001We will open our meeting tonight with an invocation as usual if you'll stand. But I the chair will now defer to uh Superintendent Crockett who will open. Uh I just think it's it's really appropriate. We had a really tough week this week with the passing of of one of our own, uh DJ Keller. He was uh He is a warrior for our country, um served in the military. He was a protector of our community and law enforcement. And it is just an absolute tragic loss and he is just a a wonderful wonderful wonderful kid. And so our condolences of course to Ally and Ally [snorts] is is our wife and daughter, Ms. Ms. Burkett, that's in our community. Um And we also have uh sisters and cousins and nephews that are in in our um
002in our building, walking our halls. And so we're in a time time of mourning for sure. And so I just uh appreciate the board allowing us just have an opportunity of reflection for an incredible uh life and um and pay tribute to uh Officer DJ Keller. Thank you, sir. Before we go to the invocation, I would like you to just take with me a moment to uh silent prayer to remember DJ and every beautiful young man and woman we've been separated from. And I pray beyond words that we never forget who they are and what they meant to us. Heavenly Father, as we move forward addressing the concerns and challenges that you've laid before us, we humbly beseech you to fortify us with conviction and courage, challenging us to utilize the fullest gifts and blessings
003you've entrusted to each person in this room. Amen. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. You may not be seated. >> [clears throat] >> 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. Forgive me. You have uh ladies and gentlemen, the uh agenda that's been presented [clears throat] to you in your packet. Are there any additions or corrections? Hearing none, all those in favor of approving the agenda as so stated, signify by saying I. I. I. You also have the minutes as they have have been presented to you. Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes? Hearing none, all those in favor I'm sorry, I'm rattled over my over my day
004here. We need a motion to approve the agenda so stated. I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as presented tonight. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. Now I'll jump back up to the minutes. I hadn't forgotten [clears throat] but but it's it's very possible it's this day. You have the minutes as they're presented to you in your packet. I need the chair's I'm requesting a motion to accept the minutes as so presented. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Any dis- second? Thank you, Jason. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries. Now, Dr. Crockett, would you were indicating that we have >> [clears throat] >> a request for public input. We do. We do. That's right. Um
005and Ms. Rice Yes. will you take the podium, please? Thank you for coming and welcome. Thank you. Now, before we start, you received the policy that we are held accountable to. >> Yes. So in adherence to that policy, the chairman is required to read the following statement. Okay. And it states, public input should be in the form of suggestions, information, or comments pertaining to programs, schools, or school district. Based on legal advice of our council, comments cannot be made either complimentary or critical naming any student, school employee, or administrator administrator, or board member. As these matters are personal matters that require executive session, the speaker's comments will be received only as board information. Thank you, Ms. Bryce. Um good evening, members of the board. My name is Katina Rice. I'm here tonight because I do
006not feel that the concerns involving my son at the middle school have been appropriately addressed. I want to make it clear that this is not about avoiding accountability for my child. My son is not perfect. However, he deserves to be treated fairly, respectfully, and consistently like every other student, especially while receiving support under a documented 504 plan. My concerns involve disciplinary consistency, communication failures, and the implementation of 504 accommodations for students with ADHD and other learning differences. My son has attempted on multiple occasions to advocate for himself or de-escalate situations before they became disciplinary issues. Instead of feeling supported, he has often felt embarrassed, singled out, unheard, and emotionally crushed. My son has also been My son also reportedly being told that his behavior was an embarrassment, that he was an embarrassment to his parents,
007and that administration did not believe in 504 plans, and abused and viewed his accommodation as an an embarrassment. As a parent, it is heartbreaking to hear your child come home feeling ashamed of the very accommodations that are supposed to help him succeed academically and emotionally. I also believe there are broader concerns regarding consistency and how students with ADHD and other learning differences are supported within the classroom environment as a whole. My concern extends beyond my own child and centers on whether students who require accommodations are consistently receiving the understanding, patience, and support they are entitled to. What concerns me most is the emotional impact this has had on my child. School should be a place where students feel safe, supported, encouraged, and valued. Instead, my son has expressed fear, frustration, anxiety, and feelings of hopelessness
008regarding the school environment. No parent wants to watch their child lose confidence in themselves or dread going to a place that is supposed to help them grow and succeed. I want to acknowledge that my son has wonderful teachers and maintains good grades. This is not a criticism of every educator within the district. My concerns are specifically related to repeated patterns involving communication, discipline, and student support. I respectfully ask the board to ensure these concerns receive appropriate review, and that meaningful steps are taken to improve accountability, communication, and support for the students receiving accommodations moving forward. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Ms. Rice. Thank you very much. And do I give these to Um yes, yes, you're welcome. I did this one for everybody on the board. Thank you, Ms. Rice. I'll make sure
009they get them. Thank you. [snorts] The chair now defers to Dr. Crockett as he presents the heart of a hornet. Excellent. Thank you very much. Uh lots of lots of exciting things taking place around our district, but just recently, even within this past week, uh we have had some uh another really incredible uh award that was uh given to the district. We've had um uh with our national Beta Club Association, we've had Ware Shoals High School as a a school of distinction. Um our middle school has received awards as uh a middle school school of distinction. Um when we just started, um Ms. Slaton is here, Ms. Afferton is here, and thanks for their for their help. Uh they they went ahead and have started this uh collaboration with with fourth grade at the primary
010school and fifth grade at the middle school and have established a Beta Club of excellence there as well. And so for the very first time that I can remember and first first time uh likely in our district, our district now has received an honor of being uh considered a district of distinction. And so uh today, I think it was around 12:30, I received a package from the National Beta Club Association and they have given school-level plaques to each of our schools. And I would love the sponsors of those uh schools to to come up. Uh Ms. Ms. Tyra, if you do you mind stepping in um if that's okay. Uh for uh our high school and and I'll also present tonight the district National Beta Club uh award of distinction district of distinction uh plaque
011that we received as well. So um with that, I'd love for them to come up and I think I have it here. That's great. Representing the board this evening will be Mr. Jason. And so we have um Kate Foley, uh Britney Slaton, and Allison Rodriguez is at the high school. It's just done an outstanding job. So I'll pass these out. Here's the high school. And >> Wow. It's the primary school. It's primary middle school, yeah? >> [laughter] >> Elementary. And Elementary. And here is the homework for district. That's That's you. All right. Wow. All right, GOT IT. GREAT. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU, JASON. IT'S AMAZING. CHAIR continues to refer to uh Superintendent Crockett for an update. Absolutely. There's a Like I said, such great things that are take take place all over the district,
012and I want to share some of those with you at that at this moment. Um it's kind of like there's a change in season. Okay, we have sports season that has just kind of wrapped up. So, we now take this kind of a deep breath. Uh but not for very long because it seems for for every sport event that we have in the evening, now there's a band concert or uh awards program or something like that all the way to the end of the year. So, it's a change in season. Now, we're starting to recognize the accomplishments of our students throughout the year. And so, this is a beautiful picture of our of our high school uh baseball field, and and it was it was a great season growing season for for a lot of
013our sports events, our baseball and our our softball. Uh our um rebuilding, looking forward to the future, and there's just such great young talent on those teams. Our our track and field uh team has excelled this year, um and had um multiple uh, podium places and especially in the 3200 and the uh, 1600. Uh, Emma Polley came in fourth, which is a really impressive in the 800. That's a very, very challenging uh, race. It pulls out a lot of fantastic athletes. We had Sarah Vincent, I think that was fourth. Chase, is that right? Fourth in the state for the javelin throw. And just uh, lots of people that qualified for for uh, state recognition if you're in the inside the top 10. So, very, very successful uh, uh, program this year and uh, led a
014lot of the area uh, schools in in 1A. And so, that was that was a lot of fun to see that. It was great. Super proud of them. Our golf, great guys, great golfers, great coach. So, another uh, successful uh, season as well. Of course, uh, our band continues to uh, receive recognition at the state level. Uh, we really had a wonderful uh, spring concert. And had lots of uh, guests to join us as well and that was uh, a lot of fun. Very well done and it's just amazing the music that these kids are producing. Uh, it's just such a high quality program. And uh, kids are doing very, very well and being recognized for it. Um, FFA had a banquet last week. I I don't know. I feel like a a proud grandpa.
015You know, you're never going to you know, say, "Hey, you know, you're not proud of uh, of your kids." But, but that FFA banquet was one like I hadn't seen before. It was so polished, such student led. There were uh, great speakers and um, I I just it just your cheeks were sore because their kids are doing such wonderful work on their own. And um, and Miss Kaymack has did a wonderful job, but she sat off to the side and just watched kids take over. And um, it's it was just a just just a privilege and an honor to see that. And the kids performed very well at the state level, bringing home hardware, winning state competitions, and placing in state competitions. And it's just a great great momentum in our FFA program. But now
016we're getting into of course testing season is just wrapping up. We had some makeups we got to do and and some field tests. I'm not sure if we got field tests yet. But I just want to stop and and share how proud I am of our students at all three schools for the how serious they took their testing. And and what an art form for our teachers to make sure our students are fully aware that the seriousness of what they're doing. But not making it in such a way where there's so much pressure that kids do not want to come to school or they're they're anxious or anything along those lines. They had a really perfect blend. And I have a luxury to have having my own child. And and so he came walked into
017the living room. It was it was 7:00 and he said I'm going to bed. I got an SC ready test tomorrow. >> [laughter] >> So the teachers have done just a really great job prepping our students for this and and that's I think one of the largest factors for us to to ensure the continued success that we've been seeing academically. But this is a a photo of the of the primary school getting ready for the SC ready pep rally. How about that? And that was that was a lot of a lot of fun. Of course, I wanted to give a big shout out to the American Legion and who had donated and the auxiliary who had donated close to 61 pairs of shoes I believe for at Wer Shultz Primary School for students that are
018in need. So our our guidance counselor has those. If there's family needs or if there's needs for that that our students find themselves in, they're able to go to that shoe closet, get a new pair of shoes that fits, and and that's that's so important. So, very appreciative of of their service and looking for ways to support our district. We also have incredible teachers of the year. These are our finalists, and that is is wonderful. I'm excited to I don't know the results of how things go. I like to be in keep being secret to me as well, and I enjoy the suspense and and just wonderful teachers. And we're we're very very fortunate to have have really high-quality staff here. I want us to make a make you aware that we do have river
019safety day that's coming up on May 22nd. And so, we will be busting our fourth graders, which we do on every year we bust our fourth graders to the river. We want to make sure that all of our students, and we phase them through fourth fourth grade to make sure they're aware of the dangers associated with the river. And and so, we are appreciative of Western Laurens to that shares with our students what to look for, precautions, how to respond if there [clears throat] is an issue. And and so, we we appreciate that being proactive and educating our students on the dangers of the river as well. I know that there's some potential for inclement weather that's coming up this weekend, and we do have our catfish festival that's taking place. I did reach out
020to Rick Holland last night. He was concerned that maybe if there's one of the bands that they committed to, is it possible to use the auditorium? So, we're just kind of exploring that. We want to be a resource for our community as well. So, if there's something that we can do to help, we'll we'll always jump at the chance to do that. And so, they're just as a backup No one wants it there. We don't, they don't, no one no one really wants it there. It's not the ideal, but is is it an option down the road for us as a backup plan. So, we're just going through those logistics and I I wanted to make make you aware of it at this time. Um and of course, the last thing I want to share
021is is our our graduates of 2026 and what a special time of year this this is. We have a wonderful group of kids. They're shattering academic records. They're shattering our graduation rate. Very bright. Many are going to uh very high level of schooling, uh very high technical degrees uh that they're pursuing. Some have a practically earned a degree already and I'm I'm just thinking of one in particular that we were helped trying to drag across but has already lined up internships uh in auto mechanics doing extremely well. Make it doing have it it's going to be able to uh provide for his family in a very very positive way. So, very very excited about this group and um just great great kids. Great kids. And um and so with that senior season, we've had the
022senior walk. We've had senior day. Uh last night, we appreciate the support of our community with baccalaureate and senior Sunday. They lined the streets as our seniors walked through, uh piled into the church afterwards. It is a completely student-led and boy, did they ever do a jam-up job. Everything from special music to the speaker, to the musicians, to everything was was uh uh led by the students and again, you just can't be prouder of what these kids are producing and I'm just uh thrilled to um to see what what they're doing and what success will will come their way for sure. And so with that, that'll be our superintendent's update. If there's any questions of what I presented, I would be glad to answer that, but I also want to put in a plug for
023our guests who are here. If there's something that you wanted to scoot out as well, you're welcome to do that. And I appreciate you being here very, very much. Um but that's that's the superintendent update. Thank you, sir. The chair will now recognize a facilities update from Mr. Trevor Cooley. How we all? Um I want to start out first by giving Brandon some recognition. He's been great. He loves this place. You can see the alumni pride in it. He loves coming in here. He's probably one of the first people on campus every day. Um give you a few updates on some projects going on. Um our asphalt project going good. We're looking at having it June 15th through the 19th. They're saying 3 to 5 days on that project should be complete. Um so no
024really a lot of downtime out front. So it should be a pretty quick. Bids coming in way under budget. We're looking good there. Um we're going to go and do pull some new lighting at our middle school. Um trying to brighten it up. I know we've had some concerns of some real dark spots out there. Um we've come with some good ideas on that. Looking to move forward on it, too. Um primary school fire panel, we got it replaced. It was kind of an emergency thing. We got it replaced. Um we're waiting on I believe two strobes to be replaced. Um the horn's working, our strobe's not. It's kind of not communicating. We're just waiting for those to come in. Um this summer we're looking at doing some painting up here at high school. Um
025something to kind of go with the floors, brighten all these hallways up, make everything look good. Um hallways, auditoriums, a little bit in our cafeteria, and uh some of the ceilings, some of the old conduit and pipes and all that different stuff, getting all that touched up, make it look good. Um we're also looking at some new windows in our field house. Um a lot of them are busted out. The window frames are rough shape, mix match painted different colors, all kinds of stuff. Would like to get all of that to look the same but keep the original look. Um and try to help out with some of the energy efficient too of it. Um so upgrade some of that. Um big thing we got our football irrigation pump being Um it's been out for
026a little while, finally coming in. So uh we're going to be in probably the next week or two we're going to be running it. Trying to replace some of our sprinkler heads, get everything up to levels it's supposed to be. A lot of them are sitting low, it's kind of cratering out different things like that. I think there's probably going to be about 10 that we're going to have to replace across football and baseball but we're going to do all that in house too. That's great. Um I know y'all remember the primary awning when it got replaced. There's still a little bit in front of the front entrance that we're going to have to get some plaster work. But it's going to take just a little bit of time so we're going to wait for
027summer time. I want to get somebody to come in and help me redo that, kind of fix where there's some old rebar where that old awning was attached up there and all stuff and make that look a lot better too. Um want to touch on another thing on that. Um Skeeter Crawford is going to donate some lettering for our awning over there at primary school. Okay. So he said he would do it, he wanted to donate it and everything like that. I thought I thought that was all awesome. That's nice. Um some more things we're looking at trying to get a couple summer help this year, help out with a lot of projects, pressure washing, painting. We got a lot of projects. We got 100 year coming up. Um we got one time to get
028it right. So we we want to make sure we most definitely get that right and get everything uh going good for it. So hopefully we can get some summer help help out a few extra hands going to be able to help take care of that. Um other than that, that's pretty much it for facilities update. Do you have any questions? Sounds wonderful. Thank you, Trevor. Thank y'all. Thank you. Thanks, Trevor. You did a great job. Amazing job. The chair will now again defer to Dr. Crockett in a financial review in terms of budget budget preparations. >> Absolutely. Thank you. It's that It's that time of year and we're working our way through it. So tonight we'll be presenting our first reading of our budget. I do I just want to kind of make sure we
029we know what we're working with. Um the House of Representative they've they've approved it, but we got to remember That's right. that we're now in in conference committee. Yeah. Um there's no more bills that are being projected. They they've gone gone home and now we're just waiting on conference committee to to go ahead and tell us what our our budget is. Um we had a projection. We had the House had shared their version. We have we still don't have a really good idea of what the Senate has proposed or what if they like the House or if they what um what differences they have. We do haven't received those numbers or what impact that would be on us. Um and now we're into uh this committee where they're trying to work what will allocations be.
030I would expect I wouldn't expect it to be June. So without knowing our allocations we're going to make our our our best estimate based upon what the House has projected um and to see where see where we're at. And so I I shared a couple things with you. Um one of the things that's going to be going into our budget uh I'm recommending for our budget and it's actually as a state requirement is that all of our certified staff uh will receive a $2,000 increase. And salaries have have increased over the couple years since 20 I think 2023 I think the starting uh wage was uh 44,000. And so um and I'll I'll I'll get to that and I'll come back to this in just a minute. But uh it was it was 44,000 in
03123-24 and so for the projected base salary will be 50,500 which is which is an increase of $2,000. You have to be really mindful of how it's worded and you have to be careful because it's it's $2,000 for what on this state salary scale, the minimum salary scale. We currently pay above the state salary scale there's lots of lots of districts are trying to to contemplate do you just give what the base salary scale is or do you do a full 2,000? It's it's my recommendation that we do the full 2,000 and continue to pay above the state salary increase minimum the minimum salary scale. These are all the cells that are above the state minimum scale right now so you can see those scales where where above where we're what the minimum expectation is
032for salary and so I'm very excited for for our employees to have that $2,000 increase per cell will still continue to be above what what the minimum expectation is. I also want to take a look deep dive to enter our classified employees and where we're at there because the the budgets do not have any provision in it for a classified employees. So and we have just as many classified individuals as we do certified and so we have to make a very conscientious decision as to are are we in a position at this moment in time to be able to support our classified staff? And I am asking in this particular budget for for your approval that we also do a increase for our classified staff as well. Um this is the trend that we're starting
033to see here is since 2023-2024, this will put us at a 27% increase uh for food service salaries. And so that's a significant increase and a nearly a 25% increase for bus driver pay. Our bus drivers will be approaching close to a 20 $20 an hour. I think it's will be the starting pay for a bus driver which is uh starting to get very, very competitive um with with areas around. And so um we're we're excited to see these increases and I think um that extra bump in their salary will help us to be more competitive with the salaries that are around for our classified classified employees. So how will we be able to to get this accomplished? I think it's it's really important um we have looked at really closely and this is probably
034the most difficult part of forming a budget is trying to determine what would be an appropriate county appropriation. And so based upon trend data for the last several years and what we're projecting is to be somewhere around uh uh 3,670,000. And uh we have looked at the uh State Department's page as far as what the house has approved for for education and we'll receive a little bit more than uh 6 million. Uh we have tier funds. Uh two of those tier funds are fixed and I received a letter um in fact in February regarding our uh tier three. Uh those are tax exemptions and so that that'll put us somewhere around uh 1.6 um million dollars for our tier funds. And so we're projecting a balanced budget um moving forward um with this proposal knowing
035that we have still have a lot of variables involved with our budget, but this is just our best estimate at this point. There are some other things that are in the budget that I want to make sure that that I share with you. There's a a 4.5% increase for for nurses that's in this budget and there's also a um a 5 5% stipend increase. And not for just athletics, but for every stipend yearbook to um academics challenge team, to every stipend that we that's available in the district for people who are pouring into um and going above and beyond what their job description is and to take on those extracurriculars. A 5% increase on on those stipends. Um if there's any questions regarding that, I'll be glad to to answer that, but again, this is
036our best guess as to where we are right now. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Crockett, and I appreciate your dedication to our teachers and our certified staff and our support staff. We can't live without either one and we're greatly appreciative. Okay. You have before you the action items that will be addressing tonight. Under tab one, you will see the proposed budget for the 2026-27 academic year for District 51. Uh Dr. Crockett, I really want to thank you for a budget where we can look and see the differences that we had from last year. Really helped when we discussed the budget and everyone put in their wish list and uh it was enormously helpful. Do I have a motion that we accept the first reading of our budget projection for the 26-27 academic year. I make a
037motion to approve the 26-27 first reading of the budget. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Rodney. Is there any discussion? All those in favor indicate by saying I. I. All those opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. Okay, then I'll put this disclaimer. If we start to see some things that start breaking our way a little bit more positive, um I will I will bring an update. I already know since the the budget that you have in your packet that that number is already changed and and it changes with every hire that we make. And so, um that bottom line will shift, but I will commit to making sure that I bring you the most accurate forecast of where we're going to be uh next month based upon the numbers that we
038have at that time. I think in the board is well aware in the summer we have two pay checks that go out and that will alter some of our figures, but I I think the figures indicate that we're in a really good place, sir. Under tab two, and Dr. Crockett, would you please address the debt service bond? Yes. Um so, back in uh 2020 uh was the the last issuance of a general obligation bond or it's it's also called a debt service bond. And so, that's expired. And so, what what I'm I I'm asking for approval for is that we continue to issue a new resolution to continue our current level of debt service and not to exceed $900,000. So, what happens is we're not asking for a a debt service millage increase. We're not
039asking for increase in taxes or anything along those lines. All that we're simply doing is asking that we can issue another bond at our current level to go towards capital improvements in our district going forward. These can only be used for capital improvements or infrastructure. So, it doesn't give you the flexibility and anything that you might need for inside the school, but this is a debt service for infrastructure. And so, this would allow us to maintain our our current level our current levy 11.7 mills and allow us to continue to to invest in our capital improvements in across the district that we're talking about. >> Are you asking for a one year or three year? Um this is this is should should be able to last for three years to be able to have this
040paid off. Okay. Thank you. You've heard the recommendation by the superintendent. The chair is recommending a and asking for a motion to approve our debt service bond renewal. I make a motion to approve the debt service renewal. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mr. Salter. All those Is there discussion? It's a lot to take in, but I Here we go. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? Motion carries. Now, our last action item and I think I've gotten myself under control again, semi semi-control. It doesn't usually last very long, so I will progress. We have a very great request from W. R. Showers Middle School and this is a request the motion that I'm asking for an overnight field trip in March 17th through March 18th, 2027 affecting
041grades 7 and 8 for the purpose of going to Charleston and studying and being aware and maybe given the opportunity to explore historical sites in Charleston, South Carolina. Be a great trip. Do I have a motion to that effect? I'll make a motion to approve the trip overnight trip to Charleston. Is there a second? Thank you, sir. Is there a discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed? I think it's I think it's extremely important to to understand too that there's so much learning that takes place outside the four walls of a classroom. And >> [cough and clears throat] >> I'm just saying that um you know, that it was the battle for independence. I'm really hoping that our field trips next year will coincide with the 250th of of our of
042our country. And so this is kind of fits right into that. Big big fan, big supporter of this and I think it's a important for important for us to take advantage of especially in this area all the incredible battle sites that are that are in this area. So we'll we'll try to make a And I should I should have mentioned that because I'll include Fort Sumter in the tour out there. Amazing. And um then the aquarium. My favorite is the ghost walk. But there's a lot of history in that walk. And it's just a this is going to be a great experience for our our kids. So pleased. So very pleased. Now, I think as far as our monthly budget review, I think that you have um all the facts and figures that we need
043to know at this point. Does anyone have any questions pertaining to any budget material that has been so presented to you in your packet? Hearing none, and I do not have a activity sheet from the high school, but I do have Ms. Mann's. And um it is looks absolutely perfect to me. So, I have no further input in terms of finances at this point. Are there any questions at all pertaining to any agenda items or anything discussed this evening? Hearing none. The chair requests a motion to adjourn. I motion to adjourn. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right.