Board Meeting 4-20-26

001Tonight we have a special order of business. We want to uh welcome and introduce to you all uh our new board member for Oath uh Cornelius Jeff Coat. Ask Judge Meer. >> Okay. for you, sir. of the oath of office. I do solemnly swear that I am duly qualified >> I do solemnly swear that I am duly qualified >> according to the constitution of this state >> according to the constitution of this state >> to exercise the duties of this of this office >> to exercise the duties of this office >> to which I have been elected >> and that I will >> to the best of my ability >> discharge the duties thereof >> and preserve and preserve, >> protect, >> and defend the Constitution >> of this state >> and the United States

002>> and of the United States. >> So help me God. >> Thank you. Thank you to all of Mr. to Jeff Coat's family and friends that have come and gathered with us and to uh Judge Myers. Of course, at this time uh we're going to uh uh begin our meeting by convening into executive session. And while we're in executive session, you all are welcome to stay until we return. But with that being said, we're about to put Mr. Jeff code to work. >> So, we need a motion. >> I'll make a motion that we go into executive session. >> I second. All in favor? All right, we'll be right back. Good evening and thank you all for your patience tonight. We need a motion to uh adjourn from executive session. >> I make a motion

003that we adjourn from executive session. Second. >> All in favor? All right. Now we need a motion to approve our agenda. Make a motion that we approve our agenda. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> All right. Now, we will turn into hands of Dr. Sanders. >> Miss Ingram, I'm sorry. I apologize. >> We're going to just >> Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence. >> Thank you. You may be seated. Right. Chairman Sutton and Dr. Nutter and members of the board. Tonight's student spotlight features Asa Shelby from Swansea High School. Asa is a senior

004at Swansea High who has distinguished herself as a dedicated, compassionate, and well-rounded student. Asa serves as the student body president and is actively involved in beta club health occupations students of America and the prom committee where she demonstrates strong leadership and a commitment to service. She also has excelled in athletics participating in volleyball for four years recently earning all region and allstate honors and competing at Adidas elite nationals with her USAA club team. So that's wonderful. Additionally, she has participated in track and field for four years and basketball for two years. Asa's counselor describes her as a driven student who consistently pursues her goals and demonstrates outstanding school spirit. She has also dedicated herself to community service, helping to grow gardens and accumulating approximately 250 service hours since her freshman year. Since November, she has

005volunteered with a mobile veterinary business, gaining valuable hands-on experience that reflects her passion for animal care and supports her future career goals. She identifies her strongest personal asset as her drive to get things done. This quality is clearly refle reflected in her academic, extracurricular, and leadership accomplishments. Her dedication, work ethic, and positive attitude make her a respected leader among her peers. After graduation, Asa plans to pursue a career in veterinary medicine. She intends to attend either Clemson University, Le McCrae College, or the University of South Carolina as she works towards becoming a veterinarian. Please help me welcome Asa Shelby. Good evening, Dr. Nutter and the Lexington School Board members. My name is Asa Shelby. I am a senior at Swansea High School and I proudly serve as Swansea High School's student body president. This evening,

006I will be sharing some highlights of our school. My favorite class here at Swansea High School would have to be clinicals. It is a competitive class to get into for seniors only. This class allows for a lot of interactive learning with our mannequins and even allows us to get real world experience outside of the classroom, going to different job sites to learn about the different healthcare related jobs. This program allows us to get a glimpse into what healthcare is truly about. My fondest memory of Swansea High School would have to be homecoming week. I had a great time campaigning and making chains and crowns to give out to my peers and even making and rekindling some friendships. Swansancy High offers amazing opportunities to explore different jobs like health science, engineering, electricity, auto tech, business education,

007engineering, excuse me, sports medicine, JRTC, computer science, and welding. These programs give us hand hands-on experience and help us discover our passions. We also get the opportunity to acquire different qualifications like CPR, stop the bleed, and OSHA and more that help us be college and career ready. Certifications in various fields enhance our resumes and give us a competitive edge. Swansy High is, excuse me, Swansy High is committed to equipping us with the tools we need to succeed. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to share about my school. So before you sit down, um are you looking forward to two months from now? >> Yes, I am. I'm excited to start a new chapter of my life. >> Awesome. >> Yeah, that was that's the one I'm going to >> say you you have this

008strong resemblance to a young woman I saw on a billboard coming out of Swans. >> Oh yeah, that's that was me. That was me. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you so much. >> Yes. >> It was a real real honor to be on there. and congratulations to you. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Proud of you. >> Awesome job. >> All right. Next, we are moving on to our item 5.0, which is public forum. There aren't any listed on tonight, so we're going to move right along. Um, now we will have a motion received to vote on the executive session action items. I make a motion that we approve the certified staff recommen recommendations 2026 2027 as presented by administration. >> I'll second. All in favor. >> All right. And receive a motion to

009approve the minutes from our March 9th and March 30th, 2026 meeting. Make a motion we approve the minutes from March 9th and March um 30th meeting 2026. >> I'll second. All in favor? >> Right now we'll have reflections from the office of the school board. Well, I attended the beauty pageant that they held ago >> and I enjoyed it very much because these children had come up with the most unique outfits >> as far you know and so I enjoyed that very much. And then uh I attended the Junior ROC ball >> held in Colombia and I have as much fun as those young folks have. and I can get around as much as they can. >> I can test. >> Uh I would like to uh also comment on the GRTC ball. I think

010that ROTC is uh GOTC is probably one of the best examples of our students. uh at times I wish more of our community saw the decorum the uh just all of the accomplishments that those those group of students exemplify. So um I want to say kudos to Dr. Cight and those who lead our Jeris program. Also had the privilege to uh attend the Swansea High School is it called the family day >> Community day. They always had the best hot dogs, >> but this year it was unseasonably cool, but it was a great crowd and um awesome time to see all the the age groups come and and and fellowship and have a great time together. So, hats off to Swanson High School again for that event as well. >> I'll say amen to all

011of that. As well as I had the privilege to attend the career day at the high school as well. I was invited to come and um my father his business lru. So we were there. We was excited to see the children. Sorry they're not children, the students. And u so that was that was awesome. I enjoyed that as well. And the family day, community day, right, Miss Don and Mr. Spencer. I was there early to lend a helping hand. Y'all know that was my baby, right? So, I was there to lend a helping hand and Mrs. Spencer was like, "Well, I didn't want you to do anything." I'M LIKE, "THAT'S WHY I'M HERE, MR. SPENCER." SO, YES, that was it was amazing. I was there to help in the beginning. So, I was grateful for

012um being in the number one more time. >> Before we move out move on, I want to call uh Mr. Wilson out because uh we hosted the inaugural year for John Petri tournament and um I'm going to let you take it from there because that needs to be talked about. Thank you. Um John Petri as you all know um the family name alone in this town means so much. as a former player for John Petri. I I personally can't tell you how much the man meant to me. Um, you know, there's a lot of single single family, single parent homes in this community. Um, our coaches, our athletic directors, not only are they coaches, but they are father figures. And, um, John Petri, if truth be told, has saved a lot of lives. Um, Dr.

013Maddox, Petri, Ben Killian, Jeff Caldwell, all those guys in that that day when I was here in the late 80s, early 90s, just very impactful men. And John Petri just led by example. And u he and Coach Maddox, I don't know how to explain how much of an impact two men can possibly have, but it's unmeasurable. and um John Petri uh not only had an impact here but in Aken and Brooklyn Casey. I mean he's been memorialized at at Midlands Baseball Park. Uh the man is known statewide. The family's known statewide. Great athlete, but just a a great individual, great man. And when you say Swansea, South Carolina, the Petri name should come shortly after it. I mean it this the Petri family is just amazing. Amazing. And what they've done for Swansea is unheard

014of. It's a very nice put together event and it was great to be there to represent our board as well as our community. So with that being said, are there any more reflections? >> There you go. >> Okay. Before we move on to the uh our presentation from our Kaza conference, I know that I'm backtracking, but I want to say how thankful we are for our new board member, Mr. Jeff Coat. We welcome you and it's great to have a board member who is homegrown. Uh his family, his children are all products of Swansea High School and uh Miss Jeff Coat is an employee at Swansea High School. So, we're just thankful um that uh we've been allowed to have him on our board. So, we're looking forward to a great time having him contribute

015to what we do here. Lexon 4. >> And so at this time, we're going to present from our uh Cosmo convention that we went to in where do we go? >> Louisville, Kentucky. All right. All right. Over to you, Miss Mrs. Dibble. Oh, wrong way. There we go. >> All right. You take that one. >> Okay. So this is uh of course Lynn is out out of the country at this time but we had the privilege of representing our uh school district and the state of South Carolina at the Cosba National Conference which is uh a gathering of all boards from across the United States of America. proud to say that South Carolina had a very very large delegation that went and um as a regional director I get a chance to reach out to

016a lot of the other districts and to see everyone from across the state gather and we literally every table had somebody I mean it seemed from South Carolina >> South Carolina also uh we were proud to have a workshop that was presented uh in reflection of Gavin's law some of you know about Gavin's law that deals with cyber bullying and extortion online and so it was a great thing it was probably one of the best attended workshops that was there and gave a lot of headway to not only our state but the headway that we're making in making law and setting precedents for students all over our uh state. So we were proud to represent and we gained so much from the conference. >> Um this is one of the rooms they had. They call

017it a tranquility room. So was basically this was a room that you could just go to and just relax after going to the conferences and hearing everybody yep yep yep yep yep yep you just needed to relax and so uh they had different stations in this room. So this room made me think about uh teachers administrators then it made me think about the students. Um it gave you a in the room you was able to calm yourself down if you were stressed out. Um the room was dark of course. They had a lot of tea lightss everywhere. Uh they had one section where you could write down something you were grateful for and they said that helps you to calm down and just switch your mind over to something else. They also had where you

018can go a section you can just on the couch and just relax. another se um area in that room they had where you could um write down positive affirmations. So that that was a great room. I hung out there a while. Um so maybe that's something you all can consider for your students, you know, having them to calm down, having a room like that or even for your teachers and staff. They just need a break. >> Mrs. They will try to get me to go in the room. I would not go in the room. However, uh because of my not going in the room, we have the discussion about mental health >> and about how um circumstances that our children uh uh come against before they get to school. >> And of course, at my

019house, I'm the person who gets up in the morning. I'm saying, "Get up. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go." And my wife is always telling me, "You have to create an environment that is conducive to positive energy and learning." And I'm like, "Whatever." You know, but the the point to that is is that a lot of children don't have the the advantage of that calmness, that serenity. And this room promoted that health and wellness or that mental health space to be able to uh >> reconfigure yourself in order to be uh receptive to what you were learning during the day. I never made it to the room. No. >> But uh Miss Dibble made sure that she learned a lot about it. >> So this this topic keeps following me every everywhere we go. So

020I'm like, this is something we need to do. We're strengthening our board engagement through school visit. And this is very important. Not that we just showing up trying to catch something. That's not our motive. It says strengthening board engagement through school visit. Click it. And then they gave some, you know, what is a school visit? Visit every school at least once during the school year. This is talking about us, the board. structure, schedule, two schools per week. The opportunity to see firsthand implements of policy, see what's going on, not going in trying to find something. Once again, it's to strengthen us to work with administrators and everyone. The presence of both governance and operational leadership, being a leader, a leader working together with um our students, working together with the parents and administration. Um who

021participates? the board members, our superintendent, um chief officers, those are some of the people um I forgot the school district that that did. Okay. Yeah, they were from here. Yeah. >> So, these are some of the things when we participate um those who can participate in the um board visit. I like I said, this topic follows me. Um, all the conferences I've been going to, I've been seeing this being engaged in the schools with the teachers, the administrators working as a team. So, we got to get this done as a team. I know we may have a couple people who may go visit, but we need to get this done as a team. Okay. Go ahead. Who's that? That's Miss Felicia Rashad and we were privileged to have her as our keynote for the beginning

022of the the the convention. And I did not know this, but Felicia Rashad's family is from South Carolina. >> And um they her family actually purchased the original school that was pre-segregation and it is now a community center. I believe it's in Cherall. >> Is it? >> I can't remember where it is. But uh just an amazing Thank you so much. an amazing speaker and we really enjoyed uh what she had to say. Not only did she give a presentation but then there was a sit down uh question and answering session that she held during the convention. Uh of course we all see her face and we know her as the Cosby Show, we know her as that mom, we know her as uh Miss Huxable, but she is uh one who is a product

023of two educators >> and um is very learned herself, her and her brother, which I didn't know she had a brother and her sister. So to hear people um of that influence talk about education and the importance of education especially in uh places like South Carolina and how they affect and impact u geographical areas like South Carolina through initiatives like her family purchasing that original school. I think it would be like her family purchasing what would be like Monro Pinkney to make it a community center for the area that they live in. >> All right. this. Okay. So this one this is uh I like the quote here the young man who did this course it says life is a journey not a destination. So he talked about AI a little bit. So we said

024how um human intelligence and AI go hand in hand. And so if you go to the next um slide Quincy so okay so I was experimenting a little bit now. Miss Satie didn't go on the trip. So she's looking like how did they get me up there? Well, Miss Satie, human intelligence and AI. That's how you got up there. So, this was a um this was a board they had why I ran for school board. So, they had like maybe like a hundred reasons why um you ran for school board. So, I just did my human intelligence with AI and I put us on that. You like it, Miss Satie? >> That's a good picture. >> Oh, yes. Yes. So um and it talks about how you know we well with AI using AI we

025know the advantages and the disadvantages but I had to play around with it a little bit right there. >> Another thing that we've been learning at AI about AI with different um conventions that we've been going to is that of course AI is a tool that we can use but it's great that we have professionals who can create the engine and chat box that bring the information that is pertinent to whatever is being done in our district and our classrooms. So the negative piece should not be an issue if we're developing that chatbox infrastructure. >> So once again, board members, why leadership at the board table matters. I think this class was um beyond the call. So right here it talks about how boards shape the future of communities, the leadership shapes the culture. So

026basically once again talking about the board members our leadership role for the community and the admin for everybody that we are serving because remember we're here to serve. So basically talks about leadership being in leadership as a board member at the table. Um right here this was about this was um the call leading beyond the call. This dealt with um it has bridging the gap. So on the board once again because this um workshop was for board members on the board. So it talks about how we have different y'all probably can't see it how we have different generation. So even on our board look at our board we have different generations on our board and we all matter. So we have to work as a team and so we have the uh the Gen Z.

027No we don't have no Gen Z. Where the um GN Y >> 29 through 44, where you at? >> 29 through 44. >> Oh, so y'all GNX GX GX GX Gen X. >> All right. And then we have the boomers. Baby boomers. >> 61 to 79 baby. >> And then we got the first seven. >> Okay. So, and we all have to bridge the gap and we all have to work together because guess what? Not only we're bridging the gap with board members, but when we are working with our parents, stakeholders, and our students, we're doing we got to bridge the gap. We all got to work together. We got to lead with purpose. So, we got to bridge the gap and work together to build a what? A winning team. That's what we want

028to have, a winning team for Lexington for. Okay. So, this one was um one post can one post can undo months of trust or reinforce it. >> So, this is a class about social media. >> Yes. And what we post as board members on our page. Yes. So, this was this was a real good one. This is very important because we know that of course social media allows us to express our own free speech and uh those our personal pages are our personal pages. However, we affect the climate of our community based on what we project through social media. So, it's letting us know that one post can undo months of trust or reinforce it. So, even though it is a personal tool, we have to be very careful that we're good stewards of that

029space. >> Yes. All right. Thank you all so much. And again, uh we always like to reinforce that when we go to these workshops and these these uh conferences is is work and um I'm I'm exhausted when we get back because we engage so much and we're so busy learning and we are good stewards of the space that's provided by our district. So we want to thank uh all that make that possible. Um especially the team here at the district office. >> All right. Next item is let me see. All right. Teaching and learning, Dr. Seight. >> Good. Okay. Think I can work this. Oh, Dr. Nutter, members of the school board, good evening. >> Good evening. >> We would like to thank you for allowing us this opportunity to provide progress and instructional report

030for Swansea High School. And in the same way, we want to express our sincere thanks for everything that you do uh for Swansea High School and Lexington School District 4 as a whole. We're going to get started. Um and before I get started, we have, you know, it takes everyone. And so here we have Manisha Di, assistant principal. >> Assistant principal, >> Michael Spencer, assistant principal, CT director, >> who will contribute uh this evening as we share this instructional report. Um this evening we want to highlight um some of the results, some of the progress of Swansea High School along with the goals and the strategies which in the district we talk about them as lead actions that have helped us to get to where we are. So let's get started. So at Twanzi High

031School, we empower all to lead, learn, serve, and excel in a welcoming and nurturing environment that's focused on graduation, college, and career readiness. That's where we're focused. We're that's what we're trying to get to every day. And we do this through the mission. We're doing this and hopefully you'll hear about this throughout the presentation. Uh we are working with others. We are collaborating intentionally with partners to provide meaningful, authentic, and diverse learning experiences that truly prepare our students to be productive citizens and everchanging global society. These are not just words on posters or paper, but this is what we truly believe and this is what we try strive to do each and every day. This evening, we can talk about a lot of the things because we get the privilege and the honor to meet

032our students where they are and then plan that path forward to graduation and then after graduation. But to this evening, I specifically want to talk about a critical component of student achievement and that's college and career readiness. So along with our vision, our mission and the three performance goals, we try to align what we do with the profile of the South Carolina graduate. The South Carolina graduate profile of the graduate um includes three different areas. This framework focuses on worldclass knowledge. That's what we're teaching the students. It focuses on the worldclass skills along with life and career characteristics. This helps us to ensure that every student that graduates from Swansea High School, as it says in the mission, is fully prepared for success beyond Swansea High School, whichever path they choose. And we'll talk about

033some of those pathways that uh we have we're trying to prepare them for. Asa talked about it a little bit, but then we're going to show you some more results um is of how we do it. So, graduation and college and career readiness, everything we do, we have the vision, the mission, the performance goals, but we also have this important piece here. And those are the total number of credits by the end of the 12th grade year that our students must earn. So, you're going to see this. You're going to hear about the conversations with helping our students and not just our students but their parents to understand what is required for that high school diploma. Now we have the South Carolina state departments of educations. They have the definition and is the measure the

034metric that helps us holds us accountable to ensure that we are graduating our students and graduating them on time. And so that definition is it's the percentage of the students who graduate from high school within four four years of their in initial enrollment divided by the total number of students in the four-year graduation cohort. And so we focus on that. But keep in mind we have that vision at the bottom because we are always focused on where we're trying to go. Specifically, I want to talk about an important structure that has the greatest impact on the results that you're going to see and the actions and have helped us to have continuous improvement at Swansea High School with graduating our students. I want you to see where we have been able to go uh with

035the students at Swansea High School. But MTSS board, I'm sure you've heard this over and over. the multi-tered support system um support systems. It is a datadriven framework to ensure that every student receives the level of support they need in academics, behavior, the social emotional development, and I will add in attendance because that is a key factor for us when we're working with our students. And so at Swansea High School, we have a dedicated team that's known as the MTSS team that meet frequently. Some of them are here um with us this evening. We have the administrators, we have our graduation coach, and we have our uh career specialists who are part of that team. These teams, they meet frequently, and they're gathered around the table specifically looking at every child at Swansea High School.

036They are looking at what it is that they should know and be able to do, those graduation credits, how they're performing in the classrooms. They're looking at what we call early warning indicators. Along with that, the early warning indicators, almost like when you go to the doctor and they're checking those vital signs and they find out something, whether it's that blood pressure or that cholesterol or something, they're looking for the warnings and as they notice the warnings about a student. In our case, it's their attendance, it's the performance in the academics and the behavior or sometimes the social emotional. They are creating plans. They're creating a plan to help them move forward. And so you have the administrators working together as a team. You have the individual teams that focus on attendance. They focus on

037the academics. We have different departments that like to this afternoon they're working um as a team and we also involve our students and our parents because they are key stakeholders in our student success. And so they're always again it's continuous improvement cycle trying to figure out what's going on, what's going on and what are we going to do about it. Most importantly, this process, this framework, this structure has allowed us at Swansea High School to consistently improve graduation outcomes for Swansea High School students. What it also has done um has not allowed us to be reactive, waiting until we're in the senior year and this uhoh, they're not going to graduate, but it allows us to be proactive. And as it says here, you're slipping and here's support before it's too late. And so the

038MTSS has helped us and here here are the examples of that. So just dialing all the way back and where we've been able to uh go with having the support structures in place and these dedicated team members watching our students watching every student and it's approximately 700 but I guarantee you they are dedicated to watching every student. So in and around about 2020 this co and so things were happening after that we started um really creating an awareness for the MTSS and what it looks like and the supports and so you'll see there um in 2022 some progress um 2023 but most importantly you'll see um the the direct impact on the graduation um rate and so last year um we were able to have a significant amount number of students to graduate on time

039and get others who were not necessarily um in the right space or did not work for them in that setting to a place where it did work and we showed them where all was not lost. Here the projection um for this school year it's right at 91.7 um percent where we are um getting them to graduate through this structure. So with that being said again and in this continuous mindset the improvement and getting better for kids every day and being committed to it. Uh last year we w with that um success we were able to achieve on that measure that I said holds us accountable for ensuring that we're graduating the students we were able to um achieve a good rating in the graduation rate and so we set a goal to get better continuous

040improvement and so we want at least 90% of that for this school year. Well, here it is the tracking of the MTSS team month by month again being proactive and not reactive starting early August on um this team. And so um Dr. Din part of that um Miss Myers, Mr. Smith. So they're all working together having conversations whether it's with the teachers to say hey um this student needs more time support we need to get them in after school. We need to do some quarter recovery. We need some reteing. we need some things to help them get better. So over time you will see the progression on the bottom number you'll see those with students in the cohort that I mentioned and that top number are the number of graduates that we're expecting to walk

041across the stage. Again talking about the fact of with the MTSS implementation not waiting um until they become seniors. So we are also focused on our students all the way down to the ninth grade. And so at the ninth grade level by the state of South Carolina, there are certain credits that they must have and inspecific courses. And so you see here um those are the definitions of those. Uh here are the 11th graders as they will be soon approaching and going to the next grade level. You will see how the MTSS structures and the support um has monitored this process and how they're doing, what we need to do before it's too late. And so this class uh the 11th graders right now as of April um we're at 93.81% with 197 out of

042the class of 210 being on track and ready for graduation or going to the next grade level. Okay, here are 10th graders. This has been the largest class um that we've seen that I'm aware of and um they've kept us busy through the MTSS process and so they are new to the high school. it's like the freshman year all over again. And so they started out at a um a different place, but I'm very proud of them because with the keeping and the mentoring and the counselors and the parent meeting and the smile sending letters and all of these things, our 10th graders, they're not doing very, you know, poorly right here. They're at 94.19%. And that's, you know, to go to the next grade level. So that's that part. Now again I talked about

043here in the district we talk about lag data we talk about lead actions. So the lead actions the steps as I've kind of mentioned that went into or goes into this in all of our classrooms. It is a must that we focus on what's happening in the classroom. And so we have high quality we strive to have high quality tier one instruction making sure every classroom um is using a standards aligned curriculum. They're working on assessments, checking to see if the students know what they should know and they're able to do, what they're expected to do. Um providing in-class teaching, but just as important talked about the performance goals, they're not independent. They are interconnected. And so that culture at Swansea High School really strive to be a place where the students want to come

044because we know that as teenagers >> they have choices and they can sometimes choose to come to Swansea High School or they can choose to go wherever to stay at home. We talked about getting them up in the morning. Sometimes it work and sometimes it doesn't. But we tried really hard to create a space where they want to come to come to. It's safe. It's welcome and it's warm. And we have a lot of different events. We're always celebrating. We celebrate the small wins and so we have PBIS celebrations. Mr. Spence is always trying to get something through like ding trucks for them and all these things. And so we also recognize them in the academics. Um some of you have been there and have been invited the honors and awards ceremony. Again I'm talking

045about this MTSS team. They actually meet bi-weekly. That is something they have data dashboards. Lots of data and things that we are using to track and monitor our students progress. Some other things that we have done and have found to be successful um is that in the IGPS it's not about the parents and the students just coming in but students have taken ownership they lead their own IGPS at Swansea High School they are looking to see what credits they need of those 24 where are they where you need to go and they conduct the meetings um we have class meetings with them once a quarter bringing them together to talk about specific things transcript analysis we empower them to do their own transcripts. You look at it, see what you need, what you've earned, and

046just building that responsibility, our staff, and then again monitoring the credits. As I mentioned, early identification, not waiting until it's too late, monitoring what they are doing. Um, we have things like tiger time where it's dedicated to giving them academic support. We have afterchool tutoring that's focused on giving them help. We have a content recovery. If all you know is not happening within the 180 days, we have summer school. We send officer blasting out to the homes. If we don't see a student in the attendance meetings and he goes to check on them, to see what's going on and to get them back into the school. So those are just some of the things that's that part. And so as I mentioned, college and career readiness is big for us. So what does it mean

047to be college and career readiness? We try to keep this before individuals because sometimes when we talk about this particular measure um it's I'm already career ready. I already got a job this and that. So career readiness is defined as either the ASVAB being a cake completer when test workbased learning or um a South Carolina credential. These are posters that are everywhere um in our school at all meetings with parents with the guidance counselors and etc. And so college readiness um means this for us to declare co college college readiness at the beginning excuse me at the end of the year ACT SAT dual enrollment and AP here's where we are here are the results as of today for the graduating class of Swansea High School when the assessment we have 97 out of the

048231 who've met the level of three or higher workbased learning that which that we're still working with it miss Parkman, Miss Myers, and also Miss Jeffco. They are working with students, getting them at Starbucks and everywhere to get that work-based learning experience, which is important. Um, our career technology education program that Asa talked a lot about um in her introduction. But these are the scores. This is where we are at 84.8%. 196 out of the 231 um are right now college and career ready. All right. And so again monitoring this along the way. These are the metrics by the state of South Carolina. Again they deem uh college and care readiness is um the number of students in the high school graduation co cohort who are either college or career ready um to more of

049the areas that I mentioned. So who's college or career ready? Now right now in the graduating cohort we have 196 of them. projected rating for the report card will be excellent. Once again, you'll see uh the ratings over time, college and career ready both indicators. That's where we are. There's somewhat of a drop um right now with the college readiness, those who are just college ready and those who are career ready. Our goal, we've been able to maintain an excellent rating. We've increased uh from where we were last year to trying to get to 90%. At the end of this school year, why is that so important? Well, here here are some things that we're doing and it's ongoing ongoing communication with the students and families on what is what is this? It was important

050to um communicate that to the students, teachers, and parents. We've even had the uh teachers to take some of the exams that students take uh for to become college ready. I'm taking them back to that. But we promote the college and career readiness even with our feeder schools talking to them and making that awareness. We're we're always talking about it. But we also working hard for the student ownership and the monitoring of where they are. That's important. Uh college readiness opportunities. We have um our dual enrollment program. I'll just highlight a few which we've expanded that a lot of students involved. Um the CTE program, lots of students involved in that. And then ASVAB preparation. We've gotten two of our staff members, Miss Meyers and one of our counselors um certified to administer the ASVAB

051assessment, but we also have to communicate that that's not just for the Army. It it is a readiness. It gives us data. It gives us information about um specific skills. We have partnerships. Miss Parkman is always out there pulling on someone, whether it's New Core or Michelin or or Scout Motors or somebody getting that partnership so that we can afford our students more opportunities and lots of systems of support, but we also recognize them at graduation. They get a cord um if they are college or career ready. We have signing days for the um if they're signing with the college, they get to have the representatives from the school to come and visit and they have a signing day just like we do um our um at the student athletes. And then we use a

052lot of incentives to um encourage them. But the pathways are so important because we're focused on the graduation, but we also focus on getting them into a college career or something to make them life ready. Here's a success story of one of our students. When we talk about the college readiness for the first time at Swansea High School in May, we will have a student who's earned the associates degree from Midlands Technical College. So, she will have the Swansea High School diploma and she will also have um an associates degree and that we are extremely proud because she would have earned the 60 hours of the dual enrollment course work. And so we are proud of this outstanding work that reflects her work ethic and her determination along with the village and her parents support

053and all of the faculty and staff at Swansea High School. Lots of success stories when it comes to the career readiness. You've seen this young lady. This is a state level title um among many high schools, 13 different high schools. Um this young lady first place u for Swansea High School and there are the scores. We're very proud um about that and that state level victory. Um our teacher cadet program also as a program that leads to a lot of different paths and success and we are very excited and proud of this um student at Swansea High School teaching fellow going to Newberry College. And so Sarah um has worked they had uh over 700 applications >> and so one of the recipients is that student of Swansea High School. We're very very proud about

054that. Um another thing with our teacher cadet program um most recently we're thinking about teachers in the pipeline and so we've been working with Sarah Rap working with Midlands Tech and Miss Myers just got um vetted and approved to teach the next two levels of teacher cadet. So that we will have um that certification where they will leave Swansea High School with uh the early childhood uh certification. And so that sets them up to have even more opportunities. So next school year, we're looking forward to implementing um those courses. All of this, again, I talked about the multi-tered support system at the beginning, but these actions along with all the things that I've said, and I didn't say all of them, many of the things that we're doing in terms of the lead actions have

055helped us to have continuous growth um at Swansea High School. just some fun moments of all the things that our students, it's always exciting to see them engage whether it's through the arts, through the athletics, uh in the classrooms. >> We have Dr. Nutter. >> Who's that guy? We try to keep them with smiles and want to come there to graduate. sometimes lots of photos. >> Swansancy High School. >> That's who we are. >> Right. All right. >> Thank you. >> Dr. Seight, I'm sorry. I have a question. Sure. >> So, would you tell me again? I I didn't write it down. The state graduation percentage or the expectation. >> So, for for the how is it measured? >> You gave a percentage. It was on the slide. I think it was >> Oh, for

056us, we're we're aiming for 90%. >> Okay. What is the state? >> The state uh >> 86.25 last year. >> 86. >> Yes. >> All right. We were Yes, we did surprise the state >> and not not to to critique your presentation at all, but that we all run away from data, but it's so important because it tells us exactly what we're doing. And I am just so excited um to see last year we were excited because the progress that was made, but 91% is exemporary. So, I want to congratulate you and your team on a job well done pushing us forward. Thank you so much. >> Good job, team. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you for your attention. >> Say I did get jealous. Um, Miss Meyers with the teacher cadets. I saw y'all out

057there in the community. >> Dream Academy is in the community. >> Oh, I'm excited to hear about, you know, the new certification and that. Oh, that's amazing. >> That's amazing. That's amazing. It was good seeing the teacher cadets out in the community that I was just smiling when I saw that on social media. For those of you who didn't see it, the teacher cadet, not only did they go to the schools, but they were at the um daycare here in Swansea. They visit the community daycarees where >> Yes. In Gaston. Yes. So, >> yes. All right. >> Item 9.2, Dr. Aerson. >> Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board, and Dr. Nutter. Uh, it's hard act to follow Dr. Cight and all her wonderful data. Uh but the next part of our agenda is

058going to take us asking you to approve several courses local board approved courses for Swansea Freshman Academy and Swansea High School for the 2627 school year. Uh as you know the state department requires uh our annual approval by you all for us to offer courses that are not in the state course guide. It is now referred to as satchel. They have a new program. So, we are coming before you tonight to ask you to approve Mythology, peer tutoring one and two, PE unified athletics, occupational intern in the media center, and ready for success. Those are our five LBAs for the 2627 school year, Mr. Chair. >> All right. So, that means we need a motion to approve uh the 2026 27 local board approved courses. I make a motion that we approve the local board

059approve courses. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> We want more from you. You have you have anything else? High Tower. >> Hello. Good evening, Mr. Chair, uh, board members, and Dr. Nutter. Um, as the chief of systems and accountability, I have some information to share with you that we share annually. Um, I want to start with our state accountability testing. Just a reminder that our, um, tests in the spring will be administered within the last 20 days of the school year. And um this is an opportunity for our students, our teachers, our families, um all of us in the academic um realm to um showcase our students and their work. And um we want to create the conditions for them to do the

060very best they can on on their test. So we have SC ready ELA and math for third through eighth grade, SC pass science for fourth and um sixth grade and our high school EOC exams, algebra 1, English 2, biology 1, US history and the constitution. And Dr. Seight did not highlight some of the improvement that our students are making in those end of course tests which is a testament to the work of the teachers there and the teachers throughout our system. So it is um college and career readiness but then having those basic skills um to to go out in in the workforce but they have made uh strides in those areas. So just want to put that in there. Um and it is required um that 95% of our students um participate in the

061testing program. So as the district test coordinator, it is critical for me to um uh ensure that our our school test coordinators are trained and um it is a privilege to work with those assistant principles in the in the schools um for that for those testing um times. Uh any questions about state accountability testing? Um the other thing I'd like to mention is our district strategic plan. Um annual update. Um every year at this time we give you an annual update on the district's uh and the school's uh renewal plans. It is required by board policy ADA which is on our school district goals and objectives and every organization has goals and objectives. Um you've heard Dr. Seight and her team talk about um their goals and objectives and the data that is important through

062that process to to note student achievement and growth. And so we do the same thing um through the pipeline. The schools create their school renewal plans and through that pipeline we create the district plan. And so I've provided um a summary for you in your board packet. Um, and this is a requirement based on South Regulation 59-18-31300. Um, it is a five-year strategic performance-based accountability plan and it is a continuous improvement plan. Um, and we are uh set to provide the annual update to you. So just to give you some highlights, there are three major areas that the state requires us to write goals and objectives and provide strategies through our academic office, through our schools and their leadership teams, um student achievement, um teacher administrator quality and school climate. Um and just to recap,

063every year we kind of go over this uh this calendar um of our strategic plan. And so we receive our student achievement results in July. They're embargoed. can't share them in a board meeting, but we analyze as a as a district and and in our school teams the current implementation and results. And then in April, we present that annual update of the five-year plan to you for approval. And then in the summer, we update uh with our with the actual performance data that we receive from the tests and we share that with you. And so we've been sharing information uh school report card data, student achievement data. Um each school pro provides uh strategic planning updates um through their presentations each month and um highlights the strategies that they have been um working with. And

064then in fall we submit our final annual update to the state department of education that's required and we continue uh the imple implementation of the plan. So student achievement just to just to highlight some of the areas our performance goals and these are not unlike what you've hearing Dr. see right say and what you're hearing schools say each month um as as I mentioned the pipeline goes up and so we're talking about increasing student performance to define targets by 2028 and we measure those uh those that performance in the variety of ways the college and career readiness and student achievement um goals we review progress and we adjust those targets annually based on that progress and you can see some of the strategies that um and and Dr. CR I specifically mentioned South Carolina College

065and career ready curriculum standards and through our academic office and Dr. Atkinson and our school leadership teams and our administration we're aligning we're constantly aligning curriculum um to those standards and we're implementing an academic MTSS framework that she that she mentioned clearly and a comprehensive assessment system to inform instruction for educator quality. We measure um educator quality through two two methods through classroom instruction observation tools um specifically our Lexin and 4 observation tool and we um we look at that data and we analyze that information and then we look at the Southline teaching standards 4.0 O um rubric which is um provided to us required to us by the state to evaluate teachers annually and we look at um a specific refinement that we want to achieve. And so for example, academic feedback is something

066that is very critical in a classroom. And that is one of the character one of the strate characteristics in that um in that uh rubric that um we use with all teachers to evaluate them. And then you can see some of the strategies they mirror that having a common instructional framework that we have continually worked to refine align student learning experiences with the written curriculum. So the guaranteed and viable curriculum and then implementing professional learning communities to support growth. So what do we do when students do not achieve but what do we do when students are achieving and we want to we want to grow them as well. And so school climate um I shared the um uh survey data with you back in I think September or October when that was not embargoed. And

067we consistently our our families, our students, our teachers consistently um rate the school district above the state average in in many of the areas. So we're hoping to see that again. We just completed that survey process. Um and um so we're looking to increase averages in um the learning environment and the social and physical environment. And we we're we're constantly looking at a behavior MTSS framework to support all stakeholders. Our students deserve um classrooms where they can learn and achieve and how we can help students that may have behavior difficulties achieve. and then implement structures that invite, engage and involve all stakeholders. So having our community day in um Swansea and um doing those things that invite a a sense of community and that is all I have. Are there any questions? >> No questions.

068>> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> So chair, we need it. We need a motion to accept the district the district strategic plan 2025 annual update. >> I make a motion we accept the district strategic plan 2025 annual update. >> Second. All in favor. >> All right. Mr. Newton Dr. Nutter members of the board. It's my privilege today to kind of give us some updates on some operational things that we have going on throughout the district. Um so the first thing that we're going to start off with is our FMIS construction update as well as our transportation building update, our graduation update in terms of what our plan is and as well as our um Lexon and Ford facility study update as well. So starting with Francis Mack, we have partnered with Mosley Architects as well

069as Thompson Turner Construction uh for this project. Uh, as you can see, this is what Francis Mack currently looks like, and this is our goal and what it's going to look like here in the near future. Um, to get there, we do have to go through some work to get to that point. Um, Thompson Turner has been uh great in keeping us updated and a breast on everything that's going on. They send us weekly reports as well as we have bi-weekly uh meetings to go over things that are coming up uh as well. So, you can see some of the excavation that's um occurred here as well as some of the other items that are coming up on horizon. They've been very proactive in letting us know um in terms of things being relocated and

070things like that to make sure that it's not impeding on our um learning environment inside the building. Um here are some sites uh site work that's going on. I was able to put my hard hat on and get some pictures for us. Uh so you can kind of see some of the updates right here. Uh the picture is actually on the left. Uh the view of that will actually be the uh course room. Um so that will be where our courseroom will be uh when that construction is complete. Uh you can see to the right that's the light well. Uh that that place will be an outdoor patio area. Uh when that construction is completed there. Uh you can see some more work that has been doing that's been done on the grounds. Uh you

071may have noticed on 321 we do have some um dirt that is located there just due to the site work and the constraints there. We have utilized that space to kind of give them more room to operate to make sure that we're keeping this um rolling and and going on task. Um here's some more areas that we've had that's been excavated as well. Uh the bottom view that would kind of be the top view of the uh band room which is below in the course room that would be up on top. Um so you can kind of see where we are in terms of there. The picture that's on the right where the crane is located. That's right where the elevator um shaft will be located which is very um neat that that is needed

072in that building. So that's going to be a great um asset once that is completed. Uh but you can just see that we are getting work done since the last time that you all were there and and broke ground on that uh facility. Um this is currently, you know, our blueprints of what we're looking to add. So you can see the five additional classrooms as well as the art room, band room, chorus room, uh as well as a resource room and a work room that's going to be there as well as courtyard and elevator. Um so this is showing the site plan there. Um, and then this also will show you what will be taking place in the spring when we go to renovate uh the PE area and the outdoor space where the portables

073uh currently are. So, you can kind of see where we are in terms of uh the building. This is what we're um targeting in the spring uh to continue with that work. This is our current schedule and I'm not going to go through each item, but I just wanted to kind of give you a visual of where we are in terms of the schedule. So, as you can see, we're actually here to where we're um having the subgraing and soy nails and every installation and things like that that is taking place. If you were to look at this um from a you know perspective of the whole timeline, we are right below about halfway mark of this project and we're currently on budget and we're currently on time. So, I don't want to jinx that,

074but that's where we are right now. Um, so as you can see, these are things that are coming in and then at the very bottom of our thing, you do look to see where it has moved in uh as January 2027 for that area that is being added on to the side. So once again, once that'll be added on, then we'll begin the renovations of the PE space and the outdoor space where the portables uh currently lie. Um, for our Lexon for Transit construction, um, we have partnered with MODA and Harper Harper general contractors. Uh, this site once again is going to be located at the back of SPES. Um so we are um we have finally got the last survey results in for that and they are working uh to give us a definite

075um angle of where that's going to be taking place at. Uh the TV towers that is in the back of SPS will be uh taken down for that construction uh to give added space back there as well. Uh as you can see this is the current renderings on the left. Um the building is going to be combination of brick and metal paneling. Um, a example of what that would kind of look like, um, not, you know, not identical, but would be the Phillips Market Center, which is at the bottom right. You can see that on the farmers market, but it's going to be the brick and metal panning paneling, uh, combination that is, um, that is similar to that building. So, you can see our mockup on the left, and then we will have the

076bricks and the metal panning that will be going on with that. Uh, once again, here's our blueprint of what what's going to be added there. You can have a reception area, conference room, office spaces, operator room for drivers to give phone calls, um home and for routing information, uh driver's lounge, a multi-purpose space, restroom, storage space, and then the awning for those um for added coverage for bus repairs and so forth. But then also, this is adding four classrooms to SPES that will be vacated that is currently being held by transportation. So once they're moved in, then we'll begin the renovation process of those four rooms to add um additional classroom space at SPS. >> Uh currently on this one, we are um about the um halfway mark in terms of where we are where

077we started. Uh program and schematic design phase is at 100%. Design development's at 100%. Construction design phase just completed last week. Uh we are now entering the phase where we would be getting uh bids and be uh contacting subcontractors. Estimated construction start for this one would be in July. So, we're looking to start in July and we will communicate the groundbreaking ceremony with you all as we get closer to that time. Uh estimated um I think it was estimated timeline for this one with it would it be concluded in March and April in terms of the construction of this building. So, we'll start in July with a um timeline and a ending date of hopefully March or April of next year. All right. Next we have our Swansy High School graduation and it's our marquee

078event here at Lexon School District 4. Um graduation will be on Friday, May 29th here at Doug Bennett Stadium. Um just to kind of make sure that we understand as we're starting to share this information out to faculty, staff as well as our um our students and their families. Uh there's no guest limit for students in terms of it being held at um Doug Bennett Stadium. We do have the live streaming link that will still be available and we have the parking lots that will be open at 6:45. We are going ahead and starting to layer this information to make sure everyone has that communication and know and and knows ahead of time. Now, our inclement weather plan um we announced this 48 hours in advance um so that we can make the changes that

079are necessary and and we can also make sure that we're not um using funds inappropriately in terms of making sure that we are being financial financially responsible for those things. Our guest um tickets will be four this year and I'm going to show you here in just a minute um where we came up with that number. And then also we'll be live streaming stream streaming link inside the PAC if we are moved inside of there for the inclement weather. Um graduation highlights parking arrangements will all remain the same. Uh we have increased the number of golf carts because we found out that people get on the golf carts a lot more frequently than they do on the buses. So it kind of helps uh make that a little bit more efficient um and gives us

080a little bit more mobility on our access roads. Um and then once again for you all your parking would be at the fieldhouse. um if it's relocated then it would be lot one which is the front office uh parking lot at SCES or SHS and I'll share that information as we get closer so that you have your parking permits and so forth uh for that event. In terms of our PAC um um capacity and where we are in terms of inclement weather, uh the PAC uh capacity is at 1185. Uh currently we have 224 graduates with 30 junior marshals. Uh so that gives us a total of 254. So when you subtract the 1185 um by 254 that gives us a number of 931. Um so that basically if you see from last year last

081year we were able to give out five inclement weather tickets because when we multiply the 221 uh 224 times the five we were within that number. Um so but now we're our numbers are a little bit different in terms of how big of a class that we have. So it actually brings us less than that number. So we for us to get four that gives us enough capacity within that building to be able to um be under the seating capacity for the uh performing arts center. Um once again if it is moved inside board and staff will be on stage that helps us um keep seating inside the pit area and would not um um hurt that capacity that we have in that area. uh junior marshals and ga and graduates would be at the

082front 10 rows of that building and then all other spectators would uh sit around those surrounding um areas and seats. All right. And then lastly, our Lexon for facility study. We are right in the midst of uh our facility study. We actually this past uh week and weekend have gotten uh the final results for um some of our items. Um so we'll be sharing those things out with you. our next board meeting, we'll be sharing uh with you the uh facility utilization um as well as our projected enrollment and student impact analysis. Um and then we'll be sharing in June's board meeting the recommendations that are given by Walpert and Mosley who we have partnered for for this facility um study. >> All right. At this time we have any questions? >> You'all have any

083questions? Chair, I'd like to highlight uh going from uh Dr. Cight's presentation and then uh what Mr. um Newton has shared. If you remember that 10th grade class is currently at 258 and as we are uh going to graduate 99% of them. >> That's our goal. That's where we are. Uh it that is a challenge for the inclement weather. You know that is just something that we are going to have to continue to look at what the possibilities are. Uh because as as we continue to grow um you know we're move we're having to move from if we have to do that from five tickets to four tickets this year. And we know that there was a concern last year and to commit to that uh and to just speak that is a uh challenge

084that we have when things occur that we just need to um be aware of and that administration we're looking at. >> Yeah. And to that point at the 258 if we do estimate of having 36 junior marshals with that number it puts us at an average of 3.85 85 I believe in terms of the inclement weather tickets for that sophomore class. So we would be able to probably sustain the four for this year and next year but then the next year it would drop down again. Well, I don't have any data, but what I can tell you is that culture and pride of being a Swans will hopefully keep our graduation here regardless of what. I graduated at the Koker Center and the year that I graduated, we actually did a uh uh we wrote

085a whole document and submitted it to our administration and they refused and we graduated at Doug Bennett. So I think that as we uh produce culture and pride about being respons they they will just be glad to have it right here in the country. So we're gonna keep pushing for that. >> Thank you sir. >> Good evening Mr. Chair members Dr. Nutter. Um I'm here to present the March monthly financial report. You should have a copy of the report in your packet. Um, for the month of March, we year to date have collected over 33.5 million of our budget, which represents roughly 75.4% of the annual revenue budget. This is under prior year's average of 80%. Um but when we look back at the reassessment year, you probably recall the last few meetings um we

086talked about how in a reassessment year there are more appeals there delays in those payments. So we tend to get them a little bit later. Um so when we compare it to that we're within 1% of the collections at this point in time um compared to that reassessment year. So, I'm still anticipating that between our our tax revenue coming in fairly close um and the fact that we did take a little cut in our state revenue um I think we have some other categories including interest that are going to be over enough to offset that. So, I'm still anticipating our revenue budget coming in, you know, very in line with with what we budgeted. Um we've expended a little over 32.2 2 million year to date um or 66.4% of the annual expenditure budget. That's

087above the prior year's averages of 63.9%. Um but as we've stated the last few months, that's a result of the transfer that that you guys approved to the capital projects fund. Um when you take that transfer out, we're roughly at 58 years averages. So feel good about expenditures about the monthly financial report for March. >> Okay. >> I'm sorry for clarity. >> Sure. >> That was for the >> $4 million transfer from the >> from the fund balance to go into to capital projects for future constructions. Any other questions? All right. We're going to talk just a little bit about budget tonight. Um it is definitely getting to be that time of year. Um in in a lot of past years, you usually have um the House Ways and Means go through their budget process

088and they present um you know what they're wanting and then you go through Senate Finance and they're presenting something a little bit different and then it has to go to committee and you never really sure how that's going to fall out. Um, I will say this year this has probably been the most consistent um, as far as as what's being budgeted. There are some differences between House Ways and Means and Senate Finance, but for the most part related to education. They're fairly similar. They're both um increasing the teacher salary schedule by $2,000 at um, each cell. It's going to bring the state minimum teacher salary schedule up to 50,500, which is a goal that they've had for a while. Um they've also got funding in there for the education scholarship trust fund, um additional instructional

089materials, school leases, and then there'll be some additional um increased funding for state health benefits. Uh basically, they're they're fairly aligned. Um, again, normally I'm still uneasy about how the revenue may fall out. We don't have Senate FIN Senate finance projections yet. Um, state department of education is working on that and hopes to get those to us maybe next week. Um, we have House Ways and Means and that's kind of what we've been working with so far. My understanding is that the numbers may be budgeted to us in different categories. the dollar amount should be very level um as a whole for what we get from Senate finance compared to what we've got on our House Ways and Means budget. So I think we're at a point we can really start talking about revenues and

090what we're expecting to come in. Um we've also that's not necessarily on this slide, but we also have gotten um some preliminary information um for tax year 25 from the county. Um so we've been able to look at that and kind of see where we are with it as well. Just to kind of remind everyone um as we're going into this, you know, we try to focus a lot of our budget priorities um on some of the high level aspects of keeping a balanced budget. You know, there have been times where you approve a budget to to go ahead and spend into fund balance and and have a deficit budget. the funds that we utilize uh specifically related to student achievement and school climate. Um obviously continue to have the physically responsible mindset. Um trying

091to balance our responsibility to the students and the constituents as you all have been very good at doing since I've been here for sure. Um considerations just things that we want to think about as we're going into the process. Um, again trying to have that balanced budget. We'll continue to see enrollment and funding shifts from traditional public schools to charter private schools. That's something that's, you know, been happening and been a trend for the last few years and and that's probably going to continue. You when you look at the enrollment numbers for even all the Lexon County school districts, we really have actually stayed a little more level than some of the others. Um, so we're seeing that shift and along with those students shifting into ch some charter and private schools, the funding is

092following it. Um, so we just are mindful of that impact. Um, we've been okay so far, but just always keeping an eye on that. >> Um, we've continued to see decreases in the interest rate. You know, interest has been something that normally you're budgeting a small little amount. it's not a bit significant part of your budget, but with the rates going as high as they have the last few years, it's actually really helped us keep our budget in balance. Um, and and we have budgeted it accordingly. So, we're continuing to keep an eye on that because those rates are going down. Um, we're hitting about 3.8% in recent months where we were up at 5.6% um back in 24. Um, we do continue to maintain a healthy fund balance which is great. Um kudos to

093the board for being very fiscally responsible and and we are in a good situation um with regards to cash flow. We don't have a low fund balance that creates cash flow issue when we're waiting on tax revenue or or our bulk estate revenue. Um and it also helps us with our favorable bond rating. So we'll continue to try and maintain um a healthy fund balance. Um we one of the biggest things and and this everybody's heard about teacher you know recruitment and how what a priority that is and how we're always trying to get highly qualified um certified teachers. Um we continue to have um that local competition um as far as keeping our salary schedule competitive so that we can get those high highly qualified teachers. Um so that's always a a big focus

094and on the forefront. Um, we'll continue to to maintain a lean and a and a effective foundational budget. Um, I know looking at other school district budgets, um, we're very lean here and and we do a really good job of of doing a lot with what we have. So, we'll continue to to have that mindset and be fiscally responsible as well. Um, just an overview of revenue and this is for discussion purposes only. This isn't a budget being presented, but just for you to kind of have an idea as we go into um potentially having first reading at some point, doing um some some work shop work session sort of things. Um but for discussion purposes, this is some of the ballpark figures that I would be anticipating right now if I were to be

095doing the projections. um the local tax revenue base um I would roughly anticipate it going up about $145,000 which is not a lot compared to what it went up last year. Well, typically after a reassessment year um where you may see a 5% 6% increase in tax um revenue for normal years, it's going to be less. It's going to be more like a 2% from what I've looked at. I think maybe 2.5 was the highest um looking at past trends of reassessment um the follow-up year from reassessment. So um we will be probably looking at a conservative estimate for those increases especially as we're watching where those revenues are coming in this year. Um, and of course that is um assuming no millage increase, but that that's just a ballpark estimate for us to to

096have a baseline. Um, as far as state aid to classroom numbers, um, we're using the House Ways and Means budget at this point. Um, again, I don't anticipate that the Senate finances much difference, but we reflect a $941,000 increase related to that state aid to classroom. our tier three revenue, which is also state revenue, is is going to increase by $229,000. We know that already. Um, as far as the way the allocations from the state comes for for the EIA portion of the state aid to classroom, that's decreasing by 163,000. So, you've got to kind of look at that state aid as a net. They're just shifting which pot of money it's in. Um and then we have some additional state revenue um increases projected of 28. That brings us to around $1.3 million anticipated

097at this point. If I had to tell you right now what I think we would potentially get an additional revenue, that's that's about where we're falling. Um that does not factor in um the watercraft potential loss of revenue. Um at this point I think that that would probably be offset. So I'm still kind of keeping an eye on that. Um, and there also is potentially some additional revenue that may come at the state level as state revenue um, related to health insurance costs. Any questions on the revenue projections right now that we're looking at? Okay, just a little background information and I'll give you some more of this. Um, but I think it's real important for everybody to kind of see the foundation not just of our district but of Lexon County as a whole.

098Um, just to give perspective as we're talking about budget plans, um, I've included all the current millage rates as of tax year 25 for all the Lexington school districts. Um, as you can see, Lexon 4 is 319 mills, which we are we are the highest in the in the in the county. Um however we are the highest because you see on the second line with the value of a mill calculation which is based on this is based on the tax year 25 preliminary projections that we just received from the county. If you calculate value of a mill our value of a mill is 34944 which is by far the lowest in the county. So those correlate with one another. When we raise a meal, we can only generate roughly $34,944. That's not even 2 uh

099it would take 2.5 mills to to basically hire one certified teacher in our district where in Lexington one the same amount would hire like 12 teachers. Um so it's just something you got to keep in mind as people see our our millage rate and see that it's high. there's a reason for it being at that level. So, I also included just for perspective the debt service millage rate, which does not apply to this general fund budget process, but when we um go out and we're issuing bonds and debt, when we increase a mill related to debt service, um it's going to generate 54,000. And that is both of those numbers are before you factor in collection percentage because we don't collect 100% of those revenues. We generally generally collect more like 97% but I gave

100you the full amount of projected revenue. I've also included the the final 45day ADM which is average daily membership. Um so that you can see basically enrollment variances and and the student numbers that are served at all those levels. Um, another piece of information I want just wanted to share with you all just so you're aware, um, we are subject to, um, the the provisions in South Carolina code 61320, um, which caps the millage increase that a school district can propose in a year. um and and based is based on growth um and CPI percentages. This year we would be cap we will be capped at 2.63% which represents 8.4 mills. As you recall there's also a look back provision that's allowed. Um I'm primarily showing you this just so you are aware at the

101at the max level pretty much you could not choose to issue more than 38.33 mills including this year and all the look back. Not that we would ever propose to do that but that's just that's the max and you see even if you did the max it only generates $1.3 million. So um just wanted you to see this. I think every year we've kind of looked at this just so you know what we're um leaving out there. Um there's a three-year look back. So um basically after this year that 8.2 mills that's that's sitting out there um for 2324 will roll off and we will no longer be able to um take advantage of that look back millillage. So this is just for information purposes so you're aware um and we can continue to discuss

102you know these moving parts if y'all have questions on it. Um, also one reminder that as we're talking about general fund budget and the operating millage that those mills um do not any changes in them do not impact um the the owner occupied property. They only impact non-owner occupied property. So just wanted to remind everyone of that as well. Any questions about the revenue aspects? Okay, just this is just again for discussion purposes and just a look at potential cost increases. Um we've gone through and done estimates of the the typical increases we would have which as you're aware 87 88% of our budget is made up of salary and benefits. So our primary cost relates to people. Um and therefore our increases generally primarily uh relate to people as well. Um, with the state

103increasing the teacher salary schedule by $2,000 a cell, um, we would have to maintain at least that new state minimum on our teacher salary schedule as well. We are above the state minimum by about $3,000 at the entry level, not necessarily in every sale, but at that entry level. Um so we would have to look at that but estimating our step increase for all um eligible teachers which that is a there's no option for that. They are increasing they their certificate increases and we have to to pay that step increase. We're estimating about $188,000 for that. If we were to increase the teacher salary schedule by $2,000 a cell, just like the state department is proposing to do, that would be roughly $662,000 to to make that increase. Again, the funds that you saw coming

104in for the state aid to classroom, those funds are what we're getting from the state that are supposed to help offset some of those costs. um step increase for all other employees, which is basically um kind of understood based on our schedules, would be roughly $161,000. If we were to give support schedules and supplemental schedules an increase of 2%, which would also include bus drivers, that would be roughly $140,000. And then if we increase the remaining salary schedules by 2,000 per sale, um that would be 88 86,000. I've got a line item on here that is a negative expenditure for $327,000. And basically that is um for lack of a better way of putting it, it's a revenue that will come from the state to help offset vocational teachers. Um it's it's the new way

105they're calculating it and instead of giving it to us through um state aid to classroom, it's going to come through another funding source. We're not I'm not even sure where yet, but it it's going to help offset those um CT salaries. So we what will happen is we will be able to take $327,000 of salary infringe that we're paying for now in the general fund for vocational ed educators and move it to be paid for with another state fund. So it will relieve our expenditures by that $327,000. So that's what that negative relates to. it it was more accurate to reflect it this way than put it up in a revenue account because it's not going to necessarily be revenue to the general fund. Um we also are anticipating an increase for water and sewer

106services um based on shifts from city um service as well. So of about 30,000. Um the the other line item here teacher salary schedule calibration is kind of a holding spot with um what would be left after all these things are in there. It's about $417,000. Um, we put that there as a holding place. that that of course could go towards multiple things, but um if if we had um had probably um our our opportunity here, we could work on bringing those salaries, calibrating our teacher salaries to align with um a competitive level for some of the other compared to some of the other districts that um that are in the area. So, that's just kind of a holding spot at this point, but um that's kind of what we're looking at. Primarily wanted to

107show you this because it's where there's not a ton, um of excess money that's coming in this year. Um I think we'll be able to fund the salary increases that we need to, but there it's there's not like a lot of funds um extra. So, which is not uncommon, but um wanted to go ahead and kind of give you a snapshot of this so y'all could be thinking about it. Um and then we'll talk some more about about the budget in the ne in the coming meetings. Any questions? I think I've addressed all these things on here as well. Um if there are no more questions, that's all I've got. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Got another. Yes. Uh the first item is a operational item about a student travel request

108and uh we have one that is extended day or overnight actually and this is uh we're going to speak it into existence that uh our golf team needs to go to the uh golf state championship that will occur on May 9th through 12th which is before our next board meeting regular board meeting. So, um I don't believe they've qualified yet, but but we are asking for approval if they do. >> Need a motion to approve uh SHS boys golf state championship travel trip. >> Make a motion we approve SHs um boys golf state champion trip. >> I'll second. All in favor? Second thing I I want to follow up on uh what uh Miss Allen shared and uh first of all want to commend uh our administration Miss Allen and all the work that has

109been done as we are engaging uh our finances. Um we have the last couple of meetings have uh identified April 27th, next Monday as to be a board workshop. uh what uh there's a factor that comes into play that would uh bring to uh the fact that maybe we need to consider that as a regular special meeting for the budget instead of just a board workshop. I want to share from um a policy that was approved uh by a a legal uh requirement uh that fits into our policy and policy GCB. And this was uh mandated in September and October was when it was approved for us as part of the Educator Assistance Act. And basically what this uh states, the law states that teachers will receive written notification of their employment status for the

110following year prior to May 1st. So that's our certified teachers and they will be uh receiving their contracts for next year and next week. Uh along with that with the Educator Assistance Act, um the legislature passed the law that we will need to include the district's projected salary schedule. That's always been a question because the the budget from the state is not completed until after that time. Um and districts are looking at how they're engaging that. Um, one of the things that they put in the law and so it went into our policy is that if there's an event of a loss or reduction of anticipated funding that then we would provide an updated uh schedule and after upon completion of state and local appropriations, whether that be regularly in June with the legislature or

111even if they did a continuing resolution and it went further, um, that teachers would receive their final salary schedule once has completed. So, that's kind of something that all districts are are grappling with as far as the timing of communicating to their teachers what their salary schedule is when the budget with the state has not been completed. Um, with that being the case, uh, our administration is proposing that, uh, next week, uh, instead of a board workshop that we have a board special meeting. We will go further into workshop, a little bit of what you got tonight, but it leaves it open. With a workshop, it's just a workshop. Uh but if we have a special meeting, what we would we see as you heard from Shelley, uh we feel confident that we can provide

112at least in regard to teacher salaries a projection as far as what that would be and ask for a first reading on that if it would be um if you all were comfortable with that at the end of the meeting next next week. So what allows us to do that or what is the reason for that? The first and most important thing is that we want to be competitive in this hiring season as contracts are being signed and issued and they have to be returned by May 10th via state law. Our next board meeting is not till May 11th scheduled. And so, um, with that law, providing certified teachers their projected salary schedule with their contracts allows us to not be at a disadvantage with other districts, right? And as Shelley shared, uh, the the

113state uh, legislature has been pretty consistent with the $2,000 increase. Um, the next reason that we can do that and I just want the public and I want you all to understand the work of this board over a long period of time. Uh, as far as being having exemplary financial stewardship. Uh as you hear in the paper there are diff and the news there are different districts as we talked about enrollment different things districts are struggling to see how they are going to maintain right ha uh potentially reducing staff potentially having budget issues and fortunately even with our lower millillage and or our lower value and all that um our board and our uh district has had exemplary financial stewardship over a long period of time. My evidence of that would be and we shared

114last year uh since 201213 you saw that millage and ours is at 319.7 in 201213 it was.3 points lower. We we have we have kept consistent millage for over what's that um I'm getting old but that that would be what 16 years or 14 years there you go >> a consistent period of time and that allows us to we are in effective financial shape right um the next thing that we know is that we will not be recommending administration now again if there are needs are things that we want to look at, but we would not be recommending a millage increase. We feel like that what we would bring to you next week would address our primary needs. There are things that we have talked about as far as athletic trainer support as far as

115um mental health counselor as far as different things that we're already working within the work of Shellyley and the principles and our work financially where we can engage those needs within our current budget without doing a millage increase uh to our taxpayers. So, we believe that we can bring you uh what would address our primary needs and maintain quality program and services without asking more from our taxpayers. And then finally, uh we do need to have competitive salary schedules. for a period of time um up until last year, we were able to tell potential candidates coming in that we had the highest bachelor zero starting pay in the Columbia area. Uh not just within Lexon County, but across the Columbia area. That is not the case at this time, but that was an investment of

116what we did for our for our teachers. And uh as as different uh districts have adjusted their schedules, um that's where doc uh Miss Allen's talking about we have been working hard about how to use the funds that we have uh to work at calibrating our salary schedule in order to be as competitive as possible. and actually re reintroducing the fact that for our teachers uh we can be uh at that front the front of the line and we feel like that that is important for our staff for our parents most importantly for our students. So that is what we've been looking at with that. And finally, uh I just think it goes to uh the premise of what our district has consistently been about and that is not being topheavy at the district level.

117Uh not being e even our administration. when you see what our administration does uh and compare to the workforce at other places. But what we do do and have consistently done is looking to have as good of teacher student ratio as possible and putting our numbers and our resources at the classroom and the school level and uh even with our support staff as we talked about. And so that's where we feel I I can tell you that here a week out I I feel confident as you heard but that we can address our needs that we have uh and bring you some a a a first reading that at a minimum can provide our teachers when they get their contracts uh a projected salary schedule that uh can make us competitive as they look at

118their choice of employment. So, um I I just I I don't think that's something that we would need to vote on. I just want to know if that is uh a thought process. It would be uh fine for us to post for a special meeting next Monday for the budget instead of just identifying it as a workshop as it has been. >> Does anyone have any questions? I think that sounds like a good plan out. So, we look forward to uh changing it to a meeting instead of a workshop. >> Very good. Thank you very much. Uh you have the upcoming dates on your uh calendar including that May 29th and I believe you have robes that were in your chair if I'm correct. Uh so we've been working on that and uh thank you

119to Miss Williams. >> So um and to Dr. Cight and her team. So, um, that's all that we have there. >> All right. We want to thank you all again for coming out tonight. >> Motion >> and we'll need a motion to adjourn. >> I make a motion we adjourn. >> Second. >> All in favor. >> Have a good night everybody. Trying to put my work.