Roanoke City School Board Special Meeting & Workshop: May 26, 2026

001Ah, okay. All right, Kim, we good? Okay. >> The May 26, 2026 school board special meeting and workshop is called to order. Miss Tresy, please call the role. >> Mr. Cherry, >> here. >> Mr. Mr. Link >> here, >> Dr. Jameson >> here, >> Miss Quintana >> here, >> Miss Trigg >> here, >> Mrs. Watkins >> here, >> Mrs. Apal >> here. Thank you to all of those attending the meeting in person and those that are joining um us via the RCPS YouTube channel. Next is the approval of the agenda. Is there a motion and a second to approve the agenda as presented? >> So move. >> Second. Moved by Miss Quintana, seconded by Miss Tig. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed say no. The motion

002carries. The agenda is approved. Is there a motion and a second to approve the personnel list as presented? >> Second. >> Moved by Dr. Jameson, seconded by Miss Watkins. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed say no. Um and the motion carries and the personnel list is approved. Dr. White, do you have any announcements that you would like to share this evening? >> Do I'm very excited. Uh so it is my honor to introduce our uh appointments uh tonight and and recommendations for appointments and thank you to the board for the approvals. First, I'd like to introduce Dr. Tracy Hoffman. Dr. Tracy Hoffman has been recommended for and has accepted the position of principal of Preston Park Elementary School. You will start on July 1st. Currently, she

003serves as the assistant principal at Reno Academy for math and sciences. And prior to serving as the assistant principal at Rams, Dr. Hoffman served in the following roles. Assistant principal at Patrick Henry High School, assistant principal at Cavespring High School and North Side High School in Reno County. Uh, teaching positions at Northside Middle, Cavespring Junior and Cavespring High Schools in Reno County. Teaching position at Brooklyn Junior High School in AIO. >> AIO AIO Independent School District in Minnesota. Dr. Hoffman holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and English from Virginia Tech, Master of Science and Educational Leadership from Radford University, and Doctor of Education and Educational Leadership from Liberty University. These opportunities provided Dr. Hoffman with extensive administrative leadership and teaching experience. You're an excellent fit for this position. Congratulations, Dr. Hoff. >> Thank you.

004Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Good evening, Madame Chair. Apel, Vice Chair Cherry, members of the board, and Dr. White. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as principal of Preston Park Elementary School. I look forward to working with students, parents, the community, and all stakeholders to ensure we focus on using our resources to provide effective instruction for all students. It is with profound gratitude and great humility that I accept this appointment as we join together navigating the school community into a vibrant new building. We're building new classrooms and we will have different scenery from our windows. But we will continue to honor the appreciation of far many cultures that have created Preston Park. We're keeping our high expectations for engaging, strong, and effective learning with literacy in every aspect of our school day.

005We are remaining committed to building character and advocating for the friend next to us. And we are maintaining our focus as a welcoming, safe, and comfortable place for all learners and all staff members to feel confident and to be successful. To quote our royalty affirmation, with hard work and discipline, we will accomplish great things at Preston Park Elementary School. We are royalty and we are Panther proud. Thank you very much. >> Very good. Thank you, Dr. Hoffman. It is now my honor to introduce Miss Laura Kelly. Laura Kelly has been recommended for and has accepted the position of principal of Highland Park Elementary School and will start July 1st, 2026. >> Thank you very much. Um, good evening. >> Brag about you a little bit. >> Oh, I'm brag on you a little bit. >>

006Currently, Mrs. Kelly serves as the supervisor of gifted programs in Reno City public schools. Prior to serving as a supervisor of gifted programs, Mrs. Kelly served in the following roles. Principal of All right. How do you pronounce >> Okcha Croak Okar Croak School Hyde County Public Schools in North Carolina, instructional coach, Lee M. Wade Elementary School in Franklin County Public Schools. Gifted instructional coach Franklin County Public Schools and teaching positions at Farm Elementary and Rocky Mount Elementary and Franklin County Public Schools. Mrs. Kelly holds a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Administration, Therapeutic Recreation from Radford University, Master of Education and Reading Education, and Educational Specialist in Supervision and Administration from the University of Virginia. These experiences provided Mrs. Kelly with valuable administrative leadership and teaching experience, making her again an excellent fit for this position.

007Congratulations. Thank you very much. Good evening, Madame Chair Appel, Vice Chair, Cherry, members of the board, Dr. White, and members of our community. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as principal at Highland Park Elementary School. I am truly honored and excited to become a more integral part of Highland Park school community. As principal, I am committed to serving all students by creating a culture where every child feels valued, supported, and challenged to succeed. I also look forward to welcoming the students from Fairview's Plato Center and working together to enhance and strengthen opportunities for their success. Throughout my career in education, I have been privileged to serve in a variety of leadership and instructional roles that have shaped my commitment to student centered learning and collaborative leadership. My experience as a principal on Okoke Island

008strengthened my ability to lead with resilience, the ability to adapt, there was a hurricane the year I was there, and strong community connections. In addition, my other previous roles have provided me with a comprehensive um comprehensive understanding of curriculum, instructional practices, intervention strategies, and teacher development. As principal of Highland Park Elementary School, I will work diligently to foster a culture of inclusion, academic growth, equity, and belonging. I am committed to ensuring that students of all backgrounds, abilities, and learning needs receive the support and opportunities necessary to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. I will also focus on maximizing our resources to ensure the highest level of effective first instruction for every student. I look forward to building strong partnerships with teachers, families, staff, and the broader community. I believe effective leadership is rooted in collaboration and

009a shared purpose. Thank you again for your trust and confidence. I am excited to begin this journey together to continue strengthening students achievement and overall school success. Thank you very much. >> Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you very much, Dr. White, and congratulations. Um, next on to the consent agenda. Is there a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda as presented? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Mr. Cherry, seconded by Dr. Jameson. Is there any discussion? >> All those in favor say I. I. >> I. >> Those opposed say no. The motion carries. The consent a the consent agenda item is approved. On to the superintendent reports. Dr. White, would you please provide the superintendent updates? >> Good evening again, Madame Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, members of the

010school board, and super and I guess not our student representatives because um yeah, they're they're at the end of their year, their school year. Um, so this evening we are bringing forward items for your consideration and information, including approval of attendance zone changes for the 2026 2027 school year, an update on the 2627 budget, and an update on the teacher absenteeism task force. Uh before we get to our agenda items, I would like to highlight a few items for the board and for the public's information. Uh we've had a lot to celebrate recently uh as we wind down the school year. Just last week alone, for instance, we celebrated 56 retirees with a combined 1,265 years of service at our annual retirement dinner on Monday. So, thank you for your service. Appreciate you. In addition,

011on Tuesday, we celebrated our seniors in our AVID program. So, that's advancement via individual determination. That's what AVID stands for. And 100% of our students are graduating and 100% of those students have postgraduation plans. So, thank you also to Melrose Plaza. Thank you to Melrose Plaza for hosting us. Um, and so they they were able to provide their facility for us and it's a beautiful site and if you haven't had a chance to go there, we would encourage everybody to to get there because it's a beautiful place. Um, and then on Wednesday, I had the pleasure of attending a scholarship luncheon hosted by the Kowanas Club of Reno. And five of the six students who have received scholarships were Reno City Public School students. >> And last, but certainly not least, we held our annual

012CTE extravaganza on Yep. So on Thursday where our CTE Foundation, the Kowanas Club, and the Reno Regional Homebuilders Association awarded more than $35,000 worth of scholarships and equipment to graduating seniors. So thank you to all of those partners and thank you to our schoolboard members for attending those events last week as well. Um and congratulations as well to all of our students. We're very, very proud. And next, I'd also again like to congratulate Laura Kelly, who was recently named as the 2026 leader of the year by the Virginia Association for the Gifted. Stand up again. She will be formally formally honored this fall by the Association for her leadership and dedication to supporting gifted learners across our division and beyond. We are very proud that she has been recognized at the state level for her

013leadership and gifted education. So again, congratulations, Mrs. Kelly, and thank you for all that you do. Also, we'd like to um we're proud to celebrate five members of our RCPS community recognized by the United Way of Virginia's Blue Ridge for their 2026 Heroes Project. So, congratulations to Westside Principal Dr. Kristen English, James Breenidge, health PE teacher, and William Fleming High School girls basketball assistant coach Brian Ashford, and Daytech barbering teacher George Harrington for being recognized in the education category. So, congratulations to them. Congratulations to Richard Wilson, student support specialist and head coach of the William Fleming girls basketball team for being recognized in the leadership category. And congratulations to Jesse Kaufman, secretary of both the RCPS Education Foundation and Central Council PTA for being recognized in the volunteerism category. Congratulations to all of you. All

014right, so to begin our report this evening, I will ask our chief operations officer, Chris Perkins, to come forward to present the recommended attendance zone changes for your approval. Mr. Perkins. >> Thank you, Dr. White. Um, Madame Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, members of the board. Uh, let me start first tonight with some thank yous before I get into our recommendation and request. Uh, I have Tracy Healey, uh, who should be online with us. Hopefully, she can pop in. Uh, Tracy Healey is the owner and president of Future Think, uh, our, uh, third-party consultants and planning experts who helped us uh, with our our boundary study, worked closely with our boundary steering committee. I would like to thank the boundary steering committee and all 18 members of that committee uh for guiding us through this and

015the first part of phase one. And I' finally I'd like to thank uh Chris Phillips with RRMM uh who is the architects who helped us with the uh work on our high schools and uh the planning for our feeder patterns and boundary adjustments. Uh what we're asking tonight uh I have covered with you and the board since November and in detail and last week our last board meeting uh we recommended for part one of phase one a multi-phase multi-year plan to adjust our boundaries to get all of our elementary schools into a functional capacity target of 85 to 90%. That functional capacity again is is the number of students uh that uh can fit into classrooms at a school and that allows us to have uh cushion of either 15 to 10% for extra programming

016that is needed like preschools, self-contained classrooms, things like that. Um in that uh in the first part uh we are asking for your approval based on our recommendation of changes to Preston Park which is coming online this summer as a new elementary school with a capacity of 700 uh large classrooms some of the largest classrooms in our district. Uh the only uh elementary school close to it is Fallon Park which was recently completed uh to relieve overcrowding at Monterey uh so that Monterey can have its first opportunity to host preschoolers in their school in years uh where they have not done that and some minor adjustments to Fallon Park, Lincoln Terrace and Round Hill in this first part of phase one. Uh so we are asking for your approval. Uh I'm available and Miss Healey

017if we can if I think she is available if you have any questions. Uh we're happy to take them at this time. >> All right. Let's start over here. Miss Trigg, did you have any questions or comments for Mr. Perkins? >> No questions. Thank you. >> Miss Quintana? >> No questions. Thank you. >> Dr. Jameson. >> Uh Mr. Perkins, would you just remind us briefly? I know you and I chatted about this before about the public com the quantity of public comment that we had and how that tends to hold up against other things we've invited comment on to make sure that the public both has their input on the these plans and an opportunity to share. >> Yes, ma'am. Uh we we did a comprehensive outreach effort uh with two virtual or one virtual

018and one in person for a total of two town halls. Uh we provided a survey that was open from May the 4th through May the 18th. 127 individuals uh ranging from community members, students, parents, and staff uh had the opportunity to comment and provide input. Uh that uh out of uh the schools that are impacted in this first step of phase one, that's about 2600 a little over 2,600 students at all five schools. uh that would be about 4,000 uh families and and and others that would be impacted in this uh area of of our city and uh we had uh 127 who responded. It's about 54% are for all or part and uh we had approximately 29% that were not in favor. Uh but we had uh res uh they pointed out input that

019we uh can address now. First, uh they are concerned about fifth graders and transitioning. We have a transfer process. You have a policy that allows the superintendent when there is a uh initiating event such as a boundary change to extend the transfer request window. We have done that. Uh we have uh we also had input uh staff and how the moves would impact staff. HR U mentioned last time uh that they would work with staff and have uh notified staff that once this is approved or will be notifying staff once it's approved uh that staff will go where students are at. Uh we provided social media input. We had news media coverage. Uh this is we had an 18 uh person committee that uh ranged everything from two board members uh to parents to students,

020staff at all levels uh at the school-based and at central office representing different disciplines across the division, everything from preschool uh early childhood education all the way to secondary representation. Um and uh just all of that combined uh allowed us to bring the recommendation to you uh to provide the input. Uh we know that this you know we that children will be impacted by this. Um and it doesn't matter that it's it's 9%. What matters is children are impacted. We're providing counseling. Uh we will do orientations. We will provide opportunities uh from our academic team uh for outreach. If people want to call and visit the schools, we'll have the schools open for that and we'll provide that if indeed this is approved tonight. Uh we have all of those things in place. >> Thank

021you >> very much. Um Mr. Link, um also you were a member of the committee. Do you have any questions or comments regarding the boundary um proposal at this time? >> I I just want to revisit something that sounds like it's settled. In a previous conversation, we were discussing what was necessary to make sure that families that um wanted a request to have their child stay in place. Um there was a question one time that that may require board action to and it sounds like that's you need nothing further from us. >> No, we do not. You had your policy allows the superintendent in an initiating event such as a boundary change or an emergency to extend transfers. that is in the policy and uh the superintendent has that ability and we have we have

022it will be extending that. We'll be notifying families. Uh we promised we'd have a notification and writing robocall and email out by the end of school. Uh what we are waiting on is what if there is an approval tonight? uh we need to load what are called shape files, GIS files in order for people to know exactly and not just have to look at an address and guess in some cases, but they can go in, they can trigger the our attendance locator system, find out exactly their exact address. It will tell them their school and then that that will be an initiating event if they want to do a transfer request or meet with uh you know the staff at any of the schools that may be involved. If a family has a request for

023a transfer, do we know yet how long that window will be? >> So, it it will be open until the enrollment is set for Preston Park Elementary. So, uh we're we're not going to like close it at any point. I mean, they have the opportunity to know that it's there. Go through. I mean, registration is fluid for our district. Sure. >> So, as we are registering, you know, if they have if they have an issue, they can request and there's special transfer opportunities that exist and the the super well, it wouldn't be the superintendent directly. It' be our academic staff >> being very flexible on that timeline and and we'll keep it open throughout the at least throughout the summer um and then throughout for Preston Park understanding that there are extenduating circumstances. >> Thank

024you for that. Um Vice Chair Cherry, >> no questions. Thank you so much for your diligence on this. Um, yes, I do want to make sure to um put out a big thanks to you and to the committee and to the uh to our um third party vendor who helped you know kind of steer this process for the first part of the first phase knowing that um you know and I've reached out to other committee members and who said that they were very impressed with how it has been run um and I did notice in the you know more than 100 comments ments on the survey there were I think you've addressed most of the concerns a lot of people appreciated you know the major concerns of balancing class sizes especially at Monterey and Round

025Hill and you've addressed that um what what will Monteray's um proposed capacity percentage be after about 82% once uh it is solidified now the the caveats that I want to provide everybody is we you know immigration into our city or new to our city uh will be different than the enrollment projections. Uh but uh and we're very welcoming city and we're very proud of that. So we expect that to to to continue. So >> so that was one of the major concerns. Others were about say distance and transportation. Do we um I I think I haven't heard anything about bus routes being particularly longer for any of these students that are that would be potentially moved. >> Well, I'm going to brag on Mr. Dowy for just a second. Mr. >> said no. Like no.

026Yeah, I'm going to brag on him, but Mr. Dowy's routes have been great this year. Uh, our partners been able to pull it off. We expect no less. And in fact, this is helping Mr. Dowy get people into their school. Uh, and I'll use the example of Monterey. Uh, we're no longer busing preschoolers uh to other schools around the city where there is room. Uh, so that's going to help them tremendously. So, uh, our goal, again, the long-term goal of all of this from a transportation perspective is to get us off of a tiered schedule back to a two bell schedule. So, >> um, well, and I I also know there were some comments about other elementary schools also being overcrowded or undercrowded. And just again to reiterate, this is only the first part of

027the first phase of this whole process. So, this is not the end of this committee's work. And so um it's going counterclockwise around the city was my recommendation. >> We are we're moving from east to west to south uh and then from southwest to southeast and then we will end at where we started with Fallon and Monteray. it. Um, so I think the only other thing um was that one other thing that I did appreciate in the comments throughout this was um that by reducing the overcrowding is giving our students room to grow and also I appreciated the sentiment of after the fact help us making sure that we don't let any students fall through the cracks as they've made the transition because that was a big concern of how it would impact the students.

028um that did you know move schools. So, thank you for all that work and I think was there any other comments or questions from the board at this time. >> Okay. >> Also, I'd also like to just also thank um Future Think and and RRMM, Mr. Perkins, Dr. Williams, uh the boundary steering committee. again, they have spent countless hours um trying to make sure that there's a commitment to this work and that we do it well. So, I just want to say thank you to to everyone. And so, Madam Chair, on to the approval. >> We don't want to forget that part. >> Yes. Is there a motion and a second to approve the boundary plan as presented? >> So, moved. >> Second. Moved by Mr. Link. Who was that? Seconded by Miss Trigg. Is

029there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed say no. And the motion carries. And the boundary plan is approved. >> Thank you. And thank you again, Mr. Perkins. Next, I'll ask our chief financial officer, Kathleen Jackson, to come forward uh to share an update on the 2026 2027 budget process, which the board has been involved in for months and months and months and months. So, Mrs. Jackson, over to you. >> Thank you very much. Um, good evening, chair, Mrs. Apel, Vice Chair, Mr. Cherry, members of the board, and Dr. White. Um, as Dr. White said, this is kind of wrapping up the um the detailed portion of our discussion, which has been many months in the making. um of our budget which we are all leading

030up to bringing you a final document that we'll request your approval of at the next meeting. Um did I miss something? >> We were just a little surprised by Mr. Collins entry. We're glad you're here though. >> Yeah. >> Please excuse me. Hello everyone. >> Oh man. >> Okay, moving on. >> So we'll jump right in. So I have kind of a summary for you of um the budget information. Um, I want to start off with the revenue side and our general fund. And I'll I'll spend the majority of the time talking about the general fund as that's our main budget, but we will have all of the funds that are included um to touch on this evening. But wanted to um show where we are at this moment in terms of general fund revenue.

031And again, I've kind of I'm showing it both ways, but on this slide, I've pulled out the students with intensive support needs, state funding um and contribution from other divisions that um we educate their children in our our classrooms for that. that is not an additional piece of revenue nor expense, but it is something that because of the shift in how that program works, we're moving it into the general fund, we had previously accounted for it in the grants fund. Um, so I just wanted to note that so you can see when we take that just moving from one fund to another piece away. Um, we're looking at about a $3.5 million uh increase year-over-year compared to the current year revenue budget. So, it's about one point uh almost 4% uh increase there when we

032take that adjustment out. So, when all of that together um brings us to the budget we have at this point, which is um just under a $269.9 million revenue budget for the general fund. Um just a note that's not based on final state numbers. Um we are continuing to use the Senate version of the amendments to the originally introduced budget at this point. that is the more conservative of the two um general assembly versions that are on the table. So, we are moving forward with that um at this point. We're moving forward with our originally planned uh schedule of asking you to approve a budget next meeting even though we don't anticipate that there will be a final state budget by that point. So, um we're pressing on and we'll just expect that we'll have

033to bring you an update and and an amendment uh at some point thereafter. So on the expenditure side, what is included? I just wanted to summarize since um it may have been a while since we talked about some of these details. So our budget that we'll ask your approval on next meeting does include a 2% average raise. Um that's a com accomplished through a combination of a scale and step raise. So what that means is if there's already 2% between steps, an employee would just move up to the next step. That would accomplish their 2%. Um, some of our pay scales, primarily our teacher scale has 1 and a.5% between steps. So, we would accomplish that 2% through a combination where the whole scale would move up half a percent and then those employees would

034move to the next step. So, that combined would get to the the average 2% there. Um, so that does mean that if an employee is at the end of their scale, there would be no step for them to move to. They would just get whatever that scale raise is um at that point. Also wanted to note that the Senate version of the budget did um propose increasing the state share of raise money from an average 2% to a 3%. We don't have a 3% in our budget. We have a 2% in our budget. Um the House version kept it at two. Um so sort of a combination of that uncertainty and realistically not anticipating that we would have the local money needed get to get up to that 3%. we've stayed at two. Um, we

035did have some good news on the benefits side. VRS helped us out this year. Um, every bianium VRS updates their rates and they uh changed favorably this bienium. So, we are going from uh a budget of about a 15% um for pension to 12.84% is what we're using in our budget for next year. And then as you can see, retirey health insurance credit and state group life went down a bit as well. Those are much smaller percentages. So all in um that reduced our budget, our necessary budget amount by about $2.9 million. Um so that certainly has helped us in this tight budget year. Um health insurance has used up about half of that, a little more than half of that. Um we are budgeting based on an an assumption of about a 10% year-over-year

036increase. Um which would take effect in January. our our benefit plan um just as a reminder follows a calendar year. So just very high level some of the other big cost drivers personnel and benefits of course being the biggest but um we do have contractual obligations in the area of transportation um our HBAC services um our various systems student information we have you know finance and HR payroll system all of those things insurance um is another big area that we need to make sure we are budgeting appropriately for and then of course I listed fuel and I'm a little nervous that we do have a pretty significant increase in the budget and I'm a little worried at this point whether even that is enough um of course that has pretty much doubled um compared to

037our current budget. So we do have a significant increase in our transportation budget for fuel. Um so just in summary kind of where we began um at at at the point where we asked you to approve our preliminary categorical budget um that was March 10th and our needsbased budget at that time was just over $284 million. Of course we recognized even then we would not have enough revenue to meet all of those needs. Our revenue projection at this point again is uh just under 269.9 million. So that gets us to about a $14.1 million de uh deficit, right? That that's what we had to make up. I I did note, of course, back in March, we didn't have final revenue information. So the deficit we talked about at that point was 14.6 million, but um

038looking at the final revenue information as we know it today, um we had about a 14.1 million deficit we needed to make up. So how have we done that? Um of course the biggest at the bottom was in personnel. um the majority of our budget, as we've talked about a lot, about 75% of our budget goes towards people. So, at the end of the day, um we couldn't find $14.1 million without um touching personnel. So, facilities and operations, our our uh building maintenance and um custodial services took the other the next area big the biggest hit u about just under $ 1.5 million in reductions both on in personnel and and deferred maintenance and such. We've reduced service in our afterchool uh activity bus transportation. Um we've made reductions in professional learning and and staff

039engagement. Um academic and instructional materials and supplies and assessment materials like MAP. Um we've done reductions there. And then transportation savings related to our reductions in programmatic areas like the the Plato program and three-year-old preschool um allowed us to realize some savings in the transportation area there. So all of those items got us to the 14.1 million uh that we needed to reduce our budget by to balance. So um in summary here by our categories um we have our categorical budget comparing the current year budget to where we are for next year's budget. Um once again I've backed out the students with intensive support needs because that's just a transfer so I didn't want to muddy the waters. Um I'll show it all together on the next slide. Um, but as you can see when

040we uh take that that adjustment out of the mix, um, we're just under a $3.7 million reduction compared to the current year budget. So, it's about a a 1.4% reduction. Um, I did want to uh take a a second to point out um a couple of just reporting changes. Of course, we've added a contingency line. um that is a a category uh identified in the code of Virginia for budgeting purposes for schools that we've just not had to use before. So we've added that um since we don't have a fund balance to kind of use for that purpose. So you see that new and then since we were making that adjun adjustment we've we've uh we've broken out technology as its own category. It is identified as a category. We've always included that with administration

041attendance health and technology all of that together. So, we took the opportunity since we were adding a category anyway to break that out so that that's clear. That's a that's a big um area of investment and resource for our students. So, we wanted to take the opportunity to um be able to kind of highlight um that area uh appropriately. So, um you see the variances there. Um so really the only adjustment up transportation primarily related to um the fuel costs and then of course the the addition of that contingency line. So all in with the uh students with intensive support need uh expenditures pulled in from the grant fund. So you see the total budget uh proposed on the general fund expenditure side uh just over $2.1 million more than the current year original budget

042which is about a8% increase um when we add students with intensive support needs. So just in summary here revenue and expenditures all in to kind of show you visually um the resources that we are anticipating. Again preliminary information only on the state budget side. So we've got a 2.6 69.9 rounded um projected revenue. Um you see our expenditure categories there get us to about a 2.69.6 uh million in expenditures. And then we have some transfers um that are required between funds that balance us uh to zero on the general fund side. And I'm I'm down to food service. So let me go back and maybe I'll pause there in case there are questions or comments on the general fund side before I move on. That's okay. >> We'll start on this end this time. Miss

043Quintana, do you have any questions or for Miss um Jackson? Thank you, Mr. Link. >> I do. Um I want to for the purposes of the public record and open discussion, I want to touch briefly on our new contingency line item. Uh I just did some quick math and that is a half percent of our total budget. Um, if you would indulge me, please remind me again the recommended range of contingencies in budgets such as ours when you are now operating without a fund um and the source of those recommendations. Uh sure we did we did do some research just um you know looking at resources like um GFOA and Basbo some professional associations as well as non-school related um you know we just did a little on online sleuththing to see you know how

044do how is this what's the recommended um uh way to handle dealing with the unknown and and uncertainties and we did find that the the average range that was recommended vary between about 1% and 5% of your budget. Um so at the very low end 1% um the highest end recommendation was about 5% of your budget. So we're at half a percent. Um it's better than nothing but we just you know you can if we if we doubled that um you can think of how many more positions that would mean we would lose. So that's why we kind of >> felt like it it was we were comfortable with um that lower than than recommended but >> than nothing. >> Right. And I was not questioning the easing in of the contingency into the budget,

045but in terms of translating percentages to magnitudes, we're sitting at half percent right now, which is 1.3 million. Uh recommendations start at 1% which would be 2.6 and recommendations go up to 5% which would be 13 million. So by generally accepted budgeting standards, we should be looking at getting ourselves to a place where we have a contingency using this year's numbers that sits somewhere between 2.6 and $13 million. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Um and that reminds me the number 13, I believe that's what we had only a year to reset our fund balance minimum at was right about 13 million now that you say that. But >> um Anyway, >> um yeah. Um anyway, um Dr. Jameson, any questions or comments for more comments? Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Jackson. This is a

046wonderful >> Thank you very much recap of a difficult budget season. >> Yes, >> Miss Tre. I don't have anything, but thank you, Miss Jackson. Ser Jackson, I have one question. Um, just because I have PTSD, the contingency fund, um, does any of that balance have to be given back to anyone or used up by the end of each year? >> Yes. I mean, same as all the rest of the budget, anything that is unused at the end of the year would now revert back to the city. >> Okay, >> that is correct. >> Thank you. Um, and just one other thing I wanted to point out because it it doesn't jump out at you here, but it was in all of the budget development leading up to this. The state actually also adjusted the

047state and local shares. And so, while the amount of revenue from the state did go up, it didn't go up as much as it would have under the the previous formula to the tune of about I think $1.5 million. So um so that was something that was not also that was also it's a it's a change that is a loss that we don't see because the revenue technically did go up. So >> that's a very good point that so you're referring to the local composite index that the state updates every bienium where they evaluate sort of your local ability to pay and you're absolutely right that this bianium um that changes to the state share going down a bit the local share going up a bit. So, you're absolutely right that it had that stayed

048the same um then we would have seen um over a million dollars more in state revenue, >> right? Um oh, and then there was one other thing in the revenue changes and that was other sources. I believe the lion's share of that difference in revenue was due to um not carrying our fund balance and not maintaining that fund and using it to work for us when we were when we when we weren't touching it. >> Yes, ma'am. So, so the majority of that is related to interest income. And so, no longer having a significant balance of funds in the bank to earn interest, that's why we had to make sure we reduce that. Um, so that was over a $2 million adjustment um down in in revenue we can no longer count on. Yeah. Thank

049you for putting that out. >> Okay. Were there any other questions or comments about this particular budget update? >> Okay. >> All right. >> Oh, I sure did. I I did. No, Mr. Cherry. No, >> no. Just wanted to thank you for giving us this update. I didn't have anything, but uh thank you. >> All right. Well, I will thank you for that. I'll jump forward into um the other funds that are included. So, of course, you're going to get a a big comprehensive budget to u review and approve next meeting. So, I'll I'll just jump ahead um briefly and touch on the other funds that are of course um included. And so, the food services fund is one. And you'll see um we are proposing a budget that reduces um on the both revenue

050and expenditure side. We have some um some short-term uh revenue sources that have are coming to an end. So that's uh chiefly responsible for the reductions that you see there. Um and so we are proposing a budget that's about $710,000 less than the current year budget about 5.7% but um uh also um corresponding reductions on the expenditure side um for those one-time expenses that that revenue uh assisted us with and um in equipment and supplies and such for our our cafeteria. So, um, you see the budgeted expenditures there, um, about a $1 million reduction, um, year-over-year about an 8% change. So, um, looking at that kind of all-in revenue and expenditures and our, um, indirect cost transfer there. So, you do see that we are proposing a budget that would use, um, about $372, uh,,844

051out of fund balance in our food services fund. And I'll just um put a reminder for the public that we are um allowed and indeed expected to retain a a fund balance in our food services fund. Those those funds can only be used for food service purposes, those federal dollars. Um and there are stipulations to ensure we have uh a s a sufficient amount in that fund. But if we are um at which I believe we are kind of right around that required level. But if we anticipate we'll be over that, we can and indeed should use a portion of that fund balance uh to support the needs of our cafeterias through equipment replacements and that sort of thing. So we do have uh a proposal to use a portion of those funds next year

052uh in that manner. Um I'll jump ahead to the grants fund. We do include a budget for the grants fund in our budget book. This is a budget for what we anticipate will happen in the coming year. The vast majority of our grant funds are multi-year awards. Um so we will look at what we are anticipating will fall in the 26 27 year. So you see we're right at about $19 million. Um I will note also um the majority of our grant funds come through entitlement programs like title one, title two. you meet the the requirements of that program, you get the funds. But there are also competitive grants um that we do often qualify for and receive. Unless it's a grant that's that's a multi-year grant that's already been awarded, we won't include that

053in the budget. We only will include things that are kind of a sure thing that we know we're going to have next year. So, so that's why you often see um on your on your consent agenda there are grant appropriations throughout the year. As we get notified of those, we bring them to you as we get them. Um but we only kind of at this point want to count on things we know have already been awarded or are going to be coming. So um grant fund and then finally our capital projects fund. So just as a reminder that um we are we are no longer contributing to that fund um since we can no longer retain fund balance and accumulate that for future capital projects. So, what is in that fund is the portion that

054we were allowed to keep that was reappropriated to the school board um back in May of 2025. Um you see here we used um just under 10 million of that last year. We're projected to use about 3.4 this year. Um so we will be asking you to approve in the budget the remainder of that um to authorize us to use that to complete those projects next year in 2627. Um so certainly we will retain that fund if you know down the road um the city council may may choose to authorize us to retain some of those funds for future capital or reappropriate funds at other points in the year for capital needs. So um we will make adjustments there um as changes happen. So lastly just to kind of summarize what to expect at the

055next meeting. Um so we will uh complete our our budget book. We're working fast and furious on that now and be prepared to have that posted with the agenda on or around the 3. Um, and we'll have hard copies at your places at the meeting on the 9th. um that that book contains all of the information I just very briefly summarized for you um in a lot more detail, but also some supporting information um to hopefully help you and the public make use of that document to kind of understand the the requirements that are in place, the laws that govern how we budget and how we use our funds and um the standards that we follow in putting our budget together and all of that. So, we'll have that um outlined and explained in there

056to hopefully make it um as useful as possible. And of course, that just again um we will expect that probably early in the new year that we'll have to we we'll think we're done. We're not done. Um we'll have to bring it right back to you once we finally have a state budget and and know what that means for us and and discuss at that point what changes we might need to make. That is what I have this evening, but I'm happy to take any additional questions or comments. >> Wow. >> You put the sequential number review number there in the >> It says review. >> I thought there might be question. I mean, I thought people might be interested to know. >> Yeah. >> In case there's ever a question. We've talked about it

057a lot. >> A whole lot of work has gone into it. >> Yes. On this side. Any other questions or comments? >> I just have I just have one thing and it's just um for the public to have an idea. Do we have an idea of the expected when are we expected to hear from the state? >> Um we don't have firm information on that. We've heard chatter that it could be late in June. Okay. >> 22nd 23rd. Um, so that's it. >> But >> which is part of the reason why we're moving ahead with our normal timeline. If it if we were hearing that we might hear around the second or the third, we probably would have held off. Sure. >> But even if we hear by the 22nd, 23rd, we probably won't get

058the details from the Virginia Department of Ed of what does this really mean for Rono City until, you know, I think they have 10 business days to get that to us. So, >> which >> we figured it would make the most sense to just move forward and >> we'll adjust later as >> probably won't be until mid July. >> That that's >> which would result in like an amendment. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. That's all I had >> on this side. >> Thank you. >> No, we're good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> For me. Thank you again, Miss Jackson. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Very good. Thank you, Mrs. Jackson. And thanks as always to you and to your team. And um I'll ask now M our chief human resources officer, Mr.

059Dominic McKe to come forward to share an update about our teacher absenteeism task force. And as he and his team are coming forward, I just want to take a moment to again express gratitude to our teachers and our administrators, our instructional staff who work with our students each and every day to um support our students and in so many ways. in the ways that we uh have come to know of certainly the ways you know planning and implementation but in all of the ways that many times people don't always see and the care and the support working with our families as well. And so I I just want to extend a point of gratitude to our teachers for the work that they do every day. And I want to uh say thank you in advance

060to Mr. McKe and to the task force and to his team um for really tackling these issues that impact us nationwide but also locally to get underneath the um teacher shortages and us also teacher absenteeism and so for us to have an honest look at what it looks like locally so that we can better support our teachers. So Mr. McKe with that I'll turn it over to you. >> Thank you Dr. White. Good evening madam chair uh Mr. Vice Chair members of the board superintendent Dr. wife. Before I start, I got a little distracted cuz the news left. I thought they were here to to hear about the teaching task force. Okay. >> I'm disappointed. I thought they were waiting for us to talk about it. So, >> yes, that is not you're not the

061budget. >> With that being said, now joining me tonight would be our uh director of employee relations, uh, Mr. John Michael Deeds, and our assistant director of recruitment and organizational effectiveness, uh, Miss Morgan Stru. Um, back in November of 2025, Dr. White asked that that we put together a task force to look at absenteeism. So we started with just teachers and instructional assistants and we're going to expand. So this is going to be a multi-year multi multi-phase uh process. But the most important things we we sought input from the individuals that that are impacted the most and they gave us a lot of input. So teaching is hard as Dr. White mentioned and we have educators on the board. We have teachers and staff. Teaching is not like it used to be. Um 5 years

062ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 40 years ago, just note to this day, um 40 years and four months, the Bears won the Super Bowl. And uh back in January 26, 1986, so just in case Mr. Perkins forgot. No, or 50 years ago. But as you know, Oh, I forgot about the Eagles team. My bad, Dr. Seward. But teachers have to deal with a lot of different things that they really didn't have to deal with back in the day, such as increased student behavior. Oh, true. >> And discipline, right? Um student mental health and social emotional needs, increased workload and burnout, increased class sizes, increased mental health concerns of their own. Um so we have to really dig beyond the numbers. We're going to present the number absent and whatnot, but we need to

063look beyond that and see what we can do as a division to help support our our teachers first and foremost. We are going to get to our other staff as well, but this focus was about the teachers. Okay. >> Okay. So, with that being said, we're going to talk about the purpose of the absentism teacher task force. We heard from REA, we heard from stack, we heard from Dr. white and we heard from the board. We also heard from um principles and DT and we looked at the data. We're going to look at what problems are being addressed. Uh we're going to look at uh look at the task force members. We have 41 individuals on the task force and you'll see the names in a little bit and we'll look at the timeline in

064which they met. We'll look at the results of the survey. I want to I want to pause a little bit there and say that we got great responses. But, you know, when you have an open-ended question, >> people will give us their honest opinions about everything >> except teacher absenteeism. So, we took it all into into into consideration, but we want to focus on the absenteeism of course and then look at the teacher task force recommendations what like what's next. So this all aligns with pathway four on recruitment, retention and professional growth. More more importantly um goal 4B looking at retention and really looking at the implement of the channels of open communication from leaders um and employees in addition to making sure we provide resources and support for our staff and for their well-being.

065So the the purpose of the task force was multiple things. One to establish an employee absenteeism trends. So, we look and see exactly what when are people absent. Um, sometimes it's Mondays, sometimes it's Fridays. This past Friday, we had a record 209 um absences that that needed subs before um before this record it was 207. But I do want to point out on Monday, sometimes after the Bears beat the Packers, those Packers fans are always absent on Monday. I just don't know why that is. >> Okay. No, but we also want to look at the root causes like what is it? Why are they being absent? And then look at um sustainable strategies such as how what can we do to help improve attendance? Um what supports are we offering in terms of employee for

066well-being? So we looked at the employee assistant program, what is the util uh utilization rate? We average about 390 visits of EAP a year when you look back the past five years. So we want to um continue to offer those supports. Look at Hazel Health. I know we have that for our students. We also want to look at that for our our our employees as well. Um and then we want to um uh >> oh >> you just want to say I can I can tell a joke if you want me to. No >> talk about Mr. Fin sports teams again. >> Oh okay. And the last thing we want to look at protecting the instructional continuity. So if for example if you have four fourth grade teachers and two of them are out two

067to two to three days a week that puts a stress on the other fourth grade teachers it also inter interrupts our student achievement. So we want to make sure how can we get our employees to come to work on a regular basis. So with that being said I'll turn it over to Miss >> Good evening Madam Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, members of the board. Uh Dr. White, thank you for allowing us the opportunity to speak to you this evening. So what was the purpose of the task force? We addressed first and foremost the increasing absenteeism among our teachers and our instructional assistants. We also looked at substitute coverage challenges as well as especially same day callouts and the impact that that has on um the the instructional integrity of the building. Inconsistent practices across schools

068as well as outdated approaches to employee well-being. So what are some of those inconsistencies that we were able to identify? Well, that could be the variation of communication protocols amongst schools. It could have been inconsistent staff accountability amongst the um substitute management platform that we utilize as well as differences in how classrooms are covered uh building to building. This of course leads to operational challenges. Leaders often lack time to adjust internal coverages when it is those same day absences and unplanned absences force administrators to be reactive in their decision-making when leading their buildings. So, we are one, but this isn't simply just an HR issue. This is instructional, operational, it's a workforce stability issue. Without a systemwide approach, we will continue managing our s our uh symptoms of absenteeism and sustainable solutions require us to

069look at the root causes. So if you look at the chart here with our absenteeism patterns in the blue you will see the years 2023 to 2024 with a total of 19,799 absences while the orange bars represent the 2024 to 2025 school year with a 21,54 total absences. And as you can see, teacher absences have increased over the years where instructional assistance have actually decreased a little bit. And so the focus of the absenteeism task force at least right now were on our teachers and really pausing to look at our teacher experience that could be contributing to the absences that we are noticing. So we do have a partnership. We have a third-party vendor that we contract with with ESS and we know that substitute demand rema the demand remains high as Mr. Key just

070mentioned with the amount of absences even as of last Friday but there have been improvements. Some of those improvements are the SharePoint with our Reno City and ESS platforms. All subs are issued username and loginins and our long-term substitutes are now equipped with the technology to support instruction. As we stated, teachers account for the majority of our absences. Now, the ESS fill rate has increased to 83% over those two years, which was an increase from 62% during the year 2021 to 2022. So improved fill rates indicate that absenteeism is not solely a vendor or an ESS issue alone. The root cause has to extend beyond substitute coverage. These trends again require us to pause and examine the broader impact. Um and of course that broader impact is our instructional continuity and our student achievement. >>

071So why does all this matter? Well, we know that when attendance becomes unstable, everything else becomes difficult to sustain. Students experience a loss of instructional continuity, which impacts academic performance. Staff take on increased workload leading to the stress in the burnout. Schools face operational disruptions that affect daily functioning and the division incurs increased substitute cost and inefficiencies. Now, as a former school principal here in Reno City, I've experienced this firsthand with the daily challenges that our staff um when staff absences occur. Unexpected absences not only impact the individual classroom, but the overall functionality of the school. When staff are absent, as Mr. McKe mentions, others must step up to cover. This creates a ripple effect across the building, stretching already limited resources. and prior to administration as a former teacher supporting both your own classroom

072and your colleagues classroom without the proper planning is extremely challenging. So this increase increased strain on staff impacts the quality of the instruction for the students. So the key takeaway is our greatest asset in our schools are the consistent presence of our staff and our teachers. The availability is foundational to our student success, staff sustainability, and effective school performance. So, who was on this task force? When establishing the task force, we were intentional about including representation from our hardto-fill schools. We prioritized voices from employees who are actively doing the work each day. The task force was designed to ensure crossf functional representation and real world perspectives. membership reflected a broad range of stakeholders to ensure diverse insight and practical solutions. So, you'll see we had representation from our teachers, pre-K through 12, special education, all

073content areas, instructional assistants, principles, assistant principles, members of our district leadership team, representation from REA, representation from stack, as well as our ESS vendor. And the timeline that we utilized with our task force, at least up to this point, was that in December, our task force initially met to review data collection and begin stakeholder engagement. In January, we participated in analysis of trends as as Mr. McKe mentioned to identify root causes beyond just the survey data. In February, the task force developed recommendations and focused on practical, actionable, and sustainable solutions. In March, the task force provided refinement and finalization and key considerations. And in April, the preliminary findings were presented to the district leadership team. And now we here we are here now in May to present to you our school board. So again, what

074led us here? Well, we've looked at three key data sources. ESS substitute coverage data, internal operational observations, and the employee survey, which we were very excited about. There were 713 responses, which is a 39% response rate, which reflects employee participation, meaningful employee participation. As the data was reviewed, the task force again looked for those key patterns, specific days, trends related to the time of day, specific roles within our school buildings. And this allowed us to move beyond those surface level observations. It ensured that our recommendations are not based on assumptions. Instead, they're grounded in data, real world experience, and most importantly, our employee voice. We recognize that next year may bring increased workloads in larger class sizes. This makes it even more critical that we continue to listen and validate employee feedback as we move

075forward as a division. So, at this time, I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Mr. Deeds, who will provide a deeper look into our survey findings. Thank you, Morgan. Um, Madame Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, members of the school board, Dr. White, uh, thank you to Mr. McKe and Mr. Drether for allowing me to be part of the task force and to share this evening some of the survey results. When we look at our survey, uh, again, the 39% response rate is exemplary. Um, anybody that knows anything about survey data and response rates can tell you that our employees want their voices heard and they took the time, an average of 55 minutes per respondent to really weigh in and answer uh the call. And so when we send these surveys out, you're always a

076little, you know, hesitant to see what the response rate will be and then just how engaged they will be. Um, because you just don't know. It's an unknown. But when you press go on that survey and you start seeing those numbers come in, uh it's very impactful because you know that the work is important to them and that this is something that they're experiencing on a daily basis. So again, you see 64% of the respondents were our teachers. You had 17% which were other staff. That can be school counselors, your building op workers, behavioral coaches, uh any other positions in your building that went out to your faculty and staff, and then your instructional assistants. So those are your IAS that are on on the front lines in the classrooms helping our students. And so

077again, a great swath there of respondents. You also can see the the work site distribution um very heavily at leaned on and you can see our 17 elementary schools made up 54 54% of the respondents uh followed by again 21% and 23% with your middle and high. So that is what would be expected uh and again was just very on par with what we anticipated getting back. But you know again speaks volumes about the number of individuals that responded. our years of experience. We were very happy that our 10 plus year experienced employees were the highest respondent rate. They took the time. They they understand that this is an issue. This is something that we're experiencing not only in Reno City schools but across the nation. And so, particularly with an urban district, we want

078to be very intentional on listening to those employees that just aren't here for a year or two. Right? This isn't an experience. This isn't something they're trying to come in and see, get their feet wet. These are people that have been with us for 10 plus years. and so uh really wanted to weigh in and hear what they had to say and and fortunately they answered the call. The reasons for the absences. So the most common reasons we saw were you know personal illness that tells us you know again they're ill. They're falling ill. We can understand that. You also see medical appointments and then family caregiving. We've talked about the sandwich generation. We know that that's very real. I've experienced it myself. And so knowing that that is a real thing. Um we understand

079that people do get sick. Life lives things happen with parents. you know, things are occurring and so we want to be very conscious of that. You can appreciate in employee relations, the day-to-day conversations I have with our employees, our supervisors. I'm very much aware of the the tax and the toll that is placed on our individuals in our workforce. The strategies to reduce absenteeism, what are some of the things we think could reduce that? And we start talking about stronger behavior systems to really support our staff and teachers on those front lines and more codify that, you know, at the division level. So, working with Dr. Dr. Maer, working with Dr. Wimbush, M do Mr. Freeman, Dr. Williams. We're going to be working on really trying to come up with some steps that we can

080send out to to support our conduct code and the things that we already have in place and the good work that's already been done. But we want to be real intentional on making sure that we have a universally accepted approach to how we handle the students and some of the traumas that they experience. You know, deescalating issues in the classrooms, things of that nature, so we can point to that and all lean towards it. It can be our guiding star. We also have improved sub coverage. And what does that mean? So, how do you have that as an incentive to reduce absenteeism? Well, you all can appreciate in my time having been an administrator and you walk around and people know, well, they're going to be on Friday and I hear people are taking off

081Monday. I'm not coming in because that means I'm going to have to cover their class. And so, then it becomes a chicken or egg, right? Like what started first? And so, we really are trying to be intentional on that and and getting everybody to understand the work. If we can get those fill rates up, which you've seen, we're working towards improving those fill rates. We believe that less and less individuals will take off. Um, and then building based support and protecting planning time. Nothing gets morale down more because I used to be the individual that would do it. Then come in, someone's got all their materials laid out. They're excited to plan. They're looking at their testing data. They've looked at formative assessments. They're ready to go. And then here comes an administrator saying, "Hey,

082I need you. You've got to go cover a class." If you want to see somebody's smile turn to a frown, ask them to cover a class. >> The survey incentives to explore. So we were we're hit with some of the incentives uh you know to try and explore and these were the stipens the cash out we understand that money talks it always will the additional PTO so the idea of changing you know our leave structure being competitive with other businesses in areas that you know are around us being being aware as as a business as we are to try and and and adopt some of these uh you know newer approaches instead of just accepting our old models seeing what other competitors are doing so that we remain the employer of choice in Reno City

083and then that leads us to wellness days and we're going to talk a little bit more about that on the following slides because we believe through our research and what we've been told by our employees that that is something very real and tangible that we can explore the immediate low and no cost uh suggestions that came out of the task force. Now we had um six different meeting opportunities that we we met with the task force members so they could jump on virtually. We also had three inperson meetings with upper leadership to discuss some of these things and the regulation of absence approval. What we were hearing was and to break that down. Things are different from building to building, supervisor to supervisor. So, how do we more align that so that we don't have

084in certain buildings people saying, you know, just give me a heads up, you're good. And then someone saying, you need to notify the secretary, you need to notify me, you need to send me an email, you all say you need to go into front line, you need to go into attendant enterprise. We can't have that difference because what happens? People talk. We're not in an isolated world. These individuals are talking. So, what can we do to make sure that we're aligned with our processes, monitoring and forecasting high impact absences? So, really getting our principles and supervisors to better get a grasp and understand that, you know, we want them to know. We don't want to have to tell them why are people out. These are the trends. These are the reports. We're going to really

085try and stress during our supervisor trainings, you should know why. We want you as the building administrator to take ownership of this so that it's not news to you. We want you to know about those individuals that are out um and some of the reasons that they may be strengthening student behavior. We've alluded to earlier enhancing onboarding and early career support. So really emphasizing this when we do our new high orientations so that just because you have the days frontloaded doesn't mean you need to take them. And then reviewing our calendar so we know that working closely with Mr. Freeman, he has looked at some of our neighboring school divisions. We don't have to do what they do, but we should be conscious of it because if we can future plan and avoid unnecessary absences

086where people understandably want to be with their families, that's work we should do on behalf of our employees. The structural considerations to consider, you know, again, we talked about evaluating PTO. That's something that's very real and it's going to take some work. We've already started that process exploring attendancebased incentives. You know, we've gone from $20 to $50 for retiree payouts for anybody that has 10 plus years of service. So we are understanding that we are trying to reward and incentivize um you all staying members of Reno City public schools and employees of Reno schools and then assessing child care support options. So that is one of those things that again is a future um it's more of a long-term and does have some financial impact inevitably. Um and so we know that that is some

087real work ahead to consider. However, it brings us to our structural considerations which is wellness days. We believe this is the most ready for implementation. So wellness days when you look at the data so we're just not you know coming up with this we're we're pulling it from the data it's health related needs family responsibility stress and burnout all goes to workplace wellness okay um the survey data confirms they had the ability to respond and the respondents were 567 selected personal illness at the top you can see followed by medical appointments mental health burnout fatigue and exhaustion we know that this is all around employee wellness and employee experience so again for us um to hear that and trying to tie it into a real solution solution based on what we heard. Wellness days we

088believe is the answer to that. what employees told us. Employee voice matters a lot. As you can imagine, employee relations when we send out staff perception surveys, when we work with Panorama, third-party vendor, whenever we do anything to understand culture, climate, um, at our buildings, exit interviews, retirees surveys, all the different things that we do. Pulling that information is only as good as our ability to act on it. Now, I believe a 39% response rate says that they have faith that we're going to act on this. Okay? So, with faith also comes expectation. And that's where we are now. It's all right. we've we've taken the time, we've responded. We want, you know, to to see what you all as a district, as leadership, um when we present to this board can consider as potential

089options. And so that's what tonight is really about, sharing with you all um what the employee voice is. Part of what my job is is employee uh amplifying employee voice. And that's something we take very seriously in our department. Um the employees value time to recover, flexibility, and then just, you know, a proactive approach. Um we can see there it's cyclical. You can see on that, you know, icon we have that it is just ever evolving employee voice. You really need to be active and understanding that. And that's what we're covering this evening. Um, assessing today and building for tomorrow. The current reality is we believe that we're a little more reactive than we want to be, right? We're doing that self-examination. We're looking in the mirror. Same day call outs really hurt us. We

090understand that. We go uh, you know, to bed thinking we've got an 85% fill rate and we wake up and we've got a 60% fill rate. What occurred? What happened? And so, you know, we're trying to really better understand those uh issues and then staff burnout because that all ties together. What happened on that fill rate is that individuals rather being able to future plan and tell us, hey, next Friday I'm going to be out, you know, or or next Tuesday I plan to be out. I I want to go, you know, enjoy some time with my family. I want to go see my son. I want to go, you know, spend some time with my mother. Whatever it may be, whatever the reason, but they're having to wait because they feel guilty. They don't

091want to have to put it out there. They're concerned about their supervisor, the reaction they may get. And so by doing so, by putting it in that morning as a personal illness, it then impacts us at the division level because now again, instead of feeling good about going into work at the morning thinking you're at an 85% fill rate, you find yourself at a 60% fill rate. Better uh substitute planning that would allow us more time because if we knew that we were going to be out, we could try and find those subs that we've identified that are strong subs and we could leave quality plans for those individuals. The workforce stability and then improve culture climate. Being on the front lines of this, I can tell you it's a very real experience. Now, we're

092getting to the cost. >> Before we get to the cost, I'll just go back for a second if I can just interject here that with the the recommendation for the the wellness days. Again, that that is just kind of one way to to really kind of look at this. I just want to give the board kind of a bit of a heads up that this is a very very complex issue. >> Absolutely. and and we don't want to um minimize kind of the the the various aspects that are potentially kind of involved in in teacher absenteeism, right? That as as the team is presenting now, there are lots of different reasons for it. And I think we're going to have to have ongoing conversations for quite some time and not let this issue go. Um

093because again, this is about how do we support our teachers? How do we make sure that we're really kind of continuing to listen to what they're telling us? And so again, hats off to the task force for really I believe that we've only scratched the surface here. And so even if we're talking about this type of recommendation for wellness days for instance, I do think that that's just one way that we're looking at, but there are going to be lots of different ways that will come to you over time that we'll need to present. So I just wanted to just throw that in there. Um because again, I I would hate for anyone to think that this report is kind of one and done. It is not. Um but I'm sorry. Keep going. Keep going.

094>> And thank you, Dr. White. you know, we we certainly appreciate that. Um, as we continue, um, we'll talk a little bit about the cost. And so, um, you know, if we were maximizing this at 1,78 teachers, which is what we employed for the 2526 school year, and every single one of those teachers, um, you know, were to take the two, uh, days, that would be at around $150 a day is what we've determined for what we pay our subs, you'd be looking at a cost of around 320,000. 323,000, excuse me, 400 would be the estimated amount. Um, you know, this would be a pilot that we'd be potentially proposing for you all uh to consider uh for our teachers this year. Um, it's establishing some baseline data because we've worked closely with finance on

095trying to understand to see whether or not this indeed would be something we could could move forward with and to track its success or lack thereof. Um, and then this is a process uh is a journey not a race as Dr. White was alluding to. Um, you know, she made that very clear that, you know, this is just one thing to consider. This is large work. It requires a lot of us, all of us to really be bought into understanding the root causes and then some of the potential solutions. The return on investment and what we believe to be the return on investment. Um, while not necessarily all, you know, on the the math side of it, if you will, is the red reduced burnout and stress, uh, the improved productivity upon return, supporting long-term

096workforce stability, uh, recruitment and retention tool to say that we have these wellness days. This would be something that we feel would give us a competitive advantage when we go out and recruit. Uh again, thank you to the task force. It was mentioned, you know, the 41 members that were involved in this work. Uh and wanted to be real clear. They all understand um that, you know, this is going to be something that is ongoing. That's why we use the present tense, not the past. So, as we're going through this with you all, um we just felt it was the time to share so that you all could consider you formulate the questions that I'm sure you already have. Um and then allow us to take that back to the task force. We're already excited

097about planning some meetings not only for the summer with leadership but also going into the fall with our teacher representative as well. So I just wanted to thank you all before I turn it over to Mr. McKe and appreciate your time this evening. >> Thank you. >> So just want to pause and see if you guys is there any questions that we can answer. >> Um Miss Canana or Mr. Link? >> Oh ma'am. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, how does RCPS PTO stand in comparison to surrounding districts? >> Right now, there's only one district that does PTO and that's Rono County. Um, so we're pairing with them to do a research. Um, and and and and once we do our research with them in terms of looking at policies and procedures and then uh

098if if given the green light, we we're looking to um implement it in 2728. So, it's going to take us about a 18mon to 24 month process to implement it, but right now there's only one school division that does PTO. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Yeah. Thank you for all of the work. Thank you to the committee for all of this. It couldn't be a more important topic and I remember last time we took kind of a hard look at something like this. So, that's that's wonderful. I mean, one of the things that struck me for some of us who've been on this for a minute, we haven't always had as good a relationship with our substitute provider as we do now. >> I mean, when we talk about a 60% fill rate,

099that's because they don't have notice. We used to do 60% with notice. So hats off for the partnership are they're such a wonderful partner for us and that's something you know these outsource services are critical and they're critical to function well and so this is a this is I just wanted to give that call out that this is going well. >> I guess my question is a little bit if you could tell us so what's the what next? I mean, I've got 476 questions in my head right now. >> So, I don't want to give them all to you, but what what is next? What do you need from us right now, like what's helpful? Um, >> we we just want to use tonight asformational in terms of this is what the committee or task

100force has come up with in terms of recommendations. Then once if we have the nod or whatnot, we want to move forward with then start to plan to see what the wellness days will look like um in the fall. So, that's the next step. about it. >> I would say, and this is not a question in search of an answer. I I will give you one of the 476 questions. >> Um, which is just simply I I'm curious as you dig into the data. When we get data about a lot of different things that impact individuals, often we find out there is concentrations >> of individuals who represent a large portion of the data. Mhm. >> I feel like um that deeper dive into those kinds of things like if somebody has a chronic illness

101of course right they're going to be using that their needs are going to be a wellness day isn't going to help them. >> I mean who doesn't need a wellness day but I mean you've opened up a a really important and complicated as uh Dr. White has said can of worms. So I would uh for my colleagues look forward for them to hear kind of that little bit more in-depth detail within that data about what what are people actually experiencing. >> Um I think I have my friend in Charlottesville, she gets two wellness days a year and I mean I I know she really values them. Um what I don't know is if that changes how often she uses sick leave. >> Yes. >> Right. I mean I think it may just be plus and

102>> and maybe not. I don't know. I mean, >> Dr. James, we also want to look at the the the trends in regards to break it down by school, by grade level, by subject, by generational um absences. >> Target individuals at all changes what the program needs to look like, >> right? Because the needs are different. >> We won't identify names, but we need to dig that deep into the data to see if there what trends are they is is it one school, is it one grade level, is it one department? Um, but we'll dig deep into that with the task force. >> Yeah. Yeah, of course. Thank you. Thank you. This is important work. Thank you for bringing it. >> You um Miss T >> have a statement. I think this is great. Um

103especially to let our educators know that we do care, that we understand what's going on and it may actually dig a little deeper like you're saying and find out what support is it that they need. So I think this is awesome. I'm looking forward to hearing more. >> Thank you, Miss Watkins. >> Yes. Um two questions. Uh first um thank you guys so much for this research. Mr. McKay, you remember when you first got here and I was really hard on our HR for the data that they were providing and it has >> really hard. >> Well, look what we got. Pressure provides results. >> It also makes diamonds. >> All right. >> Just saying. >> All right. So, um the the first question that I have is um and and thank you for the

104proposal of the wellness days. Um our my organization um implemented that a couple years back and not only did it um they did a lot of the same research and and um not only did it it uh help with work life balance, but also employee morale. So, um, you're gonna you're going to get a boost from this. But my question along those lines is is I know we have classified and unclassified staff staff, but how are we able even if this is a pilot, how are we able to do this with the teachers and not cause a morale dip for others? >> Right. Well, the way we look at is the data shows that when you look at the the individuals that need a sub, the teachers are the one that takes take take the

105most days off. So, we want to focus on them first and then the next step would look at instructional assistance and then eventually roll it out to the entire division. So, the qu they answer question if the if the individuals employees would just be patient and let us work through the process. Um the goal is to roll it out through to through the through the entire division. So, if they can just um hang on and just um be patient while we roll this pilot out. >> Great. And my comment to that is you might would should maybe thought about doing that survey to the entire division before you roll this out because now you're not going to have organic well you may not have an organic result >> for the rest of the the division

106who are going to want these wellness days. Right. Yes. So that that's just a not a criticism, just a you know a thought, right? >> And then the other thing when we're talking about um chronic absenteeism, when you're looking at the data, are you excluding the extremes such as holidays like like Memorial Friday or Super Bowl Monday, right? Are we excluding those extremes when we're looking at that data? >> Well, we that's going to happen. that is we want to include some of that data but we we we would definitely want to exclude like FMLA or medical leave and whatnot but we want to look at all the data and then we can look at Mondays and Fridays and is it is it Fourth of July you know I mean is it that weekend those

107holidays and special event >> so we'll look at all all of it together >> okay thank you >> yes ma'am >> Mr. Cherry. >> No, this was great information. Um, I always say people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. So, um, I am grateful that we have an HR department that just doesn't employ, but we also look and take a deep dive into employee relations and how are we investing not just in professional development, but how are we investing in the health >> and the continuity of our teachers? because again um yes we want the best of the best right but we also want to make sure we support them as they grow and what does that support look like and we're asking the right questions so along

108with my colleagues I definitely look forward to the results what the data is going to measure what it's what it's driving us to what it's pointing us to so that way we can better uh take care of those that not even that we entrust but those that trust this division that they want to work for us. They want to invest in our kids. So, uh, appreciate all of the work. This was great. This was right up my alley. I love this stuff. So, thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Cherry. Um, I'm glad Dr. Jameson asked, you know, I am curious about what is the structure of what comes next. So I suppose that will kind of come about with the next school year. But I also think it will be important to have some

109mechanism to capture your changes in morale. So pre and postclimate surveys or whatnot. I don't know what the what the plans are with that aspect of it. And I also think it was mentioned by a couple people. I'd be curious. it wasn't listed in your ROIs, but um potentially you could by investing in health and wellness, you actually may decrease your absenteeism because of that. So, so anyways, but I just did want to note that and I think where do you um going to say anything about that? Yeah, I just again I I I think that you know with this issue just like with the the various ones that we've tackled over the years um that structure is in first of all this research with is step one right the the research um um that's

110in alignment with our strategic plan what we said that we would do we we set out um in our strategic plan to say that this is an issue that we would tackle and so that's this is kind of step one of that and then now providing that structure and the framework. Um you know we we love a framework because it it anchors us right that when we can now have these results and now we can uh have the recommendations look at a pilot test that pilot have the um kind of the the post surveys if you will or the post kind of data review to analyze that and then look at a broader scale and for implementation. look at the ongoing costs of that and then uh continued implementation. So again that's kind of the

111general outline in the framework for ne next steps but uh again if there's a huge kind of kind of cost to this then certainly we would bring that to the board because under the board's governance we want to make sure that it's in alignment with the budget as well. Um and something um you just mentioned also triggered for me that you know there has been um emphasis that teacher absenteeism has an impact across the whole school. So when you are doing your pre and post surveys maybe not just the group that's piloting it but the overall school you know your instructional aids and admin as well. Um, so and I also want to appreciate and want to emphasize that it's a pilot. So it would be something that so that if this come, you know,

112if this does come to fruition next year, it's not something that we tie our hands to forever going forward. Both for the staff that may be part of the pilot >> that there's no guarantee that it will continue on. We need to see what the results tell us before we make any >> future decisions about that on behalf of the division. that um based on admin recommendations. So >> I just want to our goal is to remain responsive as an organization and um you know for us not to kind of turn a blind eye, you know, to what our teachers are experiencing every day. Again, we have um fantastic teachers, hard-working teachers um who really give their all every day to our students, but we do have to listen and to be responsive when again,

113as Mr. McKe and his team shared, particularly working in the school division where many of our students bring a lot of high needs to the classroom every day. We have to acknowledge that because that requires our teachers to pour um more of themselves into our students and they do so each and every day. But then there's a consequence to that, right? It takes a toll. We can see that in what they're saying about their health and well-being. We want to be able to support that, but we want to be able to be specific and pinpoint how we can um address that. Again, maybe it's uh the first approach is through wellness days other um but there are other ways and we just again want to make sure that we are responsive. So again, hats off

114to the team for really scratching the surface now but digging deeper uh into this issue for us. >> And Miss Watkins, did you have another question or comment? >> Yeah, just just a couple things that that Dr. White made me think that I didn't get out the first time. I did want to and I know that we're always thanking you, but there's a couple of things I want to thank you for uh you and the team. Thank you all for staying true to our strategic plan. I always like to hear how what we're doing ties back to our strategic plan because that ground us grounds us all and makes us stay true to what we said we would do, right? So that and also I want to thank you for talking about the hard things.

115It's not always this beautiful picture that we try, you know, that that sometimes we, you know, try to highlight all the wonderful things that we're doing. >> It's not always wonderful every day. There's a grind here and there are issues that we work hard every day to try to mitigate whatever circumstances comes our way. Sometimes they're expected, sometimes they're unexpected. Sometimes it's a national challenge that we are also fac facing on a local level and sometimes because of the type of school division that we are and the population of our students and the diversity within our organization um we might have a it might attack us a little harder and it's >> wonderful I think when we put it out there on front street for all to see we have this issue and this is

116what we're prepared to do about it not act like we don't I have issues. >> Thank you, >> Watkins. >> All right. >> Can I just say one more thing? Just thank the board and thank Dr. White for your leadership and your support because without the support and leadership, we wouldn't be able to do what we needed to do for our employees. And we what we do for our employees is important because the students are our main focus. So, your your support, your dedication, your commitment to making sure we do what we need to do for our employees really means a lot to us. So, thank you for all of your support and your leadership. >> Thank you. Thank you to the team. >> Yep. Sorry. We had a couple a couple other quick comments

117that were jogged after that. No, it's fine. Um, Miss Quintana or Mr. Link. I >> was ask one, but >> he can come back. >> Hold on. I have to say, sorry to interrupt. He's definitely taking over Chris Perkins. This took way too long. >> I was about to say got me. >> Yeah. Go ahead. If this was on a slide and you all covered it, I apologize that I missed it. >> Um, it just took a second for it all to sink in. Um, it it was tough for me to I'm not saying it was it was tough to read >> the cost of the wellness days right after we just had Miss Jackson up here. >> Um, but what are we currently spending with ESS right now? >> A little bit over four

118million. Is that right? a little bit over four million. Um, so last year was 3.8 million. Um, I'm sorry, two years ago was 3.8, last year's 4.1. >> So I guess really what's really maybe brilliant in the wellness days is a small line item that could yield large savings. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Because if we get more teachers to um or employees to come to work >> um that would >> Right. It's it's >> if they're out and we get a sub, we have to pay for it anyway. >> Yes. Yes, sir. >> Okay. >> Thank you for asking that. >> Okay. >> All right. That's it. >> You good? You sure? >> Thank you, Mr. McKe and your team. >> Mr. Perkins sports teams again. >> I'm good. I'm good.

119He knows who's the best in the north. So, >> all right. Thank you, Mr. McKe. Thank you to the HR team and and also thank you to the task force um for your time and dedication. We really appreciate it. And Madam Chair, that concludes my report. >> Thank you very much, Dr. White. Um, moving on to the work of the board. So, I'm actually going to go in reverse order on this list of um kind of talking at the bottom about policy, governance, and legislative committee. So, at our May school board meeting, um I provide an update from the April meeting of the superintendent's policy, governance, and legislative committee. And one of the items in that report was a recommendation to develop a legislative position for VSBA's consideration. Um and I believe Ms. Watkins chairs

120that committee um that would support statewide funding for virtual student health services. So what we utilize with Hazel Health work on the draft submission has continued. However, before any recommendation can be formally submitted to VSBA, it must be first approved by the local school board um accordingly in advance of our June 9th schoolboard meeting. Um I'm sharing a draft submission for your for the for all board members review so that if you have any questions or suggested considerations please reach out to policy governance and legislative committee members say myself or Miss Trigg or Dr. Sabbert um by the end of this week and um so because this is something I think it actually originally came out of the student advisory council which then led to Hazel Health but but Hazel Health is something that we

121pay for with grants which is a non like it's not a sustainable funding source and we've been showing very good improvements. So while we have grants for secured I think for the next five years um this is something where something that we're doing well here is something to advocate for at the state level that then can make longstanding change for um all students in Virginia. So, um, so just keep that in mind. And that has been distributed. I think everyone has it at their seats and so by Friday if there are any other comments or suggestions there to get it um to PG&L committee members. Um, all right. Other um work of the board just kind of going down. Just wanted to note um things that we said we would do during the year and

122where we are towards completion. So the student representative roles we have said our goodbyes to them and they have their um so last meeting was our last meeting with them. Um board member communication we've done that um multiple times and especially at our retreats. So that has been completed. Um the school board member development committee um we still have another month left on the school this um school year calendar and so our board development committee members Dr. Jameson and Miss Watkins may report out about how this year has gone with this committee's um further development. Um visibility and community engagement um I think has been um especially good this year. I think even just in the last well it may you may have heard it called Maycember but we've had a lot of community events

123too that Dr. White had also mentioned. I know we had um I think Ms. Trigg and Mr. cherry at the NLAACP then Miss Watkins helped coordinate something where Ms. And Annis received an award. Um there have been a number of things where um you know the board has made sure to make we are getting touch points in the community to make sure that we're speaking on behalf of all of our students. Um and then as far as presenting at conferences, I know that that has been happening and continues to be planned for, including in July where there will be um yet another presentation um in July with Mr. Alder >> and September. >> September. >> Oh, and September as well. So, so again, and that's more showing how what we figure out that does well

124in Rono City Public Schools, we pay it forward so that it's on behalf of all of education. >> Make a quick comment on just that particular note because I've been fortunate to present with Dr. White a number of times. Watkins has been involved in all of this. Just to my board members, it comes from as simple as saying, I think we really should talk about this. It's that simple. if a and I mean we have such a wonderful team. They will help if you've never presented at a conference before. It's really it's really a great experience. So I just would like to tell you it's not a daunting thing. You're not creating the presentation by yourself. The support is wonderful. It is >> and it is um >> and I think we should present on

125Hazel Health >> and I I think that's an excellent example um because those are the kinds of things that also then can feed into legislative advocacy if we're talking about little things that we've done with certain monies like the community empowerment grants etc. So, I just wanted to put a little plug in is it's not it's not as hard as you may think it is. If you if you've been thinking about it, um, do it. >> And it can also start as simple as you get an email from VSBA or you've heard a report out about a program and you say, "Hey, Dr. White," or, "Hey, Miss Mitsell, have we presented on this? Is there an opportunity for that?" And a ball can start rolling. So um so and that's in the power of all

126>> rolling for us. >> Yes, she does. >> She's fantastic. I'm totally spoiled. I I don't even go to academic conf. And there is a a VSVA uh task force um um students uh in challenging environments, right? Um, and so this task force is is is an incredible one. And whatever we're doing well, you know, we can take that to that task force. And that task force is is is tasked with finding how we are able to u highlighting how we're able to support student success in challenging environments. So if we found something that works, we need to shout it out and we need to share it. And I might even extend it if anybody's listening that we've been to these conferences at VSBA particularly where we've seen teachers bring very innovative little classroom programs.

127Y I mean it is not limited to these folks in this room. These are opportunities and that gives other school board members across the state ideas that they bring back to their school divisions. So So you know help us help education. That's that's a great point. That's right. Um so again as far as the work of the board what we said we would do during this year um you see that that is also ongoing and continuous. Um and then something that we will need to discuss further for next year especially in light of budget is you know attendance at conferences and what that looks like in light of you know um our contracted budget because travel is one of the one of the most flexible of the items that is part of the board budget.

128So, um so that is everything as far as work of the board. Um on to future business. Does the board have any items for future business? Okay. So, announcements and reminders. Um so, we have a lot of big stuff coming up. Um the last student day, June 4th, early release. Um William Fleming High School graduation and Patrick Henry High School graduation on June 5th at the Bergland Center. And then we have a board meeting and a workshop in June. Um so probably lots of fun days and field days at the schools, but um that's it. So am I missing any other future events? Okay, moving on to the closed meeting. We have a closed meeting tonight. Is there a motion for the board to convene in a closed meeting? >> I move that the board

129convene in close session to discuss specific officers, appointees, or employees for the purpose of considering such person's assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salary, disciplining, or resignation pursuant to section 2.2-377A1 code of Virginia. >> Is there a second? >> Second. Seconded by Mr. Cherry. Moved by Mr. Link. Seconded by Mr. Cherry. Um, is there any discussion? Miss Tresky, please call the role. >> Cherry? >> Yes. >> Mr. Link? >> Yes. >> Dr. Jameson? >> Yes. >> Miss Quintana? >> Yes. >> Miss Trigg. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Watkins. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Apal. >> Yes. The board will now enter into a close session to discuss only items within the approved motion. No other board business or decisions will be conducted.