001[Music] The date is August 19th, 2025. The time is 1,800 hours. I'd like to call the Frederick County School Board meeting to order. >> Mr. Chair, uh, Mr. Atkins has requested to part participate in the meeting remotely for a personal matter, specifically due to a work commitment in Dallas, Virginia. I move to allow Mr. Atkins to participate in this meeting remotely. >> Second. Motion has been made and has been properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> And Mr. Chair, Mr. Bell has also requested to participate in the meeting remotely for a personal matter specifically due to a family commitment in Blackburg, Virginia. I move to allow Mr. Bell to participate in this meeting remotely. >> Second. >> Motion has
002been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Live. >> All right. >> Uh, we have an agenda before us. Do I have a motion for approval? >> Mr. Chair, I move that we approve the agenda set before us. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. >> Any opposed? We have an agenda. Madame vice chair. >> Mr. Chair, I move that the county school board of Frederick County, Virginia enter a close session meeting for the following. One, to renew correction, review and discuss appointments, administrative appointments, administrative leave, resignations, support staff, hires, substitutes, tutors, and volunteers pursuant to Virginia
003Code section 2.2-3711 paragraph A decimal 1. and to review and discuss individual student matters that would involve specific students and particular information contained in their scholastic record, including request for release from compulsory attendance for religious reasons pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3711 paragraph A.2 and to discuss reports or plans related to the security of any governmental facility, building or structure or the safety of persons using such facility, building or structure pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2 2-3711 paragraph A.19 and to review and discuss the goals of the superintendent pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711 paragraph A.1 >> second. We have a motion to go into close session has been properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed? [Music] Madame Vice Chair, what's the
004pleasure of the board? >> Mr. Chair, I move that the board reconvene after close session. >> Second. >> I have a motion to reconvene >> from close session has been properly seconded. All those in favor signify by saying I. I >> I >> motion passes. I'm sorry. >> That's right. >> Uh any opposed? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Any opposed? >> I passes. >> All right. And Mr. Chair, I move that 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. >> The motion has been
005properly seconded. Is there any discussion? >> Madame Clerk, >> Miss Martin, >> I. M Caruso >> I >> Mr. Sturdivan >> I >> Mrs. Klene >> I >> Dr. Erskin >> I >> Mr. Atkins >> I >> All right, M Oh, sorry, Madam Clerk. >> We're good. And Mr. Chair, seeing as how it's not yet 7 o'clock, I move that the board recess its meetings for five minutes. We'll reconvene at 700 p.m. >> Second, sister. Uh motion's been made, properly seconded. Any discussion, >> we're recessed. [Music] >> Mr. Chair, I move that the board reconvene its meeting. >> Second. >> A motion's been made and properly seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I >> any opposed? >> All right, we are now reconvened. >> Please. Yeah, I'm sorry.
006Go ahead, Madam Vice Chair. >> Mr. Chair, we have That's all right. Uh we have two motions out of our closed session this evening. The first I move the board approve the personnel actions as recommended 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. So motion carries. >> And Mr. Chair, I move the board approve the release of students A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, and S from compulsory attendance. >> Second. >> No TUV. >> Uh, motion's been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I >> I >> Any opposed? >> Carries.
007>> And Mr. Chair, that completes the motions out of close session. >> All right. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Would you please join me in a moment of silence? Thank you for that. Now I ask everyone who's able to stand for the pledge of allegiance. Tonight we're being led in the pledge by is it Jana Washington from Milbrook High School. Did I get that right? >> Jai. I'm sorry. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you for that. Thank you very much for doing that. >> Uh, next is our uh consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve? >> Mr. Chair, I move the move that we
008approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? We have an agenda. Up next is our student and staff recognitions. I will now pass it off to uh Superintendent Hmer. >> All right. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Good evening and welcome to our awards excellence program. Before we proceed, I would like to ask that everyone stay through 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 me and Mr. Sturdivant for a
009photograph. then move to the right, remain at the front, and we'll take a photo of students and coaches being recognized. Thanks everybody for coming. Mr. Sturdivan, come on down with me, please. In June, students from James Wood and Milbrook high schools participated in the VHSL class 4 state track and field championships. Representing Milbrook High School, we have Jan Janai Washington, the VHSL class 4 girls high jump state champion. Congratulations [Applause] pretty. [Applause] In June, Shirando High School FFA students traveled to Virginia Tech in Blackburg, Virginia for the Virginia FFA state convention. Before we call up students for their certificates, we want to recognize that the Sherando FFA chapter received several honors in the National Chapter Contest, including Virginia FFA Northern Area Winner, three star chapter and premier chapter. Way to go. [Applause] And now the
010results for the Virginia FFA state convention. The Virginia FFA Milk Quality and Products CDE first place team, Emma Dangoski. [Applause] Riley Schulen [Applause] and Lena Shrock. [Applause] Next up, the Virginia FFA Marketing Plan CDE second place team, Savannah Judy. and Bella Walters. [Applause] Taking second place in the Virginia FFA Employment Skills CDE, Olivia Rose, [Applause] the Virginia FFA Bay a sales CDE second place team Troy Hullman [Applause] Caleb Green [Applause] and Hayden Williams. [Applause] And next up tonight, we have the inspiration award. The inspiration award is given to a staff member who did something inspirational for the student, staff, parents, or community as a whole. Tonight's recipient is Jennifer Lily from Jameswood High School. Miss Miss Lily deserves to be recognized for her coordination of the 75th anniversary celebration at Jameswood. She spent countless hours
011coordinating the decades teams, the flow of patrons through the building, collecting memorabilia, arranging the location for displays, and many other tasks to make that event a huge success that was enjoyed by our current staff, former staff, students, past and present, and our entire community. Congratulations, Jennifer. All right. Next will be our administrative appointment. So again, I will hand it off to Dr. Hummer. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have two admin appointments this evening that we're very excited to announce. First, I would like to call up our new assistant director of human resources, Mrs. Rachel Rinker. Come on up, please. >> She is transitioning into her >> Rachel. She's transitioning into her new role from HR supervisor of recruitment and retention to assistant director of human resources. Before joining the HR team, Mrs.
012Rinker was the principal of Orchard View Elementary School for 3 years, assistant principal of Stonewall Elementary for 2 years, an instructional coach at Indian Hollow Elementary School for three, and then a math specialist at Indian Hollow for two years, and last but not least, a fifth grade teacher at Armal and Gainesboro for three years. So, as you can see, she's very well established here in Frederick County. Mrs. Mrs. Rinker holds a bachelor's of arts degree from West Virginia University, a master's of arts in elementary education, and an administrative certifi certificate in educational leadership from Salem International University. And Mr. Chair, I only agreed with this if we continue the great work that we're doing in the HR office with recruitment and retention. So, thank you, Mrs. Rinker, for your leadership. Please join me in congratulating
013her. Great job. >> Good evening, Mr. Chair. Dr. Hummer, members of the board, executive staff, um, and members of the community, I am truly honored and humbled to accept the position of of assistant director of human resources. Thank you for placing your trust and confidence in me. I look forward to collaborating with the leadership teams at our schools and in this building, our talented staff and our community to ensure that our district continues to attract and retain the best and brightest educators and support personnel. I believe a strong foundation in human resources is essential to building a successful environment for all of our students. I want to thank Katie Frankley and Kristen Campbell as well as the phenomenal HR team for paving the way and allowing me to have leadership experiences that have prepared me
014for this moment. I am eager to begin this new journey and contribute to the important work being done here. Thank you again for this incredible opportunity. [Applause] All right, last but not least, I I would now like to call up Mrs. Liz Fout as the new principal of Dow J. Howard. Come on up, please. >> Thank you, Dr. Hummer. Mr. >> Mrs. I want to read your bio really quick. Sorry. Sorry. Get ahead of yourself. She assumes the position of principal of Dow J. Howard after serving as an assistant principal at Jameswood High since 2013. Thank you for your service. Mrs. Fout previously served as a math teacher and department chair at Milbrook High School for 10 years and a math teacher at Jameswood High for 7 years, three of which were department chairs. So
015again, has her foundation here in Frederick County. Thank you for that. Miss F holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics and secondary education from Longwood University and a master's degree in educational leadership from George Mason University. Please join me again in congratulating Mrs. Val. Congratulations. >> Thank you, Dr. Hummer, Mr. Thompson, Miss Knight, members of the school board, and of course, the members of the selection committee. I am humbled and honored to serve as the principal of Dow J. Howard. I'm excited to work alongside the teachers and the staff where we can work collectively to support every student whether they are are enrolled in an alternative program or in a career and technical education program. I am committed to care for our students and I will do my part to help prepare them each of them
016to graduate with a clear post-secary plan. Thank you for entrusting me with this opportunity to serve in one of the most important and valuable institutions in our community. Thank you. >> Don't walk away just yet. Miss F. Mrs. F. I just I just want to make one comment and this is this is the quality of the staff that we have. Every year that I've brought my uh son Elijah to Jameswood High School for the open house, as confusing as it was with all that construction, she met him in the hallway each and every time except for this last time I think we got there before you found out about us being there. Gave that kid a personal tour of every classroom to make sure that he did it. And that's the kind of folks we
017have working for Frederick County. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Mr. Chair, that's all I have for admin appointments. Thank you, sir. >> All right. At this point, I'd like to pause for a few moments and let everyone who would like to leave go ahead and vacate and uh we'll resume. [Music] [Applause] >> Next up is citizen comments. The Frederick County School Board is pleased to receive public comments at each monthly meeting from members of the public which include residents of Frederick County, Virginia, including residents of the city of Winchester, Virginia. FCPS students, parents, 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, organizations will be allotted five minutes with one representative per
018group. Upon recognition by the chair, a speaker should approach the lecture and to speak to school board members or to speak to the school board. Members of the audience and speakers are expected to be courteous to the others, model to others and model for students how to respectfully participate in public meetings by speaking and behaving in such a manner that adheres to FCPS code of student conduct. Complaints regarding FCPS employees should be first submitted to the school principal or to the school board office. Complaints regarding individual students should be submitted to the school principal or appropriate school official. School board is committed to showing respect and courtesy to all citizens. Comments that are not protected under the first amendment of the United States Constitution will not be tolerated. This includes comments that are vulgar or
019obscene, 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 or meeting by asking questions or making comments. Signs, posters, placards, banners, or like objects are permitted into the school board's meeting, but only if the individual possessing such item remain in the back of the room so as not to restrict the view of those attending the meeting in person. Excuse me. Violation of the guidelines will result in the chair ruling the speaker out of order. Continued violation may result in removal from the premises. We have provided copies of updated policy as well as a QR code that will take you directly to the code of student conduct handbook. They are located on the table where where the signup
020sheet was located. The chair has discretion concerning public participation at schoolboard meetings. School board meetings are tape recorded for the purpose of clarification and the development of official minutes. First person is is it Johanna Rivera? Did I get that right? Not here. Moving on. Uh >> Charice Woodward. Nope. Mr. Nuri. Figured I had some padding, but I guess I'm the opener. Hi, my name is Brian Nuri, representative or um president of the Opekin District. Back when I was a a tax repairer several years ago, one of the worst parts of my job was doing deductions. The paperwork, the accounting, it was a nightmare. Except when teachers came in. And for that, we just marked down the maximum $250 deduction. We didn't ask any other questions because we knew that they had spent more, but that
021was all the federal government allows you to deduct. And despite the fact that the big beautiful bill raised this to a an exorbitantly luxurious $300 deduction, it's still not enough to supply a classroom. Which is why I found it so odd that we are hearing that central offices banned teachers from sending out Amazon wish lists. This makes no sense. If a parent wants to donate, this is a more focused, specific way to donate items. As a social studies teacher, I might need a copy of the founding documents, but I'm not going to find those uh easily. And maybe I had other priorities like getting pencils and pads and expo markers, hand sanitizer. And efforts like Bright Futures and Fill the Bus events are fantastic events, but they might not fill the spec specific needs. What
022if everyone decided one I'm going to get extra glue sticks for the kids and then we end up with a glut of glue sticks and not a single pen and it's so we can provide more specific items like a color wheel for art class or play scripts for drama classes. We're also being told that these items will become FCPS property if they are purchased. I could see if they had to ask for major hardware like in a garage where you bring your own tools. There is a liability issue, but we're talking pens and posters and tissue paper. So, I'd like the board to evaluate this these notices and ask admin as to why these went out without a policy that that enforces it or requires it. Thank you. >> Just one, Mr. Nuri. >> Yes,
023sir. >> And say that was that in an Amazon wish list. Is that okay? Sure. I got Thank you. Um, Pam Kennedy. >> Good evening. Pam Kennedy, Gainesboro District. The world needs people who cannot be bought, whose word is their bond, who put character above wealth, who possess opinions and a will, who are larger than their vocations, who do not hesitate to take chances, who not lose their individuality in a crowd, who will be as honest in small things as in great things. Who will make no compromise with wrong. whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires. Who will not say they do it because everybody else does. Who are true to their friends through good report and evil report in adversity as well as prosperity. Who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning
024and hardheadedness are the best qualities for winning success. Who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth when it's unpopular. who can say no with emphasis although all the rest of the world may say yes. May Frederick County and the school board continue to have leaders like this. Change as we know is very difficult. Asking the hard questions is difficult. Making tough decisions is difficult. But it can be done, should be done, and must be done. And why is it when a group of people ask how come, why, where is it written, show me, lay out the trail, let's think outside the box. Why do these questions often strike fear in the heart of a certain segment of our population. What is even more interesting is the fact that people who pose those
025questions stand to gain nothing. No profit, no wealth. They're just acting as involved, concerned citizens such as the people who come to the meetings. Status quo is not always the way to go. Is our country's infrastructure is our county's infrastructure able and ready to deal with the changes that we are facing? Has strategic planning utilizing the wonderful long range tools and talent bases available been done? To ignore consequences of action is not only an act of ignorance, but it's also imposing a burden on later generations that cannot be undone. Time given to planning and thought is time well spent. Time spent cleaning up errors due to lack of consideration at the front end is wasted time. I think it's kind of interesting that I first gave these remarks to the board of supervisors and this
026board back in May of 2002. Times have changed, but certain considerations have not. Thank you so much, >> Rebecca Rager. Um, my name is Rebecca Ragger. I am from the Gainesburg district, but I'm reading for Sonia Marfatia Good tonight, who lives in the Bat Creek District. Um, for the record, I do not want my kids reading any books that depict sexual beastiality, corporilia, europhilia, fetishism, or porn. I trust the librarians and teachers that are hired to educate my kids and make sure what they are learning is age appropriate. I believe the school board and Dr. Hummer have a habit of having a knee-jerk reaction anytime a parent throws a fit. Whether it has to do with an LGBTQ kindness club, removing books without following the defined processes that the school board has prior put in
027place. I believe this school board and Dr. Hummer prioritize these parents that are the loudest without considering what it means for the rest of us who do not agree. I believe in established processes that utilize educators expertise in order to make thoughtful and impactful decisions. School librarians are responsible for building and maintaining their school library collection. A lot of thought and consideration has gone into choosing these books that align with the curriculum and support of FCPS educational goals. If a parent or legal guardian has a complaint, they can submit one to the principal as explained in 304RC. The process involves a formal complaint, a committee convenes, and a decision is issued. This process was not followed. I believe that Dr. Mr. Hummer and the school board have violated the First Amendment when they removed books
028from the libraries without following the processes previously defined. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech and extends to the right to receive information, meaning the students and individuals have a right to access a variety of viewpoints and ideas. When a school board removes books from the libraries based on viewpoints of discrimination, this is censorship and infringes on this right. The first amendment protects against government censorship. In the board of vers uh board of education versus PICO case, the case centered on whether a school board could remove books from school libraries due to their content, specifically targeting books deemed offensive or inappropriate. The Supreme Court ruled that the school boards cannot remove books because they disagree with the ideas or viewpoints presented in them. This decision established that students have a first amendment right to receive
029information and school boards cannot suppress ideas based on their own political or social views. This decision affirmed the right of students to receive information and ideas even if those ideas are controversial or unpopular. The majority opinion written by Justice Brennan highlighted the importance of students access to diverse perspectives and ideas. I was curious to see how students were doing when it came to reading. According to the National Assessment of Educational Process, reading scores are showing decades of deterioration. However, most students have phone access to unlimited screening time. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry states that on average, children ages 8 to 18 spend seven and a half hours watching or using screens. I and many other parents, like myself, find no issue with the current process in place to opt out of anything
030we don't agree with. All this effort for a non-existent problem. Thank you, [Applause] Supervisor Dunn. Good morning or good afternoon chair uh board members. My name is Blaine Dun. I'm from I'm from Redbud and I'm a supervisor. At a recent board meeting, we had some concerns about the fourth high school. The concerns were, are you using the money wisely? I think you all are. I mean, I think you all have a commitment to try to make that money go as wisely as it can. Wednesday I had a meeting or a a uh Dr. H and I were in a meeting and we talked about team A and team B. So when you hire an architectural firm you have a team A that lays lays out a design and team B that goes and criticizes that
031design. What can you do better? What can you do worse? I believe that you already have done that. I spoke to um our administrator. He mentioned the fact that you've saved about $600,000 by replacing some items on roof. You also mentioned the fact that you've gone and made some other changes which by taking concrete and making into grass have also saved a lot of money. I think the public does not know what you do. So Mr. Chairman or Dr. Hmer when you have a chance to speak you might want to go and let the public know what items you've done to try to control costs. And if there's an additional need, saying fine, we'd like to have an addition an additional, you know, $100,000 and this is what it gets or here's where you can
032save $100,000 and not have a negative effect. But I think that if you can go and just show the public that you are being fiscally responsible, as I believe you are, it would help in the conversation we've had. If you think you need to hire a value engineer, that's your call. But we on the board don't have that. And for the people in the audience, if they want that, they need to address you, not us. So having said that um the comment I have 100 minute left. So my comments basically is lay out for the public how you're trying to save money. I think you are doing and using that money wisely. I think people are concerned about a middle school the Taj Maha that uh did come under budget and came under timing although
033the architectural design was less than some people wanted. And just let the public know what you're doing. I think that would be helpful in the conversation. Thank you Mr. chairman. >> Thank you, Mr. Den. All right. Next uh is uh Dr. Hummer, superintendent report. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am very excited to announce a couple items here in regards to the start of the school year. Uh first, but before I do that, I definitely want to thank our new administrators in their new roles. We are very excited to see all the great things that they're going to be able to accomplish. I also want to thank all of our staff and students who received awards today because we have amazing students and it's always great to recognize our students who do extraordinary
034things. So, thank you for that and continue to keep up the good work as we continue to recognize all the great things that our students are achieving. What an amazing start to the school year. Um, we've had a transition day last week which we continue to have wonderful feedback in regards to getting the school year started off on the right foot. So, parents, students, and staff continue to share the importance of having transition day. So, I want to share a couple of those examples that again were reported this year as well as in years past. first for our students as they get acclimated to a new school, a new environment, new staff, new friends. It's also great for staff to get acclimated to new students, especially for kindergarteners who've never stepped foot into a building
035or an organized classroom. There are some students that need a little additional support. the chair and I were in a classroom where a student was just not ready to come to school and it was an all hands on deck and the team did a fantastic job of putting supports in place to help that student. I'm here to report Mr. Chair is that that student is doing better. Um he's still having some difficulties but he's at least getting into the classroom and he's at least getting more comfortable in that environment. But that is what transition day is all about. It is also operationally a good way for our bus drivers to get acclimated to their new routes as well as students that get added on. It helps our front office staff who've never engaged with a
036lot of students coming through the door about what that engagement looks like as well as a multiple uh variety of other reasons. But we are continuously getting feedback on this transition day that we implemented three years ago and we will continue to do that until we get that negative receive negative feedback on that. So, it was a great great way to get the school year started off on the right foot. We also had a uh start to the year where all of our other staff came in and all of our students came in on that Thursday. And we also kicked it off with NBC Washington came out to enjoy this kickoff and a lot of positive vibes and a lot of positive energy with all of our other students returning. Our enrollments continue to go
037up and that is something that we will continue to monitor. But besides that, it was a very positive feel, a very positive kickoff to this school year as well as with all the other structures that we continue to put in place. Preparations for this year, however, should not go unnoticed. There was a lot of work over the summer, both on the operational side of the house from our custodians, our bus routing central office and our hiring procedures, as well as instruction and rolling out this new strategic plan. But we began last week with or excuse me two weeks ago with our staff ignites where we brought all of our new staff in. We provided them with training and support to get them ready for the start of the school year and then we had all
038other staff come in last week and we kicked off our first ever live virtual convocation and that went very very well. We received a lot of positive feedback where Mrs. Knight was down at Aaylor, Mr. Thompson was down at Redbud. I was at Jameswood High School and we did a little news reel where I was at the school and everybody was in the auditorium. We gave a little speech in regards to what we're looking forward to this year, kicking off our strategic plan. And then I kicked it off to Mrs. Knight. We had some cheerleaders. We we interviewed some students and then Mr. Thompson got Redbud involved and it was just a feel-good great way to start and kick off this school year. We have a lot of work to do. We are kicking off
039our new strategic plan which is excellence for all and building that future ready community and adding on new pathways for our students. We have our data sciences program down at DA J. We also have our new future educators academy where we have 11 students who are going to school to be teachers and coming back and they are excited to be teachers. So we are just very very excited. A lot of great things happening thus far in this first week of school and we are looking forward to sharing with you all of the great things that our kids and staff are going to be able to accomplish this year and I want to give a thank you to all of you for all of your support and all of our work that we do every single
040day. I also want to congratulate our summer graduates. So this is something that we started new this year and when I say excellence for all, we mean excellence for all. So, we graduated a little over a thousand seniors back in May, but we also have some students who take an alternate path for graduating and needed to take a course or two over the summer. Well, they met those requirements and they graduated. So, we need to give them that same opportunity of experiencing a graduation. So, we hosted our first ever summer graduation yesterday at Milbrook. So, thanks to Mrs. Altonorf and her team, Mrs. Knight and her team, Dr. Myers and your staff for all of the great work that they did. And it was like a graduation just with less people. They had families there.
041They had friends. They had support. We had family members crying in the audience because their kids did it. And we need to celebrate that. It doesn't matter if it's a thousand kids or seven. We are about each and every kid. And each of those students had a goal. One student was going to the army. Another one already has a job working for Malloy. So they have goals. So just because they didn't graduate on time does not mean they're bad kids. They just have an alternate way of getting there and we help them do that. So thanks to our staff, thanks to everybody that made this happen. And of course our goal is for our kids to graduate on time. So we are going to celebrate that, but we are also going to celebrate our other
042students that take that alternate route and we're looking forward to what they we can celebrate uh with their future goals and achievements. So with that, Mr. Chair, thank you. We are looking forward to another exciting great year. And again, I want to thank you all for your support. >> You're you're not done with your report yet. >> Okay. >> You forgot the part where we went to the music class. I wish I had video. Jump in, jump out. No, I'm sorry. Oh, it was great. You >> like to get engaged in the classes. It was a great opportunity. >> Oh, he got more than engaged. He'd have had pompoms that have been ugly. Okay. So, next up, uh we don't have any where where am I at? Where am I at? >> Didn't have any
043uh new old business and now we're in new business. So, first we have the finance committee meeting report. >> And that is me, Mr. Chair. A meeting of the finance committee of the Frederick County School Board was held on June 24th, 2025. The meeting was called to order at 4:33 p.m. and a copy of the minutes has been provided to each board member. During the meeting, Mr. Shepard discussed the transportation fiscal information. Mrs. Anderson shared information on funding transportation and transportation next steps as well as the new fraud policy 730P and the regulation 730R. The meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m. Additional details regarding information covered at the finance committee meeting are included in the minutes provided to board members. Are there any questions from board members about information shared at the finance committee meeting held
044on June 24th, 2025? All right, seeing that we have no comments, we have two motions, Mr. Chair, coming out of the finance committee meeting. The first I move the board adopt policy 730P reporting and investigating fraud, embezzlement, waste, abuse, and fiscal dishonesty as presented. >> Second. Motion has been made, properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed? I >> That passes >> and second. Mr. Chair, I move the board approve the minutes from the finance committee meeting held on June 24th, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion motion's been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I >> passes. Next up is the instruction committee report. >> All right. Meeting of the
045instruction committee of the Frederick County School Board was held on August the 4th, 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, Mrs. Mul Downey discussed the elementary end of year data review and Dr. Myers reviewed the secondary end ofear data review. Dr. Myers also shared the AP dual enrollment and SAT PSAT fees. Mrs. Tall, Mrs. Dcoy, and Mrs. Shrock gave an update um on the library uh sexually explicit book review. Mrs. Nicola reviewed the data management system. And Mrs. Oh my goodness, I'm sorry. Uer, I hope that's right. Uler, Mr. Barb, and Mr. Waters discussed uh middle school and high school sports programs. Mrs. Jordan discussed House bills HB1881, HB1945, and HB2104, as well as proposed new
046policy 337P, use of generative artificial intelligence AI. Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Carter reviewed the division literacy plan. Mr. Lingal discussed the gifted program plan changes and Mrs. Baldwin shared information about the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The meeting adjourned at 7:36. 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 uh information shared at the instruction committee meeting held on August the 4th? Seeing none, Mr. Chairman, there are four action items coming out of the instruction committee. First, uh I move that the board adopt policy 337P, use of generative artificial intelligence as presented. Second. >> Motion's been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >>
047I. >> Any opposed? Carries. >> The next I move the board approve the biionial division literacy plan and I further move the board authorize staff to make technical edits to the plan as necessary. >> Second. >> Motion has been made, been properly seconded. Is there any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. Sorry. Next. I move the board approve the proposed amendments to the FCPS local plan for gifted education to reflect technical and process edits. >> Second. >> Motion has been made, properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? It carries. >> Finally, Mr. Chair, I move that the board approve the minutes from the instruction committee meeting held on
048August the 4th, 2025. >> 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? That motion carries. >> I guess Dr. Hummer, we're going to throw it right back. >> Mr. Chair, do do you want to further the conversation about the library books and the consensus or are we good moving forward? >> We can discuss the consensus, but there is a consensus. >> Okay. So, I just want to be clear maybe for the public as well. Um the consensus is to opt in add a dot to the to the book as well as creating a separate section in the library and that is what was reported. >> Second section under the li under librarian's control.
049>> Correct. Yes sir. Yes. So we are prepared for that. Um and just wanted to I know just want to make sure we're all clear in what that's going to look like and then continuously following our process for books that need to be considered in in our libraries as we've been following. Thank you. All right. Now it's your turn. >> Okay. All right. So, with that, I will now hand it over to Dr. Myers and Mrs. Mul Downey. >> Oh, we have we I believe we have a few more committee reports. >> Well, in the agenda we wanted to do after instruction if that's okay. >> Nope. I'm following you now. Yep. Thank you. Okay. >> Um and with this presentation, Mr. Chair, uh and school board is this was our promise to make sure
050with the roll out of our strategic plan that we will share out data more regularly. So we did a more um larger presentation our instructional committee. This is more of a truncated version. This is something that we will do quarterly and especially at the end of the year. So now for the amazing Mrs. Mulani and Dr. Myers. All right. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you so much. I am here tonight to provide you with a very concise overview of elementary school data as we begin the 2526 school year. This presentation will cover key metrics in attendance, behavior, and performance. A more detailed report was previously shared at the instructional committee. Um, and we will conclude with next steps for each of these areas. >> You broke it. >> There we are. So, here
051you will see a three-year trend of chronic absenteeism for our elementary schools. While historical data does show an increase, it is important to note that there was a division wine divisionwide decline in chronic absenteeism from quarter 3 to quarter 4. Previously, the state target was 15% or less, which is a range that most of our schools do fall in. And new accreditation standards though are going to emphasize a continuous reduction in chronic absenteeism with lower rates being reflective of higher accreditation performance. When we take a look at behavior from the elementary perspective, our highest number of behavior incidents occur in this safety concern category followed by relationship behaviors. And we notice our data tells us that the economically disadvantaged students continue to be disproportionately impacted with significantly higher rates compared to their non-disadvantaged peers. As
052we take a look at an overview of our so reading data in grades three through five, you can see that scores have remained stagnant over the last three years. We recognize that only four of our 12 campuses showed raw growth with Indian Hollow making the greatest gains at a 4% overall increase. However, we do need to highlight some key areas in the division where we have seen some pretty remarkable growth. Apple Pie Ridge grade four in reading showed a 15% growth from the previous year to this year. Gainsboro's fifth grade reading was a 14% growth from the previous year to this year. And Greenwood Mills third grade was a 12% growth. We do also have data that shows that our economically disadvantaged students, our students with disabilities, and our English language learners show the lowest
053pass rates. Taking a look at the same so data except for math, you will notice it is similar to reading and that math scores have remained stagnant over the past three years. And our students with disabilities and English language learners are subgroups that continue to show us the lowest pass rates. Despite this, nine out of our 12 campuses demonstrated growth in math performance. And I would be remiss without saying that Gainesboro Elementary School showed an impressive 31% increase in its unadjusted pass rate from the prior year. >> Are we borrowing best practices from them? What what's what's >> So, Miss Klein, next steps. That is absolutely part of it. >> Wonderful. >> Yes. So, so when we we get to the performance part, but as far as attendance goes, we absolutely want to ensure that
054we have full implementation of our student support teams, our CIS teams that were newly formed last year, which you know includes our counselors, social workers, student support coaches, school psychologists, student support specialists, administrators, nurses, teachers, and of course, our families to work to get kids to be at school as much as possible. We know in order to get that instruction to them, they need to be present. So, we want to ensure that those teams are functioning and working with our families in order to help um troubleshoot why our kids may not be in school so we can get them there. We also are going to work from an elementary standpoint to align our discipline practices across all elementary schools for consistency. We want to ensure that we are reporting and responding in a consistent manner
055so that we know the data we are looking at is the accurate data so that we can problem solve and provide more support where necessary so that we can reduce these infractions. And then for performance, we certainly want to set expectations and increase that oversight for the math workshop model, which we know supports students math instruction and the oversight for use of our HQIM in reading and math. We certainly want to leverage bright spots for the division. We have schools that are showing 5 to 10% growth school grade levels, schools as a whole. And so we want to harness that. We want to be able to share those strategies divisionwide as far as what's working so that we can capitalize on that across and then we want to continue to use all of our data
056so that we are personalizing and accelerating learning for all students no matter where they fall. >> Miss Milani can just for the public can you define HQIM high quality instructional material. >> High quality instructional material. So looking at our reading programs and math programs and ensuring that we are using those to the fullest capabilities as they've been approved by our state for use >> and the workshop model that you mentioned. So that's where teachers get together, swap those ideas, right? >> That's part of it. The math workshop model though is an instructional model where there's direct teaching for a certain amount of time for whole group, but then we're also looking at workshops where kids are, you know, in different groups working on specific skills and accelerating what they need to be successful. >> Got
057it. Thank you. You're very welcome. >> Any questions? Okay. >> All right. Thank you very much. Okay. at the secondary level. Uh when you look over from 22 up through May 30th of this year, you will see in the overall average that we've remained uh somewhat stable between those three years. Um one of the things that you'll notice we have had great gains in the decrease of chronic absenteeism at Jameswood High School over the past year from 23% to 18%. And if you look at Sharando from 2223 to this past year, they decreased uh from 23% to 16%. So there are great gains that are taking place in some of our high schools and we want to capitalize on that and look at those that reason why and um take that information and replicate it
058with our other schools. As far as primary behaviors, you'll notice in there we have quite a discrepancy on the left hand side are the middle schools, right hand side are the high schools. You'll see quite a lot of range between those schools and uh the grade levels. So what we are doing, we've actually already started doing this is we are looking at the practices at every school. We're taking a deep dive into the data. We're looking at calibrating our practices, how things are being coded uh across the population from teachers, administrative assistants and principles so that we can have a more unified consistent approach in our recording of primary behaviors and most importantly as far as the bea behaviors are concerned how do we how are we addressing them in each of our schools? >>
059Dr. Myers. Sure. Could you just for the general public could you explain what a primary behavior is? Could you give us some examples? >> So yes, uh primary behavior might be disruptive behavior in a classroom, could be disruptive behavior in a hallway, it could be a tardy to class or to school. So it can be any combination of a disruptive behavior that impedes a learning of themselves or others. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. performance in as determined by so reading results. You'll see as you look there, the green represents where there's a positive change and the red represents where there was a decline in nine of the 12 tested categories. You will see at the middle school level, we've increased and there's been some great progress. If you look at sixth grade, our
060incoming, this year's now seventh graders realize some really strong gains across all four middle schools. You also see some positive gains, especially at Jameswood Middle School, sixth and eighth grade levels, 8.2% at six at sixth grade and 10.8 at the eighth grade. So really some shining examples there. Eighth grade at Admiral Bird as well. So when we look at that, we see what are the practices that are have been implemented that we can learn from and replicate not just within a school but across the schools. And so we're very pleased by the changes we're seeing. the results at seventh grade are mixed that you will also see in the math area that seventh grade is an area we need to take a deeper look at and and really drill down into those the data the
061supports the practices taking place. I will also say in 2324 we adopted new standards. We did not VDOE did not give us a crosswalk year for our FA uh faculty and so as a result we're in essence implementing while it was being developed. So anytime you develop new standards you have a new set of standards. There is typically a little bit of a dip not just in Frederick County but across the state as we learn about the new standards and the alignment both vertically and horizontally. >> Dr. Myers also too just a little more uh a little another speaking point on that that grade seven math and I brought this upur during the instructional committee meeting and I want to bring it up at this meeting as well. It's my understanding that those numbers are
062partly as a result of taking our top performing honors level or gifted level math students out of the data set. >> That's exactly right. So students who are very high performing in math when they leave the sixth grade they have the option to go into algebra 1. Those students then take more than likely they take geometry as eighth graders. So they all come in taking the same sixth grade math but then it does divide out as a result. So that is definitely part of this. The goal though is those students who are not on the accelerated path. How do we get it such that they're mastering the skill sets, they're mastering the content at that given level of math? So, but yes, that is the case that it is teased out that way. >> And
063so when you look at the math so results, you will see there again green means progress uh or that they increased and red means not. You will see at the uh middle school math area, seven out of our 12 tested categories, we did increase. Sixth grade especially uh with the exception of one area really showed positive gains and eighth grade as well. Seventh grade is definitely an area we need to look at, but as um as I shared with Mrs. Klein, that is also because of pulling out the top performing students at the high school level. Jameswood High School, Milbrook, and Sharando. Again, you will see that there have been positive gains in six out of the nine tested categories. Uh we are working on and that's a great progress over the last couple of
064years. If you look at Milbrook Geometry, 21.4% 4% increase that comes from one of the areas that comes from is a result of appropriately placing students where they can be successful and really drilling down into what are the skill sets they have and how what's the best path for them as a result. So when schools make those decisions, you see positive results for our kids. And then just to cap off with the three areas that we've identified, absenteeism, attendance rates, we need to find out why it's rising in some schools and others not. And so how can we learn from that? Monitoring progress is something that we are consistently doing. We need to make sure that we're continuing to do that behavior. Conduct a deeper analysis. establish reporting consistency across schools. That's something that we
065are very devoted to and we're actively working on. And then targeted strategies and you will see under performance reading for analysis. That's one of the huge things with the reading area especially our end of course and then targeted support for our seventh grade teachers, math teachers. So that concludes our report. Do you have questions? Thank you for this opportunity. Sure. >> Do let me ask one question and and I saw that we had some scores that have dipped a little bit but overall >> in regards to testing scores they are all going up. >> They are we just >> and also I'm sorry to cut you off and also as far as the uh primary behaviors we are seeing an a decrease in that overall. Correct. >> Yes, we're making great progress. you know, our
066scores are obviously we always want the very top. Um, and we're making progress in there as you can see. And as I was calling out, you know, eight out of 12, n uh six out of nine increasing. So, we are making great gains. We just need to keep after it >> and we are. >> Thank you, Miss Meyers. >> Yes. Is there any way that you're separating students in in the reading progress because obviously you you've got some students that are not as um aggressive in their reading >> right >> habits and you've got the language barrier somewhat >> right. >> So are you able to separate that and get a better >> Yes, ma'am. What we do is we uh as far as the data analysis, we look at that broken down by our
067L population, our students with disabilities, any of those areas that could potentially cause a student not to perform with their um their the general education population. We provide small groupoup learning opportunities. We have reading specialists in our schools who work one- on-one with students in decoding. uh each of those areas so that we can provide more targeted service to our students in need. >> Okay. And so do you ever get the more advanced students that maybe have a better reading skills to work with them? >> Well, that's a great question because the uh teachers for tomorrow, that's some of the area that they're working on where they do have the advanced skill sets and they're mentoring students a lot of times in the lower levels. So a high school student may go be going in
068and working with an elementary age child on on this area. So it's a great partnership between our schools that we've established. We also have a group of students from George Mason University who are in the teacher preparation program there and they are volunteering their time to work with our middle school students and of course it's under the supervision of our administrators and teachers. >> Mr. Mr. Chair, can can I add to this please? Miss Martin, that is a fantastic question because that is why tier one instruction is so important and tier one instruction is where all students receive the curriculum at the same time. And that's why it's so important that we have these collaborative classrooms where it's not all of our gifted students all at the same time in class or all of our
069students with disabilities or all of our English language learners because we want a mix of levels in that class to do exactly what you're saying, which is that incidental learning. We want our students not only learning from the teacher, but learning from other students. And if you have a classroom of students that are all doing it wrong, they're going to learn it the wrong way. Okay. So, we want to make sure that we have a good mix of students in our classes. And that's why we're so intentional with our principles about how we schedule students in our classes. Now, it is appropriate to pull students out to what's called tier three instruction where we have students with disabilities, English language learners to focus on specific skills, but then they go back into the tier one
070learning learning environment so they're able to learn from one another. So what you're saying is spot on to that that instructional model that we currently have in our schools >> because I see with with uh reading versus say math um the um say person who's trying to describe the story >> that's been written can uh give some excitement to it, >> right? >> And some new ideas that the other person can't see because they're just trying to read. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yeah. Yes, totally agree. >> Yes, thank you. >> Any other? Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> That's it for that one. Yes, sir. >> Next, we have the buildings and grounds committee report. >> All right. So, um a meeting of the building and grounds committee of the Frederick County Public
071School Board was held on August 11th, 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. Davis discussed the CAP projects update and the Middletown site improvements. Mr. Shepard reviewed the CIP updates, shared updates on the fourth high school, discussed the fourth high school color scheme, and reviewed the contract award for the Jameswood High School storm water management plan maintenance agreement. Woohoo. Mr. Conland discussed the artificial intelligence security solutions and Mr. Davis shared the contract award for the new play equipment for Armal Elementary School. The meeting adjourned at 5:46 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
072and grounds committee meeting held on August 11th? >> Miss Cruso? No, no questions. Just a comment um to Supervisor Dunn's comments that he made earlier. Uh in this meeting, we had a very and I I tried to pull it up on my computer and the system is not letting me do it, but we had a really great presentation from Mr. Davis and his team about the reductions in the fourth high school that you spoke of and what you said is accurate. So, we have removed a portion of the roof. Don't worry, it still has a roof, but we changed the design of the roof so that it saves a very large chunk of money. And then we also created more grassy areas as opposed to concrete. Those are just two of the things that the
073team has done. Right now, again, I'm trying I cannot recall the exact figure. I want to say it was around $600,000 in savings that we have found so far. So, we are currently coming in $600,000 under budget than what we anticipated at this point. You're right. We need to procilitize that a little bit more. Oftentimes I go into these meetings and we have great talking points and I'm hoping that the star picks up on those and yet they don't. So, uh, that is something that we need to do a little bit better on. So, thank you for that comment. Um, but I do encourage you once you get on to an internet connection that's not FCPS constrained, um, do pull up that buildings and grounds presentation and there is a a good explanation of that
074there. Uh, additionally too, um, as far as the value engineering component of it, when VLK was chosen as the architectural firm, part of that contract award did integrate in a secondary check and balance of a value engineer. So, what does that mean? It means that we have already budgeted for that, that is already in the plan. So the $94,000 in change that you all so wisely decided not to spend of our hard-earned taxpayers money, thank you because it would have been in duplicate in congruence with work that is already being done by a third-party independent value engineering firm that is not related to anyone on this board or not related to anyone in central office, cousins, ex-wives, girlfriends, aunts, uncles, stepdaughters. Correct, Mr. Thompson? >> That's correct. Just to make that crystal clear. So no
075other interests that will influence that engineering firm's decision on how our current firm VLK is doing on the value engineering side. How'd I do with that? >> You did absolutely amazing. >> Fantastic. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Cruz. So that's all I have. >> Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Atkins, >> hey, I wanted to say thank you to Miss Klein for speaking that so eloquently. She always does a bangup job, far better than I do. Um, but yeah, we're doing our best to save as much money as possible. We're being as transparent as possible. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Um, if you haven't seen the, uh, building and grounds committee meeting. Please, uh, you know, pull it up on YouTube, check it out. We invite any kind of questions, comments,
076or concerns. We were on board with having uh the county paid for uh an additional person to check over our shoulders, but that's the $94,000 saved. Um I believe, you know, the county has, you know, looked at that and looked at what we're doing and deemed it, you know, unnecessary to spend taxpayer dollars on that. So, I want to go ahead and say thank you to the uh board of supervisors. Uh, thank you to the team out there um, helping to put this together from VLK to our Frederick County team. Uh, thank you to my other committee members on the uh, building and grounds committee and thank you to the rest of the board. Um, so I appreciate all your hard work and let's keep this going. >> Any other comments? >> All right, I
077have two motions here. I move the board approves the storm water management plan maintenance agreement and authorize the chair to execute all necessary documents that are approved by legal counsel. >> 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 >> and I move the board approve the minutes of the buildings and grounds committee meeting held on August 11th, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion was made and properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> A motion. Any oppose? No. All right, that carries. Next is the personnel committee report. me again. A meeting of the personnel committee of the Frederick County School Board was held on August
07811th, 2025. The meeting was called to order at 5:55 and a copy of the minutes has been provided to each board member. During the meeting, Miss Campbell and Miss Rinker gave a staffing update which included professional vacancies for FY20 2026, teacher vacancies by content FY2026, teacher vacancies by content FY2025 versus FY2026, and support staff vacancies for FY2026, professional vacancies filled as of August 1st, 2025. They also discussed the years of experience of new teachers, vacancy coverage and contracted staff from external agencies, vacancy coverage and pending offers, vacancy coverage and long-term subs and as well as staff turnover in 2024 through 2025. Mrs. Ranker shared the celebrations of recruitment efforts which included celebrations of rec focusing on elementary classrooms and recruiting plans. Mrs. Edwards Johnson discussed the FCPS employee services update to include the FCPS employee
079benefit highlight. The meeting adjourned at 6:16 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 personnel committee meeting held on August 11th? Yeah. Okay. I have one motion here and I move the board approve the minutes from the personnel committee meeting held on August 11th, 2025. Second. >> Motion was made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? And that's that. Up next, we have the Frederick County Sheriff's Office Memorandum of Understanding. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do want to share a couple items about this. First and foremost, I want to thank um the Sheriff's Office, Sheriff
080Mil Holland, and the amazing individuals that we have supporting our schools, for taking it seriously every single day. Um, and I also failed to mention all the hard work that you all did to roll out the start of this school year. I saw all the speed traps set up as well as making sure students are coming into the school safely and and being here tonight this evening. So, thank you gentlemen. I really really appreciate your support every single day. Keep our schools safe. Um so with that, when we have SRO's in our school, we are required by code to review a memorandum every two years. Now is the second year of that 2-year contract and we do have to post it, which we did post it on our website. We had two comments which you
081saw in the weekly and they were positive comments. again they the two people who commented also appreciate our relationship with the sheriff's office and having SRO in our building. Um so with that, Mr. Chair, it is up for you for approval this evening. So thank you very much and thank you gentlemen. Really appreciate you. >> Mr. Chair, I move the board approve the memorandum of understanding with the Frederick County Sheriff's Office as presented and to authorize Dr. Hummer to sign the memorandum of understanding. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded multiple times. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That carries. Next up is the appointment of the deputy clerk. >> All right, Mr. Chair. So, as you know, you have
082the amazing Mrs. Dantis who's sitting to my left, but we also have three deputy clerks, and we have a new one sitting in the back there, Mrs. Katherine Dave, who is up for the third deputy clerk in case Mrs. D Santis is not available as well as to help also help with setup. So with that, I need your all's approval before we go downtown to have her sworn in as the backup deputy clerk. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> And Mr. Chair, I move the board appoint Mrs. Katherine Joll to serve as the deputy clerk and to approve the resolution setting the bond for the school board deputy clerk that sets that sets the amount of the corporate shity bond at $10,000 and authorize the payment of the shity bond on behalf of the deputy clerk.
083>> Second motion has been made and seconded. Is there any discussion >> chairman? >> Yes. >> I just want to point out that uh Mr. Santis is not allowed to be missing or out. She must be at every single event. >> Thank you, Mr. Bell. >> Appreciate it. >> You're welcome, Mr. Santis. >> Thank you. >> Are there any other comments? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? We have a new deputy clerk and Dr. Hummer is up next for the contract award for the play equipment for Armor Armal Elementary School. >> All right. So, thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Um, I also want to thank the buildings and grounds committee and all of you for always asking really good questions and we want to
084be able to present this and answer all of your questions about this new playground that we want to go in over at Armal. Um, so I have Mr. Thompson who is going to share some information with you all and answer any questions we still have up for your approval for the approval of this Armal playground. So, Mr. Thompson, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Okay, so we're recommending the uh school board approve the contract award for the Arnold playground. Uh just wanted to provide you a couple of photos or renderings that you can see of the playground. I'll click through these real quick. want to talk to you a minute a little bit about Sourcewell. So Sourcewell is essentially a organization that takes bids uh for a variety of different items that may
085be purchased publicly. In this case, uh Source Well is located in Minnesota. The organization is in Minnesota. And what it essentially does is allows us to when they put out something to bid allows uh anyone uh any playground equipment manufacturer to bid on it and then any public agency can benefit from that. So it gives you the idea of you know bidding on a large scale you get you know that larger scale purchasing and then but then every unique uh entity or agency can still access that at that at that discount price when you have that volume purchasing essentially and as we noted here it complies with all procurement laws and regulations and such and I'm not going to you know read the slides to you but but you can see there um there's also
086a link that you can access about how source well works um and it gives you a little bit more information there as well that's been provided to you and posted in advance. So again, the contract award is for 221 213 uh 66 cents. Uh happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> Mr. Chair, if if I may. Um so and I don't know if Miss Anderson you need to step in with this and thank you Mr. Thomas Thompson for providing this information. Can you provide the board and the public to talk about what this benefits the school division? Because again, as we've talked about and as the board has said and I have said, we want to make sure we're respecting the taxpayers's dollar. So don't we don't want to just engage in
087a process to engage in a process. Wh why did we move forward with source well for these projects as well as other projects? What's the benefit of that? >> Well, back to um what you can see there on the screen, why use Sourcewell? those five topics there. But this um cooperative purchasing program, what it allows us to do, it saves time on the procurement end, the procurement process end. So we have access, we get economies of scale, better pricing by having more access to more v vendors um as well as getting the project done quicker because we're saving time on the procurement process end. And if I may, we're saving money because we're coming in under budget on this. Correct. >> That is correct. The budget is at 250,000 for this project. >> Okay. Thank
088you. >> I I will add that I did take a review of some area school divisions on their last playground purchase and very confident that this is uh very much value for what we're getting. Well, I know several of the board members had questions and I just want to make sure that their concerns were properly addressed if >> so the way the way >> Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Atkins, sorry >> or is that Mr. Atkins? >> I mean, yes, we are coming in under budget with this for from the it was budgeted $250,000. It's at that mark that we have now. However, we could could have set a budget for $500,000 to inflate the the budget cost and still come in under at 400,000. Um, so I personally I just like to see when we
089bid that out um either the the reason or explanation during the building and grounds committee meeting or have those budgets presented publicly like we normally do. Yes, >> but I do understand the reason why we're doing it this way. >> Yes, sir. >> So, just just to clarify, just to make sure I make sure I understand this. So, Miss Anderson, please feel free to jump in, Mr. Thompson as well. So, the way I see Sourcewell is somewhat like Costco. They have the benefit of the economy of scale that Mrs. Anderson spoke to, meaning they purchase things in bulk and then they're able to distribute that to their customers at a lower price. So, we're not talking about exactly retail for retail here, but this is essentially a cost aggregator where they have vendors that can
090provide them different items at a lower cost and they pass those cost savings on to us. >> It's a it's advantageous for vendors to join source well to get access to more business. Therefore, they give their best prices. >> Okay, got it. And if I understood you too, Mr. Thompson, I know that Mr. Atkins and I asked you in the building and grounds committee meeting to to check out some other local school districts to see if this price was on par. I understand there's escalation costs and site development costs and those eentricities that are going to be different from sight to sight. But I just want to reiterate what you just said. You've done that and this price is on par with what those other districts experience. >> Absolutely. The district uh to the north
091is developing a program roughly half the size of what we're developing. Uh student elementary school is about 200 students and their playground was approximately 180k. Uh to the east we had their last eight playgrounds were over 300k. Another division to the east also um approximately 260 on the last several playgrounds. >> And those are basically equivalent type playgrounds. They're not gilded in gold or anything. We're getting just a normal Okay. >> That would be hard to say. The best comparison I would say would be to the north where it was 180k for a playground roughly developed for roughly half the number of students that we're developing >> for half the number of students. 180k for half the number of students. We're getting it for 221 and change for double the number of students. >> Correct.
092>> Got it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. No, I'll echo what Mr. Atkins said. Like all that information for we folks that are not in the education business and are not accustomed to using these types of products. Just having that explanation would be helpful. So, thank you for bringing that to the full board. Thank you for bringing that context to it as well. Appreciate it. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Yes. So, the next slide there at the bottom, sir. Yes, sir. >> Mr. Share, I move the board approve the contract award to Play Power LT Farmington Incorporated for a new play equipment at Armal Elementary School in the amount of $221,2166. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I.
093>> I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? We have new playground. Do we have any board member comments? >> Mr. Chair, I just have one. I think we should reserve the entire front row for the Sharando FFA henceforth and forever more at every board meeting because it seems like we are always honoring those young ladies and young gentlemen and they look so sharp. Everyone knows that I'm a fan of a uniform. I I think it looks sharp. I think it demands respect. I think it commands a a presence and a demeanor amongst our students and I just love it when they come and dressed to the nines and I love the progress they're making. So just that's all I have just uh all good comments for them and good vibes headed to the Sharando FFA
094as well as all of the FFA chapters at all of our schools. They're pretty amazing. Pretty amazing. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Mr. Chairman, >> Mr. B. >> Yeah, I just have a couple of comments. Uh, first I want to thank this board um and all of the members for our ability to come together on quite a divisive issue such as the books that has been in our community. We've come to a compromise. We've listened to all sides of this situation and we've respected all sides of this situation and we're giving a different option for uh for our students where they can opt in and also a section so that there's oversight so that those parents who do not wish for their students to look at certain books will uh be rest assured that we
095do have that separate section with oversight. So, I just want to thank each and every one of you for thinking about it and coming to a compromise where I know it's not what it's not everything that each of us wants, but we're willing to compromise and work together. And I think that says a lot about this board. So, thank you very much, and I'm very proud to serve on this board with each and every one of you. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Mr. Bell. Anyone else? Mr. Atkins, >> I'm good. >> I would this be an appropriate forum for a question? >> Um, so we we don't have to vote on on the books policy because >> there's a consensus. >> Okay. And it's a policy, not a budget. >> Yeah. If if
096I may, if I may, Mr. Mr. Chair, that's a great question, Marina. So, um, the policy is is very clear and that has been established. this aspect of the change is actually under the regulation. So that's it's very similar to the cell phone regulation where we want to gather consensus from the board in regards to how you want me to uphold your policy. So with the change in the regulation which Mrs. Jordan is working on, we just needed direction in regards to the four options that were on the table. And of those four options, we're moving forward to three with the fourth option being removing all the sexually explicit books where nobody was in favor of or or said it said it um publicly in regards to consensus. Um so um anyway, so that's why
097there's no vote needed. Um at any point any member can call for a vote on a specific motion, but for this particular item, there's no necessary need for that, especially when there's a consensus based on what direction you want me to go in. If that helps. And Mrs. Jordan, you can chime in if I missed anything there. Right. So next steps now that we have a consensus from the board is we'll go um me and other staff members will continue to look at the logistics of implementing the consensus of the board including updating the regulation like Dr. Hummer mentioned and the board will be kept apprised of our progress if we run into any issues how we're moving forward. Um and Dr. Hummer as well as I am always open to for the um members
098of the board to provide feedback as we move forward. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Miss Martin? >> No, I'm good. >> No. All right. I just have a couple things. I was privileged. It's been a busy month. We went to Laurel Ridge for the Future Educators Academy and that was really fantastic. Um, I actually didn't know a whole lot about that program. So, it's fantastic that these uh young students are going to what is it? They get the associates program. >> They get two years at Laura Ridge and then they get essentially a full ride to go to to is it ODU or James Madison? I know they were going back and forth that it's James Madison. They get their bachelor's degree and then they come back and work for us. So, it's a great
099program. >> Fantastic idea. Uh I want to give a shout out myself personally. I met the ladies from the Jameswood High School volleyball team at the pack the bus, stuff the bus, whatever it was, and they were impressive doing all that stuff on their own. And then they invited me to volleyball games and I managed to get to the scrimmage. I believe it was last Tuesday, last Wednesday. >> Thursday. Okay. And uh they were phenomenal. I I I'm a fan of volleyball. It it just if you've not seen a volleyball game, especially Jameswood ladies, I I'm not denigrating any of the other schools in our system, but I walked up to the coaches when I saw them warming up and they were slamming them balls and I said, "I would not want to tick those
100ladies off." And and to give you a a a sense of the quality of our students, the one young lady on the team, I keep forgetting her name, the number 14, whichever one that is, she came up, she asked me to come or told me about the games and told me when the scrimmage was. I'm sitting on the other side of the gym. They're standing over there and she comes all the way up and shakes my hand and thanks me for being there. So, that's just the kind of quality of students that we have. NBC4 was great. Apparently, they love coming here every year. Um, getting up at five o'clock or is a little early, but it's worth it. And and another thing I want to I've been around through several of the schools with
101the superintendent uh for the first couple days of school and we went to Redbud and the thing that impressed me and all these young kids are coming and of course there's the crying and and some of those things but and and I saw it at other schools but for some reason Redbud stuck in my mind. those teachers and the staff members going on those buses and taking some of those youngsters by the hand and walking them into school, seeing that the the look of trauma on some of their faces as as I've known it well, seeing from my own kids as they went to school and other children. But it it was just the manner in which they did their jobs showed how much they love it. And I saw that at Apple Pie Ridge.
102um just everywhere I went the the staff was so impressive on the first couple of days of school and and I know that there's been criticism that we don't appreciate the staff and I've read that in the newspaper and other people have got to speak but I'm telling you we appreciate our staff because I think we got the best school staff going and and just those folks at Redbud Redbud just impressed me so very very much and then uh the back to school kickoff that we had at the beginning of the month was phenomenal. Um, Bright Futures came with I believe it was like 200 book bags, >> 400. >> Well, they they initially brought 200 book bags and they were gone within like 15 minutes and had to go back and get some more.
103Um, the hot dogs, the DJs, uh, the Chick-fil-A cookies, um, everything. I I we had close to a thousand people came to that if I remember. >> Great turnout. It was great. So, that was done phenomenally and all the staff that did the hard work on that. And then, uh, last night we attended the summer school graduation at Milbrook High School and those kids did an excellent job. It's been a a fantastic August and a fantastic start to the year. And with that, I am done. We have one announcement and that is our next school board meeting will be held on September 23rd, 2025. What is the pleasure of the board? >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we adjourn our meeting. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion?
104>> Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. >> Any opposed? We are adjourned.