001All right, good evening everybody. Thank you for your patience. We're going to call the regular meeting of the Brandy Wine School District Board of Education to order. It's 7:06 p.m. We're in the multi-purpose room at Mount Pleasant Elementary School. >> Mr. Scorbot, would you mind leading the pledge of allegiance? >> Sure thing. 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 for all. >> Can I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion, Mr. Acriman, second Mr. Nami. All in favor? I. >> Motion carried. And I'd like to invite Mr. Hour back up to welcome us. There he is to um Mount Pleasant Elementary. >> Greetings board members and
002community members. It's great to see everybody today, especially after a nice Eagles victory. Go Birds. Uh my name is Matt Hourback. I am the principal here at Mount Pleasant Elementary. Um, I'm actually in my 10th year at MPE and I'm, as I've mentioned to, uh, Mr. Scrobot, I'm serving my Joyce year, my Joyce Scrobot year. Her 10th, she did 10 successful, amazing years at MPE. Uh, and she's just a a living legend. And so I'm I'm in my 10th year. Can't believe it. Um, but here I am. Um, I've got two students, two children in the in the district, uh, that went through Mount Pleasant Elementary and are now at PS DuPont and Mount Pleasant High School. So, I'm uh definitely very much invested in this community. Um excited to be here today. Got you
003guys some fidget spinners. We're in an elementary school, so I thought it'd be appropriate to uh give you guys some fidget spinners, right? Some MPE uh gear there. Uh you got a pencil and and a little bracelet from MP just courtesy of our MTSS uh team. Um I also just want to just mention how proud I am of uh our school, our community, our students. Um, Mount Pleasant is actually home to two state teachers of the year, state level teachers of the year, which is incredible. Um, Courtney Fox and and uh and Wendy Turner. Um, we also have the current uh Brand new school district educator support professional of the year, Miss Patty Worley, and she is going off to the state competition for the educator support professional on December 1st. So, we are wishing
004her all the best of luck. Um, I've got some amazing staff at MPE and I just couldn't be a prouder parent and principal, you know, and I just wanted to say thank you, you know, to the board for your continued support of MPE and the Brainwine School District. Um, and to all of our community members. Um, so thank you all so much. Welcome to MPE. And go Birds one more time. >> Thank you, Mr. Hourback for having us so frequently in your space. All right, that brings us on to our uh student reporters. We're going to start with Conquered High School, Michaela and Molly. Good evening everyone. I'm President Michaela Michaelelsson and I'm Vice President Molly Andrews of Conquered High School Student Council and we're excited to bring you up to speed on the amazing
005things that have happened at Conquered over the past month. So to start off at the end of our last meeting, we wrapped up with excitement about our spooky homecoming and it certainly lived up to the hype. The morning kicked off with a spirited halftime parade at our homecoming football game featuring our freshman, sophomore, juniors, and seniors. And we're proud to share that our homecoming and pep rally were a huge success filled with energy, fun, and plenty of dancing. Our interact club hosted the first of two annual blood drives. The Halloween blood drive was a fantastic success. Also on Halloween, members of the student council visited the classrooms with a teacher cart packed with snacks and goodies to show appreciation to our wonderful staff. Continuing the spirit of gratitude, many of our National Honor Society members
006participated in stockings for soldiers, helping to pack hundreds of goodie bags for troops overseas to enjoy this holiday season. In the world of sports, our teams had an outstanding fall. The girls field hockey team completed their 2025 season as flight Bhen Conference undefeated champions. The boys cross country team also earned the title of undefeated conference champions. Additionally, the boys soccer team secured a first round buy in the DIAA tournament, advancing to quarterfinals where they held where they had a fantastic hard-fought close game against Tower Hill, falling short of a win just in the last few minutes. In addition to our soccer team's incredible accomplishments, Raiders athletics have so much more to celebrate. Our outstanding girls field hockey team secured a spot in the first round of the state tournament and faced a tough matchup against
007number six Tower Hill. Although they fell short, their hard work and success throughout the 2025 season is something that we are extremely proud of. Our girls volleyball team also had an impressive run, advancing through the first round and even earning a chance to play in the second round of the state tournament. It is truly remarkable that all of Conquered's fall sports teams made it to the state tournament this year. But the excitement doesn't stop there. Our boys football team also earned a spot in the playoffs for the first time in four years. A few weeks ago, the team celebrated its or I'm sorry, the team celebrated a successful season with lots of gratitude. Each player recognized a teacher or staff member who inspired them beyond the classroom. A wonderful display of conquered community spirit and
008support. Conquered excellence does not end on the field. Our incredible Golden Raider marching band continues to shine, taking the East Coast competition in Hershey, Pennsylvania by storm. They placed fifth out of 22 bands, earning an impressive score of 20 or 87.36. Moving on to our theater department, our talented student actors have announced their 2025 winter production of Romeo and Juliet. Our theater students devote countless hours and dedication to their creativity in their performances and we cannot wait to see their excellent performance that they put together. Lastly, and miss amidst all this exciting news, conquered proudly hosted its annual visitation day and it was a tremendous success. Dozens of Raiders volunteered to guide and welcome our future Raiders showing the true school spirit at conquered. We are confident that many of our visiting students will soon
009join the Raider family. And that con concludes Conquered High School's November board report. Are there any questions from the board? I have some questions cuz I think last time we were here, you confidently predicted a 60 to nothing victory against Brandy Wine in football, but >> no comment on that game. >> I I Well, I was at at the uh the tournament game. Um, not only did I think both teams played great, I thought the cheer squads were great. >> I sat on both sides and I've got to say the conquered side had a lot more energy than the Brandon side. >> We led that student section. Pretty proud. >> That's what I thought. >> Can't beat them in football, we'll beat them in spirit. >> But you guys are getting ready for for winter
010sports. Um, and I saw on the website that basketball tickets are just five bucks. Is that right? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, and then a couple of the non-sports things. Um I I saw that there's an academic bowl at conquered. Is that active? Do you know? >> I'm sorry. Could you repeat? >> Academic bowl. >> It's like a academic bowl. It's like a trivia type of a thing. >> I can't say that I've been a part of that. >> Okay. I think it's a student club. >> Incentives for if like you get like pork on your pork if you get seasoned above. We've just had one today. So they give us like water, ice, and soft pretzels like if you like encouraging us to do well. >> Okay. Well, it what I'm thinking of I
011thought it was like a student group that's like a trivia thing and I I haven't can't speak for my fellow board members but maybe you could get a competition students versus the board for a fundraiser or something like that we could do. Um and the other thing I saw uh the Raider reader is that like a studentled publication. Does that sound familiar? That was on the website too. >> I think that our website is outdated. >> Okay, >> that's what I'm getting at from this. Well, is there is there a student newspaper at conquered? >> No, we don't have that. >> All right. Mr. Jordan, >> just our Instagram that we run. >> The Raider Reader used to be a literary publication. Yeah. Where all student poems and short stories and essays were were published
012at the end of the year. >> I mean, that would be a great thing to see again. >> Yes, it would. >> You're volunteering to edit >> that publication. >> Well, my I'll leave it to my senior colleague at the other end, but Okay, that's all I have. Thanks. >> Thank you. THANK YOU. AND THAT BRINGS US to Mount Pleasant High School. We have Kamani and Stephen. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Us at Mount Pleasant would like to welcome you to another amazing month of school. My name is Kamani Beetle, Mount Pleasant student council president. >> And I'm Steven Rice, student council vice president. >> We are both so excited to be here today. Now, the way we kicked off uh our uh rest of our month, the start of our month was with our
013visitation day. We've had a lot of over a 100 students come out from PSI and other middle schools to come see what Mount Pride is all about. First and another thing, let's talk about the wonderful festivities on Halloween where most of the senior class all dressed up for Halloween to show our school spirit. This all happened along with the joint of Mount Pleasant's marching band with Forward's early Halloween pow parade. If I could explain Mount in one word, I would have to say community. And nothing makes up the Mount Pleasant community more like the vast array of cultures that make up Mount. Which is why Mount's wonderful culture night was such an amazing time. It was able to bring vast cultures in our school into one place in hopes of sharing our community and our
014cultures together. Now to mount sports. Now to mount sports. I would like to first mention the amazing dig pink game which is a wonderful way to feed our friendly rivalry with our friends over at conquer. I will also like to mention that the start of our winter sports have just started. Best of luck to them all. At the last meeting, we mentioned that the AVID program raised a lot of money through the popcorn fund fundraiser. With this money, the AVID program took multiple field trips, including a trip to Temple University and to the University of Delaware to see a wonderful show of theirs called And Then There Were None. Along with it all, me and Steven can agree applying to colleges can be extremely stressful. So, we were so happy that our wonderful guidance office
015were able to help with college applications, which we were both appreciative of. And last, but certainly not least, um, our drama and music departments have had a busy couple of weeks. Starting with Mount's production of the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime. The production was a great representation of showing that anyone can do big things, no matter if they have a disability or not, which is something that at Mount is a belief that we stand on and always will. This past Friday, Mount Corral got invited to Beanar Broken, which is a festival where we perform music that highlights African-American composers. We also got to participate in a master class, which we sung in front of highly talented clinicians, and they gave us helpful feedback to help us become better musicians. >> And finally,
016we would love to congratulate Scarlett Egleston, Bridget Schneider, and Kamani Beetle for being the only kids to get into ACDA Eastern Choir out of all three high schools. And that's the end of our report. We wish you all a wonderful night and as always, we are mount. >> Any questions from the board? >> I have some questions. Um, first, I I appreciate you guys wearing the school colors. That's That's great. Um, I don't I don't think you mentioned though that the unified flag football team made it to the state tournament either, though, right? >> We indeed did. >> Yeah, that's fantastic. And I think Mounts field hockey had a two nothing win on senior recognition night against William Penn as well. I mean all good stuff. And you mentioned winter sports. Um swim team I
017think last year was 10 and two. >> Yes, we were. >> Okay. So big things this year for them too. >> We hope to repeat. >> Okay. All right. And then I think you you'd mentioned the curious incident of the dog in the night time. Um, and I think, >> correct me if I'm wrong, but tonight and tomorrow night, there are auditions at Mount for the 13th annual one act festival. >> Yes, there are. >> Okay, >> that's where we're going. >> Last thing I'll mention, I had a chance to uh to tour Mount uh last week and it was great. I loved it. It's fantastic. So, thank you all. >> Thank you. And that brings us to Brandy Wine High School, Logan and Julian. >> Hello everyone. My name is Logan Scott and I'm
018the president from Brandy Wine High School. >> You want to >> I'm Julie and the vice president >> and we are proud to talk about all of the amazing things that have been happening at Brandy Wine High School this past month. >> On November 2nd, the district held high school visitation day and many middle schoolers came to Brandy Wine High School to see all that we had to offer. We gave tours, showed off club and sport offerings, and had many of our music programs such as jazz band, steel pans, and drum line performed. Our football team continued with their incredibly successful season and they hosted their senior night on October 30th to honor senior players, cheerleaders, and band members. In addition, they had multiple big wins to finish off the regular season with an 8-2
019record. And I am proud to say that this included beating district rival Conquered High School with a score of 22 to7 to secure seed 1 in the playoffs and the district championship. They followed that win by playing conquered again last Friday and winning again with a score of 42 to nothing to send them to the semifinals. Students showed their spirit on Halloween with numerous students dressing up in fun and creative costumes. On Halloween, we had our Fright Film Movie Fest where students could use Bulldog Bucks to purchase a ticket to watch movies on Halloween. Additionally, after being postponed, we were finally able to ho host our Powerpuff game in October with our sophomore and senior teams taking home the win. Pass off to Julian Moroni. Good evening, everyone. I'm Julian again. This past month at
020Brandywine has been filled with many amazing events, incentives, and achievements. Starting off with the drama department, they just wrapped up their fall play performances last week with a very successful run of Murder on the Orient Express. Now students can audition for Matilda, this year's spring musical. Last week, Brandy hosted the district-wide Special Olympics Bacha Ball Tournament. It was an incredible day filled with teamwork, sportsmanship, and BSD pride as athletes from across the district came together to compete and celebrate in unison. We also had our uh have our Grandma's Day incentive coming up, giving students a fun and positive way to connect and celebrate their hard work. Winter sports are also officially on the way. Uh and our athletes are gearing up for another strong season. Our AVID food drive is yet another event on the
021horizon, bringing our school community together to support families in need. Along with that, wrapped wishes will be underway soon, giving us a chance to make the holidays brighter for others. And of course, a huge shout out to the boys soccer team uh making it to the playoffs and winning their first round 4-0. In fact, there's a member of the varsity soccer team right there. Josh, you want to stand up? >> But yeah, of course, we're really proud of that and um just fell short in the uh quarterfinals. Um any questions from the board? >> Um I just wanted to mention before Mr. I just wanted to mention um I did get to see Murder on the Ordin Express and I think it was one of my favorite productions that I've seen in years. Um especially
022the monologue at the end. I have no idea how he remembered all of that. So that was impressive and I'm looking forward um to the DIAA uh semi-final game Friday at 700 p.m. >> at Brandy Wine again. >> We are as well. >> Uh yeah, I had a couple of questions too and some comments. I I went to see both of the the boys soccer games um against the Spear and Sanford and they played great. >> Um the game against Sanford, they take a red card. Had I mean >> I don't know how you could win one man down, but I thought they all played fantastic. >> You had a picture up there of two girls. Uh one was senior Angelina Manino who is the Blue Hen Conference cross country champ. a time a personal
023record of 5K of 19 minutes and 28 seconds. A little bit faster than anyone on this board could probably do, I'm sure. Um, and then a sophomore Enid. Uh, and I apologize if I mispronounced Enid's last name, Abizu Melendez, who got 14th, right? Is that right? >> Yeah. >> That's fantastic. >> Um, >> as for football, I think and I think they're playing Newark Charter, right? This this Friday. So, we'll all be there for that. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you so much. >> All right. >> Actually, I will. Um, not a question, but a comment for all three of the schools. I'm going to issue a challenge to stump Mr. Jordan next month. And make sure you scrub the calendar, scrub the athletic achievements for the month, and
024see if you can stump him. All right. Thank you. And as always, if uh the students need have work that they need to get done tonight, we understand if you need to head out. >> Thank you. >> All right. And that'll uh lead us to Dr. Lawson with the monthly superintendent report. >> Good evening, President Heler, members of the board, and members of our audience and community. As we continue our focus on student outcomes data this month, we focus on our students with the most intensive and complex needs who are eligible for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act or IDIA. This month we will be looking at two different data sets that should have to some degree a correlational relationship. The first data set shows the changes in enrollment numbers of students
025with intensive and complex educational and medical needs who qualify for services through an IEP or an individualized education plan. The second data set examines the number of students in the district who are eligible to participate in the state's alternative assessments for ELA and math. These students are on track to receive a diploma of alternative achievement standards from the district due to extensive modifications of grade level curriculum and standards. The number of students enrolled in Brandy Wine School District with complex and intensive educational needs has more than doubled from 538 students in school year 19 to 1,120 in school year 26. To qualify for the category of complex or intense requires a verification process through the state department of education in which a team of education professionals examines the services and supports provided to a student
026that is also outlined clearly in their IEP. Some of the requirements are the need for smaller adult student ratios, small groupoup or one-on-one assistance, need for assistive technology or instructional assistance, the need for extended services beyond the regular school day or year, the need for related services or health services like occupational or physical therapy or nursing services or or mental health therapy services and or a need for non-rine or adaptations. to the curriculum or the educational environment. So when the educational teams begin to adapt or modify significantly grade level curriculum and instruction to accommodate a student's needs, it becomes more challenging for that student to be successful on the grade level smarter balanced assessment that is given to all students annually in the spring since it measures the students mastery of grade level standards. So
027once educational teams and parents decide that significant modifications to the regular education curriculum is required for extended time periods, there is a consideration by the team as to whether the student qualifies for the alternative achievement assessments standards and thus the alternate diploma. So let's pause for a moment and look at the second data set. The second set of data shows the number of students whose educational teams, including parents, determined that they should take the alternate assessment for ELA and math since 2018. Remember that students who take the alternate assessments are receiving significantly modified grade level curriculum. You'll notice that there's an inverse relationship between the number of students who have intense and complex needs in our district and the number of students whose educational teams have determined that the alternate achievement assessments and diploma is
028the best first for a student. One would think that if the complexity of students and needs were increasing, then the number of students who require alternative assessments, modifications of standards, and alternative diplomas would also increase. But that is not the case here. Federal law requires that states assess only 1% or fewer of the student population and tested grades on an assessment of alternate standards. So regardless of the number of students that any given district has who are categorized intense or complex, regardless of the level of need they have, we are only permitted to have 1% of them participate in alternate assessments, alternate standards, and eventually earning an alternate diploma. So, if a district exceeds the 1% cap, they are sanctioned by the Delaware Department of Education and placed in corrective action to fix the issue.
029You'll notice a significant drop in BSD's numbers of students taking alternative assessments in school year 21. This is because the state of Delaware was under corrective action from the US DOE for not meeting the 1% requirement cap as a whole state. Please note that Brandy Wine has met the 1% cap since 2018, but other districts in the state did not. To comply with the federal requirement, Delaware had to create a new 15-point alternate assessment identification tool that significantly reduced the number of students who qualified to participate, which dropped our numbers by almost 2third since school year 18. Last year, only42% of Brandy Wine students qualified to participate in the alternate assessment. To summarize the data shared here, our district has more than doubled in the number of students who need intense or complex levels of
030service under federal and state special education regulations. Yet, the number of students eligible to take alternative assessments and earn an alternative achievement diploma has shrunk by 2/3. This means that 99.6 6% of our student population, regardless of their level of need, disabling condition, or years below grade level, are being asked to take their grade level assessment annually for state reporting purposes. Thank you to the many families who spent Sunday, November 2nd, with us for high school visitation day. With nearly 300 families in attendance, our open houses were a great success. Our high school shined as they showcased their academic programs, athletics, pathway opportunities, visual and performing arts, and more. A special thank you goes to the dedicated staff and students who planned and hosted these events, ensuring our prospective families could see what makes BSD
031truly exceptional. Thank you to all of the families who joined us yesterday for our middle school visitation day. We were excited to welcome current and prospective BSD families to PS Springer and Tally to explore the incredible programs and opportunities available in each of those buildings. Throughout the afternoon, families toured classrooms, connected with school leaders and staff, and learned more about our academic pathways, gifted education services, the middle year's IB programs, Spanish immersion offerings, and the wide array of clubs, activities, athletics, and performing and visual arts that help students grow both in and out of the classroom. We too are grateful to those teachers, staff members, and student ambassadors for creating a warm, informative, and engaging experience for the visitors. Their dedication showcased what makes our middle schools welcoming, supportive, and focused on each child's success.
032Last week, dozens of Brandy Wine School District staff and several staff members of our board of education came together for a round of volleyball games at Springer Middle School, part of our seasonal tradition that brings colleagues together to team up, have fun, and enjoy a little friendly competition. This BSD tradition started in the 2223 school year with building administrators and staff facing off against each other in basketball. Now in its fourth year, it has grown into a district-wide series featuring fall, winter, and spring matchups with participants across BSD. To everyone who joined in for a great evening of teamwork, laughter, and community, including several of our board members here, thank you for always exemplifying what proud to be truly means. Lastly, this evening, I would like to announce that our December 8th board workshop right
033here in the MPR at MPE will include a presentation from the co-chairpersons of the Reading Consortium, Senator Elizabeth Lochman and former Lieutenant Governor Matt Den. Concluding their presentation, there will be an open question and answer session with our board of education. There will also be an opportunity for public comment following that discussion. We encourage the BSD community to come out in person or participate virtually in this very important session regarding the future of our district. A reminder that a final vote on a governance model of the reading consortium will be held on December 16th, 2025. Finally tonight, we're proud to share a brief video highlighting two outstanding educators from PS Dupont Middle School, a husband and wife team who were instrumental in bringing the BSD gifted program to the middle school level. Mr. and Mrs.
034Fitzu's dedication has expanded opportunities for our students and strengthened our academic pathways. Please enjoy the video. So, we're going to take a look at sequences today to figure out what are some different types of sequences. I'm Sabrina Fitzu and um I teach at PS Dupont in the gifted services for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. >> And I'm Jamie Fitzu and I also teach at PS Dupont Middle School uh seventh and eighth grade math in the gifted services program. >> So, I started in 1997 at Springer Middle School. Um and he started in 1997 at Hamby Middle School when it was a middle school. So, we were sent to a math conference um in Maryland and then we actually met there. >> But that was a great opportunity the district gave us for all of our
035the math teachers to kind of mingle together. Um we started becoming friends and eventually we started dating. >> Yeah. >> So 16 years ago they reconfigured everything for middle school. uh and that actually then coincided with uh the district deciding to extend the gifted services >> and this was the place to come where there was opening. So he and I both came here and we have been here ever since. >> The algebraic rule, we've talked about this before. >> It was really an opportunity when gifted services opened up to sixth grade. How could we build a three-year program that would really hit 5 years of of standards? And then we had the opportunity to be able to really write, revise, and and and put out a program that I believe that has has served the
036community well. You know, I appreciate that freedom and and the trust the Brandandy School District has given us to revise that and take care of the kids. We have two boys ourselves and one came through this program in middle school and we got to see what he was able to get and where he went beyond that. And I think that has helped just keep us keep me focused and keep us focused on what is our goals for these kids leading to high school because ultimately we want them to do the best they can in high school and beyond and have every single door open to them in the meantime. and you have to determine everything that has to go into play with this. >> We have two gifted services teachers for each subject. So there's
037eight of us. All of them care about the kids in in the program and and honestly all of them care about the kids in this school. They are trying to make the school better and also our program better at the same time. >> At this point we are the only middle school in Brain School District that participates in Delaware Math League. We're the only BSD school that part uh participates in the math counts competitions. Uh we do have uh the Odyssey to mind programs, science olympiad, miss professional BPA competitions. We have a lot of students that kind of anchor positions in our in our coral and and our uh orchestra and our and our band. Uh the musicals that that we have, everything just allows the building to have a more cohesive feel. It just
038it makes the school more rich uh and diverse by having this program. All right. So I like your calculation. Just make sure we put in the right. >> I'm proud to be BSD. Uh that because for 28 years uh I have felt supported and I appreciate the fact that uh not everything has to be so rigid that the flexibility and the creativity has been um given to me to be able to work with the kids and give my kids what they need the most. I'm proud to be BSD uh because they gave me my start in teaching. I have been allowed to do what I thought was best for the students in front of me at the time. And for 28 years, it has been a lot of students that I have seen. Um and
039I'm thankful that people believed in me and to continue to respect what I do and appreciate what I can bring to the table in every job I do in BSD. President Heler, that concludes my monthly report. >> Thank you. Before I go to the board for questions, I had two uh statements. One, you mentioned the visitation days and I just wanted to share just the number of students who participated to show off their schools. um I think was extraordinary and and just you know I speak I think it speaks volumes to what BSD means to them that they took time out of their Sundays to talk to potential students about why they should choose their school. Um and then you had mentioned the uh workshop on December 8th with the reading consortium presentation. I just
040have a personal um I I want to urge everyone here and on Zoom and all your friends um to please try to come out and attend that meeting in person. This the Ready Consortium's work will be the biggest change to public education in Delaware in a lot of our lifetimes. And um I think there will be a you know a way to attend that meeting via Zoom of course, but I think having this room full of BSD families that can see firsthand what the presentation from the Reading Consortium is and have their questions heard, I think will go a long way in showing that the board has the community behind them if there are concerns versus um kind of a virtual attendance that the senator won't be able to see in person. So, it's my
041hope that we have a large in-person showing that night that we'll be able to ask questions uh or at least make public comment about um to share their questions and concerns about the potential redistricting. I believe this might be the last opportunity to make public comment before the final votes taken. Um, so it's it's my hope that that the BSD community shows up uh in person to just send that message that as we move forward that when we're speaking to the consortium representatives that there is the community behind us. Um, any other comments or questions from the board? >> I would just say in addition to that, you know, not just the BSD community, but tell your friends, tell your neighbors. You know, this has financial implications for our entire taxpaying public that is part
042of Brandy Wine School District. So, not just school families, but uh this hopefully I I would hope that would be important to uh everyone that lives uh within our boundaries. >> So, uh Mr. President, I wonder if there's an appetite um at that meeting to increase the the time for a public speaker because right now we limit it to two minutes if we would want to increase that um to allow you know more more comment from people. >> My my one concern is that I hope that there will be 100 public speakers and I'm concerned that extra minute will turn into hours. Um that's my concern. I don't don't know what the rest of the board's feeling is my my um my opinion would be that we don't limit the total amount of time, but
043I'm concerned I I would hope I would hope that a lot of people show up and have questions or comments. So, I I I'm concerned a little bit about >> I would think there's flexibility that we could extend it at the you know the day of if we if we weren't overrun with numbers and you wanted to give some you know people extra time. We're not bound by that. So, >> good point. Any other thoughts? >> Yeah, I I share Mr. Jordan's hope that people will have more than two minutes to express their uh opinions and also to ask some telling questions and follow-up questions. >> Um I will share to to clarify that um that it is a regular meeting so it's a it's a public comment session. It won't be a question and
044answer session. Um I do want to just Dr. Dr. Lawson and I spoke briefly today about maybe updating the agenda so that the the board will be able to ask the presenters questions, right? And then perhaps we'll do public comment and then perhaps another round of the board being able to ask questions to the presenters so that if there's things we hear in public comment, we have the opportunity to make sure they're addressed if there's common themes or >> in in that case. I I I would urge the public who may be interested in this issue to get some questions to us that we may not u think about so that we can pose them for and expect an answer from our our our visitors. >> That's a great suggestion too. Yes, feel free to
045email. I think it's just boardbsd.k12.de us. Any other uh questions or comments for Dr. Lson? Right. That brings us to public comment. I believe there's no inerson or virtual comments. Okay, that brings us to board business. First is Mr. Acriman, DSBA executive committee. The DSBA executive committee did not meet, but on November 5th, we did have a workshop uh where we featured uh someone from First Educate to talk about their mini grants. We also had Kristen Pigeon from the Bo Biden Protection of Children Foundation come and give a presentation to us and explain the work that the foundation is doing. And then we also had a presentation from the National School Board Association to tell us the kind of things that they can do to help board members, webinars, uh you know, different things, the
046annual meeting coming up, the advocacy institute in January. It was very well attended. We had about 50 people there. U Mr. Lavoy and I were able to attend. Um, I'm sorry more board members who are not able to attend and help support uh Kristen Pigeon who was a former board member here in Brandy Wine for I think at least 10 years, but it was a great evening for all and um we will resume our regular executive board meetings in January. >> Thank you. And do you know off hand where is the NSBA convention? >> San Antonio. Great. Uh Mr. Lavoy, the SBA legislative. >> Uh the SBA legislative committee has not met since October 1st. Um but the next meeting, which of course is open, is the 4th of uh February in 2026, so stay
047tuned. >> Thank you. District Finance Committee, Mr. Scrubot. >> Uh yes, the District Finance Committee met on Wednesday, November 12th. Uh we reviewed the October 31st monthly financial report that Mr. McCoy will present shortly. Uh as well as the committee discussed the volunteer submissions uh for new new members of the committee that were shared with uh the board here and will be presented uh later as well by Mr. McCoy for acceptance. Uh there was some lengthy discussion regarding the uh tax bill updates. I believe the special session either had just finished earlier that day or uh there was still some question on um actual billing dates on when they would be shipped out and due uh some of the implications there uh regarding our revenue collections yearto date compared with past years. Uh Mr. McCoy
048can elaborate on that uh and some discussion about the reading consortium. So I'm glad uh Dr. Lawson put that in the superintendent report and Mr. Heler your comments about encouraging people to come out uh because the committee is uh really looking at the financial implications. Uh it's hard to do that because one of the areas that I personally think the reading consortium has been lacking has been in their uh efforts to uh put a financial price tag on this before they narrow down to uh their recommendation. uh seems to me that should have gone hand inand and should be a deciding factor in which uh which model they are going to move forward on. Uh so I think when it comes to you know the cost of just executing such an elaborate uh undertaking across
049multiple districts um we've said in several you know meetings here publicly that I think it was 2016 the prior version of uh WEAK uh had a price tag somewhere around $und00 million. Uh we know that uh the tax base for Christina once they uh exit the city footprint, you know, is roughly $23 million. Um and we haven't really gotten I don't think we've gotten clear answers on how that is going to be funded at the state level or shared amongst the districts or the receiving districts or the exiting districts. So, uh, another important reason for not just our BSD families to come out here on the 8th, but also, um, members of the community at large. So, our next meeting will be Wednesday, December 10th, 5:00 p.m. here, district office. Thank you. Um, next is
050Health and Wellness Advisory Committee. That's me. Um, we have not met this school year, but we are meeting. Our first meeting of the year will be this Thursday, the 20th at 4 p.m. Maintenance advisory. Mr. Njimmyi, >> our last meeting was on October 27th. I was not able to make it. Uh, however, during that meeting, I was uh informed by Mr. Reid that our cert our certificate of necessity had yet again been rejected by the state to no one's surprise. Uh, also we reviewed the plan for minor cap improvements for projects for uh, 2026. Uh, the next meeting will be on December 2nd at 6 p.m. at Harland Elementary. >> Thank you. Then uh, Mr. Jordan, parent council for students with disabilities. >> Thank you. Um, if you remember my last readout, one of the
051concerns that we had was participation, and I'm happy to report that we had uh, almost doubled participation at our last meeting. So, uh, we met in this room on November 10th, 2025, and the goal was to continue with our collaboration and partnership between families in the district. Um, we opened with introductions and an overview of the IEP process, uh, and provided families with an understanding of how individualized supports are developed and implemented in the district. Um, and then after that presentation, there were some breakout sessions, uh, where families could participate. Um, and there are teams from, excuse me, Brandy Wine Specialized Instruction and Resources for Reading and Math, the Delaware Developmental Disabilities Council, and Legal Rights Delaware. Um, it ended with a raffle for some really nice flower arrangements um, and another way to induce
052people to attend the next meeting. Um, we do have transportation, there's light refreshments, and most importantly, there's child care available. Um, we will meet again on January 26, 2026, right here, 5:30 to 6:30. And related to that, I'd mention um later this week on November 20th, the Newcastle County School District's transition workshop is sponsoring a Zoom meeting um called a night with DART and paratransit for students with disabilities. Um so I'd encourage anyone to attend uh by Zoom. There's a link on the district's website through the uh the calendar. Look for November 20th. Thanks. >> Thank you. Let's see. That brings us to parent and citizens advisory committee. Miss Doc, >> uh yes, we had our last meeting October 23rd. It was a very robust meeting uh right here in this room. Um our topics
053uh were the uh reassessment as well as an overview of the writing consortium. Um many people in the room it was like the first time that they had heard about um some of the proposals from the writing consortium. Obviously there was a lot of concerns, a lot of questions. Um it was a very very well attended uh meeting. Um our next meeting is in January. I'm trying to remember what the date is. 203rd maybe 22nd 20. Hold on just one second. It is in January >> 29th. January 29th. It will be Yep. It will be in this room. And And uh once again um we were really encouraged by um a lot of new faces. Um our committee has done a really really good job uh putting uh the presentations together and bringing uh relevant
054um even if sometimes difficult topics. Um so yeah, lots of good comments. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Nimmy, Wilmington Learning Collaborative. >> Yes. One moment we No, that was a month before. Uh, we had our most recent meeting on November 5th. um approval of last minute the meeting of the last minutes presentation by uh Dr. Smith uh from Harland was very uh very positive there was also uh presentations from uh the leadership of Palaski Stubs and Shortidge and uh you know I'd say Harland did very well compared to all of the schools and they've been doing very it's been doing very well compared to all of the schools in the WLC. So just something to keep in mind. Uh there was also a presentation by Flux Space um which was basically a provider or a vendor
055of uh educational spaces specifically for STEM and it was something that the WLC was looking to at least investigate and see. The interesting part about it was that it was going to be tailored or it can be tailored specifically for each school's need and each school's physical space. So it's an interesting idea. I don't know how much is going to come to fruition, but it's definitely a uh a resource, a potential resource for the students and the schools at uh in the WLC. That's it. >> Thank you. And uh finally, Mr. Lavoy 91.7 WH. >> Thank you. Uh they have hold three meetings a year. the advisory board for WH, the Mount Pleasant studentrun student centered radio station 91.7. Uh they met on the 10th of November at 6 p.m. at the radio station itself.
056Uh and there were a couple of highlights from the past couple of months. Five students and Mr. Wishingrad, who runs the station and is a faculty member at Mount Pleasant, successfully aired the Mount Pleasant High School homecoming football game on 9:27 in real time. um they continue to make techn technological improvements regularly thanks to donations of equipment from other stations and from career and technical education programs. Uh Mr. Wishing has come to an agreement also with Delaware public media about airing two of their programs on WPH which happened on November 15th and number six and November 16th. In exchange for that airtime, two of our Brandy Wine School District student journalist pathway completers will be given a semesterl long internship with the Delaware Public Media and their staff oversee developing, pitching, researching, investigating, script writing,
057recording, interviewing, mixing, and editing stories that air on their statewide DPM network and of course on WPH. And as you can see, that's a valuable experience for our students to have. In addition to that, the Brandy Wine School District and Wilmington University have finalized an agreement to create a pathway for students in our journalism program to earn up to nine college credits for the coursework they do here at Mount Pleasant High School. Mr. Wishing is also preparing materials for a future station manager and broadcast journalism teacher as he plans his retirement. Paul and other members of the advisory board are sending out feelers right now for possible candidates to fill that unique role. We're searching for an experienced journalist who wishes to transition to education or a certified teacher of journalism interested in managing and
058programming a thriving student centered radio station. The next triannual WPH advisory board meeting is scheduled for Monday, March the 9th at 6 PM at Mount Pleasant High School and will also be available on Zoom. Those meetings are of course open to the public, so stay tuned. And remember to tune in to Super 91.7 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. >> You're welcome. >> Are there any additional board member reports? >> I have one additional item, just something I heard uh on the news on the radio on the car ride over here. I wanted to take a moment uh and acknowledge the passing of one of the Claymont 12.
059Uh Bernice Victoria Sandy Burch Couch uh was one of the 12 black students who desegregated Claymont High School in 1952. She passed away on November 13th at the young age of 84. Uh on September 4th, 1952, she took her place amongst the Claymont 12 and entered Claymont High School, making it the first public high school in the 17 legally segregated states to integrate two full years before Brown versus Board of Education. Uh her enrollment as part of the claim on 12 followed the Delaware case Ghart versus Belton, the only one of the Brown companion cases in which state courts ordered immediate desegregation. She went on to graduate from Claymont High School and carried that legacy into a life of education, service, and justice. 1990, she earned a master's degree in humor human services from Lincoln
060University at nearly 50 years old, a testament to her lifelong belief that purpose has no age limit. She went on to become the director of Atlantic City Detox, where she helped countless individuals heal, recover, and rebuild their lives. Throughout her life, she remained active in civic engagement, faith, community empowerment, education, and public service. She will be remembered as a civil rights trailblazer, a lifelong learner, a leader in human services, a woman of strong faith, a voice for healing and justice, and a fearless, joyful, brilliant spirit. So, just wanted us all to take a moment and uh recognize her place in not only American history uh but BST history. So, Miss Bernice Victoria Sandy Bird Couch, member of the Climon 12. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other board reports? >> President Heler, did you
061want to comment about the the meeting uh that Melanie Ross Levin held Brandy Wine Library wherein you made a presentation about the Reading Consortium? Um and there was a spade of people there, but almost none of them had heard about the Reading Consortium. Uh >> yeah, and that's um yes, we were invited to speak uh at Representative Ross Leavvin's community meeting and and I think that's the theme, which is why we're going to try to make sure we advertise this December 8th meeting heavily, but that the theme does seem to be as we were talking about the redistricting initiatives that almost no one in the room had ever even heard um that this was happening even though we're just few weeks from a final uh recommendation moving forward on the redistricting plan, but uh there
062was a lot of very interesting dialogue. Um there was some former BSD teachers in the room, which was interesting, retired teachers. So um but but that does seem to be the the theme that um even though this has been a several years long process that most people you speak to are hearing about it for the first time and that resonated in that room as well. So hopefully this December 8th meeting is an opportunity to at least change that in our district. Mr. Jordan. >> Uh, thanks. I I just wanted to make a couple of announcements to the families out there. First, for the middle school families, um, again, if you go to the Brandy Wine calendar, there's a lot of good information there. But, um, on the 20th, uh, this week on Thursday at PS
063Dupant, 6:00 to 8:00. Um, information for middle school gifted program. Um, and then for our high school families, this is critical. um this week at Conquer November 19th at 6:30. Bring your own device, uh Chromebook, laptop, whatever. Um and there will be help there to help fill out FAFSA for colleges, which means that helps you pay your way through college. So very critical. If you miss that one, um there's another one this year at Brandy Wine High School December 10th at 6:30. That's all. >> Thank you. Any other board member reports? All right, that'll bring us to item six, consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved, >> Mr. Scarbot, Mr. Scarbot, and Mr. Lavoy. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. Item seven, personnel
064matters. Is there a motion to accept the monthly personnel report as discussed in executive session? >> Motion. >> Second, >> Mr. Ni and Mr. Scrobot. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed or abstensions? >> Motion carries. >> Item eight, student matters. Is there a motion to approve the choice application and denials that were discussed in executive session? >> So moved. >> Mr. Acriman second. >> Second. Mr. Scrobot. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed or abstensions? Motion carries. That brings us to old business. Um the superintendent evaluation instrument and we discussed this at the last board workshop and a copy uh is in board docs for you. There there are two updates since the previous board meeting in October. I'm trying to pull it up but it won't pull up. Um there it goes.
065So the the two updates are page two was added which I get there. There we go. Which has the descriptors for needs improvement on track and strong that were approved by the board on November 7th of 2024. Um, so that was added for some guidance. And then for each goal, the weight of that goal that was approved by the board also on that November 7th, 2024 meeting has been added next to the goal number. So for goal one, you can see that's 20% weight. Um, so that way when you're completing the evaluation, you have the weight right there on the evaluation instrument. And with that, is uh there a motion to approve the superintendent evaluation instrument for the 2024 2025 evaluation period? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Scurbot, second by
066Mr. Acrian. Any discussion? >> Is there going to be a word copy that we'll be able to work with versus a PDF? I mean, it's fine PDF in here, >> but I don't think you want to read my handwriting. >> Yeah. So once uh once this is approved tonight, I will send both a PDF and a word copy to everybody along with a direct link to the evaluation data that Superintendent Lawson has been compiling for us all of the previous school year. Sound good? Any other questions, comments, or discussion? Not all in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed or abstained? Motion carries. Brings us to 9B. Uh Mr. Acriman second read of the policy review committee. >> Yeah. And you have a copy um in the agenda and essentially it's a tracked word copy uh
067shows you. >> Hello. Okay. uh just that very last um number five and just rewarded that to establish a committee for policy review. I'll make a motion we accept the revisions. >> Motion by Mr. Arian. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Jordan. Um, I just have one question and I think my my word is acting up. Who um who are the stakeholders on the committee? >> Uh, it'll be established by the board in conjunction with the superintendent. The board president will appoint the board members and any other stakeholders to participate in review. Each policy shall be reviewed annually and revisions will be referred to the board for review, discussion, and adoption. >> Okay. For some reason, I'm not seeing the red part on my screen. I don't know why. >> Okay. Perfect. Any
068other questions or comments? >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed or abstained? >> Motion carries. Um, for item 9C, which is the draft of facilities use, I'm going to recuse myself from uh this discussion and vote. I volunteer for a nonprofit that uses BSD facilities for our programming. Um, so I don't want there to have any appearance of a conflict. So, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Scorbot for this item. So, at last month's meeting, Mr. Rivera uh reviewed, outlined um the policy. Um, it's been shared with the uh with the board. Um, is there a motion to Is there a motion on the floor to accept or reject or >> move to accept? >> I second. >> Motion, Mr. Acriman. Second, Mr. Lavoy. Any discussion? >> I I just
069want to say I think this is very thoughtful. this has been very well um just examined and a lot of care has been put into this. So I I think that uh this isn't slap dash or this isn't um uh this this is well done and I appreciate that. >> And I'd like to add to that that it's not only well done to preserve our our own properties for our own students and staff, but it's very considerate of our neighbors who might use this who are not a part of the Brandy School District. >> So it's being a good neighbor. Great. >> Fantastic. We have a motion and a second. Uh, all those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed or abstensions? >> I'm going to abstain for the same reason that
070President Hower said I also volunteer for a group that uses our facilities. So, I will abstain. >> Okay. Uh, Mr. Harris, can we do a roll call? >> Mr. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> I'm going to abstain. Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Abstain. Five to obtain. >> Motion carries. Thank you very much, Miss Harris. Back to you, Mr. Heler. >> Okay, that brings us Thank you to 10A, Mr. McCoy. The district finance committee volunteer approval. Good evening, Board President Heler, Vice President Scrobot, Superintendent Dr. Lawson, board members, and remaining audience members. During the month of September, the district finance committee began the process of seeking new members to join the committee. An advertisement to apply for the DFC was posted at the school buildings,
071on BSD social media, and in the local newspapers. A selection committee consisting of two DFC members reviewed uh unfortunately, we only received three applications. So, they reviewed the three applications that that we received. The selection committee elected to move forward with two of the candidates. The third candidate was already involved in various committees in the district, so we spared them from being a member of the DFC. Um the the applications of the two candidates have been previously sent to board members for your review. Um because they contain personal information, they're not um attachments to the board agenda. The applicants put forward by the DFC selection committee to be approved by the school board are Mossumi Badachari, a district parent with 17 years of experience in the banking industry, and Jeff Vyer, a former transportation supervisor
072for Brandy Wine School District. Both candidates were approved by the full district finance committee at the November 12th meeting. Okay. So, we need a uh approval of the board for Mr. Vyer and Mrs. Badachari. >> Move to accept. >> So moved. >> All right. Motion by Mr. Lavoy. Was that a second, Mr. >> Second by Mr. Aerman? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed or abstained? >> Motion carries. And uh item B, Mr. and record you the October 31st monthly financial report. >> Yep. There's a lot going on this month, so I apologize in advance. And feel free to stop me at any time if you have questions, comments, or concerns. Uh so we'll start on page one of the October 31st, 2025 monthly financial report. Uh this month we can really see the
073negative impact that the delayed tax deadlines are causing to our revenues. The new tax payment deadline is now December 31st. Newcastle County sent out an FAQs last week and they anticipate that they'll have our new bills sent out by November 20th. Uh so we may not see a large portion of our real estate tax revenue until January. On the first line, the current expense tax receipts, you can see where we are this year compared to last year. $25 million collected this year compared to $68 million at this time last year. Um, additionally, and most important, the most impactful to the BSD budget is the fact that the delayed tax receipts have had a substantial negative impact on our interest revenue. Uh, the second line on the first page. So, we're no longer on track to
074meet the $1.96 million that was budgeted for interest revenue with the delayed tax receipts and declining interest rates. A more accurate budget number, which you'll see on the final budget when I present it in December, is around $1.3 to $1.4 million. And that's conservative. That's estimated with um our rate, which is at 4.8 right now going down to 4.25 25 as the year continues on. I don't think we'll reach that level, but um just keeping it conservative at this point. An additional additional item of note in the local funds section on October 31st, the district approved its payment to charter schools for the year. The payout will be $7.09 million compared to 6.109 million last year. That's an increase of $981,000. The large increase is due to a combination of issu issues. First, we had
075increased spending in fiscal year 25 due to passing the referendum um that that allowed our expenses to increase as our tax revenues increased and that was factored into the tuition calculation for uh the rate per student. Second, while we only had seven additional students at charter schools compared to last year, we have less students in the lower tier, the lower cost category, and more students in the higher cost category. So, the lower cost category is uh suition of $5,000. The higher cost can uh climb up to around $30,000. Uh, and all those changes will be included in the the details of the final budget presentation where I'll actually lay out what category what level each student is falls into and how that impacts the total payout. >> Mr. McCoy, can I ask a question here
076before we get too far in? >> Are we holding that charter school payment until we receive the tax revenue? >> That's a good question. We have not held back the charter school payment. So, the first uh payment was due October 31st. It had to be approved October 31st. So, I approved it on October 31st and it came out of our funds uh the week after that. Uh the state has set up a way for us to utilize state funds while we don't have our tax receipts and we are going to use the state funds to pay the charter bills until we receive our tax receipts. >> Okay. Two follow-up questions that one is are those charter payments state statutory? >> Uh I believe so. >> Okay. >> And then um the state funds we're using,
077do we have to pay interest back on? >> No. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I have a question. >> Sure. >> Uh you you mentioned you mentioned the figure of 7.09 million. >> Mhm. >> Okay. Maybe I'm misreading. What line is that? Because I see 6.130 million. The 6.130 is the current year budget amount and so far we don't we're just on the preliminary budget. We don't have the final budget. When you when we pass the final budget, that number will be updated. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And as we make our payments, you'll see in the received column that the payments will start to show up in that column. So right now the payment I pressed the button on October 31st but the payment didn't come out of our account until November. So it
078doesn't show up on our October financial report and you'll see the impacts of the delayed tax collections and the increased charter costs when we look at the cash flow statement at the end of this report. >> Mr. could you just go over that one more time because it is a little bit complicated because everything on the budget column except for charter is not in parenthesis >> and then I'm then will but everything in the received also isn't in parenthesis when we receive the charter funds when we make payments for the charter funds that's when that'll go into received. >> Yes. >> That that number will show up in received. >> Yep. So, >> okay, >> the charter payment is um it's not an expense, so it wouldn't show up on our expenditure reports, which are
079on the next few pages. It's an a deduction of our local cash balances. So, they they don't call it an expense. They just show it as they show it as an offset to our >> uh basically our real estate taxes. So that's why everything is a positive number because there are revenues and the charter expense is a transfer of our money out. So that's a negative number. >> Okay. >> That makes sense. >> And when it starts to get transferred, it will also be a negative number in the received column. >> Okay. >> It's basically an offset to our tax revenues. >> Got it. Okay. So >> and you'll see that again in the cash flows when we have a negative number for revenues. >> Okay. Sounds good. Just want to make sure that uh
080that was >> good question. >> Clearly understood. Thank you. All right, moving on to page two. Uh there's two things uh worth mentioning on page two. The first is in the middle of the page in the match tax section. The enhanced MCI which is um minor cap improvements received from the state. We received the money that is $1.092 million. uh these funds are for minor minor capital improvements and this will come up again when we look at the expenditure side of things and we look at the facilities budget. The second item of note is that our federal funds were received during the month of October. So you can see in the federal section that now every they're all 100% received. I'll just keep on moving if there's no questions. So moving on to page three,
081expenditures, salaries in line lines one and two are at 33.44% obligated compared to 30.17% last year. And this is because October had three pay dates. So we're actually one pay ahead ahead of where we were at this time last year. Additional lines that jump out are line 11, student support services. the amount obligated is well ahead of last year and this is because last year's numbers include a partial PO whereas this year's numbers are all full POS. Um so in the beginning of the year we do partial POS so that we can help we don't tie up a bunch of our cash in case we run into a scenario like this where cash flows are a little limited. Um so at this time last year we still had partial POS but this time the current
082year some of those partial POS are now full POS and they encumber a lot of funds whereas last year those funds weren't encumbered. Uh this was that is a line that was over budget last year. We put additional funds into it this year to make up for that. So I expect that it should be well under budget this year. Line 16, facilities management. Um, now that we've received our enhanced MCI funds, minor cap funds that I mentioned on our revenue side of things, uh, the facilities department can utilize those funds rather than our local funds in the facilities management budget line. And already in November, we have moved about $200,000 worth of expenses out of the facilities line that you see here and into the enhanced minor cap line. Line 22, safety and security. Uh
083in previous months this line was low because we were waiting for the SRO purchase order to be entered. The SRO's are the police officers that are in our school buildings. That purchase order has now been entered. Um yet our obligated amount is still low compared to the prior year and this is because we have replaced a few of our SRO's with constables. Um so the purchase order is much lower than it was in previous years. However, as we pay our constables throughout the year, you'll see the expended amount start to rise up to levels consistent with prior years. Uh, moving on to page four, line 29, the special education tuition tax. The spending is the spending this year is ahead of last year. Uh I took a deep dive into the numbers and it showed
084that the increase is largely attributable to the July and August ESY program. Uh the program was overstaffed. Dr. Hes has already initiated corrective measures to prevent a recurrence of a recurrence of this for summer 2027. Several of these measures are currently in effect and are supporting co cost containment during the school year. These actions include comprehensive invoice audits, clear expectations with contractors regarding billing parameters and on-site responsibilities, and strengthened oversight of contracted direct adult support assigned to students, specifically those students, those supports stemming from behavioral needs. Mr. McCoy, I just want to add here that we do staff summer programs according to the students that we think will attend, but we cannot compel parents to send children to summer programming. And so we will we will adjust, but we always staff for the number of
085students who we anticipate or who have said that they will be attending. So that's always a difficult thing for us. McCoy, can I can I just ask you to look at uh line 28 and why there was such a drastic reduction um from last year to this year. It's almost a third of what last year was. >> The uh special ed unique alternatives >> that is because we are so unique alternatives is um a tough one to explain. So, we received the money from the state. So, we received this year's money, but we're spending last year's money. We're kind of in a one-year delay of the money that we're spending. So, what you see on here is what we expect to spend out of the fiscal year 26 monies. It's not the full amount of
086fiscal year 26 money that we will receive, but it's the amount that we expect to to spend. So, if we flipped back to the revenues page, the unique alternatives amount, I believe, is um n probably in the $900,000 range. >> Is that state funds? >> Yeah, categorical state funds. It's in the middle. It's $941,000. So, we'll receive $941,000 from the state for fiscal year 26, but we'll only spend $441,000 is what the reports are saying. >> And remember to, Mr. Lavoy, it is a 7030 split. So, these are students who are attending private placements outside of the district. The state approves those students. So, they pay 70% of the bill for the students private placement. We only pay the 30% local share. >> Thank you. All right, moving on to page five. It shows the
087individual building spending. I have really no concerns about this page. In fact, things look like they're going very smoothly. Uh we've the buildings have spent $764,000 compared to $913,000 from this time last year. Page six is the prior year expenditure report. The largest change from last month is line 19, the long range plan. This was a large technology purchase that we that finally arrived and was paid for in October, moving the $844,000 from encumbered to expended. For the rest of the report, the business office continues to check the encumbered amounts to make sure the purchases are still accurate and still plan to be purchased. And if they're not, we unencumber the funds and it frees them up to um be spent elsewhere. All right. And then moving on to page seven, it's the cash flow
088statement. This is where things get a little interesting because of the delayed tax receipts. So we have actual numbers from July through October. November numbers factor in what's already happened in the early stages of the month. And then the projected numbers are for the remaining months. If you look at November in the middle section showing the revenues, you can see that we have negative revenues of $253,000. This is because of what we talked about earlier about um our our tax receipts are $2.1 million, but those tax receipts are offset by our first charter payment transfer of $2.35 million. So because that charter transfer is an offset of our revenues that shows up in the revenue section as a negative. So it looks like we've received negative revenues for the month. The bulk of our tax
089receipts are projected to be received in January. If you look at the top of January, the local funds balance is negative. because of the delayed tax receipts, we will not have enough local funding to cover our expenses. Um, and this is where the state stepped in. So, as I mentioned, the state has established ways for Newcastle County school districts to utilize state monies until tax receipts are received. BSD started utilizing state funds last week. um not because we're out of our local funds at this point, but rather as a way to preserve sufficient funds and as an attempt to maximize the interest revenue that we in we get back on those funds. The last thing to point out is that the projected ending balance has decreased from where it was last month. I believe in
090prior reports it was um at 8.4 million and now it's at 8.2. too. Uh this is because of uh the the lack of interest revenue that we anticipated and the charter costs rising compared to last year. Uh with that said, I'm waiting on the Newcastle County uh I'm waiting on Newcastle County to provide provide me with up-to-date tax files. Um those files should include growth that's happened in the district. Um, as well as I don't know if you guys paid attention to the lawsuits that were going on, but there were some property mclassifications that were discovered throughout the process and the other side's lawyer put together a listing of the additional revenues that that would bring to school districts and it said that we would get $135,000 in additional revenue. So, when I have a
091file from the county, I'll see if that actually comes to fruition. Um, also I the thing that we can control on here that I I put on the cash flows in a very conservative way are the expenditures. Um, so since we can control those if we continue to lag behind the benchmark of $8.8 million, uh, we'll need to find ways to limit ancillary spending. I don't think we're at that point. I don't think we'll get to that point. I'm very hopeful that the 8.2 two you see here will rise up to the 8.8 where we need it to be but we always have um that in our toolbox to look at the expenditures a little closer. So the DFC approved the October 31st 2025 monthly financial report at their November 12th meeting. And if there
092are any questions, >> I might have asked something similar a couple months ago, but so with the adjustments that you think are going to happen and um maybe looking at expenditures a little bit, do you think that as we go through the year, our projected balance is going to get back closer to 8.8? And if not, what does that mean for the three hopefully four years out of the referendum that we had hoped to get? I do think that we'll get to the 8.8. Um, if we don't get there, we would likely get an one more year out of our current situation and then have and look at a referendum after that year. Um, I hope that's not the case. And I I think we could tighten the belt so that we don't have to
093put it on our taxpayers. That's something I heard a lot when we received calls about our taxes increasing because of the reassessment and everyone blamed it on us and they said that we're wildly overspending. Of course, they don't know that the what it takes to actually run a school district, but a lot of them felt that the district needed to do a better job. So I think we need to show people that we're doing a better job. >> So kind of with that in mind, you mentioned, you know, controlling expenses, like given the time frame, what have you set or will you set kind of a target? I don't want to say a drop dead mark, but at what point would you really need to make that decision if we're still lagging behind the 8.8?
094I think um once we have all of our tax receipts, we'll have a good picture. That should be January. I'm really hopeful that the tax the growth of the tax base and the classification changes will get us to where we need to be. I'm also hopeful that the tax or the interest rates don't fall as far as I used for my projection and that would make up that could easily make up $200,000. Um, as far as when when would there be a drop dead date to determine if we're in trouble? Um, well, that's a bad we're not going to be in trouble, but to determine if we'll hit our mark. Um, I I couldn't come up with one off the top of my head. >> Okay. >> But it's something that we I'm constantly monitoring.
095um we have the reserves, we have um other area other avenues to keep us afloat. Um so I think we're in a good position. >> I will share too that since you know and it's part of what we shared in the referendum and it's the absolute truth 85% of our spending is people. It's personnel. So you can cut programs, you can cut curriculum expenditures, you can cut lots of things, but what really makes us go is people. And so we've already begun to have preliminary conversations about if we have to start reducing the number of people uh in the district that we're paying and and uh we're very cognizant too that our enrollment as a district as in our schools and as a total district also uh is affected um at the state level with
096our state monies in terms of of how uh we receive uh funds from the state. So, all that being said, uh we would touch the classroom last. That's always that's always our promise that we would look at administrative staffing. We would look at administrative assistance. We would look at other areas that would not touch the classroom first, but eventually, much like our conversations in in the referendum, once you begin to spend deficit spend, um you've got to crawl out of that somehow. and and that's where we were waiting the 8 years to come and ask the community for4 cents. So I think as long as we're honest to the with the community about we need this many cents for inflationary purposes to keep us going with our current staffing, we just tell the story that
097is and let the community decide. >> Any other questions? A motion to accept the October 31st, 2025 financial report subject to audit. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. We'll say Mr. Nimmy and Mr. Acriman. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Brings us to general information. And of course, again, our next uh meeting is the board workshop on December 8th with the writing consortium co-chair presentation that hopefully everyone will be at. That's 7:00 p.m. right here in the same place. Then our next regular board meeting is December 15th at Brandy Wine High School, followed by January 12th at Conquered High School. If there's nothing else, motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. Second, >> Robot and Mr. Lavoy. All in favor? I motion. Meeting adjourn. Thank you.