001Good evening everyone. Uh at this time I would like to call this meeting of the board of education to order. I will ask our board members to identify themselves for the record uh as I call your name. >> William Buchanan, present. >> John Andy's >> present. William Gordy >> present. >> Elena Mccomus >> present. >> Donald Smack >> present. >> We have two members out tonight. Uh Mrs. Addis and uh Mr. Fonte. But we have a quorum. >> Can I have a motion to approve today's board meeting agenda? >> So moved. >> Second >> and a second. All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. I need a motion to enter into close session under the general provision act section 3-305B of the annotated annotated code of Maryland for the following reasons to approve close session
002minutes from the previous month and section 3-305B1 to discuss the appointment employment assignment promotion discipline demotion compensation removal, resignation or performance evaluation of appointees, employees or individuals over whom it has jurisdiction or any other personal matters that affects one or more specific individuals and section 3-305B7 to discuss legal matters. Can I have a motion to enter into close session? >> Motion. >> Can I have a second? Second. >> All those in favor? I >> We're enclosed. We are reconvening uh into open session. As we reconvene the board, this board of education open session meeting. I want to note uh that we still have a quorum. A close session meeting was held today pursuant to the General Provisions Act of 3-305B of the Annotated Code of Maryland to approve previous closed session minutes to discuss legal
003matters and to discuss uh personal matters. Uh at this time, we're going to invocation with Pastor uh Ken Ellingsson uh from Spence Baptist Church in Snow Hill will lead the invocation for us today. Please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance. Let's pray together. Father, we are thankful for this board of education and for the way you have blessed Worcester County schools in the past years and Lord, for all that you have in store for us as they begin a new school year here before long. Uh there's a lot to do uh in order to prepare for that. Uh a lot of folks have been moved to new positions and getting acclimated to that. And I just pray for peace uh to be upon this place and that they would get what needs to be
004done done and that they would leave the rest and and um to you and that with your help uh they would be ready for the school year. Bless this time tonight. We pray for wisdom as they meet and we pray in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Please be seated. Can I have a motion to approve the open session minutes from June 12th and June 17, 2025? >> So moved. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. meeting reports and our first uh new superintendence uh report on the state of the school system. Dr.
005Wallace. >> Thank you, Mr. Buchanan. I was thinking earlier how excited I was and I was thinking, did I wait my whole life for this? And then I thought, no, I didn't because I never even dreamed that this would be something possible. So, um I'm very excited. Good evening, members of the board of education, staff, families, and members of our community. It is with great enthusiasm and a deep sense of purpose that I sit before you this evening for my first official board of education meeting as your superintendent. I want to begin by thanking you, each of you, for the opportunity to serve our students, our families, and the dedicated educators and staff who make up this incredible school system, some of which are sitting in the audience today. I also want to extend my
006thanks to my predecessor, Mr. Taylor, for his mentorship and for his leadership which has brought us here today. As we look forward to a new school year, I would like to take a moment to warmly welcome the new members of our administrative teams who are stepping into leadership roles across our schools. With the timing of our previous meeting, they were not able to join us because it was on the last day of school and it was important for them to say goodbye to their students and be there to support students and families. So, I would like to just take a moment during my report to recognize them. Now, um the first person I'd like to recognize is Dr. Jod Stigler. This is Mr. Jod Stigler. If you do not know Mr. Stigler, um he was
007a I like to say the best of the best. He's a former math teacher because we're like the Marines. We're all just former former math teachers. Uh in fact, Mr. Stig Dr. Stigler took over my old classroom at Steven Decar High School when I left. So, um, he's done an excellent job as a school leader in our district, and I cannot wait to see all the great things that you're going to bring to Poker McG Middle School. Uh, the next person that I want to introduce is also no stranger to us, Dr. Danielle Jackson. Um, who also is is a former Steven Decar High School student when I was there. Um, and she is now the proud principal of Buckingham Elementary School, back to being a Bucky Bear where she started. Uh, and I could
008not be more excited. I I can tell you it's a full circle moment as an educator when you get to see students that were students when you were a teacher and then them leading our next generation of students. So I'm so grateful for her leadership. Um and then we have three other newcomers. Miss Elizabeth Barry and she will be leading at Pokamoke Middle School alongside Mr. Jod Stigler. Elizabeth is also no stranger to us. She returned to Wester County and and she was at the beginning of her career. She was here as a teacher. Uh Mr. Chris Atkins. Uh we had Pastor Ken come pray just for you. No, I'm just kidding. No, I'm just kidding. Chris Chris goes to my church and that was our minister earlier, but uh Chris and I worship at
009the same place. But uh Chris has been an excellent outstanding leader in our schools. Um and and I think Chris is a great testament to you don't have to be an administrator to be a leader because Chris has been a leader for a long time at Snowhill High School and so we look forward to his continued leadership. Um and I know he's going to do a great job. And then Ashley Miller who is with Daniel Jackson, but she is actually at a family event tonight. And as we say in Wester County, family comes first. So she is there at an event with her family. So welcome to all of you and board members. I just wanted you to put a face to a name in case you didn't know. Uh alongside of these leaders, I
010will also be bringing forward a recommendation to the board to name a new local accountability coordinator who I will proudly welcome and announce at uh after hopefully you approve. These individuals round out an outstanding team of leaders who not only bring experience and passion to the table, but they bring a shared vision for educational excellence, equity, and student centered leadership. We are thrilled to have them and we look forward to the positive impact they will make in their respective school communities. As we move forward together, our team remains deeply committed to our core mission of providing every student with a highquality education that supports the development of the whole child. Our goal is for every student to graduate with a clear path forward, whether that be a skilled trade, the military, or higher education. We
011know that this work begins long before a child steps into our early education classrooms. And we are ready for the challenges before us. We will reach our overarching goal by establishing rigorous goalposts along the way. The first of which is ensuring that every student in our schools is reading on grade level by the end of grade three. And you will hear more about that as a community um and as board members as we move forward over the summer and into the fall. How do we achieve this? We achieve this by ensuring that every student is known by name, by strength, and by need. This guiding principle will anchor every decision that we make. and is a reminder that behind every test score and behind every data point is a child with dreams and potential. Behind
012every classroom is a community of learners who deserves to be seen, supported, and empowered. And together with our educators, families, board members, and community partners, we will continue to create a school system where all students thrive. I'm honored to lead this work beside you and I look forward to all that we're going to accomplish together. Thank you, Mr. B. >> Thank you, Dr. Wallace. That was that was a a great first rundown of what you're going to be doing for us. Uh, and now I'd like to welcome our 2025 and 2026 student reps who are joining us today to provide their uh monthly updates from our high schools. And I believe, well, let me let me introduce them first and maybe kind of stand up a little bit and do a little way. Uh, Pugmuck
013High School, uh, Kanye Reed. [Applause] Thank you. Cash von Marsh, Snow Hill High School, and Alexis Rubal, Steven Decar High School. And this is going to be your first time giving uh your school report to us today. And I think we're going to start with Kanye. >> You'll get used to it. >> Thank you, Mr. Buchanan. I'm Kanye Reid, the student representative for Bookmark High School. Let's begin with a huge congratulations to the class of 2025 achieving an outstanding 100% graduation rate. Together they will offer over 4.5 million in merit based merit-based scholarships. We are so proud of their accomplishments and can't wait to see where the future takes them. Our summer academy is off to a great start. We're offering both freshman academy and future academy for grades 10 through 12. Students are engaged
014with academ academic enrichment, designing budget friendly recipes from our community garden and participating in driver's education. We're also proud to partner with and worship connects to enhance these experiences. Several of our students are attending future high school academy at staying in college dorms for a full college experience as they prepare for their careers education. We are also celebrating incredible growth in our advanced placement program. With the release of AP scores, we saw a dramatic increase in student proficiency with almost 60% of students receiving threes, fours, and fives and several course passing rates were well above the state and global average. We are incredibly proud of our AP teachers and students for this continued success. On July 9th, we were honored to host a community schools showcase event. It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with
015families and community partners while spotlighting how community schools are driving family engagement. Our student athletes are staying active this summer with pre-season workouts preparing for the first official day of fall sports on August 13th. We're also proud to host the first of several future warrior camps at Brooklyn High School this summer led by our varsity coaches. Our community blood drive on July 10th found great success. Despite the rain, many families and community members showed up in support. Our custodians have been working hard ensuring that Irish classrooms are sparkling. We are fortunate to have an incredible custodial crew and we appreciate them greatly. Our teachers have been immersed in professional learning over the summer. Today at PHS, high school English, math, and social studies and science teachers work with Pokemon Middle School teachers in the same
016content areas and powerful vertical exercises. Learning never stops for our educators. Looking ahead, we're excited for several key events. On August 12th, we'll host Senior Warrior Day where the class of 2026 and their families will receive an overview of senior year 101. The event will include representatives from colleges, businesses, and military branches offering valuable post-secary planning support. On August 14th, the Punk High School leadership team will bring the community together with a pop-up barbecue, providing a fun and informal way to connect with students and families. Senior portrait day will take place on August 18th as we continue to celebrate our raising seniors. Our new teachers, administrators, and mentor teachers are excited to visit neighborhoods giving away book bags and school supplies on Thursday, August 21st. Then on Tuesday, August 28th, we'll welcome our incoming students
017during New Warrior Day. That same afternoon, beginning at 4 PM, we'll host our open house along with the first community drive time event of the school year. And lastly, we are proud to welcome Dr. Wallace, our new superintendent, and Dr. Record, assistant superintendent. We are we know we are in good hands and look forward to the school year ahead. We sincerely thank the board of education for its continued support of our schools and communities. Your dedication makes a world of difference for our students and staff. Now to Cashwan Marsh representing Stillhill High School. >> Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. I'm pleased to share a brief update and on the exciting work happening this summer at Snow Hill High School. Our summer academy is currently in full swing, serving 32 students through a range of
018enriching and diverse learning opportunities designed to promote academic growth, skill development, and student engagement. One of these standout features of one of the standout features of this year's program is our outdoor learning academy, which has taken students beyond the classroom to places like Public Landing, the Salsbury Zoo, and Baywater Seafood. These experiential learning trips offer hands-on opportunities to explore science, ecology, and local industries, connecting academic content with real world applications in meaningful and memorable ways. Alongside outdoor learning, we're also offering extended school year services and credit recovery courses to support students who are working to stay on track academically. For our soon to be high schoolers, the freshman seminar has been a vital part of helping rising nth grade students prepare for a confident and successful transition. We've also included targeted instruction in English and
019math aimed at strengthening foundational skills before the new school year begins. In addition, students enrolled in driver's education are taking advantage of the summer months to complete this important milestone. In preparation for the upcoming year, our dedicated school counselors, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Hilbert, have been working diligently to ensure students are placed in the right classes. Their efforts are focused on creating schedules that give every student the best opportunity to succeed academically and reach their full potential. Beyond the classroom, our athletic programs are making the most of the summer engagement period as well. The football team is training intensely in the weight in the weight room and act and actively competing in the Delmare 77 league. Our girls soccer team is maintaining a steady schedule of conditioning sessions and matches through the summer summer league.
020And the boys soccer team led by new head coach Steven Iset is showing great energy and dedication as they compete in the crown sports summer league. Other programs including baseball, volleyball, and wrestling have also seen great attendance in and enthusiasm during their summer drop in sessions. We are proud of the commitment our students and staff are showing across all programs, whether that be academic, athletic, or beyond. Snow Hill High School summer academy continues to be a val a valuable opportunity for our students to stay connected, build confidence, and prepare for a successful school year ahead. On behalf of Snow Hill High School, I'd like to thank you all for your continued support and I wish I wish you a safe and restful summer. I'll turn it over to Lexi Ruple with Decatur. >> Thank you,
021Cash. Is this With summer here, there's salt in the air and sand in our hair, but there's still a lot going on at Steven Decar High School. First, looking back, we can't help but boast about the results of our advanced placement programs this past year. After administering 517 total exams, 134 more than last year, in 25 different areas to 318 students, 68 more than last year, we can proudly say that our students had a 76% passing rate, including eight subjects which achieved a 100% passing rate. Additionally, 13 of our AP courses resulted in a passing rate percentage that exceeded both the national and global averages. We are certainly looking forward to recognizing all of our students who earned advanced placement scholar status from College Board. Congratulations are also in order to our dozens of Skills
022USA students who represented us well this summer during national competitions and who brought home medals. Currently, our summer academy is bringing a lot of excitement to the school with featured programs including trailblazing technology, adventurous art, freshman academy, mindfield management, school links, orientation, SAT preparation along with other academic programs. All participants are are gaining valuable reading, writing, communication, math, and world skills while simultaneously having fun. Our freshman academy students are not only getting acclimated to the school, but they are also participating in proactive mental health and stress management activities. Overall, our engagement is great and our feedback is even better. Steven Decar is also busy engaging future Seahawks. Our sports programs are offering youth camps and our theater department is sponsoring its annual summer camp where teachers in our current Decar thespians are busy teaching the
023basics of acting, improvising, and stunting to our younger friends. It's been fantastic welcoming rising Seahawks into our building and seeing their confidence grow. Meanwhile, on the track, courts, and fields, many of our athletes are busy weight training and doing agilities through summer months in preparation for a promising fall sports season. Last but not least, we would be remiss if we did not recognize our hardworking custodians for all they are doing to prepare for our building for a new school year. And a big shout out to our counselors for fine-tuning student schedules for the coming year. And of course, thank you, Board of Education, for your continued support of our schools. And now back over to you, Mr. Buchanan. >> Thank you. I've said it before, I'll say it again. Uh the the student reports uh
024every month uh for this uh for this board is really a a microscope of what's happening in the schools. I mean, we can have presentations up here, uh, structured presentations, but it's your reports that you're giving us, uh, that really, uh, give us the heartbeat of of what we do in Worcester County. So, thank you very much, and you did a great job first time. It is now time to recognize any audience members joining us today from the following organizations. Do we have anyone present from WCTA? >> Thank you, Beth. Did you pay her to say that? Uh, WCEES, uh, PA. >> Thank you. Thank you for being here. uh Worester County retired school personnel. Helen is also a >> Thank you, Helen. Good to see you. Are there any representatives from any of the
025other various schools today? Okay. Okay. We are moving along to uh individual comments. All individuals who have signed up to address the Wister County Board of Education may do so for one to two minutes regarding information, commendations, or concerns which may need future board attention. Concerns that are specific to an individual will not be discussed in open session and should be directed to appropriate district personnel for investigation. When you are called to address the board, please state your name and address for the board. We have no speakers. Okay, I'm going to turn this over now to uh Miss Denise Schwarz for a curriculum instruction report. >> Thank you. So, thank you so much, Mr. Buchanan. I am happy to welcome uh the prior principal of Pocamok Elementary School, now the proud principal of Snow Hill
026Middle School and the current assistant principal of Pocamok Elementary School to do their board presentation. Um Mr. Hamborski and Mr. Hoffman are here to talk about a joint project which I'm glad that Dr. Rain is also in the audience tonight. um they uh actually combined with the high school to do a project with Miss Cray around um student teach student interns at the elementary school working on intervention programs and those of you who have worked with elementary students before know that we're always looking for people who can help our students with inter intervention programs. So this is an exciting um kind of a pilot that they worked on. Um but Mrs. Crince did a wonderful job and we want to thank her um for helping out and Dr. Rain, thank you for your leadership and
027helping out with this too. Uh but Pokamok Elementary is going to share their experience and hopefully um shed some insight on how it uh the data helped us. you're guiding me in the right direction, my new role, and I'm proud to serve underneath you as well. All right, so um this is a brief broad overview, a very zoomed out lens, and a lot of hard work from both the elementary school and high school. Um, so the goal of the program was to empower future educators while enriching our students. And so the overview here is that we wanted to support elementary students by giving the high school students while giving the high school students authentic hands-on introduction to teaching and learning. And so that would not be possible without the part the partnership with the high
028school. So we've done this the last two years. Um it is organized by the leadership of Pocamok High School and Mrs. Cray. And a special thank you to Dr. Rain um for all the work that she put in in place to create the partnership between Pocomoke High School and Salsbury University because it's not only benefiting her students, it's benefiting the students at the elementary school as well now as well as the teachers at the elementary school. So this is just a brief um overview of the course. Salsbury University one one credit led by Miss Amanda CR and she collaborated with Mr. Huffman quite a bit. Um the course goals are orientation related to get folks ready for the teaching profession. Introduce them. >> I'll take that one. >> I was lucky enough to have worked
029at Pokemook High School and know Miss CR personally. So to be able to uh partner with her on this and just support her any way I could was really really great. Uh students got eight hours of direct tutoring with the high school students. Um and that was every single week. The high school students also collaborated with some of the mentor teachers in our building. Their focus areas were relationship building, instructional engagement strategies, and professional conduct. I can attest that the relationship building was authentic and real. your turn. >> And so this is the the timeline was September 24th is when the students started with us and then November 22nd things concluded. But on Mondays, and this kind of evolved, our first year, Pocamok High School students were at our school for on all five days.
030And it evolved um that the students at Pocamok High School stayed at Pocamok High School, did the lesson planning, the journaling with Miss CR, and then came to deliver lessons Tuesday through Fridays, the academic tutoring sessions. Lot of planning and preparation of which kids and all those sorts of things. So, we're going to get into that a little bit. So, um big shout out to my wife, Mrs. Sam Borski because she trained all of the high school students on a few different things. Um the main being the 100 book challenge toolkits and basically what those are are very school skillfocused um mini lessons that the high school students delivered to the elementary students. And so that was in collaboration, the the skills were determined by our curriculum resource teacher and our classroom teachers in collaboration
031with Mrs. Hambori. And on this on the math side, we determined that do the math was a little bit more scripted of a program, a little bit more fitting for our high school students to take um take on. And Mrs. Blackburn provided that professional learning to um these students of Poke High School in which they in turn delivered to our students. So there was significant student impact. Uh Mr. Hamborski and I tried to get through the area where they tutored as often as we could. Some of the things that we noticed were our students were coming to us and telling us how happy they were to be tutored and how much they look forward to seeing these high school students every week. Uh the lessons were uh easily accessible. The high school students once they
032got once they got the hang of it, they were really rolling really well. Um and then the tutors were able to build like I said really strong rapport with the students. What we were hoping to see next steps if we continue to do this would be to strengthen the rigor a bit with these tutors. And then we would like to be able to implement some data tracking more closely aligned with the tutoring rather than broader data tracking. >> And so the data we're going to show you is beginning of the year to end of the year, not the November 22nd kind of thing. Um but significant impact. Um however as we think forward we would like to hopefully if I have any kind of say in it anymore um track um the actual power goal
033achievement and the data points around that which we could see some just more doubt and impact. So in second grade um of the 13 students sorry we had 25 total students that were tutor tutored by 17 high school students. of the 13 students receiving the tutoring services, 10 ended the school year reading at or above grade level. Um, that's huge. Like that's a really big deal. Um, all 13 students began the year below grade level showing at least one year's growth, one level. Um, and most progressing from beyond and outside of that second grade level, which is that 1 R and 2 R. Our third grade students also did a great job. Of the 12 that participated, 10 met their annual typical growth targets. Seven of those also met their annual stretch growth. Huge deal.
034Um our third grade data is looking good. Again, you'll see that in some reports coming up. Um but by the end of the year, nine of 12 of the students were reading on grade level demonstrating. And Dr. Wallers, we're going to have a mall. There's it's going to be a mall. Okay. We're getting there. Um but really big successes. >> So really quickly um it was unique for me having known some of these high school students that were coming over having worked there. I already had a relationship with a lot of these students and got to speak with them personally and some of the reflections they shared were um this reaffirm my desire to teach. That was huge. Uh, I learned how important connection and structure are for kids and I now see how teachers
035wear many hats. Mentor, motivator, planner, and more. I think that was the most repeated phrase from these high school students. And then again, some things um, moving forward, what we would like to see would be to continue to expand the program. Love to be able to have more students working with high school students working with our students. uh continue to strengthen that collaboration between the schools. I can't tell you how um much I appreciate Miss CR, Dr. Rain for just continuing to work with us on this. And to add pre and post student assessment data like uh Mr. Ambborski was saying, we also need to shout out just all the hard work Miss CR and those high school students were doing. Um and we'll continue to align it with the board of ed strategic goals.
036Thank you. And any questions? We appreciate your support. >> Any comments? >> Dr. Andes, >> I I just want to thank you and commend you for this outstanding program and innovation and Dr. Rain, thank you so much for making it happen. I can't imagine the scheduling challenges that it took to make this all work and especially helping us build the next generation of teachers. And that's critically important because we have a teacher shortage. And I commend you for making that happen. I commend you for getting these high school students in classrooms working with students. What I also heard you say is the students that they're working with at Pocamok Elementary School have some significant challenges in learning the English language. And the data that you provided shows a significant difference that's being made each and
037every day. great program and I just want to recognize the fact that you partnered with Salsbury University. You partnered with Salsbury University which is a great university to partner with celebrating its 100th year anniversary. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> I just wanted to um make a couple brief comments. Um thanking Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Horski and Dr. Rain for their leadership. Um I can remember when Dr. Ring came with me came to me several years ago with the idea to get sort of this ball rolling. Um they were they are a great example of community schools before community schools existed. This program is a perfect example of what happens in community schools and what makes Worester County Public Schools such a special place. Um every board member sitting here tonight has
038been a part of the education system. So you understand the training that goes into when we say they trained our students on 100 book and do the math. Um that's incredible. Our students are powerful people. Our students three of them are sitting here before you today. Two of the three of them want to become teachers. Um as Dr. Andy's pointed out such a such a important thing for us to be growing your own. Many of the leaders I show I introduced tonight are products of our school system. Um, and this is just one creative solution um, in how we're going to meet our goals of getting every kid on grade level because we're always asked to do more maybe with a little bit less or do more with what you have. Um, and and I
039always said at Pok High School and Dr. Rain and Mr. Hoffman both worked for me and so they heard me say this a million times, constraints make us better. So they took zero resources and they made it into something really special. So I congratulate all of you. Um, and super proud of these little friends up here who met who met their reading goals. So, great work. >> Thank you. We look forward to more partnerships with Pokemok High School and this isn't the first and it won't be the last. They've provided mentors. Dr. Reigns worked with with our schedule and so we're super thankful of the partnership. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We look forward to carrying >> on to Snow Hill Elementary School. That's what I'm the partnerships going on in the Snow Hill
040community. Thank you, Mr. Hamborski. Thank you, Mr. Hoffman. Also, >> Miss Schwarz, uh the blueprint. Uh >> yes, >> the blueprint update. Yes. >> So, um again, just keeping the board up to date or where we are with the blueprint this month. Um Dr. app did turn in his career ladder um um schedule on time on July 1st. So, we're looking forward to having some feedback on that. Um also, as far as our blueprint plan, again, just a friendly reminder that that is a plan that does not need to be revised till 2027, but we will have a three-hour conference um with Dr. Wallace and about 14 members of Worcester County uh public schools central office staff will accompany her to Annapapolis sometime in October we signed up for with the AIB staff and someone
041named um Tiara Booker Dwire. I don't know if anyone has had the pleasure and I mean pleasure to work with her before. She's a very talented educator that the AIB has um very wisely contracted to help guide these conferences. So, um we have received a conference guide that is rather vague at this point, but we're hoping for this three-hour conference. Um we will guide them through our five pillars and um as usual, just um impress them with the progress that we're making on our plan. So, as soon as we know what date out of the three that we submitted in October that they'll ask us to join them in Annapolis, we will let you know. Um, but um that's that's the way they're going to run the um revisions to the plan this year. Um
042so, if anyone has any questions on that process or any board member would like to join us for those conferences, they're welcome to. >> Okay. Schwarz. >> Yeah. No, no, nobody want to get in the van. >> We'll get back to you on that. >> Okay, thank you. That concludes curriculum. >> For the record, for the record, I did attend two blueprint MSD updates. >> Thank you. >> And represented the board of the entire board. So, I will say that this board owes me >> not. >> Thank you, Dr. Andes opinion. Yeah, it would it would be our observation that you've done such a wonderful job that you just keep right on. >> Yeah, >> he was wonderful on that. >> I'll be glad to put that. >> Thank you, Mr. Buchanan. Back to you.
043>> Okay. U personnel exhibit. Uh Dr. Dr. Abs. >> Thank you, Mr. Buchanan. Um for your consideration this month, we have your July U personnel exhibit. uh retirements for July. Dawn Barrett, teacher at um Berlin Intermediate School. Uh our new hires, we have Hattie Brittingham, custodian 2 here at central office. John Brittingham, cafeteria manager at Snow Hill Middle School. Kalishia Connor, educational assistant at Snow Hill Middle School. Taj Cotton, educational assistant at Pokemook Middle School. Kayla Figueroa, the community school liaison at Snow Hill Middle School. Timothy Height, educational assistant, Cedar Chapel Special School. Paula Holden, educational assistant, Po High School. Donald Johnson, custodian 2, Pocamok High School. George Schoolfield, custodian 2, Po Middle School. Ann Marie Cip, educational assistant at Ocean City Elementary School. Glenn Young, custodian 2 at Stephven Decar Middle School. Separations for
044the month of July. Kathleen Algra, teacher at Snow Hill Middle School. Gavin Beichchum, systems technician, Poke Middle School. Kevin Bull, custodian 2, Po Middle School. Dewan Edwards, custodian 2 central office. Lauren Galloway, school nurse, Pocamoke Middle School. Katherine Gosser, school nurse at Cedar Chapel Special School. Grace Heimer, educational assistant, Buckingham Elementary School. Kristen Lee, educational assistant, Cedar Chapel Special School. Ashley Marsh, teacher, Pokemoke Elementary School. Jerry Maddingley Freeman, teacher, Snow Hill Middle School. Amberly Ortel, teacher, Pokemoke Elementary School. Maria Streett, teacher at Shall Elementary School. Kalen Wyatt, school social worker at Pokemok Elementary School. Leave of absence. Illana Casino, teacher, foreign language is rescending a leave of absence. You saw that name come before you last month. So, she's asking to come back from a leave of absence. Um, Amanda Fairman, teacher from Berlin Intermediate
045School, is asking for a leave of absence. Um, also leave of absence, Andrea Kimonis, teacher at Shall Elementary School. Promotions for your consideration. Connor Pace, teacher at Snow Hill High School. Janica Johnson, community school liaison at Snow Hill Elementary School. Maria Jordan, teacher at Pokemoke Elementary School, and Jennifer McDow, coordinator of accountability and assessment at the central office. The superintendent recommends approval of the personnel exhibit as presented. >> Can I have a motion to approve the personnel exhibit as presented? >> Motion, Mr. Smack. Second. >> Second. >> Mr. Gordy, second. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. >> Thank you, Dr. Eth. Um, I did want to take the opportunity because I I didn't want to do this before you approved it. So, I want to introduce Miss Jen McDow. Um, we are so
046excited to welcome her to the team. Uh, something probably unique about me is I like to take my resources and work with my team um to figure out how we can best align our resources to meet our goals. Uh, and we had a position, Miss Rebecca Henderson, uh, who has served in a just tremendous capacity for our school district, um, retire. And, um, upon her retirement, we have spent months, uh, trying to figure out what our goals were going to be for next school year and then how we could choose the perfect person for this position. Um, and when we think about our early reading, um, goals and and make and knowing that being on grade level by third grade starts at birth, um, she is the perfect fit for this job. So, we reassigned
047some responsibilities. We took the constraints that we had, um, and we made, uh, we reshuffled some things. And so, we are so excited for the talent that she's going to bring to this team. She's been a district reading coach for us, so she's led work in our district before. Um, and we're just so excited to have her expertise on our team. So, if you don't know Jen, here she is. And we we welcome you. So, thank you, Jen, for being here tonight. [Applause] It's still me, I believe. >> Yes, you were going. Okay. Um before the board, we have the opportunity uh to reappoint Heather Stansberry, our current um board attorney from the law firm of heirs Jenkins, Gordy, and Almond as our attorney for Wester County Public Schools for the school year 2526. The
048recommendation from the superintendent is to approve the reappoint of our current board member, Miss Heather Stansberry. Can I have a motion to approve the reappoint of board attorney Heather Stanbury for the 202526 school year? >> So moved. Thank you, Heather. >> Elena Mccomus a second. >> Second, >> Mr. Smack. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. >> And may I just say we're extremely fortunate to have Miss Stansbury as our board attorney. She is outstanding, phenomenal, and I hope she stays for a very long time with us. >> Thank you. >> Next, I'd like to invite our transportation manager, Miss Kim Heiser, to come forward as we're going to be asking for approval of a bus contractor replacement. >> Good evening. Uh Dr. Dr. Wallace, when you were doing your remember wins and people
049will be we be appointed um Dr. Danielle Jackson might have been a Bucky Bear but she was also a Snow Hill Eagle and she happened to be in a kindergarten class that I worked with. So now I'm feeling my age. >> She was in high school when I had her in my >> I look forward to working with Dr. Jackson in her new position. Um today you have an exhibit to uh for recommendation for replacement bus contractor uh a Snow Hill area bus contractor, Mr. Danny Hudson is retiring his contract uh after 47 years of service. He has served u proudly. His uh family a few years back Danny had a medical situation and he's not been able to drive his bus but his family has maintained the contract and uh Desire Sneed has been
050very key in that happening. And so we would like to recommend Desire Sneed as a replacement contractor for Mr. Hudson's contract. And the superintendent recommends approval of this exhibit as presented. >> Can I have a motion and a second to approve the replacement of bus contractor exhibit as presented? >> So moved. >> Dr. Andes second. >> Second. >> Bill Gordy. All those in favor? >> Opposed. Motion carries. >> Thank you, Miss Heiser. If you would do me the honor of thanking Mr. Danny Hudson and his family for transporting me and many many other students safely to um our schools for it looks like 47 years, but I I wasn't riding the bus then because I'm not that quite that old. But please thank Mr. Danny and his family for his service. Um he was the
051first face I saw coming into our school system and and our bus contractors are are an integral part of our school system for that reason. >> He's a tremendous asset has been >> he is to the community. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next, I'd like to invite Mr. Sam Slaken, our maintenance and operations manager, to the podium. We're going to be asking for an approvement of easement between Buckingham Elementary School, Wester County Public Schools in the town of Berlin. Good evening. Before you, you have a utility easement that was uh brought to the Wester County Board of Education by the Town of Berlin uh as part of their water, storm water, and waste management improvements on West Street. Uh the easement will provide a larger um easement than what was originally there uh to
052uh install a pumping station to assist with u wastewater uh removal for the town of Berlin. Um Mr. Joe Price and myself uh met with uh town of Berlin in early 2025, worked out the details, figured out exactly where they wanted to put the easement. Um, so on behalf of the superintendent, we recommend approval of the easement of the uh with the town of Berlin and Worcester County Public Schools. >> Okay. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the easement with the town of Berlin Berlin as presented? >> Motion, >> Mr. Smack. Motion. Second. >> Second. And then I have a question. >> Uh, John Andy's my question is, um, Mr. We're building a new school there and I want to make sure this the the easement will not interfere with the
053construction or staging or the location of the new school. >> It will not. We Mr. Price and I took great care to ensure that this would not affect any part of the new construction. >> Thank you. We have a motion on the table uh with a second. All those approve. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Okay, moving right along on the uh school improvement advisory committee. Uh Mrs. D. Schwarz. >> Yes. Um thank you, Mr. Buchanan. In front of you, you should have a list of the recommendations for school improvement advisory SCIA committees that are annually each July submitted to the superintendent's office for your review. So, we just wanted to give you an opportunity to review those lists. And again, this is for review. >> Okay. >> Does anyone have any questions? >> Any questions?
054It's not a motion agenda, so >> correct. Just a review. >> Okay. >> Please let us know if you do. >> Now, for the first time, Dr. uh Matt Record, safety report. Thank you, Mr. Buchanan. For the July safety report, we're pleased to share three key updates. The 202425 safety committee held its final meeting in June to plan for the calendar year. Uh in the upcoming meet, upcoming weeks, all of those meetings should be scheduled and county uh excuse me, committee me committee members will be notified. Uh we're pleased to announce that Worcester County Public Schools has applied for a competitive Department of Justice grant. The uh application focuses on enhancing front vestibule security at our older schools and upgrading video surveillance and camera assistance systems. Dr. Cook and his team did lead the effort
055and planning is underway for the annual Worester County Public Schools safety conference in partnership and in great partnership with the Worester County Sheriff's Office. pre-planning and agenda setting um and meetings with the sheriff office have begun um and leading up to the event on July 28th and 29th. And uh there is certainly a lot of work to be accomplished this summer, but we are up for the challenge. Back to you, Mr. Buchanan. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh any any questions from board members in regard to this? Okay. Thank you, Dr. Ryder. Uh physical operations. Uh Mr. Vince Tolbert. >> Yes, Mr. Kenny. Thank you. I have a couple items tonight. The first one is uh Mr. Sam's going to come up. Uh there's many projects going on in the schools in the summer and one
056major construction project we have going on this summer is the replacement roof at Pukamok Elementary School and Mr. Sikum has an update on that and a request for uh payment of requisition number one. Before you, I have uh update number one and requisition number one uh for your consideration and approval uh for the Poke Elementary School roof project. Um and first uh before I go any further, I'm not Joe Price. I miss Joe Price very much every day and I will do my best to do this report justice. uh work began in earnest um in early May um even before school had let out on the roof replacement at uh Pokemoke Elementary School to ensure that we will be complete and ready for the start of school in September. Uh we we began by replacing
057roof drains on weekends, removing uh the stone from the roof uh prior to the end of school and we started staging materials on site in uh the middle of May. the day that school ended, the a that afternoon, contractors were on site beginning uh demolition of the first phase of the uh roof replacement project. Um we'll go through some of the photos here uh that sort of highlight uh the progress that's been made so far. Um the team from Garland and their contractors have done a great job of keeping us on schedule. We are slated to be done before school ends or before school starts, excuse me. Uh so we will should have no impact uh to education. Um here is a picture looking from south or yeah from south to north um on the
058roof um just prior to uh any of the demolition. Um this is the gym roof area. All the demo has been complete on there to date. All of the insulation put back down and both layers of the base sheets uh have been uh installed. We also have some of the materials that are staged on site on the playground area uh and ready for use um as the construction continues. Um forklift um raising some materials up to the roof, some additional uh you know materials and then construction working uh working on from back to front uh on the replacement of the roof there at the school. more photos of the same work. Uh again, some of the gym and then some of the area across the back of the school working back to front to replace
059the roof. And then again, you know, more of the same. So, with that, on behalf of the superintendent, we recommend approval of requisition number one for the Pocomoke Elementary School uh roof replacement in the amount of 1,584,3140. >> Can I have a motion and a second to approve the Pokemook Elementary School roof replacement requisition number one as presented? >> Motion, Mr. Smack. Second. >> Second. >> Miss Mccomomas, second. All those in favor? question. >> Oh, qu I'm sorry. >> No, I just I'm I'm curious. We have had so much rain and they have been able to work through that. >> They have taken full advantage of the days that we have had good weather. They work long uh long days. They are working weekends. They are taking advantage of every weather opportunity that we have.
060>> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? That being uh we have a motion and a second to approve uh the replacement. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. None. Motion carries. >> Thank you. Thanks, Sam. Uh the next item I have, Mr. Buchanan, is just a federal funding update for the board. Uh Car's going to pull up a spreadsheet for me in a second. Um but I just want to take a few minutes to provide the board an update on federal grants. Uh on June 30th, the US Department of Education issued us email indicating it was reviewing funding for certain ESSA programs that Congress had already funded for FY25. Uh on July 10th, I participated in a Zoom call with Dr. Carrie Wright, the state superintendent. Uh she shared that title
061funding programs were still being reviewed at the federal level and the MSD still has not received grant awards for several programs. I've included a sheet that shows a potential FY26 impact to our school system of $1,615,610. [Music] Now, this is potential impact. Programs are being reviewed. Best case scenarios, they'll release the money in a couple weeks and we'll get the funding, but there's possibility they may not. So, on the spreadsheet on the screen and you have in your board packet, I just listed the programs that are impacted. Uh, title one part C, which does not have any impact on us. Title two part A we have budgeted $226,745 for FY26. Title three part A which is um language acquisition I think that's $20,553. Title 4 part A is $168,312. And the biggest impact for us
062right now is title 4 B which is after school summer programs. We have three separate grants this year that we were getting at $400,000 each. That's an impact of $1.2 $2 million on our after school and summer school programs if that funding is not released. So that's a total of $1,615,610 that's being reviewed. We have no idea when it's going to be released. And also we found out a couple weeks ago with our title one funding um it was released uh preliminary aid about $400,000 less than what we received in FY25, less than what we had budgeted. So right now we're looking at a potential impact of a little over $2 million to our restricted budgets next year. But it's potential. Hopefully it won't be nearly as bad as what's shown here. But the executive
063team, the superintendent, we have already started talking about things that we may have to do, steps that we may take to absorb these kind of cuts if they were to happen. We wanted to keep the board in the loop. So any questions from the board or >> Yes, Dr. Indies. Dr. Andy's. No, Mr. Tolbert, I thank you for that update. It's it's ironic that when we think about it, uh 60 years ago, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was first approved in 1965, signed into law by President Johnson at a time when when he signed in in that act into law, his elementary school teacher was sitting next to him and at the White House. Uh over the last 60 years, uh the Elementary and Secondary Education Act has been reauthorized about every five to
064seven years, depending upon when Congress gets around to it. It's been reauthorized by predominant Democrats, predominant Republicans, and so forth and so on. But every five to seven years, it gets reauthorized. my memory, this is the very first time that any of the money that's been allocated through this program, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, has been sequestered or delayed in having those monies flowed to the state. So under the act what happens is the federal dollars flow to the state in our case MSDE and MSD uses a funding formula to reallocate that money to local school systems as Mr. toolberg can attest to it's has significant accountability and anyone here who works in a title one school who's gone through a title one audit knows and understands the significant accountability that comes with those
065dollars that come to our school system over the last decade plus uh the again every time the ES elementary secondary education act is reauthorized they changed the name so as an example if You all recall No Child Left Behind. That was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act version 2001. Today we call it Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA. That's the Elementary and Secondary Education Act version 2015, I believe. Uh so the reauthorization, as Mr. Tolbert pointed out the total dollar amount there is about $2.1 million and that money goes directly to support students who are in need. So if you have a student at Pocamok Elementary, Snow Hill Elementary or Buckingham Elementary, those dollars flow right into those schools and those dollars are at risk are at risk. So I thank Mr. Tolbert for his
066update. I hope we can have this resolved so those dollars can move forward. It's my understanding that the email was sent out on June 30th, like three or four hours before the money was supposed to be dispersed to all 50 states. So all 50 states are impacted by this, not just Maryland's being impacted by it and has significant implications for all school public school systems across the United States. In addition, as Mr. Tolbert pointed out, the after-school program has been a key to our success because it provides an opportunity for our students who need that extra support and extra help or they need that enrichment. It provides those students in those afterchool programs with needed additional time to make a difference in their lives. So, I'm hoping this can be resolved very quickly. And as
067we recall, on April the 28th, 2025, our board of education sent a letter to uh Senator Alsbrook, Senator Van Holland, and Congressman Harris pointing out the various programs that we receive, federal dollars from the federal government and the critical importance of those dollars. So, again, I'm hoping it can be resolved. It impacts directly on our students, especially those students at Pocamok Elementary, Snow Hill Elementary, and Buckingham Elementary, which are our three Title One schools. Thank you. >> Any other questions from the board? >> We'll continue to provide updates as we receive them. >> Okay. >> Thanks, Dr. >> U. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the June 30th, 2025 uh monthly financial report as presented? >> Can I read the total first? >> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yes. Yes. I'm
068just jumping. I'm just jumping the gun. >> I'm ready to go, too, sir. Let's get out of here. You know, >> just fill in the blank. The superintendent recommends approval of the monthly financial report for the month of June with non-sary expenditures of 5,63,41255. Superintendent recommends approval as presented. >> Can I have a motion? Motion >> and a second to approve the June 30th, 2025 monthly financial report as presented. Second >> in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. >> Okay. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. You're welcome, Mr. And now I'd like to open up the floor uh to my fellow board members uh in the event uh that you would have any comments. >> Dr. Andy's. >> Um three areas. One, I want to thank all those teachers and adviserss who
069accompanied our students to national competitions. Thank you so much for making those those opportunities possible for our students to compete nationally, whether it's in Georgia or California or wherever it happened to be. That's a wonderful opportunity for our students to be in places, get on a plane, so forth and so on, compete and have those wonderful experiences. So those teachers, adviserss, their families, whoever went on those trips, whoever made it possible, whoever financed those trips, our community business leaders, I thank you. Uh second, thank you to the staff at Pocamok Elementary School because you picked up your school for the summer and moved it to Pocamok Middle School because we're putting the roof on. I know that's not easy. and the custodial staff at Pocamok Elementary School is cleaning up that school while they're putting
070a roof on. And that's that's a huge undertaking. So, thank you to Pocamok Elementary School for making that possible and for Pocamok Middle School for hosting the the the summer program at Pocamok Elementary School. And uh we've had the opportunity to go out and visit our summer school programs. I want to thank our bus contractors, our cafeteria workers, our custodians, our office staff, our teachers, our leaders, Tamber Mills here from the central office coordinating everything, our principles, so forth and so on to make all of this possible. All of this possible for our students to have a a fabulous summer experience. And finally, I want to correct our superintendent who said that mathematics was a critical content area. And I just want to point out that social studies social studies is the only content area
071that studies the human experience. Whereas in mathematics there's always a problem. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you Dr. Andes. >> Mr. Gordy. >> Thank you. Hey, I would just like to say how proud and pleased we are to have our new superintendent and her wonderful leadership team in place. Uh we're excited to have uh things continue to grow and excel as they have and and thank you Dr. Wallace for all your hard work. You you've played a strong role in getting us this far and we continue we hope to continue forward. So thank you so much. >> I'd like to say the same thing Dr. Andes and Buddy here. Thank you. We all love you and God bless you. >> Okay, >> oh your turn. >> No, it is my turn. And >> I
072hadn't planned to do this in public, but um it's been such a joy working with you. It has been such a joy getting to know you and it has been absolutely amazing to watch you work. Um, I can only see great things happening from this point on and honestly I love you very much. Thank you, >> Dr. Walls. Yes. Um, so I realized about I guess like threequarters of the way through the meeting when they were saying the superintendent. Oh, there we go. I'm on live now. Um, so I realized about threequarters of the way through the meeting people kept looking at me and saying the superintendent. I realized that they were saying the superintendent and that was me. So, so it was exciting because I was like, "Oh, that's why they keep looking at
073me when saying she recommends approval for." So, I want to again thank the board for your for your trust and for your support and I will certainly take all of your continued prayers as we um as we go through this journey together with such a wonderful um executive team and and so many of my wonderful team members who who are here tonight in the audience. Um we are going to change things up a bit. So, normally Mr. Taylor would read a lot of dates and times. Um and what we have done is we have just put upcoming events in your folder. So, please check your folder for for upcoming events that we would love for you to join us at if possible. And back to you, Mr. B. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Wallace. >>
074I think some people out there want to hear them. >> I I didn't want to uh bring it up in regard to comments, but you know, you were my principal when I was still in the classroom and uh you used to tell me a lot of things of what you wanted and and what you wanted uh me to do and and now guess what? Can I have a motion and a second to adjourn the open session? >> Motion, >> Mr. Smack, Mr. Gordy. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries.