BSD Board of Education Meeting - October 2025

001Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Bernie Wine School District Board of Education regular meeting. Uh home district of 2026 teacher Delaware teacher of the year, Jenna Dilario. We are live here at Springer Middle School, also broadcasting via Zoom. U Miss Harris, may I have an attendance roll call, please? here. >> I'm over here. >> Mr. >> here, >> Mr. Jordan. >> Fantastic. Thank you, Miss Harris. Uh, I forgot to ask anyone else. So, I will lead us in the pledge of allegiance this evening. 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. >> At this time, I will entertain a motion to approve this evening's agenda. >> So moved. >> Mr. Arian made

002the motion. Do I have a second? >> Second, Mr. Jordan. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> That will lead us into our host school principal's welcome, Dr. Seammens. >> Good evening, Dr. Lawson, Vice President Scrobot, BSD Board of Education members, executive team, and guests. Welcome to Springer Middle School. My name is Dr. Sterling Semens. I'm the principal here at Springer. We are extremely proud of the growth our team has shown over the past three years. We have seen steady growth in math and reading scores, as well as a drastic improvement in our school's culture and reduction in behavioral data year after year. More importantly, we have seen a steady increase in our students reporting a sense of belonging every year since 2023. Our students are the focal

003point of our our school community and are regularly celebrated for all they do for making Springer great. Springer Middle School prides itself on being a true community school located in the heart of the Brandy Wine District. It sits our beautiful school. Outside of the rigorous rigorous classroom environment, we are proud of our extensive uh athletic and fine and performing arts uh programs. Our students perform well on the field and court routinely winning championships and competing with other schools at a very high level. Our corral orchestra and jazz and performing bands have traveled to compete and wi uh win at locations like Hershey Park, Disney World, and will travel to England in February of 2026 to perform with a Londonbased performing arts high school. Our art club has raised thousands of dollars over the years for

004charities in their philanthropic endofthe-year project. Our drama department puts on a jaw-dropping performance, often that includes members of our teaching staff year after year. We are enthusiastic about giving students, regardless of their interests, an amazing experience and opportunities to showcase their skills. I would invite all of you to come in and walk our halls, visit a classroom or two or two, cheer on the Bulldogs at a game, check out a performance in this auditorium, and feel the energy that our students and staff bring on a daily brace on a daily basis. We are so proud to be a home of the original Bulldogs, and we welcome you here tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Seammons. Uh, now we will kick off the this school year first uh presentation from our um high school students with

005their school spotlights uh tonight. In no particular order, we will start with Brandy Wine High School, Logan Scott and Julian Moroni. Come on down. Hello everyone. My name is Logan Scott and I am Brandy Wine High School student council president. We started off our year with a successful senior sunrise and senior breakfast. Seniors showed up to hang out and take photos to start off their senior year. Our student voice of advisory attended their first retreat of the year, giving them an opportunity to meet with other high schools and middle schools in the district and go over goals for this school year. Our sports teams have been having a very successful year. Our football team is currently 5 and two, and I believe they are ranked second in the division. Currently, our drama club kicked off

006the year with their cabaret performing songs from their favorite Broadway shows. One of the students from our culinary program recently won a cooking competition, winning $500. Our college and career center hosted their launch their future week where students were able to meet with college admissions officers, attend workshops, and work on college essays and resumes. Finally, our homecoming was this past week, and many students dressed up and showed their spirit for our spirit week with theme days like color wars, pajama day, country versus country club, and twin day. I will pass it off to Julian Moroni. Good evening everyone. My name is Julian I'm the vice president of the Brandy Wine Student Council. Um we have some very exciting events coming up in the next few weeks including seniors painting their parking spots. our bandween, um

007the powderpuff game which will be taking place tomorrow and a bunch of more a bunch more sports events including our football team having their senior night in a few weeks. Today also marks the first day of our bully prevention week and uh yeah, that's all. Thank you. >> Any questions or comments from the board? >> No. Fantastic. Oh, >> Mr. Jordan, >> I had some um you guys had homecoming recently, right? And I think you guys beat Dickinson 54 nothing. >> Is that right? Okay. >> Um and senior day, I think, uh the football team plays conquered. Is that right? >> Yes, we do. >> Any uh any predictions on our >> Oh, that jersey. Well, sorry, Conquer, to ruin your senior day, but we will be winning. So, >> any predictions on that game?

008>> Bulldogs victory. >> Okay. >> All right. That's all. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Again, in no particular order, we will move on to Conquered High School with Michaela Mickelson and Molly Andrews. Good evening everyone. My name is Michaela Michaelelsson and I am the student council president for Conquered High School. And I am Molly Andrews and I am the student council vice president for conquered high school. And we are so proud to be conquered high school's board reporters for the 2025 2026 school year. To kick off the school year, Conquered students have been busy making an incredible start both academically and athletically. In late August, our seniors gathered together for senior sunrise, celebrating the beginning of their final year in unity. Meanwhile, our freshman class was warmly welcomed into the Raider family during orientation where

009they had the opportunity to explore Conquer's wide range of clubs, activities, and athletic programs guided by our incredible upper classmen. On the athletic side of things, our teams have set an impressive tone for the year. Conquered football is currently 6-1 while our boys soccer team holds a strong 101 and1 record including a major victory in the district rivalry game friendship cup against Brandy Wine including one of our very own players being named Delaware athlete of the week. Both our girls and boys cross country teams remain undefeated and our field hockey and volleyball teams continue to perform dominantly. Additionally, we are proud to announce the launch of Conquered's first ever girls flag football program, making us one of the only schools in the Brandy Wine School District to field a team. The program has seen a

010successful start, and we are so excited to watch it grow and represent BSD with pride. In addition to our flourishing sports teams, we are also Oh, can you switch the slide, please? Sorry. Thank you. We are also thoroughly enjoying the many new improvements we've received. The older folks in our community have been sharing their gratitude for the new golf carts, assisting them in walking up to the football fields to cheer on our Raiders. The cafeteria has gotten new seating, which has been an appreciated improvement, especially the booths, which have quickly become a hot commodity against students. The girls field hockey team has been especially thankful to be able to finish off their season on the brand new Bermuda grass field. Adding to our improvements, the student parking lot is being decked out in color and

011art with the seniors painting their parking spots. In addition to these exciting changes, we recently held a successful Sweet Lucy's ice cream fundraiser with guest scoopers to support the class of 2026 prom. This past Saturday, we also held our fourth annual Hall of Fame athletic ceremony, honoring seven new inductees who made a lasting impact on conquered. This week kicks off our spirit week with theme days leading up to homecoming this Saturday. Our school has created a lively environment by decking out the halls in festive themes for each grade to decorate. We are looking forward to our pep rally this Friday and there's lot a lot of energy and excitement in the air. We are grateful for the support that makes these experiences possible. Are there any questions from the board? >> Mr. Jordan, >> I

012have some questions. Uh I think conquered be Brandy Wine won nothing in that soccer game. Is that right? >> Yeah. It was like a exciting game. I think we went to overtime. >> It was a great goal. >> Um now I I gave Brandy Wine the opportunity to make a prediction for the football game. What's Conquer's prediction? >> 60 nothing. Conquered High School. >> No further questions. Great. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you guys. And last, but certainly not least, Mount Pleasant High School, Kamani Beetle and Steven Rice. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I can't believe we're already a month into our new school year. Hi, I'm Kamani Beetle, your 2025 to 2026 Mount Pleasant Student Council President. And I'm Steven Rice, your 2025 to 2026 Mount Pleasant Student Council vice president. >>

013We're so excited to welcome everyone to our first student council meeting of the year. Mount Pleasant has been growing, improving, and thriving. And we're here tonight to celebrate just how far we've come. >> To kick off the year, we started strong with our senior sunray. And what a turnout. Over a 100 students and staff joined us. bright and early to celebrate the beginning of an unforgettable senior year. >> Another exciting addition this year is our brand new school store led by Miss Mullen. She serves as the adviser for the Mount Pleasant Blue Gold program and is also a proud representative of our Bridges program. For those who may not know, our Bridges program supports students with special needs by giving them guidance, structure, and opportun opportunities to learn life skills. These students help run the

014school store and even prepare and deliver coffee to teachers throughout the day. It's an incredible program that brings our school community closer together and teachers responsibility, teamwork, and independence. In very exciting news, with Mount AVID demonstration school, the AVID program raised $7,59 in popcorn sales. This money will be used to take our AVID kids on different educational and informational field trips that help sharpen their mind the AVID way. Now, let's talk about one of Mount's biggest points of pride, our sports teams. Our volleyball team has kicked off the season with an impressive 10-2 record, showing off true Mount Spirit and dedication. And who for and who could forget our homecoming football game. Mount Pleasant crushed Glasgow in an unforgettable victory. All led up to by the moments through a fun-filled spirit week and a high

015energy pep rally. But Mount isn't just about athletics. We also shine in the arts. For the first time ever, Mount Pleasant High School along with the seventh and eighth graders from Tally, PS Dupont, and Springer host our very own Cabaret Night. a night of live music and performances celebrating the past 15 years of theater at Mount. This event honored our incredible theater director who's been leading and inspiring our program for that same amount of time. And this is just the start. From studentled activities and creative performances to athletic milestones and new learning opportunities, Mount Pleasant is proving that we're more than just a school. We're a community that strives for excellence in everything we do. >> And that concludes our first student council board meeting of the year. Thank you all for being here tonight

016and we can't wait to see what this year brings. Have a wonderful evening and as always, we are Mount >> Mr. Jordan. Do you have any questions? >> I of course I do. Uh so so you mentioned Mount Pleasant volleyball is 10 and two. I think in two days they have a match against Conquer. Is that right? So So is that going to be are they going to be 11 and two or are they going to be 10 and three? >> 11 and two he says. Okay, fair enough. Thanks. >> Not making any friends at Conquer tonight, Mr. Jordan. >> Thank you to our student speakers. As always, we know you have busy schedules and heavy workloads. You're always welcome to join us and stay throughout the meeting, but certainly if you need to excuse

017yourself, you can do so at any time. And that will take us into some recognitions. Uh, community partner award. Um, I don't have who's introducing that. >> Dr. O'Hanland. Come on down. Um, tonight's recipient of the community partner award is Tallyville Fire Company. Yeah. Yep. >> Good evening everybody. Uh my name is Bill O'Han, the communications officer for the Brandon School District. Dr. Lawson is joining me here uh this evening. We are um happy to award uh another community partner award for the district. As you may recently know, we awarded one to Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids. And uh this month we are honored to award um to recognize our extraordinary partner whose service whose compassion and dedication have touched every corner of the Brandy Wine School District community, the Tallyville Fire Company. This group

018of uh men and women have been a constant presence in our schools and our neighborhoods. They show up year after year to educate, engage, and inspire our students. In their actions, they speak louder than their words. They demonstrate what it truly means to serve others and lead with harp. Each fall, Talville firefighters bring excitement and learning to the Brandine Early Education program, giving our youngest students the unforgettable experience of exploring a fire truck while learning vital lessons about safety in a way that's fun and meaningful. At Forward Elementary School, their partnership takes on a creative and compassionate twist. Together with students and staff, they host the Polar Bear Plunge, which raises funds for Special Olympics Delaware and models the importance of giving back to others. And most recently, the members of Talville Fire Company joined

019Springer Middle School staff and families for 911 memorial stair climb, ascending and descending the school's front steps 110 times, one for each of the floors of the World Trade Center in tribute to the firefighters in New York who made the ultimate sacrifice. That act of remembrance was not only a moving symbol of courage and unity, but a profound lesson for the students uh about service and sacrifice. Through their generosity, through presence, and their partnership, the Tallyville Fire Company exemplifies the spirit of community that strengthens and defines the Brandy Wine School District. They remind us that when schools and neighbors come together, everybody benefits and our students are the one who gains the most. So, on behalf of the Brandy Mine School District, it is my honor to present the community partner award to the Talo

020Fire Company. Chief Dear is here, Mr. Grant. if you'd like to join as well. Uh the principles of forwood and uh early education program and springer if you'd like to join as well. So valuable fire company folks What do you think during the I think we often think of uh thanking people for their service when it comes to military, but certainly I think our first responders, police, and certainly uh members of our volunteer fire company deserve our thanks as well. So, one more round of applause. Thank you Fire Company. >> And next up, we have the 2526 Sapphire Award for Excellence in School Counseling. >> Me again. Uh good evening everybody. Tonight we are here to celebrate uh an incredible team from Mount Pleasant High School whose dedication to students and commitment to excellent have

021earned a statewide recognition. It's been a good good month for the Brandise School District statewide. Four Delaware schools have been named recipients of the 2526 Sapphire Award for excellence in school counseling. It's a distinction that honors school counseling programs that are comprehensive, data informed, and designed to meet the needs of every student. And we are thrilled to share that Mount Pleasant High School is one of this year's honores. Now in its sixth year, the Sapphire Award celebrates counseling programs that go far beyond the traditional student support. These programs build schoolwide systems that improve academic outcomes, increase graduation rates, and strengthen attendance. As Delaware Secretary of Education Cindy Martin shared, these schools show that what happens that what happens when school counseling is part of the core program, not an add-on. Counselors use real data to

022spot barriers early and make sure every student is seen, supported, and on a path to success. At Mount Pleasant High School, that belief is put into action every single day. Counselors Race Herskovich, Gene Beetle, Delish Schwagger, and Dr. Iman Turner have created target interventions for students identified as being at risk of not promoting the 10th grade. And through small group sessions focused on goal setting, academic recovery, and career planning, they helped achieve a 20% increase in students staying on track, which is an extremely powerful example of how counseling can change the trajectories and open doors to success. Their work embodies what the Sapphire Ward stands for. Using data, compassion, and creativity to make sure that every student has the support they need to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. On behalf of the Brandy Wine School

023District, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to the Mount High School uh counseling department for this outstanding achievement. You guys are setting the standard for what comprehensive school counseling looks like. Um, and we couldn't be prouder. So, if I would invite Dr. to turn her up. I'd invite Miss Schwag up, Miss Beetle, Miss Herswitz, and Miss Filio's here with the principal as well. So, we give a round of applause, please. Congratulations everyone. Dr. Lawson. That'll take us into our superintendent report. Good evening, board vice president Scrobot, members of the board, and members of our audience and community. For nearly a year, I have begun my report by openly and transparently sharing student data to inform the board and community of our efforts in improving overall student outcomes for each child who walks through the doors of

024the Brandy Wine School District. Tonight, I share information that will affect educational outcomes for several thousand children in the city of Wilmington, of whom we share a collective responsibility to embrace, inspire, and challenge every student every day. The Reading Consortium, the consortium's recent discussions and recommendations will have a significant impact on our schools, our community, and most importantly, our students. While we remain deeply committed to improving the educational outcomes of all BSD children, it's equally important that we take time to engage in datadriven decisionmaking and meaningful dialogue about the potential impact of the consortium's proposals and decisions and how they align with our shared goals of equity, access, opportunity, and excellence across this district. Let's begin with a bit of historical data. The implementation of the Neighborhood Schools Act in 2000 effectively ended busing and

025allowed students to attend the school closest to their residents. While its intent was to localize education, this action resulted in significant and observable resegregation and concentrated poverty throughout most of Newcastle County. Brandy Wine School District was the only district who chose not to move to a neighborhood schools model, but instead submitted our integration plan or our desegregation plan that existed at that time. The bottom line, our district has historically maintained a distinguished commitment to preserving the diverse educational and social needs of its students since the year 2000. We care deeply about preserving this commitment to our children, our families, and our community. Following the initial policy shift, multiple committees and redistricting proposals during the 2000s stalled. A significant renewed effort began with the creation of the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission or WEK in 2016. Although

026Wix's plan narrowly passed the state board of education, it failed to advance through the general assembly. The detailed 157page plan proposed moving all of Christina and Colonial's students who resided in Wilmington to the Red Clay Consolidated School District. The current focus on his on systemic change began in 2019 with the establishment of the reading consortium for educational equity. This group followed WEIK and shifted the primary objective toward long-term governance reform to ensure sustained equity. An interim plan was approved on May 9th, 2024 that includes the following. Removal of the Christina school district from serving the children who reside in the city of Wilmington. A selection of two or fewer districts to serve those Christina children in the least disruptive or in a minimally disruptive manner. An 18-month timeline to develop a final redistricting plan. Formation

027of subcommittees to determine fiscal, operational, and community engagement needs. and a comprehensive study of several social drivers of health and education that have been affecting our communities in Wilmington for decades that center around housing instability, public safety, transportation, mental health, and school choice. This data is to be included in a final redistricting plan intended for submission to the state board of education for approval. On the left side of this slide is the redistricting timeline provided by the consortium in March of 2025. It was copied from published materials provided to voting members and the public. The information in the red box on the right side is what has occurred and what is scheduled to occur earlier than reported timelines. Please note that the vote on a final redistricting plan was originally scheduled for December according to

028published documents, but I inadvertently learned last week that the final redistricting vote is scheduled for 2 and 1/2 weeks from tonight on November 6th. I commit to this board and the broader BSD community that I am working very hard to keep you informed and up to date as possible when I learn new information. Finally, here is a layout of the nine redistricting options that were presented to the consortium this past spring and the subsequent dates we voted to narrow down the option to three. Please also note that my vote was the only dissenting vote to narrow down the six options to three. I publicly stated on the record that we Brandy Wine did not agree that Colonial should be removed from the equation until we could more thoroughly discuss tax base and financial need to

029support the children of Wilmington. The remaining options to be voted on during the November 6th meeting are the Northern Newcastle County School District, which combines all four school districts and the city of Wilmington, resulting in a district of approximately 50,000 students. The second option is the Metropolitan School District, which merges Brandy Wine with Red Clay, plus adds Christina and Colonial's Wilmington portions, resulting in a district with approximately 30,000 students. The final option keeps Brandy Wine and Red Clay intact as individual districts, but offers three different ways to assign Christina and Colonial students and families between Brandy Wine and Red Clay. The three options are presented on this slide. There is an existing boundaries option which assigns Colonial's 400 students to Brandywine and Christina's approximately 4,000 students to red clay. There is a river model option

030which follows the river and Brandy Wine takes over Shortage and Warner elementary schools in red clay. And finally, there is a modified river model which follows the river but allows Red Clay to keep Shortage and Warner elementary schools. Last week we received exciting news from the Delaware Department of Education. Tally Middle School reading specialist and conquered high school graduate Dr. Jenna D. Laterio has been named Delaware's 2026 state teacher of the year. Dr. D represents the very best of Brandy Wine. She is the 10th educator from the Brandy Wine School District to earn this honor more than any other district in the state of Delaware. We are incredibly proud of Dr. D and grateful for the example she sets for our students, staff, and the entire BSD community. Her recognition continues Brandy Wine's longstanding tradition

031of excellence in teaching, dedication to student success, and service to our community. We are excited to once again host a series of upcoming informational events designed to highlight the diverse educational programs offered throughout the Brandy Wine School District. These events provide opportunities for families to learn more about the programs and pathways available to VSD students. Please come out on one or both days to see the wonderful pathways and programs offered by each of our middle and high schools. And finally, our October sizzle video. Is it a bag or a >> good so Are you ready? >> Yeah. Heat. Heat. Let's go. Being a part of SBA is really important to me and being a main leader is also really important. I want to help students like reach their voice and SVA is like the perfect

032place to do it. We come here, we talk about how to make the branding our school district better. We talk about things that our schools have problems with. We talk about things that a school's potentially doing good with. I think it's important to have your voice heard because you can make your community better. Heat. Heat. Wow. >> Vice President Scrobot, that concludes my monthly report. >> Thank you, Dr. Lawson. Um, just want to kind of touch Thank you for your report on the uh reading consortium. Uh I think it's important for members of the audience and those on Zoom um that are listening, it's important that you started your report with that and spent, you know, a significant amount of time and detail on it. Um everyone in this room on Zoom, I hope you're

033paying attention. And if you're not, it's time time to start. Whether you have children in our district or you live in our district, um this this is going to touch everyone. So, it's time to um pay attention to what's going on. Um we've been talking about this for years, but certainly moving up a decision date from December to November is significant in my opinion. Um Dr. Lawson, what I'd like to suggest to you and President Heler, I know we have on the agenda of our upcoming dates, we have a workshop scheduled for the 3rd, November 3rd. That's right before the meeting on the 6th. Uh, I'd like to suggest that Reading Consortium be the sole topic for that meeting and workshop. Um, and I would encourage people to to tune in or show up uh

034and and listen to what's going on and start paying attention to the reading consortium dates and, you know, voice whatever concerns you may have for what this means uh for the district, for our tax base uh and the cost involved going forward. So, thank you for that. Uh like to end on a good note. I'd had the opportunity to um attend the teacher of the year celebration. Uh honored to be in attendance when Brandy Wine's own Dr. D uh was the winner. Uh I think Dr. Lawson said we had won 10 times. I'm including back when it was the Mount Pleasant school district and all the districts were a little more uh divided here in North Wilmington, but we had 12 winners out of the last 61 years. So that represents 20% of the winners

035uh since they at least I don't know been tracking this or at least since 1965. And you I consider myself fortunate to have been raised in the Brandy Wine School District. Uh, it's partly why I chose to raise my family in the Brandy Wine School District and why myself and members of this board, I think, continue to volunteer our time to strive to make this district great, create an environment that teachers can thrive and do great things and to have 12 winners and certainly a handful of those have, you know, been condensed into the last 20 years, I think speaks volumes to uh the Brain School District. boards change, leadership changes, the community itself changes, but I think to have 20% of the teacher of the year um speaks to all of that. And you

036know, to me, I I've always said this is a great place to live and attend schools and send your kids to school. So, thank you to everyone involved. Congratulations to uh Dr. Jenna Delitario. Um certainly tough competition throughout the state. Um but certainly she was head and shoulders above the rest and we congratulate her. >> Any other comments from the board on uh superintendent report? >> A quick question. What is being voted on in November 6th? Like what did they describe as being actually decided? the the of the three options remaining that the LA the one option that we will move forward to the state board of education was my understanding via email is what we would be voting on >> do do they provide any guidance as to the details of those or just

037that it it's like a broad outline because you mentioned governance when I think of governance I think of this person's in charge with this hierarchy with this budget with this you know guidance Is that being discussed or is it just >> those three? >> At this time, we don't have a final redistricting plan uh to date that that was noted. Um I'm not sure what the next couple of meetings will bring. I just wanted to be transparent um with regard to the November 6th meeting. It was uh our thinking that it was the December meeting we would be voting. It looks like it's November 6th. So, I would I believe there is a full body meeting on October 28th. I'm guessing that we will be presented with some information at that time. I just would

038like to point out there are very few Brandy Wine parents on the Reading Consortium that some of the elected officials um actually don't even send their children to public schools that um if we go back to a countywide district that was horrible. I was here when we had the Newcastle County Consolidated School District, the NCCSD, from 1978 to 1981. It was a disaster. And if you think your taxes are bad with reassessment, let them do one of these plans and see what happens to our property taxes. I I'll have more at our workshop. I I don't know if I'll be positive, but I think as a community, we need to make our voices heard, not just with these reading consortium, of course, there will be some public meetings, but also with your state legislators. Tell

039your state representatives what you think. Do you want the Brandy Wine School District to merge with Red Clay? I think that's a horrible idea. Do you want a a district that's the whole county? That's an even worse idea. So, there's two terrible ideas and one idea that's kind of eh. So, I don't know. I think there's some more creative ways they could have helped Christina's students in the city um that they're not thinking about. How about create a charter district? There's a lot of ideas, but they're not thinking out of the box. They're saying there should be less governing bodies in the city of Wilmington. One less, two less. There's 17 charters in the city of Wilmington. How does that change anything? Again, I'll I'll save most of my comments uh for our workshop, but

040I just wanted to get that into the record at this time. >> Thank you, Mr. All right, moving on to public comment segment. Uh Miss Harris, I have one online and one in the room. Is that still accurate? Okay. Um just ask our speakers and audience members be courteous and respectful to each other. This is your time to be heard regarding topics related to the Britney School District. Each speaker will have two minutes. Uh after 2 minutes uh the mic will turn itself off or uh thank you for your time. Uh we'll start with the Zoom speaker uh virtual uh Katie Urbanski. Hi, can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Hi, thank you members of the Brandy Wine School Board. I'm speaking today to raise a few areas of concern regarding the site program um

041site skills for independence transition employment the 18 to 22 program here in the district. The amount of interns currently being served at site are in the 50s and are growing with a rate of speed that the district has been aware of for some time. We know the tireless efforts of the district and presenting to the department of education the repeated proposal for a new location, but the current growing need is why I'm speaking today. The site program needs more special education staff, support professionals, and behavior management professionals for starters to support these budding interns in house and in the community. They truly need a job development department or admin to create new relationships with community partners and not place interns in repeated areas that do not align with their transition surveys out in the field

042or again inhouse. The needs and accommodations of these unique and amazing interns obviously vary and should be individualized for the site program success rate of gainful employment before exiting the program. The current lease space cannot and is not supporting the amount of current interns and proposed future interns and the staff needed for exponential success and to meet the needs of each intern. We need the district to be proactive and not reactive in finding the funding and staff and their training of this staff to grow the program as the needs of the current and incoming interns rises. Thank you so much for your continued efforts in finding resolutions during these challenging times. >> Thank you, Mr. Urbansky. Appreciate your comments. >> Next up, our one and only speaker. Are we using the podium mic? Oh, one

043in the middle. Thank you. Um, Jenny Moore, come on down to the microphone. Thank you. Okay. I am also a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Since my 2009 letter to the United States Secretary of Education, Arnold Duncan, I've searched for the right partnership to help advance quality early education for children's successful entry into kindergarten. That personal search has resulted in the formation of LMO Power LLC, an education support service and the publishing company for Preschool Pals, LMN OP, written by BG Little, which is my pseudonym. It is a book created to support families, caregivers, and early educators as they work to prepare young lives. This rhyming picture book begins with five cautiously curious little learners. To them, preschool feels like outer space, a lonely, unfamiliar place where everything is strange

044and new. They are greeted by P, the first of five per personified letter pals who assure these timid newcomers, "Have no fear. We're here for you." As the children explore their new classroom, each child interacts with one letter friend who speaks in developmentally appropriate ways and praises the child's success with letters, manners, numbers, obedience, and perseverance. The story concludes with five eager children ready to stay, learn, play, and discover. A letter to parents at the end of the book equips children with success with tips. I hope you'll consider sharing this book with anyone who works to elevate the lives of young children. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Moore. I'll share your paper here with the rest of the board and superintendent. Thank you. >> And that concludes our public comment segment. Moving on to

045uh board member liaison reports starting with the uh Mr. Acriman and the DSBA executive committee. >> There has not been an executive uh board meeting since our last meeting. But I do want to remind board members that November 5th, the Delaware School Board Association will be hosting a workshop in Dover uh starting at 6:00 p. M our own Kristen Pigeon is one of the presenters presenting on behalf of the Bo Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children. We will also have some information from uh First State Educate on their mini grant program for board members. In addition to that, we will have some folks from the National School Board Association who will give us an update as to things that are going on in DC. So, it should be a good evening and space is

046limited. We're already well over 50% and that was just on our save the date email. Um, but it is at Vincenzo's. There's only room for 50 people. So, if you have not already signed up, I suggest you send an email uh to Mr. Tull, our executive director, and I recommend that everyone attends. >> Thank you, Mr. Acriman. Uh, DSBA Legislative Committee, Mr. Lavoy. The DSBA legislative committee meets again in February. Uh, but I want to remind the board that you have a document that spells out their commitment to legislative priorities. And every time I read it, I'm heartened to think that they're still so student centered and in line with what we believe as a board. So, I would urge you to reread that document again. >> Thank you, Mr. Lavoy. uh district finance committee

047met on uh Wednesday, October 8th. Uh covered a couple different topics. The uh monthly financial report, which Mr. McCoy will go over in a little bit, uh we reviewed the uh volunteer posting that had been submitted. I believe we had uh several uh applicants submit interest. Uh the board uh the committee will review them and hopefully bring a recommendation to the board next month for approval. Uh we reviewed the September 30th unit count. Uh talked a little bit about the uh the tax reassessment. Uh nothing more than what's been publicly discussed. This was prior to the hearings that have happened this week. Um I don't know if Mr. McCoy has anything new to report on that. It's still kind of a moving target. Um and then we uh looked at the u Aquinic special inquiry

048report. Um and the district is kind of looking at uh ways to just kind of improve uh in light of the news that came out of Aquinameck to uh you know keep ourselves as transparent and uh Fiduci are fiscally responsible as we can be. Uh, our next meeting will be Wednesday, November 12th. Uh, I do not have a health and wellness report in Mr. Heler's absence. Um, how about, uh, Mr. Jimmy, uh, maintenance advisory committee? >> Oh, we moved our October meeting to October 27th at Lombardi Elementary. So, it'll be happening next week. >> Great. Thank you very much. Uh, Mr. Mr. Jordan, Parent Council for Students with Disabilities. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Scrobot. Yes. Uh, we have not had a meeting since, uh, our last board meeting. However, the next meeting is November

04910th. It will be at Mount Pleasant Elementary in the multi-purpose room from 5:30 to 6:30. I encourage everyone to come out. Uh, whether you have a student in elementary school, middle school, or high school, um, there is child care available there. Um, so again, I I would really encourage uh members and and parents to come out to the meeting. Thanks. >> Great. Thank you. Uh, parents and citizens advisory committee, Miss Stock. >> Uh, yes, we're going to have our first meeting um >> at 5:30. Um, and um we will start with uh dinner at 5:30. Um and uh we also provide transportation, child care, um and dinner. Um we will um with some of the topics uh we will be talking about uh the writing consortium as well as uh tax reassessment. So fun evening.

050>> Thank you, Miss Sock. Uh Wilmington Learning Collaborative, Mr. Njimmy. Uh yes, we had our meeting, let me double check, we just had it in Octo early October, October 1st actually. Um we had presentations from uh the uh school presentations from the Johnson, Lewis, and Warner schools. So um from other districts, and it was it was um illuminating. They are very excited about the progress that they're going to be making this year and they have a good plan and good people involved and it uh I think also really highlighted the really excellent progress that Harlland Elementary has made uh as it's in the Wing Wilmington Learning Collaborative as well. Uh it's actually very uh very impressive. Um there are a lot of contracts that were signed or that were discussed um in terms of the

051Wilmington Learning Collaborative trying to help and and assist with uh the development of both students and teachers in the schools that are part of the WLC. And our next meeting will be November November 5th and they're moving it so it's a little bit easier for everybody. They're moving it to Warner Elementary. So 6 p.m. >> First week of November is turning to be a busy time. >> Yes. Yes. >> Uh next up, Super 917 WMP advisory. Mr. Lavoy. >> Hey, got the call letters. The next meeting for the uh advisory board for the WPH radio station is uh November the 10th. Another busy plug in there, but uh I have had an opportunity to to visit the the radio station. Uh Paul um Wishingrad is a former student of mine at the University of Delaware

052who went through his certification process there and as he's announced uh he's retiring at the end of this year after building the station into a wonderfully run student centered student uh generated uh set of programming and we're looking far and wide for for someone to take over that uh that management. It could be someone who's already certified in teaching who is interested in learning how to run a student centered radio station or as Paul Wishingrad did. It could be someone with broadcast experience and training who can become certified through an alternative routes. So you don't have to be certified already. we can we can get you there or we can get you the the training in running a radio station because Paul has agreed to be on hand to to advise that kind of person

053for the for the transition. And remember to tune in to Super 91.7 FM on your home or car or stream it from w.net net for a robust menu of student generated news stories, interviews, sports coverage, and a broad spectrum of musical favorites. Thank you, Mr. Lavoy. Any additional board member reports haven't been covered. No hearing none, moving on to uh the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to accept uh items A and B for the consent agenda? >> So moved. Second >> motion Mr. Arian, second Mr. Lavoy. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstensions? >> Motion carries. >> Um, do I have a motion to accept the monthly personnel report as discussed in exec session? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Lavoy, Mr. Nimmy. Uh, motion and

054seconded. Um, any discussion? Well, no discussions. Exact sesh. Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed or abstensions? Motion carries. Uh, do I have a motion to accept the uh choice good cause application invitations and denials as discussed in exec session? >> Second. >> Mr. Jordan. Motion. Mr. Acriman. Second. All those in favor say I. >> I. I >> any um any abstensions or >> any denials? Why am I missing the word abstensions? Um hearing none. All those um we voted. Motion carries. >> No, >> we did. Um old business uh superintendent evaluation instrument just one second. Everybody had in board docs uh the proposal we discussed it in a workshop uh where we went over the evaluation instrument for superintendent Lawson. Any discussion on that document that was presented in board

055docs for board member review? >> Yes. Um I um I think I may have missed uh that workshop for another work function. Um I first of all I just want to um you know express my appreciation that we have an instrument. I know this has been several years in the making. So I am I am grateful that we that we do have something. So thank you so much. Um, my only question, I don't know if this is up for a vote tonight, is um I'm just wondering um not necessarily about the goals themselves. I know that those have been uh discussed. I do question maybe some of the um the the language around the goals. I'm wondering if uh maybe not for every single goal, but I wonder if there is a need to um

056specifically spell out um like for example improve literacy, student achievement and outcome. Is there a particular goal? I hate to say numbers or data or uh I mean what what kind of data uh are we are we looking for there? Um, I just know for myself, I I'm I'm an a school administrator and when I have to come up with my goals, I do specify an improvement of 5% 10% um things like that. So, I'm just wondering if um that's something that we should be thinking about because I think that at the end of the day that's going to help us as we do the evaluation because otherwise what do some of these things mean and and what are we using to measure uh that improvement? How do we know the difference between um whether

057it's uh on track or or strong >> stuck? >> Yeah. >> Um two things. One, I believe the superintendent has been gathering evidence throughout the year in teams. >> So you should have access to the teams folders that has documentation to support the goals. And as I recall, these goals came directly from the superintendent's addendum for year 1. So, I think that's where it comes from. I I wouldn't agree to any change to whatever is in the contract at this point. >> Well, I think I don't know if it was the August meeting or the September meeting. We already voted on the goals in that addendum. This is strictly for the tool uh to track and deliver um deliver the evaluation. And I'd like to to echo uh MT stock's um call for maybe some

058more measurable language then that would help both us and uh Dr. Lawson uh to know what exactly we're she's aiming for and we're aiming for as a district. So if if that's a possibility to change the measuring instrument or the evaluation instrument to include those measurable terms. So are are we talking about measurable terms visav the goals or visav the ratings and the narrative and things of that nature? So for instance in saying you know improve literacy by 5%. >> Or is it you know needs improvement or having five instead of three of those >> maybe it maybe it could be something of both. Maybe it could be um uh that a um and again and I and I and I think some of these things are fine to kind of remain in more of

059these subjective category and I'm I'm well aware of the collection of data um that has been um that h that has been uh put forth. Um I think though just in terms of something like um uh the one that does stick out is is goal five. So so in other words, what what will it mean to know that uh we're on track because it says improve. So what is an ontrack improvement goal? And then perhaps maybe there would be uh something associated with that. and then um and then something that would be um anything above that then uh would be considered strong. So um again not not for every goal of course because some of these are subjective like uh I think improve board relations I think that that is subjective um and uh you

060know in looking at the the data that that has already been collected uh that that is I think that's more of a subjective goal. I don't know that we can necessarily have have have a measurement. Um, but I do think that something like improved literacy, student achievement, and outcome. Um, and and and I also think that this might allow um uh Dr. Lawson to have like maybe a particular focus. Maybe it's um maybe it's uh early uh childhood because I know I know that there's been some work um along the lines uh especially with um kindergarten curriculum improvements and um uh the um play and um so or or uh using uh growth map data growth. So, um, again, so I I I think I think that there's, um, there's room to maybe just define

061that maybe a little bit better so that we kind of know, um, and I think that that's something that as as a board that we do uh, that we there's a there's a obviously there's there's some rumblings um, when especially with uh, maybe some grumblings about taxes and um, uh you know, test scores and and and whatnot. And I think that um this can uh you know, help keep us accountable as a board. Um as well, >> Miss Tuck, are you are you talking about what we're going to do for next year? Because this is actually looking at last year and this is already what we agreed to. >> So, what are we voting on? I guess I guess I'm qu I guess my question is what are we voting on? Because if it's the

062tool, then what are we So, so the before the board the form was presented basically in accordance with section section seven of the superintendent's employment contract the board of education shall conduct a formal evaluation and address the performance of the superintendent no later than December 1st of each year assessing performance uh for the preceding contract year. So, it's really just establishing um the three-point rating scale needs improvement on track or strong. Um, and then the pages attached in board docs, you know, give the goals that have already been established and it allows each board member to view the information that's been collected in the um, board team's document to evaluate the evidence presented by Dr. Lawson throughout the year. And then each board member has the opportunity to rate that and provide their narrative and

063comments surrounding their their rating. So, um, >> right. But and and and I I understand what you're saying, but um I I just wonder again to be more helpful for us um and to be uh you know, more helpful for Dr. lesson. I think that some of these uh do need to be defined otherwise otherwise it's subjective. What does it mean to improve improve literacy? What does it mean to improve student achievement? what is who whose opinion who's or or whose um I mean I get that there's data being gathered but again um >> I would say the evaluation is our interpretation and determination of the evidence that's provided >> and again this is retrospective not prospective I think you know the other thing I I really appreciate what you're saying because I think I

064agree with you but you know we should have incorporated that into our September workshop up where we talked about what we're going to do for this year because I think that's that would have been the place for it. I mean, I'm not going back to June of 24 and rewriting the goals and saying, "Well, here's the amount I expected these things to increase." But I certainly think going forward, um, you're absolutely right. Maybe we need to have an additional segment of the work session to refine what we did in September since you weren't able to come. You weren't there in September as I recall. And I think your input is is very valuable in what you're saying. >> I will say that I do think that our work as a board on this um I

065was you're correct. I was not there for September because I was at a at my own work function. Um however um I will say that I don't in in my mind I don't believe that this was the kind of tool that I thought that we were spending time to come up with. um it's vague, it's subjective. Um it's it's just it's not defined very well. It's just it's unfortunate um that this is the tool that we put forth for the public. Well, the the addendum that we voted on is what set the goals and then you know the the the tool is just we also agreed in the November workshop last year >> the addendum back in 2024. Yes. Right. Correct. Was written in, if I remember correctly, it was written in such a way

066purposely vague and I remember we did have a discussion about that there was some board member concerns about how vague uh that addendum was. Um and I think and if I remember correctly that um through the discussion that um you know more board members felt that you know Dr. Lawson had not even started the job uh yet. And so there was uh there was um um um you know a a wanting of having those goalposts in mind but not to define them because we didn't we didn't know that that didn't seem fair to have uh these specific uh goals that had to be met immediately with with with numbers uh before she had even started the job. If I if I remember correctly, I think I did not realize that what we thought was appropriate

067in 2024 would be carrying us through to almost 2026. But that's and I I guess I guess I I had, you know, um written this policy years ago uh because I did want the Brandy Wine School District to be a uh to be a district uh that regardless of, you know, John, you said before, regardless of who the board was, regardless of who the superintendent was, regardless of who anyone was, that that would be something a standard practice that the community holds the board accountable, the board holds the superintendent accountable. Um that that is the that is the way. But we did not have we did not have a tool at the at the point uh several years ago that we felt like adequately held a superintendent accountable. Hence the fact that we have actually

068not evaluated a superintendent in several years. Um, and so I'm just I guess I guess I'm just very disappointed to see that this is the tool that we are putting forth after literally at least five years and potentially more of not evaluating the superintendent. >> This is what we voted for. I I I can't emphasize enough this is what the board voted on. They voted on the goals in June and the scale in November. So, and also the the distribution of how the weights of those goals are weighed. I I mean I I I get your concern. Um we didn't evaluate uh Mr. Holler because he was retiring. What was the point? So, you know, and before that really we were dealing with COVID. So, I don't blame you know uh then President Scrobot for

069not harping on an evaluation at that time. But I can tell you that this board has been in front in terms of superintendent evaluations since the '9s, way ahead of other boards in this state. So I I just want to kind of stand up for the Brandy Wine board in this case because we have been very proactive. But but literally what you see in front of you is what we voted on in in two separate meetings. And as I recall, everyone's signature who was on the board >> not not this tool as the evaluation tool. This was on this. >> This was not No, I do not remember voting on an evaluation tool. I do remember that we had several attempts at different board workshops to work on a superintendent evaluation tool. Um we've attempted

070to do this several times uh for the last two years as I recall. Um I do not remember seeing an evaluation tool like this as a proposal. It >> wasn't voted on that way, Miss Stock. It was >> You just said that we had voted on it. on the scale. We voted on the weights of the goals and we voted on the superintendent's addendum that set the goals. So, this is just the combination of those things. I I assume President Heler put this together. I gave him a spreadsheet that allows you to kind of take the scores and then input them and come up with an overall score, but I didn't actually lay out this particular sheet. But this is really this is everything we voted for as a board. I mean to to me

071the form that's in there it's you know evaluations by nature have a subjective component but we are going to have objective data collected throughout the year to make our decision on you know this form will allow each board member to rate give their narrative uh give their evaluation it'll be collected by Mr. propeller um summarized and shared across the board and then delivered to to the superintendent. So >> I when we had tried to work on and I I think we're talking about two different things. You're talking about an addendum to a contract which was not the same thing as attaching to the contract an addendum that was the evaluation tool. We had no evaluation tool. This is the first time I'm actually seeing a proposed evaluation tool. We had looked at several different models

072of an evaluation tool. We even had the board president from Cape Penalopin come and work with us uh virtually uh because this is something that she has done her doctorate on. Um this is going back you know several years uh in the past that we've tried to cobble together unsuccessfully an evaluation tool. Um, and so I'm I again I so that I think so we're talking about a couple of different things and this is not a reflection on Dr. Lawson. This is a reflection on us as a board. Unfortunately, >> I I disagree that we've been unsuccessful. We've gotten to the point where this is this is the >> conglomeration of of the workshops of the meetings. >> That's fine. >> That have gotten us to this point of the you know >> that's fine.

073I mean, you and I obviously have very different perspectives on on what would what an effective evaluation tool would look like and and what it doesn't. So, >> well, I would recommend you look at the November workshop from 24 when you can see. >> I was there, Ralph. I was there at that workshop. I was actually there. I don't know that you were there, but I was there. We took the votes November of 24. Okay. I was there and we did not we did not vote on a tool then in November. >> No, we voted on a three or a five scale. Whether it was going to be three levels, strong, on track, or needs improvement versus a fivelevel scale. That's what we voted for. And I can have Miss Harris send you the meeting

074minutes because she sent them to me when I asked for them. I think we're talking about two different things. I'm talking about some language for for goals to define them a little bit better so that we understand as we are moving forward with an evaluation. What does on track mean for a certain goal and what would a strong um what would strong mean? I I I think that there is the ability for this tool to do that and the way that it can do that is through the narrative process because through the narrative process the person who is making the evaluation or the individuals can say you know based on this increase in literacy rate at this school based on this decrease in absenteeism whatever the case may be the narrative is not just about

075what Dr. Lawson did, but it's also about how the people are interpreting what Dr. Lawson did, how they are valuing um certain aspects or certain certain things that are accomplished or not accomplished. And then it's their ability to tell their story, not just of what she did, but of how they evaluated what she did. And and I think that that's that's the the benefit of the narrative comment section there. That's why it can be on another page as well. And I I understand the concern of the vagueness of goals or the the the question of whether or not these goals Yeah. the vagueness of goals, the lack of of objectiveness. But I do think that having the people, the evaluators describe what they considered to be the criteria for the sele for the selection of

076the evaluation. That will provide Dr. Lawson with feedback. It'll provide us with justification and and if it's not, you know, a perfect system, it's a system, the narrative system which allows for a degree of flexibility and uh compromise and expression, >> right? And with all due respect, I'm not sure that that's necessarily fair to Dr. Lawson, to be completely honest, if uh seven different people can determine what they themselves think is on track versus what is strong. Um again, um >> if I could chime in, I I think the key to any successful evaluation tool is that the clarif the uh expectations are shared and understood universally and that this instrument doesn't seem to do that. So I think maybe if as a as a dynamic document look looking forward beyond this year, we probably

077can tighten the language a little bit in conjunction with with Dr. Lawson. I mean any good uh stu stu student being evaluated should participate in the rubric. So I think that that's something that we need to get to work on and if we need to pass this as is right now then so be it. >> I don't think this is up for a vote. There's no action listed on the agenda. >> This is an action item. >> I don't see it listed as an action item. >> Gold business, new business should always be action items. >> Let's see. >> Do I Let me see. No, you're right. It's an action item. >> Would this presented as new business that we voted or that we looked at in in um in a session? >> I don't

078think the form itself I'd have to check. Miss Harris, when did this get uploaded? This was I think we talked about the concepts last month. When did this get uploaded? >> Right. But this was on last month's uh agenda, correct? Or workshop, >> so so this is the first time that >> it's been in word docs. This is the first time I've seen it. But uh but regardless um so this is not necessarily a tool that we've so normally uh it's always been my understanding that um when something is proposed something like this evaluation tool something that we have been working on for the last two years um that we would have looked at a document uh together uh in in open session as tonight. um usually be presented as as new business. It would

079allow us to have discussion uh in the public realm and then if and then that would allow for that to be a first read. Um usually we have at least one read. Uh and then with the second then maybe maybe just moves on to the second read and then maybe the second read is a final read. Uh but so that's that's what I'm saying that I don't remember and I have not missed a board meeting. So, I don't remember seeing this at a former board meeting. So, I don't believe I'm I'm curious as to how this is already in um an old business when I never saw it in new business. Well, I think it's old business because we voted on the goals in June of 24 and we voted on the scale in November

080of 24. This is simply the marriage of those two items and a place for board members to make comments. In November, we voted on some aspects of of a tool. We never created a tool. There was nothing to vote on. We looked extensively at tools like for example the example from uh K penalopin. We looked extensively at what the New York State uh board of education uses. We looked at what other states have used uh for their formal evaluations of superintendent. Um but we ourselves did not create a tool. Even this past summer we um you know there were other we kind of glossed over it. It was well we don't really have time uh to talk about that uh you know during our uh our board workshop. So again and I did miss last

081month's board workshop. I did not apparently this is what was written at at our board workshop. Is this correct? >> I think the ideas that are incorporated on this form. >> So what? No, my question is is at a public board workshop, is this the tool that was created at that board workshop in September? >> Wasn't created on site at the meeting, but the ideas that came out of that meeting and the consensus of the group have made their way to this. How could a document that was not created at a board workshop all of a sudden become old business? Something to be voted on tonight. >> We can look at the dates and see when when it was all. >> You don't have to give me the dates. I understand that there are that

082September comes before October. It's just that what I'm just curious is that h how how does how does a document that we're voting on not start off as new business and then have a discussion and a and a a f and and and a first read. If you if this was not if this tool was not presented as a first read at the board workshop in September, there has not been a first read of this document. And I'm asking the board, I think we have an opportunity to pause and to and to put some clarifying language both for our sake as well as Dr. Lawson. I don't think it's fair for seven people to subjectively say, okay, uh, I feel like this is on track because, um, what what what does that mean? What? So,

083and again, some of these are subjective and the narrative probably will sound like that. But the other other goals here are not subjective. >> So >> the goals are already established. We we can't if we don't want to talk about goals that's a whole other process. But we have voted upon goals for the superintendent. We have a duty to provide the superintendent with an evaluation. All this form does or the tool or form, whatever you want to call it, the tool is the spot for each individual board member to evaluate the documentation that Superintendent Lawson has supplied either in board docs or the joint team's mailbox on what they determine is in uh towards the achievement of the already established goals. The form here is for each board member to look at what the goal

084was, evaluate the documentation, make a rating, provide their comments and narrative as to why they are rating it as such. It'll be collected. We will have an opportunity to discuss that as a board in order to form a final rating for the superintendent. So, I'm not sure where clarifying language has anything to do with us giving our opinion of the superintendent's performance. >> Mr. gathering that >> can I just read from the minutes of the November meeting, >> please? >> Motion to set the waiting of evaluation criteria proposal items 1, 2, 3, and five to be weighted 20% each. Items four and six at 10% each. Motion by John Scrobot, seconded by Kristen Pigeon. Passed unanimously. Motion to move to a five level. Excuse me. I'm not done. >> But you don't have to read

085that to me. I was there. >> You were there. So why are you questioning what we already were? I understand that we were voting on parts of what a tool could look like. That's what we were voting on. We were not voting on an actual tool. I am saying this is for whatever reason. It's a subpar tool that we've spent years creating. It's a subpar tool and um and and it now it's been pushed through to to old business when it was never new business. That's all I am saying. And I do think that it is written in such a way that does not seem um that does does not seem as helpful to the board and does not seem as helpful to to Dr. Lawson. That's all I'm saying. So again, the board this

086is it's a disappointment. That's all I'm going to say. >> Well, I can tell you the three the three level scale passed unanimously at that November workshop. >> That's wonderful. That's >> you and I are speaking about two different things though. >> Well, the title of the workshop was finalized superintendent evaluation. >> Well, we did not finalize it, did we, Ralph? We're still talking about it. >> Mr. Vice President, I had a couple of clarifying questions here because it's listed under old business uh superintendent evaluation instrument 2025 2026. The document itself is 2024 2025 superintendent evaluation and as I heard tonight uh this is looking back at Dr. Lawson's performance over the last school year. Is that correct? >> Yes, that is correct. And I I for myself having just joined the board in July

087of this year, um I'm likely going to abstain because I don't think I am in a position really to vote um or have a say on this matter or even to evaluate uh Dr. Lawson on a performance for which I was not on the board. And Miss Stock, if I understand what you're not challenging the goals, correct? >> No, I'm not challenging the goals. I am I I wish that the tool presented here could define uh what on track means and what strong means for some of these goals. Some of these are going to be subjective. Um like for example the one that talks about uh improving board relations. Well, that's subjective. That is going to be arguably subjective. Um how >> so what would be an objective measure for that? I I didn't say

088that every goal was going to be was going to be objective. I I acknowledged that I that some of these goals are are are subjective. I never said that that was necessarily a bad thing. It's just that there are some goals in here that have room to be to again to and again for Dr. Lawson to say, look, this is where we are in terms of literacy or student achievement or outcome, or I'd like to focus on this particular population, or I'd like to focus on um you know, something that I'm already been working on as part of as part of my uh as as as one of the things I've been doing as a superintendent. And so, this is where we were when I took over. I think on track, I think that I'd

089like to try to reach this and strong would be one percentage over that. Um, and again, um, and it's and it's something that, um, I don't know if educators in Delaware still do, uh, but, um, where I work in Pennsylvania, uh, we still come up with our goals. We still come up with, um, student performance measures. We set what is we set what is proficient. We set what is distinguished. It's not just uh as an evaluator. I don't uh look at a at a teacher's uh student performance measure and say uh well I I think that was on track what you presented as data. I or no, I like you a lot. You're so nice to me, so I'm going to say that it's strong here. No, I look at what they presented uh in

090their in their measurement tool of what they said was going to be on track as a measurement and then what they said would be strong. So I can objectively say yes, it looks like according to your data that you that you were strong here. So that's going to give you a little bit of higher rating here. Can I suggest that we table this um for a vote in our November meeting since as Miss Stock points out this is the first time that we've seen it. Uh and you know maybe President Heler can provide more insight as to exactly you know how this came together. >> Is that a motion? >> I move to table it. >> Second. Any additional discussion? I mean, uh, I will not be voting in favor of that. I mean, I

091think we've all had an opportunity to view this document in advance of tonight's meeting. If board members wanted to make changes or suggestions, uh, I would have hoped that they would have come to the meeting with those suggestions in order to uh, move the document forward or move it to a point where we could, uh, you know, make those changes. I'm just curious when was this uploaded onto board docs? >> I think any any clarifications in objective or subjective measures we had those discussions at length in developing the goals and the nature of the goals. There is a subjective nature and I don't see how putting any hard lines to make measurements is going to change. We're simply talking about the form here to provide a rating provide our individual opinions to the data that

092is presented discuss that as a group in the formation of of the ratings. So I think there's an opportunity to talk about >> The 16th >> 16th >> the 16th. So it was present. It was um uploaded on the 16th. This is the 20th. >> We have a motion and we had Do we get a second on it? >> Yes. Greg motion. >> I second it. >> Second. Uh roll call vote. Miss Harris >> to >> Mr. No, >> Mr. Aman. >> Yes, >> Miss Scott. >> Yes, >> Mr. Ni. >> Yes, >> Mr. Boy. >> Yes, >> Mr. Jordan. >> I'm abstaining. >> Yes. One day, one car. And my suggestion would be that um we ask President Heler to put this on as a item for the November 3rd workshop so we can

093get to work on this because it it is going to require board members who are going to participate. I mean I respect Mr. Jordan's position. Um but you know we do have to spend some time going through the documentation and I would like to know exactly what I would like a word copy of it too so I can type out my responses. Otherwise, someone's going to have a lot of trouble reading my handwriting. Um, can I also make a request that at our next regular meeting that we bring back the amendments to policy 1.03? I thought it would have come up on this meeting, uh, but it has not. Um, but I did propose some language change to the last bullet in 1.03. Could I ask Miss Harris if you could take that language and

094maybe just do a strike out of the existing language and then show the new language underneath so that board members can see it like in the policy alto together >> and and I did want to clarify that I I would intend to participate in developing the the metric as Miss Stock mentions to the extent that it's going to influence you know us a year from now if we're looking at the same metric. Uh my abstension is simply on um passing judgment on conduct like I said that I wasn't a board member on. >> Exactly. >> Sure. >> Miss Harris, could you just make a note for Mr. Heler um to add this next month's agenda or the workshop agenda as well? And I've just asked members of the board um based on the dock that

095is before us um you know whether you want to send them directly to President Heler before the next uh workshop or regular meeting. You know whether you want to send redline changes uh your version of an entirely new form uh or whatever language suggestions you'd like to see in the evaluation form in how we're collecting and communicating that. um please do that in advance of the workshop so we can use the most amount of our time uh given that we're going to also have some reading consortium discussion that evening and that'll close out old business uh new business draft of facilities use Dr. River Good evening, Superintendent Lawson, Board of Education. I'm here tonight to present to you updated rules and application language for external users of BSD facilities. This presentation and the new draft

096language can be found on Word docs for the public. BSD has a long proud history of having a positive relationship with our community organizations for use in our facilities either through a formal lease agreement or through the facilities use application process. State law allows us to permit outside users. However, the district is not allowed to incur any cost from their use. Over the past few months, we have reviewed the costs to the district to ensure that we are in alignment with state code. While updating these costs, we saw this as an opportunity to ensure a consistent approach and provide stronger customer service to our community organizations while also providing better protection for the district's facilities by updating the rules language. The updated price and language stemmed from various inputs. First, we have a very special,

097unique, deeprooted relationship with our community organizations that we want to protect. Second, Delaware code explicitly directs how district facilities can be used by outside users in state code. Third, we have a BSD board policy on facilities use that requires us to ensure uh that we are reviewing this process. Fourth, we have a district success plan, specifically focus areas two and four, which focuses on community and operation excellence and fiscal stewardship. Fifth, I reviewed several other Delaware district school districts facilities use procedures and reached out to several of them for clarification. Sixth, many many conversation and meetings with stakeholders. This draft was revised through many meetings and conversations with leaders from our who uh use our facilities um very heavily. Uh this also went to various committees including uh a lot of this stemmed from the

098athletic facilities committee, the maintenance advisory committee which uh had a very long meeting um which several of you uh participated on and a long conversation with the chair of the district financial committee. We also had many meetings with John Reed's department, facilities department reviewing a lot of facilities use data and I listened very carefully to last month's board meeting to capture board feedback in the conversation um from Alex's report last month. Seventh, we reviewed our costs from contracts with vendors and also the collective bargaining agreements as well. And lastly, most importantly, reviewed our own district internal process, how we go about the invoicing and the application process of facilities use. Uh, this came up especially, and I'll call out the warriors who are here tonight when we met with them and went through the proposal.

099A lot of the feedback was similar to other groups, very uh happy with what the language is going to be. A lot of the conversation was with kind of the interaction with the district and clarifying some confusion around the processing of uh applying and doing the invoicing. Okay. So the proposed language updates the goal behind all this was try to clarify any points of confusion and to keep it simple while protecting the district's assets and the taxpayers's money. I think some of you were several of the meetings where we were going over this and the phrase I kept hearing over and over was Kenny keep it simple. So I think we achieved that goal. So the biggest change is actually the first bullet up here split in two classifying categories into three. So the classification

100of the organization is linked to the cost to the user. So that's why this is significant. So currently we have either your category 1 or your category 2 organization requesting to use our facilities. The reality though is our category 1 has I'm going to call it a 1A and a 1B. Some category ones get charged, some do not. And you have to go through kind of confusing language figure out who do fees apply to and who don't. And so quite often groups will reach out and question why they got an invoice because saying we're category one we shouldn't be charged and well no actually you do get charged this group doesn't get charged. So the proposal is to make it clear. We'll make three very specific categories so we know exactly who is being charged

101for what charges. So it it um builds a stronger relationship um but also provides greater clarity. So category one would be any school-based organization. So, these are school groups, booster, sport teams, parent groups, um, PTO, um, union organizations. Those are all school-based U, and we'll look at the fees next time, but you'll see school-based groups never get charged for using their own buildings in their own fields. Category two, which right now most of them are lumped into category one, but they have to pay sometimes, are nonprofits. So, if you're a nonprofit serving the residents of the Bernie Wine School District, um they will have their own fees that you'll see in the next category. And then the last one is for profit. Um also you'll state code breaks down three different categories as well. So,

102we are just really um creating the categories to match how state code says who can and can't be charged for usage. The second was clarifying custodial coverage which has led to a lot of confusion I've heard as well. So this new uh language updates or clarifies which uses requires a custodian, how many custodians and how much that cost. That's all spelled out now in the document. The next one is updated rules. So now we have clearly stated in this document what may have been assumed or implied such as not using our fields when it's muddy. Uh we also inserted state code regarding pool lifeguard coverage and required certification. Uh restricting kitchen use without nutrition staff present. Collaborating with organizations if they want to have food at events. This has led to um many uh police

103I mean uh fire department coming out from smoke detector alarms. You get grills that come indoor things like that. So we just want to work with them if they're going to do this. Uh the use of staged materials. Thank you Frank for that suggestion. And providing the district the right to require security at large events just as we do for our own events as well. Um I've I saw this in other districts um procedures and you may have seen in the news very recently with uh the event in uh in Wilmington when their fields were being reserved and the outside user did not bring security and that led to a significant safety issue there. Uh number four uh defining good standing the consequences uh that was absent. We talked about uh organizations needed to be

104in good standing but there wasn't it wasn't clear defined what that meant. So, let's take this opportunity to make sure this is clear to everyone that um and for an organization to be in good standing with us to use our facilities, that means they have to be uh have paid their invoices, that they follow the rules, and protecting our district's assets. And then lastly, the language now includes a fee schedule so or uh organizations know how much the invoice is going to be when they're applying and an estimated cost link where it will calculate it for you. the fees. Uh just to be transparent to the board, most of the fees have already been updated. I believe this has been required by state law and board policy as fees increase. We may not we shouldn't

105be incurring that cost. So the amount has already most of them have already been adjusted to make sure we're not losing money from their use. Generally speaking, what you see in the chart here is that category one, these are the school groups, are never charged a fee to use their own buildings or grounds. Category 2 groups, and we're talking about the civic associations, nonprofits that serve the residents of Bernie Wine School District, only have to pay when there is a cost incurred to the district, such as HVAC or custodial coverage after operational hours. If the custodians were going to be there, if the HVAC was already on, that's not an additional cost to us. Category three, the for-profit organizations, they're always charged. This approach is comparable to what the other districts in the state are

106doing as well. So, I just want to take one minute to go through each fee to let the board know what has changed. So, you don't have to go and compare the two fee uh structures. And there isn't even a fee structure from the previous one. Uh that's uh easily accessible for you. Anyway, so first the custodial uh there's no change except the amount that was already updated based on the recently approved CBA. Number two, HVAC, the change we did update the HVAC fee amount and most importantly we have uh CH DSC is the one who oversees our uh website for this. Uh we have it now where HVAC is always included. Um, previously, um, the organization could choose whether or not to have HVAC or not. And if they choose to have it, then

107there's a fee involved. Well, as you can probably guess, most organizations chose not to click that box, but yet on nights and weekends, they would be calling us saying, "We need heat. We need AC." And so, we end up having to turn it on. And that ends up being a loss financially for us. And um we don't want to we made it clear we came up with the calculation how much it cost us on average throughout uh the building throughout all year. So we did not again the philosophy of keeping this simple. We did not try to calculate how much an HVAC costs at certain times of the year in a certain building in a certain classroom. We did an average cost of this is how much HVAC cost us per hour. Number three room

108usage. This is a change. Uh we removed this fee for nonprofits. Um for those of you who are at the maintenance advisory committee, we kicked this one around for quite a long time. Um at the end of the day, we did not find measurable operational costs from an outside group using a room or a practice field. So, for example, if a civic association wants to come in and use a classroom, there really isn't an additional fee that's needed for using that classroom other than if there's a custodial or HVAC person who needs to come in who wouldn't have been there already. Um, or if there are 5-year-olds who want to kick a soccer ball around a field outside in their sneakers on grass that we have to cut anyway. We said there really is not

109additional fee for allowing them to use. So if they were nonprofit, um we we took that charge away. The specialty area is another change we have. We updated the pool fee and now we're requiring all non-school groups to pay to use certain fields that we must contract an outside vendor to help maintain because of the overusage from outside groups. We believe that this is an incurred cost that districts should not pay alone. I would also like to note that the calculation and the formula for the fees which you'll see on the next slide um such as field usage was a discussion in these committees and with several groups. Next one is support staff. Um no change here except it just wasn't stated anywhere. So we clearly spelled this out what the fee is here. We're

110talking about the audio visual technicians. If you want to reserve a room like this and use the sound and and visual technology, be able to have a tech here to help support you. Or if you want to use the kitchen, you need a nutritional staff member to do that. And lastly, this is also this is new an inkind donation. This is uh we modified language we found from Reich Clay and um through conversations with several groups. Um we came up with the language that is in there now. But basically what this allows is that if an outside user is providing some type of donation to the school district that the school district would find valuable and of use, we could come up through a pre-approval with a discount on their facilities use. So the easiest

111example since I'll pick on the Warriors since they're here. We talked at length about this is we for our outdoor stadiums that do not have restrooms. Uh we as a district will provide portaotties uh for our families and athletes to be able to use outside for events. Well, the the Warriors um pay for the porta potty at Conquered High School because they use it for their games at the stadium on the weekends and they unlock it for us to use on the week. So, we don't actually have to pay for another porta potty. We could have conversations as we have begun to do is maybe there should be some sort of discount given to groups like that where they're donating something that we would have to have paid for anyway and we are saving money

112um by um agreeing to some sort of partnership. Do you find there's any >> push back or are we providing a referral for where folks can get commercial general liability, special event coverage, workers comp and employer liability because in the old days when you know maybe 5 10 years ago was very easy probably to get that sort of coverage. I don't think it's as easy today. So I'm >> I would agree. I >> I'm I'm looking at Tia. I do not believe, but maybe we do. can't use our property without property, >> but we don't walk them through finding that insurance. We just require that they upload that >> on their application as proof. >> So, I'm asking about a civic association. I don't know that they would necessarily have >> these types of insurance.

113>> We came prepared for this one. >> Oh, go ahead. >> So, that district do not have it. >> So policy says and I going through state code there is a process in which if a small number of people want to use it and do not have um the insurance in the language that is hasn't been updated just says that there is a waiver that members can sign. I'm just unaware of there being a waiver. So, I'm not ready to share this with you yet because it's going through legal, but I did draft one that a this perfect example is a civic association like my I leave my civic association, but we're not technically a 501c3. So, I would not be able to upload that document and nor would we go through the process of

114doing that. And to your point, we want them using our school builds. We want them coming in. So, um, council is reviewing this. I'm sure they'll mark it up a little bit to provide coverage and then people sign this then it protects us from a slip and fall and understand that we can't be >> maybe it protects us. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So next steps assuming approval will be we would like to contact organizations to inform them of these updates. We'll work with DSC to update the fee structures for all new applications. Ideally, I would like to see these updates to be in place by the start of the new calendar year. Any questions? Yes, please. >> Uh, thank you, Dr. Rivera. I went to the um on the draft and you there's a

115link there um to school rentalsde.com and it helps you estimate uh the the cost of these rooms and that sort of thing. And the one thing I had a question on, so I put in for Brandy Wine and it looks like you can rent the athletic stadium field. So, let's say I'm I'm the Warriors or I'm Conquered Soccer Association and I want to have a game there under the lights. The only thing to click is HVAC required. Does that cover the the electricity for the lights too? >> Uh, organizations are not allowed to play under the lights. That's actually >> Okay, then. >> Okay. >> Question answered. Yep. Thanks. >> Thank you, Dr. Vera. Next up, Mr. McCoy, monthly financial report. >> You see that as an action item here? Uh, Mr. Scrub. Are we

116doing it next month? First, >> we looking for an action. This is >> I I think I know we've talked about you guys all been in committees. Um, this is the first time you've seen the full language put together. So, I think you've seen um what the proposal for the motion would be for next month. if that is okay. >> Yeah, I'm okay not take action. I just it's listed as an action item here in the agenda. >> And I apologize. That's how I submitted that and that was I should have uh it's my intent is for there was a lot of discussion whether this had to be voted on by the board or not. And so at the end of the day, I did not think the fees had to be because we have

117to by law make sure we're not incurring costs. But I I do know that this tends this is a community relations things and I thought the board would want to have a say on >> the board has always voted on the fees. >> Okay. >> Well, as part of the p the fees is part of the language too, just so you know. >> Thank you, Dr. River. >> Now you're up, Mr. McCoy. All right, for you tonight, I have the September 30th, 2025 monthly financial report. Uh, it's a pretty plain report since we're still in the early stages of the year. The big change this year are a couple or this month are a couple formatting changes, but we'll walk through it as we normally do. Uh, on page one of the report, we have

118the revenues listed. Um, it's I'll continue to point it out that our tax receipts are lagging behind where they were this time last year, although not severely behind. Uh, that will change next month. We have received this month um $18 million and this month last year we received $42 million. And that is all because of the um the push back of the tax payment deadline and some things done by the county to hold off payments so that they have less reconciliation of payments to do. Uh with that, our interest income is also lower than it was in previous years and we will likely not catch up to last year just because uh our cash balances are lower because of the delayed tax receipts and the interest rate is falling and will continue to fall as

119the federal government continues to cut the federal funds rate. Um our state funding it overall looks very strong and it looks like it it's in place with where it should be. Uh total state and local operating is at 63.6%. And last year it was at 60.9%. So we are ahead overall in that category. The tuition fund section there's really um nothing of note. Again, it's just our tax receipts which are lagging behind last year because of what is going on. Um, and just the update it was mentioned earlier about the the hearing. The hearing was today. I did attend the hearing. Uh, the decision should be should come from the judge by the end of the month. Um, there was three law firms arguing on our behalf, one for the state, one for the county,

120and one representing the school districts. I think they put excellent arguments forward. Um, so I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful that we don't have to go back to the single rate which was very detrimental to all of the residents pretty much in our district. All right, the second page of the revenues, the other local funds section, uh, kind of piggybacking off what Dr. Rivera mentioned, the facility and pool rental section. So during the whole process of overhauling the the rental agreements, uh some some billings were were kind of put on hold or hadn't gone out in a timely fashion. So they're we're going through the process of sending out some pass due bills. Um making sure that we've been paid for everything that we uh deserve or we should have been paid for. So you can see

121that this time this month we're at 7.6% 6% whereas last year we were at 13.5%. Um, and I do expect that we'll recover and and be ahead of where we were last year during this year. Um, let me see what else. Are there any questions? Feel free to jump in if you have questions. And just the other the other revenue item I had was the other other local revenue in the top section. It's it's lagging behind last year and I mentioned this in previous board meetings. That's because we had a jewel settlement last year that we won't have going forward for this year. And that's pretty much all I have for the revenue section. If there are no questions, I'll move on to the expenditures. Do you have any idea as to um when you

122think things will pick up to mirror last year? No, not in terms of the actual amounts but in terms of the like percentages and not you know one for one but getting closer. Um, it would definitely depend on the revenue category that you're asking about the tax receipts as soon as as those tax receipts hopefully in it probably won't be till December that we get a large a large chunk of our tax receipts. Um, things like the facilities, it's when the the bills are sent and when payments are coming in. Um, but the state revenues are are in alignment with where they were last year. And the state is still working on a way for districts to utilize funds from the state to cover ourselves if our cash balances become too low because of the

123delay in tax revenues. All right, moving on to page three, the expenditure portion. And this is where I've made some changes to the format of the report. Uh the first thing, there used to be two columns that had total encumbered and total expended. When you added those two amounts together, it it brought you to the total obligated column. Um and our prior year amounts, we just show the total obligated amount. So I figured if we were comparing apples to apples to make things a little easier on the eyes, get rid of the overabundance of numbers, I remove those two columns and we just have the total obligated column. Now uh recommendation from the DFC was to bring back all of the columns at regular intervals throughout the year. So, um, December, March, and probably March

124through the end of the year, just so you have the full picture as we get closer to year end. Uh, the other big change is if you look at line 25, I also added numbers that I don't have to say. If you look 3/4 of the way down the page, um, the school buildings, they've all been condensed into one line on this page. Um, but I also added another page where they are listed individually. So, it takes it out of this section which lets you use a bigger font and makes things easier to read and it puts it on its own page. So, I think it's kind of easier to comprehend. Um, overall there's still it's still not where it needs to be for uh just a person to pick it up off the street

125and know what's going on financially in terms of the expenditures. Um, so that's something that we'll still continue to strive for. Looking at the numbers themselves, um, line nine, curriculum and instruction, that right now is at 70.7% of their budget spent, whereas last year they were at 63.94%. Um, I did let them know that they're spending faster than they were in years past and to just be cognizant of that. and they just they had some large license renewals that happened early in the year that really drove up their their spending. Um line 16 facilities, that one's way ahead of where it was last year and that one is due to the fact that we have not received our minor cap money or enhanced minor cap money and once we receive that money, some of the

126expenditures that are buried in the facilities line can be moved into the minor cap money. So right now we're just spending where we have the money, but once we receive the additional funds from the state, we will we'll shift it to where it belongs. And then line 22, which is an odd one, that's safety and security. Right now, it shows that we have spent 6.86% of the budget, whereas last year we were at 65% of the budget. And that's just due to the fact that we have yet to put in the purchase order for the Delaware State Police SRO's because the contract has been kind of bouncing back and forth. Um, we limited the number of SRO's and we replaced them with constables and the contract was a little delayed in being adjusted for for

127that. Uh the end result on this page is that we have spent 19.12% of the operating units listed here whereas last year we were at 26.29. A big chunk is that SRO contract, but I've also reached out to administrators to let them know to kind of delay some expenses for later on in the year since our revenue stream isn't where it needs to be. And they have done a great job with that. All right. On page four, uh the tuition tax tuition tax line 29 is is ahead of where it was last year. And that's just due to the fact uh that we had the RFP early in the year and the special ed department has done a great job of turning the RFP awards into purchase orders. So they have a lot of uh

128purchase orders in the system already and that drives up the total obligated number that we spend throughout the year. Um that is all I have for the expenditures to point out. If there are any questions I'll take those. And page five uh is just the the individual schools and they're all in a very good spot as compared to last year. Uh the final page, is that the final page? Just kidding. Page six is the prior year appropriation expenditures. The big one on here is page is line 19, the long range plan, strategic plan. That was a big technology purchase that was encumbered last year. Um, but it carried over to this year because we hadn't received the goods yet. I believe those were just received in earlier this month and I think the invoice is

129in the process of being paid. So that big one should flip from encumbered to expended. We're also working through all the encumbered amounts to make sure those the amounts that are encumbered, which are earmarked for for purchases, are actually still valid purchases. If we can erase or get rid of some of those encumbered amounts that no longer um relate to an actual purchase, it will free up some of our funds to be spent elsewhere. And the final page is the cash flows. Uh there's really um at this point because we don't have a good picture of our real estate taxes. This has just kind of been filled out in a way that gets us to the 8.4 projected balance as of 630. When we have a picture of what our real estate tax revenue will

130actually look like, we can get more we can sharpen our pencil on this and get uh more defined numbers. Um, but as of now, this is this is putting us at 8.4. And I'm still very hopeful that we will end higher than that because these are all very conservative conservative numbers that are currently in the cash flows. Uh, this report was approved by the district finance committee meeting, district finance committee at our 108 meeting. And if there are any questions, I'll take them now. Any questions from the board? Do I have a motion to accept the monthly financial report for September 30th, 2025? So move >> audit motion. Mr. Aman, do I have a second? >> Second, Mr. Lavoy. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstain? Motion carries. Thank

131you, Mr. McCoy. General information and meeting dates. uh previously mentioned board workshop Monday, November 3rd, Breny Wine High School, followed by a regular board meeting Monday, November 17th at Tally Middle School. That's our continuing the road show. So make note Tally Middle for the November 17th meeting. And then another board workshop December 8th at Mount Pleasant Elementary. With that, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Lavoy motion. Mr. Jimmy second. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. We are ajourned. Thank you for your time and attention this evening everyone.