001Thank you all for coming out to the meeting tonight. We're calling the meeting to order. school board and the volunteers of this foundation it truly is all about helping our students succeed tonight i have the honor of presenting our largest gift to date to promote and support the dual enrollment program this twenty thousand dollar donation brings the grand total of our gifts from the foundation to fifty four thousand dollars we remain committed to our fundraising efforts to support our future citizens thank you if you already handed off okay i was getting feedback i missed you sorry about that so yeah thank you very much miss hefferson for that very generous donation and to the educational committee so i appreciate all your efforts and go to a very worthy cause thank you very much on the
002agenda we've got the report from the superintendent dr johnson thank you mr chairman can you hear me hear me back there now uh thank you mr chairman i just have just a couple of brief comments um to make tonight first was at our last board meeting there were several speakers spoke in regards to additional teacher work days due to managed students that are both in person as well as being important we have a new schedule as well as the one-to-one technology you may be you may see them around have already announced that they're doing multiple days our our approach i think our agenda you have six is considered as a two unknowns one that we always deal with and that's which is hard to believe degrees outside, but it will come depending on, and we
003have to be prepared for that, as well as we hope that we are done with the COVID or closer, it's getting better, our numbers are down, but we don't know what will happen over the holidays. So we've got to meet the requirements. If you recall, last year, the state made a requirement that you have to either be in school, that waiver is not in place, that you have to meet those requirements. So we're going to be monitoring that each month and watching the amount of it. And also be cognizant. All of you members of the board, you were concerned and you heard several more. I would do that. We know we've got the end of their agenda. You do have December on there. We've gotten into the winter quite a few events, basketball games on
004Monday night. So right now. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Johnson. Up on the agenda, we have matters from the floor. 11 speakers tonight. I would ask each speaker to please state your name and address. Three minutes to address the board. Please be respectful of the time limit we have in place so we'll have time to hear from everyone tonight. And please be respectful. With that, our first speaker, Ms. McClanahan, I've got your list tonight. I've got Ashley Pike as our first speaker. Ashley? David Gifford? Last month, two students came and spoke to this board. Mr. Gifford, could you state your name and address, please? I'm sorry. David Gifford, 285 Beasley Road. It's in Campbell County. Last month, two students came to speak to this board, one about the lack of substitute teachers or the insufficient number,
005and the other about preventing terrorism against Campbell County schools. For one reason or another, both topics are on my radar. I have recently been approved to substitute for Campbell County Schools. And before last month's meeting, I gave Dr. Johnson some statistics on school shootings. We need to consider some important facts. In 1962, in the Angle v. Vitale court case, it was decided that official prayer would be removed from public schools. In 1963, in the Abington School District v. DeChamp case, who decided that the removal of the official Bible reading should be taken from public schools. In 1966, however, a very critical event occurred. At the University of Texas, a tower shooting, there was a school shooting where 18 were dead and 31 were wounded. Until the 1960s, from the 1840s to the 1960s, there were
0060.16 school shootings per million of the population and 0.011 deaths per million. Since then, however, since the 60s, we've averaged 0.38 shootings per million and 0.38 deaths per million. Since the 1960s, therefore, school shootings are up 130% and deaths are up 245%. A school district of 8,000 people, 8,000 students, would have a shooting and death approximately every 33 years. These figures are adjusted for population, and because the U.S. population is aging, actual school shootings and deaths are higher than these figures. Fortunately, the pandemic lowered the number of students in school and reduced school shootings and deaths. Granted, these figures do not prove that the removal of prayer and Bible reading from public schools cannot cause the shootings. They only show a statistical correspondence. Even so, we must consider that the U.S. was founded by people
007who recognize the Bible and prayer, and if we have strayed from our roots, we should not be surprised that instability has increased. One of the topics that necessarily pervades school life is morality. Children must learn to respect their teachers and do their best at their school work. For education to be efficient, students must learn not to cheat, not to steal, not to lie, and not to bully one another. The moral aspects of education cannot be minimized, and we must not forget that the Bible is the foundation of morality in the Western world. We have to ask ourselves, are we educating children about the eternal principles of God and righteousness? Some say public schools are only for reading, writing, and arithmetic. These days are long gone. Schools now provide food and a whole range of public
008services that facilitate education. Personally, I am for school choice. The money should follow the child to public school, private school, or home school. This is the coming wave. However, as we enter this brave new world, let us not forget that public school children also need the Bible and prayer. I have spoken with Barry Jones about Campbell County High School's offering the Bible as literature as an elective, which is fully legal. And I want to suggest this to the larger board today. Both school choice and the Bible as literature will help support morality in the younger generation. We cannot forget the things upon which we are built. Next speaker on the list is Ann Parker. Ms. Parker. Good evening. My name is Ann Parker, and I live at 615 Collington Drive. My sons Matt and Tanner
009still attend Brookville High School. The first topic I have, many Campbell County residents have reached out to me and asked me to address some inappropriate behavior from some of the current school board members. As a newly elected member of the board, I will do so privately by email, but I did want to make good to my word to my constituents by making a public statement. The second topic I have is from students. Knowing the position I was running for, My sons, their friends, many classmates and teammates have approached me along with their parents asking for me to get the masks and quarantines out of their schools. They know that there is low to non-existent risk of transmission and they see stress and depression in their classmates. They're forced to miss classes, athletics, the arts and
010more. You know, when we're just taking a positive test, guys, if you look at the CDC, I'm throwing this in here on the side, in order to have a diagnosis, you're supposed to have a positive test result that's actually cultured over three days, and a clinician has to acknowledge that they saw presenting symptoms. That's in the CDC's guidelines, but we're not doing that. I've had students tell me that they don't feel cared about and that there's common sense lacking in their school leaders. and many of them feel, and I'll use their words, abandoned and helpless. This has to stop. Virginia residents sent a clear message when they voted for change against the tyrannical overreach of D.C. and Richmond, and I'm excited to be involved in righting the wrongs from Richmond. I'm humbled to have earned
01167% of the votes in the Timberlake District. I was just told it's 80%, so I'm super excited about that. This is evidence that I speak for a large majority of my district, and I believe by extension Campbell County as a whole. Since I announced my candidacy, I've been contacted by teachers, their spouses, staff, students, and parents alike with stories, horrible stories, and they all deserve better from us. Our schools are facing many challenges, and contrary to what some members of the board believe, these are not isolated incidents. We are disregarding freedom of speech. We're not providing a safe system for complaints to be filed and resolved without risk of repercussion. I'm hearing this from parents. Our schools are ignoring human civil and constitutional rights, and we've injected ourselves into the medical, emotional, and social decisions
012of our children without parental consent. Our schools are not qualified experts, nor were they hired to assist in these matters. Above all, parents do not co-parent with schools or government. I could go on and on and there's much work to be done and I'm ready to get started. Thank you. After citizen speakers in other jurisdictions addressing school board members were labeled domestic terrorists by our national government who sent FBI in some cases to ensure safety, our school board members' contact information, both telephone and email, were rescinded from the website, and the public was told to use schoolboard at campbell.k12.va.us to contact them. Several have tried unsuccessfully to address their district school board members in this way, and though I had a response from the superintendent, I did not have a response from my district school
013board member, Mr. David Phillips, on issues I emailed both about. With that said, each speaker who has addressed the school board has their home address listed in the minutes that we are asked for when calling in and before we speak to you at the meeting. No issues that are brought forward by the citizen is recorded in the minutes for follow-up. Paragraphs of specific statements that school board members make are recorded in detail later in the minutes. I ask that citizen addresses not be listed as they are not relevant and that the issues raised be recorded in the minutes so they can be followed up in subsequent meetings. With regard to the email that I sent, Dr. Johnson did respond in October 2021 regarding my concern in saving historic 1919 Rustberg High School. He said that
014that situation is too far down the road to stop now. He also addressed in an earlier issue in August of 2020 that the building is not listed as a historical building in Campbell County. My question is why did the school board not deem that that building is historic and make necessary steps for it to be listed in the registry as such? It had been incorporated in what is now Rustberg Middle School due to that fact in its past construction. Additionally, it should be noted that deconstruction inside Rustberg Middle School is underway on weekends, removing the tile floor, and is very close to the area of the historic part of the building. Why would the tile need to be removed ahead of the building's deconstruction? If for some health reason, is it safe to now be
015occupied by staff and students? I am also told that the furniture in Rustberg Middle School will be replaced with new. What is the plan for all that is currently in use? Another issue is why do school administrative offices close when Campbell County schools are closed? Most recently, this was observed November 2nd on Election Day when Rustberg Elementary School was used as a polling site for the courthouse district. There have been many times in the past when Rustberg Elementary School remained open when the election was held. The only area that is used is the gym and the election officers maintain integrity of all of the doors. remaining closed to the school hallways. If this is deemed a safety issue for students to the degree that all Campbell County schools need to be closed because Brunswick Elementary
016School is used as a polling site, then another polling site needs to be secured. For example, the Rewitton Club, the Volunteer Fire Department, or an area church, as all other places are used throughout the county and other districts. Schools should remain open for student learning and the school administrative office open for business. with the public on election day spring break fall break and all other breaks salaried employees working in school administration should be at work even when schools are closed that's right this begs the issue as to why schools closed for election day and all those other breaks and is not closed on veterans day that is a federal holiday thank you keaton brown okay next up tyler kerr Hello, my name is Tyler Kerr. I live at 3288 Colonial Highway and I am currently
017a senior at Rustberg High School. I come here tonight to present the idea of cell phone usage in all four Campbell County high schools and the technical center during the students appointed lunchtime and hallway switches. Currently, the school board policy states that cell phones are only allowed turned off and put away during the entirety of the school day, including the bus ride and anywhere on school property. Something as simple as a phone falling out of a pocket or a notification buzzing can and will warrant the confiscation of the cell phone and earn discipline for the student as laid out in the school board policy. Campbell County Schools policy is not current with many other schools in the area. Appomattox County High School allows for students to use their cell phones during their allotted lunch period
018and during hallway switches. Stanton River High School allows for the same. Heritage High School student handbook states, and I quote, Students enrolled in grades 9 through 12 may have a personal communication device in their possession before, during, or after the regular hours of operation of the school day. The device may be used in non-instructional times and spaces so long as it is not disruptive and is not used to record others when there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. End of quote. I believe that this type of cell phone policy could be adopted by Campbell County schools also. If your mission is to prepare students for the workforce, higher education, and the overall future, then why are cell phones not allowed? At almost any job, the worker is allowed to do as they please on their
019lunches and breaks. In most colleges, including CVCC, where I'm currently dual enrolled, cell phones are allowed outside of class. Students being able to use their cell phones outside of instructional time seems reasonable and uncomplicated to enact. I believe it would be a privilege to be able to use our cell phones, but also one that is well-earned for students of appropriate age. This overly strict policy does not accurately reflect the maturity of high school students and only causes more discipline. EC Glass High School only gives out a referral for cell phone infractions on the third time that it occurs. I would like to see the school board enact a policy of progression for the allowance of cell phone usage. Canvas, which is relatively new to our education system and widely used, has many features which are
020made easier with the use of a cell phone. It has an option to submit work through scanning a document. This feature allows for teachers to keep track of students' papers much easier, but under the current policy, no submission would be allowed at any point during the school day via this method. shows why something as simple as that is just simply not practical. Students using their cell phones during non-instructional time does not and will not take away from their education. And high school students should be afforded more privileges that are age appropriate, such as this. Students are frustrated with the current policy, and I respectfully ask you to consider this proposal. Thank you for your time. Claude Harris. Thank you. My name is Claude Harris. I live at 257 Kirkland Place, Forest. It's a Campbell County
021address. I'm here to address that during his early voting, I helped at the polls with the early votes in Rustburg. And it was said that I had accused that Mr. Dave Phillips was an ungodly man, which is not true. How in the world can I say that somebody's ungodly? That's farthest from the truth. We talked about... In the parking lot, for about 30 minutes there, we talked about truth, honesty, my previous job. If I filled that information wrong, did something devious, mishandled, miswrote something, I'd be held accountable for it. With that being said, Mr. Phillips, you had up during the election was passing out sample ballots where it was red. Ballots which represent the Republican Party. Blue ballots which represent the Democrat Party. And you had your name in on both sections of it, which
022you were not endorsed by the Democrat Party or the Republican Party. And as a matter of fact, Reverend Phil Stevens was endorsed by the Campbell County Republican Committee, which is a totally false statement on your sample ballot. This is a misrepresentation to the public. You cheated. People had voted for you. They'd get the sample ballot, and they'd look at it and see who to vote for, if they voted blue or they voted red. You cheated. You cheated the public. The people, voters, ought to be highly upset about this because they were deceived. And that being said, how can the... How can we trust you sitting in chairperson of the school board when you do such underhanded, devious act as this? You know, Dave, I know you like this. I don't know what happened. I don't
023know. We talked about honesty, like I said, for 30 minutes. But for some reason, it looked like maybe that was somebody working behind a curtain there, pushing your buttons. But I know this is wrong. I don't know how we're going to fix this. I don't know how to do it, but you really killed a lot of trust in Campbell County. And if Reverend Phil Stevens had been, if he had done the same thing, it would have been really, no way he would have done anything like that because it would have been so devious and so evil. And I wonder how he feels right now knowing that. It's a trick. I know he's bound to be upset. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Harris. I'll follow up later in the meeting. The speaker is
024Crystal Komen. Good evening. I'm Crystal Komen from Alta Vista, Virginia. At the October board meeting, a quick attempt was made to answer questions that I brought up during the summer, and probably only because I advised that I would be asking them again. So let's clarify a few things. In August 2019, there was press release regarding the establishment of the African American History Education Commission and their task to change the Virginia history social studies curriculum. The full report went to the Department of Ed in September 2020 and was approved and posted on their website in October 2020, not the summer 2021 dates given at our last board meeting. I personally sent that full report to the superintendent during the spring of 2021. For those in attendance at the last board meeting to be told that this
025information was reviewed by Campbell County Public Schools and only a limited amount of technical changes were found to be factual and not related to CRT only tells me that whoever was tasked to research this gaslighted the superintendent. Or we were gaslighted at the last meeting. Anyone reading the full report thoroughly and reading every recommended change made to the curriculum thoroughly could not possibly say that. One specific change, and only one change, in the first grade curriculum was to eliminate celebrating Independence Day July 4th and pledging allegiance to the flag as examples of common traditions that unite us as Americans. That, my friends, is not a technical edit. That is a transformation of our country. can report out that the recommended history curriculum changes are just technical edits only fortifies the belief that the school system
026does not understand what critical race theory is at all. I am asking again. Which part of your staff toolbox are you going to assign to thoroughly and completely vet an understanding of CRT and prevent its insidious infiltration into curriculum, teacher resources, children's books, website resources, and teacher training? I am asking that this county develop a school policy clearly defining its stand on CRT and the concrete. specific steps put into a place to address it. I am asking that this school board inform parents quickly about issues and concerns that involve their children. As you can see, had we not been hammering away at these concerns, all we would have heard from the school board was crickets. As regards the added component of cultural competency to the teacher evaluation tool, while it is not officially taking place
027until the 2022-2023 school year, the competency itself cannot be removed. I want a clear and specific statement as to how Campbell County will handle this. There isn't time to speak on the new social-emotional learning standards that your children will be subject to, but parents, you better look into it quickly. Otherwise, you will miss all the references to being a global citizen, to evaluating outcomes based on one's identity, to conscious bias and unconscious bias, etc. Is this what you want your children taught in school? I don't think so. God bless the children of this county, and God bless America. Barry Tyree. Good evening. Barry Tyree, 286 Leesville Hills Road in Edmonton. Some people have already covered some of the things I want to touch on, so I'm just going to be brief. This board has told
028us now, what, three, four months in a row, that even though that you reneged on your word, that you would not force mask mandates on the citizens of Cameron County, on the students. in Campbell County Schools. The wannabe king, Governor Northam, apparently scared you enough that you reneged on your word. And then you come out and tell us, but we can trust you that there will be no CRT in Campbell County Schools, that there will be no perverts in our girls' bathrooms because you're not going to fall in line for the transgender issues. Now with the vaccine mandates looming over us. What reason would we trust you folks to represent the citizens of Campbell County and take a stand, a principled stand for what is right and what your constituents desire? We don't trust you
029folks anymore. As a matter of fact, from what I understand, the history of this school board right here is that every one of you vote lockstep with the superintendent, Dr. Johnson. So what is your purpose for being here? We pay him $180,000 plus a year. We could save some money here. Just go ahead and just let him have his way, and you folks resign. You serve no purpose for us. We don't trust you. I was sick last month with COVID, and I couldn't be here, so I watched a live stream. And I'll have to tell you, I was absolutely appalled. I was shocked at what I heard and saw coming from Mr. Jones. I had to listen to it three or four times to make sure I understood it right. Mr. Jones, you berated the
030citizens, the good people. In this room, the citizens of Campbell County for coming out and expressing their concerns for bringing their grievances before a governing board because they love their children and they fear God more than they fear Richmond. You folks fear the wrong people, I tell you that. Okay, but I'm going to tell you something. You berated the people because we don't come out for teacher awards and student awards and recognitions. In the private sector, we don't get awards. We just get more work. Okay, nobody recognizes us. Okay, so we're not leaving our jobs and rushing home and changing clothes and showering and not eating our supper so that we can get to these meetings to see a teacher get an award for doing that which we're already paying her to do. I'm glad
031they get them. I'm glad they excel, but that's not why we're here. But for you to berate the citizens. for coming out and speaking because they are so concerned about the welfare of their children. And as a prime example, what just happened to that sweet little girl up in Loudoun County because their school board was made up of a board of cowards, and now her life is destroyed. You all should be ashamed for not taking a principal stand, but Mr. Jones, you should resign now. This is Michael Van. Good evening, I'm Michael Bishop Levan, 2034 Bear Creek Road, Rustburg. This is my first time coming to a school board meeting. I must say I was a little shocked when I came in today that I had to run the gauntlet past five of Campbell County's
032finest deputies to come in here. What are you all afraid of? I mean, I can understand, you know, you need to have one deputy as a sergeant of arms. I understand that. But, I mean, are you expecting some type of a physical confrontation or something? Are you afraid of the citizens? If you are, maybe you're not really following what the citizens want in this county. Somebody's already touched on the election that just happened. I will say, does Campbell County School Board sanction violation of election law in the elections, Mr. Superintendent? We have a person here that is actually the chairman of the board that printed sample ballots that say it was paid for and authorized by Campbell County Electrical Board. And it had the seal, the official seal of the electoral board on the ballot.
033Both of these are violations of Virginia election law. Does the Campbell County School Board sanction this? Do they sanction illegal actions to get elected, Mr. Superintendent? I know you heard me. I know you're looking at me. We're not going to answer today? Okay. I do thank you. Mr. Phillips, in light of the fact that this has come forward, that you did this, would you be willing to resign? No, sir. I'll comment later. All right. Thank you for that. Another thing I'd like to bring up is diversity. Diversity in our schools, we are a diverse county, and a lot of people want to see diversity. I don't think we learn as much from other people if we're all surrounded by like-minded people and everybody who's the same. I look up here at the school board, and
034I see... Counting the superintendent, I see seven white males and a white female. Very much. I enjoy diversity. I enjoy talking to people with different backgrounds. There are three of you. I understand Barbara's retiring. Congratulations for your tenure. I think someone else is going to replace you. And Mr. Phillips was reelected under a cloud. And Dr. Miller was reelected. Congratulations, Dr. Miller. But there are four of you that are coming up in two years. Would the four of you step aside and let somebody with a diverse background? Run for your seats. No answers today from the Campbell County School Board. Okay? Last thing is the 1919 building. You know, some other people have talked about it. I was somewhat shocked when I contacted the director of the Historical Society for the Western District of Virginia
035to learn that he offered his services. He sent a letter to the superintendent, which I'm in possession of. He sent a letter to the school administrator, or the county administrator, offering his services to find grant money. to cover the cost of saving that building and rehabbing it but the campbell county school board denied them access to the building they have to have access to the building to even start the process and y'all denied them access to even saw their prices thank you i hope you all have a good evening old age has its advantages has its price um my name is doug beringer And okay, the clock hasn't started. My name is Doug Beringer. I live at 277 Harlem Court, Rustburg, Virginia. I also serve as chairman of the Campbell County Republican Committee. I first
036want to thank, to give credit where credit's due, a lot has happened since I was here last, including COVID in my case. I thank the school board, Superintendent Johnson, Tracy Dobbins, and staff for... and this may be premature, moving the venue to accommodate the public participation. That part we probably need to discuss further. Including links to background information for items on the agenda and posting a preliminary agenda the week before the meeting and the deadline for signing up. All of these things are steps in the right direction, and I thank you for that. I'm going to skip some stuff on the masks. transgender and CRT and move on to more pressing matters. First, thank you, Ms. Ripkema, for your service to the county and the people of Timberlake. Congratulations, Ann Parker, to secede her. Congratulations,
037Mr. Phillips and Dr. Miller, for your victories and for another term on the school board. And with that said, a few words of admonition. For those who just won re-election and those who are up for re-election in two years. Some other people have touched on that. Some of the issues we have, I've seen and heard certain members say things like someone belongs in jail and other things along those lines that Mr. Tyree mentioned. That's not a good way to... to serve us. We're trying to improve communications between the public and the school board. That's not a good way to do it. Moving the venue back to the technical school is not a good way. That's a step backwards. If Frostburg High School and Auditorium are in competitive use for the facility, then there are other
038schools that could be used on a rotating basis. We need to continue having a room where all of us can be together and hear one another. I agree with putting the comments or the gist of the comments in the minutes. We have to explain why we want to speak before we can speak. It would be helpful. I just want to let you know that at this time, we ran two candidates late. Thank you, Loudoun County and Mr. Northam and Mr. McAuliffe for stirring people up. We got a late start. We did okay. We can do better. We've already gotten a start on the other four districts in two years. Hopefully, we will see a turnaround on your part. We will feel like you represent us better. and we won't need to run anyone against you.
039And I will just add one more thing. You are elected by all the citizens. You are preparing young people to be leaders and part of the full community with all citizens. You don't just serve parents. You don't just serve students. You serve all students who vote for you and pay your taxes. That's what representative government means, and I just ask that you remember that as well. I hope to have more to say at our next meeting, and hopefully it's in a suitable venue. Thank you. Do we have Ashley Pike and one other? Did we miss Hayden Brown? All right, well, that's all the speakers we had scheduled for tonight, so thank you to all the folks who came out to speak tonight. I appreciate the follow-up to some of those concerns at a later meeting.
040In regards to the meeting minutes. If not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed? On the agenda, we've got payment of the bills. Second. We have a motion and a second on the floor for payment of the bills. Any discussion in regards to that topic? Those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed? There's acceptance of donations. Tonight you have five donations that were listed. Consideration of non-resident tuition. Ms. McClanahan. Tonight you have five applicants being considered for approval as non-resident tuition students. The principals have already endorsed these students, and I ask that you approve them. Motion. Non-resident tuition requests for school activity fund audit. Posted on board docs, and that's the audit that's done every year. Most of them were cleared up. They went ahead and listed what was finding the prior year,
041so they're not found in the current audit. personnel report in front of you unless you have any questions i'd ask that you'd approve it as written in a second and then we'll discuss please okay that's right good question had different reasons actually in the last couple weeks we have not had any certified resignations there were a couple at the beginning of the year but that seems to have settled down but they were for different reasons not certified staff we still have some classified positions position at altavista combined school that's going to assist with I guess college and career readiness preparation. It's a position that we've had that was split between Alta Vista and William Campbell, and now we have one just for Alta Vista Combined School. Good evening, Mr. Chairman. Members of the board, tonight
042we have one student who has met the requirements for removal from compulsory attendance. I've asked that you approve that. Second. Motion and a second. Any questions, concerns for Mr. Sisk in regards to the intersector? Aye. Those opposed? motion and a second any other questions concerns in regard to budget was plotted and planned out in public um it looks like and i just want you that monday the february 7th would be a normal meeting day they are now time for what were those dates they were the seventh were the seventh but instead of the 21st okay which is president's day it would be the 22nd tuesday the 22nd the 7th is the first monday of the month So we're moving it up to the first one. February would not be. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of
043our board. Tonight I'd like to talk to you about our proposed academic calendar for 2022-2023. It's a calendar that's very similar to calendars that we've had in the past where we start in the middle of August, basically have two weeks at Christmas, and then we wrap up the first week of June. To point out some specifics, you can see that on August 11th, we have scheduled our back-to-school night. That is kind of our open house. Then on August 16th, we have our pre-K, kindergarten, 6th grade, and 9th grade orientation day scheduled. And then August 17th, we have scheduled the first day of school. Other highlights in the calendar, we have three teacher in-service days built in. Those are September 30th, November 7th, and January 17th. We'll continue to have our fall break in October, October
04421st and 24th. Again, we have two full weeks of Christmas, and then we have our spring break in April, April 10th to the 14th. Last day of school is scheduled for June 2nd, with graduations being held tentatively on the 2nd and June 3rd. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them, and if you have any questions in the next few weeks, certainly give my office a call, and I'll be glad to talk you through them. Thank you. First, I want to thank the Campbell County Education for that great, great donation. Those folks on that committee work very hard and we're proud of everything they do. Number two, at Leesville Road School, the PTO had a fundraiser and they're going to get a new cover for the playground pavilion. So that should be
045very nice and everything. Also, thank Mr. Jones and Mr. Stannis for taking me around the tour for Rushburg Middle School. And also, some sad news. Recently, in the last month, we lost three former Brooklyn Bees in our community. Larry Lewis, class of 1968, died on Sunday, October 31st, at the age of 71. Larry started the BHSBs.com in 1996. He loved reporting on the website all the happenings going on in Brooklyn High School. We also lost one of our former custodians who had retired, James Eubank, at the age of 70. Fine, fine gentleman he was. And we also lost our beloved Uncle Hill. at the age of 98. He taught PE, driver's ed, coached four varsity sports, and made a positive impact on hundreds of Brooklyn students. And he, to his death, he continued to support
046all of the events there at Brooklyn High School. And I'm proud and thoughtful of all the families that have been affected by this. And also, I want to let you know that this Friday night, we're going to be playing a regional football game. And we will be on, several years ago, we named that field the Jay Bunker Hill Field. But the sign will be up on the scoreboard with his name and everything. And I believe that some of the family members will be there to see this. So if you all can come out, we would love to have you at the game in honor of Buckle Hill. And Spirit Week was a hit. We ended the week with a pep rally, and the homecoming king and queen, and the homecoming king was Tashaun Butler, and
047the queen was Maggie Kidd. Thanks to all of those. Thank you, Mr. Brandt. Can you hear me? So I don't have anything to report from William Campbell. Everything's going well. Brookville Brookmeal Elementary is doing well, and they got an excellent report. There's a ranking report. I think it's annual from U.S. News and World Report. And I'd like to congratulate David on your re-election and congratulate Ann Parker on your election. And I'd like to thank the citizens of the Brookmeal District that re-elected me. I appreciate that. For those who didn't vote for me. the foundation for all the hard work you do and especially thank you for the supporters to the foundation who donated that amount of money each time they present us a check it grows exponentially so it's just a tribute to the businesses
048and citizens of the county that want to support our school system i'd like to congratulate the teachers and classified workers for receiving that stipend i'm not going to address all the speakers i would like to say that um just say tyler you made a very good presentation good for you i think that's something that we can discuss as a board i don't know about some of all these other ones trust i don't think there's a trust i don't think you trust us i don't know how we get it messed up here well you know i'm glad you brought that up because That was a theme I heard when I spoke to different voters, and to be honest with you, when I spoke to the people handing out ballots that were opposed to me. I see
049Mr. Monroe has already left, but I had a very good conversation with him. And this communication and transparency came up, and we need to address that. I don't know what we're not transparent about. Everything we have, when we talk here, we're transparent. The only thing we're not transparent about is discipline issues and personnel issues. We have a website. Things are posted on the website. My phone number is in the Campbell County website. I did check on that. I'm not sure why my email isn't, but my phone number is published, and I believe everybody else's is. I would be glad to field calls. And so we're going to have more discussion about what this means to be transparent in communications, but I'll leave it at that. I'm comfortable we're addressing that. That's all I have to
050say. Thank you, Dr. Miller. Mr. Epperson. Yeah, I'd like to thank the Education Foundation as well for their generous gift tonight and their continued support of their students pursuing a technical career. I think this goes a long way, and I know firsthand how much hard work goes into working with the donors. And again, as Dr. Miller said, I'd like to thank the donors that are putting forth the money. to help us continue to fund the education foundation so thank you again i'd like to congratulate dr miller and mr phillips on their re-election i'd also like to congratulate ann parker on her election in recent last week for the school board next year so good luck looking forward to working with you i'm happy that we were able to approve a stipend for the part-time and
051full-time employees that's great well deserved so happy to hear that and last but not least good luck to brookville friday night i hope they can follow that jefferson mr maddox mr phillips for a while our girls played personally i don't know him well i have no reason to believe i just want to make that statement okay in regards to some information i'd gotten from rustberg high school They had raised $700 for the local chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. And Jackson Cunningham, outstanding display of honor and respect and trying to help us in our schools of suicide. So thank you for that. And also the volleyball team defeated Fort Defiance over the weekend for the Region 3C Championship. And they'll be hosting the quarterfinals this coming Saturday. So congratulations to the volleyball team.
052Ms. Epperson, thank you to yourself and the donation from the Campbell County Education Foundation. That is an outstanding donation, $20,000. So thank you so much for you and those involved with that program. Really appreciate that support for our public schools. I did have some additional questions in regards to the mask requirement. I wanted to follow up with folks. In the vein of transparency, I did contact our legal attorneys to further check into that matter. They go to a monthly meeting with lawyers, attorneys from other school districts across the state of Virginia, further discuss that issue. came back with similar information that we shared at the previous meeting about the legality of the issue. So no new news in regards to the feedback that I got from our digging into that issue further. As we discussed
053earlier, the board has been in favor of no mask requirements, but when the law was placed into effect based on the CDC guidelines, I took an oath to uphold the law. I don't like all laws, but I do need to option. So that's where we're at with the mask mandate. Secondly, okay, order. I'm trying to follow up on some issues. So let me finish what we've got to say here. In regard to Ms. Reiner, first off, I apologize for not circling back to you. I can't find you in the audience. I did see Dr. Johnson's reply back to you, so I didn't reply back because he and I discussed that. But feel free to give me a call. I'll be happy to talk. There's an e-mail. Yeah, it's an e-mail address on the website that
054they'll forward it to me, and I can get it. But my apologies for not reaching back to you directly on that. In regards to not listing the speaker's addresses, I'll follow up. Yeah, I'll follow up on that. That's a good point, and I'll understand your concern. and the 1919 building we had discussed that i did bring it up for further discussion at an earlier meeting with no motion we are far along in that project now so i don't know if anything's going to change course with in regards to the 1919 building at this point i appreciate your concern your efforts particularly as the rustberg representative i've heard Thank you. in regards to the ballots or the sample ballots can i excuse me let me let me finish please i gave you three uninterrupted minutes so
05530 seconds so the ballot i acknowledge it had a seal and a disclaimer at the bottom that should not have been on the ballot it was i'm sorry mr harris let me finish It was an oversight on my campaign's behalf. I will admit to that. And as soon as I was made aware of that, we pulled those sample ballots. We talked to the registrar, Kelly Martin. She said if you black out that seal and the disclaimer, which we did, we could continue to hand out the sample ballot. And that's exactly what we did. As soon as I found out, I pulled those ballots. It was maybe around lunchtime or a little after. We pulled those ballots, corrected them. And then we continue to hand them out further in the day. Now, in regards to the
056red, the blue ballot, I'm sorry, Mr. Harris, I'm not going to say it again. Let me finish. You can hand out sample ballots. They can be any color of the rainbow except yellow or white. And my sample ballot had sample ballot at the top. I'm running, or I was running as an independent candidate. There was no R by my name. There was no D by my name. I was an independent candidate. I was clearly stated on the ballot. There were Republican and Democratic candidates on the other ballots with bubbles filled in by their name, which had nothing to do with my race. I was running as an independent and actually I'm sure there's some voters out there but I talked to voters and said I am running as an independent. I am not endorsed by
057the Republican committee. I'm not endorsed by the Democratic party. I'm an independent because I don't believe politics has a place on our school board. And I told people that to their face. And that was printed on my informational card. It says running as an independent candidate doesn't believe in politics on the school board. So I didn't declare to be endorsed by a Republican Party or Democratic Party. I was an independent candidate. The sample ballot clearly stated that. It didn't have an R or a D by my name. It also said that it was endorsed by David Phillips, the school board. So other than the seal and the disclaimer, there was nothing illegal about that ballot. And as soon as we found out about that, we corrected it. We checked with the registrar at the polling
058locations. and at the registrar's building and we got that cleared up so my apologies if i lost any trust from any of my constituents that was not the intent this was not a plot that we tried to put together nights before and kind of sneak out it was a clear honest oversight we talked to the registrar over the phone described the sample ballot she said everything sounded good there was an oversight we corrected it and that's that so I did not run. I ran as an independent candidate. So that's the facts about that situation. So my apologies for the misunderstanding of that. Okay, moving on to the next topic. Ms. Komen, thank you for bringing up the CRT issue. Mr. Harris, excuse me. I'll check up with Ms. Okay, I'll follow up with Dr. Johnson.
059I did review the curriculum as have, I think, most every one of the board members. We'll circle up on that and be sure we don't have any questionable material. I appreciate you bringing it to light. I can speak for myself, and I've said this since July, I am not in favor of critical race theory in our schools. And I'm not going to support any kind of critical race theory in our curriculum. I do not believe it's in there currently. We'll double check to follow up on that to be sure. But we're not advocating for that. And I think I can speak to most of the other board members there of the same opinion. They reviewed the curriculum and I don't think there's a concern there. Was Mr. Tyree, we've spoken about CRT we were just
060talking about. we're not in favor of either of those policies in our school and i'm not in favor of that i understand your concerns i have similar concerns myself so we do want to be fair to all of our students situations as needed on an individual basis but we're not i don't have any plans of opening up uh free choice of if it comes to that i will make my voice known that i agree with you things may change coming out of richmond and from a statewide perspective i appreciate you bringing your concern to the board and i want We've addressed the CRT and the transgender issues. It's clear on where the board stands on that. We are not in favor of those issues. Pushed further, we'll address them further. But right now, in regards
061to the five deputies, I'm not in charge of security, but I trust the sheriff's office to provide the level needed for any event. So thank you to our deputies out tonight as far as the quantity of deputies. That's something that the Sheriff's Office decides upon, so thank you for your help and support there. Violation of the election board due to the ballots spoke to that issue. Again, an honest mistake. We corrected it as soon as we found out. Other than that, we didn't have any violations in those ballots. And speaking of lies, there was a sign, there was a four by six sign put out at both election sites that had my name on it speaking to boys and girls' restrooms and critical racist theory in Campbell County schools. And if you want to talk
062about lies, I'm not in support of either of those things, but yet Campbell County Republican Committee, the sign was endorsed. and they put out that false information at both polling sites in addition to Dr. Miller's polling site. That was unappreciated. I vouch for actions that I take, and I stand by those actions, but that was not something I was in support of, and I don't appreciate mistruth being put out at the polling location like that with my name on the sign that I did not endorse. It was endorsed by others, and it was not true. I appreciate you putting Mr. Stephen's signs in front of us. Thanks for that, but that was about two-thirds through the election day. At any rate, in regards to the diversity in school, Mr. Harris, in regards to the diversity
063on the school board, You know, we run for office. We are who we are. If other candidates run for the school board office and are no problem with any race or ethnicity on the school board, I don't think further education in Campbell County. Behringer, thanks for your congratulations and recognition on some of the actions taken. I appreciate that. Johnson said we'll evaluate the location of our meetings going forward. I understand what you're saying about. a little more seating capacity here. We do have some conflicting needs with the school that we need to keep an eye on. So keep that in mind and try to do as best we can going forward on that. I can't make any promises. We'll take that under consideration. By all citizens, I couldn't agree more. Again, that's why I ran
064as an independent candidate. I don't want to advocate for Republicans or Democrats, but all of my constituents in my district, regardless of political beliefs. try to do what's best for our kids, our educators, and provide the best facilities we can. I'm not interested in getting into a lot of political drama. I want to do what's best for our schools as a whole. That's why I'm sitting on this board. Thank you for our speakers coming out. We'll have to follow up with a few of you on with that. I would ask... Mr. Chairman, I move that we convene in a closed meeting for discussion or consideration of disciplinary matters or other matters that would involve the disclosure of information contained in the scholastic record concerning a student in the school division, specifically student 23 from 2021
065and 2022 school year in accordance with section 2.2-3711A of the Code of Virginia 1950 as amended. and discussion of personnel matters relating to assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, discipline, and resignation of a specific employee being employee number two in accordance with section 2.2-3711A1 of the Code of Virginia, 1950 as amended, and the protection of the privacy of individuals and personal matters. Not related to public business in accordance with section 2.2-3711-4 of the Code of Virginia 1950 as amended. We've got a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Okay, we'll take a recess and go into closed session. Do we accept, reject, or amend the administration's recommendations? We have a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Okay, motion carries. motion to adjourn
066the meeting. Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Meeting adjourned. Thank you.