Poquoson City Public Schools - School Board Meeting 2025-05-20

001Guess what? Thank [Music] you. new assigned. [Music] Good afternoon, evening everybody. Uh it's uh 5:00 uh Tuesday May 20th. Um want to go ahead and start the work session for capital improvement projects. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair, and um welcome everybody. This uh process normally happens at a different time of the year, but as um uh we've told you a few times, the city has changed their time frame and uh it actually works really well to be coming right on the heels of the operations budget when we're already thinking, you know, budget. Um, and as you know, just especially for new board members, the the backdrop for CIP is um is a 5-year uh time frame building a plan five years out. Um, and um I'm just going to add this piece. You're going to

002hear it from both Tracy and Andrew uh multiple times during this session, but um the target keeps moving uh in this economy. we've got uh quite a a a lot of fluctuation uh in the market. It tends to be heading in the wrong direction for us obviously, but um so some of the items on the on the U CIP you'll be familiar with. They've been on the CIP for years, but the price tag has changed. And so the challenge for us now is to kind of keep up with that and and not end up um having to find money that's already been uh after a certain amount has been earmarked and allocated uh from the city for these projects having to find the difference uh or go back to the city and say, you know,

003the price tag has changed. But of course, they're having the same challenge as is everybody uh in our professional and personal lives, I'm sure. Um, but I'm going to turn it over now to uh Tracy and Andrew who have done an amazing job doing the heavy lift on this piece. Um, they've added a few new projects that have presented themselves that need to be placed on CIP and you'll they'll explain some of those and then again a lot of these projects you'll be familiar with uh having uh seen them on the CIP for some years now. Tracy. Yes. Um, good evening, Chair Burridge, members of the school board, Mr. Tilllet. Um, tonight, as Mr. Tlet just referenced, we are presenting the proposed CIP for fiscal year 27 to the beyond fiscal year 30 31 time

004period. Um, it's been distributed to you. The very uh first item in the CIP is the actual proposed budget. Um, the and the second three fourth pages are descriptions of the projects. So that's what I would like to review now. Um so here's the actual proposed budget. These projects are based on um current quotes. Uh Mr. Roberts got quotes for all the projects. They have been adjusted for for construction projects with a 5% contingency and also with an inflationary rate for each year compounded inflationary rate. So, what I would like to do, we'll come back to this, but I'd like to go over the new projects on the CIP. So, um, and what these are are projects that were not on the last approved CIP that was done last year. The first for Picosen Primary

005School is the intercom PA system upgrade project, which was has been put in the FY28 lane on your budget. the Picosen Elementary School um also with the intercom PA system upgrade project that's been added to the fifth fiscal year 28 lane and the Picosen High School. There are three items that are new on the list. the fire alarm system project which has been included for fiscal year 27. the digitizing of student records project which has been included on fiscical year 28 and also the indoor batting and athletic training facility that's been included on the fisc year 31 project list for we also have taken last year's CIP for the existing projects and have reallocated them between fiscal years based on analysis of the needs out at the schools and operations. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you.

006Keep me straight. Okay. Um, the first is Picosen Primary School where the roof paint project was moved from fiscal year 30 up two years due to needs of the of the system school system. the Picosa Middle School, the gym AC project was moved from 28 to 27 and also the locker room replace the locker replacement project, the actual lockers was moved from post fiscal year 30 to fiscal year 31 for the Picosen High School. The tennis court project has been moved three years up from fiscal year 30 to fiscal year 27. The media room and infrastructure upgrade project has been moved up um from post fiscal year 30 to 28. The Bradshaw Fields renovation project was moved from post fiscal year 30 up to 29 and the locker room renovation project was moved from post30

007to fiscal year 31. addition to that for the division Y the asphalt repair project was moved from post fiscal year 30 to fiscal year 30. Now before uh we bring Mr. um Roberts up here for any questions regarding the specific projects I thought we would go over the projects that are in progress right now. So just to let you know kind of put um uh where we get a little pulse here where we are with projects that have been previously approved. So they're funded and they're previously approved. Bossen Elementary School, they're involved with the exterior painting as well as the gym floor upgrade. Beosen Middle School, the gym roof replacement, the kitchen mini splits, AC units, and the courtyard renovation. the Kosen High School involved with the roof replacement. um getting quotes, the parking lot

008upgrade, the job coach vehicle, and the basketball hoops replacement. And divisionwide working on the entire phone system replacement that serves not only the schools but also the city, the school security grant equipment, the weapon detection system equipment, the GPS software, and then also interior door badge readers for all classrooms. So that's where we are here. I'll go back to the actual budget. So at this time um you know I just want to mention that these um are put in the lanes what I call them the year lanes of what has been determined by the school system by the um staff at the school where it's needed. That may not necessarily be where they land once they go over to the city and actually get approved for funding. So that's the um we'll know more about

009that and that'll be brought back to you once the city's done their work which is going to be in the fall. We just have we have to we feed into it. So all righty. So at this time we'll entertain any questions that you may have regarding the projects. What escalation rate did you use year-over-year? Uh it was um 1.8%. I use the um result from the labor economic indicators. That's the I can send that to that's the year-over-year escalation rate. Right. Right. And I and compounded it. So we may want to um construction's actually seeing three and a half right now. What? Three and a half. And we can definitely, you know, do that where we're seeing it. Yeah. Because this is what I'm looking at is based on history and so then you have

010to account for I and I can I can find out what um engineering news record has had has had for like the last couple months, right? But I'm pretty sure it's three and a half. So for sure that so so that'd be something we can um discuss. we want to bring back because it's going to be approved in June, but I cannot make those changes. And obviously the ones that I'd be more concerned about are the the six figure I mean the seven figure ones. Um and so it does have that 1.8 and also the 5% contingency. Questions? Sure. Just a G. I guess it's general, but when I look at some of the items, it indicates this estimate includes a number of different things. For instance, Bradshaw Field, it mentions shed and other kind

011of se what I kind of think of as separate items. I was just curious as it I don't know how or if this would make a difference, but have you looked at like, okay, this year we're going to do this portion of it where things make sense to do and then maybe spread total over the next year. We'll do this part of it. I know that's probably not ideal, but and I don't know figures and all that. That's why I'm asking is that anything that you look at when you you say, "Hey, maybe this as a total, you know, as a chunk of money for let's say this budget, but if we broke it up and we said, let's do half of it this budget and half of it next budget." anything is that ever

012considered or something you think? Yeah. Um any type of phase work, you know, we do look at and that's something we can consider. You know, like we said, we're not approving till June here. Um that we can go back and do it. Just, you know, if you're doing that, this this becomes very kind of drawn out and also prices, you know, will increase over time for certain products. Exactly. Um and just for Bradshaw Phil for instance, you know, we're looking at stands, we're looking at the press box. I view that as kind of a package, you know, just because if you you bring in the press box, that's great. That's a great first step. But, you know, the seating is also just as important. Um, just because if you've been to one of our games,

013that's something that, you know, I know that we're we're in need of, which is a good thing. You know, we're successful. We want to put uh fans in seats. So, but yeah, any project, you know, uh you can phase out, that is an option. Um, if that's something that we would like to consider more, you know, I'm all ears. So, I would like to address the fun I'd like to address the funding piece of it. Um, so like this particular project, it says 166, 200. Let me just say let's pretend it's 150. So if we were going to like do that in four installments or three or whatever, if you push that under and we spread it out among the years, you still we got to keep it over 50 if we want the school

014if we want the city to fund it be on on the list for the CIP. Otherwise, it's going to go in operating and then it's a year to year. We just want to be very um just aware of though these things. Let's say I split that 5050. They and they'll have it out there, but they may have be able to fund it one year, but what happens if it's not the next? Right. So that that's the only thing that I just say a caveat. Yeah, it's it and you've answered my questions. It was just something mainly for the you maybe Bradshaw wasn't a good example but a like a large project like we're talking about. Uh and I know too it makes sense in a lot of cases from cost standpoint to do it all

015at one time or you get one contractor or however you do it. It doesn't make sense to probably try split. So, thank you. And just to add a little bit to that as well, often times on big projects, the city goes out um for debt on some of those projects. So, they they they go out for a total project rather than peacemail it because it's a debt debt service um item. I I typically those are big HVAC roofs, that kind of thing. Brad Shaw probably wouldn't be one of those. We're also going to be talking later about um the use of um year end funds. We always look to target items that we can chip off of this list and we'll be talking a little bit about that later on very soon. Um and that's

016uh one of the places that we look and and when we do that we often will look at can we split up a project and buy this thing now because we have the money available. um and then leave the other piece on CIP. So there there are options in that. Yeah, exactly. Great. Thank you. Thank you for the question. That's good. Uh I did have one other question just real quick. Um we had such a productive work session, joint work session with back when we did the budget. And one of the things I thought about was actually I mentioned it in an email to folks and say, "Hey, you know, is it something maybe we would like to consider looking at this only because they're also, like you said, looking at it after we're done

017with it. I don't know if it would be a benefit or not to me. I I think it might be, but is that something that maybe we can talk with the city about and just say are they interested in uh once we get this together, you know, presenting it and we sit down and maybe we can provide some additional information and vice versa as we're kind of going through just some food for thought. So that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Thank I I had a question. I may be jumping ahead. We have the bus replacements on there and I think I was reading in the notes. Um maybe you can clarify for me. I think said we had 22 buses currently and four of those are beyond what we said is a what

018is the division need for buses? cuz again I think in the past you've said we have 12 bus drivers trying to do the math in my head and that right um and you know we do have an aging fleet you know on the back half there um which these four new buses that you know were just approved and we're going to be arriving soon one already has that's going to be in my next presentation but um that will take out those you know the ones that are 15 plus now so we would be up to speed you know going forward for a year and then of course more age and fall into that cycle but to answer your your direct question there. Um, we use a lot of different buses for a lot of different

019routes because we're not up to the all 77 passenger uh, buses that for higher capacity. So, you know, we have routes that we can get away with a smaller capacity bus that makes more sense, but some routes we have to switch, you know, same driver um, just a different school or route to to upgrade to that um, you know, 77 passenger bus. So once we get you know all our buses to the capacities that we need it or if we get more drivers which would be greatly u appreciated then you know our fleet will be in full full effect. So um you know we're kind of having to make do right now but um if we got more drivers we can definitely use that buses. Um and you always want to keep kind of some

020spares because you know buses break down um they get a lot of wear and tear on them. Um and it's nice to have a fleet where you can go and trust reliable spares to switch out. let the garage do their thing, pick it up the next day, and you don't miss a beat. So, um, I get your point. You know, right now it does look a little bit of a disparity there. U, but it's really a driver shortage thing that we've got going on. Have a feel for how many spares we currently have? Yeah, I mean, right now, I would say we have um around eight. Um, now when I say spares, that's buses that could still be used, you know, um, you know, midday runs, whatever. Um, but you know, at any given time,

021that's pretty much how how many we have just, you know, sitting to be used. Yep. And I can speak to that a little bit as well. It it's nice to have spare buses. Um, the reason that we keep more spare buses than perhaps we need is because that their value is um minimal. So, uh, if you put, uh, a bus out for, uh, for sale, um, it brings a a minimal amount of money. Their value once they've reached the the mileage limit is, you know, I guess somebody might pick it up for a camper trailer or something. They don't have other school divisions, in other words, are not in the market of used buses. Um, we we probably get more life out of our buses than most. We got a great team down at the

022bus garage that or the county garage, city garage that maintain these buses, but it's it's wise to keep several of them. A brand new bus can go down and need a a day repair and uh we can't go to the um Enterprise and rent a a bus. So, we have to have a a spare available at all times. And you might get three down in a day, for example, that have minor, you know, a flat tire or a uh a dead battery and uh the run has to continue. So, uh the the spare bus fleet is is is wise to have and if it was that we could sell them for u you know for profit uh that would be great, but the we get minimal money for a used bus unfortunately. And also want

023to mention u we do a lot of preventive maintenance, you know, regular maintenance on the buses, too. And it's really nice to have those spares available um because you know sometimes that's one two day um you know jobs. So it's nice to have those spare buses and you know the diesel buses they have to do regens um every now and then. So it's just really nice to have those. I did have one more question. Um I see we moved I think you said we moved the tennis course uh up three years and this is for the schoolowned tennis court. Okay. What was the logic in moving that up? So, um, when it we first discovered after recoding that the cracks appeared pretty quickly. We had someone come out. They surveyed it and, you know, they

024found some, uh, mineral deposits coming up from like the ground through um, the actual, you know, surface. So, you know, they were saying that, you know, in their professional opinion that this is, you could become a safety issue sooner than later because it's it's a it's an issue that the coatings are just not going to fix. So, we're really having to look at the foundation and seeing what um needs to be done to repair that um so we can safely, you know, utilize that for years to come. You know, we're in a good spot right now, but you know, these cracks are growing and, you know, more time goes, you know, along it's it's just going to get worse. And do we have a feel for like the the the area affected on those courts?

025Is it all all of those courts are equally affected? Yes. If you if you visited the the um high school right now and walk the tennis courts, those cracks are through the whole surface. And I will add that I went out there during the winter months and actually took pictures of it. I couldn't believe cracks and the sizes of the cracks and Ry and I talked about, you know, doing something which I think they did what they could just temporarily because they were starting in April. I think practice and all. Uh my concern I mean I played on those courts as a and so that tells you how old they are and I am but my concern was first of course safety issue but the other thing is uh you got like any sport you've

026got teams coming there and go out there and look to me they just look horrific. I mean, from a standpoint of just pride in the school and having something that looks nice. As a matter of fact, the city redid their courts and which look great, but they also turned one into a pickle ball court, which I'm not against. That's another court that if I'm not mistaken that the team would be using typically or we used to use when there were two there. So, um, and so part of it was a discussion that I had with them, uh, and Andrew about it because I just felt like redid the track and that's been good and that was costly and I know we did with the football field and there's a, you know, a number of other

027things, but I just hate to kind of see that one keep going and just get worse and worse till it something we have to close off or So that's just my concern. I I guess my main question was more driven to is is that a bigger priority than maybe the concession wrestling building issue for longer? We had some people come speak about that facility is not up to date with dual facilities for both genders. Actually kind of along that same vein was my question as well. Originally, this has been a couple years ago on the concession in wrestling. You know, I think we had even thrown out a million dollars on that. But I think if I'm remembering correctly, that was really kind of just an initial throw out of a number. And I I

028noticed we're down on the number. And of course, my eyes aren't getting to it right now. Um there we go. Yes. 576. Thank you. 576. Still don't see it. Yes, I know it's there. Um but anyway, um yeah, there we go. 576. Thank you. 576800. Um, no change in scale of that project though. That was my bigger question there. I saw the decrease and again I thought that was just kind of our first attempt of hey we know something needs to be done and we need to investigate it but we are still talking separate facilities total overhaul concessions. Yeah. Um the that that project from feedback we've gotten from multiple groups including the the folks who inhabit it, the wrestling club, is that the metal building there is in really good shape. Just needs some

029uh some upgrades uh so to speak. There's some minor things. We've maintained that building along with partnership with the wrestling club over the years pretty well. But the other the block building is the real problem. When we originally looked at it, we were thinking tear it all down. And that's where the million dollars came from. And that was again a placeholder on the CIP uh down the road. after, you know, getting really serious about it with the wrestling club, we uh and you were I think you were on the board when we decided to move it up and and and get a price tag that made sense to tear down the block building, which is uninhabitable in from my perspective and everybody that's looked at it and build another metal building that matches the current

030one. So, it would look like one complex that would inhabit dressing rooms, showers, you know, all the things that you would put in a in a state-of-the-art wrestling program and also a space for concessions. So, um we kind of just looked at some general ideas of those metal buildings. We put up two now uh that have served very very well. Um, and it that the cost is probably pretty accurate unless something crazy happens in the market for for that structure. Um, and like you said, we've moved it up. So, but to your point, um, Chris, we uh it's always the challenge of which is more important and, uh, I would argue for both both and we need both. And, um, and as you know, when we turn this in, um, the city has to decide

031how to fund these projects. And then in addition to our requests from CIP, they've they have those requests from public works and from uh safety and you know every department in the city. So they have to kind of decide prioritizing from the from the city level. Um and um it's a tough job. this this work is is really tough deciding which is more important than the other because I think we could all build a strong case that each of these projects are are important and should be done right away. Um so um I I hear you but and and that's the hard work that you all do. We've we've uh put them where we think they are most appropriate, but we certainly um appreciate your input if you all decide and can agree that we

032should move one ahead of the other or even in the same year. Um wherever we put the big ticket items, it shows up as an a huge expense in that year. Um and so we tried to spread out the smaller items over a period of time. Um, but we we have strategically placed each of these projects in the place that staff believes is most appropriate. But yeah, well, and I just sorry I just to comment I agree with you too. That's I think that's the club is trying to figure out how what do we do first? And I will say I had a note here. I used the Bradshaw field renovations example, but this actually was one of the ones I marked at possibly considering because you have a demolishment, right? That's is that something

033that could be done this year and then you have it scheduled for next, right, to do the construction. I don't know. Does that make it better? Are the numbers better? Nobody's using the building, right? So you really wouldn't have My first question was going to be what do they do for practice which you just explained the metal building they're in is is working. So that wouldn't be an issue is what I think I understand. Yeah. And that's one of the reasons we have it placed where it's placed. Um it is fully functional. Um the only part that's not being used um now is the block building that that um I think there's some storage in there, but that I don't think it's being used for any activities. I I'll say that. Um, so, uh, I

034guess short answer is we probably could look at at phasing that project out, but it does make sense to me to to do it all at one time because once we start the project, then the wrestling room is probably uninhabitable during the project. So, it would make sense to me. I mean, when you start a construction site, typically, uh, like we're getting ready to put new, uh, uh, HVAC system on the roof um, at at the high school. as soon as the kids walk out of there uh on June the 6th, we we start and then they'll flag off most of that campus, we won't be able to use it because it's a construction zone. So So it could affect the it could affect the usefulness of the project um in in an extended period

035of time. And again, I'm I'm not a construction expert, but typically we do projects that are going to create some that require some demolition uh in one phase. So, we can demolish and you you you you don't um reduce the usefulness of it for a length of time in that that's the only space in town where they do rest. That's why I had made the note to ask about it. So, it does that would affect Yeah. And back to the the the the juggling between years for the tennis courts, that was part of our thinking as well in that the wrestling room is now fully functional in the way that it has been for many many years. We don't we don't uh impede the wrestling program by any of um by the shape of the

036building at this point. But um if the if those cracks get more extensive on the tennis court, it could actually shut down the tennis court cuz the one thing we're not going to do is put kids in an unsafe place. So that's part of our thinking. We don't know. We had an an engineer come in and look at that and said it's got to be done. We don't know if a year's worth of ice uh you know cold and hot are are really bad for concrete and below sea level. So um the uh the the changes in temperatures and the the rise and fall of this of the water table are are bad uh on on the on the concrete in in um uh below sea level. So that's the issue we're really dealing with

037and um having grown up in a seaf fairing area that that is part of the dynamic and that is what we're dealing with. Those courts should not be in that shape if they were built on high ground. But the the water table rises and falls in on that property. And as it does, it's eroding the concrete from the bottom and um and uh creating those what what are right now hairline cracks. That's going that is the engineer says that's going to grow over time and you can keep putting paint on top of it, but that's not not going to change it. So part of our thinking, not to get in the weeds on that, but part of our thinking is that if not taken care of before that happens, you know, we can't um tennis

038on those courts and that's a whole program, a very successful program at Coen High School. We do have access to the city-owned courts. We we do and um we can't run a full um competition because of the number of the city courts, especially now that one of those courts, as Mr. Claude mentioned is now a um a pickle ball court. So we we use all of the courts uh during a normal match. If we were reduced down to only the city courts um I'm not sure we could hold matches here all night. Yeah, it would it would be and I'm not sure we need to qualify. We might have to go to Tab or somewhere else to Yeah. Another key point for the uh wrestling room, the center block building. I agree it's it's in

039rough shape. However, that's where their um restroom facilities are housed. So when you walk in to that initial door, it's kind of like a little locker room scenario and to the left is um the the restroom area. So if we demoed that, they wouldn't have access to that unless they walked into the building or fieldhouse or what have you. And and one of the things though in in that respect, we do have really nice uh renovated restrooms at the in the middle school. It's not convenient because there is a you know, you walk across the the parking lot there, but um that space is available in in the event we need it. Of course, the wrestling folks know we'd have to work out a a plan for them to use that space, but they they

040are renovated in the renovation. Those locker rooms um were upgraded uh during renovation. Yeah, I think you actually answered my next question. And so those facilities would be available to our wrestlers, girls or boys, you know, if we have that situation. Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. Any other any other questions, comments? Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Um well that uh was a healthy discussion and we um the next steps are to uh allow you time now to pour through this give it some deep thought um and if you do have recommendations of moving something forward backward uh input you know Mike's uh input about the um uh the percentage used uh for um the increase inflationary increase is seems wise to me. So, we'll probably start plugging those things in, but then we'll be asking

041in the June meeting um it'll be on the agenda for approval because we need to send it to the city by the end of June for them to do their work over the summer. Um and they usually um uh city council takes it up uh early in the fall um for the whole city. That's it. All right. This one that adjourns. This journs the work session at 5:30. Good evening everyone. I'd like to thank everyone for coming to the Tuesday, May 20th, 2025 uh Picosen School Board meeting. I would like to call this meeting to order. Uh Mr. Hagi, could you please come up and lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. [Music] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

042republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please pause for a moment of silence. Please be seated. Today our quote comes from uh an educational treatise by the great philosopher Plutarch. I think is very topical for our last schoolboard meeting that leaves us with an interesting outlook on education. For the mind does not require filling like a bottle but rather like wood. It only requires kindling to create in it an impulse to think independently and an ardent desire for the truth. Thank you very much. Thank you. Uh, Miss Carol, are there any additions and/or modifications to the agenda? We do have one addition um in front of you as an updated personnel action document that includes lastm minute personnel changes. This document is to be included in

043the personnel action action document provided to you in the board packet. Thank you, Miss Carol. Um, Miss Perie, can we do the uh recognitions, please? Chair Burbridge, members of the board, colleagues, and community members. Thank you for being with us this evening. We do have three recognitions. The first of which we always start off with is going to be our May senior of the month. So, our senior month has consistently shown herself to be an exceptional student and an impressive individual. Academically, she has excelled in her studies, consistently taken on challenging courses such as honors, advanced placement, and dual enrollment. Aside from her academic achievements, this student is actively involved in a variety of extracurricular activities. She has exhibited leadership and teamwork as a member and captain of the volleyball team where she undoubtedly brings

044her determination and commitment to succeed. Additionally, she has remarkable success in other sports, winning a regional title for tennis in 20 22 and 23. Her achievements on the track have also been outstanding, having been crowned an all region 4x200 relay indoor track winner in both the 2023 and 2024 years. And furthermore, this individual's dedication has led her to participate in various clubs at PHS, showing her passion for diverse interests and involvement within the school community. Her involvement extends beyond school grounds as she actively contributes to her community. She has gained valuable experience working at the James River Country Club and has provided support by to other local families through babysitting. These experiences have undoubtedly shaped her character, instilling in her a sense of responsibility, reliability, and compassion. The student of the month's long-term goal of

045incorporating her love of sports into her future career demonstrates her deep commitment and passion for her chosen field. With her exceptional academic record, well-rounded extracurricular involvement, and strong character, there's no doubt that she'll be outstanding in whatever the future holds. Please help me congratulating Miss Madison Wyatt as the May student of the month. She's a big As it is the end of this school year, we say goodbye to our student representative, Mr. AJ Mul Lumaji. My goodness, I said I wasn't going to mess it up. AJ has been a wonderful student representative and has shown great maturity as he shared moments of reflection, led us in the pledge, and shared school reports at each meeting. When considering his strengths, it is easy to fall short of words. For example, his communications are not only strong,

046but well beyond his years. He is more than polite, but also considerate and intentional. He leaves with a smile that is quite contagious to anyone who meets him. AJ is genuine and destined for great things, which are already happening as he was newly elected as the president of NHS and president of OKAP for next school year. We wish you the best of luck, AJ, and can't wait to see what incredible things you'll do next. Would you mind joining us up front? Sorry, I had those certificate involved as well. Thank [Music] you. Tonight, we are proud to recognize a personal accomplishment of an extraordinary student athlete whose precision, focus, and discipline have earned her national acclaim. Alex our traveled to Ohio last month to achieve not one but three national records in the highly competitive sport

047of threeposition air rifle competing against the best in the nation. Alex earned the national records in the junior club division and the U5 age group with an incredible score of 1991 17X. She also set another record in the under 15 category with an incredible score of 1991 13X. Now I want to take 15 seconds to explain this because if you're like me these numbers don't translate. I did some research that I could share and I hope that I don't misinform. But to start with, three position means that Alex took 20 shots while laying down, 20 while standing, and then 20 while kneeling. So the total score someone can get is 200 points, which is 10 points each. So the 199 you see here mean that Alex only dropped one point. The number with this with

048the X, the 17 or the 13 shows how many times out of 20 she hit the bullseye. Now, let me also clarify this because typically we think of the bullseye as like the middle inner circle. But did you know that inside the circle there's a tiny little X and that is the true bullseye. So that means that she hit that 17 or 13 times out of 20. The other time she missed, she still made it inside the inner circle, which only one shot with outside that circle, which is how she dropped the one point. Wow. I just cannot imagine the complexity and skill it must take to earn these scores. These accomplishments have placed Alice amongst the elite in her sport nationwide. We are so proud of her and look forward to seeing where her

049talent and dedication take her next. Congratulations, Alex. That does conclude my recognitions for the evening. Thank you, Miss Party. Okay. Um, I guess now we'll do our presentations and reports. Um, Miss ID, can you give us the instructional update, please? Okay. Good evening, Chair Burbage, school board members, Superintendent Tilllet, staff members, community members. Tonight, I will be presenting briefly on the gifted education plan and summer academy. In Virginia, each school division is required to develop and maintain a comprehensive local plan for the education of the gifted, which outlines how the division implements services for gifted students. The VDOE completes a technical review of these plans every 5 years. Tonight we will be reviewing the newly revised gifted plan developed in collaboration with the gifted education advisory committee and gifted teachers. The gifted education advisory committee

050consists of PCPS teachers, administrators, parents, community members, schoolboard member representative, Mr. Chris Maxwell, and Miss Kimberly Montavo, our director of accountability who oversees gifted education and PCPS. These photos just show that in April at the GAK meeting, we had primary and elementary school gifted students. They showcased their learning by presenting their impressive work throughout the school year. And these work samples are just a representation of their depth and thinking and creativity and also the meaningful impact of the talent development and enrichment programs here in PCPS. So developed in collaboration with the gifted education advisory committee and PCPS gifted education staff. The following plan represents highlights represent key components of our gifted plan. At the primary school level, students will participate in the talent development model designed to nurture emerging potential. All first and second grade

051students will receive push-in services provided by the gifted education teacher. These sessions will include enrichment activities focused on critical thinking and questioning skills. Enrichment will rotate between classes every other week, ensuring that each class has access to these services. In addition, identified students will take part in small groupoup pullout sessions for more targeted enrichment instruction. Student identification will be based on the performance on the Nagliieri non-verbal ability test or the INAT third edition. a nationally recognized assessment that measures nonverbal reasoning abilities through tasks involving pattern recognition and spatial problem solving. Because the INAT 3 does not rely on language, reading, or math skills, it is particularly effective in identifying gifted potential and younger learners. Its use supports our commitment to equitable access to gifted services by helping to uncover strengths that may not yet be

052reflected in academic performance. By incorporating the INAT 3 into our talent development framework, we aim to recognize and nurture early signs of advanced thinking. At the elementary level, we continue to use the specific academic aptitude model which identifies students who demonstrate exceptional ability in particular academic areas such as math or language arts. To support this model, we are using the Iowa assessment short form, a nationally normed referencedbased tool that provides reliable data on student achievement and core academic subjects. The Iowa helps us objectively identify high achieving students who may benefit from targeted gifted services in a specific content area. By using the Iowa brief, we ensure a consistent equitable process that helps match services to students demonstrated academic strengths. While the process for identifying gifted students will incorporate the Iowa as well as the INAT,

053additional factors including parent and teacher rating scales, academic performance, state assessments when applicable, and other key data points will also be considered. All first grade students will be screened using the INAT 3 to identify highle reasoning skills. And in second grade, all students will take the Iowa assessment to measure the academic achievement in core subjects, the reading and math. These universal screenings help to ensure that all students have an opportunity to be considered for gifted services. Additionally, PCPS will regularly monitor and evaluate program data to ensure that identification practices and services remain aligned with student needs. Finally, we have communicated throughout the school year we are steadily expanding our advanced course offerings to support secondary students in grades 6 through 12. For the upcoming school year, we will introduce accelerated science and social studies courses

054at the middle school. In addition, the new College Now program will launch, providing students with the opportunity to earn an associates degree or its equivalent while still in high school. High school students continue to have access to advanced placement courses whether it's provided by a PCPS teacher or through virtual Virginia when they're not available inhouse. And of course, you know, we have access to CTE courses and Governor's School at New Horizons. Our updated gifted plan uh reflects a strong commitment to early talent development and academic excellence. By implementing universal screening with the INAT 3 and Iowa assessments and by using both the talent development and the specific academic aptitude models, we're ensuring that all students regardless of background have access to enrichment and advanced learning opportunities. Coupled with the expansion of advanced coursework at the

055secondary level, including accelerated courses at the middle school, AP courses, college now, New Horizons, PCPS is creating a continuum of challenge and opportunity for students from kindergarten through graduation. We're proud of this work and grateful for the continued support of the board as we strive to recognize and nurture the potential of every learner. And the last bit I have is just sharing that our summer academy dates June 30th through July 24th. Miss Kristen Lamb will serve as our summer summer summer school coordinator for the second year in a row. So far we have invited over 250 students. Our permission slips are due on May 30th. And of course our program programming will serve K through 8 preK through 12 ESY extended school year. We will continue with our pre-alggebra summer bridge course which helps prepare

056those students going into pre-alggebra into sixth grade if they so choose to have a better foundation of those pre-alggebra skills. And we will be launching our college success skills for students who are pursuing that associate degree. That's a class required by Virginia Peninsula Community College. That's it for me. So I have two um Have you already submitted your AIG 5-year plan or I mean this is the new cycle of with board approval it will be submitted that's in should be in the reading file. It is briefly. Yes, it's really short. Um the other question I had is who is it someone from the community college that's going to teach that college readiness course or No, it can be our own staff is most it's one of those courses where generally most of our staff is

057qualified to teach it. They do provide us that curriculum and then we teach it in house. So, so masters to teach it. I do believe it still requires a master's degree, but it's it's more loose than some of the other courses where you have to have the master's plus. Mhm. I just have a quick question. I kind of missed it while I was writing. Um, the pre-alggebra prep C is that the summer bridge course. Okay. So that's between sixth grade going in between fifth and sixth grade. If you are recommended as a sixth grader to start pre-alggebra, then it's an optional course that runs about two weeks in the summer to give you those foundational skills to help prepare you for that advanced curriculum since it is advanced. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Great. Thank you.

058Thank you, Miss. Um, now for our operational update. Uh, Mr. Roberts. All right. Good evening, members of the board, Superintendent Mr. Tlet, staff, and community members. Kind of want to start out with a highlight. Um, our newest addition to the fleet is a 53 passenger bus equipped with a wheelchair lift and adjustable seating. This flexibility allows us to easily switch between additional wheelchair spaces or standard seats. The city garage team is pleased with upgrades as well, uh, which will make long-term maintenance easier. We're just finishing up final touches. There's some flashing lights that we had to make sure they were installed, uh, to meet safety needs and look forward to putting this bus into service soon. Uh, we're also very excited to welcome um, the additional 377 passenger buses. Uh, the last report I give

059you, it would have been in November. They moved that up to August. So, we'll be seeing those hopefully before the new school year, but definitely uh within that first month of school. All right. So, the next few slides I kind of want to give some additional information um about the bus stop arm camera initiative that we're we've been pursuing. Um I've received some questions from Mr. Claude. He's even recent as today. Um some of those questions will be answered in this uh presentation. Some of them I'm going to create like a question and answer uh document that I'll share out to fully answer those questions. Um but yeah, I kind of want to just take some time to explain what it is. Uh the the uh vendor that we've been kind of uh discussing things

060with and so on. And uh this is one step of many. Um there's many hoops that we would have to go through to make this thing work. Uhus, your approval um and so forth. So we'll kind of discuss some of those um and that will all be um you know, future board meetings for those kind of approvals. Okay. So first, um a new ordinance was just passed by our city council. Uh now we will be allowed for the division to approve by the school board in a future meeting that the ability to use bus stop arm cameras. A special thank you goes to city council and Chief Kates for making this ordinance possible and giving us the opportunity to seek uh schoolboard approval for this safety driven initiative. Bus patrol is the current vendor PCPS

061has been working with for information and options to provide the stop arm cameras along with additional bus cameras to enhance overall bus safety. We're partnering with the Picosen Police Department to enforce violations and are working with our legal council to finalize anou with the Picosen Police Department. Once complete, we'll ask the school board to authorize the superintendent to move forward with the contract. This is a nocost solution aimed at protecting our students, drivers, and community. Just last week, our bus drivers reported eight incidents of vehicles illegally passing stop buses, reinforcing the urgent need that we need um you know, a program of this nature. So, uh, bus patrol as a vendor, the bus patrol program is designed to be turnkey and minimize any operational budget, uh, burden on the school division. Typically, school districts do

062not need to allocate new personnel or increase hours for existing staff to support the program. Bus patrol manages all aspects of implementation, citation processing, customer service, and data reporting. PCPS main responsibilities would include coordinating access to buses for installation, approving messaging for community outreach, and minimal administrative coordination during roll out. I kind of want to point out that, you know, that this company's kind of uh push or motto is is they want to inform. They don't want to surprise people. They want to get out in the community and say, "Hey, we're going to start doing this." Because their whole thing is we're just wanting roads to be safe for students. So, um, you know, they're wanting us to partner with them if we, um, get this approval. Uh, from a law enforcement perspective, they would

063anticipate around one hour or less per week to review and approve or decline the citation with bus patrol supporting their efforts financially to ensure they are reimbursed for all time spent on the program. All right. So for um the citation review and uh cost recovered under the standard revenue revenue share model bus patrol recoups costs through its shared of citation revenue. There are no upfront costs or out-of- pocket expenses for the school division at any point during the agreement. Bus patrol receives 60% of paid citations until its monthly technology fee is covered. Once covered, the remaining 40% is paid directly to the school division. If citation revenue in any given month does not cover the full tech fee, the difference rolls over but is ultimately written off at the end of the agreement if not

064recouped. This ensures PCPS will never pay anything directly to bus patrol. This is a monthly process. So PCPS will have the ability to collect revenue starting in month one and throughout the 60-month agreement. All right. the cost per bus or fleet size. Uh bus patrol covers all costs associated with equipping each bus including hardware, installation, maintenance, data storage, and software. There is no per bus cost to PCPS. If 20 buses are enrolled, um that cost fully is assumed by bus patrol with no financial liability to the district throughout the duration of the agreement. The monthly technology fee again is fully paid out of the program revenue or never from PCBs under any circumstance. All right. So, switching gears, still bus. So, this is back to the software we currently have. Um, this is the stopfinder

065is actually the parent app that we're trying to launch. So, I kind of did want to give an update on that as as far as we're talking softwares. So, um, switching gears now to our current initiative of providing a bus uh, parent bus app. As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance student transportation experience, we'll be launching a limited trial of our new bus tracking app on selected buses with a small group of group of invited parents. This test run is scheduled for the last week of school and will help us gather valuable feedback. Following that, we plan to expand testing during the summer academy to further evaluate performance and usability. The full launch of the app is planned for the start of the next school year. With this app, parents will be able to

066see their child's bus location in real time and receive estimated arrival times, which we hope will increase transparency and reduce stress during delays. It's also um designed to help ease the effects of driver shortages by giving families more timely and accurate information. All right. And just a little um reminder of the CIP. Um the pro proposed capital improvement plan for school years 2027 through 2031 was introduced today during our earlier work session with formal approval scheduled for June school board meeting. The city now requires an approved CIP by July due to an updated timeline. Please note that this is a moving target. As we said before, uh current figures are based on recent quotes with inflation based adjustments, but costs are are expected to rise uh due to ongoing inflation tariffs and market fluctuations. Quotes

067will be updated as needed to maintain accuracy and alignment with the city's requirements. And I kind of want to um end here with some notable projects uh summer projects that is for um uh when we start end in June. Um, as always, summer provides one of the most valuable opportunities to tackle and complete major projects across our division. This list highlights several of the larger and more notable initiatives we are undertaking, all with a goal of completion before teachers and students return in August. Our largest project, the high school HVAC system replacement, is already underway. We met with work early today and we're pleased to report that the progress is on track. System components are arriving on campus daily and installation is moving forward steadily. We're grateful for the opportunity to carry out these important

068upgrades and improvements. Special thanks to the school board and city council for their continued support and investments in our schools. And that is it unless you have any questions. Um, as you mentioned, uh, Andrew, and just for the public's knowledge, I did put together a list of questions. Uh, I received a copy, thank you, of the bus patrol proposed contract and um not prepared tonight to uh ask questions about that, but and there are a lot on here. So, in interest of time, I'm not going to go into them, but I Yes, I would appreciate Yeah, that Q&A will come out and I'll share it away. Right. Um, one of my questions or a couple of them I will just mention and that is with the vendor that was selected how that came about. Was

069there competitive bidding? Was there did you look at I know there's probably at least looking online four or five other uh companies that provide similar or same services. Um this will go on all of the buses. Is that correct? Sure. Yes. Um and then I also and just personally my concern with it is really not so much the safety uh or the cameras really. I mean I absolutely I think everyone wants our children to be safe. I have a kindergartener grandchild who rides the bus every day. So, it's of concern. The other thing I think we all agree on is if we could save the city or the school money, we want to do it. Um, talking with you and with Arty about this, my understanding is what you explain the revenue from this is

070going to be generated by the stop arm camera enforcement which will include in the contract we're basically partnering with bus patrol to handle a lot of that. Now without getting into the details I will say that there's a list of our responsibilities some of which I question whether or not how much time of the staff would be involved involving adjudicating tickets and providing contacts for the court and various other things and I don't know the answer but those are things that I would be asking uh but essentially my understanding is the violators will receive a $250 citation and it will be uh captured on their system. It will be provided to the police department. Um everything I read including watching the council meeting the only responsibility they have is to review the site the image

071the video to make sure that it's an actual violation. that point it's turned over to bus patrol. They issue it. They follow it. They if people don't pay it, they're involved in that. But there's also sections of the contract that says they're supposed to assist with some of that. Bottom line, I guess in my opinion, I think maybe the danger there is that we might be stepping into the law enforcement side as a school division. And I know with everything else, I'm pretty sure in talking do if we see a violation, observe something, uh, we'll contact the police. If somebody's trespassing or various things, they take it from there. Um, so my concern is number one, because this contract is not with the police department with the school, that that's something we really need to

072look at. Uh and the other point being that uh I think yes we had eight violations I don't no violations is the is the is the goal but even on bus patrols own website they said 30% is basically what they're saying is the rate. I' I've read a lot about it and there's a lot of different opinions. Um but that concerns me. The other thing, they're authorized to set up an account at a bank and put this revenue in there. Again, I don't understand all of it. That's why we got you guys, you know, to help uh understand that. Personally, I I also did a little research. I I found a company called Safe Fleet, for instance, that has something I hadn't heard of before. maybe uh you folks have, but there's a camera arm

073camera that they call predictive stop arm. And essentially it uses some of the same technology, but what it does is when they predict or anticipate a vehicle passing the ca the bus that's stopped, it alerts both the bus driver and the students on the bus to prevent them from exiting and going out and possibly being injured. me, I think that's a a very good way to do it because you're not relying on violations and hoping that it's the safety is going to come from that that side of it. Again, it's just information out there that I think maybe we should consider, we should talk about. uh the again the memorandum of understanding be coming so I will uh you know in the meantime provide information and questions ahead of time. I greatly appreciate all the

074work that's been done. I just think uh myself that we need to make sure this is what's good for Picosen. these cameras and citations and things are used. many many school divisions around the country. also pros and cons out there about I just basically wanted to make everybody aware of just what I've found and uh Arty and Andrew and I even included Tracy because of the finance asked them if they could maybe tell us you know kind of what number one what is the total cost of this that's anticipated even though it may not it will be generated from the violation s I think we should know just what we're getting. So, uh that's all I'm going to say about it. I I appreciate your time. I appreciate all that you're doing to work on

075it. Certainly, I think uh the intentions are 100% for the safety. My hope is that that is truly what the company is looking for and not looking at a stream. Thank you again for your time. No worries. Yep. All right. [Applause] Thank you. Uh Miss Spence for the finance and budget update. Okay. Good evening, Chair Burbage, members of the school board, Mr. Tilllet, and members of our school community. For the finance report this evening, I will present updates to the school's fiscal year 25 and also the fiscal year 26 budget. As you know, the general assembly approved the revised bienium budget for fiscal year 25 and 26 on February 22nd, 2025. and the governor signed the Commonwealth's budget on May 2nd. As part of the amended fiscal year 25 budget, PCPS has been allocated $220,000

076$220,04 to fund a mandatory one-time $1,000 bonus for all SOQ funded staff. In alignment with this allocation, we would like to award a bonus to employees who were hired before April 1st, 2025 and are actively employed as of June 1st, 2025. Full-time employees and full-time long-term building substitutes will receive a $1,000 bonus. In addition, part-time employees will receive a $500 bonus, while hourly cafeteria workers will receive a $250 bonus. Other hourly employees other than other long-term substitutes, daily substitutes, and those in supplemental roles will not be eligible for this bonus. Continuing on with fiscal year 25, to fully fund the proposed bonuses for eligible employees, we will need an additional 1,724 beyond the state allocation of approximately 220,000. We plan to cover these amounts using savings from unfilled positions, otherwise known as vacancy savings, along

077with other surplus revenue. A budget amendment to authorize these bonus payments is included in this evening's consent agenda for your consideration. Oh, did I go back? All right, here we go. I have a problem with that this evening. One on to um this uh to distribute the bonus to the eligible employees or I've already gone through that and we're going to distribute it on June 6. Now, on to fiscal year 26. In the Commonwealth's final approved budget for fiscal year 26, PCPS is set to receive an additional 474,637 in funding. This increase is primarily the result of fully funding the revised support cap along with enhanced allocations for English language learner programs and expanded sped services. The city's adopted budget for fiscal year 26 included a contribution of 12 million588,038 toward school operations. This amount

078is 868,975 less than what was originally requested by the schools. Additionally, we had initially projected a 24% increase in the health insurance and premiums, which that cost was included in the approved budget. However, the most recent estimates are reflecting the revised increase of 17%. So, this adjustment results in a projected savings of approximately 146,936 in health insurance cost. So the net impact of these adjustments leaves a net reduction of 247,42. And to address this overall net decrease in available funding, we reduce the salary imple implementation cost of the PCPS compensation plan by approximately 14%. The only exception to this reduction is for our bus drivers and aids who will still receive 100% of the recommended salary adjustments as originally proposed. It's important to note that the budget still includes a 3% salary increase as originally

079proposed. The amended fiscical year 26 pay plan is included in the amended fisc year 26 operating budget document for your approval. The next slides show the teacher scale comparison of where we are right now in fiscal year 25. the fisc year 26 original scale which was approved by the board in March and then the proposed amended scale. Okay, I got the pictures. All right, so this is the bachelor's. Yeah, this is our bachelor lane. So column A is for the fiscal year current 25 the current um pay plan. Column B is fiscical year 26 original as per as as was approved in March and then column C is the amended and this will hold true for every lane that we're going to be reviewing. So what I would like to um show you here we

080can go to uh the peach co column which is the um second one from the right that is the difference in the fiscal year 26 amended and then the original. So, if we were to go down to um years of experience of for five, it's been reduced by $623. But I want to note there, it's still an increase of $4,684 from where we are right now. So, as uh we're going out and we're trying to uh recruit teachers, it's a significant increase compared to um where we have been now. Um we are still trying to go for the regional market average and we're still striving for that, but this is a a a big part uh big step for us to get there. Um, another item to note, you know, we having difficulty in um

081our um teachers with tenure for the like the 20 year 20 years of experience. It's going to be a $7,129 increase. So the next scale, our next lane is bachelor's plus 18. Same methodology. So like in the uh the second column from the right which is what you had originally proposed again five years it's about 672,000 $672 less than originally um approved but we're still almost 4700 above masters same thing and you're going to see a recurring pattern here on the masters five. Um we have $622 less than what we originally had um proposed and was approved, but it's still almost $4,800 more than where we are right now. And lastly, for our doctorate with uh the doctorate uh with years of experience in five is 875 less than originally proposed and 4,600 compared to

082where we are right now. So though it wasn't we didn't get everything and we're still going to be working toward that for the next fiscal year. This is a significant investment that I think the city um has done and we're very thankful for them to do that. Now on to the fiscal year 25 audit. Um the 2025 audit plan has been reviewed in coordination with our auditors. Um preliminary fieldwork is scheduled to begin the first week of July. Audits of the school activity funds will start in the last week of July and the final audit fieldwork is planned to begin in September. And that concludes my presentation for this evening. If you have any questions. Yes. Yeah. Actually on one of your first slides if you don't mind going back to it. Sure. It's talking

083about the funds provided by the state and then Oh, yep. Gotcha. Yep. I think it's this one right here. So, I guess if I'm reading that right, um 247,000 would is the shortage we had that pay increases that we wanted. That is correct. And I I had I think I I you said it but just to say it in a slightly different way. I was running some calculations too. Um and like you said the ultimate goal is clearly to get up to the regional market average but we are making a tremendous dent in that differential and after when I looked at the compensation study for instance you know it looked to me as though even adjusting for that 3% everyone is getting a 3% raise this year. So throwing that out of the loop, we

084are still increasing. And again, it's a little different by years of service. So 10% is a big round number, but if I look at a year zero teacher, maybe a year five teacher, it's calculating to me as though in addition to the 3% that kind of everyone's getting. So we're really not jumping ahead there. Our teachers are getting an additional roundabout 10%. Again, that won't be exact depending on your years of service, but that would be accurate overall. Yes, that's that's correct. Yeah. Great. So, is is that increase weighted by years of service or is that just a direct result of the salary differentials there? It it it's both. And um the because our study was done line by line to the regional market average. So one way to look at it is if you

085looked at year five around the 17 school divisions that's not an equivalent number. So that was measured against all 17 school divisions for year five. So it each step doesn't stands alone on its own in the regional market average which is what we requested them to do so that we could say to our staff regardless of where you are on the on the step how many years of experience and this is not just true we just showed you teacher salaries this includes all employees. So if you were a pair of professional, they looked at your years of experience and compared what our each of our pair of professionals, each of our employees are compared to all 17 region uh uh school divisions in the region. Actually, it's 14 in the region and we included um

086three additional divisions outside of the region that were similar to us. Um so the if you look at it as an average as um Miss Jones says it's it's an average of about 10% across the board. Um but each one of those pays stands on its own. That's why the discrepancy is different in each pay pay. Did that answer your question? Yes. And then I guess one last question. refreshing my memory that the city contribution decrease um what is that in a percentage of what as for am I wrong in thinking we asked for 1.6 six. This is using the the totals they had they gave us 12 point 12,588,38 and that was equivalent we had asked for 1.3 more than our prior. So I'm just using the total numbers here but it ended up

087being $868,000 some odd dollars less than was requested. So we had to offset that with fortunately we had increased state revenues that has been had been previously reported the health insurance is coming in so that gave us that net I'm going to round up to 250,000 I think it's approximately 50% of the total increase. Yeah. That said though, uh, and recognizing, uh, my brief experience on city council, much like talked about the capital improvements projects, city is looking at everything from all their to be very honest, I if we're able to provide 86% of the compensation study, only 14% that we weren't able to do. uh I think is is incredible considering too as I understand the time period the these steps have been frozen as already explained to me one time for many years

088this is a a huge step as you rightly pointed out Tracy and I think even though we couldn't do it all in one one step so to speak uh I personally am committed and I think all of us are to do that if at all possible in the next budget talks which will be coming up in the fall right again pick up that additional uh now I recognize too there is a time uh as was explained to me uh you know next year all the school systems are doing the same thing but this it looks like to me gets us leaps and bounds ahead of where we her and hopefully we can keep going in that that direction. So, and a lot of credit goes to you, Tracy, Arty, all of you, the whole staff.

089Things like the health insurance premium, bringing that down. The ability to add to kind of fill in that gap so that we could do what we did, I think is a credit to all of you, anybody involved in the process. And I know it was a lot of work and we had to wait a lot of time for the state their funding, but also I greatly appreciate the fact that the state, the general assembly and even the governor at the end they retained that funding and we actually got I think a little more than we think we anticipated 390 or something but we got ended up 70. That's right. Yeah. two two separate pots of money there, but they uh the total of just under, you know, half million dollars additional state funding um came

090through through that budget cycle and that was, you know, a godsend in this this process. Thank you, Miss Vince. Just real quick, the u the bonus that's gross that'll be grossed up on Yeah, they'll they'll net in their deposit that'll be $1,000. Yep. Yep. At a very high level. I'm sorry that just to go back one more time since in our budget document we have the pay plan. So we can see there were some snippets up there by the new pay scale which I think looks really nice. Um also in that document are supplements and in speaking with some conversations that we've had over the past few weeks. Can you speak quickly to what will be the process for a possible upcoming supplement audit? Absolutely. Very good question, Miss Jones. I'm glad you brought that

091up. We have done those sporadically throughout the years. Uh since I've been here, we've done two uh supplement audits. Uh one um with athletics only and the second one with non-athletics. Um we have decided that moving forward, we're going to incorporate this process in the in the normal budget process. So the board as as will our staff look at um supplements annually. So we come in um when we start this process again in the fall, part of the the conversation will be not only around salaries and compensation and the rest of the operation side of the budget, but also the um the the part that speaks to um stipens or supplements because that is really a part of our pay plan and should be looked at annually. We um are go the goal is to

092stay competitive in that area as well. Um this board did some pretty significant things with regard to supplements um particularly around um student uh uh staff that works with special needs children um and those were greatly appreciated and helped us recruit and retain um uh those hard to fill positions. So, um I think that work will continue and um but we're going to do it now on an annual basis. So, when we come to this board with our with our budget presentation, it will include recommended adjustments to uh stipens. One of those um um involves sponsors, for example, from clubs and organizations that are part of our stipen process. We found out uh through the last audit that it's all over the place. some school divisions, even very large school divisions that have uh don't

093offer any stipens or supplements for those roles. Uh we're thankful that we do in Picosen, but we want to um level that up with additional organizations uh as uh this board uh sees fit through that process. I I will just add one last comment as as a parent who is waiting at the bus stop until 4:45 today. I appreciate that we did keep the bus driver compensation package intact as it was. And if I could just make one more general comment um about the budget and and the process that now that um after you all take action tonight, it will have landed. This uh this plane will have landed and we will go to work then to build the payout process for next year's compensation which is the the vast majority. I say it every

094time I talk about budget. uh school budgets represent somewhere always around 80% of the overall budget of pretty much any school division in the country is is HR is is our we're a business of people by people for people and um so uh that whenever you're moving the needle in a school budget you're you're addressing um HR uh compensation so um the highlights of this I want to celebrate um you all have said it individually uh we've talked about it collectively, but um this is a historical moment in um the compensation world of Picosen City Public Schools. um uh for ever perhaps uh as far back as I can find Picosen has ranked at the bottom of pay um uh certainly on the peninsula but uh in the region um and performs uh near the

095top and that's an unusual dynamic uh around the country um to the credit of incredible educators uh that do this every this step that has happened with the amazing support from city council um uh additional revenue. Some of members of this board wrote letters to uh help reduce that support cap um initiative and uh it worked. a lot of efforts, a lot of handholding together and and getting there. But when it's all said and done, we're going to be closer to the middle uh after this action of compensation for our employees. Much deserved. It will help us in retention. It will help us in recruiting of top quality professional educators. And I say it, you are tired of hearing me say it. That's the difference maker in between mediocre school divisions and high performing school

096divisions. Um and Picosen has been the anomaly with performing at the level we have year after year after year. Um and now we're going to be able to pay for it. So um I'm excited about it. Um this is as I've been around presenting this budget to our staff. Uh there's a lot of excitement in the air and and they all um uh to a person have expressed great appreciation to you all for your hard work and advocating for this budget and certainly to our partners um as we say upstairs down the hall uh with um city council and um the in just incredible work that they do in juggling all of those requests to take care of the needs in this um wonderful place. So thank you all. Thank you very much. Thank you,

097Miss Spence. Miss Carol, do we have any public comments tonight? Uh, we have one speaker tonight. Okay, let me just I need to read this real quick. Um, this is the public comment statement. The Picosen School Board welcomes public comment during regular meetings. Schoolboard members do not respond to public comment during a meeting. All comments should address a matter related to Picosen public schools. The school board will not hear public comment that involves an individual student related matter the disclosure of which would violate applicable confidentiality requirements. School board expects that each speaker will be courteous, modeling for our students how one can respectfully disagree with others views. Speakers will address their comments to the entire school board and not to one individual board member, nor to the superintendent, a staff member, or the audience. Speakers

098are encouraged not to engage personal attacks. Speakers will present their comments from the podium. to follow schoolboard policy. Time allotted to speaker shall be three. Thanks. Our speaker tonight is Carol Wood from Church Street. Good evening, Miss Wood. Good evening, Chairman Burbage, Superintendent Tellet, Mr. Roberts, Mrs. I, Mrs. Spence, and school board members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Carol Wood and I am a member of the exchange club of Picosen. I am also the organizer for the Exel Club which is located at Pakosen High School. The Exo Club is a group of high school students who are dedicated to improving their schools, communities and the country through exchanges three programs of service, Americanism, youth programs, community service as well as its national project prevention of child abuse.

099They focus on community service, leadership, development and personal growth. My concern today is that Kowanis Club's Key Club at the high school and the Builder Club at the middle school teacher sponsors are compensated with a stipen by the school board for their efforts. The EXL clubs and the Leo club's teacher sponsors are not compensated. The XL club is new. This is their third year with the school and we anticipate that we will remain in the school for quite a while. By not compensating our teachers, you are showing us that you feel that the Kuanas Club is more important to the school than other clubs. I would like to change a mindset. Our teacher sponsor, Simone Huey, is doing a tremendous job with RXL club without compensation, volunteering her time. She works very hard with the

100club meetings twice a month in her block during lunch. Their time does not stop during school hours. They participate in many projects outside of school that the XL club does, such as training sessions, a doctor spot, seafoods festival, Santa breakfast, Christmas parade, and many other projects to help organize and support the students. Simone puts in approximately 16 hours a month totaling 144 hours in a school year of face-to-face time with the students. We cannot run our programs without our teacher sponsors. I am asking you to consider equally compensating the teachers in these positions to the same level as the other teachers who are compensated. I did start by going to Mr. Tilllet with a copy to each of you to get this process started. It was quickly dismissed by my concern by saying that he

101knew you keep that way. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. That's all right. Uh, sorry. Now I got to find my place. I was quickly quickly dismissed my concern by saying that he knew the civic organizations and question compensated the sponsors. He admitted the fact that the Quanians also compensate their club sponsors in addition to the school compensation. As an active Kanian, this is something I would think he would be aware of. This makes his previous comment null, and I again ask you to consider treating your major civic sponsors equally by compensating each staff sponsor the same. My understanding is that the budget has not yet been finalized, which is why our teachers have not yet received their contracts for next year. I would strongly ask that you consider this. I will ask if there is any

102point that needs clarifying. I have provided you each with a copy of my request and my contact info in the event I need to represent this same request next year. If this is the wrong time of year to present, I would appreciate being notified of when the right time will be. Thank you. Is that it? We have no more speakers. Okay. Okay, moving on to section seven is the consent agenda. Uh item A is approval of financial reports. Item B is authorization to change appropriation and to accept and expend funds in accordance with attached uh I can't read it. [Music] uh attach request attach request and item C is approval of personnel action and for that personnel action it's the revised personnel action and then approval of minutes from the previous meeting and approval to

103dispose of surplus property. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Can I have a second? Second. Uh discussion. No discussion. Um Miss Carol, can we have the vote? Dr. Bartlett, I. Mr. Claude, I. Vice Chair Deose, I. Miss Jones, I. Mr. Maxwell, I. Chair Burbage, I. Vote passes 6. Thank you. Um, moving on [Music] to item eight is other matters for consideration. Item A is a motion to approve the gifted education plan for 2025 2026 through 2029 2030. Can I have a motion to approve the gifted education plan? So move, Mr. Chair. I have a second. Second. Uh, any discussion or questions? Hearing none. Uh, Miss Carroll, can we have the vote? Dr. Bartlett, I. Mr. Claude, I. Vice Chair Dose I. Miss Jones. I. Mr. Maxwell. I. Chair Burbage.

104I. Vote passes 6. Okay. The last item is uh consideration of approval to amend the 2025 2026 budget. Can I have a motion for consideration of approval to amend the 2526 budget? So moved. And a second. Second. Questions or discussion? Okay. Hearing none. Uh Miss Carol, can we have the vote, please? Dr. Bartlett, I. Mr. Claude, I. Vice Chair Dubose I. Miss Jones I. Mr. Maxwell I. Chair Burbage I. Vote passes 6. Okay. Here's my paper copy. All right. Last item. Nine is communication andor other MA matters by school board andor superintendent. Uh Mr. Lamagi, your last time up. Better make it good. Let's here are the reports from the Picosen City Public Schools. Starting with the primary school. As we wrap up our school year, our staff would like to express our thanks to

105our families and PPS PTO for their support this year. From dedicating our outdoor pavilion, sponsoring numerous community spirit events, financing school assemblies, and spoiling us. Our families have been amazing. We have also had very well- attended family nights, music programs, and families have joined their children for lunches and field trips as well. Families have also worked hard to make sure that students are coming to school. We will be rewarding our students for once again improving our monthly attendance rate, bubble party on May 30th. Coming up in our remaining weeks, we have a kindergarten field trip to the zoo, rescheduled second grade field trip to Jamestown, and our field day. We are also looking forward to seeing the PHS class of 2025 walk our halls of the last week of school. Classroom teachers will be sending

106information about their end ofear parties and second grade families will get news in the Sunday newsletter about our second grade sendoff parade on June 6th. EPS staff which is all a happy happy safe and healthy summer. Then from the elementary school, the Kosen elementary school staff was treated to a wonderful week of acknowledgement from our PTO and school community during teacher and staff appreciation week. We are grateful for our PTO and parent volunteers who made the week so memorable for us all. Cosen Elementary is in the middle of the end ofear so testing window. We appreciate all of the parents support and getting students to school on time for these end ofear assessments. We are eagerly awaiting the chance to celebrate student growth with our upcoming field day, a few field day surprises and performance

107from the PHS Evolution Show Choir. We know this will be a great day for all of our students. Our fifth graders are closing out their elementary years with a walking field trip visit to the Picosen Museum Gardens along with their middle school promotion and music performance the last week of school. While we are winding down and completing our end ofear tasks, it is important for us to say thank you to our families, PTO, school community, division leadership team, and schoolboard members for the support provided this school year. Next, from the middle school, May is a busy and exciting time at Picosen Middle School. The Picosa Middle School Jazz Band received superior ratings at assessment on April 29th. PMS is now the only middle school band on the peninsula receiving the Virginia band and Orchestra Directors

108Association program honor recognition. A huge congratulations is extended to the PMS Jazz Band students and their outstanding band director, Mr. Lawson. We have concluded our first round of so testing. Makeups, remediation, and expedited retakes will occur from now through Tuesday, June 2nd. We also wish our Odyssey of the Mind team and all other Picost teams the absolute best of luck as they compete in the World Finals tournament in Michigan this week. We are so proud of you. Our seventh grade students are excited to go on a field trip to the Virginia Living Museum tomorrow. PMS will host our spring chorus concert tomorrow evening and our spring band concert on May 29th. Both outstanding performances will take place in the PMS auditori. Our band and chorus students along with directors Mr. Lawson and Mrs. Wade are

109are wished the best of luck at assessments on May 30th at King's Dominion. Congratulations is extended to our May Golden Bull students of the month. Sixth grade Bren Brennan Shainer, seventh grade Shaun Jardine, and eighth grade Khloe Banks. PMS is looking forward to hosting our eighth grade sendoff parade on June 3rd from 5 to 6:00 p.m. in the PHS dropoff loop. This is an exciting event for our eighth graders and their families. We look forward to recognizing each student as they prepare to transition to high school. We would like to thank the PMS PTO, our parents, and the division for all of the support that was expressed to our faculty and staff in honor of teacher appreciation. Your notes, gifts, and treats are greatly appreciated. And lastly, from the high school, the Cosen High School

110recently celebrated a successful prom and after prom. Thank you to all the chaperoons and parent volunteers whose time, energy, and dedication helped make the event safe, memorable, and successful for our students. We are proud to see both girls and boys tennis advancing to regional play with other spring sports teams anticipating playoffs starting next week. We honored seniors at scholarship night, awarding an impressive $410,200, and held our spring honor society's inductions as well. The spring musical by by Birdie was a success. The band performed their spring concert this weekend and the chorus concert is scheduled for May 27th. We are now preparing for graduation on June 6th at 6:00 p.m. at Liberty Baptist Church. We thank everyone for another wonderful year at Picosen High School and we look forward to finishing the year strong. This concludes

111the announcements for the for the school district and my term as as student representative. Uh I just wanted to thank uh all of the wonderful board members here for your patience and your kindness with me as well as the faculty and the principles. Um it has been a absolutely wonderful time. Thank you to everybody uh for this opportunity. I hope to take these skills with me in my future career and to to continue to serve the community in different ways. Uh thank you Mr. Tlet for your for your kindness. Uh, thank you Mr. Maxwell for our fun conversations during the meetings. Thank you also Mrs. Pertie for uh reminding me uh without fail to to turn in my my reports to you which I often forget. Uh I would never have expected to have this

112great opportunity. I my my first year at the high school was only last year and that was my first year in any public school apart from uh homeschool my entire life. So, this has been a great opportunity that I didn't think I would have. And I have had a unique and and appreciative view of the school board and the wonderful things that we get done here to to see the concerns and interests of parents brought up at the school board and every time to see solutions found and compromises made and just really amazing work being done by a school district that truly cares about its students. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Maxwell, we usually have the burden of going first, but I'm going to take the rare opportunity in going first.

113I get to be the first person to congratulate you post service in your roles. Right. Um, I'll also uh continue with my preemptive echo of whatever my fellow board members will mention that I will inevitably forget to say. Um, als congratulations to this senior of the month, Miss Madison Wyatt. Another outstanding resume. Uh, well-deserved honor. Um, Alex or threetime national record holder. You know, I would say congratulations, but that 200 just I'm just kidding. 199 out of 200 is outstanding. We have national caliber students here. um and under 15 much more time to to get that 200 putting the challenge out there. All right. Um thank you Miss ID um and Miss Montalvo for your work um putting together the gifted education plan. Uh Miss Spence for preparing the the budget. Uh thank you Mr.

114Robert for giving us that update and all the work you've done on um working with our our buses and operations uh on the whole. Um, thank you to the Primary School faculty for hosting the art show. That was a a great great uh great our household. Um, thank you and uh actually uh preemptive congratulations to the 2025 grads uh because high school and also lastly a good luck to all those playoffbound teams at the high school. Thank you uh Dr. Parllet. Thanks. Um, I want to um echo a congratulations to Madison Wyatt, our our senior of the month and to our air rifle champion, Alex or um it's very impressive accomplishments from both of those. Um I would like to share my honor and pleasure in getting to know um a AJ Lamagi. So, as

115much I I just can't imagine the success you're going to continue. I feel blessed that you've been here. So, thank you for that. And lastly, um y'all know I'm a I'm a classroom person. I've been in classroom and this is always the most intense time of year where there's a real friction and emotional friction between wanting to prove that you've learned all that you've learned or aka test anxiety. That's a real emotion that runs through. The other emotion is absolute crazy happiness because we're almost finished and summer's right here. So, with those thoughts in mind, I I miss it. I I and I wish everyone the best closing you can possibly have. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Claude. Thank you. Uh Mr. Lamagi, thank you so much. Uh, I've only been on the board myself since

116November. So, we've had a short period of time. Tell you, you have impressed me very much. You're in my estimation a very fine young man. Folks should be and I'm sure are very proud of you on the board. U, but I'm also looking forward to a new new person that's going to be joining us. got some interviews coming up for that. So, thank you very much and wish you all the best going forward in the future. Um, like to congratulate you, you mentioned the tennis team's uh accomplishments. Uh, so, uh, congratulations to them. Um, Carol, Miss Wood, thank you for coming out tonight and speaking to us. Um I will just mention uh discussion with the superintendent uh XL club and the LEO club I've been assured will be part of the stipen coming up

117in the audit. Now that won't take place for this budget obviously that we just approved but it would start at the next budget. Is that correct? just wanted to to let you know that uh we do appreciate all the work your club does. Um it's phenomenal. All the things you read and I was impressed at how fast you read them because that time period in the shot clock as I call it is makes people nervous I think. But anyway, thank you for your time. Uh, and with that also in mind, uh, I would just like to thank the folks that take the time to come to our meetings to comment for your emails, for your contact outside of uh, schools. We see you in private life, the grocery stores, and other places. And appreciate your

118always expressing your concerns, appreciation, gratitude to the schools and the job that they do. Uh, I appreciate those also who take the time to watch us at Hum. I uh look at the YouTube video, not to watch myself because I don't see myself but to see what the views are and it's incredible. We uh we're up like 100 200 views in some meetings and that's very encouraging to me that people are interested in in seeing what we're doing and I think I can speak for everyone here. That's what we encourage. Please uh let us know, talk to us. Uh and let us know about what we're doing right and what maybe we could do better. We welcome that. So with that said, I also wish because I guess we won't be back here for the

119after until after the close of the school year, but thank everyone in every school and school board office. Uh just can't thank you enough. Words don't don't say it. Uh I wish everybody the families and their the students and and all a a great summer and look forward to Thank you. Thank you, Miss Jones. It's um a little repetitive, but I think for good reason. A big congratulations to our senior of the month, Miss Wyatt. AJ, thank you for your always I personally just very much enjoy your I always find your quotes to be timely and inspirational. They're very thoughtful and I appreciate that. Um I enjoy them every every month. Um your reports are very informative and it has truly been a pleasure serving with you this year. So um no doubt your future

120is a very bright one. So thank you for your time and service to this board and your students and our community. So, your fellow students and our community, Miss Our uh that was so impressive. Thank you for highlighting that tremendous accomplishment. We don't always get to hear things like that that are outside of the VHSL, you know, kind of world that's right here, you know, with the the sports that are in our backyard. So, I I really enjoyed that. Thank you, uh, Miss Spence, the finance department, city council. Thank you for the work on the budget. we will continue to strive, you know, for competitive compensation, but this is absolutely a awesome start. So, I'm I'm very excited about that, but I know this budget was um a lot of work and maybe even more

121work than in other years, although I'm sure every year brings its challenges. So, thank you for that. And finally, just may we all take some time over the upcoming holiday weekend to reflect on the ultimate sacrifices of all the patriots who came before us. um wishing all a very safe Memorial Day weekend and um good luck to our graduates and um all of our students as we're wrapping up the school year. Thank you, Mr. Dose. Um AJ, thank you. Um it's been a pleasure. Um a lot of echoing comments, so I'll try to avoid some of those echoing comments. Um uh want to thank the retiring teachers. Uh we have a few um and a few very good ones that are that are that are leaving us. Um, you know, we've all kind of talked

122about it. I want to talk about it again. The budget, um, you know, this is huge, uh, for us, you know, and what we've been able to do for, uh, all of our staff, not just the teachers. So, it's a it's it's very awesome. Um, also want to u mention Odyssey of the mind. AJ mentioned um, uh, in his report uh, about going, you know, again, we have three teams going uh, elementary, middle, and high school. Um, uh, couple things about what they were able to do in in state competition. Uh, two of the teams held 972 pounds with a structure that weighs a little bit more than three nickels. Put that in perspective. Okay. And then, you know, and then another team held 832 lbs with a structure that weighed that did weigh three

123nickels. So, um, and it's 15 grams. So, um, you know, some amazing stuff that these students are doing. Um and uh there's 20 21 of them going to state today and tomorrow. Uh some of them via plane, some of them via uh car. Hopefully none of them via boat cuz they'll never get there. Um but um you know and if you're interested um the competitions will be streamed live on YouTube if you go look it up. So um but um wishing all of the best luck. So it's all good. Thank you. So that's the is that the national world that's in at Michigan State. Michigan State. Okay. Um I'm going to reiterate a few things. Uh congratulations to Miss Wyatt, the senior of the month. Uh also to Miss Our uh three-time national record holder

124with the civilian marksmanship program. That's a that's a big big accomplishment. Um uh that's just amazing. Um, I'd also like to thank Miss ID for all the work she's done with the Gak program and getting the funding, you know, the program put together. Uh, Mr. Roberts, thank you for all your work on the school bus GPS tracking system. I know that there are a lot of parents that will definitely appreciate all your hard work come the fall when this works. Um, we'll keep our fingers crossed. Um, Miss Spence, the finance work that you and your team did was absolutely amazing. I really appreciate all the hard work you guys put into that. Um, it's amazing what you guys were able to do. So, thank you. Um, and AJ, thank you for all your your the

125work you did this year. Um, I really enjoyed your inspirational quotes at the beginning of the meeting and your summary of the schools was excellent. I always learned something that I didn't know was happening. So, um, I appreciate that. Um, I hope you have a great rest of your school year and have a excellent summer. And lastly, I hope everyone has a safe uh, Memorial Day weekend. Um, we've only got a few weeks left and then we're done. So, thank you. That's it. Uh, again, going last, I echo all the comments made as I usually do. But, um, I want to end with this. If anyone has, um, concern or fear for the future of our youth, they need only to spend a few moments with AJ Umagi. And, um, that will all change. Um

126he he represents the best uh of what we have in uh in not only in Picosen but in the nation and I look forward to following um his journey um and I hope he keeps in touch with us. Um, I had the distinct honor of writing a college recommendation for AJ. And, um, I always, uh, do that selectively with kids that I can actually talk about that I know. And, um, I usually try to keep it to one page. Uh, that was very difficult. Um, in this case, because AJ does it all. So, um, it was an honor to do that and, um, I'm looking forward to your your success. So, it's been a pleasure working with you. Um, and lastly, I want to thank again all of our staff, 305 employees who come to

127work every day and make this uh uh great school system uh even better. And um I'm thankful every time I'm uh uh around this group of professional educators because they do it for all the right reasons. They do it because they love children and um uh are are committed to their futures. And um it's it's an honor to serve alongside these folks. So, as we narrow down to the last 12 days, I believe, but who's counting? Um, this is uh this is the time when we celebrate this great uh success of a wonderful group of professional educators. So, I want to thank all of you who are listening. Thank you. Okay. Um, moving on. Uh, Miss Carol, are there any uh is there any material additional material for board review? No, we have no more

128material for review. Okay. Uh the next item is we're going to go into a closed session. Uh pursuant to section 2.2-3711A1 [Music] 2-3711A1 of the code of Virginia. I move that this board go into closed meeting to consider the assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining or resignation of specific public officers, appointees or employees of school board or for discussion, consideration or interview of prospective candidates for employment. Can I get a motion to go into close session? Second. I get a second. I'll second it. Okay. Any questions or discussion? Uh, Miss Carol, can we have a vote? Dr. Bartlett, I. Mr. Claude, I. Vice Chair Deose, I. Miss Jones, I. Mr. Maxwell, I. Chair Burbage. Hi. Vote passes 6. Okay. We'll all meet in the side room.