001First thing I Maybe that's not Are you guys good? Hello, welcome. Hey, what do you think? Are you excited? [Music] Jessica, I'm sure. Yes, I heard I heard about your shame. I'm like, I've had this bad. Thanks again for the behind the scenes. I'll see Hi. Hi. I didn't wasn't quite sure. I figured I disappointed you. [Laughter] [Music] spit my gum out is what I need to go do pictures. Huh? They put a picture of you. Oh, it's my picture. Hi. How are you? Okay. Yeah. Okay. All right. All right. That sounds good. Hey, Claire. A minute. Hey, I have I'll be I'll be better. Hello. Hello. Hello. Oh, thank you. No, I'm not. Hey, how are you? [Laughter] hi to you. Hello, Dr. Jameson. Hello. How are you? Well, good to see you. Good
002to see you. How was your holiday? Gucci. I am tired. I'm good. How's your birthday? This is my favorite. That's where my wife's celebrating. Oh, great. Hey, how is it down there? And those chairs, this is a compliment. Star Trek Next. I didn't think about that, but But you know what? Wait, is next gen Bard? That's the only problem is that wasn't the next one a female captain? What was that one? Voyager. A Voyager. How are you? How are you? Good to see you. [Laughter] This is good. How are you? Good. How are you? Oh, I'm excited. Me, too. Me, too. It's here. We are doing party. Thank you. Thank you. I'm excited. Like first meeting in the It feels so nice, too. I know. Last time I was going to take like pictures like
003during the tours and stuff. This time it's like yes, it's finally happening. I am starving. I am tired. Is this your husband? My husband called. I know. I don't get something. Take this though. Thanks. Okay. water. Oh yeah. Good job. Good job. Oh, your little barista. Yeah, I hope this wasn't about you. You can like say no or give me a timeline on this, you know. It doesn't need to be. I just I happen to have like 70% of that done. I just needed to update it. Got it. Are they still things? because I was like, "Well, I can't see my name now, you know, like good." [Music] That's a definite learn. They got to go up. Hi, Joyce. Hello. Hi, Hi. I like your pants. Yeah. How was your Oh, I was going to
004say, how was yours, look for your picture? I look for my picture. We are live. Oh. Oh, okay. That's the picture. Just a couple of minutes. Okay, where where is Howard? Can I see Howard? So, when I wave at him, he doesn't know. He can see me. I know, but I can't see him. I'm gonna run in here for just a second. This is God. Okay, this is a lot. Right now, I will Um here. Yeah. Um I think we should get purse hooks. Yeah. Well, we could very true. You know, I think we should Oh, I could bring in, you know, like my stocking hangers. That would also work. That would for sure also work. Here, I'll put this little note here for however it goes. I like that suit. Thank you. So, you
005can be behind the pole. Yes. Separate times and I was like, do I have Oh, that's my picture. I'll do it right here. I'll I'll do it before I turn it back. I can't see him at all. I was like super ready to eat this. It is a nice set, my friends. Yes, ma'am. Great idea. How do I know? I'm ready. It'll be loud. The first hammer in our new boardroom. Uh the April 2 20 uh22nd 2025 schoolboard special meeting and workshop is called to order. Mrs. Tresky, will you please call the role? Mrs. Apel here. Mr. Cherry here. Mr. Link here. Miss Quintana here. Miss Trigg here. Mrs. Watkins here. Dr. Jameson here. The board appreciates all of you who are here this evening. And I will give a particular shout out to Mayor
006Cobb as well as Councilman Hagen. Thank you for joining us here on our inaugural meeting in our new boardroom. Um, and we welcome those also who are viewing this meeting via live stream on the division's YouTube page. Uh, we are really starting out new in this inaugural boardroom. We are a new lo location, new uh new new room, new live stream. Uh, we will move on now to the approval of the agenda. Is there a motion and a second to approve the agenda as presented? So move. Second. Moved by Miss Watkins, seconded by Miss. Great. There was Oh my gosh, I can't find my people. Um, is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I opposed. All right, we'll move right into Dr. White's uh superintendent updates this evening. All right. Hey, good
007evening, Madam Chair, madame vice chair, and members of the school board, members of the public this morning, this this evening. I don't know what time of day it is anymore. It's all blinding together. U so good evening. Um and this evening, we're we're bringing several items, but I just want to start with saying happy Earth everybody. Happy Earth and happy early administrative professionals day. And I just want to give a shout out to all of our administrative professionals who work so very hard for our children. So, thank you for all that you do. So, we do have um lots of uh items for your consideration and information this evening, including an update on transportation, an update on the textbook adoption process, an approval of the K5 English language arts textbook adoption, an update on the
008elementary Spanish program, approval of the personnel reappointment list for the 2526 school year, first reading of policy revisions, an update on the fiscal year 26 budget and finally an update on the Department of Education's request for certification under title six and S FFA versus Harvard. So before we get to our agenda items, I would like to highlight a few items for the board and for the public's uh information. Um last Thursday we hosted the fourth annual RCPS Works student job fair. It was wonderful to see so many of our students and families come out for the event. Thank you to our board members. Thank you to our mayor and others who came out for the student job fair. Um that we we did we had students and families come out. We also uh had more
009than 80 employers uh come out for the student job fair who were able to interview our students on the spot and off and show our students the various possibilities that are out there in the workforce. Uh as part of this event, our special education uh department also hosted a transition stu affair for our students with disabilities. And new this year, we hosted Reno summer connect to help our elementary and middle school families discover free and lowcost summer opportunities. So a special thank you to Dr. Haley Poland. I'm back there. I see her. Jess Truax, Delegate Sam Rasul, who was instrumental in pulling together community partners, and to all of our community partners for their hard work to ensure that the event was successful, and it surely was. So, hats off to the team. Speaking of
010our summer programs, this evening, families of students who qualify for the new STAR summer program will receive a text this evening with additional information about registration. Uh we also will be sharing more information this week regarding our staying safe by staying connected programming opportunities for our middle school age students. Finally, our spring early literacy academy will be held next Tuesday, April 29th from 5:30 to 7 at Fallon Park, Round Hill, and Hurt Park elementary schools, which are the three different host locations. I also want to encourage our families with students in preK through 2 grade to attend the Early Literacy Academy. This will actually be a student showcase uh where our elementary students will show off their amazing literacy talents. So, we want everybody to come on out. We will also be sharing literacy strategies
011that you can use at home as well as giving away free books. So, let's hear it for free books. I want to thank our literacy and our community engagement teams for all of their hard work. I see our literacy team in the back. So, thank you for all of your hard work and your focus on early literacy. So, let's get started on our reports for tonight. We're going to start with transportation. So, I will ask our chief operations officer, Chris Perkins, to come forward with an update on transportation. Um, Mr. Perkins. So, good evening, Madame Chair, Madame Vice Chair, members of the board, ladies and gentlemen. Uh, let me start by saying today is school bus driver appreciation day. So, let's give a round of applause to our school bus driver. Um I think uh
012if you will look back one year from tonight uh and look at the meetings that we had about transportation last year, you will agree with me that we have completed a 180 compared to where we were this time last year. So tonight uh we have our team from Zoom here and I'll do some introductions with them later and uh I'm going to ask them to share some very exciting news with you about how well transportation is performing. But before we get there, there's a couple of people that I do want to recognize and thank. Uh so let me start with Walter Dowy. Uh Walter Dowy is our director of transportation. Uh he will be featured in a national publication uh through Tyler Technologies and this year's or this month's newsletter uh where they will highlight
013his routing ability uh which has led to us and our partners at Zoom uh having routes to run that are on time. and I'll I won't blow their exciting news, but they'll tell you how many of those routes are on time. So, we're excited about that. Congratulations. W uh next I want to thank Heather Jameson. She's our assistant director of transportation. Heather is the ying to our yang. She can handle the most difficult situation or individual no matter how mad they are. She can deescalate like no one I have ever seen. So, we are very thankful to have her on board. Uh, and she had had a lot to argue about this year with people. I mean, this has just been a good year for us for transportation. Uh, so her skills uh are are
014still put to good use because, you know, we we always work through issues that we have. We're not perfect, but we have them. Uh, next, I want to thank our central office staff. If you'll remember at the beginning of this year, and I always say this, the opening of school is always chaotic. It's organized chaos. And our central office staff, we had several that I want to make sure and I'm going to miss somebody, so I'm just going to say central office staff. They came up, they helped our transportation team and our new partners with Zoom uh work through those opening uh day jitters and things and so thanks to them. Uh next, our transportation work group. Uh this group spent hours and hours over the last few years. uh and we haven't given them
015a whole lot of work this year, but uh they still meet. Uh we canled our last meeting because we had some issues pop up that we had to deal with outside of transportation. Uh but they have done a great job of giving us ideas and working through some some issues uh that led us to such a great presentation tonight. Uh last uh I want to make sure that I I thank our parents and our schoolbased staff. Remember we changed the schedule and that is not easy being a parent or a guardian to have to change your schedule. So tremendous effort by our parents and our guardians to step up and tremendous effort by our school staff because that schedule change affected them as well and they had to work through that. Uh so we are
016very grateful for for that and what they have done to help facilitate uh this turnaround in transportation. So, now let me introduce you to a few people at Zoom before I turn it over to Sarah Skinner uh who I will introduce last. But first, Liz Sanchez, she is the executive vice president for Zoom services. Richard Lindle, he is the regional manager. [Applause] John Gray, he is our uh he is moving he was our current general or was our general manager, but he's moving on to Howard County, Maryland. whether it's great. Our new general manager, Ravi Pro, [Applause] our operations manager, Mark Wanagar, Ellen Sullivan, our safety supervisor, Boggas, our shop manager. Now, Sarah Skinner is the vice president of strategic partnerships for Zoom, and she was with us uh when we started down this path.
017And if you remember, uh back last year, uh we were having a a rough time with transportation. So, she stepped in and answered all of your questions. So, tonight I get to give her the opportunity to come up and share with you the good news about what has went on. And uh all those people that I've already uh you know, are part of this. And so without further ado, uh Sarah Skinner, the vice president of strategic partnerships. [Applause] Good evening and thank you. Thank you so much for creating this opportunity for us to be here. We are really thrilled to be partners with Rono City Public Schools and it's an honor to get to share some of the highlights from this past year. Um, but it really has been a true privilege to be able
018to provide safe, reliable, efficient, and effective transportation services for your students, your families, your schools, and the community. So, for today, we were going to share some highlights on performance to date, some of the feedback we've received as it relates to customer service and the technology. And then we really wanted to recognize the local team as well as the partnership as a whole. Um, we'll be brief, I promise. But, uh, really excited to share. When last we met, it was probably just before the start of school and there was a lot of eagerness, maybe some apprehension, some concern about launch. Um, but from the data today, there's real highlights to celebrate. 100% coverage of all routes since day one. We have zero driver shortage, which I know is something that you haven't been able to
019say in a while. so proud of a brand new fleet of buses all with AC on all the buses and I know that's been a huge celebration for students and for the schools who recognize that when students arrive on time and cool and safe that it has an impact on their day in the classroom every day and we are committed to delivering exceptional service and partnership not just this year but each year going forward. We always say internally we're only as good as our last ride. So, we're committed to continuing the same level of service excellence. Current on-time performance is on average 98%. Awesome. That means kids are getting to school on time in time for breakfast in time to arrive for front loading and good instruction. And that's super important to us and we
020know it is to you as well. We've delivered over 482,000 miles and average parent rating is 4.9 out of five stars. So, we dig into all of the feedback as I shared with you back in August. Any ping any um rating below a four out of five stars, our team gets a ping and we'll find out what happened, investigate to figure out how we can make it right. But your parents have over 10,963 five-star ratings and that's a really high level of adoption and a high level of um engagement within the platform and certainly something to celebrate. Um, on our side, we view this as a sign that parents are experiencing improved safety, transparency, communication, and hopefully you're feeling that and hearing that on your side as well. Um, so a few quotes or uh
021highlights we wanted to share as it relates to feedback on the technology and customer service. I won't read through all of them, but some great reviews from parents, school administrators, and your team as well. We're grateful for all the feedback we're getting and we hope you keep it coming. And then last but not least, I wanted to celebrate our amazing local team and operations team. At Zoom, we pride ourselves on culture and really investing in our people. One of the things that's enabled us to reach zero driver shortages is training and recruiting, but also celebrating the amazing drivers who serve your students each day. Some of those folks are in the room with us today. We obviously didn't bring every driver, but I really wanted to recognize the folks that make this work possible. And
022I wanted to thank you all for your partnership and your commitment to this work. That's all I have. [Applause] Now, I do want to add, we didn't think someone could be here, uh, but Amy Gladen is in a room, and I want to take a moment just to explain what Amy does for us. Amy is our lead dispatcher at Zoom. She controls every driver and aid in the entire city when we are going to and from school midday runs all the way up until 7:30, 8 o'clock at night with our activity runs. Wow. So Amy, you need to stand up. [Applause] We'll take any questions. Are there any questions this evening? Questions? Just a comment. Thank you. Thank you for making us feel comfortable um with um having our kids in your buses. Um my
023daughter takes the bus every day and I can surely tell you it's on time every day. So, thank you. Great job. Amazing. Mr. Link, thank you. I'm a parent. The bus is there every day on time. Thank you. Well, it's good to see uh Mr. Perkins starting a presentation with a bright smile, but this is definitely a part of that organizational um discipline piece doing exactly what we say we're going to do. So, you know, I appreciate all the hard work and I appreciate and love the results. So, let's keep at it and I guess the big thing now, let's just be consistent and I think we're gonna be all right. Thanks. We were a tough crowd when we first met you. I was probably the toughest. Um, I just want to thank you so
024much. You were up for the challenge and um, you looked me straight in my eye and said, "We got this." So, and you did and I just want to thank you so much. I definitely want to thank you as a parent as well. Um, my son, even if the bus is late, I know what time the bus is going to arrive and he knows what time to get out the house and down the hill and up another hill. I love that the bus drivers know the children and even with the activity bus cuz he's in sports, he's dropped off in front of the house, they wave, they're very friendly, and it's great to see bus drivers and students actually coming together, knowing each other, and having a relationship. I think that means a lot. Thank
025you, um, I echo everything else that's been said. I know in the beginning of the year it was like an extremely tough time just with like the concerns with last year. So, I just like to thank you for all your efforts and like also just being super consistent as well. So, thank you. Thank you all. Um, I also want to um appreciate, you know, thank you for coming back. I know we when we started this we said and you said and we'll be back and you can hold us accountable and that is us doing our job as a board and we can say we can see the results there. So um thank you for the work and yes my I I'm responsible for a bunch of those five star ratings also because my kids also
026take the bus so it's been much it's been a wonderful turnaround this year. I really have nothing to add other than the praise and the thanks to all of you here as well. Um, and the only thing that I would correct is the way we knew you were doing a great job is we heard nothing. You don't hear that they're happy, but we heard nothing and that made me happy. That means everything. So, thank you so much for uh living up to your word. Really, that means a lot in a partnership with us. Uh, we couldn't have asked for a better turnout. Uh, and I have one more comment. I love that if it's a substitute, it's updated. You know what your driver looks like and you know who's coming to pick up your child
027and what's the lady's name that's in charge of that? Amy. Amy, thank you because you got a job on your hands and you're doing an amazing job. Thank ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. No, that's a really important point that even a substitute driver that can greet the students by name and has all the same information to ensure safe transport. So, that's great. And thank you for being here. Thank you all. Thank you guys. Thanks for this opportunity. Thank you. And I just want to say thank you as well to to you, Miss Skinner, and to the team. I also want to say thank you to Mr. Perkins and to the entire transportation team. Again, this is a a collaborative effort and I just want to thank you for your hard work, your attention to detail. Uh
028because all of those minutes matter and where where students are that matters and for us to get our kids to school and get home on time matters a great deal. So, thank you for all of your hard work. Thank you, Dr. White. And Mr. Perkins, I'm going to put you on the on the spot on another topic, not transportation. Um, but something that I'm sorry, but and and he doesn't know that I'm going to do this, but Mr. Cherry had an opportunity to u join us uh this morning for uh a press conference that we had uh to talk about solar futures and and so would you like to deliver that good news? Please. Oh, absolutely. Madame Chair, vice chair, members of the board, this morning we conducted a press conference where we introduced our
029uh solar futures who is our partner in uh clean and reusable energy. Uh we have uh slated 17 uh buildings uh in our school district uh that will receive solar power and we are working through power purchase agreements to save the district over the next 35 years approximately $46.5 million. Yes. We will also save in our capital improvement plan because $13.2 $2 million will be saved in roof renovations where uh we will have uh roofing uh taken care of as we work through these projects uh that uh we'll have 25-year warranty. So, that's another cost savings. We have also introduced this to the city. We've uh asked if there were interest in the Berglin Center. So, we're excited about that as well. Hope the city will take advantage of that cost savings as well. And
030uh the last thing and last but certainly not least, We uh were uh presented with a check for $150,000. Whoa. To be used toward education in our career and technical education uh for uh students and the opportunity to actually work on installing uh solar energy and with our electricians 20 of those students. So our students this is a great opportunity. our uh science department, Tom Fitzpatrick, is excited because he'll get to use that in his we'll use that money also to help us with our science, our STEM, and we will also uh use that in our CTE program with Miss Duncan and her teams. Oh my gosh, amazing. So, sorry to put you on the spotlight, but you're talking about preparing our students for the jobs of the future presentation anytime. Yeah. Well, and and
031we're just so grateful um for that partnership with Solar Futures. And thank you, Mr. Morning. And um again, this is what we mean by graduating our kids with a diploma, a resume of skills and experiences that will last them a lifetime, and they'll have jobs they want them at the end of their experience. So, we're just really proud of that part. That is so exciting. That's awesome. So now on to curriculum and instruction. I'll ask Dr. Williams and Dr. Durham if they'll come forward to really talk about the textbook adoption process. So Dr. Williams, I'll turn it over to you. Okay. Madame Chair, vice chair, board members, student representative, and Dr. White, we thank you for this opportunity to give you an update on the spring 2025 textbook adoption process. Okay. So, you might be
032wondering why why now? Well, our state has approved new state standards in English, in math, and in history. So, as the state approves new standards, we want to make sure that our textbooks align up with those expectations. More importantly, we want our teachers to have those high quality instructional materials in their hands and to take some of that lift as far as alignment with our state standards. and ultimately to support our students to give them access to the content that they need. So the how well our how is really rooted in in our policy because our policy tells us what we need to do in this process. We set up evaluation committees to review the materials. We make sure that parents have access that community members have access and uh we create procedures and opportunities
033for input and we try to be very transparent about the criteria and the process. And I just want to take a minute just to say thank you to everybody that's helped this spring because it is time consuming. We had hundreds of teachers. We had assistant principles, principles, community members. We had board members reviewing materials and it really means a lot because they actually came in person to the annex, but they also had access to the materials online. So, it takes time and we just appreciate that commitment. We did upload their names into board docs so that you can see um by name and by role and by school um who served on all of our committees. Also, we know that this is a heavy lift for our teachers. You know, along with having new standards
034in English, in math, in history, it's a heavy lift learning all of that, especially if you think about if you're an elementary school teacher and you teach all subjects. Um, you know, it's it's a task. It's a daunting task. So, what our division team wants to do is take some of that lift off and make sure that before we leave for summer that teachers have information and that we hold sessions for them. And over the summer, we'll have in-person sessions and some virtual opportunities. And then, of course, in August and throughout next year, we want to make sure that we provide that support for our teachers and all of our school staff and our and our leaders. Good evening, Madam Chair, Madame Vice Chair, members of the board, Dr. White. Thank you. This evening, I'm
035going to share with you our updates for our uh with our textbook adoption for math, social studies, and English. So, for English, I'm sorry, elementary math, sorry. We had 13 committee members comprised of teachers, uh, math specialists, instructional coaches, and we reviewed all of our the BDOE opportunities and the textbooks that they provided. Uh, the resources that we decided best met our needs of our teachers and our students here in Reno City Public Schools are the current resources that we have. We're going to continue using our Reno City Public Schools instructional toolkit. And those are those um, units of study that we get from Hampton. So, we're going to continue using those. They're they're pretty robust and we like that. We're going to continue using Zern which is a um state provided instructional technology tool
036that we're using for remediation and for direct instruction with our students. And we're also going to purchase exemplars which is a a product that we're using with our students to do handson application performance-based maths where they can learn the math but then they apply it and it's not online. It's actual hands-on projects in building. So those are the things we we're going to use for elementary and we feel like these things will will make us will help our teachers and our students to uh reach mastering elementary math. We are currently in the process of looking at our secondary math and what we're going to be doing for that. We are u meeting right now about that. We have 27 committee members who are reviewing the math materials for second for secondary. Um the division committee
037has started to meet and to start to and starting to look at all of those resources available. We are currently conducting a community review. You're welcome to go right upstairs and look at the resources right now in our one of our conference room and to review that. So we have all of those materials available and we should have a decision and all of that feedback around April 29th and the committee is going to reconvene look at the feedback that we get from our teachers and the committee and from the community and make a final selection for math. secondary math. And this is what um Thank you, Miss Mitsell. She shared out all of this information for our um our review so the public knew that we were doing this review and had opportunities to come
038and give their opinions. Social studies, we are going to adopt a K4 social studies book. We have 14 committee members on this uh committee and it's comprised of teachers, instructional coaches, principles, um the supervisor of social studies and we're going to there's only one choice from the VDOE uh that is approved. So, but we reviewed it and made sure it worked. We want to make sure it aligns. So, um our committee found that it does align. And it is that the book from Five Ponds Press. And we're excited about the Five Ponds Press book because we use the Five Ponds Press book in science. So that the formatting is very similar. It's very, you know, so teachers will have an easier time transitioning straight to that Five Ponds Press book in social studies. So we
039are excited about um adopting that for social studies. And we also did the same committee review and co community review for social studies and um opened that up for our public to review that that resource as well. Are there any questions about math and social studies? Are there any questions? Actually, so um I remember you you mentioned the XML or XML I sorry I I can't remember exactly. Oh yes that and that's for is that for first and secondary math or is that just for like that is for elementary math for right now. Yes. Is there like a version that like could possibly be for like secondary math because I know like when it comes to like higher level math a lot defer to Mr. Baris our math coordinator. Is there a secondary version of
040exemplars? So, uh what we're using for middle school math, uh the Zern program does include many of those tasks in there. Um for high school, uh the programs that we're looking at between EDIA and math space, kind of the finalists, uh those include some of those performance-based tasks. All right. Okay. That's something I just wanted to compliment because like I know for like higher level math a lot of it's like seen as more like theoretical. So like students a lot of time when they learn it it's like what am I learning this for if I can't really use it in like a job or workplace. So that's something I like to compliment. So thank you. Okay. I think that I think we have no more questions that thank you for all your hard work. Yes.
041Thank you Dr. Williams. Don't go netf and or Dr. Durham because um we're I want you to present the K5 uh English language arts textbook adoption uh for the school board's approval. Thank you, Madam Thank you, Dr. White, Madam Chair, Madame Vice Chair. Um we're bringing to you today the ELA K5 core program adoption process, and I wanted to give you the updates on where we are and what our committee has is recommending for us to adopt this evening. So, we had 97 committee members give us some feedback on our ELA adoption. That's amazing. We had reading specialists, teachers, instructional coaches, mentors, u principles, everybody. We had community members. I some of you guys actually showed up and um gave your support and your feedback. We really appreciate that. Then we conducted our community review
042March 10th through the 21st and we reviewed all of our materials there in the annex. You can see some pictures there. It was really awesome and Miss Floyd and her team, thank you for organizing that. Like Dr. Williams said earlier, that was a heavy lift. So we appreciate that and we did conduct that. Those are the dates that we conducted all of that. And during this u review process, we provided evaluation documents for all of the reviewers and they were correlated to our standards of learning and they're also correlated and provided the VLP Virginia literacy partnership ratings checklist so that the reviewers could see how the textbook aligned to our SOS and aligned to the um VLA, the Virginia Literacy Act and and the uh approval that the VLP gave each book. We reviewed three
043C po core programs. Imagine learning bookworms and core knowledge language arts sometimes known as CQLA. We also looked at um writing digital access and implementation support that went along with the program to see um how that's kind of supplemented each program as well. So based on the reviews and the division committee recommends that we do adopt imagine learning. The 97 reviews came back and all the feedback and that was the um the one that rose to the top. And we really like imagine imagine learning e education because it does include that realworld reading materials that authentic literacy that we are proponents of here in Reno Oak City. It provides opportunities for students to write about what they read and to back up their ideas with examples. It gives us a a robust classroom library that
044our students can get books in their hands and we're reading real world topics and it's not made up stuff. It's things that kids can go straight from the classroom to the library and find even more information about. So, we really like that real world connection. So, we are recommending this evening Oh, I'm sorry. It is going to be an estimated cost of about $2 million two to $2.1 million. that does include our professional learning that we'll receive with from the company and it will be a five-year adoption and this is an approved core content by the BLP. So, we will be just fine and we are excited about that. And it is recommended that we vote to approve the adoption of Imagine Learning EL education as the K5 core ELA program from 2025 to 2030.
045And I'll open for questions. And Miss Floyd's here as well for questions. Good. Are there any questions from the board at this time? Mr. Link, when you're reviewing the three I'm going to use the wrong words, but the the three different programs that that you were reviewing, um, do the publishers provide approximately the same amount of information or are you getting different amount of materials from each publisher? And how do you reconcile that in the decision-m process? We open it up basically to everybody. This is what we're doing. We're reviewing. You send us what you want us to review. We've actually set up time to meet with publishers. Um I I was talking with Miss Floyd earlier. We had a publisher who kind of gave a little bit and then we went back and said,
046"Hey, you you know others are out performing and giving lots more. So would you like to send some more?" So it's up to the publisher to what they send to us. But we let it know we're doing the review. Send us what you want and it's up to them. Can I have a follow-up question? Yes, absolutely. Um how are they priced comparatively? priced comparatively. I mean, were they all approximately 2 to 2.1 million or was was there why? Uh, I don't know the answer to that because we don't I don't know. Do we know that we didn't consider price when we were looking into it? We were looking at the reviewers um alignment to standards. We were looking at um the VP ratings and we didn't really look into price until we those rose to
047the top. Um I can find that out for you if you like. Absolutely. And just so that um the the board is aware and just reminder reminded I'm sure that you know this was not an expense that we um had planned on previously but um because of the change in the standards and because of the alignment with um the state standards that this was something that we had to fund. So I just wanted to remind the the the school board that this is an expense that we're finding in this year's budget in order to to cover that expense. of schedule. Ahead of schedule. Yes, it's one year ahead of schedule. Um there I would like thank you for all of your hard work. This will require a motion and a second. Um before I request
048that, I would like to comment that I really appreciate the clear involvement of the community um experts as well as those who will be receiving the books and anybody who wants to see it. So, thank you for making that um really pushing that out. Um that's that is a really good process that we certainly appreciate. So, um is there a motion and a second to approve the adoption of Imagine Learning English Learner EL education as the K5 core ELA program for 2025 2030 as presented? So, moved by Miss Quintana, second by Mr. Cherry. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I. Those opposed. All right. We have a new uh curriculum. Thank you. Good. And Dr. Williams, it's it's like the Dr. Williams show. Almost got the Dr. Williams show. Well,
049Dr. Williams and and Mr. McKe will be our backup tonight. So, um we promised the board and the public an update on our elementary Spanish um program. So, we want to make good on that promise and so we just let us know where we are uh so far. So, Dr. Williams, I'll turn it back. Thank you again for this opportunity. We had held several informational meetings with our Spanish elementary Spanish teachers, but we just wanted to hold a listening session just so that they could all of our 13 teachers could share their thoughts um their concerns and possible solutions because we were all working together to try to um continue programs and to do the best that we can. So, we it was really important that we held the listening sessions. We held the teacher
050listening session on April 9th and I was just going to read through a few highlights from that from our notes. Um general comments from them um were about their contract status um and application requirements if they could remain at their home schools. also if other budget cuts were considered. We talked about some instructional models and materials for L's and the possibility of even um maintaining if we couldn't have the entire program for all K5 at least have it for some grade levels. And their concerns were that it was very stressful the uncertainty. Um it was difficult um preparing for the practice uh tests and it and it also was a personal impact on their lives um because of the stress. They were concerned about placement and hiring and they just wanted to make sure that
051they had a place and they wanted to continue serving Reno City public schools. um they were concerned about uh communication and there was some confusion and um they also wanted to make sure that the tenure and seniority was considered in in the um in the process. The suggestions and solutions um were additional support to PRA to pass the practice test, allowing them more time um transition support if they move from elementary Spanish into the EL position. also hiring and placement um making sure that they had a position if they were moved if we um transferred the elementary Spanish teachers into the EL's position also also lure possible lensure pathways and really offering a clear hopeful plan for the future and uh additional communication. So those were some common um discussion points and um themes from
052our time together. We also um had a parent listening session on April 10th and u we had great discussions. We we just wanted to listen to their comments and possible solutions. We had also received about nine emails from other parents. So I kind of put the emails and our discussions together as like um to share with you. So, the general comments from the parents were they emphasized the academic and cognitive benefits of early second language acquisition and citing research and just the um overall benefit to our elementary students um having this access early. They questions were raised about if we um looked at a appbased language learning program if um how that would support our students and how they would um navigate that especially if they needed extra help. Multiple parents shared that the in-person
053Spanish instruction is effective with visible proc progress in their children's fluency. They were very complimentary of the program and of course wanted to keep it. Um some parents did note a balance between priorities such as making sure that they that their students had reading or gaining reading comprehension in English um what versus uh acquiring a second lang language. Um they had a couple suggestions and solutions. The first and most importantly our parents said they wanted to maintain the parent the Spanish instruction especially given its value and impact already observed by families. They didn't want to replace the in-person Spanish instruction with an app-based program. And they did offer that if we were looking at reducing the program that if we could see if there was a hybrid option not to get rid of the program
054in its entirety. So, they were very sincere and we really appreciate the discussions and the feedback and we wanted to make sure that you knew that. Good evening, Madam Chair, Madame Vice Chair, members of the board, Dr. White, student representatives. just want to talk about the people um part portion of it at this po this time. So, we will be communicating with our Spanish elementary teachers um after the board meeting. We want to give them a rundown of what we've done um since February. And and in terms of vacancies, we're looking at about uh of course you know that we're adding 40 new EL positions. So, we want to make sure we hold at least nine e positions for our Spanish teachers just in case because we won't know any decisions until the middle of
055May in regards once the city um votes on their budget. We also will um add um the VOE's reached out and that they're going to add some sessions for the um practice test in June that we will pay for as a division for each of our Spanish teachers if they choose to use that. So, we're putting things in place to ensure that that we heard all of their concerns. We heard the parents concerns. We want to make sure we make this transition as as as seamless as possible. Um and also um for our Spanish teachers, if we are looking at that, um they would have to pass the practice by um the ESOL practice by August 15th. So make sure we get the support in place they need by that time. Um so that once
056school starts, they will have that add-on endorsement. And in addition to that, we want to ensure that they do have a contract. So, if you guys vote yes on the personnel report tonight, they will receive a contract and it'll say TBD until we can figure out exactly um where we will put them for next year. But we just want to try to ease their worries, their concerns to ensure that every elementary Spanish teacher, whether you're provisional or tenur, that you have a position with Reno City Public Schools. So, with that being said, I just want to open up see if you guys have any questions for us. I would just before we go to questions that I would just like to remind the the public that these 40 positions weren't because we randomly added them.
057This was a requirement which is we've been working towards which is good news. We just hoped we could phase them in over time. And as we all know on the board, uh a reminder that the state funds only a percent of each of those positions that they mandate that we make. This was not this was not a choice that we had. So this is us adjusting. So um are there questions from uh the board? Yes. Miss Watkins, how did you land on holding nine positions? Because of the um the 13 Spanish teachers, nine are not provisional teachers. So they can they qualify for the add-on endorsement. The other four are provisional teachers. Um, so they they don't qualify for that on endorsement. So we'll have to make sure that we find a position for them
058within the division. So that's why we came to nine. Their biggest concern was, will I have a position? Where will it be? You'll have a position. We just don't know where it be. We make sure we um communicate with the principles to hold nine of those EL positions until we can figure out exactly which way we need to go. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. There any other questions? I was just gonna say um I do appreciate the fact that we took some intentional time to hear from our staff um because I believe our last meeting there were a lot of uh concern uh with this program. So, uh that was my biggest piece is just making sure we took the time out to be intentional about hearing from them not just in the board meeting
059but beyond the board meeting um kind of calling to action. So, I I appreciate having this plan uh put in place. So, I just want to say thank you for that because that was a big concern. Any other questions? I think I have one. Okay. Of the [Music] 13 Spanish teachers that we have now that are assets of the school district or division, um, is there any concern that we'll be losing any of them to this transition or do we think we're going to be able to retain all of them? I can't answer that for certain. Um, because the biggest thing they want to know is will they will they get a contract? Where will they be? um we won't know. Um contracts are set to go out later on this week's and they're due
060back by May 2nd. So by that time we will know um who's coming back and who's not, but we would hope that they would all come back. I guess I meant are are any of the teachers unhappy with the process so far or if we're able maybe you can't answer this either, but if we're able to offer a contract for all of them, do we think we'll be able to keep them? I can't answer for certain, but our hope is that they will accept um and sign the contract by May 2nd. Um, the biggest thing they want to know is will they get a contract, will they have a job, and where will they be? We can answer two of the three questions at this point, but come middle of May, we'll be able to
061answer that third question as well. And hopefully all 13 um and all 1,165 teachers will sign the contracts to come back. Right. I'll just say that studying teacher attrition, yes, that that um I can tell you that whenever there's uncertainty, then there's more of a likelihood for turnover. Uh and so we want our teachers here in Reno City public schools. And what we can tout as an especially as an urban school division that we're proud of is that statistically speaking, we don't have a teacher shortage right now. But when there's uncertainty, uncertainty uh with programming, uncertainty with the budget, uncertainty with contracts or those kinds of things, yeah, that's more likely that teachers will choose to go someplace else. We don't want that to be our story. And so we are um we've said to
062our Spanish teachers, you will have a position and we want you here. Okay. Um and so we've been really clear about that and we're hoping that with the approval of the contracts hopefully tonight um that we can issue their contracts and hopefully we can kind of get some clarity um pretty soon on the direction so that uh we'll have stability um in that area and all other areas as well. And uh Mr. McKe, I'm about to make some words. Correct me when I go wrong, but just as a reminder to the public and anybody who may not realize, we reissue contracts every year to all of our employees. Yes, we do. This is a process that we go through every year. We issue the contracts and there's a period of time our our faculty staff,
063everybody receives a contract, has a period of time to decide if they're returning. So, Mr. like we're just we're every year we're in the state of okay please yes from here until contracts come in we're like okay here and then Mr. McKe and his staff go to very hard work for anybody who says no thank you. Um but we work very hard. It's the reason we have worked so hard on creating competitive pay packages for the region. Um as well as creating a culture that they want to be a part of. Um and it's hard. This is hard news. Sure. Right. uh we didn't uh regardless of other conditions uh finding 40 ELEL teachers in a world where there are still teacher shortages is an uphill climb regardless of other circumstances. Um so these are
064these are just really challenging conditions. So I I we haven't actually said that out loud in a long time on the board. So, I thought I would take a minute while I while the fact checker could Can I just add we have 48 EL position teachers right now and we're adding 40 on top of that. Oh, yeah. Sure, sure. Sure. Um, it is it is quite a challenge, but we're up to it. Yeah. Yes. Yes. And we have every confidence in you. I'm going to say something. Yes. Thank you so much for at least um I hope our teachers felt heard and know that we really want them to stay and thank you for um making it a point to having these sessions with them and the parents because I I hope they we I
065know you guys transmitted that we want you to stay. We care. Um we're all in the same boat. Yes, that's Drake. I'm not sure if it's possible if this question will make sense. But is there a way that we could savor maybe a few teachers in the elementary level and they double up on schools like kind of how art does that they may go to different schools to cover some type of Spanish at the elementary level. We are looking at that. But that that is that is one of the many plans that we are looking at but we can't um go into detail at this point. Yeah, I think the pause that you hear is because there it's complicated um when it comes to scheduling when it comes to the the it depends on the
066student body. So that um and and the programming that we already have in place and whether or not that has to shift. So there's no easy yes to to your answer, right? Um so that's the pause. It makes sense that it took me a minute to even get the question together. Like, how do I ask this? And I would say, and again, correct me if I'm wrong, when those kinds of opportunities have emerged, it's often after the contracts come back. Um, so we at least have one peg in the peg board so we know what to maneuver around. Thank you. Any other questions? You look like you're deep thought. No. Okay. Well, I Okay, fine. Um, I guess I I'm guessing that Miss Trig and I our heads are maybe in the same place that
067my my biggest current for asking about whether we're going to keep these teachers, which I know you can't answer, but but the idea that we we've got this new standard that we're absorbing and dealing with and we have to solve a staffing problem of 40 new teachers. But I guess where my head was at is that if we can keep those teachers and that experience and that knowledge here, that doesn't mean that the Spanish that the the Spanish language program is maybe at worst getting a pause and not an an axe for some future instructional year in the future if we can smooth out the wrinkles. That becomes a budgetary question. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. So we hope so. Yeah. Fair. That's right. We hope so. Hoping. We hope. Hoping. Yes. Can I just
068add one more plug? We have a job fair um this Saturday at William Fleming High School from 9 to 11. Everybody's welcome to come and all you current employees, we have a $500 referral bonus. So, please refer individuals to come to job fair and we're looking to hire for the 2526 school year. So, that's right, Mr. That's my point. That's right. Every opportunity is a recruitment opportunity. That's right. And I would add if you have never been to one of our job fairs, it is kind of a remarkable thing to see. It's all hands- on deck. There is a lot of activity. It's exciting. There's a lot of very excited people. It's a It's an interesting thing to attend. So, indeed. All right. Well, thank you so much, Mr. McKe. Don't go far because you're
069up next. Uh so, uh now we're going to bring to you the reappoint list and personnel list uh for the school board's approval. So, Mr. McKe, right over. Madam Chair, Madame Vice Chair, members of the board, Dr. White, student representative. Um, I'd like to bring to you our reappoint list of our administrators, our professional staff, and our classified staff for the 25 26 school year. I ask that you um um I bring it to you. Very good. Is there a motion and a second to approve the personnel list as presented? Second, Mr. Chair, second by Miss Apel. Is there any discussion? Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor? I I opposed. All right, go get us some teachers. We're on it. Thank you, Mr. McKe. Thank you also for um to you and to your
070team for all the hard work you do in human resources to make sure that we have people for our people. All right, we're in a people business. So, I I just want to say thank you for that. I'll now ask Dr. Sabert, our constituent services and government relations officer to provide first reading provide an update on first reading on several policy updates. So, Dr. Sabert, over to you. Thank you, Dr. White, Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair, members of the board that you have at your place, this packet. If you could find this little bounce spiral and uh huge thanks to uh Kim Tresy and the print shop for putting this together for you. All these are inboard docs, but rather than clicking on individual PDF links, this makes it a reference you can take with
071you. This is first review. Uh, also a huge thanks to the entire team. Uh, these policy updates touch all the departments in in various ways and, uh, it's a real privilege to work with the folks to do that. So, tonight, what you have is the spring policy update, uh, largely driven by VSBA. The spring policy update is their housekeeping update. This is part of the review of your policies on a five-year schedule to help keep you on track for that. Your summer update is where you get all the code of Virginia changes. You have approximately 35 policies and regulations. You can in fact adopt regulations on one reading, but we we're proposing to bring them all back to you um in at the next board meeting. Of the 35 there, about 70% of them are
072just VSBA copyrights or in this case, seven of them um the team is moving from a local policy to a VSBA copyright. and it just puts us on a firm ground. We have about 11 others that I I will touch upon very briefly. Uh this is your first review. Um you your your policy governance legislative committee has already taken a deep dive. So special thanks to board members Katana and Link for participating in that. Many of them you see the words clarity, cross reference, legal reference. The clarity piece is VSBA has a new board attorney and um there so she is Leslie is putting her her clarity on some things. So we can expect over the next five years a lot of just kind language word smithing um to to kind of suit. So you
073have three pages that list the policies and and I just want to touch on not all 35 of them. BBB is your student representatives of the school board. U if you just looked at the policy like we're deleting lots of stuff but no this is one that we're moving to the VSBA up VSBA model and we're moving all the local work you did as you built this process into a regulation. So all that is there. It still captures regulation, but the plus there is as your new committee works and you work through the process. If you want to tweak that process, you could do that in one meeting versus a bigger process. That that's good. Um I want to touch on GBLA. GBLA is a long-standing policy called third-party complaints against board employees. And what
074VSBA has done here is stipulated that there should be some soups regulations to implement that. So, uh, we've already drafted those and and really that's because between your HR office, um, your dire your your your employee relations person, also my office, constituent services, um, we'll be the anchors for any of those complaints that come in. Basically, people could have two routes to go and we have that drafted. Um, I do want to head over to page three. Um, on page three, you see we actually have a couple policies being deleted. It's always with all the things being added, I always celebrate when something gets deleted. um but they're being deleted because for example you're at the top of that page remediation recovery program that is now more than picked up in your Virginia literacy act
075policies and your mediation policies so that that all those supports still exists other places in the middle of page three JJC student athletes concussions. Uh this is one of the code provisions from a number of years ago that required a policy. But while most of your policy had to be reviewed every five years, this policy has to be reviewed every two years. So that two-year review has been complete. Similarly, just under that JM restraint and seclusion and JMSR below that, which is actually supreg required to be reviewed annually and so the team uh so the teams have looked at those and and no changes are recommended at this time. Moving over to page four is where we do get into some of the local policies that we want to lift up for you. At the
076top of the page there, there were a number of policies that were reviewed that require no change and some that were only cross reference changes that your clerk can go ahead and do. So, the first one we have for you is BFC. This is the policy on policy adoption. And and what we're recommending for your consideration here, we encourage you to take a look at it is some new language to empower the clerk. Considering that we are expecting over the next five years, the new VSBA board attorney will be doing a lot of words smithing. We wanted to have a mechanism to try to look at how could we implement some of those policies quickly if they were not substantive. Now the policy governance legislative committee would had a really good question. Well, who determines
077what's substantive or not? And our decision was that well that the policy governance legislative committee would be. So what we would do moving forward is we have like nonsubstantive changes but just kind of word smithing we would invite the policy governance legislative committee to look at those first and if they agree that it was not substantive u they would authorize the clerk to go ahead and make those changes that way rather than bring you 70 policies here in June hopefully it'll be something less we we don't know that's my favorite policy then the less the less is more approach okay thank you um we had uh I do oh on the middle of that page GB BAB BR. We need you to strike that um from your list. GBA BR. Um this is uh this
078is a not yet because um this was really good work from from Mr. Collins, your attorney working with HR wanting to lift up. We have lots of standard operating procedures about our drug algree workplace that uh Jill Jet and her team have have in operations. The goal here is to move those into a board regulation to make them more featured, but also build out supports and things that are there. So, Mr. Collins has brought in some samples from other school divisions and um Jennifer Bailey is working hard on that. So, that is not here tonight. If we have it for the next one, we'll give it to you as a handout, but we might pick it up in summertime. So, that is a not yet. Um IKG is one that we're deleting. It's called independent
079study and this is a vestage of an old policy about where kids could do things on their own that's now fully built out in the code and other VSBA policies and it's about alternative paths to attaining credit. The idea there's many ways children can attain credit. Independent study might be one of those. And then lastly, um, for your consideration, we'd invite you to look at and think about between now and next meeting a new pair of policies, J A K A. The the reason it's double is so it's in the it's in the U community section as well as the uh the the student section and and you have policies everywhere that talk about how there's remedies. So, you can appeal this decision for where your bus stop is. You can appeal, you know, you
080can look at we have an issue with instructional materials. And so, um, this is a a recommendation we had for the committee and we have for the board that you have an governing policy for appeals saying that yes, the board considers appeals. However, that if the policy says how it should be handled, that the policy will rule. Also, unless the policy specifically says that there's a formal process for the board, this policy approach, this new policy makes it clear that unless there's a full process, the board consider any future appeals just on the record. Um, and so that all those things are built out there. Now, again, the policy governance legislative committee looked at this for a long period of time and talked a lot about it and came up with the following recommendations that
081are listed there. One, that yes, the board adopt this approach kind of knitting things together, giving an umbrella. two, that this and other related policies should be highlighted in the parent handbook uh for the new school year. And then, you know, really that the mechanism for getting to your appeals is already established in the RCPS approach to addressing questions and concerns. And so, the idea of the committee was that could become a soup regulation implementing this policy. So, those are the first readings we have. Happy to answer any questions. We also invite you to take a look. If you have any, you know, corrections, ideas, concerns, if you could get them to the clerk by May 2nd, that would help us as we prepare for adoption at your next meeting. Dr. Sebert, before I ask
082uh the board, if they have additional questions, would you just take a minute just for anybody who may be confused by the language to explain the difference between a policy, a board reggg, and a soup rag? Absolutely. Thank you. So, um, if you think about laws and codes and versus regulations, the the pol the board's policy manuals are the laws of the school division. To change a law of the school division, a policy, you have to have two readings. You have to have a first reading, a second. So, it basically takes two meetings. There is a provision if there's ever an emergency, the board could unanimously declare an emergency, and adopt a policy. But the idea is that policies should be very thoughtful, put out, looked at, reviewed, talked about extensively. Regulations generally implement them.
083And there's two types of regulations Dr. Javon just pointed out. The board regulation is where the board actually adopts the reg that implements it, but the board has the flexibility of amending that in any one meeting on first review. And then the others are much more operational and those become the soup's regulations and and and really Dr. White has the privilege of both soups regulations that are in policy manual, but also then her chiefs have standard operating procedures. And that's where one of the things you're hearing tonight. we're talking about moving some SOPs into the the regulatory piece, but um it's it's it's to make sure that your policy manual is uh very well reasoned and has ample opportunity for review. Thank you. For someone who can express some ignorance, I'm assuming soups is a
084acronym for something SR superintendent. Okay. Sorry. Thank you very much. So there's BRs, which are board regulations, and there are SRs, which are superintendent regulations. And we call them soups, soups regulations, or SRs. Yes. You'll hear about her soups meetings. We're not involved. And I don't think they're eating soup. I can't I'm not sure what's They're not eating soup at soups meetings. You're missing a huge opportunity. But you will hear soups. I'll make the suggestion though, Dr. White. I've lost the class. We have spring and a school. Are there any other question? Thank you for the clarification. Are there any other questions? And thank you and thank you to the policy committee um for working with you. But this is this is really helpful. Thank you all the staff and Kim Tresy class. Thank you.
085Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Kim. Um and also for um you know some of our newer members or audience as well. Um, so when it's a VSBA policy, we it's always within our right to say we want to amend it or we don't like it as it is. But the minute we don't use their copyright, we lose the VSBA protections if that policy is ever um taken under consideration or questioned by some other party. So when you see copyright VSBA, we are inherent by being a member of VSBA, we are getting certain protections, legal protections. Yes. Right. Like they if we're challenged, VSBA picks up. Yes. If it's if it's our if we're using their copyrighted version, there's a challenge, then it's a challenge to all divisions that use that policy and
086VSBA is poised. Now, that doesn't mean that 100% of your policy should be VSBA because no one knows your children and families like you do. And so without, you know, with our size of our division, etc., there are certainly occasions that it's appropriate to have a a local policy. Okay. All right. Thank you so much, Dr. Sebert. We appreciate it. Thanks for the reading material. All right. Thank you. And madam chair, next um is the 2025 2026 um budget update. So I'll ask Mrs. Jackson to come up for an update um for the 2526 budget. But I do want to pause for a moment and and just say thank you. Um I want to say thank you to our school board um for your tireless support and for your work. I have said uh and
087I might be a little biased that we have the best school board not only in the state but I believe in the nation um because of your heart, your vision and your um just your your questions, your governance and I just want to say thank you. Um I also want to say special thank you to to you Dr. Jameson for uh for your remarks last night during the budget hearing. Thank you. And so I also want to commend our school board for being good fiscal stewards of taxpayers dollars. Um because we have been good stewards, we are so proud that over the past several years we have achieved many accomplishments. And so I just want to take a moment just to kind of brag on the team a bit um and brag on our families
088and our students. Um, we have maintained a strong graduation rate. Um, we have doubled our CTE seat capacity with the opening of Daytech, our second CTE center. Not to mention our students who complete a 2-year CTE program have a 100% graduation. We have increased our AP and dual enrollment um participation. We've introduced AVID, which is a college preparation program. We've expanded James Breen Ridge Middle School and Morningside Elementary School to ensure that our students have the best learning environments possible. Um, we are looking forward to making good on our promises to finish the new Preston Park Elementary School. So, we're looking forward to that. Um, we have invested in early literacy, which is making a difference. this year's data, you'll recall from uh your retreat uh that we shared that so far and this year's
089data shows that fewer elementary students are being identified as high risk for developing reading difficulties. Um also this year's data also shows that discipline incidents and chronic absenteeism have decreased. In fact, I'm pleased to share that the number of out of school suspension days has decreased by nearly a third. Wow. [Applause] And that that's really hats off to our team, to our principles, our teachers, our parents, our students. Um that's a lot of hard work that has gone into these types of results and it's it's good to see that we are on the right track. So again, thank you to our school board for your strong governance. Um I want to say thank you again to our educators, our principles, and our staff for staying focused. Um, and to our students and families for for
090be I'm looking at William down there for being our our why. You are our why. I also want to thank city council past and present for their long-standing partnership. Um, all that I just talked about which is a direct result of strong board governance would not be possible without the city council's support of education and their appointment of our incredible school board members. So, thank you, Tim. I also want to thank our principles and and leadership team for meeting with me this morning and um asking really smart questions about um what this all means. And by this, I mean the potential for level funding as well as now the potential um for being without our fund balance. Um I met with them this morning because I always want to be transparent with our team and
091I don't want them to hear you know kind of the rumors here and there. Um so I do want to be fully transparent and in the interest of transparency I will share that um there appear to be kind of three scenarios before us. So the first is the fully funded kind of scenario and that is the categorical budget that you've already approved and that we um sent to the city in March. Uh the second scenario is level funding, which means that the city would provide us with the same amount of funding that they did um this year, leaving us with that that $6.7 million or about a $7 million deficit. Um and the third scenario is level funding plus uh the sweeping of our fund balance or some call it the rainy day fund. Um
092or uh so we we are looking at those kind of three scenarios. So again, in the interest of transparency, um I do not know where where the rumor uh originated or where that, you know, about the the the sweeping of the fund balance. I don't know where it originated and I don't know where it is. Um I just know that there are rumors and kind of whispers swirling and I hope that they are just that. I hope that it that they are just rumors. Um but in running this business and make no mistake, we are a business. Um uh and so we have to look at all of the scenarios. Now we're in the business of education, education being the primary word there, but it is a multi-million dollar business that we are responsible for.
093So it's my responsibility as your superintendent to proactively share all of the possibilities that are before us because at the end of the day, we must uh protect our classrooms. Uh so we understand that the city is uh facing budget challenges. Uh so to be good partners I am proposing that we use our fund balance to bridge that gap for for one year uh which is what the city has requested. Um Mrs. Jackson will share more about this in a moment as well as uh why that's not necessarily a good financial investment over the long term. Uh so we typically don't I mean because what we're proposing is really looking at those recurring costs that we try not to without a a fully developed and thoughtout plan. Um you know we try not to look
094at those recurring costs using fund balance for those recurring costs but we know that this is a different time. So um so you'll hear more about that um and in Mrs. Jackson's report. But I want to be clear that we must continue to talk with and work with our partners um at the city and I'm so happy to see uh the the mayor and councilman um Hagen here as well. Um so you know again we're we're committed to those ongoing talks. Um and we we need to continue to do that throughout the next year so that we don't end up in the same position this time next year. Um so I've asked Mrs. Jackson to share more about this proposal, to review potential cuts again so everyone is aware of what is at stake and
095unpack the the fund balance uh or the rainy day fund as we sometimes call it so that everyone has a full understanding of what is and uh what it is and what it should and should not be used for. So with that I'll turn it over to you Mrs. Jackson. Okay. Thank you very much for that introduction Dr. White and good evening chair Dr. Dr. Jameson, vice chair, Miss Ael, members of the board and community present and online. Um, so we'll jump in and I wanted to start with kind of as Dr. White said where we left off. Um, so my presentation is coming. We can see this. There we go. Okay. I was gonna say we see it. All right. Um, see it everywhere. So, sort of the Did you see it everywhere? Okay,
096see it everywhere. There we go. Um, so, um, as we left off, um, kind of the top line here, the revenue and expenditures all in, um, of our general operating needs that we kind of left off with in March. Um, about 273.2 million on the expenditure side, 269 on the revenue side. And then I have some updates of things that we've talked about that kind of came to light since that March meeting. And um one of the biggest of course being the conclusion of our uh staffing meetings by our HR team looking at enrollment projections for all of our schools. And and that resulted in um the the projected need of quite a few additional positions beyond what we um have and had budgeted for up to that point. Um we're also looking at schoolbased
097leadership compensation. We have a study um in going on now that's kind of wrapping up at this point. They've made some some recommendations that we're analyzing. So, we're looking at ideally um making some corrections there, looking at our principles and assistant principles and their pay scales and that sort of thing. So, um this $400,000 here that you see it is really a phased in approach um that that would require us to do that over two to three years. um uh to to keep that cost even down to that level um to to make that uh adjustment. Um bringing some special education transitional services in house. Goodwill is no longer providing those services. So um we we have the offset of what we formerly paid um that community uh partner to do. So that's not a
098not a huge increase there um in terms of that offset. And then the big one um that we've talked about a little bit of course is the overcrowding of our our high schools. We've talked about that a lot um sort of in terms of further down the road of how we would address that and the potential of of of one day possibly being able to to add a third high school. But of course the the schools are already overcrowded right now. So that is something that we need to uh think about and look at the potential of modulars to get us to that point um and bridge that gap. Um on the revenue side, some adjustments. Of course, what we presented as Dr. White just said, um we did follow the the funding policy as
099it is currently in place um at March to present that needs-based budget, but um based on the the city's budget, if we are um looking at level funding, then we need to make that adjustment. And then we also have a potential reduction of about 1.3 million in state funding. um that's based on um whether or not the cap on support staff positions will fully go away or not. Um as I think we've talked about at a previous meeting, uh the the general assembly did put forward a budget that would ultimately do away with that cap. And um for those who may not be familiar, back in the great recession, um uh a cap was placed on the the number of positions that the state would partially fund um for for support positions. So even if
100even though the standards of quality say you need to have this number of positions um in different areas of support, the state put a cap on that and said uh we will only fund this certain amount. over over time. They've pulled certain types of positions out from under that cap, but it's it's still inexistent. So, the action for the general assembly this year would ultimately finally um do away with that. Um when the when the general assembly's budget went to the governor, the governor proposed some amendments. Um one of which was to um reinstate a portion of that that cap to to reduce the the um assistance there a bit. The general assembly did not accept that. So, that's good news. But at this point, we still don't have a final state budget. So, I
101I don't know that it would be prudent to assume that that won't ultimately go away because at this point, the budget is um with the governor for his review and and ultimately either signing or could potentially veto. So, so that's still up in the air. So, that's why you see that there. So, with all of those new things, looking at that that big dollar amount there for potential modulars, um that brings us to a variance of about eight $18.8 million. So, um you heard Dr. talk about um the potential for making use of of some of our fund balance to uh kind of cover that that difference. Wouldn't be enough to cover that whole difference, but um to to help us uh not have to make major cuts in this one year and and buy
102time to to make some decisions. So, we wanted to spend a little bit of time kind of talking about what is that? I know fund balance is probably not a familiar term um for a lot of people. Um, so just want to take a couple of minutes to to talk about what are we talking about when we say that and what is that for Reno City Schools. So, so the fund balance is just money that is kind of remaining available to a public entity or or a not for profit at year end. It's kind of similar to what an individual might have in their savings account. Um and so our our current city council school funding policy um established a set percentage of local revenue that the city would invest in schools annually. And um
103there is state code code 22.1-100 which uh states that unspent school funds at year end revert back to locality. But our school our city council decided to keep that set percentage that they spelled out in their policy invested in schools regardless of what year uh in which those funds were expended. So that uh allows us to uh accumulate that fund balance if our revenues exceed expenditures at year end. Um as part of that agreement, the school board was expected to take on uh responsibility for financial management of school activities. So, uh, just like in in personal finances, having that rainy day fund, um, as we often refer to it, helps us with handling and and taking responsibility for fluctuations in funding, um, unexpected expenses, that sort of thing. I just have a little example on
104there. Um, you know, if for an individual example, if your car breaks down, maybe it's going to cost $800 to fix it, um, but you don't get paid for another week or so. If you've got some savings, you can move forward. go ahead and get your car fixed and you don't have to wait a week or two until your next paycheck to get your car fixed. Um, so that's that's kind of how that works in in terms of public entities having some funds available so that we can move forward sooner rather than later with some some fixes or or new initiatives that might be needed um and to keep our our organization running smoothly. One of the major ways that Fund Balance supports public entities is in handling cash flow and um the the timing
105differences of when different things happen. So um we have we pay our employees twice a month. So that has to happen whether or not revenue comes in in those months. We got to make sure we make that payroll, pay our bills on time, all of that. So that's a that's a good example of how this um assists us. A lot of times revenue doesn't come in with that regularity. All of our federal funds, for example, are on a reimbursement basis. So, we're required to move forward with the activities that are funded in advance with local money. And then we can apply for reimbursement out of those grant funds. So, that's just one example. And of course, we had quite a bit of that federal grant funding over the last few years, which is now gone.
106So um the examples I have here are just kind of give you a sense of how how big those fluctuations can be in a given year. So um so what I'm reflecting here is just looking at our bank balances just looking at all in and uh the biggest variance the biggest negative variance that we experienced the last couple of years from what our bank balance was on July one on the first day of the fiscal year. So so last year for example that biggest was a little over $12 million. So if we had started from zero on July 1, if we had nothing in the bank, then we would have been overdrawn by $12 million at one point in the year. And of course it we would have been overdrawn a lot of more a
107lot more times just by less dollars um throughout the year. So So that just gives you a sense of how that helps us. Um and it's important for public entities to have those funds in there so that we can uh you know move forward with our payroll in July and August and September and those first few months when we're not necessarily uh taking in uh the substantial part of our revenue particularly from the state and federal level in those years. So that so that gives you an idea of um the importance of those funds. Um, I mentioned with my broken down car example, um, another important way that we utilize the fund balance is to make sure that we're prepared for unforeseen needs or economic downturns. Um and in fact the school board adopted a
108policy to ensure that we can we make sure that that's a focus and that we retain some funds in our fund balance specifically as that rainy day fund to make sure that we uh have enough there in case something happens in case we have uh a problem that schoolboard policy uh DBA it was uh approved on March 28th uh 2017 and so that governs how we use that fund balance and and per policy the the school division is required to keep that minimum um in unassigned fund balance as a reserve and that amount is required to be updated annually so that we make sure we take into consideration inflation and changes in our student enrollment so that that is hopefully remains an amount that um would be sufficient. Um and so we we've looked ahead
109at um those numbers for next fiscal year that's always in our in our final budget that we present to you in June to approve that we update that. uh went ahead and did that and and our fund balance would need to uh be 13.3 million in in that designated reserve portion next year um based on inflation and enrollment increases. So that's a $500,000 increase over the currently required um amount. So that's a piece that's important to keep into consideration. Um, and then I of course the strategic improvements and and and looking ahead at long-term impact to make sure we're making smart decisions. That's another important way that our fund balance has really helped us make good decisions along the way and address issues sooner rather than later when they do arise. Um, I have just
110a couple of examples which folks who've been on the board a while might remember. Um, in 2021, deep in COVID, um, sort of our most impactful year, I think the the 2021 school year, we were really struggling with staffing. Um, we were really in a a challenging challenging situation with keeping our classrooms staffed that year. And so, it was really important for us to get out early and make sure that we could issue contracts. We just talked about the importance of that that piece of the process and make sure employees knew that they were going to have a job and knew how much they were going to be paid so we could make a decision sooner rather than later on raises. We didn't have the state budget yet at the time that we got those
111contracts out, but we went ahead and did it. And our fund balance allowed us to go ahead and do that so that, you know, worst case scenario, we had the money in the bank that we could do it. We knew that was a critical need to get our classroom staffed. uh the state money did come through so we were okay but that that was an important time for us to be able to say if we if we wait uh it might be too late and and we may really struggle to fill these positions. Um another example is Preston Park Elementary. We're working on that right now. Um we've worked to allocate a portion of our funds so that we don't rely quite so much on debt and can use local funding. And that was particularly
112important for Preston Park because of course over the last few years I know anyone who's been involved in um construction projects has recogni I'm sure has recognized the significant changes in how much construction projects cost. Um we've had inflation, we've had um supply chain issues during COVID. We've had um staffing shortages uh in the the construction industry. So all of that has resulted in all capital projects and and building projects coming in much uh more expensive than originally was anticipated. So thankfully we were able to use a portion of that. We are also debt funding that project but um we are are able to use a portion of um those saved dollars to make sure that we could actually move forward and and complete that project uh on time. So, so those are just a
113couple of examples of how u maintaining those funds and and and being thoughtful about their use has helped the school division over time. So, I wanted to spend a minute on what really is is our fund balance. Um how can it potentially help us? So, um I I I've heard some I think it's been in in the news talk about us having $61 million that we're just sitting on that's sitting in the bank. So I I assume that that number came from our audited financial statements from last fiscal year 2324. We did finish that year with $61.5 million in fund balance across all funds. Um a lot of those funds are earmarked for specific purposes. However, so I wanted to take a second and and kind of point out some of those restrictions. So of
114course um a portion is non-spendable in our general fund. It had it's reserved for stated purposes. Um so we we We cannot touch that. Um and and that comes through the audit process. Um in our food services fund, those are federal dollars that are specific to food service. We cannot use them for anything other than student meals, maintaining our cafeterias, um food service equipment, that kind of thing. Those funds u must stay in that food services fund. um our capital fund. We have worked um at actually we were following the lead of the the city council back when we created that capital fund a few years ago to intentionally try to reduce our reliance on borrowing on debt service and use some funds when we have it available to cash fund more projects. So, our
115capital fund is there committed for capital projects like Preston Park um projects that are ongoing um for the most part um already completed or in the process of being completed or a few that haven't um been started yet but that are in our approved capital improvement plan. And um in fact, I'll mention Mrs. Ael asked me today for a listing of kind of what projects have have been supported by the funds in that capital fund. So, I went ahead and brought that and and just gave a copy to all of you so you would all have the same information. So, I hope that will be helpful to see um how in those just just the few years that we've had that fund um it's allowed us to move forward and and complete a lot of
116projects for a lot of different schools. Again, particularly in a time when um our original goal in establishing that fund was to be able to build it up and move forward with sort of bigger projects. as it turned out with COVID happening, um it really allowed us to make sure that we could actually complete the projects that we already had going. So, it it really has been beneficial. Um and lastly, we have our school activity fund. Um th that's a fiduciary fund. So, those are those are not our dollars. That's what that means. That's um those are school funds. They are specific to each individual school and student groups that um provide funds for their clubs or um field trips, that sort of thing. So those funds must stay um with those those schools. So
117th those monies are not available for just operating needs and that sort of thing. So what is available? Um how can our fund balance help us as we've discussed um that that that is we are being requested to do so this year in these difficult budget times. So we did end last fiscal year with $22.8 million in unassigned fund balance. We also had 5 million that we assigned knowing that this was going to be the next couple years were going to be a little challenging given the fact that all of that federal funding is now gone. We had an influx for a couple of years that really gave us some flexibility and allowed us to do some projects including day-tech and others. Um but those funds ended September 30 of this of 2024 of this
118fiscal year. So we knew those those funds were going to be gone. So, so those funds are available to help us in this time. My hope initially was that it would last us a couple of years, but um that might not be the case. Um so that would give us about 27.8 million kind of on the table. Of course, we just discussed that per per our schoolboard policy on ensuring that we maintain a reserve, 13.3 million of that would need to be retained if we want to maintain that reserve. We did budget to use about 1.75 million of fund balance in the current year. So, if we end the year needing to do that, that would leave us about 12.8 million available um to help us with u meeting our budgetary needs for the coming
119year. So, let's look at what that might look like. So, we look at all of the things that I mentioned that we've we've talked about previously and sort of the new things that have come to light like um potential modular units at our high schools for overcrowding. Um 12.8 8 would take care of a whole lot of that but still leave us with about six million in um cuts that we would need to put in place. So you see here um some of the things we've talked about a lot already. Um we do have seven student support specialist positions that are currently grant funded and that grant is ending. Um so of course we would love to keep those positions and be able to retain them and use local dollars to do so but um
120it at this point it's not feeling like we will have those local dollars. So, that's something for consideration. You've heard tonight a lot of discussion about the 13 elementary Spanish positions. So, that that's a staffing issue as we've talked about the the daunting task of filling 40 vacancies in one year, but it is also a budgetary issue. So, so that is a consideration. Um, we we are looking at of course repurposing central office positions. um our our instructional leaders and operational leaders um uh certainly play an important role in um as Dr. White said this we are running a business but um that is our classrooms are are number one so that is something that we certainly um need to look at and consider. We've looked at the potential of uh increasing the deductibles on
121our HR uh health insurance plan. So that would save us um a good bit almost half a million dollars. Um and and actually just a note about that, our our insurance plans run a calendar year, not a fiscal year. So moving forward, the savings from that um would be double that. But if we implemented that this year, it wouldn't take effect until January. So we would only uh realize half of half a year of the savings in doing so. Um, we provide a lot of uh transportation support to our families. Um, we have activity buses that run after school that not a lot of school divisions do, but we want to make sure that transportation um is not an impediment to students being able to stay after to participate in sports and clubs and that
122sort of thing. Um, that may be something that we need to consider doing away with. um the the level of maintenance of our facilities. There may be some things that um we'll need to uh postpone and um and look at and spreading across uh more years. So that's something that is certainly on the table. Um certainly professional learning, travel costs, that sort of thing for our um our instructional staff and and operational leaders is something that is on the table. and then changing our alternative transportation. That's something um that we have unique needs sometimes for students with special needs, students uh experiencing homelessness, that sort of thing. So, that's something that, you know, fortunately we we heard a great report today um about our transportation uh program and improvements there. So, we would be we
123would necessarily need to look at I'm not talking about no longer providing transportation, just looking at how we're doing that. um maybe trying to to use more more bus transportation as opposed to a more individualized transportation and that sort of thing. So that's what that means. So all of those things would get us to a balanced budget. Um now I know we've had as Dr. White said some some rumors which um hopefully are just that, but we certainly need to at least think about if that's something that's being talked about um taking available fund balance for other purposes um in the city then those that 12.8 million would not be available to help us. So, we would be looking at much more significant cuts that would be uh necessary. And um you know, forget about
124modulars at the high school. All of those additional positions that are increased enrollment would would be necessitating, we would not add those positions. Um so, you see all of these things that I've talked about on the table um having to go away, but that's still not enough. So ultimately we'd be looking at uh probably approximately $6 million in staffing that would need to u be reduced from the budget because unfortunately if you look at our budget that's the majority of the budget. There's there's not a lot of stuff really uh in the grand scheme of thing. We're in a people business. So so that's a significant number of positions um that would absolutely have a an impact on our class sizes. um we would we would try to to minimize the impact on our classrooms,
125but again that's where the majority of our our our staff and and costs are. So I I don't think that we could um come up with that amount of a cut without touching our classrooms. Now I will say um if we have to go in that direction of course um our first step would be looking at what positions are already vacant. um we do naturally have turnover, people retire, um that sort of thing. So, we would absolutely be be focusing there first to try to minimize the impact on existing employees to to um do everything that we can to keep keep those who are employed employed. Um but that could mean, you know, moving to a different school, moving to a different grade level to fill in that kind of thing. Um is what we
126would be looking at. So that would be significant challenge. Um a couple other things before I stop talking. Um just to point out if that is does become the reality that um that the school's fund balance is um taken to be used for other purposes. Um there are a few things that just considerations to have on your mind just that we would need to have some understanding of. Um, as I I talked a lot about fund balance use being used to manage our cash flow and that sort of thing. We would um obviously need the city treasurer to take that back on there. We would bounce checks if that didn't happen. So, so city funds would have to um to to make sure and and cover our schoolboard accounts uh to make sure that that
127happens going forward. Up to this point as part of that again that policy and funding formula, we're responsible for that. So, um, members of our accounting group, uh, handle that now. So, of course, we would no longer have those funds to make that happen. So, we would, um, have to rely on the city treasurer to do that. And then we would just need some guidance on what does moving forward look like? Um, would the schools be allowed to carry forward incumbrances at year end? I I believe that is uh allowed on the city side. So, I would hope that would be allowed, but we would just need an answer to that. um will there be a school funding policy or formula going forward? And if not, um what would be the procedures that we would
128be um the new procedures that we would be asked to follow to request funding in future years, that kind of thing. Um just just to have in your mind for conversations of of things that we would need some guidance on if these changes um were to come to pass. So lastly, just next steps. Um so as as you know the the uh city council had their budget public hearing last night. They have a budget work session on the 5th and then um their vote is scheduled uh for the city's budget on May 12th. So we'll have some clarity after that certainly. Um as I mentioned earlier the the bud state budget is with the governor. So, um, hopefully by miday we'll have an answer as to kind of where that's going and just hope that
129the the budget is approved and we can move forward. Um, and so we'll have that that locked in. And um, then in terms of the schools process, um, we will certainly um, give any updates that we have at the May 13th schoolboard meeting. um at the May 27th meeting, we will we intend to provide you with um uh the draft of the line item budget so we can talk and and have that opportunity for you to it's a lot of information I know um to discuss and and review and digest that information in advance of requesting your approval at the June 10th meeting. So that that's what I have but happy to take questions or comments. We'll start at this end. Donna, I just really want to say thank you. I mean, I know it's
130been stressful for you. Um, the public doesn't know, but um, the administrative staff here comes here weekends, nights. Um, and you still come with solutions, and I don't know how you do it. So, thank you cuz I know it's it's it's been stressful. Thank you to the administrative staff for helping her find ways. Um may not be things that we like to talk about. Um but we have to um take them in consideration. So thank you. Well, thank you. That's a good point. And I I'm the one standing here talking to you, but really there there's a whole team that is is looking at this and and working to come up with solutions as you said. So I appreciate that, Mr. Link. Thank you for all of your hard work and all of your guidance.
131Please keep bringing it to us. Thank you. Um well, I want to speak first from a parents point of view. Um, I hope that this is a rumor when it comes to uh our rainy day fund because the first thing I think about is my daughter who is a special needs child and she has improved a lot this school year alone because of the support staff and imagine you know I cannot imagine um we don't have rainy day funds we don't have the funds to pay staff and my daughter you you know, has to figure out a way to maybe have that support staff less and that's that hurts. All right. And then from being an appointed member of the school board, um I have never not been on this board and had good synergy
132with city council. So, you know, I I hope and pray that we can actually communicate effectively a little bit better so we can come to a resolve on, you know, figuring out a way to help us while helping them. Um, especially, um, I know it's uncertain times all across the board, but again, just based off the fact that it's a rumor, this stuff shouldn't have been a rumor. It should be communicated directly between board and council. That's how I've always um, known it to be. So, the fact that we have to address this as a rumor, that hurts as well. So, um I appreciate you bringing all of the scenarios tonight and um you know, it's open, it's transparent, it's honest, and I I'm hoping that we can definitely come to a resolve with some
133more clarity regarding uh the state budget approval and then also our local funding. So, again, thank you. You already know how uh this board feels about you. I don't want to speak for the board, but you know, we go ahead. Okay. Thank you. You can do it. you know exactly how we feel about you and we know we cannot uh do this work without your expertise and your passion when it comes to the budget and the finances of this school division. So just want to say thank you again. Well, thank you and if I if I could interject because you made me think of something, Mr. Cherry, that I don't feel like I I I shared clearly. Um but I think something important to keep in mind that assuming that the the intent is um
134the the budget that has been presented thus far and that we would be level funded and could you know use our fund balance to to cover us for this this next year. Um I think it's important to keep in mind that then that's one and done that then that money is gone. So we we will need to be having these conversations as Dr. White said in her introduction um starting very early in the year so that we're not in this boat um again at at this point in the year so that we have a whole year but we will have to continue these conversations um because that's kind of a one-year fix. So I thank you for reminding me of that. And yeah to even piggyback off of that um we're a we're an appointed
135body so for us to do this work there's there's intentional passion when it comes to kids. So we're not politicians. We're here for the work of our community and the work of and the improvement of our kids. So, um you know, we are advocating, but but again, I just want to make sure the community knows and even our city council uh understand that, you know, we are passionate about the children of this community. So, again, thank you again. I'm going to simply quote I'm going to follow Judge Carson because this stays in my mind. Even before I heard it from J judge Carson say it in our inve heard it before and it resonates with me. Every time you stop a school you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end
136you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog his own tail. It won't fatten the dog. I just Hope that everyone that heard me say that gets the meaning. Our students are the future of our community. And we will either finish building Preston Park and build a new high school or we will build another jail or a bigger jail. I don't even know what to say. Um, as a parent, it's a little disappointing. I would hate to see loss of positions. I would hate to see children not even be able to get home from an activity bus that may need to rely on activities after school so they can stay out of trouble so they don't need to end up in that bigger jail. Watkins just mentioned. I know for me it's a convenience
137that my son can get on that activity bus just so I can actually get dressed to come here for meetings, you know? I mean, and but I'm capable of picking him up, but that's just a small convenience to say, "Oh my goodness, I would have to figure something out or I would have to do that." A lot of parents don't have that option. And just thinking about the other kids that don't have that option is heartbreaking. And I know you're doing an amazing job and you're trying to figure out ways for that. But Roco Eli has passed this on to me. But it's just it breaks my heart. I can't imagine how the educators feel that are worried about having a job or having the job they initially signed up for and wanting to stay
138there. It's important that I go to work every day and I know what I'm going to do every day and to have that stripped for me. I can't imagine how that would feel, but I do appreciate everything that you and your team are doing and the countless hours that you put in. But I do hope and pray that council is listening to us, that they do understand this has to be a partnership, that we have to pour into our children because our children is what makes this world continue. If we don't put growth into them, what do we have? And I'm just worried about right now we're where our crime has come down a little bit. If we put distrust in our children, they come to us to feel safe and now they don't know
139the opportunities that could be removed because we want to keep them in the rate that we're going. We want to keep moving forward and this can actually put us at a pause at a lot of services that we offer. Mr. Do I um honestly I really have nothing that I could say that hasn't been said yet. I mean I know like now with extremely troubling times and also having to deal with like rumors as well with like budgets and like button balances, it's extremely difficult to like work for your team. So I just like to thank you and your team as well on your behalf for everything you do. and as someone who's like a student who's been able to benefit from like the amazing teachers of like RCPS and like Motook City something I'm
140just like a little concerned as well just like you know if I'm able to benefit I'm just worried like for like students of the future like what will happen to them if like they won't aren't able to like be able to be taught by some of the amazing teachers that like I've been fortunate enough to have. So it's just something that's like just super concerning to think about as well. But I just like to thank you guys for everything and I wish for the best in like the these like troubling times. So thank you. Thank you. Um I wanted to mention a couple things. Um regardless of how the budget goes, some things that are realities for our division are that we're not shrinking. We're not getting smaller. Even postcoid when there was a boom
141in homeschool and virtual learning, our enrollment and and divisions batten down the hatches for enrollment to drop, which you know, state funding comes from that. Ours did not and um I couldn't find it in my notes but it's in something from the last about month or so. Our enrollment is the same precoid and and uh and our trajectory is upward. So that's why we have there's a need for I think $2 million worth of new positions just to meet the needs of our growing student body. And the need with respect to the high schools is not going to go away. And that $4.3 million is just the startup cost, which we've talked a lot about also being sustainable in our funding. So the $4.3 million for the learning cottages, for the high schools, that's just
142the startup, but then there will be fees on top of that the next year and the next year and the next year to maintain them while we deal with over the next 10 years a population that continues to grow. So these are things that are not going to go away regardless of how the budget shakes out this year. So things that we need to keep in mind being forward thinking. I also wanted to mention that something you know how do we know that we are being good fiscal stewards um as a board and as a division and so the first thing I would say that I can hang our hat on is we are an award recognized finance department we go above and beyond to make sure that our monies are looked at and evaluated
143and audited so so there's that but additionally some of the things that I've seen in the you the now nearly three years that I've been on the board is, you know, we have assigned funds to help us off ramp from COVID monies. So, we had it in our plan for, you know, years to make sure that we were making preparations to say goodbye to funds and how we were going to deal with that. It wasn't something we forgot about or took for granted. It's actually something we were working on planning for. Additionally, when Daytech was getting ramped up to be able to be opened, we had positions that were opened in our personnel so we could start budgeting before we had that personnel. So, we could see what the long-term effects were going to be
144on our budget as we added another school and doubled our CTE seat capacity. So, we know that all-in funding has been going away. We've been looking at that and there's been conversations about are those tutors needed, you know, can we help with that maybe to some of these EL positions because they were probably needed because our EL services needed to be increased in the first place. So, our division as a whole does an excellent job of being good fiscal stewards. And I I try to impress this upon our audience and some of our council members present to say that I think we are demonstrating good fiscal stewardship as trustees should that we are asking the good questions and we are being entrusted to make decisions with the funds on behalf of our students and staff.
145And the last point I wanted to make is last year when I was on the joint budget committee with city council and the school board, one of the things um during the city council budget workshop that I noted is that our strategic plan is in line with the city's destination 2040. So by funding the schools, you are we are funding the city's vision for its own future. So, just want to say we are really aligned and I agree with what Mr. Cherry said about keeping these conversations open um as we move forward. There any other comments before I have anything to say? Some might think I said plenty last night. Not at all. Good. Um I want to emphasize something that you added at the end, Miss Jackson. What we're proposing doing tonight if we
146have a fund balance is not a good fiscal use of funds. This is not what we would have done if we'd had more than a month there. We have never in my eight years, and this isn't crying, this is fury, never in eight years, have we put recurring costs in a fund balance use. It is what defines us as fiscal stewards. You don't let us make bad financial decisions. So, I can only imagine as you stand there calm and collected, better than me, what it feels like to make this proposal tonight. With that said, I would also like to remind us, all of us, anybody who's listening, Reno City Public Schools is the fifth largest employer in the Reno Valley. layoffs in the fifth largest employer in the Rono Valley will have a ripple effect.
147It is economic development. It isn't simply our system. It is a network of ripples. People pay attention. This is a big deal. The other thing I would like to say in line with what you're commenting on that one of the big criterias in the all-American city contest is the health and quality of your school system. We are a part of that application. They are looking at what you do to fund our schools. I hope you are as carefully. We have appreciated and we have enjoyed the good partnership that we have had with the city for a long time. We I hope that the rumors are not true because this would be catastrophic. Lastly, I would like to end on good news. Last night speaking at city council, one of the things that I was most
148touched by was the community that showed up. The people came. They're paying attention. They are educated through lots of people hard at work on the ground about our system. And I thank you, Dr. White, for creating a transparent system. This is a different place than it was 5 years ago. because people didn't have the information they needed to take this kind of power into their own hands. They had things to say I forgot. But it's a matter of public record. So I thank all the people who came out to speak on behalf of this wonderful community. We do have a strong city. We have a strong set of schools and this is just calling into the future wanting to keep it that way. Madame Chair and thank you Mrs. Jackson and to your team again
149for your tireless efforts. I know that um you've been working day in day out over the weekend over the holiday weekend um again just trying to be solutionoriented and so I just want to thank you for that and I do believe madam chair and to our school board as well. Um again I always say that run will spoil you and I do believe in the heart of Renuk and particularly Renuk's I do believe that we share the same morals and values when it comes to educating our students and that we all want the same and so I would hope that we would keep lines of communication open that we would continue to be solutions solutionoriented and that um we can band together as a community to see this through. Um so that again it all
150boils down to our children protecting our our dedicated staff as well as our children and the programs that we have in place to serve our community. Our community is unlike any other around us. Our unicorn, right? So we are uh we we are in a class, you know, by ourselves in in Southwest Virginia. So we're doing good things for the right reasons. And I I I just applaud um courage um for your steadfast nature and for your willingness to again fight the good fight for our children. And so I just want to thank our staff as well. We'll get through this time. Let's stay focused. Stay focused on the things that matter and we'll we'll see our way through. Thank you, Mr. Ch. Madam Chair, next on our agenda, um I do want to take
151a moment to provide an update to the board as well as to the public about something else that has been in the news recently. And that is that the US Department of Education has asked the state education departments to certify that all school divisions across the nation are following federal civil rights laws and the VDOE has asked each school division to sign and submit the form. uh as a public school system, we are here to um provide our students with highquality teaching and learning. You know that that is taqua of our list. Um but I I do have to say and I haven't talked about this in quite some time. Um but you know again I'm a teacher, I'm superintendent, wear many hats as many of us do, but I'm also a mom. I'm a
152mom. And so, and I remember uh and as a mom, I think that all parents kind of want the same thing. We want our children to be healthy, happy, safe, and strong. I talked about that a lot, especially during COVID, remember? And so, and so that that is my daily prayer for my children. I think it is, I'm sure, the daily prayer of of each and every parent, right? We want our children to be healthy, happy, safe, and strong. Um, and we want, particularly when my when my children were in, um, in school K through 12, um, what I wanted for them, I wanted their teachers to know them. I wanted them to be taught well. I wanted them I wanted their teachers and staff members, bus drivers, staff members to know them by name,
153by need, by strength, right? to know if they were having any psychological problems, if they emotional issues, to know what they liked, what what they were interested in. And I think that's what our parents want overall for for their children. They our parents and as a parent, we want the school system leaders and teachers, staff members, our kids and to see their promise and potential. I don't think that that's unlike anything else that you know that our parents want. I think our parents want the same thing. So when we know these things, when we know our kids, when we know who they are, when we know what they need academically, when we know what they need socially, when we can see if they're eating by themselves in the cafeteria or if they're having problems in
154their friendships, that's tailoring the program those to each specific child, child by child, student by student. And that's what we do every day. We don't choose one group that's more particular over another group. We, you know, we we don't do that. We know we we care for and we take care of every individual. They're all unique. They're all special and they're our responsibility. So these actions that we take every single day, I know for sure that they are in alignment with local, state, and federal laws. Um they are also in line with our morals and values as a school division. So when we checked the parameters of the certification and compared them to those parameters to our programs, it was clear that we are already following the letter of the law. And so I just
155wanted to take some time tonight to notify the school board, notify the public um that I will sign the certification form because um I know for a fact that in Reno City public schools um that we are in alignment. I also want to make sure that we're protecting our funding, right? We don't want to jeopardize our state funding, but I can say with all certainty that we are in alignment with federal civil rights and anti-discrimination laws. And so I just wanted to share that with the school board and share with the public as well that I will be signing the certification. I would uh simply like to say that although I am sorry that we have to provide this kind of justification for doing what's right, I believe I speak for the school board when
156I say you have our support because we know we are in compliance legally and we will continue to do what's best for our children. Thank you for your leadership. Madam Chair, that concludes my All right. Thank you so much. Uh we are now moving on to the work of the board. Um we have some ongoing business and work of the board items. If you will look at the next section, these are some things that have emerged from our retreat in terms of things to be addressed um in terms of what we talk about each and every year when we meet twice a year with our retreat. Um among these are a we created a lot of work particularly for our uh policy governance and legislative uh committee. So to look at some new policies, to
157think about some conversation uh in terms of potential opeds to help keep people informed of what we're doing as well as increasing um perhaps thinking talking about difference or increasing academic updates as we continue to make progress in our recovery out of co learning. Um so uh those are just kind of our work of the board items. Does anybody in looking at this is there anything that on this list that you can recall that we maybe should have added or considered um changing? Is does this all look like what we all agreed to at our last retreat? Yes, ma'am. Very good. Very good. Um, I'd also like to give a quick report on the NSBA annual conference and I would invite anybody else who was in attendance at that conference to to uh chime in.
158Um, I just generally this year we went to the NSBA National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Uh, this is a national conference of schoolboard members uh and superintendents and education leaders from across the country. And each year uh we have gone to this conference several years as members of the board. And what we try to do is go and collect and look at best practices, talk to people, engage in conversation. Um, and some years we present uh what we learned at NSBA as well as other conferences and educations is an opportunity for us to continue our thoughtful work here in the division. Um, and this year was no different. We try to bring back these insights in practical and meaningful ways. Um, I don't know if anybody who went with this year. This year it was
159Ms. Trigg, Miss Watkins, Dr. White, and Miss Quintana. Um, I don't know if there's anything in particular you'd like to add to our experience there this year at this time. Um um I would like to say yes that um and know I don't know if it's good but it was great to see school boards from all over the country with the same concerns that we have. But it was also uplifting see that amount of people with the same passion that we have for kids. So, it gave me hope that we're going to be okay. Good. That's nice. That's a That's a great takeaway, I think. Anyone else? Anybody add anything to that? I'll just chime in that the the sessions, particularly those, you know, on um special education funding. I thought I found this really
160insightful um particularly as we're having these funding discussions and thinking about the, you know, accessing um and utilizing um funding around special education, making sure that many of our vulnerable learners um and those programs are adequately um funded. So, and then also other insights on K12 communication strategies. I know that many of us were in that um that session um together about uh looking at various ways to make sure that um there's two-way communication. Certainly, we're um we we've done a lot to try to improve our communication, but hearing from other school divisions on other ways and kind of the things that that are posted, the things that are um presented and how they're presented. I found that um very informative in and how we're communicating. So, I brought that back to the team and
161and um and we're going to be taking some of those things into consideration. Thank you. Is there any future business? All right. With that said, the first meeting in the new building for the school board is adjourned. Join. Great.