February 11 School Board Meeting - Part 2 - Buckingham County Public Schools

001We're live. >> We're returning from close session. We 3.02 certificate of action taken. Oh, wait a minute. I'm sorry. Uh return returning from closed session. Somebody >> Madam Chair, I certify that to the best of our knowledge. Only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion to go into executive session were heard, discussed or considered in executive session. >> Second. >> A motion was made by Mrs. Morris and second by Mr. Goodman to return from close session. A roll call vote. Mr. Christian. >> I. We are back in session now. It's 3.02. Certificate of action taken in close session. >> Madam Chair, I recommend we we accept the presentation of personal agenda as presented. >> Second. >> A motion's been made by

002Mr. Snide and second by Mrs. Morris to approve the personnel agenda as presented. Are there any questions? All in favor, please raise your hand. Mr. Christian >> I. >> That is unanimous. The motion carries. >> Madam chair, I move that we accept a staff recommendation on student as presented. >> Second. >> A motion was made by Mr. Snotty and second by Mr. Goodman to accept staff recommen staff's recommendation on student 2026 02111. Any questions? All in favor, please raise your hand. Mr. Christian >> I. That is unanimous. Motion carries. 3.03. Opening of the regular session. It is the custom of the Buckingham County School Board to open each meeting with a pledge of allegiance to the United States flag and a moment of silence. Although we do a prayer here, if anyone is offended by

003either of these, it is suggested that they wait until one minute after the beginning of the meeting to enter. Please note any person may photograph, film, record, or otherwise reproduce any portion of an open meeting. And that's the schoolboard policy BDA code of Virginia 2.2-3707. Please stand for prayer. Lord, we just uh just thank you for the community, Father. And I just pray right now that you that you will give us the wisdom and the ability to to do what is the best for our school, for our children, Father. Lord, I also pray for the parents of the kids, Lord, that you will bless them and give them wisdom. And Lord, that you will bring this community closer together, Father, and not apart. And I ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. I aliance to

004the 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. >> You may be seated. >> 3.04 adoption of the agenda. >> Madam chair, I move to adopt the agenda as presented. >> Second. A motion was made by Mrs. Morris and second by Mr. Snotty to adopt the agenda as presented. Are there any questions on the motion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Mr. Christian >> I. >> That's unanimous. The motion carries. That leads us to recognitions and presentations. 4.01 senior of the month. Good evening. It is my pleasure to announce our February senior of the month is Jeremiah Lee. Jeremiah is the son of Alicia Johnson and Jeremiah Lee Senior. He has a GPA of 3.52.

005He is currently taking business management, cosmetology, and ballroom dancing dual enrollment classes. He has maintained academic excellence and a consistent record on the honor role. He is a member of the FBLA and has earned third place and impromptu speaking. He is also an active participant in Project Discovery. Jeremiah is a dedicated member of his church choir, sometimes providing musical leadership during weekly services and special religious ceremonies. He participates in seasonal caroling events to support holiday community outreach, faith-based volunteerism, and Salvation Army food drives. Jeremiah enjoys listening to music, performing, dancing, gaming, writing, sleeping, and history. His favorite memory at Buckingham County High School is doing just dance on days that he and his friends finish work early or are about to be on a break. Upon graduation, he plans to attend Randolph Min College to

006pursue to pursue a degree within the performing arts or education sectors. Please congratulate Jeremiah Lee. And Jeremiah, would you please come forward? Congratulations. Family members that are here to support Jeremiah, please come forward for a photo as well. Congratulations once again >> Jeremiah. >> We want to congratulate you too. >> Thank you guys. >> Congratulations. >> Great job. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. 4.02 Employee Service Awards. Good evening. Um, once again, I get to stand up here and do fun stuff. I get to do all the good stuff the last couple meetings. Um, tonight we're going to honor some very valuable employees who have hit a milestone in their career. I mean, when I say milestone, I'm talking about 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and so forth and so on. As you

007probably know by now, time is probably the greatest resource that you can give of yourself. You can't get it back. There are no redoss. And the fact that these folks have chose to spend their time with Buckingham County Public Schools makes me proud. and thankful. So, thank you all for your service and we're gonna get started. Um, the way it's going to be done, I'm going to call all the five-year people up. If you'll pause, Miss Haynes will take a picture and then we'll proceed to the next group. Okay. All right. So, our first employee we have is Miss Candace D. Britney Hayden Miller, >> Ralph Jones, Dborah Jones, Aaron Lake, Haley McCoy, Cara Perkins, Robin Raglin, Patricia Steinrock, Heather Sumner, Olivia Surface, and Alexander Witcher. Congratulations to all our five years. >> Okay. Okay.

008Recognizing 10 years of service. Miss Kelly Oavdo, Carolyn Colbert, Lisa Coleman. WHITNEY GATES, Diane Gilland, DEBORAH GRAVES and Miss Patricia Worm. Congratulations to all our tenure recipients. 15 years. Miss Denise BRYANT Courtney Gunner, Mary Maddox, DARLA PARKER. AND MISS REBECCA SCHWARFGER. Congratulations to all our 10 year, excuse me, 15 year recipients 20 years. Miss Jennifer Bruo, Miss Rachel Allen, Tana BS, Terry Edwards, Zayn Harshman, Thanks, >> Kristen Morris. Heather Paige, >> Kimberly Paige, Big round of applause for our 20-year recipients. >> 25 years. Mr. ETHAN ABRU >> Sandra Davis. Congratulations, >> Jennifer Graasier. and Mrs. Faith Jones. >> Congratulations to all our 25-y YEAR RECIPIENTS. WHEN Y'ALL TAKE your pictures, turn around and come around to us, okay? So we can shake your hands. >> 25 years, I guess. >> Congratulations. Congratulations. >> And now

009for our 30-year recipients, Miss Brenda Carter. Come on down. She was a debate. >> That's right. Mr. RUSS GOEN and Miss Wendy Oliver. Huge round of applause for our 30-year recipient. Y'all come over here, too. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations to all of tonight's recipients. Again, like I said before, your time is valuable and I appreciate you choosing to spend it with us. Thank you. That leads us to 4.03 recognition schoolboard appreciation month and schoolboard clerk week. Okay. Um so the VSBA has designated February 2026 as schoolboard appreciation month. And so they're asking us to join them uh this month to honor the dedication of over 800 schoolboard members in Virginia during this month. The theme from strong roots come endless possibilities highlights the vital role that schoolboard members play in planting the seeds for

010students success ensuring that every student has the resources needed to grow, thrive, and reach their full potential. This month-long observance is an opportunity for local school divisions and communities to build a stronger understanding of the crucial role that school boards assume in a representative democracy. School boards voluntarily tackle the enormous job of governing multi-million dollar public school divisions while preserving the core of of our democratic values. So, please join me in congratulating and and recognizing our school board this evening. We do have each of our principles that will come forward to share um some tokens of appreciation from their individual schools and we also have certificates of appreciation for you as well. So we'll start with the uh primary school and and work our way up from the principles. appreciate you. >> All right. Good

011evening. >> So, >> on behalf of the staff and students at Buckingham Preschool, this evening, you will each be getting a rock. Okay? And on the back, it's personalized for you. And I'm going to read what it says. So, it's going to it's dated. It has your name and it says, "In honor of Schoolboard Appreciation Month, our students and staff want to thank you for all that you do. We truly appreciate your support of Buckingham Preschool. Because of you, our little knights are able to play, grow, and prepare for success in kindergarten. We can't thank you enough. So, when you come out to see us, in front of our school, if you haven't seen it, is a kindness rock garden. Its purpose is to help us remember those who are kind to us and who

012have helped us along the way. We created it last year as a way to honor special people, Black History Month, and Virginia Kindness Week. So, you are definitely special to us and to say thank you for all the love that you have shown us. Our preschoolers have painted a rock all by themselves in your honor. We hope that when you visit us that you'll see your special rock and be reminded of how much you mean to us. You absolutely rock and we appreciate all that you do. So, thank you so much. And you'll see that each one has a picture of your personalized rock. So when you stop by to see us, check it out out front and we hope you enjoy it. And this is just a little momento to take home today. So

013thank you all so very much. >> Thank you. >> I know. I want >> Good evening. >> Tonight's fabulous backdrop for our recorded meeting has been provided by our students and staff at the primary school. and we send our love and we say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that you do for our school and for helping us to have a great place to work, learn, and play. So, please make sure that you check out um our hearts as you leave today. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening from behalf of our Buckingham Elementary School staff and students. We wanted to present to you guys a gift. Inside of here, you'll find that you have gratitude jars. Um because we are very grateful for everything that you do. Um, so there's

014a label on there that says that sometimes decisions are hard to make and it's really a tough position that you guys are in. Um, and so we are very grateful and there's little slips of paper from the students that you can just pull out and remind yourselves of your why. Um, and know that we are very grateful for you. And there's also a slate coaster that was uh custom made. Okay. Thank you again. >> Thank you. >> Oh, thank you. >> Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Sher. >> I want a green bag. >> Thank you. Thanks, guys. probably. >> Thank you guys. Appreciate it. >> Oh, thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> We'll save it for him. >> You can set up his spot. Thank you. >> That is so cute. >> You're

015so cute. >> So, tonight we have uh two different things. One uh Mr. Williams and our Knights Power like STEM club made uh 3D printing. Uh each is specialized for you and has your name on it. And our National Junior Honor Society also put together a little goodie bag. Um it's kind of coffee um scenario. So what it says is thanks a latte for all that you do. So I hope you enjoy it. don't like latte. Dr. Harris likes latte a lot. >> I like so cute. >> Thanks for >> Thank you. Very cool. >> Thanks a lot. >> Love it. Thank you so much. >> Cute. >> Oh yeah. Thank you, sir. >> Mr. Chris. >> Nice. >> Hey, thank you very much. >> Say it. I'll put it right there. >> Put it

016right in front of the camera. >> Thank you. >> Oh, cool. Got my name on it. Nice. >> Is this a chocolate knife? >> Full of fire. >> Oh yeah. This is Bryant. I was going to say that's my bite. >> You don't know my name. >> That's pretty cool. 3D printing. I'm going to put that up on the shelf with my bone dogs. Good afternoon. Um, so on behalf of Buckham County High School, we do have a little token of appreciation for you guys to say thank you for your heart, your vision, the commitment to our schools and also your appreciation for all you do for our community and our staff and students. So, I have a card here for all you guys. And we also, my advent team kind of feel bad and

017and my staff feel bad that you guys came to us. We couldn't feed you guys. So, I have something for you guys. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Does he try to look around? >> We block you. >> Okay, cool. >> He's over there bobbing. >> Thank you, Mr. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. >> I have Go ahead. >> And this evening I have certificates from the VSBA for each of our board members. >> Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. This evening, we'd also like to recognize our senior students that serve as board student liaison on our board. Miss Micah Clark Reed and Miss Lily Jones. Sorry. >> Pull it up here. I'd like to read this declaration uh for the Virginia

018School Boards Association. School Board Clerk Appreciation Week is next week, February 16th through 20th. Whereas schoolboard clerks in each locality throughout our great Commonwealth are appointed by law to fulfill their duties and responsibilities. And whereas schoolboard clerks are responsible for keeping accurate records of the meetings and proceedings of the school board, a record of all receipts and dispersements, and a record of all official acts. And whereas schoolboard clerks perform such duties in connection with the school business of his or her county or city as may be required by the school board. And whereas schoolboard clerks maintain frequent contact with the public, including parents, employees, and the media on behalf of the school board and superintendent. And whereas schoolboard clerks in the performance of their duties are often required to work extra hours attending schoolboard meetings.

019And whereas schoolboard clerks help to ensure students achieve their highest potential and provide an invaluable service for schoolboard members and superintendent. And now, therefore, the VSBA board of directors does hereby recognize February 16 through 20th, 2026 as schoolboard clerk appreciation week in the Commonwealth of Virginia. And we would like to recognize Miss Wendy Oliver, our schoolboard clerk, and Miss Kenneth St, our deputy clerk. Hey, wait up. Wait up. We the school board also has something for them as well. >> Have some flowers for both of them. And you since you're part of our school board in a way, so we thought we'd give you all some flowers. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> No comment. Congratulations everyone. >> Thank you. Thank you all for the wonderful gifts and recognition. And I really want

020to thank our uh board clerks because they really help us out a lot. Um and then I think this month is also school bus driver weeks, van drivers, car drivers. It's love the bus month. And so we recognized um I recognized our um all of our bus drivers and car drivers um and transportation workers in my nightly news this past week. They did a tremendous job getting our students to and from school safely uh this past week, especially Friday afternoon where it was certainly tricky um especially towards the towards Cumberland area of Buckingham, but they did an amazing job and we're so very proud of them. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Um 5.01 public comment. Anyone who wishes to speak uh or address the school board must state their name and address and limit their

021comments to three minutes. Speakers must refrain from referring to employees by name. The school board will not entertain comments regarding any pending student discipline or employee grievance matters. The appropriate forum for such matters is the applicable administrative hearing provided by state law or were appropriate a court proceeding. This is a time for comments only. Board members do not respond to the comments made. Questions should be submitted to the school board in writing and will be given to the appropriate person to answer as soon as possible. Do we have anyone signed up? >> No one signed up. >> Okay. Public comment is closed. Then that leads us to 6.01. Approval of the consent agenda. And we do need to make some corrections. Um, if anyone would like to do that, please. >> Madam Chair, I make

022a a recommendation that we do all of the consent agenda except for the changes we we had to the uh invoices and accounts uh and also the uh religious exemption request >> document >> and the facility use request. Indeed. So, we're going to we're going to approve everything but 6.03, 6.06, and 6.09 for now. Um, one um, we need a second. >> Second. >> A motion was made by Mr. Snotty and second by Mr. Goodman um to approve the consent agenda as amended. Uh, any questions? All those in favor of those, please uh, raise your hand. Mr. Christian. >> Hi. >> That's unanimous. Now to 6.02. Sorry. >> No, I'm sorry. 6.03. >> No, >> that was the invoices. >> Yes. So I would say >> Madam Chair, I re I recommend we approve um

023the invoices as submitted with the changes made um for invoices paid to Honeywell um for the issues that were corrected down on Route 20. >> Second. >> A motion's been made by Mr. Christian and second by Mr. to amend the invoices as presented by Honeywell. Any questions on the motion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Mr. Christian >> I. >> That's unanimous. Motion carries for 6.03. Now we need to uh 6.06. Madam chair, I make a motion to approve facilities use request as presented or was it amended? >> Or amended for the waiver um >> for the lady's auxiliary. >> Second. >> A motion's been made by Mr. Goodman and second by Mr. to approve the facility use request with the exception I mean I'm sorry yeah facility use request but wave the

024use of the auditorium by the lady's auxiliary for Miss Buckingham Pageant >> uh any questions on the motion all those in favor please raise your hand wave the wave fee wave the fee I'm sorry >> wave the fee >> yes >> Mr. Christian >> I >> that's unanimous. The motion carries and 6.09. >> Madam chair, I just move that we uh delay this action until the board has had an opportunity to review the uh religious exemption policies and uh information provided by the I believe it's the home education association of Virginia prior to making a decision. >> Second. >> A motion's been made by Mr. Snotty and second by Mr. Goodman to delay the the approval of the religious exemptions request at this time. Any questions on the motion? All those in favor, please raise

025your hand. Mr. Christian >> I. >> That's unanimous. The motion carries. Um 7.01 student liaison report. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you for having me. Um I have our schoolboard report for this month. Um FFA is in the process of selling their strawberries. Sales will run through the 20th of February. They are also doing candy bouquets for Valentine's Day. Um FFA will also be celebrating FFA week coming up shortly and they will also be hosting an FFA alumni night on February 23rd. The VSCA advisory meeting was held this past Saturday. Both the high school and middle school representatives were in attendance. Um, there will be a Black History Month program at the high school gym on February 18th at 8:30 a.m. SCA is preparing for their annual state convention in March. Billy Jones is running

026for VSCA state president and Harmonyman is running for the VSCA region 8 high school representative. SCA also has its monthly meeting February Friday, February 13th at 2:30 in the auditorium. Club Day will be the 4th February of the fourth Friday of February. Skills USA spirit week is also this week. Um this is also kindness week at the high school and students and staff are being recognized for acts of kindness. The high school is having their winter dance on Friday, February 20th from 7 to 9:00 p.m. All proceeds will go towards senior fundraising. SCA will will be providing light refreshments and helping set up for the dance. The senior class just finished their doughnut fundraiser and FFA will be delivering their Valentine gifts from the fundraiser on Friday, February 13th. FBLA is doing a fundraiser to

027raise money for regionals. Their fundraiser will be this Friday. A combination of students and teachers will be volunteering to get pied in the face. FLA is also preparing for regionals right now. Testing will take place next week and we're wishing good luck for all the students testing. HOSA is also in the process of preparing for state competitions. They will compete in Rowanoke, Virginia and we're also wishing good luck for them. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> 7.02 CGW Carter G. Woodson complex unification presentation. >> Okay. This evening, we would like to share with you some considerations for a possible unification of Buckingham Primary and Buckingham Elementary Schools. Uh this presentation is in response to a request from the school board last month that we conduct research and present findings to the school board. Over the

028last month, we have met with directors, Miss Candace Da, and both principles, Mrs. Bryant and Mrs. Morris. Various directors have in have contacted the Virginia Department of Education for further guidance and information that we will share with you this evening. First, in examining the why behind a possible unification of the schools, we believe that unifying the two buildings removes a transition for students, would increase consistency of practice with regards to discipline, instruction, and student expectation. A possible unification would also lead to a more efficient use of staff and resources. We would like to start off by reminding you that all Buckingham schools currently meet the Virginia Department of Education expectations for both student performance and growth. Our school division presently operates from a position of strength, not weakness. We are not faced with having to

029make drastic changes as part of mandated school improvement based on our accreditation rating. We have a responsibility to protect that which is working well while also exploring new opportunities for continuous improvement and excellence overall. Dr. The ring staff will now will now share with you information regarding potential instructional benefits, consistent PRA, pro processes and procedures, benefits, student benefits and transition. >> Good evening board. The instructional benefits are simplified into coherence, early literacy, numeracy, and behavior expectations stairst step rather than reset after three years. Instructional continuity for teachers means better vertical alignment between grades two and three. Improved educational experience. Removing a transition removes having to relearn how school works for students. A unified school can develop a single identity and set of expectations around behavior, family engagement, and instructional priorities. Parents stop feeling like they're

030enrolling in a whole new institution and trust can compound instead of having to be reearned in third grade. Continue on continuing on to consistent processes and procedures benefits professional learning community or PLC structures shared PLC protocols observation tools and feedback cycles help teachers grow with a common frame of reference. Just as an example that's not on the slide, we as I told you last month, we received the CLSD grant and we've contracted with the new teacher project. They are running two different professional developments, one with each school, whereas you know in this situation they could run one with one building. Family communication norms, consistent expectations for newsletters, grading updates, conferences, digital platforms, reduce confusion and parent anxiety. Student support and referral pathways, processes for council referrals, attend attendance interventions, gifted identification, and special education concerns

031work better when they're unified. Classroom management routines, common signals, transitions, hallway expectations, and independent work norms make the student feel calmer and more intentional. Younger students grow into routines older students already own them. Less time teaching procedures and more time teaching content. Just this morning is another example. In our VTSS or Virginia tier systems of support meeting, uh we spent a lot of time about common expectations and consistency and learning the language of ETSS and and with this unification you could reduce the inconsistencies among buildings with with one common language. Student benefits. Stronger alignment of tier one instruction, earlier interventions, consistent expectations for K through five grade levels, vertical alignment can strengthen teaching and learning, shared resources, and continuity of data analysis. The transition of moving from second to third grade can create stress for

032children and adults. And our data, this is not on the slide, but our data reflects from a discipline standpoint that the third grade is our leader among those K through five grade levels. And and we suspect it's because of the transition from second to third grade and having to learn new expectations. Students may feel uncertain. Adults may feel anxious with the transition. Buckingham County Public Schools may need to increase school counselor access, provide classroom guidance lessons, offer mental health support, offer listening day sessions, offer professional development and access to services. An additional potential benefit with a unification of the complex is an enhanced efficiency of resources. School administration could be streamlined across a K5 continuum as opposed to isolated school leadership among kindergarten through 2 grade and third grade through fifth grade. Other potential areas

033for unification in terms of operational management across kindergarten through fifth grade include bookkeeping duties, secretarial duties, student attendance, substitute coverage, and parent contacts. There are likely other areas that could potentially be streamlined. This is not an exhaustive list. We also investigated office staffing models in a few neighboring K5 elementary schools as a comparison to our complex which included Cumberland County Elementary School, Prince Edward County Elementary School, and Amelia County Elementary School. The chart provides information regarding each school's total student enrollment based on last year's BDOE school quality profile as well as the number of grade levels served in each school, the number of full-time office support personnel, the number of full-time clinic support personnel, and the number of assistant principles. If you look at the total office support and clinic support of Buckingham Primary and

034Elementary Schools when compared to say Ameilia County elementary school, uh the student enrollment number among the schools is similar but the staffing includes additional personnel. We also examined current facility and safety implications of the complex as part of our research. We have several considerations, many of which are already in place. It is suggested that we continue with one main entry point during the morning student drop off whereby students would go through the open gate set up on the elementary side. It is suggested that we continue to have office staff on each side of the complex to address parent phone calls and student needs. We would need to continue with two sets of safety inspections, two sets of fire extinguisher inspections, and two sets of sprinkler inspections. It is noted that most of our outside vendors

035consider the Carter G. Woodson complex as one large facility. It already has one fire and one burglar alarm account, which would continue as such. There is however one major safety concern that we would like to address with you this evening. The open campus layout on the downstairs between the two buildings is a current and future safety implication. We recommend that the school division enclose the first floor walkthrough between the two buildings. Presently, the primary students move to the cafeteria through exiting the primary school and entering the elementary school. If we were to create a K5 encore schedule, there might be additional times throughout the school day where students would travel between the two buildings. Updated quotes would be needed to determine the exact cost of enclosing the first floor walkway. This capital improvement project would

036be something we might want to consider including as part of our school division's comprehensive plan. Mr. Heslip can share additional information with you if you have questions regarding enclosing the first floor walkthrough between the two schools. We also want to make you aware of grant funding implications. If there were to be a unification of the two schools for title one federal grant funding, there would be no funding implications because funding is based on student pupil count. for title four part B and the 21st century afterchool programming. We currently receive two separate grants, one for the primary school and one for the elementary school with a maximum of $250,000 each per school for a total of $500,000. If we unify the two schools, we would only be able to request for one school with a maximum

037of $250,000 total. This would reduce the number of students that we could potentially serve in our afterchool program. We currently serve approximately 100 students per school. We could potentially combine some programs to increase student teacher ratios for the afterchool program. This would mean that we would have to make adjustments and the afterchool program at the complex might look different than it does now. For example, currently we have two site coordinators and two assistant site coordinators. This could be reduced to one site coordinator and one assistant site coordinator. With regards to state grants, the Virginia Public School Authority or VPSA funding would receive a reduction in approximately $26,000 every year moving forward if the two schools are unified into one school. In addition, the comprehensive literacy state development or CLSD grant is based on a per

038site allocation, not a per pupil allocation. So funding through this grant would decrease. As a reminder, we recently received $110,000 for the elementary school and we received $129,920 for the primary school. This money in this this in in this grant is to support contracted services and professional learning for teachers. With regards to data and state reporting implications, keeping the same school name and school number, for example, Buckingham County Elementary School would be a seamless transition for the Virginia Department of Education. However, there would be a cost of approximately $14,000 as a one-time internet charge for changing the primary school name and its physical address. So, this evening, we hope that we have shared a comprehensive view of considerations uh for a possible unification of Buckingham Primary and Bucking and Buckingham Elementary Schools. While there are

039many potential benefits for students and enhanced efficiency of resources, there are a few drawbacks to consider such as the open walkth through on the first floor and the potential loss and some grant revenue that we would need to plan and budget for. Our directors as well as Mrs. Bryan and Mrs. Morris are here this evening and are available to help answer any specific questions that you might have. >> Madam Chair, I have a couple of questions. Go ahead. Um >> uh first is it possible that we could continue to classify the schools as two distinct entities but operationally uh treat them as one and still be able to see the savings and the alignment of the curriculum all at the same time? That's one. And do we know what the duration of the CCL grant

040is? I mean, is that something that's ongoing or does it have a termination date? Okay. Um so I will say that um in terms of um VDOE reporting and the requirements for the standards of quality each school separate school must have is required by law to have a 1.0 FTE principal assigned to each school. So we would have to continue with two principles if if we were to you know cla continue to classify the two schools as separate entities. Um that's the first part of your question. Um certainly we can work to unify um streamline unify and streamline procedures, processes, expectations across the board. That can that is something that we can certainly work on. Um with regards to the CLSD grant, I'm going to I'm going to ask Miss Haynes and Dr. Ringstat to

041please come forward to share specifics regarding how long we received this funding and the specifics of that grant. >> The termination for the CLC grant is September 30. of this year. >> It's a yearly application, so we would reapply. >> Okay. >> So, how much money are we currently getting for that particular one? Do you know? >> 110,000 for the elementary and 129,000 for the other school. >> I'm sorry. Thank you. >> We are not currently paying any um staff members with this grant. Is that correct? We're We're in >> Is there Are we going to um I'm sure we're going to go ahead and apply for the same type of grant again. >> We're always applying for grants. >> It is. Yeah, I can answer that. It is It is our Yeah. So, we

042will always apply for every uh state grant that comes down um the pike and most federal grants assuming that there's not an astronomical local match required that would be detrimental to the school division financially. But yes, we will seek all grant funds that we can that we absolutely can. >> It's like going to college. You put in for everything you can. >> So, the the buses are paid through the grant, correct? Oh, for the after school program. Yes, correct. We pay for that through the 21st century, but that would continue as planned. Now, we would have to budget for that within the new application, >> right? Okay. >> Yes, >> Madam Chair, if I may go. >> So, now, Dr. Ringstaff, one of the things that I heard you say over and over again is

043consistency, consistency, consistency. Now, how does that what bearing does that have with what you've said with regard to some of the disciplinary issues? I know you mentioned a little bit and it was kind of a conclusion that uh some of the discipline issues that we may have had were related to um and I don't want to put words in your mouth but kind of go into how this process uh the plan that we have through this process in order to help some of those disciplinary issues. >> Sure. It to to use an analogy would be like uh being in a platoon and you had two commanding officers. So when you have two principles, you really want um when you when you when you scale back to one principal with setting the expectations schoolwide and you

044have your teacher leaders and your teachers coming together to form committees and and giving feedback about how things should be run, you really do that as a as a full team with with one leader. And so, uh, just to use Virginia tiered systems of support and and our positive behavior language, um, I used the analogy in the meeting this morning of, uh, at you know, sometimes you have to define like for an example, the tardy. One teacher may consider a tardy as when the student enters the classroom after the bell and another teacher might have an expectation of that student needs to be seated when that bell rings. And so when you talk about defining behaviors and what are expectations and what are we going to you know positively support and praise and expect then

045when you have one leader of that platoon or or one leader of that school then they set that expectation and those teachers buy into that. >> Okay. Now, with regard to um some of our special needs students, um how is how is that going to affect it in terms of some of the resource allocation or I I know you mentioned a few things, but how how will that >> So, we'll ask Miss Graasier to please come forward to talk about uh special education resource allocation amongst K5. >> So, it would be uh shared resources. Um, one thing that we are looking at is a continuum of service. Um, which would mean that there would be um, versus an inclusion model and a self-contained model, there would be what's called a continuum where students have access

046K5 to uh, what we consider resource teachers to receive uh, extra supports um, and having that staff there um, without having to hire additional staff to provide those supports. um is beneficial in a unified model versus two separate because you have in two separate buildings you would have one merged together um and just share those resources. >> Yeah. Because I mean historically from what I gather there's been issues amongst the schools between the schools of not tracking progress or issues or the records not making it appropriately across the the schools individual schools. So, I'm hopeful that that this will help with that because I know we've had between the middle school and the high school because I've heard of some of those instances, but I would imagine this would help a a little bit with

047those two schools being separate, you know, going going forward, moving together. But, um, my opinion, >> so in the loss of the the grant, a half of the grant money, you know, whichever we get, um, how are we going to offset that? We did I understand you correctly that we would limit the after school activities which it where that money is being allocated now. >> I'm sorry I I couldn't hear >> with with the grant with the grant money he's talking about. May I >> Yes. >> Uh with with the grant money he's talking about for the after school programs. How are we going to minimize the impact to financial piece of that with with with a 100 students per school and losing out some of that grant money? How are we going to mitigate

048those those financial issues? Miss Haynes will will speak to that. >> I will say that currently the way we're operating, we tend to have an overage of funds, the way we operate our current programming. Um, and so we would just skim down on possibly what resources we would use. We could still have possibly the same number of staff. We may have to reduce it and have an increased number of students to teacher ratio so that we could still offer the program to as many students as possible. It might change what types of programs we offer depending on the cost to those programs. like we offer some cooking classes now um and that is one that's a recurring cost whereas some things might not be consumable and we could continue to offer those programs. So it

049would just be you know examining that and seeing how we could continue to offer to the as many students as possible. >> Does that answer okay >> any other questions? >> I think this is question. >> Sure. Go ahead. Uh what is what is the concern about uh closing in the the link on the bottom? Is that a safety concern, security concern? >> Yes, it's it's an open campus model. I mean, every primary student travels through that walkway >> um to the cafeteria. Now, they don't have to. They can go upstairs, then go across the the enclosed area near the library, and then go back down the stairs. Um that's a little time prohibitive. Um, but it is it is a solution, a workaround by not having to walk across. But I'd like to defer,

050you know, additional information to both Miss Brian and Mr. Hessup who would like to speak to the enclosed um walkway. If you have a comment to share, >> if I may, this has been on both the safety and the facilities committees since this board took over, if not before. Yeah. And it's been a topic of concern across the board. But I think at the end of the day when we racked stack priorities we just didn't have the the finances to mitigate that piece of it. >> That is correct. A lot of uh thought has gone into this in the past through the facilities committee and um at one point at one point in time we were getting ready to possibly take it to a feasibility uh study with our outside architect but then budget put

051us back on that. Um, and the original design of VMDO, the green school, was that students will get in more steps going up the stairs on one side, across the bridge, and look at the look at the nice view. This was a a little bit of a a step back in time to 20134 when they when they designed this. So, it was a different idea then. And they would go down the other side and get their steps in. But actual wear patterns, if you want to learn where to put sidewalks, you just watch where people walk. they go straight across. Uh it's more functional for them and that's that's their pattern. Um and so the conversation was what would it cost to close that in? And I have some rough numbers, but again those quotes

052would have to be looked at um and updated. So I can give you the old number if you want it, but the new one would be probably higher, which most most things are. >> Well, I think it'd be a good reference if you do have that. >> I do. It's um I had a placeholder at 60,000. Um, now that gives us a glass enclosure across substantial that is all the way to the top and the bottom. Again, this was a in my estimation sort of a band-aid approach. We were trying to put together something to keep them out of the elements as best we could. It wouldn't be HVAC. It would be panicked panic bar on both sides. Uh, appropriate for safety. You could see through it at that time. We were looking into that.

053So, that gives you a placeholder of of where we were at. And again, the facilities committee helps me to make sure that we have the right flavor, the right look, and um make sure we're on the right path as far as the look of it for the building. Um so that's kind of what we came up with and that's where we left it. Um so that that's the work that's been done up until now. >> My opinion is is uh since we're I think we're trying to move forward on this right starting next year. Is that is that the game plan for the complex? >> Um we've >> I know it's for information on this. >> We would have to >> Yes. I mean we we could potentially do that. Yes. And or we could

054um take a look at it from a chip away model, meaning that we continue to try to um streamline our our efficient re efficiency with our resources over time. And we could accomplish we could we could go either way. We could do a full-blown unification for next school year or we could look at it from a standpoint of we're going to unify what we can and we're going to continue over next couple of years. >> So, are we looking for a decision next month or we looking for a decision when from the board? >> Well, I don't I don't think it would be appropriate for us to ask for one tonight, but maybe maybe next month. I mean, we have not surveyed um staff members. If you would want us to do that, we have

055not done that yet. We have not surveyed community members. If you'd like us to do that, we can certainly do that as well to kind of get a some feedback there. Um, we we simply did the research and looked at this proposal or problem or or concern or issue from multiple angles. Had every director um call VDOE and and speak with them regarding their area to find out what would be the potential pros and cons, especially from a financial and a school account school reporting standpoint. We've given you that information this evening. Um, >> I'd like to make a motion if we could to move forward with this. >> I think Joey has a qu Mr. Goodman has a question and I do too. So, let's do that first. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. And

056I think kind of to the point, um, you know, you know, just thinking about it and I remember Mrs. Morris who's who's up here would always say some of the kind of expectations and some of the burdens that were placed on the teachers. So, I definitely think and I don't know if we've if we've had any feedback or what people have said, but you know, definitely with regards to making sure that we're not putting extra workload on the teachers through this and just making sure that um you know, we're helping to facilitate the unification to where it's not one of these things where it's going to be so cumbersome to them. Um, thank you, Madam Chair. >> Okay. Okay. And I was going to ask, as far as the architect, are you going to pursue

057that um to get a new quote? >> No, that's what I was going to make. >> Oh, you would? Oh, okay. I I would like to throw in though something some kind of barrier in the front of the the >> right >> area so that you know a car can't drive through there or whatever. So, I think that may be in part of it, but I just want to throw that in there as well. And I I do want to mention, you know, I I when I was um down at the um complex shovel and ice and snow that day, I noticed that um not all the kindergarten classrooms are in in we have a little tiny little tiny wee wee little fence, wooden fence, and not all of the classrooms are in incorporated into

058that fence. So, I did ask Mr. Heslip to uh come up with a proposal for a potential um better fence, >> updated fence area that incorporates all of those classrooms as a safety measure. And so he is working on that as well. And that will that will happen irregardless of any decision that regarding unification that just needs to happen from a safety standpoint to have to to better protect the kindergarteners that are in those classrooms. I did want to mention that. So, so the way I ask >> I have one follow-up question and that is what where where are you suggesting the 60,000 come from or 60 plus >> what where are we getting that >> is that are we request we're requesting new money for that are we looking for a grant >> are

059we get taking out of the budget we already have >> um the funding source would have to be uh figured out I'm not sure on that the the number that I got was purely research number using using our local vendors that uh that I I have in my phone to make sure that we were on point with our with our structure and our numbers. But again, that would have to be updated quotes from those folks. >> How much more time does it take to get AC to get across to the other building going upstairs? >> A few minutes. >> Not for not long for me, but I don't have to do it every single day, two or three times a day. But I I >> I'm a fitness guy, so I'm probably not the one

060should answer Miss Bryant can can answer that question for us. >> Yeah, >> good. >> It's more of a safety issue. >> Um when we're talking about having to when when there is a need for us to go what we call up and over um due to our proximity of um local DOC when there are things that are happening um inclement weather and we do have to go up and over. I would estimate that it takes between seven to 10 minutes for a kindergarten class to get from their class up those steps over the bridge back down the steps and all the ducks in a row to the cafeteria. Um, that would be my estimate. >> Okay. Thank you. You're >> welcome. >> And if you've ever walked it, it's very narrow and it's hard

061to walk up it. I think >> the steps in my opinion are very steep. >> Yes. >> Um. >> Yes. Because that is those steps are making up for the difference in elevation between the original buildings. >> Right. >> Little people on the steps. >> Yeah. Go very fast. >> Little people in steps >> up and down those steps. >> Right. Right. Exactly. >> Yeah. >> Um that that was one of the three things I was going to make a motion on >> if I could if I remember correctly. >> You good? >> All right. Madam Chair, I move that we research the uh the staff and and personnel for the the complex. Additionally, um look at the feasibility for the cost impact for the uh new structure or a new quote. >> Okay. Yeah,

062>> I could remember the third one. >> I couldn't. Uh did you want us to did you want us to survey parents as well at this point? >> Sure. I mean it is the much more more input we get as a community more more we'll be able to move forward with it. >> That's right. >> Mr. Snotty made a motion to have a survey done for staff as well as community and what else? >> Oh, for the uh the walk new quote for the walk >> and for a new quote for the walk >> with the security, right? because we want that one updated for drive-thru, right? So, >> right. >> I don't think that was >> You may even need to be from the backside as well. You never know. I mean, >> that'd

063be unlikely. >> Kind of hard. >> That'd be unlikely. >> You never know. >> Be unlikely. >> Um, is there a second? >> Yeah. David. >> Oh, second. I'm sorry. Um, and a second by Mr. Christian. Um, any other questions on the motion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. All those Oh, not Mr. Christian. >> I >> That's unanimous. The motion carries. >> Okay. Is there any um questions that you specific questions that you would like us to um gauge from both both of those stakeholder groups or do you want us to make it a fair estimate of what we shared this even? >> I would share that. I mean, everybody should have access to board docs, right? But in the event that they don't use it, go ahead and send it to

064them, have them review that information. They're going to give you pros and cons. They're going to I mean I would I would give you the pros and cons. No, that's not going to work. That's bull crap. That doesn't work. Blah blah blah. Whatever. Uh feedback, honest feedback. I don't like it because I do like it. Well, it might help. I will tell you this. Having done numerous consolidations in the military, uh it will be a rough I mean start. >> Yeah, it'll be a rough start. >> Well, I mean yes. Yes, it will be, but >> it's not undoable. >> The the two buildings are a joined. They are together as one large complex. So >> it may not be as challenging as some other consolidations where they're totally separate. >> Right. Right. >> Coming

065together from two different two totally different separate locations. But we will um create a presentation, share it out, I mean a survey and include this presentation with it and and we'll provide you with a comprehensive feedback uh analysis next month. Is that for a decision next month? I assume I don't know >> based off of the analysis. Yeah, I mean >> give them time to get information too. >> Do we need to make a >> that was in there? >> Okay. I'm sorry. >> Yeah. >> All right. 7.03 school showcase high school in the CTE building. Mr. Tally >> and Mr. Seth Wilson. So each month um we have been spotlighting one of our schools because the Virginia Department of Education has designated the month of February as CTE month across the Commonwealth. We thought

066it would be a great opportunity to highlight the high school as well as our award-winning CTE programs this evening. And we are both uh pleased to welcome both Mr. Tally and Mr. Wilkerson to the podium this evening. >> Good evening. So, Buckingham High School CTE. Um, I say it like that because we both a unit now. At one time it seemed like we're separated, but we're one team right now. Um, so Buckingham High School CTE is a place where we feel that every day is a great day to be a night and that's what we live by and that's how we're going to continue to try to roll with it. Um, and our biggest focus is teamwork. Teamwork is one thing that I've always been part of a team being a former athlete, Mr. Wilkersonson.

067We bring that concept together with our whole staff and we started to see results. Um, one thing we try to do is we wanted to make school fun. Um, what you see later on, you see a lot of activities that we were able to incorporate over the the past two years that we haven't done before, at least since I've been here. Um, also, um, we want to make the environment free from distractions that we can focus on some of the things that we discussed more more recently like improving some of our so scores, things like that. Um, I can say I always speak with anybody and tell you that our discipline is going down. um our instruction uh we put some things in place to get that better. But if you go to the next

068slide, one thing with this slide right here, one thing I want to point out is our accreditation status, which is distinguished, meaning the Buckingham High School is exceeding the VDOE expectations u for student academic performance growth and readiness. Um you go to the next slide, you see some of the categories. So you look on here, this is superintendent region 8 snapshot. You see we're ranked number four. I mean, you'll see that we're number four on the list right here. But you look at it, >> Buckingham High School is the only way, Buckingham County Public Schools in general was the only one did not fall um below being on track. So, we're the only one that had all our schools above track or and one being distinguished, which is a great honor here for our school

069division. Next slide, you'll see that we're ranked number five overall um in total points. Um and we rank uh top five and three out of 11 categories. Next slide will show you the next categories which um the VDOE scores are in which is reading, math, science, four-year graduation rate, English learner progress, chronic absenteeism, six-year graduation rate, and the three E overall which is enrollment, enlistment, and employment. And you go to the next slide, we're going to have the the three categories that we ranked in, which you see math. Uh we were ranked uh fourth in math. Um, we're ranked third in science, ranked second overall in the four-year graduation rate. Um, so we we're excited to say that's I want to put that first before we go into all the fun stuff to say that

070we are doing great things at Buckingham High School. Uh, one part about being a team, um, I do have my team with me. I have my, we like to say I'm the captain. My co- captain is here and then we have our teammates. Um, so Mr. uh, Wilkins is here. he'll give a little spill on on the CTE. But we also have one of our um our our forces, one of our our former teacher of the year that would come up and um she wanted to to do a presentation for you guys. Okay, first off, thank you for this opportunity to speak to about our CTE program. One thing CT is is more than just a group of classes. It's where learning meets doing. It's where student curiosity turns into a skill and we can

071take that skill and hopefully turn it into a career. Our CT program connects education to the real world. Students aren't just reading about concepts, they're applying them. They're problem solving, collaborating, earning certifications. They're learning what it means to show up, take responsibility, and create something meaningful. Our showcase today highlights that work. Behind every project, you'll see a student who has learned through trial and error, an instructor who has brought industry and experience into the classroom, and a program designed to meet the changing needs of the workforce. These programs remind us that success doesn't just come in one form. And we hope you enjoy this showcase and take a moment to see the future being built in Buckingham. >> Good evening. Mathematics, science, English, and history form the foundation of a well-rounded education. These core subjects

072develop essential skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and informed decision-making. They provide SK students with the knowledge necessary to understand the world around them and prepare them for both secondary education and the workforce. When combined with career and technical education opportunities, these academic disciplines ensure that students graduate not only with career not only career ready but also equipped with thoughtful informed being thoughtful informed citizens. The science defi department, excuse me, provides students with meaningful hands-on learning experiences both inside and outside of the classroom through engaging laboratory investigation, field-based learning opportunities, and educational field trips. Students are able to apply scientific comp concepts in the real world settings. The history department students are not only equipped with critical thinking and research skills by examining past events, societies, and cultures to understand the present. Our

073math department provides students with fun interactive tools to be able to understand the and apply their skills in real world situations. English classes provide a structured environment for students to master reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Computer science students will receive an education to prepare them for highpaying in- demand career opportunities in in all industries along with developing crucial problem solving and analytical skills. It drives innovation in technology such as artificial intelligence and cyber security allowing for both creative and collaborative work. Furthermore, it provides a versatile foundation for a futurep proof career and enables graduates to make a positive global impact. Our special education department does a great job of giving students activities that encourage students to grow individually and gives them opportunities to succeed in a career after they graduate high school. Students are

074empowered with activities like breed awakenings business program, the longwood life program, the Medford basketball team and the heartland horses program. Along with field trips, they have job shadowing opportunities in the community. And here are just a few pictures of their activities throughout the year. Our CTE pathways provide students with a meaningful experience that support the 3E readiness that goes back to our accreditation scoring. These opportunities not only prepare students for the military but also their post-secary education and their employment. Being a part of a CTE class gives them the opportunity to be a member of any or of their career and technical student organizations. These classes help them become confident, skilled contributors to our local workforce and community. Our auto mechanic courses give students the opportunity to work on vehicles. Uh they get to practice

075what they learn in the classroom and you can bring your car by for an old change. This department was stopped several years ago, but now it is strong and has many students becoming ASSE certified. They are part of the Skills USA program, which you will see later on in the slideshow. Offering a wide range of subjects, our agriculture courses include animal science, agrous, plant science, and woodworking shop courses. Agriculture education encompasses curriculum, FFA, and supervised agricultural experiences, which is a job in the agriculture industry. These students will take the information and apply it to their agriculture career or their career development event in our FFA activities. Our our FFA activities promote personal growth, premier leadership, and career success. Carpentry classes always have something to purchase from cutting boards to hunt hunting blinds. Through project-based instruction,

076students learn to use safety tools and equipment, interpret blueprints, measure accurately, and apply mathematical concepts to real world situations. They are part of the Skills USA, which you will see later. The cosmetology program is a two-year program that prepares students to obtain a license and a certification in cosmetology. Students compete in Skills USA contest and showcase their hair and makeup skills that they have learned in the classroom. Culinary arts is a great pathway for students to learn about the food industry, whether in their professional or personal life. Students learn about food safety, prepare various dishes, and get certified in safe serve. Their CTSO is FCCLA, which is featured in just a minute. Family and consumer sciences include classes such as life planning and in independent learning. Students in those classes worked on creating and maintaining

077healthy relationships developed in a life management plan by establishing short and long-term goals and they practice their child development skills with our real care baby simulators. They also uh participate in the education program with the preschool and primary school experiences so they can get real world hands-on learning. Our family and consu family career and community leaders leaders also known as FCCLA competed at the national level in Florida this past summer and they have been working hard to get their name out into the community by participating in local drives and outreach programs. The business department gives real world lessons in a variety of classes. Students apply critical thinking and problem solving skills to prepare them for life after high school during mock business crisis scenarios. During the QuickBook programs and participating in business day at Longwood

078this year alone, business students have there have been 45 business students get their wise personal finance certification. FBLA members are currently testing for their FBA competitions such as job interview and the Aggra business contest among many health and medical science students learn about all facets of the medical industry. The goal of the nurse aid pathway is for students to become a certified CNA after the completion of the program. Courses include skills labs and working at Heritage Hall Nursing Home to complete their clinical hours. Students that are in the health and medical science classes can become members of HOSA. HOSA members participate in several state contests and attend their state convention annually. Jotc is focused on developing leadership, citizenship, and personal responsibility. Instructed by retired military personnel, the curriculum covers leadership theory, wellness, fitness, civics, and

079service learning. Classes utilize interactive student centered and technologydriven methods to foster character, teamwork, and discipline. The JOTC color guard is very active in many community events. They presented the colors for the heroes breakfast, 911 ceremony, and the deal and Christmas parade. A couple achievements to mention. The Raiders were at the H7 Bloom Military Reservation in Towns of Maryland for the best of the best Raider qualify. And the co-ed team qualified by placing first at that qualifying event. The girls cross country team won their fourth consecutive James River district title. Ava Shoemaker was the female runner of the year for the second year in a row. We also wanted to recognize uh that Sierra Moore just received an ROC scholarship. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to announce the amount, but Sierra chose Liberty University. We are very

080proud of her. Her scholarship is a full ride uh to become an armory officer. Please congratulate her when you see her. The welding department prepares students for a career in metalwork. Students receive lots of hands-on training and the Wy Noctti certification. They are part of Skills USA and all of the clubs that make up Skills compete in the regional and state level competitions. Next, our music students showcase their talents in many different events throughout the school year. Uh they are able to pick from a variety of courses to help them develop their skills. The visual arts is where tools, hands, skills, knowledge, connections, authenticity, challenges, development, evolution, honesty, vulnerability, and love all come to together to play so they can express their whole self, one student, one assignment at a time. Not only at the

081high school do we have career and technical student organizations, but we also have clubs such as SCA, Chess, Beta, National Honor Society, Yearbook, Ragu, and Rise Up. There are so many different projects around school and the and the community service that our students are involved in and leading and carrying out. at school. Uh we enjoy our sports and we have multiple sports that are frequently competing at the regional and national level. Not only our academics important at Buckingham County High School, but also the events that bring us together as a community and family. We have homecoming week that is full of activ activities, a hero's breakfast, senior events, academic jacket night, college and the the college and career fair, and of course we had some fundraisers for a student in need this year. Our guidance

082department is super busy helping in a variety of capacities and activities for the eighth graders on the way to and all the way to graduation. The anger graphic was one of our small group lessons. The whiteboard sign is from an anti-bully bullying lunchtime activity. Uh they also do a good job at showcasing scholarships for students. The wheel is a uh picture from a lunchtime activity for smart goals for the students. The bulletin board is for the new start of the new semester. And the freshman focus is our visit to the eighth graders. We are grateful for our pathway advisor, Mr. Conklin, who works for UVA and provides our students with the support to follow their dream, whether in the military, their secondary education or in a career. He provides our students with professional develop courses,

083assistance with college applications, and host college tours. And on behalf of our students, our school, our programs, we would like to sincerely thank you for your continued support and the opportunities that you allow us to provide our students each day. >> Thank you again, Miss Davis. And also, we have a special treat also. We have one of our our previous senior of the month um Miss Piper Shadows come with some speak on her experience at the high school. Um she's a member of many clubs there. She started up the rise club but she's also an active member in the FFA school board members and Dr. Risner. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to be here today and share some of the activities the Buckingham FFA has part participated in this school year. My name

084is Piper Sheldo and I am the current Buckingham Senior FFA president. We appreciate the support to attend various events such as our leadership conferences, career development events, and community service events. These opportunities allow us to truly live out our FFA motto, learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, and living to serve. In September, our officer our officer team attended the Southeast Area Chapter Officer Leadership Training, which was led by the Virginia State FFA officers. This event provided valuable instruction and leadership, communication, and teamwork skills that are essential not only for our roles as officers, but in our future careers. During the Virginia State Fair, our members competed in the horiculture demonstration, forestry, stockmen's forester field day, and the horse apology contests. In November, we participated in the South Southeast Area Forester contest where

085we had almost 20 students participate in this career development event. We are extremely proud that we have one middle school and one senior level team advancing to the state forestry contest in April. Both our middle school and high school chapters have al also had representatives attend our advocate for agriculture leadership training in November. Following that experience, those members traveled to the Virginia's FFA or Virginia capital in January where they met with local legislators to discuss the importance of agricultural education and advocate for continued support of FFA. Currently, our members are preparing for several upcoming contests. Miss Amanda Davis is coaching a meet evaluation team and this is the first year that we've been able to participate in this career development event. We are also looking forward to our spring and summer opportun opportunities such as

086the Virginia State Convention and the Virginia FFA Leadership Camp. In addition, we are planning to host a college and career fair on April 2nd. This event will provide all high school students with the opportunity to learn more about post-secary education options and local employment opportunities. This year is especially meaningful for Virginia FFA as well. We will be celebrating the organization's 100th state convention. One notable part of Virginia FFA history is that one of its founders, Mr. Henry Grossclo, was an agricultural education teacher right here in Buckingham County before going to established the Virginia Future Farmers Organization and later the Future Farmers of America. On behalf of the Buccaneam FFA chapter, I would like to sincerely thank you for supporting agricultural education. Dr. Rezner, thank you for signing the proclam proclamation recognizing National FFA week and

087for allowing us the time to present during this meeting. We truly appreciate your continued support. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Miss Davis, you would like us to take a photo if that's okay. >> I'm sorry. >> Dr. Rezer, can we take a photo? >> Oh, yes, absolutely. Thank you. >> Thank you again, Piper. And that concludes our presentation. >> Thank you for that presentation. And I I I had looked up that thing about Mr. Gross Close and that was pretty interesting to have him be a teacher from Buckingham High School all those years ago. So it's pretty interesting. >> Did you have anything else? >> No. >> Oh, okay. >> He's waiting on us. >> 7.04 Energy Efficiency Update by Mr. JB Hesler. >> All right. Thank you so much for allowing me again

088to talk about Unplug the Plug. As you know, we've been uh doing this since October of last year. We have four full months of data. Um looking at the report cards, preK uh from this time last year to this year, they've done a good job. They're minus 9.53% which saved $366 on their bill. Good job prek. And they have a smiley face. Primary, as we talked about last month, that's the area of concern. I had to use some um alternative methods to heat classrooms. So, I knew this was going to be a little little up uh from last year to this year. Uh only down 4% which is not too bad at 4 minus $412. Uh with all we've been through, that's kind of a deal. I'll take that. uh still working on that issue

089with the HVAC down there as well. Elementary school from this time last year to this year, they're down 18% which is a savings of $680. Good job on the elementary side. Middle school is our big hitter here. From February last year to this year, it's down almost 24% with a savings of $3,230. Good job. middle school. The high school is down again 11%. Good job. $967. They have a smiley face as well. The cottage has a little footprint, so it's affected more by the cold. And just a reminder, this this um billing cycle had to deal with some extremely cold weather. I don't remember this for a long time. So, it's it it's had to deal with that as well. Um they are down a minor 4%. Cost us an extra $1029. So I gave

090him a straight face. Um CTE from last year to this year down 1.82% a savings of $105. Bus shop is our biggest percentage down 24% from last year to $138 savings. Schoolboard office is down this month 3% a savings of $32. Good job school board smiley face. Alternative ed is down as well, almost 6% which is savings of $20. Another smiley face. So if you look at the total, what we're shooting for is a 7% savings on all of our schools. Um right now we're averaging around 12% and our actual savings is $25,000 um 9113 and some change. So we're we're on track. Right now we have uh saved 219,000 kilowatts. That's a lot. So next steps is keep on pressing uh making sure that we're we're doing the little things to make these things

091work. I'd like to give lots of uh shout outs to the teachers that are making sacrifices every day to the teachers as well um and the administration that is really actually making this work and Dr. Rezner and the school board for giving us vision. So thank you so much. Any questions? >> Any questions? >> Thank you. Looks great. >> That leads us to 7.05 instructional update by Dr. John Renstead. >> Good evening again, board. I'm over there reading these things multiple times and got it out of order. I'm sorry. As a part of our successful comprehensive lit literacy state development or CLSD grant, the director of instruction as well as the principles of Buckingham County Primary and Elementary School have met with representatives from the new teacher project or TNTP to schedule walkthroughs beginning this

092month. These visits are designed to help TNTP build a shared understanding of instructional practice and student learning at this point in the school year. The work is focused on improve improving literacy outcomes in grades K through five. The reason I share this is I want the community and the board to know that we're good stewards of this grant money and this is not being squandered and this work would not be possible without the hard work of Kristen Morris, principal of the elementary school and Denise Bryant, principal of the primary school. So I thank them publicly for their help. Region 8 school divisions were successful in obtaining grant funding to partner with TNTP to strengthen mathematics instruction. This will involve on-site collaborative instructional learning walks, evidence informed mathematics instruction uh course, curriculum based professional learning. Prince

093Edward was the lead division for region 8. So many school divisions in region 8 partnered with them uh to reap those benefits. So that is is designed to help our mathematics instruction. And while the other grant was for K through 5, this is focus K through 12. Buckingham County High School has implemented implemented an adjusted nighttime schedule. After one month, I will circle back to staff with a mini survey designed to understand how the new schedule is working. Buckingham County followed VDOE guidance concerning asynchronous learning so that we were able to count five of the days missed due to weather. The state only allows divisions to count up to 10 days as asynchronous learning. Our expectation is that staff is is all in to design optimal instruction and encourage strong student attendance to make up

094for lost instructional time. Because of these missed days, benchmark results collected and shared through the comprehensive instruction program or CIP will be available after February 20th. Uh Matt Hurt, the director of CIP, has to balance divisions statewide and and as you know, many school divisions are in the same boat or in some cases worse than us. I plan to have principles join me in March to provide the board with an update on progress as we approach spring testing. I I'll be honest. I just want us to be in school consistently. I mean, we've missed a lot of days and there there's no beating around the bush. that is a struggle for instruction. Uh but I believe in our our principles and I believe in our teachers most importantly. >> I have one question. So where

095are those representatives from the new teacher project? Where do they come from? Are they from the BDOE or where are they? >> It is a Miss Bryant you I know you worked with them previously. >> Sorry. >> This is a VDOE sanction group. Um, this is this is one of one of the the professional development. It's almost like they side contracted and this is one of their pre-approved U groups. We've used them before. I've been told by Miss Morris and Miss Bryant and and they're great. And the the one thing I've observed with uh TNTP with my own eyes is those walkthrough tools that are in use at the elementary and the the primary. We use those during our instructional walkthroughs and and you know I left those instructional walkthroughs with we need to get

096this kind of walkthrough data at every building. Uh it was so good and so thorough. But I'll let Miss Morris talk about TNTP a little bit more. >> Okay. So last year we had the opportunity um to partner with TNTP and they were able to come in um and it was pretty impressive the way that they were able to build their relationships with our specialists but also with our teachers. They it was a very comfortable environment for them to come in and they were um giving us very specific feedback. We have our HQIM materials. So, we have really strong instructional materials, but they really guide us on how to make sure that we're implementing them with fidelity. Um, when they left um in June when the funding ran out, um we were working on their

097second core, which was getting that deep dive. And so we're excited to have them back to be able to pick up um where we tried to carry over um but to see what other advice and guidance they can provide us and the teachers. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. Does anyone else have any questions? >> I I I do, Madam Chair. Um I I have a question about the asynchronous learning. I actually reached out uh to the superintendent when this was happening. that I'm still kind of confused by it. Um, we were requiring our students to do this learning, but we were only giving them access to the teachers for one hour a day. Um, and if we I'm assuming we're paying the teacher for that day as a day on their contract. And um,

098I'm just trying to figure out how that that squares up. you know, I I feel like if if this is going to be counted toward their contract obligation, they should be available for the students, you know, during the regular course of uh the day as they would be if they were in school. That's one that that's just a question I would love somebody to answer it in a way that I could understand it. And then the other is how much learning is actually happening on these asynchronous days? I I I I'm not sure a whole lot. So in order for a day in order for a day to be considered asynchronous um minimum requirement is that students are provided work. Okay. And a lot of times this is pushed out through Chromebooks through a learning

099management system like canvas or Google classroom or something or schooly. In our case, because our students don't have Chromebooks at home, uh division, school divi, school issued devices at home, uh we did paper packets and we asked all teachers to make sure that every student had work. Then we sent it home that that Friday. The second piece that's required in order for a day to be considered asynchronous or remote is that you may um you offer food for students. And we did that through breakfast and lunch. We offered um through a sign up process um breakfast and lunch for five days was offered over over the course of two days. And then there's also considerations that you have to ensure that students have access to um if they are a student with a disability that

100they have access um to get support for that. Now we asked our teachers and staff, professional staff to be accessible um you know that that um to return their emails between 11 and 12. But I know that there are there are many opportunities or many in many situations where um teachers reached out to students beyond that time window and we can certainly take a look at that um and survey what other school divisions are doing to help accommodate that piece as we plan to move forward. Hopefully, we won't have to do this again uh this school year. Um because I do agree with you that um there is a loss of there certainly is a loss of learning um and we we we did the the absolute best we could to review previously taught material

101um during those asynchronous remote learning days. Had we not um utilized that opportunity provided to us through the through the Virginia Department of Education, um we would be looking at um making up a lot more time than what we are right now in terms of our school calendar. And if Dr. Ring would like to add anything else, um I I >> I'll be honest with you. I I would be okay with that. I'd rather make it up and have a good day of learning than to just play the numbers game. and our students, you know, miss out on that that opportunity to be educated. >> Okay. So, one of those one of those makeup days is uh I believe the Friday be uh Melissa Haynes, Miss Haynes, you can come up and speak about the

102calendar. One of those potential full makeup days. You know, obviously we would be President's Day, which does not provide a lot of of time for parents to and staff who have already made plans that weekend. We'd have to really take a look at that. But another day other than spring break would be um the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. Is that correct? >> Yes, that's correct. >> Okay. So, we have a couple half day options in addition to a few full day options with regard to also trying to honor spring break as much as possible because of plans that families have made and honor that too. Um but most of ours are taking our half days and and making those full days to gain back some of that time. So, we we did gain a

103day back by um making February 25th a full day and March 13th a full day. We did gain back a full day of instruction um in that route. Do we have any additional half days in our calendar? Um >> at the end of the school year, >> the last two days, >> but we've made them up now, right? I mean, we've already made up except for two, right? I mean, we went five day. I mean, we had five days of asynchronous learned, right? So, I mean, so we're not going back, right? So, we did and so here's the other trick. Um, >> so school divisions are required through the code of Virginia to either complete a have 180 days of instruction or 990 instructional hours. And so because we've missed time um you know in

104December as well as now uh more recently we are going to be looking to have 990 days of hours completed if we were to have extreme weather later in February or even into March where we missed a substantial number of days and let's say we were in jeopardy of not meeting that 990 instructional hour requirement and we would have to uh submit a request request for a waiver from the Virginia Department of Ed from the Virginia Department of Education. One of the questions that I have to an to answer is did you attempt to make up time in your schedule and we um did lengthen uh I think it was two half days in December. Uh we did lengthen when we missed time in December. I immediately um asked us to um turn two half

105days into into two full days. So, we gained back a day in December. So, I can certify to DOE that we did make that attempt in December. We also are, as I stated, are um making February 25th and March 13th full days so that I can tell DOE that we made an attempt this time around to um make up time there as well. So, we that's why that's one of the reasons why we're trying to make up time where we can. Um historically, um we may not have needed to do that. Um but because DOE is very specific in their requirements, if you need a waiver, you've got to show where you did attempt to add to make up some time in your calendar. I wanted us to be able to do that and that's

106why we're doing this these makeup days. >> I want to labor this. This is not for me. It's not about making up the time or using hours versus days. line is that we we offered a suboptimal educational experience when we could have very I think we could have taken time from other places or at tacked them on to the end of the year and we would have actually educated those kids a lot better. >> I mean the system's broken when it comes to this stuff. And I mean co if it didn't teach us anything else is that we're terrible virtual learners. I mean as an or as a as a system. I mean not just us all of them. And I I I just feel like if we're going to offer something, let's offer the

107best we have. And we we threw something out there. And and I'm not I'm not putting down anybody in our in our school system. I mean, we're playing the game that we've been dealt a hand of cards with. But to say that that was um a an a a um a good educational experience for most of our students, I would say that we failed. And that's my concern. >> Okay. So we are meeting tomorrow for admin council. Uh the day after schoolboard meetings we meet with all of our directors and principles and this is one of the topics of discuss of discussion tomorrow as a reflection on how this time these remote learning days went and we are going to um certainly um have a have a conversation tomorrow about what could we potentially do

108differently or better if we're faced this situation again. Um and then as as look at you know there other options we could add time to the instructional day we could add minutes to the day. Um that is an option in lie of makeup days. That is that is an option. Um we are not in jeopardy right now um to need to do that. We still got enough bank time in our in our schedule um banked hours. But we will certainly take a look and reflect on on your concerns. Thank you, >> Madam Chair. >> Go ahead. >> Um, adding days at the end of the school year really does not benefit the educational quality for our students because by that time so tests have been have been done and much earlier. Um, it's it's the

109kids are burned out, the teachers are tired too. not not necessarily any good learning instructional time there. Adding minutes to and extending the school day. We have done that in Buckingham before and having taught that I can say that they were wasted minutes. Um and I believe most teachers would that taught it would agree with me on that. So, I'm not sure where there's a better solution for it, but I don't see days at the end of the year or minutes at the end of the day to be um a a helpful way to go. >> So, I I will say that I I know that we do not send home Chromebook devices with our students. We used to during COVID and we don't now currently be and it could have been a budget issue.

110It could have been a logistics issue. I'm not sure. I'm not certain on the on exactly why. Um but I would like us to examine um whether we want to try to at least do that for the winter months for the older kids. That could be something that we could take a look at. Um it's expensive and and and there are some insurance there. There it is. It it is there are some costs associated with putting Chromebooks in the hands of students and take and having them come back and forth every day. Um but that is part of our conversation tomorrow that that is an angle u with regards to asynchronous remote learning that we need to talk about and other than you know along with some other things as well. So we we're definitely

111going to be >> maybe maybe the next step would be that we go back to building in snow days. I mean I hate to do that because then you artificially lengthen the school year when you may not use them. But I don't I don't you know given what uh Miss Morris just said if if adding to the end of the year is wasted time and adding to the end of the day is wasted time and asynchronous learning in my opinion is wasted time then maybe that's the only other way you can do it and you know I I'm not sure if we could push the so can you can we move the so dates if we have this kind of problem in the future >> I no I think uh we are we are locked

112in we have to test within the last 10 days of school, I believe it is, >> right? The last 10 full school days. >> The last 10 full. >> So, if we shift our school year, we have to shift our window. >> Oh, so okay. So, we could shift it. We could push that further into the if we needed to add to the end of the year. Is that what you're saying? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> But we have night time. It'll fix everything. >> Don't look at me. >> We've got extra time, right? They're covering down on the issues that they're having, right? Night time, right? this. >> So, we are going to have a thorough conversation about asynchronous learning tomorrow as I stated and we will present to you any proposed changes that

113we have for next month, you know, moving forward. Hopefully, we won't ever have to do it again, but you know, at least not this year, but we'll we will give you a synopsis of what we've discussed >> regarding that. >> I'm trying to remember what we did in the past because I know this is not the first time we've been snowed snowed out. happened during CO was it was so quick that we didn't have time to really prepare with >> No, no. I'm I'm talking about the snow days for the little kids. We didn't know what to do with the the Chromebook. >> So, I I I don't know with absolute certainty. I wasn't here, but from what I understand, um >> we used to have >> we had snow days. >> I mean, we

114had the day off and we may or may not have made up the time. Okay. um based on our bank time. Now we now we >> it wasn't it wasn't really a question for you. It was a question for us older bucket people like what are we doing because of co it was it was written off basically wasn't it Wendy? I can't speak. I think it was >> I I always heard when when my older son was going to school here uh many years ago, I always heard that the school system had um so many snow days banked in or figured into the schedule just in case they needed them and they could fall back on those and use it to answer Joe's question. >> So, we have the we have that in terms of

115our instructional hours because the state gives you two options. 180 days or 990 instructional hour instructional hours. We have bank time if we look at the the instructional hours and we have enough hours um right now we're we are okay. Um but we might not be okay if we were to have another two big two big storms. we would be um having some concerns about lengthening the school day or perhaps adding time at the end of the school year or you know spring break. I mean I I would not certainly want to take that but those are all things that would be on the table. >> Yeah. because we're only um halfway through February and everybody in this room pretty much remembers, you know, January, February, and March is really the most uh time treacherous

116time of the year for severe weather. >> And um I mean, back in the 90s, we we had a lot of snow and we had a lot of ice. So, you know, we sent right and so I know that there are some concerns with our asynchronous learning, remote learning, but we did send work home that that was a review of previously taught material. We did give the students um instruction that way in terms of a review. Um, and we're proud that we at least did that to help to h try to help keep some review going with our students. Um, not every school division did that. A lot did and not everyone did, but >> No, it was it was quite a notable effort. >> Well, well, and we will certainly um look at the

117the email piece and the the the availability of staff for for students. Um we'll we we will be discussing that tomorrow. >> Yes, ma'am. Mhm. >> My my kids, they liked the uh doing the Well, my daughter did, my son didn't, but I mean, you know, >> it was a lot in there, I thought. >> Yeah. Yeah, it was. >> Well, and I want to commend our teachers because they and our administrators because they worked tirelessly to pull that together in a very short amount of time. And central office employees uh also assisted all of our school sites with pulling it together as well. It was truly a team effort. But we will look at you know where we can do better. >> So with that said um and everybody in the school system um

118deserves an honorable mention for a job well done. There's no doubt. U with that said a lot of effort and a lot of work was put into uh this endeavor with giving the kids um work to to do at home and all. I guess the question I'm leading to is um would it be better to maybe extend the days at the end of the year with that window or would it be better to put everybody underneath all this stress in a few hours to get everything worked out and make sure that you know everybody's got their homework, everybody's got their work, the kids are on the buses and they're safe and they're home. Um, you know, it's it's kind of the scale just what's the best way to go. >> I've done it both ways.

119>> Huh? >> I've done it both ways. As a teacher, I've done it both ways and I preferred getting review material that they could practice while they were out to be much more beneficial than days at the end of the year. >> Okay. Well spoken. when all of that, but we're not at a critical point, I don't think, yet because we've got a window where you've got your minimum requirements and we've got our schedule. We're still within the window. Once we broach the minimum requirements, then we got to make adjustments. But right now, we're in the acceptable range between minimum >> and schedule time. So, uh I think at the end of the day, I mean, it comes down to like I think what Dave is alluding to, Mr. Christian is alluding to is that,

120you know, we we just got scores last month, right? How we're doing overall, blah blah blah. The concern is of course with the days missed blah blah blah moving forward to the to the end of the school year with the SOS again. So, and I get it, but we all know who's got to take take the take up the work, right? Our students and our staff. >> And so, they know what's out there. Everybody knows what's important right now. It's just buckling down and getting it done within the time frame. And I think, you know, I don't think we're at a critical point where we got to go spazzing spazzing out over, you know, a few days. But at the end of the day, it those that were doing what they were supposed to be

121doing over the the the the snow days, right? You'll probably see a difference. I don't think you're going to have anything verbally coming back to you as far as a uh it was good or bad. Uh I didn't hear anything. Okay, that's good then. No, no, no news is good news. >> Well, it makes the parents appreciate the teachers more. I can tell you that. >> Sure. Sure. When you're having to help right there at the table. Yeah, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. But I mean, I think that's what you're trying to say is I'm trying to bar it down for for everybody, but uh it it seems like we've got a window. We're not we're not at below threshold yet. >> We are we are not in um we are not in a

122critical state of emergency in terms of meeting that 990 hours. Not yet. But we you know, every day every time we have an early release, a two-hour delay, it chops away at that at that at those minutes. Um and so we are um >> I think it's going to be more critical I'm sorry to interrupt but I think it's going to be more important for us um you know especially those principles and director obviously um to to be monitoring the grades at this point moving I mean more so than usual because we've missed so much time and that'll be kind of an indicator I think a key performance indicator if you will on on performance moving forward so I mean we got power school to >> and so you know just maintaining you know my

123my um expectation of excellence in everything that we do and um coming together and everyone contributes. Um >> that's that's what we have to keep pushing and so that's part of our conversation tomorrow. >> Candace, what were you going to say? >> So the 990 so the the hours that that we're talking about and the day so it's 180 or 990 in power school. Um and when we build our terms in the beginning of the year um we either allot for a padded end or we don't and if we don't we can't easily go back and do that at the end of the year. Um but I I do want to say that we are in no um so we are making up time and because Dr. wants to be for sure that we will

124meet DOE criteria at the end. So it's not so she's she's actually she's making up diligent time to get instructional hours in which in the I can speak to the past we have we have not done that because we were not in that critical in other words we were by the book we've only been as low as 1,021 hours since I've been been here. So the time the days that we are making up she is a val is a very aggressive you know a try and attempt to give the best instruction possible. >> It's it's a valiant attempt. >> So that is um >> So what happens if we don't make up the time? >> What what happens if we don't? What I mean is there a penalty for it? we have to uh well,

125we would be out of compliance with the code of Virginia in terms of how long our school year must be. Um if we did not have if we did not if we did not hit 990 hours and we did not ask for a waiver from the Virginia Department of Education, we would be out of compliance with the Code of Virginia. >> So, what would that do? What's what's the penalty? >> Um that would be a legal um concern that we would need to consult with our schoolboard attorney on for for being out of compliance. Um, I I I can't answer that um >> without knowing, you know, without speaking with our attorney. Um, I will say, you know, out of full transparency, I will tell you that, you know, we're keeping track of our hours

126and as of right now, if we were to miss no additional time based on what we've already got framed in our calendar, um, we're at 1,090 hours right now. Okay. Now, if we miss time tomorrow, then time gets checked, you know, gets gets deleted down from that amount. But we're at 1,90.6 as of this moment. Okay? And that includes the two I've added in for the two makeup days where we're extending February 25th and March 13th. I've added that time back in to our tracking chart, but we're at 1090 right now. >> 1,090. So, a whole >> and we still have we still have uh two two month two solid two and a half solid weeks of February and all of March um to get through and and maybe April. I don't know. I think

127it snowed in April before um hope it doesn't. >> So, we're 100 hours over minimum by the end of the calendar year. >> We are at um if you Yes. If you take 1090, subtract it. If you take 1090, >> um my my my count my calculator is not working. >> 100 hours over then. Really? >> We're 100 hours over right now. >> 100 hours over. >> We're good. Yeah. >> I mean, we've got time, you know. We've got time. But if we had two big if we had two big snowstorms like we just had, >> which is always possible. >> What is it? Eight hours a day. 10 hours a day. What are we talking? >> Um 6.4. >> 6.4 hours a day. We can take two weeks off. We good. We've got we've

128got a few days. We've got a few. Okay. We're we're less than, you know, we've got a few >> um >> we're less than three weeks. Um but we again at some point and I agree with you, Mr. Christian, at some point you jeopardize the integrity of your instructional instruction when you miss too much time. But like I said, you know, us sending work home with the students was our attempt to try to keep the learning going in terms of a review of what's already been previously taught. So that our hope was when students return, we're in a better position to move forward. Um >> and so we're hopeful we won't have any more snow days. I think we're going to have some mild temperatures next week or so. So hopefully that will help. Um,

129>> but we are keeping track of every hour >> and we have made attempts to make up some time along the way to honor that requirement from DOE that if you need a waiver, you must show where you at least attempted to make up time in your calendar and we can say that um because we've done it both in December as well as uh in February and March. So, I I did want to let you know based on the code of Virginia 22.1-98, it says that they'll reduce our um our funding uh proportionately um on the days that we missed if we didn't get a waiver. So, >> my my job is to put us to to not put us in a situation where that would even be an issue. And that's why I'm monitoring

130the um the hours. That's why we're going to make up time as we can. um whether it's favorable or not um what we've done so far and uh put us in a position to to be able to have a waiver from DOE if we ever needed it. >> Cool. Thank you. >> Okay. That leads us to 7.06, graduation fundraising update by Mr. Tally. Good evening again. Um, so, uh, fundraising update. Um, we had a couple of donations since the last time I spoke with you guys. I think it was back in December, maybe. Yeah, it was December. Uh, we received a $200 donation from Miss Gorman, Mr. and Mrs. Gorm, Alice Gormas, and her husband. Um, we did a Penos night. Uh, we we raised $287 there. and we did another donut sale that we

131raised about a thousand dollars off of that. Um some upcoming events, we did reschedule our winter dance uh which Piper uh Micah explained earlier. It will be next Friday u from 7 to 9 in the um cafeteria at the high school. Also, we rescheduled a father sweetheart dance that I put on every year, which will also give some money, a couple of dollars back. Um, I don't know where we come up with, but we give something back to you guys to go towards the senior class. Um, a couple of other things that I mentioned before, it's kind of we'll see what happens. Like I I mentioned a contribution letter to the Fraternal Order of Eagles. I haven't heard back from them yet. So, I'm going to check my spam um email and things like that.

132See, make sure I didn't miss it. Um, also I mentioned the elementary sock hop. Um, I would get with SEA or my staff and see, you know, we can we we already passed the the month of January going into um prom season, things like that. If we can get somebody together to at least host one of those things to try to donate some money back also. Um, so overall we we pretty much we met the the required amount to offset the cost, but we do have a lot of things that we we started especially during co they want to keep going. U for example, the letterman jackets. Um, this year we have a few kids that we have to add a couple additional jackets. Um, but our numbers constantly going up. So, we have to

133revamp how we work that because I think last year we had 17 jackets. This year was like 28 of them >> plus another five. So, yeah, it's going up. So, we have to revamp that. And then we started putting the little signs on the post and deal one that that's like a tradition now. So, with this right here, we're going to try to keep that going also. Um, but the prime primary goal is the graduation piece, which we're we're there. We I think we offset that already. >> So, that's good. Don't need any other money for that. >> No. Um, and that's it. That's what we have for the fundraising update. I'll I'll keep you updated next month. Um, but that's where we at. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> All right. 7.07 recommend approval

134of the 2026 27 school calendar by Miss Melissa Haynes. >> Hi, good evening. So, this is just a continuation from last month. Um, the calendar has been updated. Uh, there was a request from the board last time about adding in that so window for testing at the end of each semester. High school would obviously be the only one that's affected in December and then 3rd through 12th grade for the end of the school year. So, we added in that window in blue so that you can see, you know, parents will know this is the the estimated window, okay? because just depending on changes with um half days and things like that, we don't count those days. So, we kind of shift it back um before that window. So, that's essentially the window that we report

135to the state as when we will test. Um in addition to that change to the calendars since we met, we surveyed the community about their opinions on the two versions and we had 97 responses total. um slightly in favor of version two and all the comments we got this version two was the one that had a Monday start date but it was a little bit later start date on the 10th but I will say the responses to it were we had we had 15 responses but one was just a letter and I think someone me you know mistyped it so we technically had 14 responses um in terms of feedback they really wanted us to start after Labor Day that was kind of the consensus so obviously we can't do that with the way we

136do our calendar now to end first semester in December. Um but that was the request was wanting to start later. So they chose the later calendar. That was essentially the reasoning behind that. And so I shared um in the presentation just a quick snapshot of the results of the the survey. So it was 59% for version two and and 42% for or 41% for version uh one. So it was still pretty even. It was >> What was the other one though with the staff and everything? the staff voted for version where we started in the middle of the week version one. >> Okay. And what was that percentage? Do you remember? >> I have it right here. It was 47% to to 53%. >> Oh gosh. >> So it it's pretty split. Um >> the

137question I have is for uh the staff portion. What's the reasoning? >> Again, same reasoning. Wanting to start a little bit later, >> not wanting staff to come back. You said the staff wanted the middle of the week. That's different than the second one. So, >> the staff wanted the >> the majority of staff voted for the one that started in the middle of the week, but the reason that it was kind of split is because several mentioned wanting to start later is why they voted for the other calendar. Okay? >> That's why it was a little more split than it typically is. They at the teachers return in version one, the teachers report July 29th and on version two, they report on August 3rd. So many mentioned that not liking that July date. >>

138That was the feedback. Um and I will say there were several comments in the feedback from parents about again wanting to start after Labor Day to also um consider a year- round school. So I just want to also share that with any feedback that that's pretty much what I heard in the feedback teachers. So, if we were to start on Labor Day, after Labor Day, hypothetically, we could not be on the 4x4 model that the high school is presently, >> we would not be able to finish in December. We would go back to that old model of coming back after a two-e break and having to review and try to test, >> which right, >> we all felt was not ideal. >> Yes. >> Okay. On the second one, the teacher academy, it's just that

139one week. It's not split up in two weeks, right? >> Hold on. I'm going to pull it back up here, >> I think. >> Yes, it's the Monday through Thursday. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Cuz I thought we were trying to add >> We added a couple of days for new teachers. We felt like they needed some additional time with us. >> Four days, man. >> Right. Currently, it's two days. This is four. >> So, I guess the question I would have is, you know, new teachers input, right? Specifically, uh, one week and enough, week and a half. I mean, >> yeah, but they got a contract. >> Well, right. That's what I'm saying. There's a lot of there's a lot of uh things that we would want to help on board them with. So

140that's why we added those two extra days. >> I agree. >> I don't know. Oh, what's the first? Especially when we have more and more teachers that are coming to us um from backgrounds that are not in education, they're career switchers or um they need even more on boarding then and those extra days will certainly help us. >> Well, yeah. I mean, when you're talking about, you know, the vertical alignment piece and they're just getting started at whatever whatever level they are and don't even know what a power school is yet. So, >> yeah, I would imagine so. >> I don't know how much of that is built in there because when I looked at the schedule wasn't a whole lot, but a little bit, right? >> Yeah. >> How much PR app are you

141getting before you? >> There's a lot they need to get done in those two days, right? Right. That we currently have. the new teacher academy. Would they go for the full amount of days or do they get a choice? >> They would come for all four days. >> Okay. >> Are you asking us to tell you what we recommend for this calendar version? >> Oh, sure. >> Okay. So, um the staff asked they were in favor of version one. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Okay. So, um it is our recommendation that we adopt version one based on staff input um in the instructional calendar. Um while we understand that parents chose may have chosen version two because of the they wanted a much much later start date. Um we're not in a we we're

142not in a position where we could reasonably do that. Well, the variation in in input is only I mean it's barely 50/50, right? I mean, >> right. It's 50/50 pretty much the whole way. >> Yeah. So, I mean, >> go for it Wednesday. >> I'm good with whichever >> version one is the one where you start on Wednesday for the students. >> Yeah. Madam Chair, >> and I I will say that, you know, that that's that's easier on staff, m much easier on the staff and especially the younger students. M >> um it helps get them um helps to work them into the into the um schedule there with the three-day start um that first week especially at the primary and preschool and primary level. Um certainly a lot of benefit there >> and a

143short week usually helps you to kind of get through the week. >> Just saying from home. >> Madam Chair, I move to approve version one as presented. >> Second. Yep. >> Second. >> A motion's been made by Mr. Christian and second by Miss Morris to approve version one of the school calendar for 2627. Are there any questions? All those in favor, please raise your hand. >> Mr. Christian >> I. >> That's unanimous. The motion carries. >> Thank you. >> And that Thank you. And then we're down to 7.08 VSBA Central Region Spring Network Form. >> Yay. Nice little ride up on Mr. Goodman there. >> We're gonna put you up there and I would like to go so please put me on there. >> Yeah, you obviously you got me on there. Um >> your

144art people >> I will attend as well. >> I'm planning. >> Yeah, make sure you take a look at that. >> Check that out. Bam. >> That's a very nice school because um Alan Jackson, you know, he did a concert for >> Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. Oh, man. It's real neat. to help raise money. See their the the earthquake. >> Okay. >> Messed up the other. >> Oh, wow. Okay. Huh. >> Well, yeah. This is going to be great. I'm getting excited. The 2026 VSBA um forum for the central region. As you all know, I'm the vice chair. Uh and we've got a wonderful chairperson. Um and so I'm excited about it. >> Okay. That's March 17th at 4:30 at Louisa County High School. >> And Gina will be there. Gina Patterson, the illustrious executive

145director. She will be there. >> You saying it for me? I was going to say >> okay. Um, anything? Let's see. 8.01 school board member committee updates. Does anyone have any updates for their committees? >> No. I have a meeting next week and I may have to get my alternate to do that because I >> the governor's school. >> Yeah. Um but >> anyway, I'll talk to you later. Okay. Is there any other business to come before the board? I would like to say don't forget the February 18th uh Black History Month uh presentation that will be at the high school at 8:30 in the morning in the auditorium I believe >> and Mr. Goodman will be there. Okay. So nothing else. This meeting is a