001good evening good evening good evening and welcome to to the meeting Public School school board for June 3rd 2024 Madam cler M yes Miss White pres Miss Gibson here Mr St here M here Dr Harris Mohamed pres here M paage pres Miss Dixon here you have the thank you we will now have our translations for this anoun good evening good evening oh there good evening everyone we do have interpretation available today from English and Spanish if anyone ins said we also have interpretation available through zoone joining us virtu and I will make this inish [Music] thank you thank you now we will have our Pledge of Allegiance Follow by silence to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and for thank you
002we are now at item 1.04 approve the minutes of the May 14th and May 20th 2024 school board meetings Dr Harris muhammd I'm move that we approve the minutes of the May 14th and May 20th 2024 School Board meetings second it's been moved by Dr Harris Mohamed seconded by Miss Gibson gibon Miss Dixon sorry Dixon to approve the minutes of the May 14th and May 20th 24 school board meetings miss here yes Miss White yes Miss Gibson yes Mr s yes M Ry yes here Mohamed yes Miss bur yes Miss Paige yes Miss Dixon yes motion has thank you we are now at item 1.05 adoption of the agenda all right Miss White and then miss Gibson white um I would like to amend the agenda to discuss uh to discuss to add a discussion
003on board governance training on the board business to the board business it's up to Miss White in terms of anything else added to the request to amend the agenda um yes I want to add on to discuss on board training we need to vote on it um we need to vote on a uh whether we chose bfba or um yes I ask are you okay with adding other people's amendments to your oh sure okay all right Miss Gibson Miss Paige and then Dr Harris thank you madam chair um I did have one question before I proceed with the Amendments I wanted to discuss um the reelection list that was also on our agenda left um in our last meeting and I was just wondering what the difference is um as we discussed last time we
004are doing the re-election list in phases so this is the next phase on emploees thank you my request is to pull U so I have several requests one is that we pull um the reelection list out of the consent agenda and then also um the uh program of studies and then I'd also request that we include the revise the language in item 5.02 do to specify a discussion of the transportation audit as well so receive for action or discuss uh Transportation audit and then receive for Action the audit committee Charter audit Charter and job [Music] discretion what was the other the third item I had but full 605 from I have ADD discussed Transportation audit um to change the language in 5.02 mention one more um also to pull out 6.02 the reelection L okay
005thank you I'm guessing those we go to business um 6.02 yes I would like to add to the agenda to discuss board communication under board visits yes ma'am I just need Clarity um in a few few meetings ago we voted to work with the Council of great City Schools do we need to have a motion to resend that motion and then make a new motion if that's the preference of the board I'm I'm needing Clarity because we're on record approving one entity so to keep it clean I think the attorney is G sorry um I hear oh no I said that's what okay um I also would like to um include on the amendment agenda a followup status on on the contract status um what is going on with the contract employees contract put Clarity
006this would you you would like that on the board business or moved earlier where would you like that I agree with that board business okay yes no that's fine I did want to note um I believe it was the board's desire to also discuss the other a gred yes and that is what's going to be my next recommendation um action item just Business board business first read okay uh so we are going to include 8.0 well will just add it to the home list of things add to business we'll put Arthur Ash Mar City so right now I have added 8.04 to board business to discuss governance training 8.05 to discuss board Communication underboard business and I have at 8.06 the author agreement well I have contract update auth I'm sorry you're right and before
007that was board communication discussion of contract okay right um Madam Clark do we need to go ahead and yes also I just want the clarification I want to um make sure that when we get to other information if one of these items I need to uh bring forward can I do it right then to bring out or do I need to make a motion to put it on umad and pull it out pull it out right there I would like to pull out uh to receive update on will Fox Elementary add business as well yes okay now M you need to go ahead and talk about uh session yes just add that item01 to amend that statement okay so we will amend the close session agenda to include consultation with legal councel and briefings by
008staff members or Consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation or such consultation or briefing and an open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture the public body and consultation with legal council employed or retained by a public body regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such council is authorized by V code 2.2 3711 and eight seven and eight okay of that I don't know that the stream is [Music] working yes clarification um Personnel is a part of the Clos session thank you are we good Mr s Dr Harris thank you um Mr C is looking through the agenda again I don't see where um there is a discussion for summer school plans is that under the program of studies or under no ma' it's not there we provided an
009update a couple meetings ago but nothing so nothing said nothing then that school is closed graduation occurred last week so okay can we make sure that that's updated on the website yes it is okay uh M to read all of that or do you have I can read it back if you be great thank all right Miss White has moved to amend the agenda initially to include the item 814 under board business a discussion board governance training um in addition she allowed for the inclusion of an item 8.05 discussion on board communication item 8.06 discussion on the status of employee contracts 8.07 discussion on the author Ash agreement as well as to move item 10.03 up receive an update on William Fox Elementary School to the last item under board business as well as an
010amendment to item 12.01 close session to include consultation with legal council I'm not going to read the entire thing um I believe that was all of the amendments to the agenda a second second second okay so move Miss second by Dr Harris Mohamed to accept the agenda as M yes white yes Miss Gibson yes Mr soya yes Miss Ry yes Dr Harris Muhammad yes M bur yes Miss P yes Miss Dixon yes Mo pass unan thank you now we will vote the agenda to accept the agenda as amended yes need a motion I move that we accept the agenda as amended been by Dr Harris Mohamed second Dixon as accept the agenda as amended yes Miss White yes Miss Gibson yes Miss yes Miss liy yes Dr Harris Mah yes SP yes M paage yes
011Miss Dixon yes motion pass thank you we are now at item 2.01 receive Proclamation for lgbtq plus PR thank you madam chair and good evening everyone we are delighted to share the following proclamation in honor of lgbtq plus prid whereas lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer pride month commemorates the events of Stonewall in in June of 1969 and is a time to celebrate the lgbtq plus community and whereas as in the 55 years since the lgbtq plus Community has made significant strides towards equality acceptance and inclusivity promoting social justice and human rights for all Americans and whereas RPS Embraces and celebrates the contributions and achievements of lgbtq plus individuals throughout history including those made by our lgbtq plus students and staff members and whereas our collaborates and partners with lgbtq plus Community organizations dedicated to
012the well-being of lgbtq plus students in Richmond and encourages the formation of student clubs to provide support and resources for the lgbtq plus community at RPS and whereas we affirm our commitment to combating discrimination Prejudice and violence toward lgbtq plus students and staff by fostering an environment that is not just inclusive of but Embraces all students and staff identities now therefore be a proclaimed that Richmond Public Schools recognizes June 2024 AS lgbtq Plus pride month and calls upon all schools and community members to join in this celebration thank you we are now on our public information session M conduct of speakers speakers shall St their full and legal name prior to addressing the school board speakers will address the school board as a whole rather than individual school board members the division superintendent school board
013attorney Clerk or any other staff school board will listen to comments or will not respond during the public information period persons appearing before the school board will not be allowed to one campaign for public office two promote private business ventures or three use forany or B language if the community members comments during the public information session relate to school-based issues the chair May refer that individual to Public Schools administration for one-on-one consultation and followup it's important that all committee members who wish to participate in the public information period abide by the guidelines set forth in this policy refusing to abide by the policy will result in the forp of the remaining time that has been allotted to the speaker community members May Express their views in writing in Li of any oral presentation comments received
014in writing of an or presentation will not be read during the meeting but shall be posted to the Schoolboard platform board dos thank you we have six registered speakers I will call them in order um please make sure when you approach the podium you sign your full name uh and then State your full name prior toor public comment the pre registered speakers we have our number one Mary prasham two Denine Clark three Kamaya Williams fouron shim five nily sarez six James Smitha good evening my name is Mary and I'm here tonight um as a public school employee um really not confus use more um conflicted I guess would be the word that I use um as the manager of the custodial department and I work at facilities um it is disheartening to think that for
015raises we have to come for the school board and bab and we get contracts and our contracts don't have the raises it it blew my mind I was returning from my mother's death and going 20 hornet nest because my teamw work my team members depend on me to convey information and I sat in six collective bargaining meetings and there a lot of things I understand money is not one of them and when you sit at a table and you tell people all people in the bargaining unit will receive a 20% raise So 20% of $10,000 is ,000 that's what I think I'm not sure what kind of magical math took place but if you tell employees they're going to receive a raise they expect the raise to be added to their current salary and that
016is not happened yet custodians were decompressed last year so what is the reason their their contracts were not correct I I just like I I'm I'm at lost for words in 38 years I never never 2% raise it was on our contract one time 5% ra it was on that contract on time and here we are some kind of like different math I'm not sure what happened but I know the per the people the teamers who represent us asked three times will everybody in this bargaining unit receive a 20% rate yes will everybody in this B unit yes that's what we were told we got contracts and not just us I know there are other departments who did as well but like it's been two weeks and we still don't have contract thank you thank
017you my name is Denine Clark um I a bus operator for public school since 2015 2016 I'm here to speak on behalf of not just myself for all of the dedicated working bus drivers who most times don't get home until after 8:00 P.M and we have to meet work at 6:30 7:00 in so understand has a list of about 15 to 20 drivers who are being audited supposed to be falsifying time emment is St for misappropriation of funds bus drivers cannot approve any time we clock in and clock out contractor sh anything outside of that is written down on the time she into the supervisor um something was spoke on uh I was not matching our GPS's we are always on different buses depending on the circumstances we can be driving somebody else's route and
018we will we will use their bus to do that rout the bus may break in we're on different buses just at the end of the school year the last week so we can have going foures um we double trips and activ are optional so not every driver has to do them so for the ones that are doing the ones that are being audited we're doubling trips we're doubling activities sometimes four and five activities um for the driv that are getting basically penalized we are the drivs that are available all the time Monday through Sunday November 1st a memo was sent out stating all will be two hours per program per of Transportation before now activities were two hours some were two and a half and some were three the beginning of the school year um
019the schools would have to be called in order to figure out how much they were paying the drivers to do the activities after finding that out the drivers are told then when the program starts and how much time will be paid for their activity it was said that basically going B off our GP look like we're still in time once again we can't you can't Bas off our GPS because we use so many different lesss um also I want to speak on time beinged because we are still on RPS regular I feel like I feel like it's unfair to us because we here as drivers doing anything extra so to take time from us because we're doing what you ask us because it's still on your clock you agree these schools to have your buses
020at their activities at a certain time whether it's on your clock or not so that shouldn't fall on us thank you thank you next speaker hello okay first of all I would like to thank the school board for their assistance as important with this issue I'm R public school bus driver I've been employed since 1999 I started as a when I started my son was months old he was weeks old now he's 25 um but that being said we got the first person to see these the last person to see the okay recently an auditor was asked if he had done his due diligence a suspected overtime misused by the the drivers he responded was yes I don't believe that to be accurate okay just to give you the board a brief run down have
021transportation is rain okay RPS is the only District the transport these students anywhere anytime any day Monday through Sunday yes we do run on Sunday okay um we are contractor and we are out how how does that work we are contractor for 4 hours in the morning 4 hours in the evening in the midday is when we do cbis workshops in the midday we may get paid three hours four hours in that midday um sometimes we're sitting at these sites for these F need students to come out sometimes we're picking up extra students okay um I've had the same activity since I've been here I'm a w par driver I'm a Virginia High School athletic driver okay I drive for um so pocket r on pay two hours for per activity um I've also been
022called to do three and four activi tonight why it's a attendance problem our former director our former director handed our 8 Hour contract to the majority of these bus drivs okay Rich public school has an abundance of overtime that's not the dver St okay we transport these students any and everywhere so you give a abundance of drivers 8 Hour contracts and they were mandated to always have 6-hour contracts they going to do what automatically throw time so we have drivers that are out have three or four drivers that are out at a school site that mean that if I'm a driver at that site and two drivers are out at that site I have to clean the whole school out who else going to do we do it I get home3 sometime 10 o00 night
023okay now as I stated earlier when I started my son was 12 old okay and I'm still here he's 25 so that's my dedications to RPS I also drove wck and Pop I was PID two hours whether it's a practice is been put into um play so let's Define policy and practice okay a policy versus practice a policy is just a practice that has been formally presented by management or put into practice okay so as being stay the driver are not doing anything undermining or deceiving the system it was not out that this a contracts were handed out is not an attendance issue it's not a driver issue it's an attendance issue okay so we suggest that the drivers that are not with good attendance drop their contacts their contracts back to 6 hours keep
024everybody else at eight the overtime is still going to be there Miss Williams thank you Miss Williams did you also state your name yeah good evening I believe I have five minutes some representative I also brought some handouts I brought 11 I so I'm just following on what Kimia had just mentioned Know believe that there's a narrative out here right now about this audit on the transportation department where they are pretty much pointing the finger at what the drivers are not doing and that is why the overtime has hyped up re recently so I uh I just want to be here to give you our position as a union and set the record straight hopefully um so I have a handout that I brought with me as Kimia mentioned this is uh not because drivers
025are not doing what they're supposed to be doing the practices that the auditor mentioned has been the same normal practice of this Administration before this Administration uh it's been there for years they've been doing the same thing over and over and over again before they had the electronic clockin they actually had to write on a clipboard when they came to work and sign in that way and they were automatically signed out even prior to the system and the two hours have been implemented and these two hours for these activity runs have been implemented because anything less was not incentivizing the drivers to actually do the work so these things have been in play for years what has changed however is what Miss Kimia just mentioned which is a majority of the drivers used to be
026six- hour drivers meaning they were guaranteed six hours a day and then when they came back from the pandemic I believe it was at the request of the prior director that we need to up those hours to help recruit drivers so I was also told that this board uh voted on it and passed it and to allow The 8 Hour contracts to be handed out lot of drivers told me that Keon I came to work and I was forced to sign an 8 Hour contract when I used to be six hours uh prior to that um so that's how this thing started and I did bring some quick little examples on that handout to show you uh how that would actually affect and inflate the payroll and also inflate the overtime uh it's a very
027simple illustration so if Mary Works used to be six-hour driver at $10 is it okay those things get hand it out thank you very simp and everything makes sense here and also what I'm told is that when they came back from the pandemic a lot of the jobs that they were doing were also contracted out to another Contracting party such as first student and another van service that took away the ability for our drivers to run those routes so you gave them more hours and then you took away work from them and then now an audit happens and all the fingers are being pointed at my drivers so I just want to be here to kind of clarify some of that as you can see Mary who is a 6-h hour driver at $10 an
028hour with 10 activity runs per week okay one activity run per se starts at two two hours of pay for every activity run so if she does 6 hours five days that's 30 hours 10 activity runs that's 20 hours that's 50 hours total so she will get 40 hours at $10 an hour and she will also receive uh 10 hours at $15 an hour which is a total of 550 that's what she used to make now she got an 8 Hour contract and she probably got a 10% rate so I put in the little Dollar in it okay so now eight hours a day same same thing one activity Run 2 hours day 10 activity runs per week eight hours a day 5 days a week now she puts in 40 hours now the 20
029hours of activity is now all 20 hours overtime which is not paid at 16 a half now doing the same thing that she did nothing changed except her contract from 8 hours she just got a 40% increase that's how the spike happened in that audience right after they came back from the pandemic not because they didn't do this and they didn't do that not because they didn't come back and clock out that's been the pr practice for a very long time and all the stuff got contracted out the extra work that they were supposed to be doing I wanted to clear the clear the air when it comes to The Narrative of how these drivers are not doing this and how these drivers are not doing that look they're not labor law experts they're not
030accountant experts they're traffic law experts they know how to deal with traffic laws and they know how to deal with children and their parents and the school administrators that's what they're good at they're not good at everything else it's not their fault oh excuse me I don't mean that okay okay let me take that back sorry about that m b um but at the end of the day they're going to do what Their management is telling them to do and I'm not here to point fingers and I'm not here to point blame thank you I'm just here to clear the air thank you Mr thank you good evening everyone I just want to make sure that I have yes good evening everyone my name is l Suarez um I am I live in the E
031district and I'm the president of the richan Education Association and before I get started with my comment I want to let the bus drivers and the facility staff know that Richmond Education Association stands in solidarity with you all um I want to provide some updates for you all uh with ongoing matters with contracts negotiations and other issues affecting workers we're still waiting to finalize the CBA for office Associates uh we reached an agreement in early March with RPS it is June now we've gone back and forth with RPS HR and in relations to finalize this language um right now it should not take this long long because what we sent back was a just minor grammar or unclear terminology um that should only take a few minutes to fix export and send back to the
032Raa because we would love to ratify that with our members um on the issue of contracts many workers in our central office unit school-based office Associates transportation and custodial departments received inacurate contracts on May 20th that did not reflect raises stent increases and decompression thankfully due to a lot of Outreach by work as well as re reaching out to HR the workers received updated information that an addendum with corrected information would be out by June 21st and workers wouldn't have to sign the incorrect contracts while I'm glad that this information came out this entire situation was avoidable had the powers to be been better prepared and trained for negotiations and collective bargaining in general the former RPF Chiefs oversee in this process last year did not have issues like this when the first D were
033implemented at that time even more workers with different titles and coming from four different bargaining units received their contracts we had a few issues last year surely but they were quickly fixed and the errors were for individual workers not for entire units the unnecessary stress and panic that issu an inaccurate contracts caused so many many workers on May 20th is really unacceptable people were freaking out and right so and RPS can't continue to treat working people this way as a district we're glad to have the first public hearing for grievance on the books and we look forward to resolving that and the other grievances with the school board as the decision makers and final judge our mediation for the central office unit is moving along we've completed two of the required four sessions we've reached
034tenative agreements on salary and all issues related to the whole unit we're now only stuck again on American Sign Language interpreters the 6 RPS AFL interpreters have send their contracts back to HR and the board chair with edits to clarify their contracts RPS HR issued them contracts that violated the landu in their continuing contract from last year we we have mediation again on June 18th and Rea will be included in DEA attorney cath as part of our team for that meeting we are confident that pass contracts labor law the collective bargaining resolution and state code align with our concerns Insurance Z and heart of heing students have access to high quality interpretation through their committed interpreters who know their legal and educational rights remains a priority for Rea lastly I like to address the elephant
035in the room retaliation it's happening we hear from members on a weekly basis about this and we're starting to hear from leadership changes that are likely the result of workers speaking out and refusing to normalize toxic behavior from their supervisors at the same time we have capable honest and collaborative leaders that are blackfall in RPS the question is why why don't we want leaders that are beloved by their staff and families lead in our schools we also hear stories of qualified staff wanting to move up into administrative or supervisory roles that just never seem to get a position or we have staff that desperately want to transfer out of schools but never seem to be able to leaving to further feelings of being blackfall we need to bring all of this to light there's Culture
036of Fear in this District I know we want folks to come forward but look what happens when they do I know you're are slated to hear a presentation from the chief of HR tonight about creating a culture of speaking out in RPS I sincerely hope that can work and ARA would love to be a part of that but currently look what happens when you do speak up for yourself your co-workers or students Injustice and fair treatment you are know what's going on you hear these comments you read these anonymous Facebook posts I bet some of you have the trust of employees and hear their stories firsthand you know in your hearts people are not making this up I really believe that and we can say we won't tolerate retaliation all we want folks can say
037to support the Rea or their Pro Union but actions speak louder than words it's clear to workers who is on their side and who is not it's also clear to the RPS Community our student and their families who's fighting for the schools Rich students deserve thank you thank you next speaker how you doing I'm James R Smith uh I've been before the board in the past just like to recap a few things air organization lobbied the general assembly and city council to get additional funding for alls more we had negotiations with the principles system principles and directors this bull approved a 0% increase for this year it uh you know your principles and assistant principles are on the front lines um this board is telling all of these people what they think about them and
038don't understand how you expect to retain the quality ones that you have they did agree in negotiations to decompress the directors look at the director's step raises they decreased them so now a director gets decompressed and instead of moving up in Pay they're moving down in Pay uh I was told today that there's assurance that they will red circle these people but then you'll be faced with another problem two people with the exact same amount of experience doing the same job getting two different pay rates are you going to Red Circle all at the highest rate you got or are you going to do it individually I'm sure it's going to be done individually I don't understand how you agreed to decompression and then your 2024 decompression rate is lower than the 2023 decompression rate
039um it's we feel very unfortunate very unfair but uh if that's the school board's choice to tell these people you get nothing for a raise you get decompressions but your salar is going down that's fine uh the one other issue I have is we have had some issues I'm trying to get meetings scheduled for and had heard nothing back and these meetings need to take place for the new year begins thank you for your time thank you next speaker good evening my name is Ann forer and I'm s District president and RPS teacher I'm also the vice president of the Rea but I am not speaking on of the Union tonight however as someone in a position of leadership I recognize I'm often presumed to be responsible for decisions and actions that are taken by
040the Union as the collective body of workers that's fine I'm a tough and honest person and I signed up for this um however with that said I am deeply troubled that the superintendent would accuse me of liel and demand I publicly apologize via email with his attorneys CED for an email I sent out to all Rea members with a petition and email campaign for work release for The Union president actions and initiatives taken by the union go through Democratic channels and processes um I think everybody on this board and the superintendent knows what it's like to assume responsibility individually for things that you can barely control collectively um to threaten me individually is shameful a younger version of myself would probably have been freaked out by such an accusation by someone who holds power over
041me however I've been through this before my supervisors retaliated against me in 2022 by transferring me away from a school Community I was deeply connected to because I was organizing with my co-workers to advocate for better conditions for myself and my students other teach reason I reached out to you all and the superintendent about our supervisor abuse of power and we had several meetings if I had known my rights then I would have known that I could have filed a retaliation grievance under the collective bargaining resolution however my transfer stuck and no public reconciliation or even acknowledgement of harm done ever occurred the supervisors who retaliated against me has now both left RPS or will soon leave I think this is a common Trend with other high ranking leaders in the district where exits are
042made quietly without any reconciliation um I'm an English teacher and so I think there is a relevant James Baldwin quote here not everything that is faced can be changed but nothing can be changed until it is faced I think there's a lot of ugliness that we refuse to face as a district in the summer of 20122 the stress and sadness of what RPS did to me left me in the worst place I've ever been in mentally it took a year of therapy a lot of personal reflection and ultimately reconnecting to my purpose as a teacher through my relationships with my students and their families that finally pulled me out of that depression the Flor and I and so many other member leaders in Rea chose to take on this unpaid timec consuming and often times
043perly taing work because we believe in this District our students their families and each other we support each other and pick up the slack when systems of government bureaucracy fail us in our students AR has done this for decades and past and will continue to do so in the future graning the union president work Rel is a simple gesture this board can take to acknowledge the invaluable work of the Rea as we've shared before retaliation and abuse of power continue to be problems in RPS workers need access to someone during the work day when difficult situations arrives at work someone who knows their struggles and has been there themselves it improves morale retention and ultimately the quality of work we perform for the children of the city so I implore you all for send Miss
044sw's termination and Grant the union president Work Release thank you you m chair thank you hello good evening and thank you uh for the chance to speak my name is Melody Winters I live in the eth district that is the same district where I work at hugenot high school the children in my neighborhood know me and I often get to say hello to them in the Halls at school as well as the streets um at my home I'm an American Sign Language interpreter and I'm here tonight to be very transparent and talk about the truth this is not easy for me last year I was at the shooting for hugan out High School I was at the front doors we have a tradition with our staff where we stand in rows and um you know
045high- five all the graduates and tell them great job and scream at the top of your WS if he me then you follow out the last graduate and when I did that's when shops were fired I pulled on the backs of graduation ropes and I pushed children down the stairs and I went back three times to get colleagues and get them downstairs I had worked at alria for over 10 years with a company by the name of spark and we had been there on stage every year at alria and the very first year we had a fire throw which did not go well and after that we had an evacuation plan in place and that training really helped me I didn't think that there could be anything more stressful than the close of school last
046year and I was looking forward to this year having peace and knowing where I would stand in the beginning year but then RPS took away my continuing contract I've been an employee at Rich public schools for 22 years I'm a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter I don't think a lot of people necessarily maybe know the new of that but it's not easy I have three National certifications I also have a master's degree at a national Hispanic University in California um in English language Learners uh a Masters in Education with a special certain English language Learners because American sign language is English as a second language I received the notice of appointment not continuing contract that means I can be fired with two weeks notice for any reason my six co-workers my five co-workers the
047six of us have not signed our contracts because we stand together and that we are asking RPS to please fix our contracts why why would you exclude the six of us from this and also it doesn't cost any money so why are you doing this I don't understand please I'm asking this board respectfully I I sent emails to you all please just fix her contracts and do the right thing we serve with death and her hearing children that love us thank you again thank you we got time one Pap scissors I one minute you take one minute thank you Charles Willis executive director of the United Community thisr I heard the young lady before me talking about how she was disappointed with the graduation and what happened and unfortunately young lady I come to commend
048Rich public schools for a successful graduation that you have had this year I you know I'm a community leader I'm a homicide victim Advocate my phone Wings consistently to know that through all of the graduations that was not one incident that I've gotten a call from that we had to deal with or we had to become First Responders or we had to do the things that we did last year if not uh the high schools also with our middle schools so I say to you all to superintendent thank you so much for the work to John your new security specialist I know Mr Beasley officer Beasley very well I know that you all are very diligently working to provide safety in our schools I see the new book bags down here that I'm excited about
049and then I want to say last but not least to my my good friend Mr G saw your welcome aboard you're making history uh and I'll tell you about it at another time if you're making history is glad to see you in place you're serving our board and our kids thank you so much and thank you all again for such a great successful graduation thank you next speaker good evening Mr superintendent distinguished members of the school board my name is Brian Payton I'm the president of teachers local 322 and initially I wasn't going to speak but I'm going to keep this very very important so as I sat here in the audience tonight and heard a lot of different compelling arguments I know it's a common theme and the theme is workers standing up advocating
050for fair treatment for digity for appreciation recognition stuff along those lines I also want to use my limited amount of time to talk about the fact that RPS is not corrected contracts to reflect the promis 20% pay increases now what's interesting about this and again I will be brief is on May 24th 2024 at exactly 1:48 p.m. there was an email that was sent out and a lot of the people in this room were on that email and I will just focus on one specific aspect of it in that email it affirmed that the 20% increase would take place and quote some may see even more once we place them on a corrected step uh on the corrected decompression schedules so there's an old saying that your Deeds should match your words sitting here in
051this audience tonight I have seen that there's clearly a lot of work that needs to be done and and being in a leadership position myself I don't necessarily EnV you in that task but I think you owe it to the children within this this great area but also to the people that are responsible for keeping them safe educating them keeping the facilities clean really making this thing run making this machine run and I've always been of the opinion as a proud father of an 8-year-old daughter that our children are our most precious resource one that we have to protect and invest in and hopefully with a little bit of luck prayer skill dedication we will watch that fruit grow thank you for your time thank youing public information session thank you to all the speakers
052all we are now at item 4.01 receive an update on car good evening board members with superintendent cameras we will have a ministration tonight so you want to go ahead and set up as a part of our ongoing commitment to prioritize care and safety for the students of Richmond City Public Schools as well as the staff families and this board um we're proud to share some updates with you on infrastructure Staffing as well as our RPS procedure many of those items are visible up front and available for review and use in all of our RPS schools we're happy to report that as of tomorrow June 4th all of our RPS secondary schools including our specialty school will have metal detector installed if this board recalls um as a part of our March fourth board meeting
053metal detector installation was proposed at our early at our elementary schools um this proposal was given mix perspective um the board as the board challeng just to go back and to review some additional strategies that we could exercise at our elementary level to ensure that we exercise safety and so tonight we'll have a demonstration um on the open gate no detectors followed by some additional discussions um and some additional proposals for our elementary school level and with that I'll hand it over to our demonstrative for tonight good evening we were invited I'm John with RC events John we were invited down by Mr Beasley here to demonstrate uh the CH open gate system uh these units have been implemented in in Rao County Public Schools um University of Virginia is looking to switch to these
054um Chad is currently your provider at your high schools and your middle schools um but the units that you use right now are what are considered their panels they look a little more invasive a little more obtrusive people don't like to walk through them they look a little scary but they the same things that are used at all of uh major airports throughout the world uh I would say 90% of the airports throughout the world use CH brand metal detectors and use the panels uh we have a great Business Partnership with this company uh they provide excellent products um we have tested other ones but in our honest opinion this is by far top of the line um the Simplicity of the machines the portability of the machines there's no trip hazards with these uh
055so students can just walk through like I said they're much more appealing to the eye than standard metal detectors so this weapons detection here I brought my kids with tonight uh sorry they're they're going to come through in a minute the beauty of these machines is students can walk through with backpacks all right the only thing that really causes issues going through these machines are re-ring binders um laptops the reason that is caused by that is everything here that is coming through has a heat signature so the manufacturer has been able to determine you know sizes of different items shapes of different items but the spine of a laptop unfortunately looks like a long knife much like an umbrella wood they don't go through very well either um three- ring binders it's not the rings
056on it it's a long spine that also gives that impression of what could be a weapon so they will set it all smaller three ring binders don't do it so the thinner ones they don't do it they've been able to figure that out so it's usually just a larger three- ring binders that do it so I'm going to bring my kids through here one at a time doesn't matter which one Aly sorry walk right through so we're we can open up this bag and see what we have in it you have a laptop in there I have a binder a binder pre binder let's take that one out Al you go ahead and come on through Tu her stand off to the side for me and she has a laptop she also has an iPad
057in there so that will set it off go ahead and take your iPad out and your laptop Tucker come on walk back through they work either direction doesn't matter so we take the finder out good to go Charlie come on through so this is my youngest so let's see what we have in here most people would see it's this it's not the water bottle they figured out the algorithm for the water bottle that's not setting it all so what else do we have in here we have a bunch of binders we're going to take that out I also brought a screwdriver and a level just in case you want to do some activities for us well that's a he has to come to my office so we won't put that in just go ahead and
058walk back through with the backpack and your water bottle now what he doesn't know is that he also has a lock in here but he doesn't know that right one more time just a water B go ahead walk so the algorithm is set so students are now bringing water bottles with them to school so they've been able to figure this out we have tested these they just Implement them in hrio elementary schools in his school in particular um but when we tested it students don't know that they're walking through they just think they're walking through something cool they they want to see it light up and do something fun and fancy and then when they realize that it doesn't do it they're a little disappointed and they move on with their day um Ally go
059ahead and walk through with what you have now so she took the laptop out no binders left in there but still was able to walk through with re Yeti and it doesn't set it all the purpose of this is for pace and throughput if we're stopping everybody and everything it takes a long time you get students off buses out of cars they're backed up uh so we don't want to do that so CH brand again I'm not a rep for CH I just used the product for the past seven years and love it and have a great relationship with them um but they're trying to develop things for through to get people in nobody wants to stand in mind at any of our events so and we use these at every concert every basketball game
060uh if you've pretty much been anywhere in the state of Virginia you've seen these machine in action um like I said I was down at my oldest daughter School of Tennessee they had these impl at the baseball stadium there people don't even notice them people just walk through get their tickets SC and go about their day when you see the big rectangle looks like a door frame people stop it's a little intimidating that's kind of the beauty of these it's it's not intimidating no one's scared of these just walk right through okay any questions anyone have go ahead Miss thank you for the um presentation sure um I have a couple question how far does this um heat sensor go down if she had like a bracelet or anklet on her leg would it reach
061it'll Pi it up Target so Al come on through again what they are taught in it's it's not the way we would necessarily teach but this is where they're going for REO schools go ahead and grab your laptop laptop comes out show them what they want you to do in your school we walk through them like this they walk through so they can go up and above that but down at the ankle it's going all the way to the steel toe boots will get picked up have weapon on your ankle it will get picked up um yeah but here as long as we can see the and nothing else fed up right over the top that's as high as you're going to get and um does there is there any indication on there that let
062you know if the heat sensor is about to go out no so it how long does what is the longevity of the heat sensor well these machines will run they run off the battery so there is no heat sensor it's a the Heat Signature gets picked up on the actual metal coming through these are you just have copper coils inside that are they'll never go out it's just copper wiring so you don't have to replace the batteries you'll have to replace the batteries essentially but these and I'll take this out real quick milwauke battery or any other brand battery uh high output battery so I'll put that back in so now it's going to reset it'll take probably 30 seconds for to reset and then we'll be right back running it normal operation and my
063last my last question would be you said this is top of the vine I'm looking at MoneyWise what's the difference in the this top of the vine and the ones the square ones what's the price difference about $112,000 difference I mean compar in comparison okay thank you yep and again portability of these is huge um I've Ed Jimmy and I we also have the panels we also have ones that we can lay down and move and we do that every day and it becomes really hard at times uh and very tiring these are very simple they weigh about 25 pounds a piece so if you have an event at your school say you have a football game do you want to use them inside during the day you want to take him outside for the
064football game walk them outside and they NE it's a lot easier than moving and pushing the other units around did I see Mam and page I thank you for the presentation and thank you to the young people for being here I think ice cream is in your near future um I think you guys already got them snacks we're good um I just wanted to my question is actually for Miss Park so I'll I'll wait into other questions have been presented for okay thank you sure miss P thank you for your presentation I do have a question so you just demonstrated your daughter walking through detectors and you hold up your Chromebook um suppose the Chromebook contains in well how would that be detected what type of weapon are we looking for so that's another thing
065you in backpacks you can put all kinds of things in there that can be considered a weapon this this can be the sensitivity level can be put all the way up where it can pick up the smallest little bit that you want but now you're defeating the purpose of throughputs now we're checking every little thing so uh if you wanted to you can get it to pick up the corner of a razor blade do you want to that's not the decision for me the capability of the machine is there it's how you guys want to utilize it that's again up to you guys okay yeah thank you so much for the presentation helping your dad it's pretty cool um I have a question as relates to not just weapon safety but paraphilia and things that
066typically aren't covered um through heat sensory does this give any implication to um you know searches as it relates to talking Vapes and things like that Vapes drugs that type of thing no it's it's a weapons detection system so magnetometer so it's looking for that heat signature and picking up metal that's um that's limit cap of its capability it it's not going to pick up Vates unless you again you put it on that very super sensitive um setting it's just they're made plastic most of them so it's not going to pick it up drugs definitely pick that up so yeah unfortunately no we just had a um a significant amount or increase in and insurgence as it relates to drugs and different things like that we think about the just was wondering if there was
067a correlation between success and bad and and obviously weapons but thank you so much no I see that you guys had the clear bags up here and most venues now have gone to a clear bag policy in conjunction with the metal detectors and that that is a deterrent as well so now people don't want to put anything and everything in a Opa bag now it's a beer bag it's more difficult to to do agreed certainly of the CLE bags as well thank you for that thank you for that because this what I go ahead and asking now was going to wait for the administration I I strongly believe in light of some instances that we have had on the elementary level all the way to a high school level that we need to be prepared
068to think the Box the metal detectors are great I have been in this business 33 almost 34 years we've used the unpopular metal detectors and they are hard to move they're hard to navigate but it will not deter drugs would not deter Vapes it would not deter heels and every little thing that our kids um and our young people are finding a way to get into our building so I would like for um the school board to consider going with a districtwide clear backpack policy for all of our kids um and that is an additional safety mechanism because it will and it will also I believe reduce the time spent at a table trying to review trying to go through backpacks and purses and shoulder bags and so I was prepared to make a motion
069tonight but I will wait until our next meeting because this is really serious um and and and I would I would love to make it tonight but I don't like you know I like sharing with you all I would like to share I always like to share motions that that I bring via email but I am prepared to make that motion tonight after your presentation Miss par after we go through um that Richmond City Public Schools not that we don't take this serious because we do but in addition to metal detectors that we go to a division wide clear um bad policy so I'll make that motion later thank you Miss White I have a comment then I'll get okay thank you madam chair um Dr Mohamed I believe that we did do this about
070the clear book bag for IED up and we didn't have enough money or something St in this box because I was on one of her a couple of her presentations sever times I was doing our um the pouches okay so thank you for for taking me back to that um this has to be and and it and no way am I taking responsibility from the school division I'm not but we have to work in conjunction with that thing we they have a responsibility if we have a policy in place just like other policies they're not followed then these things can happen possibly um I feel very strongly that we we don't necessarily have to purchase the clear backpacks what we can do absolutely we've always done however we have many partners in place that help
071support our kids with school supplies my nonprofit is one of them and so we need to we need to begin the communication now that listen our policy is is going to be possibly that we have clear backs clear backpack thank okay so I just a comment um first of all it makes me absolutely sick to my stomach that we've gotten to this point and yeah I totally agree with you I have five kids and it troubles me that this is now my career that I have to do this every day yes I can not feel any other way not to say that I'm going to stand up against this or anything but it really really upsets me that this is where we are um and I would that in addition to talking about our students
072as though they are criminals you know or they are determined to bring things they shouldn't have in school in we we uh spent equal time looking at the causes and the wise and continue to focus on the mental health and the support of our students I never one time in my life nor did my sons ever think about bringing anything in school um and so there are reasons that our young people are doing this and I would just encourage people to think about the Humane side of this why is it that these children are being thank you uh Miss B I just want to remind us of the hour we should get to the presentation yes so RC thank you so much for your thank you thank you so much and so as you can
073see those are a little less invasive looking we can also order sleeves for each of the schools um that their school colors or their school mascots we do realize that they are U way more expensive than the traditional M detectors and that is why we are proposing a pilot as you are aware there are some incidences that happened at one of our preschool as well as a couple of our elementary schools and we really do in addition to the other pieces that we want to add at the elementary level allow those families an additional um hint of Safety and Security and we know that M detectives are not the end all be we do know preventive measures and the pieces as well as just good education to our parents locking up weapons and guns and
074that's something that we certainly intend to make sure that we have as a part of our 2425 strategy for our elementary school and speaking with the proposal by board member Dr sha de Harris Mohamed I think that we're all align U we have been in contact with some Partners who are willing to help assist and support with getting clear backpacks and we're super excited about that opportunity um but there is a small caveat because we do have some other school divisions who are competing with clear backpacks as well so if this is something that we want to go to we need to jump on it very quickly because ordering 22,000 backpacks and having them back in time for school uh while competing with other divisions Virginia Beach and Petersburg in particular uh we need to
075make sure that if this is something that we're going to FL on that if we could do it tonight um that would be great so that we can be in contact with our partners about our needs Dr mam I have a motion I move that richond public schools Implement a clear bag policy effective immediately been moved by Dr Harris Mohamed seconded by a lot of peopleon uh to move to their bags backpacks effective immediately discussion Miss Gibson Miss Burke Miss Paige Miss Dixon and Mr C oh sorry Mr May just make a quick comment uh to shape the conversation we do have summer school coming up very quickly and I do want to be cautious about the ability of the school system and our families to transition within a week's time so the word immediately
076just of July the 1st 2024 okay H so miss giin was first thank you madam chair um I uh um you know support the the clear back issue but I think that this is a a big change and I want to ensure that families have an understanding about how this is going to be rolled out and so um I would encourage I I it might be to consider as a first step to direct the administration to develop policy specific to it um you know if there it's not also just the cost of getting the initial backpack I I I have a child with a clear backpack and I will tell you they're not quite doable um as some other backpacks can be and so you may also have to replace them so you know if
077the if the intention is that um we're putting this forward and that they will be paid for and by some other organization not by parents I just think that that should be part of the the motion that's on the table um and that you know by doing so that we have an understanding that of how this is going to be funded how they're going to be uh provided to families ahead of the school year um and that we are able to replace them um as needed throughout the school year uh Dr do you want to make any amendments to your motion and then we'll go I do not because we are putting I I put a motion on the table for the administration to to move forward with the direction um but I appreciate I
078appreciate your thoughts I really do I am not asking for the school division to purchase 22,000 clear backpacks I am asking for the Richmond School Board to put in place a policy for us to effectively July the 1 to have our have our families be prepare to have clear backpacks Upon returning to school so Mr cam thank you for the sum I did forget that I apologize about that um so and you know there's no division that I know of in the Commonwealth or in on the East Coast that has purchased 40,000 28,000 30 we Pro provided of course some at their back to school Ries um and different things like that prep in preparation for the beginning of school however we cannot Own 100% of this responsibility let me be very transparent we need
079to work in partnership with our families and our communities we have Community Partners that do many different things and then we can they're hearing us this evening we can lean on them to provide the support they provide support and other entities and I'm in no way saying um what they financially can do but also to be transparent we were prepping for this for the things that have already occurred in our communities and in our schools so I am not saying that our children um do not deserve to be safe and I am in no way saying that our children and I want to be clear that they are criminals but I live in a reality and that's called a public school system and it's real and it happens almost every day and so we have
080a responsibility to protect all of our students so I don't want anyone to think that Dr Harris muhamed from the sixth district is saying that our students are criminals that is not what I'm saying I am saying we have to be real and we have to walk in in that in in that um in that space right now that's what I'm saying and so if if we going into place and continue to have metal detectors in our building and we have heard our administrators say that it takes a lot of time to go through backpacks Martin Luther King Jun Jr Middle School one of the best middle schools in this city I'm not biased I'm just saying may I may be a little bit however they've been doing it for two years two years without
081hesitation that is a model Middle School the administration is up to par with that so we already have an example of how to get it done so at this time I'm not willing to amend my motion I will like on my motion to remain as it is thank you all right so I've got I think everyone wants to talk um I also just want to Friendly remind us at 7:30 we've got a lot on the agenda so if you agree with it I encourage you to keep your comments short so we can move on Miss Dixon Miss paage Miss Burke Miss White Mr Sawyer no oh you didn't I was oh sorry sorry I was just going but if you'd like to appreciate all of my colleagues comments as well as you um everything that
082you do Mrs Parks just keep us safe and um secure um I have publicly shared my reservations as it relates to metal detectors of Resort and elementary schools um and I had to go off of um my colleague Mrs Rizzy and her communication at reles the humanity of our students when I think about um the biggest deterr for safety is education and I feel like that we need to at some point start there I did read through the presentation and I appreciate all the steps that you've taken I still want to see a little bit more information about um the you spoke about in the presentation that you started um some communication um over in in May some time frame as it relates to education in the school systems with some of the parents um
083I'd like to understand more about what that education was who was the target audience um that you um spoke to um I agree that we can simultaneously do um the clear backpacks immediately just put that into place and write out the policy as we mandate that um for the up and cominging school year but also again I think it starts with education and one of the questions that we asked previously in a school board meeting was what do the statistics reflect for elementary schools um to Warrant spending $112,000 on a metal detector um have we seen a enough stats to prove that that is the route to ultimately go to have we absorbed every other resource that's available because we have to continue to send a message that not only are our students safe but
084that we respect their humanity and I just want to make sure we balance that approach as we move forward with trying to be creative about different approaches for keeping our children safe can you can you please respond to miss Dixon's question oh I'm sorry I thought you I thought those were were secondary and so I wrote them down and you said that you were interested in knowing the information that we shared with parents so we actually sent out a survey to our elementary school parents we had about 1,600 respondents um most of the respondents through the survey um felt very positively about having male detectors entering into the school um we are not under um any stretch of the imagination ready to make metal detectors a reality in all of our elementary schools but the
085elementary school where did have incident with then we want to make sure that we're able to give them an extra sense of security which is why we um propos the pilot not saying that we would um keep them or even expand but at least the pilot for the 24 25 school year uh in addition to that we have several Partnerships Virginia moms against change they're willing to do some parent workshops which we're really excited about be smart um gun safety initiative and then the Richmond police department has a program that's called Eddie the eagle um they weren't able to do they did programming with caror elementary schools we wanted them to do it in all of our summer schools and hit our elementary schools they did not have the bandwidth to be able to do
086it so we've ordered the materials and supplies so that we could do it in our elementary schools for this summer using our care and safety staff um as well as to expand through the year and RPD has with that just one question if I could um as it relates back to the survey I it looked like a cut and paste type um scenario that happened is there can we get a full review of the survey questions and results yes give you a full copy of it okay we shorten the survey so it wouldn't be a mil yes I appreciate that thank you B Miss Parks thank you so very much I appreciate the manner that you put this report together and all that your team continues to do as stated earlier regarding graduation and the
087whole uh end of the year process it was excellent thank you all so much to you and your team job well done uh in response to the clear backpacks I'm interview with Miss Gibson regarding the cost of the backpacks 10 $2 backpacks don't get it that's not going to be strong enough a good backpack cost camic we talk about this 3040 $50 a piece and for our parents to have that expense especially those parents that have two or three children um in their family or more that's that's greatly expensive but I think once we start this and those organizations such as the ultimate backpack event VCU we ordered 36,000 backpacks plus supplies included for the many years and some schools that we support in Petersburg we did um buy that as well so if we
088do for this year school year beginning in August August 19th the school opens if we could I would like I'm in favor of amending the motion as well making another motion that if we put in place clear backpacks every child will have the opportunity to get backpack and right now we should have enough Partners am I correct with that to cover the cost yes and so in a conversation that I had with one of our um larger Partners they agreed to give us some in addition to some other partners we were actually hoping to have samples uh believe now there's 20 different vendors who have clear backpacks and so we were hoping to have samples of a $30 backpack versus a $5 backpack um lessons learned from Miami day County Virginia Beach as well as
089Petersburg is that the version that you see in the stores that are more cost effective for families um tend to rip quickly and they have to be and so the backpacks that we are proposing to get are the more durable backpack I am in favor with the motion being amended to um maybe I'm suggesting that there's two motions on the floor one that we do have is a requirement and then the second would be um rich and public schools facilitating the not to pay of our budget but we have enough vendors and support organizations who have already stated they would support that through your through your Partnerships am I correct with that Mr thank you madam chair uh and to your point Mrs bur if the board approves the motion on the table um I
090commit to ensuring that their no family that cannot afford a high quality we will find a way to take care of it um my ask of the board is to give us the latitude to figure out how to do that but we will make sure that that is the case yes to to I'm sorry asking can the motion be amended to include that every child every child would have the opportunity to have a clear backpack given to him or her but I also want us to be realistic backpacks and that um Aus isn't going to solve it's not because there are ways in which that's just the world we living so that we still may have to have searches otherwise but that that also gives us with the clear backpacks and the apparatus and I'm
091not in favor of putting in some schools and not the others if we all are equal and we talk by being inclusive I don't want to see one in the and you don't have one in West okay I'm stick for that and I know I don't know what we're going to base it on what's what but it may not even be a student that brings something in and maybe someone off the street that's been allowed to come to scho that does that's so myair I'm asking that if made the that it is a and that we will provide for every child every student up backpack sorry one caveat because of the sheer number of backpacks we may not be able to have that many ordered um by the start of the school year I did
092just want to put that out there but it's going to come yes there you go during the 2425 School thank you thank you Miss FS for this presentation um I'm not going to make this long but I'm soon I'm not in agreement with some schs receiving you know a med detector in at all if we going to have it as Miss B said and East needs be in West it's about Equity because also we need to keep in mind what message are we sending to all of our students um I'm adamant about that and also excuse meist I would like to um you know task the administration as we go forward you know to provide a timeline how this plans be how plan plans to be rolled out um educating our communities um parents and
093I think some my colleagues have already said this but this can't be you know something willly nearly um we have to be intentional and it has to be well brought out well plan and if any expenses you know it's encouraged by the school division we need to be provided the budgetary implications um I just think we need to the board needs to have all that information as this is being rolled out thank you and I support amending the motion as well s and thank you I'm gonna be very very brief because I know we have a lot of agenda items to cover for the rest this evening but again thank you Miss CLS for all the work that you and your team do um I all my board of colleagues and our that they stated
094I hope that we can amend the actual um motion and receed from there thank you Miss thank you m thank you madam chair uh Miss Parx I would like to say looking at your presentation this is an excellent presentation everything that I've seen that I have spoken within the last year you have almost accomplished but things that I would like to say um I'm not in agreement with the pilot program for um the metal detectors um I would like for the principles of each school to have the option to decide whether they need a medical detector in your schools um of course you know on for the cfas you did put one in the elementary school uh car for me the one of the first schools and you know for the clear book bags um
095I should also would like to see Mr C if we commit to the schools to up their budget a little bit for replacement bags and whether it's a th000 or 2,000 more because the bags the bags may be durable I do have children that canid U also um bags and I car one also as you can possibly see but the zippers are not as durable they are a lot stronger on Amazon versus in the store but they do have to be replaced they even the $30 ones have to be replaced and if we're getting bags from um different um private uh donations we still going to need maybe some money to fall back on so that um schools can maybe buy 10 Keys B perhaps but they can if that can go with their budget
096in schools thank you if I may Madam chair again my commitment is uh no child at any point in the year whose family is unable to afford a bag we will fin to make sure that they are taken care of and follow also um Miss Parks um I'm still waiting on the uniforms to the school uniforms that's all thank you if I may Madam chair on on that point I believe our last discussion about Mrs White was to bring it up in policy committee and so um that would be my recommendation of this did you said bring up the uniforms in okay thank you you're quite popular tonight but I do have two two followup questions I promise then I'll be done um we didn't get a chance to touch on it because you weren't
097able to go through the entire presentation but I want to make sure that I asked a couple of questions one was on um specifically page five where it talked about um through grant funding and support RPS school board and saf and team has expanded to include eight additional c um SAS for elementary school coverage and you listed some elementary schools and and we appreciate that how do you determine the allotment though because you know when I think about in The Ninth District a city like um excuse me a school like River City who you know has a extreme extremely large population of students may need more than some additional support in that area so how do you decide how did you decide who got the F that Fund in and can that be Revisited to
098just ensure that it's based upon the the capacity as well as safety yeah well a large reason we weren't able to place additional CSA in some of our secondary schools where we would have liked to is because we did not have the fun to do so which is why when the strong connection came about we were able to hire the ffas although they're part-time they still get the training with the CSA they're able to help with searches as well as to support the schools and they're not in an FTE so if those funds ever should run out um we can figure out another way to be able to support the schools but we wouldn't have to get rid of St and then my second question is based on page 19 I talks about the dedicated
099excuse me dedicated time for SE the wellness offices will collaborate with the academic office to ensure that the Second Step seel curriculum is included in the intervention schedule my question is um what does that Cadence look like and um what population will benefit benefit from SEO training so the whole school initiative um and it will be done by our elementary school counselors who now rest with within the wellness office and so we have the curriculum but then we also have some other small group things that we would like to do with the students and we're actually building that out for the 2425 school year it was in existence but it didn't have a form to it so happy to give an update later in the Sumer the start of school I would love that thank
100you so much I call [Music] the I wasn't here when you stated your motion so I'm going to St because there's an amendment okay so I would like is it okay I repeat it with absolutely I move that the rich Public Schools Implement a clear back policy effective effectively July the 1st 2024 in addition the RPS the Richmond Public School school board commits to every student registered at RPS will retain will obtain a clear backp pass second it's been move by Dr Harris mmed seconded by Miss Dixon to require for yes backpacks start in July 1 mad Miss D yeah Miss White yes Miss Gibson yes Mr soya yes M rzy St Dr Harris Mohammed yes M bur I'm going to say yes but I a thre motion be August 20 24 25 so we
101for the summer school but regards to the motion yes Miss paage yes Miss Dixon yes motion passes thank you we are now moving to item 5.01 s start before we move on I did want to just two things before you go sir one I I know there was a fair amount of discussion about the open gate detectors um and the pilot I just wanted to hear affirmatively from the board one way or the other whether to move forward on that so I know how to direct going easily in this parks and so I'm not exactly sure where the consensus is but we just that EV Dr mam I can make a motion okay I'm I move that the richond school board tased the administration to move forward with obtaining additional information for the metal detectors
102moving forward with the title I'm sorry moving forward with the pilate um I this is just my personal opinion I you know respect to and and interested to hear my colleagues as well but I still believe it's a bit premature I think there's a lot more information that we need to understand about the Imp the the indication um funding one where we're going to get the source of funding for $112,000 medal detectors to um survey results um for the full survey three um how many cases have we had in elementary schools as it relates to weapons um for more clear-cut plans on the education piece of things and how we are going to move forward with just the awareness for both children and um and parents and staff alike so I just think there's a
103lot more that we need to understand before we move forward with it because it is a a large price tag I can withdraw my motion until we get some additional information with you know what you just shared and I will also just State for the record I think we all have the same concerns and we you know our focus and determination is to keep our children safe but we have this is a very delicate matter and we have to go about it the right thank you m um yeah I agree with um everything with th and um I will add two additional thoughts one um I think in the last presentation there was you provided some research that showed that there wasn't um a lot of correlation between metal detectors and safety so um I
104think as part of this I would like to bring that research back into the dispe and then um a friend of mine who's a teacher and REO said that they have um a problem with their metal metal detectors these metal detectors because it keeps setting off an old rebar and so um I would like to understand if we were to do this how it could impact our old given that we have older buildings so it may work for better and newer wor so that's a good point a good yeah like to absolutely be presented with more research um and answers to a lot of the questions that Miss Dixon already asked thank you mam chair thank you to the board for clarity and also I wanted to just say uh to miss gley Sparks and
105Mr Jefferson a deep we thank you for an excellent graduation season because of your efforts our students and families and staff were able to enjoy the day and that is a a very special gift and we're all very very grateful for thank you all all right we're at it 5.1 good evening um it will be quick today I don't have as many things for approval I only have one item which is our bu our transportation w we do every year because we do not use the strengths on our bu which is a head start requirement so we have to do a bu waiver every year for that so that is the only item I have for approval tonight as a reminder um our um monitoring visit with the office of P start is this Friday
106from 10:30 to 12:30 so um we will have our visit then and next meeting I will be able to report back to you on the results of that um and then the last item that I wanted to mention was um something that I want to share with you um at the next meeting is that we um have worked on a policy Council website so that we will have the ability for every policy Council that comes in they will have the documents there so that as we transition we won't have um a new PR a new chair come in and and new um um a new group and they really don't understand everything that has happened in the past so we're very excited about the website we've previewed it with the policy Council and they've given
107us some suggestions and some things they would like to update um but when we're back together I will make sure that I preview the um website with you all so you can take a look at it so we're very excited about it and it also will be good as we have the board members come on because you can go back and read the minutes and all of those types of things and so you will be able to get um a password so you can see all the documents that we have linked in there so we're excited about that I move that we approve the bus W for the 20242 school year miss you have a question thank you Dr for this presentation just have a question I want you to clarify the request in waiver
108of the Child Safety restraints and the bus monitor requirements are we waitering that understand that we're going have one we're waiting the restraint because we don't put on our preschool buses just like our other buses we we have a monitor but we don't put put restraints because then we would have to put the restraints restraints on all the bus and put them on all the BP students too because of course you wouldn't put them on one student rather than another um so every year we have continued to do this is um we weigh that which is what this is so that because we have people on the bus to support the kids we still feel like they're safe and so my other question you had um you also had three um for monitors and my
109other question would you just stated U are we using Vans or we using buses we use buses so we're not using I know one time we use Vans no we're not used we only use buses to tr for our students okay only buses okay so will there be monitors one the bus yes and we do not use um van we do have Vans as part of our head start but we utilize those to pick up parents for meetings and things like that you don't use them for children now okay thank you okay move by m dor second by Mr Sawyer to approve the transportation waiver restraint waiver okay M yeah white yes Miss Gibson yes Mr Sawyer yes Miss rzy yes Dr Harris Mohamed yes Miss Burke yes Miss Paige yes M di yes motion
110passes unanimously thank you we are now at item 5.02 we see for Action audit committee Charter audit Charter and job description in addition to that discuss Transportation audit oh yeah hi walking up to the podium um a reminder that we uh received a first read of the audit committee Charter and audit Charter last board meeting so um would love to entertain a motion if anyone would like to do that oh last board meeting we received the audit committee Charter and the audit Charter for first read and so I'm asking um if f are comfortable moving forward for a motion on that I know there's other things so move so question we did not have access to the job to S so U I was asking for a motion on the audit Charter and the audit
111committee Charter J descrition uh that is a good point it was page would you be to ining approval yes so let's go ahead and handle that first and then we'll discuss exportation it yes do we have the job description that was shared at the last meeting available tonight uh yes I can put it I can it post it's posted under the May 20th meeting with those with the same item 8.05 it's the audit right so it's been mve on this page second on this door to accept the audit committee Charter the audit Charter job description F presented Madam Bon oh miss thank you madam chair um so uh one of the things that came up in um over the week was um filtering information you know the ability to ask questions of our auditor um
112and that process and um I just want to I think it's important that the board have access to be able to um contact the auditor as questions of the auditor um and you know I mean this is important oversight for the district and so um I I just want to um speak to the uh the documents and that process I you know to be you know fully transparent here right we've been talking about the transportation audit and um and I asked some questions um requesting materials that are are very basic to being able to ensure that the audit is accurate and complete and was told that I needed to get permission essentially um to get that information and so um this uh the documents give me some pause because we have many committees and we've
113never had this level of detail um uh and that's not to say that we shouldn't right but I just want to ensure that that with this additional detail and formality that we are not creating a system that will that could block board members from being able to ask important questions and and receive important information so um the the the item specific um for instance this and the language some of the language I'll be is a bit more comple a bit more formal that I think it's not necessarily everyday language um so as it says um line 63 expectation and information needs the committee shall communicate committee expectations and the nature timing and extent of committee information needs to management internal Auditors and external parties including external Auditors written materials like it's just it is very
114wordy um and I don't exactly understand the intent of the of the message and so you know I my preference would be to receive see something that was simplified and perhaps a bit more clear um and that also it be very explicit in the document that um that all board members can work with our auditor um and request materials specific materials that happen um to to uh audits that the the whole body has already approved especially M um so uh regarding that if the board does not want to wants to go back for revision on these that's absolutely fine um we didn't receive any feedback on them after the first read so you want to give feedback we're happy to delay the vote if that's the will of the board um in regards to um
115communication I'm glad this page brought up um under board business um dorming around our communication um it was never anyone's intention certainly not mind to withhold or any access to board members what we have Norm ground since the last seven years that I've on the board is that there is a point of contact for our employees so as there's not nine requests going to one person and so um I was operating under that same assumption that um there there would be a point of contact for our auditor um to uh receive information if the board does not want to go that way that's totally fine with me but there's been no information withheld I was simply trying to streamline communication to the auditor um and to simplify his life a little bit um but I
116apologize if that was in any way um perceive that's withholding information that was absolutely not not my intent my intent is absolutely to give everyone as much access to the auditor as possible so I have to remove myself from that position yes that the process has always or since I've been with this board serving as the policy chair that practice has been put in place policy chair received information suggestions going to share out I don't see an issue with um us continuing as a board to provide the information to you because you're the chair of the finance or a committee um make sure I get get that that roll straight um I just you know we all have room for improvement to get things out we I'm not I am guilty of not always being
117in front of my email and so I have a habit of reading things out of order and I've admitted that and shared that and so um you know I I just wanted to share for what it's worth I don't see it broken I just um there's always work for improvement and so the communication how that's filtered um if the board so chooses to filter it a different way let's just know who that is or where we go to um and and and go from there but to you know Miss Gibson's Point um you know I I cannot speak for anyone but that's how I read the email as well and so but thank you for for sharing that um I really appreciate that and you know I look forward to us moving forward and just
118sharing the information to the person that we need to share it with so that we can return with the information okay so there's a motion on the floor um shall I repeat it or good that's those yes Madam chair so like some of the language I think it says the committee shall have access to council and advisor that the committee sole discretion like there's just some language that I I that you know that gives me some pause in the document and I I just think that um you know I'm not prepared to vote on on this um you know the way that stated and um and you know because of the push back I received um you know it didn't it and I mean if we're ready to you know once this vote is then
119I'm eager to talk about the transportation audit yes um just real quickly thank you so much um if there are concerns of our colleagues in terms of um the language I think we should visit that um I see no problem with you continuing to be the point of contact I think that just helps all of us streamline things um you know so long as it gives the opportunity for all of us to have a voice and and make sure that our concerns and questions are heard and response okay thank you so there is a still motion on the M Miss Stewart yes Miss White yes Miss Gibson no Mr yes M Ry yes Dr Harris Muhammad yes Miss bur yes Miss Paige yes Miss Dixon motion passes thank you next Transportation yes where's the board
120at with the 2020 uh a plan thank you um uh we uh neglected to last last Bo meeting also the 2024 audit plan it is uploaded this night uh for your read we actually did read it in February um there was some board feedback that Mr gr has addressed um so um I believe we should put on the action item for next meeting Mr are you going to start this discussion how shall we on this the last board meeting I review the audit report with the with the audit committee so I'm not there's nothing for me more to the information requests that have come in the information request no um the information requests that have come in from the from from the board to me I'm currently working on that information I've got the bul
121of it ready there's three more items that that need to be put into more of a consumable format and once I get that I'll I'll I'll send up to to everyone probably I would say probably I would say l myself as far as any additional discussion my um I don't there's nothing more for to discuss the speaks for herself Miss Gibson and M thank you madam chair so at our last meeting um you presented some a chart um that showed um uh additional wages and overtime wages um year over-year going back to 2019 and um so one question that I hope you are able to answer tonight which is what does that mean additional wages versus overtime wages I think that's pretty uh essential for us to understand be able to to understand um the
122other piece right I guess I'm just I'm somewhat taken back and I and I I I just be frank um because you know to um present those numbers which are um you know certainly paint a very clear picture about um wide fluctuations in overtime year-over-year um but to not note one and and several colleagues noted the fact that the pandemic was a was a was a factor right and um and then on the heeld of the pandemic many activities did not resume as normal um So that obviously made a huge impact right on the amount of overtime that happened um but then also this matter regarding the contracted hours that the employees had and this was something that was brought up in the previous meeting I mentioned it myself and I requested um information about
123the number of employees that were currently 8h hour contract employees versus 6our contracted employees and so I mentioned to you 18 hours in in6 hour right right and so we know that for this year but to not know when that change happened right in the context of trying to understand the root cause for the the the fluctuation and overtime like I just I struggle to understand why that information wasn't included um because obviously we did point a very direct finger right at the employee in suggesting that there were improprieties that um were akin to stealing and so um when the reality is that the district changed the contract hours I mean it's it to me it's just I I don't understand why that information was not provided the other piece is um is is simply
124the number of employees right now um I have been on the board since 2017 and and I do recall times when we increased the amount of staff because you know we we needed more drivers we had schools where drivers were having the triple back um to be able to pick up all of the students and get them to school and so I do recall um voting to increase the number of drivers to address some of those um those issues and so again to to so to receive a document that has just the number of hours that also has the number of um but to not know just how many employees were included like I just it just seems like a real basic piece of information that was missing I I get all all the information
125just regarding could you make a quick clarification regarding the additional hours versus the overtime hours you're not able to provide that is that when when I do when information is is communicated it seems to get very eily and and quickly and I need to make sure that that's thats thank you Miss thank you Madam chair um what I would like to know is U yes you have completed your audit and you have gave it you gave the board your findings uh did you give those findings also to the chief of law coration um because what I'm looking for is sop stand up operation procedures clear guidelines that the bus drivers can that that they know what is going to happen when the money is cut off in June also I like to know if the
126actual payroll system is in place the system that we we talked about um because this to me it seems like it's a system and process problem here so if you did the audit there should be something coming back as far as Solutions or resolutions to this audit we know what the audit looks like but what suspense have you given the chief of operation on this side because you had to give those findings back to her I the findings were discussed in detail with with the chief of operations and the chief based on my recommendation they chose to take a course of action to stop the the practice of time toour FL So when you say that wasn't that I didn't communicate that to to achieve just that was just a band that's just a band
127called Stand AP poliy they can't go by that one little sheet for their enti their work doing doing RPS so you did the audit and maybe Mr camon can answer this uh because U the finings were given to the to the board and I'm used to doing an audit if you're doing an audit those findings are given to the person so that they can make the corrections and some Sops and guidelines need to come to the board so we can make policies also here we cannot go by that one sheet that says oh we're not going to do this any longer and the directive operations must look at that whole audit and see why this occurred and must stop it we are doing a manual payroll no one does that I need to know if
128that system is in place because same things it seems to me that systems and process is always the problem when we're doing some type of a here so I need to make sure that's been place you came to the a you get your AIT thank you for that but I need to know what the resolution is in the long term so maybe Mr Camas can answer for that yes thank you madam chair um if you read the audit then you'll know in in the back of of that report there was a series of recommendations did you I did I read your AR and you don't have to be condescending but the thing is it need to be in a policy did you get with the did you get the finance committee and put those in
129a policy I can't go by this one sheet that you're telling me that this all sudden we're going to stop this 2 hours to 4 hours or 4 hours to two hours I believe in regulations and I go about policies and you haven't produced one nor have your operations my Lord sorry I I only wanted to note that we are awaiting the board's action on on the recommendations prior to taking any further steps uh we have taken uh preemptive action um and the board understandably felt that that was uh inappropriate before the board had voted on the recommendations and such as a result we have pressed pause until such time as the board takes action so we will do as the board directs but we just need Clarity from the well I would like to
130know what what is the board going to do while we're procrastinating this it is June now and pretty soon our bus drivers will be do summer school they will be going back to school we need to do something we can't just procrastinate and the same thing happen over and over again because that's what is that's what it's going to resol to spending more money again over and over because the the uh over time does not stop they are still working on Sundays basketball games taking players home afterwards they're also taking uh folders I mean actual student files back to schools which I don't think is legal but they are doing that also over time so those things should be in policies if they're actually going to do those things as bus drivers Dr Harris moham
131yes ma'am I have a couple of questions thank you but I want to leave by this um from from the initial the communication to our transportation team was not most respectful however that communication got out from whom it came from it made them believe and this wasn't just one driver it made them believe they were being accused of fraud it could happen communicated much better much easier with Grace and also identifying areas of concern in a way that was not accusatory we heard that as a boore they shared their concerns they share over time over the past month one thing that I know for certain is that bus drivers will always have overtime it's a certain group Because unless we don't have any after school activities which I don't believe we will ever remove we
132won't have any Athletics which again I don't believe we will removed also I heard in a meeting and I was sitting on this day where from that portion of the day it was as if they were abusing their time now if it was meant to be shared that way I don't know but what I'm saying is that's how they felt and so we have to do better with that the way that it was communicated was not right so I wanted to lead with that thank you for um the work that that you have done and put um doing this audit Mr Camas I have a couple questions for you how many agencies have we contracted out that was removed from the Transportation Department work so for example we had an agency that came before us
133sometime last year because they were owed money I know that's a that's a entity that we partner with then there's another partner I think it would help the governance team to understand how many partners do we have working with us through transportation and then what do what does those Partners do I I asked this before in an email when one of our partners said that we that he was ow that his company was ow back P so I ask that like how many partners do we have providing transort it could be you know for students with severe disabilities they may need to be in a car and not on a bus so we might have to um contract cacked out with a car service that's what I'm asking who do we partner with and then
134also I think it will help us um to understand how much we pay because we heard earlier through public comment that we have um contracted that work out to other agencies and I would like for the governance te to know who they are and how much we pay them I don't have that information top of my head but we're certainly happy to to gather that information appreciate that I you in the interest of just um trying to bring resolution um I think the sent question yes there's always going to be overtime and there's nothing in the audit report which suggests as I read it that there would not be I think the S question before the board and I think there are arguments to be made both ways and we will of course do ask
135the board directs is simply should Every After School activity trip be built as two hours or as sorry time rate yes yes yes two hours at overtime or at the actual time work and again I more than understand the arguments on both sides we just need Clarity from the board so that we can then proceed and pay folks according right I certainly appreciate your time and thank you for providing um additional Insight from superintendent Camas I think what I'm struggling with is for us to give Clarity we need to have Clarity I just I'm wanting to come to a resolution um for the sake of everyone involved but I still feel like there's not Clarity into how we came up with the resolution that we did um so I have a couple of questions as
136you did your audit um was there a clear understanding of the day-to-day operations when making assessment that's my first question absolutely okay and then to the manner in which they Department there's there a multitude of things outside okay and so there was um someone earlier who stated um that there is four normal hours in the morning four in the evening then they have something that happens midday all of those things were hard to assess a part of your assessment true okay and so my my next question is because it seems like there's that there's always data and then there's analytics of the data right and so it sounds like the way you're interpreting the policies and procedures and the way um the associates have come forth and identify the practices there seems to be some
137form of Disconnect so my question and well it was for Mr Camas but you know certainly hopefully you gave you answer that were there listening sessions done with the transportation Associates did someone have a seat at the table to give Clarity to the current practices because I agree that with my colleagues and terms of the communication just coming out the gate to say well this is fraudulent that's that's tough to hear when you know you're just trying to take care of your family and so I'm I'm struggling to try to find and and this is not an argument per se back and forth I think we just desperately want clarity as to how you came about making the decisions because every every time there's something that's provided you know the 300 plus perc for example
138we just had a very basic question to get understanding surrounding that there was no answers that we could find so I just I want a resolution I'm I want to work with whomever to get to that resolution but I just feel like there's so much more that needs to be done and to my last thing is to um Miss Miss White's Point Mrs White's point standard operating procedures what is the administration's position as it relates to this I just feel like there's we have to be sensitive to what those that are in the trenches working day-to-day are say and try to find a common ground that works best for everyone and just have a clearly delineated procedure policy in place to move for I know that was a lot but again I just I want
139us to get to a resolution but I'm just struggling to try to find Clarity so that we can get there Miss B thank you m chair and thank you Miss Dixon sir thank you for your report um I'm not clear on on what direction we're moving in I can't make a decision right now one way or the other because I I feel like we're all over the place so it's going to be hard for our drivers to move forward if they're not if we're not clear they can't be clear so am I missing out on the resolution or the list of not where we were because that's done we're trying to move forward we're trying to be consistent to be realistic for my personal experience overtime is going to happen as one of the drivers
140stated earlier morning new tonight we call upon them and sometimes it's not even on their list but whatever the ruling is is there a list check check check check this is the way in which we're going to move forward and now the list shouldn't be done as Miss White stated are we in place regarding the new payroll system is that going to be in place by July 1 just just somewhere if I'm missing this you all show me please but I don't see it I'm not I'm not clear if it's here show it to me but I just I just don't see it so what pag is it on thank you Mr Stanley will you pull up the um that please what page all right I know I know about the the recommendations listed on
141that the last me so we should have had that time the inform as well which one is it transport I'm talking about today's report where is the recommendation we at this one p page eight of which one would you mind walking us through those recommendations if you would do you mind tell us how many of those recommendations are we haven't voted on yet know what [Music] come this the 17 to to move forward and make a decision right there I saw this this this this is a lot can you just give us a simple boom boom boom bo step by step by step that would be friendly how about that user friendly that if I'm a substitute driver coming in I can look at this and follow it and be able to move forward right
142none of these recommendations have anything to do with the bus operator or or sub theer May assign to a field trip you know I have so many questions what's happening I don't know but my colleague was speaking my colleague was speaking and you and I understand and I may be out of order and I take it it's all good I see what's what it's all good I move okay now just eras up from my that's I move that we defer from making a decision tonight regarding this document okay I was come back at the next meeting on June the 17th with a clear userfriendly check by check step by step document of which we can make a decision of Mind second and then I have a followup discussion so been can somebody do have a
143comment about this motion okay um I would just recommend coming into the next meeting um as you consider explaining or walking us through the recommendations if you would please take into account one minute what the transportation team has shared and just ensure that as you give recommendations it really um is inspired by the true day-to-day operations and um also you know just to ensure that you know I don't think well I I can speak for myself this this is let's just m a level maintain a level professionalism and because if no one is accusing I think we're just at a place now where we're we need to understand what how you came to the resols that you came to okay um and Mr gra what I what I would say is once this is done
144the board has asked for a clear list of recommendations also maybe a very high level summary of how you um determined your finding right um once we have that discussion and if something is approved then we absolutely need to make sure that someone sits down with the bus drivers and really like explain this so that everyone can understand what's going on there's not a lot of evidence that that has taken place I don't know but I heard okay Mr C want to speak and then St I just wanted to say that whenever the board decides and whenever the board decides I will personally meet with all the bus operators to talk through everything and make sure that everything is clear and fully understood and all of your questions are answered M and I would just
145add um I agree with the uh the motion to to defer to create a summary Etc I think it would be also helpful um to understand where the audit role ends and where the administration role start I'm having a little bit of trouble understanding what you're responsible for versus what the what we're responsible for verus what the administration is responsible for and then I would just say um you know I think this is a top topic and there's a lot of passion and so I just think it's important that we come to the table being respectful of all voices at the table they're all valid Miss thank you um also as you provide that information and make making sure that the scope of the audit is very clear and just as Miss St said um
146you know the starting point and the end ending point but I think just making clear the scope of the audit and you know the parameters of the you know purpose of the AUD so that it's understandable user friendly and so that you know no one will walk away from the table still being I was asked to provide a a high sry sometime in April and I was told that that was too too too much of a high I ended up a 30 page report and now we're back to being asked for not I I think we need to spend some some time really just just just as what was mentioned here there's there's nowhere in this report do I accuse anyone or specifically bus drivers Ste no with with this report there's there's also there's
147there's information [Music] Beyond truly what's needed and what I what I what I'm concerned about hearing now is that I'm hearing from some of the board members that that you were not aware that that there was recommendations in the report but I'm hearing in some of the board members is that they weren't aware that you're not understanding against the you where my RO starts and you know in my it's not for me to talk to bus drivers it's just not within it needs to come from from [Music] from if there is misinformation out there I I believe generated a very clear report and there's numerous folks that that read it and and they seem to understand and I'm not I'm not sure where the point of challes so as a followup so you're hearing um
148a directive from the board giving you clear direction for the audit Transportation audit to be in if it is in a high level term or presentation that is user ly so that everyone can understand a kindergarten to the grownups so my point is Lay so that we all can have a very clear understanding in what direction are we you know going in how you know what are the next steps how are we going to move forward because right now just hearing the comment comments we we appear to be going back and forth the board has given you a clear directory so I think we need to move forward with that thank you question do we need Motion in to get can we just it wasn't on for Action tonight was it yes it was yeah
149well no not the a receive the act for Action audit committee Char out already Ved on that yes you so we don't need a motion to continue this Transportation discussion to the next is not by action not necessarily by action but if M mer has put it forward and she doesn't you want to continue it's by Miss B seconded by Dr Harris Mohamed to discussion Transportation audit to the next meeting Madam cler Miss door yeah Miss White yes Miss Gibson yes Mr Sawyer yes M Rizzy yes Dr Harris mohamd yes m b yes Miss paig yes Miss Dixon yes pass thank you Mr we are now at item 5.03 U receive for Action certification on intent participate in 20245 Virginia Regional migrant education all right good evening my name is Jennifer Blackwell I'm the director
150of our multilingual learner success I'm here tonight to request approval for continued participation in the migrant education program um RPS receives this state funding through Alam Marl County um every year and as part of the grant RPS must certify that we meet the migrant education program requirements and submit all of the documentation to Alamar I'll serve as the liaison for the division in between Alamar County um and then finally the regional office through Alamar will provide all of the support for our migrant education students I move that richond public schools continue to participate in the 2024 2025 Virginia Regional migrant education conso I'll second it's been moved by Dr Harris Mohamed seconded by m Mr Sawyer to continue to particip for rpspa in the 2024al library education Madam CL White yes Miss Gibson yes Mr
151Sawyer yes yes Dr Harris Mohamed yes SP yes paage yes M Dixon yes motion pass right thank you we are now at item six well move oving the receive for Action 2024 25 reelection list out of the consent agenda and so that is next Miss Gibson thank you madam chair um so um I wanted to pull this out of the agenda item for a couple of reasons there are many one because there are many outstanding issues um with contract which we've been talking about and then also um in an email I shared with the board prior to our last meeting I noted um concern that I had with employees that were missing from the list um and so um I I want to ensure that the board has visibility to changes that are um H
152that are reflected in the reelection list um so essentially there are some employees that are not there um I believe and I don't believe that they've been voted on by the body in our Personnel actions as um terminated um and as such and so essentially it it seems like folks could be let go in a somewhat invisible way where we just don't recognize that their name is not on the list and so my ask is that um prior to making um you know finalizing these that the board and I'm hoping that Mr tamas can shed some light on this you know H how many folks are missing from this list you know how many people essentially have been fired um that um by not being included on this re-election list so that's my first ask
153um is to understand the count on who's missing from the list and to talk about the process to ensure that the board has visibility to the folks that are not um that are not included on it and then secondly um I uh wanted to put a motion on the table specific to pushing that we move forward with collective bargaining because we're now it's now June 9 UM June 3r the year is over um that you know it in in just a several weeks and we've heard from multiple um unions that things are sounds like is I can you still hear me yeah it looks like it's on is it there thank you um so um you know hearing from folks where where the negotiations seem to have stalled and so um and so I also
154would like to put a motion on the table uh that would um uh uh wrap up negotiations by um one week from today because we need to make sure that there's time for things to be F I mean I know this is H right but the we gota we gota we gota we got to get these contracts final because we only got a few days you know like and and and it's especially concerning to me because we're talking about things um that are going to impact the the contracts right like we have made um you know there's discussion about with the transportation workers for instance like so you know if we're going to change the way um the practice had been that practice is something that would then need to be renegotiated again so um
155so I I just think it's critical that these these things are final so I guess I'll go ahead and I put the motion on the table which is that um that the administration will finalize uh collective bargaining um with all of our bargaining units um by June 10th um ahead of the end of the fiscal year on uh June 30th thank you madam chair I'm gonna ask M Fons to come and speak about the re-election list um she can also provide additional detail negotiations however uh respectfully uh would suggest that the the motion on the table um puts RPS in a very difficult position as meeting it could require RPS to agree to elements that would have a financial or other impact on the school system that might not uh might not be uh appropriate
156for um the school system and so it would in since um severely hamstring the school system in its negotiations I would add that what has been characterized in public comment as grammar changes is inaccurate and that there were substantive changes that our Council has been negotiating with uh Union Council and so unfortunately I do think there has been some misrepresentation uh of the current situation we are also I will add in mediation uh with one of our unions and that mediation has its own set of guidelines um that I believe we are bound by our resolution to follow m g thank you madam chair um and I I welcome hearing from um Miss Clemens regarding the re-election list um I would love to hear from Mr Cameron and Clemons if you could speak to like
157what got us here because it seems like um you know the fact that negotiations were still in progress as we were working on our budget it it it seems like the the process was very much delayed and and it concerns me because now um you know things are still very much up in the air and as a worker who you know believes that that they're they're they're seeing the timeline count down right and we want to make sure we keep our workers and they've all many of them have received contracts that are incorrect they're still wondering when they're going to be corrected when does it end I guess is what I'm asking and what what what can we do what are we committing to doing differently next time and and what can we commit to
158right now so what should my motion say we need to do something I'm happy to address those questions first negotiations Take Time by their very nature we heard from an employee today in public comment who spoke about the issue with ASL interpreters what was not shared is that we are only allowed under Virginia code to give continuing contracts to individuals who require licenses that are recognized by the Virginia Department of Education an ASL license is not one of those as a result we are out of compliance with state law and so in negotiations we have clarified that we need to change the contract status in no way changing their pay or benefits merely to come into compliance with state law that group of employees continues to maintain that we are trying to in some way
159get rid of them quite the contrary we are not we are simply trying to come into compliance with state law that has caused a delay of months because the union representing those individuals has thus far decided not to concede that we also cannot concede that as doing so would put the school system in legal Jeopardy and it is our responsibility not to do so there are a number of issues like this which I'm happy to do a full presentation about and it was not on the agenda this evening so we are not prepared to do so but more than happy to do so as were the contracts the contracts were not mistakes they were incomplete as has been shared multiple times by the talent office and myself personally I do apologize that we did not
160communicate that well effectively or in the manner that it should have been such that our employees fully heard it and received it as I've shared in writing for example yes the maintenance Personnel who are due a 20% raise will receive a 20% raise at minimum some will receive even more once we place them at the correct step once we vandalized three years of service Miss Clemens has publicly committed I believe to June 21st 21st to have all of those contracts out for our employees I will say that again no later than June 21st all of those updates will be made and all of our employees will have those contracts no one is being asked to or is required to sign a contract that they receed that does not include those additions I'm happy to personally
161share that information again with the affected employees uh so that everyone hears that directly and that there's no confusion Miss G thank you madam chair um I appreciate the information Mr Camas will you commit then this week to personally um participating in the Comm in the negotiations and joining the table this week I understanding that you know in the ability to be able to continue to move things forward one minute respectfully I joined the negotiations um and received certain assurances from the EA leadership at our last um U pre- impass moment um unfortunately those were not upheld which led us to the impass I was clear at that time that I am sympathetic for example to the ASL interpreters concerns however again I'm not legally able to do what they're asking to do my presence
162at the negotiating table would do nothing to change that I have no room to conc on that point and so while I'm always happy to be present in every part of our operations including negotiations and would be happy to join again this week I want to be clear that our position remains unchanged and will remain changed and final followup just to be clear and I I'm thankful to hear that you were able to participate um but I am also speaking about the other bargaining units this week so that would include the you know any of the other um negotiations that are still outstanding and actually one final point I believe I have requested uh the administration to come back with the status update on selected bargaining um I I know I've done this at least
163on two occasions and so I will make the request again to have an upcoming agenda item specific to the status of collective bargaining and I will do my best to be present whatever I can I do have a full week with many commitments this week um so I do want to be very clear thank you in um meeting with the Rea and others regarding our interpretors um did you provide the language or did our attorney or did anyone from my talent office provide the code of Virginia language to them that's the first question um and then I am open to having a full presentation on where we are um with collective bargaining at our next meeting or a meeting in July um but as soon as we can have it because there is a lot
164of there's a lot of misconception there's a lot of misinformation there's a lot I don't know where it's coming from I am not pointing fingers but I would like to know where we are um in the collective bargaining process I have some concerns with that but before I even begin to share my concerns I want to make sure that I have the factual information first um you know and so you could start with my my first question did we provide the code of Virginia yes ma'am multiple times in it's written form yes ma'am thank you I might add if I may Madam chair per our negotiating um uh business rules and agreements with our unions negotiations are confidential until such time as either there's an agreement or we reach impass which is why I'm able
165to speak about the one contract which has reached imp I'm unable to do so about the others publicly though certainly could provide a briefing and close session that's fine M Dix um thank you so much um Madam chair I just have one very clear-cut question um superintendent when will the associates um receive the updated contracts including the 20% raises that were voted on last year everyone will receive those M later than June and that communication has been sent out because there was some concerns and questions that were it has but I will reissue it to make sure that it's clear and I'll send it um under my name to make sure that it's uh everyone feels the full force and the weight of the school system I really appreciate thank you so much a lot
166of questions about that M thank you m I looked at you like did you just he saying the 21st but what thank you for saying this just having it in writing there another statement may not be enough it may have to be a a something face to face or person to persons to come out in a group at a particular time uh for whatever reason it's not being comprehended per se that the process everything I read in an email earlier some place a date that it was going to be done but as I always share people read things and interpret it differently but if you're in my space and telling me I'm going to receive it differently so in order to lessen that energy per se anybody ask me I mean all these thousands of
167emails we getting we're getting is is it's it's overwhelming and that's for the administration to address so that would help us as well because I even know how to respond to it legally correctly but I always believe that the relationship piece and that trust piece face to face they if they choose to say school is closed and whatever else they could have a 15 meeting some place show at a space for those that do or those that don't I think that one onone the paper and the email is it's it's effective it's shown that it's not working so I suggest that again please Mr superintendent yes um I will try to schedule something for this week and um invite anyone who may have been affected so that I can personally uh share the update and
168answer any questions and can we know as well take yes Mr Sawyer and then Dr Harris thank you so muchy back and just also agree with Burke as well I think BR Hammer I think it's very important that when we have situations like this we really jump on as quickly as possible and make sure that we are communicating to all stakeholders what the issues are um but also to this B's Point having a Q&A session so even if someone received a communication that came from anybody um that we still go back to them and say is it clear and if you have any outstanding questions we will make sure that we answer those as quickly as possible um so we're not budding up against June 21st and we are still receiving Communications um where people
169feel like they don't have slity on where they stand um so that's the Bigg thing I think we want to focus on is our communication strategy I'm making sure particularly this week uh that we're spending as much time possible um to clear any concerns um so we do not go into another week with any outstanding questions not haris yes thank you and also I think it would we help helpful um it may matter to some it may not but again we received a lot of emails I think it would be extremely helpful to help individuals understand why were the contracts issued knowing that we were going to provide a 20% race that has been the number one question in our emails that has been ignored we have to be courageous of them to address that
170why were contracts issued because they didn't have to be another written format could have gone out to those employees to indicate what was coming but we chose and I specifically asked that question in the board meeting do we have to do this tonight because I already knew we didn't have to and so thus we have to we we we have to own some of this and I think I'm hearing we're owning it but we have to own a lot of it because we we have to be able to to come with with the level of frustrations that people have had we read the emails but that has not been answered why did we do that and have to go back because my colleague Miss White asked are the numbers right she specifically at I went
171back to the board meeting and I heard her ask that question from this day is and thus the next morning contracts went out a lot of this a lot of the frustration and pain Miss Burke's Point building relationships with people That's essential but also saying we didn't have to do it we we we're going to fix it we're going to address it but how but also sharing the facts because what I am hearing and what I have read and I really appreciate it Mr Cameron that we're going to have this done no L then June 21st I read that same email so I appreciate that and the email that you sent in response to that custodian I verbatim said it when I was walking in my community to a different um employee this is what
172he put in an email allow that process to take its course if we get to the 21st and nothing happens then you can yell at us then you can send these emails but this could have been prevented I got to say it it could have been prevented but it was said to me no it we got to do this I'm just saying I I don't want us to rush or I don't want this to occur again and also let me add to this point it also demonstrates the help we need in the talent office that that is clear to me we need additional support and we need to place people in areas of strength in that Talent office and that's okay because I I can't I can't do that that ain't my cup of tea
173I can help but I'm just saying I know how how heavy that is but it also demonstrates the need that we have in that Talent officer we have to be honest about that thank you Miss White thank you madam chair I'm glad that y'all must have moved on to uh contrac and I thought that was down in the list but oh well we already hit it so um my question is still not the contract since um Mr cameras have said June the 21st and we're on this my uh question would be about the new uh Sal schedule will we be receiving a new well not we because I'm not here but uh will the employes be receiving a new salary schedule um I think our last conversation I was trying to uh tell Miss clemon
174that the change of the salary schedule it makes it look like you're getting less um than some people are getting based on their years and it looks like a new employee is coming in and they will get uh if it's by July the 1st they will get their old salary scheduled so they will make more money than eventually when we go back to the sell schedule so somewhere that needs to be fixed otherwise when that new person come in every year they get a raise they're going to make more money than someone that is u a veteran and I just looked at the Personnel um um report and I do have a situation on that because a person could get that if it's about July first and it will make more money than most people
175who already vet so I'm not sure if y'all looked at that to see if it's going to be an update SAT schedule or not thank you I will follow up also it would be helpful um to explain the difference between a raise and a contract a step increase and a pay decompression we can assume that people know those things and they're not the same so we have to articulate the difference between all three because it is the Assumption one minute thank you it is the assumption that if you receive if you have received a um decompression then you won't get a raise that has nothing to do with the RS it is assumed and I've heard this if we're reading our emails it's been in our emails that because they were changed on the salary
176schedule I don't know where this came from that that impacts their raise that's misinformation and so when we read that and we hear that we have to address that but we got to be comfortable and knowing what the differences are in addition to um how do we make changes to contracts what system is used to verify and upload the contractual documents for employees to review so shonda's contract is changing tomorrow morning is that done by hand is it uploaded uploaded to who does the employee get it in Adobe format where they docu sign what is the system that we use or is it a person doing that by hand so um you know we've had a robust conversation just want to FL that we are the only District in the state doing collective bargaining this
177is tough work it's um it's incred it's an incredibly huge L for everyone and so yeah I mean I think that all these issues are valid um but I think that that the at the least we can offer some Grace and allow our Talent office to work on this and work with our employees um and allow them the latitude to do what it is their task to do um knowing that that this is a first time for everyone and we are working really hard to make good on this but it is not going to be an easy process uh let's see Miss Bon and Miss wife thank you madam chair and thank you for saying that because whenever I go to a meeting I'm asked by other counties that are in the process of implementing
178or already implementing or just stud they can't do it period what are you doing and how are you doing it but thank you for putting that out there per se because this is a first for us we're the first in the state of Virginia so persons are learning by our from our mistakes and our experiences as well but I appreciate you're stating that and we do have deficits that were already in place I I agree in terms of what um Dr Harris Muhammad just stated the difference in a cola a step a raise decompression and that that's beforehand this is the first time ever I've known people get 20% rais at one time you know I have in my 38 years plus seven say so all of this is is is and it's deserving they
179deserve it but but it it it it fats the purpose of trying to do something well if there is a misunderstanding there and receiving that blessing is not received well because of a lack of understanding and knowledge so um hats off to you uh in the HR department and you do need more help hats off to you because this is a first and how you going to pull it all out your hat in a week or two I don't know but I know it has to be done and that's what I share people with people that's our charge that's what the administration is responsible for not me it comes to the administration first Know Your Role and know your place and know your space so um I look forward to hearing the the all of
180this that we're doing this is new to us so there I hope there is a sense of Grace and peace but we're going to have to touch persons and let them know and have those conversations we we need you and we do respect you and we do love you and we are going to support you as we should so thank you madam chair for saying that thank you so much thank you and I do want to add that I've been contacted by other school districts who see what we're doing and they're saying no way right honestly they saying we don't want to do that and that's unfortunate um hopefully we can work together better then use less toxic less violent language with each other and work this thing out all right m w thank you
181madam chair um Miss CL um I know that you just said that you needed help and I think you really do if you trying to get all these contracts out by uh June the 21st or have Miss Davis get these contracts out I should say what what is the plan for that because you you're running with like what two man three man team that's the possible unless you going get all the staff from the administration to have thank you Miss White um our our uh benefits and comp team are small But Mighty um Allison Davis is our director and she has had a shoulder burden of these contracts um and yes we absolutely all of our departments and HR need help um and one in particular is benefits in C um we have been talking
182with our um we've been talking with our um our units about relevant work experience to do the work of Z compression um and several of our units um have asked for a little bit more time but we've said if we Grant you more time to get some of the relevant work experience in then we're going to have to push back to June 21st and we've you know been actively trying to get out the this um the contracts with the uh placement and the raise for decompression as opposed to realizing it what we've done is we asked our units for Relevant work experience then they've sent out a Google form to their membership so that folks can put in all of their years of experience that they would like to be reviewed for that particular job
183that they currently have so that we can then calculate it so that we can then put them on the on the step there are over a 100 pay tables in our system which is one of the reasons why it's taken us longer to get all of this together and why we couldn't just send out some that had 20% on them and then some of them that had the 20% and decompression and some of them that had the 2% it's because we have 100 plus pay tables in the system and it really does have to be for this first wave it really does have to be individualized so that we're actually putting them on the right place in the pay salary and it's a Excel spreadsheet import basically to our system and so the reelection list
184is kind of our base point of what you see and our Tech Team takes that list uploads it to our database uh for talent Ed which is records is where the contracts come out and it's basically a fillable form so the export fills in that information that it needs for Name ID title your grade your step and that kind of thing so that's why it was easier to have everybody in one point this is how we're going to do it this time and then as we go through we can set them out in groups and say okay custodians you guys um have the 20% so we're going to send out all the custodians because we know that those are 20% we don't have to do any additional work I believe Alison said that those were
185actually going to go out tomorrow so fingers crossed that we can get those out tomorrow and then we're going to continue working on that decompression um with the relevant work experience to put people on the correct page scale as that information comes in from our Collective and I just have one question there on something that you been stated you said relevant experience how come the relevant experience didn't carry over still present employees here so why didn't why why do they have to log in what their experience is that's a great question um for folks who have been here for a while or for folks who may have second careers a lot of times we don't put everything on our resume that we actually did so you may spend 15 years being you know somebody that
186does agback but then you may have gone and learned another trade and then you spend another 15 years there but you're only being you know hired right now as a plumber well we still want to give you experience and relative work experience credit for being some another a different trades person because that's still work experience right but you may not have added that to your resume because you may not have thought that that was something to put in there because you you know it was like a lifetime ago thing so this gives folks an opportunity that if they have something in their past that they may not have actually had on their resume when they applied for a position here at RPS that we can go back and Rie position thank you a quick uh
187I'll get Mr a quick followup to that I think there was a question that was uh that Dr Harris Muhammad asked about related to miss White's question but just follow we around the topic what system is used to upload the contractual documents for employees to review we use a power school products called Talent Ed and so it's Talent Ed it has records perform um and an Contracting system Mr start thank you just wanted to close this up and then we going to move on to other ACS for the evening um but I just wanted to personally say thank you um I've been doing HR for 17 years and I've had my good days and I've had my bad days along the way as well um but I think what we're going to end with here
188is that we know what we got right we know what we got wrong we had our lessons learned we should have those documented uh we should also make sure that as we move into the next ccle of this that we have kind of NQ document that can go out to every single employee within the districts so they understand the terminology that's being utilized within the P schedule of course I looked at it and I knew it because I to me but I've been doing this for sever 10 years um so I think that's something that we obvious can take as a as a take away from this process um and just make sure that as we kind of move forward that our communication strategy is cpto clear as it possibly can be um but I
189just want to again say uh thank you uh you know work through the problems and the issues and um we just move forward Miss CL um Miss Gibson is saying you did not answer a question you heard apologies can you repeat your question regarding this was the question regarding the folks that are missing from the re-election list I'd be happy to answer that so the reelection list does not currently or the reelection list is you have it in in uh board docs is a very long lengthy um document um and it includes folks who um have been well let me start with people who it does not include that's your actual question it does not include people who may or may not have had ler issues that we have not cleared up yet so as
190the waves have gone through we've resolved some lcer issues we want to make sure that fols are licensed and endorsed when they get their contracts we want to make sure that those and those have been solved we have probably about 60 people that still owe us paperwor or certificates or that kind of thing we anticipate that they're going to get the contract but we need to get the documentation in place so that we know that they're eligible for a license so it doesn't include some of those it's about 60 of them um and we're having meetings with those folks we've been calling them I had a meeting today with somebody about about hers in particular um folks who transferred to a different role so if we knew that they were interviewing um and they were
191going to be offered the job we did not issue them a cont contract on their current um positions that's what the reelection list is you are reelecting somebody to the exact same position so we if we had somebody that we knew was going to be in a different position next year we didn't put them on the reelection list because when they get hired they're offer a contract they they sign a different one so they didn't get those um somebody who is um in a position where they have been on leave um and may not have a return to work date yet or they may not have been work released yet they may not be on this list because we just don't have that information and we don't know if they're coming back yet and most
192of those folks they've been on extended absences and so they may not have a pro protected job like they're employees of RPS but we need to place them when they come back but we don't know when they're going to come back so that makes it a little bit more in the contract and then the last one is typically our non-renewals for lur performance which is on the PA actions Ian so that's a pretty extensive list so my question is like it's difficult for the board to vote on these reelection lists without having a clear understanding about who's on it and who's not on it um so can the can the board receive a list of the reelection item re-election fotes alongside the folks that are not on the list um that's my my request also
193are the salaries correct in here or is this also been correct it has not been decompressed decompression so what you see on the re-election list is what is on the contract that we got that so can we receive the reelection list with the folks that are not on the re-election list too like red lines or something yes it it's not been done like that before so we didn't do it that way this year but we're happy to provide that list thank you thank you m you want to offer you leeway to do your job you know micromanagement was com of thing and um you know I I do want you to know that this task and you know tackling this syate um I I want to say yeah yeah give me one second um I
194want to say first of all we've been um asked to uh thank our Safety and Security people for what they did at graduation and how much they work um they said it's rare that they get a shout out and so shout out to our safe and security people yes and and some of them have just reminded me that they work 10hour days and that we had said that we were going to stick till 10 to 10 o'clock to finish this meeting and that we aren't even close right now and we actually haven't gotten to our favorite thing which should be student achievement and so um we've spent hours on things other than student achievement and uh I am not sure what to think about that you know as far as I'm concerned I really would
195like to see us focus more and start with student achievement we're here for the children said that multiple times so what happened because that was approved and that's where we so when did the agenda change because I think that we were assuming perhaps we assume when we did this first of all we were adding things that you'd asked for thing is well we we were asked to put the ACT items first oh I know I didn't say that because we needed to vote on things and we didn't want people to go to bed before we made votes so that's why it has been moving forward we make under after public information put it back because that's the teaching learning process that's why we're here because of our students I know we have action items but
196much we spend from 6:00 7 6:30 to 10:00 almost and we haven't talked about dreams for RPS that's our strategic plan so my request is moving forward can we M can we please move that I mean we certainly can do that it's just that all of you basically requested the opposite a couple of months I um also you know I think we need to be mindful of how much time we're spending on each item um certainly we need to think about that um we are we're we're actually averaging almost an hour per item and we that is not sustainable so we really do as a board need to think about these things going forward especially for the benefit of our staff some of whom are working 10hour days some of whom have to get home
197to children and many of whom have to get home to children and so um dor and I actually were there are a couple of motions that need to be made and then we were going to propose s deferrals thank you I'm I'm gonna apologize right now because things that you have shared more than one person has shared so it's not just coming from one person it has been discussed numerous times and I I just needed to share because um I have always stated that student achievement um is our number one priority but also when things are not addressed prior to us having a meeting this is the space to address them and I'm not I'm not abusing anything all I am saying is I have said that before so let me finish thank you this
198is not a new conversation because I have also said that until adult behaviors change student outcomes will change so I'm not trying to P I'm not trying to put myself above anything that's not what I'm doing but it was just I'm just going to leave it at that um you know in a respond to that and I'm not going to do back but I have attended several conferences where people have looked at our meetings and asked specifically why we aren't asking a lot of the questions that we ask in board meetings prior to board meetings and that questions should not be like do or they should not be questions that the superintendent has not seen prior to our meetings that is the policy and procedure of a lot of major schools board come on now
199every school board ask questions of their superintendent not always via email we just got an email today that stated that we need to stop doing business via email and ask these questions in a public meeting so how many time so which direction which direction are we going because I too have been to conferences I too have been in several C boards yes we all have you because of timing as well I think this is a good conversation when we have our F School Board Association can we put that on that agenda to address how we need to reformat moving forward for the upcoming school year so can we at this point part well taken I pray to go at 10 o' as well and we're not following the Norms so right now we're talking about
200something that needs to be addressed but we keep repeat so my ask is that when Miss du makes the appointment with um Junia School Board Association that this is put this is part of governance as well and we do need this it do and and so we can revamp and move forward thank you but moving forward also dreams for ours the first item after the public well I bring my um statement when we get to the agenda item but it speaks to what we're discussing around here um a lot of things a lot of things you know we complain about so many different things but we we create these matters these issues because we do not follow the Norm we do not communicate so that all board members has the information have the information so
201that we all can make an informed decision so I'm just going to keep my other comments until we get to that agenda item because yes I've been to conferences as well as well as everyone else and we need to stop pointing fingers and take ownership and move and let's move on sorry M I move that we approve the 2024 re-election second it's been moved on this door has been moved by m door and seconded by Ry uh to approve the 425 reelection list M yeah s yes Miss Gibson no there are important people on the list that are miss Mr Sawyer M rzy yes Dr Harris Mohammed no there are people missing on the list Miss Burke yes Miss Paige yes M Dixon abstain motion passes okay M door and the reason why I making
202these motions outside of the consent agenda is because Miss Gibson asked for them to be seate items um so this is it motion to receive uh for Action the 2024 and 2025 program studies I I move to receive for Action the 2024 2025 program study approv sorry it's been mooved by Miss D seconded by Mr Sawyer to approve the 2024 25 program of studies Madam Miss St yes Miss White yes Miss Gibson that's name Mr Sawyer yes M Rizzy yes Dr Harris Mohamed yes Miss Burke yes M Paige yes Miss Dixon motion passes thank you m door I move to approve the consent to Second SP move by Miss door seconded by to approve the consent mad I just want to include that excludes 6.02 and 6.05 yes excluding 6.02 and 6.05 thank you M
203St yes Miss wife yes Miss Gibson Mr yes M rzy yes Dr Harris mam yes yes pae yes Miss Dixon yes so she passes I move to defer items 9.01 9.02 and 9.03 30 the next Bo meeting sorry oh uh 9.01 9.02 9.03 and 9.04 to the next second all right it's going to move on this door second and B this part can move 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 um to a to the next meeting all right mam Miss s yeah Miss White yes Miss Gibson yeah Mr Sawyer yes M rzy yes Dr Harris Mohammed yes Miss Burke yes Miss Paige yes Miss vixon yes motion passes you D all right we are now the Le at 7.01 receive update for RPS fre early literacy what about children good evening again so we are very excited
204to share our early literacy data we are excited about the progress that we are making on this front um in 2021 2022 we made an 8% gain in 2022 2023 we made a 7% gain and we came again this year making another 7% gain in early literacy so we are doing a lot of the right things and we excited about that these gains in early literacy move move us closer to our Dream for RPF goal of every student reading on grade level by third grade the team assembled tonight stand in for all of the K through two teachers School leaders reading coaches interventionists and all other um support staff who work hard every day to teach our students how to read we know we are continuing to have our skill to on our skills the
205research based practices that are providing our students a firm foundation for whatever they seek to do in the future as they strive toward their goals prepare for College and Career Readiness um John Grove will provide a brief data analysis along with Shayla homman who will talk about preschool Mrs bur and so we will have an opportunity to talk about that as well but on all fronts in early literacy we're making great gains and we are so so so proud of the work that happens and if I may as they're coming up I just wanted to note that M's daughter graduate all right uh good evening school board members my name is John Grove the director of data analytics and I'm here to present our our early literacy Data before diving into the results I want
206to note that RPS assesses all K through two students and only third graders who are below the Pal's Benchmark the prior year the data presented contains only K through two for consistency in reporting to begin presenting we are seeing some incredible gains in our early literacy data belows the trend line of our Pal's data from the school year 1819 and here you can see we are gaining momentum in literacy 65.4% of our students met their some score Benchmark this spring this is a 7% increase from our results this fall and spring and even more of a gain from last year also something that I believe is very important education today is closing the covid Gap as quickly as possible here you can see that our prepandemic early literacy levels during the 2019 spring window peaked
207at 64.8% I am thrilled to report that we have now exceeded prepandemic levels on this slide you can see consistent gains in every single area with some areas like our black group economically disadvantaged group and second graders Nearing double digigit games our second gr graders will now enter third grade at higher reading levels translating to increase reading Proficiency in third grade all right so on this slide I do want to highlight and you I'm really excited to highlight this one school and it is Fairfield Court Elementary earlier in the fall only 51% of their students met Benchmark on Pals through the hard work of the staff families students as well as the addition of more instructional time Fairfield Court increased pal by 31% this is the highest gain from all schools in our division on
208Pals this year below is their trend line from school year 2018 2019 and here you can see they're well above their prepandemic levels of just 66.8% lastly despite the RPS school with the highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students they are now seventh highest in the division in terms of early lit which is phenomenal okay so in terms of our IND individual school performance Belleview Fairfield GH3 Broad Rock overv sponsor have all seen double digit growth whereas Oak grve and caror exceeded 20% gain so largely our schools did really well in early yes um and then I'm gonna hand it over here to lesy to talk through our actions so how did we make these gains by being very intentional about what we were doing one of the things that we made sure is that we
209looked at our data student by student not just whole groups of kids or classrooms for kids we looked student by student to determine what each student needed where they were and what were the next steps um we did a lot of professional development um as you can see the long lift that is there we did professional development with principles assistant principles meeting coaches we had our life sessions um we um already were using the program youly but we um made sure that we were using it consistently across our schools and really looking at um making sure it was high quality so we did a lot of training along with that so we did a lot of training over this time and it really helped us to be consistent across our schools and what we were
210looking for in early literacy and so we will continue that as we go into next school year here as well making sure that our schools are ready as far as data analysis and as far as the professional development that are going to help our kids achieve at even greater levels all right so preschool vows um going into our vs dat Mr can you just say 15 seconds on what vows is asind yes absolutely uh before presenting our data here um here's some context around vows vows is our literacy screening assessment for preschool and stands for Virginia language and literacy screen system the data presented here tonight um is represented in four domains Beginning Sounds letter names letter sounds and syllable segmenting please note that the overall data on slides 13 through 17 so all of
211the overall data does not include non RPS centers so just our schools and comprehensive um and our comprehensive schools now in presenting our preschool early literacy results I'm happy to report that our preschool students are transitioning to kindergarten at higher reading levels measured by vals across the board all four domaines have seen substantial increases from both spring last year and fall earlier this year the next four slides show the results of each domain by race and age here you can see consistent gains in every single area not one group or domain has decreased from last year every single domaining group has increased substantially I do want to highlight one specific area this year we facilitated data response cycle sessions with our preschool principles our team created a dashboard for our principles to navigate through and
212a data protocol to ensure that we were accountable in these sessions three-year-old outcomes was an area that our principles continually identified as needing Improvement based off our data we created driven by this data and I'm proud to report that this area has seen significant gains in all four domains so again a lot of traction in that area now in terms of the schools uh reporting the results by school all of our preschools have made incredible gains this year um just to highlight a few areas in terms of the highest gains from Spring to spring for for Beginning Sounds Summer Hill increased by 15% percentage points um letter names uh for letter names MLK increased by 17 for letter sounds Mary Scott increased by 20 and for syllable segmenting Mary Scott increased by 17 I also
213want to note that Blackwell increased in all domains by double digits which is phenomenal true I'm have respon um so Shay Early Childhood just want to say great things are happening preschool I was hoping for the woohoo early um so we we try to be responsive to the things you asked for the last time especially with the pull out of the three-year-old versus um four-year-old and other data a lot of this you're going to see is consistent we tried to stay the course the initial um response was just to continue to initiate weekly collaborative planning um small group instruction was a big piece we used cook kick up um we develop a walkthrough form principles were able to walk through support their um teachers our coaches at the district level will also able to do
214the same thing and I jumped in on walks and our teams did um walks myself and our teams just to support principles and teachers um we had PD every a month around um small group how to use it how to use vows day dat how to use vkrp data in order to transition in what small group should look like um if you walk into a preschool right now you will see a data wall so they have um small data walls and I don't want to say all of this data to make it seem like we forgot about intentional play and that they are little but we also want to make sure that we are using the data that we have whether um you know qualitative or quantitative to inform our instruction and so we did
215a lot with data and just how to use it and thenal we also had PD monthly around umcl we continue to use Al Pals and aligning with the district Al we were able to hire a social worker um specifically for preschool this year and she is going to be using second step it all it goes all the way down to prek so we're going to be pulling small groups next year and we're structuring that right now um some of the other initiatives we were of course um able to extend the school day um thank you thank you thank you we have been able to um um hire or working on hiring once approve preschool instructional Deans so a Dean in each individual preschool to help with instructional coaching modeling on the um in each of
216the buildings and that's going to um their positions would start if approved next year um this coming up school year again we were able to look at um even our attendance data and while Head Start has um Family Service workers to do a lot of that work uh VPI does not so for the BPI side we were able to um hire a family leaon specialist that works on attendance enrollment and you will see it increase when we come back later on and we look at attendance as well and again we also were able to hire a social worker um enrollment we this was at the um session for um that Luke's shared we are trying to get an increase to increase our enrollment so that's also initiative um to include some of those things and
217I think that's about that's about it um I want to have show you some pictures if you've seen them um just this is small group um Miss Hill with her Hampton um shirt on is from Summer Hill the other one um this is the young lady from um Miss uh Tiffany Johnson's class at JB Fisher and in the next picture you're going to see collaborative planning our teachers were actually doing make and take it as they were looking at um the lessons so their students this happens to be at Maymont so this was happening throughout uh we have had some conversations about some next steps our audit we talked with the auditor about how long we've been using creative curriculum and is that truly addressing our needs um we did not touch that this year
218we had we were already doing so many things this upcoming year we are going to be um talking to our staff and developing a process to really EX yes Miss B examine um the uh curriculum is creative curriculum truly meeting our needs um do we need to look at something else so we're going to be um we're going to be rolling that out and because the reason why is because creative curriculum really looks at our whole child and there are pieces that address but vows is very specific when we're looking at phonics so what are we using to support teachers when we're um thinking about that uh another thing we did this year for pacing our three-year-olds come in we have the potty and we have this really extensive um pacing but we had to
219work with our three-year-old teachers they started sharing some concerns so we did some surveys and we are we have um relooked at the pacing for this upcoming year specifically for the three yearolds to include some things that they need developmentally so we're just not lossing with this curriculum and so uh overall we're going to continue the focus continue working on attendance because when they're there they're learning um we want to look at Family engagement we have a great partnership with Excel especially around literacy and so we have been doing um if you've seen some of our Flyers we do um one side of the river and the next side of the river we alternate each month and Excel will come and we have schools uh multiple School families that are able to participate and we
220kind of have taken that show on the road that it's at least happened um every preschool at least once uh professional development while we did it as a a um Core Group this year we are working with the principles and they are pulling their staff professional development is going to be a lot more tailored the individual schools and data and we're going to start data discussions this summer with individual schools and just continuing to look at our overall structures um processes making sure we're focusing on data but with the with intentional Play Remembering that this is still preschool and I think that's about rap for preschool okay okay um I think I saw Miss White who's next thank you madam chair um thank you Dr wh for this presentation in your team um I just
221want to make one comment and one question and uh with the K through K through second grade um this is uh good work I've seen it with my own eyes and kindergartens are writing a little paragraph and they read it to me so this is good work I wish that we could use you fly for three to fifth grade uh give them those Basics also I don't know how you would do that but that would be a a good thing and I and I like to thank the coaches teachers and I those small groups really do work and I witnessed that myself last Friday when they read the papers to me and they were in kindergarten I was kind of amazed but uh they did do it and they wrote it themselves but my question
222is looking at this data for um non RPS Partners do they have the same instructions as RPS schools because I did see a little couple negative so our our partners are part of the Head Start program all of our VPI students are in our preschool centers okay they're in our five centers the only child care um Partners we use are part of the Head Start program and so yes we um they are they have to use create a curriculum they have to do some of the similar things and we're continuing to work with them and make sure that we are coaching them around some of the areas that we want to improve in as well so they use the small group also they they use the small group also okay I use a small group
223but we are excited about all of the progress that's being made at Carver as well and I just want to say also um to our partners like the Kanas Club who helps out um all of our partners who are in our schools um are to be um commended for all the work they're doing because they help to move instruction WR so we're excited about that and don't worry um youly is only K through two but three through five we have a plan so we'll talk about that in well okay thank you all right let say Miss Dion Mohamed B No No No's m page I just have to I don't know what order you all ra your hand go ahead okay I think we all are probably G to say the same thing this is
224amazing work great job to everyone that's involved um I mean you're doing the work and the data reflects it as have one question or perhaps thought um I would just be interested to see sorry I would be interested to see these Scholars um perhaps follow through their educational Journey just to see if there's a level of sustainability and retention of how the processes and information is obtained year over year even if it's a small group for sample so just wanted to share um actually we have some of that data our presentation was already pretty long um but John has already done some of that and so um we'll find a way to share that too um because it's it's just great data and it showing that our kids who are going to preschool whichever program
225BP our Head Start you're just getting a firm foundation and so the more we get the kids into preschool the better our schools perance be I'm excited for to hear and what a great job thank you so you I wanted to add a response to that um on Friday um Mr camerson I met with Dr Coons who reviewed our data and was super excited about it and actually recommended that we do a case study so that then we can share that with other districts and um you know have something that's official Mr C would you like to add to that I think you got it right yeah like this is very very hard work and I don't think we do a good enough job of pausing and celebrating um and we we spent a lot
226of time talking about Head Start and getting everything ready for the audit and all that which was important but all the while um Miss Holman and her team certainly Dr Rin have been grinding a way to bring preschool to the level that we all want it to be and that our kids deserve it to be and we're beginning to see the implications of that I will tell you the perhaps the best studied thing in education is the impact of quality early childhood education it's incontrovertible that high quality early childhood education leads to a lifetime of success and so this is a great moment for these three-year-olds and four-year-olds but it's an even greater moment for their future selves their 5-year-old s six-year-old sell 15-year-old cell and so on so I'm excited to see all the
227work that's happening really 3K through second grade how that's going to carry its way through third fourth B and Beyond and again could be more grateful to to missman Dr W strong everybody who's beening so hard yes thank you all um and I will say that we did ask Dr KS to consider at the state level funding more um opportunities for early childhood education absolutely thank you for asking okay who is Dr Harris M so different is doable this data is showing that our 200 day investment is paying all and so I'm excited about that great work thank you so much for the work that you do um the data analyst data Guru thank you so much for always fact checking the numbers and so I just wanted to say different is doable and this
228data is showing that the investment again that we made in our 200 day schools it's working and it's it's not for every community school but there schools that are imp have implemented it needed it and and kudos to Fairfield and other schools that are that are improving thank you whoos to your team to you know our school staff our principls teachers thank you all for your hard work um we're going in the right direction and you know I just I want a shout out to the rof all of our schools but a big shout out to the E district schools um Blackwell man I've seen games um you know we have increased the number of students our Scholars as far as testing um black well it's now where where it was so we're moving in
229the right direction and again I just want to say kudos to all of our schools but especially the schools that I represent um I'm just so elated um it it speaks to the leadership the school leadership and data doesn't lie and so I'm looking forward to the next 200 day pilot at the O they'll need elementary school because I know we want to see the data that fail the Improvement success that um Fairfield is experiencing um but all of our schools I mean cuz our young people are so deserving absolutely of a quality education and again I just want to say thank you all thank you Miss B and colleagues it's um 9:59 I have to I I'm honestly going to leave at 10:30 I'm going try get through the agreement um very sick at
230but sorry thank you very much I think we are be about 10:30 I am one of the happiest persons on Beyond Cloud n feeling fine on cloud n in the eastn 7th District first of all I must share the this story that just pained me I posted half the pictures that I had from going to places day today and it just hit me Bel you had their Museum evening one evening about two weeks ago I didn't get there until hour was so later because of something else school was happening but all of the students were outside on the grounds it was beautiful and it was an opportunity to reflect upon the little children had costumes on and they were vegetables and all the rest and and it was just beautiful Street Fair on the side
231limo was there and while leaving I have a picture of a little girl who's a kindergarten named hay and I must show this to you to post she was standing on the side of the street in front of B Elementary reading and I thought she was a third grader she had just gotten this book off of lit limo she is a kindergarten student I just wanted to meet Mom Dad Auntie they all were there but I was so taken by what she was doing so number one you have inspected what you expect yes you have put in place something that has not been in place for many years from preschool and if I say the dates I'm going to date myself off is the only one who can relate to that right cu wi but
232thank you so very much for putting the whole child first thank you number two for also allowing our students to be lifted up that they can Embrace you've involved the parents you've involved you also empowered the faculty and staff because often times preschools left behind but you have intentionally and I love it I'm with you all the way keep doing what you're doing I am concerned with those schools especially those who not in RPS that are struggling because they're our children too so I hope with the plans that we made per Head Start to be able to hire um more qualified persons per safe to help them that a difference will be made but you're doing to do so thank you so much I am so happy keep doing it and thank you for having
233that data to show moving forward because at the end of the day we're just making moves if we don't have that data to so thank you so much J wel done and I'm going send you the picture of the young lady reading on the side of the street from a book she just got off and she's a kindergarten fluently Beyond she was in her Glory thank you Miss Gibson thank you madam chair um and this is phenomenal I've heard such great things about the curriculum um I do have some questions I mean I I really um uh I think it would be I think it would be really interesting to get a little deep dive um in some of these schools where we're seeing um really extraordinary gains um one of the questions that I
234have is regarding the number of tutors um in the schools I've heard anecdotally that there are quite a few more tutors at Franklin I'm sorry at Fairfield um over the past year than there had been in the past and look like we see results that come through the tutors um you know it would be helpful to know so we can figure out how we might allocate those resources and so um so can you tell me how how many you know can you provide I guess an update that would show you know the breakdown in terms of the use of tutors in the different schools um and then also you know where all the tutors are coming from like are they are we paying for them are they volunteers um because obviously you know based on
235whether they're volunteers or not we might see different types of results I just think it'd be really helpful I know you know um RPS 200 there are different you know additional hours that come with that but it seems like there's more to the story and um and I think it would be helpful to have that full picture absolutely so um I don't know if you all remembered but um the governor provided funding for us to have more tutors in the schools this year they work with three through five for elementary they of course they work 3 through eight for Middle School um you know for the middle school grades as well so there were more tutors in our schools this year because of that funding so we were able to do that and so if
236you would like more about the numbers in each school and all of that we can provide that to you so yeah there were more in Fairfield but all the other schools too because of the funding that the governor provided so um in our for K through 2 we continue to work um we have our instructional assistants who um worked with our preschool stud with our preschool with our elementary school students excuse me um in order like they do on a regular basis every here to consistently do that but yes for 3 through five we did and um then when we share our so results you'll be able to see um the results of of what we were able to accomplish there as well thank you thank you so I just I just wanted to add
237I um you know I'm walking around talking with neighbors I actually um I forgot her name I should remember it um met a woman who is doing remote tutoring like in her house and working with young people and she's really loving it and enjoying it and it's funed I'm guessing thats program it is there's a program called ignite that we will be utilizing next year um this upcoming school year um we have license from the state for about 300 students and so between Elementary and Middle School we'll be using those license in order for students to get one to one hoing um which is very exciting so we are using that with um some of our students who could benefit from that most so we're excited about that as well so lots to share on
238the 3 through five too there's a lot of excitement there as well okay thank you very much board members if we want to um leave at 10:30 we have two grievances and for closed so we need to end now um otherwise we can continue but I would suggest that we limit our time to at Le to know more than five minutes per item if we did that it would still take us 40 minutes please let me know your reference we have eight items left Title One B contracts training board communication AR Ash update on facilities sh Madam Vice chair um contract um the to Grants have been evated for your review and do not require further discussion this evening uh if you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out to me um M
239rzy provided the update on the we met with the uh State superintendent uh to provide just a brief update um we are looking forward to the fall and we can revisit theou itself and we have just one contract for first read if you have any questions about that please don't hesitate to contact us thank you Dr har was the board sent communication that you are were meeting with Dr Coons and theou was going to be discussed and if so I missed it and I will apologize but was it sent to us no this was just uh a meeting with the board chair and myself and the uh State superintendent just a check in on our data we didn't actually discuss the mou I was just referencing that uh for our earlier conversation right you might
240have missed it I said was that communication sent to the board that you had a meeting with Dr Co on Friday no ma'am that's why okay that's all I needed thank you okay we are now at item well we've got 8.33 all right so at the board gance stream Miss wife yes um make this quick also um if we have to make a motion of like a update on what is going on with the governor's training I know dates were um sent out by Miss door had the letter created and to um the state superintendent um uh waiting for this motion tonight and then we will Um send a letter to the state superintendent um I did send on date um during this meeting um it looks like based on preliminary responses none of those
241work um there were six dates sent um so I am nervous about going back um with more dates so I will try and see what we can do um I'm willing to make myself available for all six but um we might need some flexibilities [Music] dates you had the most responses 30 unfortunately there are two two people that can only make one date which makes it and those dates are not the same well here we go again we know that we have to be flexible um this is our time to do the Mandate training and I think when I saw the dates Miss door I think five dayses was too much I just gave you two and you head inside from those but this is the mandatory this is requirement somewhere someone will have to
242make flexibility that we can uh get this training now thank you I just want to say um you know publicly that I have um since day one shared dates and have H to communicated flexibility however I am getting married on July 13th and I will be on my H so the only way that I am available unfortunately is well not unfortunately not say like that it's July 30 but so who else who else I'm just saying that with the I think we do need a motion to not go Council City schools and you said not go back should say that we instead are going to use the PBA instead of council for City Schools Dr Harris um my vote of no does not mean that I do not do I'm saying no to governance training
243because I'm not I'm saying no because I don't think VBA can give us um what we need um but I do agree with governance train I'm just not in support of doing it with BBA I'm Mo that ritual Public School Board uh use bsba instead of great City schools for governor training second it's been moved by Miss White seconded by Miss Dixon to use BBA instead of the Council of great City Schools not M yes m yes M Gibson yes Mr Sawyer Miss rzy I will say you know I'd rather have had something other than checking the box but um I will say yes Dr Harris Mohamed no m b yes stage yes Miss Dixon yes motion now at for communication yes so I um amended the agenda to add board communication as the discussion
244um if you we look at policy 1- 3.2 it talks about the school board chair and vice chair um the duties so and everywhere throughout this policy it says that um the board chair appoints committee when authorized by the school board sign all legal documents approved by the school board and perform each other duties as may be prescribed by law or by action of the school board and the vice chair shall shall preside in the absence of the chair and share shall perform such other duties as may be assigned by the school board so the premise of this is to add additional language with the guidance of legal because we have had too many incidence that the board has not been informed so that we can make an informed decision so we need to create
245some guard rails to ensure that the chair leadership CH disseminate all in any communication information from the administration and legal so that the board can make an informed decision because policies must and shall be our guiding principle and just to site some of the action that has happened in the past that the board was not aware of such as the sexual harassment complaint against a previous board member the auor AC agreement um meetings with the um meetings with Dr P we are in board and as I've stated all and any communication information from the administration and legal has to be disseminated amongst all board members we cannot continue to operate in this manner so I'm asking if the board of consensus that legal can add some language to that policy and that is 13.2 to
246make sure thank you so much for that report so are you saying that we need to discuss this during our um governance training or we have lots of norms and lots of guidelines that we we don't follow right and doesn't mean that it's correct I mean it is true it's true we don't we don't just like: so my my point is we're going to address this but at the end of the day to make sure as a team that we're on the same page to follow us what so that's why I was asking is this something that we would need to address as a part of our agenda during our governance it sounds like we're going to have more we really need time just to to come together as a group and discuss a lot
247of that's going on that during a meeting we we cannot do so my question to you Miss page is thank you for that information presentation however um moving forward is this something that we need rather than having a group to go back in the dress and bring back another set of rules or expectations is this I ask you is this the possibility that we can address this during our governance training and we ask for J School Association to give us an hour in addition to what's already planned during that 92 or 9 to that we can come up with something together that we all can agree upon rather than having it top down well we don't follow up um that could be a possible solution but if we continue if board leadership continues to not
248inform the for board uh certain actions I don't think waiting to governance training governance training is going to um I I just see this as a sense of urgency because this is happening or had or has happened too many times that we cannot ignore as a board so that is my um my what's my suggestion [Music] um motion is it a motion I make the motion thank you madam chair um what I wanted to add on with my colleague Miss pages that um there seems to be um with the attorney here not this attorney but p uh we're receiving some emails that I'm thinking that should be coming from the leadership and then we get them from pack and pack was say well he thought the leadership was supposed to provide them so either both
249of you need to provide the board that because there is a delaying process somewhere here we're not receiving them when we should be receiving them on time when when we do receive them it's time to take action and we need to be able to review the content to make a sound decision and it's it's a delay there and that's not how uh that's not how leip Works um you know what I will say is that specifically when things require legal um I generally wait until legal is done before I share with the board uh just for a matter of consistency making sure everybody receives the information at the same time making sure that there are no major edits that need to make be made prior to you know releasing it from the attorney and so
250that has been the case now with the author Ash agreement I specifically sat here and read out the terms of the agreement nothing has changed since then except for some legal language that P had to work out with the city um and so once that draft was finalized it has been posted for Dr of first read um and so there was no delay on that as much as you know that final part had to be agreed with the city so that we could get it out yes um Madam not talking about that one we're talking about the one we just previously um I think you probably talk yeah that came from p happen to agree with his decision on that just because of the the sensitive nature of that particular issue but either one of
251you have to or do it together okay or because we're it's like a delay and I know that um the attorneys does the work for the board but we shouldn't be receiving it when it's almost time to do a action or we don't have time to read it to make a sound decision we shall already know what's going on say that particular one I learned when you learned um so we are now at the oh I'm sorry Miss Dixon and then miss P thank you so much Madam chair I just like to offer a different perspective if I would if I could I think um there's value in in all of our voices as colleagues and and in helping to ensure that there is a full scope of understanding um as we have some very
252interesting things that have come up um and helping to prepare the board um ahead of time it allows us to offer perspective ask questions that can be compiled to perhaps give to the attorneys ahead of time that they can respond to and different things like that so I think there is value in just you know providing us the opportunity to to share Insight absolutely I agree so there's nothing that's been presented to you as um a second read or anything to vote on so the aash agreement is right there for everyone to look at it including the public Miss P you have a comment okay um yes I have a comment um I hear what you're saying but it's there appears to be multiple delays in the board receiving information just like the off Ash
253agreement um you say you receiv received it May 7 yeah I have a comment I don't recall that board received it um but then we got the agreement from P at the end of May um and I'm not going to sit here because I mean yes I recognize it's it's late but we continuously have this discussion about information that the board is not receiving so that we all can make an informed decision because we all have value we have one vote no one person on this board has has one or two votes we each have one vote so I'm prepared to make a motion because but we can have all the professional development and Norms but you know the leadership sets the tone plain and simple the leadership sets the tone and you have a
254BCE share you know you can split up the information to make sure that each of us Reed the information um so there's no delay um we need we got to do better we had a pol policymaking body and we have to do better it's unacceptable so I can make a motion sure so I move that that the chair leadership shall disseminate all in any communication information from the administration and Neo so that the board can make an informed decision that's second then move by Miss Paige seconded by Miss Dixon that the board communicate any and all information from the administration and uh legal so that the board can make an decision second mad M yeah M white yes M Gibson yes Mr Sawyer yes m Ry yes and I also want to ask as we're
255doing this if there is a case where revealing information um will harm someone or it needs to be confidential for whatever reason and there are cases where that happens um the chair should be able to um make an informed decision about that with the um input of the administration no absolutely not absolutely not absolutely not well we have a situation right now where any release of the information which we have had several board members I I don't know several maybe there's just one things are getting to the Press prior to us being able to talk about them and that has put people at Jeopardy yes it has and the board but that and and until that has happened but withholding information from saying withholding what was what was the word the word is in cases
256where release of an information could harm or injure something and and Miss Ry with all the respect other cases where we could distribute things maybe possible thank you then that's when you make a one toone phone call yes it does not go on an email and it has been done and absolutely okay and so we all are aware that information has been leaked to the media and I I prayed one day someone from the media is courageous enough to tell us who it is because it is impacting um how we have to deal with certain situations and possible lawsuits but that's not what I'm I don't want to get into that what I'm saying is particular case Dr Harris I just want to have this conversation I just want to something very I just want
257to be sensitive was released before I understand that but that does not give any chair or vice chair the sole responsibility to maintain the information that's what I'm saying okay that's what I'm saying one for a burden reason I will not be interrupted thank you also the burden of Caron that should not be on you or the vice CH that again everybody needs to have that information that's what I'm saying there thank you continue to please Madam I just wanted to make it very CLE it is each of our responsibilities we all have taken our oath um and just to restate it again if there's some sensitive confidential information divide divide it up between the chair and the vice chair so that you can make make a phone call to board members but again this
258is unacceptable it is all about each of our responsibility can I finish this is in a chat and not it is not personal right I'm out have a good night no Harris moham what did I do yes I'm Sorry Miss B yes Miss paig yes Miss motion pass I have not voted may I say move forward as we move forward we just want to be better we are much better than what we were two years ago you all you know that right we much better than we were we're much better than what we were last year so um moving forward we just want to have an opportunity just as we heard the information regarding our data from our students we as a team want to work together well also we're great individually but as a
259team we're spectacular giv the opportunity and it's stated you don't have to carry the burden by itself and um together we I think we can work this out and work this through but please be mindful that it is better I agre I really feel that this and I'll this with you that's the way change sometimes happen and it's rough being the chair it's rough it's very rough being the chair especially when there's always another energy out there that's not always in your favor sometimes you know about it sometimes you don't at least this time it's transparent I'm work it wasn't transparent okay we talked about that but moving forward um is it's it's together as a team is up to us to move collectively collectively and be better and to be transparent but you're correct
260things do get out things do get out and they shouldn't I thought it was going to be better but they still do get out so at the end of the day um that's another conversation but um let's move forward it's been voted to continue but you don't have to do it all by itself put it out there we've asked that it's done at the end of the day when it when it falls then we all have responsible not just you as a team okay but as a team know I what I'll add to is um because this role is so demanding it is and I spend five to six hours a day we've all let me finish I would ask that Miss door Mr cameras help me out with this so that if there's something
261that I'm missing it can be shared right and that's what should take place technically Miss do first but sometimes like with the the meeting you know Mr Camas and I had it on the calendar there was so much to do that it just did not it wasn't front and you don't have a full-time assistant now um I think um just to close out the conversation I um absolutely will um work Step It Up um and I think we just need to assume positive intent and um I think you know there are some best practices that that you all mentioned about maybe doing a round phone call Sunday Etc so um we'll take that to we when Don and I were on leadership we used to call split up the board and call once a week
262just to make sure that everyone had all the information maybe that's something we keep State um okay um oh sorry Miss p i I just I I just want to say something um we are a governor team and it is not about us it's about the young people and the families that we serve and I don't want to believe it the point but policy they have to be our guid in person if we can't falling the policy how in the world can we expect our staff and our young people to follow the policies that we have enacted and being in leadership is uncomfortable and it's hard it's it's not [Music] always you know roses roses whatever what have you but it it's hard and you just have to um keep it moving and make sure
263that you working in the best interest of you know the decision making body and we're making decisions in the best interest of our young people and our families and that's all I want to say um No Malice intent I just want to make sure that policies that's I got in front me thank you all right um next item so uh it's 10:35 we have three additional items on the agenda I I really would like us to breath through these as quickly as possible because we do have some stuff that is mandatory for closed and so the next item is Arthur Ash I'm happy to just provide an update um the document uh I believe was uploaded to item 1.05 item 1.05 this is just the first read this is the final agreement uh I believe
264the chair would like to bring it back for uh a vote at our next meeting um it does outline everything that was previously discussed um and I think it is is ready for the board's consideration and approval at our next meeting thank you board members just uh courage you to direct questions to Mr Camas and miss rizy so that we can make sure we get approval on that next week or next time we meet next item is Fox Miss White you have requested bringing the other informational items forward evening school board members super bring the cameras um my voice sounds disc courtesy of strong allergies so getting into Fox very quickly uh we had a site walk today that was very exciting there's a lot of work happening in in the building um we are
265on track on schedule for all the things that are listed in the slide deck and I'm happy to take any questions about progress so farp thank you can you hear me doesn't sound no it's not Hello thank you um Madam chair um yes I did do the site visit with um Miss Fox today and um I appreciate um Miss Fox being there today Mr Camis there and also um the president of golf Ste board as well as Miss uh Gibson here but I want to make myself clear to all board members despite um the same way Miss Gibson acts with his um to come and view it it is they're doing a great job there I mean a great job I didn't expect us to be is where we are um and I did post
266some pictures but what I want to make myself clear to all board members is that I am present and I am relevant in the second district um I received an email from the president of golf C board uh this as I got here and I am a served uh my colleague M um Gibson she did approach there and by no means is um she came and she asked I guess I believe she asked Miss Fox she was interested in how this project was coming together and give the need for the historic building preservations but and when we when I got there Mrs Gibson also brought herself a translator um we're not going to do that in second district we're not bringing other Outsiders to a construction site um if there's any concerns and I want
267to make myself clear on this if there's any concerns on compliance it should be directed to the director of procurement that who holds the contract um I just speak with Mr Dyer um I know that M gifton wanted to talk or speak with some of the uh site workers who do not speak um English and I hope that um her motive was not to uh derail this project because I am for the children at Fox Carver R any student that is in the second district my goal is to ensure that this project is on test and the children are in the schools see the children are my clients Fox Elementary is my clients for this project and I think that the um president was a little discomfort and miss miss Fox did not know that
268Miss uh Gibson was going to bring someone Mr CIS didn't know she was going to bring a translator I had no idea about a translator so to me that's not our business here on the school board our business is RPS and I don't want anyone to personally try to derail this project because we have already received the timeline from Miss Fox and we are tracking on that timeline now if you're a board member and you want to come to the site and do those things I do not welcome you to my site I'm not going to welcome you to BX I'm going say like this if it hurt you oh well suck it up drive on cuz this is what my children my parents my students my St this is what they want they want
269this school built and to come in and do something like that I wouldn't do it to near one of you board members I wouldn't do it I wouldn't come there and act like you're a labor union or a labor law I would never ever do that to sabotage a project and I appreciate no one else does that to me that was disrespectful and then I got a CEO president writing me a letter and I can show it to all of you before I got here and I was a little Disturbed back because I saw it I witnessed it myself and if you think that I'm not going to be on the when it comes to me someone asked Miss Fox can you come if you don't think I'm going to be there you're wrong you're
270mistaken I will be at my school on the pr thank you Miss bur well I think Miss GI should go then I'll speak because I'm very concerned about that thank you madam chair um you know all I want to say is thank you so much for um coordinating the tour this afternoon and I'm really glad I had the opportunity to visit the site it looks like it's coming together really very well um and you know I mean I think as board members individually we have a responsibility to ensure that um we're following the code of the law and it's our responsibility to ensure we're following the code of the law whether that be in a school building whether that be here in central office whether that be in one of our warehouses and whether it
271be on a on a construction site um and without going into details it was important for me to do my due diligence and um and and I will leave it I will leave it at that Miss Burke and then his wife Miss White thank you for sharing that concern I am totally surprised at what you're sharing we are all professionals and we all have a role I apologize to you because you were disrespected as well and Miss White you were disrespected as well from the email that I read it stated I would like to two of the building site it said nothing about bringing someone else and when did we get responsible for following what did you say about the Love on Miss Gibson because I mean there's a process with that to ask for
272a visit I maybe we need to talk about this in close to ask for a visit I don't blame you for being upset because you were disrespected number one number two you were misled so what's the hidden agenda here because it it's evident that there is one but it's up to us we have a role here you get paid to do a job so we don't get paid to do your job so this this out oliz to you I apologize to you Miss White I don't I don't I don't fult you for being upset because that's not how a board that's what I was talking about ear about we follow we want to follow Bingo here it is here it is here it is but to show up at a sight suppose you hadn't gone
273what was the purpose now you got a letter you have to answer to you mean we gonna have another lawsuit we got to address is that what this is about is that what this is about Miss Miss White that I mean what's that's what what's what's the agenda you check your head yes there's a lawsuit in the make it then that need to be shared with everybody that's that goes back to transparency piece I mean you going to have year makeing an informative decision if there's something going on we all need to know about it so that's that's that's not how we were elected we were not appointed we were not selected no offense to you per se because that's how I start out this year but this is how a team this is this
274is not how a team functions that means there's a hidden Undercover agenda yes I said it and I said it again because any time you function in that manner that's that's I don't blame you for being upset and I'm accept for you because that's not how a board conducts them themselves that is totally unacceptable totally unacceptable Miss and thank you madam chair and not only that I forgot one part that I really was a little disturbed by after Miss Fox had left but the Cameron had left I had left you had left your person was still luring around trying to talk to the workers trying to talk to the workers they have a job to do they have a timeline to do so if that's your motive um don't come back to the site at
275over Fox continue if that's your motive if that's your campaign motive use that somewhere else don't come back to FX because he was really Disturbed this is a contract he's a president of a contracting company and this should have never happened do not to try to derail my students from getting into their school because they will be there on time I am present and relevant again page so this white um so do you know the person that was around you know trying to um you know seek this information or no Miss Gibson brought in there she said he was a translator I don't know what he was translating then I really figured out at the end because people said he was still round the and talking between the uh workers and they were at lunch
276at that time Miss giz said she wanted to talk to the workers about their labors where they eating were they getting paid correctly um they were eating lunch just like I told they eating lunch so they shouldn't have no problem about whether they getting F or not but this this all occurred for one sight visit so I don't know what the motive was but that was it was it was a good spite visit looking in the school and the progress but the motive it was already planned and I do not like that I do not like this section when it comes to my school this is the follow um it's our responsibility as board members if we have questions regarding a sight um such as Richmond High School for the Arts um fox or anything
277involving um academics or just anything involving the School Division if we have questions is our responsibility to go to the superintendent and then we hold him accountable for the outcome or you know for the outcome I mean that's an appropriate behavior as a board member and again we are understanding our role and responsibilities as a SCH board member thank you uh well I'm mindful of the hour um I'm actually just genuinely confused um I do think that this probably warrant um if there's a probably a conversation at governance but this would be synonymous with like me going to Henry Marsh and interviewing teachers and interviewing teachers I just think it's outside of our Norms as board members um and I agree if we have concerns about the workers I would like to hear them as
278a board and talk about them so um so we can add it to to new business to talk about whatever concerns there were but certainly um we need to revisit our Norms about visiting schools Etc um with that we have next item is review receive an update on facility condition sment I just um t02 I just want to make sure that vir High School for the Arts any concerns with everything is on hard good as Frank yes ma' you'll get a visit I will be very about the facility condition assessment I wanted to provide you all this evening with a very high level very brief snapshot of what the facility condition assessment reports will look like um they are attached I Des grabed John Marshall and Woodville as example if you can switch slides so
279just grabbing the FCI r as facility index next slide um specifically for John marel if you look at this chart there's a replacement Reserve around $2 and5 million that if we don't spend year over year we end up in deferred maintenance which can in the next 10 years escalate to 30 million so this just captures that next slide Matthew please um this shows you what they're highlighting as immediate needs if you look at the report this is pages and pages long just wanted to show you how specific it does get as it relates to the FCA next slide and then again it calculates a priority score for each item for example for John Marshall the exterior walls are in poor condition this is a project that we have already started um this is the JM
280wall structural things that we already working on next slide and then that gets into wood bill so next steps for our facility condition assessment once we we are receiving these um steadily fmx is going to be putting this information into our fmx dashboard which is really going to our Capital movement plan going forward and it will actually strategically itemize the things that we need to focus on first um and how we prioritize our CIP funding so I just again wanted to share this out because while you read it it may be kind of a kick in the gut it is really exciting information to have um as we forast our capital projects going forward Miss White and then misson and I will remind you we have to hear two grievance do you um you did
281that you're working on John Marshall right now the the wall project yeah so you have people there right in working on it yes you all approved that contract I just wanted to make sure miss Gibson ever go over there to her own school and check out the work there that's all I wanted to know I'm really excited about this work I mean it is dead punch and I'm embracing myself to see the results my only question is um for the for the sake of consistency is the same the same group going out to assess each school do they know is there like a charter checklist of of what to look for just want to make sure there's consistency as they go from school to school yes absolutely and all of the school inspections are completed
282right now we're just getting all of the reports from the organization and fmx is working in the next couple weeks to get all that loaded into our fmx dashboard that we use for facilities and so that'll even give us more data um to look at in terms of planning long range plan sounds good thank you that feel better thank you all right um I am going to suggest that we well I love announcements in new business we we have two grievances that we have to hear tonight so I'm going to suggest we read to close right now do we have any District activity reports we already approved them oh I'm sorry thank you and board members please make it swiftly to be closed I'm move that the school board of the city of Richmond conven
283a close session to consider the evaluation of the superintendent pursuant to the Cota Virginia 2.2 d37 um 3711 A1 to consider and discuss the discipline of a teacher and a Personnel case number 20241 as authorized by Virginia code 2.2 3711 A1 to consider and discuss a classified employee grievance appeal and a p in Personnel case number 202 402 as authorized by Virginia code 2.2 37181 and to receive briefing by legal counsel relating to the profitable litigation related to Atria incident as authorized by Virginia code 22- 37187 and to receive legal advice concerning a 4year issue as authorized by Virginia Cod 2.2 3711 a second been moved by Dr har Mohamed seconded by misson to go close roll call yeah yeah Mr yes