001That's so crazy. That's crazy. All that money. [Music] I [Music] The personnel committee will come to order. Roll call. Miss Virginia Bell, present. Miss Linda Cheney, present. Miss Joyce Porter, present. Dr. Kelly Joseph, here. Miss Miranda Watson, here. Miss Donna Jackson, present. Okay. Receiving and consider for approval 202526 exceptional services contract between St. Lina Parish School Board and First Choice Therapy is Wendy Young. Good evening board. Okay. Well, um the item on the agenda um for regarding first choice therapy, um after negotiations and coming to an agreement, um we have um decided to move forward with the proposed agreement presented to the board in February. There were some modifications suggested um to the service provider for our physical therapy and occupational therapy services. We've been in partnership with this company since the 90s, 1992 to
002be exact. Um, we have again reached that agreement and we see that we're able to maximize on reimbursement with our CPT codes, current procedure terminology codes. So, we see that as a benefit. Um, do you have any questions? Any questions? Uh, vote please. Can I get a motion? Can I get a motion? I move. I have a motion and a second. No other questions. Take a vote. And the contract will be for three years. You going three years? Yes. Miss Virginia Bell? Yes. Miss Linda Cheney? Yes. Miss Joyce Porter? Yes. 30 motion care refer to the full board to vote. Thank you. Thank you. And before closing, I do want to share um news. Um, I'm really excited to announce that I applied for the 25 2026 cohort for offered by LDOE for the SPED
003fellow and I'm happy to report that I went through the interview process and I was accepted and I will be a participant in the sixth cohort um offered for LDOE and I'm really excited to represent our parish, increase my capacity and transfer everything that I learned within our department and our system. Thank you again. Thank you. Um, next item, receiving receive personal updates and workforce dashboards. Miss Miranda Watson. Good evening. We'll get started with the personnel report in your folders. So, our hiring process has begun and we are busy in interviewing and hiring the best candidates we can for our learners. Um, you see, unfortunately, we had one resignation Sorry. We had five new hires, one resignation. We had two people who decided to retire and then we also had three transfers to make a
004better uh so that our kids can have what they need in a classroom and on campus. We also are still staffing the positions listed below. These are our staffing needs. Um, and then if you look at the second page, it kind of better give a better breakdown of of what that looks like in the district. You have 11 vacancies in the district. 10 10 11 11 total. Yes. 11 total teachers. Yes. So the percentages as you if you look at the percentages you'll see where the total for each total for each campus as well as the totals for just for teachers. I broke it down so you can kind of get the raw data. So if you look at the college and career there are nine vacancies there total which is 84% staff overall. That's
005all employees including support staff but custodians as well as our food service department. Then at Shada we have we're at 91% staff there with three vacancies total uh um school spacewide and then with the ELC there's two vacancies there with 95% staff district totals is 88% overall. Now when you look at the teachers position that's what we're really working on trying to get those positions filled prior to school starting. Um there's 29 teacher positions at the high school at the college and career academy with nine vacancies. So we're 70% staff there. And I must say that the principal is constantly hiring uh interviewing and making sure she have the best candidates for our kids. So they are getting in some um kids as far as our advertisements. We have one vacancy each at Shada and
006at the ELC where they're 94% staff at each uh school space. And districtwide, we are only we have only 11 teacher vacancies and we're 82% staff. But like I said, we are constant continuously hiring and interviewing for uh the best candidate for those positions. Well, it sounds like the high school is the is the challenge. The high school is the challenge. You are getting applicants though. We are getting applicants. Oh, that's good. So we are putting the work in but you know it's a work in progress and um we just last report that we are moving forward with getting hit so that we can select that best person for our uh for our kids. Any questions? [Music] questions anybody? Okay, thank you. Uh, that concludes the personal personnel committee. Budget and finance will come to
007order. Miss Virginia Bell, present. Miss Linda Cheney, present. Miss Lolita Porter, Dr. Kelly Joseph here. Miss Ashley Castle here. Miss Tracy Wac. Uh, Miss Porter or Mr. Hughes, step in. Okay. All right. Um receiving consider for approval of education and professional services consulting agreement between St. Lind Parish School District and Education Professional Services of Boy LLC. Dr. Joshua John Paul. I'll be presenting on behalf of Dr. John Paul. He is at a conference in Baton Rouge. So uh we have a professional services contract with uh our e rate consulting um firm educational professional services. Um as you know we have continuously had this service for well over 15 plus years. Um the cost for this service was $3,750 to date. Um they've uh raised their price to $5,500. um and that is per year for
008the next three years and the increase is due to uh additional compliance uh requirements by the federal government. So that requires more work um for them. So I'm requesting that we um uh move forward with the contract with the increased amount from 3750 to 5500. Um and I'm asking for approval. Any questions on the uh professional services? No. Well, if not, I'll take a a vote, please. Miss Virginia Bell. I'm sorry. No, I'll take a motion. I'm sorry. Take a motion. I second. Okay. I have a motion and a second. Miss Virginia Bell? Yes. Miss Linda Cheney? Yes. Miss Joyce Porter? Yes. 30 motion car refers to the school board to vote. That concludes the budget. Education committee will come to order. Roll call. Miss Lolita Porter, absent. Miss Virginia Bell, present. Miss Linda Cheney,
009present. Dr. Kelly Joseph, here. Miss Wendy Young, presu John Paul. Miss Singleton, present. So Miss Porter is out. I will serve as a chair. Mr. Hughes, fill in, please. Item number one, receive and consider for approval of 2025 2026 pupil progression plan. Good evening everyone. So um you should already have a copy of the updated 2526 pupil progression plan. Uh some of the updates we changed the language to our uh wording learners instead of students. On page 13 there was a change in promotion and classification and how course credit is earned and it's with the learner's final average being the 60% or higher. The early college program was added pages 14 and 15 with the courses Quest for Success and the computer science course being added to uh the courses for 8th grade in the
010early college program. Of course, that computer science being now a state requirement. the placement of transfer learners page 16. Uh learners in grades 1 through 3 and 10 through 12 will take a grade level diagnostic exam. Our summer remediation updates on page 18, grade three, theirs is based on act 422. If they score well below on the end ofear dibbles, they must attend the in-person summer remediation and failure to attend they will be retained. And then the final update is on page 30. The promotion standards with the K4 math score of 80% on the district made test was removed to reflect score at or above proficiency on numerousy screener. And that numeracy screener is now going to be a state requirement as well. That is effective in August starting in August. Yes ma'am. Any questions
011about the pupil progression plan updates? All right. No questions. Motion motion. Motion by Mr. Hughes, second by Miss Bale. Questions? No. Miss Linda Cheney? Yes. Miss Virginia Bell? Yes. Mr. George Hugh? Yes. 30 motion carried refers to the full board to vote. Next item receive and consider for approval 2025 2026 learner code of conduct handbook. Hello once again uh our updates to the 2526 learner code of conduct. uh the definition of what attendance is on page six with the additions of learners will automatically receive a 40F instead of a zero F due to an unexcused absence and that's with the policy of the 40 being the lowest grade we uh will give a learner's absence must be presented to the school within five working days of the learner's return instead of uh the language being
012three working days on page seven the for school experience. So, the school hours were updated from 7:50 to 3:30 to 8:00 to 3:30. The status of enrollment form on page 8 was updated to reflect completion at the school spaces. Page 11 protected instruction and the end ofear project was removed that demonstrates the knowledge of the skills that the learners learn. Page 19, the uniform options, the removal of blankets and sleeping bags. Um, page 20, the dress code consequences, and there was a removal of a fourth infraction or beyond. And then on page 23 uh for PBIS, the statement on teachers must utilize and document a minimum of two researchbased interventions prior to writing and submitting a discipline referral was removed. And then finally on page 50 for a level two vaping was added as a
013level two incident. So it's just more specific. for point of clarity for the uniform option. I just want to be clear that says no blankets or sleeping bags are allowed. Yes. So it didn't specify at first uh but that has the blankets were a concern. So making sure that the language explicitly states now that you no blankets or sleeping bags are allowed. And u with the with the absenteeism um have has it been corrected where where those buses are late and those kids get marked absent and then um it's it's not correct and then some of them get letters saying that they have mixed x number of days because they were late because the the bus was late so they were late getting to class. How how is that is that fixed now? So the
014process for when the buses come late is they're supposed to report to the office, okay, to be signed in. And what's happening is those learners who go straight to class, have already been marked. So they need to know that they have to go to the office. Yes, ma'am. Can we can we the bus can we let the bus drivers know to remind those students when they're late, you know, said don't forget you have to go to the office first, not to your class because some of them may be a little anxious and you know running straight to that classroom. The learners should know that that they need to check in at the office especially at the high school level. Now the baby, somebody should be there to greet them anyway, but at the high school
015they should know to report directly to the office. Yeah. I mean everybody busy at a high school on the high school level. You got so much to be accountable for. Those students, learners should know, go directly to the office, check in, and go then go to class. Without that admit slip, they shouldn't be allowed in class anyway. Correct. So, they need a mid slip as well. Okay. So, they they they've been told enough that they're supposed to know that. Yes, ma'am. And we will reiterate that procedure at the beginning at the beginning. And the teachers need to make sure that the only way they know if they have dams and that would help eliminate that problem. And there usually there is somebody still waiting for the buses at SHA and ELC and so they direct
016those learners to go to the to go to the office. And well, that's good because I got a couple of calls last year with students saying I'm I haven't been absent, you know, but I'm getting a letter saying, you know, I've missed five days or whatever and it's because they were late. And then if teachers check and enroll, um they're going to see if little Johnny wasn't here first block and Johnny sitting in my class, something's wrong. That should raise a flag there. Then they should contact the office to see was the buzz slate, why is little Johnny here and he more absent or whatever. So, it's got to be a check and balance system throughout the day. Yes, ma'am. And the schools have their routines and procedures for that as well. Any other questions
017about the code of conduct updates? I'll just add while we're talking about, you know, attendance and to at the high school specifically, we also need to include and remind our kids who drive to school that they should park in the school's parking lot and not in um you know, neighboring uh driveways. Um that causes them to be late coming into school. So, it's important that they if they're driving that they get to school on time and that they park in the designated parking spot rather than parking, you know, within the community. Yes. Thank you. Can I get a motion uh to receive a consent for approve the 2025 2026 learner code of conduct handbook? I move. Motion by Mr. George Hughes. Second. Second by Miss Virginia Bale. Vote Miss Linda Cheney. Yes. Miss Virginia Bell.
018Yes. Mr. George Hughes. Yes. 30 motion care. Refer to the full board. Vote. Next item. Receive and consider for approval corp agreement to support and administer Louisiana corp extension for youth development between LSU a center and seline affairs school board. Yes. Committee. As you know, we've had a long-standing partnership with LSU A, and this is just a um continued uh service agreement, a contract with them. Um, and we do provide them with a funding of $8,800 per year. And so, they're just requesting that we uh continue that partnership through this agreement. Can I get a motion? Move. Motion by Mr. George. Second. Second by Miss Bale. Questions? Questions? Vote. Miss Linda Cheney, yes. Miss Virginia Bell, yes. Mr. George Hughes, yes. 30 motion carried refer to the next item receive and consider for approval quote
019from Edge Gear to provide JC campus connect two-way messaging with parent, student, and staff. Yes, committee. Um there is a change with this. We're only going to request that we utilize their um not the two-way messaging with parents and staff, but to utilize what's on number seven. I'm sorry, they have it separate. So, I'm asking that we um remove this one from the from the uh from the items. All right. So, can I get a motion to uh subtract number item number six from the committee report? Are we table or just removing it? Removing it. I motion that we remove item six. A second. Motion by Miss Bale, second by Mr. Hughes to subtract number six. Any questions? No questions. Shall pass by general consent. All right. Item seven, receive and consider for approval quote
020from Edge Gear to provide classroom performance, teacher quick test, SLT goals, accountability scorecard, and standard assessment. Okay. So, this uh quote from Edge Gear, as you know, the accountability system is changing uh for this upcoming school year. And Edgeear has a um a service, an additional service that will allow our teachers to easily create their SLTs, track our learners performance and uh based on the newest um criteria for the accountability uh for the accountability system. So, uh there is a scorecard that each school system will have or each school will have and that scorecard is within that new module um along with the uh standard assessment um that is connected to the curriculum within the classroom. So, we're requesting that we be allowed to utilize this particular service because it will help us guide the
021work that we're doing during the school year and track all of the progress um that we'll be making um during the school year. So, they gave you a quote. They gave us a quote of $7,500. All right. Can I get a motion? I move. Motion by Miss George U. Second. Second by Miss Bell. Questions? No questions. Vote. Miss Linda Cheney? Yes. Miss Virginia Bell? Yes. Mr. George Hughes? Yes. 30 motion care refers to the four board to vote. Next item. Receiving consent for approval proposal for a three-year conflict mediation program between Dr. John W. Hatcher, the third education consultant, and Salem Parish School Board. Yes. Uh Dr. Hatcher. um I think that you all should know um is a professor at Southeastern uh University. He's also an education consultant and he does conflict uh remediation
022at various school sites. I think particularly and I think there are a few that he works with in Tangi, but we want to uh in an effort to try to get our kids to um you know be able to resolve their issues in a different way um through conflict resolution. Um this program teaches them those skills and then allows it to kind of you know go throughout the campus. And so I'm asking that we be allowed to have him come in and teach these conflict resolution skills to our kids. How often will he be coming? Yes. So the contract list here says audience up to 30 students per year, grades 8 through 12. Uh it's two days in-person workshop. Uh the frequency is one session in the fall and one in the spring each year.
023The topics covered will be active listening uh meditation steps and process uh neutrality and confidentiality communication and empathy practicing peer mediation role play. Um so it is also uh consultants will attend one faculty meeting uh in year one for awareness and collaboration. Additional meetings will occur by mutual agreement. So we call him in as as needed. Um we will have a program coordinator and assistant coordinator that will manage the day-to-day operations, coordinate referrals, track student participation um and also uh conduct in uh you know meetings and everything with the consultant. So it is a three-year planning um thing. Year one is the planning and the launching. Year two is expansion and practice and year three is institutionaliz excuse me institutionalization and research conclusion. So how much this will be $10,000 a year for three years.
024So it's $30,000 total for the total three-year contract. But what if we don't need it? If you don't need the remediation. Yeah. You mean if we can cancel the agreement match for the three year? I'm just saying what if we everything just flows along just fine, right? And the service is not trying to get in. So, so based on children conduct every year there there disputes and problems, right? So, every year every year we have issues with kids. Issues. Yeah. There are fights. There are issues with um cyber bullying. There's issues with kids um you know not knowing how to communicate properly with each other and resolve issues. Um and I think that they need to learn those skills to be able to uh resolve those issues. I'm all for the program. I just wonder
025how he's going to reach. It's 8 through 12, right? Grades 8 through 12. It's 8 through 12. Yes. I'm just concerned about how can he reach you said he's coming twice a week. Well, no, it's two days inerson workshop. So, he will be working with those kids teaching them how to um you know, he'll teach those skills to those kids. He'll have a panel. There'll be all kinds of different opportunities for those kids to be able to work with the other kids and resolve issues. So, apparently they'll be referred to the there'll be children referred to him to those kids. Yeah. To the kids. He'll teach those kids and then the kids throughout the year will be working with other kids throughout the school year to resolve issues. Can I get a motion? I motion
026second. Motion motion by Miss B, second by Mr. Hughes. Question. I will say that if for some reason all of our kids in the first year or in the first amount of time they are able to resolve all their issues we don't need them anymore then we will end the contract that would be one I would I would gladly end that contract I would gladly watch the jump Mr. Cheney yes M Virginia Bell yes Mr. George Hughes. Yes. 30 motion car to the full 42. That concludes committee reports. Moving right on to our regular board meeting. Father God, Father God, we come to you thanking you, Lord God, for this day, Lord God. We lift you up and praise your name and give you all praise, honor, and glory. We thank you for this gathering.
027Thank you for this meeting. We pray that everything is done is done with our learners in mind, Lord God. We pray for unity in everything that we do. Lord God, we thank you for the upcoming school year and pray that all goes well. These things we ask in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance 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 meeting room will come to order. We're now holding a meeting of the St. Louis Parish School Board. Roll call. Miss George Porter, present. Miss Lolita Porter, present. Miss Linda Cheney, present. Mr. George Hugh, present. Miss Virginia Bell, present. Mr. Alson Travis, absent. Five present, one. Item B, approve minutes and agenda from
028June 12th, 2025 committee meeting, June 12th, 2025 regular board meeting, and the current agenda. Can I get a motion to approve those collectively? I move. Motion by Mr. George Hughes. I second. Second by Miss George Porter. Any questions? No questions. Shall pass by general consent. Item C, presentation of 2025 summer graduate diploma to Wadeia Lewis. So before we begin, I'd like to say that, you know, in previous years or the last two or three years, we've had a an a full summer graduation, but this year we only have one of our learners uh that will be graduating. We had three that were supposed to, you know, um pass the test and move on and graduate with their with their cohort. Um but we have out of the three, we have one that successfully uh passed
029their exam. And so we want to recognize them this evening. [Music] 2021. Congratulations [Music] Yeah, we did it. That ain't that. I said come on. Come on, Miss. That's right. Kudos. Yes. to their faces. [Applause] Let's go. Oh, Lord. So, our other two seniors will have to uh will take the test this fall and we are hopeful that they will be successful and will be able to graduate. Um just to be clear that um our graduate tonight is a member of the 2025 graduating class. So she graduates on time with her cohort. So I just want to make that clear. So congratulations again. [Applause] [Music] Next item approved 2025 2026 operating budget. Good evening. I am here to you in front of you today to present the 2025 2026 St. Helina Parish budget. The budget
030was advertised in the advocate on June 17, 2025 and in the Hammond Star on June 17th as well. Before you, the proposed budget for the 2526 fiscal year reflects a commitment to financial stability while supporting instructional priorities and facility improvements across St. Helina Parish School District. Our total projected revenue is approximately 19 million with expenditures estimated at 18.5 million resulting in a projected surplus of 624,000 to start off the school year. Our general fund revenue was 9.8 million. Our expenditures was 9.4 million. And that's down 1.7 million from the previous year due to the conclusion of our one-time capital improvements and no budget budgeted stipens for the fiscal year 26. Our projected surplus for general fund is $520,000 with an estimated fund balance of 7.07 million by June 30th, 2026, exceeding the state recommended 10%
031reserve level for our capital projects. Included is a 1.3 million transfer from our general fund in fiscal year 25 to support our facility upgrades. In fiscal year 26, our capital outlay is budgeted at 300,000 funded through our sales tax receipt. Our special revenue fund um the revenue is six million. Our expenditures is six I'm sorry our revenues is 6.19 million and our expenditures will be 6.13 million supporting our instruction and food services. Our debt service revenue is 1.87 million and our expenditures is 1.3 1.83 83 million generating a small surplus of 47,000. Our contingencies to monitor is our MFP student count which updates in October 25 and February 2026. Um, and also we need to monitor our local sales and avalorum text collections and that will determine at a later date I can give you
032an update. But this budget ensures all funds maintain positive balances while focusing on resources for instruction, facility upgrades, and financial stability. The public hearing was scheduled for today and I am asking that you all approve our budget any questions comments you're not expecting any expenditures that's going to make you have to come back for a revision or anything like that at this time no but We will we never know what may happen and we just want to keep that open um right now. This is where we currently stand and I will be as transparent as possible if anything else arises and I will present it to the board and the district. But there are two possible things, Miss Bell. The first thing is um looking at our facilities and making sure that they are maintained.
033we're going through some um some things right now, you know, keeping everything um managed smoothly at the on the facility. So, I know at the at the uh ENT we are replacing all of the the flooring and and painting uh in the in the windows in that in one of the buildings. So, that's one thing. And then there are some things at the high school that we definitely need to address some uh long-standing maintenance concerns or some issues there. And then the second thing, we really would love to give all of our employees a stipen. We see that all of the neighboring parishes are, you know, providing a stipen to their employees and we would like to, you know, to do the same. So, we're definitely taking a look at uh the budget and seeing
034what we can afford. So, those are two things that we're definitely going to take by starting with $7 million. We should hopefully that's going to be enough push for us to absorb those um those expenses. We have a healthy fund balance where we should be able to do absorb that. Yes, ma'am. Okay. And that's a stipen. A stipen. Yeah. We you know what a stipen mean? One time. It's one time. We do not have uh anything in our budget that would allow for any reoccurring expenses for um employee salaries. I motion to accept the um budget. Okay. Motion by Miss Bell, second by Miss George Porter. Any questions? No questions. Vote. Roll call. Miss George Porter. Yes. Miss Lolita Porter. Yes. Miss Linda Cheney? Yes. Mr. George Hughes? Yes. Miss Virginia Bell? Yes. Mr. Alton
035Travis? Absent. Five years. No thanks. Item D, superintendent report. Yes. Uh good evening board. Good evening community. There's one major um announcement that I would like to make uh the discussion I would like to have with you all. I'm passing with uh you all the list of all of our learners who needed to complete their 30 hours of ready remediation. This is in our pupil progression planet. that they must complete these 30 hours in ELA and or math and if not they will be retained for the year. So I'm giving you a list of all of the names and where they fall um in ELA or Matt. So if you know any of your constituents, please reach out to them and let them know they need to complete this um this requirement. We sent out
036a letter today, uh, individual letters to all of the families letting them know the status of their, uh, children's progress in the program. Um, I also sent out a text message to all of them as well and letting them know they must complete this work. So all of the learners that you see highlighted are the ones that have completed the 30 hours or more. Everyone else have not. So it is critical and I'm letting everyone in the community know they must complete these hours. We have had a longstanding issue with moving forward in a fast way with the um leap 2025 assessments. Um we need we have done all that we can do with everything. The last thing is to move these test scores. I know that our kids are capable but our kids do
037not take these tests seriously. And so it is critical that they understand the consequences of not passing the test. The state department only recognizes um kids or school systems schools that whose kids score mastery or advanced. They do not recognize basic. Although we do have kids that score basic and they do receive points, but there we only recognize and show that our district is proficient when they score mastery or advanced. So we need to push to get our kids at that level. So we have put systems in place in our progression plan and we are doing things at the schools to try to get us to uh proficiency. And so this is one thing we have got to hold our kids accountable, our families accountable for doing their po part part to get our kids
038where they need to be so that our district can get out of this long-standing um deficit. We have made growth every year even with high teacher turnover, you know, lower resources and all of the the the obstacles that we face every day. and we still managed to, you know, progress in many ways. However, our test scores are not reflective of that. This new accountability system has changed tremendously and that there's more focus, more weight on growth and it's on the assessments. So, at the end of the day, our kids have got to be successful on these tests. When do they have to have to be August 4th and the first day of school is August 5th. So when you look at 30 hours of remediation over the course of a summer, you know, that is
039minimal time. They can take about 30 minutes from playing their Switch game and their online games and their cell phones to complete this work. They can go to the library has partnered with us. They've added more laptops. There's the Wi-Fi. There's all of those things available for them to be successful. And this is online. They have to do this online. And it's all online. So, looking at this list, this list is rather lengthy. So my point and I'm going to say this because we're being we're live live. The parents are going to wait till school start then they're going to come running but they have all the time there is right now this summer to get this completed. I mean this list is very lengthy. We have several learners, a ton of learners that have
040not met their requirement and the first thing they going to do is run to social media. But we on social media, we on social media right now live so parents check your students and make sure that they're doing the things that they need to do in order to be promoted to the next grade. Because retention means that they're going to remain in the grade they were in this past school year. They will not be promoted, meaning move into the next grade for the next school year. So parents, please, I'm pleading with you, check for your child to make sure, and there's a way because I've had several parents that approach me about it. How do I check to see how many hours my student have, my child have? So the way you check, it's a
041online platform. They will tell you the amount of time that you spent or your child has spent on that platform. So I'm pleading check the record before school start cuz I know the first thing they going to do is run the social media and hammer the school system. That's one of the reason we cannot progress here in St. Helena Parish. Enough is enough. Help us out. Do your part at home cuz we're doing our part as much as we possibly can, but still we get to blame. That's all I'm going to say. Is there anything to do to get this? I mean, is there do they have to pay to get online? Do they have is there cost they just have to go on? Oh, they miss. Good evening board. We're live. So, you telling
042the ma'am exactly what they need to do. So, first of all, what I would like everyone to know about this program I in the classroom. I'm going to use just a third grade teacher for example, a third grade ELA or a third grade math teacher. When they are teaching a class, they are teaching grade level standards. But we know that a lot of our learners are not making the mark. They're not reaching those grade level standards. They're not mastering the grade level standards. Why? Because they may be working or reading on a lower level than mastery or basic. But the teacher can't teach less expectations and lower standards. But what I Ready does is it provides them with a diagnostic and wherever the deficits are, that's where the learners, that's where they start. So if
043they're reading on a second grade level and in sixth grade, they're getting all of those foundations with this Ready platform. The teacher can't go back and teach Johnny sec. He might be working on a second grade level, but he can't teach. they can't teach at a second grade level because he's in sixth grade. So, what this program is doing is it's helping Johnny to build on those skills to till he can actually master those sixth grade level standards because we can't do we can't do a whole, you know, small group instruction the entire class period and try to reach each learner. But what I Ready does is it provides them with those skills, those practices in reading and math to get them to master the grade level standards. Yes, ma'am. And every child is already
044logged in. They sign they just go on the computer, log in some kind of way. Yes. So at the beginning, this is stuff they worked with Throughout the year. So what I did, Yes ma'am. So what I did was I created a summer learning online guide and it was just a one pager and it had three components. It said how to log in step by step. Step one, log on to ST and it had this, you know, we even on the letters that they received stating that they had to attend summer school. We had like their SID number on it which was what they needed to log in. All right? You know, all that information was given. The second part was how to check the learner's progress. So, what I did was on the back
045of that one pager, I put like a little progress tracker and I told I just basically gave the simple instructions. There's a little box at the bottom of each learner's page and it says my progress. And what it does is it actually calculates in minutes, not in hours. So I said, well, okay, if it doesn't let me do the calculations for them. So I gave him a little tracker. I said each week at the end of each week if your learner when they check their progress has at least 480 minutes a week that's the ticket like that's the target when you check make sure that they have at least 480 480 times 4 weeks will give them 32 hours which will give them the hours they needed for the remediation in that particular subject. But
046what started happening was the progress tracker and it was it's just it was on the back. I don't think the first couple of weeks they were tracking the progress. So the third week we started to receive a lot of phone calls. Well, we're starting to try to track the progress, but it's only it's resetting because it does reset every week. So if you didn't start tracking it at the beginning, that's when the phone calls started about, you know, how many hours or how many minutes. But like I said, you know, that that was the only thing we could put in place was to, you know, kind of give them like a guide because it did tell the parents and learners in minutes how much time they were on task. But we were able to track.
047We know we can track it. they they they're on or how many minutes they're on or in the system. Uh we also know how many assignments they are completing as well. So today um I texted to all of the parents uh whose children need to do English or math um who actually completed their 30 hours. So right now they should know who's you know who's who's on that list. Yeah. And then within the week um they will receive the letter stating you know how many hours they completed in either ELA and our MAT and they have to do that. Yeah. And how many it'll it shows how many hours they completed and how many hours are remaining for them to complete until August 4th. School starts August 5th. We gave them if they would have
048completed it during the month of June which was set up they would have you know everything would have been done by the end of June but we saw so many kids that had not even started the program we had to push it back uh to give them more ample time to complete the work. So we're giving them until August 4th to complete the work. School starts August 5th. Some of these kids have 30 hours they meaning they have not started at all at all. Correct. And that's my concern. Some of them haven't started at all and they've been made aware of this. And and my thing is the school's going to get bombarded once on one school start and they find out little Johnny is still in the third grade and he didn't complete his
049hour then I I need to do them now. No, that's not how it works. you have the entire summer to do this. And I also want to add because the learners are working on a path that is absolutely individualized to fit the skill level and the m the level that they are working on. So I understand some of the work may be a little difficult but they're working on their level. So it's, you know, it's actually, you know, individualized for each learner. Like I said, if it's a sixth grader that's reading on a second grade level, he won't start reading sixth grade passages. It will start him at the second grade pass the that second grade passage. But as he completes this, you know, it it gradually helps him to get, you know, to that
050mastery of the grade level standards, which is something we can't do in the classroom. So, this is a great opportunity for the kids to really get that it's like a tutor, you know? It it it is it's like they have their own tutor at home all summer to kind of get them ready and bump them up to where they need to be when they, you know, get into that next grade level. And we we absolutely want these learners to be successful. And you know, I really think that this, you know, is a a good way to kind of give that extra intervention without any cost, you know, with you and with them working on their level. And like I said, you know, I I think this is a great opportunity for the learners and I,
051you know, I hope that the parents and learners understand that, you know, all we want for them is success and that this is a great jump to get them ahead of the game. What's the percentage of student reading under one one level? Like you do you have any students that's reading like for instance third grade maybe reading on a first grade level? I mean like I don't have the percentages with like in front of me but the I ready does show like um for example like the third grade class it it does give and I can get that information to you like for each grade level. It shows you how many learners in percentage and the number of learners that are reading two grades below, one grade below, on or above. We can get that
052information at our next board meeting. But I will tell you this that um based on the results of our LEAP tests every year, we don't reach 50% of our kids meeting um proficiency. And that's a problem. It is a huge problem and our teachers work hard during the year. Um, our administrators work hard, our staff works hard during the year to get our kids to the level that they need to be. But we can't do it alone. We need our parents to come with us, you know, and work with us to get our kids to be successful on these tests. Like I said, we've done all that we could do. Now, it's time that our parents, our families, this community supports the kids, supports the school system to help get them to where they need
053to be, to where we all need to be. So, do you have a total the total number of students in this package for all grade level? How many would I think it was it was 380. I think it was about 381. 38 381 student and that's from K through 8. And of the 381, how many have completed? I know the highlighted number, but y'all probably know the number right off. Total that have completed the test. I I don't know right off. Okay. I'm sorry. Well, I can tell you it's not a whole lot of them, right? No, it's far less than what's on the list. That's right. maybe about 10%. And some of them have completed I'm looking at it. Some of them have have completed like 29.37 and only need one more hour and
054lazy. That's just lazy. At this time, we have more kids that complete the summer reading program. That's right. the online summer reading program. Then we have kids completing this I Ready remediation program because they want to go to the bash back to school badge. So you going to tie the back to school badge with this? Well, you got to do something because they not doing I mean you got to give them some kind of incentive. It's a shame you got to give them us the children the incentive to do the things that they need to do. I mean, but something needs to happen. Their incentive is that they'll be able to move on to the next grade level. Well, that's their incentive. That's not a pro that's not an issue right now until school starts.
055That's correct. So, this list that you gave us is this is the up to date. This was today. Yes. Today. As of today. This is crazy. That's it. Yes, ma'am. All right. Item E, approve committee reports from July 10th, 2025. Can I get a motion to approve uh the agenda collectively? So move second. Motion by Miss George Porter, second by Mr. George Hughes. Any questions? No questions. Shall pass by general consent. Item F, executive session to discuss personnel matter regarding superintendent and discuss transportation issues. Can I get a motion to go into executive session? I move. Motion by Miss George Porter. Second by Mr. George Hughes. Any questions? No question. Shall pass with general. We shall return. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Oo. Ooh. [Music] Oh, [Music] Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
056hey, hey, Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] I want you. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Yeah, yeah, yeah. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Hey. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Can I get a motion that we return from executive session? I move. I motion by Mr. George, second by Miss George Porter. Uh the two items that were on the agenda for executive session, we discussed
057both and um no action was really taken. Item G, meeting closing. Uh next meeting will be August the 14th, 2025. Closing comment board members, the board meetings is this was when we start going in the communities next month. Yes, ma'am. So, who gonna go first? I got to wait till I talk to my partner. I can't go first. Yeah, I'll go first. I'll go first. It's going to be fourth and fifth George. So George and Bale will be meeting together uh next month and then it'll be first and first and six quarter and then save the best for last, second and third. No, you you you can't be last all time. I might be bad. Okay. I just want to say I do have one comment. Parents, please please make sure that your learner complete
058this. I read the assignment. Please, this is K through eight. This is very very important for your learner to move to the next grade. That's all I have to say. I I just wanted to let you know that I um those for the learners, I have a grandson in the seventh grade. He's on the list. I have a granddaughter on fourth grade and she's on the list. You better believe we just got on them. It got done. So, uh my granddaughter said that, uh they was on it right then when I called her. I called them when we was going to executive session. I didn't call her. I had my daughter to call her cuz if I'm going to bust for other learners to do it, mine's going to do it, too. That's right. All
059right. Any other comments? That finally motion. All gay. This meeting is a joint. I'm sorry. You I'm sorry. She done the meeting is adjourned so I can't see it. [Music]