001Father, help us guide us and direct us. It has been a good day and Father, we appreciate the opportunity just to be here and address you and have you watch over this forum so it might be done decently and in order. Father, we give you the praise for all you do. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. And Miss Harden is going to lead us in our pledges. Please stand. We're going to pledge to the American flag first. Stand. Move and pledge. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> The Georgia flag to the flag and to the principles for which it stands. wisdom, justice, moderation, and courage. >>
002Thank you. >> At this time, we do need to approve the agenda. Do we have a motion? >> Have a motion. >> Second. >> All those in favor? And now we have special recognitions. Mr. Re, >> we do. We have several tonight. So, we're glad that we have folks in attendance. Uh we're going to recognize a couple of different groups. Uh I know I'm looking around to see I saw Principal Casey. I know she was here. She had a special presentation, but I don't see your recipient at this point. So, we may flip-flop if that's okay. And then if he shows up, and if he doesn't, we will get him tomorrow. Right. That's right. We will make sure he knows about that. Uh so, I will ask I see Mr. Warren is here. I see
003Dr. Hardinger is here as well. Miss Staltz is here. and they're going to talk a little bit about their Lefaya Scholars uh program and some of the accolades from their uh folks in the in the program. So, we're excited that you're here and can't wait to hear great things about the scholars program. So, I'll turn it over to you guys. Thank you. >> Thank you again for letting us come today and pride a little bit on our amazing students. I'm going to bring up Dr. Regina Herger and Joel Warren. They are instrumental in developing of the program. Um, and so we have a few things we'd like to share and some students that have uh done amazing and we want to give them uh some praise today in front of y'all. So, thank you for
004this opportunity. Mr. Warren, you can go ahead and get started. >> All right. Thank you. Um, thank you for having us first of all. It's always exciting, especially at the beginning of year to kind of look back, celebrate a couple of uh things that have happened. And um in the case of what we're presenting here tonight, um this is not specifically with the scholar program. And yet there is an enormous amount of overlap with uh with the success we've had with the scholar program and encouraging the students to challenge themselves and to step out of their comfort zone. And um so anyway, uh thank you for the support that Mr. reigns that you have offered this program and our students and thank you to board members likewise who have done this over the years and
005been supporting us in so many behind the scenes ways uh to make their successes possible. The exciting things that are happening at LHS just continue to grow and tonight gives you just one small glimpse of the success that any of our students can achieve when they really choose to plug in and apply themselves to their education here at LHS. So to put this in perspective, um three years ago, uh two years ago actually in 2023, we had 10 students qualify for one of these AP scholar awards. In 2024, last year we had 30 students that we recognized for their achievements through the AP College Board programs. Tonight we have 52. So that is impressive. Now, they did not all make it otherwise this would all be students and parents would be somewhere else downstairs probably.
006Um, but we have volleyball games, cross country matches. I heard so many different things from students today, which honestly is also a good thing. As much as we'd love to have them here, they're still out getting successes and achieving and um in all of these other areas as well. Um, lots with band and um and other family considerations, too. So, as you all probably know, AP tests are scored on a scale of one to five with a three considered to be a passing score and a five considered to be the highest score. I'm excited to say that in a school of approximately 1,200 students, we have 97 students who have passed an advanced placement test. So, that is almost one out of 12. Very, very impressive from that standpoint alone. In addition, the student success
007rate continues to climb. If you uh take a look at the folder you have there, you should have this chart right there, that shows you the percentages of students that are passing at least one AP test from 2021 through 2025. And 2021, the pass rate is 27%, 2023, the pass rate was 56%. And this past spring, 90% of our students who attempted at least one test passed at least one test. So um the students are beginning to believe the things that we are telling them that they are capable of great things and uh both with using their ability and putting in the hard work it's always that combination and the support of parents and all um this success is becoming more and more common which we love to see. So, um, in addition to that,
008while we're not going to recognize every single one of those students who who did, um, pass one of these tests, we did want to recognize some of our highest achievers. On average, about the top 15% of the students in the nation who take an AP test, which that alone is only the top upper tier to begin with, only about the top 15% who attempt an AP test make a score of five, the top score on any one of their given tests. So, I'd like to begin tonight by um calling forward our students who earned a five on one of these tests and my correct list here. So, the following students have earned a five on AP test in my party. You just come on down, stand right here in front of our board members and
009then I imagine we'll be taking a picture here before before you get to go sit down. So, uh the following students and again many of you I realize are not here but those of you are come on. Serenity Hancock, Arn Patel, Corey Steel, um Isaac Hamilton here, Grant Madison and Ethan McCrae. Isaac, I am going to call out for doing this not one time, but two times, two scores of five or more. Um Ellie Baxter, Advers also two time score on a five. Amelia Freeland, Noah Wilzius, Rosie Fuentes, Jeremiah Hart, and some of these are also graduates. The following have all graduated, which we got one or two of them back, but like Georgia Tech started in their classes today, so a lot of them are already off to other things. But um Rosie Fuentes,
010Jeremiah Hart, Laura Hayes, Eli Hudson, Aniston Pierce, Sophia Rossy, Kieran Walling, and there's Kieran, and Jonas Wrick. Jonas pulled a five on just three of them. Anyway, he is probably starting his classes at Georgia Tech today. So, um congratulations to him and congratulations to you all for scoring five. [Applause] Y'all got to turn in like a wedding. >> Okay. Yes, I can see. >> Okay. Right here on three. One, two, three. Stay where you're at. One, two, three. And then if you need parents, get out of the way. Congratulations. >> So those students each scored a five, but um the College Board also recognizes students for sustained success in multiple over multiple tests. And they have three different distinctions and and ways that they recognize students. The first of these is simply called an AP
011scholar. And these are students who have passed not one but three tests over their high school career. And so the following students, if you would come up when I call your name, have scored a passing score of three or higher on at least three tests. Aiden Arthur there. Uh Blake Barnes, Alexis Cannon, Jasine Capello, Aaron Crumbley, Jaden D'Angelo. I think he made it tonight. Gavin Dodd, Chance Frasier, Grace Gaml, then Isaac Hamilton, Abigail Lively, Ethan McGrade, Blade Mitchell, Hunter Peak, David Derez, Trey Stall, Selene Torres, um Aaron Cordal, Oscar Lopez, Andrew Martin, Bryson Stoker, and Leah Willifer, Jacob Wilson, And then again, some of our graduates, Jacob Brown, Laya Campbell, Rosie Puentes, Reagan Hilton, Joshua Hence, Cindy Santiago, Aiden Schaefer, and Kieran Walling. So, congratulations. Don't be shy. This is a big accomplishment. So, take
012your pictures. Turn sideways. Turn sideways. >> Okay, you're good. Right here on three. One, two, three. Let's get one, four. Make sure those eyes are open. One, two, three. And stay where you're at, parents. Um and for those of you who are board members, you do have the print outs of all the different students there in front of you. So um that is there for you to to see as well. And uh second uh next honor is an AP scholar of honor. So the AP scholar students who passed three AP tests, AP Scholar with honor is a student who's passed four AP tests with an average score of 3.25. So somewhere along the lines, they've also gotten higher than just that minimum passing score of a three. So uh for these uh Grant Madison, come
013on down. Ellie Baxter come back on up here. Dylan Cook, Elijah Decker, Tyler Frasier, Madison Angel, Carson Pini, Jesse Bradford, Aiden Laura Hayes. >> Oh, you got there for this one. And Nathaniel. So, um, I believe Laura is wearing her jacket. >> Oh, she is. Yes. So, she is one of our graduates. >> Okay. One, two, three. One more. One, two, three. And stay where you're at. >> And the final one then is the AP scholar with distinction. These are students who have passed five AP tests with an average score of a 3.5 or higher. So the difficulty level just keeps going up obviously. So we have a couple of those here. Oftentimes that's only going to seniors, but we do have a couple who have already achieved this honor already. So Adrien Bowling, come
014back on down here please. Isaiah Cast join us up here again. Ameilia Freeland, Marvin Fuentes, Emily Monto, and then Jeremiah Hart, Andison Peters, Sophia Rossy, and Jonas. So these three I think the three we got here tonight on three. One, two, three. One more. One, two, three. Stay where you're at. >> Sorry. Congratulations. [Applause] >> So, uh, those are the specific students we wanted to call out and recognized. Um, one thing I think both Dr. Harden, Dr. Harder and I, and Mrs. have all been excited about, um, as this has grown on us is, you know, we always want whether you're a parent, you want your child, your children to go on achieve greater things than you achieve. And as she and I have begun this, we have started to see our students taking the
015initiative and signing up for classes that nobody in the high school is teaching and they're teaching themselves these classes and passing the tests. I think um Aniston who uh is not here tonight uh because she is busy preparing to travel to MIT on Wednesday um and uh I think she passed 11. Is that right? >> I think so. >> I think she had 11 DP test and Jonas Hayrick I believe was that nine maybe 10. So um that they're just saying I'd like to do that. I'd like to do that. And we're like sounds lovely. I have no idea what to tell you other than there's the College Board's website. Go for it. You know and so anyway um but that's uh a beautiful thing because they're doing exactly what we want them to do.
016They're becoming learners. they're taking that initiative and pursuing those goals that are great, wonderful goals on their own energy. So, thank you. >> Thank you. If you're a parent of one of the students that was recognized tonight, would you please stand or please wave? So, stand be proud. Yes. Push our kids and um and listen to them complaining when they come home that we are being too hard. Thank you again. We're going to take a group picture real quick out the hallway. So, I'm sure he's going to dismiss everybody. >> We got one more before we dismiss everybody because I want everybody to be here for this one as well. I don't think Mr. Ballard has shown up yet. So, we will tattoo that on him. But I want Christie to come up and talk
017a little bit about what we were going to do. Uh because she's got a big announcement that's coming up for our grand opening on Friday. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. But I do want to recognize Mr. Tommy Ballard and the maintenance department. So, it's not just Tommy, but it's also the maintenance department. But I did want to honor Tommy with a sequin. Um because without him, then the healthy kids plus Naomi, the schoolbased health clinic would not be a possibility. As many of you know, uh we struggled being able to get the renovations done um in a reasonable cost arena. Um and I say arena because uh I think our our uh bid was over 600,000 and we only had 308,000 uh for renovations with our grant. Um but it
018is by Tommy and his maintenance uh crew that they brought in their skills necessary. Uh they showed commitment because this was not necessarily part of their regular job, but it is something that they felt committed to and therefore they showed up frequently throughout the summer and not only brought the the project in under budget. Uh so he's coming in just under $100,000, right? Uh but it is an efficient, beautiful space. And uh so I do want to recognize him and his team um because without them then our clinic would not be a reality. Uh so we are having our grand opening this Friday. Um the ribbon cutting will be at 4:30. We have several events going on on Friday. Um and we will be presenting the clinic with a plaque uh with the names of
019the maintenance uh team that helped work on our clinic. So I have Mr. valid C coin in my pocket and I will make sure that he gets that. And if I'm not mistaken, Miss Ash is videoing this and so I will make sure that that he gets the opportunity to see that he was honored for showing such commitment to the students and the community at Naomi. Uh so we just do greatly appreciate him and of course Mr. Deputy's willingness to to loan out his staff uh for for our students in our school. So, thank you. >> And for our parents that are here, so we have school-based health clinic at Gilbert. We have now one that's going to be opening at Naomi. And so, these are all for underserved populations. And so, it's been a
020godsend for us to be able to have students seen right there on campus and then hopefully come right back to class. The the more important part was and it started off with our folks at Roper that couldn't get off the line to come and get their child to take them to the doctor. It was right there for them and so they didn't attempt losing their job. And so it's been a great addition. We're excited about what's going to happen at Naomi. I know our board was invited to the ribbon cutting and we'll advertise just in case more than three of you show up at that and I uh just so no one will talk about a quorum being there and you talking about business. It's huge for our kids. We do this at uh Rosville
021Elementary, Rosville Middle School as well. And so we're trying to provide everything we can do to make sure our kids stay in school, but also have the wellness side met as well. And that's a that's a big issue. So I appreciate Naomi and all that they're doing. And then the last thing I want to share before you guys all leave, I know you're going to have a picture, is we have a a person that's in the audience tonight that has worked for this school system since 1990. Uh if you look at that, that's going to be over 35 years. Um I have had the the just the blessing and honor of serving along beside her for the past 13 years, almost 14 now. And that is Miss Janet Cobb. Janet has been my personal assistant
022the whole time I was I was I've been here. I inherited her. So when I came in, uh we had to get to know one another and it worked out well. The first day she met me, I was picking up something. I was in my red pickup truck and I had my wife's little dog in my lap and she said he loves dogs. I can I can serve with that guy. So, we've had a great relationship. She is retiring and we will celebrate her on the 27th. But you don't hear many people that hang around in education for over 30 years and she has been just an amazing employee. She's an amazing person. Uh if you know anything about Janet, you know that she is she has a heart for pets, especially dogs and cats
023and you will see her post a lot about what you can do to help with that population as well. So I wanted Janice to know how much I appreciated her, but also how much we appreciate her. This is her last board meeting. She hasn't missed the board meeting in I don't know how many years. She inherited a job. The lady that was the person in that position went to lunch one day and never came back. And so they walked around the office and said, "Hey, Janet, would you like to do something for us?" And so here she is all those years later. And she has been a faithful, faithful servant. And so I wanted her to get the acknowledgement of that publicly from me, but also for you since you're here tonight celebrating your students.
024Part of their success has to do with faithful employees like that as well. And so I wanted her to know that we love her and we appreciate her and we're going to miss her. But I wanted you to have that tonight. So stand up, Daniel. And that takes care of our recognitions for tonight. And I know you guys have a picture, so you're welcome at this point to exit out and go do the picture. If you want to come back and hang around for the board meeting, you can. But I'm seeing some heads shaking right now that I don't think that'll happen. So, Let me know. I have a question. Okay, we will continue on with our our board meeting. Uh, superintendence report. Mr. R. >> Couple of things and I've given you guys. Uh,
025this is printed out for you. You have a draft um copy of the letter that we've been talking about for a couple of weeks. I wanted you to look at that. Uh, if you don't see the need for any edits on that, then I have a an original that I'd like to get everyone's signature on and then we can move forward with U. you know, the next steps with that particular thing. So, uh, I'll let you you've got plenty of time to look over it. Um, and and let me know if we need to make edits. If not, we'll get the signatures before you guys leave tonight. The second piece is kind of a and Rachel's here to kind of inject where she needs to as well. I wanted to talk to you about the
026process with the uh finalized edition of the um digest, the final digest. We were told by the tax assessor's office that we would tenatively get this sometime after August 19th. That was the uh announcement that they gave us. And so I I just wanted to kind of run through some scenarios with you guys because I know Miss Harden has already let us know that there's a several of those days tentatively that she's working. Not tentatively, you are working, but it might affect the tenative dates for our meetings. And so I just wanted to I printed it out for you. So, I just want to kind of go through it and give you the opportunity to ask any questions. I know we have three new board members who've never been through this process before on that
027side and so I wanted to make sure you guys were aware of what that looked like as well. So, let's just assume that we get this final digest this week after the 19th. That means we have to have all the work done, all the dates set and sent to the messenger by Thursday. I think it's Friday at 10. Is is it Friday at 10? Actually, I they they would I would need to be through the process and approving and uh proofing and everything by probably do it on Thursday. >> Okay. So, in order for us to get it to them and get it advertised the following week. Okay. So, that's that's a big if right now. So, that means the first ad would go out on Wednesday, August 27th. The second ad would go out
028on Wednesday, September 3rd. And this gives the dates for those for those meetings. The first millage hearing would be Tuesday, September 9 at 5:00. Now, that is already our scheduled planning session. So, that one worked out if we get this from the tax assessor. That means that the you have to have seven days between that meeting and your next meeting. And your advertisement has to come out seven days prior to that to advertise that meeting. So that means that our second required millage hearing, which has to be before noon, so we've done that typically at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September the 16th. The third mill hearing, your final hearing would be, and it has to be at 6:00. One of your meetings has to be between 6:00 and 7. It would be the 16th at
0296:00 p.m. And then our board meeting would actually be on that night as well. So it wouldn't be on Tuesday night. It would be shifted to Thursday night. I'm sorry. It would be on Monday night. It would be shifted to Tuesday night. That's on the 16th. And what we've done in the past is we take about a five minute break after we conclude the last milling. Then we call the the board meeting to order and that's when you pass the tax le. Now again, that's if all of this if everything aligns this week and we get the advertisement in. Okay, let's go on to the next one. If we don't hit that deadline, let's say we don't get it in or we don't get the information in time to get that to the messenger, then
030that means we move to option two, which would be the first advertisement would run on Wednesday, September 3. The second would run on Wednesday, September 10. Your first required mill hearing would be Thursday, September 11 at 5:00. And your planning session would follow that. That would be a different night for the planning session. Your second required hearing at 11:00 a.m. would be on Thursday, which is seven days later on September 18th. The third and final mill hearing would be that evening, September 18, at 6 PM. And then we would follow with the board meeting on the 18th immediately after the conclusion of the third mill hearing to set the tax levy. Okay, so that's option two. So the the caveat here is if the board is thinking that they're going to take the roll back
031amount, then you're only required to do one meeting. You don't have to do three. Okay. Now, I've given you some backup documentation that we gave you in May that talked about the tenative um millage rate. We gave you the one that ended up being a little below 14. It was 13. I think Rachel has that in front of her right now. and we talked about what that would look like in loss revenue and it was about $2.3 million. Okay. So, we've given you a copy of what that revenue would look like if you maintain the 14.982. So, in the alignment of all the planets and the tax assessor's office, the other alignment is where we feel like as a board we're going to go because we have to advertise a millage rate. You can advertise
032the rate you advertise. You can never go above that after you've advertised it. You can go below that. So, let's just for example sake say that you said we're going to maintain a 14982 and then when you get finished with the third hearing, there's enough information or evidence for the board to say, you know what, we might be able to do this number. You can come down. You just can't go any higher. Does that make sense? Okay. That's part of your decision on setting the tax levy. So tax assessor's got to fulfill his part of the bargain here to give it to us this week. We've got to put together the advertisement to fit the timeline and to kind of play it out to where it falls at least on our normal planning session and
033just one day off of our normal board meeting. And then the other piece would be the millage rate. And the last conversations that we had, there seemed to be a collective agreement that we were going to maintain that millage rate. And so I we're just trying to let you know that's the the two options we have based on the advertisements, but the thing that's the most important about advertising is what that rate is going to be. So I'll pause. Rachel is here with the information. She can answer questions. Are there any questions about the entire process or what that looks like currently or you know anything about millage rate in specific that you would like to ask questions about? So, so hopefully we'll hear from the tax assessor's office pretty quickly. uh once we do
034hear from them and we have it in hand, I will probably reach out to you individually and just start asking those questions and then follow that up with an email with the whole group so everybody kind of knows where what we're thinking if that makes sense. And so that's that's a big thing coming up for the month of September. Uh now the only other caveat I'll throw in there is that would be on either one of those um schedules that 11:00 meeting we have to have at least three of you in attendance. So I know now Miss Harden will not be able to attend. Mr. Richardson I know that's going to put you in a pickle to to be able to attend and leave your class. And so I think that's so that leaves just
035three of you. Now, if something were to happen and you can virtual in on that meeting, that would still count because you would be in attendance. So, if something comes up, especially with the three that are remaining and you can attend, let me know that ahead of time so we can go ahead and get that that virtual component set up for you. And for Karen and for Kevin, if that's an option for either one of you, like if it's a planning time, Kevin, or um Karen, if you tell everybody, just leave me alone for 10 minutes so I can listen to this. Uh if that's an option, let me know. We can definitely send that to you. Um but I I really will rely heavily on the other three. I know that puts you in
036a little bit of a situation because both of you guys work full-time jobs. Um, so let me know ahead of time because that that would be the biggest concern is not having a a quorum that day for that particular meeting. And that's by law that you offer it before lunch and then the one between 6:00 and 7. So keep that in mind as well. Rachel, anything you want to add that I've missed or left out? >> I think you did a great job covering. Okay. Unless somebody has questions about basically we do have to put this in the paper when we do the advertisement and then we have to advertise in some times and places and and and you guys had asked us a couple of years ago to put something out you actually have
037to do a press release that your your tax rate is going up. But if you know if you don't take the roll back amount it's always considered a tax increase. Even if it's a smaller amount it's still considered an increase. But we'll put together something and preemptively put that out on our website to start explaining what is the millage rate, what does that look like. We'll we'll make sure that the public knows what that is as well. Um and we can do that on our website even before we put the advertisements up. So I want to make sure you guys do that as well. Um I think I mentioned the health clinic. I appreciate um our folks from Naomi being here tonight and uh one wanting to recognize the maintenance guys, but also they have
038really done an amazing job of committing to this health clinic and making sure that it's going to happen for our students. And so we're very excited and I I hope you guys can be there on Friday because you're going to be really impressed by the work that our guys did. It's just I mean it's just beautiful. They did a really nice job. And to go from a $600,000 initial bid to being able to do that for less than $100,000. One, tells you a little bit about the bid. That's the first thing. Number two, it tells you about the um the skill skill set that our guys have and they did a really nice job. So, we're excited for you to see that. Other than that, unless you have any questions from last week or from
039tonight, that's all I have. >> Any questions? Um facilities Mr. >> Just followed from plan session. Lefed is in final walkthroughs. Lefet High School that is. So hopefully get that concluded this week. If there's any issues, we'll we'll address those. But we should be closing that out very soon. Uh Rock Spring Elementary is back still on night shift. They're continuing to change out the air conditioning units and that's on par right now. We're hoping a completion date that's including all the walkthroughs, checking everything by November. And that's only they'll all be in there. It's just mayor making sure they work back and changing things if we have issues. So, those are all on on par right now. Uh combo field at Rosville Middle School up above Ridgand. Uh they've started back on work on that.
040Structures underway. They're starting on the retaining walls up there. Uh they've also uh continuing the grading that got messed up from the rain last week. They had to start doing some stuff over again because of weather, but uh that's back on par again. And then launch. I mentioned to you last week, we're getting quotes from them to continue some things passed because we had some money for that grant still from electrical quotes uh to lighting in the other area by the culinary arts flooring and also for painting to paint in and get all that updated. Those are coming this week and uh hopefully we'll get that soon and get that started on that in the next couple weeks. So all is well at this point. >> Any questions? Okay, we do have one individual action
041item. Uh, it is recommended that the board of education approve an editorial change to JBCCA-R1 to realign the status of out of zone district out of zone students with the annual review process currently in place for the out of district students. This change is effective for the 2526 school year. Do we have a motion? >> Motion. Do we have a second? >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> We do have a recommendation for the list of consent action items. Do we have a motion? >> Do we have a second? >> Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Uh, new business. Mr. Middleton, do you have anything? >> I'm good at the moment. >> Mr. Richardson? >> No, ma'am. My >> Mr. Wilson. >> Uh, I The only thing I have to say is that
042I am so proud of High. They have done so well. It wasn't long ago that they came to us wanting to start that honors program and it's just really done so well. I'm just really really proud of them. So, um is there any public participation tonight? >> No one signed up for public participation this year. >> Okay. Uh we do have need for executive session for reasons of personnel only. Is that correct? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Uh do we have a motion? >> Second. >> All those in favor? We are in session. Okay, we are back in session. We have a recommendation of personnel for certificated, non certificated and other. Do we have a motion? >> Move. >> Second. >> All those in favor. And we need a motion to adjourn. >> Motion. >> Second.
043>> All those in favor? >> Kevin's yawning. Can you tell? us. Oh, you can cheer away.