001Good evening. It's a pleasure to call to order the annual organizational meeting of the Picosen School Board. And um our first order of business is to elect our chair for this coming year. And so I'll open the floor at this time for a motion for chairman uh for the Picosian School Board. >> Uh Mr. Tilllet, I would like to move to have Dr. Burbridge be uh chair. >> Is there a second? >> Second. Roll call. >> Uh Dr. Bartlett is absent. Mr. Dow >> I. >> Vice Chair Deose. >> I. >> Miss Jones. >> I. Miss Osborne >> I, >> Chair Burbage, >> I. >> Vote passes. >> And it's my great pleasure to turn the meeting over to our chair, >> Dr. Burbage. >> Thank you. Um, I would like to move on and
002make a motion. We need to elect a vice chair. And I'd like to make a motion to nominate Mr. Mike Deose to be vice chair for the coming award year. >> Second. We have roll please. >> Mr. Dow >> I. >> Vice Chair Dose >> I. >> Miss Jones. >> I. >> Mr. Maxwell. >> I. >> Miss Orsbborne. >> I. >> Chair Burbage. >> I. >> Vote passes. >> 6. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh, moving on to the next order of business. Uh, we're going to we have to school board members have to move into various committees and things like that. Uh so we have a chair and a vice chair. We have the new horizons board. We have the Posen Education Foundation. We have the special education committee. Uh WHRO board of directors. Uh
003we have the VSBA delegates. We have the school health advisory board, the gifted education advisory committee, the CTE advisory committee, and the safety committee. Uh I was going to we're going to populate this and we're going to basically do all of this in one vote instead. >> Uh I would like to consider Dr. Bartlett as the New Horizons board chair. >> She's been working with New Horizons all last year and she's expressed interest in continuing her work there. um for the Picosen Education Foundation. Now, all of y'all speak up if you have alternatives here. Uh I'd like to nominate uh Mr. Dubose and Miss Jones uh for the Posen Education. You two could work this um for the special education committee. Um Miss Orsorn >> Yes, sir. uh WHRO board of directors. That's uh traditionally
004the uh school board chair. Uh those meetings are in Norfolk or online. So I I'm in Norfol quite a bit. So I'll put my name in there. And then for the VS Virginia School Board Association convention, uh Mr. Deose and I as chair and vice chair the school health advisory board. Um uh gifted education and advis the GC. Um >> do we have any volunteers for >> I don't mind continuing to serve in that role but I'm open if >> okay. All right. And then lastly, the or there's two more. The CTE advisory committee. Uh Mr. Dow, I think given your background and experience that would be okay. And then lastly, uh safety committee. Uh Mr. Maxwell, does anybody have any other thoughts for any of those positions or Okay. All right. Well, then uh
005can we can I have a motion to accept the >> nominations as how would we do that? >> As read. >> As as read. Can I have a nomination to accept the committee positions as read? >> I move that we accept the committee positions as read. >> We have a second. >> Second >> discussion. Have a roll call, please. >> Mr. Dow, >> I. >> Vice Chair Doose, >> I. >> Miss Jones, >> I. >> Miss Orsburn, >> I. >> Chair Burbage, >> I. >> So, it passes. >> Okay. Well, that is all we needed to do in this work session. So, I don't think else to do. Um, well, I'm going to close. I'm going to journ this portion. >> Maxwell, did I call you? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Maxwell. Just let the record
006show I would say I >> Okay, we've got, you know, we've got two new board members and one missing. Let's get the back. >> All right, so we're good. All right, I'm going to adjourn this portion of the meeting. Running this out of the desk. >> All right. So, I guess All right. We're going to go ahead and get started. Um, for all the public that is listening in tonight, um, I'd like to call to order the August 19th, 2025 Posen City Public Schools School Board meeting. Um, first of all, we'll start with Miss Stud. If you'll come up and lead us in the uh, pledge of allegiance. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with
007liberty and justice for all. Please pause for a moment of silence. You may be seated. Today our quote comes from Sydney J. Harris. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. Thank you. Okay. Uh, Miss Carol, are there any additions and or modifications to the agenda for tonight? >> Uh, we do have some modifications today. Uh, first of all, the presentation by WHRO that was scheduled for this evening has been moved to October. Um secondly, uh we have an addendum to the personnel action on the dis before you is the addition to the personnel action and we ask that you add that to the personnel action that's currently listed for approval by the board at section 7 C. And lastly, um, regarding the minutes from June, there were a few clerical adjustments
008made to the minutes, and the minutes that will be approved this evening have the clerical adjustments made. That's it. All right. Thank you very much. Um, Miss Perie, do we uh for recognition recognitions for this evening? Okay. Okay. Well, then we'll move right into presentations and reports. Um like um Miss I Okay. Good evening, Chair Burbage, school board members, Superintendent Tilllet, staff, and community members. Tonight, I will present on a variety of topics, including our summer happenings, an update with our Wallace Foundation work, and of course, our College Now initiative. Starting with our new staff orientation, it's been an exceptional start for our incoming educators, offering a blend of professional preparation and community engagement. Throughout the week, new staff members were introduced to their colleagues, connected with essential technology and enjoyed a guided bus tour
009of the city, and also treated to some beans ice cream. The Picosen Kowanas group graciously hosted a warm welcome event, making sure our educators felt at home. Our new hires received comprehensive professional development designed to set them up for success from day one. The training covered critical areas starting with an indepth introduction to new teacher introduc induction program, excuse me. Key learning management platforms, powers school and canvas. In addition, specialized training was provided to special education teachers, equipping our educators with the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the needs of our diverse students. Our commitment to safety and communication was reinforced through CPR certification and training on parent square vector and educators handbook. With the return of our entire staff, various trainings and professional development opportunities continued to occur within each school. And I know
010I saw a few of you there, but I'm excited to share the success of our recent professional development event, Spark, which brought together a diverse group of over 300 attendees from across our school community. This event was designed to provide tailored professional development opportunities that meet the unique needs of all of our staff members. We offered 49 choice sessions, allowing attendees to select the training that best aligned with their roles and professional growth. These sessions covered a wide range of topics to ensure that teachers, pair professionals, registars, bus drivers, administrators, counselors, and administrative assistants found relevant and impactful learning opportunities. We had outside presenters from the Virginia Literacy Partnership, Noah, WHRO, the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Centara, and our financial company, Voya. Okay, fun. All right, this slide highlights some of the sessions
011offered to our staff. We're excited to see what see what next year's sessions will bring us as we continue to provide engaging professional learning opportunities. This event would not be possible without the dedication of Miss Kelly Perie, who ensures that sessions are meaningful and applicable to all staff. She is supported by student volunteers and our admin interns, Miss Rebecca Clancy and Miss Mandy Bulls. We are deeply grateful for their hard work in making this event a success. Of course, we also extend our thanks to the presenters, including our own staff, local businesses, community members whose contributions make this event wonderful. We also want to provide you an update on our summer academy. So this year we had 119 kindergarten through 8th grade students with an average daily attendance of 93 students per day which is
012pretty good for summer. Our primary focus of course is math and literacy and each day students engage in activities designed to strengthen their skills in these critical areas. In addition to academics we have the Picosen Public Library play a significant role in the program. Weekly visits from the library allowed students to z to dive into reading sessions, sparking their imaginations and reinforcing their literacy skills in a fun and engaging way. Our summer academy would not have been possible without the hard work of the PCPS teachers and staff who dedicated their time and creativity. We would like to thank our summer academy coordinator, Miss Kristen Lamb, and again our administrative interns, Miss Rebecca Clancy and Miss Mandy BS. We'd also like to thank Mr. Brett Higen Bothotham for his work with high school students and credit
013recovery. We had a fun opportunity from Globe and NASA Eclipse. We had an invitation um earlier this spring and in June, elementary teachers Miss Angela Turo, Melanie Shields, high school teacher Simone Huey, and math coach Katie Johnson took part in a professional learning experience in Hampton offered by Globe and NASA Eclipse in partnership with the National Institute of Aerospace. Throughout the two-day training, participants engaged in rigorous so-aligned lessons on the relationship between land cover, climate, and the earth as a system, gaining resources and strategies they are now able to distribute across the division. PCPS was also awarded $5,000 to purchase STEM items to implement these lessons into the curriculum. These items will be arriving within the next month and distributed across the division to aid teachers to enrich their lessons. In addition, Miss Turo, Miss
014Shields, and Miss Huey shared what they learned and how to use these resources during our Spark PD day with their colleagues. We're so thankful for this opportunity and look forward to seeing these wonderful resources and materials in use in our classroom. So, I wanted to give a thanks to the teachers who agreed to write our curriculum to enrich our curriculum every summer. This work includes reviewing existing curriculum, creating new pacing guides, and the creation of our accelerated courses for the science and social studies classes we talked to you last year. So, Miss Turo, Miss Adams, Miss Haskins, Miss Clancy, Miss Shields, Miss Parker, Miss Freeman, Miss Edwards, Miss Dixon, Miss Horton, Miss Torrenti, Miss Hol, Mr. Barry, Miss Alcock, Miss Lungren, Miss Forestier, Miss Kachchamelio, Miss Goodman, Miss Muick, Miss Wetzel, Mr. Seagull, Miss Alexander,
015Mr. Jones, Mrs. Gio Vino, and Miss Huey have all contributed in some way to our curriculum over the summer. And last year I shared with you that the board with the board that PCPS had been awarded a $50,000 grant to support leadership development from the Wallace Foundation. Tonight I'd like to give you a brief recap of the work we've accomplished so far. The majority of our funding is supporting the coach Leadership Academy designed for our current leaders including school administrators, central office staff, student services, and instructional coaches. To guide this work, we have partnered with Dr. Dr. Kim Richardson, a coach, leadership strategist, professional speaker with an extensive background in education. Her experience includes serving as a teacher, instructional specialist, school principal, instructional coaching coordinator, federal programs advisor, central office administrator, director of professional learning,
016certified coach. All of this to say that she's a highly experienced educator, well positioned to help us grow. So far, our work together has been focused on what it means to be a coach leader, the importance of identifying and living by our core values, and setting a clear purpose for our learning together throughout the school year. This work will continue monthly throughout the school year and culminate in June of 2026. We greatly value this time and opportunity to learn together as it strengthens our shared commitment to supporting the growth of every staff member in our division. And now for our college now. So this lovely logo created by Dr. Winchester and Kelly Perie combining of course PCPS and Virginia Peninsula Community College. Last fall we began discussions with Virginia Peninsula Community College to expand our
017dual enrollment opportunities and create a cohort of students working toward an associates or its equivalent. We're proud to share that PCPS now has a fully developed plan that allows qualified students to earn dual enrollment credits in the way that best fits their needs. Students may take DE courses on the high school campus, virtually or in person at Virginia Peninsula Community College. The numbers shown here reflect only students enrolled in Virginia Peninsula Community College dual enrollment courses. In addition, we also have students taking DE courses through Virtual Virginia and New Horizons programs, including the Governor's School and CTE program. And we plan to give you a comprehensive look at our accelerated and advanced coursework to include DE, AP, and Honors later this fall. So, you'll see we have 180 enrollments with 158 students. So 158 students
018are now accessing dual enrollment classes through Virginia Peninsula Community College. We've talked about the passport in UCGs before, but I wanted to give you an update because since then there's been some legislation, House Bill 1087, which requires the following. Each school board is required to offer each qualified high school student in the school division access to dual enrollment courses that are sufficient to complete the passport program or the uniform certificate of general studies, the UCGs. As we just shared, not only does PCPS offer the associates degree, which is a 60 plus credit hours, the passport and UCGs of course are offered because they were captured within that 60 credit hours. And of course, students can take individual classes if they don't want to pursue the packages of passport, UCGs, or the associates degree or its
019equivalent. And this is just a preview of what you can expect for the coming school year. And of course, I'll share this after each of our meetings and what we might cover. And just like last year, we plan to highlight certain programs throughout the month um and bringing in more students to share their work and the great things that are happening in Picosen. There any questions? >> I just had uh one question about the college now. You said 158 students rough. What percentage of that is are students that are eligible? 158 out of >> of how many are eligible? Oh, that's a good question. I' I'd have to look at I'd have to get back to you on that. He wants to know of the 158 what percentage of that is who is eligible. So
020there are requirements of hitting that B+. >> They have their own requirements for BPCC as well as we kind of set parameters for what we want to see from a student who's ready to take those role classes. So I I don't know that I >> yeah get a percentage >> and of course that is going from uh sophomores to seniors who could be enrolled. It's roughly that enrollment is sophomore, seniors, 600 students, >> 650 something. >> But that's freshman to seniors. >> That includes freshman. So 500 >> 500ish. Yeah. >> Mhm. >> Pretty good percentage. >> Mhm. >> And if I am correct, that does not include our kids who are already engaged in New Horizon's programming and governor school. There's probably another >> virtual Virginia >> 30 kidsish involved in those programs also in
021partnership with uh V Peninsula Community College taking dual enrollment. So the courses that make these numbers we'll be looking at that dual enrollment English public speaking uh stats history geology >> quantitative reasoning um there's several English >> okay thank you >> thank you uh next up is Mr. Roberts for the uh operations update. 13 minutes. >> All right. Good evening, members of the school board, superintendent Mr. Tilllet, staff, and community members. I'm going to start out with the slide I enjoy the most in my presentation. Um that's from the dedication of all of our building administrators, all our directors, coordinators, just everyone that has had a hand in the hiring season. Um pleased to announce that we've had 55 vacancies and that could be anywhere from a transfer, a retiree, someone who just left. But
022divisionwide for instructional vacancies, 55 out of the 55 right now, we have 54 covered and filled um qualified positions or u candidates. And 36 of those are the new teachers. eight actually were returning, meaning they left our division and decided to rejoin us. I think that's pretty powerful. Uh the one position that we still need, selfless plug, is our parrot PPS. So, um please apply um if you you're interested. Division vacancies uh that's included with the uh student services, transportation, and maintenance. Eight vacancies across the hiring season. Uh two positions filled. So, we still need that list right there. uh one bus driver, a bus aid, maintenance helper, IT tech that's part-time um and then two speech pathologists. Okay. But uh overall, I don't think any other neighboring divisions slide will look the same as
023far as the percentage that we had versus what we had uh were able to fill. All right. Um it's been a busy summer in operations. If you've been around any campuses, you may have seen some of these projects um kind of in process. Please announce that the HVAC system replacement at the high school is nearing completion. They're just in the final stages. Kind of the punch list items. System is running smoothly. Uh and regulating tips. Uh the floor tiles, there was some damage there uh that we had some tiles replaced. Main office, I'll show you a picture here in a minute. They uh uh got new carpet and new furniture. So, that looks really, really nice. Job coach van was purchased. Um the floor waxing is really the high school is the only building we're
024we're kind of behind on right now just because of the project. You know, we couldn't get in to wax. So, um you know, that is in process. They're starting now. Uh by the time the students hit the hallways, everything should look really, really nice. All the classrooms right now are waxed. It's really just the hallways and larger areas we're trying to concentrate right now on. Um going to the elementary school, uh we we did the tinting on the um media center back glass, that huge window. Um, it looks really, really nice. Exterior painting is in progress. We're freshening up the dark horizontal boards that are dark gray. Uh, they've kind of faded over the years and kind of looks splotchy. So, that's going to start as soon as the weather gives us a break. Um,
025we are painting their parking lot. Some of the the um arrows and things were painted the other night, but again, the weather right now is kind of limiting um that progress. pleased announce that the trailers that are were once used at the elementary school um are all prepped and ready to be removed. They all sold um except the ones that we decided to keep for storage andor tech and our transportation office that that is included in that uh little area. So, uh I'm hoping to see those start being pulled away soon. Um fire alarm system uh was complete over the summer. Gym floor, which I have some pictures of, you'll see, and mulching the playgrounds and all but their cafeteria. And I think that'll be finished tonight. Uh and be ready for open houses uh
026will be waxed tonight. Uh the middle school, the gym roof was replaced um successfully. And we had two sections of our main uh roof left over from the renovation that we just did some coatings to make it watertight. Um that also was completed. Interior courtyards. I'm really excited to show off uh one of the pictures for the progress on that. We did finish the uh mini split AC. The kitchens have never had air conditioning in the middle school. Um, so now they will be very glad to go in there and be able to adjust that down, especially during the warmer months. Um, and their floor waxing is complete. Uh, PPS, we did a lot of work, just not a like a lot of huge projects, but um, MSU has done a really good job uh,
027kind of rearranging the building. Uh, that's looking great. And then we did do some dead tree removal because we had to shut down the playgrounds at back for IPO, but that's all fixed now. Playground's mulched and her floors are waxed. So, off to the fun stuff here. Um, that's a picture of the new furniture and carpet at the high school's main office. Looking really pretty. Here is the new interior courtyard at the middle school. And remember, there's two of those. Um, so that is some kind of like artificial turf. Uh, they've they've not really done the plant um section yet, but they've added the borders. Really going to improve the drainage in that um area um and make it nice and enjoyable for the students and staff. So, looking really forward to seeing that project
028completed. Uh, here's the mirror tent on the back of the elementary school. Um, I thought that turned out really well and makes the building look a little bit more presentable. Definitely going to help the heat in that space. And this is one of the prettier gym floors that we we have. I just love to see this is our third one and uh each each time it just keeps getting better and better it seems. But uh looks really nice in there. Um the it was a combination between the principal um and Miss Barnes, the PE teacher, um to kind of design this and they incorporated the four squares. You'll see that all up and down both sides. The kids love those, so I'm sure they'll be really thrilled to see that. Um there are some pacer
029lines and I don't know if you're familiar with that test. They may not be as as enthused that that's on there, but uh I know Miss Barnes is going to love that, but uh it is a really pretty gym. If you get a chance, go check that out. All right. So, I'm not going to bore you with reading every one of these. This stuff is in your packet, but it is really important to note that these are state codes that have changed across the summer. Our legal team um provides us the packet of things that uh they know we're going to have to change and they provide recommendations. Um all these have already been adjusted in our crisis management plan and code of conduct. If you know, pending your approval tonight, um they're ready to
030push play and we'll be in compliance for the first week of school. So, um, anything that's in here that, you know, is safety related, whatever, that'll go in the crisis management. Um, or, you know, anything that's student related will be in the code of conduct that you'll see later. It should have been in your packet. Um, please note that there's one revision right at the bottom, the one about the teleaalth. That's the only one that our attorney did note as optional. Um, it's not that we would not allow students to go out um and, you know, conduct their teleaalth visit. We've done that before in our schools. we provide space but that provision would go further withus and things of that nature. So um that one is the only optional one that we um we
031don't have to do. Um and we have also ordered all the materials. I know there's the stop the bleed kits that you have to have now in schools. Those are already on order shipping on our way or to us um to rem uh remain compliant. Okay. All right. Student code of conduct update. You'll see those in your board packet as well. Um, pretty standard stuff. The calendars, um, any, you know, new board member, admin name, number, that's changed. Um, one thing I will point out, we did change the format of our student incident, uh, reports. Instead of having like kind of our verbiage, we've just, um, like most divisions around us, um, have just kind of opted to go with what the state format is, uh, with their descriptors and just the codes. Um, so
032there's no, you know, discrepancies there. Um everything else is just pretty much updating things like testing windows and things of that nature that we do each year. All right. Um transportation. So we do have 13 bus drivers, five bus aids, uh one new bus driver that will be in training soon. Um one substitute driver and I'm pleased to announce that you know all routes are posted and finalized. Of course we're taking the uh request for changes and everything that we do each year. will be at open houses to make sure that we answer any questions, show any routes to anybody that needs it or stops. Um, and there'll be the student transport transportation change forms available there for parents too to to fill out. Um, the parent bus app will be launched this year for
033all buses. Uh we're going to kind of give that first week a break and not put it in the hands of the parents just because there's so many changes um that first week. But uh we will be rolling out that out um September 1st and you will get a parent square message sometime u by the end of this week kind of with that information and more about the app. So you know you're just not blindly given something and being like figure it out. So um and we'll follow that up with the weeks to come just to make sure that parents are understanding the features and how to navigate that. But super simple. We used it during um summer school. It had about a 2 to 5 second um you know de delay, but I thought
034that was pretty cool. I actually followed the bus and looked at it on my phone cuz you can you know see it on our app. Um it's pretty cool to see how how accurate it was falling around town. So it's going to be really nice. Um and then bus patrol. Um that's not the app has no relation uh to that, but that's with the stop cam arms that will provide us with interior and exterior cameras as well for free. uh we're just kind of in that negotiation phase where we're just ironing out all the details of the agreement. Once that um you know is signed, then we can we can start um having them come and install those on the buses. So looking forward to that as well. All right, technology update. I'm pleased to
035announce that we are back on our rotation and being able to re uh remain on the rotation that we've agreed to. So we were able to replace 300 Chromebooks, uh the 50 laptops, 50 iPads, all according to that plan. So, we're going to try to keep on doing that. That way that each year we have updated um technology and there'll be less, you know, chances for for breaking down. Uh we did add some additional c cameras to PMS and of course we're going to be adjusting and looking at recommendations from our safety committee for additional cameras moving forward in the school year. All right, safety update. Um I'll actually start at the bottom there. Our safety committee did meet and most of these things were what we discussed last year and put into play over
036the summer. Some of these things are new. Uh we did receive the five open gate systems that we received the grant money for for the uh school and equipment safety grant uh from the state. So that makes us have six total in the division, which is going to be nice. Uh we're going to plan to kind of uh pass those along through the uh different schools because they're mobile. They run off all drilled batteries. Um uh so we can kind of train the the staff each location and see how we can utilize them moving forward before we make that huge purchase because these are pretty expensive um you know per unit but they work really really well. Uh most school divisions around uh small and large that's the system that they do use. Um stop
037the bleed kits like I said have been ordered will be placed strategically through the buildings. Uh we are looking to purchase two additional AEDs through the fire department. They help us out with this uh for our athletic fields just so we have that ease of access. We already have one mobile one with the trainer and then one the school just has just to to put where needed. But um having some that are stationed um and designated for those areas will make it much quicker if an event happens. Uh we did have some fun today with the fire department at the middle school. We were given we purchased act rather uh two evacuation chairs for both the middle and elementary school since they have a second story and uh I was a guinea pig on on
038one and you know other staff members we were put in these chairs and they weld us down the uh steps. That was definitely a trust exercise cuz none of us knew what we were doing. But uh it all went well. Fire department did a great job. I really thank them for putting that together quickly and uh learning those evac chairs. So um that will help any you know someone in the wheelchair or if someone gets injured during a evacuation we can get them down those steps without having to do the you know fireman's carry down the steps. So um very very beneficial there. Uh fire inspections are underway. We've completed all the DCJS requirements as far as the U surveys and audits and our crisis management plan will be submitted this week pending some approvals
039we're waiting on for this board meeting. Okay. Um, in your board packet there is a reading file on the primary school serving line. We went with Crest. Uh, that's a company that had a cooperative contract. I think theirs was through James Madison University. Um, but basically the serving line at the primary school has is way outdated. A lot of things just don't even work. It's really just a table at this point. So, um, we've we've researched and we um, you know, put together this quote with one of the reps. Really pleased. Very excited to see this, but we do have to, you know, ask for your approval. due to the price tag on that uh but it is through a cooperative contract and you can read more about that in your reading file. All right.
040Next is the uh RFP for the phone replacement system that we did across uh the summer. Uh we did award through that process IPC technologies Mel. Um that's been our current provider for years now. Um you can read the the reading file there. They've done great work with us. No complaints. But we give it a fair shake. there were seven vendors that give uh proposals. They won fair and square through the rubrics and all the things that we put it through. Um again, due to that price tag, um it was an approved CIP item, but we're just asking for approval to go to next steps with that as well. Um IPC, we've been in constant contact. Um they've been very, you know, responsive and they're eager and ready to start soon as we get everything
041approved. um and hoping to do that early in the school um year to get all of those physical phones replaced not only for us but also the city is included in this as well. All right, so the tennis court update since I kind of left you um the last presentation saying that we were going to do all these tests due to the severe cracking um the company did come Terracon to do the uh geotechnical study. They took four core samples. So, I was actually able to meet him over there and watch this. Um, just to, you know, take note a little bit, you see the maroon, um, beneath a paved core there to the right. That's the same location to the left um, that it was taken from after it was extracted. So, um, there
042was quite a bit of water that was beneath um, that surface. So, little, you know, um, not kind of what we wanted to see at first, but we're going to wait for the study to come back and see the recommendations from um, the geotechnical group. So, uh, but while I was there, that's about 6 to 8 in of asphalt from all the paving through the years. That is a lot of weight pressing down on that, uh, that surface. So, um, looking forward to seeing what that has, but uh, you know, initials, you know, it's a lot of water underneath that court. Uh, playground, uh, inspections. Keith FA, thank you very much. He always hooks us up and does our inspections uh, for free. So, we really appreciate his help. um his recommendations, you know, there
043are some things that year after year that he keeps noting. Um either we fix them and by the time the the end of the year comes, they're just that way again or it's just something that we need to really consider replacing. So, we're kind of the point at uh with certain equipment items to uh make that decision. As you know, playground equipment is really expensive. So, uh, we're going to take the initiative to form a committee for playgrounds, um, this year and just kind of take a, a look at what he's recommended and then, uh, start researching options to kind of propose and see how we can get the them funded and replaced. But, uh, huge thank to thanks to Keith. He always does a great job. And unless you have questions, that's all I
044have. I did have one question regarding the policies changes and it relates to the reading file. Um, do we have a mix of of formatting in the policies? Some are additional language >> changed, you know, throughout and then some of it's just red lines, >> right? >> Okay. >> So, when you see when you pick that up, I actually like that they put comments too from the attorneys and it should have been on the printouts that you received, but yeah, some are just the striking line kind of thing. some verbiage needs to change and some are just new state codes that they're saying, hey, you need to do this. >> The reason why I ask is like the one that stuck out to me is the the cell phone use policy, right? >> You know,
045it is, you know, now it's, you know, just a few items, right? >> But obviously our cell phone policy is much longer. >> Yeah, it's so these are >> replacement of those particular lines within the policy, not the policy in whole. >> Correct. Correct. >> Okay, >> that's a good question. And I just have a quick question on the transportation side. I know we said we have 13 bus drivers. We're still looking for one. Is that correct? >> Looking for one. >> And that would bring us up to What? How does that compare to last year? I mean, last year we um we gained Lisa Turner. She she finished her training. That was the person that we were um talking about all last year that was trying to get through a training. So, she did
046and she's been driving buses all summer school and even I think she's on a trip today for an athletic event. But um we're about two more than we were last year. And then we've just got one that we um um are recommending for hire that we were hoping to put in training very very soon. So fingers crossed we're looking like a better start. >> Great. >> Yeah. >> I had uh one question. I believe it was in the policy. There was a indom in there and it was marked as optional was regarding student enrollment. Um, and I guess allowing people are students whose parents are serving active duty, >> military, >> do I saw it was still in there listed as optional. Do we have like a grasp of what how that would affect us
047>> by changing the policy for that? >> I haven't been able to see any of that yet. These are all new. I mean, we just got this what, a month ago. So we would really have to look and see if there's any p any impact on that. >> The the benefit is it it it's a it's a positive for us in that uh it increases our ADM and ADM is how we fund fund our school system. Each child uh state funding is around $7,600. So it it's actually a benefit to us and we have capacity. Um and so we have recommended as the state did in in this optional policy to allow um that military connected uh family enrollment that um a lot of school divisions have had that for years. Um but it is
048one that we do have the capacity for even with legacy and and our projections. Uh we don't think it's going to um change you know the bottom line of space which is really all that is because you do get the ADM. >> Yes, I thought that at first too. Um, and I it's is it not is it all active duty military? There's other stipulations, right, with um if they're going to be deployed and then the the person who they are the child may be in care with during the employment has to be a resident. So, it's still fairly >> open gate to anybody who happens to be enlisted. >> I was curious about several requirements. I you know we would just be taking a stab at it because you you we really have no way
049of knowing who could check all of those boxes but it it it is centered around deployment. Um and so uh it it's kind of hard to measure that you know what population uh portion of the population would be deployed at any given time who would qualify with a resident to be able to stay. It's um I'm guessing very small numbers. Um, and again, we have capacity. So, I I don't see a real downside to this, even though there is an option, some optional language in the law. It's not a requirement. Uh, we decided to push this one forward. Unlike the tea health one that does have an optional stamp to it and would require some more research. Uh, there's someou requirements in that um, legislation that we're not prepared for at this point. And again,
050all of this legislation, just to clarify, ended with the general assembly in late June. Our attorneys then vet the the the laws and against our policies over the course of July, and we received them end of July, early August, and of course, we put them on the packet for this meeting. >> I guess just for clarification, um the packet we received listed that as optional. If we're voting to bypass the second reading today, that would be included. That's correct. Yeah, just the the military connected one, the the teleaalth we did not include. We left that as optional for future discussion. It's not going to be approved tonight in the docket. >> I had a question about the tennis courts. Um >> I know that just at analy we have any idea. I guess it depends
051on what they find as the problem, >> right? Will they be ready in time for spring test? >> It just really depends on the extent that we will we'll have to, you know, work with the the the pave. If it's a mill and pave, yes. But if it's something more extensive, then it would just be lining up the work and and hoping that we can get it, you know, all done and wrapped up. >> Yep. >> Um, let me just add another point to the tennis court uh saga. Um it's it is our intention to have that court redone whatever the requirements are by spring for tennis season. However, um there's some uh movement that will have to happen with the CIP. As you all know, you adjusted your CIP at our recommendation um in
052June to push that up to immediate. Um, if that passes and the funding is there, we put is somewhere just under a half million dollars, I think 400 some thousand. That's the top end we believe of the expense to do a total new tennis court. Um, that's our belief. >> If we have to go there, that's kind of worst case scenario. and and then if it doesn't get funded with the CIP, we are we'll be working on a backup plan with carryover funding that um Miss Spence will talk about at a at a future meeting. So, we're trying to get plan A, plan B, plan C in place because um we don't see it as an option that it that it not be available for spring sports for reason. >> Any other questions? >> Okay.
053Thank you, Mr. Roberts. Uh, Miss Spence for the finance and budget update. >> Good evening, Chair Burbage, Vice Chair, Mr. Dau, school board members, Superintendent Mr. Tilllet, members of the school uh, community. I'm pleased to present tonight uh, a financial and uh, update for the school system. Tonight I'm just going to be going over um the the reporting that we're primarily focusing on the next two months um which is um supporting transparency and accountability to support the educational excellence across our school district. Now every month is in your board packet you receive the monthly board financials. So that gives you regular updates throughout the year providing you with the current financial status as well as budget variances. All this leads into the annual audit. Now, this is a comprehensive testing of revenues, expenditures, payroll, procurement
054activities, fixed assets, federal grants, as well as the school activity funds. We're in the in the middle of our audit fieldwork right now. The school activity funds, they've been at all four schools in the month of July and their fieldwork has been completed. And our financial audit for all the main funds is beginning September 1st through September 15th. And um all the reports will be to the auditors by the end of this week for them to start that. Next is the state financial report which is called the annual school financial report. And these uh for all school systems across the commonwealth have to report revenue and expenditures in a very specific state prescribed format that ensures standardization and comparability across the stool school districts. This report is very important. It sometimes determines um how we
055are funded when we're compared to other school districts as well as all the federal grants uh look to this uh annual school uh report in regards a lot to our special education expenditures. There are nine categories of expenditures. It starts with instruction and not going to read through it but there are a lot of different um categories so that uh the state can um see how much is going into general instruction, media guidance etc. It also uh has us um aggregate our administrative health transportation food service has a whole different set of standards and it goes through our operations facilities and technology. And then the instructional is further defined. So everything that we have general instruction, it has to be um separated between elementary grades K through 7 and then secondary 8 through 12. And
056again the state looks at this. These reports are available on the state. It's called superintendent financial reports. And you can compare us with York all your neighboring about how much is uh uh per pupil expenditures and things like that. And once we get the audit, I'll be sharing that with you. And that's all I have for this evening. Short meeting for me tonight. Any questions? Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Uh, Miss Carol, do we have any public comments for this evening? >> Uh, Chair Burbage, we have no comments this evening. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh, moving on to the consent agenda. We I'm going to propose that we do these individually as we have a a conflict with the uh staff. Um, so we're going to go through it's five. We'll
057just vote for them. Do five votes or can we do two >> do two one? >> I could recommend, Mr. chair that you just uh take a vote to um amend the consent agenda removing personnel action and then vote on the consent agenda and then personnel action as a separate vote. >> Okay. Okay. Can I have a motion to amend the consent agenda item C and we'll vote on everything but C. >> So moved. >> I have a second. >> Second. Okay. Uh, any questions or discussion? Uh, Miss Carol, can we have a vote, please? >> Mr. Dow, >> I. >> Vice Chair Deose, >> I. >> Miss Jones, >> I. >> Mr. Maxwell, >> I. >> Miss Orsbborne, >> I. >> Chair Burbage. >> I passes 6. >> Okay. Uh, moving on. Can we
058have a motion to approve item C, approval of personnel action? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Miss Carol. A vote. >> Mr. Dow. >> I. >> Vice Chair Dubose. >> Spain. >> Miss Jones. >> I. >> Mr. Maxwell. >> I. >> Miss. Osborne. I >> chair Burbage. >> I passes 5 to one. >> 501. >> 51. >> Now we vote. Okay. Yes. Now we Okay. Now we need a motion to vote on items whole consent agenda. Uh can I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. Miss Carol the vote. >> Mr. Dow. >> Hi. >> Vice Chair Dubose. >> Hi. >> Miss Jones. >> I. >> Mr. Maxwell. >> Hi. >> Miss Orsbborne. >> Hi. >> Chair Burbage. >> I. >> Vote passes 6. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Moving along. Item eight. Uh
059this is other matters for consideration. Item A is consideration of approval of first reading of changes to policy manual and waiver of second reading. Uh can I get a motion to approve a motion for consideration of approval of first reading of changes to policy manual and a waiver of the second reading? >> So moved. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. Uh any questions or discussion about waving the SE? No, Mr. Maxwell, you had a question. Any other questions or discussions? >> Um >> this doesn't include the tella health, correct? Not at this point. >> Okay. Uh Miss Carol, can we have a vote, please? >> Mr. Dow, >> I. >> Vice Chair Dupose, >> I. >> Mr. Jones, Miss Jones, I'm sorry. I >> Mr. Maxwell >> I >> Miss Orsbborne >> I
060>> chair Barbage >> I >> vote passes 6. >> Okay. Item B is consideration of approval of 2025 2026 code of student conduct. I have a motion for approval of 2526 code of conduct. >> So moved. >> Have a second. Second. >> Any questions or discussion? Okay. M Carroll. >> Mr. Dow. >> I. >> Vice Chair Dubose. >> I. >> Miss Jones. >> I. >> Mr. Maxwell. >> I. >> Miss Orsbborne. >> I. >> Burbage. >> I. >> Vote passes. 6. >> Okay. Item 8 D is consideration to authorize the superintendent to sign a contract with Crest Food Services Equipment. >> Can I me >> C? C. >> Oh, sorry. >> Yep. I jumped down to D. This is hard to see. Consideration to authorize the superintendent to sign a contract with IPC technologies middle
061Voice Business Systems. Have a motion to approve that. >> So moved. >> A second. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> Miss Carol the vote. >> Mr. Dow. >> I. >> Vice Chair Deose. I >> Miss Jones. Hi. >> Mr. Maxwell. >> I. >> Miss Orsbborne. I >> Chair Burbage >> I >> vote passes 6. >> All right. Now we'll talk about item D is uh 8D consideration to authorize the superintendent to sign a contract with Quest Food Services Equipment. Can we have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Questions or discussion? >> The vote please. >> Mr. Dow. >> I. Vice Chair Dubose. >> Hi, >> Miss Jones. >> Hi, >> Mr. Maxwell. >> I, >> Miss Orsbourne, >> I, >> Chair Burbage, >> I, >> Bookasses 6. >> Okay. Item E is consideration to
062approve the adapt the adoption of AP human geography textbooks for Post High School. Can I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. Any questions or discussion about Hey, Miss Carol the vote. >> Mr. Dow I >> Vice Chair Dubose >> I >> Miss Jones >> I >> Mr. Maxwell >> I >> Miss Orsbborne >> I chair >> Burbage >> I. >> Vote passes 6. >> Okay, last one. Item 8F is consideration approval of proclamation for Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month. Can I have a motion? So moved. >> I have a second. >> Second. >> Any questions or discussion? Okay. Miss Carol, the vote. >> Mr. Dow. >> I. >> Vice Chair Dubose. >> I. >> Miss Jones. >> I. >> Mr. Maxwell. >> I. >> Miss Orsbborne. >> I. >> Chair Burbage. >> I.
063>> Vote passes 6. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Um, I guess we'll move into item nine, communication andor other matters by school board andor superintendent. Are you you going to do you have anything you want to Okay, it's beginning. School hasn't started yet. So, uh, it is good to see you again. Um, I'm looking forward to for your to your comments throughout the school year. So, um, uh, I can't wait to see what the kids are doing in all of our schools. >> Mr. Maxwell, >> I will always start with a preemptive echo of say and I will inevitably forget. Um, but I do have kind of a firstly I want to thank our outgoing school board member, Mr. Claw service. Um, it was a pleasure working with him to Mr. Dow and Miss
064Osborne for joining us. Thank you to the staff that was responsible for the new employee orientations um and the team that put together all the spark training. That looked like a great unfortunately I wasn't able to attend because of my day job, but one of these years I'm going to be there. Um uh also thank you to all the teachers and staff that made the summer academy. Look like that was a great program as well public library for helping support with that. Um, thank you for everyone involved for the Globe and NASA Eclipse program. Special thank you for that $5,000 grant. Always love always love a grant. Thank you to all the curriculum writers for the program. I I think I counted 25 names. That's outstanding contribution from our teacher >> to the Wallace Foundation
065for their grant and thank you to all our participol in standing up this college now program. I'm I'm amazed >> how well how quickly that's grown and and it's really I think going to be a great program for all of our students. Thank you to the HR team for filling those 54 positions, especially looking forward for more bus driver positions. >> M and his team for everything you've done with all your summer projects. Thank you to Miss and Miss Spence for your presentations. >> Special thank you to uh Councilman Fi for his school playgrounds. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. down. >> Uh, I definitely want to echo every thing that everybody here has got to say and thank you guys for being so courteous. I know that I've talked to a lot of you and
066look forward to working with you and I'd like to thank uh, city council for giving me this opportunity. >> Thank you, Mr. Horses. >> I echo the sentiments of previous board members and I excited about having this opportunity to serve on the board. I am absolutely thrilled to see the staffing progression and how far ahead we are from other districts and the return of staff members who previously left and have come back. It's very exciting to see and see familiar names. I look forward to a great school year. >> Thank you. Uh Miss Jones. >> Yes. Um I will not repeat all. Um Mr. Maxwell, you actually hit a lot of my list here, so I will jump around a bit just so I don't say say them all again. But um did want to
067get give a public thank you to Mr. Claude as well. Um I appreciated his service on this board and enjoyed working with him. And welcome Mr. Dow, Miss Osborne. Really look forward to um us all getting to work this year. Welcome to all of our new PCPS employees. Welcome back to returning staff. I really think it's going to be a great school year. Um just a quick thank you to Miss Pertie and all who pulled together Spark. I really heard some great things about that event. um and also to the curriculum writers and for all of the college now work uh most specifically. I know that was quite the undertaking and um I just think it's awesome that it's all in place and ready to get going, you know, for our students this school year.
068So um I've noticed around town the turf field out at the middle school has been busy. I can tell all of our fall sports are kicking off. So excited for all of that. Excited to get the students back in the building at open houses and for back to school next week. So looking forward to a great year. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. Dose, >> uh reflecting back a year ago, um Chris was in the hot seat and uh he's uh progressed really well and uh covering all the bases for everybody. So we we echo everything that uh that that Chris says, um and comments on. Um a few things of note. Um there 10 Fridays till Halloween. There 18 Thursdays till Christmas. And um love it or hate it, we're one week away from pumpkin
069spice season. So that's fun. >> Thank you. Um I want to reiterate everything that uh Mr. Maxwell and everyone else said. Uh I would like to say one thing about Spark. Um it was amazing. Um, I want to congratulate Miss Perty and all the hard work that she and unknown numbers of staff put in to putting a an extremely successful event together. Um, I think that this not only this is something that really helps our teachers and staff and subsequently also helps our community because it's improving our school systems where we have teachers that are highly trained in the latest, you know, curriculums. Um, yeah, professional development was amazing. Um, the conversations that I saw unpacking math curriculum was really awesome. I, you know, I'm a an aquatic toxicologist. I don't know how to unpack
070a curriculum. I know what one is, but to actually see it get done was amazing. I'd like to thank Mr. Claude and his service. I really enjoyed working with him. I enjoyed his inquisitive questions and just where things that he focused on. Um, I wish him the best. Um the curriculum writers, I want to thank them for putting in a lot of hard work this summer uh writing curriculums. Uh this these are things that our students will benefit from greatly. And then lastly, the HR team uh for filling all of these positions. Um last year we we were almost there, but we weren't quite. Now, I feel like we're we've got a we've got a we've got a a good team together, and I look forward to a great school year. Thank you. >> Um,
071I would always like to echo all the things that have already been mentioned. Um, of course coming up last, um, you you you uh can't think of anything new to say except um I do want to say that this hiring season in my experience here in Picosen has been uh uh probably our best yet. And I have to say thank you to a lot of people who do this. People ask me all the time, what do y'all do in the summer? We we work. There's a lot of work that happens over the summer and um this has been a busy hiring season but a very successful one. Um the caliber of professional educator that we have been able to hire this season have been second to none. I mean, really phenomenal. And um this is
072a great place to live and work, but it also you have to make a living, a living wage. And the work that this board did in support with city council um has made a huge difference in how we can recruit and hire and retain the highest quality educators. So, I just want to thank you all for your heavy lift in that. I know it wasn't easy. It's it's hard work when you're um uh asking for money, but it's money well spent, I'll have to say. Secondly, um I want to say that um the uh work that we have done over the summer um both curriculum and uh on physical plant and all of that. Again, a very busy summer, but I think we're poised to have perhaps the best school year ever in Picosen. Um,
073we're just ready. It feels ready. I heard from uh our new teachers a lot of feedback about how good they felt about their orientation and they're being plugged in immediately to the community. Um, just real positive vibe in the air about the start of the school year. So, I'm excited. I had an old superintendent buddy tell me years ago, Arty, if you don't get butterflies in your stomach the few days before school starts, you should quit. and um I have butterflies in my stomach. So, I'm excited. It's going to be a great year. So, thank you all. >> Thank you. Uh Miss Carol, are there any other materials for board review? >> Uh Chair Burbage, we have no additional materials for board review today. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. So, now uh item 11,
074we're it's a call for a close session. Uh can I get a motion to move to close session for consider consideration of personnel matters? >> So moved. A second. >> Second discussion. Okay. Um, I have to read this statement. Uh, uh, personnel, uh, pursuant to section I got to blow this up. I can't see this. Section 2.2-3711 2-3711 A1 of the code of Virginia. I move that this board go into closed closed meeting to consider the assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining or resignation of specific public officers, appointees or employees of the school board or for discussion, consideration or interview of prospective candidates for employment. Uh we've already had the motion to move. All right. So that's after we're done. All right. So we've had a second. Uh, Miss Carol, a vote. >> Mr.
075Dow, >> hi. >> Vice Chair Dubose. >> Hi, >> Miss Jones. >> I, >> Mr. Maxwell. >> Hi, >> Miss Orsbornne. >> I, >> Chair Burch, >> I vote passes 6. >> Okay, kind of pack up and move next door.