001e you it's going to be big well e for e e [Music] evening I'd like to call to order the picosen city school board meeting for September 17th uh we would like to welcome Mr AJ Lumi as our student representative this is his first meeting so welcome aboard we're glad you're here and we'll go ahead and call you to the podium let's please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all now for a moment of silence please be seated for today September 17th uh today is National Constitution Day uh when the Constitution was drafted in 1787 237 years ago so our quote is by the writer
002of the Constitution James Madison uh knowledge will forever govern ignorance and the people who mean to be their own Governors must AR them arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives thank you Miss Carol are there any additions and or modifications to the agenda chair Martin there are no additions or modifications thank you Miss pie chair Martin members of the board community members and colleagues thank you for being here this evening we have one um recognition of our dedicated service of two of our outgoing school board members we like to thank them for their leadership and commitment for our School Division um at this time I'd like to invite chair Martin forward to provide a token of our gratitude Mr Ingram and Mr Childers couldn't be here tonight but um we will make sure that
003we get his gift to him as well yeah thank you Mr Ingram can I get a quick picture sorry you ran away and the Clapping was too loud yeah if you don't mind thank you very much to both of you for your service that concludes our recognitions for the evening thank you ma'am miss I miss I will be doing our instructional update good evening chair Martin Vice chair Burbage distinguished board members and our community thank you for joining us tonight I have the pleasure of delivering the instructional updates which will include some back to- School Staffing our 2324 academic outcomes changes regarding standards and the accountability system and our partnership with Virginia Peninsula Community College and college now coming to picosen City public schools in regards to Staffing we are proud to report rep that
004we are 98% fully staffed in the middle of a teach teacher crisis shortage so that's something that we're pretty proud of we are going to continue to recruit highly qualified classified and certified staff to support our buildings and our operations we shared this last time but we are fully accredited without conditions again for the 2425 school year as you can see picosen continues to perform higher than Virginia state average by 12% or more in all categories you can see at the bottom we also have listed our composite score of 84 which is 133% above the state at a 71 social studies with 18% near and dear to my heart and here's another comparison again the same information just in the chart format showing that are outperforming the state and we are performing very similar to
005how we performed last year as well now this chart Compares our regional uh our neighboring regions again you can see that picosen is at the top outperforming many in the region in all subjects the state doesn't rank divisions but using composite scores here are the top five in the state and as you can see we remain in the top five tied with York County at 84% and this score is a combination of all of the assessment data that you just saw the reading the math the social studies the science and the writing so now we're going to dig a little bit deeper into the school quality indicators picosen primary school has earned level one for all indicators and as we shared before the primary school reduced their chronic absenteeism by 10% to 10% excuse me
006a reduction of 11% picosen elementary school has also earned level one in all indicators and they reduceed their chronic absenteeism by 50% compared to the previous school year picosen middle school has also earned a level one in all indicators and reduced chronic absenteeism by 50% as well for the high school the overall performance Remains the Same however we do have a few opportunities for growth and Improvement chronic absenteeism and the performance of our students with disability remains an area of focus for us the high school is creating targeted goals around both of these areas to ensure progress in regards to Chronic absenteeism picosen High School continues to work to increase student engagement and communicate with families regarding the importance of attendance the procedures for responding to absences and the communication plan is being reviewed and
007enhanced to ensure we reporting as accurately as possible in addition we're pleased to uh share that the state has provided more guidance on how to remove absences with flexible seat time for example students in high school completing seat time before or after school or on Saturdays for 3 hours can reduce their absences by by one day for up to 15 days our schools across all grade levels not just Picos and high school will work to utilize this flexible seat time as appropriate to reduce chronic absenteeism and ensure students have access to the content that they missed which is most important another area that we're continuing to work on is the college career and Civic Readiness index in Virginia's accreditation system this is a performance indicator designed to measure how well high schools prepare students for
008life beond graduation it assesses whether students are ready for postsecondary Education careers or Civic life based on several key indicators Advanced coursework completion of AP honors or dual enrollment Career and Technical education CTE H um industry certifications state licenses or credentials that prepare students for the workforce work-based learning participation in internships apprenticeships or other work-based learning experiences military or Civic Readiness students who enlist in the military or demonstrate Civic Readiness through service learning projects voting or leadership roles and college readiness exams performance on standardized college readiness exams like sat act or other college admissions admissions tests we did see growth in this indicator compared to 2223 however and 2223 we had a score of 80% and we are now reporting a score of 84% so a 4% increase increase to note a level one is
00985% so we are just right there we have already provided the data to the high school on students who still need to meet this indicator and they're going to be working with students and families to ensure There's an opportunity in one of these areas as a school system we have increased enrollment in AP honors and dual enrollment courses for example in 2223 we had 861 enrollments now that's not unique students that's enrollment in these courses um in advanced courses total the student enrollment was 683 so 861 enrollment 683 students in 2324 we increased that by 18 enrollments but our population actually reduced so we had a higher number of enrollments based on the student population this year we're already tracking to be much higher than that and I'd like to come back to you in
010October as schedules are still balancing out where students are had the opportunity to make changes last year but our numbers are looking much higher than that already this year for these advanced coursework classes in addition to more enrollments cuz that is great but the supports also have to be in place to make sure that these students are successful so the high school has the one lunch program where students can seek academic assistance during this extended lunch period to ensure they are successful in the area of special education we are increasing the number of data reports available to our staff for more frequent updates regarding student progress to allow for those course Corrections sooner rather than later we're also working to restructure the way in which we use our division level special education staff to ensure
011they have more opportunities to provide support in the classroom where that support is actually needed and again chronic absenteeism is a measure of students who Miss 10% or more of the school year as a reminder we saw an overall decrease in chronic absenteeism we largely attribute this to the use of parent square and other homes School Communications as I mentioned before we will work to use a flexible seat Time Guidelines to increase student access to content and reduce chronic absenteeism so what are our next steps with this using the systems we currently have in place we will refine the process in which we Monitor and disaggregate data this will allow for more frequent data conversations and allow teachers to drill down to specific skills with more frequent conversations course Corrections can made sooner we also
012still have all-in tutoring funds and this will allow schools to offer that just in time support through tutoring before during an after school which we now know we can also tap into that flexible seat time and again using that data that we're going to now disaggregate to push in to support that tutoring process as well we are continuing to build our curriculum in math and language arts as the year progresses teachers have the opportunity to provide feedback on the created curriculum and make make adjustments based on the observed implementation and student mastery data in particular we'll focus on our unique populations of students such as those being served in special education and gifted to ensure the adjustments are made to support their progress and Mastery as well schools are currently refining their school Improvement plans
013to ensure these areas of growth are included their teachers are informed of the data and there are targeted strategies in place we are also currently using Lexia and exact path platforms which provide diagnostic assessments and also Pathways for students excuse me to practice skills that they need support on I'm sorry I just lost my voice all of a sudden so those platforms will create unique Pathways for students based off their diagnostic assessments and as always we're refining our professional learning plans to ensure professional learning Based on data that our staff would need all right so we're going to go over the changes to state standards in the accountability system we have talked about this before but we will we are currently implementing the math k12 and the English K12 new standards for jinia recently adopted
014new standards for reading and math the new standards will be implemented and first assessed in the 2425 school year so this year the Virginia Department of Education will be conducting standard setting in late 2024 with the Virginia Board of Education adopting new assessment cut scores in late 2025 the Virginia Department of Education will review and adjust the long-term goals and measures of interim progress in a future Amendment following the approval of new cut scores and an analysis of the Baseline data so we'll come back to you with how that's going to change you should have received a packet this is just for your reference because I will go over the new accountability so this just a little bit more for you to look at as we're reviewing it so this is still in draft mode
015it has not been finalized by the vdoe but we will present on it just so we have an idea of what is to come this new school performance and support framework will score School divisions in areas of Mastery growth Readiness and graduation depending on the grade level schools identified as distinguished are exceeding the state's expectation for growth achievement and Readiness these schools will serve as models of best practices from which others can learn schools identified as on track are meeting the state's expectation for growth achievement and Readiness these schools will have access to General State supports and may also receive support for student groups schools as identified as off trck are not meeting the state's expectation for growth grow achievement or Readiness these schools will receive additional support from the vooe and finally schools identified
016as needing intensive support are significantly not meeting the expectations for growth achievement and Readiness and these schools will receive more intensive support tier three from the vooe at this time we still are waiting final adoption of this new framework here are the categories in which we will be scored and how they will be weighted Elementary and middle schools will be scored on Mastery growth and Readiness whereas high schools will be scored on Mastery Readiness and graduation Mastery includes performance on the reading s so including the reading and uh integrated reading and writing component VAP tests math so and the math VAP tests science so as well as progress and achievement in English language proficiency for elementary and middle school growth also includes expected growth in reading and math Readiness in elementary school and middle school
017includes chronic absenteeism the five C's which is critical thinking creative thinking collaboration communication and citizenship and advanced coursework in Middle School Readiness in high school includes chronic absenteeism the six-year extended year graduation rate with applied studies and the ready for Life 3E framework additionally high schools will be scored on their graduation rates using the Federal graduation indicator the ready for Life 3E Readiness framework focuses on students graduating high school ready for enrollment employment Andor enlistment schools will attain points for students that meet defined expectations across enrollment such as dual credit or credit bearing coursework employment high demand industry recognized credentials and enlistment scores on Military assessments this will take the place of the CCC indicator that I referenced in this framework so moving on to our work in our Advanced coursework as you know we
018had our first student graduate from Virginia Peninsula Community College in 2023 this school year we have two students starting the course requirements to complete an associat degree or equivalent by high school graduation as pcps has been building this initiative which we are calling college now for a couple of years we took the next steps to reach the finish line by creating a formal partnership with Virginia Peninsula Community College key staff from pcps Recently met with the president of Virginia Peninsula Community College Dr Brandon and members of her team to discuss our partnership the goal of college now is to offer enough college courses that result in associates degree or the equivalent to a cohort of pcps students starting in the 2526 school year we have additional sessions planned with Virginia Peninsula Community College to explore
019the cost delivery models size and requirements of the cohort collaboratively we will plan Pathways of study ensure a shared responsibility of Student Success Provide support with onboarding and orientation of students staff and parents and ensure The Homeschool connection between all campuses is solidified as we progress with this collaborative planning approach we will provide updates information to inform the budget process for the coming school year not only is this an excellent opportunity for our students it will help ensure we meet the requirements of the new three e in that accreditation system and this slide just shows the possibilities for the pathways uh delivery Pathways or delivery models so our own teachers becoming dual enrollment certified our students going to the Virginia Peninsula Community College campus professors coming to our campus or students participating in Virtual and
020all of those options will be uh fleshed out a little bit more as our in ourc coming meetings pcps is committed to expanding opportunities for students to engage in advanced coursework through a variety of Pathways not just college now from the 2223 school year to the 2324 we did see that increase in student participation in dual enrollment advanced placement and honors looking ahead and as we start college now we are excited to announce the addition of accelerated history and science courses to the program of studies for the 2526 school year these courses offered in sixth and seventh grades will provide students who are ready for that opportunity to take High School level history and science classes in 8th grade helping to further prepare them for advanced academic opportunities compacting courses will involve training Educators and
021informing students and parents about these exciting opportunities as these course offerings are finalized we will be sure to share more details along with our updated program of studies and then finally you have in front of you a binder our new board members were provided two binders one from the 23 school year and one from the 24 school year this binder contains our strategic monitoring document which outlines the goals for our division over the span of 5 years some highlights include the adoption of the hmh curriculum which allows for cross-curricular lessons use of vector to streamline learning walks and observations growth of spark and other professional learning opportunities the use of parents square and other platforms to communicate with families efforts to increase pay for teachers and difficult to fill positions the ongoing upgrades and Replacements
022to technology and more and as the school year progresses we'll be sure to Monitor and refine our practices to ensure we meet our goals and again just ending with the calendar so you know what to expect and are there any questions VI chair Burbage so I had a hold on let me before I get yelled out um the flexible seat time that you were talking about yes to help alleviate The Chronic abente is how is that going to be administered in the schools on the weekends well it all comes down to Staffing so there is opportunity with that all funding to provide stiens or pay for teachers who want to work those extra hours to be able to do that and then we would have to monitor so again in high school we would need
023that three hours to equal one day so even if it wasn't one setting of three hours and they say they did 90 minutes this day or 90 minutes the next day cumulatively we could add it up so each school will be able to develop their own program of how they administer this extra tutoring in flexible seat time theyve actually already submitted PL I'm sorry um and have tutors that they have lined up so we would just document it to ensure the absences are cleared as well so we would also do it at the middle school the elementary school and the primary school each one of our schools has the all-in funding available to uh provide that extra support okay thank you yes ma'am um I really uh was happy to hear the uh report you
024just gave on the students achievements from last year will you be reporting either in the future or through I don't know um digital Communications growth this data does not include growth on the state quality um report um I'm looking for Kim Montalvo I I had the same question more like on Trend data year over year P three years are do we have trouble subjects or in your packet there is this included in tab one this is the preliminary accreditation report which does not include growth correct that's what I wanted to make sureal accountability Federal accountability feder accountability does not include grow but state does and we still they still calling it preliminary so we have as well um part of a few slides back the state is looking at a a revised accountability model that
025will include like a lot of States a component for growth they haven't landed on exactly the tool to measure that um uh the state has recently purchased a program that um a lot of states have been using for for some years called evos um of course Virginia names everything with Virginia so it's Vivas um and we are training internally as we speak um our staff on how to utilize this tool to um to measure growth along the way the the magic is in the growth um so that that's going to be a part of what you'll see evolve in this um in this upcoming um final draft of um the state accountability accreditation program I also realized you could have just meant regular growth over three years and not um growth predicted you know from
026one assessment in this packet in tab one under curriculum it should be in the back it shows the threeyear the previous year and the current year so if that's what you meant by growth as well over time thank you and also proved on the St School quality so that's accessible to the public L on our now that one has a disclaimer that that is not updated yet on the school quality profile we expect that to be updated the end of September kind of along the same lines the one that stood out to me the college career and Civic Readiness index so in our instance and again it may come up more and looking at the growth is it more enrollment numbers or is it testing scores if that makes sense that impact that index as
027in do we not have the students taking the courses the advanced courses the Dolan rment courses is it an offering limitation or is it no our students are taking them but are not achieving the scores that would meet a certain threshold to qualify for this index does that make sense sure am I doing a poor job okay certain do believe that we could have had higher enrollment in these courses and that could be part of it as well but there are indicators of what scores they achieve as well and just making sure that we know which students don't have that indicator and plugging that in form because it may not be appropriate that it's an advanced course work but one of the other opportunities for them and ensuring in their four-year time that they are
028able to check one of those boxes it doesn't have to be all of those boxes one example it's um it's a confusing index because it measures a lot of op itions one is uh students who take the ASVAB exam for example and we uh notice from current data that um we're having a lower population of students take that exam and that counts as one of the scores we could have had five kids take the ASVAB exam and our number would have been you know we're talking about small numbers of of kids so um it's a it's a comprehensive um index that measures multiple things um we just highlighted tonight because of our College thing one of the things that we'll be focused on in addition to the other things is our um dual enrollment and
029AP participation but it is a should increase that index that will increase automatically this number will go up just from this program but um but we don't want to put all of our eggs in one basket so to speak and that's why the index is important it allows students who are um considering a career in the military to take that asbab exam and then they check that box um in this formula as well as the the um College Bound courses and um also career type certificates that uh we have multiple kids earning primarily through New Horizons but but um those um opportunities are available and then an area we're going to also be coming back to you talking about is trying to grow our internships which checks that box well thank you thank you we'll
030have our financial update with Miss Spence good evening Madam chair members of the school board and our school Community for the finance report this evening I'll be providing some Financial updates as well as reviewing information regarding our compensation St stud information has been shared with the city regarding the preliminary fiscal year 24 carryover in addition as I previously shared with you last month there's an additional $560,000 net increase in St State revenues available to the school system pursuant to the state fiscal year 25 finalized budget that occurred in may now once the fiscal year 24 audit is completed which we're anticipating within the next about 45 days their this is their last week of audit work we will be coming back to provide expenditure budget recommendations for not only the fiscal year 24 carryover but
031as well as the additional fiscal year 25 Revenue as you know the cost of the compensation study was budgeted for fiscal year 25 management Advisory Group has been contracted to perform this compensation study on behalf of the school system the scope of the study includes evaluating every position to determine a number of things internal Equity reviewing job grades as well as pay ranges and assigning positions to appropriate grades it'll conduct a market St survey establish a teacher pay scale that's competitive and recommend implementation guidelines and project cost there's going to be six phases to the compensation study phase one will be the project initiation which is taken place this week phase two will be review of data supplied by staff to the Consultants phase three will be Market comparison phase four will develop updated pay
032plans and phase five is the draft report which we're estimating to be accomplished by December 15 and this will be providing the preliminary budget data for implementation in fiscal year 26 and following that once it's presented to the board everyone and you concur they'll issue the final project report now we have fiscal year 26 budget coming up um we'll be having our division leadership budget kickoff on October 7th and October 15th the budget calendar will be coming to the board for approval from the budget calendar review the process for the full budget at the net school board meeting the um on October 7th all the um planning tool um spreadsheets will be submitted to the principals the uh division heads with a due date coming back November 6 so we have no problem by coming
033back to the board in January with all this data for a preliminary um where we think we're going to land for fiscal year 26 now this concludes my report this evening does anyone have any questions okay thank you very much thank you we'll have our operations update with Mr Roberts all right good evening members of the board superintendent tillet staff and community members um my operations update today will be brief but hopefully informative to you so first we're going to start off with safety um our number one priority I just want to mention that this summer all school buildings uh received additional cameras and Our IT staff uh Works continuously with the feedback of Administrators and our SRO and ssos now um to reposition those cameras in a way that it provides more surveillance coverage
034um and that is a continuous process um we also give access to division level staff of course the building level administrators um SRO and the local police and this is accessible 247 through a mobile app um this provides immediate access and will be vital if emergency situations exist just as a reminder we do have ballistic film FM um has been installed in all our schools this film reinforces glass to prevent entry if it is shot hit or damaged this gives an additional layer of protection to each school and also creates another form of time barrier to slow down any Potential Threat until support arrives um we continue to conduct our mandatory safety drills thus far this school year all schools have conducted our fire drills bus evacuation drills and lock down drills um parents are
035notified by principles regarding lockdown drills via the parent Square system additional drills such as tornado and earthquake will soon be coming um and we continue those required drills like the fire drills and lock down um as appropriate throughout the remainder of the school year um as always we continue to work with our local um fire and police departments to ensure we are ready in case of any emergency situation the mobile metal detecting uh system that PHS um got from a grant last year uh will resume um shortly they will be um continue to pick locations and days uh to implement those scans uh the trial run last year went great um we identified some things that um we didn't know about the system and to make it little better and uh the practice definitely is
036going to help the launch this year so um we received an update to the system uh across the summer that's going to be downloaded and ready to go and we'll also be looking at ways to use this in other spaces on campus uh because of its Mobility um one of the uh points of emphasis for the board tonight is the safety team um currently our each school has a safety team composed of admin SRO and staff while the division level team currently includes building administrators directors and other division leaders we seek board approval tonight to add a board member to this team selected by the board um and to plan to meet monthly expanding the team with representatives from various roles such as board members nurses counselors to improve safety practices this expansion and add
037it members will help us discuss us and work through safety issues to enhance our decision making kudos to our um SRO and ssos they do uh or play a vital role in the support for our security um our SSO has been hired for the primary school so we're excited to get that person started soon this week um which will further enhance their their security along with uh Pete there as their SRO um ssos if you don't know assist with daily Security checks camera surveillance task assigned by admin and monitor ing students we appreciate our continued partnership with Theos and police department and our sro's and look forward to having both sro's and ssos present at all schools moving forward this week I think that's a big step for us um I also want to point
038out with the grants we have submitted one um security equipment Grant uh by the Virginia Department of Education and we continue to pursue and seek more uh for technology such as more cameras uh weapon detection systems metal detectors um and other equipment that would be vital for for for safety all right on a Transportation uh I want to give a huge shout out to the Middle School staff and administration to start out with um they created a new drop off and pickup system at the middle school that I feel has um worked um rather well um as they work through the first week of implementation um it did alleviate all the backups off ofen Avenue so if you were a person in the traffic you much appreciate that because now you can just zip on
039through um and we have appreciated in the transportation department because it no longer hangs up our buses which would cause delays at the elementary and the primary schools later on in the routes uh we do appreciate the patience for uh residents living off popular Street um as we work through those CLE uh couple first days but now we have successfully and safely found a way to take all the buses and put it in that loop on the popular side um so we do not disrupt traffic at any time until we are dismissing the buses which only takes a couple of moments um and again again thank you to C PD and the PMS staff for doing that um traffic stopping um the PMS parent line has also improved uh with quick moving lines both in
040the AM and PM times so good job PMS um point of emphasis uh at picosen high school the stop sign leaving the campus going on to odd Road has an ongoing issue uh where people just kind of run the sign so um we're going to be working with the city um to enhance the stop sign and stop line area um as well as um the the PD coming and helping us implement or enforce that stop sign so if you're visiting our campus at the the high school please do keep note that as you're exiting come to a full stop and then proceed when it's safe so we thank you for that um regarding our driver situation uh back in last month I reported that we were in ding need of drivers well we picked up
041one full-time driver um so we're very thankful for that and that makes us operational now with everyone one where they should be our dis batch guy now doesn't have to drive a bus he can do his job and help the drivers um especially on flood days like today um know their routes and know where to go and where they can't and communicate uh we have one um substitute bus driver that can help us out two times a week and um also our bus dispatch Joey who is working miracles right now um he is an alltime sub if we need him as well so looking way better however another Shameless plug if you or someone you know is interested in driving the bus or becoming a bus Aid please have them contact us we will put
042you to work um routes are finalized uh so you should be seeing uh arrival times normalized now and uh do be patient sometimes you know things happen uh problems arise we have to work through it which delays buses a little bit um but thank you for your patience for that and we're always looking to ways to improve um the system both in arrival and dismissals um and yeah we just want everybody to ride safe all right the fireside chat this went out on social media um this past week and basically what this is is we want everyone to join us on Thursday night at the Middle School uh this is an opportunity for a live virtual broadcast from uh Virginia first lady uh Susan yunan and also Jonathan height uh the author of um the
043book called um the anxious generation which this whole talk will focus around how social media and cell phones have kind of um you know know limited our youth and has an impact on them and it directly aligns with uh the reason why executive or 33 was created uh which requires all Virginia Public Schools to establish cell phone free policies and procedures by January 1 um pcps staff will be available and present to help lead discussions answer any questions after the live broadcast uh Refreshments will be provided so we'll have some snacks um the only thing that we ask is one you show of course and two that you park where the the gym is there at the middle school and in uh enter in that entrance and we'll show you where to go from there
044and again that's Thursday night 7 to 9:00 p.m. and as always moving forward I always kind of like to end on high notes um with pictures so this is the completed uh playground um at the elementary school um as you can see it is very uh well done I know I've been over there a couple of times and seen the kiddos really enjoying it um Keith F I want to thank you very much for continuing to partner with us and inspect these um and as you can see it's a lovely space uh with room to expand which you know we're already talking about because we're that excited about it so um kudos to the team for getting that off the ground all right in our um PPS Pavilion dedication so um this past weekend The
045Pavilion um in honor of our um nurse Barbara Riggins who was a school nurse for many years Who provided for many student staff um and communed her care and love uh it was dedicated to her um her family friends PPS staff other pcps staff um attend at this wonderful event um it was a special moment and a special Thanks goes out to the PTO at PPS and roxan Overby uh who is very instrumental in getting this off the ground and running um I can't tell you how impressed about the whole process I was when I first started in July uh it was like poured Footers to this thing and then all of a sudden I went back about two weeks later and it was almost finished and I was like holy cow this thing is
046moved and uh as you can see it's beautiful and PPS will get a lot of mileage out of that I'm sure so good job and that is it unless you have questions I just a couple questions on uh yours school security safety stuff um the the mobile unit we have now um who what does it take to staff that who who runs that who is that like a employe a volunteer somebody got a train something like that yeah yeah so um all the admin and SRO were trained um by the the company that provided that and basically you just had to Dei devise a system that um creates that continuous flow into the device to make sure you know they're not cheating you know handing stuff off certain things we know that we'll set it
047off like the Chromebook you know we'll take and inspect just to make sure there's nothing in that that U bag but by and large you you have the student walk through the machine the machine tells you what needs to have happen administrators and SRO will be available right there on the spot just in case we have to do a search or um you know take a Next Step so and uh kind of more of a budget question I I've never shop for one you know on Amazon looking for weapons detective systems uh you know are those like CIP eligible I I don't know what the cost is I don't know if that's more of a budget thing or is that something you could like down the road if that's we wanted to expand it for
048more schools or more sporting events what the you know what you need the budget for that is IT personnel and the equipment or both or yeah the equipment is quite expensive I mean each unit I can't remember what that one was I think it was around what 12:15 I cannot remember some of them that ball park just for one unit um for the Standalone system um so it is quite pricey that's why we continue to write the grants and try to fund the money or find the money for that but yes that that'll be something you know in the future that we'll try to to get we will probably be bringing a um a disc a budget agenda item to you to discuss with some details of of cost and and performance of these devices
049um as we know that's there's a um some interest in the community you know to explore this um we also uh as you heard from um Miss Spence's presentation we'll be um working with the city on some carryover funding so there may be some opportunity to to tap into that um fund as well great questions I I had a follow-up question about the safety you mentioned installing ballistic film is that on exterior windows or is that throughout throughout the entire building yeah that's mainly on our vestival and the exteriors just anything that we know that will be a high spot for you know those entries um and we've installed those over the past few years um to get that up to speed thank you y all right well thank you very much thank you Miss
050Carol do we have public comment chair Martin we do have two people who would like to speak today okay mik ship from dried and drive will like to speak first okay well I I'll read the we you're welcome to come to the podium I'll read my spot my reading and then you can you can start the Theos and School Board welcomes public comment during regular meetings should school board 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 disclosure of which would violate applicable confidentiality requirements the school board expects that each speaker will be courteous modeling for our students how one can respectfully disagree with other's views
051speakers will address their comments to the entire school board and not to one individual School Board member nor to the superintendent a staff member or the audience speakers are encouraged not to engage in personal attacks speakers will present their comments from the podium to follow School Board policy time allotted to speakers shall be 3 minutes and we have a timer for you it'll beep at 1 minute T good evening my name is Mike ship and I'm here to address an email exchange I had with the school board I reached out as a concerned parent and parent of a biracial child that attend school here in picosen hoping to engage in constructive dialog about a post on a public Facebook page having to do with systemic racism and implicit bias however the response I received was
052disappointing and frankly Unbecoming of an official that is appointed to serve the public the email I received from the board contains several troubling elements that I'd like to bring your attention first accusation of threats they stated in quote in your latest email you threatened that my lack of response will cause you to assume that I was not being genuine this is both a mischaracterization of my community communication and a grossly unfounded accusation labeling me as aggressive the email rep repeatedly referred to my tone as aggressive stating the aggressive tone of the email you sent indicated to me that I should avoid meeting you personally under any circumstance this is an unfair and this is an unfair and subjective interpretation of my my attempt to engage in civil discussion dismissive attitude they wrote my goodness I
053am a retired educator and educational policy maker who applied to be a free source of of policy expertise to help Cen City Schools this statement comes across as condescending and dismissive of my legitimate concerns and their history is observed in the post of presenting this topic to their students refusal to engage the email stated I do not want to meet with you on a personal level and no offer to set up a meeting was intended this demonstrated an unwillingness to engage with parents which is a fund fundamental responsibility of a school board member redirect communication they suggested I share my thoughts of our discussion and consent items with my Western Precinct representatives and this is nothing more than an attempt for the member to avoid direct communication and accountability for their actions after this exchange
054I expect I requested the board to address this issue but you know about but it wasn't about the Facebook post they said it was about the Facebook post but it's not about that this is about the lack of respect and contempt a member of the school board displayed towards a parent with a legitimate concern falsely accusing me of threatening them and labeling me as aggressive as appointed official Schoolboard members have a duty to be accessible respectful and responsive to all constituents regardless of perceived differences in opinion this member's actions fell well short of these expectations and standards that citizens of picosen expect from those appointed to serve our children in closing I'm asking the school board to reaffirm its commitment to open transparent and respectful communication with all members of our community and to hold
055one another accountable to the standard of decency we as parents expect from board members because remember although the school board Is Not Elected by the citizens they are accountable to the citizens not to the city council and not to the superintendent thank you mam chair the next speaker is Keith F from Willis Court welcome wait for there we go I just wanted to thank the school board uh in particular Dr R Who unfortunately is not here tonight um for allowing me to be part of the playground that was built at the elementary school I did an inspection on the the playground back in 22 and then 23 and then another update this year um and I think I addressed the school board last year saying that the playground at the elementary school definitely needed some
056more activities to keep the children engaged and then Dr R went out and found a bunch of money uh and was able to get I was a little disappointed when I found out that he had to leave before it was done I hope he gets to come back uh and a chance to play on it he's about the right size for it anyway um he anyway uh it's been it's been real fun watching it I fortunately was gone I went down there before it was finished and got to see the pieces going in and I can't imagine how they do that um and then when I come back the first day back I got a notice from Mr Andrew saying that it was done I said well I can't I'm kind of out of the
057country but I did come back and the first night back I went down to look at it and and I asked a specialist that was down there about this tall and asked him what what he thought of the playground that was great I said good I'm glad to see that so it's excellent uh example it's even better than I thought it was going to be um hopefully it'll be enough for the students and maybe sometime we'll be able to get um some more swings out there for the swing set I also wanted to to thank the school board and whoever put the spark together was for giving me this nice umbrella um if if it hasn't been shared yet I I sent to Mr Roberts uh a picture of me when we were on our
058trip we went to Ireland and to Scotland and to Wales and to England and I said surely there's going to be a place where I'm going to need this and there was one uh and that I can stand in front of that item and take a picture of it and pass it on so hopefully he'll share that with you it's a structure you may uh have seen in in books and stuff like that it's about 5,000 years old and I'd like to think i' last that long you stand there and you look at these stones that were put together by people that I don't know what they were thinking uh other than let's build this thing and then we look at the playground you think well that's nothing compared to what they put together but
059thank you for the for the uh umbrella uh I put it to good use cuz it did rain that whole day uh as it always does in England it seems like but thank you again for my being able to participate in that and I'm gladly inspect them next year but now that you got them up and run you don't need me anymore so thank you very much thank you okay moving forward with our consent agenda Dr Burbage yes tonight for the consent agenda we have five items um we have approval of financial reports we have authorization to change appropriation and to accept and expend funds in accordance with attached request we have approval of personnel action approval of minutes for August's regular meeting work session and special called closed meeting and then lastly approval of
060design in absence of division superintendent is there a motion so move is there a second second any questions discussion comments M Carol will you please call for the vote ice CH Burbage I Dr Bartlett I Mr Duos I Mr Dr Goodell I Miss Jones I Mr Maxwell I chair Martin I vote is 70 passes okay thank you other matters for consideration yes uh I'd like to make a motion um oh sorry we're going to do that b let's see go ahead is there a motion to for item a under matters for consideration here I uh move that we uh uh approve the proclamation for national school lunch week and bowling prevention month is there a second second questions or comments Miss car we please call for the vote Vice chair Burbage I Dr Bartlett I
061Mr dubos I Dr Goodell I Miss Jones I Mr Maxwell I chair Martin I I vote passes 70 thank you so now I'd like to make a motion for cons to consider uh Mr Maxwell for approval uh to be a school board member to represent the school board on the pcps division safety team there a second second comments or questions do you accept the mo the I I accept Okay the nomination before we vote I think that's probably important okay M Carol you please call for the vote Vice chair Burbage I Dr Bartlett I Mr duot I Dr gadell I Miss Jones I Mr Maxwell I chair Martin I vote passes 70 thank you we'll move to Communications and other Matters by the school board and superintendent Mr Nagi we'll start with you can you
062repeat that one more time I'm sorry do you have your did you get updates to give today oh yes I do okay well now would be your turn to give those updates I'm sorry no don't be sorry it's your first meeting we're happy to hear those up now thank you shall I stand up there no sir from your seat is perfect thank you uh from the primary school at picosen primary school we have jumped right in we have spent our first couple of weeks building classroom routines creating our classroom communities reviewing our schoolwide expectations getting a big jump on math and other content areas we have been doing many Hands-On activities since day one which is why it is so important to have your child at school every day unless there are too sick last
063week we began our literacy instruction using our new hmh into reading materials students and teachers are really getting the hang of these new routines and the new materials we are especially thrilled to use the my book resources as they are filled with vibrant illustrations of each child and their own copy to follow along with as the teacher reads we are also working to complete our fall literacy screener for first and second graders kindergarten and prechool will be in October the results from these screeners help us inform our instruction and Ensure that we are intervene intervening and with struggling readers in the areas for which they need the most help this Saturday we dedicated our nurse Barbara K rigin's Memorial Pavilion to our big playground on our big playground this Outdoor Learning space has already been
064used and will continue to be used for students and staff to enjoy the outdoors while they learn eat and enjoy time together in a cool and Shady spot we thank again all who donated money for this Pavilion our PPS PTO and school board for raising the funds and working with contractors and Blue Water builders for constructing this awesome space please come visit can our back to school nights are September 23rd for PK and kindergarten and September 24th for 1 and 2 grade these evenings are for parents only as you will spend time in the classrooms learning about all things PPS and about your child's daily routines and instruction also coming up in first week of October will be our fall book fair stay tuned for more information about our family night events there will be
065something for everyone from the elementary school the new school Year is off to a great start at the Cen Elementary School our students and staff have been staying in the green zone by making respectful responsible and resourceful Behavior choices to be the best in their school our positive office referrals are being acknowledged every day and classes are earning bull bucks collectively for positive class Behavior throughout the building Mrs grisco and Mrs lamb met with each grade level to review schoolwide expectations in our positive behavior assemblies classroom teachers are starting their second week of using the new hmh into reading curriculum we are grateful for our teachers who worked on curriculum writing for reading and math over the summer grade levels are meeting weekly to review assessments unit plans and lesson plans to prepare for using
066the new curriculum beginning of year assessments are starting this week as well third grade students who are new to Virginia or received an invitation to Summer Academy will be given the new vs literacy assessment which was forly known as PS pal all of our third fourth and fifth graders are taking the reading and math diagnostic assessments through exact path these diagnostic assessments take the place of the Virginia sgas our teachers will use student performance to determine instructional Focus points we are also enjoying the new playground that opened in the back of the school this new playground has a lot of climbing options and students are having fun with it Miss barns our PE teacher is also preparing daily small group game options for students during recess we are excited to to have our SCA student
067council Association up and running in the coming weeks we look forward to the elections and the service projects our students will work on for the school we also have information coming soon about K Kids Battle of the books and the great computer challenge we look forward to a great year at PES from the middle school picosa middle school is in full swing our students have completed Diagnostic and student growth assessments for the state in English and in math they have also participated in three fire drills two Intruder drills evacuation drill safety is key our students are collecting Golden Bull tickets for demonstrating our schoolwide expectations of being respectful acting responsibly and building resilience the first Allin bul teque will be held during lunches on Thursday September 26th this is a school store where students are
068able to redeem Golden Bull tickets for prizes after school club started uh meeting this week in student council officer elections will take place next week we encourage all students to get involved PMS parents are encouraged to view the back to school videos on each teacher's canvas page if they have not already done so to learn important information pertaining to each class and finally the high school the Coos in high school is off to a fantastic start for the 2024 to 2025 school year our one lunch initiative is already proving to be a great success offering students more flexibility and opportunities to connect our freshmen have acclimated to the building in a very positive manner taking advantage of all the offerings of one lunch we're excited to announce that several new clubs are in the pipeline
069including the Pokemon video game club and the stem Club these clubs are generating a lot of enthusiasm can't wait to see what they achieve this Wednesday September 18th at 6 p.m. in the Forum the school counseling department will be hosting senior family night this event is a great opportunity for seniors and their families to get important our Athletic program is off to a winning start this season we're celebrating success in football field hockey golf sailing volleyball and cross country after two exciting Road victories we look forward to welcoming the community to our first home football game this Friday night come out and cheer uh band and cheerleaders uh are bringing the energy to the field well we also want to give a special shout out to Mrs Villa Senor and Mrs Miss wicker for hosting
070a fantastic art lesson uh featuring guest artist Steve Prince from the musell Museum of Art our students are currently working on a community art project that will be displayed at the musell and we are excited to see if to see it come to life PHS would like to thank the Exchange Club and their volunteers for this updated Freedom Shrine installed in the media Sy we will be planning a short dedication ceremony and look forward to sharing photos of the updated Freedom Shrine with the community finally we're looking forward to hosting Homecoming on October 11th and 12th Mark your calendars for all things picosen High be sure to check out the island times for the latest updates and news thank you Mr Lami Mr Maxwell thank you I just want to start by thanking um all
071the staff and uh operations team for a successful kickoff to the school year um smooth start as a parent so I'm sure the staff may disagree it may not have all been smooth but from my perspective everything looked great um also want to give a special thank you to Mr tillet and uh the school administrative staff for hosting us as we did a tour this past Thursday got to see all for Theos school system schools as well as a tour of the New Horizons facility I was beyond impress um as a as a 2004 graduate it's been about 20 years or more since I've been in many facilities so it's great to see the improvements and and meet the staff working there Dr Goodell U I want to do welcome AJ to board um you
072got your first meeting out of the way so now now you know the ropes I wanted to thank Mr childis and Mr Ingram for their service and their Insight over the years uh I also wanted to thank Ry and the administration for uh forging ahead with the dual enrollment and acceleration I know I kind of been a thorn in your side a little bit from from day one on a lot that stuff but it's good to see it coming to fruition it's part of the accountability to help there but it's going to help a lot I'm really looking forward to see what we come up with on the other side of that initiative with the employment and the service and the other things where you can do um you know High School is an exciting
073time for these students and getting ready for the next step is is is huge and I think these are all Dr Bartlett thank you um I had the U opportunity to go tour that Mr Maxwell reference to visit all the schools Horizons and it was a it was really wonderful tour um even though they hadn't barely they haven't even made a month yet in school um the primary school it was uh full already of student work posted everywhere really print Rich environment which was impressive um at the high school it was my first exposure to one lunch and they showed us where this happens and it it just it looks it looks like a really forward modern work space for people to exchange ideas I think it's a great a great process to be using
074there on the elementary school the pictures of that playground it looked pretty good didn't it it did not do it justice to meet that that new equipment face to face is it's beautiful I wanted to get on it I really did it was really nice and the Middle School um that's the first time I'd been in the Middle School s and the renovation is seamless I if you had not pointed it out to me I probably I probably wouldn't have noticed it so we finished up at New Horizons and I also um since the last time we met had the opportunity to attend my first board trustees meeting for New Horizons and um there it's an fantastic opportunity I hope that lots of students will participate and I did get some figures which will I
075guess key into our Readiness index for that you were talking about earlier with the high school um our for the Governor's School we our applications went up um and by nine and um they were all accepted every single applicant was accepted so that's that's fantastic for CTE we had 65 accepted and um 49 accepted their acceptance so I know that's a gap but that's still nine more than participated last year so that'll feed right into the Readiness index and so it seems like everything's going swimmingly I really enjoyed my board uh tour and the trustees thanks thank you Miss Jones I Echo a lot of these sentiments um and also a thank you to Mr Ingram and Mr Childress for their years of dedicated Service uh welcome to AJ great job at your first meeting
076I loved your quote in honor of Constitution Day very very well done um also to to Echo Dr Goodale's comments I'm very excited about the opportunities I think that will be offered to our PHS students with the college now or um if that's its final name or whatever it turns into looking like um really excited to learn more about that as it's created I think that's going to really be a positive thing for our students and finally uh the PES playground does look great I have to agree and the PPS Pavilion does as well the dedication ceremony for the Pavilion was just very touching it was a beautiful tribute to a wonderful woman who I knew personally and I just know our students will enjoy both outdoor enhancements for years to come so another final
077thank you to all um for the tremendous work that went into both of those um just I think they're going to be great thank you Mr deos want to uh Echo everybody's um comments and uh really just want to make uh one one statement and that is uh thank a teacher um coming from a household and a family of teachers um unless you've been in that or that you're a teacher yourself um the effort that goes into being a teacher is is phenomenal uh so if you see a teacher thank a teacher please Dr Burbage yes uh I'd like to I had a chance on last week to go by the primary school in Reed for some first graders and I got there a little bit early uh just to so I could beat the
078buses in and I got to tell you that uh Miss KAS and her staff are very dedicated to making sure that our kids get into school safely are happy I mean there was there was some strong emotions from some kids getting off the bus but the kids they made it in and they made it to their classrooms I had a wonderful time reading in uh some reading to some first graders um it was interesting to see some of the curriculum that they're using and the kids were all engaged and it was it was very informative to me uh I'd also like to thank Mr chis and Mr Ingram for all of their years of service um I learned a lot from both of them um so your your dedication is thank you for your dedication
079to our I'd also like to thank uh Miss over and all the work she did to get the Pavilion put in at the primary school it is gorgeous um it looks really good um that will be used for years to come and hopefully some of the kiddos will ask well who was Mr gin and that's where the story will come um she was a great woman um Transportation uh word out to the community we need substitute bus drivers um you know our bus drivers they get sick have to you know doctor's appointments whatnot if you're considering it please sign up uh and lastly uh want to just congratulate all our teachers and staff for the assessment and the high performance we our entire School District did um you guys are doing a great job thank
080you thank you I Echo the sentiments of my board members I will say thank you to both Mr childis and Mr Ingram for their service um it's not easy uh but they did they did it valiantly and we thank them for that um teachers administrators there aren't enough words in in my vocabulary to thank you for what you do day in and day out out um I recently had a child that couldn't go to school for a week and you know I felt that so I feel you on one little really small granular level but I really uh can't say thank you enough for what you do it is reflected not just in our scores but in the accomplishments of our students and so you know if there a takeaway please let it be that
081we see you and we know you're working hard and it's not just the score and we appreciate you thank you my turn I guess um being last of course you um most of the things have been said so I also Echo many of the comments made tonight by our our board um I would like to uh also thank um uh Mr Ingram and Mr childis for their their service on our board having worked with them for for some time and I appreciated uh very much their um medication and um uh commitment to picosen schools um also uh we are now entering week four of this year already and um we're off to a great start but great schools are made up of great people and um I'm uh in our buildings often and have the
082opportunity to pop into classrooms and already we're seeing um incredible learning taking place the kids are happy it's a they our schools are joyous places and um it's a pleasure to have the opportunity to to to visit um these uh extraordinary uh locations that our kids get to thrive and so I want to thank our staff from every single member all 305 people who dedicate their time and energy to uh making um these experiences for our young people so special um and lastly um and also welcome AJ did a spectacular job tonight um I had the opportunity on Saturday to to see the uh to participate in the dedication of the Barbara Riggins Pavilion and um Barbara uh was um one of the very first people that I had the opportunity to meet when I
083came here I met her I think my second day and um she immediately welcomed me to picosen and um was always kind and helpful caring uh to every everybody she met and um I miss her um and it was a very special time to be able to see that outdoor space I know she loved the outdoors and um she would be proud of that place so um and it was nice to see her family show up for that uh wonderful dedication and thanks to uh Miss Overby for pushing that through she did a great job thank you all thank you is there any other material for Board review Miss Carol chair Martin we have no more material for review okay is I'd like to entertain a motion for a closed session some moved is there
084a second second so motion for Clos meetings pursuant to section 2.2-inch appointees or employees of the school board or for discussion consideration or interview of prospective candidates for employment we will um go to close session oh I'm sorry Miss Carol we please call for the vote that would help thanks mik verbage hi Dr Bartlett hi Mr Duos hi Dr goodal I Miss Jones I Mr Maxwell I chair Martin I passes 70 thank you e e