Laurens County School District - Regular Board Meeting April 27, 2026

001We did. Second number finance and operations finance operations. All right. So, all those in favor of approving the agenda with the one I line item that Dr. Pinland has requested to come off under finance and operations number five, please say I. >> Any opposed? All right, the agenda is approved. Um, I want to welcome everyone tonight and we are going to start with our tell me something good and I'm going to start over here with Miss Kit. >> Thank you. Um, so I would just like to say that I appreciate all the people who reached out to us, board members the in the last month. Um, we've seen received a lot of emails, phone calls, text messages, and it really shows how much people are committed to getting the best for these students. >> Thank

002you, Mr. So I um this semester or this year I've had three kids in college. Of those three, two will be graduating on May the 8th >> and one finished his first year at uh Clemson. And so I'm excited that uh they'll be home this uh this week and next week. So it's an exciting time for the Jenkins home. >> Okay, Mr. Carpenter. >> God is good all the time. >> Amen. to him that you won't go wrong. >> Amen. >> Um my tell me something good is I get to go to Winthre tomorrow to pick up Kennedy and bring her home for the summer. >> Something good will be I'll stay with my um son and he just got engaged long girlfriend. So we'll be planning. >> Okay. Good. >> Congrats. >> I'm like

003Anthony. God is good. >> I have a professional kickboxer. my grandson. He won his bout. Well, it was a split decision, but he's a pro kickboxer and he was with me this weekend. He came Saturday and left today at 1:00. >> That's fantastic. >> My something good is my daughter. She is a AAU basketball player. So, we get to spend our weekends traveling, watching basketball. And her basketball team won the Raiders Classic for the middle school girls. They were the championship winners this weekend for that tournament. So proud of them. >> Congrats. >> My something good is I got to spend a couple hours out of Hickory Tavern last Monday with my grandkids getting the orientation for kindergarten and Jennifer and her staff do a marvelous job. That's just a class act. >> And I

004left there with two thoughts. My grandkids are in great hands. And was I ever small enough to sit in a kindergarten chair? I don't bleed. >> All right. Well, welcome to everyone tonight. And now I'm going to allow Coach Compton to introduce um our LDHS student that will lead us in the pledge. >> Thank you very much. Uh tonight we have our student body president, Mary Ellis Power, that will lead us in 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. >> You may be seated. >> Thank you, Mary Ellis. And now, Miss Nance, will you lead us in prayer? >> Yes, let us pray. Our heavenly father, we

005come this afternoon, Lord God, giving you all the thanking you for all the your loving kindness and your grace and your mercy that you show towards each and every one of us. Father God, we ask that your presence be here this afternoon in this board meeting. Lord God, give us the wisdom and the knowledge to make the decisions that have to be made. Let's continue, Lord God, to bless district 55. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> Now we need approval for our March 23rd work session and board meeting. We could get a motion for that. >> So move. >> Thank you. Thank you. Any questions or discussion? All those in favor of approving our minutes for the March 23rd work session and board meeting, please say I. >> I. Any opposed? All

006right. The motion carries and now we will I'll hand it back over to Coach Compton for our LDHS report. >> Thank you very much. It's my pleasure to be here with you tonight um to share the good things going on at Lawrence High School. you know, in this day and age, we hear seems like a lot of negative chatter we hear in the community and and in in society in general, but I really want to I'm just excited to be here to be able to talk to you tonight about a lot of the good things that we've got going on at Lawrence High School and and just sort of to recap where we at for this have been this school year. Uh again, we will start with we're anchored in the five uh A's of

007accountability, academics, arts, athletics, and attendance. uh and and make sure that we attend to these things each day as we go through our commitment to our students and staff. Uh at Lawren, uh let's just sort of to refocus our northstar. Our mission is isn't just a slogan. It's a commitment, you know, to equip our students with the tools necessary to be successful in life. You know, as you will see moving forward in this presentation, uh, our data in several areas indicate that, you know, that's sort of where we're that's exactly where we're going. And we're measuring up to the best is a standard. Now, we're not be we're not there everywhere by any means, but we are that is our that is our our standard. That that's what we're shooting for every day. And I

008think we want to be the best and knowing that we're not there, but we're going to keep working and we'll get there. at Lawrence High School. Um, our goals this year to create and to maintain and grow a positive school culture and climate. Uh, to me, you start with that because that's what it's all about. It it's a place where where students and staff can come to come to work, come to school and feel good about being there. And and that's really uh at the top of our list of every day of maintaining and growing that that school environment. uh growth on our ELC, a 10% growth, and 10% growth in our college and career readiness. Uh those are our goals that we've been working on as well. Now, they're lofty goals. They're tough. They're

009going to be tough to get there, but again, you set the bar high and maybe you keep striving for that high bar and we'll work to get there and grow more than setting a low bar. So, that that's what we're that's what we're working at. And as we talk about our goals and we'll go through this, I mean, you talking about something good to say, Miss Little. What I've got good to say is the folks I work with, my teachers and my staff, assistant principles. I'm blessed. I mean, we got good folks there. And that's my that's my good shout out is the folks that we work with every day that I come to work with every day. Uh it's just good place. I enjoy being there and I hope I hope they do too

010because uh they do a great job and they work hard. They work very hard and we want our results to show it, you know. Uh and so that's sort of working with our different departments here at the judic office to get those results that we want. Lawrence from a different perspective From the moment you walk on campus, you can feel the energy, the pride, and the tradition. Here, you're more than just a student. You're part of a community that pushes you to be your best. With a wide range of classes from honors and AP to dual enrollment and career focused courses, you're given real choices for your future. In the classroom, you're challenged, supported, and prepared for what comes next. Whether your path is college, a career, or military, you'll find opportunities that help you

011get there. Outside the classroom, Raider Pride comes to life. On the field, on the court, and in every competition, our students show what it means to be a Raider. But it's more than athletics. It's friendships. It's leadership and memories that last a lifetime. This is a place where you can find what you love and become who you're meant to be. At Lawrence District 55 High School, you don't just go to school. You belong. You grow. You succeed. Once a Raider, always a Raider. This is LDHS. So, just give a little bit of different perspective of the high school and just a different look. Uh, I thought that would be very good. Again, we want to grow the positive culture. This was day one welcoming our ninth graders on campus just outside the Y building. It

012was a rainy day, but we had our students out there and and trying to get those ninth graders because I know as parents and ninth graders, that's a nervous time. They coming on this big campus and they're going to get lost. But we have a really good group of students to bring them in and welcome them and to to make them feel at home and and that that's a place where they're going to be for the next four years. again some of the activities that's gone on around campus. Uh whether it be our unified PE to ROC. Uh in the middle there you see the interviews we had last week with our mock uh crash simulation for prom. Uh and then just celebrating student heritage and culture and our u orchestra pictures there. And there's

013some pictures uh top left celebrating with boots on the ground uh as they're dancing at lunch. and our kids really enjoyed that. And then you got some guy with a helmet on because he's a crash dummy from time to time uh in the middle there. Um and then Mukie Wilson in the top right hand corner played for the Mets. It was the World Series. Played in the World Series, talking our Black History program and there he is talking to our baseball team. U and then just some pictures of student activities at football and Halloween and different times throughout the year. our teacher, our induction teacher and our support staff of the year, Miss Dumati uh on the left, Miss Renoso in the middle and Willie Johnson on the right uh was our winners of this

014year. Very deserving. We had, you know, we had lots of folks that deserve those. Uh and it's sort of hard to teachers and we come up with a selection and then the teachers make their final votes and cast the ballots, but uh they make great choices. These folks work so hard for us every day. Now looking at some of our EOCC trend data just a couple of highlights and I think one thing that jumps out at you say algebra one for the fall and the column on the left there say none tested what in the world's going on there well we didn't just leave them out uh as you may I know as you know but just as a reminder we're transitioning to algebra one in the 10th grade so this year ninth graders and

015tth graders everybody took geometry country and so we'll have a lot of scores next year in uh algebra one but this year we will have a few in the spring testing so we'll get maybe I think it's about 20 25 it'll be testing but as you can see our scores are improving for for the most part u our early performance uh strong performance in English 2 consistency and some stability and literacy there uh US history had a growth now biology and algebra one uh we still have opportunities for growth up there and there still some areas you know we're working on uh our college and career ready uh that's coming. We feel very confident that we're going to grow that 55 that 50 56% from last year hopefully nine to 10 points. I don't want

016to put it put it in writing there but just our projections and what we're working on we're feeling really good about that and then our grad rate uh will remain strong as well. Now one of the things we always talk about growing You hear that term all the time. Grow these students. Grow these students. Well, I got to thinking, you know, we look at these EOCC scores like, man, I wish that math was I wish it was stronger. And our teachers are working hard, but what about where have where have we grown those students? Did we grow from middle school to high school? Did we grow? So, as we look at the next slide, we're going to see some growth from middle school to high school because if you're looking at we've got the English

017two and the algebra one scores with the high school EOCC's and then the eighth grade SE ready and math and seventh grade SE ready. And you can see a trend of growth of those same students. So, the English two students are our current juniors and our algebra one students are our current sophomores. So, has been growth from their middle school EOCC, middle school South Carolina ready scores to what they did in the EOCC. So even though our scores may reflect lower compared to state, we are growing the same group of students in that cohort. So as we continue to build that in the lower grades, we'll continue to move them forward at the high school. So that's that's just a a transition growth that I I thought it would be interesting to look at. Then

018looking also some of our key growth areas uh on our report card. Our graduation rate uh move from average to good and our high school student success. This is their own track throughout uh the 9th, 10th, 11th grade. It was from average to good. Our C college and career readiness was from below average to average. Now that's sort of a baseline growth and we certainly don't want to be below average. So, we're glad to get it at that baseline of average and now we're looking to move those two even higher. I think it the the the school climate going below from below to average shows stabilization in our school and that will allow a good foundation for growth next year. Now, we looked at the some of these performance areas. So, what has gotten us

019there? What what what have we been doing to get us there? Well, the data shows, but we want to look at our collective leadership. This is our IoT, which our instructional leadership team. We meet every Wednesday morning at 7. And then our clusters or our teachers where our teachers work with our master teachers on Thursdays and just working those together where our math teachers are meeting with math teachers. We've got common planning where we have stu uh teachers of like math meets with math, science with science, history with history, and so on. And it allows them a good foundation to to talk together to get work to uh lesson make lesson plans together and work to not just to have a consistent uh instruction across the board. It's not just a meeting, it's a space

020where teachers can really work together. The point number two there, the evidence-based pedigogy is really I want to thank our teaching and learning has brought John Hadtie's work of visible learning of establishing you know letting students know and working with our teachers of students know what exactly they are why they're learning uh what they're learning and what the success looks like. I think when students know what what it is what I have to be to be successful that gives them a clear path. They know what they have to do. And then a shout out to our instructional coaches, uh, Miss McClennon and Mr. Elliot that are working during our clusters working on, uh, focusing has been on teacher clarity, making sure our students know what they're learning and why they're learning it, the learning targets,

021and what that success criteria is. Uh, Miss McClennon has worked with uh, our English teachers very closely, especially our new teachers, uh, to build some uh, capacity with those teachers and Mr. Elliot working with our US history EOCC's and finally our data driven our common assessments. This is something we work toward of our teachers especially in our EOCC classes giving common assessments so that we can compare students and see where what standards we're strong in and what areas we're not as strong in. What areas do we need to get better at? And so that is something we've really been working hard for is putting those all these components to get there. Now, as we look at some of these pictures and some of this in action of of teachers working or students working collaboratively together,

022um the girl in the top row with a salute, uh that was a station in a US history class where students were they were doing a World War II unit on the home front and they actually had uniforms, original World War II uniforms that they could try on. She has some shirts and and the military jacket, all these things of really bringing it to life and bringing hands-on. Now, at the high school, let's be honest, working in groups and working with hands-on sometimes we're working to get better at rather than the uh having students more engaged. Uh, and that's something that we work on in the high school very much so is trying to make sure that we have our students engaged and we continue to work to make that better. So, excuse me, I

023jumped ahead one too. Sorry about that. Um, so this is a great visual of what we're going. Now, the next thing I'm excited about is we've got our IoT and we've got our clusters and we've got our visible learning and then our proof, our common assessments. And what I'm really excited about moving forward next year is uh the idea of this that we can create a culture of high expectations and we have a terrific terrific opportunity to do that through leader in me. Uh in the fall we to send a group to North Henderson High School in Hendersonville, North Carolina to look at the the process of leader inme and we've heard about it being in elementary and middle schools but didn't know how it worked in high school. So, we went to North Henderson

024High School and just really impressed with their teachers and their students and what they had to say about building the capacity of leadership in their students, but not only in the students, but what it also brought to their staff as well. We sent a second group back in the spring and uh from our high school to North Henderson, and they came back with much of the same impressiveness of how this could benefit us. And so this is really what we want to do is to next year we will begin uh implementing leader in me. And what sort of caught my attention about it, it wasn't something in a box that's a canned program that we're going to do this and it's going to work perfectly. Go slow to go fast. And that's what they've told

025us. Go slow to go fast. And that's what really caught me because I've been around education a long time and I've seen a lot of things come and go. And you know, I got to really see this. But I really truly believe this is going to be something great for not only for our students, but our staff next year if we embrace this. I've got a short little video next. It's just one minute about leader in me. leadership shows up in daily decisions, especially in schools. Schools are carrying more responsibility than ever. And while schools achieving meaningful gains both academically and culturally, understand something essential. Developing leaders isn't an add-on to the work of education. It's the foundation everything else is built on. Because when adults lead with clarity and shared purpose, teachers stay engaged,

026students take ownership of their learning, and academic priorities stay front and center. Great schools don't wait for leadership to emerge. They develop it intentionally in educators first and then in every classroom they touch. This doesn't come from adding one more initiative. It comes from embedding leadership into how school works every day, into the culture students experience, the way educators teach, and the way learning happens across the school. That's what Franklin CVY Education's leader in me provides. So when we ask where are all the great leaders, the answer isn't someday or somewhere else. They're being built right now in schools by leaders who build leaders. And what sort of jumped out at me is again is go slow. Next year will be students won't be all about building our staff capacity. A whole year of training

027our teachers to be able to bring this to our students, not just something we're going to throw out there and do it quick is something that they prepare us. And it's it's it's about the process. It's building that capacity for our staff so we can implement that to our students and building capacity. and it's of the process with the student ownership and then the academic success that will come following that. Now, going back to some of our highlights from this year at Lawrence High School, our winter graduation, uh this is our seventh annual winter graduation. We began with six students in in 18 2018 and up to 69 this fall this winter. Uh uh we continue our strong partnership with local college and universities uh with our dual enrollment programs through Pedmont Tech UN USC

028Union uh and Lander uh in maintaining a good relationship and our dual enrollment numbers continue to grow and are strong and that's great for our student body to have those opportunities to achieve college credit you know before they get out of before they get out of high school. Uh, also our student achievement as well with our academic success or students that are scoring well on the ASVAB ROC students that are listing in the United States military. Um, our academic letters, students who received AC academic letters, 325 this year. And then our beta club and our honor society continue to be, you know, integral parts of our school and continuing to grow those organizations. Other student achievement is our symphony, uh our band, our orchestra, and they do a wonderful job. Any any events that we

029have that they are just performing and they do a great had the opportunity to come see these young people. It it's really, I'm telling you, it's really blow you away how really good they can perform and things they can do. I'm just amazed all the time and I love to see what they can do. Our uh our bass anglers continue to be strong. We have two anglers that that will qualify for the BAS national tournament coming up. Uh our student council is a strong part of LDHS and strong part of our culture and building our student excellence. Our Chick-fil-A leadership academy uh continues to grow each year with Miss Hunter leadership there. Uh, also our FFA program, uh, Anna Barrett Penland and Davis Simpson, uh, were FFA and Lawrence County Spotlight Agriculture Students of the

030Year. And then our fall sports, uh, I want to take this for just a moment to thank Tommy Spires, our athletic director. You're talking about a job. He and I talk about Lawrence High School is the place where the lights are never turned out. It seems like there's an event every night where we're where I say were we off tonight? No, we got a game tonight. We got a match tonight. So, it is a constant revolving door, but as you know, athletics is really it it is it can be the front porch to the school. We have so many community participation in athletics and so many of our students that participate. Uh, and I want to thank Dr. Harris and Dr. Pinland and the board. Thank you for your support of growing our facilities because

031that's something we continue to work on and continue to get. Uh we want to do the best we can with what we got and take care of it. And I want to just tell you that coach Spyers does the best job to take care of what we got of anybody. He's he works hard. So I just want you to know that he works extremely hard to maintain and keep our athletics moving in the right direction. But you can see we we've successful with all region athletes in football, volleyball, cheer, tennis, and cost cruncher in the fall. Our all region winter sports athletes with basketball with our boys and girls basketball team and our wrestling. Our basketball team had a very successful year. Came very close to winning the region for the first time in quite

032a number of years, but did had a great season. Very proud, excited for what they've got coming forward and going forward next year. And then our spring sports uh is sort of coming to conclusion this at this time. But we did have one region champion. Our boys tennis team won region was our region champion for the second year in a row. And it taken 52 years to get a region champion in boys tennis and we get it two years in a row. And I said by I'm the principal there. Let's remember that. Tell everybody we come in tennis school. Uh but we are excited uh about what they've accomplished. I'm very proud of those guys and they will be playing Southside tomorrow. If you have a chance, come out and then on Thursday have a

033home home match as well. And then we had another back-toback champion and that is our robotics team. uh they won the state championship and when we're partnered with Fountain in High School uh in our robotics 4451 garage and that they got the ones we could bringing in here and that thing would be shooting balls all over the uh in here that it's amazing what these guys work on these little robots they run around this comp competing with one another and bumping. Uh but it it really is something to see and and they really put a lot of work in to what they do. It it's very complicated. It's way above my head. Uh but we're proud of them anyway. Uh but they're leaving in the morning to go to Houston to compete in the world

034the world finals. So we'll have sort of track and see how they do and wish them well there. And education is not the filling of a pale but the lighting of a fire. And this quote really captures the heart of the work happening in our school. Everything we've shared from academic data to leadership development through leader in me to our focus on growth and collaboration is more about is more than just test scores. Now I know that's important. Trust me, I'm I love to score points. Whether it's on EOC scores, whether it's on the football field, basketball, wherever we're at, I want I want to win. And we're working to win in every area. But at the same time, it has to be more than just a score. It's got to be. And it's about

035igniting something in our students, something inside, some kind of fire inside of them that's going to burn through life. And we're focused on building students who take ownership, who can think critically, who can lead, and who are prepared for life beyond high school. Because isn't that what it's about? Being prepared for life. And we we can't might not get everything, but we want to do that. We want to prepare whether it's college or career or military. That's what we want to do. We want to prepare our students for life after high school. Our data shows progress, and we've got systems in place that are aligning, coming together, and most importantly, our students are growing. I really want to thank you for your time tonight. I appreciate all y'all do. You got a tough job. Thank

036you for your support and your commitment to our students. Thank y'all very much. >> Any questions? >> Thank you, Coach Compton. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Let me say um coach >> because this is this is something I always stress. We talk about the wrong things. And I think tonight you hit it on the head. >> You recognize your teachers, your staff, you recognize your students. You talk about what you're doing. to move forward. That's important because we as a board that's what we need to know. >> You know, we don't need to know every little other thing. >> But small mind talk about small things. >> Big mind talk about things. So, thank you for your support. >> Thank you, Mr. Carpenter. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Carpenter. Now we will move on

037to public participation. We did have several people sign up. So I'm going to go ahead and read our statement uh from the uh board policy. Individuals who submitted the required form for the public participation portion of the meeting are strongly encouraged to maintain appropriate decorum while addressing the board. Please remember that this is a meeting of a public school board and children may either be in attendance or watching via live stream. Please use appropriate language reflecting the nature of the meeting and its audience. Pursuant to board policy BEDH, speakers may offer objective comments on school operations and programs that concern them. The board will not permit any public session, any expression of personal complaints about school personnel, nor against any person connected with the school system. So, each person will have three minutes to speak.

038I'm going to let Dr. Pinland hand in the handle the timer. It normally will count down like 5 seconds or something and then you'll have three minutes from there. So, I'm going to go in the order in which the documents were received. So, first up is Miss Miller. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight about the future of Monasuri in our district and the role it can play in strengthening both our schools and our communities. Tonight, I'd like to present a thoughtful pathway for structuring our upper level monatory program along with a clear vision to where we can go over the next year. Beyond that, our goal is to intentionally grow the program over the next three to five years through a strategic plan that includes all stakeholders. By building strong partnerships

039and prioritizing Monasuri through long-term planning, we can increase program fidelity, ensure sustainability, and establish monitor is a true community asset. We recognize that several ideas have been discussed largely due to the time constraint surrounding a potential vote. Over the past month, the Monatory planning committee, which many of them are here with us tonight, has met to thoughtfully consider what monastery should look like in Lawrence 55. This group included current teachers and instructional coaches, retired monatory educators, monastery teacher trainers, and parents. Through these conversations, the committee reached a consensus grounded in authentic monatory pedigogy and aligned with its core principles. The committee proposes that Monasuri fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students remain together as a true three-year upper elementary band. If reconfiguration occurs, these classrooms will be located at Sanders with the three trained upper elementary

040teachers transitioning there. This structure preserves the integrity of the monastery model and support students ages three or 9 to 12 who benefit from stability, leadership opportunities, and continuity within a multi-year learning environment. At the same time, Monasuri seventh and eighth grade students will remain at Lawrence Middle School. Teachers at Lawrence Middle School have expressed a strong interest in receiving Monatory training, which would allow us to continue building a meaningful monatory experience at the middle school level, especially those who are not honors track. This approach balances fidelity to the Monastery model with a practical pathway for program growth. In your packet, you'll find an outline of three primary goals for the monitory program as well as the beginning of a three year three to five year plan developed by the monitory planning committee. These initial steps

041are designed to guide our work during the 26 27 school year and lay the foundation for long-term successes. In closing, this work is not simply about grade reconfigurations or program placement. is about building a monastery program that is authentic, sustainable, and worthy of our students and community. By moving forward with intentional planning and shared commitment, we have the opportunity to create something that not only serves our current students well, but also attracts families, strengthens our schools, and sets a clear direction for the future of Monasuri and Lawrence 55. Monator gives us that opportunity, and with thoughtful collaboration, we can ensure it becomes a lasting asset for our district. >> Thank you, Miss Miller. Our next speaker is Mr. Hit. >> Good evening. >> My name is Frank K. I want to first thank the Lord

042for letting me have the opportunity to speak here today. I am a father of two children, a girl and a boy, that are both currently enrolled in the monastery educational program at EB Morris Elementary School. Both my children has and continue to excel in this program. The proof is in their ability to create projects on their own, see them completed while at a young age without adult supervision. This educational process has been transferred to their home life. My daughter Haley has written several short stories of 20 pages or more with intricate details and illustrations. While George, my son, explores the wonders of the universe and his infatuation with numbers. The best proof is in their map test and scores. Both continue to score well above the standard goals. Both are currently doing work well above

043their goal level. I think and feel that traditional classrooms would hold them back and greatly restrict their ability to advance in their educational goals. The monastery educational program at Evie Morris focused on independence, hands-on and child-led exploration and multiple age classrooms. I was educated in traditional classrooms which I feel limited my education. So when it was brought to my attention that EB Morris has a monastery educational program, I did not hesitate for one moment and enroll both of my children in the monastery program at EB Morris. I did so knowing that it was going to be a big inconvenience to the entire family. I get up at 4:30 every school day to prepare breakfast, lunch, and get the children dressed for school. We live approximately 20 miles from EB Morris Elementary. So transportating the children

044to and from the school is a huge task in itself. The entire family is willing to do with inconsist inconvenience and sacrifices to ensure that the children can be educated through the monastery program at EB Morris. Monatory educational programs are not offered at most schools. This means that some families go the extra mile, so to speak, if they want their children to be educated in the monastery program. I ask the question, what price do we put on education? To what expense is a parent willing to endure to ensure their child or children are educated in the le best possible way? An education lasts a lifetime and need to pass on to the next generation. This is why I am willing to go the extra mile to make the sacrifices and endure the inconveniences so that

045I can ensure that my children are educated in the monastery program EV Morris. In closing, it is my wish that my children have the opportunity to continue to be educated in a multiple age studentled classroom such as the Monasuri Educational Program. It is also my wish that the Monasuri educational program be extended and offered throughout their high school years. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Head. >> Father of two. >> Thank you. >> By the way, Mr. Head, I appreciate your cursive writing on your lot of our students wouldn't even be able to read it. >> It was hard for me. No. >> Thank you for sharing. >> We did have one speaker, Miss McDow, who was uh not feeling well today. She said she was not able to come. However, she did send the board

046an email and I forwarded that to you guys. So uh so our next speaker will be uh Miss Noble. >> Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak. I was part of Lawrence District 55's second group of teachers trained as Monasuri guides. Monasuri is not simply a set of materials. It's a complex researchbased method rooted in human development. To be effective, it cannot be diluted or blended with unrelated practices. Authentic Monasuri requires educators who have undergone rigorous specialized training and who understand how to guide students in this unique environment. Leading pediatric neurossychologists describe Monasuri as the original brainbased method of learning because it activates key areas of cognitive development. Research supports this. A study by the Riley Institute at Ferman University found that South Carolina public monastery students outperformed similar peers in traditional

047classrooms not only in academics like English language, arts, math, and social studies, but also in creativity, attendance, and social responsibility. These outcomes only happen when Monasuri is implemented with fidelity. If district 55 wants to rebuild a strong monatory program like the one it had 20 years ago, accredited training is essential. Even experienced teachers cannot successfully manage a monatory classroom without this preparation. Without it, programs begin to drift, what I would call Montto something, where the method is no longer authentic and results decline. The cost of failure is high. wasted materials, high teacher turnover, and poor student outcomes. On the other hand, investing in accredited training is risk mitigation. It ensures that your investment in materials and programs actually delivers results. What can be done? First, require all Monasuri teachers to begin MACD accredited training before

048leading a classroom. Second, provide ongoing education for administrators, support staff, and paraprofessionals. Without understanding and buyin at every level, even strong classrooms can struggle. Third, engage parents and the community through regular education programs so that they understand and support the monastery approach. Finally, build sustainability by using local expertise. Lawrence 55 already has trained experienced monastery educators, many of whom are willing to mentor, train, and support staff at little or no cost. If you invest in proper training and consistent support, you don't just build a program, you build a lasting system of excellence. Our committee has developed a plan for these four initiatives, including sessions provided free of charge. So I leave you with this question. What happened to the monastery program that once made the district a model for others? And what steps are we

049willing to take to restore it? Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Noble. >> Very good. >> I appreciate everyone who came out to uh to speak tonight. Now we will turn to the superintendent report. So, um, a couple of things that I wanted to share. Um, I was able to take several of my slides out because, um, Coach Compton had already covered a lot of those with the high school, but I do want to do a shout out for, um, their representations they had before prom. That was very, very moving experience. And thanks um, so much to all of our local um, local coroner, also our local law enforcement um, EMS and fire and also personal help for bringing the helicopter in for that. So it was very moving and also very impactful for our

050kids to make sure that they're making decision. So, um yeah, better. All right. So, um do want to um just kind of reiterate our mission vision statement that we um adopted um last month. Um building a five-star district of excellence and Lawrence County School District encourages students to be college, career, and military ready through learning experiences supported by engaged staff, families, and the community. Um I do want to announce that Ford Elementary was selected by the state department of education um to be a part of the strategic compensation pilot program. Um this was a um component that the state department is pushing forth to really look at um really growing the amount of students um or the growth and celebrating and rewarding teachers for um getting the growth. we had actually um submitted all schools

051to be a part of this um compensation um pilot program but only Ford was um selected. So we're happy for them. We'll be working with the state department um to implement this and they will um receive um awards and the teachers will be able to um kind of reap the benefits of that based on the growth that they're able to get over the next um year or so. um do want to also announce that we were also just recognized as a national beta district of um distinction. Um last year there was only 78 districts in the nation that was um identified as a national beta um district of distinction. So there were two others in the state and so now for this coming school year we'll be um recognized as the national beta district of

052distinction and national beta of dist district of distinction is awarded to school districts who demonstrated a commitment to academic excellence leadership development and service involvement. Um and so we're excited about that and I'd like to thank our teaching and learning department for spearheading that and area all the work that um Wendy Burg just did for that. um did want to um bring to you the information about the 2728 calendar committee meetings. Um we have met a couple of times with Clinton on the 2728 calendar. We have a calendar that is um approved by the um committee um group but also in our last committee meeting um there was a lot of discussion about um the two week breaks um not being included anymore. Um and then some people wanted to go back to a traditional.

053So, we have three calendars that will um be receiving parent feedback and community feedback over the next um week. Um where our next meeting is May six that we'll um take that information um back to that group. Um but we'll be sending out information and samples of the modified um calendar, the traditional calendar, and also a modified with the twoe breaks at fall break and spring break. Um and then we'll um be able to bring a calendar back for first reading at the May board meeting. Um that was sub scheduled to be on this um calendars this month's meeting, but um the committee did not feel comfortable already submitting that um without a little bit more feedback. Um then um we are Friday is May 1st and so we are um counting down the um

054end of the semester and the end of the school year. So the um last 20 days, green days of school will be SC ready testing. So that's what you'll see there is the 20 days last 20 days of school. Um all the month of May will be SC ready testing and makeup testing. Um we will be off May 25th for Memorial Day and graduation will be May 29th, 10:00 at KC Hannah Stadium unless weather um bumps us back inside. All right. And so that um concludes my report and we'll turn it over to um Amanda Aarose. >> Good evening. >> Um I did want to mention we also have EOC testing and AP testing as well in May. So there's a lot of testing that goes on in May. Um and obviously that's something um

055my program that I I talk about a lot and that's where we live right now. Um, but today I'm here to talk to you about federal programs. Our federal programs are programs that we are aligning directly with our mission and vision for Lawrence 55. I've been waiting three years to be able to do this presentation. uh because our federal program entitlement and our funds that come in should be directly tied to the vision, the mission, and the goals that you all as a board um requested that we work on for the next five years. So, um you've heard this a number of times today, but in order to be a district of excellence, we need to make sure that we take a look at everything that we do and make sure it's targeted at making

056sure we are a district of excellence. So, federal entitlement grants come from Every Student Succeeds Act, ESSA, um that was established back in 2015. Um and they identify five different entitlement grants. There is title one, which is our improving academic achievement of economically disadvantaged students. Title two is supporting effective instruction. That's really about professional development for teachers and and building leaders. Uh, title three is for our multilingual program. Title four is student support and academic achievement. It's, um, used to be called Save Schools. Um, and it's also where our 21st century money comes from. And then there's title five, which is a rural education achievement program. And some districts qualify for that, some do not. Ours does. So with those five grants, they are entitlement grants. So they are grants that we don't have to

057apply and um compete with others for the funding, but we do have to apply and explain to the state and the federal government as to how we're going to use those funds, and they can only be used in certain ways. So, I have broken this down really into our different goal areas. If you recall the last time I was here, we talked about our goal for English language arts is to have 80% proficiency within the next five years. In math, it's 65% proficiency. and then in college and our career readiness at 75%. In order to do that, we need to make sure that all of the resources that we have within our district, we're using to the best of our ability to achieve those goals. So, title one is where our interventionists are funded. Several

058of our instructional coaches are funded. Extended learning for summer programming is comes out of there along with our 21st century um instructional supplies and programs. Um, we also have um a graduation coach that we're looking at next year at the high school to help fund with some title one money so that we can really target our college and career readiness. Title two, as I mentioned, is our professional development. And it's also where we are able to fund right now we fund about two teachers for class size reduction so we can have smaller class sizes in our elementary schools um to help with the student achievement um in those classes and uh title three is our multilingual program support additional support for them. So we have uh part of an instructional coach that comes out of

059title three um along with instructional supplies and materials. There's also some parenting pieces um that are in there as well for that engagement piece um that we're looking for that we have in our vision statement, our title 4 program um really our guidance counselors, our fine arts and fizzed programs um to make sure that we have a well-rounded educational program for our students to help um them stay engaged and to learn a little bit more about things other than just maybe literacy and math um and to look at some careers. And then of course title five, I mentioned that we are recipient of the rural achievement grant and were able to fund some instructional coaches for schools out of there along with a number of uh supplies and materials. When we look at our other

060two primary goals in the strategic plan, we're looking at teacher retention. You all targeted 90%. We would like to have a three-year average of 90% retention. Um, and school climate of everybody is average or above. So, 100% of our schools will have that rating in school climate. And so, when you look at teacher retention and school climate, what are the things that research says is most effective? um providing mentoring and coaching to teachers, making sure they have the materials that they need, providing the professional development for them, as well as providing a um a program that supports students so that they don't do all of the work, right? And so, title one, again, there's some of our instructional coaching, our supplies and programs, professional development, extended learning. um title two class size reduction professional development.

061We also have instructional coaching in title three along with our Alexia English program which is our online program to help our multilingual students develop their language literacy a little bit quicker than just 30 minutes a day with a teacher. They also have some some opportunities in the regular classroom to be able to work on that as well. Um and then title four, we have our guidance counselors and and mental health counselors are also in there to help provide um support to our students in um in a well-rounded educational program. And of course, the Title 5 again. So, what we're looking for today, I'm sorry, is approval, which is in the memo. I believe I I recommended a motion where we need official approval from the board that it's okay that we apply for these funds.

062As I mentioned, these funds are available to us. Um, but we have to follow certain parameters and restrictions for what we can use the money for. And one of those is we need approval from the board to say it's okay to apply for these funds. I I'll open it up to questions first if anybody has any about those. >> What is our teacher um retention now? >> Our teacher retention now I believe we were at 83% if I somewhere around there low 80s. Um right now it is been hovering. It's been dropping a little bit. We were at 85 at one point and it started to drop a little bit. Came up a tiny bit last year if I remember. I'm just I've been living strategic plan for a while because that that 120ome page

063document goes to the state in about two days. Um so I believe it's it's 83 something percent is our retention right now. We want to get to 90. The research shows that high performing schools usually have 90% or above retention rates with their teachers so that they're not continually reteing and relearning year after year after year with a large number of staff. Thank you. Yeah. >> What is the dollar amount for if we if we file for all of the the tiers and get approval for all of those? What is that dollar amount? >> I do not know. >> So, normally at this time, we know. >> If you look in your packet, you'll see what we've received over the past three, four years, but we don't have current year allocations for next year. >>

064And it's close to that value. >> Yeah. Typically, if it's changed at all, it's been within a couple percentage points. >> So, our understanding is we'll probably be pretty close to what we've been before. Some of the the titles might drop a little bit. Um, but it's also determined a little bit by our demographics within our community as well. So, um, at this time, two years ago, we knew what our allocations were. Last year, we didn't know at this time and this year at this time. And I haven't heard anything from the state or from the federal government as to when we'll find that out. So, >> but is it safe to say that it's extraordinarily important to the district that we get? >> Absolutely. It's it's over over $3 million annually to support the

065schools. Yes. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Um, so per Mr. Lac, excuse me, Miss Lacaros. Uh, we will need a motion for her to file the 2627 federal programs report. >> Yeah, I'll make the motion that we file for the federal programs. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Any further discussion or questions? All those in favor of approving the motion to file for the federal programs for 2627, please say I. >> Any opposed? Right. So, the motion is approved. Thank you, Miss Larose. >> She will now share our fine arts strategic plan. >> Yes. So, I believe you have in your packet and um I'm the I volunteered to do this today because as you'll notice it says fine arts strategic plan. Um the fine arts department has been meeting all year long

066uh to take a look at the current fine arts program and identify goals for where they would like to see the uh the program head. If you take a look at the fine arts strategic plan that is in here, you will notice that they have the district vision statement and the fine arts vision statement. They have the district mission statement and the fine arts mission statement and they are very similar. They they complement each other and that is because our our director of fine arts was sitting on our steering committee. We specifically had her on that committee because we knew that they were writing the strategic plan for the fine arts program. And the purpose of this is to have the fine arts department work on the items that they feel are going to help

067their program to be a program of excellence. So they've identified four primary areas. There is curriculum and and scheduling. they'd like to further develop and implement a real comprehensive standards aligned arts curriculum. They have a variety of strategies that are listed that they are going to work on over the next five years to accomplish that. Uh they also want to upgrade and expand their facilities and materials across the district. I can tell you this past year they secured over $100,000 just for materials and equipment alone based on grants that they wrote with support from uh Jenny Carti, our grant writer and in our office to facilitate purchasing and spending and things like that. So, it was over it was I believe it was about $105,000 additional funds that came in because they're focused on making

068sure that they are providing the best program possible for the students and they have the materials that they need. So, they'll be looking at that and making recommendations if there's things beyond what they can do. They are constantly looking for and um applying for grants and support from a variety of sources. The fine arts director salary right now is partially funded by a grant and it will be again next year. Um they are also targeting professional development. They're looking for a comprehensive professional development program for the arts. Um they will be providing some of that professional development themselves. Cindy Wright, our director of fine arts, has made a lot of connections the past two years while being a um by being the director of fine arts and connecting with the South Carolina Arts Commission. And

069so she's brought some people in and will continue to do that as well as we have a lot of expertise sitting right here in our district when it comes to fine arts. And so they want to tap into that and utilize some of our own um to help everybody grow. And then finally, um, an equitable, highquality arts program. They want to make sure that the arts program is available to all students and they would like to increase the participation in that. Um so that's what their strategic plan is focused on um that they have been working on and they have met um the majority of our job alike meetings that we have had this year in order to develop this strategic plan and to begin talking about the curriculum and professional development and things to

070make sure that they have a a program that's well articulated and and quality for our students um throughout the district. So, um, I misunderstood. They actually do need board approval for this. So, we can either have you look at it and approve it at the next meeting or if you're comfortable, you can approve tonight. It's entirely up to you. Um, approve it tonight because it wasn't listed as a board action item. So, it'll have to be added to >> to May to May. >> Yep. And that's fine. Um, so if you have any questions about the plan though, I can answer those um right now or we can have um answer parent that was concerned because they did not have theater at the high school. >> So going forward with this, it will be offered.

071>> Well, so that is one of the items that they have in here that they would like to expand the opportunities that are here. And if you look at their let's see, I just saw it. I believe it is in the curriculum piece where they would like to um start addressing theater in the um for the program as well. I'm trying to see where it is. So, and we have had theater classes at the high school >> teacher would teach All right. Thank you, Miss Lacaris. I appreciate it. >> No problem. >> Up next, we'll have Dr. Harris with our facilities report. Okay, first of all, I just like to like to give a shout out to our guys in maintenance um who work so hard for us every day. Drew Allen supervises that group.

072Brandt Crawford, Seth Hill, Matthew Malone, Toe Patterson, Albert Sharp, Alan Schifferly, and Josh Smith. um in buildings that um require a lot of maintenance. These guys stay very busy and they do a good job for us and I just want to uh recognize them again as I got started. Um just going to go over a few things with you that that's going on or has gone on in in operations recently. Um Anderson Drive property is the property that we've purchased um to to move buses to hopefully for next year. Um I can report to you now that we're on schedule for that. Um right now we're working on utilities. Um we do have water and and sewage um there on site. We'll be tapping into that probably maybe even this week or next week. Um

073and um so we'll once we get once we get utilities going, then we'll move on to asphalt. We do have a contractor secured for that. We have a a purchase order for that. So we'll be ready to go. And um that's going to be um a big part of getting getting that property ready. Um and then we're shopping um possibilities for office space. Um how we're going to do that, whether that's going to be a modular type thing. Um we have some ideas and some things that we're looking at for Anderson Drive. So again, on schedule right now for the opening of next year's school to have buses on the property there at Anderson Drive. If you don't know where that exactly where that is, it's just down from the Y just past Bryson Drive,

074the the property right there on the corner. Um LDHS Athletics, we've been trying to make some good improvements there. Um we we've purchased and have put in two of the sound systems that we that we recently got, softball and baseball just last week. Got new sound systems there. They like to play that walk up music um for their games and uh and they've got something that sounds really good out there. Now, football as as we were we were just out at the high school for the for the um thing that Dr. Penland mentioned from from last week from early in the week actually before the prom. Um we had a you know you couldn't hear it was muffled sound. We have we're going to have a new um sound system going in out there, new

075speakers and things like that. And we're going to have a a much better sound at football games and other events at that venue going forward. softball improvements. Those girls had been a little bit neglected over the last few years as far as some things that they needed. We got them a new hitting machine. And I mean, it's it's top-of-the-line hitting machine. It can throw about any pitch you you can imagine. Um, dugout improvements are going on right now. Press box improvements are about to start. We've had a lot of tree removal. If you go down the hill toward the softball field, it's always been a big grove of pi pine trees down there. Those are gone. We'll have that eventually once we get all the kudzu killed down there. We'll get we'll have grass growing

076down there. We've done a lot of drainage work up at the top and we've we've put a curb down the right side of that drive to divert water away from heading toward the field. So, we've done a lot of lot of work out there recently. Um restroom improvements at that facility um as well. And um so much better. And I I just saw Michaela, the coach, just a little while ago and and and she's very appreciative of all the things that have happened down there. We'll be working on football dressing rooms. Um dressing rooms are there. Um we have on the home side underneath the stadium. There's something there. You may have never even seen it, but there are dressing rooms under the home stadium home bleachers and the visitors bleachers, but they're in terrible

077have been in terrible disrepair. Um we are making improvements there. Um, and we'll start that work very soon and it should be done in time for um, football season next year. I'm going to show you something about that in just a second. Um, for the stadium, we'll have some concession upgrades. I'll show you. And we've doing been doing a lot of tree removal and trimming down um, from the um, from the tennis court opening that that parking lot all the way down the line behind the visitor stands. We've been doing a lot of cleaning up down there and the property looks a lot better. Um, these are some plans that we have. Um, at the top up there, this thing has a um this thing will not work on that screen. So, I don't I'm

078not exactly sure why, but on the the top picture is for the home side. Um, that that is very close to what we have there now. Um, but a couple some of that space right now is storage space. So, we're going to take the storage space, make that into locker room space, and we're also going to add a piece about a 20 foot piece down on this end. This end will be brand new. So, we'll have a couple thousand square feet of locker room under there. New lockers, new bathroom facilities in there. Um, a complete upgrade to everything in there. And that's going to be very nice. That was in lie of trying to do something with a brand new fieldhouse. We felt like we would use our existing structure there um and and redo

079it, save some money, and have something nice for our guys to be in. Um the bottom picture is going to be the visitor stands. Um right now, all of that structure is underneath the bleachers. You can see by that picture that it comes out from the bleachers. Now, we're going to add to that space as well. We're going to take the the storage that was there and use that as locker room space and we'll have a much nicer facilities for teams that come in from other schools to be able to go in there and have a nice place to dress, nice place to use bathroom, things like that. And um it's going to be a a big upgrade for us and and Coach Porter's program out there. So something we can be proud of. The

080concession stand is not quite right on that picture. So I'm going to show you this picture. Um, as you can see again, bottom left is home. That's the home side. And you can see the addition that's going to be put, the green addition going to be put on the end of that building. Okay? So, we'll have all that space. No storage right there, but all that space will be locker room. On the right part, on the right end on this at the bottom, you see a small green space. Many of you know there used to be a concession stand right there under the bleachers that was used, okay, on the home side. We're going to renovate that, okay, and add to it. The green part will be added. And so we'll have a the entrance

081or the the opening of the of the new concession will be right there where that green box is, bottom right, and it will be facing toward Raider Road. If you want to I think it'll save your point will work on that one right there. Okay. >> Now, we're not going to go away from the old the concession existing concession will still operate. Okay. What we're thinking is is we'll either close the home side and sell visitors concession out of out of the existing concession stand and sell home at this at this area or we'll have it open for both and just have a second one down here. I don't know exactly how we're going to do that yet, but it should, as you all know, if you go to a football game that there's a

082lot of traffic right there. And if we can ease some of that traffic by allowing people to come out of the bleachers, come under the bleacher right there, buy something, and go back in, we should alleviate a good bit of of congestion in that right corner down there with um with this new concession area. So, um questions about that. I see a couple of maybe maybe don't quite understand what we're going to do, but hopefully it's going to be a going to be a good addition. Again, it used to be a concession area and and they've closed it down, but it needs some work. And again, we'll make an addition to it to u to make it a good bit better. All right. So, that's there. This is Lauren's middle. Um we have had to

083do a lot of work in preparation to put a new basketball floor in there. We put a new floor in at Sanders just a couple of years ago. This one that we want to put in large middle will be almost exactly like that one. We had to do this is a this hill would run water down if you see the blue door. See the blue door right there. All right. >> Water would run under there onto the floor. Flood the gym. It's been doing it for 20 years. Okay. So, you see a walls been built down that sidewalk. Um and you see an awning coming from the top. They haven't quite completed that yet, but it will come all the way down the sidewalk this way and tie into the awning near the near going

084down to the gym. On the other end, you can see some white right down here. You can see some white holes. Those are holes in the ground. There's an 8 in pipe down there. When this after this awning is completed, um the gutters that come down the side of that building will go across that awning and down into those holes and run all the water that comes off that building into that 8 in pipe and away from the building that way. Okay. So, before we could put a gym floor down, we had to solve this problem of water getting in the gym. There's also a French drain on this side that we started with. It didn't it didn't do the job. we had to keep going back and finishing. So, this is going to be

085a this will this this will be nice. Once that awning is completed and we get a new gym floor in there, things will be looking a whole lot better. We also want to do um some work on these I'm sorry, these windows right here. These windows are really really old and in bad shape. Want to replace those and just give that give that facility a Am I doing that? >> No, I'm doing it. So, you're doing it. >> Okay. That means speed up. All right. So, anyway, large metal that that's a that's a good bit of work going on and and we're we're real proud of that. I think they're going to like it once everything's done. Here's some playground shades from Waterlue that we that we put in. They're very nice. Um there's some

086new playground equipment back there behind it that we just put in. Um here's one in another area. Um there's a playground that was that was put in out there. Those This is for the older kids at Waterlue. And that's both of those things together. Ford Elementary got two new playgrounds. These are for the little This one was in the back. There was a picture um and we didn't get it on there. There's an identical one on the other side of the building. Looks just like that. Um and again, this is for our little kids and also for some special needs students to have a place to play other than the big playground. So, those just went in. Summer work, a lot of painting, a lot of bathroom work. High school, Sanders, Summit Lawrence Middle in

087the gym. fencing projects we'll be doing at Sanders, Waterlue, Anderson Drive, maybe the old hardware store corner lot coming out on 221. We need to try to get that fenced in at some point. U high school camera project, which is a grant-f funed project. Um we'll start we'll get a whole new camera system at the high school this summer, completely new and on one system. There's about five different systems out there operating right now. um determine the next roofing job. That's probably going to be Lawrence Middle because it's just the next one in line. And then the high school and LPA, they're complete and that's just been done. And then the high school stadium work will be ongoing this summer. Cintigics is an ID call button system that we're getting ready to buy. I have

088a meeting with someone tomorrow about that. Um, this will u alert first responders in cases of emergency, school officials as well. Um, we'll be working with Joey Avery. He's working with district 56 on theirs. He's the former 911 director in Lawrence County to begin the process of implementation. Our goal is January of two 2027 and that also is a grantf funded project. Bud Group has been a challenge. All these teachers I tell you, Bud Group's been a challenge. I deal with them every day. Um, and so we're at we're starting year three with Bud Group. They do our um custodial work. It's been a mixed bag. It's been up and down. We've had we've had a good a good many problems. I'll tell you this, their upper management is really, really good. I think they

089do what they do better than anybody else around here. It's just difficult to get people to do that work. Okay? It's difficult to get people for what they get paid to do that type of work. So you you're constantly replacing people to try to get the get the job done. But we're at after year three, we'll have an opportunity to either go with them for a fourth year or go back to bid. If we go with them for a fourth year, we we'll be able to do that again for a fifth year or go to bid or we can go with them for five years and then after that it has to go out to a bid again. So, we're working with them. Um, they've been good recently trying to put some things in place

090to make things better. And like I say, they're upper management is very, very good. Um, and I think they're I think they're giving us a good effort anyway, but it's not what it needs to be for our schools. Um, in every school by far, we still have a long way to go. So, that's that's uh kind of ongoing. Just want to give a shout out to a couple of contractors. Garrett Construction, which is a local company here in Lawrence, has done some good work for us recently. We Baker and Sun, this is a contractor going to do the work at the high school stadium. They're out of Newberry. They're very good. They've been easy to work with. Um I had one more um that didn't show up there. Um but um I can't remember exactly

091who it was. I had one other I was trying to share with you. Anyway, we've got a lot of good a lot of good contractors that um that that are doing some good work for us and appreciate appreciate their efforts. Any questions for me? Yes, sir. >> Yes, sir. >> It isn't right now. >> We need We got We I have I've talked Brian and I Brian Gman and I have talked about that. We're going to we're going to be doing some design work um in the district. We're trying to get somebody to come there and fix it. The people out of Colombia um that put it in um we have not been able to get them back recently to to work on it. They've usually come back, but they have been slow to do

092that. So, we're working on trying to get somebody to come in and but it is Yes, sir. It needs to be fixed because that's not an old sign. That's just a few years old. >> So, what he gave in high school, >> right? Right. and and we we know that. So, we'll we're working on it. Um our plan with with signs is to maybe put so put a couple of these in a year um at some different schools and get everybody one at some point. So, we're kind of working towards that. Any other questions? >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Harris. >> Thank you. >> All right. Now, we'll move on to board operations. Dr. Penlin. Okay. The um we have three policies um and one administrative rule that we need to look at. Um in

093policy GCK, professional staff assignments and transfers. Um this one was brought last month. Um there have been a couple of updates since then. Um so I'll point those out to you. And the yellow highlight um we have pulled um verbiage from the regulation. um the um instead of by the July the 15th of each year, it says no later than 14 calendar days before students are scheduled to return. Um they have put in the 14 days based on you know different people using different um schedules. And so they changed it to two weeks versus a certain date. And also um the teacher must be afforded written notice of at least five school days in advance of reassignments unless superintendent demonstrates that advanced notice cannot be accomplished because of critical student need or the teacher requested

094the reassignment. The local board of trustees must be notified in writing of all teacher assignments, reassignments that was pulled straight out of regulation. Um, which took out if a midyear change is needed, 5 days notice um because that's really um at any given time, not just midyear. Um, but all other things in GCK um are the same as presented last month. Any questions about those? >> There is an extra or >> where is that? under transfer the second line after it says the school principal or the superintendent or his or her >> designate. >> So, so these changes typically the the policy would remain the same from first reading to second reading unless the board had indicated there were some changes to be made. >> Um so you said these changes were made based on

095regulations. >> Yes. Is that something that happened since the last board meeting? >> Um, they were no, they were already in the place, but they have not been um they were just not included in this policy. >> So, if we need to push them back for second reading in May, that's fine. >> Yeah, I think in our March meeting those there there are obviously additions that >> were not in the first reading in March. >> That's correct. So this we need we can't vote on this until we have it. >> Right. >> So this is not a second reading anymore. It's a first reading for those. >> Right. Right. >> So um we'll then >> and I think that would be the same for the next policy as well. >> Yep. So let me go

096ahead and um we'll do these as information for first reading. Um in the second policy GCC professional staff leaves and absences. Um we did include the um high impact days like the first week of school, last week of school, professional development, early release days or days prior to holidays will need approval by the superintendent or his designate whenever people are asking um for leave. Um also um the including of the dual employees will be eligible for per tenants only for his or her primary job. That has been some um kind of questions about are they um eligible for multiple perfect attendances if they work multiple jobs. And also um we cleaned up the last line of that um thing to talk about the state department um certification was not required there. And we added in

097um the actual prrated schedule to be utilized for part-time employees. So, um all of that information um is there for first reading now. And also, um in this one, the personal leave on third page um that will now read because you received another email about that one. That one will um read. >> Do we have copies of that one? Is that what >> That's what Candace put at your place. Yes. um personal leave. The district will allow all full-time personnel um to use three sick days as personal leave. Um that's not a change in our policy. Um the district will um grant personal leave with the approval of the immediate supervisor. Um what we're trying to do is clean that up because um some um people get confused whenever they get 12 sick days, but

098three of those are allowed to be used as personal. They think they should be um getting three personal days and 12 sick days. Um so we're trying to clean that up in policy. So um that will now read that way. So any other questions on that policy as now it's first reading and then policy >> those two you'll need to update your date on the back >> adopted as well. >> All right. And policy GDC um is the support um staff that mirrors the one that we just went over, GCC professional leave. Um so all three of those will now be first readings. Um and the GCC and GDC um are identical to each other except for professional leave versus support staff. >> So you had requested for that one to wave the second reading,

099but I'm assuming only because it was tied to the professional. >> Correct. >> So we can just add that to next time. All three will be first reading now and will be second reading next month. >> Okay. >> All right. The other um the next one um ARGDC-R um COVID 19 um even though they said that we have um a end date on that in the policy, we still needed to run this one through the board. Also, we did the um professional leave last month, we will do the support staff this month and so that policy will be removed from our policy guide referencing CO 19. >> Okay, >> any questions on that? >> All right, um our next item on the agenda is the Sanders Middle and Lawrence Middle grade configuration. Um the recommendation

100that was made last month was for us to have a work session today. We did do that. Um we had some information that was um compiled from um surveys from our community also letters that have been received. Um we were able to share that information with the um board during our work session for we received um 150 mailed in letters. We've received 340 um something responses to our online um proposal. And I'll just kind of go through um the proposal um is for the 6 27 school year. Sixth grade will be a single grade monatory class with a focus um at sorry that's not what I was going to talk about. Um the um sixth grade center would be at Sanders. Um Lawrence Junior High would become seventh 8th and um that is the proposal

101that was made last month. And um the work session looked at um the data and also I was just going to share some of this data again real quick. Um this is based on the survey we had 3 48 responses. Um, this was actually first sent out to those that had students in the program and fifth, sixth, 7th that would be directly respond um kind of um directly um kind of impacted and then also it was open up to the community to give further information there. And so whenever we looked at grade realignment, you can look at one is I'm against, five is I'm four, and then you have your two, threes, and fours in there. And so you can see grade realignment um configuration there. And whenever we start looking at most of this

102information, the um pretty much it's balanced with a third um against and 2/3 for as we um shared during our um work session. future expansion is there for um the use of I'm in favor for the proposal to expand Sanders into a fifth grade center after um year one for the 2728 year school identity which was the names um basically a third to twothirds also monatory um continuity and where they plan to um facilitate the monatory strategies for the sixth grade um so that was also a third to twothirds um honors transition You can see that that was um very much um higher um kind of in favor of for the junior high level the seventh eighth grade um becoming a 48 and um over 250ish I can't read that part um and the course

103acceleration um also there you can kind of see the STEM and the arts you had very much in favor of um continuing the STEM the arts and the course under this new configuration athletic access the consideration there for inter murals will be at Sanders um and how that in favor the transportation with the difference and the change there. We had the um little bit of impact there on timing and the start time enrollment relief. um very much in favor of being able to um relieve the um enrollment um at Lawrence Elementary, Ford Elementary in EB based on this move um facility investment um looking at the $5 million that we've done um the improvements at Sanders um just justifying this um enrollment there um basically a third to twothirds and the teacher placement question that

104we had on that um survey also was about a third to a fourth to 34 class size um configuration there when we're looking at projected class size of 1819 at Sanders 2122 at Lawrence Middle or Lawrence Junior High um you can see the um things there. So that is um basically the additional information that we had on um the survey that we were able to provide. Um we went through the questions that you had based on, you know, what does that look like for Monasuri um where the um information was from our community mess um and their surveys and um comments and combine that all. And so um again, I will ask for a recommendation um I mean a a vote um tonight um if there's not any other questions or um >> discussion. discuss.

105>> Um, I knew everybody, but let me say this. You had three people come up to talk about Mon. And I think they all had that point. A school is not Monur. The program is what make Monur. Now, if Monasur had lost it, it's because of administration. It's not because of no buildings. Okay. Number two, he's showing right here at number five where you be saying twothirds of the people, you know, approve of this. That's since Friday. He sent his survey out Friday and everybody responded today about 12:00. That's where he got the large number from. But a group have been running these letters since the last board member sent out 400 letters and he's saying he only received 15 I don't believe that. I don't believe that. So, in the spirit of making our

106community better, getting rid of this foolishness, frightening each other, I'm going to make a recommendation that we vote no. That's my motion. Outright racism. >> Are you making Are you making a motion? >> Yes. Okay. Um Okay. Well, we have a motion. So, Mr. Carpenter's making a motion to not approve >> to not move forward with this. So, in order to move forward with his motion, he would need a second. >> I'm I'm confused. >> So, we're just in discussion here, but I I assume that our superintendent was going to make a motion to approve it. Well, the superintendent can't make a motion. >> Okay. So, we got a motion not to approve it. Okay. I just want to make sure. >> That's right. Anybody could have spoke up and said any, but I got

107related to make sure. But yeah, but that's what it is. So, >> you want backing into something confusing. >> Dr. Pan's recommendation is we approve the reconfiguration. >> The motion is not >> Mr. Carpenter's made a motion. >> His is just a recommendation. And Mr. Carpenter has made a motion to not approve >> and I second. >> Okay. Now I'm going to open it up for discussion. >> So is there any further discussion? >> I just told I just told you my two cent word. I don't I don't understand, you know, I hate this coming about like this, but I don't understand why superintendent would choose to fight an entire community. We're not moving forward. We're moving backward. And I don't care how many principal come here and give the glowing report that Mr. Crumpton

108gave today. As long as we operate like this, we're going backwards. >> So I'm saying in the spirit are promoting our community. Let's vote this now. >> But but I'll also say there are are a lot of people that are also in favor of it. I don't think it's all the communities that >> it might be. But what I'm saying what I'm questioning that number he got from 12:00 Friday to 12:00 today. I don't believe that. But but my I think for our work session though these numbers are not just from the survey on Friday but they included all of the surveys leading up to >> but but these numbers when they calculated included >> survey information from not just for Friday but it cumulative all the way up to Friday. >> Let me clarify

109the um survey. The survey initially went out um m um March 30th to those that were going to be directly impacted by the change of their students. >> How many how many certain do you know how many people that >> um 75 student people responded to that? Okay. >> And so that would be the parents of these students that would have been um impacted for this. And so that's how many people responded from May I mean March the 30th. We did open the same survey back open this past weekend started on Friday and we received another um to get to 350 um participants. And so whenever you have um that combined with I mean that's including the 75 people I shared information with you um during the work session of the survey results based on

110just the 75 and I served um the other 275. You also had that and then you had a combined um document that showed the surveys with the results of these graphs that have all 350 um participants um reporting there. >> You have undermine black superintendent. >> Okay, >> you're a crook. >> Not from the audience, please. >> We asked for attack on the black community. We asked for that to go out at the last board meeting. >> You say you put it out on March the 3, but you didn't share it with the board. But you gladly share what you put out because we only shared it on March the 30th with people that it was impacting. We didn't send it to you to get feedback on March 30th. >> But don't you want us

111to trust you? >> Dr. Thomas, >> let let me ask a question. The so the survey that you sent out on March 30th to >> parents that would be impacted that included you only got 75 responses or it was only sent to 75 people. >> It was only responses of 75 people. >> So what grade groups did that go to? >> That went to current fifth grade monastery students that would be going to either Lawrence Middle or Sanders, >> right? >> Current sixth grade parents at Lawrence Middle and Sanders and current seventh grade parents at Lawrence Middle and Sanders. So whenever you are looking at direct impact for students of parents of students in the program that would not have included a board member unless you had a child in that program at that level.

112So you would not have received that on March the 30th. You received it whenever it went out to the entire population just like everybody else did. >> We are protested every >> Let keep the calm down. I will say that you know the board did instruct the superintendent to send out the survey at our last meeting. So it it is unfortunate that it didn't come out until the Friday before the meeting. Um so we we did we did address that. So Miss Nance, you had >> what about our AI generated summary? >> That was generated from all of the comments that people input on the survey. >> Okay. Can I read it? >> Absolutely. timeline and planning. Delay implementation until the 2027 2028 school year to allow for more planning preparation and a smoothing smoother

113transition for both teachers and students. The current timeline for the 26 2027 school year is considered rushed and has caused disrupted among distrust among staff. That's the timeline planning from the AI generated and concern the uh monastery program strongly reconsider discontinuing or dismantling the monastery program especially for fifth through 8th grades as it is a valued highly effective educational approach with strong test scores. Suggestions include consolidating upper elementary monastery grades four through six at Sanders to maintain the multiple age model of keeping monary grades 78 at the Lawrence Middle School with appropriate teacher training. And some respondents believe that program has led to segregation and is not effective for preparing students for high school. Anything else? Um I I do want to share my thoughts as well. Um I will be very frank in that

114when this was first mentioned to me I was completely on board and thought that this you know great where we would move all the students through Sanders. Um, but after sitting in on the meetings, after developing questions that I am still not quite comfortable with the answers with, um, my my biggest takeaway because even in a conversation I had with Mr. Carpenter, it's like why why are we doing this? And for me, I think the biggest takeaway would be if we cannot show that we're going to academically um move our students forward and this is going to impact them on the academic side. I think we have so many other things going on right now that we should be focused on instead of making this type of change in the district. And I would, you

115know, echoing Mr. Carpenter said about the speakers for monastery. That is a program that I wish that we could get back to, you know, back to our roots and pull that back into the district and let it shine as it did years ago. Um, so that's just my thought, >> but any further Oh, go ahead. Sorry. >> I feel the same way about program. It's It's something we need to get get stronger in. They need the support that they need to make that happen. Um and as far as this reconfiguration, it's just it's too rushed for this to happen this year. There's a lot of unanswered questions. And >> I was in Monasuri last Monday. Uh and I seen five year olds. Everything they done was organized. They put it back. Now my grandkids were

116not involved. Trust me, they got a long way to go. But I watched them. These kids are amazing. They they do what they're supposed to do. I like >> Did it work for me? No. Absolutely not. Yeah, I think that that's, you know, I think that, you know, my children, I have some kids that's in the monastery program. I have some that's on the traditional track. Um, I think that it is ultimately left up to the parent is, you know, what do you think is best for your child? Somewhere along the way from my child that is now an eighth grader that's going to be in high school, the Monasuri program has dwindled out. I remember when she first started there was a lot of information that was given to the community. I remember meetings

117of you know the parents coming in and getting to talk you know this is the path for monastery this is the path for traditional and we don't do that anymore. Um, while I do think after having conversations about the reconfiguration, um, and I'll be very honest, the people that, you know, gave me their opinion, they're very much for this happening. I do think that it could potentially be a good idea, but I don't think that the plan is appropriate at this time. I think that there needs to be very specific plans in place. I mean, we're looking I know Lawrence Middle School have has already chosen their cheerleaders for next school season. Um Sanders Okay. Sanders has too. I mean, we can't I mean, what >> and I've talked to um the Orange Middle coach

118about what that would look like and so they would have be able to provide um you know, some information there too. So that those are things that you know had to happen to go ahead and get um be in place. Um this was um on the schedule to be done in March. So um that was um something else that just had to go ahead and but they did wait till after March was over. So >> all right. Any additional any additional discussion? I said any additional discussion before we take a vote. >> Okay. >> Um so I'm going to call for a vote. Uh Mr. Carpenter has made a motion that we not move forward with the uh middle school reconfiguration. Miss Nance has second it. We've had our discussion. So all in favor of

119not moving forward with the reconfiguration, please say I. >> I. and those that are opposed. >> I >> Okay, I think the yeses have it. So, at this point, we will not be moving forward with the reconfiguration. >> Well, HALLELUJAH. >> All right. Now, we'll move on to finance and operations. Uh, good evening. I'm Leanne London and I am here to present the financial information for the month of March. >> We can't hear you. >> Oh, I'm short. How about that? Okay. I'm Leanne London and I am here to present the financial information. >> I think I think she needs a new mic. Try it now. >> How about now? >> Okay. >> So, I am here to present the financial information for the month of March. Our cash as of the end of March

1202026 is at 9,484,440. Compared to this time in 2025, we were at 13,55,862. And as in previous board meetings, the difference in those two numbers is the timing of the Are you okay? >> Oh, yeah. The difference in those two numbers is the the timing of the payroll that we pay. Sometimes the the the subsequent month will hit before month end and sometimes it doesn't hit until after month end. So we usually pay about a $3 million per month in payroll. Uh looking at our revenues, our revenues for the month of March are at 46,413832. Expenditures of 40,82,973, which puts us at a net income of 5,610859 as of the end of March. Compared to this time last year, we were at 4,22,681. Um, let's turn over to look at the revenues, the year-to- date

121revenues. Our, uh, property tax collections are pretty much collected as of the end of March. We don't expect to receive too too much more the rest of the school year. But looking down at um, the state revenues, we're still collecting for state aid to classrooms and our tier three money as well. We have not yet received the property tax and the the homestead relief exemption income that usually will come in during the month of April. So, um that puts our revenues at 41,413 83162. And looking over at our expenditures for the month of March, >> Miss London, can we stay on the revenue sheet for just a minute? So the last column shows percent received. Well, it says percent received, but those percentages are not correct. >> No, those percentages are not correct. Those were

122those were inadvertently copied from the report that printed out from the system. And so those those should have been changed. So the percent receipt as of the end of the month, we're at 78%. In total, so those present the board an updated copy of that one. Thank you. >> Yes. So, um, so, okay, we're at 78% as of the end of the month in collections for the year. And so, looking at expenditures, we have a goal remaining of 25% which puts us at our actual goal, our actual amount of expenditures are at 32% remaining. So, we're about 7% to the good there. But I do want to point out the um where you see the uh object number 9395 for other professional and technical services. We have a budget of over $1.1 million. Most of

123this budget is for uh school resource officers and the county bills us monthly and so we we haven't yet received the invoices this year for the county and we have been in touch with them and they will be getting um the first three quarters through the end of March to us soon and those are $543,000. We received the invoice. We were invoiced twice from the city for school resource officers were were built every six months and we got the first six months this this month of April. So those collections are there's a lot of budget left in that and that's the reason why we just have not received these invoices yet. But we have followed up with the county and we got the city. So those will hopefully be reflected in in April and May.

124So any questions on the March financials? >> Appreciate you highlighting that for us. >> Okay. Sure. >> Yes sir. >> But we can look back because we firstought resour The agreement was that we were supposed to provide space% way beyond that. I don't know how we got to >> when you say you say space >> plus 10%. >> Yeah. So >> we we agree with that. So we are responsible for paying their their salary, their workman's comp, their insurance, we pay for their radios, we pay for their vehicles. >> When you say pay for, you're talking about I mean >> we don't buy police officers cars, right? We just >> we give them I think an allowance. >> Yeah, they get a big that's what we go for >> which goes for their um being

125able to do that. So they're with us 190 days and also during the summer if we have summer school on there and so we get build by the day for them to be working. >> Okay. And so um I don't remember that agreement of 10% with um the space. even in the district. >> I was about to say there should be a letter of agreement like dating back. >> Um I don't know where the letter of agreements are in the past, but we do have a letter of agreement with them now. Um we also have um two SRO's that are state funded that we have written grants with the city um that we were allowed to do. So um two of our city um SRO's are paid for by a grant. the state will not

126allow us to pick up any more um grant funded positions because that was solely left for schools that did not have SRO's. So since we were already providing them everywhere, we were not able to do that. And so we were able to get in for LPA um did not have a um dedicated SRO. So we're able to do a grant for them. And at the time we did not have one funded at um EB Morris because we were sharing between Lawrence Middle and um EB. So those are the two that we have state funded. It's EB Morris and Lawrence Preparatory Academy. This seems odd that we're getting pay, you know, six month payments here. I wonder would it be easier and more able for us to keep track if we get build monthly? >> I'm

127not sure why they build they bill us every six months. >> Yeah, >> I I don't know. >> Does a letter agreement highlight that? Do you know? >> I'll go back and double check that to see what their requested for to bill us, but I was thinking it was quarterly. Not. Um I mean I think it's quarterly as far as we got last year. >> Yeah. Didn't we get in trouble this last year? >> Exactly. >> The c the county bills us quarterly, but they they haven't sent the bill yet. We we reached out to them and they're they're >> supposedly getting the first three quarter bills to us. And the city from my understanding has been billing us for just twice a year. All right, we're gonna put Mr. Hughes in charge of that.

128>> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Moving on to the audit financial statement. Um, we've received a draft over the weekend for the audited financial statement as as of the end of June 30th, 2025. >> And do we have a copy of that that you can share with the board? >> I have a I have a Yeah, I can get a draft. I can get a copy to you. And today around it was shortly afternoon I received an updated draft. So these have been reviewed by me in in total just I've looked at a few numbers. So um I will be forwarding the the draft to Dr. Pendlean and he can send it out. >> I do have one printed if somebody needs to take >> and was that the updated one that

129you sent? >> Yes, I did. Yes. >> Okay. >> So we haven't had a chance to look and tie the numbers. I'm sorry. >> Can we get a copy of that draft? >> I I'll send it to you tonight or tomorrow. So, >> whatever. >> And what uh what's our status? When are we going to be able to finalize our audit? And and I and I will preface all this by saying I know this is not really on you, but you are it is on you, but it's not you're not the any part of why we are here. You are just trying to clean this up. Um so, when when will we see the final audit? I'm hoping that he will be able to present it at the next board meeting. >> Okay. >> Thank

130you. >> All right. And um our next item on the agenda, I mean, are we finished with the audit? Everybody with that? Okay. Our next item on the agenda is fiscal watch. And you've um received that letter that we received from the state. Um due to our audit not being filed on by January the 30th. Um that is the reason we have our own fiscal watch. Um because that filing had not been made. Um in the letter it states that um the board can choose to appeal um with us still not having that audit. Um that is an option that um we could submit reasons for us not having it. Um but if not um we also have to have um a response for an improvement plan per se um by um 60 days of

131receiving the letter that has to come from the board. And so that was one of the things that we did put on here on board action, but that would only be if y'all wanted to do the appeal to not be on fiscal watch. Um if not, then we need to figure out a timeline for um drafting and getting out a response um back to the um state within the 60 days from the board because I mean I we could draft that, but I don't know that we that needs to come from me or Leanne. That needs to come from the board. >> I don't physical watch. I can tell you that >> I don't think we can appeal. It's past the timeline. >> Okay. >> I mean, we were notified on April 14th. And has

132there been any communication with the State Department? Like, have we responded? Because I asked for a copy of that originally and you said you hadn't responded. Have we responded? >> Because that has to come from the board. That didn't come from >> Okay. Is this due to the auditor's office? >> Uh, who does it submit to, Lean? Or >> excuse me, >> who who has the received that from the auditor? >> I'm saying us getting this letter, was it due to the auditor's office not turning in on that? >> It um the audit was due December the 1st, >> correct? And if you do not have it turned in by January the 30th, you go on fiscal watch. >> Okay. So, who was supposed to do the audit? >> That is the company that we

133have um contracted with to do the audit. >> So, it was >> well audit. >> That was partially the time that we did not have a CFO. So, we were submitting information to the auditor. He was responding um that he didn't have what we needed. But then um the people in our office was sending him what they had requested and um then there was this time of um no response back and forth. Um then that contact was made in January. He said that we would need to submit XYZ. We did that to him. Um we still did not have an audit. Leanne came in realized that it was additional stuff that needed to be closed. um closed some additional accounts and um has been back and forth with um the auditor and still getting some

134responses of I mean we've asked him to come in multiple times to come actually come in on site to say this is what we don't have this is what we need um but we are not getting a response of being able to have that type of assistance um >> if you don't want to come come in maybe get somebody >> um there will a proposal for a new auditor for next year. >> I think we should regardless of what's just let >> Well, I'm going to share some comments. Okay, go ahead. Um >> is this is the same auditor that we've used for several years, correct? Have we ever been late before? >> Yes, we have been late but not the two months late. >> Okay. Also, I I thought that when we allowed our

135previous CFO to stay on staff, >> was to get some things finished up with the audit so it could be submitted. >> That's correct. >> And I will also say that um Dr. Pan, you shared with the board that you and our procurement officer would be in charge of this. We suggested getting an interim CFO and you said that you and he could do it. >> That did not happen. Um and whenever Leanne came in, she also realized that there were um items that had been audited for several years that had not been closed. And so she has been working on getting items closed from the same auditor from since 2017. Um has been finding accounts that were not closed in that amount of time. So um that is multiple CFOs, the same auditor. Um

136and so there are multiple issues there. So um I will take the level of um responsibility that is mine. Um but there is also multiple levels of responsibility um that are there. multiple years of closing out accounts and um audits that have addressed that everything has been all closed and all clear but have not been >> for years. >> Yeah, I know. I know. This is a question for you, I guess. >> Yes, sir. >> Just because we turn this audit in when we get through it. >> We're still on physical watch for 12 months. Is that correct? I believe so that's correct. >> Well, it says in the letter that we are on fiscal watch. Um but you cannot come off in the same >> um fiscal year. >> So we could possibly come

137off in January one. I mean July one I mean yeah July one. So >> let's not wait till it right now. And so, um, as I said, um, Leanne has been working feverishly back and forth with our auditor to, um, get the information that he has requested, rescending information that he has already requested and she has already sent, um, rescending information that they have had multiple times. And so there is um a level of request, send, request again, send, request again, send. And it's the same information. If we're not getting anything done with this auditor, is it time to change the auditor now? >> Yeah, but we can't do that at this point. But we can do that before we start. >> What I hear then is we are at the mercy of this person.

138>> If we don't get anything done, if he doesn't act on your request or the information that he's requesting, then we're we're totally at this individual's mercy. And I find that terrible. >> Look, I I appreciate there's enough blame to go around on this one. I don't think it's all on the auditor. Um, we've had mistakes and we have fallen short. If we had had our information to the auditor on time, this wouldn't have been an issue. You know, if we had not pushed until the auditor's tax season for April 15th, he would have had more time with us. So, I don't I think that there's a balance of blame there. >> Mr. Do you ever remember us being on physical watch before? >> No. That's what I was afraid. >> I like I like

139to make one thing. >> So that committee would meet. outside of the board >> to address. Okay. >> Yeah, that makes sense. >> Well, I I'm just, you know, it sounds like right right now, I'm just worried about moving forward. >> And if the auditor is the the log jam here, how do we unjam that? But that doesn't really does you think that would free up with the auditor? >> No. >> Yeah. >> And would that committee also from a the getting off physical watch is that a benefit to getting us back in good with the state? >> Yes. I'm assuming that would need to be part of the financial recovery plan that we need to present to the state >> because we are past the 10day mark of appealing >> right based on her

140feel like Gota. >> Well, I want to say, Miss London, I appreciate everything that you have done since you've been here. I'm sure that what you have walked into was not an easy task. So, thank you. >> Absolutely agree. Thank you very much. >> We'll get it straight and move forward. We will. >> Thank you. >> So, what happens now that we're on fiscal watch? What does that mean? >> They going to be watching us for a year till July or whatever. again. >> So what's the >> So that's the lowest level of fiscal um >> kind of >> if affects your low medium high risk it it can lower your risk. >> So is there a state going to send an auditor eventually to make to declare that we're off or or in deeper

141trouble? I mean I'm trying to understand the process now. the state department >> we we have subd this financial recovery plan to >> from the letter that I read didn't >> yes >> if we needed help >> and so what we'll do is we'll submit the um >> you know that's you know the board committee you know if that's something that the board wants to um do to kind of help develop this plan we don't mind helping um do that but based on the way I read this was that the board has to submit it not coming from Mayor Leanne as the um appeal or the um plan. And so we can definitely help um draft and tell you things that we're putting in place or um do that type of work, but it'll be

142continually has to come from the board. >> We have to have this plan in in 60 days from April Act 14. >> So it would need to be probably voted on >> in the May meeting. >> It would it would have to be voted on in May >> to get it in in time. What year is 242? >> Yes, ma'am. >> They have not told us this. Yeah, they have not told us that. What happens if they don't accept the plan or plan you know they have not gone there commission >> right next item is Dr. on performance. >> Do we need to vote on this? >> We can't. I mean, >> we don't have anything to vote on. >> Yeah, because >> we don't have a plan. >> I mean, is there >> I

143mean, >> what's the process for you appointing a committee for that? Is that something that you need to do during the meeting or >> No. >> Yeah, we can. That doesn't have to be done at the meeting. >> So, but we will we will do that. Okay. All right. So, I'm I'm here under the tab of finance, but we're going to go back to operations really. Okay. So, what I'm going to talk about really has to do more with operations than finance. I gave you this I gave you this uh PowerPoint, so you've had it. Hopefully, you've been able to look at it. Um, I went over this with you when I first talked about performance contracts and what it might be able to do for us. I'm going just read through this real quick.

144more efficient. Reduce deferred maintenance. Address and finance facilities needs. Provide funding for large projects. Positively impact general fund expenditures. Allow payback with 512 capital funds. Provides an audit of all building systems and identifies biggest needs and savings possibilities. Now, I want to tell you right up front, we don't get to be more efficient by somebody changing our habits like we did with synergistic. Okay? It's not like that. We get more efficient by being able to obtain capital from this group. Okay? They help us get capital money to be able to do larger projects than we're able to do right now with the capital money that we have. Okay? So, we can get through Snider Electric and the and the lenders that they work with, we can get really whatever amount of money we want and

145that would come back to you guys. It would be it wouldn't be my call or Dr. Pinland's call. It would be your call as to what the projects ended up being. Okay? So, this wouldn't be any general fund money. This would this would be all 512 capital money, our bond money. Okay? And and that would be the only thing we would get the money from the lenders. We would do the projects and we would pay the money back through 512. Okay? So, it's not a it's not changing habits and um and telling us what we need to do. It's giving us some information and allowing us to choose the projects that we want to do. Now, I will say this ahead of time. There is a there's a cost involved with the audit. But if

146we do any project with them, we could do a small project with them. The audit money would be taken care of. Okay? Even if we even if we had to pay the audit, it would be with 512. we won't have to if we do anything with them. Okay? So, it could be as small as we want it to be. Okay? Or it could be as large as we want it to be. Okay? And again, we being the board, the board will decide, we'll present we if you approve this tonight, we would get an audit done. We would present you with a plan and then you would say yay or nay, we need to scale it down or we can go with this. and we would do it within the confines of what we know we

147can pay back with the 512 money that we have. Okay, so that's that's kind of the the start of it. Here are some possible things. These are savings projects that we might be able to do. We could do le in the rest of our schools that we didn't weren't able to do it. We did we did some schools with the Duke that were Duke schools, Duke Power Schools. Um we could do the rest of those. Those would result in energy savings for us. Okay, we're doing some of that on our own right now, but we could do it at a on a on a larger scale. HVAC replacement. We got a lot of old units in our district that run inefficiently and they break a lot. We could replace a lot of them. Now, we're

148we're going to replace 16 units this summer ourselves, but we we're talking about a hundred units or more that we might be able to do with money if we could get capital. Okay, that would make us more efficient. LED stadium lights. Now, this is not a huge money saver, but it sure would be nice for the community, okay, to have LED lighting at Lawrence at Lawrence Stadium, baseball, softball, football, everything. We could we could do that through them, save some money, but it would be more that would be more of a just a nice project to be able to do for for the community and for our for our kids and and the ones that play. LED outdoor lighting. You know, we have a lot of we have a lot of places where our lighting

149just isn't as good as it needs to be sometimes for teachers coming in out of school, kids coming in out of school early in the mornings, things like that. So people staying at night coming out into a dark parking lot, we could do something like that. Automated logic and controls for HVAC where we could control the temperatures in our buildings. We could do more of that. Um and and all of these savings. We could do stuff with water. Okay? They they'll look at all of our systems and say, "Here's what we think maybe you could do." And then we get to talk about what we what we want to do. Savings positively affect the general fund. anything we save back into the general fund. And I think that's what this what we've been talking about

150tonight. That's um that's what you guys want. We we got to we got to start building up general fund. Okay. Other possible projects. Mr. Carpenter and I talked about at a basketball game and after basketball game the need for locker rooms and office renovations in the Lawrence District High School gym. Okay. We could I think that should be a project that we take on, okay, to make that more upto-date, you know, and and better for not only our kids but visitors that come in. Allpurpose rooms at Grey Court Owens and Hickory Tavern. Really big needs in our district right now. Greycourt, a K8 school, shares one gym. All the elementary children go in there. All the middle school children go in there and they have to go in there sometimes at the same time just

151because of numbers. We need a multi-purpose room something along the lines of what Waterlue has and what Lawrence Elementary has and what EB has and what Ford has for these two schools. Okay. And we could do we could do a project like that with this. We need to go out to Hickory Tavern, tear down that old gym and play and put a new >> way with that. Okay. It needs to >> pardon me. I just wondered if he was going to do away with that old gym. >> With with your help, Mr. Hughes, we'll get that gym torn down. >> Okay. Tear it down and build back right there um with with a new facility. >> So, there's a wide range of possibilities and this board certainly could say this is what I think we

152we to somebody mentioned a while ago lecture theater. We could do something in the lecture theater, you know, but that's a when you start tearing up all those seats and replacing that, you're talking about some big bucks. >> Take out the step outs. >> Yeah. and and and lighted, you know, a lighted walkway down and and maybe not a black stage. Um that that that you can't see in the in the in the dark. Yeah. >> Um so anyway, there's a you guys could say let's do this or let's do that or suggest whatever we there's a lot of things we could go we could do. So the finance part of this our capital funds will grow as we pay down the debt on our lead debt. our our available money in capital will will

153rise over the next few years. That's fact. Okay. So, we'll have more to work with. So, growing capital funds allow budgeting of the money to pay back the the lender for these projects. So, we think looking at what we have now and what we're going to have that we'll have plenty of money to make the payment and do what we need to do in capital on a regular basis like we're doing right now. All right. It won't affect the general fund negatively, but projects that lead to savings will help the general fund. That's that's something we're trying to do um all the time. I'm I'm that is something I think we're all devoted to trying to um trying to get that fund balance back up somehow. Okay. Um year one payback will be postponed in

154this. Snider Electric has told us this. we wouldn't have to pay back the first year and then the second and third year will be partial payments. So again during that time all that time our capital funds getting a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger and allowing us again to pay back more easily. >> Go ahead. >> I was going to say that first bullet there talking about the lead debt. We have three more annual payments left on that payment. So um once we pay them back um this year and then two more or we paid this year. >> Yeah. >> Then we have two more payments after that. >> Yeah. So, um that'll free up um approximately $4 million of um capital that we're paying for that lean debt of where we um

155did the renovations back in um 2000 or with the addition of Waterlue and um some wings at some of our other schools. >> So, >> all right. So, just to to clarify the line that says the uh and and my screen is flipped here, the year one payback will be postponed. Years two and three will be partial payments. It does that is that for each individual project that we take on as we go through the contract. >> And as far as how that's going to look, how many we're going to take on at one time, I think that's for that's for everything. That's for everything that we do. >> Okay. So, we would have to come up with a plan for what jobs we want to do. And then when we finish this, Leanne and

156I talked to somebody from another school district. When we finish, let's say we do three or four projects, we finish, we can we can start again with them. >> We want to. >> Okay. So, it' be whatever was in place at that particular time. All right. Um, again, Miss London has talked to and we we we spoke with a CFO of another district. Um, and that was Lexington >> Spartanber 7. Um, and they, you know, she she was very very pleased with Snyder. Thought that we had chosen the very best company to do something like this with. And again, we feel like it'll it'll give us an opportunity to do some things that we just don't have the opportunity to do right now. Um so tonight we we're asking for a vote to go forward

157not with a plan but simply with the audit. We we have we do the audit first and then we come back to you with okay these are what they suggest. This is what we want to do get advice from you and come up with some type of plan. So it's a it's several months of of action before we get to the point of actually having a plan for projects. So that we we need a vote either to go forward with Snyder on this or or not. >> But really, if we go forward and we do just one project, that 200,000 y'all mentioned that that takes care of that. Am I right? >> Yes, sir. That's right. That's right. So, we can go as small as we want to or as or as big as we

158want to. And we can only go so big because again, we have to be realistic with what we can what we can pay back. But our capital money, as Dr. Ping just mentioned, once we pay off all this debt, our capital money will be about double of what we're working with right now. >> So, you know, so that last page in your budget that we have is our capital money, and we basically budget 4 million. Um, but the other four million of our um bond, you know, what we receive goes to pay off our lead um debt. And so that's um what will be freed up will be another four million in a couple of years. So, I mean, we've been operating on I mean, four we we get a lot done with $4 million

159and we we'll be able to get, you know, if we get if we get to eight and we're having to pay, you know, let's say we have to pay a million of that. If we did something really big and we were paying a million dollars, we're still going to be three million in capital over what we're operating on right now. and we've still got we still got a couple of million dollars left this year um between now and September to to to take us up. So, we're in pretty good shape in our in our 512 account. And again, that's that's the only finance that we would do. We would borrow and everything would be paid back through capital funding. >> And this is um realized um actual realized savings because this would not be us

160paying a company and a to run that um like we did with the other >> Yeah. It's really nothing like the synergistic program at all. >> So I I want to connect some dots here. So performance contract is a program that Schneider runs. Is that >> they're one of they're one of many that run it. >> Okay. So performance contracts, is that a term that's used? >> It's a it's a savings it's supposedly like a guaranteed savings program. This is >> but it is and and they're they they can get they can guarantee us some savings in in these projects on some of them that we do >> because help me understand where those savings are generated from. Is it because they're doing the work or or I mean I'll make sure Snyder is a

161construction company, right? >> They they they do. So they would come in and and do an audit of all the projects that needs to happen in the district that they can do. And the idea is with this contract that we're doing that not only do they find the projects that need to be done that we can select which ones we want, but but we are going to use Snyder to do those projects. >> Not necessarily. We can use Snyder to do it. We can also contract with our own contractors if we want to, >> but we're but to do this audit, we're we they've given us a credit or we either pay the somehow they're going to get 250 thou 200 $250,000 out of this. >> They they will, but we won't we we're not

162going to be out of that money if we unless we just do nothing >> With them? >> Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'm just making sure I understand. So the the right now the big benefit is for them to come in and do an audit of our facilities. >> Well, I mean that gives us something to look at, but the big the attraction is is the capital money that they can provide us that we >> So they're so we borrow the money from them. >> No, we borrow money from lenders that they set us up with. >> Okay. So, so they've got a list of investors that they're that they share with us and then we still have to have a relationship with those borrowers >> Through them. Okay. >> They manage this. >>

163Okay. >> They manage it. >> But we decide which borrowers on their list that we use. >> I'm I'm assuming that we'll we'll go with uh we'll go with they suggest again London will be heavily involved in in that side of it. And um you know, we'll we'll get we'll be looking for the best rate with people that are ready. This feels like to me the only thing I can come up with is is you you want to because my oldest son is looking at buying a house and and and is he's either going to he's thinking I'm just going to do it myself without a realtor, but then you know with a realtor it costs money, but there's benefits to that. This is what this feels like. >> That >> Oh, yeah. >> This

164if that's a good parallel. I'm trying to understand why. >> Well, the benefits of this is that they give us the money we need to do the project. >> So, for example, with our um kind of our current capital funds, we have 4 million per year. They might be able to free up 20 million immediately, you know. So, we could do $20 million worth of renovations or projects, >> but we're still borrowing the 20 million. >> It's a lender. >> Yes. >> So, what if we don't use Snyder? That just means that we would have to go and find someone that would be willing to let us borrow $20 million in your example. >> Or you would be doing a um only doing the projects you can afford with million dollar at a time. Okay.

165Gotcha. All right. Is there any further discussion or questions? All right. So, we will need a motion to uh move forward with a performance contract audit. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Thank you. Any further discussion or questions? >> And I just want to So, you you personally met with with folks at Snyder and you feel comfortable? >> Yes. We we went through a bid process. >> Okay. >> And they they were the ones we chose and we've been talking with them. They're just waiting on this. >> Okay. Forward. And again, we talked with Spartmer district. They were very pleased with them. And I think we got a we got a good recommendation from. >> Did y'all talk to the financial person at Spartberg 7 or the superintendent? >> I'm gonna talk to the superintendent.

166>> Lord help us. >> Huh? >> I said Lord help us. No, I mean she I not him. But >> yeah, I know. I know. Yeah. >> Okay. So, without any further discussion, um all those in favor of approving u moving forward with the performance contract as Dr. Harris has presented, please say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> All right. The motion carries. All right. Now, we will need um next up on our agenda is executive session. So, we need a motion session. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? All in favor say I. I. I. >> All right. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and call us back into session. We do have um one, we do have to vote on a conversation at executive session. We need a motion to

167approve our certified contract list and our resignation list. We can do them at the same time. >> Yeah. I'll make a motion that we accept the uh the new contract list and the resignation list. >> I second. >> Thank you. Any questions, discussion? All those in favor of approving the certified contract list and the resignation list, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> All right. With no further business, we are adjourned. Thank you.