001Okay, good evening everybody. We're going to call the December meeting of the Brandy Wine School District Board of Education to order. We're in the auditorium at Brandy Wine High School. I'll lead us in the pledge of allegiance. 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 for all. >> Is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Scout, Mr. Nami. All in favor? >> I'd like to invite up Mrs. Reio to welcome us to Brandy Wine High School. >> Good evening members of the board of education, Superintendent Lawson, colleagues, families, and community members. I am Rebecca Regio, the principal of Brandy Wine High School, and I'm happy to welcome you
002back to our school, which we affectionately call the place to be. It is truly an honor to represent Brandy Wine High School. When I came to this district and school four years ago, I quickly learned how Brandy Wine is a school community rooted in pride, purpose, and possibility. And I am incredibly proud of what our students, staff, and families have accomplished together these years. Over the past several years, Brandy Wine High School has been recognized at both the state and national levels. For two consecutive years, Brandy Wine High School has been ranked among the top 10 high schools in Delaware by US News and World Report and recognized as one of the top comprehensive public high schools in the state. Also for two consecutive years, Brandy Wine High School engineering students earned national recognition by
003winning the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition, highlighting our students creativity, innovation, and commitment to real world problem solving. Additionally, we are proud to have had two state teachers of the year and two additional district teachers of the year, a testament to the extraordinary educators who serve our students every day. Just as importantly, our progress is reflected in meaningful outcomes for students. Over the past four years, we have steadily decreased our 9th grade retention rate, ensuring more students are successfully transitioning. We have expanded access and increased diversity in our honors NAP courses, strengthening equity and opportunity. Most significantly, students are telling us they feel it. a stronger sense of belonging, a more positive climate, and a school culture where students feel seen, supported, and valued. On a personal note, I am deeply thankful for the past
004four years at Brandy Wine High School. It is incredibly meaningful to be part of a school and a community that leads with pride, embraces diversity, and believes in every student's potential. After 30 years in public education in this state, I believe what you have here is rare and needs to be nurtured and fought for. Thank you for being here tonight and for your continued commitment to our students, our staff, and the Brandy Wine community. >> Thank you, Mrs. Reio. That's going to bring us to our student reporters. We're going to start with Mount Pleasant High School. Kamani Beetle and Steven Rice who I understand are joining us via Zoom. >> Hello. Am I Can you guys hear me? >> Yes, we can. >> Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. As Mount Pleasant would like to welcome
005you to another amazing month of school. My name is Kamani Beetle, Mount Pleasant student council president >> and I'm Steven Rice. I'm Mount Pleasant's council vice president. >> We are both so excited to be here with you today. Eve's month is small in comparison the into the others. Mount treats it just the same by putting in the same amount of work as the others. We started this month by adding a fun a new fun and educational activity called study buddies. Study buddies is an afterchool program created by our national honor society program. The program was created to help students who need more assistance with their work and also to bring a sense of community and helping each other in a fun educational way, aka the mount way. >> And with fall sports wrapping up and
006winter sports starting, we just want to say good luck to good luck to all our winter athletes. Our music program has also been booked and busy this month with our corral having a performance last week at the Governor's Mansion and this week before they performed at Rockwood. And tonight we have our winter concert. So, let's just say our music department is spreading the holiday cheer. >> Speaking of holiday cheer, our Black Student Union had its annual K Quanza celebration. The celebration was filled with fun, food, music, and we got to learn all about the principles of Quanza. And also, I would like to give a big thank you to Mount Counseling Team. Our counseling team has recently won the Sapphire Award. They have won this award because they helped so many kids in our building
007from fixing schedules to listen to our personal problems and giving helpful feedback. They truly are one of a kind. Our blue gold program have started Mount's first toys for tots. Toys for tots is an event that Blue Gold has started where people bring in toys for the less fortunate. In return, you get a nice candy salad, which I think is a pretty good deal. You get to feel sweet and get something sweet. >> And to end off our week, Mount has their first ever TW the week before break. This includes festive activities such as Winter Wonderland, Flannel Day, Holidays in Harmony, New Year's Eve, and last but not least, a long winter's nap. This is a great way to end off our week before heading into winter break. That's the end of our report. We
008wish you all a wonderful and warm night. And as always, we are now. >> Any questions from the board? >> And I I spoke to the uh the students in the audience today. I wasn't going to quiz them either, but I kei and Stephen, I was curious um what what year are you guys seniors or juniors? We're seniors. >> All right. What have you guys started planning for post high school? >> Yes, I've um been accepted to college already and I will be heading there soon. Well, next year. >> Which? So, which college? >> I'll be heading to York College to pursue uh a major in theater. >> Wonderful. >> And I am applying to multiple colleges at the moment for uh music education. >> That's fantastic, too. That's that's really great. Thank you both.
009Um I I did note and I wanted to say one thing because I think we only have one other board meeting before the Mount Pleasant High School One Act Festival takes place uh January 16th and 17th. Are either one of you guys doing that? >> Uh we're actually both in it. I'm a lead in one of mine and I'm pretty sure Stephen is too. So we're really excited for that. And our spring musical um list just dropped today also. So >> see Mama Mia. >> All right. Sounds good. Thank you guys. Mhm. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you, Kamani and Stephen. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. That brings us to Brandy Wine High School. I see I think only Logan Scott, Brandy Wine High School student council president, and I am
010excited to welcome you all here today. Many amazing things have been going on at Brandy Wine lately. We held our winter vocal and instrumental concerts where students in choir, band, and orchestra classes were able to show their musical talents and hard work from the past few months. In addition, we had eight of our choir students make all state choirs with senior Cole Barniaak ranking first base two in the state for the second year in a row. Additionally, our marching band participated in the Newcastle County Marching Band Festival and there they received an outstanding rating for their show. In our college and career center, we held a Delaware State University direct admissions day where many students applied and received acceptances to the school. Our cross country team ran at the reindeer run where they were able
011to raise an amazing $95 for the Special Olympics. In addition, our class of 2027 recently held a very successful Chick-fil-A fundraiser to raise funds for prom. This week at Brandy Wine before break, we have many fun things going on. Our holiday spirit week is happening where students are able to dress up as holiday characters, wear pajamas and ugly Christmas sweaters to school, and dress in many other fun themes. In addition, at the end of the week, we are hosting our bulldog den incentive. Students with perfect attendance throughout the month of December are able to play games, watch holiday movies, and celebrate the festive season. Looking ahead, our alumni fair is coming up where previous students are able to come back and discuss the path they took with current students. In January, our incredible dance students
012will be hosting their winter dance show. We will also be hosting our honor society induction ceremony next month. That is all for this month. Thank you everyone. Go Bulldogs. Any questions from the board? >> Logan, uh, what year are you at in high school? >> I'm a junior. >> So, have you started thinking about post high school? >> Yes, I'm planning on going to college and majoring in biology or chemistry. >> Okay. When when do um applications when are they due for college? >> Not until next year, obviously. Probably. Okay. Very good. >> All right. Thank you. >> Probably next November or so. >> Sounds good. Thanks. Thank you, Logan. That brings us to conquered. I I see three. I think I only have two names though. Michaela Michaelelsson and Molly Andrew. You're just observing.
013>> Good evening everyone. I am President Michaela Michaelelsson and I am Vice President Molly Andrews of Student Council here at Conquered High School and we are so excited to bring you up to speed on the amazing things that have happened at Conquered High School over the last month. As always, Conquered High School has been up to nothing but fabulous things. Last month, we highlighted Conquer's up andcoming production of Romeo and Juliet, and let's just say it was a tremendous success. We are incredibly proud of our student actors and actresses. As we look forward to our spring production of Be More Chill with countless hours of dedication that our students pour into every single show, we know it'll be outstanding. Our theater department isn't the only group staying busy. Our National Honor Society has also been
014working diligently. A few weeks ago, NHS filled stockings for soldiers, stuffing them with goodies and Raider pride to send to soldiers overseas this holiday season. They are also spreading cheer to children at AI Children's Hospital by organizing a holiday toy drive to bring holly jolly joy to young patients. Keeping up with the holiday spirit, Conquered hosted its annual Santa breakfast presented by Conquered High School's football team along with a vendor fair in the gymnasium. We're thrilled to share that both events were a tremendous success. And of course, no board meeting update is complete without sports news. Our sport winter sports are in full swing and we couldn't be prouder. Boys basketball has started off 3-1 while our girls basketball is 3-0, including a major victory over rival Mount Pleasant 49-5. Our girls and boys swim
015team is also undefeated at 3-0. And although our boys wrestling team is 0 and one, it was a tight loss and we know that they'll do better for the rest of the season. We are so proud of the entire Raider community. On top of all the exciting sports news, our Interact club successfully collected Do you mind changing the slide? Sorry. Thank you. successfully collected 709 pounds of food for the Claymont food pantry. In other food related wins, Conquered dominated the BSC Mountain Conquered Chick-fil-A fundraising competition, bringing in a whopping $77,000 in sales, earning a substantial con contribution towards the class of 2026 prom, as well as an epic chicken nugget competition trophy. In the world of music, our talented band performed with BSC's Mass Band at the Claymont Christmas Parade, and our band and orchestra
016delivered a wonderful winter instrumental concert. In the world of academics, our engineering students received an awesome new send grant from the Toshiba American Foundation to support their incredible partnership with Forward Elementary, building physical education devices for children with disabilities. Next week, as we head into our winter break, we'll wrap things up with two fun spirit days. A pajama day on Thursday and a festive ugly sweater day on Friday. That concludes Conquered High School's December board report. There any questions for the board? >> Thank you. I have a couple. Um, how much was raised with the Chick-fil-A fundraiser? >> She misspoke a little. Okay. >> No, we we did. We raised 77 >> 7,700 in sales. >> I I thought that was a lot of money. a lot of chicken. >> We I was going to
017say we'd have one heck of a problem. >> Yeah. Um I I appreciate you guys including the sports updates, but um same questions to the two of you. Uh what grade are you in and have you started thinking about what you're going to do after high school? >> Um so I am in I'm a senior this year and I have applied to a bunch of schools. I've heard back from three so far and I'm applied I applied for nursing. >> Oh, wonderful. and I'm a senior as well and I applied to many schools. My top choices right now are Clemson and I'm waiting to hear back from UG and I plan to major in psychology on the premed track. >> All right. And you guys will keep us updated as those letters come in. Great.
018All right. Thanks. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. So before you go, I have a question, too. >> It's not just Mr. Jordan. Um, I did want to thank Conquer High School for doing a fundraiser in Claymont. Uh, there was a fundraiser at Wild Witch, the Smashburger Place on Philadelphia Pike, and I did buy food that night. I don't know how much you raised from that, but I hope it went to a good cause. >> Yeah, that was for um football team, I think. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> That brings us to District News and updates with Dr. Lawson. Good evening and welcome winter to board president Heler, Vice President Scrobot, members of the board and our audience and community. One year ago this month, we began to focus within the superintendence
019report on student outcomes data. We are doubling down on that commitment this year, but attempting to dig a bit deeper into the various topic areas that we have presented to you previously. As the board is aware, you've seen this slide before. Last year was the first year our Brandy Wine attendance initiative focusing on improving elementary attendance launched. Across our nine elementary schools, we increased ontrack attendance by 3 percentage points overall and had exceptional gains of five or more percentage points at three elementary schools, Lancashire, Lombardi, and Maple Lane. We believe one of the key drivers in the improvement at Lombardi and Maple Lane was the hiring of a shared social worker who has a laser focus on attendance and work directly with families to increase access to instructional time in school. Let's dig a little
020deeper into why and how we came to use ontrack attendance data rather than average daily attendance which has been used at the state and in other districts for years and is still being used in other districts throughout Delaware. Average daily attendance describes the percentage of students present in the building on any one day. While ontrack attendance captures what portion of students are present for at least 90% of the school year because we are more interested in students than in buildings. Ontrack attendance is a much better risk indicator. Further, it is more powerful and useful metric than the average daily attendance. As you can see from the data here, even at the peak of COVID, average daily attendance never fell below 91%. While ontrack attendance fell to an all-time low of 74% in BSD. If we
021continued using only average daily attendance data, it would have obscured the real attendance impact of the pandemic. Did you know that attendance is part of the state's accountab account accountability report card that's called the Delaware student success framework or DSSF? It contributes 10% to a school and district's overall score. The good news is that in school year 25, we recovered to our school year 18 ontrack attendance level with 86% of our students earning ontrack status. That bears repeating. We've just this year recovered and reached on-track attendance percentages to what was in existence in school year 18 without the initiatives and supports we are providing now. As we work to improve Brandy Wine's on-track attendance rates in partnership with families and the larger community, our goal is to reduce the number of students at academic risk
022due to missed instructional time, which is just one variable in the story of academic achievement and outcome shifts we've witnessed throughout the years. There will be more to come in 2026 related to other variables that have affected our overall scores reported by the state. So now in year two of our attendance initiative, we are expanding the work to our secondary schools with a focus on middle schools this year. This year's data is baseline and we launched our initiative similarly to elementary schools. From the data, we can see clearly that on-track attendance falls sharply in high school. As has been stated before, but also bears repeating, research highly correlates ontrack attendance to high school graduation. So, now introducing our new homegrown MTSS attendance tool. A key part of our initiative this year is empowering our school
023leadership teams to access attendance data on demand through a multi-tered systems of support lens. This allows them to identify students whose attendance patterns indicate potential academic risk. It also supports our social workers and family advocates in their work. Despite ontrack attendance being a state accountability metric, before this year, school leaders and teams only had access to average daily attendance reports. At the end of October this year, all Brandy Wine MTSS tier 1 school leaders were trained to use a te a data template which was developed in our district by our very own Hope Moffett, supervisor of accountability and assessment. It mirrors the other MTSS triangle reports available to them in DSC. Not only does this report summarize current ontrack attendance at the school and grade level, but it also identifies which specific students need attendance
024interventions. By empowering our schools with data that they can easily analyze and act upon, we hope to propel our on-track attendance to even greater heights. The Delaware Department of Education recently recognized Forwood Elementary School for the noteworthy progress it has made over the past two years on the report card DSSF, the Delaware Student Success Framework previously mentioned in the last slides. The DSSF provides a holistic picture of student learning and well-being, looking beyond proficiency scores to include key indicators such as academic growth, attendance, college and career readiness, and progress toward English language profic proficiency. These measures offer a more complete understanding of how students are learning, growing, and thriving as whole children. Delaware Secretary of Education Cindy Martin congratulated Forwood Elementary Principal Diana Golden, noting that quote, "Student success is never just one number. It's
025steady, consistent progress across multiple measures, and that's exactly what Forwood Elementary has demonstrated." We are incredibly proud of Forwood Elementary School staff whose dedication, expertise, and belief in their students made this progress possible. Brandy Wine School District is celebrating an exceptional year for vocal music with 49 students earning placements in the 2025 all-state choirs. This marks one of the district's strongest showings in recent years and secures Brandy Wine as the second highest ranking district for total successful auditions. Our visual and performing arts continue to thrive in BSD. And finally, as we approach the end of 2025, I want to extend my warmest wishes to everyone in the Brandy Wine School District community. Thank you for your continued support, resilience, and commitment to our district. It is an honor to serve a community that works so
026hard to ensure every child is embraced, inspired, and challenged every day. So, on behalf of our district leadership team, we wish you a happy, healthy, and peaceful holiday season and bright new year. and I look forward to all that we will accomplish in 2026. But we couldn't leave the year 2025 without a sizzle by Nick. I chose BSD because there are so many amazing opportunities in this school district. There's the pathways that give students opportunities to explore career options. For me, I'm in the biomed pathway. I chose BSD because of the flexible pathways. It helped me further my career into nursing and get accepted into college. There's a lot of diversity here first. And there's a lot of opportunities for what you want. You want to be an engineer, we've got something for that. You
027want to be a nurse, a doctor, we've got something for that. Artist, like whatever you want to do in life, BSD is going to prepare you for that. I choose BSD because of the sports and how how much of an active community we are. I love how interconnected all the schools are and I have friends in each of the different high schools. >> I choose BSC because of the teachers and the staff and all the coaches cuz they all help me become a better person and better athlete. >> I choose BSC because I love the band program and the teachers and playing my instrument. >> I'm very involved in the school. I'm in student council. I'm in marching band. Student voice advisory. It really is just an amazing school district that has so many opportunities
028for everyone. I think >> when I was starting to move into Delaware, I saw that BSD had a great uh sense of community. I like the family aspect of it all. So, that's why I chose BSD. >> I chose BSD because I feel like the community is really great and all the students and teachers care about each other. I chose BSD because this is the only place where I feel at home. The teachers always go out of their way to help us. They will do anything to make sure that you succeed. >> I choose BSD because everyone truly accepts each other. So I think it's great. >> When I came in from India, I remember feeling nervous, but when I joined BSD, they greeted me with open arms. From there, I learned what it means
029to be a true friend, a true scholar, and a true student overall. >> I choose BSD because everybody chooses to be a leader in their own way. President Heler, this concludes my monthly report. >> Thank you, Dr. Lawson. Any questions or comments? >> Hello. Uh, yeah, quick question. In terms of the attendance, do we have any ability to look down to look deeper into it and see um maybe some of the reasons for people's absences? I'm thinking specifically um issues with housing, issues with illness, and if they're just if there are things if there are reasons why this is going on that may be out of the BSD control or that may be able to be addressed with like wraparound services that the BSD maybe don't doesn't have itself but knows people and entities that
030can can acquire them. So, >> thank you. I would say that that the hiring of the social worker was really intended to work with families. Um I agree with you that some things are outside of school control. Um which is why we do need parents and families to partner with us and the larger community. It is it does take a village sometimes. Um but I believe that the reason Lombardi and Maple Lane saw a decrease in chronic absenteeism and an increase in on-track attendance was this social workers efforts. So often it does take uh additional supports. >> Any other questions? >> That brings us to public comment. It appears that there's no inerson or online public comments. That brings us to board business starting with Mr. Acriman DSBA executive committee. Uh the executive board has
031not met since our last meeting. We'll meet again in January. >> Thank you. And uh Mr. Lavoy, DSBA legislative. >> That committee won't meet again till February. >> Mr. Scarbot, District Finance Committee. >> Uh District Finance Committee met this past Wednesday, December 10th. Uh we introduced our two new community members who were approved at last month's regular board meeting here. Uh we reviewed the final uh budget approval uh in January or we looked at the upcoming budget approval that will come forward in January. Uh we discussed the November monthly financial report that Mr. McCoy will review shortly. uh talked a little bit about the Wilmington Learning Collaborative uh spending and their uh dashboard. I know that's uh might be some questions there for Mr. McCoy and um kind of filled in the members that did
032not attend the December 8th board workshop. just some of the financial questions that had come out of the reading consortium discussion uh and the information that had been I don't know if the information had been released at that point on the air report for the financials uh but we had talked about the gist of the meeting. Uh our next meeting will be January 7th at 5:00 pm at the Mount Pleasant uh conference room. >> Great. Thank you. Uh health and wellness advisory is me. We met on November 20th, 2025. Um it was a very long meeting. So just some highlights. We had a special presentation um by Danielle Medina, who's the executive director of fit and play. and um she was talking about um the implementation of of uh cooking skills and movement classes um
033through a program called Food for Life that she's been starting in other districts especially at the younger levels. Um and then um she discussed the benefits of having health fairs um within the schools periodically as well. Um we're going to be working with her a little bit more in the future. We had a pretty long discussion on House Bill 71, which was um a new law signed this year. And um in effect immediately that requires um that the big change is the requirement that every school building has publicly accessible and clearly marked AEDs at all sports venues at all times, including outdoor sports. And in addition that each building has a building specific cardiac arrest response plan uh for the building. The law went into effect immediately upon being signed in September. So of course
034then immediately everyone was not compliant um with that rule. So our discussion was on how we're going to get compliant and we're going to continue to work um towards that. Of course there was no financial note included with the bill even though it's a very expensive proposition to meet the requirements of it. Uh then we talked about uh Delaware Senate Bill 160 which was um school district responsibility for diabetes education and we are working on that. Um the Lions Club has resources actually about um the diabetes education that we believe meets the requirement. So the committee is working on that to to meet that requirement as well. Um the wellness policy we discussed that again it hasn't been updated in many many years. Um, there is a subcommittee that I'm on that is working on
035revisits for that. Now, we have our next meeting in January to continue updating that policy to meet the current situation and things that are happening in schools. Um, there's long discussion on AI and mental health. The health counselors had a meeting and a presentation that they said was quote very eyeopening um about how AI is contributing to mental health and students and that AI's algorithm doesn't necessarily discourage them from poor choices but sometimes actually encourages them to make poor choices based on the questions that they ask it. So there's a lot of uh research and activity around that. Um, there's an a minor update on the school-based health centers. I think we already talked in this meeting about the athletic trainer updates that this year our trainers are BSD employees instead of a third party
036vendor. Um, and then there was a DIA update regarding um weight and urine testing that's required before wrestling events. Um, so the district did have to buy a certified scale and the equipment to do the urine checks um before events and they have started using that already. Our next meeting is January 15th. Uh, Mr. N. Oh, and the um, Miss Harris is going to put a copy of the full minutes because they're very long into Friday's uh, board packet so the board can read them. Uh, then Mr. Njami, maintenance advisory. >> We met on December 2nd. Wait a little bit more. Uh, we actually got a very lovely tour of Harlland Elementary. Uh, Mr. Reid was able to give us a kind of a review of the work that had been done in the hallways
037and cafeterias there. Um, very beautiful building and uh, if you ever have a chance to take a look at it and take a tour through it, I would very much advise in favor of it. It's a it's a beautiful place. Uh, we were also able to discuss with Mr. read uh several uh um progress that has been made with uh in terms of uh many projects including the HVAC system for the Mount Pleasant Elementary Library. Um and we were also able to discuss some of the land transfer progress being made with regards to the Bush School. Um and finally we had a brief discussion regarding uh capacity and future needs of improvements with regards to the reading consortium decisions uh and potential changes that that would incur. So that's where we are. >> Thank you.
038Mr. Jordan, parent council for students with disabilities. >> We have not met uh since uh my last update to the board. Our next meeting is January 26, 2026 um at Mount Pleasant Elementary, 5:30 to 6:30. There will be light refreshments, transportation, and child care child care available um for parents who wish to show up. >> Thank you. Uh Miss Stuck, Parent and Citizens Advisory Committee. Um, our next meeting is going to be uh Thursday, January 29th um at Mount Pleasant Elementary at 5:30. So, we have not met since our last meeting. >> Thank you. And back to Mr. Njami for the Wilmington Learning Collaborative. >> We had a meeting on um check this. Yeah, December 3rd. We approved the meetings for the minutes for the meetings for the November 5th meeting. We also uh had
039discussed uh partnership updates with regards to uh um the hiring of director of professional learning out of school time and most importantly we approved an exe a evaluation tool for the executive director of the WLC for both the uh current evaluation but also future evaluations as well. So, >> and our next meeting will be, I believe, January 7th. >> I have two questions. Um, one, do you know the the number of employees that are on the team, the WLC team at this point? >> I would say about half a dozen. Roughly, director, how? Yeah, roughly half a dozen. A little bit more. And I don't suppose do you know what the current annual budget is? I wouldn't expect >> I do not know what the current annual budget is. I'd be guessing right now. I
040can find it out for you. Um yeah, I can get that those numbers for you from uh from them. Okay. Thank you. >> Mr. Ni, who is the current executive director? >> Uh Dr. Laura Bergos. >> Say that again. Do >> uh Dr. Laura Bergos. She's she has been in charge for uh since the beginning for I would say almost three years at this point. Um and she uh yeah she is the executive director of that organization. >> Thank you. And Mr. Lavoy 91.7 WH. Uh there hasn't been a meeting of the advisory board since my last report, but uh something new has come up. I mentioned I think hintingly before uh Paul Wishing, who's the station manager and longtime um CTE teacher there at Mount Pleasant, has finally announced his retirement in uh July
041of 2026. So, we're currently looking for someone to replace him or some six people to replace him for all he does. uh someone with radio experience or someone with teaching experience. Uh either way, we can help onboard that person. And uh again, a reminder, remember to tune in to Super 917 FM at home or in your car or by streaming wmp.net NE for a robust menu of student generated news, interviews, sports coverage, and a broad spectrum of musical favorites. Thank you. Are there any additional board member reports? That brings us to the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So move. >> Second, >> Mr. and Mr. Scorbot. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Uh, that brings us to student matters. Is there a motion to approve the
042student matters discussed in executive session? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Acriman and Mr. Nami. All in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? Extensions. Motion carries. Uh 8A personnel matters. Is there a motion to accept the monthly personnel report is discussed in executive session? >> So moved. Is there a second? >> Mr. Lavoy. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed or abstensions? Motion carries. 8B. Is there a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation on employee matter 26-003 as discussed in executive session? >> So moved. >> Mr. Acriman. >> Second. Mr. Scorpot. All in favor? >> I >> Any oppose or abstensions? Motion carries. Brings us to 9A, which is a discussion on Ready Consortium and the direction. Uh the purpose of this item was coming out of the December 8th presentation. We now
043know that Dr. Lawson has to vote to represent the board and the district tomorrow night on the um model that moves forward. So, I'm sure she would appreciate some direction from the board on how she should be representing. >> I want to just take a moment to thank Dr. Lawson for providing the comments from our educators. Um, I read the entire 20 pages. Um, I thought it was very enlightening. Uh, we we definitely have a great group of teachers in this district. They're very well thought out. uh they asked good questions. Um I would just recommend uh that our superintendent is really not in a position to pick one of these plans for a number of reasons. It's a conflict of interest. As far as I'm concerned, it's a conflict of interest to have anybody
044associated with the charter on this consortium or even the vote schools because they're not impacted other than potentially getting more kids fleeing our system. because of potential impacts to our system. So my recommendation would be recusal and because you know superintendent works for us the board and I don't think this board has had a vote. I think we've asked a lot of questions. I think people know where I stand on the issue. So I'm not going to bring that back up again. I I mean I think we we there's there's no creative problem solving going on. just another reshuffleling of a deck. So, thank you to our educators for taking the time to provide feedback. I did read your feedback and I do appreciate your feedback and I agree with most of what everybody has
045said. Any other thoughts? I guess I'm on the fence between a recusal typically not in favor of abstensions or recusals unless there's, you know, some sort of obvious obvious conflict of interest or if if you're asked to vote on something that, you know, maybe you're not privy to information on. To me, I I think my vote would be my recommendation would be for for a no uh a no vote, but I'd be fine with with an extension uh abstension or recusal as Dr. Lawson sees fit. I just, you know, we I expressed this last week. Um, I just really have been disappointed with the process of the reading consortium that the way it's dragged on uh for a number of years. I tried to raise the point that, you know, they had information back in
0462016 coming out of WEAK and they're saying they, you know, built upon that, but I feel like we're at the same decision point that they had in front of them in in 2015. I think it's disingenuous for members of the consortium to sit before our community after being involved in this for, you know, five plus years to say they haven't decided on on what they think is the best plan or or or undecided on how they're going to vote. I just I I think if that's truly the case, what have you been doing for the last five years? Um, to me it's it's an obvious answer. If the consortium, at least the leaders of the consortium have raised objections to the disjointed governance that oversees the city, then to me there's only one solution for
047one school district and it's not Brandy Wine because we don't have the capacity to serve those students. I think Red Clay has ample capacity. You look at certainly at their their high school level um you know questions surrounding around transportation and you know I'm repeating myself from from Monday but you know I think anyone in education agrees that students from Christina should not be shuttled down to Glasgow and Newark. Um, I don't know that a commute to Conquered High School is any better. Um, and again, to me, it comes back to capacity and financials. You know, Reading's been under operation for a number of years. They sat before our community and had zero answers for the financial implications. And then all of a sudden, Thursday of last week, days before the big vote is to
048happen uh for a plan, they produced the um the air cost analysis report. Um certainly that wasn't thrown together between Monday and Thursday of last week. That had been worked on for some time. Um and it was not favorable for the plans that are are presented before us. So, you know, I just I think this has been bungled from the beginning. I I think there's a clear answer of, you know, how we can improve the outcomes for students in education in general beyond the city of Wilmington. But if if there's a specific focus on the city of Wilmington, then I think all of their questions can be answered um with a plan. And I don't think it's any of the plans that are before the consortium tomorrow night. So I would uh you know leave
049it to Dr. Lawson's discretion for a for a no vote or an abstension or recusal, however she wants to vote. >> Uh I'd like to to say a few words about that as well because I think um I would also be in favor of a no vote or abstension, but I think that it's even more compelling because I don't think that anything that is I think this is the the cart before the horse yet again. This is not a matter of what are you voting for? You're not voting for a plan, yes or no. You're voting for an idea of a plan that might eventually be brought forward. So if you vote yes in favor of any of these plans and then 6 months later the writing consortium comes up with a plan so ownorous
050that it it is dis you know just completely hated by everybody. Does the fact that you voted six months earlier for this to begin somehow mean that you're endorsing it then? It doesn't make sense. The fact that there's not a plan being put forward to actually integrate students from one school district into another or into something else or something new is the problem. So, you know, I would absolutely vote abstain or vote no. Not just because of the financials that were produced, which were problematic, not just because of of um what we've seen, but because of what we haven't seen and what they've had years to be able to try to produce. And yet, they still haven't produced it. And yet, we're supposed to vote on this. And then, will there ever be another vote
051on another plan? Will it ever be as publicized as this current one is? I don't know. We just have to hope. They didn't even give us a time frame for when a plan would actually be created. So, it's I'm not I'm not and I've said this to other people in my life. I'm not for this plan. I'm not against this plan. There is no plan. And if there is no plan, why should our representative have to vote in this process for something that doesn't even exist? It's it's unfortunate. It should be done differently, but it is what it is. And right now, um that would be my my two cents. Dr. Lawson, with your discretion, we uh we trust you on that. >> Yeah, I I had similar thoughts to what Mr. Jimmy had just
052mentioned and and at that that board workshop, I had used the word disappointment to describe my feelings towards the presentation that the reading consortium um delivered that night. You know, we got to these three plans, not because one is better than the other, but just because they had gotten voted for by more members of the reading consortium. And when they showed up, they had these these three plans that were up there, but there were no details about what made one plan better than the other other than their size, which was plain for everyone to see. Um, and that's that's where my holdup is. I I have not heard anything uh since the meeting either from anyone with a reading consortium explaining how one option is better than the other to deal with what they refer
053to as the the problem with with outcomes um that that they believe is caused by a fractured um education system in the city of Wilmington. Um it's one thing to make these statements, it's another to back them up. Uh and as I said, I haven't seen anything backing it up. Um, I also haven't heard anything from the writing consortium how any one of these new plans um will will be least disruptive to the students. And for me in particular, that includes how any of these three options uh will make sure that we are not resegregating public schools in the state of Delaware. It's unclear to me u what effect either of these plans will have on our teachers and staff and returning agency to our teachers in the classroom. So that can really uh affect
054and and achieve better uh results than anything that the reading consortium has presented to my knowledge um or how any of these are the least disruptive to those of our students with special education needs. I mean, if the idea is, well, we're going to have a united or a consolidated Newcastle County district, it's bigger, um, and therefore it's better. I don't buy that. Um, if the idea is, well, if we consolidate, we can eliminate administration. Um, and I recall, and I appreciate Mr. Den's comment that, you know, Delaware has some of the the best laws on the books when it comes to special education, but if we don't have the administrators in role to enforce those laws to carry them out, then they're meaningless. I mean, we see that at the federal level with the
055reductions in force at the Department of Education. Um and and what I again I come back to what I have not heard how any one of these plans um will actually help solve a problem as opposed to creating a new one or uh making an issue worse. And so uh with that in mind, Dr. Lawson, I mean I it's tough to tell you, you know, abstain from the vote because you are our voice there. uh and you are representing our community there. I don't know how you can vote otherwise though because you have not been given any information the information that you would need to make an informed vote. Um it would be a guesswork. Uh if I had to rank these three, the consolidated district is my third as in least preferable preferable. Um
056the only one I could possibly support would be the one that maintains Brandy Wine's uh individuality. Um, and again, as I mentioned at the the meeting we had, the district's worked hard for that reputation. It's worked hard. And um, nonetheless, I I would support a trying to think of it, an abstension or a no vote. Probably an abstension would be the appropriate course of action. Thanks. >> Yes. I just want to add my voice. I agree with most of what my colleagues have said, but even in their uh initial report from the running commission, they acknowledge that there are social drivers that account for poor performance, poor academic performance that have little to do with necessarily what school district you're assigned to. They have a lot to do with where you live. And I I
057would with all due respect request that you suggest forstalling a selection for another year when we can get together and gather some current and compelling information about what tactics have worked not just in schools but in societies to abate to overcome those forces of crime of poverty, of transportation challenges, and safety. Back when I first started studying education in the 1960s, George Bestester said, "Schools are being asked to do things that schools have not are not prepared to address." And I think we've done the yman's job of addressing things like clothing and food food insecurity and uh transportation problems bent over backwards. I'm not sure that sending kids to schools with Brandy Wines emblem on it is going to overcome those those forces as they should. I think we all need to get together and
058if I were a parent whose children were going to a school where they weren't performing, I would be impatient as well. But I think they've rushed into this without looking at the right sources of the problem. So with all due respect, rather than abstain or say no, I would propose to not kick the can down the road again, but to fortoall another uh selection until they have some hard research. >> Miss Doc, do you have anything to add? No. Um, I'll share my uh >> my thoughts slightly different. If you want to go last, I want to >> Okay, go ahead. >> So, I want to change my position. I think Dr. Lawson is our representative for our district, for our board, for our community, and I don't I don't want to put her in
059a position to, I guess, in gathering information on where the board stands. For my position, I don't want it to be a either no or an abstension. So, I want to change my recommendation that she abstain from the vote. um just kind of getting some clarity on the on the differences in the two and you know Robert's rules kind of identifies an abstension uh not as either a yes or a no and it's generally used to signal a conflict of interest or lack of information and I think in this case certainly the lack of information is supported um you know could even say there's a conflict of interest in the sense that I don't think that the reading consortium um 25 member voting member panel um is is the right mix uh to make this
060decision. You've got legislators on the consortium who crafted the legislation to create the consortium. uh you have an abundance of members who speak in support of public schools but have sent their own children to private and charter. Uh you have votech representation uh who has no skin in the game. Uh Colonial who has no skin in the game. Um, Christina has a vote with their superintendent, but I would say um there's no real skin in the game there because I think they've resigned to the idea that they're not going to be serving students in the city. So, I I would recommend abstaining from the vote under those uh pretenses and the lack of information obviously, you know, no evidence that you know how these changes will improve the outcomes of students. uh and certainly the
061financial uh lack of information and the capacity um of the options presented. So, thank you. >> Mr. I would just add um I I I I think the the abstension for lack of information is the right way to go. I'm just not convinced or on board with a conflict of interest argument in the sense that, you know, the the board's makeup was put in place by a statute. Um, which I think makes it a little bit more difficult, like I said, for me to get on board with that, which doesn't mean that, you know, had there not not been the statute passed that there there would be conflicts, but but I could support a motion to abstain for lack of information. Thanks. So I have a a slightly different train of thought. Um maybe so
062I always say to people right like in in a regular election like if you don't vote you don't really have a right to complain about the result um down the road. And I think it's clear that a model is moving forward tomorrow night. And I I wonder if us not having a say in which one for I I agree with everything that everybody said. I think with the information available to us now, none of these options are going to improve anything for even a single person. Um, but that said, a model's moving forward tomorrow. I'm pretty confident no matter right no matter what. So, I mean, part of me thinks that the best option is to choose the model that either we most support or the one that we want to see good data on,
063which is what we've been promised that whatever model moves forward, we're going to get data on. So, you know, that's my thought. Shouldn't we just shouldn't we choose a model that we want to see the data on so that then we can make an educated decision down the road about whether we think that that's a really viable model or if we then want to bring our concerns once there's data to the legislators. Um so so that's my thought. I feel like I don't want to call it a wasted vote, but I I feel like we have a seat at the table. And by not voting, I'm not sure the message that it sends. And does it create a risk? What if it's a closed vote that a model moves forward that we would not like
064versus us having a say in the model that does move forward at least to see data? Not that we're endorsing the model, but choosing a model that we would like to see more data on to to determine its viability with facts. And if that was the choice, obviously my preference would be the Brandy Wine Red Clay model where we remain um independent and then absorb the city in some way. >> I I would ask you to maybe get an opinion from legal counsel uh board counsel on um you know, I think if there's If we vote yes for any plan, it's kind of hard to object to it later. I think any plan that develops, any new data that's presented, we would have an option to support down the road. But I think the information
065that's presented to us today, the social drivers report, the air um the financial report, the lack of funding information, the transportation information, the logistical information, all the questions that come along with it. I I don't see how we could support any of the plans. are all they all appear to be adverse to students in the Brandy School District. >> And I I I think that the um I guess it depends on the way that the vote is worded um or the mo whoever makes the motion. So my perception based on what was said on our December 8th meeting was that really this isn't a vote to support a plan. It's the vote to move a plan forward so that they can gather data. So I guess it depends on the way that the motion I
066mean obviously if if the motion is worded to you know what which plan are are we going to I think that speaks to the consortium strategy all along when they started with you know a dozen plans they didn't vote to move forward the best plans they kept voting to eliminate and I think that was strategic and they've been positioning including at our meeting last week that there are three plans on the table. There's really five plans. You have the Newcastle County plan, the metro plan, and then three brand three Brandy Wine Red Clay plans. Um, so I think that's an interesting wording. I think it's intentional because I think you're dealing with seasoned people that understand politics and I think it's more than three plans. So I have an idea in my head how I
067think the vote will go tomorrow. Um so yeah any other discussion? I maybe somebody on the board can answer this question because I I don't know the answer. If Dr. Lawson were to abstain and there were multiple rounds of voting, would she then have disqualified herself from rounds two, three, and four? Right? So, if there's 25 people or 25 uh voting members and no plan gets majority, Dr. Lawson has abstained. It goes to round two. Is she now forbidden from voting in round two or can she vote having ained in the first round. >> If it's a separate motion, yeah, then she could vote. She'd just be abstaining from the single vote. If that was the case, >> I guess that raises the second question. If it does, as you mentioned, um, President Heler, if
068it does get to a point where Dr. Lawson's vote is decisive, then what? You know, if it's tied 1212 The consortium is obviously not interested in what boards have to say because there are no board members on the consortium whereas there were on week. There was a board member from every district. Um I served in lie of John's father at the time because he was ill. Um but you know the people who were elected to take care of this school districts Red Clay Brandy Wine Christina and Colonial they were not included and that was quite intentional NOS's and representatives who have agendas who don't send their kids to public schools they're the ones who are making this decision uh from a you know you say what what would be you know the plan that you
069could support. Well, I would say the least disruptive plan is the Brandy Wine Red Clay third option. That would probably one that would actually work without tipping the boat here in Brandy Wine and it would fill up a couple of red clay schools that are currently pretty empty. So, I don't know if that's the right choice, but I think that is a choice, but I think that's maybe what they're aiming for all along anyway. So, we'll just have to wait and see. And I think to Mr. Acriman's point, you know, the there's a number of state legislators on the reading consortium who are going to get another chance to vote on this when it comes before the general assembly. So to me, I think I just I think there's a conflict there. >> Yeah. I
070I mean I I I that is an issue for me as well. Um, I I I will say I was very happy at the board workshop to see so many other elected politicians who were there in person and who were there by Zoom to see what the community really thinks about this and even to hear I think Representative Hefernan uh made some comments and and they were welcome. Um, but yeah, I I I I complet I I do see the the the issue with having members of the consortium who will also have the that what I see as the decisive votes at the general assembly for sure. >> So, I just wanted to double check something here. They're going to be voting for this tomorrow and then there's a plan that's actually going to be
071created and then does the whole consortium vote on that plan as well? So this is it and this is the only voice. Who how does said plan then get crafted? >> Then the then the uh state board of education votes next in the general assembly once the plan is crafted. >> But there has to be some some actual plan like person moves here, individual goes there, this person take this entity takes possession of this building. How does that plan get crafted and created? >> So, I heard the same as you did that representative Matt Den said that the plan would be created after one of these models moves forward. My question to the board is if I support option three, is that essentially saying that the board is supportive of any of the sub options
072under three since there really wasn't any discussion about how then option the three options under three would would be talked about andor >> I mean I think it goes even further than that. I mean, if there's a plan out there which gives so much money to this program that, you know, all the kids have goldplated Chromebooks, then, you know, then we'll have one opinion about that plan. If it's so scattershot and and not well done and logistically incapable, then we're going to have a a different view on that. I guess my question is is will you as a member of the reading consortium ever get a chance after tomorrow to vote on an actual detailed plan? >> No sir. >> So how does that actual detailed plan get created? So, so I think that that
073part's not clear if will the consortium put together a subcommittee and then will that plan come back before the full reading consortium or will the subcommittee put that through to the DOE. Um, >> I guess my assumption was that we would continue to meet and we would see what's put together, but it would go right to the state board. But again, that that's assumption. It hasn't been said exactly. >> Another issue that's and perhaps they have explained it and but perhaps it has not been explained to us satisfactoryy so that the people at these tables could understand it. But that's where I also think that the the wording of the three plans versus the five plans being that the red clay wine plan has three sub options. I don't foresee them picking one of the
074five. I see that if it comes down to red clay brandy wine then that's where they're going to take that and try to develop from there. And it's unclear as to how that will come about between the three Brandy Wine Red Clay plans. That's why I don't think that we should support that option. So, I'll say my my original intention was that um we would vote to give Dr. loss in direction. But now I'm thinking there's probably there's so many v who knows how it's going to happen in the moment and there's so many variables like is as our is the feedback you heard tonight like I don't know how we could give specific direction having no idea what's going to happen tomorrow night. So I mean I feel I'm I don't know what everybody
075else thinks. I feel comfortable that hopefully she's heard enough information that >> she's just going to have to make a game time decision based on the situation that's h I don't know how we could give specific direction. Actually, it depends how the motions phrase. It depends if they're voting on three or five. It depends on if the if the intent is to just choose the option we want to see more data on or if we are choosing to support the option that would be I think there's so many variables of how it could happen that >> I would support that position Mr. Heler. >> So my last question is whether the board supports all three sub options under option three. >> No, >> I do not. No, I don't either. I I do not either.
076>> I do not either. And that's where my concern lies that if we even supported one of the three sub options, if a plan develops that is adverse to our schools, our students, our outcomes, our taxpayers. I think it limits our options down the road if we've already voted yes on an initial plan. >> If if I could just add a point, we sit here at the behest of our citizens and two of those sub plans eliminate their voices. So I I would not favor anything that would uh put put aside this board or the red clay board and create a new whole new board. I think we have to stay intact out of respect for our citizens. >> Any other uh do you think that's a enough to go in and make a decision
077in the moment? >> Okay. Thank you. Anything else from anybody? >> I guess I will just add thank you to Dr. Lawson and you know certainly to previous Superintendent Link Holler that you know kind of started with this and Dr. Lawson has you know picked up and been an advocate for students in the Breny Wine School District and you know I think she is in a tough position on this consortium. I think throughout the process you've been a uh staunch defender of the Brandy Wine School District and our students and our methods and I think a lot of the rhetoric that has gone on around reading you know the schools have I think public schools have taken a beating um on how we serve students. Can we do better? Yes. Are we trying to do
078better all the time? But there, you know, going back to the social drivers report, there are things that are out of our control that a lot of this money could be spent on. And I'm proud of the work this district does. I'm proud that we're working to do better. Um, but I don't think changing the lines does that. And I think, you know, throughout the voting options, the votes that you've made to, you know, keep the process open, keep additional options on the table, you know, whether that be with other school districts staying in the mix, voting to um just making making votes that, you know, show your dedication to our district. So, thank you. >> Thank you. That brings us to Mr. McCoy for the November monthly financial report. >> President Scrobot, Superintendent, Dr.
079Lawson, board members, and audience members. I'll try to be quick tonight. there's um not really anything of major concern, so we'll just kind of breeze through it. Uh the only thing I have is the November 30th, 2025 monthly financial report. First, I wanted to start with a quick note on the final budget process. Uh I believe our preliminary budget outlines a timeline that said the final budget would be provided either December or January and we are on track for January. Uh the county has started sending us some updated tax listings as well as some updated appeals listings. Um and in January we should receive a list of the quarterly ads where they add things that have um come up throughout the district since the previous ad. So the they did warn us that the July
080the January quarterly ad will be probably a material amount because it does include October and January. So the October quarterly ad was missed because of the ongoing um legal suit that they were facing. So turning our attention to the November report on page one, we have received 38.7% of our local funds compared to 95.9% at this time last year. Um and again I mentioned it last month that the lower percentage is directly related to the delayed tax payment deadline. uh collections coming to us in December. So this month are only 2.5 million. So you'll see this continued uh throughout next month's uh monthly financial report. In the state fund section, we have received a higher percentage than this period last year. Uh unfortunately, most of these categories in this section are driven by the number
081of units that a district has earned. Our budget was built expecting an increase in the number of units that we would earn. However, our unit count um has decreased by 12 compared to last year. So, when I put the final budget together, these numbers will need to come down and they'll likely be a lower budgeted amount than we had last year. Um so, there's no other items on page one that I have noted as needed to be being called out. Um if there's any questions on this page, um happy to take them. All right, on page two, the only item I wanted to point out is the debt service section. So, there is a a p a piece a portion of our tax rate that is tied to generating funds to pay back our debt
082service for capital projects of years past. And because of the delayed tax receipts, our debt service tax receipts are also below where they should be. Luckily, you can see in the June 30th balance line that's up there, we have a healthy balance from years past. So, we can just dip into our balance to pay uh the amounts that we have not collected. So, we've paid 2 million and we've only collected 1.5 million. Yes. >> I know we had um discussed in the finance committee about and you've mentioned this before in prior meetings. So given that the tax receipts were delayed, the state has essentially given districts an interestfree loan. >> Yes. >> How come we dip into our June 30 balance versus using the state money for debt service payments? >> Uh the So that's
083a great question. The state pulls the payments directly out of our debt service funds. I don't know if we can tie the debt service payments to the new appropriations that the state set up. The school districts are required to hold a certain balance in their debt service in the event not something like this happens because this is unprecedented but so that you can make future payments in the event um something happens that your tax collections do not cover your bond payments. >> Okay. And the state is very stringent on everything debt related because they value their bond rating very very much. >> Right. And I know there was a lot of just for the benefit of the board there was a lot of questions just to how that process works with the state and like
084everything else the state does. It's a convoluted process. A lot of that's kind of just how they do it type of answers. Um but the committee did ask Mr. McCoy to kind of think about just from a transparency standpoint um some way to address or footnote on our report um how much was advanced from the state, how it was paid back. Um so we've given him some time to just kind of think on what the his recommendation on a best way to do that would be. >> So I have nothing else noted on this page. Um, again, if there's any questions, I'll I'll just keep breezing through it. Uh, moving on to page three to the expenditure side of things. There's no operating units on page three that, uh, give me any cause for concern.
085In the salary portion, our percent spent of 41.74% is in line with the prior year. And the bottom of the page shows that we've spent 42.66% 66% of the budget as compared to 45.85% for the same period last year. All the the big ticket items that I've mentioned in previous meetings, um curriculum, facilities, they're all now in line with where they were at this time last year. So, it just kind of it took a while for things to catch up. And facilities, some of the expenses were moved to the enhanced minor cap line. Uh so, everything's looking very good on this page. On page four, uh there is one item that we need to talk about, line 32, the summer school. So that stands out because it is unfortunately over budget at this time. Um
086I I spoke about this last month where we had some um salary charges that were higher than we anticipated. Um, I al have also learned that there was a um u some state funding that was provided in years past that at the last minute before our summer programs ran last year, we learned we weren't getting that state funding and I believe that was uh to the tune of $200,000 if I'm remembering correctly. Um, so that one definitely hurt us. So, in my final budget, you'll see that I had to move funds to this uh budget account to make up for the over expenditure. And I would like to think that I can do that by um kind of moving the funds from other budget lines where we foresee um an underbudget for the year. >>
087Mr. McCoy, is there any reason to think that the state will put back some of the summer school funds that disappeared last year? Mr. Lavoy, that was a literacy grant. It was a one-time uh grant. I I didn't know that until I called the following year because of the uh literacy focus, I'll say, that the department had. Um we took advantage the first year. It was $200,000. We started a wonderful K to2 literacy program to try to prevent that reading failure later. Um we thought it very important to continue that program again the following year which was this past summer and then learned late that the grant would not be provided. Um so we are going to make some adjustments. We we can't discontinue the program. It's very important. We're going to try to consolidate
088a couple of other programs and try to blend some together. But I also think that um there were groups of students who had committed to coming to summer school and then didn't show up and we had very small class sizes planned. So we can look at that statistically over time and try to make the class sizes a little bigger knowing that some even though they commit don't come. We still would like to have smaller class sizes. We're we're working it this year so that hopefully we will stay within budget um and still be able to provide the wonderful summer programming that that group of K to2 students. They came every day. Um there were different there were other students um that weren't showing up. So >> is there any reason to believe that the new
089Secretary Martin who was made literacy one of her hallmarks will be more sensitive and be able to uh provide some more money? >> I certainly hope so. and if so, we will be the first to put in uh for any grants that come our way. >> Um so I have no other items of note on this page. Uh federal funds, we have um not spent any of those funds yet as we're still spending out last year's funds. Um and then we can move on to page five. So this is the breakdown of the individual school buildings and how their budget compares to what they've actually spent. and we have spent 38.07% of the budget compared to 44.44% for the same period last year. So things are, knock on wood, looking very good so far for
090the buildings. Uh page six is the prior year expenditure report. Uh we continue to spend down uh moving from 7.5 million encumbered last month to 6.9 million encumbered this month. Um, so that's something we continue to work on and make sure that our encumbered funds are encumbered for a purpose and not outdated purchase orders. Moving on to the cash flow statement. So this has been very interesting given the fact that our cash flows are very delayed due to the tax payments. You can see in the November middle section, the monthly revenue is actually negative. Uh so the charter payment that we made, we have to make two charter payments. This was the preload payment where they take a certain percentage. The charter payment was higher than all of the revenues that we received in our
091local funds for the month of November. Uh luckily we have the state funding available to us or state loan that was mentioned earlier. So we uh put the charter payment, we made it out of the state loan instead of with our funds. So we do still have funds, but when we have to backfill, everything will be in one picture. So right now we have a negative for November. Now what that means is that sometime in December, if we didn't have the state loan, we would uh run out of funds. However, we have the state loan, so we are good to go. uh we're trying to use the state funds as much as we can so that we preserve our cash balances. Um however, this is a picture of our cash and it doesn't factor in
092the state cash. So it shows negatives. Um one thing worth noting is actually a major thing worth noting is that the ending balance in this has increased to 8 8.9 I believe that says it's a little tiny. uh and last month it was it had gotten down to I believe 8.4 and the reason for that is the growth that we've seen throughout the district and the numbers that we anticipate to receive from the county for the January quarterly ads. Yes, >> sorry about that. um with the time value of money and are getting tax revenue in late and being able to collect interest off of the funds, what does the delay how much do we think we will have lost in making money through via interest throughout the whole year? Is it do you think
093that we can actually calculate that now or do you think we still it's still up in the air? >> So, I've done a rough calculation just for budgeting purposes and we did have budgeted 1.9 million in interest income and I've fully anticipated that we would beat that pretty easily, but I will likely have to adjust it down to 1.3 1.4 million. So, we're definitely going to take a hit um because our payments were delayed and we're not earning interest on large chunks of money. >> So, correct me if I'm wrong. Uh Mr. McCoy, um we had to wait for tax revenues to come in, right? >> But our payments to the charter schools went out right away. They didn't have to wait. They were not inconvenient at all. We we had some deadlines that we
094had to meet to have those payments out by. >> Yeah. >> But the state did allow us to use the state loan to make those payments. So, our cash stayed in our bank account and the state money went to the charter school until we refill that state money with our money. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Um, this was approved at the November 30th, 2025 district finance committee meeting and it is up for your approval. >> If there's no other questions, motion to approve the November 30th, 2025 financial report of course subject to audit. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Is there a second? Mr. Scrobot. All in favor? >> I. Motion carries. That brings us to our next meeting date which will be all the way in 2026 on January 12th. And um then we
095have a board workshop scheduled for February 2nd. The January meeting will be at Conquered High School. Our first visit there. Um and with that, very happy holidays and happy new year to everybody. Is there a motion to adjurnn? Before we do that, real quick, um, for for parents of students in fifth and eighth grade, choice applications are due January 14th. So, I just wanted to put that out there for anyone listening. Um, we have a maybe a couple parents in the audience, but uh, I don't want to wait until our next board meeting and give people two days notice. >> Very good point. Choice applications due January 14th. >> Thanks. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All right. All in favor? >> I meeting adjourned. Have a great night everybody. Happy holidays.