001e e e it's only 7:00 that we uh exactly when we started we thought about delaying 5 minutes because probably some people aren't ready for us to start on time but we're able to start on time um and so we will start as we always do with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice sorry uh thank you uh for the record the board went into executive session at 5:30 on motion of Dr Graham second by m wall to discuss certain personnel and legal issues uh and this is now our regular meeting um we have before us the agenda I understand that item 10f change orders there are no change
002orders for approval tonight Dr Burrows are there any other adjustments we need to make to the agenda that is all the adjustments thank you okay so then with that next on the list we have special recognitions Muse Award winners good evening everyone I'm Laura Sebastiano the proud Visual and Performing Arts coordinator for the district on September 10th art music dance and theater teachers from Delaware schools gathered at the annual state Arts professional development conference at this conference the recipients of the Delaware Muse awards were announced and among them were two of our District's art teachers Briana schetzler art teacher at Odessa High School was recognized with the secondary level Muse award and shanana Weiss art teacher at Silver Lake Elementary received the overall Delaware Muse award also known as the Delaware Art team teacher of
003the year award Muse is an acronym for a masterful unique strong educator in the visual arts I've spent time working with both of these teachers and I've seen them in action in their classrooms they both exemplify the attributes of masterful unique strong Educators and I'm delighted that the Delaware Arts Education Association took notice of their efforts please join me in congratulating Mrs schetzler and Mrs Weiss on their achievement [Applause] ready [Applause] all right next on the agenda we have a special acknowledgement Dr burs you want to do the honors so is we have a special celebration tonight you might have noticed that when Mr forson said we have a new doctor in the house we have Dr tasa Graham like to congratulate come on up TOA [Applause] and not let you get off that easily
004got picture Tak um we do have we're going to take five minutes and take a break for a Labratory cake that we have out here in the lobby so we'll take a quick five minute break please grab a piece of cake and come back in um we'll start back up at [Music] e e e all right welcome back to our board meeting after a brief recess to enjoy some good cake uh next on the agenda we have public comment we do have one person who has signed up for public comment um Miss Rebecca rothweiler um you'll have three minutes there's on the clock it'll be on the screen behind us and of course appropriate public decorum we will listen and not respond but someone from the board will get back to you in due course
005the floor is yours thank you our daughter Karen is an eighth grader at Alfred GW Ken is an incredible young woman who lives with her heart forward and a strength to face the day with positivity she is my greatest teacher Karen has an IEP to support her as an autistic student with a learning disability in math thus far she has succeeded in inclusive classes upon her diagnosis I have dedicated myself to understanding her special education rights policies and advocacy Avenues her success is due to her hard work caring caring and talented School professionals and a solution-based mother for several years I have served on the parent information center board and the Appo parent Council I've worked for autism Delaware and as a special education par within Appo today I stand not only as a parent
006but as a community special education Advocate my concerns along with other Appo special education parents including my friend Nikki ellot Elliott are for our inclusion students and the advanced curriculum they are automatically being placed in with no other options how are students who are struggling to demonstrate Mastery in common core grade level curriculum expected to master accelerated curriculums also I and other parents are troubled by the way the a b and c special education settings are applied in preschool through Middle School small group pullout in resource room access is elusive I do not feel that the continuum of alternative placements afforded to students by idea are being met lack of appropriate options for curriculum and settings signals fape violations for students with learning challenges regarding curriculum the Appo school board approved eighth grade inclusion students
007to be placed in Algebra 1 this year Algebra 1 is a high school math course this placement is more rigorous than what is dictated by Common Core and is not grade level general education was there data to support that these students could access and master the curriculum were special education students and teachers even considered ninth grade inclusion students are automatically placed in AP Human Geography this placement is more rigorous than what is dictated by Common Core and is not grade level general education some IEP students may be able to succeed in these courses with the proper supports and accommodations many will not parents and students need to have options that are appropriate for the individuals student currently my child with a math learning disability is struggling through an advanced math course I have faith in
008her teachers and have sympathy for the task they are put to even with intervention math is a source of stress and is so challenging she feels lost our students self-esteem and anxiety are on the brink let alone their comprehension and retention to prepare them for Algebra 2 in 11th grade to remain on the diploma track students should have access to curriculum that is appropriately challenging I do not want my child in a class where the curriculum and outputs must be so significantly modified that my child feels othered the culture in Appo is currently focused on AP Excellence this lacks honor and recognition for the diversity of Learners and post-graduation aspirations within our district in is at the emotional cost of many of our most vulnerable students we will continue to communicate our concerns with special
009education Administration and curriculum decision makers such as yourselves in the district we are asking for appropriate curriculum choices for inclusion students and a full Continuum of alternative placement options for individuals thank you all right thank you good evening so just a few updates um this month is National principal's month uh so please make sure that you um thank your principal it's also National Physical Therapy month October 2nd was National custodian day October 6 National coach day and October 16th is Boss's Day we have currently filled 412 positions um compared to last year 775 uh this is a school year that we're looking at so four and 12 positions at this point remember that some of those are transfers between positions that are already within the district um I'm not going to get into unit count
010because we have a special presentation on that but I do want to make the community and everyone aware of a few events that we have coming up this Saturday October 12th is our community Wellness Fair it's our third Wellness Fair um third time we've had the community Wellness Fair it's at abic high school sat Saturday October 12th from 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. for an afternoon of information fun and games for students family of all ages um we're coming together to celebrate the wellness and connection to our community activities are free to everyone um event host it's being hosted by our restorative Community Schools in collaboration with the Midtown Police Department our inaugural inaugural state of the district will take place on Monday October 14th following our April 23rd referendum our district was committed to
011connecting with our community to share regular updates about ongoing initiatives our financial Outlook and upcoming projects we'll hope that everyone will join us on Monday October 14th at Alfred G Waters Middle School we'll start at 6:30 this meeting will also be live streamed on our district YouTube channel our annual ASD college fair will take place Thursday October 17th um join us at 6: pm at appic high school students and families in grades 8 to 12 are invited to attend there'll be more than 700 colleges there colleges and universities in attendance along with the Department of Labor trade schools military recruiters and more the last thing I have is high school preview nights take place in November abic High School preview night will be Wednesday November 6th at 6: p.m. Odessa is November Thursday November 7th
012at 6 p.m. and our final one is Middletown High Wednesday November 13th at 6 p.m. we also last week um hosted our HBCU college fair it was very well attended and many um participants received scholarships on on spot thank you does anybody have any questions for Dr burrow hearing none we move on to the unit count report Dr small good evening everyone good evening members of the board the September TW September 30th 2024 unit count presentation next slide Steve um so the process or the um the way that the unit count process works or what is it essentially the unic account process is the state of Delaware's way of allocating Division One units which are essentially teacher units to each of its school districts and the standard uh algorithm is standard units plus special education
013units plus vocational education units equals Division One units next slide so as of 930 2024 using that algorithm um the abaquin school district earned 135.8 units and in comparison to last year's 17.44% of um the work that has been done over the course of the the unic account process from year to year and next slide and it's um just a thank you to the members of the unic account team at the district level you can see the names that are there um at the school levels our school secretaries and our unic account teams that um perform the accounting so that we can make sure that we have the appropriate number of units and then a uh special shout out to our data Department our social workers administrators student services department special education department teachers par
014professionals and obviously anyone that I may have missed next slide questions thank you thank you very much all right thank you next on the agenda we have the athletic event security update Dr con evening everybody name is I'm Ander district and I am here tonight with Terry Taylor uh senior coordinator in student services and we are here as requested to update you on athletic event security and security at our after school activities so we want to start by just reminding everybody that here in appoquin mic School District the Safety and Security at all of our after school events and our athletic events are top priorities they are not an afterthought they get the same attention to detail um that we give every day as students enter our buildings and um go home safely we we
015have that same attention to detail at all of our after school and athletic events all right thank you so all specifically for athletic events um we have a team of people who work at different levels to make sure all of our events are safe so we have our um High School athletic directors our building administrators work together at the building level at the district level it's um Dr connley as the Director of safety security and operations Jeff hail as lead conable and myself we meet to talk about um to review plans talk strategy um decide what things need to be implemented and that Cycles down to our High School athletic directors and building administrators and then we obviously work with our constables and district and our local law enforcement when it comes to game time
016and our game staff next slide thank you so um part of our training is constant ongoing planning uh this summer we specifically attended a FEMA Workshop called 412 Sport and venue evacuation and protective actions so that was all of our athletic directors our district team and our district and our building administrators um we also our athletic directors and myself have taken our niaa LTI event management and emergency response courses and we have ongoing meetings monthly with the athletic directors and monthly with the district safety team like I like to call athletic safety team so we're um constantly evalu evaluating and reviewing our processes so every time we have an athletic event this is kind of all the things we take into account this is not in a specific order but this is everything that we
017do address um like specifically in planning and preparation we have a walkthrough of every venue that our events are HED at to make sure our uh venues are safe uh that we have all the necessary materials there that there's not any safety hazards that we have exits marked appropriately we also look at who our competition is what there so historical rivalries sportsmanship issues um we follow social media to make there's not any hostility or anything going on out there um we meet with everybody pregame to go over their roles and responsibilities from the person who's doing the game announcing to the people who are working our evolv system to the people who are stationed in the corners um everybody knows what their job is pregame during the game and postgame um we review our admissions
018and ticketing guidelines regularly every year they're communicated to our public via our athletic websites via our ticket agencies and on our district websites they include things like our bag policies um mask regulations entry no reentry our ticketing is all done online you must purchase your tickets in advance you must put your name on there ticket sales close at 12:00 the day of a football game so we can monitor ticketing um we have a communication plan that goes out to our opposing fans so that they know and teams so they know exactly where to park how to enter what our pregame and postgame strategies will look like we communicate to their fan base also what our expectations are about entering the stadium and behavior and then throughout the entire event um our staff is trained to
019focus on crowd control monitor the crowd focus on the intensity of the group to make sure we're not missing anything um very rarely do anybody who's working a game which could be 25 to 30 people watch the game at all we miss a lot of the action we hear that canning go off at Appo and Scar us um but we don't really get to watch the game because we're watching the crowd um keeping people moving and stuff like that so those are things that we do for every event so while the game is going on as um Mrs Taylor said we don't necessarily get to watch the game but we are monitoring the game making sure that it's a safe environment but also a welcoming environment we want our community out um at our games
020we want our families there we want young kids there and so we want to make sure that inside our stadiums are safe secure um but also a welcoming environment we also Monitor and adjust plans regularly for our parking lots both both pregame and postgame um we have installed additional Lighting on the outsides of our buildings to make sure our parking lots are illuminated and we have begun bringing in some temporary lighting that we need specifically um postgame um during the football season and we evaluate the parking lots during um the winter sports as well to make sure that when we have large crowds exiting to their cars that we have uh appropriate Lighting in the parking lots we also are working with um local law enforcement to make sure we're bringing in additional resources now
021into our parking lots during the game and post game um as we see that large influx of people out to their cars and we've updated our postgame procedures specifically with our building administrators who know our students best um know who should be in the that area um postgame and can help make adjustments to the to our process if necessary um so just like we um have layered approach to technology during the school day that same um technology applies to the Safety and Security at our um after school events if you've visited um one of our athletic events one of our larger events you've gone through our evolve system which is a weapons detection system as you enter the Fieldhouse um our um guests as they're attending the games it's they're not inconvenienced or slowed down
022through that process they can enter um and walk through the Evolve uh system and specifically um man by our District's constables and it's a weapon detection system to ensure that the inside of our um events are safe and then we have our zero eyes um weapons detection system on our camera feeds um it's specifically on the feeds on the exteriors of the buildings making sure that the areas around our larger sporting events um have that additional layer of coverage um this fall we are installing or we have completed the process process of installing at least one critical camera feed on all of our campuses has this technology as well and then over the next 3 years we'll be building that out to add additional feeds uh to our camera systems throughout the district it's um
023uh the zero eyes weapon detection system communicates directly with um the zeroi Operation Center to detect um any visible weapons and then Works directly to dispatch local law enforcement so again just layering that technology um that we have any to make sure that anyone attending any of our events is safe are there any specific questions we can answer about our athletic events and safety at those events you very much next on the agenda we have House Bill 198 update Dr gero all right well I'm going to blame that on a snafu here my sheet says that you're supposed to speak so Dr gero just introduce them everyone should be ready all right um my name is marot tiberi I'm the secondary Social Studies coordinator this is Miss am Lighty she is the elementary social studies
024coordinator and this is Miss Charice Alon and she is our Dei coordinator and we're here today to present on House Bill 198 so um thank you so uh the the house bill 198 was signed uh into law in 2021 and it states that each School District shall provide instruction on black history as part of all educational programming and and I want to point out that that means even though it is a history law uh it's not just a social studies law and so the idea is that all departments and disciplines take part in in this practice Stephen thank you and so uh when this was first signed in um the idea was that we were going to audit uh take inventory and audit our curriculum um in the district in 2021 and 22 the first
025year that the report was due was 2022 23 and that was the year that we um created a HB 198 workg group for the first time we included staff and Community to to collaborate R uh that led us to 2023 24 and that was the second year the report uh that we created and submitted a report to Department of Education um and what we saw was a growth in um the way we approached the work group um we identified five areas of need and so the work group became five work groups and uh you can see here curricul and professional development student leadership family and Community engagement higher education connections um as we approach this year we're taking a look at those at how we're going to going to uh approach the group and um
026what we found out was that the water has been a little bit muddied um because of those five work groups this is a curriculum law and so any professional development that's done around this curriculum around this law is is supposed to be for the curriculum that's laid out in the law um and so the work five work groups that you see there are both House Bill 198 work group and um diversity equity and inclusion work groups and so part of this is just to clarify what house bill 198 is in the sense that it's a curriculum law Steve the department of education's role in this is to organize and collect reports um we are to write the report submit the report each district and charter school is we submit that to um with Department of
027Ed who then writes a report to the governor members of the general assembly ET Etc um and our level of compliance for this law is to write that report um doe if they see problems with the report can step in and support the districts that they they feel need that support Steve um and so as we're writing the report these are the eight curricular components that we try to uh match our curriculum to create curriculum adopt curriculum for adopt resources we always want to use House Bill 198 as a lens moving forward to do all of those things and so you can see here this was our first report written in 2022 23 this is a snapshot of it in the report itself and the report is public um it's on Department of bed's website
028this is a a just a table that shows that where we made connections if you look into the report you'll find what those connections are um but this was year one and Steve if you can click forward and if you keep your eyes on the table Steve can you click back not that far oh you went forward yep okay just a couple times can you go back and forth there you go and right there okay so you can see um by moving those back and forth that we have found areas um where we were able to grow by adopting resources and and writing lessons and adopting lessons and that's the areas that we found we could grow in thank you um part of that growth included adding lessons that not only incorporate HB 1998 um
029the requirements of the bill but also um addressing our content standards and also part of the process is also evaluating so we looked at the previous report and um kind of looked at the resources and lessons that were identified and while we were able to show growth as you can see by Steve um flipping back and forth we were also able to identify lessons and resources that we felt weren't really hitting the requirements of HB 1998 and there therefore were removed from the report so it's a constant ongoing process where we're constantly re-evaluating the resources and lessons that we use um age appropriateness of the uh requirements of the bill is important to keep in mind um when you see those unchecked boxes and that all requirements do not have to be in every grade
030for every requirement of the bill so as stated in this amendment the development of the curricula is up to the school districts and it requires that black history curricula be age appropriate and that not every instance of instruction must include every item listed in those paragraphs uh these are some examples of um specific growth that we showed from um year one to year two again this is just in social studies but Mario did mention that it is brought across all content areas uh we have updated lessons and resources in grades one and two updated lessons resources and assessments in grades 3 through 8 um an AP African-American history course that was added in high school and then of course we have goals for this year where we want to identify lessons and resources for kindergarten
031that address hb18 and then also lessons resources and assessments for 11th grade US History um an additional curricular expectation of the bill is to provide inservice training to teachers on the minimum content requirements the a through H that um Mario just went over in the chart and that has happened since the Inception of the bill um it happened for all staff and then additional inservice training happened at the secondary level for social studies and ELA teachers good evening everyone the Apple quinic school district is committed to integrating black history education across all subjects to Foster compassion empathy and critical thinking amongst all students this evolving curriculum emphasizes the contributions of black individuals and promotes social justice while fostering a sense of belonging we currently have one unified workg Group which is comprised of five interest
032groups curriculum instruction and assessment Partnerships with parents and Community School District collaboration with higher education institutions professional development and Partnerships with student leadership I would like to thank Dr tsha gram because she is part of the part parnerships with student leadership also I would like to thank the board of education for allowing us this opportunity to maximize the number of participants within this unified workg group we have sent out eight Communications in an effort to maximize the number of participants and with over 10,000 families represented within our school district we currently have 74 participants mostly um comprised of our Educators within the district so we would like to utilize this opportunity to increase our community engagement a communication will be sent out in the next principal newsletter across all levels originally we had 26 within
033the student leadership workg group and we have 30 in the Partnerships with community members so please check your email inbox um another communication will be sent out as we continue to advance these efforts your Community engagement is not limited to just Apple quinic School District I do implore all those who want to advance these efforts to please become involved with the community input meetings that are sponsored by the Department of Education since 2022 the Department of Education partnered with the let the truth be told organization to hold meetings aimed to encourage Community involvement particularly geared to parents and Guardians these discussions provide provide an opportunity for individuals to engage with House Bill 198 leaders throughout the state um in which you can air your questions and make recommendations concerning House Bill 198 curriculum regarding your
034local District speaking of which the Department of Education has partnered with the African studies department at the University of Delaware I have created a QR code please please please please participate this virtual event is on October 23rd if you want to advance these efforts and you want to increase your involvement with our community engagement this is another wonderful opportunity for you to learn about House Bill 198 right all the way not only do we believe in diversifying our curriculum to be inclusive we also understand and value um having a culturally responsive and relevant programming um while we are only on the 25th day student Day within the academic school year I would like to highlight some of the activities that we have either hosted or participated in the same vein of black history education on
035September 6 we did participate in the freedom fun Gala which was hosted by the NAACP and theot branch in which proceeds benefited so social justice and education initiatives also on September 12th we partnered with Ashley Christopher Esquire the founder of HBCU week in which we were able to provide our seniors with HBCU resource Summit in addition on September 26 there was a panel discussion I would like to thank um Nichelle dit for attending that as well one of our board members on September 26 also we had step Africa they performed a step presentation at Odessa High School on September 27th participating seniors attended the HBCU we college fair in Wilmington and in the effort to close the academic and opportunity Gap we also host our own um HBCU fear which is open to theot community
036which was a very successful event with over 500 participants we did have about 40 39 students received on the spot admissions to Delaware State University out of that 39 we had 33 received the inspir scholarship and we also had 11 students qualified for the presidential scholarship which is a full ride on October 2nd um that was our own fair and on October 10th of this week we have uh HBCU resource Summit that is our second Summit that is providing provided for our seniors we also have on October 11th for our PD integrating and teaching black history using the University of Delaware lib search resources um to provide professional learning for our Educators on October 23rd again please sign up the QR code is available um for this virtual event for Community engagement House Bill 198
037right all the way and of course not only do we want a divers ify our um curriculum and our programm and we also care about diversifying our staff so that our students can see themselves reflected not only in what they learn but their instructional leaders as well so we are participating in the blackmail educator convening conference to strengthen the pipeline and diversify our staff questions all right well hearing thank you very much I'm sorry a question yeah um I don't have a question I just wanted to make a comment um I appreciate the acknowledgement of the scholarships that were given out last week and the inspired scholarship if I'm not mistaken uh covers full tuition at Dell State yeah so then we also had you said the presidential scholarship which covers everything R&B ruin board
038and everything so I just I I appreciate the acknowledgement um of that and also just the highlight of the events that um that you that you displayed and I think a key component of that is the community collaboration I know Matt and I had a discussion about this last week and so really trying to Rally the community through different organizations that we're involved in to support this initiative because we recognized that it's a all Hands-On deck you know approach in terms of success and so I thank you guys for coming back um I think the impetus to this was some of the board comments that uh we got last month and we recognize that work is being done but this is the type of communication that we need so the community knows that we're actually
039working on it as well so I appreciate the update very much thank you you keep that okay Louis ready yes Ste as you can see here across the whole building the roof is on we've got rubber all the way across the whole side we're going to start the copings in this area there was a little bit of a delay at this point due to the the storms down in North Carolina but when we get them we're going to start pushing this way with the the copings along the edge in the top all the units are now set the screens are coming up and around so you won't be able to see the units from the from from from the ground we're moving our way this way just cleaning everything up across the front n sorry
040you go back one second across the front there the buttoning up here they're coming around the front the brick is coming this whole way we're going to start setting the windows in these areas here once the brick is done then we'll pull this mixing station out and clean up that front good Steve this front here now is the big tall twostory columns you can see coming up they're brick most of the way now which you'll see in one of the future photos but all all the brick and masoner is moving real well and the windows will start closing up here as we can come in case work will come the finishes will start you like this right go ahead across the back same thing bricks coming across the back the or the front this is
041wrapped up where this is the same over the back go to the back Steve one more there we go there we go coming across the back they're wrapping up here the brick is coming up this side now that'll wrap these windows up this is under protection now so we're getting weather tight coming across the whole back so we're going to complete this side the work will start to slow down on the back we start cleaning up ni Steve this is your front this is kind of your columns here that are come up in the front The twostory Columns they're completing at the top we're moving across but that's kind of the look of the the original building just a little more Grand okay steeve this is just a side of the uh gymnasium here but
042this is also the wall that's coming across the front that goes down the whole front of the project kind of channels the students in to keep them out running in between cars and whatnot let's see starting to put casew workk in in the area back in the sewing ceilings are going in finishes next to be the flooring to come down they're starting to set the light fixtures and all the devices good Ste this is the tile going on the finishers are coming the ceiling will be here next as they start to come down and close this whole area up so the finishes are stumming we'll start from see the auditorium area and move across the building all the way to the gymnasium good Steve this is a classroom in area a as you see we
043got the devices ceilings paint case work will be next and we'll get some of the other finishes coming in with the flooring and things of that nature that's the Psychedelic Effect bring you make sure you're awake yeah we are on budget bar another on budget handle on time any question any questions for Mr Hopkins hearing none thank you next on the agenda we have board comments we will start to my far left Mr Abrams um the only thing I have this evening is I just want to thank all the parents who are working behind the scenes along committees to help out the district thank you okay thank you next up m d I'll go last I go last I'm president I'll Goot before you okay next up we have Dr Graham he's going to say
044it all all the time I'll get used to it you should embrace it uh so good evening everyone I just wanted to acknowledge uh we were here last week um and we heard from school leadership about you know all of their uh bright spots and things that are going well and they candidly shared you know areas of opportunity with us which I think is important because it gives us all um expectations and allows for us to better understand what they're striving to accomplish so I just wanted to again acknowledge them I think in contrast to the bright spots in the areas of opportunities I think what was highlighted is also just simply said there's more to do right there's always something else that can be done um and I think what really Rose to the
045top for me um last week and even some of what we heard thus far today um opportunities for us around safety um education diversity and a high level of equity so I just encourage us all the board included um you know District leadership everyone to continue to strive to meet those goals they were somewhat explicitly stated last week um and I am looking forward to hearing the closure and updates on many of those initiatives um I think for any of you that were that participated uh we had quite a few comments along the way and we were taking um copious notes so certainly looking for updates and closure around that so I just wanted to highlight that and then lastly I just wanted to also recognize the importance of board comments I think you know
046from Community feedback we hear oh we don't want to like comment you guys don't ever say anything and it's designed that way um but just know that we actively work on what you're saying to us and what you bring to our attention and a lot of times if you have given board comment you may notice that someone in the audience will follow up with you as soon as you sit down you know in just terms of providing you with a point of contact and an opportunity to follow up so I encourage the community to continue to bring board comments I think um two of the reports that we heard tonight was as a result of just last month's board comments around hp1 98 in school safety and now here we are a month later and
047the team is coming back to you with a report and not to say that whomever spoke they got a you know kind of in the moment feedback but it allowed for the board to come back and have a discussion and the team to come forward so I think the team for coming up and providing those presentations and I just encourage the community to continue to provide those board comments and although we don't respond we are listening and we do make an effort to follow up with each and every one of you so I thank you all and lastly I just want to also thank our school leadership um the work that they're doing day in and day out I think someone said we're on the 40th day of school did you say that yeah 25th
048stent student day seems like 50 or something but uh I just want to acknowledge that work that goes into it you know there lots of good things are happening but also you know we have some opportunities to do better so I thank you all and your commitment in doing so okay okay thank you uh Miss wall um I will keep my comments brief I apologize that I wasn't here for the board Workshop I was under the weather I am feeling much better though it doesn't sound like it um I am having bagels with a board member Thursday morning um it's something that I've had since I've been elected Um Manhattan Bagel at 8:30 if you got if you have an interest in a school related topic please come join me and as we normally say
049your bagels on your own dime because school wordss a volunteer role but the pleasure of my company is always free um it's been great to check out a lot of fall Sports um field hockey football hoping to get to some other things coming up um congratulations to all of three of the high school marching bands I've had the opportunity to see all of them perform several times this season and it's phenomenal I always tell people it's so impressive when a kid can play an instrument even more impressive when they can March and dance together in unison and even more impressive the pageantry they then put together with it um I myself cannot play an instruments so I'm in complete all what they can do but um all three teams are having all three bands are
050having amazing seasons and I encourage you to get out and see them um I think the next time they're all performing is in two weekends at Caesar Rodney so if you need information feel free to reach out to one of the um band instructors I'm sure they'll share it with you I think that it's all oh um we have been working as we've said publicly um about a superintendent evaluation we're still in the process of refining all of those details we plan to have it as a topic at the board Workshop next week an update that is all for me thank you very much thank you Miss DT so so I would like to follow up with uh Miss Austin's uh HP 198 report um I did attend the uh HBCU fair and some other
051events I would like to say you did a great job on um leading with this event knowing that you did not start with this event I know that Dr elely did a lot of work initially and with his um trends transfer to becoming um a principal at Odessa you you took it on and you ran with it with your team so great job um leading this effort and providing that information as an update um secondly as uh Dr Graham said as a board member we do um a lot of work behind the scenes and I would like to just um let you all know that as a board member myself and Dr barels we attended the combined board meeting uh last week and we got together with other board board members and superintendents um and
052just really highlighted some of the issues that we're all facing whether it's Behavior teacher shortages um special education needs um but we all chose five imperatives that we're going to lead with um and we're going to move forward so we are listening to your concerns it's a concern for us to as a concern across state as well as the country um and lastly um I also attended as a board member we all are part of committees so I'm on the legislative committee with Michelle wall and um we again meet with other board board members and super and a superintendent and at that meeting we also again discussed some of the challenges we're facing so again we are behind the scenes making sure that we are taking care of our teachers our staff our students our
053superintendent to our community to ensure that education or learning is happening and we address the issues that um causes education or cause causes the distractions in education so that's my update thank you for everything all right thank you um so I get just a quick couple comments congratulations again to Dr Graham um I want to follow up what she said and and what Nichelle said about public comment we do listen but you don't necessarily have to come to the board to make public comment my email address is out there my phone number is out there um and I'm more than happy to meet somebody at Manhattan Bagel or somewhere else to talk about things I've done that over the years um I've get calls at the office I'm happy to talk uh whatever is most
054convenient for folks and uh and I usually will share with board members if you know if I hear from the public so that we're all informed and all up to speed but don't think that you've got to come here at 7 o' on the second Tuesday of the month and that's your only opportunity to address us and we only give you three minutes um you can talk to any of us any any time and you'll see that my fellow board members are all shaking their heads if Steve would move the camera um so I there we go nod your heads everybody there we go we're bobbleheads um I also just want to mention two other things um I think I mentioned at the previous board meeting but we have the the district has put together
055a task force to look at cell phone usage during the day during the high school day in the classrooms um and it'll be coming back to the board at some point with some recommendations Miss dwit and I are on that committee if you have not read the book I commend a book called The anxious generation to you all um it will change the way you think about cell phones and smartphones um and what it what they have the potential to do in terms of harmful effects um and then the last thing I just want to talk about last week we did have a board Workshop um we had a presentation from all 21 of our schools um we had the School principles reviewing test scores things they were doing um things to improve it was
056all I thought very informative very well done and as Dr Graham said some of us were taking notes I don't know if mine were copious but but I did take some notes it's all available on YouTube as all of our board meetings are and um so if you didn't want to watch it or you weren't able to watch it you weren't here um you can certainly go back and watch it but I mean the Highlight is simply this so we had all 21 schools present and we started with our Early Education Centers and then the final three schools to present were our high schools and the Highlight for me was simply this in math scores of all the public high schools in the state of Delaware we had three of the top five uh high
057schools in math we had three of the top seven in English um which I think is is phenomenal and in fact quinic high school was the number one high school for both math and English scores of all the public high schools in the state of Delaware so three top five in math three of the top seven in English and to me that that tells me that all our schools are doing something right because you know you end up in high school right and then you end up graduating and going to college or going out in the real world but that's what it all builds to and when we have that kind of success at our high schools I mean I think we ought to congratulate ourselves as Dr Graham said there's still more work to
058be done we want to be the top three and in fact we want to be tied and we want to be getting even higher scores than we're already getting but I thought that I would make note of that for those of you who aren't at the workshop and those of you who are watching at home that um you we're we seem to be doing things well right now and I think that's a testament to our teachers uh to our staff to our students to our parents to every body um so again uh congratulations uh to everybody for that and we've got even more work to do so with that I'll wrap up board comments we have no old business we will move on to new business and before us we have our September 11 2024
059Board of Education meeting minutes for approval Mr foron I'd like to make a motion that we approve the September board meeting Education meeting minutes as presented second all right I think I heard Miss wall make the motion it was fairly faint but motion by m wall second by Ms dwit to approve the September 11 uh meeting minutes as presented any questions comments or discussion on the motion hearing n all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion carries next we have the monthly financial report for approval Mr Loftus so the financial advisory committee uh met on October 1st to review the end of August reports so the revenue and expenditure report for the end of August um the financial advisory committee recommended approval of that report president I'll make a motion to approve
060the monthly financial report as presented with the approval of financial advisory committee second motion by Mr Abrams second by Miss dwit to approve the monthly financial report for August as presented and as recommended by the financial advisory committee any questions comments or discussion on the motion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion carries next we have the internal accounts report for approval Mr Loftus Financial advisory committee also reviewed the August internal accounts report and recommended approval of that report Mr President I'll make a motion to approve the internal accounts report for August as present Financial advisory second motion by Mr Abrams second by Miss DT to improve to approve the internal accounts report for August as presented and as recommend amended by the financial advisory committee any questions comments
061or discussion on the motion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries next we have overnight field trips for approval Mr President I would like to make a motion to approve the overnight trips first one to h a HS to Disney trip 68 overnight MMS to Puerto Rico trip 10231 MHS to Disney World overnight trip 100081 H AHS to Indianapolis overnight trip 10249 is there a second second motion by Miss dwit second by Ms wall to approve the four trips which she listed uh any questions comments or discussion on the motion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries next we have construction contracts for approval Mr [Music] Hopkins yes we're here seeking approval for construction contracts for the uh services
062for construction manager architectural services and civil services for the Summit Campus middle and high school now with that these contracts are the standard contracts for om for a major Capital project they don't include our enhancements in title 14 they give us the ability to put enhancements to any contract that just can't diminish or contradict anything in the contract when some of the new forms came out our attorney and I sent things down to om to review it and kind of make sure things were okay with the enhancements we were going to do but they're still under review and they've been under review for about two and a half months so we've been working and working to get them through but at this point we have to get our people paid and you get this project
063moving we can't Del lay so what we're going to do is we're going to submit the standard form as they complete our review and then after the review we'll come back and ask for an amendment to be approved with our enhancements in the contracts and so which contracts are these again it's for construction manager architect and civil Eng and so I had trouble getting these things to print out um so who our civil engineers waiting Turner yes and then it's ababsa for the architect and then Landmark for and are they all agreeable to and do they know that once these enhancements are finally reviewed and approved by Doe that we're going to amend the contract and they're okay with that that's absolutely true it's it's ARS are here I see them nodding their head to
064hear other than Ted but but but yeah we we had a discussion prior to putting this through and it's it's just a matter of you know we have to keep moving and you know I've sent kind nudges and some not so kind nudges down there to try to get these guys moving but they're not send me whoever we should nudge and and I can also I'll make a phone call this week I'll cop you on the stream okay so the chair will entertain a motion to approve the Construction contract as presented subject to the Proviso that when doe blesses our proposed enhancements or adjustments um that the contracts will be amended to include those amendments I'll make a motion that we approve the construction contracts as Mr foron just explained second motion by m wall
065second by Mr Abrams to approve the construction contracts as presented subject to the Proviso that when Dee completes its review of our additions and edits to the contract the contracts will be so amended any questions comments or discussion on the motion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion carries thank you we have no change orders and that brings us to the Personnel report for approval Dr small good to see you a second time likewise and thank you um the Personnel report has been submitted for your approval for the October board meeting I'm requesting approval of that report Mr President I make a motion that we approve the Personnel report as presented and as recommended by Dr small second motion by Miss wall second by Dr Graham to approve the
066Personnel report for October as presented and as recommended by Dr small any questions comments or discussion on the motion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries thank you uh next we just on the agenda is establishment of meeting dates the financial advisory committee will meet at 6:00 on Monday November 4th in the finance conference room at the Tonio Mario Mario building just down the hill um we are going to have a board workshop on Tuesday October 22nd at 6 PM in this room uh to discuss the Strategic plan we may also discuss the evaluation uh tool to be used for our superintendent as Miss wall indicated during her board comments our next regular Board of Education meeting is Tuesday November 12th at 700 p.m. in this room
067uh with that we are adjourned thank you all