5-13-2025 Appoquinimink School District Board Meeting

001Evening everybody and to those of you on YouTube and welcome to the May 13, 2025 APquin uh school board uh meeting. We've got quite a lengthy agenda tonight. Uh but before we get to the agenda, we will start as we always do with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of to the rep indivisible with liberty and all. All right. Earlier at 4:30, the board went into executive session on motion of Miss Dit, second by Ms. Wall. We've now to discuss certain legal and personnel uh issues. We are now out of executive session and this is our regular meeting. We've got a number of special recognitions tonight which are always one of my favorite parts of these meetings. We get to see our students and our staff and

002all the amazing things that they are accomplishing and have accomplished. Uh we've got uh public comment. We do have one speaker signed up for public comment and uh we've got a number of reports. Board members may have some comments. There's no old business. We've got some new business and then uh personnel uh report at the end of the agenda. Uh Dr. Burroughs, are there any adjustments to the agenda? There's just one minor adjustment. Does not impact tonight's agenda, but will the um future board meeting agenda under item 14A, the board workshop on May 27th, we'll have an executive session that will start at 5:00 pm. And also we also um are going to table the super superintendent evaluation tool. Okay. So with those two adjustments then we will start our meeting. And first on the

003agenda for you start reminder that the polls are open until uh Ms. Wall has reminded me that for that tonight until 8:00 the polls are open for the school board election. If you haven't voted, go down the hall, turn left, and there's a polling place right there. All you have to be is a resident of Aquinic and 18 years old or older. So, we'll understand if you sneak out and do that before 8:00. Um, so first up on the agenda then we have our special recognitions, DETSA contest winners. Who's Hi, I'm Bill Shank from Apple High. And uh our winners, reluctant winners are our our winners this year span uh all all grades. The uh seniors and one junior didn't make it. Uh but uh first of all, we have a first place in prepared

004presentation for Kashi Goyle. and and she can she can stay here because uh she also won along with Omisha Royal uh third place in structural design and engineering. They built balsa wood things and compressed them. They both these girls are freshman so we look forward to lots of winning from them. Um our um Ashe Gupe, David Oladasu and Ryder Ortiz won second place in software development. There's Anisha. They could they could make it tonight. And uh certainly not least, Alicia Louu is our state reporter for for next year, our first ever from the uh Aquinamic School District, first ever state officer, and she'll be representing Delaware in our district at the national conference. I always want to encourage parents to take as many photos as you would like, but I'll also give the friendly reminder

005that Danielle will take all the photos and they'll also be on the district website if she h perhaps has a better vantage point than you. All right. Hello, my name is Sabrina Ayad and as the president of Middletown High School's technology student association, I'm incredibly proud to recognize the students who placed at this year's state TSA conference. First up we have Arangelo D Rees. Next we have Aiden O. Now we have Manov Dar. Next up, Samuel Trenanis. Next, Quincy Upper, Jenna Hughes, Victoria McFarland, Rex. Wartman, Aana Sham. And then for those who cannot be here tonight, hi Tinki, Chloe Lee, Ethan Frink, Sarah McFarland, and Chica Shaw. I'm sorry, one more student. Morgan Polar. Hi, I'm Amanda Binkley from Odessa High School and I am co-advising TSA with Jimmy Latvitz here who's also from Odessa

006High School and I'm going to introduce you to Jeremy Jaguna who is coming out. Jeremy plays third place in um CAD for engineering which is one of the events in TSA. And then our next group is a winning team of students that competed in the music production competition and they placed second in the state in that event. Um, our first student is Sophia Cassella. Then Brian Delaney, Ryan Tobar White, and then our final student who couldn't make it tonight, Enoch John. Good evening. Tonight we are proud to recognize the incredible accomplishments of students in our educational pathway program. This program, now celebrating its fifth year, was created to grow the next generation of educators right here in Aquinamic School District. The very first graduates of the program are now finishing up their undergraduate careers, and

007we couldn't be prouder of how far they've come. This year's cohort of students has continued to raise the bar. They each have received conditional offers of employment to return and teach in our district after college. They are heading off to colleges and universities carrying with them a passion for learning and service that began here. All students and their families were invited to attend tonight's board meeting. While some couldn't be here with us in person, we proudly announce every student's name to recognize their hard work and commitment. We will begin with students from Aquinamic High School followed by Middletown High School and then we will conclude with students from Odessa High School. After we finish announcing students from each school, we'll ask for you we'll ask for a pause for applause and pictures. Let's begin by

008celebrating the future educators from Aquinamic High School. Mia Grace Boy. Just a reminder, several of the students were not able to make it tonight. Aubrey Anne Ferris. Also, just a reminder, we're going to go through all the names from one of the high schools and then we're going to give a huge round of applause for that school. Carol Leighton, Jessup, Reginald Namir Lee, Molly Lynn Montgomery, Joshua Chase Simpson, Lana Clara Touvol, and Olivia Jane Zessic, the students from Appornne High School. One big round of applause for them. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to move on to the students of Middletown High School. Now, I'm going to ask you for that that system of applause one more time. We're going through all of the students from Middletown High School and then we're going to

009give a really big round of applause. So, save that energy of applause between students. Okay, we're going to do Odessa next. Um, Middletown High School will be the third of the three high schools. We'll do Odessa next. Round of applause after you hear the last name from Odessa. I'll give you a hint. The last name ends with Williams. So when you hear Williams, that's when we're giving the round of applause. Logan Parker Bosow McKenzie Katherine Bole Victoria Emmy Frasier Timothy William Hannah Aaliyah Sav Savannah Owner Amelia Jane Rockwell Emma Noel Cypes and Last but not least, Andrew Tyler Williams. Great listening skills, everybody. You guys did a great job that time. All right. Now on to Middletown High School. This time you're listening for the last name Velasquez. Jake Thomas Alexander, Camille Da Ellis, Morgan

010Riley Phone, Satie Anne Heepenill, Mariah Ariel Henry, Caitlyn Cindy Joshua, Kalia Michelle Max, Well, Dearis Gabriella Mora Perez, Satie May Roads, Cameron Norin Tuffy, and last but not least, Armando Thomas Velasquez. Quiz walking wall. All right. Good evening. I'm Sarah Vienno, coordinator of our amazing Chinese and Spanish immersion program, and it's my honor tonight to present the Pathway to Proficiency Award to students who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to language learning through the annual Stamp Assessment. This award recognizes fifth and eighth grade students who have demonstrated proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in Spanish or Chinese during our February assessment window. These students are well on their way to earning the certificate of multi-iteracy, a distinction from the Delaware Department of Education that honors high school students who attain a high level of proficiency in

011one or more languages. We also celebrate these students hard work, progress, and dedication to language learning. On behalf of your teachers, administrators, and of course the district, congratulations to our learners who have taken this meaningful step in their language journey. Please keep up the great work. We're going to introduce these students. We have a trophy and an award for each of them. I'm going to do it by school, okay? That we practiced the last name, so I'm going to do my best. Okay. All right. From from Old State Elementary, we have Sophie Steagle and Fioski. A day for me. Yeah. Picture. Picture. Yeah. Oh, but there's more from Towns and Elementary Spanish immersion. Eloise Develin, Carter Saunders, Evan Martino, and those are our students from Townsen Elementary. Happy birthday from Silver Lake Elementary. Spanish immersion.

012Jaden Veio, Colobby Turner. Are there people in the back? Yeah. Come on back here, guys. Nicely done. Nicely done. Good job. Here's the [Music] team. It's just from Everett Meredith Middle. That was the one I screwed up. The name of the school, right? Okay. Sorry about that. From Everett Meredith Middle School, Spanish immersion. Abby Chan I love a good fan. That's great. Audrey Howard, Brennan Riley, Briana Ayala, Christopher Row. He couldn't be here tonight, but we celebrate him anyway. Chloe Guardo Seya, Leila Saunders, Liam Wilburn, Lyanna Yetskco, who's also not here, but we're celebrating her anyway. Luke Martino, Lydia Tros, not here, but we're celebrating her anyway. Mia Moore, Nia Mleavine, who's not here, but we're celebrating her anyway, Sophie Milepski, and last but not least, Vivian Tenley Williams. Zero I don't know. I'm not

013good at this. Very nice. Oh, you guys are good at this. You guys are pros. Can I get a secret to balance right here? Right here, guys. Thank you. And I'm here. Got it. He out here buzz back. Jeff Jeff. We'll let them clear. Who's got the mic? Got them back certificate. All right. Now, All right. Now we have Dr. Connley, Dr. Gordo, and Mr. Hail to present our coordination of our emergency exercise out on the Fairview campus. All right. Thank you, Dr. Burroughs. Hi, everyone. My name is Amanda Connley. I am the director of safety, security, and operations uh here in the Aquinic School District. Um I'm here tonight on March 28th. We conducted a exercise and it was an exercise that was designed to test the plans, policies, and procedures related not only

014to our emergency response and methods we use to reunify students with families in the district, but also to partner with local law enforcement and other agencies to pl practice their response um to an act of violence in our district. And um the morning of the exercise, I found out that not only was it a large drill, but I was told it was the largest drill or exercise that Dimma had ever conducted in the state of Delaware. So we were excited and really gra really grateful for the opportunity um to practice this in the Aquinamic School District. While we worked really hard on this in the district, it would not have been possible without the support of uh these two gentlemen here with us this evening as well as multiple multiple agencies and um first responders

015throughout the state. Um both state and local agencies participating. Um with us here this evening, Director Shaw is the um director of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency and Lieutenant Hudac here with us tonight from Delaware State Police Special Operations. So be on behalf of the school district, on behalf of our community, we want to thank you both for the partnership, the support um that you provided to make this possible. Obviously, it would not have been possible without um the support from both of your organizations. And we know that the lessons learned on March 28th, um we take those lessons to make sure that our district continues to be a safe place and um a place that uh we're proud to to send our children to every day. And so um Dr. Ger has two certificates

016that we'd like to present and I'm also going to have um Jeff Hail present um a token of our appreciation as well. So probably six years ago uh when the constible program started we thought it would be a good idea to uh design what's called a challenge coin to present to gentlemen like Lieutenant Hudac and Mr. Shaw for um things that they do to help promote safety and security in the district. So, uh, assistant superintendent over there, Tom Pullman and I designed, uh, this coin. I know it's hard for you guys to see, but on one side, it's the Aquinamic School District logo. And on the other side is a sheep dog wearing the campaign hat of the Delaware State Police, which represents our school resource officers who are stationed in our three high schools

017in the district. And then the next to that is a uh badge representing the constables, the 22 constables in the district. Um, so if you guys know the story of sheep dogs, they are the ones that protect the flock. So we consider our law enforcement in this district the sheep dogs and our staff and students the flock that we are protecting. So gentlemen, I want to present each of you with one of these coins. We appreciate everything that you did for us. Thank you, Mr. [Music] just where you want to put them. Good evening again. Our appequinamic beats maker award celebrates staff who are nominated for exhibiting our Apple beats collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity and engagement. Tonight we are excited to celebrate multiple staff members and thank them for being Applebee's makers. Nominated by

018Nikki McNeel, a teacher at Reading Middle School for collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, and engagement. We celebrate tonight Susan Glennon. Nikki, you should be in the picture, too. nominated by Jennifer Zakruski, a teacher at Old State Elementary for collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, and engagement. Danielle C. Marone. nominated by Caitlyn Scott, a teacher at Theater Lane Elementary for collaboration and engagement. We celebrate tonight Melissa Greo. You should get in there and get Come on. Yay. We won't even say Steve. Next slide. We'll say Melissa. Good job. Nominated by both Christine Sarin and Tracy Calhoun, a teacher at BMC for collaboration, creativity, and engagement. We celebrate Lisa Guff. My correction, Lisa Guth. Mrs. Goth taught my Ruby how to ride a bike and she's in 11th grade. Nominated by Nath Nathan Herbert, a teacher at Aquinamic

019High School for collaboration, communication, creativity, and engagement. Diana Johnson. Diane Johnson. My apologies. nominated by Leah Mallister, a behavior interventionist at Old State Elementary for collaboration, communication, creativity, and engagement. Susan Meyer Nominated by Deborah Whitting, a teacher at Aquinamic High School for collaboration, communication, creativity, creat critical thinking, and engagement. We celebrate tonight Diana Nordo Nardozi. Nominated by Corey White, a bus driver for collaboration, communication, creativity, and engagement. Tracy Thomas. And last but not least, nominated by both Jen Campbell and Karen Malone, a world language and immersion coordinator for collaboration, communication, creativity, and crit critical thinking and engagement. Sarah Vienni Viento Hello family. Congratulations to everybody. All right. Well, I feel like we've already had a full schoolboard meeting, but that was just our recognitions. Um, but they were definitely worth it. It was great to

020see all of that. Um, I was remiss earlier when I uh started our meeting. I failed to mention that um there are four of us here present in person, but board member Norm Abrams is uh at home, but he is participating via Zoom. And Norm, uh can you just say hi to everybody? Now he has to unmute himself. Hi, good evening. There he is. Thanks, Norm. Thanks. And then also we were joined by former board member Joanne Christian who is here in the audience with us. So, I just wanted to recognize her and thank her for her service to the board. Um, next on the agenda, we have public comments. This is an opportunity for members of the public to address the board. You have uh three minutes. We ask that uh all comments uh

021be respectful, no derogatory comments, no insults, but that my experience has never been a problem. We have one person who has signed up uh tonight, Mr. James Kamjes and uh there's a clock over here Mr. Kamis to mark your three minutes. So with that the floor is yours. Good evening. As many of you know I'm the father of a student in the foundation's program and his program is being dramatically impacted by recent decisions. I'm here tonight to urge you to pause these changes and adequately plan for all students with special needs in our district. I'm not just a parent upset about my son's program. I'm here advocating for all students, parents, and professionals within within these programs. District leaders must stop planning for the people doing the work and start planning with them. We shouldn't

022be adversaries in this conversation. We shouldn't have to hear about major changes to risk whispers and rumors. We shouldn't have to demand answers to basic questions. We should have been sitting together at an IEP table discussing Conor's individual needs and how they would be addressed at Canwell. Maybe this idea has merit, but we're building a runway for a plane that's already in the air. Our students deserve a wellplanned, thoughtout landing strip. If there was a long-term plan already, why wasn't it discussed at our IP meeting in the fall? Why wasn't it discussed at the presentation of RISE last month of the board? Why did teachers and staff only learn about it after that presentation? Why did facility facilities leaders know about the changes? Did why didn't facilities leaders know about the changes before May? Please

023don't pro um excuse me. Please don't prioritize the needs of one group of special needs students while neglecting the needs of others. Our son Connor is one of only two seventh graders in the foundation's program at AGW. Does that mean that there are only two seventh graders in the district with his level of physical and cognitive needs? I'm speculating that there are other parents that choose to stay with their feet at school, but those students probably are not receiving the same access, support, and instruction that Connor gets. I now have more questions than answers after my meeting with district officials. What happens if we choose to keep Connor at AGW? Do you think transitioning high need students twice? Once next year and once again for high schools in their best interest. What will programming look

024like or what does proming look like for families who are currently at Meredith Reading or Kwell and not in the foundations program? Will students have the same access to facilities and programs that they have now at AGW if they go to Canwell? What's the longterm plan for all special programs? What construction will be needed at Canwell for our students and when will it be done? How will you staff these program changes? Moving to campus next year will cause unnecessary disruption for students already thriving in existing programs. Foundation students may attend summer programming at Canwell, but the instruction is not the same as a full school year experience. It lacks daily routines, interactions with an entire student body, and a structure that they rely on during the academic year. This transition is about more than just

025location. It takes the teachers, pair professionals, counselors, office staff, nurses, eds, and educators who are at Alfred G. orders and already understand these students to work with them. For students like Connor, even a small miscommunication can trigger a meltdown impacting not just him, but dozens of staff and students. The water staff currently knows how to deal with him and how to effectively work with him. I challenge you board members and community members and leaders in the district to go ask more about these programs. Visit the schools. Ask the professionals. Learn more about all of our special programs. Ask about the trainings, the materials, the staffing, the district supports, and the studenttoteer ratios in all of our students programs. How well are we setting up our teachers and schools for success? How will we improve these

026programs? You have a choice tonight to consider. I urge the district to develop plans with the people doing the work, not for them. In the case of Middle School Foundation's programming, please take the time to build the runway before you divert the planes. Thank you. And for the record, I want to note that the board historic traditionally does not respond to public comment, but we will make sure that appropriate personnel from the uh from the district office do get back to you. And we appreciate board comments uh that or public comments that people make and do take them seriously and listen. Okay, with that, uh, we move on to item seven, community members. All right, that's there by mistake. Eight, reports, social media policy. Dr. small. Let's see what Good evening everyone. I'm here to

027present some recommended changes to the electronic communication and social media policy. First slide that you see up there is just a slide of information with regard to the particulars for this policy. Policy 3115 comes from series 3000. The report is tonight. The first reading is June 10th. The second reading is July E. The current scope of the policy covers all of our employees for any technology at any time. That technology could be technology that is part of the district's property or their personal technology. Next slide. We're recommending adding to the policy the language that you see here. The reason being is that social media is dynamic and as a result we need a policy that recognizes and accounts for that dynamic nature of the fact that social media changes ever so slightly day by day

028and um we have to account for those particular changes in our policy. Next slide. We're recommending adding to the policy this particular statement based on the fact that we don't want any of our employees using company or district time to um spend time updating their own social media sites or their personal social media sites. So, we're adding this language to account for that. Next slide. We're recommending deleting from the policy information that's here because it's the fact that this is somewhat of an outdated measure um recording image or uh publishing any recorded any recording or image on social media sites. Next slide. On this slide, we are um trying to recognize the fact that we want our communication between our staff and our students to be educationally legitimate and appropriate and also discoverable. So, we

029want to make sure that um we are using district uh required email, learning management systems or other online communication. Next slide. Questions? All right. Well, this is just the uh initial reading. We'll have two more meetings where this is discussed. Correct. Correct. Okay. Does anybody on the board have questions, Norm? Okay, I'm good. Hearing none. Thank you. And we'll see you again next month on this. Okay. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have the grading presentation. Dr. Hoover. Doc, Dr. Connelly, nice try. I thought you were coming up with me. Yeah, she thought she was going to get out of it. Um, good evening everybody. Uh, Dr. Connelly and I are uh here to present our secondary grading update. It's fine. I got it. Um, we're here to present our secondary grading update. Next

030slide, Steve. Um the I'm not obviously not going to go through um all the names here, but I do think it's important to know. I think this is I'm I'm on a lot of committees. I lead a lot of committees and I'm I'm on various um this is probably one of the larger ones I think for for me. Um we do have a wide variety of people here. Lots of teachers, instructional coaches, building administrators, district district administrators. Um we have people from uh middle school, high school. We have people from different departments. Uh I believe we have all of our departments covered. We have um other departments as well such as facilities, our equity coordinator, um our data team. Um you know, we really just wanted to make sure we have as a special education.

031We want to make sure we have as many um different perspectives uh involved and and um as possible. So, next slide. I'm probably going to say this a few times and I just uh I'm not being sarcastic. I just want to make sure that I'm getting the point across. That first piece there where it says no change to the current system. Um that's exactly what we mean. Dr. Connelly and I stood up here about 7 years ago, I think it was, and we presented a plan. Um and eventually that plan was to in 2025 in the fall of 2025 was to go with a full portfolio implementation at the secondary level. Um last year we presented that same plan and we talked about what we were going to do. Um right now what we're saying

032is we're we're putting a pause on that plan. We are basically saying we're not doing any changes to the current system we have. So what does that mean? It means that for the teachers who are doing um I'm going to put this in quotes, a traditional grading style, right? They are allowed to continue that grading style. If you are doing a portfolio pilot or a portfolio implementation, you are allowed to continue that. By the way, if you're doing portfolio and you don't want to do it anymore, that's okay. If you were doing traditional and you want to do some sort of piloting or implementing of portfolio, that's okay, too. All right. So, we're not going with a full-scale implementation in the fall. We're looking at making no changes to our current system into next year.

033Next slide. What's that? Um, well, with some feedback, I don't know that we were fully ready to do that across all content areas, across all levels for everybody. Yeah. Um, the these are just the the grading options uh breakdown. We've kind of talked about this over the last handful of years of what our current practices are our current I'm sorry current procedures are and um what the portfolio grading system looks like. Next slide and why is can we can we go back to last yes go back to that last slide a second. Yep. So am I reading this correctly? Evidence of learning is a word another it's a another word for homework, right? Is that or what is evidence of learning? So EV great question. Evidence of learning is basically work that we want to

034make sure we're communicating out to families that doesn't hold weight in a gradebook. So it could be homework. It doesn't have to be. Formative could also be homework. So for instance, if I was I'll use myself as an example. We didn't have evidence of learning back in the day. Um, but I didn't count homework in my grade book. So, I would say, I gave you homework. I collected it. I might have given you a grade on it. I wanted to tell parents that you did the homework or you didn't do the homework. However, I didn't count it against your grade. So, evidence of learning doesn't count against your grade. It's the way we communicate to families whether you were doing that or not doing that. You don't have to as a teacher. Some of the

035teachers in the room use evidence of learning. Some of them don't. You don't have to use that. Does that make sense? And then what? So then formative is what's that's more your classwork, homework, those types of things. And then sumitative is test. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Next slide. So why is this work? Um why does this continue to matter? I think there's two really big issues here. One is offering teacher flexibility. Um, one thing that we we have heard from um, quite a few people who are either piloting or implementing the portfolio style is to say we totally understand why not everybody wants to go to this. We got it. But many of us still want to do this. So we would prefer not to take that away from us. Give us the option.

036If we want to do portfolio, cool. If we don't, that's okay too. Right? So we want to give those options, give some flexibility. It allows teachers also to grow over time. Some people might decide, hey, I want to try out a couple of things that I've been hearing about. My, you know, partner teacher or my teacher down the the hall is doing something. I might want to try that out. So, it still allows them for growth. Also allows for for student growth, which I obviously is really important here, too. Um, and you know, again, I think the big thing for me is that leaving those options in is a really important um really an important piece. So, again, I'm going to go back to that first slide saying we're not making any changes from this

037year moving into next year. The change is what our original plan was going to full implementation. We're no longer doing that in the fall. We're going to keep those options open and that will be up to the teacher which is you know pretty much always been the case. It's been up to the teacher. So on this slide you've got two bullet points at the bottom. Portfolio practices foster student ownership and conversation around their learning and progress. What does that mean? Well, it's really about student taking ownership. And I know that this has been somewhat controversial, I think, because what people think of when they hear portfolio is they think retakes. And that's not what that means. That's that's something that's, you know, that's something that's in there. By the way, I was doing retakes before

038I even heard of a portfolio, right? But I'll I'll use an example that I've heard often from Dr. Harrison. many of the teachers that are working with her um and some of the people that might be in the the room right now when students aren't meeting a certain level of um mastery. They're requiring them. It it's an expectation for them to meet the level of mastery. It's not okay for you to just say I didn't do it or I I got a D. It's okay. It's not okay for you to get a D. I need you to learn it and so you're going to learn it. That might be through reflection. It might be through extra work. It might be through whatever it is. But just allowing them to say, "No, I'm okay with a

039D." That's that's just not okay. Now, again, I understand that that is very dependent on individual teachers and how that's implemented and all of that kind of stuff, but it's heavy on reflection for sure. I'm just trying to understand the sentence. The sentence says portfolio practices foster student ownership and conversation around their learning and progress. So I'm trying to understand how is it that portfolio practices foster student ownership? I'm not even sure what that's supposed to mean, but I'm trying to understand. So if you can what does it mean to say portfolio practices foster student ownership and how is that different than a more traditional approach or a nonportfolio approach? I think for many years and again whether that was true or not for many years students thought you gave me a B. You gave

040me a B as the the the teacher. Now as a teacher I might say you didn't I didn't give you the B. You you got the B. Um but this is really trying to put that back into the student hands and say well what did you do to get a B, right? What did you do to get there? what did you do to try to get from the B to an A? Right? Um, and the the second part of that, I think, is also the important part of the conversation is to say, um, that's the the conferencing or the conversation with the the the teacher. That's a part that's really important is to say, let's sit down and talk about that. And again, it's not just you turned in an assignment, I gave you a

041B, you're fine with the B, I'm fine with you getting a B, and we say, thank you. have a good day. It's let's sit down and say why did you get a B? Well, this is why I think I got a B. This is my feedback to you. This is why I think you got a B. Let's see how you can get an A. Right. And so now let's have that that conversation. Are you saying those conversations are only happening in classrooms where there's portfolio grading? Nope. Okay. Just clarify. No, but that's a that's a heavy piece. I think that's a definite push. Now, student conferencing, again, some of these things have been around for 50 years. I was doing student conferencing with my students as well before I heard of portfolio or um I

042I mean I know I've joked about this but well before I read a book on grading you know my the teacher down the hall told me that she was doing student conferencing so I said well that sounds like a great idea so I I started doing it. Yeah. So if we're saying that portfolio practices foster student ownership and conversation around their learning and progress why isn't that the standard? Like so I think I guess I'm with Richard I'm still kind of like Mr. Horson I'm still stuck on the sentence like I'm understanding it but so if we're saying that portfolio grading promotes all these things that ownership conversation around learning then why isn't that like the standard? Why is it still like optional? I'm I'm confused. I mean that's a great question. It's it shouldn't

043be optional. M yeah cuz it's like you're listing a pro for why to do it but then you're saying nothing's changing and you have an option and and remember this is a pro to keep the keep it open for flexibility. It's not just that this is for portfolios but this allows somebody who might be doing a traditional grading style to still be able to do student conferencing. Some of these things have developed over time with our um you know, let's just say our our um our pilot group, right? And we implemented a couple of these smaller things and they started to grow and they started to grow and they started to grow. So there's plenty of people who are using traditional grading style who are student conferencing, plenty of them who are who have mastered

044retakes, plenty of them who are um you know doing a lot of these other things that they might not be saying or doing a portfolio style grading system. But now that we've we've opened some of that up, we've allowed these things to grow in other classrooms with more students. Okay. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry, Norm. No, I'll go with you. I'll go with you. We've talked about um grading before. We've also talked about changes to the secondary report card. Are no changes occurring there either at this point? At this point? Exactly. Yep. Whatever that looks Well, of course, we're moving to a new statewide system. statewide system, but it's about, you know, grades being reflected in different values than what they historically have been in our district at the secondary level, looking more like our

045elementary school report cards. And that's not moving forward next year either. Correct. Okay. Because my question around that continuing to be communication with parents, understanding what that looked like. So, if we're not going forward with that, we don't need to be focused on communicating with parents that a change is coming at, right? Whatever it looks like now, it will look like next year as well. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Just the question I have since we're not going to full implementation next next year as you planned. So just in generally how many people are participating in the portfolio slightly how many people are doing the experiment not the experiment the the pilot the pilot. Thank you. How how many people do we have doing pilot? I'll have to get back to you with

046those numbers. um because I don't know them off the top of my head. Okay. So, all right. Well, do you think it's more the same or less? So, is there are we struggling to get the the all the pieces in the puzzle just cuz we haven't got there yet or is it people are doing it and not or now not doing it or I I guess I'm just is there is is there like a red blinking sign that says danger? we're we're missing something and or we're just taking a slower approach than what we originally thought was optimistic. Um, okay. So, yeah, there's a couple questions in there. Let me see if I can answer them. Right. I got it. Um, so I mean the the number I know off the top of my head

047is at the beginning of the year we had about 120 people at the secondary level who were doing some sort of piloting. And again that doesn't mean that that was a full portfolio implementation. They might have been doing one of the you know six or seven components of it. Okay. Right. So there was about 120. Again how many are doing it today at the end of the year that I cannot answer right now but again I can get back to you. Um but again I I think the you know what we have recognized is that we're not ready to roll out with a full you know um I don't know off the top of my head how many secondary teachers there are but five 600 secondary teachers. We're not ready to roll that out as

048a full implementation in the fall uh without some more work and some more training and you know those those types of things. Is there a revised timeline then to that roll out? Because you alluded to before like we've been hearing about this for several seven years and this was the year is it now we should well not whoever's sitting here should look at it for the next year or is that undetermined? Is it because we're we've decided to give teachers more flexibility? Right now it's undetermined only because we we haven't really figured out where the the end line is. I mean, we we thought we had the end line and then we pushed it, you know, and then we pushed it again, which and I'm not saying that in a bad way. We pushed it

049because we didn't think we were ready. So then we pushed it, we didn't think we were ready. Better off pushing it because we're not ready than to say let's roll it out and force it down people's throats when we're not ready. Right. But now we're holding an end line. Like it's nebulous. So, I I mean, if I could just add in a piece to this, I think um our department specialists who lead the work signal when we're ready. Nick talked about uh Miss Harrison, Katie Harrison, she science. In science, we've moved at a more brisk pace and we have teachers understanding and utilizing portfolios over uh an area like mathematics. So after an assessment of where we are to go with a a timeline um that's not based on anything other than a date I

050don't think was the prudent step. I think the departments and the people signal where we are and what the pace should be and when we're ready. So I think we're we're taking our um uh mar our pace our marching orders from our department chairs who work with the departments in each of the secondary schools. So um we're trying to be smart about it as opposed to saying on this date ready or not here I come you're doing it. So yeah. Well, I No, I guess so. I'm just again, it's just more of communication that everybody's expecting it to happen and it doesn't. So, if there's a new future date, it's just how we present it to the community. Oh, yeah. We're going to communicate. Well, we were going to communicate it here and then we

051will communicate that out just as we did last year. Um, I don't remember the date. Maybe it was June or July, but we're going to communicate that out to all our staff first. Um, obviously our our, you know, our buildings, our teachers, our paras, all of those folks will communicate it out to families as well. Um, yeah, because obviously they they need to know that they're not walking in in August with a full implementation because that was the message that we sent in 2024, right? Okay. Thank you. Yes. Well, thank you for the work of the committee, but I don't have any further questions. Well, I think are there probably still some more slides or No, that's it. Yep. There you go. That's the last one. All right. Thank you. Thank you. You get to

052continue to stand up there though because curriculum overview. Yep. He myself and Dr. Feathers who did decide to step up with me. Thank you. Um we're here to present the curriculum curriculum review cycle. Um this is something that um uh Mr. Abrams has um asked about and and brought up a couple times. Uh I believe we we've talked with him a little bit, but we've decided to present here so um everybody kind of knows what this is. Um this is just one of those things that happens. I mean, this is a kind of a big part of what happens in our office and the the um teaching and learning team. um but it's not necessarily something that's known everywhere and probably not something that's known on the board. So we decided to just give a

053short presentation on this. Um so a a quick overview of what the curriculum review cycle is. Every content specialist and coordinator that we have in our office, they work through a process called the curriculum review cycle. And that's what that means is this is a process where we're selecting, we're piloting, we're implementing, we're monitoring, and eventually evaluating the curriculum that we select, right? So selecting a curriculum doesn't just happen, it also doesn't just happen in a in a silo. There's several steps to it. Um to try to simplify it, I I I put a little uh graph here. There's a few phases here. before implementation, during implementation, and after implementation. Here are just a few things that are going to happen. And I'll I'll go into um a little bit more detail on the next

054slide. But just kind of like what I said, we have to evaluate the different types of curriculum. And again, all of our specialists and coordinators do this. Whether you're math, social studies, science, whether you're elementary, whether you're secondary, um you know, there's many, many, many different curriculums out there. So the first thing we do is we start evaluating different types of curriculum, right? The next thing we do typically is we're going to pilot something. Now the pilot could be as small as we're going to pilot one chapter, one unit. It could be we're going to pilot something for one course. It could be some we're going to pilot a a whole course for a whole year. So there's lots of different ways that we can pilot. Eventually we make a selection. And again, I'll go

055into what goes into a selection. What happens at the selection? We of course purchase that. We do an initial implementation. An initial implementation could mean that we um we either do a slow roll out. We start in sixth grade, then eventually sixth and seventh, eventually six, seven, eight, or we just go full implementation. Six, seven, and eight all gets it in one year. Now once we do full implementation, that's where we start monitoring the curriculum. you know, what needs do we have, what needs do our students have, what do the the scores show, you know, all of that kind of stuff. And then we start looking at that current curriculum and, you know, what are we looking for in the future, Steve? So, what goes into selecting a new uh new curriculum? Honestly, there's way

056more than what I just listed on here, but here are a couple of uh important things. Couple of big things here. Timing, right? So, the expiration of a curriculum. You don't just purchase a curriculum and you get it for the next hundred years. 25, 30, 40 years ago. Uh, you know, when when well, at least some of us were were in school. Um, you know, you could purchase a textbook. Now, the textbook might not be good for 25 years, but I know some of the textbooks I had were around for 20 years. You could purchase a textbook and have that textbook for many, many years. That isn't really the case anymore, right? Um so so when you purchase a curriculum there is somewhat of an expiration right so you might purchase the curriculum for 3

057years four years 5 years whatever that that might be so obviously when you're selecting a curriculum you consider the timing of the expiration of that curriculum you also have to consider the why why is that though I mean say again I said why is that in the sense that it's true I mean I mean history doesn't really change that much um and so if I had a uh That's false. By the way, I my first classroom that I taught in, I had a map that I pulled down and it had um uh a CCCP instead of Russia, right? So, history does change and that map I taught social studies that map of Africa changed like every other week. Well, you missed my point. I mean, history history doesn't change. The present may be overtaken by

058the chaos, but I mean, if I had a course if I had a textbook on the American Revolution or the Roman Empire. Yes. history ain't changing. Yes. Um and so is it the case now that uh the companies that sell the curriculum basically say we're only selling you this curriculum for four or five years or is it just the case that we're rolling we're turning over curriculum on a more on a faster basis than we used to? Uh well no sometimes well some of it's based off of what I'm going to say here too but sometimes it's based off of the resources that comes along with it. Sometimes it might be based off of the um when I say resources I mean like the things that come along with it but also as you know

059companies by companies by companies. So when you used to work with one company you just got the textbook and then they bought another company and now that company also has which is a diagnostic and so now that comes along with your product you know so there's different things like like that. I would also say um that you know as as we um as you learn you know as you learn more you you get better right? So sometimes we know that this curriculum um we chose the curriculum and we thought it was good. It had a high rating and it was we thought it was great and then it just didn't didn't show us much in our scores and it didn't really meet the needs that we have. So we we need to move on. There

060are examples um Dr. Dr. Feathers and I were just talking about this the other day. There are examples where we had a curriculum and we've continued with that curriculum. It's not that we just decided, oh, four years is over, so we'll move on to the we don't think it's good anymore, you know. So, um the the other piece to that timing I think is important is again all of these content areas um because of financial costs, they are aligned differently. So we can't get a new curriculum in a in every content at the same time every, you know, 5 years. So we have to kind of offset those. And again, if social studies has a 5-year uh con or five-year contract and English has a three-year contract, you really have to take that into consideration

061because again, we don't we don't have an infinite number of um dollars, which is our third bullet there. the overall cost. Again, uh uh curriculum could be great, but if it's $10 million, that's probably not going to work for us. What kind of resources are provided? As I just said there, you know, sometimes those are resources, the physical resources you get. Those might be actual workbooks or consumables that we have. We use that a lot at the elementary level. It might be resources like other platforms that come along with the technology. And they might also be resources like which is a you know a resource that we can use in other areas. Um curriculum does get rated. Uh ed reports is one of the um areas that rate curriculum. So we also look at those

062ratings and um when we're making that determination and of course teacher input is really important as well. that teacher input comes in the term or in the forms of feedback from you know is is the is the curriculum uh um user friendly for the teachers? What does it look like for the students? How effective do we think it is? Does it reach our upper level kids? Does it reach our students who have special needs? um you know what are the needs that we have and is the curriculum meeting that you know so the teachers uh you know give us that input and that's really a big reason why the pilot I think is an important piece so then that way they can give us the feedback on the current curriculum and when we're piloting they

063can give that feedback on that piloting too and there are times where we've piloted something and just have said that's not where we want to go we're going to pilot something else so next slide This is just just a quick example as I just mentioned there that you know our our our um content areas are all over the place. Um and we kind of have to make sure we do that financially. So here is just a really brief example uh of an elementary, middle, and one high school course. I currently have 17 high school courses. So that means there's, you know, on the actual page of the curriculum review cycle, there's really 20 of these lines for science and imagine that's 20 for science, 20 for social studies, 20 for math and so on. And

064so we have to make sure that we are in different phases because again we can't buy all curriculum at one time. Next slide. Next steps. This is pretty simple. This is an ongoing process. It is an you know it's all the time. This is a really big portion of what our um team works on. And as you can see, even once you pilot and once you purchase and you do a full implementation, it's not like our coordinator can go, all right, my job's done here. Because then you start rolling into all right, let's start monitoring, let's start evaluating, and let's see if this curriculum is something we want to continue with, you know. So, that process is just ongoing. And then the um the thing that we're always looking at is, you know, is that

065curriculum aligning with our district priorities? Right? If we have a district priority of literacy, we want to make sure that whatever curriculum we're moving forward with, it aligns with our priorities. That's it. But I have a question. Sure. For my own edification, can you give me like one or two examples of what would serve as the impetus for you to do a slow roll out? You had said at the outset sometimes you may start with sixth and then seventh and then eighth versus sixth, seventh and eighth. Sixth, seventh and eighth live at the same time. Like what would be um a factor that would show up for you all that would make you choose one or the other? Sure. Um a really easy example would be when you're talking about at the high school level.

066um if you're going to make a change to a course and um thinking about a course catalog, if you're going to make a change a course to to let's say um let's say biology, right? You have to think about or that might not be as easy as as I thought it would be, but you know, if you're going to make a change to a course, you might want to phase in because of the the the students over time. So, that's one. two, as a middle school principal, I would think um some of the changes that we're making currently now, which you're you're aware of at the middle school level next year, um there might be something you might miss when you're changing a a curriculum. So, for instance, if there was a concept in uh

067social studies, and I'm just going to use something very broad, if you're going to miss the um Magna Carta, and that's something we really need to talk about. Well, we used to teach it in seventh grade and now we're going to a new curriculum and now it's taught in sixth grade, but the the next year seventh graders if they don't get it, right, we might want to roll that out as a slower roll. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. It does. Yeah. I was just wondering kind of like what you consider to go live with everyone or the slow roll. So, that's helpful. Thank you. I think we probably go more on the the full roll, but there's definitely instances where it makes sense to go that kind of phased approach. Yeah. Okay. Thank

068you. I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. I think you made that explicitly clear. Yeah. Thanks. Anything else? Any other questions? Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have the code of conduct report. Dr. Gero All right, good evening. I just wanted to give the board an update on our annual code of conduct changes. Next slide, Steve. Um, so each year we meet to discuss the code of conduct and we meet several times. I think this is my sixth year running the committee and every year we have a lot of discussion and there are a lot of varying opinions and a lot of good feedback and I think each year we get better and better and we continue to refine the code. So we're proud to talk about some of the main

069changes. There are a lot of changes um which I have marked up and given the board a copy of all that. So I'll high I'll do my best to highlight some of the major ones. So first is every year we look through especially the first chapter of the book and we look at a lot of the collective commitments and things we believe in and um we have a lot of statements in there around our philosophies and beliefs. We try to make those more concise and more clear every year. Um so we've done that. We've also the the biggest thing we did this year there are two there are several regulations aligned to school discipline but probably the two biggest are 614 and 616 this year upcoming school year both of those regulations were supposed to

070be revised and in listening to feedback from schools DOE really worked with us and they said, "We're going to move the 616 updates to the following school year." So, the only major regulation that'll change for 2526 related to discipline is 614. And 614 really deals with all the code infractions. So, when a student does something that's within our code of conduct that violates our our code or an infraction, then it gets PL it has to match a DOE code. And there's several different types. What they've done is they've brought that number down from well over a hundred to about 30 codes now. So the committee had to do a lot of work matching existing infractions with all the new descriptions and new codes. And I'll highlight some of those. The other thing we really looked

071at a few years back we had changed just to make things a little bit more developmentally appropriate. We separated out. It used to be there was just an elementary code of conduct and then there was a secondary level of infraction. So we split that out a few years ago into grades 6 through 8 and then grades 9 through 12. This year there's such a developmental gap between a kindergartenner and a fifth grader that we felt like there was a strong feeling among the committee that we needed to break those out. So what we did was we created a K2 set of infractions and then a grades three to five set of infractions to be more developmentally appropriate. And lastly, we evaluated all of our steps um which we do every year. So the steps are

072what happens when a misbehavior occurs and we looked at all of those. Okay. So starting in chapter one, chapter one is basically like Dr. Ger said is the introduction. It's where we have the superintendent welcome what our district beliefs are. So what we did is specifically in these two areas we just went in and clarified our disciplinary philosophy and reaffirmed our commitment to our students with our disabilities. So again it's um reworking the language and making sure we're more clear and concise in those areas. The discipline philosophy again that it is a progressive intervention and it is aligned with the developmental needs of our students and also that our students with disabilities have specific rights um related to school discipline. Next slide. All right. Chapter two is students rights, responsibilities and commitments. And again along

073the same line it was just a review of the language and the different themes that are presented through there. Um the first two bullets really fall underneath our school safety protocols. So, we wanted again to clarify and make the public aware of what we do in terms of our behavior threat assessment um what protocols we're using and what strategies there and also our use of safety e initiatives related to school safety. And then we did some editing of our personal property um just to clarify again students rights to have personal properties and their responsibilities as they bring their personal property into the school. Next slide. All right. And here are just a few examples. There are many because like I said, we went from well over a hundred, I believe it was close to 150,

074down to about 30 infractions. So here are some of the more significant or common ones that have been collapsed. Um inappropriate language and gestures replaced abusive language, fighting and mutual group fight. That's a difference in language there where it used to be called riot. And I think a lot of these changes are very welcome changes because they more align with what the student did and we've gotten away from um it in the past it's been very closely aligned to um Delaware law criminal law. So now even though it's still there are parallels and similarities the descriptions are much more in line with school terminology and language that we use. So, that's one that I think is a really good change, moving to mutual group fight, because I think when you hear the word riot, you

075picture a lot of different things, things you've seen on TV or things that you've read about that aren't necessarily really um reflective of what the student did. Uh, inappropriate touch replaces offensive touching. And then we used to have three categories of assault. assault one, two, and three, which again align with criminal code, but instead now on our DOE level, it's now assault causing physical injury, and it's all been combined into one offense. Is that going to cause any problems in terms of um uh discretion? I mean, in theory, assault one would be not as severe as assault three, but if you're collapsing them into one category, they're they're all treated equally now. Correct. It doesn't really make much difference in terms of for us with the police. It does. Um, and it was the other

076way around actually. Assault three is the least significant of the three. And then as it goes up, two is more and one is more. And honestly, um, we've in the time that I've been in this position, which is over five years, we've never had an assault one. Um, and it's very rare we have an assault two. Maybe a few times. the maj and assault threes are also pretty rare. Um but we have them pop up here and there. So it's really not that much of a difference for us. And in addition to that um when you're at that that level of infraction, there's typically also police involvement and charges that come along with that and we are also able to use those through AG report and uh which is another regulation but we can utilize

077that in the discipline process also. So really in terms of what we're able to do, there's not a lot of difference there. This is an example of one of the infractions. We didn't separate K2 and 35 with every single infraction because some made sense. But where it did make sense to split them apart, we have. So here's an example with careless, reckless behavior. So you can see there K2 starts at a step one and maxes out at a step four whereas grades three and five start at a step two and end at a step four. And a lot of the reason if you think about from a kindergarten level many students have never even entered a structured setting or any any type of school setting. So, they may respond to wanting a classroom item by

078pushing another student or grabbing it from another student and making contact. Well, if they've never been taught that or learned, we don't want to go right to those more severe or exclusionary consequences. So, we we felt like with that one, that was one where K2 and 35 we separated out. next. And then uh another small change, and this is just um as we've received more grievances or appeals, we've had to adjust some terminology in the uh grievance section. So there, instead of referring specifically to me, it broadens now to superintendent or designate. And the reason for that is if I've been involved in that um whatever that case is, if it's an alternative placement meeting or the discipline in any way, then I can't really be an impartial um hearing. So, um when it gets

079to that level, then there are designes that will um handle that appeal. Any questions? you're this is just a first reading. You come back to us with this, right? This is typically we just do a report because it's procedure. Um and certainly if you have questions or anything like to go back and look at, we can um we like to get it to the printer next month. Um so I always like to leave an extra month. So if there are things we need to go back and tweak, um I absolutely can. But otherwise, we'll move forward with editing and printing. Well, where are we on the uh what I'm going to call the parent code of conduct? I mean, is that is that coming up later or It's not in this, but yeah. Um yes.

080So, I have a list of names from schools which include teachers, administrators, and parents that we've confirmed would like to attend. And now it's just a matter of putting a date on on the books. All right. But we're going to get that done in time for the 202526 school year, right? Yes. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next on the agenda, we have the special programs report. Dr. Gerau and Dr. Spence. Hi. Um, we just wanted to update you on some of the special programs updates. We know that we were here um last month and just kind of provided some information on the increase of the number of students that we have that are receiving the autism classification nationwide as well as districtwide and how that impacts um it's really impacting the

081growth of our RISE program. One of the other things that we highlighted um last month was the number of students that we have in the middle school or in the in fifth grade that will move to middle school next year. So next year is a big expansion year for our RISE program. So, we've spent the majority of the month really communicating and uh listening to all of our stakeholder groups and taking the feedback um to really move towards a common goal of just providing our students with the most appropriate programming. Um Steve, if you can go to the next slide. Thanks. So, as a result of the feedback, we really heard some common themes um or common goals that we wanted to work towards as we look at how to kind of shift programmatically as

082a district. So, one of the things that we heard was maintaining one special program in a building was really important. when we added in a second special program or got too many special program classrooms within a building, it really strains the system from a facilities perspective, from a staffing perspective for and then that really impacts how we're able to individually plan for students. One of the other um common themes or goals that we want to work towards is just increasing the um the the number of opportunities that our students have to not only develop peer relationships but maintain those relationships long term. So really really allowing students the opportunity to to move with cohorts um for a longer period of time. knowing that when our students get into the community or have post-secary experiences, those

083peer relationships are what they really rely on to support them once they leave us. One of the other things that we um that we heard through um through feedback through feedback was really just looking at how we can get a more balanced geographic distribution of our special programs and special programs classrooms across the district so that not one building or one um set of staff are are kind of overwhelmed with a larger special program than than other um than other buildings. So, we have some really exciting things that are happening in special programs. Um, starting in the fall at the pre-K to elementary level for RISE, we are looking at um just kind of redistributing some of our preK classrooms so there's more of a balance between our two um preschool locations and then expanding

084to a new location for kindergarten. Again, just trying to even out the um the distribution of students and programs across the district. in our elementary classrooms. Um we are looking at again just different classroom distributions so that we don't have any schools that are that are feeling overwhelmed with too many special programs or too many special programs classrooms at the middle school level. Um you know we have a big cohort of students in our RISE program that are moving from fifth grade to sixth grade in the fall. And so we are expanding to a second location at the middle school level. will be opening rise classrooms at AGW and in that transition we're transitioning the foundations program from AGW back to the Fairview campus to be at Camel Bridge Middle School. So our elementary foundations

085classroom is currently on that campus. So that's going to allow for us to keep cohorts of students together in both programs from 1 through 8th grade. So through the process this month, we've been able to just really connect and communicate with our families that are transitioning, specifically our foundations families. The majority of our families are really excited to get their kiddos back to Fair View campus, connect back with their peers. Um, and then in addition, the Campwell's Bridge um admin and staff have been really excited to welcome the program into their building. So there's been a lot of collaboration and planning to make sure that the transition goes as smooth as possible. So, lots of exciting things for special programs in the fall. Any questions? I'll ask and I apologize if I missed when you

086said this, but but I didn't see it in a slide. What is the difference between the RISE program and the foundations program? Yeah, the RISE program um is really designed for our students with the autism classification who meet some criteria and really need um uh a certain uh style of of um instructional strategies in order to make progress as compared to so then what's how's that compared to foundations? Yeah, the foundations program really focuses a lot on prevocational skills or vocational skills, um, independent living skills, some functional academic skills. And so we we heard a parent here earlier tonight who would prefer a foundation state at AG Waters instead of moving. And as I read this, as I read the little road, which I think is kind of a neat graphic, we're um we're going

087to expand the rise program to AG Waters, but we're going to are we are we just moving or consolidating foundations on the just moving the foundations program from AGW to Campwell Wells. And then that will allow us our students in the foundations program to remain on the same campus with the same cohort of students first through 8th grade. It'll also allow our rise students to feed into a similar um kind of pattern and remain with their cohort of peers. Okay. Thank you. Does anybody else have any other questions? Are there changes to the buildings that need to be made that will be made in a timely manner to make these changes happen? Yeah, all classrooms will be set up um for to receive students in the fall. There are not major changes that have to

088be made um at the middle school level. Okay. Any other questions? All right. Well, thank you very much. Next on the agenda, we have a new cell phone policy. Dr. Gerauo. All right. And I'm going to have Dr. Connley come up and help me out. Help me. Um, so there there are two parts to this. one is at the end I'll be asking um the board to approve the recommendation from our cell phone committee on next steps but the other part of this is we also want to get ahead of there's a new bill it's called uh Steve you can go to the next slide SB 106 and SB 106 on May 14th we highly anticipate that w that bill will be pushed through but we don't want to wait for that date because then

089we'll be into the school year before we can get the um policy done. So um and the the tenative date on that bill is school districts will have to post August 1st. So in order to get ahead of that, we wanted to get that um on the dock this month. So, what this bill talks about is it makes some changes to Title 14 and it requires schools to limit cell phone usage during instructional time, communicate cell phone restrictions to students and families, and develop a district cell phone policy. Next, but we're doing that. I mean, yes. I mean, and that's what you're about to present. So to a certain extent, we're ahead of the general assembly on this. Yes. I do just want to publicly note just for full transparency that we as a school

090board are members of the Delaware School Board Association, the DSBA, and the DSBA is publicly opposes the bill. Um I just am putting that out there because I feel like at all times when you sit at this seat, you're supposed to educate and inform. The reason the DSBA opposes the bill is because it circumvents local control for school boards. So whereas our school district has been in full discussion, we've had a roll out, we've had a pilot program, we think this is a good idea, that might not be the case for all of the other school districts in the state. So when the general assembly rolls out bills that may have good intention, good cause, good purpose, a lot of the times the DSBA will say, "We're not supporting this because it circumvents local control."

091And I feel like this is just a good bill to make to teach that in case someone hears the Delaware School Board Association doesn't support this. Maybe you might ask the next question and that's why. So that's why if you hear that come up. Well, and again, I mean, we were pretty far down this road well before this bill was written or introduced in the general assembly. So the good news is it's not going to affect us assuming that we take the vote, which I hope we're going to take here in a few minutes. Um, so you know, I mean, again, we're trying to And by the way, we're not the first of we're not the first school district uh to be coming up with a policy on cell phones that more than complies with

092that legislation. Yeah. And I think the policy itself, which I did include a draft, um the policy itself, I feel like meets our needs. We got a lot of comm um feedback from the committee as well as the pilot and it meets our needs and it's what we want but it also will meet or anticipate it will meet if the bill is passed it will meet the requirements of that bill as well. I just figured I should point it out as a teacher. They also often oppose things that include unfunded mandates. So if a school district's budget hasn't taken something on and the state saying you have to do this school boards usually say eh that's not what we decided. So, I just teachable moment and there is it it hasn't been approved yet, but

093there is a preliminary budget figure of $500,000 um proposed for this as well to support school districts. So, um really our our purpose with this policy is to promote academic achievement. We want to create safe and respectful uh school communities, establish clear district-wide expectations, and we've developed all these things with input from educators and families as part of our committee. Something that is addressed in the policy specifically and again is based somewhat on the bill, but being specific to instructional times. So, a lot of our focus, we we'll talk about some options that we discussed within the committee and what our final recommendations are, but a lot of the focus was on instructional time because that's the most important time we have with students. So, we need their attention. We also need to maintain make

094sure that they're not distracted by things, but also in terms of behavior. Um so no cell phone usage during instructional time class that includes classes, tests, assemblies, academic activities, devices must be silenced and stored and violations will be addressed by the code of conduct. So over the course of this school year, we have worked with our district cell phone committee. As you see on this slide, the committee has consisted of board members, administrators, parents, teachers, uh, community members, and the committee really looked at all of the options on the table, dug into the research, and um, conducted site visits. So, next slide, Steve. Our committee wasn't as big as the grading committee, though, just so that's still the biggest committee. So, with the district cell phone committee, we met September, October, and May. And then

095during that time, we also conducted site visits to both Tally Middle School and Conquered High School in the Brandy Wine School District. And for me personally, my favorite part of both of those visits was getting into classrooms and talking to students and they didn't mind that we were not from their district. They were very um open and gave us lots of feedback and u it it really was a great day. So, we thank both of those schools um for their hospitality and um just sharing with us their journey and where they are. We also um reviewed discussed research articles. This is a topic that school districts are grappling with. And so we really have looked at that and um discussed at length the anxious generation. Um if you haven't read that yet and this is

096work that you're interested in, you really need to to do that. So yeah, the and I'll just say the anxious generation, it's on Amazon 168 free delivery. You'll probably get it tomorrow if you type in your phone right now. But the thesis of that book is that smartphones in particular are harmful for teenagers if they're not monitored and used properly. And it's an amazing book. And I remember at our first meeting of the cell phone committee, it reminds me we are now like where I think our country was in the 1940s and 50s when it came to cigarettes. We knew there was something bad about cigarettes. a lot of people who smoked would die from lung cancer. But we didn't, the surgeon general didn't come out with the proof until the 60s. And and I

097suspect that if we could go back in time in another 10 years, we'll know a lot more about smartphones and their effects on people. And then if we could go back in time to 2007, 2008, 2009, we would have, I think, done a more careful job in rolling out smartphones uh to teenagers. There's a second book that's come out more recently called The Sirens Call and it's all about the fact that nobody has attention spans anymore of more than 30 seconds. And both it and the anxious generation talk about the fact that, you know, the designers of these interfaces design their programs to addict people to them, right? I mean, that's why, you know, you're sitting here, you're scrolling. Oh, there's a story I like. Oh, there's a story I like. every time you click,

098you know, your phone is remembering. He likes these kinds of stories. And so they give you more of those stories to keep you addicted. And so, I mean, it's just we're going to get them out of the classroom and hope and that should have the kids then back focused on paying attention in class and not scrolling to their next uh story that their phone is addicting them to. All right. So, read those books. That's your homework for next month. If you'd like to join, we are doing a book study this uh summer with the anxious generation. So if you'd like to join, please feel free to join. All right, next slide, Steve. So um part of the work of the cell phone committee um at Quinnimik High School was um excited and participated in the

099pilot for us. And while the the timing and the dates of everything, the pilot was not perfect in terms of a full school year, we did start the work in January. uh teachers were able to opt in to participate. This was not something that classroom teachers were forced to do. So classroom teachers opted in to participate. We issued both uh pre and post surveys to students and to teachers. And just a few of the findings we looked at uh students were reported to be more engaged in classrooms. Um fewer students leaving class instruction to visit the bathrooms and fewer classroom redirections by teachers. So just a few things from the small pilot we did um at Aquinic High School. So in conclusion of all this, the discussion we had, the research considering the pilot, the

100committee decided on to make a few recommendations to the board. The first is we had talked about elementary school really continuing the enforcement of current practices. Cell phones are not an issue or concern there. They're not out. They're not allowed. Um and it's not really anything we need to change or revise at this point. But the two changes are at the middle school and the high school level. And the first recommendation from the committee is yonder pouches which are a lockable device. Students come in in the morning, lock the device, it remains on their person all day, so they still have it with them. They can put it on a lanyard, in their backpack, wherever they feel is the best spot to keep that safe. Um, and then upon exit at the end of the

101day, students will unlock that pouch and get their device back uh for the bus ride or the car ride home. high school level. The recommendation of the committee was for a variety of reasons, but really primarily developmentally, we're trying to teach kids as they become older to be more responsible. And we also know at the high school level, kids have jobs. They may have children of their own. They may be watching siblings. They may have a lot of responsibilities where they have to communicate. And because of and we have late we have other things where students are out at workbased sites and we've got students doing a lot of things and because of that the consideration is um again we want them when they get out at the workplace after they you know go to

102college or if they go right to the workplace to make good decisions. So we want to give them more autonomy and more freedom there. But we also know there's still that temptation and we do have to restrict the the cell phone usage uh during class time. So the recommendation is cell phones will be placed in the hanging wall calculator organizers. Um if you haven't seen them, they just hang on the wall and their little slots or pouches. When we went to conquered high school, you know, some of our first thoughts were, well, don't the kids all take them or what hap does that cause a disruption? And what we found was really it caused zero disruption. It was just routine. We saw kids come in immediately, put it in the pouch uh on the wall,

103went to their seats, and it has some nice advantages as far as knowing who's there and keeping attendance. Um, and you can align it to your, you know, your seating chart and things like that. Um, and then end of class, same thing. Students grab it. There's a flow in and out and it's very natural. So, we saw really no loss to instructional time there. And in talking with students, students also said, yeah, I realized like, yeah, I'd love having my phone. You know, some they were honest, but then they said, it has helped me and we do understand. So, um, we feel like that's the best solution. We also had a lot of discussion about what we see in our high schools in hallways and at lunches. And by and large, even when students have

104access to phones, they're very excited to see their friends and we see students talking in the halls. We see we see them interacting. We see them at lunch interacting with each other. and we don't really see kids buried in phones really where the primary concern there is just instructional and class time. So our recommendation is um at this point to move forward with that and then the last piece of that is we would like to re-evaluate the high school side after two years. And some of the justification is that we would like to see how the the middle school pilot goes and then how students coming up from middle school transition into high school. Um, and we just want to go back and re-evaluate just as we always would with anything to make sure we're

105sound in our practice and if we need to make any tweaks there. So that that portion of it I am asking the board to uh vote or make approval this evening and then on policy 6123 itself that'll be in July when we vote on that for the second reading. So a question. Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Um I'm not super familiar with a yonder pouch. Can you explain to me as a parent in the district if there was an emergency and I had a middle school student and it's locked, how's the whole unlocking process go? in the event of emergency. So, a few things. Um, the pouch itself, it has a flap on it and then it's relatively easy. You just close it and it locks on its own. It doesn't require any

106sort of device to lock it. Where you need the device is to unlock it. It's it's almost it's a magnetic device and then they're unlocking stations. What a few there are a couple things to consider there in working closely with law enforcement as well as you know our roles in safety and security as well. Really in the case of an emergency you want all communication coming from the school and you want teachers with training and firsthand knowledge of what's happening and giving directions to to be giving and feeding information to kids. So, in many cases, it's a bigger hindrance for students to have um and and there are other secondary effects, too, such as jamming up cell phone lines and overwhelming things for first responders and others that need it. So, um the recommendation from

107law enforcement is that students do not have access to that during an emergency. Now, what we would do is if there was some extended emergency, so we'd be communicating. We'd be telling parents what to do. If there was a relocation or reunification, we would be telling parents where to go, how to pick up your child. And but if students were in a situation where there were an extended lockdown or a period where they were in a classroom or area and there was a safe opportunity to unlock those devices and be able to say to a parent like I'm okay. We can do that. There are ways to do that. Um but it's all going to be situational. There'll there'll be times where that's not a possibility and then there may be times that it is

108a possibility. And we understand in our society today that's an uncomfortable feeling too. Um so that's it's a complicated answer and I appreciate you taking the time to explain. Yeah. Yeah. Not necessarily always straightforward but we do recognize that. Thank you. So this policy 6123 that's was in our materials and all. Yes. I mean it sets forth a purpose. this it says cell phone use is prohibited during instructional time but it doesn't really describe what what this these two bullet points describe. I mean shouldn't the policy itself set forth exactly how we're implementing the rule? I don't think I think we want to keep the policy and the procedure separate. So we can put the procedure and the code of conduct and we can communicate the procedure with parents. But as far as the policy

109itself, we wanted to cover the items from Senate Bill 106 in a broader sense. Okay. So, as long as we're going to tie the policy to the procedure, yes, that's fine. But, but then you're not proposing any procedure language to us, right? You're just showing us the policy right now. So, I mean, where is the procedure? Are we going to get to see the procedure language or Yes, I can send that to you. We have it typed up. We have this and then there's another section within chapter one of the code of conduct that we wrote some clarifying language in there as well. Yeah. So I mean if you can just get that to us I'd like you should have it in your there was a long it's the it's the entire marked up code.

110Um that but if if you don't have it I'll I'll No, I've got it. I probably just missed that section when I was Yeah, it's in chapter one. Is that your Hey, look, I mean, throw back. Yeah, there's a lot there. Okay. Well, you know, I was on the committee and I was really impressed by everybody who served on the committee and I was impressed by the two of you and your leadership of the committee and I know uh uh Dr. Pullman was there also as part of the committee and we had a lot of good discussions and uh you know I think the middle school everybody was pretty much in agreement on high school there were some uh who might have preferred uh a little bit more restrictive policy but um I think we

111landed in a good place and we'll go back and revisit high school in two years. So, I recommend this to my fellow board members as somebody who was there and I'd like if possible and if someone is so inclined to make a motion to adopt the recommendation. Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion that we go forward with the recommendations of the committee. Second. Okay. Motion by Miss Wall, second by Dr. Graham to approve the recommendation regarding cell phone usage as recommended by the cell phone committee. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Norm, I did hear you say I. So, that was great. Thank you. Can I interrupt just for a minute? Sure. All right. I'm going

112to take a short commercial break here. First, I want to thank all the candidates that put in for school board. It took takes a lot of effort and to put yourself out to the community and uh you want to represent for an unpaid position. As you can see tonight, there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes. We have unofficial results. Um Chuck Boyce with 434 votes. Dr. Zanzia Celeststeine Brown 618 votes. Tim Higgins 665 votes. Congratulations, Mr. Higgins on the unofficial results and even if you weren't successful tonight, we are thankful that you put in and there is always opportunities within the district to serve on committees and and um task force. So, please do not become a stranger. Thank you. Okay. With that, did you want to take a five minute

113break or just interrupting for that? I was just Okay. All right. Uh again, congratulations to Mr. Higgins, but also thank you to the other folks who threw their uh hat into the ring. Um it is a uh it is a great thing to be willing to engage in public service, particularly unpaid public service. Um and so all three candidates are to be uh thanked for being willing to serve. Um next on the agenda we have construction updates. Mr. Hopkins for a little bit. Right. As you can see, we're starting to come together now. Everything's starting to finish up. We've got the paving all the way around the front of the building. Most of the uh uh the uh p or the uh sidewalk is is is in as well. We got a few spots here

114and here that are going to get pumped in tomorrow. And this area here will be done. The striping is going to happen hopefully sometime this week with weather with weather permitting. So, so we'll get the striping in and at that point at the first of next week on the 17th or or 19th we're going to start bringing in furniture into the admin area and then on the week of the 28th tractor trailers will start rolling in. We'll start loading up the classrooms or furniture. So that the whole building is well underway and we're moving towards a temporary co from here. You can see the back of the building. It's kind of tightening up some back here too. This is where this the new fence will come down this way for demolition to start. And then

115we'll finish up this area this way. Out front's getting set up for side all the way here and all the way here. So, we'll turn this area green pretty soon. Thanks, Steve. You see the back of the building's all tightened up. Everything's getting cleaned up. This parking lot will start tying in over here in the summer. And then the other parking lot will tie in right here over the summer. This portion of the building will go away and we'll bring a parking lot up this way. Thanks D. This is the area coming into the front uh to the cafeteria here. This is your music wing. This will be some of the drop off area that goes into the auditorium and cafeteria. And here you see one of the music areas here. It's all complete. Floors

116are waxed. This is ready to go. We're ready for furniture. Same thing here coming down the carters. They're soon to wax this carter here and then we'll be ready for the furniture to travel down. All the finishes are in. Signage is up. Temporary signage at this point. The permanent signage is still in the in the bid phase. Go ahead, Steve. One of the classrooms that are complete. Marker boards this side. Everything's smartboards up. Rooms ready to go. Same thing for the science areas. We have epoxy floors in here. Have some of the other areas. The smartboards are in. Bathrooms are getting completed now. They're all done. All the accessories are set. All the partitions are in. Everything's clean, waxed. We're We're moving pretty well here. Another look at the classroom. Coming back. Everything's waxed up,

117clean, ready to go. We're moving across the building now with this whole process. Another classroom. All the science stuff is set up. The, you know, the goggle cabinets, fire blankets. Room's complete. Kitchen's complete. The uh health department comes in tomorrow. You check this area. All these panels will light up kind of like these do. It's a pretty pretty inviting area when you walk in there. Another area in the back of the kitchen here. This is there. See same with these panels here. These are going to get fixed. They're not lighting up, but they'll look like that. Auditorium is now nearing completion. They're starting to set the shells up now. This is the orchestra shells are getting built right in here. Seating's all in. All all the mill works in. This is just in to protect

118some of the stuff where you work being done in this area here. But the auditor term is just about complete. Speakers systems are up. Everything's wrapping up. That's where we are right now. When do you expect the teachers to be able to move in uh start setting up? Well, the teachers will come in I What's the new teacher day? August 17th or 18th, something like that. But the admin is going in there on the 17th. 17th. As soon as Yep. June. So, yeah. Just as soon as school is done, the admin will be set. We're setting the admin furniture first and all the computers, telephones will be up and running. We'll move them immediately out of the building on the last day. Set them up. They're up and running and then we'll start demoing the

119existing building. We have 54 days to tie in. So, is the plan to demo the existing building before school opens in uh end of August, beginning of September? I don't think we're going to get that far. you know, we're we're we're going to take all we can, but you know, there's there there's got to be some selective demolition that happens there, you know, for the taking existing brick for that outdoor classroom and things like that, but you you can be sure they're going to go as fast as they can. Time is money, right? Okay. So, I just didn't know. So, it's basically as soon as school ends, admin gets moved over and then the wrecking ball. Uh, yeah. The the key is we've got 54 days to get that parking lot in and make it

120ready for student drop off in the whole nine yards. So that's that's that's our key thing. We'll get that part of the building over and out of the way and then continue on and take as much as we can. You know, we we'd love to get that much done, but you know, we'll have to see how the process goes, right? And on time and on budget. On time and on budget. That's what we like to hear. Does anybody else have any questions? Thank you. Uh next on the agenda, we have superintendent report. Dr. Burroughs. Good evening. I'm going to be brief uh tonight. This is a busy month for recognitions. Um, it's better speech and hearing month. National School Principal Day was May 1st. This month, school lunch hero day was May 2nd. Just went

121through this. May 4th through the 9th is was teacher appreciation week. The 6th through the 12th is National Nurses Week. The actual teacher appreciation day was May 6th. National Nurse Day was May 7th. and the 19th was national speech is going to be national speech pathologist day. We have currently filled 665 positions um this year. Note that that's uh transfers and external hires. Um I'm sorry that was last year's number to this year 2526 we filled 49 positions. Currently we're up 204 students from our September 30th count. Uh that takes us to a student population of 13,11 students. Any questions? I have questions for Dr. Burroughs. What was the number of students that we currently are at? Again, 13,11. 13,1. Thank you. Any other questions? Hearing none. Okay. Next on the agenda, we have board

122comments. And we will start from the uh the booming voice from above. Uh Mr. Abrams or maybe we won't start with Mr. Abrams. Am I there or not? Okay. Um, as we approach the end of the year, um, I just want to take a moment to thank everybody who has worked tirelessly on committees behind the scenes at local schools that have made this year as successful as it has been. Just want to make a special thank to them. And to three board candidates tonight, thank you for taking the time and interest to run. Um, maybe the outcome isn't what you wanted tonight, but please consider staying on and helping. We always need help. I'd like to just thank everybody who went out and voted today. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Dit. My sentiments

123as well um what Norm said. So, thank the teachers for, you know, a good year and the candidates for taking a step up to run for board. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Graham. Thank you. Uh so just quickly um as mentioned you know thank you to everyone that has committed to the success of the school year. I think one of the most um joyous times um is upon us where we get to participate um in the different award nights at the high schools. I'm very much looking forward to that and then subsequently obviously the culmination of it all uh with graduation on June 7th. So very much looking forward to seeing many of you, I guess, as we attend these different events and thank you all for your continued commitment to um do what's best for

124students. Thank you, Miss Wall. Um I'd be dishonest if I didn't say I was sort of in all the fields about election results and all of that. Um I know that I've shared publicly that when I first ran for the school board 10 years ago, my girls were in first and third grade. Um, I don't feel like I've gotten any older, but if you've seen their pictures, they have. Um, I originally ran for the seat because I was an engaged parent and kind of looking for answer the question, how can I help? What's next? Um, these last 10 years, I've learned so much. Um, I'm incredibly proud of the efforts. I feel like I can confidently say that I've always tried to be balanced, consistent, and present. Most importantly, I feel like I've always been

125driven by the simple principle of doing what's best for kids. So, I wouldn't lie, when I went and voted tonight, I felt heavy heart about not being on the ballot myself. But congratulations to Tim Higgins. Thank you to everyone who went out. Um, I'm not going away. I'll continue to figure out a way to be helpful. Um, but I love this district. Um, I'll be here next month for one more meeting and my last bagels with the board members, May 20th. Um, since I ran for the school board 10 years ago, I use it as a public opportunity for people to come talk about their concerns with the district. Um, it's always a starting place for a conversation. I always tell people the same rules. Thank you for coming. Thank you for being engaged. If

126I don't know the answer, I'll try to find it. I can't guarantee that you're going to like the answer, but that we'll try to work together for a solution. So, I will remain steadfast in that commitment. If you'd like to come out May 20th, I'll be at Manhattan Bagel starting at 8:30. Um, I look forward to seeing you there and I look forward to seeing you all one more time next month. Thanks. You still got at least two workshops and a schoolboard meeting. So, that sounded an awful lot like a uh a uh validictori. But um I did take a note. you said you'll figure out a way to continue to be helpful and we definitely will take you up on that. Um, two weekends ago, I just want to say real quick, two weekends

127ago they had the school district elementary art show at the Newcastle uh library there in Middletown on 299. And um I I will say I I left a little depressed because there are second and third graders who are better artists than I am. Um but uh but it was very impressive and the uh high school and middle school art show is going to be this Saturday. So I encourage folks to go to that. Uh there there was a lot of really neat stuff. Um between now and our next school board meeting is the single best day of the whole school year from my perspective and I think from the perspective of my fellow board members. uh graduation is all three high schools are celebrating or having their graduation ceremonies on uh Saturday, June 7th. And

128uh so I'm really looking forward to that. Um as I say, it is the highlight of the school year. Uh and then the other great one of the other great traditions that we have is senior awards nights for the uh for each of the high schools and um you know watching these kids uh get these various scholarships and awards u we really do have an amazing amazing uh group of kids uh in our school district and so I'm looking forward to that as well. Um, and uh, we will be meeting again in another month. That'll be Michelle's last official meeting, although there's a workshop after that. Uh, we know she'll come to that, too. Uh, congratulations to uh, Mr. Higgins. I look forward to serving with him on the school board. And again, thank you

129to the two other folks who ran, as I said a few minutes ago, um that you're willing to do that, that you're willing to put your name on the voting machine. Um it's not an easy thing. It's a brave thing. And so, uh I celebrate everybody who runs for public office. Um with that, we will see you at our board meeting in a month. So, that's the end of board comments. Uh, next on the agenda, there is no old business. That brings us to new business. And before us, we have the April 8th, 2025 board of education meeting minutes for approval. The chair will entertain a motion. Mr. Mr. President, I would like to make a motion that we actually combine A and B and pro approve the minutes from both the April 8th, 2025

130board of education meeting as well as the April 29th board workshop meeting minutes. Second. Motion by Ms. wall. Second by Miss Dit to approve the April 8th, 2025 board of education meeting minutes and the April 29, 2025 board workshop minutes. Uh any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have the monthly financial report for approval. Mr. love this. The financial advisory committee met on May 6th to review the March revenue and expenditure report and they recommended approval of that report. Okay. Uh the chair will entertain a motion. Mr. President, I move that we approve the monthly financial report as presented. Second. Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Miss Dit to approve the March 2025 monthly

131financial report as presented and as recommended by the financial advisory committee. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have the internal accounts report for approval. Mr. Loftess. So, financial advisory committee also reviewed the March internal accounts report and recommended approval of that report. The chair will entertain a motion. Mr. President. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. Mr. President, I move that we approve the internal accounts report as presented and recommended by the committee. Second. A motion by Dr. Graham, second by Miss Wall to approve the internal accounts report for March 2025 as presented and as recommended by the financial advisory committee. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none. All in favor signify

132by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have the facilities assessment report for approval. Dr. Connley. All right. Good evening everyone. With me this evening is Mr. Annie Walton, our facility supervisor. and we are here tonight to present the um Aquinic School District repair and maintenance plan for approval. So the purpose of um our presentation this evening is to seek approval for our district repair and maintenance plan. Um we are required to do this, this is the second year in a row we are required to do this um from Senate Bill uh 270. But I do want to make sure I make note our district has always had um a maintenance plan, repair plan, and long before my time in the district and I'm going to assume Mr. Walton's

133time in the district, we've had this plan. We take great pride in our facilities um here in our district. Next slide, Steve. All right. So the district repair and maintenance plan in our district we have this plan and it is based on um several data sets and looking at the priorities that are listed here on the slide. So we look at the safety of our facilities, infrastructure and aesthetics. Part of that process is that we have a um district inspection process. Um myself, Mr. Walton and Miss Fields from our office visit the schools anywhere between three and four times a year as part of our formal inspection process. And then once a year uh Mr. Pullman joins us as well in the summer um for an inspection of each of our building uh facilities again

134looking at safety infrastructure and the aesthetics of our facilities. So when we look at the district maintenance plan, we also um as long as well as the data sets, we look at our we use our school dude um work order system and then bud budget sheets so we know our available funding. Does dude stand for something? No, I think that's just the name of the system. I kept thinking it must mean something. I mean, trust me, when I typed this up, I thought to myself, I'm going to ask for approval of schooljude as our system. So, that lost on me that that's what we use. All right. So, the schooljude work order system, while there is um a good name there, we really do have a formal process. It drives our work every day. So

135when um a maintenance issue is identified in one of our district facilities, all um staff have access to the school dude system and they can submit a maintenance ticket. From there, our chief custodians look at those maintenance tickets um on a daily or even hourly basis to make sure that we're being extremely responsive to the needs of our buildings. our chief custodians work to evaluate the issue and then if they can fix the issue, make the repair themselves, they do that. If not, they push the ticket through to Mr. Walton who then looks at the issue um and determines if it's something that our facilities team can fix inhouse or depending on the size or complexity of the issue, if we need to bring in a specialist or a contractor. And then reoccurring issues submitted

136in that work order system um indicate you know the need for larger system renovations or replacement. So we use this system to drive that work and planning. And do we have a budget for the I mean this is a line item in the budget that we're drawing against. Right. You're beating me to my next two slides. Yes, we do. when we have a budget and we have well we have multiple budgets that we use um to address the needs of our facilities. So we have these budget spreadsheets that are available and we are lucky to have uh two two people working in our office as secretaries who really make sure that Andy and I follow all of the the rules that we need to and using the available funding resources. So those two um two

137buckets of funds that we use are our minor cap funds and our maintenance funds. And when we look at minor cap funds, these are funds that can only be used, they're very specific in what they can be used for. It's any type of labor work with outside contractors for repairs and improvements to buildings, HVAC systems, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, um exterior ground repairs. and we have to follow Delaware um state code and state of Delaware budget and accounting manual guidelines. So minor capital funds are very specific in how we can use those. Do we have to use outside contractors or can we spend it and do the work ourselves? We always prefer to do the work ourselves if we can. Okay. Okay. Well, I just want to make sure because the way this suggested that we

138can only spend it for labor work with outside contractors. Just we buy material comes out of maintenance budget even if our team had to fix maintenance. Well, you say but so we get minor cap funds. If we buy material, it comes out of the maintenance budget if our guys do fix it. But if we hire somebody, it's all minor capital. So, we have to hire somebody in order for it to be minor cap. That was my question. Okay. So, with maintenance funds, it's any supplies that we purchase, cleaning supplies, any type of building materials, equipment, vehicles, uh repair to small equipment, machinery, and um maintenance funds can be used to pay for minor cap expenses. Minor cap cannot be used to pay for maintenance expenses. So that was um within the first hour or two

139of me um joining the facilities team that I was very clear on how I can spend those funds. So we also look at our um capacity reports and programmatic planning and then also our building utilization. So when we look at reports and plans, we track available space within our schools and our buildings, looking at where renovations are necessary. If programs um need to shift from one building to another, we do look at that regularly to ensure that we are always making sure that building capacity um is being met within our buildings. And then we also have our building utilization committee. Uh this committee, many of you in the audience are on that committee and serve on that committee. This committee meets regularly to review the current needs of our district. And the committee also establishes

140the 10-year plan to monitor the district's facility needs and track the conditions of our building. So, under Mr. Walton's leadership, we work very closely um with Mr. Hopkins to make sure that we are clear on the needs of our current buildings and any projected new buildings that need to come online. Steve. So to give you a sampling of things that we would use minor cap for, um some of our projects that are currently in progress at Aquinamic High School, we are replacing the original carpet in the library. And at Middletown High School, we are replacing the original bathroom partitions and fixtures um in student bathrooms. And then projected in some minor cap expense planning, we're looking at Spring Meadow Early Childhood Centers. Playground is in need of repairs and upgrades. and Brick Mill Elementary. Uh

141the chiller's nearing its end of life and potential future roof replacement and maintenance expenses, things we use our maintenance funds for. We do all our own um plowing, field maintenance, um ground equipment, snowblowers, tractors. This list are the general items that we use for our maintenance expenses. Steve So, um I need I do need approval from the school board that we have a plan. Um it is using the school dude system as our maintenance plan um for to meet the needs of Senate Bill 270. Tonight, I would like to make a motion that the school board would approve using school dude and to be in compliance with Senate Bill 270. Second. Motion by Ms. Second by Miss Dit to I guess approve the use of school dude whoever he is as our um district repair

142and maintenance plan. Questions, comments or discussion on the motion? My question is, is that really what should we have like a one-page something in writing that's the plan rather than just because school dude at least as I understand it is a software system right that you just plug into here's what I need but gets put into the system for queuing that doesn't really strike me as a plan I'm using air quotes Mr. force that I was going to ask the same thing. Can I get we have to approve it, but can they like make it as a policy? Just write it up like we normally do. Do you want me to rephrase my motion to approve the Apoquetic School District repair and maintenance plan as presented to include the software tool school dude? One second.

143To be in compliance with Senate Bill 270. And I I'm just that was my only question just to make sure whatever we're doing we're in complaints and everything. Well, I I mean I don't mean to give you a hard time. I I just want to this says we have to adopt a plan and you've described things that I would expect to see in a like one page or twopage plan. I don't think they're looking for anything elaborate. I just think we need something in writing that we can say this is our plan. This is it. What you've shown us tonight is on the the PowerPoint presentation, but is it really what the bill is looking facilities assessment report? Do you want to that approved? Well, I still think I just think we need like a

144one or twop page thing that is called plan. Yeah, but I mean is so are we going to approve that's my question. Are we approving this PowerPoint as the plan? I mean I've heard things that that aren't in here like you know they evaluate the building every buildings every year and come up with lists and all that sort of stuff. I mean, do we want to have something that if if the Department of Education walked into administration offices tomorrow and said, "Where is your plan?" Are we going to hand them this? So, we would hand them this as our process and our plan and we'd also hand them the annual facilities assessment report that we're required to complete for each school building. Okay. So, we're require So, do we reference having to do that report

145in here? Am I did I am I not we can supply that to you. Um I don't need to see the report because I don't think the report is part of the plan. As long as it says somewhere in here that we do those reports, then I think we're good to go. Or else, m uh Michelle, if you want to make a motion to approve this PowerPoint as our plan with the addition of the requirement to do a facilities report for each building once a year, then I think that probably would suffice. Okay. I'd like to strike my original motion. I'd like to make a motion that the that the board would you like to the board would approve this PowerPoint as our repair and maintenance plan to be in compliance with Senate Bill 270.

146In addition, the district will complete a facilities assessment report on every building that will be included with this plan. This plan also includes using the tool school dude. It says that in here. So, okay. Okay. So, motion by Miss Wall, second by Miss Dit to approve the ASD repair and maintenance plan as presented in the PowerPoint with the addition of a requirement to do a facilities report for each building on an annual basis. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. So, I just want to add a piece on Senate Bill 270. So, this was passed legislatively um where we have to do a facilities evaluation of each of our buildings. Um we turn it in. There has been no money

147given um so you evaluate your buildings and there's no money given to for the repairs of the building. A matter of fact, the last two years they have not approved any capital or certificates of necessity to improve anything. that is that now we're very fortunate in our community that our community has supported us um with renovating buildings and with building new buildings, but there's still stuff on that facilities report that needs to be addressed and there was no money associated with it. um we're probably in the top two as with the least issues, but it's something that happens legislatively where they pass um a Senate bill and then do not give money um in order for us to carry out what the needed repairs are. No, and I'll echo because we've seen this. I mean,

148we folks may remember that Middletown High School for several years had a roof that was leaking to the point where we had buckets uh catching where there were leaks in leak, too. Yeah. And and I do think the state is pennywise and pound foolish in that regard. They're always happy to spend money, it seems, on new buildings, but they seem very tightfisted when it comes to the normal maintenance that any homeowner or private co company would want to do on its buildings. And that, you know, if you don't do the maintenance, then it just costs you more down the road. And I just don't think the state has seen that enough. They're still not giving school districts, any school district, enough for regular maintenance. Now, they did increase our minor cap money um and gave

149us more flexibility with that, but we're talking um maybe 15 million across the state where currently they have over $2 billion of needed repairs across the state to schools. So, just put that in perspective. Right. Okay. Well, we could pontificate more, but then people might turn to other channels if they're watching from home. So, we will move on. Uh, next on the agenda we have Nolan's Law uh policy 6122 first reading. Dr. Gero and Dr. Peters. Hi. Second reading. Right. First reading. First reading. Didn't I say first reading the name? Yeah, the nomenclature is confusing, but yes, the second time we see you. Second time is first reading. Report. First reading. Second. It's real. Yeah. [Laughter] At least everyone's paying attention. All right. All right, so we're back um for the first reading of Nolan's

150law. As we had stated last month, this is also a new regulation within the state of Delaware um part of Title 14 that requires us to have a crisis response plan. And as I stated last month, we've had these things in place for years. So, we're very proud of that. and having this mandate which is also unfunded. Um we all we've had things in place and and it's not going to cost us any extra and it's not really anything extra we have to do. Um part of it is also creating and maintaining district and building level crisis teams. And then the third big piece of it is conducting annual reviews and trainings to ensure readiness. So the specifics of how we've been carrying out the components of this requirement for years as Dr. Gera stated

151is that we've adopted national best standard practices and framework that um is aligned with the component parts. So, there's a long acronym up there that um speaks to the name of the comprehensive program, which is prepare. And as you can see from what the acronym stands for, it really takes everything in terms of a comprehensive approach and moves you through prevention, mitigation, response, evaluation, and postvention. So very comprehensive program there that meets all the requirements and is vetted by the National Association of School Psychologists as well as many other national organization. So we have district level and school-based teams that receive regular training in alignment. So there's two two different workshops. We roll these out regularly in our district to make sure that teams are refreshed on them. It's not a oneanddone. This work changes

152over time and we need to make sure everyone's calibrated and up to-date with best practices. And then we also have partnered in rolling this out at the state level with other districts in the states individually as well. Um, so this supports both staff and students following a whole range of critical incidents. So this is ongoing work that we're doing, we're proud of and it clearly meets the requirements, questions. All right. Well, this was the first reading, so you will be back again in a month and then we'll vote. That'll be the second reading even though it'll be your third visit. Okay. I know. I know. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Then the second time's the first reading. The third time's the second reading. Next on the agenda, we have District Conduct and Discipline Code

153Revised Policy 6109, first reading. Uh Dr. Small, looks like you're going to speak. Good evening again. So uh we are here for the first reading for policy revision 6109 as uh we share with some of the other policies. This is our um slide that represents the particulars of the policy 6109 series 6000. We're at the first reading component which is May 13, 2025. Next slide. The scope for this is that it applies to all stakeholders both internal and external of the school district to include enrolled students, parents, guardians, and appropriate community members within the district. And I'm now going to turn over to Dr. Gerov. Thank you, Dr. Small. Um the this is a summary of the policy itself, but the summary is that we are committed to a safe, civil and welcoming environment. Parents,

154community members, and attendees must treat students, staff, and volunteers with respect, behave in a civil manner, and not disrupt or interfere with school events. So, we're talking about all school events and whether that's school on school property or school sponsored. Um, and also anyone on our grounds or within vehicles on our grounds. So my only question is so this is a this is the policy but I know that I mean this does not I'm going to say the code where we're going to have consequences if people don't follow the code and disrupt sporting events or throw punches or do any of the other things that fortunately they've happened infrequently but they've happened frequently enough that now we've got to do something that's going to be part of the code that we talked about earlier that'll

155be revised, but that was just the general policy. Correct. Okay. I just want to make sure this wasn't it. No, this isn't it. This is the policy that will then lead us to the committee work with the procedures which will be the parent code of conduct. Okay, great. And this is um just the first reading. So again, this will come back to us next month. Does anybody else have any questions? Hearing none. Thank you. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have SDIP approval. Thank you. By the way, my keyboard doesn't All right. Yeah, we have a whole team approach here. So, so the million-dollar question is is what's CIP? Oh, okay. Well, I would that is actually what I was going to lead with. So it's STIP and it's the discipline improvement plan process.

156So after I defined it, I was going to say I will be referring to it as a step throughout the presentation here. So I'm Christy Peters from student services and I'm co-presenting with Patrico Gilby also from student services. And then we have building leads for their building level estip plans um from each of the four schools that currently develop the plan. So we have Kellen Marmallejo from Kwells Bridge, Raven Collins from Appo High, Dan Sullivan from Meredith Middle, and Alulby from Reading Middle School. So, I'm going to give you a brief overview of what the ESTIP plan process is um and then turn it over to Patrico Gilvy who's going to walk you through through some of the building specifics. So, I have some um words in bold here that stand out about the process.

157So, it's a strategic planning process that does align with our other strategic planning processes in the district. It uses suspension data as the key metric, focuses on data informed decisionmaking, and it's really aiming to close achievement gaps and elevate student outcomes. So, these are the thresholds and ways that schools can be identified as um required to develop these plans. So there's certain subgroups that are lifted listed um at the top there including race, ethnicity, gender, grade level, limited English proficiency, students with disabilities and also low income is another subgroup. So it can either be based on overall out of school suspension rates or based on discrepancies between the different subgroups rates. Thank you Dr. Peters. What you see in front of you is the first school that has been identified which is Apple High School.

158They have three subgroups and by the end of their year plan they project a 10% reduction in school out of school suspension. Next slide. What happens if that's not met? Sorry, can you repeat that please? The the slide says by June 2026 our school will reduce the number of out of school suspensions by 10%. Suppose it only goes down 9%. If it only goes down to 9% then we have more work to do. And keep in mind that these are actionable plans so they can change over time. Okay. I mean but but I mean this isn't tied to funding or anything. There's no No, it is not. And and I mean are these are these requirements do they come from state law, federal law, federal regulation, state regulation? The state department of education. Okay. that

159what they felt was a realistic annual goal. And then we'll be doing progress monitoring to see if we're on track or if we need to make adjustments along the way. Okay, thank you. Great question. Um, next you have Kwells Bridge Middle School. they were identified for one indicator and by the end of their year plan they proceed to um reduce by 20%. Next slide please. Next you have Everett Meredith Middle School. They have two indicators and by the end of their year plan they have a projection of 20% as well. Thank you. And our last school is Lewis El Ready Middle School. They have four indicators and they project by the end of their year plan a 15% reduction in out of school suspension. So if you go to the next slide where it says

160district level MTSS, this is where all of our work has to begin. We are going to be focusing on goal two of the strategic plan and the indicators that we're going to focus on as a district and department team. We're going to look at integrated MTSS support teams. And what that means is we are going to actually take in consideration what does our student need academically and behaviorally. So it is on the heels of the whole child approach. So we're looking at the child holistically. Next you will see MTSS building level support. We're going to focus on supporting directly our MTSS coordinators at the building level. What does that look like? That could be anything from coaching, supporting, going to meetings, supporting them in their efforts to build up their MTSS at the building level.

161The next one you will see data analysis and monitoring. What that means to us is that we are going to implement a MTSS fidelity rubric. So we are going to ensure that our school buildings look at the rubric and identify indicators that they need to improve on. Whether it's looking further into data, do we need to make more connections with families? Do we need to make more connections with students to reduce this stu out of student suspension? Lastly, you will see professional learning and capacity building. We are in the interest of building sustainability with our MTSS. So we have decided that we are going to focus on professional development that directly impacts cultural instit cultural bias, parent engagement, student achievement and all things that fall under MTSS. So one of the professional developments that we

162have considered this year is called light up the learning brain. And with that we are talking everything about brain development and how trauma affects students and how they present their behaviors in our classroom. Next slide. So before we entertain any questions, I just would like to acknowledge this team because they have worked so hard. I've pulled them from their day to meet with me and I do have some comments from the Department of Education, University of Delaware technical assistant team. So the first thing that they had to say about your plan was that you have strong MTSS foundation with monthly data reviews. So kudos to that. They also mentioned that you targeted equity centered goals aligned to state requirements. So thank you. And they also mentioned that there is a clear understanding of problem areas

163and commitment to improvement. So, thank you again. That concludes my presentation. Or are there any questions? I have a few questions. Yes. Um, one, thank you for um this information. Um, this may have been stated or I may have missed it. When did we start when did the S DIP process start? So it actually began in 2018, but it was interrupted by COVID because we need three consecutive meaningful years of data. So the data that's being used that found these girls to have met the threshold are school years 22, 23, and 24. So it's a one-year lag data system. So this was the first year that schools across the state were flagged for meeting the thresholds and then you know offered the opportunities and supports to partner in developing um plans to strengthen supports and

164target reductions. Okay. Thank you. And with the information you just stated, you may have already answered the question, but I'mma ask it again because I um I want to make sure. So with the increase in um inflation and the loss of jobs, um have you seen the the low income group change or is that data not available yet since you're just getting back into it and it just kind of happened the beginning of this year? I'd say that's the hardest subgroup to get solid data regarding. Um, but I'd say the same challenges persist across years in getting meaningful data for that population. So it does become then a point of comparison even though we know there are some flawed data for different reasons and people's comfort with reporting or filling out forms. So that's always

165a difficult metric but still I think one that we take what we get knowing there's there's gaps in it and still try to target and see improvement. Okay. And I think you answered the question, my third question. So, um, what number is low income? Is it again whatever information you get that determines the low income rate? Yes. I believe it's based on free and reduced lunch. That's what I was going to say. My understanding is that the low income that that the free and reduced lunch is essentially a proxy for low income because I feel like that could change just like in the beginning this year like I well it changes every year. I mean with the new loss of jobs and inflation I think it's going to be a huge that low income is

166going to just just open up. Yes. I mean each of these subgroups fluxes for different reasons even rises in students with disabilities that we serve changes over time. Um there's just different nuances to the way that we're comparing the subgroups. But um yeah, one thing that's done to control for that is that the suspension data is always reported as number of um suspensions out of a 100 students. And then that makes that point of comparison a little bit easier than if we were talking percentiles, which can get skewed and harder to to look at from point A to point B. And you may not, but Matt, you may know. My recollection is that um roughly 18% of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch. Is that about right? 18 or 20% districtwide. Yeah. Yeah.

167I think the highest was 22%. Right. And and just put by way of comparison, there are districts to the north of us where the free and reduced lunch student population is like 32 33%. I mean, we're fortunate in Appleo, I'll say, to have a lower percentage. It's still much higher than I think a lot of people realize. I mean, it's really a big number. Yeah. I didn't mean Did you have something more to say? I didn't mean to cut that. I did. So, um, you just I'm sorry. Oh, so this all still seems very new. When was the last time you brought this to the board? It just seems like this is the first time I heard about it. the first time because this is yeah the first time that across the state since 2018

168since it was put on pause this is the first solid three-year data cycles to be able you have to meet those thresholds for three consecutive years well thank you for the work I think this is um much needed data um so thank you yeah thank and thanks to the team thank you um I have a question I think to um supplement what m um Mr. Dit just left off. So we recognize this is your first time bringing it to the board. What's your ex what can we expect as as it relates to updates because this is really good information. So we do need an approval of No, no, no. So we'll give you I I think we're going to give you an approval. Okay. But if it aside from that like Yeah. What can we

169expect as far as like getting like additional updates? Additional updates related to the goals being met. Yeah. Well, it aligns so closely with um the work of goal two on the strategic plan. That's the place where we'll continue to give those updates and you'll receive the information on an ongoing basis. That's Michelle's goal. Yeah. Okay. All right. I just wanted to know what we can expect going forward. Thank you for the good work, all of you. Thank you. Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion that we approve the plan as presented. Second. Feels like motion by Miss Wall. second by Dr. Graham to approve the SDIP plan as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion. Uh I echo everybody else's comments. Thank you for all your good work on the plan. Any

170further questions or comments? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have the overnight field trips for approval. Mr. President, I would like to make a motion that we approve the following four trips for approval. Trip ID 9926 um uh AG water students to Japan for cultural experience. Trip ID 10797 and 10796 which will be the AON and Odessa JOTC students to Buouie State University for a leadership camp. Trip ID 9674 which will be the Odessa High School students to Costa Rica for a cultural experience and also approval preliminary approval of an additional trip. T trip trip ID 10766 um AG water students to Costa Rica for cultural immersion experience. It's five trips in total. Four for approval, one for preliminary approval. Second.

171Motion by Miss Wall, second by Dr. for grant to approve trip for trips trip IDs 10796 and 9674 and to give preliminary approval to trip ID 10766. Any questions, comments or discussion on the motion hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. I I Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have the civil construction documents for approval. Mr. Hopkins. Yes. I'd previously brought the uh the design development uh drawings to you. They were at 66% at that time and they were approved. These are now 95% drawings. I'm recommending these drawings for approval. We'll entertain any questions. Make a motion that we approve the drawings as presented. I'm sorry. Would someone second that? Yes. Thank you. Okay. Motion by Miss Wall, second by Dr. Graham to approve the civil construction documents as presented

172and as recommended by Mr. Hopkins. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have change orders for approval. Mr. Hopkins, we have a few changes orders for approval that I'm recommending as presented. Uh, a few of them to point out. We had a $29,000 ad for additional scaffold rental. We also have a $65,000 change order for safety issues and just safety conditions that we had on the project throughout the project. It's finally wound up. We also have a $26,000 credit that's coming back to us. With that, I'm seeking approval of the change orders as submitted. Mr. President, I make a motion that we approve the change orders as presented. Second motion by Miss Wall, second by

173Dr. Graham to approve the change orders as presented and as recommended for approval by Mr. Hopkins. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I I I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the ag Thank you. And thank you for keeping it all on time and on budget. Um, thank you for coming. Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda, we have the personnel report for approval. Dr. Small, the personnel report for the May 2025 board meeting along with the adjustments and names from executive session have been presented for your approval. We're asking for that approval first for the hearing officer's recommendation on the employee matter 2325001 and then second we are asking for your approval of the remainder of the personnel report. Mr. President, I would like

174to make two motions about the personnel report as presented. The first motion would be the uh recommendation of the hearing officer for employee number 2325001. I think there's an extra zero. Is it three zeros? There's three zeros. Okay. I only heard you say two. Okay. So, motion by Miss Wall. Is there a second? Second. Motion by Miss Wall, second by Dr. Graham to approve the hearing. Officer's recommendation and report with respect to employee 2325001. Any questions or comments or discussion on the motion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. So now we have the balance of the personnel report with the name as added in exe two names I'm sorry as added in executive session. Um is there a motion? Mr. President, I will make a motion that

175we approve the remainder of the personnel report as presented with the addition of the two names as discussed in executive session. Second. Motion by Miss Wallace, second by Miss Dit to approve the balance of the personnel report with the two names uh as discussed and added in executive session. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. That brings us to the end of our agenda and the establishment of meeting dates. There is going to be a board workshop at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 27th. There will be an executive session preceding that at 5:00. Graduation, by the way, as I said earlier, is Saturday, June 7th, best day of the year. Uh the financial advisory committee meeting is on Tuesday,

176June 3rd at 6 p.m. And the Tony Mario building just down the hill. And our next regular board of education meeting is Tuesday, June 10th, 7 p.m. here. We look forward to seeing people here in person. We look forward to seeing people on YouTube. Thank you all for coming. We are adjourned.