001[Music] call this meeting into order and we'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance which Bridget wood will Bridget wood will lead us I pledge 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 thank you Bridget you'd like to excuse sylvana she should be here this evening we haven't heard from her she should be here expect her at o clock in any time uh well Dr R I'm going to turn time over to you for these recognition Awards and then we'll go from there thank you Mr Mero the students of the month will start at the elementary and worker way up there Mr Grace we'd like to kick that off student of the month absolutely so
002our student of the month Kyler come on up our student of the month is Kyler Watson he is a first grader at blidge elementary school um as you can tell he's always happy uh he he loves the outdoors he tells me about every hunting experience that he has ever heard about every day it's great um he tell he came up and asked me if I drew a tag um told me his mom drew a tag that she's got an antalope hunt coming up um he was really excited about that and getting to go on that um Kyler is he's he's always good for a smile he walks up to me every single day asks me how I am um his teacher Miss pbla or first grade Miss pcaa not second grade says Kyler is a
003great helper he's always willing to jump in and help when needed he's respectful kind and funny he cares about others and wears his heart on his sleeve he's eager to learn and is very inquisitive and he is an absolute joy to have in class um and that is without question the perfect definition of Kyler Watson like he is every day trying to help other people trying to help around the cafeteria and around the building he's a great student and an honor to have at blidge elementary school [Applause] evening for the junior high could I have arowin Al come up [Applause] please everyone told me today for a minute there she thought this meant she was getting in trouble for something so so it's I'm very glad go on over on this side here um I'm
004very glad to honor uh arowin tonight recognize her um she was nominated by a teacher um in in a couple of instances actually she has been she has so much courage on our campus she knows what the right thing is and she is always exercising um just good judgment um being kind and she will let us know we have a um we have kind of a policy on our campus if you see something say something and she does she lets us know when something is not right on our campus if somebody's being treated unkindly um or if there's something that could potentially be a danger to anybody on our campus she is uh the first one to let us know about that and so we love that I see judge or law enforcement or something
005in her future I'm not sure but she just has such a fantastic attitude um and knows how to treat people and knows what the right thing to do is so we also love that she is involved in things that sight of school extracurricular things that she loves to share about um so um she's just got this amazing future ahead of her we're excited to have her at the junior high [Applause] all right High School time Owen Larsson come forward [Applause] please all right go ahead and that for me message here so we want to recognize Owen um this evening for the student of the month for the high school and I'm going to read a little bit about Owen so he's recognized as student month for his outstanding achievements across academics Athletics and the Arts
006with a weighted GPA of 4.42 he excels in honors AP and dual enrollment courses and his natural gift in math is evident in the extra hours he dedicates to mastering calculus Concepts beyond the classroom Owen shines as a varsity athlete in football wrestling and track right you do track no so I'm going to talk to coach clef and and make sure he goes out for track too while also showcasing his talents in Harmony's choir and the drama Productions his leadership on student council and the National Honor Society has been instrumental in building school spirit with a heart of gold a positive attitude and a smile that lights up every day Owen will do amazing things after high school because he cares about always doing his best and he cares about others a winning combination so
007congratulations Owen [Applause] thank you nice job congratulations to all three of you we now like to recognize our teach teach the month we actually have two this month and we'll start with the elementary school introduce your teacher for us Mr Grace so miss Espinosa is not here tonight she had a prior commitment um that she had to be at uh Kaylee has been at our school as long as I have um in different capacity she actually started as a student teacher um she did her student observation hours she did her student teaching she then became a long-term sub within our sped department and then when we we needed somebody she became a kindergarten teacher um and then next year she will be finishing I think her third year as an actual teacher or a certified
008teacher and uh going back into the special education department um Kaylee has a huge heart she is a person who cares deeply about her students um she is one that shows up wherever they ask her to show up um whether it's a soccer game or or uh I think I saw her at a ballet recital down in Snowflake or not in Snowflake in sholo um Kaylee is a huge asset to our campus she cares about every single kid on campus she knows most of them by name even if they weren't hers um we will celebrate tomorrow with her kindergarten class I announced it to them earlier today and they were ecstatic U and so I told them that like her birthday we would try to bring donuts and celebrate her teacher of the month um
009so we will be doing that tomorrow and and she said she was very sad to to not be able to be here tonight but Kaye [Applause] espinos principal hoffm Mr van Anon could you please come up I'm happy to be recognizing Mr van Anon as our teacher of the month for the Junior High um Mr van Aton came to us this year to teach 8th grade science we are so lucky that he came to join our campus he has been such uh such a blessing to our students quickly becoming one of the favorite teachers on campus um his classroom is always engaging um super fun he encourages the kids he listens to them he shares the concerns if there's a if he hears that there's a concern about students in their home lives he quickly
010shares that with us so that we can help address it um he communicates well with the parents um and he has just been an out standing contributor at the Junior High um and hopefully he'll be there for many years to come we appreciate him thank you we get a [Applause] picture thank you congratulations both of you we appreciate you I'll turn the time over real quickly to Kimberly dugdale for the BR starward good evening governing board president governing board members so Juan could not be with us tonight um but he is a new addition to the bluid team he is a fabulous uh Steve Murphy is his immediate supervisor and he just has raving things to say about him uh one of the things that Steve says about him is that Juan is always willing
011to do anything that you ask him to do and comes up to Steve and says what can I do what can I do what can I do can I go clean out the gutters can I go clean out this can I go rake pine needles can I do this so he's a great addition to the Blue Ridge team it's unfortunate he couldn't be here tonight but we just wanted to honor him thank you [Applause] it's my favorite part of this meeting makes me more proud every time I participate of the great and outstanding people we have as faculty and staff and students a little first grader that's a character that's a character you can be real proud of that kid uh next item on the agenda would be the consent agenda uh item 2.1 through
012item 2.4 um board members are there anything that you'd like to take out and vote on that independently if not can we have a motion to um vote on items the consent agenda items 2.1 through 24 as presented so have a motion from Margaret second second from Michael all in favor say I I thank you all right business section item 3.1 well by the way we received information just shortly that syana Sans is not feeling well tonight so she's not not here for that reason um item 3.1 recommendation to approve the hire of the following employees who who would like to introduce and and do we have any of those individuals here they're not in attendance tonight not in attendance yes sir so those uh individuals are holly Brown Bella Scott Salvador Chavez and eliso
013Ramirez so any questions or comment about any of that if not can we have a motion to accept the the hiring of the following employees I that we approve the hiring of the mentioned employees okay second second from Michael all in favor say I I we can raise our hands too okay item thre Point uh two Dr Wright or Kimberly would you like to just sure I'll speak to that the teacher contracts we we require border approval before they are distributed they'll go out on March 24th and they'll be due that back the middle of April any questions or comments regarding that if not can we have a motion to accept item uh 3.2 contracts for teachers and counselors for the 2025 26 school year have a motion from Margaret second from Michael all in
014favor say I hi I that looks to be unanimous all right next item on the agenda is uh possible discussion in the approval of April 22nd for work study session to discuss teacher retention efforts a work study session is open to the public it's when uh everybody can express their opinions and uh ideas uh there was no voting uh it's just a quorum designated time and open to the public and hopefully the public could attend and get that information teachers and staff are Ops too so any comments or questions about that Bridget if Mr President we left the time frame open we would suggest probably no earlier than 4 ideally around 5 to give folks a chance to come home and and then so we figured right here in the boardroom 5:00 p.m. for that
015work study that that works for me maybe even 5:30ish something to five 5:00 we'll adjust whatever works for the board why don't we start it at 5:00 right now and if we have to we can okay do we need to have an agenda for that it is just an open discussion and the topic is just a having a discussion about the uh teacher retention efforts and ideas what we'll do Mr grenal is we'll have our data prepared and then we'll just be we'll be prepared to answer whatever questions the board might have it's a it's a informal type of thing so we'll come prepared and if there are questions that the board might have in advance feel free to email information that you want we'll have that prepared for you thank you if you give
016us about a week's time to pull that together we'd appreciate it and not on the 21st we'll make it happen but it's easier if we have some time that's a month away there's nothing going to happen this next month let try all right so can we uh have a motion to put on the calendar April 22nd for a uh I have a motion from Bridget I have a second second second from Margaret all in favor say I I all right that also appears to be 100% so uh item 3.4 we're just going right through this agenda tonight item 3.4 Dr Wright we're going to turn some time over to you for just to give us an update you on what's going on thank you I've just got a brief update and following uh a couple
017of the more key developments by way of announcement we have three people that accepted positions for open jobs this past month and they were all transfers Justin Bernardino it will serve as the transportation supervisor and so that position came open a couple weeks ago Justin's been with us for about six years and doing a great job and so Justin will assume that he'll also oversee the maintenance shop the mechanics the next one is uh Mike Bosley will be our new maintenance supervisor with the retirement of Steve Murphy that will take place on July 30th of 2025 uh Michael's been with us he's the voice of the yellow jackets at the basketball and football games if you don't know him he's got a great voice and he's uh he's been a great asset to the district
018he's an HVAC specialist and he's uh he's terrific to work with and for and so we congratulate both uh Mike and Justin their new roles we're confident they're going to do great now our Courtney hoffm will be the new business manager and she's accepted that it is um a big transition and it's an important role for the district and arguably be the first time we'll be able to sleep for a while and then we had that one identified because we were we worried to try to find somebody that understands that has the the character uh the Integrity uh the intelligence and the people skills and willing to work really hard it's it's a tough job uh Courtney will be beginning June 1 so she has her training with Kimberly and uh that will continue Kimberly
019is going to help out I think as a on a Consulting basis and I'm confident Courtney is going to do a fantastic job with her background in education serving as a principal and a classroom teacher she's uh she's going to make a she's going to do a great job and by the way that's how Kimberly came up she was a math teacher and she's the best I've ever been around so I think she'll be a do a great job at that thank you for accepting that challenge and we appreciate you in that role Mr rolloff Jonathan is here and his family um faith australa thank you for joining us Mr ROP is going to be interviewing for the junior high high school elementary positions applicants will be interviewed on March 29th and Mr R will
020have his decision for his recommendation and decision by the first week of April not on April 1 though Jonathan that won't work out it be the second or afterwards April you know it's noteworthy to mention that we have three new school board members we'll have a new superintendent and a new principal at every school this is an exciting time for bluid it's first new Finance director yeah and I'm I'm excited for everybody within the roles they're doing I think they'll be great fits I I appreciate the transition our board members have made I'll have to make uh note to tell sivana too but you've been wonderful to work with and for and so I appreciate it and I'm sure you'll do a great job I can just interject right here Dr Wright's getting anxious to
021retire not so we we used to call it trunky when you wanted to go somewhere in it was home but he's uh he's been here 10 years and we've appreciate it every minute he's been on the job and that's been a 24-hour day job and uh we're we're happy for him but we're sad I have a have a knot in the pit of my stomach uh moving forward because it's unknown but I have confidence in the people that are in positions now congratulations Courtney that was the biggest knot that I had in my stomach and now you can share it and so with that thank you for stepping in and and saving me there Dave uh Ryan Grace Mr Grace is is the principal of the high school in 25 26 school year and Mr
022web will retiring with me on the same day you know so I think their wives are just going to give them a bucket of worms and drop them off at some Lake up there and leave them alone for a while they probably have a plan that to keep us busy doing something together just keep us out of the house and away from them as my guess so and Mr web has done as you know an outstanding job and has served every principal role IM manageable that imaginable and we appreciate what you're doing for us Mr webon for your hard work the last announcement is on the fourth of April Jesus VI HOSA will be giving safety training we're going to have that the church has been gracious enough to allow us to use their wonderful
023facility for that without charge and so that would be a districtwide uh training we know that there's a track meet going at the same time we weren't aware of that when we scheduled it that's our fault there will be a handful of folks that are going to be supporting coach KF and his then the track tournament we recognize that the track meet rather and so that's we understand that's going on and we'll allow the folks that are doing that we'd ask though Mr web and you're arranging that if they're brand new employees they must go to here if they already had the training from M from Jesus they could go and help out of the track meet and that is my report Mr mer unless the board has any questions uh quick question just thought
024of are we um the the new principal position hires have those been are those in-house interviews or those have that been out to the public at large so to speak are they have they been announced applicants we're we're announcing that I think just today through social media Linda on the the transition and the openings at the Junior in high school okay so we haven't we haven't got those applicants yet yes and then uh We've announced Courtney's districtwide her transition to the new role and then uh so what we're telling people that interested C interested in qualified candidates were just posting it internally and it has been posted and they will be interviewing the same day and the only caveat is you can apply for one you have to figure out if you're an current employee
025can't apply for both of them you have to make a choice and then that decision Mr grenal will be made by the first week of a of April did I answer your question because I might not have heard all of it if I didn't I'll be glad to answer it Mr grenal no I didn't I didn't think about the timing of the fact that Courtney's position was just announced so the junior high position hasn't even been available but for a couple days so to speak so yeah no I just I just want to make sure that we're getting applicants from yeah wide and far if possible I mean yeah see who we get and we we'll have uh the meeting the interviews aren't until the 29th and so I think it's the 18th we have
026a good 10 days to get internal applicants to apply thank you sir I don't have any further thank you uh next item is on the agenda is Call of the public and we would invite anybody that would like to address the board at this time to do so to give your name there's a paper in the back you can fill that out and give your name to Mary so we can know who we're speaking to uh we would ask you to address the board civil take about three minutes uh talk about anything you would like to but we can't address that unless it's on the agenda so turn that time over to you right now going once thank you uh next board meeting will be April 8th we've announced several things but the next regularly
027scheduled board meeting will be April 8 at this time in this location so uh just announce that everybody is welcome to stay after and meet the new superintendent and discuss and everybody get to know each other a little bit um my wife even came tonight this is the first board meeting she's been to in 10 years it's pretty impressive I think she wants me to quit is why she's here I'm just kidding I just don't want to get mad at me U for get in trouble I know um next item is to ask for for a motion to adjourn this meeting motion second by Bridget all in favor of a jour