001All right, good evening everyone. We're going to call the meeting to order at 7:03. We are in the auditorium at PS Dupant Middle School. Can I ask Mr. Ni to lead us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation and justice for all. Can I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So move, >> Mr. Scorbot. Second. >> Second, >> Mr. Nimmy. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Before we start, I'd like to invite the principal of PS Dupant Middle School up to welcome everyone. Mr. Smalls, thanks for having So, good evening and welcome to PS DuPont Middle School for the Brandy Wine School District September board meeting. Uh, I'd like to thank Dr. Lawson uh and assistant
002Mr. Rivera for inviting me um to say a few words about PS. So, uh, my name is Llewellyn Small and I have the privilege of serving as principal here at PS Dupont. This marks the beginning of my third year in this role. Prior to joining the Brandy Wine School District, I served as principal for Mugat uh, at Fugate Middle School in Westchester, Pennsylvania for six years. And then prior to that, I was an assistant principal at East High School. And long long long time ago, I won't date myself, but prior to that, I was a science teacher and I taught in the junior high system, middle school, and high school. So, been around education for a long time. I'd like to just share a few highlights both past and present about PS. Uh, first, the
003initials stand for Pierre Samuel Dupont, the gentleman for whom this building is named. Mr. DuPont joined the Delaware Board of Education in 1917 and upon seeing the deplorable conditions of black schools in the state, he personally donated $4 million to build approximately 86 new school buildings, a transformational investment in educational equity. This historic building was constructed in 1934 as a high school and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. And a lot of the architectural structures are still in place in the building. Today, PS Dupont serves approximately 700 students. We're proud to be the home of the only gifted program in the state of Delaware. Our students and staff have a long tradition of excellence, just to name a few things. We were actually ranked number 16 by World News and
004Report. And that brings us to number one in middle schools in the Brandy Wine School District with our counterparts being ranked 33 and 42 respectively. I won't say any names. We took first place in 2024 in the Delaware State Math League competition and we consistently rank among the top three teams every year. Our dedicated staff includes veteran educators with advanced credentials, many of whom have been recognized at both the district and state levels for their outstanding contributions to education. We offer a robust related arts program in career and technical education as well as in the visual and performing arts. And we are also proud of our extracurricular offerings and competitive athletic programs. I'll end by saying if you're interested in touring the building, I'd be more than happy to show you around and highlight some
005of the historical features that still remain today. Thank you. [Applause] So, thank you again for hosting the first of our little uh road trip here of schoolboard meetings around the district. We appreciate it so much. And that brings us to our first agenda item number two, the proclamation for September Hispanic American Month. Kadisha and Zia will be reading the proclamation. You can come to the podium if you'd like. You can lay it down. Thank you. >> Hello everyone. So I'm going to start with the Spanish version first. September Johnson. [Music] Musl. Argentina, Chile, Kuba, Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, Olivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Espa in Delaware. participant. Enrique Gracias. Now in English, 2025 Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15th to October 15th. It is with great enthusiasm that Brandy Wine School
006District acknowledges and celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month. Hispanic Heritage Month has a story of its own. In 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim the week of September 15th as National Hispanic Heritage Week. Then in 1988, the observance was expanded to a month-long celebration, making it the only heritage celebration that starts midmon. The celebration acknowledges the Latinos who are known for their diverse cultures that embrace family, food, music, and dance. There are 16 Spanish-sp speakaking countries in the world. Argentina, Chile, Kuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Spain. Delaware hosts an 8.2%. We encourage everyone to participate in local events. >> Gratitude to Hispanic and Latino Americans for their invaluable contributions to our society, enriching our communities with their diverse cultures and perspectives. Thank
007you. [Applause] Hi, I'm Zia. So, I'm here because I want to share what immersion means to us. Immersion is more than just learning Spanish. It's about opportunity, flexibility, and empathy. It gives us the chance to think in more complex ways and to explore the world in a whole new way. We have become one and have learned to support each other endlessly. We have made a safe learning environment for each other. Immersion is not just an option, it's an opportunity and to us it means everything. >> Thank you. Thank you both so much. Any comments from the board? >> That brings us to item three, the superintendent's report. Dr. Lawson. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. Good evening, President Heler, members of the board, and our wonderful Brandy Wine community. First and foremost, I would like
008to extend sincere gratitude to those. Thanks. And now my screen went out. who exhibited grace, patience, and understanding during the transition to Infinite Campus, our new student information system. I would be remiss if I didn't also thank our dedicated BSD administrators and staff for their patience, flexibility, and efforts to cultivate a smooth start to the school year for our students and families. Your professionalism and passion set the tone for a great year ahead. As we continue to focus on data to guide our work and decisions, this month we highlight an important question. Who are BSD students in 2025? By looking closely at some demographics of our students, we better understand the diverse community we serve. This information not only helps us celebrate the richness of our district but also ensures that our decisions, support, and
009resources are responsive to the needs of all students and families. First, we take a look at historical fall enrollment marked by the September 30th unit count and seen here in dark blue. We see that Brandy Wine's enrollment has declined since 2015, but has stabilized over the last three years. This second measure of comprehensive or total enrollment of unique students who were enrolled for at least one day throughout the school year in BSD is an indicator of student transiencece and turnover. 2020 and 2025 show an unusually high transients or movement of students in and out of the district. Why does enrollment and transients matter? Unit count enrollment determines state funding allocations for all district staffing and transiencece of students impacts attendance, behavior, and achievement outcomes for all students. Our next slide shows that Brandy Wine's race
010and ethnicity demographics have shifted over the past 10 years with enrollment of white students dropping eight percentage points while enrollment of black students was stable. An increase of Hispanic and multi-racial students also accounts for these shifts. Looking at race and ethnicity compared to state enrollment in public education, Brandy Wine enrolls proportionately more white, black, and Asian students than the Delaware average and proportionately fewer Hispanic students. Our final data set looks at enrollment of different student populations. Brandywine has consistently enrolled 8% of Delaware students with disabilities, but RO enrollment in the district increased by 877 students from 2015 to 2024, totaling 2588 of our students identified with a disability. Our multilingual learners enrollment went up by 21% or 130 students between school year 15 and school year 24. Growth in the MLL population statewide has increased
011at an even greater pace. Brandy Wine's total population is 757 students identified as multilingual learners. The percentage of Delaware's lowincome students in Brandy Wine has remained in the 7 to 8 percentage range of statewide low-income enrollment even as total enrollment of low-income students has decreased statewide. 3,330 of our students and families are identified by state metrics as low income. Sadly, enrollment of students in foster care is on the rise in Brandy Wine, even as statewide numbers has decreased. 11% of Delaware students in foster care attended BSD in school year 24. In school year 15, only 5% of Delaware students experienced homelessness attended Brandy Wine. But by school year 24, 10% of Delaware's homeless students attend attended Brandy Wine. Our population has nearly doubled, reaching 362 families districtwide. BSD observed the anniversary of September 11th with
012heartfelt tributes across the district. I want to highlight two annual commemorations at Springer Middle School and Mount Pleasant High School. Springer Middle School, the Tallyville Fire Company joined staff and families for a 911 memorial stair climb. Together, they climbed and descended the front entrance stairs 110 times, symbolizing the 110 floors of the World Trade Center in honor of the FDNY firefighters who gave their lives that day. The climb served as both a tribute to their bravery and a reminder to future generations of the sacrifices they made. At Mount Pleasant High School, the JOTC led a moving ceremony alongside members of the Brandy 100 Fire Company, Delaware State Police, and the Delaware National Guard. Cadets and community members honored the courage and sacrifice of the servicemen and women who responded on September 11th, 2001, ensuring their
013legacy lives on in the hearts of students and staff. We extend our gratitude to our community partners whose presence and participation made these commemorations so meaningful. We are excited to announce our annual choice information night on Monday, October 20th at 5:00 p.m. at Springer Middle School just prior to our monthly board of education meeting. This event will provide families with a brief overview of the many opportunities available in the Brandy Wine School District from kindergarten through grade 12. Families will also have the chance to begin their online choice application with support from our team who will be available to answer questions and provide assistance. Stay tuned for additional details and key dates regarding this year's choice application window. We are also pleased to invite all families and community members to join us for two exciting
014events this fall. Our district-wide high school visitation day on Sunday, November 2nd, and our middle school visitation day on Sunday, November 16th. On these days, our middle and high schools will open their doors to showcase the opportunities available to students who wish to attend one of our middle or high schools. Visitors will have the chance to tour classrooms, labs, and learning spaces, meet our talented teaching staff, administrators, learn about academic programs, extracurricular activities, athletics, and the visual and performing arts on also explore the unique resources and pathways that make each BSD school community strong. These visitation days are a wonderful way for prospective families to experience the spirit and pride of our schools firsthand. If you are preparing to transition to a new school and want to see great things happening in BSD, we welcome
015you to attend and discover all that our middle and high schools have to offer. And finally, our September sizzle video for this month. [Music] Good morning to all Brandy Wine drivers. The time now is 6:40. It's the first day of school. Everyone be safe. [Music] Heat. [Music] Good morning. >> Good morning. Good morning. Happy first day everybody. [Music] Good morning. Good morning. >> This is the first day of your last year in in middle school. How does that feel? >> So crazy. >> How we doing? What's up? How are you? >> Good to see you. >> Clip. >> All right. Clip. Are you ready? >> Walk that red carpet, baby. [Music] >> All right, I need all my kindergarteners to come to the a >> good morning. Morning, Dia. >> Hi, thank you. I'm so
016happy to see you today. >> Good job. >> Is this your classroom? >> No. Let's keep going. >> Are you over here? >> That's right. You are in here. >> Very good. >> Hi. Good morning. >> Good morning. >> All right. [Music] >> Yep. So, you're going to do one of two and >> two of two. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Junior is here. Junior is here. It's a great day because Junior is here. >> So, what comes after five? Read your hand if you know. >> So, I'm going to give everyone a job and then I'll explain what to do. Okay. >> How are you? Hey Tomier, how are you? >> Does anybody know who this cat is? >> You guys got it. [Music] >> Hi, Jeremy. It was nice to meet you. >> I was
017informed it was the most amazing first day ever. Best first day ever. [Applause] President Heler, this concludes my monthly report. >> Thank you. As always, kudos to Mick on that video. Amazing shots. And then I might I had a question on the choice info night. Do you know if that is in person only or if it'll be streamed and or recorded. >> I think we could absolutely make it available virtually. >> Will definitely be in person. >> Any other questions for Dr. Lawson? >> Thank you. I I had a couple of questions, Dr. Lawson. Um the first one on students in foster care, do we have a breakdown by age? >> We can get that for you. Absolutely. >> Because in Delaware, um those students might be eligible for free instate tuition if they've been
018in foster care long enough and they're old enough at UD or I think Del State as well. Uh the second question I had is really more of a recognition because it it wasn't up on the slide, but I had a parent from PS contact me about um open house night and that conflicted with Rashashana and I just wanted to recognize Dr. Lawson for getting that and and the principal too for getting that changed. Um I let the parent know he was very appreciative of that. So thank you. >> Absolutely. Thank you. And we do have a foster care liaison who I believe is aware of that regulation. And even when children um are released, so to speak, from um whatever programming, I do think that that they are followed. And so I can definitely put
019you in contact with we have not only a McKenna Vinto liaison who is a social worker, but we have one for foster care as well. So those two individuals work very hard on that with that population. >> Yeah, that that would be great. Um I I know the courts also help out a lot but I think a partnership even if it's informal would be very helpful. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. Any other questions for Dr. Lawson? >> Thank you. Uh that moves us to public comment. It doesn't look like there's any virtual and no in person. Next is board business board member liaison reports. Mr. Mr. Arian, DSBI executive. >> The executive board met on September 3rd. It was a Wednesday. We had a special guest. Um, Secretary of Education, Dr. Cindy Martin, came to
020the DSBA executive board meeting. Uh, she spoke for about an hour. Uh, it was excellent. Um, chance to kind of get to know her a little better. I've I've heard, you know, kind of her origin story before, but it was a lot. It was nice to hear it again in more detail. Um, you know, she's originally a superintendent from San Diego, but started out, you know, originally as a teacher inspired by a brother of hers that had uh disabilities that got her into education and then she wanted to go and make a difference in schools where it really needed to have a difference. Uh, and she wanted to work in the inner city and she really did help turn San Diego around. Uh, one of the things I was very impressed with that she talked
021about was the upcoming NAPE assessments uh, coming I think in January of next year and how she's going to meet with the NAPE coordinator to make sure that the people that they're sending into our schools are encouraging the students to do well and are not just sort of grumpy retired people who took a day job. uh which I thought was really good and this is something that she did in San Diego. Um so you know I mean NAPE is a important educational progress measure. You know people say oh education in Delaware is terrible. I don't agree with that otherwise I wouldn't be here. Um and certainly not in this district but um you know it shows in the numbers. So, I think her emphasis on being prepared and having the best setting possible for our
022kids to take the tests um is is a great idea to make sure that we do as as well as we possibly can. >> Thank you. DSBA Legislative Committee, Mr. Lavoy, >> the first meeting this year for the DSBA Legislative Committee isn't until October 5th, so I'll have a report at our next meeting. Thank you. District finance committee, Mr. Scrub. >> Yes. The finance committee met Wednesday, September 10th. Uh we discussed the salary schedules in August monthly financial reports that are on the agenda for uh that Mr. McCoy will share shortly. Uh we also discussed u a little bit about the future posting that will be shared across uh various district platforms uh and looking at some other communication uh platforms as we look to expand participation uh in the del um district finance committee
023and trying to generate some more interest from members of the public. Uh the committee also selected member Chris Millionis as our chair of the committee for the upcoming year and our next meeting will be Wednesday, October 8th. >> I did uh see a social media post today I believe recruiting new members for the district finance committee. So if anyone's interested, check out the district social media for details. Um health and wellness advisory committee, that's me. Um our first meeting of the year isn't until November 20th. Maintenance advisory committee, Mr. and Jimmy. >> Uh we've had two meetings since our last meeting. Uh one on August 26th and the other in September 9th. Uh the August the September 9th was to discuss the new Charles W. Bush Early Education Center, the conceptual planning phase. It was
024uh very interesting to see the uh schematics, to see blueprints, uh 3D pictures, everything of the the uh proposed new building. It's very exciting. A lot of thought and a lot of hard work has definitely been put into it. I'd like to uh give recognition to Mr. Reid uh who really put uh put a lot of this together in terms of not just getting people together but getting the presentation together. It was uh greatly appreciated uh very good uh very good experience and very much looking forward to that happening uh eventually um in a in a in a set amount of time. So there's a lot of things to to go on before that comes to fruition, but we have a good team working on it. So we're we're hoping for very good things in
025the in the future. Uh the August 26th meeting, uh there was something uh there are two matters that were discussed there. One was uh Concord High School and the submission for August the August 2025 uh submission to the Department of Education to have Concord High School um replaced with another school physically the building a whole description of why that was needed. A description of the work that was needed on Concrete High again Mr. uh was kind enough to present that to us and to show us some of the examples and the reasoning behind it. Uh while we do not anticipate the Department of Education for the state of Delaware replacing uh Concord High School at this time, uh the uh application continues to go forward and hopefully eventually uh someone in Dover will pay attention
026and understand the importance of of uh really addressing the needs of that school. Uh the second part was with regards to changes that we are making uh changes that are being made to the facilities and fields uh policies for the Brandy Wine School District. Um the policies for the BSD uh for both the language for the policy and the fees have not changed in many years and uh this is something that we wanted to address and uh we wanted to bring it more in line with the policies of other districts in the area. So uh Dr. Rivera uh gave us a presentation where one we are going to be updating the fees to make sure that they represent the new contract custodial rates and the HVAC costs, the increased cost of pool chemicals and field
027maintenance. So there's going to be an increase in that which we charge to organizations uh to use the facilities in the BSD. And uh all of those fees are in line with what other districts do. And they also all are based on uh you know expectations of you know what these rates are, what the HVAC costs are. It's not random. It's something that has been thought of uh very in-depth and detailed. Uh the other part of this is that there's going to be a change to the categories of the organizations that are allowed or that will be using uh the field. So there is now will be in the future three categories. Category ones which will be school-based groups such as school athletic teams, clubs, performing arts. These groups never have to pay to use
028the facilities as would be expected. Category 2 will become any nonprofit organization that primarily serves the residents of Brandy Wine. They will be charged for any costs incurred by the district, but they will not have to pay for custodian or HVAC during normal operating hours. And category three will be any for-profit organization that is responsible for paying all fees. Um, so these are changes that are going to be proposed and finalized uh as the school year goes on, but it brings us in line with other districts and it really helps to offset some of the costs that are being incurred by the district for allowing organizations to use these facilities. Any questions? When do we expect those fee schedules to be brought to the board for approval? >> I believe next month. Next month, next
029month's meeting, they'll be brought for approval. >> I can tell you it in the past it's been a sensitive topic. Just FYI. >> And we we recog I recognize that and I I know um Dr. Rivera and and all of Dr. Lawson's team recognizes that. I think part of the the reason for having all of the explanation, all of the comparison with other districts and all of the justification for these changes, we hope will, if not mute, try to address some of the criticism or some of the issues that might come about from organizations finding that something that was previously much less expensive is now slightly more expensive to them. Um, nobody likes it when things are more expensive, but hopefully a full and complete and justified explanation will go part of the way to
030to alleviate their concerns. >> So, how would how would we say um be treating a civic association, the one that hold the meeting in the library? How would so if it's a civics association so a nonprofit organization that primarily serves the interest of the Brandy Wine residents that be category two charging costs incurred by the district but not have to pay for for custodian or HVAC during normal operating hours. So it would depend upon if their primary service was in the BSD, if they were planning on using the facilities during normal operating hours or later at night, earlier in the morning, if costs would have to be incurred there, and essentially whether or not they're actually nonfor-profit, for-profit, whatever the case may be, there are ways by which it could be uh reviewed. So there'
031be probably probably as you described it in category two. I I think my concern based on the definition that you're uh presenting is that a civic association might not be a designated 501c3 nonprofit. They may just be an organization of citizens that meets occasionally to talk about snow removal costs, >> things that are going on the neighborhood, things like that. I would hate to see a group like that lumped into all other group three. So I think you know it would be good to have some word smithing in there that accounts for our civic associations because we have a lot. I mean there's a civic council of Bernie 100. There used to be a Claymont civic coalition that doesn't exist anymore but I know CCOV is still alive and well. They may be a 501c3
032but is the Carcraftoft Civic Association a 501c3 or there's paperwork involved with with doing that. So, I just think we need to be sensitive to the needs of the community. You know, meeting um in the library of our school for 2 hours >> in the evening from 6:00 to 8 is not going to incur a lot of cost to the school district. So, I think as long as we're taking that into account with with the schedule in some way, you know, I I I can support it. But if we're going to put a burden on civic associations that will require them to do additional paperwork or pay additional fees, >> that that's a different question. >> So I can there we go. Um yeah, I can say that uh well, first of all, we're going
033to get a full presentation next month that we'll have all those details, but the case you mentioned in the draft is clearly covered under category 2 and there's no cost when there would already be a custodian in the building already. So any scenario like that would be no cost. And I would also, you know, we're waiting to see the finalized drafts, but I would also say, um, you know, the category 3 is for-profit organizations. So, you know, I think that the determination by the administration as to what is for-profit as opposed to what is not for-profit is perhaps not necessarily based exclusively on fully, you know, government filings and things of that nature. Uh, but it's something that, you know, we will be reviewing reviewing what the administration goes on. I will tell you some
034of the for-profit organizations, you know, sometimes they're out of outofstate for-profit organizations who have used our facilities and we just want to make sure that um quite honestly BSD is not being taken advantage of. I was I I attended that the meeting where this was discussed and I was surprised to hear about the number of out ofstate organizations that use us only because we are extraordinarily the cheapest option they could ever find um under the current plan. So, that's kind of the um the premise of adjusting it so it at least aligns with the other districts and um and at least it spreads out the use and it's not only us cuz we're the cheapest. >> Anything else? >> Uh no, that uh that was it. Uh uh we will I'll not sure when the
035next meeting will be, but I will let you know. >> That brings us to uh Mr. Jordan, Parent Council for Students with Disabilities. >> Thank you. Um, on September 8th of this year, the Parent Council for Students with Disabilities held its first, uh, meeting and Mr. Lavoy attended as well. Uh, it was 5:30 to 6:30 at Mount Pleasant Elementary. Uh, there are about a half dozen families who were there. Uh, and we had a lot of representatives from the district as well. Um, more importantly though, I think we had three community groups who were there. Uh we had DFRC which is Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens which you might know from the blue gold game, DVR and a group called Wolfpups which is relatively new. Um they provide grants uh so that families can purchase whatever
036sort of equipment that they might need for their their children. It's a relatively new group. Um I didn't even get a chance to speak to all of the groups because uh they were so busy speaking with the parents which I think was a good thing. Um I know Mr. Lavoy and I also got a chance to meet with some of the parents and to discuss things in the one of the primary issues um that was raised uh they didn't know that this meeting was going forward and so trying to get that word out in the community I think will will help and another thing that will help they do offer child care there uh for parents who show up so it's it's a great thing um some of the students had baked uh chocolatecovered pretzels
037so doing everything we can to get people to come to these meetings and so I think the more that the board can do to to promote these meetings um would also help. Our next one, November 10th, 2025, 5:30 to 6:30 again at Mount Pleasant Elementary in the multi-purpose room. Um that said, I'm happy to take any questions that anyone has. >> Any questions? >> I want I wanted to add that shortly after that meeting, um I had a volunteer uh to sit on that committee and come to every committee meeting who's a former special educator who has since retired, is very active in the group. Parent and Citizens Advisory Committee, Miss Stuck. >> We look forward to having our first meeting October 23rd at Mount Pleasant Elementary in the multi-purpose room. Um, we really encourage
038uh both uh citizens as well as parents in the district to please reach out uh to you can reach out to either me, Kimberly. um and uh and and send me an email and let me know that you're of your interest as well as if you do have a child in the district um please reach out to your child's uh school principal. Uh we are trying to recruit uh more people to come to the meetings because the board does rely on the feedback. um as well uh just to also um entice you a little bit uh further that at this meeting we the district will provide transportation meal and child care too. So we really um really would like people to come out and uh to let us know so that we can extend an
039invitation to you. So that will be October 23rd. Uh dinner uh will be served I believe at 5:30. Any questions? >> No. >> Thank you. >> Questions. >> Wilmington Learning Collaborative. Mr. Nimmy. >> Yes. >> Hello. >> We had a meeting on uh September 6th. At that meeting, the new leadership for Bard and Pritchette Academy presented uh their academic uh profiles for their last year and for the beginning of this year. Um they have some new leadership there. So, it's very exciting to see how that's going to uh manifest itself and and uh the progress that they're going to be made through their uh their vision there. Um we also had additional discussions regarding student outcomes and a focused mindset throughout the WLC. Uh we're obviously for BSD purposes very uh excited to look forward
040to Haron uh presenting uh later on in the year at the WLC meetings. Um and then in addition, uh the WLC is looking for a CFO. I bravely told them that Mr. McCoy is not available, and I think we all agree to that. Um but, uh yes, they are looking to get a CFO and they're I mentioned that to show that they're looking to ramp up their experience and their um their expectations as well. So, it's something that we expect this year to be uh very much a doing year for the WLC. Any questions for Mr. Njimmyi? WMPH. Mr. Lavoy. >> Thank you. As many of you know, >> correction. 917 WMPH. >> Sorry, there was a typo on here. It's 917 WP. Yes, as many of you know who listen to that, that's a
041wonderful outlet uh and a resource for our whole community, but also a wonderful learning experience for our students who get to see behind the scenes and on microphone and on the air. And Paul Wishing is a real treasure. Uh I know Paul because he came through for his certification through our University of Delaware alternate routes to teacher certification after a very good career as an on onair personality through WDEL and because of that experience he brings an awful lot of resources. He has got a lot of connections. Uh recently um he inherited seven big pieces of studio furniture, a 24 channel audio artboard, and several other pieces including microphones and and swivel racks and that kind of stuff from a a radio engineer colleague of his uh who works for iHeart Media and um their
042their radio station WDOV in Dover was decommissioned. So we benefited and our students have benefited from that connection. So kudos. He does. He continues to do a wonderful job. Any questions? Any honor comments? Thank you. Um, any other additional board member reports? Right. That'll bring us to the consent consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. >> Second. Mr. >> Arian, second, Miss Stock. All in favor? >> I I >> I. >> Any abstensions? >> I'm going to abstain because I was not there for that due to co. >> Roll call. Miss Harris, >> question about that. Um, >> can I abstain from just the September 4th uh board workshop because I wasn't there for that one, but not for the other two or no? >> Do um we can
043break them up. That would be appreciated just because I was there for the other two but not for that one. Okay, >> Miss Harris, we'll just do a roll call for each then. So, uh motion for the August I'm sorry, which one >> could we do anything? >> I I just wasn't there for the September 4th one. >> Okay, so uh a motion to approve the minutes of the August 18th executive and regular sessions. >> I guess new motion. >> Yeah, there should be a new motion, right? >> So moved. >> Second. Okay. So, Mr. Scorbot and Mr. Njami are the motion. Okay. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Scorbot. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ni. >> Yes. >> Mr. Loy. >> Yes. >> Mr.
044George. >> Abstain. One day. Motion carries. >> One abstain. >> One obstain. Okay. Motion carries. And then is there a motion to approve the minutes of the September 4th board workshop? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay, Mr. Scrobot and Mr. Lavoy. Uh, roll call, please. >> Mr. Scrot, >> yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Heler. >> Yes. >> M. >> Abstain. >> Mr. Demi. >> Abstain. [Music] >> Mr. Deoy. Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Motion carries. Um is there a motion to approve the monthly personnel report as discussed in executive session? >> So moved. Um >> no, we did A and B together and then C separately. So moved. >> So motion for by Mr. Jordan for the monthly personnel report. Is there a second? >> Second. >> And Mr. Ni. And
045I'm just going to ask for a roll call on that too, please. Miss Harris. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Abstain. Miss. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ni. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jordan. Yes. >> Thank you. Then is there a motion to approve these student matters as discussed in executive session? >> So moved. >> Okay. M do second. Give it to Mr. Acriman. I think we have a roll call on that too, please. >> Mr. Scro. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Heler. >> Abstain. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jimmy. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yes, >> Mr. Jordan. >> Yes. >> Six yeses, one abain. Motion carried. >> Thank you, Miss Harris. That brings us to old business. Uh a superintendent contract addendum. Just a very
046brief history. Um our CFO, Mr. McCoy found some language in the original contract related to PTO time that contradicted with uh state code, specifically section 1318 of title 14. Um so the board in executive session has drafted an addendum that corrects that error. Um, as well as there was an omission on specifying that PTO payout is amounts that are in excessive of the carryover balance that's allowed in the district. Um, so the board I believe has all reviewed the addendum. Is there a motion to accept the addendum to section three of the superintendent contract? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. >> So Mr. Lavoy, Mr. Acriman. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? >> Yes. >> I. >> Any oppose or abstensions? >> Motion carries. Then 9B is the superintendent goals for 2025 and 2026
047that the board has been working on in the July and August, I'm sorry, August and September workshops. Is there a motion to accept the superintendent goals for the 2025 2026 school year? >> So moved, >> Mr. Scorbot. Second. >> Second, Mr. I reckon any discussion all in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed or abstain? >> Motion carries. That brings us to Mr. McCoy and the salary schedules for administrative assistants, chief custodians, food service managers, and assistant managers, mid-level professionals, specialists, and JOTC. That's a long title. >> Good evening, President Superintendent Dr. Lawson board members and audience members. Uh there are certain employment groups that are not part of a collective bargaining agreement. Those salary schedules for these groups are before you tonight. Within these groups, there are two subsets. One subset are groups that have
048salary schedules with defined state and local portions. As you can see on the screen, they have a state column and a local column. And that makes up their annual salary. These groups are the custodial chiefs one administrative assistants formerly known as the uh building secretaries the nutrition manager and the assistant nutrition managers. These groups have already received the state increase on their salary scale. So the state column has already increased by 2% from their previous year. The proposed increase to the local portion of the salary scale is 3%. Uh the second subset are groups where the state and local portions are combined into one salary as opposed to the scale with state and local broken out. These groups are the district office support staff and the JROTC. The proposed increase is 3% on the whole
049number for those groups. Uh the results of these proposed changes keep our wage increases in line with and slightly below what was projected during the referendum process. Uh the DFC approved these salary increases at their September 10th, 2025 meeting. Uh if there are any questions, I can answer those now. And all the individual schedules are included on board docs. Mr. McCoy, I did have a question. If um are these numbers competitive with surrounding states? >> Yes, they are. We're not the highest paid district. We're not the lowest paid district. I don't think we want to be the highest paid district and we definitely don't want to be the lowest. So, it puts us at a very a very competitive scale given our uh good reputation. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yep. >> I had
050a question on the cafeteria manager scale. Um I see there's a category below 351 students that doesn't have a local share. First, do we have anybody in that category? And then just curious why there's not. a local share tied to that one. >> I don't believe we have anyone. If if we do, they're likely just more of a helper. Um, and they only deal with specific maybe specific lunches. Um, I can double check on that, but I I don't think there's anyone in that group. There's only eight that's so that scale has a lot to it. There's only eight employees spread throughout that entire salary scale. Any other questions for Mr. McCoy? >> Move to accept the superintendent's recommendation to approve the new salary schedules. >> Mr. Acriman, is there a second? >> Second, Mr.
051Jenner Jimmy. Any other discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose or abstain? Motion carries and uh still you Mr. McCoy with the monthly financial report for August. >> All right. So we have the August 31st 2025 monthly financial report. Um and since we're we're still in the early parts of the year, there's not much to it, but there are some points that I want to highlight. Uh the first that I want first thing I want to highlight is the current expense tax receipts line. The first line under local funds that line we have received 4.2 2 million whereas compared to the prior year we received $946,000 at this time. Um all of the districts in the county saw a large increase. We haven't really pinpointed the reason. We think people are just a
052little more attuned to their taxes this time around. I will say that uh we just received our collections number for September and that number is a is pretty much offsets the higher balance that we received this year. So, next month you'll see that we're in line with where we were in the previous year. I also do want to mention that Newcastle County has reached out to all of the mortgage companies and the the companies that process escrow payments and has told them not to send payments to school districts until they have received the new adjusted tax bill. So that will put us into a bit of a a cash flow situation. But with the special session that allowed us to split tax rates, they also allowed us to use division one state monies to cover
053ourselves if we run into cash flow issues. So we're we're in the process of figuring out what that actually looks like in practice so that we can um use those funds without disrupting our normal normal operations. >> Mr. McQueen, I'm a little confused. I thought the county collected the school tax and the county tax. >> They do. So they they reached out to the mortgage companies and told them not to pay anything. Not school, not county, no vote, nothing >> until they received the adjusted bills. And the last correspondence I had with the county, they expect those bills to hit mailboxes on October 15th, around October 15th. So, that's not something that we anticipated. Uh, previous conversations with the county, we were told that they're not going to withhold anything. They never mentioned that they
054would um actually reach out to companies and tell them not to pay. We expected those escrow payments to come through and that things would be reconciled and credits would be sent back to residential properties. Um, but that is not the case at this point in time. Now, whether those mortgage companies will listen to the county, I don't know. they might have automated payments set up that they can't really uh fine-tune on an individual basis, but um it's just something that we're aware of and that we're watching closely. >> Can I just interrupt? Um did you see a copy of whatever notice the county sent? >> I have not. We have uh all the CFOs in Newcastle County have a call with the new CFO at Newcastle County on Wednesday. >> Did the county explain authority?
055Nothing. >> I didn't I didn't even hear from the county that this was happening. I heard from another CFO who went to a New York town hall where this was mentioned and then um we asked what's going on and now we have a call on Wednesday. >> That includes the county. You said on Wednesday or that just Okay. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Yes. It's a >> Mr. McCoy. Did you say that the new bills would were anticipated to be sent out by October 10th? >> They think that they will reach the He said they'll hit the streets October 15th. >> 15th. Thank you. >> So to go along with our current expense tax receipts, we also earn interest on that money that we collect. So if we're collecting the money later, we're earning less interest.
056Uh, and on top of that, our interest rate that we're receiving is now in the 4% range, whereas this time last year, it was in the 5% range. So, you can see that we're already seeing a decline in our interest income. The good thing is that our interest income was well over budget last year. So, even though we I budgeted a very similar amount to what was budgeted last year, I am hopeful that we'll reach the interest that is listed here. But um we'll we'll see as the money comes in what we're um recouping in interest and make any adjustments to the final budget if necessary. Um so I don't have anything else worth mentioning on that line. Everything's pretty much uh status quo for only two months into the year. on page two in
057the other local funds section. Uh you may notice that our other local revenue, the line that is page two is about uh four lines in that is trending lower than last year and that's because last year we received a $55,000 jewel settlement. Um I think all the school districts received a settlement for uh damages from from kids using jewels and vaping. So, that's not something we'll see this year. Uh, that's just why we're we're below where we were last year, but I believe we'll that will come up as a year goes on. Um, if there's no questions on the revenue reports, I'll just keep on moving along. So, on page three is when the expenditures start. A lot of the differences that you'll see in the the expenditures, uh, they're they're just kind of at
058this point of the year related to the timing of of when things were input into the system. So, uh, for example, the facilities line that has $1.1 million encumbered, whereas last year it had $756,000 encumbered. So, it it looks like the facilities line is is trending much higher than it was last year, but really they're just getting their purchase orders in a lot faster than they were last year. Uh, backing up, if you look at the the percent obligated in the first two lines for our salaries, we're at 14.61% whereas last year we were at 14.75%. Uh, and that is um a good comparison even though we just approved the salary increases. The salary increases for last year were approved at this same board meeting. So they're um comparing apples to apples. Uh if you
059go down to about midway, a little past midway, the secondary education support, that one shows that we are at 7.57% obligated, whereas last year we were at 50.26. Uh and that is because last year's budget included the athletic trainers and now the athletic trainer contract is no longer in existence and we have hired athletic trainers as uh Brandy Wine employees. So this is the reason for that decrease. Um and if there's anything jumping out to you, feel free to stop me. Um that's honestly pretty much for well on page four the federal funds expenditures you'll see there's nothing and that's consistent with last year because we have yet to receive our federal funds and that is that's just due to the timing. It's similar to years past. >> I'm cutting to the chase a little
060bit but it looks like the carryover is a little bit healthier on this report than it was on the last report. Is that true? >> Yeah. So now we have um 25 funds that have carried over into this new new school year. Um are you talking about the the next page prior year incumbrances? >> I'm talking about the cash flow >> the June 30th carryover. >> The last page jump to the end. >> Oh the cash flows carryover. Yes, that was um the cash flows was so the starting cash flow is where we ended up last year and then as we work through I added the actual numbers and we're on page five now um for August and then I kind of spread out our tax receipts throughout October, November, December. And that was before
061I knew that the escrow payments were delayed. So, those will still shift a little bit. Uh, the end the projected ending balances of $8.4 million. That's consistent with with last month. And I still am hopeful that it's cons a conservative number. I was hoping that um our interest income would help it out, but that does not look like the case. I'm sorry, we're on page the next page. >> Mr. McCoy, could I go back to page three at the bottom? >> Sure. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding this, but the Wilmington Learning Collaborative last year was budgeted $250,000 and now it's only $75,000. Why the the reduction? >> So the the Wilmington Learning Collaborative, we had a lot of money from previous years that we're still um using up in this current year. So that doesn't show
062as uh an an expense on this report. What this report shows is if Brandon if Wilmington Learning Collaborative were to give us new money this year and we spent that new money that would show up on here. And the reason for the decline is because we had such a healthy balance from years past that I don't think we would rely on new money as much as we had to last year. >> Thank you. >> Yep. I have a question back on the cash flows, maybe a follow-up to Mr. Acriman's. Do we know or maybe the district finance committee can work on it and let us know next month when do we expect to hit the 8.85 million? >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Target and andor with next year's referendum payments, where will that where will we
063be next year? Yeah, with right with the 20 cents that just got added. >> Yeah, I'll I'll try to get a a projection on when we'll get to 8.8. >> Okay. It's possible I misremembered, but I thought we were supposed to get to 8.8 this year, but I can't find where I think I remember that from, so I'm not sure. >> I do think that was the goal. And again, I I was conservative with the 8.4, four. So, I do think that we'll get to 8.8, but I'll I'll get some more dialed in numbers to paint a better picture. >> Is there a chance that any of that has to do with uh the decrease in interest rate that we're getting with with regards to money that you know we have in accounts or things
064of that any sort of interest rate going from 5 to 4%. Uh yes, it's all factored in there. That the the number that we had budgeted, I believe it was 1.9. That's what is included in the cash flow. Um I I'll have to go back and see and project it out. It's it's hard at this point to project out what our interest income will be since I have no clue what the cash flows will even look like and when we'll receive our tax receipts. Any other questions? Is there a motion to approve the financial report for August? >> Yes. >> Did you did the I don't know if you had said it yet or not. Did the committee make a recommendation on >> Oh, yes. The the um financial report was approved by the uh
065district finance committee at the September 10th, 2025 meeting. >> Move to accept subject to audit. >> There a second. Second >> motion Mr. Arian second Mr. Nummy. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed or abstain? Motion carries. General information meeting dates. Our next board meeting will be October 20th and that will be held at Springer Middle School. October 20th. Springer Middle School. >> Springer. You're welcome. >> Middle school. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Oh, yep. >> The uh the October 7th workshop is being cancelled until November. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? I I meeting adjourned. Thank you everybody.