School Board Meeting - August 20, 2025

001If you call the role, please. >> Mr. Steven, senior here. >> Mr. Halby B. Miles, Senior. Mr. Kenneth El Pritchette. >> Mr. Kenneth L. Pritchette >> here. >> Mr. Car Tucker. Miss Joyce Proctor here. Mr. Bernard J. Lundy Jr. >> here. >> Mr. Adrian T. Dance Senior >> here. >> Thank you. Mr. Pierce, if you would read us to close. Yes, sir. Uh, I move that the school board go into close into a closed meeting as authorized by section 2.2-3711 A1 of the code of Virginia for the purpose of discussion or consideration of prospective candidates for employment. >> Thank you. You've heard the motion. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. D. All in favor? I >> I oppose. Motion carried. We now enter into close. >> I got so many wires. Are we

002good? I'm out of close. >> Move by Miss Proctor. >> Second, Mr. Dance. >> As required by section 2.2-3712D 2-3712D of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. A roll call vote 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 two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the close session was convened were heard, discussed, or considered in the close session by the board prior to the vote. Any member of the board who believes that there was a departure from the requirements of one and two as read shall so state the same indicating the substance of the departure that in his or her judgment has taken place. Does any board member

003wish to respond? Hearing no response, I will now take the Freedom of Information Act roll call. Mr. Steven Pier, Senior, >> yes. >> Mr. Halby Mau, Senior. >> Mr. Kenneth El Pertett, >> yes. >> Mr. Ky Tucker, >> yes. Proctor. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard J. Lundy Jr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Adrian T. Dance, Senior. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> We do not have any action items from close session. Is there a motion to adjourn from close >> by Mr. Pierce? Is there a second? >> Second. Mrs. Tucker. Okay. Mrs. Tucker. All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. >> Good evening once again, everyone. The time now is 5:02 p.m. and we would like to call I'd like to call our regular board meeting to order. Miss Davis, if you would call the role

004once again. >> Mr. Steven, senior >> here. >> Mr. Hal BML senior. Mr. Kenneth Pritchette >> here. >> Mr. Carrie Tucker >> here. >> Miss Joyce Proctor >> here. Mr. Bernard J. Lundy Jr. >> here. >> Mr. Adrien T. Dance Senior >> here. >> Thank you, Miss Davis. you. >> Okay. Y sir. >> All right. Thank you, board chair and school board members. I'm excited this evening to bring bring forward some great um recognitions this. Okay. Sorry about that. Okay, board members, we move to 1A, approval of the agenda. If there are no change, is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> So move. >> Moved by Mr. Pierce. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Dance. All in favor? I >> oppose. Motion carries. Next, we'll move to the moment of silence.

005Okay, the moment of silence. We want to remember Dr. Stacy Perm and family in the passing of her aunt, Miss Louise V. Owens on September, August the 3rd of 2025. Sunday, I'm sorry, I said September. Sunday, August the 3rd of 2025. resource officer Joshua Cuba and family in the passing of his grandmother, Miss Ruby J. Brooks on Wednesday, August the 5th, 2025. The family of Miss Wanda Corbett, former PCPS educator in the passing in her passing on Thursday, August the 14th, 2025, and Mr. Kenneth L. Pritchette, school board chair and his family in the passing of his grandmother, Miss Rosa Lee Pritchette Win. At this time, we have a moment of silence. Okay, thank you. Next, we'll have our pledge of allegiance 1C, Mr. Dance. [Music] That's fine. >> Okay. >> I pledge allegiance to

006the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Next, we move to one What is this? Okay, next we move to 1D correspondence. I do not believe we have any correspondence. We'll move next, Miss Brown, to number two, recognitions 2 A and B. Thank you, boy. Pitch and school board members, now it's time for recognitions. So, we're excited this evening um to recognize one of our own. Her name is Miss Ashley Martin and she is our varsity soccer coach at Petersburg High School. So, we're going to ask her to stand and come up. come up to the front. And so, Miss Martin was named one of the most positive female coaches in Virginia by

007the 2025 positive athlete program. Positive Athlete is a recognition program that celebrates high character high school student athletes and coaches who have overcome difficult circumstances, giving back to their schools and communities in a significant way, or just have an infectious positive attitude that makes everyone around them a better person. Out of more than 12,000 nominees nationwide, PCPS is immensely proud to have one of our own phenomenal employees recognized among the top 1%. We commend you, Miss Martin, for consistently exemplifying passion, dedication, and perseverance in addition to positively impacting the lives of each of our students every day. This award is monu is a monumental testament to her to your character and we wish you the best of luck as you continue to inspire our students and lead the Petersburg High School varsity soccer team to

008victory. Remember this award is not just a personal achievement said Miss Martin. It is a reflection of the amazing student athletes that I've had the privilege to coach, the unwavering support from my school community, and the love and encouragement from my family. Coaching is more than just wins and losses. It is about building character, resilience, and confidence in our youth both on and off the field. on behalf of the Petersburg City Public Schools. Congratulations, Miss Martin, on this outstanding honor and well done. [Applause] >> I just wanted to say hello. >> I think I could be loud. It is. >> It's good now. So, I just wanted to say thank you to Petersburg City Public Schools and especially my time here at Petersburg High School. It has been amazing to start the program here for

009the girls and the boys and to bring on um a new history for us. So, I'd like I just want to keep continuing doing good work here and I look forward to a fantastic year this year. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Woohoo. Oh, okay. All right. Thank you, Ba. Put it in schoolboard members. We have another recognition this evening. And so, this young man needs no introduction to Petersburg um city public schools or to the city of Petersburg. I am excited as a superintendent that I've gotten an opportunity to add to the senior cabinet one of Petersburg's own and that is none other than Dr. Jory Manson. Of course, Dr. Manson is going to come to the front and talk a little bit about himself, but I have to just say that um it is

010it's always hard to find just the right person for every position. And so, I've had the immense blessing to be able to work with a wonderful team and still had space to add additional support for our kids. And I am so happy that the team and I picked none other than Dr. Tory Manson to serve as as um Petersburg City Public Schools newest assistant superintendent of student services. Before he talks about himself, I want to remind everyone that that position changed previously in Petersburg. Historically, that position was a compilation of operations. If you remember just about a year ago, we had an assistant superintendent of student services that did a little bit of operations and a little bit of student services. And what I know being a lifelong educator and as many of you all

011know whether you're an educator or not, student services needs its own space. Kids cannot grow and perform academically if all the right wraparounds and services are not in place for them. And so you cannot split your mind. You cannot be double-minded when you're talking about student services. And so this year um the board approved a new job description that focused only on putting everything that is student services like counseling and and and um Dr. Manson will talk about it under one position. So it is a large department with lots of different pieces, but I know that Dr. Manson is the person to do this work. And so, thank you, Dr. Manson, for heeding the call and coming on board the senior cabinet. And I'll let you reintroduce yourself to everyone and talk a little bit

012about your experience and what you will oversee for the future of Petersburg. Thank you. >> Good evening, everyone. >> My name is Dr. Tory Manson. Uh, my educational journey actually started with Petersburg. I'm a gradu proud graduate of Petersburg City Public Schools. started out at Roberty Lee, went on to Blandford Elementary School, uh, Peabody Middle School, and at that time with the first ninth grade class to come over to Petersburg High School. And so my journey started in Petersburg, and um, I left out of education, but then I I mean, from there, I went to college and all, but I came back in education 21 years ago, and I started my career at that time at Vernon John's Middle School. It was 6th, 7th, and 8th. And I'm going to be honest with you, my

013first year at Vernon John's, I was getting ready to get out of education. I said, I was like, I don't know if I can do this, but I was convinced to stay into education. Uh, we got a new principal who came over and she was very inspiring. Um, I tell anyone that Tanya Brown Fletch was like a leader to me. She was inspiring and helped me stay and focus in on education. And from there, um, Vernon John's at that time was the middle school, then it became the junior high. um during that becoming junior high school. We were instrumental that year two years in 2008 of getting that school with full accreditation. That was one proud moment that we had at Vernon John's at Vernon John's Junior High School. Then at that time um after

014we did that back in 2011, I became the super I became the compliance specialist for special education for Petersburg City Public Schools. Um I was a compliance specialist. Then in 2016, I was tapped by Dr. Nuome and his team to become the supervisor of special education. and then in 2018 the director of special education. And so I spent many years in Petersburg City public schools and my and my number one focus is to give those students to give all our students the same opportunity Petersburg gave me. I was a family of a single mother of seven who um who didn't have much but she just knew one thing that education was the key for us and our family and I want to give these students the same opportunity that this division gave me. I know

015we can do it. I believe in the team we have that to get us there. We need your help as a partnership with the school board and we can be successful in Petersburg. As I stated in the um when we had our back to school event, my focus is to provide service. We are the student servicesvicing team. We ought to provide services to families, students, and to the schools to ensure that these students when they leave Petersburg, they have the same opportunities that I had for enrollment, enlistment, entrepreneurship, and uh uh enlistment, enrollment, >> employment. The same I had I had that for employment. Um but I try I chose to go to college at that time. But we need to make sure that we do the best for our students. We need to make

016sure that we ensure that our students are successful no matter what we do. That is my focus. As I tell my team, we remove barriers. We don't create barriers. I have a hard time with excuses or looking back of what we didn't do. We move forward and we get the job done. Because as long as we are here to serve as students and families, then we're doing our job. And so I just want to thank you all again for taking the opportunity to choose me, Miss Brown, and the executive leadership team as the new assistant superintendent uh for student services. And I would like to thank the board for your confidence in voting for me to lead this job. And I can promise you one thing. I'm going to give you 100% every day, sometimes

017at night and sometimes 1 2:00 in the morning. But you going to get everything from me that I can possibly give. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Congratulations to Miss Martin and to Dr. Manson. Next, we'll move board members to number three, approval of the consent agenda. Miss Brown 3A, B, and C. All right. Thank you, board chair pitch and school board members. We'll start with so beginning. It is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve the final personnel agenda dated August 20th, 2025 as provided. And then for the approval of the minutes, it is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve the minutes of the 7:16 2025 special meeting, 862025 special meeting, student disciplinary hearings and reviews, and the 813 2025 student disciplinary hearing and hearings and reviews. For 3C, it is the

018superintendent's recommendation that the school board accepts the donations received by PCPS as provided. And if you'll direct your attention to the screen, these are the donations for the um 2025 August 1st, 2025 to August 13th, 2025 division donations. And so, thank you to all of our our donors who have um donated their their their donated funding, don donated um items and support of our Petersburg City Public Schools. And so with that, it is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board accepts 3A, 3B, 3 C um as provided. >> Thank you, Miss Brena. Any questions? Okay. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So move. >> Moved by Mr. Pierce. Is there a second? >> Mrs. Tucker. All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. Thank you. Next we move to four. We'll move

019to our superintendent and staff reports. 4 A. >> Thank you. Um Chair Brides. So it we have our first um presentation of this this afternoon or this evening is our Boys and Girls Club of Metro um of Metro Richmond. um to come forward. And so we have our gentleman here. >> I think it's I think it's Miss Green. Is she here yet? Come back. >> I hope she didn't know. >> I hope she Yeah. >> Okay. So, we'll come back to that presentation. Um, so we'll move to our second presentation of this afternoon or evening is our VS Virginia State University and the Cameron Foundation and our PCPS engagement partnership and student attendance pilot. And we will have that given this evening by Dr. Yasmin Gay. And if we have Dr. Walter Willis in I

020think he's walking through the door as we speak. He has perfect timing. So we will have our representative from VSU, Dr. Willis. and Dr. And as well. You want me to be He's coming from that way. you have perfect timing. we saw as I was introducing the presentation and of course we moved you a little bit earlier than the first presentation and so um thank you for being here to support the presentation this evening um for the to talk about the partnership between Virginia State University Cameron Foundation and our PCPS engagement department for a two-year pilot around attendance. So with that I'll turn it over to our chief of staff Dr. Yasmin Gay. >> Thank you Superintendent Brown. Uh good evening uh Petersburg community uh board chair Pritchette uh Vice Chair Pierce and our esteemed

021board members. Uh my name is Dr. Yasmin Gay, chief of staff, uh Petersburg City Public Schools, and I will talk to you today about our wonderful opportunity um with Virginia State University and the Cameron Foundation um to support our work around chronic absenteeism. So I will be presenting uh Dr. Willis will be supporting and if anything you want to add please add. Um we've had a lot of conversations over the last few months about this great work and we're really excited about it. Next slide. Uh so just briefly uh we will talk about what is our problem of practice right? Um and we're centering around chronic absenteeism um in Petersburg City Public Schools. And you probably heard a lot from us. You've heard from our superintendent on our kickoff and some other uh spaces where

022our superintendent spoke around our focus on attendance. Uh we'll talk about uh Virginia State University Cameron Foundation and Petersburg City Schools partners um who will be partnering with us here on site. Um what is our two-year pilot and the theory of action like how are we doing this? How are we addressing this work together to combat chronic absenteeism through family engagement? We'll briefly uh speak about our pilot objectives and timelines and what our proposed outcome will be and then we will uh receive questions and answers. Thank you. Next slide. So our problem of practice, we always want to start with that. So what what is the issue? Um, so the Cameron Foundation services areas uh such as Petersburg, Hopewell, and surrounding counties. And you know the Cameron Foundation very well, who's been supporting a lot

023with our school system um around challenges and making improvement around those challenges. Um, and so just to give a little bit of data, this comes from Virginia State University, that chronic absenteeism remains a critical challenge in 2022 uh to 2023 um school year. Nearly a third of all students were chronically absent. An 11.3% increase from 2018 to 2019. And we know what happened after that, right? It was COVID. And after that, uh, students became more chronically absent. Of the 22,564 students in the districts, it should have a s there after district. Uh, 6,386 missed critical learning opportunities. So that's our problem of practice here. Next slide please. So who will be partnering with us? Um again this is a collaboration um Virginia State University Cameron Foundation well led by our Dr. Walter Willis uh Petersburg

024City Public Schools again and the Cameron Foundation. So I am really excited to welcome our two leads on the the project. Uh Dr. Karen M um is a prominent leader um around family engagement. Had an opportunity uh she comes out of Harvard University. Had an opportunity to uh work uh with her not directly but indirectly around family engagement uh strategy. Um she's worldrenowned. Um she will she will support the design of the pilot and serve as our leading expert around this work. Um again just to talk about Dr. MAP is a professor of practice of education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. She's also the co-creator of the dual capacity building framework for family school partnership. School districts around the world uses this framework again um over two decades of experience. She works extensively with

025school districts as I mentioned community organizations and policy again around the world. Dr. Dr. Shard Harris who works alongside uh uh Dr. Map uh will be the one who will be focusing specifically um uh on our work. She is a proven national leader in family engagement. She recently uh was the chief engagement officer in Richmond public schools and under her leadership uh RPS achieved notable progress reducing absenteeism um from 28% to a low 18%. That is pretty huge. a a 10% decrease um that was reported in May 2024 uh since the 2021 to 2022 school year. So just a little bit about those two experts that will be working with us. So I I do want to emphasize that this is a partnership and I want to emphasize although we're bringing in partners, Petersburg is

026doing some amazing work and and building strategy around attendance already, right? And so what we did was created what we call with systems of accountability and support for divisionwide attendance improvement. So with our work not only with the executive team but uh working with family engagement and others and also feedback from our attendance task force, what are the areas that we needed to strengthen here in Petersburg City Public Schools to actualize attendance improvement? And there are four pillars up there. there's one that's missing and that's what the partnership uh will be supporting us with and that is family engagement. But just briefly looking at strengthening our data collection and analysis. I've been talking about that all year about the data that we're receiving on a continuous basis. Our superintendent talks all the time about how

027clean and valid our data should be, the sharing of data amongst the division from the division level down to the school level. So we will be strengthening that with our data assessment and accountability team leading that work. Also principal oversight uh principles accountability and support for monitoring their attendance in schools and what that will look like. I do want to also recognize uh Dr. Manson, who was introduced as our new assistant superintendent of student services, uh will be um rolling out what those attendance team protocols will look like with everyone having accountability to it, right? Our school-based attendance teams, what's happening in those teams every month, how we're looking at data, what conversations are we having and making sure that they are consistent. uh our division oversight of monitoring. We will be looking at data

028as a cabinet team as well. Um and also sharing data with our school board on a monthly basis. School recognition, making sure that we're recognizing schools that are making strides with attendance on a continuous basis. So again, those are four pillars, but again, this partnership is going to help us with the fifth. This will be changing because family engagement is a really uh big lever of change with attendance. Next slide, please. So, our two-year pilot, what is our theory of action? We talked about our problem of practice. Now, what is our theory of action to make improvement there? So, this is a two-year pilot at Pleasant Lane Elementary School. So, this pilot will be at one school. Um, it allows pilot partners to put high impact strategies in action and test their effectiveness over time.

029So it's starting at one school and the reason why we're doing that is we want to be able to test those strategies and to see what impact is being made so that at the end of the two years we can scale them to more schools also by applying these engagement strategies in real world settings with the guidance of the pilot experts and district leadership. So again, it's our partnership, but we will be working very closely with family engagement, working with the attendance task force team also to make this happen. Um, collecting data from school communities, critical data and feedback. So it's really important that we get data from our families and our communities about what they're experiencing um in in the community and their relationship to schools. The attendance dashboards again going back to data

030is making data very visible uh to our school level and district level so that we can have a pulse on what's happening with attendance on a continuous basis. And lastly again at the end we are collecting this data to create a model of effectiveness again that we can scale throughout the years and with other schools. Next slide, please. So, again, I just spoke about our theory of action. Um, our two-year pilot timeline and objectives here. So, you can see what will happen in year one. Um, educators and school leaders are being provided a solid foundation of professional learning that will be guided by Dr. Shardai Harris and team. uh introducing um participants uh Pleasant Lane Elementary staff to high impact engagement practices that will build long relational trust with the school and community. Educators and

031school leaders at the pilot school um are equipped with the foundational knowledge and this will inform the beginning of their strategic attendance plans that will reduce chronic absenteeism and uh increase connectiveness with between schools and families. Year two, educators and leaders will reflect on the engagement strategies again um to enact a fullyear use of critical data and feedback from families and communities. We will revise the strategic plan um as we get more data and we understand what outcomes that we're getting. Um designing measurable goals, timelines, and strategies for improvement. And lastly, educators and school leaders at the pilot schools will build upon the year's learnings and implement what has been making impact over time. What is our proposed outcome? What should we expect to see from this partnership? So by the end of the pilot,

032what we should see is a reduction in chronic absenteeism at Pleasant Lane Elementary School, demonstrating the impact of authentic engagement on student attendance. Two, as I mentioned before, we will replicate scale uh the mo this model of high impact engagement strategies scaled across schools um in those c in the camera foundation service areas that we mentioned before uh to decrease chronic absenteeism. Three is will be lifelong. It's increased sense of belonging and communication as perceived by our family. So family perception is going to be very important in our data and how we are combating attendance uh and chronic absenteeism. So that is the end of the presentation. I'm not sure doctor if you want to add anything and excited to partner with you all. >> Yep you. So just in short, the partnership is really

033about us um really embracing each other and making sure that the families understand the embrace that's going on. Uh to really break this down, you know, um absenteeism is a complicated uh issue. Um but we can't move forward without our families and without addressing some of those issues andor concerns. And so it's all about data collection and using that data to make sure that we are embracing our families the right way. And we think we can do that better together. Um and the uh Cameron Foundation says that data and the uh national um uh information that uh has already been collected show that these things work. Why not here in Petersburg? And the question really becomes what is not just Petersburg um uh school board's commitment but the surrounding areas commitment which includes Virginia State

034and Cameron Foundation. And so in short, we think that the solution is data, better data collection, um immediate response once we have that data and then embracing our families differently in order for everyone to feel that embrace in a way that makes a change in behavior. And so, um, for us, it's doing more of the work that we've always wanted to do. Um but Cameron has given us a a financial opportunity to use some of um their resources in order to for us to rev up some of the things that we've been doing on a shoestring budget uh in a way that will really make sure that uh the families feel the connection that we feel as a group. So thank you Thank you. Are there any questions from board members? I only have one

035on you you speak of the dashboard and I remember when Dr. Petri Martin was here and we had we were in we had co it was co during the co time the principles there was some some something that they developed but every school we could see their attendance daily parents could see it and it was it was put on the website >> do you remember that Miss Tucker were you here? >> Yes. >> Yeah it was a dashboard and and we could see that. Now are you talking about the same thing or you talking about something different? Will we will we will we be able to see the daily attendance with parents and community be able to see that if we were to go to the website or I think she had just had a

036separate link. >> So currently um we're working on right now our internal dashboard. Um we will we were just in conversation with our uh technology team and our data team that we will have an outfacing dashboard. Um but our internal dashboard through powers school um it was just created and so thank you to Miss Yates and and team and the data team um who uh were able to create an attendance dashboard for us to use and for you to um um be able to investigate as well. But the next step is we were just talking about that in our last cabinet. We will be creating an outfacing dashboard for like um uh divisionwide attendance data. But we we we are ready um with a dashboard. Yes. >> But we're starting with the internal one first.

037Yes. >> And then we will as Dr. Miss Yates just want to make sure that So that'll be phase one and then the phase two will be the out face the outfacing one because I know we'll be coming to the board each month. That's right. >> Providing a a I think a board I think it was requested the board that we have a monthly update on attendance each month. And so we will have that first one in September. Yes. And so we Miss Yates, I know you're standing up, so I don't know if you have like a timeline or anything at this moment. I know we're in the process, but maybe just give kind of what where we are kind of what do we anticipate when we'll start with the internal and then how long

038do we anticipate once we kind of get that settled then we'll be able to do a outfacing one. >> So we are actually working on both the both of the dashboards simultaneously. So the internal one is actually ready. Yep. Where we can wrote um you can see the data now um internally and we expect the external one after we vet the data some more within 60 days afterwards. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Miss Tucker, Miss Tucker. >> So I had [Music] I have two questions. Um, so the first one is I know that this is a pallet that's coming from Virginia State through the Cameron Foundation to us as a partnership. Is this something that has been done in any other schools in the tri city or is this a new pilot program? So this

039is a new pilot program. This has not been done anywhere in this particular area. It has been uh done through MAP um Dr. MAP and some of the work nationally. Um but not all of those uh communities and areas look like Petersburg. And so, um, one of the reasons why it's a pilot is because there's going to be some tweaks that we're going to have to make that best address Petersburg and our um, population as well as understanding uh, our families in a different kind of way than some of those other families on uh, in the Connecticut area, for example. Uh, it might be a little bit different. >> Perfect. Thank you so much. You answered my second question. and I just wanted to um make sure that this was a pallet that was tailored

040to the need of our culture in Petersburg. So, I appreciate that. >> Any other questions from board members? >> Thank you, Dr. Gay. >> Thank you so much, >> Dr. Walter. Appreciate it. >> Next, we'll move to 4C. Okay, thank you board chair Bridget and school board members. We'll move now to our um next um update presentation this afternoon. Um we will have our fourth seat, our Petersburg City Public Schools healthc care plan presentation that will be given by the Pierce Group who works very closely with our finance department so that we can make decisions about our health healthc care coverage here in Petersburg. So with that, thank you very much. Please please tell me your name again. Uh my name is Gray Hooker. >> Okay. Gre Hooker. Thank you so much for group benefits.

041Uh we have been the administrator uh for your benefit plans for we're going into our third year and uh we certainly are privileged to be here tonight. Thank you um Superintendent uh Brown and the board. Um what we're going to look at briefly here today and the finance staff and HR have worked diligently for several months uh as they do every year. We start this process during your budget uh sessions uh to get uh an idea of what needs to be budgeted for any increases in your healthcare spend for the year. We go all the way through the year and your plan effective date uh is October 1st. So we completed our work uh in July. And what what I decided to present here tonight though, since this is our first opportunity to present to

042the board, is to go back to 2023 and give you a three-year perspective of how we got to where we are today. Um, so if you would, the next slide. So the first slide here is the 2023 renewal. When we first came in, um, uh, during an RFP process and were hired to be your, uh, uh, benefit administrators, um, we were asked to do an RFP for the healthcare plan, which had not been done in in in many years. You had been with Anthem for several years. That year, Anthem came in with an overall increase of uh, 6.64%. Um when we shopped the healthc care plan and we spreadsheeted it, uh there was significant savings if you recall in switching from Anthem that year to what was then called Optima Health, which is now Cinta.

043Uh they offered a onemon premium credit right off the top of $565,000 of savings. And in the 2023 renewal year, the overall savings uh was approximately $1.2 million less than what the Anthem renewal was going to be. So at that time, the board voted uh to uh move to Optima Health and you've been there for the past two years. Next slide. the 2024 uh renewal year, we were asked to do the same thing and the reason was is there was some sentiment among staff uh that they missed being with Anthem to be quite uh honest. So we went through the same process uh and the financial results were again uh uh far apart. uh Cantara came in with their first renewal with your group and gave just under a 2 and a.5% decrease from the

044previous year which saved uh the schools uh approximately $170,000 additional dollars. Um the reason they gave for being able to do this is in the 2023 2024 plan year uh you had a loss ratio of 7 just under 76%. The loss ratio is simply uh a measure from the premium that you pay in versus the claims that are paid out. And at anything around 75% normally as a consultant uh I would not expect you to receive an increase. Uh and indeed you did not. Uh we also only had one member that year that reached the $150,000 pooling limit. Now, what a pooling limit is is simply the $150,000 is the amount of claims dollars that Cintara themselves have to have the reserves to pay uh by law. They then purchase reinsurance to cover any claim

045over $150,000. The reason that uh that exists in insurance is so that we don't have one bad claim of a million or $2 million completely wreck a health plan in any given year. Uh we did however get a quote from Anthem uh in the process. Uh they provided a quote that was still 11% over your current rates. So higher than the previous year. So again, the the difference was approximately about $700,000 in the second year. So the board um voted to stay with Cintara that year for your renewal. Then we flash forward to this year. Uh this year did present some challenges. Uh we did have increased claims activity that I'll explain in a second. And when we received Cintara's uh renewal offer for the third year, it was just under an 18% increase uh

046which equates to approximately $1.2 million in additional premium they wanted from the schools than the previous year. The reasons they gave for this is your loss ratio jumped to almost 107% loss ratio. 75% the previous year jumped all the way to 107%. and you had eight members uh this past year that exceeded the $150,000 pooling limit, up from one just the previous year. Uh so they felt it necessary to pass on this type of increase. Uh once again, the staff that you have here worked diligently. They requested that we go back to Anthem and ask them for a quote. Um they did come in with the renewal offer at a 10% increase. uh equating to $676,000. Um and uh that number actually came in at about what was budgeted earlier in the year as we

047at Pierce Group projected about a 10% increase and that was what the placeholder was in your budget. So that by um moving to Anthem, if that's the pleasure of the board, uh it will save $540,000 from the CentO renewal, which is a significant uh decrease in uh the budget dollars that you'll have to spend and it comes in line with what you've budgeted in the beginning. Uh any questions on these slides before I go to the next one? Okay, got one. >> If you could continue, we'll ask questions at the end. >> Okay. Yes, sir. So, the next slide it uh once we get all that work done each year, we go to uh primarily the finance staff, but we also engage the human resource staff because they love to take a holistic approach. They

048know what um is is uh going on in the lives of your employees. and we take the increase and we ask the staff uh to um go to the board and see what type of absorption of any increase the the the budget can stand versus passing anything on to the employees. We were instructed to spreadsheet uh the uh the school division taking 100% of the increase and the employee rates uh to not go up at all. So, we did provide the two spreadsheets, one for Anthem, one for Centara. This one is the Anthem, and you'll see that um if the top is your current rates that you're paying right now and will be paying until September 30th. The bottom rates, you'll see none of those rates are changing for the employee, only the employer. So,

049the total of $676,000 will be absorbed uh by the schools. And then the last slide that I prepared is a slide showing if you were to stay with Cintara, the impact with the same scenario of the rates for the employees staying the same for another year, but the schools having to come up with the difference. You'll see it reflected here that that's a change of $1.2 million uh in premium dollars. So we do believe that uh you know the the diligence of your staff and and our partnership and this has really been a true partnership over the last uh you know some two and a half years the results have been um uh superior to some of your peers. Uh we only work in public sector and primarily schools and in North Carolina, Virginia and

050South Carolina. A lot of your surrounding peers are also peer group clients and your results have been phenomenal uh over the last three renewal periods. Even with the increase this year from where we were in 2023, you are still about $800,000 better off in your budget than you would have been if we hadn't gone through the painstaking work of changing carriers and then coming back uh to your former carrier. So, we're very very pleased with the work this year. That's my conclusion. Thank you, sir. Mr. Lundy, yes, we um we had a lot of hardships with our families uh uh having the their children during the times that we did some of these um health some of our health area insuranceances and all. Um, do would you think we would fall back into that again?

051>> No, I do not. Uh, the in in terms of hardships, were they were they problems with the former carrier? >> Well, it was with the former carrier, but it was basically with the family. >> It was very hard on the families. Um to be perfectly honest, and I've done this for 33 years, family coverages are spiraling out of control >> in terms of cost. Uh the vast majority of our 220 public sector uh clients face the same struggles. uh and budgets being as tight as they are uh coming up with more contribution for family coverages uh is getting harder and harder. We've been able to stabilize yours over the three years where your yours hasn't gone up. Uh but we serve at the pleasure of the board and the staff and we we certainly

052at any time if there are additional budget dollars uh available to address that uh we can do all of those calculations for you uh to address uh relief in the dependent coverage as well. It it it was just the fact that um families were really going overboard because of having their their um children. It meant so much to them and we weren't having a even we weren't having a balance. The most complex playground in the in the world is a seessaw. It can't be too heavy and it can't be too light, >> right? >> It must have some balance. and we weren't having any kind of balance. We were just getting whatever you all were trying to give to us, but it wasn't there wasn't any type of balance. So, I wouldn't want us to

053fall into that type of hardship again. >> Uh we certainly will work uh with the staff diligently uh to to ensure that that doesn't happen. And and we do meet on a quarterly basis to go over all of the data. Uh so it really is a one-year process that we go through with with the staff and we certainly uh I know Dr. Greywood will will take that as a takeaway and again we can we can spreadsheet and come up with all kinds of scenarios to address that. >> Thank you Mr. Hooker for this presentation. Thank you so much for working with both my human resources of Dr. Lane and Dr. Greywood. know y'all and Mr. Wallingford has been a part of this conversation too. So, it's been a team effort in trying to get to

054this point. My question is when I first came to Petersburg last year, all I would hear is the insurance does not cover um certain illnesses. It's certain, you know, um pre-existing conditions. And you all correct me if I'm wrong, but that's all I heard when I first walked into the division. This and I heard that before we had Anthem before um and it was great for all the things. What's the difference in this this scenario around you know looking at an Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield again bringing it back to Petersburg and coverages? What can our do you know what our um our team members and our employees will experience this year different than they experienced with Cintara? >> It was Cinta. >> Cinta. So, what what will they experience when they get to sign

055up for Blue Cross Blue Shield and we get ready to go back to Anthem? What about those coverages? What changes? Cuz I hear the money and the savings and all that, but what about what happens to the average employee? How will they feel that Anthem is different than Cinta since we've had Anthem before? >> That's a that's a great question. And we always when when we switch carriers, we do a series of disruption reports. Uh and from a from the uh major medical benefit standpoint, that's deductibles, out of pockets, covering pre-existing conditions, as you mentioned, those mirror each other, where most of the problems that we heard were were in drug formularies and drug, you know, where you go to you have one prescription being covered one way by one carrier and another way by

056another carrier. and we listened to that uh and and engaged Centara for two years on that. Uh and quite frankly, those are harder to do because drug formularies can change from plan year to plan year with any carrier. So what your employees will experience however is we have asked Anthem to mirror exactly as closely as possible what you had 3 years ago before you left Anthem because that's really we didn't get a lot of detail on problems but that seemed to be the overall theme. Uh and uh Anthem still has the largest provider network so it's going to be very difficult to find that your provider is not in the network. Uh so I think they will be much more pleased to maybe get a provider back that may have not been in Centara's network.

057Uh when we did the disruption report last year, there weren't many, but there are many to the one person whose doctor is not in the network, if that makes sense. So we've really taken a holistic approach uh to making sure it goes back to the way they were experiencing what they said were good experiences. >> Thank you. I have one more question. And so I just want to make sure that I'm clear so that everybody can hear that's listening and that's here that one of the things I noticed um coming to last year and looking at the plans is that we pay a large portion. So the board has approved a large portion of health care cost. We are absorbing it. So people I know everybody nothing is perfect. So people have challenges, but I

058just want to make sure that I hear you say and correct so we can set the record straight that given, you know, whatever we're trying to do as far as giving great coverage, but we're also absorbing a lot of the cost for healthc care coverage. Is that true? >> That is absolutely true. >> Okay. Um, you know, I personally, uh, am the lead consultant, um, as long as as well as as, uh, leading our consulting team at Pierce Group. So, I see all of the all of the plans that we administer. It is extremely rare to be able to get a full family coverage anymore for less than $1,000 out of pocket for an employee. Uh, very few of your peers have anything below that. And you also give an option here where they can

059get uh dependent coverage at a much lower rate than uh most school divisions that we manage in Virginia. >> So that's why I wanted to make sure that everybody hears that this is a really competitive um process and that we're we're eating the cost in our day-to-day budget for the health care for many of our employees so that they're not paying as much. And so even though some of the increases I want to make sure over time, we've continued to absorb those and not necessarily automatically pass them on to the employee. Is that right? >> That's correct. You haven't passed on an increase in many years and that's commendable. >> Wow. >> That you've been able to do that. I can tell you in the past renewal season, uh you're an October one group. We

060most of ours fall in the July one category. Uh I think we only had uh just a couple of divisions that were able uh to absorb the entire increase that they got this year. The budgets just wouldn't allow for it. So uh you as a board and you as a school division are sacrificing so that your employees are not over only getting great coverage, the coverage they want, but at an affordable rate in comparison with your peers. And you're be you're to be commended for that. That is wonderful. I just want to make sure that everybody hears it that that's that's a focus for the school board approving to make sure we keep cost low. So, I just wanted to thank you for that. >> Thank you, sir. Any other questions from board members? Because

061this is about health insurance and employees. Are there any employees that have questions? Miss Mason, if you would come to the podium, please. Good evening, Kimberly Mason. Um so the problem was with Cintara when we switched over Cintara did not um have a large network of the doctors. >> That's what he said. So when we had Anthem and the doctors that a lot of a lot of us had so we could no longer go to those doctors. So then when you had to go out of the network that's where the cost came in. So when you going out the network then when they are subscribing medication along with that. So as a asthmatic and if you paying you know $10 or $15 for a prescription and now that becoming $150 to $200. So yes, that's

062where the problem is coming in, you know, to play where Anthem where I could go to my specialist or pick whatever doctor that I could go to. I no longer had a choice. So I had to sacrifice, you know, that's what everybody was was complaining about. It was poor quality. >> Thank you, Miss Mason. >> And I'd like to piggy back Iet Wilson, uh, VA member and leader. I'd like to thank you all for flipping this because there was a conversation about what would happen and it did happen. So moving forward, I think I remind you that your employees are in some stressful um challenging situations here, you know, and so that their bodies take on that. So if we have to dig in our pockets deep to provide those resources to maintain their health

063and welfare, then it's worth it, I would think, as your employees because they are dedicated. They are very supportive of their students and um as Kim said, when you all went to a smaller pool, it cost them more regardless of maybe the perks that they offered you on the front end, but it was the employee or the pediatrician who was not in the network and you had um employees who had children who were there. And if you're like me, once you get a doctor, you want to stick with them. they had those challenges and medication challenges. So, thank you for making that sacrifice that you call for your employees because I think they've earned those resources and opportunities. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Wilson. >> Okay. Dr. Greywood, what is our next step?

064back to do a presentation and then what do we what do we do? So let me find out what's the next step. Yeah. So that great. So what is the next step? So we had the presentation to the board. So what is the next step so that we can move forward with because we have selected Anthem again and so we want to find out what do we need to do next and what does the board need to do? Is there something that we sign? What are the next steps from Pierce so that we can move forward? As as far as um this is concerned um we've made the recommendation and the board can approve that we switch over to Anthem today if the board so chooses Hold on. Question because it's not in here as

065an action item. When is the start date? I don't believe we're late. >> October 1st. It's October 1st. >> Okay. So, we'll bring it back at our first September meeting for action. >> We can do that. >> Okay. And this is going to be a short uh um period. It's going to end uh June 30th so that it would align with our budget like he said. We're going to bring it back here for the next uh uh budget season starting July 1st and it would align with our budgeting and make it easier for us going forward. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> So September 3rd, we will bring the actual we did the presentation tonight. We'll bring the actual recommendation for the board to vote and approve it. >> Okay. We could bring it uh

066September 3rd. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um hold on. >> Okay. Got you. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Greywood. We're going to have we'll have you back up in justice. Are we doing the budget? We were doing the boys and girls first. So, we'll have you back up in just a second. So, we want to bring up Miss Tamika Brown who will come forward to give us a presentation on our Boys and Girls Club of Metro Richmond. So, we are so excited to have you here this evening. So, thank you so much. So, we'll hear about our Boys and Girls Club uh clubs partnership as we move forward through the 2526 school year. >> Hello. Hello. >> All right. Well, this good evening. How y'all doing today? How is everybody

067doing out there? Um, just want Oh, oh, oh, sorry. >> I'm going to grow. Um, so I just want to do uh as she said, I just want to give a brief overview of of the Boys and Girls Club. Um, we've had the pleasure of being in Petersburg for multiple years now. So, just want to give you guys an overview of what we've been up to um and all the exciting things that we've done with our our our youth um recently. So, um just wanted to start off by sharing our mission. Our mission is to fuel the balanced potential in young people. Um, ensuring that they are life and career ready. I feel like that is definitely I like to say it a couple times so it can sink in. We make sure they are

068life and career ready. Some people who don't know about the Boys and Girls Club um think that we are just an after school wreck and parks, but we are not. We definitely cultivate these young people um and want to ensure that they have a bright and shining future and build skills for them. So, next slide, please. um here at Petersburg. Um we've been in the community like like I said for over 20 years. Um longtime partner and provider and we've been in several locations over the uh the span of our journey. So we've been in Peabody, we've been in Blandford, we've been here on occasion and we've also been well we currently are in Verner John's Middle School. So next slide at a glance just looking at the numbers we've served in our fiscal year

0692025 we served 81 kids. Um, as you can see here, if you all can see the screen, it's a breakdown of our 6th through 8th graders and our 9th through 12th graders. If you cannot, we served uh 58 middle schoolers and we served 23 high schoolers, which I think is a is pretty dope. Um, just because looking at the um retention that we do have, we definitely are trying to keep our high schoolers, even though we are housed out of Vernon John's middle schools, we still find a way to connect with those high schoolers even though they're not physically in that space. also our program breakdown with those youth. We've had over 850 hours worth of programs in various buckets. Um but we've h also partnered with over 20 um program providers. So um just

070to highlight a couple of the programs that we have had our torch club which is a civic engagement and leadership program. Um they definitely it's a small group program for middle schoolers age 8 to age 11 to 13. Uh what they typically do they do um civic engagement. social um and team building activities um and they definitely connect with other torch clubs. So we have seven clubs across our metro Richmond area. So Petersburg is definitely an outstanding club, but what we also like to do is partner so that that they know that they're not alone and they actually can partner with other torch clubs in um in within metro Richmond area. Um and like I said, they do all kinds of civic engagement um programs. And even last year, Petersburg's uh torch club was pretty

071pretty active. They put together kits uh for the homeless. They put together wellness kits. Uh they also I think they had a teacher appreciation day um where they put together little kits that they would pass out to the teachers and everything. So the torch club definitely takes pride um in their little small group activities and they definitely um make an impact wherever they go. So we thoroughly enjoy the torch club. Another program to highlight is our urban farming. Um that that program is definitely one of the programs that everyone signs up for. Um that is in partnership with Virginia State University. we go offsite. Sometimes they come to us, but most of the time we go to them. And as you can see, the kids enjoy um interacting with actual live farm animals. They learn

072about agriculture. They learn about healthy lifestyles and eating, right? Um and that program is definitely one of the ones that um the youth enjoy. And Virginia States enjoys partnering with us. So, we find all kinds of ways to um provide variation because because it is a program that is selected. Um each session we break our programming down into sessions fall, winter and spring. Uh and each session we find a different way to scaffold that and to build on to um what we provided the year or the se semester prior. So that's another program there. Cosmetology. Cosmetology is also a fun one. Um like I said we are doing life and career readiness. So cosmetology is one of those programs where the other ones you're definitely learning. You're building leadership. this is a program where all

073right, I'm building a skill set that I can potentially make money with. So, with that being said, uh the cosmetology is one that the youth love because they learn how to barber, they learn how to braid hair. It's things that they're doing in general already, but they also have a layer of um a layer of the career asset, you know what I'm saying, to it, entrepreneurism, things of that nature. So, what they're doing is they're actually getting skill sets that they can use with their peers, they can take home. Um, we've had kids that actually as part of their showcase, that's what we have at the end of the session, we have a a actual event where you can demonstrate what you've learned. Um, and what they end up doing is they do a demo.

074They do a demo of cuts, they may do a demo of the braiding. Um, and then which that, you know, other kids see that, they get excited about it. Um, and then that encourages kids to sign up for the next session of that. So, uh, cosmetology is definitely, um, definitely big. Like I said, we do hair braiding, um skin care, and they also do barbering as well. So, that's a pretty popular one with the kids. Next one, creative arts. We do have our artists um that like to enjoy enjoy they they do some solitary uh things where they u may do some uh creative writing. They may do some journaling and things of that nature. or you have um on the other end of that performers, people who actually want to get in front of

075an audience and and and perform and do their skits and everything. So, what we do with creative arts, we partner with Podium RVA, we partner with Greenspring Academy, which is a um a music program. So, they learn about various instruments. So, it's almost an extension of what they would do if they were in band or they would do, you know what I'm saying, something they would build on on the school day um or something if they weren't even in band. and they just get a chance to explore harp um those instruments that you may not have access to during the school day. We um supplement that and they love Greenspring Academy. Barton Heights Youth Organization is a U partner that you see on here that provides spin academy. So DJing and creative mixes and things

076of that nature. Um so the kids definitely from a range of like I said creative writing, just being a writer, being behind the mic, learning how to DJ. Um that creative arts thing is a chance for them to explore their creativity. um is definitely a program that they also like. And I think yeah, the next thing is those are the things that we do inside the club. We occasionally go um go off-site for a program, but we also focus on not being in the space. Like I said, they're in the school during the day. Um and we have the privilege of offering our program durability to provide transportation and take them off site. So, we do a lot of programs too beyond the walls of the club. Um, anything from going to college campus visits,

077going to Richmond, going um various places just to give them a chance to like see what's beyond Petersburg and what's beyond their school day and also getting them excited about just just being with their friends, building community, and just knowing that, you know, the skills and things that you're seeing inside of the building, they're also outside, you know what I'm saying, outside in Petersburg. So, that's another thing that we do as well. So, with all the awesomeness, what are we looking forward to for fiscal year 2026? Um, we're looking forward to continuing everything that we're doing. Looking forward to building confidence, um, career exploration, and building those SEAL skills. Um, we like to compliment what you all are doing at dentist school during the day. Um, continue our positive youth development. U, we also want

078to continue building and strengthening partnerships to expand exposure. It's really big um really big and really important that we expose kids to as much as much as we can only because if we want them to make decisions about what they want to do in life, they cannot do that if they have not experienced what they do like and what they don't like. Uh so with that being said, exposure is super duper important to us. Um and we just value you guys and are definitely looking uh forward to continuing our partnership u with Petersburg school system um and just Petersburg community as a whole. So um I definitely appreciate it. Thank y'all for having us. Any questions? Anything? Comments, concerns, >> any questions? Board members, Miss Brown. >> Yep. >> Miss Brown. Miss Brown. Miss B.

079This Miss Brown up here. Um had an opportunity to visit and and I know Mr. Lundy, Mr. Dance Pierce was here at the time. Miss Proctor, I think, was here. Had a chance to visit um the center in Richmond. Okay. And and one of the things we talked about with the former superintendent, Miss Brown, the one in the one in Richmond has a recording studio. >> And we we had talked about a possibility of seeing if we could put a recording studio over in the CTE wing that would give our kids an opportunity that are really into music. Richmond is exposing that Boys and Girls Club. They're they're exposing their kids to it. I mean, it's awesome. Those kids are in there making their music. >> They are in there making beats and they're making

080music. And in the past, we definitely have partnered with um like I said, the Richmond clubs by taking them down there. Um and with that creative writing, if you think about the Boys and Girls Club as an organic community, um what we would have do Petersburg kids do is actually write lyrics to the beats that they were making at the teen center, the the you know, teen center he's talking about. Um and it would be super awesome if we could actually do that here. Um and they wouldn't have to go down there and kind of do a hybrid situation. So, are you excited? you I see you the CFO is laughing because every time there's an idea he knows I'm looking over at money is money well well sir uh the kids enjoy it uh

081and they would get a lot out of it and those future the future uh you know what I'm saying musicians that you have uh it would just do nothing but up our program you know what I'm saying so if you can find the coins we would appreciate it >> thoroughly >> Mr. Lendy, >> any questions? >> At at one time in our south wing >> Mhm. >> we had uh all types of musical setups. We uh kids did the um weather reports. >> They did everything. We had a wonderful room in the south wing. It was it had everything you could want in the south wing. Everything. and they would do all of the morning um announcements, any of the announcements, anything like that. And they did their music and they came in and they

082brought they had different people like like Mr. Aken's father, >> he came in a lot of times. >> He was a good person. Um Mitch Malone, he came in. He was a very good person. So, we had all of these things taking place. It's not like we haven't been accustomed to having them. Our kids are very entrenched in what's happening. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. And I will say from experience with Petersburg, Petersburg is a um if you had to kind of I know everybody is an individual, but if you had to kind of categorize them, they are artsy club. Um they are a club that that definitely enjoys music um and they enjoy expressing themselves creatively. So any opportunity to um enhance that or any opportunity to build upon what they're already doing would be amazing.

083So yeah. Any other comments, Miss Morel? >> So, I know that so the Richmond is great to hear. So, I'm so glad that you'll be continuing working with Petersburg and you all will be housed at Vernon John's. Is that right? So, you can work with our students. Um, so I guess just understanding um how the program has it seemed like it's continued to grow each and every year. Do you have a goal this year for the number of students? So, can students, new students join the Boys and Girls Club? What does that like recruitment process look like? >> Absolutely. Uh we definitely are always looking to grow, always looking to provide access to more and more kids that we can. Um I know our space in Vernon Johns, you know what I'm saying? We have

084to get creative at times. Um so what the recruitment does look like, we are, just a little plug, we are registering children as we speak. Uh so registration is now open. Um our programming will start September the 15th. So giving everybody a chance to get in. um and our website have our has our registration process and everything but it's just as simple as clicking on the link registering. Our program is free. Uh our program operates Monday through Thursday and our program is um from as soon as they get out of school to 6:30 um Monday through Thursday like I said. So um registration fairly simple. Um and like I said, we're taking more kids um Yeah. You know, perfect. So, I guess so that would be great for us to get that information cuz our

085communications department will blast it everywhere so that we can make sure that we help with recruitment um to be able to do that. So, that sounds great. And so, I'm assuming I don't know the the as we talk about um the room where the kids are doing all the music and all of I mean, what's it called again? The >> we had spin academy. I was saying we got green. Yeah. Academy. We got a lot of going on. Yeah, >> absolutely. And so I want to find out like do you know like funding for that? Is that been through grants? Do you think do you know how that was funded in Richmond? >> I would say and correct me if I'm wrong. Grants uh the majority you know what I'm saying what we what we're

086doing. >> Gotcha. Okay. Gotcha. Perfect. Thank you. But if you could get that information to us to our communications um chief communications officer Chelsea Bungair. We can give you that her address and she can get it out. >> Okay. I couldn't make that connection. I appreciate you. Thank you. >> And I do have one more question. Miss Glasco and what's Forester Jones or Jones Forester the barbering teacher and the cosmetology teacher. Have you connected with them and do they know that you're offering the kids the barber, the braiding and cosmetology? >> I feel like we may have but it would be worth reconnecting just to make sure because I know we offer it like I said we offer it um sporadic so we may offer it in the fall and we may offer it in

087the spring. Um so it would be nice to actually because and that the other thing is too program providers we also rotate our providers. So, it would just be nice just to touch base. Um, so we definitely can do that and put that on our um our action item to do this week or next week too. Um, it's just connecting them. So, >> and you do know where they're located, right? Over in the south wing? >> I do not, but I can get that information from you. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. No, thank you. >> Yes, Mrs. Tucker. >> I have just one question. >> Community partnersh. Um, have you all reached out or do you have any Petersburg community partners? Because I know when we talk about like

088the studio, there's a community partner that we have House of Market downtown. Absolutely. >> And they have a studio in their basement. And I think and I'm pretty sure if you are you all were to connect with them, they could maybe help you all come up with some grants for funding that space in in the South Wing. >> I think you know it is worth like you said, it is worth connecting with them. um just to see. But they do they have a studio and it it's a art it's a art house. >> It is. And I um House on Market um we've partnered with them in the past as well um and had a a flourishing partnership. Um kids have done their showcase there. So those events that we have um we've used and

089if anybody's been our house been house on market like that back area um we've had it set up um and have had bands and we had a drumming um you know what I'm saying? So, we we definitely have partnered with them before and would be looking forward to kind of, you know, reigniting or or bringing something back because like you said that um working with community partners and having somebody that is so, you know, in that lane, it definitely was a was a pro. So, >> perfect. Thank you so much. >> No, you're welcome. >> Any other questions? >> Appreciate it. We look forward to the partnership. >> All right. Thank you for your time. Sure. >> Thank y'all. >> And board members, we have theou for action tonight. Thank you. >> We'll vote on

090that when we get to action. >> Miss Brown, we'll move to 4D. >> Thank you. Okay. Thank you, board chair and school board members. We will now bring back up our CFO, Dr. Matias Greywood, who will give us our monthly division budget um update related to our Head Start and our grants. Thank you, Dr. Greywood. >> Thank you, Miss Brown. Um, good evening board chair Pritchette, Vice Chair Pierce, esteemed board members, and Petersburg city community. I am Matias Greywood, chief financial officer, and tonight I'll be presenting our monthly budget update as of July 31st. Please note that our FY 25 year end closeout is still underway. Some figures may shift final reconciliations are completed. Likewise, FY26 categorical allocations are still being finalized and future updates would reflect any changes to final breakouts. Slide two, please.

091We'll review budget to actual comparisons for the city transfers, food service funds, grants, and Head Start programs. We'll also examine both federal and non-federal funding sources. Please keep in mind that some data is preliminary and subject to refinement. Next slide, please. Starting with the Petersburg city transfer, our original fiscal year 25 budget was 12.98 million. As of July 31st, we've received one installment totaling 1.08 million, leaving a remaining balance of 11.9 million. Additional installments are expected and final figures will be confirmed once the FY closeout is complete. Next slide, please. General fund and expenses FY26 and 25. For 25, the general fund was budgeted at 69.26 million with 64.9 million expended to date. The remaining balance of 4.377 million may adjust slightly as we finalize year end entries for FY26. The current budget stands at

09270.49 million with 5.36 million spent. Please note that categorical allocations for FY26 are still being finalized, so these breakouts may evolve in future reports. Instruction continues to be our largest expenditure, followed by operations and maintenance. We're monitoring overages in people, transportation, and technology, and will address them through internal controls and budget adjustments. The slide reflects the general fund breakout by state and defined categories. It aligns with our reporting requirements, but is also subject to change as FY26 allocations are finalized. We'll provide updated figures once these adjustments are complete. Next slide, please. food service and grants. In FY25, we budgeted 30 million across funds 30 uh 02 and 07 and with 20 million expended for FY26. The budget is currently 18.5 million with 682,000 spent. These figures reflect ally year activity and plan program transitions. As

093FY26 categorical allocations are finalized, we anticipate updates to these breakouts across all funds. FY25 total 99.28 million with 84.9 million expended. FY26 currently stands at 89 million with 6 million spent. These totals would be refined as we complete the FY26 closeout and finalize FY26 allocations. Next slide, please. Head Start federal funding for Head Start FY26 federal allocation is 1.4 million yet to date expenses are 30,000 primarily in personnel. We expect increased activity in the next few months as classroom supplies and training programs ramp up. All categories are on track and compliant with federal guidelines. Next slide, please. Our non-federal share totals 350,000 with no expenditures recorded yet. This includes donated goods, volunteer services, and transportation. These contributions will be documented and reported in kind support throughout the year. Next slide. That concludes my presentation and

094I'll be glad to answer any questions. >> Thank you, Dr. Greywood. Any questions for Dr. Greywood? Can you can you go back a couple slides? I just have a question. I want to make sure that I understand. >> Go right there. So, when you say FY25, are you talking about last school year? And when you say FY26, you're talking about the school year that just started. >> Yes. FY26, I'm sorry, is the current school year. FY25 is last year. >> Okay. So, we had a budget last year of 99 million. And this year we have a budget of 89. That's what you're saying? >> Yes. And that could change to depending on grants or anything that could come in later. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> But that's the approved budget. >> Okay. >> Yes. >>

095That's it. I'm good. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. >> Thank you all. 4E teacher vacancy. Thank you for ch and school board members. We will now have our next presentation this evening which is our update. Of course we know our first day of school for our transitional grades was of course um on um Tuesday of this year Tuesday. And then of course, yesterday was the first full day for all of our students in Petersburg City Public Schools. So we now have our HR teacher vacancy report um that Dr. Shemica Long Lane, our assistant superintendent of human resources, will come to bring forward as to where we sit with our teacher vacancies and provide an update on where we are with our university instructors. Dr. Lang, >> thank

096you. Good evening, Chair Pritchette, Vice Chair Pierce, Superintendent Brown, board members, colleagues, and community. Next slide, please. Tonight, I will provide an update on school-based vacancies and university instructors and provide an opportunity for questions. Next slide, please. As we begin, I want to make sure that we see this special note that these numbers that we have were as of last week 8:15 2025 and these numbers are changing constantly as administrators are making adjustments in the best interest of our students. Next slide, please. We begin with looking at early childhood and our elementary core vacancies. At Cool Spring, we have two vacancuses in kindergarten and one in first, second, third, fourth, and fifth grade for a total of seven. At Lakemont and Pleasant Lane Elementary Schools, there are zero vacancies in our core classrooms, and those

097are highlighted for you there in green. At Walden Hill, we have one vacancy in kindergarten and first grade, two in second grade, and one in third and fourth grade for a total of six vacancies. At Westview, we have a total of six vacancies in our Head Start or PR Virginia preschool program, also known as VPI. That brings us to a total of 19 across our elementary schools and our early childhood program. Next slide, please. Next, we will be looking at our school-based vacancies at our early childhood and elementary schools. At Cool Spring, we have one special education vacancy, three encore vacancies, one instructional assistant, and one school counselor for a total of six. At Lakemont, we have two special education vacancies, one encore, and two instructional assistant vacancies for a total of five. At Pleasant

098Lane, we have one English as a second language vacancy, one instructional vacancy, two nurses for a total of four vacancies. And at Walnut Hill, we have one special education vacancy and two instructional assistant vacancies for a total of three. Lastly, at Westview, we have one instructional assistant vacancy. This brings us to a total of 19 for our early childhood and our elementary schools. Next slide, please. The next few slides are graphs that are highlighting the percentages of core classroom, encore or elective classes, special education, and English as a second language classrooms. So, first up, we have Cool Spring, which has 67.6% of classrooms filled and 32.4% of classrooms vacant. Next slide, please. Next, we have Lake, where we have 90.6% of classrooms filled and 9.4% of classrooms vacant. Next, at Pleasant Lane Elementary School, we

099have 100% of our core classrooms filled and we just have that one vacancy in uh English as a second language as far as classrooms go. Next slide, please. At Walnut Hill, we have 81.6% of our classrooms filled and 184, excuse me, 18.4% of those vacant. At Westview Elementary, we have 75% of classroom filled and 25% of classrooms vacant. Next, we will review our middle school data. At Blandford Academy, we have one vacancy in math, history, and English for a total of three vacancies. And at Vernon John's Middle School, we have two math, one science, two English, and two encore vacancies for a total of seven, bringing a total to 10 across both campuses. Next slide, please. For our other school-based vacancies, we have one English as a second language vacancy at Vernon John's Middle School

100and one instructional assistant vacancy for a total of two across both campuses. At Vernon John's Middle School, we have I'm sorry, at Blandford, we have a total of 70.6% of classrooms filled and 29.4% of classrooms vacant. And at Vernon John's Middle School, we have 74.4% 4% of our classrooms filled and 25.6% of our classrooms vacant. >> And Dr. Delane, those pie ch those pie charts talk about core and non-core classes. Is that correct? >> Correct. Okay. Yes, ma'am. >> So, not just the core classrooms, but if they have a music teacher vacancy, that's included in the number that's vacant. >> Yes, ma'am. Special education, English as a second language, and any encore like art, music, etc. Gotcha. All right. So, next we will look at our high school data. At Petersburg High School, we have

101two vacancies in math, one in science, and one elective position for a total of four vacancies. And at Pitman Academy, we have one vacancy in math, science, history, English, and our elective class for a total of five positions, bringing us to a total of nine at both sites. For our other school-based vacancies, we have uh two librarian positions at Petersburg High School uh that are vacant. Next slide, please. These next two graphs showcase our uh vacancies and percentages. So, first at Petersburg High School, we have 94.7% of our core elective, special education and English as a second language classrooms filled and 5.3% vacant. And at Pitman, we have 71.4% of our classrooms vacant and 28.6% of classrooms filled. Next slide, please. uh as we take a holistic look of where we are looking at all

102of our schools again in core classrooms special education English as a second language and encore/ elective classes we are at approximately 84.4% of our classrooms filled and 15.6% 6% of our classrooms vacant. Please note that these classrooms are filled with a combination of fully licensed, provision provisionally licensed, and resident teachers. As we move through uh the rest of this year, we will continue to actively recruit for open positions uh to support our administrators as they fill vacancies at their respective schools. Before you, you see our university instructor data. We do have the support of this company which is helping us to fill 15 positions. And so far we have 10 of those 15 positions filled with six of them going to elementary schools, seven uh two of the seven at our middle school and two

103for the special education positions, one being at Cool Spring and one going to Walnut Hill. So we're very excited for this partnership and uh we're glad to have those individuals who have decided to join us through university instructors. uh some are going through their onboarding process and some of them have already begun in their classroom. So we're again thankful for that partnership. At this time that concludes my presentation for this week's vacancy update. I will answer any questions. So Dr. Lane just really quickly I just want to clarify if we go back two slides to the um summary. So those six elementary teachers have all been sent those all those six university instructors. They've already hired those teachers. They are housed at Lakemon. Is that correct? So Lakemont Elementary School, which is a part of

104that number where Lakemont was fully staffed for their core classes, all of those teachers have been um are in place at Lakemont. And so only two of but they're still university instructors, as I understand, are still actively recruiting for the middle school. They've hired two so far. That's correct. >> And they've already hired the two for the special education teachers. They've hired the two that we decided to move back to. Okay, >> that's correct. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Lane. Any questions from board members? >> Okay. Do you know do you know right off the top of your head how many teachers do we have with VCU? >> With VCU that's Virginia coming with that's through our RTR program, right? >> So we had four for this year. >> So they only were able

105to to get four. >> We have uh one that decided to decline the program but was hired in another capacity here in the division. So, right now we have four active for this year and we had two remaining from the previous year. >> Okay. And do we have do Virginia State where does Virginia State have a limit on the number they sent us or I'm not sure there's a limit. We do have five that we have currently right now. Um four at Pleasant Lane and then one at the middle school. But I can ask if there's a limit. >> Okay. Thank you. >> She said hero. >> Yeah, the hero. >> So we have six. We are totally six >> hero at this time. Is that right? Yes, ma'am. Five at Pleasants Lane and then

106the one at the middle school. Yes, ma'am. >> Miss Miss >> Proctor, >> she need to pull it in front of her. >> Encore at our elementary schools are art, music, library, PE, >> which is we say core. Not not core. What do we say? Um electives. We still use the old term election. >> So did we come up with encore or did we hide it encore? >> Encore. I had encore/ electives. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. So from your previous slide you called it encore. So it's electives. Okay. Gotcha. So we understand now. So electives. That's what it is. Thank you. Okay. Gotcha. Thank you. So it's electives is exactly right. Thank you. >> Electives. Yeah. That's all you can take is two electives. >> Thank you, Dr. Long Lane. >> Mr. Chair. >>

107Oh, you had a question. I'm sorry. >> Question. Yeah, >> Mr. D has a question. >> Yes. Um Dr. Lane, I know we have some um um opportunities to hire more Spanish teachers. How we on foreign language teachers do? >> Uh University instructors is helping us to recruit. So, they're actively recruiting for those two Spanish teachers at Vernon Johns Middle School. Great. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Next we move to policies 4F. >> Okay. Thank you board chair pitch and schoolboard members. We'll now move to our policies for first read this evening quickly. Okay. And so once they bring up the policies for first read, a little bit larger, a little bit more little bit more. Thank you so much. All right. Okay. And so you'll probably scroll maybe it's a little bit less. So

108you'll scroll over. Okay. So for our first policy of this evening, we have policy number one for our Petersburg City Public Schools policy IG AG. And the title of this policy is teaching about drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. It is in alignment with our VSBA policy IG A. And the purpose of this policy review is the policy language and legal references have been updated. Thank you. >> Perfect. Thank you. So again, for our policy IG AG, the purpose of this policy review is that the policy language and legal references have been updated to reflect the addition of the Virginia code 22.1-206.01 by House Bill 732/Senate Bill 726 2024. The cross references have also been updated in alignment with our VSBA 525. Policy number two is policy for PCPS is IG AJ optional. The title of this

109policy is driver education that is in alignment with our VSBA policy IG A which is also optional. And the purpose of this policy review is the policy language and footnote has been updated to reflect amendments of the Virginia code 22.1-205 House Bill 2213 and then in alignment with VSBA 525. Policy number three, IGBA for Petersburg City Public Schools. And the title of this policy is programs for students with disabilities. That is in alignment with our VSBA policy, IGBA. And the purpose of this policy review is the policy language and the legal references have been updated to reflect the amendments of the Virginia Code 22.1-27.2 [Music] 2 by House Bill 1805 and additions of the Virginia Code 22.1-215.3 by House Bill 1892 20 and Virginia Code 22.1-217.4 by House Bill 2219/Senate Bill 1034 and Virginia Code

11022.1-274.7 by House Bill 1806. The cross references have been updated in alignment with VSBA 525. Policy number four for Petersburg City Public Schools is policy IGBGA and the title of this policy is online courses and virtual school programs. That is in alignment with our VSBA policy IGB. And the purpose of this policy review is that the policy language has been un remained unchanged, but our legal references have been updated to reflect the addition of the Virginia code 22.1-23.6 by House Bill 2640 and Senate Bill 1380. A footnote has also been added in alignment with our VSBA 525. Our fifth policy of this evening is our PCPS policy IGBJ and that is a new policy and the new policy the title is advanced or accelerated mathematics and that is in alignment with our VSBA policy IGBJ

111new and the purpose of this policy review is this policy has been created to reflect the addition of the Virginia code 22.1-207.9 [Music] by house bill 8 HB26 686 in line with VSBA policy 525 which pitch to the school board members that completes our policies for first read this evening. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Brown. Any questions from board members? >> Okay, we will move on. Next we move to our public comment period. I do not believe we have anyone who signed up. So we'll move next to our action item 6A. >> Thank you board chair pre schoolboard members. Our first action item on this evening is ourou with the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Richmond and the Petersburg City Public Schools. And we all heard the presentation this afternoon or this evening.

112So at this time it is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve theou with PCPS and the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Richmond as provided. >> Thank you, Miss Brown. You heard the superintendent's recommendation. Is there a motion to accept? >> So move, Mr. Chair. >> Moved by Mr. Dance. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mrs. Tucker. All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. 6B. >> Thank you, board chair pitch and school board members. We now have our um board action request for communities and schools of the Tri Cities, our CSC CIS program. And this is theou. And so if you remember last board meeting, we had Jamal Ellison come to the front and provide us with a presentation on the communities and schools of the Tri Cities. And so at

113this time, it is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve theou for the communities and schools of the Tri Cities and Petersburg City Public Schools as provided. >> You heard the superintendent's recommendation. Is there a motion to accept? >> So move. >> Moved by Mrs. Tucker. Is there a second? >> Second by Miss Proctor. All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. M um Brown, before you move on, just want to say um I'm not sure everyone knows, but Mr. Jamal Ellison is leaving CIS and he is going next door with down the street down Sycamore Street. And Jamal just want to say that well Mr. Ellison just want to say that um you've been a jewel to Petersburg City Public Schools. I know that the staff is going to miss you, but even

114though you told me that you'll still be around, but you will not be in that capacity, but you will be missed. I don't know who I'm going to call now. And you know what, Miss Wanda, you going to have to tell your husband? You going have to tell your husband, I'm going to be calling you a lot. It's nothing going on, but I'm going to be calling you. We appreciate you. [Music] [Applause] Okay, we'll move next to 6C. Okay. All right. 6C. Thank you, Butch. And again, congratulations to Mr. Ellison. We're going to miss you. You have definitely been a, as Mr. Bridget said, a jewel to Petersburg and you've loved on our kids and poured into them to focus on all of the pillars of the communities and schools program. And just thank you.

115Thank you. Thank you. And we look forward to continued support in your new role as we continue to transform opportunities, learning, and success for every student in Petersburg City Public Schools so they graduate with a life filled with choices. So, thank you. And so now we'll go to our our next umou with Virginia State University and Petersburg City Public Schools. And you all heard the presentation given by Dr. Yasmin Gay and Dr. Walter Willis. So at this point time, it is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve theou with Virginia State University and Petersburg City Public Schools as provided. >> Thank you. Is there a motion to accept the recommendation? Moved by Miss Proctor. Is there a second? >> Second. Mr. Dance. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. 6D. >> Thank you, board

116of pitch and school board members. Um at this time, I want to bring forward to the podium um Dr. Tory Manson. Before I bring the recommendation to the school board, this is regarding a memorandum with an a partnership agreement with um Petersburg City Public Schools and the Infant and Toddler Connection of Greater Reach Community Services Board. And so before I bring the recommendation, I asked Dr. Manson to kind of explain it so that everyone understands before bringing the the the recommendation. >> Good evening again. Um the infant and toddler the MOA with the Greater Reach Community Service Board is the infant and toddler click on if you all if you all could click on it would be great on the attachment. Thank you. >> Sorry Dr. Mason. It's an agreement with the MOA which is

117in line with the IDA, the individual disability educational act for those students from birth to the age of five. The infant and toddler um greater reach they provide services to those students who parents um believe or suspect that their child has a disability. And so under the IDA from what they call part B to part from part C to part B, they have to refer students to us that has been receiving services. Virginia says at the age of two prior to their second birthday then they have to if they suspect that this child has a disability because they had a services plan then they have to refer those students to us um they have to refer those students to Petersburg public schools and state that they believe that this child has a disability. So this

118is in guidance with and in guidelines with the federal and state regulation for IDA. So it is a provision and what they do in Virginia is they have agencies and so the greater which used to be district 19. They support seven school divisions in regards to this format right here in regards to that part C to part B. It is a federal indicator under indicator 7 and indicator 12 which is our federal indicators. And so it's basically a partnership that we we have with them. So that any parent or any child that a parent that they suspect is a student with a disability from birth to age five, but for us in Virginia, it's can be from birth to age two, they refer to Petersburg City Public Schools. And at that point, we have to

119take that child through the evaluation process to determine if the child meets special education related services under IDA. >> Thank you, Dr. Manson. Any questions, board members? And Greater Reach, Greater Reach Community is now District 19. They changed their name. >> It's formerly district. It's formerly District 19. Yeah, they changed it. I'm still learning it. They just changed it about 3 months ago. We all know it as district 19, >> but they changed it to, cuz I keep on saying, Greater Richmond, but it's greater reach. So, we're still going through it. But they just changed it about three months ago. Um, because they want to say they're reaching for families and they're reaching out to families. and reaching out to students and all. So, it's the Greater Reach Community Service Board. >> Thank you, sir.

120Miss Proctor, >> can you tell me why? >> Put your mic on. >> It's on. >> It is on. It's low. >> Her mic is low. >> Can you hear me? There you go. Um, why the up to age two when the feds are age five? Well, because the parent doesn't have to refer them. It's up to the parent. I mean, what the parent does is they refer this child to um Greater Reach. If they if the child they suspect that the child has a disability from birth to the age of we're rely under the Virginia law, it's age two I mean 0 to two. At the age of two, Virginia law requires us if the parent refer to Petersburg public schools, they require us to take the child through the eligibility process. The federal

121says age three that before you have to take the child through, but it's up to the parent. So, at the age of two, if the Greater Reach Community Service Board comes to us stating that they believe that this child has a disability and they've been providing service to them, we're required under the law to take the child through that services. But if the parent doesn't want the services from Petersburg and want them to continue to provide it, they can provide it from birth to the age of five. Once the child turns age of five, then they must refer the child to Petersburg public schools if they still suspect that the child has a disability. So they can perform they can provide those services from birth to age 5, but at age two the partnership in

122the Virginia law is that if the parent so chooses, then they can refer them to Petersburg public schools and at that time we must take them through the child pro child fine process. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions? Thank you, Dr. Manson. Miss Brown, your recommendation. >> Thank you, poin and schoolboard members. So, thank you, Dr. Manson. So, with that information, it is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approved the MOA with Petersburg City Public Schools and Infant and toddler Connection of Greater Reach Community Services Board as provided. >> Okay. Is there a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation? >> So, move. >> Moved by Miss Proctor. Is there a second? >> Mrs. Tucker. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. 6E. >> Thank you. Thank you, Ba Pitch and Schoolboard members.

123We now have our um Petersburg City Public Schools big purchase approval request. And so, if you all could click on it before I make the recommendation. Okay. So, thank you. At this time, we're coming to the board to ask for purchase approval with SHI International Corporation. Petersburg City Public Schools is requesting the approval for the expenditure of $116,000 and32 203 $116,325 to purchase 300 Lenovo 100C generation 4 Chromebooks for the 2526 school year. These devices are intended to enhance the student inventory at Petersburg Petersburg High School, addressing the need for equitable access to technology within the school. The Chromebooks previously procured under the SIG grant or the SIG grant are designated for use outside of the high school which has pro prompted this additional acquisition to ensure that all students in at Petersburg High School

124have the necessary tools to support their academic growth in digital learning. The purchase, this purchase will be completed through the source well technology products and solutions contract number 121-923- SHI which adheres to the procurement standards and offers competitive pricing. We respectfully seek the school board's approval to move forward with this initiative to better support our students educational needs. So again, the procurement type will be a source technology products and solutions contract and then we have a it's a one-time service and the proposed end date would be 9302025. And so again, the cost is $116 and $116,325. And we're looking for this funding source to be state funding through our Virginia Public School Authority. And so at this point, we're asking that we that we the school board approve the SHR International Corporation not to exceed

125the 116 $116,325. And so with that, um, are there any questions before I make the recommendation or I make recommendation first? >> Any questions? >> It's two of them. You know, it's two of them. >> Oh, it's two. Okay. Sorry. Okay. So for the second portion, thank you. For the second portion, at this point, we're asking the Petersburg City Public School Board to provide approval for the funding request of an additional $118 thou 118,65 to purchase 150 laptop devices designated for staff. This acquisition is necessary to replace the current staff laptops that have reached the end of their functional lifespan. So according to our records, the original laptops that were funded through the esser or co resources and are now due for replacement to be able to for them to maintain both the instructional and

126operational efficiency across the division. So the proposed purchase will be made through source world technology products and solutions contract um 121923- shi to ensure the adherence to the procurement regulations and to secure competitive pricing. We believe this investment is crucial to sustaining reliable technology infrastructure for our staff and respectfully ask the board for approval to move forward with the purchase of these new um lap Chromebooks or laptops for staff. And again, it's a onetime service. The proposed end date that should be completed by 9:30 2025 and the contract spending authority is 118 thou $118,65 and the funding source would be our local funding within our technology budget. Is that correct? Um, Miss Yates. >> Okay. Through your technology budget. Okay. And the recommended vendor would be SHI Corporation. So, we're asking not to exceed the

127118,605. So, are there any questions before I make the recommendation? >> Yes. I I just have a question. Any questions? I have a question on the first one. Um, Miss Yates, the second paragraph, what did it mean by use of outside of Petersburg High School? Were they taking them out or are you talking about taking them out this year? >> No, the SIG grant only covers grades K through 8 and so um no 3 through 8. And so we are um it does not cover Petersburg High School 9 through 12. So we have to find a different funding source to purchase devices for Petersburg High. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? Okay. >> So, thank >> Thank you, Miss Yates. Thank you, board chair. So, at this time, it is the superintendent's recommendation that the

128school board approve both of the purchase approval requests for SHI International Incorporated as provided. >> You've heard the superintendent's recommendation. Is there a motion to accept? >> So, move. >> Moved by Miss Proctor. Is there a second? >> Second, Mr. Dance. All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. >> Next we move to F6F. >> Thank you for chief pitch and schoolboard members. It is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve the job descriptions for the dean of student not at Peteman Pitman Academy but the dean of student dean of students at Petersburg High School and the the graduation coach at Petersburg High School and the school testing coordinator and and the new disciplinary hearing officer as provided. So those are the new job descriptions um provided this evening. And so it again is

129the superintendent's recommendation that schoolboard approve the descriptions of the dean of student at Petersburg High School, the graduation coach at Petersburg High School, and the school testing coordinator at Petersburg High School, and the disciplinary hearing officer as provided. >> Any questions? Is there a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation? >> So moved by Mr. Dance. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mrs. Tucker, was that you? >> Okay. All in favor? I >> oppose. Motion carries. >> We move to G. >> Thank you board chair appreciating schoolboard members. We have our vendor contract this evening. And so just so I don't know it it's not showing up on the screen, but we have it is the superintendent's recommendation the school board approved the vendor contract between Petersburg City Public Schools and Mr. Titril White who

130came in and did additional support prior to his first start date on July the 1st. So, we are asking for approval um to move forward with his um hourly contract where he was able to provide services prior to coming on board. And so, between Petersburg City Public Schools and Mr. Chachurro White, it is a superintendent's recommendation the school board approved that vendor contract. And the vendor is Coach White. >> Thank you, Mr. Bram. And and he's already been paid, right? He's been paid. >> Oh, he's once we approve it. Okay. And also want to make sure also before we if we make this public, if we could please remove his personal home address and phone number, we can once we approve it, it becomes public. Yeah. Yeah. So you can just I mean we can

131um redact if you can redact his home address and his phone number, but you can leave his name on there. Is there a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation? >> So moved. >> Moved by Mr. Lundy. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Miss Proctor. All in favor? >> I oppose. >> Motion carries. Thank you. Next, we'll move to 6 H. >> Thank you, Vchembers. It is the superintendent's recommendation the school board approve the policies for second read as provided. [Music] Thank you. >> Those are the policies on the screen that we talked about at the last board meeting. So these are policies for second read. >> Thank you. Is there a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation? >> So moved. >> Moved by Miss Proctor. Is there a second? Mrs. Tucker. All in favor?

132I >> oppose. Motion carries. Next we have come to our information items. 7A. Miss Brown. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Here is okay. Go back to the first. Thank you. We have a very brief superintendent report this evening. So, first slide. Thank you. Next slide. Thank you. And so, I just want to celebrate our very first day of school here in Petersburg City Public Schools. We're so excited that Tuesday, August 19th, which was yesterday, was the very first day of school in Petersburg. And so, we were thrilled to welcome our students back with cheers, signs, and high fives across our schools. I want to say thank you to all of our volunteers. As you can see, some familiar faces in the crowds there that our volunteers, our community members, our leaders of organizations came out

133to really, really welcome our students back to school. So, thank you for being champions for impact as you see with our VSBA and our partnership. And so, thank you to everyone for making it a great opening of school. And so, I just appreciate it. Just wanted to highlight and say thank you to our community for taking on the charge of welcoming kids back to school. Well done. As you can see some of our many of our board members, Mr. Pitchett, um Mr. Dance, um we also see Miss Proctor, Mr. Lundy right there. Anybody else I'm missing? I'm seeing closeup. And then all of our wonderful, like I said, NAACP volunteers, just everyone. So, this is what community is about. This is what community is about, supporting our students. So, thank you to everyone. I just

134wanted to highlight you this evening. Next slide, please. Thank you. So, I just wanted to show everyone just a quick video really quickly that talks about our Petersburg City Public Schools recruitment. The PCPS human resources department has partnered with WRC and ABCA to advertise. So, we did something different. So, of course, you know, we started with phase one, which is at the airport. This is phase two. All right. So, this is our next part of our toolkit that we are advertising on television. So this week on Tuesday and Thursday, ABC8 is doing a whole page takeover banner that will float across where everyone who logs on will now see Petersburg City Public Schools advertising is front and center on their website. Additionally, just to unveil tonight, we also have done a PCPS commercial around coming

135to Petersburg and so we wanted to show you that is a commercial for recruitment that is showcased on ABC 8 programming. So that is part of our phase 2 work to recruit and so I wanted to show you that this evening. >> Come transform with Petersburg City Public Schools. Job vacancies range from classroom positions to operations and administration. And while funds last, we're offering a sign on bonus up to $7,500 for eligible teachers. Apply online today. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. So, we started at the airport. Now, we're going to the next thing. So, we're going to get it out to the masses. So, thank you to Dr. Long Lane and um Chelsea Vaner, our chief communications officer, for working on our strategy that we're taking a step at a time to

136try to ex to get the word out about our vacancies and inviting people to come to work and transform with us. So, thank you. And so, we don't need the memorandum of agreement. We had a presentation. So, thank you very much. I think that's the last slide. Is that right? All right. And thank you. That concludes my um budget precis concludes my superintendent's report for this evening. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Brian. Before we move on, could you give us an update on the moving? I think you all are back in the building and everything. >> Oh, absolutely. So, we are My goodness. Thank you to Mr. Gdet and team and the maintenance team. So, schoolboard office has moved out. We've moved from our locations and we moved back into the schoolboard office, but

137we are still unpacking boxes. And of course you if you all remember we had everything packed up and moved um to be stored over the summer. And so you'll see moving trucks. So we are still in the process of unpacking. We are not there but people are working in their cubicles. We're still getting technology up and running. Um we're still getting um like I said everything arranged. So if you all just bear with us, but we are there. Um we're still getting phones hooked up. Is that right? In in some spaces. Um but we are the Pacific. We're now going to have a new HR number so that we can monitor calls and make sure that we are being responsive. And so that is something that Dr. Lane is working on next um to be

138able to do that. And so we are back into the schoolboard office at this moment, but we are still moving. Um I don't have so Mr. Martinez is out, but what I know that we have we're still finalizing also um the restrooms here at Petersburg High School. Our contractors are wrapping up starting to wrap up a lot of the work. um here and so we're excited to be able to give you an update soon about everything that we're closing down because remember we're supposed to be done by September of 2025. So if you need us at the schoolboard office, we are there, but just know that we're consistently moving and we're going to make sure that we try to do everything we can to reach back out u make sure that we're being responsive. So

139that's where we are at this moment. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Any questions? Okay, next we'll move to committee reports. And I do believe that we are starting our committees >> next week. >> This week. Yeah. Well, this month, this month or either next month for September, >> we have our first um advisory. Our um operations advisory will be coming up next week. >> And so we are working to make sure that we have all those pieces in place. And so that'll be one of our first um advisory meetings because we have lots of adi lots of operations work that is going on right now in Petersburg. So that will be our first meeting next week. >> Okay. Nothing. Mr. Chair, >> I don't know ours. I mean, I don't know the gifted yet. I

140don't have a schedule. >> Yes, Mr. Chair. Um, the Appamax Regional Governor School Board, we met last Thursday and uh we had a very good meeting. We off to off to a good start this year at the governor school. Um, two main things we talked about. Uh, we have conducted a salary study and we have found that our teachers are a little below the average that are paid in this area. So we we're talking about increasing for the next 2 or 3 years so we can get our teachers um up to speed with other localities because we have some that are talking about may be leaving us and we don't want them be to leave us. Um also we are doing quite a bit of capital improvements at the governor school. We're putting a new

141roof on the main building and we're also going to uh redo the roof on the alumni house and paint the alumni house and we're going to scrape and the windows throughout the main building. So, we've got uh roughly about $2 million worth of projects that we're going to start on soon. >> Excellent. Excellent. Well, tomorrow we have an executive executive board meeting tomorrow at Maggie Walker. So, I will be there tomorrow. We do not have the full board meeting. That'll be next month. And I believe my understanding code RVA has a meeting tomorrow. stupid. >> Thank you, Miss Braota. Our VA has a meeting tomorrow also. I think it's at 11 o'clock. >> Superintendent Superintendent, >> Miss Tucker, and Peek will be starting up the first Monday >> in September. Yes. >> Okay. Okay. They

142have a virtual link for RBA. I mean for code RBA. >> Oh no. What? Well, they should be sending it. >> They should be sending you the schedule. >> All of the committees should be sending her a schedule so she can she can post them. Yes. Because the meetings have to be posted. >> And you've already gotten the information for the for the operations, right? You've been working with >> Mr. He told you about Okay. date. Okay, gotcha. >> Okay, got you. >> Okay. >> Three days before the service, >> right? >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Next, new business from board members. I believe we talked about new business also, but our next board meeting will be September the 3. I believe there's some training coming up if you have not already responded with VSBA

143on Wednesday, September the 20th. That is another schoolboard meeting. Where is the VSBA? Okay. Workshop evaluation. If you're interested in attending the VSBA fall superintendent workshop evaluation, please see Miss Davis. It is September the 20th. Also, the basic budget budgeting for student needs is October the 21st. What's wrong? What happened? September 19th. You have September 20. Is that incorrect? >> You have September the 20th. It's not the 20th. It's the 19th. It's the 19th. I'm sorry. The VSBA fall superintendent evaluation workshop is September the 19th. Please see Miss Davis. And our annual conference or convention is November the 9th through the 21st. And the registration is open. I believe it's open, right? It is open. Okay. Okay. That is it. The time now is 7:07 p.m. Is there a motion to adjurnn? Moved by Mr.

144Lundy. Is there a second? >> Second. Mr. Dance. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carried. This meeting is now. Everyone have a wonderful evening.