001Good evening. Welcome to the August 9th, 2023 school board meeting at 630. This is the largest crowd we've had at this early before we go into executive session, so we welcome, especially the three just walked in. Dr. Shepherd, do you have a motion to go into closed session, please? I do. I recommend the Shenandoah County School Board convene a closed meeting under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act in order to discuss and consider several personnel matters involving the assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salary, discipline, or resignation under Virginia Code 2.2-3711A14. and to discuss and consider several student matters involving the admission, discipline, or disclosure of information contained in scholastic record of students in the Shenandoah County Public Schools under Virginia Code 2.2-3711A2. Thank you. You'll hear a motion to that effect, please. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
002I move that the Shenandoah County School Board convene a closed meeting under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. In order to discuss, consider several personnel matters involving the assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, the motion, salary, discipline, or resignation under Virginia Code 2.23711A14. and to discuss and consider several student matters involving the admission, discipline, or the disclosure of information contained in a scholastic record of students in the Shenandoah County Public Schools under Virginia Code 2.23711A2. Thank you, Mr. Barlow. Do you hear a second? Second. Second by Mr. Gutshaw. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carried 6-0. We hopefully will be back by 7 o'clock and you can converse at your leisure. Welcome to the August meeting of the Shenandoah County School Board. When we went to executive session, I think the crowd
003grew a lot, maybe double or triple. And I will, this reminds me of the gospel lesson that we had at church about Jesus feeding the 5,000 with two fish and five barley loads. anyway we got a number of recognition and people standing hopefully you can find a seat do I hear a motion to reconvene in close an open session please I move to reconvene in the open session Thank You mr. gut y'all do here second I second Thank You miss ruts all those in favor say aye all those opposed motion carried by a vote of 6-0 the Schender County School Board Hereby certifies by roll call vote that to the best of each members knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to
004which the certification resolution applies and second only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting was heard discussed or considered by the Shenandoah County School Board. Each member responds I do certify by a call by our clerk, Miss Jenner. Miss Walsh. Iso-certified. Mr. Petcham. Iso-certified. Mr. Barlow. Iso-certified. Miss Rhodes. Iso-certified. Mr. Callard. Iso-certified. Mr. Houser. Iso-certified. Next, Mr. Barlow will lead the invocation and honor the flag with the Pledge of Allegiance. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this beautiful day. for this verdant, productive county that we live in, and for this great country. We pray that tonight as we discuss our greatest resource, our children, our students, that you'll be with us, that you'll give us discernment, that you'll give us wisdom, that you'll give us a
005way forward for the best way to prepare them for the future, for our own heritage, and for their future, and for their well-being. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please join me in standing and pledge to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, for liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Mr. Marlowe. Do you hear a motion to approve the agenda as presented? I move that we approve the agenda as presented. Thank you. Ms. Walsh, do I hear a second? Second. Second by Mr. Barlow and Mr. Keller. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, motion carried by a 6-0 vote. And next, we have the distinguishing... recognition of many of
006our students from the last school year as we begin a new school year and Dr. Shepherd. Thank you we're so excited to have so many students with us here this evening. I am first going to introduce Mr. Scott Schlittner. He has several principal of Signal Mountain Middle School and he has several introductions to do this evening. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Shepherd. It is an honor to have the opportunity to introduce a couple of our teachers and their students who have had a very busy end of year and a very busy summer. I could talk about what they have done, but I feel the ones involved discussing what they have done will be a better way. I now have the pleasure of introducing Ms. Mikayla Amari, who was just named Virginia Association for
007Teachers of the Family and Consumer Sciences New Outstanding Teacher of the Year, and her students for their accomplishments in the FCCLA. Good afternoon. Thank you so much for giving us a few minutes of your time to tell you about the success our Signal Now Middle School Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America chapter experienced at the National Leadership Conference held in Denver, Colorado from July 2nd through the 6th. My name is Mikayla Omari. I am the Family Consumer Science Teacher and FCCLA Advisor here at SKMS. I had the pleasure of representing our chapter, school, and community on the state and national level. In attendance, we have 10 students from Signal Knob participate in star event competitions, general sessions, Virginia State meetings, leadership workshops, and enjoy all that the conference has to offer. Awards are presented
008to FCCLA chapters as well as to individual students or groups who compete in the star events. Students are recognized for proficiency and achievement in chapter and individual projects, leadership skills, and career preparation. Following the week's festivities, we had the following results. Cadence Turnmeyer and Brendia Back competed in Promote and Publicize FCCLA and received third place in the nation. Cameron Boyer and Mackenzie Jenkins competed in Chapter and Review Portfolio and received sixth place in the nation. Alexa Gurel and Hadley DeMarco competed in Repurpose and Redesign and earned a bronze medal. Ryson Walters and Logan Gimple competed in Event Management and earned a silver medal. Sierra Serringer competed in Career Investigations and earned a bronze medal. Sydney McCarter represented our chapter as a National Star Events Volunteer. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to
009work with these amazing students who devoted so much time and attention to our organization and I know they will continue to make us proud for years to come. In addition to their star event competitions, our chapter also enjoyed all that Denver has to offer, including a trip to Echo Mountain Ski Lodge, Elitch Gardens Amusement Park, downtown Denver shops, and so much more. As you can see, our chapter has many things to be proud of, and we would like to thank you, the school board, for approving our trip and providing our chapter with this great educational experience. These conferences and opportunities allow our students to grow and become better leaders in our school and community. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. I am also honored to be here today to be recognized as the recipient of
010the Virginia Family and Consumer Science New Teacher of the Year Award. This recognition means so much to me and I am grateful to have the opportunity to share my passion for teaching with each of my students. My career here at Shenandoah County Public Schools has been such a full circle experience being that I'm a graduate from Shawsburg High School and a former student at Signal Nine Middle School. Just a few years ago, I stood up here as a high school senior, sharing my experiences that this county provided me through my academics and extracurricular activities. And I am honored to be standing up here again on the other side of things, continuing to share the positive impact SCPS has made on me and what I hope to accomplish for my students. I believe that every child
011has the potential to succeed, and I am committed to helping them achieve their goals inside and outside of the classroom. I strive to create a positive, engaging learning environment that encourages my students to be curious, creative, and confident. From food labs to egg babies to sewing projects to traveling the country with FCCLA, there is truly something to gain by everyone in the Family Consumer Science classroom. I chose this career path not because of the money or prestige, but because I believe that education is the key to unlocking our students' potential to be contributing citizens and successful individuals in our community. The impact alone that teaching allows me to have on my students is something far greater than any award or title could ever provide. Seeing my students grow, learn, and succeed is the most rewarding
012experience I could ever ask for. I am grateful for the support of my colleagues who inspire and push me to be the best teacher I can be. A few recognitions to Heather Heiserman at Strasburg High School for not only being one of my favorite teachers as a student, but also one of the best mentors I could have ever asked for. Another to our administration at Signal Knob for supporting my efforts and guiding me towards success as I find my identity in the classroom. Another huge shout out to our Ramley at SKMS who have been so helpful in so many ways. We can be here all night as I thank our Ramley for all that they've done, but I'll save that for another time. Another to my wonderful students who have made this journey unforgettable as
013I have learned so much from them. Some of them are here tonight, so thank you all for being incredible inside and outside of the classroom. And lastly, I'm also thankful for the support of my students' families who trust me to guide their children's education each and every day. This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of all teachers and I am proud to be part of such a wonderful profession. I'm excited to continue to make a positive impact on the lives of my students and I'm grateful for the recognition of my efforts. Thank you all for your time, attention, and support. And as you can see, we are very proud of her as well as our students at Signal Knob. But that is just the beginning because now I am going to
014introduce Mr. Dakota Stroud who is our FFA advisor and all that his students have done this summer. Thank you, Mr. Schlentner. Good evening, members of the board, school personnel, students, parents, and community members. My name is Dakota Stroud, the proud agricultural science teacher and FFA advisor at Signal Law Middle School on the northern campus. I'm currently going into my third year of teaching and I'm ecstatic to share with you some of our chapter successes from the past year. First, I'd like to welcome my students to come up. You too. We have a lot of overlap with our two awards tonight. First, I would like to recognize William Welch, Chloe Welch, Gatlin Strohsnyder, Olivia Fisher, and Sophia Teth. These five individuals competed in the Virginia FFA State Soils Evaluation Career Development event last November. The team
015began practices on Thursday before the contest. The team practiced with Mr. Brian Fisher and his students at Stroudsburg High School, along with parent volunteers and soil scientists Mr. Frummel and Mr. White. The students practiced over the weekend and competed the following Tuesday at Engel Family Farms in Hanover, Virginia. At the contest, our team placed first in the junior division, followed by Stroudsburg High School in second. The team surpassed our expectations and won the state contest after just four practices. This amazing accomplishment would not have been possible without the collaboration of FFA advisors on the northern campus and our amazing adult volunteers. These team members also received a few special recognitions for their individual performance at the event. Chloe Welch placed sixth overall, Olivia Fisher placed fourth overall, and Sophia Teff placed second overall. Please join
016me in congratulating our first place soils evaluation team. And now I'm going to transition just a little bit. This past June at the 97th Virginia FFA State Convention held annually at Virginia Tech, our chapter was recognized as the first place chapter for several areas. The following recognitions are based on our National Chapter Award application, a 26-page detailed report of our chapter's events and activities that directly align with the National FFA Quality Standards. We received the Northern Area and State winning plaques for building communities, which is our chapter's events that specifically create engagement with stakeholders and serve the good of our community, and strengthening agriculture, chapter activities that strengthen students' knowledge of agriculture and support the agricultural industry. Additionally, during the closing session of the State FFA Convention, we were called to the stage to receive
017another recognition. This recognition was originally for the Junior Division, or Middle School Chapter, National Chapter Contest. While on stage, the Signal Non-Middle FFA Chapter was announced as the state winner in the No. 1 Middle School Agricultural Education Program in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Now, these amazing feats during the year are not easy by any means. The group standing next to me was tasked with creating and executing a program of activities that allowed our chapter to excel this past year. These individuals include Lady Mochra, past president, Sophia Teff, past vice president, William Welch, past secretary, Gatlin Strohsnyder, past treasurer, Olivia Fisher, past reporter and current president, and Katherine Dimple, past sentinel. Some of these activities the students were responsible for include Veteran's Day Breakfast, First Responders Breakfast, Schoolwide Dance Revolution, Schoolwide Recycling Initiative, Campuswide Ag Bags
018during FFA Week, and much, much more. Please join me in recognizing these students on becoming the number one middle school agricultural education program and FFA chapter in Virginia. And as I finish tonight, I would like to give a special thanks to all of our parent volunteers and community members who made this possible. These are the ones that really support our students' endeavors and give them the extra push of encouragement when needed. And finally, I am pleased to announce that our chapter will once again be recognized on stage at the National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis, Indiana this November in front of 65,000 people for receiving the highest national rating of a three-star FFA chapter. This concludes my report, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all for the opportunity to recognize my students. And as you
019can see, they were quite busy over the summer, but we are looking forward to another exciting year and the support from the school board. We appreciate everything. Thank you. So our next recognition is athletics, and I am going to introduce Mr. Matt Heiserman, who is the athletic director at Strasburg High School. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the school board, Dr. Shepard. I'm honored this evening to have members of our Salt River High School girls track and field team with us. We have five of our nine members and two of our four coaches with us. This group of young ladies started practice in mid-February and finished up with their competitions at the state meet at James Madison University the first weekend of June and they spent two days there. This group of young ladies represented
020our school and our community with the utmost of class and are very well respected throughout the state. We have four members that are unable to be with us this evening. One is Imani Hogan. She participated in the discus. Macy Smith, who participated in the long jump, the triple jump, the 100 meter dash, and was a member of our 4x100 meter relay and 4x400 meter relay team. Tony Rhodes, who competed in the 1600 meter run and was a member of the 4x400 meter relay and the 4x800 meter relay team. And Megan Martin, who participated in the 800 meter run and was also a member of the 4x400 meter relay and the 4x800 meter relay. The five members we have with us this evening is Willow Musterman. She was a member of the 4x100 meter relay team.
021Maddie Doffemeier, who participated in the high jump. and the 100 and 300 meter hurdles and was a member of the 4x100 meter relay team. Neela Kochenauer participated in the high jump and was a member of the 4x100 meter relay team. Paige Heiserman was a member of the 4x800 meter relay team. And Claire Keefe participated in the 400 meter dash, 4x400 meter relay, and 4x800 meter relay. All nine of those young ladies participated in all those events at the state meet. And all nine of them scored in every event, finishing in the top eight in the state. We had many all-state recognitions, which finished in the top three. We did have two, we had an individual state champion, Macy Smith, who's not here. She was the individual state champion in the long jump. And we had
022a relay team. finish as back-to-back state champions the 4x800 meter relay team of Tony Rhodes, Megan Martin, Claire Keefe, and Paige Heiserman. And again, they finished as back-to-back state champions. This group of young ladies, with all their hard work and dedication, they did finish, broke a 30-year streak at the school, and they earned the 2023 VHSL Class II Team Girls State Track and Field Championship. And as the community is very proud of them and proud of their coaches, Ms. Crispin and Coach Willis that are here with us this evening. They were greeted back in town that evening. I would like to thank the fire department, the police department, Mr. Allsburg, all the community members for coming out. They were greeted late that evening with the big parade coming back into town. And so we're very
023honored for them and very proud of all their achievements. And I'd like to thank you for having them here tonight. They're our 2023 BHSL Class II Girls State Champions. Mr. Hasmuk. Would you be back here? I got something for your good son that I had in my car for months. You want me to carry it for you? Yeah, yes, I know your amount. You know my ears don't do that. Thank you, sir. So continuing along the athletic theme, my next introduction is Mr. Frank Palmieri, the principal of Central High School. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, and of course, Dr. Shepard. My name is Frank Palmieri, principal of Central High School. It is my honor to recognize one of our talented student athletes for their accomplishments towards the end of the 2022-23 school
024year. On Saturday, June 3, 2023, Ms. Asia Hoover, Class of 2024 at Central High School, earned her first-ever state championship by winning the 400-meter dash at the 2023 Class II State Meet held at James Madison University. Completing the race in just 59 seconds, not only did Asia break her previous school record that she set at the 2022 state meet of one minute, she completed the race two seconds ahead of everybody else that she competed against. Pulling away from the field in the last 100 meters, Asia's win in the 400 meters secured Central its first individual state championship in track and field since 2019. She is the first female runner champion from Central High School since 2021. Asia, here is your well-deserved state championship ring. And ladies and gentlemen, can we please give it up and
025congratulate you. Our last recognition tonight, last but not least, Ms. Sherry Heishman, FFA Central High School and Ag Teacher. Mr. Chairman, board members, Dr. Shepard, thank you for allowing us to come to recognize our students from Central High School. Our agricultural issues team went to state convention in June and they had the opportunity to participate and they were winners, first place. So I'm going to let them introduce, one of them is going to tell you the topic, one of them is going to, each one of them is going to tell you their name and who they represented within their presentation. So our topic was solar farming, and we presented the pros and the cons. We didn't come to any conclusion. We just presented the issue to the judges. Not allowed to. So I'll pass out
026our... I'm William Eberle, and I represented the U.S. Department of Wildlife Resources. I'm Brooke Ray, and I represented the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. My name is Jared Cook, and I represented the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. My name is Bailey Sheets and I represented the United States Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technology Office. And one of their team members, Kerriana Stottlemyre, could not be here and she represented the citizens of Shenandoah County. So they had to present in front of 15 minutes presentation. They had to do all the research, talk to community members, figure out where people stood. They had to believe in their beliefs of what they think about solar farms and present that to the judges. And then they had 10 minutes of questions at the end. And they were. Pretty tough
027questions, some of them. They will represent Virginia at the National Convention in October. So we appreciate you all approving us going to that competition. So thank you. Also, community members that helped out in giving information, we greatly appreciate that as well. And parents pushing to make them memorize their parts, that's great too. The other thing that I'm standing here for, we're adding Taylor Leland and Taylor Janelle down there. Our chapter has about 140 FFA members and as Dakota said, each chapter, the senior chapters, which those would be the high school students, their chapters are ranked on the state level. So since 1994, we've been in the top 10. I don't know how many times we've won, but this year is another time that they are the number one chapter, number one high school senior chapter
028for the state of Virginia. There are 209 FFA chapters in Virginia. We are, in athletics, you go against all the 2A children, but in FFA, you go against ones through fives. So our competition is pretty deep, and we have a list of activities that can be... list of activities that we do as a chapter on that list. There's about 24 different contests. There's roughly 30 different community events that we participate in. Students start in the summer, come up with, as Dakota said, program of activities. They choose what they want to do. They chose... who they want to participate with, how they can help the community and that kind of thing. They have to come up with specific SMART goals to accomplish those activities and then they carry out all of those activities that they have
029chosen. On the national level, we have the opportunity of putting 15 of our different activities down so we have to pick something different each year to compete with and then we have to fill out the application and send that to national. Just like Dakota, we will be ranked as a three-star chapter. again this year which is the highest rating on the national level so the kids have a lot to be proud of for the activities that they do so thank you all for letting me come present these children to you thank you step out good job we have a fantastic group of students here in Shenandoah County Public Schools that is all the recommendations I have okay thank you the students Mr. Keller wants a five minute timeout. Three minutes. And the students are welcome
030to stay for the rest of the meeting. If not, you can probably find something to do to get ready for school. Okay, we'll reconvene. Next on our agenda is public and staff comments. The Shenandoah County School Board welcomes public comment during the most regular meeting and during public meetings. School Board members do not respond to public comments during the meeting or hearing. Each speaker may speak up to three minutes. The speaker should conclude their remarks at the end of three minutes. The Board generally allows up to 30 minutes for public comments on agenda items at the beginning of the meeting and for non-agenda items at the end of the meeting. If there's a large number of speakers, the board may limit the total time for comments and or reduce the time allotted for each speaker.
031All comments should address a matter related to Shenandoah County Public Schools. Complaints regarding division employees should be directed to the school principal or an appropriate school division official. The school board expects each speaker to be courteous, modeling for our students how one can respectfully disagree with other views. Speakers will address the comments to the entire school board and not to one individual board member, nor to the superintendent, to the staff member, or the audience. Speakers will not engage in personal attacks. Speakers may present their comments from the podium provided for them. Speakers that entered the boardroom were asked to sign up and we will call them as they were signed up. And the first one is Brad Skipper. I come before you as a concerned citizen and taxpayer from Mount Jackson. I'm concerned because I
032see an overt partisan shift in Shenandoah County's K-12 public education, which is supposed to be nonpartisan. This divisive shift has been happening over the last couple of years and it's disconcerting at best and dangerous at its worst. Our state constitution reads as follows, quote, the General Assembly shall provide for a system of free public education and second or elementary and secondary schools for all children of school age throughout the Commonwealth and shall seek to ensure that an additional program of high quality is established and continually maintained. These are worthy goals and not merely aspirational, but required by law. Earlier this year, I wrote to you all in support of keeping the Bible in our libraries and urged you to use the same criteria for all books. I also urged you to allow parents to make
033the decisions as to what their children read. No democracy has ever resorted to book banning, and such actions have never achieved anything positive. In response, one of you wrote to me that, quote, every successful civilization has taught its values to its young. When those values are degraded, the culture deteriorates, end quote. Person also stated, quote, age and appropriate training can and does lead to confusion, anxiety, and doubt. It is often the tactic of those who turn children into killers and prostitutes. That does not mean we ignore the educational shortfalls or persuasion techniques, grooming, which impact people, end quote. They claim to be, quote, a Christian existentialist. To that end, I champion individual rights, freedom of expression, civility, and innovation. And I have profound distrust of government power and oppression, end quote. I responded that their
034values do not align with America's core values. because this person thinks it's okay to honor those that killed anyone carrying the American flag by naming public schools after them, and that is distinctly un-American. Yet this person and others on the board are trying to do exactly the opposite of what they claim to champion in distrust. Limiting available reading material selectively is book banning. It does not champion individual rights and it adversely impacts freedom of expression. It is not civil nor is it innovative. It is a gross projection of government power and oppression. It is grooming by any reasonable standard and our schools, educators, librarians, parents, and children deserve better. The Bible doesn't train anyone to be a Christian, nor will any book referencing homosexuality, transgenderism, or bisexuality train a child to be LGBTQ. Please reject
035this planned overreach and allow our educators to educate. Next is Linda Allen. Good evening. As you know, I'm Linda Allen. I live in Tom's Brook. I'm a retired National Board certified middle school math teacher. I hold a master's degree in instruction and curriculum. I completed my career at Signal Knob. You're proposing a radical overhaul of our public school's library book acquisition process. You want to give decision-making authority to well-connected and likely unqualified community members while disregarding our... You want to give decision-making authority to well-connected and likely unqualified community members while disregarding our professional library staff who are experts in their field. Our staff knows curriculum, child development, pedagogy, and current children's literature. The proposed review committee would lean towards bias, exclusion, repression, and narrow view ideologies. This is just a way for you to micromanage
036our staff, muck up the acquisition process, and bring in a radical Moms for Liberty agenda. We have a purchase approval process and it has many layers of oversight. Your proposed policy would empower a group of non-professionals who likely hold very strong beliefs against a wide-ranging collection. They may have no connection to public education, but they do have a personal connection to you. we pay for qualified people to do a job and you don't want them to do their jobs the definition of appropriate student materials evolves and professionals stay aware of that evolution what my parents or even i thought were acceptable back in the day i now recognize was often dumbed down whitewashed or sanitized there were even outright lies and even more lies by omission Our students must have high-quality academic support materials, but
037they also deserve to see themselves in these materials, to feel welcome, and to have access to a variety of literature. Our professional staff, in collaboration with librarians across the Commonwealth and country, provide that depth and breadth. Our students need the truth of American history and of the human condition. Some of those truths are ugly, and some make us uncomfortable. So be it. We can't reach the ideals of this great country when we hide reality. Family and community have vitally important roles in shaping children, I know. I'm a mom and a grandma many times over. But in public schools, it's our librarians, our teachers and school staff who have vitally important roles in preparing students to be ready to participate in a democracy, to address the challenges of their day, and to be lifelong learners. Our
038staff has dedicated their higher educations and careers to supporting youth and preparing them for the world that we will not even be here to witness. This proposed policy undermines our professional staff and treats them with contempt. It's the antithesis of what is done by a well-functioning, effective public school system. I urge you to reject this proposal. Next speaker is Jeannie Russell. Can you hear me? Make sure you speak into the mic. Okay, how's that? All right. Thank you. Speak tall. I'm just, I'm just holding. I'll just, I'll just hold it. It's fine. Thriving democracy relies on educated citizens with the ability to think for themselves. To accomplish this, it is essential to provide our children with a broad education, which includes reading a wide variety of books with differing points of view. Students must be
039able to read, think about, and discuss new ideas with adults and peers to learn about themselves and how they fit into a wider world. Here in Shenandoah County, we are fortunate to have excellent professional librarians and teachers who are trained to provide books and other materials appropriate to all our students. All our students. We should appreciate and respect them and allow them to do their jobs without having to constantly look over their shoulders. You can pursue extra income and potentially keep pace with inflation. Don't let your money be lazy. Put your hard-earned cash to work with iShares Bond DTS. Okay, this policy is not about protecting children. It's about control and suppressing freedom because books and new ideas are dangerous. They are dangerous if you want a compliant, uneducated working class instead of a flourishing,
040free society where everyone can prosper. Let the children read. I urge you to vote no on this policy. Thank you. Next speaker is Karen Kasperson. I'm sorry, Pastor Karen. Members of the school board, I'm not that short. Members of the school board, Chairperson Helsley and Dr. Shepard, I am the Reverend Karen Kasperson from Woodstock, an ordained Lutheran pastor for 28 years and speaking from the Christian point of view. What are you afraid of? Seriously, what are you afraid of? Your proposed policy for library book selection will restrict what is available for all our students. Members of a review board handpicked by a highly conservative school board will inevitably reduce the variety of reading material for all our students. What are you afraid of? That we can no longer control what our children get to know?
041that our children might be exposed to ideas and experiences contrary to what you believe. Wouldn't it be better to allow the few children who happen to take home a book with an undesirable theme or content have an adult either prohibit their child from reading it, or better still, read with the child and have a chance to discuss why or why not. It fits in with the family's perspective. Limiting choices of reading material would deny those families who wish to expose their child to new ideas the opportunity to do so. What are you afraid of? That an accurate portrayal of history makes you uncomfortable? History is messy and filled with conflict that needs to be accurately portrayed. The truth should not be selectively censored. What are you afraid of? That one day you will walk into
042a school board meeting that is not exclusively lily white, married to a person of the correct gender, and are unquestionably conservative. We accurately reflect the world as it has always been. Now folks are speaking up and out about who they are. We've always been a people of diversity. Our world is colorful. What are you afraid of? Exposing our innocent children to sex? Let me enlighten you, they already do. Not from library books, but from older siblings, friends with Netflix, and TikTok. Wouldn't it be better to have a family discussion to make sure they have a better understanding and one that is compatible with the adult's opinions? What are you afraid of? that children will be exposed to different sexual orientations? It's a reality. It's likely that I already have a friend who's being raised by
043two daddies, have a gay sibling, or a cousin who is trans. What better way to open a discussion about sexual orientation should the child happen to bring home a library book on the subject? What are you afraid of? Do you really want to impose the opinions of some on all? Or do you want to allow all families to make their own choices? What is truly parental rights? Thank you for your time. Next speaker is Rhonda Zingograf. I don't think I pronounced that name correctly. It's fine. Zingograf. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Rhonda Zingriff and I live in Mount Jackson. I taught for 40 years in higher education. I urge you to reject this proposed library acquisition policy for three reasons. The poor condition of the document is not one of them. Although weakened
044by inconsistencies, syntax flaws, and ambiguities, a skilled writer's revision can redeem all of that. So the poor condition of the draft can't be ignored, but it's a sidebar issue compared to the policy itself. The first reason to reject is that this is deeply insulting. As a college professor, I participated extensively in library acquisition decisions. I made choices based on relevance to the curriculum, value for research assignments, currency of sources, suitability for students, and so forth. And my peers with different expertise brought the same concerns to their recommendations. For any of us, to confront cancellation of our work by a committee of appointees who could not possibly match our expertise and whose appointment signified an obvious political agenda of censorship would be insulting enough to warrant resignations. And resignations are the second reason to reject this.
045The departure of qualified, dedicated teachers and other professional staff such as librarians is leaving school districts in crisis. The struggle to fill positions has become a source of demoralization for overworked employees who are trying to fill the gaps. To ask now for this board to get a mandatory list of proposed library acquisitions and solicit public review and comment seems excessive. But this proposed library review committee is beyond excessive. It is a slap in the face. When faced with a proposal that can only encourage more people to quit, it would be smart to vote against it. My final reason for hoping that you reject this is very simple. You've heard it already. It will not work. Recall your own innate curiosities and your own hunger for understanding when you were in school. For today's youth, add
046access to sources of information you never imagined, some of which are at their fingertips all the time. It is folly to insult professional adults out of the pretense that you're going to place blinders on our young people. It will not work. Thank you. Next speaker is Kelsey Lawrence. Hi. Today I stand before you to emphasize the importance of recognizing and respecting the rights of all parents in our school community. It is a fundamental principle that our children's education is a collaborative effort between parents, teachers, and administrators. As we discuss parental rights, it's crucial to remember that these rights belong to every parent, regardless of their background, beliefs, or perspectives. When we talk about parental rights, we must ensure that all parents are heard and included in the decision-making process. Our diversity is our strength, and
047it is vital that we create an environment where every parent feels valued and respected. Parental involvement should not be limited to a select few or nine, but should encompass the entire spectrum of our school community. Furthermore, I wish to stress the importance of leaving collection development to our dedicated librarians. Librarians are professionals who are skilled in selecting materials that cater to a diverse range of interests and perspectives. And I will insert here that you probably could have asked a librarian's help for the draft that you guys put up because there were some inaccuracies in there. They probably would have helped you with that because they're great. Their expertise should guide the selection of materials to provide a well-rounded and inclusive collection that reflects the needs and interests of all students. By entrusting our librarians with
048the responsibility of collection development, we ensure that our children are exposed to a variety of viewpoints and experiences. This fosters a love of learning, a respect for diverse perspectives, and prepares our students to be informed and engaged citizens in our global society. Let us embrace the concept of inclusive parental rights valuing the contributions of all parents and ensuring their voices are heard Let us also recognize the invaluable role of librarians in shaping our children's educational journey through thoughtful collection development We're all busy I'm actually missing church for this because It's important that I'm here and speaking out because We can't let our institutions fall. And this is one of the steps, is removing librarians and removing their expertise in this situation. So we've got to trust some of our institutions and some of the people
049who are educated to make the decisions that they need to make. Thanks. Next speaker is Neil Thorpe. Today I stand before you to express my deep concern and opposition to the proposed library material selection policy that seeks to give the school board final say in the library material. Collection development is a science guided by existing policies and the American Library Association's guidelines. It is a disservice to our students and staff to undermine their expertise and replace it with subjective and radical ideas. Let us begin by acknowledging the distinction between instructional material addressed by Virginia Code and library material. Instructional material is carefully curated to support classroom learning, while library material provides students with choices and opportunities for exploration. Our professional librarians have already established a comprehensive review process to ensure that the books in our
050school libraries are appropriate and relevant to our diverse community. By introducing this selection policy, the board is engaging in micromanagement and overstepping its boundaries. It seeks to target non-institutional material not mentioned in Virginia code, a Dillon Rules state where power is limited to code expressly granted to the state. We must not ignore the potential threat this policy poses to our First Amendment rights. Giving the school board the ultimate say in book acquisition allows for a dangerous concentration of power, leaving individual choices subject to the final whims of a select few. History has shown that censorship and book banning is a slippery slope that can lead to the stifling of ideas and whitewashing of history. At no point in history have those who seek to restrict knowledge and progress been the good guys. I must also
051address the worrying influence of external groups such as Moms for Liberty, who openly seek to ban books related to orientation, race, discrimination, and science issues. From their extensive list, they consider the story of Johnny Appleseed as too dark and sad. They condemn Greek and Roman mythology for depicting the goddess of Venus naked. And further propose banning books explaining the effects of hurricanes is too violent for first graders. We have seen from our neighbors in Warren County this issue is only a beachhead for a broader radical censorship. We cannot allow these narrow-minded agendas to infiltrate our public practices. I implore the Shenandoah County School Board to reconsider this harmful and unnecessary policy. Let us trust our professional educators and librarians to make thoughtful and informed decisions about available books. Our commitment to the First Amendment and
052a well-rounded education demand it. Karen Wetzel Chairman Helsley, members of the board, Dr. Shepherd, my name is Karen Wetzel and I live in Newmarket, Virginia and I'd like to speak on the proposed policy on library book selection item 5.4. Who is a school librarian? In Virginia, a licensed librarian is both a teacher and an organizer or manager of the school library. The librarian is a teacher of children. As you know, there are standards of learning for library media skills. Often the school librarian co-teaches with a classroom or a subject area teacher. Librarians help students and teachers find books which support the various content they are teaching or learning. And librarians teach other educators on the effective use of books and other materials. I can speak directly to the training and expertise required to be a
053school librarian. I have a BS and an MS in library science. I've taught library science classes to undergrads at GMU. I have worked on the National Committee that established the standards for school library media specialists for the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, standards on what librarians should know and be able to do. I was a school librarian for 25 years and I'm still a volunteer at a public library. I have served on many boards and I've done board training. on the roles of a board and the roles of employees and I've found generally an effective organization has board members who do their jobs and they don't try to do the jobs of the people they employ. The proposed policy does not sound like a policy to me. A policy is concise, subjective, and easy
054to understand. This draft proposal sounds to me like somebody's individual philosophical statement. I don't understand why anyone would want nine individuals untrained in book selection or library collection development to decide what books should be in the school library. The professional school librarian selects books and other materials after careful consideration of professional reviews of each book or other material. The librarian consults with faculty and students on what books are needed for the teaching learning process. Books in a library are instructional materials. often checked out by teachers and students to help them as they learn content in many different ways. Each school library should have their own collection of books specifically selected by a professional for that school, not a library of one-size-fits-all books picked from a list by a committee, most of whom would not be
055users of the books. The school librarians in the past have had an excellent handbook which provided guidance for book selection, collection development, book collection maintenance, and other library organizational topics in which the individual librarian is well trained. I don't see the need for this policy and I encourage you to vote no on this policy which does not allow you to let those you hire to do a job actually do it. Thank you for your time. The next speaker is Melinda Bates. Yes, ma'am next Janet Jones, of course you do Good evening board members. Mr. Chairman. Dr. Shepherd My name is Janet Jones. I wish to speak to you about the policy 5.4 regarding library Materials I ask that you vote against the policy on the following grounds Shenandoah County Public Schools has policies and procedures
056in place that give parents a voice with regard to school materials they wish to have reviewed. Policy 5.4 is redundant and causes unnecessary complications to the purchase process. The change in policy undermines the stated goal of the school system to attract and retain enthusiastic professionals to provide a positive working environment where the staff feel valued, empowered, and supported. By opening the purchase request to public debate, the school board is sending a powerful message to the SCPS staff at all levels that they are not valued, respected, or supported. In a time when Shenandoah County is competing to attract professionals during an increasingly critical teacher shortage, it makes it harder to recruit and retain highly qualified professional staff. In addition, the board is sending a message that it does not value the education, professionalism, and required ongoing
057training required of school professionals. By keeping the library purchases in the hands of professionals, Shenandoah County School Board is actively striving toward the responsibility to represent all students and stakeholders and advocate for quality public education. As you consider your vote on this policy, please consider that all students be represented, that the dedicated faculty and staff of Shenandoah County Public Schools feel valued and supported, not undermined, Please continue to encourage parent feedback on specific materials through the processes you have in place. Please vote against Policy 5.4, Library Book Purchase Policy. The next speaker is Rhonda Richard. Hello. Dr. Shepard, board members, thank you for allowing me time to speak this evening. My name is Rhonda Richard, and I live in District 2. I'm going to keep it short and sweet. I'm here this evening to offer
058my support for the Library of Materials Selection Policy for Shenandoah County Public Schools. I encourage you all to vote in favor of this. Now, I would also like to wish all students, teachers, and staff returning to school a good, joyous, prosperous year. That's it. Thank you. Next speaker is Virginia Rosen. Hello, everybody. Did you know that today is National Book Lovers Day? How ironic! Okay, well some people compare this new proposed library book policy to book burning or book banning. This is ridiculous because there are numerous bookstores online where one can purchase books, even controversial books, like those on gender and sexual content. Germany did ban certain books, meaning they were not available anywhere and possessing them or selling them would result in swift punishment. We are not Nazi Germany. It states in the policy
059that books acquired from the library must follow current laws. The policy puts a check and balance on librarians and gives the stakeholders a voice in the process and ensures thoughtful management of school libraries. This will remove any possible political motivation or bias a school librarian might have that would go unchecked. There is no policy in place now and because of the current politically charged climate we live in, one is necessary. This is for the protection of our county's children from material that does not belong in a school library. Like I said before, if a library does not have a book a student wants, it can be ordered online. Why would someone object to a process that is fair and balanced? Why would someone object to having oversight if they are doing their job with integrity?
060Why would someone object to having a second set of eyes evaluate a library book list? There's an old saying, two heads are better than one. And this policy does just that. Not voting this new policy in would ensure that this will become a big campaign issue in the upcoming election. It will most certainly sweep all three conservative alliance candidates into office because it is a hot button issue. When it gets down to it, the people are paying for the books and the salaries. The school board, you are their voice. Do the right thing and vote yes on the new library book policy. Thank you for letting me speak. Next speaker is Dennis Atwood. Good evening, board members and Superintendent Shepard. I am Dennis Atwood. I've been a resident of Morritown since 1978. First, let me
061say what they said, all the nine previous speakers that opposed this policy. I'm on board with them. This document has many shortcomings, among which are it claims to fix non-existent problems, it disrespects and undermines the role and work of our professional school librarians. It creates an unnecessarily elaborate and time-consuming process. It micromanages the work of highly trained and dedicated professionals by creating a library review committee, which could be populated by Johnny and Janie citizens who have no relevant education or experience for this work. A member of your policy committee stated at the July 13th meeting that they found similar policies in Pennsylvania and Texas. There's no wonder that they didn't find such policy elsewhere in Virginia because it is not helpful but rather cumbersome and harmful. The most important reason that this document seems so
062strange is that it is strange. It closely resembles a poorly written opinion piece with undocumented assertions and personal views. It is actually an ideologically driven essay. You should reject it. We have existing policies which are quite adequate for this task. That's policy IIAB, and I refer to the citations in the policy manual. Supplementary materials selection and adoption, IIAB. KLB, public review of learning resources. And KLB-LB, public review of learning resources-library books. These have been effective for many years and are adequate. So we don't need this new policy. Our students, teachers, administrators, support staff, and our community deserve a school board which supports and advocates for public education and works to obtain the resources necessary to implement the superintendent's strategies and plans. Some of you clearly do not do this as represented by your failure earlier
063this year to support the 7% raise which was approved by the General Assembly and the Department of Education. The fact that the state hasn't finalized its budget yet doesn't change the fact that 5% was advocated by some members of the school board. That's a gut punch to our professional staff. You compromised at 6%. But this is a signal that you're not really on board with supporting our public education. So please reject this policy as it is unnecessary among other problems. Thank you. Next speaker is Patricia Boltz. Well, thank you for having us and thank you for this discussion. And I don't think I'm probably gonna change anybody's mind. I just am here as a grandmother of nine children who have all graduated from our school. Well, three of them have graduated from our schools. Five
064boys, four girls. And I haven't read this whole proposal, which apparently a lot of the other speakers have. I've just been listening to neighborhood talk about changes that are being... proposed and I do think that the proposed material selection should have been stated to this audience who is here to hear about it. I think that why haven't I heard the fellow who was making our policy proposals before having a chance to comment on the proposal. I think that would have been more appropriate than making all these comments. The proposal person is on the back of this sheet of agenda paper. So, what I understand is that Governor Northen, our ex-governor, and our current governor have different views on human biology, but I think Governor Youngkin's the person speaking truth. Chromosomes cannot be changed, no matter
065how much dope. How many knives are applied to surgically alter children's bodies? We send the kids to be educated in our schools. Without facts, there is no truth. I'm not a biology master or a librarian expert, but I've... I've lived with libraries all my life and cannot imagine being without them. They're very important. They're very influential. I read a lot. Without facts, there is no truth. Biology is truth. Wishes and wants are constantly changing. The work of the drugs and the knives are permanent. Teach and employ materials that educate truth Shenandoah deserves facts not fads to be promoted by our school Good evening, I didn't have anything planned this evening. Unfortunately, we've had a death in the family But once I saw that all this was happening, I decided to come speak. You've seen me
066plenty of times I've seen you plenty of times. We're all tired of this But I think what's blatantly obvious here this evening is that a lot of people are up in arms over this policy without doing a lot of research on it. And the reason that this policy has come to where it is now isn't because we're whitewashing history or we're trying to not be inclusive. It's due to the sexually explicit material that's already been allowed in our libraries. We've seen it. We've researched it. I've personally researched it for two years. We have books being given to minors, minors now. without parental knowledge that are descriptive in rape of minors, that's giving graphic novels of oral sex and anal sex. And if that makes you uncomfortable, I'm sorry, but it's in our libraries. The librarians
067have all... already been given free range to pick these books. And I feel like at this point, this policy is just common sense, logical oversight, so that we don't have free reign to allow explicit material being given to our children. Every single one of us does have or has had a job in life where we've had to have checks and balances. We've had bosses or committees that have had to ensure that we're doing our job properly. And like multiple others have said this evening, we're not asking to ban or burn, but we're a public school. These books are accessible through Amazon. These books are accessible at Books a Million. If you want to get them from the public library down the street, that's a parent's prerogative. But the transparency and the ability to find these
068books within the school system, it's very lacking. And so what we're asking for is just common sense to ensure. that sexually explicit materials are not being handed to our children without our knowledge. I think this is a great policy. I think some of the wording probably still needs to be tweaked around a little bit. And also what I think a lot of people probably don't know and my understanding is is that six of the county librarians actually had a hand in putting this policy together. So the librarians aren't excluded from this. They know what this policy is. They've been helping to work on it. So I think it's a great policy and I'm going to give a little bit of time back. But again, we've talked before. We've all talked before. You're tired of it.
069I'm tired of it. It's just common sense. It's just another check to protect our kids and make sure that parents feel comfortable sending their kids to school every day knowing they're not going to be exposed to something explicit. Thank you. Brad Pollack. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice Chairman, members of the school board, what a pleasure it is to be before you this evening. My name is Brad Pollack. I live in Edinburgh. I represent Edinburgh, St. Luke. and Fort Valley on the Board of Supervisors. And the Board of Supervisors funds this fine board, funds the school system, taxes the people, and you all owe a duty to those constituents who have voted for you. They are not here today, okay? You are here representing them. We have a bunch of leftists in here, okay? A bunch of
070leftists, a bunch of woke leftists in this room, okay, that are trying to... Who are trying to... sway you by their presence and their personal pressure, okay? That is what you all were elected to avoid, okay? Just because they have a right to be here doesn't mean they have a right to impose their will upon you all, okay, or upon us on the Board of Supervisors. Virginia's Constitution doesn't mandate public schools because we think they're good things to have. Virginia's Constitution mandates public schools because Congress required it as a condition of Virginia being readmitted to the Union in 1870. One of the many divisions between North and South before and after the war was education. Most northern states had great public school systems. Southern states had not. Some in Congress believed that the lack of
071education in the South was a source of the Civil War itself. Enshrining access to education in the South was at the forefront of reconstruction. Every southern state made a public school system part of its post-war constitution except Mississippi, Texas and Virginia. For those three, Congress changed the rules of the game and required that their constitutions include provisions for a public school system. The Congressional Act that readmitted Virginia to the Union in 1870 specifically declares that the Constitution of Virginia shall never be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizen of the United States of the school rights and privileges secured by the Constitution of said state. You're it. Under the Constitution, you represent the people. And it's up to you all to represent the values of the people in not
072honoring this distorted pornography encouraging sexual misconduct among children and non-biblical conduct among children. Stop it. Stop it. Thank you all. Next speaker is Eric. Erica Heppner. Hello, my name is Erica Heppner and I live in Fort Valley. For background, I am a former teacher and I've worked at the county library for the past eight years, but my statements tonight are my own and not those of my employer. I'm really here because I'm a mom to three SCPS students, two of whom are homesick, so please forgive me for not staying for the whole meeting. I know your goal is to set clear expectations and adopt transparent procedures, but when I read this draft policy, I did come away with several questions that I'm sure you'll be able to clarify. First, this policy states that some review
073sources, quote, openly advocate for political or cultural points of view, end quote. but it doesn't actually list these questionable sources. If the board has specific journals in mind, wouldn't it be better to name them rather than being ambiguous? Or leave this part out altogether and simply encourage a variety of sources? Second, the Library Review Committee in this policy has the same name as the committee listed in the reconsideration policy, but they aren't created in the same way. That committee is created by the central office and Policy KLB-LB outlines which stakeholders comprise the group. In this policy, however, the majority of the committee is comprised of political appointees with no guidelines for who may be selected. It doesn't even require that they be county residents or have any experience with children's literature. Do you intend to
074leave such an important step in the process open to potentially unqualified non-stakeholders? Would it be better to use a similar process as the review committee in policy KLB-LB if you want to avoid the appearance of partisanship? Third, there seems to be an oversight because you state that you want to be transparent with parents and solicit feedback. but then allow the library review committee to add books to the final draft without the benefit of public comment or input from the librarians is it your intention to allow a committee of majority political appointees to bypass the librarians principals and parents Fourth, after the list leaves the review committee, it comes to this body for a final vote, but it doesn't say what would happen if it is rejected. Would the process have to start all over again,
075or would it return to the committee? Would the board be required to pass the list in full, or could it be rejected in part? Finally, this policy states that quote librarians or other stakeholders and quote weed books. Surely you don't mean that any of the listed stakeholders such as parents or other county residents will be making removal decisions since that could be seen as a loophole around the book challenge policy. Thank you. I know that this board will care for our children and respect our library professionals by addressing these and other concerns before a final vote. Next speaker is Mike Wicker. School board, Dr. Shepard, thank you for being here tonight and thank you for your time. I come to you to speak on behalf of this policy. I've read this policy three or four
076times now. And the lack of knowledge in this room, people talking about banning books, burning books, librarians not having a say. As far as it's my understanding, six librarians in this county helped write this policy. I want to commend everybody that had a part in this policy. This thing is unbelievable. What I'm asking tonight is you guys have been selected by a majority of voters in this county. It's your job to be good stewards of their money. I'm not asking for book banning or anything else, but somebody stood up here and kept asking, what are you afraid of? What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of six parents standing up for their kids and telling you what they think about the books? The last lady talking about the public. As far as this policy
077goes, it's going to be put out to the public, the whole list of books. They're going to have a say in it. To me, the thing is bulletproof. Vote yes on this policy. Oversee the taxpayer's money responsibly. And if you're going to purchase books on LGBTQ or whatever, Have some balance there. How about books on Christianity? If you're going to buy books on Obama, let's buy some books on Trump. Have some balance there. Have some oversight. It's the taxpayer's money. You're representing every taxpayer in your district. So I'm sure in your district, you have a good balance of people, like-minded people. People have stood up here and talked about the democracy we live in. We live in a constitutional republic. When you said the pledge, the word republic was in there, not democracy. When we
078oversee this, let's listen to the taxpayers, listen to where they want their money spent, and spend it responsibly. This stuff about all the other book policies that we have on the books now. It's ridiculous that if we decide a book's inappropriate, we get rid of it. Now we've really wasted the taxpayers' money. We bought the book, then somebody's come across it, decided it wasn't good for the library, good for the kids. Now we take it out of the library. What a waste of money. You guys are put up there to oversee the budget, to oversee the spending. Oversee it. Do your job. These librarians aren't hired by the voter. They're hired by the school board office and the superintendent, and they do a great job. I'm not saying they don't, but they're not put up
079there by the taxpayers. The taxpayers should be your main concern, and the budget should be your main concern. Like I said, I'm not for book banning or book burning or anything else. I'm not for book banning or book burning or anything else. The bottom line is spend the money responsibly. Let's not buy books and then throw them out of the library. That's a waste of money. And at least have some balance. I don't care what books are there, but have the opposing view. Thank you all. Next speaker is Mike Shelby. No, I don't. Mike Scheibe, New Market, Virginia. I'm not going to come up here and try to change anybody's mind because I think all of you pretty much are set in that. And I will comment on, I mean, the lack of diversity and
080manners that some are shown in this meeting. It's been quite telling. And this has become more of a political rally, I think, than about this policy. Oversight. I've mentioned that here probably three or four times in my comments before. It is the school board's job to oversee the administration and the running of the schools. Not the DOE, none of them. This is your decision. So vote with your hearts and do what's right. And as far as you guys sort of in a backhanded way being compared to the Nazis because you want to ban books, one big difference. The Nazis didn't give any citizens a seat at the table. Thank you. Next speaker is Seth Kaufman. Good evening, Chairman, School Board, and Dr. Shepard. I'll speak on Agenda Item 5.4. My name is Seth Kaufman. I
081live in Quicksburg, Virginia. Now, I'm not interested in getting into a lot of the details of the policy. That's already been done tonight. But, and mainly because I think that would be a waste of time. But I also think the entire policy is a waste of time. It's a waste of your all's time. It's a waste of staff time. Look how long we've been here listening to it. What is the true purpose and intent of this policy? There was nothing wrong with the way Shenandoah County Public Schools has been selecting books for what, probably the past four decades. You hire trained and skilled professional librarians to manage the library materials, vet them, and select those materials. They do a great job. Why then are some of you looking to create a policy that undermines that?
082To me, this is a solution looking for a problem. But guess what? There's no problem there. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. So why this policy? Why now? One might say, well, we have a policy committee. Our job is to create policy. But you shouldn't feel the need to create unnecessary policies just to justify the existence of that committee. I also hear the phrase parents' rights thrown around a lot. And I struggle to see how this proposed policy strengthens parents' rights. What I'd like to hear you talk about more is parental responsibility. To me, it goes hand in hand with personal responsibility. I agree parents need to have a major role in their child's education. As far as library books are concerned, they should be talking with their kids about the books they read,
083the books they check out, even reading with their kids. The child brings home a book the parent is uncomfortable with, take it back to school, let the librarian know, have a conversation with the child, and it might be better to hold off on reading that book until later. Looking at this again from a 30,000 foot macro level, and I hear about this policy strengthening and reaffirming parents' rights, like again I said, I think it does the exact opposite. It usurps the responsibility from the parents and puts it in the hands of the school system, this committee, and the board. Is that what we really want? More nanny state action or Big Brother telling us what books we can or can't read? Shouldn't that decision be left to the individual families? One mother or a father
084deems inappropriate for their child another family might find appropriate and read together with their child So think about all the other pressing issues you have in front of you How many vacant teaching positions are we going to open the school system with? I saw the presentation of the preliminary SOL scores Scores are down across many schools. You got two that are going to be on monitoring plans with DOE Where's the policy to address those things? You should be spending your time on those and not on these culture wars to score political points so I want you to ask yourself when you're thinking about this policy, does it solve or fix or do something to improve the learning environment of our students? Is it the best use of your time on the school board? And is
085it really expanding or reaffirming parents' rights? Or is it actually just lessening the parents' responsibilities to be engaged in their child's education? Thank you. Next speaker is Alan Dotson. Good day, Mr. Shepard, board members. My name is Alan Dotson. I live in District 2. I would like to encourage the board to vote in favor of the new library policy. This policy puts checks and balances on librarians while it also gives the citizens and parents a voice in the process. This policy is for the protection of our children and to keep material out of our libraries that do not belong here. Thank you very much. I hope everyone is well. Elected school board members. Superintendent Melody Shepard, thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. First, I'd like to congratulate all the students that have been
086honored here at the end of the school year. In FFA, all the chapters in the county, especially Central High School, the top chapter in the state, and Signal Knob Middle School, named the top middle school chapter in the state. The girls, Strasburg girls' state track meet, track one, and the young lady from Central on her state awarding. The FBLA state winner, Noah Balzeman from Stonewall. All-state winner in singing, Maggie Eaton from Stonewall. And to all three high school FCCLA teams, especially Stonewall chapter that was named a state winner. And also in the top ten in the nation, Grace Hendrick took fifth in the nation, Bree Franklin. And JC Gonzales were sixth in the nation and two freshmen, I don't have their names, sorry, were 13th in the nation. The FCCLA Signal Knob Middle School placed
087at the Nationals too. It's quite an accomplishment. Not to mention Stonewall's Stuart Purtle, Northern Virginia Daily Male Athlete of the Year Award. And I'm sure I left out some people in organizations. being recognized, I apologize for that. We really have a lot of good students in this county. I would wish all the fall students, fall sports teams good luck. As far as this library policy, I'm assuming that people have not read it. Well, it's a good crowd here. I'm glad to see everybody here. I'd like to know why we can't be here every month instead of the same ten people. In my opinion, I think this policy is very well thought through. It gives books a five or six step approval before it is placed on the shelf. With this process, nobody has to shoulder
088on whether a book should be or should not be in the library. With six out of the nine librarians on the committee making up this policy, I would say that the guidelines were given adequate input in this policy. This is why I support this policy. Last, I would like to wish every student, faculty, and personnel a good 23-24 school year. Thank you. Next speaker is Stephen Heisman. Good evening, school board members. Dr. Shepard, thank you all also for allowing me to speak this evening. I'm Steve Heisman, and I live in District 2 out in Connickville. It's refreshing and exciting to see that the weekly religious education program is continuing its school year this upcoming year with the second, third, and fourth grades. It's very promising to see that these students learn about Jesus one student
089at a time. Can you hear it? The executive board is excited about the upcoming year also on WRE. I also am very much in support of the library material selection policy. It is an absolute must. In Governor Youngkin's effort to clean up the public school system across the state by kicking out CRT and other types of indoctrination, Shenandoah County should be a leader in this effort. The students in the Shenandoah County Public Schools should be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Anything outside of that can easily fall into a category of indoctrination, which is widespread across the nation in the public school system. Now, I have to take it one step further. My question is that I asked several months ago when conversation came up about these books in these school libraries. My question is, with
090these books in the libraries of our public schools that contain adult sexual content, who approved them, who ordered them, and were they paid for with taxpayer dollars? Where is the accountability for this wrongdoing? My parents taught us in business, when there is a problem, you fix and eliminate the problem, not treat the symptoms. As I stated a few months ago earlier in this conversation, and I said back then that I would be learning a whole lot more about this library book issue, and I stated back then, any school board member who thinks that it is okay to expose this adult material to any student under 18 years of age had better take a hard look at their self. This is just another way of exposing evil to minors. Hiding it in plain sight like the
091lion's pride that was exposed on the southern campus just a couple years ago. You know, what I find real interesting about this is with Jesus being allowed back into public schools after 30 couple years through the weekly religious education, look at how he makes Satan expose himself. Thank you very much. Next speaker, Jonathan Lauderdale. Good evening. I'm Jonathan Arasling, a resident of Edinburgh, a retired career educator and a candidate for school board and district too. Thank you, Chairman Helsman, Vice Chairman Barlow, school board members, and Dr. Shepard for allowing me to speak this evening. Currently, we are in one of the most exciting and busy times of the school year. Our amazing teachers and staff are returning back from their summer breaks, rested and rejuvenated, and are getting ready for our students' return next week.
092Also this week I was able to volunteer in a couple of our schools and witness the amazing energy. I was able to talk to a few teachers about the work that's going on to make sure first-rate teaching and learning will happen on day one. I would like to highlight the roughly 78 new teachers that are joining Shenandoah County Public Schools this academic year. Thank you for agreeing to be part of our school system, our community, and most importantly teachers of our students. This year's fiscal 24 budget focuses on five division goals set by and approved by this body. Dr. Shepherd presented a budget that asked for a significant increase in funding that specifically addresses recruiting, supporting, and retaining enthusiastic professionals. This was also approved as part of this budget. Last week and early this week
093the 78 new teachers in our system attended a new teacher orientation. They participated in a very important set of trainings over three days that welcomed them to our system, gave them important information about our system, and provided tools for them to get ready for our students learning on day one. The issue I would like to bring to your attention here is that these new teachers came to work three days earlier than returning teachers but are not being paid any compensation for these extra days of work. I also learned this week that some of our support staff had required meetings before their actual reporting date and were paid a set hourly rate for this time. Furthermore, this summer our special ed teachers, including some of these new 78 teachers, received a stipend of $500 for three
094days of training. New orientation participants received nothing as it was not planned into the budget for this year. I do not believe this oversight was consciously done, but it is sending a message to our new teachers that it counters the goal of recruiting, supporting, and retaining enthusiastic professionals. The good news is, I believe there is an easy and immediate solution for this problem. Most of our budget covers salaries and benefits, and each year there is an annual surplus of money in this category due to unfilled positions, attrition, and retirement. Also, by providing this to our new teachers from the already approved salary line item would provide them with the compensation for their time and also send a message through this action that models the goal of recruiting, supporting, and retaining enthusiastic professionals. This solution will
095not require going to the Board of Supervisors for any additional funding. I would ask that you, as school board, request a stipend of $500 to be paid to them, the 7 to 8 teachers, and just like the special ed teachers, and I hope that you build this into next year's budget. Thank you for allowing me to speak, and thank you for your endless support of the goals of Shenandoah County Public Schools. That concludes the people who signed up. Would anyone else like to speak who did not sign up? Good evening. Consistency is everything. Pardon me? Can you state your name, please, since you didn't sign up? Dorothy Lamb. Thank you. New Market. District 1. Good evening. Consistency is everything. Shenandoah County Public Schools require parents of adult students to give permission for that adult student
096to leave school premises. And yet, here we are, questioning parental input on library materials for minor children. Minor children. This is backwards. You need to vote yes on this policy. Thank you. Anyone else? My name's Kim Dawson. I got six kids in the public school, and I'm just amazed that we can go and have all this stuff. And everybody knows this stuff's wrong, but, yeah, we put it in there for our kids to read. I'm just, something needs to be done. And if it's not this, something needs to happen. Because everybody can plainly see that the system's broken. The books wouldn't be there if it wasn't broken. So we need to do something. We have to go with this. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes. To the mic, please. My name is Ann Gold. I'm a
097new resident to the county. I came from upstate New York. My husband and I lived in South Florida, then in Mechanicsville, Virginia, then moved back to New York to help my dad, who was in need. I called my cousin, who worked for the New York State Department of Education. I asked her to recommend top schools. I said, we can go anywhere in New York State. Please give me the top five best schools. She said, hands down, Burnt Hills, Ballston Lake. So that's where we went. My kids were not exposed to sexually explicit information. My kids were not exposed to any gender identity nonsense. My kids were exposed to representatives in the community who donated their time to lead the kids. The leading research scientist at GE personally worked with my son in the science research
098program. My son Mike graduated. the top 1% of the top 1% in the country. When he graduated from the science research program, the woman who ran the program brought all the parents in of the eight students, and she said, do not, I know it was their junior year, she said, do not look at tuition when your kids are looking at colleges. Look at what they want to study. I can guarantee you they will be accepted to any college in the country and that includes MIT. I can guarantee you not to worry about tuition because they will receive scholarships. The best of the best. I have four children. Three are engineers. My daughter completed two master's programs. She is a lecturer and she's also a business consultant. I died in surgery. I'm a Christian. I explained
099to my kids a job title is not success. Success is attaining heaven. I experienced a moment in heaven. It is too hard to put into words. You need to serve God if you want to make it to heaven. You can't harm kids with gender nonsense. The message needs to be love yourself as God made you. I saw a report maybe about five years ago. The results of a study were that male brains, brains of young men, is not fully developed until they are 29 years old. They studied their brains and they said the neural connections are not completed until they are 29 years old. So if any of you are trying to influence children on gender, on explicit sexual content, you're harming them. Love children. God wants you to love. God kept me here to
100share the message of Christianity and loving children. If you're trying to influence them sexually, harm their bodies by cutting them, by injecting hormones into them, you're harming them. Just share the message, God loves you as he made you. Build their talents to do the best they can I am so proud of my children To our Eagle Scouts all engineers all working hard to support this country Thank you. Thank you I'm sorry your time is the last okay moving on colleagues You'll hear a motion to approve the consent agenda I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Thank you, Mr. Gutschall. Do I hear a second? Second. Second by Mr. Keller. Questions? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carried by... Ms. Barlow, would you vote? Roll call vote, please. The
101motion on consent agenda. Oh, I'm sorry. Mr. Barlow? Yes. Miss Walsh? Yes. Mr. Bettshaw? Yes. Mr. Rhodes? Yes. Mr. Keller? Yes. Mr. House? Yes. Motion passed 6-0. Okay, instructional agenda 4-1. Mr. Hensley and Ms. Proctor will give a report on the summer school 2023. Board members, Dr. Shepherd, thank you for giving me the opportunity to introduce our summer school administrators who are going to share about our program that we did this summer. As you know, last summer we did the 250th year anniversary theme with our students. This year at the elementary school we did Wild About Learning and at the middle school we did Exploring Virginia. So I'd like to invite up our elementary group that's here tonight. Jessica Markowitz. Matthew Morosco and Zach Wilmont and then I believe the only middle school we had
102tonight was Meredith Circle but we also had Matthew Hatchie and Tanish France also help at the middle school. So our elementary group will start out first followed by Ms. Circle. We, Ms. Jett will need a mic. Good evening Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Shepherd. Thank you for inviting us here to share our summer school experience. As Mr. Hensley was saying, we were the elementary summer school administrators this year. I'm Zach Wilmot. I served as the summer school administrator at Sandy Hook. I'm Matthew Morosco and I served as the summer school administrator for W. W. Robinson. And I'm Jessie Markwick and I was at Honey Run Elementary School. Over the next few minutes, we're going to give you a brief overview of the experience that our students and our teachers had at summer school.
103We're going to start with just a couple of statistics from each elementary school. At Sandy Hook, we served 55 students throughout the summer, and we served an average of 47 students daily. And at Robinson, we had 86 students enrolled with an average of 57 students daily. And at Honey Run we had 63 students enrolled by the end of summer and 48 students attended on daily. So each summer the way that this program works is we use a theme. to support the education of our students. And this year our theme was Wild About Learning. And so over the course of the summer our students would use animals and habitats to learn their reading, their science, their writing, and even some of their math. And so we're going to go through the different themes that they worked
104through, the different lenses that they learned through each week. The theme of the first week was paws and this week the students learned about mammals which is why it was called paws and their different classifications their life cycles and their adaptations. As you can see from some of the photos on here there was a heavy emphasis this summer on some project-based learning. It got our students really excited and engaged in our learning. And you can see through some of these photos that the project-based learnings encompass the wide variety of subjects. As I was saying before, they're writing, they're math, and even some science and technology. Week two was themed scales and in this week the students spent their time learning about reptiles. They learned about food chains, food webs, and then they also learned about
105pollination during their science lessons. And again, you can see here some of the projects that our students were excited to work on this year focusing mainly on the reptiles. Week three, the theme was fins, and here our students learned about aquatic animals. Their science lessons focused on animal habitats, niches, and human impact. We'll get a little bit more into the field trips later on in this presentation, but some of the photos that you're seeing here are from the field work that our students participated in on one of their field trip experiences. It allowed them to enter the water at the Seven Bends Park, do some surveys, and really actually dive in and get some hands-on work. as to the health of our waterway in Shenandoah Valley. Week four was feathers, and this is where the
106students learned the thing that sets the birds apart is that they have feathers as opposed to scales or fur. And this is where they really started to dive in onto their capstone projects for the zoo exhibit that we'll talk about here at the end. I had the opportunity to work at Robinson, and we had a special circumstance with summer school. We had Camp Read-A-Lot, which was a two-week reading camp in conjunction with Shenandoah University, their reading specialist certification program. So for the first two weeks, we had almost 20... five reading specialists or individuals training to be reading specialists in working with our students on really, really micro level, like one or two students per teacher at a time. They came in, they decorated all of our classrooms to look like campsites. They had tents, mock
107campfires and all of that. They also took the sunken area and turned it into a big campsite where we met for an open campfire where they read a story. And then they broke out and did their small reading instruction. Then they came back before lunch, had a closing campfire where they discussed. more of what they learned through that story at the beginning and through their lessons. The students really enjoyed that experience. One unique thing was every student, whether they were in the program or just at summer school, got to take home 12 library books by the end of those two weeks. Or sorry not library their own very their very own books Through the program we also had a author come in and read some of her stories and share experiences with students and We
108had a life-size whale that we brought in you'll see some pictures here On the right there is that life-size whale and the kids could actually go inside of this whale as part of their experience Okay, and then All three elementary schools had the opportunity to go on three different field trips to the Blandy Experimental Farm out in Clark County, Seven Bend State Park right here in Woodstock, and the Frontier Culture Museum in Stanton. So to match our theme, we, like Matthew said, we went on three field trips. The first trip was Blandy Experimental Farms. The students focused on birds during this trip, and they studied how their different adaptations allowed them to survive in different environments. And they got to utilize their binoculars, and they even brought some back. They were really excited about that.
109And they also got to investigate data on how birds get their food and also how they secure shelter. The second trip was Seven Bins State Park. So we did three activities while we were on the trip. The first one was a teacher-led hike where they did a scavenger hunt. The second one, they got to work with a ranger where they played a game and they saw how they could capture fish and how fish stayed safe. stayed safe in the stream. And then the third activity that they did was a watershed experience with the friends of the North Fork. So the kids actually did get in the water. They were really excited about that. They got to pick up different things. They brought them out and everybody explored the items they found in the stream together.
110And the last field trip was the Frontier Culture Museum. So during this trip, the students got to investigate the plants and animals that live at the museum. And then they also had an additional watershed experience. This one focused more on our Save Our Streams protocol. And we didn't note it on the slide, but they actually had another trade. set up with the blacksmith. So they got to go in and work with the blacksmith and he let them touch some of the tools. And last but not least, the whole time during our themed 2023 summer school program, we worked on our capstone project, which was the zoo exhibit. So every week the students would have project time and they would pick out a habitat and then after they picked out their habitat they would do a
111research poster and they did two different writings that they displayed publicly and we all did it on the last day of summer school. We invited their families, their friends, school officials and other town officials. So we had a really great time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. A partner. I'm so excited. I was hiding in the back. Sorry. So I'm Meredith Zirkle. I did North Fork Middle School as a site administrator. I'm Matt Heshey. I was with Sigma Mob. And so we're going to talk to you about our summer experiences. A little bit different, but actually some of it was quite the same because we actually went to Frontier Culture Museum as well. So I worked with this presentation and put some pictures in to show you guys what we did. So first off we
112had four week themes one week was on the geography of Virginia Where our students had the opportunity to create salt clay maps of Virginia with the five regions and so our students created those Brandy Kibler and Dara Stewart created the whole curriculum for us. So all of our reading activities, all of our math activities centered around Virginia and the five regions and then each week it changed. So the first one here is our field trip to Elizabeth Furness. These pictures show that they went on the trail and learned about the pig mining and that they also got to look at this house. They also got to go on a swinging bridge. Most of our students have never experienced a swinging bridge. I've lived in Shender County almost all my life. I had never been to
113Elizabeth Furness, and for me it was a great experience to be able to see this. Anything you want to add to that? Sure, yeah, I also thought it was a wonderful experience. The students were really able to tie in the field trips with their learning and kind of see how it applied to the local Shenandoah area. I think they were really able to get inspired about their local towns and their local county. I think that was really exciting to see, and they were really excited too. So that was our first week. We learned about the regions of Virginia. The students also had the opportunity to go to Luray Caverns. This was a different experience. I've been to Luray Caverns several times in my life, but never with a group of middle school students. We had
114grades five through eight. So some of the... Mountain View students that we had in eighth grade were actually over at North Fork experiencing this, so it was quite an eye-opener for them as well. Our trip to Luray Caverns was different in the aspect that we were guiding the students through Luray Caverns. It is no longer guided by a tour guide, which was different for me, having grown up and went through the caverns with a tour guide, to see this and to try to guide these students through. Luray Caverns reading a brochure. But the kids really enjoyed it. They liked looking at the formations. We had a guy come through and he was also looking at different things with us. This was part of one of our field trips that we also took. That was our
115last week and that was our tourism week that we experienced a field trip to Luray Caverns. Yeah, I think that was one of the best parts about the field trips is how they coordinated so well with the weekly themes, which of course are super important topics for our county, tourism, economics, and history. Those are really important, and I think the students were really able to see that not only does this area play a really big aspect, play a really big role in those topics for the state, they also can play a role in it themselves. Our students also went to the Frontier Culture Museum. This was a rescheduled field trip due to some rain, but we actually went to Lurie Caverns on a Tuesday and Frontier Culture Museum on the Wednesday after. This was related
116to the history part of our unit. In these two pictures, the one picture on the left, the students got to sit in a one-room schoolhouse. and they had slates that the kids actually picked up the slates and had to write math problems and spelling words on. So it gave the kids the opportunity to see, hey, school really without a computer. It didn't, you know, it did exist back then. The second picture there is two of our students, the group that I had, they had to pull weeds. Some of our kids had never done that. Some of our kids had done that. But what was really interesting for our students was they had to see how high they could get the pile of weeds because they had to get those products and those vegetables to grow
117for that house that was there in the background of the picture. And the guy told us that the previous group only got it up to his ankle. and some of the kids in my group were competitive with some of the kids in the other group, and so they tried to build it as high as they possibly could. I think this was the time that they really got to see how the history of our area brings people in for the tourism, which ultimately helps the economics. So they really were able to see the full overarching theme throughout the summer school through this one. That's how high our group built their grass pile and they were they were so proud of themselves that they actually could build something like that and they got to work with wool,
118card wool and some of the kids had never even seen wool before so that was kind of an exciting experience for us. So we had Community Day. We called it Community Day 2023. We invited the members of the school board, board of supervisors, members of the community to come in and see what these kids did. This was for the economics unit. They had to create something that was missing in Shenandoah County. And these are some of the products that our kids came up with. It's a little hard to tell. The kids could 3D print any object that they wanted to that related to their business. The teachers created the object once they said what they wanted to create. But the picture on the right is a camera with a cow on top of it because
119that's what she wanted to create as part of her project. But they all unanimously said we need to have a trampoline park here in Shenandoah County. These are a couple of the projects that North Fork had. If you want to talk about community day for you guys. Yeah, any opportunity for students to really kind of demonstrate and interact with their learning is always really cool. And then getting the community members, their parents to come on in and see all the things that they worked on while they were also having fun is always a fun experience. And I just want to highlight the picture on the left. The student's facial expression says it all, how happy he was to create that project. He did kicks. Fabian's kicks was his name, and he wanted to sell all
120Louis Vuitton in his store because we don't have enough Louis Vuitton stores in Shundo County. But they actually, you can also see that he had all his projects showing there for parents and community members to see. And here's some more of our community day. The picture on the right is a 3D printed taco that one of the kids created a restaurant. And so she painted, the taco came out white and she painted it so that it looked like a true taco. And the kids loved having those little 3D printed things that they could then take home with them. Do you want to talk about any projects you guys did? Did y'all do the Lego project? I wish I had pictures. We did. We did. They loved the Legos. So, they had the opportunity to create
121any of the battles that they wanted to create based on Legos. So, here's an example of the Lego project that one of our kids created at North Fork. The other is of what's on your plate. So, those are the products that are in the Valley and Ridge. It's another example of a Lego. They used six different boards to create that and created Battles of Fort Sumter. And the bottom one is a bigger size Virginia where they created all the different regions and colored them to match the different regions. And there's a full example of one from Community Day where she created her restaurant, but that's also her map and all the projects that she did. Because we did the plate, we did the map, full map of Virginia and labeled the important cities. And then
122we did all the different regions as well. And then the final project was creating the entire business. We also had two in-house field trips, which were very awesome for us. George's came in, their HR person came in and presented to the kids, told them about all the different products that they create at George's and that they manufacture at George's, and talked about the millions of things they do there. our kids had no idea it was really cool for them and then i want to give a shout out to first bank they came three different branches came to our school and they brought goodies for the kids they brought goodies for the teachers and just were a huge support i invited them to come back for community day and they showed up for community day to
123show how much they supported the program that we were running this summer Yeah, the in-house field trips were really great experiences within the classroom to kind of break up the weeks and to give students experience in kind of interacting with people within different industries and kind of delve a little bit deeper into their interests for their future employment prospects. We're excited. It's a very great experience for those kids to hear about. And they did worksheets on banking with the kids and made the kids write a check. And some of our high school kids, because I work at Mountain View, don't even know how to write a check until they take economics and personal finance. So to get that opportunity at this level was very nice. Tanisha couldn't be here tonight, but she wanted us to
124add this in here. Thanks to extra funds, Peter Muhlenberg was able to hire someone to help students who will be receiving ELL services in the upcoming year. And those students had recently transferred to the school or were upcoming sixth graders. Mr. Norton was able to reach. to go to each grade level, assist the kids. He was able to work with them, provide one-on-one services. He went on the field trips, helped with crafts, talked to the parents, and helped with recess as well. So she wanted to make sure that we gave some kudos to the ELL student services that Peter Muhlenberg was able to have the support thanks to the extra funds that were provided for summer school. Thank you for your time. And thank you all for the money to be able to run this
125program. going on to informational agenda five one student leadership general account of Dr. Shepard. Thank you. The Shenandoah County Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with Shenandoah County Public Schools, coordinated the Student Leadership Shenandoah County Program to encourage students to develop and implement their leadership skills in their school community. The Student Leadership Program aims to give young people the knowledge, tools, and contacts to create successful leaders and instill and nurture a sense of civic responsibility. This evening, I am going to introduce Zach Wilmot, who was... who led that Shenandoah County Leadership Program and he's going to give us some information about that program. Thank you Dr. Shepherd. Along with me tonight we have a student Ava Mapp as well as Sharon Baranchelli here to represent the Chamber of Commerce. I'm going to give an overview of
126what the student leadership Shenandoah County program entails and then you'll be able to hear that from a student perspective as well as some final remarks from Sharon. The Student Leadership Shenandoah County program is a five-day program where we invite students from all over Shenandoah County to come and participate and learn leadership skills as well as all about what our county offers and really what it takes for our community to function successfully. So it's kind of a combination of leadership skills as well as many experiences that help them learn about Shenandoah County. On day one, we started at Central High School. And when we showed up, all the students met in the library. A few of them knew each other, the students that were coming from the same school, but many of them had never met
127before. It was pretty quiet in the morning. And so the first order of business... was really to get the students comfortable with each other. And so we called this morning session their retreat. And what we did was several team building activities. I actually led this portion. And I come from an elementary school background. And so I brought all the students to the gymnasium. When they walked in, all of these high school students who I don't usually get to work with got to see all of my multicolored pieces of equipment, my multicolored cones and noodles and noodle pieces and scars strewn about the floor. And I'm sure they were thinking, what is this guy having us do? I thought we were out of elementary school. But they stayed in good spirits and I had them doing
128all sorts of different activities to help them get to know each other, but also to help them work on some of those leadership skills. Things like communication, problem solving, even a little bit of persistence and frustration mediation, encouragement. We had them working back to back doing things like describing objects to one person so that the other person could draw it. We had them blindfolded and one partner using only their voice guiding them through a maze. We had them building the highest tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows. By the end of this experience, the students had already come together as a group and the gym was really full of laughs and just a lot of positivity. We moved from there back into the library and you can see the picture on the right. They got to
129listen to General Ben Freakley speak to them directly about leadership. And what I thought was the most powerful part of his presentation was that he comes to leadership from the perspective of character. I think a lot of times when we talk about leadership, we think about effective communication or the ability to strategize, the ability to take charge. And what General Ben Freakley brought to our students was that really in order to be a good leader, it takes good and strong character. And that's what he spent the rest of that morning talking with them on. And I think they got a lot out of that session. From there we ate lunch and then we went and spent the rest of the day learning about some of the health care and human needs operations that are going
130on in the county. We went to the hospital and from there you can see the picture the students actually got to observe a dry needling session to help work on some of the soft tissue of patients. And then we also went to Department of Social Services and learned a lot about what they offer our community in that building. Day two was local government day. This was another really interesting day. It started here actually in the school board office where we brought some guests in from the community. They heard from the town manager as well as some other representatives from Woodstock and learned a lot about how decisions are made, what types of things are balanced and thought about when it comes into making those decisions as well as some budget considerations. We then went to
131the wastewater treatment facility as well as the landfill and I think our students you can see most of them are smiling in that picture. We're pretty pleasantly surprised at really how sanitary and how clean that facility was and what an awesome operation it was. We came back here, we heard from the mayor of Strasburg, which was a really interesting speech, really about how she came into that role and then what that role entails. Really eye-opening for our students. And then we finished that day with an activity where we had members from the community come in. We filled this room with different booths that all represented... something that students would have to do as adults. We called it the Reality Store. Prior to this activity, students had completed a survey. It asked them questions like, what
132do you want to do? Do you want to get married? How many kids do you want to have? And with that information, the organizers of this experience put together a little sheet of what their future might look like, how much money they were going to be making, how many kids they had. And then they had to take that budget and go around and figure out how they were going to afford a vehicle. car insurance, health insurance, what type of house they were going to buy, or were they going to rent, were they going to contribute to different charities, credit cards, all of the things that adults have to take into consideration, these students got to experience and had to make real-world decisions. And then there was also the booth, I think they called it the
133crystal ball booth, which never had good news for them, and it would always throw a wrench into their carefully drawn-up plans. That experience gave students a little bit of perspective on how their life may be and some of the things that they were going to encounter if they follow through on their plans currently. Day three was all about public safety. This was another really valuable day for our students, especially because we had several that were either interested in becoming firefighters or already becoming firefighters, and another who wanted to become a detective. And I think we had a final student who was interested in forensics. So this day was really applicable to a lot of their desires. And so we started at the Emergency Communications Center. We toured the Sheriff's Office. You can see in that
134top left picture that was the dispatch center which was really super high-tech and interesting for our students. We went toward the Woodstock Fire Department. We heard from the Shenandoah County Fire Department chief. And then we finished here with some of the chiefs from the town police department. And you can see I think the highlight of that their presentation although their whole presentation was incredibly valuable and and really important they talked a lot about mental health and stresses of that job but they also brought in the service dog Benelli that our students got to work with and and see a little bit of him in action which was really neat. Day four was all about business and industry. On this day we went all up and down the county. We started at Shentel learning about the
135different things that they're doing. We learned about how they started. We got to tour the museum that they have in their headquarters. We also learned about where they're going with their new project called Glow Fiber. We went to Route 11 Chips. We learned about how that business came to be. From starting, I think, in her backyard or her garage to now working out of a large facility that she's in and shipping her product all over the country. We went to Bowman Andros and learned all about that industry. Again, a little bit of the history, but a lot of the innovation. So that picture in the bottom middle is where we stopped first at Bowman Andros. And the students got to see an experimental farm there where they're trying to make farming more efficient, more economical,
136almost by treating apple trees as grapevines and training them. to go up a wire system in the same way that grapes would in a vineyard. That was really neat. We then went inside, which is one of the top pictures, and had a presentation on the whole business and how it operates and is actually an international company. And then we came back, we had some ice cream at Sugar Creek, and we heard from the owner of Sugar Creek as well as the owner of a couple of other boutiques on Main Street here as well as in New Market. And finally day five, our last day was all about agriculture and tourism. So we started our day with a presentation in here and then we moved from here after learning a little bit about the background and
137the overview of agriculture and its importance in this county, we moved to French's Dairy. and we heard from them. On that day we also went to Woodbine Farmers Market in Strasburg as well as the Visitor Center in Strasburg where we learned a little bit about the tourism industry in here and also heard a presentation from somebody involved in the proposed Shenandoah Retreat Project. Finally, we came back here, which is the bottom right picture, and we had our graduation ceremony where we invited parents to come and hear about all the work that our students had been doing. And then they received their diplomas from Dr. Shepherd. And so it was a packed week. We were working from 745 until 4 o'clock in the afternoon with no breaks. A lot of times we were eating lunch while
138presenters were speaking with us. Our students were exhausted at the end of the day, but I think and I hope what you're going to hear is that it was a pretty valuable experience for them. They all really enjoyed it. So with that said, I'm now going to invite Ava to come and share a little bit about what the experience was like from her perspective. Good evening. Mr. Roman has definitely one-upped me on that. My name is Ava Mapp, and I'm a rising junior at Strasburg High School. I graduated from SLSC in June. First off, thank you for your time to speak about the impact this program has on youth especially. This experience provides young people with the opportunity to personally connect with local leaders. It opened my eyes to my environment and the breakdown of
139what goes into running a community. The first day of the week happened to be my favorite of them all because of its healthcare theme. Visiting the Woodstock Hospital and getting to see the behind the scenes of healthcare definitely further sparked my interest in that field. It was a happy surprise to know that we have a free clinic here as well. In addition to healthcare, each day was labeled as what was involved. We had the opportunity to meet with the members of the fire department chamber. law enforcement and visit local small businesses such as Sugar Creek, Flower and Water, and the Buttercup. I wish more students had the opportunity and knowledge about this camp and could become educated on their community such as I did. I firmly believe that this program is a positive investment for
140young leaders and the future of our county. On behalf of us graduates, once again, thank you to everyone who gave us the chance to witness so much of our community in five days. Thank you. And just on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, thank you all very much, and especially to Dr. Shepard for supporting this program. You have many of our adult leadership graduates here in the room, so you've been supportive of not only the adult program, but the student leadership program, which is so important. And I hope Ava's teacher knows that she's here today because she really gets extra credit in civics this year when she gets back to school. But it was wonderful working with Ms. to Wilmot and I see we're going to lose him again. You pick such great facilitators to
141work with this and this program and they all end up becoming principals. So they are leaders unto themselves and he was wonderful. And we look forward to continuing the partnership and sharing this program more with more students. So thank you all very much for your support. leadership program is such a great program for adults and for high school students. It seems like some of the high school students miss out on knowing that they have this opportunity. So everybody who's in the room be sure you spread the word about it because you could have had a few more students this year and both of my older girls have gone through it and it's been amazing. it gets better every year because the program gets tweaked as we learn more and it's fun and educational. So thank
142you. Any other comments from board members? Again, thank you. All right, proceeding 5-2, Dr. Shepard, discussion of school board advisory committees. Yes, so at the July 13th school board meeting, a school board member requested to review the Shenandoah County school board advisory committees that are voted on in January, or approved in January at our organizational meeting. The request was to dissolve several committees, including, and I believe I have them all, but it's the agenda-setting committee. agents to approve bills, the instructional committee, insurance and employee benefit committee, and personnel committee. And attached to this agenda item are a list of all of the advisory committees. The agenda setting committee is addressed in policy BDDC, which is also included as an attachment on this agenda item, which is policy BDDC is the agenda preparation and dissemination. And
143the resolution passed by the school board on January the 3rd outlines the duties of the agent and the deputy agent, which would actually, regarding the examination and approval of the payment of claims, which actually gives that committee or the agent and the deputy agent their responsibilities. So just wanted to know how the school board wanted to move forward on the request to remove some of the other committees as well. And it will come as an action agenda at the September school board meeting. Comments? You're going to dissolve these, but some of them. just redo it another time, correct? Is the year, are we just dissolving them all together? So the agent to, my recommendation for the two agent to, agent to approve bills and the agenda preparation dissemination is to dissolve. It's up to the
144board members whether they want to keep the other committees or not. My, I don't believe that any of the other committees that were listed here have met this year. The personnel committee did meet last year on once or twice or maybe two years ago, but it's been a while. Comments? Okay, moving on. 5-3. Dr. Shepard, regulation changes GBDBT-R, staff leads and absences. and JJAC-R, Shenandoah County Public Schools concussion procedures. So the agenda item is intended for information regarding the regulations GCBDR-R and JJAC-R. Changes have been made to the regulation GCBD-R staff leaves and absences allowing an employee to request donation of leave on their own serious health condition during the employee's first year waiting period from the date of hire before they are eligible for enrollment on the hybrid disability plan. that regulation is attached
145and the changes are highlighted in yellow on that attachment. And then also changes have been made to the regulation JJAC-R, Shenandoah County Public Schools concussion procedures, to clarify the athletic trainer's role in student athletes returning to play after the athlete has exhibited signs of or sustained a concussion. Additionally, the modifications permit the use of additional baseline testing programs in addition to the impact program. There was a time last year where the impact program was not working, so this regulation limited our athletic trainers on being able to release players back to play after they had sustained a concussion or had exhibited signs of a concussion. So if there are no... No objections these regulations will be effective starting tomorrow if there are objections Then we can look at them at the policy committee and bring them
146back for future meetings comments Okay, hearing none 5 for the draft with proposed library material selection policy Dr. Hangar do you got any? their sentiments were, their overall reaction was that they felt it was, the policy was unnecessary, that they would do what they were told to do. Okay, comments? I do. Just as a reminder of how we got here, Breathless by Jennifer Nevin sat on our middle school shelves. And we had a bunch of ladies up here this evening from our middle school. And as I watched them and how bright and young their futures are, one of the reasons I brought this policy thought that it needed to be brought to attention, not because we're afraid of anything or it's partisan or anything else that we heard here tonight. Breathless, the overview is spend
147your summer with an unforgettable novel about falling in love with the first time for the number one New York Times best-selling author of all bright places. With her graduation on the horizon, budding writer Claudine Henry is focused on three things. Hanging out with her best friend, starting college in the fall, and having a fling. Then her parents announced they're splitting up and her entire future, not to mention the summer, feels like it's crumbling under her feet. I stopped eating because, as sex-obsessed as I am, the idea that you can pay some price on virginity is, to put it mildly, insane. I say the whole concept is so antiquated, as if all that matters is penis plus vagina sex. Something like 20% of Americans identify as something other than completely straight, so why are we still
148so focused on a woman's first time with a man? And why is this girl's virginity such a big deal anyway? People don't get excited about a straight guy having sex, it's all high fives and now you're a man. They don't sit around wringing their hands and searching the internet for replacement parts. And another thing, have you ever thought about the way people talk about virginity? It's as if it's owned by other people. Someone takes it and then suddenly it becomes theirs. It's like something we give away, something that doesn't belong. She lost it. She gave it up. popping her cherry, taking her virginity, deflowering. Would it be so bad for shame to be my first? By the way, it doesn't count as losing your virginity if your hymen doesn't break. I bled buckets my first
149time. That's not true. I say hymens don't actually break. That's a big, fat, ignorant myth. Not everyone bleeds, and besides, not everyone has a hymen, so don't be so heteronormative. Virginity is a bullshit, constructed social construct created by the patriarchy. This is what we had professionals put in our library. This is why I asked for oversight because the overview had no indication that this was there and I think Shenandoah County Public Schools can raise their standards just a little bit when it comes to young girls and anybody else. So if you don't want to vote against it, that's fine. You want to use it as a political ploy, then you need to answer for the fact that you're okay with this. Enough. Thank you. Other comments? I have a couple of questions. Did our school
150board attorney ever redo this policy? Yes. Did he? Yes. Did he have any comments or concerns? The main concern is there was some subjective language that would be hard to enforce. And I think a comment that I want to make is folks tonight have been saying six librarians were involved in this. Their concerns were incorporated into this but I can say for certain at least four of those librarians that attended that meeting would prefer that this policy was not there. So I think they were trying and I could be wrong maybe Lucinda can send an email after this and correct me but I think they're trying to make the best of a bad situation because this policy is just so It's judgmental, it's subjective, it's disrespectful to our professionals. We heard a lot about parental
151rights versus parental responsibilities. Parents already have access to this database. Parents should be talking to their librarians and say, you know, my kid brought this home, I got the notification because we get notifications now about books. I don't want my kid to check out another book like this. That's a conversation to have with the librarian. That's not for some 75-year-old guy in Newmarket to decide for that parent. With parental rights come parental responsibilities. Parents have access to all of this information. They don't only have access to it, it is spoon-fed to them through emails. Parents need to take some responsibility. There's a focus, I'm gonna jump around, cuz I have about 80 different questions and suggestions, but I'm trying to stick to six. There's a focus in the policy on making sure libraries have books
152that support the curriculum and student learning. We have a writing problem in this county. Our kids are struggling with writing. Good readers make good writers, but kids have to read. they have to read things that interest them and whether it's fiction or nonfiction you know I'm not saying that it has to be sexually explicit I'm saying that the way the policy is written books that are just there for the students pleasure or enrichment can be excluded from our library collection the way the policy is written kids need to like what they're reading to continue to read more Mr. Pollack is gone but he talked about the Board of Supervisors and the school board and their responsibilities. But I do think that the Constitution of Virginia was written the way it was so that the Board
153of Supervisors would be our check and balance because our true clients are the students and the staff of Shenandoah County. We have to have their best interests at heart through everything. They need to be exposed and have access to all kinds of rich material. And again, it doesn't have to be sexually inappropriate or sexually explicit, but they have to have access to all of these things. And a board or a committee that is appointed by board members, that is not going to represent parents in Shenandoah County. If we have to have this policy, if we have to have this committee, then those parents should be appointed by the principals in consultation with their teachers. They know the parents in the community. They know the kids' parents. They know what is current. Other folks from the
154community who have no background in education or are not... current with what is available for kids, they can't be making these decisions on behalf of the school system. Anything else? Comments are over, please. No, I'll leave my last one for later. Okay, Dennis. Yeah, I'm not real happy with the way the system has all come down. Couple of years ago. We ran something through this county in nine days We didn't give anybody a chance to look at it. Even though there was a huge Massive outpouring from the local people that they were ignored So I want to open out of my way the last eight months. We haven't talked about these school board policies we started with the with the review of Books that would be allowed by parents. It took us four or five
155months to do that It's taking us six or seven more months to get here. We've tried to allow for every amount of view of this material going along, ask for input several times as it was being discussed. It wasn't discussed. It came up. We need more time. We need more people to come in. We need more people to discuss it. And I thought it was incredibly rich tonight to have the head of the Democratic Party of this county. show up after sending out multiple, multiple all-hands-on-deck Democrats to show up tonight to talk. Not everybody here came tonight, I'm sure, was in the Democratic Party or part of that leadership group, but a large number were. And the very first thing that the chairman of that party said was, I'm really upset with the partisanship going
156on here. I mean, that's hard to take, especially when I have been accused several times by the chairman of the partisanship that I have shown. And I have never, ever asked any Republican officeholder, voter to come here and to support anything we're doing. All I've done is help craft. A policy that's screamed to be done for several reasons. We have a new law passed about model policies concerning instructional materials with sexually explicit content. Both parties in Richmond decided this was something that was really important that we take a look at and they passed a law. It impacts our library books. Brandy's correct. We found a lot of garbage in our schools, our libraries. It got past us. It happens. Okay? So I'm not blaming librarians for this. This amazing job of setting up this misinformation
157or setting up what we've done is, and the things I've read, fascist, racist. When anybody calls me those things after 29 years in the service where I've literally saved millions of lives in Haiti, and Vietnam and Sudan and Lebanon and Nairobi and I could go on and calls me a slaver and a racist and then somehow implies that that is why we want parents to be able to know what's in the libraries? Shame on them. Parents already know what... Excuse me. Excuse me. No. You have no right to interrupt me. Okay. I will let you speak. I'll save it for later. Yes, you will. Are you... No. Don't say it. I won't say it. Do you take umbrage? Cindy, let him finish. No. I'm not 75. I'm 77. I wasn't talking about you. 75-year-old from
158Newmarket. I was not talking about you. Thank you. I was not talking about you. Thank you. This is the library policy. lays out the purpose for why there needs to be a comprehensive way of looking at and selecting library. It puts some definitions in here, which policy does often do. It lays out policies. It lays out definitions so people understand. If we take a look at the need for the involvement of stakeholders, think that we're going to lose teachers? Maybe. I don't think so. The library is doing a great job. I respect what they do. It's a tough job to try to look at every book that comes through, every material, and make sure it meets muster. And nobody, I mean, in spite of what we heard tonight, the people who select the books are
159the librarians. Not the parents. It's the librarians as a group. But if people read this, by group, they come up with a consensus list. And they work it with their principal. Under the law for sexually explicit content, that principal's responsible for that information. The principal's going to want to know what's in that school. So they have every right to talk to their librarians. And librarians are great people who look at the stuff. They know what grade level is. They are trained, of course. They are the professionals. That's great. And so they come up with a list. And that list goes to the principal. And then they hammer it out and it goes forward. It does not go to a group of six parents. It goes to a group of nine, three of whom are senior
160staff from the central office staff. We didn't hear that tonight. And a simple majority of those nine pass on that particular list. Somebody tonight actually makes them. Erica Heppner made some interesting questions about how that needs to be refined. I'm fully open to that. When we, the policy group, along with the superintendent and other members of the senior staff, talked to the six librarians, we asked for a line-in, line-out that would make this better. We got line-in, line-out right then and there. And we changed it. Everything that the librarian said that day we put in. This is supposed to be something that's inclusive, that includes parents. You think every parent in this county has the ability to go to every library and look through the shelf and every material and find out what's there? And
161who should select the parents? How about the people who got elected by the people? Maybe that's a good idea to put some of them on the committee. So we have now, we have involved the librarians, the principal, we have central office staff, we have some parents, and then it goes from there, it goes to the superintendent, and then it goes to the school board. Everybody gets to look at this thing as it's coming through. Nobody's got a veto, except the majority of that group. If you want to ignore, and I am not real pleased with the concepts that I've been hearing about kind of how dull and stupid and uninvolved the parents are and how super educated all the rest of us are to be able to pass judgment on what's there. Parents have a
162right to be able to have a say in that. and having a representative from the school. Where else should it come from? Yeah, so we're going to allow, what was the last thing I heard? We're going to allow more of the professionals, pick other professionals to come in and look at this. Maybe a mom and dad or grandma needs to come in and take a look at this. And maybe that wouldn't hurt. And just as with the review process, I've been a nickel that when they talk, they're going to come up with a reasonable decision. Because parents aren't stupid and they know how to talk to one another. And by the way, some of them are actually also educated. Now, if this board decides that the librarians as a class need no oversight whatsoever, sign
163me in code, maybe a librarian, because it's the only job in the world I know where there's no oversight then. Some of the stuff got through. And it's not just, it's not that the librarians are evil people. It's people are writing some pretty nasty stuff. And some of them have agendas about getting the stuff out that isn't healthy. And just talk about let the kids explore and explicit stuff. No. I mean, there are some kids, you know, third grade, I mean, I know I was a pretty naive kid. But some of the stuff I would have seen if I was five, seven years old, would have shocked the heck out of me. And I would have been confused and, I don't know. I don't think it's healthy. But at least I would like to let
164the parents know that these things, that these are going on. You know, if, I mean, Governor Youngkin got elected with 75% of the vote in this county. And everybody in this room knows why he was elected. He was elected because he said parents have a right to have a say in their kids' education. Not an absolute right. They don't have veto power. But they have a critical role to play. Not absolute, but critical. And leaving that role out is going to put us as elected officials pretty much on the wrong side of democracy. Now, is this document perfectly crafted? No. It's not bad, but it could be approved. And we ask for line in, line out. And that's what I've asked from this group to do today. I was told we weren't going to be
165able to vote on this today. It was on the agenda, got kicked off. So we'll vote on it in a future time. And when we do, we'll find out. Here's what I would suggest. If you don't like something in here, Bring an amendment line in line out. I heard very few comments tonight, but I mean everyone is terrible documents really terrible garbage Take a paragraph out put one in We asked the librarians to do that. I didn't get any response back. We got the stuff in the meeting nothing thereafter Okay, we had comments from the central office staff from the superintendent and those who are incorporated into this So far it's been a pretty coordinated document so before When it comes up for vote, and I'll be, based on some of the comments I've heard
166tonight, I'm actually going to probably take a hand doing an amendment or two to try to make this thing better. But it also addresses other things in here, like how do we do weeding procedures? How do we do periodic or supplemental purchases and acquisitions? It actually discusses things that librarians and the administration needs to know about how to oversee this policy or our policy of book acquisitions. A lot of the policy we have is very vague. It's like one or two lines and it leaves a lot to the imagination. There are guidelines in this for the selection and purchase. If we want to change those and make them better, let's do it. I think there's just been a lot of picking and choosing about what was, you know, and a lot of generalizing. And I
167think, and Mr. Chairman, I think for once you probably spot on. There was probably a lot of political stuff going on tonight. Andrew, comments? Everyone's got one before we go back around. You haven't said anything. I don't know what to say. I mean, other than there was a tremendous amount of passion tonight, I don't know that it was all correct. I mean, I might be naive, but I don't think that there's anyone up here that supports having books in our libraries that are sexually inappropriate. And I don't think that there's anyone up here that wants to do wholesale book banning. of our library. So you can count me somewhere in between that. And when you start saying that that's the case one way or the other, then that's where we park, because I don't think
168it's the case. I think Mr. Barlow worked hard on this document. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. I understand the momentum behind the importance of having parents involved. in schools. So I don't know what the answer is. To be honest with you, picking and choosing what our kids read and have access to is probably on my skill set. I mean, I think I can look at a document and say, hey, that's not right. And I don't want that in here. And I think we're all kind of, I mean, let's talk about what we have in common. I think we all believe, hey, that should not be here. We can see that. We can see the book that Brandy read or the one that I've gotten emails, pictures of, and we can all say,
169hey, that should not be in our library. Yet it was, or it was about to be. It was. It was. The one with pictures. Almost hit ourselves. Was about to be. Okay. And so, you know, we do need to say, hey, let's take a step back and make sure that we don't let that happen. So I get that part. And if I were a librarian in any public school, I would welcome some kind of oversight. You know, I just, because ultimately, you know, it kind of falls on anybody. I will tell you this. that if a librarian today allows that to go through, then they're not reading the room, so to speak. And if I were the principal and that librarian came to me with a list of books, the first thing I would ask
170that librarian is, is there anything, anything on this list that is remotely controversial? Because I want to know about now. So, I've read the proposal. I'm going to be up front. I kind of get lost when it gets to the committee thing. My thinking is, first of all, I don't know who would want to be on that committee. I'm sure there are some, but my fear would be that you have two people in there, one that will get rid of everything, and then one that will not get rid of anything. And so, you know, I don't know if the cogs kind of slow down there. I like the idea of putting, here's the books that we want to purchase, and put them on a website for 30 days. And along with that have sites that
171you can access from, you know, I assume there are sites that probably you ought to go to, but sites that we kind of look at and central office says, hey, that's a reputable site. And for every parent to be able to look at that and say, I don't like this, and then start going through the same process that we developed back in the spring. for bringing books that need to be challenged. And to me, that would be a way that we could provide that oversight. But I'm going to tell you, I just can't imagine, I shouldn't say that, well I can't, I can't imagine that today you're going to have that problem. So I think a lot of what we're talking about is hopefully not ever going to happen. But you don't know. So that's
172where I am. Kyle. So I haven't gotten too deep into the weeds on this. Some have, but I do believe to a certain extent that we do need to have some oversight on the library books. You know, we've been getting emails and there have been letters to the editors and they've all kind of echoed the same sentiment. And that's, you know, this is an attack on the librarians or their professional abilities. I don't think anyone up here has the intentions of attacking anyone, the job that they do, because we know they're well equipped to do their jobs at a high level. But I do think... especially in this day and age, that to a certain extent, having some oversight, whether, like Mr. Keller suggested, something putting on a website or just having something where it
173gives people the ability to ask questions. I don't want to get too far away from that and just assuming that everything's going to be all fine and dandy because you just never know anymore. But again, not my intention. I don't think anyone else is to be attacking anyone. the job that they do but like Mr. Barlow said there are some things there were some points brought up tonight obviously there was a lot of energy in the room you know I could appreciate some of the messages that were being presented on both sides of it I did feel that some of them were trying to maybe intimidate a little bit which I don't find to be that helpful as far as trying to send a message to people But overall, I can understand both perspectives. It's
174become a culture sort of thing. And the main narrative tonight was this is an attack on professionals, which I disagree with myself. But I do think moving forward, we need to have something in place, whether we do it now or we do it in January. I'm not sure when it could be. That's just my view. And again, I haven't gotten very deep into the weeds on this thing from since I got elected to now. So I'm trying to stay, you know, up here and thinking with my head. But yeah, that's those are my thoughts. Okay. Al, when we plan the agenda for this meeting, Mr. Barlow wanted under action items and I thought the public needed more time to speak. Our previous meeting, it came on the day of and the public did not look
175at it and we heard the public today. So I take full responsibility, my understanding through Dr. Shepard, the chairperson, finalize the agenda. So that being said, and I'm glad we got a good turnout. So my feeling is the regulations we have now, I trust the librarians. They got a master's degree. They know what they're doing. They're accountable by their principal. If a book is not appropriate, we pass the regulation for it to be challenged. And since we passed that regulation, the only book that's being challenged was the Bible. And I think it was a direct of the policy. So that's why I say it. I trust them. I do not know anything about being a librarian. I read more books when I've been out of school than I was before. I think, I don't think
176we need the policy. Truthfully, but that's me. Okay, any more other comments? Send it. I would like to do a follow-up. Yeah, follow-up. Just a couple of things. Dennis, I was not disrespecting any parents by what I was saying. I am a parent of school-age children in Shenandoah County. There are other parents of school-age children in Shenandoah County in this room because they care, and one of them spoke. Two of them spoke. Sorry, I forgot Sarah was back there. Oh, and Erica. So I do think what they have to say matters because they are in this right now with their children. So I did not disrespect the parents by saying that parental rights require parental responsibilities. Parents do have all of this information. It's a system that I always call by the wrong name, Destiny.
177Okay, I usually call it Legacy. Everybody in the county has access to it. They don't have to go into individual libraries to pull books off of the shelf to know what's in our libraries. It is a system that everybody can access. You have already had access to this. Parents know they have access to this. So this policy does not solve that problem. We have a challenge policy in place now and we have heard excerpts from the same four or five books over and over and over again. Four or five books out of 50, 60, 70,000 books in the county. I think we're doing okay. Yes, I think it's horrible that one of them was about to slip by, but the fact is it's not on our shelves right now. And others that we've talked about
178is not on our shelves. So let's move forward. Let's stop looking back on that. I never said no oversight whatsoever either because there is currently oversight. The librarians speak with each other. They are approved by their principal. It gets approved by school board office, finance, and bill pay. All of that happens. We don't get into the weeds of what all is on every list, but we could. The bill, people could. And then bottom line, I agree with what Marty just said. We don't need this policy because we have all of these other policies in place. We have the challenge policy. We have INB, teaching about controversial issues, IIBD, school libraries and media centers, IAAB, supplemental material selection and adoption. And it has the definition of supplemental materials. IIA, instructional materials, that's the one that we
179revised. because of what was sent by the Youngkin administration. And that clearly says that it doesn't include library books. Andrew, the one thing that worries me, and I agree with you on 99% of what you said, the one thing, the one comment that you made that worries me is remotely controversial. Because there are some things that are going to be very subjective. The Bible, that's remotely controversial. Some people want to ban some classics. You know, Dennis made it a point to put the classics in here, which is really important, but people want to ban some of them. Grapes of Wrath, Catcher in the Rye, books that had a huge impact on my learning and the learning of a lot of people are considered controversial. So I worry about those. What did I say? You said
180you wanted to hear, no, you thought that principals should say to their librarians, I want to hear about anything that's remotely controversial. And I just, I'm thinking to myself, that's so subjective, that that worries me. But maybe that is the relationship between a librarian and a principal, you know? Do we need to legislate that? That should be a given. If we do want to go through this line by line, I'm prepared, starting on page three after the first paragraph, where the actual policy starts. But we don't have to do it tonight if others want to take time and look at it. I would prefer not to do it tonight. I'm fine not doing it tonight, but Dennis said he thought we were going to. No, let me make it clear. At the 9 June agenda
181setting meeting, we agreed that it would be brought forth for information last and voted on this time. At the next meeting, the chairman took it off the table. At the next agenda setting session, he said, no, he's not going to forward it. So it got dropped out. Because it was added to the agenda last minute without board members being aware. Well, it was another comment made about me using it as a political issue. Don't want to go into that, but that's what I was accused of. So I would like to make, yeah, I think if it comes up again, I mean, when it does come up, we make our. amendments. We'll see where they go and then where it goes falls or rises. Okay. I do want to say one final thing about this concept
182of the parents being involved. I think this is about transparency. This is about letting parents know that we care about it. This is about everybody having a little piece of the game. And one thing I was struck by, if you remember a few hours ago, The first four or five folks that came forward to talk about everybody that won, did you notice that four of them thanked the parents for the support they gave to their kids and the fact that their parents were there behind them? And, you know, when we kind of flash the bird to them and say, you know, we're the professionals. Leave us alone. We'll take care of this. That's not sending a really good message. They do not in this They do not have a veto power. They're not the ones
183who select But they're part of the game. They're part of the stakeholders that need to be have some Some that's some participation in this and just to say that they have access to a database You know parents are busy folks, you know can't say well you've got to oversee this and you've got it. So so you pick representatives of each member of the school board who Take a look at it and they come up with reasonable decisions. I just think that's the essence of democracy so I think it sells well to tell parents that we We value your opinion. We want to hear it. Sometimes I got some good ideas And good ideas generally get bought enough in the marketplace of ideas. So so we'll see but so we can come back in and we
184can come in with amendments changes and then a pretend One last thing, Marty. Yes. Under Virginia law, parents have the fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of their children. When schools partner with parents and actively seek their involvement, students are more likely to experience improved outcomes. That's on the VDOE website. It doesn't just include, hey, can you show up to a parent-teacher conference? Hey, can you make sure that they are fed before they come in to take their tests this morning? Hey, can we talk about this behavior? Again, and maybe I'm one of the few people up here that think that we are a service organization, and I'll be honest with you, this probably won't set well, but there's a lot of arrogance in the room tonight. I mean the
185idea that we have parents that this, there are folks in this room that pretty much said you are not capable of making any decisions about what your kid reads or what we teach them or what we give them access to is really sad for me. I mean Cindy you can still shake your head but you know you were one of them. Nobody said that. You didn't have to. You around about said it. We're professionals. We're educated. We have this. We are. We know. And you are. Exactly. But you don't get to override the children, parents of the children you serve. Amen. But you are doing that. That's exactly what has been insinuated this evening. Okay. Lastly, this whole idea of waiting until the last minute to say, hey, let's work on this after we've been
186working on this for four months is getting a little old. Let me just say one thing about that. You never, the policy committee never presented anything in writing to us to talk about. You talked about the concept. You guys discussed. But we were never given the words until just prior to the last meeting two hours before. So we didn't have what we needed in order to be able to make those changes at the last meeting because we weren't presented with it in time to even look at it before the meeting. So we have to have something in front of us to critique or to amend in order to do that, and we didn't have it. Could I make a suggestion? Anyone that wants to give Dennis and Brandy suggestions prior to our next meeting, do
187so promptly. Incorporate what you all dear think and bring it back and we will vote on it in September. Is that good? Okay, moving on. We are on I think this sign is front and center. Five-five. Request a re-appreciation of lease revenue funds. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, I know you've heard this lots of times now because we're on our third year of it, but on October of 2021, the county closed on the lease revenue bond, and that was utilized to fund our capital projects. Additionally, CARES funds were made available to help support some of those capital projects and we did not request funding for CIP in 23. The amount that was approved for our capital projects back in fiscal year 22 was $4 million. $225,465. As you're aware, supply chain issues and delivery delays,
188staffing shortages have caused delays in beginning and or finishing many of these projects. As of June 30th of 2023, the school division has spent $3,497,252 of the approved funding. So we're getting there. We have $728,213 left. And so the request will be to ask the Board of Supervisors to appropriate that $728,000 to finish those capital projects from back in 22. And that can include the renovation or the renovation into the elementary schools? That has nothing to do with that. These were these projects that were established and started back in fiscal year 22. This is the lease revenue bond. These were specific projects started back then. Actually, the projects that are remaining are fire alarm panels at two elementary schools, one middle school, and an elevator. at triplet tech in the auto body shop i believe
189very limited um left yeah okay questions other questions okay uh then five six request increase the 2024 special budget caldmore foundation And you've heard Dr. Shepherd talk about this a couple times, but we did receive the Claude Moore Foundation grant. So this came in after we had approved the special budget. So we're just asking you to appropriate the funds, and we'll take this to the Board of Supervisors as well. We received $114,167 to support the OTPT program. Great. Questions? And then moving on, 5-7, request to increase the... 2024 special budget new teacher recognition. Again, special budget. Our human resource department diligently pursues donations to help support our new teacher orientation program. And this will allow these efforts to be recognized and go directly towards this program. It helps to support the breakfast and providing special
190events for these new teachers. Since it was brought to our attention during the public comments, paying new teachers a three days, a stipend for that, can that be included there? This is minimal. This is in the amount of about $5,000. Okay. And it goes directly towards, it's some of our smaller businesses, and they want it to go directly towards food and stuff for them. I thought I would ask. Yes. All right. And then going to 5-8, request to amend the special budget for changes to allocation from approved budget. And you'll have basic information there, but these are just state allocations, nothing obviously local funding or anything like this, but these were changes that came in after the original budget for the special budget was approved. And so we just wanted to tie this up to
191be specific to what the state has funded us for these special projects. Any questions? Five-nine, request for appropriation of remaining grant allocations. So the IDEA Part B, Section 611, this amount was awarded back in 2021. The award is due to be spent by September 30th of 2023. We have a remaining fund amount that was... that we found out about in 20, actually July 13th of this year in the amount of $298,267.02. We need to appropriate that amount so that we can spend it by the September 30th date. We just didn't know what that amount was when we originally were doing the budget. So now we just need it appropriated. Questions? Okay. Thank you, Angie. You're welcome. And let's see. Are we going to vote on it this time? None of those tonight. No, this was
192all information. Okay. Thank you. Fine. Getting action item. 6-1. Virginia School Board Associated Delegate and Alternate Assembly that comes up in November. You'll hear a motion. Yes. I move to appoint Cindy Walsh as voting delegate and Kyle Gutschall as the alternate voting delegate. for the virginia school board association delegate assembly being held thursday november 16th 2023 at the williamsburg lodge in williamsburg virginia thank you motion made by mr keller you'll hear a second that's second second by miss russ discussion roll call vote yes yes yes yes yes yes Motion carried by 6-0. Vote. Warren to 6-2. Request the reappropriation of 2023 unspent school construction grant funds. Do I hear a motion? To approve, approval will be given to request the Board of Supervisors reappropriate the unspent school construction grant fund from FY 2023 in the
193amount of $2,234,410.50 and to maintain the required escrow account. Motion made by Ms. Walsh. Do I hear a second? Second. Second by Mr. Gutschall. Discussion? Dr. Shepard, this is for the contract, or is that for the renovation of the elementary school? Yeah. Okay. Any further discussion? Roll call vote, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motion carried by 6-0. 6-3. 2024 budget fund allocation. Do I hear a motion? I move to approve that. Our approval will be given to return $89,000 to the Board of Supervisors and request the Board of Supervisors appropriating $89,000 to the Sheriff's Office for the purpose of adding a school resource officer. Or I move to approve the give it to allocate $89,000 to Peter Milberg. Just for one. Never know, but I'm going to go with my first one and
194that's to give it to the... Okay, do I hear a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Keller. Discussion. Discussion, please. We got the sheriff here. I talked to him on the phone. You want to share or Ms. Mott? I had some questions you want to share with the rest of the board, what you told me on the phone. Please. Good night. I'm sorry. You know, this is... We haven't had one like this in a while, have we? Thanks for having me. I mean, we didn't bring anything prepared. I did want to mention... In the discussion that I had with Dr. Shepard and Chairman, if you guys recall, we provided a presentation on school safety, I think it was August of last year. And in that presentation, there was like three concerns that we had. One was
195the controlled access to certain schools. I know all of that's being, has been dealt with, is being dealt with. One was the egress and ingress to the northern campus. That's, of course, a large issue that maybe one day someone's going to tackle that, but it's going to take a lot of effort. And then the third was to... We believe we've seen a gap with regard to supervision and having an additional staff member, school resource officer. Right now what happens is Whitney basically fills in as there's vacancy. And what that does is it means sometimes, especially like a long-term vacancy, a family medical leave incident or something like that, Whitney might be at a school for, it could be a month or 12 weeks. It's difficult for her to be doing what she should be doing
196with the superintendent and with the school staff with regard to the overall safety of our school system if she's basically covering time in one particular school. We presented that as part of our budget request in December. And unfortunately, I never got an opportunity to discuss that. If you watched my budget meeting with my board of supervisors, it was a circus. No, I did not. Well, it was a circus. And we really didn't get the chance to talk about this. Quite frankly, we even questioned whether there's some board members that may not even know that we had the request in the budget. But I guess the point I'm trying to make, Mr. Chairman, is this is not something that just happened last month. This is something that we recognized in August of last year. and something
197that we've been preparing for to outline justification, to discuss whether it's a priority for county funding or whether it's not a priority for county funding. And this was being done last fall. So I want to make sure you guys understood this wasn't something that we just came up with this idea yesterday. And I do also understand that, you know, just to be clear, I don't know all of the detail that goes into the work of the preparation of your all's budget, and that's what you all do. And I don't get in the middle of that, and I'm sure it's the same on your end with regard to mine. But I just wanted to make sure that we all understood this was something we identified a year ago. It wasn't discussed. There wasn't... just didn't get
198off the ground. I mean, and then this opportunity came available. If the opportunity is there, the gap still remains, the need still remains, and that's basically our position. And you told me on the call that you would pick it up. Certainly we would. Included in your budget in 20... 24, 25, and so forth. Certainly we will. Yes, sir. We would ask for that. I mean, of course, the decision to make, you know, to approve my budget is the Board of Supervisors' decision. But yes, sir, we would do that. Questions? So, Sheriff Carter and Lieutenant Mock know that I support you guys 100%. And my two concerns have nothing to do with you. Sure. They have everything to do with this board. And my two concerns are when we have a surplus, we typically use it
199for one-time expenses and not continuing operational things. We usually use it for some kind of CIP, some kind of improvement, some kind of one-time purchase. If Sheriff Carter is saying that he's going to put this in his budget next year, then I can probably go along with it. My other concern is if we give this money to the Board of Supervisors to then give to the sheriff, there's no guarantee that's going to happen. So I'm wondering if this is the right... process to get what we all want accomplished accomplished. And that's true. I mean, the board would have to approve that budget request for the following year. Board of Supervisors. Yes, ma'am. Board of Supervisors. Yes, ma'am. So I just, I think as long as we're clear on that, that we are paying for an
200operating expense with one-time money, and we're okay with that, and we're okay with knowing that the supervisors don't have to spend it the way we ask them to spend it. As long as we're okay, if you guys are okay with that, then I'm okay with that. I would prefer that it went to a one-time expense, the repair at Peter Muhlenberg, because the Board of Supervisors has already said they're not giving us money for that. And that is a one-time expense. We could pay half of the first payment with that money. So I'm really torn. So I just wanted to bring up those couple of points. So just follow up on that We can transfer that 89,000 to you without going to the Board of Supervisors No, the course of roses would have to go to
201them first. Yes, and then so they'd have to know it's identified for that It's a yes, sir. That's that's the person essence. They'd have to buy into that continuing obligation well, well The Board of Supervisors will tell you that year-to-year is basically how it operates with regard to that. I mean, in other words, I don't believe, maybe they would, but I've never seen the Board of Supervisors make a decision about future budgets based on such an appropriation. So here's what I'll say. I think that the need for a floater is... So important that I would be willing to Invest in that first year and trying to get that in and get that process going or just talking to score the school board members Rather than put it toward Muhlenberg, which is going to be a
202ton, not a ton, but a significant amount of money anyway. This is not to concern you, Sheriff. I'm just talking to the school board. So I'm saying based on what you're saying, we kind of realize it's a risk to go to the board and have it continue, but the payoff is, I think, sufficiently important to me that I'd be willing to take that risk. I did go to, when I was proposing this, do a little background, a little homework on it. And I went to Evan Bass and asked him how it could be done. Of course, he again verified it had to go back to the Board of Supervisors. And the Board of Supervisors would have to buy in to having this done. And then I reached out to Carl Ralston, and I told him
203what I was proposing. And I didn't ask him to sign on. I didn't ask him to do anything of that nature, but he indicated to me that if this board so chose to do so, and he did know that it was in the budget, that he would respect those wishes. Now, he said I would totally back that if the board wanted to do that. Now, he did say, now keep in mind. There's five other of us. And he would expect there's probably at least one dissenter. And I said, you know, that person would have to vote their conscience and their will, and I wouldn't dare tell them any different. You know, I would think that given how we received these funds and the hoopla that was behind it, that if we went to the board
204and said, you know, we would like to make sure there's coverage in our schools. Again, I don't think, you know, we're building best of fields, we're investing in safety. I still don't think there's anything more safer than... someone trained at one of our, at one of our, so, and, you know, to find that we're, we're, you know, stretching Whitney out to, to, you know, her max capacity, and we don't want her to go anywhere. So, you know, I think it makes sense. I think it's, it's appropriate. It's appropriate use of the funds. And I'm asking you all to back it. Do we have a second to your motion yet? Yes, I do. Yes, we got it. That's why I asked him to come up. I'll call the previous question. Any further discussion? I'll call the
205previous question. I have to agree to it. No, I mean, we have to be in agreement to call the question. Are we ready to vote? Roll call vote. Thank you. No, guys, really, thank you. I'm sorry you had to. Look, I'm telling you, I don't get to sit in a lot of these meetings. You're welcome to come in any month. I know that you guys work hard. I know there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes. On a lighter note, I'm going to give your department a credit. I got a call Saturday night that I had a black Angus bull out on Elsey Road. Okay. Of course, I didn't get it until the next morning. And I called your dispatch people, and they communicate, I know, with it. And he said, well,
206the deputy that checked on it ran it into the cornfield. Of course, it's near 42. The next morning when I found him, he didn't go far from that cornfield. And so we got it back. So I don't know the deputy what did what did a great job as your whole staff Okay, roll call vote there miss we might make it a little bit longer miss Jeff Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Motion carried by six zero. Thank you. Thank you Thank You Whitney personnel to hear motion through the personnel. I move to approve the personnel list as presented. Thank you, Mr. Got y'all do here second second by Mr Keller. Uh, roll call vote. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Motion carried 60. Superintendent report. Dr Sherford, you have any specific comments on the Monthly reports.
207page report here. Don't you go there. Just a couple of sentences. All right, go ahead. We are excited to kick off the new school year. We welcomed our new teachers last Thursday. They were an excellent group of people. We are so excited that they're with us. Our teachers returned yesterday and open house is scheduled for all schools tomorrow between 1 and 7 with a dinner break between 4 and 5 and we can't wait to have students back and about. six days. Not that you're counting. No. That's all. Okay, board comments. Who wants to start? Andrew. I had a lot written down, but I'm not going to. I'll pass. Randy. Just real quick. This past week, I know Superintendent Shepard and Mrs. Hodges, as well as myself, attended a celebration of life for one of our
208students. You know, it helped for me because I knew the family and I've known them for many years and it's extremely heartbreaking when we lose someone young and, you know, really anybody but one of our own. So I'm just going to remind folks in this room, those listening, you know, our staff, our teachers, our students. And not everybody, you know, is, you know, subscribes to faith or whatever, but there's nothing in this world, there's nothing, Scripture says there's going to be sorrows, there's going to be troubles. There's nothing there that says that everything's going to be hunky-dory and peachy keen and wonderful all the time. What Scripture does say is you don't have to do it alone. We're all in it. We're all going to experience the same stuff, same troubles, same whatever. So I
209just want to extend that. that motion or the sentiment that you don't have to do it alone. Whatever it is that if you need a break, you need to talk to somebody, you need to reach out before you take it to extreme because you matter. You matter to lots of people. And when you look and you see a mama crying and a dad crying, the church was filled. on Friday last week and it's just heartbreaking. You have no idea the presence and the power that you, the importance you have in somebody else's life and you will be missed, you'll be mourned, there'll be a hole that won't be able to be filled. So if you're experiencing anything, please, please, please reach out. Thank you. Mr. Gottschall? Looking forward to the open houses tomorrow at the
210schools. I know some of us will be popping in now that this meeting is on a Wednesday night. Almost turned into a Thursday, but moved to Wednesday. And then a little tour Friday for whoever wants to go on that. So that'll be a good experience. Again, wishing everyone a happy start to the school year. Teachers, staff, students, parents. hopefully it's off to a good start we'll find out okay thank you miss Walsh I don't really have anything except to thank the staff for getting us where we are about to start the new school year and parent I'm really excited I haven't had any good back-to-school dreams yet but I know I will I'll forget to go to class forget to wear shoes. But just best wishes for a great school year and thank you for
211all the hard work getting the folks hired that we need. Appreciate it. Mr. Bartlett. A rare pass from me. I have just a few. I know it's late. One thing I'm amazed about our state government. Well, I shouldn't be amazed, but anyway, last weekend was supposed to be sales tax-free weekend for parents shopping for back-to-school supplies. And our good General Assembly did not act on the budget that prevented that from happening. I called Mr. Jeff Walters about it. And he said if they ever come to agreement, the taxpayers may get a refund, but that's beside the point. They should have had that in place for, I think it's what, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Cindy and I went to Peter Muhlenberg, Ms. Martin. had a back to meet the administrators night last Thursday. She sent a
212letter home and I'm going to read just one quick paragraph. We are looking forward to working with your students to help them grow academically and as individuals during the coming school year. In order for students to grow, they must be challenged and with the challenge, often come struggles. However, struggle is a natural part of learning and takes effort to overcome. Our goal is to help students persevere through challenges by increasing their confidence in their own abilities as learners. problem solving, problem solvers, and self-advocates. So I know the administrators will do a great job at Muhlenberg. And I think that is it at 1038. Thank you, Mr. Gutjahl. Have a good evening.