001[Music] The date is May 20, 2025. The time is 1804 hours and I would like to call the Frederick County School Board meeting to order. Mr. Chair, I move to uh approve the agenda before us. Second one moment. We have a motion, Mr. Chair. That was my fault. Uh Mr. Atkins is requested to participate in the meeting remotely for a personal matter specifically due to work commitment in Dulles, Virginia. I move to allow Mr. Atkins to participate in this meeting remotely. 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? That motion carries. Madame Vice Chair, uh, looks like we have so looks like we have an agenda before us. So I move that we have Oh, that's me. I'm
002sorry. Move the agenda before us, Mr. Chair. We have an agenda and I do I have a motion for approval, Mr. Chair. I move that we approve the agenda before us. Second. All right. It's been properly motioned and properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Now, now let me go to Madame Vice Chair. I apologize. And 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 appointments, administrative leave, dismissals, leave of absence, non-renewal, reduction force, resignations, support staff hires, substitutes, tutors, and volunteers pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2 2 3711 paragraph A.1 and two to review and discuss individual student matters that would involve specific students and particular information
003contained in their scholastic records including requests for release from compulsory attendance for religious reasons for good cause requirement waiverss and disciplinary matters pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711 paragraph A.2. And finally, number three, 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 2.2-3711, paragraph A19. Second. We have a motion to go into close session. It has been properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion passes. We are now in close session and will reconvene around 1900 hours. [Music] Madame vice chair, what's the pleasure of the board? Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the board reconvene from close
004session. Second. We have a motion to return from close session and it has been properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? We've now returned from close session. Mr. 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. All right, we have a motion to certify the closed session has been properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, madam clerk, call the role. Miss Martin, here. Muso say I Mr. Bell I Mr.
005Sturdivan I Mrs. Klein I Dr. Erskin I Mr. Atkins I that passes. All right and Mr. Chair I move we have four motions out of close session. I move the board of first is I move the board approve the personnel actions as recommended by the superintendent. Second. All right. You have a motion's been properly seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? No. All right. I move the board approve the release of student A from compulsory attendance. Second. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That passes. I move the board approve the good cause graduation requirement waiver request of student B. Second. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Any discussion? All those in
006favor signify by saying I. I. Any any opposed? That carries. And finally, I move the board uphold the decision of the student conduct and support committee for student C. Uh second. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Any discussion? Yeah, Mr. Chair, Mr. Bell, um I just want to make sure that anyone that happens to be listening at this particular juncture realize that uh whenever we have this type of motion in front of us, it's not an easy decision. It's not something that we just review, look at, and then make a decision. It's something that we really take to heart and really uh dig deep into before we decide on removing a student from our schools. So, um hopefully that's understood in uh after the vote. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor
007signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That carries. And that concludes the motions, Mr. Sure. Do we need recess? There we Yes. And Mr. Chair, Mr. Bell, I'd like to make a motion to recess until 1900 hours, Eastern Standard Time. Okay, we have a motion to adjourn until 1900 hours. Do we have a second? 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 will return at 1900 hours. [Music] Time is 1903 hours. Madame vice chair, what's the pleasure of the board? Mr. Chair, I move that we reconvene from recess. 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? We are now
008back in session. Please join me in a minute of silence tonight. Uh we'd like to hold the minute of silence in honor of Andy Gonzalez Ajo, one of our seniors from Milbrook High School who recently passed away. So join me in a moment of silence, please. Thank you for that. And if you could stand and uh recite the pledge of allegiance. Easier said than done. 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. Next is a consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Mr. Chair, I move that we approve the agenda before us. Second. Has been motioned to approve and has been properly seconded.
009Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? We have an agenda. Are there proclamations? If if I may, just a small clarification, Mr. Chair. It's um the consent agenda was approved. You already approved the agenda in the beginning. Did I say consent agenda? You said now we have an agenda. I am so sorry. Just a minor technicality. Consent agenda. I do apologize. Do I need to do it again or are we good? Okay. No proclamations to be read today? No. No, sir. All right then. And uh up next we h uh get to enjoy our quarterly showcase and recognize our amazing amazing students and staff which we will do over in Jameswood Middle School auditorium. If you would please join us in walking over there.
010Once the awards and recognitions are over, we will return back here to the boardroom. Uh so uh we'll now walk over to uh Oops. I'm sorry. I'm ahead of my ahead of my game. Uh we'll all uh mosy on that away and uh be back shortly. Good evening everybody. It is so great to see you all. This is always a very very exciting time of year where we celebrate all of our students, all of their accomplishments. We also have some administrative appointments. So with that, we're going to go ahead and get started with the first portion of this celebration, which is this is our awards of excellence program. Before we proceed, I would like to ask that everyone stay here throughout the entire program out of respect for each individual who is being recognized. Once
011we have completed all the presentations, you will have an opportunity to leave and enjoy the rest of your evening. Or if you'd like and you have nothing to do, you can join us for the rest of our schoolboard meeting for the remainder of this evening right next door. In addition, when you come forward, please uh accept your certificate from Mr. Sturdivan and myself and take a moment to pause for a picture. And if it is a group recognition, please just stand to the right and we will take a group photo after we hand out all those certificates. So with that, I'm going to head down and Miss Elcowsky will take over from there. Again, great to see everybody. Thank you. [Applause] All right. Admiral Richard E. Bird Middle School students recently competed in the VMI
012Math Day and earned first place in the VMI Math Modeling Challenge. Congratulations to these students. McKinley Boycourt [Applause] and Lionus Reed. [Applause] In April, Dal J. Howard Center student Tanner Culp competed in the Skills USA state competition and earned second place in the category of admin automotive refinishing technology. Congratulations to you. [Applause] The FCPS honorary award is given to an individual or group that demonstrates leadership, excellent character, behavior, and a positive attitude or makes contributions that have a measurable impact to the school community. Students from the Dow J. Howard C Center's Criminal Justice 2 class recently made an incredible impact. Their policy discussions with Superintendent Corbin and his staff at the Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center directly inspired new policies within the facility. It's extraordinary for high school students to influence real world policy and
013their advocacy will directly affect 150 sworn staff leaving a lasting impression. This achievement is a powerful testament to their leadership, knowledge, and passion for criminal justice. They also presented their human trafficking initiative to the FCPS counseling department on May 12th, 2025. So congratulations to these students. First up, oh my Arammy, [Applause] Carla Agueta. [Applause] Jenna Hari. [Applause] Julia [Applause] Jackson, Hannah Lindterberg, Brendan Lockach. a Stephanie Nunees, [Applause] Villatorro, Jaden Ross Williams, [Music] and John Ian Settzer. [Applause] Each spring at the VSBA regional spring networking forums, an art contest is held to showcase art from the region. Each school division submits an elementary, middle, and high school entry. The artwork is judged and artwork selected for first place is shared throughout the year with the membership and spotlighted at the annual convention. We had two students
014place first this year and one of those students is with us here tonight. Congratulations to Emmy Meyers from Frederick County Middle School. [Applause] In March, students from Sharando High School participated in the Virginia FFA Start State Parliamentary Procedure Leadership Development event and place first. The team advances to the national competition which will be held during October in Indianapolis, Indiana. Congratulations to this group. First off, Sarah [Applause] Hawkins, Morgan Le Mason [Applause] Patterson, Leah S. [Applause] Corin [Applause] Culie, Caleb Green, [Applause] and Emma Weiss Carver. [Applause] Next up, we have two special FBLA recognitions. We'd like to recognize Caitlyn Nichols who was selected as the 202526 FB Virginia State FBLA state reporter and Gavin Flynn who was elected as the Virginia FB state vice president representing the Shannondoa region. Congratulations This school year, our instructional technology
015coaches or ITC's led a successful project, earning a first place win at the Shannondoa Apple Blossom Festival's grand feature parade. ITC's and teachers collaborated to create a curriculum engaging all school levels. Middle school students prototyped a float. Elementary students voted on the design and high school students constructed the final entry. This collective effort earned the float the Jonathan Apple award in the community participation organization nonprofessionally built float category. Congratulations to the whole team and we have some member representatives here with us tonight. First off, Matt Graeme. [Applause] Kristen [Applause] Holan, Jeff [Applause] Holmes and Jodie Zeiss. [Applause] On April 24th, staff members from across the division were recognized for their outstanding accomplishments and contributions to Frederick County Public Schools. Please join me in congratulating these individuals. The bus driver of the year, Terilyn Arml. [Applause]
016The gala award. Trevor Grim, head custodian at AR Admiral Bird Middle School. Congratulations. The Rome Award, Robin Hawkins, school nutrition services staff at Jameswood High School. Congratulations The York Award. Aaron Hatfield, administrative assistant at Sherando High School. The counselor of the year award, Kama Dawson at Jameswood High School. The first class teacher of the year award, Lisa Jaffy Wilfong, third grade teacher at Gainesboro Elementary School. The teacher of the year award, Allison Shifflet, reading specialist at Redbud Run Elementary School. The exceptional leader of the year award, Katie Freley, executive director of human resources. [Applause] The assistant principal of the year award, Robin Shrum, Middletown Elementary School. [Applause] and the principal of the year award, Shelley Andrews, Jameswood High School. And one more hand for all of our award recipients. Way to go. Congratulations. All right.
017Last but not least, we have our administrative appointments. When I call your name, please come on up to the stage. After I got done reading your bio, have you say a few words to our school board in the audience. So, first we have uh our new principal at Gainesboro Elementary, Dr. Keith Reeves. Come on up, please. Let's give him a round of applause. Dr. Reeves is currently serving as a principal in Warren County Public Schools since 2022. He joins the Gainesboro Elementary School team as principal, which we're very excited about. within K12 public education. He served in a variety of roles including music teacher, instructional technology resource teacher, instructional technology coordinator, senior instructional technology coordinator, and assistant principal since beginning his career in 2001. Dr. Reeves holds a bachelor's degree in music from Ithaca College,
018master's in curriculum and instruction from George Mason University, and a doctorate in global education leadership from Lamar University. Additionally, Dr. Reeves holds a certificate in leadership and administration from Mary Washington University, a certificate in educational technology leadership from the Consortium for School Networking, and a certification in school management and leadership from Harvard University. And all of that, he's now a principal. So, this is fantastic. We're very, very lucky to have him. So, again, please join me in congratulating Dr. Keith Reeves. Congratulations. Thank you, Dr. Hummer, Mr. Mr. Goodwin, Miss Knight, members of the school board, including Miss Caruso representing our district for the first time this evening, uh members of the division leadership, and the members of the selection committee. I am humbled and honored to serve the Gainesboro community. I'm excited to work alongside
019the phenomenal teachers and staff I had the privilege of meeting this afternoon. Profound in my heart is the belief that every child has the innate right to their full human dignity. Is to be supported and nurtured and loved as a person first and foremost and to have their unique needs met every day so they can be the best versions of themselves from the classroom to the living room. For the past 23 years, I've been all of the things that Dr. Hummer told you about. I'm a fourth generation educator. Great grandma was a one room schoolhouse teacher. Grandma started in a two- room schoolhouse and my mom became director of education for her hospital. Family history, as you can probably tell, is important to me. So, I cherish deep roots. My families extend back over 230
020years in our ancestral home of New York, where we re where we Reeves farmed apples, built churches and schools, served as nurses and firefighters, served our country and community, and strove to improve life every day for our families. I've tried to do the same here in Virginia, as I have for two decades. And as such, I value and have tremendous respect for the deep history and spirit of Gainesboro, which reminds me so much of home. I know that our families cherish the land upon which their forebears built their lives over that same 230 years, and that they passionately love our school. I pledge to honor the traditions and passions of that history, to hear your stories, and to learn from your wisdom and your experience. My door, my ears, my eyes, and my heart are
021open to you. I promise to listen. I promise to tell you the truth. If there is a solution to be found together, we will find it. I hope that love and laughter can accompany everything we do together as we excite and inspire our kids and help them achieve and succeed. To my family and colleagues who have supported me on my journey to do this remarkable work, I extend my love and gratitude. And to the Gainesboro Eagles, I thank you once again for entrusting me with this opportunity to serve you. Thank you. Okay, next I would like to please call up Mrs. Amy Strader, please, as our new assistant program director at ENREPs. Give her a round of applause. Miss Snder has been with ENREP in a variety of roles since 2002, including early childhood special
022education teacher, lead ECSE teacher, developmental specialist, schoolwide lead teacher, and ECSSE program specialist. She holds an associates of arts in science and education, an associates of arts and science in general studies from Lord Fairfax, a bachelor's in child development and family studies from West Virginia University, a master's of applied teaching with a concentration in early childhood special education and a certification in administration and supervision from Shannidoa University. And she is our reigning teacher of the year last year as well. So let's hear from Mrs. Amy Strader. I don't really want to follow Dr. Ree because he did well. Um Dr. Hummer, members of the school board, I'm excited to continue my journey with ENREP. Um the staff, the students, and the families there are have my heart. Um so thank you for this opportunity. [Applause]
023Okay, next we have Candace McGovern as the new assistant principal at Dallas J. Howard. Please come on down. Let's give a round of applause. Candace is being promoted from the intervention resource teacher to at Dal J. Howard Center. Prior to joining the team at Dal J. Howard in 2023. Miss McGovern was a special education teacher at Jameswood Middle School. She was also a special education instructional assistant and a substitute at Frederick County Middle School and an attendant at Public Partnerships LLC. She serve served as an ABA therapist at New Horizon's professional ABA services and she also holds an associates degree in education from Lord Fairfax, a bachelor of science and psychology from Old Dominion University in autism spectrum disorder certificate and a master's in educational leadership from ODU. Please join me again in congratulating Mrs.
024McGovern. Thank you, chair, members of the board, and Dr. Hummer. I'm honored and excited to step into my new role as assistant principal at DOJ Howard. Being part of the Dow J team has been one of the most meaningful and impactful experiences of my career. I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to continue supporting our student, staff, and school community in this new capacity. I look forward to building on the great work already happening at Dal J Howard. Thank you. Okay. Next, I would like to call up Ethan Waters, please, as the new CSA at Jameswood High School. Let's give him a round of applause. Ethan recently served as the social science teacher in Lowden County Public Schools since 2020 and administrative intern for the current school year. He holds a bachelor's degree in secondary education
025from Shephard's University and a master's degree in administration and supervision from West Virginia State University. Please join me again in welcoming Ethan. Congratulations. Yes, sir. Great to see you. Good evening, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Hummer school board and community members. It is truly an honor to stand before you tonight as the newly appointed coordinator of student athletics and activities for Jameswood High School. First and foremost, I want to extend my deep deepest gratitude to the school board and the administration of Jameswood High School for entrusting me with this incredible opportunity. Your confidence in my ability to lead and support our students in both athletics and extracurricular activities means the world to me. I also want to thank my family for their unwavering support, encouragement, and patience throughout this journey. Their belief in me has been a
026constant source of strength and motivation. I am excited to work alongside our dedicated coaches, sponsors, and staff to continue building a vibrant, welcoming, and spirited environment where every student can thrive on the field, on the stage, and in every corner of our school community. Thank you again for this opportunity and I look forward to what we will accomplish [Music] together. Okay. Next, I would like to please call up Mrs. Megan Dodd as our new assistant director of instruction. Please come on up, please. Mrs. Dodd has recently been the principal at Apple Pie Ridge and prior to coming to FCPS, she held a variety of roles in Washington County Public Schools, Maryland, including principal, educational consultant, assistant principal, and student achievement specialist. She began her educational career as a reading specialist in Berkeley County Public Schools,
027West Virginia. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education from Fairmont State College, a masterers of art and reading from West Virginia University, administrative certificate from Frosburg University, and is currently pursuing her doctor in education from the University of Virginia. Congratulations, Mrs. Megan Dodd. Good evening, chairman of the board, board members, Dr. Hummer. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as the new assistant director of instruction. Instruction has always been a true passion of mine, not just as a professional responsibility, but at the heart of what drives me every day. I truly believe high quality instruction can change the course of a child's life. And I'm committed to ensuring every student in Frederick County receives instruction grounded in evidence-based practices that meet their unique needs. I honor I am honored that you recognize
028this passion and that you trust in my leadership and I will not let you down. For the past six years, I've had the privilege of serving as the principal of Apple Pieidge Elementary School. It is truly a special place. It is more than a school. It is part of the fabric of the community. It is a place where dedicated teachers, compassionate staff, and a tight-knit community come together every day to lift up every child and help them grow. The pride in our school's history, the joy in our celebrations, and the resilience of our community are things that I will never forget. I will always carry a piece of the pie with me. Thank you again for this incredible opportunity. I look forward to continuing to serve our great school division with clarity, heart, and an
029unwavering belief in every learner's potential. Okay, and with that, have a great rest of your evening unless you're joining us next door. So, we'll head on over. Thank you everybody. [Music] Okay, next up we have citizen comments. 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 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 and to speak to the school board. Members of the audience and
030speakers 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 FCPS code of student conduct. Complaints regarding FCPS employees should first be submitted 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. 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,
031posters, placards, banners, or like objects are permitted into the school board's meeting, but only if the individual possessing such items remain in the back of the room so as to not restrict the view of those attending the meeting in person. Violation of the guidelines will result in the chair ruling the speaker out of order. Continued viol violation may result in the removal from the premises. We have provided copies of the 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 the sign-in sheet was located. The chair has discretion concerning public participation at schoolboard meetings. Schoolboard meetings are tape recorded for the purpose of clarification and the development of official minutes. First on our list this evening is Rebecca
032Rigger. Right. My name is Rebecca Rager and I'm a resident and parent in the Gainesburg district. Today I wanted to discuss the paradox of tolerance which I'm sure everyone here has heard about but if not in 1945 the philosopher Carl Pauper stated that unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant then the tolerant will be destroyed and tolerance with them. He argued that we shouldn't always suppress those who are intolerant as long as those people and their arguments could be countered with rational arguments, but that we should still claim the right to suppress the intolerant when it turns out that they are not prepared to meet on
033a rational level. Continuing, he said, "We should therefore claim in the name of tolerance the right to not tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside of the law. And we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution is criminal in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder or kidnapping as criminal. So what does this have to do with the school board? Since I started coming to these meetings, what I've witnessed has been a constant call for parents and constituents to become more and more tolerant of intolerant people and practices. We've watched as the board allows the vitrial lace diet tribes on nothing more than a pride flag, Nazi salutes and slurs used without callout. We've also listened as members of the same board called all other
034parents and constituents perverts and laughed when asked to apologize. No call out of literal Nazis. But that's what we're used to now. We've watched the board mispronounce names of parents of a child who died after lack of care in our own school district. And while we know you cannot comment on the ongoing investigations, we also know that in the name of decency, it would literally take a few moments of practice to make sure you get at least their names correct. We've also seen board members wearing clothing with logos that do not be any boardroom. But again, tolerance of things that wouldn't otherwise be tolerated. As the school year comes to an end, I urge the board to use the summer to learn to do better for yourselves, the community you serve, and most importantly, our
035children. If you're wondering where to start, I would recommend our public libraries. Uh they have a wonderful summer reading program for adults. Um and I think it would be great. There are many parents in this room listening and those that could not attend who are tired of accepting intolerance as the norm. I also wanted to extend congratulations to Miss Caruso for your appointment to the board and we hope that you will bring a more balanced voice uh which is kind of lacking. So thank you Mr. Nuri. Good evening, members of the board. Mr. Chairman, uh my name is Brian Nur. I'm a resident of the OPEC district, a seat that will be open for election in 2027. We would like to welcome the arrival of the new Gainesboro School Board Member, Marina Caruso. We all
036hope that she shows good leadership of the schools through stewardship and compromise, working for the betterment of all students and their parents, and upholding our principles on our mission statement of learning, continuous growth, diversity, and inclusiveness, and challenging conventional thinking. That being said, however, I'd like to shed some light on some urgent issues within FCPS that are impacting both our staff and students. We're deeply concerned about the lack of support provided to our staff throughout the year, especially when working with students who exhibit extreme behaviors. Our teachers and support staff dedicate themselves to helping all students succeed. But they're often left without the resources, guidance, or assistance needed to manage these challenging situations effectively. This lack of support not only affects staff morale, but also compromises the safety and well-being of everyone in the classroom.
037This year, we've seen an a troubling trend. FCPS central administration allowing staff to become victims of online slander and false accusations from parents. Despite clear evidence disproving these claims, no meaningful support or intervention has been provided from the central office to protect staff from these damaging attacks. This creates a hostile work environment where dedicated educators are left unfairly targeted and left to navigate these false narratives alone. At minimum, once an accusation online has been closed by DSS and the sheriff's department as unfounded, a simple statement saying, quote, "These claims have been investigated and were deemed unfounded," could help. But from central office, there's only been silence. In conclusion, we urge FCPS leadership to prioritize real support for our staff, standing up against online slander for with transparency and accountability, and ensure that the needs of
038all the students are balanced fairly because only then can we truly create a safe, equitable, and nurturing environment for everyone. Thank you, Hannah Ram. I I was looking for you. Okay. Ram Hannah of Winchester City Cruso, welcome to the board. As I'm sure you're aware, you're stepping into a mess. So, I want to try to set the tone for your term. We, as a community, are putting our trust in you. Your work history is to say at the very least troubling. You're a large part of those responsible for the well-being of each and every student regardless of legal status. This isn't the first time the threats of mass deportation have been brought up in these meetings. And should the current administration continue on its course, this won't be the last time either. In addition to
039defending the physical, and legal safety of our students, as the committee you're part of denotes, we're trusting you to defend their mental, emotional, and educational safety, too, by braving the ignorance that in these meetings and in schools across the county is abundant. I believe in the inherent good of humanity more than I can possibly bear. But it's important that the current leadership of this country Oh, important to factor in that people don't God, I can't read. fear that people whoa fear they don't know and the current leadership of this country is praying on that in a way that's even more explicit than what some of your fellow board members assume is in the county library books on this board you're going to have to be a controversial figure one that is hopefully guided by a
040morality that follows the same thought from earlier that people humans are good and worthy of meeting their full potential without exception educating students young adults planning their life trajectories means allowing them the intellectual freedom to pursue topics that might be difficult to otherwise guys discuss sex, trauma, race, and overall identity have delicate nuances that should be explored and appreciated. Not doing so is detrimental in this age of information as there's every opportunity to turn to unreliable and dangerous sources. Literacy, digital or otherwise, is on the decline. And the last thing developing minds need is to be starved of the encouragement to flourish. Ignorance and fear. It's a cycle we have to break to give our students a fighting chance in a world that is evolving more rapidly than any AI generated strategic plan can ever
041account for. To support these everchanging tides, school staff need to be respected, fully compensated, and trusted. They're hired to be educators, yes, but also caregivers, office workers, behavioral specialists, and life coaches. They've been put into a position where not putting their own paychecks towards necessary supplies and spending countless hours and unaccounted overtime is impossible. I graduated not too long ago and every teacher I've had the privilege of knowing on a personal level has run into the exact same barriers. It's imperative that you and the rest of the board uplift their voices to mend that broken trust with what I know are extremely limited resources. Schoolboard members may say there's nothing that could prepare someone to be in their position, but that does not compare to becoming an educator. It's more than a job, more than
042a career, it's a lifestyle, and everything is riding on the fruits of that labor. So, Caruso, I hope to find an ally in you. Put our students first in every respect, and you'll have gained the trust of our community. Thank you, Carrie Carmichael. I hear Jannie Derby. No, Joel FA. Hello. My name is Joel FA. I am a fed Frederick County parent with two kids currently in our school system and I live in Gainesboro District. First of all, as one of the 12 applicants for the Gainesboro seat last month, I want to congratulate Mrs. Marina Caruso uh for being selected to fill the role. While it's both the end of the school year and I believe the end of the annual budget process, uh you're nonetheless stepping in at a time of increased attention, focused
043on the board, and a time of heightened tension and division in our community, our culture, and our nation. No pressure. We look forward to learning more about you and we are hopeful that you will perform your role with thoughtful care and respect for the incredible variety of students, teachers, and staff in whose daily lives you now play a key part. Secondly, I would like to commend the finance team for the results of the external spring audit presented at the finance committee meeting last night. I'm sure I speak for many in in expressing appreciation for the diligence and attention to detail indicated by such a result. My primary reason for wanting to speak tonight, however, is simply to express my concern to you, the full board, for your focus. Eight of my nine children have been
044or are currently students of Frederick County Public Schools over the past 14 years, give or take. While there may have been questions about various actions and decisions of the school board along the way, this year is the first time I really started wondering, good lord, what is going on down there? Between the horrendous handling of the challenge to Dr. Putt's leadership at FCMS and his subsequent removal to this recent oversized uproar about library materials, I'm becoming concerned that the loudest voices in the room rather than the most thoughtful, competent, or respected are being allowed to drive the agenda. I am of course aware, as the vice chair has commented previously, that this is a largely conservative area. However, it is not an entirely conservative area, and allowing culture war pet causes like this to run
045rampant and drive the agenda is only going to further deepen divisions in our community and take focus away from our amazing students and the hardworking teachers fighting to give them a solid 21st century education. The loudest voices in the room may be proud of the dust they kick up from strutting around like a peacock, but that doesn't mean they get to run the farm. [Applause] Christina Lawson. Hello. How are you? Uh, my name is Christina Lawson and I live in the Gainesboro district. I read the proposed strategic plan, Ignite 2030, and I think it's a good start. I have a couple of comments, though. Uh now you have a plan. What do you do next? What you really need to work on is getting buyin from all the stakeholders in the school system and in
046the community itself. And the only way to do that is going to be by generating excitement and building trust within the organization and within the members of the community. That needs to start immediately. The buyin needs to start now. Part of the draft mentions key performance indicators or KPIs to measure the success of the plan. Once you've identified and implemented those KPIs, I would be interested in seeing those updated as frequently as possible on the website or presented at schoolboard meetings. I think transparency um is going to be key here to be able to to get this plan to work. Um the other thing I want to mention is that you should update the staff and faculty as often as possible. My employer has used KPIs for the last 20 plus years and in the
047olden days we would get one update at the end of the year. Well, that doesn't generate any excitement and it's kind of useless to do it one time a year. So now, I know it's a lot of work for someone in my organization, but we get monthly updates of the KPI and this way we can adjust the plan as we go along. You don't wait till the end of the year and say, "Whoops, it didn't work." This way we adjust as we go. This also is a way to keep everybody engaged in making the plan work. Uh lastly, I would like to say uh that I was happy to see the emphasis on trade schools and trade careers in the strategic plan. My husband and I are both graduates of trade schools. And in 1982
048when I graduated, going into a trade career was seen as some sort of a consolation prize for people who were not smart enough to go to college. And I'm here to tell you nothing is further from the truth. And we have been very successful taking that trade school career, trade school degree, and being able to build on that and actually make a a living and make a life um here in Frederick County. So, I'm happy to see that that is changing and that that has um really come around not in this community, not just in this community, but in a lot of communities. Um the other thing I want to say is that in my industry, many of us are retirement age and trying to get young people into the the industry that I'm in
049is a it's a constant it's a constant battle and I think the timing of this plan is very good. Thank you. Sonia. Good evening. My name is Sonia Marfatia Good and I live in the Back Creek District. And if you know me, you know that I'm one of our school's biggest supporters. I just spent the day volunteering for field day at my girl's school. And I am bone tired, y'all. From 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., I was in a windowless music room hosting the dance party station for all of the classes. I have never appreciated seeing the sunlight more than when I left that school. I thought homeschooling during CO gave me an appreciation for what teachers do. But after today, I am blown away with all that teachers have to manage. I highly re
050recommend that everyone on the school board um spend a day in a teacher's shoes in their classrooms interacting with their students and their parents. I love the teachers and administrators at Orchard View and have really lucked out with having such a great team of educators for my girls. I have to say that the FCPS school board and leadership is failing our students and teachers. How many times will FCPS show up in the news for something bad? It's disappointing to see that the whole story is not being reported. Our schools are only as strong as our leaders and our leadership starts with you guys at the top of the school board and the superintendent. Teachers, parents, and administrators have been ringing the alarm all school year, and our schoolboard has shown that book bans are more
051important than making our students and staff safe. Our teachers and administrators feel valued and creating welcoming and collaborative work environment. There is so much negativity and low morale at our schools. And it's no wonder that we continue to lose our teachers to surrounding counties and we're unable to recruit experienced quality teachers. I don't need to recount all the reasons why FCPS has been in the news lately. I think we've all seen them. We can't control what people post on social media. I would hope that people would realize that there are always two sides to every story. What would be nice is if the district would send out a simple statement that says a situation has been investigated and the claims have been unsubstantiated. Maybe Dr. Hummer and the schoolboard members could talk to the teachers
052that were directly affected um and staff and show them that you all have their backs, especially when a negative story impacts our community. Showing a little appreciation might be the most underrated power move in life. If we don't tolerate those who use intimidation and threats as weapons in school, why are we allowing parents to threaten and intimidate teachers and principles? Why is the school district allowing a parent to slander an administrator, harass staff, and pose threat and harm to their families? Yet, those same employees are not allowed to speak up and defend themselves. You are asking for too much of our teachers and staff, and it's no wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves. Our superintendent just renegotiated a new contract before his three-year term was up with the school board, who seemed to
053be happy with our superintendent's leadership and sees no issues. I don't agree. I think the superintendent and our school board can do much better. This year, there are three seats that are up for election. Shaunie, Stonewall, and Rudbud residents. Here's your chance to find a better representative. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, with that, uh, we have reports. Uh, Dr. Hummer. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Greatly appreciate it. Um, first I want to give my deepest condolences to the family of Andy Gonzalez Anho. Um, that was a a horrible impact to the Milbrook community and to the Frederick County community as a whole. I want to thank the school board for commemorating the moment of silence. That's the last thing we want to do is is lose a student. Um, so deepest condolences to the family.
054Um, I I also want to thank Jameswood Middle School for allowing us to use their facility for our awards recognitions. I also want to thank our school board for continuously allowing us to recognize our amazing students and celebrate all the great things that are happening here in Frederick County. Um, I want to give a huge shout out to our students and staff. They work very very hard every day and they accomplish such amazing feats and I am always so super proud of them and I also want to thank our new administrators for joining the team and to jump on this journey was as we continue to impact all students pathways and opportunities. We also had our 75th anniversary celebration at Jameswood High School on Sunday and it was such an outstanding event with a great
055turnout from the entire community. As we all know, Jameswood High School is a flagship of Frederick County with such rich history that was on full display this past weekend. So, if you were there, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Uh, Mrs. Shelley Andrews did an outstanding job coordinating such a massive event, and we greatly appreciate all of our partners, our parents, former and current staff and students for all of their hard work for making this event such a success. We also did the ribbon cutting for Jameswood High School for the renovation expansion which were there was a lot of hard work from Mr. Goodwin and his team and I'm very very pleased with those efforts and if anybody wants to come by and take a tour of the final finalization of that project just
056let us know. We're more than happy to do that. Um and we open the doors for everybody that was in uh in attendance for the 75th anniversary to tour the school. It was a great great day for Frederick County. Um, I also want to thank the school board and the board of supervisors for allowing us to do that project because that was a really, really big deal. This is also an outstanding time of year for our year-end performances, student accomplishments and celebrations, sporting events, and our favorite, graduation coming next week. I want to take this moment to congratulate our entire class of 2025 for their hard work, commitment, and perseverance to fully complete and obtain their high school diplomas. This is the first step to many of their careers, and I'm so proud of each
057and every one of them. I had the opportunity to spend uh Sunday celebrating our scholarships for all of our students at Milbrook and at Sharando. Tomorrow evening is for James Wood. So, we're very, very excited about that. I am pleased to announce that we have over $4 million of scholarships for our students. Let's give them a round of applause for that. I'm so proud of our students for all of their hard work and accomplishments. We have fantastic things happening in our schools and I'm just so proud and pleased of all of our students and our staff for leading them in the right direction. So, that has been a great feat. Um, I'm also looking forward to all of you attending graduation next week. We've also invited the board of supervisors, so we're looking forward to
058that. hoping for good weather. So, we'll do our no no rain dance for next week, but we do have a backup plan if there is rain for next week and we are all part of that plan. So, it's very very exciting and we're looking forward to that. We also had our retiree celebration last week in which we recognized 51 amazing staff members who dedicated their careers to this amazing school division. We are so thankful for their dedication. And during the ceremony, the message that I gave them is share the good. Share the good that's happening here in Frederick County. Sure, there are things that we can work on and sure there are things that we make mistakes and we learn from those mistakes, but there's been a lot of great things in regards to what
059we've done throughout their careers and we want to make sure we share that so they're passing the torch on as we continue to do what's best for students and thus do what's best for this amazing community as well and keep that mission and vision alive. So, it was a great time to celebrate. I want to thank Mrs. Frankley and her team for putting on such an amazing event and please don't get any ideas of retiring anytime soon. Mrs. Frankley, thank you. Um, but I just want to thank all of all of our staff and everybody that put forth the effort and and recognizing our amazing retirees. Last but not least, we are very very excited to be presenting the strategic plan to you all this evening. We put a lot of time and energy. We
060listen to a lot of constituents. We listen to you. And I believe that we have a great plan to move this school division forward and focus on academics as well as the overall well-being of all of our students. This is a big deal and I want to thank Mrs. Knight and her team for all of the work that she put into this. I want to thank our parents, our staff, our community for all of their feedback and support as we develop this very very comprehensive plan and provide this clear roadmap for all of us so it guides our next steps. We have a lot of work to do. So this is just the first step for many and we're excited to embrace that work because we fully believe in the huge difference for our students
061that we are going to make so that we can impact this amazing community. The biggest aspect of this new plan will not only be a heavy focus while supporting the whole child but also to share our progress along the way. That is very very important that we continue to do that so we can continue to make adjustments. We can continue to celebrate our successes and we can continue to make the necessary shifts as we can continue to grow and meet the needs of all of our students. So I want to thank the school board for all of their support. We look forward to traveling this journey with you together with the staff with the community and thank you so much for all of your your efforts in making this plan the best for for our
062school division and our students. I also last but not least want to welcome Mrs. Marina Caruso to her first meeting. Looking forward to working with you and congratulations. And with that, Mr. Chair, that's all I have for my superport. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Uh Mr. Conlin will be up next with the safety and security presentation. Good evening, members of the board, Chairman, and Dr. Hummer. Uh tonight I'm just going to cover briefly some of the achievements we've uh accomplished this year in safety and security. I can get this to work. There we go. Um one of the uh of all the things we've accomplished this year, probably the most important to me is our safety and security ambassador program. Uh as you know, I have a very small staff. It's myself and my analyst,
063and it makes it very difficult to get out to all our schools and get everything we need to do done. Um, so between myself, my analyst, uh, we collaborated with Frederick County Sheriff's Office and Kaden Thoroggood from Dal J. Um, and we created this ambassador program where we reached out to all our schools and asked for three to five volunteers to participate in our safety program. Um, essentially what we did was, um, we had two training sessions. We worked with approximately 90 members on both the 7th of March and the 10th of March. Um, we went over the standard response protocol, explained to them what it was so that they could teach their staff how to better implement this program and when each one fit the scenario that they had at their school. Um, let's
064see. There we go. Uh the next thing we covered them was Raptor training. As you know, Raptor is our uh visitor management system as well as our emergency response system for our schools. Uh one of the issues we have is that um people will accidentally get locked out of the Raptor system or they'll forget their password and then they can't get in. Well, we get inundated with phone calls and it keeps us in the office as opposed to out in the field. So, what we did with these with these individuals is we gave them the authority to be able to reinstate passwords and get these people back online as well as teach them how to use the Raptor program more efficiently. Um, they're able to any any conflicts they have within the system, they're able
065to resolve. uh we've probably gone from 10 phone calls a day regarding this system to one every two or 3 weeks that they're unable to resolve. So, it's really been a huge help for us. Um moving forward, uh as you know, we install the weapons detection system, the child weapons detectors at James Wood, Tando, Milbrook, Dalj. The last one is at uh NREP. It has not been put out yet. did ask if they could hold off until the following until next year to implement it. Um, we recently installed new doors, the uh, FOB access doors at Apple Pie, Orchard View, Enrep. Um, Shirando is now they um, several doors just started to be replaced there. Um, and we're looking at expanding our weapons detection system at all our schools. I think you're aware we're meeting
066with the county board tomorrow to discuss this. Some of the other things uh we've accomplished this year is we've implemented a crisis response team across the division. Not only for during school hours but an after hours team as well. As Dr. Hummer can attest, we've had many late late night Google meets to discuss how to keep our kids safe based on implied threats or threats overheard at school. So, um that's been really uh instrumental in working with the sheriff's office to make sure our kids are safe every single day. Um, one of one of the great things that happened for us this year for our security team was the Raptor company awarded us their leadership award based on all our involvement and how well we've implemented within our schools. Uh, I stated that we we
067now have a uh divisionwide crisis management plan and we've also worked with all our schools across the division for their crisis plans. So each school we work with to make sure that they have a consistent plan that fits the state guidelines. Uh we now have a quarterly safety meeting for all our administrators. Uh we do our uh middle school and secondary schools in one meeting and then our elementary schools in another. We go over uh different scenarios and how to handle things, upcoming security trends, things that we're working on within their schools, that type of thing. Um, we've recently started collaborating with the construction services on the building of the fourth high school and our construction projects as well to make sure that those schools have the security items that we'll need in them. I
068guess that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Conlin. Appreciate it. Any questions? Nope. Thank you. Next up is the technology advisory committee report. Take one second to change the slides. You're good. Good evening board chairman Dr. Hummer. Um so our technology committee uh had two members in it. Uh Beth Harrington who was the chair and Dodie starter who is going to support me from the back here unless she wants to come up and stand next to me. Okay. She just she was our vice chair. Uh so the purpose uh of this committee we we just needed to kind of explain uh and give an understanding of the department uh and how we support student and students and instruction. So um we have five topics they're listed there instructional technology classroom resources Google for
069education infinite campus and uh our funding sources. So um we started with the most important uh and that was Jod Zeiss. We brought in Jod Zeiss who is our um supervisor of the instructional technology coaches and what we want to do is because it's the most important thing is that we support the students in student instruction. Uh so we wanted to start there. So we talked about the role of the instructional technology coach. Um, and then she gave some examples of some work and uh we talked about student data privacy and and gave some examples and uh some some ways that we support uh the students privacy and the and their and their security. Uh and then um we talked some about the uh technology that's available to students. I'm not going to go into
070detail about all this because each of our meetings was like an hour and so it would it would take a while to go through this. So just going through each meeting real quickly. Uh the next one is was led by uh Delia Underwood who is our um techn assistant technology director. Uh and she just took us on location to a classroom uh and we talked about the tools that are in the in the classroom. the um the communication devices, the phones, uh the boards, uh the touchboards, the Wi-Fi that's available along with the network that's available, um how it interacts with the Chromebooks and the PC and the teacher station. Um so, and then we talked about some of the tools that are available to the students. Uh and then next um we have Mike
071Pros who's our uh network in one of our network engineers and um he went over the uh Google for Google workspace for education um that we use mainly uh to teach the kids. Um and he explained how it's a collaborative environment and we talked about the tools that are available. Uh we also talked about the third-party tools that work within the environment or alongside to help protect uh and help assist the teachers such as HPARA uh classroom management system, Clever um Canva, CISCloud, Gaggle, Securely. You may have may or may not be aware of what those do, but I can explain if you have any questions. Uh and then we talked about the users and how user permissions are set up and you know teachers obviously have more permissions and they're able to reach out
072uh outside of our our division uh and and student accounts are more locked down. So we're keeping them safe. Um, next, uh, we talked about infant campus, uh, which is our student information system and how student information is created and updated and maintained. Um, we talked about our online registration process, which has changed considerably since we've gotten Infinite Campus. Um, it's no longer by paper. Um, everything is on the computer. even if they don't have a computer, they can come in and register online from a from a kiosk in our schools. Um, and then we talked about the parent portal and how uh teachers I mean sorry how parents can um uh access information and update their student information. And then finally we talked about this was led by me the funding sources um we
073talked about how grants federal grant uh which is uh -ate um how that is distributed um and how that has certain criteria such as matches from local uh funding and then what those things need to be uh spent on. And we also talked about the Virginia public school authority technology grant which has the same same uh same criteria. So um with all that being said, there was one suggestion uh and we are working on it with the communication department uh that we're going to set up a parent uh web page to help parents understand more of the tools that we use and help them um see what tools because there's so many tools out there. we tend to standardize on certain ones um so that our teachers have consistency through the grades. Um and Clever
074is one way that we do that. Future plans are up here. Um, I'm just going to read those off. Uh, to learn and share, uh, information regarding to FCPS technology. Um, and share that information to the school community. Uh, to advocate for the technology, promote, uh, community and parent involvement. There was some interest in learning more about esports and future programs. And we have two members. So, we are looking to recruit. So if anybody's interested, please um let Nina know and uh to continue to pro promote safe internet use and then we would also like to collaborate with CTE. That is the end. You have any questions? You all have been busy. Thank you. It was very busy. Yes, it's been great. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you, Mr. All right. All right.
075Next is new business. First, we have the student and conduct support committee rep committee meeting report uh by Dr. Erskin. Mr. Chair, meeting of the student conduct support committee of Frederick County School Board was held on April the 30th, 2025. The meeting was called to order 502. A copy, the minutes have been provided each board member. During the meeting, the committee went into a close session to review and discuss individual student matters that would involve specific students and particular information contained in their scholastic records, including disciplinary matters pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3711A.2. After reconvening and certifying the closed session, the committee voted to uphold the hearing officer's recommendation to expel student A from Frederick County Public Schools a2 to zero vote. The meeting adjourned at 554. Additional details regarding the information covered at the
076committee meeting are included in the minutes provided to board members. And the only motion coming out of this report um is that um I'll move to approve the minutes from the student conduct and support committee meeting held on April the 30th, 2025. Second. All right. A 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 up is the personnel committee report uh with Mr. Bell. Uh good evening. A meeting of the personnel committee of the Frederick County Board was held on May 5th, 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, Mrs. Campbell gave a staffing update which included professional vacancies,
077teacher vacancies by content, support vacancies, professional vacancies filled as of April the 25th, 2025, and the years of experience of new teachers. She also shared the top reasons for resignations in the FY25 resignations by position types and school-based resignations by level. Ms. Rinker shared the celebrations of recruitment efforts and gave a recruitment and retention update. Miss Edwards Johnson discussed the FCPS employee services update to include the FCPS employee benefit highlight of life insuranceances and supplemental insurance. And Mrs. frankly reviewed the June 15th hiring plan, the HR best practices learning series recap, and the 2025 annual awards and recognition recap. The meeting adjourned at 5:03 p.m. Additional details regarding the information covered at the committee's meetings are sorry at the committee meeting are included in the minutes provided to the board members. Are there any questions
078from the board uh about information shared at the personnel committee meeting held on May the 5th? Hearing none. There was one motion that came out of that meeting. I move that the board approve the minutes from the personnel committee meeting held on May 5th, 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. That motion carries. Mr. Bell, it is you once more. Uh these uh we Yes. A meeting of the instruction committee of the Frederick County School Board was held on May 5th, 2025. The meeting was called to order at 5:33 p.m. and a copy of the minutes has been provided to each board member. During the meeting, Mrs. Knight presented the strategic plan and discussed the proposed student
079fees for the 2526 school year. Mrs. Sagora and Mrs. Shrock, librarians at Orchard View Elementary School and Sharando High School, reviewed library books through the new process and gave feedback. Mrs. Mulani gave a quarterly data review for the elementary level and Dr. Meyers reviewed the quarterly data for the secondary level. The meeting adjourned at 7:10 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 May 5th? Hearing none. We had one two motions actually that came out of that meeting. The first is I move the board approve the student fees for the 2526 school year as presented. Second. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any
080discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. And the second uh motion is that I move the board approve the minutes from the instruction committee meeting held on May 5th, 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? And Mrs. Knight or at this time you'll come forward and present the strategic plan for us, please. And Mr. Chair, if I may, as Mrs. Knight's coming up, just as a reminder, we have to have a public hearing for the strategic plan. So, we're going to go ahead and post that prior to the meeting in June, which that'll come before you for approval then. Just want to let you
081guys know and the public know as well. All right, everyone. Good evening. Of course, Mr. Chair, members of the board, and again, a pleasant welcome to you, Mrs. Caruso. I'm excited, guys, again, as always, to have the opportunity to stand before you this evening. And one of my favorite things to talk about is instruction. So, anytime you give me a mic, uh, we might be here for a while, but I I'm kidding. I promise to do my best to make it very brief this evening because I know that you have spent some time with this plan, but um, this is an opportunity for both you and our community to re-engage with what we believe our vision for the next 5 years will look like. This slide here simply represents the components of the plan that
082I'm going to pro provide today as a highle overview. So you can take a look at those. And uh before I begin to unpack the plan again I just want to take a brief moment to just extend some thanks because we have arrived to phase three and phase three represents delivery. Right? We promised, we were committed to making certain that we presented this board with a fully comprehensive strategic plan to guide our direction for the next 5 years by this time. And I think we've done that. We'll find out in June if you feel the same. But uh part of making it to phase three is my first thanks is to this board. I want to say I really appreciate you setting direction for us, helping us to identify our priorities and shaping our goals.
083So, thank you for your vision. I want to also extend the thanks to members of our cabinet who served as our steering committee who really helped us to negotiate strategy and to really think about the feasibility and the practicality of the the initiatives that you'll hear this evening. And I did save the best for last on purpose. I want to take the time to genuinely thank all 43 members of the SPACK. and SPACK is our affectionate name for our strategic advisory planning committee. And I've said it many times, but I will punctuate it here again. Uh, everyone who took the time, whether it was to show up for one meeting or each meeting, your voice was captured, and I hope that you are proud that it is embedded in the vision that we're going to
084share tonight. So, thank you to every parent, every teacher, every school leader, every member of our classified staff, every member of my team and other who showed up for our students and our community as a part of this. So, thank you. Very quickly, we have discussed this before. So, again, this is just a highle overview for members of our community that are listening. Uh this before we sh we set out to develop any frameworks or surveys, we captured our board's voice in terms of what our board's priorities were through a survey. Those priorities are listed here. As you can see, the ones that bubbled to the surface the most for our board were um included the importance of innovation in education, a focus on wellness, accountability and performance of our students, safety sec safety and
085security, and um comprehensive communication systems. And once our board defined what those priorities were, we also asked, well, now that we know what kind of environment we're trying to create and shape for our children, what do you want them to learn? What are our ends? What are those outcomes? We really want to make certain that the students of Frederick County realize and those outcomes are here. It was a hearken back to core academic skills. We heard that resonate loud and clear. Uh the integration of life skills, a holistic approach to education. We wanted to ensure that there was some customization or elasticity around student learning experiences. We wanted a balance, right? We want student voice, but we also want teachers to lead some of that. And then of course, we want to do that hand
086in hand and arm in- arm with our families. With that said, we took those boundaries and we framed a survey that we prepared for our students, our staff, and our community. Those surveys went out and we are very proud to say, and a huge thank you to all of the respondents, that we captured almost 5,000 voices, as you are already well aware. In capturing those 5,000 voices, it was our commitment to you to be transparent throughout the whole process, and I certainly hope you feel that way. Um those 5,000 voices we showed you at one point were relatively well distributed across all six of our magisterial districts and that's what that particular slide represented. We also shared along the way our strategic plan timeline to keep you a breast of every step of the way
087and of course as I shared we are here in phase three and then we were asked and we delivered we believe uh just for some touch points a pulse on the community. So we were asked to give some specific specificity it's late around what our community was asking and so we provided direct quotes from the survey feedback to make sure that everybody was aware of the direction we were headed. We took that feedback as a spack and we tried to identify what were the chief concerns of all of the members of our community. So you see those concerns reflected here. We've taken the word concerns and have flipped it into something affirmative, which is really opportunities, right? And that's all concerns are. They are an opportunity to improve and get better. And we are educators,
088so that means we have a growth mindset and we're eager to take on the challenge. Those concerns we ended up boiling down to these five primary themes or priorities. Number one, chief among everything is student learning. So, we turned those um concerns about student learning into what it is that we really wanted to see. We wanted to make certain our students had access to student- centered instruction. We wanted and we heard this loud and clear from our students that they want to be engaged and they want to make certain that their curriculum is relevant. And of course, we heard loud and clear from our parents and our boards. We want to include and we want to improve academic outcomes. Another theme, teaching and instruction, culture and well-being, access to high quality education, and the workforce
089development. None of these should come as a surprise. These are probably themes that are more closely aligned to 96% of strategic plans across the country. With those themes, I'd like to say we spent so much time coming up with the vision for the next 5 years. So, I'm very very proud to say and introduce you to our new strategic plan, Ignite 2030. And our new motto is excellence for all, a future ready education community. So, I do want to take a few minutes to unpack. I know I went through that pretty quickly, but I do want to take a few minutes to really unpack the the why behind Ignite um and our vision for a future ready education community. So, we felt as um a spa um a spa committee that it was really important
090when educators spend the time and devoted to strategic planning, it is hours and hours of work. So to honor the work that has come before us, we wanted to not just discarded, we see this as a progression to the next level. Um when you take the previous plan which was all about inspiring and creating classrooms where kids were engaged happily and our survey and climate data says it, people love being a part of this community. And for my short time that I've been here, I can see why. I love it too. I had the pleasure of spending some time this weekend um at all of well two of our three high schools um supporting students as they were earning scholarships that they spent four years um you know preparing for which was super exciting and
091I'm so proud of them and I'm proud of our community who showed up for them in that way. But to that end um I also spent time um at the Jameswood High School's 75th anniversary which to Dr. Hummer's Point was done extremely well. And I think my biggest takeaway, and I said this to Shelley while I was there, outside of the outstanding uh community presentation, what was most exciting was that they left me wanting to be a colonel. I could feel the legacy in that space. I could feel the pride. And so that's what it felt like to be a part of the spa and to learn about the history of Frederick County. So there's so much pride that has gone into this plan. So it was about taking the previous plan and passing the
092baton. And that's what Ignite um represents. So when you start off with inspiring, the next thing is action. And that's what this is as a call to action. Here are our vision and mission statements. Our vision is again the ideal state. This is where we want to see ourselves in five years. And our mission is our how we're going to do that. So, I will not read either to you, but I will call out some very important key words, some things that just jump out to all of us that we want to resonate with our community. Our focus is on every single student. Our goal is to ensure that they're equipped and they're empowered to succeed and we want to do that with a connected and a dedicated community and we want to make certain
093that the experiences that we're putting in front of children are meaningful and rigorous so that they are prepared for an everchanging world. Okay. Now, how do we do that? Right? That led us to believe well if we're going to do it we have to have the right workforce in front of us to do so. So that right workforce includes this very powerful statement and this I will read to you. We are FCPS a community that believes every child deserves educators who are child- centered lead with compassion collaborate with purpose demonstrate unwavering commitment and are conscientious in all we do. So we wanted to make certain that we made a very proud proud and bold proclamation around the types of educators not only that we want to work with but that we believe that our children
094deserve and so they need to have all of these qualities. With that in mind um what we are most proud of associated with our plan is every plan is comprised of the same components. You're going to see objectives, you're going to see themes and priorities and you're going to see strategic initiatives. But one of the things because we heard this resoundingly clear from our board was the importance of student performance. So to boil it down, make it nice and clean outside of all of the other pages that you'll have the opportunity to flip through in the plan on one single page sh showcases our ends. We want to ensure that every single child in Frederick County Public Schools has grade level proficiency in reading by third grade. That is our goal because we know that
095research indicates that if they are not proficient readers by the end of third grade they are four times less likely to graduate on time. So we do not want to contribute to that statistic and we want to ensure that our children have on-time graduation. So we are going to work mightily to do that and uh what I can share is I'm extremely proud elementary teachers if you are listening we are grateful for you. You keep going. We are seeing positive trends in the right direction in our vows data. I know they have had the lion share of the uh training so far for the Virginia Literacy Act, but I promise you your work is not in vain. It is paying off. Keep going. And that type of work is going to lead to those results.
096The second commitment that we're making to the families of Frederick County is to demonstrate grade level proficiency or higher in mathematics by the end of 8th grade. We vacasillated about a number of benchmarks for mathematics, but we chose 8th grade and we chose proficiency in general around 8th grade. math based on some research and based on Deb Crawford's expertise. You know, she is our resident subject matter expert and our recent state award winner. So, we rely heavily on her thinking and her expertise. But what this particular commitment represents is we want our children to have the opportunity to prepare for careers in STEAM. It doesn't mean they have to take them. Our goal is to give them the choice and to prepare them to have the right to choose. So by ensuring their level of
097preparedness by eighth grade, it is not a pass through. Proficiency for us is really about fluency, competence, and confidence. That's what we want them to leave 8th grade with as they metriculate to high school. Once they get to high school, if they have that level of confidence in their math abilities, then they will likely choose some of those pathways to more higher higher level, more complex and rigorous mathematics and science. Again, don't have to. It's all about choice. We just want to make certain that they're prepared. The third commitment centers around students graduating with a post-secary plan. Um we have some some concerning statistics around some of our students scheduling right now and we want to address that and one of the ways that we want to do that is to be very intentional and
098deliberate about putting a plan in front of our children that has them begin to think and dream with intention. I spend time in our classrooms every week and I talk to children and as I'm talking to them uh one of the things I remind them all the time is not to drift. I'm very deliberate in asking what are you planning? What's your future? What are you dreaming about? What are you thinking about? And the moment I get a shrugged shoulder, I go uh we can't do that, right? I need you to think about it. You can change your mind a thousand times. But you've got to plan for something, right? And we have I always say if I had nine lives, I'd live every one of them differently. We've all been gifted very uniquely and
099specially use those gifts. Don't leave any one of them on the table. So our goal is to make certain that we have them as a participant in the driver's seat of their future. So that's what the postsecondary planning is all about. And they have three pathways they can go. Enrollment, enlistment or employment. And then the final commitment um that's uh um for us which is very very important and very powerful is that we are losing young people in our um in our careers at a rapid rate though they have a graduate uh they've graduated and they have a degree in their hand and it's because they are not prepared with the skills that last that outlast their content area expertise. Employers are looking for students young adults who have these skills. They want to know
100that they can lead a small project team if they give them an assignment. They want to know that they can communicate effectively in writing or verbally, orally, or um to plan a presentation and facilitate it in front of their company. They want to ensure that our students have the ability to critically think and to think through and problem solve and to be able to work as a team and collaborate. If they cannot do that and all they have in their degree, all they have is their degree, they will likely be released. So we want our children to be able to thrive in these opportunities and not just get one and be released. So those what are what those durable skills are all about and we want to be intentional about preparation for those. All right.
101So if there are no questions about our academic commitments, I will move forward. I know I said a lot pretty quickly so I wanted to pause. All right. With that said, um these are the four priorities um that have come up um ultimately um in our plan. achieving academic excellence and post-secondary readiness. Uh the importance of ensuring a safe and supportive not only learning environment but teaching environment because we want our teachers to be in an environment where they can thrive and our students to be in an environment with that's conducive for learning as well. Uh we want to make certain that we're doing everything we can to develop a skilled and supported workforce and ensure individual and collective wellness. With that in mind, um what you'll see on the next four slides are in
102fact those corresponding objectives and initiatives that are associated with each of these priorities. And I have attached the hard copy of the draft plan um in the board notes for you. Um so out of respect for everyone and their time, I'm happy to entertain questions along each of these slides instead of reading each one of the details to you. So I am happy to pause along the way but as you can see these are the initiatives and when you think about initiatives everyone just think about these as a blend of what and how. Some of these tell you directly what we're planning to do. Others invite us to an opportunity to think through how that will look. So we'll be working with educators along the way to figure out well what does it mean if
103we're going to develop data systems? What are those data systems going to be? You know we're in the process of procuring our DMS or our data management system. After that, we start to dream. What are we going to do with it? What type of data do we want to put in it? What data will drive decisions and the progress monitoring we need? So, all of this is not thought out completely as it's not supposed to be. It's really a guideline for what we're going to do next. Okay. And so, that's pillar two. Pillar three. Miss Knight, just ma'am, could you go back to pillar number one because I want to address something that Miss Lawson brought up and I think um it's almost like she was a fly on the wall during one of the
104one-on- ones that I had with Dr. Hummer talking about KPIs and presenting that data. So, just while you head it up, I wanted I instead of saving it for my board member comments, Miss Lawson, I just wanted to bring your concerns um up because I feel your concerns as well. I feel that we need to measure what's measured is treasured and that is something that I see in pillar one. It's something that I see we can garner from the new data system that we're implementing. I'm very excited about that this semester or this year coming up. Um, but Dr. Hummer, I know you and I discussed that those KPIs would be brought up more in the instructional committee meetings, which I think is excellent, but if we could bring still more of those to the
105main board meeting as part of your soup report, I think that would be very valuable. Not everyone can get can take a look at all the instructional committee meetings and all the other meetings that we have, but this is kind of the headliner of the month. So, if we can bring those to the to the meetings going forward once this is implemented, that would be great. Absolutely. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, without a doubt. We're excited about the opportunity to do that. Now, just recognize though um in education things don't move as fast on a monthly basis as they do in terms of quarterly is more like the benchmarks we're thinking about. It depends on which of the KPIs we're addressing at that time. But when it comes to student learning, some of those move slower. They're
106dependent upon tests. They're depending upon learning units. And so I just don't want to set any unrealistic expectations surrounding around monthly reporting unless they're uh measurables that are uh more or less about systems or procedures, you know, deliverables like that that we can develop. That that's fair. And I and I understand the hard the quantitative data may not be available every month, but if we could get an update of where we're headed with that data, even if you don't have any data to present, that would be great. Absolutely. Hold it. Yes, ma'am. This one right here, skilled and supported workforce. Do you feel like that um our schools actually have the facilities that we need for this kind of operation because like the one lady said, we need more students to be able to learn
107skills that are desperately needed in our community and they need to understand how important these skills are and embrace them. But are we going to be able to teach them here? Well, absolutely. I mean, we're certainly excited about the workforce that we're developing and the one that we're recruiting. So, our goal is to certainly teach towards these skills and to embed them throughout the students metriculation. So, it's not like, you know, one day that we're going to be focused on those durable skills. It happens throughout the year, right? And understand that when I say the word teaching, I'm not necessarily talking about reading. I'm talking about the equipment. No. Or the opportunity, say, to go to uh a farm someplace and learn the skills of horseshoeing. Okay. Different things of that nature. Yes, ma'am. Have
108you planned on that? Well, not yet, but the moment the plan is approved, we get an opportunity to really ideulate and start to dream about all of those realistic opportunities to engage our children with. Currently we have a number of valuable CTE opportunities that put our students in touch with real world um real world um jobs and you know um apprenticeships and externships and all types of things like that but we certainly look to evolve and continue to add to that. Okay. Okay. Mr. Chair, if if I may, Mrs. Martin, you bring up a really good question and I want to add to to what you're asking. So there's a lot of work that goes into defining pathways and opportunities for students and and somebody mentioned this coming up here here as well is that
109we we want to make sure that when students are telling us what they want to do with their parents, we don't say, "All right, you're going to college and you don't go to college. Well, now here's all these other opportunities." What I like to call it is an umbrella of opportunities and pathways. We work with the child and we work with the family of where they want their child to go after high school. So if they want to be a farmer, if they want to put horseshoes on a horse, we we get them to where they want to go. The other aspect to this is we stay very in tuned to the jobs that are at the highest demand. So if putting horseshoes on a horse is at the highest level of need, then of
110course we're going to provide those students with those opportunities through Laurel Ridge, through CTE, through our programs. But if it's not, that's okay. We will also will offer them opportunities to work with local farmers, local businesses. We do a lot of partnership with work-based learning to provide those students with those skills so they can take it with them if they don't want to go to college. And with those three E, those are those three opportunities that we want our students doing something. If you want to work at Chick-fil-A for the rest of your life, that's great. But just as long as you're proud of that and just as long as that's something you're working towards of maybe becoming a manager or a regional manager, we want to give them those skills to do that. We
111don't want to stop just at college. there's a lot of opportunities to provide to that. So it's right now it is very robust as the team knows I want it to grow even more and with the fourth high school coming we will be able to provide more and more opportunities because space is one of the issues we are dealing with right now but the the the opportunities are boundless right now we have HVAC systems EMT farming numerous opportunities to get students involved in the workforce so they can plan ahead we have students graduating with certifications they're already going right into the workforce when they graduate and we have those opportunities already just want to grow that especially with Mr. Thompson and his team as well. I'd like to see a lot of nutritional type classes
112and also um the opportunity for students to become chefs or play major parts in um creating the best kind of food for the community. Sure. Yes, ma'am. Exciting. Other questions? Okay. And that was pillar four, just in case you didn't get a chance to see that. Okay. If there are no other questions, um, again, the draft is provided and just so you would have an idea, our, uh, we sent this out and shared it with our principal and leadership community and asked for feedback. Our feedback was favorable. people believed by and large we were on the right track. Uh so if that helps at all, those are some comments um based on the feedback, but they felt like we were on target to hit the areas of our community that really needed needed that information.
113And so next steps for us is upon your approval, our focus will be on uh developing those corresponding metrics and KPIs that we've just talked about. We have a draft already prepared and we're still working through that, but we want to refine it. Uh we will like to focus on school level resources that include our presentation decks and facilitator guides in order to socialize the plan and make certain that um as one of our constituents mentioned uh it's really an opportunity to get buy in to to make sure our community is um widely aware of what the plan entails and what their role would be in executing the plan. And then community resources that include a dedicated space on our website which is already starting to go up uh where our community can not only
114view our plan but engage with it. We're going to have some videos on there that will help them understand how to unpack unpack the plan and what it means for their children. Okay. Any additional questions? Have you ever thought about being an auctioneer? I have not. That's the first time I've had that question. she would do well. Why not? Thank you. I guess Mrs. Knight, just to give you a kudos. So, um I have a few few folks who I know who are on the spa and one in particular approached me. I was actually at a Boy Scout camp out this past weekend. So, if my eyes are puffy and my throat is scratchy, it's because I'm fighting allergies from that. Anyway, while I was putting my tent up, he came up to me and
115he just gave you some massive kudos to how you ran that team and how you kept everybody on track, but yet at the same time, you brought in people that you knew would have diverse diverse opinions, some some a bit of a fire brand opinion, and you were able to bring everybody together and collaborate to develop this plan. So, he had nothing but great things to say. So, just want to pass that along to you and your team. Thank you so much. I received that and I appreciate all of the people who supported that work. So, thank you. All right. Thank you. Next, we have the buildings and grounds committee report. Who is reading that? So, I Mr. Atkins gave me the approval to read that for him just in case um he winds up
116having some feedback on his phone line. So, um I will proceed with that. Mr. Chair, a meeting of the buildings and grounds committee of the Frederick County Public School Board was held on May 12th, 2025. The meeting was called to order at 4:31 p.m. and a copy of the minutes has been provided to each board member. During the meeting, Mr. Davis discussed the CAP list highlights in a facility services surplus auction update. Mr. Kenny gave an update on the capital improvement plan, CIP projects, and Mr. Shepard shared updates on the fourth high school, including planning and design updates. Mr. Lee reviewed the farmland lease agreement at Frederick County Middle School and the lot consolidation at Sharando High School. And Dr. Hummer shared an invitation to the 75th anniversary celebration. and ribbon cutting at Jameswood High
117School on Sunday, May 18th, 2025. The meeting adjourned at 5:01 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 buildings and grounds committee meeting held on May 12th. All right, seeing none, there are three motions out of the buildings and grounds committee meeting. The first I move the school board approve a farmland lease agreement and authorize the chair to execute the farmland lease agreement in substantially the same form as presented. Second. Have a motion that 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. Mr. Chair, I move the school board approve the deed of consolidation and the plat.
118I further move that the board authorize the chair to execute the deed of consolidation and plat in substanti in substantially the same form as presented. Second. All right. Motion has been made properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. And finally, I move the board approve the minutes of the buildings and grounds committee meeting held on May 12th, 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. All right. And last is the finance committee report. Thank you, Mr. Chair. A meeting of the finance committee of the Frederick County School Board was held on May 19th, 2025. The meeting was called to order
119at 4:34 p.m. and a copy of the minutes has been provided to each board member. During the meeting, Mrs. Anderson shared information on federal funds. Mrs. Cybert reviewed the spring internal audit and discussed the position reallocations. Mrs. Anderson shared the additional state funds for fiscal year 2026 and the request for 22 additional full-time equivalent positions, as well as the full-time equivalent position request for the data lab school teacher. The meeting adjourned at 4:52 p.m. Additional details regarding the information covered at the committee budget work session 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 on May 19th, 2025? Yes. Uh, Ms.chair, Madame Chair. Um, so for the maybe this is more of a question for Dr. Hummer, but we
120um are approving an additional 22 full-time staff positions. And how short is that from our initial ask? So, we initially asked for 40. We received the eight ESOL positions and then we have these 22. So we're short 10 positions. Yes, sir. And we're short 10 because because we didn't receive the funding. Thank you. Yes, sir. And this these 22 additional positions, Mr. Bell, come from 1.66 million. Did I get Yes. 1.66 million from the state. From the state. Yeah. Not the locality. Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions? All right, Mr. Mr. Chair, I move the school board approve the superintendent's request for 22 additional full-time equivalent positions to be funded by additional state dollars for fiscal year 2026. Second. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion, Mr. Chairman? Sir, want to
121make a quick comment about the these positions and funding. So, this is the third or fourth year. It was my first year on the board, but third or fourth year, we we can thank Governor Yncan for what I think is um for a lot of people an unexpected level of um of financial support to the school systems and going above and beyond what the the general assembly originally asked for. I think it's particularly notable that yet again we are relying on state funds from from a Republican governor um to bail us out um of a funding shortfall from what I've been told is a um fairly conservative Republican board of supervisors. And so um I I'm thankful for that and I don't think he actually watches our meetings because he's trying to run the Commonwealth,
122but I do want to say thank you um because these are 22 additional adults we need in our school system to serve kids properly. Um, I wish that we had had the wisdom locally to fund these positions um, up to the full ask, especially in a very, very modest needs-based budget. Um, but I'm happy to support this. I was happy to hear it the other night. Um, and I hope we can do even better next year. So, to Dr. Erskin, your point, um, one of those 22 additional full-time positions is for a data lab science teacher at Dow J. Howard. And can I steal your thunder a little Actually, you can steal my thunder, but it's remember it's 22 plus the one. I'm sorry. 22 plus one. I just want to make that clarify. Oh,
123thank you. Thank you very much. Yes, 22 plus the one. So, we did receive grant funding from George Mason to fund a additional data science teacher at Dow J Howard. And I think Governor Yncan might watch our meetings because he is requested to come and see our operation at Dow J Howard this coming fall to be scheduled September. So, no pressure, Ben. No, no pressure. Yeah, no pressure. No pressure. Um, but I think that that's a huge, um, thank you for your comments and I think he does take notice of what we're doing here, even though he has many other irons in the fire. So, um, so there's a motion on the table. It's been seconded. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify
124by saying I. I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. And here to the second motion. I move the school board approve the request for one additional full-time equivalent position for a data lab school teacher. Second. Motion has been made properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Just to clarify, this is the one that's funded by grant money from George Mason for everyone who's watching. So free money always a good thing. No further discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. And finally, Mr. Mr. Chair, I move the board approve the minutes of the finance committee meeting held on May 19th, 2025. Second. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Madame
125clerk, is someone going to be able to pull that up for me? I can. At the end of All right. Next up, we have uh board member comments. Are there any comments from the board? Uh, Mr. Chair, Mr. Bell. Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, um, congratulations to all of the students and staff that received, um, awards or, uh, positions in our school division. Um, we're looking forward to great things coming from everyone that we celebrated this evening. Um, thank you for Jameswood Middle School for hosting us tonight and allowing us to, um, use their facility. Um, I'd also like to thank um, Ms. Knight and her team um, for the great work that they've done on these uh, Ignite 2020. 2030. Say who? What? 2030. Yeah, 20. Yeah, thank you. 2030. Yeah, thank you. Um,
126and I would also like to thank the folks that uh, came tonight and stood up and spoke. Um, I'd especially like to thank Joel FA for his words. Um, thank you very much, um, Christina Lawson for the great idea that you came up with. Um, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Um, I echo what, um, our fellow board members have said, and I'd also like to thank Ram for her words. So, thank you very much. Um, and I believe Sonia actually also brought it up as well about the, uh, investigation and finding no harm and bringing that to light. And that's something that I will be talking with Dr. Hummer about. Um I guess I should first and foremost though welcome um Marina Caruso to our board. It's nice to have a field chair with someone
127with your um experience and having your perspective. I look forward to working with you for the next two years. Um as has been said with uh citizen comments, my position is up in two years. Thank you for reminding me every day that you uh come up here and speak. Um and then uh I'd like to say a little bit about something that I know hasn't been brought up today and I'm not trying to poke the bear or to start anything. I just want to remind folks that we feel strongly about certain issues that mean a great deal to us. But coming up and saying that they're not important and we should be focusing on other things kind of belittles the people that are feeling the way they feel about those issues. Um whether it's about
128books, whether it's about a particular staff member u that's no longer with us. Um whatever it is, this is a open and free forum for people to discuss these things. And instead of belittling that, we should we should definitely listen to what they have to say because the only way we're going to figure out how to work together is by listening. Um and I have to say whether you like um one of our constant speakers um who isn't here tonight, I'm very surprised when she comes up and speaks about what she cares about. She uses words that we don't necessarily like or agree with. Um but the meaning behind them I believe is something that she feels. Um so I took the time to purchase the book that she spoke about um and read it
129and I have to say that I learned a great deal from it and I I think that it's a great book. I don't know if it's something that we should or should not have in that in the libraries right now. That's something for our library staff in the process to take care of. But the book I'm referring to is uh I brought it with me beyond magenta. Beyond beyond magenta. Um I have to also say that a lot of what was said about this book is actually not true. Uh a lot of the things that we were told about that were in this book I can honestly say I couldn't find no matter how many times I read it. So I'm disappointed in that aspect of it. But at the same time, um the thoughts
130that she had about this book and and having a child in our schools is something that we do and should listen to. So, you know, we have to understand that there's always two sides to things. So, the better we can listen, um God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. Um is the better off we'll be. And that goes for whether you agree or disagree with this particular book. Um thank you, Mr. Chair. Any other board member comments? Mr. Atkins? Uh, no. I'm good. I'll talk in person when I get there. Okay. Anyone else? All righty then. Um, last couple months I haven't been making comments. Um, one of the board of supervisors accused me of being silent because I had done wrongdoing and that's a bald-faced lie. So, I'm going to
131put that out there right now. Um, last month I was called a lazy school chair. So, I've decided to show you how lazy I am. But in regards to some of the things that were said tonight, yes, I have mispronounced a few names. And I'm not going to say I haven't. And I can guarantee you there's no one in this room who hasn't mispronounced a name. But when these sheets are given to me, they're not always in the same handwriting. And no offense, but some of you all have crappy handwriting. And if I can't read the name, then I'm sorry if I mispronounce it. You'll just have to live with it. Um, as far as my attire that was mentioned, I'm going to continue to wear my Trump shirt. I'm going to continue to wear
132my I don't like Biden hoodie, and I'm not going to stop if some of you do the same thing. So, there's that. But, we're getting back to this. So, I I wanted to show you it's not just one month, one once a month we sit up here and do nothing. There there's a lot to being a a school board member. And since the last meeting, and this is all just since the last meeting, I I wanted to share some of the things if this thing will work. Am I not working it right? I'm not holding my mouth right. It's on. Oh, well, I'm obvious. There we go. So, uh, on March the 24th, March, God have mercy, last month on the 24th, April 24th, I attended the annual awards ceremony to recognize our wonderful staff
133for the achievements for their achievements during the 24-25 year. Um, one of the things that I have gotten to do, uh, I believe it was Sonia mentioned standing in the classroom with the teachers. I have done that on numerous occasions. I've been in Frederick County Middle. I've been in Jameswood High School and a couple of the other ones where I've actually sat through several periods of classrooms and and I've gotten to speak to a lot of teachers. Um I was delighted that Shelley Andrews was awarded the principal of the year. Um and all the other folks and I'm not going to waste a lot of time by reading everything, but it was just it was neat to see the accomplishments. Uh Teran Arml, she was a bus driver of the year. Yes. My hat is
134off to the bus drivers and I and I've told the superintendent this the other day. I've been watching the buses, not on purpose to say, "Oh, I'm watching the buses." But I've seen a lot of them on the road. Since I'm retired, I I get to go around the roads quite a bit here. And our bus drivers are doing a phenomenal job. They are I watch them. They obey the highways highway signs. They're doing everything they're supposed to. And I've heard that there's idiots passing uh the the buses when they've got the red lights on. Nothing infuriates me more than to see that. And if I ever catch somebody, I'm going to get their license plate number and I'm going to turn them in. I swear I will. But our bus drivers are doing a
135phenomenal job. Uh the custodial staff is he the man does such a phenomenal job. He is everywhere. I see him everywhere. He's always working. We we have such great staff and that is the beauty of these awards. I get to see the staff and and quite frankly, I get to see a lot of things that the general public doesn't get to see. I get to see the staff in action. Um, and we're going to go talk about some of that, but we have phenomenal staff and they I I do think that the majority of them, some may may feel unappreciated, but every time I go somewhere, I make sure that they know they're appreciated and that somebody's listening to them. So, that was that day. And let's see. Am I not holding my mouth right
136again? Come on. Work work with me here. Oh, cheese and crackers. There we go. The neat thing I got to see last month, they had the little feet meet special Olympics and it was at Milbrook High School. It was on the 25th. I had never attended one. I didn't get to attend the one last year. I quite frankly, if they told me about it, something was going on. I went there and not only were the kids phenomenal, I got to meet a little a nonverbal student. I forget which school she was at. Her name was Maddie. And I had a beautiful conversation with Maddie and she got up and gave me a hug. I mean, those are the things that I get to see that other people don't. and how how much fun they had
137and how excited they were. And the parents were there. The staff was there. And no, I didn't put that picture of you up, so I still have it on file. Having a great time, the staff was phenomenal. And not only the staff, but the students from Milbrook High School that were there. I wish this thing would work correctly. The students from Milbrook High School. Let's see. Come on. Come on. Come on. work with me here. I'm sorry I'm not holding my mouth right or I'm not in the right position or whatever. It's got to work. Sorry. Technology is a great thing. And just just I'll just click it. Just point. The students that were there from Milbrook High School, they went out of their way to make this event. They were fantastic. I I I
138can't I can't tell you. They were patient. Um I I joked with the one. They had a little uh snail tunnel there or whatever you call that thing. I asked the girl, I said, "How fast you think this old man get through there?" She says, "Oh, you can do it about 5 seconds." I had to laugh and walk away. But they were phenomenal. They volunteered their time to come out there and this this is the caliber of the students that we have. Go ahead and click click again. And again, these are some of the students coming in, the volunteers. Everyone had such a great time. The sheriff was there, Dr. Hummer was there, and I can't say enough about the staff who was there uh participating. Go ahead. On April the 25th as well, I
139at the beginning of the year, I toured all the schools with uh Dr. Hummer. It was opening day, wasn't it? Yeah. And we went into Frederick County Middle School and Miss Potter's Mrs. Potter's arts class. She was talking about a project that the students were going to do and they were going to hand paint tiles for the periodic table and there were several students one whom we recognize this evening. Correct. Each student was given so many tiles and they handp painted these tiles of the periodic table and did a phenomenal job and we were just lucky to get invited back at to see the finished product and I can't remember the names of the students but all the artwork is from the students and the students uh painted all those tiles. Click the next one.
140And these are all the the young ladies that worked on those tiles. Did an awesome job. And you can see some of the other artwork that has been done in the past. They were proud of that accomplishment and I was proud for them because they did such a wonderful job. Next slide. Um also on the 25th did a lot of things on the 25th. Uh we we dedicated uh the field at at Sherando High School to uh Coach Martin. It was awesome. The rain held off long enough for us to do the dedication. Mr. Atkins spoke um and he was genu genuinely touched. I I didn't I that was the first time I'd met the man and but a lot of you might know who he is and from what I understand he was a
141phenomenal coach and a phenomenal human being and did a lot for the community and uh it was something that was welld deserved and uh I I was glad glad for him to get that honor. Right. Next slide. Oh, back one. Um on the May the 9th I attended the first annual local government fair at Shirando High School. Now, I was not under I was under the impression that I was just going there to look pretty and unfortunately one of the board members could not be there. So, I ended up manning one of the tables. Um, some of the other folks that were there, they had fire and rescue, uh, folks from the regional jail were there. Um, Frederick Water was there, Bob Leero from the board of supervisors was there. Um, Tanya Cybert, uh, our,
142uh, uh, commissioner of the revenue was there. And there were several other people there and they brought the seniors in um and they go went to each station and we got to explain a little bit about what we do. And as I got to talk to some of the students, I met four or five of them that were planning on being engineers. Um one was going into the Navy, one was going into the Army. Um one was going to play football at a college in Pennsylvania somewhere. One young lady decided she was going to be a school superintendent. So I told him he had competition in a couple years. Several of them were going to be teachers. Again, speaking to these students, seeing how dedicated they are, and these are kids that are getting ready
143to go out and uh get the jobs that and be our next generation of leaders. They did such a great job. And here's some more of the students going around. You can see Mr. Leiero there on the left. And uh the folks on extreme right I think were from the regional jail. Go ahead. There's Tanya Cyber talking to some of the students. So it was it was a pretty decent event. I I enjoyed being there. All right. Next slide. And then on May 9th I went to uh Stonewall Elementary School first. Um and I'm going to mess up his last name. How do you say it? Wise. Okay. See, it's just a thing. visited the prek and and the principal there um was was talking up the prek. Now, I'm not a fan of prek.
144I'm not trying to start a war here, but when I went in that class and saw the level of professionalism and and the way that those teachers were instructing those kids, and these kids were pretty brilliant. I mean, it was a phenomenal thing to behold. They were doing such a great job and the principal was so proud of what they were doing. And I also got to visit the third grade class of Betty Joe Amler and I've known her for quite a few years. And the picture that you see in front of you is the Greek parthonon that was made completely out of cardboard. Great. um they had been in communication with the sec I believe it was the second grade students from Indian Hollow who were who intro and she introduced me to a
145book called Flat Stanley. I'd never heard of Flat Stanley before. So the students from Indian Hollow wrote a report, sent it to the third grade for them to look at Flat Stanley and and whatever they were doing with Flat Stanley and they were going to respond back to the second grade. But I just thought that was neat. even the schools, the teachers are working intermittently with each other and it was just fantastic to behold. And then we went over to Indian Hollow Elementary School and we had the kindergarten game day. Um the one teacher was very brave cuz those kids were zinging those plastic bowling balls at them plastic bins and she stood right there in front of them. So it was it was pretty great. Um we went to we were going for the
146picnic at uh at Stonewall but the rain took care of that one. Next slide. This was the neatest thing I saw on May 9th. I went to the arts live at Milbrook High School. Next slide. And I took a lot of pictures of some of the art that these students did. And it was students from all of Frederick County, not just from the high school level, but there were elementary uh school students uh that had submitted and and middle school students. And I was just a amazed. Next slide. This young lady was a senior and I have forgotten her name. I should have taken it and written it down but I didn't. This this piece on the right was something that she did was completely out of cardboard. It was 3D. I had no idea
147you could do that much with cardboard. I saw so many things done with cardboard at that at that thing. I spent almost an hour walking around. Plus, they had students that were singing uh playing instruments. It was phenomenal. Next slide. I met this young lady as well and you can see some of her work there. I I I I'm always blown away by the talent of our students because they do such a phenomenal job. We have such talented kids in our school system. Next slide. I I looked at this here the the the book made the train coming out of the book. I I'd never seen anything like that. I I I can only I I can only stand in awe of the talent of some kid to be able to do that. The ceramic
148there on the right, it was just phenomenal in my mind. Next slide. And then uh we went to the 2025 retirement celebration on May 13th at at Sharando High School. And uh I should have pulled this up earlier, but Miss Frankley gave me the number. Oh, I'm not finding There you go. 1,097 years exactly. I just found it. 1,097 years of experience of the te of the faculty that was retiring. Um, and they've passed that knowledge and those skills on to our teachers that are coming on board. Um, but it's quite a legacy that that they're leaving behind. And uh, I was I was surprised that at least one of them I didn't know she was retiring. and I will miss her a lot because she's always been a decent person to work with. So,
149next slide. This is something that some of our staff here have worked on. We have a new partnership. The Frederick County Public School System is the first public school system in the United States of America to partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. We are the first to do that. I I I people are talking safety of the kids. We're not worried about the safety of the kids. I guarantee you that we are worried about the safety of the kids. Next slide, please. So, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, I'm not going to even try and pronounce the acronym. Was co-founded by John and Reva Walsh. Uh the mission is to help find missing children, reduce child exploitation, and prevent child victimization. Their cyber tip line received over 36 million
150reports in 2023. There was a 300% increase of online enticement reports through the cyber tip line since 2021. Just recently, a teacher in California, I believe it was, was sentenced to 30 years. She groomed those students for about 2 years before she acted on what she was do going to do. So that's why this thing is important for us. In 2024, they received 60,000 67,000 tipline reports regarding generative AI. Um it's becoming increasingly more prevalent. AI images can be created by others taking innocent images of children, altering them to appear inappropriate. And that has h been something that has happened in other school systems. has not happened here that I'm aware of, but it has happened in other school systems. Next slide, please. So, the community education partnership is a collaboration to expand the cent's
151reach and provide prevention resources and information to parents, students, and community members through their net smarts and kids smarts materials. Next slide, please. Kids smarts is a prevention program for grades K through five. It will focus on personal safety by sharing four rules of safety. Check first, take a friend, tell people no, and tell a trusted adult. Kids smart shares informations about stranger danger and defines what a stranger is. NetSmarts is an online safety education program to ensure the information is age appropriate at each grade level and presentations are broken up into several different presentations. grades K2, three through five, middle school and high school. Next slide, please. Some of the topics under uh NetSmarts are sharing personal information online, being a digital citizen, cyber bullying, identifying trusted adults, grooming, and sexion. I know at
152least uh personally of one person that ended up being sextorted and almost committed suicide over that fact. Thank goodness that they didn't. But that is a problem. And this is going to help us hopefully solve those things in our own school system. The curriculum provides information on how to keep yourself safe online as well as what resources and information on ways children for children to empower and advocate for themselves when they do need help. Next slide. Along with the presentations, there are tip sheets for parents and students, toolkits, into the cloud video series for younger children, and activities around these topics. Next slide, please. This is something that I I've been banging the table out and it we I believe we're getting the flyers here soon if we haven't gotten them already. Take it down
153is a flyer for high school students that can connect them to this organization cyber tip line to get support with taking inappropriate images down. It can have these images removed within 27 hours. Hopefully none of our students have done this, but let's face facts. When you're that young, you don't always use good judgment. And should they use poor judgment or some of these cyber images get put up there, here's a way for them to get help. They're probably not going to come to an adult. They can they'll see these flyers. They'll have a place that they can go to somebody they can trust and take that stuff down. Again, safety of our students and their mental health and well-being is imperative. And this is one big step as far as I'm concerned in doing those
154things. Next slide. So through this part partnership, Frederick County Public Schools will share take it down posters in high schools, digital citizenship and cyber bullying information in the middle school and elementary schools, offer parent and community workshops, share resources and informations through FCPS website and social media platforms, and connect families to support through NickMick as needed. Next slide. And that's it. And and I I I wanted to touch on some of those things and and all these places that I visited. Yes, it was a little bit more than usual, but um I'm fortunate. I'm fully retired. I have the opportunity to go into these schools and before I retired, I was only part-time. So, I do go into these schools and I have sat in the classrooms and I have talked to the teachers. Are
155we perfect? No. Have we had issues this year? Yes, we have. And some of you have brought those up. But I also have watched the social media and all the nasty things that have been said and they've been said about me as well. But we're not the only school system experiencing these problems. There's been shootings in local school systems in our area. Stabbings. Uh one teacher was uh popped for sexual misconduct. Um there are other things going around. Lowden County is having their own problems with investigating boys for complaining there were girls in their locker room. So, we're not the only school system experiencing problems. Are they bad sometimes? Yes, they are. And again, you're never going to know the outcomes. I I agree with with putting a thing out there that says, "Yes, this
156was investigated. This teacher was cleared." That's fine. We're not going to give you names, but I I agree with you. I I get frustrated by reading some of these things as well. I I've gotten on that stupid Facebook page what's happening in Winchester and Frederick County and I have to sometimes I just want to scream at the stupidity because everybody on there is an expert about nothing and I don't care. You can call me ignorant when get on there tomorrow and write it on the page. I don't really care at this point. I have I have responded twice to that page when it was an outand-out lie. the one out and out lie when they had the when they had the mechanical odor at at Stonewall Elementary and somebody got on there, they received a
157package with no name and all the children were moved to an off-site location. And I did say that's bull crap because it was bull crap. But I I I get it. I see the same things you all see. I'm the subject of the same things that some of you all some of our teachers are. So anyways, uh I'm not a lazy chair. I've been doing a lot. These board members have up been up here doing a lot. It's not easy to sit up here. It's not easy to listen to this bull crap that gets spewed in here sometimes, but I do the best that I can. I follow the advice of my legal counsel, and that's what I'm going to continue to do. And I think that this board has done a phenomenal job whether
158any of you agree with it or not. We work well together. We may not always agree on the subject, but we have done a phenomenal job, and I think we've gotten a lot accomplished whether you all agree or not. And that's the end of my comments. Thank you very much. Any other comments? All righty then. One announcement. Oh, we do have one announcement. I am so sorry. Uh the our next monthly school board meeting will be held June 17th, 2025. Thank you, Madam Chair, for keeping me straight. Do I have a motion for adjournment? Mr. Chair, Mr. Bell, I would like to make a motion to adjourn the meeting at this time. Second. It has been motioned and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.
159I. I......................................... Any opposed. We are adjourned.