'm not too sure why that is so it's very hard to comment on the funding stream uh there are some notable changes in the document that was posted uh last week one is that most of the SEL stuff has been removed to uh to my satisfaction of probably a lot of others it does talk about social emotional learning but it says that the school system would seek out individual children that might need that and I think that's a commendable way uh to go forward so we're a little bit at a loss as to what as to how to comment with any without any
008funding stream in a document but I do commend you for taking out Mr Miller thank you thank you our next speaker this evening is Jill Lovett hi I'm Jill Lovett um I'm in Miss Barbara's District I just have a few things I want to say about this um this coven money we got I don't know if everybody knows this but we got a lot of money 1.8 million dollars over 1.8 million dollars and we spent a lot of money almost 1.8 million dollars and my question is have we spent it in ways that have made a difference so some of the things we've spent it on to the best of my knowledge is we spent on nutrition for the students during covid Big Win really went over well we spent a lot of money on
009cleaning the schools to keep our kids safe big win but we've also said we were going to spend money helping fill the learning Gap and also with mental health and my question to the board and Dr Nichols too is so what have we done and what are the measures to say whether or not we've got our money's worth I'm thinking we didn't spend 18.8 million dollars on food and cleaning so a lot of money you've had to have been spent on these other two things what's the measure what's the success rate how can we prove we've done anything we hired two um we've we filled two positions for people we're supposed to help with the learning gaps are we going to continue to employ these people and how do we know that we wouldn't have
010gotten the same thing by not hiring two more people so I guess my question is we need more transparency on what the board and the superintendent the schools have done with this 1.8 million dollars and my ask from you is can we get an accounting of that can we say here's the measures this is what we did and here's the results because 1.8 million dollars is a lot of money thank you thank you very much thank you for your comments that concludes the public hearing on the sr3 funds the next item on the agenda we will move to recognitions our first item number four our school Spotlight this evening is George Watkins Elementary School so I will turn it over to George Watkins and Miss Tammy krajark [Music] good evening Madam chair members of the
011board Mr hochman and New Kent families this year due to the decreased number of classes we are fortunate enough to allow students in grades second through fifth to pick which resource Club they wanted to go to for each quarter the first quarter we had a choice of learning about books that became movies soccer jump rope instrument play and art around the world students completed a survey and received either their first or second choice at the end of each quarter we get to choose from four new clubs we will now hear from some students from the movie was a book first here is George Wigley a fifth grader to tell us more we chose library for our club in the first quarter I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret and compared it to the movie Hugo
012the book was cool because the author uses black and white drawings compared to the movie that uses color foreign hi my name is Olivia and I am in second grade my group hi my name is Olivia and I am in second grade my group worked on the books Stuart Little the characters from the movie were really different from the book um good evening my name is Lillian and I am in the fourth grade we read the book Because of Winn-Dixie um the book in the movie were very similar hi hi I am Trent Evelyn from Miss Perkins third grade class our group read James and the Giant Peach and likes the other groups our book was very different from the movie Next you will hear from the art Club hi my name is Finn and
013I'm in fifth grade our theme for Art Club was Art around the world we started by learning about cave art hi my name is Peyton I'm in fifth grade did you know that cave artists had to make their art supplies from natural materials cave painters use symbols to stand for things that were important to them hi my name is Olivia and I am in fourth grade sometimes the cave painters used eggs to make their own paint hold together we made our own paint using clay and art paste hi my name is Avery and I am second grade painting on Cave walls was tricky because it was so bumpy we crumbled up our paper so we could try drawing on a bumpy surface now let's hear about music Club here is Adam Harris good evening my
014name is Adam our club was focused on Rhythm and drumming techniques using buckets donated from Home Depot please listen as Megan John Diel Deja and Janita prayer please section of We Will Rock You all right [Applause] hi my name is Jade I'm in the fourth grade I did not know how to jump rope with someone on my back until I started jump rope Club my skills have definitely improved and I can now jump up with three people using a large size rope hi my name is Kinsley I'm in fourth grade I pick jump rope Club because I did not know how to do a trick at all now I can do the crossover and jump rope with three people using individual rope hi my name is Levi and I am Joseph we are in fourth
015grade we chose jump rope Club because we like to exercise we learned how to do the double unders and the run through hi my name is Grayson and I'm in the fifth grade I love jump roping because I learn new tricks like joining another jumper who is already jumping a rope please enjoy a quick demonstration of what we learned [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you for allowing us to share with you the fun activity activities we did this first marking period next quarter we will be playing dodgeball singing karaoke playing critical thinking games and creating School proof from recycled materials we hope you enjoyed learning about the great clubs happening in our school thank you for your support of our clubs have a great evening [Applause] thank you to everybody do
016they want to come up and get a picture in front of the board if everybody wants to come up I'm sure we got a few cameras in the audience and we'll get a picture really great to see everybody a lot of happy faces and and it's just good to to see all the good work being done foreign get yours first look this way foreign [Applause] foreign all right thank you everybody let's give them another round of applause thank you Miss projarik thank you really appreciate all the teachers that came out tonight and the parents thank you no there's Patrick thank you okay now back to our regularly scheduled programming um back under recognitions or in section 4 Item B recognition of national special education day Mr Richard durmeyer am I on now all right very
017good good evening Madam chair members of the board Mr hochman on this last Friday December 2nd marked 47 years of the Inception of the individual individuals with disabilities Education Act and we did in hindsight maybe we should have put this on our November 2nd I mean seventh agenda um but at any case we did recognize that as a division we had it on our bulletin and the email was sent out to all those administrators throughout the division and we certainly want to give our thanks to all those individuals that support our special ed students in New Kent thank you thank you thank you very much our next item is the recognition of Computer Science Education week there you are Mr Ross Miller good evening Madam chair members of the board Mr Hockman this week is
018computer science education week and this week is set aside to let's say to emphasize the importance of learning computer science for our students as many of the careers they will be going into do involve computers and many of them aren't necessarily even careers at this point and so but we want to prepare them for whatever they may run into so with um first week of December every year we put together some different activities that we provide to students throughout the division each of our itrts which are instructional technology resource teachers we have four of those in the division that work to support our teachers and provide Technology based lessons and help them to plan those they have provided this week different activities for their students to be using and also they were media specialist and
019stem teachers to be able to provide activities throughout the week as well in each of the buildings and so students have both these opportunities you'll see here these are just some menu boards that students can use that are being sent out to all students and then there's also opportunities in different buildings either in the steam Labs or media centers to take part in activities that they can learn more about computer science we are also just give you a preview looking towards next year we are hoping to incorporate a computer science class at the high school for students who are Desiring to strengthen those skills excellent thank you thank you very much all right moving along to our consent agenda board members by now you've had the opportunity to review the items listed on the consent
020agenda including minutes from previous meetings bills and payroll monthly financials and the superintendent's recommendations regarding Personnel matters do I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented a move we approve the consent agenda as presented all right thank you Miss Barber do I hear a second a second thank you Miss daskill board members any discussion all right hearing none will move towards a vote all in favor say aye aye all opposed none okay the motion carries the next item item six on our agenda this evening is new business section a fiscal year 24 recommended CIP which is under essential goal number three management and stewardship of resources miss moreheim good evening good evening Madam chair board members tonight I bring to you the recommended CIP this was previously presented to you by Mr
021Hockman and there are only a few minor changes as we finalize this out and made this formal recommendation to our County I think the two that probably shifted were the school Vehicles non-bus the two Vans and one passenger van that we've added for 143 000 and we finalized a quote for GW Elementary School with the LED lighting project um so next steps are kind of waiting to see what the county manager will bring forward in his recommendation and then we'll come back to you after that point with a final approval of our CIP plan okay thank you Miss morheim board members any comments or questions and this was reviewed with the Board of Supervisors at their Retreat last month yes ma'am all right thank you very much this comes before us as a vote later
022this evening all right the next item Item B is the policy revision 2A and 2ab this is a first read this evening under essential goal to create a culture of acceptance for diverse groups of all students or so all students have a sense of belonging Mr Miller good evening members of the board Madam chair and Mr hochman um so we're looking tonight at policy IIA it's part of the instructional policy and it has to do with the selection of instructional materials as many of you know this year with Senate Bill 656 the Senate basically directed the Department of Education to create policies around the use of sexually explicit content in classrooms and that polish or that spill also basically outlined that if it is being used didn't prohibit the use of sexually explicit materials but
023if it's being used that we ensure that parents are notified that is being used in a timely manner that we identify what that material is and why it's being used and also it permitting a parent or student to request alternative materials in the case of its usage and also that a parent can change their mind at some point and they're not locked into that decision at any point so um it did require School Board basically the Department of Education to develop policies but then the school board to adopt policies that were that were consistent with the this legislation as well as the Department's policy so I'm just going to go through that tonight so you understand um the policy that we're requests to be put in place um and I've pulled out the key pertinent
024points is pretty much a a almost verbatim the policy so a we do want to make sure that parents are notified that is clearly outlined in there and that they're notified in a timely manner um for us that's that's consistent with State policy which is 30 days that at a minimum that they'll be notified 30 days before it's used um also um our policy does outline that we will provide non-explicit material in the case that a parent requests it or student request it go ahead and head to the next one there we go so part of that is also that we'll create a process for how this is going to happen I'm going to outline that process as we get towards the end but a process for the identification of those materials as well as
025that they'll be identified ongoing but also at the beginning of each school year this policy wasn't required to be adopted until January and so the having it prior to the school year wasn't going to be plausible but we will have it at a the list available prior to this policy going live so um we'll also provide a written notice from the principle of any school that's utilizing these materials at least 30 days prior and I'll go over how we're going to do that and then informing parents of their right to review as well as how can they request an alternative assignment so as we look at oh these are further processes so process by which parent could change their decision again we have to have that in place and then maintaining a list of those
026materials and they have to be up on the division's website and then um and then the process for how do we provide online access for parent review as technically as long as it's technically feasible and doesn't violate copyright for us to do so um so the state did provide definitions for what or for what is included in sexually explicit content and so those definitions have been included as part of the policy the there's been a lot of discussion about the state level region level as to what exactly fits under pieces of this especially the phrase lewd exhibition and how is that defined um the and then they do clearly Define in the pot in the state rags and policy that this is all based on sort of parent review and parents um notification and so
027the definition of what is a parent is also included in there and then the instructional material piece what is included in um instructional materials um and what is not included in instructional materials and so I'll go through some of those pieces so here's the process we've already started this process and going through so each grade level or department is auditing the materials that they're using in class and will use in class to identify anything that would fit those definitions so once if they find anything many classes it is Rarity for us to find things but there are some things in in the materials that do fit that definition so as they find those we are generating a list that is being reviewed by building administrators um to make sure that it fits the definition and
028determine whether or not it should continue to be used um after we have a master list of everything that um that is going to continue to be used then we will be posting that on the division's instructional page and all course syllabi um are being updated to include the identification of those materials that will be used in the class and so the parents as students are signing up for courses um they'll be able to see whether or not when material and what material will be included in the class and then also in there how can they request to review as well as request alternative assignments hmm um so that's just a rehashing of the previous one there okay so with parent review again it's going to be in every course syllabi so the parents who
029know it's coming any at the high school any class that is going to start with material which we're trying to avoid at all cost starting with the material but if it would be kind of one example of that those parents are being notified prior to the start of semester so one example of that is a dual enrollment psychology class that we have and so some of the content it is a college level class and some of the content in that psychology class would fall under this definition that because it's dual enrollment it is also their role in RCC and so we're notifying parents soon about that one because the content because it's college level content we can't change the content of that course and so that way parents if students need to be rescheduled for
030second semester then we'll we'll help parents with that process yeah I think it's really helpful when you give examples because I'm having I'm having a really hard time imagining right what these different scenarios might be outside of sex ed yeah so family life this is pretty much the process family life already follows uh except parents can basically Ops completely out of family life curriculum and that's already put in state code um and we so very much this process is that um and it's elementary and middle that's pretty much the only place we're finding this it's when you get into upper level high school classes literature and or like a psychology class or a college level class some of the AP content in an advanced placement Class A advanced placement literature there's specific literature that is
031called out on the AP test and that is recommended be read by all students prior to taking that test that does fit into this category and so we want parents to know up front but hey this is going to be a part of the content and the intent there is to prepare your child for the assist the advanced placement test and that's why it's in there we'll opt them out of that class altogether right I mean yeah yes right yeah so then um so can you switch back real quick thank you so as I said all course syllabi are maintained in the learning management system parents have access to the to their child's courses in the learning management system so that they can see those and then at all possible if we're able to allow
032review of materials um online we can we can't post copyrighted books we can't post copyright materials but we can provide opportunity for parents to review those ahead of time so here's this has been a large discussion State and reason wide is how do library books fit into this and so as a whole library books are not um a part of it and they become a part of it when they're specifically identified for use in an instructional activity students just going to the library and selecting a book is not included here and so so we encourage parents to still be involved in that process to understand what their students are selecting from the library and assist them in the materials that they select now if a teacher were to take their class library and say hey
033you need to pick this or you need to get this book off the shelf then yes 30 days prior we would have wanted to notify those parents and we would um so one of the things that we are working on is there's times in classes where students are provided opportunities for independent reading activities so opportunities to have a book there with them to read and during those times we are going to be notifying parents that hey you know it's time we're going to be switching books and so as your child is selecting their next book please be mindful to have that discussion with them or to engage in what are they reading and not just for hey are you reading sexually explicit materials but what are you reading so we can have discussions around the
034dinner table around the house just about what are you learning from that process we do still are still maintaining the middle school policy of parents can opt into notification prior to their child selecting any novel from the young adult section and any questions you know one of my questions there um Mr Miller is how how are we notifying parents is it through email is it through text messaging how do we know that they've gotten the message and I could see that could be a little bit of a gray area for where for the response back in fourth of this communication piece right the initial key pieces through the the course syllabi so up front here's the list of all materials that we'll be using and approximately where you'll find them within the course so that
035from the beginning parents aren't on the Fly having to say okay on this next activity or this upcoming activity from the beginning hey I would like alternatives for each of these um as we go through the course and so it can be well integrated into the way in which it's presented to the class that um which what our alternatives for a reading selection and things like that do we continue to have um parents sign syllabi is that required in each class yes okay all right because I know it used to be I wasn't sure if it was still yeah I I think that the the policy appears to be as comprehensive as reasonably can be obviously you're not going to catch every situation and and the good part I think about this honestly is from
036a parent stand point of view is that it will force the parent to be engaged if they are concerned about content then it will put the onus on the parent to be engaged even though we do have a responsibility to notify them is that we're giving parents an opportunity to be engaged in the process and I think to me that's part of the partnership of of parent in school relationships of of that type of Engagement and I think that this policy we do our due diligence of notification in reviewing that because I think that we would all agree as a board and even most parents there's always going to be a question about how do you how are you going to Define sexually explicit material right it's and we're going to have discussions about that
037to are all not here anymore and so I think that's one of the things that that opens the door for us to make sure as we do our due diligence and parents do their due diligence we can at least have a a conversation about it and how we redefine this because my gut feeling is over the next few years that policy is probably going to change two or three times because of you you created a new policy and every new policy is not perfect and so as we go through this I think that we'll all be better educated about what's coming out in a curriculum so that we can review it responsibly so thank you Mr Miller when does this go into effect again so you'll you'll vote at it on at your next meeting
038right but when in June immediately immediately okay all right I got it okay okay board members any other comments or questions as stated this will be up for a vote at our next meeting in January and as always yeah if you have any questions between now and then definitely reach out okay all right thank you Mr Miller thank you our next item is the proposed budget calendar Miss moreheim yes ma'am Madam chair this calendar is could be a 12-month calendar so I tried to make it just small enough but big enough that you could actually read it a little bit the budget process is certainly a year-long process anymore we're always looking for feedback and participation in many ways but this is the calendar that we have proposed for fy24 one thing new on here
039that I'd like to point out is our budget forums that we're holding in our school buildings we've had two already at the Mill in high school we have had a lot of turnout it's been wonderful I appreciate hearing from everyone and we look forward to our visits at the end of this week in all of our three elementary schools so tonight we're asking you to approve the recommended CIP and then in January we'll be getting with our departments And discussing their requests um just a couple things to point out we will be asking for your approval in April um and then we will be adopting the budget in may we have talked about issuing contracts earlier than you adopt the budget so we're going to have to really work through that process with the county
040Mr Hathaway The Board of Supervisors just to make sure that we feel really comfortable with where we are prior to that time not a whole lot new but a little bit trying something different every year so if you all have any questions or if anyone has feedback budget at nkcps.k12.va.us is one way or just pick up a phone and call or come see us okay thank you and we certainly appreciate the collaboration this is really where the collaboration between the county and the schools has um has a great impact and certainly thank you to you and Dr Nichols for working directly with each of our five schools on these budget sessions really great coordination and communication with engaging teachers and staff thank you thank you all right our next item is our athletic Athletics update
041from the middle school and the high school so this evening we have Mr Michael Cooper and Mr valdrigi Madam chair members of the board Mr hochman thank you very much for inviting us here tonight to do one of the things I know we're most proud of and that's brag about our students and the successes that they have had thus far this year and there have been many um we'll just go briefly through this presentation what we've done is come up with a slide basically for each sport just to kind of let everybody know an overview of how things went this fall keep in mind fall Athletics begins in July now with golf starting so early so it's been it's been a long a long season but it's been relatively fast that we're in December already
042so am I clicking you got it okay there we go okay so um varsity football probably our Premier uh attraction sport in the fall um finish the season this year with a record of six wins and four losses in the bay Rivers District we finished ninth in the region uh barely missing the Playoffs by one spot on tiebreakers we are in incredibly difficult region our District's tough anyway but we're in an incredibly difficult region for football in fact there's one of our regional teams is still in there in the state finals this weekend in Phoebus and they have not lost moving on our students were very well represented it is actually easier for our kids to make All Region team than it is to make all district team because of the the variance in the
043sizes of the schools in our district but we had Seth bands and Thomas Wilson both make second Team all Bay rivers and Seth Joe backins Thomas and Logan Hodge made second team region 3A so we're very proud of those individual accolades in Cross Country our boys finished third in the region and then when we moved on to state competition Isaac lapreck finished second place in the district he was the region cross-country champion and finished as a state runner-up in the state cross-country meet so we're very proud of him he has a very very bright future as a Trojan our girls cross country team was very young this year and they finished fourth in the region and did a great job uh Maddie Johnson was second Team all district varsity girls volleyball we finished fifth in
044the district but still qualified for the regional tournament we Advanced to the regional semifinals which again speaks to the difficulty of our district now eventually falling to the eventual state champion York in the semifinals in five sets which is incredibly close so they did a great job had a great season the girls individually Aubrey Henshaw First Team all district All Region and second team All-State Sophie McLaughlin First Team all district first team All Region second team Allstate Fallon Greenwalt second team All Region Hannah Perkins and Leah rounds all regional honorable mention and Aubry and Sophie both made second team All-State which tremendous honor Varsity golf they're the ones that kicked everything off and really got our successful fall season started they finished second in the bay Rivers District they were the regional champions in the
045regional tournament that was held down in Petersburg and tied for fourth in the state tournament individually Brett Ferry Dylan Michaels Kyle Diggs were all region first team and Robert Edwards was all Region's second team what you see there in that picture that was their scores at the regional tournament which if you're a golfer um like Mr Hockman you would probably take any of those scores on any given day uh varsity field hockey our hockey I know Dr Nichols always talks about how proud he is of firsts our they finished this year with an eight and seven record it is the first winning record for field hockey in school history so they were history makers they made it to the regional tournament competed in the regional tournament and lost to a very tough pocosin team but
046these girls worked really hard all year and that turned out very well for them um bright future for the field hockey team and that's the girls right there competition cheer fourth in the bay Rivers District again tough District to compete in and ended up being Regional Champions another first first Regional Championship in school history they competed in the state championships at the Siegel Center that was the same Saturday as the bowl-a-thon we took a huge crowd to the Siegel Center to cheer them on and it was really an electric atmosphere it was very very uh very proud of all of the girls that participated individually um there we go uh Olivia Boyd and Bree and I agree uh Glenn we're First Team all district Riley Whelan Dana Douglas renaya first team All Region Olivia's second
047team All Region Riley first team All-State and Dana Douglas and Brianna um second team Allstate I am not sure that we have ever had All-State cheerleaders before Oh we would have to go back in the in the archives um did want to mention our sideline cheerleaders these girls work hard there's no postseason for them some of them are on the competition cheer but they do a great job at all of our home events really saw a lot of school spirit in our student population this year at all the games and they're just Troopers they really sort of carry the torch for for school spirit especially at these events couple of other things I want to bring up our athletic department has released a new app this is for Apple phones only at this time it's
048a free app if you download it you could keep up with all um scores schedules locations results it's it's I've only gotten into it a little bit myself so far but it is really really tremendous all changes go there first so parents can literally know what's going on at the instant it happens there are have been some issues I think with the um Android version that they're trying to work through but that's something that's worth worth probably having on your phones the other thing I'll say before I turn it over to Mr Cooper one point of emphasis for Virginia High School league this year has been sportsmanship it's been really hammered to us at all of the district and Regional and state meetings that the uptick in unsportsmanlike and ejections has been rampant across the
049state it really is a real problem super proud and I knock on wood as we have begun the winter sports Seasons we have had zero ejections in any of our Sports which puts us in line for the state of the game award it's one of the more prestigious Awards we've won it before as we move into winter so we hope that our our athletes will continue to represent us as well as they have and that's the update from New Kent high school thank you thank you I had one comment could you could you talk about some of the new sports that we have thank you you're welcome and I I thought about that after I finished the show um really really happy that this year new can high school is building a gymnastics team they
050had the first meet well they've had two now I believe uh one at home and then one was in Hanover at um the middle school there in Mechanicsville I'm not sure what the new name is we've got to think about 12 girls competing in that is it oh I'm sorry 10 or 12 girls I don't I'm not a gymnastics guy obviously um but super proud to start in that program board members sounds like we've got some really great coaching as well congratulations to those coaches for really doing a great job with the uh with the athletes and I think they're really part of the reason that we've had such good sportsmanship absolutely they send a good message thank you thank you all good news and I I have my copy of the app all right
051I went ahead and downloaded it so I could keep up and and just one comment you you don't have to to stay at the podium but you know as the county grows second fastest growing County in the Commonwealth I think we still are you know there's always a demand for for new sports parents interested in new sports so that's obviously a concern is something we talk about and and it's nice to see that we've we've added a new sport there will probably be additional Sports added over the next few years as the growth continues but certainly appreciate it and um appreciate the support for this particularly fortunate with the gymnastics we're the only um School Division in the bay Rivers District um that competes in gymnastics most of our meets will be to Western Henrico
052Chesterfield Hanover um all of those most of the schools east of us do not have vhsl teams um you would have to go to Virginia Beach to find those so we're sort of on The Cutting Edge ahead of the curve at that sport in particular all right thank you very much I appreciate it yeah I think that's uh when I was at the state school board it was really encouraging to see the the move to more Athletics and for instance like the new vhsl sport in the state is that just got sanctioned as girls wrestling it's a sanctioned vhsl sport and it was really encouraging because we as a School Division we can petition vhsl and at any time when we want to add a sport but what happens they say more times than not
053that it starts off as a club sport for most schools and then based on the interest it evolves into in into into a sport so it's really interesting to see how that's going to evolve with um you know lacks is starting to be a big one and and things of those in that nature that becomes very popular in different School divisions especially growing communities and counties so I'm really encouraged to see the growth of Athletics in our facilities as well as our individuals so thank you very much Hooper now Madam chair rest of the board and uh Mr hochman it's an honor to be here tonight to speak about our New Kent Middle School fall Athletics we had a fantastic uh fall season with lots of success so just as Mr valdrigi did I'm going
054to cover some of the specific teams and some of their successes that they had over the season so our I'm going to start with the cheerleading we actually hosted the bay Rivers district cheer competition at New Kent Middle School this year on the football field and we finished as the district runner-up so it was a very successful season those girls grew and and you know worked very hard I think they had over 100 chance and cheers that they LED our uh you know they led us in multiple Sports and really got everybody involved so they did a great job this year all right our volleyball team uh major success they went undefeated they were the district Champions they you know they won the championship I don't know how many years in a row that is
055I know I know they won last year for sure uh so they it's been a really successful program uh and you know I got some words from from coach Allen the the you know the coach and she talked about it wasn't just on the field success but off the off the field success as well uh they cheered each other on uh they were real positive and they just had a really great impact on each other and they and they grew as well so we're really proud of our undefeated volleyball District Champs and I got to mention this even though it's a little sour point for me they did win the they continued their winning streak and defeating the staff this year and our staff versus student game so it was a good game though it
056did go three sets football team uh again they started you know early a lot of them started training in fact in the off season to prepare uh and of course you know that I think they started in April with a lot of all season training and that led all the way into uh you know obviously tryouts in August it's a long season and those you know those young men and women uh they they did a really great job they didn't win every single game but again they grew and they had a lot of personal growth uh they learn from their struggles and Coach McPherson says although we only took a few wins on the field we learned we leaned into our struggles and walked away with countless lessons about football but not just Football Life
057as well so so I do want to talk a little bit about eligibility at the middle school you know we do get some questions about that from time to time and just want to clarify some of the different things first of all that we offer at the middle school we of course in the fall had cheer football and volleyball which we just highlighted there's great Seasons we've now moved into the winter season where we offer boys basketball girls basketball and wrestling and in the spring at the middle school level we all offer baseball and softball so it's come a long way since I was first here in 2004 when we just introduced our football program in the middle school for the very first time so now 8th graders are eligible to participate in the following
058Sports if it's not offered at the middle school level so JV boys cross country JV girls cross country JV girls field hockey JV boys soccer JV girls soccer JV boys track JV girls track and scholastic bowl so those are the things that they have the opportunity to participate as 8th graders sixth grade athletic eligibility uh so sixth graders can participate in the cross country club those are sixth and seventh graders only they can do tennis club which is open to all grade levels and of course we allow them you know they're they're able to be managers uh for any sport uh so we do often keep several sixth graders on there to be in that management position and they do a great job and just a little side note to actively participate in Middle School
059athletics we really follow the bay Rivers District policy and in the handbook it says specifically that you must be a seventh or eighth grader with the exception of Gloucester County schools and eligibility is limited to two years so that would be their seventh and eighth grade years uh and again that's that's in the policy handbook for the bay Rivers District right so that's it for me do you have any questions or members any comments or questions because I do think a lot of times parents of sixth graders say why can't my child participate on this team you know they they do it in other states they do it in other counties other districts um and and I think you've addressed that and I also want to give a plug for our New Kent Park and
060Rec Park and Recreation you know department they have you know basketball in the winter they have soccer and they have very you know strong programs that um you know kids that can't participate yet because of age in school sports so they can certainly supplement that and obviously there's a lot of travel Sports out there that that um that happen so and and really that's what we were trying to address because we do get a lot of concerns from parents and I'm sure you do as well talking about what do you do with the sixth graders absolutely thank you all right thank you very much all right our last item is the CIP request for an SRO vehicle so again back to miss moreheim yes ma'am Madam chair board members Mr hogman this is a transfer
061request in our CIP appropriation of Prior year funds basically our year in balance I'm requesting that we transfer funding to the Sheriff's Department for the funding of one vehicle for an SRO and this is um not not the schools purchasing the vehicle this is a transfer of the funding into the sheriff's department budget fruits so that they are able to do so on our behalf is this replacing a vehicle or um increasing the numbers increasing [Music] vehicle that was something that was not included in the original budget those Vehicles typically are purchased through County funds and this was a request that we had received that to help to support that initiative that's good yeah I get that's the cost of a vehicle that's equipped as as a service vehicle that was basically for this particular
062type of a position and that was the figure that they had provided okay any other comments or questions and this does come before us for a vote this evening okay thank you thanks thank you you all right that completes the new business for this evening um we do not have any old business under item seven so we will move to our citizen comment period and before we begin our citizen comment period as a reminder comments are limited to three minutes for our speakers once the timer sounds please promptly finish your comment and return to your seat it is customary for the school board not to make comment during the citizen comment period Please make sure that your contact information is provided on our sign up sheet if you would like someone to follow up with
063you and again thank you for our speakers for coming this evening we have two citizens signed up for citizen comment our first speaker is Tom Miller thank you madam chair the public hearing on the yes or three uh I have to tell you I think was poorly administered the information was put out late I'm not really sure what you've expected the public to comment on uh that's a whole other issue I have to wonder sometimes about the lack of attention to detail by the school board and to some extent the administration like to give you a couple of examples that have taken place over the last 18 months first off there were no microphones we couldn't hear anybody if you watch the video it's obvious you couldn't hear anybody you could hear Wayne because Wayne's
064voice carries well and you could hear the superintendent so then we got microphones but we shared them between two people and if you didn't share nicely with each other you couldn't hear somebody because they weren't close to the mic I offered to purchase microphones so we'd have one each for each of you and you guys said no and you got one mic per person commendable initially you told me that the school board didn't really have to follow Robert's Rules the Virginia School Board Association says you should follow Robert's Rules we made some some suggestions and now you follow Robert's Rules so we commend you for that initially you told me uh you would not provide me with draft minutes of the meetings I said I'm sorry that's a public document and foia request requires you
065to provide the draft minutes you now provide the draft minutes thank you there were conflicting dates between the school board meetings and the Board of Supervisors meetings I think that's been resolved after we suggested just try to coordinate that maybe it won't be a hundred percent but we are having meetings on top of each other on top of each other books became an issue we had one book that been a big issue you pulled it you removed the staff removed it from the shelves that excited the people that liked the book and the people that didn't like the book you never admitted the problem that was brought to your attention which was the book was given to an 11 year old not that what is an appropriate book for uh some some age discrimination SEL
066material is copyrighted you know I just if I fail to understand why you would buy programs where I could buy the math textbook I can buy the government textbook I can see the homework assignments or government but the SEL material is copyrighted are we trying to hide something safety we got briefed not too long ago by the superintendent and the sheriff about how safe our school was thank you Mr Miller thank you our next speaker is Mr Greg Reimer um sorry my mind has been blank I'm quite passionate about the idea of Republican government because we're really the only Republican government in the world and I started to talk about this last time and I went down a rabbit hole that was way too deep let me just Begin by saying only two in five
067Americans know how know how many and could identify all the branches of government only one in three Americans know that the constitution is the supreme law of the land that my friends is a failure to educate in civics because civics is essential for citizens to be able to understand how the government works ours is a particularly complex government and it's complex for good reasons it's complex to prevent tyranny this is contact complex to prevent one branch of government and dominating over the other it's tear there are federal layers we have to know about those because there are issues with double jeopardy that come up frequently with those tier jurisdictions and we as citizens should be able to understand the contradictions in those and be able to understand why those contradictions exist but most importantly Republican
068Citizens need to be jealous of their sovereignty because they are sovereigns when we created this constitution we didn't say we're creating a government to govern us we said we're relinquishing some of our Sovereign rights in order that we can have domestic tranquility that we can have a law abiding Nation that's the other Keystone of Republican government is respect for rule of law Lincoln wanted he urged all of us to make this a secular religion because it is so important that we obey and enforce every law in order to gain respect for all laws because if we start to pick and choose that's terribly corrosive which law should we obey and why are some people not being prosecuted the same way as others that that erodes trust in the systems completely with so few people knowing
069the three branches of government knowing that our constitution is the supreme law of the land I'm sure we have other places where our citizenry is ignorant of their responsibilities and of their government new can should not be one of those places we need to have a vigorous Civics education thank you thank you Mr Reimer the next section on the agenda this evening is to approve action items we have two action items before the board this evening for approval month section section 9A is to consider the approval of the recommended fiscal year 24 CIP board members do I hear a motion to approve the recommended fiscal year 24 CIP as presented I move we approve the recommended fiscal year 24 CIP as presented thank you Miss Barbara do I hear a second thank you Miss mcbeath
070and board members any discussion hearing none will move for a vote all in favor say aye aye all opposed none all right the motion carries the next item is 9B to consider approval of the CIP transfer for the SF SRO vehicle do I hear a motion to approve the CIP transfer request for an SRO vehicle as presented I make a motion that we approve the CIP transfer request for the SRO vehicle thank you Miss daskill do I hear a second a second thank you Mr Mead and board members any discussion yeah I want to be the first one that drives it okay all right thank you very much Mr Mead and um hearing no other discussion will move towards the vote all in favor say aye aye all opposed none all right the motion carries
071that completes our action items for this evening next section is comments section 10 and I failed to mention that Dr Nichols is away this evening so Mr hochman is filling in in his um in his place my apologies for not mentioning that earlier so having said that Mr hochman do you have any comments comments this evening if not that's fine but certainly I wouldn't pass up this opportunity what I would like to do as we approach winter break I want to take the opportunity to thank all of our teachers and staff and students for their hard work up to this point and hope that they have a wonderful break this is our last meeting before break so we want to make sure everyone goes home enjoys their time and comes back very refreshed thank you
072thank you Mr hochman and um we'll have board members comment make comments are you ready please go ahead sure boy I can't believe this first part of the year has gone by so quickly it just seems like we blinked and now we are in December so at going off of Mr hochman's comments uh I'd like to thank our administrative team our staff our families our students for all the hard work that they have done this semester um you know we've accomplished a lot as a board you know we look at what we've done you know we've opened a new new school on time and under budget all the great things that are going on in New Kent County Mr valdriguez presentation with the Athletics that was phenomenal and hats off to our students and our
073families for that uh from a board perspective I just wanted to let you know that uh several members of the board here participated in the Virginia school board association annual convention um up at the lodge in November wonderful opportunity to learn more about certain sections legal you know legislative as well as great opportunities to you know network with other board members across the Commonwealth so I'm happy to report I was able to participate in that and that's pretty much it and thank you for folks who come on a regular basis to uh to our board meetings we certainly appreciate it and uh hope you have a good winter break thank you Miss mcbeath Mr Mead I just want to Echo what uh Miss McBee said and I want to just this personal shout out is
074that you know Miss mcbeeth got kind of hurled into this thing in the last year here as we go into a new year when we meet again and I just want to personally thank her for her uh perseverance of stepping in and doing an excellent job of communicating with uh with your constituents and and participating and it is made I know um my position a lot better because of having you on the board and I uh appreciate all of your effort in energy that you've put in for this uh for this past year and I look forward to going into uh 2023 with some excitement and anticipation of all the wonderful things that our our school division is is going to do and I think this evening is an indicator of and even the last
075time when we had the other elementary schools here about student participation with their parents and with their teachers and with their administrators and how they are being creative and thinking outside the box and doing these things and this is what I honestly selfishly I love about New Kent County those type of presentations they're not happening in Henrico they're not happening in Chesterfield but they are happening in New Kent County because we're committed to the families and the schools in our division and we want them to be front and center to show our constituents and the and the people of New Kent County that we are invested in the process the same way with Val driggy and Cooper and that type of presentation that you give is is commendable to let us know that that's why
076people want to move to New Kent County because we provide a great product of education and we are competitive and I and I am just excited to be a part of a community that is uh that is dedicated to the education and the well-roundedness of our students as well so thank you so much administrators and participants in the county thank you Mr Mead Miss daskill when you're you're a tough act to follow there buddy um I am just so proud of our schools I'm proud of our our teachers and all their hard work bringing these kids back into the classrooms this year um and they've done a phenomenal job I'm proud of our our coaches and our administrative teams they work hard every single day I'm proud to be a part of this board and
077I'm just I'm thankful for the participation and the the comments and the feedback that we get from our constituents and the the people that are interested in what's going on in in New Kent schools so thank you thank you Miss daskill Miss Barber well it's kind of hard to follow all of you all a lot of a lot of um authentic um recognition of how far we've come in New Kent and uh like I said last time there's no better time than the present to be involved in the schools in New Kent County um the level of the level of elevation that we've put into engaging our students bringing them back in the classrooms full-time our staff our teachers and the central Administration are really a hundred percent in and I'm looking forward to seeing
078how everybody comes back after a nice restful holiday okay thank you Miss Barber uh I want to thank um my fellow board members it's it's a pleasure to serve with all of you um it's it's December I can't even believe where the time went but I am I am proud to serve I'm proud to uh support this Administration um all of our teachers and Educators our staff and and our administrators in the central office um appreciate all that you do it's been a new Administration um coming in with the governor and Secretary of Education and new state superintendent of Public Instruction so certainly appreciate um all the flexibility and the change that you've endured and responded to as as All State agencies have done education has certainly been in the spotlight thank you to our
079citizens for holding us accountable we certainly appreciate that and we certainly don't take for granted this opportunity to serve and and what it entails and to serve here on behalf of those that elected us in our districts the parents and the students that we support um so certainly appreciate that um thank you to Mr valdrigi and Mr Cooper for coming this evening this is something that the board had requested our student athletes and coaches spend a lot of time practicing and playing and we wanted to ensure that not only did we talk about the programs further explain some things but also give them the accolades that they deserve and and we certainly look forward to having maybe the athletic directors come back you know maybe in the spring to talk about the the winter sports
080so we certainly appreciate you coming out this evening as all of our speakers we certainly appreciate that so with that we will go ahead and close our next meeting will be our regular monthly meeting on Tuesday January 10 2023 here at the County Administration Building 5 30 PM so with that our meeting is adjourned at 6 48 pm thank you everyone have a nice evening