001There was a wreck on go. >> Yeah, I will. We all ready to roll? >> Good evening. It's 6 o'clock. So, we will begin our Monday, December the 8th, school board meeting. Dr. Ketman is not with us at this moment because as we understand there was an accident on uh on 28 coming out of Mountain Rest. She was not involved but she had to reroute so she had to go practically to Georgia to get around to come back this way. So she'll be flying in here in the next few minutes but we'll we'll go ahead uh and get started. At this time I would like to present an invocation if you would bow with me. As we gather this evening, we take a moment to reflect in the spirit this holiday season that reminds us
002of hope, generosity, and the importance of community. May we be guided by patience and understanding as we make decisions that affect students, families, and staff. May our discussions be filled with respect, our choices based on wisdom, and our actions grounded in compassion. As we begin this meeting, may we work together with open minds and shared purpose for the good of all those we serve. I come in the name of Jesus. Amen. >> Amen. >> You would also now please stand with me on pledge allegiance. >> Salute. Pledge. I pledge algiance 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. >> Uh, next up is the approval of the agenda. If you've had ch time to look
003and anybody have any comments or changes. >> So, we're all in favor? >> Yes. >> We will proceed. Okay. >> At this time, we have a special recognition. I believe Jennifer Dodd will come forward on the YMCA safety and survival program. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you and thank you for the opportunity to say to talk tonight. I just want to take a couple minutes and talk to you about our safety and survival swimming program. Um, you may or may not know, but we've just completed year five. But let's first focus on why it matters so much for us. Um, our students in Okone County are surrounded by water. We have almost 600 miles of shoreline, seven bodies of water, and 85% of our borders are water. So, our kids are surrounded by water. Each year
004as we start the program, parents have to complete a form for their children to participate. It's actually part of our registration process to make it super easy. But they're asked to provide their students comfort level around water. And this year, just looking at this year, more than 30% of our parents chose the option that says, "My student has limited experience in a pool with limited to no swimming ability." That tells us that a lot of our kids need this. They're not safe around water. They are at risk of drowning, which is why we do what we do. So the curriculum that we focus on, the goal is to teach students self-rescue and basic water safety to help in preventing the risk of drowning. So we're not necessarily teaching them the backstroke. We're teaching them to
005be safe around water. And the curriculum focuses on self-rescue skills, safe rescue of others, the use of a personal flotation device. So think life jacket, cold water survival techniques, and then a little bit of introduction to boating safety. But one of the things I want to focus on tonight are the real heroes of the program because we have hundreds of students in this program. And how do they learn to swim? You can't put a student who has limited exposure or no swimming ability in a group with 15 other kids with one volunteer or one person. So um this year alone, just looking at this year, we had 58 individuals from the community come in and volunteer in this program. They logged 3,175 volunteer hours just this year. That was an average of 23 volunteers a
006day in the pool at the YMCA helping our students. And that's not a 20 minute commitment. That's arrive a little before 10 in the morning and probably not lo leaving until 1:30 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Um each year when we finish the program before Thanksgiving, we take the opportunity to do a lunchon for our volunteers as a way to say thank you. And the best part of that lunch and we provide a nice meal with our um career center culinary arts students and coach quick um doing that for us. But um we also I skipped a slide y'all. I'm so sorry. Look at me skipping one of the biggest things we need to talk about. Um, my pages were stuck together. As of the completion of this year's program, we've served 3,742 students. >>
007So, just think about that. 3,742 students are safer around water because they went through this program. Now, I I told you these statistics already. I apologize. My slides were out of order. But anyway, 58 this year, 3,175 hours this year alone, 23 per day. If you calculate that out over the program, we're probably close to 15,000 volunteer hours. Um, that's a lot to say, but as I was saying, we um do a lunchon for our volunteers, and our kids do the best. Thank you for them. So, we're going to take just >> Thank you, >> I don't know what you've been told. Sing is made of gold. >> Sing made of gold. >> Swimming strong and swimming fast. >> Kicking feet and having a blast. >> Reach and pull. That's how we go. >> Watch
008our swimming SKILLS ALL GROW. [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you. [Music] [Applause] Thank you for helping us swim perfect [Applause] the Oh, thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Go. >> Thank you for keeping me safe in the water. Thank you. >> Thank you. [Music] So, the vast number of those students are third graders, but we do have a great opportunity for our middle school students with special needs, those who are able to come in and learn safety as well. And um I think if you talk to those teachers, you would hear them say it's making a dis. So, um at this time, I'm going to ask a few of those who are here with us from the Y to come forward. We have Miss Liz Keenan who is a program coordinator and
009Miss Crystal Ross and I think there are some others but I had counted on those two if you'll come up here. Um, Crystal, I just I don't know if y'all realize, but during our program for the weeks we do it in the fall, the pools closed during that time of day. And the locker rooms are made such that our students have privacy to change. And I know that that makes a difference in your building. And I'm sure we all know that members might be a little concerned about that. And so, we appreciate the efforts of the Y to make that happen for us consistently. when we've had struggles, we've worked together to work out to make it work so that it can still work for y'all. We're um super excited, of course, with the new
010building that's happening and how much that will help with the program and with the Y in general. So, I just really wanted to say thank you. And then I wanted to introduce Miss Liz Keenan. She is the program coordinator for the Y and she has been a part of this program since the beginning. and um she has taken a simple curriculum and made it into something that's um specific for our students. It is amazing what she does. She works countless hours to train and um recruit volunteers to make sure that the students have all the equipment that they need. Um she plans things down to the very last detail to make sure our students have exactly what they need. We have land curriculum for those who can't be in the water for whatever reason. She
011really has gone above and beyond and in recognition of that like to present her with this um plaque in appreciation of five years of outstanding leadership, care and dedication to the safety and survival swimming program. Your hard work has positively impacted our community and helped thousands of students gain life-saving skills that will last a lifetime. >> So, thanks. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Would you guys like to come and join for pictures? >> Is that okay? >> We do. >> I'm the one who nor the share with me. Awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'm just going to piggy back a second on what uh Jennifer said. It's been uh one of my passions to see this program uh get up and running uh behind the scenes pushing buttons that need to be pushed.
012But I want to add that they also the volunteers also provide swimming trunks if they're needed. Uh life jackets have been added. Uh I've watched that program grow and I can't uh so excited for the fact that we were able to participate in that. And uh last year I asked I I wasn't able to attend the the uh celebration this time, but I asked a year ago did we have any data on the effect of the program? And I was told that we had that they knew of two instances where a child uh a third grader saved his sibling and then that a neighbor had been provided access, you know, to hand off a a pool noodle or something to pull him to the side. So, it did make a difference then and I and
013I'm 100% sure it's going to make a difference in the future. So, I can't thank you enough for what you're doing. >> Anybody want to add anything you >> I just want to say I went by there this year when North Side was there and North Side is the largest group that they had >> and you would have thought that many children in the pool around the pool would be chaotic. It was so organized and they did such an excellent job with, you know, they had some children that could swim better than others, some that weren't in the water. It was just and some that were learning boat safety. It was just amazing and we just so appreciate it. You know, this was just a passion of ours long ago when the pool was being
014built, when the Y was first being built and um so it's just wonderful that we can continue this program and that y'all work with us. Thank you. >> So, at this time, we'll go forward with the employee special recognition. >> Go to academy. Yeah, we can skip to OKone Academy. Tracy, if you're ready. >> Thank you for an opportunity to speak to y'all tonight. Um, just got a brief PowerPoint, go through some things. This year, we've worked real hard to kind of marry our green steps initiative with our service learning, service learning and character ed. um over the course of the last few years we've been doing um recycling and being a mission and we qualified for green steps um kind of we've done it but we didn't really track it. So now that we've
015gotten in with some partnerships, we found that we are meeting a lot more of the green steps initiatives than we initially realized. And what we have found this year by marrying those two class periods together, we have two core classes, then we have service learning, character ed, and then two core classes. So it breaks up their days. It gets them off of the device. It gets their hands-on learning going. Um, so Green Steps, as you know, is a program designed to um for South Carolina schools to earn awards to establish sustainable projects. And again, we certified this past year in recycling, which is something that we had already done. But the important thing is not only do the students learn it, but the students do it and then the students have to teach it. So
016expectations we spend 50 minutes in service learning as you see there in the pictures. Um we've got greenhouse things going on the left two pictures that is where we are re um cycling uh or upycling and most of the wood that you see there are the scrap pieces that are going out of the cabinet shop. So we take the scraps, we cut them down, we make different figures and we have been to the Pickins flea market. We went to Wajala's um holiday fair last week at Shaver as well. So all the proceeds that when we sell these products is going back into the paint, the ribbon, and some of the um products for the Cricut. The Cricut was donated to us. Uh the bottom right hand corner is the potatoes and onions that we harvested.
017So Dr. Mercer was there that day. So me and the kids cooked potato soup. So, um, we kind of get them in the kitchen as well so that they can see farm to table. Um, conserve projects like you see, those are pictures from that. You have a little gift in front of you there. Those are actually things that the board um gives from the kids that the kids had made. What we had found is we had made pumpkins in the fall. So, if y'all don't mind, if you would just at least pull one out so I can mention it. Um, in the fall we did pumpkins. We had a bunch of pumpkins left over, so we recycled the pumpkins. So, turned it into an apple right there. The only thing that we purchased is, of
018course, the paint there that went on that our um Mr. Farmer cut out the pieces. We um I guess we deconstructed a a plant, the false plant, you know, that's all dusted in a corner to make the leaf and then we bought the nail. So, and we were able to do that and it was a hit this year at the holiday fair for teacher gifts. As you can see, we put a a for the teacher there. So um next projects that we have that are actually going on are the water air purifying. We also have partnership with COA. We were already going to the boat ramps. We were already going to the state parks picking up litter as we do some of our educational walks to the waterfall, do water samples, some of our social
019studies there. We just weren't weighing the litter. So they asked us to start logging in and telling us how much litter that we picked up so that nobody goes to that site. And I was like, "Oh, that's no problem. We can do that." So, uh, that's one step. This year, we've done a heavy lift in our courtyard. We're doing a habitat, um, and our pollinators. So, we've got raised beds that are going in there. Um, we are also doing compost out there. So, you can see where the kids have actually constructed this. they've dug, shoveled, mulch, and so forth to put in there. We have some plants that came up earlier in the fall, but that'll be something that we'll do more of this spring. And then, um, these are our partnerships, and I I
020apologize if I've left anybody off, but COBA, um, we also have, um, Take Action SC, the Cliffs Exten Extension, the Cliffs Outreach, and Mr. Detroit Rock has been great because in the front and I don't know if you've been by our campus lately um when the hurricane came through all the debris and damage that was up there in the pine trees and the pine beetles they've helped us kind of clean that out. They've done the heavy lifting but our kids have gone in and we're going to be planting all native plants in there. So through that partnership and three grants, we have succeeded to get about $4,000 worth of money to actually put native plants back in that area. So um that's what's going on at OKone Academy. And uh thank you again for the
021opportunity to speak to y'all tonight. So we skipped we skip the employee special recognition. So we can do it and come back or we can do >> you want to do it. >> So uh Mr. Moore with adult education. >> Thank you ma'am. I appreciate that. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to share this evening. All in honor of Mr. Hamby, I brought back out my 10-minute speech, which I would dare. There you go. >> So, but anyway, >> cut you off at three. So, >> cut me off at three. Anyway, in honor of you, we're going to cut it real short. Appreciate this, guys. I think this video will share with you a lot about what we try to attempt to accomplish in adult education. And uh some of you already know
022working with me through Voke Rehab or otherwise what we do through adult education. But I'll briefly share after you watch the video. >> The support and guidance that I actually received from the instructor were very impactful in my life and they truly wanted to see us succeed not only in our educational background but also in our daily life. help and support. I couldn't be happier with my experience here at OK and how I achieved. >> Okay, >> I guess we're through. So, Mr. H, you got your wish. >> No, I enjoyed the video. I jinxed you by asking Philillip if we were having any problems before we before we ever started. So I apologize. >> The support and guidance that I actually received from the instructor were very impactful in my life and they truly
023wanted to see us succeed not only in our educational background but also in our daily life. of help and support. Say I couldn't be happier with my experience here at OK Ed and how I achieved my GED. GED has impacted my life greatly. Um it's given me confidence that I didn't have before. uh you see I actually dropped out of school um early an early grade and um it was like 15 plus years later that I came back to achieve my GED and so just that in itself of being able to achieve that has boosted my confidence um but it's also boosted my confidence in knowing that now that in my future job applications I have that degree to fill in there and um I would also say that it's helped me in my current
024job as a office manager um to be able to do my job more efficiently um because of the knowledge that I have um been able to take from achieving my GED. Um, but it's also just like I said, boosted my confidence. And so that's helped me in my current job where I um have actually also since I've got my GED, I've actually um moved up from part-time to full-time and I've also gotten several raises since then. So, I am very thankful for only adult ed education and being able to um have them help me achieve my GED. >> Sweet. >> Young lady said it so much better than I ever could. Um just the fact that we have the opportunity to work with young people. They're all young people to me. It feels like just
025to achieve a sense of accomplishment because whenever you're able to accomplish something and you feel success then the door is open to what is next whether it be work, military, um a better family life, something uh with confidence that you can actually work with your children or grandchildren as we had a grandparent say and then the fact that we partner with so many good people try county tech through the IBEST project which they have uh some students have even gone there and began a process of understanding what does it mean to be a college student. We work with Voke Rehab where students who are there have the opportunity to come to adult ed free of charge to explore how can I achieve that process of being able to earn a GED or diploma. And then
026likewise with us SC works with Desiree Goldmith Palmeta youth connections and their eard program for students 17 to 24. And then we not only there but we work with the SNAP program since it's been reinstated and then also with people in DSS because sometimes DSS gets a bad connotation but you would not understand it until you're right there that they offer a work uh a academic to work process to where the DSS program comes in and partners there and tries to help them accomplish their goals as well. It goes without saying that my opinion and many of you have ever have ever been with me, you'll know this. The bottom line is our greatest resources that we have are the people that we have working with us, not for us. The staff and things that
027work with me, they're the ones who are the heroes. I just have the opportunity to be blessed by being around them. They make our program great. The people that work during the day, give of their time, they're all retirees except for my secretary. And then the people who are there working tonight, in fact, all three of them there tonight have jobs during the day. One travels from Pickkins to work back at night and the other two uh one actually works for Miss Tracy and she comes and works with our English students and then another one works at West Oak High School and teaches math and other parts of the GED as well. and they give me the pleasure to work with the diploma students and all those things. So, I enjoy being back in the
028classroom as part of that as well. I appreciate them. I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of our adult ed uh program, the success that we've had. I'm Dr. Kedman, I'm going to share this with you because it's not anything. It's just data. You understand what I'm saying? Feel free to share that with your board members. Um, and we look forward to our May graduation once again to where we see students being successful no matter how many. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Well, at this time, um, we have a special recognition and if it's okay, I would like to ask the board to join me, um, down here at the podium. And I do apologize about my delay. Got halfway down the mountain at the peanut store, if you guys know
029where that's at. And there was a ambulance blocking the road. And so obviously I had to reroute all the way to Long Creek to get here. So, um it was a a little bit of a longer trek for me tonight. So, but with that being said, we do have somebody very special to recognize. And um tonight, on behalf of the school district of Okone County Board of Trustees, it is my honor and privilege to recognize a man whose impact reaches across generations of students, educators, and families in our community, and that is Mr. Steve Hamby. This recognition is special for many reasons, but for me personally, it carries an extra layer of meaning. Before he was an administrator, before he was a district leader, before he was an associate superintendent that we all depend on,
030he was my seventh grade social studies teacher at Wahala Middle School. And I know that I am not alone. So many young people in our community were shaped by this man long before they realized it. Tonight we honor a career spanning 35 years in Okone County Schools. A career marked by commitment, service, leadership, and a genuine care for people. Mr. Handy began his career 1990, stepping into Wajala Middle School as a social studies teacher. For nine years, he inspired students with history, government, and stories that still stick with many of us today. He taught with clarity, patience, and a sense of humor. But above all, he taught with heart. In 1999, he transitioned into the role of assistant principal at Wahala Middle, where he supported hundreds of students during some of them their most formative
031years of their lives. In 2002, he took one of the most influential roles in any community, and that is the principal of Wajala Elementary School. Thousands of students and families passed through those doors during his tenure, and each was touched in some way by his leadership. In 2012, he moved to the district office in multiple roles from the dis director of federal programs and professional development to now being the associate superintendent of operations, ensuring our schools meet federal standards, guiding instruction, and academic support to keeping our district running smoothly in facilities, safety, and transportation. The behind-the-scenes work that demands a lot. What makes Mr. Mr. Hy remarkable is not just a list of positions he's held because that list is long. Whether in a classroom or the boardroom, whether guiding a student or guiding a
032superintendent, he has been steady. A leader who listens, a colleague who supports, a mentor who lifts others up, and a friend to many. To be able to stand here today and recognize the teacher who once taught me in seventh grade is something I will always cherish. You planted seeds in your students, Mr. Hanvy that continued to grow long after you left your classroom. You did that for me and you did that for so many others in this community and you have continued doing that throughout your entire career. On behalf of the board, our district leadership, our staff, our families, and thousands of students whose lives you've touched. We thank you. Thank you for your 35 years of service and thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your commitment to this community and thank you
033for always putting our students first. It is my honor to present to you tonight with the recognition of your dedicated years of service to the school district of OKone County. Congratulations on your retirement and thank you for everything you've given. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Been an honor. I appreciate everybody I've worked with and all the students I've talked. You guys are awesome. Thank you. I don't say anymore because I'm going to cry, but thank you. >> Can we get a picture with you? >> Sure. I'm going to move this just so it's out. I know. Okay. All right. So, next we have public comment. Any public comment signed up? >> No, not tonight. >> All right. We will move on to our approval of minutes. Can I have a
034motion to approve our minutes? >> Make a motion to approve the minutes of the November camp board meeting. >> Second. >> Motion is second. Any further discussion? All in favor? All right. Thank you. And now, Mr. Shikling with our November financial report. >> Okay, I'll uh try to keep this one short. Uh we saw a little bit of early tax revenue coming in. Um tax bills will be due in earnest here in January. Um we saw the the first and largest payment of tier one property tax relief reimbursement come in. Um so, a lot of uh income in the or revenues in the local um component of the budget. And so that led to uh overall revenue of 11.6 million for the month which actually put us in a net positive cash flow for the
035month with about 11.4 million in outflow in the general fund. Again predominantly um just personnel costs. If you look at the um dispersement report again, utilities um genu genu I'm sorry, general contractuals, some capital project work um and the first half of our um semiannual payment to the sheriff's department for our um obligation for the um school resource officers um comprise the majority of the spending there. And then the uh ongoing capital projects are included with their status as well. >> Happy to answer any questions you may have. >> No questions. >> Thank you so much for that. And now moving on to our discussion and proable action. Uh Dr. Mercer with possible future employee child care center feasibility study. >> Thank you madam chair. This uh item actually began as a conversation between you
036and I back in I'm not sure if it was July or August, but one of the things uh Dr. Kerman mentioned was that Okone County schools had at one time some child care at Bounty Land and James and Brown uh program had uh gone away and I was interested in my thoughts on the feasibility of beginning it again. So started looking at it and um had a conversation with Tracy Bulls who is the executive director of early childhood education in Vickens County. They're in their second year of a uh child care program. They started at one building last year and this year opened at a second one there at Liberty and Cwell. Uh and the idea of providing daycare for our employees is that it would be just a service to our teachers and staff
037and uh could also be a recruiting tool if you knew that you could come to work here and there was a place for your children be taken care of while you were working that it might be a a big attraction to work here. Um, and as I talked with uh, Miss Bo in Pickkins County, she gave us she gave me um, a good bit of insight that was very very valuable. And, uh, she said that they are open from 6:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon, 190 days. Uh, same same uh, days as teachers have. And the cost for teachers runs about the same as for regular daycarees. It's not a big savings to the staff, but it's a convenience to them. And the fact that you can payroll deduct also makes it
038easier to take care of those services. You want the plan as much as possible to be self- sustained that as you open it up that it'll the cost be taken care of by those who are able to use it. She did make one suggestion that uh they learned was that if we are to go down this route, we would probably want to start that first year just um doing providing daycare for birth to 12 months old. She said that what they found is once people have daycare and say the children are three years old or four years old, they're happy with their daycare, they're not probably going to switch back. So if you start it, you can grow it and once the children get there and and you can grow it here. And we would
039probably want to start with one site maybe at Bounty Land that still has the furniture uh there from uh days gone by and then what I would like to see us do is expand it so that we'd have one in each of the attendance areas, one at West Oak there at Senica and one Mala. Uh and we asked ourselves is there a need and we have had over the last four years uh the lowest amount is 23 uh teachers on maternity leave and the most was 39. So there's quite a few u bursts in in the uh district that I think would uh provide the need for that. We've had 16 so far in the 2526 school year. But one of the big things uh about putting this on and studying it is if we
040could get a partnership to do it. And u Miss McCormick and I were at a Rotary lunchon sitting with uh executive the CEO of the YMCA that you met earlier this evening, Crystal Ross, and they uh not only take care of our swimming program for third graders, but they do our afterchool care and just do a wonderful job. So I asked her at that lunchon, I said, "Would there be any interest in the YMCA providing uh daycare for us?" And she said, "Well, it's actually one of our goals in our strategic plan." And so she said, "Yes, we would be interested in it." So um she has taken this proposal to her board. I understand, Miss Corbin, you're on that board and I'm doing it with you tonight. And uh what we're asking is your
041approval to do a feasibility study over the next probably year and a half with us partnering with the YMCA and uh figuring out if we can if we can make this thing happen. Department of Social Services and the state is over all daycarees and it's quite a complicated process. You just don't enter into this real quick unadvisedly. So, what uh I am asking the board's permission to do is to study the program and get the process begun in partnership with the YMCA to see if we could perhaps begin a daycare program for our um our employees. >> Is that something we need to discussion or I would just like to say that um I have just a tad bit of experience with that uh facility at the bounty land education campus as I spent a
042little bit of time working in our um um family literacy program. So, I know that um facility-wise it it would be topnotch and there's a u playground that the district has provided outside that would meet all the proper specifications. And I also know that I believe we still retain um the lady who was in charge of that for us and she has been through all the certifications for uh DSS and all all the acronyms that come after that. So, we have somebody in place that's familiar with the process. Uh, and I think it's a great tool for us to have to recruit and retain young teachers. >> So, can we at least get a motion on the table? So, I'll carry forward a mo a motion that we enter into a feasibility study uh in
043partnership with YMCA to see if it's possible to have uh offerings for daycare for our teachers, staff, and staff. >> Second. >> Okay. Motion is second. And I would also echo all of that for our families and and especially our young young teachers who who need this. And I even see an opportunity with our early childhood students going in and partnering with those to to earn hours and earn experience uh through that coursework as well. Um so yes, we've got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All right, hearing none. All in favor? Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Now we have policy J ND the AI responsible use and guidance documents. Mr. Smith, >> good evening everyone. Uh you have a packet before you. Uh it should reflect uh exactly what's
044uh what our audience will be seeing on the screen this evening. Two items uh this evening under the heading of artificial intelligence and its use in the classroom. Uh just to get a run and start as a review, you'll remember this past spring we began uh during our summer institute uh some professional learning around this topic where we had 60 to 70 teachers participating uh and looking at some of the artificial intelligence tools that can make their jobs more efficient but also begin to explore what this looks like for children uh accessing artificial intelligence as part of their learning experience. And so uh after that uh we have uh we've actually partnered with our technology department. I know that uh that Mr. Philip Price, our our chief technology officer, is here uh this evening as
045well and forming a group that represents two teachers, two teachers from each school that we're calling it a teacher advisory group, uh affectionately the ITAG group, uh innovative teacher advisory, uh group. And so, uh those teachers have worked with us in two meetings so far to really around three topics. Number one, uh is generating the guidance document that we'll talk about in just a moment. Uh secondly, uh which will be the next phase of this project, they're going to assist us in identifying tools that we need to explore as a district that might help us move forward in this area. And then third, uh to really uh co- uh uh co-author the learning experiences for our teachers to make sure that they're relevant and engaging uh in moving this work forward. And so tonight, I'd
046like to share an update uh on this work. Uh basically to begin uh with this document uh when when we last presented we were in the process of reviewing some existing documents from other districts uh throughout the state and and even beyond. But some of those documents we found were very thorough but extremely wordy while other documents were extremely brief and graphically pres uh pleasing but uh but lacked a great amount of detail. And so when we took this to the ITAG group, they said, "Yes, we want both." And so we had to get a little bit creative uh with this document. What you see before you is what will eventually serve as a landing page. This is a simplified view which includes the three pillars that we've kind of rested on. And I'll review
047these three pillars uh at this time. One, we're gonna uh we recognize that AI represents opportunities for our staff and students. And so we want to embrace those opportunities. two, we see that artificial intelligence is not our core function. And so we're not going to let it be the main thing. Teaching and learning is still going to be the main thing. And so our work is going to be around searching how artificial intelligence might help that work happen more efficiently. And then third, we've talked about this in the past that there are also some ethical and safety concerns that are involved here and we want to make sure that we address those uh thoroughly. And so, uh, what you'll see here is this landing page. From this landing page, you'll be able to, uh, click
048on some of the documents below. You see, uh, it says the the the guidance document in the lower left and the parent document in the lower right. And so, I'll let you review the specifics of those, but I'll talk to you a little bit about some of the feedback that we got on some of the first drafts from the teachers. One, they wanted us to capture uh, the the brevity of that landing document. and the thorough nature of the entire document. But secondly, uh when they reviewed our initial draft, they uh they were convinced that it included too much educational jargon. It was way too wordy and that it wasn't generally accessible for our community. And so in response to this, uh we've edited this document. I think the document you'll see before you is
049uh the content is understandable. It's uh pretty efficient. And uh we've actually run this through uh some reading levels that uh that that really make sure that this is uh at a level that's accepted by commercial website standards. And so I think that that's the product that you'll see. Uh this will be an evolving document. And so I don't think it'll ever be done because just the speed at which uh at which this technology is uh is going. But uh we are proud of this first iteration. And I'll pause just for a moment in this presentation for any feedback or questions you have about this initial document. And now I'll go on unless you have uh unless you have any other questions. Uh secondly, uh school boards association has actually drafted a model policy for
050local boards to consider as a response to this emerging technology uh and the needs associated with it. So, what you're going to find below in red is a version of this policy that we would recommend for your consideration. The original policy included language uh regarding two items that were already addressed in other SDOC policies, namely academic integrity, which is uh addressed in our instructional policies, and the discipline consequences, which are uh addressed in our discipline policies. And so, we felt that those were redundant. But with those two omissions, uh this is uh the the model policy from the school board's association. I'll provide it to you uh this evening for your discussion and uh perhaps uh if you so desire approval on first reading. >> Would we like to get a motion for first reading?
051>> I think we need to get something in place. So >> I agree. >> Um I make a motion that we approve on first reading um policy I J N D comma A for artificial and I for intelligence um to be added. >> I motion a second. Any discussion? I'm sure we'll take our time and review everything carefully and come back with any suggestions or questions that we may have next time. >> All right. Hearing no further discussion. All in favor first reading. Thank you for to the team, the tag team if you will, for all that work. >> Okay, Mr. Han, for our weapons detection update. Yes, I felt it was a good time. Uh we got some information from the uh state. Uh although we don't have the official letter yet, we researched
052and um with Miss Dodge speaking with the grant uh folks and then going to check the board minutes from the South Carolina State Board. Um they approved all the recommendations that the grant committee had sent to them. And one of those was for us as a district to get $366,000. Um, and in the the plan, the the purpose of that money is to purchase more of our open gate systems uh that we can then leave at the high schools, the secondary schools. Now, the amount with those things being $20,000 a set is going to going to be enough um probably not enough flight to cover the three high schools. Um that leaves out the career center um and OA um which has high school students uh although they do something every day that's a little
053bit different than our other schools. Um so there may need to be a way to look at other options uh for that. Um over the course of of the fall, we um have deployed it at at all of our secondary schools and Okone Academy and we actually took it to a a football game and and use them uh there. And I know Miss Holder came when we were at Wahala Middle for a little while and um I hope that the rest of you will take the opportunity um depending upon what schedule y'all want to do in second semester and that to come out and see. It's a it it's cumbersome for our staff. It's it's a it's a heavy lift. Um so I I would encourage that and and talking with them about what they
054have to do, not just the school staff, but district staff. Um but u when that money comes in, uh I know that uh Mr. Price has a good relationship, Dr. Price has a good relationship with the folks um at A3, the company we purchased from. He's in on all the emails and that and I have actually referred them now to send the emails to him uh with my last day being next week. Um but uh wanted to be out front of it. Uh they are making a change in February. Um they're going to and and and the district may want to consider waiting till February quite honestly even though it's a little um more expensive. they're going to a heavier model that is less um affected when somebody bumps it or or those other things
055because um what we saw was you know if if you put them in the most you're supposed to have them is three feet apart they prefer like 31 inches and kids come through with backpacks hanging off sides and purses baseball bags and that kind of stuff and they bump it it's automatically going to go off it's got to recalibrate then it then it goes and you know reset so uh that there would be something to look at. That will be in February is when they make that change. So, the current um model that we have will go out of line as far as new ones in February. That's I'm speaking correctly. Um they'll still be maintained and and they'll still um work and be and be be fine. Um it's just a matter of what
056money you you might have to add to it because it's going to take more money than than what the grant's going to going to call for. The other thing that I I wanted to to to bring up in this and again it's just based on my experience with and talking to people in other districts is I know that Greenville and even Pickins they both usually evolve but they have gone and like at the Pickings high schools they do it one day a week they have a pick a day. It's a random it's still random. Um and I would even recommend that you do a random Friday just so the kids don't get comfortable doing that. Oh, it was Tuesday so we're good or or whatever. But then you could have an A team and a
057B team at the school and it's not maybe so um difficult to get the people there every day to do it to kind of ease into it. Um but uh that that's just something I've seen other districts do that that they say has been successful. So um we were we were fortunate we didn't find anything um found vapes and we found you know things like that. We didn't find any weapons. Um thank goodness for that. and um the kids and the staff adapted. Uh very proud of the staff for the work they they did. It was it's a lot. Um and and we're proud of them and their admin teams for that. But just wanted to let you know where we were in the fall. Uh we still have those things. Uh we basically created
058a a traveling uh traveling trailer for them. We can stack them in it and we can actually charge them through that if if we need to um that that we use. But, uh, with this new money, um, it looks like you'll be able to get some for the high schools that they can keep on their on site. Use them during the day if they want to use them in the middle of the day if a classes they're worried about a class and people going to vape and that, walk them through it. You can do it. I mean, just like that's what they trained us on. That's how they told us to use it. Just wanted you have that information. And, uh, Miss Hughes is very well verssed obviously on this and this will be u
059her baby um, as we continue to move forward with it. and and Mr. Whitrock and Dr. Price and a couple of his staff, they're always there to to help make sure it goes smoothly. So, just kind of wanted to tell you where where we are and uh maybe make some suggestions for the future. >> Mr. Hy, I just had one comment. The um Mrs. Price brought the um student council kids to our Rotary Club several weeks ago and during question answer, I just asked them what they thought about it. I think they had only been through it once, >> right? >> They were terrified. >> Well, we had an ambassy can out there for for for the folks and we quite honestly we found a couple of vapes in there and we had a teacher
060catch a kid trying to drop one before they came in. Found one um in a stuffed animal disguised in a stuffed animal. But um I I will say this though to to so the positive part um at Wala High they use a program now with bathroom passes and you have to do it online and you go and Miss Crawford told us that the day that they did the the weapons detection at Walah High and we were we were over there that day. They had like 140 less requests to go to the bathroom during the day because some are going to meet up with somebody to bake. So she was very she's like there's some data right there. U but um absolutely you know she was very complimentary of of that and and >> well and
061I think a lot of their comments were were prompted simply by the it was their first time right and they you know and they said they were scrambling to get everything. Sure. And and and that that's part of the process of slowing it down is is that you've got some out there and you're telling them what to do, but again, they get anxious when they're going through and they may not hand the Chromebook to the right person or what you eventually train them to hold just hold it up over their head so that it doesn't react and then you don't have to have an extra person there handing it to them and that kind of thing. >> It was a new thing to hear their taken, >> but but but they uh they uh yeah,
062we actually had three different ones who went turned around and said, "Uhuh, I'm going back to my car because I got But we went and checked their car then." So >> yeah, it was worse. >> Well, I think this is just, you know, more evidence and more good things that we want to continue down this path and get get more more of these um more of this equipment into our schools on the on the middle school and the high school level. For sure. So, please pass along to I guess Miss Hughes if she's going to be taking on these updates that we would like to continue to um pursue that funding and see what what more look like. Any other further discussion? All right. Now, our action items. We've got two for second reading. Um,
063policy GCCGCD staff staff leaves and absences. I believe we um discussed this pretty in depth last time, but if you would just give us a small recap, Dr. Mercer, so we are um re refreshed on that. The biggest change, the change that we brought to you is actually on the second page of the policy and we were asking the board to approve GCC GDC so that employees may be able to take a one quarter day of leave time which up to this point it was had to be at least a one half day. >> Okay. Can I get a motion and a second for second reading? I make a motion for second reading final approval policy GCC-GCD staff lease an announcement. Second. >> All right. Motion second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor?
064All right. >> Is approved. And now if you will remind us on the administrative policy manual sections K and L second reading. Section K is school, community, home relations. And section L is education agency relations. And for most of all this section of the policy manual, we took the schoolboard association's recommendations and change our policy according to their recommendations. >> All right. I know we've reviewed that several times and gotten it um pretty tight. So, can I get a motion and a second for second reading? Final approval. >> I move that we approve on second reading the administrative policy manual sections K and L. >> Second motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All right. Thank you for that as well. And now for Dr. Mercer, your superintendence report. >>
065Thanks so much, Madam Chair. Uh, I just have three things. Uh but uh the first two have powerpoints. I wanted to take a moment uh I meant in Friday's board Graham about the shop with the razor back shop with the Bobcat and the shop with the warrior warrior which will be coming up on December 12th. I just have not in my educ educational experience ever seen such an event. And I was just blown away and so uh proud to be a part of Elon County schools where those three high schools have students that uh take elementary students for the day and become their buddies. They're on the bus when they go to pick them up. They take them to the Walmart and shop. I think it's $100 to $150. And uh the first one that
066I was at was Wajala shop with a razor back and there was a pastor there from Life Point Church who came prepared to backfill whatever they need so that every child got that money and uh the Wajala people just said we raised it all. So they had done the work and and the community had embraced those kids. It was a beautiful experience but it did not end at Walmart. They went back to the schools and and picked just a few pictures that have been taken. Uh there's a razor back. There was a cow. FFA brought the animals in and put the put the little petting zoo. Uh Synica wasn't able to do it. It was a rainy day uh when they brought their kids back. Here's the Santa at one of the venues. There are
067some kids at Walmart shopping. This was wrapping the presents. When they got back to the school, they wrapped the presents. That's at uh Synica High. They just covered the floor and uh little children had the experience of wrapping presents with a buddy. That's the Santa that was at Syndica High. And I think that was is that my last picture? We're just trying to pick a representative sample, but it it was beautiful. And the face painting, the decorated orn ornament, the decorative cookie. Uh they fed them lunch. They just had a beautiful day. And I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, if it were the elementary students or the high school students. >> And it was kind of like a full circle at Senica High. We had students that were buddies to the younger students who
068had been the younger students several years ago. So, it was just uh every child I talked to is very appreciative. It was very fun to walk through all uh the Walmart and see what the kids were buying. And so many of them were buying gifts for sisters and brothers and mothers first. One little girl showed me a little gold uh necklace she had bought that said uh uh mother on it. She was so proud to take that. One little fellow must have gone in there hungry. His his buggy was half full of chips. I don't know how you gift wrap chips, but uh that's he he bought a lot of chips. But uh it was just a great experience. Secondly, I want to bring to you some slides that came from um I went to
069the superintendent's roundt uh last Thursday and this presentation was done by Frank Rainwater. He is the um executive director of revenue and fiscal affairs um for state South Carolina. And so I just picked several of the slides that he brought that I thought you would find greatly interesting. First one was population growth, US versus South Carolina. South Carolina's in blue. So you can see we're averaging about double the amount of population growth uh that exists in the country. Uh employment, you can see how it's grown from uh 2021 through 2025 and they're projecting uh continued growth and employment in South Carolina. And this showed uh the counties in South Carolina and their growth. You can see Coney County is uh from 0.1 to 3% one of those uh growth counties. Uh the dark blue were
070the ones that are averaging greater than 3.1% and then see the gray and the yellow where it's less than that. So OKone is a growing county. Personal income, you can see the growth there from 2022 through 2025. They project that that will uh uh continue to grow throughout uh the next two years. You can see that's in uh that's it went from a low of 270 what would that be? 260 billion uh Mr. Shikling looking at that I think it's 260 trillion and then uh we're now up over 350 trillion. That's uh personal income in South Carolina >> millions. >> It's in millions but it's the number is 260,000 million. So in that billions, >> I would believe it's billions. >> Yeah, >> sounds right. >> It's apparently South Carolinians and as state's looking at
071are doing well. >> Inflation uh from a high uh just post pandemic uh in the last administration of nearly 9%. Uh they see it down under 3% projected it'll continue to drop little by little over the next two years. and general fund availability. If I were a legislator, I'd be very pleased to see that. That's how much money they think that they'll have to allocate. And you can see that over the last u four years since 2021, the amount of money has come in above the trend line. And uh it's it's up uh over 15,000 me. So 15 billion 15 billion for the legislature to allocate. I can remember six million. Six billion. So the They have lots of money to allocate. I'll bet they'll be able to fund that last thing that the governor
072is asking them for in terms of teacher salaries, sales tax. That's another thing that when they passed Act 388 and went from property tax to fund schools to sales tax, we were worried because anytime you have a downturn in the economy, uh sales tax is a more volatile tax than property tax. But for the last uh four or five years ago, four or five years, it looks like that plan that they did on the back of a napkin or a chicken box, I forget what it was. It's working out well for uh South Carolina. You can see that the the income from sales tax revenue continues to be above the trend line. And then this was interesting extremely to me. we have uh bemoaned the fact that the population of Coney County Schools number of
073students has dropped. Well, it turns out and I didn't realize it until his presentation as much, but uh we are in the majority of uh districts in the state. Everybody's losing students except for a few of the faster growing districts like Charleston's gain student or we've gained students. Uh but Greenville's dropping. We're dropping the areas around us. charter schools are picking up students and uh that's one of the issues that they've got to deal with in terms of funding because it uh with the present rules in place charter schools are being funded to a great uh a greater measure per on a per pupil basis than our regular schools. The legislators have become aware of that and Mr. Rain water and his group are recommending changes in that legislation. And then this one was interesting.
074The uh average teacher salary in South Carolina now is higher than the southeastern average which you can see since 2008. We have the legislature has tried to keep us always with the southeastern average. In the last two years that has increased. In the next slide, we'll show you where Okone County fits in comparison. The average teacher salary that is all those are by districts. The stripe one is the average 64,000 uh dollars per year is the annual teacher salary in Oak County is four districts to the left of that. So we are right at 64,000 close to the average. What makes those numbers uh increase? Of course, Charleston has and Buford and Berkeley, uh, York and Ori, they have worked really hard with the resources they have to raise teacher salaries. The other piece of
075that has to do with longevity. Uh, as teachers stay longer in the system, that average teacher salary does grow. So, as we hang on to teachers, that will that will grow. >> Was that my last slide, Miss B? >> Yes, sir. >> So, I thought those were slides that just made a lot of sense. And as we talk to legislators uh this year, those are some things that will uh help you in your understanding of what they have. If they say they don't have the money this year, you can tell them that you've seen some slides and know that they do. So, they need to take care of their responsibilities, public education. And then finally, I just uh had a reminder to you that we have gotten the um US Constitution posters framed and they're
076all ready and would like to do a little presentation at each school, just short presentations where we can get the the principal, several student leaders perhaps in the foyer and would love to have uh board members there. If you could maybe come to the schools uh that you represent in your district, that would we we'd love to have that. If you could send me some dates, some warnings perhaps that you're available, I'll set up the presentations with the school so that you can be theirs. We pass those out and get some photo ops. Any questions about that? If you'll send me dates, uh I'll start working with the principles. We actually meet with them on Wednesday. And if you have a chance to look at your calendars tomorrow, that would be wonderful. And with that,
077uh Madam Chair, I conclude my remarks. >> All right. Thank you for that. And at this time, um, board member comments. I know that we have a big day on Thursday, so I would continue to invite the community. Um, our our morning will start, uh, Thursday morning early with the day in the district, uh, for our three finalists. We're going to be taking them on tours of several schools in the district and letting them see some folks and and our buildings and our staff and students and see the wonderful things that is going on. and we've got a community lunching lunchon at the career center um for several of our key stakeholders. So, we've got several um folks that have been invited and got a list of of people that will be there to meet
078and greet them during the lunchon and we've set aside a special time for our parents, our SIC groups, our parent teacher um organizations to come and meet them as well. And then we also invite the broader community, anybody who would like to come that evening to come to the career center from 6:00 to 8. We're going to split them up into rooms and allow folks to just mingle and network and very informal sessions that way that you can ask any types of questions of them and find out their values and beliefs and thoughts on things um as they are a candidate for our finalists. So please come out and join us Thursday evening at from 6:00 to 8. So, anybody else have anything? >> I have I have two things. Uh, one, this past weekend,
079uh, Miss Swain, Dr. Sloan, and I attended a conference in Charleston. Um, we had the pleasure of, uh, being in the room with some legislators and listened to what they said was important uh, going into the legislature for this year and what things they would be emphasizing. I want to take this moment to share with you that they are they are working to provide SRO's in every school across the state. They want to have the film on on the windows at every school across the state. They want to um have those in the badges like we have already uh in every school across the state. And the reason I'm bringing it to you in this manner is we already have all those things. We've been one of the leaders uh in the in the state
080for providing those things that safety that level of safety in our schools. And one of the things that's important is we must reach out to our legislative delegation and remind them that we have already worked to do those things and in many cases allotted funds to provide those. And so when they're going forward here and just granting out that money to all the other school districts, uh you need to remember that we already spent. And so, you know, maybe we should emphasize that we would like to go to this next level in hopes that they will um work with us instead of saying, "Well, good for you, and we're still going to give this to all these other people." Uh the second thing I want to tell you is uh in joking one of them
081told us that they had there's an $80 million surplus from the people who live in South Carolina from state income tax and that they thought you know be great if they sent us all some money and we all agreed that yes we think you should do that too but we know they're not but anyway uh the hottest topic is felo and that is fee in lie of tax and it it causes all of us a problem and the biggest part of this problem is school boards or school districts are not at the table when these decisions are being made. So I give you these examples. In Charleston County, they have Boeing. That there's a lot of money there for Charleston County. In Greenville County, they have BMW. Uh and for us, you know, we have
082some businesses here that have been attracted to come here because of this fee in lie of taxes. And what happens is there's an agreement there that they pay these fees to set this up and then they don't pay any taxes for the next x number of years. In most places, these legislature says, "Well, it's about four years." And I'm thinking, "No, it's like 24 years." But anyway, uh the point is is that there is a push for the legislature to to come back and and tell the locals that the school district needs to be at the table when these decisions are being made. So, it's our job to contact our legislators and and try to get them on board with that. So, I just wanted you to be aware of that. Those are the hot
083those are the hot topics. Um, of course they spent the first 20 minutes telling us how important the governor's race was and so forth. So, uh, I don't know how much they'll get done, but that but that's that. The second thing I wanted to say is, um, on 60 minutes, they had about a 20 sec minute segment on Sunday evening. I think that's a CBS program uh, on Character AI. And so Character AI is a website and I encourage everybody to become familiar with what's going on out there because these are the things that are impacting our children, even our youngest children. And on this website, they can go and they can talk to a character who has that looks like them. So this is 100% artificial intelligence. They can go on there and say,
084um, I don't I don't feel good about myself. And so this bot engages into conversation about self-image, about death, about life, about everything that you can think of. Uh it's a scary scary time for us. And um I am appreciating the fact that we have started uh an effort here to bring intelligence to our desire to utilize AI. But I think it is hugely important that parents pay attention to what their children are doing. Even if they're 17 years old, uh from the youngest ones to the oldest ones, they have access. All they got to do is hear how to get there. Uh and and when they're going to their room and they're turning away, you need to as parents, we need to be going in and finding out why. What are they doing? Checking
085their phones, checking their uh u devices that they're getting on the internet with. All of us uh have heard also uh the sadness of what happens sometimes when ch when teenagers get involved with online AI and some of the situations with this character AI that that they had on 60 minutes was uh with some of the teenagers ends in suicide. So it is it is a problem and it is something that we need to be educating as many folks as we can concerning it. I'm sorry to be so lengthy, but I just wanted to to take the opportunity to provide that information >> and thank you guys for going down there and representing us. Well, I'm sorry there. >> Um, all right. Anybody else have board member comments? >> I just want to congratulate Steve
086again. Um, and thank him for his dedication to the district and for 20 years he's kind of carried me through things I didn't know. So, I appreciate that so much. We'll miss you. >> Absolutely. Okay. At this time, I will take a motion to enter into executive session for personnel items, employment recommendations and changes, and an employee termination appeal. >> I make a motion we go into executive session for personnel items and employee termination appeal. >> Second. >> All right. Motion second. All in favor? Thank you. Shall be back. Are we ready? Yes, ma'am. >> Okay, we are back in um open session and at this time I will like to take a motion for action during executive session. I make a motion we accept personnel items, employment recommendations and changes. >> Second. >> All
087right. Motion in a second for personnel items, employment recommendations and changes. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> Right. Five. Thank you. And now for the employee termination appeal. I make district decision on that employee termination. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> Thank you. And now a motion to adjurnn. >> I move that we adjourn. >> Second. >> All right. Motion a second. All in favor? >> Thank you.