Brandywine School District Board of Education Meeting - August 19, 2024

001e move all in favor I we've now entered into our General Session the time is 7:07 p.m. we'll now have the Pledge of Allegiance led by Jason Keller I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible and justice for all we'll now move to approval of the agenda for today's meeting May we have a motion to approve the agenda all in favor I I the agenda is thereby approved and we'll move on to special recognition we have a recognition by Miss lavenia Jones thank you good evening our distinguished board members superintendent Lawson BSD employees and community at large my name is lva Jones Davis and I serve as the Director of community engagement and Partnerships and as the former Wilmington learning collaborative

002District liaison this evening I am honored to present an award of recognition to one our recent one of our recently graduated Mount Pleasant High School students class of 2024 this young lady serve dual roles not only as a distinguished student professionally trained in Classical Ballet Jazz and Hip Hop she served as a student representative on the Wilmington learning collaborative Council doing her senior year she attended board meetings events and volunteered her time in the community as a mentor and tutor to Scholars at Harland Elementary School I would like to present a certificate of appreciation to miss Lila Cotman Lila please [Applause] come Miss Lila Cotman will be attending Elon University in North Carolina this fall majoring in dance and strategic communication let's give her a hand for that so proud so PR [Applause] I would

003also like to recognize Leila's mom and dad her mom is here for your support guidance encouragement and also serving as a role model for your daughter thank you thank you so much we really appreciate you Leila I'm going to read the certificate I'm so honored to give this to you this evening certificate of appreciation this certificate is proudly presented to Lila Cotman this certificate is given to Lila Cotman and recognition for your leadership and dedication serving as the Brandy Wine School District 20 2324 student council representative for the Wilmington learning collaborative your support with mentoring and tutoring many scholars help to contribute to their academic success so much thank you so much I really appreciate you and good luck in college as well thank you you thank you any comments or Reflections from anyone on

004the board I'd like to say congratulations it's always an honor when we get to see the hard work of our students and also get to hear about the plans that they have in the future so congratulations uh next we're going to have our Safety and Security recogn by for to win Ken Wales and Andrew sheer thank you Mr Rivera good evening members of the board and superintendent Lawson recently Dr Lawson and I attended a training by the Delaware State Police with all the school superintendents in Delaware to discuss school safety during this meeting the state police highlighted recent efforts by the Bry wi School District that increase the level of school safety encouraging all other districts to follow suit this would not have been possible without the leadership talent and determination of members of the

005technology department we were repeatedly told for several years that what we were trying to accomplish was impossible but our technology staff did not take no for an answer I welcome the supervisor for technology Patty Staker to the podium to recognize her staff student and staff safety is our highest priority we are proud to announce a groundbreaking achievement we are the first district in Delaware to standardize emergency access to our security cameras in real time to Delaware State Police and Wilmington city police this Innovative solution significantly enhances our ability to respond swiftly to emergencies we whole edly thank Ken Wells and Andrew Shore for their dedication and perseverance in overcoming many technology obstacles to make this possible this collaborative project with the Delaware Department of Technology Advan Tech Insurance media Delaware State Police and Wilmington city

006police marks a substantial Leap Forward in school security Ken and Andrew are now supporting in other Delaware districts in implementing this critical system thank you Kenneth Wells and Andrew Shore for your expertise and for aiding in keeping students safe we have a certificate of recognition for Andrew Shore thank you and a certificate of recognition for Kenneth Wells thank you very thank you any comments or Reflections I'll just quickly say thank you also I think I'm sure to uh Patty who is always there um to lend her Department's resources for any project that's ever needed thank you yes congratulations next we will have the superintendent report by Dr Lisa Lawson thank you vice president jeed good evening members of the board and members of our community I want to begin by addressing directly recent events that

007have understandably caused concern within our community over the past several weeks allegations of misconduct involving several employees have come to light and I want to assure you that thorough investig ations have been or are being conducted into all matters brought to our attention and accountability for those actions realized we commit to you our community consistent and fair consequences for all employees regardless of their title gender position ethnicity race orientation tenure or any other attribute that's unrelated to the fact-f finding process or evidentiary data in the case I also want to express my deep regret as individual employees actions are not reflective of values we hold as a school Community we reiterate our unw unwavering commitment to providing a safe and supportive environment for all students moving forward we are implementing immediate measures to provide compensatory

008services to affected families and strengthening our policies practices and oversight this includes revisiting our hiring processes in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education enhancing staff training on ethical ethical conduct and student safety and creating more robust channels for reporting concerns directly to Human Resources our top priority is the well-being and Trust of our students parents and staff we are committed to earning your trust through transparency accountability and A Renewed focus on our core values as always you can reach out to Billow handland or me directly thank you last week we welcomed many new faces during our new teacher orientation event from individuals who chose BSD to start their teaching Journeys to seasoned Educators looking to open a new chapter in their careers we can't wait to watch each of you make a positive lasting

009impact on the lives of our students this group also features members of our brand new teacher residency program BSD is proud to host teacher residents this upcoming school year for the first time from University of Delaware Delaware State University and Delaware Technical and Community College our newly redesigned website went live on August 1st the website features a cleaner more navigable layout optimized for both desktop and Mobile use statistics show that 68% of our visitors use mobile devices to visit our website recognizing this trend we prioritized mobile responsiveness to ensure that our website delivers a seamless and accessible experience on smartphones and tablets whether parents are at home or on the go they can easily access important information such as school calendars lunch menus and District news a special thank you to those who worked behind

010the scenes to make the new website possible including Mick Austin Andrew Sher Craig kolinsky and Ken Wells as we prepare for upcoming for the upcoming school year one of our top priorities has been to review and enhance our transportation services to ensure safety efficiency and reliability for our students and caregivers the task of transporting our students is a responsibility we take very seriously and we are committed to continuous Improvement in this essential service area this year we have continued to make significant updates to our transportation system designed to address past challenges and meet our community's evolving needs these updates include continued use of the where's the bus parent app allows parents to view location and arrival time information for any buses serving their household all Brandy Wine School District buses will be equipped with the

011wears the bus barcode combo reader which requires students to enter or scan their student IDs upon entering the bus this will ensure consistent student identification whether they have the ID card with them or not parents can receive an immediate push notification when their child enters the bus and finally our transportation staff and building admin will continue to have access to real-time tracking of Bus location speed and routes via the vo Now GPS software our second annual kindergarten and first grade meet the driver practice ride to school on the bus will take place this Thursday morning August 22nd for interested families we appreciate your patience and understanding as we move forward with the implementation of these improvements we are confident they will enhance our services functionality and reliability finally we are less than one week away

012until the official start of the 2425 school year for over 10,000 BSD students as we stand on the cusp of a new Academic Year we are excited to fulfill our mission to embrace Inspire and challenge every student every day vice president jeed that concludes my monthly report thank you Dr Lawson um Dr lawon I have a simple question the where's the bus student login is that the same number they use for launch or is it a different number it is the same okay any other comments or Reflections I want to just encourage everyone to really check out the new website there's a lot of information on there we've been listening to community feedback and trying to make things easier to find as well as the board listening to the feedback about putting the information that

013the public wants to know such as the Committees the dates and things like that so please really um utilize that resource next we'll have public comment uh Miss Harris do we have any public comments okay no public comments in the room or virtually so we'll go ahead and we'll move on to uh liaison report reports and other reports the first one on the agenda is the dsba legislative committee which is Miss stock uh who is currently not present tonight has Miss stock sent a report for anyone to share okay the next one is the district finance committee uh Mr scobot uh yes the district finance committee met this past Wednesday August 14th uh discussed the items under new business that Miss Flor will review June 24 financial report July 31 financial report as well as

014uh discussions on the fiscal year 25 preliminary budget um we also kind of as discussed in the board Workshop earlier in August reviewed the district finance committee Charter uh that was kind of established I have the the particular date but I think it preceded State uh guidelines for uh citizen financial oversight committees um so just as the board has been presented with that to review and provide some Fe feedback the committee itself has you know had discussions over the last several months regarding membership re recruiting new members the voting ability versus um alternative ability of other members so uh they've been tasked to review the charter as well and come back to our next meeting uh with any recommendations they may have for the board um in in changes to that Charter um meeting was

015concluded with the resignation of our current chair uh honorable James HBY who I hope that this board will recognize at a later date I think some discussions are underway for that um and in the interim um there was a motion second and vote amongst the committee to uh enlist Chuck Landry as the interim chair um until one can be elected as per the for the charter our next meeting is scheduled for September 11th uh 5:00 p.m. multi-purpose room and Via Zoom thank you Mr screa uh the health and wellness advisory committee Mr heler and there has not been a meeting since the last meeting I believe our next meeting will be in the fall thank you and the maintenance advisory same no meeting since the last meeting the parent and citizen advisory committee is led

016by Miss stock who is currently not present tonight U from my understanding there's not a report okay I know the committee has not met uh since the last meeting the parent Council for students with disabilities Miss pigeon the parent Council for students with disabilities has not met since the last meeting at the end of the school year last year the meeting the council um representative should be looking out for an email from their schools identifying them as the representatives for the council and a meeting will likely commence at the beginning of the school year so be on the lookout thank you the Wilmington learning collaborative is Reverend shenica Dickerson who is not present tonight and the um Equity committee is listed as myself uh we are going to have a second read for the proposal

017of that committee U further down in the agenda for tonight and then the 91.7 wmph advisory committee Mr Scrat uh yes the committee met on July 22nd uh kind of a light meeting for summer activities um but throughout the summer the wmph hosted site program students uh June 25th to July 25th every Tuesday and Thursday two to five site interns worked alongside two student AIDS AIDS learning the skills at wmph uh getting some uh operational skills as well as some air time on the radio so I hope everyone had a chance to tune in and listen to them [Music] um I think going back to the spring not sure if we touched on this last meeting uh wmph aired Mount Pleasant High School baseball from fry Stadium against District rival Bry wi High School School

018uh Mount was the Victor in that matchup and uh seemed like it went off without a hitch um you know using all the connections at froley Stadium along with power equipment um and then in June there was a field trip with the level one students uh to local radio station wstw and wdel there on Shipley Road within our district uh so the students got a chance to see how radio stations outside of their own operate on a more uh commercial level and our next meeting has not been determined but it'll be sometime in the fall so hopefully as always everyone will get a chance to tune in to 91.7 wmph as you ride around town that's my report thank you Mr Scrat uh next we have additional board member reports uh here I would like

019to make one additional report and that is that uh board member Reverend shenica Dickerson has submitted her letter of resignation from the board Board of Education effective September 1st um Reverend Dickerson is uh was elected in District a and so you'll be able to see additional information about how that open seat will be filled uh on both on the website there'll be information posted on all of the school buildings about the process for submitting for PE persons who are interested in filling that um seat as well as in the newspapers and so Reverend Dickerson um was a very valued member of this board uh serving as the board representative for the wilington learning collaborative and we're looking forward to whoever the person is that will fill that seat to be able to uh we know

020will also be a valuable contributing member to the school board so we invite everyone to please look out for that information and we're excited about um the new person that will join the board um next is our consent agenda me get to where that is okay so we'll ask for a motion to approve the minutes from uh July our last meeting was on July 15th do we have a motion to approve the minutes from executive session on July 15th I would uh make a motion to approve the consent agenda in whole thank you Mrs scret any second a second all in favor I I any opposed the motion carries thank you the consent agenda is approved and uh Personnel matters is on the list can we please have a motion to approve the Personnel report

021I make a motion to approve the monthly Personnel Report with the exception of employee 25-9 second thank you all in favor I I any opposed that motion carries can we please have a motion to approve employee b 25-5 as discussed in executive session second all in favor say I I any opposed that motion carries may we please have a motion to approve employee matter 25 -006 as discussed in executive session so moved do we have a second one moment I'm just double checking thank you I don't see who that is a second all in favor say I I any opposed the motion carries may we please have a motion to approve employee matter 25-7 as discussed in executive session second all in favor say I I I any opposed so uh the motion carries and

022a motion to approve employee matter 25-8 as discussed in executive session so moved second all in favor I I any opposed and that motion carries thank you that concludes all Personnel matters next we'll move to student matters um may we please have a motion to approve the recommendation for invitations to requested schools for 2024 through 2025 the good cause application requests um as discussed in executive session second all in favor say I I I any opposed that motion carries and now we'll move on to Old business we'll have a discussion of the St C ific of necessity with Mr Reed good evening this is like deja vu because I we did this last year but here we go again good evening uh vice president jeedy superintendent Lawson board public um the process for a certificate

023in necessity we can go to next slide we always have to start off with a pretty picture is um the district prepares a certificate necessity um it must be approved by the school board um no later than the August meeting then it is submitted to the Department of Education by August 31st Department of Education will review them um and they're reviewing many other certificates submitted by other districts we should hear by the end of October early November whether or not the state's approved and then from there the school district can decide um where to go from there to go to referendum um Scopes can always be reduced let me be clear just because we ask for something big now in the certificate doesn't mean later on we can have a conversation and and discuss the

024details um more thoroughly um in later meetings next slide please um the projects that we're looking at this is Phase five for this District phase one started in the early 90s but the the the CN will be leted off by Mount Pleasant elementary renovation to Mount Pleasant High a facility for the site program inclusive playgrounds and athletic fields for our secondary schools next slide um Mount Pleasant elementary uh was built in 1932 um we want to do a full renovation of this school it's a 92y old buildings and portion of the roofs are original uh the main office is in the front of the buildings when this was the neighborhood schools um kids didn't weren't D driven to school you could just clearly walk in we didn't have the Safety and Security concern there's several

025other buildings identical to this building in the state one of them is Milton Elementary we're proposing to do just what mil Milton Elementary did by moving the office to the back of the building or parents Park uh we would have to relocate the gym in the cafeteria um our cafeteria looks like it should be storing airplanes not having kids eating lunch in there um and en large the kindergarten classrooms our current kindergarten classrooms are half the size of the recommendation from the Department of Education next slide please um just an image of the building and also this um shows that we are attached to the community center none of this work would impact the community center um but we do have to show that there would be some additions to the building it's not just

026a renovation there are some additions next slide please this just shows the attic good bit of this building is Timber framed believe it or not and the slate roof it's a slate is a wonderful product but it is um at the end of its time next slide please U Mount Pleasant High School um it's a iable renovation because it is the third largest school in the state of Delaware originally constructed in 1958 we're looking at a full renovation it did not get a full renovation in the 90s many things at Mount Pleasant High are original construction uh lot of utility work which is extensive if you go behind Mount Pleasant High School the high voltage lines that feed the school are on poles that run through the baseball field it run through the soccer practice

027field um doesn't make a lot of sense we have ada8 compliance there are currently 10 classrooms in the school where a child in a wheelchair cannot access those classrooms we also want to simplify the floor plan on the lower level a lower level if you've ever been down there it used to be the district office for Mount Pleasant School District that's where RC is now you need breadcrumbs to find your way around um so the idea is to simplify that run the hallway down the middle uh none of the interior walls are load bearing so we can move them next slide please um just shows that we're looking to build some additions uh we desperately need to move the music department out of the basement uh the chor in the band room and Mount Pleasant

028High are smaller than the course and bound rooms at Claymont Elementary our music programs are thriving in their tiny little rooms Mount Pleasant High was supposed to have a pool when it was built thank goodness they didn't build it because we're going to use that real estate the area shown in green is where we're going to move the music department too and uh the school desperately needs um its weight room facilities and other athletic facilities updated uh next slide please um some of the systems just showing the switch gear I know that's not too exciting um but millions of dollars in that and that other room shows the pumps there are 12 pumps in the school continuously running pumping out either um were below the sewer line so they're either pumping out the bathrooms or

029pumping out groundwater that comes up uh through the floor of um floor of the school next slide please um it built a school lower than the sewer line so this is a back hallway those steps and that ramp that goes up and down is to go over the sewer line so the school is lower than that last I checked toilets don't flush up so it's part of the thing that everything we have to do at Mount Pleasant High are big issues we have to relocate the sewer line the storm sewer we have a lot of extensive work in Mount Pleasant High School U next slide please um inclusive playgrounds um telling a parent that um mulches ADA Compliant when that parent has a a child in a wheelchair uh they will tell you that that's

030not right it doesn't work even though code says it works children should play together separate is not equal we built an inclusive playground of Forwood it was not cheap but it was the impact to the school the community and the kids was huge a lot of it is a play surface the play surface is $49 a square foot we do the math on an average siiz playground we can exceed 400,000 on a typical playground just to do the surface right and also getting rid of mulch some of our playgrounds are in the shade that mulch over time you know can can be a home for milde and other things that that's just not healthy so this is about doing what's right for kids playgrounds are not cheap this is a little over it's about 600,000

031per Elementary School um this would do eight elementary schools the ninth Elementary School being Mount pleas Elementary that playground is built into that school's budget for the renovation next slide please uh the site program skills for Independence transition um employment our site program is thriving if you ever get a chance to visit it um there's a place in heaven for those teachers they're doing great things for kids it is absolutely inspirational and they're buried in a community center and they're trying to run retail spaces um on 202 we own a couple properties the idea is to go where the Brandy Wine Operation Center is um and build a new facility that would put School nutrition and Technology on the second floor because they do work with the students and they're in a building that is

032quite frankly outdated next slide please I showed a picture there on the left of that's what K penel open has um that's right as it open it's a little they have signs up on it now but it looks like retail space from the street and when you walk in it's one big classroom um these students need to learn their surf safe certificate so they can work in kitchens and food establishments things we can't provide now we're in a least building the building the picture to the right is a claimont community center we cannot go in there and do upgrades for them because it's a lease facility we need to own our own facility that way we can update it and do what's right for kids and if it's good enough for K Penelope and it's

033good enough for Brandy white school district and a lot of other neighboring districts will have requests in to do this very same project upcoming so this is this is kind of where the state's going in this area next slide slide please what was not in the last um ask was athletic fields next slide please the tracks were done back in 2002 they were supposed to last eight to 10 years last I checked it's we got a little bit more than eight years out of them but we need to replace the the high school running tracks the Middle School running tracks need to be replaced they are very popular they're used by the commit community and it's Our intention to keep on letting them be used by the community uh proper field bu houses you visit

034any other District um and and um um Colonial School District just had this in the last referendum is field houses you go to uh our three high schools and we have Porta poot set up um as opposed to proper bathrooms and locker rooms outside um also this is a code issue um these field houses will have to be of a certain size um because of the amount of Spectators you have to have a certain amount of fixtures having three imported pots out are conquered is really not the way to treat our families our students and the community so this is about building proper field houses at our high schools uh dugouts for baseball and softball uh right now they sit on a bench behind a fence uh relocating Fields where they're needed when our high

035schools were designed we didn't have girl soccer we didn't have lacrosse we didn't have many sports lacrosse plays on the same field as field hockey at conquered that has been a problem what we also have in this as is two Synthetic Turf Fields per high school that is the way the state is going um we have another district with north of the canal being Colonial which is an Synthetic Turf this would be um a thinner Turf for field hockey or Sports where the ball rolls in the ground it's an entirely different sport um this impacts field hockey more than any other Sport and then for our Stadium Field also Ada access is is code now in the project budgets and everything on this this is for two high schools and three middle schools the reason

036it's for two high schools is the athletic the upgrades to the facilities are in Mount Pleasant High renovation so Mount Pleasant highs renovation they already have a beautiful Stadium we're going to improve that stadium and make those ada8 improvements underneath that CN so money belongs in the proper CN um last slide I think it's the magic numbers um we've been renovating buildings for many many years um prevailing wage rates have gone up costs per square foot to do schools have gone up we renovate our buildings at half the cost it is to build a new school but the bottom line is is it would be $217 million to do all this work the local share of that is 86 million uh is a local share um as I said we would bring this to the

037Department of Education if it's approved we will be back in this room or a workshop discussing the details and where we go from there so I'm asking for the uh board approval to take this to the Department of Education by August 31st thank you are there any questions I know I rambled on there I have a tendency to do that I know when you look at these slides and everything you know you can just look at the you we're we're an older community all these schools were built many many moons ago so just on the the sheer need you could make the case but what I appreciate is how you tie in uh the students and our programs and the accessibility and the use of the community um I think this District's done a great

038job over the years you know with the limitations they've had you know in keeping these old buildings looking nice I'm glad to see Mount Pleasant High and Mount Pleasant e getting some attention in this ask um so thank you for all the work you put into this one thing so the community knows we took our maintenance advisory committee in the month of July and we went and visited Odessa High School we should see what our neighbors are doing there's a very important word perspective and they're able we have old buildings that we're proud of it's history we have history but when the buildings start impacting education it's time to buildings should be altered um and and they need to be altered to fit what the demand for Education ours and what the kids need and

039also our kids deserve what they have now will we have everything Odessa has no but our schools should be able to provide the same but one thing that we have that they don't have is is a great history like a building we're in tonight I have a question are those five is that five separate CN or is it one is it submitted as one package it's submitted as one package now um there there is a chance that Doe could call back and say listen for funding purposes because they're getting lots of requests would the district be willing to reduce their ask and maybe eliminate a project if that question comes I will come before this board um I know they asked other other districts that um so we will wait and see what what happens

040there are a lot of districts asking for money this year you had previously shared the number of requests needed on average to get approval so if this is the second ask for all of those except for the fields it's the first for the fields is that right correct and what what did you say like it seems to be averaging how many times you have to ask before um the Bush School was seven times some of the new high schools that have been out there have been that many times a district like app quinic that is growing they're seen as a tier one if a district has growth they're tier one they're approved right away we're seen as tier two where that we we do not have growth but we have old buildings that have substantial

041need um I think because a lot of referendums passed my hopes are is that we stand a pretty good chance this year um but we will see in October so fingers crossed make a motion to approve the certificate of necessity as requested so moved all in favor say I I I any opposed the motion approve is approved and we will We authorize it and for submission to the Department of Education thank you so much Mr Reed next on the agenda we have uh we at last last month's meeting we had the first read for the uh new committee consideration to assess the district's progress and remaining needs related to equity and so uh we inquired of all of the board members and asked everyone to contribute feedback and so what we will read today is

042the second read with those um updates says the Brandy Wine School District Board of Education resolution the following resolution is being offered update that a resolution establishing an advisory and assessment committee on Equity to assess the Brandy Wine School District's progress made since and as a result of the equity audit conducted in partnership with equity and Beyond in 2022 and to provide recommendations to the Board of Education regarding further implementation of a formal Equity plan whereas Brandy Wine School District BSD has established that our mission is to embrace Inspire and challenge every student every day and whereas BSD has established that the following six core threads are consistently interwoven throughout the work undertaken in the district's success plan Equity multi-tier systems of support professional development on curriculum revisions datadriven decision making Delaware teacher growth and

043support system and focus on student growth and whereas the assertion of the first core thread Equity is that BSD Champions the belief that all students should have access to the opportunities resources and support they need to achieve success regardless of their background abilities or circumstances and whereas the lens of strategic intents under the category of equity and inclusion and includes but is not limited to elevate and Empower student voice diversify the educator Workforce cultivate culturally proficient leadership responsibly Implement and sustain culturally responsive teaching design Equitable inclusive and culturally responsive and socially just environments and build AC active and fluid diversity Partnerships and now therefore be it be it resolved that the BSD Board of Education hereby establishes an advisory and assessment committee on equity for the purpose of conducting an assessment and providing recommendations regarding

044the further implementation of a district Equity plan be it further resolved that in accordance with bstd policy 0210 Community advisory committees to the board the advisory and assessment committee on Equity community and non-teacher members shall be selected from nominations provided by board members the superintendent and or candidates themselves and shall be appointed through a vote of the board of education at the following meeting after the creation of the committee appointments of be of Brandy Wine Education Association members shall also be selected from nominations provided by board members the superintendent and C Cates themselves and shall be in consultation with Bea the committee shall be compris composed of 13 members including one member representative from each of the following entities and well the following entities are the BSD Board of Education BSD special education and support

045services BSD office of curriculum and instruction the bstd office of culture and climate the community and and a community organization or group working on education disparities for marginalized communities and it should also include individuals with the following roles and experiences a dean of students or administrator from a BSD Middle School a dean of students or administrator from a BSD High School a an equity champion in a BSD Elementary School Equity champion in a BSD middle School an equity champion in a BSD High School an avoc coordinator in a BSD High School a student from BSD student voices and a parent of a child in a BSD School the committee shall select two co-chairs at the first scheduled convenient of the group and the co-chairs will set the agenda In Cadence to carry out the work

046of the committee be it further resolved that the committee shall meet as a whole monthly and may meet in part more frequently for a period of 9 months after its establishment and shall present its recommendations to the Board of Education no later than the following meeting after the 9-month period after the completion of its assignment the committee shall be dissolved or given a new assignment related to equity by a majority vote of the board in accordance with bstd policy 0210 be it further resolved that copies of this resolution be forwarded to the representative entities listed above no later than August dides that say August 14th we'll update that date no later than August 14th and representatives selected by each entity by September 9th a request for individuals with particular roles and experiences shall be published

047by the August 14th date and individual selected by board vote on September 9th this resolution having been submitted to a vote the vote thereon was as follows so that's the second read of the proposal for a new committee on Equity do we have any uh questions or discussion before we entertain a motion Dr jeedy for some reason I feel like the one that you just read is different than the one that we have in Bard dos is because I there was a sentence or two after let's say before the second to last paragraph I thought that too um it's not here this is the one from the agenda that I just read and a couple of those sentences look new was that posted in board dos prior to this so the one that I just

048read is what I just pulled up from the agenda the one that um is that the same Miss Harris as what was posted um that I emailed to the team and posted the one that you just read I um so is not the one that's in the agenda but I think maybe the one that you read is the one with the changes so yeah last month's meeting we had a first read and then I guess there was some feedback collected and yes I don't think that was ever posted in board docks it was so the one it was emailed to the entire team which this is it like the what I just pulled from the agenda the reason why I know that is because one of the changes that was recommended was that the Abid

049coordinator be and that wasn't in the first read at all so this is the updated one I do agree with Christian though that there is um that there's something different that I noticed as I was reading that I was trying Kristen do do you happen to well I I I didn't hear you say equity and Beyond which was number six I also didn't hear you read I heard you read a sentence after number 14 oh okay and that's not in what's in the agenda so maybe we can um so this what's as read so the one that I just read I pulled up from the agenda and I pulled from the agenda that I just read just now and so I apologize if I skipped equity and Beyond but it is listed on my as

050number six I thought I read that but I I may have missed that one and was there something else you said the only the only other line I think was that last line that says a resolution has been submitted to a vote and that may I think that's just added for like administrative purposes I I just heard you read something that wasn't on here before be it further resolved the second to last paragraph there was a sentence that you read I'm not sure where it came from so are be a further the last paragraph before the second to last paragraph you read a sentence okay so what I I see what I did was right before the one through 14 that paragraph that says um 1 through six when I read it where it says

051representative from each of the one through six then I went down and read the 1 through six and I came back up and I said now it says individuals 7 through 13 and I read 7 through 13 and then the last sentence there says the co-chairs will set the agenda In Cadence to carry so I apologize yeah I read it out of order I apologize has this um draft V presented to Legal prior to our vote are I don't know I know the draft was submitted to um to district office to well what we said we would do at the last board meeting I thought was to read this to make recommendations and then once we approved everything has to go through legal anyway I if I remember correctly that's what we decided our our

052Equity Champions number it's pulled directly from the policy that was was developed that has gone through legal and I thought what we said was that once we have the vote we we needed to make sure that it was in compliance with the policy and then once we have the vote any language would be submitted through legal to be able to change it but this is the same one that was sent to the board um several weeks ago are the equity champions in District employees or are they parents within those schools what's his Champion yes yes they are District employees each of our buildings have an opportunity for um it's a stien position but it is a posted position and members of the staff apply for that position and are selected so because as I look

053at this list compared to other committees that we have we're very heavy on BSD employee involvement we've got uh number five Community organization which I would still like that defined as you know some an organization within our community uh within our school district you know boundaries um we have equity and Beyond which is another organization I mean I feel like this seems more operational than Community oversight so um this list was done through a whole collaboration and I had this was part of why I requested feedback to be to be honest Mr sbot from you I know you you didn't get a chance to respond when I submitted this to you a few weeks ago but I did meet with um equity and Beyond I met with Dr lson um and we all met together

054I met with the board members I asked each board member what their feedback was on the committee we all reviewed um I also talked to people within the community to get their feedback from the first read on um what what was import we felt was important to be included in there to be able to get a diverse perspective and I know that we had extensive conversation about number five at the last board meeting um the last public board meeting where we talked about whether it was necessary if you remember the original uh read actually required that it was um it was different it was a community organiz it has it specifically said a Community organization that was focused on uh people of color I think it was and then we got a lot of feedback

055from other board me you know other board members and other PE stakeholders in the community that said let's make it more broad because we don't want to have to you know the the group could get really big if you try to Target a group that just represented multiple different organizations so let's target an organization that represented a diverse group group of people so I do feel like that this I I want to reiterate that this list was generated through multiple conversations of who people who I believe are subject matter experts um we did talk to um you know multiple people about that but is there something in particular that you have a concern about or that you have a question about and that because the question that you just asked we we talked about at

056the last meeting and we said we didn't want to put a geographic uh limitation on having a community organization because these Community organizations often serve multiple Geographic areas but that we would try to select and prioritize a community organization that has specific ties to DSD um and Dr Lawson and Dr mckenny were very helpful in helping us also Target um Equity Champions because originally we did not specify that in the original read but when I met with the two of them with the equity Beyond representative um they were very clear about helping us understand a lot of the progress that has already been made in this area has been a result of the equity Champions and those Equity Champions come with a lot of expertise already through trainings that they've already experienced within the district

057and also it's tied to a moread broad Equity plan that continues the the work that's been done in that first year that and that continuation really is centered around those Equity Champions so we felt that by bringing the equity Champions to the table um that they would be able to there'd be like a continuation of the work that's already being done and that's why the equity and Beyond representative is listed there as well that's where I just keep going back I think there's a the difference between you know uh the district Contracting with groups and organizations in this workspace uh versus having them serve on a committee again which I I view our committees as Community oversight committees I look at this list of of members and this is more of an internal committee or

058or a district committee given the uh over representation of employees uh board members District administration um you know I think we'd be better served with a committee more of community members that you know can provide feedback and oversight to the work that we're doing if there's any gaps or you know areas uh you know of attention from a community oversight position I think the thing to remember is that this is an advisory and assessment committee it's not just a typical committee so in a sense this committee is serving as consultants to The District in assessing looking at the feedback that we got through doing that original survey and looking at where we were then and where we are now what the recommendations were made um from equity and Beyond and taken a real assessment of

059how we've moved from that point to here and sort of what might be the biggest needs in terms of moving forward I think that's why we we it seems like it's internal heavy because these are the people who have a sense of um where the district is and if you also look it's it's not just random departments like we're looking at the office of curriculum instruction like it's very intentional on looking at the areas where Equity is key in terms of moving our students forward um you know the office that would actually have like um special education and support service for our multilingual Learners our social workers all of those different areas where people would have a pulse on what's currently happening and what the feedback was it's only a nine Monon um assignment and

060That nine months really is focused on making that internal assessment and then from there the next steps would be to then make it a a broader um involvement of community people and external people who would then you know um be a part of creating that path forward what that looks like I have uh three questions I guess two that are going to be contradictory but to Mr Scot's point I I wonder if we shouldn't consider making 14 at least a parent of a child at each grade level but then my contradictory point to that is the one I shared um last month that I'm concerned that the timeline isn't enough still especially trying to get the size of a group um together I don't know if nine months is enough time and then my third

061which is just more of a question is because of the number of people um that would be on this committee how like logistically are we going to collect interest in those who are interested in serving on those positions so are you reflecting because the nine months came from you I don't know if you yeah I said it should be longer but I don't think I don't know we originally had six months and you suggested at least nine so um that was a direct question that was actually a question that I asked directly of you and that's where that nine months came from in there um so and then the question of how it gets distributed is actually listed in the last paragraph it looks like we need to update the the dates um there I

062think that was BEC this the dates just didn't get updated from the last time because we originally was going to do this in July but the plan there is that the the resolution is forwarded to each of these different entities and those entities are selecting a represent a representative who would then serve on the committee and I think my my question is more like logistically who's managing is it is it Tia or Dr la or yourself or Dr mckin like who's managing the collection of all of that information for each of those groups that are listed managing what who the representative is or the who's collecting all that information so if a group Equity information or yeah so if if um if it's somehow decided and I'm not sure who who's going to decide like

063who the equity champion from the from an elementary school is but who's if if there's for people interested who's collecting those names so according to the board policy that was written that this is um drawn from it says up at the top that the board is the one who votes on those different people so and that's that's just accorded with the equity the policy for how we establish any new committee so what would happen according to that policy 0210 is that that the same way we create memberships for all of our other committees anyone who's interested that information would come to the board and then the board would make a vote to establish these are the different committees so they would contact the board at BSD email address if I understand I mean if I

064that's how we create all of our committees according to this policy that was already written um Mr heler I don't think the polic I'm try I'm looking at it right now 2.10 I don't know that the policy has it is identifies who in these initial stages collects the members to be presented to the board unless I'm just not seeing it well I am according to the um summary of committees and who the board representatives are um I was listed as the board representative for the equity committee so I would be the person collecting all in the same way that like Reverend Chena was the Wilmington learning collaborative you are for the radio station you we serve it the part of the role of the board representative is to serve as the point person for the

065board so according to this that Reverend or not Reverend arrian president acrian established that I am the board representative so if this is approved I would be the point person to collect the information for the board I'll make um I'll make a motion to approve this policy with the change for number 14 that I'd like like to make the change that as a parent of a child one parent from elementary one from middle one from high school so adding two additional okay so is that changing 14 or is that adding 15 changing 14 and adding 15 and 16 yeah either either way whatever Dr Jag prefers just so the intent is not gonna be questioning Apparent from each um Apparent from each grade level Elementary Middle High School I'm start writing names next to the

066recommendations that y'all give so I can remind you of the feedback I'm open for that and I understand the intent behind that is to get a more broad um Community perspective so that it's it's not so topheavy and so that would take the total number because I think what we were trying to do was to keep it less but I I think that that's an important change so it would be 17 members or 16 members which ideally you'd want an odd number and did you want to make a recommendation as far as a um timeline change keep it an eye because it can always be extended to Mr scat did you have any changes you wanted to recommend or I mean got track these changes here um correcting the dates Miss pigeon did you locate

067the language that was off between the August 8th version and this agendered version I think it was how Dr jeed was reading it I think she's correct that she was had skipped around which confused me a little bit I wasn't following her my concern in addition add to the discussion I guess would be that I think it's very BSD heavy and employee heavy and so that would be my concern and then also having equity and Beyond as a consultant so there's costs associated with these what I would I was kind of thinking it was more of a volunteer based committee I didn't realize the equity Champion was a staff member I thought that was an equity champion in the school when I was reading it is I thought it was like a parent Equity Champion

068or like I didn't realize that was a staff member when I read this in the before until it was just clarified today so that's my concern is that almost three quarters of the committee are paid staff and so I'm I'm just my concern is is that really going to give you the p is it going to give what you're looking for like what we are looking for as far as like true impact and and honest commitment and involvement so perhaps I can offer a perspective because I I do think uh Dr McKinny and I did provide input to Dr jeed in regards to this and so it's it's a balance correct I mean I'm thinking of and what we compared it to the health and wellness committee as Mr um H or knows we do

069have school psychologists school counselors nurses that sit on that committee because I do think it's important that any board committee it's important for folks externally whomever that's on the committee knows what's actually going on inside the school district and so it's helpful to have that balance our nurses our counselors our school syes are able to fill in the gaps if our external Partners have questions and they provide ideas for what we might be able to do to improve ourselves and move forward so uh Dr mcken and I spent some time talking about this because the last iteration of this had a lot of folks from the community and nobody from the inside and so they could have been making recommendations of things that we were already doing so I would just offer that it's a

070balance and and we have invested in our Equity Champions these folks have applied for these positions they're passion about it that's something that they want to do yes they do receive a stien for it but that allows them to do work outside of the the instructional day in order to do that so um these folks are just um passionate about the work and they they apply to be in that position so I guess based on that Dr Lawson you are supportive of this and the way that it is written I I am supportive of a nice balance of um Community external members so on our health and well committee I'll just go back to that for an example we had Christian Care we had doctors from neor a retired former board member Deb Zer who

071is a medical provider in the community is on so it is nice to have Community external Partners so that they're able to share again the things that are going on internally in the district as well so it's it's a mix it's a nice balance Dr oh I was going to clarify my originally I think that where it says Equity Champions originally those were apparent from each of those that's what I thought it still was just with a different title that was why I didn't so I I I clarify my motion then I make a motion that we approve this policy with the following changes number 14 changes to say parent of a child in a BSD elementary school and then we add number 15 parent of a child in a bstd middle school and number

07216 parent of a child in a BSD high school if you wanted to reduce the number we could do a dean or an administrator either or middle or high and then we could take the equity Champion with middle and high and condense it to one person and go you know secondary school is you know Secondary School six to 12 I'm just making a suggestion we we do have the community organization like that's an outside and equity and Beyond is also outside um but what was the one because that we originally had a dean from a middle school and an administrator from a middle school and a Dean so we already condensed that it was four positions and then that's how we got seven and eight we kind of pick so what was your recommend what

073would you guys no I and I think it's okay to have that number of people as long as you have the perspective um I originally was weighting more heavily towards Community IM balance um until I heard the presentation about how the equity Champions have already really done a lot there was a lot more work already done than what I realized until I went to that meeting and so the goal was to kind of really start on that work that was done get to a sense of where we can raise awareness to everyone in the district about the work that's already been done and then build from there was what we were trying to do but I'm open to I like the idea of expanding it to more parents um and I didn't hear what your

074recommendation was the last one I was just suggesting we could reduce the number of internal people just having one Dinan or administrator and then condensing the equity champion from middle and high to one position middle or high it just saves two but it adds two parents per Mr heler suggestion okay I'll second Mr hel's suggestion make a motion to amend Mr hel's motion that oh God I need my Rob okay go ahead that number five and number six any any commercial organization nonprofit Community groups equity and beyond that their participation on this community be volunteer and not incorporated into their contract not be paid no additional incentives for any potential future business if they're going to be on an advisory committee these are volunteer groups from the outside perspective right and so um if I

075am I supposed to say something like agreed or accepted there need to be a second okay I was just going to provide clarification because the equity and Beyond doesn't add additional Co um cost to what the contract is that's sort of the the next phase of advisoring what going forward from what I understand but I we can put that specifically in here so that it's clear for them the only reason I make the amended to the motion because Mr heler made the motion but I I guess to me I want those lines to be clear between what is paid contractual work and what is advisory committee work and and that's where my whole inclusion of nonprofits or commercial this I I would like it to be Community Based but you know do you think we

076to make it cleaner we can we withdraw all the motions and start with one one clean motion if Mr heler was open to that or I we can take it as it stands now vote on the amended Amendment to the motion if there's a second I haven't heard a second to it can I can I add an amendment to your Amendment or I wonder if we could just take equity and Beyond off as an official member of the committee and just get advisement from them through our regular contract would that make you feel better since they are contractual and paid yes they could be a non voting member right can you withdraw your motion and just start what you so withraw that I don't want a sec but I want to discuss it for so

077I don't I don't mind if we can have a second and then discuss before we vote on the mark a second to his Amendment or your amend I have a motion on the floor to amend the original motion any second okay all in favor to accept the amendment I wanted to discuss that any discussion yeah just um I I don't think that we need to do that I don't mind taking equity and Beyond off and making them an advisory committee but similar I I don't I just I don't believe we should ask somebody whose job this is to then volunteer to do the same thing just like we don't ask the Christian Care staff who attend the health and wellness meeting to do it for free they're getting paid um when they're there I don't

078I don't think it would be reasonable to ask somebody to do what they do for a living for free for us but I guess that's it's I'm not asking the do well perhaps I am asking the do for free but I guess I'm questioning their involvement in the entire committee so I would just say we don't have Christian Care listed as a Committee Member I'm making in the health and but are they listed as a Committee Member so their their attendance at those meetings aren't part of the contract so the Christian Care Wellness Center uh lead is is part of the health and wellness committee but her contract with the district doesn't include attending those meetings if that makes sense sense so is her name on the committee or is that name on the committee

079as a named person yes okay I guess equity and Beyond has a different type of contract we've contracted them for a specific time or you know set of so so what I might suggest I don't know if you would consider amending your Amendment but what if what if we simply say that numbers five and six are non- voting members of the committee well I like keeping the community thing the only reason why now that we're talking about it it might be good to take equity and Beyond off because what if part of the assessment is assessing work and recommendations that they did you know what I mean like what if we say we need them to do something different or whereas the community that that the community organization represents a whole you know they're already

080working on equity and marginalize so we would definitely want them to be an active member I would think because they could represent a lot of parents and if we're talking about having balance of power on the committee between internal and external if we make the only the external people non voting we're not really balancing their voice if you withdraw your amendment can I amend my motion I will withdraw my amended my motion to amend okay I'll amend my motion everything I said before with the removal of number six equity and Beyond so that is to add a 15 and 16 so that we would have a parent from each of the school levels and then remove at number six yes okay I second I'm so just any discussion on that clear on the motion we're

08114 what are we doing with 14 we would change that to like elementary school and then 15 and 16 would be middle and and high and we're removing equity and Beyond and removing number okay and where does that leave our community organizations with number we've left them they're staying in there they're staying in there because then we have unteer basis we're not Contracting them yeah we're no we're not Contracting correct okay so we want you want us to can you add to your motion add that language I don't know that we need to add it I mean there's nothing nothing says that they're paid or that they're not guess yeah a committee doesn't contract with people anyway usually right a committee would normally contract correct with a third party so I'm I'm fine with 14

08215 16 and number six so okay all and then Christen second a Christen second second all in favor I I any oppose okay so the motion carries to accept the resolution oh you know what we didn't add amended dates to your I think typos are fine okay so with updated dates um and then the um legal review and and legal review and just um for additional information clarification I will be responsible for following up with uh Miss Harris to make sure that we get this amended resolution out to all of the different entities um get it publicized for the the openings for the committee and be collecting that information um for the board so that we could vote on who the final membership would be okay all right thank you for that um for everyone's

083contribution too on that the next thing on the agenda would be um see this would be to read the first view of The Whistleblower policy Dr Jag can I make a motion that we table this till the next meeting when there's more board members present so I think there's going to be feedback and then we just it'll just get pushed back another month anyway so I'd like to make a motion that we table 10A until the September board meeting second all in favor of tabling um number 10A until September's meeting say I I I any oppos so we will table 10A to September's meeting thank you Mr heler um the 10B next is to read the first read of the revised policy for Title 9 I'm sorry back on that last did you vote I

084just didn't hear it I did okay and then who's doing the okay yes good evening and happy New Year we're in a new school year yay um to our vice president Dr jeedy superintendent Dr Dr Lawson members of the board members in the audience as well as online I am with you this evening to present highlights from a first read of a new title 9 uh revised policy that is effective uh August the 1st 20124 and after this policy uh came as a result of some federal uh guidelines from the Federal Department of Education currently Dr Yolanda mcken and myself serve at as the title 9 coordinators for Brandy Wine school district and in this policy the overarching goal was to expand protections for transgender students and staff and to Encompass gender identity and some

085protections around sex based uh against sex-based harassment previously it was defined more as sexual harassment but as you go through and do the first read you'll see that sexual harass ment has been replaced with sex based harassment um and it kind of further defines that it includes things such as um if any forms of sex discrimination and means sexual harassment and other harassment on the basis of sex including on the basis of sex stereotypes sex characteristics pregnancy or pregnancy related conditions sexual orientation and gender identity that is listed under one of those first three top topics and types of harassment which include Qui proquo uh hostile environment and um sexual assault under those regulations so as you go through the first read of the policy just some things of note uh retaliation is prohibited if

086someone does make a complaint complaints used to have to be formal now they can be informal they can be done electronically by email just by someone dropping by District office office to express a concern and if it's a uh concern that's related to a student typically Dr McKinna would investigate that if it's a concern related to a staff member then typically I would investigate that so now the policy also is updated to include that there won't be retaliation including peer on peer so student to student can't retaliate should someone make a complaint or a concern um some other things of note uh confidentiality is still a part of the policy but it also says that while we will take steps to protect the identity of either the um person that's the alleged perpetrator or the

087person that's the alleged victim we may have to disclose information on other Witnesses and things so that those two could be very well prepared to come before us uh to give testimony there are training requirements I'm very proud of the fact that in brandy wine we've already had our administrators participate in training that was done by a legal firm and all of our staff as part of their welcome back to the new year will get training this week on uh some of the requirements in the new policy um on page three and four it goes over the grievance process the process in and of itself uh has not changed much except that it also clarifies that this policy in the the enforcement of it can happen on school property but also off school property and

088across the United States such that if there was a field trip um and it was a school related event and something happened on that field trip outside of Delaware that could potentially fall under this policy and need to be investigated Andor possibly addressed um supportive measures which kind of falls on pages four five and uh and throughout the remainder of the policy are also updated such that there are um policies for supportive measures for both the complainant as well as the alleged perpetrator um in support of them making sure they're knowledgeable about what they did and why what they did may have been deemed harassment or some type of sex-based discrimination and those supportive measures can be again formal things they can be informal resolutions as long as the the folks involved are amable to

089those um the last pieces of note are again just um what could happen it outlines um the complaints and when they can be dismissed this particular policy in the updates is very very um specific and it includes next steps it includes things as an example that bstd should we be unable to identify a respondent somebody makes a complaint somebody grab them inappropriately or touch them in a hall and we can't identify who that person might be then we could theoretically um dismiss the claim if we've made all reasonable efforts to try to find out who that respondent is but it details those circumstances under which and only under which something could be dismissed um as either not resolved or unresolvable or that it was resolved using one of the measures so it gives very clear

090steps both for the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator uh it also outlines details around who gets to make the ultimate decision there's a decision maker in these cases and there's an appeals process and a different decision maker should someone file an appeal and it very nicely articulates that information um make sure I covered everything the peals and that in in a large overview uh is what the contents of the changes you'll note when you do a first read we're not asking for any action this evening but just that you have that background knowledge so when we come back again we can entertain any additional questions that you might have after you've had a chance to go through it sorry um any questions or discussion from board members I have two questions that are um

091somewhat related and I might have missed but I don't see it might not apply because I guess it's not criminal in nature at this point but I don't see where it specifically spells out that there's a presumption of innocence to the alleged perpetrator and um based on some things that I've seen in the news over the past couple years I also don't see anything that talks about any qu consequences for malicious false claims that are made against someone and I was wondering if there's a consideration for that okay we um this policy was drafted in concert with and in uh conference with our legal advisers so I will take both points back and when we come back again I'll clarify or prior to that I'll I'll clarify and get the board that information I had

092a couple questions as well did question um you talked about that it's not limited to school grounds like understandably if it's a school sponsor field trip or something are there limitations to that like if because you said acoss the United States and I'm like so if it's not a school sponsored event but they it's just a student that happens to attend one of our schools what what is is that included or correct we would not have jurisdiction okay over that and then is there a way to know because I know that the changes to our Title 9 are um somewhat based on the federal changes that is there a way to differentiate like what's required from based on the federal change or is all of this required based on the federal change versus versus what's

093BSD preferred because there this all based on the federal guidin that whole new expanded definition that's all yes the stake a whole different Focus yes okay yes and it's and again the goal is to kind of expand protections inclusive of transgenders uh uh students and staff as well as pregnancy like that wasn't something that was so specifically addressed in the past making sure that there are privacy areas and that people are not being discriminated discriminated against in the event that they might need to um nurse or different things like that or students that may um be pregnant so there are expanded protections and that's covered under sexual harassment now sex based sex based okay yes um and I'm assuming there's going to be some roll out of new training and stuff for all of our

094staff to really understand all these or it may have already may already be Happ it's already it's already in in play yes thank you you're very welcome any other questions from okay thank you okay and so that will be back on the agenda next month for the second read okay thank you next on the agenda we have totally lost thank you next is the approval of the contract agreement between Brandy wi School District Board of Education and the par educator chapter Federation local 762 American Federation of teachers um miss m McIntyre thank you again uh yes very proud to be here tonight to uh support this ratified contract um between the Brandy Wine School District Board of Education and the par educator local 762 American Federation of teachers AFL CIO that expired on June 30th

095of this year 2024 the parties did come to a tenative agreement on all language and salary provisions of the contract on uh August 15th of 2024 the items of tenative agreement between the parties are now before the board for approval the language and salary Provisions that will become a part of the negotiated agreement will provide the basis of understanding for the salary benefits and working conditions that will exists between the parties for the duration of this agreement and in terms of financial implications the tenative agreement if approved will affect the working conditions and the local salary provisions of the negotiated agreement between the parties for the next four years commencing July 1st 2024 through June 30th of 2028 and will continue until or unless replaced by a successor agreement I would like to pause to

096thank uh some members that participated in this great negotiation session meetings because they did so throughout the summer we worked around vacations and I do want to give a major shout out to the par Union for them coming in reworking schedules and and helping us to come to resolution um I would just like to ask the president of the local Karen Kennedy because she is still in the room this evening to stand so we can publicly thank her thank you so much Karen and on her team chrisanne SS was her representative lead negotiator you don't have to stand anymore but thank you Karen Heather Galloway the secretary participated from the union Christine Kaufman their acting Treasurer participated Kristen Reed um as a member from the prek par group and deia who is a um parah

097for and member of the transportation department on team Brandy w we had myself as lead negotiator along with Miss Leslie Arma who is in the audience lesie I'm just going to ask you to stand supervisor of human resources um is Jill FL our CFO Jill I see you back there want to she's like I don't want to understand I wave um Leon Roberts kale who is the supervisor of transportation and Dr Chris failing uh also from our supervisor of special education and so with that it is the superintendent's recommendation that the board approve the new provisions of the agreement between the Brandy wi School District Board of Education and the par educator chapter Federation local 76 2 of the American Federation of teachers AFL CIA motion to approve the contract as submitted second all in

098favor I any opposed thank you the motion carries thank you so very much we now have our uh monthly Financial reports for both June and July thank you Miss Flor good evening vice president members of the board members of our Shunk um Community um and audience I have three reports um tonight and I thank you very much normally I would do the budget presentation uh in July um but had a family medical emergency and um appreciate the grace in letting me go tonight um all of them as Mr scobot mentioned were reviewed by the finance committee last week um and that is the June 30th closeout report for last fiscal year the July 1st uh or July 31st report for the first month of this fiscal year and then the fy2 preliminary budget um the

099Highlight version of the June 30th report which I'll go over in a little bit more detail in the budget recommendation um is that we did end on track um on local revenues we were at 6% received um State funds 104.6 per the biggest one of that being state salaries um last year was the first uh it would be the next one which you can't read sorry um would be the last year was the first year of the PEC uh Public Employee compensation committee recommendations um and so we did see a significant increase on the state side of salaries um and again I'll talk about that in the 25 budget because phase two of that continued um in this fiscal year um so all state and local funds were 103 uh% of budget in some respects

100that's because we only budget 99.5% um based on delinquencies or projected um losses in any way when there's assessment appeals that kind of thing on the expenditure side uh we came in at just over a 100% so net this was a great discussion at the committee um because revenues came in at 103% expenditures came in at 101 or 10.18% so slightly over budget that was 366,000 over budget but net because we had additional Revenue it was a net positive um to our ending balance the ending balance that we forecast and projected all year um was 6.2 million that's what the referendum was based on and we came in at 6.6 um in large part because of some of those salary um increases at the state level offset some local increases and we did see some

101significant drivers um on the expense side in transportation um but that's where um we ended June 30th um the other news in Esser that we've tracked very closely is we ended June 30th with 365,000 in Esser remaining that's from the original 36 million um so we were really coming down to the summer months and using it for the last um uh payments for uh summer learning loss for summer school that's the Highlight version of June 30th yep should we make entertain a motion to approve or accept the um monthly report for June did the committee make a recommendation the committee made a recommendation and approved um the monthly financial report for June 30th so move um to accept the June report subject audit second all in favor I any oppose motion carries thank you thank

102you the next one is the July 31st report which would be the first month of the new fiscal year but it tracks against uh the budget so this is the Chicken and the Egg because I'm going to do the budget right after this one um but it is just the first of the first month of the fiscal year um and revenues obviously the tax bills aren't due until September 30th uh and so revenues are only really delinquencies or late payments that are made um in July that is 8.9% but on the state side we've received 74.9% uh just in the first fiscal month um and then 84.3 on the categorical state fund so between local and state funds we're at 56 6.3% um received the one thing in talking about cash flow um we talked

103about at the uh finance committee looking at what is that necessary June 30th balance we know um it had always been targeted at 8.8 million I said we ended at 6.6 um what is sufficient changes over time it changes based on the give back it changes based on what we're able to cash in and so we agreed uh at the committee to do a deeper analysis of has that number changed or stayed the same uh and is the 8.8 really um The Realistic number to use so we'll do that uh at the September meeting also will be the August 31st financial position report which kind of cash flows uh the remainder of the year but 56.3% revenues received on the state and and local funds and of course for only one fiscal month um were

104at 88.8% expended the reason why that's important and the reason why I talk about that ending balance in cash flow is because we um generally uh control we won't do a purchase order for the whole year for example right you talked about a vendor in a contract well we may a contract with them all year but in the initial months we'll do a small purchase order just for those few months until we get the um all of our taxes and then uh can fully fund it and so that's why you'll see in that first month uh controlled spending until we get uh all of those taxes received in SE in usually October um is when the bulk of them come in so it was a pretty brief discussion the committee did vote and approved the

105report um and the the big news on this one is if you go to Esser uh the Esser balance as of July 31st is zero um we are officially out thank you do we have a motion for July 31st second all in favor I any opposed thank you the motion carries all right last but not least is the uh recommended fy2 budget putting that together is um a number of factors it's what happens at the state level um any legislative changes what did the governor and legislature put in for the state budget how did we end uh the 24 fiscal year our actual experience and then what our projections for the coming year go ahead what are projections for the coming year and and these are um items I've talked about that we've had to

106track very closely right revenues expenses but where we were with Esser um with Esser gone that was part of our planning in the referendum what will come back we can't sustain $36 million in local funds so we knew that they were targeted items that we would um maintain but most we would not and why we intentionally tried to do one-time purchaser purchases or investments in curriculum or those kinds of things so that when the funds were gone it wasn't um you know a huge uh drop on the operating budget but strategic then of course we have September 30th count and uh I'll talk about uh in addition to legislation there was a very new significant Charter regulation that came out uh from the Department of Education so this is just a re the next one

107is just a restate of our our results from fy4 3.3% increase in operating revenues and those were driven by three main factors and that was interest um over a million dollars in interest earned uh which will only increase as we have the new referendum funds this year come in um we'll have more cash on hand but we've seen very favorable um interest rates from and that comes from the treasures office and the finance committee will tell you that there's been years where it's near zero and so that million dooll swing um is over three cents so it it's um a huge help to the budget state salaries okay we have um last year and we're talking about 24 this was the first of the recommendations from PEC um and then the other one the other

108significant cost driver was homeless and Foster Care Transportation so this isn't a good a good examp example where in the 24 budget you could see Transportation was over budget but they were also over in revenues they had over 700,000 in revenues that came from the state based on all of the cost and experience with homeless and foster care so expenses were up but we also received um the state side of that as well on the operating expenditure side um this is where I said we were over by 366,000 or 0.18% of budget so that means with more Revenue right 3.3% but only a little bit over on expenditure side that's how we were able to um beat that balance instead of 6.2 million 6.6 but because it's a combination of some State funds and local

109funds there are some balances it do doesn't all go to the local funds balance we had an opportunity fund balance where those uh sit the Wilmington learning collaborative those are multi-year funds and so our revenues went up but they don't all go towards the local ending balance um but we did end at 6.6 million um so I would say that is right on track with all of the forecasting we did um for the three years and out from the referendum planning but I will point out as we've talked about many times that's a decrease because we were at 9.4 million the year before so the very first going into 25 um you can go to the next one going into 25 and projecting revenues is the hardest thing about the the referendum is you think

110it's additional money but it's not it's filling that hole that deficit that that I just showed you right we ended the year before at nine last year at six and so we already had a 3 million uh Gap to make up before we even started looking at Esser or any other factors so these are the main drivers on FY 24 in the revenue side of course we had the 25 cent increase um uh in our current expense tax from the referendum um our overall assessed value uh went up by 7% in brandy wine um very similar in Newcastle County and of course reassessments going to change all that um and the county will freeze they won't do um improvements over the course of this fiscal year and so um we'll track that very closely as

111well as we convert over to new assess values come next July 1 I already mentioned interest um but the other big one uh is charter number one uh there was an inflation Factor applied that was 4% normally it's whatever the state raises um and uh at some some last minute conversations in the legislature because there was that 6% on the teacher side does the inflation factor F typically follow State salary policy but that wasn't typical State salary policy so it was at 8% at one point um but through some um endof year um changes in grant and aid bill it came down to 4% but the other one is that Doe finalized a new regulation that requires us to contribute uh normally tuition tax has been excluded from all of choice and Charter billing uh

112this new regulation requires that tuition now follow um but only on the charter side not the choice side um but that will be a significant increase on our um revenues out and the reason why they're on revenue is because they're transfers they're not considered expenses um on on The Ledger on that side they actually leave as Revenue meaning they come into us but then flow out so they never really show um or they show as a negative adjustment on the revenue side not an expenditure side um the local funds balance 6.6 that's where I said we started and then this is the big change uh for uh fy2 and that is state division one salaries the second phase of the PEC recommendations um went into effect and that was all groups um so on the

1131305 anybody teachers otherwise driven from that salary schedule they converted What was a onetime time 6% into a scale change that was 2% plus 1875 on the scale um and that is again working on those recommendations to get teacher salaries competitive um against our you know neighbors across uh States 1308 went up 2% plus 500 um then we all of them went up but they went up by different amounts 2% two and a half percent um 1% the bus drivers went up to $25 an hour so all of those projections uh are included in what is the state salary estimate for um Division One the good news is I don't have to be 100% right and the reason why I say that is because once September 30th happens um all of that will be um

114will have experience but I have to come to you for a final budget recommendation in December um because there will be uh a lot to track on all of those changes on the state salary scales um but huge for every employee um across the board uh for those increases then on the local side um oh I should also say the transportation formula increase uh as well as an increase for driver play pay the formula side is the homeless and and Foster Care um on the state side also there was it's the last year of the significant uh opportunity fund from the settlement this was the last year uh so we saw an additional 668,000 uh come through in the Opportunity Grant that was submitted and approved um through the department as well as hp200 mental

115health that's coming uh as a block grant that's for high school um and then a block grant for the athletic trainer uh again legislation uh that was passed in Dover uh that state giveback will continue um and good news at the very last minute too on the bond Bill side we got enhanced in addition to regular minor cap uh we received 876,00 in additional um enhanced minor cap um and then as I said s are expired so the total projected revenues in the fy2 budget you can see driven largely by uh the state increases is 88.4% um so that was a significant uh investment from the state as well as our um local funds increase I thought it was easy to show you on the next one um kind of how it how it's represented

116the operating revenues by Source because a lot of times you hear it's 7030 right 70 State 30 local or over time it became it's really closer to 6040 um and you can see State and our operating budget State's now down to 58% locals up to 31 um our match tax which is one we said we would talk about um as a team from the finance committee and bring recommendations to the board is super tiny um but even our federal funds A lot of people think that's a huge part of the budget and you can see it's only 4% of the total operating budget tuition tax where we saw a tuition increase is 6% um and then that local funds that current operating expense is up to 31 uh percent so uh squeezing out even though

117the state had that huge investment I think that's why it's important to see too even with that huge increase on the revenue side from the state they're still um below 60% of our overall budget then on the expenditure side these follow right these follow we're not going to spend um uh we're going to spend where the state money came from on the revenue side but then the other addition additions or adjustments are on Esser um if you go to the next one bill for just a second I kind of bucket it for you where you can see all right so our whole operating budget uh is going up by an estimated uh 7.7% but how is that broken out so so 43% of that is all of those changes I said on the state side

118local um and that's all kinds of um whether or not that's additional positions be like those hb200 HB 100 there's always a local share that's uh a part of that so this isn't just increases on top of this might be um the local share that that comes as part of that and then the tuition changes uh or increases that we talked about when we increased the tuition tax um and then Esser right I said there were strategic things we were keeping um couldn't fund it all and that's the the red bucket so you can see the increases are kind of uh divided out um by about what you would think from the revenue side okay you can go back just just the one so again I I won't read through them because these are all

119U things I talked about on the revenue side you can't even tell but I did change the bullets to color code to the next graph so the red at the bottom is Esser um and then the green at the bottom was tuition but you can see which ones are are targeted in which area so what that means and again it's very very close to that three-year forecast um it is um one of the things we we talked about a lot during the referendum was that you know we have we had nominal budget growth over a large period of time so in one year this is you know this is a higher number than you would expect but again it's driven by uh that large State salary increase as well as us um catching up to

120uh where we needed to be because we were in that deficit spend um but it puts us at a June 30th ending balance of 7.2 and again that was intentional uh not where we wanted it to be 8.8 but then next year will be the additional 20 cense or that second phase of the referendum so we intentionally said to the community we're going to phase this and do it slowly so that it wasn't one uh huge tax bill in one year but spread over time um okay you can keep going I went over that one I went over that one so this one just says that our ending balance how it changed uh last year was uh six million so this at 7.1 we're up by a million and we maintained just about uh exactly

121where we were on the tuition tax side all told um if you add them all together we're now over 250 million from all sources it's the next one bill thanks and then last but not least is looking ahead there that's not done right there's still changes to come and we'll go through the September 30th count um count the students and that's not just the number of students but by cat needs based category uh which drives our fun and so um it's most of what you see in the state budget even though there's all of these adjustments on the salary side um and even larger adjustment that they have to make is the increased unit count that's driven by needs based funding um so we'll go through the September 30th unit count and then I'll come

122before you again in December for a final budget um and working with uh the finance committee um Mr scurb already um gave an update that we will be um we will have a new chair and look at the the procedures about uh not only replacing um but kind of do it in two parts right once not make all of the changes until new members come on but look for uh new members as um as folks leave after a long period of time there's John's uh certificate of necessity um but then the other change on the um Horizon is uh State funding commission so the legislature passed as a result of the air study the air study funding study was a result of the um settlement um the lawsuit and so this is the next phase

123of all right we have this you know very lengthy report and study but how do we uh turn that we as a state I don't mean as a district but as a state and there's all kinds of stakeholders uh Dr Lawson and I will both be serving on that commission um that will have statewide representation so we'll report back um the progress of that group and then of course uh preparing for reassessment it's going to be um a big year I got my letter did you get your letter mine just said how much uh it didn't say how much it just said here's your bedrooms and that kind of thing um but they're coming and learning from The Experience from uh Kent County as well and then of course I mean one thing the question

124came up on on the CN November elections that used to were started at the budget office but usually they put in a placeholder budget right because this there's going to be somebody changing down in do and so what what happens in November and those final elections um won't be the governor in January and so um the as the FY 206 budget is finalized it'll be a transition of of leadership and so we often see placeholders and so how that comes about right with this Administration determining next year's funding on a CN um is always interesting um and so I always say make make our legislators know uh that we have the CN down there because that that support is helpful and that is my fy2 budget recommendation preliminary any questions or comments thank you we

125will entertain a motion to accept and approve the um budget for fiscal year 25 do we have second to accept the budget preliminary budget preliminary Bud prelim second all in favor I any oppos okay so the motion carries to accept the preliminary fiscal year 25 budget thank you Miss glory for all your work thank you and I did fail to mention again that the DFC voted to approve it okay thank you meeting thank you all right so um the lastly thing on the agenda is just to provide an update on our next three uh regular board meetings those dates will be on Monday September 16th Monday October 21st and Monday November 18th and those will be here at Mount Pleasant elementary school uh with all that being said if Les there's any final comments or

126remarks thank you guys for your patience with me um I will entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting so move second all those in favor I I any opposed hey the time is now 9:03 p.m. thank you