June 11, 2026 - School Board Meeting

001impacted our students, their learning, and the STEM field. A lot of that was negatively impacted during the height of the pandemic. Like when he first came on, you know, when his first year here, he incorporated the Chromebooks like for every student. And it was like almost like he had a vision when he first came in and we ended up needing it like months later because the COVID came. So it was like he already came with a vision. It was like he just already knew what we needed. How Dr. Gordon's leadership has impacted the schools, especially John Yates Middle School, is he lives with us in the schools. He partners with us. He doesn't lead from downtown. He leads in the schools with us. He helps create a... culture of trust where we can communicate with

002him and he listens to our students, he listens to us. I want you to be happy because if you're happy, your team is happy. If your team is happy, your staff is happy. If your staff is happy, your kids are happy. If your kids are happy, the school community is happy. If the school community is happy, I'm happy. Our support system is wide, even with family in school. It's just, it's a wonderful thing to have people or leaders. that are here to help us and help us thrive through tough times. It really makes me feel like they care about us as people. They're not just saying whatever they want to say to appease our parents or the staff or the faculty. They actually show that they mean what they say and that they want to

003do the best for us and they want us to do the best we can. When I found out that Dr. Garner won the superintendent of the year for the state of Virginia, I was very proud as a parent of students that attend Suffolk Public Schools because that shows that our leader is one that sets the tone for not just the city of Suffolk or even Hampton Roads area, but statewide. Well, he first sent us a picture of the award. And in that moment, I was confused because I knew he was the Region 2 Superintendent of the Year. So I paused and I said, this says Virginia Superintendent of the Year. I was ecstatic. To me, getting Virginia Superintendent of the Year out speaks any criticism, you know, that is being spoken because since he's been

004in Suffolk, I've noticed a difference, you know, without his leadership. we may not be where we are. So it's everything that he is doing is for Sutherland Schools, is for our kids. Dr. Gordon, you've made a great impact. Keep doing what you've been doing. You've helped us, you've thrived for us, you've not only have we learned here at our schools, but we have learned how to be a better version of us. Dr. Gordon, I would like to say congratulations for becoming Superintendent of the Year. We couldn't have picked a better one and I'm proud to have worked with you for the past four years. Dr. Gordon, I want to say congratulations on becoming Virginia Superintendent of the Year. If anyone deserves this honor, it is you. Your ability to lead sets the tone of the

005greatness that is within Suffolk Public Schools and I'm grateful to be a part of the Suffolk Public Schools family. Thank you, Virginia Superintendent of the Year, Dr. John B. Gordon III. Congratulations, sir. Dr. Gordon, congratulations on being named Virginia Superintendent of the Year. This recognition reflects the hard work taking place across Suffolk Public Schools each and every day by our teachers, staff, administrators, and students. We appreciate your leadership and commitment to our division. On behalf of the Suffolk School Board, congratulations on this well-deserved honor. And I just want to say congratulations, Dr. John Reed Gordon III. You have done the work. You have made sure you are educated yourself and you have produced what others just dream to produce and I'm just so happy that you're a part of Suffolk Public Schools. Congratulations and this

006is not the end. You're going even higher. It's always been about making Suffolk Public Schools the premier school division, not only in Virginia, but the entire country. And now because of the work that we've done, the exposure that we've gained because of our innovation, and just trying to be able to be on the cutting edge of what we're doing. We have some upcoming AI work that we're going to be working on and being able to use what we've done to not only show a plan of action when it comes to new school performance and support framework. but to continue to make sure our staff has everything they need, our kids are enjoying coming to school, everyone understands about the importance of a dynamic learning environment and to have this two-way communication that we have with

007our school community. I want to thank all of you all for what you do. I want to thank you for what you do. For the long hours, for some things that are not in your job description, for what you do to make your departments work well, for what you do to make your schools work well. how y'all take care of each other, but most importantly, how you take care of your kids. I want to thank you for what you do. Please give yourselves a round of applause. JoLynn Team, SPS. Good morning, good morning. My dad wears lots of hats. He's an awesome dad, a basketball star, and a CTE technology teacher at my high school. You're right. I'm also a basketball coach here, too. I'm not just teaching technology. I'm helping students build confidence and

008a direction for their future. Period. The best part of our day is after school. I'm in band and dad coaches. We started together and we ended together. Join Team SPS where you can literally work with family. And... All right, coach, let's go. Give me three. Join my dad at Team SPS. Dr. John B. Gordon III, proud division superintendent of Suffolk Public Schools, with my final motivational moment for the 25-26 school year. Special shout out to my man, Michael Allen. Perfect attendance from kindergarten through 12th grade, 4.08 GPA, smart, and came to school. He doesn't even know what the definition of chronic absenteeism is. This is what it's all about. And as we prepare for the summer. Ladies and gentlemen, number one, get some rest. Make sure that we come back with charge. Number two, we're

009going to have some resources that will be coming out. Continue to check our website. Continue to check our messages from our communications and community engagement team. We'll have some things to get you prepared for the 26-27 school year because it will be here before you know it. Next year is a little bit different as we have about two weeks before we get out for that Labor Day holiday. So take this time over the summer to get yourself ready to go. Please reflect on all the outstanding work you did for 25-26, and I can't wait to see you again first day of school for the 26-27 school year. Join Team SPS. My day starts with my people. Greeting my admin team, checking in with staff, and making sure we're all good because the tone we set

010matters. Dr. Taylor! Yes, we hug here. If it's Monday, I share our Word of the Week, something simple that keeps us focused and lifted. Then I'm moving from classroom to classrooms and making sure that everyone feels seen and supported. And when it's time for PLCs, I'm not just stopping by, I'm in it with them. Coaching, listening, problem solving, and having fun too. Later, you'll find me with a few of our beta students discussing leadership and ways to help our school improve. At dismissal, I'm back out there making sure every student gets home safe. Once the dismissal is over, still not the end of my day. It's actually the beginning because I'm a mom too. Join my mom at Team SPS. Join Team SPS. I am Breanne, a special education teacher at Kings Fork High School,

011and my day starts right here, showing up with energy, greeting students in the halls, and making sure they feel seen before they ever reach my classroom. Once we're in the room, my goal is simple, create a space where students feel safe, supported, and ready to learn. Support can take the form of small group instruction, accommodations, and check-ins. Yes, they even get snacks. Because it's hard to focus when you're hungry. One of the best parts about SPED at SPS is the support. I'm not doing this alone. Administration shows up, teachers collaborate, and our team works together to problem solve and celebrate progress. I'm also a career switcher, and SPED is where I found my purpose, because the impact you make here is real. Join Team SPS. Suffolk's school superintendent is the state's superintendent of the year.

012The Virginia Association of School Superintendents gave John Gordon the top honor this year, calling him a proven advocate for children. He came in with a passion and a purpose to be the superintendent, no matter what, because he knew what we needed. He did his homework. He did his SOLs and he got perfect on it. You know what I'm saying? He was the student and he was valedictorian of all that interview for Suffolk Public Schools. To me, my mission has always been to be able to put Suffolk Public Schools on the map. If you go back to when Ms. Barham, who was the school board chair when she hired me, she talked about how Dr. Gordon was a visionary. And we have accomplished so many things in the last six and a half years. We could

013actually do more if people will understand the importance of supporting and not critiquing. So I was the first chief to be hired as chief academic officer. And I'm honored that he chose me and allows me to lead in my work. He is very visionary, very creative. So if he sees something, we're going to do it. For example. The STEM book that we wrote, the documentary that followed that, that was all his vision in discussing how the pandemic impacted our students, their learning, and the STEM field. A lot of that was impacted during the height of the pandemic. Like when he first came, I don't know if you know, when his first year here, he incorporated ...operated the Chromebooks like for every student. And it was like almost like he had a vision when he first

014came in and we ended up needing it like months later because of COVID came. So it was like he already came with a vision. It was like he just already knew what we needed. How Dr. Gordon's leadership has impacted the schools, especially John Yates Middle School, is he... He lives with us in the schools. He partners with us. He doesn't lead from downtown. He leads in the schools with us. He helps create a culture of trust where we can communicate with him and he listens to our students. He listens to us. I want something happy because if you're happy, your team is happy. If your team is happy, your staff is happy. If your staff is happy, your kids are happy. If your kids are happy, the school community is happy. If the school community

015is happy, ah-ha. Our support system is wide. Even with family in school, it's just, it's a wonderful thing to have people or leaders. that are here to help us and help us thrive through tough times. It really makes me feel like they care about us as people. They're not just saying whatever they want to say to appease our parents or the staff or the faculty. They actually show that they mean what they say and that they want to do the best for us and they want us to do the best we can. When I found out that Dr. Garner won the superintendent of the year for the state of Virginia, I was very proud as a parent of students that attend Suffolk Public Schools because that shows that our leader is one that sets the

016tone for not just the city of Suffolk or even Hampton Roads area, but statewide. Well, he first sent us a picture of the award. And in that moment, I was confused because I knew he was the Region 2 Superintendent of the Year. So I paused and I said, this says Virginia Superintendent of the Year. I was ecstatic. To me, getting Virginia Superintendent of the Year out speaks any criticism that is being spoken because since he's been in Suffolk, I've noticed a difference without his leadership. we may not be where we are. So it's everything that he is doing is for Sutherland schools is for our kids. Dr. Gordon, you've made a great impact. Keep doing what you've been doing. You've helped us. You've thrived for us. You've not only have we learned here at our

017schools, but we have learned how to be a better version of us. Good evening, everyone. I call this meeting to order, the June 11, 2026 meeting. At this time, I'm going to ask Board Member Slingluff, will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? At this time, please join us for a moment of silence. Thank you. I'm going to ask Board Member Fields, would you please read off the mission of Suffolk Public Schools? The mission of... The mission of Suffolk Public Schools is to produce 21st century learners that will become productive citizens in society, foster a dynamic, safe, and nurturing learning environment, partner with school community for the benefit of students and staff, strengthen the school division by employing a highly qualified and diverse staff. effectively and efficiently manage capital and human resources, effectively communicate

018to increase community investment. Thank you, Ms. Fields. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. All right, motion was made by Vice Chair Howell, seconded by Board Member Jenkins. Any discussion? Being the madam clerk board members, please vote board member. Dr. Brittingham. Yes, boy member feels yes boy member Jenkins Yes, what member sling love? Yes vice chair Howell? Yes, boy chair McGee. Yes motion passed All right, moving on to public speakers. Do we have any mental clerk? Yes, it is the intent of the school board to ensure that the affairs of the board be conducted in an open and orderly manner that all persons Desiring to address the board are afforded an opportunity to do so in the order in which they sign up to speak that persons in attendance may observe and

019hear the proceedings of the board without distraction and that the members of the board and board employees are able to are able to transact the business of the board with minimal disruption. Any persons addressing the board shall, one, confine their comments to matters germane to services, policies, and affairs of the school board or Suffolk Public Schools. Two, refrain from words or statements which from their usual construction and common acceptance are construed as insults and tend to incite violence or breach of the peace. Three, refrain from obscenity, vulgarity, or other breach of respect. Four, comply with the time limit for public comment as set by the board, which can be up to five minutes unless the board, through the exercise of its discretion, decides to allow less than five minutes for public comment. Five, refrain from

020cumulative or repetitive remarks. And six, refrain from making any comment regarding any pending student discipline or employee grievance matters. The appropriate form for such matters is the applicable administrative hearing provided by state law or where appropriate court proceeding. Persons must not engage in disorderly, disruptive, or boisterous conduct such as, but not limited to, making noise, use of profane language, or obscene gestures, yelling, or similar demonstrations that interrupts or disturbs the peace and good order of the meeting. Persons addressing the board may deliver to the board or its clerk written materials including reports, statements, exhibits, letters, or signed petitions, and may also make use of any chart or graph during their verbal presentation. The school board welcomes comments from the public as appropriate. Board members will listen to public comment but will not comment, deliberate, or

021take action on them. The school board chair may direct the superintendent to investigate items and report back to the school board at a subsequent meeting. The chair or other presiding officer shall preserve decorum and shall decide all questions of public order subject to appeal to the board. At the request of the chair, a city police officer shall act as sergeant at arms at tonight's board meeting. That officer shall, under the direction of the chair or other presiding officer, have charge of the meeting area, the waiting areas, and corridors adjacent thereto, and shall prevent disorder or interruption of the business of the board. Our speaker is Dr. Deborah Wallstrom regarding the SPS climate survey. Good evening, members of the board. Later this evening, you will receive a presentation on the annual climate survey. Tonight, I would

022like to offer a broader perspective. There are three observations I hope you will consider as you review the survey results. First, student achievement is influenced by systems and not individual survey questions. Second, high school students are telling a very different story than the division averages suggest, and we should listen carefully to what they are telling us. Third, the conditions instructional staff experience may be influencing the student results we see. The presentation will highlight six student survey items, and these items are important. However, students responded to 44 survey items. And of those 44 items, only six improved, 11 remained the same, and 27 declined. In other words, 61% of all student survey indicators declined from the previous school year. I reviewed all 44 survey items and grouped them into categories, including a category related to student

023achievement. There are 14 achievement related items. And of those 14 items, only three improved, four remained the same, and seven declined. To me, that raises an important question. What if the most important finding in this survey is not which individual item scored the lowest, but what the achievement related items are telling us collectively? Students do not experience school one survey question at a time. They experience instruction as a system. Improving student achievement rarely comes from improving a single survey item. It comes from improving the instructional system that influences many survey items all at once. That brings me to my second observation. The overall survey results tell one story and high school students tell another. For example, students reported an 84% agreement rate for receiving a high quality education. High school students reported only 74%, a

02410 point difference. Across all 44 survey items, high school students reported the lowest level of agreement on 38 items. More importantly, among the 14 achievement related items, high school students reported the lowest level of agreement on 13 of those 14 items. The students are telling us something. The climate survey is administered in grades 5, 6, 8, 9, and 12, leaving a three-year gap between ninth grade and the next time we hear directly from high school students. When the students we do hear from consistently report lower perception scores across nearly every achievement-related indicator, I believe we should listen carefully. My final observation relates to instructional staff. At the same time, only 60% of instructional staff agreed that morale has improved and only 58% agreed that discipline policies effectively address unwanted student behaviors. These represent some of

025the lowest instructional staff perceptions reported in the survey. As you review the survey tonight, I respectfully encourage you to look beyond the executive summaries and selected items. Consider the full survey. Consider what high school students and instructional staff are telling us. And most importantly, consider how those findings connect to the board's most important responsibility, which is improving student achievement. The survey is not simply telling us what students and staff think, and it may be telling us where the instructional system needs our attention the most. And as always, thank you for your time and consideration of my comments. Madam Clerk, do we have any others? Thank you. All right, I'm going to turn the floor over now to Dr. Gordon for reports by the superintendent. Thank You chair McGee I'm gonna call to the podium our

026communications and community engagement officer miss anthonette Dickens to provide feedback and information our good news report including dr Waddell being a Grammy Music Educator Award quarter finalists Our TTAC All Writing Contest winners, community engagement themselves under Ms. Dickinson's leadership has won 17 awards from the National School of Public Relations Association. Huge shout out to the class of 2026 with a new all-time high scholarship totals of $49.6 million, highlighted by Alexis Morrison from Lakeland, who received over $4 million. Just saw that she chose to go to Clemson. We also have two of our representatives and our colleagues from RRMM, Jeff Harris and Chris Couch. who are going to award a $2,000 scholarship to Ms. Taneya Thompson. And then we will also have Dr. Byrd recognize our next level cohort recognition. And I will close it out

027with the calendar of special events. Ms. Dickens. Thank you so much, Dr. Gordon. Good evening, Board Chair McGee, Vice Chair Howell, board members, and of course our guests here with us this evening. It is my pleasure to recognize an outstanding educator whose dedication to music education continues to make a lasting impact on students at Nansman River High School. Congratulations to Dr. Karen Waddell, who has been named a quarter finalist for the 2027 Grammy Music Educator Award. This prestigious national recognition honors educators who have made significant contributions to music education and demonstrate a commitment to inspiring students through the power of music. Dr. Waddell was selected as one of only 202 quarter finalists nationwide from a highly competitive pool of more than 2,100 nominations. Submitted. This achievement reflects Dr. Waddell's passion for music education, her dedication

028to student success, and the positive influence she's had on Nansman River High School. The next round of finalists will be announced in September, and so we certainly have our fingers crossed that she will continue forward on her journey. We are incredibly proud of Dr. Waddell and congratulate her on this well-deserved honor. Students from across Eastern Virginia recently showcased their creativity, talent, and self-expression through the region's 1 and 2 Training and Technical Assistance Center, or TTAC, writing competition. Designed specifically for students receiving special education services, the annual competition celebrates the unique voices and writing abilities of students with disabilities while encouraging confidence, communication, and creativity through written word. Congratulations to Ava Bember, student at John Yates Middle School, who was named overall winner in the letter formation category for her writing titled Lucy. And congratulations also

029to Miss Janet Dildy, who you see pictured here, a student from Kings Fork High School who won the letter strings category for her writing titled Micah. And just a fun fact about her writing, Micah is a fellow peer in her class whom she wrote about. We are especially proud of all of our student finalists for a job well done. And our Suffolk Public Schools Communication and Community Engagement team was recently recognized on the national stage, earning 17 awards from the National School Public Relations Association, or NSPRA, for excellence in school communications, public engagement, marketing, and strategic storytelling. These awards reflect our commitment to providing timely, transparent, and meaningful communication with students, family, staff, and the broader Suffolk community. Out of 17 awards received, six were INSPRA awards of excellence, which is the highest level of

030recognition presented by the organization. And we received those awards for the following projects. Our SPS Division website was recognized for creating a modern, user-friendly digital experience that improves accessibility, navigation, and engagement. Our SPS Division student handbook redesign honored how we transformed a traditionally informational document into an engaging, accessible resource that supports effective communication. Our health pharmacy video series was recognized for innovative storytelling and educational outreach that highlighted healthcare and workforce opportunities for students. Our 2025-2026 back-to-school countdown, which was featured on our social media pages, was awarded for creative digital engagement that generated excitement, increased audience interaction, and effectively communicated important back-to-school information. And lastly, we were also recognized for speech writing, for excellence in strategic leadership communication and messaging that effectively conveyed our school division's vision, priorities, and accomplishments. So I certainly just want to

031take this moment to shout out the members of the team and for the contributions that they do make. Mr. Melvin Bradshaw for his work in family and community engagement alongside myself. Mr. Terrence Chirac for his work with digital media and production. Miss Kenetra Hatton for her work for social media content and graphic design. Mr. Jarrell Thomas for his work with media and communication. And of course, Miss Julie Passmas for the clerical work that she assists us with daily. Their work continues to ensure that SPS remains connected, informed, and engaged to the community that we serve. Congratulations, of course, to our class of 2026. The graduating classes of Kings Fork High School, Nesbitt River High School, and Lakeland High School have so much to celebrate. Still, to this day, still celebrating. 1,077 graduates, 527 honor graduates,

032earned a total amount of $49.6 million in scholarships. These impressive accomplishments reflect the hard work, dedication, and perseverance of our students throughout their educational journey. We're proud of all that they've achieved and wish them continued success in their next chapter. We are especially proud of Ms. Alexis Morrison, a graduating senior at Lakeland High School who has earned more than $4 million in scholarship offers, including 25 full rides. the highest scholarship total earned by any student in the graduating class of 2026. Alexis's remarkable accomplishment reflects years of hard work, academic excellence, leadership, and most importantly, determination. Her achievement serves as an inspiration to students across the school division and throughout the community. Alexis had been accepted to more than 70 schools. But she decided to continue her academic journey at Clemson University to study biomedical engineering.

033We congratulate Alexis on this outstanding accomplishment and wish her continued success. It is my pleasure tonight to also recognize another Lakeland High School graduate, Ms. Taneya Thompson, recipient of the 2026 RRMM Superintendent Scholarship Award. Taneya was selected to receive a $2,000 scholarship awarded through the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, or BAS, as part of the Virginia Superintendent of the Year Award Program. This scholarship recognizes outstanding students who have demonstrated academic achievement, leadership, character, and commitment to future success. At this time, I'll turn things over to Superintendent Dr. Gordon to introduce and recognize Ms. Taneya. Thank you, Ms. Dickens. And Taneya, as many of you will know, also was my superintendent scholarship with her from Lakeland High School. She is also the voice of SPS, because if you haven't heard her sing, you are missing something,

034but you will probably see her on TV on American Idol probably in the very near future. She served in the Superintendent's Advisory Council, and there wasn't one thing that she didn't suggest that really made a lot of sense. So I want to... I ask at this time for Mr. Chris Crouch, Mr. Jeff Harris from RRMM to come up to the podium. Mr. McGee and I will come join. Taneya, if you wouldn't mind coming up, you were my selection as a part of me winning Virginia's Supertunity Year for this $2,000 scholarship. At this time, I'd also like to bring to the podium our Chief of Schools, Dr. Stinnett Burr, to introduce our 2026 Next Level Leadership Cohort. Thank you. And as I begin, I'm going to ask members from the team, school leadership and innovation to

035come down and help me pass out certificates. These individuals have had a great part along with me, alongside with me in grooming these next level of leaders. So we have Dr. Pishon, Dr. Lee, Dr. Skinner. Mr. Littlefield is over there in the back. He's a member of our team as well. So greetings members of the board and Dr. Gordon. It's my honor to introduce to you the 2025-2026 Next Level Cohort. Because we know strong leadership is vital to Suffolk Public Schools, we started LEAD-SPS as in Way to Identify and Develop Quality Administrators. The program focused on two main goals, selecting and preparing teachers and specialists for administrative roles within the division. and developing current assistant principal deans and coordinators. Next level, we built an internal pool of leadership candidates by providing deep insight into overall

036school administration and division operations. The program offered practical knowledge and professional practice for future principals and central office leaders. Through targeted seminars and professional experiences, it focused on the demands of instructional leadership. While participation does not guarantee promotion, it proved highly beneficial to all that is involved. We started this back in 2017 when I first took and stepped into the role of director of secondary. And since that time, we've had over 85% of our members to be promoted to leadership roles, most of them within the division. And although we do have some times where people leave the division for promotion opportunities, we also find that many of them come back, myself included. With your approval of the personnel report tonight, we will actually see three more members of our current next level leader group here

037to be promoted to roles within the division. All right. So without further ado, I'm going to ask these individuals to come up and shake hands. Okay, come up here shake hands and we'll just start a line here so we can get a picture at the end first. We have James Allen Alveda Armstrong Michelle by C Lawrence Amur Cameron Shana Corday Jalecia Elliot Elliot, excuse me Christy Fowler Kavandra Gibson William Hallweg Tamika Melvin Ashley or Gil Lynette Phillips Ariel Ralph, Juan Rosa Felix, Shayna Tichi, Shantae Warren, and last but not least, Michelle Werner. This program consisted of 12 mandatory monthly sessions based on SPS building administrator evaluation standards. Running from spring 2025 through 2026, sessions met on the third Thursday of each month and participants earn recertification points for their time. Before we go, I do

038want to recognize all of those individuals, members of the superintendent cabinet who have poured into these individuals by providing transparent looks into their roles. All of our chiefs, Dr. Branch, if you want to stand to be recognized. Dr. Brown isn't here today. We even pulled in our new CFO, Mr. Anthony LeBron on his like second weekend. He was presenting to the group as well, as well as the other directors and members of cabinet. Please stand and be recognized. Thank you. Congratulations. That is the perfect example of our SPS pipeline that we have. Thank you, Dr. Burr, for creating LEAD SPS, our leadership framework, as well as creating this next level program that allows our folks to be able to grow. To me, that's what it's really all about, our people having the ability to grow.

039Before I get into the calendar of special events, I just want to pause for a quick second and reinforce. the work that Ms. Anthonette Dickens and her team did. 17 national awards, that's outstanding. Six awards of excellence, to me that's what it's all about. And I've already challenged her and asked her and pushed her, because now she's gonna be presenting at INSPRA very, very soon while she's juggling her next degree as well. So Anthonette, we look forward to the great work that your team has done and please thank all the team on my behalf. For our calendar of special events, this is both for June and July. As we know, June is Pride Month. We begin our four-day summer work week this Monday, June 8th. Our offices will always be closed on Fridays. We have

040the upcoming Juneteenth holiday, which we're going to recognize. The division will be closed on June 18th and 19th. Immediately after that is the first day of summer on June 20th. Our second school board meeting, I believe, is going to be canceled, so I'm not going to talk about that. In July, our Independence Day holiday division will be closed July 2nd and 3rd in observance. Our first monthly meeting, which will be here at the Suffolk City Hall, will be July 9th. Our summer school graduation ceremony. will be at 6 p.m. at Kings Fork High School on July 29th. We will also have a second school board meeting on July 23rd. John F. Kennedy Middle School ribbon-cutting ceremony. So excited about this July 30th at 4 o'clock p.m. We want the entire city to come out to

041take a look at the great innovation that's happening in downtown Suffolk. I know Ms. Woods is extremely happy because they moved into their new main office this week. Thank you, Mr. Napier, Mr. Jackson, for making that happen. That will conclude phase one of the JFK project. Phase two will be demolition. Phase three will be parking lots and athletic fields. But we're happy for this $75.6 million project, and this ribbon-cutting, once again, is going to take place on July 30th at 4 o'clock p.m. That concludes the calendar of special events. Chair McGee. Thank you, Dr. Gordon, and congrats to everyone here tonight. All right, moving on to our consent and agenda. Is there a motion? So moved. I was hoping to remove some items from the consent agenda. All right. We have a motion on the

042floor now to approve the consent agenda. Is there a second? All right. Motion was made by Vice Chair Howell, seconded by Board Member Riddick. Any discussion? Yes. I'd like to remove items four through five for discussion. I'm sorry, two through five for discussion and move them to new business. Anybody else? Vice Chair, how are you willing to amend your motion? I'll amend my motion to approve the consent agenda with the exceptions of items number two, three, four, and five to be moved to new business. Is there a second for that? Second. Any discussion? Yes, Board Chair McGee. I would just like to request that the board consider discussing our requirements, our regulations, the board regulations for field trips. I am supportive of all the field trips because I want to give all our students opportunities

043that they deserve to be able to explore and participate in a lot of events. But a couple of the items on this consent agenda for field trips violates our own regulations. So I think the board needs to revisit that and consider whether we want to request the superintendent alter those regulations. So for a future meeting, I just want to make note that I think that the board needs to consider that. So we don't want to penalize anybody tonight, but for the future. Thank you for that. All right, motion on the floor right now by Vice Chair Howell is to approve the consent agenda moving items 2, 3, 4, and 5 to new business, seconded by Dr. Brittenham. I'm clerk. We were ready to roll board members. Please vote board member. Dr. Burningham. Yes board member

044feels yes board member Jenkins Yes, board member Riddick. Yes board member sling love. Yes vice chair Howell. Yes board chair McGee. Yes motion passed All right, I'm gonna turn the floor back over to dr. Gordon to make some announcements Thank You chair McGee as a part of our personnel report. We have several administrative appointments that we would like to recognize tonight First is our new principal at Kings Fork High School, Dr. James Avery, who has a Bachelor of Arts from Old Dominion University, a Master of Education from Regent University, a Doctor of Education from Nova Southeastern University. He's coming to us as an assistant principal from Western Branch High School in Chesapeake Public Schools. Dr. Avery, I'm gonna ask you to come to the podium to introduce yourself, also to allow you to introduce, which

045I believe is many family members that you may have in attendance here tonight. Welcome to Suffolk Public Schools. And I see you actually have the bulldog on your blazer. Absolutely. So I'm a little tall. Good evening, Dr. Gordon. Board Chair McGee, Vice Chair Howell, all the board members, all the executive staff. It is a pleasure to be joining the Suffolk Public Schools family as the next principal of the Kings Fork High School. I do come to you from Chesapeake Public Schools with a background in educational leadership, currently as an assistant principal, and I'm ready to take everything I have learned in that role and make Kings Fork the place where we not only do well, but we also do good. So I will introduce some family members, quite a few of them back here. So

046we have my husband over here, my mother, my sisters, my sister over here, my dad back here, my coworkers over here, some current Western Branch staff members, a fraternity brother, and I will also introduce my new colleague, Amber Brown. So thank you. I think that is a first where we have the outgoing staff come with the new staff to a different school, which means y'all need to come over here to Suffolk and work with Dr. Avery. Also want to take this time to introduce our new director of technology big shoes to fill replacing the legendary John Littlefield Mr. William Hallwig. Mr. William Hallwig has a Bachelor of Arts from Salisbury University a Master of Arts also from Salisbury University CTE Networks middle school six through eight history and social science. He is currently serving as

047the IT system specialist here in Suffolk Public Schools Mr. Hallwig we're gonna ask you to come to the podium to introduce yourself as well as any family members or support that you may have in attendance. Good evening. It's an honor to be here tonight to be recognized as both a next level cohort member, as well as the next director of technology for the district. I've been with Suffolk Public Schools for eight years now, serving as both an educator as well as a member of the technology department. During this time, I've had the opportunity to work with some amazing people and learn from some incredible leaders who have challenged me both to grow professionally and personally. I want to take a moment to thank our current director of technology, John Littlefield, for everything he's done for

048me. Everything he's done for me, the technology department, and this district. John's an amazing leader, and I can't tell you how much I've learned from him over the years. His level of devotion and care for our students and staff is obvious to anyone who's ever worked with him. John has set an incredibly high standard for this position and I'm excited and prepared to build on the strong foundation he's established. So thank you again, John. I want you to know that I don't take this new role lightly and I've seen firsthand just how important technology is for a K-12 district. For me, the mission will always be supporting our students and staff and creating the best possible environment for learning to take place. I'm looking forward to getting started. I also would like to thank my

049wife, Casey, and my daughter, Lizzie, who are here tonight. They're my family and they mean the world to me. And I couldn't do any of this without them. So thank you all. Thanks. That's excellent. Excellent. And last but not least, our new coordinator two of employee relations, Ms. Candace Myrick Bynum, who currently serves as the principal of Oakland Elementary School. She earned her Bachelor of Science from Norfolk State University, Master of Business Administration from Liberty University, Master of Education and Educational Leadership from Hampton University. Ms. Bynum, we're going to ask you to come to the podium to reintroduce yourself. And of course to introduce any family members and additional support you may have in the audience Thank you. Good evening, Board Chair McGee, Vice Chair Howell, board members, and Dr. Gordon. Thank you all so

050much for this opportunity and for the confidence that you've placed in me to serve as coordinator of employee relations. My journey with Suffolk Public Schools began as a kindergarten through 12th grade student and continued in roles such as print shop intern, secretary, teacher, assistant principal, and currently principal. Each step has shaped who I am and deepened my heart. for serving SPS. I would also like to thank the students, staff, and family of Oakland Elementary School. Serving alongside the greatest students and staff on earth for the past six years has been one of the greatest privileges of my career and I'm grateful for all that we've accomplished together. I know that I have big shoes to fill following Mrs. Melody Griffin, current coordinator of employee relations, and I'm honored to continue the important work that she's

051done. Before I conclude, I'd be remiss if I did not take a moment to recognize my family. I would like them to please stand. My husband, Rachel Bynum, and my parents, Emmanuel and Elaine Myrick. I thank them for their unwavering love, support, and encouragement throughout this journey. And again, thank you to the board. I look forward to serving the staff, schools, and students with dedication, kindness, and a servant's heart. Have a great evening. Thank you, Ms. Bynum, and we will work forward to fill the big shoes that Ms. Bynum's leaving at Oakland, hopefully to be able to bring a successful cannon to you all at the July school board meeting. That concludes my personnel report. Chair McGee. Thank you, Dr. Gordon. And congrats again to all our new hires and promotees. Thanks. All right, at

052this time, we're going to move to new business. We have nothing under unfinished business. First thing it's gonna be the SPS 2026 climate survey. Dr. Gordon Thank You mr. McGee. I'm gonna be joined at the podium by mr. Dickerson our coordinator of research So who will present the demographics and I will go over the survey results All right. Thank you, Mr. Littlefield. I know we had to pause a little bit to switch it out. As usual, this is our annual climate and cultural survey results. I am joined, as I said previously, by Mr. Sean Dickerson, our coordinator of data and research, who will provide the demographic overview of the survey process. Then I will provide greater insight into some of the feedback and perceptions and next steps for the school division. As we take a

053look at the agenda, Mr. Dickerson is going to take care of the SBS climate survey construction. Then I will review. our division-wide employee and instructional staff perceptions, our parent perceptions, student perceptions, the executive summary overviews, and our plan of action as we prepare for next school year. I know the board also has the breakdown of each individual questions as well as response by level. So with that being said, I'll turn it over to Mr. Dickerson. Good evening, school board chair, vice chair. and school board members. The purpose of the annual climate survey is to allow division stakeholders with an opportunity to express their opinions about the school division and provide feedback related to the learning environment at their school. This year, the surveys were administered during the month of April to all SPS staff members,

054parents, and students in grades five, six, eight, nine, and 12. They are primarily administered as an online survey. However, paper and pencil versions are provided to parents upon request. For the staff survey, there are 43 questions, which include 24 related to instruction, along with 19 items related to the division overall. The total number of questions is dependent on the staff member's role. So subsequently, not all questions are presented to a staff member that they may not be able to answer. The student survey contains 44 items, and finally the parent survey contains 41 items, which include 31 climate-related items, along with the federally required Title I questions. There is also an open-ended comment option for parents and staff. So during the administration window, numerous reminders and updates are sent out to encourage participation. However, participation is

055not a requirement for any stakeholder group. This slide displays the number of survey responses for each year over the past three years. As can be seen, the 2026 results that we've presented tonight are roughly representative of over 1,500 staff members, which equates to about 74% of our staff, 2,900 students, or 54% of eligible students, and 2,100 parents, which equates to about 19% of our parent population. That said I'm going to turn it back over to dr. Gordon. All right. Thank you. Mr. Dickinson So I want to do the overview that I've done in the past where I am able to provide the board with our overall division-wide employee perceptions. And under the leadership of Dr. Sunette Bird, Dr. Ronley, Dr. P. Sean, assistance from Dr. Skinner, and their partnership with Teaching and Learning, we can

056see that our school-based administrators are definitely proud to work in the division. That number has been very high, I think, the last several years of my tenure. Overall, 91% of our employees feel they are encouraged to work as a team. That's been the focus of ours to make sure that people do not feel like they are working in silos and that they are proud to work in Suffolk Public Schools. Now, a huge focus under Dr. Rodney Brand, our Chief of Administrative Services, is to continue to work on our structures and supports that we have when it comes to school safety. 90% of division employees feel that we've implemented procedures to ensure their safety. As a reminder, Suffolk Public Schools is the only school division in all of... Hampton Roads that has three layers of human

057resources for safety, security, and support. The S3s, the school security officers, and our school resource officers. I am continuing to work with Chief Bowie as he has a few folks that are in the academy right now so we can actually increase the total number of SROs to meet our threshold of having at least one SRO per building. 85% of our employees feel the vision offers adequate opportunities for professional learning. I think you all just saw a great example of that today with our next level cohort. And the fact that three of our members in that next level cohort that actually got promoted is testament and also serves as a recruiting tool. 84% of our instructional staff collaborate and consider different approaches for resolving issues. That is what it's all about. Making sure that we have

058different lenses at the table, but that we're also communicating properly and effectively doing things as a team. For instructional staff, 91% of our instructional staff feel that gender, race, and educational background are respected. That is the diversity of our school division. This also lets folks know that we have to be able to take everyone for what they are, not tolerating, but accepting and celebrating them. 87% of the staff feel their supervisor encourages employees to develop and improve their skills. That's our evaluation process. This tells you that our supervisors are providing adequate feedback. This also tells you that our supervisors are providing efficient feedback that can actually be used for actionable steps. This is from our goal-setting forms, mid-year reviews, and our year-end summaries. 86% feel the school division has high expectations for all staff. That

059is obvious. We try to model that at central office. We try to model that especially at the superintendent's cabinet, and our staff is seeing that as well. And we have given them opportunities to have and show their leadership skills at 83%. This is one of the focuses that we actually spoke about at every one of our June leadership meetings when I present this information to all of our leaders to allow them to let them know exactly what I'm going to talk to you all about today. This way they're hearing it directly from me, and it reinforces everything that we want to be able to model within the school community. Now, what you see in red here are some of the things that we want to focus on. As 74% of school-based employees feel that they

060are involved in decisions that impact their work, the things that I spoke to the administrators about is to make sure that we don't provide just lip service, that we take these suggestions and put them to action. This also means that sometimes we may need to have some different people at the table because three out of four people are agreeing, but one person is not. That's the data that we are kind of looking at as we break this down This means that it might be a blind spot for us, but we're not incorporating their feedback in our decision-making process To our parents, I'm really happy because, as you all know, if you took a look at our climate and culture survey data from last year, our parents were the group that was a little bit lower.

061And so we asked our department leads, we asked our administrators to really focus on building that partnership with our parents. And overall, those numbers increased a lot, as you all can see from the survey data. 94% believe that their technology is necessary, helps their children learn. You know, Mr. Littlefield has done a great job in taking our technology to another level. We know that Mr. Hall is going to continue that with some new ideas that we have. The parents also can see, about the 93% of them, the procedures and protocols to ensure student safety. Everybody must come through the metal detectors. Everyone understands the protocols. Everyone understands the expectations when it comes to our clear bags, only as an example. They also believe, 88% believe their child is getting a quality instruction. If our children

062were not getting a quality instruction, ladies and gentlemen, we would not have earned $49.6 million in scholarship. But almost 50% of our kids that are graduated having being honor grads. That tells us that the plan and the protocol is working when it comes to putting the puzzle together that really reinforces student success. And 86% of parents believe the schools keep families informed about school programs and activities. We have webmasters at each school that actually kind of report and work with Ms. Dickens. We have people that are designated to make sure that our information is going out in our timely manner. But also one of our things that we reinforced this year was taking old information down. Sometimes things get a little too jumbled if it's up there for a long period of time. Now, these

063last two things that you see on here, this has been a reoccurring issue, a reoccurring challenge, a barrier to some of our success. 72% of parents believe the school's cafeteria meets their expectations. It's in gold because it's improved a little bit, but it's not where it needs to be. And the conversations I've had with Mr. LeBron, the meetings that I've had with Mr. James Riddick, he's already put some things in place where we're going to actually see more stations within our cafeteria next year. He's going to pilot some things to make sure that those stations, to build your taco, to do some other things, doesn't take up too much time for that 25-minute cafeteria period. He's also trying to take a look to see if we can have different portion sizes for high school versus

064elementary, because we know that that was some feedback that we saw. 61% of parents believe that schools bus transportation meets their expectations. That number is higher at middle school because middle school is first. That number is lower at elementary school because elementary school is last. And one of the things that Dr. Brown and I have worked and have conversations with Mr. Brown about is looking at our routing structure. We're going to bring in a routing specialist, an outside entity to kind of help do some things differently while also ensuring that we also have that bus driver voice as a part of that. One of the things and challenges that we're seeing is we have to make some tough decisions for students that are late to the bus stop. That is impacting us. We're supposed to

065be out there five to ten minutes is really our threshold, but our bus drivers are really really nice people and Sometimes they wait and when they do it is puts things further and further behind We also wouldn't have some different incentives to try to make sure that we continue to improve bus driver attendance That is the biggest challenge that this school division has faced during my tenure for our students 96% is reported that they know what behavior is expected You know, that's one thing to know what it is, that you expect that every day. But you also have to make sure that you're making those proper choices. They know that the school actually has the things that they need with them so they can need to learn. That means our kids have the proper resources.

066They also feel, 89% of students feel that teachers respect all students to work hard and do their best. That means that our teachers have high expectations for our kids, 9 out of 10. That's pretty good, having high expectations for our kids. Now, 84%, again, it's in gold because it's gotten a little bit better, but it's still not where we want it. 84% of students feel that the school has the programs or services available to help them succeed. So one of the conversations that I had with our principals yesterday is we have to poll our kids more. We have to have some subjective conversations to find out what else do you need? What are you missing? Because we're providing great opportunities for instructional support before after-school tutoring and Saturday Academy, but what else are you missing

067that you think is necessary to help you succeed? Now, this next bullet is alarming to me. Because 76% of our kids felt that teachers grade student work fairly. That is three out of four. Why does that one kid not believe that they are being graded fairly? So we need to take a harder look into that, our grading practices, right? To see what are, to make sure our teachers are following the consistent rubrics that have been established either by the department, by the principal, et cetera, or are our kids actually getting the necessary feedback that tells them what they did wrong? I think that's actually part of the concern. 64% of students felt that the school allows students to provide input about school related issues. We are going to expand some of these principal advisory groups.

068The kid voice is not there. Traditionally at a high school setting, as an example, you would have your four class presidents, your SCA president, maybe some captains for some of your clubs and sports teams that would serve as the principal advisory group. That model also is supposed to go down to the middle school and elementary school level. We know that there are groups out there. We're just not sure if those groups are actually large enough for each type of kid that we have in school. Those are some of the things that we have asked our administrators to really follow up with and expand for next year. So as we look at all staff, we're happy that our support staff is overall, they're happy. 98% clerical, custodial, cafeteria, and nursing are proud to work in the

069division. That's good. This also shows that we're providing some training. If you all remember, some feedback that we've received in the past was that some of our clerical staff felt that they didn't have adequate professional learning to allow them to grow. For clerical staff, if you talk to them, the main thing for that group of employees, they want to be able to find ways to make their jobs more efficient. Some of them honestly feel there's not enough time in the day to be able to do their job successfully. 96% feel the teachers communicate with parents about their child's progress. That's the parent-teacher conferences. That's the emails. There are different methods that our teachers have used that better works with the parent's schedule to communicate about their child's progress. Now, 80% of our division-based departmental staff

070feel the professional learning opportunities are appropriate. The one main way that we will be able to increase that number, and you will see this probably in our budget presentation in February, is to increase our overall professional learning budget. We know that things such as tuition reimbursement is something that we've all talked about and wanted to be able to do, but we've had to make some tough choices in our budget because there were greater needs. If we are able to provide greater tuition reimbursement to our staff, and I mean all staff, then I believe that this number will grow up. Now, 60% of school staff believe that morale has improved in my school. That's flat from last year. And the conversations I've had with Mr. Dickerson, I guess we try to triangulate that one particular question.

071It's about being high or improved. It doesn't say that the morale has decreased. Has it improved? And so that's three out of five people. So what's going on with that two out of five in order to be able to make that number higher? Those are the conversations that we've asked our principals to talk with to get some honest feedback from not only their leadership teams, but also their professional learning community. 47% of transportation staff members feel that their concerns are resolved in a timely manner. So one of the things that we have to really probably make a little bit more clear is what is considered timely. Because in having some conversations that Dr. Brown has had with some of our transportation staff, some of them want the issue resolved right then. And there's a process.

072We all know how sometimes how investigations can move, especially when it comes to student discipline and referrals. One of the things that we're happy about is with some of the, and I'll talk about this in July, with some of the money that we've received from the Public Safety Committee, we will now have updated cameras on our buses, which I think is going to help with that. For our parents, many of the things you see here in green show the increase that we've had. They feel that our facilities support learning. That number will get better the more we continue to build new schools, the more we continue to renovate and expand like we're doing in Northern Shores. 89% appreciate conferences being scheduled so they can attend. Ladies and gentlemen, that was one of the big things

073that Dr. Branch worked on when it came to creating our school calendar, having these full conference days. That was the feedback that we received from the parents, and that's also why our parent conference numbers went up. 87% feel the school challenges their child academically. Excellent. 85% parents feel their student is making adequate progress. That's the growth. That's the growth. When you all see our instructional data, you will see the tremendous growth that we've had in several of our schools, which signifies that adequate academic progress. Eighty-one percent of parents see the connections between the classroom and everyday life. Shout out to Dr. Andre Skinner. That's what workforce development is all about. making sure that our staff and our students understand the importance of having our kids life ready, of having our kids being work ready. That's

074part of the reason why us starting new programs such as STEM Middle Years is going to be even more important. 77% of parents feel the schools have improved in sharing school improvement information. That's the CSSPs that we have on the website. That gives you the breakdown for everything that we're going to do instructionally, everything that we're going to do for school improvement, everything that we're going to do for community engagement. That's all on the school websites. These are the things that our administrators are working with over the entire summer. And then it's revised as more data is released from the Virginia Department of Education. And as usual, not to belabor the point, ladies and gentlemen, but you all can see the continued focus that we're going to have on transportation and the cafeteria. For our

075students, 94 know the consequences of misbehaving. Not going to belabor that point. Knowing the consequences and making sure they follow through. But 85% also feel that the rigor is there because we have a challenging curriculum and learning experiences. 84% feel that the school provides them with a high-quality education. That goes hand in hand. That goes hand in hand. If our kids didn't feel that what they were learning was working, our student achievement numbers would be a lot lower. Our classroom management issues would be a lot higher. So when we're taking a look at the feedback that we get from kids, we mix that in not only with the feedback we would get from the instructional staff, but we also mix that in with the feedback we're getting from parents. If our parents and kids are

076saying the same thing, we know it's an issue, right? If our staff and students are saying the same thing, we know it's an issue. This data says otherwise, but we also know that there's always going to be room for improvement Now in gold 74% of students feel that their school shares important information with the students themselves so the announcements have to be tailored a little bit more to the kids and This is how this works a lot of times because we had this huge Focus on and making sure that we were engaged in our school community and engaging our parents more Our kids are telling us what about us? That's what they're saying make sure you engage us when it comes to information to 64% of students feel a sense of belonging at the school

077awesome goal went up a little bit but it needs to improve the thing that I challenge our school administrators with is talking to those kids to seem like they're not belonging to something There needs to be a new club started it needs to be a new group started it needs to be a new after-school activity Because if you can engage that kid that kid is not the only one Again, 50% about the school cafeteria, that's half. We've got to improve that. Mr. Riddick came in. Part of the reason why we hired him is he came in with great ideas, as I have been talking about the way our food was presented for the last two years. And he has even more ideas that he's actually tested out with you all on the board first. to

078try to make sure that you all, if you all were giving him good feedback, those are the things he's going to look to take into our cafeterias. Plus the subjective questions that we are asking our cafeteria staff to ask the kids. What do you think about those carrots? We tried something different with that. What do you think about that portion size? We made that one a little smaller, made this one a little bigger. You know, those are the things that he's asking his cafeteria staff to do. And you're actually going to see a little bit of palates of that in our summer school model. Now, this last one on here, we've talked about before. And this is where I need the parents' help, right? We're going to have a huge focus this summer about SPS

079respect or respect SPS. Ms. Diggins and I are kind of still working on it, right? But the fact that 38% of our students felt that students treat each other with respect. See, the teachers can have that conversation with them. The administrators can have that conversation with them. But we need everyone to have that conversation with them. Right. That's where our parents can really help us out here and show that strong partnership. Our students are feeling disrespected, not from staff, not from administrators, but from their peers. From their peers and those are the things that we actually believe are starting at home That we want to be able to expand and improve so that we can lessen some of these negative behaviors There were seen within our schools many times when the school-based administrators are talking

080to the kids when they're doing their interviews when the kids are writing statements one of the first things the kids say is so-and-so disrespected me so-and-so disrespected me and this data right here kind of reinforces that There's 38 percent of students felt the students treat each other with respect So that's the overview for the data so but now I have to tell you what what we're going to do as the central office the cabinet our building level administrators and our departmental folks We're going to review of school and department leadership groups in order to provide greater insight to decisions that impact their work So this actually means that some of these leadership groups are probably going to change It's probably time to have some new voices there We're also going to implementation of a new

081writing plan to increase the overall efficiency in a transportation department. When Dr. Brennan and I met with Mr. Bryant, and he's already been over to meet some of the staff, one of the things that we spoke about is the balance between using technology and the balance of using driver feedback. But we also need to make sure that attendance, that attendance is going to be so key here. That's the reason why we're going to have our outside routing specialists going to come in. They're also going to give us some ideas on how to improve driver attendance. I want to talk to you all about the menu options. Review of school and grade level grading practices in order to reinforce grading practices with fidelity. So if we have the same percentages that are supposed to be counted

082for homework, quizzes, tests, classwork, et cetera. This means that that needs to occur in every class. And based on what the students are saying, we don't think that is the case. Expansion of student leadership groups. I've already kind of hit on that to provide greater feedback. Review of division and school-based advertisements for volunteering, family engagement, and involvement. So this is a big ask that Ms. Dickens has talked to me about a couple of times. For those school board members that go into schools, I'm sure you all have noticed there's sometimes there's three to four clipboards there at the kiosk. We need to find a better way to gather that data on who is there for what reason. Who's there for volunteering? Who's there for parent pickup? Who's there because of a conference, et cetera? Because

083right now it just basically says, after we go through the rapid system, that you're here to see so-and-so. So that's something that we're going to work on. I also want to thank Mr. Napier and Vernon Jackson because we have received feedback about some of our cleaning in some of our schools, especially at the high school level. And they met with HES, met with Mr. Timothy Christian, who gave me this comprehensive plan of what's going to occur. There's two things that we're seeing. The first one is custodial attendance. Because when we have multiple custodians out, then the checklist that may have 15 items on it then gets cut to seven to nine to make sure that each room or each area gets touched. So they provided an additional plan that also includes setting up more frequent

084meetings with the principal, for the principal to be able to have more feedback with the zone supervisor, and for us to be able to have direct analytic reports to show not only attendance, but areas that have been cleaned thoroughly. That's what we're seeing. That's what we're seeing and driver not driver. I'm sorry custodial attendance actually dropped off the warmer it got in the school year So that's the overview of our climate and culture survey results at this time chair McGee will open it up to any questions Thank You dr. Gordon Would anybody like to ask dr. Gordon anything or any feedback any comments? Dr. Burton him so I appreciate the candidates that you have brought to us You have acknowledged the strengths, but you also have head on taken on the difficulties that we're struggling

085with. One of the things that I'm struggling with in this survey is how some of the things that the students gave us back as feedback, but particularly the staff morale situation, how that's been flat. I like the initiatives that you were gonna put in place to try and combat that, but those are the two things right now that are weighing most heavily on me as a board member. and wanting to see that we really put those initiatives in place with fidelity. I like that word fidelity, Dr. Gordon, because that's really where we want to be with this because this is not the first year or the second year. We've seen some of these trends, and I know that you have your staff working on this. It's clear we've seen some forward progress in areas, and

086that is a good sign, but these areas that have stayed stagnant or gone down a little bit, knowing... what you have told us today that you are putting a lot of effort and reinforcement behind that gives me a little bit of comfort that we are gonna address these things. So I would say to you, keep moving forward strongly in those areas of weakness because our weaknesses can be our strengths very quickly. Thank you, Dr. Gordon. Thank you. Anyone else? Board Member Slingluck. Thank you as always for the presentation. I'd like to thank mr. Dickerson for putting all this together I know what a tedious task it must be to wait on people and gather all this and sort it all out Dr. Gordon I want to commend you and your staff and it's evident even

087with the awards for the communications department tonight that we are doing a great job with reaching out to parents and Communicating information and I saw that through this climate survey as I was going through that was one of the things that naturally just stood out through the survey questions across the board that there is information that's being disseminated and that's excellent and I'm really, really excited about that. I have one question and then I have one other thing to say. I don't know if it's possible to tell when we look at the total staff number on participation to break that out for instructional staff and regular staff. I'd love to see if we could get those numbers possibly. I know that it's broken out where we get a category of instructional staff because they have

088additional questions that are not given to all staff and then instructional staff is included in the all staff if we could if I could see how many staff instructional staff members responded versus how many Non instructional staff members. I'd just love to know those numbers But one of the things that I did differently this year that I haven't done is I took the data that you gave to us and I sorted it out. I put it in a spreadsheet myself and sorted it out to take the percentages and order the percentages from highest to lowest. Several of the things I also then went through all the things that you highlighted in your presentation Dr. Gordon and found out you know what was highlighted in there and so I could get a better picture of What

089we're looking at and one thing that stood out to me that I just kind of want to throw out there and see if you Have some thoughts on it, and I think it's similar to the years past students when I sorted out the students component There was a good number of the students that had there's a good number of the categories. I'd say almost half of the categories were 75 or less. And from the colors that you placed up here, red seemed to be one of the, we're in a red zone, we're not wanting to be in, and some are yellow. But a lot of those that I saw under the students here when I sorted it that way had things about the kids not, a lower percentage of kids enjoying going to school. You

090mentioned the respecting one another, respecting teachers. This the believe whether they believed the school was well maintained or attractive whether there was a sense of belonging and Then a trend that I saw here and it was more particularly broken out from middle school in high school not in elementary school So I think that that was interesting was that the school prepares me to deal with issues motivates me to learn There are consequences for breaking the rules and they feel that it's being treated equally that everyone's getting the same rules and also rules for behavior are being equally applied. I thought it was interesting because when I did the same thing with the instructional staff, which not many things were highlighted in here from the specifically instructional staff questions, but the four lowest ones from instructional

091staff was the discipline policies at our schools are not effective in addressing unwanted student behavior. We already talked about morale. And then school rules are enforced at my school. and instruction time is protected. So I kind of saw a little bit of an overlap there with school rules and discipline and the way that's being addressed. I think that all ties right into the instructional time, ties right into academic achievement. So is there, do we have, I didn't see anything on the... You know, the plan of action that addressed enforcing of rules or behavior or anything in the classroom, do we have any, and you have a better insight as to what this means and what it looks like in the classrooms, do we have an approach to that for a plan of action that might?

092increase some of the create a more secure environment for these kids and give them those that didn't that were on the lower end obviously for how they felt and the way they felt treatment and rules and everything I know you highlighted that that they know what's expected of them but a lot of them don't feel like it's being implemented or carried out well in the classroom and it kind of was Collaborated with the teachers with instructional staff saying some similar things Do you have an approach to that or thought on what how you might approach that? Yeah, and so thank you for that miss Ling love So this is the best part of the reason why I wanted to put this participation slide up As you all can see, the student group is the one

093that had the most significant decrease in overall responses. When you're dropping down 500 to 600 survey responses for that particular group, that's where we had to peel back the layers. And we actually believe that this skewed our data for our student perception. We had some staff members who just didn't give the survey. And so at two out of our three schools, when we're looking at 9% and 16% response rate, when in the past it's been 50% and 60%, that lets you know what's going on. We also know, and you all know this from taking a look at when you're filling things out, people tend to always give more feedback when there's something going on. And the reason that we saw some of those numbers decline in our student participation was because of the lack of

094numbers. To answer your other question, when Dr. Brown does his August discipline presentation, he will address some of those things that you just asked about. So I want you to stay tuned on that one. But I do have to give you this quick overview. Part of the reason why people are saying that some of the discipline is not enforced with fidelity is because they do not understand where a student is on a discipline matrix. A first offense is going to be treated completely different than a third offense. And unfortunately, you know, when it comes to some of our instructional staff feedback, we have had situations where as soon as a student walks into the classroom, this teacher doesn't want them there. Teacher doesn't want her there. And so then that creates a different situation where

095instructional staff sometimes is called the administration to remove a student. And the first question the administration is going to ask is, where's the referral? Then there isn't one. You know, so I think sometimes that also impacts morale because we have had situations where if a kid has gotten in trouble, a kid has been suspended. Once they've done their three days, once they win the in-school suspension, they have served their time. We have to have a blank slate. But as humans, we don't always do that. And so there ends up being a carryover for the rest of that term. Now, one of the things that you have seen from Dr. Brown's presentations is the month of March for us has always been high. and the month of October, November, sometime around there. And the good thing

096about the high school level with the four by four, we're now ending that semester at the halfway point, so kids are getting a fresh start. Kids are getting a fresh start when it comes to that. So one of the things that we're going to ask our administrators to do is to kind of go over how the discipline matrix works. That's going to be one of the things that actually occurs in some of our summer professional development that Dr. Brown's team does so that we can show the progression of consequences, but also to ensure that we have some parent contact here. You know, we can't skip that step because many times just contacting the parent will also decrease the behavior. but it also allows the parent and the teacher to be able to build a strong

097rapport and to improve their relationship. So I don't want to steal too much of Dr. Brown's thunder because I want you all to see the data where you're going to see some decreases in several of our schools, such as Hill Point, as an example. But there is always going to be a tie between how students are feeling in the class, how staff is feeling about if they are actually being supported by the administration. That's 100% true. There's always going to be a correlation there. But I think we have to do a better job of explaining the why behind why some of those administrative decisions were made. Thank you. Thank you. Did anybody else have anything? I have one more follow-up question. I should let her go first. Karen, go ahead. Ms. Jenkins, you go ahead.

098I just have one quick thing. Thank you, Dr. Gordon, for addressing the HES. because when they came to us, they promised us so many good things, and there's been a lot of complaints. So you're being willing to go and listen to our custodial staff and get to the bottom of it. So, you know, I always say they may be the ones that go around and picking up things. trash or whatever, but they should never be treated like it. So thank you so much, and I look forward to hearing a report from that, from your research. Thank you, Ms. Jenkins. Dr. Burnham. One more follow-up question about the data set. So I noticed that we start with ninth grade and we finish with twelfth grade. Why aren't we sampling the tenth and eleventh grade students? Just

099curious. Well, you start. So I think I may have even answered this question last year, but I don't remember. Initially, when we designed the student survey, the idea from Dr. Whitney at the time was he wanted to be able to look at a pre and a post at each level. Fifth grade, we can't. Elementary, we can't do that. But for middle and high school, the survey was set up in order to look at. if perceptions change over time. Another reason why we didn't survey all grades in the high school and the schools is we really don't want students to learn, not take surveys. So we omitted the middle grades. So we're not taking away from their instructional time to do a survey. Thank you for that mr. Dickerson, so that's why you kind of see

100six and eight nine and twelve You know I mean that's one of the the difference is I do want to correct something that was said earlier our kids The same group of kids are actually being surveyed twice at each level of the secondary level We don't not hear from them for three years. We hear from them in six. They may hear from again two years later, and they Then we actually hear from them again at night. So you think about that's three times in a four-year window. Then we hear from them again on their way out the door. And we try to pay attention to those transition grades too. So thank you for providing that background. I think one of the things you also want to do is make sure that you get a good

101snapshot at each level too. I'll just add that. Mr. Ritter, do you have anything? I would just like to say first, thank you for the presentation. What I would like to see when I look at pre and post survey is if we can do one in the beginning of the school year and then come back towards the end of the school year. That way it's actually the same student. And the reason why I say that if you do it for a student who's in ninth grade, it's in Suffolk Public Schools. Twelfth grade, it's no guarantee that that student is here. So to get it from my perspective in my viewpoint to get a better accurate projection of what's going on within the school for that physical year It would be best to do one August

102September and I disagree as far as taking instructional time to do a survey the survey doesn't take that long you can do that in your first week in August of school which should be no more when I was teaching I built that into my lesson plan to complete the survey and it's 20 minutes of drop everything and read take the survey let's move on so that way you have data throughout the course of that calendar school year that you that you can compare it to versus A lot of other different things happening in sixth grade. You may have an outstanding Administrative team that is a tentative and then you may move and the person may go to a school where it's not the same level of outstanding attentiveness and to from their perspective or viewpoint

103it may be subpart and may grade lower if you get what I'm saying, so other than that I Would love to see More participation. I understand why the numbers were what the numbers were However, especially with us having specialty programs in place such as the stem programs the Performing Arts program at Lakeland. I would like to hear in Detail from those particular programs as well. How do you feel that it's working? So that way we have some additional data other than the great works and the scholarships and things we see What else can we do better? What can we improve on? How can we put budgetary needs to where the needs are displayed through the survey? Once again, I just want to say thank you all so much for this outstanding report. It's a lot

104to chew on, and I look forward to the follow-up presentation in August from Dr. Brown. Thank you, Mr. Riddick. Ms. Fields, you're good. All right. Thank you, Dr. Warder. All right, we're going to move on to our next item under new business, citizen advisory committee approval. Is there a motion? All right, there is a motion on the floor made by Board Member Riddick, seconded by Board Member Jenkins. Before we get into discussion, Ms. Gardner, do you mind reading off that list? For the Career and Technical Education Advisory Council, Allison Copeland was appointed by Karen Jenkins, Dr. Sherry Johnston appointed by Dr. Dawn Brittingham, and Andrew Kirby appointed by Heather Howell. The citizens who will be, are you all approving them to all of the? Okay. Yes, ma'am. Okay citizens who will be added to the

105committee is Lewis Thompson senior Shakima Bonnie Tiffany Watts Tasha Lewis and Joan Turner for the gifted gifted Education Advisory Committee Andrew Kirby was nominated by Heather Howell other members will include Cindy Smith Kayla Pennington, Katherine Evans, Christian Pettiford, Darlene Semboyski, Heather Morehead, and Dr. Crystal Hatton. The Local Advisory Committee for Special Education, Angela Kilgore, appointed by Dr. Brittingham, Tiffany Hassel, appointed by Heather Howell. Other members include Valentina Ray, Claudette Pierre, Megan Downs, Sheila Manigault, Shakita Kindred, Jeanette Colasso-Whitby, Dominique Wilson, and Alicia Beaty. For the Parent Advisory Council, Title I, Jewel Hoffler. appointed by Karen Jenkins, Margaret Rankin appointed by Dr. Dawn Brittingham, Rebecca Parker appointed by Heather Howell, and Charlotte Brooks-Dale appointed by Kimberly Slinglove. Other members include Rebecca Sealy, Rebecca Myers, Lisa Dixon, and Tiffany Watts. the School Health Advisory Board, Elizabeth Morningstar, appointed

106by Dr. Dawn Brittingham, Sarah Kozak, appointed by Heather Howell. Other members include Laura Burrows-Jackson and Alexandra Say. School Safety Audit Committee, Attorney Jasmine Fields, appointed by Karen Jenkins, Travis McKinney, appointed by Dr. Dawn Brittingham, Selena Thornton-Manuel, appointed by Heather Howell. Other members include Brittany Ganey and Tiffany Watts. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Is there any discussion? If I could, I just want to point out I heard someone appointed Kayla Pennington, and she was just on the list of members who were appointed last year and never attended. So I just want to put that out there. If there's no further discussion, Madam Clerk, we're ready to vote. Actually, Kayla Pennington, her name was announced because she applied to be added to the committee. It's up to you all whether or not you want to. you know, allow

107her to serve again or strike her name from the list. Okay, understood. So she wasn't appointed? No. She was just included? Just the right. Got it. Board Chair, I recommend that we approve all that applied. However, if anyone is on that list and did not participate, returning but didn't participate the first year, that I don't think that it would be necessary. to appoint them again for a second term if they didn't participate the first year. Thank you for that. Anybody else? Mr. Verdict? I understand my colleague's position, and I do agree. However, I do have a remedy for it. I suggest that the board exercise the committee that Vice Chair Howell will share at the time put in place so they can have a meeting with that particular person to see what were some of

108the barriers that prevented the person from participating. Sometimes I know I've had committee members who... Reached out to me and told me they were not going to meetings just to her the chairperson Ram alone. They feel like they didn't have a voice so they stopped coming I don't know if that's the case for this particular individual But I believe anytime you have a citizen who take time to commit to complete and submit an application It is worth looking into I think we need further information as to why the person were not able to fulfill that obligation and upon the recommendation of the committee that Vice chair how put in place the last year upon their recommendation to either allow that person to Come back and serve or not. We take action on that particular person

109at that time. That's just my recommendation Thank You. Mr. Ruddick Yes Just want to make a point that when we had our workshop that was one of the things that we talked about was attending meetings and if you cannot attend you need to let persons know why you're not but I agree we can Reach out to that person and find out why but and we will we're putting in place another workshop before school starts for those who will be appointed and on the committee so all of that will be said again in the workshop thank you thank you board member jenkins i just got a follow-up comment i do ask that this some that attendance is something that this board take Seriously, just as we do our student attendance, we monitor the attendance of the

110committee meetings. And if it's reported by the chair that it's a habitual offense that they have members who are not attending, then the board moves swiftly before it's time to reappoint a committee to pull that person off and we can seek to get folks who really want to be a part. But coming at the tail end and we're addressing it at the end is counterproductive if our true desire is to engage our parents as partners. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Riddick. All right, motion on the floor is to approve the list of citizen advisory committee was made by Board Member Riddick, seconded by Board Member Jenkins. Madam Clerk, we're ready to vote. Board members, please vote. Board Member Dr. Brittingham? Yes. Board Member Fields? Yes. Board Member Jenkins? Yes. Board Member Riddick? Yes. Board Member

111Slinglove? Yes. Vice Chair Howell? Yes. Board Chair McGee? Yes. Motion passed. Moving on under new business item three, new course proposals. Is there a motion? Second. Any discussion? Board members, please vote. Board member Dr. Brittingham? Yes. Board member Fields? Yes. Board member Jenkins? Yes. Board member Riddick? Yes. Board member Slinglove? Yes. Vice Chair Howell? Yes. Board Chair McGee? Yes. Motion passed. Moving on to item four. This is moving the meeting date from February 25th to February 18th for 2027. Is there a motion? I move to approve. So moved. All right motion was made by vice chair Hale. I believe duly seconded by dr. Britten ham and board member sing love any discussion Being none madam clerk board members, please vote board member. Dr. Britting ham. Yes board member feels yes board member Jenkins Yes, board

112member Riddick. Yes board member sling left. Yes vice chair. How yes for chair McGee Yes motion passed moving on to item 5 payment of bills in payroll. Is there a motion so here I'd move All right, motion was made by Board Member Riddick, seconded by Vice Chair Howell. Any discussion? Being none, Madam Clerk? Board members, please vote. Board Member Dr. Brittingham? No. Board Member Fields? Yes. Board Member Jenkins? Yes. Board Member Riddick? Yes. Board Member Slinglove? No. Vice Chair Howell? Yes. Board Chair McGee? Yes. Motion passed. Moving on to Item 6, approval request for the 25-26 budget transfers. So moved. Second. Any discussion? I have a couple questions. All right. Motion on the floor was made by Vice Chair Hales, seconded by Board Member Reddick. I'm going to open it up to Dr. Burton-Hamm for

113discussion. All right. I guess my question is, we have even started the new budget and we're already making transfers. Dr. Gordon, could you speak to why we are moving instructional money around before the budget is even started? Yes, ma'am. So we haven't started a new budget yet. That hasn't come into effect until July 1. So this is actually still our current year funds. As you can see, it's just moving the money within that major subcategory from instruction to transportation. That's the EduLog, which is the routing software. From classroom instruction to instructional support all for purchase services. That's a little bit dealing with inflation and elementary materials from classroom instruction to instructional support, so It's not for next year's budget just yet my follow-up to that question is We're taking this out of instructional support monies

114and we're putting it into purchasing services Do we not need that money in instructional services for summer school or this was the regular regular year instructional services? Leftover right and so when as you all know This is the time where mr. LeBron the team was doing closeout and as they see that things may cost a little bit more Than we originally projected this isn't something that we have done frequently as the board knows Summer school is actually in next year's budget and has been already kind of worked through by dr. Branch. So these are just some small things that we had to take care of Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Warner. All right motion on the floor right now is to approve the budget transfer if there's no further discussion Madam clerk, we're ready to

115vote board members. Please vote board member. Dr. Brittingham. Yes Board Member Fields? Yes. Board Member Jenkins? Yes. Board Member Riddick? Yes. Board Member Slingluck? Yes. Vice Chair Howell? Yes. Board Chair McGee? Yes. Motion passed. Moving on to Item 7, is there approved vape cords or insurance provider? Is there a motion? Move to approve. Second. All right, motion was made by Vice Chair Howell, seconded by Dr. Brittenham. Any discussion? Being them and clerk what members please vote board member dr. Brittingham. Yes, remember fields. Yes, boy member Jenkins Yes, boy member Riddick. Yes board member sling left. Yes vice chair. How yes, what's your McGee? Yes motion passed All right, moving on to item 8 was the resolution to make the code of ethics annual resolution that will be voted on at the beginning of the year.

116Is there a motion? Board Chair McGee. Yes, ma'am. May I ask the attorney a quick question on this? Yes. If possible. So this was sent, the board sent it back to make it a resolution to not have it as policy. And I understand that a resolution. by nature is a guiding principle for the board. So this code of ethics would be our guiding principle. But I had a question about some language that was in the second to last statement on here. where we did agree that we wanted to present it at the organizational meeting at the beginning of the year, but it states in here to affirm and to ratify it. So I'm curious if you can explain what that, I mean, if we're ratifying it, to ratify something is a binding contractual term. So

117I'm wondering what is the board being bound to if we use the term ratify in this code of ethics? What the board is simply doing is simply saying that they're going to be bound by this resolution at the time the next vote occurs. But isn't that, I mean, if it's not a policy, if this is a resolution, and a resolution is a guiding principle, I guess what I'm trying to understand is policies and regulations are binding because that's, you know, that legally we're bound by it. If it's a resolution, can you... Make it something that's legally binding and if it's with the board versus individuals if the board chooses to do so You know keep in mind that there are a number of resolutions that the board will vote on sometimes it's by Unanimous vote

118other times is not But just because it's not unanimous does not mean that it's it doesn't apply to the to the board So this would be the same situation and one of the reasons why I thought that you wanted it in resolution format is because you didn't want board members pulling out of it. So it's either you're going to have it like this or you have nothing. Board Chair McKee, if I might just address that. Thank you. I just wanted clarification on that because I'm not familiar with, in our resolutions, having language that it's being ratified. That's not a typical standard language that you put in our resolutions. So I just wanted clarification as to why that was added in there, what that entailed. So I appreciate you taking the time to answer that question.

119All right. Is there a motion? Move to approve. All right. Motion was made by Vice Chair Howell, seconded by Board Member Fields. Any discussion? Being no, Madam Clerk. Oh, go ahead, Dr. Burton. Board members, please vote. Madam Clerk, hold up one second. I'm sorry. You're good. Dr. Burton. So I have to agree with the concerns that Board Member Slingloff brought up with this. I think it is a good resolution other than that second to the last part where it talks about affirming and ratifying this. I think that changes the substance of what this becomes. If this is a resolution, then we keep it as a resolution. We don't add in statements that make it sound more like we're trying to form policy or regulation. So I would like to amend this. resolution to exclude that

120last statement before we vote on it thank you dr brittany ham any further discussion mr riddick i just think we're doing too much um as it relates to this whole code of ethics i'm not going to beat a dead horse but this is subjectively and conditionally implemented When it's convenient for people I think it's another way to try to force something Down people throat that this board has demonstrated. They don't want to abide by I think Listening to some formal board current board members and past meetings You stated the code of Virginia the code of Virginia is our guide and our conscience So I just think this is just too much altogether I think we should just strike it off because we don't follow it with fidelity as we would like to see fidelity. This

121is something that is not followed with fidelity. So that's why I stand. It's not to take a dig at any board member or anything of that sort. It's just what has been this board's past practice and current practice. Thank you, Mr. Riddick. Vice Chair Howell? If I could, I just want to respond to Board Member Brittingham's request to amend. I'm not going to amend my motion. This has been on the dais and before us back and forth since March. It's been in policy review. So I can't quite understand how we're sitting up here in June wanting to make another change. So I'm going to hold my motion as it stands. Thank you, Vice Chair Howell. Anyone else? Any follow-up? Yes, Board Chairman Giddens. I'm fine with it as it is. I just wanted to make

122a comment with regards to it being before us. This particular statement has never been on the Code of Ethics. It's been before us. When it was presented to us as policy, it never stated anything about ratifying. So the discussion that we're having about amending it is solely exclusive to this resolution that was presented to us one week ago. So I just want to make that clarification that this statement has not been... Rolled for the last couple months before the board. That's all Thank you. I'm gonna see if attorney Waller will respond to that. I'm not sure that's correct I will certainly go back and look at that but I Would never add something after the policy review committee meeting that wasn't discussed And so I sort of take issue with that Board Member Slingliff? Yes.

123I just want to say that was not an offensive thing. I just don't recall it being in the policy that we were discussing that it was to be ratified. And you may absolutely be right. I just don't remember this statement being in it when it was a policy. So I thought this was added in the resolution, and that's why I brought it up tonight. So you may very well be right, Attorney Waller, if you go back and look at it. That was not meant as anything to say you added something. I'm just saying that the resolution, being in a different format than the policy was, looked different. So that's all I'm saying by the nature of it. So that was not anything that was accusing you of anything. Thank you, Board Member Slingloff. Being no

124further discussion, the motion on the floor is to approve this resolution. Madam clerk, we're ready to vote board members. Please vote board member. Dr. Brittingham now board member feels yes board member Jenkins No, boy member Riddick. No Boy member sling. Love. Yes Vice chair how yes boy chair McGee. Yes motion passed All right moving on to item number nine. Is there a motion? so moved second all right motion was made by Board Member Slinglove, seconded by Vice Chair Howell. Any discussion? Yes. Mr. Riddick? I just wanted to be sure that we include that whether board members receive training paid for by the school division or paid for by themselves or gifted training, whether it was offered to them in kind, that board members are... disclosing where they received the training from and come back and

125present and share Literature official literature not a summation but also official literature along with a summation to the full board And this here we're talking about board members receiving training from the SBA Cosmo and any additional high quality professional development activities as set forth by Dakota Virginia. That can be a various and a plethora of different organizations and it's kind of hard to hold board members to the same standard when everybody is not receiving the same information. That's not equity in board governance nor equity in us carrying out our duties because one training may... be Stern as into board being top-heavy one may be more conservative board You're restricted to this you follow the will of this and do that and one may be far left or far, right? so I think if we're going

126to if we're going to do what this policy is up main goal and objective is as far as us to be allowed to take training and use funds budgeted annually and this is going to impact our ability to do governance. We need to be able to know where the training is coming from. and have standard metrics of getting the information in a timely manner so all board members are on the same plan. I believe there is a policy in place that says one board member cannot receive information prior to the other board members to prevent that same. scenario from happening so I'm just asking that we consider that and in following up attorney Wallace does this policy address that and if not I believe this is the policy I referred back to include that I

127would like to know if not why was it not languished in this policy Thank You mr. Rudy more memory sing live Okay, well, I'll speak to that to address this. In our last PRC meeting, we looked at this policy that had added several items on top of it. I just want to go back to where we were in February. In February, when this policy was brought before the board just for a discussion, it was sent to the policy review with a board vote for action to have the policy amended as we see it tonight. and specifically just with the language solely that we see it tonight. When it went to the policy review, there was additional language, which is what you're referring to with. all kinds of requirements for board members that was added onto

128that policy. So what we decided, and I'll go ahead and amend my motion right now to approve this as is, and then to send it back to PRC to add additional language to come back before the board, that's fine. The goal of doing it this way was because the original items that we talked about in February by board vote with the majority vote was to solely make this change. But we couldn't do it that night, so it was sent back to PRC. So this vote tonight is affirming what the board already voted in February to do. And rather than cloud it with a whole nother layer of detail that needs to be added to this policy, we're voting in what was already approved in February with the board's request, and then we can come back

129to it. So my motion is amended to approve this policy as is tonight and to send it back to the PRC so the additional language which you're referring to through board discussion can be added and come back to the board with additional requirements. Is there a second on that motion? Second. All right. So the new motion, which was made by Board Member Slingler, she amended her original motion to vote on this policy as is tonight, send it back to PRC to add additional language, and then come back to the board, seconded by Dr. Brittenhoun. Ms. Jenkins. Yes, I just wanted to make it known that I know I did send probably two pages of things that could be added to this policy and I was at the policy review committee when it was read and

130Everything that I suggested was shut down. So in one thing was what you're talking about so I just want to make it known that We are, a lot of us are on the same page that we wanted some other things added to it, but it was totally shot down. Thank you, Board Member Jenkins. Anyone else? Yes. Mr. Riddick. I take offense to this policy being submitted back to the board haphazardly. If this was proposed in February 2026, you had ample time to come back before the board and ask the board if the board wanted to take position on. directive to send it to the policy review committee what it looks to me as if the policy review committee cherry-picked what they wanted and submitted it to us and thought it was gonna fly past unfortunately

131that didn't happen I don't think it is just I don't think it's a part of our ethics that you all just voted in resolution to approve to open dialogue with board members to as that's why I didn't want to do it in the first place but To put this policy through because this is what you wanted in February that board members had found opposition to and wanted to see some changes to make the policy more efficient and effective. I think this was a gross handling of recommendations from board members. I don't see how this promotes effective dialogue when you had March, April, May to communicate and say, hey, do you all want us to include this in or not? So when we submit it to you, we can get it over with? Or do you

132not want us to include it? I think this was, I'm going to stop there. I just wish that the concerns of your two most senior board members would have been taken into account. But for it to be discarded in policy review and then asked to be sitting back tonight so it can be considered again By the same people who shut it down the first time that's plan on my intelligence and I don't think that's warranted So I just ask that if we're not gonna do the job correctly what we're considering others opinions Get off the committee and allow others who are going to consider everyone's, even though you may not agree with them, to serve. Thank you, Mr. Riddick. Anyone else? Being none, Madam Clerk, we're ready to vote. Board members, please vote. Board member

133Dr. Brenningham? Yes. Board member Fields? No. Board member Jenkins? No. Board member Riddick? No. Board member Slingluck? Yes. Vice Chair Howell? Yes. Board Chair McGee? Yes. Motion passed. All right, moving on to Item 10, Ordinance Chapter 2, Article 3, Section 2-3.2, Regular Meetings, Special Meetings, Quorum of Policies. It's an info item. Item 11 is info. So we're going to move to Item 12, which is Title I, Part A. And Dr. Brentham, since you asked to have this move, I'm going to turn the floor over to you. Good I asked that although it's informational I said it's at a prior meeting. I think it's back practice I know when we put policy in before and it comes to us informational first read that allow us to get the information and have dialogue I Just had a

134question on ordinance 25 slash 26-87 Just one question. I don't believe I may have a follow-up, but I do have a question regarding it. Go ahead, sir. I wanted to know what prompted the change in this policy, because I don't believe this was referred to the committee by the board, if my memory serves me correctly. I wanted to know what put this on policy review committee's radar to make this strategic change. To board governance and allowing us to do the business of the board Thank You mr. Riddick. Um, I'll let attorney Waller chime in but I believe it was a change in state code by the General Assembly this year It's a it's a code change of Virginia Attorney Waller Yeah, that is correct. There was a change in the state code that facilitated this

135change the change that is not impacted by state code is the change from the 16 to 10 calendar days for placement of an item on the agenda and that was to allow board members greater flexibility to Any further questions or discussion on either info item All right, being done we're gonna move on to item 12 dr. Brittenham you have the floor And before we go do you want to do these collectively or individually? So looking at title 1 part 1 or part a I see that we've received a grant for $4 million for four of the five schools that we are addressing because either they fall under the CSI or the TSI rating that the VDOE gave them. So my question, looking at the staffing, it looks like all that's being allocated for the four

136schools is the reading specialist that the Academic coaches the interventionist and the paraprofessionals are actually being spread through the nine schools Am I am I saying that correct? Yes Chairman you like to call dr. Branch our chief academic officer to the podium. She will be assisted by dr. Catherine P Sean Elementary director of elementary leadership since she works at the elementary level Good evening. I was using my teacher voice. I'm sure you heard me Dr. Brittingham you are addressing title 1 part a are improving basic programs grant application the grant application is pending approval and final allocations currently at $4 million. It is for all Title I schools. There are nine Title I schools of our 11 elementary schools. Where you see Ms. Lee, our coordinator of compensatory services, has broken down some highlighted areas

137for us. The first one, funding for reading specialists across the following four Title I schools, Booker T, Elephant's Fork, Hill Point, and MacBinn. They are already being funded. We're just highlighting that we're continuing the funding from our Title I allocation for those reading specialists. Funding nine academic coaches across the nine Title I schools. It's already a part of the Title I application, and we've done that for many years. In fact, how many years has that been? It's been since I was even a principal, or actually since I was teaching here. However many years ago that is. But yes, it's been in play. In fact, I believe that when Title I, that year and during that time, they recommended us having coaches in the building. So academic coaches are a part of our instructional personnel. As

138far as funding 11 interventionists across the nine Title I schools, that is already. play they are part of our instructional support personnel at those nine schools and because the number says 11 in two of our schools with larger populations there are two interventionists. Funding 14 paraprofessionals across the nine Title I schools. They have been identified and are already a part of our instructional support personnel in those nine Title I schools and they are paid out of the Title I grant. That's why it has to be specified here. for the funding source. Okay. Well, I'm looking at the five schools right now that either fall under the CSI or the TSI, and my concern is that... We knew in 24-25 that those five schools probably needed additional support, that their scores were telling us that they

139were in need, one needing critical intervention and the other ones targeted. My question at this point is, I don't know that one reading specialist is sufficient. for what we're dealing with. My question is, you know, why are we not trying to get a second reading specialist in there along with other interventionists? I mean, if we're going to be serious about trying to help these schools, why are we not trying to put more personnel and resources in place to address that? So that's my question. That's actually a good point. And so this funding here is actually taking care of a second reading specialist. So our local funds cover one reading specialist. So all of our elementary schools have a reading specialist. This Title I funding provides an additional reading specialist to those schools that need it.

140Okay. I had asked that question starting, and you said that these four reading specialists were the ones that were already there. So you're telling me now that what you're saying is that we're getting an additional reading specialist? We did this last year. to support the need of those schools. So this is gonna be continued in the upcoming year. So we are actually adding an additional reading specialist to these four schools. So they'll have two on site. They already do last year. And yes, that will continue. Yes. Can I just clarify real quick? Because I kind of see what you're asking, Dr. Brennan. So we have to fill this out every year. So this staff, what Dr. Pichon and Dr. Branch are basically informing you of. We already have these in place, but we have to

141specifically identify them on the grant each year. So those schools already had multiple. This is just a continuation of that staffing model. Okay. So then I guess my next question and concern is, is that... we've had these reading interventionists in place for these schools and we still know that they are struggling. Do we not need to try and fund more? I mean, if what we've put in place is not enough to support our students, it's not enough staff resource to meet the need at these schools, why are we not looking at trying to fund additional? places and positions so that we can help bring those, I mean the idea for me is if we see that these schools are struggling specifically in these areas of reading and we know that reading specialists are part of

142the process that's gonna help us help those students, why are we not adding additional positions to this so that we can help this process move along a little bit faster? And so, yes, I agree with you. This was the reason why we added those additional positions, and each year we look at that, and depending on the funding, that's how we support each school. So we did provide those additional positions, and those additional positions actually helped those schools grow. So when you see the results, you'll see that there was tremendous growth in those schools, and so it did help. And that's why we're continuing that. We also have additional grants. Dr. Branch just reminded me to mention that we have provided for those schools as well. We don't always just focus on the positions, though, because

143a lot of times those are hard to fill, and then we have that money sitting. So we do do a combination of positions and other resources to assist those schools. Okay. Mr. Roodick. I would like the request of our superintendent and Board Chair McGee that there be a work session to explain fully what Title I is and how we use Title I funds. And the reason why I'm saying that, having worked in a school division where I had to do the Title I audit, it's a different beast. It's not as relaxed as some people think. You don't have money that you can just move however you want. What you say you're going to do, you have to report. You have to show data that is being done. And when the federal government comes in and

144asks, you better have your stuff together or it's a whole different ballgame. I think that... that type of presentation will help board members understand exactly how we're using our resources, local, state, and federal, to advance Suffolk, because we create achievers, and we do this through our strategic partnerships. I do want to say thank you so much, Dr. Pichon and Dr. Branch, for the outstanding presentation and answers to the questions thus far. Thank you for seeing the needs of our school division and being forward-thinking and putting the safeguards in place. I do know I've seen the interventions hand in hand. I know that the reading specialists work alongside with the classroom teacher, especially with small groups and you're doing phonemic awareness and all the other assessments that go on. It is a really tough position. Most

145districts are struggling with filling those vacancies. They are trying to incentivize teachers to become reading specialists. So I do want to say thank you so much, Dr. Gordon and your staff, for a job well done and using Title I for us to get the grin again. with no hiccups and no issues. That speaks volumes to how you all are managing and carrying out the grant as well. Thank you. Is there any further discussion or a motion? Yes, I want to follow that up. So I understand that we have the constraints of federal funding happening here. I guess on my end, I'm looking at our budget thinking if we are constrained at what we can do to put reading specialists and personnel in place to address the students that are struggling. Maybe we need to take

146another look at our budget outside of the federal funds and see where in our budget we can pool additional funds to try and fund more of these positions that we need because we need the reading specialists in place. They're the ones that are credentialed and certified. They understand the techniques. They're the ones most of the time that oversee the other positions of teaching assistants and paraprofessionals. And so my thought, looking at the data and looking at the research, if we're going to really take a really hard swing at this and do the best that we can for these students that need these reading supports, then if the federal funding is our constraint, maybe we need to consider looking at where else in our budget we could pull additional money from so that, let's say we

147have a school that needs three reading specialists and not two because we have a need for that because they have shown us that there's a struggle and a deficit for those students and that population in that school. And so I understand the federal. mandates and constraints. I understand that we have to follow what their regulatory requirements are of us, but if we're just relying on that federal funding to fund this, then I don't know that we've done our due diligence. I think that if we have the need, we have a school or multiple schools that say, hey. We've got two reading specialists right now, but that's not enough. It's not covering the need that we have to meet for the students that are struggling. We need that additional reading specialist funded. Where in our budget

148can we find that money to make that? If we don't have the specialists in the classroom that can do the intervention, that student isn't gonna move forward. And so I would rather put our eggs in the basket of let's hire more of these reading specialists. Let's incentivize. that have that certification to come in our direction to SPS so that we can put them in place and they can do the work that needs to be done to help these students in the classroom. So I guess for me it was more of a funding. conversation than anything else at this point. Yes, I understand that the federal government is allowing us so many positions with the money that they give us, but for us as a school division, if we know that the need is greater than

149what the federal government is giving us funding for, then let's start looking a little bit deeper into our own... budget pocket and say hey let's let's fund a couple extra reading specialists you know or paraprofessionals or interventionists if that's what that that school needs in order for there to be success and for those students in the classroom so board chair mcgee i would move to approve that um move that we approve title one part a all right motion on the floor is to approve title one part a made by vice chair howell seconded by board member jenkins any discussions on the motion Being numb and clerk board members, please vote board member. Dr. Brittingham. Yes board member feels yes board member Jenkins Yes, for member Riddick. Yes board member sling love. Yes vice chair how

150yes board chair McGee. Yes motion passed Moving on to item 13. Is there a motion or discussion? All right There's a motion on the floor to approve item 13 title to party made by vice chair how seconded by board member Jenkins any discussion? being numb and clerk Board members, please vote. Board member Dr. Brittingham? Yes. Board member Fields? Yes. Board member Jenkins? Yes. Board member Riddick? Yes. Board member Slinglove? Yes. Vice Chair Howell? Yes. Board Chair McGee? Yes. Motion passed. Moving on to item 14. Board Chair McGee, I move to approve title three. All right, motion to approve was made by Vice Chair Howell, seconded by Board Member Jenkins. Any discussion for title three? Be a numb and clerk board members, please vote board member. Dr. Brittingham. Yes board member feels yes board member Jenkins

151Yes, boy member Riddick. Yes board member sling love. Yes vice chair. How yes board chair McGee Yes motion passed moving on to our last item under new business title four. Is there a motion move to approve title for Part A? second Motion was made by vice chair Hale for approval second by member Jenkins any discussion Being not madam clerk board members, please vote board member. Dr. Brittingham. Yeah board member feels yes board member Jenkins What member Riddick? Yes board member sling love. Yes, vice chair how yes board chair McGee. Yes motion passed Thank you. All right. We have no public speakers on non-agenda items Correct. Madam clerk. We're gonna move to business by board members however I'm going to start from my right to left this evening. Start with Board Member Singlove. All right. Well,

152I've done a good bit of talking tonight, so I'm not going to waste everybody's time too much. But I did thoroughly enjoy graduation. And again, congratulations to all those that graduated this year. I'm very excited about the many kudos that we're giving to our staff. I love to see our staff that was here tonight. that is advancing and growing. I love the fact that we are growing from within and promoting our own people. That is definitely something to be commended. So I thank Dr. Gordon and his staff for cultivating leaders within Suffolk Public Schools. So I also wanted to congratulate Taneya Thompson. I've had the privilege of hearing her sing, I think it was a year ago at an event. I think it was the... the State of the City Address. She did a fantastic

153job, an incredible voice, and I'm just really thrilled to see her receiving the scholarships that she has received. And so many of our students that have received scholarships is just commendable, and I'm encouraged by that. But with... Without taking up too much time, I will also say one final thing before I go and pass on the mic to someone else that I am very happy to announce that opportunity to potentially carry on for four more years. So I look forward to seeing all of you on the campaign trail. Thanks. Thank you, Board Member Slingloff. Mr. Udik. I just want to take this time to say thank you to all the Suffolkians who've given me an opportunity to continue to serve you as your elected representative on the Suffolk City School Board. But I would be

154remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to brag on our class of 2026. They did the daggone thing. I know it's broken English, but I said what I said. They did the daggone thing. We had 527 students. out of, let me make sure I'm getting this right, out of 1,077 students who graduated with honors. That speaks volumes about what we're doing in our school system. Dr. Gordon and staff, especially those who are in the trenches day to day in the high schools to make this thing happen. Thank you so much. I also want to say thank you. To Suffolk dot impact they had a gun awareness Rally this past weekend. It was very impactful Many residents from the city from the city of Suffolk came out and we took a long walk in the heat

155standing in unity Against gun violence with a police chief the sheriff. I mean it was outstanding they have really took the challenge of reducing crimes that involve guns head on. I want to also give a shout out to Dr. Gordon and our staff. Thank you so much. I have been getting calls from other school divisions that are not even in the state asking me, what are we doing in Suffolk and how are we handling safety? When you go to these national trainings such as CASPA and the Urban Board Alliance, you develop relationships with board members from across the country. And when they are facing challenges, they want to know how we handle them. And I was glad to share with them about the one system that we have, the metal detectors when you walk in,

156the S3s. We got one division that may be reaching out to you to learn more about the S3s because everyone is facing the challenges, the same challenges we're faced. It's just got a different lipstick and a different mask, but it's the same challenge. They are all short for us SROs. They're short for us teachers. They are as short far as getting people to actually come out and put in the work. So it gives me great joy that I'm able to brag on our school division. In closing, I would like to say this. Dr. Branch, Dr. Pishon, you all are outstanding. I love the presentation because when I can look at the data and see growth. It means a lot. To see the raw scores and see how our students are progressing, it didn't happen overnight.

157It's not going to be fixed overnight. And I know that you all are taking this in day to day to make sure our school division is the premier school division in the Commonwealth and in our country. Thank you all so much. You all have a wonderful evening. And before I close, Mr. Napier, my principal, thank you. Thank you for outstanding service that you have given to our school division. Thank you, Mr. Littlefield. And please remember to keep the Dickey family in your thoughts and prayers along with any other families who have suffered loss. That's a loss for our whole SPS family, especially our Wolverines at JFK. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Riddick. Dr. Brittenham. First, I want to just congratulate the two students from Lakeland for their great scholastic achievements. garnering $4 million worth of

158scholarships, which is something to be really celebrated. And then another young lady that received the superintendent scholarship for her academic excellence. So both of those young ladies, you know, congratulations on all the good work that you did that got you to that place. And again, the entire school division, all three high schools, being able to pull in almost $50 million worth of scholarships is amazing. I wanna thank Dr. Gordon for his presentation on the climate and culture survey and know that although there were some areas that need to be worked on, you know, I like the beginning of the plan that's being put together. Just really want to make sure that we address some of those lower areas moving forward so that particularly with the morale, just wanting to make sure that we can help

159bring that to a place that we have more and more of our staff that... are happy with what's happening and also with our students and their morale, wanting them to have a little bit greater morale. So with that, I will say thank you and have a good evening. Thank you, Dr. Brittenham. Board Member Jenkins. Thank you. Real quick, good evening, everyone. And I would just like to say, as we have closed this school year out, I would like to first, Ms. Stenahart, felt congratulations to all of our high school graduates who stayed the course. persevered through challenges and have now reached an exciting new chapter in your lives. We are proud of you and we wish you nothing but success and happiness in your future endeavors. I would also like to thank the parents, teachers,

160administrators, staff, and everyone who played a role in helping our students reach this milestone. Your dedication, encouragement, and commitment have made lasting impacts. And as we enter our summer break, I encourage our students and families to stay active and engage. Don't spend the entire summer on the sofa gaming and scrolling on your tablets, but get outside, take walks, spend time with family, read books, and begin preparing for your next school year. Parents, now is the perfect time for you to get involved and learn what your child will need for the upcoming year and not wait. until the day before school starts or the week before school starts. Let's get ahead of this and it creates unnecessary stress for families and our staff alike. Finally, thank you to my colleagues on the school board who share

161the belief. that student achievement must always remain our number one priority. Equally important is maintaining safe learning environments and places to work and ensuring that all staff members feel valued, appreciated, and equipped with the tools they need to succeed. I want to thank you again, Superintendent of Virginia. for all that you do and we said it earlier, you do not do it alone. Your team and your staff, they're right there with you. And I thank all of you for all that you do. For all the ones that's returned like Mr. Napier and our friend back there behind the door, thank you so much for all that you do. And thank you, Ms. Branch. For all that you do. I call you my educated Jasmine Crockett. You do your stuff and you do it well. Thank

162you so much. And for our media team, Ms. Dickens, Antoinette, you all are phenomenal. And it's not just us saying it. Everyone sees it. And we thank you and we appreciate you for representing us well. Good night. Thank you, Board Member Jenkins. Board Member Fields. I'd like to personally extend a sincere. Heartfelt condolences to the families of Christopher Blah, the technology specialist who served eight years, who gave us eight years of service. Jerilyn Dickey, assistant principal at John F. Kennedy, who gave us five years of service. Evelyn Johnson. a retired bus aide who gave us 23 years of service, and Gail Lantham, a retired kindergarten teacher who gave us 13 years of service. On behalf of the grateful Suffolk Public Schools, we are grateful for their years of service, for what they contributed to our

163school system. Since our last meeting, there's been several additions to Suffolk. public school staff and for all of you who are joining us this year I'd like to say welcome aboard for those of you who are transitioning into different positions we look forward to the valuable contributions that you will give There has been graduations and many retirements since our last meeting. The class of the graduating classes garnering $49.6 million in scholarships is a phenomenal number and it's a big deal. The community obviously has confidence. in the abilities and the skills that the students are walking away with. So it seems like Suffolk Public Schools has done its job in educating the students well. Alexis Morrison of Lakeland High School, who garnered over $4 million in scholarships. We're going to be looking for you in the

164future because we know that you're going to be doing great things. We expect that. Graduates, I'd like for you to please know that you are educated now and you have what it takes to make the real-world connections that will define your careers. Celebrate yourselves and go make it happen. To the retirees. You have ran your race and you have finished your course. You are now chief executive officers of your own time and your own effort. You now work for you. Make it happen. Thank you for all you gave to Suffolk Public Schools. I'd like to say thank you to Dr. Gordon and his team for creating a climate that feels... Viable it feels as if Suffolk Public Schools is thriving and that we are in good hands So I'd like to thank you dr. Gordon

165and your team for all that you're doing you're probably going to have some a lot of transitioning to do because of The retirements that are that are coming up, but I have every confidence that you all will make it happen I like to ask that All of our students and families and staff associated with Suffolk Public Schools have a safe and enjoyable summer break. And we look forward to seeing you all again in the fall. And with that, I will say goodnight. Thank you, Board Member Fields. Vice Chair Howell? Y'all have a happy and safe summer. Thank you, Vice Chair Howell. I'm going to keep it short. I'm going to go to board business. Ms. Gardner sent every board member an email yesterday. Just a reminder, since we're not going to have a board meeting

166in June, our next meeting is July 9th. Evaluation time is here, so you will receive your evaluation data on the 25th. It's due to myself and Ms. Gardner by July 9th. With that being said, everyone have a good night. We still have a closed item to deal with. So we're gonna move on a motion is needed to go into closed meeting a motion is needed to go into a closed meeting to discuss the following item and subject pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act found in Virginia Code section 2.2 dash 37 11 record review 25 26 dash 11 RR regarding the assignment of a student to Tarleton Woods school where the discussion in an open meeting would involve disclosure of information contained in the student scholastic record, which is authorized by the Virginia Freedom

167of Information Act, found at Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711A2. Is there a motion? I move to go into closed session. Second. All right, motion was made by Vice Chair Howell, seconded by Board Member Jenkins. Any discussion? Being none, Madam Clerk. Board members, please vote. Board Member Dr. Brittingham? Yes. Board Member Fields? Yes. Board Member Jenkins? Yes. Board Member Riddick? Yes. Board Member Slinglove? Yes. Vice Chair Howell? Yes. Board Chair McGee? Yes. Motion passed. Just a reminder, no personal electronic devices. The only electronic device allowed is your school-issued laptop. This meeting will be in recess until we come back from closed session. All right, I call this meeting back to order. Resolution to certify the closed meeting as needed. Resolution of certification of the closed meeting of June 11, 2026, pursuant to Section 2.2-3712 of the Code

168of Virginia. Whereas the school board of the city of Suffolk convened a closed meeting on this date for an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and whereas section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. And therefore be it resolved that the school board of the city of Suffolk hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, number one, only business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this resolution. of certification applies. And number two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the school

169board of the city of Suffolk. Board Chair, I move to certify the closed session. Second. All right, motion was made by Vice Chair Howell to certify, duly seconded by Board Member Riddick and Board Member Slingliff. Any discussion? Being none, Madam Clerk. Board members, please vote. Board member Dr. Brittingham? Yes. Board member Fields? Yes. Board member Jenkins? Yes. Board member Riddick? Yes. Board member Slingluck? Yes. Vice Chair Howell? Yes. Board Chair McGee? Yes. Motion passed. Is there a motion? Board Chair, I move to uphold the decision of the committee with the inclusion of a statement of facts for her record. All right, motion was made by Vice Chair Howell to uphold the recommendation of the committee with a statement of fact, seconded by Dr. Brittenham. Any discussion? I'm sorry, I have a question. You said you

170uphold the decision of the committee with the exclusion of the statement of facts? With adding the statement of facts. Do you want me to just restate it? Yes, please. Okay. I move to uphold the decision of the committee with the addition of a statement of fact for the record. Madam clerk, we're ready to vote and who second that I'm seconded by dr. Brittenham Board members, please vote. Board member Dr. Brittingham? Yes. Board member Fields? Yes. Board member Jenkins? Yes. Board member Riddick? Yes. Board member Slingluff? Yes. Vice Chair Howell? Yes. Board Chair McGee? Yes. Motion passed. All right, remaining items on the agenda are informational items. And again, condolences to all the SPS family members that we've lost recently. I'm praying for you and your families. And thank you for your service to our community

171and to Suffolk Public Schools. With that being said, this meeting ends.