001all right good evening welcome to the brand wine School District Board of Education tonight is our regular meeting Monday July 15 2024 we are live in the Mount Pleasant elementary multi-purpose room also broadcasting via Zoom M Harris may I please have a roll call Mr SC but here miss pigeon Mr acan Mr hel here Reverend Dickerson here miss St here Dr J here all present Miss Harris this time I would like to ask our new superintendant to lead us in the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance Al to the flag the United States of America to the Republic of which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all at this time I'll entertain a motion to approve this evening's agenda' like to make that motion but um I'd like to move Item B
002on special presentation into Old business Item B to Old business is there say a motion yes a second second motion a second any discussion all those in favor say I I I any opposed motion carries we'll move uh certificate of necessity to Old business now become Item B so with that I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended second another motion Miss pigeon second Miss stock all those in favor say I I opposed motion carries we will begin this evening's special recognitions and presentations with the swearing in of returning board members uh and we will begin with Dr jedy toates [Music] I will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of school board member according to the best of my ability and I do further solemnly swear or affirm that I have not
003directly or indirectly paid and I do further solemnly affirm that I have not directly or indirectly paid offered or promised to pay contributed or offered to or promised to contribute offered or promised to pay contributed or offered to or promised to contribute any money or other valuable thing as consideration or reward any money or other valuable thing as consideration or reward for giving or withholding a vote at the election at which I was elected to set office so help me God or I so affirm for giving or withholding a vote at the election at which I was elected to to said office so help me guide or so icome back to the board thank you Mr hel would you like to join me [Music] here please repeat after me I do solemnly swear or affirm
004that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America and the constitution of the state of Delaware I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America constitution of the state of Delaware and that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of school board member according to the best of my ability that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of school board member according to the best of my ability and I do further Solly swear or affirm that I have not directly or indirectly paid and I do further only swear that I have not directly or indirectly paid offered or promised to pay contributed or offered to or promised to contribute offered or promised to pay contributed or offered or promised to contribute
005any money or other valuable thing as consideration or reward any money or other valuable thing as consideration or reward for giving or withholding a vote at the election at which I was elected to set office so help me God or ISO firm for giving or withholding a vote at the election at which I was elected to set office so help me guys welcome back to the board thank [Applause] [Music] you all right we have moved Item B that will lead us to superintendent report District news and updates Dr Lawson take it away thank you and good evening members of the board and members of our community tonight marks my first monthly report to the board and I eager to share updates on our district ongoing initiatives and opportunities that lie ahead although school is not
006currently in session I want to highlight that our summer months are a bustling period of preparation and planning for the upcoming school year our dedicated staff are working diligently to enhance our curricula update our facilities and ensure that everything is in place for a successful and smooth start learning certainly doesn't end after the final Bell on the last day of school in BSD summery camps and programs students can mitigate unfinished learning and receive accelerated services to ensure Readiness for the next grade level in L English language arts mathematics social emotional learning transition to the next grade cluster enrichment activities and more beginning July 22nd we look forward to the stem camps bringing additional Dynamic educational opportunities to our students providing a balanced approach to both the Arts and the Sciences our recent administrative Retreat proved
007to be a fruitful and inspiring event for all attendees where we strive for continuous growth and Improvement of all aspects of our school system held last week at the Wilmington University Brandy Wine campus this annual Retreat provides relevant professional learning to address the goals of the district Inspire administrators and incorporate fund and relationship building within and across school and District staff this year's storytelling theme Once Upon a Time included topics such as talent management and evidence-based hiring practices operational excellence equity-based academic and non-academic practices using a multi-tiered system of support framework to strengthen instruction and outcomes for all Learners we were honored to have keynote presentations delivered by Mr Patrick Briggs the Northeast area director for Avid and Dr Mitchell brooking's National educational literacy leader to help our administrative teams reflect strategize and prepare for
008the upcoming school year as part of the operational excellence portion of the retreat administrators had the opportunity to ride BSD school buses to transport ation facilities nutrition and Technology departments to gain a better understanding of the ins and outs of each Department's operations but more importantly help integrate our internal systems to create the best possible experience for every child and family in the district in addition to our administrative Retreat BSD also held our annual ad Administrative Assistant Retreat an event dedicated to our invaluable secretarial staff held last week here at Mount Pleasant elementary school this retreat was a great opportunity for team building skill enhancement and planning aimed at empowering our employees who play a crucial role in the smooth operation of our schools and district offices topics included best practices around registration school choice
009unit count Safety and Security new technologies such as artificial intelligence and more as we prepare for another exciting school year our facility staff continue working tirelessly to enhance our buildings and grounds projects include among many HVAC work at Brandy Wine and Mount Pleasant High Schools and painting in at Mount Pleasant elementary school and tally Middle School our commitment to providing a safe comfortable and stimulating learning environment for our students staff and visitors is at the Forefront of our efforts our new and redesign School District website will officially launch on August 1st this updated website reflects our on ongoing commitment to providing accessible comprehensive and userfriendly information to our students parents staff and the broader Community key features will include a modern more visually appealing design a comprehensive events calendar and easier navigation to academic resources
010and essential Services we are also working on the launch of a BSD mobile app which will be downloadable through the Apple and Google Play Stores stay tuned and now our July [Music] [Applause] Sizzle ER comes most frequently and right so it's going to be ER that was perfect segue Oli you were great [Music] [Applause] [Music] describing right adjectives how can you describe these puppies [Music] EXO say hi to your new friends now you see his Tails [Music] waging and a one two ready [Applause] [Music] and why is violence because Yay good job good job that was [Music] good hi ladies welcome to Transportation thank you you're welcome D get there plus we got everything in here and they all get a i [Music] [Applause] [Music] as was talking this is the prompts that we just
011want to put in [Music] quick Mr President this concludes my monthly report thank you very much Dr son any comments from the board fantastic uh still no public comment Zoom cards we have no public comment this evening uh leading on to board business uh member of liaison reports and other reports starting off with dsba executive board Mr arriman yeah the executive board has not met but I did just want to put a quick um plug into the board that Dr Lawson and myself Dr Lawson on behalf of Dasa myself on behalf of DBA have been attending the student behavior and school climate task force meetings uh we actually attended one virtually most of the time we actually drive to Dober but this time because of our meeting uh we had to do virtual but I
012will say that um we had a great presentation today um was that lady's name Terry ter Terry Lawler U which she also presented to the combined boards on mtss and I think she handled some questions some really tough questions that were asked by Senator buckson very well uh I think um we are making some progress in this task force and I hope that we'll get some good things out of it it was announced today that the state did put $250,000 into the cell phone pouches that can be used so our students are not um distracted during class and I believe we're going to be one of the districts that are going to attempt to apply for some money to utilize that uh funding so just wanted to give that that update and there also has
013been no legislative action we know that the legislature is done for the year so I killed both of those at the same time thank you Mr rman uh District finance committee has not met since our last meeting and Joe I'm sorry when do we have the date for the next a August 14th uh 5:00 pm uh here in the conference room M Pleasant elementary and we'll post the zoom link on as well uh Miss stock parents and citizens advisory committee updates um parent and citizen advisory committee has not met um since our last meeting and we will not meet until the fall J 24 thank you very much uh Miss pigeon parent Council for students with disabilities parent Council also has not met and we'll meet again probably in October thank you uh wington learning
014collaborative Reverend Dickerson uh the wimington learning collaborative the wimington learning collaborative is recess for the month of July however we will meet for our board retreat next Thursday July the 25th 6 to 900 p.m. at the Mill in who said the mill yes mostes thank you uh 91.7 wmph has not met since our last meeting uh we do have a zoom scheduled for July 22nd at 6: pm and we can post that link on our website as well any additional board member reports at this time all right hearing none I will move on uh and entertain a motion to approve approve the consent agenda second Reverend Dickerson first Mr Aran second all those in favor say I I I I any opposed motion carries do have a motion to accept the monthly Personnel report as
015discussed in executive session so moved second Mr Aran Mr heler all those in favor say I I I any opposed motion carries do I have a motion to approve employee matter 25-1 as discussed an executive session move second Mr heler Mr Akerman all those in favor say I I any opposed motion carries should be the whole consent we need to peel those out I'm Sorry Miss Harris did we finish SB did we confirm the vote on [Music] that I believe we did Mr Scrat no no no I mean did we we voted and you got it recorded correct yeah okay I just want to make sure um do I have a motion to accept student matters as discussed in executive session second Reverend Dickerson Miss stun all those in favor say I I I any
016opposed motion for student matters carries takes us on to Old business um Alternative Program Dr mckenny president scobot superintendent Lawson and members of the board I am back again this month asking for approval for our successful vendor transforming lives you provided details on the participating stakeholders and the corresponding scores for this request for proposal for our in District alternative education program so I'm here tonight to request your approval for our successful vendor transforming live Incorporated thank you for putting that information to us it was very thorough I thought it was move to accept the recommendation for the alternative program second any further discussion all those in favor sorry motion Mr AC there we go Motion Mr akman second Reverend Dickerson any further discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed motion carries thank
017you Dr mcken that will lead us to new business first old business of necessity yeah we moved oh B I'm sorry correct Mr Reed come on down good evening superintendent Lawson president scobot and school board I am back here again again um feels like I did this a year ago oh I did do this a year ago um also I'd like to thank publicly thank uh Sean mccuan for fixing our HVAC system here on these hot days you drive by our schools and you'll see people up on the roofs um those are our employees making sure that everything works and we've got a long week of that coming up um we're here tonight this is not an action item this will be an action item hopefully in the month of August but I'm just presenting
018that we are going to um propose to go back to the state for a certificate and necessity um that is basically telling the state that it's time to do work to our schools we're retiring debt and when you retire debt that means it's your buildings are getting older and it's time to keep up with them again next slide please um there is a process uh we have to prepare the certificate necessity which is I'm working with um several Consultants on that right now and contractors for estimates uh it must be approved by the school board in the month of August it must be submitted to the Department of Education by August 31st uh Department of Education will then respond with a thumbs up or thumbs down by October and then from there the board can
019choose to either go out or not go out um the board could reduce scope can enlarge scope but they could reduce scope after it's been through the Department of Education next slide um the projects we are talking about and this is based on needs and based on what had been done to the buildings in the past it's still Mount Pleasant elementary um Mount Pleasant High the site program and I'll go into a little bit of detail on this inclusive playgrounds and we are having conversations around athletic fields that is a piece that is new tonight that was not here in the previous year next slide mount pleas Elementary we've talked about numerous times um it says a 92-year-old roof happy birthday Mount pleas your roof is now 94 years old I need to update that
020slide um the building is 1932 oh actually it is 92 sorry about the math I'll get that right one of these days uh the mount pleas Elementary is 1932 uh it needs some love um very well-built building 11 additions every time we work on this building I have to use a Ouija board to figure it out um but we have several things that we have to do these are more than buildings these are places of Education a kindergarten classroom here is 600 ft the kindergarten classroom in the state of Delaware is to be 12200 ft to 1,000 s ft so the teachers here have half the square footage they would in any other school uh next slide and just one other note my oldest daughter who is now 40 um went to kindergarten at Mount
021Pleasant elementary because mapleine was full and it was a room with no windows here just just to throw that in there yes we have several rooms here the 70s were a little tough on Mount Pleasant elementary they had this thing about no windows in classrooms um Mr aaman I think my daughter who's 23 years old went to kindergarten Here Also in a room with no windows yeah well we'll fix that room it does have a skylight um Mount Pleasant High School original construction 1958 yes it was fully renovated but there are many things left behind like Ada code and some things that we need to do around education and around utilities um the lower level we certainly need to move out of Mount Pleasant High was supposed to have a pool they never built it
022that's where we're proposing to move the music department and there are currently 12 classrooms in the school where a child in a wheelchair cannot access those classrooms um so we really want to simplify the floor plan down there uh when you're in the basement of Mount Pleasant High you need breadcrumbs to get around so we're thinking about Center hallway none of the walls down there are load bearing so we're going to open things up and simplify Mount Pleasant High and just think about the folks that are preparing food in that kitchen that's 1950 these uh gold in there and uh our other schools have been renovated uh cost quite a bit of money to do the kitchen right but um the students and staff deserve better on next slide please inclusive playgrounds um playgrounds were
023designed at a time when they said mulch was ADA Compliant and Equipment they would give you a Tic Tac Toe board and they would say now you're ADA Compliant and talk to a family that's got a child in a wheelchair or a child that can't play with their friends and you'll know that that doesn't work we did a small playground at Forwood and it's been a huge hit this is that a photo of that playground surfaces are now better equipment's now better um our playground equipment in this District most of it is over 20 years old so this was to give a piece to all of our elementary schools to make inclusive playgrounds because separate is not equal next slide please uh site program that picture there is what they have in Cape hopin it's
024good enough for Cape it's good enough for Brandy Wine our site program is an a leas building they have shops in there and other things in there that that would be visited by the public um since we're in a lease building facilities can't do work in that building we really can't when they go to update programs um we really need to own our own destiny uh We own land on 202 the vision is to build a center on 202 that from the front looks like storefronts but in back it's just one large classroom that can be adapted to whatever programs that they're teaching or whatever shops that they want to add but it's would also be a poster child on 202 because we're fortunate to own that real estate where our students would have a
025better connection with the business community so this is really about hitting a home run um also our technology department and school Nutrition department could work with those students you idea would be to put them on the second floor and take down that um 1958 building that sits on 202 which is currently the Brandy Wine Operation Center next slide please athletic fields we have been having um public meetings over this um to really talk to our constituents about our fields and our athletic programs our schools were designed before there was girl soccer our schools were designed before there was lacrosse our schools were designed before you had volleyball is a sport um School Fields doesn't really stop at the outside of the building it comes inside so they never Envision kids to be in the gym
026August 15th they're now students in our gym August 15th and they're not air conditioned um our tracks were a part of a referendum in 2000 and they were to be an 8-year surface well we've gotten a little bit more than 8 years out of them so the tracks need to be resurfaced um one of the things we're talking about is the location of fields some of our schools very welld designed it's working other our schools not so much baseball and softball fields don't have dugouts in brand new white school district you go to any of the Little League teams they have dugouts so we're a little bit behind the times there proper surface uh field hockey is a sport totally changes when it's played on the right surface look at all the All State players
027I mean conquer just look at our field hockey teams look at how they're thriving um the games have changed Sports have changed and our students are going to other schools and seeing what's going on there and what they have also appropriate field houses you go to a game in brandy wine school district and we have Porta pot set up where the other schools have proper field houses um we're really behind the times on that so we're developing a scope this is something I hope to come back to the board with and if there is a few spare moments during the uh board retreat in August um possibly by then I'll have a pencil sharpened by then in a lot better shape on this one on next slide you got to end with the pretty picture
028um so I will be coming back in August with a CN that looks very much like in fact exactly like what you saw last year going through updating the years updating the budgets updating where they are up um as far as what years the funding would happen updating um we have to have a letter of equity and all the the reports we'll be updating that um one of the things about our referend our request that is attractive it's like an NFL contract you you kick it out to further years so to renovate some of these buildings will unfortunately take five years um because they're occupied when you're building a new building in another District they need all the money in one year because you got one shot to build it so hopefully that's something that's
029attractive hopefully we have success this year with Department of Education but just wanted to come tonight to say that we're coming back and I'll see you in a few more weeks there questions um Mr re I have a question I feel like we could probably write the perfect certificate of necess necessity which I I I have every confidence that you do um what can we do differently or can we do anything differently when we submit our CN this year to ensure a better chance of approval um or is there anything we can do we are working very very hard to write these volumes of books and when you see the stack of what we're putting together you'll scratch your head and wonder does anybody ever read it all and I think sometimes it's just getting
030in line and other districts took several years the Bush School un unfortunately took seven asks before we received the yes now hopefully this won't take seven times um a lot of districts that traditionally go out and submit every year because of their growth it's my understanding they're not submitting this year because lots of capital referendums passed last year that kind of clears the Slate so they're not going back because red clay passed their 290 million they're not going to be back in line um I feel encouraged um I think you know the the need is clear but a lot of it's just getting in line um districts have been asking other districts red clay was told no before it took them a while and I think with us it's just getting in line with now
031Pleasant elementary what would be the plan for renovation you obviously can't close this we don't have a holding school we can just open up while it's being worked on what how will you deal with that our our hopes are is a very good relationship with the community center next door um and possibly doing what we did at Claymont by moving a grade or two to darly Road um if we can free up roughly 16 classrooms at a time it allow us to renovate this building just like we did before the trickiest part is is we got to move the office to the back of the building um these buildings were built during a time when students and the community would walk to school now everybody's approaching from the back this building there are other buildings
032identical to mount P elementary in the state one of them is Milton Elementary they did just that they moved the office to the back that's something we've been studying but the idea is to move the office the entry I mean when the parents drop their kids off of the back let's be honest it's our loading dock not the prettiest view in the world so the idea is to make something proper in the back still having discussions what we can and can't do with the gym whether or not that'll come down and we'll start over um the guts of this building are good um but we do have to move some walls um and we do have to do things right for Education this is about education what does a school need um to make the
033proper size for elementary school today John when they evaluate each of the requests do they evaluate them individually or is a total package they do and evaluate them individually like last year when we submitted we submitted bush with our package Bush was reviewed but these weren't will Department of Education call up and say what are your priorities what are your needs they're all priorities they're all needs um if they call or right with that we'll discuss that in October um but for them to call up and say well could you do half of a school um I think our history here is we've either done it right or not done it and it would be my hopes moving forward that we would continue to do things right because if you don't do things right you're
034going to be right back doing them again you may have said this already but how many years have we been denied in a row in this submission one but Bush was seven seven times and why aren't we resubmitting because it uh we got the CN we've got the money and I hope to present here real soon land and beautiful pictures of a beautiful building that we'll hopefully be submitting permits for soon is there any discussion to put to build a facility for the site program on any of our exting property it is on existing property we own 8 Acres on 202 um where the Box is and we own another six on the other side where the old Bush School was so the idea is to put it on land that we own um it's
035retail Central um if you go to that great barbecue place there I don't want to advertise during a board meeting but you will find me at the barbecue place we'd be we own the parking lot right next to it what used to be Pier One so when you see a parking lot there that's actually our property so we'd be right next to retail center right there by the um the YMCA um right there for the public to access what our students are producing and access our um as opposed to being buried in the middle of a Community Center thank you excellent thank you John that concludes old business first up on new business election of board officers every July uh the board elects President and Vice President amongst the members uh at this time I
036would like to turn it over to Dr Lawson as the board board's executive secretary uh to conduct said to conduct said elections thank you Mr President at this time I will ask for any nominations for president of the Brandy Wine school board for the 20242 school year I'll make a nomination for Mr heler Mr heler do you accept this nomination I do thank you are there any other nominations I'd like to make a nomination for Mr acrian Mr acrian do you accept this nomination yes okay are there any other nominations for board president so I will ask for a motion to close the nomination I move to close the nominations for pres second all those in favor say I I hi any opposed okay I open for discussion I'll open um I think that well
037one I'll I'll start by saying something that's not directly related to the presidential elections but I certainly want to um having been sworn in again for an additional year I'm looking for forward to this year that's coming up um I welcome you uh Dr Lawson as the new superintendent I'm really hopeful for the way that we're moving forward as a board the way that we've been communicating e even in the interim um My Hope as we move forward as a board is that we will be able to move into some areas that I've not seen the board um move into to since I have been here I joined the board in October and I was really hoping to be a part of a board that I think was a little bit more strategic in terms
038of planning um looking at data and things like that so um I made a nomination because I think sometimes change is good um and you know sometimes what I am really really hopeful for is that regardless of who the officers are elected tonight that as a board we will be willing to work collaboratively um recognizing the professional expertise that everyone at the table brings forward and so that's my contribution I'd like to just Echo what um Dr jeedy said that um I think that in the last um honestly couple weeks I've been you know very impressed with uh Dr Lawson i' like to say that publicly um in your our efforts to communicate with with each of us um even just a revision of the uh board meeting agenda I think we can see some
039positive effects of that um I also am interested in seeing um the board uh work collaboratively um with um Contin I mean with with open communication and um I do think that there are probably some areas um in the board uh that you know we uh and I um would like to improve upon uh just in terms of collaboration uh in terms of uh communication and and working together and just um and again recognizing that we may not obviously we're not all going to personally um agree with things um that that we would not be afraid to have a a healthy and respectful um and public discussion um so I think that my vote for tonight is is is for that and and it's not um but but also just acknowledging um the work that
040um you know former uh board leadership has has has put into uh the district I think that all seven of us um we care very very much about this district and I think that it's the one thing um that we all s can agree on at all [Music] times I have a few comments this board has talked a lot about transparency and openness uh over the last few months uh so I'm going to let my guard down a little bit and be open and honest here tonight uh to have Mr aiman nominated by Dr jaggedy is unlikely Alliance um but I'm not completely surprised um I'd like to explain to the general public here in the room and online kind of how this works I expect that everyone on this board walked in here tonight
041with a plan with a pretty good idea of what's going to happen how this vote will likely pan out not because anyone colluded not because there was a secret meeting but because most of us can read the room in my time on the board I have operated under two premises one the president and the vice president serve at the pleasure of the board two I would not expect anyone's vote if I didn't at least ask for it and I made it known to each member of this board that I was interested in continuing as president and I asked for their support based on the responses and the lack or the lack thereof I got the feeling I was coming up short therefore I withdrew myself from consideration and I give my full support to Mr
042heler Mr arriman has come to me every year for the past four years to make his case to be an officer and every year I explained to him that I would support him if he had the support of the board except for this year I didn't hear from Ralph seeking any position what has changed what would convince three other people who have historically rejected Mr arrian's leadership to now change their opinions vice presidential nominations will be telling what the strategy is with that said I've never cut a deal to gain or retain this seat I have never leveraged the vice presidential seat to trade a vote I've always made my case for why I believed I was the best candidate to serve as this board's president and I always gave my support to a vice
043president who expressed interest and who I thought would best serve the district as well tonight I give my support to Jason as president so to hear Shawn nominate Ralph tells me the confidence is high that he has the four votes I walked in here only confident in the likelihood that I had three votes so now I have to campaign before you and try and flip at least one vote for Jason it seemed as though we had a pretty cohesive board until the superintendent selection this year so support for Ralph is interesting in the sense that he was also on the side of the 4-3 majority and he even made the the motion everyone on this board has seen and heard how Ralph has disrespected his fellow members at one time or another our community has
044seen and heard how Ralph has treated our teachers in school families let's remember this is the man who told our teachers to seek a new career during the uncertainty of the pandemic this is the man who has told a member of this board to shut their mouth this is the man who shouted at Springer parents that they were wrong when they were EXP expressing concerns and advocating for their children I've known Ralph a long time my goodness he's been on and off this board for 30 years if it's change you want he's a surprising choice now he does have some impressive historical knowledge of Education in Delaware but I believe being president is more than that the president is the board's representative to the public to our teachers to our families and to our community
045whoever votes for raap tonight will have to look themselves in the mirror and at some Point justify their vote tonight to our teachers in our community I've served this District as president with only the best of intentions I'm proud of our successes and I know there is much more work to do I'm proud of the relationships I have fostered across our district if my time as president ends here tonight so be it but I will go down swinging because I love this district and I want to serve it to the best of my ability and I know Jason will do the same I'll always give give credit to those around me first it's not my nature to seek attention or recognition so this list of accomplishments during my tenure is by no means my doing
046alone this was a team effort with a lot of help from Jason but I'm here campaigning to serve this district and support Jason so I'd like to think that you know my leadership played a small part in the successes over the years in Jason's leadership along with our district I helped guide us through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic navigating the complexities of remote learning ensuring the safety of students and staff and addressing the Myriad of logistical issues required steady decisive and compassionate leadership my ability to listen to experts communicate effectively with the community and make tough decisions in the face of uncertainty ensured that our students education continued to the best that it could at the time with minimal disruption and maximum safety for the information we had I hope Jason and I showed
047resilience and integrity in the face of months of contentious debate surrounding accusations of teaching critical race Theory amidst the turmoil amid accusations Jason remained committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful dialogue promoting transparency providing clear information and standing firm on our District's educational values he helped diffuse tensions and ensure that our schools remain places of learning and understanding under my leadership with Jason by my side we achieved a historic m Milestone the passage of a referendum with the highest approval rate heck Mr arriman even made the case himself that unprecedented success of the referendum was a strong reason to not disrupt District leadership I would think the same would apply to board leadership the referendum success is a testament to building trust and rallying the community around our shared vision for the future of our
048schools the referendum provide will provide essential funding for much-needed improvements and initiatives ensuring that our students have access to the best possible resources and opportunities moreover Jason has been a steadfast Champion for excellence in leadership within our district most notably through the recent promotion of Dr Lisa Lawson our well-respected superintendent this decision has already had a profound impact on our district bringing stability Vision And A Renewed sense of purpose the feedback across the district has been overwhelmingly positive Dr Lawson's leadership which Jason ADV ated for since day one will drive progress and Innovation benefiting students teachers and the entire community so in closing I say this if it's change you want Ralph is not it I'd ask that you put aside whatever personal feelings or bias you had when you walked in here tonight take
049an honest look within and vote for the candidate that you feel truly truly feel will best serve our students our teachers our community they're watching one of the changes that I'm looking forward to is a day when a person would not be so I don't even know the word to determine with a prepared document as to why they believe you established your votes without ever having a conversation with you it would be a day when someone respected you as a professional as a mature adult who was able to make your own decision as to why you would put forth a recommendation without any assumptions without any um accusations and to state that publicly that's the change that I'm looking for for one of the benefits of democracy in this country in this school district is
050that each and every one of us gets the opportunity to be able to cast a vote based on what we believe is best for us and to be able to do that without retaliation to be able to do that without coming into a meeting and because you have an idea about the way that you want to vote have a public statement be written and read about you that's the change that I seek and I say this off the cuff without any idea that there was a prepar written statement I'm speaking to you from my heart and knowing that so I vote for someone who I may not agree with I've had multiple um sessions with Ralph with people on the board I have never questioned Ralph's leadership in fact to the contrary I've questioned some
051of the things that Ralph has said just like different people have questioned some of the things that I've said I think it's clear whose leadership I have questioned but what I've always said is that I respect the fact that Ralph is honest from the very beginning when he called me when I was coming into the board and he called me out and asked me to have coffee with him and told me straight up something that would have been disagreeable for me but he looked me in the face professional to professional and said this is the way that I feel now tell me how you feel and let's reason about that that's the kind of respect that I want as a woman as an African-American and as a professional not for someone to believe that I
052have to vote any particular way and if I don't vote that way that they can come in and surmise to believe that they know enough about me my history and my intentions to be able to write a written statement about why I voted without ever having a conversation with me Mr uh holler has never called me and asked me why I was Voting I've not never had a conversation with Mr um holler about who I was voting for but in his own privilege and his own arrogance he's taken the time to write a formal statement about why he thinks I voted that way that's the change that I'm looking for and I'm willing to take a risk with someone who I know I may not agree with but someone who respects me as a professional
053and is willing to have honest conversation and dialogue so I think and I do sleep very well at night I have no problem looking the teachers and the staff members in the face because I always worked for collaboration in this District I have always worked for equity and transparency in this district and the decisions that I make are all based on that so that's my [Music] statement I'm I just say something real quick I think just to the board um I just want to say that I hope that you know I've uh represented the board positively in all my interactions with the community over the years um I believe that I have positive relationships with all the stakeholder groups and believe at some point I've worked collaboratively with everybody at this table um and I'm
054just fully committed to serving this community I haven't missed any at all um regular meetings special meetings workshops Retreats I gave time almost every night for well over a month attending Community meetings on the referendum having individual one-on-one meetings interacting with dozens and dozens of community members via email chat social media like I said some one-on-one meetings I was really proud to work hard with um Miss stock on the draft of what eventually became our new superintendent contract um in addition in the last two years I've taken the time to visit every one of our buildings in the district including the facility shop the bus garage um i' sat with almost every building principal um spoken to dozens and dozens if not more um teachers about you know what's going on in the district and
055I volunteered for several years um with the site program to launch their new t-shirt business which finally launched earlier this year and all of my other volunteer work outside of the board service which is considerable including many hours a week right next door um is in some way in service to the BSD community so all in all I just hope when you make your selection tonight you do what's in your heart and what tells you is the best for this wonderful District I just want to just say it's ironic that um president scobot would cite the issue from several years ago where I provided a heartfelt response to someone who wrote to me with a form letter and he was the one who said don't defend yourself just be quiet but yet he wants to
056turn around and sensationalize it here tonight that disappoints me but besides that I am what I am so I'll entertain a motion to conclude discussion yes I move I have a second second all those in favor I Miss Harris since we have two candidates for up for nomination can you please do a roll call and would each board member please State who they wish uh are voting for to be president Mr scobot Jason heler Miss pigeon Mr hel Mr acan acran Mr heler Mr heler M Reverend Dickinson acran miss stck Mr acan Dr jaged Mr aaman four votes for Mr aaman three for Mr heler uh congratulations Mr congratulations President congratulations so it is typical that then the board president would run the uh vice president elections um I think we can turn it back
057to president scobot to finish out the meeting I think you're well familiar with board operations and you can take the hel up to you uh open up the nominations for vice president I'd like to nominate uh Dr Sean Jag do we have additional nominations Dr jeed do you accept I accept additional nominations once additional nominations twice I'll take a motion to close nominations second motion and a second all those in favor say I I we have one nominee all those in favor of Dr JY please say I I I it is unanimous that'll move us to new consideration to access a District's progress and remaining needs related to equity Dr J do you want to address your resolution yes okay thank you I need to put on some eyes sorry so the um what we
058have before us is a resolution to put forward to create establish a new committee for the board and I have since spoken to um I sent this the copy to everyone in email last night to all of the members of the board as well as a couple of stakeholders within District leadership um Dr McKenna and uh also Dr Lawson wanting to make sure that we got feedback from all of the stakeholders who would be um would be able to contribute to this idea I did get feedback from two people um M out uh did get back to me and said um one of the things in fact so what I'll do is I'll read the resolution as it stands and then I'll read the two suggested recommendations for editing for once we do discussion if
059that works so this is the Brandy Wine School District Board of Education resolution for an advisory and assessment committee on Equity the following resolution was offered by Dr Shan jaged and seconded by I guess we'll get a second a resolution establishing an advis 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 and of regarding further implementation of the formal Equity plan whereas Brandy Wine school district has established that our mission is to embrace Inspire and challenge every student every day and whereas bstd has established that the following six core threads are consistently interwoven throughout the work undertaken in the district
060success plan Equity multi-tier systems of support professional development on curriculum revisions data driven decision making Delaware teacher growth and support system system known as dgss and focus on student growth and whereas the assertion of the first core thread which is 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 includes but is not limited to elevate and Empower student voice diversify the educator Workforce cultivate culturally proficient leadership responsibly Implement and sustain cultur culturally responsive teaching design Equitable inclusive culturally responsive and socially just environments and build active and fluid diverse Partnerships and now therefore be it resolved that the bstd Board
061of Education hereby would like to establish an advisory and assessment committee on equity for the purpose of conducting an assessment and providing input and recommendations regarding the development and implementation of a district a districtwide equity plan be a further resolve that in accordance with BSD policy 0210 the 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 the Brandy Wine Education Association members shall also be selected by nominations provided by board members the superintendent and or candidates themselves and shall be in consultation with Bea the committee shall be composed
062of 13 members this is one of the things that still that we're discussing as a board it shall be composed of 13 members including one representative from each of the following entities and uh individuals with the following roles and experiences the committee shall select two co-chairs at the first scheduled convenient of the group and the co-chairs will set the agenda and Cadence to carry out the work of the committee so the recommended uh members of the committee would be representatives from the Board of Education one member from the special at BSD special education and support services one from BSD office of curriculum and instruction one from BSD office of culture and climate one from a black parent organization group working on education disparities one from latinx parent organization or group working on education disparities also
063a BSD dean of students from a middle school a BSD dean of students from a high school and I'll add that one of the recommendations is that we also add a Dean from the Elementary School uh a student from the BSD student voices Group which is an organization that represents a plethora of voices who ordinarily may not be included into um the school culture and then also a representative a classroom K through five teacher in a BSD School a Classroom middle school teacher in a BSD school and a classroom high school teacher in a BSD school and of course a parent of a child and so the idea is to in I'll just continue reading and then we could um go back to that be it further resolved that the committee shall meet as a
064whole monthly and may meet in part more frequently for a period of 6 months after its establishment and shall present its recommendations to the Board of Education no later than the following meeting after the six-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 BSD policy 0210 be a further resolve that copies of this resolution will be forwarded to the representative entities listed above um or individuals with those particular experiences and shall be selected no later than August 9th this resolution has been submitted to a vote and the vote thereon um was as follows I don't know if you want to open it up for discussion what were the Amendments that you mentioned I
065didn't hear you I'm sorry what were the things you just mentioned oh the amendments were two one was um suggested by the one amendment was suggested by a a dean of students from the high school and that amendment was to include a dean of students from the elementary school as well like I have listed here from a middle school and a high school and then the other um recommendation was was to expand the organiz the advocacy organization so those would be expanded to include um it says do we want to include Representatives as well from MLL family or student and then also um representatives from a family who benefits from like our free or reduced lunch program a representative for lgbtq plus an indigenous community and Indigenous representative agent representative and diverse religion representative Dr
066jeedy can we consider this a first read and bring it back with the changes Incorporated to next month's meeting so we can have it in the agenda so folks can read it okay yes and if we do that we'll have to change the the date the dates as well okay Mr I have two just two minor thoughts um one is the consideration of a building level administrator rep don't need one from every grade level but I think there might be a benefit in having one and then my other one is just a concern that 6 months may be too short of a time it's a pretty lofty project they have in front of them I'm just I'm worried the six months wouldn't be enough time are there any considerations um as to which level we
067would want to get a buildin level administrator from or my gut tells me high school but I don't know if that's yeah I would I would agree with um Mr heler that a representative a representative I don't know if it's too many cooks in the kitchen but a representative from from each level um a building administrator I think would um just because there are things that a building administrator is privy to in handles on a more serious um you know level than than a dean of students if I could just make a suggestion in and around that because the committee is getting large is you could mix and match maybe a de from one AP from another and kind of work it that way group my as well okay so I yes go ahead I
068was going to say I will um send this out in an email and add the suggested recommendations so that we can yes and send a copy to Tia so she can make sure it gets into the agenda for next month can I just ask if we have parent organiz black parent organization group and Latino parent organization group item number five and six do we have those organizations in place to make this part of the agenda I mean part of the so part of the idea is that this would be a selection process that the board would then vote on so these are sort of the categories and the C the um the categories that we would want represented is from and then people could either be recommended by board nominated by board members the superintendent
069or the people themselves or other departments and then the board would come and same thing for the like BSD departments these this resolution would go out to each of those departments and then the BSD Department would determine which is the best person to represent them and then the board would vote on it so for those organizations I'm thinking we would send out a request for members and that people would then respond to and the board will take a vote as to which one we selected so I'm asking do we have organizations to meet the categories of number five and six do I have some in mind does the school district have so some of these are internal and some are external some of the stakeholders intentionally are community community groups okay not specifically groups that
070are organized by the school district they're like outside of BSD organizations so I'm sorry I that's what I was confused about because I didn't know that we would have like I don't it's not it's a great idea to have a Latino parent group within the Brandy Wine School District but that's why I was confused because I didn't think we did but you're saying just a community group okay and that's why I don't have next to them yeah maybe that could be just clarified that it was not necessarily a working group with within BC but within the communities can we make sure that those groups are comprised of District parents or is a group within the district footprint or would it be easier just to say a black parent working on educational disparities or La next
071parent well I I like the idea of having an education advocacy group and I actually pulled this from work that other organizations have also done around equity and I think a parent brings a different lens to the work even though they themselves may be doing Equity you know like for me I'm a board member but I'm also a parent of children and and I wear a different hat when I'm looking at different things so I do think there's um and I what I did was I spent a lot of time talking to teachers um some of the teachers I talk to different community members and ask for their perspective and so I want to make sure I'm capturing the feedback that people gave me correctly so I'm going to look at my notes to make
072sure I'm not misquoting why people thought it was a good idea but the idea of bringing um external stakeholders who aren't a part of the BSD organization is that they would be able to to sort of provide an objective outside perspective looking in but also they needed to be working in collaboration with the actual bsse BSD departments who do have the internal knowledge and that together they're all looking at some of the same issues so those are the only two out of 13 that we have that would actually be sort of external but we wanted them to come with specific education advocacy and Equity knowledge like not just be any organization but that they would come with that particular lens would also point out that we have um I think people that would fit that
073description that are members of our citizens advisory um so I and I would Echo um what Mr scobot said in that uh I would want them to at least be District residents yeah I think the district residence piece is important because you know our district finance committee or residents of the district like you have a different commitment to the success of the district when you're a resident so and I I personally I think it it should be a district resident that can be certainly be our priority sometimes given those organizations are not as you know po there A lot of times one organization will service multiple districts and be in different spaces so we can I think that we when we vote can prioritize who is in the district but if weate created as a
074requirement and then there's no advocacy organizations that are centrally located within our district boundaries we limit ourselves to not being able to offer that expertise to the table well let's do that research and find out if there are and we can then go from there yeah and I certainly invite everyone on the board to be looking for that um and anyone in the community as well to make recommendations as to organizations that they think might be able to contribute to that Equity conversation is it more important to have the organization or that they are parent and I'm asking that because we have number 13 is a parent and so would it be easier to just um prioritize the organization being at the table opposed to them being a parent it says Oran I think as
075we're talking about a an advisory commit to the district we should be careful of you know the district already has contracts and vendors um supporting this this work that if we're talking about putting together an advisory committee that to me it seems like a conflict of interest if we have outside corporations groups llc's that become a part of an advisory committee that are then advising the district like our our oversight committees and I'm trying to look through the policy here to see if it's spef specify that it needs to be you know District residents but that's that's who who we serve we serve the Brandy Wine school district and I think we have to be careful of the the groups like I said it's a parent organization of parents within the district I think if
076you're talking about a you know an a commercial business that supports this work that is not a part of our district or not comprised of parents of our district I think that could be problematic Dr will you go ahead and and make some updates and bring it back and we'll yes work on it at the next board meeting well after that one more bu of this work is also based on the equity audit that was conducted by a totally outside organization equity and Beyond so just It's Not Unusual to have yes what should they be a part of yes is our contract with them still ongoing as our so I wonder if they should not be a part of this group and so I'm actually scheduled um is that okay to say for next for
077this week okay I'm scheduled with Dr I remember I'm actually scheduled with do to um meet with the representative from equity and Beyond um with Dr Lawson and Dr McKenna to make sure because the idea isn't to create something different the the whole idea behind this Comm committee is to support the work and the equity efforts that are already taking place within the district to help um communicate those efforts across the district so that everyone at every level of our district knows what's happening and is able to benefit at a maximum level from the efforts that are happening and also to coordinate them across our district and so it's it's not a policing organization it's really to look and see what were the recommendations that were made in 2022 when we did partner with equity
078and Beyond what progress have we made so far and then are there any gaps left that we need to continue to look at and support the team that has been working on that to make sure that the work is completed but also we're in a very different time right like 2022 was just a little a couple years after the pandemic so just kind of keeping that updated so I will make those updates I will send them to everyone um and I'm I'm looking forward to getting some recommendations from people us as a board because collectively as a board we'll vote on who the members the actual members are people that make that up thank you Dr JY and I do want to point out that the resolution does follow the format that Mr heler put
079together with the policy on committees so thank you so much so can I ask though because I know we this was the first read so do we need to know the specifics before we vote as to whether we're going to create a committee or my recommendation would be that we vote because especially given if it's time sensitive we want to try to get some benefit from this Committee in the upcoming school year right so could we vote as to whether the create create to actually create the committee and then move forward in terms continue to work in terms of who specifically would be on it I think we need to get the resolution in its final form first okay I would I would also um vote for that too and also because um several people
080who are would be listed on here um would be District employees um so I I do think it's good to get some feedback um from our stakeholders and and from um in terms of because we we we are essentially um and although I think this is going to be good work um we are essentially um perhaps giving them a little bit more work on their very full plates though too but um yeah okay thank you all right thank you general information and meeting dates uh August 7th will be the board retreat who still determining the location next board meeting is August 19th it will be here and the board meeting in September will be on the 16th with that I will take a motion to adjourn so moved second motion and a second all those
081in favor say I I I meeting adjourned that was F [Music] so I want to make sure