School Board Meeting - April 22, 2025

001[Music] The date is April 22nd, 2025. The time is 17:37 hours and I'd like to call the Frederick County School Board meeting to order. We have an agenda before us. Do I have a motion for approval? Mr. Chair, I move that we approve the agenda before us. 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 passes. Madam vice chair. Mr. Chair, I move that the county school board of Frederick County, Virginia enter a close session meeting for the following. For consultation with legal council regarding personnel matters and for discussion and consideration of employee dismissal pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3711, paragraph A.1 and A.8. We have a motion to go into close session. Do we have a

002second? Second. Motion has been made and properly dee properly seconded. Is there any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? We are now in close session. We'll reconvene around seven or 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 session. We have a motion to return from closed session. Has been properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? We return from close session. 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

003in the motion by which the closed session was convened were heard, discussed or considered by the school board. Second. We have a motion has been uh certified close session properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Okay, sure. We need to Oh, I am sorry. Madam Madam clerk, do the roll call vote, please. Miss Martin, I Mr. Bell, I Mr. Sturdivan, I Miss Klene, I Dr. Erskin, I. Mr. Atkins, I. All right. We have a motion to certify. So, we have a motion coming out of that. We do, Mr. Chair. We have a motion coming out of close session. Having carefully considered and deliberated over the entirety of the record related to a specific personnel matter involving teacher dismissal in accordance with Virginia Code section 22.1-313. I move

004to uphold the superintendent's personnel recommendations for teacher dismissal. I further move to authorize and direct the board chair to communicate the board's decision in writing to the employee in accordance with Virginia code section 22.1-313. Second. Have a motion has been properly seconded. Any discussion? Madame clerk, call the role once more, please. Mr. Atkins, I. Dr. Erskin, I. Mrs. Klene, I. Mrs. Sturdivan, I. Mr. Bell, I. Miss Martin, I. That motion carries. And Mr. Chair, I move that the county school board of Frederick County, Virginia, enter a close session meeting for the following. to review and discuss appointments, administrative appointments, reappoints, administrative leave, declined offers, dismissals, resignation, support staff hires, substitutes, tutors, volunteers, and goals of the superintendent pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3711, paragraph A.1, and to review and discuss individual student matters that would

005involve specific students and particular information contained in their scholastic records, including requests for release from compulsory attendance for religious reasons pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2. 2-3711 paragraph A.2 second. I have a motion to go into close session has been properly seconded. Any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? We'll now in close session be back at 1900 hours. [Music] Good evening. It is April 22nd, 2025. The time is 1901 hours. Like to call the Frederick County School Board meeting to order. Um, lost my place here. It's over. Turn closer. M. Uh, madame vice chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the board reconvene from close session. Second. All right. We have a motion to reconvene. It has been properly seconded. Any convers or any discussion? Hearing

006none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? I reconvened. 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 and has been properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Mr. I apologize. I always miss that part. Miss Martin I Mr. Bell I Mr. Sturdivan I Mrs. Klene I Dr. Erskin I Mr. Atkins I we certified that and Mr. Mr. Chair, we have

007mo two motions out of close session. The first I move to approve the personal actions as recommended by the superintendent uh with the exception of employee A. Second. All right, we have a motion and it has been properly seconded. Any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Nay. One nay. That motion carries. Mr. Chair, I move to approve the release of student A and B from compulsory attendance. Second. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. That motion carries. All righty then. That concludes the motions, Mr. Chair. All right. Please join me in a minute of silence tonight. We would like to hold the minute of silence in honor of Aiden Painter, one of our students

008from Jameswood High School who has passed away. Thank you for that. Now, if you would stand for the pledge of allegiance. Uh, tonight we are being led in the pledge by Jack Schneider. 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. Next is a consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve said consent agenda? So moved. Second. Motion's been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? We have an agenda. And up next is student and staff recognition. Mr. Chair, if we can read the proclamations. Oh, I am. So, it's okay. We do have some proclamations. Mr.

009Bell. Okay. All right. I have two proclamations to read for you. Um, the first is a proclamation on school lunch hero day for May 2nd, 2025. Whereas nutritious meals at school are an essential part of the school day. And whereas Frederick County Public Schools school nutrition employees are committed to providing nutritious, wellbalanced, and reasonably priced meals to thousands of children each day. And whereas those who prepare and serve school meals help nurture our students through daily interaction and contribute to their ability to learn. And whereas Frederick County Public Schools school nutrition employees provide a caring environment where students may receive and enjoy nutritious breakfasts and lunches. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the Frederick County School Board hereby declares May 2nd, 2025 as school lunch hero day and encourages everyone to recognize and acknowledge the

010important role school nutrition employees have in student learning and success. dated this 22nd day of April 2025. Thank you, Mr. Bill. We have approval of minutes for the special school board special called meeting. Approved all those. There's more. We already did all those. Yeah, Mr. Chair. So, when you approve the consent agenda, everything on there? Yes, sir. Isn't there more proclamation? Yes, there is. I'm just making sure I got everything. All right. Next would be a proclamation on school lunch hero day. We just did that. I did that. And Mr. Bell has one more. I have one more. I thought you did national speed. Okay. No, I didn't. No one did that one yet. All right. Uh the next one is a proclamation on teacher appreciation week from May 5th to 9th, 2025 and National

011Teacher Day May 6th, 2025. Whereas teachers mold our future citizens through their guidance and education. And whereas teachers encounter students of widely differing backgrounds and abilities. And whereas teachers are expected to provide quality education services to all children no matter what their backgrounds or abilities. And whereas teacher work to open students minds to ideas, knowledge, and dreams. And whereas teachers spend countless hours outside their classrooms, ain't that the truth, preparing lessons, evaluating progress, counseling and coaching students, and performing community service. And whereas teachers fill many roles as listeners, role models, motivators, and mentors. And whereas our community recognizes that its teachers are providing quality education services to our children and serving as outstanding role models. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the Frederick County School Board hereby declares May 5th through 9th, 2025 as Teacher

012Appreciation Week and May 6th, 2025 as National Teacher Day and encourages all residents to recognize the important role teachers play in the development of children and the quality of life enjoyed in our community. dated this 22nd day of April, 2025. National Speech, Language, and Pathologist Month. I will happily read that one, Mr. Chair. Let's see. There it is. All right. National Speech, Language Pathologist Month, May of 2025. Whereas, Speech Language Pathologists work to identify, prevent, and treat various speech communication, swallowing, and hearing disorders. And whereas speech language pathologists help students develop effective speaking and listening skills and provide tools that are fundamental for success in personal, academic, and professional relationships. And whereas speech language pathologists are crucial to each school's special education team and an invaluable support resources for classroom teachers, guidance counselors, and parents.

013And whereas speech language pathologists have a lasting impact on future generations by providing exemplary speech language services to our schools and catering to the individual needs of our students across all levels of education. And now therefore, be it proclaimed that the Frederick County School Board hereby declares May as National Speech Language Pathologist Month and acknowledges the accomp accomplishments of speech language pathologist dated this 22nd day of April, 2025. And I also have another proclamation, Mr. here. Okay. National School Nurse Day on May 7th, 2025. Whereas school nurses promote and protect our children by administrating administering preventative and primary health care. And whereas all students have a right to have their health needs safely met while in the school setting. And whereas children today face more complex and life-threatening health problems requiring care in school. And

014whereas school nurses promote healthy living by emphasizing the importance of a balanced diet, proper hygiene, and daily exercise. And whereas school nurses advance the well-being, academic success, and lifelong achievements of all students. And whereas school nurses act as a liaison to the school community, parents, and healthcare providers on behalf of children's health. And whereas school nurses understand the link between health and learning and are in a position to make a positive difference for children every day. Now therefore, it be proclaimed that the Frederick County School Board hereby declares May 7th, 2025 as National School Nurse Day and acknowledges the accomplishments of school nurses and recognizes their efforts to meet the needs of students by effectively delivering health care in our schools dated this 22nd day of April, 2025. And Mr. Atkins, you have a resolution

015for us. All right. Uh resolution for Mr. Frank Funes. Whereas the Frederick County School Board wishes to recognize and express its appreciation for the dedication dedicated service of school board member Frank Funes. Whereas he has served the Frederick County School Board while demonstrating unwavering commitment and dedication to the betterment of our school division. Whereas his tireless efforts have contributed to the growth and success of our educational institutions. Now therefore, may it be resolved that the Frederick County School Board expresses its deepest gratitude to Mr. Funz for his hard work, dedication, and service to the county and the school division. And be it further resolved that the Frederick County School Board wishes Mr. Funez a speedy recovery and uh success in all his future endeavors. Be it further resolved that the Frederick County School Board and

016Superintendent of Schools join the community and expressing their sincere gratitude to Mr. Funz for his willingness to serve on the school board, for his dedication to the betterment of our school division, and for the other special guests he brought to the board with his service. Dated this 22nd day of April, [Applause] 2025. Frank will most definitely be missed. Um he wanted to be here with us this evening but unfortunately was unable to. So just keep him in your prayers and next we have uh student and staff recognition. All right, Mr. Chair, thank you very much. So good evening everyone and welcome. This is our awards of excellent program segment of our schoolboard meeting. Before we proceed, I would like to ask that everyone stay here through the entire program out of respect for each individual

017who is being recognized. Once we have completed all of the presentations, you will have an opportunity to leave and enjoy the rest of your evening. In addition, when you come forward for your certificate, please take a moment to pause with Mr. Sturdivan and myself. Uh, and then move to the right, remain at the front, and we'll take a photo of students and coaches being recognized if you're being recognized as a team. So, I'll have Mr. Chair, myself head on down. Thank you. Earlier this month, students from Jameswood, Milbrook, and Sherando high schools participated in the Shannondoa region Future Business Leaders of America competition. The results are as follows. Representing Milbrook High School, Tiffany Yao. Introduction to business communications event. Second [Applause] place representing Sharando High School. Mattaline Carper, Future Business Le Educator Event, second [Applause]

018place. Reagan Woodward, Introduction to Business Procedures Event, first place. And introduction to event planning category first place. Jack Bruns information technology event first [Applause] place. Caitlyn Nichols, Introduction to Social Media Strategy Event, second place. Gavin Flynn, Securities and Investments Event, first place. Hi, Gavin. In March, students from our middle and high schools participated in the Shannondoa Valley Regional Science and Engineering Fair at James Madison University. The results are as follows. rep representing Admiral Richard Ebird Middle School. Logan Treset, behavioral and social sciences. First [Applause] place, Connor Wagan and Ryan Rhoduck. Physics second place. [Applause] Christopher Hall, engineering second place. [Applause] Lily Smith and Andrew Williams. Engineering first [Applause] place. [Applause] representing Jameswood Middle School. Mia Manard, medical science, second place. [Applause] Representing Jameswood High School, Jackson Kidwell, math, computer science, and engineering. second place. Thank

019you. And representing Sharando High School, Jack Schneider, grand prize winner of the event and first place in math, computer science, and engineering. Jack has received a bid to the International Science and Engineering Fair, which will be held in Columbus, Ohio, May 10th through 16th. Congratulations. [Applause] The FCPS honorary award is given to an individual who demonstrates leadership, excellent character, behavior, and a positive attitude or makes contributions that have a measurable impact to the school community. In March, Jordan Springs Elementary School student Angel Melendez demonstrated remarkable care and responsibility when he noticed a potentially concerning item in another student's backpack and shared this concern with his mother, Brenda Melendez. Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, Mrs. Melendez contacted the school administration. Upon receiving this information, Katie Barnes, interim assistant principal, alerted school resource officer Deputy Charles

020Roy. Their coordinative response allowed the school to address the situation quickly, ensuring a safe resolution. This commendable action exemplifies the power of looking out for one another and underscores the vital importance of the see something, say something principle in maintaining a secure and supportive environment at Frederick County Public Schools. And if we could if we could actually have Angel Melendez come back up. Uh Brenda Melendez, Deputy Charles Roy, uh Katie Barnes, and Justin Raymond. Please, if you all could come forward to gather and take a photo together with a certificate. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Awesome job to all of you. take this minute if those of you who would like admin appointments. Oh, I had I am so sorry. I'm just dumber in a bag of hammers today. You are not. It's totally fine.

021All right. We have uh three admin appointments. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh first up, I would like to call up Caitlyn uh Dvalio, who is our new assistant principal at Greenwood Mill Elementary. Come on up, please. Give a round of applause. She is coming back to Frederick County Public Schools. So, welcome back. After serving as an assistant principal in Shannidoa County for since 2022, uh, Mrs. Dvolio began her teaching career at FCPS as a special education teacher in 2015 for 5 years, followed by her role as a lead special education teacher for two years. She then moved into the role of intervention resource teacher for two years and then the summer school coordinator for one year. She has a bachelor of science science in early childhood and childhood education, concentration in environmental studies, a master

022of science and education and teaching students with disabilities from the State University of New York at Courtland, and a master certificate in administrative leadership from Shannondoa University. Please join me in welcoming Mrs. Dvolio. Welcome. Thank you. Uh Dr. Mr. Hummer and members of the board, I just want to take this moment to thank you for entrusting me with the opportunity to assist Mr. Hoppel in leading Greenwood Elementary School. I'm looking forward to returning to Frederick County in a new leadership role. Uh the administration teams that I worked with over the years at Jordan Springs and Stonewall have been preparing me for this since day one. They've given me ample opportunities and experiences and for that I am very grateful to all of those um administrators that I've worked with over the years. And even though

023I began my AP journey in a different county, I'm very excited to come back um to where my admin dreams began. I'm excited for the chance to work and support students at Greenwood Mill, work with the families and the staff um and looking forward to all the new relationships that I get to build with those people. Thank you. Next, we have our new assistant principal of Jordan Springs Elementary, Mr. Scott Lyens. Please come on down. Please give him a round of [Applause] applause. He moves into this new role of assistant principal of Jordan Springs after serving the specialized program coordinator since October. Mr. Lyens was formerly assistant principal at Frederick County Middle School. Additionally, Mr. Lyens has seven years of middle school teaching experience in Morgan County. He also holds a bachelor of arts from

024Theel College, a mers in elementary education, and a mers in educational leadership from Edinburgh University of Pennsylvania. Please join me in congratulating Mr. Scott Lyens. Dr. Hummer, ladies and gentlemen of board, um I'm always grateful for the opportunities to to serve our community here that you all provide for me. Um I really enjoyed my last appointment. Um, however, uh, one thing became clear to me is my heart's in schools and, you know, I'm going back into that. Um, I'm looking forward to growing and learning, um, with Mr. from Mr. Raymond, uh, the teachers, students, and the community at Jordan Springs. And, uh, I just I just look forward to continuing to serve. Thank you all. Right. And last but not least, I would like to call up our new director of transportation, Mr. Glenn J.R.

025Holland. Come on down. Give him a round of applause. JR brings 19 years of director of transportation experience from Berkeley and Jefferson counties. He was a sisop and computer operators for North Middle School in West Virginia for two years prior to that and a level one and two technician for Adelfia Communication for four years. He holds a bachelor of science in information technology management from American and Intercontinental University. Please join me again in welcoming J.R. Holland to FCPS. Uh Dr. Hummer, members of the board, just want to thank you for this opportunity. Uh I look forward to serving our community here. Um really looking forward to working with um the folks at transportation and making uh as always the safety of our children a priority. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

026All right. Next up is our public hearing for the Gainesboro District appointment. And no one signed up to speak for that. Mr. Chair, if I may recommend for people to leave if they wish to leave. Yes. Yeah. If you all would like to leave, then we'll give you that opportunity to do so. [Music] Good. [Music] Okay. The next on the agenda was the public hearing for Gainesboro district appointment and no one signed up for that to speak. So, we will go to the next thing which is the 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 Winchester City, Virginia, FCPS students, parents, legal guardians of FCPS students, FCPS employees, and businesses located within

027Frederick County, Virginia. Individuals speaking to the board will be allotted three minutes. Those individuals representing groups organizations will be allotted five minutes with one representative per group. Upon recognition by the chair, a speaker should approach the lectern to speak to the school board. Members of the audience and speakers are expected to be courteous to others and model for students how to respectfully participate in public meetings by speaking and behaving in such manner that adheres to the 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. The school board is committed to showing respect and courtesy to all citizens. Comments that are not protected under the first

028amendment of the US Constitution will not be tolerated. This includes comments that are v vulgar, obscene, threatening, and comments that are intended to incite violence or other breaches of the peace. Members of the audience are not permitted to interrupt the speaker or meeting by asking questions or making comments. Signs, posters, placards, banners, or like objects are permitted into the school board's meeting, but only if the individual possessing such items remain in the back of the room so as not to restrict the view of those attending the meeting in person. Violations of the guidelines will result in the chair rolling the speaker out of order. Continued violation may result in removal from the premises. We have provided copies of of the updated policy as well as QR code that will take you directly to the code

029of student conduct handbook. They are located on the table where the signup sheet was located. The chair's 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 the list is Jeff Landy. I'm sorry. You say pass. Oh, sorry. I didn't hear you. Rebecca Regger. My name is Rebecca Ragger and I'm from the Gainesboro District. Because we already know what I sound like from my previous interview, Matthew asking Kathy Weiss to read this statement for me. I don't have much to say tonight except that I wanted to share my experiences from my time volunteering in NOVA with my company's Eyes of Hope mobile response team. I spent time in five different schools across Arlington, Fairfax, and Prince William counties, providing vision

030services to participants who otherwise wouldn't have access to such services. We provided exams and on-site optical services in these schools for students, staff, and family members. What struck me in a lot of these schools was their openness to celebrating the diversity within their student populations. I saw teachers rooms marked as safe spaces, flyers hung up for the Trevor Project and other other support services for LGBTQ and other marginalized student populations. I saw student groups set up with pride about their country's origins. Many of these students were immigrants from a diverse range of countries and the value that they brought to the student community as a whole. I watched uh I watched communities and schools have one-on-one connections with these students to make them feel seen and heard. I watched as teachers brought their students into

031our designated spaces to see what was out there for them in the world when it came to different career opportunities. I saw the value that these schools placed on diversity, equity, and inclusion and the futures of the children they serve. Now, I'm sure that these school districts have their own set of problems to deal with, and I know I saw only a small portion of a small portion of the schools and the students and staff. I would also like to note that while people will mention the communities in NOVA are more affluent and that is why they can have these services, the wealth disparity is still there, just as it is here in our hometowns. But in the past, I've heard from board members who want to model Frederick County after other counties like Shannondoa

032and other districts. As a parent of students in Frederick County schools, I urge you to consider modeling yourselves after the likes of what I experienced in Arlington, Fairfax, and Prince William counties as well. Change is scary, but what I saw in those communities were schools with a willingness to push their students to the future despite the challenges. I'm not sure if it's possible for you to visit these schools as schoolboard representatives or in volunteer positions, but if that is possible, I would highly recommend doing so. It was an eyeopening experience for me as a parent to know what kind of support is possible for our students and teachers. Yeah, Anna Ram. gonna apologize in advance. I am already holding back tears. But uh Ram Hannah, Winchester City resident, I'm going to be talking about something

033extremely difficult for me and statistically it affects over half of the people in this room, too. As someone who's lived through multiple iterations of sexual abuse spanning several years of my life, I feel qualified to call out abusive behavior patterns and people. I don't want these kids, your students, to learn the same way. You call us perverts when you're the ones shamelessly advocating for a generation of young people uneducated on how to defend themselves against or god forbid have to heal from something that is always at least partially unservivable in too many ways to list. by removing books like telling a memoir of sexual assault and recovery by Patricia Weaver Francisco that is currently held at Milbrook or even fictional accounts like traffic by Ellen Hopkins that's in James Wood Sharando and Milbrook by removing

034these books and every book like them you would be at the absolute least a bystander if not complicit in whatever damage is done to your kids that's your sons your daughters not only is having literature depicting the steps leading to abuse and the and the after effects of it instrumental in preventing victimization and helping the healing process. It reinforces the idea that committing these acts is wrong, too. Resources, representation, and the repetition of these ideas is needed for student safety in and out of schools. It could have saved me, and I'm sure it could have saved many of you. Education is prevention, and you all represent the school system. And to Klein's point, there is a direct and studied relationship between young people that have experienced traumatic events and lower test scores. Those test scores

035impact school funding, and your budget was just cut in half. It's not us you should be fighting against. The energy you've put into banning books should have been dedicated to supporting teachers and their admin because the lack of that dedication has left both the Johnson and the Gamaras families grieving. This is wholly unacceptable and the neglect of your student population is becoming more tangible with every new story published. The community sees you. Do better or we'll have to find someone that will. Chelsea, Back Creek District. Chelsea, Sarah, I know I messed this up the last time. Is it Chagas? We'll get it eventually. Thank you, chairman, members of the board. My name is Sarah Chigash, a resident of the Stonewall District, a seat open for election this November. I refuse to believe that any elected

036official of this board would be so ignorant as to vote uninformedly on any policy that is as socially and educationally relevant as book banning. I also refuse to believe that you would deem your constituents so gullible as to attempt to scare them with wild claims of beastiality and cooperilia being pushed into our libraries. However smoothrained you may deem some of us. I must therefore believe that you have been misinformed. You've attempted to scold us, stating that this is not an LGBTQ or African-American issue. Let's address that. According to Pen America, a nonprofit organization that advocates for free expression and advancement of literature in the United States and worldwide, bookbs continue to deliberately target specific themes, content areas, and representations. During the 2023 24 school year, they analyzed the content of the most commonly banned books,

03710,09 titles banned in two or more school districts and found disproportionate to publishing rates, book bands overwhelmingly affect books about race and racism and LGBTQ plus and bipok people and characters with instances of people and characters of color spanning 44% of titles and books with LGBTQ plus people and characters at 39%. According to the American Library Association, pressure groups, and government entities that include elected officials, board members, and administrators now initiate 72% of demands to censor books in school and public libraries. We're left to wonder if this number includes the vendetta of the hateful, hyperactive parents that vacation with those board members. Paname has found that the organizations that specifically advocate against school curricula that mention LGBTQ rights, race and ethnicity, critical race theory, and discrimination are responsible for at least half of all bands.

038There is an intentional proclivity to confuse sex and sexuality that absolutely warrants hesitancy. We understand that you have tabled this proposal until a review has been made of the existing titles on the band book list, and we thank you for that. This may be a conservative community, but we urge you to engage with your students, parents, and teachers to ensure the establishment of fair processes and set standards that advocate for the entirety of this community both in the initial review process and in future challenges made. We ask that you require more than just one complaint from the community, that you ensure that the review committees are fair and impartial, and that you establish an appeal system. If you stick with an opt out or elect an opt-in system, we expect you to make the process

039straightforward, conspicuous, and easily accessible. You have been elected to make sound decisions for our county and our children, however perverted you may deem them. With an administration erasing gender and color, these kids need access to resources that include diverse representations and the support of people that make all of them feel safe and seen. Thank you, [Applause] Katie Vance. Good evening. My name is Katie Vance. I'm a resident of the Shaunie district and the mom of two amazing kids in a Frederick County elementary school. I'm here tonight because I left the last meeting livid. It was clear that none of you listened to us last month, so I want to make sure that I'm crystal clear tonight. Miss Klein claimed that nobody read the policy. Yet many of us, myself included, quoted it last month. I

040read it. We read it together. Many of us did. It was just a poorly written policy with vague terms that open the door to bad decisions. It was also mentioned that this was about europhilia, and that's not what we were talking about, and you know it. Our concern was how vague phrases like sexual conduct are often used to target LGBTQ books. So to clarify so there is no confusion, we agree that fetishbased books don't belong in schools. We agree that books should be age appropriate, but your poorly written policy was a major problem. And then later when the budget advisory committee spoke, Miss Klein said that you were happy to hear from other voices, but later on in the meeting, it was declared whether you like it or not, this is a conservative community. So

041I want some clarification on what it is. Do we want diverse voices? Are we just trying to silence those with that we don't agree with? And Mr. Sturdivan, I'm sorry that you experienced harassment. That is absolutely unacceptable in this community. But I do not want to ignore the fact that I have continued to see you wear a sweatshirt to Dr. Hummer's meetings calling Trump the good and labeling Democrats as the bad, the evil, and the ugly. Victims do not ampl get to amplify that kind of divisiveness. And finally, Mr. Atkins, my own district's representative. At the last meeting, you looked me directly in the eye and called your own constituents perverts. And not a single one of you condemned that language. And now you wonder, you're so confused why teachers, librarians, and and uh parents

042are afraid to speak up. They stay silent because their own board member might call them perverts. You want an opt-in option? Why? So you can have a list of so-called perverts in the community. You even stated in a Facebook argument of all the adult immature places, let's see how many perverts opt their kids in. So my own kids heard that. I had to explain to them why their own school board member called me a pervert. Why a grown adult in a position of leadership acted like a bully. So I'll say this clearly. Mr. Atkins, you have to resign. You've put this community at risk. Your words were hateful, dangerous, and beneath the dignity of your position. You are unfit to serve. And to the rest of you, condemn his words or stand complicit in them.

043Then ask yourselves if you're truly capable of leading this community because right now you are not. We deserve better and we will remember this. Thank you, Brian Nuring. Mr. Nur, hard to follow that up. My name is Brian Nur, resident of the Apekin District, a seat that will be open up for election in 2027. Tonight, this board declared May 5th through 9th as teacher appreciation week and the 6th as National Teacher Day. Time to express gratitude and appreciation for the work that of teachers. This week is a chance for students, parents, schools, and communities to acknowledge the important role that teachers play in shaping young lives and contributing to society. So, you would think we would be rewarding them, right? No. Instead, this county is seeing an exodus of its best teachers to other localities,

044Lden being the number one. And it has been belored over and over again that we can't compete with their salaries. We all get that. But why is this board making tokens of appreciation when there are more substantive needs? We finally got the high school despite the regrets of some. And that will alleviate some of the pressure uh that is going to work at the school system. But who's going to work in a school system that they are quote unquote on notice for being certified professionals? These are the same teachers that are being told that they'd have to man the security gates in the mornings when most of them are usually trying to get their workday started. Would that include the quote 39% of our teachers who have two brain cells fighting for third place? Maybe

045when teachers and aids do safety issues for their for their classrooms, a concern is often downplayed by the admins. Special education teachers and aids especially are coming home covered in bruises from being attacked by students with little or no recourse. Is this how they have it so good here? Dr. Hummer has done a phenomenal job of showcasing teachers and staff who are making a difference to students. This board, however, needs to do a better job for teachers on the daily basis. This means securing them with the best pay and benefits possible, ensuring that they have a supportive administration and that they are not demeaned and insulted by their own elected school board. Teachers hear this and so do the students and the parents. It's time to actually show that you appreciate the teachers for the

046hard work that they put in every single day and not just for appreciation week. Thank you. Janie Derby. Good evening. My name is Janie Derby. I'm a resident of the Bat Creek District, but today I am reading a message from a friend of mine who had planned to be here tonight and could not. So, I am reading for Carrie Carmichael who lives in the Shaune District. My family has had children in Frederick County Public Schools for almost 15 years. I'm hearing from teachers and students that this is the worst it's been in a long time as far as morale, confidence, and feelings of safety and security. I believe much of this stems from a lack of effective leadership, and you are the leaders. You have teachers who speak up at meetings letting you know that

047they feel unsupported and afraid for their jobs if they step out of line. You have librarians who are afraid of letting the wrong book into a library and whose jobs are scrutinized at a microscopic level. Teachers and staff have said in these very board meetings that they feel unsupported and afraid because of a lack of communication during a crisis such as recent situations at Jameswood and Evendelle. Our teachers do not do this job for the money. They do it because they love kids. They do it here rather than in Lowden or Prince William because they love this community. They want to stay here. But you are making that hard. When these teachers come to you, you should ask them, "What can I do to help you feel supported by us and the school administration?" Instead,

048you tell them that they are put on notice and invite them to go to Louden if they don't like it here. You spend your comment time during meetings taking teachers to task for speaking out publicly. You shame them for not speaking up at town halls that you hold at their schools, even though teachers have in fact spoken up at those meetings. This is not the way to treat people that are entrusted with teaching and caring for our children. The fact that you have veteran educators who dread going to work every day because they feel unsupported and attacked is a symptom of a larger problem of leadership. You are a part of that leadership. What are you going to do to fix that situation? We have to strengthen our culture by repairing trust, being transparent about

049what is happening in crisis situations, and just listening to teachers. We need to propose solutions to problems with discipline and weapons in school. We need to treat teachers and staff like they are on our team rather than adversaries who are trying to indoctrinate our children. Parents and administrators have a large role to play in fixing the culture, but you do too. You need to make sure that administrators support Paige Feliciano. Thank you. [Applause] Paige. Nope. Christy Scarboro just in case. First, I'm going to give a little shout out to my son, Stephen. That boy watches every single one of these meetings, and when I get home, I get the biggest hug, and he tells me how good of a job I've done. So, Stephen, this one's for you. Anyways, I was so happy to hear

050about another alphabet mafia flag being removed from another FCPS classroom. Thank you so much, you guys. I love that I can be heard here. Also, I noticed some uh changes to the listed sexually explicit books in the schools. Now, Beyond Magenta is still in some of these high schools, but I'm happy to see that you've pulled some of the uh or this one out of ENREP, which by the way was quite an interesting place to put this book if you ask me. Now, I'll refresh your memory on this book shortly. But I will say it didn't take a lazy chairman to remove the books. Instead, it took a stay-at-home degenerate mother to move some mountains. You're welcome, Sturdivant. Recently, I read an article about a kid getting bullied in FCPS. Apparently, the teachers knew what

051was going on and did nothing about it. Now, I'm shocked that this board allows bullying in schools when at the same time you guys rectily weep at the hint of a word that upsets you. Now, let's read some of this book again. Where should I start? Um, the boy in front of me, his name was Andrew. Christopher called was called a for no reason. Shut the You're a too. You're a You're a You're gay. What else we got in here? They called me a and a Sad to me. Boys have dicks. Girls have What's a A vagina. I was sexually mature. What I mean by sexually mature is that I knew about sex from six up. I used to kiss other boys in my neighborhood, make out with them, and perform oral sex on them.

052I liked it. I used to love oral and I touched their you know what. We were really young, but that's what we did. You had this in Nrep. Beyond magenta. It's in two high schools. I complained about it once. It's still in there. Why is it in there? Now, Sturdivan, you don't mind if I take pictures of your vehicle before I leave here today, do you? Good. I'll do that. But before I leave, I wanted to show you. Sturdivan, I made some artwork and I thought you'd like it. I even signed it if you wanted to keep a copy. That's you. And it says fat on the t-shirt. Thank you. You're welcome. Did you want a copy? I can bring it to you. No, that's okay. All right, I'll send you an email. Thank you.

053Julie and order. Julie and Homer. No. Skyler Shoemaker. Order. I'm a student of Sharando High School. First issue I'd like to address today is the hall pass. It has done nothing but make going to the bathroom a pain. It has many problems like not letting you go OB as it says back to capacity, but yet half the time there is no one or just one or two people. It takes a lot of class time up making a pass and trying to get it approved by a teacher. While talking about the bathrooms, they are severely neglected. Over half the sinks are not working or barely working. A lot of the time you have to hit them just to get a little bit of water out to wash your hands. They are often out of soap or

054paper towels in the restrooms. The current bathroom policy also creates a real safety concern. Locked bathrooms eliminate places to hide during an emergency. In the Parkland school shooting, students were killed outside a locked restroom they tried to escape into. Survivors said unlocked bathrooms could have saved lives. Other school shootings have shown similar patterns. Students caught while running too far away restrooms because nearby ones were locked. And in between class, it is hard to go to the bathroom because there is only one to two open. The rest are locked up. Normally, the ones that are open have a teacher standing in there. Having a teacher staring into the bathroom is just weird and makes a lot of people uncomfortable and does not make us feel safe by any means. I'd also like to make it clear,

055using the bathroom is not a luxury. It is a biological need. Moving on, I'd like to mention the trailers that have been continuously added and they really suck. They don't regulate temperature well at all. They are normally freezing or they are burning hot. When it rains, it requires you to run in through the rain just to get to class. There is also very little time given between class. three minutes to use the bathroom and head to your next class. It's normally a rush to get to class on time and to add to the school is extremely overcrowded, making it more difficult to walk through the hallways. And lastly, I'd like to mention the metal detectors. They do not help anyone. There's just a hassle to get through the every day. They make it special make

056it harder to get into school on time, especially with traffic for many students. And half the time they don't work and go off for random things even when nobody has any metal. That's all you Sorry. And before we move on with the next comment, Dr. Hummer, could you please address Skyler's concerns on your put it on your to-do list, the bathroom sinks being inoperative, that's a concern. Okay, fantastic. The towels also and the soap. So Skyler, thank you for bringing that to our attention. We're on it. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Michaela Johnson. I am Faith Johnson's sister Michaela. And as you guys know, she had an incident on February 18th where the aid was being careless and wasn't paying attention and her GJ tube got forcibly removed. I'm speaking to you guys today

057to let you guys know that your priorities are not straight whatsoever. My sister died and y'all have shown no remorse and won't even acknowledge Faith Marie's Law. A kid was just bullied and it turned into a hate crime and now his face is paralyzed. You have a bunch of perverts working at Jameswood High School and you have a drunk teacher at Evendale. My question to you guys is what are y'all doing? Y'all are sitting here worried about books but my sister died. Kids are not safe and some kids are getting hurt. I hope you guys realize that there are bigger problems in the school system and I suggest that you guys start working now. It's honestly so embarrassing that you guys aren't prioritizing kid safety and these kids deserve better. It's very ignorant that you

058guys won't own up to your mistakes and instead you guys try to cover it up. I hope you guys learn how to take accountability and I just want to let you guys know that we will get justice and you guys picked the wrong family. [Music] [Applause] Bion and Dan Danielle Johnson. Did I get it right this time? Um, good evening. would like to um say we appreciate you for uh just giving us a few minutes of your time. My name is Bannon Johnson. This is my wife Danielle uh Johnson. We are the parents of Faith Johnson, our beautiful daughter who was tragically uh who tragically passed away on February the 22nd, 2025. Her passing was a result of a preventable incident. uh her JJ tube uh became dislodged while she was at Northwestern uh regional

059educational program inrep in Frederick County on February 18th. In Virginia, an individualized education program or IEP is not just a document. It is a legal promise to provide students with disabilities the care, accommodations, and the sport, the support they need and safe to safely and successfully access education. face IEP from October 2024 clearly outlined her care plan that included step-by-step instructions for feeding her and critically a directive to tuck her GJ tube securely into her pants immediately after feeding. This was to prevent exactly the type of accident that ended up taking her life. On January 29th, just 19 days before the incident, my wife Danielle emailed the school because Faith came home with her GJ tube hanging out. We were deeply concerned. So, we alerted uh the school in writing through a email in which

060we have a copy of and the school respond said that they will make every teacher aware. That warning was ignored. On February 18th, Faith GJ Tube was dislodged at school. But instead of the emergency services being called immediately, we were uninformed as staff member Megan didn't share any details concerning the incident. She never told us that it had been pulled out. So we originally thought that it came out just because of the lack of water in the balloon. That delay and communication robbing us of chance to act quickly and give our daughter the medical care that she needed. Faith couldn't speak for herself, but we were never given the truth so that we could speak for her. We have learned since learned troubling information about the staff involved. We were told Megan was too distraught

061to report the full details to us at the time. But a child's life is not something you pause your responsibility over because you're upset. We have also been informed by her ex-husband that Megan has previously been investigated by child protective services for allegations involving her own child. We want to know, were you aware of this? Was this known during her hiring process? There's an ongoing investigation by uh Frederick County Sheriff Department, CPS, and Virginia Department of Education regarding our formal complaint. We are scheduled to speak with uh the Virginia Department of Education later this week. Uh we're here tonight not only to seek accountability, but to make sure that this never happens to another family. A legal binding plan was ignored. Christine [Applause] Lawson, Christine Lawson, Beth Kipley, Lynette, I'm sorry. Good evening. Good evening,

062Dr. Hummer and members of the Frederick County School Board. I would like to begin by offering my support of Assistant Principal Morgan Kipley and challenge the recommendation to terminate her contract. For those who have not had the privilege of working with Morgan, she has always exemplified what it means to be a leader as well as an educator. She shows perseverance, dedication, and commitment to students and co-workers, always leading by example. She has the ability and aptitude to motivate others and creates an environment that you just want to be a part of. These are not just the words of proud parents. Ask anyone who has worked side by side with her. In her personal life, she beat cancer at the age of three, fighting through two years of chemotherapy and radiation. She worked hard for her

063goals and was a collegic level athlete, showing her determination and dedication to both sports and academic studies simultaneously. Professionally, she completed her teaching degrees while working as a long-term sub in an inner city high school. She later later progressed from teacher to principal of a private day school where she motivated her team of teachers to embrace alternative approaches to complex and challenging behaviors of students with co-occurring ID and mental health diagnosis. In a short time, she improved the overall operating license of the school from a provisional license to setting the school up for a trienal license, which it achieved in 2024 prior to accepting the position here as assistant principal at Evenenddale Elementary School. Recently though, all of this has been challenged. In an attempt to appear as taking swift and prudent action following the

064arrest of an Evendale elementary school teacher, Morgan was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of a supposed internal investigation by human resources and an external investigation by Frederick County Department of Social Services. During this process, Morgan acted with integrity, acknowledging the need for thorough investigation into incidents such as these. Frederick County DSS cleared Morgan of any wrongdoing. However, the assistant superintendent of instruction recommended this school board terminate Morgan's contract as assistant principal and demote her to a teacher at another school, citing, and I quote, a failure in professional responsibility and supervision before any investigation had been completed. Morgan acted within her scope of practice, taking immediate action. Time Lynette Mason, what I do feel we can all understand this evening is that demoting someone who has been cleared of any wrongdoing is unjust, unmeritive

065and certainly unfair. Thank you Dr. Hummer and members of the school board. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening everyone. My name is Lynette Mason and I am here to support the Johnson family and I'm Faith Marie Johnson's godmother. So I want to tell you a few things about Faith. She's impacted so many lives and her smile would light up a room, any room that she entered. Um, if you were having a bad day, all you needed to do was see Faith and your mood would change instantly. She was excelling and making new friends at school and all of that was cut short because of the carelessness of staff members at ENREP. The Johnson family has had numerous IEP meetings and provided instructions on how to care for Faith, but all of that went out of the

066window on February 18th, 2025. What is the purpose of IEPs and training if the teachers and staff aren't going to follow them? Had the staff handling faith on February 18th followed the IEP and instructions that her parents provided them regarding her GJ2. She would still be here today. We are demanding that you all take responsibility for her death. We are demanding that anyone involved in the caregiving of faith on February 18th, 2025 be terminated. The Johnson family nor any other family deserves to go through something so tragic. We deserve answers. And I think the one thing that bothers me the most is we are worried about taking books out of the schools and out of the libraries. And we have children that are being sexually assaulted. Teachers coming to school drunk. And now there's a

067child, a four-year-old child that has lost her life. You all have bigger things to be working on than worried about books. There's teachers that want to complain, voice their opinions about things that aren't going right in our schools and they're afraid to because they're afraid that they're going to lose their jobs. And shame on you all. Because if you're not going to protect your teachers, then you dag on sure aren't going to uh protect our children. So, I have seven questions. Since the tragic passing of Faith, what have you all done to ensure that this will not happen to another student? What type of training is provided for teachers that are handling special needs children? And how often are they being trained? What is the process for hiring teachers, nurses, and staff? And are you

068doing backgrounds? And if so, what are you looking for? And what happens if a teacher applying for a job may have already be been investigated for neglect or fired from other school systems? Are they still eligible? And are the teachers that you have now qualified to handle special needs children or have they just been placed in the classroom because you can't fill the position? And the last thing is, are you going to put something in place for teachers to file complaints or voice their opinions instead of keeping quiet because they're afraid of losing their jobs? We want answers and we deserve answers. That includes staff com or citizen comments. Next up is reports. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Appreciate that. I want to give a big welcome to all of our new administrators to

069our FCPS family. We take administrative appointments very seriously and it is extremely thorough and competitive process. We are confident that these new administrators will make us proud as we continue to strive on providing our students with the best education in the Commonwealth. I also want to thank all of our amazing staff and students who receive recognitions tonight for their hard work and accomplishments. We don't take these recognitions lightly and I'm thankful for this time to celebrate our wonderful staff and students. I also want to take this time to address the traumatic situation that occurred at Jordan Springs just a couple weeks ago. That was an extremely impactful moment for our entire community and that is something we never want to experience again. I want to thank our parent and student, Mrs. Melendez, and our young

070man, Mr. Melendez, who acted quickly to report this situation so we can respond in an expedient manner. I want to thank our Jordan Springs staff for their quick action as well as the rest of the staff to keep the learning community safe while we took care of this situation. Accordingly, I also want to thank again our amazing SRO's and specifically our very own Mr. Charlie Roy in this case, Sheriff Mil Holland and his outstanding staff for their great partnership as we work together to keep our students, staff, and community safe. I had numerous numerous conversations with a bunch of different constituents and parents from the Stonewall district in regards to what has happened and I greatly appreciate the feedback that I received, the input and the suggestions on how we can work together on making

071our schools even more safe. I want to thank each of them for their time and for their partnership so we can get this right together. As I promised, safety and security is my number one priority, and we have added numerous layers here to FCPS to keep our staff, students, and community safe. We are in the process of adding even more layers in collaboration with the sheriff's office staff, and our constituents in order to continue to keep everybody safe. I thank the school board and the board of supervisors for their continued support in these efforts. We are very grateful for the partnership we have with this amazing community from our parents, emergency personnel, and constituents who work very closely to ensure that safety is our number one priority. I also want to thank our school board.

072We had a lot of different proclamations today and there were a lot of important ones. I want to thank our nurses, which we do have one in the audience who will be presenting here in a second. Thank you, Pam, for all of your leadership of leading our nurses. Also want to thank our teachers. I know we do have a lot of teachers still left in the room. I know I'm looking at one right now. Mrs. Woodward, thank you for all you do. Uh, and I also want to thank our speech pass and of course our lunch staff for all the work that they do and thank you school board for recognizing our amazing staff. As I mentioned at our budget work session last week, we are on the last leg of this budget process. And

073lucky for us, right, Kristen, we get to start this process all over again in a couple weeks for FY27. We are looking forward to that. I just want to take a moment to thank you school board and our board of supervisors for their dedication to this process and for supporting our student, staff, and school division as a whole. I greatly appreciate our in-depth conversations and your efforts specifically to provide our division with what we need for our students. It is greatly greatly appreciated. I also want to thank the board of supervisors for approving the budget and getting us closer to what we need. Although we wished we could have just gotten a little bit more for them and the state, we are grateful for what we did receive and we are looking forward to future

074conversations and getting our students exactly what they need to be successful. I also have two quick announcements for two exciting events coming up that each of you are invited to this week. This Thursday is our annual staff awards ceremony at Milbrook High School and I invite each of you to attend if you are available. The event is from 5:00 to 7:30 and we are very very proud to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of all of our outstanding staff from our administrators to our licensed staff to our classified staff. We're very very excited about this event. We also have our annual little feet meet at Milbrook High School this Friday starting at 10:00 a.m. This is an annual event we put on every year for our students with disabilities and our general education students who work

075together in a compete in a series of events and it encompasses the great efforts that we all make for our students and staff to provide a competitive opportunity for all kids. If you've never seen this event, I highly recommend that you go. Lastly, and and thank you Mr. Atkins for reading the resolution earlier and for the board for approving the res resolution. I want to thank Mr. Funez for his service and his commitment to Frederick County. I've been speaking with him regularly. He was and thank you Mr. Sturdivan. He was very sad not to be here this evening. We are all dedicated to this amazing community. But we also have to make sure we take care of ourselves. I know this was a very very hard decision for Mr. Funz because of his passion and

076his big heart to make a difference for kids and we all continue to keep him in our thoughts and prayers on his road to recovery. We are always a phone call away Frank if you're listening and please don't hesitate to let us know if you need anything. So with that, Mr. Chair, that is what I have and if I may, I'll I'll hand it over to Mrs. Unhawk for the the uh health advisory committee report. Yes. Is that okay? All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Hamhawk, the coordinator of health services for Frederick County Public Schools. And actually, I want to um introduce the chair of the school health advisory committee, Mr. Landy. Um he's just going to speak briefly um about our committee and we're hoping to do some great

077things. Uh good evening board. Hello again. Um, as Pam said, it's going to be brief tonight. We, um, we just had our second meeting last month and we'll have our third meeting tomorrow. So, we haven't gotten a whole lot done. We're kind of getting our feet underneath us. Um, long term, our goal as the health advisory committee is to kind of work with you guys to develop um, and help suggest improvements to the overall health policy of the district of the division. um including monitoring the current status and figuring out where we can do better um and where we're doing well enough to kind of keep things rolling. Um so right now, like I said, we're kind of getting our bearings. We've been talking with Pam a lot about what we've got already in place

078um and what we can do to kind of reassess um or bring new assessments into the district to see where we are. Um there's uh there are various index indices we can run. The school health index is published by the CDC. we could look into running one of those and it it kind of um establishes what the community is looking for in terms of health outcomes for uh for a school district. Uh other things are youth behavior risk studies uh looking at mental health of our students, where are they at now so we know what problems do need addressed if there are indeed problems. Um, school health covers a lot of things and I expect that our committee will be kind of tag teaming with a lot of other committees and with the school board

079and with various other staff members as we go along. Um, you know, things like I had on my list we we talked about how are we staffing athletic trainers? Um, and I know we're mostly doing the high schools. It's tough to staff for middle schools, but um, you know, what are other school districts doing? Are you what's the gold standard there? And certainly the new athletic um advisory committee that is being established would be a great person to or a great committee to talk to about that. Um so we're trying to to narrow down what our scope is and what we can kind of collaborate with other groups to get things actually done. Um and then also collaborating with the community. So uh unfortunately timely there are organizations out there like B Smart for Kids

080and Project ChildSafe which focus on um gun safety in the community. So basically keeping keeping guns locked up and away from kids. And both of these organizations are kind of by gun owners for gun owners. Um it's typically not the non-gun owners that have a real issue with this. Um and in this area certainly like people need to lock their guns up. Everyone's got guns. Um bullying and mental health are perennial issues and I don't know that anyone really has the answer for that, the perfect answer, but certainly we can always get closer. Um, so we should be looking around and seeing what other areas are doing and what are we doing that works and what are we doing that doesn't work. And that's what uh the youth behavior risk studies could help us with.

081Um, on kind of a selfish note, as a health professional, uh, getting kids moving more is always one of my big goals. Um, and actually I think that extends to the adults in the room as well. Um, for both mental health, physical health, longevity. I certainly have treated enough teachers in my physical therapy clinic that I know they also need to get up and move sometimes. Um, and I know it's hard to do that in situations. Um, so like I said, we don't have a whole lot of answers to offer you guys tonight. Uh, but we will certainly be reaching out in the future. Um, and looking forward to working with you guys over the next year. So, any questions? Uh, Mr. Chair, Mr. Hkins, uh, I I think you guys are heading in the

082right direction. And I know just establishing this committee um you know getting your feet on on the ground and and up and running is it's a task in itself. Um I appreciate you stepping up and and join the advisory committee as well. Um it takes a lot of people in the community to to make this uh the ship sail, right? Um I'm just curious though um for a baseline talked about mental health and the schools and stuff um or even physical health. um how would you how would you go about getting a baseline for everybody to see if we're improving or we're going down? That's a monumental task. Yeah. So, that's that's a real big question. And I think I think honestly the tools are they're more popular now. I think to develop tools for

083mental health assessment because because of kind of like an ongoing developing crisis um in the nation. Um, so there's certainly things like the youth behavioral health study and um other other studies that I can look into for assessing a large population, especially of youth um and probably of teachers too. Again, unfortunately timely um to to figure out that baseline and and I think we should look into what what is the best what is the best measurement tool for the job. Um because I'm sure there are districts all over the country using a half dozen different assessment tools and some of them are going to be helpful and some of them are are not. Um in terms of physical assessments um you know I think that's I think that's a tricky question. You know the easy

084thing is to just go around with a tape measure and measure everyone's waist. But that that gives you a very very small um glimpse of what people's health actually is physically. Um, you know, when I was a kid, we had like the presidential fitness test, right? And I don't I don't know. Um, yeah, I don't I don't know how realistic it is to to get all the kids in a room and have them climb a knotted rope up to the ceiling of a gym, but um I would be in support of it. Oh, man. Cargo nets. Yeah. I I wish we had brought that back. Is there anything similar to it? The presidential fitness program. the road. Yeah. Is there anything? Our students are going through physical tests through PE and and we do track

085that progress that they're making for different physical fitness tests. Um the rope, I haven't seen one of those in our PE in our gyms. I don't know if I want those in there quite honestly. I understand. I like I don't want to add more safety issues, but I think Mr. Atkins brings up a really good question. And I like some of the ideas that you mentioned there and I'm sure Miss Unhawk probably has some suggestions but that's why we have this committee so maybe we can put together some suggestions and ideas to know where to start and where we want to go and no matter what the baseline is we know we have areas we need to improve upon. Yeah sure always there's always always places to improve but it's nice to know where where

086the critical areas are and where we can coast for a little bit while we prioritize. I'm I'm just super excited about these advisory committees. I know it gives the community a a bigger voice, you know, than, you know, just coming up to the dasis. You know, you're actually plugged in and you're you're helping us out. You're, you know, part of the team where where, you know, we need uh help reaching out to other folks. We can always lean on you guys to help us out and, you know, bring up community concerns and and bring them to us. So, I I definitely appreciate this. It gives gives us a a wider window to look out. So, thank you. Thank you guys for your time. Next up is unfinished business. And Mr. Chair, I would like to

087make a motion to approve the fiscal year 202526 budget. I would like you to present. Here we are. You know, I've already budget. I mean, yeah. Can I add some more money? Yes. Yes. Hold on one second. Here I am just jumping right ahead. Sorry there, Dr. Hummer. Go ahead and present this. Um, and then we'll approve it. On on that note, I know last time I do have the the full presentation here. We did discuss this last week. Um, I can truncate this. I know last time you wanted me to kind of get to the to the end of where we're going. If you don't mind, I can do that. And then if we need to go back with discussion, we can track that back with each of the presentations. So, it's my understanding

088if in case anyone at home wants to see the entire presentation, it everything is online. Yes, ma'am. So, we'll hit the high points during the meeting and we also have the recording from last week as well. Sorry to cut you off there, vice chair. Um, so they can go back and watch the recording and the conversation that we had. All right. So, let me jump ahead here. I'm going to jump to the summary of where we're at with the budget. Uh, and then jump to my recommendations. And then we also had a request of what those additional positions we would be recommending to add on if we get that additional money from the state. Remember, you guys asked that, so I have that up here as well. Um, so as you recall, we started with

089an 8.6 6 million request from the county. We were also going to receive about $9 million from the state and that has changed and shifted since January. So where we stand right now locally is we are we are receiving $4.1 million for our school operating. We're receiving 1.525 for the debt service and then receiving 4 million for our capital projects. This is everything we are receiving locally. As I mentioned to you all, the the county went ahead and approved that full additional $3 million that we were receiving from the state. So that's why you see the 12.157, but where we stand right now, that's about 1.5 less at the state level. The governor is supposed to make that decision on May 2nd if we're going to be receiving that money. Um I'm hearing from a

090lot of different folks that it looks like we will be, but you never know. So we will see when that happens next Friday. And then as we mentioned, we will set up another meeting in May. We will have that conversation if we do get that money about how we would like to spend that. So this is a breakdown across the board from the state, the local, the federal, as well as other malicious other miscellaneous as well as how we compare from FY25. So there was overall an increase of $16 million. Here is the breakdown of the resolution that is there in front of you. And this just breaks down each of the categories from our budget. And it also compares FY25 to FY26. I do want to draw your attention to going across, if you

091recall, we're only going to be adding eight positions on because that is part of my recommendation because we did shift the consolidated service positions in transportation up to operating. So we move that money over. We talked about that in a finance committee meeting. So that's why you see that go from 8 to 22. So it's not we're adding on positions. We're shifting that from that consolidated service fund to operating for our transportation positions. So, this is the overall breakdown and this does include that additional 12 million. But again, if we get that additional money from the state, we don't have to go back downtown to the board of supervisors to request that. I provided this update to you for the from the state. We will keep you posted. Hopefully, they'll make the decision before Friday,

092but as of right now, that decision has not been made. And then once that decision is made, I'll let you know and we'll discuss next steps. So as I as I mentioned, here are my recommendations. We did not want to touch compensation packages to stay competitive against neighboring divisions. So unfortunately, our recommendation was to cut those 32 positions, keep the eight positions on for English language learners and then cut the two additional on top of the two that we already had in the budget moving forward. And then we'll look at adding two more next year. Then hopefully we'll be done then because we'll be at that magic number of 13. The other piece that we talked about last week was of course if we identify there are additional emergency positions that we need to add

093on because we don't get that money from the state or if we do get the money from the state and there's still additional positions we can have that conversation. I can go downtown and make that request. So that is something that's still on the table for us to consider. So here is the breakdown after collaboration with my team. This is not the full 32 positions. Again this would only be the 1.5 that we received from the state. And again, this would be up for discussion, but based on priority of the priority, if that's how you want to look at it, these were the positions that we wanted to add across the board, and this would equal that 1.5 million that we would get from the state. So, we're basically 10 short. Yes, sir. Yep. So,

094this is 22 additional positions. Now, again, we can shift and we can move this around. So, we'll have that full conversation once we know what that additional money is looking like from the state. Again, not ideal, but we'll keep hoping. Well, during our work session, it was mentioned that we could go back downtown and ask for supplemental funds. Is that correct? That's what I just said a second ago. Yeah. No, no, it's okay. So, we we can do that. One of the things that I was talking with my team about this, specifically, Mrs. Anderson, is that we have to be careful of what that supplemental request looks like. We can do that, but it's going to be contingent on where they take that money from. If they decide to give us that supplemental out of

095operating and we only ask for two or three positions, then that'll be part of recurring dollars. If they take it out of capital, then we're already going to be behind next year because that's not recurring dollars. Now, again, that's up for them to decide. We just need to make sure that we take that into consideration because then we'll be behind next year when we develop the FY27 budget. We have not breached that conversation with them. I'm just talking about what ifs. So, please, I'm not saying that's what they would do. Just talking about the different scenarios that potentially can happen. Does that make sense? Okay. So, with that being said, more than happy to answer any questions to go into more um detail. You have the u the recommended u motion there in front of

096you with my recommended changes. And with that, Mr. Chair, school board, that is my presentation. So, thank you, Madam Vice Chair. All right. Thank you, Dr. Hummer. I've just seen this so many times and I just was ready to get the get the vote going. Um but thank you for your team to you and your team for working on this. I know Miss Anderson this has been a monumental undertaking and uh I will personally be sat be very happy when the numbers are solidified so I only have to remember certain ones and not the whatifs. So thank you for that. So uh now without further ado um Mr. Chair, I would like to make a motion to approve the fiscal year 2025 2026 budget totaling 311,242,187. The budget includes school operating fund of $254,96,28 the

097debt service fund 20,154,999 capital projects fund of $5 million. School Nutrition Services Fund 12,659,958. School Textbook Fund 6,681,110. INREEP operating fund $7,520,812. ENREP textbook fund $20 million. Consolidated services fund $3 million. private purpose fund $1,300,000. The school construction fund is appropriated as a carry forward in the amount that equals the approved original project costs less expenditures and incumbrances through June 30th, 2025. The school health insurance fund and special grants fund are appropriated for amounts based on cash balance balances on hand as of July 1st, 2025 plus the total amount of receipts for the fiscal year 2025206. All outstanding encumbrances at June 30th, 2025 are carried forward and are automatically reappropriated to the 2025-26 fiscal year to the same department and account for which they are encumbered in the 202425 fiscal year. Additional full-time equivalent positions

098included in the budget are eight for the school operating fund and 3.5 for the school nutrition fund. Motion has been made. Do I have a second? Second. Uh Mr. Chair, I'm sorry. Just for correction, I believe the motion and I was very impressed with how you handled all of those really big numbers, but with the ENREP textbook fund, I believe you said 20 million. It's 20,000. If you could just amend your motion for INREP textbook fund to be 20,000. Absolutely. So, Mr. Chair, I move to amend the main motion to reflect that the ENREP textbook fund instead of 20 million as previously stated is 20,000. Thank you, M. Jordan. A motion has been made and then seconded. Is there any discussion, Mr. Chairman? Yes, sir. Uh, so I want to echo a couple of the

099comments about the budget that I made last week. And I'm glad that there are still people here and listening and ready to engage. And some of this is going to come from feedback that I've gotten from the community. And so I hope that um especially folks who who needed to leave earlier uh tonight were able to to listen to this when they get home. And here's the first thing. One of the the oft repeated comments that I'm reading on social media and from the paper are people talking about how a Frederick County public schools are topheavy, which let me tell you is nonsense. Here's why it's nonsense. We have already rightsized and moved so many positions because of Dr. Hummer's leadership out of this building and back where they belong into schools, giving principles, assistant

100principles, and teachers the support they need in buildings where kids are. Right? That was not something that we had to do. That's something we wanted to do and that's something that he had the wisdom to do and I'm glad for that. That is why these that is why and I am going to call them cuts. That's why these cuts particularly sting to me. The reason they sting is because we've already been such effective stewards that we are not we're not cutting fat. We're cutting into the meat of our core mission. And one of the most frustrating things I hear is we'll cut this. Well, cut some admin. Cut plea. Please come to these meetings and tell me whose job you want to cut. Pick the name of the principal or assistant principal or math teacher

101or math special. Tell me who you want us to fire because we're a system of people. And when you make comments like, "We'll just cut staff." Well, when you cut staff, that has consequences. Um, we are a system of people. We need people to serve children. Um, people like has been said before don't work for free and these are professionals who have spent a lot of time in school. Mr. Bell and I know we know from experience we do love teaching but still probably wouldn't do it for free, right? I have to pay my mortgage too. Um, so the reason I wanted to take a second to say this is it's easy just to say, "Well, they get too much money or go and make a tell me who you want me to cut. Tell

102me what bus isn't important. Tell me what program you don't care about. Let's let's call these things what they really are. And finally, thank you to Supervisor Dunn. I wish that people had listened to him when he came up with some of the most common sense bipartisan ways that we could have avoided this. Pennies, a penny or two on the dollar of a meals tax that we know from research are almost always paid by people outside the county traveling up and down major arteries like 81. These are not taxes that end up being paid by our residents. These are ways that we could have closed some of these gaps without hurting anyone, without hurting anyone. But instead, we're going to rob Peter to pay Paul and then we'll play this whole game over again in

103June. And I'm really excited for that. So that uh I thank you for uh humoring the long comment, but it was a few things that needed to be said, Mr. Chair. Yeah. Um, I concur with uh Dr. Erskin and everything that he had to say. I would also like to add that while I'm reticent to approve this budget, I know the damage that it would do to our staffing and to the hard work that was done by our team. I understand the um problems that would arise if we don't approve this budget at this point even though we are short given that contracts have to go out and we want to take care of the teachers that we do have. But I do believe that one of the biggest concerns, well, I should say one

104of the biggest concerns that I do have is the fact that by cutting these 32 positions, we're basically creating a much larger classroom filled with students that could be lessened and provide the opportunity for those students to do much better on their testing and do much better in their classroom. Now, this is where we are. This is what we have. This is what we have to approve. Uh to me, there are still many questions about how they came up with the numbers. Um there's many questions about whether or not these numbers are even real. But I've said that enough in the past meetings that I think this will be probably well, it probably won't be the last time. At any rate, um I've even been called by a few people asking me about this new

105ratio that's been employed and whether or not it's actually true um or whether or not it hasn't been employed. So, I still have so many questions about how they came about these numbers and the fact that they even said, and I'm talking about the board of supervisors now. I don't want to ruffle feathers because as I was told last month, you know, we still want to get the money from the board of supervisors, but if they're willing to withhold the funding from our schools because of something little old me has to say, they have bigger problems. So, here's the thing. They're willing to entertain supplemental uh monies given to the schools. Well, if they're willing to entertain those supplemental monies, those supplemental monies must exist. And if they exist, why on earth weren't they given

106to us in the first place? That's my big question. That being said, though, um I will be voting yes for this budget to pass because I want our teachers to have contracts and I want the teachers that we have currently in our schools to come back and continue to do the great work that they're doing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Roll call. Yes. I would like a roll call vote. Yeah. Madam clerk, call the role, please. Mr. Atkins, yes. Dr. Erskin, yes. Mrs. Klene, yes. Mrs. Sturdivvent, yes. Mr. Bell, yes. Miss Martin, yes. Motion passes. Have a budget. Next up is new business. We have committee reports. First being personnel committee meeting. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A meeting of the personnel committee of the Frederick County School Board was held on March 31st, 2025. The meeting

107was called to order at 4:37 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, teacher vacancies by content, support vacancies, professional vacancies filled as of March 21, 2025, and the years of experience of new teachers. Miss Rinker shared the celebrations of recruitment efforts and gave a recruitment and retention update. Mrs. Edwards Johnson discussed the FCPS employee benefit highlights to include the care center and Aspire 365. The meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m. Additional details regarding the information covered at the committee meetings are included in the minutes provided to the board members. Are there any questions from board members about information shared at the personnel committee meeting held on March 31st? Mr. Bell, I I just have a comment

108that I'd like to bring up. Absolutely. Regarding this. So, first of all, I want to applaud Mrs. Freley and her team for the amazing recruiting efforts you guys have been doing for the longest time. So, I remember when we kicked off this school year, I think we had 75 vacancies. 74 75, one of those two numbers. Now, we're down to 43 and tonight we just approved a lot of really fantastic people. Um, so we're down to 43. Our attrition rates are lower and that's I attribute that to you and your team. So, thank you for all that great work. [Applause] That That's all I have. Mr. Fel, thank you. Okay, so it says, "Please see the motion sheet in your folder." Well, now I've got to move all the way over here. Boy, where's the

109I don't even know where it is. It's just to approve the minutes. Oh. So, um, Mr. Chair, I would like to make a motion to approve the minutes from the personnel committee held on March 31st, 2025. Second. Have a motion to approve. Has been properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next is the instruction committee meeting. Like a bad penny. Here I go again. All right. A meeting of the instruction committee of the Frederick County School Board was held on March 31st, 2025. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. and a copy of the minutes has been provided to each board member. During the meeting, Mrs. Knight discussed the strate the strategic plan. Dr. Zeiss Zeiss, did I get that right?

110Oh, excellent. Gave an an esports update and Dr. Meyers reviewed the secondary grading coalition. Jameswood High School student and esports team member Paige Litman gave an overview of the esports program and answered board member questions. Dr. Myers then finished her secondary grading coalition presentation and gave final recommendations. Mrs. Walker discussed the elementary grading coalition. Ms. Po Post reported on the Perkins plan and Ms. Kaufman reviewed the special instructional services SIS annual plan. The meeting adjourned at 7:18 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 the board members about information shared at the instruction committee meeting held on March 31st? Mr. Bell. Yes, Dr. Just wanted to say thank you to Dr. Zeiss uh and also to Paige, the

111student who came and spoke uh with us that uh afternoon. I learned more in that committee meeting about these opportunities and pathways um that our kids are having and the amount of scholarship money. And thank God that it's 8:45 because my seven-year-old can't see me on YouTube saying that you can in fact make a living playing video games. Um, so thank you for that presentation because I learned a lot from it. And second, thank you to the teachers who reached out over the past few weeks with emails and phone calls and visits with feedback about the grading plan. Dr. Meyers and her team have had they've done a tremendous job and I came into this process late. It was already well underway when I came in, but I appreciate you, Mr. Bell for for letting

112me be a part of that conversation on your committee. Um and for Dr. Myers for that time that went into it and for how thoughtful she's trying to be um about how that can potentially impact current students. Um there's a lot of a lot of love that goes into this process uh just beyond the the black and white. So thank you. Uh thank you Dr. Erskin. I would like to echo doc Dr. Erskin's comments about esports. If you're not familiar with it, familiarize yourself, especially if you have children. It's an opportunity for your children who may not be sports or athletically inclined to be a part of a sports team and further to go to college on a scholarship through it. There are mountains of money uh with esports. I have to say I was

113pleasantly surprised to hear that as well. So definitely educate yourself about it. It's an excellent program and it's one that I hope we can grow here in Frederick County. With that being said, there's another motion on a motion sheet that I have to find, but I'll just go ahead and say I'd like to make a motion to um approve the minutes of the instruction committee uh report from March or instruction committee meeting from March 31st. Mr. Sorry, there there are a couple motions. Oh, there are you didn't put that in my little paper here. Um let's see. Oh my heavens. All right. Instruction committee. I move the board approve the proposed amendments to policy 316P as presented. Second. It's been um a motion has been made and it's been properly seconded. Any discussion? Can I

114just a point of inquiry? Is the three Did you say 16 316P? Is that the grading policy? Yes. 316P is Yes, sir. Yeah. So if if I may, I know you had some questions about that. So and and Mrs. Knight, please chime in on this. I want to be very clear that this is the changes that was presented to you all in regards to how the grade breakdown takes place in regards to the GPA and how that all is calculated. We are going to not we are going to grandfather those students in until those rising freshmen come so it doesn't impact current students. That's that was my concern. Thank you. So that is correct and that's going we're going to make sure that we do that as well. Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. So thank you

115Dr. Erskin. We'll make sure that was clear. Yes. Any other questions or comments? Would you like me to take over now? No, I'm fine. Is he supposed to do it or am I supposed No, you've got four. You have four motions. Yeah, I have four motions. Yeah. So, it's uh it's been moved and properly seconded. Um any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. I move uh second motion. I move the board approve the proposed amendments to policy 321P as presented. Second. Uh motion's been made and it's been properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Third, I move the board approve the Perkins plan for the 2025 2026 school year as presented. Second. A motion's

116been made and properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next, I move the board approve the special education annual plan for the 2025 2026 school year as presented. Second. Motion's been made and properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Finally, I move the board approve the minutes from the instruction committee meeting held on March 31st, 2025. Second. Second. Motion's been made and properly seconded. Seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. I'm done. You sure? Oh, you forgot a motion. No. Next is the finance budget work session. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Chair, let me just make sure I have I have the finance

117committee report. I want to make sure I have the right. I think that's the same. I think they're one of the same. 2025. That's it. Yeah, that is it. All right. So, the finance committee report from April 3rd, 2025. A budget work session of the finance committee of the Frederick County School Board was held on April 3rd, 2025. The meeting was called to order at 4:31 p.m. and a copy of the minutes have been provided to each board member. During the meeting, Mrs. Anderson gave a fiscal year 2026 budget update. She also reviewed the estimated county revenue for the operating fund and discussed a summary of the operating budget proposal, the fiscal year 2026 operating budget next steps and recommendations to close the shortfall. Mrs. Cybert shared information about additional state funds for the fiscal

118year 2025 to include a bonus payment for instructional and support positions and the recommended employee bonus criteria and Mrs. Anderson reviewed the fiscal year 2025 unobligated operating funds. The meeting adjourned at 4:53 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 the information shared at the finance committee budget work session held on April 3rd, 2025? All right, seeing no discussion, I do have some motions and they have numbers in them. So, I want to make sure I get those correct. Can I have my sheet back? I don't want Miss Jordan to have to call me out again and have to go through amending my motion. It's just, you know, it's it's just a lot.

119Thank you very much. All right, there are three total. So, here we go. I move the board approve the request of the board of supervisors to approve a budget adjustment to the FCPS school operating fund in the amount of 1,480,000 for the provision of an employee bonus payment. Second. Motion has been made. has been properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Mr. Chairman, I I do want to just make a couple of really brief comments here about this bonus. One of the comments that we heard tonight during the the public comment section, and thank you for this uh is a reminder of the things that we need to be doing as a board to uh to recruit and retain great um staff members. I'm thankful that the governor's office and that Governor Ynan has um advocated

120so fiercely for um compensating our teachers better each and every year. Um the money that we are voting on tonight to ask as a pass through from the board of supervisors um is to be able to uh to give those bonuses out to our staff. Um very welldeserved bonuses for the hard work they do. Um this is one of the things that we are trying to do to do right by our by our staff. Great. Thank you Dr. Erskin. Hearing no further discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. I move the board approve the use of fiscal year 2025 unobligated operating funds for modular classrooms at Jameswood Middle School and to contribute to the state retention employee bonus initiative. Second. Motion has been made, properly seconded. Any discussion?

121Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. And finally, I move the board approve the minutes from the finance committee budget work session held on April 3rd, 2025. Second. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Next is buildings and grounds committee meeting, April 7, 2025. All right. A meeting of the building and grounds committee of Frederick County Public Schools was held on April 7th, 2025. The meeting was called to order at 4:35 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. Mr. Kenny gave an update on capital improvements uh projects. Uh Mr. Shepard discussed the

122fourth high school planning and design update. And Mr. Goodwin reviewed the school division uh redistricting process. The meeting adjourned at 5:20 p.m. Additional details regarding committee uh meeting 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 on the uh building and grounds committee meeting held on April 7th? All right, seeing none, I have one motion coming out. I move that the board approve the minutes from the building and grounds committee meeting held on April 7th, 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? Next, we have the HR processes and procedures. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I had some requests for

123our HR office to provide you all with a breakdown of how we handle situations involving staff. So, as you mentioned, Mrs. Vice Chair, I really appreciate you recognizing the great work Mrs. Frankly does in recruitment and retention. And part of that process is we have to establish expectations and we have to hold staff accountable. And there is a process that we have to follow with that. So, we put together a presentation that we want to share with you all and open up to any questions that that you might have. So with that, I'll hand it over to the magnificent Mrs. Frankley. Come on down, please. The neck of intestine on the right. Good evening. You'll have to forgive me. My the seasonal change in seasons has gotten me. Uh so I sound a little froggy.

124Uh but to uh just to piggyback off what Dr. Hummer said, um thank you for the kind words about the the recruitment effort. Um, I will say the team works really hard and that's not just our HR team, that's the schoolboard office team, that's the FCPS team, um, who work really really hard to make this a great place to to want to come to and and be in. So, I I would I would definitely have to say thank you for on their behalf. Um, okay, sorry. Are we ready? Here's what we're going to cover tonight. And so um thank you for the opportunity to talk with you this evening about the sensitive topics um of progressive discipline and administrative leave. And I say sensitive because this is often times some of the hardest work of

125people management. you know, these not are these aren't always um easy conversations and so that is that is hard work and we want to always um in the best interest of our people with kindness and empathy handle each interaction and situation with care and respect. So um furthermore, I want to be sensitive to this conversation specifically and keep it really high level to avoid discussing specific personnel issues because as you know it is imperative that we keep confidential information confidential is best practice which I know at times can be frustrating um for those involved but that is uh best practice for HR. All right. So when we talk about progressive discipline um this is a framework right each situation is given its own um careful consideration. So this is a framework that we do train

126to with our um leadership. So that is assistant principles, assistant directors, directors and principles um through our HR learning series best practices and then of course and through coaching guidance mentoring throughout the year as needed. Um, but it is pretty straightforward. I'm sure you guys have seen some variation or know of some variation of progressive discipline. Uh, meaning we're going to start with a conversation. So, establishing those clear expectations and explicitly communicating, right? Because we know that being clear is kind. You are being kind to someone when you are being explicit so that they fully understand. So, we want to communicate policy and procedure. So, that's coaching, guiding, mentoring. Then we sort of kick it up a notch to a verbal warning, meaning we're going to talk um in a little bit more uh seriousness

127in terms of um being explicit. Again, clearly stating the issue, explaining the expectations, explaining the expected behavior and why it's important that we uh maintain that behavior and maintain those expectations. And then we follow up um you know usually with a casual uh document in terms of that could be like an email, that could be um a note in in your notebook. If if you're like me, I carry around my notebook. I can't go anywhere without it. Um just to sort of memorialize and remember the conversation. Then we have a written warning if we're still seeing the the same issues. Um so this is when the behavior or the issue becomes repeated, right? We're noticing it more. That piece of documentation could look like a letter, a formal letter that's kept in a um a

128school file. So, a school-based file um you know, our our leadership keeps files on their personnel and staff in their building that before it gets to HR or it could be a letter that comes to HR uh in the way of going to what we would call a big personnel file, your master personnel file that we keep um with us here at the schoolboard office. So, you're going to be really clear in that communication. Um, lay it all out. Document uh the way that you know the issues have been communicated and what next steps would be if the behavior continues. Next, we're going to get to a performance improvement plan. So, we're not seeing the behavior improve. Um we want to work towards something more formal because we need to put a framework around um

129some measurable objectives and goals for accomplishing behavior improvement u performance improvement. So this is all clearly communicated and you work with HR uh through this process and we'll get to specifics of the process in a second but just so you see it here in the timeline and then if we get to it um unfortunately sometimes you know these situations don't end in in positive uh progress um and then we have to talk about or consider things like termination. This is all um best practice recommendation from HR if the situation permits it. So I just want to be clear in saying that if we have something that is critical, an emergency, urgent um criminal, anything that rises to a level of um that warrants different action, we're not going to start at step one and work

130towards the the last step here. um this is outside of anything that would be deemed serious or egregious that would need to be uh addressed immediately. So what is important about progressive discipline uh from the HR standpoint in terms of how we make recommendations? It is important best practice because it gives employees the opportunity to address and correct issues become before more serious action is taken and it protects the division by documenting efforts to support and correct employee behavior. And so in HR we work really hard to put forward recommendations that are grounded in best practice and policy to include the utilization of progressive discipline as applicable. So this is um given the situation our first go-to. Okay. So you saw um step four I believe was performance improvement plan or a PIP. A performance

131improvement plan is a document. So it's formalized that aims to help employees who are not meeting job performance goals. So we take the improvement part of that plan really seriously because that is our goal. Um we want to positively impact and see positive progress uh through these plans. And so what we do in putting these together um we are working to cover specific areas of performance deficiencies. So we have to identify those. We identify the skills or training gaps uh that are missing and we set those clear expectations um so that people understand the expectations moving forward. Objectives must be met within a certain time period. They don't go on forever. Uh they get re-evaluated periodically at um agreed upon intervals. Um and so if we aren't meeting those objectives, everybody is clear on what

132happens next. and it could mean employment action up to termination. So our role in HR u regarding a PIP is to work with the employee supervisor to determine whether a PIP is first of all appropriate um help draft the plan which I'll show you a template here in a minute that we use and to provide guidance to both the supervisor and the employee for the duration of the plan. So, we really take um a concerted we make a concerted effort to really work hands-on with our supervisors and the employee to hopefully work towards success. Miss Miss Freley. Yes. Just quick interruption. Absolutely. Um so with the PIP, right? Um I know like students they have different ways of learning, right? um when we issue a PIP, do we support that that individual with maybe a

133coaching mentor? Um obviously you you've covered all the details of uh goals to be met in a timely manner. Um I just kind of wanted to know how how we're providing that coaching um and who does the coaching, right? So great question and in most cases, yes, absolutely. Um, so we have a formal mentoring program and then the leadership, the supervisor essentially the person who is um administering the PIP does work in a coaching and mentoring capacity. That'll be your principles, your assistant principles. Um, and so they're doing that on the regular anyway, but through the PIP it just becomes um much more explicit and um we have measurable outcomes and so they're able to really drill down and refine those coaching conversations and that mentoring to meet these goals and objectives. So a lot

134of times it is the leadership and then with certain staffing groups like our teachers they are part of that larger um mentoring program. Thank you. Great question. So the goal of a PIP is always um like I said in our opinion um to facilitate positive improvement. If we are able we can help support moving off the plan with shown improvement which is why we have those very explicit measurable objectives. Right? It's not open-ended. Um, we work to really get clear on what it means to accomplish said objective so that the employee is clear and our supervisors are clear so that when there is shown improvement, we can say, "Look, here's all of your improvement." Um, or if we do not see the measured improvement that we were hoping for, we are able to move to

135the next phase, which again can include termination. And I will say that in the termination process, as you all are aware, there are different processes for licensed staff versus classified staff. So, it doesn't end here. Um, there are about like 30 more flowcharts that extend off of here with all kinds of state code and FCPS policy that backs that up. So, um, we do have clear direction depending on the role in which, uh, we are moving to term. Miss Frankley, I have a question for you. Uh, just a point of clarification. Um, if a if a staff member is um removed from the performance employ improvement plan, they've successfully accomplished what they were set out to accomplish. Do they start all over again at one or do they go back to a written warning or

136a verbal warning or how does that work? So, that's a really good question and we take that case by case because if we're seeing market improvement over an extended period of time, um, you know, that's more data for us. Um, but if we're off the PIP and say two weeks goes by and there's a little bit of improvement, but then we see some of those behaviors flashback, um, that's data that's going to maybe put us at a different starting place. Um, I will just say it really is case by case, but you know, the objective is to see it to completion. Um, which we don't have to do and and in some cases always do um depending on timelines. Um, but but I would just say it's case by case. Thank you. All right. So,

137any questions about progressive discipline or a plan for improvement? I'll show you a template. So, this is just um a standard template that we put together for our leadership to use when needed. And again, we walk through this with folks. Um we help to develop and create and refine that. Um but ultimately, the people who are in the buildings that are supervising, the folks that need a PIP are the experts. And so, we rely heavily on on them to craft and design these. of course with um our assistant soups depending on which house it's in uh with their input as well. All right, so this is just a small uh section of FCPS policy 537, suspension of staff members. Uh so again, these aren't um typically the most fun conversations uh that we have uh

138certainly um but we do have clear policy and procedure in place when it comes to um having to make these decisions and these decisions are not made in a vacuum without deliberation and consultation with leadership in each and every instance and of course with confidentiality. Uh, admin leave is intended to create separation that allows time for the building or HR to thoroughly investigate a situation. The integrity of the investigation, whether it is formal or informal, is critical for protecting our staff, students, and division. Um, and I just want to note that uh what we were focusing on here for the purpose of tonight is section three. So, administrative leave suspension with pay pending an investigation. And so um again that is not only to allow time to investigate um for the for the sake of

139of the students or staff who might be involved but to create that separation so that we can do that thoroughly and without interruption and to maintain that integrity of the investigation. And I will say that of course we communicate in writing per policy uh in our procedures with all relevant parties. So there are letters generated and folks are informed and they are informed in writing um with as much information as we're allowed to present and and offer given that it is sensitive personnel information. Miss Brickley, could you just clarify one thing especially for the public? um is somebody who is put on administr administrative leave, does that automatically mean they've done something wrong? No. And we um are explicit in our language that we pass to them in writing. Plus, we communicate um very hands-on

140with the folks that are involved, right? This isn't like you're just going to get a random letter in your inbox from me and not know that it's coming. um we have very deliberate and and um uh intentional conversations with people to keep them informed. But no, it does not mean that at all. It simply means that we're creating that separation. And um while it might not feel like it, uh it is in the best interest of all the parties for us to do that to come to resolution um that would then be formalized should it be needed for future documentation or whatever the case might be in the future. But thanks for asking that. Miss Freley, just a follow-up question. If we find ourselves in the unfortunate situation of finding that finding that person who's

141been put on administrative leave with pay guilty of what they have been accused of, it's my understanding that that pay is recouped. Is that correct? So, it depends on the situation. So, if we are looking at the other numbers on here, um things like suspension of employees charged with certain criminal offenses, um number two there, and then obviously four goes into what happens with your benefits and such. But there are situations that we can um work to uh to adjust to leave without pay. So, it just depends on the situation. Excuse me. Are there any questions I can answer for you while I still have a a voice? Oh, thanks. Best boss ever. Any other questions at all? Thank you. No, thank you very much. This uh I think will help answer a lot of

142constituents questions as well and it also helps us articulate it better when constituents come up to us in the grocery store and ask. So, thank you very much. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Franklin. Next up, we have the Athletic School Board Advisory Committee. Yes. So, Mr. Chair, very quickly, I want to thank Mr. Atkins for bringing this forward and for getting support from the board on this. This is something Mrs. Jordan worked on after this was presented and we're very excited to get this rolling out. Of course, we will go ahead if you all approve, we'll post the application process. We'll get some constituents on that committee and then they will be part of the presentation process. So, if there's any questions, more than happy to answer them. And thanks again to Mrs.

143Jordan for putting this together so quickly. So, thank you. Um, do we have a motion on that? Just a couple comments real quick, Mr. Chair. Um, I want to uh say thank you to uh community members who have reached out to me about this. Um, you know, it it's one of the things that uh the community comes up and has a great idea, something that we haven't thought of and um we're happy to enact it because it makes sense, right? Um it's another one of the advisory committees and and it's another way for uh the community to get involved. So, I appreciate all the work that you put in. Um, and uh, thank you to the board for talking this through and and uh, kind of bringing it to fruition. So, thank you. Is there

144a motion on that? Mr. Chair, I move that the board adopt the amendments to FCPS policy 608p advisory program committees as presented. Second. Motion has been made, properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Next is the contract award for Middletown Elementary School Modells. Um, all right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, I was distracted down here. Um, so we have two contract awards. We're going to break them down individually, but I just wanted to mention to the board that typically we bring these through a committee, but due to the timing, because of procurement, sometimes we do have to bring these to the full board for approval so we can move on them because they are timely. So the first one up is the Middletown

145Elementary School modulars. We do have Mr. Shepard and Mr. Kenny here if there are any questions for you all. This was been discussed at previous meetings. Each of these items have been so these shouldn't be a surprise to you all. Um but we do need your approval for the full contract award which is there in front of you. And like I said, we are have staff here available if you have any questions. Mr. Chair, I move that the board approve the contract award to Perry Engineering Company Incorporated for temporary modulars at the Middletown Elementary School in the amount of 547,700,000. Huh? Yep. Not 500 million. 47,700. I'm sorry. Thank you. Gosh, it's been a long night. You are You are I am just spending that money, aren't I? Gosh. Leave some for us. I know.

146I know. I need to go back to Vegas. Mr. Kenny, can you please bring that modell to my house? Yes, it's goldplated. I'm sure. Wow. Woo. Sorry, folks. Getting a little tired up here. So, let me I move I Let me amend my main motion to uh to the correct number of $547,700. Second. Thank you. All right. Motion has been made. Properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? No. And one more motion. No. All right. Let's see if I get this one right this time. Let's see. Mr. Chair, I move that the board approve the contract award to Steuart M. Perry Incorporated for Jameswood High School roadway maintenance plan for Woodside Place and Northern Entrance in the amount of $333,500. Second. Motion has been

147made, properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Or next time we have to just bring this through committee. I know. Oh, exactly. Hearing no further discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed. Next is board member comments. Are there any comments from the board? Mr. Chairman, um very briefly, I just want to thank all of the candidates that came out today to uh apply for the position of the Gainesboro District seat here on our board. I believe we had 11 candidates, which is a wonderful thing to see. Um, I'm very sorry that Frank can no longer serve with us. Um, I enjoyed his company. I enjoyed talking with him. Um, he will be missed for sure, but I'm heartened by the number of people that came out to express their desire to

148serve. Um, and so, thank you very much. We have a very challenging decision to make over the next week. Um, and I'm looking forward to talking with all of you about that. And, uh, that's really all I have to say for tonight. All right. Um, Mr. Chair, uh, so I want to, uh, recognize the, uh, students that were, uh, up here getting awards earlier. Uh, great job academically for everything that you've done. Um, it goes a long way to, uh, show how the, uh, teachers here at FCPS have have prepared you and your parents have prepared you. So, I shout out to them as well. Um, I want to uh congratulate or welcome our three new uh staff members. Um, I appreciate you joining the team. Thank you for being here. Um, uh, Miss Anderson,

149thank you for the budget. I know it kind of got hacked up there at the end, but I you put a lot of work into it and, um, um, you know, you and your team. So, thank you. U, I I really appreciate. and I know everybody up here does as well. Um Frank's going to be missed. Um he's been my buddy since uh before I was on the board, before he was on the board. Um I'm going to miss him. Um I just hope he uh he gets better and uh moves on with uh with whatever he wants to do in life. Wish him all the best. Um but to echo what uh Mr. Vel said we had 11 people show up for this seat which is amazing. The community involvement for that district is

150just amazing. I I hats off to everybody who showed up who came uh for the interviews. I know it's it's not easy stand up here and because there was 11 of them, we only had two questions for everybody. So I I know it isn't the uh the interview that everybody kind of wanted um us included, but for time sake we we had to keep it short. Um, with that in mind, out of the 11 people, there's going to be 10 broken hearts. But, um, I would encourage everybody to run, you know, and, um, and and see how how you pan out in the election. Um, I know that, man, that would be a crazy race. 10 10 or 11 people. Um, so yeah, thank you for uh showing up and and getting involved with the

151community and the schools. really appreciate that. Um, it looks like you guys did better than Redbud District did. Uh, I think we had four show up uh when Ellen left, but we got a good one. So, uh, thank you. And that's all I've got. Mr. Chair, I want to add something that um that we've been getting a good bit of feedback. I know I have and I know a couple of my my peers have. something that we see a lot of in community comment both here at board meetings as well as on social media and in the paper and all of the other places um where people are sharing opinions. One of the most common things um and and I've come to understand this more having been on the board now for almost a year

152that um people say well you're not doing anything about fill in the blank. And I want to address that for a second because there are a lot of things that I would love to be able to talk about sitting up here. Sometimes it's personnel, sometimes it's a student situation, sometimes it could be um something going in a particular community. There are just a lot of things that we are not either by law or by policy allowed to comment on. not because we don't want to, not because we don't care or because we don't value that topic or value those opinions, but we're barred from it. Um, as a matter of protection for whoever's involved. And the best way I can liken it is for any of you in your daytime job, imagine somebody getting on

153a microphone on YouTube and and sharing your personnel matters with, you know, all of the people watching. In much the same way, we wouldn't want to do that. we wouldn't want that done with us. We we can't do that in the school system. I always appreciate people emailing me and calling and be like, "Hey, Brian, can you look into this or what's going on with that?" I don't ignore any of them. And I think anybody who's here, who's written or called me knows that I don't ignore any of them. Um, but please understand that there are a lot of times where we do have opinions we can't share. Um, but please don't stop sharing the concerns with us. The families who were here tonight, my heart hurts. Um, and yet again, there are things that

154are that are sensitive enough that the best I can do is tell you that my that my heart hurts. Um, but but thank you for those who did show up and for um listening to that little soapbox moment of mine. No sir, I am good. I've messed up enough numbers tonight, so I'll I'll leave at that. Uh, we have one announcement. The next school board meeting is May 20th, 2025. May I have a motion to adjurnn? Mr. Chair, I move that we adjourn the meeting. Second. Motion has been made, properly seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed?