001Good afternoon. I like to hear that. I love to see a packed room for our school board meetings. We'd like to see more of this. Welcome to the Wednesday, October 1st, 2025 regular meeting of the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System Board of Education. That's a lot to say. I will first ask that I'm assured that we have posted the notice for this meeting. I've been assured. Will we all please stand for our national anthem and our pledge? It's our pleasure today to welcome the New Hampstead K-8 Nightingale Group under the direction of James Kirk. This group is composed of... Seven students and is a student-led group. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Wow.
002Yeah, I heard y'all back there. Yeah. Yeah. Let's hear it again for the Nightingales. All right. I'll now accept a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Okay. Thank you. No change. Moved and seconded. All in favor? Aye. All right. Our remembrance is... Okay. Okay. our remembrances today um we have uh margaret dyson she was a bus monitor data passing 8 22 25 and a lily mobley who was a custodial worker at coastal middle data passing 9 7 2025 could well stand for a moment of silence good afternoon i am very honored announcements sorry we went out of order we have so much good news i'm ready to go here we go uh our announcements we have a finance committee meeting wednesday october 8th here at whitney from 9 00 a.m to 10 30 a.m
003i'll have a district 8 town hall meeting this is open to the public on wednesday october 8th in the evening from six to eight at groves high school we have our fall break uh october 10th through the 13th no school for first staff or students we have a board accountability committee meeting tuesday october 28th here at whitney from 3 30 to 4 30. an audit committee meeting wednesday october 30th here whitney at 8 a.m 8 a.m and our legislative breakfast will be at uh andrea b williams at 9 30 on october 30th and now some good news i'm gonna start the good news today because it is good news about and they don't i'm gonna talk about this i'm gonna talk about this and i'm gonna talk about this and i'm gonna talk about this
004so i would like tamika edwards and michelle finchworth's police stand these two have just uh obtained their administrative professional certification this is a prestigious credential designed for office and administrative professionals it validates an individual's expertise in organization communication project management office technology and other office management skills these skills will enhance their capacity and service of the superintendent and our board as well as customer service for the district as a whole can they come through the horseshoe yes come through though okay okay otia she here she's a proud man yeah go to the board for you excellent congratulations again and now that we've had that great warm up i will continue in the same regard with our september student of the month the september student of the month for september is an eighth grader at myers
005middle school as an eighth grader enrolled in ninth grade classes she maintains an impressive 92.3 gpa advanced academic ability and a strong commitment to her academic studies her dedication to learning strong work ethic and ability to quickly grasp concept complex concepts have earned her placement in gifted classes where she continues to excel by engaging with more advanced and challenging learning material her nominator miss gabrielle brundage said she has demonstrated noticeable growth in the accuracy and quality of her work. Her impressive academic progress combined with her engagement in leadership roles in sports reflects her determination, her resilience, and her potential for continued success both inside and outside the classroom. Beyond her academic achievements, our September scholar is involved in a wide range of extracurricular activities that further showcase her leadership skills, commitment, and character. She serves
006as a student ambassador and a ROCS fellow, highlighting her dedication to representing and supporting her peers. ROCS, which stands for Ruling Our Experiences, is a 16-week program for young girls that provides mentors for academic, career, and personal social needs. As the cheerleading captain, she leads her team with enthusiasm and responsibility. In addition, this student contributes to her community as a member of the Savannah Youth Council and the Girl Scouts. She also participates in athletics as a volleyball and basketball player and is involved in the 21st Century Program, balancing both academics and extracurricular activities effectively. When asked what motivates her to strive for academic success, our scholar quoted Martin Luther King Jr. by saying, The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character. That is the goal
007of true education. Please help me congratulate Kaviana Aiken, the Superintendent's Student of the Month for September. If her parents are here, I'd like for them to stand. Family, parents, guardians. I will be taking home. Several gifts from our sponsors, including Members First Credit Union, Advertising Specialties, Georgia Southern University, Gulfstream, and Savannah Schools Federal Credit Union. In addition, she and her LEA class will receive copies of her favorite book, Starfish, by Lisa Phipps, donated by our sponsor, East Shaver Bookseller. Again, congratulations to Kaviana, her family, and the Myers Middle School Gators. And special thanks to her nominator, Ms. Gabriel. And the school principal. So there are many more causes for applause, so I'm excited to jump into the good news report for this month. This week is Literacy Week in Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools. We kicked
008off the festivities last week with a live stream of Malcolm Mitchell reading to students all over the state on September 22nd. And fun continues all this week. Last night, many of our schools hosted. Family Literacy Nights, events to support our families engaging with their students by reading aloud together. On Friday of this week, we will host the first Lit Talks event at Beach High School Auditorium from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. And on Saturday of this week, the culminating event will be a special literacy parent university event. Some of you may have been challenged by the mayor to. And I hope to see your smiling faces on our social media feed this week. Congratulations also is extended to Gadsden Elementary School and the Gadsden Elementary School PTSA for their designation as the 2024 through 26
009School of Excellence. They were recognized for their accomplishments in building a strong, effective family school partnership that enriches the educational experience and overall well-being for all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all students. In addition to this national award for Gadsden Elementary School, three Savannah Chatham County Public Schools students, schools won state awards for memberships. Islands High School was a recipient. Jacob G. Smith and Hurd Elementary Schools. All three of these schools are recognized and applauded. They have received the Georgia PTA Early Bird Award. Thank you. Thank you. these schools for their commitment to their families and school culture. Our very own Chief Enoch, who is not here with us, he had an appointment he needed to get to, but wanted to recognize him for being selected as the first responder Peace
010Builder of the Year, and Melvin Singleton, a sophomore at the School of Liberal Studies at Savannah High School, who was recognized as a Youth Peace Builder at Peace in the Park on September the 28th. The Mediation Center honors those who are building bridges that divide us, being kind and acting to co-create a healthier, conflict-resilient community. We appreciate the partnership of the Mediation Center and thank them for their work with our students and staff. And hats off again to Chief Enoch and Melvin. We also today are recognizing two schools that have earned redesignation as a National Forum and Georgia Lighthouse Schools to Watch for the years 2025 through 2028. Kudos to Coastal Middle School for its fourth redesignation and to STEM Academy at Bartlett for their second redesignation. And I believe we have representatives from both
011schools here. We'll ask them to come up as there are all of them. And we're going to look at these three awards to present. Congratulations. This prestigious recognition highlights each school's ongoing commitment to academic excellence, support to students, and a positive learning environment. Coastal Middle School is one of nine schools in the State of Georgia to receive a fourth designation. Well done. And finally. it's my pleasure to recognize two staff members who have been selected as Volunteers of the Year by the Georgia Historical Society. The Volunteer of the Year Award recognizes those who have selflessly contributed their time and resources to advance the mission of the Georgia Historical Society to collect, examine, and teach Georgia and American history. I'd like to invite Elise Butler and Christy Crisp to present their awards to our staff and
012invite them to come to the horseshoe. And if you have any... Good afternoon. Thank you for having us today. I'm Christy Crisp, Vice President for Education and Programs at the Georgia Historical Society, where we do have a statewide educational and research mission, and that is a mission that we cannot accomplish without the support and help of friends all over the state of Georgia. And we are so happy to be here today to present our 2025 Volunteer of the Year Award. Right here in our hometown of Savannah, Georgia. And I'm going to turn it over to Elise Butler to make that presentation. Thank you, Christy. My name is Elise Butler, and I am the Manager of Programs and Special Projects. I have been working with Tamika and Kathy now for multiple years, really on building the
013educational presence of the Georgia Historical Society and primary sources, these eyewitnesses to history, to our students and our educators. Kathy and Tamika continue to support us through our professional development opportunities, helping us spread the word of new initiatives like the Georgia Day Expo and our statewide and local art and classroom competitions. Truly, we rely on them to help us get the word out, and we love them so very much. So this is just a small token of our appreciation to say thank you to both Tamika and Kathy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And with that, I will pass the microphone
014to our Professional Senate leaders for their report this month. At the last Senate meeting, we were able to review the results of our literacy poll, which was taken by the members of the Professional Senate. We were also able to get all of our members signed up for committees, which were based on the biggest areas of challenge that we had identified at our first meeting. at our first meeting. Several people have volunteered to chair those committees, so I'm very hopeful that this will be a productive solution-oriented way of supporting our schools. We then had our Q&A session with the board, and I would like to pass on all the positive feedback that I have received from teachers, and they are very interested in more opportunities to get to engage with you and ask questions of you,
015so putting that out there. And our next meeting will be on October 23rd at Windsor Forest High School. Thank you. Moving along on your agenda, sir, we have the Board Matters section of this evening's agenda this afternoon. Item 6.01 is a policy review. This is Board Policy KG, Use of School Facilities. We'll make note for the board, there are no changes to policy language in this read. We only made some additions to the regulation, therefore there's no action of the board. This is presented to the board for the board's review and feedback. Subject to your feedback, we'll move forward with the language as presented. The primary driver for the language that was added is to account for, in our use of facilities area, references to the use of locker rooms, bathrooms, et cetera, to ensure
016that we're in compliance with state code 20-2-315, which you're all familiar with. We did some recent revisions on that due, subject to the Riley Gaines Act, which was signed, and to which we're now in compliance. We're now in compliance with the state code 20-2-315, which you're all familiar with. We're now in compliance with the state code 20-2-315, which was signed into law by Governor Kemp. So this is part of our sweeping policy reviews that adjust language in certain areas under that statute. This is to the administrative regulation only. Thank you. Any comments? Yes. Ms. Grabowski, then Mr. Kachemar. I don't have any substantive proposed changes. I will note over the last few years we've had discussion about opening up our facilities more to the public and revising kind of our rules and regulations and what
017we might charge in relation to that access and also perhaps change our approach with other governmental entities as well. So I know from past discussions that those issues are still at least on the table, and I would just ask that this policy not be parked for four years, that given those ongoing considerations that, you know, it stay in an earlier review cycle. Ms. Grabowski. So I should have gone first after all, because that's exactly what I was going to say. I agree 100%. These are facilities that are paid for with public dollars, and I would really love for us to be able to open up our outdoor facilities, our tracks and our playgrounds to our communities. Many of our playgrounds are located in our neighborhoods. I know there are legal concerns and everything else. There
018are plenty of other districts that do it. It can be done successfully, and I'd very much like for us to be able to keep that on the table and look at this from a policy standpoint. I don't have any comments on the regulation, but support looking at the policy sooner rather than later. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Smith. I echo those comments. I was going to ask the question. Have we observed or reviewed any other districts' policies as it relates to community involvement or use of our facilities? Yeah. So this policy actually has a lot of history to it over the years, if you go back and look at it. To Mr. Kachmar's point, we have had varying degrees of engagement with other entities in the use of our facility. Some would show that a
019big driver years ago was to create a process for which if someone wants to use a school facility or a portion of it, that they would recommend that process to a certain division who would own it and that we would streamline it in a program and a platform that is available now on our website. So years ago when we were going through that stage, we did look at some other districts primarily from the standpoint of what tool are they using to manage and facilitate community requests when they want to use a school system facility. But as far as if you're getting into a larger scope of partnering say with other entities, other governmental entities with shared resources and things like that, there are some models I'm sure across the nation that we could look at
020closer with. Not necessarily to your point directly in looking at the policy language of other districts and how it relates to opening up your playgrounds for example. That's something we could definitely do. Thank you. Okay. Dr. Howard-Hall then Dr. Brinkman. Yes, thank you. Since we now have three stadiums, we have three state of the art stadiums, have you noticed an increase on requests for our facilities to utilize those stadiums as of now? I cannot say that I have. Operations manages those requests. I see Ms. Davidson shaking her head no. You know, that's a, that stadium component obviously is a big piece of our investment in the lifeblood of the school. I can see certainly where you would, you would think that others would want to do that. But we just haven't really seen that component.
021And just want to clarify when I said we can certainly do that regarding reference of the playground example, what I meant was look at other policies, not immediately open up our playgrounds to others right now. So I don't want to be misconstrued on that. But we can certainly look at other policies to see how districts are doing that. As it relates to our athletic complexes, haven't seen a whole lot of activity there. Dr. Brinkman. Yeah. To Mr. Hrabowski's point, this policy allows our facilities to be used outside of school hours and on the weekend at the very end of it. It's just dependent upon staff. So I think we would have to decide if we wanted to pay to have staff there to keep it open and to maintain it safely, correct? Am I reading,
022am I reading 17C incorrectly? No, you're correct, sir. We have in that memorializing policy and also memorialize through our platform where individuals when they have a request to fill out that request, certain fees would be incurred. And the big thing that we can't get around is when staff is needed at an event and we're going to have because it's our facility and the liabilities that come with that, we're going to have our security and we also have custodial staff that is involved in cleanup. And that will incur costs. I mean, I know, you know, can we have the tracks? Can we have the tracks open? Can we have the field open so kids can play on it and run around the track and things like that? But I feel like we're going to have to
023have a staff member there. We can have a bigger discussion at another point in time. But the way the world is right now, things aren't taken care of very well when left to people just going and hanging out. On the playground side, I will say the Trust for Public Land has an entire program that is built around particularly urban playgrounds and urban schools that have neighborhoods that are typically underserved where they are working with, I think they're working with the Atlanta Public Schools. And they're working with the state to get them to be able to have a shared playground system, to be able to have shared playground facilities. Yes, there are a lot of things we have to talk about. And I do think it is a bigger picture because the staffing piece is obviously
024the huge component. But would love for us to be able to do that at some point. Yeah, and many, many districts have, you have to provide security. And if you don't hire our people, you have to provide proof of security. There is a cleanup component that is often part of it. But part of the other issue was, if a small municipality wanted to use some space, and if a for-profit entity wanted to use the space, we charged them the same. And we were going to take a look at that as well in terms of reciprocity and collaboration, et cetera. So. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you for the board's feedback. We'll certainly take that into account and continue to monitor this policy. The next item on your agenda today is item 6.0. This policy is a
025first reader. We'll come back for board action during the November board meeting. This is board policy GARH. We're bringing this to the board as a mid-period review, primarily because of changes in legislation under HB 235, which is the Georgia Supporting Living Donor Educators Act, which provides for certain amounts of time off for donating organs or donating bone marrow. And that is lifted from the statutory language and now immortalized in this policy. The other component that's very important we want to point out for the board is we have adjusted some language, and you have the most recent copy that has been provided for you, and it's also been posted to board docs. We set out to be very clear in the areas where you're talking about jury duty. When staff are being summoned for jury duty
026or subpoenaed as a witness, when they will be eligible for paid time off in those situations and when they will not. And that is something that we wanted to make clear in the policy. You'll see that language has been updated. Those are the primary drivers for changes in policy GARH. This is a first reader. Any comments? Yes, Mr. Hatchman. I would just correct me if I'm wrong, but the change to the jury duty and court appearance language is driven by state law, not our personal policy determination, correct? Yeah, we had Attorney Dennison working very closely with us on this. So, defer. No, the change on the subpoena piece was not driven by state law. The jury duty piece is there by state law. The question is when you get hailed into a court situation on
027a subpoena, in what instances would you be paid? And what would you not be paid? So, what we were running into is situations where perhaps there's a criminal case and one of our staff is being subpoenaed for that. It's not because they are a staff employee or their role with the district. We wanted to be able to include that, expand that out, and include that as a reason for paid leave instead of just staff-related needs only. Thank you. Anyone else? Continue. Thank you, sir. We'll bring this back to the board for the next item, which is the proposal adoption during the November Board of Education meeting. Moving along in your agenda, your next item is item 6.03, and we'll be reading into record for the board's action a recommendation on charter renewal application for Coastal
028Empire Montessori Charter School. Coastal Empire Montessori Charter School, CIMCAS, submitted a charter renewal petition to continue serving the students, families, and broader community of Savannah-Chatham County. The petition seeks to renew the school's charter beginning in the 26-27 school year. In accordance with the board deadlines, CIMCAS submitted its annual, I'm sorry, CIMCAS submitted its renewal petition to the superintendent and local board of education for consideration. After a comprehensive review of the petition, contract supporting documentation, and state performance data over time of the term of the contract, the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools Board of Education, the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools Board of Education, charter review committee recommends that CIMCAS be renewed on a two-year probationary term rather than the standard five-year renewal. This decision reflects both the committee's recognition of the charter school's areas of strengths and
029its concerns regarding academic and organizational compliance. The following factors were considered in the committee's review of CIMCAS renewal petition. A Montessori Instructional Program, CIMCAS, a Montessori Instructional Model that continues to resonate with families, documented commitment from staff and school leadership to foster a supportive learning environment, strong evidence of family and community investment in the Montessori Model. During the course of the review, several areas of concern were identified. Persistent failure to meet or exceed content mastery and proficiency in assessment areas of the Georgia milestones as compared to both the state and district. Below target Closing the Gap scores, a comprehensive school support and improvement CIS designation in 2023, which is a representation of the state's lowest performing 25% of schools. Lack of consistent trajectory over the course of the initial contract 2018 and extended probationary period
030provided in 2023. Together, these areas constitute material breach of the Charter's academic accountability obligations under OCGA 20-2-2085 and the school's own charter provisions. These are grounds for non-renewal and closure. However, the district is recommending the following conditional renewal to allow CIMCAS the opportunity to demonstrate improvement and to meet the requirements of the contract. Recommendations and Conditions of Renewal As a condition of the two-year probationary renewal term, CIMCAS must achieve the following benchmarks annually. CIMCAS must show improvement on GOSAs beating the odds analysis by the end of the academic year with documented evidence of progress toward performing within or above the predicted range. CIMCAS must have a CIS requirement and a CAC RPI score better than both the state and the LEA during each year of its charter term. CIMCAS must implement and monitor a comprehensive
031improvement plan addressing the CSI designation aligned with Georgia's ESSA requirements. Evidence of effective interventions, subgroup progress, and annual measurable improvements must be reported to the district with the removal from the CSI status within the two-year probationary term. CIMCAS must meet the contractual requirement of reducing the percentage of students six or more days absent by at least 2 percentage points annually with a goal of fewer than 10% of students meeting this threshold. Annual progress toward this benchmark must be reported and verified by GOSA K-12 report card data. Thus, be it resolved, upon the recommendation of the superintendent, that the Board approve Coastal Empire Montessori Charter School for a two-year probationary charter contract beginning in 26-27 school year, subject to the stated conditions. It's been moved and seconded. Discussion? Dr. Brinkman. Yes. First, I would like to
032just make sure that we all get a hard copy of the whole resolution because it wasn't in our board packets. I'm sure it might get uploaded later. It's a little later to Board Docs. Just the first page made our board packet. Yes, sir. Secondly, this is all about accountability. And this isn't just accountability for Coastal Empire Montessori School. This is accountability for our schools. Has been a conversation around this horseshoe for the better part of the last three years, striving for excellence. The idea of a charter school is to offer something different for families that does better than the local education authority, the LEA. So this is a resetting of how this board looks at holding those charter schools accountable. So for all the charter schools, hopefully they're listening, understand that this is how the
033process will look moving forward. I will support this two-year probationary term because we are now setting a new bar to make sure that we will hold, just like we are held by the public accountable, charter schools accountable. We have had a history of not always doing that because we know families that have their children there, we know teachers that work there, and we know that they are trying to do the best and that they are offering something different in most cases than what the regular district has. But understand that we need to move the bar for all of our students. So this is all about accountability and nothing to do with the actual name attached to the charter school. And I hope that if I remain on this board or if other members come and
034sit in these seats, they will understand that this is how we need to look at it. It is a contract. We hold ourselves accountable to it. We hold the charter schools accountable to it. Business Hall and then Dr. Howard Hall. I'm very pleased that we were able to come to this determination where we're going to give them an opportunity to show improvement when we had the capability of just denying it outright. And I think this will show the public that we are very interested in the success of our charter schools, but that they will have to rise to the occasion. But I'm very pleased that they will have this opportunity over the next two months. Thank you. And I hope that we will be able to give them a chance to show improvement in the
035next two years to show that they can improve. Dr. Howard Hall. Yes, I'm also pleased to know that we're giving them the two-year probationary period because when I hear the word charter in public, all I see is children. And my concern is a continuation of success for all children regardless of charter school, public school. So I'm really hoping that I'm a big cheerleader for all students. I'm also pleased to know that we're giving them an opportunity to show that they can improve and they can be successful. And it's my desire that they will implement the strategies that they need to come off of the list, the CSI list, and continue to remain as a charter. All right. So I too, I back this decision. One thing I've said before and I will always say, I'm
036probably the biggest proponent of charter schools. I'm also the biggest proponent of accountability. And I agree with Dr. Howard Hall. We want choices for our families. And from my experience, because I was behind a charter school, one thing that we had to learn was we had to adapt. There are certain educational models that sound great, and they are great. But at the end of the day, you have to make state standards. You can be creative, but at the end of the day, you are judged on Georgia standards of excellence. I wish you well. Whatever help you need from our staff, please, please ask us. Do not be ashamed. Do not think that you won't get it. You will get any support that you need. We want you to succeed because we want our students to
037succeed. Thank you for, first, by the way, and thank you for starting a charter school. I know how hard that is. That's very hard. It's hard maintaining a charter school. But we think, we know that you can do it. So we wish you the best. Again, we are here for you. All right. There being no more discussion? Oh, did someone else? Mr. Smith. I just want to quickly chime in and echo the sentiments of the board president. I want to congratulate everything that they've been doing at that school. They've been an amazing component. They've been working hard and being dedicated. The school leadership there has been stellar and phenomenal. The staff there has been, like, amazing. The staff there has been going above and beyond. And I believe that we can hit the mark. So
038I'm just encouraging you all to keep your boots on the ground, keep your heads in the book, and keep your arms locked together so that we can make that goal and make those targets. We believe in you, and I'm grateful that currently you're in the district that you're in. Thank you for all the hard work that you do. All right. Okay. There being no more discussion. All in favor? All opposed? Okay. Thank you. Next item on your agenda, item 6.04, the board's 2026 legislative priorities. This is an action item for the Board of Education. These priorities were discussed extensively at the board's retreat, which was held last week. They've been memorialized in a document for your review and final approval. And this document will subsequently be available throughout the legislative session and to those who
039are making decisions under the Gold Dome in Atlanta. You'll see areas that are particularly focused in here on early childhood education. There are supports for staffing and making local decisions when it comes to workforce. You'll also see components that continue to stress the importance of modernizing the QBE formula. We were also able to get in there a reference to the local five mil share, which was discussed at the retreat last week. And of course, components that support our investment in literacy. Your board has a legislative delegate, Ms. Grabowski, who's been deeply involved in this process as well and continues to be a great advocate for the board on the legislative area in these sessions. Subject to any comments by Ms. Grabowski and the board, this is being presented for your action. And thus be it
040resolved that the Board of Education shall approve its 2026 legislative priorities. Moved and seconded. Discussion? I think I mentioned this at the retreat that I feel we have a very energized local legislative body now. And I feel that some of the traditional priorities we've gone with year after year after year, especially early childhood facilities, I'm hoping that we can really zero in on that, maybe not have so many priorities, but really focus on that one. And hopefully we can move forward with that to the day where we have universal childcare. Anyone else? I want to take this time to thank Ms. Grabowski. Ms. Grabowski has stayed on top of this. She has great, great relationships with our chamber and with our legislators. And thank you so much for that. Thank you for your work. Thank
041you also for narrowing down the number of priorities. I believe that we can get somewhere with this. So thank you very much. Anyone else? All right. All in favor? All right. Thank you. Item 6.05 on your board's agenda, a proclamation for adoption celebrating National School Lunch Week. In recognition of the importance of the SECP, the PSS School Nutrition Program, and the dedicated employees who work tirelessly to provide healthy meals to the students of our great school system, the board seeks to recognize the valuable employees who provide nutritious meals daily to our students and who work to provide nutritional awareness for the health and well-being of our children. Therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Public Education for the City of Savannah and the County of Chatham does hereby proclaim the week of October 13th
042through 17th, 2025, as National School Lunch Week, and encourages all residents to join us in its recognition in hopes of achieving a more healthful citizenry for today and the future. Whereas the National School Lunch Program has served our nation admirably for more than 77 years through advanced practices in nutrition education, and whereas the National School Lunch Program is dedicated to the health and well-being of our nation's children, whereas the National School Lunch Program has been joined through the years by many other excellent individuals who have been taking part in this journey. The Board of Public Education is committed to acknowledging the value and value of the nutritional nutrition programs and the value of the children's nutrition. And we want to recognize the importance of this work as an opportunity to recognize the value of the
043nutrition programs and to recognize the value of the children's nutrition. And so, as the Board of Public Education and the City of Savannah and the County of Chatham does hereby proclaim the week of October 13th through 17th, I have a motion. So moved. Moved and seconded. All in favor? All right. Thank you. They really love the lunch. And here we have representatives from the school nutrition department with us today. Thank you for all your great work. Appreciate all y'all do. Thank you so much. Thanks for all you do. And by the way, if anyone doesn't know, we do have free breakfast and free lunch for all students across the district. So I want to celebrate that, too. Look forward to the next Low Country Boil as well. Item 6.06 on the board's agenda. This is
044another proclamation for your adoption, celebrating School Bus Safety and Transportation Week. In recognition of the importance of the SCCPSS transportation workers who travel millions of miles every year and who work tirelessly to provide safety and safety for all students, we would like to recognize all transportation personnel as a vital point of a school system and applaud every individual who contributes to the safe and effective operation of our transportation department. Therefore, be it resolved, the Board of Public Education for the City of Savannah and County of Chatham does hereby proclaim the week of October 20 to 24, 2025 to be observed as School Bus Safety and Transportation Week. This is another proclamation for the School Bus Safety and Transportation Week. In recognition of the contribution drivers and other school transportation staff make to our public education
045system. Move in second. All in favor? Transportation department. Thank you. Thank you. Next item on the board's agenda, item 6.07, proclamation for adoption celebrating Custodial Workers Day. In recognition of the importance of the Savannah Chatham County Public School System's custodial staff and the dedicated employees who, for the health and safety of all, work daily to ensure staff and students have a clean and safe work and instructional environment, the board seeks to recognize this educational professionals who seek tirelessly and work tirelessly to provide clean, well-maintained learning environments for every child that we serve. Therefore, be it resolved that we, the Board of Education, here in the City of Savannah and the County of Chatham, do hereby recognize and support the nationally recognized date of October the 2nd, 2025, as National Custodian, Workers Day, Recognition Day, and
046encourage all citizens to join us and celebrate their daily contributions all throughout the month of October. Thank you. And final proclamation for the board's adoption today, item 6.08, is a proclamation celebrating October as National School Principals Month. Each October, we proudly join the American Federation of School Administrators, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals in celebrating National School Principals Month. This month-long tribute shines a spotlight on the unwavering dedication of schools, and the work of the school leadership, who champion high-quality principalship and shape the future of education. Whereas school principals are employed to help students reach their full potential, and whereas school principals are dedicated to helping students explore their abilities, strengths, interests, and talents, as these traits relate to career awareness and development, and whereas school
047principals help parents focus on ways to further the educational, personal, and social growth of their children, and whereas school principals collaborate with teachers and other educators to lead our schools and create positive learning communities that help every student discover their full potential and realize their goals. Therefore, be it resolved, the Board of Public Education for the City of Savannah and County of Chatham does hereby celebrate all school principals, and we ask our entire community to join us in recognizing, and we ask our entire community to join us in recognizing, and we ask our entire community to join us in recognizing, the month of October 2025 as National School Principals Month. On behalf of the Board of Education and the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, we extend our sincere appreciation for every school principal in our
048school system and across the nation. Moved. Seconded. Moved and seconded. All in favor? Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Take it away. And that concludes your Board Matters items. For today's agenda, turning over the agenda to the Board President for the consent and additional matters. Okay. I'll accept a motion to accept our consent agenda. So moved. Moved and seconded. Great. All in favor? All opposed? Thank you. And we have one abstain. All right, thank you. I believe, sir, you had one Board Member not present. Ms. Hall left the room. 5 for yay, 2 for nay on the consent agenda. All right. No, I'm sorry. Hall was not present, I'm sorry, you're right. Hall. Hall. Yeah, that's it. Yes. No, Ms. Campbell? Me, yes. I'm a nay. Oh, okay, got it. Oh, got
049it. Yes. Okay, I'll accept the motion to approve the minutes for the meeting held on to, oh, that was in the consent agenda, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. About to take a deep breath. I'm sorry. All right, let's, I need to. Financials. Thank you, financials. Good afternoon, everyone. The financials that were included in your packet for this month cover the first two months of the year, ending, from August 31st. For fund 100, with the exception of vehicle taxes, real estate transfer taxes, and ad valorem taxes, the local taxes collected during the months of July and August are recorded in last year's revenue. The actual revenues are at 7.4% of our current modified budget. For our general expenses, although we're at 16.67% of the year, the fiscal year, different categories are normally reclassified for different behavioral patterns.
050Overall, our actual expenditures are at 6.56% of our current budget for this year. Also included in your packet were the details, including the details for our capital funds. Those were funds 300 through 314, which include our facility repairs, our small capital projects, and our e-splash projects. Those are funds 307 through 314. Also included in your packets were funds, 400 pages for funds, 400 through 485. grants. Those grants are provided to us through our federal government in support of various initiatives directed by strict guidelines and laws. Some of those are annual, some of them are over several years. The majority of those are administered through Godot. For details and just a little summary on each one of those funds on page, right before page one in your package, you have your detailed summaries of the different
051funds. We have scheduled for the November Finance Committee meeting, Compensatory Program Department will be giving us a year-to-date update on our federal grants. So you'll get some more information and details on that. And next month's Finance Committee. At this point, I have nothing else to report from our financials and will entertain any questions if you have any. We were told earlier that the state approved E5 collections. So what is the timeline for stopping E4 collections and ramping up E5 collections? Have we figured that out yet? Yes. The last day for collection of E4 collections is the first day of E4 collections. So we're going to have to wait until the next year to see if we can get that done. The first day of E4 funds was yesterday. We were given the directives from the
052state that we will start E5 collections as of today with the first deposit being seen sometime the first of November. Everybody go shopping after this meeting. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. We have a number of budget transfers and most of them are actually related to East Blas. Fortunately, all of the agenda items have been given to the board previously, uploaded to board docs. So I'm going to try to save some time and not read all of them. I believe the first one we have is 8.02 East Blas III, a budget transfer for Coastal Middle School renovations. All the work associated with this project was completed in East Blas III. The budget transfer is $1,401,707 to unallocated. That's to be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the transfer of funds from
053Coastal Middle School renovation account to East Blas III unallocated account. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Always good when we can return money back to the coffers to cover other expenses and still complete a project. Hearing no more discussion. All in favor? Wonderful. Item 8.03, a similar transfer, in East Blas III for the Henderson, eforme, Jr. ELC renovations. The project is complete. We're transferring $1,134,936 lobless back and it's resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent. I, excused by saying thank you. that the board approved the transfer of funds from Henderson e for me for me junior ELC renovation accounts to East plus free unallocated account discussion all in favor thank you item 8.0 for it's a little different this is a budget transfer transfer funds to an allocated however the stem Academy renovation account would be
054done in these plots 5 this transfer is in the amount of 1 million nine hundred and four thousand nine hundred and sixty nine dollars those beard resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved the transfer of funds from stem Academy at Bartlett renovation accounts to East plots 3 unallocated account seconded discussion discussion. All in favor? Item 8.05 another transfer for a completed project in East Plus 3 for the Savannah Arts Academy in the amount of $2,021,721 does be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the transfer of funds from Savannah Arts Academy school addition accounts to East Plus 3 unallocated account. Moved. Moved and seconded. All in favor? Okay. Thank you. Item 8.06 is a change order and a budget transfer in fund 308 for Port Wentworth Auxiliary
055Administration renovations in the amount of $881,394 for the transfer does be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent. Thank you. Thank you. Move. Thank you. Thank you. Moved. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? Okay. Item 8.07 another budget transfer in fund 308 to support Pulaski K-8 modular classrooms in the amount of $939,211 from fund 308 unallocated does be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the transfer of funds from the state of Louisiana to East Plus 3 fund in plan E flashy month. Make a motion to approve rule 2 of The¬ assume NOTE Confidential Interest Street Project Foundation to approve a budget transfer to Boss every community programs within Pan creativity One 4.ん I nonнокal Schön voos self forlist has approved the transfer of movesン 1 o'clock it by
056and on from Fund 308 unallocated 2 Pulaski K-8 ladies a to Modular Portables구요 and Modular Portables account. Diane Lisinski Mobile Maudler porlables account. Moved second discussion. All in favor?. 改Advoi cur lemonade Data. Met. 8 A point zero eight 08 is' on behalf of the school nutrition department this transfer is within fund three. Oh 7 facility repairs too. in the amount of $701,805 N into knockout some hours the school nutrition response is within Fund 307 for $703.. Thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved the transfer above in the amount of seven hundred and one thousand eight hundred and five dollars from the school nutrition cafeteria modification construction account to the council listed including school nutrition and repair and maintenance services and school nutrition Contractual services. Thank you Anyone seconded?
057Yes. Thank you. Dr. Howard Hall. Any discussion? Yes, Mr. Grabowski Moving expense. That's what is that moving? No, ma'am. That's moving equipment So we have that many moves of equipment during the year It depends on how many schools were opening and how many are closing but also as part of this we are Maximizing new equipment so we might have to Move out old equipment. Okay Thank you any other discussion, all right all in favor Item eight point zero nine It's a budget transfer within fund 100 for legal fees We're requesting to move Funds to be placed in a proper professional services account in the amount of one meeting of six to four thousand five hundred dollars That's beer resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent That the board approved the budget transfer above in the
058amount of one million sixty four thousand five hundred dollars Thank you. Thank you It's been moved and seconded Yeah Someone invited so Thank you all in favor 8.10 It's the bid award for a Johnson high school roof replacement staff received five responses the transfer is required to provide a both contract and Contingency funds for the Johnson high school roof replacement project as described in the amount of four million eight hundred and seventy three thousand $900 they also be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved the contract with roof technology partners LLC for the Johnson high school roof replacement at a total cost of four million four hundred thirty thousand and $835 and be it for the resolve that the board approved the budget transfer as stated and described above Okay discussion
059just some clarity this is the whole campus is getting a new roof I hope so Schools are not new anymore. So they've been around for Installation begin That summer next summer yes Okay You hear him he won't they want to complete the gymnasium part First then they're gonna start on the roof. All right, I'm mr. Bowski What kind of warranty do we get with these roof replacements and is that something that's part of the evaluation? That is part of the evaluation 20 years warranty any more discussion, so this roof has lived 20 years Problems since I was told since installation so The goal of this new roof is to learn from our prior mistakes and to resolve any leaks or challenges that the current This waiting for any more comments All right all in favor
060the last item 8.11 the bid award for the HV AC replacement at Woodville Tompkins High School We received three bids And in turn the bid is being awarded to mock plumbing and mechanical In the amount of five million two hundred and sixty five thousand five hundred and ninety three dollars Let's be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved the contract with mock plumbing and mechanical Incorporated for the Woodville Tompkins High School HVAC replacement at a total cost of five million two hundred and sixty five thousand five hundred and ninety three dollars and be a further resolve that the board approved the budget budget transfer from E3 unallocated account to the Woodville Tompkins High School HVAC accounts as described above. And I was told to point out this does not include
061the addition or the gym roof. It's everything else. Moved and seconded. Discussion? Yes, Ms. Skowalski. Do we conduct commissioning after these HVAC replacements? It's done by the design engineer. According to Mr. Hedekop. So we are commissioned because we seem to have a lot of issues with our HVAC across the district, particularly with the angle of maintained temperature control and everything else. So if we're going through full commissioning of these systems, those commissioning agents have additional responsibilities to continue to work with us to get our systems working. Sorry, it's a little bit of a tangent from this, but because we're talking about HVAC and this is not... It's an awful lot of money. Right. Correct. And as we're looking at everything within our district teams, I hope that we will continue to... I know HVAC is
062one of the points that we discussed at the retreat, but it seems we need some... It's an area where we can approve to have more comfortable buildings for our students and our teachers. I was in one of our schools yesterday. It was so cold in there, we could hardly move. And it's always like that, according to... It's a principle where other areas of the building are very warm, and this is one of our schools with brand new HVACs. So I hope it's something that as we move forward with our facilities team that we can make sure we're addressing. And I would be curious to know how the commissioning agent is involved, because I know commissioning is not inexpensive. So I don't know if we need to move to third-party commissioning to make sure that there's
063some independence there. But anyways, I'll just put that plug in. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Mrs. Hall? No, that was a comment. I was good. Ms. Grabowski had told me it was freezing at the school and that it's always like that. So this is a lot of money for us to be expending. So we want to make sure we have guarantees that these systems are going to work and last. Mr. Cashmore. I'm going to jump on that bandwagon, but in a different way. A while ago, we went to centralized remote temperature. We went to a lot of remote temperature management. And that was an issue as well for a while. So it's not just the systems on site. It's what's happening somewhere else and who's controlling it and are the electronics talking to each
064other the right way. But yes, we need to be on top of those issues. Anyone else? Dr. Howard Hall. Yes. Regarding the gym, I know we're not putting a roof on the gym, per se, because it's basically new. But I recall going to a gym and I was like, oh, my God. I'm going to a gym. I'm going to a gym. I'm going to a game there. And it was burning up. And it was in January. It was hot, overly heated. So I'm hoping that the money that we are investing, the $5 million for the overall thing that it encompasses, not only the upper Woodville, the facilities, but that gym also needs to be properly utilized as far as the thermostat is concerned, because it was very uncomfortable. It was a crowded game. And the
065system was just not working. We will make sure we have someone looking to it. Mr. Smith, there's an old motto that says, measure twice and cut once. And as we talk about the roofing, as well as this HVAC, as well as other things that we have built, it seems like somewhere we may have just measured once. And maybe we measured twice, but I would like to encourage us to measure 16 times to see if we could explore. All of the things, because there are some schools that have been newly built that don't have air in the staircases. And I think that these amounts that we're spending on HVAC systems, the whole building should be very, very cool. And I would just like to encourage us to be mindful of those things. And again, I thank
066you for everything that you do. Yes, sir. Mrs. Hall. Does Ms. Davidson have expert assistance in this? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Certainly. We have one person. So I would tell you on the building automation control and the HVAC pieces, we do have some very knowledgeable team members taking close attention to the commissioning recommendation, the measure 16 times recommendation, other pieces. I think there is always an opportunity to improve. And we are collaborating with our school teams because at times what one teacher is doing, what one teacher does impacts another teacher. So if I open my windows, that's going to throw off the temperature. If I run a heater, which we know nobody runs a heater because those are not allowed, that may throw off the temperatures. But we can always lean
067on our expertise. We also have third parties that we utilize their expertise on as well. And we're driving home to the team to get to the root cause. We're not going to band-aid it. We might have a temporary. We're not going to have a temporary fix to make the air quality better at the immediate moment. But we are going to do the root cause and make a long-term solution for whatever the HVAC challenge is. And I think at times we might have value engineered some buildings, which does come into play, especially on the HVAC side. And Ms. Davidson, the fact that we have buildings now that are different, HV models are very different from our older buildings. Lots of our... Gentlemen were used to accommodating. Are they being trained on all the cutting edge and
068new parts? That is part of our strategy going forward is to make sure everybody is trained. Because I might have been trained five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago. And now technology is always evolving. And so I might need to be retrained. So that is some of our new... New strategy going forward to make sure you are comfortable with the current models and consistency across the schools so that we don't have a train system in one school, a carrier system in another school, and they are hard to repair because they're two different equipment models. So how can we ensure consistency to the best of our ability but recognizing what we have is what we have right now. So how can we train you on what we currently have to make it operable? Anyone
069else? All in favor? Thank you, sir. All right. We have one person signed up to appear before the board. They will speak for three minutes. Mrs. Bryant. Good afternoon. My name, again, is Angelisa Savage Bryant. I am a parent of coastal middle school student. Thank you, Dr. Barnes, Dr. Reese, and Mrs. Morrell. For meeting with me on July the 25th. But this afternoon, I must speak about oversight, parent rights, and accountability. I have filed grievances that remain unanswered. Children have been removed from instructional classes without notice. Policies are twisted. Rights denied. And parents silenced under so-called protocol. That is not transparency. That is not accountability. Our children must be believed, heard, and free to speak. Teachers and leaders, black and white. Parents. We have paid the costs so our children could be educated. Just like
070the freedom riders who risk everything. They opened the doors so we could stand here today. And that cost is why you have a seat at this table. But free speech, parent rights, and student dignity are not optional. They are not optional. They are the law. They are justice. We are here for justice. We are Americans. We must uphold free speech, parent rights, and we must work together. I continue to come, and I'm not going to stop coming, because I see there are parents that should be here. The room is not full. We have to work together. but someone must advocate not only for my child but for all 34,000 students and that is your job as oversight you are also here for all the children so please do your part accountability is your responsibility thank
071you I will now ask for a motion yes I didn't finish it to adjourn it's been moved and seconded all in favor raise your hand we are adjourned