001Board of Education meeting is called to order. Notices for the meeting were properly posted and provided to those who direct who requested direct notification. Let the record show everyone is present except Mr. Young. We will begin by a prayer from Dr. Herring, followed by the pledge led by myself. Would you join me in a word of prayer, please? Father, we humble ourselves before you and recognize you as God. We just thank you so much for what you've done for us. You said, Father, in your holy scriptures that if we lacked wisdom to ask for it. So, Father, tonight for the leaders and the administrators, for the school principles and the staff of our um school system, I just pray for wisdom that comes from your throne room. And I just ask that you touch each
002one of us to help make the right decision to help our children in the direction they should go. I ask this in your precious and holy name of your son Jesus Christ. Amen. I pledge algiance 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. Board, we have an agenda before us. Do I hear a motion? I'll offer. Mqua offers a motion. Do I hear a second? Second. Dr. Herring seconds. Any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor? Motion passes unanimously. We will begin with a superintendent report. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's um great, of course, to see everyone uh tonight. We've got a great crowd and we're here to recognize many of our students in the
003system and just so glad you joined us. Appreciate all the support um from parents and teachers and community members. U thank you so much for being here. So we will start with the scholars bowl first. So each year Limestone County Schools hold scholars bowls competitions in March and April. These competitions recognize first, second, and third place winners as well as the high score in each division, elementary, middle school, and high school. Tonight, I would like to recognize the school placing first in each of these divisions along with the scholars bowl advisor. I will also be recognizing the high score and their advisor for each division. This year we have Creekide Elementary placed first in the elementary division. If Creekide would come up [Applause] Love those uh shirts you have there. That is great. That's a
004teen spirit there. So, we have Cruz Coleman. We have Josh Adair. We have Benny Howlet. He's not here. Okay. Ava Chandler. Ava. We have Logan Hayes. Speak louder. We've got Harper Hendricks. Summerjet, Miguel Masuo, Janie Wesinger, and Khalil Williams. And Rachel Mcatee is the coach, not here. Wow. Nice coach here. [Applause] right in the middle. All right. Thank you guys so much. it gets to the right place. Next, I would like to recognize East Limestone High School for placing first in the middle school division. And then um middle school student [Applause] Just line up across the front here. We have Bentley Lo is the captain. I remember seeing you out there. Chris Blackburn. Bo Calhoun. Lucas Jit, Sena Johnson, Juan Carlos. There you are. Club, Joseph TR, and the coach is Jessica Haywood. [Applause] and
005trust me here. All right. So, we got this nice. Okay. One more website. [Applause] Careful. Okay. All right. So, um the high school Okay, so we've got East Limestone. Next, the middle school division um is East Go from West Limestone. Easton Scholars Bowl advisor is Katie Wilkerson. And so the middle school division, that was the top score. This [Applause] is good. Katie Wilson is the coach. All right. This year's first place high school scholars bowl team is Ardmore High School. Seeing you guys, too. Congratulations on that. We have Emily Zerbal is the captain. Claire Bracken, Aiden Brooks, um Marcos Develah Frell, William McKinley, Shelby Mitchell, Tan Pepper Tan Pepper Tegan I'm sorry Mallerie Robinson Jackson Wells and the coach is Whitney Taylorney. The real coach. see that step out just a little bit. You guys
006won't be able to see [Applause] And the high score for the high school division is Colobby Jackson from East Limestone High School. out. She know is the coach and he's not with us tonight. Congratulations. [Applause] And then we have the high score for elementary from Johnson Elementary School, Adakus Nye. [Applause] And your coach is Haley Winter Brit. She's here. [Applause] Okay. Congrat congratulations to our scholar roll winners. I know when I go out there and and I listen to some of the questions and hear some of the questions, they're very challenging. If um I know a lot of parents were there, even the elementary version, right, pretty tough questions. So, um your kids did a great job um making sure questions very competitive and scholar roll is a great thing here in L county so
007thank you so much we are going to recognize some other groups so I don't know if the scholar bowls votes wants to stay if you want to stay you can stay or you can exit at this time always so disappointed they're not here for us for real they don't stay for the meeting thought for sure it was drama of the meeting. I like the shirt we make. I love it. That is so cute. So cute. something last. Oh, you're moving down to the front row. Thank y'all for coming. We've got some We've got plenty of seats in Come on in. You got seats. [Music] way back. Yes. Pressure. Pressure. Yes. Okay. Next, we have District Honor Band and All State Band Members, band directors. The Alabama District Honor Band recognizes the achievements of exceptional high
008school musicians. This year, Limestone County Schools has a middle school student who earned this distinction. I would like to recognize Braxton Moore, an eighth grader at West Limestone, as well as his band director, Davin Kyle, for this accomplishment. Congratulations. [Applause] The Alabama Allstate Band is an honor band made up of the most outstanding band students in the state who are selected through auditions. The festival featured multiple bands including high school red, white, and blue bands as well as a middle school red band. These bands offer a prestigious opportunity for students to perform with their peers and work with great conductors. This year, Limestone County Schools has three band members who were selected for this honor. I would like to recognize students along with their band director. The first student is Blake Talbert from Ardmore High
009School. Blake's band director is Zach Tyrie. [Applause] Next, I would like to recognize Sam Kogan from Clemens High School. Sam's band director is Matthew Missouri. Mr. Missouri is unable to attend tonight. So I would like for district 2 board member Miss Greta Kilgore to join Sam as we congratulate him on this honor. Sam [Applause] The final student to receive this distinction of 2025 all state band is Jayla Moore, a member of the Tanner High School band. Jayla's band director is Mr. Stone. [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] Okay, next we have art recognitions. And each spring, a nationwide high school arts competition is sponsored by the members of the US House of Representatives. The Congressional Art Competition is an opportunity to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation as well as in the fifth congressional district. This
010competition known as artistic discovery is open to all high school students in the fifth district. Honorable mention winners will be displayed in the district office of Congressman Dale Strong for one year. Tonight, we would like to recognize two of our students who were selected for this honor. Both are students from East Limestone High School. I would also like to recognize Mrs. Fuqua, East Limestone art teacher, for showing us that teaching is a true work of art. Tamara G is the first student I would like to recognize. [Applause] You want to come up? Alison Smith. [Applause] [Laughter] Don't move. [Applause] So, just to talk a little bit about Alison um Smith, whose art was also selected for the Congressional Art Competition. Allison's art is featured on the poster right here. you've seen the poster when you
011walked in um for the Fridays after five visual art exhibition and Miss Kathy Sllayton I think is going to talk about um the art show that's coming up and I'll just tell you our board actually has a board retreat next Friday and we're all planning to come out to the art show at five o'clock to see all the students work. So we're really excited about that. Looking forward to to seeing that that work of art. I love poster too. I saw it downstairs that I came running upstairs going look at this look at this. So, congratulations. I'm sorry to have notes, but like my kids, I'm a visual learner. So, um I'll try to keep it under 20 minutes. My um I wanted to just say that, you know, last year school board and Dr.
012Shouse kind of showed us their their advocacy for the fine arts in Limestone County schools. Last year, we began offering a visual arts program to every high school in Limestone County and and that is unheard of. So, I just wanted to thank you all for that opportunity, not just for a job, but I'm just talking about for kids because as you can see and as you can hear, um Limestone County Schools is full of very talented young people and and they make us look good. I mean, let me just tell you, we just kind of push them out there and get out of their way and they're really awesome. So, we are having our very first annual Limestone County Schools visual art exhibition for these um high school students. And as Dr. Ch said, it's
013going to be next Friday, the 25th, at the launch box, which is literally right across from the square. So if you're out there rocking at the concert, when we get done with that and come in and see us, we're going to be inside the launch box there. It is going to be made up of all of artwork from all of the high schools in Limestone County. Um we are all going to have um some maker space opportunities for all of the community. Anybody that comes in, we get to do some artwork. We're going to have students on display. I should have students um actually work in progress. They're going to be drawing and painting and we're going to have them and you can see what they can actually U while they're doing that and we
014have the arts league is going to be providing judges for that competition for that exhibition. Let's call it that. Um and anything else? I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so either. So, um and as you can see her artwork, we actually had a poster contest um to submit artwork for this poster. And as you can see, come see this. see lots of amazing artwork from all of our amazing talented students and we appreciate your support. Admission free app. [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] We got something really important to say. Okay. Where is this launch? It's right on the corner. Right across the track. Wait, it should be near here, right? Yeah. That's what I thought everybody was here for, didn't you? You know, it moved. Yes. So it's right beside where crowning
015touch used to be. Okay. All right. Yes. [Music] Yeah. That's going to be So when is it Friday? Friday. What time? Well, he says we're going 5 o' be kind of crowded downtown because of Friday's after five. Friday at 5. That's the perfect time to showcase though, Mr. Terry. [Laughter] So, it's 5 to9. So, I have one more part on the superintendent report. Um, and just want to talk about we've got the really very good news of being accredited through Cognia. And I'll just read a little bit about our accreditation visit. Um, and what um really not a visit anymore. You have to download a lot lot of information. Um Allison, her team did a great job. Um Allison and I participated in the exit interview. Um but the district really did well and we're
016so glad that we're accredited again um through Cognia. But I'll just read this email that I received. We're delighted to inform you that your institution has been awarded accredited status by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, the Northwest Accreditation Commission, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement. The three listed regional agencies provide your institution with a highly regarded accreditation that is recognized throughout the world. This action was conferred by the Cogna Global Commission on March 31st, 2025. And so to go along with just getting the accreditation, we also um received a accommodation which I'd like to read which is standard 14 and 15. It says that professional staff analyze learners needs and current trends to adjust the allocation and management of human, material, digital
017and physical resources, ensuring equity in learning. School leaders, teachers, and support staff guided by data and a mutual commitment to growth ensure that the institution remains responsive to emerging trends, adapts engaging strategies, and makes progress toward district goals. So it's very good to receive that recognition and the evaluator identified the noteworthy practices that reflect significant areas of strength in the work of the institution. So we're very happy to receive um that recognition there. They did put a couple areas of improvement. Um one area is a formal structure needs to be planned and consistently implemented to promote a culture and climate in which learners receive support from adults and peers. Then the peer and adult interactions and behaviors may demonstrate respect, trust, and concern for one another's well-being. The key there, we do a lot of
018that, but we feel like we need to work on the formal structure of that. So that's what we we'll target on this improvement area. And then to the second one, if professional staff members consistently engage in action research using an inquirybased process that identifies areas for instructional improvement, collects data and reports results, then improve professional practices and optimize learning may occur. And of course, you know, looking at our practices, do we use the data to make sure we're making informed decisions moving forward? So that's an area they thought that we could improve upon as well. So they do give a IEQ score and we received an IEQ score of 347. The Cognia IQ network average is 296. So we were above average on that score. And if you're above 300, an IQ above 300 indicates
019an institution meets Cogna's expectations for accreditation that includes one or more areas for improvement and may include one or more noteworthy practices. Institutions must address the areas of improvement, provide evidence of actions taken and results to Cogna in a required progress report through three years following the review. Additional progress monitoring may be required if satisfactory progress is not achieved. So once again, it's great to be a credit again. Thank you and your team for for working hard on this. And I think they recognized all the great things that we're doing here in Limestone County. [Applause] Miss Hubard, my turn. Okay, you've got financial statements. Well, I've kind of got them spread apart because my coffee messed up, but um so we're going to look at February tonight. That's the fifth month in our fiscal year.
020So, we're 42% of the way through. If you look at our local revenue, which includes our sales tax, we're at 57% of our budgeted amount. And remember that we move 500,000 over to capital projects each month. So we've already got 2.5 million sitting in capital projects in our local sales tax for the year. If you look at our expenditures, we're dead on the 42%. And we do that some months. Some months I'll we'll come and look at year to date and it's going to be down and then some months we have a few more expenses have to pay. So you'll see that. But it's targeted right at where it needs to be. If you look at our fund balance, one month fund balance is 12.2 million that we talk about each month. We're sitting at
02148.1 million. That's 3.94 months of fund balance. So, it's growing. Again, if you look at it from January to February, we're up about $500,000. So, it actually grew some. Um and that's considering that sales tax has is still increasing but the ad valorum by the end of January we don't get that much advalorum anymore. So if you look at my little chart on the back you can see that this it did and I grew on mine so that it it went up just a little bit and that's for that increase of about 500,000 and our local revenue if you put the 2.5 million from capital projects in our sales tax is 9.4 4 million. And if you look at our interest, we're still getting a little over $200,000 a month in interest from our money
022market account. So we're at 1.2 million in money market interest for the five months. Any questions? Any questions? Thank you. Item six, we have a consent agenda performance. Do I hear a motion? I'll offer. Miss Kilgore offers a motion. Do I hear a second? I make a second. Dr. April 2nd. Uh, I'm going to start the discussion. Item 6 C 1A is listed in um your packet as 158,294 and that number has been changed to $156,58751. Couple of the tables got changed and we just got those numbers. Any other discussion? Any other discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Item seven, discussion, approval of personnel actions. Do I hear a motion? Mr. Hillyard offers a motion. Do I hear a second? I'll offer. Miss Kilgore offers a second. Any discussion? uh as
023of like yesterday morning. Is that right? Well, we did take one contract off. Yeah. And then we also there's one change of FMLA leave to intermittent from regular FMLA leave, but that was the changes that were made that you didn't know about. Okay. Does this reflect that change? It does. Yes, sir. Any other discussion hearing? None. All those in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Item eight, discussion, approval. 2526 12 month employee calendar. Do I hear a motion? Oh, I can't tell if you made a motion or not. I just hear a train. I'll offer the motion. Do I hear a second? I'll second. Mqua seconds. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Passes unanimously. Uh item nine, CTE, Health Science, Human Services, and Arts, AV, Technology, and Communication Textbook Committees. Do I hear a motion?
024I'll offer. Miss Kilgore offers a motion. Do I hear a second? Second. Dr. Maple seconds. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor. Passes unanimously. Item 10, discussion approval. 2526, Limestone County School Student Handbook. Do I hear a motion? I'll offer. We offer a motion. Do I hear a second? I'll second. Miss Kilgore seconds. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Passes unanimously. Item 11, adjournment. Do I hear a motion? I'll offer. Offers the motion. I'll second. Hearing no discussion. All those in favor? Thank you. Meeting adjourned.