School Board Meeting - November 18, 2025

001The date is November 18th, 2025. The time is 1,800 hours, and I'd like to call the Frederick County School Board meeting to order. We have an agenda before us. Do I have a motion for approval? >> Mr. Chair, I move that we approve the agenda as set before us. And vice chair, there is a small addition >> to amend the agenda. It should be on your motions page >> on the mo. Got it. Ah, yes. I apologize, Mr. Chair. I remember hearing about this. Um, >> and Mr. Chair, correction, I move the board approve the agenda as presented with the exception of adding cons consultation with legal counsel to the closed session. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion and it has been properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in

002favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed. We have an agenda. Madame vice chair. What's the pleasure of the board? >> Mr. Chair, I move that the county school board of Frederick County, Virginia enter a closed session meeting for the following. One, to review and discuss appointments, administrative leave, unpaid administrative leave, unpaid disciplinary suspension, resignation, support staff hires, substitutes, tutors, and volunteers pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3711 2-3711 paragraph A.1 and two for consultation with legal counsel regarding appointments by the school board pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711 paragraph A.8. >> Second. >> We have a motion to go into close session and it has been properly seconded. Is there any discussion on this matter? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. Any opposed? We are now in close session and

003we will return at 1900 hours. >> All right, Madame Vice Chair, what's the pleasure of the board? >> Mr. Chair, I move that the board reconvene from close session. >> Second. >> Have a motion to reconvene. Has been properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Madam vice chair. >> And I think that motion passes. And Mr. Share. I move that the best to the best of each board member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act were discussed in the closed session. And only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed session was convened were heard, discussed, or considered by the school board. >> Second. >> All

004right. Motion has been made properly seconded. Madame clerk. >> Miss Martin. >> I. Mrs. M Caruso >> I. >> Mr. Bell. >> I. >> Mrs. Sturdivvent. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Klene. >> I. >> Dr. Erskin. >> I. >> All right. That passes. >> And Mr. Chair, I move that the board recess its meeting until uh 7 p.m. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion to recess until 1900 hours. Has been properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. Any opposed? We are resets till 1900. All right, the time is 1900 hours and we are back in session. Madame vice chair. >> Mr. Chair, I move that the board reconvene its meeting. >> Second. >> Okay, motion has been made and properly seconded.

005Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> Any opposed. >> All righty then. >> And Mr. Chair, we have a uh motion out of close session. I move the board approve the personnel actions as recommended by the superintendent. >> Second. >> Motion has been made properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Carries. Uh, if you would please join me in a moment of silence. Thank you for that. Um, I now ask everyone who's able to stand for the pledge of allegiance. Tonight we are being led in the pledge by Ashlin Moon and Evelyn Lewig. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,

006indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you so much. >> What is happening? Next is the uh consent agenda. Do I have an a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Mr. Chair, I move the board approve the consent agenda as presented with the exception of consent agenda item number four. >> Second. >> All right. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Any opposed? We have an agenda. >> All right. Uh, up next is our student and staff recognition. So, I will turn it over to our fantastic superintendent. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good evening and welcome everyone to our awards of excellence program. Before we proceed, I would like to ask that everyone

007stay here throughout the entire program out of respect for each individual who is being recognized. Once we have completed all of the presentations, you will have an opportunity to leave and enjoy the rest of your evening. In addition, when you come forward for your certificate, please take a moment to pause with Mr. Sturdivan and myself at the front. And if you are coming forward as a team, please stand to the side and then we will take a group photo after the individuals. So with that, Mr. Sturivan, come on down. Thank you. >> It's Bob Barker. In October, criminal justice students achieved significant success by earning first place at the Skills USA competition held at the Virginia State Fair. Their challenge was to perform a professional vehicle search, requiring them to locate five hidden objects while

008strictly adhering to all safety protocols. Congratulations to Ashlin Moon and Evelyn Lewig. Congratulations. The FCPS honorary award is given to an individual who demonstrates leadership, excellent character, behavior, and a positive attitude or makes contributions that have measurable impact to the school community. Tonight, we'd like to recognize the following individuals. First off, Camden Wilson, a student at Robert E. Aaylor Middle School who competed a in a competed in a national pageant with girls traveling from all over the country. Camden participated in four mandatory competitions as well as five optional competitions. She won four national optional awards as well as winning the prestigious title of America's Royal Elite Junior Teen. She will reign for the 2025 26 year comp complet completing at least 100 hours of community service and traveling to take her title to schools and

009to other events. Camden will be representing Robert Aaylor Middle School as she visits schools across the state. Congratulations In late September, Mr. Anthony Palanco graciously answered the call at Jameswood High School for parent volunteers to come in during the school day to help provide our teachers with some extra time during the day by taking their hall bathroom duty period. Mr. Palano has been here every week for at least three days per week for two or three hours per day. He is prompt, excited to be here, willing to help in any way, and interacts well with, excuse me, everyone, especially our students. He is also fluent in several languages and has assisted in translating during an interview appointment. We greatly appreciate Mr. Palano volunteering his time and being a part of the Colonel Colonel community. Without

010volunteers, we would not be able to accomplish many of the wonderful things that happen here at JWHS. Thank you. And next, if we could have members of the FPS finance department please come forward. They are being recognized tonight for two prestigious honors. The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada or GFOA presented a distinguished budget presentation award to Frederick County Public Schools Virginia for its annual budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025. In order to receive this award, a governmental unit must publish a document, a budget document that meets program criteria as a policy document, as a financial plan, as an operations guide, and as a communications device. The GFOA award is the highest form of recognition in governmental budgeting. This is the third year the division has submitted their

011budget document to GFOA and received this high honor. Congratulations. But wait, there's more. Hold on, folks. There's more. >> Okay, >> there is more. The division has also received the Association of School Business Officials International ASBO meritorious budget award for the past 13 years. This is the highest honor in school finance and recognizes Frederick County Public Schools for its excellence in school budget presentation and setting a high standard for transparent budget development. Congratulations. Okay. And next up we have the Apple Award. The Apple Award is given to a teacher who has achieved something which significantly contributes to their school and community, uses creative or innovative instructional techniques, or goes above and beyond for the student. This month's Apple Award is presented to Amelia Watson from Robert E. Aaylor Middle School. And here is the submission

012for the nomination. Amelia Watson was hired as our math specialist this year at Robert E. Aaylor Middle School. She has gone above and beyond in her duties, teaching classes, pulling intervention groups to help support us teachers who just don't have enough time in the day to meet all the students needs. attending our math meetings three times a week to help plan lessons with us and provide resources and does walkthroughs to see how everyone is doing in their classroom. I don't know how she does all the things she does in a day. Amelia is more than deserving of the Apple Award. Congratulations. All right. Whenever you're ready. Tonight, we would also like to honor our veterans with a special Veterans Day recognition. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. In honor of all of our veterans,

013our media and communications team put together a fantastic video highlighting all of our veterans in the school division. And here it is. Frederick County Public Schools seeks to honor the many veterans in our community and among our staff. One such veteran, Rudy at Robert E. Aaylor Middle School, talks about his service and the interesting job he chose while serving. >> Uh, sure. I served in the United States Navy. Uh, entered in 1988 and, uh, left in 1992, four years of service. Continued another year and a half of active reserves. Um, of course, going to Navy, uh, my ASAB scores were pretty good. So, I was allowed to do anything I wanted to. Uh, I chose to go in advanced electronic field because I thought that'd be very good training. Once I, uh, went and did

014all my testing and everything, uh, the opportunity came upon me to be involved with the submarine service, uh, for a little extra pay, hazardous duty pay, and C pay. Um, so I signed up for submarines, um, and spent the next couple years serving in submarines. >> Rudy says student involvement in Veterans Day is always the goal. Over the years, we participated uh with some of the high schools who ran larger scale programs. Uh we've done letterw writing over the years. Uh we've did short video clips for students to watch uh to teach them. This year's video clip talked about the original aspect of Veterans Day being armistice day uh and then how it moved into Veterans Day. Uh so that was shared with all students. And in our schools, you'll see a great deal of

015uh students wearing military garb. Uh, so I always speak to them whether it's an Army shirt, an Air Force shirt to find out what the connection is, uh, so I can talk to them about my service. And I've always, as a former history teacher, I've always spoken to students about military service, the importance of that. >> At Gainesboro Elementary School, kindergarten teacher and veteran Lisa Ausso explains the activities at her school. Every year on Veterans Day, we we start by explaining to the kids the purpose of Veterans Day, why we celebrate it, and we go into um teaching the kids on what a veteran is. We usually celebrate by wearing red, white, and blue. We'll go outside and we post flags all around the school. A lot of students within the Gainesboro will write letters

016to veterans acknowledging their service. I get a lot of support from the students. Um, I get personal cards, I get um, pictures colored, I get um, a lot of recognition, a lot of thank you from not just the students, but also the parents. Every year I look forward to Veterans Day. It's very exciting to see the pride and the support that comes from our community, from our staff members, from our children, from our children's parents, um, to honor the veterans and to thank us for what we did. >> Um, I've always had a lot of people reach out to me and thank me for my my veteran service. um I tend to worry about our older veterans um and who are getting up in age and might not have the broad families to continue those

017things on. So it's always important to reach out uh to to express the gratitude that we should have for our veterans uh women and men alike. Uh our country has an incredible history of service to country um from all races, all backgrounds and all aspects. And um of course when you give the ultimate sacrifice that many uh former military folks have, it's important that we recognize that um and we continue on uh to give back to the community and to recognize those folks who've done that. And paying tribute to veterans is very important. >> Am I allowed to give that a round of applause? >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Well, while we're on the subject, um Veterans Day is near and dear to my heart. Being a veteran, I've accomplished a lot of

018things in my personal life. Um heavy metal musician, being a uh I was I was correctional officer for 36 years, retiring as a lieutenant. um published two books, um was an auditor for the American Correctional Association, got elected to this office, um being a grandparent, all those good things. But the one thing and and of course also being a minister of the gospel, but the one thing that I I most hold dear is being a veteran and serving with all the great people that I did and uh being brothers and sisters with all those veterans. If are there any veterans in here, I'd ask you to stand up so we can recognize all of you. It's an honor to have served. And uh if you've never met this gentleman who lives locally, his name is

019Mike Robinson. Um he does Winchester Tales and I uh I've met him and I I bought this book from him on Veterans Day. And if you get a chance, I I strongly urge you to get it. But I just wanted to share one story of a Winchester veteran. And the title of this short story is called A Band of Brothers. Sergeant Richard E. Owen, Easy Company 506, 101st Airborne. In early July of 1942, Richard Owens stood on a platform at the train station on Piccadilly Street, hugged his wife, Ruth. The young man had signed up for the new paratrooper program and was heading to Georgia to a place called Camp Takoa. He boarded the train, sat by the window, and waved goodbye. As a train headed south, he watched Winchester moved by like frames from

020a motion picture. Richard Owen would never see Winchester again. Upon arriving at Camp Taka, Richard Owen was placed in easy company with men like Dick Winters, Lewis Nixon, Babe Hefron, Wildbear Garnier. He felt the wrath of the dreaded Herbert Soil and endured the tres up Kurhei Mountain. By 1944, Richard Owen and Easy Company were in England awaiting the great invasion. In the early morning hours of June 6th, 1944, Sergeant Owen boarded plane 66, which carried the company's leader, First Lieutenant Thomas Mi. The plane was hit by German anti-aircraft fire over France. It attempted landing, but exploded against a hedge. All heroes on board were killed on on impact for several hours at the beginning of operations on D-Day. Easy Company evolved without its leader Mi missing and then declared after the discovery of his identification

021plates in the rubble of the aircraft. The C47 crashed near the town of and I can't even begin to pronounce Boozeville a plane a few kilometers northeast of St. Mary Glee. A week later, a Western Union courier knocked on Ruth Owen's door in Winchester. Richard Owen and the other 21 passengers of plane 66 were initially buried at St. Mary Gleas until after the war when they were reenterred at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery outside of St. Louis, Missouri. A monument has been erected at the crash site to honor the memory of those pilots and paratroopers who died before they had a chance to fight. And that's just one of many tales in this book of veterans who have been local. Um, and if you'll give me one more moment, I I really I like to

022honor veterans. And I've had an extensive lot of veterans in my families and found quite a bit of them. I got three pages of veterans here, but just to pay homage to some of my uh veterans in my family who didn't make it home. Uh, Moses Park Walls, great great grand great great great grandfather of Company C 45th Virginia. his brother William Halls, private company C, 45th Virginia. One died in April 1863. Other died in June 63. Um James Perry Fox, my great great-grandfather coming to be 17th Virginia. Uh killed December 31st, 186 1864. Isam Harless private 64th Virginia became a P and was interred at Camp Douglas and died in ill in June of 1864. His brother Alfred Preston Harles fought with the uh 40th regiment Kentucky Company K Army. So they were fighting

023against each other. He died in Andersonville prison SER Georgia in January 64. My great uncle James D. Sturdivant first sergeant US Army uh was killed on Lee Island in the Philippines on December 31st 1944 while rescuing one of his soldiers and Solomon Callus Sturdivan PFC was killed March 5, 1945 when his vehicle struck a landmine and friends. So just to name a few. So thank you for indulging me that. But again, I am proud to be a veteran and uh proud of each and everyone who served and thank all of you who did. So, so at this time, if those of you who wish to leave, we'll give you a few moments to do so and then we will continue with the meeting. All righty then. So, next up is our citizen comments. Frederick County

024School Board is pleased to receive public comments at each monthly meeting from members of the public, which include residents of Frederick County, Virginia, uh including residents of Winchester City, Virginia, FCPS students, parents, and legal guardians of FCPS students, FCPS employees and businesses located within Frederick County, Virginia. Individuals speaking to the board will be allotted three minutes. Those individuals representing groups or organizations will be allotted five minutes with one representative per group. Upon recognition by the chair, a speaker should approach the lectern to speak to the school board. Members of the audience, and speakers are expected to be courteous to others and model for students how to respectfully participate in public meetings by speaking and behaving in such a manner that adheres to the FCPS code of student conduct. Complaints regarding FCPS employees should first be

025submitted to the school principal or to the school board office. Complaints regarding individual students should be submitted to the school principal or the appropriate school official. The school board is committed to showing respect and courtesy to all citizens. Comments that are not protected under the first amendment of the US Constitution will not be tolerated. This includes comments that are vulgar, obscene, threatening, and comments that are intended to incite violence or other breaches of the peace. Members of the audience are not permitted to interrupt the speaker or meeting by asking questions or making comments. Signs, posters, placards, banners, or like objects are permitted into the school board's meetings, but only if the individual possessing such items remain in the back of the room so as not to restrict the view of those attending the meeting in

026person. Violation of the guidelines will result in the chair ruling the speaker out of order. Continued violation may result in removal from the premises. The chair has a direction or discretion concerning public participation at schoolboard meetings. Schoolboard meetings are tape recorded for the purpose of clarification and the development of official minutes. And we have Daniel Fergus on the list. Good evening, members of the board, educators, and community partners. I stand before you this evening as a mom of six kids. Four of whom are in Frederick County school system and three whom of whom are have IEPs. I'm see tonight I'm speaking from theory not from theory or from the sidelines. I'm speaking as a parent who is living the realities of our schools every single day. And this year I've seen those realities up close.

027Three of my four children in Frederick County public schools are in special education. The past four months have been incredibly challenging especially for one of them. My wife and I have spent countless hours advocating for him, asking his kindergarten teacher to connect with his Virginia PreK Initiative teacher, questioning why his transition into school hasn't wasn't handled the way the program promised. H what hiring an educational advocate just to help us navigate this complex system and fighting for a one-on-one aid because the current resource limitations are creating barriers to his success. And while this is our story, it's not just our story. What my family is experiencing mirrors what many families across the county are facing. Our teachers and administrators are doing everything they can, often more than they reasonably should, and still isn't enough because

028our resources aren't there. Every day, educators in this district are showing up with passion and dedication. But passion alone can't compensate for structural gaps. It can't replace staffing, training, or time. Those gaps have consequences for students, for teachers, and for families like mine. That is why advocacy for our educators must start from the top from you, our school board. And advocacy cannot happen from a distance. You can't fully understand what is happening in our schools by looking at reports and budgets alone. I am asking genuinely and urgently for more presence, board presence inside our buildings. Come see the overcrowded case loads. Come see special education teams stretched thin trying to meet the high needs of our with limited hours. Comes see administrators balancing instruction with crisis management because they simply don't have enough hands. Come

029feel what teachers feel when they're asked to meet the needs of every child, but are not given the resources to match that responsibility. When you see it, you cannot deny it. When you hear it, you cannot ignore it. And when you understand it, you cannot help but advocate for it. Communication must be more than monthly updates. It must be a lived partnership. Collaboration is must be more than language and a strategic plan. It must be real action supported by real resources. Our students, especially those in educ special education, depend on collaboration, consistent communication, and a fully supported teaching staff. When those pieces are in place, kids thrive. When they're not, children fall through the gaps they never should have encountered in the first place. Tonight, I'm asking you to lead with presence, to lead with

030advocacy, lead with an understanded rooting and firsthand experience. Let's be a board that doesn't just govern our schools. Let's be a board that knows our schools. Our teachers need you. Our administrators need you. And above all, our students, including my own, need you. Thank you, Rebecca Ragger. Uh, my name is Rebecca Reagger from the Gainesburgh area. I wrote this on the way home from Dumpries today, so it's a little off. I apologize. Uh, last time we were here, the school board mentioned that there are the same few people who show up each month. as if because there are only a handful of us. Our message isn't as important as what they think their base has. But then when you look at the recent results of the election, it is clearly more than just five liberals

031or independents that you see in this room. There's a community behind us. And it's a community that has been organizing and speaking out about what we see and hear from this board. A community of liberals, independents, and Republicans. and they don't like what they see. I hope that you take notice of those results and I hope that moving forward you govern for all constituents and not continue on only for what you keep calling your conservative base. Second, I want to mention that I've read five of the band books uh on the list the past month. For all the board members who lament that they just don't have the time to read, it's clearly not the case. It's just not a priority for you. Uh, I read a few pages past uh the very beginning for

032me, Earl, and the dying girl. And let me say that the passage that was read last time has a whole different meaning when you read the whole thing instead just a little bit. Lastly, I take issue with one book in particular, A Stlone Life by JC Dugard, outlines her kidnapping, repeated assaults, and rape over 18 years. Why then does our school board equate that story to pornography? Honestly, I think it says a lot more about you and the parents that fought against that book than the parents who you continue to call perverts. Thanks, >> Mr. FA. Apologize. I'll have to talk fast. >> Good evening, Mr. Chair and members of the board, my name is Joel Fa and I'm a resident of the Gainesboro District. First of first of all, while my comments tonight revisit

033discussions and decisions regarding the library materials opt-in policy, I want to be clear upfront that my primary focus here is not that policy. It's you, the members of the board. With that said, I have in my notes from the last board meeting, Mrs. Klein, endorsed by AM Sandwich. The opt-in policy, as decided by this board, is what it is for now. Though one wonders why we didn't go ahead and install a flashing red light over the naughty cart just to really flesh out the vibe or why a few members of this board spent over a year working on a book removal proposal before discovering the listing question included things like 1984 and Flowers for Alenon and finally taking steps to understand what was actually on the list and why. Side note, thank you to the

034librarians and their teams who spent so much time reviewing the books so we could actually answer that question. But there's still an aspect of this whole situation that needs to be addressed. Aristotle said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." As a matter of observation, any effort to restrict and deny access to a book often receives an objection in the form of a question. Have you even read it? A common retort is, "I don't have to. It's filth." So, I commend those of you who have made the effort to read some of the books you would like to have removed so that you can honestly say yes, you've read it. But I need you to understand that simply reading it is only the first

035step. If you haven't made any effort to understand the author's actual purpose or intent for including the naughty bits in the text, or for that matter why a number of educators may find the overall work worthwhile, despite the presence of those naughty bits, you're still not doing your homework. To illustrate my point, for the record, Aristotle never actually said what I quoted a minute ago, though it's widely claimed that he did. He said something similar, but more nuanced that makes an entirely different point. Neither, for the record, did Mrs. Klein actually claim to be endorsed by a ham sandwich. She was making a rhetorical point about endorsement. And neither, for the record, did anyone coming to this podium claim to want children to have free and unfettered access to the kind of material quoted by

036Mrs. Klein during her board member comments. Claiming that they did, I have to say, is not only a misunderstanding, but a bad faith misrepresentation of what people were actually trying to say. With respect, this is why people say you don't listen. It's not about citizen requests everyone can easily agree on. It's about trying to understand their actual concerns about contentious issues rather than assuming you know what they're saying and tuning out the rest. Just for one example, in the interest of time, it's not about wanting children to have access to purant material. It's about wanting young adults, still minors, but in the final stages of preparation for legal adulthood, to have access to literature that is widely recognized to have educational value in that stage of life. Now, does Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl,

037for example, meet the description of widely recognized to have educational value despite its objectionable portions? I don't know, and neither do you. Even if you've read it, unless you can in good faith explain why a lot of other people think it does, and why you disagree. To paraphrase Chesterton, if there's a fence in the road that you think doesn't belong, don't move it until you can explain who put it there and why. Thank you. >> Thank you. Ready? Okay, next we are moving on to reports. So, uh, I will turn it back over to the superintendent. >> All right, Mr. Chair, thank you very, very much. Um, I do have a few words here. First, I want to thank our amazing finance department for their amazing award. They always continue to amaze me with all

038their great work as well as with their fearless leader, Mrs. Anderson. So, thank you for um all the work you do and keeping us out of trouble. I greatly greatly appreciate that. Um I also want to thank our amazing students and our staff for their recogn recognitions, excuse me, today. Um and it just goes to show that true testament for the great staff that we have in this amazing school division. So, with that being said, Mr. Chair, it it is a season of thanks. We have a really big holiday next week and I just want to take the this time to thank our staff. Uh, our staff do amazing work every single day to do what's best for our students, to do what's best for this community, and they are tirelessly working to make sure

039that our students not only get what they need during the day, but they are working into the evenings with lesson plans, with making sure that they're doing the right thing in regards to all these initiatives we're rolling out. In addition to keeping our students safe, there's a lot of work that goes on into the evenings through threat assessments and having conversations to make sure that we have the right procedures in place and and the work goes on and on. So, I personally am very thankful for our amazing staff from top to bottom and I just cannot thank them enough. We we are very very blessed to have such amazing staff. So, just wanted to to to take that time to thank them. Um, next I also want to add of thanking all of our amazing

040veterans. And I did notice that there were some veterans on this board that didn't stand up. If we could give them a round of applause, too. Thank you for your your service. Mrs. Klein, Mr. Sturdivan, I know Mr. Atkins as well, who's not able to be here, is also a veteran. So, thank you all so much uh from the bottom of our hearts in all of the work that you you have done to support this this amazing country. Our thanks is bottomless. And if you are not a veteran, I know that you know somebody who is a family member or a friend who is a veteran. I have numerous uncles, I have cousins, I had numerous grandfathers that have fought in wars as you as mentioned there, Mr. Sturdivan, and I am forever grateful for

041all of our veterans and their dedication to our country. Lastly, um I also want to thank our school board and our board of supervisors for our preliminary conversations with budget and CIP. This is a very involved season, as you know. Um, a lot of you have been through this process before and I want to thank our board of supervisors specifically because of their time that they spent last week with us going over our projects having, excuse me, having an open mind um, and being collaborative as we talk about not only our projects today, but our projects five and 10 years down the road. Uh, and I applaud each of you for all of your hard work and dedication to uh, engage in these conversations and being collaborative and I just greatly greatly appreciate that. Um

042we we've showcased also some of our amazing students and and thing upandcoming procedures and initiatives at what we called our first ever state of the schools. uh and we hosted that at Milbrook and some of you were there and some members of the audience were there and it was a great opportunity for us to connect with our community stakeholders with both of our boards with other we had other elected officials there as we highlight the great things that we have happening here in Frederick County as well as the things that we need to add on. We are here for our students. We are here to make sure that we are providing them opportunities and pathways. And I've said this time and time again, we have to keep the main thing the main thing and that

043is our kids. And we know and recognize the things that we do great and we recognize the things that we can definitely improve upon and we want to know about those things so we can continue to get better and we are committed to that and that was the reason that we hosted the state of the schools which we are hoping to do for many years to come. So thank you Mr. Chair. Thanks to everybody. I hope everyone has a joyous and restful next week during their holiday season. So thank you Mr. Chair. Um, and we forgot to mention Frank. >> Mr. Funus. Yes. Rest in peace, Mr. Funus. Thank you. Um, next up is the Transportation Advisory Committee report. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Dr. Hummer. Um, so November is the the

044uh month that the transportation the transportation department um uh updates the board on the uh transportation advisory committee. Um so I don't have a whole lot to update just getting uh used to my new role as the transportation director in Frederick County Schools. But um we are working to uh we've >> presentation clicker there in front of me if you don't mind advancing the slides. Thank you sir. Sorry to interrupt. >> Sorry about that. It's not working. Okay. So, so we we currently have four members on our advisory committee. I just want to um encourage anybody who's interested um or has any questions to reach out to me at at my email address, holland gcpsk12.net. Be glad to answer any questions and point them in the direction that they need to go um for uh

045for the uh committee. Okay, thank you. Um, obviously we we need them to at least be available once a month to attend our meetings. So, we do have our first meeting scheduled on December the 4th at 5:30 at the transportation office. Um, and tenatively our next meeting will be held on uh Thursday, January 8th at 5:30 at the transportation office. >> Mr. Chairman, can I ask Mr. Holland a question? >> Certainly. >> Just want to make sure I understand. So, if I show up, there's a jazz ensemble that's going to be at the transportation advisory committee because I'm all in for that. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> They're wonderful. >> So, committee goals, obviously, we need to ratify our bylaws, establish monthly meetings, and then I think most importantly is the community input

046and communication. Um, just want to provide some oversight and look at sustainability and innovation. Any questions? >> Mr. Holland, thank you. And if you would just please pass on to your members as well, whatever they need from us as far as information to make better decisions, please let us know and we can, I'm sure, help facilitate that information to them. Right. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> Thank you. And next we have the CTE advisory committee report. >> Okay. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Sturdivant. Dr. Hummer and members of the school board. It's on behalf of the career and technical education advisory board. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak to present to the committee update. Um let's see. Okay, just to give you a little bit of information, I was notified on

047January 8th that I'd been selected to join the committee. Um, our first uh SCTEAC meeting was scheduled on January 14th, but inclement weather postponed the meeting. On January 22nd, there was a meeting at Milbrook High School, but we had no quorum present, so no business was conducted. Foyer training had to be completed prior to the next meeting on April 1st. At that meeting, there was not a quorum again. The next meeting was set for June 10th at the Dao J. Howard Technical Center. On June 10th, 2025 at the D um on June 10th, three members of the CTEAC met with a quorum and established bylaws and selected officers. I was elected chairperson. Terry Troya was elected vice chair and Chris Zubo was elected secretary. On August 9th, Mr. Bishop was appointed as the CTE supervisor.

048Due to scheduling conflicts, the first CTE meeting for the school year um was held at the schoolboard office on October 22nd. At that meeting, a quorum was established and four of the six committee members were physically present with one other member participating virtually. At that meeting, it was determined that quarterly meetings were ineffective and monthly meetings would be held. Currently, the committee has three teachers. A former air traffic controller who now works with higher education developing ATC courses, a member who is the senior director of sales at a technology corporation, and myself who represents pharmacy and medical pathways. Pursuant to Frederick County Public School policy 608P and 608R, the CTEAC effectively functions with members who represent all stakeholders. The committee should be composed of members who have a vested interest in the education and preparation

049of students for employment, enlistment, and/or enrollment following high school graduation. These members should encompass the 14 pathways and 72 sub pathways. As you can see from the requirements of Perkins 5, the CTEAC need for members who represent other pathways is paramount and to that end, committee membership must be expanded. The CTEAC discussed this at our last meeting on November 12th, and we are reaching out to business and industry leaders to solicit their participation. The world of work has dramatically changed and continues to transform. 20 years ago, many of today's careers did not exist. New skills are now required in other existing careers, and there will be new careers that we are only beginning to imagine. It is imperative that the world of learning must respond to these changes. As you can see from the framework

050there, as you can see from the framework wheel, there are six large purpose-driven meta sectors that help guide young people toward clusters that are aligned with their interests, their sense of purpose, and the impact they want to make on their communities. The next section of the wheel is the 14 career clusters, industry sectors as defined by groupings from the standard occupational classification and North American industry classification system codes. States have historically used this as a foundation for the CTE program of study design. A cluster is a broad group of grouping of occupations that share common skills and knowledge. While a pathway is a more specific subgroup within a cluster that outlines a specific career or program of study. For example, health sciences is a cluster and therapeutic services is a pathway within that cluster preparing

051individuals for professional jobs such as a pharmacist, physician or physical therapist. Each cluster contains multiple subclusters which can be customized to align with state and community labor market data and program structure. Lastly, we have the 72 subclusters which are major groupings of career areas within a given field that have similar skills as defined by industry area. The modern framework contains 14 career clusters as opposed to the 16 that were originally recognized. The CTEAC will strive to include at least one person from each of the 14 career clusters. A CTE completer is a student who has successfully finished a specific sequence of career and technical education courses in a particular industry pathway, including the final completer or capstone course and has met the program's requirements for graduation. For the 2024 2025 school year, Frederick County Public

052Schools had 779 students identified as completers. The CTE advisory committee welcomes input from the school board and the staff of Frederick County Public Schools. We look forward to the opportunity to assist FCPS with identifying critical needs and high demand, high wage opportunities for students as well as making recommendations that we believe will infuse students with the passion to become lifelong learners. Are there any questions? >> Just a comment. I am thrilled to see that these numbers for the CTE completers keep ticking up. So that's very uh it's very reassuring. That's a lot of great great work done and and statewide too. So that's that's excellent. So thank you, Mrs. Cook. >> Okay. Any further questions? Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next is our budget priorities. All right, Mr. Chair.

053So, these were the budget priorities that we had discussed at the retreat just a couple weeks ago and we made the adjustment as we discussed. If you could see in the first one there with adding on career and technical education programs, uh that is something that we know that we are very passionate about. I know that you all had some questions and comments as well. We greatly appreciate that support. So, these are up in front of you for your approval this evening. And Mr. Chair, Mr. Chair, I move that the uh board adopt the budget priorities for fiscal year 2027 as presented by the superintendent. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. Any opposed?

054That motion passes. >> Okay. Next up are the CIP priorities. We presented these to you last year um for the first time. We had budget priorities that we've done every year, but as we continue to expand and grow and renovate, we felt it was necessary to also have conversations about CIP priorities which are here in front of you for approval. >> All right. And Mr. Chair, I move the board adopt the CIP priorities as presented by the superintendent. >> Second. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The motion carries. >> All right. And last but not least are the 10-year CIP projects list. You have seen this numerous times now. Uh again, we had a great

055conversation with our board of supervisors last week. I want to be very clear that this process is very unique in that it is reviewed and adjusted every year and based on when we feel that we will be receiving funding for these projects is when we do send a resolution downtown. At this point, we are not sending a resolution. We're not making that recommendation, but per state code um and per the county policy, we do have to submit these projects updated every year. So, this could change and be adjusted next year. So, as of right now, the top three projects are Bass Hoover renovation, Apple Pie Ridge, as well as the fifth middle school with the rest of the projects listed on here as well, and those will be continue to be in for conversations and

056further discussion. >> Fantastic. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. So, these are up for your approval this evening. >> All right, Mr. Chair, I move that we that the board approve the CIP tenure projection list. >> Second. >> Okay. Motion has been made and has been properly seconded. Is there any discussion, >> Mr. Chair? >> Sir, >> um I know that uh this is great. I'm glad that we have these three uh three items that are desperately in need of of being taken care of, but if you could go to number four, please. >> Can you stop it? Yeah, >> absolutely. >> So, um we had briefly discussed or at least I had raised the idea of also including the ENREP, uh building at No, I'm sorry. Um, Dal J, there it is. Thank you. Number

057five. I had also raised the idea of uh bringing Dal J. Howard uh into the making it a top four um because of how important CTE is to our community and to the students that we have and honestly to to myself. Um, I think that, um, I know that we have to be mindful of our, uh, dollars that we spend and the amount of revenue that the county is able to, um, obtain, but um, I just want to throw that out there to the community that, you know, we are talking about, um, what's best for the students and how we can most, uh, raise them forward and raise them up. And I do honestly believe that Dal J. Howard Center should be in that top list, the top four. Now, I realize we're going to

058go forward with the top three, but I just wanted to to make that plug for Dal J. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Okay, >> Mr. Chairman. >> Yes, sir. >> Could I just ask if Dr. Wood Dr. Homer, would you just remind us um one more time how that priority list is constructed? And so, for instance, how does something become number six and not seven or four and not five? >> That's a great question. So there is a series of timelines with these projects and as I mentioned to you it's a five-year project list but we address it and review it every year. So essentially we get a series of list based on our cap list based on the age of our schools based on renovation needs. We like to try to start having conversations

059for renovations around every 40 years. That that's typically the the sweet spot. And then of course we look at our enrollment numbers. We look at our projections and we look at where we are going to be landing over the next couple years. As you all know and we've had this conversation at that budget retreat that if we had our brothers we would be asking for the fifth middle school. Now um that would be in our best interest because based on our projections we are going to be over capacity at the middle school level. But as Mr. Bell had mentioned and as we talked about at that meeting is that we do want to be respectful to the debt capacity of the county. And quite honestly, we also want to take the lookout for our staff

060because we're working on three really big projects right now as we've discussed. Um, so that is based on again the needs. It's based on conversations that we're very thankful that we've been able to have more collaborative conversations with the county and we were able to move these items throughout the list. This is also something else that we did discuss and this is more as as a reminder if you recall just probably about four years ago and beyond that um we were just sending downtown 7 to 10 projects and it was a lot and it was a lot for the community to digest. It was a lot for both of the boards to digest and that is where we've had conversations with the county to say what are our top needs. Yes, we have all these

061projects over the next 10 years, but what's a better way for us to process and digest because a lot of all these projects cost money and we understand that we want to be fiscally responsible. We want to respect the taxpayer dollar and we want to do it in incremental fashion. So that is why you only see top three items. Now all these projects are going downtown as part of their main process, but we share with them these are our projects that we're considering but our school board only adopted three. So um and then we continue to have those conversations. We might come to you next year and say, you know, there's a school that that's in dire need because of A, B, and C, and then we have to move and shift items around. But

062based on where we are today, based on collaboration with our team, based on collaboration with downtown, those were the top three items that we had had proposed. And if I can make a recommendation, and we we talked about this, is at this point it it honestly doesn't matter if you add a number four, leave it at the top three because we are not going to be requesting any dollars and it's going to be changing next year anyways, of course. >> So, does that answer your question, Dr. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> No, thank you. Okay. Next is committee reports. The first one >> I don't think you all approved it. >> Oh, we didn't. Did we? We had discussion. I'm sorry. >> Any further discussion? >> I think there's a motion on the table

063that's been seconded, right? >> Yes, it has been seconded. All right. Hearing no further discussion, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Any opposed? That motion carries. All right. Sorry about that. I'm not used to all that discussion. Committee reports are next. So, first is the student conduct and support committee meeting report. All right. A meeting of the student conduct and support committee. The Frederick County School Board was held on October the 29th, 2025. Meeting was called to order at 5:13 p.m. and a copy of the minutes has been provided to each board member. During the meeting, the committee went into close session to review and discuss individual student matters that would involve specific students and particular information contained in the scholastic records, including disciplinary matters pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2-3711A.2. After

064reconvening and certifying the close session, the committee voted to uphold the hearing officer's recommendation on a 3 to zero vote. The meeting adjourned at 524. Additional details regarding the information covered at the meeting are included in the minutes provided to board members. and action items coming out of my committee. Just one. Uh I move that the board approve the minutes from the student conduct and support committee meeting held on October the 29th, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion has been made, properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next is the buildings and grounds committee meeting report. All right, I'm reading for Mr. Atkins. A meeting of the building and grounds committee of the Frederick County Public School Board was held on

065November 17th, 2025. The meeting was called to order at 4:32 p.m. and a copy of the minutes has been provided to each board member. During the meeting, Mr. Kaitton discussed the CAP projects update. CAP projects update. Mr. Shepard shared the Jameswood High School water and sewer facilities and gave an update on the planning and design of the fourth high school. the Middletown Elementary School expansion and the Jordan Springs Elementary School expansion. Mr. Shepard also reviewed the Gainesboro Road project, the Middletown Fire and Rescue Kitchen lease agreement, and the potential state grant opportunities for CAP and CIP projects, and the CIP project updates. Mr. Holland gave a transportation update that included bus scrapping, and Mr. Thompson discussed the upcoming contract award for Milbrook and Casework for expansion projects. the contract award for the Jameswood High School

066track resurfacing and the upcoming contract award for the Jordan Springs Elementary School expansion project. The meeting adjourned at 5:06 p.m. Additional details regarding the committee meeting are included in the minutes provided to board members. Do board members have any questions about what was covered at the building and grounds committee meeting held on November 17th? And if you do, somebody else can answer them. All right. Um, and action items coming from that. Yeah. All right. I move the board approve the amended and restated Frederick County Sanitation Authority deed of easement affidavit and waiver of lean and bill of sale. >> Second. >> Motion has been made, properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> I move the board approve the United States

067Army Corps of Engineers right of entry form and the USACE authorization to act as an agent form. >> Second. >> Motion has been made. Properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> I move the board approve the Middletown Fire and Rescue Kitchen lease agreement. >> Second. Motion has been made, properly seconded. Is there any discussion, >> Mr. Chair? >> Chair, >> please. No, I do. I go ahead. >> I think we're probably going to say the same. We are. Wait. So, I just uh just want the public to know that this is an amazing partnership that uh we are going to have with Middletown. Um so, first to give you a little backstory. In order to do the full

068renovation at Middletown Elementary, the kitchen was going to be out of commission for quite some time. So, in order for us to bring in a mobile kitchen, it would have been a massive expense. in the town of Middletown, specifically Charles Harbaugh and his his team reached out to us and said, "Well, let's see if we can work something out with the fire and rescue department there on Main Street, and we were able to do so." So, um, thank a huge huge props to the town of Middletown, the city council that approved this, um, as well as Mayor Harbaugh as well for his partnership. So, that's all I have, Mr. Chair. >> I was going to say the opposite. >> The opposite. Oh, no. >> Uh, Mr. Mr. Chair, if I may, um I'd like to

069echo what uh um Miss Klein has to say about Middletown and about our mayor, about Mayor Charles Harbaugh. Um one of the most giving and amazing human beings that I've had the pleasure of getting to know and to know. Um I think this is a real testament to the community that we have in um in Frederick County that a town would open up its fireh hall to our schools so that we can continue to provide the nutritious food that we do to our students. So, thank you very much. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> All right. I move the board approve the request to scrap 25 buses and one trailer and dispose of one bus by auction. >> Second. >> Motion has been made

070and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? >> U. Mr. Chair, if I may. Um, just one thing. Some of you may be wondering why 25 buses are being scrapped and one is being disposed of by auction. We're actually taking a look um to see what the potential is for auctioning in the future and to see if this is a better bang for our buck uh versus scrapping them. So, we're we're actually trying to to test the idea of of disposing uh one by auction to see if we can actually bring back more dollars to the school versus just scrapping them. So, I just wanted to explain that in case people wondered. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying, "I." >> I. Any opposed? That motion

071carries. >> I move the board approve the contract award to ATC Corp. for the Jameswood High School track reservicing in the amount of $317,10. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and been properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> And finally, I move the board approve the minutes from the buildings and grounds committee meeting held on November 17th, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Next we have uh instruction committee report. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. A meeting of the instruction committee of the Frederick County School Board was held on November 17, 2025. The

072meeting was called to order at 5:31 p.m. and a copy of the minutes has been provided to each board member. During the meeting, Dr. Hummer reviewed the agenda. Mrs. Mulani discussed the elementary Q1 data. Dr. Mr. Meyers reviewed the secondary Q1 data. Ms. Knight and Ms. Campbell share the annual report and SOQ ratio presentation. Mr. Thompson discussed the draft calendar review for SY for school year 2627 and school year 2728. And Miss Swagger reviewed the library update and reconsideration of materials result. The meeting adjourned at 7:36 p.m. Additional details regarding the information covered at the committee meeting are included in the minutes provided to board members. Are there any questions from board members about information shared at the instruction committee meeting held on November 17th? All right. Hearing none, we do have a couple of

073motions coming out of the meeting. The first motion is to uh is this. I move that the board retain beyond magenta and maintain its designation as sexually explicit. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and has been properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. The second motion. I move the board retain me and Earl and the dying girl with the designation of sexually explicit. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and has been properly seconded. Is there any discussion? >> Mr. Chair, if I may, just to clarify for the public, the language in this one, me, Earl, and the dying girl was originally removed from the sexually explicit designation list. So, this is we are voting to put

074it back on the sexually explicit list. So just want to clarify that for all board members as well as the audience. >> Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> And finally the third motion. I move that the board approve the minutes from the instruction committee meeting held on November 17th, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion has been made, properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> Next is the U quarter one data review >> and the SOQ presentation. That is correct. >> All right. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, we'll have Mrs. Knight come on up and provide a overview of our quarter 1 data and

075SOQ presentation and answer any questions you have. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Sure. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Knight. >> Of course. Thank you. And again, good is this? Yep, it is. All right. And again, good evening members of the board and of course, Mr. Chair and Dr. Hummer and members of our public. Thank you guys for staying here this evening with us. So, in the interest of time, because I know this presentation has been shared a number of times, I am going to do my best to move through it quickly, but by all means, please pause, have me pause along the way to address any questions that you may have. I always delight in the opportunity to give you an idea of where we stand and some of our trials and triumphs along

076the way as we work hard to build a school system that we are really really exceptionally proud of. So for quarter 1, here's where we're starting at the elementary level. Um much like our secondary level, we evaluate three metrics or three checkpoints. We consider them our ABPs. So we evaluate attendance, behavior, and performance. They're not the only metrics that we look at, but we certainly prioritize those three. The key point slide does not necessarily mean these are all highlights, but they're just things that we called out, so to speak, that we want to make certain that we call attention to. And some of those things we're proud of, and some of those things are opportunities for us to get better. In the very first one that we've called out just specific to attendance, 49% of

077all chronic absenteeism or all chronically absent students at the elementary level fall within our economically disadvantaged category. And within that category, we are seeing really incremental decreases. So, we're moving in the right direction, however small. And that is a really difficult population to move because of all of the various um challenges that are often uh faced by students in our economically disadvantaged community. For behavior, um we're seeing a reduction at the elementary school, 15% reduction. That is we think that's pretty substantial from this time last year at at the elementary level. after some calibration, all administrators are on the same page and we'll continue to work through that. But we're seeing our numbers trend in the right direction. And then in terms of student performance, while again a number we're not necessarily proud of, but

078it's moving in the right direction, 42% of our Hispanic students are currently still identified at as high risk based on our vowels assessment, but at this time last year, that was 56%. So moving in the right direction. Okay. All right. And now these are highlights, things that we really are proud of. either we're calling out schools on this particular slide or we're calling out specific bandwide data. So, some of the numbers are still low, but they're important points to highlight. So, with the 55% level, although 55% of our L's are still identified as high risk, I mean, we almost dropped 20 percentage points for this group for bowels. So, that's huge. 20% fewer students are identified in this category than they were last year. for students with disabilities, 21% of them have been identified in

079the low-risk category um or were. Now we're at 13%. So that's a big deal for us because we have to move that population and um students with disabilities and we heard from some of our families also this evening that is um an an area of our um school division that I think we have a lot of work to do for a lot of reasons. And so to see any numbers moving in the right direction is really positive. So, um, a really kudos to all of our special ed leads and all of our special education teachers who are working incredibly hard to make inroads with this population. And then lastly, for chronic absenteeism, last year as a division, we landed at 16% across the division in terms of chronic absenteeism. You will see here at the

080elementary level, currently in present day, we are down 12%. This time last year, we were sitting at 20% which exceeded the district average. So really, really, really good work being done by our student support specialists across our schools and uh Mr. Strong's team along with all of our administrators and teachers who are doing everything they can to get children to school. So those are some highlights from the elementary level. Specific to attendance, here's a global view so that you can see how all of our elementary schools are currently performing as it relates to attendance. You can see while the numbers are somewhat high in some of our elementary schools, by and large we have some really smart work being done over at OVEs. OBEEs for everyone is Orchard View Elementary School as well as work

081that's being done at um uh looks like um Evenendale and Arl. Really shout outs to all of those administrators for the work they're doing. But even the ones that are sitting at the 14%, they're 2% below the division average. And Greenwood Mill also is on there. It had 8%. >> And that's right. Greenwood Mill. Yep. And Greenwood Mill. Thank you. Yep. >> How about I put my glasses on? That may help a little bit. Okay. So, for behavior, yeah, now the world has opened up. Um, so I can see a lot better. All right. So, for behavior, let's take a look here. This is a mixed slide. This is one of the roller coaster slides. So we again we're down by 15% overall at the elementary level but you can see the schools that are

082making some early inroads with that and some of the schools that are still struggling a little bit and we've talked about behavior as a division and that's a priority for us. We've installed something new called the bees team or the behavior um support team where we deploy supports from central office to try to help build capacity at the school level. And so we're continuing to take in requests and referrals for that and we'll see if it helps us to continue to move these numbers in the right direction. This is massive. Dr. Erskin and I were just looking at Gainesboro >> 43 to 13. >> Wow. >> Way to go, Dr. Reeves and Co. That is wonderful. >> Yeah. >> And apple pie as well down a large chunk. This is great. >> That's right. Others,

083too. Those are the two that just that stood out. >> That's right. So, very good. Very smart work being done in those on those campuses. >> All right. Moving from behavior to performance. So Val's data just to give you an idea we won't live in these slides because Val's data is not predictive of so outcomes. This data is primarily screening data that really helps school teachers understand which students need support. So these assessments identify students who need reading plans who need intensive reading support. So whether our students if those students fall into our high-risisk category those are the ones are students who are going to end up with reading plans. So these numbers reflect for us an an an unfortunate trend but it's not one in which we can do a whole lot about because

084the children are coming to us as you can see from kindergarten with this level of readiness or lack thereof but we are seeing marginal improvements with reading performance. We just don't have a a divisionwide assessment yet at the elementary level to measure reading performance. This again is just a screener and we have nothing correlative to tell us whether or not elementary students are performing. So, um, but it gives us some information and that's what we're using right now. Okay. So, that's overall across all of the grade levels and compared to in comparison from last year to this year. This slide here, um, for the sake of, um, getting too granular, what this just means when you see the plus or minuses here in that single that center column, the minuses are a good thing, right?

085We are moving kids from high risk to low risk. And where we see the one area where we did increase by 4% that was that was not something that we thought was worthy of celebrating but certainly worthy of highlighting um and and making certain that we're being transparent about it. We did have a few children that moved from low risk back into either moderate or high risk. So and then this slide here is moving from reading to mathematics at the elementary level. And so here you can see that our students are starting off at the elementary level. um below primarily, but if it brings you any consolation, this is a cumulative assessment at the beginning of the year. So, it's assessing everything. So, the children are coming in, they would not know these grade level

086standards because they hadn't been tested on them yet. So, we expect this to be low. So, where I want you to hold us accountable is when we come back here in the spring and in the in the winter and the spring, we expect to see more bands of blue and we expect to see more bands bands of green in the winter and the spring. Okay? And then same thing here. This is just grade by grade. All right. Any questions about either reading or math at the elementary level, chronic absenteeism or Okay, everybody feels good. All right. Well, thank you. And then this slide just ultimately sums it all up as well, so I won't be repetitive here. So, next steps. What are we planning to do about it a little bit? So, one of the

087things we're continuing to really take a look at is our um it's identified here as a CIS team, but Mr. Strong has asked us to use SST teams. So, our student support teams, those are those teams that are anchored by our student support specialists. And the vision for those teams are really supposed to be um a multifunctional team that includes so social workers, psychologists, school counselors, nurses when available or when necessary, and other school personnel that really look at the profile of a student and figure out the best way to clear any barriers for why students can't make it to school. So, we are growing in those teams. Remember, thanks to your support, we were able to get new student support specialists last year, but we're still working to build out the rest of the

088spokes on that wheel with those additional related services to help create this comprehensive whole school whole child profile team. And um so we're continuing to work at that, but in the meantime, our student support specialists are providing um an exceptional exceptional amount of customer support and service to our families and working very hard hand inand to get elementary school students to school. and we have set a divisionwide goal of a 3% reduction from that 16% to 13% by the end of the year and thus far our numbers reflect that we're moving in the right direction. So again we're going to continue to work at that. Um, as it relates to our vows assessment data, again, what we are doing, um, is really hammering home and I think our administrators really understand it, the use of

089HQIM, which is high quality instructional materials, um, that we have provided them, which come from the division, the expectation is to hold the line in using that and as long as we continue to use that with fidelity and consistency, we expect to continue to see those numbers trend towards the low-risk category for student discipline. um an alignment here. It's continued conversations with administrators across the band about how we're coding children in using our best team, our bees team, our behavior support team, and the capacity building that's happening within our schools to continue to make sure students um meet behavior standards that we find acceptable. And then lastly, for our I Ready data, uh thank you to your board support. We were able to buy I Ready kits in mathematics. We still have a ways to

090go in terms of HQIM for math, but by kind of pulling together all the resources that we currently have. Uh we are hoping that we'll begin to see our math data trend in the right direction. So using those new kits that were just purchased for this year. Okay, >> Miss Knight, just one quick question. I see H I've seen HQIM a lot. So the high quality instructional materials, love the acronyms, the whole new acronyms that I've had. >> Credit the state with that. >> Okay, excellent. Um, the only thing I can think of at this late of an hour to equate it to like when I go through the grocery store and I see natural chicken, I'm like, well, what does the unnatural chicken look like? So, what what is there such thing as lowquality

091instructional materials? Oh my goodness. How is that quantified? >> Absolutely. >> Yes. So, um, so for for us, especially when it comes to reading, um, the state has vetted those materials. So, what's considered HQIM or highquality instructional material at minimum is alignment with the state standards. So that means that the state of Virginia says this is what children are expected to know and be able to do. The material that's selected needs to match that not only in terms of the content that's being asked but in terms of the rigor level that the standard is demanding. So I'll give you an example. If teachers are doing an activity where the standard may say we want students to um analyze this text and make a comparison and then place animals in their scientific categories. But then if

092we have someone using a worksheet that may ask you to circle a tiger, circle a bear, while it may meet the standard because the content was about animals or classification, the level of rigor does not match, identifying something is a lot less complicated, pointing, recognition versus being able to analyze, which requires you to compare and to contrast. So HQIM means that what we're putting in front of children match both in terms of content expectation and the level or demand of the standard. And so that's what we're looking for, which is why we often discourage the use of pulling together resources from offline that haven't always been vetted, things like that. So it's our responsibility as a division to put HQIM in the hands of all of our teachers across every one of our subject areas.

093We are working towards that for reading especially at the elementary level. We feel really solid. They had have they have their HQIM and they have their training. We are working on adoption for reading material for 6 through 12 this year as well as math for elementary school. And of course, you know, these are really seismic costes costs. So we can't buy every resource we need all in one year and say everyone's outfitted. So there's a review, revision, and replacement cycle that we use in order to make decisions like that. But ultimately the goal is outfit everyone with HQIM and um support them in using it. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. Now let's take a walk through secondary. We're going to start with middle school very quickly. Um I heard Mrs. Klein's

094warning at this late hour, so we are going to speed along here. Um again, our ABPS. So with attendance in middle school, we are seeing a 7% reduction in those students who were chronically absent last year. Again, trending in the right direction. Similarly with behavior, 8% reduction since this time last year. And in performance, um one is a highlight, one not so much. Um in reading, you'll see us unpack that a little bit more in a moment, but 6% in increase um of our students who are on or above grade level in reading. and um in math a reduction of students who are achieving mastery in grade seven math and that's an area where we really we are really struggling with grade seven mathematics across the board. So you'll see me talk a little bit

095about that in a moment. All right and these are some highlights just some schools we really want to say thank you to for the again the smart work they're doing. So Frederick County Middle School has the highest proportion of students achieving mastery in grade six mathematics 78%. And what's significant about this math number, unlike what you saw with the um both the I Ready in elementary and the LL is this assesses what children learn this quarter. So that's a huge deal. That's a big deal, right? So based on what their teachers taught them and what they remember um and have been able to demonstrate mastery, Frederick County leads the pack. 78% of those sixth graders are knocking it out of the park. >> Where were they this So I'm sorry. No worries. Where were they

096this quarter last year? >> I don't have that number, but I can find out for you. Let me just wonder. I like I like my benchmarks >> to have a reference point. That's a huge number and it's amazing. >> It is. It actually is. I'll make a note and I'll make sure you get that. Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. And so in terms of um so Jameswood Middle School also doing a great job in moving students in the needle for reading language arts. They are up by 11% and I will find that comparison reference point for everyone here as well. And then again, Frederick County Middle School under the leadership of the great David Glascock, as you can see, is also trending in the right direction with chronic absenteeism. And then across the

097band, 15% reduction for our sixth graders, which is great news for seventh grade teachers. When they come in, great. We hope to keep them that way by the time they get to seventh grade, which we know can sometimes be a little bit wild. So, it's great to see our sixth graders are already following following in line with the FCMS way. I would also this board member would also like to see where FCMS and James Whitm Middle these the 78 the 11 and the 12 where were they this quarter last year and then this quarter the year prior. Okay. So, two years. >> Really curious. Yes, absolutely. >> There's been a lot of changes made. So, I take a look at the impact of those. >> Sounds good. Thank you. We will do that. And so,

098here at the high school level, again, similarly, um, so high school is seeing in terms of attendance a 6% 6% reduction in students who were chronically absent. Again, we're happy with any reduction, but 6% is pretty statistically significant. So, we feel really good about that. Behavior. Um, high school, it es and flows. There's an increase in behavioral infractions, but that's because our administrators are being exceptionally diligent. And what I hear is cell phones and tardies to school are the primary infractions at the high school level. So, our administrators are on and holding our students to high standards. And that's what we want to see. So, we're okay with that increase. And then performance-wise, um 31% of students, and I I have a qualifier for this, are reading at or above grade level. That number we

099believe is really skewed. We know that more than 31% of our high school students can read at or above grade level. We when we saw that number, we were equally alarmed and ultimately determined all of our students were not being tested. So we're working to correct some of those systems to make certain the data fully reflects all of our student body. Okay, so that's why that number looks like that. And of course, we expect students in ma in geometry to format perform at a high level and they are. Okay, and then these were just some of the highlights. Uh Jameswood High School, 93% of their students have demonstrated mastery again taught material from quarter 1, 93%. Um 66% of students across the band are demonstrating readiness through our work keys alternative assessment. Uh we see

100a 7% reduction in chronic absenteeism. Again, go Colonels. And then 21% of our students um have had a reduction in discipline infractions at Sharando. And I talk to that team all the time. And all four all three of our high schools have wonderful students, but Shirando um their administrators are really proud of how well their students are um how well their students are doing, how engaged they are, and how well they respond to administrative correction. So, really good stuff. All right. And then just ABPs. Here's your zoomed out view so that you can see all of our schools. Again, everybody's trending in the right direction. And again, everyone is under where we landed at 16%. So, good stuff there. behavior es and flows. This is that roller coaster again and we just kind of talked

101about it, but overall we're still down as a band except for chronic um for tardies and cell phones. >> And it's my understanding with Milbrook that it's they're they're reporting it. It's just that they're reporting more. It's not that there is actually more than there was last year. It's just their reporting culture has increased. >> That's right. Remember that calibration conversation between all the administrators. So some were reporting and some weren't. Now everybody's reporting. >> Everybody's reporting. Fantastic. And then lastly, performance data. Excl much like the I Ready data, it's reflective of the entire year of standards. So this is not just quarter 1. So we know that our students can uh perform a lot better than this. This is just where they're starting. And so we're expecting to see more green and blue as

102the um assessment administrations in both the winter and the spring. Okay. Mathematics. Again, we just talked about this so I won't belabor it. Um, middle school math is our greatest area of challenge right now. Seventh grade out of all the middle school math grades is the area where we need the most help. But you can see some call outs here. Sixth grade math at FCMS is really doing an exceptional job. And in eighth grade math, Admiral Bird leads the way. Okay. Um, algebra and geometry. We expect students to do well in both of these areas and they are. So you can see here the red represents mastery. So Yep. and taught material. Again, by the way, >> same thing in geometry. Um, really high numbers over 70% of the students are doing well in those

103that course. And then similar here with high school as was with middle school starting point, we expect to see more green and more blue. This is just where the year has started. Okay. Same thing with geometry. And I'll be honest, our plan for how we're supporting elementaryaries is very similar to our plan for how we're supporting our secondary schools, working with our SST teams, um continuing to deploy our best team and build capacity, working with our families, reading performance using the resources that we have. We we offer principles once monthly a series called leading literacy. So they build capacity with us every month to help lead literacy within their buildings. And then math performance is again something we're all targeting and we're working really hard to get the right resources in the hands of our

104schools. Okay, so that's our data and if you guys don't have any further questions, I'm happy to roll right into our annual report and SOQS. >> Just a quick comment, Mr. Chairman, if I may. >> Um, thank you very much, Miss Knight. I really appreciate the the attention to detail and and the information that you were able to put together in >> 15 minutes. >> Oh. Oh, good. Yes, >> I just want to make a comment and sort of a connection and correct me if I'm wrong, but uh the chronic absenteeism and behavior trending down and our scores the way they look um can sort of give us a a good a bit of hope that when the new cut scores land that we're going to be a lot closer to them than what we

105had been or what we might have been had we not implemented these same these same plans. >> Oh, without a doubt we will be a lot closer. I think all of this gives us hope in my my mind. The way I see some of these which we is why we use some of the big bubbles because I think of them as islands, right? So we have islands or pockets of success. Our goal eventually is to have an entire school that has outstanding performance across ABPs, right? And then when you move from one school that has mastered all ABPs, then you moved across the band. So now we have all schools within that band who have exceptional performance in all ABPs. With the new cut scores, we've had an opportunity to preview where our schools would

106land. Um, I'll I'll I'll put it this way. Um, that's why Dr. Hummer and all the superintendents are advocating for change um at the state level because it's we want to raise the bar too, but we can't raise the bar before we provide the resources in order to do that. Um, so yes, we'll be a lot closer, but um, we're going to have some work to do if those cut cut scores hold, but we have plenty of time as the state has approved. We will have a few years before that final phase drops. So, I'm confident we can get there. >> I know the students anxiety at my school is is running a bit higher than usual with regards to it, and I imagine it's the same here in Frederick County. I know my daughter

107who hates standardized test tests with a passion and isn't the greatest tester although she does fine >> um is really concerned with the new cut scores and so I can't imagine where students are or how they're feeling. So >> um I'm just I'm I'm pleased that we're we're optimistic. >> I am too. Very optimistic. >> Y and thank you guys for all your support. It's helping and it's making a huge difference. So I wouldn't worry too early. Right. Okay. Is it Have you all figured out, let's say, even two reasons for the chronic absenteeism. >> Well, I mean, there are a number of variables when a student doesn't come to school. It really depends on bands. So, at the elementary level, >> much there's got to be something at the top. >> Well, I can't

108tell you for sure that I've identified the reason. I'm happy to check with the SST team and Joe's team to see if they've pulled out more than one of those reasons. Some of the things that I hear, of course, at the elementary level, it often has a lot to do with parents getting children to school. And so, we have if our elementary students aren't there, it's often times it's a parent issue. So, we're working really hard through engagement to try to make that work. At the secondary level, I mean, some of it has a lot to do with students and their living situations and circumstances. Um, but I won't conjecture. I will check to see if we have any hard data to support any specific variables that are our students are dealing with more than

109others and I'll get back to you if that's okay. >> Okay. Other questions? Okay. I will move into our annual report at this time and I'll move quickly. You have seen these numbers before so there is no surprise here. um the state um sets our SOQs so that essentially it's um a per pupil toteer ratio that they believe is balanced and suitable for learning that creates the right conditions for learning. That's ultimately what those mean. And as long as you keep 24 to1 in mind, the numbers that you'll see on the succeeding slides will make plenty of sense to you. So 24 to one for kindergarten primary grades um grades 6 through 12 English are is the number to hold in your head and then 25 to one for our intermediate grades in four through

110six and then when you get to high school and middle school just note that there's a shift it moves from a division average to a schoolwide average. Okay. All right. With that said um I have taken the liberty just in the interest of um not having to um to make it a little easier for you to process the data. I've just highlighted the schools where we are right on the cusp. So if it's not highlighted, it means we're in really good shape. If it's highlighted, it means we are right there and we already know that because we've talked about our growth. So there none of these numbers are a surprise. At the elementary schools, the trend you will see is these numbers are right on the cus at the intermediate grades. So grades four through

111five is where you'll see the highest or largest class sizes that are sitting right there at the average. And then at the um at the secondary level, you'll see the courses that we are looking at for that or the grade levels. Um elementary schools here, Aendale and Greenwood Mill. So again, sitting very close to the edge here. Uh Indian Hollow and Middletown. Again, nothing surprising here. And then Red Bud Run. And so overall for our band average for kindergarten, you can see we're in really good shape. 15 to1. We again are we try to keep these classes at, you know, 18 to1. So we're in good shape across the division for that. Grades one through three, we're sitting at 18 to1ish. And then at the intermediate grades divisionwide, we're 23, but you saw a few

112schools that exceed that a little bit. Okay. These are our resource teachers, and none of these are in jeopardy. So, all of our resource classes are well balanced. Okay. So, as I move through those, feel free to stop me at any time if you have a question about any of our schools. >> Middletown consistently pops out. >> That's right. You see those numbers? >> Few trailers or learning cottages later or the ranch is what they call it now. >> The ranch. Uh so, we needed the ranch. We probably need an extended ranch to get these numbers down a little bit more. But yes, going to borrow that. It's the ranch. Go visit them. >> All right. And then these are our schools um that meet the K3 um the class size reduction and um we

113are on par. We're in compliance with that. Okay. Middle schools, same thing here. Remember at sixth grade it's 24 to1 and um for English language arts and then everything else for middle school and high school is 21 to1. So you can see the school ratios here. We are not in jeopardy until we get to the high schools. You'll see where it goes up a little bit. Okay. Okay. And so you can see at Aaylor, we're sitting right there on that cusp right there after 24 to1. We're at 23. So we just have an eye on that. All right. And here we go at high school. Again, no surprise. Thank you for your support. Our fourth high school is needed. And this is one of the reasons why because our schoolwide average shifts from a district-wide

114average to schoolwide. and it's supposed to be 21 to1 and we're at 21 for each of the high schools. Okay, so those are our ratios. And then here's a summary for you. And the summary says we're right now in good shape and we are in compliance. No FCPS kindergarten classroom exceeds the max number of students, which is 29. None of our FCPS classrooms at the primary grades exceeds the 30 students. Um, and then at the fourth and fifth grade level, no classroom exceeds the 35 students. You've already seen the ratio, so we called these out specifically in terms of max class sizes. And then in grades 6 through 12, um, our again division wide ratio was 24:1. We were right where we needed to be. Um, and you saw the one school which was RES

115for um, sixth grade English. And then high schools, our 21:1 schoolwide ratio. You've seen this in you know, we are still growing and we're working on it. So, there you go. Any questions about the SOQs? All right. Well, I'm going to invite Miss Campbell up. She's going to talk to you a little bit about staffing. Here you go, my friend. Thank you. Okay. Good evening. So, now we are going to look at a couple of things with regard to our staffing. Uh, the first one being a look at our full-time equivalents or FTEES. Um, so these are all of our budgeted positions and they're split out by category from last year as compared to this year. So, of course, we appreciate the board support in in adding additional positions each year. They're they're very much

116needed. And the majority of our FTEES are teaching positions. And now we take a look at the years of experience of our teaching staff. Um so you will note that at year five we have the the largest number of teachers and your uh year one the first year teachers are our next biggest group. >> 51. Yeah. >> Is that Miss Black? >> What's that? >> Is that Miss Black? >> Miss Black Oh, the 51 years. >> I don't know. >> I think so. I think so. That's >> Yeah, that's pretty >> crazy. >> Pretty remarkable. >> Whoever it is, we are very thankful here. >> Yes, definitely. >> I I think it is. >> Wow. >> A teacher at Aaylor. >> And lastly, uh we look at the top reasons um individuals leave FCPS. So

117that's something that we track and take a look at um each year. So this is all types of staff and these are staff who disclose this information on the survey that we provided to them. Um and they're just listed there in order of um the top reason u and then of course we go down to one person in the lure issue uh category. So they can identify three reasons for leaving their three top reasons. These are the very top reasons. Okay. All right. That's it. Any questions? Thank you. Back to you, Dr. >> Thank you. >> That's it for us. >> Thank you guys very much. That's all, Mr. Chair, unless you have further questions. >> Thank you. >> Next up is board member comments. >> Miss Caruso, I'm dying to hear what you have

118to tell us. >> Oh, well, I will start with I will start with saying congratulations James Wood. They are progressing to their fourth state finals and that's a big deal. Like really big deal. Um, great team, great coach. Um, I also want to say, um, Miss Fergus, thank you for your comments. I hear you. Um, I'm okay with accepting that criticism and I hope to be that advocate for special education resources. I recently visited all of the schools and I hope to continue to visit all of the schools every quarter at least or um, at least every semester. But um one thing, one theme was really common and I I I visited all the schools just wanting to get up to speed with all of um the nuances, the sites, the administrators. I didn't have

119any motives, no expectations. Um and and you know, there were site problems and and every every school has or should I say challenges. Um, every school has their own thing going on, but the the special education resources theme was present and many of them and and a very common theme and um I hope to continue advocating for those resources. Um, I don't have a solution right now, but we're working on on many solutions and and I hear you and I hear um the public. So, um, thank you for speaking on that, >> Mr. Chair. Thank you. Uh, a couple of things. First, um, I just want to say, uh, uh, reiterate a thank you to our veterans who served our country and continue to serve our country and for those who have given the ultimate

120sacrifice. Um, I'm both envious and uh grateful for the service that uh so many people have given so that I wouldn't have to, my children don't have to, and several others don't have to. Uh, Mr. Sturdivan, Miss Klein, Mr. Atkins, Frank, um, thank you so very much for everything that you've offered and provided of yourself to our country and and for your service. So, thank you for that. Um, then I'd like to also uh thank Ms. uh thank Danielle Fergus for coming up and speaking. Um, I really appreciate it. If you have a few minutes after the meeting, I'd like to speak with you personally if that's okay. Um, and then uh, uh, Joel FA, I like the jib of your sale. Um, and then finally, um, I just want to, and this is not

121in any way, shape, or form to toot my own horn, but, um, about two education or sorry, instruction committee meetings ago, Elise Stein Daner from Bright Futures came and spoke to us about a project or program that they're trying to institute in all of our schools, providing a uh, uh, food pantry. and they're looking for volunteers to build or provide uh cabinet or shelving for this effort. And I volunteered and I want to say that um I have purchased I didn't build it. I purchased and I put together the uh first um food uh food pantry and it will go into Middletown Elementary as soon as I can figure out how to get the thing out of my house. Um, but I say this because I ask other folk out there that may have the

122means and the interest and the ability to do the same. We have 19 schools and 21 forget about NRE and LJ. >> Thank you. 21. Um, I do always forget them. I apologize. 21 schools that we need to do. So now we have 20 and with one other person or a couple of other people we can whittle that down. So, I do sorry about that. Um, so I do hope that other people will uh take up the call and and help with that endeavor. So, with that, thank you, Mr. Chair, uh, for allowing me to speak. >> Mr. Chair, so again, just to echo uh what my two board members said, Mrs. Fergus, thank you for coming forward. And it looked like I I was kind of trying to pay attention to the meeting, but

123it looked like that Miss Knight sidebarred with you and took down your information for some followup. So, um please keep us updated as far as how that goes. Um if and just how we can support. Um I also echo your sentiments with SPED and the emphasis on SPE. There's not enough resources and we there's not enough private institutions that offer those resources for parents. We are the provider of that and we we hear that loud and clear. We understand the gravitas of that responsibility. So, thank you for bringing this to our attention. So, absolutely. Um, also to to Mr. Bell's point, um, I cannot wait to see the cabinet. I think that'd be amazing. Um, I've heard from some of my friends in the construction industry, too, that things slow down in the winter. So,

124I'll just make an all call out there to any kind of contractor or construction entity. If you're willing to donate your personnel and your time and your supplies, I am sure that Mr. Thompson could perhaps help facilitate that. And um also, you know, it's a small tax reduction, I understand, for those businesses, but that could also benefit their bottom line. Um so I I know I I am not the best handy handy craftsman, but um if there's anyone out there, just an all call any to any contractors or construction entities that um have gaps in their schedule that are looking to give back, we would certainly and I'm sure Miss Lee Stein Dolan would as well um welcome that assistance. So that's all I have, Mr. Chair. Thank you, >> Mr. Chairman. Just a a

125couple of things. Um, also thanks to the vets uh and Miss Fergus, I I think you've probably heard me say when it comes to special education, our awareness as an educational community about our kids' needs is growing. One of the good things that's happened, I think, over the past 20 years is that as a public, we're getting a big education about the fact that these kids have always been here, but our ability to recognize them and support them um needs to grow. Um, I didn't ask this person's permission to quote them, so I'm just going to quote him and um, not take credit for his quote, but um, accountability without support is abuse. And the fact that in your comments you made it a point to say that the administrators and teachers and aids and

126the folks up here are working their butts off to do the best they can. You can only squeeze so much. You can't squeeze the blood out of a turnup, right? Um, and I appreciate the fact that in that gap is a family. Um, and I can tell you somebody who deals with that every day in another school system, um, it is in every jurisdiction. It's in every state. Um, as our awareness and our, um, our desire to help our kids with special needs increases. I don't think the public has a true grasp of how extraordinary the need is at a time when special education instruction has collapsed. Um the number uh the thousands of people leaving the profession every year is it's honestly it scares me. Um we can't fill the positions. Um I think

127you guys saw in the some of the data that we saw here for the SOQ people are not leaving the profession because of money. At least not in Frederick County. Here in Frederick County, they're also not leaving because of discipline. Uh Dr. Hummer and his team have those things. We're working on the money. But I think this does call for a larger conversation and a paradigm shift about what does it truly take to support a child, especially a child with profound autism. What does it take to support that child? Not just in money, but staff. Um, for those, and I don't want to speak too much on this, but it is something I'm passionate about, and that doesn't change now that you know that I won't be up here. Um, you can only go home

128so many days with concussions and bruises and bite marks before you feel like you've just you can't not because you don't love kids, but you just can't do it anymore. And to all those of you dealing with that, um, I hear you and I see you and I, um, I will go to Richmond with you and lobby because remember that when it comes down to it, um, we're talking about a dramatic increase. Um, and that only comes from a state recognition here in Virginia and Richmond that it's needed because every county needs it and every school needs it. So, thank you for that. Um, I know it's not a lot of consolation given the difficulties you're having, but I do hear you. Um, yes, and thank you also to Mr. Bell for that um for

129that very generous donation in Middletown. Um, and I know that the a couple of other ones have been t done too and I think that's great. Uh the work that Elise has been doing the past couple weeks getting families ready for Thanksgiving is also amazing and thank you. Um the amount of food food drives that are taking place especially in the elementary schools is huge and if you follow some of them on social media you'll see that um out at uh Frederick County Middle School. Mr. Glascock has got some kind of magic formula going on out there and I even though it's not my district I want to recognize him for that work. We're seeing these dramatic increases in performance, decreases in behavioral issues. It's amazing what happens when you focus on instruction. Um, everything

130else will fall in line. You focus on educating kids and the rest works itself out. And I'm so happy to see that, especially given the abject failure of his predecessor. Um, the final thing is a positive. Um, Miss Outdorf doesn't typically get a lot of praise from me, so I want to go on the record while everybody can hear it and praise her. the accountability that she's instituting at Milbrook High School when it comes to cell phone the cell phone policy and she heard her teachers, she heard these parents saying we we need to follow the board's lead. Um, and the data say she is and I appreciate her and her staff for that. And I know that from the emails and text messages we get from teachers up there, they see it in their

131classrooms, too. And and so thank you for that. Um, and I think that's it, Mr. Chairman. Miss Martin. No, >> thank you. >> Just one more quick comment, Mr. Chair. Um, dovetailing in on the cell phones. Um, anecdotally talking with some of our librarians, the circulation rates of our books have actually gone up. So, our kids are reading more ever since we instituted the bell-to-bell policy. I just thought that was an interesting fact to share. >> That's it. Thanks, >> Guess it's me. Uh, Miss Fergus, I I do appreciate your words. Uh, I do want to let you know, um, Miss Fel, you ever seen me in a school? You ever seen me? >> You ever seen me in a school, Mr. Bishop? You ever seen me in a school? >> Yes, sir. >> Some

132of them get tired of seeing me. I was in Jameswood today. I did four hours of bathroom duty, which was an experience, and I get to do it again tomorrow. So, I'm looking forward to it. So, I I understand it having a special needs uh child myself, um seeing the struggles he went through all those years and uh I know that Jameswood High School has come under a lot of criticism. I I see it on social media, but I'm I'm here to tell you that my my son grandson, he uh came to Jameswood School, Jameswood High School struggling and he will be graduating this year. Um, the child lettered in academics. No one in my family has ever lettered in anything, but let alone lettered in academics. And this is a kid that struggled. And

133you can ask Miss Val. I mean, I This is why I I praise our our our people. And I hope you don't mind me. I I I hold you on a pedestal. From the first day he walked in Jameswood when he went for his tour, she was standing there and she saw us with that worried look on our face. She took that kid on a personal tour to make sure he knew where every class was. And she did it every year but this year because you were gone that day, I think. But I mean that's the quality of the people. And I and I understand people it's stressful when you send your kid there. And when I walked around the I can't remember the one school we went into with with that room with the

134>> Bass Huber. I >> I mean, it broke my heart. I mean, I I get it. I understand it and it's hard and and I know that we're we're doing our best to find quality people. I I get it. You you worry about your kids and I worry about my own and I you know what's going to happen, but we have quality people and I know they're doing the best that they can. And could we improve in some areas? Yes, we could. But I want to assure you that some of us are in these schools and some of us are in these schools a lot at Nauseium. So they're they're like everywhere everywhere I go, I see you. So I want you to know that at least this school board member has been in the

135schools doing at least anywhere from I figured it out anywhere from 28 to 45 hours extra a month just being around the schools and the schoolboard offices. So that's that's being done. Some other things I wanted to address. Uh it was mentioned that we banned books. Uh I don't recall one book I've banned. Have we banned a book? Can you name me bs we banned? >> No sir. >> We didn't ban not one single book. And you may not agree with the book policy and that's fine. But I think it's a good policy because I was ready to come in here and kick all the sand out of the sandbox and ban every book I could get my hands on. And I didn't, of course, I had uh some some resistance to that, but we

136didn't do that. I think we came up with a very good policy. If you want your child to have access to those books, then they can have access to those books. If you do not, then don't opt in. I think it was a great policy and and I'm I'm proud of what we did and I'm proud of what the work that the librarians did. They took everything that we asked them to do and they did it with outstanding uh flourish. So, there's that. uh as far as uh listening to our constituents and this has been a theme I've heard over and over and over um politics in the school board, listening listening to your to your party or whatever. Um I I I I even want to quote Molly here. Uh we'll go back to

137uh when did she write this? I urge you to go back and look at the article on August 5th, 2024 where it says, "My respect, my perspective really changed. Um, I've gone against my constituents on many occasions. I had a lot of people ticked off at me because I voted for the fourth high school and I I went through the ringer for that. Um, I had people ticked off at me because we promoted teacher salaries and giving them raises. Um, adding the buses, adding the security stuff. Uh we we we actually added more stuff to the security stuff, money to the security budget. Um I don't like OPM. I don't like spending other people's money, but I have done that to the detriment of some people who who who think that I shouldn't have done

138some of the things that I've done. I've been chastised many a time, but I'm here to serve all the people of Frederick County. I'm here to serve the students and make sure that they have the best education that they have. So, it's not all following one line up here. That that's never been the case. I know that's what people think, but I'm just here to tell you that's just not the case. And as far as reading these books and understanding them, I I may not be a college educated man, but uh I can read something and understand it. And uh I don't do these things flippantly or lightly. I follow what I think to be the best thing. And I I read Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl, and there was three pages of filth,

139and that's the way I feel about it. But we're not banning anything. Haven't banned a book. I defy you to tell me. He can't tell me. And if he can't tell me, then I defy you to show me where I banned a book. It's plain and simple. We all do the best job that we can. And and by the way, only one person up here on this deis called anybody perverts. And it wasn't me. So when you come up and make blanket accusations, make sure you're directing it at the person that did it, not all of us, because we didn't do it. So that's all I have to say. So with that said, where is the announcement? Um the one announcement for tonight, our next monthly school board meeting will be held on December 16th,

1402025. Do we have a motion? >> Mr. Chair, I move that we adjourn the meeting. >> Second. >> Motion has been made properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. >> Any opposed? That's it.