001[laughter] Okay. At this time, I make a motion that we go to executive session. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> Sound like your voice is We're going to executive session for certified recommendations, classified resignations, and we will be back starting at 6:30. So, okay. >> [clears throat] [clears throat] >> Good evening everyone. Thank you all for joining us tonight and want to uh begin our meeting or reconvene in our meeting and first we need a motion to approve our agenda. Item 3.1. >> I make a motion we approve the agenda. >> I second the motion. >> All in favor? >> All right. At this time we're going to turn our meeting over to Dr. Jamal Sanders. without you. >> Please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to
002the 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 proceed in a moment of silence. Thank you. >> Good evening, Chairman Sutton, Dr. Nutter, members of the board. Uh it is a great day here in Lexington 4. We hope everyone has had a a wonderful uh day. Um and happy new year to you all. Tonight's student spotlight features Sayia Riley Cece from Francis Mack Intermediate School. Sia is a shining example of leadership, dedication, and service. At just 10 years old, her journey is one marked by excellence, purpose, and a genuine love for learning and helping others. She has already made a powerful impact through her leadership, serving as elementary Beta Club president at Sand Hills Elementary
003School and currently holding the distinguished role of South Carolina vice president of the elementary Beta Club. Say's talents are also also shine brightly in the arts. She has been playing the violin for six years and currently performs with the South Carolina Youth Phil Philarmonic Orchestra Prelude Group, an achievement that speaks to both her discipline and passion for music. In addition, she proudly serves as a tuba player for the FMIS fifth grade band. Since 2019, she has been a consistent volunteer with the pool community outreach group at FMIS. Si Saya has earned the principal's list, perfect attendance, and student of the month in band recognitions made possible through her dedication and the outstanding support of her teachers and school community. Above all, Sayia strives each day to be better than she was yesterday. She embraces challenges,
004seek seeks growth, and leads with humility, determination, and grace. Her story is a reminder that with support, perseverance, and purpose, even the youngest leaders can create a lasting impact. I present to you Sayia Riley CE. [applause] >> Greetings schoolboard members. My name is Sayia Riley CE and I am in fifth grade at Francis Mack Intermediate School. What makes FMIS special? FMIS is special because of the staff there, the principles, assistant principal and and the rest of the staff. They support us. They help us when we need it. They show us our learning journey. Like if we like need help with something, they would show us what we need to work on. My goals for the year is to get better grades, be a better student at FMIS, and help out with my teachers when they
005need help when when they need help. I I'm trying to get a A in science and but the rest of it is just A's. So, [laughter] I'm going to work on that more. And then my teachers, they just two teachers with 42 students with both classes. So I'm trying to help out as much as I can so like they could get their agenda going. A memo school event was the glow party at Francis Mac. It was my first glow party and it was a fun and enjoyable experience. My favorite project or activity was the Gilded Age group acting project that we did for social studies. My teacher, she's an actress. So, she decided for our grade for for social studies for the guilded age, she decided to do a acting a acting project. So, they
006had they had different they had different roles and we had to act out one of them and then we'll get our grade on how we performed. Thank you. >> [applause] [laughter] >> Good job. >> All right. Does anybody have um questions for tonight? >> I do. Miss SA, uh when do you sleep with all the stuff you do? [laughter] >> Well, when whenever I get home, I just go wash. >> Okay. >> Saya, you are a wonderful speaker. Thank you. She didn't even look at her script for any age, >> much less 10 years old. What do you want to be when you grow up? a scientist. [laughter] >> It depends sometimes. >> Depends. >> It's like what what I do. It's what sometimes I want to be when I grow up. >> So, your
007interest in music perhaps. [cough] [clears throat] >> That's awesome. Good job. >> Thank you. >> So, now I'm very proud of you. Been watching you since we little and now you're growing up. Uh really excited about your opportunity that's going to happen next week at Beta Club Convention. uh she not only gets to represent Swansy, but she will be representing our entire state. So now all over South Carolina will know what we know. And um so tell me what do you love about Beta and representing not only our school but our state. >> Um representing the school in the state. It's like a big opportunity for me because I've wanted to do Beta Club since I was like a a first grader and I wanted to ask and I asked my mom when I could
008join and she said in the fourth grade. So I decided in fourth grade I'm just going to sign up and then I had got in and then positions came. I ran for president. I got it. And then during class one day, our librarian, Miss Scagon, told me that I had gotten the role of state vice president when I had w I'm very happy to be in beta club and I would always like want to be in beta club cuz it's it's like a good experience to have. >> Outstanding. THANK YOU. [applause] OKAY, NEXT we will have uh after we've had our spotlight saya now we'll have recognitions of our students. >> Thank you again, Chairman Sutton. Uh Chairman Sutton and Dr. Nutter, if you'll join me for student recognitions. First up tonight, we have our
009middle school allconerence members. Sand Hills Middle School participates in the Lexington 10 athletic conference, which is the home of the eight middle schools in Lexington County and Newberry County schools. The Lex 10 offers competition for the middle school teams in football, volleyball, basketball, and track. Tonight, we proudly recognize the following student athletes that were selected as this year's Lex 10 allconerence members for their performance in volleyball and football. First for volleyball, Adeline Dugen, I'm sorry, Dunigan and Blakeley Jones. [snorts] [applause] [snorts] And for football, we have Brian Davis, [applause] Gentry Jackson, [applause] Grant Mack, [applause] and Elijah Way Meyers. [applause] Just a little bit. All right. Do a few Congratulations. >> Congratulations, STUDENTS. [applause] [laughter] All right. Next, we have the South Carolina High School League Region 4 Class 3A all region players. Tonight we
010recognize the South Carolina High School League region 4 class 3A all region players from Swansea High School. Our varsity volleyball team competed in the region 4 3A lower state, finishing the season ranked third and made the South Carolina High School League playoffs. The following members were selected as all region performers from coaches across our region. Harley Kley and Asa Shelby. [applause] >> Our varsity football team finished the season 8 and three and hosted a firstround home playoff game for the first time in 10 years. The following members were selected as all region performers from coaches across our region. Dante Cwell, [clears throat] DeAndre A Cwell, William Gettis, and Jerel Wine. [applause] Okay. Yeah. >> Yeah. Maybe just a little bit. [laughter] Just a little bit. Yeah. >> All right. Congratulations [snorts] student athletes. [applause] All
011right. And finally, the South Carolina Allstate team members. The South Carolina Coaches Association of Women's Sports selects members to be allstate from across all five classifications. This is a prestigious team and only 15 members are selected from across all of class 3A. This year, Asa Shelby was named as a 2025 volleyball allstate selection. [applause] Congratulations. All right. And the South Carolina Football Coaches Association selects members from across all five classifications. Among 32 member schools in class 3A, William Gettis was selected as a member of the 2025 all state football team. [applause] Congratulations students. >> Thank you. [applause] [clears throat] >> Thank you for that. We done now. >> Got [laughter] one more. Okay. >> We'd like to recognize our school board. [laughter] >> Good evening again. It is your turn. Tonight, we proudly recognize our
012school board members during schoolboard appreciation month. To our schoolboard members, on behalf of Dr. Nutter and the Lexington for school district uh Lexington 4 family. Thank you for your leadership, dedication, and unwavering commitment to our students, staff, and community. Your service reflects our core values. Lead, learn, serve, and excel. And your thoughtful governance helps set the direction and vision that allows our schools to thrive. You are we are grateful for uh your time, your care, and your passion that you give to ensuring success for every student in our school district. To express our gratitude, we have placed a small token of appreciation on the back of your chair. We are confident that you will wear it with pride as you continue to represent our district oh so well. Always remember, school boards lead so our
013students can achieve. Thank you so much for all you do. [snorts] [applause] My bad. [clears throat] >> Thank you so much, Dr. Sanders. Next, we will move to our uh public forum. Do we have anything listed? >> No, sir. >> Thank you. Item 6.0. We need a motion to approve the certified staff recommendations that were discussed in executive session. >> I make a motion we approve the certified staff recommendations discussed in executive session. Second. >> All in [clears throat] favor? >> All right. Item 7.0, our consent agenda. Uh, we need a motion to accept the consent agenda that has already been discussed. >> Motion we I make a motion we receive the consent agenda that was discussed in the [clears throat] session. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> All right. We're moving now to
014office of the school board, but I do want to let families that have come to uh be a part of our board meeting know that this section of our board meeting is over. So, if you all don't want to see the rest of the action that we have going on, you can leave now. [laughter] But we would love for you to stay. You're welcome to stay. Thank you all for joining us and we're very proud of all of our students. Thank you parents. [applause] That jump switch is that [clears throat] on camera. >> Ready? >> Well, good evening. Hope you all are doing well. Um I am here to introduce um Ken Martin, our auditor with Martin and Smith CPAs. He is going to present the annual financial report. Thank you. I've been doing this
015long enough that I've learned not to take it personally when half the audience leaves when I get up here. But, uh, we do have some exciting discussion of the audit process and audit results. And I appreciate the opportunity to be with you. Uh, again, this year we did perform an audit following generally accepted audit standards as well as governmental audit standards. Also because of the uh level of your federal funding, we also perform a compliance audit of your federal funds. So those audit standards direct us in all aspects of the audit from our preliminary planning then to the performance and then the reporting. Uh but at their most basic, they require us to gather enough independent audit evidence that we can give our opinion as to the fairness of your financial statements. Uh the financial
016statements are really your the responsibility of the district's management, their preparation, their fair presentation. Our responsibility is to perform an audit, gather audit evidence and get then give our opinion on those financials. So the focus of what we do is gather audit evidence. Uh we do that through a wide variety of tests. Uh we've worked with uh Lexington 4 for a number of years. We work with a number of other districts. So, we've identified what we think are fairly effective tests of your assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, gathering that audit evidence. Uh, as we're doing that, particularly as we're auditing or testing your revenues and your expenses, we perform what are known as dualpurpose tests. And that is the primary purpose of those is to gather evidence, but a secondary purpose is to test how your
017internal control system is functioning. uh I mentioned that it's district management's responsibility to present these financials. Another important responsibility they have is to establish and maintain a strong system of internal controls to protect your assets. So as the one of the first things we do in the audit is understand what your system is, who does what, who approves what, at what levels, and then we do a a great deal of detailed testing to make sure that system is functioning. And I'm happy to tell you that first of all, as we analyze your system, you've got a strong system in place. It's clear that Dr. Nutter and Shelley Allen work work hard in establishing this system and then communicating it throughout the district. So, we think you've got a strong system in place and then as
018we did our audit testing, many many detailed tests, we didn't find any instances where those processes weren't being followed. So, our report to the board on your system of controls is a positive one. a good system in place, it's functioning as it should. That's a big hurdle to get over as it relates to your financials. Uh then as we did our detailed testing or as we did our audit testing, we were able to gather enough evidence to give an opinion on your financial statements and that is an unmodified opinion which is the best opinion that we can give that your financial statements do present fairly the results of your operations and your financial position. Uh I mentioned these are your financial statements. as you have a chance to look at them. The first thing you'll
019find is our audit independent auditor's report. And then the very last thing you'll find is our report on your federal compliance which also is an unmodified report. So your audit or your financial statements are bookended by our reports and they're positive reports. Uh that is uh in a in a nutshell what we did, what we found. I know I've just thrown a lot at you quickly, but any questions on either the process or the results of the audit? We try to give the board uh in addition to just an unmodified opinion, which is great, try to give you some sense of the quality of what's happening within your finance department. And we assess that in a few different ways. One, just the quality of the audit evidence that we're given. And I, as I might
020have alluded to, uh that evidence is strong. As we ask for analyses, as we ask for other documentation, what we get is high quality. Uh the analyses are accurate. They're given to us quickly and they're they support your financial your financial records. Uh as we ask questions, as we ask for additional information, uh we we quickly get answers. We quickly get that additional information. Uh another way we assess quality is uh the number of adjusting entries that we have to make as we come in here and we didn't have to make any correcting entries. We didn't have we didn't identify any areas where this number's wrong. We need to correct it to get your financial statements fairly presented. So from our perspective as an audit firm that speaks volumes as to what's happening day by
021day really transaction by transaction within your finance department. We feel [clears throat] like what's happening is very high quality, allows us to come in, do our work, not make adjustments, and then give you uh an unmodified opinion. So, as to the quality of what's happening throughout the year, we think it is very high. >> Thank you, sir. >> Okay. And um I know as for me and my other board members, uh Shelley does an amazing job of keeping us a breast of our financial status and what's happening in our district concerning finance all throughout the year. So when it comes time to get this dictionary of a book, it makes things a little bit simpler. So um that's what makes it easy for us to just sit here nod and say thank you. >> Good.
022>> Well, if no other questions, that's really my presentation then. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank [clears throat] you. Notice Sanders. [clears throat] >> So, uh, every year uh, the school board is asked by the school board association to sign the ethical principles uh, that the schoolboard association has put forward. And, uh, we appreciate not just the fact that we signed that, but that you all do that. We very much appreciate the leadership that you all provide and um the way in which we do it and we just heard a little bit about it right as far as how um uh we want to be responsible to our taxpayers and to the system and that is per your leadership. So, uh, the school board association asked that every year, not only we sign, but
023that the board also takes a picture with this so that we can also send it out, not just locally, but across the state. So, we would ask that you all uh gather for a picture yourself. I'm ask to kind of squish in a little bit. [laughter] Thank you. Quincy wasn't going to read. [laughter] >> Thank you. [clears throat] Thank you. Um this past month uh of December uh Miss Dibbles, myself and um Mr. Wilson had the opportunity to visit Chicago for continuing education at the uh NAPSI annual. It's the 53rd uh international conference. It was held in Chicago. And I will first say that um I'm grateful to be from South Carolina. When we arrived, I think it was 30°. The next day it was 17°. The day after that it was about 5 degrees.
024And when we left it was one degree. One degree. And um the wind chill factor was about 14. But it was an amazing experience. And um just want to let you all know that first of all the Napsi convention or the Napsi conference is an organization that was that is established to educate and to help uh uh educators who are uh representing minorities. But to be more specific, it's the National Association of Black School Educators. And so it's an all it's an an amazing experience and we're going to tell you what we learn about and go in depth on why it's important that we have opportunities to expand ourselves and educate ourselves uh in the moments like this. So first we're going to have Miss Dibble. She's going to give us some information. >> Can
025you hear me? Um but the first slide here, this is just a glance [clears throat] at uh all the different people that were there and um the different courses that they had, the presentations, how many people was actually registered. It was over 1,600 people that were actually there and there ones that was represented by the region. So that's what this first and just to give you an overall view of what was going on. Everybody that was there, of course, this was a band that came in and um they were Oh my I thought we was at BCBC, you know, SC State. >> It was a large group of young people. They came in and they just turned it out, so to say. So this is one of the bands they were student le that performed.
026>> So uh one of the things that's very important to me as a schoolboard member and as a parent is um all of us have a different perspective that we offer as schoolboard members. We come from different backgrounds and we all have different walks of life and uh employment and things that we do in our lives. Uh the thing that I love about being on the board is I'm very big on advocacy. Although all of us are advocates as schoolboard members, one of the things that I'm passionate about is making sure that every person that is in our school district, every family in our school district is represented and that no one feels unimportant. Uh and so when we go and uh have opportunities to be educated and exposed, it makes sure that every person,
027every child, regardless of how active their parents are in the district or if they've never come to a school conference, if they've never come to a field trip with their child, that that child gets the same representation, the same energy, the same devotion that a child whose parent shows up to everything. So it is our job to not only advocate for students that have high visibility but to advocate for children that have low visibility. That being said, that's why conferences like Napsi is so important because they want to stress the principles of being relevant. NAPSI ensures that efforts are relevant that we use uh that they they teach and that they develop programs that strategically are strategically ex designed and relevant to the current needs of students and educators. uh the Napy conference is uh
028one of their belief statements is being impact impactful. They ensure that its efforts are impactful. The experience that members and participants that are there are engaging in the organization tries to make sure that it's transformative. One of the most important things that I experienced at the NAVI convention is during the third day of the convention uh that Friday I believe it was that we were there, they gave out so many scholarships in that one day that it took almost an hour and a half to honor all of the students that were given scholarships. And the scholarships weren't like 500, a thousand, which those are great. Anybody who's had a kid in college knows that every penny counts, but I'm talking about children who uh would not have the opportunity to get a $10,000 scholarship, $15,000
029scholarship scholarships being given by national sponsors as well as private entities. So, um they were being very impactful uh for students who were at schools that were low performing. We've heard that a lot uh not only in our district but in South Carolina. We have a lot of schools that are low performing and low performing schools don't always draw the attention of people who want to donate money. But how many of you know and understand that in a district like ours, we've seen such great people come because of people like us who support our children and make sure that they are seen and heard. Uh and they require academic excellence and professional excellence. uh they ensure a mark of excellence has to be intentional at all levels local, state and national. Miss Dibble. >> Okay.
030So this was one of the sessions that I did. It was bullying versus um conflict how and I know in our district or everywhere pretty much, you know, we're still trying to figure out this thing about bullying. So this was a course that I took and um the young lady was this tells us where bullying hides at school. She was telling us the difference between bullying and conflict to help not only the um educators, the teachers and administrators but gave examples for the parents how to have I think that's maybe on one of the slides information with the parents information um you can share with um the community just having an overall conversation about bullying because we hear it a lot you know my child is being bullied you know so and as she was
031explaining it's a difference between bullying and conflict. If you go to um one the next slide there, that's for a tool that you can use for the administrators, you know, with talking to the parents about bullying and conflict. Basically, um some of the things she shared was how we ought to have those conversations with our children with um telling each other basically how to be an advocate for yourself. Teach your child to be an advocate for themselves. Teach them to be able to speak up for themselves and teach them how to handle conflict because it may not be bullying at all. It may just be a conflict and they don't know how to handle it. So there was she was giving us the examples with that. She also has a um a book that she
032used uh she's she says she's an author and it's called Landon's Learning. Landon's Learning, which is a series that center around kindness, courage, social emotional growth in elementary school age. And we know like with preschoolers, I know now because I work with preschoolers, we talking about these social emotional skills, teaching the kids about their social emotional skills. So this is an early age, even in elementary school or preschool, teaching them about how to advocate for themselves about their feelings and how to handle their feelings. so they don't always think that somebody is necessarily bullying them. It may be conflict and showing them how to work that out. Um that's a model that she used for the parents that you could uh use for um the um educators, teachers, administrators. So that was one of the
033things clarify acknowledge don't just ignore you know if a parent comes to say and tell you about you know my child is um maybe being bullied or there's some conflict you know clarify listen to the full story and not you know jumping into no your child did this you know how sometimes you know things be so this was just a model that she had for parent compensation for the administrator. Okay, this next uh slide is uh one of the keynote speakers. One thing about the Napy convention that was amazing is when we got there, literally from 7:30 in the morning until 9 10 at night, there were classes we we could not keep up with the schedule. There was so much to do, so many things that we were there to learn. Uh and the
034thing that we always do when we go to conventions, we never go to the same class because that's a waste of our time. So, I would hit a different class. Uh Cindy would hit a different class. Mr. Wilson would hit a different class. The only time me and Miss Wilson were in the same class is whenever it was the athletic at the athletic track. We both wanted to get up close and personal with uh Kaepernick. But with that being said, um this particular uh general session, we were all at this general session and this is a gentleman by the name of Dr. Freeman uh Harbowski. He is uh from Tennessee and um I'm sorry. Yes, he is from Tennessee, I believe it was. But nevertheless, he was one of the young men that went to
035school and went to church with the young ladies that were bombed back during the civil rights demonstrations. Uh he was also jailed because of his willingness to demonstrate. But with that being said, his parents sent him to college and he was very successful and now uh Freeman Harbosski is an American educator who advocates for mathematicians. His research in publications and focus on science and math education. He has a special emphasis on minority participation and performance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. So, the college that he represents in Maryland has been featured for over a decade in uh I think it's Newsweek as one of the most progressive colleges that offers mathematics and STEM programming to uh students that are underprivileged or have low visibility. So, uh, we were able to meet him and he signed
036my book and I told him to write it to the Sutton kids and he told me to tell them to make sure and read read read. So, um, that was a great experience that we had while we were there. >> And he also he also gave us a question. He said he writes questions for the SAT. >> And so, of course, I said over 1,600 people were there, right? So, he said, "I'm give y'all $200. Whoever can answer this question." I don't think nobody got the $200 money. >> Everybody was like, "What? Wait a minute. information is missing. So that was good. That was with um that young man. >> I have an answer. I just didn't read my hand. [laughter] >> So we could have had $200. Yeah. Right. So the next slide is
037what everyone was excited about. This who showed up. And um Dennis, I'm sure you have something to say about this. >> Yeah, I enjoyed uh my my time with Mr. Kaepernick. um wasn't what I thought it was going to be and um the man truly has a gift. He speaks very well and uh he can move communities, that's for sure. >> And he was coming through the lobby and I said, "Oh, LET ME GET MY CAMERA. LET ME GET MY [laughter] CAMERA." And actually the picture right here that I took was because they did a uh they did a photo contest. So whoever posted photos and got the most likes, you would get a prize. Okay. was when I left the conference, my photo was number two, but by the time I got home, I
038think I was maybe like fourth or fifth. So, I didn't get no prize. But anyway, I was excited about the picture and I was screaming and yelling, telling Dennis and Quincy, "Look who's here. Look who's here." Okay, you can go next. >> So, and the other thing about the uh when Colin gave uh you call a master [clears throat] class and there were um over a thousand almost 2,000 people in this master class. So, afterwards he did handshakes and pictures, but you had to wait in line. The line was like an hour and a half long. I wasn't waiting. Miss Dibble waited in the line and got her picture. Well, the next morning I get this text message from Dennis Wilson. He said, "Guess what? I'm in a room with Colin Kaepernick and it's only
03920 of us." And so I ran to the class. He gave an uplose and personal class to athletic directors and coaches and people who support athletics and education. And we had the opportunity to literally sit down and talk with him and ask one-on-one questions. And I think that that's what Dennis was referring to when he said it wasn't what you thought because we see what happens in social media. We see what happens on TV and what we make things about. But if you knew the work that Colin Kaepernick does to support communities and to send children to college and to give underprivileged students an opportunity that they would never get, you would forget all of what you've seen on the news. So he's an amazing advocate for education. And uh we were very privileged to
040have an uplose and personal moment that we did not have to stand in line for. >> [laughter] >> So, this is of course a snapshot of us on the stage. And when we got to uh Chicago, there was snow uh but did not last that long, but it was freezing. I mean, I would have rather snow than how cold it was. And of course, where we stayed was right there, uh on the Riverwalk and right behind or in front of the Chicago Peak. So, that was pretty interesting. Uh the most inspiring class that I went was to this class that was taught by this group of gentlemen called men of iron. and it was about leadership and their theme was elevating education through governance and vision. So if any of you all understand what we
041do as as board members is we are to make sure that we write policy in regards to governance. Uh highlighted the collaborative leadership of schoolboard trustees and superintendents as we navigate the most pressing challenges in public education. This class was so impactful and it really gave me a lot of insight on how we can not only support our families and our students but support our superintendent in making sure that policy is written that advocates and takes care of the needs that you all have. A lot of people's uh conception of what we do as board members. We don't answer calls to take care of problems. What we do is we write policy. We reform policy so that your dreams, your hopes, your wishes and your desires for your children can really really happen in real
042time. So you don't may not see the results in front of you, but the policy works and as time progresses, we'll see changes and growth in our school district. >> So with that being said, we had a wonderful time in Chicago. We learned a lot and the best is yet to come. >> All right. So >> and so I I received a um it's called a grief sensitive school initiative. I'm not sure if our district have anything in relations to children who go through grief after losing um loved ones. So, this was a package that they gave us to give you information about that cuz you know that does affect the children ability to be able to learn. So, that was something that was very good. He was like, "Yeah, you can take this package
043and it has everything in here that you need." They actually train, educator, administrator on how to care for children and students who go through grief. >> Outstanding. And so with that being said, next we're going to segue into our board reflections. And if there are any of our board members who have any reflections they want to share, now is your moment. >> Well, back in December, I attended the Francis Mac. I called it Christmas Canada, but it was wonderful and all these children having such a good time singing and their parents enjoying it even more. >> And I would just like to add [clears throat] about the lights parade uh that we had with our district. Thankful for the uh students that volunteered for that and the teachers out there in the cold. Um and
044then also want to thank just it was cold this morning. I drop my kid off and I thank the uh teachers out there on bus duty and car rider duty out there in the cold every morning. So thankful for them doing that. [clears throat] All right, if no more reflections, next we will hear from [snorts] Miss is Mrs. Gil with um teaching and learning from Francis Mack Intermediate School. Hello [snorts] everyone. Uh it is a pleasure to be here today to share some of the wonderful things happening at Francis Mack Intermediate School. I am Alexandria Gilpies. I'm the principal and I want to uh introduce you all as well to our amazing assistant principal, Miss Red, who will be speaking um a little bit after me. uh her leadership and support helps create a positive
045and an engaging learning environment with all of our students as well as our instructional coach who will be coming up to um have a few words as well, Dr. Ferdick who works closely with our teachers to ensure um that our students uh receive the highest quality instruction on a daily basis. Um, and of course I would be remiss if I didn't say something about our wonderful students who are at the heart of everything that we do on a daily basis. And earlier tonight, you heard from one of our amazing students to say thank you, sweetheart. I'm so very proud of you once again as always. Um, but Saya, who is highlighted for her success and leadership, um, and we are so very proud of her accomplishments. So today we'll be sharing um some examples of
046the incredible work happening across our school from innovative classroom initiatives so you can see firsthand the impact of our collaborative efforts. Um we will talk about our trout in the classroom project, give you some data um on our school over the course of the past four years since I've been here. Um Miss Red will come up and talk about our fine arts and MLL support and we will end with Dr. Ferdick talking about leadership and enrichment through some things with our beta club. Um so with that being said, you have a uh infographic in front of you that highlights um Francis Mac over the course of four years. Uh at the top left you have the uh report card um scores. Oop, excuse me. And [clears throat] at the very bottom, the white numbers at
047the bottom shows the progress points that we receive from the state each year. And then on your right um you have at the top our e ELA percentage scores of students who met and exceeded um over the course of the four years and the bottom shows the math. So our overall report card scores do fluctuate over the um four years. They also highlight improving achievement in ELA and math and a strong foundation of growth that we build on as we move forward. >> [snorts] >> um our growth points which are um at the very bottom um have remained within five points over the course of the year-to-year progress for our students and then our ELA percentages of students scoring meet to meets to exceed uh steadily went from 22 21 38 and is held at
04838 in the most uh recent years which is showing that our students are um not declining which is very important to us that it's a steady growth and it's a slow progress but we are continuing to make progress and um after initial dip in math from the 18 to 15 um our scores are continuing to grow is to increase as well showing positive upward momentum. Um our math curriculum is currently the same in grades um one through eight. So we're looking forward to seeing continued progress and growth in our students with that being implemented as well. Uh, one of the programs that we currently have in our school is our um trout in the classroom. Uh, it is a literally what it sounds like. Um, Miss Garrett uh partnered with the South Carolina Department of
049Natural Resources and they brought all the materials that are needed, the aquarium, chiller, filter, the food, the trout eggs. Um, they gave her lessons. she went to a training. Um they gave her lessons that um ti are tied to or connected to um our academic standards in math, science, reading and writing. Um and in the spring, the students actually take a field trip out to Saluda shows and they actually um have the opportunity to release the trout. So our students um this program highlights um just bringing learning to life in a very tangible way for our students. Our students are actively involved in caring for the trial each day which is building responsibility and curiosity. Um they are they observe the changes and they collect simple data. They talk about it, they write about it
050um about what they see um and writing is one of our schoolwide focuses as well. Um and integrating it through all subject areas. Uh, another thing about the program is strengthening science understanding while also reinforcing reading and critical thinking skills for our students as well. So, we're excited to have this hands-on um experience that keeps our students engaged and helps learning feel meaningful uh and connected to the real world. So, next we will have Miss Red who will come and highlight our arts and MLL program. Good evening. I'm Melissa Red, as many of you know. I'm going to talk about our Francis Mack band program. Um, so you can you see some pictures here and I have a handout that I'll give you as well with pictures on it from Dr. Debessinette that she made
051for you, but here are some highlights of our band growth and success over time. So over the past seven years, our band program has more than tripled in size, reflecting strong student interest, family support, and a program that students really want to be a part of. This growth signals um trust in the quality of the program and the direction that it's moving. Hundreds of FMIS students have participated in a um competition called solo solo and ensemble with more than 75 performances earning a superior rating which is the highest possible rating. These results demonstrate consistent instructional excellence by Dr. Dessinette and a commitment to developing individual musicianship. The launch of the fifth grade band program happened in 20 um 23 and that expanded access to instrumental music earlier than we've ever had it before. So starting
052students earlier strengthens skill development. It builds their confidence, creates a stronger pipeline into the middle and high school band programs, which over time then we will see growth in those as well. Last school year in 2425, the sixth grade honor band, which we have, performed at the South Carolina Band Directors Association concert performance assessment. So that is the first time in school history that we've taken a group of students to an adjudicated um performance. So they were judged and given a rating. um that sixth grade we people at the uh South Carolina Band Directors Association said sixth grade uh per performances are very rare. We were one of the only ones there that day. Um and that just shows that our students have um they're very driven and they want to do well and they
053there's a lot of instructional rigor there. Uh, honor band students also performed at the Carowind's Music in the Parks Festival at the end of the year and they got recognition for their dedication and hard work. They scored an excellent rating which is um the second highest rating they could receive and they were very they were two or three points away from being a superior rating. They also perform for community um engagement opportunities. So they perform at local nursing homes and participate in things around our school, opportunities to serve our school, things like birthday brigade when staff have birthdays and holiday caroling as well as inclusive concerts for our students with disabilities. These experience reinforce that the band program builds not only musicians but empathetic community-minded students. Uh we also last year started offering uh cadet
054color guard program that provides fifth and gra fifth and sixth grade students with exposure to dance movement and performance fundamentals. This broadens access to the performing arts and supports students who may thrive beyond just traditional instrument pathways. And of course that leads into color guard for marching band as well. So continuing to grow that program in later years. The band program delivers measurable academic, social, and cultural benefits while elevating the school's profile in the community. This is a program that maximizes opportunity, develop student leadership, and reflects positively on the district as a whole. We give a huge thank you to our incredible band director, Dr. Deesanette, for that. And then our MLL program um is serves our multilingual learners students in our school. It integrates language development into meaningful hands-on learning rather than in just
055isolation. So students are building academic language by doing writing, designing, experimenting, problem solving in real contexts. Um, there's a strong emphasis on academic language. Students engage in creative writing, academic storytelling, using AI, uh, sequencing, content specific vocabulary. They're working through all of that with Mr. Franco, who's our MLL program um, teacher. This approach accelerates accelerates language acquisition while maintaining high expectations for academic rigor. He uses, as you can see here, um, robotics. And so through hands-on experiments and robotics, students learn to use academic science language um to describe observations, procedures, and results. And it directly supports grade level science standards while reinforcing precise language that use across all disciplines. Um the robotics and engineering uh projects also require students to follow technical directions, collaborate with peers, and apply cause and effect. These experiences naturally promote
056speaking, listening, reading, and writing. And those are all of the critical components of language development. This program emphasizes collaboration. It allows multilingual learners to practice academic discourse in a supportive environment. Students gain confidence as they explain their thinking, ask questions, and work through the challenges together. We he has also partnered with one of our specialed resource teachers um to participate in a structured reading intervention um that Mr. Franco and one of our resource teachers developed together. This targeted support ensures that language development is aligned with individual student needs and grade level expectations. This classroom environment celebrates students strengths and cultures while maintaining a clear focus on academic growth. Students are positioned as capable learners who are developing bilingual or multilingual skills as an asset, not a deficit. Sometimes in the regular classroom, these students feel
057like they're behind. This program allows them to feel like no, they are ahead because they are they are developing bilingual capabilities. >> [snorts] >> By embedding language instruction within science, writing, engineering, and reading, students are better prepared for the academic demands of middle school and beyond. This program not only builds English proficiency, but also confidence, problem solving skills, and academic identity. So, we thank Mr. Jose Franco, who is our MLL teacher, for his support and work with these students every day. >> [clears throat] >> I'm Carrie Ferdick and I'm the instructional coach at Princess Matt. So I work closely with teachers and we work in our curriculum and instruction. But today I'm here to talk about our beta club. Earlier Mr. Sutton, you talked about making sure that all students have the opportunity to be
058seen. And I think that an important part of that is giving them the opportunity to serve others in our community. some of our service projects that we participated in. And I wish I had a little pointer, but you can figure it out. The top [clears throat and cough] corner, um, that's the breast cancer awareness walk. We extend that opportunity to not only the Beta Club and students in our school, but throughout the district and community. And many of you have come and participated in that before. Um, we earn money, but it isn't a prerequisite. you can just come show up, wear your pink, and walk with us and support those in our community who have been through breast cancer and support others and honor others who have been through it. The top is also a
059picture of a student who is making little Cersei for our bus drivers. And we even have one here who's um been a recipient of those. We like to make sure that not only the students are are seen, but everybody that makes our district successful. We couldn't be successful without those bus drivers. The middle top picture is an adopt a family for Christmas. Two students at our school receive those gifts. And of course, students don't know who they're buying for. Family members don't know who they're buying for. They just get a description of what they like and and what they need. And I've had um former parents drop things off this past year who are still participating in our Facebook beta beta club Facebook page. Uh, we have the Polar Plunge up at the top and
060that's coming up. So, if you want to start your Valentine's Day this year by jumping into Lake Murray, you let me know. We'd be glad to sign you up on our team. Um, or if you want to sponsor a student to do that. We have Operation Christmas Child. Um, and that's where students pack the boxes to be sent overseas. And a lot of teachers also take that on and their classes participate in that together and they bring in items. and then a local church has sponsored and paid for a lot of those boxes to be shipped because we don't want financial responsibility to hinder being able to participate in those things. Um down at the bottom we have some parades. We have scarecrow alley. We have um litter pickup and that is sponsored through Palmetto
061Pride and our city years always help um provide adequate supervision during that along with the Gaston Police Department. Something new that we did um down at the bottom those boxes for our um local food drive for the food pantry. Our students decided to make birthday cake boxes. And so in those boxes are cake mix, icing, candles, balloons, a blank birthday card, and then instead of using eggs, you can use Sprite. I don't know if you knew that. So, and then there's a little recipe in there. That way for families who came and got those, there's everything that you need for a little birthday party in there. And then we have some pictures of our students giving speeches and participating in convention, which as you heard is coming up next week. So there'll be a mass
062majority majority of our Lexington Forest students in Myrtle Beach competing. And then in the middle we had um Jada Sharp. She participated in the junior Miss Swansy pageant, right? Is that what it's called? and Blakeley back there also participated and Jada won the miss sixth grade. So that's our opportunities and we extend again many of those to all the students in our school and a lot of them throughout the district and the community. Thank you. >> So that is all that we have. Um, just want to say thank you for the opportunity to highlight just some of the wonderful things that we have going on at Francis Mac. >> You all have any questions? >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. >> All right. >> [snorts] >> Good evening,
063Mr. Chair, members of the board, and Dr. Nutter. I'm going to be sharing with you this evening our two uh continuous improvement plans for two of our schools. Based on South Carolina code 59181625, the South Carolina Department of Education requires schools receiving an overall rating or below average or unsatisfactory to develop continuous improvement plans. Continuous improvement plans must be approved by the district's board of trustees and they are shared with each school's school improvement council. Francis Mack Intermediate School and San Hills Middle School both received below average ratings on this year's report card. So those are our two schools that we'll be looking at their continuous improvement plans this evening. Working with both principles, we have developed um three goals for each school this year. The state department requires us to have a minimum of
064three goals and they tell us that the three goals must address the following. The first one must address an equity area in the instructional area. Goal two must address ELA achievement and goal three must address math academic achievement. Francis Mack Intermediate School goal one which again is our inequity goal. We'll look at students in grades five through six and our goal is to increase SC ready with our special education students by 3% on the 2026 assessment. How are we going to achieve this 3%. The first thing that our school administrators and leadership teams are doing at Francis Mack is they are having ongoing data conferences with special ed teachers on our ready information based on the reading assessment that we now have taken two times at this point in the school year. The second thing
065that u Miss Gil and her leadership team have done is they have already adjusted teacher and student schedules based on academic needs to serve more students during the school day. And I applaud them for those efforts. They did not wait till the second uh map, excuse me, they did not wait till the second I Ready data came in. They did that actually at the end of first quarter. They are also are currently monitoring formative assessment data which are classroom assessments that teachers give to make sure that we are monitoring our progress throughout the year and we are not just waiting for our three big formative assessment windows to occur. The second goal that we have um set in conjunction with Miss Gil and her leadership team is looking at Francis Mack to increase SC ready
066ELA scores specifically by 3%. And we are targeting our MET and exceeding students. Okay. How are we doing this? We are implementing highquality instructional materials that is wonders for our fifth grade students and that is study sync for our sixth grade students. So both of these textbooks were adopted by our teachers last year with the uh adoption of the new or the implementation of the new ELA standards. Also, we are continuing to provide on-site professional learning for all of our teachers with our highly qualified instructional materials. We actually have had the wonders implementation specialist and our study sync implementation specialists on campus within the last several weeks working with our teachers so they understand everything that the high quality materials that they have chosen actually has. There's lots of online support. There's also the traditional
067consumables and textbook. So we have had someone there working with our teachers already this year. We also were continuing to analyze our I Ready data three times as I've already mentioned to make instructional decisions in real time, not waiting until the late spring and looking at that last window, but making them as our students take the assessment. And our goal number three, of course, is looking to increase our SC ready math scores by 3% this year. again targeting our met and exceeds category because we know when we move students out of not met and approaches we're moving them where the state is really looking at. We also were doing that by implementing highquality instructional materials. Remember this is the first year of the new math standards in K through 12 and there have been some
068shifts in our instruction based on the indicators being moved by the state department. Our teachers last year chose I Ready Math as our textbook and that of course is considered one of the high quality instructional materials by the state department. Um how are we doing that where we've adop adopted a book we're implementing the book with that adoption I ready provides us three opportunities for professional learning on site and Francis Mack just finished up I believe their third opportunity with our implementation specialist. I was able to drop in and teachers were very engaged asking great questions and when they left the session on Friday they actually had their lesson plan for today and tomorrow mapped out. So they have given us quality support there. And last but not least, we also again are continuing to
069look at our I Ready data and to see how our students are progressing throughout the school year and making adjustments based on pacing, based on students that perhaps need to be pulled in small groups and also based making decisions based on who needs to be in our multi-tered system of support. Moving on to Sand Hills Middle School and again remember they did see increases in their school report card this year. So, we want to congratulate them on that hard work. This year for the inequity goal, San Hills Middle School is going to be looking at our multi- language learners population. They are going to be monitoring multiple data points throughout the school year. We will begin our multi- language learner assessment within the next couple of weeks and we will get that data of course
070before we enter into the state assessment program with SC ready. How are we monitoring to make sure that we see uh increases with our multil- language learner population? We are monitoring my path in mathematics specifically. My path is part of I Ready, we actually have it in ELA and math, but since our standards are new in math, uh Mr. Evans and his leadership team and I discussed focusing on math, there's fewer um bumps in the road in math versus in reading. Uh also we received a grant last year from the state department to implement varsity tutor which specifically is online support for our students. There is a certified teacher live that we are offering to our um ML students and other students at San Hills Middle. So if they get home and need help with
071homework, they can go online to Varsity Tutor and have a certified teacher provide tutoring then and there at that particular time. We also were going to try to use some of our time during the school day because we do know that some of our students don't have um internet at home. So, we're going to use some of those early morning times when they're early from the bus or a car rider and use those moments as well with our ML population. Our second goal, just very similar to um Francis Mack, is we are looking to increase our SC readying or ELA scores um by 3%. As I mentioned a few moments ago, we have uh our teachers adopted last year's study sync. We actually adopted that as a system in grades 6 through 12. So we've
072got a continuum of highly qualified materials. We also have had our implementation specialist on campus. We get that three times as well. Uh and we have had um her on on site and our instructional coach there is also working with our teachers. We are monitoring and providing support during the day during their planning period for our professional learning communities and our instructional coach at um Sand Hills Middle School does a great job meeting with our ELA teachers during the day just as um Dr. Futek does at Francis Mack during the day. So we're not asking teachers to give up that important time at the end of the school day. And last but certainly not least is we have our third goal which is for math and we are looking to again increase by 3% in
073met and exceeding here as well. Uh we again are implementing a highly qualified instructional materials which also is I ready math where we have a consistent adoption in 6 through 12 in ELA or English classes. We also have a consistent adoption in kindergarten through 8th grade with I read math. So we have been providing uh professional learning again with our I already math specialist. Uh we get three partic we get three sessions and we have our third session I believe it's our third session tomorrow at San Hills Middle School. Also remember Sand Hills Middle School it was was deemed a Palmeta priority math school by the South Carolina Department of Education and we have support weekly with our math coach from the department every Tuesday. So, as our teachers are going through professional learning tomorrow,
074not only will the instructional coach be there, but so will our state coach be there as well. So, teachers always have someone at school they can go and ask questions with um if there's something they want to review. So, that brings me to the end of our presentation on our two continuous improvement plans. >> So much any questions? [clears throat] >> Thank you, >> chair. We uh by state law we need to approve that plan or we ask the board to approve that plan. It then goes to the state department of education for their approval. >> All right. We need a motion to accept the school continuous improvement plan as presented. >> I make a motion that we approve the school continued improvement plans for both Francis Mack and San Hills Elementary as presented by
075Dr. Atson. >> I second it. >> All in favor? And >> just to clarify, that's Francis Mack and Sand Hills Middle School. >> Oh, sorry. >> Yep. No, I just wanted to >> We got that. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. >> Hey. >> Hi. [clears throat] >> Um, as of the end of December, we have collected a little over $18.1 million in revenue year to date. This [clears throat] represents roughly 40.7% of the annual revenue budget. Um, this is slightly under our prior year averages, um, which are coming in about 42.9%. Um, but I fully anticipate that's going to align when we get the bulk of our tax revenue in January and February. So, I think you'll see that level out um, over the next two months when when the bulk of that comes
076in. We've expended a little over 21.6 million year to date, which represents 44.6 of the annual expenditure budget. This is above the prior year averages um which come in about 39.3% but that's related to the transfer that we that the board approved related to um move into capital projects funds. So that skews those percentages a little bit. Um if we compare the expenditures year-to- date without the transfer included um year-to- date is expended and coming in around 39.6 um which is right in line with prior year. So, um, there's [clears throat] nothing unusual to report at this time. Um, if anyone has any questions, I'll be glad to answer. >> Thank you so much. >> All right, we've come to the end of our meeting. As you see on our agenda, for those of you
077who don't have it, is accessible online. Um, our future board meetings and events have been listed for your knowledge and for our schedules, board members. So with that being said, we are now ready to receive a motion for adjournment. >> I'll make a motion we adjourn the meeting. >> Second. All in favor? >> Thank you all. >> Thank you for coming. >> We'll see you next month. >> Can I cut this mic off now? >> It's not green anymore, so you're good. Give me.