Petersburg City Public Schools Regular School Board Meeting

001[Music] A motion has been made by Mr. Steven by Mr. Vance to go into meeting as authorized by section for the purpose of discussion or consideration of candidates for >> all in favor to close. Miss Mrs. with him. My place of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act will be taken to certify that to the best of each member's knowledge. One, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under the act and business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requires under the act and two only such business matters as were identified in the motion by which the close session will convene her discussed and considered in the close session by the court prior to the vote. Anyone who believes that there is a departure from requirements of one and two as sh also state

002the same indicating the substance of departure that his or her judgement has taken place. Does anyone wish to respond? >> Hearing no response, I will now take the freedom of information roll. Mr. Steven Pier senior >> yes >> Mr. Hy Miles senior. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kenneth Pritchette. >> Yes. >> Mr. Car Tucker. >> Yes. >> Miss Joyce Proctor. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard J. Lundy Jr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Adrien T. and senior. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Is there a motion to All in favor? Good evening everyone. The time is about 11 p.m. and we would like to call our regular meeting to order. Miss Davis, if you call the order once again, >> Mr. Steven Pier s >> here. >> Mr. Halby M s >> here. >> Mr. Kenneth El Pritchette >>

003here. >> Mr. Car Tucker here. >> M Parker here. Mr. Bernard J. Monday. >> Yeah, >> Mr. A. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Mr. Davis. Board memb approval of the agenda. If there are no changes, is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> So move second by Mr. Pierce. All in favor? Oppos? Motion cares. Next of The following are to be remembered during the moment of silence. Miss Eureka Mitchner and family in the passing of her mother, Miss Felicia Deeper. On Friday, I'm sorry, August 12th, 2025. The family of Miss Amaya A. Scott, Petburg City Public School graduate, and her passing on Saturday, August 17th, 2025. The family of Miss Lisha Hicks, Peaceburg City Public School employee, and her passing on Saturday, August 23rd, 2025. >> We have a moment of s Thank you.

004Next we move to one CL to alleges. Please of God nation indivisible and justice for all. facing. >> Okay, next we will move to one correspondenc [Music] Let me see some I do I'm apologize. There was a a letter to be read on behalf of my family and the passing of my grandmother. I wanted to thank the school board um Miss Brown and staff for your condolences and we do appreciate it. Comes from the Pritchard and Win family. Thank you allelcome. Next we move to number two, Miss Burn recognitions 2A. Thank you for Virginia school board members. Um I'm excited this afternoon to bring our first recognitions of this afternoon which will be first we will recognize our new director of college career and workforce readiness um Dr. Thomas Mette. So we'll ask Dr. Majette

005to please come to the podium and tell us a little bit about himself as he takes on leading our new CTE program here in Petersburg City Public Schools. Thank you Dr. Vette. Welcome. Sorry, Vision. Can you hear me? >> You're goodbye, Thomas. It's completely fine. Um, so I was here for seven years, teacher, electronics teacher, dean, assistant principal. Um, working with math and CT in that administrative role. Um, last few years been working at Richard Bla and Brepoint on some workforce development programs. I'm excited to kind of help out our help out our students and our staff. We have a lot of great programs, but I think they need to um expose connect young people to those careers that we have valuable opportunities in the area for to help those students connect to those jobs,

006those careers. So, thank you. >> Welcome back. Thank you so much. >> Right. So, our next recognition of this this afternoon, I'm excited um to bring to the podium um one of our own here in Petersburg, Mr. Danny Costello. And so as he comes to the podium, I'll just say that he is currently walking up to the podium as interim director of special education. And I know that the board has you tonight. We'll have to approve the final um approval for um director of special education. And so we'll just start with you being currently the interim dire director of special education. So if you can just reintroduce yourselves to everyone. And so we're excited. Thank you, Mr. Klo. >> Thank you. Good afternoon. Um I'm Danny Klo. I'm the interim director of special education. Uh

007this is year 23 for me in education. Uh spent that time teaching, coaching, and half of it actually now being leadership uh from compliance to instruction uh to supervisor now as the assistant director of special education and now the interim position. So through those years, uh there was a lot to learn, but I will say when I came to Petersburg, Petersburg allowed me that opportunity to grow as a leader. Uh Dr. Manson uh once I came on board uh gave me the opportunity to really build a skill set, make mistakes, but also um build a rapport with the families that I truly um have great relationships with now. And I would just like to say in short over the last 23 years, I've dedicated my year to empowering students, um their families, uh fostering a

008collaborative and inclusive environment uh for learning to make sure that our students thrive. and moving forward that's will continue to be my passion seeing our students with disability thrive and be provided access as their non-disabled peers. Thank you. Thank you. So congratulations um Mr. Kel. >> All right. And so our third and final recognition this afternoon is I'm also excited to bring to the podium Miss Sonia Shaw. She started um actually officially today and she is the new principal of Cool Spring Elementary School. So, we're excited to bring her to the podium so that she can tell you a little bit about herself. But what I will say is she's coming as a veteran principal. She's been a principal I think for more than 10 years right here in the great Commonwealth of Virginia. And

009so we'll bring Miss Shaw and welcome Miss Shaw to University Public Schools. >> Thank you and good evening everyone. I am Sonia Shaw. I have been in education for 24 years. Seven years as teacher, five as an assistant principal and 11 as principal. I was the principal and assistant principal at the same schools. I was there for 16 years in Richmond public schools. I am technically back home. I'm from Texas County and I was a a graduate of J State and I'm a Trojan at heart. um back there again receiving my doctorate and so I am at home. I was a member of Zia Baptist Church off Burn Street at one time before I moved to um First Baptist um church in South Richmond and I have family members here. My siblings went to school

010in Petersburg public schools. I was born here in Petersburg. So my mom was a nurse at Petersburg General Hospital. So I am back home even though it's not Sussex where I am close to home but this is where some of my roots are. I am grateful and excited for the opportunity to serve in Petersburg. When I finished Virginia State I wanted to be a teacher here but Richard got me first. But I am grateful for this opportunity. I spent my first day working with Mr. Ward who is wonderful um learning some of my students and my faculty and staff. And what I can say is that I am ready to take charge and to build a school of greatness and excellence because I saw potential there today and I am ready for it. So again,

011thank you for trusting me and thank you for the opportunity. Good evening. [Applause] All right. Thank you, Vic and school board members. Thank you. And congratulations to all of our new and returning staff to Petersburg City Public Schools. Thank you for joining the team. Thank you, Miss Brown. I was looking in my bag for a for a pen. I was going to give it to Miss Shaw to welcome her. It was a North State pen for you to you can have a seat. Miss Shaw, you have stepped into it. >> Okay, board members. Next, we'll move to number three, approval of our consent agenda. Miss Brown, our personnel approval of minutes and donations. >> All right. Thank you, board chair, and school board members. It is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve the

012final personnel agenda dated 7 September 3rd, 2025 as provided. For 3B, it is the superintendent's um recommendation that the school board approve the minutes of the 71625 2025 regular meeting and the 862025 regular meeting. And our next uh 42C 3C donations received by Petersburg City Public Schools. It is a superintendent's recommendation that the school board accepts the donations received by PCP as as provided. If you can look at the screens here are our August 14th, 2025 to August 31st, 2025 division donations. I don't know if you can make it a little bit larger. It's probably a little bit harder to see. So, thank you to all of our donors who are continuing to support Petersburg City Public Schools. We really appreciate all of your don your donations for this monetary and kind support. So, thank

013you to all of our PCPS donors. Um, again for your support. And so with that, it it is again the superintendent's recommendation. The school board approved the final personnel agenda for September 3rd, 2025, the the regular meeting for 7:16, 2025, and the regular meeting 86, 2025, and the donations received by PCPS as provided. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Any questions from the board members? Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as recommended by the superintendent? >> Moved by Mr. Pierce. Is there a second? Second, Mr. Dance. All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. Next we move to our superintendent and staff reports for a miss. >> Thank you board chair and school board members. Our first presentation for guest reports this afternoon will be our um JMU Brightpoint PCPS teaching fellow program presentation

014will be given by do Dr. Joy Miner. Is that correct? >> Yes, that's correct. >> Thank you. Welcome. Thank you for being here. >> Thank you. I had the opportunity to first present to the school board back in 2022. It was virtually because of CO, but that's when this partnership first began. So, I'm just here to kind of recap what teaching fellows is, just for those of you who may not be familiar with the program. So, this is an opportunity for high school students um here in Petersburg as well as your pair of professionals to earn their teaching degree. And uh the high school students teaching degree program um is for them to come on campus and to be at JFU and to become a teacher and then in return they go back to the

015division and teach for two years once they graduate. the pair of professionals. We want them to stay in your schools because they're already awesome assets to your um schools here. But what we will do is we will have them complete their degree fully online and then they can move into a teaching position. So what is a teaching fellow? Basically they can be traditional high school students or they can be pair professionals. I shared before that uh money that this program gives to pair professionals covers their tuition and fees. It does not cover their textbooks and that's true for the high school students too. But it is a great opportunity worth over $100,000 for high school students and um it's probably about worth like 32 for the fair professionals. Okay. So as far as eligibility, they

016have to apply to Jamie and be accepted. I can't give them the money unless they're accepted to Jude. They have to be a resident in the state of Virginia, attend one of our participating school division schools, which Petersburg is one of them. And they have to major in early childhood, elementary education, special education for inclusive early childhood. So unfortunately at this time, the program is not open to people who want to teach math or be high school, middle school teachers. So this partnership is with Breitpoint. So basically for our pair of professionals so that they can uh earn their associates degree first and then take the classes the second 60 credits at JMU to become a fully licensed teacher. The tuition assistance applies at Breitpoint as well as at JMU. So they we pay their

017tuition while they're at student at Breitpoint and then we pay their tuition while they're student at JMU completely online while still being an employee in your division. Okay. So basically a bachelor of individualized study is what they become. That's what they major in instead of a bachelor's of science or a bachelor of arts. And that's mainly because it's a fully online program but it's still a four-year degree program. It's still fully accredited by the state of Virginia. Typically the classes are in seven week increments so that we can they can really focus on the class one class at a time while being a pair of professional. This is not applied to the onampus students. And so then they attend the classes synchronously. So they get to meet each other uh from across the county law.

018They get to see the professor and they have all that support while they're in the program. We also provide tuition um in addition to tuition assistance assistance for testing. So it costs about $400 to take all the lensure assessments in the state of Virginia and we pay for that those assessments for the people in this program. We also have tutors for them so that they can be successful the first time they take those assessments because a lot of times they might have that knowledge but they have test anxiety may not feel comfortable taking a test in that way. So we do provide that additional support for them. So this is just links that you can click on each of the different programs that we offer at JMU. And so here's why I'm really here besides

019to ask for your support continued support. We have since 2022 not a single Petersburg High School student apply to JMU and apply to this program. And so we really, really, really want uh to have representation from Petersburg. So I will be back up here on the 11th. We're working really closely with the high school counselors, really trying to get into the get connected with the right students so that we can really talk about this program. Again, it's worth over $100,000. I can probably give up to two scholarships this year um to Petersburg because we haven't had any since 2022 uh since the program started. We also have the opportunity um since 23 to have students come from Petersburg High School to JMU and like kind of spending like a little short weekend with a family

020member or two because I know it's far away. It's not just in their backyard. So maybe perhaps coming up to campus and seeing the campus that might help students kind of get excited about it. So when I come on the 11th to come back to talk to the students, I will be talking about that opportunity as well to come to campus. Um as far as actual pair of professionals who are in the program, we have six that are currently taking classes at Breitpoint. So these are your instructional assistants taking classes at Breitpoint and we have one current um employee who's at JNU. And we typically recruit for the pair professional program in January. And so we'll be those online sessions with the different um anybody who's interested in that online program for pair of professionals

021in January. They're actually recruiting now for high school students. And so the next step is just that signed between Petersburg, White Breitpoint, and JMU, which you all have been signing since 2022. I'm just hoping for that signature so we can get the funds going where they need to go and keep trying to recruit those Petersburg High School students. So, any questions? I have I have Mr. >> um that um BIS you said it was only 60 credits they can finish that in like three years. >> So it's the bachelor of individualized study and basically it's for the pair of professionals. They take 60 credits at Bri Point or whatever community college they went to and 60 credits at JNU. It's spread over two and a half years. So they take about three courses and that

022includes student teaching and the practicums that they have to take. So if they start in the fall of this year, they would finish in fall of 27. >> That's great. >> And that would even if they just came straight out of high school, they could finish in two. >> They could. Yes. And we're we're just trying to and kind of seeing that we can hopefully recruit right here from the high school to come straight to campus because the scholarship pays for their tuition. They're housing their women board. So that's why it's worth over $100,000 over the four years. >> That's a good opportunity even if they get a chance just to visit GMUS campus. Yes. >> And so hopefully we have something to take advantage of. >> Absolutely. You I have a question. You mentioned

023theou. I'm not seeing theou. What I see is the application for the student or employee to sign. Is there anou that we should be that we should have gotten? >> Yes. But but I can forward that again to you if that's not if you don't have that information. I'm having to forward that to you. Thank you so much for coming down. We appreciate um you coming and reminding us of the great program. And so we're going to add it to our um for our for um board review um this evening. So thank you so very much. Please be safe. Thank you. >> Okay. Next, Miss Brown, we move toward B. >> Okay. Great. Thank you, boarding school board members. Our next presentation of this afternoon is our summer 2025 school enrichment program summary update. that'll

024be given by Miss Joy Lowry, our directors of leadership, and Miss Embony Massie, our director of K12 curriculum, pre-K12 curriculum and instruction. They're coming forth to talk about all of the wonderful summer enrichment programming that we have for our students here in Petersburg City Public Schools. Miss Massie and Miss L. Good evening everyone. We're excited to begin our presentation on the school summer enrichment programs. We'll begin with Miss L. Greetings board chair, board members, superintendent Brown, colleagues, family, and guests. For tonight, I'm we will go through our summer academy updates. The agenda includes summer program descriptions that we put in place. We'll also go through the elementary, middle, and high school summer academy programs along with the new K8 behavior program that we implemented this summer. And finally, we'll share a few highlights um and

025program reflections. Next slide, please. So as you all were aware um traditionally we had some academically focused programs for our elementary students. We did have the power scholars academy for our first through fifth graders where they focused and partnered with the YMCA on enrichment activities and this was not required for promotion. On the middle school level, we serviced our sixth through eighth graders and that was required for students who needed to pass a class in order to be promoted. So that was more of a recovery effort. And then thirdly, we had our high school academy that serviced our 9th through 12th graders and that was for students who were required who needed to recover a course um or get verified credits. We did have some classes that were offered for initial credit. However, that was

026just a few. Next slide. And furthermore, we also had attendance focused programs along with our positive behavior support focus programs which included full steam ahead for our elementary babies. and they had an opportunity to focus on blended science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. And they participated in a lot of hands-on experiences. They had an amazing um end of program celebration where they were able to showcase and highlight a lot of the projects and activities they had worked on during that program. And finally, we had our behavior support program which was new this year. We called it K camp compass for our K8 students and that focused on students personal growth um social emotional learning and thriving in an environment where they were able to transition back into a comprehensive setting with skills they would need

027to be successful. Next slide. I'm going to turn it over now to Danny. Actually, it's Massie. And I want to go ahead and speak to our summer academy and give a little bit of data and updates in terms of each of thosemies. As you know, we had our power scholars and this is more of our traditional elementary school academy that we have each year. and our partnership with YMCA, we were able to service 100 students about 170 or so registered, but 100 students came up came to school um to the camp regularly. We were able to um have assessments and we were able to do it pre and post assessments. We're still waiting on that data from the YMCA. However, we will definitely give you updates because as you recall, empower scholars was our academic

028academically focused uh summer academy. In this academy, those students also were able to participate in enrichment activities in the afternoon and on Fridays go to a field trip to be able to support or finish up the week. For a full steam ahead, this was one of our new programs as you recall and it was focused on our academically I'm sorry, our chronically absent students and this was focused for our fourth and fifth graders. We had 54 students that enrolled in the program and 19 of those students were considered chronically absent. We did find that um next year for next year we will look at trying to work on more of our recruitment efforts for those students. However, 19 did come. Out of those 19, six of those students did come consistently um each day for

029camp. And so that was really at an 81 81% average attendance rate. And those students that are deemed chronically absent are absent over 25% of the time for school, many of those students who were chronically absent up to at least 50% of the time. And so to see that those students were able to now attend 81% of our camp did help us to know that next year as we continue to expand the program that there is some benefit and that the students were able to receive um some strategies and also be actively engaged in their learning to be able to come to school more regularly. Next slide please. For our middle school summer academy we have 184 students attend in this academy. As you can see um each of the enments that we had for

030English, for math, for civics, and for science. The really great thing about this is that those students that did attend were able to successfully complete their coursework for promotion to the next grade. Next slide, please. For our high school summer academy, you'll see that there were 270 students served. for this academy. Those students are required to attend so that they can receive credit for their um high school towards graduation. And as Miss Lowry stated, some of those courses were also provided for students to receive first time credit. If you look at our data, we were able to see overall improvements in all content areas. Um looking at our ninth and tth grade ELA, there was significant improvement in our history scores and we also saw that throughout the There were some gains in algebra 1

031and we will continue to work. Thankfully, we now have a new curriculum with our algebra 1 and so we'll be able to utilize that this year. And there was a strong trend for our envir environmental science. If you'll go to the next slide, you'll be able to see how many of our students were able to pass SOS in which courses. And you'll also be able to see the number of verified credits that were received through our summer school. And I would really like to highlight that in total we had 118 credits earned total for our students. You'll go to the next slide. We do have a special guest tonight um Danny Kusello who will be able to speak to our new behavior support summer academy. Um he was really instrumental in helping to put this

032together and in partnership with the um requirements of the school board to be able to help those students that were on home base or um were in an alternative setting and to be able to have an opportunity to attend summer school to learn many of those strategies that they need to become reaclimated to the comprehensive school setting. >> Thank you. uh when we started the uh the initiative or the program itself and we thought about how we would hire staff, we felt like that it was a priority that we have fully licensed teachers or even one licensed teachers to support the academic portion of the program itself. And then we also wanted to have our behavior interventionist as well as our character strong champions who work with these students throughout the day for that social

033and emotional learning piece. Um and so this program of course took place our K8 students uh at the Pleasant Lane Elementary for elementary kids and then Bernard John's middle school for those sixth, seventh and eighth graders. And during the uh during the summer academy, 85% of those students showed growth with self-regulation skills uh weekly on the SEAL self assessments along with the castle framework. And the castle framework is basically a collaborative um academic social emotional learning framework, right? And that framework has several competencies within that framework. Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, uh behav behavior management, decision making skills, things of that nature. So during the time uh we of course we started with a pre survey or pre-assessment to make that determination and that that was the data that drove us to how we will support

034these students throughout the program. So when we look at the behavior here that there was a significant decrease in uh behaviors from the start of the program from week 1 to week four mostly those were students that were adjusting to the demands of the setting during the summer. Uh, so it was very interactive. It was really hands-on. Um, and the students really enjoyed it. And so this behavior was tracked throughout the program and and so it was data driven throughout the entire process to show the the successfulness of of the program or where we need to make changes for the next year. Um, 75% of those students uh participated on the routines and this created structure for those kids. uh the morning routine, morning routines, uh some self-reflection circles, and then there the times that

035we were there that I did observe, there was minimal to no redirection. And I think it it really came from the consistency of the learning environment for those students. And then lastly, we did notice that there 70% of those students did demonstrate the independent use of coping skills and strategies. Right? We know this is something that our students will continue to work towards um as far as how that behavior is being documented daily. We're not going to stop tracking these students now that the summer is over. These are students that we're making a priority moving forward to the next year with the intent of increasing or growing the program um over years to come. So I think the the the first year program we kind of worked up those kinks but we definitely definitely saw

036some behavior successes and we saw the impact of uh what we can provide to those students from a behavior lens and the mental health side of it too as well. Thank you. >> And one thing I'd like to add is um for our academic summer camp and as well as the full steam ahead which focused on the chronic absenteeism we do have behavior policies. And rather than sending those students home who may have had like two or more infractions, we were actually able to have them attend um parts of the um camp compass, which was um a really great stop gap to not to make sure that those stu students still were able to receive um instruction and academic experiences and be able to learn more about their behavior versus sending them home and them

037just kind of missing out on opportunities for that. So we learned quite a bit. If you'll go to the next slide, I want to share some of the things that we did learn because of course we want to be reflective practitioners and where can we improve and what do we want to see done differently next year but we also want to make sure that we highlight a few of the things that we recognize as growth areas. So in terms of reflection when you think about power scholars full steam ahead p compass and our middle schoolmies we do want to make sure that we start to review the timeline for registrations. We felt like we did we wanted to make sure that we were looking at that a lot sooner and giving parents a lot more

038opportunity or time to be able to register. Also, we want to make sure that we continue the family engagement efforts that are happening in our district and continue to build relationships with families so that we can promote attendance and promote positive school behavior because we know that it is not just done in isolation. It is something that we do in partnership with our schools as well as our parents and our teachers and also most importantly our students. For high school, we were able, one of the things we wanted to reflect on was that we wanted to provide different teachers for our in schedules for those that need remediation support just so that they can pass the so and get that additional support and also a different class for those students that need credit courses. In

039terms of highlights though, we have quite a few um that we think are super important. Overall, our students were engaged to speak to what Mr. Kuslo spoke to that our students were engaged. behaviors were minimal and we um students really enjoyed the experiences. Students, teachers and staff were very excited as well. So, it wasn't just our students. We were able to provide professional development for our teachers. They were able to um um experiment or use our new curriculum for the second secondary schools for reading and math. They were able to get a head start on learning those curricula and also for a full steep ahead. Those teachers were immersed deeply in our science content professional development. There were lots of positive peer interactions with that increasing steadily. So more than 80% of the students were

040engaged in those conflict free groups by the end of the program. 184 students were promoted. That is something that we really can celebrate and be excited about. And then the thing is to think about our high school. Last year we were super excited that seven students graduated through the program. This year we had nine students graduate. So two more students graduated this year than last year. So I'm just excited about that. But um so if we look at it, we have so thank you. Are there any questions? Next slide. First of all, I do I do want to applaud you guys. This was an exceptional presentation. It had impact. U if you would be so kind, go to my slide nine for me, please. And the reason why I'm particularly interested in slide N and

041it speaks to some of the work that we've been doing. Uh I think Mr. Klo, sorry Mr. a little bias. But um um you mentioned something about um you won't stop tracking there. Can you uh >> Yeah. So, uh, our school social workers, um, our school school social workers and our behavior interventions that work with them directly for the social emotional piece, um, have a progress moni monitoring format that they're going to identify those students to the school counselors, uh, school administrators and teachers. And so, as they work with those students, they will then have support them either in groups or individually. So, we know that these students will need that opportunity to transition into the comprehensive setting. So, they've already done is they've identified those students and they've kind of met with them and

042talked to them about the classroom expectations um how to respond when uh when when they feel like they uh they're not able to uh perform in in a manner that they should in a learning environment. And so the the tracking is to show what took place in the summer. How has that impacted or were they able to transition those skills when they're in the the mandate learning environment? And if it does, that's great. We'll continue track them throughout the year and if there needs to be things that need to adjust as far as what we provide them in additional supports, we'll give them that. The idea is to track them so we can use utilize that data to see the successfulness of what they've done throughout the years, but also to see how can we

043use that data to determine how we move forward with the next year's program to see where we need those uh improvements there. But I think it's super impactful that uh we do use the data from the preassessment to the final assessment to determine the successfulness of during the summer months, right? That's a very restrictive setting where it's a smaller group of kids. But coming back to the comprehensive setting is really now to see if the work really pays off. part to that and the reason why I said it's great but if it's all right hopefully matter to next year when you guys you know what the additions you're going to make you mentioned that too so I I'm hoping the board can see a little bit more last year than this a little bit more

044that that data how large that change was because if if it's if it's going to impact this way then uh we know that it's really really working. >> Yes. And I'm stuck on slide N simply because uh you indicated on the slide that that behavior reports decreased by 60%. from week one to week four. >> And that's not mistake. >> No, that's not mistake. >> No, I think I think what was important is that uh that program brought structure to those students. First week it was, you know, procedures, practices, expectations, uh communicating with parents and then as the students got to learn that it was a more hands-on that they draw in activities where they work with one another that it wasn't a sit game. So it was it was really interactive for them to

045engage in. So I think what happens is the more we engage those students we saw the behaviors decrease anytime you're in education and if you're teaching what often times uh curtails and decreases um classroom behaviors good teaching and good planning and I think that team adjust throughout the weeks to get that behavior down. I think that that's that's why I will see that that data is accurate. >> Okay. I'm hoping to see the enhancement enhancements next year. And lastly, it is good to hear that u even out the infractions. Uh you didn't put them out. >> No, >> you made adjustments. >> Yeah. >> Uh change the environment, >> you know, reinforcements. >> Yeah. >> So that it actually impact on the program overall. So, I'm excited overall. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you all.

046>> Thank you, Mr. Gustello. So, as a followup to um Vice Chair Pierce's question, I just want to go back to the SEO and the castle framework where kids are taught those um kind of self-management competencies. Can you speak to um to everyone what was the impact of those competencies and teachers teaching them explicitly because that's what the castle framework is. You teach it explicitly to kids so that they know how to >> you know implement those competencies so that that play into the behavior incident or was it just the teacher and the way the teacher kind of adjusted? >> Oh no, that was the foundation of it. Right. So that's that that's the core principle that what that's what that's what led to how we move forward and during the preassessment that data there

047um was was used to move forward on how we would support the students when you look at the framework itself right because that is a research based research based uh approach to social emotional learning in the teaching environment. Yes those those skills had to be learned throughout that time. So yes, self self-awareness was probably the foundation of it. But all all six of those five of those competencies were then played a part in the uh decrease of behaviors and also the increase of of skill sets they've gained uh for the social emotional piece of it >> and that is and those same competencies from castle are embedded within character strong >> absolutely >> is what we adopted this past year and that's what's been implemented. So you did the competencies by themselves or did you

048also integrate because I know we have character strong. >> Yes. So the character strong uh champions as far as in the lesson piece they they use the character strong curriculum to support that but I I I took um I was more specific about uh the framework itself just so have a clear understanding of what we utilize to get to how we would work with those students. And so uh the character strong champions then was able to then utilize the curriculum itself uh to support each one of those students needs through the actual framework which which happened in the preassessment. >> Thank you Miss >> Yes. Um first of all congratulations on that middle school 100% pass for the summer that was excellent. Uh the question I got have is for high school we had 270

049students and they gained 118 credits. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Was everyone taking a a course that could have gained the credit? >> Yes. Those were the only students that were attending or students that needed to pass the SL. >> Okay. So >> not every student was there to do that. Some were there to pass the SLO. >> They had already passed their course. >> Yeah. That's what I was interested in. How many could have gained and was so everyone that was there. >> That's what I was asking. >> They would have if they passed their >> Oh, if they passed their correct 118 to pass. >> If you'll go back, it was 118 that passed their coursework and I believe there were 44 that passed their SOL. So, there were students that needed

050to pass their SOL. of those students. You can see the data here. 14 out of the 20 students passed for English. Eight out of 22 passed for math and so on and so forth. For a total of 44 of those students passed their SOS and then there were 118 credits for students that needed to attend for. >> Okay. Yeah. >> For verified >> maybe I can re rephrase it. Out of the 270 students, could all of them were all of them taking a class that they could have gained credit? Was all those classes was for credit? >> Yes. >> That's what that's what I wanted to know that that that if we had had 100% like at the middle school, we could have gained 270 credits, right? If all them would have did well. >>

051Well, I think what I'm trying to explain, Miss I can certainly add to is that all of the students were not of the 270 students that attended all of them were not there to get a credit >> credit that's what I'm interested there to get a credit that's what I wanted to know so I can so I have a better idea >> how we far >> okay you asked a really good question and what I need to do is do a little bit of mathematics and I'll bring it back to you because I would all I would do is you know subtract out of the total number and all that for Okay. And um the other thing is that we had 16 teachers with all those teachers in summer school. We had 16 teachers and

052and and three sped teachers at high school level. >> But all of those teachers um licensed every day. So everybody all 19 teachers were licensed. So fully licensed. >> Yes. What I wanted to share too because that was another highlight is out of the 50 teachers for all of our programs, 48 out of 50 of those teachers were either provisionally or fully licensed. >> Okay. So the 48 is pretty good. Yes. >> Out of 50. >> Um and the reason why I asked is because all the time the public want to know we had all licensed teachers, fully licensed teachers, how would our kids kids fair? And and so it's a lot more that go into that equation. >> Yes. >> Than people No. So, the thing is that that's why I'm going to that's

053why I asked that question. Okay. So, um and you going to get back with me on those parts of this. >> Yes, sir. We'll do some math to man and I'll get that taken care of. And I did want to speak to what Mr. Costello said is I do believe when we have the structures in place, we have the curriculum in place, and then we also have those teachers who understand what teaching looks like, sounds like, and feels like, it can make a difference for our students. And so, when we talk about having the right in front of our students. We see through our summer school program that there's that possibility and potential. So that's what we want to do this year and continue to build those that are already here and committed to our

054district regardless of their status. We're going to work with them to make sure that what they need so they can help our kids. >> Yeah. And the reason why I asked because out of 118 if if we said like if 30 of them could have gained the credit that's like 85% success >> and see that's why that number is so important because if you look at the total and you look at what they did if we knew exactly how many could have then we have a better idea of the success that we had with these licensed teachers. Um the other question probably be the M miss M that that that it was vague when you look at the numbers because you had three spared teachers. How many students did we have in there that was

055spared out of that 270 and how how well did they fail? >> We know that I think >> get back with me. get back with me because when you present the numbers to the public, >> uh those the type of thing see we want to show that success >> okay >> that we had and if everybody couldn't receive couldn't receive a credit then when you put the total up there against what we received it doesn't look like we fared as well and I know from the conversation we just had that we fared a lot better than than that. So >> I will get that and I will also break it down by subgroup for you so that you can see our sped students and ESL students. >> Right. >> Okay. >> I just want to

056clarify the question so I can make sure the team has all the information as so we want to make sure we know the number of students who were enrolled in the summer program in high school was there to get additional credit. Right. >> Right. And so the second piece is you want to know the number of special education students who were enrolled to be able to get >> and how well they did >> credit and whether they earned any credits as special students. Okay. Thank you. >> Excuse me. I just want to add on to Mr. miles. Also, when you bring bring the um the report back, the updated report back, can you also share with us n 10th, 11, 12th, how many students, because you said 270, but how many of those 270 students

057actually were promoted to the next grade? How many ninth graders came and was promoted to 10th? How many 10th graders came promoted to 11th? and how many 12th graders we had in there, which we know that that graduated, but you're now 10th and 11th. How many of the 270 were there to be promoted to the next grade level? >> Because that's missing out of the 270. >> Yes, sir. >> M. So, I only have one question. Um, to slide five, um, the full scale ahead >> much to Mr. M's point in us showing the success of these programs. I actually had an opportunity to um come in this summer and see and it was amazing. Um honestly the kids were excited about being there. Um the things that they were doing made me want to

058throw in the hat going in. So um kudos and congratulations to you all. I did have a question though. Out of the six students um that we know um it says six of the students attend 13 out of 16 days. How are we celebrating those students or how did we celebrate them? Um, and I'm only asking because um I thought about something. September is the uh attendance awareness month. >> Okay. >> So um could we consider making those six attendance or chronic absenteeism ambassadors? >> I think >> um to help kick off the um the attendance campaign. um I think it'll um bring much awareness but it'll help with the buy in on the school level when it comes to the kids. So um that's something to just consider and I think that's all I

059have. >> And Miss Tucker, you had asked about how we did celebrate those students. One of the things that happened at the end of that particular camp is that we had a celebration of success and what it is that they did. So those students actually in addition to having science experiments and going to real world to be able to have hands-on real world science exper experiences. Part of the STEM aspect is that they created a multimedia project. And so those students were able to present that project at the end during that ceremony. And those students that also had that um high abundance grade were also celebrated. They became eco rangers or eco rescuers and they got a cape and a little um set of glasses and it was just a really great opportunity to celebrate

060them for that. those accomplishments and so we will also get those names for um the attendance of their response and maybe Mr. M asked this and maybe I missed it for the SOS did you ask how many how many students took the and the ones that were not successful what plan do we have in place to make sure that they that's why are coming back to school this year. Do we have anything that's in place? >> We do have something in place for those students and I'll get exact numbers. I don't want to guess right now because I may be completely off. But those students as they return back to school, they are able to participate in remediation at that time. We also have some courses that they can participate in and then in the

061fall in a few short weeks they'll be able to take the SOA and have another opportunity to take that SO for credit. >> Thank you. And and while we're on this I do have one more I'm going to go a different route right now. We saw and I know Dr. Lane is going to bring the report but we saw the report on the staffing at the Pitman Academy. What extra assistance have we put in place for those students over there based on the teachers qualifications at Pitman Academy? >> You know what? I'm really excited you asked that question. So, um, we are using Ingenuity as our instructional platform there. But what we have done instead of just using Egeneuity because what we've known if you all are familiar with it, it's an online platform that

062students can take a um course a certified course through EOE and it's aligned and once they that course they will receive the credit. But one of the things that tends to happen is it's an asynchronous course and that means that those students are taking it in the absence of a live teacher. What we have done this year though is actually partnered with Egeneuity and they have an opportunity to live instruction for those students with the certified teacher. So that teacher can now be teacher of record. Um and and now it is a little bit adjusted because of the platform but that teacher will also help to track and monitor give feedback to those students um on their work and that teacher is certified in the area of the course. Also those students and not just

063those students at Pitman but also students that are taking egeneuity courses in high school and we have a couple that are taking the um high school credits at the middle school. Those students also have access to online tutoring and that is again with a real person and they have access seven days a week up to about 10 o'clock at night that when they run into a problem with um with that information during the course they can reach out to this person and they will provide that support. So we did want to make sure that we were not just putting students on the computer and asking them to be the learners the to be the ones in charge of their own learning although they should be. We also want to make sure that we put again

064the right adults in front of students so that they can get that additional support. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions? >> Okay. Thank you for the report. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you team. Good job. Missy, you'll get those numbers for us as a follow. Okay. Thank you. >> 4C. Thank you for watching and school board members. We have our third presentation of this afternoon and so it was now our family and community engagement update that'll be given by the coordinator of family engagement here in Petersburg City Public Schools, Dr. Brandy Lee. Thank you, Dr. Lee. Greetings board chair, vice chair, superintendent for board members and community members here watching at home. I am here to provide the update for family and community engagement for school year 2526. And so

065here we have the agenda and what I'll be sharing with you all this evening are a few highlights from school year 2425. We'll talk a little bit about school year 2425 community builders. Um I'll provide some updates as well as discuss the outcomes and then we'll talk about the expansion of or the strategy in around expanding the family engagement office in school year 2526. Next slide please. So here we have some of the highlights of the work that was completed by our team on behalf of students and families. And I know that's kind of small, but I want to share um some of what we have here. So, we hosted 16 family engagement university activities. Um as a result of a lot of these activities, we were able to serve families. We opened three family

066empowerment hubs. We worked with 20 dedicated community partners. In addition to the 31 community collaborations, we engaged 34 students in after school activities. We took the wave bus wave bus out into the community 14 times. Um we distributed 432 hygiene kits to families and in 2357 books to our students at home libraries. We launched a dedicated website, produced a newsletter, um, two newsletters, so one per semester, and our work was highlighted by the Virginia Department of Education, which you and by the Virginia School Board Association, and our podcast is linked there for the Virginia Department of Education. We were focused um, as part of a highlight the hub effort in our I believe it's called the Virginia Education Connect, which is produced by BBM. So I did want to take a moment to share the

067highlights um of this work. We are a small team but we are proud of this work and so next slide please. >> You want to click on the podcast >> it's well I put it there. It's probably about 30 minutes so I didn't know but I encourage you all to go back and listen to it. I might be a little bit biased but I thought it was great. So, but yeah, we our work was really featured. Um, I believe Miss Gina, she was really excited to hear about the good things that are happening in Petersburg. And it was definitely an honor and a privilege to be able to share that. So, when you have time. Okay. And so much of the amazing work that was done on behalf of families was funded by our community

068builders grant. And so, we just wanted to provide an update. Um, for those of you who may be unfamiliar with this grant, the purpose of the community builders grant is to decrease the behaviors that lead to the participation in gun violence. And so that some of the ways that you can do that are listed there, but there are a couple of different ways you can go about um addressing those behaviors. And so family engagement was one of the options. And so we chose family engagement as the vehicle to bring schools, families, and community members together to build relationships and resiliency in our students. And so there you see um how much that grant awarded us in school year 2425. You see how much we sent spent. Part of that was just really intentional balancing the

069budget and being frugal because the grant decreases in the second year and we wanted to be able um to make sure we had enough to do what we needed to do in year two of the grant. And so our anticipated award for the upcoming school year is there and you see the total amount that we will um be looking to spend by the end of June of 2026. Next slide, please. Also wanted to share some of the feedback that we received from our various data collection tools. And while I won't read everything, um you see here that Family Engagement University helped our parents feel more connected to our school and and their school community. And I have heard the presenter say today, everyone who has come to the podium has talked about family engagement. And

070so it really matters to our parents that they feel connected to our school community and family engagement university provided that. Teachers, this one kind of surprised me, said that it helped them to feel more invested in the district and help them be able to connect with division leaders. And the students who participated in our after school program demonstrated a decrease in discipline disciplinary fractions and an increase in school attendance, which is what the program was designed to do. Next slide, please. So, before we move on further in the presentation, we do just want to take a moment as a team to send out a special thank you to delegate lashes for her advocacy and her continued support of Petersburg City Public Schools. It's because of her work. Absolutely. It's because of her work that we

071were afforded this opportunity and she has been a great support. Our students have had the opportunity to travel and meet Washington's air delegate. >> Senator uh heir. Yes. And so we just want to make you definitely want to be clear on that senator. So we'll we'll we'll correct that and put it on. She was a delegate as I understood. >> She is she is a senator and so and thank you so much for that correction. But um this work would not have been possible without her support. So thank you Senator Ayer. And I also wanted to take a moment to just thank um Miss Alex Jofflin from the BDOB for her technical support and to our community partners that stood shouldertoshoulder with us in this work um of implementing the community builders grant. So thank

072you. And next slide. So while 2425 was an amazing year, we want to take things to the next level in school year 2526. And so I won't read that word for word for you, but I'll give you a second to just look over that slide to see some of the strategies that we'll be putting in place for school year 2526. >> So what are the some of the highlights? Um >> so some of the highlights we're going to talk about them on the next slide. So but some of the highlights um and let's go to the next slide actually. So one of the highlights is the addition of our two family engagement or parent liaison. And so this slide just provides a snapshot of the scope of the work of the parent liaison positions which

073I know we were also excited to to welcome into our division. And so that liaison is going to utilize a proactive family outreach and support interventions to decrease chronic absenteeism among identified students. And when I think about this position, I think some of the highlights of this position is that this person will serve as a member of school attendance teams. This person will conduct home visit on a bi-weekly basis as needed for students on their case load. Um this is going to be a person who is establishing relationships with families, learning about the barriers to attendance, connecting our families to resources and then following up with the families to see um if that resources was was you know beneficial in in mitigating that barrier. So um that is our parent leaison. Next slide please. On

074the next slide, we see a snapshot of the scope of the work of the family engagement specialist. And the family engagement specialist will also um support, they'll be supporting the family liaison with home visits on a bi-weekly basis. But a family leaison is going to take a slightly different approach. Um when a student is identified as chronically absent, um the family engagement specialist is going to pull that student grades. They are going to um schedule an academic conference. They are going to support that student with putting resources and interventions in place. And then they will monitor that student to see if progress is being made before moving that student off of their case load. And so that student, while they may move off the case load, they're never out of our purview. And those will

075be the same students that we follow up with at the end of the year to recommend them for summer school or some of the amazing programs that Miss Lowry and Miss Massie and Mr. Kusto spoke about. Next slide, please. So, we are also continuing family engagement university this year. As you may recall, in year one, family engagement university was scheduled twice monthly. It was more of a whole group session that was designed to provide a a a variety of resources and information for our parents, but it was also instrumental in helping to regain trust um in our families and to build relationships. Next slide, please. For year two, we have decided to take Family Engagement University to a whole new level. This year, Family Engagement University will be scheduled monthly, and we will be implementing

076themed majors, which you see listed there. And so, we will provide families with a more personalized, relevant, and enriching experience, similar to how students would choose areas of focus in a college um setting. All right. And I will say that the way things are set up now, um, our parents will have the opportunity to attend three major courses, two electives, and one extra credit. All right, next slide, please. One of the other things we plan to offer this year is quarterly professional development for school um, leaders and staff members to build their knowledge on high impact family engagement strategies. Some of the potential topics are listed there, but it is our goal to actually survey our building principles and leaders to see what topics they would like support with from our team. Next slide, please.

077This year, we will also be moving to dedicated school partnerships. So whereas we had a lot of division support with community partners last year, this year we want to wrap our arms around our school communities a little bit more personally and intentionally with partners that support um schools and they are actually at the table and a part of helping achieve goals at the school level. Next slide, please. This um one I'm super excited about because every principal I've met with has asked me about this. This year it is our goal to support not only with the parent advisory council but the reestablishment of the parent teacher association. Um in other words the PTA and so our goal is just to support not only with re reestablishing but maintaining PTAs as well. So, our Virginia PTA

078representatives are scheduled to visit our principal meeting on September 11th and to host a session in our community on October 8th to have conversations with all who are interested to get it up and running. And so, we'll start with the principles and move forward with the community members. Next slide, please. >> Yes, questions and thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Lee. Any questions? Mr. M >> September um what's that meeting with the principles for the P to establish with the PTA that's September the what? >> That's September the 11th at 1:00 >> where >> the principal's meeting is at the school board office the high school. >> The high school. >> Yes. >> Okay. And um parents then these representatives from the from the PTA where? So, the way it was explained to me is

079Chesterfield and we have the president and the president-elect. And so, because we would be establishing a new PTA, Chesterfield would support us, the representatives from Chesterfield would support us in establishing the PTA and providing maintenance for um our PTAs once they are established. >> Okay. Um who do we have as um you know, parents that want to be in the DTA? Are they aware of this meeting? So we started with the principles to allow principles to ask questions and get information as well. >> This is information. >> This is just information. And then our goal, Mr. Mal, is to advertise for parents to join us for an in-person meeting on October 8th if they are interested in being a part of the PTA. >> So we'll get ours kicked off Octo October 8th. >> Yes.

080>> And and where is that going to be? At different schools? >> So I think right now our goal is to have it at one school. We have not locked in the location. And so what I want to do is I'll follow up with you with a location as soon as we determine. >> Okay. Cuz I I think the principal might want to add a PTA. >> Yes. So they will have a PTA at each one of their schools, but for the first meeting just to get information about what is required. [Music] Then going back to the beginning of the report, um you you established three hubs, you said. >> Yes. >> Do they what's their locations? >> So the locations last year were Water Hill, um Lake and Cool Spring. >> Okay. And and

081and and that was at the school. >> No. >> Yep. They were there. And so they were set up. And so the one at Cool Springs is the one Cool Spring is the hub that was featured in the BDOE Education Connect. >> Yeah, >> I remember. And so so how many people do you have on your team? You said you have a small team. Is it three? >> We got three. We got three people. >> So right now in addition to myself there is 1.5 other >> individuals but we are in the process of growing. But but I know I know superintendent planning to hire another family giving specialist which she's in the process of doing that. So >> it's good to know. >> Yes. >> So So help us. >> Thank you. >> All

082right. But I will um this year I will participate in the PTA myself at one of the schools. Not all the schools. Let you know right there. At one school >> I will participate in one myself because I We really need those PTAs to grow >> and be well established. And I hope this is a challenge to all board members. I hope all of us select one school to be participate in the PTA. So we'll be hands on. All right. And because we need to support our kids and we have parents of kids on the PTA, I mean on the board also that's she's not listening to me but anyway. So, we have a parent, you know, I'm quite sure she'll be interested in being on the PTA also. Yeah. All right. >> I appreciate

083it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other questions, Miss Tucker? >> So, I want to piggy back off with Mr. Miles with the hubs. Can you plug in the hubs real quick and just give um our parents that are listening um just an overview of what the hub is? just a reminder of what the hub is and the resources that um are provided within the hub. >> Sure. Absolutely. So for those of you who are listening, our parent empowerment hubs, they are your spaces. They are spaces in the building that have been designed and carved out intentionally for our parents to come in to have conferences. If you um would like to have a conference with a principal or with a teacher, um our specialists are there to support you in that. We have a

084ton of resources housed in there um that hub whether it's information on attendance, workforce development, um information from Breitpoint, resources that exist in our community. Um in addition to books, we also look to house um food for our parents who may want to take advantage of that resource. It really is your space. And so um we want our families to feel empowered just as we um have listed as part of the name of the hub to come in. Don't be shy. This is your space. >> I'm sorry. >> Yes. Thank you. A lot of our parents weren't able to be in comfortable situations >> which was so uncomfortable. and we they end up leaving many times because they didn't have that comfort the comfortness. So we need to look at that kind of situation to

085make sure that we are making people comfortable and able to reach out to realize what is actually taking place before we run them away. >> Absolutely. And I want to thank you for sharing that. One of the first um family engagement strategies is to make sure that the environment is welcoming. And to that end, I just want to give a shout out to Miss Crystal McDaniel on our team. She designs such beautiful and inviting and welcoming spaces for our parents. They are gorgeous. And so Crystal, if you're listening, thank you. And parents, if you're listening, come check us out. >> Thank you. Dr. Lee. >> Yes. >> This is I guess this is only a twoyear. It only takes a two-year program from the monies that she put in. >> Yes. >> And I don't

086know whether we are you planning but we're planning to ask that she put in for like maybe two more years. >> So something like that. >> So Mr. Pie that is a conversation you know we've been asking as a team since last year and we have been having conversation with Dr. Greywood. He is on it. He knows that we are um expecting this windfall, but I have to admit I'm hoping that Alex calls me and says, "Brady, we got two more years for you." So fingers crossed, but I also want to have a plan B. So, >> okay, >> Dr. Great >> because hopefully um and the reason I bring it up because hopefully you're you know we're not doing the work or you're not doing the work just to be doing for two years

087because one of the things I was going to say if this is extended it would be great if you're able from this year to attract those students that you have worked with to see >> if there has been a change because I don't know whether you know or not how many of those students that you had this summer >> they may have had issues were you were you aware of that or whatever you know did you check records or you didn't >> so the last data we collected was for our July 1 report and so if there is anything that happened after July we have not done an updated data pool pull on those particular students >> okay thank you >> you're welcome any other questions Mr. Pear >> yes um uh Mr. as part

088of that question But uh last year we did this last year. >> Yes. >> From last year to this year there has to be enough data collected for us to see that we do intend to do it again and we know every year it shouldn't be a question whether we want to get the money or not. It should never be a question if that data dictates that. There has to be an impact on everything we do going forward. That's the only way that we can say year and year whether or not it's worth keeping the program. Anything we do is worth keeping. But we want to see measurable differences year to year. >> Absolutely. And uh if we if you can do that that would be great going forward. So >> we can do that.

089Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you Dr. Appreciate your report. >> Thank you. >> Next we move to 4 D our policies. >> Okay. Thank you board. Thank you board champions and school workers. We will now have our policies for first week for September 3rd 20 2025. And so we will start um a little bit smaller for me. Okay. Thank you. So for our first policy for this evening is Petersburg City Public Schools policy DJF. That policy title is purchasing procedures and that's in alignment with our VSBA policy DJF. And the purpose of this policy review is that the policy has been updated and legal references updated to reflect the correct code section numbers from House Bill 221-50 and Senate Bill 913 creating Virginia code 2.2-4311.3 and 2.2-4311.4 respectively. And that is

090in alignment with our VSBA 725. Policy number two for Petersburg City Public Schools policy JFC and that policy title is student conduct that is in alignment with our BSBA policy JFC. And the purpose of this policy review is that this policy has been updated to reflect amendments of Virginia Code 22.1-276.01 and 22.1-279.6 by Senate Bill 908. And this policy addresses cyber bullying in alignment with BSBA 725. Policy number three of this evening is Petersburg City Public Schools policy KBA. And this policy title is request for public records. That is in alignment with our VSBA policy KBA. And the purpose of this policy review is this policy has been updated to reflect a missing paragraph from the May 2025 update and starts from the most recent prior version of June 2022 and reflects the amendments of

091Virginia code 2.2-3704.2 by House Bill 2152 in line with VSBA at 725. Policy number four, PCPS policy KGD. And this is a new policy. The title of this policy is the notification of school connected student overdose. That is in alignment with our VSBA policy KGD. And that also is a new policy. And this policy has been created to reflect amendments of Virginia code 22.1-272.1 colon 1 by House Bill 2774, Senate Bill 1240. in alignment with VSBA 525. Policy number five this evening for PCPS policy KQ and the title of this policy is commercial promotional and corporate sponsorships and partnerships that is in alignment with VSBA policy KQ and the policy has been revised to reflect amendments of Virginia code 22.1-296.1 by house bill 1924. This footnote has also been added and this is in alignment

092with BSBA 525. Our policy number six which is PCPS policy LBD and the title of that policy is home instruction that is in alignment with our BSBA policy LBD and this policy has been updated for clarity in alignment with BSBA 525. That concludes thank you chair pitch and school board members. That concludes our policies for first week for this evening. >> Can you go back to So I can write the numbers down because when we do an anti-bullying form, I want to make sure we go over that with the students. >> Okay. Gotcha. Okay. So again, >> so I can write the numbers there. 2.2. >> Miss Davis says she'll give you a copy. >> Okay. Well, she got it right there. I just write it down right quick. So I look it up. So

093because we do an anti-bullying form every year with the middle school, we concerned black mentoring with the whole school. So the thing is a lot of time these policies right here we don't get a chance to go over many of them. So, but the thing is that we do go over all the bullying stuff, but just since they've been prevised, it might be something in there worded a different way that the kids really need to know. And sometimes, um, the staff really need to go over anti-bullying problem cuz we got a big problem with cell phones and people passing on text messages, um, all kinds of stuff. So, that cyber bullying is big right there. Yeah. Thank you. I wrote it in. Any other questions? >> Yeah, we move next to four. Sorry. >> Thank

094you board ch school board members. We will have our final presentation of this afternoon. So we have our HR teacher vacancy report update for 93 2025 given by Dr. Chica Long Lane, our assistant superintendent of human resources. Dr. Lane. Good evening, Chair Bridget, Vice Chair Pierce, Superintendent Brown, board members, colleagues, and community. Next slide, please. Tonight, I will provide an update for you on school-based vacancies and university instructors, and provide an opportunity to answer questions. Next slide, please. As we begin, please note that this data is reflective of vacancies as of August 29th, 2025 and numbers are constantly changing as adjustments are being made to meet the needs of students. Next slide, please. We begin with early childhood and elementary core vacancies. At Cool Spring, we have two vacancies in kindergarten and one in first

095and second grade for a total of four. At Lake, we have zero vacancies in core classrooms. And at Pleasant Lane Elementary School, there is one vacancy in the core classroom. At Walnut Hill, we have one vacancy in first, second, third, and fourth grade for a total of four. And at Westview, we have a total of five in our Head Start/ Virginia Preschool Initiative program classrooms for a total of 14 in our four classrooms. Next slide, please. In our other schoolbased vacancies, at Cool Spring, we have two specials vacancies, two instructional assistants, and one school counselor for a total of five vacancies. At Lake, we have one special education vacancy, one specialists vacancy, and two instructional assistant vacancies for a total of four. At Pleasant Lane, we have one English as a second language vacancy, three

096instructional assistant vacancies, and two nurses for a total of six vacancies. At Walnut Hill, we have two instructional assistant vacancies. Lastly, at West View, we have one instructional assistant vacancy or a total of 18 vacancies overall in our other areas at our schools. The next few slides are graphs highlighting the percentages of core classrooms, specialist classrooms, special education, and English as a second language classrooms. At Cool Spring, we have 81.3% of classrooms filled and 18.8% of classrooms vacant. At Lake, we have 93.8% of classrooms filled and 6.3% of classrooms vacant. At Pleasant Lane Elementary School, we have 93.5% of classrooms filled and 6.5% vacant. At Walnut Hill, we have 89.5% of classrooms filled and 10.5% vacant. And at West View, we had 79.2% of classrooms filled and 20.8% of classrooms vacant. Next, we'll review our

097middle school data. At Blandford Academy, we have one vacancy in math, history, and English for a total of three vacancies. At Vernon John Middle School, we have one math, one science, two English, and one elected vacancy for a total of six. That brings our total to nine across both campuses. For our other school-based vacancies, we have one English as a second language vacancy at Blandford and at Vernon John's Middle School, one special education, and one English as a second language vacancy for a total of three across both campuses. Next again we will look at graphs to show the percentages of classroom fil versus vacant. At Bford Academy we have 76.5% of classrooms um vacancies filled and 23.5% vacant. And at B John's middle school we have 79.5% of four classrooms elected classes special education and

098English as a second language classroom fil and 20.5% vacant. Next, we will look at our high school. At Peaceburg High School, we have two vacancies in math, one in science, and one elective position for a total of four vacancies. At Pitman Academy, we have one vacancy in math, science, history, English, and an elective class for a total of five positions totaling nine at both sites. for other school b excuse me schoolbased vacancies. We have two librarian positions at Petburg High School. The next two graphs show 94.7% of our four elective special education and English as a second language classrooms filled and 5.3% vacant. And at Pitman 7.4% of our classroom vacant and 28.6% 6% of our classroom still as of today or as of 8:29 we presented tonight. We have 86% of our classroom field

099with a combination of fully licensed, provisionally licensed and resident teachers. We will continue to actively recruit for open positions across the division while supporting our current staff that we have. As we look at our continued partnership with university instructors who is supporting us with recruiting for 15 positions including six elementary, seven middle school and two special education teachers. Out of the 15 positions, 12 candidates have been identified at this point and have either begun their onboarding process or they have already begun in our classrooms. Lastly, we have three schoolbased administrative vacancies which include our one turnaround elementary custom, one supervisor for alternative programs and one high school of students positions. That concludes my presentation on questions. >> Thank you, Dr. Lang. Any questions? >> Questions from Mr. M. Well, this is about before heard it

100was what we talked about that with HR and this type of thing, we only need it like a certain number of times a year. They don't need to report as much as they report >> because it's not too much going to change. >> It's a part of theou also >> to report as much as they >> Yes. >> the number of times they report. It is also in the MOU that talks about any critical positions that need that need to be brought before the board the vacancies. >> And the reason why I bring up >> and those are your core classes. >> Yeah. And the reason why I bring this up and the reason why I bring this up because we just had a close session personnel meeting that we go over this stuff and

101then you turn around and and nothing changed. But what I'm saying is is that how many times do do they have to report senses in theou because we just had a governor's meeting and and that conversation with totally is different about cuz we're going to have a work session next time. We supposed to rotate with work session then reports and stuff like that. We talked about that, remember? >> Can you explain it again? >> Okay. Uh the work session is supposed to be going over the um u the budget the progress with the grades far as accreditation and policy. for the board would we would work on that and then the next every other week would get these type of reports but one so during the month the two months I mean during two meetings

102during the month one of them going to be where they get reports the other one going to be schoolboard work session which is still open to the public that's what we talk >> and right and I do understand what you're saying there but as Miss Brown was saying because of the beginning of the school year she wants to bring the report to us so we will know where we are as far vacancies because that's very important because they have to report that to VDOE. >> Okay. Because from my understanding I think the um the last meeting I was that we talked about the vacancies. So we so so we're pretty much balanced because I know you know just like that one vacancy at Bernie John we didn't have a vacancy in Man Bernard John what

103happened was we moved the teacher to from Blandford to Bernie John that and that vacancy came up at Blandford where we didn't have a vacancy in man at Blandford now we have a vacancy in man but we already knew that from the meeting we had in close session so the thing is is that nothing really changed with vacancies if they just got moving around. That's all. But what I was talking about is the work sessions. If we keep going over um data that's not going to make a difference in that that we can use differently in a in uh in work sessions where we haven't had work sessions in the past five years since I've been on the board and now we're going to start having work sessions where we can address the grades, the

104testing, the policy, the different things like that and the budget which the what what the board is responsible for. So, you know, that's what I'm going to get to. That's all. That's all. Now, I don't have any question, Miss U. I don't have no questions. But, uh, but I but uh but these are things that we discuss as a as as a board and the governor's way that you know we could be more effective. >> Thank you, Dr. No question. No question. No question. >> And I would ask Mr. and the report that so part of it the request is to make sure that at least through the beginning the school just started we wanted to make sure through September so that we give you all the information up front because I will be meeting

105with the BDOB and then we'll be asking typically July August September and so at this next meeting will be our last report and then we won't come back again and we'll start talking about the recruitment efforts retention efforts all of that so this is about giving an update through um we not through a full month of school yet. So at this next one, then that'll be the last one. But that's a part of what we were trying to do beginning of the school year giving all the things that we're doing. So that will be the reason for having the report consistently. And so once we get through the seven September 17th, there will be no more updates. If there's anything significant, then I'll bring that to the board. But this was just for preparation in

106July, implementation in August, and then here's where we are in September. so that you know because we're about to do the final count for kids coming up at the beginning. So this is how many teachers we have and we'll talk about how many kids we have. So you all can just um bear with me one more time, >> okay, >> for September and we will have our last one and then we won't come back again until December, January to talk about what is our plan for recruitment, retention, and all of that. >> Yes. Also just want to um add that it's good to have that information because we're being transparent because this board voted on a million dollar contract within with the university instructors. So we need to know how those positions are being being

107filled that we have voted on that amount of money. So it's great to bring that before us. >> Next we will move next to our public comment period. No one I believe everyone is here to speak. No one is here to speak. We will move on next to our action item. Board members, as you can see, our first six action item deals with the board. If you pull up the first one, the first one we went over board members of you are aware that we went over the scoop. Oh, I'm sorry. We had to add board members. We had to add theou for JMU that was left off. So, we need to make a adjustment to the agenda. Is there a motion to add theou to the action item? >> So, moved by Mr. Pierce,

108second, >> Mr. Dance. All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Next. We come to 68. 68 was the board goals. You all are very familiar with it. U we went over this and Miss Brown and the board went over this in Charlottville and we were all in agreement with the goals. Can you open it up? Who's working? Oh, thank you. These are our goals and we will contact you. >> Okay. If you want to read it, go ahead. >> Okay. So, thank you board members again. So again for our goals and so the first goal for this year and so this is a very big focus for Petersburg and you'll be hearing more and more about it and I know it starts here at this table that we're our goal number one is to

109reduce by the end of this year is to reduce the percentage of students that are chronically absent by 3%. Um but that is our goal and of course we have some things we'll be bringing to the board to discuss attendance each month. Our goal number two is for Petersburg City Public Schools students will master core content knowledge and seize expand opportunities for learning. Five, by the end of FY 2026, at least 30% of Petersburg City public schools will be fully accredited. I just want to call your attention to the fact that there's a new um school student school performance school performance and support framework. So it'll look very different. It won't be accreditation anymore. It looks very very different. And so we have this here now. not talk to words that we may have to

110come back, but we will have to come back and change that wording of that goal because it is no longer focused on accreditation in Virginia any longer. It is a full report card that kind of outlines not just mastery of content, but it's also growth and also readiness. So, it has three different components that are very, very different than accreditation. Accreditation moving forward will only be about business operations. there will no longer be accreditation in the Commonwealth around schools being accredited in the new system, but I know that they will use that wording and I know Dr. Carter Jackson will be coming to talk to us about that and it'll be a part of our, like you said, a work session. But for now, we have it here until everything has been fully adopted, but

111we will come back that we'll have at least 30% of Petersburg schools will be u fully accredited. The next goal will be increase each year the percentage of students participating in workforce readiness and dual enrollment classes. So we have changed those programs to be able to support you just heard a little bit more about CTE and we also have u moved our dual enrollment to a different section as well. And then the third part of goal two is that PCPS will increase its ontime graduation rate by 3% each year until it exceeds 90%. And I know that we were already close last year and so we haven't gotten that number yet this year, but we will see how close we are. But our goal is to increase each year until it exceeds 90%. That is

112for goal number two. Goal number three, the Petersburg City School Board will identify and communicate funding priorities in our budget in support of the school division's mission, vision, and strategic plan. And of course, we are we've already were starting the strategic plan work. Um and so we will have that in alignment with goal three. Goal number four is to ensure and support a safe learning environment for staff and students. By doing that we mean providing social and emotional resources for students and staff. You just heard a lot about the castle framework and of course our character strong um character strong curriculum that we are implementing around um the social emotional resources. Goal number four part two is to support the school division's capital improvement plan. our CIP and that of course includes um the the

113new school new new two new school plans for Walnut Hill and Westview Early Childhood Center combined together and then of course our other capital improvement investments that we started this past year. Our goal four for part three is to reduce student discipline referrals by 10% at all grade levels. And so we'll have to work on how we measure the number of referrals in that process. So that is goal four is to ensure and support a safe learning environment for staff and students. And now to our goal five for the 2526 school year is to develop and approve a new five-year strategic plan by fiscal year 2026. And we're already in the process and so they will be coming soon to the board to talk about the beginning stages of planning for our strategic plan. they've

114already started working with the team and so there's some things they wanted to do preemptively and then they will be coming to the board shortly. So that concludes board and our score members that those are our five goals with the different components for the FY 2026 school year. >> Thank you Mr. Brown. Is there a motion before you do goals two% accredited? That's just for clarification so everybody know that's two schools. So if um some people not know the total number of school but that 30% of the number of school we have would be two schools of credit that's I just want because sometime when we report percentages people might not know how many schools there okay >> is there >> yes Mr. Chair I make a motion that school board approve city schools board's

115goals for fiscal year 2026 as provided >> thank you Mr. Mr. D. Is there a second? >> Second, >> Mr. Pierce. All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. Next, we move to 6B. Board members, you're familiar with this. We went over this also in Charlottesville. This is just Octo Dr. Johnson went in and updated our changes. You see the we have a new picture on the front. We added Miss T in there. >> Dr. Johnson put this together for us. And this is our new updated handbook based on the changes that we made in Charlottesville. >> Any questions? Is there a motion from a board member? >> I make a motion that the school board approves the city public schools school board governance handbook for 256 school. >> Okay. Motion by Mr. P. Second.

116Second. Mr. D. All in favor? I >> oppose. Motion carries. Next, we move to 6C board members. This is our code of conduct for 2526. It has not changed. It's just that we need to sign and agree and abide by it every year. Can you can you open it, please? And I know you've seen this. It's all at will. Any questions? Okay. Is there a motion to board member? >> Mr. Chair, I make a motion that the school board approve the Peaceberry City School Board to conduct conduct 2025 through 2026 school year as provided. >> Motion by Mr. D. Is there a second? >> So moved. >> Moved by Mr. Lundy. All in favor? I I oppose. Motion carries. Next, there's also a code of conduct for our board clerk. M Davis and also Miss

117Bar who's works who works with us part time will be signing the code of conduct as well. Any questions? M. Okay. Is there a motion by school board member? >> Mr. Make a motion that the school board approves the Petburg chip public school board clerk's code of conduct conduct for the 2526 school year. >> Motion by Mr. Pierce. >> Second by Miss Tucker. All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. Next our last one is 6E is the resolution for the media honor roll that we do every And this year we have we have okay we have Joy Phelps from CBS6 News Phillips Phillips and he's with 106.5 the Beat Radio station and we have Brandon also with CBS6 News. We want to submit the three names that they be listed as Petersburg City Public

118Schools honor for the media honor. Is there a motion from any questions? Is there a motion from a board member? Yes, Mr. Chair. I make a motion that school board approve the resolutions naming. Joy F of CBS6 News, Mr. Brandon King of CBS6 News and Mr. Carell Phillips 106.5 beat radio station to the 2025 Virginia school board association be the honor roll as provided. >> Thank you. Motion made by Mr. D. >> Second >> Mrs. Tucker all in favor I opposed. Motion carries. Next we move to six. >> Okay. Thank you for watching Rich and school board members. It is the it is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve the approval of the Anthem Healthcare coverage recommendation as provided. And so just a brief overview for the school board and um our listening

119audience and everyone here. It is the recommendation the superintendent's recommendation that the St. Petersburg City Public Schools Board. Public schools board approved the PCPS employee health insurance covered with Anthem effective October the 1st, 2025. After a thorough three-year analysis conducted by our benefits administrator, Pierce Group, it is evident that this decision aligns with our goals of fiscal responsibility and maintaining high quality healthc care coverage for our employees. The financial evaluation for the 2025 renewal period highlights a significant cost advantage while remaining while remaining with Cinta would result in a 18% premium increase amounting to $1.2 million. The Anthem selection reflects a more modest 10% increase equating to $676,000. By transitioning to Anthem, the district would achieve a net savings of $540,000. Several factors underpin this recommendation. Switching to Anthem ensures cost savings that can be

120redirected to other educational priorities. While the premium increase aligns with our budgeted projections, avoiding any unplanned financial strain. Additionally, the division will absorb the increase, ensuring that there are no additional cost burden on our employees. Anthem's broader provider network also addresses concerns regarding limited options under under centa. If approved, the transition will take take effect on October 1st, 2025. The HR and finance departments here in Petersburg City Public Schools in coordination with the Pierce Group will oversee the implementation to ensure a seamless transition and continuity of coverage for employees. This proposal represents a balanced approach to optimizing health care expenditures while upholding our commitment to our employee benefits. I respectfully request the board's approval to move forward with this transition to Anthem Healthcare. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Any questions? Is there a motion to

121accept the superintendent's recommendation? >> So moved by Mr. Lundy. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. All in favor? >> I >> oppose. Motion carries. Move to H. Oh, no. It's not G. >> Thank you, Veron. Schoolboard members. It is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve the job descriptions of the following. And I just want to call out the custodial foreman. um trainer position, family engagement specialist, human resources specialist, recruitment and retention is provided and I have confirmed that the information that was provided previously for one of the positions that we discussed was in fact correct and in alignment with what is in place and has been in place in our school division. So just wanted to make that. So now it is the superintendent's recommendation the school board approved the job

122descriptions of the following assortment trainer family engagement specialist human resources specialist recruitment and retention as provided. >> Thank you Mr. B. You've heard the recommendation is a motion to accept move by Mr. Lundy second Tucker. All in favor I oppose motion carries. H Okay. Thank you for your app school and risk. It is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve the proclamation of the national arts and education week as provided. So whereas the arts are an essential part of the complete education of a complete education preparing students to succeed in school, work and life by fostering creativity, problem solving, communication and collaboration skills. And whereas arts education through music, dance, theater, visual arts, and media art provides students with opportunities to explore their identities, build confidence, and connect with cultures and communities. And whereas

123Congress in two 2010 designated the week of September as National Arts and Education Week, recognizing the vital role of the arts in shaping well-rounded students and thriving communities. And whereas schools, educators, artists, families, and community organizations across our nation celebrate this week by showcasing the power of arts learning to inspire innovation, strengthen academic achievement, and enhance social and emotional well-being. And whereas it is fitting to join with communities across the United States to recognize and celebrate National Arts and Education Week. Now therefore, be it resolved that Petersburg City School, Petersburg City Public School Board and the Superintendent do hereby proclaim the week of September 7th through the 13th, 2025 as National Arts and Education Week and encourage all citizens to celebrate the arts in schools and support access to arts education for all students adopted

124this third day of September, 2025. >> Thank you, M. Thank you, Mr. B. Is there a motion to accept Move by Miss Proctor? Is there a second? >> M. All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. Check. J. No. Okay, this is a great one. So, this is our focus for this year. You just saw our school schoolwork goals and everyone I think everyone on my team and I think throughout the school division knows that we are focused on decreasing chronic absenteeism here at Petersburg. We know that students if they are not here, they cannot get access to all we planned for them. And so, we want to make sure that we focus on attendance because it matters for every student every day. So with this proclamation, it is the superintendent's recommendation that the school

125board approve the proclamation that September is attendance awareness month as provided. And so we take a look. September 2025 is attendance awareness month. Whereas the nation is experiencing a school absenteeism crisis, making good attendance more essential than ever to student well-being, achievement, and graduation. Whereas students and families are more likely to show up and engage when there are positive conditions for learning at school, including physical and emotional health and safety. a sense of belonging, connection, and support. Academic challenges and engagement in adults and peers with social emotional competency. Whereas reducing chronic absence, missing 10% or more of school for any reason, requires a comprehensive trauma-informed approach that starts with prevention and early intervention, including developing routines and trusting relationships that create a sense of belonging rather than responding with punitive action, which research finds is

126not particularly effective. Whereas improving attendance and engagement takes schools families, elected leaders, and other community partners working together to rebuild regular and trusting communications and to identify and address barriers to being in school. Whereas taking attendance daily in a caring, consistent manner is essential to identifying when students begin to miss too much school and for noticing as soon as possible when students are starting to miss too much school and engaging students and families with needed support and resources. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Petersburg City School Board and Superintendent stand with the nation in recognizing September 2025 as attendance awareness month. We hereby commit to focusing on reducing absenteeism and addressing the factors that cause students to miss school in order to ensure all children an equal opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive academically,

127emotionally, and socially. We recognize that we must work together to build an engaging school environment that motivates attendance and sends the message that learning can and must continue. Adopted this third day of September, 2025. >> Thank you, Miss Bren. You've heard the recommendation in motion to accept. >> So move, Mr. Chair, move by Mr. Accept, Mr. Pierce. All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. Next teach university. >> Okay. Thank you for attention to the school board members. So it is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve the purchase approval request as provided and we'll go through each purchase request individually. So our per first board purchase approval request tonight. PCPS is requesting approval for the purchase of university instructors to provide intervention and acceleration support for Petersburg public schools for in-person tutoring instruction.

128This supplemental instructional program will be for students identified by school leadership and will include synchronous instructional support in a variety of formats as push-in, pull out, and extended day modeling. Our program locations will be in elementary school, we will have eight. In middle school, we will have two and in high school we will have two. The number of tutors or estimated schedule for the number of tutors for university instructors will begin October 15, 2025 and will end on May 15, 2026. So we are starting much much earlier this year with planning and data capture. The content areas will be ELA and math and there will be design, coordination, management, logistic, data review and instructional support were included in this rate. The objectives are to help improve academic skills aligned to the state department of education

129standards for the content and all grade levels selected. They will create student individualized instruction using best practices, a small group ratio or creating enhanced collaborative teaching and learning support tutoring modeling. They will work with schools and locations to evaluate data and resources to establish objectives, align instructional support and track student progress. So, our procurement type for university instructors can be brought to you about about I think two months ago. We brought the information around using um university instructors to recruit and also to provide tutoring. So, we just want to remind you we're going to use a cooperative um agreement that is um in alignment with Enriiko um school division. And so the term will be for seven months and the proposed end date will end May 15, 2026, but will begin October 15th with university

130instructor tutors. And so the contract spending authority for those tutors from October 15th to May 15th of 2026 is $700,000 and the funding source will be our federal grants title one ADRT and our hall in tutoring. And that's for our university instructors. >> A question about >> Yes. Yes. Will these tutors be supporting our um curriculum in terms of using the all that we've invested in? >> Absolutely. I see. Absolutely. They will be utilizing Mr. Brown. I'm going to come to the podium and talk about what specifically they'll be using because I know we do have lots of great resources that you all approved. I saw some in action today. We have my perspectives at the secondary level. We have envision um we also have KDM at the elementary level. Is that correct? We have

131new resources. So the question again, Mr. Brown, is what resources will our tutors be using in order to support our students and will they be using the ones that we've adopted or something else in addition to >> No, the tutors will be using map data. Our students will participate in MAP in the next couple of weeks and we'll have our map but they will be using our curricular resources. Uh they will also be participating in some form of planning and connecting with the teachers in those classes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I'm excited that we are starting earlier. I know last year we were starting in March. We're starting in October. So have seven months with university tutor. So they get to start right after we've administered MAP at the very beginning

132of the year and we will finally at the beginning of October. So we'll have our kids in place to start. So we're excited about that this year rather than starting two months of tutoring. We'll have a full seven months for university instructors. >> Okay. So as a second part of um and as you recall last year in March we brought you these are the same two tutoring um organizations we um had last year. Um so we are bringing back so this one is a request to provide our Axum educators. And so there are two requests for approval. And so the first request is PCPS is requesting approval to continue with the partnership with Axiom educators to exhaust the remaining funds for math and ELA tutors in the amount of $300,000 between 9:15 2025 and 1117

1332025. And so basically um with the time that ran out last year um we still had remaining resource to be able to finish up some of the tutoring that we could apply for this year. And so we have that sitting there. So we want to make sure that we can continue since we have already you all had already approved it at the end of the year. We wanted to bring it back so that you know that we will be finishing out using the remaining funds that you already approved but it was approved through July. And so we wanted to come back and make sure that you know we're still going to be using the leftover funding so that because it was already earmarked for tumeric for students. And so we will use that amount between

1349:15 2025 and that will that amount will end at 11:17 2025. And so tutors will be provided in all of our elementary schools. We will have a total of 16 across our four. So that'll be broken up um divided by our four schools and then we'll have four at the middle school for a total of 20 tutors during the specified time frame of 9:15 2025 to November 17, 2025. So once that's done, we will now be requesting because we want to continue that, but we need to request new funding. And so we're we're now requesting new approval to purchase 20 math and ELA tutors from 1118 2025 to 515 2026. So these are the same 20 from the first from that. We're going to exhaust the older funding and then we're going to use the

135same, excuse me, too close, the same 20 tutors, but we need to use new funing. So, we need board approval to use new federal funding to be able to provide those tutors again across our elementary school 16 and four at the middle school level. And we will be using scroll up a little bit more. We will be using a state contract and then we will start again on 9:15 2025. So, with Axium, we will start tutoring this month um upon board approval and they will um go through 5:15 2026. And so the total is $713,000 and we will be using our federal grants title one ARDT and our all-in tutoring funds that we have remaining to be able to pay for this expenditure. And so force a educators are coming directly out of Richmond. >>

136Any questions for >> So for the tutoring that's starting at 9:15, do we already have a plan in place as to how we're going to do the tutoring and what students um will be benefiting from this? Is it like a standard tutor after school or is it throughout the day? >> It's during the school day. will happen during our intervention time during the school day and our students actually next week will be taking their map data. So some of those students may include some of the students that transition from summer school over that need support um and so the principles um and the curriculum support team in the schools they're already developing those groups now. >> Perfect. One other question. If there's a parent that wants um to utilize the ting, is there a way

137that they can go about doing it outside of I mean what do they request it through the teachers or is there a way or is this something that'll be um internal? >> Yeah. So there is a way if there is a parent that needs tutoring. Um for instance, this morning I sat in a parent conference and that was one of the recommendations. So, I would say to a parent to reach out to that child's principal and that school and have a conversation. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Yes. Before we make the motion, just wanted to say um as we move into as we move into our work sessions and start having work sessions, it'd be interesting to know when you when we go over the data. We it'd be interesting to know

138how our university instructors and our other how do you pronounce their name? XM how those tutors are actually performing with the students and we would like to see that results. >> Okay? >> You know, with the with the tutors that are paired with them. be great to see how >> if you know if uh if the funding is really making that different right >> yes so what's your future I know we started kind of late last year but at the end of the year one of the requirements was I asked the team to give us some feedback on both programs the good the bad and how we support the programs and both programs um provided support for our students I do agree we need to look at more with like students are progressing and because

139this year we're starting early, it'll be easier for us to gather that data. >> Okay, appreciate. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Thank you, boarding school board members. So, it is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve for the purchase approval request for university instructors for tutors for our students and for accessing educators tutoring for our students as provided. You've heard the recommendation. Is there a motion to accept? >> So moved >> by Miss Clark. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. D. All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Policy second read. >> Thank you board chair. It is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve the policies for second read as provided and these were previously provided as first read before. >> Thank you. Any questions? Is there a motion to

140accept the recommendation? >> Moved by Mr. Pierce. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mrs. Tucker. All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. Our last action item is al the JMU and one refresh. Thank you board. Thank you board chair Richard and school board members. So based on our presentation this afternoon, this early this afternoon, it is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve theou with PCPS, JMU and Breitpoint Community College teaching fellow program as provided. And so theou and Miss forgot to ask also. So how do we how do we advertise this as a recruitment tool? >> Dr. How will we advertise? I know you're working with JMU. How will we advertise the board questions? How will we advertise for this opportunity? Everybody, >> right? Because I know that we are currently

141looking for teacher assistance, right? >> Yes. So once they start recruiting for the spring, they typically send us recruitment materials that we're able to send out to staff for the employee email, but they also provide an opportunity where they will have Zoom sessions where just the individuals can find out more information on the program and are we able to put anything on our website about this? >> We can certain communications to do that. >> Okay. Thank you. So we'll get the word out for any programs that people are using all of those. So that this year we've talked about the fact that any programs that we have that they are partnering and they're doing apprenticeships that we're going to send out to all of our staff members so that if they want to be a

142part of it, they can then apply and then we can work with those universities and entities to have some of our people in house as well want to be a part of the program. I think we talked about that. >> Yes, ma'am. Yes, we did. >> Okay. Thank you. So again, it is the superintendent's recommendation that the board approved theou that is effective August 15, 2025 between James Madison University, JMU, Brightport Community College and Petersburg City Public Schools um as provided. >> Thank you. You've heard the superintendent's recommendations and a motion to accept. >> So moved by Mr. Peterson, second >> seven, >> Mrs. All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. Thank you. Next, we move to our information item, our superintendent report. Superintendent report. >> Thank you, budget. Schoolboard me. I don't have

143a lot tonight, but as I have one or two slides for our superintendent report. And so, I just want to highlight our Pittsburgh High School football wins. I think that is very, very important to have our um new team together. So, Gibbsburg High School varsity football team secured their first win of the season last week in a score of 48 seconds. The team won their first home game against in Reicho. So, congratulations to Petersburg High School and thank you to Coach Lawson and Coach White for their leadership, but also thank you to Jerome Matis for his leadership of our varsity football team. So, thank you. Thank you so much and congratulations and let's keep it rolling. the game is tomorrow. And then of course I want to take an opportunity um to just highlight some

144our alternative program at Pitman that we have our Pitman Academy students who are recognized for their ingenuity. We talked about uity tonight course progress for the month of August. And so we're really trying to look at some of that data. And so I just want to thank um left to right Miss Shans for egeneuity our 2.0 an old teacher and our students Robert Camp, Laayer Hart, Christopher Rose, and Dylan De Haven that they are doing a great job and we appreciate their focus at Pitman as we try to celebrate them and their work over at Pitman Academy so far this year. That's all I have for today for my superintendent report. That concludes my superintendent report. Thank you, Boj. >> Thank you. Any questions? Are there any committee everyone has any committee reports? I know

145everyone has everyone sitting in for the committees for the board committees. I know they're send >> Thursday. We're meeting Thursday. >> We have an operations um advisory committee meeting on Thursday. I think from 1 to 3. Is that correct? One, two, three. Absolutely. So, we'll see you all in operations. >> Thank you. >> Any new business? Are there any new board members? Is there a motion to hold on? Let me go down to the announcements and hopefully you did get with Miss Davis on this. No, September the 19th is our legislative advocacy conference that's going to be at Chesterfield at the Korean Technical Center. It is virtual and in person you did get with Davis on whether or not you plan to participate virtually all okay is there then fall in October October the 21st

146is our fall work our fall budget work session workshop and then in November the 19th and the 21st is our 20 25 annual conference with Miss Davis Also, if you're planning to go early, she did that also. Mr. Re took care of that also. She said >> that's VSB. >> The one you did last year, you told us we had to do this. >> Mr. Champ, Mr. Some new business. Um, I had the opportunity to take a tour of our fieldhouse uh last week with the uh project manager and um it's going to be very nice. We'll have a small kitchen in there where we can prepare food. Of course, we'll have shower areas and restroom areas. It's going to come with a brand new washer and dryer. So, we'll have washer and dryer there

147and we have wash and dryer at the high school. And we're going to need both places. So, don't think about cutting one of them out. And uh it's going to have a wide uh open area for playing football, basketball, and all that. And uh I think that's going to have going to have a wait room. Uh it's got an elevator and it should be completed maybe around Christmas time. >> What's that? >> Hallway homework in there. >> Can't I can't hear you. They have a homework area home. Okay. Okay. Great. >> Yeah. Office and very have upstairs and downstairs on one part and that one part just going to be one floor >> for football and basketball and stuff. >> Looking forward to it also. >> Yes, >> Mr. Chair. >> Mr. Pierce, >> just

148uh just a note for the for the announcement. U Miss Tucker and I have a meeting. We'll have a meeting with uh two of our council persons, Mr. Jones and Mr. C with regards to the district at the library at the Public Library tomorrow discussion. We are unaware in a sense, but we do believe it's about the district. So, we want to make sure. Thank you >> board members. Just want to make this announcement. Our September 17 meeting will be back here at the c in the cafeteria at Peace have for the last time. Want to make sure that everything is right and ready before we enter into the school board office for our meeting. So, we'll be back here one more time September the 17th. Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. That's it. One more time.

149September. >> September 17th. September 17th. Mr. Martinez. September. >> Thank you to the operations team. Thank you to our technology team as a part of operations. Thank you to everyone who made this happen. I know we've been a lot of hustle and bustle and so apologize for any confusion. Thank you for making it work and getting us over here to have our September meeting. We'll have it again here so everybody's on the same page. But I thank you. I know it's a lot, but thank you for making sure that our community has access to our board meeting so that they can listen and hear um even in the midst of our transition. So I just want to say publicly thank you all for your work. I appreciate it. And Miss Miss Yates, do you want

150to make your announcement before we leave about the about the board members meeting 202 the app training? I always forget. We're setting up iPads for the board members and I would like to work with Miss Davis and scheduling meetings with each um board member for training. two at two at a time. So I'll share my calendar with you so that we can set those meetings up after appreciate. Thank you Motion to move that second Mr. Pierce. All in favor motion carries me. Have a good evening everyone.