001Thank you and welcome for attending to welcome to the Florence School District 5 Board of Trustees September meeting. Um if you would stand with me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Uh Mr. Absolutely. If you will, let us pray. Father God, we just thank you that we can come together tonight as a school board, as school administration, as the Johnsonville community, that we can work together to help rise Johnsonville schools. And God, we just pray tonight that you'll just be with us, that you'll give us wisdom and knowledge and understanding. God, we thank you for the anointing that you place on each one in
002this room to lead in Florence School District 5 as we help the schools and communities of Johnsonville. God, we just pray tonight that we would put you first in all things and that you would lead us in the way we need to go. And we give you all the glory and the honor in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen. >> In accordance with South Carolina laws 1976 section 30-40-80E as amended, the following were notified of this meeting. SC now, WBTW, WMV, WPDE, the posting carrier and posted on the website at fsd5.org. Uh we'll now go to approval of agendas. Everybody had a chance to look over the agenda. Have any concerns, changes? Okay, we'll move to public forum. Anybody listed for public forum? All right, we'll move to our consent agenda. Listed are the minutes and
003the financial statements for August. Any questions or concerns? Like want to talk about anything? It's starting here, so it's kind of brand new. >> All right. Hearing none, we'll consider that approved and we'll go to our regular agenda and we'll start with our superintendent report. >> Good evening everyone. Um uh tonight we have um test scores that have been released uh right after our last board me or our last board meeting in August. Uh the state department of education did release our test scores. So they have been available uh via the state department's website uh for a few weeks now. But I did want to kind of briefly tonight uh give you an overview of our year 25 test scores. uh give you some trends to look at over the past 10 years in comparison
004to where we've been over those 10 years and then also talk about some of the cohort progress from year to year from last year or the year prior to last year. So, I've given you a paper copy of all the different data that we'll look at tonight because it may be hard to see on the screen, but I just kind of wanted to briefly uh go over a few of those things. If you're looking, this is a 10-year uh data trend that we've seen um for Florence School District 5 in comparison to the state of South Carolina. As you look throughout these charts, uh the Florence School District 5 scores are in blue and the state of South Carolina average are in red. Um and so as you've noticed, we kind of typically um in
005third grade uh for a while have been since the last 10 years been a little bit below the state average. And kind of when you see the state dip a little bit, you saw us dip a little bit. When you saw the state grow, you usually saw us grow a little bit. Uh we did have one year of tremendous growth in 2023 in third grade. Um and then for the last two years, we have seen a decline there. um whereas the state average has continued to rise. So that's definitely an area um that we're looking at to try to figure out kind of where that um trend has gone in the wrong direction. Um but looking to where with a lot of for your third grade, this the first time they've tested. It's the first
006time they've taken a state test. Um it's the first time that we're really getting some good data points to kind of see where they're at. Um, third grade is also your first retention year where they have to in reading um, score a certain level to be promoted to the next grade level. Um, so we have put some things in places over the last few years to try to work in that. Um, I can tell you last year we only had 10% of our students to completely not hit the mark um for the read to succeed, but then there were some good exemption causes such as students that have IEPs, uh, students that score a certain level on their formative assessment to where that number was only a handful of students that had to be retained
007for the year. Um, but that is one area that we're watching closely to see what we can do because a lot of times with third grade, that's not a testament of third grade teachers. Sometimes that's a testament of where do we need to be doing to prepare those kids way before they get to third grade. Uh for fourth grade as you see uh those trends um again kind of the trend that the state has made kind of fourth grade is making those same trends. It's almost like mirror images so to speak. But the one thing that you will notice um is as the state started rising over the last three years, our fourth grade has started rising over the last um three years and this year we are above the state average in fourth grade
008um for reading. So very proud of that. Had a big growth um this year. Um the state's goal for every tested subject area is 75% um and we're on the way there. So we hope that we can continue to grow there. fifth grade. Uh very similar. Again, we've seen the gap over the last few years. That gap has been closing. Um and as you notice, uh this year again, that gap closed even further and we are one percentage point away from the state average in fifth grade ELA. Uh sixth grade ELA um has kind of been up and down a little bit. We saw a big gap um in the late, I guess you would say, 2018, 2019. Then COVID hit and we took a big drop. But you can see that over the past
009few years we are closing that gap back again from where we dropped to CO. Um and then this year we were above the state average and we had a little drop there. But what I do want to make sure that you realize is even though that grade level drop, those actual students grew. So those students the year before were only at 41%. So we did see some growth with those students. Um, but we want to make sure that we get um all those grades and we've got some work to do with that cohort. What that lets us know is that cohort's a little bit lower than the typical cohorts that we have. Although they're showing growth, we need to see what else we can do to to strengthen that cohort altogether. Seventh grade ELA um
010have kind of over the past 10 years been above, been below. Um but as you notice about 3 years ago we did take that um rise and we have been either at the state average for the last 3 years or above the state average. Um and for the last three years we have been continuously growing as the state has grown we have also grew and we've grown higher than the state. That's the one thing that's tough. Um because a lot of times we show growth, which is great, but we've got to make sure we outgrow the state of every what everybody else is doing because as that state average grows up, we've got to make sure that we're growing even higher rate so that we stay above that state average. Uh that cohort also increased.
011Uh those students last year were 55% met or above. This year or the year prior, this past year they were at 64%. So saw great growth in that cohort. Also, eighth grade ELA kind of the same thing. We've been up and down above and below the state average. Um, and we kind of for the last 3 years have kind of been around that 54 53 mark. We see that the state grew a little bit more than we grew this past year. Um, and that cohort maintained. Um, so we're looking at ways that we can look at that cohort of students and that grade level uh to find strategies to help them keep growing because that is our goal. Our goal is to continue to grow. We can't stay where we're at. If we keep doing
012the same thing we're doing and don't make any efforts to grow, eventually with everything going on in the state and with the resources that the state's providing all districts, we don't want to be left behind. For math, kind of very similar we've seen to where we had that gap. We went up in third grade and then for the past two years, we've kind of seen that drop where the state continued to grow. Uh one thing for math that we do know is that we have new highquality instructional materials um that have been implemented this year. Um so there has been um the publisher or I guess you would say call them the publisher yes which is curriculum associates which uh produces our ready they've actually come to our school and visited and seen how our
013teachers are implementing um those high-quality instructional materials to be able to give them feedback on what they're doing well and what they can grow in there so that we can close that gap with those high-quality instructional materials. uh they came and did some learning walks last week and they're coming back um next Monday um to provide some tailored support to our teachers um on intensive focus on what they can do to help them grow. Fourth grade um kind of that same thing saw that gap went up and then kind of dropped a little bit but over the past three years we've been doing a slow and steady increase. Um, but we want to see what we can do with these new high-quality instructional materials and professional development to try to close that gap a little
014bit. Um, in math, um, that cohort from when they were in third grade scored 42%, that cohort did grow, so we are at least seeing growth in that cohort. Um, but we really want to focus on those cohorts to try to get them um as close as we can to those state averages. Uh, fifth grade again um, beginning of 10 years ago had kind of a bigger gap. We began to show that growth. we begin to close that gap. We closed it um in 2024 and had a little bit of drop um there. We've made some changes this year um in fifth grade. So, we're hoping that those changes along with the high quality instructional materials can get us back to that state average or above. Sixth grade um kind of prior to CO kind
015of had some up and down. We were below that state average for for much of the time. Um and then CO hit and we took a big hit in sixth grade with CO. Um but as you can see over the past three years uh we did implement a new curriculum uh maneuvering the middle at the middle school about three years ago and we've seen since then in six through eight we've seen that steady increase and you'll see in the other grade levels that steady increase. Now that curriculum we were using um the standards don't align anymore. So we are now to I ready also 6 through 8. And so the middle school, same thing as the ELA. Um we had a I Ready consultant come in last week um to observe our teachers and to
016also provide our teachers uh feedback. They will also be coming this week um to provide even more tailored support for our teachers to help them and to assist them. Seventh grade, again, we saw a a decline um before CO and then we saw a drop after CO. But as you can see over the past three years, we've made some tremendous gains um in seventh grade. Uh we are above the state average. If you notice across the state, seventh grade math um is one of the lower performing grade levels in math across the state, not just um here for us. Um but as you see those student cohorts also grew from when they were in sixth grade to 7th grade, they grew another 4% this year. So we've seen that growth um and we want to
017continue to see that growth above the state average. eighth grade. Um, back in the beginning of 10 years ago, we were a good bit above the state average and then we have shown a a a drop. But again, over the last three years, you can see that we've made that steady climb back above the state average. Um, for eighth grade, eighth grade, like seventh grade, is one of your kind of statewide lower performing cohorts. Uh, we did drop a little bit in our student cohort in eighth grade. uh 2% not a lot but we still want to make sure that um we're growing as the state's growing. So over the past three years overall um in SE ready we have seen that growth u we've seen that trend going back above the state average and
018that's how we want to keep that trend going. Um so again the state's growing though with the high-quality instruction materials what it is doing is the high-quality instruction materials in ELA and math is providing all districts even smaller districts um with high quality instruction materials. So that state average is on the growth because now districts that used to not have resources are now having those resources. So we see the average of the state growing. So we want to make sure that we continue in that upward path because we don't want to get left behind. Taking a look at the high school um in algebra 1 again at the beginning of that 10-year trend um our state scores were higher um and then we saw a decline some of that came with um some new standards
019and stuff right before CO um and we saw that drop after CO but again even there in the past three years we are seeing that our algebra 1 scores are back again on the rise and again we were above the state average for biology um again that beginning trend above the state average standards changed and we saw not just for us but across the state we kind of mirrored what the state did. We saw that drop um and we continue to drop a little bit more significantly than the state. Um but we were back on the rise. Now last year um we did have a 5% decrease. Um but one thing to remember about biology last year if you could have the perfect storm in biology we had it. um unfortunately teacher leave uh right
020at the very beginning of the year to pursue a job outside of education and then also another teacher that had to be out for much of a semester uh due to maternity leave. Um so really for that our scores took a little dip there um but um we're working on that and looking to bring those back up and try to get those about state average. ELA kind of similar trends. Uh we're above the state average. some things changed just as with the state did. Saw a drop. We dropped below the state average. Um and then for the past three years, we are on that progression again back up to the state average to where this year um we are 2% above the state average. Again, uh glad to be back above the state average. Just
021got to make sure we're continuing to grow so that we can hopefully widen that gap from the state average. US history again, very similar. above, fell below, had a drastic change with those state standards. Um, we didn't adapt to those state standards as well as the state did, but as you can see, we have started that progression back up. Uh, this year or last year, we did see a tremendous growth. One thing that I'm um someone that that likes to be honest about the data. Um, we did see a great increase, but also we tested less students last year than we've ever tested in that grade level. The reason is is because we have restructured how we're teaching US history. Uh we've added a civics class that students will take before US history to be
022able to preload some of those standards um to be able to help our students before they even get into US history to have some of that background knowledge that they need. Um so in the next year or two, we'll really be able to see the effectiveness of that and hopefully that will help us stay above the state average and grow even farther. I just said a lot. um and and gave you a lot very quickly. Questions, thoughts that you may have regarding our growth over the past few years. >> I noticed the state standards have dropped significantly in several of those subject areas over the last 10 years. Yes. You would think they would look at that and decide to leave the curriculum alone. >> Yeah. As they change the standards, um we have seen
023those drops. Um and of course if you notice usually in in a 10-year period you potentially have at least two different um administrations of presidents of secretaries of education and of course we know in education laws and accountability changes um with that and a lot of times when you see those changes unfortunately you do see those. So hopefully we're in a period over the next hopefully at least four or five years that standards will kind of stay as they are. Um, one thing I will give the state credit for, they are providing um, they are providing support um, like they never have before with high quality instructional materials. They've spent millions upon millions of dollars to making sure that the high-quality instructional materials we have now um are um aligned to the state standards because
024what a lot of times you used to have was you had a textbook company out of Oklahoma write the curriculum and it really kind of aligned to our standards but didn't all the way align to our standards where now um I think every textbook to be approved has to be over 80% aligned um to the standards. So, um I think in the next few years, uh the state has already began that push. Um and for us and districts that aren't growing as we should, um some of those high quality instructional materials will no longer be options, but requirements, and they'll be tracking that to make sure that we're utilizing. But >> the state doesn't pay for I reading, do they? >> They do for math K through eight. They do now. Yes. Yep. >> They
025do. >> Other questions? We're on the right track. Um, we're seeing the growth over the last three years. We want to continue to see that growth. Uh, you hear me say it and chuckle every time I say it. We can't take our foot off the gas. Um, we got to keep our foot on the gas. We got to keep growing. We've got to keep that growth mindset of wanting to grow. Um, because that's the only way we're going to stay above. And we want to see that gap. We want to continue to increase that gap between us and the state standard because we truly do want to be not only the pride of the PD but one of the best in the state. This time we'll turn it over to Miss Tanner for accountability report.
026>> Good evening everyone and thank you for letting me speak tonight. I'm just going to share a couple of things with you um in terms of accountability. Um, we're going to start with federal programs. Our title one year 26 plan has been submitted and approved by the state department and we have already had our annual title one parent meeting at Johnsonville Elementary um last week and it was very well attended. Um, our title 4 plan has been submitted and is waiting approval by the South Carolina Department of Education. The Perkins plan for um CTE has been submitted and is also waiting approval. Some upcoming plans um in which funds have not yet been released are title two um which is where we pay some for some interventionist and some coaches. Um title three that supports
027our multilanguage learners. And then title five also is where we um support some interventionist for federal programs. In terms of assessment, what's going on right now? We have finished all of our I Ready diagnostic assessments in grades K through eight and teachers are utilizing that data. This is how they know um how to target and group students for those um interventions. So, their enrichment blocks are scheduled around grouping those students based on that our ready data. So we are well underway with that K through 8. Um after our diabetic diagnostics, our KR which is kindergarten assessment and my EGDs, we are finalize finalizing those now because all of that has to be in by the 45th day and almost all of ours is pretty well completed. We just have few students here and there who
028are finishing up with that. um the 13th through the 17th, our second graders will be taking COGAT that is the COGAT in the Iowa those are assessments um to determine gifted and talented and that's required by the state. So we're getting ready teachers have done their training. We'll do some security work with that and then we will take that in October. On October the 27th our eighth graders will be taking PSAT at the middle school. October 16th, we are also required to have a third grade read to succeed parent night and explain that read to succeed law. So we will hold that or the elementary school will have that on the 16th where they go over that information with tier 2 and tier three students and those would be the students who are not yet
029performing on grade level um in third grade. These are just some professional development highlights and you've already heard some of this information. We have already had six days of our Ready Math professional development. Um our teachers have gone through developing mathematical thinkers. Um our I Ready consultant, we had several of them here last week. We had a day at the elementary school and the middle school where those consultants came in. I was able to go with them um for observations and they were so complimentary. Our teachers are doing a phenomenal job of implementing a very new and very different um curriculum and they were just so complimentary and again this week and next week they are coming back to provide some tailored support based on those observations and working with teachers in small groups and
030even individually to help them as they continue with this implementation. our induction teachers, which are our brand new teachers, they had their first induction class meeting back in August. Um, three of the four of those new teachers, they are signed up with Carolina teacher induction program. They also had their first session in the fall last week and we actually meet again on Thursday. So, we meet once a month and do things to help them begin their career and to be successful um with their students. At the high school level, um Mr. Fleming and Miss Wilson and I went for a training in Palmeta Pathways, which is a new platform that we are very hopeful will help them to more efficiently and quickly do all of the tracking that's required for their high school students. and
031it is a lot. So, we are very excited about that and hope um Mr. Fleming is very thorough. He is just making sure that their metrics align with his and that that it's working perfectly before he trusts it and he is a very wise man and he is doing a fantastic job with that. There have been some great things going on in the district. Did I skip one? >> I think it did go. Okay, there we go. Um, JES had their title one family literacy night camp read a lot just last week and they had s'mores making. They had grade level activities. They had some Scrabble um some story making activities. The book fair was going on. Um they had you could um hear camp stories. So Mr. Johnson read, Mr. Goowens's read a camp
032story. I read one. So it was just a great night. It was they had like over 275 attendees >> for their literacy night. So that was huge success for them. >> Then um first the first graders had their book release event. I think that was on Friday morning. And the first graders, they wrote a book about themselves and then their parents were invited to come in and they read and shared their stories. U Mr. Goens and I were invited. So we got to go and participate. For some students, sometimes they have they don't have family members that can make it for that. So we got to read with them. And it was just so precious and so sweet and they did they were so proud to share their books with us. the STEM classes at
033um Johnsonville Elementary, they have been um they've had the egg in the classroom from Farm Bureau. That truck has been out I think twice already now we've seen it there. So they got to make applesauce. The K through two kids, they got to make applesauce and then I think third through fifth made um they made butter. >> So they had a great time with a egg in the classroom visit for STEM. And those are all the great things that have been happening in Florence 5 over the past month. Thank you so much. Okay. We had told at the last board meeting that we'd be coming to you with our amended budget. Um, as you are aware, we had to make some changes. The budget is adopted in June of last year, and at that time,
034not everybody was in place. Not um we had anticipated some needs, but some additional needs um came to light once school got started. Um we're asking you to approve tonight going from 13.57 million to 13.716. the revenue differences that we've come up with. Um, looking back at our taxes that we collected and we do a a year-to-year analysis, I'm very conservative in the percentage that I use. I'm very confident in increasing that amount by 73,000 without causing us any um problem with the tax collections that we've had so far. The interest, we now have three different pots that we draw interest from. One is the our regular Anderson Brothers account. One is something called a shadow account and that has helped us to increase our interest projections because um there's a $250,000 FDIC um regulation
035with our bank, but they've all gone together in that they do up the $250,000 at Anderson and then they farm out the rest of our monies that we have in our balance to other banks. And sometimes we get a little bit higher investment on that. And we also have um the funds at the local government investment pool in Colombia. And those two, the shadow account and the local government investment pool has increased our projected um interest revenue. We also have um additional funds that we're anticipating to the number of tuition payers that we have in conjunction with the educational um trust fund that we have. Um we also got in the allocation on the state side. The only thing that really changed was we did get additional funds for bus drivers which um gave us
036the increase of $128,000 in this budget that we're asking you to um amend. A couple of things that I want you to to see where the differences are. And I we included this in your board packet. I don't know if you received that file, but we gave you a very indepth look at um FTEES broken down by the function codes and and who and all is paid. Although some of the FTEEs didn't look like they changed, but some of the budget amounts did. Just because the FTE doesn't change doesn't necessarily mean that that's the same people in that same grade level from year to year. So, in kindergarten, um, you know, we added a new teacher and an aid due to our numbers. So, that increased $169,000. In primary, we were able to move a
037portion of one of the aids that we already had employed. Um, and then there was two the the kindergarten to help offset that. And then we also transferred um an aid to function 233, which is school administration. Um, we added two aids at the elementary school which were transfers. These were two that we sent from the middle school and one one from the middle school, one from the high school to provide those different blocks that they needed in order to make their schedule work. Um, we had to add due to our special education numbers. Well, at high school, we ended up moving one aid there and we were able to move one position to some grant funding that came through um and allowed us to do that. We had to add a special education aid
038due to the special education numbers and the severity of the disabilities that the students were needing to um be seen for. The autism amount that we had budgeted went down because that is based on the percentage of the salaries and we have some new teachers this year. So the salaries are a little bit less. So once we break it down by the number of kids they actually serve the autism um that went down. guidance. Um, we had our guidance, one of our guidance counselors got an advanced degree and so when you figure in the advanced degree and the additional days that went up based on that in the fringe um into 12 by a little over 10,000 in media, this came to a difference between at when we did the budget at the beginning at
039the end of the year last year, we had a teacher who was part-time at the high school and we also had an aid in there but moving another teacher from the middle school, too. The high school gave us a little bit of savings there. Um, and we know we didn't have the need for that aid any longer since the teacher, the media specialist, was there all year. Um, school administration, we ended up moving an aid from 112 into school administration. This was at the elementary school. This was um due to help with the traffic flow in the office area. And that person would also serve as a long-term sub when needed to um assist the the increased number of teachers there. And then also we were able to save some money in operations and maintenance
040because we were able to assign one custodian based on a percentage to child nutrition. So that we are presenting to you tonight to approve the amended budget. Um, this has to be in m in form of a motion and it has to be in our minutes. Um, because this is something our auditor checks very closely. Um, now we're going to kind of tag team this. Are there any questions about the budget and the increases or decreases to the budget and the lineups? Okay, if you have any questions, just let me know. We're going to kind of tag team this. You had asked to give you an overview of the bond issue and the capital fund projects. Okay. When we did the bond referendum, we did it for 7.5 million. Okay. One thing that came along
041with that when they sold that bond referendum to the banks is that we we received some points on that. So, we were able to get an additional $496,000 worth of funding through the points that we received from selling those bonds. Florence County gave us $250,000 to be used toward the track. And we also received a state infrastructure grant of 1 million. They gave us $250,000 right off the bat. And then as these things have progressed, we're drawing down the remainder of that funds. So that gave us $9.246 million at our disposal to do these capital front projects. Okay. All right. So the first project was 129,000. Um this was just simply the issuance. Um this was for everything that we had to do with the the lawyers and the investment companies and the banks to
042make everything happen. So that is complete. That is a final number for that. That was considered project one. Now project two, this was the JHS HVAC project. For the most part, this is completed. Um, we do not anticipate that there will be any additional funds going out, but there is some additional work that they're having to complete at the high school with this with regard to the thermostats and a few of the buildings um, uh, classrooms. The, uh, RC Jacobs is working with the company that they subbed out the test and balancing of the units and the controls. So that that being the thermostats, they're having some issues on about six classrooms right now. Um so that's still that that's why that project is kind of not complete. All the units are installed. All the
043units are working. Uh they are having some really strange issues with a few of them. Um, but trust that Mel and I are being very pushy with them every day. Um, I'm ready for that project to be over. Um, it needs to be over. The, you know, we've got to keep moving. It's going to eventually hold up our automation project. They don't get it fixed soon. So, um, that's why that project is not quite 100% complete. I would say it's 99% But we do anticipate though that they have some things to do that most of the funding for that has already been >> as far as I can tell we're not spending any more money on that. >> So I see here that we had a budget for 1.7 and we spent 1.8 for like
04474 grand over. Is there any >> in the original bid that went out that the control system and the and the thermostats were not included. So that was something that we had to have an addition. It had to be added on. And so the original budget was the 1.7 but when they that um section the option well we didn't have an option we had to have the control for it. Um at that time we had not proposed uh phase two with Snder which included a district-wide control system. So we had to have a way to run those units for the interim. So that's where that that additional cost came in. Um, we did not know at the time that we would even be able to fund AK2. So, we had to kind of have, you
045know, we had all those 49 new units. We had to have a way to control them. So, that's what that is. Uh, do not think of that as wasted money. Those control, that control system is being used in conjunction with phase two with Snder. So, that was not wasted money at all. Um, we just had to find a way to run them in the interim until it's connected to the new system. I hope that made sense. >> Okay. Any questions on that? >> Okay. Then project three was phase one with Snider. This was the um I'll let you speak to that was athletic lighting. >> Uh the building envelope work, the windows at the high school. >> Um and that is complete. Um so that that project came to 2.2. Um Snider phase 2, we're
046currently in that. That is an ongoing project. Right now we're at 1.5 million um anticipated at this point. You want to speak on how far along they are with that? >> So as of right now, and you'll see in my slides later, uh the elementary school is most of the way complete with the automation for the controls on the HVAC system. The way they're doing that now is they're they started there. uh that school needed the most work. I had to have new control wires ran for the uh units and whatnot. They're getting that done now. They're also working on the middle school at the same time. There's not a lot of work for them to do there other than install a few controllers and tie that into the Samsung control system that we have
047there. Um, and then they're kind of I told them to wait to do the high school until last so that RC Jacobs could hopefully remedy some of these issues before they get in there. But they are tracking uh their own schedule. Uh that should be complete in the next hopefully 60 days. Uh that entire system will be done. I I will say it's a lifesaver. When the elementary school had the event after school the other day, uh they needed all the air adjusted and it was three clicks of a mouse and it was done. So, uh in my world, that was worth the investment right there. >> Okay. And this this is ongoing. >> How much more money do we have to pay out on >> that? Uh that total that is the total >>
048that is the to that we're not those things that we've paid thus far um coming to that amount. Um, we do think that that's and what's pending is going to be the it's not going to be much more than that unless a change order or something comes up. Something we're not um familiar with. >> The only a reminder about the Schneider project, the only change order that we would actually pay for is something that we actually requested the change to with them. There is no change orders. U example the damage that they found in the gym. um they missed that they're covering that at no cost to us. >> Okay. So, have we seen a big savings to have Snder do these projects for us? >> We are going to see the savings uh once
049the once the automation system is complete. That's guaranteed savings. So, let's say by some crazy occurrence we don't save any money with that system. Well, the contract says if we don't, they cut us a check for what they guaranteed that we that we save. So, to answer your question, I can't say that we have yet. They're not done, but we will. We're guaranteed to. >> And how much will that guarantee us to say? I will have to look at the I don't want to speak out of turn and give you an exact percentage. >> It it it was over a period of time. >> It's over a period of time. >> Yeah, it is. >> And we are already receiving checks from Duke Energy for rebates and things that they're submitting along and along and
050I think we've probably got around 10,000 in rebates already from them from things from cost saving measures that we >> unusual for them to call me. Matter of fact, just last week they called and said, "Hey, a new rebate came available. We got an extra $1,500 from Duke for some work at the elementary school. So each one of those thermostats actually that they're installing there are considered smart thermostats and we get so much money for our thermostat. So um and that's money that they did not include in the procedures, the guaranteed money. >> Okay. Project number four is the buildings that we had down to purchase. One was for the middle school storage for drama or etc. that has been installed. Um the we still have pending the building for the track. We're waiting on
051the track services to get finished and then we will begin with the building um and we have estimated that that'll be around $150,000 for that building um to be completed at the track. All right. um safety and security. Um this is an ongoing thing as as items come up and we we see that we need to um tighten up a little bit in some of our safety and security. We we've done some different things with some doors recently that have come up. I think there was one just that's not even included. I just happened. >> There's a $9,000 purchase door that went out today. So we can add 9,000 to that total. That was for an exterior door repair in the gym at the high school. All right. The district renovations. This is this encompassed
052a lot. This encompassed all of the painting and the the the renovations of small things, the fencing that we had to do. Um we had some concrete work done. Um the athletic sound and some stuff that we had done at the JES cafeteria. Um, so this I think that that's pretty much everything that we have down except for maybe some additional painting and and small renovations. Mr. K, >> we're going to kind of take a look as the dust is settling on all these projects. Um, there is a lot more painting that needs to be done. Uh, the price that we have locked in from the bid with the contractors that we use for painting is much lower than we used to pay. So, when we first budgeted this, I didn't think we were going
053to be able to stretch the dollar as much. Uh, we are able to do that and I anticipate a lot more of that, but I'm kind of holding off on that until we finish the big projects that we promised, i.e. the track, etc. Okay. Our project number seven was the land that we ended up purchasing um the library across the street and the vacant lot um across from the elementary gym. um those um were able to be charged to bond. Then the one that we're actually in progress right now is the track. Um Mr. Kennedy, what kind of projection they have on that? >> So you'll see pictures in my presentation, but the surface is sprayed, surface is cured. Uh they tell me that they will be here by Thursday to start striping it. That
054will take two to three days. And then the actual track itself is done. As soon as they're done, we will get contractors out for fencing and the building. So, uh if everything goes my way, which nothing with that track has so far, but hopefully uh moving forward it will. And that should be done by the beginning of year 26, not next school year, but by January. Um, we one of the other projects that we did was the playground equipment at the elementary school. That project has been installed. Everything with that is complete. And then getting down to the the the bottom grand total, we spent 7.3 million at this point. So, we have a balance of 1.88 million still available. Um, one of the things that we had discussed is we want to save a
055small portion of that for unexpected problems that may come up in the near future. Um, >> let me add something to that as well. We did have some unexpected expense that came out of that total. the uh 24 ton HVAC unit at the middle school cafeteria failed six years out of warranty. So, we just had that replaced. That was a completely unexpected. Um and there's also a unit on top of the elementary cafeteria that's being replaced this week. That was about a $20,000 unexpected repair, too. So, there's probably $80,000 or so of unexpected HVAC repair that we've had to do. >> Um, and to to complete the projects that we have out there, we know the track bill is out there. We still have the the Snider phase 2 and and subnovation. It we're anticipating
056300,000 if we set that aside of that. Um, and we'll be left with 1.5 million as we stand right now. Okay. Um any additional questions on where we stand with the bond? >> Um the project six, the district renovation. What is vision 21 for JES cafeteria >> vision? >> They they supplied the the uh table >> the tables. That's where we purchased the >> new um furniture. >> I thought that I thought that came out of the Medicaid funds. >> No, Medicaid funds not been touched. Well, the TMD funds have not been touched. Now, Medicaid really wouldn't have anything to do. That has to be >> the lunch the lunch out of the um >> food service. >> The middle school did and the high school did, but now they didn't have the funds to
057go ahead and do the elementary school at this point. So, the the >> we need some freezer work at the elementary school. So, me and Mr. Miller has discussed trying to hold his money for that and we covered the tables and the cafeteria renovation out of >> Okay, Mr. Turn. All right. So, we've kind of already discussed a lot of this, but uh building automation update. As I said, most classrooms at JEES are already connected to the new system. JMS is in the process being converted over and again JHS will be last. You'll see here these are snips that I took out of the system this morning. The graphics uh very easy to use. It gives all the information that we need right there. head temperature in the classroom, the humidity in the classroom, and
058I think uh Mr. Johnson can probably agree that his teachers are very happy they now have a swing on adjustments. Where before we had a lock down, 73° was their temperature. That's all they got. Now they have a twoderee swing either way. And that is again with that guaranteed savings, which I think is pretty impressive. Um, it feels better in that elementary school right now than it ever has. Uh, teachers are happy. It's almost cold in some of the classrooms. You can tell that some of the teachers like it a lot cooler than others. Uh, I've actually had several teachers call me and go, "Hey, it's too cold. Can can I bump this up?" And I'm like, "Yeah, you you got control." So, um, that's been taken very well by the by the staff there.
059So, >> so they still get to control their own rooms. >> Yes. within two degrees >> within two degrees of our set point. >> And that set point is the ones determined by Snider. >> So that's 73. >> Our old set point was 73. Um the the number that they gave us now is 70°. No, 72 degrees. They can go 2° >> 74 or 70. >> So they got four degrees. >> They got they got four degrees. Yeah. Two degrees up or down from our >> Yes. uh JS gym repair update. Uh I mentioned to you guys before that there was some damage. I don't think I showed you pictures, however. Um this was again pre-existing damage several years ago. We had really bad roof leak in there. I think y'all probably remember us having
060the roof replaced before the the roof was uh repaired though. The water ran down that wall right under that door and it rotted out those beams. Um, Schneider missed it when they crawled under that building, but I will give them all the credit. When they found it, they called me and said, "Hey, we got a problem. I had a mild heart attack." And then they said, "Don't worry, we're covering it." So, um, they've selected the engineering firm. The plans have been submitted to OSF. So, I'm waiting on OSF to come back and say, "Go forth and conquer." What was the savings on or how much would that have cost us? >> They have not shared that with me. But um the picture on the right there, those main beams, the big beams there, the way
061that building was constructed, the way it was explained to me, old buildings like that, that beam is supporting the entire wall. So they've got to come in and support that so that they can cut that out and come in with a metal beam in its place. I imagine that would be very expensive. Um the interesting thing is though they have assured me that it can be completed in 3 to 4 days. So what I've asked them to do try to do it on like a start on a Friday so they can hopefully be done. Kids are back in there Monday. >> Um they do have it temporarily supported right now. So it is it's it's not unsafe for students to be in the gym. Um, but that's pictures that they took when they had it
062open so that I could actually see how bad it is. The track, as I said, it is resurfaced. Uh, it looks really good. U, I know y'all are glad that it's done. I'm glad that it's done. The public's going to be glad that it's done. >> Um, like I said, crew should be here later this week to do the striping. 2 to 3 days that'll be complete. Next steps for that RFP for fencing repair, RFP for the building, some signage, and additional cameras. The only thing that I'm worried about now is we have that really nice surface. I don't want it to get damaged. So, uh, we will be doing some additional signage. There will be we have to keep the track open to the public, but it's not going to be a 24-hour free-for-all.
063Um, so we'll have to purchase signage for that. Well, obviously we're not going to just do that overnight. There'll be social media campaigns and whatnot to get that information out. Uh safety and security update. As I mentioned to you guys before, we did submit our yearly grant to the state department of education. Uh our NVRs for our camera system are currently about seven years old. So, they are getting a little little long in the tooth. So, I've asked for new MVRs, new cameras. I should hear back from that hopefully by December. uh our cops grant the 360 roughly $360,000 that we got two years ago. We have finally closed that out. We are done with that completely. Uh we are waiting on the official word from the Justice Department saying that it's closed, but we
064have done the request that they close that project out. Some pending projects, some of that safety and security money that Wanda mentioned earlier, uh the JES gym needs access control on it. So, we're having first door has been cut, the side door that students enter for class, the side door on the front that people come in a lot for pageantss and whatnot. Those two doors are getting access control just so that it's easier. I know one thing right now with um the after school program, those employees don't have keys. It'll be really easy once we get that access control, they have a badge, they'll have access to the building when they need it. I mentioned you guys before, the district website was updated. The schools have followed suit. Um, Miss U. Britney McDaniel with the
065elementary school does their website and that is the homepage there. I highly suggest that you guys go take a look. They've put a lot of hard work into that. Uh, it looks really good. They decided to to kind of mock the district page a little bit. We gave them the autonomy to do what they wanted, but everybody kind of liked it. So, uh, kudos to Jes for that. Middle school here, again, the same concept and the high school. And Paul's not here, but I'll give him a little shout out. He did the drawing pictures that they used on there. Any questions, comments, concerns? Uh a few upcoming events uh just to make you aware of. Again, board elections will be November 4th for three seats. Um all seats running unopposed. Uh fall sports uh have
066a lot of games coming up over the next few weeks. Uh some highlights I do want to highlight um is senior night um this Wednesday for tennis. Um, and then in October, volleyball senior night will be on October 14th and high school varsity football senior night will be on October 31st. So, homecoming this week here at Johnsonville High School. Uh, they've got a lot of activities going on this week for spirit week. Um, and a lot of fun things going on for the students and the staff. And then of course our homecoming parade on Friday along with our homecoming game at 7:30 on Friday night against Hannah Pamplicico. And that game also will be televised um this Friday night. So fun week ahead here at Johnsonville High School. Uh just some things to remember um
067and upcoming events um SIC meeting on the 23rd at the high school. on the 25th, uh, Johnsonville Middle School Junior Beta Club induction along with, uh, SIC meeting that night. Again, homecoming parade and homecoming game this Friday. Uh, one thing I noticed, we've had two, Mr. Fleming, maybe you can clarify. Will the game start at 7 or 7:30? >> 7:00. So, that is a change due to the TV or the the actual game or just TV coverage starts at 7 game. All right. So, that is a change. 7:00 for the game. >> Um, Homecoming parade is at 4:00. >> Yep. All right. Um and somewhere between 4 and 4:15 it'll it'll get rolling. Sometimes, you know, it takes a few minutes to get it rolling. Um October 3rd is a teacher work day. Um and
068that brings us to the end of quarter 1. October 2nd is the last day of the quarter um for quarter 1. So, it's hard to believe that a nine weeks is almost gone. Um just a few days left in the nine weeks. And then of course we have the week of fall break, October 6th through the 10th. Uh when we return from fall break on the 14th, report cards will be issued. And then we will have JMS spirit week from October 20th through the 22nd. And then on the 27th of October, we'll be back here again for our next board meeting and work session. So a lot of great things going on here in Florence 5. Um and as always, we appreciate your support. Okay. So, we'll move right into our for action agenda. Um,
069first item on the agenda is the first reading and revision of section A from board policy which we worked on in our work session. Um, we can approve the whole section at once. So, if we have any more questions, if we don't have any more questions, I'll entertain a motion to approve the first reading of the revision of section 8. I make a motion that we approve the first reading for the revision of section A of the board policy. >> Second. >> We have a motion that's properly second. Um any other questions? All in favor? >> I opposed have the same right. Hear none. Um first reading of policy BEA live streaming of board meetings. >> Of course um we already live stream our board meetings. Um but by requirements we do have to have
070a policy um regarding our live stream. And so the schoolboard association um has provided a model policy um for districts um and that policy just basically kind of states what we're already doing um and just puts in writing the requirements for that. >> All right. Motion. >> I make a motion we accept first reading of policy BA live streaming of board meetings. >> Second. >> We have a motion that's properly second. Any questions? I was just wondering, do we have to put it on YouTube? >> It has to be posted somewhere. >> It says on the website and YouTube. >> Yeah. So, >> the link from our website to YouTube. >> Okay. >> Cuz if we put it on YouTube, YouTube um helps meet some of those ADA special accommodations. >> Yeah, it automatically does.
071>> It automatically does. Close caption doesn't. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um we have a motion that's properly second. All in favor? >> I >> oppos have the same right. Hearing none. Um, second reading of the revision of policies GLE and GCL GCLE-R for unencumbered times. >> Again, this was the policy we brought last uh board meeting. It added full-time nurses uh to the unencumbered time. >> Gotcha. We entertain. I make motion we approve second reading of the division of positive GCLE and GCLER on time. >> Second. >> We have a motion and properly second to approve this second reading. Any questions? All in favor? >> Opposes have the same right. Hearing none, we will move to the approval of the amended 2526 general budget that was brought before us um just a few
072minutes ago. I make a motion we accept the approval of the amended 2526 general fund budget. >> A second. >> We have a motion that's properly second to approve this amended budget. Any questions? Hearing none. All in favor? >> I opposers have the same right. Hearing none. Um next is SCSBA delegate assembly. We need a delegate. >> We need a delegate uh for the December 6th annual business meeting. And >> you are already >> any volunteers. >> You already registered. >> I'll volunteer. >> Yes. >> Make a motion. Who's going to be the alternate? >> Yeah. >> I'll be in New York. >> I'll be in Columbia earlier that week. Y'all want to be the offer? That's fine. >> If he can't attend. If he if he attends, you don't have to be. >> Can
073you lead the vote? >> I can. >> So, do can I get a motion to approve Irvin as the delegate for the SCSBA delegate assembly and um Mary Powell as the alternate? >> I make a motion we approve Mr. as a delegate and assistant. >> I second. >> Okay. Everyone in >> favor. >> Um, next we have overnight field trips. >> Right. >> Looking at our overnight field trips, uh, the first field trip is on November 14th through the 16th, the FCA retreat at Garden City Chapel. Um students in SCA interact with other schools there through games and fellowship devotions uh groups in chapel. It is a um field trip that is attended annually for the past few years. Also a next uh trip is in January. January 21st through the 23rd is the annual
074uh Junior Beta Club um state convention. Um, and that is again another annual trip that Johnsonville Middle School Junior Beta Club traditionally attends. Okay, >> I'll make a motion we approve the overnight field trip quest. >> Second. >> All any questions? All in favor? >> I opposers have say right hearing none. I'll entertain a motion to move in second session. I make a motion we're doing session. I second. All in favor? >> Thank you. All right. I'll entertain a motion to come out of executive session. >> I'll make a motion to come out of executive session. I say it. >> All right. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Coming out of executive session, we have one action and that is student releases. I'll entertain a motion for that. >> I make a motion
075that we approve the student release request. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion as properly second. Any questions? All in favor? Opposes have the same right? Hearing none. I'll entertain a motion for adjournment. Make a wish to adjurnn. Second. >> All in favor? >> Thank you.