001I'm going to call the meeting to order at this time. Mr. Chair, I move that we reconvene in open session and adopt certification of closed session. Second. It has been moved and seconded that we reconvene in open session and adopt certification of closed session. Madam Secretary. Whereas the Dinwiddie County School Board has convened a closed session on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and whereas paragraph 2.2-3712 The Code of Virginia requires a certification by the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Dinwiddie County School Board hereby certifies that, to the best of each member's knowledge, only such business matters as were identified in the motion convening the
002closed meeting were heard, discussed, and considered by the school board. Dr. Elaine J. Pearson, District 1. I certify. Dwayne G. Walker, District 2. I certify. Barbara T. Pittman, District 3. I certify. Jason L. Brown II, District 5. I certify. All have certified, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Madam Secretary. At this time, we want to invite everyone to join us for the Pledge of Allegiance, if you would stand. Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Madam Secretary, do we have any amendments to the agenda? There are no amendments to the agenda this evening. Mr. Chair, I move that we adopt the agenda as presented. Second. It has been moved and seconded that we
003adopt the agenda as presented. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Are there any in opposition? The motion carries. We have some recognitions tonight. Yes. Yes, we have the historic Southside High School here this evening, the Alumni Association. They're going to provide highlights. We always save the best for last. Good afternoon. Oh, I was just talking. Thank you. First, we are pleased to share the Historic Southside continues to maintain its 501c3 nonprofit status and continues to operate under a strong memorandum of understanding with the Dinwiddie County School Board. We deeply value this partnership and appreciate the continued cooperation and support that has allowed us to preserve and promote the rich history of Historic Southside High School. One of our most proudest accomplishments continues to be our scholarship program for descendants of Historic Southside students. This
004year we awarded five $500 scholarships to deserving students. The essays submitted by the students were truly outstanding. This year's topic focused on the history of education of black students, and the students demonstrated remarkable insight, historical understanding, and appreciation for the sacrifices made by those who came before them. We are also continuing our tradition of hosting our annual historic Southside event each year. This is always held in the month of October. This year's event will be on October 3rd and we warmly invite you members of the school board and the community to join us as we celebrate our history, legacy, and continued impact. And you will probably, you will be getting a formal invitation. In addition, we continue to recognize Black History Month with special program. This coming year, we are planning to invite our scholarship
005recipients back to share their essays as part of the celebration. We believe this will provide a meaningful opportunity for our students to connect the past with the present and inspire future generations. Another important part of our mission is educational outreach. We traditionally share the history of Historic Southside with Dinwiddie County fifth graders. Unfortunately, because of the ice storm and make-up days and preparation for SOLs, which I truly understand, we were unable to complete those visits this year. However, we were grateful to be able to share the history of Historic Southside with students and staff enrolled in Encompass. The students were extremely inquisitive. engaged in ask thoughtful questions. They were very, very mindful of how important it is to continue telling our story for many of them see our museum every day as they travel through
006that hallway. And so they were curious as to why and what Historic Southside means and meant back then. We also continue to maintain and expand the hallway museum under the outstanding leadership of Dr. Sandra Ruffin. And Dr. Ruffin is here tonight. Dr. Ruffin, raise your hand. The museum remains an important educational and historical resource for our community and visitors. Additionally, we continue to welcome and greet new teachers entering Dinwiddie County Public Schools by sharing the history and significance of Historic Southside as they begin their educational career in the county. Historic Southside also remains actively involved in community service. We participate in events such as the Back to School Bash. and the trunk or treat activities. And we proudly serve as a community distribution site for the Amazon community giveaways. Finally, we want to sincerely thank
007the school board for your continued support of Historic Southside. The care and maintenance of the buildings and grounds do not go unnoticed. The Historic Southside High School Alumni Association truly appreciates the partnership and commitment you have shown to preserving this important part of Dinwiddie County's history. As chair of the Historic Southside High School Alumni Association and speaking on behalf of our membership, I extend our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to each of you. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to working together in the future. And at this time, I would like to acknowledge the presence of the alumni of Historic Southside who are present. I would like for them to stand so you can see who they are and you'll know who has my back. Again, thank you for allowing us to
008share with you this afternoon. We truly, truly appreciate your support. Have a great evening. Thank you. Thank you all for being here, and I want to just express my appreciation for what you do. I think what you do is important. For the next generation to hear your stories and to preserve the history I think is amazing and you guys do a wonderful job with that. So thank you for that I wonder do any of the other I attended one of the October events and it was really kind of neat when they announced the classes for the folks to stand up to say which class they were with and Where they had traveled from because many of them no longer live in Dinwiddie But they came back for that event and that was neat to see
009I've attended the school events there, too, when the elementary school kids came through. And it was very well organized, very well done, and the students seemed very interested in that background. So it is an important piece of our story for Dunwoody County. Yeah, I'm ashamed to say that I haven't visited quite yet, but I definitely will do that. I'm very thankful for all the work that you guys are doing there. We just approved the curriculum or putting together the curriculum for Dinwiddie history. And, you know, part of Dinwiddie history is what's happening at Southside, what has happened on Southside, as well as, you know, Black Dinwiddie history. And I think all of that is very important to, you know, the greater story. the projection of our community and so thank you for all the work
010that you're doing and continue to do for all of our neighbors here and I'm excited to come and visit Southside and hopefully I'll see some of you there and you can show me everything that maybe is behind the scenes and not in the Museum that you put together. I want like the whole VIP experience Thank you for giving your presentation I just would echo Mr. Brown. I was going to mention that, that I do believe stories matter. And I think we talk in our school district a lot about deep roots, great heights. And I believe that this story is so very important for us. And I do appreciate everything that you've done in working with Ms. Valentine and the team. I know you guys have been an integral part of that work and making sure
011that that curriculum came to be so that our elementary student are. our elementary students could start to really understand the history of Dinwiddie County and really how far we've come, but still how far we still have left to go. And they can be part of that work. And so I appreciate you all so very much for that. Awesome. Typically, after our recognitions, we take a brief recess just because we understand that sometimes the folks that come for the recognitions don't necessarily want to stay for the business. So I'll tell you what, we'll do it. Maybe you could do it after personnel so we can. Yeah, that'd be great. After our consent. That's what we'll do. We'll take a recess in just a moment so you guys can get together and take pictures and whatnot. So
012let's go ahead and deal with our closed session report, and then we'll take a recess after the closed session report. We'll entertain a motion for the personnel to deal with the personnel list at this time. Mr. Chair, I move that we approve the personnel list as presented. Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded that we approve the personnel list as presented today. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries. And student matters. Mr. Chairman. I move that we honor the parents' request and release student REL-06-26-1 and student REL-06-26-2 from compulsory school attendance based on religious exemption. Second. Okay, it has been moved and seconded that we honor the parents' requests in the cases of student numbers REL-06-26-1 and-2 and release those students from compulsory attendance. All those in favor,
013say aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? That motion carries. And Mr. Chair, I move that we honor the request for the parents of student number REL-06-26-3. to release from compulsory attendance based on religious exemption. Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded that we honor the request of the parents in the case of student number REL-06-26-3 and release them from compulsory attendance. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And that motion carries as well. All right. And so before we move on, we want to recognize some of the folks related to the personnel. Okay. I have the distinct honor of saying welcome home to Georgette Mickens. If you could stand up, I'm going to tell them a little bit about you. She is no stranger to Dinwiddie County Public Schools, but I do
014want to tell you about how fantastic she is. She has a bachelor's degree in Spanish. That's unbelievable. That's great. And that's from Christopher Newport University. She got her master's degree in school counseling from Norfolk State University. And then she received her certification in education leadership and administration from Longwood. I think you've tried every college. That's great. And then found her way to us. And when I first met Georgette, she was at Sunnyside Elementary School as a counselor. And I just will tell you, just was immediately impressed by her leadership. And Ms. Nodgrass couldn't say enough wonderful things about you. You certainly serve that community so well. And so we knew immediately that we had to get her into administration. And so it wasn't too long. that we got her to Southside Elementary School where she
015served as an assistant principal and then went to Sutherland for a brief time till my very dear colleague, Dr. Gurley, decided that he too knew how wonderful she was. And when he went to Charlottesville, he did some recruiting and brought her to Charlottesville. And I will tell you that I have been in talks with Dr. Gurley for a little bit of time and I kept telling him, it's time for you. you have had custody long enough. It's time to let her come back home. And every time I want you to know, he said no. And so I would ask again, it's time for you to let her come back home. And he would say no. And so then I finally decided I needed to ask her. But he's very happy for you and all that
016you've done. And Charlottesville, she's been the principal for the past three years at Tall Oaks Elementary School and to the tests I've done. fabulous job there but we are so so very happy that you said yes and decided to come back home back to the bees where it all began and to carry on your tenure here so we just welcome you back so we have Georgia and she's gonna be the principal at Southside Elementary School I believe you have special guests with you this evening Mom and dad, thank you so much. Retire. I have a feeling you're going to have jobs very soon. We're so glad that you've allowed her to come back home and that you'll be her support system as she returns back to us. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you
017so much for being here. Yes. But you have a big support system. So just as Ms. Yates said, we all have your back. We'll set you up for success. But this time we'll take a three minute recess so that those of you that are here for those recognitions don't have to stick around for the business if you don't want to. Of course, it's a public session, so you're welcome to stay for the business. But we would love for you to get together and take a picture and greet one another. So we'll take a three minute recess at this time. Go ahead and call the meeting back to order. And at this time, we will deal with our consent agenda. Mr. Chair, I move that we. Accept the expenditure reports as presented. Second. It has been
018moved and seconded that we approve the expenditure reports as they have been presented to us tonight. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries. Mr. Chair, I move that the minutes of the May 12, 2026 and May 26, 2026 school board meetings be approved as presented. Second. It has been moved and seconded that we approve the minutes from May 12th and May 26th of this year. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries. Thank you. Now we have some board matters. First up is our school nutrition bids for the fiscal year 26-27. Ms. Elder here. Hey there, good evening. You got Marion and I again. And we're here to talk about the school nutrition bids for the fiscal year 2026-2027. We're reaching out
019to you all in hopes that you'll approve us just to roll over or renew these bids. They are contracts for food, food service supplies, ice cream, and milk for the upcoming fiscal year. Those vendors listed that we'll be doing the rollover for are RRS Food Service, Freezing Point LLC, Hershey Ice Cream and Creamery, Pet Dairy, Smart Mouth Pizza. Rudy's Mushroom, Riverside, which is whom we get our paper products from, and then Brady Plus is where we get cleaning chemicals. Okay. And additionally, we're asking permission to continue utilizing the cooperative through Greensville County for the Coca-Cola products. We have estimated a total expenditure for the fiscal school year to be $2.3 million. And I don't know if you have any additional questions for Marion at this time. Are these the same vendors that we have been
020using in the past? Yes, ma'am. So you need action on this today? You need approval? So we'll entertain a motion if there are no questions or any discussion to be had on it. I move that we approve the school nutrition bid for the fiscal year 2026-27. Second. It has been moved and seconded that we approve. The school nutrition bids for this coming fiscal year. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries. And I think you guys are here for the next school nutrition increase in cost of adult meals. Yes, good afternoon again. According to federal policy, school food and nutrition authorities must, to the extent possible, ensure that federal reimbursement, children payments, and other nonprofit service revenues do not subsidize programs for adult meals. Because we are non-pricing for
021lunch, prices for adults must equal or be above the free reimbursement rate plus the performance-based reimbursement. plus the per meal value of USDA foods. So with that and doing the calculations, we must raise the lunch prices by $0.05. Breakfast will stay the same, but it is a federal requirement. So we're asking for approval. So what is that cost now? The cost would be $5.01. So we're just going to take it to $5.05. Breakfast does not have to be increased at all. We're at the right limit for the federal guidelines. We were at $5, but it's going to 5 cents. I believe that we approve the school nutrition increase in cost for adult meals for the 2026-27 school year. It has been moved and seconded that we approve the increase in cost of adult meals for
022the 26-27 school year, $5.05 for lunch. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you so much. I have a question. Can they still buy? That's the full lunch. Yes, ma'am. Can they just buy the sandwich? Yes, ma'am. A la carte? Yes, ma'am. The prices haven't changed. The a la carte price. They may go up. I have waiting on some distribution figures based on what I voted on previously. That makes sense. But it shouldn't. I'm not looking forward to going up. Okay. Cool. But I just don't want to say no. Yeah, I understand. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. And now we will. Here report on the roof replacement project at the historic Southside annex All righty. So Matt and I've been partnering together on the roof replacement
023project for the annex We issued an IFB on May 15th seeking vendors to come out and potentially replace were replaced in the whole roof On May 21st, we held a mandatory pre-bid meeting for these vendors to come out and get a chance to kind of walk around the job site, had the opportunity to talk to the architect, ask questions on the spot, and what couldn't get answered at that time was submitted to Matt Nye and the architect via an RFI, request for information. Normally in these cases, we would come to you all with an actual vendor in mind, but the timeline of this procurement process, sealed bids are not due to be opened until tomorrow at 2 o'clock. So what we are coming forth with is hopes that you all will approve us tomorrow once
024we open those sealed bids that we can move forward with the lowest responsive vendor on that project. The project is going to be funded through the county four-year 26 CIP appropriation. And work will begin once we have awarded the vendor. Work will start promptly about 10 days after the award. And then Matt has the fun stuff regarding what's actually going to be done at the annex. All right, so right now what we've got is a EPDM, which is a long scientific term, but it's essentially a rubber membrane. It's ballasted down with rock to keep it tight against the base of the roof. What we're going back in with is that, well, the process to have to come in, scrape the entire membrane off. We're retaining all the rock. They're going to retain those for us.
025We're going to keep them on site. Some of our school property so we can use it for other things instead of having to buy rocks later They gonna come in they can scrape everything off the roof. They're gonna come in and they're gonna put what's called a Cementious fiber. It's uh, it's got basically wood fiber mixed in with mortar. They pour it in itself levels They'll come in then and put adhesive on it. They'll put in a foam insulation barrier down which comes in four by four sheets Some sort of way it manages to expand sideways and up, but not down. But that's what fills in all the cracks. You've got a nice good seam for the adhesive layer to be put on top of that. Then they come back in with the EPDM, which
026gives you all an idea of roughly what that looks like. Imagine a bicycle in a tube, just an entire four-foot-wide sheet of it rolling out. And they'll adhere those seams, and then they'll be done. Is there any equipment still on the roof where all that is now? They will be demoing some of the old stuff, like the old science lab flues, that type stuff. Everything that wasn't needed, they're going to demo the old roof drain lines out from behind the concrete blocks so if there's ever any issues with the roof later on, we're not dealing with looking at the wrong area of a problem, trying to diagnose what the issue is. Typically, when they poured that rubber up there. issues were with what the equipment was around the equipment and then they'd come in and
027adjust equipment and then mess up the roof. The roof, the roof and expert that helped write up the scope, he went through in conjunction with us and we got up there ourselves and made sure that all the stuff that needed to go that was unnecessary, where it would be an extra tape seam, those are all being taken out. I mean, right now it's... It needs it. It's got a lot of... There are HVAC units on the roof. No, they're all in the windows. They're all barred units. They were from the Noresco project back... Yeah. Not in the windows. They're in the windows. They're actually mounted to the side of the building. Each room has its own zone. There's just no AC in the hallways. But how about, like, you know, bathroom vents and things like
028that? They're still up there. So are there any repairs needed to the roof before the roof is replaced? Yes, there's a 500 square foot thing that will be added in the scope. That's included in the bids though? Yes. Okay. The cementious fibers are kind of a hard thing to get. The closest vendor, I believe, is in North Carolina from talking to the roofers. It could be 10 square feet that are bad, and it could be all 500, but that was a contention in the pricing that the contractors are giving us. And do you estimate that the $760,000 is going to be within the bid you get, or what will happen if they're higher? Well, if it comes in higher, that might be a general question. I may have to channel some partners, but most of
029the time, if it comes in higher, we would just put it out for a bid again, is my understanding. As for the county project, they may provide us with more funding or come to a solution. But that's the amount that they awarded for the project. So we're sharing the funds for this with them? Well, no, they provided all the funds. It's their project, but we're kind of... It's our building. But it's not being used for school stuff. No. I apologize if you answered this already. I know you said it would be 10 days after the bid is made or whatever, yeah, is awarded. That's what I was looking for. For them to start the construction. But how long is it going to take for them to complete it? It's going to be after the 90
030days. So about three months. And this is for the annex. So will people still be able to go into the facility during those three months? I mean, it's just for the most part that the food bank is the biggest person there. You have occasional other occupants in there, but they're not there on a regular basis. I don't foresee any reason why they wouldn't be able to work unless one of the spots they find with the problem in the roof happens to be directly above. And then we'll pivot from there. Yeah. There's some really bad spots down where Christmas sharing is, but it's in the hall, not in the room. That's been repaired already. We repaired that in-house. Cool. Is that same rubber still on the flat part of the high school? Have we gone this
031same route with that? I mean, middle school? Excuse me. Middle school has a spray foam insulation that was put on by, I think it was Puff competitor. That's a different type. What the Annex has and what the Annex has is similar to what's at Sunnyside and what's at the high school. It's just like a giant roll of plastic tire that's glued together. This will be glued down though. This will not be ballasted with rock. I just wondered if we had other places where we have this new process, but what the middle school has is something in between those things. The middle school is literally, they mix it up in a giant hopper and they basically spray it on. And it expands, it gets about that thick and it holds up pretty well. We've been maintaining
032the warranty on those. Any other comments or questions about this? You guys need approval today. So if there are no other comments or questions, we'll entertain a motion to approve. I move we approve the roof replacement project. Second. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the roof replacement project at the historic Southside Annex. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you guys so much. And then we have someone coming to talk to us about the gifted groups. Dr. Garns. Dr. Garns. I am so excited to update you all on the plan. So I want to give honor to our board chair and all board members and our staff and our community So this plan was inherited by me So I want to take the time to give
033miss Powell her props for beginning this work to update the plan I also want to Thank the committee and I want to let you all know. Can you click for me? Make it easy for me. Thank you I just want to thank the committee because we did meet several times. It was a little difficult because of folks' schedules. So some folks did have to come off the committee because we had to move along. But I want to make sure that you all understand the process. So what happens? There's a technical review that happens every five years because I know we have some new members, but I know Ms. Pittman knows about it, definitely. There is a technical review that happens every five years. And what happens is in Virginia, districts exchange the gifted plans. So,
034for example, I was on a team and we had to review Colonial Beaches plan. Our plan went out and they. give us our plan they send the plan back with recommendations and commendations now let me be clear they are recommendations if we like our stuff we keep our stuff okay but we do dissect it and we look at the recommendations uh that are sent and we make adjustments that we feel are needed I just want to let you all know you all have a document that looks like this and it has gold. If you all could follow along with me because it'll help you understand what was taken out and what was changed. So we do have our wonderful members here. I'm not going to read the names. You can see those folks again. This
035group, this advisory committee is made up of parents. Parent teachers, of course, a board member and myself. And like I said, we did some parents did remove themselves because of their schedules for the recommendations. These are only recommendations. Keep that in mind. They were very minor. So in part one, a they wanted us to look at the philosophy and definition of gifted screening procedures and six procedures for annual review of effectiveness. So if you all could go to the next page actually it's on page six. I wanted to provide an explanation We no longer use specific academic Aptitude testing we actually found out that this was a mistake in our plan So the Terra Nova is a comprehensive assessment that covers all of those areas So in other words in other words the specific academic
036aptitude test is for specific subjects, but in order to get the comprehensive assessment done so that we can see where our students are comprehensively, the Terra Nova is used. So we strike that out because it was actually a mistake that we found. Page seven. The screening procedures. So the Commonwealth, and this was actually in wording, the Commonwealth has gone from POWs, as you all can see, to VOWs. So we had to change that. And VOWs, if you don't know. It's a science of reading research-based assessment. So definitely want to make sure we use what the research says we need to be using. So we changed that wording. And it is mandated as a literacy and reading screener for all Virginia public schools. So we wanted to make sure we made that change. If you all
037could go to page 33. The gifted advisory committee has been implemented, so it's no longer, we don't have to establish it. So we did change that wording. It's in place. We're excited because we have some ideas as we go forward with our gifted plan and our procedures. So it's no longer that we have to establish it. It's already in place. So we changed that wording as well. So what we did after we looked at the recommendations, we also perused the gifted plan to see whether or not there were additional things that we needed to adjust. So as you can see, it may look out of order, but we went back after we looked at our recommendations to make our own adjustments. So the update to page 12 to establish consistency. The secondary referral window will
038maintain established referral times. However, if there are circumstances that we do need to assess students, we will do that. But to keep it consistent, and there is a great amount of paperwork involved in this. So we wanted to make sure we thought about the staff members who go through that process as well. We wanted to maintain consistency there as well. For Part 3C. We wanted to provide additional data points and opportunities for students in our gifted experience. So testing procedures have been updated. We updated our testing procedures to remove obstacles, as we would like to say, for more students to be a part of our gifted program. If you go to page 13. Due to the updating the updating of the procedures we updated them and so no longer will school psychologists Have to they
039will no longer be used or required to assess students. Okay, it could be done by the gifted Specialists especially based on the test that we have adopted. Okay The reason that we did that As we researched, we were sort of behind other districts. Many districts, a lot of districts have gone away from using the school psychologists to test the students, and the gifted specialists are doing that. And one of our tests was kind of a barrier for students, so we updated that, and we wanted to be updated and innovative in that process. Innovative in that process. Minor adjustments, of course, we had to change our board chair name. So I just want you to see everything. The coordinator of student services updated to my current role's title. Of course, we reviewed all grammatical errors and
040formatting. Okay. I wanted to also share with you all commendations. If I'm moving too fast, let me know. I'm just very excited. This is my first time presenting this gift plan, so I'm very excited. Part 3B, referral procedures. They really commended us, basically, for how we handle our transfer students, evidence of appropriate service options, and referral procedures. So we had, out of the entire plan, We had nine items, nine of the 12 items were marked as met standards. Now, they're not, they do judge us, so to speak, but they were recommendations. But they did find that nine of our 12 items were sufficient. And that's the technical review feedback that we did receive. We're excited. We're all learning this process because we changed some things this year. But we're excited. Are there any questions? Having
041served as a gifted coordinator in a former life, I know how complicated and difficult it can be to make sure that local plans align with everything the state requires. And when somebody else has a good idea, it's okay to take it. It is. So I thank you all for all the work you did on this program. And I also want to share with you all or say to you all, if you all see anything that, you know, later after you've had time to look at the plan, if you have questions, please let us know so that we can take that back to the committee. But at this time, if there are no further questions, I am asking for board approval of the. Are there any questions? If not, we'll entertain that motion. I move that
042we approve the gifted plan as presented. I second. It has been moved and seconded that we approve the gifted plan that's been presented here tonight. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Dr. Garns. Now we have a school board budget categorical transfer request. Ms. Fleming. Good afternoon, each of you. As you know, we are closing down the fiscal year 2026 budget as the year that we are in. We are categorically funded by the Board of Supervisors, which means that our expenditures... follow the instructional category, administration and attendance, transportation, maintenance, and technology. So we cannot move money from one category to the other without the blessing of the Board of Supervisors. So as we get towards the end of the year, we are realizing that we need some categorical transfers
043due to... A variety of reasons, and I did list several of them here. We have had an interesting year with some repairs, some expensive repairs, as Mr. Hawkins could attest to, and has done a wonderful job keeping everything. running and smoothly, but we have had to do quite a few unexpected things. We also, as all of you know, utilities are running a little higher than anticipated the second part of the year. And so we are anticipating that we are going to need to transfer some money from our instructional category to our maintenance category. In addition, we have several projects that we have entertained under technology that we would like to just go ahead and get moving on and kind of get ahead of because we are not real sure where next year's budget stands also.
044So we are trying to be proactive in that manner as well. So we also have a request for moving some funds from instruction to the technology category. We are able to do this simply because we do have quite a few vacancies that we have been experiencing this year, as you are well aware of. You know we've been struggling with that all year long. The positive thing that it does produce is it does give us some funding that we would normally have at the end of the year. In order to do this, we do have to have Board of Supervisors approval, and because their meeting actually kind of fell before yours, they did approve us to do this at their May meeting. And so now we are asking that you also approve the transfer of $500,000
045to the maintenance category and $300,000 to technology so we can do these things in the fiscal year 2026 budget. And I will be glad to try and answer any questions you may have. And if they're detailed about any of these maintenance issues, Mr. Hawkins will be glad to jump right in. Are there any questions? Any of the things that we're planning on fixing with these on the CIP, are they already on the CIP list? They're just things that we need to do. A lot of them have already been done. They were emergency. Okay. We just need to put the funds in the right category. Yes. Yes. It's kind of a housekeeping issue. The Board of Supervisors did it under the consent agenda, but I wanted to talk to you all about it. So make sure
046everybody understood. Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the fiscal year 2026 school board budget categorical transfer request to move $500,000 from instruction to maintenance and $300,000 from instruction to technology. Second. Okay, it has been moved and seconded that we approve the school board budget categorical transfer request. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you so much. Thank you. We have some federal grant applications to approve it. Dr. Clay is gone. Yes, and team. Good afternoon, board. Each year around this time, we come to you to talk about federal grants, Title I, Title II, Title III, and Title IV. As you know, these are grants that are awarded by the federal government to each public school division. Each has its own special uses, and each coordinator will come up in a little
047bit and speak to you about the purpose of each grant and how they will be used. In the past few years, we have submitted consolidated grants. So this year will be a little different because they are going to be submitted separately, which is allowable. And truly, most school divisions in Virginia for sure submit them separately, not as one consolidated grant. So this slide outlines the grants and then the grant development process. It is the same process that we follow each year, starting with a comprehensive needs assessment. Then each coordinator collaborates still. They develop application. And the final drafts have been prepared in preparation for today's presentation. The actual submissions are due by July 1. So the needs assessment is truly comprehensive. A group of diverse stakeholders comes together and many, many data points are reviewed.
048Input is given from teachers, counselors, support staff, division staff, families, community members. There's a survey that goes out where they can give their input into how they think the money should be spent. So we ensure that there's a diverse group of stakeholder voices. at the table. Again, the committee reviews many data points to include academic data, behavior, attendance, staff licensure, and many more areas. This year, after that comprehensive needs assessment, the areas listed there that were identified as a need, professional learning, licensed teachers, we continue to try to ensure we have highly qualified, fully licensed teachers. Dual enrollment, we continue to grow that program. As you know, over the past few years, our students have many more opportunities for dual enrollment. Part of that comes from one of these grants. Literacy, science, math, student attendance,
049which I will say we've made gains on in several areas. Digital citizenship, student behavior, and supporting English learners are the areas identified by the needs assessment. So now each coordinator, grant coordinator, will present specifics of their grant. Good evening, board chair, board members, Dr. Weston. All assembled, good evening. So I will talk to you a little bit this evening about Title I. Ah, yes, there we are. So the purpose of Title I, Part A, is to provide grant funds to help ensure that all of our students have a fair and equal opportunity to succeed academically. These funds support high-quality, evidence-based instruction in literacy, math, and science, specifically. Also, implementation and evaluation of effective... instructional programs, as well as recruitment and retention of highly qualified staff aligned with the Virginia Literacy Act, also known as VLA.
050And then the incorporation of family and community engagement through meaningful literacy-focused activities. So all in all, what that means is that Title I is supposed to be the cherry on top in how we're going above and beyond for our students that are considered to be the most vulnerable academically and also from a socioeconomic standpoint. And as it relates to that, all of our schools now, all five, are considered to be Title I based on that criteria. So in addition to the needs assessment that Dr. Clay referenced, we break down how are we actually utilizing those funds to best support the needs of those students. So Dinwiddie County Public School proposes to use Title I, Part A funding for... six total reading specialists in addition to our five locally funded reading specialists that we already have.
051You will notice as opposed to last year that we do not at this time have any any interventionists. All of our reading supports that will be the, in addition to the cherry on top, will be either fully endorsed reading specialists or those with the micro-credential that is offered as an alternative by Virginia Department of Education, and then they will have a certain amount of time to obtain that fully endorsed licensure requirement. And so we are excited about that. Just out of a lens of transparency, Three of those currently are vacancies that we're actively trying to pursue to ensure that they're again highly qualified because we want the most qualified staff in front of our most vulnerable students. Also with the incorporation of the behavior specialist. our literacy instructional specialist who her role looks a little
052different beyond that of a reading specialist that they support first and foremost students, she first and foremost supports teachers. And that looks like modeling, co-teaching, helping with curriculum, developing curriculum and assessments, and most of all just being there as a thought partner during planning and preparation sessions to help walk through. teachers through not just what are you teaching but how are you going to teach it and disaggregating that assessment data to drive instruction. Also the incorporation of the family community engagement specialist position also known as FACE with a specific focus on literacy. How are we engaging our parents and helping to build their toolkit to support the needs of their children in the area of literacy. As you may be aware that position still also remains vacant and we are actively pursuing getting that field
053because While it's a vacancy, we know number one, it's first and foremost a need, but in addition to that, while it's a vacancy, that those roles and responsibilities fall on the school staff, and we do want to be cognizant of taking that off of their plate. However, with the understanding that family engagement is the role of all of us, like we all have a responsibility to engage our families. So we're excited and... anxious to fill that position. Also with our literacy tutors that have played a major role in just First and foremost being frontline assistance with pulling groups of students and providing those supports and interventions. Also our English language tutors at the elementary level to support our newcomers and our PL1s and 2s. And then also to utilize the remaining funds to support our
054required set aside. It is a requirement for us to set aside funding for family engagement, professional development, and our homeless population. We recognize that our homeless population continues to increase each year. So we want to support them in the areas that don't always tie directly to academics, but we know when they are struggling outside of academics without the necessary supports, they will struggle academically as well. Were there any questions related to Title I? Of course, I'm big on any supports that we're offering our L students, but is there a reason that the L tutors are coming out of Title I instead of Title III? Well, I don't want to speak for Ms. Brooks, but I would first and foremost say for me, I think the biggest reason is I think her Title III funding is
055very, very small and not able to hold as much. And so the beauty of the Title I piece is it helps us to support the most vulnerable with a very large allocation. And so, as you know, our CEP, our community eligible... Eligibility provision last year was extremely high, which gave us additional allocations, but also for districts in the state that, for whatever reason, did not utilize their funds. The state then said, let's disperse those additional funds across other divisions. So then we received additional allocations from that as well, which gave us a huge overall allocation. So we're excited about that to be able to offer those supports to our vulnerable students. Good question. Thank you. You mentioned there were five. Schools and it's the five elementary. Yes, ma'am. The five elementary. So is the middle
056qualified if numbers So we did look at that. We unpacked that with a fine-tooth comb last year. That's a great question. Thank you academically the middle school did meet that criteria and then from the community eligibility provision poverty rate if you will they met that as well but due to their enrollment if we did we just played with the numbers if you will to see what that would look like and how that allocation would then impact the other schools and it would almost completely absorb the entire title grant for Title I. So our goal, our hope is with that point considered is to saturate our students with the supports that they need and really target our focus on. Looking at trends, so for example, what I mean by that, if a student in kindergarten is
057receiving that Title I support, the hope is that by fifth grade, they're not still receiving that support. And if so, we need to do something different so that we can, again, saturate those students with the supports that they need, close those achievement gaps so that when those students transition to middle school, they're already ready and prepared. thing I want to champion with that is last year, especially with our HQIM HMH that we use for reading, I know it caused a lot of angst in some areas for some of our staff and as well as our parents, but we, for three of our high needs schools, utilized Title I funds to provide on-site HMH coaching. So it was targeted focus for teachers, again, on how am I taking this curriculum and putting it to use for
058the students. of Dinwiddie County in meeting their needs. And what we're seeing is now that it's helping with that tier one instruction that they have a better understanding of how to utilize it with integrity and fidelity. And so for our kindergarten through second grade students, that gap is shortening and becoming smaller because now they have the structured literacy that is. adequately preparing them for the phonics, the decoding, the encoding, to be strong readers. So our goal is that while it may take some time as they move into upper elementary, they'll be more adequately prepared to be successful readers and writers. I think now it's just the wait, the wait time that's going to take. But also, if you remember the board, you have approved in the meantime. the student support specialist that we have at
059the middle school, the math specialist that's there, and there are other outside agencies that have been working with the middle school to help provide them the support. So we're kind of working on both ends of it. But eventually, you're right, we probably won't have to need as many support systems there. That's our hope. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. So I'm here to present to you the Title II Part A grant, which is developing high-quality teachers and school leaders. And the main purpose of Title II Part A grant is to improve student academic achievement by focusing on educator quality and effectiveness. So it specifically aims at increasing the number of qualified teachers in classrooms, increase the number of qualified principals and assistant principals in schools. and improve the effectiveness of
060teachers and principals. So we would like to propose to use the Title II, Part A funds to provide funding for the following items. And so the first is for conference attendance. This would provide funding for our teachers, principals, assistant principals to attend conferences and then be able to bring back strategies that align with our division goals. Evidence-based best practices, professional learning is where we bring in outside consultants to work directly with our staff on evidence-based classroom practices or hands-on instructional coaching. Some of these outside consultants, we use EdConnective Coaching, Strong and Associates. We'll be working with Dr. McLean also this coming year. perform evaluation program which uses our talent and perform which is manages all the walkthroughs observations and summatives which provide teachers and other staff with real-time feedback And then tuition and assessment reimbursement
061covers the cost of all courses and assessments for teachers working towards full licensure or adding on an endorsement to a hard-to-staff area. stipends for our teacher mentors provide stipends for our veteran teachers who are serving as mentors for our new or Early career staff on this year We had 55 different mentors and so that stipend is able to provide them with a little bit of compensation for their time and alternate rights to teaching is Provides on financial support to programs such as the Richmond Teacher residency which helps build our pipeline of new teachers and the last one there is recruiting efforts which pays for the registration fees for Recruiting events that our division attends. Are there any questions for title two? Okay, Title III. Title III is for language instruction for English learners and immigrant
062children and youth. So the purpose of that pretty much is to support our English learners in acquiring the English language and meeting challenging academic content and student achievement standards. We also look at supporting on-time student graduation. and ensuring that students are taught by effective teachers, meeting Virginia licenses, and professional teaching requirements. So with a little bit of money, you know, I always say Title III gives us pocket change, but, you know, we do a whole lot with that money. So we do purchase instructional materials that support our English learners, such as newcomer curriculums, additional vocabulary development. products, high-level, high-interest, low-level readers, things like that that help support them. We do provide opportunities for professional development, not only for our ESOL-certified staff, but our content and classroom teachers. We promote engagement activities for our families. We
063try to... hold a couple of those each school year and what we're proposing to do for our Grant this upcoming year is to combine the funds from fiscal year 26 and physical year 27 to support hiring part-time English learner tutors at the secondary level. Since Title I focuses on the elementary level and we're very fortunate to be able to collaborate with Title I funding to support that elementary level. Previously, we had part-time L tutors at the secondary level through all-in funding. And since that funding is no longer available, we're getting very creative with how we can utilize our little bit of money to fund. I have proposed a budget that would at least allow two tutors up to 15 hours a week for the majority of the school year for next year. So any questions
064on Title III? Thank you. And the last one is Title IV. So Title IV supports student support and academic enrichment with the purpose to improve student academic achievement. And there are three specific areas with Title IV. It provides all students with a well-rounded education. It improves school conditions for learning. and improve the use of technology to enhance academic achievement and digital literacy. So we propose to use title for part a funds for The first two are for our well-rounded Educational opportunities, which the first one is on-site contracted coaching This provides targeted instructional coaching to support secondary science instruction and curriculum alignment and this is done through on collaborative teaching and learning group or CTLG consulting The second one there is the dual enrollment opportunities which increases the student access to dual enrollment courses at the
065high school. Title IV funds pay the Richard Bland for the courses that we do not have teachers at the high school that can teach them. The next two are under safe and healthy learning environments. The first one is a responsive classroom initiative, which supports responsive classroom training, which helps our staff build a welcoming environment in a strong, positive school community. And then digital citizenship support uses it to purchase a program to support our secondary students on how to navigate the digital world safely. And then the last one falls under technology. And so we use the funds for technology of training, which assists with the cost of sending staff to technology training sessions where they're able to bring back effective strategies to share with our teachers for daily classroom integration. Are there any questions? Thank you.
066We are also required to provide an opportunity for our private schools to participate in these federally funded grants as well. We send certified letters to all the private schools that are either located in Dinwiddie or in the surrounding areas where Dinwiddie students may attend. And the Learning to Lead Education Center has participated with us the last two years and will continue for the upcoming school year to the 26-27 grant. They do receive funding from Title I, II, and IV. They do not receive funding under Title III. Last year, their total award amount across those three was $5,460.33. Based on 11 students. six of which qualified for Title I services. We expect the total to be comparable for the upcoming year as well. We just received their enrollment update and we'll be running the new calculations
067on that. So this grant obviously has been a culmination of work over the past few months with a great team looking at, you know, what the needs of our students are and how we can make that happen, utilizing all of these grants together. Even though we're submitting separate applications, we're still looking at this from a total, you know, overall view. There are many criteria, guidelines, regulations, rules that must be met that we have to adhere to, and we do all of those things. But these applications are due July the 1st. We are still fine-tuning a few things in the actual applications themselves, but they are basically complete. Each application is quite lengthy, but they all contain a lot of information, and we'd be glad to provide you with each. a copy of each one if
068you do want to see the actual application. We are asking for school board approval this afternoon. We'll be glad to take any additional questions that you may have at this time. And I know, Mr. Walker, you will need to sign the approval. Ms. Rainey has that as well before we can submit these to VDOE. Do they all go into the, is each application separate? Yes, it will. This year they are. This year we are doing separate applications for each one as opposed to one consolidated application. As Dr. Clay mentioned, I believe that most school divisions do separate applications. Well, they both have their advantages, but really, if you do a separate application, if you're trying to do something in Title I, it's not holding up Title II or Title III. If they're all together, they're
069kind of tied together, and you have to, like, every time you try to change something, it's... just puts a halt to the rest of them. This way they're all individual and can be, you know, worked on or amended, you know, those types of things individually as we go. And the grant, you know, each grant award is for a total of 27 months. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Mr. Chairman, I move that the federal grant applications for Title I, Title II, Title III, and Title IV be approved as presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the federal grant applications for Title I, II, III, and IV. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries. Thank you, Ms. Foreman. Okay. Thank you. Thank you all. We have
070a literacy plan. Dr. Clay is going to share with us. Hello again. So you all remember a couple of years ago when we first began implementing the Virginia Literacy Act, and I'm just proud and honored to say we have come a long way since then. Our teachers are feeling more comfortable. I think, you know, through training and professional learning and modeling and sitting alongside teachers, you know, their comfort level has risen. Student outcomes, we see growth happening for sure in every school in different areas. That doesn't mean we don't still have opportunities. We do. But we have come a long way. So I just would like to say that first. And we're so thankful to the committee. that one, helped create this plan, but that continues to give input for revisions. It takes a team
071effort for sure. It's not just a couple of us that do this work. So you approved the biannual plan in June of 2025, but the committee, the literacy committee did meet this year, November, February, and May. just because it's a living document we we need to keep coming back to it what's working what's not working each school as you recall is represented on this committee to include the middle school and the high school and so there are a few revisions that we would like to present this evening nothing too major but again it will need your approval so the first page that we'll look at is page three and i will let miss brooks talk through those revisions On page three, the revisions that we took to our committee and we discussed, one was the
072use of what we call UFLY. That is a supplemental program for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. We originally had said our reading team members would utilize this supplemental program, but after listening to concerns from... the school level and from classroom teachers and exceptional ed teachers, we decided to add them also to be allowed to use this program with our students that required it. We also added the Just Write Reader Take Everywhere Decodable Books. These readers are aligned to our HQIM, which is our HMH-adopted textbook series for elementary. We received these readers based on the Comprehensive Literacy Support Development Grant that we applied for, and we received it. through the state for three of our elementary schools, Dinwiddie Elementary, Sutherland, and Southside. Every child in preschool and kindergarten receives a backpack with the decodable readers.
073There's 10 books in a round. So those books are utilized within the classroom during small group instruction. And then they're sent home to the families. The cool part about it, it was... The grant that we received is for family engagement birth through five. So on the decodable readers, there's a QR code. And the parents are able to scan that code also in their home language if it's something other than English. And it shows them how to utilize the readers at home. So when I say five rounds, it's really exciting. So during the school year, the children get about 50 books. The teachers use them in small group. They take them home. They keep them. The exciting part about the grant this year, because we're part of cohort two, is those children also got five rounds
074for summer intervention use. So the families are going to get 50 more books. to be used at home. So that's a total of 100 books per family. So that's very exciting for us. We're hoping, as you can see, that it is dependent upon grant funding. We have a convening session this summer in Roanoke to discuss the possibility of receiving that grant for an additional year. So we're really excited about that and hope that we can start earlier in the year instead of later in the year so the teachers and the children benefit from those books. So we did add that. Do you want me to talk about the high school or you want to talk about the high school? All right. So on the next page, page four, you will see, and again, the revisions
075are in red so you can tell where they are. You heard Carly Wolfoot come to you earlier this year for English textbook adoption for the high school, so we just needed to add that to the plan. Though the high school is not covered under the Virginia Literacy Act, it's important to us that this is a pre-K-12 plan. This is a plan for all students. So we have added that adoption there. And what we're also very proud of there is now elementary, middle, and high all have the same HQIM, which is HMH. So that's a nice connection. continuum. The intervention that is going to be added for the high school is also an HMH product that we've had before. So it is on the approved list. from the Virginia Department of Education, and that is Read
076180. The high school team is working together and has a great plan for implementation of that intervention. It'll actually be a class, an elective English for students based on a variety of data points. They have selected students for that and have, I believe, two teachers who will be teaching that elective. So we're very excited about that specific intervention for the high school. and then they also have access to the linda mood bell interventions they just were not on the previous plan so we wanted to make sure we added them there the next place where there is a revision is page seven this is also about the high school Again, it's about HMH that's been added. So this is the section. You remember there are several sections to this plan. So this is the section about
077training. So since we've added a new textbook, that will come with training for the high school English teachers to include general education, exceptional education, gifted English learner, and paraprofessional. So that's just a continuation. Read 180, there will also be training for that. So that has been added to that section as well. On page 10, this is one of the pages where we just kind of define the different things that are involved in the plan, the different interventions and core and supplemental. So you will see that the definition, some information about the READ 180 intervention that has been added at the high school is there. So again, kind of in a lot of different places, but it's all about adding the same thing. Then on page 12. This is the section about monitoring student progress, which
078is a very important part of this literacy plan to make sure that what we're doing is working. So in adding Read 180, there is a diagnostic and progress monitoring tools included with that that will be as needed based on which students are selected. So that has been added. And then right above that, we were at the high school using ExactPath and really great reading, but the team did decide. that read 180 would be a more effective path for intervention at the high school. So those items have been removed. And the only other change, and Ms. Brooks, you correct me if I'm wrong, when you get to page 14 and on, 15, there's a couple places in 16, where in the column about person responsible, you see a strikethrough there for interventionist. And the reason why
079is, you know, When we began implementing Virginia Literacy Act, we, as a division, said we want the most highly qualified people in front of students for intervention. And so we move towards reading specialists in those positions, you know, the most highly qualified. So at this moment, we do not have any more reading interventionists. Anytime one of those positions has become vacant through retirement or movement, resignation, we have filled that or tried to fill it with a reading specialist. So that's why that term interventionist is no longer there. We believe everyone's an interventionist. We're all intervening with students and in the school setting. So those are the changes. Ms. Brooks, did I miss anything? Okay. Questions for us? Any questions? I'm very excited that we're making, you know, teachers are feeling comfortable and we're getting, you
080know, we're realizing growth with the plan. was vocal at the beginning about how it began from the state level, not from our level. So hopefully next year we'll catch up with that, with the students having it at a younger age and going through with it. And we hope that somebody doesn't come in and change the whole thing. Yes. I know. And as Dr. Clay said, we do have data to support, especially in the younger grades, what we're doing with the structured literacy part of HMH. We are really seeing the gains there. And Mrs. Valentine and I, over the last two years, have conducted walkthroughs through all five elementary schools during the reading block, looking at structured literacy, looking at reading comprehension. And we can say that... data definitely supports that we are utilizing our HMH
081products. Teachers are feeling much more comfortable with it. They're really doing a great job with the fidelity of utilizing the components of the program. What has the state made an improvement on at the beginning if you went in with the parent section and you... you know, you got the information where the child was on the testing and you could go in and look to see materials that they could help with. was on the computer, the parent can do it. It was loaded for the low age and very little for fourth and fifth. Is that improved? I do think that they are working hard to improve that. When you look at the grades four through eight, we were able to send home some communication with all of those students at the end of this school year
082with QR codes for the parents to scan to take them to resources to help support that component within the home. So I think they're getting there. I would agree. I think the implementation of VALS in grades 4 through 8 this year, not just VDOE, but VLP, Virginia Literacy Partnership, has also added more resources for those age groups. Good. Thank you. So we need to take action on this. Yes, if there are no more questions, we do ask for your approval of the revisions to the literacy plan this evening. Second. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the DCPS literacy plan and the changes that have been made to it. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you so much. Thank you. Do we have any new business, Madam Secretary? There's no
083new business this evening. Dr. Weston? Our first Superintendent Matters, we have, I believe, Dr. Barnes is going to come forward again. Are you going to be equally as excited about the SEL screener pilot? I feel like my presentation is a loss. You're not running up here like you did last time. That's right. I'm still excited. Okay, great. This work is very, very, very important. The SEL screen of social emotional learning screener. So let's talk about the why. As we all know, we see some growing needs in regards to our students, mental health issues, bullying issues. There's so many things that we see across just Virginia in general. And also, based on feedback from the task force for safe and supportive schools, we do feel the need for a social emotional learning curriculum. So I just
084wanted to share some things with you all, and I'll try to. I always want to let you know who is behind the work. We had our main team and the reason we call it the main team they were the first to come together and Work through this process as we looked at the questions and we'll talk about that later. You all can look at those later We had a second review team to go through the questions And we did a little Dr. Clay always says sharing is caring so we learned some stuff from other districts as well and some social emotional learning Curriculum that was already out there. So we went through their process that way. So we had a review team behind the main team We just don't want to make we just don't
085want to make rash decisions and throw things together So we wanted to make sure that our process was aligned to the state and to the National alignment of the American School Counselor Association Mr. Simmons who was the principal who was a principal at Midway? He had vast knowledge of the state standards. So he brought that to our attention in one of our meetings So we wanted to make sure that what we were doing aligned back to the state. So I just wanted to share that and we wanted to follow best practices. So we want to talk about our objectives. We want to be able to identify those students. After we identify those students, we want to intervene immediately as possible in hopes that we can change the culture of the schools and then of the
086district. So You must understand that the screener when students go through this process. It is non-anonymous Because you can't help children if we don't know who they are Okay, so we want to make sure that's understood and we will make sure that's understood with parents which if you click next It's if you can opt out. Okay, everybody's always worried, but parents do have the Opportunity to opt out if they are not comfortable with that process So this is what I really want to talk about. As we were going through this process, and I do want you to understand this is new for all of us. The thing that we kept saying to ourselves, we want to do it right. And we really want to take our time with this. We want to learn from it.
087Even going through the process, we learned a lot. At first, we were thinking all, but in the pilot. process, we wanted to have a strategy where we concentrate or start with grades three, six, and nine. Why? Because those are our transition grades, or at least six and nine. And we feel like our K through two babies are still learning and processing. Not that they won't need those services, and counselors talked about how they will look out for those babies as well. But if we focus on our transition groups, it will give us time to learn. the process and how it's going to work and the feedback that we get. And as they're going into a building, you're going to know what those needs are as they enter into the buildings. And of course, they continue.
088So most of our counselors already know a lot of our students and the needs of our students. So we want to start with those transition grades at the middle and high school level. I just wanted to put this on here to kind of give you some review of what we felt was important. If you look at counselor vetting, so it says provides counselors the opportunity to identify and vet what is working and what is not. So as we work through this process and as we are learning, it will give them the opportunity to really truly look at what is working in this process and what is not working. as to why we want to pilot this this way. And then to really look at the behavior correlation. So as we look at our questions, we
089want to be able to identify how those particular questions correlate with certain behaviors so that they can do the work that's needed. We came up with our proposed timeline. We want to start this in the fall of 2026. And let me tell you all something. This takes time. We thought we were going to move along. But when we really looked at this process, we want to do it right. You know, our students matter, and this is about students' emotional health. We want to try to start in the fall. And this can change, okay? And then when we look at spring, we want to make sure we concentrate on late March and April. One thing we talked about is not doing the screener before they go home for spring break because if we see something, we
090can't deal with it because they'll be at home. So to concentrate on making sure that we look at that when they return. We also looked at the tiers, and this also goes back to the state as well. We looked at working out tiers. And I'm going to tell you, the team was phenomenal as well. The councils will identify and deploy appropriate services based directly on the tiered results. And we're going to talk about that. So we had some great mathematical minds as well and we looked at the questions. And so based on how many questions fall on the three to five survey and based on the number of questions on the six to 12 survey, this will allow us to see how they score and where they fall in the tiers. Does that make sense?
091So it goes from low to high. And I'm just going to share this low risk. All students, regardless of where they fall in the tiers, all of them will have access to counselors. OK. And school wide initiatives, guidance lessons and so on. And tier two level, again, access to counselors. This is where you get into the grouping and the targeted mediation. OK. No, no problem. Keep me there and I'm not gonna read it all to you, but you can see more services as you have more need does that make sense I just wanted to show you all this so it starts with the student the screener we work through that process and then counselor action Next steps. This is where we are right now. We're working out how we want to notify our parents, our
092teachers and staff and principals. Get ready because I'll be in your staff meetings just letting you know right now. So I know you're excited about your calendars. So I just wanted to let you all know that's the next process. We're trying to work out. how we're gonna let people know what's coming and what it is. And like I said, we're still working on this process and if feedback is welcome, but I just wanted to share where we actually are right now in the process. And I wanted to leave you all with this quote. By identifying needs early and intervening systematically, we transition from reactive problem solving to proactive care, ensuring every student is seen, supported, and positioned. to thrive so just be patient with us and work with us i did provide some questions for
093you what i will ask of you i want you to look through these and if you see something that may be alarming or you have questions about just please follow with us This is not approval. This is just general information. I know this is just the draft, but will we have a copy of the screener for our L students? Yes. Yes. We talked about that as well because we want to make sure we have to, you know, that's a must because they are part of us and they are our students as well. Are we proposing to screen everyone or targeted students who? The idea is everyone so you opt out three yes at three six and nine and it is a computer-generated yes, yes, and we'll get the graphs back through Because right now we're
094thinking about we're looking at some things right now. We're thinking about the general Google Doc survey form so we can get the graphs in the data back inspiration I just wanted to brag on Dr. Garns and his team because they've been working on this for quite some time now. And just recently, legislation has been proposed so that they're going to be making this part of Virginia Code that a screener is. implemented in your school system, but we have already started working on ours. So I do appreciate the fact that we're going to be ahead of other places. I believe the one for the state is going to be not until 2028 or beyond. So we'll be ahead of the game and already be supporting our students. And so I'm really excited about that. So thank
095you so much for your leadership in that area. And I thank you. And I just want to add that we are looking at an outline for our website. So that parents can actually go there and see it because you know, we're online nation so we want to make sure that they're able to see that and Have that information and have it, you know easily accessible to them. So we are working on an outline for our website as well That's just for report And the last thing that I had under Superintendent matters tonight was just that you received a copy of the new policies Just a little reading for you All of our team members are taking a look at our different areas and we will bring any regulations back to you But most of it
096as you can see best giving you a nice copy of showing you what the changes are to the policies But just for your first reading Thank you See, thank you. I say we do have a one citizen comment at this time. So this is mr. Goodman You'll come at this time. Mr Goodman as you come to the podium if you don't mind stating your name and your address For us and then you'll have three minutes For your comments. Thank you. My name is Justin Goodman 15 to a 1 James River Drive First, thank you for the opportunity to come speak. All the veterans, military that have sacrificed so much to give us our freedoms that allows me to do this. So, you know, one thing I find odd is I look at other jurisdictions that
097are locally, and there's a reason why I haven't been able to come and address you all before now. Four o'clock meetings, okay? So when you look at other municipalities, you find that the timing is a little bit later. I would encourage you to probably change because it seems, you know, perception as I'm looking is this possibly caters closer to your schedules and not your constituents. You know, they would have to take off work to come and, you know. Tell you their grievances or whatever and you know, some people can't afford to do that So that's the first thing second thing the librarian thing at the school was absolutely horrendous Massive cover-up no matter what someone likes to talk about or how they like to say it There's no reason that that was dropped by me
098online driving up to actually bust Churches for covering up pedophiles. So I'm heading up the freeway to go bust a major organization for covering up the pedophile. And I get notification from a community member, thank you very much by the way, that you know that they were covering up. So I dropped that. There's no reason parents found that out from me before you. That's a big, big bad thing. Let's talk about the asbestos abatement. So as soon as I heard about asbestos, my profession, so I get asked, what is my profession? I'm a realtor. So my job is to ensure people live in safe homes. So asbestos is a big thing. I've had multiple deals fall apart for just a little bit of feet of asbestos. There was a boatload of asbestos in that library.
099I have FIFO request. You did, in fact, do the asbestos abatement. But what's really odd is. You know, the Asbestos Hazard Response Act of 1986, then there was an amendment for schools in 1988. Why are we even doing that when school's in session? Makes no sense at all. You know, Prince George is about to repaint the school, but because of lead paint, they waited until it was closed. That's smart. I don't understand. You have actually teachers in Philly right now who are suing because of asbestos abatement removal. They have cancer, mesothelioma, a bunch of other things. I don't understand it. Power lines, that's going to be another thing I'm going to be coming to talk to you all about. We're talking 300 to 600 meter setbacks in most first world countries in Europe. Our children
100are not worth less than... The kids in Europe. And I will say I grew up in Yankee land, and MLK was one of my big inspirations growing up, okay? And I'm going to leave it with this. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. And our world begins to end the day we become silent about things that matter. The rest of my time, I would like to just give a moment of silence to all those affected by administrations that hide and cover up things. Amen and hallelujah. Bless you all. Take it seriously, please. Thank you, Mr. Goodman. You're welcome. Do we have any board comments? Any board members? I just want to thank every member of the school staff, the administrators who have worked on these various plans and have
101presented them to us so well. Having done it before, I know it's a lot of hard work, but thank you so much. The plans that we have looked at tonight are certainly an integral part of what we do in our schools, but it takes so much planning behind the scenes and paperwork and dotting the I's and crossing the T's. So thank you for being so diligent in that. I want to mention that our girls' softball tonight is playing at 6 in our quarterfinals, state quarterfinals. We're very excited about that. All the planning that's already started for preparing for the next school year. Thank you for all that are leading that. I just want to repeat the thank yous that have already been heard. I work in public education, so I know a lot of the
102intricacies that go into something as simple as just revision to policy. So thank you for all of the hard work that you all are doing, especially with the title grants. Thank you for putting together that presentation. I was actually taking a picture of the Title III slide to share with my... my director and kind of have a conversation with her about that so i'm really excited to you know see what we do for our l students and how we continue to serve them and continue to serve all of our students really so thank you for that and i'm also really excited about miss mickens being here especially knowing her educational background from one language major to another i'm really happy to see her especially at southside which has our largest l population as well And
103I want to add to Ms. Mickens, where's the dog? I like the dog. Oh, I know. We forgot to ask that question. Is she leaving? Yes. She is a beautifully big support, emotional support. Yes. Dr. Weston, do you have any comments? No, I just would like to thank everyone for a successful 25-26 school year. I look forward to being able to share a lot of the good news that you've heard people reference this evening. It will be coming up very soon. And I look forward to the year ahead of us and the opportunities that await all of us. Thank you. I'll just say this in closing. It's a kind of a weird time of year, I think, for our school system or for any public school system because it's the time of year when everybody
104is supposed to be taking a break. It's summertime, and yet those of you that work here in the central office, I think it's kind of the opposite sometimes. It's the opposite. And one of the things that I'm learning through the process of serving is that things are usually far more complicated than they seem on the surface. And so there's always folks who have thoughts and opinions that are based on their understanding of limited facts. And then there are those of you that are working behind the scenes, digging and fighting and scrapping and serving. And so you don't always get appreciated because people don't always see or understand what you do. And so I just thank you for what you do. I want you to know that you are seen and appreciated. So that being said,
105I don't hear any objections. So this meeting is adjourned. Adjourned. There we go.