001[Music] [Applause] Okay. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] back. Hey [Music] Uh, welcome to this meeting of the board of education man county. This meeting is being televised live on AACPS uh TV and streamed on AACPS's YouTube channel. General information and protocols for the meeting are posted on the sign by the doorway as you enter the room. So, please make sure that you read those if you have not already done so. At this time, we will have our invocation. Oh God, we pray to administer that which is just in all educational policies, being ever mindful of your guidance, stirs to action with love, wisdom, and understanding. And now, our pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible
002with liberty and justice for all. And now item 2.03, approval of our minutes. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second. Uh motion a second. Uh we have consensus and we do. So item 2.04 establishment of the agenda order. Do I hear a motion? Move to establish as written. Second. Consensus. And we do have that. So we'll be moving on to item 2.05, our educator of the month. Good afternoon. Um, today the board of educ board of education of Anaonda County is thrilled to recognize Rachel Place as our May 2025 educator of the month. [Applause] Miss Place is a seventh grade English teacher at Southern Middle School. She is known for her unwavering commitment to student success and impactful contributions to the Southern Middle School community. Rachel stands out as a role model for
003students and colleagues, fostering a sense of belonging. Her classroom consistently fosters a supportive and engaging learning environment where all students thrive. She incorporates innovative teaching strategies and student centered approach and she continues to transform transform student outcomes. She demonstrates an demonstrates an understanding of the needs of our middle school students by embedding a variety of purposeful tactile and can um can I kesthetics activities. She gets seventh graders. Her dedication to personalized instruction has led to remarkable growth on ELA, MCAP scores, as well as quarterly demonstrated through measurable improvements in reading comprehension, critical thinking, and writing skills. This progress is a testament to Mrs. Place to Miss Place's commitment to creating lessons that inspire and challenge every learning learner. Her students come to class prepared and ready to learn. Her ability to command and lead the
004students in active and engaging learning is demonstrated daily. Miss Place's door is always open for new teachers and veteran teachers. She is one you can go to on your low days and she is one to support and listen. And she will celebrate your wins too. Beyond the classroom, Miss Place has made an invaluable impact in the wider school community as an interdisciplinary team leader and an afterchool tutor for students who may be struggling. She is sought out because of her support. When you're with Mrs. Place in the classroom, you know and feel that she is making a difference. She is truly gifted and talented teacher. In her own words, which she often says about co- about her co-teer, she is the actual unicorn of teachers. Rachel Place, congratulations on being awarded the educator of the
005month for May 2025. Would you please come up come forward to accept this award? Congratulations. [Applause] So, how did they get you here today? Um, they told me I was presenting. Oh, you are. Okay. This is for you. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. from here. Oh, yeah. We'll take a picture. Okay. So, um, so wait, how did we get Who's here with you today? Um, Mr. Lewis, my AP. Raise your hand. Um, Rachel Painter, my department chair, and then my co-teer, Becky Palmer, and then the is like my family, my friends, my boyfriend. They all surprised me. I had no idea. I'm feeling very overwhelmed. No, we love you. We absolutely love Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Okay, we're moving on to item 2.06, our employee of the month. The
006community school program managers serve more than 20,000 students systemwide. They coordinate the community schools and total health care teleaalth program providing access to health services for families and students attending community schools especially students who are chronically absent due to recurring health problems or limited resources. This program allows on-site medical consultations and access to necessary medications. the MVP behind the scenes creating and implementing an in-depth onboarding program to assist recently hired program managers and technicians in their role is none other than Christa Boyd, budget support specialist at community schools. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] of 38 program managers, six budget transitions and multiple central office departments related to workflow partition requirements and great improved purchases. She manages this workload with grace, professionalism, and always maintains a cheerful outlook. The community schools office is new in AACPS. And in
007this brief time, Mrs. Boyd, Miss Boyd has improved systems to make the work effective and efficient for approximately 50 staff members who are part of this office. She worked with the technology office to develop AACPS's first ever system for electronic signature and document approval. Dochub Dockhub has drastically improved the efficiency of the program and increased the effectiveness of community school program managers. This innovation truly makes Miss Boyd stand out. She is an exceptional example of professionalism and earns the respect of all who works with her from partners in central office to school staff to leaders of community organizations. She thinks ahead and prepares for all scenarios. She has successfully presented to the chiefs of other departments within AACPS MSD school principles and community school employees. Her presentations are comprehensive and easy to follow. Her deep
008knowledge is and capable demeanor inspire confidence in those who collaborate with her. Christa Boyd, you are enthusiastic about the work you do. Your contributions to the community school office make the team stronger. You are highly valued and irreplaceable member of the community schools team. The board of education [Music] The board of education is excited to reward you as employee of the month for May 2025. Will you please come forward to accept this award? [Applause] [Music] So, how did they get you here today? Uh, they told me that we might have to present on some staffing decisions about 15 minutes ago. So my right now and well it looks like you've got plenty of people with you but who who all So my mom, my dad, my husband, my bffine, and then the entire community school.
009[Applause] Thank you so much. [Applause] Okay, we're moving on to item 2.07, volunteers of the month. Thank you, Mr. President Martin Lu Luther King Jr. told us, "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." This year's volunteers of the month helped students become strong as individuals and see the light in themselves so that they can work together as brothers and sisters. It is an immense honor to recognize the leaders of the mentoring organization. Together we rise. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Together we rise as our May 2025 volunteers of the month. Mr. Eric Ashby Bay, Mr. Joseph Parker and Mr. Terrell Freriedman. Freeman. Together We Rise is a dynamic mentoring organization that supports students at Annapapolis, Oakwood, and Georgetown East elementary schools. The mission of Together We Rise is to empower empower
010at you at risk youth by fostering a deep sense of self, healing souls, and providing support for their families, creating a collective we that can rise together. These three gentlemen are fully committed to their mission, delivering mentorship with unwavering fidelity and integrity. Together We Rise began mentoring students at Annapapolis Elementary and has expanded its reach to Oakwood and Georgetown East with plans to grow next school year. Their approach to mentorship is both intentional and responsive, meeting students where they are collectively and individually. Additionally, they've aligned their efforts with the school systems strategic plan focusing on the social and emotional well-being of students and working to eliminate chronic absenteeism. Despite holding full-time jobs and other life commitments, these men prioritize together we rise working around their schedules to be at present at in schools during the
011day, after hours, and on weekends. They've organized and supported field trips for their mentees and even extended these opportunities to schools they do not directly support. Their field trips have included national parks and Civil War battlefields, historically black colleges and universities, local businesses, and locations that showcase the arts, theater, and music. Their commitment to what's best for all students is unparalleled. Together We Rise is inclusive, offering support to all students regardless of gender, behavior, attendance issues, or other challenges. Guiding them all to live and grow together. They go the extra mile to reach the students who need it most. Mr. Ashby Bay, Mr. Parker, and Mr. Freeman, your dedication to our students and families is truly commendable. You have inspired a sense of belonging, growth, and success that will leave a lasting mark on our
012school and community. The strength and healing you build in our students will help them grow individually as well as together in their communities. As Dr. King encouraged us encouraged us all to do. On behalf of the students, staff, and families at Annapapolis, Oakwood, and Georgetown East Elementary, the board of education thanks you for your tireless efforts, your passion, and your belief in your students. You truly embody what it means to be volunteers of the month, and we are so fortunate to have you as part of the ACPS family. Would you please come forward? It is with great appreciation that I would like to present these volunteer of the month bells and certificates to you as a symbol of our appreciation. [Applause] So good to see you. So I just have to say I have had
013the privilege along with Dr. Vedell of sitting in on a session with these gentlemen at Annapolis Elementary School. We've spoken quite at length in a parking lot one night about what was going on and uh we're so grateful. So did did they tell you something to get you here today? Mr. Dillard. Mr. Dillard said we was going to be uh presenting about mentoring. I don't want to say Mr. Dillard's a good liar, but it worked. It worked. We'll take care of him later. I seem to have only one bell. Oh, we're getting the other belts. Apologies. We'll start with you. But we're also at park. I Okay. So now you're at Park Elementary as well along with Dr. Ashford. Wonderful. So you continue to grow. Anything else you would like to say? First of all,
014who's here? Uh have uh Miss Harford, that's that's the principal that gave us our shot at Annapolis Elementary. Elementary School. Yes. Uh have Miss Huitt. That's our first community school master. Have Miss uh Arens uh uh at Oakwood. uh my brother, you know, have Dr. Ashworth and Miss Clax at uh Georgetown East uh um and all of them um are so helpful with the work that we're doing, you know, because we need when we come into a school until I always say to my mentors, this program that we have is like Novaane. Just give it a minute. It always works. All right. But until that minute happens, we need the people in the building to be advocates for us, you know, to impress upon the parents that their child needs to be here. We need
015the the counselors and the teachers when they have a so-called problem child. That's the ones we want. We don't want the good ones. We'll take We'll take We'll take them, right? because they're examples for the so-called facts, but we want the ones that that are that people are saying, "Oh, that's a bad child." You know, because they're not, you know, most of the time the first crime was committed against the child, you know. So, well, I Yes. [Applause] And I've got um certificates here. I want to say also that I know at Annapolis Elementary. Those children have had a lot to deal with, especially recently. And I want to make sure we thank you for everything that you've you've done at there and so many other schools. Mr. Ashby Bay, remind me. I'm get my
016names mixed up here. Mr. Parker, thank you. And Mr. Freeman. And you can keep this. Let's take a couple of pictures here. Here, I'll get in the scoot over this way. Thank [Applause] you. Wow. Uh boy, 2.05, 2.06, and 2.07. They're going to be hard to follow. Uh absolutely want to thank everyone, uh all of the folks that we've honored, but everyone that showed up. Uh the mentor piece, the mentor piece. Dr. Bedell, I I know I I needed a mentor. I think you needed a mentor. And there are no bad kids. There are absolutely no bad kids. And I thank each and every one of you. Thank you for being mentors. And we'd like to have some more mentors. Uh our kids deserve that. So, we're going to take a few minutes for some
017photos, I believe. All right. We'll be back. Thank you. Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Okay, welcome back everyone. Um, if we move on to our public comments on agenda items, uh, we do not have any comments from anyone this evening and so we'll move on to uh, uh, item 4.01, 01 our crash report. Good afternoon, President Silkworth, Vice President Debt, members of the board, and Dr. Vell. My name is Jason Seoff Jr. My pronouns are he, him, and I'm a proud freshman at Chesapeake High School. I am honored to serve as the KRA Secretary of Education. On April 8th, members of CRA had the incredible opportunity to attend Governor Moore's bill signing for SB307 and HB42. We
018are thrilled to celebrate the passage of this landmark legislation, which reinforces the principle of equal work for equal pay for the student member of the board in AACPS and provides a $15,000 scholarship. We are especially grateful to have collaborated with Senator Simon and Delegate Pruski and to have witnessed the legislative process in action. Elections for the 2025 2026 KR officer team will be held on May 28th at Croftton High School. Students interested in running for one of the seven elected positions must submit their nomination form by 8:00 p.m. on May 12th. The nomination form and a schedule of candidate events are available on the craft website and in Brightpace. Not planning to run for office? See your SGA advisor to get a permission slip and attend as a voting delegate. On the May episode of
019Teen Talk, guest host Will Andreion spotlights two student bands featured on School Sounds, a traveling music showcase celebrating the talent of APS students through live performances. The new episode premieres tonight at 9:00. Tune in on the AACPS YouTube channel or AACPS TV to check it out. Don't forget to follow AACPS Team Talk on Instagram for updates and behindthe-scenes content. A huge congratulations to Braden Morgan who will serve as the 52nd AACPS student member of the board and the 51st with full voting rights. Krasque is excited to work alongside Braden and we look forward to building a strong collaborative partnership in the year ahead. On this slide, you'll find a list of all the upcoming KRAS events as we dive into KRAS officer election season. Good luck to students as you complete your MCAP, AP, or
020IB testing. That's all for me. See you next month. Okay, we'll move on to uh item 4.02, our policy committee report. Miss Shawan. Uh yes. So, the policy committee was supposed to um meet yesterday, but because we had a very exciting bill signing for HB226, um we rescheduled that policy committee meeting to next week. And so, I will have a full report um next board meeting. Thanks so much. Thank you. Uh and now we'll move on to item uh 4.03, president's report. So I do have a few things. On April the 25th, uh some of my colleagues and I along with Dr. Brell and some staff members had the opportunity to tour the real time information center on Veterans Highway. The Anon County Police Department's Realtime Information Center, which is known as the RTIC, is
021committed to harnessing technology and resources to optimize public safety response by empowering officers and first responders to react more effectively to incidents. The RTIC prioritizes community and first responder safety while upholding privacy and civil rights. Uh, that was a great visit. Uh on April the 25th, um we attended the 39th annual Excellence in Education Gala at Maryland Live where we honored so many of our wonderful educators, including our principal of the year, Amy Greki from Ruth Een, and our teacher of the year, Jacqueline Sanderson, an English language development teacher at Belgrove Elementary School, who is our 2025 Anon County Public Schools teacher of the year. Congratulations. It was a great event. We do thank the Education Foundation of AACPS and all of the sponsors for this great event. On Monday, April the 28th, I had
022the honor to attend the annual NBCT recognitions at 71 High School. We were honored to recognize our teachers and staff who have earned the NBCT or maintain their NBCT. And that includes our very own Mon'nique Jackson uh who went across the stage. Congratulations, Miss Jackson. Congratulations to everyone. Uh congratulations to all of our teachers who have earned their NBCT. On the 29th, uh uh April 29th, the third redistricing community meeting was held at Annapolis Middle School and the turnout was great. These community meetings uh have allowed us to hear from our communities about the phase 2 redistricting and we thank Dr. Bedell, Dr. Heiser and staff for all of their efforts. The deadline for uploading information into the great web portal is May 15th. On April the 30th, I attended uh the 41st annual scholarship
023for scholars award ceremony at St. John's College with Miss Pulum. Um we were absolutely amazed at the level of achievement of our great students. I would like to thank uh Pam Van Diver, the executive director of the scholarship for scholars and all of the members of the board of directors who volunteer their time to provide uh financial support uh to our students. On Friday, May the 2nd, I attended the unified physical education and dance showcase at 71 High School. These are always marvelous events. Uh this was a wonderful event for all of our students and staff. I look forward to the next event which I believe will take place this Friday at Chesapeake High. Uh on Monday the 5th, we were uh my colleagues and I we were invited to a meeting sponsored by the
024NAACP at the American Legion Hall and all of my colleagues and I attended along with Dr. Bedell and Mr. Dickerson to listen to some concerns and comments about redistricting it. On Tuesday, May the 6th, my colleagues and I along with Dr. Bedell, uh, Grace Wilson, uh, and Michael Dickerson. We attended the signing of this 180day bill by Governor Moore. We thank all of our local and state officials for their hard work and support to make this happen. We now have the flexibility to deal appropriately and innovatively to find solutions for the half-day issues. Uh, and we look forward to doing that. This is a huge step forward for our school system. Uh absolute thanks to Dr. Bedell, Mr. Dick Dickerson for continuing to make sure that this remain in the forefront for all of our
025legislators. Uh just a few other things. Uh I want to offer my congratulations and those of the board uh to Braden Morgan of Glenn Bernie High School. Uh, as you can see, he will be our 52nd student member of the board starting July 1. Uh, we are very proud that our school system is the only local school system in the nation with a student member with full voting rights. Uh, after appointment by the governor, Braden will begin his term on July 1. Congratulations, Braden. And finally, congratulations go to Dr. Bedell, who has earned the Bob Gman Leadership in School Communications Award from the National School Public Relations Association. This award is a testament to Dr. Bedell's commitment to transparency to all stakeholders in our district. Dr. Bedell, congratulations. So, that does conclude the president's report.
026Uh, we'll be moving on to item 4.04, the superintendent report. Dr. Videll. Okay. Um, yeah, you got me with this one, Bob. Um, I'm realizing looking at these pictures, I probably just need to flat out go bald. I'm I'm I'm sitting here still trying to save it, man. And I I can't. All right. So, thank you, Mr. President. Um, I have a lot of good news to talk about today in my report. I want to start off uh with Dr. Dr. Christa Cole who has I'm sorry who has been named the Maryland school psychologist of the year. Dr. Cole Dr. Copes currently serves students at the virtual academy and has been working with students across our county for 20 years. She also has been deeply involved in a variety of mental wellness uh initiatives. Congratulations
027to Dr. Cole. Also, uh we want to congratulate everyone involved in our service learning program. Thanks to their efforts, we have been named a gold ribbon school district by Youth Service America. And here's the best part of all of this. We are just one of six districts across the United States to receive this award. So, I want to just That's huge. Um, YSA said in its announcement that we were being honored for the ways in which we prepare students to make a real difference through hands-on learning. Um, I do again want to congratulate everyone involved in these efforts and for many of us in here who are parents of students who attend this district. Um, it also requires a sacrifice on our part. There's a number of times I've had to go either take my
028daughter or pick her up from the food pantry and many of these other areas where she has to um meet these uh service learning hour requirements. And again um doing our part to teach everybody how to be a value ad to their respective communities. Um and more good news. I told you all there was a lot. Wall Chapel Elementary School has been named the Maryland Elementary Chapter of the Year by Best Buddies, an organization which helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities form meaningful f friendships with their peers, secure successful jobs, live independently, and develop self- advocacy and communication skills. Wall Chapel was highlighted for its work to spread messages of inclusivity beyond the school and into the community. Congratulations to all of the students, staff, and families who are involved in this work. Um,
029in particular, special education teachers Molly Dwire, Dyer, Keys, and Morgan Johnson, who led the effort. All right. And then finally, um, here is our regular update on vacancies. As you all know, we're getting ready to hear a presentation from our human resources department, which will shed more light on the work that we're doing to continuously address staffing vacancies, but also ensure um that we are operating in the best to our ability to adhere to policies to make sure that we have a diverse workforce. And I think you all are in for a treat on that. Um, what is not in here, and I just want to say this because it is important and will probably be the last time that I say this. On the heels of signing our bill yesterday, House Bill 226, Senate
030Bill 569, um, I do personally want to thank uh the work of Grace, the the the work of Proctor and Associates. They help us helped us to get into rooms that we couldn't get into this year. Michael Dickerson helping to lead this effort. this school board um for really being open to making this an agenda item um at the conclusion of our first year. I mean, we took this on right away as an agenda item shortly after I started here. And I can tell you there's a board member who said um having this conversation several years ago, this would be an absolute non-starter. And here we are having it signed. to all of our union leaders for your support. And now that it's been signed, we do look forward to beginning to sit down and
031have these conversations around what this could look like. I also want to thank uh and I'm going to name these people because this was a an effort by our delegation over a three-year period. Delegate Dana Jones was one of the first people to take this on. Senator Chenica Henson, I think they both were people who carried it early on. Delegate Heather Bagnel came in and took the baton and Senator Don Gaus uh after her first year of being elected, she took this um on. And so all of these elected officials helped to contribute to this getting through and all of our delegation that was in support of what we were trying to do. So I just want to make sure that I'm giving paying my respects and saying thank you to everybody that had something
032to do with this. Thank you all. Mr. President, that concludes the superintendent's report. Uh, thank you, Dr. Bedell. So, we are now going to be moving on to item 5.01, our workforce diversity report. Thank you. our team is coming up and um this as usual I really do enjoy these presentations that we present to the board and community to keep you all apprised of of how we are pressing this school district but also how we are doing our best to the best of our ability adhering to district policy um board policy district administrative policy and this is just another example of of what you're going to see a fantastic presentation this team has presented for you all in the community. I'll pass it over to our chief human resource officer, Jessica Cutes, who will then
033allow for everybody else to announce who they are. Good afternoon, Mr. Silkworth, Dr. Vedell, members of the board. I am Jessica Cutes, chief human resources officer. I have the pleasure of presenting today with Mr. Scott Magcguire, director of human capital management, and Miss Chenica McKenzie, senior specialist workforce diversity. We're excited to sit before you to share our annual workforce diversity presentation. As discussions surrounding DEI continue to change, we believe it is important to reiterate our commitment to a workforce that is both qualified and reflective of our student population. These two goals are not mutually exclusive. Talented educators can be found in every community and our school system's goal is to encourage as many of these educators as possible to join our AACPS family. We are not attempting to meet quotas as required in affirmative action
034programs, but rather to ensure our school leaders have access to the broadest pool of qualified candidates in order to select the best educators for their school communities. Our ability to increase the diversity of our workforce is a byproduct of our deliberate outreach and consistent messaging that AACPS is a place where we desire all of our employees to belong, grow, and succeed. In case that was not clear enough, let me be explicit. We have and will continue to hire based on merit consistent with board policy. Today's report is in alignment with our workforce diversity policy and regulation which states that the board of education recognizes the educational benefit of a diverse workforce to enrich the educational experience of students. It aligns with the blueprint for Maryland's future and priority three of our AACPS strategic plan. AACPS
035is proud of the progress that we have made in developing a workforce that is reflective of our student body. 10 years ago, educators of color comprised 17% of newly hired teachers. This number has now increased to more than 30%. Additionally, the overall unit one workforce has increased in diversity from 13% to nearly 20% over the same period. This increase is a testament to our inclusive approach to attracting talent from all backgrounds to join our school system. We've also seen a drastic reduction in vacancies from 175 at the close of the 2223 hiring season down to 59 at the end of the 2425 hiring season. As Anterondo County's demographics continue to change, we are looking at how we can expand our recruitment efforts. Over the past 10 years, our Hispanic Latino student population has nearly doubled
036from 12% to 22.3%. Currently, our Hispanic Latino teacher population is less than 5%. Data from the National Center for Educational Statistics tells us that colleges and universities with the largest populations of Hispanic Latino students majoring in education or similar fields are in the West, Southwest, and Southeast of the United States. Our additional efforts to reach these educators will be discussed shortly. I'm now going to turn it over to Miss McKenzie to talk about some recruitment. Good afternoon. AACPS attended 62 college and university events during the 20242 recruitment season. 24% which are historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions and colleges and universities that serve a diverse population. A complete list of all recruitment trips has been included in the data packet and will be provided to you today. As previously mentioned, we are continuing
037our bilingual educator recruitment efforts. Last spring during the 20242 recruitment season, AACPS added colleges in New Mexico and Texas to our recruitment efforts. Additional schools in Texas and Florida were added this spring. Since new recruitment partnerships can take time to establish, we will evaluate the success of these new locations over the next two years. We are continuing to host virtual recruitment events in Puerto Rico to target educators interested in relocating while allowing AACPS to utilize our recruitment funding to explore new markets. Our annual job fair was moved to late March to better coincide with when principles have more accurate vacancy information to help with early hiring. AACPS recruiters have been assigned to networks to better support and identify candidates that will best fit various school communities. Open contracts, also known as early offers of employment,
038remain a tool used to lock in strong candidates earlier in the hiring season. And we continue to actively recruit our student interns through on-site visits and hosting special intern events to encourage them to choose AACPS. Finally, in addition to our current salary scale, AACPS has created a new career ladder that incentivizes educators to consider pursuing national board certification and allows conditionally certified educators with prior education experience to obtain more experience credit and earn a higher starting salary. I will now turn it over to Mr. Magcguire to discuss retention strategies. Our newly developed AACPS scorecard shows that in 2024, AACPS retained 94% of instructional staff with retention being over 90% for all demographic groups. This data will serve as a baseline moving forward and it should be noted that this is already an outstanding data point.
039We are continuing to work to improve our new hire retention which was 84% in 2024. The top three reasons for separation from our exit survey for unit one employees with less than one year of experience were personal reasons, principal or supervisor, work hours, demands, and expectations. This year, our workforce monitoring team has developed subcommittees tasked with focusing on challenges that may hinder teacher retention. Our retention subcommittees are dedicated to supporting conditional teachers on their path to professional lensure and to providing enhanced support for educators working in schools that require additional assistance. The AACPS workforce monitoring team will bring their final recommendations to the superintendent's cabinet later this year. During Hispanic Heritage Month, AACPS hosted our first event for Hispanic Latino educators entitled Conexion, where teachersworked and brainstormed ways they can help support AACPS recruitment and
040retention efforts. Several of these educators are working with human resources to develop additional supports for our bilingual staff. We are also continuing to partner with the Anna Rundle Alliance of Black School Educators, better known as ABSY, to host leadership workshops for teachers seeking to advance in their careers. These events are o are open to all AACPS educators. We responded to our new higher retention data by partnering with the division of instruction and school performance to provide targeted professional learning to our school leaders around retention strategies. We believe it is imperative to train our new principles to become confident and successful hiring managers and we provide sessions during first and secondyear principal meetings. We also provide follow-up training for all principles on important topics such as annual guidance on hiring practices, strategies to mitigate bias during
041interviews, and attracting a diverse workforce. A few examples of AACPS schools that benefit from their continued partnership with human resources are North County High School, who has created recruitment materials that highlight the school demographics, academic achievements, and success stories to attract the best teachers for their school community. MacArthur Middle School had 26 classroom vacancies out of a staff of 124 employees in July and to date is fully staffed. Frank Hebrron Harmon Elementary School was fully staffed for the first time in three years due to the dedication of the administration and attendance at every hiring event. Being fully staffed significantly improves teacher retention by reducing the burden on existing staff for coverage or substitute needs, ensuring that every child has a licensed teacher. And finally, our leads workshop provides additional support to non-tenured educators with 161
042attendees at our four quarterly workshops during the 2324 school year. I'll turn it back to Miss McKenzie to highlight our recruitment successes. AACPS hired 107 teachers from our 2024 teacher recruitment job fair, which was nearly 60% of attendees. Our 2020 um 2025 job fair was the largest in recent years with over 250 attendees and over 800 screening interviews completed. Over 40 attendees have already accepted positions with AACPS for the 2526 school year. During our 2024 summer job fairs, 22 educators were hired into teaching positions. These smaller job fairs prioritize schools with a higher number of vacancies. 36 open contracts were extended for the 2425 school year with 94 accepting an acceptance rate of 69%. And finally, 125 Anaonda County public school educators achieved prestigious national board certification for the first time and 41 others maintained
043their certification, making AACPS's 202425 class of NBCT educators, one of the one of the school systems largest ever and nearly 8% larger than the 2023 24 class. AACPS now boasts a total of 548 educators who have earned national board certification status, making AACPS one of the top three counties for MBCTS in the state of Maryland. And we are thrilled to report that for a third year in a row, new hire teacher diversity has been over 30%. Ending the 2025 202425 hiring season at 33%. Thank you. And we are happy to answer any questions you may have at this time. Uh thank you Dr. Tobin. Thank you. Thank you very much for that u excellent presentation. It's great to see a lot of what's happening and the trajectory looks very good. Um I had one question
044and and I have no doubt you're addressing this but it's something that um comes to my mind and I think in the current environment for example when there are a lot of federal workers seeking employment uh it it may be uh even more an issue which is um what sort of support or is there a particular support for principles supervising career changers? And I say this because when you have people who come out of uh in some cases long-standing experience in other sectors, um the way uh even though you know there's always briefings on how we do things, uh the way support is offered, the way coaching is done, the way uh you know observations are done um may land a differently or may just be somewhat foreign to folks who come out of other
045sectors. So, I'm just curious if that's sort of a question that comes up and if there are any thoughts you would like to offer on that. Sure. I can start and then I'm going to hand it over to Scott um or Mr. Magcguire. So, his team has uh proactively worked with um the department or division of instruction DISP. I'm gonna mess it up, so I'm just going to say DISP. Um to make sure the principles are getting all the retention strategies they need and that includes tailoring it to career changers. Um we definitely recognize and we've had a lot of experienced career changers over the last several years as you know. So we have picked up on Yes, they have definite different needs and so there is professional development offered to principles um through the
046HR team. Did you want to add anything? Yeah. And I think it's it's also important to know that our our partnership with academics includes the work with uh our rightar program which also has a conditional teacher support specialists that kind of really just focus on that batch of folks, right? Those career changers who are coming to us conditionally certified or licensed. Um really uh getting those quick boot camps in the summer. Um and so principles working directly with their right advisors around that information is is helpful uh for them in those evaluations as well. Well, as I said, I knew you were probably on top of it, but it's one of those things I think that bears, you know, explicit uh discussion. I and I just want to congratulate you again. And I I you
047reiterated this, Miss Cutes. I will reiterate this again. Uh this is clearly hiring on merit. uh with the notion that merit involves ensuring that we reach into every community and find those people who are going to be great assets to our system and I really appreciate all of you doing that work. Thank you very much. Uh thank you Dr. Tobin. So I'm seeing no more lights. I want to thank you all for such a great report for great work. We're in good hands. We appreciate everything that you do. Thank you so much. Thank you. Uh, let me see. Miss Pull. Sorry, this is a little late. I just want to congratulate you. I think you can catch them before they walk out. Yeah. Yeah. No, I I I don't think that um just for our
048our community reaching out and expanding our borders across the nation, that's big. And and industry and government do it all the time. So for us to really go out there and, you know, just push the needle and expand the net, I mean, Texas, New Mexico, that's huge. And and also with the the universities, all of that, that's great strides. Thank you so very much. That's awesome, Dr. Dr. Bedell. All right. Thank you. So, um, excellent presentation and I want to thank you all and we're going to move on to the next agenda. Yeah, we're moving on to item 5.02, county executive recommended fiscal year 2026, operating in capital budgets. All right, Mr. uh, President, this I I hope will be a very positive meeting. Um, you know, Matt Stansky generally, you know, is to follow
049some tough acts and that was a tough act to follow, but um, I think I think we're in for another positive presentation here. So, I want to pass it over to Matt Stansky and and the team. Sure. All right. Thank you, Dr. Brazelle for the record. Matt Stansky, chief financial officer. I'm joined by uh, Melissa Camila, uh, budget director, uh, and Dr. Heiser and Mr. Roof. And so what we'll do is we'll walk through the operating budget uh proposal uh that was released on Thursday. We'll pause for questions and I'll turn it over to Dr. Heiser and Mr. Roof to walk through the capital budget if that works for the board. All right. So, as uh Dr. Vedell alluded to, I think um really overall a very positive uh budget release uh last week. uh
050especially I would say given where we were in the winter uh with the release of the governor's budget, Mr. Trumpau's sort of outlook of uh the county finances as he as he presented um to where we are now. So um I will walk through uh the changes that were propos that are proposed um in the sheet. Uh yellow the yellow highlights mean something has changed. the white if there's no highlight that means uh the items were fully funded. So we'll walk you through. So first bit of good news is when the board adopted uh the budget back in February we were still looking at the governor's proposed budget and so we are looking at a a reduction in our foundation funding. Uh and so we're looking all in at 37.3 million. Uh obviously with the
051passage of the state budget uh full funding was restored um for fiscal 26 and so we are now looking at a state aid increase of $45.5 million total of uh just shy of 594 million. Next change is uh based on the board's requested budget. We did ask the county government for $105.8 8 million. Uh and uh the county executive uh came in with about roughly half of that which uh $52 million which as he alluded to is a record increase for us. It is about 5.6% over uh last year's uh total. So that is a a good solid increase there. Uh no changes to local or fund balance. So all in on uh on the general fund uh 1.6 614 billion and $99.8 million increase over over last year, which is uh 6.6% on the
052on the general fund. On the restricted side, no changes. We're still seeing the lag or the the final reduction from our COVID grants. Um and so all in here, 92.9 million, so 1.7 uh billion dollars. And so 5.5% revenue growth, which is uh really really good. Uh and so um with that, we'll kind of walk through where that money is going to what that money's uh being proposed to pay for. So first change is the board adopted a a a 3% COLA for all employees plus a 1% mid-year cola for all bargaining units. Uh the county executive fully funded the 3% COLA. He did not choose to fund at this time the uh 1% midyear. Uh he fully funded the the step increase and the uh mandated uh uh national board certification salary increases. Uh
053he did not fund the uh the national board certific certified school counselors. As you know, state law uh prohibits us for or prohibits us from uh uh getting revenue for uh school counselors. And so we'll continue to work with our partners in the general assembly to see if we can't get that changed. Uh we did get full funding for our career ladder transition as well as our uh teaching assistant for prek upgrades, our unit two salary enhancements, our restructuring for unit three uh to start the minimum salary at $18 an hour pending negotiations, as well as our implementation of the compensation study for units five and six. Uh we're all fully funded. The last three items, the increase in pay for substitute teachers, the thousand retention incentive, as well as the uh compensation for overnight
054field trips uh were not funded in this proposed budget. Moving to the employee benefit side, full funding for our our healthcare request as well as our increase in insurance. Uh the pension shift I will mention here it is highlighted but uh per the uh final passage of the budget uh the pension uh board is sending that bill directly to county government. So the county government is on the hook for $9.1 million of that teacher pension shift. But that that bill is not coming to us. It comes directly to county government. So county government is also fully funding that as well. Uh which is good news. Moving to the next on the commitment side uh we uh full funding for uh our uh conversion of Carver to an early childhood center. Uh on the two the
055next two lines you actually see an increase and this is because we saw increase in state aid and our increase in in county aid. So our charter our existing charter schools will get a proportionate uh increase because of that. So those numbers actually increased. And then obviously with the announcement of uh New Village Academy not opening for next school year, uh that funding request was not granted. Uh blueprint mandates were all fully funded. So those will continue on as as we as the board requested back in February. On the program increase side, all of those items were fully funded with the exception of the operations and maintenance piece. So the the utility portion of that 2.9 million was funded but the uh up the million dollar increase for service contracts was not funded. Uh moving
056down to our ESSER funding cliff items uh the grow your own was was cut in this proposal. However, uh the state budget has funded new grants for grow your own initiatives and so uh AACPS will obviously look to pursue those grants. Um given that this this funding was cut, we did get full funding for our I Ready software as well as our learning management system which were both funded using COVID dollars for the last four years. Moving on to program enhancements, uh the constituent service liaison for the board were not funded. On the early childhood front, we did get uh teachers and TAs and uh cultural arts teachers to support the expansion of those four classrooms. Uh we did not receive the uh multilingual learner or special education uh position component for for those uh
057classrooms. Moving down to English language development, we did ask for a total of 22 positions in this area. We were awarded 12 positions uh 10 English language development teachers and two uh 12-month bilingual facilitators. And we did get uh full funding of our request to move some of our bilingual facilitators from 10-month to 12 month. We did not get funding for the two uh PPW uh bilingual positions that were requested in the budget. Moving down, this is where we're starting to see uh unfortunately a little more yellow and cuts, but that is uh um you know, we had to remove $50 million from the budget. Uh first is our early intervention teachers. We requested 18. We did not get any. This is again, this was actually to replace the statemandated cut to the transitional supplemental
058instruction program in the blueprint. Uh we find that program is working really well. We wanted to continue it. Um the state obviously is reducing their support. Uh that did not we did not get the support in this in this budget. Our co-curricular expansion request uh was cut as well. Uh high school uh laptops, we did not get full funding for it, but we did get enough funding to start uh with two grade levels at high school uh to convert those uh devices from Chromebooks to laptops. We did receive full funding for year two of middle school athletics. Um the county executive did uh put forth 333,000 for a pilot for weapons detection. So that'll be for two schools, two secondary schools. Um the requests for school counselors for uh upgrades to our security cameras, uh
059our student apprenticeship program, telealth devices, universal behavioral screener, and musical instrument repair and replacement all were not funded. Uh but the last is on the agret agricultural science program enhancement that it was that 70,000 was funded. The request for a total of five social emotional positions social worker psychologist and ppws those were not funded. Uh reminders to the board we are seeing significant growth in our community school funds which are funding uh a fair amount of social emotional positions. Uh we did uh get full funding for the uh new teacher orientation. This will be to expand the number of days uh for new teachers to come in uh and so to provide compensation for those teachers to onboard them uh get them ready for the first day of school. And then uh for special education
060services all in we the board asked for 155 positions uh in roughly 14 million $14 million. We were awarded 28 positions in this budget at a total of 2.6 million. And then finally on in the transportation front, both of those initiatives, the al alternative vehicle drivers and aids as well as the support for the teen parenting program for transportation were fully funded. So again, uh all in uh Mr. President, 5.51% total of 63 positions were were funded out of our 239 uh requested. Uh but I think considering the environment we're in, I would say uh overall a positive uh positive budget. So uh with that, I will turn it back over to you and the board and happy to answer any questions you have. Okay, I'm looking for lights. Uh Miss Shahan. Yeah. Um thank
061you as always for a good presentation. Um, this is really fabulous overall to your point. I think there were moments in time over the last several months that we weren't sure how this was going to go and um there could have been a lot more yellow on it. But I just want to make a point here. Even though this county administration has done such a fabulous job every year, I think giving us um granting our funding requests to the highest level. We've I think he's he's set records and then he's broken those previous records and he's set new ones. U which is all great. However, we still have a lot of needs obviously because we wouldn't have asked for all this stuff if we didn't need it. And so this I'm just trying to paint
062um make sure we're not getting stuck in the fact that this is good because it is and thank you um county executive. But our needs are so great because before these last six years we were underfunded for decades and we're still trying to get ourselves out of that hole. So I do applaud our county government. Um county council I'll be looking to you. I've called a few of you already. Um, and trust me, I will be lobbing uh fiercely to, as um, chairwoman of the county council put it last week, perfect this budget even more. I'm going to take her literally on that and give her some ideas on that. Um, looking at the yellow, lots of yellow. Um, but I think we just need to be cleareyed about the needs to when we say
063fully fund public education, it can't just be in the last six years. has to be has to be like a a societal shift in how we think about public education and um uh and and and fund it um forever and not just really well for the last six years. That's get off my soap box now. Thank you. Uh thank you, Miss Shaw. Um Mr. Pum, thank you so much for the overview. So, it's awesome and it's great to see some of these additions that were approved. And I I know not to get too excited now. We have to wait for the county council. Um I just I just want to make a plea to the community. Um with this budget here, a lot of the things that we do to to meet the mission and
064be successful really comes from the community. The wraparound services that they provide that we don't have and we don't identify here. Um this I I would say as we move forward every year those relationships matter more and more and we need to strengthen them because as you see you guys are really putting a lot to that and and we appreciate it but just know we're hoping to strengthen some of those relationships so we can meet our goals. That's all. Thank you. Okay. I'm seeing no more light. know uh I I completely agree with Miss Shawim when she talks about our advocating for the needs. That's our responsibility and I will tell you that and uh in meetings that we've had with the county executive that's one thing that I've said is that our role as
065a board is to advocate for the needs of the great kids and staff that we have. I think we've done that. Um and there's more work to be done. This is process goes on. this is going to the county uh uh council and so we have more work to do and we'll do that. I just want to mention that one of our friends, Mr. Trumpower said to me on the way out of the Rundle Center the other day after we heard from uh Mr. Pitman, he said, "Enjoy the record budget." Uh and uh it is a record budget and I am enjoying it. Uh, and I think there's some eleas across the county that are really looking to an Ronald County and saying, "Whoa, uh, those folks have it pretty good there." Uh, and we
066do, but we do because of the relationship pieces that have that that continue to grow. Uh, Mr. Stansky, your staff, Dr. Bedell, how he works with with uh, not just uh, Stuart Pitman, but but all of the stakeholders and everyone. So, I thank everyone for that and as I said, we're not finished. We have more work to do. We'll get it done and it's all for the best interest of our kids. So, thank you all so much. We greatly appreciate. All right. So, we'll uh turn it over to Dr. Heiser and Mr. Roof to walk through capital. Thank you, Mr. Stans. Again, Bill Heiser, chief operating officer, joined by Mr. Kyle Roof, director of facilities. like to walk you through the county executive's proposed FY26 capital budget as compared to the board of education request.
067Um on this sheet you'll see that the total board request as a reminder was $24.7 million and the county executive proposed budget is $194.7 million. So a difference of just under $10 million. Overall I echo the sentiments that Mr. Stansky shared and President Silkworth shared in that we are very very satisfied and appreciative of the commitment from county executive, the county council and the state. And so we we we sit here in a very good position as it relates to this capital budget. Um there are as we go through this sheet very quickly in white you will see uh that indicates there's been no change to what was requested. um in blue indicates that there was a modification and in red indicates that the item was not funded. And so there are six items in
068blue that I'll review very quickly and one item in red. Um getting started number six priority relocatable classrooms. This was a reduction uh to $400,000 um which uh with redistricting we have not seen as high of a need for relocatable classroom funding as you can imagine as intended. And so um we're very comfortable with that change. Next is school-based replacement. Again, a reduction to $2.1 million. This still allows funding for electric infrastructure to continue at Cat South uh bus lot, which we're moving forward with. And it also provides $1.1 million for bus and van replacements. And so once again, we're in a very um still with that modest change, we're still in a very good um situation. The school bus facility lot, we still continue to look for property. We get closer and closer, but
069we're still not there yet. And as a result, it does make sense to reduce the funding there to $4.6 million while we await for that property and work hand in and glove with um with the county on that piece. the board of education program planning. Um this was an increase funding to $550,000 and so that's an addition of $250,000 for a feasibility study to take a look at replacing Glen Bernie High School. Um and so I wanted to mention that piece. Um one item was not funded that you see there in red which is additions and um once again we're very comfortable with this reduction. And again, redistricting, um, we have not seen as high a need for additions as we go forward in this upcoming year. So, it makes sense that that is reduced
070as we go forward with redistricting. Next item in blue, number 20, is upgrade various schools. And again, this is an extra $29,500. And that's for an electric sign for a Rundle High School and a Rundle Middle School, which is much needed. So, that increase um also makes sense in that area. And athletic facility improvements was another um change, which is the last item I'll speak to, and that's $100,000 um increase for Chesapeake High School's fieldhouse to support that piece. In terms of the Old Mill master plan, you'll see in this budget that again, fully funded to help finish that program out finish out our master plan, which we're really excited about. And again, very pleased with the situation that we're in at the moment. And so with that, um, that's the update. Again, Mr. Roof
071and I are here to answer any questions that you may have for the capital budget. Uh, Dr. Tobin, thank you. Thank you for walking us through that. You answered all my questions, Dr. Heiser. I appreciate it. Uh, I just wanted to add another comment, uh, really for the public that's listening out there. I get questions all the time about, uh, why are we really doing this redistricting? And I would urge uh folks who follow such matters to actually take a look at this budget and see that uh we are opening up some space uh where we we aren't having to uh worry as much about some of these reductions in a tougher time because uh we're not facing the kind of space issues that we would be facing if we weren't in the process of
072redistricting. So, thank you to you and your your staff. Thank you uh Mr. Stansky and and and Miss Camello, all of the staff uh for this incredible work and I think uh Dr. Bedell, it's a testament to the work you've done uh in your time here and uh your staff uh the trust that the county executive uh and I hope the county council will place in us. uh when funders decide to give you money, they really want to know that it will produce good results uh that they can demonstrate to their constituents. And I think we continue to do that with your leadership, Dr. Bedell, and uh uh the support of this board. And so, thank you everyone. Uh Michelle Han, yes, thank you for um walking us through that. I don't know if you're
073also going to walk through the the six-year plan. I have some questions about that piece, like the zeroed out lines. Do any of I just my question's really general. um do any of those ones that are zeroed out and it looks like not for FY26 for any of them beyond what you've already gone through, but um are you worried at all about the zeroing out of some of the other stuff like the like the Ruth Parker Een feasibility design uh strategic facility study there's um there's one or two others playgrounds um those sorts of things. Are you is any of that worrying to you? I think on a on a general basis, the six-year plan provides us a baseline to work off of to start for next year's process. Um, as with every fiscal year,
074we go back and reset the deck. And u you're likely to find that those projects that were zeroed out will get moved back up in our request for next year because we we deem those important and essential to move forward. So, um, it gives us a baseline. Um, it's a six-year plan. Every year we look at it. Okay. I just I mean, it's been a year, so, you know, I don't really remember as much red in previous years as I do as I as I see before me now. Um, the only other thing that I'll mention is obviously the sustainability stuff, which we know if we do more sustain I don't have to explain this to you. More sustainability um features uh lowers not not raises them. So, um I'm hoping just you know for
075the general public for all of us here that we continue to pursue these sorts of things. Thank you. Okay, I'm seeing no more lights. Thank you all. Great job everybody. Thank you budget folks. [Applause] Okay, we're going to be moving on to uh some of our consent items. Award of contracts. Do I hear a motion to bundle motion to amend the contract of awards? Award of contracts. Second, consensus. Okay, we have consensus. Dr. Bedell. Thank you, Mr. President. The superintendent recommends that the board of education authorize the award of contracts under the consent items numbered 6.01 through 6.04. So moved here second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Uh any discussion? Miss H. Miss Dent I. Dr. Tobin. Hi. Miss McDermott. Hi. Miss Pium. Hi. Miss Shawheim. I Miss McFarland. Hi, Mr. Silkworth.
076I Motion passes 70. Okay. Uh, now we're going to move on to some action items. Uh, 7.01, administrative personnel appointments. Dr. Burdell. Mr. President, the superintendent recommends that the personnel listed on the attached sheet be promoted in or appointed as discussing executive close. So moved. Second. Okay, we have a motion, a second. Do we have any discussion? Seeing their license miss, Dr. Tobin. Hi, Miss McDermott. Hi, Miss Pian. Hi, Miss Shawheim. Hi, Miss McFarland. Hi, and Mr. Silkworth. I motion passes 70. Okay. Item 7.02, personnel. Dr. Bedell. Mr. President, the superintendent recommends that the board approve the actions as stipulated on the attached sheets. So moved. Second. Uh, we have a motion and a second. Um discussion seeing no lights. Miss How Miss Dent Hi, Dr. Tobin. Hi. Miss McDermott. Hi. Miss Pium. Hi. Miss
077Shellheim. Hi. Miss McFarland. Hi. Mr. Silkworth. I. Motion passes. 70. All right. We're going to move on to uh item 7.03 on third reading of student conduct code JCC. All right. With uh Grace Wilson coming up. Um, before we get to this item, I do want to make a uh a public correction on an omission. I forgot to mention that Senator Pam Bidle was one of the original sponsors of this bill and I wrote her name down and then just skipped over it. So, for the record, I wanted to make sure that I also acknowledged her as one of the people that helped to get that uh legislation that just recently was signed uh moving. And now we will have Grace to come up. Um we are at this point recommending approval of policy JCC
078subject to correction for style and format. Thank you, Dr. Bedell. Good afternoon, President Silkworth, Vice President Dent, and members of the board. For the record, I'm Grace Wilson, senior specialist for legislation and policy for the district. As Dr. Bedell said, policy JCC, student conduct, is before you this afternoon on third reading for final adoption. As a friendly reminder, this policy is being updated at the request of staff to reference restorative practices and as well as student conduct and discipline. And with that, I'd be happy to take any questions you have on this policy. Michelle Hunt at the appropriate time. I have a motion. Is it appropriate? Great. Move to adopt this policy. Thank you. Second. Okay. So, we have a motion and we have a second. Do we have any discussion? Miss P. I I
079just want to thank the CAC. Um, I was thankful enough to be a part of the meeting when they had the discussions and going into the the rooms and having folks from all different parts of our community. They're so thoughtful and really took the time to go through this and I learned a lot from them during that discussion. Um, so just thank you for all you do. It really does make a difference to have the community be a part of our our process. Thank you. So seeing no more lights I think so Miss Jent I Dr. Tobin I Miss McDermott hi Miss Pium I Miss Shawheim Hi Miss McFarland Mr. Silkworth I motion passes 70 great thank you Miss Wilson um other action item 7.04 Gan Farms Maryland Historic Trust easement Commitment Letter Dr. Bedell.
080Thank you Mr. President. The superintendent recommends approval of the Gian Farms Maryland Historic trust easement commitment letter second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Do we have any discussion? Seeing no lights, Miss H. Miss Dent. Hi. Dr. Tobin. I. Miss McDermott. Hi. Miss Pium. Hi. Miss Shawheim. Hi. Miss McFarland. Hi. And Mr. Silkworth. I. Motion passes 70. We're now up to item 7.05, 05 our fourth quarter operating budget supplemental and fund transfer for fiscal year 2025 and welcome back Mr. Stansky. All right. So as he's sitting um he will present Mr. Stansky will present the fourth quarter operating budget fund transfer for FY2024 to be submitted to the county council and the superintendent recommends approval of this request. I'll pass it over to Matt Stansky now. Thank you, Dr. Badell. For the record,
081Matt Stansky, chief financial officer. Again, joined by Melissa Camila, director of budget. Uh before you is our uh annual fourth quarter transfer and supplemental with a board approval today. This will go over to the county executive and county council um to be included in their uh fourth quarter transfer bill as well. For approval, we have a total of additional $18.6 million in in new revenue. uh federal government, we're looking at uh $3.3 million over uh what we have budgeted. Again, this is just a reconciliation of the uh variety of grants that we received throughout the year. Uh $1.8 million increase in state aid. Uh mostly with our increases in non-public placements, uh that revenue going up as well. Uh $5.2 million in local revenue. Again, uh still with an elevated interest rate environment. So we've
082been budgeting conservatively on our interest rates thinking at some point interest rates will start to go down. They are not yet but so one of the benefits of that is uh getting higher returns than our on our money. So 5.2 million in additional revenue there. And then restricted revenue 8.2 million. Uh this is our healthcare fund. Um so we are seeing elevated claims especially since January. So we're dipping into the reserves a little bit on the healthcare fund to uh shore that up. We do have three more invoices to go. Hopefully, we'll see those lower a little bit and we won't have to use all this money. But, um, at the moment, we're seeing about a little over 8% increase in claims year-over-year. So, uh, the inflationary factors, uh, we'll see, uh, obviously tariffs may
083also have an impact on on the fund as well with the cost of prescriptions continuing to go up. So, we will we will continue to monitor and keep you posted, but all in 18.6 million. the exhibit has uh by state category where the funding will go. And with that uh Mr. President, I'm happy to answer any questions the board may have. Okay, I'm seeing no lights. So, we thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, we need we do need a motion. Yeah. Motion to approve. Second. Okay, we now have a motion and a second. And do we have any discussion? I'm seeing no lights again. Okay, Miss Miss Dent. Hi, Dr. Tobin. Hi, Miss McDermott. Hi, Miss Pium. Hi, Miss Shawheim. Hi, Miss McFarland. Hi, Mr. Silkworth. I Motion passes 70. Okay. So, uh item,
084uh 8.01, uh uh it's a review item, award of contracts. Are there any concerns? Seeing none, we're going to be moving on to our public uh comments on non-aggenda items. Okay, we're not going to be moving on to public uh comments. We we had one, we now have none. So, uh, having said that, um, the next meeting of this board will be on, uh, Wednesday, May 21st, 6:30 p.m. meeting here in the boardroom. Policy committee will be meeting. Is it May 13th? May 13th. It's a 3M virtual meeting. And so, do I hear a motion to second? Second. Have a great afternoon. Thank you. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]